| Iran says time is short for Europe to save nuclear deal: Fars Posted: 17 Jun 2019 03:21 AM PDT  The time is short for Europe to save the international nuclear deal with Tehran after Washington's withdrawal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday, according to Fars news agency. "It's a crucial moment, and France can still work with other signatories of the deal and play an historic role to save the deal in this very short time," Rouhani was quoted as saying during a meeting with France's new ambassador in Iran. Rouhani said the collapse of the nuclear deal would not be in the interests of the region and the world.
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| Earthquake in southern China kills 11 people, injures 122 Posted: 17 Jun 2019 05:53 PM PDT  A strong earthquake that hit Sichuan province in southern China late Monday night killed 11 people and injured 122, the local government said. The Yibin city government posted the casualty toll on its social media accounts Tuesday morning. Xinhua news agency said rescue efforts were underway in the stricken area.
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| Boeing's embattled chief faces tough crowd at Paris Air Show Posted: 16 Jun 2019 09:47 PM PDT  Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg will have his work cut out for him at the Paris Air Show this week as he tries to reassure airlines and industry partners over the fate of its flagship 737 MAX plane, indefinitely grounded after two fatal crashes.
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| Nearly 50 Jimmy Buffett fans reportedly fall ill in Dominican Republic Posted: 17 Jun 2019 10:48 AM PDT  Nearly 50 members of a Jimmy Buffet fan club got sick while vacationing in theDominican Republic in April, KFOR reports
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| Daring maneuver brings NASA’s orbiter closer to an asteroid than ever before Posted: 17 Jun 2019 08:44 AM PDT  NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has been orbiting the space rock known as Bennu since the start of the year. It caught up with the asteroid in late December of 2018 and successfully inserted itself into orbit around the object around New Year's day. There have been several "firsts" along the way, but its latest maneuver is the most daring yet, and it allowed the spacecraft to break yet another record.A recent tweak to its orbit has brought the probe to an orbit of just 680 meters, or around 2,230 feet from the asteroid's surface. This is now the closest that any manmade spacecraft has orbited any planetary body.It's a stellar achievement for NASA, but it's worth noting that the previous record was actually already held by the OSIRIS-REx probe. What NASA did was break its own record and set itself even farther ahead from any competition to come in the future.This new orbit, which the research team calls the Orbital B phase, will give scientists a better understanding of the asteroid's surface and hopefully allow NASA to choose a suitable location where the probe can briefly snag a sample of its material.Actually pulling off such a daring maneuver will be incredibly risky, and nobody is quite sure if the spacecraft can make it happen. This is due in large part to the incredibly messy surface of Bennu, which surprised scientists when they got their first close look. The asteroid's surface is littered with debris ranging from tiny pebbles to massive boulders, and the spacecraft's handlers now have to find the safest place on the rock from which to gather a sample.Assuming it pulls off the sample grab, the probe will then leave Bennu and return to Earth with the sample material stowed safely for scientists on Earth to examine.
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| Shanahan's confirmation hearing for defense secretary delayed amid FBI investigation Posted: 17 Jun 2019 04:22 PM PDT  Patrick Shanahan is facing a protracted FBI investigation that has delayed his Senate hearing until at least next month. With Shanahan's confirmation on hold, press reports have questioned his relationship with the president, and the Pentagon has been fielding press queries about his personal life.
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| Could GM Bring Hummer Back as an Electric SUV Brand? Posted: 18 Jun 2019 08:48 AM PDT  Reports are swirling about the revival of the military-inspired SUVs.
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| U.S.-North Korea Summit Proves to Be All Talk, No Seoul Posted: 17 Jun 2019 08:48 AM PDT  Moon Jae-in was a very busy man last week. He spent three days in Northern Europe with a large host of dignitaries and very important people. During that time he engaged in a "hackathon" with the Finlandian president, held talks with the Norwegian prime minister, and attended a state dinner with the king and queen of Sweden. It was an opportunity for the South Korean president to play the statesman and escape the rough-and-tumble politics of Seoul for at least a few days.Moon, however, has a big problem. He has staked his five-year tenure in large part on transforming inter-Korean relations and turning the page on seven decades of animus on the Korean Peninsula. So, he can't escape the North Korea file for long—even when he is in the Nordic.In fact, Moon delivered two speeches during his three-day trip, which were heavily devoted to his peace project with the North. His June 14 address to the Swedish parliament, in which Moon predicted that the "international society will immediately respond if North Korea puts forth sincere efforts" towards denuclearization, was a public plea to knock some sense into the North Korean elite. By pushing Pyongyang into fulfilling its obligations in the letter and spirit of the three inter-Korean summits last year, Moon was sending a very basic message to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un: we are in this thing together, so help me help you.
