| Ilhan Omar thanks Fox News for denouncing Jeanine Pirro's comments Posted: 11 Mar 2019 10:21 AM PDT  "We strongly condemn Jeanine Pirro's comments about Rep. Ilhan Omar," Fox said. "They do not reflect those of the network and we have addressed the matter with her directly."
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| Boeing 737 Max: Debunking traveler myths about the plane at the heart of two air disasters Posted: 11 Mar 2019 08:02 PM PDT  No, Southwest Airlines is not using the Boeing 737 Max 8 on its new Hawaii flights. Yes, some airlines are quietly working with concerned travelers.
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| Desperate Housewives actress Felicity Huffman among 50 people arrested over £19m college admissions scam Posted: 12 Mar 2019 05:19 PM PDT  An astonishing list of Hollywood actresses, financial titans and industry executives were arrested on Tuesday on charges of participating in a $25 million (£19m) scam to bribe their childrens' way into elite American universities. Oscar-nominated Felicity Huffman, star of Desperate Housewives, and sitcom star Lori Loughlin were among 33 parents who may face up to 20 years in prison if prosecuted and convicted on federal charges relating to the scheme. They are accused of paying bribes of up to $6 million to secure admission to prestigious universities for their children. Huffman appeared before a judge in Los Angeles on Tuesday night and was released on $250,000 bail, having surrendered her passport. All have declined to comment. With the help of exam administrators and athletics coaches, the parents are accused of either arranging for their child's entrance exam to be completed by someone else, or corrected, or else they would claim their child was a sporting prodigy who should be given a place at university due to their athletic prowess. Athletic coaches and exam invigilators were also among those charged. Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannuli, are both accused of paying $500,000 to the scam Credit: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni The mastermind of the scam, William Singer, on Tuesday pleaded guilty in Boston to racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy to defraud and obstruction of justice. He allegedly arranged to stage photos "proving" the sporting skills of the children. He would also photoshop the child's face onto a file photo of a high-performing athlete, to help the sporting coaches convince their colleagues to allow the student admission to university. A sailing coach at Stanford University, John Vandemoer, 41, also pleaded guilty on Tuesday and was fired from the university. He admitted that he had agreed to hold admission spots on his team open for two applicants falsely portrayed as competitive sailors, in exchange for payments to the sailing programme worth $270,000. Rudolph "Rudy" Meredith, the former head coach of Yale women's soccer team, resigned from the university in November after 24 years, saying merely that he wanted "to begin a different chapter in my life". He is also facing charges of fraud in connection to Singer's scheme. Andrew Lelling, the US attorney for Massachusetts, said the case was the largest college admission fraud ever uncovered, resulting in almost 50 arrests in six states. He described the 33 parents as "a catalogue of wealth and privilege". Yale university in Connecticut is among those targeted by the scam Among them are multiple financiers, including Bill McGlashan, founder of $13 billion asset management firm TPG Growth. He also co-founded The Rise Fund, a $2 billion impact investment platform, along with U2's Bono and eBay's first president Jeff Skoll. Miami real estate developer Robert Zangrillo, California dentist Homayoun Zadeh and Nevada gaming executive Gamal Abdelaziz are also charged. The list of parents further includes Napa Valley-based Chilean wine maker Agustin Huneeus, whose father Agustin Huneeus Sr was CEO of Concha y Toro; and the founder of a Kentucky bourbon distillery, Marci Palatella, whose husband Lou is a legendary American Football player, with the San Francisco 49ers. None of those named, approached by The Telegraph, responded to requests for comment. Actress Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannuli, are both accused of paying $500,000 to have their two daughters both designated as members of the University of Southern California (USC) rowing team – despite the fact that the girls do not row. Loughlin's representatives told The Telegraph they did not wish to comment on the charges. Huffman's elder daughter, currently studying at the Los Angeles High School of the Arts (LAHSA), had a university place secured for her through a $15,000 "donation" to Singer's charitable foundation, the court documents allege. Huffman's representatives did not respond to The Telegraph's request for comment. None of the students are listed in the indictment. The parents could face possible jail time if convicted, he said, although he said it was too early to specify how long. "For every student admitted through fraud, an honest, genuinely-talented child was rejected," said Mr Lalling. "There can be no separate admissions programme for the wealthy, and there will be no separate criminal justice system, either." Adam Citron, senior counsel at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP, and the former assistant district attorney in Westchester County, New York, told The Telegraph he was "dumbfounded" by the "brazen" scam. "And the parents could get 20 years – although given that most of them do not have criminal records they could get probation or community service." He added that if found guilty: "I don't think they will get much sympathy." Sign up for your essential, twice-daily briefing from The Telegraph with our free Front Page newsletter.
