| The Latest: Hundreds gather for school shooting vigil Posted: 08 May 2019 09:43 PM PDT  HIGHLANDS RANCH, Colo. (AP) — The Latest on the school shooting in Colorado that killed one student and injured eight (all times local):
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| U.S., Iran tensions unyielding, Europeans reject Iran 'ultimatums' over nuclear deal Posted: 09 May 2019 04:01 PM PDT  European countries said on Thursday they wanted to preserve Iran's nuclear deal and rejected "ultimatums" from Tehran, after Iran relaxed restrictions on its nuclear program and threatened moves that might breach the 2015 international pact. Iran's announcement on Wednesday, related to curbs on its stockpiling of nuclear materials, was in response to U.S. sanctions imposed following President Donald Trump's withdrawal of the United States from the accord with Tehran a year ago.
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| Original iPod hits eBay at insane $20,000 list price Posted: 09 May 2019 04:06 PM PDT  When Apple unveiled the original iPod back in 2001, the reactions weren't universally positive. Indeed, some fan reactions on a MacRumors message board at the time have since taken on a life of their own.As an illustrative example, one outraged Apple fan wrote the following nearly 18 years ago: "I still can't believe this! All this hype for something so ridiculous! Who cares about an MP3 player? I want something new! I want them to think differently! Why oh why would they do this?! It's so wrong! It's so stupid!"Of course, the iPod would go onto become monumentally successful for Apple. In addition to padding Apple's bank account with billions of dollars, the iPod helped upend the music industry and, years later, would serve as the springboard for the iPhone. The iPhone may be a more revolutionary and impactful device, but it simply wouldn't exist had the iPod not paved the way years ahead of time.While some iconic products can still be found for cheap -- with Apple's original Bondi Blue iMac being one such example -- others are wildly expensive. The original iPod falls into the latter category.Hopping on over to eBay, someone is selling a completely unused and factory sealed original iPod for $19,995. And in a testament to how ancient the device is, the iPod in question features a mechanical scroll wheel and a paltry 5GB of storage. To be fair, though, 5GB of storage back then was more than enough for a world where the only media content people cared about was music.Is forking over $20,000 for an original iPod completely unnecessary, if not downright insane? Of course. Then again, never underestimate the power of nostalgia.
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| Israel lifts Gaza fishing ban as calm returns Posted: 10 May 2019 03:44 AM PDT  Israel lifted a ban on Friday on Palestinian fishing boats operating off Gaza, an Israeli military body said, ending a measure imposed during a deadly flare-up of violence earlier this month. The fishing union in Gaza confirmed the lifting of the ban, saying the new limits imposed by Israel were 12 nautical miles in the southern half of Gaza, and six nautical miles in the north.
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| Students walk out of Colorado school shooting vigil, saying their trauma was being politicized Posted: 09 May 2019 12:23 PM PDT  Students at a vigil honoring Colorado high school shooting victim Kendrick Castillo chanted "mental health" when speakers discussed gun control.
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| Joe Biden supports health care coverage for undocumented immigrants Posted: 09 May 2019 03:51 PM PDT  Former Vice President Joe Biden, considered one of the more centrist members of the Democratic presidential primary field, calls for a controversial new entitlement; Peter Doocy reports.
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| Nine-year-old boy charged with murder after mother shot dead Posted: 09 May 2019 12:44 AM PDT  A nine-year-old boy has been charged with murder after his mother was killed with a rifle in their home in southern Michigan.Court documents show he is also facing a felony firearm charge.It is unclear if he has been charged as an adult or juvenile.St Joseph County prosecutor John McDonough told WWMT-TV the woman's body was found early on Monday morning in Fawn River Township, about 160 miles (260km) west-southwest of Detroit.One local mother said the boy had threatened to kill her eight-year-old daughter in February last year."He told her that he wanted to get a knife and stab her and watch her die, and watch her mother cry," Alecia Pieronski told the broadcaster.She said she warned the school's principal about what the boy had said."Maybe this a wake-up call to other schools when you have that troubled child screaming for help to do something," she added. Sheriff Bradley Balk said the boy was undergoing a psychiatric evaluation at a state-run juvenile facility.Authorities have not released the circumstances of the killing or details of why the child is considered a suspect.
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| Donald Trump Jr subpoenaed by Congressional committee in Russia probe Posted: 08 May 2019 04:02 PM PDT  Donald Trump Jr was subpoenaed on Wednesday to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee as part of its probe into Russian election meddling, US media reported. It was the first known legal summons issued by Congress to a member of the president's family to force testimony in the ongoing investigation, and comes after special counsel Robert Mueller declined to accuse Mr Trump's 2016 campaign of criminal conspiracy to collude with the Russians. The surprise subpoena was issued by a Republican-led committee, opening a new source of strain between Congress and a White House battling the legislature's pressure on multiple points. It came one day after Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell declared "case closed" for the Russia investigation. Donald Trump Jr, 41, has testified voluntarily in private once to the committee, and was peppered with questions about a June 9, 2016 meeting in Trump Tower in New York that he and other senior Trump campaign officials had with a Russian lawyer offering dirt on Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. He was also quizzed about direct communications he had with Julian Assange, the founder of Wikileaks, which leaked damaging documents and communications stolen by Russians from Mrs Clinton's campaign. Committee sources would not confirm the subpoena or what they want to discuss with the president's eldest son, who currently helps run the Trump Organisation, the family's real estate empire, and helps his father's re-election campaign. Citing a person close to Donald Jr, the Wall Street Journal said he had offered to answer questions in writing from the committee, and planned to fight the subpoena which demands that he testify in person.
