world news: 2019-03-10

Saturday, 16 March 2019

'Epic' bomb cyclone hits central US with heavy snow, winds; Colorado trooper killed

A powerful storm is unleashing a ferocious mix of snow, rain and wind across the central USA.

The Feast of St Patrick's Day: celebrate with these traditional Irish recipes

This weekend cities all over the country will erupt in shades of green to celebrate St Patrick's Day, and with the Six Nations game on the Saturday, what better excuse to get down to your local and say cheers to a pint of Guinness (or three)? And although drinking the black stuff undoubtedly play its part in the day's celebrations (as many as 13 million pints of Guinness are expected to be poured on St Patrick's Day), food is also an important feature as families feast on traditional Irish fare like soda bread, Irish stews and colcannon. No corned beef and cabbage, though – this 'tradition' was invented by the Irish immigrants living in America, as is the rather unappetising sounding 'green beer' served across the pond. So in the spirit of St Patrick, we've gathered together a few of our favourite recipes from the best chefs and cookery writers from the Emerald Isle to form a fantastic authentic feast of Irish flavours. Start with freshly poached sea mullet with Darina Allen's homemade soda bread for mopping up the juices, before tucking into beef and Guinness pies with chocolate or a perfectly roasted saddle of lamb – heaps of colcannon mash are obligatory. Round off the meal with a gloriously indulgent salted caramel whisky bread and butter pudding, and perhaps a tot of Irish whisky on the side. Sláinte mhaith! RECIPES | St Patrick's Day dishes

Boeing, airlines face tough path after 737 MAX grounding

Days after the crash of an Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 that killed 157 people and led to the plane being grounded worldwide, Boeing and commercial airlines are trying to get a handle on the fallout. Boeing will have to restore confidence in its product, and pay the costs of any modifications, while airlines try to find workarounds to replace the popular aircraft in their lineup of flights. The US on Wednesday grounded the 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 models while it continues the search for the cause of the crash, which happened less than five months after a Lion Air plane of the same model went down in Indonesia, killing 189.

Italy outraged as court finds victim too ugly to be raped

Italy's Justice Ministry has ordered a preliminary inquiry into an appeals court ruling that overturned a rape verdict in part by arguing that the woman who was attacked was too ugly to be a credible rape victim. The appeals sentence was handed down by an all-female panel.

Venezuela's pro-regime 'colectivos' vow to back Maduro whatever it costs

The scene occurred during a weeklong blackout that was the worst in Venezuela's history. Maduro had called on his supporters to show "active resistance" to the "electric sabotage" he claimed was waged by the United States.

U.S. Lawmaker Vows Probe Into Plane's Approval: 737 Max Update

A device found in the wreckage provided an early clue and work decoding the black boxes from Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 began in France. U.S. regulators aren’t expected to let flights resume until Boeing completes a software update, which could take at least six weeks to finalize.

Sprawling storm threatens several US states, thousands evacuated

A massive late-winter storm hit several central US states Thursday, forcing thousands to evacuate, snarling air traffic and leaving drivers stranded. There were widespread road closures and more than 1,000 flights canceled at the worst affected airports. The intense storm affected much of the nation's midsection with "heavy snows, blizzard conditions and widespread wind gusts over hurricane force," according to the National Weather Service.

Apple’s iCloud is the latest service to suffer an outage this week

Following the Verizon outage on Tuesday morning, the Gmail and YouTube issue on Tuesday night, and the "server configuration change" that took down Facebook and Instagram for hours on Wednesday, Apple has decided to join in on the fun with an outage of its own. According to the System Status dashboard on Apple's site, virtually every iCloud service is currently experiencing issues, including Contacts, Drive and Mail.By my count, there are twenty problematic services at the time of writing, with all of the issues having begun at 11:00 a.m. this morning. Apple hasn't provided any additional details beyond which services are struggling, mostly using a single phrase to explain every issue: "Users may be unable to access this service."There has been no evidence released to this point that would indicate that multitude of online service outages this week are related, but the way that each has seemingly cropped up right on the heels of the last is suspicious, to say the least. That said, Facebook made it clear that it wasn't the target of a DDoS attack or anything of that nature, but rather that a seemingly innocuous server problem internally caused the massive outage.Apple has yet to comment on the matter, but unless it turns out to be something serious, it's unlikely we'll hear much of anything at all. In the meantime, if you notice anything iCloud-related acting up, at least you know why. Plus, you can keep track of Apple's progress on the System Status dashboard.

Trump suffers revolt as Senate votes to terminate emergency declaration over US-Mexico border

Donald Trump has suffered an embarrassing defeat on Capitol Hill – his second in two days – after Republicans joined Democrats in the Senate to overturn his declaration of a national emergency.

New Zealand PM vows gun law reform after mosque massacre

New Zealand's prime minister vowed Saturday to toughen the country's gun laws after revealing the alleged shooter behind Christchurch's mosque attacks had legally bought the five weapons, including two semi-automatic rifles, used in the massacre. The nation's firearms laws are lax compared to neighbouring Australia, which enacted a strict gun control regime in the wake of a similar massacre in 1996. Jacinda Ardern said 28-year-old Australian Brenton Tarrant obtained a "Category A" gun licence in November 2017 which allowed him to purchase the weapons used to mow down worshippers in two Christchurch mosques.

