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Three more women accuse Biden; Democrats target Trump’s taxes #MAGAFirstNews with @PeterBoykin

Three more women accuse Biden; Democrats target Trump's taxes #MAGAFirstNews with @PeterBoykin For more visit https://www.spreaker.com/user/peterboykin THREE MORE WOMEN ACCUSE BIDEN, SAY VIDEO ISN'T ENOUGH: If Joe Biden thought a video addressing the allegations of inappropriate behavior towards women would squash the scandal and enable him to focus on possibly launching his 2020 presidential campaign, he was mistaken ... Hours after he appeared on video to promise he'd be ... See More "more mindful" about others' personal space, three more women went public Wednesday to claim that the former vice president had touched them inappropriately. All three said Biden's video didn't go far enough. A previous Biden accuser, writer D.J. Hill, told Fox News' Shannon Bream on "Fox News @ Night" that she went public with her claim because she was inspired by other women who have come forward and the “cultural shift” that’s been “long overdue.”  A total of seven women have now accused Biden of inappropriate conduct. SHOWDOWN OVER TRUMP'S TAXES BREWING: A key Democrat who heads the powerful House Ways and Means Committee has formally requested the IRS provide six years of President Trump's personal and business tax returns and the president has responded, "Is that all? Usually it's 10" ... The request Wednesday by U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., who heads the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, is the first such demand for a sitting president's tax information in 45 years. The move sets up a virtually certain legal showdown with the White House as Trump has refused the request, saying he is under audit. AOC reminds Trump in tweet about tax return request: 'We didn't ask you' VIRGINIA LT. GOVERNOR RELEASES POLYGRAPH RESULTS: Embattled Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax on Wednesday released the results of a polygraph test he said he took in response to two accusations of sexual misconduct by two separate women ...“Today, I am providing the full report of my polygraph examinations to the media so that all Virginians can read the report themselves,” he said in a news conference held in his office, WTKR-TV of Norfolk reported. Fairfax again denied the accusations, saying, “they are incredibly hurtful to me and my family and my reputation, which I have spent a lifetime building.” Fairfax's two accusers, Vanessa Tyson and Meredith Watson, both spoke out in national interviews with Gayle King that aired on "CBS This Morning" earlier this week. STACEY ABRAMS STILL NOT CONCEDING DEFEAT: Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams questioned the legitimacy of her 2018 loss during an event in New York City on Wednesday, saying she refuses to concede the race to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, while accusing the GOP of stealing the election ... "Despite the final tally and the inauguration [of Gov. Brian Kemp] and the situation we find ourselves in, I do have a very affirmative statement to make: We won," she told the crowd at the annual convention of the Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network. She lost to Kemp by more than 54,000 votes, but has repeatedly refused to concede the outcome.

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Israeli deportation hearing focuses on Human Right Watch official’s tweets

Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, looks on during an interview on home-renting company Airbnb, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank
FILE PHOTO: Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch, looks on during an interview on home-renting company Airbnb's decision to remove listings in Israeli settlements, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, November 20, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

March 11, 2019

By Dan Williams

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An Israeli appellate court deferred a ruling on Monday over the deportation of the director of the local office of Human Rights Watch, accused of promoting pro-Palestinian boycotts of Israel, which Israel has banned.

The judge said she wanted more time to study the Twitter history of Omar Shakir, who is contesting the revocation of his work permit last year. The New York-based rights watchdog has cast the case as a bid to suppress global criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Israel says that Shakir, a U.S. citizen, supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Israel has criminalized BDS and has lobbied Western powers to follow suit.

The case hinges in part on Shakir’s pro-BDS tweeting before he became Human Rights Watch’s director for Israel and the Palestinian territories in 2016, and whether his statements after the appointment also constitute such support.

