Youngstown

Easing tone, US says robust actions deterred Iran

President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday appeared set on easing weeks of escalating tensions with Iran, assuring worried lawmakers it does not seek war and crediting robust US military moves with deterring the clerical regime. After a month of fiery warnings to Iran, top Trump officials delivered a classified briefing to the full US Congress where Democrats have accused the administration of hyping intelligence and pushing the United States dangerously close to war.

Oklahoma reels, Missouri declares state of emergency from storm, floods

Rescue crews using boats pulled at least 50 people from rising water as heavy downpours inundated roads and homes, Oklahoma Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Keli Cain said, although there were no reports of deaths or serious injuries. Only the tops of cars engulfed by water were could be seen in video footage of roadways near Oklahoma City, and some houses were entirely surrounded by floods. "It's real dangerous," said Ross Reuter, a spokesman for Canadian County, where 10 people were rescued.

Mississippi governor signs 'heartbeat' abortion ban into law. Here's what you need to know

The ban would be among the strictest in the country, but is expected to quickly be challenged in federal court.

Democratic Rep. Tells Acting DHS Chief: Migrant Kid Deaths Under Your Watch Are ‘Intentional’

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/CSPANThe acting head of the Department of Homeland Security on Wednesday was accused of overseeing the “intentional” deaths of five migrant children, in an aggressive line of questioning by a Democratic member of the House Committee on Homeland Security. Rep. Lauren Underwood, an Illinois Democrat serving her first term, called the deaths the logical result of “a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration,” an assertion that Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan disputed as “an appalling accusation.”McAleenan, who was first tapped to replace outgoing secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in April, previously served as commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, where he was an architect of the administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their families. That policy, Underwood said, as well as a spate of recent deaths of children in DHS custody, amounts to more than simple administrative negligence.“People keep dying, sir. People keep dying,” Underwood said at the conclusion of five minutes of aggressive questioning, disputing that overcrowding and lack of access to medical treatment at migrant detention facilities is the result of a lack of appropriations. “Congress has been more than willing to provide the resources and work with you to address the security and humanitarian concerns, but at this point, with five kids that have died, 5,000 separated from their families, I feel like—and the evidence is really clear—that this is intentional. It’s intentional.”DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen Blames Migrant Girl’s Death in Border Patrol Custody on Her FamilyAs colleagues protested her characterization, Underwood continued, calling the deaths “a policy choice being made on purpose by this administration, and it’s cruel and inhumane.”McAleenan, who co-authored a memo to then-Secretary Nielsen asserting that Homeland Security could “direct the separation of parents or legal guardians and minors held in immigration detention so that the parent or legal guardian can be prosecuted,” protested Underwood’s remarks.“That’s an appalling accusation, and our men and women fight hard to protect people in our custody every single day,” said McAleenan, adding that Congress providing adequate resources “would have prevented this from happening.”Republican committee members—as well as one Democrat, Rep. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan—voted to strike Underwood’s remarks from the congressional record.On Monday, a 16-year-old Guatemalan boy became the fifth minor to die in U.S. government custody since December after being kept in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection detention facility for more than a week. Federal law requires minors to be held in Border Patrol stations, which are not equipped to house children or the infirm, for no longer than 72 hours.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.

US 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.

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.

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

Elon Musk hires man behind 'absolute unit' sheep meme to run Tesla's social media

* Adam Koszary’s tweet of giant sheep went viral last year * Musk adopted image and description for his Twitter profileElon Musk is legally obliged to have his tweets checked by lawyers. ‘My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point,’ he observed last month. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersElon Musk has reportedly hired the man responsible for a viral tweet about a giant sheep to be Tesla’s social media manager.Adam Koszary, programme manager for the UK’s Reading Museum and Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL), run by the University of Reading, will join Tesla in July, according to his Twitter account.The @TheMerl account went viral in April last year when it tweeted an old picture of a large ram with the caption: “Look at this absolute unit.” The tweet has now been retweeted more than 31,000 times and has over 111,000 likes.> look at this absolute unit. pic.twitter.com/LzcQ4x0q38> > — The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 9, 2018Last month Musk changed his Twitter bio to “absolute unit” and his picture to the image of the sheep. @TheMerl returned the compliment by changing its bio photo to one of Musk.The tweet led to a series of messages from Musk ending with one reading: “My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point.”> My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point> > — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2019Tesla was not immediately available for comment. It is not yet clear whether the sheep tweet was instrumental in Koszary’s hiring.Musk has a troubled history with Twitter. The Tesla founder now has to have his tweets checked by lawyers after incorrectly claiming on social media that his company was close to a large investment from Saudi Arabia’s largest investment fund.Tesla’s share price has slid in recent weeks as investors worry the company is running out of cash.

