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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is one of four high-ranking Democrats to sign a letter to the FBI requesting an investigation into the actions of Li “Cindy” Yang.

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House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., is one of four high-ranking Democrats to sign a letter to the FBI requesting an investigation into the actions of Li “Cindy” Yang.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call Inc./Getty Images

High-ranking Democrats on Capitol Hill are calling for a counterintelligence investigation into a woman who has peddled access to President Trump and who founded the massage parlor where New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft is accused of soliciting sex.

Li “Cindy” Yang has been the subject of a number of reports in recent weeks, notably in The New York Times and the Miami Herald, which have detailed how she created a business that advertised “entry to events, including White House visits, ‘VIP activities at Mar-a-Lago’ and Warren Buffett’s annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders,” according to The Times.

She was photographed in February with Trump at a Super Bowl party that Kraft also attended, according to the Herald. And she also reportedly arranged for a group of Chinese business executives to attend a paid fundraiser for the president in late 2017.

If true, these allegations raise serious counterintelligence concerns,” wrote the highest-ranking Democrats on the intelligence and judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate in a letter dated Friday.

The letter, addressed to FBI Director Christopher Wray, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats and Secret Service Director Randolph Alles, contains questions about a number of aspects of Yang’s reported activities.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., released on Monday a statement in which they too said they support an investigation.

Yang founded the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, where Kraft is accused of visiting and soliciting prostitution twice — an accusation Kraft has called “totally false.” Yang told the Herald that she sold it long before the scandal involving the New England Patriots’ owner.

Democrats want to know the extent to which Yang or her businesses have been investigated by the FBI or state authorities for human trafficking or other violations of the law.

They also want a counterintelligence investigation into the extent that Yang or her clients interacted with Trump, Vice President Pence or other senior White House officials and whether those alleged interactions broke laws that govern international lobbying in the United States.

Yang met a number of high-level Republicans over the past year, according to the Herald:

“In 2018, she attended a Safari Night at Mar-a-Lago hosted by the president’s sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau, as well as the White House’s celebration of the Lunar New Year at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. She took photos with Florida’s soon-to-be-governor, Ron DeSantis, at a pro-Israel gala held at Mar-a-Lago, met U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao in Washington, D.C., and posed with Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale, U.S. Rep. Brian Mast, U.S. Rep Matt Gaetz and former Florida Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam. She also posted a photograph of herself with DeSantis at a restaurant, saying she was having ‘brunch this morning with Florida’s next Governor.’

“She was photographed with Donald Trump Jr. at a winter Mar-a-Lago gala for Turning Points USA, the conservative college organization, and met Eric Trump last month.”

No one Yang says she met with, or was photographed with, told the Herald that they remembered meeting her.

“Although Ms. Yang’s activities may only be those of an unscrupulous actor allegedly selling access to politicians for profit, her activities also could permit adversary governments or their agents access to these same politicians to acquire potential material for blackmail or other even more nefarious purposes,” wrote the Democrats.

They are also interested in probing whether Yang or any of her clients illegally contributed to campaigns in an effort to gain access to politicians.

You can read the entire letter here:

Source Article from https://www.npr.org/2019/03/18/704557685/democrats-call-for-investigation-into-pro-trump-former-owner-of-massage-parlors

California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes filed a major lawsuit seeking $250 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages against Twitter and a handful of its users on Monday, accusing the social media site of “shadow-banning conservatives” including himself to influence the 2018 elections, systematically censoring opposing viewpoints and totally “ignoring” lawful complaints of repeated abusive behavior.

In a complaint filed in Virginia state court on Monday, obtained by Fox News, Nunes claimed Twitter wanted to derail his work on the House Intelligence Committee, which he chaired until 2019, as he looked into alleged and apparent surveillance abuses by the government. Nunes said Twitter was guilty of “knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory – providing both a voice and financial incentive to the defamers – thereby facilitating defamation on its platform.”

The lawsuit alleged defamation, conspiracy and negligence, and sought not only damages, but also an injunction compelling Twitter to turn over the identities behind numerous accounts he said harassed and defamed him. The lawsuit is separate from Nunes’ work on the House Intelligence Committee, where he is now the ranking member.

“Twitter is a machine,” Nunes’ personal attorney, Steven S. Biss, told Fox News. “It is a modern-day Tammany Hall. Congressman Nunes intends to hold Twitter fully accountable for its abusive behavior and misconduct.”

Although federal law ordinarily exempts services like Twitter from defamation liability at all levels, Nunes’ suit said the platform has taken such an active role in curating and banning content — as opposed to merely hosting it — that it should face liability like any other organization that defames.

“Twitter created and developed the content at issue in this case by transforming false accusations of criminal conduct, imputed wrongdoing, dishonesty and lack of integrity into a publicly available commodity used by unscrupulous political operatives and their donor/clients as a weapon,” Nunes’ legal team wrote. “Twitter is ‘responsible’ for the development of offensive content on its platform because it in some way specifically encourages development of what is offensive about the content.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on Twitter’s algorithms and content monitoring in September 2018.
(REUTERS/Chris Wattie, File)

Additionally, as the complaint stated, Twitter has a duty to exercise reasonable care to avoid hosting outwardly defamatory content because of its increasingly important role in current affairs.

“Access to Twitter is essential for meaningful participation in modern-day American Democracy,” the complaint stated. “A candidate without Twitter is a losing candidate. The ability to use Twitter is a vital part of modern citizenship. A presence on Twitter is essential for an individual to run for office or engage in any level of political organizing in modern America. That is because Twitter is not merely a website: it is the modern town square. Twitter is equivalent to the private owner of a public forum who has fully opened its property to the general public for purposes of permitting the public’s free expression and debate. That is, in fact, what Twitter has always claimed to be.”

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has testified previously before Congress that his platform is a kind of “digital public square,” although he has insisted that Twitter, as a private company, retains the right to censor speech.

In large part because of Twitter’s actions, Nunes “endured an orchestrated defamation campaign of stunning breadth and scope, one that no human being should ever have to bear and suffer in their whole life” in the past year, according to the complaint.

“Twitter is a machine. It is a modern-day Tammany Hall.”

— Devin Nunes’ personal attorney, Steven S. Biss

The complaint also named specific Twitter accounts that spread allegedly defamatory material about Nunes. One defendant, identified as “Liz” Mair, purportedly published tweets that “implied that Nunes colluded with prostitutes and cocaine addicts, that Nunes does cocaine, and that Nunes was involved in a ‘Russian money laundering front,'” according to Nunes’ lawyers.

HOWARD KURTZ: IS TWITTER CORRUPTING JOURNALISM, OR EXPOSING ITS UTTER UNFAIRNESS?

The complaint quoted a June 22, 2018 tweet from Mair that implied Nunes invested in a winery that “allegedly used underage hookers to solicit investment.”

Mair did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment. Fox News has also reached out to Twitter for comment on the lawsuit, and was told only that “we’re not commenting at this time.” (The lawsuit seeks joint and several liability, which permits plaintiffs to recover from one defendant, and then leaves the defendants to sort out what each owes.)

The complaint also named “Devin Nunes’ Mom,” “a person who, with Twitter’s consent, hijacked Nunes’ name, falsely impersonated Nunes’ mother, and created and maintained an account on Twitter (@DevinNunesMom) for the sole purpose of attacking, defaming, disparaging and demeaning Nunes.”

Nunes lawyers’ wrote, “In her endless barrage of tweets, Devin Nunes’ Mom maliciously attacked every aspect of Nunes’ character, honesty, integrity, ethics and fitness to perform his duties as a United States Congressman.”

One tweet from the account, cited by the complaint, contained a crude drawing of Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Trump, and Nunes in a physically linked, symbiotic arrangement like the characters in the horror film “The Human Centipede (First Sequence).”