Human Rights Watch says it does not support boycotts of Israel. It has defended Shakir’s statements since joining the rights group, including a tweet backing Airbnb’s delisting of homes in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Right-wing advocacy groups represented in court argued that Israeli law does not distinguish between boycotts of the settlements and boycotts of Israel itself. One advocate, Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the Shurat Hadin-Israel Law Centre, said Israel should consider barring Human Rights Watch entirely.

Shakir’s Israeli lawyer, Michael Sfard, said that was what the case boiled down to, as “deporting the appellant means deporting the organization”.

The case should not hinge on trying to determine Shakir’s personal views, as “the question is not what he thinks, but what he does, and whether he calls openly for a boycott,” Sfard said.

The state’s representative, Jerusalem District prosecutor Moran Brown, was circumspect about Human Rights Watch’s status.

“The organization is not defined by us as a boycott group, but it takes part in activity that supports boycotts,” he said.

(Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Peter Graff)

Source: OANN

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Trump sees approval dip ahead of Mueller report


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On the roster: Trump sees approval dip ahead of Mueller report - Time Out: *Hits snooze button* - Obama alumni put support behind Buttigieg - Barr issues order to deny asylum seekers bail - Youuu might be a redneck

TRUMP SEES APPROVAL DIP AHEAD OF MUELLER REPORT  
Monmouth University: “President Donald Trump’s job rating has taken a slight dip as the country awaits the release of the Mueller report according to the latest Monmouth University Poll. Most Americans want Congress to see an unredacted copy of the report, but not pursue the investigation any further. The poll also finds that public opinion remains negative on the 2017 tax reform plan – a key part of Trump’s legislative legacy. The president’s unconventional style also continues to get more negative than positive reviews. Trump’s overall job rating stands at 40% approve and 54% disapprove. This result stands at the lower end of his typical job rating in Monmouth’s polling. … ‘The president’s job rating doesn’t see huge swings, so we tend to focus on small movements. The current reading comes at the end of tax return season and while official Washington eagerly awaits the Mueller report. Neither subject is particularly good for Trump,’ said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute.”

His legal team is already preparing a Mueller counter-report - Fox News: “President Trump’s legal team is preparing to issue a rebuttal to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Thursday, to refute any allegations of obstruction against the president, Fox News has learned. A source close to Trump’s legal team told Fox News on Wednesday that the president’s lawyers have been working on a counter-report in anticipation of any obstruction of justice claims in the report, which is slated to be released to the public on Thursday. … Trump’s top lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said Tuesday that a counter-report is in the works, and that the team is putting the finishing touches on it. Giuliani said it would be dozens of pages long, but did not detail what the counter-report would focus on. Giuliani said that the report would be released hours after Mueller’s report is made available to the public.”

Dems could subpoena for full report as early as Friday - WaPo: “The House Judiciary Committee is expected to subpoena the Justice Department for special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s complete report as soon as Friday, according to a spokesman, as Democrats prepare to fight the Trump administration for access to the attorney general’s anticipated redactions. Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) has refrained from issuing subpoenas for the report and the testimony of individuals questioned during Mueller’s investigation — including former White House counsel Donald McGahn and former White House communications director Hope Hicks — until Attorney General William P. Barr releases the report Thursday. But the committee’s Democrats have already made clear that the redacted document Barr intends to release will lack the transparency that lawmakers have demanded and the details that they are prepared to go to court to obtain.”

THE RULEBOOK: WHO’S GOT THE POWER?
“The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny.” – James Madison, Federalist No. 47

TIME OUT: *HITS SNOOZE BUTTON*
Atlantic: “For more than a century, discussions of dreams have tended to revolve around the interpretation of our dreams’ contents. … Various sleep studies have found that approximately 30 percent of the time, participants wake up with the sensation that they have been dreaming about something, yet when they are asked to describe the experience, they draw a complete blank. This is a distinct experience from waking up and have no sense of having been dreaming at all… Sleep researchers refer to that first vague sensation as a ‘white dream’—and its true nature is a scientific mystery. … Sometimes, they are explained as a case of simply forgetting what was being dreamed. But some researchers now believe that something much stranger is going on. Rather than reflecting a memory deficit, white dreams might represent a boundary between sleep states, consisting of a basic form of consciousness without detailed sensual content.”