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| Talk to Pakistan, former Modi ally urges India amid Kashmir tension Posted: 11 Mar 2019 11:06 AM PDT  Mehbooba Mufti, who was chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir from early 2014 to June last year when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party withdrew support for her regional party, said an ongoing crackdown on militants and those supporting secession could further alienate the people. India has vowed to kill all the militants in the country's only Muslim-majority state if they do not give up arms, after a 20-year-old local man killed 40 paramilitary troopers in a suicide attack last month. Indian security forces have killed 18 militants in Kashmir since then, the army said on Monday.
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| Trump says Melania body double conspiracy theory caused by journalists doctoring photos Posted: 13 Mar 2019 07:19 AM PDT  Donald Trump has said a conspiracy theory alleging Melania Trump sometimes uses a body double during outings with him has been concocted by journalists doctoring images. "The Fake News photoshopped pictures of Melania, then propelled conspiracy theories that it's actually not her by my side in Alabama and other places," he tweeted, without providing evidence. "I see unconvincing Melania stunt-double is back," one Twitter user wrote over the weekend, alongside an image showing Ms Trump in dark sunglasses and holding the president's hand.
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| Mitt Romney Blows Out Birthday Candles One By One if You Must Know Posted: 12 Mar 2019 08:05 AM PDT  Utah's junior senator has a unique way of blowing out birthday candles.
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| Parliament Again Votes Down May’s Brexit Deal Posted: 12 Mar 2019 02:24 PM PDT  The U.K. Parliament defeated Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit proposal for the second time on Tuesday.Members nixed the proposal in a 391–242 vote, a smaller margin than the 432–202 defeat it suffered in January. The move sets up another crucial vote on Wednesday, in which MPs will decide whether to move forward with Brexit on March 29 despite the lack of a Parliament-approved agreement between the U.K. and the E.U. The outcome of that vote could then prompt a vote to delay Brexit.Conservative MPs, only 75 of whom voted against the plan this time after 118 of them voted against it in January, will be able to vote freely going forward, May promised."This is an issue of grave importance for the future of our country," May said. "Just like the [abortion] referendum there are strongly held and equally legitimate views on both sides."The prime minister warned members from both sides of the aisle not to make the "perfect the enemy of the good.""The government has been defeated again by an enormous majority and it must accept its deal is clearly dead and does not have the support of this House," said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose party voted against the deal. "The prime minister has run down the clock and the clock has been run out on her. Maybe it's time instead we had a general election and the people can choose who their government should be.""I am passionate about delivering the result of the referendum, but I equally passionately believe that the best way to do that is to leave in an orderly way with a deal and I still believe there is a majority in the House for that course of action," May said.Opponents of Brexit have warned that leaving without a plan will throw Britain's economy into turmoil, while backers have dismissed those concerns as exaggerated.
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| The nations grounding their Boeing 737s Posted: 12 Mar 2019 03:38 AM PDT  A number of countries have grounded Boeing's 737 MAX 8 medium-haul workhorse jet in response to the Ethiopian Airlines crash that killed all 157 people on board. There are some 350 of the 737 MAX 8 planes currently in service around the world. While some countries and airlines have opted to ground the planes, others are continuing to fly the aircraft pending an investigation into the crash and possible guidance from Boeing itself.
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| Suspension doubled for cop in shooting of 18-year-old Posted: 11 Mar 2019 06:07 PM PDT ![Suspension doubled for cop in shooting of 18-year-old]( "Suspension doubled for cop in shooting of 18-year-old") CHICAGO (AP) — A police accountability office and the Chicago police superintendent have agreed to doubling the 90-day suspension that had been suggested for a Chicago police sergeant found to have unjustifiably shot an unarmed autistic 18-year-old.
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| U.S. to withdraw all remaining diplomatic personnel from Venezuela Posted: 12 Mar 2019 12:05 AM PDT  The United States will withdraw all remaining diplomatic personnel from Venezuela this week, the U.S. State Department said late on Monday, citing the deteriorating situation in the country after months of political unrest. It followed Washington's Jan. 24 decision to withdraw all dependents and reduce embassy staff to a minimum in the South American country hit by unrest over a contested presidential election. "This decision reflects the deteriorating situation in Venezuela as well as the conclusion that the presence of U.S. diplomatic staff at the embassy has become a constraint on U.S. policy," the State Department said in a statement.
