WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: Iran supreme leader critical of FM in nuke deal
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The Latest on increased tensions between the U.S. and Iran (all times local):
NewsAFPTornados kill three in central US, damage Missouri state capital
Three people were killed in the small town of Golden City, Missouri, officials said, while the midwestern state's capital Jefferson City was struck by what the National Weather Service called a "large and destructive" tornado Wednesday night. The tornado caused significant damage, trapping people in buildings and homes, and knocking down power lines and trees. Rescue workers were checking door-to-door for survivors Thursday, some 20 people were injured and treated at hospitals overnight, and more injuries were expected, officials said.
PoliticsReutersHouse panel, Justice Dept end standoff over Mueller documents
The House Intelligence Committee pulled back on Wednesday from threats to enforce a subpoena against Attorney General William Barr after the Justice Department agreed to turn over materials relating to an investigation into Russian election interference. The decision ended a standoff between the Democratic-led committee and the Justice Department for access to counterintelligence reports generated by Special Counsel Robert Mueller during his probe of President Donald Trump and his associates. The dispute, one of many between the Republican administration and the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives, has come as Trump refuses to cooperate with numerous congressional probes into matters ranging from his personal finances and business dealings to Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
- WorldBloomberg
Modi Strengthens Grip on Power, Pulling India Further to Right
If anyone had any doubts about Narendra Modi’s popularity, India’s masses just put them to rest. A combination of economic populism, Hindu nationalism and air strikes against arch-rival Pakistan earlier this year proved unbeatable. “This is a stunning reaffirmation of Modi and the BJP and, conversely, a sharp rebuke of the opposition,” said Milan Vaishnav, director of the South Asia program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
- NewsAOL.com
Serial con artist arrested after scamming woman he met on Match.com out of $85,000
A serial con artist was arrested Wednesday after allegedly scamming a Georgiawoman he met on Match
BusinessReutersAfter Huawei, U.S. could blacklist Chinese surveillance tech firm - media
The U.S. administration is considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision, media reports show, deepening worries that trade friction between the world's top two economies could be further inflamed. The restrictions would limit Hikvision's ability to buy U.S. technology and American companies may have to obtain government approval to supply components to the Chinese firm, the New York Times reported https://nyti.ms/2MfgBS3 on Tuesday. The United States stuck Huawei Technologies on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with the world's largest telecom network gear maker, in a major escalation in the trade war.
SportsUSA TODAY'Jeopardy!' champ James Holzhauer extends amazing streak with his 24th victory
James Holzhauer extended his 'Jeopardy!' winning streak to an even two dozen Tuesday, as he moves ever closer to the $2 million mark.
WorldAFPFears rise China could weaponise rare earths in US tech war
The US has hit China where it hurts by going after its telecom champion Huawei, but Beijing's control of the global supply of rare earths used in smartphones and electric cars gives it a powerful weapon in their escalating tech war. A seemingly routine visit by President Xi Jinping to a Chinese rare earths company this week is being widely read as an obvious threat that Beijing is standing ready for action. Xi's inspection tour "is no accident, this didn't happen by chance," said Li Mingjiang, China programme coordinator at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.
- WorldThe National Interest
Russia and America Are Taking Turns Probing Each Other’s Air Space
Six Russian Tu-95 heavy bombers and several Russian Su-35 fighters probed U.S. air-defenses on May 20 and May 21, 2019, prolonging a period of aerial tension between the Moscow and Washington.U.S. Air Force F-22 stealth fighters and supporting aircraft on both days peacefully intercepted the Russian planes. “The Russian bombers and fighters remained in international airspace and at no time did the aircraft enter United States or Canadian sovereign airspace,” North American Aerospace Defense Command reported.“Two pairs of F-22s and an E-3 airborne early warning and control system from North American Aerospace Defense Command positively identified and intercepted a total of four Tupolev Tu-95 bombers and two Su-35 fighters entering the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone on May 20,” noted the command, which also is known by its Cold War acronym “NORAD.”“Specifically, two of the Russian bombers were intercepted by two F-22s, and a second group of bombers with Su-35 fighters was intercepted later by two additional F-22s, while the E-3 provided overall surveillance.”
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Lawmaker's censure sought after comments about Trump Jr.
Alabama lawmakers abruptly adjourned after one lawmaker called for the censure of another over comments that included calling the president's son "evidently retarded." Republican Rep. Arnold Mooney of Shelby County on Wednesday went to the House microphone to read a letter seeking censure of Rep. John Rogers, a Democrat. Mooney said Rogers brought "shame" on Alabama with comments he made after debate on a proposed abortion ban.
