Tag: scrutiny

Stakes rise for Boeing as EU, Canada step up scrutiny of 737 MAX after crashes

March 19, 2019

By Maggie Fick, Tim Hepher and David Shepardson

ADDIS ABABA/PARIS/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Europe and Canada said they would seek their own guarantees over the safety of Boeing’s 737 MAX, further complicating plans to get the aircraft flying worldwide after they were grounded in the wake of two accidents killing more than 300 people.

As the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) analyses Boeing’s plans for a software fix prompted by the first crash five months ago, the European Union’s aviation safety agency EASA promised its own deep look at any design improvements.

“We will not allow the aircraft to fly if we have not found acceptable answers to all our questions,” EASA Executive Director Patrick Ky told an EU parliament committee hearing.

Canada said it would independently certify the 737 MAX in the future, rather than accepting FAA validation. It also said it would send a team to help U.S. authorities evaluate proposed design changes and decide if others were needed.

Boeing Co declined to comment.

U.S. government officials do not believe the crash will lead to a worldwide shift away from FAA certifications but U.S. lawmakers, as well as federal prosecutors, are scrutinizing the certification of the Boeing 737 MAX.  

The FAA declined to comment on individual actions by Canada or other countries, but said in a statement that “the current, historic aviation safety record in the U.S. and globally is achieved through the FAA’s robust processes and full collaboration with the aviation community.”

The U.S. Transportation Department’s inspector general plans to audit the FAA’s certification of the jet, an official with the office said on Tuesday. The office can recommend changes or improvements to how the FAA operates. Boeing said it would cooperate with the audit.

The unusual public intervention by two leading regulators came as a probe into the final minutes of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 turned toward secrets hidden in the cockpit voice recorder.

The voices of Captain Yared Getachew and First Officer Ahmednur Mohammed could help explain the March 10 crash of the Boeing 737 MAX that has worrying parallels with another disaster involving the same model off Indonesia in October.

The twin disasters killed 346 people, but there is no conclusive evidence so far that they are linked.

Black box data was downloaded in France but only Ethiopian experts leading the probe have access to the dialogue between Getachew, 29, and Mohammed, 25. The data was back in Addis Ababa on Tuesday, sources familiar with the probe told Reuters.

Experts believe a new automated system in Boeing’s flagship MAX fleet – intended to stop stalling by dipping the nose – may have played a role in both crashes, with pilots unable to override it as their jets plunged downwards.

Both came down just minutes after take-off after erratic flight patterns and loss of control reported by the pilots. However, every accident is a unique chain of human and technical factors, experts say.

The prestige of Ethiopian Airlines, one of Africa’s most successful companies, and Boeing, the world’s biggest planemaker and a massive U.S. exporter, are at stake.

AWKWARD QUESTIONS FOR INDUSTRY

Lawmakers and safety experts are questioning how thoroughly regulators vetted the MAX model and how well pilots were trained on new features. For now, global regulators have grounded the existing fleet of more than 300 MAX aircraft, and deliveries of nearly 5,000 more – worth well over $500 billion – are on hold. (Graphic: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Hv2btC)

Pressure on Chicago-headquartered Boeing has grown with news that federal prosecutors are scrutinizing how carefully the MAX model was developed, two people briefed on the matter said.

The U.S. Justice Department is also looking at the FAA’s oversight of Boeing, one of the people said. And a federal grand jury last week issued at least one subpoena to an entity involved in the plane’s development.

U.S. President Donald Trump plans to nominate former Delta Air Lines executive Steve Dickson to head the FAA on Tuesday. The agency has been without a permanent head for 14 months.

In the hope of getting its MAX line back into the air soon, Boeing has said it will roll out a software update and revise pilot training. In the case of the Lion Air crash in Indonesia, it has raised questions about whether crew used the correct procedures.

Development of the 737 MAX, which offers cost savings of about 15 percent on fuel, began in 2011 after the successful launch by its main rival of the Airbus A320neo. The 737 MAX entered service in 2017 after six years of preparation.

Argus Research cut Boeing stock to “hold” from “buy”, giving the planemaker at least its fourth downgrade since the crash, Refinitiv data showed. Its shares, however, were enjoying a rare respite on Tuesday, up 0.3 percent at $373.43.

GLOBAL RAMIFICATIONS

Various firms are reconsidering Boeing orders, and some are revising financial forecasts given they now cannot count on maintenance and fuel savings factored in from the MAX.

Air Canada said it intended to keep its MAX aircraft grounded until at least July 1, would accelerate intake of recently acquired Airbus A321 planes, and had hired other carriers to provide extra capacity meantime.

Beyond the corporate ramifications, anguished relatives are still waiting to find out what happened.

Many have visited the crash site in a charred field to seek some closure, but there is anger at the slow pace of information and all they have been given for funerals is earth.

“I’m just so terribly sad. I had to leave here without the body of my dead brother,” said Abdulmajid Shariff, a Yemeni relative who headed home disappointed on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Maggie Fick in Addis Ababa, Tim Hepher in Paris and David Shepardson in Washington; Additional reporting by Jason Neely in Addis Ababa, David Ljunggren in Ottawa, Jamie Freed in Singapore, Alastair Macdonald in Brussels, Savio D’Souza in Bengaluru; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ben Klayman; Editing by Keith Weir, Mark Potter and Lisa Shumaker)

Boeing Tumbles On Grand Jury Subpoena Probing 737 MAX Approval

In the latest blow to both Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration, the WSJ reported overnight that Federal prosecutors and Department of Transportation officials are scrutinizing the development of Boeing 737 MAX jetliners and in particular its anti-stall (MCAS) system, inquiries described as “unusual” and which come amid probes of regulators’ safety approvals of the new plane.

The Seattle Times separately reported that Boeing’s safety analysis of a new flight control system on 737 MAX jets had several crucial flaws.

