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• Trump officials to Congress: Goal is deterring Iran, not war

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Tamping down talk of war, top Trump administration officials told Congress on Tuesday that recent actions by the U.S. deterred attacks on American forces. But some lawmakers remained deeply skeptical of the White House approach in the Middle East.

  
  

• 'Nowhere for the water to go': Tornadoes, floods hit central US day after 20 tornadoes

  A tornado tore through a neighborhood near Tulsa International Airport on Tuesday as a powerful storm triggered flash flooding and washed out roads across parts of Oklahoma.

  
  

• Russian bombers, fighters intercepted off Alaska: US military

  US fighters intercepted six Russian military aircraft in international airspace west of Alaska, and shadowed them until they exited the area, the North American Air Defense Command said Tuesday. The Russian aircraft included two Tu-95 strategic bombers, which were intercepted Monday by two F-22 fighters, the command said. A second group of two Tu-95 bombers and two Su-35 fighters were also intercepted by a pair of F-22 fighters, it said.

  
  

• U.S. eases curbs on Huawei; founder says clampdown underestimates Chinese firm

  The U.S. Commerce Department blocked Huawei Technologies Co Ltd from buying U.S. goods last week, a major escalation in the trade war between the world's two top economies, saying the firm was involved in activities contrary to national security. The two countries increased import tariffs on each other's goods over the past two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump said China had reneged on earlier commitments made during months of negotiations. On Monday, the Commerce Department granted Huawei a license to buy U.S. goods until Aug. 19 to maintain existing telecoms networks and provide software updates to Huawei smartphones, a move intended to give telecom operators that rely on Huawei time to make other arrangements.

  
  

• Gloria Allred Opens Up About Nearly ‘Bleeding to Death’ From Her Illegal Abortion

  Kyle Grillot/ReutersAttorney Gloria Allred took the stage at a pro-choice rally in Manhattan on Tuesday and told a harrowing story about nearly “bleeding to death” after she was forced to get an illegal abortion following a rape in the 1960s.Describing herself as “living evidence of what happens if abortion is criminalized,” Allred said recent anti-abortion legislation in Alabama, Georgia, and Missouri will effectively condemn women and girls to death by leaving them no options other than illegal abortion. While Alabama’s near-total abortion ban stipulates up to 99 year prison sentences for doctors performing abortions, Allred said, “The truth is, the victims are the women and the girls who have to get a back-alley abortion and who are going to be left to die.” The women’s rights lawyer told the crowd in Foley Square that she’d seen firsthand what it was like for women who had no access to abortion in the 1960s. After being raped at gunpoint in Mexico, she said, she traveled back to the United States, found out she was pregnant, and discovered that it was a crime in many states for doctors to perform abortions. “I had to get a back-alley abortion in a bathtub from a person who was not licensed, they were just doing it for the money,” she said. Once she began hemorrhaging, she said, the person who performed the procedure told her it was “[her] problem now.” Allred recalled suffering from a 106-degree fever and being packed in ice once she was hospitalized, all while she was surrounded by other women who were “suffering” from illegal abortions. “The only time a hospital would admit a woman like me was if she was bleeding to death from an abortion,” she said. But even then, she said she was vilified for having gotten the procedure done. “The nurse told me, ‘This should teach you a lesson,’” Allred said. “It taught me abortion should be safe, legal, and accessible!” New Laws in Georgia and Alabama Have Women Panicking They Can’t Get AbortionsAllred told the crowd of demonstrators that women under the jurisdiction of the new anti-abortion laws in Alabama, Missouri, and Georgia will also likely have to turn to back-alley abortions as a means of terminating their pregnancies, claiming the laws will force women into “no-win situations.”“More women died from illegal abortions than men in Vietnam,” Allred said. “Most of these lawmakers signing these bills will never have to get an abortion.”New York mayor and 2020 contender Bill de Blasio also spoke at the rally, describing the lawmakers passing the bills as “right-wing extremists” ignoring the American majority and trying to take the U.S. back to a time of equality “disparity.”“The only person who gets to decide is the woman herself. That is what the American people believe,” de Blasio said. “Women will die because these laws were passed, and that shouldn’t happen in our America… The rights of women are what matter most.”Earlier this month, Alabama’s Gov. Kay Ivey signed a bill that would punish doctors for performing abortions with a maximum sentence of 99 years. The law outlaws abortion in all stages of pregnancy and makes no exception in cases of rape or incest. Missouri lawmakers also recently passed a bill that would ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, and Georgia’s Gov. Brian Kemp signed a similar bill.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  
  

• Farage's Brexit Party to Trounce May, Sporting Index Says

  Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservatives will win seven, while Labour will take 13 and the Liberal Democrats 12, Sporting Index predicted in an email in London on Tuesday. Sporting Index has had a consistently strong record in predicting some of the key twists and turns of the Brexit saga. Last month, about two hours before the latest vote on May’s Brexit deal, the spread betting firm forecast she’d lose by 60 votes.

  
  

• Sheriff's Deputy Accused of Having 'Sexual Contact' With Teenage Boy

  Sacramento County Sheriff's Deputy Shauna Bishop is supposed to protect and serve but now she`s accused of doing just the opposite.

  
  

• Latest migrant child death raises questions about U.S. detention practices

  The fifth Guatemalan child to die after illegally crossing the border since December, Carlos Vasquez’s death at a Border Patrol station raises new questions about the length of time minors are being detained, as well as the conditions provided to them while in custody.

  
  

• Fears rise China could weaponise rare earths in US tech war

  The US has hit China where it hurts by going after its telecom champion Huawei, but Beijing's control of the global supply of rare earths used in smartphones and electric cars gives it a powerful weapon in their escalating tech war. A seemingly routine visit by President Xi Jinping to a Chinese rare earths company this week is being widely read as an obvious threat that Beijing is standing ready for action. Xi's inspection tour "is no accident, this didn't happen by chance," said Li Mingjiang, China programme coordinator at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) in Singapore.

