I bought a genuine 1994 Radio Shack television set with a built in VCR on eBay. It arrived broken. A Radio Shack cassette tape recorder also purchased on eBay also arrived broken. 1994 was not that long ago, but everything from 1994 was broken, or seemed so.
His buddy gifted him the 1980s Dodge Ram 50 for free — raccoon in the front seat and all — and he decided to turn it into something surprisingly sort of functional.
The train, which will be built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Hitachi, is capable of hitting a maximum speed of 400 km/h (248 mph), but it's expected to carry passengers at 360 km/h (224 mph) when it opens to the public in 2030.
"Game of Thrones" made some very controversial choices with Daenerys Targaryen's character in the series' penultimate episode, "The Bells." Here's our roundup of the best takes on whether those choices worked or made no sense.
Nonviolent protests are twice as likely to succeed as armed conflicts — and those engaging a threshold of 3.5% of the population have never failed to bring about change.
Learn the ins and outs of closing your first real estate deal with the Real Estate Investment Master Class Bundle: it shows you how to identify opportunities, identify and mitigate investment risks, and more, for just $29.
"I suspect I will still be writing these books 5 or 6 years from now," the author said of his book series that now — 20 years later — has become a worldwide phenomenon and still is not finished.
With a barely-4-year-old and a not-quite-2-year-old, in a 32-foot boat sailing up the Inside Passage, a family discovers the best rewards are those never imagined.
From exploding Ford Pintos to racist algorithms, all harmful technologies are a product of unethical design. And yet, like car companies in the '70s, today's tech companies would rather blame the user.
Doris Day, who has died at 97, was known for her frothy romantic comedies with Rock Hudson. But her onscreen easy-breezy perkiness camouflaged a supreme acting and musical talent.
Looking at just professional sports, there's a clear trend, especially for the four leagues (MLB, NBA, NFL, and NHL) that have been around since at least the 1950s.
A statement from the Carter Center said Carter was preparing to go turkey hunting when he fell in his home. It added that he is now "recovering comfortably" after undergoing surgery at the Phoebe Sumter Medical Center in Americus, Georgia.
The screen occupies both halves of the laptop's interior space, including where the keyboard would normally go, and the machine can be folded open to turn it into a flat 13-inch screen that you'd frankly never guess could fold.
I'm 31 and a high school teacher now, but I went to a big SEC party school. My priorities were not the ones that I would have now. But I feel that what I did was as much on the school and the customers as it was on me.
The Emmy-winning actress, 56, could face prison time after she admitted to participating in the nationwide scam, in which authorities say parents bribed coaches, rigged entrance exams or both to game the admissions system.
Up until Sunday night's episode of "Game of Thrones", it was easy to understand what parents might see in the character that would inspire them to name their child after her. But then, things took a bit of a turn.
It is expected that by 2050, the area burned each year by forest fires across the western United States will at least double, and perhaps quadruple, what it is today as a result of warming.
President Trump: "I'm hearing little stories about Iran. If they do anything, they will suffer greatly. We'll see what happens with Iran." pic.twitter.com/xbha4D8oub
#UPDATE US President Trump said that he expects to meet with the presidents of both Russia and China on the sidelines of the G20 meeting. However the Kremlin swiftly countered that no such meeting had been arrangedhttps://t.co/ETm9YQTxi8
North Korea condemns U.S. seizure of a North Korean cargo ship involved in banned coal exports and demands the ship to be immediately returned. https://t.co/DpMFOjYBqI
WASHINGTON — Attorney General William P. Barr has assigned the top federal prosecutor in Connecticut to examine the origins of the Russia investigation, according to two people familiar with the matter, a move that President Trump has long called for but that could anger law enforcement officials who insist that scrutiny of the Trump campaign was lawful.
John H. Durham, the United States attorney in Connecticut, has a history of serving as a special prosecutor investigating potential wrongdoing among national security officials, including the F.B.I.'s ties to a crime boss in Boston and accusations of C.I.A. abuses of detainees.
His inquiry is the third known investigation focused on the opening of an F.B.I. counterintelligence investigation during the 2016 presidential campaign into possible ties between Russia's election interference and Trump associates.
Young captured North Koreans put their hands up and surrender as a US Marine (right) points a pistol at them following an ambush on September 20, 1950. In the background is one of the tanks which came ashore in the assault at Inchon, a South Korean city bordering the capital of Seoul
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido is calling more openly than ever for US assistance, as he continues to seek fresh elections in the country.
In a letter posted early Monday, Carlos Vecchio -- Guaido's appointed ambassador to the US -- requested a meeting between the US Southern Command and Guaido's representatives. The May 11 letter was addressed to US Adm. Craig S. Faller, who heads the Southern Command and who had previously voiced support for Guaido's movement on the official Twitter account of the Southern Command.
Venezuela's opposition movement would "welcome strategic and operational planning so that we may fulfill our constitutional obligation to the Venezuelan people," Vecchio wrote to Faller. It did not call for military action specifically.
WNU Editor: So Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido wants "strategic planning" from the U.S. military. My gut tells me that he wants more than that.
Earlier this year, US media reported that President Donald Trump privately raised the possibility of the US leaving NATO on several occasions. Since becoming president, Trump has publicly questioned the alliance's relevance in the fight against terrorism, and attacked US allies over their failure to meet their defence spending commitments.
A sudden US withdrawal from NATO would cost its remaining members upwards of $357 billion and require between 15 and 20 years to restore the bloc's defence capabilities, a report by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies suggests.
Western military planners need to reorganize and align units in such a way that they can handle Russian hybrid warfare, while preparing for a conventional attack as a secondary measure.
The sound of BM-21 rockets streaking across the sky. The smell of spent brass and burned powder. The rumble of BTR-82 armored personnel carriers rolling through a narrow street. Rebels sprinting from building to building through an open field of fire. These sights do not evoke a striking imagine of a modern European country, but Russian posturing in the region might lead to this.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, international spectators believed this Eurasian military powerhouse would cease. However, the Russian Federation has returned to its old Cold War ways, increasing aggressive activities against its neighbors in an attempt to stymie North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) expansion. As seen with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 or the liberation of South Ossetia and Abkhazia in the 2008 Georgian War, Russia has used its military to destabilize bordering nations.
While the Pentagon appears to be skeptical, the facts and the numbers tell a different story.
The Pentagon's recently released 2019 China Military Power Report says PLA forces cannot conduct a full-scale amphibious assault on Taiwan – and are "less likely" planning for one.
The report claims the PLA does not have enough amphibious ships – and isn't building enough of them either. In military jargon, the PLA lacks "lift."
In terms of the newest modern amphibious ships, it's true China has only five large Type 071 amphibious transport docks. However, three more are in the works or outfitting, and the bigger Type 075 helicopter carrier is reportedly now in production.
But here's what matters most: an amphibious ship needn't be the newest model or, as the Americans seem to think, cost $1 billion each. The PLA Navy already has about 50 older amphibious ships that are more than capable of making the trip across the Taiwan Strait and disgorging PLA Marines, and by 2030 it will have more than 70 amphibious ships in total.
WNU Editor: China still has a long way to go before they are able to successfully invade and occupy Taiwan .... Is China Laying The Groundwork For War With Taiwan? (May 6, 2019). But as this blog has mentioned more than once in the past, never underestimate China. Thirty years ago the Chinese military did not have boots for their soldiers. Today they have aircraft carriers, fighter jets, and a growing and professional army that is in the top five in the world. One can only imagine what they will have five to ten years from now. And as for China invading Taiwan. They can do it, but the casualties will be heavy and there is no guarantee of success. But here is an easy prediction. The scenario will be different five to ten years from now .... especially if China maintains its current military buildup, and Taiwan decides to not build-up their defenses accordingly.
US officials said Monday that initial assessments of an incident over the weekend in which four oil tankers were damaged by explosions in Emirati waters point to Iranian involvement.
Four oil tankers — two Saudi, one Emirati and one Norwegian — off the coast of the Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, suffered on Sunday what the UAE Foreign Ministry called "sabotage operations." The explosion blew a five-to-10 foot hole in each ship near or just below the water line, a US military team told AP Monday.