NewsYahoo News Photo StaffPHOTOS: Violent tornado rips through Missouri
A powerful tornado swept across Missouri, killing several people as it knocked down power lines and trees, smashed windows and left streets strewn with debris, officials said on Thursday.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoCollege student dies after trying to snap picture from a scenic lookout on the Oregon coast
A student at Oregon State University died on Sunday after falling 100 feet from a scenic lookout on the Oregon coast, authorities said.
PoliticsYahoo NewsBiden blasts Trump for saying he 'deserted' Pennsylvania: 'I was 10'
The former vice president blasted President Trump for telling the crowd at a rally in Pennsylvania earlier this week that he “deserted” them.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
14 Garage Organization Ideas That'll Give You Back Your Parking Spot
It's so strangely soothing to see everything this organized in the garage.From Car and Driver
BusinessReutersTaiwan's TSMC says chip shipments to Huawei not affected by U.S. ban
TSMC, the world's biggest contract chipmaker, said on Thursday its shipments to China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd are not affected by U.S. action aimed at curbing the telecom equipment maker's access to American technology. The comment was made by spokeswoman Elizabeth Sun at the TSMC 2019 Technology Symposium in Taiwan's tech hub of Hsinchu.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Accused Thief Taunted Disney World With Photo of Stolen Robot’s Mutilated Head
Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIf you’re accused of stealing an animatronic child from Disney World, maybe don’t make a wildly popular Disney-related Twitter account and post a picture of the stolen robot child with its eyes gouged out.“Buzzy,” an animatronic boy from an abandoned Disney World attraction, has been missing for months. Online, Disney superfans treated the disappearance like a kidnapping. But the investigation into the theft led police to someone in the online Disney fandom: a Disney blogger who taunted Disney about their security, posted conspiracy theories about Buzzy’s disappearance and, in the final days before his arrest, uploaded a picture of the robot’s decapitated and eyeball-less head.Patrick Spikes, 24, was arrested last week. He worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, until last year. But Spikes didn’t completely part ways with the theme park after he stopped working there. Instead, he started churning out videos, podcasts, and tweets under the username “BackDoorDisney.” His Twitter account, which amassed more than 17,000 followers before going dark last week, promised to give fans an inside view of Disney World. In its seven months of operation, the account uploaded pictures of Disney control rooms, secret maps, and Disney cast members pretending to have sex while dressed as characters from Toy Story.Soon, Spikes was posting about an even more salacious Disney World story. In August, Disney told police that someone had stolen clothes off Buzzy. The 300-pound animatronic child used to sit inside the “Cranium Command” exhibit, in Epcot’s Wonders of Life Pavilion. But the building, which hosted somewhat dated attractions, had been closed for years. The stolen clothes (including a miniature bomber jacket) were worth nearly $7,000, Disney claimed, according to an affidavit from Florida’s Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Later, the entire robot was stolen, an operation that required the thief to cut through electric cables.Spikes and other Disney bloggers posted about Buzzy’s rumored disappearance. But Spikes and a crowd of Disney fans who broke into the park soon came under suspicion. Spikes routinely boasted of secret trips through Disney World, including with a friend who climbed the park’s Thunder Mountain roller coaster.“Good job filling the holes under the Mk back fence this morning,” Spikes wrote in a January tweet directed at Disney. “I told you guys about this issue 2 months ago but it took somebody going in and climbing one of your coasters for you to care.”On his personal Twitter account, Spikes taunted Disney, advising them to buy a bulk box of security cameras from Best Buy. As the search for Buzzy continued, Disney fans speculated that an urban explorer might have snatched the robot.Eventually, police began narrowing in on Spikes and his scene. Investigators found an October picture of Buzzy on Spikes’ @BackDoorDisney account. The picture does not appear to have been taken inside the Cranium Command exhibit. In texts with investigators, Spikes allegedly let slip that Buzzy’s clothes were sold on the black market for $8,000.Police got a warrant for Spikes’ cellphone and called him in for questioning in December. The meeting went poorly when Spikes tried to cut it short.“The defendant stated he felt sick and felt that he was going to vomit,” police alleged in an affidavit. “A short time later, he began to make strained breathing noises, and stated he couldn’t breath. He requested water, which was given to him, and also was allowed to lay on the floor. The fire department responded and all vitals were normal.” Spikes was taken to a hospital. Police charged him with non-violently resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty.Spikes later made a video about a police search on his house, and professed his innocence.“I said ‘really? The entire thing got stolen?’ I didn’t really believe it,” he said in the March video. “It blew my mind. I was like, you can’t be serious right now.”Later in the video, Spikes suggested that Disney had staged Buzzy’s disappearance in order to shut down his BackDoorDisney account.