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

SCOREBOARD
Trump job performance 
Average approval:
 42.6 percent
Average disapproval: 51.8 percent
Net Score: -9.2 points
Change from one week ago: up 1.2 points 
[Average includes: Monmouth University: 40% approve - 54% disapprove; Gallup: 45% approve - 51% disapprove; GU Politics/Battleground: 43% approve - 52% disapprove; IBD: 41% approve - 52% disapprove; NPR/PBS/Marist: 44% approve - 50% disapprove.]

OBAMA ALUMNI PUT SUPPORT BEHIND BUTTIGIEG
U.S. News and World:Pete Buttigieg's blossoming presidential campaign is earning early financial assistance from key members of former President Barack Obama's administration. Former national security adviser Susan Rice, deputy senior adviser Stephanie Cutter, press secretary Jay Carney, National Security Council spokesman Ned Price and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Caroline Kennedy all donated to Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign during the first quarter of the year, according to new documents filed with the Federal Election Commission. The 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, raised more than $7 million since forming an exploratory committee in January, placing him in the top tier of candidates for fundraising prowess. He reported having $6.4 million on hand to spend. But the donations from the Obama alumni are notable given that Buttigieg is drawing some comparisons to the last Democratic president who ran an underdog campaign with a unique last name.”

Beto defends charity donations by sacrifices through public service - Dallas Morning News:Beto O'Rourke defended his meager rate of charitable giving on Tuesday night, saying that he doesn't report all of his donations to the IRS and in any case, he contributes in other ways through his work in politics. ‘I've served in public office since 2005. … There are ways that I do this that are measurable. And there are ways that I do this that are immeasurable,’ he said. … [Beto and his wife Amy in 2017] paid $81,019 in federal income tax that year and donated $1,166 to charity — a giving rate of just 0.3%, which is well below the national average. … Stumping at the University of Virginia on Tuesday night, O'Rourke was asked about his charitable giving by Maura Nakahata… ‘There are charities that we've donated to that we've recorded and itemized, others that we've donated to that we have not,’ O'Rourke said. ‘I'll tell you, I'm doing everything I can right now, spending this time with you, not with our kiddos, not back home in El Paso, because I want to sacrifice everything to make sure that we meet this moment of truth with everything we've got.’”

Booker pitches new tax credit plan - AP: “Democratic presidential candidate Cory Booker on Monday proposed a significant expansion of the earned income tax credit that he said would lower the annual tax bill for almost half of American taxpayers. The senator from New Jersey, who recently launched a national tour aimed at boosting his 2020 presidential bid, touted the plan during a campaign event in Iowa as creating a tax code ‘that reflects our values.’ His announcement came on the date that most Americans’ taxes are due to the IRS. ‘Why should somebody who works for a hedge fund in New York City, who makes a million dollars a year, pay less in taxes than that schoolteacher?’ he asked the audience at his Sioux City event. Booker would pay for his expanded tax credit by taxing capital gains income at the same rate as other income. His campaign, citing the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, projects the policy would benefit 154 million Americans. Booker also suggested his tax policy would boost the economy.”

Biden to speak at workers strike rally Thursday - CBS News: “Former Vice President Joe Biden will speak at a rally Thursday to support striking employees of Stop & Shop near Boston, Massachusetts, the union announced Tuesday. Thousands of Stop & Shop employees at 240 stores in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island went on strike last week over what they say is an unfair contract proposal. Biden tweeted the day after the strike began that the supermarket's plan to cut employee wages and benefits ‘is wrong.’ Thursday's rally will be held at the location in Dorchester, a working-class neighborhood in Boston. 2020 Democratic hopeful and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, visited the Somerville, Massachusetts, store Friday to drop off donuts and cheer on the workers, CBS Boston reports.”

