| Iranians march to back Palestinians, reject Trump Mideast plan Posted: 31 May 2019 12:53 AM PDT ![Iranians march to back Palestinians, reject Trump Mideast plan]( "Iranians march to back Palestinians, reject Trump Mideast plan") "No to the deal of the century" read a banner splashed across the news screen on state TV, which also showed a Quds Day march in neighboring Iraq's capital Baghdad. Iran's Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday that Washington's long-awaited Israeli-Palestinian peace plan was doomed to fail and that the Palestinian resistance movement would respond firmly to those who proposed it.
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| Kashkari Says He’s ‘Not Quite There Yet’ on Need for Fed Cut Posted: 31 May 2019 06:59 AM PDT  "Either of those could be cause for changing the path of monetary policy," Kashkari told Bloomberg Television on Friday. Kaskhari, one of the more dovish policy makers at the U.S. central bank, will be a voter next year on monetary policy. Financial markets gyrated after President Donald Trump opened a new front in the trade war Thursday evening in tweets threatening to implement escalating tariffs on imports from Mexico if it did not take steps to prevent illegal immigration into the U.S.
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| Honduras: US has no drug proof against Honduran president Posted: 31 May 2019 09:59 AM PDT  NEW YORK (AP) — The Honduran government says that U.S. federal court documents show no incriminating evidence against President Juan Orlando Hernández, despite listing him as being a target of a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation.
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| Captain charged over Budapest boat tragedy Posted: 01 Jun 2019 02:23 PM PDT  The captain of a river cruise ship that collided with a smaller sightseeing vessel was charged Saturday over the accident in Budapest that killed seven South Korean tourists and left 21 missing. The Mermaid carrying mainly South Korean tourists overturned and sank late Wednesday, seconds after colliding with the Viking Sigyn cruise ship on a busy stretch of the Danube in the heart of Budapest. Strong currents have hampered the search for those missing -- 19 South Koreans and two Hungarians -- preventing divers from reaching the submerged boat.
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| Ocasio-Cortez: $2.13 tipped minimum wage is 'indentured servitude' Posted: 01 Jun 2019 04:28 AM PDT  The New York congresswoman returned to a restaurant in Queens on Friday, seeking to highlight the plight of workers she knows As she returned to New York to waitress and bartend for the first time since being elected to Congress, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said the federal tipped minimum wage was tantamount to "indentured servitude". Before she rose to national fame as the representative for New York's 14th congressional district, the 29-year-old from the Bronx worked at a Mexican restaurant in Manhattan. On Friday she went back to waiting tables and mixing drinks, in support of One Fair Wage, a policy that would entitle tipped workers to a minimum wage of $15 an hour plus tips. The federal minimum wage for restaurant and bar workers and other tip-reliant jobs such as nail salon workers is just $2.13 an hour. Although the minimum wage in New York is $15 an hour, this does not apply to tipped workers, who can be paid as little as $7.50. Dressed in an apron and standing behind the bar of The Queensboro restaurant in Jackson Heights, Ocasio-Cortez told cheering workers and small business owners the current rate was "unacceptable". The way that we give labour dignity is by paying people the respect and the value that they are worth at minimum "Any job that pays $2.13 an hour is not a job, it's indentured servitude," she said, to loud applause. "All labour has dignity. And the way that we give labour dignity is by paying people the respect and the value that they are worth at minimum. We have to make one fair wage and we have to raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour, nothing less." In cities such as New York, San Francisco and Chicago, she said, the minimum wage should be higher, to support the "runaway costs" of living. "Because when our rents are running away, when our food costs are running away, in dense cities like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, we need to make sure that people are paid enough to live, period," she said. Ocasio-Cortez also described how working in the industry for four years, first as a hostess at an Irish pub while in high school and working at restaurants after college, left her dependent on tips and forced to make compromises. "I remember working in restaurants," she said, "and, you know, you would have someone say something extremely inappropriate to you, or you'd have someone touch you, and the thing is it would be the 28th of the month, the 29th of the month. And the first of the next month was rolling right around and you have a rent cheque to pay. You are more likely to stand up for yourself and to reject sexual harassment on the 15th of the month "And so you are more likely to stand up for yourself and to reject sexual harassment on the 15th of the month, or maybe the 10th of the month, when you could pick up an extra shift to make up for telling that guy to go buzz off." She said women are particularly vulnerable: "As a woman you allow yourself, we allow