Posts

Showing posts from October, 2019

Trump Impeachment: Democrats Plan First Formal Vote

Image
Image copyright EPA The US House of Representatives plans to take its first formal vote this week on the impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the vote "sets forth due process rights for the President and his Counsel". The president and his allies have argued the lack of a vote by the full chamber renders the inquiry invalid. The House is investigating claims Mr Trump pressured a foreign government to investigate his political rivals. Thursday's vote planned by Mrs Pelosi and her fellow Democrats is not to impeach Mr Trump, but to set out ground rules for their inquiry. Mrs Pelosi, the most powerful elected Democrat, has until now rebuffed calls from Republicans to hold any such formal vote. The Trump impeachment story explained But in her letter to fellow Democrats on Monday, the California congresswoman pointed out the US constitution does not require such a step. She said the move would "eliminate any

Tiger Woods Wins 82nd PGA Tour Title To Equal Record

Image
Woods moved on to a record-equalling 82 PGA Tour wins with victory in Japan Zozo Championship final leaderboard (US unless stated) -19:  T Woods;  -16:  H Matsuyama (Jap);  -13:  R McIlroy (NI), S Im (S Kor);  -12:  G Woodland Selected others: -8:  I Poulter (Eng); - 7:  P Casey (Eng);  -6:  T Fleetwood (Eng) Tiger Woods equalled the PGA Tour record of 82 tournament wins with victory at the Zozo Championship. The 43-year-old world number 10 had seven holes to finish in Japan on Monday as he matched fellow American Sam Snead's record, set in 1965. It was his first event since having his fifth knee operation nine weeks ago. In April, Woods won his first major for 11 years with  victory at the Masters,  leaving him three short of Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major titles. Snead was aged 52 when he won for the final time on the PGA Tour, while Nicklaus was 46 when he lifted the last of his major trophies. After his record-equalling victory, Woods said: &

Microsoft Pips Amazon For $10bn AI 'Jedi' Contract

Image
Image copyright GETTY IMAGES The Pentagon has awarded a $10bn (£8bn) cloud-computing contract to Microsoft, following a heavily scrutinised bidding process in which Amazon had been seen as the favourite. The 10-year contract for the Joint Enterprise Defence Infrastructure, or Jedi, is aimed at making the US defence department more technologically agile. Amazon's bid drew criticism from its rivals and US President Donald Trump. The company said it was "surprised" by the decision. A "detailed assessment purely on the comparative offerings" would "clearly lead to a different conclusion", it said. Amazon is said to be evaluating its options after the decision. It has 10 days to decide whether or not to launch a challenge. In its statement, the Pentagon said all offers "were treated fairly". What is Jedi? The Department of Defense wants to replace its ageing computer networks with a single cloud system. Under the contract, Mi

Eagles Incur Data Roaming Charges

Image
Share Image copyright GETTY IMAGES Russian scientists tracking migrating eagles ran out of money after some of the birds flew to Iran and Pakistan and their SMS transmitters drew huge data roaming charges. After learning of the team's dilemma, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon offered to cancel the debt and put the project on a special, cheaper tariff. The team had started crowdfunding on social media to pay off the bills. The birds left from southern Russia and Kazakhstan. The journey of one steppe eagle, called Min, was particularly expensive, as it flew to Iran from Kazakhstan. Min accumulated SMS messages to send during the summer in Kazakhstan, but it was out of range of the mobile network. Unexpectedly the eagle flew straight to Iran, where it sent the huge backlog of messages. The price per SMS in Kazakhstan was about 15 roubles (18p; 30 US cents), but each SMS from Iran cost 49 roubles. Min used up the entire tracking budget meant for all

Death For 16 Who Set Student Ablaze For Accusing Teacher Of Sexual Harassment

Image
Image copyright FAMILY HANDOUT A Bangladesh court has sentenced 16 people to death for the murder of a student set on fire after accusing her teacher of sexual harassment. Nusrat Jahan Rafi, 19, died in April in Feni, a small town some 160km (100 miles) outside the capital Dhaka. The headteacher Nusrat had accused of harassment and at least two classmates were among those convicted. Her murder shocked the country and led to a series of protests demanding justice for Nusrat. The trial has been one of the quickest in a country where such cases usually take years to conclude. Prosecutor Hafez Ahmed told reporters it proved "that nobody will get away with murder in Bangladesh". Nusrat was lured to her school's rooftop on 6 April this year, 11 days after she reported the headmaster, Siraj Ud Doula, to police for repeatedly touching her inappropriately. She was then surrounded by four or five people wearing burqas, pressuring her to withdraw her complaint. Whe

Trump Impeachment: US Envoy Condemns 'irregular' Pressure On Ukraine

Image
Image copyright EPA Image caption Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (left) and US President Donald Trump met last month A top US diplomat says President Trump made the release of military aid to Ukraine conditional on a pledge that a political rival would be investigated. Ambassador Bill Taylor testified before an impeachment inquiry that he was told Mr Trump wanted Ukraine to probe ex-Vice-President Joe Biden's dealings. Mr Taylor said relations with Ukraine had been "fundamentally undermined". President Trump insists there has been no such deal, or exchange of favours, in Ukraine policy. Responding to the latest testimony in Congress, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement: "President Trump has done nothing wrong - this is a co-ordinated smear campaign from far-left lawmakers and radical unelected bureaucrats waging war on the Constitution". One Democrat called Mr Taylor's testimony "th