Upcoming shows
Real News

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Maga First News

Upcoming Shows

Join The MAGA Network on Discord

0 0

NBA roundup: Harden scores 61 as Rockets stop Spurs

NBA: San Antonio Spurs at Houston Rockets
Mar 22, 2019; Houston, TX, USA;Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) shoots against San Antonio Spurs forward Rudy Gay (22) and guard Derrick White (4) in the second half at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

March 23, 2019

James Harden matched his career high with 61 points, delivering early and late to bail out the host Houston Rockets in their 111-105 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Friday.

Harden, who also scored 61 points on Jan. 23 at Madison Square Garden against the New York Knicks, finished 19 of 34 from the floor while drilling 9 of 13 from 3-point range.

After the Rockets coughed up a 19-point, third-quarter lead and fell into a 100-94 hole late in the fourth, Harden responded with three successive 3-pointers and a pair of drives to the basket to secure the victory, the Rockets’ third consecutive win over the Spurs.

Bryn Forbes led five Spurs in double figures with 20 points while Derrick White added 18 with eight rebounds. DeMar DeRozan posted 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists while LaMarcus Aldridge paired 10 points with five blocks for San Antonio, which captured its first lead at 85-84 on a Patty Mills reverse layup with 10:48 to play.

Nets 111, Lakers 106

Joe Harris scored 26 points, and visiting Brooklyn made enough plays down the stretch to earn the victory and eliminate Los Angeles from postseason contention.

The Nets followed up their historic comeback win in Sacramento and improved to 2-3 on a season-high, seven-game road trip that continues Monday in Portland. D’Angelo Russell had 21 points and 13 rebounds for Brooklyn. JaVale McGee led Los Angeles with career highs of 33 points and 20 rebounds.

The Lakers lost their fifth straight, dropped to 2-12 in their last 14 games and will miss the playoffs for the sixth straight season. The loss officially ensured that LeBron James will miss the postseason for the first time since his second season with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2004-05. James had 25 points, 14 assists and nine rebounds.

Thunder 116, Raptors 109

Russell Westbrook had his 28th triple-double of the season as he scored 18 points, grabbed 12 rebounds and added 13 assists, and visiting Oklahoma City came back to defeat Toronto and end a four-game losing streak.

Paul George added 28 points, and Dennis Schroder had 26 points for the Thunder, who lost to the Raptors in overtime on Wednesday and overcame a 13-point deficit on Friday.

Kawhi Leonard scored 37 points for Toronto. Pascal Siakam added 25 points while Danny Green had 19 points.

Nuggets 111, Knicks 93

Nikola Jokic scored 21 points and pulled down 17 rebounds night for surging Denver, which moved back into a tie for the top seed in the Western Conference by cruising past host New York.

With their sixth straight win, the Nuggets (49-22) tied the idle Golden State Warriors for the best record in the West. Denver has never earned the top seed in the West and has yet to make an appearance in the NBA Finals.

Jamal Murray scored 18 points for the Nuggets, who also received 14 points from Gary Harris.

Bucks 116, Heat 87

Giannis Antetokounmpo posted 27 points, eight rebounds and seven assists to lead host Milwaukee over Miami. The Bucks’ Khris Middleton contributed 18 points, a game-high 10 assists and eight rebounds.

The Heat, who were led by Hassan Whiteside’s 14 points, nine rebounds and a game-high three blocks, had closed their deficit to 63-58 early in the third quarter before falling apart. Their three-game winning streak ended.

The Bucks have the best record in the NBA at 54-19. Their 29-6 home record is the best in the Eastern Conference.

Clippers 110, Cavaliers 108

Danilo Gallinari scored 27 points, and Los Angeles hung on to beat host Cleveland. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 16 points, adding five assists and two steals as the Clippers earned their ninth win in 10 games.

Lou Williams scored 15 and had six assists off the bench for Los Angeles. Montrezl Harrell scored 14 and had a crucial offensive board late in the game to stave off the Cavaliers.