ourselves, to be more vulnerable than any person should ever be in the United States of America because of economic desperation." I was nervous that I may have lost my touch - still got it! That muscle memory doesn't quit ��Now let's pass #RaiseTheWage and get $15 an hour minimum for every worker in America. pic.twitter.com/FR0ARUB7bd— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 31, 2019 Before her speech she took orders from excited guests, speaking English and Spanish, and served pizzas before going behind a bar for the first time since she took office. After successfully making her first margarita – her vigorous shaking was met with cheers – she proclaimed: "I've still got it! I was scared." Larry Obregon, a bartender at the restaurant, sang Ocasio-Cortez's praises. "She's great, she's amazing at the bar," he said. "She made a margarita, she did a couple of mixed drinks with vodka and other spirits. Obviously, it backs up her background, she used to be in the service industry as well, so she knows exactly what she's talking about." Bartenders Serena Thomas, 27, and Nikolas Vagenas, 24, who were served eggplant and mushroom pizzas by Ocasio-Cortez, rated the congresswoman's customer service. Thomas said: "It was great, she still knows how to do it." Vagenas: "Yeah she's still got it, 100%"
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| Summit fever: Everest's budget climbing boom puts Indians most at risk Posted: 30 May 2019 11:58 PM PDT ![Summit fever: Everest's budget climbing boom puts Indians most at risk]( "Summit fever: Everest's budget climbing boom puts Indians most at risk") KOLKATA/KATHMANDU, May 31 (Reuters) - Earlier this month Dipankar Ghosh, a 52-year-old Indian photographer, scaled the world's fifth-highest peak, the snow-capped Mount Makalu. After being separated from the rest of his team in bad weather, he collapsed and died along with Narayan Singh, an officer in the Indian army, according to his tour operator. "Dipankar personified mountains," said his brother, Goutam, sitting by the coffin after it returned to the family's home in Kolkata, the state capital of India's West Bengal, on Wednesday.
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| Younger voters continued to outstrip turnout by boomers and seniors in 2018 Posted: 31 May 2019 09:55 AM PDT  Young voters turned out to vote for the 2018 midterm elections at record-breaking numbers.
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| I was let go as substitute teacher because I corrected my students' grammar Posted: 01 Jun 2019 04:00 AM PDT ![I was let go as substitute teacher because I corrected my students' grammar]( "I was let go as substitute teacher because I corrected my students' grammar") What students apparently objected to was me handing back their papers, hectoring them about language errors.
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| Kim Jong Un’s Reported Purges Spell Disaster for Trump Posted: 31 May 2019 06:06 PM PDT  Mikhail Svetlov/GettySo far, the most important conclusion we can draw from reports North Korea's senior nuclear negotiator and four foreign ministry officials were executed in March is this: Kim Jong Un is not the reliable, trustworthy negotiator President Trump has made him out to be.According to the South Korean newspaper Chosun Ilbo, a senior aide to leader Kim Jong Un was "sent to a labor and reeducation camp," and two lower-level officials were imprisoned.The detention of aide Kim Yong Chol, who led Pyonyang's outreach to Washington for two Trump-Kim summits, had been known for more than a month, but many are questioning whether Kim Hyok Chol, the nuclear negotiator, was in fact put to death by a firing squad at an airport in the North. Whatever the accuracy of the Chosun Ilbo reporting—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday said he was looking into the matter—there is evidence of severe turmoil in Pyongyang political circles, and it appears Kim Jong Un's grip on power has been weakening in recent months.This increasingly evident turmoil undercuts the notion, advanced by Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, that Kim can negotiate in good faith on a range of issues from denuclearization to inter-Korean reconciliation.The Chosun Ilbo article is based on a single "source" who was not identified in any way, and this has led many to suggest the stunning news is not accurate. Previous South Korean reports of executions in the North, including a 2013 Chosun Ilbo report, have in fact proven to be untrue. Moreover, the Friday article carried by the conservative-leaning paper may have been intended to embarrass the South's "progressive" president, Moon.Reuters, referring to the five individuals, cites an unidentified "diplomatic source" saying, in the words of the news organization, that "there was no evidence they were executed.""Seems like fake news to me," a "White House official" was quoted as telling Harry Kazianis of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for the National Interest about the execution report.Although there should be skepticism, the story is nonetheless plausible given the rhetoric used by Rodong Sinmun, the official paper of the North's Workers' Party, in a commentary on Thursday warning about "anti-party" and "anti-revolutionary" elements, harsh language typically reserved for enemies of the regime.The Chosun Ilbo reported that these words last appeared in 2013, at the time of the execution of Jang Song