Elyria

Republicans Took a Victory Lap Over the Mueller Investigation

Some of which includes a push for new investigations

American Airlines to cancel 90 flights every day through most of April

The decision comes as a result of the FAA's decision to ground all Boeing 737 Max aircraft.

'Apparent suicide' of Parkland student days after massacre survivor took her life

A student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida has died in "an apparent suicide," police said on Sunday, less than a week after a 19-year-old survivor of the 2018 massacre at the school took her own life. “We’re calling it an apparent suicide because we don’t have the exact results back from the medical examiner’s office,” Reik said by phone. The Miami Herald reported that the suicide victim was a male sophomore who attend the Parkland, Florida, school when 14 other students and three staff members were killed on Feb. 14, 2018, in the deadliest-ever U.S. high school shooting.

Avenatti arrested and charged with extortion, embezzlement, bank and tax fraud

The lawyer who represented Stormy Daniels faces the prosepect of spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Russia accuses US of plotting 'coup' in Venezuela

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov Monday accused the United States of plotting a "coup" against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in a dispute over Russian military assistance for the crisis-hit country. Lavrov said in a statement he had complained of "attempts by Washington to organise a coup d'etat in Venezuela" during a telephone conversation with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The Ford Bronco Will Have a Removable Roof and Doors and Will Go on Sale in Late 2020

Ford gave new details about the retro SUV to dealers at a recent event.

Xi Jinping and Huawei Are a Serious Threat to European Unity

It is going to become a 2 square kilometer test bed for a new 5G mobile network from Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker. The deal has been promoted by Monaco as an attempt to build a “smart nation,” and China is happy no doubt to have a display window in the heart of Europe. China’s president Xi Jinping visited the principality this week, on his way to see Emmanuel Macron and other leaders in Paris.

Widespread computer outage briefly affects passengers on American, Alaska and JetBlue airlines

The troubles, which lasted about 30 minutes, were due to a technical glitch at Sabre, a major airline reservations system.

College admissions scandal: First group of defendants enter not-guilty pleas

Not guilty pleas were entered Monday by the first group of defendants accused in the college admissions scandal rocking universities across the country.

Where the investigations related to President Trump stand

WASHINGTON (AP) — A look at where investigations related to President Donald Trump stand and what may lie ahead for him:

MAX effort: Boeing tests changes to grounded planes to get them back in the air

Pilots from five airlines tested upgrades to the 737 MAX's flight-control system over the weekend at Boeing’s facility outside Seattle.

US weather: States reel from historic floods as fresh snow threatens parts of the midwest

Record floods that submerged parts of three Midwestern states have started retreating, but more inclement weather continues to threaten Montana and the Dakotas for weeks to come. High flood waters have already returned in the western Dakotas, northwest Nebraska and central and eastern Montana, along smaller rivers that feed into the Missouri. Once the weather warms up, river ice breaks up into giant chunks, which float down the river stream and can cause a jam, which in turn induces flooding, David Roth, a meteorologist with the NWS’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland, told Reuters on Monday.

Mike Pence lashes out at Ilhan Omar, 2020 Dems in AIPAC speech

The entire Democratic — or “Democrat,” as the vice president put it, using the ungrammatical truncation that has become popular on the right — Party also came under assault from Pence.

In 2017, Did a Russian Anti-Aircraft Missile Hit a New Israeli F-35 Stealth Fighter?

The evidence cited by seems rather tenuous. Here is what we know.