According to the WSJ, a “grand jury in Washington, D.C., issued a broad subpoena dated March 11 – a day after the Ethiopian Airlines crash a week ago – to at least one person involved in the 737 MAX’s development, seeking related documents, including correspondence, emails and other messages.” The subpoena, with a prosecutor from the Justice Department’s criminal division listed as a contact, sought documents to be handed over later this month.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the Justice Department’s probe is related to scrutiny of the FAA by the DOT inspector general’s office, reported earlier Sunday by The Wall Street Journal and that focuses on a safety system that has been implicated in the Oct. 29 Lion Air crash that killed 189 people, according to a government official briefed on its status. Aviation authorities are looking into whether the anti-stall system may have played a role in last week’s Ethiopian Airlines crash, which killed all 157 people on board. The WSJ sources add that the inspector general’s inquiry focuses on ensuring relevant documents and computer files are retained.

The Justice Department probe involves a prosecutor in the fraud section of the department’s criminal division, a unit that has brought cases against well-known manufacturers over safety issues, including Takata Corp.

The news comes at a sensitive time for both the FAA, which was among the last regulators to ground the 737 Max following a broad global response (led by China) and for Boeing, whose stock has tumbled in the aftermath of the latest crash, and as the WSJ notes, “it is highly unusual for federal prosecutors to investigate details of regulatory approval of commercial aircraft designs, or to use a criminal probe to delve into dealings between the FAA and the largest aircraft manufacturer the agency oversees.”

Probes of airliner programs or alleged lapses in federal safety oversight typically are handled as civil cases, often by the DOT inspector general. The inspector general, however, does have authority to make criminal referrals to federal prosecutors and has its own special agents.

Ironically, over the years, U.S. aviation companies and airline officials have been sharply critical of foreign governments, including France, South Korea and others, for conducting criminal probes of some plane makers, their executives and in some cases, even individual pilots, after high-profile or fatal crashes. The FAA’s current enforcement policy stresses enhanced cooperation with domestic airlines and manufacturers—featuring voluntary sharing of important safety data—instead of seeking fines or imposing other punishment.

News of the U.S. government scrutiny comes shortly after Ethiopia’s transport minister, Dagmawit Moges, said there were “clear similarities” between the two crashes. U.S. officials cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions because data from the black boxes of the Ethiopian Airlines plane still need to be analyzed. The two crashes – which may be linked to the same structural defect on the airliner – have sparked the biggest crisis Boeing has faced in about two decades, threatening sales of a plane model that has been the aircraft giant’s most stable revenue source and potentially making it more time consuming and difficult to get future aircraft designs certified as safe to fly.

The FAA said Sunday that the 737 MAX, which entered service in 2017, was approved to carry passengers as part of the agency’s “standard certification process,” including design analyses; ground and flight tests; maintenance requirements; and cooperation with other civil aviation authorities. Agency officials in the past have declined to comment on various decisions regarding specific systems. Sunday’s statement said the agency’s “certification processes are well established and have consistently produced safe aircraft.”

Earlier, a Boeing spokesman said: “The 737 MAX was certified in accordance with the identical FAA requirements and processes that have governed certification of all previous new airplanes and derivatives. The FAA considered the final configuration and operating parameters of MCAS during MAX certification, and concluded that it met all certification and regulatory requirements.”

Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg said in a statement Sunday the company continues to support the Ethiopian investigation, “and is working with the authorities to evaluate new information as it becomes available.” Muilenburg added: “As part of our standard practice following any accident, we examine our aircraft design and operation, and when appropriate, institute product updates to further improve safety.”

Governments world-wide have grounded the MAX, an updated version of the decades-old 737, while investigators and engineers seek clues.

And so, as 737 Max scrutiny grows and as Boeing and the FAA now seek to deflect increased government attention to one another – Boeing stock is once again tumbling, and is down 3% in premarket trading…

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… erasing most of Friday’s gains which followed a report from Boeing that a software “fix” is being rolled out, which in light of the latest news, may no longer be useful especially if the government finds that “shot cuts” were taken in the development of the plane.

How many people will have to DIE for AOC to complete her “Green New Deal?”

(Natural News) There is no shortage of scrutiny for Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s controversial “Green New Deal.” Experts say the financial burden of AOC’s plan would send the United States spinning into economic ruin — but the cost of the Green New Deal may be even greater than the almighty dollar. Some pundits are now suggesting…

First readings of Ethiopian plane’s black boxes may take days: BEA

March 14, 2019

PARIS (Reuters) – It may take several days to complete the first readings of the black boxes recovered from the Ethiopian Airlines jet that crashed after take-off, a spokesman for the French air accident investigation agency conducting the analysis said on Thursday.

The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) said it would receive the flight data and cockpit voice recorders later in the day, after an apparent tussle over where the investigation should be held.

The BEA spokesman said he did not know what condition the black boxes were in. “First we will try to read the data,” the he said, adding that the first analyses could take anywhere between several hours and several days.

Much will depend on how damaged the black boxes are.

The Boeing 737 MAX 8 careered into the ground shortly after taking off from Addis Ababa, breaking up into small fragments and carving a deep crater.

Boeing will be hoping for quick answers from the investigation. Satellite data has indicated similarities in the flight profile with another 737 MAX aircraft which plunged into the seas off Indonesia five months ago, prompting aviation authorities around the world to ground the MAX model.

Boeing maintains its planes are safe, but the second calamity to hit the next-generation workhorse of the Boeing fleet has wiped nearly $26 billion off the company’s market value.

Since the Indonesia crash, there has been much scrutiny on an automated anti-stall system in the MAX model that pushes the plane’s nose down.

(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Gareth Jones and Andrew Cawthorne)

Democrats Working for Trump’s Re-Election

How a Democratic victory Tuesday may help Trump’s re-election | The Star

Source: Clarice Feldman

I find it impossible to disagree with Ryan Saavedra’s Twitter observation:

“The Democratic Party, which has called everything under the sun a “Nazi” for the last 3 years, all of a sudden can’t muster up the spine to condemn blatant anti-Semitism within their own party.”

