Category: World News

Newly obtained internal FBI messages show the bureau failed to properly document agents’ interviews of at least four witnesses in the investigation of then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server to conduct official U.S. government business.

The documents, which were obtained by the nonprofit government watchdog Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, also show the FBI gave Clinton’s lawyer special treatment during the email investigation.

The new information was gleaned from the 218 pages of messages exchanged by former FBI counterintelligence executive Peter Strzok and former bureau lawyer Lisa Page.

In an Aug. 5, 2016, email, an unnamed FBI assistant general counsel asked Strzok, Page, and intelligence analyst Jonathan Moffa whether to include a number of Form 302s from the Clinton email probe for review by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for needed redactions.

Form 302s are the reports of interviews that agents are required to write and submit promptly following their conversations with witnesses in ongoing cases.

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KLM Royal Dutch Airlines is helping fund a new plane design called the Flying-V in which the passenger cabin, cargo hold, and fuel tanks are built into the wings. The researchers at the Technical University of Berlin and the Netherlands’ Delft University of Technology who are developing the aircraft expect a scale model to take off in September. Even still, KLM says it’ll be another 20 to 30 years before it could enter commercial service

It’s claimed the plane will use 20% less fuel than the Airbus A350-900 while carrying a similar number of passengers — the Flying-V will seat 314, while the Airbus A350 seats between 300 and 350. The design also mirrors the A350’s 65-meter (213 feet) wingspan, enabling it to use existing airport infrastructure…

TU Delft project leader Roelof Vos said such innovation was needed as a stepping stone to greater efficiency while technology was still being developed to create large-scale electric airplanes.  “Aviation is contributing about 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, and the industry is still growing, so we really need to look at more sustainable airplanes,” he told CNN.  “The new configuration that we propose realizes some synergy between the fuselage and the wing. The fuselage actively contributes to the lift of the airplane, and creates less aerodynamic drag.”

This is the terrifying moment passengers fall from a tourist boat after it was struck by a towering cruise ship on a busy canal in Venice – injuring four tourists.   The collision, which saw the luxury MSC Opera cruise liner crash into the small River Countess and the San Basilio dock, took place at about 8.30am Sunday on the Giudecca Canal – one of the major canals in the ancient city.  Horrifying images showed the hulking cruise ship sounding its horn as petrified tourists attempted to move out of its way. Passengers can be seen leaping from the river boat which was smashed in the head-on collision – leaving it severely damaged Medical authorities say four female tourists – an American, a New Zealander and two Australians between the ages of 67 and 72 – were injured falling or trying to run away when the cruise ship rammed into the tourist boat.  MSC Cruises said the 2,679-passengers onboard the 177-ft high and 902-ft long long liner, which dwarfed the Venice skyline, were approaching the terminal when the ship hit the dock after a technical problem.   The collision comes days after seven people were killed and 21 remain missing after the Mermaid, a sightseeing boat, capsized on the River Danube in Budapest, Hungary.

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Nearly 9-in-10 illegal aliens who have been recently released into the interior of the United States while they await their asylum hearings are not showing up to their court dates, according to a federal pilot program.

For almost half a year, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has ramped up its catch and release of border crossers and illegal aliens, specifically those arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border with children.

Since December 21, 2018, DHS has released at least 190,500 border crossers and illegal aliens into the interior of the United States. Acting DHS Secretary Kevin McAleenan told Congress this month that those foreign nationals are eventually given work permits that allow them to take U.S. jobs while awaiting their asylum hearings.

In testimony before Congress this month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials said that the agency had recently conducted a pilot program with the Department of Justice (DOJ) to test how many recent illegal aliens would show up to their asylum hearings after being released into the U.S.

The results, an ICE official told Congress, were that about 87 percent of illegal aliens, or almost 9-in-10, recently released by DHS into the U.S. did not show up to their asylum hearings. With illegal aliens not showing up to their scheduled hearings, the ICE official said, the agency is then forced to grapple with attempting to locate and deport each illegal alien, an almost impossible task that strains federal resources.

