| Former Congressman Keith Ellison: Trump’s Attacks on Ilhan Omar Are ‘Violent Incitement’ Posted: 17 Apr 2019 03:17 PM PDT  Win McNameeFormer congressman Keith Ellison has a theory for why President Donald Trump is working to make Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) public enemy number one."She, simply by her existence, is a person who he doesn't believe belongs," Ellison said in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast. "She's a Muslim, she's a woman, she wears a hijab, she's black, before she ever opens her mouth she's offensive to him."Omar has been a constant lightning rod for controversy since arriving in Washington, where her comments about the Israel lobby have drawn intense criticism from her Democratic and Republican colleagues alike. After conservatives seized on a snippet of a speech in which Omar appeared to downplay the September 11th attacks, the president took his criticism of her to a new level, tweeting to his millions of followers last weekend a video of the congresswoman's remarks, superimposed with images of the Twin Towers burning.Ellison, now the attorney general of Minnesota, has an idea of what the freshman lawmaker who holds his old seat is going through. He arrived in Congress in 2007 as the first Muslim to ever serve in that body, and faced suspicion and allegations of disloyalty from his colleagues from the moment he was sworn in on a copy of the Quran. Twelve years later, there are three Muslim members of Congress, and more Muslim-American officeholders around the country than ever.But the environment that Omar faces, said Ellison, is probably the most hostile one ever for a Muslim elected official – which is saying quite a bit, considering that Ellison faced death threats of his own and casual suggestions from his colleagues, like former Rep. Michele Bachmann and Rep. Steve King, that he was aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood and failed to sufficiently renounce Sharia law.Since Trump tweeted the video of Omar, death threats on her have increased exponentially, her office has told media. Speaker Nancy Pelosi is moving to increase the congresswoman's security detail, as Trump insists he was right to go after the congresswoman and claims she has "a way about her" that is "very, very bad for our country."Asked if he worried for Omar's safety, Ellison sighed. "Sure I do. There's crazy people out there," he said. "We live in a very dangerous political environment and she's in the danger zone as much as anyone. I pray for her and I urge people to calm the rhetoric down."Ellison also urged Twitter to do more to censure Trump's video. "That is incitement, that's violent incitement," he said of the video. "There's no two ways about it.""Everyone knows what happened to Gabby Giffords," he went on, referencing the former Arizona congresswoman who was shot in the head during a constituent event in 2011. "It makes it difficult for you to engage the public because you don't know where the hostility is coming from, and it is unnatural to be the target of that much unwarranted hatred. It's strange, it's weird. She's bearing a burden."Rep. Steve Scalise (R-LA), the number two Republican in the House, Ellison noted, was also shot at a baseball practice in 2017. To congressional Republicans who have spent months going after Omar and forcing all Democrats to answer for her, Ellison also had some choice words. "It's wildly irresponsible," he said. "I don't know if they don't realize they're risking her safety or they just don't care… 'Just don't care' is a real option, because they have every reason to suspect their rhetoric could lead to some very negative, foreseeable consequence. They should know it."Ellison predicted things would get worse before they get better, and tied Trump's rhetoric on Omar to his 2020 reelection strategy. "I keep thinking there's gotta be a floor with him but there absolutely simply is no floor, there's no low depth he won't go to," he said. "It's clear to me he is trying to whip up nativism, tribalism, bigotry of all kinds, and turn the country against itself for his own benefit."He cautioned Omar against getting pulled into these spats, advising that she focus instead on why she came to D.C. in the first place.Omar, said Ellison, "should pivot back to those issues that made her want to be a member of Congress, and just stay on them. She wanted to do something about student debt, jobs and the economy, the environment… Get back to that, and don't let them pull you off. Use the heightened profile to raise the issues you're passionate about."Read more at The Daily Beast.
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| Time-lapse shots of Notre-Dame spire may yield clues on blaze Posted: 18 Apr 2019 08:57 AM PDT  Europe Echafaudage was one of five companies contracted to restore Notre-Dame's 90-metre (295-foot) spire, which collapsed in the blaze, crashing through the cathedral's vaulted ceiling. Footage from the camera, which was placed on the northern belltower and is now in the hands of investigators, shows the first smoke coming out of the spire's base, Marc Eskenazi, a representative for Europe Echafaudage, told Reuters. At a reception for many of the 400 firefighters who extinguished Monday's blaze, President Emmanuel Macron said he had spoken to Pope Francis by phone and that the pontiff would visit France "at a time of his convenience".
