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Exclusive: Apple in talks with potential suppliers of sensors for self-driving cars – sources

Logo of Apple is seen at a store in Zurich
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Apple is seen at a store in Zurich, Switzerland January 3, 2019. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann

April 17, 2019

By Stephen Nellis

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Apple Inc has held talks with at least four companies as possible suppliers for next-generation lidar sensors in self-driving cars, evaluating the companies’ technology while also still working on its own lidar unit, three people familiar with the discussions said.

The moves provide fresh evidence of Apple’s renewed ambitions to enter the autonomous vehicle derby, an effort it calls Project Titan. The talks are focused on next-generation lidar, a sensor that provides a three-dimensional look at the road.

Apple is seeking lidar units that would be smaller, cheaper and more easily mass produced than current technology, the three people said. The iPhone maker is setting a high bar with demands for a “revolutionary design,” one of the people familiar with the talks said. The people declined to name the companies Apple has approached.

The sensor effort means Apple wants to develop the entire chain of hardware to guide autonomous vehicles and has joined automakers and investors in the race to find winning technologies.

Current lidar systems, including units from Velodyne Inc mounted on Apple’s fleet of self-driving test vehicles, use laser light pulses to render precise images of the environment around the car. But the systems can cost $100,000 and use mechanical parts to sweep the laser scanners across the road.

That makes them too bulky and prone to failure for use in mass-produced vehicles. The shortcomings have spurred $1 billion in investment at dozens of startups and mature companies alike to make lidar smaller, cheaper and more robust.

Apple’s interest in next-generation lidar sensors comes as it has sharply increased its road testing while bringing on key hires from Tesla Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google.

It remains unclear whether the goal of Apple’s Project Titan is to build its own vehicle or supply the hardware and software elements of self-driving car while pairing with a partner for the entire vehicle.

But what is clear from Apple’s interest in cheaper lidar systems is that it wants to control the “perception stack” of sensors, computers and software to drive an autonomous vehicle, regardless of who makes the vehicle, another person familiar with the talks said. The three people familiar with the talks declined to be identified because the discussions are not public.

In addition to evaluating potential outside suppliers, Apple is believed to have its own internal lidar sensor under development, two of the people said.

Alphabet-owned Waymo has taken a similar path, assembling a sensor and computer system while inking deals to buy vehicles from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles.

Apple gets “a lot of optionality by working on the perception stack,” said the second person familiar with the talks. “Bringing a passenger car to the market is really, really hard, and there’s no reason right now they need to jump into it.”

REDUCING COSTS

The designs Apple is seeking could potentially be made with conventional semiconductor manufacturing techniques, all four people familiar with the talks said.

That has the potential to lower prices from the many thousands to the hundreds of dollars as the sensors are produced in larger numbers, similar to chips in phones and other devices. Apple also wants sensors that can see several hundred meters (yards) down the road.

The long-distance requirement shows Apple is interested in fully self-driving vehicles, versus the more limited features such as adaptive cruise control used today, two people familiar with the matter said.

“They’re not happy with most of what they see,” the first person familiar with the matter said. “They’re looking for a revolutionary design.”

A third person familiar with the matter said Apple is seeking a “design-oriented” sensor that would be sleek and unobtrusive enough to fit into the overall lines of a vehicle.

Apple declined to comment.

Apple once investigated building its own vehicle. The company had a team of more than a dozen engineers dedicated to detailed work such as ensuring doors closed quietly instead of slamming shut, a fourth person briefed on the matter said.

Apple last year re-hired Doug Field, an Apple veteran who was serving as Tesla’s engineering chief, to work on Project Titan. The project has about 1,200 people, according to a count in court documents.

Field has been putting his stamp on the effort, laying off about 190 workers but also bringing on key hires such as Michael Schwekutsch, who oversaw electric drive train technology at Telsa. Apple also ramped up its testing miles in California, driving nearly 80,000 last year compared to 800 the year before.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by Greg Mitchell and Cynthia Osterman)

Source: OANN

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Brain Discovery: Taste Connected to Pain

University of Oklahoma neuroscientists have found a pathway in the brain where taste and pain intersect in a new study that originally was designed to look at the intersection of taste and food temperature.

This study was the first time researchers have shown that taste and pain signals come together in the brain and use the same circuitry.

“We originally aimed to look at how sense of taste works with thermal sensation in this study to better understand how taste is connected to food preferences, health and well-being. Taste is also closely tied to emotion and understanding how the brain processes different tastes is significant on several levels,” said Christian Lemon, principal investigator on the grant and associate professor in the OU Department of Biology, OU College of Arts and Sciences. “What we found was a surprise because temperature signals were converging with taste near the mid-brain, but so were neural messages for taste and pain.”

Lemon and Jinrong Li, OU research associate, used a molecular biology and physiology technique to understand how taste and thermal pathways might be converging with pain.

What OU researchers learned from this study is that the neural circuitry carrying signals for aversive tastes also carries a response to pain.

This intersection may support a protective function and opens the possibility that taste messages could change how pain signals are transmitted in the brain, but more research is needed.

(Photo by wyinoue/Flickr)

The sense of taste is a complicated sensory and nutrient detector that has many implications for how the nervous system guides food preference behaviors and, potentially, response to pain.