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| NASA pushing initiative to get astronauts on moon and Mars Posted: 11 Mar 2019 05:01 PM PDT  NASA hopes a proposed budget of $21 billion will help in their efforts to get astronauts back on the moon, and then to Mars.
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| 'Wonder Woman' urges calm in Israeli civil rights fight Posted: 11 Mar 2019 12:08 PM PDT  Hollywood star Gal Gadot has leapt to defend a fellow actress who was chided by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for challenging his party's treatment of Arab citizens. Netanyahu and his Likud party have been accused of using scare tactics and demonising Israel's Arab population ahead of April 9 elections in a bid to motivate their right-wing base. "Love your neighbour as yourself," Israeli-born Gadot wrote on Instagram late Sunday after popular Israeli model and television actress Rotem Sela received online abuse from the public and a personal reprimand from Netanyahu.
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| The 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Aerodynamics in Photos Posted: 13 Mar 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman Indicted in Sweeping College Bribery Scheme. Here Are the Biggest Allegations and What to Know Posted: 12 Mar 2019 07:27 PM PDT  Who was charged and the biggest allegations
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| US will not accept 'incremental' disarmament, insists envoy to North Korea Posted: 11 Mar 2019 10:57 PM PDT  Stephen Biegun, the United States envoy to Pyongyang has stressed that Washington will not settle for the incremental disarmament of North Korea and that it is aiming for complete denuclearisation by the end of US President Donald Trump's first term in 2021. "We are not going to do denuclearisation incrementally," Mr Biegun told a conference in Washington hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in his first comments since the failed summit between Mr Trump and Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, last month. Mr Biegun insisted that sanctions would not be lifted unless Pyongyang completely eliminated its nuclear weapons, stressing that it was Washington's goal to achieve this within the current administration. "We stand by the expectation that if we fully mobilise our resources ... we could align ourselves in a manner sufficient to achieve this in something approaching a year," he said. His statements marked a reversal from previous pronouncements emerging from the White House, with analysts warning that the hardening of the US position is an unrealistic strategy that will end in further stalemate with Pyongyang. Stephen Biegun, the US envoy to North Korea Credit: Ed Jones/AFP Ahead of the Hanoi meeting, Mr Trump had declared that he had "no pressing schedule" on denuclearisation. "As long as there is no [missile] testing, I'm in no rush," he said. Mr Biegun, meanwhile, had indicated in an speech at Stanford University at the end of January that the US was willing to take a more stage by stage approach to the issue – a policy favoured by Pyongyang. "We have communicated to our North Korean counterparts that we are prepared to pursue – simultaneously and in parallel – all of the commitments our two leaders made in their joint statement at Singapore last summer," he said, referring to the two leaders' first meeting in the city-state last June. Their second summit in Hanoi in late February ended abruptly without any kind of deal. The Hanoi summit started out well but ended abruptly with no deal Credit: Evan Vucci/AP Mr Trump said that Kim had insisted all economic sanctions were lifted before he agreed to give up his entire nuclear arsenal – a position he could not accept. "Sometimes you just have to walk," he said. However, Ri Yong Ho, the North Korean foreign minister, countered that Pyongyang had only requested "partial relief" on sanctions enacted between 2016 and 2017, and had offered a "realistic proposal" to dismantle uranium enrichment facilities in return. The talks ended on friendly terms, but North Korea has since shown frustration at the collapse of the summit, with the state-run Rodong Sinmun commenting that the public "are feeling regretful, blaming the US for the summit that ended without an agreement." In a more alarming development, experts at California's Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said last week that satellite images suggested that Pyongyang could be preparing to launch a missile or space rocket. In response to questions about what the signs of activity at rocket launch facilities meant, Mr Biegun replied: "The short answer is: we don't know." He added that "the door remains open" for further negotiations. "Nothing can be agreed until everything's agreed," he said. Nuclear and North Korea analysts expressed scepticism about his statements. "Biegun: "Nothing can be agreed until everything can be agreed." – a losing strategy," tweeted Jenny Town, a Korea specialist at the Stimson Centre, a Washington think tank. Others commented that the insistence on full denuclearisation before the lifting of any sanctions would create a bottleneck with Pyongyang, which has consistently argued for reciprocal concessions. "If we don't move off this position, we have nowhere to go," Vipin Narang, a MIT nuclear expert, told Vox. "There's no zone of agreement if we insist on everything — I mean everything, complete surrender — up front."
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| Will Boeing 737 Max 8 Groundings Cause Flight Cancellations or Delays? Here's What You Should Know Posted: 12 Mar 2019 12:14 PM PDT  Flights have been cancelled or delayed as numerous countries ground the Boeing 737 MAX 8 planes. Here's how it could impact air travel.