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| Iran Rouhani says floods revealed 'vicious' nature of US Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:50 AM PDT  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday that the United States' reaction to floods that killed dozens of people had revealed Washington's "vicious" nature. At least 76 people have died after torrential rainfall which has also caused billions of dollars worth of damage since March 19. Iran's Red Crescent has repeatedly complained that US banking sanctions re-imposed last year make it impossible to receive donations from outside the country.
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| The Latest: FBI says armed woman 'infatuated' with Columbine Posted: 16 Apr 2019 09:38 PM PDT  LITTLETON, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on lockdowns at Columbine High School and other Denver-area schools (all times local):
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| Pilots Say American Airlines Plane Rolled on Its Own and Hit a Sign During Takeoff Posted: 18 Apr 2019 08:52 AM PDT  American Airlines pilots flying an Airbus A321 say it banked on its own during takeoff, causing a strike to the plane's left wing. The incident is now under investigation.
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| Boeing conducts final test flight of 737 MAX with software fix Posted: 17 Apr 2019 10:08 PM PDT  Boeing has conducted a final test flight of a 737 MAX model with an updated anti-stall system prior to its certification by aviation authorities, the aerospace manufacturer said Wednesday. CEO Dennis Muilenberg tweeted a video where he said the test flight was carried out on Tuesday, adding that test pilots have completed 120 flights totaling more than 203 hours of airtime with the software fix for the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS). Investigators have zeroed in on the system as a factor behind the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes in October and in March respectively, killing nearly 350 people in total.
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| These Are the Health Companies at Risk in the ‘Medicare for All’ Debate Posted: 18 Apr 2019 07:52 AM PDT  Health insurers and now hospitals have led the sector-wide plunge even as policy analyst like Veda's Spencer Perlman argue that Medicare for All has a slim shot at becoming law. "There may be more pain to come but the worst of it may be behind us (let's hope)," Evercore ISI equity analyst Ross Muken told clients in a note.
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| 28 killed on Portuguese island of Madeira as tourist bus plunges off embankment and hits a house Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:19 AM PDT  A bus carrying German tourists plunged off an embankment on the Portuguese island of Madeira, leaving 28 dead.
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| McDonald's pulls Signature Crafted burgers, doubles down on Quarter Pounders Posted: 18 Apr 2019 07:36 AM PDT ![McDonald's pulls Signature Crafted burgers, doubles down on Quarter Pounders]( "McDonald's pulls Signature Crafted burgers, doubles down on Quarter Pounders") McDonald's Corp said it would remove costlier, premium burgers from its menus in favor of its more popular Quarter Pounders, shifting its focus to simpler and quickly-served burgers. The company said its new deluxe and bacon Quarter Pounders received good feedback and it would continue to focus on such items. "It (the removal) probably has more to do about the process of cooking the burger in McDonald's than it does what the consumer is saying about the food," said Howard Penney, a managing director at Hedgeye Risk Management.
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| Mueller report is an admission of the 'depth of Trump's ignorance': 10 best reader responses so far Posted: 18 Apr 2019 12:52 PM PDT  Our readers sound off on special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report and President Donald Trump's role in Russian interference in US elections.