“That particular population, as we continue to release into the interior hundreds if not thousands of family units into the interior every week, is of grave concern as it relates to these individuals not appearing before immigration judges and now being fugitives,” the ICE official said.

In the same hearing, another federal immigration official said that only about 12 percent of border crossers and illegal aliens who complete their asylum processes actually end up qualifying for asylum — a statistic that underscores the enormous fraud and abuse in the country’s immigration system.

At current rates of illegal immigration, border apprehensions for the calendar year 2019 are expected to outpace every fiscal year of former President Obama. Meanwhile, DHS officials have said only about 42 miles of mostly replacement border wall barriers have been constructed since President Trump’s inauguration.

Leading up to the 2020 presidential election, Americans are vastly opposed to releasing border crossers and illegal aliens into the interior of the country, and GOP voters have said building a border wall and reducing all illegal and legal immigration is their top priority.

About 2-in-3 American voters told Harvard-Harris pollsters last month that they are opposed to catching and then releasing border crossers and illegal aliens into the U.S. while they await their asylum hearings. Likewise, GOP voters, conservatives, and Trump supporters have ranked building a border wall and reducing all immigration as their top priorities.

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There are only few things more ritualistic than a morning cup of coffee. Probably most of us will admit that it would be hard to imagine our mornings without this magical drink. Not only does it smell good but it’s also one of the easiest ways to wake ourselves up and have a few minutes for ourselves before the beginning of our fast-paced day. And since sometimes we only have a few minutes to grab this magical drink from the nearest coffee shop, some baristas always try to lighten our day by painting some amazing latte art.

One of these amazing baristas is Japanese artist Ku-san who goes by the username kunit92. While some of baristas draw flowers, hearts, or sometimes recreate famous paintings, Ku-san decided to take latte art to another level and draw his favorite creatures – birds. Ku-san is a home barista who has taken on latte art as a hobby. As the owner of a domestic parrot, Sakura, she combined two of her passions and depicts all kinds of colorful bird species in her mesmerizing latte designs. Let’s admit that these designs are so lovely that it would be a shame to drink this kind of latte!

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It has been reported that our planet is currently facing the highest amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere than it has ever experienced throughout the entire existence of homosapiens. It seems that once we started to realize we are literally witnessing a catastrophe in front of our eyes, we started to look for positive initiatives that can change the tragic current state that we are living in. But instead of concentrating on the negative, let’s take a look at something that is striving to do the best for people and the planet, shall we?

In an interview with Bored Panda, the co-founder of the school, Mazin Mukhtar, told us that he came up with the idea with his wife after they met in New York back in 2013. “We were both already dreaming of starting a new kind of school specifically designed for children in poverty. We formed Akshar that same year we met and we started our school, Akshar Forum, in 2016.

When we started the recycling center, parents were not cooperative at first. So we came up with the “Plastic School Fees” idea to compel the parents to recycle. The school was free for years before we started that policy. In reality, it’s more like mandatory homework than school fees but calling it plastic school fees serves to remind the parents: the school is entirely free but the least you can do is help us and help yourselves by sending your clean, dry plastic waste from home.”

“We wanted to start a free school for all but stumbled upon this idea after we realized a larger social and ecological problem brewing in this area. I still remember how our classrooms would be filled with toxic fumes every time someone in the nearby areas would burn plastics. Here, it was the norm to burn waste plastic to keep warm. We wanted to change that and so started to encourage our students to bring their plastic waste as school fees,” said one of the school founders, Parmita Sarma.

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Homeland Security reached a five-year high in approvals of citizenship applications last year, and swore in more people as naturalized citizens as well, according to the new statistical report released Friday night. Those numbers contradict the criticisms of congressional Democrats who had complained about backlogs building at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the Homeland Security branch that handles legal immigration. The new report also suggests that far from a crackdown, the government is processing more asylum-seeker petitions than any of the last four years. That included a 61 percent increase from 2017 to 2018 in affirmative asylum applications — though refugee interviews are down from more than 1250,000 in 2016, the last year under President Barack Obama, to just 26,400 in fiscal year 2018 under President Trump. Still, when the whole panoply of humanitarian programs is considered — asylum, refugees, crime victim visas, Temporary Protected Status and screening for credible fear or reasonable fear of persecution — the numbers were 32 percent higher than fiscal year 2017. Credible fear and reasonable fear are first steps on the asylum track.

