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President Donald Trump says the U.S. wants to keep economic sanctions

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President Donald Trump says the U.S. wants to keep economic sanctions in place to pressure North Korea to give up nuclear weapons, but isn't ruling out a third summit with Kim Jong Un or taking steps to ease food or other shortages in the repressive nation.

"We want sanctions to remain in place," Trump said Thursday at the White House during a meeting with South Korea President Moon Jae-in. "I think that sanctions right now are at a level that's a fair level."

Moon, for his part, has called for an easing of sanctions, including those holding back joint economic projects between North and South Korea. Trump said he would favor easing those sanctions at the right time but added: "This isn't the right time."

He said he was open to discussing smaller steps, such as helping to ease North Korea's humanitarian problems, but that, in general, the U.S. wants sanctions to remain.

"There are various smaller deals that maybe could happen," Trump said.

"You could work out step-by-step pieces, but at this moment, we're talking about the big deal. The big deal is we have to get rid of the nuclear weapons."

Negotiations on Pyongyang's nuclear program appear to be stalled, and there is uncertainty over whether Kim is considering backing out of talks or restarting nuclear and missile tests. The Korean Central News Agency on Thursday said that at a party meeting on Wednesday, Kim stressed "self-reliance" in his country to "deal a telling blow to the hostile forces" that "go with bloodshot eyes miscalculating that sanctions can bring" North Korea "to its knees."

Moon said it's important to maintain the "momentum of dialogue" and express a positive outlook to the international community that a "third U.S.-North Korea summit" will be held.

"I'd like to express my high regard for how you have continued to express your trust towards Chairman Kim," Moon said. "And also, you have made sure that North Korea does not deviate from the dialogue track."

The United States and North Korea have accused each other of causing the Hanoi summit's breakdown. But they haven't formally abandoned diplomacy. Moon, a liberal who facilitated U.S.-North Korea diplomacy last year, told Trump that he would push for an inter-Korean summit with Kim, according to Moon's office. Moon met Kim three times last year.

At the White House, Moon did not publicly address the issue of sanctions. But several North Korea watchers, including Sue Mi Terry, a North Korean expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a former Asia analyst at the CIA, said Moon is trying to persuade Trump to agree to ease some sanctions to keep the talks alive.

While Trump didn't rule out a third summit with Kim following his earlier two meetings with him in Singapore and Hanoi, Victor Cha, a North Korea expert from the Bush administration, wasn't as hopeful.

With Trump already campaigning for re-election, Cha said, "It's hard for me to think Trump will risk a third summit."

Trump walked away from making a deal with Kim at their meeting in late February. Trump said Kim was asking for sanctions relief without wanting to fully dismantle all his nuclear weapons programs. There is ongoing debate over whether harsh sanctions can pressure Kim to denuclearize or will keep him away from the negotiating table.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday that the administration was fully engaged in efforts to negotiate a resolution to the nuclear standoff.

"We are going to keep at it," he said. But there have been no public accounts of any progress since the Hanoi summit.

Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., assessed the denuclearization talks as "stuck on first base." Merkley said the North Koreans had continued developing their missile program and were finding ways to circumvent economic sanctions strangling its economy. He cited a U.N. panel of experts that warned on March 5 that there has been a "massive increase in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products and coal" rendering the latest U.N. sanctions "ineffective."

A senior administration official said Thursday that the U.S. and the international community had "clearly defined the scope" of North Korea's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs, have a shared understanding of what final, fully verified denuclearization entails and what meaningful progress toward that goal looks like. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations, said the North Korean position, so far, has fallen short of that understanding.

North Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said last month that Kim would soon make clear his post-Hanoi position. She said her country might pull out of the nuclear negotiations with the United States, citing a lack of corresponding steps to some disarmament measures North Korea took last year. She also hinted that Kim was considering whether to continue the talks and his moratorium on nuclear and missile tests.

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Trump wants to keep NKorea sanctions, won't rule out summit

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President Donald Trump says the U.S. wants to keep economic sanctions in place to pressure North Korea to give up nuclear weapons, but isn't ruling out a third summit with Kim Jong Un or taking steps to ease food or other shortages in the repressive nation.

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YouTube star Olivia Jade Giannulli is "devastated" by the allegations her parents are facing in the college admissions scandal.

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olivia jade is 'devastated' by college cheating scandal - cnn

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Olivia Jade is 'devastated' by college cheating scandal

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YouTube star Olivia Jade Giannulli is "devastated" by the allegations her parents are facing in the college admissions scandal.

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German Police pull over golden Porsche for being too shiny

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All that glitters? Cops tow golden Porsche for being too shiny

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Israeli spacecraft crashed trying to land on the moon

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An Israeli spacecraft crashed into the moon just moments before touchdown, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history Thursday as the first privately funded lunar landing.

The spacecraft lost communication with ground control during its final descent. Moments later, the mission was declared a failure.

"We definitely crashed on the surface of the moon," said Opher Doron of Israel Aerospace Industries.

He said the spacecraft's engine turned off shortly before landing, and scientists were still trying to figure out the cause. The spacecraft, called Beresheet, was in pieces scattered at the landing site, he said.

Doron nonetheless called the mission an "amazing success," for reaching the moon and coming so close to landing successfully.

