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.
NewsReutersRain, flooding expected in U.S. Southern Plains after deadly storms
Weather forecasters on Wednesday expected drenching rains to roll into the storm-ravaged U.S. southern and central states, where thunderstorms and tornadoes killed at least three people and triggered widespread flooding. More than 30 tornadoes struck a swath from Texas to Iowa since Monday, according to the National Weather Service, and residents in at least three Oklahoma riverfront communities were urged to evacuate due to flooding. One person was killed and another was injured when a tornado struck the rural town of Adair, Iowa, about 50 miles (80 km)west of Des Moines, at about 1:30 a.m. local time, the weather service said.
- WorldBloomberg
Iran Says It Will Hit Limit on Nuclear Stockpile in Weeks
“If we were proceeding at the previous speed, it would have taken several months,” said Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, in an interview with Tehran’s Vatan Emrooz newspaper. The 2015 deal cut Iran’s low-enriched uranium by some 97% and capped its stockpile at 300 kilograms (661 pounds). Iran has remained well below that inventory limit for more than a year and had just 203 kilograms on hand during the first quarter, according to monitoring data.
NewsUSA TODAYMississippi judge who blocked 15-week abortion ban hears arguments on fetal heartbeat law
Mississippi's fetal heartbeat law which bans abortions after approximately six weeks could be blocked or upheld by Judge Carlton Reeves.
PoliticsYahoo NewsHUD Secretary Ben Carson stumped during congressional hearing
The HUD secretary faced a tough hearing before the House Financial Services Committee on Tuesday.
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.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
Don't Just Vacation in Any Old Airbnb When You Can Choose One on Wheels
Get a taste of #VanLife without the full-time commitment.From Car and Driver
- BusinessReuters
U.S. judge approves PG&E $105 million wildfire assistance fund
PG&E Corp may set up a $105 million housing fund for victims of 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California, which set records for devastation and were blamed on the utility's equipment, the judge overseeing the investor-owned power producer's bankruptcy ruled on Wednesday. Creditors, which include wildfire victims, are fighting for funds as PG&E navigates bankruptcy stemming from the blazes and as the state plans for increasingly long and dangerous fire seasons its officials attribute to climate change. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali at a hearing approved a motion by PG&E seeking permission to establish the fund for people who lost homes in the fires and were uninsured or have used up or will exhaust their insurance.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Elizabeth Warren calls comedian to give love life advice: 'We have a plan to get my mom grandkids'
Elizabeth Warren is the only presidential candidate with a plan for comedian Ashley Nicole Black's love life.That's at least according to Black, who wrote on Twitter that she had a chat with the Democratic presidential candidate had called her up — making good on a weekend tweet from Ms Warren offering to help."Guess who's crying and shaking and just talked to Elizabeth Warren on the phone?!?!? We have a plan to get my mom grand kids, it's very comprehensive, and it does involve raising taxes on billionaires," Black wrote on Twitter, referencing Ms Warren's campaign mantra that she has a "plan for that".The phone call — which the Warren campaign confirmed took place to The Independent — follows after Black jokingly tweeted on Sunday about the dozens of policy proposals Ms Warren has released, and that have come to largely define her campaign."Do you think Elizabeth Warren has a plan to fix my love life," Black tweeted then.Ms Warren's account replied: "DM me and let's figure this out."Ms Warrens' campaign provided no details of what the phone call included. But Black, a comedian who has worked on Samantha Bee's "Full Frontal" television show, provided some context piecemeal in her replies."I'm literally shaking," she wrote in response to one user.It's "like you're talking to someone super smart, who actually cares," she wrote in response to another user, who asked how it feels to speak with Ms Warren. "It was amazing."Finally, a hint at the advice: She said I've [got to] focus on what I've got going for me... that's when I started crying LOL".
PoliticsAssociated PressAG Barr says nationwide rulings are hampering Trump's agenda
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr is taking on another item from President Donald Trump's agenda, railing against judges who issue rulings blocking nationwide policies.
