| Reuters World News Summary Posted: 04 May 2019 05:59 AM PDT ![Reuters World News Summary]( "Reuters World News Summary") A Brexit deal could be reached by negotiators from Britain's Conservative and Labour parties within a few days, the leader of Scotland's Conservatives, Ruth Davidson, said. North Korea fired several "unidentified short-range projectiles" into the sea off its east coast on Saturday, prompting South Korea to call on its communist neighbor to "stop acts that escalate military tension on the Korean Peninsula." The South Korean military initially described it as a missile launch, but subsequently gave a more vague description.
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| NASA fits 265,000 galaxies into a single ‘Hubble Legacy Field’ image Posted: 05 May 2019 09:29 AM PDT  Astronomers have assembled the most all-encompassing image of space ever created.It puts together 16 years of data captured from the Hubble Space Telescope, according to a statement from NASA. All together, the composite is made up of nearly 7,500 individual exposures. Dubbed the "Hubble Legacy Field," this wide view image shows around 265,000 galaxies. These galaxies go back 13.3 billion years to 500 million years after the big bang, showcasing how they have changed over time.This latest Hubble mosaic consists of around 30 times as many galaxies as previous deep fields did. For example, the eXtreme Deep Field (XDF) which was put together in 2012 and is included in the Hubble Legacy Field, contains 5,500 galaxies."The faintest and farthest galaxies are just one ten-billionth the brightness of what the human eye can see," NASA said in its statement.SEE ALSO: Feast your eyes on this spectacular Hubble photo of a spiral galaxyThe findings from 31 different Hubble programs came together in order to assemble this image. According to NASA, no image will surpass the Hubble Legacy Field until the next generation of space telescopes are launched. "Now that we have gone wider than in previous surveys, we are harvesting many more distant galaxies in the largest such dataset ever produced by Hubble," said Garth Illingworth, who led the Hubble Legacy Field image team. "This one image contains the full history of the growth of galaxies in the universe, from their time as 'infants' to when they grew into fully fledged 'adults.'" "The expectation is that this survey will lead to an even more coherent, in-depth and greater understanding of the universe's evolution in the coming years," he added.The James Webb Space Telescope, which will give astronomers an even deeper look into the legacy field, is expected to launch in 2021. WATCH: NASA cites faulty aluminum scam as cause of mission failures
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| Black box found after crash landing of Boeing 737 in Jacksonville, Florida; plane had a/c problems earlier Posted: 05 May 2019 01:49 PM PDT  All 143 people aboard a Boeing 737 survived after the plane skidded off a runway into a river in Jacksonville.
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| Nancy Pelosi tries to herd Democrats: Today's Toon Posted: 05 May 2019 01:40 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| Venezuela's Maduro tells armed forces to be 'ready' in case of US attack Posted: 04 May 2019 08:51 AM PDT  Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called on the armed forces to be "ready" in the event of a US military offensive against the South American country, in a speech to troops on Saturday. Earlier this week, Guaido tried to incite a military insurrection but it quickly fizzled out as a group of 25 rebel soldiers sought refuge in the Brazilian embassy in Caracas.
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| Cyprus police find fifth victim of suspected serial killer Posted: 05 May 2019 07:59 AM PDT ![Cyprus police find fifth victim of suspected serial killer]( "Cyprus police find fifth victim of suspected serial killer") Police in Cyprus found a body in a lake on Sunday that they believe to be the fifth victim of a suspected serial killer who preyed on foreign women for almost three years without detection. It is not identifiable and is being taken to the mortuary now for further inquiries," a police official said. A 35-year-old career army captain has been in custody since late April on suspicion of killing five adult women and the young daughters of two of the victims.
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| The Old School Way to Sink a U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Posted: 05 May 2019 01:03 AM PDT  Of course, just like the carrier-based ATTDS, the CRAW anti-torpedo torpedo would also require testing to see if they work as well in practice as they do in theory. Nonetheless, the concept of adding an additional close-range layer of protection to submarines has merit given the increasing capability of modern torpedoes, and the sobering reality that a submarine would be lucky to survive even a single torpedo hit.In 2019, an annual report released by the Department of Testing & Evaluation revealed that a potentially revolutionary new torpedo-defense system installed on five American aircraft carriers had proven unsatisfactory and would be withdrawn from service.(This first appeared last month.)The system combined a towed Torpedo Warning System sensor array designed to detect incoming torpedoes with a quick-acting launcher called the Anti-Torpedo Device System (ATTDS) that could spit out a miniature 220-pound Countermeasure Anti-Torpedo (CAT) measuring only 171 millimeters in diameter. The CAT torpedo was designed to home in on the incoming torpedo and blast it short of its target.
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| Student who charged a campus gunman remembered as a hero Posted: 05 May 2019 04:54 PM PDT  WAYNESVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Family, hundreds of friends and a military honor guard on Sunday remembered a North Carolina college student credited with saving classmates by rushing a gunman firing inside their lecture hall.
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| Trump picks Morgan, backer of border wall, to head U.S. immigration agency Posted: 05 May 2019 10:00 AM PDT  Morgan, who headed U.S Border Patrol for six months after a career at the FBI, came out in support of Trump's border wall in January, urging Trump in an interview with legal news website Law & Crime to "stay the course." "I am pleased to inform all of those that believe in a strong, fair and sound Immigration Policy that Mark Morgan will be joining the Trump Administration as the head of our hard working men and women of ICE," Trump wrote on Twitter. When Trump took office in January 2017, Morgan was ousted from his post as head of the border patrol.
