| Kremlin, after summit, says no offensive planned in Syria's Idlib Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:08 AM PST  Putin, one of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's closest allies, was speaking after hosting a summit in southern Russia to weigh the future of Syria with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. All three countries have forces on the ground in Syria, where they have coordinated their efforts despite sometimes differing priorities and interests. Before the summit, the Kremlin had made clear it wanted a green light for action in Idlib where it says Islamist militants have made significant inroads despite the area's technical status as a Moscow- and Ankara-backed demilitarized zone.
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| 10 Things to Know for Today Posted: 14 Feb 2019 02:30 AM PST  Congress is set to resolve its clattering brawl with President Donald Trump in uncommonly bipartisan fashion as lawmakers prepare to pass a border security compromise. European plane manufacturer Airbus says it will stop making its superjumbo A380 in 2021 for lack of customers.
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| More rain, snow expected in storm-battered California, following days of mudslides and floods Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:47 AM PST  Californians were in clean-up mode Friday as the state slowly recovers from an onslaught of rain, wind and snow, which brought widespread flooding and mudslides.
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| New York law gives child sex abuse victims more time to sue Posted: 14 Feb 2019 02:50 PM PST  The governor of New York state on Thursday signed a law extending the statute of limitations for victims of childhood sex abuse, a move that could trigger a torrent of new complaints. The law known as the Child Victims Act -- which the Catholic Church fought against for years -- will allow alleged victims until age 55 to file civil cases and 28 for criminal suits, compared to a limit of 23 under the old rule. The new law, which will go into effect in six months, also establishes a one-year litigation window for any victim, regardless of age, to take civil action.
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| May Scrambles for Brexit Compromise With Two Weeks to Save Deal Posted: 15 Feb 2019 12:47 AM PST  British Prime Minister Theresa May is preparing to compromise with the European Union over the future of Ireland's border, with just two weeks left to save her Brexit deal. Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay privately told the EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, on Monday the U.K. doesn't need to reopen the divorce agreement and would accept other ways to address British concerns, a person familiar with the talks said. On Thursday, members of the pro-Brexit European Research Group of Conservatives inflicted another embarrassing parliamentary defeat on the premier after they refused to endorse her approach to resolving the deadlock.
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| Gay couples in Japan join together on Valentine's Day to sue government over same-sex marriage ban Posted: 14 Feb 2019 04:00 AM PST  Thirteen gay couples filed Japan's first lawsuit challenging the country's rejection of same-sex marriage on Valentine's Day, arguing the denial violates their constitutional right to equality. Six couples holding banners saying "Marriage For All Japan" walked into Tokyo District Court to file their cases against the government, with similar cases filed by three couples in Osaka, one couple in Nagoya and three couples in Sapporo. Plaintiff Kenji Aiba, standing next to his partner Ken Kozumi, told reporters he would "fight this war together with sexual minorities all around Japan." Mr Aiba and Mr Kozumi have held onto a marriage certificate they signed at their wedding party in 2013, anticipating Japan would emulate other advanced nations and legalise same-sex unions. That day has yet to come, and legally they are just friends even though they've lived as a married couple for more than five years. So they decided to act rather than waiting. "Right now we are both in good health and able to work, but what if either of us has an accident or becomes ill? We are not allowed to be each other's guarantors for medical treatment, or to be each other's heir," Mr Kozumi, a 45-year-old office worker, said in a recent interview with his partner Mr Aiba, 40. "Progress in Japan has been too slow." Politician Mizuho Fukushima has spoken out in favour of gay rights in Japan Credit: AP Photo/Mari Yamaguchi Ten Japanese municipalities have enacted "partnership" ordinances for same-sex couples to make it easier for them to rent apartments together, among other things, but they are not legally binding. Japanese laws are currently interpreted as allowing marriage only between a man and a woman. In a society where pressure for conformity is strong, many gay people hide their sexuality, fearing prejudice at home, school or work. The obstacles are even higher for transgender people in the highly gender-specific society. The Supreme Court last month upheld a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents. The LGBT equal rights movement has lagged behind in Japan because people who are silently not conforming to conventional notions of sexuality have been so marginalized that the issue hasn't been considered a human rights problem, experts say. "Many people don't even think of a possibility that their neighbors, colleagues or classmates may be sexual minorities," said Mizuho Fukushima, a lawyer-turned-politician and an expert on gender and human rights issues. "And the pressure to follow a conservative family model, in which heterosexual couples are supposed to marry and have children, is still strong." Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his ultra-conservative supporters have campaigned to restore a paternalistic society based on heterosexual marriages. The government has restarted moral education class at schools to teach children family values and good deeds. "Whether to allow same-sex marriage is an issue that affects the foundation of how families should be in Japan, which requires an extremely careful examination," Mr Abe said in a statement last year.
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| Venezuela opens investigation into opposition-appointed PDVSA directors: prosecutor Posted: 14 Feb 2019 08:44 AM PST  CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's chief state prosecutor said on Thursday an investigation had been opened into directors of state-run oil firm PDVSA, and its U.S. refiner Citgo, that the opposition-controlled congress appointed on Wednesday. Prosecutor Tarek Saab, in comments broadcast on state television, announced "the opening of an investigation against people designated illegally as directors of PDVSA and Citgo." Saab also said they would investigate foreign ambassadors named by opposition leader Juan Guaido, who on Jan 23 invoked constitutional provisions to assume an interim presidency. ...
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| Ocasio-Cortez takes a victory lap after Amazon scraps plans to build in New York Posted: 14 Feb 2019 12:12 PM PST  The Democratic phenom scores a victory over the "richest man in the world."
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| Ocasio-Cortez celebrates Amazon's NYC pullout Posted: 14 Feb 2019 01:59 PM PST  U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez cheered the decision by Amazon.com Inc to scrap its plans to build an outpost in New York that could have created 25,000 jobs. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).