Now that the circuitry has been identified, OU researchers will explore manipulation of the circuitry to test its influence on behaviors associated with taste and pain. Ultimately, understanding taste is critical to defining its role in human disorders associated with eating behaviors, such as obesity, diabetes, and other conditions and diseases.


Owen Benjamin breaks down science truths Americans need to hear.

Source: InfoWars

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Biden makes it all about Trump


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On the roster: Biden makes it all about Trump - I’ll Tell You What: Yawp or yawn - Buttigieg crowding out Beto - Senate majority may come down to Colorado - Watch parrot

BIDEN MAKES IT ALL ABOUT TRUMP 
Fox News: “Former Vice President Joe Biden, in an online video Thursday, officially declared his candidacy for president in 2020, capping off weeks of intrigue and media speculation. He enters a crowded field of Democratic contenders aiming to unseat President Trump -- nearly 32 years after he announced his first campaign for president. The campaign is Biden’s third for the White House, having also unsuccessfully run in 1988 and 2008. ‘The core values of this nation, our standing in the world, our very democracy, everything that has made America -- America -- is at stake. That’s why today I’m announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,’ Biden tweeted early Thursday. With the announcement, which followed months of deliberations, Biden becomes a front-runner in an incredibly crowded field of Democratic presidential contenders all vying to face off next year against Trump. … Biden is expected to follow up the announcement with his first high-dollar fundraiser in the Philadelphia home of Comcast executive David Cohen Thursday evening and appear at a local union hall in Pittsburgh on Monday.”

No easy task - FiveThirtyEight: “…Biden’s path to the nomination is [not] easy. Not by a long shot. … Arguably, in fact, media elites have the same blind spots for Biden that they had for Trump. … [T]here’s a gap between where [BernieSanders is polling and where Biden is, and empirically, it’s a relevant one. Based on historical data, we estimate that candidates with high name recognition who are polling at 20 percent (Sanders) in early national polls can expect to win their nominations about 15 percent of the time, other factors held equal. But candidates who are polling at 28 percent (Biden) win their nominations something more like 35 percent of the time, or roughly twice as often. It’s also possible that Biden will get a bounce in his polls after his announcement, as Sanders did and as Kamala Harris did and as Beto O’Rourke sorta did.”

Biden tells donors he needs big bucks on day one - Politico: “On the eve of announcing his presidential bid, former Vice President Joe Biden raised the alarm about fundraising in a Wednesday conference call with top donors and supporters. ‘The money’s important. We’re going to be judged by what we can do in the first 24 hours, the first week,’ Biden told the group, according to one participant, whose recollections of the quotes were confirmed by two others on the call. ‘People think Iowa and New Hampshire are the first test,’ Biden said. ‘It’s not. The first 24 hours. That’s the first test. Those [early states] are way down the road. We’ve got to get through this first.’ Biden — noting that ‘I hate to do this’ in discussing the fundraising — said he would be flying around the country for fundraisers with the participants but urged them to do what they can as soon as possible.”

Ocasio-Cortez allies attack ‘out-of-touch’ Biden - Fox News: “A progressive political group that boosted New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's bid for Congress last year vowed to oppose former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, blasting him as part of the ‘old guard’ and accusing him of standing in opposition to the ‘center of energy’ in the Democratic Party. ‘While we're going to support the Democratic nominee, we can't let a so-called ‘centrist’ like Joe Biden divide the Democratic Party and turn it into the party of ‘No, we can’t,’’ the group Justice Democrats said Thursday. … The group added: ‘Joe Biden stands in near complete opposition to where the center of energy is in the Democratic Party today.’”

Cindy McCain denies Biden endorsement report - Fox News: “Cindy McCain, the widow of late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., responded to the reports that her family will endorse former Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. McCain tweeted Wednesday: ‘Joe Biden is a wonderful man and dear friend of the McCain Family. However, I have no intention of getting involved in presidential politics.’ Her daughter, ‘The View’ host Meghan McCain retweeted the remarks. … McCain’s comment comes after a report in the Washington Examiner that said the McCain family would support Biden. The report cited sources close to the family.”

THE RULEBOOK: DIFFERENT COURSES FOR DIFFERENT HORSES
“It will not be alleged, that an election law could have been framed and inserted in the Constitution, which would have been always applicable to every probable change in the situation of the country; and it will therefore not be denied, that a discretionary power over elections ought to exist somewhere.” – Alexander HamiltonFederalist No. 59

TIME OUT: DRAFTING THE FUTURE 
Nat Geo: “Although his paintings are far better known, Leonardo [da Vinci’s] wealth of manuscripts and drawings lay bare the inner workings of his genius. His fertile mind … is evoked on every one of the 7,000 sheets preserved… As the 500th anniversary of Leonardo’s death is commemorated this year, the artist’s notebooks are experiencing a renaissance of their own. Museums are mounting exhibitions of his sketches, and scholars are publishing new analyses, delving ever deeper into the full spectrum of his creations. Most remarkably, pages from Leonardo’s notebooks are finding their way into the hands of experts in the very fields Leonardo studied, from medicine and mechanical engineering to music. Reaching back centuries, they’re reaping fresh insights, probing Leonardo’s work to inform their own. Even as science, medicine, and technology have pushed past the boundaries of what we can do and how we can do it, Leonardo’s notebooks reveal how much we still have to learn.”