Kevin Love led Cleveland with 22 points and had eight rebounds. The Cavaliers had their four-game home winning streak snapped.

Magic 123, Grizzlies 119 (OT)

Evan Fournier gave Orlando its first lead of the game with 4:05 to go in overtime, then gave the Magic the upper hand for good with another hoop with 1:14 remaining, giving the Eastern Conference postseason hopefuls a much needed victory over visiting Memphis.

The come-from-behind win allowed the Magic to stay within arm’s length of the seventh and eighth playoff positions in the East, spots currently held by Brooklyn and Miami.

Fournier finished with 27 points, eight rebounds and six assists while teammate Terrence Ross led all scorers with 31 points. Memphis lost despite a 23-point, 24-rebound performance by Jonas Valanciunas.

–Field Level Media

Source: OANN

0 0

Prince Charles unveils Shakespeare statue, banters with Cubans

Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, with Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta and his wife Charlotte Acosta watch a dance performance at Acosta's dance studio in Havana
Britain's Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, with Cuban dancer Carlos Acosta and his wife Charlotte Acosta watch a dance performance at Acosta's dance studio in Havana, Cuba, March 25, 2019. REUTERS/Fernando Medina

March 25, 2019

By Sarah Marsh

HAVANA (Reuters) – Prince Charles on Monday unveiled a statue of English playwright William Shakespeare in the heart of Havana’s restored colonial center, as part of the first official visit ever by a British royal to communist-run Cuba.

The Prince of Wales, who is a keen conservationist, and his wife Camilla were guided on their city tour by Eusebio Leal, an historian widely recognized for overseeing a facelift of the Cuban capital’s historic center.

Wearing sunglasses to protect himself from the fierce Caribbean sun, the 70-year old heir to the British throne stopped to banter with tourists and Cubans on his walk.

His three-day trip aims to strengthen British-Cuban relations as part of a broader normalization of the island’s relations with the West, even though the Trump administration has sought to unravel a detente between Cuba and the United States.

“He told me the best thing about my place was the air conditioning,” chuckled Josefina Hernandez, 58, who runs a private barbershop in Old Havana that Charles stopped to visit, sitting down in one of the antique swivel seats with red leather upholstery.

“I would never have thought a prince were so down-to-earth, and that he would choose such a humble place to sit and talk. He said he had just had his hair cut so he didn’t need another.”

The Prince of Wales stopped to talk with the owners of several such private businesses that have flourished over the last decade since Cuba started opening more of its beleaguered state-dominated economy to free enterprise.

“He said it looked delicious, but he’d had a good breakfast,” said Carlos Leiva, 34, who runs a churros stand on a cobbled pedestrian street.

Charles also visited a workshop which trains hundreds of young people in restoration techniques, necessary for the upkeep of Havana, that was founded in 1519. Much of the city has crumbled due to neglect and lack of funds for restoration.

“He’s a sensitive person who clearly has knowledge of restoration, said workshop director Juan Carlos Botello, 55. “He was very interested in the plaster pieces for the Capitol and signed a piece that will be placed there. We won’t paint over that piece.”

“It is always good for there to be a cultural exchange.”

The royal couple stopped at several points to listen to bands playing traditional Cuban music including Guantanamera.

“I wish all countries would be friendly like this,” said Havana resident Alberto Gutierrez, surprised to see the royals walking through the leafy Plaza de Armas. “Then there would be peace.”

Later on Monday, the royal couple is set to meet and dine with Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, who succeeded Raul Castro a year ago. Charles first met Diaz-Canel last year when he visited London during a tour of several countries.

The royals added Cuba onto their nearly two-week Caribbean tour of former and current British territories at the request of the British government.