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| Prosecutors get more time to file Colorado shooting charges Posted: 10 May 2019 10:06 AM PDT  DENVER (AP) — Prosecutors leading the case against two students suspected of shooting nine classmates, one fatally, in a suburban Denver charter school have until next week to decide what charges to pursue, a judge ruled Friday.
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| Iranian Commander: No Talks With US After Trump Invite Posted: 10 May 2019 06:50 AM PDT  A top Iranian commander shut down the idea of talks with the U.S. Friday while shrugging off the presence of American B-52 bombers that arrived in the area the previous day."No talks will be held with the Americans and the Americans will not dare take military action against us," General Yadollah Javani of the Islamic Republic's Revolutionary Guards said, according to Iran's state-run Tasnim news agency.Iran "sees America as unreliable," the Guards' deputy chief for political affairs added.The U.S. deployed the four bombers as well as the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the Persian Gulf and they reportedly arrived at the Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar on Thursday.The Pentagon moved the bombers and aircraft carrier to the region amid fears that Iran is transporting short-range ballistic missiles in the Persian Gulf with the intention of striking U.S. targets, putting American forces and U.S.-backed coalitions in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar in danger."What I would like to see with Iran, I would like to see them call me," Trump said at the White House Thursday.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a warning to the state terror sponsor, saying that, "our restraint to this point should not be mistaken by Iran for a lack of resolve.""The regime in Tehran should understand that any attacks by them or their proxies of any identity against U.S. interests or citizens will be answered with a swift and decisive U.S. response," Pompeo said in a statement."We do not seek war," the secretary of state said. "But Iran's 40 years of killing American soldiers, attacking American facilities, and taking American hostages is a constant reminder that we must defend ourselves."Iran has escalated its rhetoric since April, when the U.S. officially designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Pompeo announced an end to the temporary exemptions from U.S. sanctions that eight countries had been granted, allowing them to continue importing Iranian oil and gas.
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| Kendrick Castillo, hero killed in Colo. school shooting, told his dad he would act if confronted with a gunman Posted: 09 May 2019 01:34 PM PDT  Kendrick Castillo, a member of the Highlands Ranch robotics club, was hailed as a hero for rushing the shooter at his STEM school.
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| Trump's China Tariff Threat Could Be His Riskiest Trade Move Yet Posted: 08 May 2019 05:18 PM PDT  When Donald Trump blasts China's unfair business tactics, he tends to highlight the manufacturing jobs that he pledged to bring back in his 2016 campaign.…
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| 5 Takes on Porsche's 911 Speedster, Designed by Our Staff Posted: 09 May 2019 08:31 AM PDT |
| Hey Google, stop trying to redefine privacy Posted: 08 May 2019 02:02 PM PDT  Privacy was one of the themes of Google's I/O keynote this year, and that's understandable given what the competition has been doing all these years. Yes, Apple -- but also the various privacy-related scandals that affected Facebook over the last year as well as Google. Sundar Pichai then doubled down on privacy by penning an opinion in The New York Times that seems to be redefining privacy in a way that fits Google's interests.The CEO also makes it all sound like Google has been protecting the user's privacy all this time, seemingly pretending that all those privacy offenses it had to deal with in recent years never happened.From the get-go, Pichai makes it sound like Apple is turning privacy into a luxury good -- Apple's name isn't used, but it's abundantly clear what he meant when he said that Privacy Should Not Be a Luxury Good.Nobody said that privacy should be a luxury good, and it's absolutely fine that Google is doing more to improve user privacy. The only reason Pichai can make that argument is because previous versions of Google products didn't offer the cheap privacy he envisions to everyone, which is what Pichai's Google wants to do now.Comparatively, privacy and security have been core Apple product features for a few years now. Before that, Apple never dealt in user data.The only reason you would say Apple's privacy is expensive is because you had no alternative from Google. Just last year, it was discovered that Google logged location data without explicit user permission, which is probably the number one reason why location privacy is now a priority for Google.And we could easily go back in time to point out many other privacy-related scandals that affected Google, including privacy-related fines that company "won" over the years. The last one came from France regulators back in January, by the way, for Google breaking the same GDPR rules that Pichai praises in his piece. We can't erase, or forget, any of that just because Pichai is now trying to redefine privacy in a direct relationship with how much you spend on it.> People today are rightly concerned about how their information is used and shared, yet they all define privacy in their own ways. I've seen this firsthand as I talk to people in different parts of the world. To the families using the internet through a shared device, privacy might mean privacy from one another. To the small-business owner who wants to start accepting credit card payments, privacy means keeping customer data secure. To the teenager sharing selfies, privacy could mean the ability to delete that data in the future.Privacy, to me, also means Google not hoarding all my data.By the way, all those privacy features coming in Android Q will not be available to 2.5 billion users when Q launches. People will need to spend money on new hardware to get them, wait many months for their device to get the update, or just deal with an Android version that's not as concerned with privacy.So yes, Google, by all means, improve privacy and security across all your services. But don't make it sound like you've always done it. Don't pretend you've never abused user data or breached the privacy of your users, and don't act as if your way of interpreting user privacy is a new thing. People have been worrying about the way you, Google, have been collecting all that data and potentially infringing on our privacy for years.You should read Pichai's op-ed in full at this link, and familiarize yourself with Google's privacy features, whether it's Android Q, Google Maps, Search, or YouTube.
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| Pope changes Church law to make reporting sex abuse obligatory Posted: 09 May 2019 10:49 AM PDT  Pope Francis on Thursday passed a landmark new measure to oblige those who know about sex abuse in the Catholic Church to report it to their superiors, in a move which could bring countless new cases to light. Every diocese in the world will now be obliged to have a system for the reporting of abuse, under a new law published by the Vatican following a global clerical paedophilia scandal. It is time to learn from the "bitter lessons of the past", Francis said in the text of the legal decree, which comes into effect on June 1.