Flag on the play? - Email us at
HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM with your tips, comments or questions.

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 42.8 percent
Average disapproval: 52 percent
Net Score: -9.2 points
Change from one week ago: no change 
[Average includes: Fox News: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; Monmouth University: 40% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; GU Politics/Battleground: 43% approve - 52% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 52% disapprove.]

I’LL TELL YOU WHAT: YAWP OR YAWN
This week, Dana Perino and Chris Stirewalt discuss the growing 2020 Democratic field, who cries more between the two of them and Dana talks sports. Plus, Dana answers thoughtful mailbag questions and see how Chris does with trivia. LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE HERE

BUTTIGIEG CROWDING OUT BETO 
NYT:  “In a Democratic race filled with voters who say they are hungering for a next-generation candidate, the contest between Mr. [Beto] O’Rourke, 46, and Mr. [Pete] Buttigieg, 37, is emerging as something of a parallel primary, with many voters attending events for both of them and, in some cases, agonizing over which one to support. … But it is unlikely that as the nominating contest moves past the early-voting states next year, there will be room for two white men under 50 who present themselves as mainstream progressives. Both men are fresh faces in a party that often covets newness, and each is difficult to pin down on policy, hailing from neither the establishment nor the insurgent wing and centering their appeal in biography as much as ideology. … The first votes are still more than nine months away, and Mr. O’Rourke has ample opportunity to regain momentum. But even some of the attendees at his events who were clad in Beto gear said they were unsure how to choose between him and Mr. Buttigieg.”

Mayor Pete’s secret weapon - Vanity Fair: “Buttiegieg’s sexual orientation is not a central theme of his campaign message, but it doesn’t need to be for prominent L.G.B.T. donors who have grown accustomed to supporting candidates who are friendly on their issues, but never one their own. … But before Buttigieg could even think about catching fire, he had to find a way to pay for a staff, travel, and digital advertising. He initially followed [HowardDean’s counsel, cracking open wallets in L.G.B.T. donor networks even if he was unable to lock down full-blown commitments from major bundlers. … It worked… Many L.G.B.T. donors who gave early to multiple candidates are now either firmly in Buttigieg’s corner or lining up to host big money events for his campaign. … In May, Buttigieg will attend a fundraising event in the Washington area hosted by lobbyist Steve Elmendorf, a top Hillary Clinton bundler who recently told CNBC that he’s fully in Buttigieg’s corner in the 2020 race.”

Beto hires big Iowa staff - Des Moines Register: “Beto O'Rourke has hired 16 people in Iowa as he works to catch up to the organizing pace set by many of the other 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. O'Rourke entered the race later than many of his competitors, announcing in mid-March that he would run for president. By that time, many others had made key hires, opened field offices and dispatched volunteers and organizers across the state. ‘There’s no question that getting into the race a little bit later puts us a little bit behind in the organizing effort,’ said Norm Sterzenbach, who will lead O'Rourke's Iowa efforts as state director. ‘So we definitely are making a conscious effort to get a good, expansive team in place as quickly as possible.’”

Booker's tax returns show lucrative speaking gigs, royalties - Fox News: “Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker’s tax returns show most of his wealth stems from lucrative speaking engagements and royalties. Booker, the 2020 candidate who has yet to make a splash in the crowded Democratic field, released 10 years of tax returns on Wednesday after numerous other candidates released their records in recent weeks. The New Jersey senator reported income of $152,715 in 2018 for his salary, $22,781 in taxes which amounts to an effective tax rate of 15 percent, significantly lower than Sen. Kamala Harris’ 37 percent or Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 26 percent. Most of Booker’s wealth comes public speaking fees and royalties, including $2 million in speaking fees between 2009 and 2014, nearly $1 million in royalties from 2015 to 2017 after the release of his book, ‘United.’”

Dems focus on new voting bloc: Renters - NYT: “Renters hold little sway in Washington. They vote at lower rates than homeowners. … And their problems, if anyone considers them at all, are typically waved off as problems for local government. It’s striking, then, that several Democratic candidates for president are now approaching renters in a way they’ve seldom been treated before — as a voting bloc. Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, senators from some of the most expensive housing markets in the country, have proposed substantial bills to alleviate the housing crisis. They’re not talking in gauzy terms about homeownership, the rare housing topic that usually gets a nod. They see unsustainable, raw-deal, skyrocketing rents, and they’re not hesitant to sermonize about it.”

SENATE MAJORITY MAY COME DOWN TO COLORADO 
FiveThirtyEight: “Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner is arguably the most endangered Republican senator running for re-election in 2020. He is one of two GOP senators defending seats in states that lean Democratic and only narrowly won his race in 2014. Gardner could also face stiff competition — more than 10 Democratic challengers have already stepped forward for the opportunity to take him on. … Ideologically-speaking, Gardner has occupied the middle lane of his party, which is good for a Republican running in a state that leans blue. But in the Senate, Gardner has voted in line with President Trump’s position more often than Colorado’s 2016 presidential result would suggest. This could be a problem for him in 2020, considering Gardner’s narrow victory in 2014 and that the Democratic nominee for president has won Colorado three times in a row. … Regardless of who faces off in the general election, the Colorado race will most likely be crucial to deciding which party wins a Senate majority.”

