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The new sanctions bill hits Russia's energy and defense sectors, and also includes fresh sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

It comes amid increasing tension between the US and Russia, dating back to the last days of the Barack Obama administration, when the then President ordered the seizure of two Russian compounds in New York and Maryland in response to alleged election meddling by Moscow.

Since the new sanctions were mooted, Russia has responded by ordering the US to cut staff at its diplomatic missions in the country by 755 employees, as well as seizing two US diplomatic properties.

In a statement Wednesday, Russia's Foreign Ministry said it "reserves the right to other countermeasures" in response to the new sanctions.

The measure was signed into law after it passed with overwhelming margins in both the House and Senate -- which made the threat of a presidential veto a non-starter -- but it was not an easy road to Trump's desk.

After the Senate passed the sanctions on Iran and Russia 98-2, the bill languished in the House for more than a month amid a series of procedural fights. Then the House added North Korean sanctions before passing the measure 419-3, effectively forcing the Senate to swallow the new sanctions in order to get the legislation over the finish line before Congress left for its August congressional recess.

The House and Senate struck a deal to make some changes to the bill at the urging of a host of US industries and European countries, but Congress did not consider making the change that the White House wanted: removing the congressional review on Russia sanctions from the bill.

White House officials lobbied to weaken the section giving Congress a veto on the easing of sanctions, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned Congress the administration should have "flexibility" to negotiate with Russia and improve relations.

But key Republican and Democratic lawmakers said that weakening congressional review was not on the table when they were finalizing the legislation.

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, who initially was hesitant to pass a Russia sanctions bill before he was a key driver to get it done in July, said he has spoken to the President about the review process to try to ease the White House's concerns.

Corker said that Congress would only veto an attempt to lessen sanctions on Russia if the administration took an "egregious" step to try to remove sanctions.

"I've walked the President through the process of how congressional review works," Corker said. "The administration -- knowing that unless it's way out of bounds -- likely they have the flexibility to do what they need to do."

Corker noted that Trump has refused to believe his intelligence leaders that Russia interfered with the election, and said that may have helped push Congress to get the bill done quickly.

"I do think that the lack of strong statements in that regard probably effected the outcome," he said.

Washington (CNN)President Donald Trump signed into law Wednesday morning legislation that levies new sanctions against Russia and restricts Trump's own ability to ease sanctions in place against Moscow.

The bill is one of the first major pieces of legislation that was sent to Trump's desk, and it represents a rebuke of the President by giving Congress new veto power to block him from removing Russia sanctions.
The White House announced the signing shortly after 11 a.m. ET, saying the bill includes "a number of clearly unconstitutional provisions" that "purport to displace the President's exclusive constitutional authority to recognize foreign governments, including their territorial bounds."
Russia has reacted strongly to the bill's signing, saying it showed a "fully-fledged trade war (has been) declared against Russia" and that "the Trump administration demonstrated complete impotence, in the most humiliating manner, transferring executive powers to Congress."

In a statement, Trump expressed his own doubts about the legislation: "The bill remains seriously flawed -- particularly because it encroaches on the executive branch's authority to negotiate."

"Congress could not even negotiate a health care bill after seven years of talking. By limiting the executive's flexibility, this bill makes it harder for the United States to strike good deals for the American people, and will drive China, Russia, and North Korea much closer together," he said in a statement.

He ended the statement by saying: "I built a truly great company worth many billions of dollars. That is a big part of the reason I was elected. As President, I can make far better deals with foreign countries than Congress."

Even before Trump signed the bill, the measure prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to retaliate against the US over the new sanctions, which Congress levied over alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US election, as well as Russia's annexation of Crimea and aggression in Syria.

In a Facebook post Wednesday, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said any hope of improved relations between Washington and the Kremlin had "ended," adding he thought Trump was an "incompetent player (who) must be eliminated."

Medvedev predicted future relations between Russia and the US "will be extremely tense, regardless of the Congress line up or the personality of the President," and threatened to escalate the matter to international courts.

Because names will legitimately change how likely said child will get a job.

TheCyborgNinja posted...