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| British schoolgirl Shamima Begum who joined Isil found in Syria and 'wants to come home' Posted: 14 Feb 2019 12:18 AM PST  A British schoolgirl who fled to Syria to join Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has said she does not regret it, but wants to return to the UK to give birth. Shamima Begum, 19, vanished from her home in Bethnal Green in London four years ago, along with two other teenage girls, Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase. A girl who identified herself as Shamima Begum, was found in a refugee camp in Syria as the Isil caliphate collapsed, the Times reported. In an interview with the newspaper she described how she had been living in the caliphate and had married an Isil fighter from the Netherlands called Yago Riedijk. She was heavily pregnant and due to give birth any day. Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase, and Shamima Begum Credit: PA The girl is living in the al-Hawl refugee camp in northern Syria along with 39,000 other refugees. She described having seen a severed head in a bin during her time with Isil, and escaping bombs dropping, the Times reported. The teenager also said she had already given birth to two children, both of whom died in infancy. She told the Times: "I'm not the same silly little 15-year-old schoolgirl who ran away from Bethnal Green four years ago. And I don't regret coming here." She added: "I am scared this baby is going to get sick in this camp, that's why I want to get back to Britain, because I know my baby will be looked after." The three girls had joined another London teenager, Sharmeena Begum, in Syria. All were married off to jihadists. Shamima Begum said at least one of her friends, Kadiza Sultana, had been killed when a bomb hit a house in Raqqa. Renu, eldest sister of Shamima Begum, 15, holds her sister's photo while being interviewed by the media at New Scotland Yard, central London Credit: PA The other two girls reportedly stayed on to fight in Baghuz in eastern Syria, along with a few hundred Isil fighters, as the caliphate came to an end. Shamima Begum and her husband fled instead, and the husband surrendered to Kurdish forces. The girl told the Times she had spoken to her mother in the UK and asked for her support when she goes home. She had also read what had been written about her online by people back in the UK. "The caliphate is over," she told the Times. "There was so much oppression and corruption that I don't think they deserved victory. I know what everyone at home thinks of me. But I just want to come home to have my child. All I want to do is come home to Britain." British teenagers Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum passing through security barriers at Gatwick Airport, en route to Syria in 2015 Credit: AFP The Home Office said it does not comment on individual cases, although anyone who returns to the UK after travelling to IS territory faces criminal investigation and stricter laws are now in place. Security Minister Ben Wallace said: "The UK advises against all travel to Syria and parts of Iraq. Anyone who does travel to these areas, for whatever reason, is putting themselves in considerable danger. "Everyone who returns from taking part in the conflict in Syria or Iraq must expect to be investigated by the police to determine if they have committed criminal offences, and to ensure that they do not pose a threat to our national security. "There are a range of terrorism offences where individuals can be convicted for crimes committed overseas and we can also use Temporary Exclusion Orders to control an individuals' return to the UK." A displaced Syrian woman and a child walk toward tents at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp of al-Hol in al-Hasakeh governorate in northeastern Syria Credit: AFP Tasnime Akunjee, a lawyer who was instructed by the Bethnal Green girls' families after they ran away, said he was "glad (Ms Begum) is alive and safe". He told the Press Association the authorities should be reminded of former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's position at the time of their disappearance. "The position of the Metropolitan Police was that they should be treated as victims, so long as they hadn't committed any further offences while they are out there," he said. Mr Akunjee said he had spoken to the girls' families, who had "expressed the position that they want time and space to process what's happened". The Western-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are expected to announce the territorial defeat of Isil in the coming days. Around 2,000 US special forces are expected to be brought home by April. Giving evidence to MPs in the wake of the British schoolgirls's disappearance, in 2015, senior police officers said they would not be treated as criminals if they returned home. They said there was a "difference between the person running around with a Kalishnikov" and three schoolgirls who had been duped into travelling to Syria. The girls funded their travel to Syria by stealing jewellery from relatives, paying more than £1,000 in cash to a local travel agent for their flights to Turkey. Donald Trump has said Isil is "defeated"and that an announcement is imminent on "100 percent of the caliphate" having been retaken. The war to push Isil out of its so-called caliphate had lasted more than four-and-a-half years. The area once covered part of Syria and Iraq that was around the size of Britain. Pentagon officials have warned that Isil remains an "active insurgent group in both Iraq and Syria". Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.
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| William Barr: Senate confirms Trump pick as new attorney general Posted: 14 Feb 2019 12:36 PM PST  Three months following the ousting of Jeff Sessions, the Senate voted to confirm William Barr for his second stint as attorney general. The Senate confirmation on Thursday will grant Mr Barr, a hardline Republican, the power to supervise the Department of Justice's ongoing investigation into the Trump campaign's alleged collusion with Russia and its interference with the 2016 presidential election. The Republican-controlled Senate voted 54-45 in favour of President Donald Trump's nominee for the post.
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| 5 Delta passengers injured in severe turbulence, flight made emergency landing in Reno Posted: 14 Feb 2019 07:59 AM PST  Three of the five injured passengers on a Delta Air Lines flight were taken to a local hospital.
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| The Latest: Police: Men arrested in Smollett case are black Posted: 15 Feb 2019 12:07 PM PST  CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on the attack on "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett (all times local):
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| Airbus A380, the Concorde: technical feats, commercial flops Posted: 14 Feb 2019 02:45 AM PST  The scratching of the superjumbo jet Airbus A380 echoes the sad fate of the supersonic Concorde, another feat of aviation technology that turned out to be a commercial flop. The inaugural commercial flight on January 21, 1976 of Concorde, the world's first supersonic passenger plane, promised a revolution in aviation. It was the first computer-controlled commercial aircraft in history and also innovated with a weight-saving aluminium body and triangular delta wings.