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| Black hole may have swallowed neutron star, astronomers believe Posted: 04 May 2019 02:27 AM PDT  A black hole may have been detected swallowing a neutron star for the first time ever, astronomers have said. Vast gravitational waves – which scientists think could have been caused by such a merger – have been seen ripping across space.Astronomers working on the twin Ligo and Virgo observatories, based in the US and Italy respectively, spotted them. If proven, it could help understanding of what exactly happens when black holes eat stars, and if the star itself passes through into oblivion intact or is ripped apart during the encounter.Astronomers across the world are now focusing their observations on the patch of space – some 1.3bn light years away – where it is believed the clash roughly happened in a bid to gather more evidence."The universe is keeping us on our toes," Patrick Brady, spokesperson for Ligo and a professor of physics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, said in a statement. "Unfortunately, the signal is rather weak. It's like listening to somebody whisper a word in a busy café; it can be difficult to make out the word or even to be sure that the person whispered at all. It will take some time to reach a conclusion about this candidate."Ligo and Virgo were switched on again after a period of upgrades on 1 April.They work by picking up tiny ripples in the fabric of space that are fired out across the universe when two massive objects collide.The new detection, on 26 April, came just a day after the system had identified a cataclysmic merger of two neutron stars about 500m light years from earth.Giovanni Prodi, data analysis coordinator with Virgo and a professor at the University of Trento, described the two incidents as making the period an "incomparable scientific month".
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| SUVs are hot sellers and that means you'll find sweet deals on sedans Posted: 05 May 2019 02:29 PM PDT  SUVs are hot, and that means there are good deals on some terrific cars, like the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Ford Focus, VW Jetta and Chevy Malibu.
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| 10 deals you don’t want to miss on Sunday: Kindle sale, $40 Fire 7 tablet, smart LED bulbs from $11, more Posted: 05 May 2019 04:48 AM PDT ![10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: Kindle sale, $40 Fire 7 tablet, smart LED bulbs from $11, more]( "10 deals you don't want to miss on Sunday: Kindle sale, $40 Fire 7 tablet, smart LED bulbs from $11, more") We've got another great roundup of daily deals for you to check out on Sunday. Highlights include all-time low pricing of just $11.15 on multicolor smart LED light bulbs that are just as good as $50 Philips Hue color bulbs, a rare sale that drops Apple Watch Series 4 models to their lowest prices ever, a popular 10W fast wireless charger for $9.99, Philips Hue while smart LED light bulbs for $10.75 a piece when you buy a 4-pack, the lowest price ever on Amazon's 3rd Gen Echo Dot, $20 off Kindles, $40 off waterproof Kindle Paperwhites, the awesome Fire 7 Tablet for only $39.99, up to $50 off one of the newest Ring Video Doorbells, and more. See all of today's top deals below.
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| Venezuela: Russia urges US to abandon ‘irresponsible’ plan to topple Maduro Posted: 05 May 2019 12:38 PM PDT  Secretary of state meanwhile slammed Russian meddling in the country: 'We don't want anyone messing around with Venezuela'Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, right, and Venezuela's foreign minister Jorge Arreaza give a press conference in Moscow on Sunday. Photograph: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty ImagesWashington and Moscow traded barbs over Venezuela on Sunday with Russia's foreign minister urging the United States to abandon its "irresponsible" plan to depose Nicolás Maduro and his US counterpart slamming Russian meddling in the South American country.Sergey Lavrov made the comments during a visit to Moscow by Venezuela's foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza – an apparent bid to stress international support for Maduro following last week's abortive uprising against him in Caracas."Attempts to stage a violent upheaval in Caracas have nothing to do with democratic process, and only disrupt any prospects of political settlement," Lavrov said, according to the Moscow-backed broadcaster RT.Any US attempt to topple Maduro through force would bring "grave consequences," Lavrov reportedly warned.Earlier, the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, urged Russia – which, alongside China, is one of Maduro's two key international backers – to stop interfering in Venezuela."We want [Venezuela] to be an autonomous, independent sovereign state, with democratic elected officials. This is what we desire for the Venezuelan people," Pompeo, who is due to meet Lavrov in Finland on Monday, told Fox News."We don't want anyone messing around with Venezuela."The exchange came after Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a 90-minute phone call on Friday, after which Trump claimed Putin was "not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he'd like to see something positive happen".Five days after Tuesday's dramatic predawn attempt to remove Maduro, an uneasy calm has returned to the streets of Venezuela's capital.The only reminders of the failed revolt are stretches of scorched asphalt outside the La Carlota airbase beside which it began and a handful of graffitied messages left by protesters on a nearby overpass. "Freedom! Freedom! No more bullets!" reads one.On Saturday, Venezuela's opposition held a series of anti-Maduro protests designed to maintain the pressure. But attendance was far short of the massive demonstrations held since Juan Guaidó – the man most western governments now recognize as Venezuela's legitimate interim president – launched his US-backed challenge to Maduro in January.Sol Castro, a retired university professor who attended one protest in west Caracas, said she feared the solution to Venezuela's crisis increasingly appeared to lie in foreign hands."[It feels like] we may be approaching an end … but [also] that we're only pawns in a larger game where superpowers, or former superpowers, or superpower wannabes will decide when and how this ends," Castro said.
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| Curacao vows to stop measles spreading from Scientology ship Posted: 04 May 2019 09:21 PM PDT  Willemstad, Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles) (AFP) - The Dutch territory of Curacao said Saturday it would do what was needed to prevent measles spreading from a Scientology cruise ship, after a crew member came down with the disease. The Freewinds, which left the Caribbean island of St. Lucia on Friday, arrived back in its home port of Curacao Saturday. The Curacao government said it would "take all necessary precautions to handle the case of measles on board of the Freewinds," including vaccinations.