Heitkamp, Donnelly pair up to help 2020 candidates - Axios: “Former Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp and Joe Donnelly, who both lost their 2018 re-election races in North Dakota and Indiana, respectively, are launching the One Country Project to help their party win back rural voters ahead of the 2020 cycle. Why it matters: Their team looked at rural votes by county and state from 2000 to 2018 and found that if Democrats don't break their performance with rural voters, they're projected to once again win the popular vote but lose the Electoral College in 2020. Their focus is primarily on Democratic Senate races and the presidential election, but they eventually want to work with races up and down the ballot in these rural areas. Heitkamp and Donnelly will work with campaigns before the election, giving them messaging, data, polling, and a strategy to break through with these voters who ‘didn’t feel that we shared their beliefs’ in past elections, Donnelly told Axios in an interview.”

THE JUDGE’S RULING: ON OBSTRUCTION, BARR IS WRONG
This week Fox News Senior Judicial Analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano explains obstruction of justice: “The essence of obstruction is deception or diversion -- to prevent the government from finding the truth. To Mueller, the issue was not if Trump committed crimes of obstruction. Rather, it was if Trump could be charged successfully with those crimes. Mueller knew that Barr would block an indictment of Trump because Barr has a personal view of obstruction at odds with the statute itself. Barr's view requires that the obstructer has done his obstructing in order to impede the investigation or prosecution of a crime that the obstructer himself has committed. … So, the dilemma for House Democrats now is whether to utilize Mueller's evidence of obstruction for impeachment. They know from history that impeachment only succeeds if there is a broad, national, bipartisan consensus behind it, no matter the weight of the evidence or presence of sophisticated legal theories.” More here.

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Pergram: How Congress could be facing not one, but two shutdowns - Fox News

Barr to testify to Senate on Mueller report next week - National Review

Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh has homes and City Hall office raided by feds Fox News

AUDIBLE: CASHING IN  
“I’ve been raising money since 1977. And I’ve never had anybody complain about not getting an invitation to a fundraiser. That shows you the depth of enthusiasm, the depth of relationships that the vice president has built over the years.” – Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell talking to the Daily Beast about the clamor for invitations to Joe Biden’s first fundraiser.

FROM THE BLEACHERS
“You mentioned Ms. Harris might think about the difference between leadership and popularity next time she is onstage w/ hard questions coming her way. I would have to agree. I think it might be interesting if you and Brianna came up with the Ten Traits of Effective Presidential Leadership and then figure out how to pose a question to each candidate, early on, as to how he/she intends to demonstrate those Traits if elected. What say youse all (used to live in MI…diction from the Land of Yoopers)?” – Rick Schuknecht, Bradenton, Fla.

[Ed. note: I like it, Mr. Schuknecht! This is also something I will talk about with Dana Perino on “I’ll Tell You What.”]

“Chris, Which do you think would be more helpful for a potential voter to pick a President, review of the tax returns or have them produce a list of their potential cabinet positions?  It seems to me, that electing a president is a lot like getting married, you don't just marry the bride you also marry the whole family. You keep writing and I will keep reading.” – Michael Strader, Toccoa, Ga.

[Ed. note: I think your point about cabinet members is an excellent one, Mr. Strader. It would present a challenge in terms of actually assembling the cabinet since it’s different to be asked to accept an actual spot versus a hypothetical one from a candidate. But even just choosing, say, a secretary of state and an attorney general could go a long way. Those things, though, are very different than the question of tax returns. Presidential candidates release their tax returns to demonstrate that they are not corrupt – that the money they have earned was lawful and does not come from sources that could prove compromising in office. I guess if you made me choose between the two, I’d have to go for transparency and accountability over cabinet composition.]

Share your color commentary: Email us at
HALFTIMEREPORT@FOXNEWS.COM and please make sure to include your name and hometown.

WATCH PARROT 
WaPo: “A parrot was taken into custody Monday after nearly spoiling a raid while playing lookout for two crack-dealing suspects by repeatedly yelling, ‘Mamãe, polícia!’ according to Brazilian police in the state of Piauí. The phrase means, ‘Mama, police!’ Police encountered the unnamed parrot at the home of the two alleged crack cocaine dealers, perched inside a small brick one-story home with a windowless facade, Brazil’s R7 news channel reported. As police searched for the suspects, it seemed the lime-green bird knew exactly what to do. ‘He must have been trained for this,’ one officer involved in the operation said of the parrot’s attempt to interfere with law enforcement, the Guardian reported. ‘As soon as the police got close he started shouting.’ The bird’s efforts were not successful, however.”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“I don't think either [Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton are] defensible. It is a question of how skillfully the other uses it.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) said on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on Oct. 7, 2016.

Chris Stirewalt is the politics editor for Fox News. Brianna McClelland contributed to this report. Want FOX News Halftime Report in your inbox every day? Sign up here.

Source: Fox News Politics

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The Latest: EU Parliament bloc suspends Hungary's Fidesz

The Latest on the dispute between the European Parliament's center-right EPP alliance and its Hungary's Fidesz party (all times local):

7:10 p.m.