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| How U.S. Allies in the Middle East are Responding to Rising Tensions with Iran Posted: 18 Jun 2019 07:24 AM PDT  The impact of escalation is likely to be most acute in the Gulf region
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| Death toll from China quakes rises to 11 Posted: 17 Jun 2019 05:07 PM PDT ![Death toll from China quakes rises to 11]( "Death toll from China quakes rises to 11") BEIJING/SHANGHAI, June 18 (Reuters) - The death toll from two strong earthquakes in China rose to 11 on Tuesday, with 122 people injured, state media said, adding that rescuers pulled some survivors from rubble in a part of the country that often suffers strong tremors. The quakes, roughly 30 minutes apart, hit the southwestern province of Sichuan late on Monday, with shaking felt in key regional cities, such as the provincial capital of Chengdu and the metropolis of Chongqing. People rushed into the streets and cracks were left in some buildings by the quakes, pictures posted on the social media accounts of state media showed.
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| How to Grill Pineapple for Tacos, Salsa, Sundaes, and More Posted: 18 Jun 2019 10:39 AM PDT |
| The Latest: Indiana AG's office plans vigorous defense Posted: 18 Jun 2019 12:54 PM PDT  The Indiana attorney general's office says it will vigorously defend him against a federal lawsuit by four women who say he drunkenly groped them during a party last year. The lawsuit filed Tuesday alleges sexual harassment by Republican state Attorney General Curtis Hill on a state lawmaker and three legislative staffers in March 2018 at an Indianapolis bar. Hill has denied wrongdoing and rebuffed calls from Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb to resign.
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| Erdogan attends prayers for Egypt's ex-president Morsi Posted: 18 Jun 2019 08:39 AM PDT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday attended an Istanbul prayer service for former Egyptian leader Mohamed Morsi who died after collapsing during a trial hearing in a Cairo court. Erdogan, a key supporter of Morsi, joined the afternoon prayers at the historic Fatih mosque, an AFP photographer reported. Turkey's relations with Cairo deteriorated after the Egyptian military, then led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, ousted Morsi in 2013.
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| Trump launches 2020 campaign, Investigation into Raptors parade shooting: 5 things to know Tuesday Posted: 18 Jun 2019 03:21 AM PDT  President Trump heads to Florida to kick off his 2020 campaign, funeral services are held for the pilot who died in the New York City helicopter crash and more news to start your Tuesday.
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| Tesla and NIO fires in China prompt authorities to enact new safety guideline Posted: 17 Jun 2019 03:04 PM PDT  Statistically, electric cars are far less likely to catch fire than their gasoline-powered brethren. That said, traditional cars don't tend to catch fire for seemingly no reason at all, which, for reasons that remain murky, has happened a handful of times to electric cars from the likes of Tesla and NIO in recent memory.We've covered a few spontaneous Tesla fires over the past few months, but NIO, for those not familiar, is a Chinese electric car manufacturer. There are only a few thousand NIO vehicles on the road in China, but there have already been three reports of NIO electric vehicles spontaneously catching fire over the last three months alone. Something peculiar is certainly happening and authorities in China naturally want to get to the bottom of it.Consequently, Bloomberg reports that the Chinese industry and technology ministry is now requiring electric automakers to conduct thorough checks for fire safety on both new and existing vehicles."Companies need to check for potential safety hazards with battery boxes, waterproof protection in cars, high-voltage wiring harnesses, as well as on-board charging devices," the report notes.Any subsequent findings need to be submitted via a written report to the ministry by October of this year. The ministry's full statement, which can be read in its entirety over here, also relays that EV manufacturers must conduct a timely investigation into every fire incident. Further, if a fire happens to result in the death of a driver or passenger, EV manufacturers will have 6 hours to embark on a thorough investigation.To be clear, these fire incidents are far from common, though there's still something harrowing about a car catching fire for absolutely no discernible reason. To this point, you may recall this video from April of a Model S spontaneously catching fire in a parking garage.https://youtu.be/sAQlLu5ttOk?t=85
