tecdec

A Syracuse man has been charged with threatening to kill a U.S. congressman in an ominous call to the offices of Republican Rep. John Katko in upstate New York. Although he at first denied making the calls, the FBI says Angelo later admitted that he contacted the lawmaker because, according to the complaint, he was "upset" about the potential repeal of net neutrality rules, enacted under President Obama, that prohibit internet service providers like Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from slowing or blocking certain websites while prioritizing sites that pay for fast lanes. If convicted, Angelo faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the Justice Department.  Katko's staff reported the voicemail to U.S. Capitol Police, who increased the lawmaker's security inside the beltway, the Justice Department said. FBI agents also notified the New York State Police and local law enforcement, who protect Katko's events i...

The world's largest lithium ion battery has begun dispensing power into an electricity grid in South Australia. The 100-megawatt battery, built by Tesla, was officially activated on Friday. It had in fact provided some power since Thursday due to demand caused by local hot weather. South Australia has been crippled by electricity problems in recent times. Tesla boss Elon Musk famously vowed to build the battery within 100 days - a promise that was fulfilled. In a Twitter exchange in March, an Australian software entrepreneur asked Mr Musk if he was serious about helping South Australia after it suffered a statewide blackout. Mr Musk said he was - and if the battery wasn't built within 100 days, South Australia would receive it for free. The countdown began on 30 September after approval from regulators. Tesla finished the battery in about 60 days. The renewable power plant is located in Jamestown, about 200km (125 miles) north of Adelaide, and ...

The Senate Ethics Committee formally launched an investigation into Sen. Al Franken on Thursday, hours after another woman said the Minnesota senator groped her. As allegations mounted against Franken, several fellow Democratic members of Congress said Thursday that he should resign. Rep. Joe Crowley of New York, the chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, and Rep. Tim Ryan of Ohio said separately that it’s time for Franken to go. “These are credible allegations, and I believe these women,” Ryan tweeted, in reference to allegations against both Franken and U.S. Rep. John Conyers of Michigan, also a Democrat. Franken so far has resisted calls to resign, instead supporting the Ethics Committee investigation. “While the Committee does not generally comment on pending matters or matters that may come before it, in this instance, the Committee is publicly confirming that it has opened a preliminary inquiry into Senator Franken’s alleged misconduct,” read...

The nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation ruled that the tax plan Republicans had hoped to move swiftly through the Senate would add $1 trillion to the deficit even after accounting for the positive impact from economic growth. The announcement helped halt progress on the tax effort and presented a stark challenge to a core tenet of the Republican Party’s economic philosophy. Sen. Patrick J. Toomey (R-Pa.), who has helped shape the tax effort, declared on the Senate floor the same day, “If this legislation is signed into law, we are going to have a smaller deficit in future years than we are on a path to have now.” His was only the latest comment from a prominent Republican spelling out a faith in tax cuts not adding to the deficit. “The plan will pay for itself with growth,” President Trump’s treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, said this spring about Republicans’ emerging tax plan. “Faster economic growth helps raise the economy, which raises revenue. And...

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake hit Delaware on Thursday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS says the quake struck at 4:45 p.m. ET and was centered about 6 miles east-northeast of Dover, Delaware. People from Baltimore, Boston, New York City, New Jersey and Philadelphia felt it. USGS says the quake was shallow only 5 miles deep which helps amplify its effect. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage after the jolt rattled the Mid-Atlantic region of the East Coast. The Associated Press writes that downtown Dover was in a flurry as lawmakers and workers in the statehouse went outside to see what happened. Police and emergency officials did not have any immediate reports of damage or injuries. "I live just a few miles south of Dover and my home rattled pretty good and I could hear the rumble as well," Dover Police Master Cpl. Mark Hoffman said,  He added that everything seems to be running smoothly in Dover. Sgt. Rene Carberry a spoke...

The White House has developed a plan to force out Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson, whose relationship with President Trump has been strained, and replace him with Mike Pompeo, the C.I.A. director, perhaps within the next several weeks, senior administration officials said on Thursday. Mr. Pompeo would be replaced at the C.I.A. by Senator Tom Cotton, a Republican from Arkansas who has been a key ally of the president on national security matters, according to the White House plan. Mr. Cotton has signalled that he would accept the job if offered, said the officials, who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive deliberations before decisions are announced. It was not immediately clear whether Mr. Trump has given final approval to the plan, but he has been said to have soured on Mr. Tillerson and in general is ready to make a change at the State Department. Mr. Tillerson was at the White House on Thursday morning, although he was not listed on ...