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| Foxconn rejects Microsoft patent lawsuit, says never had to pay royalties Posted: 12 Mar 2019 06:15 AM PDT  Taiwan's Foxconn on Tuesday responded to a patent infringement lawsuit filed against it by Microsoft Corp, saying as a contract manufacturer, it has never needed to pay royalties for the U.S. company's software. Microsoft filed the complaint against Foxconn subsidiary FIH Mobile Ltd in the Northern District of California on Friday. Foxconn founder and Chief Executive Terry Gou told an impromptu news conference in Taipei that "patent infringement" is not an issue for his company, which "will suffer almost no any loss" as a result of the lawsuit.
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| Jaguar that attacked selfie-taking US woman won't be put down Posted: 11 Mar 2019 10:40 AM PDT  A jaguar that attacked a woman at a US zoo after she jumped a barrier to take a selfie with the animal will not be put down, officials said. "We can promise you nothing will happen to our jaguar," the Wildlife World Zoo in Arizona tweeted on Saturday. The jaguar reached through its enclosure and dug its claws into her arm, refusing to let go until someone threw a water bottle to distract the big cat.
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| Honda re-recalls 1 mln cars in US with defective airbags Posted: 12 Mar 2019 08:35 AM PDT  American Honda is once again recalling a million cars in the United States after it found that replacement parts to fix defective Takata airbags were also defective, the company said Tuesday. The company said it will replace the defective airbags in 1.1 million Acura and Honda models ranging from 2001 to 2016 model years. The issue was discovered following a crash involving a 2004 Honda Odyssey minivan in which the airbag inflator ruptured, injuring the driver's arm, the automaker said in a statement.
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| Pelosi: 'Not worth it' to impeach Trump Posted: 11 Mar 2019 01:48 PM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that barring "overwhelming" new evidence she would not pursue impeachment against President Trump because it would be too divisive and "he's just not worth it."
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| Design Talk Series, Michael Menn Honored with Award, and More News This Week Posted: 11 Mar 2019 11:57 AM PDT  Here's what you need to know
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| Oil Gains as Industry Report Shows Unexpected Cut in U.S. Supply Posted: 12 Mar 2019 02:26 PM PDT  Futures in New York climbed almost 1 percent from the close in after-hours trading on Tuesday. The move came after the American Petroleum Institute was said to report domestic crude inventories declined 2.58 million barrels last week, even as analysts had predicted an increase. "These are clearly bullish numbers, and if reinforced it will be more bullish," said James Williams, president at WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas.
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| Man jumps shirtless into frozen New York lake to rescue stranded dogs Posted: 12 Mar 2019 07:08 PM PDT  A Yonkers man and his dog didn't hesitate to jump into a frozen lake in Irvington to rescue two stranded dogs in need of their help.
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| US sanctions Russia based bank for its work in Venezuela Posted: 11 Mar 2019 03:11 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration imposed sanctions Monday on a Moscow-based bank jointly owned by Russian and Venezuelan state-owned companies, for allegedly trying to circumvent U.S. sanctions on the South American country.
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| Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are not alone. See the list of who has been charged. Posted: 13 Mar 2019 06:29 AM PDT  Thirty-three parents were among the 50 charged in a nationwide college admissions scam, which includes two well-known actresses and CEOs.
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| UN mourns after 21 staff killed in Ethiopia plane crash Posted: 11 Mar 2019 10:36 AM PDT  Flags flew at half-staff at the United Nations on Monday after 21 UN employees were killed in an Ethiopian Airlines plane crash that Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said marked a "sad day" for the world body. Guterres led delegates at the opening of the annual gathering on women's rights at the General Assembly in observing a moment of silence in honor of the victims. "A global tragedy has hit close to home — and the United Nations is united in grief," he said at the Commission on the Status of Women.
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| Last Islamic State enclave in eastern Syria pounded in U.S.-backed assault Posted: 11 Mar 2019 02:58 PM PDT  Fires raged after dark in the enclave at Baghouz near the Iraqi border as it was targeted with rockets and thick plumes of smoke rose from the area, Reuters TV footage showed. The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said earlier its fighters were encountering sniper fire and landmines and advancing slowly to avoid losses. The most hardened IS foreign fighters are still holed up in the area, the SDF has said.