I'm not American, so maybe there's something I am missing here, but why is Russia the devil? How does anyone benefit from worse relations with them? They're on the rise, not on the decline, unlike somebody else, so you'd think it'd be advantageous to not be so petty about a grudge with Stalin or whatever.

It isn't about worse relations, it's all about who has the most global control.

Well, this was expected after the breakup lol.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered 755 U.S. diplomatic mission staff to leave the country in a Sunday interview with a Russian television station.

The diplomats must leave the country by Sept. 1, The New York Times reported.

In an interview Rossiya-1, Putin said he was capping the number of American personnel at 455 — the same as the number of Russian diplomatic and technical staff in the United States, according to the Washington Post.

The expulsion comes in response to legislation overwhelmingly passed by Congress last week that would increase sanctions against Russia and blocks President Trump from being able to lift the measures.


The staff reduction is dramatic, the Post said, involving the main embassy in Moscow and missions in St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg and Vladivostok.

The Russian government will also seize two diplomatic properties in Moscow, retaliation for an Obama administration decision to take over two Russian mansions in the U.S., the Post added.

“We waited for quite some time that maybe something will change for the better, had such hope that the situation will somehow change, but, judging by everything, if it changes, it will not be soon,” Putin said regarding U.S.-Russia relations, according to The Times.

The White House announced on Friday that Trump would sign new Russia sanctions, even though the administration had lobbied Congress to water down the legislation.

The Trump administration and the Kremlin have maintained a hot-and-cold relationship since Trump took office.

Trump has expressed a desire for warmed relations with Moscow -- however, during the first leg of his trip to eastern Europe on Sunday, Vice President Pence said the president expects Russia's "unacceptable" behavior to change.

“The president has made it very clear that Russia’s destabilizing activities and support for rogue regimes and its activities in Ukraine are unacceptable. The president made it clear that very soon he will sign sanctions from the Congress to reinforce that,” Pence said during an interview with Fox News on Sunday.

“But at the same time, as we make our intentions clear that we expect Russian behavior to change, the president and I remain very hopeful that we’ll see very different behavior from the Russian government,” he added.

Vladimir Putin has accused US lawmakers of “insolence”, and promised Russia will retaliate if the latest round of US sanctions against Russia are signed into law.

The House of Representatives voted by 419 votes to three on Tuesday to pass the new sanctions bill, which targets Russia as well as North Korea and Iran.

The US legislation was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate on Thursday, and will now go to Donald Trump for his signature. Trump, who enjoyed two warm conversations with Putin at the G20 summit earlier this month, is likely to face a major backlash if he attempts to veto the legislation, with his administration already embroiled in a Russia scandal.

“We are behaving in a very restrained and patient way, but at some moment we will need to respond,” said Putin at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö.

“It’s impossible to endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence towards our country,” Putin said, referring to the sanctions. “This practice is unacceptable – it destroys international relations and international law.”

HornedLion posted...

green dragon posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

Buy the pill

Yeah, you could try plan b

That thing is $60!

I could get Battlegrounds AND an outfit for my Black Desert Online Character with that money. For something that's not 100%... I hope.

You deserve to get a kid.

green dragon posted...

MICHALECOLE posted...

Buy the pill

Yeah, you could try plan b

That thing is $60!

I could get Battlegrounds AND an outfit for my Black Desert Online Character with that money. For something that's not 100%... I hope.

That idea stinks.

pepperoni, pineaple, and jalapeno is the best pizza

It goes about as well as trout as a donut topping

WastelandCowboy posted...

Let's settle this once and for all.

Based on your poll options, I'd say someone is overcompensating for what they know deep down is a faulty position.

I'm sensing a very strong incorrect bias in this poll.

WastelandCowboy posted...

Condoms

Lol

WastelandCowboy posted...

FrozenBananas posted...

Just sayin...you should watch it now

I'll pass, thanks.

Not a fan of Jack Black or Kyle Gass.

Your loss :(

WastelandCowboy posted...

Ajit Pai wants evidence that shows internet without neutrality will be worse.

Well he still thinks things will be fine with companies using the honour system so he clearly has no clue what's going on.