(Reporting by Sarah Marsh; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: OANN

0 0

Schiff: Pelosi Is 'Absolutely Right' on Impeachment

A key House investigator says Speaker Nancy Pelosi is "absolutely right" to hold back on impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff sided with Pelosi, who said Democrats shouldn't pursue impeachment unless there's overwhelming and bipartisan support for doing so. Her comments to The Washington Post riled some liberals in the House Democratic caucus.

But Schiff said Tuesday, "I think the speaker is absolutely right." He said pursuing impeachment without bipartisan political support would be doomed to "failure."

Schiff said Democrats need to see the report from special counsel Robert Mueller. He said that if the Justice Department tries to withhold any of it, the House might bring in Mueller to testify.

Schiff spoke at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.

Source: NewsMax Politics

0 0

Macron responds to ‘yellow vests’ after months of protests

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a news conference to unveil his policy response to the yellow vests protest, at the Elysee Palace in Paris
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a news conference to unveil his policy response to the yellow vests protest, at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

April 25, 2019

Source: OANN

0 0

Ex-Trump campaign aide George Papadopoulos says FBI asked him to wear a wire: transcript

Former Trump campaign adviser George Papadopoulos told the House Judiciary Committee that the FBI wanted him to wear a wire to record conversations with an overseas professor who had told him the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton, but that he rejected their request.

Papadopoulos, who was charged and pleaded guilty to making false statements to federal prosecutors as part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, told House lawmakers about the offer during a closed-door interview with the committee last year. The transcript of that interview was released Tuesday by committee Ranking Member Doug Collins, R-Ga.

RUSSIAN WHO ATTENDED INFAMOUS 2016 TRUMP TOWER MEETING PRAISES ETHICS OF SPECIAL COUNSEL INVESTIGATORS

During his closed-door interview, Papadopoulos explained his relationship with Maltese Professor Joseph Mifsud, who said during an April 2016 meeting with him that the Russians had “dirt” that could damage Clinton’s 2016 campaign. Papadopoulos’ contacts with Mifsud were under scrutiny throughout Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign associates during the 2016 presidential election.

Papadopoulos testified that his first contact with the FBI was in the summer of 2016, when he was asked about a businessman named Sergei Millian, about hacking and about Russian interference. Papadopoulos said, though, that Mifsud was not brought up until he, himself, mentioned his name.

“I brought up his name and said a Maltese person named Joseph Mifsud told me that the Russians have thousands of Hillary Clinton’s emails,” he testified last year.

Papadopoulos told lawmakers that it wasn’t until his second encounter with the FBI, in 2017, that he was asked to wear a wire.

“They basically tell me....we want you to wear a wire to go after Joseph Mifsud or to get some sort of information about him. I rejected it,” he told lawmakers. “So [FBI Agent Curtis Heide] asked me to wear a wire. And he basically told me that Washington wants answers and you’re at the center of this, something like that to make it seem like I was in some deep trouble if I wasn’t going to wear a wire against this person.”

“I rejected it,” he added, noting that he did not have a lawyer present for his second meeting with the FBI.

Papadopoulos told lawmakers he wasn’t sure what to make of Mifsud’s claims about Russia having dirt on Clinton, since, at the time, “people were openly speculating about that.”

“So yeah, it was an interesting piece of information, but you know, by that point, you have to understand, he had failed to introduce me to anyone of substance in the Russian Government,” Papadopoulos said. “So he failed to do that, but now all of a sudden he has the keys to the kingdom about a massive potential conspiracy that Russia is involved in.”

Later, Papadopoulos explained that during his third meeting with the FBI, “it didn’t even seem like they were that interested in Mifsud, actually, even during the third meeting.”

Meanwhile, Papadopoulos was asked about his relationship with Sergei Millian, a businessman who has now been revealed to have been behind some of the salacious material contained in the anti-Trump dossier.

Papadopoulos told lawmakers that Millian contacted him on Linkedin in late July 2016, stating that he “could be helpful in understanding the U.S.-Russia relationship, and he might be a good person to get to know.”