Seth Moulton spotted taping 2020 announcement video - Axios: “Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) was spotted in his hometown of Marblehead, Mass., taping for a presidential announcement that's expected within a week, according to a source close to Moulton. The big picture: Moulton's key issues will be foreign policy, national security and defense. Moulton was also spotted taping recently in Vegas, where he held three meetings with veterans. Moulton, 40, ran on ‘bringing a new generation of leadership to Washington.’ The congressman joined the Marines after graduating from Harvard, and led an infantry platoon in Iraq. His bio says: ‘He served four tours in a war that he didn’t agree with.’ Matt Corridoni, a Moulton aide, tells [Axios’ Mike Allen]: ‘Seth has said he's seriously thinking about running and will announce his decision by the end of the month.’”

BARR ISSUES ORDER TO DENY ASYLUM SEEKERS BAIL
NYT: “The Trump administration on Tuesday took another significant step to discourage migrants from seeking asylum, issuing an order that could keep thousands of them in jail indefinitely while they wait for a resolution of their asylum requests. The order issued by Attorney General William P. Barr was an effort to deliver on President Trump’s promise to end the ‘catch and release’ of migrants crossing the border in hopes of escaping persecution in their home countries. The order — which directs immigration judges to deny some migrants a chance to post bail — will not go into effect for 90 days. It is all but certain to be challenged in federal court, but immigrant rights lawyers said it could undermine the basic rights of people seeking safety in the United States. … Mr. Barr’s order is the latest effort by the Trump administration to reduce the number of immigrants who are able to seek protection from violence, poverty and gangs by asking for legal status in the United States.”

Jonah Goldberg: Trump and ‘owning the libs’ - National Review: “President Trump is looking into giving a free trip to San Francisco, New Orleans, or other great American cities to tens of thousands of refugees from Central America. All so he can own the libs. ‘Owning the libs’ is one of those phrases to have emerged over the past few years that vacillates between earnestness and irony. For people who use it earnestly, it means to do something, usually symbolic and petty… The ironic form of the phrase is to engage in unwitting self-sabotage while making a political point. … But no lib-owning tweet can hold a candle to Trump’s announcement over the weekend that he is considering busing thousands of refugees to ‘sanctuary cities.’ … Stemming illegal (and sometimes legal) immigration is the president’s signature issue. Moving the thousands of refugees currently in detention to sanctuary cities is literally achieving the opposite of his goal.”

PLAY-BY-PLAY
Trump campaign announces Wisconsin rally on night of WH correspondents’ dinner - Fox News

Pergram: ‘From the flames, Notre Dame will rebuild’ - Fox News

Sen. Cory Gardner gains another 2020 challenger - Denver Post

Vulnerable House Dems feel early 2020 momentum with big money haul - Politico

Former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke starts new job at a Nevada mining company - HuffPo

AUDIBLE: PRAISE FOR THE TURTLE
“Whatever your politics or ideological inclinations may be, you and your family have been the beneficiaries of his experienced leadership in a challenging moment in our country’s history.” – Former Speaker of the House John Boehner writing about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in Time magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential People of 2019.

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YOUUU MIGHT BE A REDNECK
UPI: “The World Grits Festival in South Carolina featured an eating contest for the traditional breakfast food in addition to a ‘Rolling in the Grits’ contest. The festival, held in St. George, featured Tom McCoskey capturing his seventh consecutive title in the grits eating contest, besting competitors including his own sister. ‘She’s got a few second place trophies,’ McCoskey told the Post & Courier newspaper after the contest. ‘I don't know what those are like.’ Organizers said the biggest draw at the festival is the Rolling in the Grits contest, which features competitors taking turns rolling in an inflatable pool filled with instant grits in an attempt to saturate their clothes. The record for the contest is gathering 66 pounds of grits, committee member Cassandra Francis said. ‘They want to see people rolling in the grits,’ she said of the festival's visitors. ‘It's something you don't see anywhere else.’”