Manfred Weber, leader of center-right EPP alliance in European Parliament, says Viktor Orban's Fidesz party has been suspended from the grouping.

After daylong discussions among members in the European Parliament's biggest alliance, Weber said Fidesz "can no longer propose candidates for posts" in the group and said they cannot vote on issues or join major group meetings.

"It was a very hard discussion," said Weber, adding that Orban was at the meeting in person.

"The message was crystal clear," he said "The EPP was very clear and united ... that the suspension is needed."

An evaluation commission led by former EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy will now follow developments within the Fidesz party.

___

12:40 p.m.

A senior lawmaker from Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel's party says Hungary's ruling Fidesz party may be suspended from the main center-right bloc in the European Parliament.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban's authoritarian style and anti-European Union, anti-migration policies have long put him at odds with many members of the European People's Party, whose delegates are meeting Wednesday to debate possible disciplinary measures against Fidesz.

Inge Graessle, an EU parliament lawmaker from Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, told Germany's SWR2 radio that she believes the EPP will "temporarily suspend his membership today — that is the step before expulsion — and then he can choose how he wants to continue."

Graessle said Orban, who had led Fidesz practically unchallenged since the early 1990s, "has to show credibly that he will change."

Source: Fox News World

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South Carolina father accused of letting 1-year-old daughter burn to death while fleeing cops after highway chase

A South Carolina father is being accused by police of letting his 1-year-old daughter burn to death inside the back of his flaming vehicle while trying to flee officers on foot after a highway chase.

Imhotep Osiris Norman, 26, of Spartanburg, is now facing a homicide by child abuse charge stemming from the incidents alleged to have unfolded Friday. If convicted on the felony charge, he could be sentenced anywhere from 20 years to life in prison, The State newspaper reports.

The South Carolina Highway Patrol says officers first attempted to pull over Norman at around 10 p.m. in Greenville County after he was clocked doing 67 mph in a 45 mph zone. When Norman reportedly failed to stop, they gave chase and noticed that smoke and sparks were coming from his vehicle while it was barreling along Interstate-85.

The car eventually caught fire and Norman abandoned it, taking off on foot, according to Fox Carolina.

Police are accusing Imhotep Osiris Norman of leaving his 1-year-old daughter to die in the back of his flaming car while trying to flee officers following a highway chase.

Police are accusing Imhotep Osiris Norman of leaving his 1-year-old daughter to die in the back of his flaming car while trying to flee officers following a highway chase. (Spartanburg County Detention Center)

The station reported firefighters who arrived on-scene shortly afterward extinguished the blaze and found the body of a toddler in the car’s back seat. Spartanburg County Coroner Rusty Clevenger identified the victim as Xena Rah'Lah Norman, the suspect’s 1-year-old daughter.

Norman later was tracked down and arrested by police, and a bag that he allegedly threw out of his car’s window during the pursuit was found to contain illegal drugs, Fox Carolina reported.

During a court hearing Saturday, in which Norman was denied bond, he claimed his car was out of control and that it “wasn’t on fire” when he got out of it.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“It was going by itself,” Norman told a judge. “I couldn’t hit the gas or the brakes or anything anymore. When I hit the brakes in it, I just kept going the same amount of speed."

“I just know that the car wasn’t on fire when I got out the car,” he added, also saying “if I couldn’t get my daughter out of that car I wouldn’t have got out."

Source: Fox News National

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Mueller must come to Hill to discuss report: Rep. Debbie Dingell

Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, a Michigan Democrat, says that Rep. Jerrold Nadler is within his rights to subpoena the full special counsel report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

In an interview with Fox News host Harris Faulkner on Thursday, Dingell said that as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Nadler, D-N.Y., "has the right" to issue the subpoena. Dingell also called on the special counsel, Robert Mueller, to "come to the Hill" and talk about the report.

"We need to have these hearings, we need oversight, we need to understand," said Dingell, who is co-chairwoman of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee.

Nadler said Thursday that he'll be issuing a subpoena for the full special counsel report and the underlying materials. The Justice Department is expected to fight that subpoena.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ROBERT MUELLER REPORT

Nadler said the report “outlines disturbing evidence” that President Trump engaged in misconduct.

Nadler said Attorney General Wiliam Barr's decision to withhold the full report from lawmakers is “regrettable, but no longer surprising.”

He said it now falls to Congress to hold the president accountable for his actions relating to the Russia probe. The chairman has asked Mueller to testify before the panel by May 23.

Dingell said Barr's demeanor when speaking earlier Thursday at a press conference about the report concerned her.

"Today I was a little concerned listening to the attorney general that he did sound more like a defense attorney than the chief law enforcement officer of this country."

MUELLER REPORT REVEALS CLASHES IN TRUMP'S INNER CIRCLE OVER RUSSIA PROBE

Dingell said she did not want to comment on specific parts of the report until she'd read the document for herself.

"I think too many of us are commenting on other people's comments," Dingell said. "I want to read all 400-something pages before I make comments. I think we have to be very careful with this 'he said she said' stuff."

Dingell said both lawmakers need to focus on the everyday concerns of Americans.

"I'm frustrated with everybody," she said in answer to Faulkner's question about whether the congresswoman was frustrated with her fellow Democrats.

