PoliticsAssociated PressThe Latest: Coats says spy agencies to cooperate with Barr
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats says the nation's spy agencies will provide the Justice Department all appropriate information for its review of intelligence activities related to Russian interference in the 2016 election. President Donald Trump claims his campaign was the victim of "spying" and has given Attorney General William Barr full authority to publicly disclose still-secret information collected during the investigation. Some former intelligence officials and Democrats worry that Barr will cherry-pick intelligence to paint a misleading picture about the roots of the probe.
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.
- NewsThe Independent
Republicans encourage nationwide support for Alabama abortion ban, document reveals
A document containing approved Republican talking points regarding Alabama's near-total abortion ban has been uncovered. Entitled “Messaging in the Minority,” the document was produced on Wednesday by the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of House Republicans, and obtained by Vice News. It offers “messaging guidance” on the GOP's anti-abortion platform, and is labelled as “strictly OFF-THE-RECORD.” Vice News did not say how the document was obtained.
- BusinessThe National Interest
The F-21 Could Be One Tough Fighter (With F-35 DNA). Here's the Problem.
For the purposes of Lockheed's marketing campaign, the F-21 is a new fighter, although it shares many of its major features with the F-16V the company has sold to Bahrain, Greece, Slovakia, South Korea and Taiwan. Lockheed can build new F-16Vs or upgrade older F-16s to the V-standard.Lockheed Martin is developing a new variant of its iconic F-16 single-engine fighter in order to compete in India’s 2019 tender for 110 new warplanes.(This first appeared earlier in the month.)But don’t count on the American firm’s “F-21” to win the contract.According to journalist Angad Singh, the likely winner is French company Dassault’s Rafale twin-engine fighter.Singh explains his rationale in the May 2019 issue of Combat Aircraft magazine. India previously ordered 36 Rafales as part of an earlier fighter tender. “With 36 aircraft already on order and the infrastructure in place for an additional 36, a case could certainly be made that training, basing and sustainment costs for additional aircraft would not be an impossible burden.”Other candidates for the Indian tender are the Saab Gripen from Sweden, the European Eurofighter Typhoon, the MiG-35 from Russia and the Boeing Super Hornet from the United States. Whichever fighter New Delhi selects, it needs the new jets now, according to Singh.
WorldReutersIndia's Congress leader Rahul Gandhi faces backlash over election drubbing
The drubbing was so bad that Gandhi himself lost the traditional family seat in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. As vote-counting trends on Thursday showed Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning more than 300 seats against just 49 for Congress, current and former party officials blamed a lackluster campaign and a failure to overhaul its top team. "If they want to change anything, change the leadership," said a Congress official in the western state of Rajasthan, referring to the old guard around Gandhi.
- NewsAOL.com
Oregon State University student falls 100 feet from mountain viewpoint to her death
An Oregon State University student died Sunday following a 100-foot fall from a viewpoint at Neahkahnie Mountain, KPTV reports. Michelle Casey, 21, was taking pictures over a retaining wall when she slipped and fell off the steep edge, officials with the Tillamook County Sheriff's Office said. Casey, who was with her boyfriend at the time, reportedly landed on a tree that stopped her from plunging into the Pacific Ocean below.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Trump Justice Department Crosses New Line, Charges Assange With Publishing U.S. Secrets
In a stunning escalation of the Trump administration's war on the press, the Justice Department has indicted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for revealing government secrets under the Espionage Act. The charges invoke broad provisions of the Espionage Act that make it a crime to disclose or retain any defense information knowing it “could be used to injure” the U.S. The act has no exception for reporters or publishers, but prior administrations have balked at invoking the law against journalists for fear of colliding with the First Amendment.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Facebook accused of leaving 'broken children' in wake of its commercial aims, abuse inquiry hears
Facebook has been accused of leaving 'broken children' as collateral damage in the wake of their commercial aims, the child sex abuse inquiry has heard. Barrister William Chapman, representing the victims of abuse at the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA), said social media companies were not preventing paedophiles reaching children as it was “contrary to their business model” and that their apps needed to be “fundamentally redesigned”. Police also warned that tech firms were going ahead with plans to encrypt more features "in the certain knowledge" it would lead to more children being abused.
- BusinessBloomberg
Almost 40% of Americans Would Struggle to Cover a $400 Emergency
The Fed's 2018 report on the economic well-being of households, published Thursday, indicated “most measures” of well-being and financial resilience “were similar to, or slightly better than, those in 2017.” The slight improvement coincided with a decline in the average unemployment rate to 3.9% last year, from 4.3% in 2017. The statistic, which was a bit better than in the 2017 report, has become a favorite rejoinder to U.S. President Donald Trump's boasts about a strong economy among Democratic politicians, including 2020 presidential candidate Kamala Harris, the U.S. senator from California. “Relatively small, unexpected expenses, such as a car repair or replacing a broken appliance, can be a hardship for many families without adequate savings,” the report said.
NewsAssociated PressMichael Avenatti charged with defrauding Stormy Daniels
NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Avenatti, the attorney who rocketed to fame through his representation of porn star Stormy Daniels in her battles with President Donald Trump, was charged Wednesday with ripping her off.
NewsAssociated Press3 dead, state capital battered as storms rake Missouri
An outbreak of nasty storms spawned tornadoes that razed homes, flattened trees and tossed cars across a dealership lot, injuring about two dozen people in Missouri's capital city and killing at least three others elsewhere in the state. The National Weather Service confirmed that a large and destructive twister moved over Jefferson City shortly before midnight Wednesday. The tornado cut a path about 3 miles long and a mile wide from the south end of Jefferson City north toward the Missouri River, said police Lt. David Williams.