"Iranian or Iranian-backed proxies" are believed to be behind the attack, according to US officials.
China's emerging high-tech giants don't rely on the US market, creating an opening to undermine American leadership in key industries
The US and China are fighting a trade war, contrary to my expectations, and to the consternation of equity markets, which on Monday had their worst day since January 3. The broad market gauges fell by 2.5%, and the tech sector fell by 3%, led by semiconductors.
In tweets Monday morning and again during a press briefing with visiting Hungarian President Viktor Orban, President Trump reiterated his view that China's economy was weak while America's economy was strong. He believes that tariffs will shift trade out of China and to some extent back to the United States.
U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping meet business leaders at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
WASHINGTON/BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he would meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month and that he expected their discussions would be "very fruitful," as the trade war between the world's two largest economies intensified.
Earlier, China announced it would impose higher tariffs on a range of U.S. goods including frozen vegetables and liquefied natural gas, a move that followed Washington's decision last week to hike its own levies on $200 billion in Chinese imports.
Prosecutor's office says former president charged with 'inciting and participating in killing of protesters'.
Sudan's former President Omar al-Bashir has been charged "with inciting and participating" in the killing of protesters during the mass protests that lead to the end of his decades-long rule.
The prosecutor general's announcement on Monday came as protest organisers and military rulers resumed a new round of talks on handing over power to a civilian interim body.
"Omar al-Bashir and others have been charged for inciting and participating in the killing of demonstrators," the prosecutor general's office said.
Would Iran close the Strait of Hormuz, could it, and would the United States reply by force of arms if Tehran made the attempt?
Maybe, maybe, and yes. There is precedent: it assailed merchant and naval shipping during the "Tanker War" of the 1980s. Then, it was attacking the export earnings of its archfoe Iraq. The United States, the mullahs' Great Satan, isn't nearly so dependent as was Saddam Hussein's Iraq on merchantmen plying the Persian Gulf. Washington nonetheless sees important interests at stake in this contested waterway—and that gives Tehran an opportunity to inflict pain should it choose.
Tehran demands it exports at least 1.5 million barrels per day of oil, triple May's expected levels, Reuters reports.
Iran insists on exporting at least 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil, triple May's expected levels under US sanctions, as a condition for staying in an international nuclear deal, sources with knowledge of Iran-EU talks were quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.
The figure was communicated in recent meetings between Iranian and Western officials, including Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, but has not been set down in writing, four European diplomatic sources said.
The tinderbox standoff between Iran and the US escalated even further today after four commercial ships were mysteriously 'sabotaged' off the UAE - adding to fears a conflict involving the two nations is looming
* Four ships, including two Saudi oil tankers, were damaged in mysterious 'sabotage attacks' off the UAE coast * One of the commercial ships was said to be en route to pick up Saudi oil to transport to America * Officials are still trying to determine who was behind the attacks and how they were carried out * Comes amid rising tensions between US and Iran and warnings conflict could break out 'by accident
The tinderbox standoff between Iran and the US escalated even further today after it emerged two Saudi tankers were among four commercial ships mysteriously 'sabotaged' off the UAE.
The attacks on the tankers, one of which was due to pick up oil destined for America, have added to fears of a looming conflict between the two nations.
Officials are still trying to determine who was behind the operation on Sunday and how it was carried out, after the U.S. warned ships that 'Iran or its proxies' could be targeting maritime traffic in the region.
ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen's warring parties started fresh U.N.-sponsored talks in Jordan on Monday, Yemeni officials said, two days after Houthi forces began withdrawing from the ports of Hodeidah, breaking a six month stalemate.
The talks will focus on sharing out revenues from Hodeidah's three Red Sea ports to help relieve an urgent humanitarian crisis, they said.
The Iran-aligned Houthi group began on Saturday a unilateral pullout from the ports of Saleef, Ras Isa and Hodeidah, handing them over to U.N.-supervised local forces as agreed under a pact with the Saudi-backed government last December that had stalled for months.
* Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was supposed to visit Moscow to meet Putin * Pompeo will instead visit Brussels to have emergency meeting to discuss Iran * He will meet with EU leaders to talk about Iran sanctions then travel to Russia * Hassan Rouhani issued an ultimatum to the EU to give sanction relief to Iran
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is to visit Brussels on Monday to discuss 'pressing matters' including Iran instead of attending a meeting in Moscow.
As a result of his EU meeting, the top US diplomat is scrapping a stop expected on Monday in Moscow, a State Department official said on Sunday.
But he will still head to the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Tuesday to meet President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the official added just before Pompeo left Washington.
An EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting is scheduled in Brussels on Monday, but the State Department did not offer specific details of Pompeo's revised agenda.
Swedish prosecutors have announced they are reopening an investigation into a rape allegation against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
The investigation was requested by lawyers for a Swedish woman who alleges Assange raped her in 2010.
Assange, who denies the allegations, previously avoided extradition to Sweden after seeking refuge at the Ecuadorean embassy in London for seven years.
Sweden's deputy director of public prosecutions, Eva-Marie Persson, told reporters through a translator that "there is still a probable cause to suspect that Assange committed a rape".
* Trump announced new tariffs on Chinese goods after Beijing's emissaries walked away from trade talks * China announced its own new tariffs Monday, saying it will tax $60 billion of U.S. imports at the border beginning in June * China will never surrender to external pressure,' foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said * Stocks opened sharply down on the news as jittery traders wondered about the impact on the U.S. economy * Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 650 points between overnight trades and early afternoon stock market action * Trump now claims companies will move out of China to avoid paying U.S. tariffs * Washington-Beijing trade war could be ended with a negotiated deal but none appears imminent
Markets plunged Monday after China said it would hike import tariffs to as high as 25 per cent on U.S. goods, and bluntly told Donald Trump it would 'never surrender' on trade.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 475 when markets opened, and fell 700 points by 1.30 p.m.
The sell-off came after China raised tariffs, first imposed in 2018, on $60 billion of American goods, saying they will go into effect on June 1.
'China will never surrender to external pressure,' foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a regular press briefing on Monday.
A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress aircraft assigned to the 20th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron takes off from Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, on Sunday, May 12, 2019. This was the first mission of the Bomber Task Force deployed to U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in order to defend American forces and interests in the region. ASHLEY GARDNER/U.S. AIR FORCE
A U.S. Air Force bomber task force completed its first mission in Central Command Sunday amid heightened tensions with Iran, where over the weekend officials called for U.S. forces to leave the Persian Gulf region and dubbed the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln a "target."
* Saudi Arabia said Monday two of its oil tankers were sabotaged off UAE coast * One of them was said to be en route to pick up Saudi oil to transport to the US * Emirati officials have declined to elaborate on the nature of the sabotage
Two Saudi Arabian oil tankers were among four ships 'sabotaged' off the coast of the UAE on Sunday morning, it was revealed today, amid concerns Iran is targeting shipping in the region.
Saudi Arabia said the commercial vessels had been targeted in attacks which caused 'significant' damage to the tankers - one of which was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the U.S.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih did not say who was behind the operation, which took place as tensions soared in a region already shaken by a standoff between the United States and Iran.
Whatever aircraft replaces Canada's aging CF-18s will need to be able to tap into the U.S.'s most secure intelligence network to help protect North America through NORAD. (Andrew Vaughan / THE CANADIAN PRESS)
OTTAWA — American officials will need to certify the fighter jet Canada buys at the end of a multibillion-dollar procurement that's started and stopped and started again for more than a decade, ensuring that it's fit to plug into the U.S.'s highest-security intelligence systems.
But, says the Department of National Defence's top procurement official, they will not get to decide which plane replaces Canadian military's aging CF-18s.
"Ultimately when we select, when we are into the detailed design, at some point, yes, the U.S. will have a role to play in ultimate certification," Patrick Finn, the Defence Department's assistant deputy minister of materiel, told The Canadian Press.