"We've got to come together," Dingell said. "I've got people in my district ... that are worried about the cost of prescription drugs. When I think about a single mother who is working two jobs and is still at poverty level and has got an inhaler for a child who is asthmatic that is $700 ...

"We can't have Russians intervening in our elections, but we've got to do something about prescription drugs."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Many Indians rally behind Modi after Kashmir attack

A policeman stands guard at a street during a curfew in Jammu
A policeman stands guard at a street during a curfew in Jammu, February 17, 2019. REUTERS/Mukesh Gupta

February 18, 2019

By Krishna N. Das and Devjyot Ghoshal

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has suffered a series of political reverses in recent months but widespread anger after 40 troopers were killed in an Islamist militant attack last week could lead to a surge in support for his Hindu nationalist party.

As emotions run high following the deadliest attack on security forces in decades, Modi, who faces a general election by May, said he had given a free hand to security forces to avenge the killings in Kashmir, the region disputed with arch-foe Pakistan.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals have ratcheted up and shouts of “down with Pakistan” and “blood for blood” have reverberated at funerals of the victims. Many Indians have held candle-lit marches across the country demanding the government “not forget, not forgive”.

The attack has been claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group but the Pakistan government has denied any responsibility.

Rakesh Kumar, a 32-year-old part-time teacher in Kasba Bonli town in the western state of Rajasthan, said he was now inclined to vote for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the national election after backing the main opposition Congress in a state vote late last year.

“If he teaches Pakistan a lesson, support for him will rise,” Kumar said in a telephone interview. “It’s a matter of the country’s security, and we need to see what he can do for us.”

The BJP was ousted from power in three major states, including Rajasthan, in December, and Modi has been blamed for weak rural incomes and an inability to provide employment to the millions of young Indians entering the job market each year.

Although still tipped to win, pollsters had said before the attack that the ruling party could fall short of a majority in the general election.

No polls have been published since the attack, but political analysts say the anti-Pakistan wave has become a rallying point for the BJP.

Yogendra Yadav, a former pollster and now a political activist, said the Kashmir attack would be a distraction from economic challenges facing the government.

“Ever since those issues have emerged, there have been systematic attempts to divert attention, some by design, some by accident,” he said.

“The consequence (of the attack) would be to bring the spotlight on issues of national security, which is exactly what the ruling party may have wanted.”

NO COMPROMISE

The BJP has not lost time in underlining its nationalist credentials. Addressing a political rally on Sunday, party president Amit Shah ended a brief period of bipartisan politics by saying that Modi was better at responding to militant attacks than the previous government headed by Congress.

“This time it’s not a Congress government that is in power. The BJP government of Narendra Modi does not do any compromise in matters of national security,” Shah said to loud cheers.

“The BJP government will completely uproot terrorism. Narendra Modi’s political will to finish terrorism is the highest among global leaders.”

Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of West Bengal state and an outspoken critic of Modi, has lashed out at the BJP comments.

“We didn’t raise any questions (about the attack) because we thought we will be united in the fight (against terror),” she told reporters. “But now we see that we are silent and they are giving such speeches that it seems only they are patriots and the rest are outsiders.”

Modi has often spoken about adopting a more muscular approach to Pakistan, after a surprise visit to the neighbor in 2015 failed to improve ties.

BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli declined to say if the response to the attack would be an election issue for the party. But he defended party chief Shah’s comments as a reflection of the “national mood of grief and anger”.

In 2016, Indian forces carried out what they called a “surgical strike” on militant targets across the border in Pakistan in retaliation to an attack on an army camp in Kashmir.

Earlier this month, before last week’s attack, Modi said the strike had “shown to the world what will be the new policy and culture in India”.

On Monday, he said any hesitation to take action against militancy and those who support it was akin to encouraging the menace.

“Terrorism is a very serious threat to global peace and stability,” Modi said. “The brutal terrorist attack shows that the time for talks is over.”

(Reporting by Krishna N. Das and Devjyot Ghoshal; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: Naqvi Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the WEF in Davos
FILE PHOTO: Arif Naqvi, Founder and Group Chief Executive of Abraaj Group attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, January 17, 2017. REUTERS/Ruben Sprich/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Tom Arnold

LONDON (Reuters) – A London court case to extradite Arif Naqvi, founder of collapsed private equity firm Abraaj Group, to the United States on fraud charges was adjourned until May 24, a court official said on Friday.

Naqvi was remanded in custody until that date, the official said. A former managing partner of Dubai-based Abraaj, Sev Vettivetpillai, was released on conditional bail to appear again at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 12, the official said.

Under the U.S. charges, both men are accused of defrauding U.S. investors by inflating positions held by Abraaj in order to attract greater funds from them, causing them financial loss, the official said.

Vettivetpillai could not be reached for a comment.

Naqvi, in a statement released through a PR firm, has pleaded innocent.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Naqvi and his firm raised money for the Abraaj Growth Markets Health Fund, collecting more than $100 million over three years from U.S.-based charitable organizations and other U.S. investors.

Naqvi and Vettivetpillai were arrested in Britain earlier this month. Another executive, Mustafa Abdel-Wadood was arrested at a New York hotel, Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold said at a hearing in Manhattan federal court on April 11.

Abdel-Wadood appeared at the Manhattan hearing and pleaded not guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy charges.