AND NOW, A WORD FROM CHARLES…
“Had the [Confederate] flag not existed or not been on the grounds of the [S.C] Capitol, this massacre would have happened in any case. But it’s the standard liberal impulse: ‘Something happened really bad, so there’s gotta be a problem, and there has to be a solution. We must do something,’ even if the ‘something’ is entirely irrelevant.” – Charles Krauthammer (1950-2018) speaking on “Special Report with Bret Baier” on June 21, 2015. 

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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Explosion heard in central Israel after air raid sirens wail: report

Explosions were heard early Monday in central Israel after air raid sirens sounded, according to reports.

Israel’s defense forces said rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip. There was no immediate word of damages.

The Jerusalem Post reported that a rocket slammed into a home in the Kfar Saba area outside Tel Aviv. The paper reported that six people were injured.

Israeli Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday and plans to meet with President Trump at the White House.

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Gaza is controlled by Hamas, an Islamic militant group that seeks Israel's destruction. The territory is home to other militant groups, including Islamic Jihad, an Iranian-backed armed organization that also has a formidable rocket arsenal.

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Source: Fox News World

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Trump Administration Reevaluating Offshore Drilling Plans

The Trump administration said Thursday it is reevaluating its controversial plan to sharply expand offshore drilling as it responds to a court ruling that blocked oil and gas development off Alaska and parts of the Atlantic.

Governors and lawmakers from both Republican- and Democratic-led states have strongly opposed the expanded drilling. And a federal judge last month ruled against President Donald Trump's executive order to open the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic to broader oil and gas development, saying Trump had exceeded his authority.

Interior Secretary David Bernhardt told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday that the legal challenges may be "discombobulating" to the administration's overall drilling plans. Bernhardt says the administration may have to wait for the challenges to fully play out in court.

Interior spokeswoman Molly Block said that given the court setback, the agency "is evaluating all of its options."

The Interior Department's Bureau of Ocean Energy Management "will carefully consider all public input received, including comments from governors of affected states, before making final decisions" on expanded drilling off the country's coasts, Block added.

Environmental groups welcomed what they said amounted to a delay in the administration's coastal drilling expansion plans. Collin O'Mara of the National Wildlife Federation said the administration "needs to go one step further and fully and permanently scrap its plan to open our coasts to unfettered offshore drilling."

But Randall Luthi, head of the National Ocean Industries Association trade group, urged against a "hard stop" in administration planning on expanded offshore drilling. "What cannot be delayed ... is the importance of domestic production to meet the growing demand for affordable, reliable American energy," he said.

The Trump administration announced a new five-year plan last year that would open up 90 percent of U.S. offshore reserves to development by private companies. Then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said it would promote responsible energy development, boost jobs and pay for coastal conservation efforts.

The plan calls for expanded drilling in the Arctic and off the Atlantic coast and would open up waters off California for the first time in more than three decades. Drilling would be allowed from Florida to Maine in areas that have been blocked for decades.

Industry groups said the plan would encourage economic growth and create thousands of jobs, while environmental groups denounced the plan, saying it would cause severe harm to America's oceans, coastal economies, public health and marine life.

The plan drew bipartisan criticism in Congress, as lawmakers in coastal states said oil drilling off the coast could put their economy, environment and marine life at risk.

Governors from coastal states asked to be removed from the plan, but Interior officials said they were pressing forward even as they promised to take local concerns into consideration.

Offshore drilling was a key factor as the Senate confirmed Bernhardt as interior chief this month. Florida Republican Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott voted in favor of Bernhardt after receiving assurances from him and other administration officials that Florida would be excluded from drilling proposals. A moratorium on offshore drilling in Florida expires in 2022.

Rubio said in a statement on the day of the vote that he is "confident that when all is said and done the ban on oil drilling off of Florida's coasts will remain in place."

