| Alaska heat wave shatters temperature record in largest city Anchorage Posted: 05 Jul 2019 10:22 AM PDT  Temperatures in Alaska's largest city Anchorage have soared to a sweltering all-time record of 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 centigrade) as a heat wave grips the US state which straddles the Arctic Circle. "At 5pm this afternoon, Anchorage International Airport officially hit 90 degrees for the first time on record," tweeted the National Weather Service (NWS) late Thursday. The average high temperature for July 4 in Anchorage, located in southern Alaska, is a far cooler 65 degrees.
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| 'Any amount we want': Iran poised to increase uranium enrichment at higher levels Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:37 AM PDT  President Hassan Rouhani says Iran will commence higher-level uranium enrichment from July 7 if the impact of U.S. sanctions is not alleviated.
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| Seized North Korean ship sought for American student's death Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:37 PM PDT  The parents of Otto Warmbier have filed a claim for a seized North Korean cargo ship, seeking to collect on a multimillion-dollar judgment awarded in the American college student's death. The Warmbiers filed court papers Wednesday in New York federal court saying they have a right to the assets after North Korea failed to respond to a wrongful death claim that accused it of abducting Warmbier, who had traveled there for a guided tour ahead of a study abroad program in Hong Kong. "The Warmbiers are committed to holding North Korea accountable for the death of their son Otto, and will work tirelessly to seize North Korean assets wherever they may be found," Ben Hatch, an attorney for the family, said in an emailed statement.
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| Sneaky: America's F-22 Stealth Fighter Snuck up on an Iranian F-4 Phantom Posted: 06 Jul 2019 10:00 AM PDT  It was a close call.Back in 2013, Pentagon press secretary George Little said that an Iranian air force F-4 Phantom combat plane attempted to intercept a U.S. MQ-1 Predator drone flying through international airspace near Iran.As we reported back then, one of the two F-4 Phantom jets — in service in Iran since the Shah — came to about 16 miles from the Predator, but broke off pursuit after two American planes escorting the drone broadcast a warning message.It was a close call.The March 2013 episode happened only a few months after a two Sukhoi Su-25 attack planes operated by the Pasdaran (the informal name of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards) attempted to shoot down an American MQ-1 flying a routine surveillance flight in international airspace some 16 miles off Iran.After this attempted interception, the Pentagon decided to escort drones involved in reconnaissance missions with fighter jets: either F-18 Hornets embarked on the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis, currently in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area of responsibility, or F-22 Raptors like those deployed to Al Dhafra in the United Arab Emirates.
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| Preliminary 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Ridgecrest area, strong shaking felt in Valley Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:26 PM PDT  A powerful 7.1 earthquake shook Southern California one day after a magnitude 6.4.
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| Elizabeth Warren Unveils Plan to Boost Wages for Women of Color Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT ![Elizabeth Warren Unveils Plan to Boost Wages for Women of Color]( "Elizabeth Warren Unveils Plan to Boost Wages for Women of Color") (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren proposed a set of executive actions Friday as part of an effort to boost wages for women of color by imposing stricter rules for companies that seek federal contracts and diversifying the senior ranks of the federal government."For decades, the government has helped perpetuate the systemic discrimination that has denied women of color equal opportunities," the Massachusetts senator wrote in a post on Medium announcing the policy. "It's time for the government to try to right those wrongs -- and boost our economy in the process."The plan comes ahead of Warren's appearance at Essence Festival in New Orleans on Saturday where she will make her pitch to an audience of black women, a key constituency in the Democratic primaries. Polls show Warren trails former Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris in support from black voters by double digits. A Quinnipiac University poll this week showed Warren with 4% among black voters; Biden leads with 31%, followed by Harris with 27%.Using executive actions, Warren said she would deny contracts to companies with poor records on diversity and equal pay and companies that use forced arbitration and non-compete clauses. She would also bar employers from asking applicants for past salary information and criminal histories.Black or African-American women working full-time in the U.S. have median weekly earnings of $709, while Hispanic or Latino women earn $631, according to Labor Department statistics for the first quarter. That compares with $826 for white women and $1,033 for white men.Federal contractors would be required to pay all workers a $15 minimum wage. She would also seek to diversify the senior ranks of the federal government by focusing on recruitment from minority-serving colleges, creating a fellowship program for minority and low-income applicants and requiring federal agencies to incorporate diversity into their strategic plans.Warren also said she would direct the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to closely monitor sectors, namely the low-wage service industry, that employ women of color and have high rates of discriminatory practices.To contact the reporter on this story: Tyler Pager in Washington at tpager1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, Scott LanmanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Thousands protest amid outcry over Myanmar child-rape case Posted: 06 Jul 2019 12:06 AM PDT ![Thousands protest amid outcry over Myanmar child-rape case]( "Thousands protest amid outcry over Myanmar child-rape case") Thousands of protesters marched to a police office in the north of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, on Saturday, demanding speedy and transparent justice in a child-rape case that has sparked national outrage. Police said this week they had arrested a suspect in the rape of a toddler - nicknamed Victoria - at a private nursery school in the administrative capital, Naypyitaw, in May. A government led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi took power after sweeping elections in 2015, but key institutions such as the police remain under military control and efforts to strengthen the rule of law have floundered.