Thaek, the power-broker married to Kim Jong Un's aunt.Yet skepticism over one news story misses a larger point about the Pyongyang regime. Kim Hyok Chol has disappeared from sight as has, more significantly, Kim Yong Chol, described as Kim Jong Un's "right-hand man." Kim Yong Chol hand-delivered a letter from Kim to Trump in the Oval Office during a two-hour meeting just days before the June summit in Singapore, and Trump then called him "the second most powerful man in North Korea."The disappearances of senior figures fly in the face of claims that the North Korean system is now sturdy. There have been indications that the historic first summit between Trump and Kim last June raised expectations among both the North Korean elite and common folk that positive change was coming to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.Will Trump Pull U.S. Out of South Korea for Kim Jong Un?Trump's four-minute video about the North's bright future, showed to Kim in Singapore, may have had more effect than observers once suggested. By now it's clear that rich and poor North Koreans were sorely disappointed by the breakdown in talks with Trump.The Chosun Ilbo reported Friday—and this feels credible—that Kim Jong Un ordered the purges "to contain internal unrest and mounting public dissatisfaction over the failed summit."Even in advance of Hanoi, there were hints of anti-Kim feeling. On February 22, a few days before that meeting, activists intruded on the North's embassy in Madrid, and there are suspicions that the raiders, members of activist group Free Joseon, had inside help, perhaps officials in Pyongyang. If the group had secret supporters, anti-regime elements are stronger than many believe. Kim Hyok Chol served as ambassador to Spain before becoming nuclear negotiator, by the way.Kim Jong Un executed perhaps as many as 180 senior officials—and maybe 500 juniors—as he consolidated power after the surprise death of his father and predecessor, Kim Jong Il, in December 2011. Some, therefore, may argue that the killing of only five diplomats at this point cannot be a destabilizing factor.Trump Doubles Down on Indulgent—and Failing—North Korea PolicyYet purges and killings at the beginning of a Kim ruler's reign are expected, as he throws out old figures and replaces them with ones considered loyal. These executions, at a time of rising expectations and after a period of supposed political consolidation, therefore look different.Purges—and especially killings—create enemies. Among other things, they can motivate regime figures to act. David Maxwell, who served five tours of duty with the U.S. Army in Korea and is now with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, noted Friday morning that U.S. Forces Korea was always concerned about a "Mr. X scenario": some insider assassinating a Kim leader because he felt threatened by purges and believed he could be "next on the list."Kim Hyok Chol was charged with "spying for the United States for poorly reporting on the negotiations without properly grasping U.S. intentions." Kim rulers are notorious for killing others to divert blame for their own mistakes, but Kim Jong Un has in recent years refrained from mass bloodletting. Now, whether the five poor officials are dead or merely languishing in detention, Kim has started a potentially dangerous dynamic, and that is a sure sign he felt particularly insecure.And when Kim leaders feel insecure, nothing good ever happens.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Pompeo Tells Germany to Tackle China or Lose Data Sharing Posted: 31 May 2019 05:25 AM PDT  Speaking in Berlin Friday, Pompeo urged Chancellor Angela Merkel's government to "lead in taking action against Chinese corruption, espionage and unfair trade practices" and said the U.S. may have to change its "behavior" regarding intelligence sharing. China is a "national security risk" to western democracies and the challenge is far wider than the threat posed by the use in communications networks of equipment made by Huawei Technologies Co., Pompeo said at a news conference after talks with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas. "We want to make sure the information doesn't end up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party, it's pretty straightforward," Pompeo said.
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| Principal: I accidentally plagiarized Ashton Kutcher speech Posted: 31 May 2019 03:00 PM PDT  PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (AP) — A West Virginia principal accused of plagiarizing Ashton Kutcher in an address to his school's graduating class says he didn't mean to use someone else's work.
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| Saudi king demands firm Arab stand on Iran's 'criminal' acts Posted: 30 May 2019 07:30 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Friday ratcheted up the rhetoric against arch-nemesis Iran, calling on Arab states to confront its "criminal" actions after attacks on oil installations sparked fears of a regional conflagration. The king's remarks came at the start of two back-to-back emergency summits in the holy city of Mecca, which drew near-unanimous support for the Sunni kingdom from Gulf and Arab states -- with the exception of Iraq. The summits came a day after hawkish US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Iran was almost certainly behind this month's sabotage of four ships, including two Saudi oil tankers, off the UAE coast.