Justice Department says that the T-Mobile-Sprint merger should be blocked

Just days after the FCC came out in favor of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger that has been brewing for the past several years, the U.S. Department of Justice has thrown a wrench in the works. Sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters that the Antitrust Division of the DOJ has recommended that the agency file suit in order to block T-Mobile's proposed $26 billion merger deal with Sprint, setting up a potential clash between the DOJ and the FCC.As Reuters notes, the decision on whether or not to follow through with the Antitrust Division's recommendation lies in the hands of political appointees within the department and should be made in about a month.As noted above, this is a notable departure from what the Federal Communication Commission's had to say about the merger this week. The New York Times reported that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai pledged his support on Monday after the carrier agreed to a series of "significant commitments," which included expanding rural broadband service, building a robust 5G network, and selling off the Sprint-owned Boost Mobile prepaid cell service."Two of the FCC's top priorities are closing the digital divide in rural America and advancing United States leadership in 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity," Pai said at the time. "The commitments made today by T-Mobile and Sprint would substantially advance each of these critical objectives."Reuters claims that the DOJ is concerned that T-Mobile will no longer aggressively cut prices and improve its network and services to compete with Verizon and AT&T if this merger is allowed to go through. By this time next month, T-Mobile's dream of a blockbuster merger with Sprint may finally be dead.

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.

Rain, 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.

Carson says he had 'difficulty hearing' during viral Oreo testimony, defends HUD proposals

Carson said he "was having difficulty hearing” during the committee testimony that went viral when he appeared to mix up a real estate term and Oreos.

Pompeo says 'quite possible' Iran behind Gulf incidents

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday it was "quite possible" Iran was responsible for sabotage of Gulf oil interests as he prepared to brief lawmakers on rising tensions. Pompeo cautioned that the United States has not made "a definitive conclusion" that can be presented publicly over mysterious sabotage incidents of oil tankers off the United Arab Emirates or drone strikes on a crude pipeline in Saudi Arabia. "But given all the regional conflicts that we have seen over the past decade and the shape of these attacks, it seems like it's quite possible that Iran was behind these," Pompeo told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

After Huawei, U.S. could blacklist Chinese surveillance tech firm - media

The U.S. administration is considering Huawei-like sanctions on Chinese video surveillance firm Hikvision, media reports show, deepening worries that trade friction between the world's top two economies could be further inflamed. The restrictions would limit Hikvision's ability to buy U.S. technology and American companies may have to obtain government approval to supply components to the Chinese firm, the New York Times reported https://nyti.ms/2MfgBS3 on Tuesday. The United States stuck Huawei Technologies on a trade blacklist last week, effectively banning U.S. firms from doing business with the world's largest telecom network gear maker, in a major escalation in the trade war.

Abducted Idaho girl found safe in Arizona, suspect jailed

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — A 17-year-old girl abducted from an Idaho fast-food restaurant where she worked was found safe in Arizona on Tuesday and the man accused of taking her was jailed on a $1 million bond, authorities said.

Murrieta, 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.'

Fears 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.

North Korea blasts Joe Biden as a 'fool of low IQ' for criticising leader Kim Jong-un

North Korean state media slammed former US vice president Joe Biden for criticising leader Kim Jong-un, calling him "bereft of elementary quality as a human being". The criticism contrasts with North Korea's repeated references to the good relationship between Kim and US President Donald Trump. Kim said in April his personal relationship with Mr Trump was still good despite the collapse of their second summit in Vietnam in February. According to Newsweek, Mr Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner, said at a campaign launch in Philadelphia on Saturday: "Are we a nation that embraces dictators and tyrants like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Kim Jong-un?" State media the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) responded to criticism of the North's leadership in a commentary late on Tuesday. Kim Jong-un was described as a tyrant by Joe Biden Credit: AFP "What he uttered is just sophism of an imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being, let alone a politician," it said. The news agency also called Mr Biden a “fool of low IQ”, and said Mr Biden had “the temerity to insult the supreme leadership”. KCNA listed previous controversies concerning Mr Biden, including allegations of plagiarism and falling asleep during a speech by former President Barack Obama in 2011. "We will never pardon anyone who dare provoke the supreme leadership of the DPRK but will certainly make them pay for it," KCNA said, using North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Denuclearisation talks have stalled since the breakdown of the second meeting between Trump and Kim in February and North Korea conducted more weapons tests this month. The tests were seen as a protest by Kim after Trump rejected his calls for sanctions relief at the Hanoi summit.