It’s been in the works for years under the cloak of intersectionality — in truth little more than an effort to ingather voting blocs of illegal immigrants, Palestinian supporters, socialists, blacks locked in the ghettoes of their minds, sexual outliers – LGBT (and “whatever other gender” now included), and malcontent women delighted that even post-birth abortion will be legal.

The three harpies — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, and Rashida Tlaib — have stripped the veil from the Democratic tango dancers and presented House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a dilemma: Who to bow to — the Congressional Black Caucus without whose votes she would not have her position, or the weak-spined moderates and Jewish House members who might mouth objections but still will continue to vote with the party? From the standpoint of her own interests she chose wisely by endorsing an outrageous resolution. I believe and hope that she chose poorly from the standpoint of American voters.

Here’s the kitchen-sink resolution.You won’t see Omar mentioned in it. The Democrats instead state a full-blown disagreement with hate of every kind from the Japanese internment to Dreyfus and so on.  Everything except broccoli and kale.

Far too many reform and conservative congregations are partners in this betrayal. My own former synagogue, which professes love of Israel and Judaism, held a cry- in when Trump was elected, and since the election sports banners welcoming refugees, the latest banner reading “Love your neighbor. Stand Against Hate,” equating an effort to assure immigrants come here legally, have skills we can use and share our values, with hate. When, in fact, bringing in culturally incompatible immigrants like Omar, is bringing in hate.

They’re not alone. There’s the Israel-hating rabbis of J-Street, HIAS, once a religiously supported immigrant aid society which under Obama turned into a cash-rich government railroad that advocates for culturally incompatible immigrants and parks them in poorer conservative communities to alter the voting. At the same time that HIAS is filling its coffers, its work further impoverishes the overtaxed welfare, legal, and educational resources of those places. And there’s the Jonathan Greenblatt-led ADL, now an even stronger arm of the Democratic party, which can be counted upon to downplay or shove anti-Semitism under the carpet, though fighting such discrimination was once its very purpose.

John Hammer nails it when he argues that the Democratic Party this week “wholly and completely sold out its Jewish supporters:”

The Democrats’ profound moral cowardice and shameful obfuscation this week was, at its core, not about criticism of the State of Israel’s (entirely lawful and morally just) presence in the historical Jewish heartland of Judea and Samaria. It was not about what Sen. Bernie Sanders (Communist – VT) so mendaciously and disingenuously calls “legitimate criticism of the right-wing, Netanyahu government in Israel.” It is not even about “anti-Zionism” — a legitimate academic debate in the half-century between Herzl’s initial formulation and Ben-Gurion’s ultimate declaration, but which now serves as the thinnest of all thinly veiled ruses for genocidal aspirants who want to throw all the Juden into the Mediterranean.

No, what happened this week was qualitatively worse. It was worse not merely in degree, but in kind.

What the Democratic Party did this week was refuse to condemn one of its own for relentlessly trafficking in at least two of the oldest, most pernicious canards used to defame the Jewish people. What the Democratic Party did this week was whitewash, deflect, and (oftentimes) openly apologize for open, transparent Jew-hatred.

What the Democratic Party covered for this week was not mere criticism of Israeli government policies. Indeed, what the Democratic Party covered for this week was not even criticism of Israel’s existence. But what the Party of Truman covered for this week is a rogue misanthrope who peddles Judeophobic screeds about financial control and “dual loyalty” so blatant and unvarnished that they might make some “blood libel” dolts blush.

The Daily Wire’s Ben Shapiro adds: “This week, the Democratic Party proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it is willing to not only countenance but embrace anti-Semitism, so long as the anti-Semitism comes from members of their intersectional coalition.” Omar, he reminds us:

First, she came under scrutiny for an old tweet in which she stated that Israel had “hypnotized the world” — an old anti-Semitic canard attributing magical powers to the Jews. Then, she came under fire for suggesting that American support for Israel was “all about the Benjamins” — an old anti-Semitic canard that Jewish money lay at the root of America’s support for Israel. Finally, she came under scrutiny for stating that American supporters of Israel were exhibiting dual loyalty — a third old anti-Semitic canard suggesting that Jews are unified by clan, and are thus a nefarious force within the broader body politic.

He offers the same explanation for the Democratic abandonment as I do — intersectionality:”

4. Intersectionality Rules The Day. The only honest excuse we’ve seen thus far comes from House Minority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), who stated that Omar’s intersectional experiences are simply too important to criticize her for Jew-hatred. Holocaust survivors, their relatives, and Jews generally ought to check their privilege. “There are people who tell me, ‘Well, my parents are Holocaust survivors,’” Clyburn stated. “‘My parents did this.’ It’s more personal with her. I’ve talked to her, and I can tell you she is living through a lot of pain.”

This, in the end, is the real Democratic excuse: Jews are too financially, educationally, and politically successful to be considered victims of anti-Semitism, particularly when that anti-Semitism comes from those who rank higher on the intersectional hierarchy of victimhood. That’s been the underlying Democratic argument for years at this point. Intersectionality means that Jews are the odd group out, even if they’re still the most targeted group in terms of hate crimes.

The Democrats are banking on their new intersectional coalition. If that means ignoring, downplaying, or outright lying about anti-Semitism, they’re willing to do it. And everyone, particularly American Jews, should take note of that vile but clear fact.

It’s worth noting in passing that even the private Sidwell Friends School in D.C., which is chock full of the children of Democratic officials (like the Obamas) and functionaries was the site of an anti-Semitic incident this week. A teacher at the same school earlier harassed the Republican EPA head at a local restaurant. The apples are not falling far from the Democrats’ tree.