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| There’s Not Much Performance in Denver Schools’ ‘Pay for Performance’ System Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:30 AM PST  On Monday, the Denver Classroom Teachers Association (DCTA) went on strike, the latest in a series of teacher strikes that have erupted across the country over the past year. While Denver teachers have voiced concerns about class sizes, support staff, and starting salaries, the consensus is that the issue at the heart of the strike is teacher frustration with Denver's once-celebrated ProComp pay system, which was jointly developed by the DCTA and Denver Public Schools in 2005.Back then, ProComp was heralded as a pioneering step forward on pay-for-performance/merit pay, and that framing has colored coverage of the strike. Even before the strike started, education outlet Chalkbeat ran an explainer headlined, "How a once-promising merit pay system led Denver teachers to the brink of a strike." This week, the Washington Post reported "Denver teachers strike in bid to dismantle pay-for-performance system." The New York Times account was headlined, "Denver Teachers' Strike Puts Performance-Based Pay to the Test."The only problem? This narrative is bunk. For all the talk about "merit" and "performance," ProComp is almost wholly devoid of any links between pay and teacher performance.As Denver Public Schools' compensation chart illustrates, ProComp allows teachers to earn an annual $3,851 pay bump for obtaining an advanced degree or license; a $2,738 boost for working in a "hard to staff" field or a "hard to serve" school; $1,540 for working in a "ProComp Title I" school, which is different than a "hard to serve" school; $855 for completing the requisite "professional development units"; and between $800 and $5,000 for filling designated leadership roles. There is also a yearly bonus for teachers based on students' state-wide-exam results.None of these bonuses, save perhaps for the last one, are performance-based. The only other component of ProComp resembling anything even remotely close to a performance-based incentive for individual teachers is the $855 they can receive for a satisfactory evaluation on a paper-driven performance rubric — and that figure falls by half for longtime educators. (Just how modest is such a sum in context? Average teacher pay in Denver before incentives is about $51,000, and the district has already offered teachers a 10 percent raise.)A couple points here merit note. First, contra the coverage of the strike, the Denver pay system which has sparked so much backlash is not actually rewarding performance. Rather, ProComp is mostly designed to reward the usual credentialism and to steer teachers to work in certain schools or fields. That's all fine, and some of it makes good sense, but it's a misnomer to characterize it as constituting a "pay-for-performance" scheme.Second, to the extent that ProComp seeks to reward performance in any fashion, it has opted for school-wide bonuses to schools that make large gains on math and reading scores (what the district euphemistically terms "top performing-high growth" schools). Reading and math scores matter, a lot. But education reform's fascination with paying for test points is troubling on several counts. It is bizarrely detached from the instruction that most teachers (including those who teach science, foreign languages, music, or history) are asked to focus on and has encouraged corner-cutting and outright cheating. It also has parents concerned about narrow curricula and soulless instruction, and teachers feeling like insurance salesmen.Performance pay is always tricky, but a raft of for-profit and non-profit organizers have muddled through in pretty sensible ways — tapping human judgment, seeking to assess the full contribution that an employee makes, and relying more upon promotions and raises than one-time bonuses.Denver's situation is so noteworthy because Denver is no laggard. Indeed, for many years, it has been celebrated as a "model" district by reformers. So it's disheartening how little progress the city has actually made. Reformers wound up being so focused on finding ways to pay teachers to switch schools or raise test scores that they missed what might have been a larger opportunity to reshape the teaching profession by reimagining how teachers' job descriptions, pay structures, and responsibilities could work. Indeed, given the limited dollar amounts involved (a 1–2 percent bonus if a teacher aces his personal evaluation), it's hard to imagine why anyone ever expected ProComp to be a game-changer.As teacher strikes continue apace and efforts to improve schooling move on from the enthusiasm of the Bush and Obama years, there may emerge new opportunities to rethink teacher pay. If they do, reformers should seize them by focusing more intently on how well teachers do their jobs, and less on where they work or how many boxes they check.Frederick M. Hess is the director of education-policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Brendan Bell is the education-program manager at AEI.
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| Photos of the New 2019 Subaru Ascent Touring Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:09 AM PST |
| Explainer: Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based militants, at heart of tension with India Posted: 15 Feb 2019 04:43 AM PST ![Explainer: Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based militants, at heart of tension with India]( "Explainer: Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based militants, at heart of tension with India") India says the group and its leader, Masood Azhar, enjoy free rein in Pakistan, and demands that Pakistan acts to stop militant groups operating from its soil. Pakistan condemned the Thursday bomb attack that killed 44 paramilitary policemen but denied any complicity. India has blamed Jaish for a series of attacks including a 2001 raid on its parliament in New Delhi that led to India mobilizing its military on the border, bringing the foes to the brink of a fourth war.
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| February's Nintendo Direct touches on 31 upcoming and updated games Posted: 14 Feb 2019 08:50 AM PST  As with several of the Nintendo Switch's successes, "Super Mario Maker 2" brings one of its predecessor's best games to a bigger and more enthusiastic audience. "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe," "Splatoon 2" and "Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze" are all related to earlier Wii U games and in this respect "Super Mario Maker 2" is no different. Like 2015's "Super Mario Maker," June 2019 release "Super Mario Maker 2" allows players to create 2D Mario game levels, play them, and share them.