The Latest: Tornadoes move through southwest Missouri towns

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The Latest on storm damage in the Southern Plains and Midwest (all times local):

Dog sitter caught walking around naked in customer's home

A dog sitter has been caught on camera walking around her client’s house naked. Rosie Brown hired Casey Brengle to look after her two dogs, Penny and Daisy, while she went to a wedding for four days.

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.

Trump administration may use Iran threat to sell bombs to Saudis without Congress' approval: senator

"I am hearing that Trump may use an obscure loophole in the Arms Control Act and notice a major new sale of bombs to Saudi Arabia (the ones they drop in Yemen) in a way that would prevent Congress from objecting. In this case, they said the Republican president would cite rising tensions with Iran as a reason to provide more military equipment to Saudi Arabia, which he sees as an important U.S. partner in the region. Trump has touted arms sales to the Saudis as a way to generate U.S. jobs.

Tale 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.

Leaker says a mysterious new Samsung phone will be even more exciting than the Galaxy Fold and Note 10

After teasing that smartphone design will see some sort of breakthrough in the second half of the year, and after telling us the Galaxy Note 10 will not be a Galaxy S10 lookalike, the world's top Samsung insider is back with a new cryptic message. He says the most "creative" new Samsung smartphone that will launch in the second half of 2019 won't be the Galaxy Fold or Galaxy Note 10, though he stopped there and didn't explain what it all means."Believe me, the most creative Samsung smartphone in the second half of 2019 is not Fold or Note 10, you just have to wait, don't ask me more," Ice Universe said on Twitter.https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1130722539183849473Previously, the leaker included Samsung and Huawei in the list of smartphone vendors that should release new designs in the second half of the year. At the time, we thought the Galaxy Note 10 would be one of them. Later, he made it clear that the Note 10 is supposed to embody the "stable and mature" side of Samsung's mobile tech, while the Galaxy A line will deliver "radical innovation."That's not exactly a secret, as Samsung adopted this strategy last year. The company decided to launch new smartphone features on mid-range phones rather than flagships, as had been the case before. That's why triple and quadruple-lens cameras and the Infinity-O display debuted on mid-range devices before making it to the Galaxy S10. The Note 10 is also expected to have multi-lens cameras and a hole-punch display.As for the Galaxy Fold, that's the least likely phone to surprise us in the second half of the year, and that's if Samsung even manages to relaunch it at some point. The phone's design was "killed" the minute Huawei unveiled the Mate X foldable phone in late February. And Samsung's early issues with the handset certainly didn't help make it any more attractive.So what smartphone could Ice be teasing? A report said a few days ago that Google is developing a button-less Pixel 4. Is Samsung making a button-less phone of its own? One other expected design for the coming years is an all-screen smartphone with a selfie camera placed under the screen. Will we see the first such device from Samsung this year in the form of a future Galaxy A model?We really have no idea. But whatever this "creative" Samsung phone ends up being, it won't be part of the upcoming Note 10 series.

Trump says he doesn't want war with Iran. Is John Bolton driving the US into a conflict anyway?

The view that John Bolton is driving Trump into military confrontation with America's principal foe in the Middle East is spreading across the globe.

China Surveillance Giant Hikvision Slumps on U.S. Ban Report

The White House will make a final decision in coming weeks on whether to limit exports of U.S. components to Hikvision, as it’s done with Huawei Technologies Co., the Times reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Such a move would escalate tensions with China and raise questions about whether the U.S. is going after more of the country’s technology champions. Hikvision has grown into a surveillance giant, selling its cameras around the world after cashing in on China’s obsession with monitoring its citizens.