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| Pope braves rain-soaked mountain roads for Transylvania Mass Posted: 01 Jun 2019 03:14 PM PDT  MIERCUREA CIUC, Romania (AP) — Pope Francis braved a rain-soaked, twisting drive through the mountains of Transylvania on Saturday to visit Romania's most famous shrine, urging Romanian and ethnic Hungarian faithful to work together for their future.
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| UPDATE 1-Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders says Twitter blocks his account Posted: 31 May 2019 03:52 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders says Twitter blocks his account]( "UPDATE 1-Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Wilders says Twitter blocks his account") Dutch far-right politician and anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders said on Friday that Twitter had temporarily blocked his account following remarks he made about a political rival. Wilders, who cannot easily appear in public due to threats against him by Islamists, relies heavily on Twitter to communicate with his supporters. "Twitter often tolerates death threats against me, but not a factual tweet by me about a colleague.
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| Newt Gingrich responds to impeachment hysteria Posted: 31 May 2019 07:55 PM PDT  Democrats, media call for Trump's impeachment; Fox News contributor Newt Gingrich weighs in on 'The Ingraham Angle.'
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| GoFundMe border wall construction back in motion after New Mexico city lifts cease-and-desist Posted: 31 May 2019 04:35 AM PDT  Construction was halted Tuesday, but quickly began again Thursday after the group got the go-ahead from the city of Sunland Park, New Mexico.
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| 2020 Vision: Where every candidate stands on Trump's impeachment Posted: 31 May 2019 11:33 AM PDT  Following special counsel Robert Mueller's public statement, more Democratic presidential hopefuls are calling on Congress to act.
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| Missouri abortion clinic to stay open for now after court order Posted: 31 May 2019 04:06 AM PDT  Missouri's only abortion clinic will stay open at least a few more days after a judge on Friday granted a request by Planned Parenthood for a temporary restraining order, allowing the facility to keep operating until a hearing on Tuesday. Planned Parenthood sued Missouri this week after state health officials said the license for Reproductive Health Services of Planned Parenthood in St. Louis was in jeopardy, meaning the clinic could have closed at midnight unless the judge granted the request for a temporary restraining order.
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| Hezbollah chief warns any war against Iran would engulf region Posted: 31 May 2019 03:05 PM PDT  The head of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah warned on Friday that if there was a war against Iran the whole Middle East region would "erupt", amid escalating US-Iranian tensions. US President Donald "Trump, his administration, and his intelligence know well that any war on Iran will not remain confined to Iran's borders", Hassan Nasrallah said. "Any war on Iran will mean the whole region will erupt," said the head of the Iran-backed movement in a televised speech, explaining that such a war was therefore unlikely.
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| Bolton wants Britain to leave EU: Telegraph Posted: 31 May 2019 11:39 AM PDT  The United States wants Britain to leave the European Union as it would strengthen the NATO military alliance and show respect for the result of 2016's referendum, U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said in an interview published on Friday. "The U.S. preference is for Britain to follow the course of what the people asked for and leave the EU. It is a lesson for everyone in the triumph of democracy," Bolton was quoted as saying by the Daily Telegraph.
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| US national spelling bee crowns eight co-champions after running out of challenging words Posted: 31 May 2019 01:27 AM PDT  A superhuman group of adolescents broke the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday, with eight contestants crowned co-champions after the competition said it was running out of challenging words.It was a stunning result, coming just after midnight, for the 92nd annual event, which has had six two-way ties but had never experienced such a logjam at the top.After the 17th round, Jacques Bailly, the event's pronouncer, announced that any of the eight remaining contestants who made it through three more words would share in the prize."We do have plenty of words remaining in our list, but