Michael Bowman contributed to this report.

Mexico warned Monday that President Donald Trump’s threatened new tariff on its exports to the United States would hurt both countries’ economies and cause even more Central American migrants to travel through Mexico to reach the United States.

At the start of talks in Washington, Mexican officials said they could only go so far in meeting Trump’s demand to block migrants’ passage through Mexico to avert Trump’s imposition of a 5% tariff next week. The officials specifically ruled out a “third safe country” agreement requiring U.S. asylum-seekers to first apply for refuge in Mexico.

​”There is a clear limit to what we can negotiate, and the limit is Mexican dignity,” Mexico’s ambassador to the United States, Martha Barcena, said.

Barcena added that U.S. tariffs “could cause financial and economic instability,” reducing Mexico’s capacity to address the flow of migrants and “offer alternatives” to people fleeing Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

Mexican officials contended that an additional quarter million migrants could try to reach the U.S. if the tariff is imposed, on top of the tens of thousands already reaching the southern U.S. border each month.

Trump showed no sign of softening his demand as he tweeted during a visit to London.

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador remained confident the two sides would reach an agreement, telling reporters Monday that he was optimistic.

He said his government would not engage in confrontation, and would always defend those who migrate out of necessity due to violence or a lack of food or job opportunities. He also remained positive that no matter what happens in the dispute with the United States, Mexico has “exception, extraordinary,” people and can push through any adversity.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Mexican Foreign Relations Secretary Marcelo Ebrard are due to hold further talks about the dispute on Wednesday.

U.S. lawmakers returning to Washington after a weeklong congressional recess sharply criticized Trump’s latest tariff tactic aimed at a major U.S. trading partner.

“This (tariffs) is not a popular concept,” Republican Sen. John Cornyn said of public opinion in Texas, which he represents. “Mexico is our biggest export market.”

Another Republican, Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt, expressed concerns that trade friction could harm a newly negotiated free trade pact between the United States, Mexico and Canada.

“I’m not a big advocate of tariffs, and I’d like to get the USMCA agreement approved,” Blunt told VOA. “I don’t see how the addition of a tariff (on Mexican goods) right now helps make that happen.”

“Mexico is a critical trading partner of the United States,” Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland said. “You put up barriers, it’s going to end up costing us jobs, and it’s going to cost consumers.”

Cardin added that Trump’s threatened tariff “would be counterproductive,” as far as boosting U.S. border security.

“If we need cooperation on the southern border, they (Mexican officials) are not going to give us cooperation. Why bother if we’re going to have an antagonistic relationship?” Cardin said.
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From: MeNeedIt

California officially gave its blessing to coffee Monday, declaring the beverage does not pose a “significant” cancer risk.

The rule, proposed a year ago by regulators, means coffee won’t have to carry ominous warnings that the beverage may be bad for you.

The state took the rare move after a Los Angeles judge found Starbucks Corp. and other companies failed to show that benefits from drinking coffee outweighed risks from a byproduct of the roasting process.

That ruling put the industry in jeopardy of hefty civil penalties and in the position of either developing a process to remove the chemical or warning consumers about the risk of cancer. 

The chemical in question, acrylamide, is on a list that California says causes cancer, though other groups classify it as a “probable” carcinogen.

Under a law passed more than three decades ago by California voters, products that contain chemicals that cause cancer or birth defects must warn consumers about those risks.

The Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, which implements the law, concluded there was no significant risk after a World Health Organization review of more than 1,000 studies and found inadequate evidence that coffee causes cancer. Further, it concluded coffee reduces the risk of some types of cancer. 

“Coffee is a complex mixture of hundreds of chemicals that includes both carcinogens and anti-carcinogens,” said Sam Delson, a spokesman for the agency. “The overall effect of coffee consumption is not associated with any significant cancer risk.”

 It was the first time the state has declared such a brew of chemicals safe despite the presence of carcinogens, Delson said.

The coffee industry cheered the rule.

“This is a great day for science and coffee lovers,” said William Murray, president and chief executive of the National Coffee Association USA. 

“With this news, coffee drinkers around the world can wake up and enjoy the smell and taste of their coffee without hesitation.”

The Council for Education and Research on Toxics, which successfully sued the coffee industry in a case that has dragged on more than eight years in Los Angeles Superior Court, will challenge the validity of the state’s regulation in court, said attorney Raphael Metzger.