Papadopoulos explained that Millian acted “like he was very pro-Trump,” and offered to set up meetings for him with Russian-American leaders. Papadopoulos noted that he felt that Millian “might be recording my conversation with him.”

RUSSIA PROBE FLASHBACK: 7 WAYS FBI ACTIONS RAISED BIAS QUESTIONS

Papadopoulos went on to testify that Millian had offered him a consulting opportunity connected to an individual he knew in Russia. Papadopoulos, at the time of the conversation, was working on the Trump campaign but was considering next steps. He said Millian offered him $30,000 a month for the role.

Papadopoulos told lawmakers that during their meeting, he felt that Millian was “wearing a wire or he was setting me up for something about this proposal that he was talking about.” Papadopoulos told lawmakers that Millian told him that if he took the opportunity, he would “still have to work for Trump.”

“But then I felt that he wasn’t who he seemed to be and that he was working on behalf of somebody else when he was proposing this to me,” Papadopoulos explained, adding that the two later met in Chicago. “I felt that when he proposed this deal to me face-to-face that he might have been wearing some sort of wire. And he was acting very bizarre.”

He added: “Maybe I’m a paranoid person. But there were certain other events regarding Sergei Millian that made—that make me believe that he might have actually been working with the FBI.”

“He was looking at me with his eyes really bogged out, very nervous. And I just looked at him, like this guy is on an operation against me right now trying to set me up for something,” Papadopoulos said, adding that he rejected the offer because he thought it was illegal.

Papadopoulos went on to describe his next encounter with Millian, which took place during Trump’s inauguration in January 2017 in Washington.

“It was my understanding that he had been meeting with Senator McCain and some other members of Congress with an associate of his Aziz Choukri,” Papadopoulos said, adding that he later met Millian and Choukri for a drink.

“Aziz…in front of Sergei…said, Oh, you know, Sergei is working for the FBI,” Papadopoulos recalled. “A couple days later, before I’m interviewed by the FBI, he comes out on the front page, meaning Sergei Millian, as the source of the Steele dossier.”

The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017, after the salacious anti-Trump dossier was published by BuzzFeed News, that Millian was behind some of the materials contained in the document compiled by ex-British spy Christopher Steele.

The dossier was used by the intelligence community and the FBI to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant against former Trump campaign aide Carter Page, and prompted the beginning of the Russia investigation.

Papadopoulos was charged with making false statements in Mueller’s probe, which concluded over the weekend, and served 14 days in prison last year.

According to Attorney General Bill Barr’s summary of Mueller’s findings, the special counsel found no evidence of collusion between members of the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential campaign, despite numerous offers.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Source: Fox News Politics

0 0

Mueller report leaves Democrats in a quandary

U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to board Marine One en route to his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida following the release of the Mueller report at the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to board Marine One en route to his Mar-a-Lago estate in West Palm Beach, Florida following the release of the Mueller report at the White House in Washington, U.S., April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

April 18, 2019

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats clamored for the speedy release of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings of his probe into whether President Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russia. Now they finally have them, they are confronted with a choice – stay on the attack or move on.

Progressives in the party used the report to renew their calls for action, but there was little immediate consensus on how to move forward.

Billionaire Tom Steyer, who has pumped millions of dollars of his own money into a campaign calling for Trump’s removal from office, told Reuters that lawmakers in the Democratic-led House of Representatives should begin the process of impeaching Trump, a Republican, based on the evidence amassed by Mueller.

Mueller found no evidence of collusion between members of Trump’s campaign and Russians, despite numerous contacts, but he amassed a wealth of evidence he said showed the president had sought to impede or control the FBI investigation. He stopped short of concluding that Trump had committed a crime but noted that the U.S. Congress had the power to address that issue.

Democratic strategists said Democrats in the House, spurred on by progressives in the chamber, would continue their congressional investigations into Trump, but that Democratic presidential candidates, who hope to appeal to moderates and independents next year, are likely to take a less aggressive approach.