Of course, Israel and the Jews are not Omar’s only target. She regularly spouts hatred for the U.S. Seth Barron at the NY Post details her animus to the country in whose House of Representatives she sits as a member of the Minnesota delegation:

What is surprising is the extent to which her narrative consists of complaints about the intolerance, racism, inequity, and filth that she found when she came to the United States, and since. Gratitude for the country and the people who saved and welcomed her family, is largely absent from her telling. Interviewed on the popular Pod Save America podcast, Omar explained that when her family was preparing for resettlement in America, they watched orientation videos “about the life that they are to expect once they arrive here… happy families, and dinner tables where there is an abundance of food, images of happy young children running off to their school buses… images of a country where people are happy and leading a life that is prosperous. You are really looking forward to life as you see it on that screen.”[snip]

Omar has still not arrived in the America she was promised, though she has now been elected to Congress. We continue to disappoint her. “The current reality that people live in… an America where you can’t access the justice system equally because you are born with a different race, or a different gender, or are born into a different class, that isn’t the America that I heard about, that isn’t the America that I watched.”[snip]

The American Dream once referred to the aspirations of Americans to provide better lives for their children. For the left, that idea has come to mean the intentions of anyone, anywhere, who wants to come here. From this perspective, the people who now live in the US are superfluous to America and the American idea. We are placeholders, keeping things together until tomorrow’s Americans — more deserving, though apparently less appreciative — get here. Meantime, we can try to survive this hellish existence until they arrive to bail us out.

Voters aren’t stupid. A Rasmussen survey this week revealed that a majority of likely voters agreed that we now have people in Congress who hate our country. Omar is certainly one of those people.

I’ll be traveling and unable to access the internet much for the next three weeks. When I return I suppose the netherworld of the internet will be suggesting that Trump-Hitler, and the Jews hypnotized Omar into spouting anti-Semitic hate.

BREAKING: Scott Gottlieb abruptly resigns from the FDA following scrutiny over ties to Big Pharma

(Natural News) In a sudden and unexpected twist, Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), just announced that he’ll soon be resigning from his post amid ongoing media probes in to his ties to the pharmaceutical industry. This surprise decision comes just two months after Gottlieb tweeted that he wouldn’t…

Google LIED about scrapping plans to launch censored search engine for China; “Dragonfly” is still being developed in secret, employees say

(Natural News) After finding itself in the spotlight of intense scrutiny and criticism for working with the People’s Republic of China to develop a censored version of its search engine for the communist country, Google late last year decided to scrap the controversial project, known as “Dragonfly” – or at least that’s what the company…

Jim Jordan: Zero Evidence Trump Colluded with Russia, but ‘All Kinds’ Showing Clinton Did

Jim Jordan says there is no evidence Trump colluded with Russia, but lots of evidence Hillary Clinton did

Rep. Jim Jordan has slammed the Democrats for falsely accusing Trump of colluding with Russia whilst blatantly ignoring evidence that Hillary Clinton did. 

The Ranking Member of the House Oversight Committee claims there is a double standard in the scrutiny placed on President Trump compared to crooked Hillary and the DNC.

Washingtonexaminer.com reports: Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has been on of Trump’s leading allies in the House, told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press” that his committee’s public hearing with Michael Cohen on Wednesday was all about political theatrics and only highlights the stark contrast between the way the Trump campaign is investigated and the Clinton campaign has been given a pass.

“What I know is there is not one bit of evidence to know any type of coordination, collusion, conspiracy whatsoever between the Trump campaign and Russia to impact the election,” Jordan said.

“There is all kinds of evidence to show that the Clinton campaign worked with Russians to impact the elections, via that whole thing I just described where they fired the law firm who hired Fusion, who hired Christopher Steele, who communicated with Russians, and put together the fake dossier,” he added.

BuzzFeed REPORT: WWF Funds Guards Who Torture & Kill People in Asia & Africa – Villagers ‘whipped with belts, attacked with machetes…sexually assaulted, shot, & murdered by WWF-supported anti-poaching units’

BuzzFeed: ‘World Wide Fund for Nature funds vicious paramilitary forces to fight poaching.’ … A yearlong BuzzFeed News investigation across six countries can reveal: Villagers have been whipped with belts, attacked with machetes, beaten unconscious with bamboo sticks, sexually assaulted, shot, and murdered by WWF-supported anti-poaching units, according to reports and documents obtained by BuzzFeed News. 

WWF has launched an “independent review” led by human rights specialists into the evidence uncovered by BuzzFeed News. “We see it as our urgent responsibility to get to the bottom of the allegations BuzzFeed has made, and we recognize the importance of such scrutiny,” the charity said in a statement.

Australia’s TPG to take $163 million in writedowns after halts Huawei-supplied mobile network

February 25, 2019

(Reuters) – Australia’s TPG Telecom Ltd said on Tuesday it will take A$228 million ($163 million) in writedowns in its first-half results after halting its mobile network rollout due to a ban on the use of equipment from Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

TPG said last month it had abandoned construction of the network because it relied on equipment from China’s Huawei that has been banned by Australia’s government on security grounds.

TPG, which is awaiting regulatory approval for a proposed merger with the Australian arm of Britain’s Vodafone Group PLC, said it will reduce the value of its spectrum licenses by A$92 million.

It will also reduce the value of its mobile network assets by A$76 million, and take other writedowns to the value of A$60 million.

TPG said it expected the spectrum licenses and mobile network assets to complement the Vodafone network, but would take the writedowns as the proposed merger remains subject to approval.

The move would not affect its 2019 full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization forecast on a business as usual basis, which it put at A$800 million to A$820 million last September.

The company will release its first-half results on March 19.

Huawei, the world’s biggest telecoms equipment maker, has been under intense scrutiny since the arrest of its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, in Canada. The United States has put pressure on nations to restrict market access to Huawei over allegations that China could use its equipment for espionage.