Metzger, who represents the small nonprofit in its lawsuit against Starbucks and about 90 coffee companies, said the regulation was adopted in violation of state law and disregards the statutes the agency is supposed to implement. He said the regulation can’t be applied retroactively to nullify the judge’s ruling.
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From: MeNeedIt

Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya is temporarily allowed to compete without lowering her testosterone levels, following a ruling by Switzerland’s supreme court.

The court ordered the International Association of Athletics Federations to temporarily suspend their regulations until the organization makes its arguments to the court.

The suspension of the IAAF regulations is the latest in a line of legal disputes between the South African 800-meter runner and the governing body for track and field.

Hyperandrogenism

In April 2018, the IAAF put in places rules requiring women with higher-than-normal testosterone levels — known as hyperandrogenism — to artificially lower the hormone level in their bodies if they wanted to compete in distance races between 400 meters to a mile.

“This is an important case that will have fundamental implications for the human rights of female athletes,” Dorothee Schramm, the Swiss-based lawyer leading Semenya’s appeal, said after the ruling.

Semenya challenged the regulation and ultimately lost her case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month.

“Necessary, reasonable, proportionate” 

The court then acknowledged that the IAAF regulations were discriminatory, but that the regulations were “necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the IAAF’s aim of preserving the integrity of female athletics in the restricted events.”

Following the CAS ruling, Semenya appealed to the Switzerland supreme court. Semenya is still appealing the CAS ruling to get the IAAF testosterone rules permanently stricken.
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From: MeNeedIt

Two-time Olympic champion Caster Semenya is temporarily allowed to compete without lowering her testosterone levels, following a ruling by Switzerland’s supreme court.

The court ordered the International Association of Athletics Federations to temporarily suspend their regulations until the organization makes its arguments to the court.

The suspension of the IAAF regulations is the latest in a line of legal disputes between the South African 800-meter runner and the governing body for track and field.

Hyperandrogenism

In April 2018, the IAAF put in places rules requiring women with higher-than-normal testosterone levels — known as hyperandrogenism — to artificially lower the hormone level in their bodies if they wanted to compete in distance races between 400 meters to a mile.

“This is an important case that will have fundamental implications for the human rights of female athletes,” Dorothee Schramm, the Swiss-based lawyer leading Semenya’s appeal, said after the ruling.

Semenya challenged the regulation and ultimately lost her case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport last month.

“Necessary, reasonable, proportionate” 

The court then acknowledged that the IAAF regulations were discriminatory, but that the regulations were “necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of achieving the IAAF’s aim of preserving the integrity of female athletics in the restricted events.”

Following the CAS ruling, Semenya appealed to the Switzerland supreme court. Semenya is still appealing the CAS ruling to get the IAAF testosterone rules permanently stricken.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Jay-Z is officially hip-hop’s first billionaire, Forbes declared Monday, founding his kingdom on entertainment but also reaping earnings from liquor, art and real estate.

The rapper, who was born Shawn Carter and grew up in one of Brooklyn’s most notorious housing projects, “has accumulated a fortune that conservatively totals $1 billion, making him one of only a handful of entertainers to become a billionaire — and the first hip-hop artist to do so,” the magazine said in a new cover story.

The house that Jay built includes stakes in Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Usse cognac — worth $310 million and $100 million respectively — as well as $220 million in cash and investments that includes a stake in Uber worth an estimated $70 million.

The 49-year-old also boasts a $75 million music catalog, $75 million from the entertainment company Roc Nation and $100 million from streaming service Tidal.

In addition to his penthouse in New York’s posh Tribeca neighborhood, Jay-Z and his superstar wife Beyonce own mansions in East Hampton, New York and Los Angeles’ swank Bel Air neighborhood — real estate holdings adding some $50 million to the rapper’s name, Forbes said.

In 2017, Forbes said music’s first couple had officially amassed a joint billion-dollar worth.

It had been widely assumed that hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre had already achieved billionaire status — especially after he anointed himself as such in 2014 — but according to Forbes’ 2018 ranking his personal wealth is closer to $770 million, despite selling his company Beats by Dre to Apple for $3 billion.

Fellow megawatt rap titan Diddy is worth $825 million, according to that same list. He along with Dre and Jay are not only the wealthiest hip-hop artists, but the richest American musicians of any genre.

Swizz Beatz, the producer behind a number of Jay-Z’s megahits, told Forbes the rapper has created “the blueprint for our culture.”