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| Alibaba Plans Stock Split as It Preps Giant Listing Posted: 16 Jun 2019 10:28 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. plans a one-to-eight share split, as the e-commerce giant prepares for a stock sale that could be Hong Kong's largest since 2010.China's largest company is proposing to increase the number of ordinary shares eight-fold to 32 billion, it said in a statement. The proposal will be discussed and put to a vote at its annual general meeting in Hong Kong on July 15. If approved, the split should take place no later than July 2020.Alibaba is said to have filed for a listing in Hong Kong last week via a confidential exchange application. That sale of stock, which could raise as much as $20 billion, replenishes the online retailer's war-chest and helps it attract investors closer to home as tensions between China and the U.S. escalate.In the Hong Kong offering, the company will seek to preserve its governance system, where a partnership of top executives has rights including the ability to nominate a majority of board members, a person familiar with the matter has said. It's possible also that the company may not need to seek a waiver, as the city's listing rules allow some Chinese issuers who have already listed on an established international bourse to keep their existing structures in a secondary listing.To contact the reporter on this story: Lulu Yilun Chen in Hong Kong at ychen447@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin ChanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Here Are Five New Takeaways From Trump’s ABC News Interview Posted: 16 Jun 2019 08:17 PM PDT  ABC NewsBy the time ABC News aired its lengthy, wide-ranging, and extensive interview with President Trump on Sunday evening, many of the most headline-making moments had already been released by the network via excerpts. Washington has already been rocked, for example, by the bombshell revelation that Trump was seemingly open to the idea of receiving dirt on his 2020 opponents from foreign entities and didn't think it was necessary to contact the FBI if approached.But while we already knew heading into Sunday night that Trump wouldn't speak to Robert Mueller because he was concerned about lying, that he didn't fire Mueller because firings didn't "work out too well" for Richard Nixon, and that he believes former White House Counsel Don McGahn lied to Mueller to make himself look good, there were still a number of eyebrow-raising tidbits from the full interview.1) Trump hopes North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un isn't building nuclear weapons because "he likes me a lot."Discussing the president's claim a year ago that North Korea was no longer a nuclear threat, ABC News' George Stephanopoulos pressed the president on the fact that the reclusive nation still has stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Trump, meanwhile, insisted that there had been no nuclear testing by the country before boasting about his warm relationship with dictator Kim Jong Un.After the president bragged about the concessions he had received from North Korea (and the "very nice letters" from Kim), Stephanopoulos asked him point blank if he thought the brutal North Korean leader was still building nuclear weapons."I don't know. I hope not," Trump replied. "He promised me he wouldn't be. He promised we—me—he wouldn't be testing. I think he'd like to meet again. And I think he likes me a lot. And I think—you know, I think that we have a chance to do something."2) Trump dismisses the rising national debt under his watch because Obama/Biden "doubled" it.Complaining about the Federal Reserve and his belief that interest rates are holding the economy back, Trump insisted that if it weren't for recent interest rate hikes the stock market would be "10,000 points higher" than it currently is. That prompted him to take aim at his predecessors over the national debt."What I don't like is when you raise the interest rates, there's no inflation—there's virtually no inflation," the president said. "When you raise interest rates, that means you're paying more in debt. And I inherited almost $21 trillion in debt. I inherited that. President Obama and Biden, they doubled the debt during their eight years. You know that."When Stephanopoulos attempted to point out that the debt has been soaring under Trump's watch, the president groused that he had to "rebuild the military" while the Obama administration "doubled the debt on nonsense." Trump has vowed to eliminate the national debt in eight years. His budget plans, however, would leave it 50 percent higher.3) Trump falsely claims that he didn't campaign for the House during the 2018 midterms.Dismissing concerns that many voters are turned off by his nonstop Twitter activity and penchant for personal insults, Trump claimed the 2018 midterm elections were a success for him because the Republican Party held on to the Senate. Stephanopoulos, naturally, noted that the GOP lost the House of Representatives as Democrats picked up 40 seats.According to Trump, that loss was due to the fact that he didn't get