- 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
- PoliticsNational Review
ACLU, Planned Parenthood Sue Alabama over Abortion Bill
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Friday seeking to halt the implementation of a new Alabama law — perhaps the most restrictive of its kind in the nation — that bans abortions except in cases where the life of the mother is threatened. The Alabama ban conflicts with Roe v. Wade, the seminal 1973 Supreme Court case that affirmed the constitutional right of women to procure abortions, the lawsuit said, and is hence unenforceable. “The Alabama legislature has been pushing abortion care further and further out of reach for years with medically unnecessary and politically-motivated restrictions, and this extreme abortion ban shows us just how far they'll go to push their anti-abortion agenda,” read a statement from senior ACLU staff attorney Alexa Kolbi-Molinas.
BusinessReutersChina denounces U.S. "rumours" and "lies" about Huawei ties to Beijing
China on Friday denounced U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for fabricating rumours after he said the chief executive of China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd was lying about his company's ties to the Beijing government. The United States placed Huawei on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with the world's largest telecom network gear maker and escalating a trade battle between the world's two biggest economies. "Recently, some U.S. politicians have continually fabricated rumours about Huawei but have never produced the clear evidence that countries have requested," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said, when asked about Pompeo's remarks.
- U.S.AccuWeather
Runaway barges smash into dam
This incredible video shows two barges that became loose during flooding on the Arkansas River, and then crashed into the Webbers Falls Lock and Dam in Oklahoma on May 23.
WorldAFPModi plots course after landslide Indian election win
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met allies and former mentors Friday to plot a course for his second term after a landslide victory left the once-mighty Gandhi dynasty reeling. A considerable to-do list includes addressing India's lacklustre economic growth and reducing unemployment, as well as fixing a stricken agriculture sector on which 70 percent of households depend. Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 303 seats, its best ever score, giving it an even bigger majority than five years ago and defying predictions of a dip, final results confirmed Friday.
BusinessYahoo NewsThe 'AOC primary': Can Warren steal the prized endorsement away from Bernie?
For progressive presidential candidates in 2020, there is perhaps no greater prize than earning the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The 29-year-old freshman phenom, who has helped guide her party to the left with platforms like the Green New Deal and has built a social media following dwarfing that of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, has not chosen a candidate in the huge field seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. “I will support whoever the Democratic nominee is,” Ocasio-Cortez told Yahoo News' “Skullduggery” podcast last month, but she singled out Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., for praise.
- TechnologyUSA TODAY
Download these 5 apps before your next trip
There are millions of apps available for your phone, but you can't take all of them on your next trip. Of the 10 most-downloaded iPhone apps last year, only one – Google Maps – made the list (at No. 8). "Google Maps first comes to mind," says Anne Woodyard, who owns a tour company in Reston, Virginia.
- WorldThe National Interest
Theresa May Out; Boris Johnson In?
Curt Mills Security, Europe The shocking but seemingly inevitable resignation of the British prime minister comes ahead of President Donald Trump's visit to the UK. De ja vu all over again? Summer is here, the British prime minister has resigned amid Brexit turmoil, and Donald Trump is headed to the United Kingdom.
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Runaway barges cause 'minimal' damage to dam
Army engineers say two runaway barges did "minimal" damage when they struck an Arkansas River dam. The barges, filled with 1,500 tons of fertilizer, swept down the flood-swollen river and hit the Webbers Falls Lock and Dam about noon Thursday and sank. Town officials in the riverfront town of Webbers Falls had warned residents to flee for fear such a collision would catastrophically breach the dam and flood the town.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The 2020 Cadillac CT5-V Officially Debuts May 30
Could the 500-plus-hp Blackwing V-8 make its way under the hood of Cadillac's newest sports sedan?
- U.S.WABC – NY
Teen arrested in attack on off-duty firefighter defending elderly couple on Upper East Side
The 17-year-old suspect told reporters that he was "defending his friend." He's charged with second-degree assault.
BusinessReutersExplainer: China's rare earth supplies could be vital bargaining chip in U.S. trade war
Rare earth elements are used in a wide range of consumer products, from iPhones to electric car motors, as well as military jet engines, satellites and lasers. Rising tensions between the United States and China have sparked concerns that Beijing could use its dominant position as a supplier of rare earths for leverage in the trade war between the two global economic powers. WHAT ARE RARE EARTHS USED IN?
- BusinessReuters
EXCLUSIVE-JPMorgan cuts ties with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma -sources
JPMorgan Chase & Co has cut ties with Purdue Pharma LP over the OxyContin maker's alleged role in the U.S. opioid crisis, forcing it to find a new bank to manage cash and bill payments, people familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The move makes JPMorgan, the largest U.S. bank by assets, the most high-profile corporation known to have distanced itself from Purdue and its wealthy owners, the Sackler family, amid thousands of lawsuits alleging the company pushed addictive painkillers while downplaying their abuse and overdose risks. JPMorgan's decision also underscores a drive among U.S. banks to reassess their relationships with clients and industries in response to controversy and political debates over matters such as immigration detention and mass shootings.
WorldAFPModi vows 'inclusive' India after landslide election win
Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed an "inclusive" future for all Indians on Thursday after a landslide election victory that crushed the Gandhi dynasty's comeback hopes once again. Together we will build a strong and inclusive India. India wins yet again!," Modi tweeted as delirious supporters of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated nationwide.