“A guy that looks like us, sounds like us, loves us, made it to something that we always felt that was above us,” he said. “If he’s a billionaire now, imagine what he’s about to be.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

Jay-Z is officially hip-hop’s first billionaire, Forbes declared Monday, founding his kingdom on entertainment but also reaping earnings from liquor, art and real estate.

The rapper, who was born Shawn Carter and grew up in one of Brooklyn’s most notorious housing projects, “has accumulated a fortune that conservatively totals $1 billion, making him one of only a handful of entertainers to become a billionaire — and the first hip-hop artist to do so,” the magazine said in a new cover story.

The house that Jay built includes stakes in Armand de Brignac champagne and D’Usse cognac — worth $310 million and $100 million respectively — as well as $220 million in cash and investments that includes a stake in Uber worth an estimated $70 million.

The 49-year-old also boasts a $75 million music catalog, $75 million from the entertainment company Roc Nation and $100 million from streaming service Tidal.

In addition to his penthouse in New York’s posh Tribeca neighborhood, Jay-Z and his superstar wife Beyonce own mansions in East Hampton, New York and Los Angeles’ swank Bel Air neighborhood — real estate holdings adding some $50 million to the rapper’s name, Forbes said.

In 2017, Forbes said music’s first couple had officially amassed a joint billion-dollar worth.

It had been widely assumed that hip-hop mogul Dr. Dre had already achieved billionaire status — especially after he anointed himself as such in 2014 — but according to Forbes’ 2018 ranking his personal wealth is closer to $770 million, despite selling his company Beats by Dre to Apple for $3 billion.

Fellow megawatt rap titan Diddy is worth $825 million, according to that same list. He along with Dre and Jay are not only the wealthiest hip-hop artists, but the richest American musicians of any genre.

Swizz Beatz, the producer behind a number of Jay-Z’s megahits, told Forbes the rapper has created “the blueprint for our culture.”

“A guy that looks like us, sounds like us, loves us, made it to something that we always felt that was above us,” he said. “If he’s a billionaire now, imagine what he’s about to be.”
…

From: MeNeedIt

The United States is again calling on European allies to be careful of what it says are security risks posed by Chinese telecommunication company Huawei, as countries build out their 5G networks.

“We’ve been clear: our ask is that our allies and our partners and our friends don’t do anything that would endanger our shared security interests or restrict our ability to share sensitive information,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday after meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok in The Hague.

The top U.S. diplomat’s remarks come amid the Dutch intelligence agency’s investigation over alleged hidden backdoors in the software that could have given Huawei unauthorized access to users’ data.

Huawei’s CEO Ren Zhengfei has maintained his company would not share confidential user information and Huawei denies it is controlled by Beijing. The company also says it does not work with the Chinese government, an assertion Pompeo and other U.S. officials have rejected.

Blok said while his government wants to align policies with allies, the Dutch will make its own security decisions as it prepares to auction off new 5G internet rights.

“There is a specialist committee working now to decide on what criteria to add to the 5G option and somewhere this summer those criteria will be published,” said the Dutch foreign minister.

Pompeo and Blok met on the sidelines of a three-day Global Entrepreneurship Summit co-hosted by the U.S. and the Netherlands in The Hague.

This preeminent annual gathering convenes entrepreneurs, investors, and their supporters from more than 120 countries.

Eyeing China, Pompeo said the United States is seeking terms for fair trade practices.

“Authoritarian states can steal ideas and prop up their own business enterprises, but they’ll never match the entrepreneurship and innovation found in free societies,” said Pompeo, stressing the importance of intellectual property rights protection, the rule of law, as well as a predictable and consistent legal system.

Friday, Pompeo warned German authorities that the U.S. could withhold national security information if Germany adopts 5G networks run by Huawei because “it is not possible to mitigate” the security risks.

The White House has effectively blacklisted Huawei, making it harder to continue doing business with American companies.

In response, China says it plans to target organizations or individuals that deemed to damage Chinese companies’ interests in a so-called “unreliable foreigners list.”

 
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From: MeNeedIt

British star musician Elton John and the filmmakers of “Rocketman,” a feature film about his path to fame, have criticized a Russian distributor for removing gay and drug abuse scenes from the movie. Russia has a poor record on LGBT rights and a controversial law bans the promotion of “nontraditional sexual relationships” to minors. The artist’s Russian fans were disappointed with the cuts, recognizing that the LGBT community is still ostracized in the country. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
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From: MeNeedIt

British star musician Elton John and the filmmakers of “Rocketman,” a feature film about his path to fame, have criticized a Russian distributor for removing gay and drug abuse scenes from the movie. Russia has a poor record on LGBT rights and a controversial law bans the promotion of “nontraditional sexual relationships” to minors. The artist’s Russian fans were disappointed with the cuts, recognizing that the LGBT community is still ostracized in the country. VOA’s Zlatica Hoke reports.
…

From: MeNeedIt

Congested Google servers in the eastern United States caused problems for users of Snapchat and YouTube on Sunday, with complaints on social media that the popular apps weren’t accessible.