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):
- NewsThe Guardian
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she'd be 'hard pressed' to back Biden in primary
Bernie Sanders appears to be the favorite to secure Ocasio-Cortez’s prized endorsement in the Democratic presidential primaryCongresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez told the Guardian: ‘I’m not close to an endorsement announcement any time soon.’ Photograph: Joshua Roberts/ReutersAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive US congresswoman and social media sensation, has said she would be “hard pressed” to endorse the frontrunner, Joe Biden, in the Democratic presidential primary.The statement is the latest sign of the left’s apathy towards the former vice-president, who has surged ahead of the Senator Bernie Sanders and other rivals in recent polls.Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, appears to be the favourite to secure 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez’s prized endorsement but she said she was still some way off making a decision.“I’m not close to an endorsement announcement any time soon,” she told the Guardian on Tuesday. “I’m still trying to get a handle on my job. It seems like ages but I’m just five months in and we have quite some time. The debates are in the summer and our first primary election for the entire country isn’t until next year.” Asked if she would consider endorsing Biden, widely seen as a centrist, Ocasio-Cortez replied: “I’d be hard pressed to see that happen, to be honest, in a primary.”Biden, comfortably leading every opinion poll, came under fire last week when Reuters reported he was pursuing a “middle ground” approach to the climate crisis. He later distanced himself from the implication.Ocasio-Cortez criticised politicians seeking “a middle-of-the-road approach to save our lives”. Sanders, running second in most polls, tweeted that there was “no ‘middle ground’ when it comes to climate policy”.If and when Ocasio-Cortez does endorse a candidate, Sanders probably remains the favourite to secure her support. She was an organiser for his 2016 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. The pair appeared at a rally in Washington last week to support the Green New Deal climate plan.In a short interview on Tuesday the congresswoman, who has more than 4 million Twitter followers, also reiterated her demand for Donald Trump’s impeachment. “I think that the grounds have been there for quite some time but the case is really getting to a larger point that we haven’t seen before,” she said.Democratic leaders are putting the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, under pressure to move ahead with the process. Ocasio-Cortez added: “I know that the conversation is really changing this week in the caucus and so we’ll see where the speaker lands.”
U.S.FOX News VideosMurrieta, California residents concerned as illegal immigrants are flown into town
Murrieta resident Bob Kowell speaks out about migrants being relocated to his city on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'
NewsYahoo NewsLatest migrant child death raises questions about U.S. detention practices
The fifth Guatemalan child to die after illegally crossing the border since December, Carlos Vasquez’s death at a Border Patrol station raises new questions about the length of time minors are being detained, as well as the conditions provided to them while in custody.
- WorldBloomberg
Farage's Brexit Party to Trounce May, Sporting Index Says
Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives will win seven, while Labour will take 13 and the Liberal Democrats 12, Sporting Index predicted in an email in London on Tuesday. Sporting Index has had a consistently strong record in predicting some of the key twists and turns of the Brexit saga. Last month, about two hours before the latest vote on May’s Brexit deal, the spread betting firm forecast she’d lose by 60 votes.
BusinessAFPUS stocks rally on Huawei reprieve as pound gyrates on Brexit news
Global stocks rallied Tuesday as the United States took a step away from imposing crushing restrictions on Chinese telecom company Huawei, while the pound gyrated on fresh Brexit drama.
- NewsUSA TODAY
When it comes to abortion, conservative women aren't a monolith
Nearly one in four women in the United States will have an abortion by age 45 — obviously not all of them share the same political views.