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| Trump promotes model's fringe 'Jexodus' campaign encouraging Jews to leave Democratic Party Posted: 12 Mar 2019 07:21 AM PDT  President Trump used his massive Twitter platform to promote comments of Elizabeth Pipko, a model-turned-activist and former Trump campaign staffer who is encouraging Jews to leave the Democratic party.
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| One of the Galaxy Note 10’s marquee features was just confirmed in a new leak Posted: 13 Mar 2019 05:29 AM PDT  Last week, Samsung finally released its exciting new Galaxy S10 flagship smartphones. The Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+ are the completely redesigned handsets that Android fans have been waiting for, and they managed to deliver on the hype. The new Galaxy S phones offer sleek new all-screen designs with trendy hole-punch cameras, exciting new features like an in-display fingerprint reader, big upgrades where power and camera performance are concerned, and plenty more.There are already reports that sales of Samsung's new Galaxy S10 phones are expected to soar, and it's easy to see why. Samsung fans were hugely disappointed by last year's boring Galaxy S9 upgrade since it looked exactly like 2017's Galaxy S8 and offered no compelling new features at all. The Galaxy S10, however, is exciting and new in every way. Of course now that the S10 family has been released, attention is turning elsewhere and gadget fans are already looking to the future. Lucky for them, a fresh leak just revealed a marquee feature coming to Samsung's next big flagship phone release: The Galaxy Note 10.In 2019, 5G doesn't matter. Carriers and smartphone makers are doing their best to try to convince you that it does. In fact, AT&T is trying so hard that it's going as far as updating phones with a fake "5G E" icon to mislead customers and make them believe they're connecting to a next-generation network. Sorry, AT&T subscribers, but it's the same old network you were connecting to before.No wireless carriers in the United States will offer substantial 5G coverage this year. So, if you buy yourself a shiny (and pricey) new 5G phone, you mostly likely won't be able to reap any benefits from the addition of 5G support. Of course if you're like most people and you plan to keep your phone for several years, then paying a little extra for 5G is definitely worth it. As these next-generation networks continue to roll out, people with 5G compatible smartphones will experience faster data speeds and better coverage than they've ever seen before. In the meantime, they can consider it an investment in the future and keep their fingers crossed that their wireless carrier of choice deploys 5G in their area sooner rather than later.You can probably see where we're going with this.Samsung's upcoming new Galaxy Note 10 is expected to offer many of the best new features of the Galaxy S10 series, and more. It'll have things like an in-display fingerprint sensor, a hole-punch Dynamic AMOLED screen, and the great next-generation cameras from the S10 series. It should also feature an updated S Pen stylus and nifty new software features to go along with it. On top of all that, a new leak confirms that at least one version of the Galaxy Note 10 will support 5G.We've known for a while that the Galaxy Note 10 is being referred to internally at Samsung as "Da Vinci." The codename was revealed by Samsung insider Ice Universe all the way back in September last year. Now, the team over at XDA Developers has found references to the davinci inside the source code for the Galaxy S10. But it's not just any davinci reference, it's a reference to a "davinci5G."In case you're worried that the 5G version of the Galaxy Note 10 might be the only version and you're going to have to get a home equity loan to afford Samsung's upcoming new Note phone, there's also a reference to a regular "davinci" without support for 5G connectivity.Nothing else of note was pulled from the S10's source code, but now that three of Samsung's four Galaxy S10 phones have been released we can expect the rumor mill's attention to turn to the Galaxy Note 10. If Samsung stays true to form, and we expect that the company will, the new Galaxy Note 10 and Galaxy Note 10 5G will be unveiled at some point in August.
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| Woman allegedly killed daughter to keep her from having sex Posted: 12 Mar 2019 02:39 PM PDT  Police say a mother in Florida stabbed her young daughter fifteen times to keep the girl from having sex.
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| Dark mode is the new light mode for 2019 tech Posted: 13 Mar 2019 06:58 AM PDT  Google's Chrome version 73 is the latest in a long list of browsers, operating systems, and applications to offer an optional dark theme for easier nighttime viewing.
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| Google Cloud hires another Oracle veteran for top role Posted: 11 Mar 2019 03:25 PM PDT  Zavery left last week as executive vice president for Oracle cloud platform. Oracle Corp declined to comment. Google gained some similar tools through its $625 million acquisition of Apigee in 2016.
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| Musk's lawyers say tweet complied with SEC fraud settlement Posted: 12 Mar 2019 12:30 AM PDT  DETROIT (AP) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk should not be found in contempt of court because he has complied with the terms of a securities fraud settlement, his attorneys wrote in documents filed Monday night with the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
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| Katherine Schwarzenegger spills details on wedding, life on a farm with Chris Pratt Posted: 11 Mar 2019 10:05 AM PDT  Katherine Schwarzenegger divulged wedding planning details and revealed what life is really like living on the farm with fiance Chris Pratt.