(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; editing by Richard Pullin)

You Give Apps Sensitive Personal Information. Then They Tell Facebook.

Source: WSJ

Millions of smartphone users confess their most intimate secrets to apps, including when they want to work on their belly fat or the price of the house they checked out last weekend. Other apps know users’ body weight, blood pressure, menstrual cycles or pregnancy status.

Unbeknown to most people, in many cases that data is being shared with someone else: Facebook Inc. FB 1.16%

The social-media giant collects intensely personal information from many popular smartphone apps just seconds after users enter it, even if the user has no connection to Facebook, according to testing done by The Wall Street Journal. The apps often send the data without any prominent or specific disclosure, the testing showed.

It is already known that many smartphone apps send information to Facebook about when users open them, and sometimes what they do inside. Previously unreported is how at least 11 popular apps, totaling tens of millions of downloads, have also been sharing sensitive data entered by users. The findings alarmed some privacy experts who reviewed the Journal’s testing.

Facebook is under scrutiny from Washington and European regulators for how it treats the information of users and nonusers alike. It has been fined for allowing now defunct political-data firm Cambridge Analytica illicit access to users’ data and has drawn criticism for giving companies special access to user records well after it said it had walled off that information.

In the case of apps, the Journal’s testing showed that Facebook software collects data from many apps even if no Facebook account is used to log in and if the end user isn’t a Facebook member.

Full Story

German government unlikely to make quick decision on Huawei: source

February 19, 2019

BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government will probably not take a quick decision on whether to allow China’s Huawei to build Germany’s 5G network, a government source said on Tuesday.

“There will probably not be a quick decision,” the source said.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and allegations of enabling state espionage. The United States has called for its allies not to use its technology.

An auction for the next generation 5G mobile network is due to start in the second half of March.

Economy Minister Peter Altmaier had told Reuters on Friday that Germany planned to tighten the law on the security standards that must be met by telecoms operators bidding to participate in the build-out of next generation 5G telephony networks in Germany.

He said the issue of network equipment would not come up for a couple of months.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Michelle Martin; Editing by Madeline Chambers)

Ilhan Omar Explodes At CNN Reporter: ‘What Is Wrong With You?’

Source: Ryan Saavedra

Anti-Semitic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) snapped at a CNN reporter on Wednesday, bridling under increasing media scrutiny over her anti-Semitic beliefs.

CNN’s Manu Raju — who has arguably done the best job of tracking down Omar and asking her tough questions — approached her and asked her about President Donald Trump’s call for her to resign from Congress.

“The president said that you should resign and the vice president said you should be held accountable for your views,” Raju said to Omar. “Can you respond to that?”

Omar ran behind a door to avoid the question, only responding: “No, thank you.”

Raju later tried to question Omar over her response to President Trump, when she tweeted: “Hi @realDonaldTrump, You have trafficked in hate your whole life—against Jews, Muslims, Indigenous, immigrants, black people and more. I learned from people impacted by my words. When will you?”

“Are you serious?” Omar asked. “What is wrong with you?”

“I’m asking you a question about your tweet…saying the president trafficked in hate,” Raju replied.

“Yes, I tweeted, and there’s a response,” Omar fired back. “You can run that. Have a nice day.”

WATCH:

Earlier in the day before the segment aired on CNN, Raju described his encounter with Omar in a series of tweets.

“Rep. Ilhan Omar in no mood to talk about her controversies this week,” Raju said. “First, she said: ‘No thank you’ when asked to comment on Trump saying she should resign. Second time I saw her, she yelled: ‘Are you serious?’ when I tried to question her.”

“Asked about her tweet this AM attacking Trump for trafficking in hate, she angrily said: “Yes I tweeted, and there’s a response,” Raju continued. “You can run that. Have a nice day.” And she walked into a meeting.”

“Before I even got my question out the second time I saw her, Ilhan Omar angrily said: ‘Are you serious? What’s wrong with you?’” Raju later added.

Last week, Raju pressed Omar over her support for anti-Semitic Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions campaigns against Israel.

“Why do you support BDS?” Raju asked. “Why do you support BDS?”

Omar turned and left once Raju asked the question, refusing to answer.

WATCH:

Omar’s long week started on Sunday when she”displayed her blatant anti-Semitism by tweeting that GOP support for Israel was ‘all about the Benjamins,’ and followed by accusing AIPAC of paying American politicians to support Israel,” The Daily Wire reported, which led to “bipartisan condemnation of her remarks erupted, although no leading Democrats said a word about their colleague’s vile rhetoric.”

“To see this at the UN was a fight every day,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley tweeted. “This CANNOT be tolerated in our own Congress by anyone of either party. In a time of increased anti semitism, we all must be held to account. No excuses.”

“One of my greatest honors is leading new members on a bipartisan trip to Israel to showcase the shared values and unbreakable bond between our countries,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy tweeted. “Anti-Semitic tropes have no place in the halls of Congress. It is dangerous for Democrat leadership to stay silent on this reckless language.”

 

Confronted With Details Of Green New Deal, Ocasio-Cortez Claims Not To Speak English

from The Babylon Bee: WASHINGTON, D.C.—The controversial Green New Deal ran into trouble early on when an FAQ of the details was placed on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s website and then pulled down after it received scrutiny. For a while her people claimed the FAQ never existed, and when directly asked about it, Ocasio-Cortez has not answered […]

The post Confronted With Details Of Green New Deal, Ocasio-Cortez Claims Not To Speak English appeared first on SGT Report.

Senator Warren seeks to quiet critics with 2020 campaign launch

February 9, 2019

By Ginger Gibson

BOSTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, struggling to move past criticism over her Native American heritage claims, will aim for a fresh start on Saturday when she formally launches her 2020 presidential campaign.

The Massachusetts Democrat, a leader of the party’s progressive wing, will make her announcement from a historic site in Lawrence, northwest of Boston, that launched the U.S. organized labor movement. Warren, 69, has made worker rights, fair wages and access to health care central to her campaign.