  
  

• I'm the same age as Elizabeth Warren. We 70-somethings have no business being president.

  I have nothing against old people — I'm one of them. But maybe it's time to add a maximum age limit to our minimum age requirement for our presidents.

  
  

• Rain, flooding expected in U.S. Southern Plains after deadly storms

  Weather forecasters on Wednesday expected drenching rains to roll into the storm-ravaged U.S. southern and central states, where thunderstorms and tornadoes killed at least three people and triggered widespread flooding. More than 30 tornadoes struck a swath from Texas to Iowa since Monday, according to the National Weather Service, and residents in at least three Oklahoma riverfront communities were urged to evacuate due to flooding. One person was killed and another was injured when a tornado struck the rural town of Adair, Iowa, about 50 miles (80 km)west of Des Moines, at about 1:30 a.m. local time, the weather service said.

  
  

• Pompeo says 'quite possible' Iran behind Gulf incidents

  US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday it was "quite possible" Iran was responsible for sabotage of Gulf oil interests as he prepared to brief lawmakers on rising tensions. Pompeo cautioned that the United States has not made "a definitive conclusion" that can be presented publicly over mysterious sabotage incidents of oil tankers off the United Arab Emirates or drone strikes on a crude pipeline in Saudi Arabia. "But given all the regional conflicts that we have seen over the past decade and the shape of these attacks, it seems like it's quite possible that Iran was behind these," Pompeo told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

  
  

• Don't Just Vacation in Any Old Airbnb When You Can Choose One on Wheels

  
  

• Mississippi judge who blocked 15-week abortion ban hears arguments on fetal heartbeat law

  Mississippi's fetal heartbeat law which bans abortions after approximately six weeks could be blocked or upheld by Judge Carlton Reeves.

  
  

• US stocks rally on Huawei reprieve as pound gyrates on Brexit news

  Global stocks rallied Tuesday as the United States took a step away from imposing crushing restrictions on Chinese telecom company Huawei, while the pound gyrated on fresh Brexit drama.

  
  

• Man who threatened to kill ‘as many girls as I see’ because he was repeatedly rejected set to be spared jail

  A man who threatened to murder “as many girls” as he could see may escape a jail sentence, despite pleading guilty to a charge of attempted threat of terrorism.Christopher Cleary wrote a detailed Facebook post about how he planned to become “the next mass shooter” in January 2019.The 27-year-old described himself as a virgin who had never had a girlfriend.He also said he wanted to make the fact that so many women had turned him down “right” by going on a shooting spree, according to documents filed by Provo Police.Cleary was arrested on 19 January after publishing the Facebook post.Cleary then struck a deal with Utah prosecutors, pleading guilty to a reduced criminal charge.Attempted threat of terrorism is a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.But Utah prosecutors agreed to recommend him for probation, despite his extensive criminal record.A judge will decide whether or not to accept the deal at a hearing on Thursday.The 27-year-old has been accused of stalking multiple times, with at least eight alleged victims contacting the authorities about his behaviour since 2012, according to police and court records.He was on probation following a marijuana conviction in 2016 when he was charged with stalking two teenagers he had met online.Cleary was put on probation for the stalking cases but in 2017 was charged with stalking and harassing his case worker.In 2018 judges in Jefferson County, Colorado sentenced him, once again, to probation for all three stalking cases.In one of the cases a 19-year-old woman said she lived with Cleary for a fortnight in a hotel room. She said that he strangled and urinated on her during that time, court records show.Cleary was out on probation for the three cases when he was arrested in a McDonald's in January, after publishing his Facebook post.Pam Russell, a spokeswoman for the Utah’s county prosecutor’s office, said once the case was concluded Cleary would be returned to Colorado.Prosecutors in Denver will seek to revoke his probation and send him to prison in relation for the stalking and harassment cases, she added.“All I wanted to be was loved,” Cleary wrote in his Facebook post.“Yet no one cares about me, I’m 27 years old and I’ve never had a girlfriend before and I’m still a virgin, this is why I’m planning on shooting up a public place soon and being the next mass shooter cause I’m ready to die.”It is unclear how truthful the Facebook post was, as at least two of Cleary’s accusers have said they had a sexual relationship with him.Some news reports have speculated that Cleary could be part of the “incel movement”, which promotes the misogynistic idea that men are entitled to have sex with women.But a Colorado police detective, who investigated two accusations against the 27-year-old, said there as no evidence he was part of the movement.“I truly think he’s just wired differently,” he said. Additional reporting by agencies

  
  

• Brexit Bulletin: May’s Final Gamble Backfires

  As Theresa May made a last-ditch plea to save her Brexit deal yesterday, she tried to present enough improvements to win over opponents on all sides. Instead, it looks like she’s ended up pleasing no one. In a speech yesterday, the embattled prime minister unveiled a 10-point plan she said was the “one last chance” to salvage Brexit, including a promise to give members of Parliament a vote on whether to call another referendum to ratify Britain’s exit. Pro-Brexit Conservative MPs, including Boris Johnson, joined Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn and May’s Northern Irish allies in condemning her proposals.