we'll soon run out of words that will challenge you," Mr Bailly told the contestants at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Centre in National Harbour, Maryland.He added: "We're throwing the dictionary at you. And so far, you are showing this dictionary who is boss."None of the contestants faltered. They each got their own moment of triumph as they correctly spelled their words in the 20th round, then patiently sat back in their seats as the following contestants had their moments. They supported each other with high-fives and hugs, and each placed a hand on a single trophy.The champions were, along with the final words they spelled:Rishik Gandhasri, 13, of San Jose, California: auslaut.Erin Howard, 14, of Huntsville, Alabama: erysipelas.Saketh Sundar, 13, of Clarksville, Maryland: bougainvillea.Shruthika Padhy, 13, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey: aiguillette.Sohum Sukhatankar, 13, of Dallas: pendeloque.Abhijay Kodali, 12, of Flower Mound, Texas: palama.Christopher Serrao, 13, of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey: cernuous.Rohan Raja, 13, of Irving, Texas: odylic.The competition normally offers a $50,000 (£39,610) prize to the champion. Instead of splitting it eight ways, all eight contestants will receive $50,000 and their own trophies.There have been marathon spelling bees before — the 2017 event went 36 rounds, with two spellers battling it out after the 17th round — but the competition has never hosted such a large group of spellers who could not be defeated.The field is typically winnowed down to fewer than four by the 16th round.This year, the ninth-place finisher, 13-year-old Simone Kaplan of Davie, Florida, was thwarted in the 15th round.From that point on, the contestants correctly spelled 47 straight words.Already nervous, they started showing signs of fatigue as the competition stretched on past its expected window.At the beginning of the 17th round, Rishik had a question for Mr Bailly."Out of curiosity, would you happen to know what time it is?" he asked. It was 11:18 pm.It was one of several moments of levity from a group of students who appeared largely unfazed by the pressure, with their parents in the audience often looking more unsettled.Rohan prompted laughter in the 17th round as he recoiled at his errant pronunciation of "Gaeltacht.""Oh God," he said, "I sound like I vomited."The New York Times
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| New leak shows off Apple’s iPhone 11R design changes Posted: 31 May 2019 07:34 AM PDT  Apple will release a trio of new iPhones come mid-September, including the successors of the iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max, as well as the brand new version of the iPhone XR. We're calling these devices iPhone 11 (XI), iPhone 11 Max (XI Max), and iPhone 11R (XIR?) for the time being, which sound like the logical names for the upcoming phones, although the iPhone clearly needs a less convoluted naming structure. The new phones are expected to feature the same design as the 2018 models when it comes to the notch display on the front side, with the main changes concerning the camera on the back. At least, that's what several leaks have told us so far, and we have more images that suggest the same thing.Posted on SlashLeaks Friday morning, the renders in the images below show purported designs for protective cases that would fit the 6.1-inch iPhone 11R.The thing that stands out immediately is the square cutout on the back that's supposed to accommodate the phone's rear-facing dual-lens camera. The iPhone 11R is supposed to have two cameras on the back, according to reports. The iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Max are expected to feature three camera lenses on the back, but they're placed in a similarly shaped square module.Considering that anybody could come up with renders based on existing reports, there's no way to verify this leak. Furthermore, it's unclear whether we're looking at concept iPhone case renders, or a finished product for the upcoming iPhone 11 generation. Of course, Apple won't tell anyone anything about new iPhones for well over three months. But as we get closer to the new iPhones' release date, we'll get more and more leaks, as these products hit production.In the meantime, Apple will unveil iOS 13 on Monday during the WWDC 2019 opening keynote, offering us a glimpse at its mobile software vision.
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| The 2019 Mercedes-AMG CLS53 in Photos Posted: 31 May 2019 06:19 AM PDT |
| Trump ‘Gone Rogue’ on Trade Is Last Thing Global Economy Needs Posted: 30 May 2019 10:39 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Economists warned that U.S. President Donald Trump's vow to impose a 5% tariff on Mexican goods poses a new danger to the world economy.