She is part of an increasingly crowded and diverse field of Democrats vying for the chance to challenge President Donald Trump, the likely Republican nominee. A year before any ballots are cast in a Democratic primary, many of those candidates are spending the weekend talking to voters in the early nominating states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Warren’s announcement will be followed on Sunday by U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar, who has said she will reveal her presidential plans in Minnesota.

Warren’s heritage claims have dogged her since her first campaign for the Senate in 2012, and Trump mockingly refers to her as “Pocahontas.” Her ancestry drew fresh scrutiny last week with the discovery that she described her race as American Indian on a form to join the Texas legal bar in the 1980s.

She has repeatedly apologized, saying the claim was based on “family lore” and she now understands tribal sovereignty dictates membership.

In addition to being a fierce Trump critic, Warren is an outspoken critic of Wall Street who gained national notoriety for her efforts to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to regulate large banks.

“The part of Elizabeth Warren’s history that we should be most worried about right now is the fact that Republicans are trying to dismantle her signature achievement, the CFPB,” said Democratic strategist Rebecca Katz, a former top aide to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Warren is one of four women so far seeking the Democratic nomination, an unprecedented number of female candidates vying to lead a country that has never had a woman chief executive.

Warren and the other women running, including Senators Kamala Harris and Kirsten Gillibrand, are hoping to build on the success of women candidates who played a significant role in Democrats regaining control of the U.S. House of Representatives in November’s congressional elections.

“I like her anger,” said Christiane Alsop, who has donated to Warren’s previous campaigns and is backing her presidential bid. “I like her fighting spirit.”

Warren heads next to Iowa, where U.S. Senator Cory Booker and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who also are running, campaigned on Friday.

“I am running for president right now because I believe Americans have surrendered to cynicism,” Booker said at an event in Waterloo, Iowa. “I want to see a revival of civic grace.”

(Reporting by Ginger Gibson; additional reporting by Amanda Becker in Waterloo, Iowa; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Osterman)

Italy denies it will ban Huawei, ZTE from its 5G plans

February 7, 2019

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy has denied a report it will ban China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp from playing a role in building its fifth-generation mobile phone network.

“We have no intention of adopting any such initiatives,” the industry ministry said in a statement.

Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces international scrutiny over its ties with the Chinese government and suspicion Beijing could use its technology for spying, something the company has denied.

Earlier on Thursday Italian daily La Stampa cited senior government sources as saying Rome was ready to use special powers to terminate contracts involving the Chinese operators.

But in a statement the industry ministry said there was no proof of any threat to security in this regard.

“National security is a priority and if any critical issues emerged – which to date have not – the ministry would assess whether or not to take measures,” it said.

Brussels has not taken steps to ban Huawei but operators like the UK’s BT Group and France’s Orange have said they will not use its 5G equipment in their core national networks.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said Germany needs guarantees that Huawei would not hand data to the Chinese state before it can take part in building fifth-generation networks.

Italian phone incumbent Telecom Italia has previously said it will keep working with Huawei until told otherwise by the government.

TIM, which is said to use Huawei technology in just over 10 percent of its fixed line fiber network, and Fastweb are part of a consortium with Huawei to test 5G infrastructure in the southern towns of Bari and Matera.

Vodafone, which has “paused” deployment of Huawei equipment in its core networks until Western governments give the Chinese firm full security clearance, has Huawei as one of its technology partners in 5G testing in Milan.

Broadband infrastructure company Open Fiber and service provider Wind Tre work in a consortium with ZTE in 5G testing in the towns of Prato and l’Aquila.

(Reporting by Stephen Jewkes and Giselda Vagnoni; Editing by Giselda Vagnoni)

Merkel sets out condition for Huawei’s participation in 5G network

February 5, 2019

TOKYO (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Tuesday Germany needs guarantees that China’s Huawei Technologies will not hand over data to the Chinese state before the telecoms equipment supplier can participate in building its 5G network.

Merkel, on a visit to Japan, said that due to security concerns, it was important to speak to the Chinese government so “the company doesn’t just simply hand the data to the state”.

She told students in a discussion at Keio University that security was important if firms wanted to work in Germany and it must be made clear that the Chinese state cannot access all the data in Chinese products.

Huawei faces international scrutiny over its ties with the Chinese government and suspicion that Beijing could use Huawei’s technology for spying, which the company denies.

The German government has yet to reach a common stance on whether to follow other countries in excluding Huawei from its market on national security grounds.

(Reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Caroline Copley; Editing by Robert Birsel)

Powerful Senate committee invites pharma executives to testify

February 4, 2019

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A powerful U.S. Senate committee on Monday invited seven pharmaceutical companies to testify at a hearing later this month examining rising prescription drug prices.

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, ranking member of the committee, invited executives from AbbVie Inc, AstraZeneca PLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co, Johnson & Johnson, Merck & Co Inc, Pfizer Inc and Sanofi SA.

The U.S. Congress has been intensifying scrutiny of the pharmaceutical industry as rising prescription drug prices consistently poll as a top voter concern. It is also a priority for the administration of President Donald Trump, who made it a central issue of the 2016 presidential campaign.

The Senate Finance Committee held its first hearing on drug prices in January, when Grassley and Wyden noted that several drug companies declined an invitation to testify. Some of the companies were re-invited on Monday, though the senators did not specify which ones.

The Senate is controlled by Republicans and the House of Representatives is controlled by Democrats.

The invitation follows a slew of actions by lawmakers to heighten scrutiny of the pharmaceutical industry. The House Oversight Committee also held a drug pricing hearing in January, and a handful of House Democrats have sent letters to drug companies asking for information on their pricing practices.

(Reporting by Eric Beech and Yasmeen Abutaleb; Editing by David Alexander and Rosalba O’Brien)

Did Bezos’ Mistress’s Trump-Loving Brother Leak Explicit Texts To National Enquirer?