involved in House races."Well, I didn't campaign for the House," Trump stated. "Remember this also. I wanted to say, 'I'm running. I'm running. I'm running.' But I wasn't running. There's a big difference when I run and when I just say, 'Hey, I hope you vote for somebody.' But look at Senate. We had 51. They thought they were going to take over the Senate, and we took it from 51 to 53."The Brookings Institution, however, found that the president endorsed 75 House and Senate candidates during the 2018 election, of whom 55 percent won their races. Of the nearly 40 candidates Trump hit the campaign trail for (who were largely in safe Republican districts), 64 percent won.4) Trump demanded his acting chief of staff leave the interview because he couldn't stop coughing.As Trump was talking to Stephanopoulos about releasing his tax returns, someone off-camera began coughing. Trump began answering the ABC News anchor's question, but he stopped midway and wanted to start over."And let's do that over, he's coughing in the middle of my answer," Trump grumbled. "I don't like that, you know, I don't like that."It was revealed that the cougher in question was none other than acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney—and Trump then demanded Mulvaney leave."If you're going to cough, please leave the room. You just can't—you just can't cough. Boy, oh boy," the president huffed.5) Trump claimed that he'd finally reveal his plan to replace Obamacare in "the next month."Trump leaned heavily on one of his favorite rhetorical crutches when he told Stephanopoulos that he'd be revealing a new health-care plan very soon.After Trump claimed that Americans will have "the greatest health care that anybody's ever had" if the GOP sweeps the House, Senate, and White House in 2020, the ABC host asked when the new plan would be revealed. "And you said, yesterday you told me, you're going have a plan, in what, the next couple of weeks?" Stephanopoulos wondered aloud, prompting Trump to reply: "I'm going have a plan over the next month."Trump has long promised to provide additional information on a whole host of issues in the "next two weeks." This time around, he's claiming it will be a month. That may come as news to the Republican senators he's tasked with crafting the plan, however, as The Daily Beast reported earlier this month that their Obamacare replacement push has been "totally abandoned."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Vatican considers allowing married men to become priests in remote parts of the world Posted: 17 Jun 2019 01:04 PM PDT  HISTORIC SHIFT FOR CATHOLIC CHURCH? The Vatican is considering allowing married men to become priests in remote parts of the Amazon.
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| Belgian dad pleas for help to find son missing in Australia Posted: 17 Jun 2019 12:04 AM PDT  An encrypted phone message sent by a missing Belgian tourist could hold a clue to the 18-year-old's disappearance from an Australian coastal town, his father said on Monday. Theo Hayez was last seen leaving a Byron Bay nightclub late on May 31. Hayez on Monday made a public appeal for help to access his son's encrypted WhatsApp account.
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| Facebook Unveils Cryptocurrency Despite Privacy Concerns Posted: 18 Jun 2019 01:30 PM PDT  Facebook reveals plans for digital currency to allow billions of users to transfer money with close to zero transaction fees.
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| See Photos of the Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 Posted: 17 Jun 2019 03:00 PM PDT |
| U.S. 'probably had excellent presidents who were gay,' Buttigieg says Posted: 17 Jun 2019 06:12 AM PDT  If South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg wins the 2020 election, he'll be the first openly gay man to serve as president. But he says he's "almost certain" he wouldn't be the first gay president in U.S. history.
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| New Jersey man dies vacationing in Dominican Republic, family and State Department confirm Posted: 18 Jun 2019 01:43 PM PDT  Joseph Allen, 55, was found dead in his hotel room at Terra Linda in Sosua on the morning of June 13, his sister, Jamie Reed, told ABC.
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| Hong Kong protests a rare defeat for Xi, say analysts Posted: 17 Jun 2019 01:35 AM PDT  China's powerful President Xi Jinping has been dealt a rare setback with the suspension of unpopular legislation in Hong Kong following massive protests, but Beijing could bite back by tightening its grip on the semi-autonomous city, according to analysts. Hundreds of thousands of protesters returned to the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday, calling for the resignation of the territory's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam -- even after she suspended a deeply unpopular bill that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland.