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| Samsung's Ambitious Galaxy Fold Smartphone Is Already Breaking, Reviewers Say Posted: 17 Apr 2019 12:22 PM PDT  Several tech reviewers are having problems with the ambitious foldable phone
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| North Korea calls for 'immature' Mike Pompeo to be dropped from nuclear talks with US Posted: 18 Apr 2019 02:49 AM PDT  North Korea has called for US secretary of state Mike Pompeo to be removed from nuclear talks because of his reckless and immature behaviour, according to reports.The official KCNA news agency quoted Kwon Jong Gun, a senior foreign ministry official, as accusing Mr Pompeo of "fabricating stories like a fiction writer.""Whenever Pompeo pokes his nose in, the talks go wrong without any results even from the point close to success," Mr Kwon said."I am afraid that, if Pompeo engages in the talks again, the table will be lousy once again and the talks will become entangled."Therefore, even in the case of possible resumption of the dialogue with the US, I wish our dialogue counterpart would be not Pompeo but other person who is more careful and mature in communicating with us."The statement was made shortly after North Korea announced that its supreme leader Kim Jong-un had overseen the testing of a new tactical guided weapon.It was the North's first weapon's test since negotiations over nuclear disarmament and US sanctions broke down at the second summit between Mr Kim and US President Donald Trump in February.Last week the North Korean leader announced that he would only consider a third summit if the US brought the "right attitude" to talks and changed its "hostile" policy, including tough sanctions, before the end of the year.On Monday, Mr Pompeo responded by saying that Mr Kim had promised to denuclearise during his first summit with Mr Trump and that officials were trying to "chart a path forward so we can get there." The North Korean statement by Mr Kwon accused Mr Pompeo of "talking nonsense"."We cannot be aware of Pompeo's ulterior motive behind his self-indulgence in reckless remarks; whether he is indeed unable to understand words properly or just pretending on purpose," said Mr Kwon."However, it is a very dangerous situation if he really did not grasp the meaning. If his behaviour is intended, I think it is none other than silly calculation to be free from the constraint that the US should make a move until the end of the year, misrepresenting the meaning of our requirement as the finalization of the working level negotiation by the end of the year by help of his talented skill of fabricating stories like a fiction writer."Mr Pompeo was also accused of "spouting reckless remarks hurting the dignity of our supreme leadership" – believed to be a reference to the secretary of state's agreement that Mr Kim was a "tyrant".Additional reporting by agencies
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| Lori Loughlin’s Daughter Reportedly Under Criminal Investigation in College Cheating Scandal Posted: 18 Apr 2019 02:11 AM PDT  Frazer Harrison/GettyJust days after Lori Loughlin pleaded not guilty in the college admissions bribery scam, media reports suggest one of her daughters could be next to face a criminal probe.Loughlin and her designer husband Mossimo Giannulli are each accused of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering after allegedly paying $500,000 for each of their daughters to be USC rowing recruits despite neither being active in the sport. Each count carries a maximum 20-year prison term.Their eldest daughter, Isabella Giannulli, 20, deleted her popular Instagram account late Wednesday just as reports surfaced that she received a formal letter from prosecutors that could lead to potential charges.The Daily Mail reports that Loughlin's daughter received a letter of intent from federal prosecutors in Massachusetts in early April as part of the ongoing Operation Varsity Blues investigation. Last week, the Wall Street Journal also reported that several students had received 'target letters' from federal investigators in cases where the student may have been complicit. Several students whose parents are accused of buying or bribing officials to ensure their children's college admission have been suspended, but so far none have been criminally charged. The Daily Mail, quoting an unnamed source, reported that Loughlin's daughter had received a letter. "It is a not-so-veiled threat. [The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts] is making it pretty clear that they have evidence that very strongly suggests she knew of the illegal plot."Loughlin's younger daughter Olivia Jade, 19, who is also implicated in the ordeal, still has her very popular Instagram account up though she has not posted anything since Feb. 28. This week the famous couple rejected a plea bargain that would have potentially kept them from serving jail time in exchange for a guilty plea. An associate of Loughlin told CNN that she felt she had to plead not guilty. "Lori doesn't understand why she's getting so much criticism for pleading not guilty," the friend told CNN. "People must not realize that she had no choice. The plea deal has been taken off the table, and this is the only way they've been told she and Mossimo can avoid jail time and get another plea. They are hoping justice will prevail."Felicity Huffman, who is one of 13 parents accused in the scandal, did enter a guilty plea this week along with several other parents embroiled in the scandal. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Amazon to pull plug on China retail operations: report Posted: 18 Apr 2019 12:15 AM PDT  Amazon plans to close down its online retail operations that cater to consumers in China in an apparent admission of defeat to local e-commerce rivals such as Alibaba and JD.com, a report said on Thursday. The US e-commerce pioneer will maintain other operations in China such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Kindle e-books and cross-border teams that help ship goods from Chinese merchants to customers abroad, Bloomberg News said, citing unidentified people familiar with the plans. An Amazon spokesperson did not explicitly confirm plans to throw in the towel on domestic e-commerce, but said the company was looking to focus more on cross-border sales.