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| These 8 Sci-Fi Movie Cars Make Us Want to Believe Batmobiles and Light Cycles Are Real Posted: 05 May 2019 02:31 PM PDT |
| Footage released from fatal shooting of 18-year-old Posted: 05 May 2019 06:38 AM PDT  Raw video: Officials release dashcam footage of the officer involved shooting of Jose Vega Cruz after his death sparked protests from the community.
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| Trump Retweets Far-Right Activists in Attack on Social Media Posted: 04 May 2019 02:09 PM PDT ![Trump Retweets Far-Right Activists in Attack on Social Media]( "Trump Retweets Far-Right Activists in Attack on Social Media") Facebook on Thursday said it was banning a number of contentious far-right personalities, including Infowars founder Alex Jones, Milo Yiannopoulos, a former editor of Breitbart News, and far-right activist Laura Loomer, for violating the social-media company's policies on hate speech and promoting violence. Paul Joseph Watson, a British radio host and YouTube personality who goes by the Twitter handle @PrisonPlanet, was among those banned on Facebook and Instagram.
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| Taliban say gap narrowing in talks with US Posted: 04 May 2019 11:30 AM PDT  ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban on Saturday said the gap is narrowing in talks with Washington's special peace envoy over a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan. The two sides are continuing to meet in Qatar, where the insurgent movement maintains a political office.
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| Meet the Iskander: Russia's Latest Navy-Killer Missile? Posted: 05 May 2019 03:30 AM PDT  But also note that the DF-26 has an estimated range of 2,500 miles, much greater than a Kalibr or an Iskander-M. A 300-mile missile may be a useful coastal defense weapon in confined waters like the Baltic or Black Seas, enabling Russia to prevent NATO ships from getting too close to its territory. But it's not a long-range access denial weapon.First, China developed long-range "carrier-killer" ballistic missiles. Now, Russia's Iskander ballistic missile system may have the same mission.(This first appeared late last year.)In late July and early August, Russia conducted two simulated "electronic launches" of the 9K720 Iskander-M (NATO code name, SS-26 Stone) against ships in the Black Sea, according to Russian media."An 'electronic' launch likely means a field combat simulation where the missile unit prepares and performs all procedures for a real-world launch without firing a live missile," explains the Russian Defense Policy blog. But exactly which missile did Russia pretend to launch? The Iskander, developed in the 1970s as a replacement for the Scud, is a road-based mobile launch system that can fire several models of ballistic and cruise missiles. The Iskander-M is a single-stage ballistic missile, armed with a conventional or nuclear warhead, and a range of 500 kilometers (311 miles).
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| Russian plane crash: At least 41 killed as jet burst into flames in emergency landing at Moscow airport Posted: 05 May 2019 03:20 PM PDT  Forty-one people have been killed after a Russian Aeroflot plane burst into flames as it made an emergency landing at Sheremetyevo airport in Moscow. The Sukhoi Superjet 100 took off from Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, destination Murmansk, at 6.03pm local time. Six minutes later the pilots transmitted a 7600 alert, signifying a failure of radio communications. Television footage showed the Sukhoi Superjet 100 crash bouncing along the tarmac before the rear part of the plane suddenly burst into flames. "There were 78 people including crew members on board the plane," the Investigative Committee said in a statement. "According to the updated info which the investigation has as of now, 37 people survived." Two children and a flight attendant were among the dead, Russian media reported. A Russian plane has made an emergency landing at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport after a fire broke out on board. https://t.co/NvWZ0KMynu— Twitter Moments (@TwitterMoments) May 5, 2019 The Russian accident was the second aviation disaster in two months, taking place eight weeks after an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed six minutes after take-off, killing 157 on board. Footage shared on social media showed flames and black smoke billowing out of the aircraft as it made its emergency landing at Moscow's busiest airport. Some passengers could be seen using emergency slides to make their escape, before running away from the burning aircraft. Local news agency Interfax said the plane landed with full fuel tanks rather than risk dumping them over Moscow. Some passengers blamed bad weather and lightning. The plane requested an emergency landing shortly after take off Credit: Mikhail Norenko/Twitter via AP "We had just taken off and the aircraft was hit by lightning.... The landing was rough, I almost passed out from fear," one passenger, Petr Egorov, told the tabloid newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. State TV broadcast mobile phone footage shot by another passenger in which people could be heard screaming. Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has also ordered a special committee to investigate the disaster. The jet carrying 73 passengers and five crew members had just left Sheremetyevo when the crew issued a distress signal, officials said. Aeroflot said: "Malfunctions on board the aircraft were detected shortly after takeoff. The crew was forced to request an emergency return to the airport. The engines caught fire after landing at Sheremetyevo; the fire was swiftly extinguished. Ambulances are parked in front of the terminal building of the Sheremetyevo Airport outside Moscow Credit: AFP "Passengers left the aircraft via the emergency exits. The aircraft was evacuated in 55 seconds, compared to the industry norm of 90 seconds." Several flights have been diverted to other Moscow airports or Nizhny Novgorod, some 310 miles east of the Russian capital. The Sukhoi Superjet-100 was the first civilian aircraft developed in Russia's post-Soviet era and at the time of its launch, in 2011, was a source of national pride. But it struggled to convince buyers from airlines outside Russia, and several foreign carriers that did buy it have since prefered to cut back its use or phase it out completely, citing its reliability. The Russian government offered subsidies to encourage Russian airlines to buy the Superjet and Aeroflot became its main operator. In September 2018, it announced a record order of 100 Superjet-100s.