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| How Shamima Begum and two other schoolgirls from Bethnal Green became jihadi brides living under a deadly regime Posted: 15 Feb 2019 12:17 AM PST  According to her older sister Sahima, Shamima Begum was like any other 15-year-old girl, with the same hobbies, the same worries and infatuations which preoccupy the minds of most British teens. "She was into normal teenage things," Sahima said. "She used to watch Keeping Up With the Kardashians." At 15, Shamima's young mind was filled with much more than the affairs of the most famous family in Hollywood. Four months before she was due to sit her GCSEs, Shamima — the daughter of Bangladeshi immigrants, by all accounts a "sensible girl" and a "talented and dynamic" student at the high-flying Bethnal Green Academy — was secretly planning to leave her family and the only home she had ever known in London's East End, and travel to Syria to become a jihadi bride. Two of her school friends, Kadiza Sultana, then 16, and Amira Abase, 15, planned to accompany her, with the girls aiming to join another friend, Sharmeena Begum (no relation of Shamima), who had successfully travelled to Syria the year before. In an embarrassment for Scotland Yard, police had pulled a fifth girl from the group off the same flight Sharmeena was on without spotting the other girl. Two months later, it was the turn of the remaining three to make their escape. When CCTV footage emerged of three girls wearing hooded winter coats and thick-rimmed glasses, strolling through Gatwick Airport with smiles on their faces, they appeared so calm and casual they looked as if they might be going on a school trip, not about to board a one-way flight to the most dangerous corner of the world. Their secret plan to leave Britain had been formulated and executed with meticulous precision. The girls stole jewellery from family members which they sold to cobble together the money for flights (it's thought they spent upwards of £1,000 on their one-way tickets — an amount their families said at the time they could have never afforded alone). They bought their tickets from a local travel agent, making sure there was some money left over. They had to make sure there was something left to pay the men who would smuggle them over the border into the Syrian war zone where Isil was carving out its caliphate. The Spring half term began and on the morning of February 17 2015, Shamima, Kadiza and Amira told their families they were going out for the day. One had a wedding, another said she was popping into school to do some work. Instead, they packed a small bag of hand luggage each, and headed to Gatwick, where they would board Turkish Airlines flight TK1966 at 12:40pm to Istanbul. A shopping list found in one of the girls' bedrooms featured a reminder to pack underwear and a mobile phone. British teenagers Kadiza Sultana, Amira Abase and Shamima Begum in Raqqa Under the noses of the counterterrorism police who had spoken to them two months earlier after their friend Sharmeena fled to Syria, the girls began their journey. Four years later, one of them, Kadiza, is now known to have been killed in a Russian airstrike. Shamima, now 19, is alive and preparing to give birth to her third child (her first two died in infancy) in a refugee camp in northern Syria, having escaped Isil's last remaining stronghold. Amira and Sharmeena were last seen alive in June in the remaining pocket of Isil-held territory. Shamima has lost two babies, her fighter husband is in captivity, and though she says she doesn't regret coming to Syria, she has abandoned Isil at the 11th hour in an attempt to protect herself and her unborn child. For four years she has lived the life of a jihadi bride, witnessing the casual brutality of the regime on a daily basis and somehow escaping death herself. Now, she wants the ordeal to be over. She wants to come back home to Britain. Four years ago, almost to the day, the girls arrived in Istanbul and took a bus to the southern town of Gaziantep, close to the Syrian border. CCTV footage taken from a bus station showed them waiting with their bags. Another video, filmed by a smuggler called Mohammed Rashid (an Isil double agent who reportedly passed intelligence to the British and Canadian governments and was subsequently arrested by Turkish authorities), showed the girls clad in long black tunics trudging through a snowy landscape and clambering into a car. Renu, eldest sister of Shamima Begum, 15, holds her sister's photo Credit: PA Calling one of the girls "Sis", Rashid gave them Syrian passports and tested codenames they had apparently been given. "Who is Um Ahmed?" he asked, before telling them to "hurry" and assuring them they would be in Syria in "one hour". They were taken to an illegal crossing point known as Abu Zella, north of Tal Abyad, where they were handed to a Saudi jihadist known as Abu Mohareb al-Jazrawi. He was part of an Isil cell charged with helping transport would-be foreign jihadists into Raqqa. He took the girls to a safe house which was used for new volunteers who had yet to be vetted. There, they checked the girls' papers and confiscated their passports and identity cards. They stayed in the house for a day or two before another Isil smuggler, calling himself Abu Fahad, transferred them to Raqqa. The girls spent their first days in Isil's caliphate under lock and key in an apartment in what was then the jihadists' stronghold city. They were put in the care of a woman handler known as Um Laith — "Mother of the Lion" — tasked with "purifying their Western minds" by instilling the practices of Isil's hardline vision of sharia law. Kadiza Sultana 16, Amira Abase 15 and Shamima Begum 15 Credit: Metropolitan Police In their first weeks in the city the girls were not trusted by Raqqa's Isil rulers, and were forbidden to leave their apartment without their chaperone. An Isil leader confirmed to the Telegraph at the time that they were being kept together and watched. "Until now we don't trust them," he said. Speaking to The Times from the refugee camp where she is now awaiting the birth of her baby, Shamima recalled asking to be taken to the maqar – the female-only communal lodging for unmarried or widowed women where they believed their old school friend was living. "We kept asking his wife 'why are we here?' We want to go to the house of women, we want to see our friend. She didn't say anything to us and then afterwards we found out it was because they suspected we were spies." All three girls were quickly married off. Kadiza is said to have wed a western Isil fighter of Somali heritage, but after he was killed in battle decided to try to return to the UK. Shortly after, however, in May 2016, she was reported killed in a Russian airstrike, aged 17. Amira married an 18-year-old Australian jihadist, Abdullah Elmir, in July 2016. Elmir, who was described in Australian media as the "Ginger Jihadi", was later reported by intelligence agencies to have been killed in coalition airstrikes. Shamima, meanwhile, married a Dutchman who had converted to Islam. For a while, she says, life was "normal". "Like the life that they show in the propaganda videos. It's a normal life but every now and then there are bombs and stuff." She didn't witness any executions, but she did see "a beheaded head in the bin", she told a journalist calmly from the refugee camp on Wednesday. "Yeah, it didn't phase me at all." The young woman who can be heard talking on the interview recording is composed and unemotional. She is asked if it was hard to lose two children. "It came as a shock," she replies, calmly. "It just came out of nowhere, it was so hard." It's why she is "really overprotective of this baby", she says. "I'm scared that this baby is going to get sick in this camp, that's why I really want to get back to Britain because I know