“I don’t think Bob Mueller’s report is going to make a difference in Lordstown,” said Robin Winston, a former chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party, referring the auto plant in Ohio that auto giant General Motors shuttered last month.

Winston said economic concerns were far more pressing on voters’ minds than the Russia probe and that breathless coverage of the nearly two-year-old probe had left voters “fatigued.”

Opinion polls show that the U.S. public has also largely made up its mind about the probe before the report’s release on Thursday.

A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted last month after Mueller’s conclusions were first made public showed that about half of the country still believed Trump worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election. More than half said they believe Trump tried to block the probe.

Democrats in the House signaled their efforts to investigate Trump’s actions would continue. It is unclear, however, what their efforts will yield. Any attempt to force Trump from office would likely be thwarted by the Republican-controlled Senate.

The prospect of impeaching Trump has largely been downplayed by Democrats since House Speaker Nancy Pelosi argued it would be counter-productive. But Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a popular progressive Democratic lawmaker, raised the prospect again on Thursday in a tweet.

ON THE KITCHEN TABLE

Those bidding for the 2020 Democratic nomination took a more cautious path on Thursday. While many called for Mueller to testify before Congress, there was no mention of the “I word”.

“It is clear that Donald Trump wanted nothing more than to shut down the Mueller investigation,” U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, a Democratic candidate, said in a statement. “While we have more detail from today’s report than before, Congress must continue its investigation into Trump’s conduct and any foreign attempts to influence our election.”

Democratic candidates are conscious that their voters are more interested in their positions on healthcare, the economy, immigration and climate change than whether or not Trump conspired with Russia or obstructed justice.

Indeed, in a two-day swing through Iowa this week, Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana did not hear a question on the topic. That has been similar to the experience of other candidates who have campaigning in early voting states.

Buttigieg’s campaign said it has not been a subject on voters’ minds.

Former U.S. congressman Beto O’Rourke may have summed up the field’s collective view most succinctly while campaigning last month.

“I think the American people are going to have a chance to decide this at the ballot box in November 2020, and perhaps that’s the best way for us to resolve these outstanding questions,” he said.

Democrats could be heeding the lesson of last year’s congressional elections, when they won more than 40 House seats and gained control of the chamber. Successful candidates, particularly moderates, found traction in talking more about kitchen-table issues and less about Trump.

“The base gets ginned up – as a presidential candidate you have to decide whether you are going to cater to the base or take a longer view,” said Rodell Mollineau, who served as a top aide to former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

(Reporting by James Oliphant; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Ross Colvin)

Source: OANN

0 0

Ahead of EU polls, Facebook voids accounts targeting Moldovan election

FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration
FILE PHOTO: Silhouettes of mobile users are seen next to a screen projection of Facebook logo in this picture illustration taken March 28, 2018. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

February 18, 2019

(This February 14 story corrects to make clear Ukraine is not an EU member)

By Alexander Tanas and Alissa de Carbonnel

CHISINAU/BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Facebook Inc said on Thursday it had disrupted an attempt to influence voters in Moldova, increasing concerns that EU elections in May could be prey to malign activity.

Employees of the Moldovan government were linked to some of the activity, the California-based social media company said.

Authorities in Chisnau, capital of the tiny former Soviet republic, denied knowledge.

Facebook said it dismantled scores of pages and accounts designed to look like independent opinion pages and to impersonate a local fact-checking organization ahead of Moldova’s elections later this month.

“So they created this feedback loop,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cybersecurity policy, told reporters in Brussels. “We did assess that there were links between some of that activity and individuals associated with the Moldovan government.”

The government said it welcomed any initiative to combat “fake news”, saying it did not check the private accounts of its more than 200,000 state employees.

“They have different political views and opinions, and the state is obliged to maintain the boundary between fighting the phenomenon of Fake News and guaranteeing the freedom of expression for citizens,” it said.

Facebook said it removed 168 accounts, 28 pages and eight Instagram accounts involved in “inauthentic behavior”. Some 54,000 accounts followed at least one of these Facebook pages.

