- PoliticsAssociated Press
White House offers budget freeze if Dems don't agree to deal
Trump administration bargainers offered a one-year budget freeze and said Democratic spending demands remained too high as talks with congressional leaders aimed at averting deep cuts in defense and domestic programs seemed no closer to resolution Wednesday. After White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney took shots at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrats said White House involvement in the negotiations was hindering progress and rejected the proposed freeze. The exchange suggested the two sides were not near a handshake to avert automatic cuts and instead boost both defense and domestic programs, perhaps for two years.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Former Interpol chief pleads guilty in Chinese bribery case amid crackdown by authorities
Meng Hongwei, the former president of Interpol, confessed to accepting more than $2 million (£1.6 million) in bribes and expressed regret for his crime, a Chinese court said Thursday. The No. 1 Intermediate Court in the northeastern port city of Tianjin said Mr Meng read a statement containing the confession at a hearing. Admitting guilt and expressing regret can result in slightly lighter punishment, although China has been quick to hand out life sentences as it cracks down on corruption and political disloyalty under a campaign run directly by the president and head of the ruling Communist Party, Xi Jinping.
WorldAFP'Credible evidence' linking Saudi crown prince to Khashoggi murder: UN expert
There is "credible evidence" linking Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder, a UN expert said Wednesday, calling for sanctions on the prince's foreign assets. The conclusion was outlined in a report by the UN special rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Agnes Callamard. Callamard, an independent human rights expert who does not speak for the United Nations but reports her findings to it, called on UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to initiate an international criminal investigation into the case.
- NewsYahoo News
9/11 responder who appeared with Jon Stewart on Capitol Hill is now in hospice care
A cancer-stricken 9/11 first responder who testified alongside Jon Stewart at last week's House Judiciary Committee hearing on reauthorizing the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund is now in hospice care. Lou Alvarez, a 53-year-old former NYPD bomb squad detective who appeared with other first responders at the Capitol, said in a Facebook post Wednesday that doctors informed him that his condition had worsened and there is “nothing else” they can do for him. Alvarez, who has colorectal cancer, told the House subcommittee on June 11 that he agreed to testify despite having his 69th round of chemotherapy scheduled for the next day.
- NewsReuters
Train derails in Nevada, spilling vegetable oil, closing major highway
A Union Pacific freight train derailed in Nevada on Wednesday, spilling vegetable oil and prompting the closure of an interstate highway. The vegetable oil spilled out of one of the 22 derailed cars after the train went off the tracks shortly before 11 a.m. local time, the Elko County Sheriff's Office said on Facebook, citing Union Pacific Railroad officials.
- BusinessWoman's Day
Add These Expert-Approved Multivitamins to Your Diet ASAP
It's easy to boost your health with these supplements. From Woman's Day
- WorldThe Daily Beast
Three Russian Security Officers Charged Over Downing of MH17
It's been nearly five years since the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 passenger plane was shot down by a Russian missile over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people. Four suspects will face murder charges for the downing of MH17 in July 2014 and a trial is set to start next March in the Netherlands, investigators confirmed Wednesday. International and national arrest warrants have been issued for the four, and the Netherlands will request that Russia questions the three Russian nationals who are still believed to be living in the country.
- CelebrityArchitectural Digest
You Can Visit These 5 Vanderbilt-Family Homes
Gloria Vanderbilt passed away on Monday at the age of 95, leaving a void in the worlds of fashion, art, and interior design. Before Vanderbilt shared her eclectic home decor style with the world, the railroad fortune heiress's ancestors pioneered the Gilded Age of design, building numerous mansions across the country. Starting with her great-great-grandfather Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt and continuing with subsequent generations of Vanderbilts, the family erected stunning homes, which hosted dignitaries and celebrities alike.
- U.S.FOX News Videos
New York votes to give drivers licenses to undocumented immigrants
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says it's the fair, smart and safe thing to do.