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| AD's Favorite Finds For Green Thumbs and Garden Lovers Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Saturday: $25 true wireless earbuds, $4 Instant Pot cookbook, AirPods 2, more Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:28 AM PDT  The week is finally over and the weekend has arrived, but that won't stop the awesome daily deals from rolling in. Highlights from Saturday's roundup include our readers' favorite true wireless earbuds of 2019 for $25.49 when you clip the on-site coupon and use the code 3DT28K4C at checkout, an early Prime Day sale on the Apple Watch Series 3 that cuts prices as low as $199, the best-selling Bluetooth earbuds on all of Amazon for only $14.99, two unadvertised secret Sonos sales that aren't available anywhere else, SanDisk 128GB microSD cards for just $18.99, 200GB cards for $30, a $40 smart light switch that adds connectivity to every light bulb in a room for $27, an Instant Pot cookbook with 500 delicious recipes for only $3.99, Amazon's lowest price ever on new AirPods 2, and more. Check out all of today's best deals below.
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| 'Tanks' a lot: Trump 4th of July celebration wasn't first time armored vehicles rumbled into Washington Posted: 05 Jul 2019 04:55 AM PDT  From presidential inaugurals to military victory parades, the nation's capital has seen many occasions where tanks and other weaponry were on display.
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| Families file suit in bizarre US mistaken identity case Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:16 PM PDT  Alfonso Bennett's sisters agreed to take him off life support after doctors at Mercy Hospital in Chicago told them there was no hope for recovery. Turns out it wasn't their brother Alfonso Bennett who was dying in the hospital but an entirely different man, Elisha Brittman. The Bennett and Brittman families filed a lawsuit this week against the Chicago Police Department and Mercy Hospital in Illinois' Cook County Circuit Court claiming negligence.
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| Is the United States Ready for a Tech War? Posted: 05 Jul 2019 02:12 PM PDT  A global "technology war" that will likely shape U.S. economic and national security well into the twenty-first century is emerging. Many technologies have become the focus of this war, with winners and losers are already beginning to emerge. At this point, the United States finds itself at a distinct disadvantage.Ironically, the seeds of this emerging conflict were inadvertently sown by the United States. The world has seen the impact of technology—how it has led to the buildup of significant wealth and overwhelming military capacity with global reach. With approximately one-quarter of the global gross domestic product and military spending that exceeds the spending of the next seven nations combined, the United States became what some have labelled the world's "hyperpower." And others want in, which has meant growing competition and now an emerging tech war.Today, important technology development changes are underway that could dramatically affect world order. The continued shift in global research and development spending highlights how far U.S. dominance has eroded. In 1960, when considering federal, industry and academia, the United States accounted for 69 percent of the global R&D.; By 2016, the United States accounted for only 28 percent of the global R&D.; With such a shift, it is no wonder that U.S. technology leadership and superiority can no longer be assured.
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| Multiple injuries in Florida gas explosion Posted: 06 Jul 2019 11:10 AM PDT  A vacant pizza restaurant exploded Saturday in a thundering roar at a South Florida shopping plaza, injuring more than 20 people as large chunks of concrete flew through the air. The blast flung debris widely along a busy road in Plantation, west of Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant was destroyed, and nearby businesses and cars were damaged. Though firefighters found ruptured gas lines afterward, authorities said it was too early to determine a cause. Broward County Firefighters works in the area where an explosion occurred at a shopping center in Plantation, Florida Credit: Cristobal Herrera/Rex "We thought it was thunder at first, and then we felt the building shake and things started falling. I looked outside and it was almost like the world was ending," said Alex Carver, a worket at a deli across the street from the explosion. "It was nuts, man. It was crazy." The explosion hurled large pieces of concrete up to 50 yards (45 meters) away and sent pieces of metal scattering as far as 100 yards (90 meters) across the street. Carver said two of his co-workers' cars were destroyed. At least 21 people were injured though none of the injuries was life-threatening, Police Sgt. Jesica Ryan said. The explosion demolished the building, leaving behind only part of its metal frame. The restaurant, called PizzaFire, had been out of business for several months. The blast also blew out the windows of a popular fitness club next door at the shopping plaza in Broward County. Jesse Walaschek had just left the fitness club with his wife and three children, ages 4, 6 and 8. They were parked near the restaurant and had just driven about 50 yards (45 meters) away when they heard the blast.. The building where the explosion happen destroyed. People I spoke with described feeling Surrounding buildings shake as far as South of SR 595 @WPLGLocal10pic.twitter.com/gd4qLU21n4— Roy Ramos (@RRamosWPLG) July 6, 2019 "It was a massive explosion like I have never experienced," he said. Walasheck said dust and debris filled the air. "Everything just stopped. You didn't see anybody. I just wanted to get these guys safe," he said, pointing to his children. "If this had happened a minute before when we were getting the kids in the car, it would have been really bad." Dozens of firefighters responded and could be seen picking through the rubble with dogs sniffing through the debris to make sure people weren't trapped underneath. There were no known fatalities immediately after the explosion. Fire department Battalion Chief Joel Gordon said there were ruptured gas lines when firefighters arrived, but he couldn't say for certain that it was a gas explosion. "At this point, nobody was killed. Thank goodness for that. As bad as it is, it could have been a lot worse," Gordon said
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| 2020 Vision: Post-debate polls show new shape in Democratic race Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:05 AM PDT  Joe Biden has anything but an easy road to clinching the nomination.