Backlash as Trump set to shun tradition with his own ringside seat at sumo tournament in Japan

Sumo fans and traditionalists have reacted with disappointment to reports that Donald Trump will have a ringside seat at a sumo tournament in Japan - eschewing hundreds of years of tradition of sitting cross-legged on a cushion. Mr Trump is set to step centre stage into Japan’s sumo world this weekend as he presents a trophy dubbed the “Trump Cup” to the winner of a major tournament during his visit to Japan. But the planned visit is already sending ripples through the deeply traditional sumo community. In a sport steeped in rituals dating back 1,500 years, reports of Trump's seat has prompted controversy at the special treatment, with one fan, Masaru Tomamoto, 73, telling Reuters: “I also want to sit on a chair as we watch sumo wrestling. “But if (Trump) watches a Japanese traditional sport, sumo, I think that it would be much better for him to sit cross-legged with the cushion on the floor, rather than on chair.” Trump has developed a close relationship with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe Credit:  Susan Walsh/AP Another sumo fan Izumi Chiba, from Sapporo in northern Japan, added: “As we say, when you are in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Mr Trump is expected to watch the final three bouts of the last day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament – a highly awaited climax of the sumo calendar – alongside Mr Abe and their respective wives at the Ryogoku Kokugikan hall in Tokyo on Sunday. The US president, who said last month that he had always found sumo “fascinating”, will then present a special trophy custom-made in the US to the champion wrestler – triggering fevered media speculation as to whether he will wear slippers in the sumo ring as he hands it over, as shoes are not typically permitted. Mr Trump is expected to sit in a chair among the most prized seats that immediately encircle the ring known as masu seki, which sell for around £71 (10,000 yen) each and normally involve sitting on flat cushions known as zabuton on the floor. Security is another key issue flagged up by Japanese media, with almost an eighth of the 11,000 seats reserved for the president, Mr Abe and their security teams. There are concerns that around 1,000 people who have already bought coveted ringside seats face being security vetted. There were also reports that organisers were considering the ban of canned beer sales in the same seating area, apparently in a bid to minimise potential security dangers to Mr Trump. Mr Abe, who famously shares a love of golf with his “friend” Mr Trump, has apparently pulled out all the stops for the president’s state visit, having also arranged for him to become the first foreign leader to meet the new Emperor Naruhito.

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.”

Eiffel Tower climber 'admitted to psychiatric unit'

A man, believed to be Russian, who sparked a mass evacuation of the Eiffel Tower by scaling the iconic Paris landmark has been admitted to a psychiatric unit, legal sources said Tuesday. The man caused chaos Monday and the closure of the monument to tourists by spending six hours clinging to the outer metal framework of the Eiffel Tower. An investigation has been opened for unauthorised entry into a cultural monument, a judicial source said.

U.S. must ensure access to safe abortions: U.N. rights office

Missouri's Republican governor, Mike Parson, could sign a bill into law as early as this week that prohibits women from seeking an abortion after the eighth week of pregnancy, days after Alabama enacted the most restrictive abortion law in the United States. "We are very concerned that several U.S. states have passed laws severely restricting access to safe abortion for women, including by imposing criminal penalties on the women themselves and on abortion service providers," U.N. human rights spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told Reuters Television in Geneva.