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| Trump retweets far-right personalities in attack on social media Posted: 04 May 2019 12:46 PM PDT  President Trump retweeted about a dozen messages Saturday morning, including two by a well-known right-wing personality, as he continued to assail what he says is bad treatment of "conservative thinkers" on social media such as Facebook.
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| Pressure grows on Attorney General Barr over Mueller Posted: 03 May 2019 06:55 PM PDT  Trump said it will be up to Barr to decide whether Special Counsel Robert Mueller, author of the report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election, will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which wants to hear from him. Earlier in the day, House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler set a new deadline of Monday at 9 a.m. for Barr to comply with a subpoena seeking an unredacted version of the report before moving to hold Barr in contempt of Congress. The two developments ensured that Barr, Mueller and his report will remain in sharp focus next week in Washington, where Congress and Trump are on a collision course over investigations being led by Nadler and other committee leaders.
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| 'I will never hesitate' to fly in a 737 MAX, Warren Buffett declares Posted: 04 May 2019 12:00 PM PDT  Billionaire Warren Buffett, one of the world's most influential businessmen, said Saturday that he would not hesitate to fly in a Boeing 737 Max airplane, despite the grounding of the planes after two fatal crashes. "I will never hesitate even for a second to fly on a 737 MAX," he said in response to a question from AFP on the sidelines of the annual shareholder meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway empire in Omaha. While Buffett, the world's third-richest man, owns stakes in several of the most prestigious American companies -- from Coca-Cola to JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs to Apple and, recently, Amazon -- he holds no shares in Boeing, though he has invested in airlines.
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| Boeing 737: Passengers recount terrifying landing after plane crashes into Florida river Posted: 05 May 2019 03:11 AM PDT  For Darwing Silva, the first sign that something was amiss when his flight landed in Jacksonville, Florida, during a thunderstorm was that it seemed the jet did not brake after hitting the runway.Lights zoomed by the window. He traded worried glances with other passengers.Then came the jolt."It was just the biggest impact I've ever felt in my life," Mr Silva said. "Like an explosion, almost."He lurched forward in his seat — 14B, the middle seat in an exit row — and hit his head on the seatback in front of him.Seconds later, Mr Silva felt water. "Up to my ankles," he said. "And there was water coming in from above the roof of the plane."The Boeing 737 had slid off the runway of the naval air station in Jacksonville and into the shallow waters of the St Johns River.All 136 passengers and seven crew members would be rescued, 21 of them with non-life-threatening injuries. But all Mr Silva knew at the time was that the flight, which had taken off from Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had landed in water — and that someone was yelling something about smelling jet fuel."I just kind of snapped" into action, said Mr Silva, a civilian safety manager for a roofing company.He grabbed his backpack, which was hanging from an overhead bin that had popped open during the accident. He slipped past the female passenger in the window seat, who was bracing her head between her knees, opened the exit door, and found himself on a wing of the plane.Others began filing onto the wing, amid the darkness, rain and lightning. Mr Silva called his father to let him know he was OK. Eventually, the passengers made it onto an evacuation raft, children and women first, and emergency workers used a cable to guide them ashore."I've gone over so many of those safety instructions preflight," Mr Silva said. "You never really think you're going to be the one to have to open the door."His trip seemed cursed from the start. The charter plane, operated by Miami Air International, had arrived four hours late. The flight had been unbearably hot, said Cheryl Bormann, one of the Jacksonville passengers, and people had to fan themselves because the air conditioning was not working properly. Mr Silva had taken off his polo shirt and was sweltering in his undershirt.As the flight neared Jacksonville, the plane flew into a storm. There was some turbulence, but the crew gave no warnings about potential landing trouble.It felt as if the front part of the plane had hit the ground hard before the rest of it had, Ms Bormann said."It bounces and it swirls and it tilts and it tips, and you can tell the pilot is trying to control it and is not having much success," she said. "It's literally bouncing up and down, from side to side. Things are falling down from the overhead bins. People are holding onto their small children."Miami Air International regularly transports military service members and their families from the base in Guantánamo Bay to naval air stations in Jacksonville and Norfolk, Virginia.Officials for the carrier did not return phone calls on Saturday about the accident.The mishap stranded about 125 passengers at Guantánamo on Saturday morning. They were awaiting the return of the Miami Air plane for a flight to Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland.The stranded group included a military judge who announced this week that he would no longer preside over the case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of plotting the September 11 attacks.Also among them were two brigadier generals, prosecutors, defence lawyers and journalists who had arrived a week earlier for a pretrial hearing in the case.Mr Silva said he had driven straight from the naval station to his home in Miami, arriving about 5:30 am."I feel my neck sore. My right eye is sore," he said. "I am going to get checked out just to make sure everything is OK, but at that moment, I didn't feel much. The adrenaline, I guess."Ms Bormann, a civilian criminal defence attorney in the 9/11 trial, spent the day scrambling to get a change of clothes, a new phone and enough forms of ID to get on a flight home to Chicago. Her few remaining belongings were in a reusable grocery bag that she was now using as a purse."I'm a criminal defence lawyer who handles capital cases — trauma is something I'm pretty accustomed to," she said. "But you don't realise it until it hits you. I sat on my bed and cried this morning in my hotel room. I have to get on a plane tomorrow. And I'm not looking forward to it."The New York Times