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| Venezuela Top Court Says Jailed Judge and Journalist Released Posted: 05 Jul 2019 04:52 PM PDT ![Venezuela Top Court Says Jailed Judge and Journalist Released]( "Venezuela Top Court Says Jailed Judge and Journalist Released") (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan courts released judge Maria Lourdes Afiuni nine years after her arrest and journalist Braulio Jatar, the country's top court said in separate posts on Twitter, without offering further details.Afiuni, writing on Twitter around mid-day on Friday, confirmed her release, saying she would post a message when she had the official high court resolution. As of Friday evening, Afiuni had not posted that information.National Assembly leader Juan Guaido said on Twitter that Afiuni and Jatar were released due to the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights report on Venezuela published on Thursday.United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said that 22 people were released on Thursday, without specifying if Afiuni or Jatar were included in that figure. "We welcome these releases and encourage the authorities to release others detained for the exercise of their human rights," Bachelet said in a statement.The United Nations report called on Nicolas Maduro's regime to take "immediate, concrete measures to halt and remedy the grave violations" of economic, social and civil rights.Venezuela's government responded, saying the UN report showed bias by minimizing measures to improve people's lives and ignored official data, while failing to mention violent actions by the opposition.To contact the reporter on this story: Jose Orozco in Mexico City at jorozco8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ney Hayashi at ncruz4@bloomberg.net, Dale QuinnFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 14 sailors killed in submarine fire laid to rest in Russia Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:58 AM PDT  The 14 Russian seamen who died in a fire on one of the navy's research submersibles earlier this week were laid to rest in St. Petersburg on Saturday. The Defense Ministry said the sailors were killed by toxic fumes from the fire. Officials didn't name the nuclear-powered vessel, but Russian media reported that it was Russia's most secret submersible, the Losharik.
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| Strong aftershock jolts same California desert region day after major quake Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:44 AM PDT  A strong aftershock shook Southern California early on Friday as residents were still assessing the damage from the strongest earthquake in the region in 25 years on July 4, which was felt by more than 20 million people. The 5.4 magnitude aftershock, the biggest so far, struck the same desert region as Thursday's earthquake. Its epicenter was about 11 miles (18 km) west of Searles Valley at 4:07 a.m., the U.S. Geological Survey said.
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| The Overreach of LGBTQ Activism Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  In his History of Sexuality, Foucault noted that it was only in the 19th century that we began to define people by their desires. That's when "homosexual became a personage," "a type of life," a "morphology." Foucault -- yes, that Foucault -- thought this reductive and distracting. What would he say now, I wonder?Consider all the additional "personages" that have appeared in the last few decades. By no means an exhaustive list, these include transgender, pansexual, bisexual, asexual, demisexual, neutrois, agender, non-binary, polysexual, polyamorous, genderqueer, and genderfluid. Many have their own flags -- an interesting trend in itself. And all identities, we are told, belong to non-geographical and quasi-mystical "communities."Many Americans, especially young ones, find such frenzied categorization troubling, as recent figures indicate: The annual GLAAD Accelerating Acceptance report shows a noticeable drop in the number of 18- to 34-year-olds who feel comfortable interacting with LGBTQ people, from 63 percent in 2016, to 53 percent in 2017, to 45 percent in 2018. But the genius of "LGBTQ" politics -- and the principal reason for its speedy success -- is that its branding has shielded it from criticism, mainly by convincing critics to stay silent. (Because who would want to die on that hill?) The idea is that challenging the ontological assumptions of LGBTQ etc., -- even à la Foucault -- is to deny the right of millions, not only to live and love as they please, but to exist. The reality is quite different. As James Kirchick in The Atlantic explains, "starved of real enemies," and "guided by a moral absolutism resembling the religious zeal of those they oppose, some gay activists and their progressive allies have taken a zero-sum approach to the issue of antidiscrimination."This is evident in three key areas.LGBTQ history. Without a doubt, sexual minorities in the United States have, collectively, been ill-treated, stigmatized, discriminated against, and denied basic rights (especially during the AIDS crisis). This is shameful, but it does not justify the simplification and falsifying of historical accounts.This year New York City hosted the WorldPride festival, and the 50th anniversary of the 1969 police raid at the Stonewall Inn in Manhattan was remembered. The revisionist accounts of this event have been telling. As Chadwick Moore at The Spectator wrote recently, "Stonewall is a legend, and the mythology keeps evolving." He recalled