  
  

• Elon Musk hires man behind 'absolute unit' sheep meme to run Tesla's social media

  * Adam Koszary’s tweet of giant sheep went viral last year * Musk adopted image and description for his Twitter profileElon Musk is legally obliged to have his tweets checked by lawyers. ‘My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point,’ he observed last month. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersElon Musk has reportedly hired the man responsible for a viral tweet about a giant sheep to be Tesla’s social media manager.Adam Koszary, programme manager for the UK’s Reading Museum and Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL), run by the University of Reading, will join Tesla in July, according to his Twitter account.The @TheMerl account went viral in April last year when it tweeted an old picture of a large ram with the caption: “Look at this absolute unit.” The tweet has now been retweeted more than 31,000 times and has over 111,000 likes.> look at this absolute unit. pic.twitter.com/LzcQ4x0q38> > — The Museum of English Rural Life (@TheMERL) April 9, 2018Last month Musk changed his Twitter bio to “absolute unit” and his picture to the image of the sheep. @TheMerl returned the compliment by changing its bio photo to one of Musk.The tweet led to a series of messages from Musk ending with one reading: “My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point.”> My Twitter is pretty much complete nonsense at this point> > — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 19, 2019Tesla was not immediately available for comment. It is not yet clear whether the sheep tweet was instrumental in Koszary’s hiring.Musk has a troubled history with Twitter. The Tesla founder now has to have his tweets checked by lawyers after incorrectly claiming on social media that his company was close to a large investment from Saudi Arabia’s largest investment fund.Tesla’s share price has slid in recent weeks as investors worry the company is running out of cash.

  
  

• North Korea blasts Joe Biden as a 'fool of low IQ' for criticising leader Kim Jong-un

  North Korean state media slammed former US vice president Joe Biden for criticising leader Kim Jong-un, calling him "bereft of elementary quality as a human being". The criticism contrasts with North Korea's repeated references to the good relationship between Kim and US President Donald Trump. Kim said in April his personal relationship with Mr Trump was still good despite the collapse of their second summit in Vietnam in February. According to Newsweek, Mr Biden, a 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner, said at a campaign launch in Philadelphia on Saturday: "Are we a nation that embraces dictators and tyrants like (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Kim Jong-un?" State media the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) responded to criticism of the North's leadership in a commentary late on Tuesday. Kim Jong-un was described as a tyrant by Joe Biden Credit: AFP "What he uttered is just sophism of an imbecile bereft of elementary quality as a human being, let alone a politician," it said. The news agency also called Mr Biden a “fool of low IQ”, and said Mr Biden had “the temerity to insult the supreme leadership”. KCNA listed previous controversies concerning Mr Biden, including allegations of plagiarism and falling asleep during a speech by former President Barack Obama in 2011. "We will never pardon anyone who dare provoke the supreme leadership of the DPRK but will certainly make them pay for it," KCNA said, using North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Denuclearisation talks have stalled since the breakdown of the second meeting between Trump and Kim in February and North Korea conducted more weapons tests this month. The tests were seen as a protest by Kim after Trump rejected his calls for sanctions relief at the Hanoi summit.

  
  

• French widow sues Boeing for at least $276 million over Ethiopian crash

  The crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 in March killed all 157 passengers and crew aboard and followed the death in October of 189 people on a Lion Air 737 MAX which plunged into the ocean off Indonesia in similar circumstances. Dozens of families have sued Boeing over the Lion Air crash, and several lawsuits have been lodged over the Ethiopian crash near the capital Addis Ababa, which led airlines around the world to ground the Boeing 737 MAX. The lawsuit on behalf of Nadege Dubois-Seex, whose husband Jonathan Seex was a Swedish and Kenyan citizen and chief executive of the Tamarind Group of Companies, was filed in a U.S. District Court in Chicago, her lawyer said on Tuesday.

  
  

• AP Explains: How Yemen's rebels increasingly deploy drones

  DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — In Yemen, the high-pitched whine of drones has been a part of life for over 15 years, ever since the first U.S. drone strike here targeting al-Qaida in 2002. But now, Iran-backed Houthi rebels increasingly deploy drones in Yemen's brutal civil war.

  
  

• Apple offered to buy Tesla back in 2013 for more than it’s worth today

  For years, analysts have maintained that Apple needs to move past the iPhone and look for additional revenue streams. Consequently, many analysts over the years have proposed that Apple would be well advised to make a blockbuster acquisition and snatch up a company like Netflix or Tesla.Interestingly enough, it turns out that Apple actually did make an effort to acquire Tesla six years ago at a valuation of $240 a share. Incidentally, Tesla's share price has been reeling lately and is currently hovering in the $200 range. Word of Apple's efforts to acquire Tesla was brought to light by analyst Craig Irwin of Roth Capital Partners who revealed the interesting tidbit on CNBC (via Electrek) earlier today."Around 2013, there was a serious bid from Apple at around $240 a share," Irwin said."This is something we did multiple checks on," Irwin added. "I have complete confidence that this is accurate. Apple bid for Tesla. I don't know if it got to a formal paperwork stage, but I know from multiple different sources that this was very credible."Notably, there have been rumblings over the years regarding Apple's interest in Tesla, but this is the first time we've seen a report that Apple was legitimately trying to make a serious play for the electric automaker.You might also recall reports from a few years back which revealed that Elon Musk, sometime in mid-2013 -- sat down for a meeting with Apple's mergers and acquisitions chief Adrian Perica and, rumor has it, Tim Cook himself.Apple, of course, has been busy working on its own car initiative -- known as Project Titan -- for the past few years, though it remains to be seen if anything concrete ever manifests from its efforts. Early reports hinted that Apple was set on designing and building its own car, though a plethora of technical challenges ultimately resulted in a few rounds of layoffs and employees being shifted over to other projects. Last we heard, Apple's Project Titan is still ongoing but is now focused on autonomous systems as opposed to designing a car from the ground up.Interestingly, and somewhat uncharacteristically, Tim Cook confirmed this during an interview a few years ago. "We're focusing on autonomous systems," Cook said in 2017. "It's a core technology that we view as very important."Lastly, with Morgan Stanley recently noting that Tesla shares may sink to $10/share in a worst-case scenario, it will be interesting to see if Apple might swoop in and pick up the company at a huge discount.

  
  

• 'Horrifying': Kirsten Gillibrand denounces anti-abortion bills in Georgia

  Gillibrand vowed to champion abortion rights in her campaign for president, calling the recent bans "horrifying" and "discriminatory."

  
  

• Murrieta, California residents concerned as illegal immigrants are flown into town

  Murrieta resident Bob Kowell speaks out about migrants being relocated to his city on 'Tucker Carlson Tonight.'