"But the Americans won't be sitting with us with the evaluation and doing that type of work. It will be us."
The aircraft carriers Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt and Nimitz and their strike groups underway in the western Pacific in 2017. Defense Secretary James Mattis wants to see this kind of thing more often, but to do it could fundamentally change the Navy. (James Griffin/Navy
The USS Abraham Lincoln, now deployed to the Middle East, is meant to be symbolically visible to the press but not to the Iranians. The Lincoln, like the rest of the surface fleet operating under the doctrine of "Distributed Lethality" has a fair chance of remaining unseen by enforcing very strict emission controls and relying on passive detectors and networked remote sensors to provide situational awareness.
Every warship is a potential sensor or shooter in the shared effort, but the ability of enemies to detect, track and target U.S. naval forces is greatly complicated.
In fact, the new strategy puts considerable emphasis on concealment and deception as a way of both deterring and defeating aggressors. When naval campaigns are organized around a handful of aircraft carriers, it doesn't take a lot of thought for enemies to figure out what their top-priority target should be. But when a campaign is waged by diverse vessels scattered over many hundreds of miles of water, the enemy is challenged in determining where to focus its response.
WNU Editor: This is definitely one of the 21st century's paradoxes. That it is easier to track one man through his cellphone than locate a 110,000-ton aircraft carrier that is electronically silent.
..There will be nobody left in China to do business with. Very bad for China, very good for USA! But China has taken so advantage of the U.S. for so many years, that they are way ahead (Our Presidents did not do the job). Therefore, China should not retaliate-will only get worse!
As Washington and the investing public wait to learn more about Beijing's plans for retaliation following the latest round of trade-war escalation, Trump tweeted on Monday that Beijing would retaliate at its own risk: If it follows through with another round of retaliatory tariffs, Trump warned, there would "nobody left in China to do business with."
WNU Editor: President Trump is right on the long term impact of a trade war on China. Foreign companies will be moving their business to countries that are not impacted by U.S. tariffs. He is also right about the impact of tariffs on U.S. GDP numbers. U.S. manufacturers are now competitive with Chinese goods, and they are taking advantage of this by boosting their own production. But not everyone is cheering. There are some in the media who are critical of President Trump's tactics in the current trade war, starting with the need to keep trade negotiations in private. .... Trade talks become trade war (Axios). I agree with the need to keep trade negotiations in private, but when they fail, and in this case they have failed despite President Trump expressing optimism for the past two years that they would succeed, there is a need to go public to explain what happened, and what will be done next.
In January 2018 a group of hackers, now thought to be working for the North Korean state-sponsored group Lazarus, attempted to steal $110 million from the Mexican commercial bank Bancomext. That effort failed. But just a few months later, a smaller yet still elaborate series of attacks allowed hackers to siphon off 300 to 400 million pesos, or roughly $15 to $20 million from Mexican banks. Here's how they did it.
WNU Editor: I suspect that stories like this one are just the tip of the iceberg, and that most financial institutions keep stories like this one unreported.
MARINE LE PEN has warned French voters Emmanuel Macron could hatch a revenge plot against citizens in retaliation for the prolonged "period of humiliation" he suffered at the hands of the Yellow Vests.
TWO SIGHTSEEING seaplanes have collided in mid-air in Alaska in a horror event which has killed three people and left at least 9 injured, with one other passenger's condition unknown, according to local media reports.
JUSTIN TRUDEAU's "Robin Hood" spending plan will not keep growth in Canada increasing ahead of October's general election, economists have bleakly warned.
THE US Air Force has sent a warning to Iran by broadcasting its first message to the Middle East to "defend American forces and interests of the region".
Can I pay my bills with Bitcoin? It's a question that's being asked more and more as cryptocurrencies gain momentum and popularity in the mainstream.
It is possible to pay your bills with Bitcoin, but the way you do it has a lot to do with where you live.
If you live in Australia, you can access Living Room of Satoshi, the most comprehensive platform to date for cryptocurrency payments. You can pay your bills with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dash, Bitcore, Monero, Ethereum Classic, PIVX, Zcash, Steem and Dogecoin.
Living Room of Satoshi allows users to pay any bill including rent, credit cards, phone bills, electricity bills, school fees, and tax payments, by converting the cryptocurrency of their choice to AUD.
Founded in May 2014, the Queensland-based company was awarded "Best New Startup in Australia" at a national awards ceremony. When the company began, it sought to take on main rival BPAY, an online payment platform owned by the Big 4 Australian banks. Living Room for Satoshi has since processed over $400,000 AUD in Bitcoin.
The site graphs a breakdown of categories by payment, showing widespread usage across multiple sectors. Credit card payments are the largest sector, followed by phone/internet payments and utility bills. Users are also using the platform to pay loans, fines, toll roads and insurances.
For US users, Welto's integratration with Coinbase in October 2017 was a milestone, as it allows for a complete cryptocurrency bill paying system. The last system that integrated with Coinbase which showed similar promise was Mexico's Pademobile, which is no longer trending like it was in 2014.
Welto has been building a system that will allow customers to spend their cryptocurrency on real goods and services wherever they want. They recently updated their app on January 17, 2018.
The service started in the US in 2017, and the developers are planning to extend their services worldwide, allowing users to pay their bills directly with Bitcoin, Litecoin, Zencash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and Crown with a bill limit of $300 and a flat commission of 2%.
Adoption has been slow with 1,000 – 5,000 downloads on Google Play in part due to taxation woes at Coinbase. Since the IRS seized Coinbase customer account records in 2017 in an effort to identify customers who had invested at least $20,000, any Bitcoin transaction, including payment for a phone bill, is subject to capital gains tax.
Bitwala, a global blockchain-based payment service is gearing up to re-launch after being shut down in 2015. The company's blog details why its customers' bank transfers were disabled. "In offering the Bitwala cards, we had come to rely on WaveCrest, a card issuer with a Visa license. Last week, WaveCrest was forced to disable all of its cards overnight due to its noncompliance with Visa's rules. This meant that all customers with a Visa card issued by WaveCrest, which includes many other companies, also had their cards disabled."
Bitwala's response is to move ahead with a full-service crypto bank that will shield it from tradition plug-pulling tactics by traditional banks. They state, "Countless crypto companies have had to shut down because of lack of access to financial services. This fear of banks pulling the plugs on anything crypto-related is very real and is a fear that our industry lives in. This puts further emphasis on how the crypto economy needs a strong, independent crypto-first banking foundation. Bitwala will relaunch as a crypto bank." They expect to relaunch in mid-2018.
The crypto-bill-paying space, which remains largely experimental with limited adoption, has had many players come ago, including Netherlands' Bas Nederland, which was the first European utility company to accept bitcoins directly. Although new platforms attempting to integrate cryptocurrencies with bill payments are exposing more users to the possibility of making such payments, regulations and taxation on Bitcoin will ultimately determine how and when these payment options will be embraced for everyday transactions.
The Best Frequently Asked Questions about Bitcoin,the Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies
We hear a lot of people ask basic questions about Bitcoin and blockchain technology, so we've compiled a list of answers. Understanding cryptocurrencies is a steep learning curve. They introduce a wide range of terms and require the ability to separate truth from opinion.
Whether or not Bitcoin has intrinsic value will depend on people across the entire world. Although there are several major players, like mining pools in China that have a huge impact on Bitcoin, cryptocurrency is not owned or operated by any company, state or country. That's why it's messy and unfamiliar. It's constantly generating a storm of conflicting news reports and editorials.
What is Bitcoin, and what's so good about it?
Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency. It's also an asset and a payment platform with a digital ledger that spans the world, combining global transactions onto a single system. It introduced the blockchain. It allows people without bank accounts to make transactions. In countries with hyperinflation, Bitcoin has become a viable payment method. Bitcoin can also move fluidly across borders without intermediaries. Unlike fiat currency that needs to get converted from USD to euros to yen, Bitcoin is just Bitcoin. Someone in Kansas City can send Bitcoin to someone in Phuket, like someone in London can email someone in Buenos Aires. If paper money is a CD, Bitcoin is an MP3. Bitcoin is also good at moving huge lump sums for big expensive assets.