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| Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail Posted: 08 May 2019 04:35 PM PDT ![Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail]( "Democrats elevate faith – and forgiveness – on campaign trail") Dear reader: Our top story today looks at how some of the Democratic presidential candidates are trying to reclaim religion from the far right, by openly discussing their faith on the campaign trail. Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has been at the forefront of this trend. At a forum last month, the openly gay mayor took on the religious right's opposition to gay marriage, saying he wishes the "Mike Pences of the world" would understand "that if you've got a problem with who I am, your problem is not with me – your quarrel, sir, is with my creator." Yet some of Mr. ...
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| Chelsea Manning: Jailed US analyst walks free after refusing to testify to WikiLeaks grand jury Posted: 09 May 2019 08:45 PM PDT  The former US intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning has been released from prison after she was jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating WikiLeaks.Ms Manning spent 62 days in jail on contempt charges but was released as the term of the grand jury she was supposed to give evidence to expired.However the ex Army employee, who served seven years of a 35-year sentence for handing a huge trove of confidential documents to WikiLeaks, could be back in jail within a week.She has received another subpoena demanding she testify to a new grand jury, opening on 16 May.Under US federal law, a person subpoenaed by a grand jury can be jailed on a civil contempt charge if judges believe it has a chance of coercing them to give evidence.Earlier this week, Ms Manning's lawyers filed court papers arguing that she should not be jailed again because she has proven that she will stick to her principles and will not testify no matter how long she is jailed.If a judge were to determine that incarcerating Ms Manning were punitive rather than coercive, she would not be jailed."At this point, given the sacrifices she has already made, her strong principles, her strong and growing support community, and the disgrace attendant to her capitulation, it is inconceivable that Chelsea Manning will ever change her mind about her refusal to cooperate with the grand jury," her lawyers wrote.Ms Manning filed an eight-page statement with the court on Monday outlining her resolve.She wrote that "cooperation with this grand jury is simply not an option. Doing so would mean throwing away all of my principles, accomplishments, sacrifices, and erase decades of my reputation - an obvious impossibility," she wrote.She also said she was suffering disproportionately in jail because of physical problems related with inadequate follow-up care to gender-reassignment surgery.Ms Manning was working for the Army in Iraq in 2010 when she was arrested and accused of leaking 700,000 documents, diplomatic cables and videos.She was accused of putting the lives of American soldiers at risk, but said she acted in order to open up debate about US foreign policy.Her 35-year sentence was the longest for leaking in US history, and president Barack Obama referred to it as "disproportionate" to her crimes. He commuted the remainder of her sentence in 2017, just before leaving office.Additional reporting by agencies
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| The Latest: China trade envoy hoping for rational talks Posted: 09 May 2019 08:39 PM PDT  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on trade talks between China and the United States (all times local):
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| Grieving Students Walk Out of Colorado School Shooting Vigil: ‘This Was Not About Us’ Posted: 08 May 2019 09:50 PM PDT  Rick Wilking/ReutersHIGHLANDS RANCH, Colorado—A day after two students shot up a school, survivors walked out of a vigil organized by gun control advocates, saying they felt excluded from what should have been an opportunity to grieve.Team Enough and Moms Demand Action helped promote the Wednesday evening gathering, and more than 100 students and several hundred parents from the STEM School packed into the gymnasium bleachers, hoping to find community and catharsis.But after sitting through remarks by Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) and Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), and realizing the program was centered around changing gun laws, students who had hoped to speak lost patience and walked out en masse."This was not about us. We can do our own vigil," one STEM student remarked.Students from Team Enough said the event was organized on such short notice they were unable to find a way to include STEM students in the program."I feel terrible. They did not feel represented. I get it," said Laura Reeves, a volunteer with Moms Demand Action who spoke at the vigil."This was put together in such a short time. I know they did their best. Emotions are raw and sad. They are grieving. They need to express their feelings. They need to be together. I am hoping their school can help facilitate that conversation beyond this week."Police have said two STEM students opened fire at the school on Tuesday, killing one and wounding eight before they were arrested. Any motive for the attack—20 years after the Columbine High School massacre just seven miles away—has not been disclosed.Heavy rain had kept surviving students cooped up at home, and many of them were looking forward to the vigil at a neighboring school. Things began to fall apart an hour in when organizers suggested any STEM students who wanted to speak gather in the hall outside the gym.A few rose to speak, but soon the crowd filed out and left. Standing outside the building in the freezing rain, some began chanting. But they quickly dispersed as Douglas County Sheriff's vehicles began arriving at the school.One mom of a STEM student said it was a case of good intentions gone wrong."I really appreciate what they tried to do here tonight, but our kids didn't want to be talked at," she said.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast here
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| Trump has entered Phase 2 of his legal defense strategy: All-out war with Congress Posted: 10 May 2019 12:15 AM PDT  The Mueller phase was a warmup for the real fight. Trump has made a career of bullying to get his way, but this time the Constitution is at stake.
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| Kim Foxx in Court Today to Make New Requests in Jussie Smollett Case Posted: 09 May 2019 08:44 AM PDT  Illinois State Attorney Kim Foxx heads to court to make new requests regarding the Jussie Smollett case. Foxx is requesting that a judge unseal documents in the case so that an Independent Inspector General can review them. It's a move many people have been waiting for, but it doesn't look like the public would have access to those documents.
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| Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse Posted: 09 May 2019 02:37 PM PDT ![Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse]( "Uber drivers go on strike in London and U.S. ahead of IPO, early protests sparse") Protests were sparsely attended in London, New York and California, and rides appeared easily available in some cities where strikes were called. Drivers and regulators around the world have long criticized the business tactics of Uber Technologies Inc . The Uber app indicated fares were higher in London during a rainy morning rush hour due to increased demand.