USCIS’s workload has become contentious in recent years, with immigrant-rights groups accusing the Trump administration of building a bureaucratic “wall” to deny people the chance to enter the U.S. legally. The accusation is a play on their disdain for Mr. Trump’s border wall intended to stop illegal immigration. Hispanic Democrats in Congress say things are so bad that they requested — and have been granted — an investigation to be done by the Government Accountability Office. Rep. Joaquin Castro, chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said the case backlog is an example of “President Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda.” Yet the backlog in citizenship applications, for example, exploded during the end of the Obama administration. The Washington Times, which tracked the explosion at the time, sought comment from immigrant-rights activists and lawmakers, including Democrats, but didn’t find many who blamed the Obama administration for the slow processing. The new numbers from USCIS also detail some of the more hidden parts of the agency’s work, such as its efforts to weed out fraud in legal immigration applications. Experts say fraud is rampant, but the agency has not released any major fraud assessments in years.Still, the Fraud Detection and National Security division reported 149,3000 investigative leads or actions year — a 14 percent increase over 2017. That included 30,400 tips of fraud, 7,600 national security matters and nearly 17,000 public safety matters.FDNS also reported screening social media in 11,700 cases.

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It is not often that you hear of children with Down Syndrome being able to speak four languages fluently, playing three musical instruments and wanting to become a scientist, however, Greek boy Joachim is an exception and not only is he able to do all of the above, he has also written a book, which has already helped hundreds of families dealing with Down Syndrome.

Unfortunately in Greece, like many other countries around the world, there is no proper support to help children with special needs, especially those with Down syndrome.

Joachim’s mother Mrs. Katerina Frosini gave birth to her fourth child 22 years ago and was told about her son’s issue before birth and decided she would do everything in her power to raise him and care for him as best she could, along with her other three sons.

By the age of four, Joachim was able to sit down but was unable to stand up and could not speak. A doctor spoke to his parents about a program named the Glen Doman Institute in America, which is a well-known organisation that helps children with special needs.

His parents went to America and learned everything about this program, which eventually gave their young son a new life.

Now at the age of 22, Joachim may not have completed the last two grades of high school, but he’s already working in his father’s accounting office and leads a normal life, being able to communicate and having independence, which is rare for many children with Down Syndrome.

Along with the help of his mother, Joachim also wrote a book titled “I’m Joachim … Learn to Overcome Down Syndrome,” which has already helped hundreds of families to deal with the situation properly so that children with Down Syndrome can lead a better life and inspire those with special needs.

The latest data from the watchdog released on Tuesday means that an item that cost 1 bolivar in 2017, cost 1,300 bolivares a year later. Even compared to the huge inflation spike in 2017 of 862.6 percent, last year was disastrous for the country’s economy.

Venezuela’s central bank published its previous report three years ago. Before the latest release, inflation data and forecasts were published by the opposition-controlled National Assembly and some international organizations. For example, the International Monetary Fund projected an inflation of over 10 million percent for this and next year.

The economy of the sanctions-hit Bolivarian Republic shrunk by 47.7 percent in the five years since 2013, with the country’s GDP having lost 22.5 percent year-on-year in the third quarter of 2018.

Oil exports, accounting for around 90 percent of the country’s revenues, plummeted to $29.8 billion in 2018, down from $85.6 billion in 2013 and $71.7 billion in 2014, when oil prices dropped triggering the collapse of the nation’s economy. Apart from its domestic economic crisis, US sanctions against Venezuela’s energy sector have also contributed greatly to the financial losses as last year’s crude exports dropped 5.6 percent.

Washington has been mounting its sanctions pressure on Caracas and was the first to back opposition leader Juan Guaido, who called for the ousting of elected President Nicolas Maduro. Earlier this month, Venezuela’s ambassador to Russia, said that the barrage of Washington’s restrictions has cost the Latin American country $130 billion since 2015.

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