it will be taken care of, like healthwise at least." She talks about her school friend Kadiza, who is now known to have died in a Russian airstrike. "Her house was bombed because underground there was some secret stuff going on and a spy had… they figured out that something was going on so her house got bombed. And other people got killed as well." Kadiza's elder sister, Fahmida Khanam refused to discuss her suspected death in an air raid, or the fate of her surviving companions. Abase Hussen, father of Amira, who was last seen in June, said he hoped his daughter was still alive. "She could always make us laugh," he said. "That's how I want to think of her, not what happened after. I hope she is still alive, but I don't really know whether she is." Islamic State losing its grip on Syria Mr Hussen has said before that he cannot understand his daughter's descent into radicalisation, telling MPs in 2015 that he could think of "nothing" to explain the change in her. After she travelled to Syria, video emerged of Mr Hussen beside a burning US flag at the front of a rally organised by the hate preacher Anjem Choudary. In June 2015, Amira spoke to an undercover reporter from a Sunday newspaper after 30 Britons were shot dead by an Isil jihadist in Tunisia, mocking the victims. She appeared to be grooming the reporter, giving tips on how to reach Syria and what to bring. Last summer her mother, Fetia Hussen, said she had lost contact with her and feared she had died, but Shamima has confirmed to The Times that she was seen alive last June, along with Sharmeena Begum. On Wednesday night, Shamima's sister Renu — who in 2015 said her sister was "young" and "vulnerable", and she hoped she had gone to Syria to bring back Sharmeena, not to join Isil herself — pleaded with the government to allow her to come home. "She's pregnant and vulnerable, and it's important we get her out of al-Hawl camp and home as soon as possible," she said. "We hope the British Government will help us bring her home to us where she belongs. "I'm so relieved that my sister has been found, safe and sound. We are aware that she has been trying to get out. We lost contact with her for the longest of time. We are happy to know that she is okay." The father of Sharmeena Begum told the Telegraph yesterday [THURS] that his family had been left distraught by her decision to travel to join Isil. Mohammad Nizam Uddin said he had been unable to reconcile himself to her disappearance from home. Speaking from his flat on the top floor of a tower block overlooking London's East End, the 42-year-old told The Telegraph: "We have heard nothing from her since she left. We do not know where she is. "As a father I urge the British Government to let these girls back into the country. Please let them come back. I want to see my daughter again. It is terrible she is not here, it is terrible for us." Mr Uddin added: "I think they should be allowed to come home. When they went to Syria they were not mature and they had been radicalised." They travelled out to Syria together, but as Isil loses its remaining grip on the region, just one of the girls from Bethnal Green is living in relative safety. Taken on a coach filled with fleeing Isil families to the camp in al-Hawl, Shamima is now waiting to deliver her third baby, and to learn of her fate, desperate to return to Britain. "The caliphate is over," she says. "There was so much oppression and corruption that I don't think they deserved victory." Her friends would be "ashamed" of her if they are alive and have learnt that she has fled. "They made their choice as single women. For their husbands were already dead. It was their own choice as women to stay." Now, she says, her priority is her baby. "I know what everyone at home thinks of me as I have read all that was written about me online. But I just want to come home to have my child. That's all I want right now. I'll do anything required just to be able to come home and live quietly with my child."
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| Ilhan Omar Clashed With Venezuela Envoy Elliott Abrams Over Washington's Role in Latin America. Here's the History Behind Her Claims Posted: 14 Feb 2019 10:34 AM PST  The Iran-Contra Affair and the El Mozote massacre were among the darkest chapters of U.S. intervention in the region
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| White House Press Secretary says she was interviewed by investigators working for Robert Mueller Posted: 15 Feb 2019 01:03 PM PST  The White House press secretary is among a series of people linked to President Donald Trump who have been questioned by special counsel Robert Mueller.
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| PR push for white officer accused of killing armed black man Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:59 PM PST ![PR push for white officer accused of killing armed black man]( "PR push for white officer accused of killing armed black man") NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The attorney for a white police officer charged with fatally shooting an armed black man in Tennessee is calling for legal discovery documents to be sealed from members of the public.
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| Amazon invests in electric vehicle startup Rivian Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:45 AM PST  Electric vehicle startup Rivian on Friday announced a $700 million investment round led by Amazon, which recently pumped money into a young self-driving car technology firm. Details of Amazon's stake in US-based Rivian were not disclosed, but the company said it will remain independent. The potential Tesla rival late last year unveiled an electric pickup truck and an electric sport utility vehicle at an auto show in Los Angeles.
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| Nasa's Mars rover is officially dead, space agency says Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:20 AM PST  Nasa's Opportunity rover is officially dead, the space agency has said, after it disappeared in a dust storm on Mars. Clearly emotional Nasa staff, standing in front of a life-sized replica of the rover, said they had not heard back from the rover and that the mission would come to an end. "I am standing here with a sense of deep appreciation and gratitude," said Nasa associate administrator Thomas Zurbuchen, before he announced that the Opportunity mission is now considered complete.
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| It Looks Like the Land Rover Discovery SVX Is Dead Posted: 15 Feb 2019 02:54 PM PST  This looks like another miss from Jaguar Land Rover Special Vehicle Operations.
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| Weakest U.S. retail sales since 2009 cast pall over economy Posted: 14 Feb 2019 11:17 AM PST  The shockingly weak report from the Commerce Department on Thursday led to growth estimates for the fourth-quarter being cut to below a 2.0 percent annualized rate. December's collapse in retail sales and other data showing an unexpected increase in the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits last week and a second straight monthly decline in producer prices in January support the Federal Reserve's pledge to be "patient" before raising interest rates further this year. "The decline in retail sales calls into question the domestic growth assumption." Retail sales tumbled 1.2 percent, the largest decline since September 2009 when the economy was emerging from recession.
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| The U.S. Navy Just Bought Four Giant, Robot Submarines from Boeing Posted: 14 Feb 2019 08:00 PM PST  Orca could help to fill a yawning gap in the American submarine fleet. In December 2016, the U.S. Navy announced it needed 66 nuclear-powered attack subs, or SSNs, to meet regional commanders' needs.