The new version replaces an aging portal that looked outdated but still provided valuable information. The new Google Finance is smarter and takes advantage of your search history.  For example, since Google knows what you're looking up, it automatically pulls in ticker symbols for companies you've read about and can recommend others to follow. It's rolling out to users now, so some people will have to wait a day or two for the new version hits their browsers. It shows information on stocks or companies that you've recently searched. In this case, we looked up Nvidia and Netflix. At the bottom, Google recommends stocks. The right of the screen gives a snapshot of U.S. and global markets. This is your stocks page, where you can follow specific companies. Think of this as the portfolio section from the old Google Finance. You'll get a snapshot of stocks you own or want to track.  However, you can't create different portfolios, which was...

The finding came from a new study showed that a receding hairline is not associated with an elevated risk of the disease. The investigators searched the Medline and Cochrane Library databases for studies published on male pattern baldness and coronary heart disease. The experts found 850 potential reports that were published between 1950 and 2012. Just 6 of the reports were included in the examination because they were the only ones that fulfilled the eligibility criteria. All studies had been published between 1993 and 2008 and included about 40,000 men. The risk is higher for younger men Three of the studies were cohort reports - the well-being of the balding men was monitored for 11 years or more. Results showed that men who had lost the majority of their hair had a 32% increased risk of developing coronary artery disease, compared to their peers who maintained a full head of hair. When the analysis was restricted to men under the age of 55-60, a co...

The move to roll back the cattle slaughter notification was made after feedback from several states, sources further told India Today.  The controversial notification, issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, had said that nobody can bring cattle to an animal market unless he or she has furnished a written declaration that the cattle will not be sold for the purpose of slaughter. The notification sparked outcry across the country with critics of the BJP-led central government accusing it of using its power to impose its ideology on the rest of India. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was among those politicians who slammed the Centre for its notification. The firebrand Trinamool Congress chief called the notification undemocratic and unconstitutional.  Several parts of the country also saw protests being held against the notification. Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka were among the states were the ban on ...

Donald Trump Jr. will appear for a closed-door interview with the House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday, Dec. 6, according to a committee source. The session will be lawmakers' first opportunity to question the president's oldest son about his June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower with campaign officials and a Russian lawyer. The committee has now questioned four participants in that meeting: translator Anatoli Samorchornov, White House senior adviser and Trump's son in law Jared Kushner, Russian-American lobbyist Rinat Akmetshin and Georgian-American businessman Ike Kaveladze.

With a Senate vote looming on Republicans' long-sought tax overhaul aspirations, President Donald Trump gave the party's plan one final pep rally in Missouri on Wednesday as he urged Congress to deliver on a "once in a lifetime opportunity." His speech came one day after the Senate Budget Committee advanced the GOP-backed tax bill to the floor by a 12-11 vote along partisan lines.  The success of the plan, which would reduce the corporate rate, winnows the number of tax brackets and would eliminate the individual health care mandate, hinges on Republicans' allaying the doubts of up to 10 their senators who have expressed misgivings. At the St. Charles Convention Center on Wednesday, Trump stood before a row of four decorated evergreens, flanked by signs reading "Merry Christmas," and sold the plan's merits to the crowd, saying it would "bring Main Street roaring back." Much as he did during his presidential campaig...

The first and only "supermoon" of 2017 will be visible in the night sky this weekend.  Also called the "Full Cold Moon," the December supermoon will be visible all night long, but the best time to see it will be just after sunset.  According to Space.com, the moon will become totally full at 10:47 a.m. Sunday. It will reach perigee (when it's closest to the earth) at 3:45 a.m. Monday.  Supermoons occur are when a full moon happens at the same time the moon is closest to the Earth's orbit.  Sunday's Full Cold Moon is the first and last one visible in 2017 - but don't fret - the next two full moons (January 2 & 31) will also be supermoons.  You'll also have several chances to view it online, including the Virtual Telescope Project's live streaming as it rises over Rome at 11 a.m. eastern. 

President Donald Trump has continued to question the legitimacy of former President Barack Obama's birth certificate during private conversations in recent months, The New York Times reported, citing advisers who discussed Trump's statements. Trump still questioning Obama's birthplace is just one of several instances The Times pointed to as examples of the President's reliance on "manufactured facts," as the newspaper reported Tuesday. One sitting US senator quoted by the Times, "who listened as the President revived his doubts" about the issue, "chuckled" when speaking about what was said. Trump "has had a hard time letting go of his claim that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States," the senator, who "asked not to be named to discuss private conversations," told The New York Times. CNN has not independently confirmed the reporting. The White House did not immediately return CNN's request for c...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is advising anyone who consumed Udder Milk products to seek medical attention. According to the CDC, people who drank raw milk from the company may have been infected with a rare germ called Brucella abortus RB51, which can cause an illness called brucellosis. Officials say a New Jersey woman became sick with an antibiotic-resistant strain of the bacteria after consuming Udder Milk earlier this year. Udder Milk operates in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island. The FDA describes the company as a "co-op on wheels" that makes deliveries. Udder Milk's website says the company offers raw milk, yogurt, sour cream, butter and various cheeses, as well as camel milk. Little information is available about which farms may be supplying contaminated milk. As a result, the CDC recommends that anyone who drank raw milk or consumed raw milk products from Udder Milk in the past six months visit their doctor for ant...