- NewsThe Independent
Man who threatened to kill ‘as many girls as I see’ because he was repeatedly rejected set to be spared jail
A man who threatened to murder “as many girls” as he could see may escape a jail sentence, despite pleading guilty to a charge of attempted threat of terrorism.Christopher Cleary wrote a detailed Facebook post about how he planned to become “the next mass shooter” in January 2019.The 27-year-old described himself as a virgin who had never had a girlfriend.He also said he wanted to make the fact that so many women had turned him down “right” by going on a shooting spree, according to documents filed by Provo Police.Cleary was arrested on 19 January after publishing the Facebook post.Cleary then struck a deal with Utah prosecutors, pleading guilty to a reduced criminal charge.Attempted threat of terrorism is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.But Utah prosecutors agreed to recommend him for probation, despite his extensive criminal record.A judge will decide whether or not to accept the deal at a hearing on Thursday.The 27-year-old has been accused of stalking multiple times, with at least eight alleged victims contacting the authorities about his behaviour since 2012, according to police and court records.He was on probation following a marijuana conviction in 2016 when he was charged with stalking two teenagers he had met online.Cleary was put on probation for the stalking cases but in 2017 was charged with stalking and harassing his case worker.In 2018 judges in Jefferson County, Colorado sentenced him, once again, to probation for all three stalking cases.In one of the cases a 19-year-old woman said she lived with Cleary for a fortnight in a hotel room. She said that he strangled and urinated on her during that time, court records show.Cleary was out on probation for the three cases when he was arrested in a McDonald's in January, after publishing his Facebook post.Pam Russell, a spokeswoman for the Utah’s county prosecutor’s office, said once the case was concluded Cleary would be returned to Colorado.Prosecutors in Denver will seek to revoke his probation and send him to prison in relation for the stalking and harassment cases, she added.“All I wanted to be was loved,” Cleary wrote in his Facebook post.“Yet no one cares about me, I’m 27 years old and I’ve never had a girlfriend before and I’m still a virgin, this is why I’m planning on shooting up a public place soon and being the next mass shooter cause I’m ready to die.”It is unclear how truthful the Facebook post was, as at least two of Cleary’s accusers have said they had a sexual relationship with him.Some news reports have speculated that Cleary could be part of the “incel movement”, which promotes the misogynistic idea that men are entitled to have sex with women.But a Colorado police detective, who investigated two accusations against the 27-year-old, said there as no evidence he was part of the movement.“I truly think he’s just wired differently,” he said. Additional reporting by agencies
- PoliticsReuters
Yemen's Houthis step up drone attacks on Saudi Arabia
The latest hostilities coincide with rising tensions between Iran and Gulf Arab states allied to the United States and come just as a sensitive, U.N.-sponsored peace deal is being carried out in Yemen's main port of Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions. The Houthis, who claimed responsibility for last week's armed drone strikes on oil assets in Saudi Arabia, said on Tuesday that one of their drones hit an arms depot at the kingdom's Najran airport near the Yemeni border, causing a fire. It said on Monday that Saudi defense forces intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles fired toward Mecca, Islam's holiest site.
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: St. Louis airport reopens after storm shutdown
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The Latest on severe weather in the central United States (all times local):
- PoliticsUSA TODAY Opinion
I'm the same age as Elizabeth Warren. We 70-somethings have no business being president.
I have nothing against old people — I'm one of them. But maybe it's time to add a maximum age limit to our minimum age requirement for our presidents.
- BusinessThe Guardian
Boeing dismissed chance of 'bird strike' that may have caused second 737 Max crash
* US investigators believe bird collision may have triggered crash * Ethiopian Airlines crash occurred months after Lion Air disasterTwo local boys examine debris gathered by workers during the continuing recovery efforts at the crash site in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, in March. Photograph: Jemal Countess/Getty ImagesBoeing officials, shortly after the first fatal crash of its 737 Max jet, played down the likelihood that a bird strike could impair the plane’s sensor equipment. Now investigators are exploring whether such a situation led to a second deadly accident just five months later.According to the Wall Street Journal, US aviation authorities believe a bird collision may have set off the sequence of events that led to the downing of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max in March, in which 157 people died.American Airlines pilots called a meeting with Boeing last November after a Lion Air Max crashed in Indonesia, killing all 189 passengers and crew.The Journal reviewed a recording of the meeting in which Mike Sinnett, Boeing’s vice-president of product strategy, raised and dismissed the possibility that a bird strike could trigger a second crash by affecting the Max’s controversial sensor system.Sinnett told the pilots he was “absolutely” confident that heightened pilot awareness following the Lion Air disaster had further reduced the chances of another accident.Ethiopian Airlines has been facing criticism of its pilots’ conduct in the wake of the crash. At a House hearing into the accidents last week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) administrator, Daniel