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| Senator Bob Menendez reportedly threatens to call police on Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers about the Green New Deal Posted: 14 Feb 2019 05:16 AM PST  Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ) reportedly threatens to call police on Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers who asked the Senator about the Green New Deal.
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| Our Favorite Eco-friendly Finds Put Sustainable Materials to Stylish Use Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:00 AM PST |
| Mike Pence attacks UK for 'breaking US sanctions against Iran' Posted: 14 Feb 2019 10:44 AM PST  Mike Pence, the US vice president, has accused Britain, France and Germany of trying to sabotage American sanctions against Iran and called on the European states to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal. In an unusually blunt attack on America's traditional European allies, Mr Pence told a summit in Warsaw that the three countries were leading "an effort to break American sanctions against Iran's murderous revolutionary regime". He focused his criticism on a financial mechanism created by the three states and the EU to allow European firms to continue trading with Iran in a way that skirts punishing US sanctions. "It's an ill-advised step that will only strengthen Iran, weaken the EU, and create still more distance between Europe and the United States," Mr Pence said. He said the British, French, and German governments had "not been nearly as cooperative" in backing America's anti-Iran policy as Israel and the Gulf Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Mr Pence said for the first time that the three countries should pull out of the nuclear agreement, which was signed in 2015 by Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, the US and Iran. "The time has come for our European partners to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal." Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the summit for bringing Israel together with the Arab states Credit: AP Photo/Michael Sohn Other US officials, including Donald Trump, have harshly criticised the deal but never before called for the European states to leave it. There was no immediate response from the Foreign Office to Mr Pence's criticism. The US-hosted conference in Poland was enthusiastically attended by Israel and the Gulf states but the European governments which continue to support the Iran deal largely stayed away. Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, attended the opening dinner of the summit on Wednesday night but left before the main meetings on Thursday. Germany sent a junior minister and France was represented by a foreign ministry official. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, hailed the summit for bringing Israel together with its Arab neighbours "against the common threat of the Iranian regime". Mr Netanyahu sat next to the foreign minister of Yemen at the conference, an image that would have once been unthinkable in the Middle East. Here is @IsraeliPM Netanyahu sitting next to Yemen's Foreign Minister Khaled Hussein Alyemany, at the WarsawSummitpic.twitter.com/d7c5jRwKXp— Raphael Ahren (@RaphaelAhren) February 14, 2019 However, there still appears to be a ceiling on how far the Arab states will go in befriending Israel without a solution to the Palestinian issue. While the Israeli leader sat in the same room as ministers from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, none of them were prepared to hold a formal meeting with Mr Netanyahu or publicly shake his hand. Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's former spy chief, granted an unprecedented interview to Israeli television where he warned that there would not be peace between the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia until there was a deal on the Palestinians. "From the Israeli point of view, Mr. Netanyahu would like us to have a relationship, and then we can fix the Palestinian issue. From the Saudi point of view, it's the other way around," he said. Donald Trump has tasked his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, with brokering a peace deal between Israelis and Palestinians. Mr Kushner told the conference the deal would not be released until after the Israeli elections in April and said that both sides would have to make compromises. However, he declined to give even basic details of his plan. The US said that the Palestinians had been invited to the summit and refused to come. Palestinian officials said an invitation had only been issued five days before the start of conference, long after other governments were formally invited. "This is not serious," a Palestinian official said. "This is just part of the blame game of the Trump Administration in cooperation with their Polish friends." An FCO spokesperson said: "The UK Government regards the JCPoA as a crucial agreement that makes the world a safer place by neutralising the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran. We remain committed to preserving the JCPoA, which is why we are establishing a European Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with the E3 that aims to deliver the sanctions relief we committed to as part of the agreement. "The UK is not and has never been naïve about Iran and its nuclear intentions and while we share US concerns about Iranian regional activities and its missile programme, we believe the best way to address these wider concerns is while the nuclear deal remains in place."
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| FBI releases 16 drawings prolific serial killer Samuel Little made of his victims Posted: 14 Feb 2019 11:07 AM PST  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released more than a dozen drawingsmade by a prolific serial killer in hopes the public may be able to identifysome of his victims
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| Global stocks surge on hopeful signs from US-China trade talks Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:24 PM PST  New York (AFP) - European and US stock markets leapt on Friday as positive signs emerged from US-China trade talks aimed at averting an escalation of a tariff war between the world's top two economies.
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| Club: Mardi Gras tradition is not the same as blackface Posted: 13 Feb 2019 06:04 PM PST  NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans' widely recognized Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club says its tradition of using black makeup for its Mardi Gras float riders is not the same as "blackface," a controversy that has embroiled officials nationwide.
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| During a school lockdown, 7-year-old writes note on her arm in case she dies Posted: 15 Feb 2019 10:11 AM PST  A second-grader wrote a chilling note to her parents on her arm during school lockdown.
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| Exclusive: Trafigura halts oil trade with Venezuela - source Posted: 15 Feb 2019 04:30 AM PST  The decision will come as a blow to Caracas as Swiss-based Trafigura has a long-standing arrangement with state-run PDVSA to take Venezuelan crude and, in exchange, supply the Latin American country with refined products. Washington imposed fresh sanctions on PDVSA last month to cut off a key source of revenue for President Nicolas Maduro. The move came after congress head Juan Guaido invoked constitutional provisions to become interim president, arguing that socialist Maduro's re-election last year was a sham.
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| U.K. Spy Warns Against Triumphalism Over Islamic State Collapse Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:00 AM PST ![U.K. Spy Warns Against Triumphalism Over Islamic State Collapse]( "U.K. Spy Warns Against Triumphalism Over Islamic State Collapse") "We are not triumphant because I think from triumphant you get to hubris," MI6 Chief Alex Younger told reporters in Munich on Friday. Younger said Islamic States's so-called caliphate was now in its "end game," with the extremist militants clinging to the last square mile of land they hold in the village of Baghuz in eastern Syria. Meanwhile the U.K. is debating the case of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old from east London who wants to come home despite expressing no regrets over becoming a so-called jihadi bride with Islamic State in Syria at the age of 15.