Accused Thief Taunted Disney World With Photo of Stolen Robot’s Mutilated Head

Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIf you’re accused of stealing an animatronic child from Disney World, maybe don’t make a wildly popular Disney-related Twitter account and post a picture of the stolen robot child with its eyes gouged out.“Buzzy,” an animatronic boy from an abandoned Disney World attraction, has been missing for months. Online, Disney superfans treated the disappearance like a kidnapping. But the investigation into the theft led police to someone in the online Disney fandom: a Disney blogger who taunted Disney about their security, posted conspiracy theories about Buzzy’s disappearance and, in the final days before his arrest, uploaded a picture of the robot’s decapitated and eyeball-less head.Patrick Spikes, 24, was arrested last week. He worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, until last year. But Spikes didn’t completely part ways with the theme park after he stopped working there. Instead, he started churning out videos, podcasts, and tweets under the username “BackDoorDisney.” His Twitter account, which amassed more than 17,000 followers before going dark last week, promised to give fans an inside view of Disney World. In its seven months of operation, the account uploaded pictures of Disney control rooms, secret maps, and Disney cast members pretending to have sex while dressed as characters from Toy Story.Soon, Spikes was posting about an even more salacious Disney World story. In August, Disney told police that someone had stolen clothes off Buzzy. The 300-pound animatronic child used to sit inside the “Cranium Command” exhibit, in Epcot’s Wonders of Life Pavilion. But the building, which hosted somewhat dated attractions, had been closed for years. The stolen clothes (including a miniature bomber jacket) were worth nearly $7,000, Disney claimed, according to an affidavit from Florida’s Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Later, the entire robot was stolen, an operation that required the thief to cut through electric cables.Spikes and other Disney bloggers posted about Buzzy’s rumored disappearance. But Spikes and a crowd of Disney fans who broke into the park soon came under suspicion. Spikes routinely boasted of secret trips through Disney World, including with a friend who climbed the park’s Thunder Mountain roller coaster.“Good job filling the holes under the Mk back fence this morning,” Spikes wrote in a January tweet directed at Disney. “I told you guys about this issue 2 months ago but it took somebody going in and climbing one of your coasters for you to care.”On his personal Twitter account, Spikes taunted Disney, advising them to buy a bulk box of security cameras from Best Buy. As the search for Buzzy continued, Disney fans speculated that an urban explorer might have snatched the robot.Eventually, police began narrowing in on Spikes and his scene. Investigators found an October picture of Buzzy on Spikes’ @BackDoorDisney account. The picture does not appear to have been taken inside the Cranium Command exhibit. In texts with investigators, Spikes allegedly let slip that Buzzy’s clothes were sold on the black market for $8,000.Police got a warrant for Spikes’ cellphone and called him in for questioning in December. The meeting went poorly when Spikes tried to cut it short.“The defendant stated he felt sick and felt that he was going to vomit,” police alleged in an affidavit. “A short time later, he began to make strained breathing noises, and stated he couldn’t breath. He requested water, which was given to him, and also was allowed to lay on the floor. The fire department responded and all vitals were normal.” Spikes was taken to a hospital. Police charged him with non-violently resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty.Spikes later made a video about a police search on his house, and professed his innocence.“I said ‘really? The entire thing got stolen?’ I didn’t really believe it,” he said in the March video. “It blew my mind. I was like, you can’t be serious right now.”Later in the video, Spikes suggested that Disney had staged Buzzy’s disappearance in order to shut down his BackDoorDisney account.“There’s a theory someone talked about that Imagineering [a Disney team] removed Buzzy and didn’t tell anyone else. So when Operations, the part of the company that runs the Pavillion noticed he was missing, they filed him as ‘stolen,’” he said. “Did Disney willingly file a report, knowing the thing wasn’t stolen, just to run me down? Because obviously I had been posting a lot of backstage photos and stuff, and information … It almost seems like they wanted my phones because they knew I had a lot of backstage photos on them.”But BackDoorDisney kept implying inside knowledge of Buzzy’s disappearance.In a May 12 tweet, he tweeted a picture of Buzzy’s fate. The tweet showed a picture of Buzzy’s decapitated head, with its eyeballs scratched off. The image was included in a screenshot of a text Spikes received, which meant someone else might have stolen the robot.TwitterFive days later, police arrested Spikes. Although Buzzy’s disappearance featured prominently in an arrest affidavit (police appear to have started investigating him over Buzzy’s theft), Spikes was actually charged for a different series of alleged thefts from Disney World. His lawyer did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment.In July, police alleged, Spikes printed a fake Disney employee card for his cousin and snuck him into the park. The pair allegedly snuck into the Haunted Mansion, a popular ride, and stole a collection of wigs and outfits from backstage. The clothes, which were designed for the ride’s animatronic ghosts, cost between $40 (a tiara) and $1,746 (a robot’s jacket), adding up to more than $7,000.Spikes and his cousin allegedly took pictures throughout the heist, and posed in the wigs at a nearby 7-Eleven. A video from shortly after the theft allegedly shows Spikes’ cousin’s girlfriend wearing a robot’s stolen dress.Disney may have priced the clothes at just over $7,000, but they allegedly went for four times that price on the black market. Days after the alleged burglary, Spikes allegedly received a combined $29,451 payment from two people over Paypal. One of the people, whose name is redacted in the affidavit, told police he paid Spikes $8,890 for 18 items from various Disney heists, including $1,000 for a Haunted Mansion dress.Shortly before his arrest, Spikes teased a forthcoming video about the black market for stolen Disney gear.Police haven’t charged Spikes with Buzzy’s disappearance. But they say his video about the raid on his house raised questions about his involvement. In the video, he showed part of a search warrant for his house. Police say he edited the document to remove references to two pieces of evidence police sought.“The fact that Spikes altered the warrant for his video and only removed these two items indicate that he was aware these items were used in a crime,” the affidavit reads.In that same video, Spikes tells viewers he’ll keep his lips tight about Buzzy’s disappearance until the investigation is over.“If things are still under investigation, I’m not going to get on YouTube and run my mouth about it,” he said. “That would be dumb.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Google unveils a fresh new look for Search on mobile devices