Children of Isil's caliphate left to toil in squalid refugee camps

Eight-year-old Hamed cast a critical eye at the at tent peg, raised a hammer above his head and began thwacking it into the hard, stony ground. It is heavy work, and he would rather be in school. But he has little choice. “I get about 2,000 lira for putting up one tent,” he said, using the popular term here for Syrian pounds. “I can do three or four a day, so that is 8,000.” That, he said, is just about enough to feed himself, his mother, and her newborn baby twice a day. “But we can’t eat all the time,” he said. "My mother explained, we can't spend so much money on food because we need to buy stuff for the baby now." Hamed is one of about 41,000 children in al-Hol, the largest of three sprawling camps in north eastern Syria that houses former members, children, and prisoners of the Islamic State terrorist group. More than 40,000 children are living in al-Hol, the largest of three sprawing camps in north eastern Syria that houses former members, children, and prisoners of the Islamic State terrorist group Credit: Sam Tarling /The Telegraph The fate of the children who emerged from Isil's doomed caliphate is a matter of humanitarian urgency and critical to international security. And yet the lack of provision made by world governments, including Britain's, is striking. The Telegraph has seen dozens of malnourished infants as Isil families left Baghuz, Isil's last bastion, in the past two weeks. At least 108 children have already died en route to or soon after arriving at the camp, mostly from severe acute malnutrition, pneumonia, and dehydration, according to the International Rescue Committee. The vast majority of them were under five years old, and most of those babies younger than one.  Many are also carrying serious injuries from shrapnel. The fate of the children who emerged from Isil's doomed caliphate is a matter of humanitarian urgency Credit: Sam Tarling /The Telegraph The casualties included Jarrah Begum, Shamima Begum’s newborn son, who died of a lung infection last month. Unicef has described the living conditions for those children who reach the camp as "extremely dire." Hamed, who spoke to the Telegraph with the permission of his German mother and on condition of anonymity, said he bitterly misses his old life in Europe. “If there was a school, I’d go to it,” he said, as he took a pause in his tent work to speak to the Telegraph. "But there isn't one here." “When I was in Germany I was learning, then in Doula I learnt nothing,” he said, using the Arabic word for “State” – the term many Isil families use for the group. “They just teach like the Quran... and they teach you that you have to fight. But I said: ‘I don’t want to fight’. I don’t like to fight. I just want to be a normal one, I just want to live in a house and make my job. I don’t want to fight, I don’t want to be a warrior.” Unicef has described the living conditions for those children who reach the camp as 'extremely dire'   Credit: Sam Tarling /The Telegraph He said he had left Germany when he was five years old, and only emerged from the Islamic State two months ago. The camp, he said, is a miserable and filthy place. “Kids poop everywhere,” he said. “You have to watch where you walk. You can’t just sit anywhere, like you can in Germany.” It is not surprising. Adults in the section of the camp where Hamed lives told the Telegraph many of the young children have chronic diarrhoea.   “Play”, if there is such a thing, involves picking on one another or chucking rocks at moving cars.   “They call me a dog and things. They think it is a joke,” said Hamed, when asked about his friends. “My mother doesn't like me to be like the other children. She says maybe there is a little baby there, like three years old, and maybe you’ll hit him. Even though I don’t like to throw rocks,” he said. “It’s not a game. They come, they throw, the glass breaks,” he said. “In Germany it is not like this, you’re not hitting on cars. If you want to play you go to your friends, you have friends, they don’t call you anything, you play a bit.” The larger and more loosely regulated section of the camp reserved for Syrian and Iraqi citizens has a market which is run by Kurdish authorities in al-Hol Credit: Sam Tarling/The Telegraph Most children have little time for that though. Adults here told the Telegraph that almost every child from about the age of eight upwards is a low-paid labourer in the camp’s grey economy. “They’re already entrepreneurs. I think they wake up and the first thing they think is: who am I going to hit up for money today?” said Lorna Henri, a 54-year-old woman from the Seychelles who has become the de-facto guardian of two unaccompanied children in the camp. "I try to give them what I can." Ms Henri said boys generally sent by their mothers to run errands in the camp market, which children can access more easily than adults, and put up tents. Girls clean or offer to cook. The market, in the larger and more loosely regulated section of the camp for Syrian and Iraqi citizens, is crowded with small boys hauling hand carts for 200 Syrian pounds per errand. The market is crowded with small boys hauling hand carts for 200 Syrian pounds per errand Credit: Sam Tarling/The Telegraph Such Dickensian scenes are not unusual amidst humanitarian crisis. And across the Middle East, children are generally expected to pull their own weight at an earlier age than in the West. But the prospects for these children are bleak in more than one way. Radical Isil supporters continue to exert influence inside al-Hol, including by harassing women who want to remove their veils.  There have been reports of punishment tent-burnings by an underground “religious police”, and several women from different countries who the Telegraph spoke to complained about being labelled “infidels” by their fellow inmates. Without intervention, there is a good chance the children here will be brought up in the same poisonous ideology that turned many of their fathers into terrorists. Without intervention, there is a chance the camp's children here will be brought up in the same poisonous ideology that turned many of their fathers into terrorists The United Nations has expressed “alarm” at the situation. Last week  Henrietta Fore, the executive director of Unicef, urged member states “to take responsibility for children who are their citizens or born to their nationals, and to take measures to prevent children from becoming stateless.” Some governments have heeded the call. Last week, the French government said it had evacuated several children. But Kurdish officials have told the Telegraph that Britain has refused to take back British Isil members or their children in the camps on the grounds that it has full confidence in the legal and administrative system of Rojava, the unrecognised Kurdish proto-state in northern Syria. Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, last week claimed that it would have been “too risky” to send British officials to save Jarrah Begum, although he remained a British citizen after his mother was stripped of her own citizenship. However, the al-Hol camp is run by the Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-led Western-backed armed group that Britain is allied to. Journalists, including from the Telegraph, and aid workers visit the camp on a regular basis, safely and without incident. Radical Isil supporters continue to exert influence inside al-Hol, including by harassing women who want to remove their veils Credit: Sam Tarling/The Telegraph Nor is it true, as Mr Hunt claimed, that journalists are afforded special protection unavailable to UK officials in Syria or in the camps. In al-Hol, the foreign women constantly exchange rumours about which governments might take Isil members back. For their children, who committed no crime, the only thing on the horizon is more arduous work. "I'd like to...sell stuff. Or you know, build houses," shrugged Hamed, when asked what he would like to do when he grows up. Those are the only careers on offer in al-Hol camp. He picked up his hammer, and went back to hitting the tent peg. His blows made little impact on the stony ground. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security

France seals multi-billion dollar deals with China, but questions Belt and Road project

President Emmanuel Macron wants to forge a united European front to confront Chinese advances in trade and technology. Xi's visit also provided a stage for protesters seeking more European action over the alleged mistreatment of minorities in China. After Macron and Xi meet on Monday, the two will hold further talks on Tuesday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the European Union executive.

Father of Sandy Hook victim latest apparent suicide after deadly school shootings

The father of one of the 20 first-grade students killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook School shooting was found dead of an apparent suicide Monday.

FAA 'Tentatively' Approves Software Fix to Get the 737 Max 8 Flying Again

Boeing has been working on a fix for its disaster-prone aircraft.