The owners of pages and accounts typically posted about local news and political issues such as requirements for Russian- or English-language education and potential reunification with Romania, the company said.

GUARDING ELECTIONS

Facebook stepped up efforts to combat disinformation, including accounts in Russia, Iran and Indonesia, over the last year after coming under public scrutiny for not doing enough to stem the spread extremism and propaganda online.

The vulnerabilities exposed in Moldova, sandwiched between EU member Romania and Ukraine on the fringes of the bloc, were a warning ahead of polls in neighboring Ukraine and for the European legislature.

The European Union has pushed tech companies to do more to stop what it fears are Russian attempts to undermine Western democracies with disinformation campaigns that sow division.

Russia has repeatedly denied any such actions.

The sheer perception of manipulation can damage polls, Gleicher warned. “We are starting to see actors try to create the impression that there is manipulation without owning lots and lots of accounts,” he said.

“We already have the teams up and running and focused on the European parliamentary elections and that is only going to grow as the elections get closer and the pace of threats increases.”

Dogged by scandal, Moldova’s pro-Western government has failed to lift low living standards. That has driven many voters toward the Socialists, who favor closer ties with Russia.

The European Parliament called Moldova a “state captured by oligarchic interests” in November, and there are concerns whether the parliamentary election on February 24 will be fair.

The election is likely to produce a hung parliament, which could set the scene for months of wrangling or possibly further elections.

(Reporting by Sanjana Shivdas in Bengaluru and Alexander Tanas in Chisinau and Alissa de Carbonnel in Brussels; Editing by Matthias Williams and Andrew Cawthorne)

Source: OANN

NOW ON AIR
Now On Air

Real News with David Knight

9:00 am 12:00 pm



Extraordinary European Union leaders summit in Brussels
FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte arrives at an extraordinary European Union leaders summit to discuss Brexit, in Brussels, Belgium April 10, 2019. REUTERS/Yves Herman

April 26, 2019

(Reuters) – Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday he had assured China’s Huawei Technologies that it would not face discrimination in the rollout of Italy’s 5G telecoms network.

Conte was speaking on a visit to China where he said he met Huawei’s chief executive, Ren Zhengfei. The prime minister’s comments were carried in Italy by TV broadcaster Sky Italia.

“I told him that we have adopted some precautions, some measures to protect our interests that demand very high levels of security … not only from Huawei but any company entering into the 5G arena,” he said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, is under intense scrutiny after the United States told allies not to use its technology because of fears it could be a vehicle for Chinese spying. Huawei has categorically denied this.

(Writing by by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Angelo Amante)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
U.S. President Trump departs for travel to Indianapolis from the White House in Washington
U.S. President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs for travel to Indianapolis, Indiana from the White House in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2019. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

April 26, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Donald Trump on Friday was expected to announce his intention to revoke the United States’ status as a signatory of the Arms Trade Treaty, which was signed in 2013 by then-President Barack Obama but never ratified by Congress, two U.S. officials said.

Trump was expected to announce the decision in a speech in Indianapolis, to the National Rifle Association, the officials said. The NRA, a powerful gun lobby group, has long been opposed to the treaty, which was negotiated at the United Nations.

(Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Bill Trott)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
A remote controlled robot for the 'Isotopium: Chernobyl' game is seen at the game's location in Brovary
A remote controlled robot for the ‘Isotopium: Chernobyl’ game is seen at the game’s location in Brovary, Ukraine April 25, 2019. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko

April 26, 2019

By Margaryta Chornokondratenko

KIEV (Reuters) – A Ukrainian computer game that brings to life a town abandoned after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster may not sound like everyone’s idea of fun but has attracted 60,000 people globally since its launch in October.

Players of “Isotopium: Chernobyl” drive tanks around the ghost town of Prypyat near Chernobyl, knocking out competitors as they search for an energy source called isotopium and collecting points every time they find some.