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| The Flaw in Trying to Paint Biden as Another Hillary Clinton Posted: 31 May 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Is Joe Biden Hillary Clinton — or George W. Bush?The first, most obvious and literal answer is, he's neither. He's Joe Biden, one of the most known and familiar personalities in American politics.Matt Continetti, editor of the Washington Free Beacon, recently asked: "Is Biden the new Hillary?""Trump plans to wage the same sort of campaign against Biden that he did against Hillary Clinton in 2016," Continetti wrote for National Review. "Back then, Trump defined Hillary as the candidate of entrenched interests who used a long career in politics for familial gain. He highlighted Clinton's support for the 1994 crime bill and for NAFTA and TPP, driving wedges between the former secretary of state and important Democratic constituencies. And he went after Hillary's foreign-policy credentials, painting her as an interventionist who had weakened America's standing in the world."Continetti is surely correct that this is Team Trump's game plan. Both D.C. scuttlebutt and public reporting suggest that they see Biden as the biggest threat to Trump's reelection prospects. That's certainly borne out in the polls, which show Biden leading Trump by 8 points (according to the RealClearPolitics average). Biden's lead in some crucial states is even more worrisome for Trump.A recent Quinnipiac poll had him ahead by double digits — 53 percent to 42 percent — in Pennsylvania. Biden has a 10.5 percentage-point lead in Michigan, 8 points in Wisconsin (though polling there is sparse), and 4 points in Ohio, and is tied in Florida, according to the RealClearPolitics average.Trump won the Electoral College by taking a handful of states out of the traditional Democratic column with razor-thin margins. It's insanely early, but the scary part for Trump is that Biden is not only wildly beating the other Democrats in the field, he's also outperforming Clinton at a comparable time in 2015.And this points to a possible flaw in the effort to turn Biden into another Hillary. Clinton ran as an experienced Washington hand, Continetti notes. But "after 16 months of Trump attacks, 77,000 voters in three states denied her the presidency," he adds. "The same could happen again to a nominee easily caricatured as the epitome of Beltway cluelessness. What looks like Joe Biden's greatest strength — electability born of experience — may also be a debilitating weakness."Maybe. But while Trump's attacks on Clinton were surely effective at times, Trump was aided enormously by the fact that Americans, particularly Republican and Republican-friendly ones, were skeptical or outright hostile to her already, thanks to decades of experience with, and criticism of, her. Trump didn't define Clinton as much as she did.Moreover, implicit to her campaign was the promise of both a third Obama term and a restoration of the Clinton dynasty. Trump did not need to work all that hard to convince voters exhausted or frustrated by the Obama years or disdainful of Clinton Inc. to vote against her.Biden occupies a different space, psychologically and politically. There's a lot of conventional wisdom in Washington that the early front-runner always loses. And that's true except when it isn't. In 2003, former Vermont governor Howard Dean dominated the polls. Then he lost Iowa, screamed, and eventually skulked away.But in 1999, George W. Bush dominated the polls and, except for a brief scare from Senator John McCain in the New Hampshire primary, essentially cruised to victory.A key part of Bush's early success, not just in polls but in fundraising, stemmed from the fact that he was promising a Bush restoration. Indeed, some of his early approval ratings were a direct result of nostalgia for his father, with whom he shared a name.Also, he was offering a referendum on the incumbent president and the scandals and partisanship that defined the end of his administration. He vowed to restore "honor and dignity to the Oval Office" and to be a "uniter not a divider."The very different context notwithstanding, this is pretty much Biden's campaign message. The ideological, activist, and Twitter-obsessed base of the Democratic party may not like Biden's pitch. But it sure looks like rank-and-file Democrats do, particularly African-American women who may see in Biden something of an Obama restoration.Of course, Biden can blow it, as he did the two previous times he ran for president. But counting on the past repeating itself is a good strategy only when you pick the right example from the past.© 2019 Tribune Content Agency LLC
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| US cuts funds for ‘anti-propaganda’ Iran group that trolled activists Posted: 31 May 2019 02:04 PM PDT  The Iran Disinformation Project was funded by a state department group created to counter foreign propaganda Men read headlines in front of a newspaper stand in the Iranian capital of Tehran. Photograph: Atta Kenare/AFP/Getty Images The US state department has cut off funding to a group that purported to combat Iranian propaganda, after it was found to be trolling US journalists, human rights activists and academics it deemed to be insufficiently hostile to the government in Tehran. The Iran Disinformation Project was funded by the state department's global engagement centre which was created to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation. In recent weeks however, the group's Twitter account @IranDisinfo targeted BBC journalists, thinktank experts and civil society advocates, denouncing them as being "mouthpieces" and supporters of the Iranian government. In one case they singled out a researcher for Human Rights Watch (HRW), Tara Sepehri Far, because she had looked into the human rights impact of sanctions on ordinary Iranians. The group also focused on supporters of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which Donald Trump withdrew from last year, particularly the National Iranian American Council, which has advocated nuclear diplomacy with Tehran. It used the hashtag #NIACLobbies4Mullahs. In response to a request for comment, a state department spokesperson said: "The bulk of the work by @IranDisinfo has been in line with the scope of a project with the Department of State. We have, however, identified recent tweets that fall outside the scope of the project to counter foreign state propaganda or disinformation." The statement added: "Today, the Department suspended the funding for the Iran Disinfo project until the implementer takes necessary steps to ensure that any future activity remains within the agreed scope of work." Many of the group's controversial tweets were deleted on Friday. Brett Bruen, who was director of global engagement in the Obama White House, said that the global engagement centre was originally created to counter Russian and Isis disinformation and propaganda. However, under the Trump administration, it was starved of funds and personnel, and has an operating budget of just $20m. Lea Gabrielle, a former navy intelligence officer and Fox News journalist was hired to run it in February. "It is not being used to deal with Russian disinformation or Isis propaganda, but they are syphoning money off to attack the Iran [nuclear] deal and Iran," Bruen said. "We know that information warfare is a serious and damaging threat, but the centre is being treated by the Trump administration like it is a reserve for dipping in to for pet political projects." Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's executive director for the Middle East and North Africa, welcomed the speed of the state department decision to cut funding to Iran Disinformation Project. "Groups like this really undermine human rights advocacy when they use it selectively as a political weapon to go after a perceived enemy."