that the clubs were owned by the Mafia and that employees trafficked prostitutes. "What is clear is that Stonewall was not targeted simply because gays hung out there," he concluded.Trans activists have been promoting their own revisionist history of the Stonewall riots. A monument honoring Marsah P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, two transgender activists, is to be built in New York City. The new thinking holds that they played a "vital role in the Stonewall riots and the gay rights movement it launched." But this account is dubious. First, Johnson and Rivera were transvestites, not transgender (a term that appeared only later). In other words, they were cross-dressing men. In The Spectator, Moore explains another problem with this version of events: "Rivera was blacked out on heroin 30 blocks north in Bryant Park as the riots unfolded, and Johnson admitted in interviews he wasn't there when it started." These differing interpretations have caused major upset within the LGBTQ bracket. "Long-simmering tensions between transgender women of color and white gay men" came to a head last Saturday at Stonewall Inn, when a black trans woman "arrived unannounced and disrupted a drag show, drawing an unfriendly response," Reuters reported.LGBTQ economics. Writing for the New York Times about the general leftward lurch of the Democratic party, David Brooks noted:> American progressives have a story to tell, and they are not afraid to tell it. In this story global capitalism is a war zone. Free trade is a racket. Big business and Big Pharma are rapacious villains that crush the common man.But how do progressives square this with LGBTQ activism? Big Pharma has a significant monetary interest in transgender transition treatments -- especially for children -- that make patients dependent on cross-sex hormones for life. In Buying Gay, the historian David K. Johnson makes a convincing case that the gay political movement was the direct result of consumer capitalism. As for big business, Pride month has seen a whole host of corporate sponsors from Wells Fargo to T-Mobile. Even Google maps and Uber joined in, having rainbow-colored pins and cars on their apps. Indeed, it is difficult to think of a political movement with comparable corporate investment.There has been some resistance on the left to the increasingly corporate nature of the pride movement. For instance, the Queer Liberation March by Reclaim Pride was something of a small sideshow at this year's Pride march. But, overall, the dissent has been minimal. Corporatization of gay rights is not just an American phenomenon, either. In the U.K., "the sponsorships are all corporate or governmental, there are huge amounts of money coming from banks, utilities, and governmental bodies as well as funding bodies right into LGBT organizations," Miranda Yardley, a Marxist transsexual blogger, told me. "And as most of the L and G battle has been fought and won, money for LGBT generally means it goes to the T." (Yardley takes a somewhat old-fashioned view of sex, that it cannot literally be changed.)LGBTQ politics. In October, Democratic presidential candidates will participate in a special debate exclusively focused on LGBT issues. If candidates' comments on LGBTQ issues at the primary debates are anything to go by, they will all be tripping over each other to bolster their woke credentials without any real knowledge or understanding of the complexity of the issues.During the Democratic-primary debates, Tulsi Gabbard reiterated her apology to the "LGBTQ community," stating that "maybe many people in this country can relate to the fact that I grew up in a socially conservative home, held views when I was very young that I no longer hold today." But she is wrong to assume that this is a left–right issue. In fact, many on the left, especially lesbians and feminists, are concerned about the overreach of trans rights. And many more gay people do not place themselves under the LGBTQ umbrella at all.Julian Castro said he believed in "reproductive justice" (i.e., abortion access) for not only women but also trans females (who are male). He is either biologically illiterate or, more likely, not quite au courant with LGBTQ terminology.Kamala Harris went seamlessly from the legacy of civil rights into "that's why we need to pass the Equality Act." This suggests she either hasn't read the bill she's promoting, or she doesn't care about women and girls. Among other things, the Equality Act would devastate women's sports by allowing males to compete and displace them and remove their right to sex-segregated spaces, from prisons to locker rooms, across the country.My prediction is that as LGBTQ overreach continues, it will backfire, and the culture will reorient. My hope, then, is that the obsession with identity will die down. And a day will come when people are finally judged by the content of their character -- not by the object of their desires. I hope. But I don't hold my breath.
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| Trump says detention facilities 'beautifully run' after report describes dangerous conditions Posted: 05 Jul 2019 02:05 PM PDT  President Donald Trump is defending border facilities used to detain undocumented immigrants after a government report cites overcrowded conditions.
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| Fourth of July celebrations take violent turn in Chicago Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:03 AM PDT  Chicago police say three people were stabbed, several trampled at annual fireworks show; Mike Tobin reports.