“There’s a theory someone talked about that Imagineering [a Disney team] removed Buzzy and didn’t tell anyone else. So when Operations, the part of the company that runs the Pavillion noticed he was missing, they filed him as ‘stolen,’” he said. “Did Disney willingly file a report, knowing the thing wasn’t stolen, just to run me down? Because obviously I had been posting a lot of backstage photos and stuff, and information … It almost seems like they wanted my phones because they knew I had a lot of backstage photos on them.”But BackDoorDisney kept implying inside knowledge of Buzzy’s disappearance.In a May 12 tweet, he tweeted a picture of Buzzy’s fate. The tweet showed a picture of Buzzy’s decapitated head, with its eyeballs scratched off. The image was included in a screenshot of a text Spikes received, which meant someone else might have stolen the robot.TwitterFive days later, police arrested Spikes. Although Buzzy’s disappearance featured prominently in an arrest affidavit (police appear to have started investigating him over Buzzy’s theft), Spikes was actually charged for a different series of alleged thefts from Disney World. His lawyer did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment.In July, police alleged, Spikes printed a fake Disney employee card for his cousin and snuck him into the park. The pair allegedly snuck into the Haunted Mansion, a popular ride, and stole a collection of wigs and outfits from backstage. The clothes, which were designed for the ride’s animatronic ghosts, cost between $40 (a tiara) and $1,746 (a robot’s jacket), adding up to more than $7,000.Spikes and his cousin allegedly took pictures throughout the heist, and posed in the wigs at a nearby 7-Eleven. A video from shortly after the theft allegedly shows Spikes’ cousin’s girlfriend wearing a robot’s stolen dress.Disney may have priced the clothes at just over $7,000, but they allegedly went for four times that price on the black market. Days after the alleged burglary, Spikes allegedly received a combined $29,451 payment from two people over Paypal. One of the people, whose name is redacted in the affidavit, told police he paid Spikes $8,890 for 18 items from various Disney heists, including $1,000 for a Haunted Mansion dress.Shortly before his arrest, Spikes teased a forthcoming video about the black market for stolen Disney gear.Police haven’t charged Spikes with Buzzy’s disappearance. But they say his video about the raid on his house raised questions about his involvement. In the video, he showed part of a search warrant for his house. Police say he edited the document to remove references to two pieces of evidence police sought.“The fact that Spikes altered the warrant for his video and only removed these two items indicate that he was aware these items were used in a crime,” the affidavit reads.In that same video, Spikes tells viewers he’ll keep his lips tight about Buzzy’s disappearance until the investigation is over.“If things are still under investigation, I’m not going to get on YouTube and run my mouth about it,” he said. “That would be dumb.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
NewsAFPMajor Texas border station closed for flu outbreak after teen death
A major Texas border station has been temporarily closed due to a fever outbreak, officials said, one day after a Guatemalan teenager diagnosed with flu at the facility died in immigration custody. Medical staff imposed the quarantine at the McAllen processing center after a "large number" of detainees were found to have high fevers and symptoms of a flu-related illness. "To avoid the spread of illness, the Rio Grande Valley Sector has temporarily suspended intake operations at the CPC," Customs and Border Protection said in a statement late Tuesday, referring to the Central Processing Center.
- PoliticsNational Review
Booker Vows to Create ‘Office of Reproductive Freedom’ If Elected
Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) announced on Wednesday that he will create a “White House Office of Reproductive Freedom” if he triumphs in the expansive Democratic primary field and is elected president in 2020.According to a plan released by Booker's campaign, the office would coordinate with officials from multiple agencies to ensure the fulfillment of his administration's reproductive-health priorities, including, among other things, access to abortion, contraception, paid family leave, and pregnancy care.“Republican-controlled state legislatures across the country are mounting a coordinated attack on abortion access and reproductive rights,” Booker said in a statement. “A coordinated attack requires a coordinated response. That’s why on day one of my presidency, I will immediately and decisively take executive action to respond to these relentless efforts to erode Americans’ rights to control their own bodies. I will also pursue a legislative response, including legislation to codify Roe v. Wade into federal law.”As part of this effort, Booker also vowed to reinstate funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which focuses on promoting global reproductive health. He also would reverse the Trump administration's Mexico City policy, which prohibits clinics that receive federal funding under Title X from providing or promoting abortion overseas.The announcement comes just days after Alabama governor Kay Ivey signed the nation's most restrictive abortion bill into law. The bill, which prohibits virtually all abortions at any stage of pregnancy, is currently unenforceable but was advanced by the state's Republican legislature in order to prompt a challenge to Roe v. Wade.Booker and a number of his fellow presidential aspirants have vowed to advance federal legislation to codify the federal abortion policy created by the Supreme Court decision in Roe.