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| Airbus pulls plug on costly A380 superjumbo: statement Posted: 13 Feb 2019 10:16 PM PST  European aerospace giant Airbus said Thursday it would end production of the A380 superjumbo, the double-decker jet which earned plaudits from passengers but failed to win over enough airlines to justify its massive costs. The firm said it would stop deliveries of the A380 in 2021 after Dubai-based airline Emirates reduced its order of the model by 39 planes. "Following a review of its operations, and in light of developments in aircraft and engine technologies, Emirates is reducing its A380 orderbook from 162 to 123 aircraft," Airbus said in a statement.
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| Why Can't NASA's Curiosity Rover Rescue Opportunity? Posted: 14 Feb 2019 08:12 AM PST  The Mars rover Opportunity has died, NASA announced yesterday (Feb. 13). A layer of dust likely coated its solar panels, preventing it from juicing itself up after a 2018 sky-blackening dust storm on the Red Planet.But why couldn't NASA launch a rescue mission to get it working again? After all, Opportunity wasn't the first rover to get to Mars, and it won't be the last. It's just been the hardiest. In its stunning 14-plus years of travel, enabled by Martian winds that periodically cleaned off its solar panels, it has covered an impressive 28 miles (40 kilometers) on the planet.The most obvious candidate to rescue Opportunity is the Curiosity rover, Opportunity's bigger, nuclear-powered younger sibling. Why not take some time out of Curiosity's work, and send it to see what's wrong with Opportunity and if it might be fixed? [Voyager to Mars Rover: NASA's 10 Greatest Innovations]NASA's Opportunity Mars rover took this image of its own tracks on the rim of Endeavour Crater in June 2017. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State UniversityThe first problem, unfortunately, is distance. According to NASA's Mars map, the Curiosity and Opportunity sites are about 5,200 miles (8,400 km) apart from one another. Curiosity's a bit swifter-footed than Opportunity, but even so, the young sprite would just take way too long to cover that terrain. To navigate the Martian terrain, these rovers require constant guidance from Earth Combined with the long delay between message transmission and receipt, even a trek of a few feet can take days.The second problem is that Curiosity is an explorer, not a repair bot. It would be a monumental challenge to repurpose its onboard instruments to even clear dust off of Opportunity's solar panels. And there's no guarantee that's all that's gone wrong with the rover sitting silently in the Martian cold and darkness.A selfie of the Mars Curiosity rover. Unfortunately, Opportunity's buddy can't come to its rescue. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSSThe final problem is time. Even if Curiosity could take some express train to Opportunity's location, Martian winter is setting in, and the conditions will likely compound any damage to Opportunity now that it's no longer able to keep itself warm.So Opportunity is toast. But who knows, maybe humans on Mars will find it someday and manage to switch it back on. * 5 Mars Myths and Misconceptions * Mars InSight Photos: A Timeline to Landing on the Red Planet * Ancient Mars Could Have Supported Life (Photos)Originally published on Live Science.
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| Father of Isil bride says the girls are 'no threat' to Britain as he pleads with Government to allow them to return Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:40 AM PST  The father of one of the three Bethnal Green girls who ran away to join Islamic State has urged the British Government to allow her back into the country, saying she represents "no threat" to the UK. Hussen Abase, the father of Amira Abase, said his daughter - who left Britain with Shamima Begum and Kadiza Sultana at the age of 15 - needed to be re-educated not punished for her actions. Mr Abase told The Telegraph on Thursday that he had not heard from his daughter since she left Britain with her two friends to travel to Syria to join the terror group, but he welcomed the news that Shamima is alive and living in a refugee camp. Speaking after an interview with Shamima was published in the Times, in which she said she wanted to return to the UK, Mr Abase said: "As a father I would say to the British government please let the girls back into the country and give them some kind of teaching. "They were just teenagers when they left. They should be allowed to learn from their mistakes. They are no threat to us." Amira Abase Mr Abase, who came to Britain as a refugee from Ethiopia in 1999, and now lives in Stepney, east London, where he works as a security guard, added: "I'm very happy the British government gave me refuge here. I hope they will let my daughter back in if she is still alive. It's been very hard these past few years without her." But questions remain over Mr Abase's own role in his daughter's radicalisation. After Amira disappeared it emerged he had attended a protest outside the Saudi embassy in London, in 2013, said to have been organised by the Islamic extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, founded by the extremist cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed. Mr Abase also admitted having taken her to a demonstration outside the US Embassy, at the age of 12, at which an American flag was burnt. An American flag is burned outside the US Embassy Credit: EyeVine/David Gould Also at the rally were the jailed extremist preacher Anjem Choudary and Michael Adebowale, one of the killers of Fusilier Lee Rigby. Mr Abase, 52, later said he took Amira to the protest because did not want to leave her at home alone. The father of three maintained on Thursday that he had no idea how his daughter had become radicalised and so determined to leave Britain to join IS, suggesting only that she may have wanted to help those caught up in the Syrian conflict. He said: "She was always a good daughter and a good student. She was also very charitable and soft when she someone in need or saw something on the news. But I was shocked when she left. "I last saw her in 2015 when she went to school and then she just texted me from somewhere. I've not heard from her since and I have no idea where she is. "Nowadays parents don't know what their children are thinking or doing because they spent so much time on their gadgets and phones. We don't know what they are thinking." Close to tears, he added: "As a father of course I want her to come home. I think about her every day. I remember her as a little girl who loved sport, loved running and made us all laugh. For me she is still my little girl. "I would say to her: 'Think of us, think of your brother and your sister. They miss you. Please come home'."
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| White supremacist gets life for killing black man to start a race war Posted: 14 Feb 2019 01:56 AM PST  James Jackson, 30, a former U.S. Army specialist, had hoped to start a race war when he attacked Timothy Caughman with a sword.