Brexiteers locked in high-stakes alliance with EU Remainers

In opposing Prime Minister Theresa May's EU divorce deal even after MPs voted to delay Britain's departure, hardline Brexiteers are now locked in a high-stakes alliance with those out to stop the process entirely. Remainers and Brexiteer Leavers alike declared victory on Tuesday when the House of Commons overwhelmingly rejected May's EU withdrawal agreement for a second time. May will bring her divorce deal before parliament for a third time next week -- possibly the last chance Brexiteers will have to stop Brexit being delayed.

Trump Just Suffered an Embarrassing Defeat on the Wall. This Republican Tried to Stop It

Utah Sen. Mike Lee arguably worked harder than the White House to forestall Thursday's embarrassing defeat on emergency powers.

YouTube's PewDiePie 'sickened' by mosque gunman's namedrop

YouTube's most-watched blogger PewDiePie said he was "sickened" after hearing that the gunman behind Friday's New Zealand mosque massacre had promoted his videos before opening fire. Forty-nine people were killed and dozens more wounded in shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, in an attack which sparked global outrage.

Clue found in Ethiopia Boeing MAX wreckage: sources

A tail part found in the wreckage of the crashed Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 8 could indicated similarities with a crash five months ago in Indonesia, say Reuters sources. Julian Satterthwaite reports.

Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are not alone. See the list of who has been charged.

Thirty-three parents were among the 50 charged in a nationwide college admissions scam, which includes two well-known actresses and CEOs.

Late-winter storm hits Midwest after paralyzing Colorado

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — A blizzard that paralyzed parts of Colorado and Wyoming barreled into the Midwest on Thursday, bringing whiteout conditions to western Nebraska and dumping heavy rain that prompted evacuations in communities farther east.

Battle Lines Drawn as Parliament Votes on Delay: Brexit Update

Theresa May is still fighting to get her twice-rejected deal through Parliament and has a stark warning for lawmakers: Back the agreement or risk a long delay to Brexit. Key Developments:Parliament to debate delaying Brexit. Votes expected after 5 p.m.Speaker John Bercow chose four amendments.

North Korea may suspend talks with 'gangster-like' U.S., rethink nuclear test freeze

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States wished to continue talks with North Korea and had "every expectation" that its leader, Kim Jong Un, would stick to pledges not to resume nuclear and missile testing. Pompeo gave no sign of U.S. willingness to soften its stance in demanding that North Korea give up its nuclear weapons. North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui blamed top U.S. officials for the breakdown of last month's summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump in Hanoi, Russia's TASS news agency and the Associated Press reported.

'What good are your thoughts & prayers': Ocasio-Cortez criticized for comments on New Zealand shooting

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez later attempted to clarify her comments.

Boeing, airlines face tough path after 737 MAX grounding

College admissions scandal: Why we won't see mug shots for Lori Loughlin, Felicity Huffman

The DOJ and U.S. Marshals Services say their policies prohibit releasing booking photos because doing so doesn't serve the agencies' needs if the person has already been apprehended.

Admissions scam adds insult to injury for minority applicants

In what a federal prosecutor called “the largest college admissions scam ever prosecuted by the Department of Justice,” dozens of people were charged in a bribery scheme to cheat on SAT and ACT entrance exams and buy admission to elite schools for the children of wealthy parents. Through payments disguised as donations, parents involved in the cheating scandal paid between $250,000 and $400,000 per student to its “mastermind,” William Singer, who then laundered the money through his college counseling service to bribe college officials and coaches.

The Terror Attack is New Zealand’s Darkest Day

At least forty-nine are dead; an assailant is in custody, and a murderous, white supremacist manifesto has been widely rejected.

Trump vetoes measure to end his emergency declaration on border wall

The veto, made necessary after a strong and unusual rebuke from members of Trump's Republican party, capped a week that left Trump politically wounded, at least temporarily, as immigration and his signature promise of a wall become a flashpoint again in the 2020 presidential campaign. Congress is unlikely to muster the votes to override Trump's veto, a fact that left White House officials confident despite disappointment that it passed the Republican-controlled Senate at all. The bipartisan vote on Thursday was a slap at Trump for his decision to circumvent Congress and take money already designated for other programs to pay for a barrier on the southern border.

Court filing: Ex-Trump aide Gates continues to cooperate

WASHINGTON (AP) — Rick Gates, a former Trump campaign aide and key cooperator in the special counsel's Russia probe, is not ready to be sentenced because he continues to help with "several ongoing investigations," prosecutors said in a court filing Friday.

Christchurch mosque shooting adds to growing list of attacks in places of worship

The deadly shootings on Friday at two mosques in the New Zealand city of Christchurch are the latest attacks in places of worship.

What colleges and universities have to do right now to clean up admissions

We're victims, universities said, after they were caught in largest college admissions scandal ever. Here's why no college has offered sweeping change

Trump Says He Doesn't See White Nationalism as a Rising Global Threat After New Zealand Shooting

"I think it’s a small group of people"

Flight path data of two crashed Boeing 737 Max 8 planes 'very close,' FAA says

The United States followed nations around the globe in grounding Boeing 737 MAX 8 jets.

Dozens killed in shooting attacks on New Zealand mosques

The gunman broadcast footage of the attack on one mosque in the city of Christchurch on Facebook, mirroring the carnage played out in video games, after publishing a "manifesto" in which he denounced immigrants, calling them "invaders". The video footage widely circulated on social media, apparently taken by a gunman and posted live online as the attack unfolded, showed him driving to a mosque, entering it and shooting randomly at people inside. It was the worst ever mass killing in New Zealand and the country raised its security threat level to the highest, Ardern said, adding, "This can now only be described as a terrorist attack." Police said three people were in custody including one man in his late 20s who had been charged with murder.