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| Kurd-led Syria force pounds final IS redoubt Posted: 11 Mar 2019 12:04 PM PDT  Kurdish-led forces on Monday pounded the last scrap of land held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria after hundreds more people surrendered. The jihadists once ruled over millions in a swathe of Syria and Iraq, but they have since lost all that territory except for a riverside slither of land near the Iraqi border. The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces paused its months-old offensive against the shrinking holdout multiple times for thousands of dust-covered women, children and men to flee, including suspected jihadists.
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| The Emerging Democratic Minority Posted: 12 Mar 2019 12:40 PM PDT  The biases of the media are so pervasive that there is little recognition of the steady disintegration of the Democrats, though it is occurring every day. Rational and intelligent members of the center-Left write to me every week with new concerns about where the Left is going. The Democratic National Committee's decision not to allow Fox News to put on one of their candidates' debates confirms the weakness of the party and of its leaders. The process of atomizing society into smaller and smaller bearers of less and less widespread grievances, on each of which the whole movement of protest, uproot, reveal, and punish is in constant paroxysms of righteousness, is becoming louder and faster and more absurdly overwrought by the day.To take the most prominent recent examples, the Democratic leadership has declared the Trump tax cuts and reform to be a "disaster . . . the worst legislation in history . . . crumbs" (Speaker Pelosi) for the country, and a huge payoff for the rich. Economic growth has doubled, real incomes are increasing in the middle-class and working-class income levels for the first time in 20 years, and the country has more jobs to fill than unemployed people to fill them. The Democratic leadership has not just contested the existence of a serious problem at the southern border; it has flirted with proposing the abolition of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and Beto O'Rourke, who outspent prominent incumbent senator Ted Cruz three to one in Texas and came close to winning last year, not only opposes building a defined border but urges that whatever fencing and other obstacles are now in place be removed. At the same time, most official Democrats support the legal effort to prohibit the Census Bureau, in pursuing its constitutional duty to determine the apportionment of state delegations to the House of Representatives and the Electoral College, from asking people about their citizenship, just as they have long waived the necessity of being a citizen to vote.Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell (California) has sponsored legislation to protect the media from the purported threat of physical assault by President Trump and has made a television tour throughout the Cohen road-show saying that anyone who needed "a fixer" shouldn't be president. Donald Trump was a New York billionaire property developer, impresario, and reality-television star, not a librarian in Swalwell's native Sac City, Iowa. Rich and active New Yorkers do need fixers (though Trump could have done better than Cohen). American presidents need to be worldlier than they recently have been, not moralistic yokels. Swalwell is a 38-year-old fourth-term congressman who, like much of the population, is contemplating a presidential run. Another Democratic congressman, whose name I decided I did not want to know or remember shortly after his soundbite began over the weekend, said that all the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees' subpoenas of the Trump entourage would not have been necessary if Trump had published his tax returns.This is the moronic level to which the opposition has excavated. Trump's tax returns have been audited, and often contested, every year for over 40 years by the IRS. If there were anything substantial lying dead under his fiscal floorboards, Trump's returns would be plastered and illuminated in Times Square, and Rachel Maddow would read them to viewers every night with the same breathy and then crestfallen excitement that she exhibited last year when reading from a questionably obtained Trump tax return that he had in one year paid "only . . . 