What is the blockchain?
The blockchain is a new technology with far-reaching applications that can annihilate banking services, if not banks altogether, and redesign transactions across a multitude of businesses and industries. It is a digital ledger that records transactions publicly or privately, and sequentially. It can facilitate peer-to-peer transactions, eliminating or reducing the need for middlemen. Through encryption and decentralization, the blockchain creates trust. With Bitcoin's blockchain, anyone can see all transactions.
How does the blockchain work?
The blockchain and how it works defines how Bitcoin works. It is a digital ledger that stores every single transaction. If I sell a pair of shoes to you for $10, that transaction can be engraved on the digital ledger that is immutable. The ledger is not owned by a bank or any centralized database. It is decentralized, which means it is hosted by a network of computers across the world. Some of the computers belong to large groups and some of the computers belong to individuals. Transactions on the blockchain occur through and are recorded by addresses. Each sender and recipient requires an address.
Is there only one blockchain?
No, there are several different blockchains. Ethereum is its own blockchain. Other cryptocurrency development teams are working on their own blockchains. IBM has its own blockchain. Bitcoin is the oldest and longest blockchain, containing the greatest number of transactions.
Is Bitcoin money?
Yes. It can be used to buy and sell goods and services. Because of its limited use as money and because of its slow transaction time and high fees, many "experts" and bankers refrain from calling it money and do not consider it a currency. But that doesn't mean much. People in Venezuela and Zimbabwe have been using Bitcoin as money since their national currencies have collapsed. People in the US have found limited adoption and are able to use it as money on e-commerce platforms like Overstock. Other companies are experimenting with implementing Bitcoin as money.
Was Bitcoin created by criminals to launder money?
No one knows the identity of Bitcoin's alleged creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, who has claimed authorship of the original Bitcoin white paper, first published in October 2008. Nevertheless, a popular narrative about its creation is that it was made by criminals for criminal activities. Many believe that Bitcoin was in fact created as a response to the financial crisis of 2007-2008, when big banks were bailed out while people lost their homes through foreclosure. It was a time when average citizens become disenchanted with derivates, bank loans and other traditional investment instruments invented by the banking system that led to high inflation, bubbles and epic bursts.
But isn't Bitcoin used by criminals?
Yes. Bitcoin has been used by criminals for criminal activity. Silk Road is the prime example. But long before Bitcoin and Silk Road, there was Enron, Bernie Madoff, Michael Milken and other high profile corporate criminals. Swiss bank accounts and the Canary Islands, among other destinations, have a long history of helping the rich hide their money or aiding criminal masterminds with their nefarious dealings. Before Bitcoin, there were wars, ransoms, kidnappings, drug epidemics, bank robbers and tax evaders. People are people, and they can do awful things. But they are not the technology or the tool itself, which can be beneficial. Phones, for example, are and have been used by criminals to hatch plans.
Is Bitcoin a good investment?
Bitcoin is a volatile investment with the ability to go to zero, like every other fiat currency. Bitcoin hodlers have seen their holdings soar and then plunge. It's a wild ride.
But how can I spend it for pizza if the price of it keeps changing?
Right – it doesn't make sense. But that's how it works. You may buy a slice of pizza with Bitcoin in 2018, only to discover in 2019 that the price you paid for that pizza was ludicrously expensive. That's if Bitcoin goes up. It could go down.
Is Bitcoin slow?
Bitcoin transactions can be exceedingly slow. Critics point out that it can process only seven transactions per second. Visa handles about 2,000 transactions per second. To address its slow transaction speeds, developers are working to implement improvements, such as The Lightning Network which is designed to move small amounts of Bitcoin at lightning speed.
Who made Bitcoin?
Some anonymous person or group of people called Satoshi Nakamoto.
Is Bitcoin a cult?
Cults are often defined as entities that attract devout followers who share a belief system and who remain emotionally invested in a mission, concept or idea. Critics often point out that Bitcoin has reached cult status because you can't hold it. It's just some fluffy puffy stuff out there in the cloud. Under this definition, we'd find every religion that shares a belief in God. Critics also note that Bitcoin isn't backed by a nation state. You don't need a passport to join in the craze. Ditto with the internet.
Is Bitcoin a hedge?
Bitcoin is largely considered to be too volatile to be a reliable hedge against stock-market moves, for example. At the same time, if an economy collapses, and people continue to trade Bitcoin, it could be a hedge against local currency.
Aren't government-backed currencies better than Bitcoin?
Historians has chronicled the collapse of many currencies. Germans remember when the Deutsche Mark got divorced from the gold standard at the outbreak of World War I, and when their new currency wiped out their old money after World War II at a rate of one new unit per ten old units. The Venezuelans and Zimbabweans have all watched their government-backed currencies nosedive amidst hyperinflation and corruption. These are not the only unstable economies whose policies have drastically altered or hyper-inflated their national currencies. Meanwhile, US financial analysts are sounding the alarm about a looming global catastrophic financial crisis. Where there is money, there are shenanigans, economic wars and complexities. Bitcoin, which has a fixed supply, is an attempt to address money problems through a digital system that cannot be easily manipulated by central banks. At the same time, Bitcoin is still in its infancy with its own set of hiccups like slow transaction speeds, limited adoption and exchanges that have been hacked. In other words, there's rigorous debate. There's also a lot of hubris in a statement claiming that money, which is an invention, will continue to outperform any new technology that attempts to replace it.
What's a Bitcoin address?
A Bitcoin address is a digital string of numbers and letters you need to send and receive Bitcoin. They usually contain 26 characters. Your friend can have a different Bitcoin address. When your friend tells you their Bitcoin address, you can send them Bitcoin.
You can get an address by creating one all by yourself on your computer. You can use BitcoinPaperWallet, VanityGen and several other platforms.
I'm not a techie and I don't know anyone who will send me Bitcoin. How do I get some Bitcoin?
You can sign up with an exchange like Gemini or Coinbase to purchase Bitcoin with US dollars.
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Bitcoin addresses are anonymous to the degree that they are not attached to a name or account holder. They contain no identification. At the same time, all addresses are accessible to the public. They are not private. So if you know that a certain address belongs to a particular individual, you can see the amount of Bitcoin belonging to the address that belongs to that individual by searching it on Bitcoin's blockchain. Recipients of Bitcoin often generate new addresses for each transaction.
Do I have to buy a whole Bitcoin?
No. You can buy, sell and trade fractions of a Bitcoin. Some people call these fractions "Satoshis".
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These are addresses. When you scan a QR code, it will reveal a unique address. QR codes are a handy way of transmitting the long string of characters from a physical paper to a device. For example, you may see a QR code on the menu of a restaurant that accepts Bitcoin. When you use a mobile app to scan the QR code, it can instantly generate the address associated with the code. Now you can send a Bitcoin payment to that address without needing to type in the long string of characters.
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They're saying a lot of different things. Check out our list of wildly different opinions. Computer scientists will tell you it's a payment system that's a public digital ledger that lets people make peer-to-peer transactions safely and securely across borders without the need for intermediaries. That means no bank accounts, no clearing houses, no merchant processing services, no remittance software. Plenty of bankers will tell you it's a Ponzi scheme.
So what is Bitcoin again?
Bitcoin is a new technology, and it's unlike anything ever created in the modern world. Trying to define it has led to fierce debate. It has been called many different things: currency, money, a payment solution, a blockchain, gold, an asset, a cryptocurrency, garbage, a Ponzi scheme, a fraud, a brilliant scam. The debate continues.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed and are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin or cryptocurrency. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte appears set to consolidate his rule as early results from the country’s midterm elections showed his allies leading by a large margin, indicating that domestic support for his administration remains strong despite its bloody war on drugs that has left thousands dead and caused international condemnation.
With 94% of ballots counted, polling data sees Duterte’s allies — including his eldest son — poised to win nine of 12 open seats in the upper house, Agence France-Presse reports. The victory could potentially reverse the dynamics of the chamber, which has traditionally opposed some of the president’s most controversial campaigns.