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| Mexican authorities rescue 24 kidnapped migrants Posted: 06 Jul 2019 09:22 AM PDT  Mexican authorities on Friday rescued 24 Central American migrants, including nine children, who had been held hostage for nearly three weeks in the crime-ridden state of Guanajuato, officials said. The migrants were held for 20 days in the town of Celaya, about 210 kilometres (130 miles) from Mexico City, said Secretary of State Security Juan Jose Gonzalez. Separately, the security ministry announced the arrest of 59 migrants, including 55 Hondurans, around the northeastern town of Saltillo, near the US border.
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| China locks down Xinjiang a decade after deadly ethnic riots Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:43 PM PDT  A decade after deadly riots tore through his hometown, Kamilane Abudushalamu still vividly recalls the violence that left him an exile. On July 5, 2009, Abudushalamu was hiding with his father on the 10th floor of an office tower in Urumqi, the capital of China's Xinjiang region that is home to the Turkic Uighur ethnic minority. Hours later, when he and his father stepped out to sprint home, he saw crowds of Uighurs stabbing Han Chinese in front of a middle school.
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| Cat and Mouse: A U.S. Destroyer Shadowed a Russian Warship in the Caribbean Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:00 AM PDT  The U.S. military said recently that it is monitoring the Russian ship's activities.One of Russia's most advanced warships is sailing around in the Caribbean, but it's not alone: the U.S. Navy has dispatched a destroyer to keep a close eye on it.The Admiral Gorshkov, the first of a new class of Russian frigates built for power projection, arrived in Havana, Cuba on Monday accompanied by the multipurpose logistics vessel Elbrus, the sea tanker Kama, and the rescue tug Nikolai Chiker, the Associated Press reported.(This first appeared in late June.)The Russian warship made headlines earlier this year when Russia reported that it was arming the vessel with a new weapon — the electro-optic Filin 5P-42 — that emits an oscillating beam of high-intensity light designed to cause temporary blindness, disorientation, and even nausea.The U.S. military said Wednesday that it is monitoring the Russian ship's activities.
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| French lawmakers vote to target online hate speech in draft bill Posted: 05 Jul 2019 08:50 AM PDT  Social media giants such as Facebook and Twitter would be required to remove any hateful content within 24 hours under a draft bill approved by France's National Assembly on Friday. President Emmanuel Macron wants to make France a leader in regulating U.S. tech giants and containing the spread of illicit content and false information on the most-used platforms.
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| Heatwave and Wildfires in Alaska as Temperatures Hit 90 Degrees On Independence Day Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:36 PM PDT  Climate scientists and meteorologists warn that high Alaska temperatures and larger fires are another sign of worsening severe weather
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| Trump blames rain and teleprompter for his July 4 speech gaffe Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:09 AM PDT  President Trump on Friday blamed inclement weather and a malfunctioning teleprompter for his odd riff on air travel during the American Revolution.
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| Libya Uncovers Alleged Russian Plot to Meddle in African Votes Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:47 AM PDT ![Libya Uncovers Alleged Russian Plot to Meddle in African Votes]( "Libya Uncovers Alleged Russian Plot to Meddle in African Votes") (Bloomberg) -- Libyan security forces have arrested two men accused of working for a Russian troll farm seeking to influence elections in the oil exporter and other African countries.A letter from the state prosecutor of the internationally-backed Tripoli government to a Libyan security chief said the men were involved in "securing a meeting" with Saif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, the fugitive son of the ousted dictator and a potential presidential candidate who enjoys the backing of some officials in Moscow.Russia's foreign ministry said it was aware of the reports and was seeking to verify them. "We haven't received an official notification from the Libyan side regarding this matter," the foreign ministry's press service said.Laptops and memory sticks found with the suspects showed that they worked for an outfit identified as Fabrika Trollei, Russian for Troll Factory, that "specializes in influencing elections that are to be held in several African states" including Libya, the letter, stamped by the attorney general's office and obtained by Bloomberg, stated. Two Libyan government officials with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed the authenticity of the document.Fabrika Trollei was the moniker given to a network of media and political outfits connected to Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, who's been accused by the U.S. of funding and organizing operations to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. Prigozhin has been in contact with representatives of Saif al-Islam over his future political role, according to three people familiar with the situation.Troll FactoryLibya had planned to hold elections this year as part of a UN-sponsored roadmap to heal the divisions that have plagued the OPEC member since the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that ended Moammar al-Qaddafi's four-decade rule. That initiative has been upended since eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar launched in April a military assault to capture Tripoli.Haftar himself has presidential ambitions and is fighting to seize the capital from the United Nations-backed government led by Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, which carried out the arrests. The offensive has descended into a proxy war with each side accusing the other of inviting foreign interference.Haftar is supported by the U.A.E and Egypt, and had received Russian assistance, though Russia has also tried to cultivate other partners in Libya, including Saif al-Islam, as it looks to expand its role in North Africa and build its geopolitical might.Saif al-Islam's aides have previously said he had the clout to rally disparate Libyan tribes with a promise to restore stability. Others say his