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| Hate paying for internet service at 35,000 feet? Delta to test free in-flight Wi-Fi Posted: 09 May 2019 07:25 AM PDT ![Hate paying for internet service at 35,000 feet? Delta to test free in-flight Wi-Fi]( "Hate paying for internet service at 35,000 feet? Delta to test free in-flight Wi-Fi") Delta passengers on select flights beginning May 13 will receive free high-speed Wi-Fi. The initial test will last two weeks.
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| Windows 10 update brings us closer to a world without passwords Posted: 09 May 2019 03:04 PM PDT  Microsoft is one step closer to fulfilling the passwordless Windows 10 dream, as the latest Windows 10 update will make it even easier to log into devices and online services without having to worry about passwords.That's because Microsoft's Windows Hello has received FIDO2 certification, which means Hello biometrics and PINs are now seen as secure authenticators."FIDO2 is a set of standards that enables easy and secure logins to websites and applications via biometrics, mobile devices and/or FIDO Security Keys. FIDO2's simpler login experiences are backed by strong cryptographic security that is far superior to passwords, protecting users from phishing, all forms of password theft and replay attacks," the FIDO Alliance explained in a press release.Microsoft said in its own announcement to mark the FIDO2 certification that "no one likes passwords (except hackers).""People don't like passwords because we have to remember them," Microsoft said. "As a result, we often create passwords that are easy to guess -- which makes them the first target for hackers trying to access your computer or network at work."With Windows Hello, you'll now be able to use facial authentication, fingerprints, or a PIN to "leave the world of passwords behind," although, technically, you won't drop the passwords for any of these devices or services anytime soon. But you won't have to fill them in with each login.You'll have to update your Windows 10 computer to version 1903 to take advantage of the feature. What that means, in practice, is that browsers including Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome, and Mozilla Firefox will support Windows Hello biometrics. Similarly, several of Microsoft's own products, including Office 365, Skype, Xbox Live, and others will also authenticate users with Windows Hello rather than a password.
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| 'Missiles like these will start the war': North Korea tests showcase growing capability Posted: 09 May 2019 10:57 PM PDT  Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the first flight of a previously untested weapon - a relatively small, fast missile experts believe will be easier to hide, launch, and maneuver in flight. The tests have increased tensions after the last U.S.-North Korea summit collapsed in February in Hanoi with no agreement over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program. South Korean President Moon Jae-in said late on Thursday the launches seemed like a protest over the failed summit, while North Korea has defended the tests as routine and self defensive.
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| China holds appeal hearing for Canadian sentenced to death Posted: 09 May 2019 12:18 AM PDT  BEIJING (AP) — A Chinese court held an appeal hearing Thursday for a Canadian who was sentenced to death for drug smuggling in a case that has deepened a diplomatic rift between the two countries.
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| Abortion bill delayed as Alabama Senate falls into chaos Posted: 09 May 2019 11:38 AM PDT  The lieutenant governor agreed to remove amendments creating exceptions for rape and incest, leading to anger and arguments on the Senate floor.
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| Months before shooting, parent warned Colorado school could be next 'Columbine' Posted: 10 May 2019 04:52 AM PDT  In a Dec. 19 letter to the director of the STEM School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, the district official said the anonymous parent raised "concerns about student violence due to a high-pressure environment" and referred to the massacre at a nearby school in 1999. The district official's letter, seen by Reuters, said the parent told Douglas County School Board of Education Director Wendy Vogel by telephone that "many students are suicidal and violent in school. The parent expressed concerns about a repeat of what happened at Columbine, when 12 students and one teacher were killed, about five miles northwest of the STEM school.
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| Europe rejects Iran 'ultimatum' on nuclear deal, urging caution Posted: 09 May 2019 11:36 AM PDT  European powers rejected Iran's "ultimatum" on the nuclear deal yesterday, urging the regime to stick to the terms of the 2015 agreement despite America's withdrawal. The European Union along with Britain, France and Germany – all signatories to the deal – released a statement pushing back on Iran's warning it could start enriching uranium again in 60 days. "We strongly urge Iran to continue to implement its commitments", the statement read, adding that the countries would "reject any ultimatums". The remarks suggested European leaders may not be willing or able to deliver the sanctions avoidance mechanism demanded by Iran that would help businesses keep trading with the country. With their economy stuttering and America reimposing sanctions after withdrawing from the deal, Iranian leaders are under pressure to justify their continued participation. The deal, struck during Barack Obama's presidency, saw Iran agree to forgo nuclear programs which would help it develop a weapon in return for the lifting of sanctions. But Donald Trump, the US president who dubbed the agreement "horrific" and pledged to pull America out during his 2016 campaign, has reversed the US position since taking office. Mr Trump on Thursday seemed open to talks. "I would like to see them call me," Mr Trump said of Iran, reiterating hopes the country's leaders will come to the negotiating table. Trump administration officials believe the nuclear deal was too narrow in scope, curbing Iran's nuclear programme but leaving it free to pursue ballistic missile development. They favour a more comprehensive new agreement. Mr Trump also called for John Kerry, the former US secretary of state who helped sign the deal, to be prosecuted for continuing to talk to Iranian leaders since leaving office. Figures close to Mr Kerry dismissed the demand, saying there was no illegality. Javad Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, blamed Europe for not fulfilling its obligations under the terms of the original deal on Thursday. "The US has bullied Europe-and rest of world-for a year and EU can only express 'regret'," Mr Zarif tweeted. "Instead of demanding that Iran unilaterally abide by a multilateral accord, EU should uphold obligations - including normalisation of economic ties." The disk banner embed
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| View Photos of the Buick GL8 Avenir Concept Posted: 09 May 2019 03:13 PM PDT |
| Best Gas Grills to Buy at Lowe's Posted: 09 May 2019 12:55 PM PDT  Walk into any home improvement center and you'll see an armada of grills—a sure sign of spring. Home Depot and Lowe's alone account for more than 50 percent of gas grills sold in the U.S. Consume...