More than 18,000 positions, including nearly 300 seats in the lower house, are also at stake.
Nearly 62 million Filipinos registered to vote in the elections widely seen as a crucial referendum on Duterte.
The former mayor was elected president in May 2016 after running on a campaign riddled with rape jokes, sexist comments and death threats. Delivering on his election promise of tackling drugs, Duterte has overseen a brutal police crackdown that has left more than 5,000 suspected dealers and users and dead, according to AFP. Human rights groups claim the toll exceeds 12,000.
He has also gone after his critics. Last year, opposition senator Antonio Trillanes, a vocal challenger of Duterte, was arrested after a weeks-long standoff in a move that human rights groups called a “relentless campaign” to silence critics. He told TIME in 2017 that he was the target of Duterte’s “political assassination.”
Official results from the country’s elections commission are expected later in the week.
(NEW YORK) — A giant shipping conglomerate owned by the Chinese government has declined to lease space in a building it owns in lower Manhattan to the U.S. chapter of Amnesty International, an organization that’s been critical of China’s human rights abuses.
Amnesty International U.S.A. told The New York Times that just as it was about to sign a lease last week for office space in Wall Street Plaza, the building’s owner, Orient Overseas, said its new parent company, Cosco Shipping Holdings Co., put a stop to it.
The human right group says they were told they were “not the best tenant” for the 33-story tower on Pine Street.
The Times says Cosco did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Amnesty International has urged action against China’s mass internment of ethnic minority Muslims.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump has never shied away from rubbing shoulders with leaders more typically kept at a distance by the West, and his Oval Office meeting with Hungary’s far right-leaning prime minister on Monday was only the latest example of his engagement with strongmen.
Like Trump, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has espoused hard-line anti-migration rhetoric. The president described his guest this way: “Probably, like me, a little bit controversial, but that’s OK. That’s OK. You’ve done a good job and you’ve kept your country safe.”
Trump’s presidency has been marked by decisions that strain longtime U.S. alliances. He has refused to be confined to engaging only with traditional power players in the West. Orban has been accused of dismantling democratic institutions in his country
A top Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, called the meeting with Orban “a betrayal to American values abroad” and said Trump “clearly has a dangerous affinity for authoritarian figures over our democratic allies.”
Some lawmakers urged him to cancel his meeting with Orban. He was the last central European leader to get a meeting with Trump, who wants to curry their favor and discourage them from moving closer to China and Russia.
Orban said he was proud to stand with Trump in the “fight against illegal migration, on terrorism and protecting the Christian communities all around the world.”
Asked about democratic backsliding in Hungary, Trump called Orban “a tough man,” but added that he’s “a respected man,” too.
“He’s done the right thing, according to many people on immigration,” Trump said. “You look at some of the problems they have in Europe that are tremendous, because they’ve done it in a different way than the prime minister.”
The White House said the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to NATO and democratic systems of government, discussed how best to increase vigilance against unchecked global migration and to address China’s unfair trade and investment practices.
Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First both said, however, that Orban has not assaulted the rule of law and basic human rights in Hungary, but has “employed anti-migrant, anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and xenophobic rhetoric while targeting civil society organizations and universities receiving funding from overseas.”
Orban’s was the first visit of a Hungarian prime minister to the Oval Office since 2005.
Orban faced years of harsh criticism from the Obama administration over his weakening of democratic checks and balances. U.S.-Hungary relations improved in recent months, partly because of Hungarian plans to purchase medium-range missiles from U.S. sources to improve the country’s air defense system.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, however, has warned Hungary that “an authoritarian Russia will never be a friend to the freedom and sovereignty of smaller nations.” Pompeo also has emphasized the risks of doing business with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei, which has significant operations in Hungary, and said there are dangers to allowing “China to gain a bridgehead in Hungary.”
The Republican chairman and top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee wrote Trump a letter on Friday, saying that “democracy in Hungary has significantly eroded.” Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, and Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., said that under Orban, elections have become less competitive, the judiciary is increasingly controlled by the state and press freedom has declined.
The letter, also signed by Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., complained that Hungary has failed to diversify its energy resources away from Russia and has allowed Moscow to exploit its visa system to evade U.S. sanctions. Late last year, the State Department said Hungary denied a U.S. request to extradite two suspected Russian arms dealers and sent the men to Russia instead.
“I hope that in the private conversation Trump will tell him that we don’t like Orban sliding into the Russian sphere of influence,” said Andras Simonyi, a former Hungarian ambassador to the U.S. who is now affiliated with George Washington University in Washington. “I am not sure he will, but if he does, the visit was totally worth it. Otherwise it was a waste of the president’s time.”
Orban is not the only hard-liner Trump has engaged with.
Trump didn’t hesitate to meet — twice now — with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in an effort to convince him to give up his nuclear weapons program.
He has praised Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, which interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Trump also remains allied with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is under pressure over the killing of a Saudi activist who lived in the United States and wrote articles criticizing the kingdom.
In 2017, Trump met in Manila with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who has attacked U.S. security policies and launched a crackdown on illegal drugs that has claimed the lives of thousands of mostly poor drug suspects. Duterte has sought Chinese infrastructure funding, trade and investment, has reached out to Russia and has threatened to end the presence of U.S. counterterrorism forces in the country, although that has not happened.
Also in 2017, during Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit with Trump in Washington, Erdogan’s bodyguards attacked peaceful protesters gathered outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence. Security officers guarding the authoritarian leader of Turkey, a member of NATO, hit and kicked the demonstrators, who wound up with injuries ranging from concussions, broken and loose teeth, and a popped blood vessel in the eye.
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Associated Press writer Barbara Ortutay in San Francisco contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON — An American military team’s initial assessment is that Iranian or Iranian-backed proxies used explosives Sunday to blow large holes in four ships anchored off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, a U.S. official said Monday.
The official said each ship has a 5- to 10-foot hole in it, near or just below the water line, and the team’s early belief is that the holes were caused by explosive charges. The team of U.S. military experts was sent to investigate the damages at the request of the UAE, but American officials have not provided any details about what exactly happened or any proof as yet about the possible Iranian involvement in the explosions.
The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Gulf officials have characterized the damage to the tankers as sabotage. Two Saudi oil tankers, a Norwegian-flagged vessel, and a bunkering tanker flagged in Sharjah, one of the UAE’s seven emirates, all suffered similar damage Sunday.
The U.S. has warned ships that “Iran or its proxies” could be targeting maritime traffic in the region, and America has moved additional ships and aircraft into the region.
The incident comes after months of increasing diplomatic and economic pressure on Iran, which the U.S. accuses of threatening American interests and allies in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The flare-up in trade tensions sent global equities to the steepest losses of the year, wiping more than $1 trillion from stock values around the world Monday.
The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 2% as of 12:55 p.m. in New York, headed for the worst day since early December. Selling was heaviest in the U.S., where the S&P 500 Index plunged 2.5% and the Nasdaq Composite tumbled more than 3%. European shares lost 1.2% and emerging-market stocks slid 1.7%.
Trade tensions have sent U.S. stocks lower in five of the past six sessions. Selling intensified Monday after China defied the Trump administration’s warning not to retaliate for his imposition of higher tariffs Friday, driving demand for havens from gold to the yen while punishing risk assets.
(KHARTOUM, Sudan) — Sudanese prosecutors have charged ousted President Omar al-Bashir with involvement in killing protesters and incitement to kill protesters during the uprising that drove him from power last month, state news agency SUNA reported Monday. It was not immediately clear what punishment he might face. Protest organizers say security forces killed around 100 demonstrators during the four months of rallies leading to al-Bashir’s overthrow.
The transitional military council ruling Sudan has said al-Bashir will face justice inside the country and will not be extradited to the Hague, where the International Criminal Court has charged him with war crimes and genocide linked to the Darfur conflict in the 2000s.
Al-Bashir, who was the only sitting head of state to be subject to an international arrest warrant, was imprisoned in the capital, Khartoum, days after the military removed him from power.