Elwell, said pilot error contributed to the crash.In both crashes, the Max’s anti-stall system, called the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (Mcas), appears to have forced the planes’ noses down shortly after takeoff, leaving the pilots struggling unsuccessfully to right the jets before they crashed.The Mcas system may have been reacting to faulty information from sensors that could have been damaged by a bird strike.Ethiopian Airlines has rejected accusations that its pilots contributed to the crash. Officials have said Boeing failed to provide cockpit alerts that would have warned the pilots about sensor errors.Last week, the airline said its pilots followed procedures set out by the FAA and Boeing but “none of the expected warnings appeared in the cockpit, which deprived the pilots of necessary and timely information”.Nine countries and the US justice department are currently investigating the crashes.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Meghan McCain Demands to Be Taken Seriously by ‘The View’ Co-Hosts
During Tuesday’s broadcast of The View, co-host Meghan McCain seemed a bit irritated and annoyed with her colleagues for not taking her viewpoints on politics seriously enough, insisting at one point that she comes to the show every day to give a “different perspective” even though it is an “unpopular one.”With the show hitting the air just moments after a House Judiciary Committee hearing adjourned following former White House counsel Don McGahn defying a congressional subpoena, the hosts jumped right into a debate over impeachment and whether the president attempted to obstruct justice.This prompted outspoken liberal co-host Joy Behar to take aim at the Republican Party as a whole for circling the wagons around Trump, insisting that if Richard Nixon were president today he “would have gotten away with everything just like this corrupt president is getting away with.” She went on to say that Republicans taking Trump’s side should all “be thrown into jail” to raucous applause from the audience.McCain eventually pushed back, saying Behar should hold Democrats who aren’t currently pushing for impeachment to the same standard before telling her colleague (and frequent sparring partner) that she recognized she’s “clearly frustrated,” but that Behar’s rhetoric is “dangerous.”“Well, you know, it’s what you call hyperbole,” Behar said, causing McCain to say that it “doesn’t sound that way to the Republican at the table.”Adding that it felt a “little aggressive,” McCain brought up that there were 10,000 people at Trump’s Monday night rally in a Pennsylvania town as proof of Trump’s popularity. Behar and co-host Sunny Hostin, meanwhile, joked that the president must have “imported” the rally attendees due to the town’s small population of 4,000 people.“Fine,” McCain huffed, rolling her eyes, demonstrating clearly that she was “clearly frustrated.”Howard Stern Defends Meghan McCain on ‘The View’: ‘Give the Woman a Chance!’Co-host Whoopi Goldberg then jumped in to suggest that ignoring subpoenas should equal jail time, drawing cheers from the audience. This appeared to get on McCain’s nerves. “I’ll wait until everyone is done applauding,” she said.McCain insisted she was simply trying to talk about the political ramifications of impeachment and congressional investigations, portraying herself as taking the only truly principled stand.“The other thing I would like to make clear is I come here every day trying to show a different perspective and basically when I walk out of my apartment, it’s an unpopular one but it’s important to explain what’s going on in Montoursville and why people would travel to see [Trump],” she declared. “He’s still incredibly popular in states that matter and I’m trying to give you a warning shot of how you can blow this.”In the following segment, the hosts had a wider discussion about Democrats challenging Trump in 2020, and Behar picked back up on McCain’s purported concern about Dems seemingly blowing it against the president.“I’m fascinated also that you’re so concerned about the Democrats,” Behar said. “Are you—do you want a Democrat to win?”Noting that in her “fantasy, Paul Ryan is president,” McCain added that she “can’t get behind any of these Democrats,” prompting Behar to point out: “You seem worried about the Democrats because you bring that up.”This caused the panel to highlight that McCain likes Joe Biden, resulting in the ex-Fox News host to say “everyone knows” that because he helped her through her father’s cancer fight. She then seemingly wanted to continue to push the discussion before ultimately shutting down.“I’m not changing your minds this morning, and honestly, I’ve said all I have to say,” McCain concluded.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.
- WorldBloomberg
Pound Gains as May's Latest Offer Revives Brexit Deal Chances
Sterling gained the most in more than two weeks before the rally eased as May spoke in London. Lawmakers have already voted against holding a second referendum in a series of choices on Brexit options, though last month there were only 12 votes in it. Sterling has been weighed down this month as the prospect of a more hardline Brexit candidate replacing May has increased the risk of a no-deal exit from the European Union.
NewsAFPTale of suicidal 'Handmaid' in New York goes viral
A red-cloaked "Handmaid" ready to hurl herself off a Manhattan building, possibly unhinged by recent legislative assaults on the right to abortion? For months now, amid the #MeToo movement and challenges to the right to abortion in the United States and elsewhere, demonstrations by women dressed in costumes inspired by "The Handmaid's Tale" have multiplied. The hit television series based on Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel evokes a world in which the United States has become a religious dictatorship where fertile women are enslaved and their rape is institutionalized.