influence is over-stated in a country where the rebels and dissidents who ousted his father now vie for power."Russia is trying to increase its influence across Africa, it is trying to play its game. And this game is very diverse, it differs from country to a country," said Alexander Baunov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Center. "Sometimes it is via private actors, sometimes it's through state actors. Prigozhin is one of Russia's proxy agents."With U.S. Absent in Libya, Russia Courts a Leader Named QaddafiPutin's ChefOne of the Libyan officials said the detained Russians had met Saif al-Islam twice between their arrival in Libya in March and their arrest in May. They had also confessed to taking part in a campaign to influence elections in Madagascar, he said. Three Libyans, including the son of a Qaddafi-era foreign minister, had also been arrested. The men have yet to be charged.The prosecution document, dated July 3, named one of the men detained as Maxim Shugalei, a Russian political consultant who works for the Moscow-based Foundation for the Defense of National Values and whose head until recently ran a news website linked by the U.S. to Prigozhin.Shugalei's employer confirmed that he and an unspecified number of other employees were detained in May by Libyan authorities. It said in a statement on its website that they didn't intervene in the country's electoral process and were just carrying out sociological studies. The other man detained was Samer Hassan Seifan, identified by a colleague as an Arabic speaker who was acting as their interpreter.Alexander Prokofiev, named in the Libyan document as a third Russian man who escaped arrest, said he was working with Shugalei in Libya on research commissioned by the foundation and confirmed that they interviewed Saif al-Islam. "This is a wild and absurd situation," he said by message. "The topic of meddling in elections that don't exist is complete nonsense."Known as "Putin's chef" for his Kremlin catering contracts, Prigozhin has previously denied any role in U.S. election meddling. He didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment via his Concord Catering company.Shugalei is a political consultant from St. Petersburg who has experience in Africa and is known to work for Prigozhin, said Petr Bystrov, a senior member of the Russian Association of Political Consultants. "He's a fairly highly-qualified expert," Bystrov said by phone.Putin's Indicted 'Chef' Descends on Africa, Mercenaries in TowAlexander Malkevich, the head of the Foundation for the Defense of National Values, was previously editor-in-chief of USA Really news website, which has been named by the U.S. Treasury department as one of the outlets linked to Prigozhin and engaged in efforts to post content on divisive political issues. Malkevich said he had left USA Really in February and denied any link to Prigozhin.Qaddafi ComebackSaif al-Islam, one-time Libyan heir apparent, was held by the Zintan militia in western Libya after his capture in the 2011 war that toppled and killed his father. The rebels freed him in 2016 but he's been in hiding ever since and his whereabouts are unknown. An aide did not immediately respond to a call for comment.Qaddafi's son remains wanted by The Hague-based International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity relating to a violent crackdown on demonstrations against his father's rule and it wasn't clear whether he'd be eligible to run for president given the ambiguity over his legal status.(Updates throughout Russian comment, details from paragraph 3.)To contact the reporters on this story: Samer Khalil Al-Atrush in Cairo at skhalilalatr@bloomberg.net;Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net;Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Benjamin HarveyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Three sisters who killed abusive father charged with murder in Russia. Outrage ensued Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:07 AM PDT  The Khachaturyan sisters were charged last month with premeditated murder in a case that has shone a light on the Russian justice system.
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| The 11 Most Scenic Bike Routes in the World Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| Biden says having a female vice president would be 'great' Posted: 05 Jul 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden says it would be "great" to have a female vice president, but he won't say whether he'd pick Sen. Kamala Harris for the No. 2 spot if he receives his party's nomination. In an interview aired Friday on CNN, Biden said, "I think it helps having a woman on the ticket." He was asked whether it might be Harris, who confronted him at last week's Democratic presidential debate over his stance on busing in the 1970s. "I think it'd be great to have a female VP," Biden said.
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| Why the Navy SEALs Loved the Sig Sauer P226 Gun Posted: 04 Jul 2019 08:30 PM PDT  While the Sig Sauer P226 is used by many militaries and agencies worldwide, one of the most famous users of the pistol is the U.S. Navy SEALs, which used the P226 up until they switched to the Glock 19 around 2015. But the pistol has constantly evolved throughout its service with the Navy SEALs: there are three practical generations of P226s that have been used by the SEALs.The first generation of P226 was adopted by the Navy SEALs following some embarrassing issues that happened during the XM9 pistol trials that resulted in the adoption of the Beretta 92 by all services. A slide on a Beretta failed and hit a Navy SEAL in the face, causing him minor injury. While Beretta would address this flaw in the issued version of the M9, the damage was already done, and the SEALs chose the P226, a runner up design, as their primary service pistol.However, poor experiences with 9mm ball ammunition would lead special units to develop the Mk 23 Offensive Handgun Weapon System, chambered in .45 ACP. These hulking pistols would go on to be used by the Navy SEALs, under the designation Mk 23, but was soon found to be too big and heavy for practical use. So, in the late 1990s, the Navy decided to buy more P226s, but designated them Mk 24, as they were the next pistol adopted after the Mk 23.The Mk 24 differed from earlier P226s as it was purpose built for the SEALs and the demands for their environment, featuring a chrome lined chamber and barrel, a proprietary Sig rail and a new finish on the slide. The characteristic anchor was also present on the slide, indicating that the pistol was purpose-built for Naval Special Operations Forces.