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| Joe Biden faces first 2020 test: his record on race Posted: 04 May 2019 11:00 PM PDT  As Biden visits South Carolina, a battleground where black voters play a large role in determining the nominee, can he appeal to the party's changing demographics? Joe Biden speaks during a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on 1 May. Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP For months, Joe Biden has signaled his third run for president will be rooted in wooing back the white working-class voters who swung away from Democrats in 2016 and helped propel Donald Trump to the White House. But first, Biden faces a more imminent test: can he appeal to the changing demographics of the Democratic electorate, which is poised to be the party's most diverse in history? The former vice-president may get his answer as he touches down Saturday in South Carolina, the early state battleground where black voters play an outsize role in determining who gets the Democratic party's nod for the 2020 presidential nomination. Biden formally joined the historically diverse and crowded Democratic field last month, swiftly positioning himself as the most experienced and well-known contender. He has since kept his focus squarely on Trump, in what he says is "a battle for America's soul". Biden's record on race and inequality has nonetheless drawn renewed scrutiny, ranging from past comments on school desegregation to the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas hearings in the early 1990s. In South Carolina, Biden will for the first time since launching his campaign show whether he can appeal to black voters, who make up 60% of the state's primary electorate and 20% of the Democratic base overall. In Columbia, South Carolina, on Saturday, he criticized Republican efforts to restrict voting rights, recalling racial segregation laws of the past. "You've got Jim Crow sneaking back in," he said, referring to the era before the civil rights movement. He said at a fund-raising dinner later that he expects a "nasty" election campaign from Donald Trump. "As the Democratic party has moved and evolved, I think he's going to have to explain where he was at on certain issues and what's the framework he would use to make decisions in the future," said Rashad Robinson, the president of Color of Change, a progressive civil rights organization. "He will have to help the voting public, and black people in particular, understand what he will do in really clear ways to deal with racial inequality in our country in all the ways that it manifests itself," Robinson added. "That's going to be the test." Biden's previous presidential campaigns – in the 1988 and 2008 election cycles – ended before he even reached the South Carolina primary. This time, he is an early frontrunner buoyed by two terms as Barack Obama's vice-president. With the exception of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, Biden is perhaps the only candidate in the Democratic field who needs no introduction. Early polls put Biden firmly in the top tier of candidates, both nationally and across key swing states. Biden hasn't shied away from leaning into his close rapport with the former president. In his first major campaign swing across the country, Biden has touted the Obama administration's record on the economy and healthcare and dubbed himself a "proud Obama-Biden Democrat". His campaign even released a video featuring Obama praising Biden from the White House podium in 2017. "Joe's candid counsel has made me a better president," Obama said. "He could not have been a more effective partner in the progress that we've made." "The best part is he's nowhere close to finished," Obama concluded. Barack Obama awards Joe Biden the presidential medal of freedom at the White House in Washington DC on 12 January 2017. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images Obama awarded Biden the presidential medal of freedom just before leaving office. Biden has said he told Obama not to endorse him in the 2020 primary. Tiffany Cross, co-founder and managing editor of the Beat DC, said the video could nevertheless easily be interpreted as an endorsement. "It's a huge advantage. There's a healthy sense of Obama nostalgia that I think Biden can capitalize on," said Cross, whose website spotlights the intersection of politics, policy and people of color. Cross still cautioned that Obama's popularity alone would not be enough. There are some people who may be a little more 'woke' than they are nostalgic, and they may hold him to a different standard Tiffany Cross "At the same time, in South Carolina and beyond, there are some younger voters who will judge Joe Biden for things he said or did in years past through the lens of 2019," she said. "There are some people who may be a little more 'woke' than they are nostalgic, and they may hold him to a different standard." Biden has already been forced to contend with his role in overseeing sexual harassment allegations against Clarence Thomas during the confirmation battle for the US supreme court in 1991. Biden chaired the all-male, all-white Senate judiciary panel that interrogated the claims brought by Thomas' accuser, Anita Hill. Although Biden voted against Thomas' confirmation, he did not give full consideration at the time to other witnesses whose testimony appeared to corroborate Hill's allegations. He also did not allow affidavits from experts in sexual harassment. Biden, who reached out to Hill after 28 years to try to make amends in a phone call last month, now says he takes "full responsibility" for his role in the hearings. Other issues have similarly come back to haunt him, such as his fight against busing to desegregate schools 40-plus years ago. Letters published by CNN last month revealed Biden, who was 34 at the time, sought support from some of the Senate's most ardent segregationists. Biden, serving his first term in the Senate, said he favored desegregation but did not believe busing would achieve racial equality. "I do not buy the concept, popular in the 60s, which said: 'We have suppressed the black man for 300 years and the white man is now far ahead,'" Biden told a local newspaper in his home state of Delaware at the time. "In order to even the score, we must now give the black man a head start, or even hold the white man back. I don't buy that." Despite Biden's mixed record on the issues, polling shows goodwill toward the former vice-president extends to voters of color. A survey following Biden's announcement showed he enjoys support from 50% of non-white Democratic primary voters. His ties to South Carolina, where he also leads in the polls, go back decades. "He's not the only candidate with a legislative record to defend and at the end of the day," said Cross. "The black voting base is one of the most reliable voting bases in the Democratic party. So I think even if people don't fall in love, given what we're seeing now, they'll fall in line."