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| The 6 Best Cars and Concepts From the New York Auto Show Posted: 17 Apr 2019 01:04 PM PDT |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: I invited Barr to the Bronx to talk climate change. He said no. Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:49 AM PDT  Ocasio-Cortez continued to tease a Kentucky Republican lawmaker for backpedaling on his invitation for her to visit the Bluegrass State.
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| How Did Notre Dame Come to Be So Neglected? Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:10 AM PDT  With Notre Dame still smoldering, French President Emmanuel Macron promised to rebuild the great cathedral and called for donors. France's luxury industry led the way, with Bernard Arnault, the billionaire founder of the LVMH fashion conglomerate, promising 200 million euros ($226 million) and Francois Pinault of rival fashion group Kering 100 million euros. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo offered money from city coffers and promised to organize an international donor conference.
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| U.S. attorney general to hold Mueller report news conference on Thursday Posted: 17 Apr 2019 01:57 PM PDT  Attorney General William Barr will hold a news conference at 9:30 a.m. (1330 GMT) on Thursday to discuss the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential race, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who appointed Mueller as special counsel nearly two years ago, will also attend the news conference, the department said in a statement. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly criticized the Mueller investigation as a "witch hunt," said in a radio interview on Wednesday he may hold a news conference after Barr.
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| Strong storms roar eastward through Louisiana, Mississippi Posted: 18 Apr 2019 05:06 PM PDT  LEARNED, Miss. (AP) — Strong storms again roared across the South on Thursday, toppling trees and leaving more than 100,000 people without power across Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
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| Opioid crisis: US doctors accused of trading prescriptions for sex and cash in major scandal Posted: 18 Apr 2019 05:25 AM PDT  Scores of medical professionals across seven states were charged by federal prosecutors on Wednesday with schemes to illegally distribute millions of pain pills — in some cases exchanging opioid prescriptions for sex, in others for cash with an added "concierge fee", and in one case routinely prescribing opioids to friends on Facebook.Officials called the case the "single largest prescription opioid law enforcement operation in history".The indictments, unsealed in federal court in Cincinnati on Wednesday, accuse 60 people, including 31 doctors, seven pharmacists and eight nurses of involvement in the schemes, which included opioid prescriptions issued for gratuitous medical procedures like unnecessary tooth-pulling.In some cases doctors simply handed out signed blank prescription forms."These cases involve approximately 350,000 opioid prescriptions and more than 32 million pills — the equivalent of a dose of opioids for every man, woman and child across the states of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and West Virginia combined," Brian Benczkowski, an assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department's criminal division, said at a news conference.Most of the charges were filed against people in those five states; one person was charged in Pennsylvania and one in Louisiana.Nationally, more than 70,000 deaths in 2017 were attributed to drug overdoses, with about one-quarter of them caused by prescription opioids.States wholly or partly in Appalachia recorded some of the highest rates of drug overdose deaths that year: West Virginia was first in the nation, Ohio second and Kentucky fifth."The opioid epidemic is the deadliest drug crisis in American history, and Appalachia has suffered the consequences more than perhaps any other region," Attorney General William Barr said in a statement.Prosecutors accused the medical professionals who were charged on Wednesday of conducting a wide range of schemes.Some involved small leagues of doctors and their office staffs, while in other cases, people acted alone, according to the indictments.Some doctors performed unneeded medical procedures to justify the pills they prescribed, prosecutors said, while others simply passed out prescriptions without going to the trouble of disguising their purpose.One of the doctors facing charges in Ohio had at one time prescribed more controlled substances than anyone else in the state, prosecutors said.A pharmacy in Dayton, Ohio, was accused of dispensing more than 1.75 million pills.And a doctor in Tennessee who called himself the "Rock Doc" was accused of prescribing hundreds of thousands of pills in exchange for sex.A doctor in Alabama, federal prosecutors said, "allegedly recruited prostitutes and other young women with whom he had sexual relationships" to become his patients, and allowed them to use illicit drugs at his home.In some cases, the quantity of drugs prescribed to the same patients at short intervals indicated that they could have been taking as many as 15 pills a day, prosecutors said.The charges announced Wednesday include unlawful distribution of controlled substances and conspiracy to