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| Solar Drones Are Filling the Skies, But There's Still No Clear Winner Posted: 09 May 2019 10:32 AM PDT |
| Russia's Su-35 Fighter: So Good No Stealth Fighter Needed? Posted: 08 May 2019 06:30 PM PDT  As it currently stands, there is even a chance that the two fighters may use the same AL-41F1 engine.(This first appeared earlier this year.)"A unique machine, a deadly aerial fist," is how the official television channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense introduced the Su-35S superiority fighter earlier this week.TV Zvezda's three-minute clip of a recent Su-35S training sortie over Syria provides close-up shots of the fighter jet being prepped for flight, taking off, cruising over the Syrian coast, and firing flares. On their youtube account, they published slightly extended footage of the same exercise.The first Su-35S fighters arrived at Russia's Khmeimim Air Base in 2016, relatively late into the Syrian Civil War. They performed well in their role of covering for Russian ground-strike aircraft during bombing missions against Syrian opposition targets, but then again-- there were no immediate airspace threats facing the Russia's Syrian forces in early 2016. The Su-35S was therefore limited to an air deterrence role amid an ongoing diplomatic row between Moscow and Ankara that wound down only in the latter half of 2016.
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| Key points of Vatican law on reporting sex abuse, cover-ups Posted: 09 May 2019 05:40 AM PDT  VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Thursday issued a new church law about reporting clergy sex abuse and cover-up, outlining investigation procedures when the accused is a bishop or religious superior. It's the latest effort by the pope to respond to the global eruption of the sex abuse and cover-up scandal.
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| Dow, stocks pared losses in afternoon trading after China trade talks end Posted: 10 May 2019 10:25 AM PDT  Stocks pared earlier losses in afternoon trading on Friday after trade negotiations with China ended with no deal.
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| EXCLUSIVE-India orders anti-trust probe of Google for alleged Android abuse-sources Posted: 10 May 2019 04:46 AM PDT ![EXCLUSIVE-India orders anti-trust probe of Google for alleged Android abuse-sources]( "EXCLUSIVE-India orders anti-trust probe of Google for alleged Android abuse-sources") India's antitrust watchdog has ordered an investigation into Alphabet Inc's unit Google for alleged abuse of its popular Android mobile operating system to block rivals, two sources aware of the matter told Reuters. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) last year started looking into the complaint, which is similar to one Google faced in Europe that resulted in a 4.34 billion euro ($5 billion) fine on the company, Reuters reported in February.
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| Trump says senior adviser wants to get him ‘into a war’ in Venezuela after failure to oust Maduro Posted: 09 May 2019 12:55 AM PDT  Donald Trump is questioning his administration's aggressive strategy in Venezuela following the failure of a US-backed effort to oust Nicolás Maduro, complaining he was misled about how easy it would be to replace the socialist president with a young opposition figure, according to administration officials and White House advisers.The president's dissatisfaction has crystallised around national security adviser John Bolton and what Mr Trump has groused is an interventionist stance at odds with his view that the United States should stay out of foreign quagmires.Mr Trump has said in recent days that Mr Bolton wants to get him "into a war" – a comment he has made in jest in the past but that now belies his more serious concerns, one senior administration official said.The administration's policy is officially unchanged in the wake of a fizzled power play last week by US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó.But US officials have since been more cautious in their predictions of Mr Maduro's swift exit, while re-assessing what one official described as the likelihood of a diplomatic "long haul".US officials point to the president's sustained commitment to the Venezuela issue, from the first weeks of his presidency as evidence that he holds a realistic view of the challenges there, and does not think there is a quick fix.But Mr Trump has nonetheless complained over the last week that Mr Bolton and others underestimated Mr Maduro, according to three senior administration officials who like others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.Mr Trump has said Mr Maduro is a "tough cookie", and that aides should not have led him to believe that the Venezuelan leader could be ousted last week, when Mr Guaidó led mass street protests that turned deadly.Instead, Mr Maduro rejected an offer to leave the country and two key figures in his government backed out of what Mr Bolton said had been a plan to defect.Mr Maduro publicly mocked Mr Trump in response and said he wasn't going anywhere, saying the United States had attempted a "foolish" coup.Late on Wednesday, masked Venezuelan intelligence police detained National Assembly Vice President Edgar Zambrano in a dramatic operation in Caracas, marking the first senior opposition official taken into custody by the socialist government in retaliation for the failed military uprising.Mr Zambrano is one of 10 opposition officials charged with treason, conspiracy and rebellion by the pro-Maduro Supreme Court in connection to the plot.Mr Bolton publicly revealed the defection plan to apply pressure to Mr Maduro, which US officials said has worked.They claim Mr Maduro is sleeping in a bunker, paranoid that close aides will turn on him.But Mr Trump has expressed concern that Mr Bolton has boxed him into a corner and gone beyond where he is comfortable, said a US official familiar with US-Venezuela policy.Mr Bolton's tweets egging on Mr Maduro to begin an "early retirement" on a "nice beach" and urging for mass defections have been widely viewed as cavalier, raising unrealistic expectation for how quickly his ouster can be engineered, the US official said.Despite Mr Trump's grumbling that Bolton had gotten him out on a limb on Venezuela, Mr Bolton's job is safe, two senior administration officials said, and Mr Trump has told his national security adviser to keep focusing on Venezuela.The open threat of US military involvement in Venezuela has grown alongside the administration's increasingly confrontational approach to Iran, with Mr Bolton announcing last weekend that a US aircraft carrier battle group would be deployed to counter Iranian plots to harm US forces in the Middle East.In both cases, the administration has adopted a get-tough policy that appeals to Mr Trump's instincts to project American