Bernhardt has declined to publicly rule out drilling off any state, including Florida.

Source: NewsMax America

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China considers plan to ease controls over new car licenses: Caixin

FILE PHOTO: Newly manufactured cars are seen at the automobile terminal in the port of Dalian
FILE PHOTO: Newly manufactured cars are seen at the automobile terminal in the port of Dalian, Liaoning province, China July 9, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo

April 17, 2019

BEIJING (Reuters) – China is considering plans to relax controls over the issuance of new car licenses in major cities to boost flagging auto sales, financial magazine Caixin reported on Wednesday, citing a draft document by the country’s state planner.

Caixin said China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) had issued a document containing the proposals on April 11, without saying how the magazine had obtained it. Copies of the document were widely circulated on Chinese social media on Wednesday.

According to the document, the NDRC is considering plans to increase the number of newly issued automobile licenses in big cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou by 50 percent this year, and double that next year, from current 2018 levels, Caixin said.

It also said local governments should not implement traffic restrictions and curbs on buying electric vehicles, and should remove relevant measures if already taken.

Efforts by Reuters to reach the NDRC for comment were unsuccessful outside business hours. Caixin said people close to NDRC’s policymaking department did not deny the authenticity of the document.

Beijing has been trying to boost consumption of goods ranging from eco-friendly appliances to big-ticket items such as cars to fire up growth, as the world’s second-largest economy is expected to slow further in 2019.

Auto sales in China, the world’s largest car market, contracted for the first time last year since the 1990s but executives told Reuters this week that they expect the market to return to growth this year thanks to government support.

Official data showed earlier on Wednesday China’s economy grew at a steady 6.4 percent pace in the first quarter, defying expectations for a further slowdown, as industrial production jumped sharply and consumer demand showed signs of improvement.

(Reporting by Lusha Zhang and Brenda Goh; Editing by Dale Hudson)

Source: OANN

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New Zealand prime minister to visit China next week

China says New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit next week, in a possible easing of recent tensions.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang announced Monday that Ardern will be in China on Sunday and Monday, but gave no details about her itinerary.

Relations between China and New Zealand have been strained in recent months after New Zealand's spy agency in November halted mobile phone company Spark from using Huawei equipment in its planned 5G upgrade.

Since taking office in 2017, Ardern has promised to make an official visit to China to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

New Zealand was shaken earlier this month by a deadly shooting spree on two mosques in Christchurch.

Source: Fox News World

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Joe Biden’s brain surgeon said his former patient is “totally in the clear” as speculation over the candidate’s health — with Biden possibly becoming the oldest president in U.S. history — is likely to become a campaign issue.

The former vice president, who had been perceived by many as the strongest potential contender for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination, formally announced his candidacy Thursday.

But Biden’s age – 76 – is expected to become a source of attacks from a younger generation of Democrats not because of obvious generational differences, but possibly for actual health concerns if Biden gets into office.

WHY THE MEDIA ARE CONVINCED JOE BIDEN WILL IMPLODE

Biden himself agreed last year that “it’s totally legitimate” for people to ask questions about his health if he decides to run for president, given his medical history — which has included brain surgery in 1988.

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality,” Biden told “CBS This Morning.” “Can I still run up the steps of Air Force Two? Am I still in good shape? Am I – do I have all my faculties? Am I energetic? I think it’s totally legitimate people ask those questions.”

“I think they’re gonna judge me on my vitality. …  I think it’s totally legitimate [that] people ask those questions.”

— Joe Biden

But Dr. Neal Kassell, the neurosurgeon who operated on Biden for an aneurysm three decades ago, told the Washington Examiner that Biden appears to be “totally in the clear” — and even joked that the operation made Biden “better than how he was.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it,” Kassell said. “That’s more than I can say about all the other candidates or the incumbents.”

“Joe Biden of all of the politicians in Washington is the only one that I’m certain has a brain, because I have seen it.”