The military ousted al-Bashir on April 11, but demonstrators have remained in the streets, demanding the dismantling of his regime and a swift transition to civilian rule. In recent weeks they have threatened a general strike and civil disobedience. The protesters resumed negotiations with the army on Monday while calling for more demonstrations.
Lt. Gen. Shams al-Deen al-Kabashi, a spokesman for the military council, said Monday’s meeting, the first in over a week, was held “in a more optimistic atmosphere.”
The protesters are represented by the Forces for the Declaration of Freedom and Change, a coalition of opposition groups led by the Sudanese Professionals Association, which has spearheaded the protests since December.
Al-Kabashi said they agreed on the creation of a sovereign council, a Cabinet and a legislative body that would govern the country during the transition. He said they will discuss the makeup of the three bodies and the duration of the transition on Tuesday.
The two sides remain divided over what role the military, which is dominated by al-Bashir appointees, should have in the transition period until elections can be held. The military wants to play a leading role in a transition lasting up to two years, while the protesters have demanded an immediate transition to a civilian-led authority that would govern for four years.
The protesters fear the army will cling to power or select one of its own to succeed al-Bashir. They also worry that Islamists and other factions close to the deposed leader, who is now jailed in Khartoum, will be granted a role in the transition.
The military agreed last month to recognize the FDFC as the uprising’s only legitimate representative in a victory for the protesters. But the generals have called for other political parties — with the exception of al-Bashir’s National Congress Party — to be included in the transition.
The opposition has vowed to continue protests, centered on a sit-in outside the military headquarters in the capital, Khartoum. It has called for a series of nationwide protests, including another march to the main sit-in, for the coming week.
Footage circulating online Monday showed protesters blocking roads in Khartoum with burning tires and trees. Other footage showed men from the Rapid Support Forces forcibly dispersing protesters. The paramilitary RSF, which has led counterinsurgency campaigns in Darfur and other regions, is led by Gen. Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, the deputy head of the military council.
The SPA said the road closures were in response to the military council’s delay in handing over power to civilians.
(DUBAI, United Arab Emirates) — Four oil tankers anchored in the Mideast were damaged by what Gulf officials described as sabotage, though satellite images obtained by The Associated Press on Tuesday showed no major visible damage to the vessels.
Details of the alleged sabotage to two Saudi, one Norwegian and one Emirati oil tanker on Sunday remained unclear, and Gulf officials have declined to say who they suspected was responsible. But it demonstrated the raised risks for shippers in a region vital to global energy supplies as tensions are increasing between the U.S. and Iran over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers.
The U.S. has warned sailors of the potential for attacks on commercial sea traffic, and regional allies of the United Arab Emirates condemned the alleged sabotage as the tankers were off the coast of the UAE port city of Fujairah.
A U.S. official in Washington, without offering any evidence, told the AP that an American military team’s initial assessment indicated Iran or Iranian allies used explosives to blow holes in the ships. The official, who was not authorized to discuss the investigation, agreed to reveal the findings only if not quoted by name. The U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet, which patrols the Mideast and operates from a base in Fujairah, has repeatedly declined to comment.
The U.S. already had warned ships that “Iran or its proxies” could be targeting maritime traffic in the region. America is deploying an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers to the Persian Gulf to counter alleged, still-unspecified threats from Tehran.
Citing heightened tensions in the region, the United Nations called on “all concerned parties to exercise restraint for the sake of regional peace, including by ensuring maritime security” and freedom of navigation, U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said.
The scale of the alleged sabotage also remained unclear. A statement from Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said two of the kingdom’s oil tankers, including one due to later carry crude to the U.S., sustained “significant damage.” However, a report from Sky News Arabia, a satellite channel owned by an Abu Dhabi ruling family member, showed the allegedly targeted Saudi tanker Al Marzoqah afloat without any apparent damage.
The oil tankers were visible in satellite images provided Tuesday to the AP by Colorado-based Maxar Technologies. A boom surrounded the Emirati oil tanker A. Michel, indicating the possibility of an oil leak. The other three showed no visible major damage from above.
The MT Andrea Victory, the fourth allegedly targeted ship, sustained a hole in its hull just above its waterline from “an unknown object,” its owner Thome Ship Management said in a statement. Images on Monday of the Norwegian-flagged Andrea Victory, which the company said was “not in any danger of sinking,” showed damage similar to what the firm described.
The U.S. official said each ship sustained a 5- to 10-foot (1.5- to 3-meter) hole in it, near or just below the water line, suspected to have been caused by explosive charges. Emirati officials had requested a team of U.S. military investigators aid them in their probe.
Authorities in Fujairah, also a UAE emirate, also declined to speak to the AP. Emirati officials stopped AP journalists from traveling by boat to see the ships.
The incident raised questions about maritime security in the UAE, home to Dubai’s Jebel Ali port, the largest man-made deep-water harbor in the world that is also the U.S. Navy’s busiest port of call outside of America. From the coast, AP journalists saw an Emirati coast guard vessel patrolling near the area of one of the Saudi ships in Fujairah, some 130 miles (210 kilometers) northeast of Dubai on the Gulf of Oman.
Fujairah also is about 140 kilometers (85 miles) south of the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a third of all oil at sea is traded.
Al-Falih, the Saudi energy minister, said the attacks on the two Saudi tankers happened at 6 a.m. Sunday. He said “the attack didn’t lead to any casualties or oil spill,” though he acknowledged it affected “the security of oil supplies to consumers all over the world.”
It is “the joint responsibility of the international community to protect the safety of maritime navigation and the security of oil tankers, to mitigate against the adverse consequences of such incidents on energy markets, and the danger they pose to the global economy,” he said, according to the statement carried by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
The U.S. Energy Department later said it was “monitoring the oil markets, and is confident they remain well-supplied.”
Shortly after the Saudi announcement, Iran’s Foreign Ministry called for further clarification about what exactly happened with the vessels. The ministry’s spokesman, Abbas Mousavi, was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying there should be more information about the incident.
Mousavi also warned against any “conspiracy orchestrated by ill-wishers” and “adventurism by foreigners” to undermine the maritime region’s stability and security. Both the UAE and Saudi Arabia are staunch opponents of Iran’s government.
Asked at the White House about the incident, President Donald Trump responded: “It’s going to be a bad problem for Iran if something happens.”
Tensions have risen since Trump withdrew America from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and restored U.S. sanctions that have pushed Iran’s economy into crisis. Last week, Iran warned it would begin enriching uranium at higher levels in 60 days if world powers failed to negotiate new terms for the deal.
European Union officials met Monday in Brussels to thrash out ways to keep the Iran nuclear deal afloat. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had traveled there for talks.
“We’re not going to miscalculate. Our aim is not war,” Pompeo told CNBC in an interview. “Our aim is a change in the behavior of the Iranian leadership.”
Underlining the regional risk, the general-secretary of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council described the incident as a “serious escalation.”
“Such irresponsible acts will increase tension and conflicts in the region and expose its peoples to great danger,” Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani said. Bahrain, Egypt and Yemen’s internationally recognized government similarly condemned the alleged sabotage, as did the Arab League.
The U.S. Maritime Administration, a division of the U.S. Transportation Department, warned Thursday that “Iran and/or its regional proxies” could target commercial sea traffic.
The agency issued a new warning Sunday to sailors about the alleged sabotage and urged shippers to exercise caution in the area for the next week.
It remained unclear if the previous warning from the U.S. Maritime Administration is the same perceived threat that prompted the White House on May 4 to order the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and the B-52 bombers to the region. In a statement then, national security adviser John Bolton had warned Iran that “that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”
(PARIS) — The wife of Meng Hongwei, the former Interpol president jailed in China for what she believes are political reasons, said Monday that France has saved her life and the lives of their two young boys by granting her asylum request. In the wake of her husband’s detention, Grace Meng has lived under police protection in France.
The French government office that rules on asylum requests rendered its decision last week, granting her refugee status, Grace Meng’s legal team said. The asylum office didn’t respond to Associated Press contacts by phone and email, and the French Interior Ministry said it doesn’t comment on individual cases.