Just sayin...you should watch it now

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, ISP-endorsed frontman and villain of a theoretical future Revenge of the Nerds reboot, is trying to dupe everyone into believing abandoning open internet principles is inevitable because no opponents have any convincing arguments.

At an FCC oversight hearing with the House Commerce Committee this week, Democratic Rep. Michael Doyle challenged Pai to present any sort of willingness to consider the evidence offered by net neutrality supporters, Ars Technica reported.

“What kind of comment would cause you to change your mind?” Doyle asked.

Pai offered the mind-blowing response that he would need to see “economic analysis that shows credibly that there’s infrastructure investment that has increased dramatically” since the enactment of Barack Obama-era neutrality rules, or any evidence showing a future economy or consumers’ experience would be worse without the regulations.

It’s an insidious response that gets more insidious the further it’s probed. Network neutrality is the simple principle that common carriers (ISPs) must treat all traffic on their networks on an equitable basis, whether it’s newspapers, porn, or a competitor’s video platform. It does not require anyone to build new infrastructure—though because traffic discrimination is not allowed, these rules of the game force ISPs to act like utilities and upgrade their networks to deal with higher traffic, or they will simply get slower and slower.

The idea that because US ISPs have chosen to continue offering subpar services at some of the most expensive rates in the world disproves the principle and thus they should be allowed to set up a tiered system is essentially endorsing a race to the bottom. But it’s even worse than that. As Techdirt noted earlier this year, ISPs are notorious for taking billions of dollars in government contracts to expand service and then finding various contractual loopholes to pocket as much of the funds as possible. Pai’s answer simply rewards this behavior, and frankly incentivizes them to present their own subpar services as evidence of the need for further deregulation.

A recent report by Free Press also found publicly traded ISPs do not seem to think open network principles are a threat to investment in new infrastructure, according to their own statements to investors. Free Press also disputes Pai’s account, saying their numbers show investment has increased.

As for the implication no one has done convincing research on open network principles and their impact on the economy, there is an incredible wealth of academic and nonprofit research on net neutrality. Pai, who should be responsible for absorbing at least some of this and literally has a policy division at his agency, is citing his own supposed of lack insight—a convenient position, since he can always choose to remain unconvinced.

Vladimir Putin has accused US lawmakers of “insolence”, and promised Russia will retaliate if the latest round of US sanctions against Russia are signed into law.

The House of Representatives voted by 419 votes to three on Tuesday to pass the new sanctions bill, which targets Russia as well as North Korea and Iran.

The US legislation was passed overwhelmingly by the Senate on Thursday, and will now go to Donald Trump for his signature. Trump, who enjoyed two warm conversations with Putin at the G20 summit earlier this month, is likely to face a major backlash if he attempts to veto the legislation, with his administration already embroiled in a Russia scandal.

“We are behaving in a very restrained and patient way, but at some moment we will need to respond,” said Putin at a press conference with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinistö.

“It’s impossible to endlessly tolerate this kind of insolence towards our country,” Putin said, referring to the sanctions. “This practice is unacceptable – it destroys international relations and international law.”

Putin was vague on exactly how Russia might respond. The newspaper Kommersant quoted two unnamed sources saying a range of potential responses was under consideration in Moscow, including expelling US diplomats, seizing diplomatic properties, increasing restrictions on US companies working in Russia and halting enriched uranium shipments to US power plants.

Before leaving office, Barack Obama ordered the expulsion of 35 Russian diplomats and the seizure of two Russian diplomatic compounds, in retaliation for Russian meddling in the US election. Russia made the unusual move of not responding reciprocally, allegedly after being given assurances that the incoming Trump administration would reverse the move.

However, that has not happened, and the foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova complained recently that US authorities were not granting visas to Russian diplomats the foreign ministry wants to send to replace those expelled. She said reciprocal measures would be forthcoming if this policy did not change.

Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly denied any meddling in the US election, while US intelligence agencies say they have overwhelming evidence of a coordinated Russian campaign. Putin on Thursday described the allegations as “hysteria”, and said: “It’s a great pity that Russian-US relations are being sacrificed to resolve questions of domestic politics.”