  
  

• This Is the Secret to Making Your Driveway 10 Times More Beautiful

  
  

• Eiffel Tower climber 'admitted to psychiatric unit'

  A man, believed to be Russian, who sparked a mass evacuation of the Eiffel Tower by scaling the iconic Paris landmark has been admitted to a psychiatric unit, legal sources said Tuesday. The man caused chaos Monday and the closure of the monument to tourists by spending six hours clinging to the outer metal framework of the Eiffel Tower. An investigation has been opened for unauthorised entry into a cultural monument, a judicial source said.

  
  

• Trump antagonist Avenatti indicted for ripping off Stormy Daniels, extorting Nike

  The Nike indictment concerns charges announced in March that Avenatti tried to extort more than $20 million from the athletic wear company by threatening to expose what he called its improper payments to recruits for college basketball teams it sponsored. Avenatti also faces dozens of charges in southern California, where prosecutors on April 11 accused him of stealing millions of dollars from clients to pay for personal and business expenses, and lying to the Internal Revenue Service and a Mississippi bank about his finances. If convicted on all charges, Avenatti could face more than 400 years in prison, but would likely face a lesser punishment.

  
  

• Trump explodes in White House meeting, refusing to work with Democrats and lashing out on Twitter

  Donald Trump has lashed out at Democratic leadership after refusing to sit for a bipartisan meeting at the White House, claiming he will no longer work with the party until all investigations against him have been closed. The president declined to shake anyone’s hand or even sit for the meeting Democrats scheduled at the White House on Wednesday to discuss a bipartisan solution to the nation’s failing infrastructure. He then cut the meeting short and staged a seemingly last-minute appearance at the White House Rode Garden, where he tore into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for accusing him of engaging “in a cover up” over Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election. Mr Trump reportedly told Democrats in the five-minute meeting that he would like to work on infrastructure but would not negotiate with them until the probes had reached their conclusions — before walking out of the room. “So sad that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer will never be able to see or understand the great promise of our Country,” the president posted in a series of tweets following his appearance in the Rose Garden. “They can continue the Witch Hunt which has already cost $40m and been a tremendous waste of time and energy for everyone in America, or get back to work.”The president went on to claim Democrats “really want a do-over” on the special counsel’s investigation, adding, “you can’t investigate and legislate simultaneously — it just doesn’t work that way.” “You can’t go down two tracks at the same time,” Mr Trump wrote. The president appeared particularly infuriated by Ms Pelosi’s comments from earlier in the day, in which the California Democrat said, “We do believe that it is important to follow the facts, we believe that no one is above the law, including the president of the United States, and we believe the president of the United States is engaged in a cover up, in a cover up."> So sad that Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer will never be able to see or understand the great promise of our Country. They can continue the Witch Hunt which has already cost $40M and been a tremendous waste of time and energy for everyone in America, or get back to work....> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > > May 22, 2019Mr Trump responded by lambasting the House speaker over talk of possible impeachment proceedings, saying at his press appearance, “All of a sudden I hear last night they're going to have a meeting right before this meeting to talk about the I word. The I word. Can you imagine?"“I don’t do cover ups,” he continued. New York Democrat Chuck Schumer and Ms Pelosi held a competing press conference of their own on Wednesday after the meeting, with the Senate minority leader telling reporters, “What happened in the White House would make your jaw drop.” The bizarre day arrived amid a slate of new subpoenas being issued by committees probing the president’s possible obstruction of justice outlined in the special counsel’s report. Hope Hicks, who served as Mr Trump’s former White House communications director, was issued a subpoena earlier this week, along with the former chief of staff to Donald McGahn, who served as the ex-White House counsel under Mr Trump. Mr McGahn defied a subpoena this week and failed to show up for a Congressional hearing after being ordered by Mr Trump not to comply with requests from the Democrats. At least 25 Democrats reportedly support impeachment proceedings against the president, including several committee chairs and members of Ms Pelosi’s leadership team, The Hill reported.

  
  

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she'd be 'hard pressed' to back Biden in primary

  Bernie Sanders appears to be the favorite to secure Ocasio-Cortez’s prized endorsement in the Democratic presidential primaryCongresswoman Alexandria Ocasio Cortez told the Guardian: ‘I’m not close to an endorsement announcement any time soon.’ Photograph: Joshua Roberts/ReutersAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive US congresswoman and social media sensation, has said she would be “hard pressed” to endorse the frontrunner, Joe Biden, in the Democratic presidential primary.The statement is the latest sign of the left’s apathy towards the former vice-president, who has surged ahead of the Senator Bernie Sanders and other rivals in recent polls.Sanders, a self-declared democratic socialist, appears to be the favourite to secure 29-year-old Ocasio-Cortez’s prized endorsement but she said she was still some way off making a decision.“I’m not close to an endorsement announcement any time soon,” she told the Guardian on Tuesday. “I’m still trying to get a handle on my job. It seems like ages but I’m just five months in and we have quite some time. The debates are in the summer and our first primary election for the entire country isn’t until next year.” Asked if she would consider endorsing Biden, widely seen as a centrist, Ocasio-Cortez replied: “I’d be hard pressed to see that happen, to be honest, in a primary.”Biden, comfortably leading every opinion poll, came under fire last week when Reuters reported he was pursuing a “middle ground” approach to the climate crisis. He later distanced himself from the implication.Ocasio-Cortez criticised politicians seeking “a middle-of-the-road approach to save our lives”. Sanders, running second in most polls, tweeted that there was “no ‘middle ground’ when it comes to climate policy”.If and when Ocasio-Cortez does endorse a candidate, Sanders probably remains the favourite to secure her support. She was an organiser for his 2016 primary campaign against Hillary Clinton. The pair appeared at a rally in Washington last week to support the Green New Deal climate plan.In a short interview on Tuesday the congresswoman, who has more than 4 million Twitter followers, also reiterated her demand for Donald Trump’s impeachment. “I think that the grounds have been there for quite some time but the case is really getting to a larger point that we haven’t seen before,” she said.Democratic leaders are putting the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, under pressure to move ahead with the process. Ocasio-Cortez added: “I know that the conversation is really changing this week in the caucus and so we’ll see where the speaker lands.”