The Late, Not-So-Great Mueller Investigation

Had Hillary Clinton just won the 2016 election, there would have been neither a Mueller investigation nor much talk of Russian collusion. No Trump Victory, No Collusion InvestigationA losing Donald Trump would have slunk off to left-wing and Never-Trump ridicule and condemnation — and no investigation about collusion.A defeated Trump would have posed no threat to the 16-year Obama-Clinton progressive project. President Clinton would have been content to let her unverified but lurid dossier rumors hound Trump for the rest of his life, with Trump as the supposed “loser” who had tried, in cahoots with the Russians, to unfairly beat Hillary, though he pathetically failed even at that.Of course, a President Hillary Clinton herself may well have faced some Russian blackmail attempts. Kremlin fixers would have likely threatened to go public that their planted lies to Christopher Steele were gobbled up by President Clinton’s own private Fusion GPS hit team. In essence, the Russians would have claimed that they had fueled the dossier that wounded the Trump campaign — and expected some sort of quid pro quo, perhaps in Uranium One fashion.Obama-administration bureaucrats — Attorney General Loretta Lynch, subordinate attorneys general such as Bruce Ohr and Rod Rosenstein, FBI grandees such as James Baker, James Comey, and Andrew McCabe, intelligence kingpins such as John Brennan and James Clapper, and national-security officials turned intelligence sleuths such as Susan Rice and Samantha Power — would all have been competing on the basis of service beyond the call of duty for top jobs in the Clinton administration.Among their swamp talking points would have been rival obsequious claims to have squashed Trump. Clinton-administration transition officials would have had to parcel out patronage by judging the relative help of people who had seeded Hillary’s Steele dossier around the government and the media, or fooled a FISA court to monitor Carter Page and thereby generated leaks that the Trump campaign was “under investigation," or obstructed the Clinton email investigation, or placed an informant in Trump’s campaign, or unmasked the contents of surveilled conversations and leaked them to the press.Translated, that means the hysteria that helped prompt the Mueller investigation was in part whipped up by those who had knowingly acted unethically or illegally during and also after the 2016 campaign. These Obama officials bet on the sure-thing but wrong horse and suddenly, after Nov. 8, 2016, feared that they were soon to be subject to lots of criminal exposure.Assume that both the ruse of “collusion” and James Comey’s leaking gambit to prompt a special counsel’s investigation were thus the preemptive defenses of an assortment of crimes by Obama-era officials, such as lying to federal officials, conspiracy to obstruct justice, illegally leaking confidential or classified documents to the media, deceiving a FISA court, and myriad conflicts of interest. In other words, there were never any evidentiary reasons to appoint a special counsel other than to divert attention away from an array of wrongdoing. After 22 months, that fact finally became clear even to a largely partisan group of attorneys, once eager to become folk heroes by aborting the Trump presidency.Let us hope both that Attorney General Barr can now turn to the real illegal behavior of an entire array of Obama-administration officials, and that the public at last can have access to unredacted documents that record their frenzied and illegal efforts. No Phony Dossier, No InvestigationThe Clinton-purchased Steele Dossier was the encephalitic virus that infected the entire Washington establishment between 2016 and 2019.Without it, there would have been no such thing as “collusion,” much less a Mueller investigation.Had James Comey and his associates (and Bruce Ohr had briefed them all previously on the shaky dossier) been honest and apprised the FISA court in October 2016 that their “opposition research” evidence for a warrant was 1) paid for by Hillary Clinton, 2) largely written by a foreign national (with help from the spouse of Obama DOJ official Bruce Ohr) who despised Donald Trump and who was dismissed from his nebulous relationship with the FBI, 3) remained unverified, and 4) served as the basis for submitted news accounts that in circular fashion supposedly substantiated collusionary behavior, then the writ might have been rejected and the dossier’s usefulness died.Immediately after the election, the dossier was reinvigorated (by nervous-lame-duck careerists like John Brennan and James Clapper, and Senator John McCain) to serve a new role in aborting the Trump presidency, given that it had always been the only real basis for the entire mythology of Trump-Russian collusion.Paul Manafort was no doubt duplicitous and acted in a variety of felonious ways, but, without the seeded dossier, his illegal behavior would no more have sparked a wider investigation of the Trump campaign than the actions of the Podesta brothers (whose suspect Russian ties had long contaminated the Clinton campaign) would have spurred investigations of liberal Russian collusion and profiteering.The Machiavellian brilliance of Trump-hater and otherwise washed-up hack Christopher Steele was his knowledge that lying outrageously (just ask Jussie Smollett) is a far more effective weapon than lying incrementally.So, Steele’s insertion of the Trump-prostitute-Obama’s-hotel-bed-urolagnia meme was the sharp hook that snagged Washington’s swamp creatures. The Steele dossier was not just spurious in its wild claims about Carter Page eyeing billion-dollar payoffs or a bumbling Michael Cohen in Prague on a secret Trump collusionary mission, it was also so salacious that it served as lurid pornography that supercharged its odyssey throughout the bowels of the Obama government and the media. The ‘All-Stars’ and ‘Dream Team’ Were Flawed from the BeginningRobert Mueller spent over $30 million and 674 days in vain ferreting out “collusion” not because it was necessarily difficult to prove such a charge either true or false. After all, the basis for the allegation, the veracity of the Steele dossier, could have been easily and quickly adjudicated.Indeed, already by May 2017 and the beginning of Mueller’s investigation, the dossier was roundly denounced as fraudulent. FISA transcripts of surveilled conversations had already apprised officials that there was no direct evidence of collusion, which is why Peter Strzok, well before Mueller began, had privately warned his paramour and soon to be fellow Mueller team member, Lisa Page, that “there’s no big there there” to the collusion charge.What explains the cost and length of the Mueller investigation? It’s not the (relatively easy) challenge of adjudicating collusion. It’s the politicized make-up of his team, which relentlessly and expansively drove on to tag any Trump aide with almost any crime imaginable.Mueller could have saved the nation a great deal of national angst and division had he only insisted on a brief series of special requisites in his personnel selections: 1) None of his lawyers and investigators should have donated either to the Trump or Clinton campaign; 2) there should have been some numerical parity between Democratic and Republican members; 3) attorneys should not in the past have directly defended either the Trump or Clinton Foundation or any aides who had previously worked for Trump or Clinton; 4) they should not have transmitted on government