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| Democrat Bullock seizes spotlight after getting left out of presidential debate Posted: 18 Jun 2019 07:00 AM PDT ![Democrat Bullock seizes spotlight after getting left out of presidential debate]( "Democrat Bullock seizes spotlight after getting left out of presidential debate") Montana Governor Steve Bullock is making a flurry of appearances on television and the campaign trail after getting locked out of next week's Democratic Party presidential debate, a move aimed at turning the bad news into a boost for his candidacy. While 20 of his rivals meet over two nights on the debate stage in Florida, Bullock will be in Iowa and New Hampshire - the first states to have presidential nominating contests - holding televised town halls. A new ad being released on Tuesday and seen by Reuters complains that Bullock was "ousted" from the debate and urges supporters to donate to his campaign.
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| Google Appoints New Chief to Oversee Tumultuous China Region Posted: 16 Jun 2019 10:16 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Alphabet Inc.'s Google has appointed a new Greater China head, as the company tries to reset a checkered relationship with Beijing while tensions with Washington flare.Stanley Chen will become managing director of Greater China sales, the company said Monday, taking up a post Scott Beaumont vacated after he was appointed Google's Asia-Pacific president in March. The incoming executive, who will be based in Shanghai, had been general manager of its Taiwan business for eight years.Google takes in about 15% of its annual revenue from the Asia Pacific even though it pulled its search engine from the world's No. 2 economy around 2010, citing censorship. Advertising from Chinese companies however remains an important business for the internet giant.The company came under fire last year for an unsuccessful attempt to bring a censored version of its search engine back to China. Google has also figured prominently in the trade war as it contends with a ban on Huawei, one of its biggest advertisers and Android customers, and comes under scrutiny for its work on artificial intelligence in the country. Google is also said to be reordering its supply chain to move some hardware production out of China as tariffs on these goods increase.The company declined to make Chen available for comment.To contact the reporter on this story: Shelly Banjo in Hong Kong at sbanjo@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Today’s best deals: $7 Alexa smart plugs, $13 color smart lights, $25 Fire TV Stick, $15 Wi-Fi extender, more Posted: 17 Jun 2019 07:35 AM PDT  We're kicking off the new week with a phenomenal roundup of the best daily deals we could find. Highlights include top-rated Alexa and Google enabled smart plugs for just over $7 a piece when you buy a 4-pack and clip the $3 coupon, renewed Fire TV Sticks for $24.99, the best-selling TP-Link Wi-Fi range extender on Amazon for just $14.99, brand new iPads at their lowest prices of all time, the Apple Watch Series 3 in both sizes at all-time low prices, $13 color LED smart light bulbs that are just as good as $50 Philips Hue bulbs, a 10W fast wireless charging stand for only $8.99, $70 Nintendo Switch Pro Controllers for just $49.99 a piece, the best-selling Instant Pot at its lowest price of 2019, 12 months of PlayStation Plus for $39.99 instead of $60, and more. Check out all of today's best deals below.
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| Harvard pulls Parkland grad's admission over racist comments Posted: 17 Jun 2019 03:32 PM PDT  A survivor of the Parkland school shooting announced Monday that Harvard University withdrew his admission over racist comments he made in a shared Google Doc and text messages nearly two years ago. In a series of posts on Twitter, Kyle Kashuv shared several letters he received from the Ivy League school first notifying him that his admission offer was being reconsidered in light of the comments and, later, that it was being revoked. The decision stems from comments that have surfaced online recently and that Kashuv says were shared among friends when he was 16, months before the February 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland.
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| Reynolds Wrap will pay someone $5,000 a week to travel across America eating ribs Posted: 18 Jun 2019 10:34 AM PDT  Grill masters and backyard barbecue bosses, listen up
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| Boeing's troubled 737 MAX gets huge vote of confidence from IAG Posted: 18 Jun 2019 11:16 AM PDT  US aircraft giant Boeing got a welcome vote of confidence in its beleaguered 737 MAX plane on Tuesday when International Airlines Group, owner of British Airways, said it wanted to buy 200 of the planes. It was a coup for Boeing since up to now IAG has been a longtime client of Airbus for its single-aisle jets, used on some of its most popular routes. "We have every confidence in Boeing and expect that the aircraft will make a successful return to service in the coming months having received approval from the regulators," IAG's chief Willie Walsh said in a statement.
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| 4 Injured, 3 Arrested After Reports of Shooting During Raptors Celebration, Toronto Police Say Posted: 17 Jun 2019 01:56 PM PDT  Two people sustained "serious but not life-threatening" injuries after shots were fired at a celebration for the Toronto Raptors NBA championship.