(Editing by Jane Merriman)

Source: OANN

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Former Vice President Joe Biden announces his 2020 candidacy
Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden announces his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in this still image taken from a video released April 25, 2019. BIDEN CAMPAIGN HANDOUT via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES

April 26, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, in his first interview as a Democratic presidential candidate, said on Friday that he does not believe he treated law professor Anita Hill badly during the 1991 confirmation hearings for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

Biden had joined the burgeoning 2020 Democratic field a day earlier.

Biden’s conduct during those hearings, when he was chairman of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, became a renewed subject of controversy after the New York Times reported that Biden had called Hill earlier this month in the run-up to his presidential bid and that Hill was dissatisfied with Biden’s expression of regret.

Appearing on ABC’s “The View,” Biden largely defended his actions as a senator almost 30 years ago, saying he believed Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment levied at Thomas and tried to derail his confirmation.

Activists have long been unhappy that Hill was questioned in graphic detail by the all-white, all-male committee chaired by Biden.

“I’m sorry she was treated the way she was treated,” Biden said, but later, he asserted, “I don’t think I treated her badly. … How do you stop people from asking inflammatory questions?”

“There were a lot of mistakes made across the board and for those I apologize,” he said.

Biden praised Hill as “remarkable” and said she is “one of the reasons we have the #MeToo movement.”

Asked why he had not reached out to Hill earlier, Biden said he had previously publicly stated he had regrets about her treatment and that he “didn’t want to quote invade her space.”

That seemed to be a reference to another controversy that looms over Biden’s presidential run: allegations by several women that he made them uncomfortable by touching them at political events.

Biden also addressed that criticism, saying he was now more “cognizant” about a woman’s “private space.” But he maintained that he had been “trying to bring solace.”

He suggested he was still trying to sort out the guidelines for his conduct going forward.

“I should be able to read better,” he said. “I have to be more careful.”

Pressed by the show’s panel for an apology to his accusers, Biden would not entirely capitulate.

“So, I invaded your space,” he replied. “I mean, I’m sorry this happened. But I’m not sorry in a sense that I think I did anything that was intentionally designed to do anything wrong or be inappropriate.”

Biden, 76, served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president for two terms. He is competing with 19 others for the Democratic presidential nomination and the chance to likely face President Donald Trump next year in the general election.

His first public event as a presidential candidate is scheduled for Monday in Pittsburgh.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei
FILE PHOTO: The logo of Tesla is seen in Taipei, Taiwan August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

April 26, 2019

By Noel Randewich

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Tesla Inc’s stock slumped over 4% on Friday to its lowest price in two years, rounding out a rough week that included worse-than-expected quarterly results and a pitch by Chief Executive Elon Musk on autonomous cars that failed to win over investors.

With investors betting Tesla will soon raise capital, the stock has fallen 13% for the week to its lowest level since January 2017, before the launch of the Model 3 sedan aimed at making the electric car maker profitable.

One positive development for Tesla: a U.S. District Court judge on Friday granted a request by Musk and the Securities and Exchange Commission for a second extension to resolve a dispute over Musk’s use of Twitter.

On Wednesday, Tesla posted a worse-than-expected loss of $702 million for the March quarter. Musk said Tesla would return to profit in the third quarter and that there was “some merit” to raising capital.

Musk is still battling to convince investors that demand for the Model 3, the company’s first car aimed at the mass consumer market, is “insanely” high, and that it can be delivered efficiently to customers around the world.

Tesla ended its first quarter with $2.2 billion, down from $3.7 billion in the prior quarter, and the company is planning expansions including a Shanghai factory, an upcoming Model Y SUV, and other projects.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s cash – https://tmsnrt.rs/2DyJjX6)

On Monday, Musk hosted a self-driving event, where he predicted Tesla would have over a million autonomous vehicles by next year. Some analysts perceived the presentation as a way to deflect attention from questions about demand, margin pressure, increasing competition and even Musk’s ongoing battle with U.S. regulators.

Tesla’s stock has now fallen 29 percent in 2019 and the company’s market capitalization has declined to $41 billion from $63 billion in mid-December.

(GRAPHIC: Tesla’s declining market cap – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Dwd62r)

Analysts now expect Tesla’s revenue to expand 19% in 2019, compared with 83% growth in 2018 and 68% growth in 2017, according to Refinitiv.

Following Tesla’s quarterly report, 12 analysts recommend selling the stock, while 11 recommend buying and eight are neutral. The median analyst price target is $275, up 16% from the stock’s current price of $236. Berenberg analyst Alexander Haissl has the most optimistic price target, at $500, while Cowen and Company’s Jeffrey Osborne has the lowest, at $160, according to Refinitiv.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; editing by Jonathan Oatis)

Source: OANN

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Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said Friday that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s rare public criticism of the Obama administration was a “soft” way of accusing the previous administration of covering up Russia’s attempts at hacking the 2016 presidential election.

While speaking Thursday in New York at the Public Servants Dinner of the Armenian Bar Association, Rosenstein said that the Obama administration “chose not to publicize the full story about Russian computer hackers and social media trolls and how they relate to Russia’s broader strategy to undermine America.”

During an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” Friday morning, Huckabee called the comments an “unusually candid moment for Rosenstein.”