devices any prior hyper-partisan praise or invective concerning either Trump or Clinton.Yet Mueller could not fulfill even those minimal requirements. And the result was twofold: Mueller never escaped the charge that his team was biased; and, because it was stocked with progressives, in its zeal to get Trump, the investigation started out with the Soviet assumption that to convict the guilty criminal Trump, they needed only enough time and money to find the right crime.Members including Page, Strozk, and Weissman had either in email or in texts on their government phones or computers earlier expressed hyper-partisan, anti-Trump views.Another working for Mueller, Jeannie Rhee, a prosecutor on the team, had been employed as “outside counsel” at one point by the Clinton Foundation. Rhee also had represented Obama official Ben Rhodes in the Benghazi controversy; Rhodes, remember, after the election, was outspoken in his efforts to resist the Trump administration’s initiatives.Another prominent Mueller team member, Aaron Zebley, had once defended Hillary Clinton’s staffer Justin Cooper. Cooper infamously had set up the private and illegal email server in the basement of the Clintons' home.Mueller attorneys such as former federal officials Andrew Weissmann and Zainab Ahmad had also both previously communicated with, and been briefed by, Bruce Ohr, who allegedly had warned them of the unverified nature of the Steele dossier.Mueller team member Strzok had long been directly involved in Clinton-Trump investigations. He had previously interviewed Michael Flynn (Jan. 24, 2017) to learn about possible Trump-Russian collusion. Earlier, Strozk had interrogated Clinton aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills in connection with the Clinton email scandal; both had clearly lied to the FBI and both had been given de facto immunity. In short, Peter Strozk had no business posing as a disinterested investigator of Trump.Another lead attorney on Robert Mueller’s team had also previously been assigned to the investigation of the Clinton emails. After the election, the unnamed Mueller team member, later revealed to be Kevin Clinesmith, had bragged in a text to an FBI attorney acquaintance (a Trump-hating Sally Moyer, who once wrote, “Screw you, Trump”) of his opposition to Trump: “Viva le [sic] resistance.”Other than Mueller himself, a registered Republican, there was no known member of the Republican party, or Republican donor, on his legal team.The point is not that Mueller deliberately selected a biased team. It’s that he did not exercise proper caution in order to avoid even the appearance of bias in such a high-profile investigation. That is why liberal activists and the media were understandably giddy on hearing of the make-up of the team, and they gushed approbation of their newly adopted  “army,” “untouchables,” “all-stars,” and “dream team” — or what Max Boot praised as a “hunter-killer team of crack investigators and lawyers.”It did not help appearances that the appointed Mueller was a longtime friend and associate of fired FBI director James Comey, who had bragged that he had sought to prompt a special-counsel investigation by deliberately leaking to the press confidential (if not in one case classified) memos of private conversations with the president.Worse still, Acting Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who oversaw the Mueller investigation, signed off on a misleading FISA writ after the start of the Mueller investigation. Rosenstein also had provided the official rationale for firing James Comey, and he had been knee-deep in prior investigations involving both Trump and Clinton. Rosenstein allegedly had agreed to wear a wire, shortly before Mueller was appointed, to capture enough supposedly treasonous or unhinged Trump dialogue to invoke the 25th Amendment. Remember, in surreal fashion, Rosenstein stepped up to oversee Mueller’s work because, unlike Attorney General Jeff Sessions, he posed as someone who had no such conflicts of interest.In the end, to justify the absence of any proof of collusion, Mueller’s progressive attorneys and investigators descended to dogging small-time wannabes and a few shady operators on charges that had nothing to do with Russian collusion — before they finally ended up ignominiously going after minor nobodies such the braggart and provocateur Roger Stone and Infowars’ Jerome Corsi.Does anyone doubt that a comparable conservative team of lawyers including a few Trump donors, with $30 million of government money, a 90 percent favorable press, and 22 months’ time, while investigating Team Clinton and its hangers-on, couldn’t find scads of extraneous felonies, apart from its purported mission of investigating the collusionary Steele dossier? Mueller, Progressive Hero?The bias and the wasted resources and time of the stymied Mueller investigation will not matter to progressives. They saw Mueller and company as heroic, or at least useful, for all the righteous damage that the special prosecutor has already inflicted on the hated Trump administration.For some 674 days, Donald Trump was under a cloud of a special investigator, prying into all aspects of his personal and private life, as well as the lives of his family and aides. Or to put it another way, for 83 percent of Trump’s first term, constant media announcements have blared about the “bombshell” to come as “the noose is tightening” and “the walls are closing in” — all as inaccurate as they were damaging to the efficacy of the administration.The mainstream-network, MSNBC, and CNN prophesies of impeachment hearings driven by Russian “collusion” had, as planned, driven down Trump’s polls. Between 2017 and 2019, Mueller’s supposed prelude to impeachment caused defections among a once-solid Republican House and Senate and thereby stalled initiatives, thwarting efforts to curb illegal immigration, repeal Obamacare, quickly confirm judicial nominees and executive appointees, and preserve diplomatic leverage abroad.Without the Mueller investigation and enablers such as Representative Adam Schiff (who had falsely insisted to the media that the dossier was not integral to a pre-election FISA application and had not launched the FBI investigation before the election), and without the MSBNC/CNN punditry, all the serial conspiratorial talk of invoking the 25th Amendment and the emoluments clause, as well as the comical McCabe-Rosenstein palace coup and the efforts of the “resistance” to thwart Trump’s administration from the inside, as outlined in the Sept. 5, 2018, anonymous New York Times op-ed, would probably have been written off immediately as short-lived psychodramas. Instead, they were all sensationalized by a 90-percent-biased media as the prefaces to the Mueller “bombshell” to come.In the end, Mueller’s investigation really did prove to be a witch hunt, just as half the country came to conclude. It has probably forever ended the idea that a special prosecutor can be useful or fair. It has curtailed foreign-policy options and prevented the traditional American realist approach to Russia as a triangulating counterweight to China. It ruined the lives of innocents such as Carter Page and the reputations of dozens of others such as General Michael Flynn. It divided the country in its transparent violation of any sense of disinterested investigation and turned the idea of American jurisprudence into a version of the Soviets’ “Show me the man and I’ll show you the crime.” And now that it is over, we should not forget what it wrought and those who empowered it.