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| Jaish al-Adl: shadowy Sunni extremists on Iran-Pakistan border Posted: 14 Feb 2019 03:05 AM PST  A suicide attack that killed 27 troops in Iran's restive southeast on Wednesday was claimed by Jaish al-Adl, a Sunni Muslim extremist group that only emerged seven years ago. Jaish al-Adl -- Army of Justice in Arabic -- is seen as the incarnation of Jundallah, or Soldiers of God, which began a bloody rebellion against the Islamic republic in 2000. For a decade, Jundallah waged a deadly insurgency on civilians and officials in the restive southeast.
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| The 20 Most Powerful Crossovers and SUVs You Can Buy in 2019 Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:35 AM PST |
| Airlines to begin adding new gender option for 'non-binary' flyers Posted: 15 Feb 2019 01:03 PM PST ![Airlines to begin adding new gender option for 'non-binary' flyers]( "Airlines to begin adding new gender option for 'non-binary' flyers") Some U.S. airlines are on track to add a new gender option for "non-binary" passengers amid evolving best-practices suggestions for the industry.
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| Denver teacher strike revealed US divide over bonus pay Posted: 14 Feb 2019 11:01 AM PST  DENVER (AP) — Denver teachers went on strike to improve their pay, but the fight wasn't that simple.
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| GOP Senators Optimistic Trump Will Sign Border Wall Compromise Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:33 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Senior Republican lawmakers said the compromise spending bill that would avert another government shutdown will easily pass the House and Senate and they expect President Donald Trump will sign it into law.
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| Polestar teases next-gen electric car again ahead of Geneva launch Posted: 15 Feb 2019 07:39 AM PST  Just two weeks before the official online reveal on February 27, Volvo's Polestar gave us another glimpse of the Polestar 2 just a couple of weeks after the first announcement. While the latest official teaser of the Polestar 2 isn't nearly as informational as the first announcement made a few weeks ago, we have still been graced by another image of a discernible part of the exterior body: the top, left-hand side of the rear end. The white Polestar logo blends into the white body to avoid distracting onlookers from the snappy and chic design.
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| Watch a space harpoon impale a piece of space debris Posted: 15 Feb 2019 08:52 AM PST  The U.S. government tracks 500,000 chunks and bits of space junk as they hurtle around Earth. Some 20,000 of these objects are larger than a softball.To clean up the growing mess, scientists at the University of Surrey have previously tested a net to catch chunks of debris. Now, they've successfully tested out a harpoon.The video below, released Friday by the university's space center, shows a test of the experimental RemoveDEBRIS satellite as it unleashes a harpoon at a piece of solar panel, held out on a 1.5-meter boom.The harpoon clearly impales its target. "This is RemoveDEBRIS' most demanding experiment and the fact that it was a success is testament to all involved," Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Surrey Space Centre at the University of Surrey, said in a statement. Next, the RemoveDEBRIS team -- made up of a group of international collaborators -- is planning its final experiment: responsibly destroying the satellite.In March, the RemoveDEBRIS satellite will "inflate a sail that will drag the satellite into Earth's atmosphere where it will be destroyed," the university said a statement. This is how the group intends to vaporize the future dangerous debris it catches. SEE ALSO: Trump fails to block NASA's carbon sleuth from going to spaceHuman space debris hurtles around Earth faster than a speeding bullet, with debris often traveling at 17,500 mph, or faster. The threat of collisions is always present, though in some orbits the odds of an impact are significantly lower than others. The International Space Station, for instance, is in a relatively debris-free orbit, but even here there is the threat of "natural debris" -- micrometeors -- pummeling the space station.Other orbits have considerably more debris spinning around Earth. In 2009, a derelict Russian satellite slammed into a functional Iridium telecommunication satellite at 26,000 mph, resulting in an estimated 200,000 bits of debris. In 2007, the Chinese launched a missile at an old weather satellite, spraying shrapnel into Earth's orbit.This risk amplifies as more satellites are rocketed into space. SpaceX now has government-approved plans to launch thousands of its Starlink satellites into orbit -- perhaps by the mid-2020's, should they amass money for the pricey program. This would double or triple the number of satellites in orbit."It is unprecedented," said Kessler, NASA's former senior scientist for orbital debris research told Mashable. "The sheer number, that's the problem."Kessler has long warned about the potential of catastrophic chain reactions in Earth's orbit, wherein one collision creates enough weaponized debris to create a cycle of destruction. Designs to harpoon dangerous chunks of debris are just being tested in space today, but the technology could prove critical as Earth's orbit grows increasingly trafficked with large, metallic satellites. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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| Monster mudslides ravage California Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:51 AM PST  Parts of California are bracing for yet more flooding after a powerful storm unleashed historic levels of rainfall earlier this week. Floods and mudslides across the state have triggered evacuations and sent homes tumbling down hillsides. Linda So reports.
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| 'Forever haunted' Parkland mourns a year after shooting Posted: 14 Feb 2019 05:25 PM PST !['Forever haunted' Parkland mourns a year after shooting]( "'Forever haunted' Parkland mourns a year after shooting") School buses brought only a handful of students to a shortened class day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, where a former student with an assault gun killed 17 people on Feb. 14, 2018. "As men and women of faith, we stand with you Parkland, painful Parkland, profound Parkland, powerful Parkland," said David Hughes, the lead pastor at Church by the Glades in Coral Springs. "In the name of a living God, we say together never, never, never, never again." Leaders of March for Our Lives, a national student movement formed in the aftermath of the Parkland tragedy to fight gun violence, were not in the spotlight, having noted they would "go dark" or cease most communications during the anniversary.
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| Venezuela at UN enlists countries in show of support Posted: 14 Feb 2019 11:41 AM PST  Russia and China joined Cuba, Iran, North Korea and several other countries at the United Nations on Thursday to show support for Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in his showdown with the United States. "We all have the right to live without the threat of use of force and without application of illegal coercive unilateral measures," Arreaza told journalists, flanked by the ambassadors of several countries.
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