It has been a few weeks since we last checked in on the ongoing leak-fest surrounding Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his new squeeze, former “So You Think You Can Dance?” host Lauren Sanchez, but there have been some amusing developments in recent days that we believe warrant your attention.

Following a series of leaks of steamy text messages between Bezos and Sanchez, the furious billionaire tech CEO reportedly ordered his top security guru, Gavin de Becker to investigate the provenance of texts and determine who exactly leaked them to the National Enquirer. It’s believed that the texts were shared by somebody close to Sanchez, perhaps a close friend with whom she shared details about her not-so-secret relationship.

Sanchez

Lauren Sanchez and Bezos

But in the latest tawdry development in this story, de Becker purportedly traced the source of the texts to none other than Sanchez’s Trump-loving brother, Michael Sanchez, a Hollywood publicist and manager.

Sanchez

Michael Sanchez

Sanchez denied the allegations in an angry statement to Page Six, where he said he had told his sister to fire de Becker for dreaming up this “crazy conspiracy theory”

“I am not dignifying de Becker’s passive aggressive allegations or his crazy conspiracy theories,” Michael said in a statement to Page Six. “I’ve recommended that Lauren fire him as security for her and [her] children.”

De Becker, of course, has years of experience with this type of thing: He counts numerous Hollywood A-listers, including Madonna, as clients.

The security contractor responded to the statement by confirming that he had spoken with Michael, but that the investigation is ongoing. However, De Becker said that he strongly suspects “political motives” helped spur the leaks.

“Michael Sanchez has been among the people we’ve been speaking with and looking at.”  De Becker stressed that the investigation is ongoing. But he confirmed that “strong leads point to political motives.”

Since the texts were published, this snippet from the steamy exchange has become ingrained in the public consciousness and become the subject of countless jokes on Twitter.

“I want to smell you, I want to breathe you in. I want to hold you tight,” and “I love you, alive girl. I will show you with my body, and my lips and my eyes, very soon.”

Seemingly nobody is safe from scrutiny in De Becker’s probe. He has even investigated Lauren herself for possibly leaking the texts to the Enquirer, though the probe has reportedly uncovered “no evidence” that this was the case – or that Sanchez’s phone was hacked.

But allegations of political disagreements aside, somewhere, President Trump is reading the New York Post and quietly chuckling to himself.

Mongolia parliamentary speaker ousted amid corruption scandal

January 30, 2019

ULAANBAATAR (Reuters) – Mongolia’s parliamentary speaker, Enkhbold Myegombo, has been ousted following weeks of public protests against him over accusations he was involved in the corrupt sale of government positions.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets in late December to protest against Enkhbold and the two main political parties, the Mongolian People’s Party and the Democratic Party.

Public unrest has simmered throughout January, with a cross-party group of legislators boycotting parliament. Some protesters began hunger strikes on Ulaanbaatar’s central Sukhbaatar Square on Jan. 10.

The role of foreign investment in resource-rich Mongolia’s development has also come under scrutiny, with many nationalist politicians complaining that strategic assets have been sold off to foreign firms on the cheap.

Enkhbold denied accusations of corruption and declined to resign, but parliament voted in favour of forcing his dismissal late on Tuesday in a procedure initiated by President Khaltmaa Battulga, who defeated Enkhbold in a 2017 election.

“I was not playing tricks to save my position, I believed this problem should be solved legally,” Enkhbold said, complaining that the dismissal procedure undermined parliamentary democracy.

He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Audio recordings released by a whistleblower in 2016 were believed to implicate a number of politicians in a scheme aimed at raising 60 billion tugrik ($23 million) in campaign funds for parliamentary elections that year, which were won by Enkhbold’s Mongolian People’s Party.

Five members of parliament have led efforts against Enkhbold and the two parties, and they announced on Monday they had formed a group called “Wealth Owner Mongolia” that would fight against corruption and nationalise mines of “strategic” importance.

Mongolia’s biggest foreign-invested project, the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine run by Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto, is also at the centre of a corruption investigation involving a former finance minister who signed the original 2009 investment deal.

Mongolia is working with overseas investigators to look into suspected corruption at the mine, the anti-graft agency said on Tuesday, after the re-arrest of the minister.

(This version of the story corrects date of whistleblower activity in paragraph 8 to 2016, not “last year”)

(Reporting by Munkhchimeg Davaasharav; Editing by David Stanway and Robert Birsel)

China deletes ‘malicious’ mobile apps

January 26, 2019

(This January 24 story corrects throughout to say that the “Fruit Ninja” game deleted by the CAC was not developed by iDreamSky Technology Holdings Ltd, nor distributed by Tencent.)

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s cyber watchdog said on Thursday it has deleted close to 8,000 “malicious” mobile apps, as regulators step up efforts to tighten control over the country’s internet.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) said in a statement it had ordered telecom operators to shut down the services of 7,873 apps after finding they had overcharged and cheated users as well as stolen information.

It launched the campaign in September with other Chinese government ministries to target “malicious mobile apps that infringe on users’ rights”, the agency said.

Among the apps targeted by the agency was a Chinese version of “Fruit Ninja”, which caused economic losses to users by tricking them into signing up to unwanted fee-based services, the agency said.

There are three games named “Fruit Ninja” registered with China’s publishing regulator and it was unclear which one was deleted by the CAC.

A game with the same name was previously launched by iDreamSky <1119.HK> and distributed by Tencent in 2013. However it was later removed from all channels in 2016, according to iDreamSky.

Other games such as “Bathroom Goddess” and “Naughty Housemaid” that were developed and published by other firms committed “online hooligan activities” like information theft, spamming, and forced downloads.

China’s video game market, the world’s largest, has been under strict scrutiny since last year when authorities stopped approving new titles for almost a year. It recently resumed approvals but industry leaders Tencent and NetEase <NTES.O> have yet to receive any.