Although Trump has repeatedly spoken of a desire for improved relations with Russia, the electoral interference allegations have prompted Democrats and Republicans to unite in support of tougher sanctions. It seems inevitable that further US sanctions will be met with a firm Russian response.

“Hope dies last but it is dying,” wrote Konstantin Kosachev, the chairman of the foreign relations committee of Russia’s upper house of parliament, after the US vote on Tuesday. “The further degradation of bilateral cooperation is inevitable, even though it seems like it couldn’t get any worse.”

WastelandCowboy posted...
A parachute and a black box.


dont have and this is why im scared of flying

Odds of being killed on a single airline flight - 1 in 29.4 million
Number of fatalities per million flight hours - 12.25
Survival rate of passengers on a fatal crash - 24 %

Fatalities by Phase of FlightPercent
Taxi, load/unload, parked, tow - 0 %
Takeoff - 16 %
Initial Climb - 14 %
Climb (flaps up) - 13 %
Cruise - 16 %
Descent - 4 %
Initial Approach - 12 %
Final Approach - 13 %
Landing - 12 %

Cause of Fatal Airplane Crashes
Pilot Error - 32 %
Pilot Error (weather related) - 16 %
Pilot Error (mechanical related) - 5 %
Total Pilot Error - 53 %
Other Human Error - 6 %
Weather - 12 %
Mechanical Failure - 20 %
Sabotage - 8 %
Other Cause - 1 %

Walmart confirmed today that it will in fact be canceling all of those SNES Classic preorders it accidentally accepted last week when the product page was mistakenly put live. The company is notifying preorder holders via email — some of whom are game journalists who’ve posted the note to Twitter — saying, “We know that this is incredibly disappointing to you, and we’re truly sorry for this mistake.” Well, there you have it, folks: the SNES Classic preorder party is over, at least for now.

“Unfortunately, due to a technical glitch, the Super Nintendo Classic Edition was mistakenly made available last Friday evening ahead of the official release date,” Deserie Dulaney, the senior director for customer care at Walmart, writes in the email. “We, regrettably, will have to cancel this item on your order.” Walmart did not charge those who purchased via credit card — the retailer, like many others, only does so when the item ships — and those who did pay via PayPal or with a gift card and had the amount withdrawn from their account are getting refunds.

It’s unclear how many orders Walmart accepted in the small window of time last Friday when the coveted throwback mini console was “available.” Those who did notice that the page for the SNES Classic was put live starting around 11:30PM ET were able to put in their credit card info and even got a confirmed October 6th arrival date. It all seemed so promising.

But Walmart customer service representatives began clarifying through the company’s website and on Twitter that the SNES Classic “was not scheduled to be displayed” and was “released too soon.” Walmart then began canceling orders seemingly at random. The whole affair sent Nintendo fans into a frenzy, as some users held onto the faint glimmer of hope that only some, and not all, of the orders would be canceled — and that perhaps their own would be spared. The confusion and miscommunication continued all throughout the weekend and well into this week, as some preorder customers still saw their orders as “processing” on Walmart.com.

That it took the retailer nearly a week to begin issuing a definitive answer on the cancellations will likely not go over well with the game community, many of whom are tired and frustrated with Nintendo’s supply tactics and its lack of communication around SNES Classic availability. Yet as recent history has shown time and again, nothing short of global catastrophe will prevent a popular nostalgia-fueled Nintendo product from selling out in seconds.

Nintendo has opened preorders for the device overseas, including on Amazon UK, but there’s no word yet on when or even if North American customers will be able to put orders in before the September 29th release date. When the SNES Classic does become available, however, we can expect the same crowds to scramble once more in an attempt to secure their own unit. The question now is which retailer will be the first to sell the product without breaking people’s hearts first.

Your adapter is going out.

The legislation codifies sanctions imposed by Barack Obama over Russia's Ukraine interventions, which would make lifting them more difficult.

It also expands restrictions on doing business with Russian companies, in particular on energy development. That has the Europeans very worried they'll be penalised for supporting Russian pipeline projects.