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| Forget F-22 and F-35s: Japan Is Going Big Time (As in a 6th Generation Fighter) Posted: 05 May 2019 12:52 AM PDT  The above technologies check off many characteristics of conceptual sixth-generation fighter jets—(though optional-manning and drone-control have yet to be mentioned), and are individually pretty impressive. However, integrating them into a capable flying platform poses a much greater challenge, as does mass-producing them in a cost-efficient manner. The U.S. F-35, for example, suffered many delays and cost overruns due to difficulties integrating its many new technologies under concurrent development. Thus Japanese engineers have their work cut out for them as they seek to realize the fifteen-year development goal.Japan's 2019 Mid-Term Defense review quietly revealed that after years of hesitation, Tokyo has decided to press ahead with development of its own domestically designed sixth-generation Mitsubishi F-3 air-superiority stealth fighter, rather than purchasing an additional foreign stealth design to supplement its growing fleet of F-35s.(This first appeared last month.)In February 2019, the Japanese Ministry of Defense explicitly confirmed these intentions to Jane's. Reportedly, F-3 performance requirements are set to be released in the 2020 budget, with development officially beginning in 2021 and a first flight targeted for 2030.
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| SpaceX just blasted a critical NASA instrument into space Posted: 04 May 2019 06:38 AM PDT  NASA's carbon-detecting sleuth has left Earth.SpaceX launched the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3 (OCO-3) to the International Space Station (ISS) at 2:48 a.m. ET on Saturday morning aboard the company's dependable Falcon 9 rocket. After NASA's cargo load arrives at the ISS, astronauts will use a long robotic arm to attach the refrigerator-sized instrument to the side of the earth-orbiting station. OCO-3 will peer down on Earth, keeping tabs on the planet's amassing carbon dioxide emissions, which are now at their highest levels in millions of years. "Carbon dioxide is the most important gas humans are emitting into the atmosphere," Annmarie Eldering, the project scientist for OCO-3 at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told Mashable in February. "Understanding how it will play out in the future is critical."> Liftoff! https://t.co/gtC39uBC7z pic.twitter.com/IaHMvakoX7> > -- SpaceX (@SpaceX) May 4, 2019After the SpaceX rocket lifted into space, the booster -- the bottom portion of the rocket containing nine powerful engines -- returned to Earth. It successfully landed on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. SpaceX now regularly lands its rockets on both drone ships and land. It's a fundamental part of the spaceflight company's business model -- reusing expensive rockets rather than letting them crash into the ocean. Earlier this month, SpaceX impressively landed three boosters after its massive Falcon Heavy rocket (which consists of three rockets strapped together) launched an Arab communications satellite into Earth's orbit.SEE ALSO: We're probably not going to hit the world's most important climate goalNASA had slated the launch for late April, but asked SpaceX to delay it until the space agency could fix a power distribution problem on the ISS -- which is currently home to six astronauts and cosmonauts. OCO-3 -- which can detect carbon dioxide concentrations on Earth within 1 part per million -- almost didn't make it into space. In both 2017 and 2018 the Trump administration (which is candidly opposed to climate science) sought to eliminate the earth-monitoring instruments. "We heard OCO-3 was not going to go," Britton Stephens, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research who works on the OCO-3 science team, said in an interview. "There've been lots of ups and downs in the project." But advocacy from NASA leaders and congressional support kept OCO-3 alive. Now it's in space. An artist's conception of OCO-3 looking down onto Earth from the space station.Image: nasa / JPL / CaltechOCO-3 will follow in the footsteps of OCO-2 by continuing to precisely monitor the places on Earth (cities and countries) that emit bounties of carbon dioxide, and those areas that suck or absorb CO2 out of the atmosphere (oceans and forests). The growing log of measurements makes OCO-3 especially valuable to scientists, who need long-term data to follow trends and discover novel data."The longer the records grow, the more important they become," said Pontus Olofsson, an associate research professor at Boston University who uses satellites to research Earth's carbon cycle. "It's like an exponential increase in importance."These measurements are all the more salient today, as modern civilization attempts to slash its heat-trapping carbon emissions and curb the planet's accelerating warming trend. As of 2019, the prospect of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above 19th-century levels -- which would avoid the worst consequences of climate change -- looks dismal.OCO-3 will be watching. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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| Berkshire swings to big profit; Buffett laments Kraft Heinz Posted: 04 May 2019 09:14 AM PDT  Berkshire also said it repurchased $1.7 billion of its stock in the quarter, reflecting Buffett's troubles to find better uses for the Omaha, Nebraska-based conglomerate's cash hoard, which now totals $114.2 billion. Results were released as Buffett, 88, and Vice Chairman Charlie Munger, 95, prepared to answer more than five hours of questions from shareholders and analysts at Berkshire's annual meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, which draws tens of thousands of people. Berkshire had $15.1 billion of these gains in the first quarter.