Bitcoin was trading near $9,656 late Monday afternoon, after hitting a record high above $9,700 earlier in the day, according to CoinDesk. Ethereum hit a record high of $493.40 Monday, according to CoinMarketCap, and last traded near $482.   bitcoin can multiply more than four times in roughly the next 13 months. "Bitcoin could be at $40,000 at the end of 2018. It easily could," Michael Novogratz said Monday on CNBC's "Fast Money." "Ethereum, which I think just touched $500 or is getting close, could be triple where it is as well."   The total market capitalization of all digital coins on CoinMarketCap hit $304 billion Monday. Novogratz said he expects that could increase by about six times to $2 trillion at the end of next year.

President Trump has called them, among other things, "dishonest," "fake news" and "a disgrace to good reporting." Now, they don't want to go to his Christmas party.  According to Politico, CNN said that it is skipping the White House Christmas party this year because of the abuse the president has continued to heap on the cable news network.  "CNN will not be attending this year's White House Christmas party," a CNN spokesperson told Politico. "In light of the President's continued attacks on freedom of the press and CNN, we do not feel it is appropriate to celebrate with him as his invited guests. We will send a White House reporting team to the event and report on it if news warrants."  White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders seemed pleasd the folks from CNN wouldn't make it over for Friday's party, tweeting, "Finally, good news from @CNN."  The annual party has long been a time...

A new Study Reveals that Cut Down Your Children TV Time to 90 Minutes Daily May Prevent Risk of Obesity, According to the study, published in Journal Acta Paediatrica, Reducing the television time may reduce the risk of obesity in later years. The study found there was a strong link between obesity and prolonged exposure in younger years to TVs, computers and smart phones and gadgets. In Short of their study, they are warning parents to take action by decreasing their children’s tv time to 90 minutes a day and shouldn’t extend more than an hour of television a day. Parents should Pay an Important Role in Childs health, Spending long time in social media and watching TV Makes Child to face obesity. The researchers noted, large number of childrens who are in age between eight-nine year olds are watching about seven hours of TV daily and spending much time in other social media activities disrupting their sleep, which is further putting them at higher risk of ...

Tesla unveiled a new sports car last week that, according to the automaker, can go from zero to 60 miles an hour in 1.9 seconds, making it the quickest accelerating production car ever made. Beyond that, it has a top speed near the all-out fastest road cars in the world.Oh, and it also might fly. "Not saying the next gen Roadster special upgrade package will definitely enable it to fly short hops, but maybe..." Tesla CEO Elon Musk Tweeted Sunday. Musk had been Tweeting about a "special option package" for the Tesla Roadster that "takes it to the next level." He implied that the 1.9-second zero-to-60 times, which already beats the quickest cars now available by nearly half a second, could be improved upon with a future upgrade. "Just a question of safety," Musk said of the possible flight option. "Rocket tech applied to a car opens up revolutionary possibilities." Musk is also CEO of the rocket company SpaceX, alt...

Indonesia raised its warning for Bali's Mount Agung volcano to the top level four alert on Monday, closed the holiday island's airport and told residents near the summit to immediately evacuate, warning of the “imminent” risk of a larger eruption. Bali's airport was closed for 24 hours, disrupting 445 flights and some 59,000 passengers, due to the eruption warning and the presence of volcanic ash from Agung. TV footage showed cold lava flows (lahar) at a number of locations on the mountainside. Lahar carrying mud and large boulders can destroy houses, bridges and roads in its path. “Plumes of smoke are occasionally accompanied by explosive eruptions and the sound of weak blasts that can be heard up to 12 km (7 miles) from the peak,” the Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said in a statement. “The potential for a larger eruption is imminent,” it said, referring to the visibility of the glow from magma at Agung's summit overnight. Residents were warne...

Boston College, a private Jesuit university in Massachusetts, said in a statement Sunday that the four female students were treated at a hospital for burns after they were sprayed in the face with acid in the city of Marseille. The statement said the four all were juniors studying abroad, three of them at the college’s Paris program. Four American college students were attacked with acid on Sunday at a train station in France, but French authorities so far do not think extremist views motivated the 41-year-old woman who was arrested as the alleged assailant, the local prosecutor’s office and the students’ school said.  “It appears that the students are fine, considering the circumstances, though they may require additional treatment for burns,” Nick Gozik, who directs Boston College’s Office of International Programs. “We have been in contact with the students and their parents and remain in touch with French officials and the U.S. Embassy regarding the incident.” ...