obtain controlled substances by fraud.Prosecutors said that the charges could result in sentences of up to 50 years in prison.The indictments stem from four months of investigative work by the Appalachian Regional Prescription Opioid Task Force, a group of prosecutors, federal agents and data analysts that was created in December 2018 to find patterns suggesting that doctors were prescribing inordinately high numbers of pain pills, and then follow up with traditional law enforcement techniques, including the use of informants and undercover investigators.Cases like this have been prosecuted before, including a Justice Department operation in June that resulted in charges against 162 defendants, including 76 doctors, for fraudulently prescribing and distributing opioids.Those cases were handled within the larger health fraud unit at the Justice Department.The Appalachian task force is different, Benczkowski said, because it is exclusively concerned with corrupt medical professionals, and is "doing it in a region of the country that is probably the hardest hit."The New York Times
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| Iran's Rouhani calls on Mideast states to 'drive back Zionism' Posted: 18 Apr 2019 02:09 AM PDT  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani called on Middle East states on Thursday to "drive back Zionism", in an Army Day tirade against the Islamic republic's archfoe Israel. Speaking flanked by top generals before troops began their annual march-past, Rouhani also sought to reassure the region that the weaponry on display was for defensive purposes and not a threat.
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| NTSB investigating American Airlines JFK flight that 'struck an object' at takeoff Posted: 17 Apr 2019 01:20 PM PDT  The plane reportedly tipped in strong wind, and a wingtip hit a runway marker during takeoff.
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| The Royal Navy Wants Robotic Submarines (Here's Why That Matters) Posted: 17 Apr 2019 07:13 AM PDT  The U.K. Ministry of Defense in April 2019 launched a $3.3-million competition to begin developing a large, robotic submarine.The contest could lead to the acquisition of an operational autonomous sub for the Royal Navy -- and could help the British fleet partially to fill the undersea gap resulting from deep cuts to its sub force.The ministry asked industry by June 2019 to submit proposals for an extra-large unmanned underwater vehicle, or XLUUV."The Royal Navy says that contract will have two stages, a one-year long research, design and refit stage and a testing and trialing stage," U.K. Defense Journal explained. "In the latter stage it is expected that the system will be tested in representative environments for extended periods; the sea trials in stage two may be up to two years long."The government's request for proposals sketched three different operational scenarios for the possible, future robo-sub.In the covert intelligence-gathering role, the XLUUV "is tasked to gather covert intelligence of traffic transiting in a maritime operational area," according to the RFP.
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| Air France-KLM offering free flights to those helping rebuild Notre Dame Cathedral Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:33 AM PDT  Air France-KLM is donating travel to assist with the reconstruction of Notre Dame.
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| 'What's with @FoxNews?': Trump fumes after Bernie Sanders town hall Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:11 AM PDT  Bernie Sanders drew big ratings and rave reviews for his Fox News town hall on Monday night. And President Trump isn't happy about it.
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| South Sudan offers to mediate political transition in Sudan Posted: 17 Apr 2019 09:53 AM PDT ![South Sudan offers to mediate political transition in Sudan]( "South Sudan offers to mediate political transition in Sudan") "The president has offered to mediate the ongoing negotiations among various groups in Sudan with the hope that the new transition will usher in a new day in Sudan...," a statement by Kiir's office said. South Sudan's petroleum minister told Reuters he had traveled to Khartoum to meet the new leadership, alongside a high-level delegation that included Juba's security service chief and a presidential adviser on security. Sudan's south won statehood after almost half a century of civil war, marked by the mass abduction and enslavement of children, scorched earth tactics, ethnic cleansing and famines.
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| EU threatens to tax $20 billion of US goods over Boeing aid Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:57 AM PDT  BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has drawn up a list of $20 billion worth of U.S. products it could tax in an escalating feud over plane industry subsidies, the EU's executive commission said Wednesday.
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| Will This 1954 Mercedes-Benz SL300 Gullwing Sell For $1 Million? Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:06 AM PDT  Silverstone Auctions always attracts high caliber lots that are often fought over by collectors. The up and coming event at Silverstone Classics is on home turf for the British auction house, and so it has selected a very charismatic (German) machine to headline the sale. Feast your eyes on this early 1954 Mercedes-Benz 300SL Gullwing.