Senate Intelligence Russia Probe Will End in ‘Coming Months,’ Burr Says

Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr said Sunday that his inquiry will be concluding as well. “In the coming weeks and months, the Senate Intelligence Committee will complete its remaining interviews and issue its reports on Russia’s attempts to interfere in our U.S. elections,” Burr said. The North Carolina Republican’s panel has been conducting the only bipartisan probe, and one that’s lasted even longer than Mueller’s. He’s previously said that it had yet to find any collusion between President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russian operatives, although senators acknowledged Mueller had access to witnesses and evidence that they did not.

All black everything: Ford offers Black Appearance Package for 2019 Ford Rangers

Ford has announced the new Black Appearance Package available for the 2019 Ford Ranger lineup. Since the 2019 Ford Ranger pickup went on sale in January of this year, over half of the models have been outfitted in either the Sport Appearance Package or the Chrome Appearance Package. As of Monday, another option is now available: the Black Appearance Package.

The Ferrari P80/C Is a Two-in-One Track Car and Garage Beauty, and There's Only One

Ferrari's first custom track car is the most extreme 488 we'll ever see.

Socialism seen as biggest threat to Israel at AIPAC

The first evening of the annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, was punctuated by a rousing address from House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who like several other speakers sharply criticized the progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

Justice Department sides with lower court, says Obamacare should end

The U.S. Department of Justice now says it supports a federal judge's ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act should be overturned.

Oklahoma top court clears way for Purdue, J&J, Teva to face opioid trial

The Oklahoma Supreme Court's decision was a win for the state's attorney general, whose case is set to be the first to face trial of roughly 2,000 lawsuits nationally seeking to hold opioid manufacturers responsible for contributing to the epidemic. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter's 2017 lawsuit accuses Purdue, Johnson & Johnson & Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd of engaging in deceptive marketing that downplayed the risks of addiction associated with opioid pain drugs while overstating their benefits. The trial delay bid came as Purdue, owned by members of the wealthy Sackler family, was exploring filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to address potential liabilities stemming from the lawsuits, people familiar with the matter have told Reuters.

The Latest: Group says Newtown dad's death is devastating

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on the community of Parkland, Florida, focusing on suicide prevention programs after two survivors of a high school massacre there killed themselves (all times local):

German family, stakeholders in Krispy Kreme, Panera Bread, to donate $11M over Nazi past

The Reimann family, whose JAB Holding Co. controls Krispy Kreme and Panera Bread, will donate $11 million after learning of its ancestors' Nazi past.

Behind in polls, Democrat Gillibrand vows transparency at rally

Branding US President Donald Trump "a coward" who is "tearing apart the moral fabric" of America, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Sunday held her first rally for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination outside the Trump International Hotel in New York. Gillibrand emphasized transparency as she presented herself as a candidate defined by the courage and integrity she claims Trump lacks. "Look a this tower!" said Gillibrand, her hair blowing in the wind.

Sad Stealth: Was the Lockheed Martin F-117 Nighthawk Retired Too Soon?

Or was it too old to be a threat?

HTC unveils a new VR headset for workplace use that ships next month for $799

HTC Vive used the occasion of its annual Vive Ecosystem Conference in Shenzhen on Monday to unveil a new workplace-focused VR headset -- the VIVE Focus Plus, which promises a slew of features for enterprise customers like enhanced optics and upgraded lenses in the head-mounted display. And all of it, in a package that costs $799 and will be available starting April 15 from Vive's website.Among the new headset's specs, HTC says it sports new 'fresnel' lenses that offer a sharper visual and create a more true-to-life effect for users. The headset also comes with newly added six-degrees-of-freedom controllers, paving the way for more comfortable extended VR sessions that enterprise customers who may use this for more than cursory experiences will no doubt appreciate.Additionally, in most markets the headset will include an enterprise license at no additional cost."With the unveiling of these enhancements for Vive Focus Plus, the VR industry is taking a big step forward with this new generation of full-fidelity standalone VR devices enabling total freedom of interaction and freedom of connection," said HTC's China president Alvin Wang Graylin, in a release about the device. "We're thrilled so many developers and partners are supporting this product with exciting experiences across a wide range of use cases, showcasing the incredible opportunity for VR/AR to enter all facets of our lives"https://twitter.com/htcvive/status/1110358205266157569The headset includes a 3K AMOLED display, and it's powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 processor. Users will enjoy a 110-degree field of view, and the headset also comes with a 4,000 mAh battery.Among other features, users will have access to almost 250 Vive Wave applications at launch that run natively on the headset, and a "Viveport Infinity Wave" subscription program for the headset will include more than 70 premium VR application titles. The headset also has a multi-mode capability, which will let users access existing content across a range of devices. Thanks to this capability, the headset is compatible with everything from PCs and laptops to smartphones, game consoles, 2D video streaming devices, live 360 camera streaming and more.

Samsung takes pole position in 5G smartphone market

Unveiled alongside other members of the new family of flagship Galaxy S10 smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G will be available from April 5, first in South Korea then in the US, reports The Korea Herald. On April 5, this new model will be launched on the brand's online store, in its retail stores, and through other telecom companies in South Korea. At the moment, no country has a fully operational 5G network, only test locations, which means there are few 5G plans available.

May Faces Endgame as U.K. Leader Is Losing Control of Brexit

Theresa May will face up to her own desperately weak political position on Monday as members of Parliament move to take over Brexit policy and her own ministers plot to oust her. The U.K. prime minister is under pressure from colleagues inside her Cabinet to name a date when she will step down, with some arguing this would help her win support for her Brexit deal, people familiar with the matter said. May is hoping for one more chance to put the divorce agreement she’s negotiated with the European Union to a vote in the House of Commons this week.

Boeing fix will prevent repeated activation of anti-stall system: sources

SEATTLE/LONDON (Reuters) - A Boeing Co software fix for the grounded 737 MAX will prevent repeated operation of an anti-stall system at the centre of safety concerns and deactivate it altogether if two sensors disagree widely, two people familiar with pilot briefings said. The anti-stall system - known as MCAS, or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System - has been pinpointed by investigators probing October's fatal Lion Air crash and faces new scrutiny in the wake of another fatal accident in Ethiopia. MCAS was designed to counter this but some experts say it overcompensated and the latest changes give some authority back to the pilot.

Erdogan proposal to make Hagia Sophia a mosque irks Greece

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The Greek government voiced opposition Monday to the suggestion from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Istanbul's Hagia Sophia — a Byzantine-era cathedral that now serves as a museum — could be reconverted into a mosque.

Meet Shahadi Wright Joseph, the breakout horror warrior in Jordan Peele's 'Us'

A singing and dancing Broadway vet, Shahadi Wright Joseph gets her Hollywood breakthrough playing dual roles in Jordan Peele's horror film 'Us.'