- WorldAssociated Press
EU fights to keep nuclear deal alive amid US, Iran pressure
A year after the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement, the pact is at severe risk of collapse and the European Union is caught in the middle, struggling to keep supply lines open to the Islamic Republic's wilting economy under the threat of U.S. sanctions. With few real options left, their trust in the Trump administration running low, and fears rising that conflict could break out, major powers Germany, France and Britain have been reduced to repeating calls for restraint as pressure builds and Iran threatens to walk away from the painstakingly drafted 2015 deal. In an effort to keep Iran's economy afloat and save an agreement they believe has stopped Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, the Europeans are turning to diplomacy to try to encourage other countries to buy more Iranian oil.
- NewsThe National Interest
The Stealth Sniper: The F-22 Raptor Has a New Job
Robert Beckhusen Technology, Americas And that means bad news for America's enemies. The flying branch only bought 187 operational Raptors — out of an original goal of 381. The F-22 also won't fly into the 2060s without upgrades.
WorldAFPNew Zealand opens gun buyback after mosque killings
New Zealand opened a gun buyback scheme Thursday aimed at ridding the country of semi-automatic weapons similar to those used in the Christchurch mosque attacks that killed 51 Muslim worshippers. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed in the hours after the March 15 killings that New Zealand's gun laws would be tightened and her government has expedited the change in just three months. "The buyback and amnesty has one objective -- to remove the most dangerous weapons from circulation following the loss of life at Al Noor and Linwood mosques," Police Minister Stuart Nash said.
NewsUSA TODAYHigh school graduates fall ill during trip to Dominican Republic
A group of high school graduates are the latest group to fall victim to illness in the Dominican Republic, according to local CBS-affiliate KOTV and local ABC-affiliate KOCO. A group of 40 graduating seniors and their parents from Deer Creek High School in Edmond, Oklahoma, were on a trip to the Caribbean vacation destination when at least five members became ill, the news sites report. One of the parents, Liz McLaughlin told KOTV that her daughter was one of the students to get sick on June 11 after eating at a Japanese restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, where the group was staying.
- WorldBloomberg
Echoing Beijing, Duterte’s Government Now Calls Boat Collision an ‘Accident’
The Philippine government has fallen in with Beijing's explanation that a Chinese vessel didn't intentionally hit a Filipino boat in the South China Sea on June 9. Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana on Wednesday described the incident as "just an accident," adding the Chinese vessel may have left after hitting and sinking a Philippine boat with 22 fishermen out of fear of being “besieged” by other boats near Reed Bank. Maybe the other side didn't mean to brush against our boat,” Lorenzana said at a televised briefing in Manila on Wednesday.
- ScienceBGR News
Mars has a brand new crater, and it sure is pretty
That's exactly what seems to have occurred, and a new image from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals a brand new impact site that might only be a few months old. The image, which was captured by the HiRISE camera built into the orbiter, shows a bold dark patch of material surrounding a circular crater on the Martian surface. Researchers believe it might have been created as recently as February 2019.
- WorldReuters
EU to extend economic sanctions on Russia until 2020
European Union leaders will decide on Thursday to prolong until the end of January 2020 economic sanctions against Russia over the turmoil in Ukraine and call on Moscow to help bring to justice those guilty of shooting down a passenger plane there in 2014. The EU slapped sanctions on Russia after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 and went on to support rebels fighting Kiev troops in the east of the country. That conflict, which killed 13,000 people, is still simmering.
BusinessAFPSaudi, Philippines airlines order Airbus, IAG goes for Boeing
Saudi Arabian Airlines, the kingdom's national airline, said Tuesday it had ordered 65 A320neo-type aircraft from Airbus, worth more than $7.4 billion at list prices, giving an early boost to the European manufacturer at the Paris Air Show. The deal is part of Saudi Arabian Airlines' plans to boost its A320neo fleet to up to 100 aircraft from 35 now. The additional aircraft will be deployed to support the national carrier's plan to boost capacity," Airbus said in a statement.
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: Alex Jones sanctioned in Sandy Hook lawsuit
A Connecticut judge has imposed sanctions on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for an outburst on his web show against a lawyer for relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook School shooting. Judge Barbara Bellis on Tuesday ordered the Infowars host to pay some of the relatives' legal fees and prohibited him from filing motions to dismiss their defamation lawsuit against him. The families of several of the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 shooting are suing Jones, Infowars and others for promoting a theory that the massacre was a hoax.