  
  

• Hospital that treated baby cut from womb investigated

  CHICAGO (AP) — The agency that licenses and inspects health care facilities in Illinois has started an investigation of a suburban Chicago hospital where doctors treated a baby brought in by a woman claiming to be his mother, a spokeswoman for the agency said Tuesday. The woman was charged weeks later with killing the actual mother and cutting the child from her womb.

  
  

• Google unveils a fresh new look for Search on mobile devices

  Google unveiled a new look and feel today for the way it presents Google Search results on mobile, and the update has been regarded in a few corners now as somewhat News Feed-like.It's easy to see why that's the case, as the search giant's changes include putting emphasis on a website name and favicon above the search results. Whereas the source of results had previously not been so clearly emphasized, which makes the new design for showing results feel a little like scrolling through a feed of posts from publishers and the like."With this new design, a website's branding can be front and center, helping you better understand where the information is coming from and what pages have what you're looking for," explains Google Senior Interaction Designer for Search Jamie Leach in a company blog post today. "The name of the website and its icon appear at the top of the results card to help anchor each result, so you can more easily scan the page of results and decide what to explore next."The post notes that the refreshed look for what's arguably Google's most important product will start showing up to users over the coming days. As part of the changes, Leach continues, when you search for a product or service and Google feels like it's got a relevant, "useful" ad that would be worth including in the results, you'll now see an ad label in bold at the top of a search results card. The web address will also be included, so you can quickly determine where the information you're seeing is coming from.The other important thing to note about the Google Search refresh on mobile is that this also lays the foundation for Google to add more action buttons and information previews to search results cards, with Google wanting you to be able to now do everything from buying movie tickets to playing podcasts right there from within the results. "Our goal with Search always has been to help people quickly and easily find the information that they're looking for," Leach says. "Over the years, the amount and format of information available on the web has changed drastically -- from the proliferation of images and video to the availability of 3D objects you can now view in AR." Which is why the company thought a "visual refresh" of Search on mobile would do a better job of helping people find the information they need and quickly determine where it came from.

  
  

• Iran's reach puts U.S. forces, allies in striking range

  BAGHDAD/DUBAI/KABUL (Reuters) - Threats of conflict between the United States and Iran have highlighted the places and ways their forces, proxies or allies could clash. Iran backs militias in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are also based, and in Lebanon and Yemen, located next to Washington's closest regional allies Israel and Saudi Arabia. It is situated opposite Saudi Arabia on the Gulf, and along the Strait of Hormuz, passageway for almost a fifth of the world's daily crude oil consumption.

  
  

• Bigger cuts expected: 23,000 more Ford layoffs needed, analysts say

  Ford CEO Jim Hackett plans for layoffs won't deliver savings the company has said it wants. An analyst says another 23,000 layoffs are needed.

  
  

• May’s Desperate Gamble on a New Brexit Referendum Falls Flat

  Theresa May made a desperate final gamble to get her Brexit deal through the British Parliament before she’s thrown out of office -- but her efforts looked doomed. In a hastily arranged speech on Tuesday, the embattled prime minister promised to give members of Parliament a vote on whether to call another referendum to ratify Britain’s divorce from the European Union. It’s something many MPs -- including scores in the opposition Labour Party -- have been calling for, but she made it conditional on them backing her deal first.

  
  

• British Steel collapses; thousands of jobs could go

  British Steel collapsed on Wednesday after the government said last-ditch talks with its owners failed to secure a full financial rescue. The High Court in London ordered British Steel Limited into compulsory liquidation, a statement said. "British Steel Limited was wound-up in the High Court" on Wednesday, meaning its assets would be sold to help pay debts.

  
  

• U.S. judge approves PG&E $105 million wildfire assistance fund

  PG&E Corp may set up a $105 million housing fund for victims of 2017 and 2018 wildfires in California, which set records for devastation and were blamed on the utility's equipment, the judge overseeing the investor-owned power producer's bankruptcy ruled on Wednesday. Creditors, which include wildfire victims, are fighting for funds as PG&E navigates bankruptcy stemming from the blazes and as the state plans for increasingly long and dangerous fire seasons its officials attribute to climate change. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Dennis Montali at a hearing approved a motion by PG&E seeking permission to establish the fund for people who lost homes in the fires and were uninsured or have used up or will exhaust their insurance.

  
  

• Backlash as Trump set to shun tradition with his own ringside seat at sumo tournament in Japan

  Sumo fans and traditionalists have reacted with disappointment to reports that Donald Trump will have a ringside seat at a sumo tournament in Japan - eschewing hundreds of years of tradition of sitting cross-legged on a cushion. Mr Trump is set to step centre stage into Japan’s sumo world this weekend as he presents a trophy dubbed the “Trump Cup” to the winner of a major tournament during his visit to Japan. But the planned visit is already sending ripples through the deeply traditional sumo community. In a sport steeped in rituals dating back 1,500 years, reports of Trump's seat has prompted controversy at the special treatment, with one fan, Masaru Tomamoto, 73, telling Reuters: “I also want to sit on a chair as we watch sumo wrestling. “But if (Trump) watches a Japanese traditional sport, sumo, I think that it would be much better for him to sit cross-legged with the cushion on the floor, rather than on chair.” Trump has developed a close relationship with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe Credit:  Susan Walsh/AP Another sumo fan Izumi Chiba, from Sapporo in northern Japan, added: “As we say, when you are in Rome, do as the Romans do.” Mr Trump is expected to watch the final three bouts of the last day of the Summer Grand Sumo Tournament – a highly awaited climax of the sumo calendar – alongside Mr Abe and their respective wives at the Ryogoku Kokugikan hall in Tokyo on Sunday. The US president, who said last month that he had always found sumo “fascinating”, will then present a special trophy custom-made in the US to the champion wrestler – triggering fevered media speculation as to whether he will wear slippers in the sumo ring as he hands it over, as shoes are not typically permitted. Mr Trump is expected to sit in a chair among the most prized seats that immediately encircle the ring known as masu seki, which sell for around £71 (10,000 yen) each and normally involve sitting on flat cushions known as zabuton on the floor. Security is another key issue flagged up by Japanese media, with almost an eighth of the 11,000 seats reserved for the president, Mr Abe and their security teams. There are concerns that around 1,000 people who have already bought coveted ringside seats face being security vetted. There were also reports that organisers were considering the ban of canned beer sales in the same seating area, apparently in a bid to minimise potential security dangers to Mr Trump. Mr Abe, who famously shares a love of golf with his “friend” Mr Trump, has apparently pulled out all the stops for the president’s state visit, having also arranged for him to become the first foreign leader to meet the new Emperor Naruhito.