Bannon: With Mueller probe over, Trump ‘is going to go full animal’

And despite “the gauntlet” of investigations that Trump faces, he believes the anemic Mueller report will deflate them—and simultaneously inflate the president. He believes most investigations into Trump are effectively dead in the water.

Pete Buttigieg: 2020 Democratic candidate surges to third place in new poll

Presidential candidate behind Joe Biden and Bernie SandersPete Buttigieg for president? Long-shot stands out in crowded field South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg won the backing of 11% of likely Iowa Democratic caucus voters. Photograph: Richard Shiro/AP Pete Buttigieg has surged to third place in a new poll of Democratic presidential candidates, ahead of Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Beto’Rourke. The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, won the backing of 11% of likely Iowa Democratic caucus voters in an Emerson poll released on Sunday. Joe Biden had 25% support, with Bernie Sanders in second place with 24%. But the performance of Buttigieg, who has impressed in a series of TV appearances, is likely to serve as a warning to his better-known rivals. Buttigieg had 0% support in Emerson’s January poll, which was conducted just after he formed an exploratory committee. He has not yet formally declared he is running to take on Donald Trump next year but he has been widely praised for his performance in a CNN town hall and in high-profile interviews. He has met the 65,000-donor threshold that qualifies him to take part in the Democratic debates. Harris, a senator from California, had 10% support in the Emerson poll – which had a margin error of +/- 6.2% – while Warren of Massachusetts was in fourth place with 9%. Beto O’Rourke, the former congressman from Texas who has captured the attention of the public and the media with a combination of relentless charm and non-committal policy positions, was backed by 5% of likely voters. Now this'll get people talking...new Emerson poll of Iowa:• Biden - 25%• Sanders - 24%• Buttigieg - 11%• Harris - 10%• Warren - 9%...https://t.co/o4WHsyetvl— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) March 24, 2019 Buttigieg supports the Green New Deal proposal, a series of climate change reforms backed by progressive Democrats, and has said he is in favor of single-payer healthcare, an issue fast becoming a litmus test for Democratic candidates. Were he elected, Buttigieg would be the first openly gay president. In South Carolina on Saturday, he told voters his marriage existed “by the grace of a single vote on the US supreme court”, and said it had brought him closer to God.

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was carrying an iPhone when she was arrested last year

The tech industry certainly has its share of scandals, but the drama surrounding Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou certainly takes things to the next level. This past December, Wanzhou was arrested in Canada (at the behest of the United States) on charges of wire fraud and improper business dealings with Iran. Wanzhou may ultimately be extradited to the U.S. as China, not surprisingly, has vehemently denied the allegations on Wanzhou's behalf. As Huawei executives would have you believe, the charges are simply a means to hinder the company's growth.The legal case involving Wanzhou is still playing out, but recently released court documents include a surprising revelation regarding the gear Wanzhou had in her possession when she was arrested. Originally made public by the Twitter account theBreakerNews, it turns out that Wanzhou had a penchant for Apple products.Upon her arrest, Wanzhou had a MacBook Air, an iPad Pro, and an iPhone 7 Plus in her possession. She was also carrying a Huawei Mate RS Porsche Design which was likely her primary device. Still, it has to be somewhat embarrassing for an executive of a company looking to dethrone Apple to be apprehended with a slew of Apple products.No you might be naturally thinking: "So she had a few Apple products on her, what's the big deal?" Well, if we go back just a few months, you may recall that two Huawei employees who were manning the company's Twitter account were demoted after they sent out a celebratory New Years tweet from an iPhone. The tweet was promptly deleted once word began to spread, but the higher-ups at Huawei were quite displeased and also cut the salary of the employees in question.Further, an internal Huawei memo obtained by Reuters at the time revealed that Huawei executives believed "the incident caused damage to the Huawei brand."All that said, Wanzho's penchant for Apple products isn't a good look.

Syria's Kurds call for international court to try IS jihadists

Syria's Kurds on Monday called for an international court to be set up in the country to try suspected Islamic State group jihadists following the announced fall of their "caliphate". IS imposed its brutal interpretation of Islam on millions living in the proto-state that it declared across a large swathe of Syria and neighbouring Iraq in 2014. "We call on the international community to establish a special international tribunal in northeast Syria to prosecute terrorists," the Syria Kurdish administration said.