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| Buttigieg: There's Definitely Been Gay Presidents Before Posted: 17 Jun 2019 02:58 AM PDT  Reuters / John Sommers IIIf he wins in 2020, Pete Buttigieg is pretty sure he won't be the first gay president. Speaking to Axios on HBO, the South Bend mayor was asked how he's going to respond to people who attack him during the campaign for being too young, too liberal, or too gay to be the American president. "We have had excellent presidents who have been young," he said. "We have had excellent presidents who have been liberal. I would imagine we've probably had excellent presidents who were gay—we just didn't know which ones." He went on to say that it was statistically "almost certain" that there had been gay presidents, but he couldn't name names. "My gaydar even doesn't work that well in the present, let alone retroactively," he lamented.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Why are we headed for a blowup with Iran? It began when Trump scrapped the nuclear deal Posted: 17 Jun 2019 07:05 PM PDT ![Why are we headed for a blowup with Iran? It began when Trump scrapped the nuclear deal]( "Why are we headed for a blowup with Iran? It began when Trump scrapped the nuclear deal") At minimum, Iran and America need a hotline to deconflict their military forces and avert a serious escalation. But that has been rejected before.
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| Russia to Washington: Drop Middle East troop plan and stop provoking Iran Posted: 18 Jun 2019 02:06 AM PDT  Russia told the United States on Tuesday to drop what it called provocative plans to deploy more troops to the Middle East and to cease actions that looked like a conscious attempt to provoke war with Iran. The comments, from Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov to Russian news agencies, followed an announcement from Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan a day earlier who said Washington planned to send around 1,000 more troops to the Middle East for defensive purposes. President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday that Iran would not wage war against any nation and the Kremlin called for restraint from all sides.
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| This big bank is eliminating all fees on checking and savings accounts Posted: 17 Jun 2019 12:56 PM PDT  Discover is doing away with fees of any kind on its checking, savings, money market and certificate of deposit accounts.
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| Facebook’s Libra coin isn’t even out yet, but it’s already facing opposition in Europe Posted: 18 Jun 2019 01:20 PM PDT  Facebook on Tuesday announced the Bitcoin rival it has been developing for the better part of a year: Libra. From the start, Facebook insisted on how secure Libra would be, and on the fact that a subsidiary called Calibra will be in charge of Libra, and that a Libra Association would oversee the Libra blockchain.It's as if Facebook wanted to ensure everyone ahead of Libra's 2020 launch that the coin won't be another way for the company to make money off of its customers by collecting even more personal data from them. We told you before the announcement that you should avoid Libra at all costs until Facebook proves it can be trusted with our privacy. But now that Libra is official, it's already facing opposition out of Europe.As the recent past has shown, it's Europe that US tech companies have to fear. Google has been slapped with no less than three multi-billion dollar fines in anti-trust cases, and regulators in various countries aren't fans of Facebook in light of the recent scandals that plagued the social network.Facebook's desire to handle payments won't go unnoticed or unscrutinized in the region, and the French finance minister Bruno Le Maire already commented on Libra. "It is out of question" that Libra "become a sovereign currency," Le Maire said in an interview with Europe 1 radio, per Bloomberg. "It can't and it must not happen."The official also called on the Group of Seven central bank governors to prepare a report on Facebook's project for the upcoming July meetings. Le Maire's fears were echoed by Markus Ferber, a German member of the European Parliament who took to -- wait for it -- Facebook to say that with more than 2 billion users, the company could become a "shadow bank," and that regulators should be on high alert."Multinational corporations such as Facebook must not be allowed to operate in a regulatory nirvana when introducing virtual currencies," said Ferber.The other day I said that Libra does have one advantage over other cryptos: It can raise awareness about blockchain tech and digital currencies to teach more people about cryptocurrencies and the blockchain. In light of these first reactions from the EU, there's one other side-effect that Libra might have on the crypto space. It could convince more governments to take a closer look at cryptos, and issue stricter regulation.