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| Turkey, Russia face conflicts over Syria's push into Idlib Posted: 01 Jun 2019 12:20 PM PDT  ISTANBUL (AP) — Ankara and Moscow are again facing an escalation of violence in Syria's last rebel-held territory, a development that puts their cooperation to the test even as they support opposing sides in the eight-year war that has devastated Syria.
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| Dershowitz: There should no longer be a special counsel Posted: 30 May 2019 07:48 PM PDT  Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz react to AG Barr's comments on Robert Mueller's statement.
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| Wall St Week Ahead-Struggles of transport stocks transmit caution to market Posted: 31 May 2019 01:29 PM PDT ![Wall St Week Ahead-Struggles of transport stocks transmit caution to market]( "Wall St Week Ahead-Struggles of transport stocks transmit caution to market") Add this to worries about Wall Street: The index of planes, trains and trucking companies, considered an important stock barometer of the U.S. economy's health, is struggling. The Dow Jones Transportation Average swooned 10.2% in May, a far steeper decline than that of the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the S&P 500. For analysts who closely watch the transports, this could be a sign of deeper market stress.
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| Could Taiwan Halt an Invasion by China? Posted: 01 Jun 2019 01:49 AM PDT  The Taiwan question has long been in a thorn in the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) side. In the decades following the Shanghai communiqué, the CCP's core strategic approach to Taiwan was to bide their time while building up national strength. As Deng Xiaoping famously proclaimed, the People's Republic of China (PRC) can wait 100 years to reunify with Taiwan (also known as Republic of China, or ROC) if necessary.Today's CCP appears to be operating within a much shorter time frame, however. With China's rise to great power status, Beijing wields unprecedented economic leverage over Taiwan and is increasingly comfortable with flexing its military muscle overseas. XI Jingping is "losing patience" with the defiant island off his southeastern coast, which continues to rebuff Chinese reunification schemes premised on what Xi calls a "one country, two systems" approach.
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| GM's Cadillac unveils two new performance cars: the 2020 CT4-V and 2020 CT5-V Posted: 31 May 2019 04:40 AM PDT  The 2020 Cadillac CT4-V and CT5-V performance sedans made their debut as GM aims to rejuvenate luxury sedan sales.
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| Kitsch and confidence at Huawei HQ despite US pressure Posted: 31 May 2019 03:59 AM PDT  Emblazoned across a wall at Huawei headquarters is a motto that appears to sum up the attitude of the huge Chinese telecom company toward its multiplying challenges: "Success requires friends. "We don't believe it.
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| Auto industry dented by latest Trump tariffs Posted: 31 May 2019 12:33 PM PDT  President Donald Trump's plan to impose tariffs on Mexico will affect myriad industries, but few are as exposed as automakers. Shares of several major automakers and auto suppliers dived five percent or more following Trump's announcement Thursday night that the United States would impose a five percent tariff on all Mexican imports on June 10, explicitly linking the trade action to a demand that Mexico crack down on illegal immigration. The White House intends to gradually raise the tariff level until it hits 25 percent on October 1, a levy that "could cripple the industry and cause major uncertainty," said a note from Deutsche Bank.
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| Meet the Man Who Brought Israel's Netanyahu to His Knees Posted: 30 May 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Now Avigdor Liberman, the blunt-talking former bouncer who engineered Benjamin Netanyahu's first electoral victory in 1996, has brought the prime minister to his knees. The former defense and foreign minister rejected any compromise on his proposed bill to draft more ultra-Orthodox Jewish men into the military, blocking Netanyahu's efforts to form his fifth government. Liberman, who grew up in Moldova and still speaks with a heavy Russian accent, said his Yisrael Beitenu party "won't be partners in a government run according to Jewish religious law." He dismissed Netanyahu's claims that he is to blame for the political turmoil.