power abroad but that also echoes the kind of military adventurism he has long ridiculed.Mr Trump appears more comfortable with the Iran policy, which is grounded in his own strong belief that the former president, Barack Obama, miscalculated in striking a nuclear bargain with Tehran.He is less comfortable with the escalating rhetoric on Venezuela, which does not pose a direct military threat to the United States.Any US military involvement there risks a proxy fight with Russia, which backs Mr Maduro and has sold him arms.Mr Trump spoke approvingly of Russian actions in Venezuela following a lengthy phone call with Vladimir Putin on Friday, saying the Russian president "is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he'd like to see something positive happen for Venezuela. And I feel the same way. We want to get some humanitarian aid".His comments stood in contrast to earlier statements from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mr Bolton, who accused Russia of propping up Mr Maduro with money and military equipment.During the Putin call, Mr Trump expressed his concern about the security and humanitarian situation on the ground in Venezuela, said a person briefed on the call.Mr Putin agreed with Mr Trump's assessment but said that the US position has solidified Mr Maduro's grip on power in Venezuela.Mr Putin also told Mr Trump that Moscow was not selling new weapons to Venezuela but maintaining existing contracts and he downplayed Russia's financial investments in the country.The events of 30 April have effectively shelved serious discussion of a heavy US military response, current and former officials as well as outside advisers said.Rather, US officials think time is on their side and that Mr Maduro will fall of his own weight.That waiting game poses its own risk, however, if Mr Guaidó asks for US military assistance.Mike Pompeo brushed off criticism from Jeremy Corbyn about US "interference" in Venezuela during an interview Wednesday in London."Providing food to starving children isn't interference. It's support; it's what we do," Mr Pompeo said."It's in our deepest traditions of humanitarian assistance. The interference has taken place; the Cubans are there. They've interfered. So I hope Mr Corbyn will ask the Cubans to cease their interference in Venezuela."Vice President Mike Pence was measured in his threats to Mr Maduro during remarks at a gathering of Latin American leaders in Washington on Tuesday, saying that "Maduro must go," but also signalling that it might not happen quickly.Mr Pence announced deployment of a Navy hospital ship to the region in June, and said the United States would lift sanctions on one senior Maduro aide who had switched sides.That was a shift from previous rhetoric about the tightening yoke of sanctions, and meant to emphasise that there are carrots in the US policy as well as sticks, one senior official said.The famously hawkish Mr Bolton has been the loudest voice within the administration in support of a potential military response to the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela, where escalating US sanctions have not forced Mr Maduro to cede power.He was not the first, however.Mr Trump mused about invading or bombing Venezuela last year, comments that were at first dismissed as fanciful.He is now not inclined to have any sort of military intervention in Venezuela, two officials and an outside adviser said.Mr Trump has, in Oval Office meetings and phone calls with advisers, questioned his administration providing such strong support of Mr Guaidó.Some White House officials said Mr Trump likes the charismatic leader, whom he has called courageous, but has wondered aloud whether he is ready to take over and about how much the administration really knows about him.Mr Guaidó's many supporters within the administration say he has proved himself as the first Venezuelan opposition leader to unite factions and pose a credible threat to Mr Maduro.His standing within the country is borne out by the fact that Mr Maduro has not seized or harmed him, fearing a backlash, some officials said.Senator Lindsey Graham said he has no concern that the United States is making a bad bet on Mr Guaidó."Oh God, no. Smart money," Mr Graham said. "I think he's the future of Venezuela. He's young, he's the solution – not the problem."Mr Graham also said Mr Trump has been well served by his advisers, including Mr Bolton.Mr Pompeo was also bullish about Mr Maduro's ouster last week, saying after the plan faltered that Mr Maduro had been heading to the airport before Russian advisers talked him out of leaving. Mr Maduro denied it.Senator Marco Rubio, who has been influential in shaping the administration's Venezuela response, said Mr Trump and Mr Bolton are on the same page.Mr Rubio, who said he spoke to Mr Trump about Venezuela on Tuesday evening, backs the policy of waiting out Mr Maduro."He's in the same mind-set that I'm in, and that is that we've got to stay the course, it's working," Mr Rubio said in an interview.Mr Rubio said some of the harshest US sanctions are only now having full effect, including sowing dissension among Mr Maduro's aides."Only now are you starting to see it burn and I think that's what's causing some of this internal friction in the regime."US defence leaders regard any military scenario involving boots on the ground in Venezuela as a quagmire, and warn that standoff weapons such as Tomahawk missiles run a major risk of killing civilians.The White House has repeatedly asked for military planning short of invasion, however.Officials said the options under discussion while Mr Maduro is still in power include sending additional military assets to the region, increasing aid to neighbouring countries such as Colombia, and other steps to provide humanitarian assistance to displaced Venezuelans outside of Venezuela.More forward-leaning options include sending naval ships to waters off Venezuela as a show of force.Other steps under discussion are intended for after Mr Maduro is gone, when US military personnel might be permitted inside Venezuela to help with humanitarian responses.John Feeley, a former US ambassador and Univision political analyst, said there is another reason that military intervention is unlikely."It runs counter to Donald Trump's 2020 re-election narrative. At a time when you're pulling people back from Syria, back from Iraq, back from Afghanistan, how do you say we're going to commit 50-, 100-, 150,000 of our blood and treasure to a country where you can't tell the bad guys from the good guys?" Mr Feeley said.The Washington Post
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| Trump Welcomes 'Red Socks' to White House Amid Concerns of Racial Divide Posted: 09 May 2019 04:37 PM PDT  President Donald Trump honored the World Series champion Boston Red Sox — well, some of them — at the White House on Thursday, but made no mention of the controversy that shadowed the visit.