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| Photos of the 2020 Mercedes-AMG GLC63 S Coupe Posted: 18 Jun 2019 11:00 AM PDT |
| Morsi: from Egypt election triumph to death as inmate Posted: 17 Jun 2019 09:54 AM PDT  Mohamed Morsi, who died Monday aged 67, was Egypt's first democratically elected president but spent just one turbulent year in office after the 2011 uprising before the army toppled him. The Islamist's overthrow was followed by a brutal crackdown that killed hundreds of supporters of his Muslim Brotherhood movement and dealt a major blow to political Islam. Morsi was sentenced to death in May 2015 for his role in jailbreaks during the uprising that ousted his predecessor, longtime autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
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| Sex cult trial in New York moves to closing arguments on Monday Posted: 17 Jun 2019 03:00 AM PDT ![Sex cult trial in New York moves to closing arguments on Monday]( "Sex cult trial in New York moves to closing arguments on Monday") Jurors are expected to hear closing arguments on Monday in the trial of Keith Raniere, the New York man accused of trapping women in a sex cult and having them branded with his initials. Prosecutors said he used his organization Nxivm, which billed itself as a self-help group, to hide a secretive sorority known as DOS in which young women were blackmailed into have sex with him, follow dangerously restrictive diets and be branded with his initials. Raniere, who could face life in prison if convicted, has pleaded not guilty.
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| Forget Glock or Sig Sauer: This 100 Year Old Gun Might Be Better Posted: 17 Jun 2019 11:00 PM PDT  The response of some weapons designers might have been to develop a fully automatic gun. If one bullet wouldn't stop the enemy, three might. That would be the argument of a disposable, consumerist culture of overabundance, but we weren't there yet. The 1911 was frugal with the bullets, but the ones it dished out really did the job.The 1911 is one of the most notorious handguns in history and easily the most famous in America, having seen action in every U.S. conflict since World War I. One of the most successful product designs ever, the 1911 has achieved something rare in the world of machines: immortality. Over a hundred years old, it remains largely unchanged.What Apple is to consumer electronics, John Browning was to late 19th and early 20th century firearms. The 1911 is his most famous design. The typical 1911 is 8.25 inches from tip to tail and weighs 2.49 pounds empty — about as much as a trade paperback book. The 1911 is made of steel, steel and more steel, and takes a magazine that holds seven bullets.The 1911 has seen service in World War I, Mexico, Haiti, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic (twice), Lebanon, World War II, the Korean War, Vietnam, Iran, Grenada, Panama, the Gulf War, the Iraq War and Afghanistan. It has chased bad men from Pancho Villa to Osama Bin Laden.
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| 'It's a bunch of malarkey': Biden blasts Trump for stirring racial tensions Posted: 17 Jun 2019 12:46 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden told an anti-poverty gathering Monday that President Trump has pitted racial groups against one another, but pushed back against criticism of his calls for bipartisan compromise.
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| Intense Garlic Hack Has Captivated the Internet and People Have Never Been More Pumped to Peel Posted: 17 Jun 2019 10:53 AM PDT  This is a life-changing hack for garlic lovers
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| What Happens When You Pay Your Credit Card Late? Posted: 17 Jun 2019 06:00 AM PDT ![What Happens When You Pay Your Credit Card Late?]( "What Happens When You Pay Your Credit Card Late?") A late credit card payment is an easy mistake to make. Although a late credit card payment is an understandable error, there are consequences. A missed credit card payment can hurt your credit rating and finances both in the short and long term.
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| Apple Watch Series 3 models are back down to $199 on Amazon, an all-time low Posted: 17 Jun 2019 06:49 AM PDT  If you have an iPhone but not an Apple Watch, you're really missing out. It's so awesome to not have to pull your phone out of your pocket or bag every time you get a notification. On top of that, Apple Watch complications are like smartphone widgets so you can see important information without having to open any apps. Now is the perfect time to get in on the Apple Watch action because the Apple Watch Series 3 just dropped back down to its lowest price on Amazon, starting at just $199 for the 38mm version and $229 for the larger 42mm model! Definitely check them out.Here are the key details from the product page: * GPS * Optical heart sensor * Digital Crown * S3 with dual-core processor * Accelerometer and gyroscope * Swim proof * watch OS 5 * Aluminum case
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| Cat filter accidentally applied to Pakistani politician's face during live stream Posted: 18 Jun 2019 01:57 PM PDT  Call it a filter fail, a real social media CAT-astrophe.
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