While the game takes its theme from the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl in northern Ukraine, which marked its 33rd anniversary on Friday, it was also inspired by the 2009 science fiction film “Avatar”.

Newcomers to the game think they have entered a virtual world when in fact they are controlling a real robot, equipped with a camera and computer, which makes its way around a model of the town rendered down to the tiniest detail.

“When playing our game, for the first 5-10 minutes many players don’t understand that it is not fictional,” said the game’s co-founder Sergey Beskrestnov. “They message us saying: ‘You have cool texture, you have good graphics, your designer is good, well done. You have a cool operating system.’

“People then reply: ‘It is not an operating system, it is real,’ and the player can’t believe it is real,” said Beskrestnov, speaking mid-game from Prypyat city square as he towers over surrounding five-storey buildings.

Kiev-born Beskrestnov was just 12 years old when on April 26, 1986 a botched test at the nuclear plant in the then Soviet Union sent clouds of smoldering nuclear material across large swathes of Europe, forced over 50,000 people, including Beskrestnov’s family, to evacuate and poisoned unknown numbers of workers involved in its clean-up.

Beskrestnov and his partner Alexey Fateyev used Google maps and hundreds of pictures from the Chernobyl area to recreate Prypyat landmarks, including residential buildings, a hotel, concert hall, amusement park and a stadium.

The game’s real-scale model occupies a 180 square meter (1,938 sq. ft) basement of a residential building in the Ukraine city of Brovary, just 150 km (93 miles) from the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and 30 km east of Kiev.

Miniature radioactivity warning signs, graffiti on the walls of abandoned buildings and tables and chairs left scattered inside a small cafe all add to the creepy atmosphere of a once lively town.

“It’s a really neat concept …,” Shaun Prescott wrote in a review of the game published by PC Gamer magazine in January. “Controlling the tanks is kinda cumbersome, but they are tanks, after all.”

An attentive player will notice at least one inaccuracy – the real Chernobyl nuclear power plant is not located in town as it is in the game.

It costs $9 to immerse in the atmosphere of a post-apocalyptic town for an hour but only 20 people at a time can play simultaneously. Beskrestnov’s company, Remote Games, said 62,615 people around the world have registered to play the game, including around 15,000 in France and 10,000 in the United States.

A camera fixed on top of a moving tank broadcasts high quality signal in real time, allowing players from as far apart as Australia and Canada enjoy the game without facing any time delay in delivering video signals.

Its creators next ambition is to devise a game featuring the colonization of Mars in which 1,000 people will be able to simultaneously control robots on different missions involved in the operation.

“Many people advise us to contact Elon Musk directly because it resonates his dreams and ideas,” Beskrestnov jokes.    

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Source: OANN

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

A man accused of fatally beating a 4-month-old boy after finding out the infant wasn’t his son had been previously deported from the United States five times, most recently in late 2016, immigration officials said.

Carlos Zuniga-Aviles, a 33-year-old Honduran national, has used multiple aliases, including the fake name of Jose Agurcia-Avila he gave police in Memphis, Tennessee, following his arrest in the boy’s death earlier this month, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials told WMC-TV.

ICE officials have since filed an immigration detainer against Zuniga-Aviles, who was initially deported back to Honduras in February 2010. He was also returned to the Central American country in 2011, 2012, 2015 and 2016.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE NEW YORK POST

“ICE will seek to take him into custody to reinstate his removal order following the resolution of the criminal charges he currently faces,” the statement reads. “Mr. Zuniga-Aviles has been removed from the US five prior times: his most recent removal by ICE to Honduras took place in December 2016.”

ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT WITH CRIMINAL HISTORY ARRESTED IN CALIFORNIA WOMAN’S MURDER

Zuniga-Aviles later returned to the U.S. following his removal, a felony under federal law, immigration officials said. It’s unclear exactly when he returned, but he was living with his girlfriend and the woman’s 4-month-old son in Memphis at the time of his arrest, WREG reports.