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| Today’s top deals: $25 true wireless earbuds, $20 Wi-Fi cameras, $79 sous vide, SanDisk microSD sale, more Posted: 09 May 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Thursday's roundup of the best daily deals we can find is a good one, and includes very popular true wireless earbuds for just $25.49 when you use the coupon code FSOVHC7U at checkout on Amazon. Among the other highlights from today's list, you'll find $50 off half a dozen different Apple Watch Series 4 models, the lowest price of 2019 on the most popular Instant Pot in the world, a Wi-Fi home security camera that's somehow on sale for $19.99, Anova's newest sous vide cooker for just $79, $29.99 for the Roku Premiere with 4K and HDR support, all-time low prices on SanDisk microSD cards starting at just $7, a free Echo Dot when you buy a Ring Video Doorbell 2 for $80 off or a Ring Video Doorbell Pro for $100 off, Bose's excellent compact sound bar for just $199, and more. See all of today's best bargains below.
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| The 2020 BMW M8 Will Have Adjustable Brake-Pedal Feel Posted: 09 May 2019 10:20 AM PDT  The brakes are just one of the M8's long list of configurable settings and features.
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| Our Own Private Singapore Posted: 10 May 2019 08:06 AM PDT  The rap on Singapore is that it has fertile capital but a sterile culture -- a great place to do business, but a stultifying place to live.It is the Facebook of countries.The authorities there are sensitive to that kind of criticism. In a 2017 interview with the Straits Times, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong emphasized the diversity of the country and the distinctiveness of its individual cultural components. Singapore, he said, is oriented not toward assimilation but integration."The result has been distinctive Singaporean variants of Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Eurasian cultures, and a growing Singaporean identity that we all share, suffusing and linking up our distinct individual identities and ethnic cultures," Lee said. "We certainly don't wish Singapore to be a first-world economy but a third-rate society, with a people who are well off but uncouth. We want to be a society rich in spirit, a gracious society where people are considerate and kind to one another, and as Mencius said, where we treat all elders as we treat our own parents, and other children as our own."That is a very nice vision, which the government of Singapore pursues energetically through authoritarianism, bullying, and intimidation. Singapore is an innovator in many fields, and one of the activities toward which it has turned a great deal of attention is one that is of increasing global and domestic significance: censorship.Singapore has just passed a law that would require Facebook, Twitter, and other social-media companies to publish corrections on their sites in response to content that is ruled untrue by the government of Singapore. Facebook executives say they have been looking to governments for guidance in their attempt to suppress certain kinds of speech on their platforms -- and here it is, from the world-beating experts.The government of Singapore is, in fact, not so different in its thinking from Facebook. It is just a little ahead of the curve. Facebook insists (sometimes laughably) that its speech restrictions are not directed at unpopular political ideas but exist to serve the "safety" of the public. Singapore, too, cites safety as it prohibits certain unwelcome political activism and cultural innovation. "Public safety" is, like "national security," an almost infinitely plastic criterion in the hands of an entrepreneurial politician: In March, President Donald Trump blocked the acquisition of Qualcomm by Singapore-based Broadcom, offering only the vague explanation that the company "might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States." Senator Marco Rubio has argued that corporate welfare for Florida sugar barons is a matter of national security, while others make the same argument for their favorite commodities; Democratic party officials have suggested that Second Amendment activists be investigated or suppressed as terrorists; the sniveling cowards who run the University of California at Berkeley cited "public safety" when they forbade conservative polemicist Ann Coulter to speak on campus. Et cetera ad nauseam.In Singapore, "public safety" is the rationale for a remarkably thorough program of official censorship, much of which is directed at the worthy goal of keeping the peace among the city-state's unamalgamated ethnic and religious groups. For example, if a crime has a potentially inflammatory ethnic or religious component, that fact generally will be omitted from media coverage as part of an unspoken agreement between the state and the newspapers. Films or books that are deemed to denigrate an ethnic or religious group are prohibited. The sale of Malaysian newspapers is prohibited. And in the same way that U.S. progressives seek to suppress political speech as a matter of "campaign finance," the authorities in Singapore have prohibited the unlicensed showing of "party political films," which may be the of "any person and directed towards any political end in Singapore." Such films are permitted only if the government considers them objective; the irony of demanding a subjective ruling about objectivity seems to have been lost on Singapore's rulers, who are not famous for their sense of humor.Singapore's censors make the same argument as do Facebook's: that the suppression of certain kinds of unwelcome political speech is necessary for "public safety." Singapore's is a genuinely multiethnic and multireligious society -- and, as it turns out, such societies do not have a very good record for long-term stability and domestic tranquility. If anything, Singapore has a more convincing argument that fanning the flames of communal politics in such a country is likely to actually endanger people than Facebook does that Milo Yiannapoulos is whatever kind of danger it is that he is supposed to be. Singapore's position is more convincing than the jactitations of those ignorant little twerps at Philadelphia's University of the Arts who protested that the presence of Professor Camille Paglia on their campus left them "unsafe." (They should feel grateful. I wonder who is the second-most distinguished intellectual associated with that school.) You will not be surprised to learn that the burdens here fall more heavily on dissidents and critics of the government.But let us give Singapore and Facebook the benefit of the doubt and assume that they are motivated by concerns that are in the main to be admired. The end results are no less risible: If American society is really so fragile that Alex Jones presents an existential threat to the republic, then we should send our British cousins a letter of apology and ask to be readmitted as a colony, if they'll have us. Likewise, if Singapore truly is going to be rocked, and not in a good way, by a Katy Perry song ("I Kissed a Girl" was