— Dr. Neal Kassell

BIDEN’S CLAIM HE DIDN’T WANT OBAMA TO ENDORSE TRIGGERS MOCKERY

At the same time, however, Biden hasn’t been forthcoming about his health at least since 2008 when he released his medical records as a vice presidential candidate. The disclosure that time revealed some fairly minor issues such as an irregular heartbeat in addition to detailing previous operations, including removing a benign polyp during a colonoscopy in 1996, the outlet reported.

It remains unclear if Biden had more aneurysms. Some medical experts say that people who have had an aneurysm can have another one.

An aneurysm, or a weakening of an artery wall, can lead to a rupture and internal bleeding, potentially placing a patient’s life in jeopardy.

Biden won’t be the only Democrat grappling with old age. Sen. Bernie Sanders, another 2020 frontrunner, is currently 77 years old and agreed with Biden last year that their ages will be an issue in the race.

“It’s part of a discussion, but it has to be part of an overall view of what somebody is and what somebody has accomplished,” Sanders told Politico.

“Look, you’ve got people who are 50 years of age who are not well, right? You’ve got people who are 90 years of age who are going to work every day, doing excellent work. And obviously, age is a factor. But it depends on the overall health and wellbeing of the individual.”

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Sanders released his medical records in 2016, with a Senate physician saying in a letter that the senator was “in overall very good health.”

Source: Fox News Politics

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Cambodian authorities have ordered a one-hour reduction in the length of school days because of concerns that students and teachers may fall ill from a prolonged heat wave.

Education Minister Hang Chuon Naron said in an announcement seen Friday that the shortened hours will remain in effect until the rainy season starts, which usually occurs in May. The current heat wave, in which temperatures are regularly reaching as high as 41 Celsius (106 Fahrenheit), is one of the longest in memory.

Most schools in Cambodia lack air conditioning, prompting concern that temperatures inside classrooms could rise to unhealthy levels.

School authorities were instructed to watch for symptoms of heat stroke and urge pupils to drink more water.

The new hours cut 30 minutes off the beginning of the school day and 30 minutes off the end.

School authorities instituted a similar measure in 2016.

Source: Fox News World

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Explosions have rocked Britain’s largest steel plant, injuring two people and shaking nearby homes.

South Wales Police say the incident at the Tata Steel plant in Port Talbot was reported at about 3:35 a.m. Friday (22:35 EDT Thursday). The explosions touched off small fires, which are under control. Two workers suffered minor injuries and all staff members have been accounted for.

Police say early indications are that the explosions were caused by a train used to carry molten metal into the plant. Tata Steel says its personnel are working with emergency services at the scene.

Local lawmaker Stephen Kinnock says the incident raises concerns about safety.

He tweeted: “It could have been a lot worse … @TataSteelEurope must conduct a full review, to improve safety.”

Source: Fox News World

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The Wider Image: China's start-ups go small in age of 'shoebox' satellites
LinkSpace’s reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is carried to a vacant plot of land for a test launch in Longkou, Shandong province, China, April 19, 2019. REUTERS/Jason Lee

April 26, 2019

By Ryan Woo

LONGKOU, China (Reuters) – During initial tests of their 8.1-metre (27-foot) tall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case.

But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed.

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 meters above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers – one of whom cartwheeled his way to the launch pad in delight.

LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices.

Demand for these so-called nanosatellites – which weigh less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) and are in some cases as small as a shoebox – is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country.

“For suborbital clients, their focus will be on scientific research and some commercial uses. After entering orbit, the near-term focus (of clients) will certainly be on satellites,” Hu said.

In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites.

A handful of U.S. small-rocket companies are also developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit.

No private company in China has done that yet. Since October, two – LandSpace and OneSpace – have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties facing space start-ups everywhere.

The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

“If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at U.S. aerospace consultancy Teal Group.

“But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable, and you can launch it once a week, four times a month, 50 times a year, then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added.