Political control of the internet has also tightened under President Xi Jinping, an effort that has accelerated since 2016 as the ruling Communist Party seeks to crack down on dissent on social media.

The CAC on Wednesday said it had deleted more than 7 million pieces of online information as well as 9,382 mobile apps, and criticized a news app run by Tencent for spreading “vulgar and low-brow information.

(Reporting by Pei Li and Brenda Goh; Editing by Stephen Coates)

World’s Largest Mobile Phone Carrier Halts Huawei Purchases

The largest mobile carrier in the world – outside of China – Vodafone, has gone on record that it is temporarily halting purchases of certain components made by Huawei. The fallout caused by security concerns at Huawei could pose a threat to its growth and further harm its reputation, according to the WSJ.

Vodafone said it will temporarily halt the purchase of gear from the company for use in its new 5G networks that it is in the midst of a European roll out. As the reason, the company cited uncertainty about whether or not certain governments will eventually ban the Chinese company’s hardware.

Vodafone says the suspension is only going to affect networks in Europe and it hasn’t ruled out Huawei components from other large markets like India and Turkey. The company is now in talks with European government officials about what the potential impact of a ban on Huawei could be.

While wireless carriers around the globe are spending massive amounts of capital in their roll out of 5G, Vodafone wants to make sure it gets it right the first time. Huawei equipment in question is “core” component gear that “directs calls and internet traffic”. It would not have an effect on non-core network components, like cell towers.

A spokesperson for Huawei came out and said that the gear it provides to Vodafone only represents a small portion of the company’s business and that it’s going to continue to work with Vodafone to try and find a solution.

“We are grateful to Vodafone for its support of Huawei, and we will endeavor to live up to the trust placed in us,” a Huawei representative told the Wall Street Journal.

In recent memos, Huawei’s founder told employees to expect growth to slow due to the global scrutiny that’s been placed on the company. Ericsson also said on Friday that security concerns have caused some uncertainty in planning for its new networks. For now, the company’s CEO said it was still too early to tell whether or not Ericsson’s business would be affected.

“We probably won some contracts that we wouldn’t have otherwise,” a smaller telecom competitor executive said about scrutiny on Huawei. 

US officials have long held Huawei as a national security threat, a symbol of China’s relentless information transfer, worried that the Chinese government could compel it to use its infrastructure and know-how to spy or reverse engineer the latest western technologies. The U.S. scrutiny has led governments in Australia, Britain, Canada, Germany, Poland and Japan to all examine their telecom supply chain, as well,while Australia and New Zealand have already restricted Huawei’s potential involvement in their coming 5G networks.

Zuckerberg to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger: NYT

January 25, 2019

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg is planning to unify the underlying messaging infrastructure of the WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger services and incorporate end-to-end encryption into these apps, the New York Times reported on Friday.

The three services will, however, continue as stand-alone apps, the report said, citing four people involved in the effort.

Facebook said it is working on adding end-to-end encryption, which protects messages from being viewed by anyone except the participants in a conversation, to more of its messaging products, and considering ways to make it easier for users to connect across networks.

“There is a lot of discussion and debate as we begin the long process of figuring out all the details of how this will work,” a spokesperson said.

After the changes, a Facebook user, for instance, will be able send an encrypted message to someone who has only a WhatsApp account, according to the New York Times report.

Integrating the messaging services could make it harder for antitrust regulators to break up Facebook by undoing its acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, said Sam Weinstein, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law.

“If Facebook is worried about that then one way it can defend itself is to integrate those services,” Weinstein said.

But Weinstein said breaking up Facebook is viewed as an “extreme remedy” by regulators, particularly in the United States, so concerns over antitrust scrutiny may not have been a factor behind the integration.

MAJOR TRADEOFFS

Some former Facebook security engineers and an outside encryption expert said the plan could be good news for user privacy, in particular by extending end-to-end encryption.

“I’m cautiously optimistic it’s a good thing,” said former Facebook Chief Security Officer Alex Stamos, who now teaches at Stanford University. “My fear was that they were going to drop end-to-end encryption.”

However, the technology does not always conceal metadata – information about who is talking to whom – sparking concern among some researchers that the data might be shared.

Any metadata integration likely will let Facebook learn more about users, linking identifiers such as phone numbers and email addresses for those using the services independently of each other.

Facebook could use that data to charge more for advertising and targeted services, although it also would have to forgo ads based on message content in Messenger and Instagram.

Other major tradeoffs will have to be made too, Stamos and others said.

Messenger allows strangers to contact people without knowing their phone numbers, for example, increasing the risk of stalking and approaches to children.

Systems based on phone numbers have additional privacy concerns, because governments and other entities can easily extract location information from them.

Stamos said he hoped Facebook would get public input from terrorism experts, child safety officers, privacy advocates and others and be transparent in its reasoning when it makes decisions on the details.

“It should be an open process, because you can’t have it all,” Stamos said.

(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil in Bengaluru, Jan Wolfe in Washington and Joseph Menn in San Francisco; Writing by Katie Paul; Editing by Tom Brown)

Hospital disinfectant chemical glutaraldehyde deliberately added to vaccines, admits CDC … Chemical dangers abound

(Natural News) The list of vaccine excipients released by the CDC in January 2017 calls for sweeping scrutiny, as it includes questionable cellular components, bacterial strains and toxic chemicals that may do great harm. Eight of these vaccine excipients contain glutaraldehyde – a toxic compound notorious in the healthcare industry. According to the National Institute for Occupational…

Kennedy, King Families to Congress: Reopen Probes

After five decades, the mysteries behind the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X may finally get the scrutiny they deserve.

A group consisting of relatives of the Kennedy and King families, …

The post Kennedy, King Families to Congress: Reopen Probes appeared first on Global Research.

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