Easter 2019: Forbidden eggs, Eostre and how the date is decided

Easter weekend is fast approaching with all the fondant-filled Creme Eggs, sticky hot cross buns and sugar-coated Mini Eggs our stretchiest waistbands can withstand.  Of course, the  Christian festival is far more than its associated confectionery. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus Christ who, according to the New Testament, died on the cross on Good Friday and came back to life three days later. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Sunday, which also marks the end of Lent's 40-day period of fasting. From the origins of the Easter bunny to the celebrations' ever-changing dates, here is your essential guide to the holiday. Jump to it, bunny: Your complete guide to Easter decorations When is Easter 2019? This year, Good Friday falls on April 19, Easter Sunday on April 21 and Easter Monday on April 22 - three weeks later than they did last year.  While the holiday is a movable feast, it always falls somewhere between March 21 and April 25 every year. It is calculated as the first Sunday after the first full moon following the first day of spring. The full moon is known as the Paschal (Passover) Full Moon. Methods for calculating Easter are fiendishly complicated and a uniquely baffling synthesis of mathematics, astronomy and theology.  As Christians believe Jesus was crucified during the Jewish Passover festival, Easter is celebrated around the same time. Nonetheless, different Christian groups were already marking it on separate dates by the end of the 2nd Century. Q&A; | Maundy Thursday These date-led disagreements even set the course of history for the British Isles at the Synod of Whitby in 664AD when the preferred date of the Roman - rather than the Celtic - church became the standard. The decision is said to have catapulted Britain into the European sphere of influence. Though disputes over Easter's exact timing have been used as proxies for deeper power struggles for centuries, most now accept that it falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the spring equinox - which the Church approximated as March 21. This year, Easter Sunday falls on April 21, the longest stretch following March 21's full moon – which falls on a Sunday. In 2016, the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested Easter should fall on the same Sunday every year and the Most Rev Justin Welby said Anglican leaders would join discussions with other church leaders to fix the date for the first time, theoretically putting an end to almost 2,000 years of controversy. The 10 best destinations for Easter sun What do eggs have to do with Easter? Eggs illustrate new life, just as Jesus began his new life on Easter Sunday after the miracle of his resurrection. When eggs are cracked open they are said to symbolise an empty tomb. Originally, eating eggs was forbidden in the week leading up to Easter (known as Holy Week). They were saved and decorated in the run-up to the celebration and given to children as gifts. Sometimes they were coloured red, in recognition of the blood sacrificed by Jesus when he was crucified. Green was also used to symbolise spring re-growth after the winter. The first chocolate eggs appeared in France and Germany during the 19th century. As chocolate-making techniques improved, the Easter egg as we know it was popularised. Where does the Easter Bunny fit in to all of this? Rabbits and hares have been associated with spring for hundreds of years. It is thought that the Anglo-Saxon Goddess of Spring, Eostre – who many believe the Christian event is named after – had a hare as her companion, symbolising fertility and rebirth. It’s hardly surprising that rabbits and hares have become associated with fertility as they are both prolific breeders and regularly give birth to large litters in early spring. The legend of the Easter Bunny is thought to have originated among German Lutherans, where the ‘Easter Hare’ judged whether children had been good or bad in the run-up to Easter. Easter bunnies and eggs are symbols of spring and fertility.  Over time it has been incorporated into Christian celebrations, becoming especially popular in Britain during the 19th century. Many children believe that the Easter Bunny lays and hides baskets of coloured eggs, sweets and toys in their homes or around the garden the night before Easter Sunday – much like Father Christmas delivering gifts on Christmas Eve. This has given rise to the tradition of the Easter egg hunt which is still popular among children today. Why do we eat hot cross buns? A hot cross bun is a spiced, sweet bun marked with a cross on top. They are traditionally eaten on Good Friday as the cross represents the crucifixion of Jesus, while the spices are said to remind Christians of the spices put on his body. Hot cross buns appeared in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1733 but they are believed to have existed long before. Enriched, sweetened bread dough dates back to the Romans. Long before Christianity, loaves and buns were baked with symbols on them, one of which was a cross. Small, spiced cakes were also baked to honour the Saxon goddess Eoestre and celebrate spring, but it was the Tudors who began to link the spiced currant buns we know today with feast days, celebrations and - eventually - Lent. Delicious recipes to cook this Easter Wild garlic and parsley soup Jose Pizarro's roast rack of lamb with braised peas and lemon-thyme salsa Hot cross bun panna cotta Paul Hollywood's Easter simnel cake How is Easter celebrated around the world? In many central and eastern European countries decorating eggs with beautiful patterns is especially popular. In Switzerland, Easter eggs are delivered by a cuckoo and, in some areas of Germany, a fox. The egg-giving tradition arrived in the United States in the 18th century via protestant German immigrants in the Pennsylvania Dutch area. Traditional Easter foods from around the world On Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg roll on the lawn of the White House for young children. In the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland it is a day of remembrance for the men and women who died in the Easter Rising which began on Easter Monday 1916.

Lynn Keel due in court Tuesday on charges he killed his wife Diana Keel

The man accused of killing his wife in Nash County will appear in a North Carolina court Tuesday morning.

The Latest: All Viking Sky passengers, crew safe; ship docks

STAVANGER, Norway (AP) — The Latest on the Viking Sky cruise ship that was stranded off the coast of Norway (all times local):

Trump takes victory lap as Mueller conclusions revealed

Despite the Attorney General's note that the special counsel's report does not exonerate the president, Trump and his supporters greeted the report’s conclusions as a complete victory.

Women are sharing their experiences of receiving unsolicited advances from men

If you've ever had to pretend to have a boyfriend or husband to get out of an uncomfortable or threatening situation, then you'll know that it can be a terrifying and isolating experience.But, you're not alone and these responses to Jameela Jamil's tweets are proof of that. SEE ALSO: This code word will help you when you feel unsafe on a dateThe star of The Good Place tweeted that she was shopping with a friend when a man made advances at her. She told him she had a boyfriend and thanked him, but the situation quickly escalated into one of harassment. > Was out at the shops with my friend. Man ogles me. Man then approaches me to give me his number. I explain I have a boyfriend but thank him for the offer. Man then threatens my career, saying I better remember that I rejected him. And then Shouts at me that I'm low class... ‍♀️> > -- Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamil) March 24, 2019Jamil tweeted about the time she said no to a man when she was 19 years old and he assaulted her. "Being a woman is truly, constantly scary," she added. > I once said no thank you to man when I was 19 and didn't have an excuse... and he punched me in the face. After that whether or not I have a boyfriend, I say I do. Being a woman is truly, constantly scary. It's like existing on thin ice. https://t.co/cw1BCc9XUB> > -- Jameela Jamil (@jameelajamil) March 24, 2019Women began sharing their experiences of similar instances. > throwback to the guy who insisted that me having a girlfriend wasn't a good enough excuse not to date him because "girls don't count" and managed to get all my contact info except my address and harass me from multiple accounts for months. now I say I have a boyfriend, too.> > -- Steph (@ValaBlack) March 24, 2019> I work as a server. I will say I am married to which the most common response is, "So?". The more cavalier say" I'm not jealous." I am a paunchy, middle age woman who is wondering when I will be old enough that this crap will stop.> > -- Natalie (@snat1998) March 24, 2019> I got out of service work years ago mostly bc of crap like this, which didn't stop when I got married. Couldn't take it anymore. Sorry it's still going on! (From one paunchy middle aged woman to another)> > -- Sami Feminist Killjoy Lee (@divasamilee) March 25, 2019> was in a bar once.Guy approached me aggressively wouldnt back off. one of my guy friends had to say back off this is my wife.aggressor said I don't see rings on your fingers! My guy friend threatens violence. FinallyAsshole leaves. Fun part:9yrs later I actually married my friend> > -- Amanda Moresco Von Lumm (@mandy_moresco) March 25, 2019> When I was serving, I had a decoy engagement ring. It's gross how often "no" wasn't good enough, but "I'm engaged" was. It's even grosser how often "I'm engaged" WASN'T good enough. > > -- Elle Young (@elle_yung) March 24, 2019> I got called a lesbian and told I was probably on my period when I rejected a guy his friend also spat a chip at me ‍♀️ and this this awesome girl came out of nowhere and started shouting at them. Not how I expected the end of my night out to go > > -- Kennise Darlsson (@kennydarlsson) March 24, 2019> I've had men online first approach me as "how is your husband?" And then when I'm alarmed and say "I don't have a husband" they use that as "ok it's go time, she's not legally bound to another guy!"> > -- Steph Lorenzo ️‍ (@StephLorenzo) March 25, 2019> A man once stopped me on the way to the bathroom at a work event and said "I'm looking for a date", I replied "can't help you" and tried to keep walking, he grabbed my left wrist, pointed at my (empty) ring finger and said "looks like you can". > > -- April Muller (@findapril) March 25, 2019Horrifying, to say the very least. WATCH: Women are still underrepresented in tech. Here's what Facebook has to say about it.