But what concerns the White House is a measure that limits the president's traditional right to waive the sanctions: he would be forced to consult congress first. That and the broad bipartisan support for the legislation shows just how wary lawmakers are about Mr Trump's pro-Moscow approach.

The Senate had overwhelmingly passed an earlier version of the bill: the differences between the two have to be worked out before Mr Trump decides how to respond.

The White House has suggested the president may support the bill after some changes to the original draft, but he would have little room to manoeuvre anyway because Congress almost certainly has enough votes to override a veto.

Prior to the vote, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said such measures would plant a "dangerous mine" under the foundation of ties.

Mr Ryabkov said: "All this is very worrying. We can see no signs that that Russophobe hysteria that has engulfed the entire US Congress is dying down."

After it passed, Russian MP Leonid Slutsky said the sanctions "undermine the prospects for the restoration of Russian-American relations and further complicate them for the foreseeable future".

"Opportunities for diplomatic manoeuvring" are now "extremely" small, he told Russia's Interfax news agency.


If the legislation passes through the Senate, it would provide a headache for President Trump, who has signalled a more conciliatory approach towards Moscow.

The president could veto the bill, but in doing so would fuel suspicion that he is too supportive of the Kremlin, correspondents say.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Monday: "He's going to study that legislation and see what the final product looks like."

The US already has a raft of sanctions in place against Russian individuals and companies over Crimea. In December, following claims of election hacking, then President Barack Obama also expelled 35 diplomats and closed two Russian compounds in the US.

The US House of Representatives has voted to impose fresh sanctions on Russia, despite President Donald Trump objecting to the legislation.

Senior officials will be targeted in retaliation for alleged Russian interference in the US 2016 election.

The bill is likely to complicate President Trump's hopes of improving relations with Russia.

It needs to be passed through the Senate before it can be sent on to the president to be signed.

The White House says it is reviewing the bill, and it is unclear whether the president will veto it.

"While the president supports tough sanctions on North Korea, Iran and Russia, the White House is reviewing the House legislation and awaits a final legislative package for the president's desk," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

Russia's relationship with the president has dogged his first six months in office, amid allegations Moscow interfered to help Mr Trump get elected.

Mr Trump has also piled pressure on his attorney general over the Russia inquiry. He has publically labelled Jeff Sessions "weak" and said he was "disappointed" in Mr Sessions' decision to recuse himself from the investigation.

The House voted overwhelmingly to back the measures, which will also see fresh sanctions against North Korea and Iran over ballistic missile tests.

The bill, which passed by 419 to three, was described by House Speaker Paul Ryan as a sanctions package that "tightens the screws on our most dangerous adversaries in order to keep Americans safe".

The planned sanctions on Russia were drawn up in part to further punish its annexation of Crimea in 2014. They will place new restrictions on oil and gas projects, affecting the Nord Stream 2 pipeline from Russia to Germany.

A research team led by the Tokyo-based National Cancer Center Japan has developed a new test to diagnose 13 kinds of cancers from a single drop of blood, with a clinical study set to start from next month.

The center’s research and ethics screening committee gave the green light to the study in mid-July. The research team will apply to the central government to put the new test into practical use within three years, at the earliest.

Thus far, there has been no test to diagnose multiple kinds of cancers at one time. If the new test is introduced in comprehensive medical examinations and other checkups, deaths from cancer could be reduced.

The new test utilizes microRNA (miRNA), a substance that is secreted from cells into the blood and regulates the movements of genes. Types of miRNA differ between cancer cells and normal cells, and they do not decompose for a certain period of time.

The team is composed of researchers from the center, Toray Industries Inc. — which has the testing technology — and other institutions. They succeeded in identifying miRNA specific to 13 kinds of cancers, such as breast, lung, stomach, colorectal, esophagus, liver and pancreatic cancers, from the preserved blood of about 40,000 patients, most of whom were cancer sufferers.

From a single drop of blood, the researchers could diagnose all the cancers, including relatively early stage 1 cancers, with more than 95 percent accuracy. Breast cancer was diagnosed with 97 percent accuracy.

However, the properties of miRNA could have changed in preserved blood. Therefore, in the planned clinical study, the research team will use fresh blood provided by about 3,000 people, including patients and healthy people.