Google acknowledged the issue, writing in a statement on its Cloud Platform status page that it was dealing with “high levels of network congestion in the eastern USA, affecting multiple services in Google Cloud, G Suite and YouTube.”

“Users may see slow performance or intermittent errors,” it said, adding that engineers had completed the first of two steps to restore normal operations.

Earlier in the day, social media users complained of trouble loading a slew of popular websites and apps.

“Google, YouTube, Snapchat, Shopify, all currently down. Is the internet melting?” asked one Twitter post.

Snapchat and Google-owned YouTube both acknowledged the server issue on their Twitter accounts.

Cloud computing is one of Google’s most lucrative services, but faces stiff competition from other technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft.

In March, the world’s largest social network, Facebook, blamed a “server configuration change” for a massive outage affecting its applications around the world.

The outage affected users for at least 12 hours in most areas of the world, with the biggest impact in North America and Europe, a tracking website said at the time.

 
…

From: MeNeedIt

Congested Google servers in the eastern United States caused problems for users of Snapchat and YouTube on Sunday, with complaints on social media that the popular apps weren’t accessible.

Google acknowledged the issue, writing in a statement on its Cloud Platform status page that it was dealing with “high levels of network congestion in the eastern USA, affecting multiple services in Google Cloud, G Suite and YouTube.”

“Users may see slow performance or intermittent errors,” it said, adding that engineers had completed the first of two steps to restore normal operations.

Earlier in the day, social media users complained of trouble loading a slew of popular websites and apps.

“Google, YouTube, Snapchat, Shopify, all currently down. Is the internet melting?” asked one Twitter post.

Snapchat and Google-owned YouTube both acknowledged the server issue on their Twitter accounts.

Cloud computing is one of Google’s most lucrative services, but faces stiff competition from other technology companies like Amazon and Microsoft.

In March, the world’s largest social network, Facebook, blamed a “server configuration change” for a massive outage affecting its applications around the world.

The outage affected users for at least 12 hours in most areas of the world, with the biggest impact in North America and Europe, a tracking website said at the time.

 
…

From: MeNeedIt

Legendary New Orleans chef and civil rights icon Leah Chase has died. She was 96.

Her family released a statement Saturday saying the “unwavering advocate for civil liberties” and “believer in the Spirit of New Orleans” had died.

Chase put the Dooky Chase restaurant on the map by turning it into the first white-tablecloth establishment that catered to the black community. She also challenged New Orleans’ segregation laws by seating black and white patrons together.

In her seven-decade culinary career, Chase fed civil rights icons, presidents, legendary artists and common folk alike, introducing them to Creole cooking, which combines the flavors of France, Africa and Native America.

Her fans included the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, and musicians Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and Sarah Vaughn.

Chase recalled when she hosted Barack Obama at the restaurant while he was campaigning for president in 2008. She said she had to slap him down when he tried to add hot sauce to her dish. “Mr. Obama, you don’t put hot sauce in my gumbo,” Chase recalled in an interview with WWL-TV. “So I had to reprimand him.”

Chase was born in Madisonville, Louisiana, on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, on Jan. 6, 1923.

She married Edgar “Dooky” Chase Jr., a jazz trumpeter and band leader in 1945. She went to work at her father-in-law’s sandwich shop in New Orleans, where she convinced the family to expand the business, to make it more like the finer restaurants she had worked at in the city’s French Quarter.

The restaurant became a gathering place for leaders of the civil rights movement to discuss strategy, often with their white allies.

In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city, the Dooky Chase restaurant was flooded, with 1.5 meters of water in the dining room for weeks. The damage was so extensive some thought it would never reopen. But it did two years later.

Leah Chase could be seen at the restaurant until a few months ago, greeting guests and overseeing the kitchen with the help of a walker.

“I love people and I love serving people. It’s fun for me to serve people. Because sometimes people will come in and they’re tired. And just a little plate of food will make people happy,” she said during a 2015 interview with The Associated Press.

 
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From: MeNeedIt