As of Monday afternoon, the @DevinNunesMom account was suspended by Twitter when Fox News tried to access it. The complaint stated that “Twitter only suspended the account in 2019 after Nunes’ real mother, Toni Dian Nunes, complained. … Twitter permitted @DevinNunesMom, for instance, to tweet and retweet with impunity throughout 2018.”

However, according to the complaint, “Twitter did nothing to investigate or review the defamation that appeared in plain view on its platform. Twitter consciously allowed the defamation of Nunes to continue” despite reports and purported reviews by Twitter’s content moderators.

TWITTER CEO: PLATFORM WAS PROBABLY ‘WAY TOO AGGRESSIVE’ IN BANNING ACCOUNTS

“As part of its agenda to squelch Nunes’ voice, cause him extreme pain and suffering, influence the 2018 Congressional election, and distract, intimidate and interfere with Nunes’ investigation into corruption and Russian involvement in the 2016 Presidential Election, Twitter did absolutely nothing,” the complaint stated.

Another account named as a defendant was “Devin Nunes’ Cow,” or @DevinCow, which purportedly called Nunes a “treasonous cowpoke” and an “udder-ly worthless” criminal. The timing and substance of the tweets, according to Nunes’ team, suggested that Mair was working jointly with @DevinCow and @DevinNunesMom accounts.

In response to the lawsuit, the @DevinCow account — which was still active as of Monday evening — posted numerous tweets mocking Nunes. “I’m not quitting my day job,” one read.

Calif. GOP Rep. Devin Nunes has sued Twitter for over $250 million.
(AP, File)

The complaint also charged that Twitter “shadow-banned” Nunes in 2018 “in order to restrict his free speech and to amplify the abusive and hateful content published and republished by Mair, Devin Nunes’ Mom,” and other accounts.

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“The shadow-banning was intentional,” the complaint continued. “It was calculated to interfere with and influence the federal election and interfere with Nunes’ ongoing investigation as a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. Twitter’s actions affected the election results. The combination of the shadow-ban and Twitter’s refusal to enforce its Terms and Rules in the face of clear and present abuse and hateful conduct caused Nunes to lose support amongst voters.”

The lawsuit cited numerous articles, including a Vice News story from last summer, reporting that Twitter had, for a time, downplayed the visibility of prominent conservatives in its search results.

On Monday, Sean Davis, the managing editor of The Federalist, wrote that he recently had been an apparent victim of a form of shadow-banning on Twitter.

“Twitter gave me no notice or explanation when it shadowbanned one of my Tweets about Russian interference in our elections,” Davis wrote. “But what’s worse is how Twitter apparently gives its users the fraudulent impression that their tweets, which Twitter secretly bans, are still public.”

Davis charged that Twitter “claimed in its e-mail to me that it ‘mistakenly remove[d]’ a completely anodyne tweet about public congressional testimony, but didn’t explain why it left the tweet–and metrics showing no engagement–visible to me when logged in. Is conning users a bug, or a feature?”

Dorsey, the Twitter CEO, acknowledged on Joe Rogan’s podcast earlier this month that the platform has been too aggressive in banning certain accounts.

Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s chief legal officer, said that the company would learn from its mistakes.

“Where we draw a line is when people use their voice and their platform to use their voice to silence someone else on the platform,” Gadde said on the podcast. “It’s rare for us to outright ban someone without warning.”

Source Article from https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nunes-files-bombshell-defamation-suit-against-twitter-seeks-250m-for-anti-conservative-shadow-bans-smears

On Monday, Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May cannot bring her Brexit deal back to Parliament for a third vote — at least in the deal’s current form.

Considering that the European Union has ruled out renegotiating the terms of Brexit, Bercow’s action creates a major obstacle. Up until now, May had hoped to bring her deal back for a third vote that might just have scraped over the line. But now, with Britain’s March 29 deadline for leaving the EU rapidly approaching, one of two things seems likely to happen: Either Britain will leave the EU without a deal, at the risk of significant economic hardship, or the EU will accept Parliament’s desire for an extension to the March 29 deadline.

While it is likely that the EU will grant an extension, Bercow’s rebuke means that May is caught between that extension and no obvious means of getting a deal-based Brexit into effect. After all, if May cannot call a vote on her deal and the EU won’t renegotiate it, what can she do?

That raises another question: What is Bercow’s thought process?

I don’t buy the speaker’s claim that he was forced into this action by parliamentary conventions reaching back hundreds of years. I suspect that Bercow’s ultimate motivation here is forcing May to call an election. Bercow is renowned for his interest in retaining public spotlight, and were he to force an election, he’d win a place as one of history’s most powerful speakers.

In the short term, however, this is just another curve ball for Brexit.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/how-britains-parliamentary-speaker-just-made-brexit-harder


Lawmakers have accused Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan of staying quiet on what military projects could be raided to finance barriers on the southern border. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo

Defense

The Pentagon on Monday sent lawmakers a lengthy list of nearly $12.9 billion in unobligated military construction funds that could be raided to build more barriers on the U.S.-Mexico border as part of President Donald Trump’s national emergency.

The move comes after Democrats accused Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan of stonewalling lawmakers on whether military projects in their states are at risk.

Story Continued Below

The Pentagon list outlines nearly $12.9 billion in projects across the military services that were unawarded as of Dec. 31. The bulk of money is concentrated in the last two fiscal years — nearly $6.8 billion for projects in the current 2019 fiscal year and nearly $4.3 billion for fiscal 2018.

After several testy exchanges during a Senate Armed Services hearing last week, Shanahan committed to the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, that he would soon provide that list.

Lawmakers in both parties are dyspeptic over potentially raiding the defense budget for a border wall — a move they fear will hurt military readiness just as it’s being rebuilt.

In a statement Monday, Reed called the move by Trump “a slap in the face to our military.”

“He is planning to take funds from real, effective operational priorities and needed projects and divert them to his vanity wall,” Reed said.

Trump aims to tap $3.6 billion in unobligated military construction funds for his signature border wall and is separately seeking to raid a Pentagon counternarcotics account for still more money.

The Pentagon says it won’t raid military housing and other projects that have been awarded or with fiscal 2019 award dates.

“The pool of potential military construction projects from which funding could be reallocated to support the construction of border barrier are solely projects with award dates after September 30, 2019,” the Pentagon said.

Trump’s newly released fiscal 2020 defense budget proposes $7.2 billion in emergency funding for the southern border, evenly split between new barriers and replenishing military construction projects that Trump is aiming to raid.

Shanahan, who took over in January after the abrupt resignation of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, defended the move last week on Capitol Hill, telling the Senate Armed Services the border funding “will not come at the expense of our people, our readiness, or our modernization.”

But Reed and other Democrats slammed Shanahan for not giving Congress specifics on what projects might be on the chopping block as lawmakers voted on a resolution to terminate the emergency.

“I feel completely sandbagged,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) told Shanahan. “You’re going to send it to us … after the vote on the emergency declaration. Members of the Senate are entitled to know from where these MilCon monies will be pulled.”

The House and Senate approved a resolution to nullify the emergency declaration, but Trump quickly vetoed the measure.

The House is set to vote next week on overriding Trump’s veto, but the effort is expected to fall short. Still Reed argued the list gives lawmakers new ammunition.

“A bipartisan majority of Congress went on record in voting to rebuke this ill-conceived idea,” Reed said. “Now that members of Congress can see the potential impact this proposal could have on projects in their home states, I hope they will take that into consideration before the vote to override the President’s veto.”

Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/border-wall-pentagon-military-funds-1226145

A teenager accused of injuring her 16-year-old friend by pushing her off a 60-foot bridge in southwestern Washington in August pleaded guilty Monday to misdemeanor reckless endangerment.

Taylor Smith appeared in Clark County District Court, where a state prosecutor recommended no jail time. She will be sentenced on March 27.

Smith pushed Jordan Holgerson off the Moulton Falls Regional Park bridge northeast of Vancouver on Aug. 7. Holgerson suffered six broken ribs and punctured lungs.