  
  

• Elizabeth Warren calls comedian to give love life advice: 'We have a plan to get my mom grandkids'

  Elizabeth Warren is the only presidential candidate with a plan for comedian Ashley Nicole Black's love life.That's at least according to Black, who wrote on Twitter that she had a chat with the Democratic presidential candidate had called her up — making good on a weekend tweet from Ms Warren offering to help."Guess who's crying and shaking and just talked to Elizabeth Warren on the phone?!?!? We have a plan to get my mom grand kids, it's very comprehensive, and it does involve raising taxes on billionaires," Black wrote on Twitter, referencing Ms Warren's campaign mantra that she has a "plan for that".The phone call — which the Warren campaign confirmed took place to The Independent — follows after Black jokingly tweeted on Sunday about the dozens of policy proposals Ms Warren has released, and that have come to largely define her campaign."Do you think Elizabeth Warren has a plan to fix my love life," Black tweeted then.Ms Warren's account replied: "DM me and let's figure this out."Ms Warrens' campaign provided no details of what the phone call included. But Black, a comedian who has worked on Samantha Bee's "Full Frontal" television show, provided some context piecemeal in her replies."I'm literally shaking," she wrote in response to one user.It's "like you're talking to someone super smart, who actually cares," she wrote in response to another user, who asked how it feels to speak with Ms Warren. "It was amazing."Finally, a hint at the advice: She said I've [got to] focus on what I've got going for me... that's when I started crying LOL".

  
  

• Abducted Idaho girl found safe in Arizona, suspect jailed

  SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — A 17-year-old girl abducted from an Idaho fast-food restaurant where she worked was found safe in Arizona on Tuesday and the man accused of taking her was jailed on a $1 million bond, authorities said.

  
  

• Rex Tillerson Secretly Meets With House Foreign Affairs Committee to Talk Trump

  Jonathan Ernst/ReutersFormer secretary of state Rex Tillerson spoke with the leaders of the House Foreign Affairs committee on Tuesday in a lengthy session that, an aide said, touched on his time working in the Trump administration, the frictions he had with the president’s son-in-law, and efforts to tackle issues like Russian interference in the 2016 election.Tillerson’s appearance, first reported by The Daily Beast, took place as virtually every other Trumpworld luminary has been stonewalling congressional oversight efforts. At the same time the former secretary of state was speaking before lawmakers, former White House counsel Don McGahn was ignoring a subpoena to testify in front of the House Judiciary Committee. Tillerson’s arrival at the Capitol was handled with extreme secrecy. No media advisories or press releases were sent out announcing his appearance. And he took a little-noticed route into the building in order to avoid being seen by members of the media. Tillerson reached out to the committee and expressed a willingness to meet, a committee aide said. In a more than six-hour meeting, he told members and staffers that the Trump administration actively avoided confronting Russia about allegations of interference in the election in an effort to develop a solid relationship with the Kremlin, a committee aide told The Daily Beast. Tillerson also told members and aides that he had tried to establish a formal and disciplined interagency process at the State Department whereby the president could receive informed briefings on sensitive foreign policy matters, the aide said. That effort never manifested, Tillerson told the committee, in part because of the president’s management style, but also because of interference from other aides.Tillerson told the committee that the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, at times impeded his ability to communicate effectively and introduce to President Trump policy proposals developed by State Department experts on major foreign affairs matters across the globe, not just in the Middle East. Kushner, a White House adviser, has publicly focused much of his international efforts on the Middle East and is set to unveil a Middle East peace plan in the coming weeks.Tillerson had a notoriously prickly relationship with the president, reportedly calling him a “moron” in private. But he was present during critical moments of the administration, including Trump’s private 2017 meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Hamburg, Germany. Since leaving his post, Tillerson has rarely made public appearances, save for speaking at a panel in Houston in December. During that appearance, he said there was “no question” Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election. “So often, the president would say, ‘Here’s what I want to do and here’s how I want to do it,’ and I would have to say to him, ‘Mr. President I understand what you want to do but you can’t do it that way. It violates the law,’” Tillerson said.Tillerson’s interview by House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-NY) and ranking member Michael McCaul (R-TX)  comes a month after special counsel Robert Mueller published his report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Since then, top Democrats on the Hill have demanded that Attorney General Bill Barr and Mueller answer questions related to the report and its publication. Barr has declined to testify before the House, citing the insistence of the committee that staff lawyers be allowed to conduct some of the questioning. Mueller is reportedly in negotiations to testify, though the Department of Justice had previously not agreed on a date for him to do so. On Tuesday, CNN reported that Mueller’s team had expressed reluctance about the possibility of a testimony taking place in public for fear that it would appear political. This story has been updated with additional reporting.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  
  