Democrats on the House Oversight Committee say they're suing the Trump Administration for withholding documents about Trump's luxury hotel in Washington, D.C. President Trump's administration being taken to court over his business interests again. It's the fifth legal claim targeting the president's businesses. The lawmakers allege the administration won't give them information about the hotel's finances. They're also seeking material that could shed light on whether Trump is engaging in any self-dealing. The Democrats say that lack of transparency hinders the committee from holding the president accountable for possible conflicts of interest. "This hotel is not just a building with Donald Trump's name on it," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the committee's top Democrat. "It is a glaring symbol of the Trump Administration's lack of accountability, and a daily reminder of the refusal by Republicans in Congress t...

Meg Whitman’s tenure as CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise is coming to an end. Whitman said Tuesday that she would step down from the business technology giant after a six-year stint, and described the reasons for her upcoming departure in a call with analysts. In Whitman’s view, HPE is in much better shape than it was when she first arrived in 2011, prior to the company’s split from personal computer and printer sibling HP Inc. in 2015. At that time, Hewlett-Packard “was an enormous conglomerate,” she said, that confused customers because it sold too many disparate products—from servers to software to printers. Additionally, she explained that the company’s size and management structure was an obstacle to staying current with technology trends. HPE’s core data center hardware business has shrunk over the years amid the rise of cloud computing, in which companies can purchase computing resources in a pay-as-you-go model. “This company was a slow...

The United States will not be escaping the obesity epidemic crisis anytime soon: Nearly 40% of adults and 19% of youth are obese, the highest rate the country has ever seen in all adults, according to research released Friday by the National Center for Health Statistics. Since 1999, there has been a staggering rise in the prevalence of obesity, particularly in adults, without any "signs of it slowing down," according to the study's lead researcher, Dr. Craig Hales, medical epidemiologist at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth obesity rates seem to be more stable in recent years. However, it is "too early to tell" what direction youth obesity prevalence will take. At least four more years of data are required to truly understand the direction, Hales said. What is "very striking" about this information is that there has been a 30% increase in adult obesity and 33% increase in youth obesity from 1999-2000 data to 201...

In a strange incident of negligence, over 1500 farmers who were travelling to Maharashtra from Delhi in a special train were left stuck at Madhya Pradesh’s Banmor station after the train travelled 160 kilometres in the wrong direction. In a strange incident of negligence, over 1500 farmers who were travelling to Maharashtra from Delhi in a special train were left stuck at Madhya Pradesh’s Banmor station after the train travelled 160 kilometres in the wrong direction. According to a report, these farmers had gone to attend Kisan Yatra in Delhi. While they were returning to New Delhi, the train took them 160 kilometres in the wrong direction, finally stopping at Madhya Pradesh’s Banmor station. Notably, even the Railways authorities are clueless about what needed to be done. The reason behind it that is being reported is that the train was given a faulty signal after which it took the wrong route and continued to travel in that direction. Finally, the train stopped in Madhy...

US airstrikes in Somalia have killed more than 100 Al-Shabaab militants, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) announced. It is the biggest in a series of 29 airstrikes acknowledged by the Pentagon so far. More than 100 al-Shabaab militants were killed Tuesday in a US airstrike on a camp in Somalia, US Africa Command said in a statement, the latest in a series of strikes against the al-Qaeda-affiliated group and ISIS fighters in the war-torn country. The airstrikes were carried out about 125 miles away from the capital city of Mogadishu at 10:30 am local time, the Pentagon said in a statement. The strike was done in coordination with Somalia's federal government. The Defense Department now has 500 personnel in Somalia including military, civilians and contractors, more than double the 200 personnel that had been reported to be in Somalia in March 2017, according to US Africa Command. The personnel are part of the effort to support African forces fighting al-Shabaab as w...

The Trump administration imposed new sanctions on a slew of North Korean shipping firms and Chinese trading companies Tuesday in its latest push to isolate the rogue nation over its nuclear weapons development and deprive it of revenue. The Treasury Department also designated a North Korean corporation involved in exporting workers overseas. The action came a day after the United States returned North Korea to its list of state sponsors of terrorism. “These designations include companies that have engaged in trade with North Korea cumulatively worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. “We are also sanctioning the shipping and transportation companies, and their vessels, that facilitate North Korea’s trade and its deceptive maneuvers.” Among the companies targeted were four Chinese-based companies and one Chinese individual said to have deep commercial ties with North Korea. The sanctions were imposed under a Septe...