- BusinessThe National Interest
Stealth History: The F-35C Is Now Ready For War If the U.S. Navy Needs It
By 2025, the Navy's aircraft carrier-based air wings will consist of a mix of F-35C, F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, EA-18G Growlers electronic attack aircraft, E-2D Hawkeye battle management and control aircraft, MH-60R/S helicopters and Carrier Onboard Delivery logistics aircraft such as the Navy Osprey tiltrotor aircraft variant.As the F-35C becomes officially deemed “operational” and “ready for war," the Navy is adding weapons, sensors and software to the aircraft to expand its attack envelope --- and may even increase the F-35s ability to carry up to 6 air-to-air weapons in its internal weapons bay.Such a configuration, which would increase the stealth fighter’s internal weapons load by two missiles, has been designed and implemented by F-35-maker Lockheed Martin -- as an offering for the Air Force and Navy to consider.“Lockheed Martin has matured design concepts to integrate 6 air-to-air missiles within the internal weapons bays of the F-35A and F-35C variants,” Lockheed Martin spokesman Michael Friedman told Warrior in a written statement.While making a point to emphasize that any decision to increase the weapons capacity of the F-35 would of course need to come from the military services themselves, Lockheed engineers say the new “internally carried” firepower would massive increase attack options -- all while preserving the stealth configuration of the aircraft.
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Tornadoes move through southwest Missouri towns
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Latest on storm damage in the Southern Plains and Midwest (all times local):
BusinessReutersChip designer ARM halts work with Huawei after U.S. ban
Huawei, in common with Apple Inc and chipmakers such as Qualcomm, uses ARM blueprints to design the processors that power its smartphones. "ARM is complying with the latest restrictions set forth by the U.S. government and is having ongoing conversations with the appropriate U.S. government agencies to ensure we remain compliant," an ARM spokesman said in a statement. "ARM values its relationship with our longtime partner HiSilicon (Huawei's chip arm) and we are hopeful for a swift resolution on this matter." Huawei said it valued its close relationships with its partners, but it recognized the pressure some of them are under "as a result of politically motivated decisions".
- PoliticsThe Telegraph
North Korea blasts Joe Biden as a 'fool of low IQ' for criticising leader Kim Jong-un
North Korean state media slammed former US vice president Joe Biden for criticising leader Kim Jong-un, calling him "bereft of elementary quality as a human being". The criticism contrasts with North Korea's repeated references to the good relationship between Kim and US President Donald Trump. Kim said in April his personal relationship with Mr Trump was still good despite the collapse of their second summit in Vietnam in February. According to Newsweek, Mr Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner, said at a campaign launch in Philadelphia on Saturday: "Are we a nation that embraces dictators and tyrants like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Kim Jong-un?" State media the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) responded to criticism of the North's leadership in a commentary late on Tuesday. Kim Jong-un was described as a tyrant by Joe Biden Credit: AFP "What he uttered is just sophism of an imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being, let alone a politician," it said. The news agency also called Mr Biden a “fool of low IQ”, and said Mr Biden had “the temerity to insult the supreme leadership”. KCNA listed previous controversies concerning Mr Biden, including allegations of plagiarism and falling asleep during a speech by former President Barack Obama in 2011. "We will never pardon anyone who dare provoke the supreme leadership of the DPRK but will certainly make them pay for it," KCNA said, using North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Denuclearisation talks have stalled since the breakdown of the second meeting between Trump and Kim in February and North Korea conducted more weapons tests this month. The tests were seen as a protest by Kim after Trump rejected his calls for sanctions relief at the Hanoi summit.
BusinessUSA TODAYBigger cuts expected: 23,000 more Ford layoffs needed, analysts say
Ford CEO Jim Hackett plans for layoffs won't deliver savings the company has said it wants. An analyst says another 23,000 layoffs are needed.
- BusinessCar and Driver
View Photos of the 2019 Opel Corsa-e
View Photos of the 2019 Opel Corsa-eFrom Car and Driver
BusinessReutersAfter Huawei, U.S. could blacklist Chinese surveillance tech firm: media
The U.S. administration is considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision, media reports show, deepening worries that trade friction between the world's top two economies could be further inflamed. The restrictions would limit Hikvision's ability to buy U.S. technology and American companies may have to obtain government approval to supply components to the Chinese firm, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. The United States stuck Huawei Technologies on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with the world's largest telecom network gear maker, in a major escalation in the trade war.