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| Realistic new renders give us our closest look yet at Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:36 AM PDT  Samsung on Friday morning announced that the company expects its second-quarter operating profit to plummet by a gut-wrenching 56% on-year to $5.6 billion. To make matters even worse, that figure includes a one-time payment from Apple of nearly $700 million because it failed to meet its minimum commitment for iPhone OLED displays. Samsung's chip business had been booming and the Galaxy S10 series was supposed to be a huge help to its slumping smartphone division. And yet the first full quarter of Galaxy S10 sales turned out to be a dismal one, and the company's Galaxy Fold debacle certainly didn't help either. Considering the Galaxy Note series has never sold anywhere near as well as the Galaxy S series, we're not sure how much of a boost the upcoming new Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ will be for Samsung's bottom line. What we are sure of, however, is that Samsung's soon-to-be-released Galaxy Note 10 series is shaping up to be its most impressive new smartphone series yet. And now, thanks to a new set of leaked images shared by an insider, we just got our closest look yet at both upcoming new Galaxy Note 10 phones. When Samsung saw that Apple was planning to release a new "entry-level" iPhone model alongside its flagship iPhones in 2018, the company was quick to copy the strategy. While overall Galaxy S10 sales didn't do much to help Samsung's plummeting profit in Q2 this year, word on the street is that the less expensive Galaxy S10e has been the best-selling Galaxy S10 model ever since the S10 series was first released back in March. With that in mind, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise that Samsung is using the same strategy next month when it launches the new Galaxy Note 10 series. High-end smartphones have gotten so expensive that companies like Apple and Samsung now have to dial back some of the features in order to offer stripped-down versions that are at least somewhat affordable. So instead of just releasing one new Galaxy Note phone in 2019 like Samsung has done in previous years, the company plans to release an "entry-level" Galaxy Note 10 and a high-end Galaxy Note 10+. Now, model upcoming new models have been shown in great detail thanks to a fresh leak. Twitter user Sudhanshu Ambhore is somewhat new on the scene, but he has already been the source of several smartphone leaks that ended up being accurate. On Friday, he posted newly leaked renders of both the Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+. https://twitter.com/Sudhanshu1414/status/1147002935143854082 https://twitter.com/Sudhanshu1414/status/1147001883577315328 Here's a closer look at the Galaxy Note 10: And here's the Galaxy Note 10+: Both models might look the same at first glance, but you can tell them apart by the back of each phone. The Galaxy Note 10 has an LED flash next to its new triple-lens rear camera, while the Galaxy Note 10+ has a fourth TOF sensor and one other sensor in addition to the LED flash. The plus version of the Note 10 is also expected to have a larger display. The new Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10+ will both be unveiled during a press conference in New York on August 7th, and they're expected to go on sale in the weeks that follow.
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| Shiseido unveils intelligent skincare system based on Internet of Things Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:59 AM PDT  Japanese beauty behemoth Shiseido is raising the stakes in skincare technology with the launch of a new pay-monthly app and skincare system named Optune, which promises consumers picture-perfect skin -- for 10,000 yen (about $92) a month. Offering as many as 80,000 combinations, the product's software -- available as an iPhone app -- works by taking photos of the user's face in order to detect skin conditions. The data is then analyzed together with sleep rhythms and menstrual cycles taken into consideration, as well as external factors such as weather and air pollution, in order to concoct the right mix of serums which are then delivered via the accompanying cylindrical device, dispensed as a personalized formula twice a day.
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| Los Angeles 'Big One' quake fears revived by major shocks Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:43 PM PDT  Two strong earthquakes that pierced years of seismic calm in southern California have revived fears of the "Big One" striking Los Angeles, with officials warning citizens to be prepared for further shocks. A 7.1-magnitude quake that struck a remote region some 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of Los Angeles on Friday evening was felt throughout the city, prompting Angelenos to evacuate homes, bars, restaurants and movie theaters. The quake -- which followed a 6.4-magnitude tremor the previous day -- caused only minor damage in Los Angeles such as scattered power outages.
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| Trump Administration Tells Court It Will Push Ahead With Efforts to Add Citizenship Question to Census Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:59 AM PDT  President Donald Trump said he is considering issuing an executive order to force the addition of a citizenship question on the 2020 census
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| On Venezuelan independence day, Maduro calls for dialogue as Guaido slams 'dictatorship' Posted: 05 Jul 2019 10:44 AM PDT ![On Venezuelan independence day, Maduro calls for dialogue as Guaido slams 'dictatorship']( "On Venezuelan independence day, Maduro calls for dialogue as Guaido slams 'dictatorship'") Speaking to a gathering of top military officials, Maduro reiterated his support for a negotiation process mediated by Norway between his socialist government and Guaido, the leader of the opposition-held National Assembly who argues Maduro's 2018 re-election was a fraud.