Smith, 19, was charged with one count of reckless endangermentabout a week and a half after the incident, a misdemeanor which carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

She pleaded not guilty in December. Last month, Smith was offered a plea deal, the details of which were not shared in court.

The 10-second video clip of the incident captured on a cellphone went viral.

Holgerson initially planned to jump off the bridge into a river about 60 feet below, but has said she changed her mind.

She said in a recent interview on NBC’s “Today” that while she was looking forward to Smith being sentenced, she was uncertain what punishment Smith should face.

“Some days, I kind of want her to be put in jail,” Holgerson said. “And some days, I think that might be too harsh.”




Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/03/18/teen-who-pushed-girl-off-bridge-pleads-guilty-to-misdemeanor/23695267/

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Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/politics/cindy-yang-donald-trump-democrats-fbi-investigation/index.html

March 18 at 2:58 PM

The speaker of Britain’s House of Commons, famous for his erudite put-downs and booming calls for “Order!” in Parliament, threw Prime Minister Theresa May’s plan to attempt to pass her Brexit deal again — on a third try, probably this week — into doubt Monday.

John Bercow said he would not allow the government to present May’s European Union withdrawal agreement to the House again unless that deal was “substantially” different from the first two times it was voted down. 

The ruling, which overturned May’s strategy to revive her Brexit deal at the 11th hour, appeared to blindside 10 Downing Street.

“The speaker did not forewarn us of the content of his statement or the fact that he was making one,” May’s spokeswoman, who by custom is not identified by name, told reporters.

Bercow’s ruling stoked further uncertainty about a process that has already been widely condemned as chaotic — and left stunned lawmakers wondering aloud what comes next. Britain is scheduled to leave the European Union on March 29.

Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt had told the BBC Monday morning that the government was hopeful there would be a third “meaningful vote” Tuesday on Brexit.

Robert Buckland, the government’s solicitor general, said Bercow’s announcement could have “huge reverberations” for the Brexit process. “We are in a major constitutional crisis here,” he told the BBC.

He suggested one way around the ruling would be to end the parliamentary session, start a new session and then hold a vote on May’s Brexit deal.

“We are now talking about not just days but hours to the 29th of March. Frankly, we could have done without this,” he said.

May suffered humiliating defeat in the two earlier votes.

In January, the 585-page withdrawal agreement she had spent two years negotiating with her European counterparts lost, 432 votes to 202 — with 118 members of her Conservative Party voting against her.

She then made a last-ditch pitch to E.U. leaders to improve the deal. She succeeded in having some additional legal language attached to the agreement to calm jitters over how to handle the Irish border. But that second attempt also failed last week, 391 to 242.

The government was hoping that if May’s deal passed early this week, she would go to Brussels on Thursday and ask for a “technical extension” until the end of June. If her deal did not pass, she was planning to seek a longer delay.

May spent the weekend twisting arms and cajoling rebels in her party, as well as her governing allies in the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, to get enough votes to cross the finish line. She was also expected to need support from the opposition Labour Party, whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has threatened to call a no-confidence vote to bring down the government.

The prime minister has warned recalcitrant Tory lawmakers that if they do not pass her Brexit deal, Britain will either have to leave the E.U. with no deal or else delay departure by months, even years. 

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph, May said that not backing her deal the second time had risked “undesirable alternatives, from not leaving the EU as scheduled on March 29, to the risk of a second referendum, a general election or the increased possibility of leaving without a deal.”

May’s strategy was brought up short by the speaker’s announcement that there would be no third attempt of a sale — unless the goods on offer were new and different.

“If the government wishes to bring forward a new proposition that is neither the same nor substantially the same as that disposed of by the House on the 12th of March, this would be entirely in order,” Bercow said.

“What the government cannot legitimately do is to resubmit to the House the same proposition — or substantially the same proposition — as that of last week,” he said.

Bercow appeared to suggest that May might have some wiggle room, but not much. “This ruling should not be regarded as my last word on the subject,” he said. “It is simply meant to indicate the test which the government must meet in order for me to rule that a third meaningful vote can legitimately be held in this parliamentary session.”

Anna Soubry, a lawmaker who left the Conservative Party over its handling of Brexit to join the new Independent Group, told Parliament: “This has to be unprecedented, the crisis that’s now upon the country. We’re due to leave the European Union in 11 days, and there is no plan, there is no certainty, and this country is crying out for it, especially business.”

“I think it would be helpful to the House to have the earliest possible indication of how the government intends to proceed in this important matter,” Bercow responded. “Part of the responsibility of the speaker is frankly to speak truth to power. I have always done that. And no matter what, I always will.”

In his ruling, Bercow quoted from the guide to parliamentary procedure that a question “may not be brought forward again during the same session” and that it was a “strong and long-standing convention” dating back to 1604.

Rory Stewart, a Conservative lawmaker, tweeted that he disagreed with the speaker “because these votes respond to an instruction in a referendum, endorsed by Parliament, which rules out dropping back to the status quo.”

In a series of votes last week, Parliament not only voted down May’s Brexit deal, but also insisted that Britain cannot leave the E.U. with no deal — a “cliff edge” scenario that could create economic havoc for both Britain and Europe.

Stewart may have also been referring to the speaker when he followed up with a tweet quoting Lewis Carroll’s Humpty Dumpty: “ ‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean.’ ”

Source Article from https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/brexit-in-disarray-after-house-speaker-moves-to-block-third-vote-on-deal/2019/03/18/0ec55516-499b-11e9-8cfc-2c5d0999c21e_story.html

Media captionSpeaker John Bercow rejects further Brexit votes without changes to motion

Speaker John Bercow has thrown the UK’s Brexit plans into further confusion by ruling out another vote on the PM’s deal unless MPs are given a new motion.

In a surprise ruling, he said he would not allow a third “meaningful vote” in the coming days on “substantially the same” motion as MPs rejected last week.

With 11 days to go before the UK is due to leave the EU, ministers have warned of a looming “constitutional crisis”.

The UK is currently due to leave the EU on 29 March.

Theresa May has negotiated the withdrawal deal with the EU but it must also be agreed by MPs.

They have voted against it twice, and the government has been considering a third attempt to get it through Parliament.

Mr Bercow cited a convention dating back to 1604 that a defeated motion could not be brought back in the same form during the course of a parliamentary session.

He said the second vote on the prime minister’s deal last week was “in order” as it was substantially different to the first, but any further votes must pass the “test” he set out to be allowed.

The BBC’s political editor Laura Kuenssberg said the speaker’s intervention does not stop Brexit from happening, but it makes it “extremely unlikely” that the government will put another vote on the deal to Parliament this week.

She said this makes it less likely the prime minister will ask EU leaders at a summit this week for a short extension – which Mrs May had said she would do if her deal got through Parliament.

This in turn makes it more likely there will be a longer delay to Brexit, she added.

She said: “The conclusion that most people in Westminster would reach from that means that we’re heading – it’s likely – towards a closer relationship with the European Union, a softer Brexit than the one Theresa May has set out.”

However, she added: “That said, the government does believe that, although they’re not clear about what it might be yet, there is a way round this complication – but it is another significant obstacle for Number 10 tonight and it has, in the words of one senior official, made things significantly more complicated.”

Mr Bercow’s statement appeared to take Downing Street by surprise, with the prime minister’s official spokesman saying it had not been warned of its contents “or indeed the fact that he was making one”.

Later, a Number 10 spokesman said the statement had been noted and required “proper consideration”.

The role of the speaker, who is the highest authority of the House of Commons, includes controlling debates, calling MPs to speak and choosing which amendments can be debated.

Analysis by BBC political correspondent Iain Watson

How can the government get another vote on Theresa May’s deal?

Well, first of all, rules are there to be changed.

If MPs suspend or change the “standing orders” of Parliament, they could get the Brexit deal back on the agenda.

Secondly, the government could change the proposition on offer.