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| Guaidó and advisers were 'too impatient' to oust Maduro, says man who led coup against Chávez Posted: 04 May 2019 09:22 AM PDT  Juan Guaidó and his advisers were "perhaps too impatient" in their keenness to force out Nicolas Maduro, according to the only man to have ever ousted the Chavista rulers of Venezuela. Pedro Carmona, now 77, toppled Hugo Chávez in a 2002 uprising whose anniversary was marked across Venezuela last month. He was sworn in as interim leader inside the Miraflores presidential palace and ruled the country for 48 hours, before supporters in the military rallied round Chávez and restored him to power. Mr Carmona, in his first ever interview with a British newspaper, said that the uprising launched on Tuesday was disappointing, risky, and should have been better planned. Five people have been killed in a week of protests, yet Mr Maduro has held on, despite this being Mr Guaidó's most serious push to oust him since declaring himself the constitutionally-legitimate interim president on January 23. "It's hard to opine from outside," said Mr Carmona, who has lived in exile in Bogota since his failed rebellion. "But it looks like they could have given advance warning of some actions. They could have planned better. It seems like they should have had some more things in place. It was risky." Mr Guaidó released a video on Twitter, calling on more soldiers to join him in Credit: EPA-EFE/REX Despite its failure, however, it was a stunning gambit on the part of the 35-year-old National Assembly leader. Venezuelans woke up to a dawn video message from Mr Guaidó, flanked by dozens of troops, stationed just outside the La Carlota air force base in Caracas, announcing the start of "Operation Freedom". By his side stood Leopoldo López, the long time opposition leader, freed from house arrest by members of the state intelligence service, Sebin. Across Venezuela, protesters heeded Mr Guaidó's call, pouring on to the streets. Most of the military, however, heeded Mr Maduro's, and succeeded in putting down the rebellion. But while the state was able to reassert its grip, the fracture within the armed forces was left in evidence; at one point, the gates to the La Carlota base opened, allowing in anti-government protesters. While Mr Guaidó has since acknowledged that he did not have enough military support for a definitive break, last week's events saw Mr Maduro come closer to losing his hold on the nation than ever before. Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state, even said that Mr Maduro had an aeroplane waiting for him on the tarmac, destined for Cuba, but was convinced to hang on by Russian advisers. Rebelling forces identified themselves with blue armbands Credit: Yuri Cortez/AFP "In Venezuela, it's never just the opposition at work – it's international geopolitical forces, and armed gangs," Mr Carmona said. "Last week the Russian ambassador was acting like a military spokesman, reassuring the nation that everything was fine in the country. "It's a disgrace that the Russian government supports Maduro's genocidal regime." Mr Carmona sees clear parallels with his own attempted uprising 17 years ago, which was preceded by street protests similar to those occurring now. Fourteen people died in the violence and a group of soldiers, angered at the civilian bloodshed, conspired to remove Chávez. Mr Carmona, the president of the chamber of commerce (Fedecamaras), was chosen as interim president. On April 11, 2002, the military swung into action, and arrested Chávez, taking him to the national army headquarters, Fuerte Tiuna. Chávez accepted an offer of asylum from Fidel Castro, but was prevented from leaving by coup leaders who wanted him tried in Venezuela - a mistake which was to prove fatal to their plot. Pro-Chávez soldiers then came to his defence, and on April 13, at 4:40am, he addressed the nation from inside Miraflores, president once again. John Bolton pointed to three members of Mr Maduro's inner circle as being involved in the plan to remove him Credit: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/REX Recently declassified documents have shown that the US - as well as Spain - were strongly supporting Mr Carmona behind the scenes – he, however, insisted to The Telegraph that he never spoke to any US agent or official either before or during the coup. This time around, Donald Trump's administration has been open about its role. Speaking amid the uprising, John Bolton, the US national security adviser, claimed Mr Maduro had been betrayed by three of those closest to him: the supreme court president , the head of the presidential guard, and, crucially, General Vladimir Padrino Lopez, the defence minister. The next day, Elliot Abrams, the US envoy for Venezuela, said that those who had been negotiating Mr Maduro's departure had "switched off their cellphones". The Sebin intelligence chief, Manuel Cristopher Figuera, was also allegedly on board - and indeed was fired by Mr Maduro the day of the uprising; he himself released a letter admitting knowledge of, if not complicity in, the plot, before apparently fleeing the country. On Thursday, Mr Maduro addressed troops with Gen. Lopez by his side, insisting he was in control of the military Credit: Jhonn Zerpa/Miraflores Press Office Gen. Lopez, meanwhile, later appeared to confirm the Americans had contacted him, telling troops on Thursday there were those who approached him with a "ridiculous offer" who then went "shooting their mouths off". Whether he rejected the offer, double-crossed the US or reversed course as failure loomed isn't clear. Leopoldo López, meanwhile, also claimed on Thursday that senior military figures had committed themselves to ousting Mr Maduro. "I had meetings in my house when I was under house arrest. I met there with commanders, I met there with generals. I met there with representatives of specific parts of the armed forces and specific parts of the police forces," he insisted. Mr Carmona, however, believes the uprising has brought the end of Mr Maduro's reign closer. "Guaido did make advances last week – it wasn't a total failure," he said. "He weakened the resolve of many soldiers. He freed Leopoldo Lopez from house arrest. He reiterated international support. It's a process of steps. Now he is moving to a strike. And history has shown us that dictatorships in Latin America often fall with general strikes."
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| The Iconic Sci-Fi Cars at This Museum Make Us Wish Batmobiles and Light Cycles Were Real Posted: 05 May 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| 'The flames were huge': At least 41 dead in fiery Moscow jet landing caught on video Posted: 05 May 2019 02:44 PM PDT  A Russian Aeroflot jet landed in Moscow engulfed in flames and billowing smoke Sunday, which was captured on video.
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| ExxonMobil sues Cuban companies for nationalized assets Posted: 03 May 2019 09:57 PM PDT  US giant ExxonMobil has filed a lawsuit against Cuba's state-owned oil company and a major business group for what it called "unlawful trafficking" of its assets after Fidel Castro's 1959 revolution. The suit, filed Thursday in federal court in Washington, seeks $280 million from Cuba-Petroleo (Cupet) and Cimex, which operates service stations on the island nation. The lawsuit from America's biggest oil producer came as the administration of US President Donald Trump lifted the suspension of Title III of the 1996 Helms-Burton Act.
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| Syrian government intensifies bombardment of rebel-held area Posted: 04 May 2019 07:25 AM PDT  BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian government bombardment of rebel-held areas in the country's northwest has killed and wounded dozens and forced thousands to flee their homes, further endangering an eight-month truce in the last major rebel stronghold, opposition activists said Saturday.