Grace Meng told the AP that the guarantee of being able to stay in France, where Meng Hongwei was stationed with Interpol, offers her family greater security while she pursues her struggle to get information from China about her husband’s whereabouts and even whether he is still alive.
“If France hadn’t protected me, I would have been killed ages ago,” she said. “It’s a second life for us, me and my children.”
Her last communication with her husband was an emoji of a knife he texted her from China shortly before he disappeared on a trip to Beijing last September. Chinese authorities subsequently announced that Meng Hongwei was in detention, accused of corruption. He was expelled from the ruling Communist Party and from his office as vice minister of public security, a title he retained after his 2016 election to the presidency of Interpol, the international police liaison organization headquartered in Lyon, France.
Grace Meng claims her husband is a victim of political persecution in China. There are suspicions that he fell out of favor with Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has carried out a wide-ranging crackdown on corruption and perceived disloyalty that observers say is calculated to strengthen party control while bringing down potential challengers to his authority.
Last week, Chinese prosecutors indicted Meng Hongwei on charges of accepting bribes, accusing him of abusing his positions to “illegally accept cash and property in return for performing favors for others.”
Grace Meng said that China has failed to provide a shred of evidence to support the accusations. “This is a political case,” she told the AP.
In filing her asylum request to French authorities last November, her lawyers argued that she would be in danger if she returns to China, having criticized Chinese authorities’ handling of his case.
Tránsito Gutiérrez remembers her 16-year-old son telling her in April that there was no sign of rain. He had good reason to think so: the family, which lives in a small, remote subsistence farming community only accessible by a winding dirt road, had lost all of its maize and beans in 2017 and 2018 after an unusual drought. This year, experts predict similar conditions. Worried about another bad year, Juan de León Gutierrez decided his family could no longer rely on agriculture.
“What I want to do is leave,” he told his mom, who recalled the conversation with him in an interview with TIME at the family’s home. As she spoke, Juan’s younger siblings wandered in and out of the small house, which has adobe walls and a tin roof. The oldest, a 14-year-old boy, still had the frame of a child years younger, as does Juan in photos. Malnutrition often stunts the growth of children in their community of mainly indigenous Mayan Ch’orti’ in Guatemala’s Dry Corridor, a hot and arid area spanning parts of Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua that is home to more than 10.5 million people.
Juan spent most days toiling the fields with his father, tending the maize, beans, and coffee plants the family grew on their modest plot of land. His grandfather and great-grandfather had done the same. When the school year rolled around, he would often beg his mother to scrounge up the $130 needed to continue studying, a privilege his own parents never had. But this spring, Juan said he wanted to migrate to the U.S. to reunite with his 25-year-old brother in Miami, who has lived and worked there since 2011. She tried to convince him to stay, but eventually gave in, aware she could offer him little more. On April 4, with no clouds in sight, he left home with another friend and a coyote (a smuggler) who would guide them.
Jimmy Cristian Gutierrez Garcia via APIn this March 2017 photo released by Jimmy Cristian Gutierrez Garcia, the teacher of Juan de Leon Gutierrez, Juan poses for his school portrait in El Tesoro village, Camotan, Guatemala.
Fifteen days later, the teenager was apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol near El Paso after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a statement from Guatemala’s Foreign Ministry. He was transferred to a local hospital after a doctor at a government shelter noticed he was sick. AP reported that he was released and hospitalized again a day later. Doctors detected an infection in his brain known as Pott’s puffy tumor that could have been caused by an untreated sinus infection or head trauma. What caused Juan’s infection is still unknown. Doctors operated to try to save his life. On April 30, de León Gutiérrez died. “He went seeking life, but found death,” says his father, Tanerjo de León.
De León Gutiérrez is the third Guatemalan minor to die in U.S. custody in six months. In December, 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin died from a bacterial infection hours after being taken in Border Patrol custody. Less than two weeks later, 8-year-old Felipe Gómez Alonzo died of flu complications after being apprehended by Border Patrol and transferred to a holding cell. The deaths sparked questions about the quality of medical care for migrant children in U.S. custody and the conditions in the facilities where they are held. After the deaths of Caal Maquin and Gómez Alonzo, Customs and Border Protection ordered mandatory medical checks for minors. Nevertheless, the Trump Administration continues to push Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enact harsher policies. On May 5, President Donald Trump nominated immigration hardliner and former FBI agent Mark Morgan to lead ICE.
The deaths have also highlighted the reasons Guatemalans are leaving — and what could be done to help them stay. From October 2018 to April 2019, more than 165,000 Guatemalans were apprehended at the U.S southern border, a record-high number of apprehensions and roughly 1 percent of the country’s population. Guatemalans are now the group most frequently apprehended at the border, surpassing Mexico, a country with a population more than 7 times larger than Guatemala’s. There are many reasons for leaving, and poverty, corruption, violence, food insecurity and lack of economic opportunities all play a role.
In the Dry Corridor, in particular, climate change is a major driving force of migration. By 2050, climate change could displace as many as 140 million people in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, according to the World Bank.
“Here we live [climate change] and every day we feel it more,” says Edwin Orellano, Municipal Monitor of the Secretariat of Food and Nutritional Security (SESAN), a Guatemalan government agency that coordinates responses to food insecurity.
In the past, farmers in the Dry Corridor waited for the first rain of the season, usually in early May, to plant their maize and beans. From May to October, rain usually came every few days. At the end of the season, they would have a full harvest.
But for the past five years, dry spells during the rainy season have lasted up to 60 days, causing crops to wither without constant watering. Scientists attribute this change in rainfall to El Niño, a weather phenomenon that disrupts normal rain patterns and is becoming more common because of climate change. The unpredictable weather has led 2.2 million people in the Dry Corridor to lose their crops. As of 2017, nearly 50 percent of families did not have enough food to support their families, the most ever reported, according to a study conducted by World Food Program. The study reported loss of crops and food insecurity as the main reasons Guatemalans from the Dry Corridor migrated to the United States.
Facing the possibility of another harvest season where his five younger siblings were forced to eat nothing more than tortillas with salt, De Léon chose to head north. Now, government institutions and internationally funded NGOs in Guatemala’s Dry Corridor are working to provide alternatives so that migrants like him won’t have to leave.
Anna-Catherine BrigidaThe family lives in a humble home in a small subsistence farming community in Guatemala’s Dry Corridor.
One such program, called Adelante or Moving Forward, focuses on developing long-term resilience in response to the new reality of the region’s climate. The program, implemented by international NGOs Catholic Relief Services and Caritas with USAID funding since June 2018, promotes crop substitution, improved soil and water management systems, and tools for financial development and independence.
But funding for the project now seems uncertain after Trump announced in March that he plans to cut aid to Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras for failing to prevent migrants from heading to the U.S. That announcement sparked concern among workers implementing the project, according to Adelante Project Coordinator Cesar Chacón. Ending the programs would only “aggravate” the conditions in the Dry Corridor, he says.
“If these programs are cut, there are going to be thousands of people who are not going to be participating and they’re not going to have any choice but to migrate because there is nothing to keep them where they are,” says Paul Townsend, in-country representative for Catholic Relief Services in Guatemala.
The future of these programs are in limbo as Trump waits congressional approval for the funding cuts. (The USAID office in Guatemala did not respond to a request for comment.) The U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement is currently investigating the death of de León, but the circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley has called on the Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and report their findings to Congress on May 16.
Juan’s parents say they have never received economic support or food assistance from the government nor any NGO working in the region. “They promise one thing or another, but then once they get into office, then you don’t see them,” Gutiérrez says, sitting in a plastic chair at her home in 90-degree heat. They said they would benefit from some extra maize and beans to replace the harvest they lost.
“The Guatemalan government doesn’t have the capacity to ensure that these families survive,” says Orellano of SESAN, emphasizing the need for international help.
Juan’s parents continue to wait for their son’s body to be returned to Guatemala so they can finally try to put their son to rest. “We never imagined that something like this could happen to him,” his father says. “He was so young, just 16 years old, and we thought he would make it.”