For early detection of cancers such as breast, stomach, lung and colorectal, examinations using X-rays and endoscopy are said to be effective. However, people need to take separate examinations for each part of the body.

Even with the new test method, detailed examinations will be required to confirm a diagnosis.

Yet Takahiro Ochiya, head of the Molecular and Cellular Medicine Division at the National Cancer Center Research Institute, said: “Patients will not need to take multiple tests. In the future, it will become possible to identify cancer stages and characteristics.”

Prof. Masahiko Kuroda, chief of the Molecular Pathology Department of the Tokyo Medical University, said: “In Europe, research aimed at early detection of diseases using miRNA is being actively pursued, but there haven’t been any studies where analysis was conducted on so many patients like this one. So this should prove very useful.”

Ten people were found dead and dozens more were sickened in a sweltering tractor-trailer outside a San Antonio Walmart early Sunday morning in what police are calling a horrific immigration smuggling case gone wrong.

Nearly 40 people were found in the stifling tractor-trailer, and survivors later told investigators up to 100 people were packed into the truck at one point, the Associated Press reported. The driver of the truck, 60-year-old James Matthew Bradley of Clearwater, Florida, has been charged with human trafficking, the AP also reported.

According to KABB-TV, at least 20 of the survivors were in critical or serious condition and eight more were suffering from heat-related injuries and dehydration. All of the deceased are believed to have died as a result of heat exposure and asphyxiation.

Four of the people on board were between the ages of 10 and 17. Two perished in the truck and another is in serious condition, Thomas Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, told the AP.

The discovery was made after a person from the truck approached a Walmart employee late Saturday night and requested water, the AP report added. The employee offered the person water and notified police.

When police arrived, they discovered dozens of people in the tractor-trailer that had no working air-conditioning system.

"They were very hot to the touch. So these people were in this trailer without any signs of any type of water," San Antonio Fire Chief Charles Hood told reporters, adding that the victims all had elevated heart rates. "It was a mass casualty situation for us."

Saturday marked the third consecutive day with 100-degree heat in San Antonio, said weather.com meteorologist Chris Dolce. The average high in the city this time of year is 95 degrees, he added.

The unidentified driver was arrested and survivors were transported to area hospitals, KABB also reported. In store surveillance video, investigators witnessed vehicles arriving and picking up people from the tractor-trailer, police said.

"We're looking at a human trafficking crime this evening," said San Antonio Police Chief William McManus, adding that the case is "a horrific tragedy."

"We are very fortunate that there weren't 38 people who were locked inside of this vehicle dead," he also said.

Mourners created a memorial outside of the Walmart for the individuals that died. The memorial includes unopened bottles of water, teddy bears, flowers and a cross.

She's a witch.

MOSUL: An Iraqi Army has released pictures of Islamic State, also known as ISIS and Daesh, militants who attempted to flee Mosul disguised as women, but was caught after an embarrassing gaffe.

The forces caught the militants when one of them forgot to shave off his beard and moustache.

https://arynews.tv/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/4-9.jpg

The ISIS fighter was trying to get away from the former militant stronghold as the city was recaptured, but didn’t quite get his escape plan right.

Dressed in women’s clothes and with elaborate make-up, the bearded man forgot to get rid of his facial hair, reported the Express UK.

https://arynews.tv/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/5-8.jpg

In photos released by the Iraqi army after his capture, the man can be seen to have slathered on powder, eyeshadow and lipstick, even adding some beauty spots.

But the large moustache and beard as well as full eyebrows, rather give the game away.

https://arynews.tv/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/3-8.jpg

Mosul’s Old City, which once stood as a neighborhood of densely built alleyways and homes on winding lanes, has been reduced to rubble by a months-long war to root out the Islamic State.

https://arynews.tv/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/2-9.jpg

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said last month: “The return of al-Nuri Mosque and al-Hadba minaret to the fold of the nation marks the end of the Daesh state of falsehood.”

https://arynews.tv/en/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/6-7.jpg

The practice of dressing up as a woman is not a new one, with a terror suspect in the UK attempting to throw the cops off the scent by donning a burka.