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| Theresa May Urges Corbyn to Agree to Brexit Deal in Op-Ed Posted: 04 May 2019 04:29 PM PDT  "Let's listen to what the voters said in the local elections and put our differences aside for a moment. Let's do a deal," May said in her op-ed, addressing Corbyn. Cross-party talks are set to resume Tuesday to try to hash out a way forward for the U.K.'s divorce from the EU.
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| Best Air Fryers of 2019 Posted: 04 May 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Crispy fries without all the oil? That's the golden promise of air fryers, and it probably explains why, in the U.S., about 4 million were sold in just a year. That represents a tenfold increase ...
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| U.S. court rules in favor of Dutch ASML in IP theft case against Xtal Posted: 04 May 2019 04:33 AM PDT ![U.S. court rules in favor of Dutch ASML in IP theft case against Xtal]( "U.S. court rules in favor of Dutch ASML in IP theft case against Xtal") Dutch chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV said on Saturday a U.S. court had issued its final judgment in favor of ASML in an intellectual property theft case against U.S. software maker Xtal. The Santa Clara County Superior Court in California awarded ASML $845 million along with an injunction, ASML said. The Netherlands-based company said the judgment would be uncollectible as Xtal is in bankruptcy, but under a settlement arrangement ASML will end up owning most or all of Xtal's intellectual property through the bankruptcy process.
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| What Would You Choose?: Sig Sauer's P320 Gun or Glock's 21? Posted: 03 May 2019 07:00 PM PDT  Nothing's worse than having to open a can of worms. We've all done it at least once in our lives and we never liked the outcome. Sometimes it's just better to keep mum about certain touchy topics concerning politics, religion and sex, among others.But here at Gun News Daily, we pride ourselves in tackling touchy gun-related issues the average Joe wouldn't even dare try. That's just who we are and what we do.Over the past several months I have been comparing different types of handguns — mostly two different model Glock pistols at a time — to try and give our readers a different perspective, maybe help them decide which one to purchase if they're new to the world of firearms.While I did look at other pistols not manufactured by Glock — namely the two Cobra models (the FS 380 and the CA 380) and the two SIG Sauer models (the SIG P226 and the SIG P229) I compared in Rounds 5 and 6 of this series of our Handgun Showdowns respectively, I never compared two pistols from different manufacturers in this series.
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| Dodge Challenger Points the Way Posted: 04 May 2019 11:00 AM PDT  Retro-styled and a dozen years old, Dodge's pseudo-pony Challenger tells us much about the future.
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| The Latest: Biden expects Trump attacks on him and family Posted: 05 May 2019 03:27 AM PDT  The Latest on the Democratic candidates running for president (all times EDT):
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| Sri Lanka to air Sunday mass on TV as attack threat persists Posted: 04 May 2019 04:13 AM PDT  Sri Lanka's Catholic Church will televise a private Sunday mass after cancelling regular services over fears of a repeat of Easter's suicide bombings, even as police and troops tightened security. Father Edmund Tillakaratne said public masses were suspended for a second week amid fears of a repeat jihadi strike, but a service conducted by Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith will be broadcast on national television. Police, meanwhile, said they were stepping up search operations over the weekend ahead of a planned re-opening of over 10,000 public schools after an extended Easter vacation.
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| Pro-life rally features live 4-D ultrasound in Times Square as message to Cuomo: 'Here we are' Posted: 05 May 2019 05:10 AM PDT  Former Planned Parenthood director Abby Johnson and abortion survivor Claire Culwell talk about the pro-life event in New York City.
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| The best-selling Chromebook on Amazon is rugged, spill-proof, and only $219 Posted: 05 May 2019 07:30 AM PDT  If you're in search of a great compact Chrome OS laptop that really does check every box, we've got just the thing. The ASUS Chromebook C202SA-YS02 features an 11.6-inch anti-glare display with HD resolution, and a 2.48GHz Intel Celeron N3060 processor. It also offers up to 10 hours of battery life per charge, which is quite impressive for a laptop this size. But the icing on the cake has to be the ruggedized case that can withstand drops as well as liquid spills thanks to water-resistance. It can take a licking and keep on ticking, and it's currently the best-selling model on Amazon.Here are the important details from the product page: * Ready for drops and spills with rugged construction with reinforced rubber guards, easy grip handles, and a spill resistant keyboard * Lightweight 2.65 pound body and rugged construction that can be dropped from 3.9 feet* so you can take it anywhere without disruption * 11.6 inches HD 1366x768 Anti-Glare Display, with 180 degree hinge for easy viewing * Powered by the Intel Celeron N3060 Processor (2M Cache, up to 2.48 GHz) for fast and snappy performance * Chromebook runs on Chrome OS - an operating system by Google that is built for the way we live today. It comes with built-in virus protection, updates automatically*, boots up in seconds and continues to stay fast over time * All the Google apps you know and love come standard on every Chromebook, which means you can edit, download, and convert Microsoft Office files in Google Docs, Sheets and Slides * With the Google Play Store, you can access a rich library of apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines, and more, all from your Chromebook * Chromebooks come with built-in storage for offline access to your most important files and an additional 100GB of Google Drive space to ensure that all of your files are backed up automatically
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| Where teachers can get free food and discounts for Teacher Appreciation Week May 6-10 Posted: 04 May 2019 04:45 PM PDT  Teacher Appreciation Week starts Monday, May 6 and businesses across the nation are showering educators with freebies and special discounts.
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