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| Biden would name a teacher as education secretary, wouldn't appoint his wife Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:31 PM PDT  "So the press doesn't get confused, I promise I'm not going to appoint my wife," Biden said.
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| The 30 Best Video Games of 2019 (So Far) Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| The Air Force Just Closed The Door on New F-22 Raptors Posted: 04 Jul 2019 11:00 PM PDT  As the Air Force explained in the report, the aging F-22 design will not be competitive against an evolving threat as nations like Russia and China continue to invest in new technologies. "Moving closer to 2030, it is important to acknowledge that threat capabilities have and will continue to evolve at a rapid rate, creating highly contested environments," the report reads.A 2017 Pentagon report to Congress detailing production retail costs for Lockheed Martin's F-22 Raptor show that reviving the powerful stealth air superiority fighter would be prohibitively expensive. Moreover, it would take so long to reconstitute the production line that it would not be until the mid to late 2020s before the first "new" F-22s would have flown. By that time, the F-22 would be increasingly challenged by enemy—Russian and Chinese—capabilities.(This first appeared last year.)"The timeline associated with pursuing F-22 production restart would see new F-22 deliveries starting in the mid-to-late 2020s," the Air Force report to Congress reads. "While the F-22 continues to remain the premier air superiority solution against the current threat, new production deliveries would start at a point where the F-22' s capabilities will begin to be challenged by the advancing threats in the 2030 and beyond timeframe. F-22 production re-sta1t would also directly compete against the resources necessary to pursue the Chief of Staff of the Air Force-signed Air Superiority 2030 (AS 2030) Enterprise Capability Collaboration Team (ECCT) Flight Plan, which addresses the critical capabilities required to persist, survive, and be lethal in the rapidly evolving-highly-contested Anti-Access/Area-Denial (A2/AD) threat-environment."
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| Apple is reportedly working on a foldable iPad with 5G support and a massive screen Posted: 05 Jul 2019 01:56 PM PDT  2019 was supposed to be the year of the foldable, but issues with Galaxy Fold review units and a mysterious delay of Huawei's Mate X have left curious consumers in the lurch. Both of the phones will launch eventually, but it's difficult to see foldable devices establishing any kind of foothold on the market this year.That apparently hasn't scared off Apple, though, as IHS Markit analyst Jeff Lin claims that the company is developing a foldable product of its own. This isn't the first time we've heard rumors about an Apple-made foldable, but the twist here is that Lin says Apple is building a foldable iPad, rather than an iPhone.According to Lin, the foldable iPad will support 5G, will have the latest A series processor, and will feature a display nearly as large as the current MacBook line. He didn't describe the design of the device, so we have no idea whether this foldable iPad will have a single screen that folds in half, or if Apple will go another route. Lin also noted that it will be highly portable and have "business-friendly" features, which might make it the laptop replacement the standard iPad isn't (despite Apple making strides on this front in recent years).Lin believes that the foldable 5G iPad could launch as soon as next year, but considering that Apple has yet to even release a 5G phone, it's hard to imagine a 5G foldable tablet being ready within the next 18 months. That said, there have been rumors that 5G could come to the iPad line before it hits the iPhone.
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| Elephants: the jumbo surprise outside Nigeria's megacity Posted: 05 Jul 2019 03:01 AM PDT  The jungle was so thick that Emmanuel Olabode only found the elephants he was tracking when the great matriarch's sniffing trunk reached out close enough to almost touch. The elusive elephants are just 100 kilometres (60 miles) from downtown Lagos, Nigeria's economic capital, home to over 20 million people. "They are scared of humans," says Olabode, who leads the Forest Elephant Initiative, a conservation group in the Omo Forest, northeast of Africa's biggest city.
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| U.N. council pushes Libya truce, tells other countries to stay out Posted: 05 Jul 2019 11:55 AM PDT  The United Nations Security Council on Friday condemned a deadly air strike on a migrant detention center in Libya, called for the warring parties to commit to a ceasefire and urged other countries not to intervene or exacerbate the conflict.
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| Iran breaches nuclear fuel stockpile allowed under accord, UN says Posted: 05 Jul 2019 05:47 AM PDT Iran exceeded a limitation on how much nuclear fuel it can possess under the terms of the 2015 international nuclear accord, the U.N. says.
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| Mackenzie Lueck case: Body of missing college student recovered from Utah's Logan Canyon, police say Posted: 05 Jul 2019 12:34 PM PDT  The body of Mackenzie Lueck, a University of Utah student from Southern California, has been found a week after a man was arrested on suspicion of her murder.
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