Jay Leno Drives The Iconic Ferrari 288 GTO

Famed Ferrari Collector David Lee has a mighty impressive garage of red cars. One of Lee’s favourite Italian Stallions made its way down to Jay Leno’s Garage for the latest episode. The iconic 1985 Ferrari 288 GTO takes centerstage with Leno in awe of this mighty machine — quite the achievement considering the vehicles in his own collection.

Apple rolls out iOS 12.2 with Apple News+ and support for new AirPods

Right on the heels of its Monday media event, Apple has released iOS 12.2 for iPhone and iPad. The software update is a substantial one, but the key addition is Apple News+. Once you've installed the update, you will be able to access the News+ tab in the Apple News app and sign up for the $9.99/month subscription service, which includes access to over 300 magazines as well as newspapers. The first month is free, so you can try it right now. But that's just one part of a this iOS release. In addition to Apple News+, iOS 12.2 includes new Siri functionality, four new Animoji (owl, boar, giraffe and shark), support for the second-generation AirPods, and a variety of improvements and new features for AirPlay, Apple Pay, Screen Time, Safari, and Apple Music. "iOS 12.2 provides support for Apple News+, adds the ability for Siri to play videos from your iOS device to Apple TV, and includes for new Animoji," reads the description. "This update also includes bug fixes and improvements." If you want to update your device to iOS 12.2 today, you can do so by heading to Settings > General > Software Update on your device and tapping “Download and Install” at the bottom of the page. You can also apply the update through iTunes by connecting your iOS device to a computer. Here's the full list of release notes, so you know exactly what you're getting when you install iOS 12.2: > Apple News+> > * Apple News+ is a new subscription service that extends the Apple News experience with hundreds of magazines and top newspapers> * Our editors handpick top articles and magazine issues, and you also get personalized recommendations on the topics most interesting to you> * Automatic downloads make it easy to read magazine issues offline> * Apple News is now available in Canada, with a free experience that includes handpicked Top Stories, a personalized Today feed, and support for both English and French> * Apple News+ is available in the U.S. and in Canada, with dozens of additional Canadian magazines> > > Siri> > * Ask Siri on your iPhone or iPad to play any video, show, movie, sports game, or channel on Apple TV. For example, “Hey Siri, play Free Solo on my TV”> > > Animoji> > * Four new Animoji—owl, boar, giraffe and shark—are included for iPhone X and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) and iPad Pro 11-inch> > > AirPlay> > * Dedicated TV controls in Control Center and on the Lock Screen give you quick access to TV controls> * AirPlay multitasking for video allows you to browse other apps, as well as play other short form audio and video files locally on your device without interrupting AirPlay> * AirPlay destinations are now grouped by content type making it faster for you to find what device you want to play to> > > Apple Pay> > * Apple Pay Cash customers can now transfer money to their bank accounts instantly using their Visa debit cards> * Wallet app now conveniently displays Apple Pay credit and debit transactions right below the card> > > Screen Time> > * Downtime can be configured with a different schedule for each day of the week> * A new toggle enables easily turning app limits on or off temporarily> > > Safari> > * Website sign-in now occurs automatically after filling credentials with Password AutoFill> * Warnings now appear when loading unencrypted webpages> * Removes support for the expired Do Not Track standard to prevent potential use as a fingerprinting variable; Intelligent Tracking Prevention now protects against cross-site tracking by default> * Smart Search Field queries can now be modified by tapping the arrow icon next to search suggestions> > > Apple Music> > * The Browse tab shows more editorial highlights on a single page making it easier to discover new music, playlists, and more> > > AirPods> > * Support for new AirPods (2nd generation)> > > This update also includes other improvements and bug fixes. This update:> > * Supports Air Quality Index in Maps for US, UK, and India> * Includes information in Settings on how much time remains on your device’s warranty period> * Supports real-time text (RTT) for phone calls made through a nearby iPhone on iPad and iPod Touch> * Displays a "5G E" icon for iPhone 8 and later, iPad Pro 12.9-inch (3rd generation) or iPad Pro 11-inch indicating that users are in an area where AT&T's 5G Evolution network is available> * Improves quality of audio recordings in Messages> * Improves stability and performance of Apple TV Remote on iOS> * Fixes an issue that prevented some missed calls from appearing in Notification Center> * Addresses an issue where a badge notification could appear on Settings even though no action is needed> * Addresses an issue in Settings > General > iPhone Storage where the storage size of some large apps, the System category, and the Other category in the storage bar graph could be incorrect> * Fixes an issue that could cause Voice Memos to automatically play back recordings after connecting to a car Bluetooth device> * Resolves an issue that could cause Voice Memos to temporarily prevent renaming a recording>