The former Attorney General Dominic Grieve has suggested that something “substantially” different would be to ask Parliament to vote for the deal subject to a referendum.

Or change the Parliament?

If MPs can’t discuss the same thing in the same session of Parliament, why not simply start a new one?

Read Iain’s complete analysis here.

What’s the current state of play?

The prime minister had been expected to submit her Brexit deal for MPs to vote on for a third time this week – a week after they rejected it by 149 votes – and ahead of the EU summit on Thursday.

Last week MPs also voted in favour of ruling out leaving the EU without a deal, and in favour of extending the Brexit process – though an extension would have to be agreed by all 27 EU member states.

Brexit minister Kwasi Kwarteng has confirmed Mrs May will be writing to European Council President Donald Tusk to ask to postpone the UK’s exit date.

If the EU agreed, the government would ask both Houses of Parliament to approve the change, he said.

Mr Kwarteng said the length of the extension would depend on “whether the meaningful vote goes through or not”.

“If we have a deal… we will ask for a short extension,” he said.

“Now if for whatever reason that vote doesn’t happen, or is frustrated or is voted down, we will probably ask for a long extension of the period – and that would be a matter for the EU and for our government to decide.”

European leaders are expected to discuss the UK request to extend the Brexit process and delay the UK’s departure at the summit on Thursday.

Shadow Brexit minister Matthew Pennycook said the fact that Article 50 needed to be extended was “a mark of this government’s failure”.

Meanwhile, the government has been trying to convince the DUP and Tory Brexiteers, who have both voiced concerns about the backstop – the controversial arrangement to prevent physical checks on the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland – to vote in favour of the deal.

The DUP has opposed the deal up to now and are seeking further “clarifications” on the government’s legal advice about the backstop, and how the UK could exit it.

What’s been the reaction to the speaker’s intervention?

Ministers and MPs supportive of Mrs May’s deal expressed anger at the timing of Mr Bercow’s intervention.

Conservative MP James Gray, who plans to vote for the deal after rejecting it twice, said he was “absolutely furious”; while fellow Tory Greg Hands suggested Mr Bercow was the only person in the country who was “accountable to nobody”.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland warned there was now a “constitutional crisis” and suggested the onus was on the EU to come up with “new solutions” to enable MPs to vote on the deal again.

“Frankly we could have done without this, but it is something we are going to have to deal with,” he said.

He suggested “there were ways around this” – including potentially cutting short the current session of Parliament, a move which would lead to calls for a general election.

Some opponents of the PM’s Brexit deal welcomed the Speaker’s ruling.

Conservative former cabinet minister Owen Paterson said it was a “game-changer” and would “concentrate minds” ahead of Thursday’s EU summit.

Sir Bill Cash, chairman of the European Scrutiny Committee, said it seemed to make an “enormous amount of sense” given that the Brexit deal has been defeated twice and there would need to be a “substantial difference” to allow a third vote.

But the SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford suggested there was now a “constitutional crisis” and he suggested the prime minister should “immediately” call a meeting of opposition leaders.

And Brexiteer Nadhim Zahawi, Tory minister for children and families, told BBC Newsnight that the Speaker had “made it now much more difficult to have the short extension” and a meaningful vote, “therefore the longer extension is now clearly on the table. I don’t believe that’s a good thing”.

The view from the EU

By BBC Brussels reporter Adam Fleming

The EU’s official position is that they are waiting for Theresa May to come to a summit in Brussels on Thursday with a clear statement about how she plans to proceed, and there definitely won’t be any more negotiations when she gets here.

Unofficially, EU officials wonder if the government can get itself out of this situation, either with Parliamentary wizardry or by coming up with UK-only additions to the package, such as new guarantees about the role of Northern Ireland’s Stormont Assembly in the future.

And could the joint UK/EU decision about an extension to the Brexit process, due to be taken on Thursday, be appended to the deal and then count as something new enough to justify another vote in the Commons?

But explain to diplomats that the solution might be the Queen closing Parliament and re-opening a new session with a speech and their reactions are priceless.

Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-47614074

UTRECHT, Netherlands (Reuters) – Dutch police arrested a Turkish man suspected of shooting dead three people and wounding five on a tram in the Dutch city of Utrecht on Monday.

Utrecht police announced the suspect, 37-year-old Gokmen Tanis, had been taken into custody.

The city was put into lockdown after the shooting, shortly after the morning rush hour, which authorities initially said was an apparent terrorist attack. Police conducted raids in several locations.

But hours after the shooting, the gunman’s motive remained unclear. A prosecutor said it could be for “family reasons” and Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, quoting relatives of the gunman, said he had fired at a relative on the tram and had then shot at others who tried to help her.

Helicopters hovered over the usually quiet mediaeval town.

Authorities had raised the terrorism threat in Utrecht province to its highest level, schools were told to shut their doors and paramilitary police increased security at airports, other vital infrastructure and at mosques.

RELATED: Terror level raised following Dutch tram shooting




Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte convened crisis talks immediately after the incident, which came three days after a lone gunman killed 50 people in mass shootings at two mosques in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand.

“Our country has today been shocked by an attack in Utrecht… A terrorist motive cannot be excluded,” Rutte said.

“The first reports have led to disbelief and disgust. Innocent people have been struck by violence… We are now doing everything we can to find the perpetrator or perpetrators as soon as possible. That is now our complete focus.”

The mayor of Utrecht, Jan van Zanen, said three people had been killed and nine injured, three of them seriously. The number of injured was later lowered to five.

Dutch police issued an image of Tanis and warned the public not to approach him.

 

“FRIGHTENING”

The suspect had previous run-ins with police, the prosecutor said. Local broadcaster RTV Utrecht said earlier the suspect was known to police for both minor and major crimes, including a shooting in 2013.

The shooting took place in Kanaleneiland, a quiet residential district on the outskirts of Utrecht with a large immigrant population.

“It’s frightening that something like this can happen so close to home,” said Omar Rahhou, who said his parents lived on a street cordoned off by police. “These things normally happen far away but this brings it very close, awful.”

Witness Daan Molenaar, who said he had been sitting at the front of the tram when the shooting started, told national broadcaster NOS he did not believe it was a terrorist attack.

“The first thing I thought was, this is some kind of revenge or something, or somebody who’s really mad and grabbed a pistol,” he said.

The streets of Utrecht were emptier than usual and mosques in the city kept their doors closed on Monday. Police screened off the site where at least one body lay covered near the tram.

Dutch television showed counter-terrorism units surrounding a house in Utrecht and sniffer dogs being put to work.

Utrecht, the Netherlands’ fourth largest city with a population of around 340,000, is known for its picturesque canals and large student population. Gun killings are rare in Utrecht, as elsewhere in the Netherlands.

(Additional reporting by Toby Sterling and Anthony Deutsch; Writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Janet Lawrence)

Source Article from https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/03/18/dutch-police-arrest-turkish-man-suspected-of-killing-three-in-tram-shooting/23694875/

<!– –>

Flight data recovered from the wreckage of an Ethiopian Airlines jet showed “clear similarities” to another deadly crash of one of Boeing‘s top-selling 737 Max aircraft last October, according to the French accident investigator that downloaded the information.

Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 Max 8, went down shortly after takeoff from Addis Ababa on March 10, killing all 157 people on board. That occurred less than five months after a Lion Air jet crashed into the Java Sea in Indonesia during a similar stage in its flight, killing all 189 passengers and crew. Both 737 Max 8 jets were delivered to the airlines just months before their fatal flights.

The U.S. on Wednesday joined dozens of other countries in ordering airlines to ground the planes after the Federal Aviation Administration said it found new evidence that may link the two crashes.

Investigators who verified the data from the doomed Ethiopian Airlines jet’s flight data recorder found similarities between the Lion Air and Ethiopia crashes, “which will be the subject of further study during the investigation,” French accident authority BEA said in a statement Monday. That echoed statements from Ethiopian Transport Minister Dagmawit Moges a day earlier.