prohibited as homosexual propaganda) then it is a pitiable little island indeed, to quaver at such a colossus as that.But, of course, almost no one takes seriously these claims, just as no one seriously thinks that Ann Coulter is a "danger" to anybody or that the NRA shares a genre with the Islamic State. These are pretexts, and flimsy ones. They are fig leaves for ochlocracy.But once censorship has been established in principle and accepted in practice, then officiousness, triviality, and vindictiveness are the inevitable outcomes. Bureaucracies -- Singapore's government, Facebook's management -- have interests of their own, and agendas of their own, and tastes of their own, and to take seriously the proposition that Facebook's speech-policing or U.S. "campaign finance" restrictions will be managed with any more objectivity or neutrality than Singapore's official state censorship is to ignore almost everything we know about how bureaucracies actually work. The powers that be at Facebook and Twitter may or may not be acting in good faith, but the more important fact is that they could not be fair and neutral even if they sincerely wished to be. This is a fact of organizational life, one that must be dealt with seriously. The bland little caudillos down in Human Resources are creatures of an insipid little culture all their own.And that is the one that Facebook et al. propose we live under.Facebook is a private company, and it may of course as a legal matter do whatever it pleases with its own platform, and Singapore's censorship is perfectly legal, too, for what that's worth -- which is not very much: Some of the worst crimes against humanity in modern history were carried out under the color of law. The question of what may be done is distinct from the question of what should be done.Singapore's censorship is quite defensible in principle -- if you accept censorship in principle -- and the consequences of its policies have been perfectly predictable. When the prime minister feels himself obliged to go public with his insistence that local cultural conditions are not "third rate," it is an excellent indicator that they are obviously third-rate. Some lies are accidental advertisements for the truth. There is much that is admirable about Singapore, but at its worst it is a kind of splendidly air-conditioned fascist shopping mall. Public safety is one of those good things it is possible to have too much of, and "graciousness" enforced at the point of a bayonet is not graciousness at all.Facebook, Twitter, et al. are houses divided: As businesses they are one thing, as institutions they are another. Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes argued in the pages of the New York Times on Thursday that Facebook should be broken up, in part because of its failure to contain "violent rhetoric and fake news." Facebook and other "gargantuan companies," he argued, are a threat to democracy. That is hysteria, but it contains a measure of truth. Democracy relies on discourse, and healthy discourse relies on a culture of open exchange, which in turn requires a measure of confidence that Facebook's executives lack. Ironically, the problems of Facebook and, especially, of Twitter are not so much threats to democracy but useful illustrations of the shortcomings of unmediated democracy, in which the mob bullies the institutions into submission. In a healthy democratic system, things work in roughly the opposite way, with institutions helping to contain and redirect the excesses of democratic passion. And that is where Facebook and Singapore differ: The government of Singapore -- which, whatever its shortcomings, seems to be run by men who genuinely believe in their own precepts -- serves no mob, but Facebook, lacking the real conviction that can be rooted only in the permanent things, is abject and quickly prone before whatever mob happens to show up at its door.The American settlement under the First Amendment is unusual to the point of being nearly unique. Censorship of different kinds is the norm in civilized countries from Singapore to Germany, where certain political parties, symbols, and ideas are strictly prohibited. The American arrangement is different because it is the product of men who as individuals and as a civilization believed in something, which gave them the confidence to live in a world in which they are likely to hear and read things they did not like from time to time, things that might even be wicked, scurrilous, or wrong. Some men endure winter at Valley Forge, and some tremble at the menace of Katy Perry or poor daft Laura Loomer.There is a wonderful scene in Serenity, a science-fiction film that is something of a libertarian manifesto, in which a fragile, psychologically damaged girl is taken along on what amounts to an Old West-style bank robbery, after which she and her friends are chased and nearly captured by mutant space cannibals who mean to eat them raw on the spot. At the end of a wild ride dodging fire in an open-air conveyance while speeding across a Sergio Leone landscape, she returns to her overprotective older brother, who asks if she is injured. She looks at him, wide-eyed, and says: "I swallowed a bug." Freedom tastes like that, sometimes.
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| Huawei exec vows to fight extradition to US in Canada court Posted: 08 May 2019 05:36 PM PDT  Vancouver (AFP) - A top Chinese telecom executive whose arrest in Canada on a US warrant triggered a bitter diplomatic row vowed Wednesday to vigorously fight extradition to the US.
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| Don't send a 'bishop to the crime scene': Church sex abuse survivors blast Pope Francis' new law on reporting Posted: 09 May 2019 10:56 AM PDT  Pope Francis issued a groundbreaking law on reporting of clergy sex abuse. Survivors say the church still doesn't get it.
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| South Korea says North Korea's latest launches were missiles Posted: 10 May 2019 01:48 AM PDT  SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The U.S. and South Korea have determined that two projectiles launched by North Korea were short-range missiles, a South Korean military official said Friday, a day after the North's second launch in five days raised jitters about an unraveling detente between the Koreas and the future of U.S.-North Korea nuclear negotiations.
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| Uber valued at $82 billion in IPO as market jitters, Lyft woes weigh Posted: 09 May 2019 03:41 PM PDT  Uber raised $8.1 billion, pricing its IPO at $45 per share, close to the bottom of the targeted $44-$50 range. The year's biggest IPO comes against a backdrop of turbulent financial markets, fueled by the trade dispute between the United States and China, as well as the plunging share price of Lyft, which is down 23 percent from its IPO price in late March. Uber's valuation in the IPO is almost a third less than its investment bankers predicted last year but still above its most recent valuation of $76 billion in the private fundraising market.
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