55 million dollars." It was 18 months ago that Senator Chris Coons of Delaware declared that Trump's tax returns would reveal the Russian collusion to rig the election. The last Democratic vice-presidential candidate, Tim Kaine, on discovering that Trump's son and son-in-law had met with a Russian woman at the Trump Tower, announced that treason may have occurred.For two years it was thought Mueller would be the deus ex machina who would end the imposture and terminate the aberrant Trump presidency. Now that it is clear that this is not happening, the Democrats, completely shameless at having to start all over with a new canard about Trump's illegitimate election, are calling for U-Hauls full of materials and scores of witnesses to again unleash the motor-mouthed non-stop-talking television airheads to tell us once more that we don't know what we don't know, and just because Mueller couldn't do it in two years with 15 investigators (so rabidly anti-Trump that some were fired and all had to be brought into the office on leash), that doesn't mean Trump isn't a criminal. Elizabeth Warren, self-remade into one of the ludicrous figures of American public life over her claim to being a beer-swilling native, tells cheering crowds that Trump may finish his term in prison. Liberal high-mindedness has reached its coronation; the debasement of the Eleanor Roosevelt tradition.Because this president had never sought or held any public office, elected or unelected, or a high military position, his presidential candidacy, which was the subject of such uproarious mirth until he was elected, has incited the inference that anyone, everyman (and woman), can be elected to that position. Thus the field of possible Democratic candidates has become absurdly crowded with absolute poltroons. It is like a New York City Marathon for the unfit. Governor Jay Inslee of Washington, who, when a guest in the White House, reprimanded the president for sending too many tweets, and who was chief judge-shopper for the initial fatuous district-court ruling purporting to exercise the president's rights over immigration, is running for president on the climate-change issue. His own measures on the subject were rejected in his home state. Americans, rightly, do not consider this a pressing issue, but he wants to ride this hobbyhorse to the White House.There are more than 30 possible or already declared Democratic candidates, and all but three or four tick at least three of the following high-explosive booby-trap boxes: a draconian green program based on Ocasio La Pasionaria's intuition that without it the world will burn up in twelve years; personal-income-tax rates in the 70 percent range; legalized infanticide; completely nationalized health care; open borders and no attempt to distinguish citizens from noncitizens; and vast reparations to African Americans, Latinos, and native people.The Trump-hating media are enablers of a fantasy game in which everyone pretends that the Democratic party has a large number of interesting, qualified, sensible people to choose from to knock off this president. The true evidence of what is happening is that the canaries in the mineshaft are falling over. There were only four putative candidates who had the position, recognition, and sensible perspective to make a serious race. Michael Bloomberg (who has drunk himself half-silly with the climate-change Kool-Aid) has gone to his default position of aiming for secretary of state, as he did with Jeb Bush and Hillary. He left the race, and Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio followed him. Amy Klobuchar is unlikely to have the flair to win, but she is a presentable candidate. The inevitable Joe Biden, who first ran for president in 1988 but was knocked out for cribbing a platitudinous line from defeated British Labour-party leader Neil Kinnock, seems likely to make the race.In fact, Joe Biden is the man America needs. To be sure, he could not possibly win, and he does not have the judgment or moral authority to be an effective president. But he is an amiable old water buffalo who would make a somewhat respectable race and gather together the many Democratic constituencies that are now proliferating and multiplying like an aggressive virus, and by his honorable example, though failing to excite anyone, might also prevent every sane Democrat from voting Republican. Biden might spare his party a terrible fate and deliver it to a serious contender in 2024, when the country could be expected to continue its now well-established pattern of alternating parties in the White House every eight years. The polls are not now asking the questions they will in 18 months: Trump will have delivered on the economy, illegal immigration, trade, energy, and avoidance of foreign-policy fiascos, and his opponents are mainly quacks. America needs a two-party system with sane people at the head of each. Joe Biden is no world-beater, but he could spare the Democrats a world-historic beating at the polls next year.
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| School children trapped as building collapses in Lagos Posted: 13 Mar 2019 09:35 AM PDT  At least 10 children were among scores of people missing Wednesday after a four-storey building collapsed in Lagos, with rescuers trying to reach them through the roof of the damaged structure. The children were attending a nursery and primary school on the top floor of the residential building when the structure collapsed. The incident took place near Itafaji market on Lagos Island in Nigeria's economic capital at around 10:00 am (0900 GMT).