Google unveiled a new look and feel today for the way it presents Google Search results on mobile, and the update has been regarded in a few corners now as somewhat News Feed-like.It's easy to see why that's the case, as the search giant's changes include putting emphasis on a website name and favicon above the search results. Whereas the source of results had previously not been so clearly emphasized, which makes the new design for showing results feel a little like scrolling through a feed of posts from publishers and the like."With this new design, a website's branding can be front and center, helping you better understand where the information is coming from and what pages have what you're looking for," explains Google Senior Interaction Designer for Search Jamie Leach in a company blog post today. "The name of the website and its icon appear at the top of the results card to help anchor each result, so you can more easily scan the page of results and decide what to explore next."The post notes that the refreshed look for what's arguably Google's most important product will start showing up to users over the coming days. As part of the changes, Leach continues, when you search for a product or service and Google feels like it's got a relevant, "useful" ad that would be worth including in the results, you'll now see an ad label in bold at the top of a search results card. The web address will also be included, so you can quickly determine where the information you're seeing is coming from.The other important thing to note about the Google Search refresh on mobile is that this also lays the foundation for Google to add more action buttons and information previews to search results cards, with Google wanting you to be able to now do everything from buying movie tickets to playing podcasts right there from within the results. "Our goal with Search always has been to help people quickly and easily find the information that they're looking for," Leach says. "Over the years, the amount and format of information available on the web has changed drastically -- from the proliferation of images and video to the availability of 3D objects you can now view in AR." Which is why the company thought a "visual refresh" of Search on mobile would do a better job of helping people find the information they need and quickly determine where it came from.

AP Explains: How Yemen's rebels increasingly deploy drones

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In Yemen, the high-pitched whine of drones has been a part of life for over 15 years, ever since the first U.S. drone strike here targeting al-Qaida in 2002. But now, Iran-backed Houthi rebels increasingly deploy drones in Yemen's brutal civil war.

Sheriff's Deputy Accused of Having 'Sexual Contact' With Teenage Boy

Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Shauna Bishop is supposed to protect and serve but now she`s accused of doing just the opposite.

The president is not 'an errand boy for Congress': Barr says he's protecting presidency, not Trump

"If you destroy the presidency and make it an errand boy for Congress, we’re going to be a much weaker and more divided nation," Barr said.

May’s Desperate Gamble on a New Brexit Referendum Falls Flat

Theresa May made a desperate final gamble to get her Brexit deal through the British Parliament before she’s thrown out of office -- but her efforts looked doomed. In a hastily arranged speech on Tuesday, the embattled prime minister promised to give members of Parliament a vote on whether to call another referendum to ratify Britain’s divorce from the European Union. It’s something many MPs -- including scores in the opposition Labour Party -- have been calling for, but she made it conditional on them backing her deal first.

British Steel collapses; thousands of jobs could go

British Steel collapsed on Wednesday after the government said last-ditch talks with its owners failed to secure a full financial rescue. The High Court in London ordered British Steel Limited into compulsory liquidation, a statement said. "British Steel Limited was wound-up in the High Court" on Wednesday, meaning its assets would be sold to help pay debts.

French widow sues Boeing for at least $276 million over Ethiopian crash

The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March killed all 157 passengers and crew aboard and followed the death in October of 189 people on a Lion Air 737 MAX which plunged into the ocean off Indonesia in similar circumstances. Dozens of families have sued Boeing over the Lion Air crash, and several lawsuits have been lodged over the Ethiopian crash near the capital Addis Ababa, which led airlines around the world to ground the Boeing 737 MAX. The lawsuit on behalf of Nadege Dubois-Seex, whose husband Jonathan Seex was a Swedish and Kenyan citizen and chief executive of the Tamarind Group of Companies, was filed in a U.S. District Court in Chicago, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

Explainer: 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?