Data from the other black box — the cockpit voice recorder — has also been extracted and has been handed over to Ethiopia’s accident investigator, BEA said. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which is participating in the investigation of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, also verified the data, BEA added.

Scrutiny has increased on the federal approval process for the new Boeing Max jets, which have been flying for less than two years.

The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous people familiar with the matter, reported Sunday that a grand jury issued a subpoena to “at least one person” involved in the development of the plane. It said a prosecutor from the criminal division of the Justice Department was listed as a contact. The Journal also said that the Transportation Department’s watchdog was scrutinizing the FAA’s certification of the new 737 planes. Boeing had added an automatic anti-stall system to the Max jets when they went into service in 2017 that was not on older 737 aircraft. Indonesia investigators have indicated that as a possible factor in the Lion Air crash in October.

Pilots said they were not informed about the new system until after the Lion Air crash. Many were given a roughly hourlong iPad training class to transition from older Boeing 737s to the 737 Max, according to Dennis Tajer, a Boeing 737 pilot and spokesman for the Allied Pilots Association, which represents American Airlines pilots.

Boeing shares were down more than 2.6 percent in afternoon trading Monday, shaving nearly 60 points off the Dow Jones Industrial Average, as the day’s biggest loser in the index.

The FAA, Justice Department and the Transportation Department’s Office of Inspector General declined to comment. Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

WATCH: Why Boeing and Airbus dominate 99% of the large plane market

Source Article from https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/18/french-investigator-clear-similarities-between-boeing-737-max-crashes.html

New Zealand’s prime minister vowed Monday to unveil gun law changes within a week and called on gun owners to surrender their firearms to police after last week’s shooting rampage that left 50 people dead.

“Within 10 days of this horrific act of terrorism, we will have announced reforms, which I believe will make our community safer,” Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

Ardern promised a review into security agencies after the mosque shootings, the New Zealand Herald reported.

New Zealand Police Commissioner Mike Bush said his officers would willingly accept guns from anyone who wanted to get rid of them. He suggested that people alert police ahead of time “given the current situation.”

Ardern said she “applauded” people who handed in weapons and encouraged more to do so. Some gun owners took to social media to share stories of giving up their semiautomatic rifles. John Hart, a farmer and Green Party member from the Wairarapa, said on Twitter he had owned a gun for 31 years.

“On the farm they are a useful tool in some circumstances, but my convenience doesn’t outweigh the risk of misuse,” Hart tweeted. “We don’t need these in our country.”

The New Zealand auction website Trade Me said it was pulling semiautomatic weapons from its sites. Trade Me CEO John Macdonald had previously argued that his site was a better venue for dealing in weapons that more nefarious alternatives.

“But it is clear public sentiment has changed in relation to semiautomatic weapons, and we acknowledge that, which is why we’re putting this ban in place,” MacDonald said.

Gun City, a Christchurch gun shop, said Monday that it sold four guns to the accused shooter online since November 2017. “We detected nothing extraordinary about the license holder,” store owner David Tipple said. Two of the guns used were semiautomatic weapons that had been modified.

Monday, the man accused in the shooting, Brenton Tarrant, fired his lawyer and wants to represent himself at trial, the court-appointed lawyer said.

Richard Peters said the accused killer expressed no condolences or regret in the brief time they spent together.

“What did seem apparent to me is he seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behavior,” Peters told the Herald. “He didn’t appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views.”

 

 

 

 

Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/03/18/new-zealand-shooter-suspect-fires-lawyer-wants-represent-himself/3199924002/

It’d be great if reporters stopped handing President Trump ammunition for his attacks on the press.

Reuters’ Joseph Menn, for example, discovered prior to the 2018 midterm races that former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, was a member of the infamous Cult of the Dead Cow hacking group in the 1980s. As a contributor to the group, the former congressman penned a whole lot of deeply weird and poorly aged fiction and poetry.

Yes, he wrote violent and deeply perverted things. Still, teenagers do and say many, many, many regrettable things. The real issue here is that the Reuters journalist offered to sit on the story until after the midterm Senate races had ended, even after O’Rourke had already confirmed in 2017 that he was a member of the group. That is really bad.

Details of O’Rourke’s membership in the Cult of the Dead Cow were revealed for the first time last week in a Reuters exclusive titled, “Beto O’Rourke’s secret membership in America’s oldest hacking group.” The story revealed much of the former congressman’s teenage writings, including one bit of fiction, titled “Visions From The Last Crusade,” wherein the author fantasized about murdering children with a car. One passage reads:

One day, as I was driving home from work, I noticed two children crossing the street. They were happy, happy to be free from their troubles…. This happiness was mine by right. I had earned it in my dreams.

As I neared the young ones, I put all my weight on my right foot, keeping the accelerator pedal on the floor until I heard the crashing of the two children on the hood, and then the sharp cry of pain from one of the two. I was so fascinated for a moment, that when after I had stopped my vehicle, I just sat in a daze, sweet visions filling my head.

That’s certainly different. The Reuters report also uncovered some of O’Rourke’s adolescent poetry, including a poem titled “The Song of the Cow,” which includes the following stanzas:

I need a butt-shine,

Right now

You are holy,

Oh, sacred Cow

I thirst for you,

Provide Milk.

Buff my balls,

Love the Cow,

Good fortune for those that do.

Love me, breathe my feet,

The Cow has risen.

Wax my ass,

Scrub my balls.

The Cow has risen,

Provide Milk.

I don’t even know how to respond to that.

As interesting as all of this was last week, there was one inescapable question that many readers asked, which was: Where was all of this information during the 2018 Texas Senate race?

As it turns out, a journalist had found it. He simply didn’t tell anyone.

In a follow-up story published this weekend, Reuters reported, “After more than a year of reporting, Menn persuaded O’Rourke to talk on the record. In an interview in late 2017, O’Rourke acknowledged that he was a member of the group, on the understanding that the information would not be made public until after his Senate race against Ted Cruz in November 2018.”

The follow-up report also includes a quote from Menn wherein he revealed he was the one who made O’Rourke’s confirmation contingent on burying the story until after the 2018 midterms.

“I met Beto O’Rourke. I said ‘I’m writing a book about Cult of the Dead Cow, I think it’s really interesting. I know you were in this group. This book is going to publish after November and your Senate race is over. And he said, ‘OK,’” Menn told Reuters senior producer Jane Lee. ““And he told me about his time in the Cult of the Dead Cow.”

Naturally, his revelation he sat on the story as a favor to O’Rourke was met with harsh criticism this weekend, prompting the Reuters reporter to clarify just how his “exclusive” came to be.

“To be clear, I offered [Beto O’Rourke] an embargo because it was for a book I was on leave to write, not for my day job, and because no one else who knew would confirm the facts before the election,” Menn said this weekend on Twitter. “Not confirm what someone else said, confirm my guess. I had zero sources.”

I understand saving certain information to make his book more interesting and original, but the entire story?

“Gosh this is fun. I did not have the story before the November election because no one would talk,” Menn continued. “No one in [Cult of Dead Cow] would talk about O’Rourke until I promised not to publish before the 2018 election. That was OK: I wanted the full story for my book, which spans decades, rather than 1 scoop ahead of a state vote. I offered O’Rourke the same terms. He accepted, and we spoke.”

I don’t think this is the defense he thinks it is.

If I were Menn’s editors, I’d be having a long, rather unpleasant discussion with him right now about whether he’d like to make his side gig writing books his permanent day job.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/amid-tight-senate-race-reuters-reporter-sat-on-beto-hacking-story

President Trump’s Twitter attacks on the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. over the weekend — including his retweet of one supporter who explained that she “hated” the late Senator — invite the question: Why does Trump harbor such a special hatred for the long-deceased McCain?