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| The Latest: Iran's president says stay focused on Palestine Posted: 31 May 2019 05:34 AM PDT  MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Latest on developments related to tensions in the Persian Gulf (all times local):
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| Government watchdog finds 'dangerous overcrowding' at U.S. border facility Posted: 31 May 2019 01:20 PM PDT ![Government watchdog finds 'dangerous overcrowding' at U.S. border facility]( "Government watchdog finds 'dangerous overcrowding' at U.S. border facility") The internal watchdog for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has urged officials to take immediate steps to alleviate "dangerous overcrowding" after it found some adult detainees being held in "standing-room-only conditions" for days or weeks at a border patrol facility in Texas. President Donald Trump has threatened Mexico with tariffs to do more to stop the flow. The El Paso Del Norte Border Patrol processing facility in southern Texas, which has a maximum capacity of 125 detainees, was holding 900 people on site on May 8, the watchdog found in a report dated May 30.
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| Volkswagen's Atlas Cross Sport Two-Row SUV Is Almost Here Posted: 31 May 2019 09:02 AM PDT  Spy photos show the mid-size SUV is close to production ready.
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| JPMorgan Chase settles case with male employees over paid parental leave Posted: 31 May 2019 09:14 AM PDT ![JPMorgan Chase settles case with male employees over paid parental leave]( "JPMorgan Chase settles case with male employees over paid parental leave") JPMorgan Chase reached a settlement with male employees who accused the company of denying them paid parental leave.
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| Google bans marijuana delivery apps from Play Store Posted: 31 May 2019 05:19 AM PDT  This week Google updated its Play Store policy to restrict apps that "facilitate the sale of marijuana or marijuana product," even if the substance is legal in your area. According to the company, apps that help users order or arrange the delivery and pick-up of marijuana and other products containing THC are no longer allowed on the Play Store.
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| Bacon-Wrapped Pickles, Caprese Bites, and More Must-Try Appetizers Posted: 31 May 2019 08:45 AM PDT |
| Stocks Fall after Trump’s Threat to Slap Tariffs on Mexico Posted: 31 May 2019 07:16 AM PDT  Global markets were shaken Friday after President Trump said that the U.S. will impose tariffs on Mexican imports in an effort to stop the flow of illegal immigration to the southern border. In the wake of the the news, the Dow fell 253 points, or about 1 percent, when markets opened on Friday. The S&P 500 sank 0.8 percent to 2,766, while the NASDAQ fell 1.2 percent to 2,475.Trump's announcement, made Thursday on Twitter, called for a 5 percent tariff on all products from Mexico to take effect on June 10.> On June 10th, the United States will impose a 5% Tariff on all goods coming into our Country from Mexico, until such time as illegal migrants coming through Mexico, and into our Country, STOP. The Tariff will gradually increase until the Illegal Immigration problem is remedied,..> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 30, 2019The U.S. will progressively raise tariffs to 25 percent by October if Mexico refuses to take action on immigration, according to the White House."Tariffs will permanently remain at the 25 percent level unless and until Mexico substantially stops the illegal inflow of aliens coming through its territory," the White House said.American companies Ford and Walmart trade heavily wit Mexico. About 6 million American jobs rely on trade with Mexico, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador criticized the tariffs late Thursday, saying that "social problems are not resolved with taxes or coercive measures.""The Statue of Liberty is not an empty symbol," Obrador said. "With all due respect, although it has the sovereign right to express it, the motto 'America First' is a fallacy."Trump warned about his tariff plan in April of last year, writing on Twitter that Mexico must "stop the big drug and people flows, or I will stop their cash cow, NAFTA [North American Free Trade Agreement]."Border authorities has been overwhelmed in recent months with tens of thousands of migrants, most from Central America, traveling through Mexico and crossing the southern U.S. border legally and illegally.
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| Protests as court weighs fate of Missouri's sole abortion clinic Posted: 30 May 2019 06:24 PM PDT  A US court on Thursday weighed the fate of the last abortion clinic in Missouri, which risks becoming the first state in 45 years without access to the procedure amid a nationwide push to curtail reproductive rights. As a judge heard arguments, crowds of protestors took to the streets of Missouri's largest city St. Louis, warning of dire consequences if the state of six million loses its sole abortion provider. The state is pursuing a case against Planned Parenthood, which provides women's reproductive services throughout the United States, arguing that the group failed to make its contract doctors cooperate with an investigation into its practices.
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| Israel Will Hold an Election for Prime Minister in September — Even Though Netanyahu Just Won the Vote. Here's Why Posted: 31 May 2019 09:51 AM PDT  Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to form a government within the allotted 42-day limit
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