These impossibly sleek Pixel 4 renders look so much better than the iPhone 11

The Pixel smartphone series began its life as a shameful iPhone copycat. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise since the original Pixel and Pixel XL phones were designed by Google in partnership with HTC. Once a market leader, HTC had already fallen quite far at that point, and it had just released its own iPhone 6 copycat in hopes of boosting sales. Google's first-generation Pixel phones were based on the design of that iPhone 6 ripoff, which was called the HTC One A9s. The Pixel was basically an Android-powered iPhone 6, while the Pixel XL was an Android-powered iPhone 6 Plus. The only real difference in designs was the big glass panel the Pixel phones had on the back.Google's current-generation Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL aren't quite as blatant when it comes to copying Apple. Of course, the larger Pixel 3 XL still takes inspiration from Apple's latest iPhone models and includes a big notch at the top of the display. If everything we've heard so far pans out, however, Google's Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones will be nothing like Apple's iPhone XS or the next-generation iPhone 11. Instead, they'll take design cues from Samsung's Galaxy S10 series -- and if the results end up looking anything like the renders you're about to see in this post, there's a very good chance that Google's 2019 Pixel phones will look even better than the iPhone 11 series handsets Apple is planning to release later this year.Thanks to months worth of leaks and rumors, we know almost exactly what Apple's iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Max, and iPhone 11R will look like when they're announced this coming September. In a nutshell, the iPhone 11 is going to be a copy of the iPhone XS, but it'll have a huge square camera bump on the back that houses Apple's new triple-lens camera system. Here's what it'll look like when Apple unveils the iPhone 11 series in a few months:It doesn't look bad, not by a long shot, but it also isn't anything special. For the second time, Apple plans to use almost the same exact smartphone design for three straight years instead of two, just like the company did with the iPhone 6, iPhone 6s, and iPhone 7.In contrast to the iPhone 11 series phones set to debut in September, rumors suggest Google's next-generation Pixel 4 lineup will feature a complete design overhaul. Google is said to have ditched the massive, unsightly bezels on its Pixel 3 phones in favor of an all-screen design with hole-punch cameras just like the Galaxy S10 from Samsung. In fact, the Pixel 4 will supposedly have one hole-punch selfie camera like the Galaxy S10 and S10e, while the larger Pixel 4 XL will apparently have dual selfie cameras in an oblong cutout, just like the Galaxy S10+.Graphic designer Jonas Daehnert, who goes by @PhoneDesigner on Twitter, has seen the same rumors as the rest of us. Unlike the rest of us, however, Daehnert has the chops to turn those rumors into reality by mocking up lifelike smartphone designs. He recently turned his attention to the Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, and the results are absolutely stunning. Take a look:And here's his vision of the Pixel 4 XL in white:There may end up being a few things here and there that are off the mark. For example, the latest rumor suggests that Google's new Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL smartphones won't have any buttons on them at all. But for the most part, these renders are likely a very good indication of what we can expect from the real Pixel 4 series phones once Google releases them this coming October.

Russian bombers, fighters intercepted off Alaska: US military

US fighters intercepted six Russian military aircraft in international airspace west of Alaska, and shadowed them until they exited the area, the North American Air Defense Command said Tuesday. The Russian aircraft included two Tu-95 strategic bombers, which were intercepted Monday by two F-22 fighters, the command said. A second group of two Tu-95 bombers and two Su-35 fighters were also intercepted by a pair of F-22 fighters, it said.

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".

AG 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.

Freshman congresswoman tells Trump's Homeland Security chief that deaths of migrants were 'intentional'

The acting Homeland Security secretary was grilled over his department's treatment of migrant children, five of whom have died since December.

White House, Democrats in Talks to End Holdup on USMCA Approval

Pelosi told Lighthizer that she will designate members of her caucus to be working group representatives to deal with labor, enforcement, environment and pharmaceutical provisions of the deal, two people briefed on the discussions said. The groups will likely consist of Democrats from the Ways and Means Committee, the congressional Progressive Caucus and the Congressional Black Caucus to ensure they can build consensus within the party, one of the people said.

Airbus seeks resolution to German arms export row: CEO

Airbus is in discussions to try to find solutions to a row with the German government over a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia that threatens a border security contract, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said on Tuesday. The planemaker has warned of legal action against Germany after taking financial charges over the long-delayed border contract between Airbus's defense unit and the Gulf kingdom. "We are not yet there," Faury told reporters when asked about possible legal action.