- WorldYahoo News
Trump faces new pressure to respond after U.S. accuses Iran of ‘unprovoked attack’
Iran's latest shootdown of a U.S. military drone appears to fit exactly the scenario that a senior U.S. general warned earlier this week would trigger an American military response, dragging the United States into a military conflict the Trump administration has said it does not want. “We've been very clear in our message that if they directly engage U.S. forces, or they directly engage U.S interests or citizens in the region, that we will respond,” Air Force Gen. Paul Selva, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters Tuesday, before the drone shootdown. Iran shot down the U.S. Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk drone early Thursday morning local time over the Strait of Hormuz, according to a statement from Navy Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in the Middle East.
- WorldThe National Interest
It's Time for America to Break with Beijing
Xi Jinping has rejected the concept of comparative advantage, the very notion underpinning the system of international commerce. For more than four decades, American presidents sought a closer relationship with China, working to “engage” that country so as to “enmesh” it into the international system. Richard Nixon, in his landmark Foreign Affairs article in 1967, provided the rationale for engagement, arguing the Chinese state could not be isolated.
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: Witness says he saw Navy SEAL stab prisoner
A Navy SEAL has testified that he saw a comrade stab a wounded and captive Islamic State fighter in Iraq in 2017. Then-Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Craig Miller, who has since been promoted to chief, testified Wednesday that Special Operations Chief Edward Gallagher plunged his knife twice into the neck of the teenage prisoner after providing medical care. A defense lawyer pointed out inconsistencies between Miller's testimony and previous statements and suggested he pressured other sailors to fabricate statements.
BusinessUSA TODAYAs the trade war with China heats up this summer, who is feeling the chill?
The U.S. trade war with China is chilling tourism from that country, dampening a major revenue stream for hotels, restaurants and retailers just as the summer season gets in full swing. Last year, when the trade war began, the number of visitors to the U.S. from China fell 5.7% to 3 million, the first decline in 15 years, according to the National Travel and Tourism Office. “Based on current trends, we expect no growth from China in 2019 if the trade war is resolved soon," says Adams Sacks, president of Tourism Economics.
- BusinessBloomberg
Xiaomi Eyes $725 Million Expansion to Stave Off Huawei in China
Xiaomi Corp. aims to spend an additional 5 billion yuan ($725 million) expanding its Chinese retail network over the next three years, anticipating a re-doubled effort by Huawei Technologies Co. to grow its domestic market share. The smartphone maker will spend the money on expanding distribution channels and on reward programs for its partners and sales employees, a person familiar with the matter said, citing an internal meeting convened by billionaire co-founder Lei Jun Tuesday.
- TechnologyBGR News
Galaxy Note 10 leak reveals a futuristic feature you won’t find on any iPhone
The Note 10 will come in two sizes, both featuring the same Infinity-O display that will have curved edges with tiny top and bottom bezels. In many ways, the Galaxy Note 10 will be similar to the Galaxy S10 when it comes to specs, but an insider now claims the phone will have a futuristic feature that no other popular smartphone has — not even the iPhone. If this rumor is accurate, it will give Samsung an advantage over almost all competitors out there when it comes to design.
- BusinessReuters
PG&E settles California fire claims with local governments for $1 billion
PG&E Corp will pay $1 billion as part of its bankruptcy reorganization to more than a dozen local governments in California struck by wildfires in recent years, the company and lawyers for the governments said on Tuesday. Payments to the local governments will settle claims from lawsuits put on hold by PG&E's bankruptcy and are separate from the thousands of individual claims stemming from wildfires that the company expects will be filed against it during the bankruptcy period. PG&E will not be able to make settlement payments until it receives court approval for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization plan.
"Body cameras are only as successful as the departments they are implemented in."
"Properly used, police body cameras can help increase trust within the community."
"The technology has proven benefits for police officers, but far fewer for the policed."
"In reality the public has little power to see the video if law enforcement agencies want to keep it out of the public view."
"Having a video recording of confrontations can make a huge difference for officials trying to determine what happened."