DAD OF MAN KILLED BY ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT BLASTS CALIFORNIA GOV. NEWSOM’S TRIP TO CENTRAL AMERICA: ‘IT’S DISGUSTING’

The infant, Alexander Lizondro-Chacon, was pronounced dead at a hospital from blunt force trauma to the head after his mother, Mercy Lizondro-Chacon, called police on April 12 to report that the boy was having trouble breathing, according to an affidavit of complaint obtained by the Commercial Appeal.

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS APP

This article originally appeared in the New York Post. For more from the Post, click here.

Source: Fox News National

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont are taking aim at latest entry into the 2020 nomination race – Joe Biden.

Campaigning in Iowa hours after the former vice president officially announced his candidacy, Warren contrasted on Thursday her longtime record of taking on Wall Street with that of Biden.

JOE BIDEN OFFCIALLY LAUNCHES LONG AWAITED 2020 BID

“At a time when the biggest financial institutions in this country were trying to put the squeeze on millions of hard-working families who were in bankruptcy because of medical problems, job losses, divorce and death in the family, there was nobody to stand up for them,” said the populist senator who’s producing progressive policy proposal after another as she runs for the White House.

“I got in that fight because they just didn’t have anyone,” she said. “And Joe Biden was on the side of the credit card companies.”

The comments reignited a nearly two decades old fight between the two over the country’s bankruptcy laws.

Fox News reached out to the Biden campaign for reaction to Warren’s words but had yet to receive a response at the time this article was published.

WARREN NOT WORRIED ABOUT POLLS: ‘IT’S EARLY.. I’M RUNNING THE CAMPAIGN ITHAT I WANT TO RUN’

It’s not just Warren. The head of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee – which has backed the senator from Massachusetts – also took aim at Biden, who enters the race as the front runner in most national polls and early primary and caucus voting state surveys, slightly atop of Sanders and well ahead of the rest of the large field of 20 contenders.

“With billionaires deciding not to run, progressive candidates have been in need of a foil. If Joe Biden positions himself as the political insider from yesteryear who says big ideas like universal child care, student debt relief, and a wealth tax on ultra-millionaires are not possible, he would be an easy foil, Adam Green, the co-founder of PCCC, told Fox News.

BIDEN LAUNCH SETS UP 2020 NOMINATION FIGHT WITH FELLOW FRONT-RUNNER SANDERS

Sanders’ campaign also jabbed at Biden.

The former vice president spent Thursday evening raising campaign cash at the suburban Philadelphia home of David Cohen, a senior executive of the Comcast Corp. and a former Democratic operative.

In a fundraising email to supporters around the same time, Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir wrote that “it’s a big day in the Democratic primary and we’re hoping to end it strong. Not with a fundraiser in the home of a corporate lobbyist, but with an overwhelming number of individual donations in response to today’s news.”

Earlier in the day, a rising progressive group called Justice Democrats that has championed Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called Biden “out of touch” and stressed that “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.’”

Biden, of course, is considered to be more moderate than many of the current contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination, especially Warren and Sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist.

These kind of jabs from the candidates, their campaigns and outside groups could be foreshadow a building clash between the progressive and establishment sings of the party.

Biden has pushed back against the perception that he’s a moderate in a party that’s increasingly moving to the left. Earlier this month he described himself as an “Obama-Biden Democrat.”

Former President Barack Obama, Biden’s boss for eight years, remains extremely popular with Democrats.

BIDEN SAYS HE ASKED OBAMA NOT TO ENDORSE HIM

And Biden said he’d stack his record against “anybody who has run or who is running now or who will run.”

Highlighting his early public push for same-sex marriage, he said, “I’m not sure when everybody else came out and said they’re for gay marriage.”

Source: Fox News Politics

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!

Listen to https://magaoneradio.net and Listen Daily! Don't Forget to Share Click a Link Below!
Current track

Title

Artist