Eventually LinkSpace hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters.

That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable.

(Click https://reut.rs/2UVBjKs to see a picture package of China’s rocket start-ups. Click https://tmsnrt.rs/2GIy9Bc for an interactive look at the nascent industry.)

NEED FOR CASH

LinkSpace plans to conduct suborbital launch tests using a bigger recoverable rocket in the first half of 2020, reaching altitudes of at least 100 kilometers, then an orbital launch in 2021, Hu told Reuters.

The company is in its third round of fundraising and wants to raise up to 100 million yuan, Hu said. It had secured tens of millions of yuan in previous rounds.

After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning more tests and even proposing operational launches this year.

Last year, equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), a report by Beijing-based investor FutureAerospace shows, with a burst of financing in late 2018.

That accounted for about 18 percent of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high, according to Reuters calculations based on a global estimate by Space Angels. The New York-based venture capital firm said global space start-up investments totaled $2.97 billion last year.

“Costs for rocket companies are relatively high, but as to how much funding they need, be it in the hundreds of millions, or tens of millions, or even just a few million yuan, depends on the company’s stage of development,” said Niu Min, founder of FutureAerospace.

FutureAerospace has invested tens of millions of yuan in LandSpace, based in Beijing.

Like space-launch startups elsewhere in the world, the immediate challenge for Chinese entrepreneurs is developing a safe and reliable rocket.

Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military; the government directly supports private firms by allowing them to launch from military-controlled facilities.

But it’s still a high-risk business, and one unsuccessful launch might kill a company.

“The biggest problem facing all commercial space companies, especially early-stage entrepreneurs, is failure” of an attempted flight, Liang Jianjun, chief executive of rocket company Space Trek, told Reuters. That can affect financing, research, manufacturing and the team’s morale, he added.

Space Trek is planning its first suborbital launch by the end of June and an orbital launch next year, said Liang, who founded the company in late 2017 with three other former military technical officers.

Despite LandSpace’s failed Zhuque-1 orbital launch in October, the Beijing-based firm secured 300 million yuan in additional funding for the development of its Zhuque-2 rocket a month later.

In December, the company started operating China’s first private rocket production facility in Zhejiang province, in anticipation of large-scale manufacturing of its Zhuque-2, which it expects to unveil next year.

STATE COMPETITION

China’s state defense contractors are also trying to get into the low-cost market.

In December, the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) successfully launched a low-orbit communication satellite, the first of 156 that CASIC aims to deploy by 2022 to provide more stable broadband connectivity to rural China and eventually developing countries.

The satellite, Hongyun-1, was launched on a rocket supplied by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC), the nation’s main space contractor.

In early April, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a subsidiary of CASC, completed engine tests for its Dragon, China’s first rocket meant solely for commercial use, clearing the path for a maiden flight before July.

The Dragon, much bigger than the rockets being developed by private firms, is designed to carry multiple commercial satellites.

At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce more satellites.

Spacety, a satellite maker based in southern Hunan province, plans to put 20 satellites in orbit this year, including its first for a foreign client, chief executive Yang Feng told Reuters.

The company has only launched 12 on state-produced rockets since the company started operating in early 2016.

“When it comes to rocket launches, what we care about would be cost, reliability and time,” Yang said.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Gerry Doyle)

Source: OANN

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At least one person is reported dead and homes have been destroyed by a powerful cyclone that struck northern Mozambique and continues to dump rain on the region, with the United Nations warning of “massive flooding.”

Cyclone Kenneth arrived just six weeks after Cyclone Idai tore into central Mozambique, killing more than 600 people and displacing scores of thousands. The U.N. says this is the first time in known history that the southern African nation has been hit by two cyclones in one season.

Forecasters say the new cyclone made landfall Thursday night in a part of Mozambique that has not seen such a storm in at least 60 years.

Mozambique’s local emergency operations center says a woman in the city of Pemba was killed by a falling tree.

Source: Fox News World

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