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| GoFundMe campaign raises more than $700,000 for boy thrown off mall balcony Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:41 AM PDT  A GoFundMe campaign for a 5-year-old boy who was tossed over a third-floorbalcony at the Mall of America in Minnesota has raised over $700,000
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| US North Korea envoy in Moscow as Russia plans for Kim-Putin talks Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:24 AM PDT  The US special envoy for North Korea was due in Moscow on Wednesday as the Kremlin said it was preparing for possible talks between Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un. Media reports said the first summit between the two leaders could come as early as next week. "Active preparations for a potential meeting are underway," Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said in comments reported by news agencies.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Mercedes-Benz GLS Posted: 17 Apr 2019 07:40 AM PDT |
| 2020 Highlander makes world premiere in New York Posted: 17 Apr 2019 07:08 AM PDT  For the 2020 model year, Toyota transitioned the Highlander onto the TNGA-K Platform, a new foundation that's shared with several other recent models in the company's portfolio. In terms of entertainment and media-oriented technology, all Highlander trims come standard with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, Alexa In-Car compatibility, Waze, SiriusXM, and Wi-Fi connectivity. Two powertrain options are available for the Highlander: a V6 engine offering 22 MPG combined fuel economy or a hybrid engine offering 34 MPG combined fuel economy.
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| National Mustang Day at New York Auto Show marks 55 years of Ford's icon Posted: 17 Apr 2019 06:30 AM PDT  The Mustang car takes a bow at the New York Auto Show and around the country. April 17 is its big day.
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| Trump news: Ivanka 'turned down' World Bank job offer, as Fox News contributor 'in line' for top Treasury job Posted: 17 Apr 2019 12:09 PM PDT  Donald Trump and his staff in the White House are preparing for the imminent release of the Mueller report, which has reportedly led to "breakdown-level" anxiety in the West Wing.That waiting game comes as Mr Trump has doubled down on his demand for better border security, and follows after attorney general William Barr announced new US policy that asylum seekers who cross illegally between ports of entry would no longer have the right to ask a judge to grant them bond for release.Under the new Justice Department policy, those migrants will have to wait in detention until their case can adjudicated — a process that can take a considerable amount of time given America's backlogged immigration courts.Mr Trump has also turned on Fox News after the right-wing news channel hosted a town hall debate with Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Trump tweeted that the event had been "stuffed with Bernie supporters," adding: "What's with @FoxNews?"Mr Barr is expected to release his report on Thursday morning, when he will hold a press conference to discuss the issue.Meanwhile, the race for the Democratic nomination to take the president on in 2020 has been heating up just under eight months until the first votes will be cast in that primary season.Currently leading the pack of candidates are Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and — at least in recent polls — Pete Buttigieg, who has outperformed expectations in the past couple of weeks.Read The Independent's updates as they happen in our live blog below.
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| Sporadic violence as millions vote in second phase of India's mammoth election Posted: 18 Apr 2019 08:24 AM PDT  The Election Commission said 66 percent of more than 155 million eligible Indians had voted, as per provisional data, in 95 constituencies in 12 states. Results of the election to India's 545-member parliament are expected on May 23. In focus are the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, where the main opposition Congress party and its allies need to win big if they hope to stop Prime Minister Narendra Modi from securing a second straight term.
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| Notre Dame fire: Why should France rebuild cathedral? Embers of Christianity still burn. Posted: 18 Apr 2019 04:00 AM PDT  God is not dead in Europe, but many are no longer following Him. Notre Dame Cathedral 's shell remains, in the hope that the structure may be rebuilt.
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| Detail-minded architect left guide for restoring Notre Dame Posted: 18 Apr 2019 01:36 PM PDT  CHARENTON-LE-PONT, France (AP) — Eugene Viollet-le-Duc is still the man to go to when it comes to restoring Notre Dame, even though he died nearly 140 years ago.
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| Here's Everything That's Open and What's Closed on Easter 2019 Posted: 18 Apr 2019 06:05 AM PDT  Wondering where to get eggs on Easter Sunday 2019? Don't worry, we know!