• Justice Department says that the T-Mobile-Sprint merger should be blocked

  Just days after the FCC came out in favor of the T-Mobile-Sprint merger that has been brewing for the past several years, the U.S. Department of Justice has thrown a wrench in the works. Sources familiar with the matter tell Reuters that the Antitrust Division of the DOJ has recommended that the agency file suit in order to block T-Mobile's proposed $26 billion merger deal with Sprint, setting up a potential clash between the DOJ and the FCC.As Reuters notes, the decision on whether or not to follow through with the Antitrust Division's recommendation lies in the hands of political appointees within the department and should be made in about a month.As noted above, this is a notable departure from what the Federal Communication Commission's had to say about the merger this week. The New York Times reported that FCC Chairman Ajit Pai pledged his support on Monday after the carrier agreed to a series of "significant commitments," which included expanding rural broadband service, building a robust 5G network, and selling off the Sprint-owned Boost Mobile prepaid cell service."Two of the FCC's top priorities are closing the digital divide in rural America and advancing United States leadership in 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity," Pai said at the time. "The commitments made today by T-Mobile and Sprint would substantially advance each of these critical objectives."Reuters claims that the DOJ is concerned that T-Mobile will no longer aggressively cut prices and improve its network and services to compete with Verizon and AT&T if this merger is allowed to go through. By this time next month, T-Mobile's dream of a blockbuster merger with Sprint may finally be dead.

  
  

• Trump says he doesn't want war with Iran. Is John Bolton driving the US into a conflict anyway?

  The view that John Bolton is driving Trump into military confrontation with America's principal foe in the Middle East is spreading across the globe.

  
  

• Dog sitter caught walking around naked in customer's home

  A dog sitter has been caught on camera walking around her client’s house naked. Rosie Brown hired Casey Brengle to look after her two dogs, Penny and Daisy, while she went to a wedding for four days.

  
  

• Chinese ambassador blames US for sinking trade deal

  China's ambassador to the United States said in a Tuesday interview with Fox News that Washington repeatedly "changed its mind overnight" and sunk deals that could have ended the two countries' trade war. Ambassador Cui Tiankai also slammed as "politically motivated" the White House's move to ban the transfer or sale of US technology to Chinese telcom giant Huawei. Such actions will really undermine people's confidence in the normal function of the market," Tiankai told Fox.

  
  

• View Photos of the 2020 Land Rover Discovery Sport

  
  

• Airbus seeks resolution to German arms export row: CEO

  Airbus is in discussions to try to find solutions to a row with the German government over a ban on arms exports to Saudi Arabia that threatens a border security contract, Chief Executive Guillaume Faury said on Tuesday. The planemaker has warned of legal action against Germany after taking financial charges over the long-delayed border contract between Airbus's defense unit and the Gulf kingdom. "We are not yet there," Faury told reporters when asked about possible legal action.

  
  

• AG Barr says nationwide rulings are hampering Trump's agenda

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General William Barr is taking on another item from President Donald Trump's agenda, railing against judges who issue rulings blocking nationwide policies.

  
  

• UPDATE 7-U.S. judge says Qualcomm violated antitrust law; appeal planned, shares plunge

  Qualcomm Inc illegally suppressed competition in the market for smartphone chips by threatening to cut off supplies and extracting excessive licensing fees, a U.S. judge ruled, a decision that could force the company to overhaul its business practices. The decision issued late Tuesday night by U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, caused Qualcomm shares to plunge 11 percent on Wednesday. "Qualcomm's licensing practices have strangled competition" in parts of the chip market for years, harming rivals, smartphone makers, and consumers, Koh wrote in a 233-page decision.

  
  