“I thought it was a soft way of him saying there was a cover-up,” Huckabee said. “They knew the Russians were attempting to influence the election and attempting to hack the election but they didn’t fully disclose that to the American people and certainly didn’t disclose it to the Trump campaign.

SWALWELL NOT CERTAIN TRUMP ISN’T A ‘RUSSIAN ASSET’

“Instead they tried to set a trap for them. It failed. The Trump team did not take the bait. And that’s the one conclusion that we can certainly come away with from the $35 million worth of investigation,” Huckabee continued.

Next week, Attorney General William Barr will testify before Congress and is expected to answer questions about Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of President Trump, which found that there was not adequate evidence to conclude that President Trump and his administration colluded with Russia, though the president could not be exonerated in terms of the possibility that he obstructed justice.

Barr will testify to the Senate Judiciary Committee next Wednesday and to the House Judiciary Committee the following day.

TRUMP ASSESSES 2020 DEMS; TAKES SWIPES AT BIDEN, SANDERS; DISMISSES HARRIS, O’ROURKE; SAYS HE’S ROOTING FOR BUTTIGIEG 

“It is going to be a theater, an absolute show,” Huckabee said of the hearings. “Just like the Kavanaugh hearings were and like everything else is in Congress. We ought to close the curtain on them and can’t come back until after the election. They aren’t doing their job anyway. We aren’t paying them because they’re doing a wonderful service to the country and spare us the hypocrisy of thinking they’re interested in getting to the bottom of the facts,” he continued.

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Ultimately, Huckabee argued, if Americans “took their partisan hats off,” they would see that President Trump was exonerated by the investigation.

Source: Fox News Politics

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Sri Lanka's former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake
Sri Lanka’s former defense secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa greets his supporters after his return from the United States, in Katunayake, Sri Lanka April 12, 2019. REUTERS/Dinuka Liyanawatte

April 26, 2019

By Sanjeev Miglani and Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, said on Friday he would run for president in elections this year and would stop the spread of Islamist extremism by rebuilding the intelligence service and surveilling citizens.

Gotabaya, as he is popularly known, is the younger brother of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the two led the country to a crushing defeat of separatist Tamil rebels a decade ago after a 26-year civil war.

More than 250 people were killed in bomb attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday that the government has blamed on Islamist militants and that Islamic State has claimed responsibility for.

Gotabaya said the attacks could have been prevented if the island’s current government had not dismantled the intelligence network and extensive surveillance capabilities that he built up during the war and later on.

“Because the government was not prepared, that’s why you see a panic situation,” he said in an interview with Reuters.

Gotabaya said he would be a candidate “100 percent”, firming up months of speculation that he plans to run in the elections, which are due by December.

He was critical of the government’s response to the bombings. Since the attacks, the government has struggled to provide clear information about how they were staged, who was behind them and how serious the threat is from Islamic State to the country.

“Various people are blaming various people, not giving exactly the details as to what happened, even people expect the names, what organization did this, and how they came up to this level, that explanation was not given,” he said.

On Friday, President Maithripala Sirisena said the government led by premier Ranil Wickremesinghe should take responsibility for the attacks and that prior information warning of attacks was not shared with him.

Wickremesinghe said earlier he was not advised about warnings that came from India’s spy service either, presenting a picture of a government still in disarray since the two leaders fell out last October.

Gotabaya is facing lawsuits in the United States, where he is a dual citizen, over his role in the war and afterwards.

The South Africa-based International Truth and Justice Project, in partnership with U.S. law firm Hausfeld, filed a civil case in California this month against Gotabaya on behalf of a Tamil torture survivor.

In a separate case, Ahimsa Wickrematunga, the daughter of murdered investigative editor Lasantha Wickrematunga, filed a complaint for damages in the same U.S. District Court in California for allegedly instigating and authorizing the extrajudicial killing of her father.

Gotabaya said the cases were baseless and only a “little distraction” as he prepared for the election campaign. He said he had asked U.S. authorities to renounce his citizenship and that process was nearly done, clearing the way for his candidature.

‘DISMANTLE THE NETWORKS’

He said that if he won, his immediate focus would to be tackle the threat from radical Islam and to rebuild the security set-up.

“It’s a serious problem, you have to go deep into the groups, dismantle the networks,” he said, adding he would give the military a mandate to collect intelligence from the ground and to mount surveillance of groups turning to extremism.

Gotabaya said that a military intelligence cell he had set up in 2011 of 5,000 people, some of them with Arabic language skills and that was tracking the bent towards extremist ideology some of the Islamist groups were taking in eastern Sri Lanka was disbanded by the current government.

“They did not give priority to national security, there was a mix-up. They were talking about ethnic reconciliation, then they were talking about human rights issues, they were talking about individual freedoms,” he said.

President Sirisena’s government sought to forge reconciliation with minority Tamils and close the wounds of the war and launched investigations into allegations of rights abuse and torture against military officers.

Officials said many of these secret intelligence cells were disbanded because they faced allegations of abuse, including torture and extra judicial killings.

Muslims make up nearly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s population of 22 million, which is predominantly Buddhist.

(Reporting by Sanjeev Miglani; Editing by Frances Kerry)

Source: OANN

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