Well, Trump would suggest it’s three factors. First, there’s McCain’s transmission of the so-called Steele dossier to the FBI. Compiled by Christopher Steele, the former British intelligence officer, that dossier suggested Trump’s involvement in various nefarious and lewd activities. Then there’s McCain’s decision to vote down the health care bill sponsored by his friend Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. That bill, which would have passed had McCain supported it, would have replaced the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Finally, there’s McCain’s sustained criticisms of Trump during the first 18 months of his presidency.

I think these issues play into Trump’s deep dislike for McCain, but there’s an even more basic rationale for his fiery fury: McCain encapsulates everything Trump despises most in American politics.

Most obviously, McCain was and is an eternal marker for Republican disenchantment with the Trump presidency. Trump is gravely aggravated by this disenchantment because he believes he has earned a right to be treated as the modern Caesar of contemporary Republicanism, a leader entitled to absolute, unflinching loyalty. Trump simply cannot rationalize why McCain was able to reject his presidency and somehow also retain the respect of Republicans.

[Related: Lindsey Graham says John McCain’s legacy won’t be ‘diminished’ after Trump attacks the late senator]

But it’s not just that McCain refused to kiss the emperor’s ring. It’s that McCain knelt to a different ideal outside Trump’s court, and one for which Democrats and the media at times praised him. Trump has little regard for military service in and of itself. He judges service by obvious outcomes alone and not sacrifice for a cause.

This takes us to the context of March 2019. Increasingly enraged by the media’s refusal to bow to him, Trump feels the continued celebration of McCain as just more salt in the ego wound.

Yes, McCain obviously deserves better than this scorn. But Trump’s rage against him is unlikely ever to waver.

Source Article from https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-trump-hates-john-mccain-so-much

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Washington (CNN)On Sunday, President Donald Trump sent out 29(!) tweets and retweets. Which, in and of itself, is a remarkable thing to say about the chief executive of the United States. (A prolific tweeter and retweeter myself, I sent out 15 tweets on Sunday. And, relatedly, I am not the president of the United States.)

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  1. The Federal Communications Commission or Federal Election Commission should investigate whether “Saturday Night Live” and late-night talk shows are in collusion with Democrats and/or Russia because they attack him so consistently.
  2. Attacked late Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, for allegedly sending the FBI the Steele dossier before the election — and working with Democrats to do so. (Also, Trump called McCain — who, it’s worth noting, is dead — “last in his class” at the US Naval Academy.)
  3. Urged Fox News Channel to reinstate host Jeanine Pirro after she was suspended for questioning the patriotism of Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who is Muslim.
  4. Urged FNC to stand up for host Tucker Carlson, who has seen some advertisers pull out of his show following the release of a series of caustic and offensive remarks he made on a radio show between 2006 and 2011.
  5. Accused General Motors of having “let our country down” in the wake of the news that the company was relocating four American factories.
  6. Attacked FNC anchor Shep Smith and two other weekend anchors at Fox, alleging they had “been trained by CNN prior to their ratings collapse.”
  7. Alleged that Democrats tried to “steal a presidential election,” calling it “the biggest scandal in the history of our country.”
  8. Retweeted Jack Posobiec, who among other things, is a leading promoter of the Pizzagate and Seth Rich conspiracy theories.

    Source Article from https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/18/politics/donald-trump-twitter-sunday/index.html

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      ‘);$vidEndSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–active’);}};CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;var configObj = {thumb: ‘none’,video: ‘tv/2019/03/17/exp-gps-0317-miliband-sot-brexit.cnn’,width: ‘100%’,height: ‘100%’,section: ‘international’,profile: ‘expansion’,network: ‘cnn’,markupId: ‘body-text_5’,theoplayer: {allowNativeFullscreen: true},adsection: ‘const-article-inpage’,frameWidth: ‘100%’,frameHeight: ‘100%’,posterImageOverride: 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    ‘);$vidEndSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–active’);}};CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;var configObj = {thumb: ‘none’,video: ‘tv/2019/03/17/exp-gps-0317-anne-marie-slaughter-sot-brexit.cnn’,width: ‘100%’,height: ‘100%’,section: ‘international’,profile: ‘expansion’,network: ‘cnn’,markupId: ‘body-text_20’,theoplayer: {allowNativeFullscreen: true},adsection: ‘const-article-inpage’,frameWidth: ‘100%’,frameHeight: ‘100%’,posterImageOverride: 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{videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);videoPinner.animateDown();}}},onContentReplayRequest: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(true);var $endSlate = jQuery(document.getElementById(containerId)).parent().find(‘.js-video__end-slate’).eq(0);if ($endSlate.length > 0) {$endSlate.removeClass(‘video__end-slate–active’).addClass(‘video__end-slate–inactive’);}}}},onContentBegin: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (mobilePinnedView) {mobilePinnedView.enable();}/* Dismissing the pinnedPlayer if another video players plays a video. */CNN.VideoPlayer.dismissMobilePinnedPlayer(containerId);CNN.VideoPlayer.mutePlayer(containerId);if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘removeEpicAds’);}CNN.VideoPlayer.hideSpinner(containerId);clearTimeout(moveToNextTimeout);CNN.VideoSourceUtils.clearSource(containerId);jQuery(document).triggerVideoContentStarted();},onContentComplete: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (CNN.companion && typeof CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout === ‘function’) {CNN.companion.updateCompanionLayout(‘restoreFreewheel’);}navigateToNextVideo(contentId, containerId);},onContentEnd: function (containerId, cvpId, contentId) {if (Modernizr && !Modernizr.phone && !Modernizr.mobile && !Modernizr.tablet) {if (typeof videoPinner !== ‘undefined’ && videoPinner !== null) {videoPinner.setIsPlaying(false);}}},onCVPVisibilityChange: function (containerId, cvpId, visible) {CNN.VideoPlayer.handleAdOnCVPVisibilityChange(containerId, visible);}};if (typeof configObj.context !== ‘string’ || configObj.context.length 0) {configObj.adsection = window.ssid;}CNN.autoPlayVideoExist = (CNN.autoPlayVideoExist === true) ? true : false;CNN.VideoPlayer.getLibrary(configObj, callbackObj, isLivePlayer);});CNN.INJECTOR.scriptComplete(‘videodemanddust’);

      Source Article from https://edition.cnn.com/2019/03/18/uk/theresa-may-brexit-vote-third-time-lucky/index.html

      Image copyright
      @PolitieUtrecht / Twitter

      Image caption

      Police released this image of Gokmen Tanis

      Three people have been killed following a shooting on a tram in the central Dutch city of Utrecht, the city’s mayor says.

      Nine others were injured in the incident which police say appears to be a terrorist attack.

      Police are looking for a 37-year-old Turkish man named as Gokmen Tanis and have warned people not to approach him.

      Schools have closed and security has been increased while counter-terrorism police work to find the gunman.

      “We cannot exclude a terrorist motive,” Dutch anti-terrorism co-ordinator Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg told a news conference on Monday.

      “A lot is still unclear at this point and local authorities are working hard to establish all the facts,” Mr Aalbersberg said.

      He added that there had been shootings at “several locations”, but did not elaborate on where these were.

      Media captionPriority ‘finding Utrecht tram gunman’

      Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said the incident was “deeply disturbing”.

      “An act of terror is an attack on our civilisation [and] on our tolerant and open society,” he said.

      Counter-terrorism police earlier surrounded a house near the 24 Oktoberplein junction, where the tram attack took place, but no arrests appear to have been made.

      Meanwhile, the threat level has been temporarily raised to its highest point in the province of Utrecht.

      Utrecht University has closed all of its buildings and trains are not allowed to run into the city’s central station.

      Paramilitary police have also been sent to airports and mosques amid increased security concerns.

      Image copyright
      EPA

      Image caption

      Police say all efforts are now focused on catching the gunman


      Are you in the area? Did you witness the attack? If it is safe to do so please get in touch by emailing .

      Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:

      Source Article from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47615231

      Washington — Boeing’s pilot training was under scrutiny on Monday as investigators analyzed data from the Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max 8 jet that crashed outside Nairobi, killing 157 people. CBS News has learned that U.S. pilots were initially given 56 minutes of training, on an iPad, about the differences between the new Boeing Max planes brought into service in 2017, and the older 737s.

      That information came as officials in Ethiopia said the flight data recorder — one of the doomed Flight 302 jet’s black boxes — showed “clear similarities” to the crash of a Lion Air Boeing 737 Max 8 in Indonesia last October.

      CBS News correspondent Kris Van Cleave reported Monday that satellite data showed very similar flight patterns for the Ethiopian and Lion Air flights.

      A jack screw, which helps to lower or raise the nose of the plane, was also recovered at both of the crash sites. When found, the screws were set in a position to put the plane into a dive.

      French investigators downloaded all the data from the Ethiopian jet’s black boxes over the weekend and handed it over to Ethiopian investigators who are running the probe into the crash.

      Boeing 737 jackscrew could hold clues to deadly plane crash in Ethiopia

      The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing are also part of the investigation.

      In a statement, Boeing’s CEO said the company was finalizing development of a software update, as well as a revision to pilot training, to address concerns stemming from the Lion Air crash late last year.

      Congress plans to probe the FAA approval process for the new Boeing 737 Max, and CBS News has learned that at least one Boeing employee and an FAA staffer involved with the certification of the Max planes have been told to retain records pertaining to that approval process.

      Government officials with knowledge of the situation did not dispute on Monday that a Boeing official had received a subpoena to preserve records relating to the FAA certification process of the 737 Max. 

      The Seattle Times reported on Sunday, citing engineers who the paper said worked closely on the FAA approval process for the 737 Max jets, that FAA managers, “pushed the agency’s safety engineers to delegate safety assessments to Boeing itself, and to speedily approve the resulting analysis” of a new flight control system installed on the planes.

      Black boxes from deadly Ethiopian Airlines crash sent to investigators in France

      The MCAS system was put on the Max jets to help avoid mid-air stalls but it has been linked to the crash of the Lion Air jet, and given the similar flight paths, there are concerns it may also have played a role in Ethiopia.

      Meanwhile, Boeing’s 737 Max planes could remain grounded for weeks, or even months. The FAA has said the planes definitely won’t be allowed to fly again until the software fix is installed and verified to address concerns.

      Van Cleave said investigators still don’t have enough information about the Ethiopian crash to say whether there are other issues that need to be addressed.

      Source Article from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/boeing-737-max-training-faa-certification-scrutiny-ethiopian-airways-et302-crash/

      The man accused of a shooting rampage that left 50 people dead at two New Zealand mosques has fired his lawyer and wants to represent himself at trial, the court-appointed lawyer said.

      Richard Peters was assigned to represent Brenton Tarrant at Tarrant’s brief court hearing Saturday. Tarrant fired Peters and may want to use the trial to give more publicity to his views, Peters told the New Zealand Herald.

      Peters said the trial judge must decide how much racist rhetoric will be allowed. Tarrant released a manifesto minutes before Friday’s attack.

      Peters said Tarrant expressed no condolences or regret.

      “What did seem apparent to me is he seemed quite clear and lucid, whereas this may seem like very irrational behavior,” Peters told the Herald. “He didn’t appear to me to be facing any challenges or mental impairment, other than holding fairly extreme views.”

      Tarrant, an Australian, has been charged with one count of murder, but more charges are likely. He has not sought bail and faces a hearing April 5.

      The death toll stood at 50 with dozens more wounded in Tarrant’s assault on the Al Noor and Linwood mosques during Friday prayers in the city of Christchurch.

      Tarrant, 28, livestreamed the rampage via helmet cam on Facebook and Twitter. The video shows the gunman saying “Let’s get this party started” before walking in the front door of the Al Noor mosque and opening fire. After three minutes, he returns to his vehicle for more ammunition and goes back into the mosque and continues shooting. 

      More than 40 people died at the Al Noor site. Tarrant then sped off, bound for the the Linwood location where the carnage continued. The video does not include the Linwood attack. 

      Facebook said Sunday that it removed or blocked from the social media site 1.5 million videos of a gunman’s rampage. Twitter, YouTube and other social media sites also scrambled to take down video of the carnage.

      A Christchurch gun shop said Monday it sold the guns to Tarrant online. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed to begin discussions Monday with her Cabinet aimed at strengthening her nation’s gun laws.

       

       

       

       

      Source Article from https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2019/03/18/new-zealand-shooter-suspect-fires-lawyer-wants-represent-himself/3199924002/


      If former Vice President Joe Biden runs in 2020, his newfound wealth could give his Democratic and GOP opponents an opening to attack him as disingenuous, or at least less than advertised. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

      2020 Elections

      The former VP on the brink of a likely presidential campaign has done quite well financially since leaving office in 2017.

      “Middle-Class Joe” Biden has a $2.7 million vacation home. He charges more than $100,000 per speaking gig and has inked a book deal likely worth seven figures.

      Since leaving office in 2017, the 76-year-old former vice president has watched his bank account swell as he continues to cultivate the image of a regular, Amtrak-riding guy. He’s repeatedly referred to himself as “Middle-Class Joe” on the campaign trail and in speaking engagements as he publicly mulls whether to run for president.

      Story Continued Below

      While his finances might be unexceptional by the standards of well-heeled Washington politicians, Biden is unique among the top Democratic presidential hopefuls because of his avowed distance from the upper class. It’s central to his political identity. But if Biden runs, his newfound wealth could give his Democratic and GOP opponents an opening to attack him as disingenuous, or at least less than advertised.

      For Biden and his supporters, “middle class” isn’t so much a financial status as it is a state of mind, a sensibility that’s ingrained in his political DNA. In a party where voters have grown increasingly wary of income inequality, Biden’s use of the nickname functions as an us-vs-them foil that tells both middle- and working-class people he’s one of them, the little guys sneered at by the elites.

      “I know I’m called Middle-Class Joe. It’s not meant to be a compliment. It means I’m not sophisticated. But I know what made this country what it is: ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” Biden said in Kentucky last year, a refrain he’s used repeatedly for years, including when he floated a potential presidential run in 2017.

      And Biden’s supporters argue there’s nothing inconsistent or hypocritical about his fatter bank account since he exited the public sector after almost 50 years.

      “During his time in office, fulfilling a pledge he made in his first campaign for the Senate, he held no stocks or bonds or any outside business interests,” said Bill Russo, a spokesman for Biden. “After he left the White House, he wrote a best-selling book and went on a speaking tour to pay off debt accumulated during his time in public life and to ensure that his grandchildren would be provided for. His entire career has been dedicated to trying to make life easier for hardworking people in this country. The American people know that.”

      Skeptics on the left see it differently.

      Adam Green, a co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, said Biden’s earnings on the speaking circuit and elsewhere reinforce his negatives as a Washington insider and deal-maker who cashed out once he left office. At least at the outset, the former vice president is expected to rely on a traditional network of big-money Democratic donors to bankroll his campaign more than his rivals, as opposed to an army of small-dollar givers.

      “Joe Biden is the opposite of an outsider and the opposite of someone who will challenge big corporate and moneyed elites on many, many fronts. And his big money and speaking deals would be just the cherry on top of that larger totality of circumstances,” said Green, whose group supports Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “This would be an exacerbating data point in a larger story of him being the wrong person in a moment when people want someone to shake up the political establishment and take on corporate and wealthy elites.”

      Democratic voters have grown increasingly concerned with vast income inequality; how to address it is a central issue in the nomination fight. But when it comes to the candidates’ own wealth, Biden’s primary opponents might have a hard time attacking him on his recent money-making ventures because many of them are wealthy themselves.

      Several top-tier Democratic campaigns didn’t want to discuss Biden publicly before he gets in the race, though two told POLITICO on background that the way Biden represents his finances could provide an opening to call him out.