• Accused Thief Taunted Disney World With Photo of Stolen Robot’s Mutilated Head

  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIf you’re accused of stealing an animatronic child from Disney World, maybe don’t make a wildly popular Disney-related Twitter account and post a picture of the stolen robot child with its eyes gouged out.“Buzzy,” an animatronic boy from an abandoned Disney World attraction, has been missing for months. Online, Disney superfans treated the disappearance like a kidnapping. But the investigation into the theft led police to someone in the online Disney fandom: a Disney blogger who taunted Disney about their security, posted conspiracy theories about Buzzy’s disappearance and, in the final days before his arrest, uploaded a picture of the robot’s decapitated and eyeball-less head.Patrick Spikes, 24, was arrested last week. He worked at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, until last year. But Spikes didn’t completely part ways with the theme park after he stopped working there. Instead, he started churning out videos, podcasts, and tweets under the username “BackDoorDisney.” His Twitter account, which amassed more than 17,000 followers before going dark last week, promised to give fans an inside view of Disney World. In its seven months of operation, the account uploaded pictures of Disney control rooms, secret maps, and Disney cast members pretending to have sex while dressed as characters from Toy Story.Soon, Spikes was posting about an even more salacious Disney World story. In August, Disney told police that someone had stolen clothes off Buzzy. The 300-pound animatronic child used to sit inside the “Cranium Command” exhibit, in Epcot’s Wonders of Life Pavilion. But the building, which hosted somewhat dated attractions, had been closed for years. The stolen clothes (including a miniature bomber jacket) were worth nearly $7,000, Disney claimed, according to an affidavit from Florida’s Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Later, the entire robot was stolen, an operation that required the thief to cut through electric cables.Spikes and other Disney bloggers posted about Buzzy’s rumored disappearance. But Spikes and a crowd of Disney fans who broke into the park soon came under suspicion. Spikes routinely boasted of secret trips through Disney World, including with a friend who climbed the park’s Thunder Mountain roller coaster.“Good job filling the holes under the Mk back fence this morning,” Spikes wrote in a January tweet directed at Disney. “I told you guys about this issue 2 months ago but it took somebody going in and climbing one of your coasters for you to care.”On his personal Twitter account, Spikes taunted Disney, advising them to buy a bulk box of security cameras from Best Buy. As the search for Buzzy continued, Disney fans speculated that an urban explorer might have snatched the robot.Eventually, police began narrowing in on Spikes and his scene. Investigators found an October picture of Buzzy on Spikes’ @BackDoorDisney account. The picture does not appear to have been taken inside the Cranium Command exhibit. In texts with investigators, Spikes allegedly let slip that Buzzy’s clothes were sold on the black market for $8,000.Police got a warrant for Spikes’ cellphone and called him in for questioning in December. The meeting went poorly when Spikes tried to cut it short.“The defendant stated he felt sick and felt that he was going to vomit,” police alleged in an affidavit. “A short time later, he began to make strained breathing noises, and stated he couldn’t breath. He requested water, which was given to him, and also was allowed to lay on the floor. The fire department responded and all vitals were normal.” Spikes was taken to a hospital. Police charged him with non-violently resisting arrest. He has pleaded not guilty.Spikes later made a video about a police search on his house, and professed his innocence.“I said ‘really? The entire thing got stolen?’ I didn’t really believe it,” he said in the March video. “It blew my mind. I was like, you can’t be serious right now.”Later in the video, Spikes suggested that Disney had staged Buzzy’s disappearance in order to shut down his BackDoorDisney account.“There’s a theory someone talked about that Imagineering [a Disney team] removed Buzzy and didn’t tell anyone else. So when Operations, the part of the company that runs the Pavillion noticed he was missing, they filed him as ‘stolen,’” he said. “Did Disney willingly file a report, knowing the thing wasn’t stolen, just to run me down? Because obviously I had been posting a lot of backstage photos and stuff, and information … It almost seems like they wanted my phones because they knew I had a lot of backstage photos on them.”But BackDoorDisney kept implying inside knowledge of Buzzy’s disappearance.In a May 12 tweet, he tweeted a picture of Buzzy’s fate. The tweet showed a picture of Buzzy’s decapitated head, with its eyeballs scratched off. The image was included in a screenshot of a text Spikes received, which meant someone else might have stolen the robot.TwitterFive days later, police arrested Spikes. Although Buzzy’s disappearance featured prominently in an arrest affidavit (police appear to have started investigating him over Buzzy’s theft), Spikes was actually charged for a different series of alleged thefts from Disney World. His lawyer did not return The Daily Beast’s request for comment.In July, police alleged, Spikes printed a fake Disney employee card for his cousin and snuck him into the park. The pair allegedly snuck into the Haunted Mansion, a popular ride, and stole a collection of wigs and outfits from backstage. The clothes, which were designed for the ride’s animatronic ghosts, cost between $40 (a tiara) and $1,746 (a robot’s jacket), adding up to more than $7,000.Spikes and his cousin allegedly took pictures throughout the heist, and posed in the wigs at a nearby 7-Eleven. A video from shortly after the theft allegedly shows Spikes’ cousin’s girlfriend wearing a robot’s stolen dress.Disney may have priced the clothes at just over $7,000, but they allegedly went for four times that price on the black market. Days after the alleged burglary, Spikes allegedly received a combined $29,451 payment from two people over Paypal. One of the people, whose name is redacted in the affidavit, told police he paid Spikes $8,890 for 18 items from various Disney heists, including $1,000 for a Haunted Mansion dress.Shortly before his arrest, Spikes teased a forthcoming video about the black market for stolen Disney gear.Police haven’t charged Spikes with Buzzy’s disappearance. But they say his video about the raid on his house raised questions about his involvement. In the video, he showed part of a search warrant for his house. Police say he edited the document to remove references to two pieces of evidence police sought.“The fact that Spikes altered the warrant for his video and only removed these two items indicate that he was aware these items were used in a crime,” the affidavit reads.In that same video, Spikes tells viewers he’ll keep his lips tight about Buzzy’s disappearance until the investigation is over.“If things are still under investigation, I’m not going to get on YouTube and run my mouth about it,” he said. “That would be dumb.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  
  

• Leaker says a mysterious new Samsung phone will be even more exciting than the Galaxy Fold and Note 10

  After teasing that smartphone design will see some sort of breakthrough in the second half of the year, and after telling us the Galaxy Note 10 will not be a Galaxy S10 lookalike, the world's top Samsung insider is back with a new cryptic message. He says the most "creative" new Samsung smartphone that will launch in the second half of 2019 won't be the Galaxy Fold or Galaxy Note 10, though he stopped there and didn't explain what it all means."Believe me, the most creative Samsung smartphone in the second half of 2019 is not Fold or Note 10, you just have to wait, don't ask me more," Ice Universe said on Twitter.https://twitter.com/UniverseIce/status/1130722539183849473Previously, the leaker included Samsung and Huawei in the list of smartphone vendors that should release new designs in the second half of the year. At the time, we thought the Galaxy Note 10 would be one of them. Later, he made it clear that the Note 10 is supposed to embody the "stable and mature" side of Samsung's mobile tech, while the Galaxy A line will deliver "radical innovation."That's not exactly a secret, as Samsung adopted this strategy last year. The company decided to launch new smartphone features on mid-range phones rather than flagships, as had been the case before. That's why triple and quadruple-lens cameras and the Infinity-O display debuted on mid-range devices before making it to the Galaxy S10. The Note 10 is also expected to have multi-lens cameras and a hole-punch display.As for the Galaxy Fold, that's the least likely phone to surprise us in the second half of the year, and that's if Samsung even manages to relaunch it at some point. The phone's design was "killed" the minute Huawei unveiled the Mate X foldable phone in late February. And Samsung's early issues with the handset certainly didn't help make it any more attractive.So what smartphone could Ice be teasing? A report said a few days ago that Google is developing a button-less Pixel 4. Is Samsung making a button-less phone of its own? One other expected design for the coming years is an all-screen smartphone with a selfie camera placed under the screen. Will we see the first such device from Samsung this year in the form of a future Galaxy A model?We really have no idea. But whatever this "creative" Samsung phone ends up being, it won't be part of the upcoming Note 10 series.