After the news of Juan’s death, his parents say other young people thinking of migrating should stay put. But as long as climate change continues to make life more difficult in Guatemala’s Dry Corridor, many will continue to leave.
“Migrating is a necessity,” Gutiérrez says, comparing migration to a mango tree. Once one mango falls off, the others do as well. Once one young man migrates, many more follow. “I hope that God helps [these young migrants] and gives them strength so that what happened to my son doesn’t happen to them,” Gutiérrez says.
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks sank, with contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average sliding as much as 460 points, after China retaliated with higher tariffs on a range of American goods. Treasuries jumped with the yen on demand for haven assets.
The S&P 500 headed for the biggest decline since March after China targeted some of the nation’s biggest exporters. Boeing Co. and Caterpillar Inc. each fell more than 3%, while Intel Corp. and Nvidia Corp. lost at least 1.8%. Soybeans plunged 2% and cotton prices sank more than 3%. The dollar erased gains and 10-year Treasury yields fell to the lowest level since late March. The yen also rose. Oil climbed as Saudi Arabia said two of its tankers were “sabotaged.”
Risk assets had been under pressure all morning after President Donald Trump warned China not to retaliate after the latest round of American measures. The selling picked up when China said it will raise tariffs starting June 1. An unverified Twitter post purportedly by China’s Global Times suggested the possibility of selling some of Treasuries holdings. The escalation comes after talks ended last week in a stalemate, with no timeline for future discussions.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index was dragged into the red as almost every industry sector retreated, extending declines as the European Union said it was finalizing a list of U.S. goods to target in the event Trump imposes levies on car imports.
Investors are struggling to find positive catalysts for risk assets after the U.S. stepped up punitive tariffs on $200 billion in annual imports from China, and Trump started his Monday morning threatening that the trade standoff will “get worse” if there’s retaliation. While both economic superpowers have also worked hard since talks ended Friday to project calm and emphasize that they plan to continue negotiations, markets seem to sense fundamental divisions between the two sides.
On Monday, American officials are expected to announce details of their plans to boost tariffs on all remaining imports from China — some $300 billion in trade. Chinese state media blamed the U.S. for a lack of progress in trade talks while emphasizing the Asian nation’s economic resilience.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin climbed above $7,000 as the recent gains in cryptocurrencies extended over the weekend. Most base metals retreated as traders reassessed the demand outlook given the threats to global economic growth.
Here are some notable events coming up this week:
Earnings this week include Vodafone, Alibaba, Tencent, Cisco, Nvidia. A slew of Federal Reserve policy makers speak: Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida speak at a “Fed Listens” event hosted by the Boston Fed. New York Fed President John Williams speaks at an event in Zurich. Kansas City Fed President Esther George and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin also make appearances. Japan balance of payments is due Tuesday. China industrial production and retail sales are slated for Wednesday, same day as U.S. retail sales and industrial production. Bank of Indonesia has an interest rate decision on Thursday. Australian unemployment is out on Thursday.And here are the main market moves:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index decreased 1.8% as of 9:34 a.m. New York time. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 1.1% to the lowest in two months. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index dipped 0.5% to the lowest in nearly two months. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.6%. The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 1.2%, the lowest since Jan. 25.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index pared gains to trade little changed. The euro increased 0.2% to $1.1258. The British pound advanced 0.3% to $1.3036. The Japanese yen jumped 0.8%, the most since March 22, to 109.11 per dollar.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell five basis points to 2.42%, the lowest since March 29. Germany’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to -0.06%. Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 1.12%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude increased 2.4% to $63.13 a barrel. Gold increased 0.9% to $1,298.90 an ounce.
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As India continues to crack down on cryptocurrencies and related businesses, trading platform Coinome has announced it's shutting down. The company made the decision after the Indian Supreme Court postponed the "Crypto vs. RBI Case" to July 2019.
Billed as the "India's Safest Digital & Crypto Assets Exchange, Coinome is backed by billion-dollar, Mumbai-based payment gateway BillDesk. All crypto markets on the exchange will be suspended and any pending or open orders will be canceled, effective May 15, 2019. Coinome asked customers to withdraw all of their cryptocurrencies from the platform as soon as possible.
In an email to customers, Coinome says,
"India is currently going through uncertainty on crypto guidelines and regulations. The government of India has not yet taken a decision on the regulatory framework for crypto exchanges or wallets. Further, the supreme court is yet to act upon the public interest litigation (PIL) on (the) regulation of cryptoassets."
The "Crypto Vs. RBI Case" sees several cryptocurrency exchanges challenge the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on its order prohibiting banks from servicing cryptocurrency exchanges.
The Reserve Bank of India has taken a strong stance against the use of cryptocurrencies. Last September, Zebpay, the largest crypto exchange in India, ceased operations in India and relocated to Malta.
In January, Indian police in Jammu and Kashmir issued a public service announcement against cryptocurrencies.
"The general public is informed not to make any type of investment in cryptocurrencies, virtual currencies (vcs) such as Bitcoin because there is a real and heightened risk associated with them. This can result in a sudden and prolonged crash, exposing investors; especially retail consumers who stand to lose their hard-earned money."
Earlier in April, India's government circulated a proposal to eliminate cryptocurrencies from all areas of business and daily activities. The "Banning of Cryptocurrencies and Regulation of Official Digital Currencies Bill 2019″ brings the country steps closer to outlawing the sale and issuance of digital assets such as Bitcoin.
Over the past 3 years, Baidu has led the way in bringing unprecedented visibility into the organic search environment on Baidu with our ranking research database. Within seconds, Dragon Metrics users can access a truly massive amount of data on any site on the internet's performance on Baidu organic search.
Today, we've got some pretty exciting news to share with you. We've just increased the current site of our database to 20 million keywords — that's nearly 7x the size of our previous index! This means more keywords found for each site, more accurate traffic estimations, better competitor information, and so much more.
Graphic Design & Business: 5 Reasons Why It Matters
Now more than ever, the image of a business is of utmost importance. The old saying, "A picture speaks a thousand words." is still relevant in the digital world of today. One of the most important aspects every business especially small business should be focusing on good graphic design. But for some unfathomable reason, business owners mostly do not see the value it brings to the business and usually become penny pinchers. Investing in good quality graphic design in the initial days of a business is a smart move.
What is Graphic Design: Before we list why it is so critical to the success in the digital world, let us understand what graphic design is. It is the process of communicating to a target group with the help of visual and textual context. Graphic design is also referred to as communication design. It involves bringing harmony in words, typography, photography and layout to convey a message. Graphic design includes but is not limited to:
Logo
Marketing materials like banners
Packaging
Website design
Website layout
Animation
Why It Matters For A Business: Now that we know what constitutes graphic design, it is important to understand the significance it can play in how successful your business is.
Builds An Image: An impressive design grabs the attention of the customer and makes connection with what your business does. You have to make an impression on the customer and the only way to do it is by having an effective logo and by being consistent with the design theme in other elements like website and advertising materials. You want to build your own brand and identity, separate from others.
Good Design Sells: There is something comforting about numbers since they don't lie. According to various research, companies with better design outperform others. A beautiful website is nice to have but what is even nicer is one that converts. A good graphic design will make the user experience hassle free and will guide it to take action.
Trust: You might be tempted to save some of your hard-earned money right now by using a poorly designed logo or website but do not do it. People perceive companies with good quality design as professional and trust worthy. Your company is what represents you. Making sure you look good on all fronts makes you look credible since you are willing in invest in yourself.
Differentiate From Competitors':Imagine the scenario where you see hundreds of products from different companies with almost identical design. Nothing catches your eye. You see one that has an ingenious design or maybe the color scheme is different, you will immediately pick that up. A cleverly thought logo or design sticks in the minds of the customer and sets you apart from the herd.
Communicate With the Customer:The basic purpose of graphic design is to communicate with the potential customers. Through quality graphic design, you can present your ideas to the public in a visually appealing manner. It can help you convey a story that connects with your company and is sending a consistent message
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