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| Paloma Contreras Launches Linen, Lighting, and Decor Collection with Williams Sonoma Home Posted: 17 Apr 2019 07:39 AM PDT  The interior designer brings her classic yet contemporary touch to her first product collaboration, a 19-piece series with the retailer
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| Apple is still interested in self-driving cars as it explores ‘revolutionary’ LIDAR sensor design Posted: 17 Apr 2019 04:25 PM PDT  Apple's automotive initiative, unofficially dubbed Project Titan, appears to still be alive and kicking. According to a report from Reuters, Apple is currently looking into advanced lidar sensor technology that "would be smaller, cheaper and more easily mass produced than current technology."What's more, the report relays that Apple, in addition to exploring third-party solutions, also has a team of engineers working on developing an Apple-branded lidar sensor.While it remains to be seen if anything comes of Apple's exploration, the larger point here is that Apple still has grand ambitions in the automotive space. This may come as something of a surprise given the series of layoffs Apple's Project Titan has endured over the past few years.Just about three months ago, for instance, word surfaced that Apple cut upwards of 200 employees from the Project Titan team. Far more than a rumor, Apple at the time confirmed the cuts and issued the following statement to various media outlets:> We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple. As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple.> > We continue to believe there is a huge opportunity with autonomous systems, that Apple has unique capabilities to contribute, and that this is the most ambitious machine learning project ever.At this point, it will be fascinating to see what, if anything, ever comes out of Project Titan. As far as we can tell, Apple has abandoned any desire to design and release a car from the ground-up and has instead opted to focus on self-driving car technologies.To this end, Tim Cook himself acknowledged this nearly two years ago when he told Bloomberg: "We're focusing on autonomous systems. It's a core technology that we view as very important. It's probably one of the most difficult A.I. projects actually to work on."
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| View Refreshed 2020 Audi R8 Photos Posted: 17 Apr 2019 03:38 PM PDT |
| New York Auto Show: Here's what Lincoln's new Corsair SUV offers luxury drivers Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:28 AM PDT  Debuting at the New York auto show, the 2020 Lincoln Corsair compact SUV is aimed at young and female buyers.
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| 37 charged in 22 months: a timeline of the Mueller investigation Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:40 PM PDT  Compared to previous independent prosecutor investigations, Special Counsel Robert Mueller moved with uncommon speed in the probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by President Donald Trump. Over 22 months he issued charges against 34 individuals, including six Trump associates, and three companies. - May 17: Four months after Trump took office, Mueller, now 74, is named to lead the Russia meddling and collusion investigation.
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| Trump security adviser unveils new U.S. sanctions to pressure Cuba, Venezuela Posted: 17 Apr 2019 11:32 AM PDT  U.S. national security adviser John Bolton announced a series of new sanctions against Cuba and Venezuela on Wednesday as the Trump administration sought to boost pressure on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and the countries that support him. Bolton, in a speech to an association of veterans of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, said the United States was adding five names linked to Cuba's military and intelligence services to its sanctions blacklist, including the military-owned airline Aerogaviota.
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| White supremacist gets life for running down black man Posted: 17 Apr 2019 01:07 PM PDT  A white supremacist who ran down and killed a young black man was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 28 years.
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| Israel's president formally nominates Netanyahu as PM Posted: 17 Apr 2019 08:33 PM PDT  JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's president on Wednesday formally nominated Benjamin Netanyahu for a fourth consecutive term as prime minister, officially launching a process that is expected to result in a new government dominated by religious and nationalist parties in the coming weeks.
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| Rich vs poor: Donations row shatters French unity over Notre-Dame Posted: 18 Apr 2019 04:41 AM PDT  France's culture minister pleaded Thursday for an end to the controversy over the 850 million euros (950 million dollars) pledged to restore Notre-Dame cathedral, which critics have suggested would be better spent on the poor. Some of France's biggest companies and billionaires, including luxury goods tycoons Francois-Henri Pinault and Bernard Arnault, have pledged amounts of 100 million euros or more to rebuild the landmark after it was gutted by fire on Monday evening. The vast sums have drawn fire in a country where wealth inequality and the plight of the low-income households have been highlighted during five months of demonstrations by "yellow vest" protesters.
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