      Other Democratic candidates are also the target of criticism by opponents over financial matters. Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke is drawing fire, some of it inaccurate, for receiving financial support from his wealthy father-in-law. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has faced questions since his 2016 presidential bid for releasing only one tax return from 2014. Sanders last month promised he would release a decade’s worth of returns “soon.”

      Only two Democrats running for president have released tax information so far: Warren, who posted 10 tax returns, and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who released 11, according to the Tax History Project’s Tax Notes, which has collected the information from candidates going back to 1913. Democrats will be under increasing pressure to provide their tax returns to draw a sharper contrast with President Donald Trump, the first nominee in decades not to release tax forms before or after his election.

      First elected to the Senate in 1973, Biden was once one of the least wealthy members of the chamber. By the time he left the White House, he and his wife, Jill Biden, reported assets between $303,000 and $1 million, as well as liabilities between $560,000 and $1.2 million. During much of his time in office, Biden’s wife was a professor at Northern Virginia Community College, where she still teaches.

      Biden’s finances changed sharply when he left office. He and Jill Biden signed a multi-book deal in early 2017. Russo, Biden’s spokesman, refused to disclose how much the deal is worth. But it’s likely in the “high seven figures,” said Keith Urbahn, a literary agent who specializes in political books and has represented the likes of former FBI Director James Comey and Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse.

      In June 2017, shortly after they inked the book deal, the Bidens purchased their vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., for $2.7 million.

      Another house that Biden bought in Wilmington, Del., for $350,000 in 1996 is now worth almost $1.9 million, according to an estimate by the real estate website Zillow. The Bidens rent a third home in Virginia, near the community college where Jill Biden teaches. Russo would not say how much they pay in rent, if anything, or where it’s located.

      Of all the homes, however, the new vacation home in Rehoboth Beach is special for Biden, who has told friends and associates that he wants the home as a central place for his family to gather, especially since the death of his son Beau from brain cancer in 2015.

      Biden wrote about Beau’s death in “Promise Me, Dad,” the first book published as part of his deal, which Biden has promoted in about 40 stops throughout the country. Russo declined to say how much he charges for the events. Tickets have been advertised for as little as $25, while VIP tickets, which include a photo with Biden, have gone for $450.

      In addition to the book tour, Biden has had several other speaking engagements.

      Though his team has not released the cost of each event, contracts for some of them have become public, showing him charging from $150,000 to $200,000.

      In at least one case, Biden didn’t charge a fee for his appearance: The University of Utah was initially given a speaking fee of $100,000 for a speech in December, but Biden didn’t take a check after he found out it would come from state funds.

      The rate appears to be standard, though. An October 2018 email from a University of Utah official, provided to POLITICO by the Republican opposition research firm America Rising, said Biden’s booking firm reported that “the vice president charges a reduced rate for colleges and universities of $100,000.”

      At a January speech in Florida’s Democratic bastion of Broward County where he earned $150,000, Biden avoided calling himself “Middle-Class Joe.” But the Miami New Times rapped him for the staged nature of the event — in which noncontroversial questions he answered publicly were pre-approved by him and “triaged for content” — as well as a tour rider that insisted he be fed spaghetti pomodoro and raspberry sorbet before his speech.

      In the 2016 presidential race, Hillary Clinton was pilloried for her lucrative paid speeches, especially those she made to big banks. She and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, earned more than $150 million for the talks between 2001 and 2015.

      Working-class white voters certainly didn’t hold Trump’s wealth against him in the 2016 election, and Biden’s supporters believe he’s the Democrat best able to win them back. They point to some polls showing Biden leading among whites and less-educated voters as well as the rousing support for him last week at the International Association of Fire Fighters union convention in Washington.

      The union’s president, Harold Schaitberger, said Biden’s connection to working-class voters is undeniable because Biden — a Scranton, Pa., native — is genuinely middle class, regardless of how rich he is.

      “Donald Trump really stole the voice that the Democratic Party used to speak with and lost it to some degree. And Joe Biden doesn’t just reclaim that. It’s who he is,” Schaitberger said. “He is ‘Working Class Joe.’ It’s not that he’s from Scranton. It’s not what’s in his checkbook.”

      Neil Oxman, a longtime Pennsylvania-based Democratic political consultant, said Biden’s middle-class roots are legitimate, even if his finances have changed over the past few years.

      “I don’t think anybody can question his truly middle-class, working, Irish Catholic, Lackawanna County, Scranton credentials,” he said. “I think it’s truly genuine.”

      Source Article from https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/18/joe-biden-2020-money-wealth-1221934

      More than a year before the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, approved a secret campaign to silence dissenters, the New York Times has reported.

      The campaign included surveillance, kidnapping, detention and torture of Saudis, said the report published on Sunday citing the US officials who have read classified intelligence reports about the effort.

      American officials referred to it as the Saudi Rapid Intervention Group, the Times said.

      One of the victims of this group was a university lecturer who reported on the situation of women and was tortured last year, prompting her to attempt suicide.

      Saudi Arabia has a long history of pursuing dissidents, including those based outside the country, but this practice has seen a major upsurge following Prince Mohammed’s promotion as the crown prince in 2017.

      At least some of the clandestine missions were carried out by the members of the team that killed and dismembered Khashoggi in October at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, suggesting his murder was part of a wider campaign against dissidents, the report said, citing the US officials and associates of some Saudi victims.

      These members were involved in at least a dozen operations beginning in 2017, the officials said, including forcibly repatriating Saudis from other Arab countries.

      Authorised by MBS

      The murder of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, generated global outrage, leading to a call by some US senators for President Donald Trump to designate and punish those responsible.

      Trump did not comply.

      The senators, briefed by the heads of US intelligence agencies, said they were convinced that Prince Mohammed was responsible for the Khashoggi killing.

      Saudi Arabia has stressed the prince was not involved.

      The kingdom initially said it had no knowledge of Khashoggi’s fate but later blamed its rogue agents for his gruesome murder.

      Saudi Arabia’s public prosecutor has charged 11 people over his murder.

      The Rapid Intervention Group was authorised by Prince Mohammed and overseen by Saud al-Qahtani, a royal court insider, American officials told the Times.

      US intelligence reports did not specify how involved Prince Mohammed was with the group’s work, but said that the operatives saw al-Qahtani as a “conduit” to the prince, the report said.

      Al-Qahtani has been sacked over Khashoggi’s murder but Saudi authorities have not said if he was among those charged. Five of the accused face the death penalty.

      Harassing rights activists

      According to the New York-based newspaper, the Rapid Intervention Group has been involved in the harassment of arrested prominent human rights activists and women’s rights defenders, including Loujain al-Hathloul, Aziza al-Yousef and Iman al-Najfan.

      Alia al-Hathloul says that al-Qahtani attended several such sessions to torture her sister. He also threatened to kill Loujain and throw her body into the sewers, Alia says.

      According to the newspaper, the women were beaten, subjected to electric shocks, waterboarding, and threatened with death and rape during the interrogations.

      Loujain’s sister says that at first the Saudi authorities did not send the arrested women to jail, but in a secret location in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

      According to US intelligence assessment, the brutal interrogations prompted university professor al-Najfan to attempt suicide.

      The women’s trial began last Wednesday after nearly a year in detention, but the Saudi government did not announce the charges against them.

      Saudi denial

      The intervention team was so busy that in June its leader asked a top adviser to Prince Mohammed whether he would give them bonuses for Eid-ul-Fitr, a major festival at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

      Saudi officials declined to confirm or deny that such a team existed, or answer questions from the Times about its work.

      According to a spokesperson for the Saudi embassy in Washington, the kingdom “takes any allegations of ill-treatment of defendants awaiting trial or prisoners serving their sentences very seriously”.

      Source Article from https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/03/mbs-approved-intervention-dissidents-nyt-report-190318075621971.html