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| Kim Jong-un absent from North Korea election announcement Posted: 11 Mar 2019 10:12 PM PDT  Kim Jong-un was not on the list of 687 candidates elected to the North Korean parliament in Sunday's election, state media announced on Tuesday, although his sister was voted into the rubber-stamp parliament. No reason has been given for Mr Kim's absence from the ballot, five years after he was elected in the previous vote as head of the Workers' Party of Korea. Every candidate who did run in the election was returned with 100 percent of the vote in their constituencies, including Kim Yo-jung, Mr Kim's younger sister, who previously worked in the government's propaganda division but has more recently taken on the management of his day-to-day schedule. "North Korean elections have no meaning anyway, but this is designed to show that Kim feels himself to be above those who were elected", said Toshimitsu Shigemura, a professor who specialises in North Korea's leadership at Tokyo's Waseda University. "He is telling the nation that he is not on the same level as the rest of the party and it is effectively beneath him to go through the election process", he added. "This will not affect his control on the party or the nation, but it is meant to show that he's a better leader than his own father and Kim Il-sung, his grandfather and the founder of North Korea". Rah Jong-yil, a former head of South Korean intelligence charged with monitoring the North, echoed that assessment. "Kim apparently does not consider it necessary for himself to be elected, but he is the head of state so he will still be in parliament and make all the decisions, which means the entire election is a joke. "It's all for the facade of legitimacy and this will change nothing in the way the country is run or the leadership's policies". Fully 99.99 percent of all eligible voters had exercised their democratic right to select their leaders, KCNA reported, with citizens serving at sea excused the obligation to vote. The results of the election were never in any doubt - each ballot paper only has one name and anyone who wants to vote against the approved candidate has to enter a special booth and put a cross through the name. But defectors say that Mr Kim's standing has been damaged by his failure to win concessions on sanctions on the regime at the recent Hanoi summit with President Donald Trump. "Mr Kim expected a lot from this summit", said Lee Ae-ran, who fled North Korea with her family in 1997 but retains contacts there as president of The Centre for Liberty and Reunification. "It was more than simply relief from the sanctions; he believed a victory in Hanoi would earn him more support from the people, enabling him to tighten his control over the nation even more". And while discontent was never going to be reflected in Sunday's election, Mrs Lee says it is not far beneath the surface. "The sanctions are causing the economic devastation to spread in the North and people are struggling to overcome the terrible shortage of food", she told The Telegraph. "I believe the grudges they hold towards Kim could worsen and possibly even explode. "Any rupture could be lethal to Kim Jong-un and his regime", she added. Voters queue to cast their ballots at the '3.26 Pyongyang Cable Factory' during voting for the Supreme People's Assembly elections, in Pyongyang Credit: ED JONES/AFP Mrs Lee said the North Korean dictator will use the election to "replace the 'older generation', who were loyal to his father, with his own group of flatterers", but she believes the resentment will inevitably deepen. "If the people in the North can continue to build stronger connections with the outside world and complaints against the party and the leadership continue to grow, then the people will realise that they can escape from the abuse that they are presently suffering at the hands of their own leaders", she said. Jiro Ishimaru, chief editor of AsiaPress, said his network of "citizen reporters" in North Korea is saying that there is "extreme disappointment" at the failure of the Hanoi summit, which the regime had indicated would be a victory for Mr Kim that would see sanctions quickly lifted. There is a growing sense that Mr Kim "is an incompetent person", he added.
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| Here’s how much 5G service will cost from Verizon Posted: 13 Mar 2019 08:39 AM PDT  Verizon on Wednesday made several announcements about its upcoming 5G network, revealing launch dates for the new wireless service as well as pricing. The good news for customers looking to be among the first Verizon customers to take advantage of the faster speeds is that 5G access will only cost you $10 extra each month. However, not all Verizon subscribers will be able to get on 5G come April 11th, which is when Big Red's 5G service officially launches.Just like 4G a few years ago, initial 5G coverage will be limited to a few markets and the same goes for Verizon. The first 5G Ultra Wideband mobility cities are Chicago and Minneapolis, Verizon said in a press release.The service will cost $10 per month after the first three months, which are free of charge, but it will require an unlimited plan -- that means you'll need a Verizon Go Unlimited, Beyond Unlimited, and Above Unlimited plan. If you have an older Verizon plan and refuse to switch, you won't have access to 5G.Finally, the last obstacle between you and 5G is a compatible device. Only one of the current 4G devices in the carrier's lineup can be upgraded to 5G, and that's what Verizon is essentially offering its subscribers. The Moto Z3 launched several months ago and is ready to deliver 5G speeds as soon as you cough up the cash for the brand new 5G Moto Mod that goes along with it.If the device sounds familiar, that's because Motorola spoke about the device in recent weeks, showing the 5G Moto Mod in Barcelona at MWC 2019. The mod is essentially a full-fledged smartphone, rocking the new Snapdragon 855 processor, a 5G modem, 5G antennas, and a 2,000 mAh battery.The 5G Moto Mod will be available on preorder on March 14th, and Verizon is discounting it to just $50 for a limited time. Buy it later, and you'll have to pay $349.99.You should also know that Moto Mods are obviously only compatible with Motorola devices like the Moto Z3. Verizon also announced a couple of deals for that handset, both good only on March 14th. You'll get a free Moto Z3 if you activate a new line of service on a Verizon device payment plan. Alternatively, you can upgrade your smartphone to a Moto Z3 for $10 a month for 24 months, which means you'd save $240 off the regular price.In other words, preordering the Moto Z3 and the 5G Moto Mod this week will get you a high-end 5G smartphone for $540 off the regular price. That's not a bad deal if you're looking for quick access to 5G, as long as you're okay having to carry a huge Moto Z3 contraption in your pocket.
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