"It is by far the smallest, cheapest spacecraft ever to get to the moon," he said. Beresheet was about the size of a washing machine.

The mishap occurred in front of a packed audience that included Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and was broadcast live on national television.

"We will try again," Netanyahu said. "We reached the moon, but we want to land more comfortably, and that is for the next time."

It had been hoped that the small robotic spacecraft, built by the nonprofit SpaceIL and state-owned Israel Aerospace Industries, would match a feat that has been achieved only by U.S., Russia and China.

The failure was a disappointing ending to a lunar voyage of 6.5 million kilometers (4 million miles), almost unprecedented in length and designed to conserve fuel and reduce price. The spacecraft hitched a ride on a SpaceX rocket launched from Florida in February.

For the past two months, Beresheet, which means "Genesis" or "In the Beginning," traveled around the Earth several times before entering lunar orbit.

Around 20 minutes before the scheduled landing, engine firings slowed Beresheet's descent. Engineers watched in silence as the craft, its movements streamed live on dozens of screens, glided toward a free-fall.

But then the screens showed the engine misfiring, and the velocity surging as it headed toward the lunar surface. Radio signals from the spacecraft, abruptly cut off.

Standing before darkened computer screens, controllers declared the mission a failure. The craft crashed near the historic Apollo landing sites.

President Reuven Rivlin hosted dozens of youngsters at his official residence, one of several celebrations scheduled across the country. The children, some wearing white and blue spacesuits, appeared confused as the crash unfolded.

"We are full of admiration for the wonderful people who brought the spacecraft to the moon," Rivlin said. "True, not as we had hoped, but we will succeed in the end."

Beresheet carried a small laser retroreflector from NASA intended to measure magnetic fields and provide insight on the moon's iron core. It also had a time capsule that included a Bible, Israeli cultural symbols and a picture of famed Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, who died in the crash of the U.S. space shuttle Columbia in 2003.

The head of NASA, Jim Bridenstine, said he regretted the mission didn't succeed, but "I have no doubt that Israel and SpaceIL will continue to explore and I look forward to celebrating their future achievements."

Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin expressed his regrets "for what almost was" and tweeted: "Never lose hope--Your hard work, team work, and innovation is inspiring to all!"

The Google Lunar X Prize Competition, which offered $20 million for the first privately funded venture to make it to the moon, is what first drove SpaceIL to get Beresheet off the ground.

Beresheet made the final cut, but after several deadline extensions, the competition ended last year without a winner.

SpaceIL pressed on with its dream, convinced the mission would help inspire Israel's next generation to study science and engineering. The $100 million mission was financed largely by Israeli billionaire Morris Kahn and a handful of other investors.

"The second I heard their dream, I wanted to support it," said Kahn. "I knew it would give us in Israel a sense of pride."

The XPrize Foundation congratulated the SpaceIL team despite the failed landing.

"We're extraordinarily proud they made it this far," said Peter Diamandis, XPrize founder.

The XPrize Foundation announced last month it would shell out $1 million as a "moonshot award" if Beresheet stuck its landing. After the crash, Diamandis said it would give SpaceIL the bonus nonetheless.

Spacecrafts crash more on other planets than they do on the moon, but the moon has had seen failed missions previously, said American University professor Howard McCurdy, who has written several books about space.

In the 1960s, before the Apollo lunar landings, NASA sent seven unmanned Surveyor flights to the moon and two failed, he said.

"What makes it hard is the conditions - the geological and atmospheric conditions are different on the moon and the planets than they are on Earth," McCurdy said. "It makes it really hard to test" the spacecraft's landing back on Earth.

Phil Larson of the University of Colorado, who was a space adviser in the Obama White House, said the Israeli effort underlines that "space is still extremely hard, and landing human made objects on other worlds is an utmost challenge."

But, he added, "While it failed to land successfully, overall it was a path-breaking and innovative project."

---

Associated Press writers Marcia Dunn at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and Seth Borenstein in Washington contributed to this report.

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Israeli spacecraft crashes in attempt to land on moon

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An Israeli spacecraft crashed into the moon just moments before touchdown, failing in an ambitious attempt to make history Thursday as the first privately funded lunar landing. The spacecraft lost communication with ground control during its final descent. Moments later, the mission was declared a failure.

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A Chicago police officer drags a girl down the stairs. The father is filing a law suit for his daughter.

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video shows chicago officers punching and dragging a 16-year-old girl down the stairs - cnn

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Video shows Chicago officers punching and dragging a 16-year-old girl down the stairs

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A father has filed a federal lawsuit after a newly-released surveillance video shows Chicago police officers dragging his daughter down the stairs and punching her multiple times at a city high school.

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Rise in suicide attempts in Texas prisons alarms advocates

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Sawyer Letcher heard voices others couldn't. They told him to hurt himself.

Trying to silence the clamor in his head, the 19-year-old would bang it against a prison wall in Texas until he bled. He tried to hang himself at least twice before eventually taking his life with bed sheets in his cell in May 2017.

His attempts at suicide were warnings that prison staff neglected to address, according to a lawsuit filed by Letcher's mother, Keri Womack, against the state prison system and its public health care provider.

Her attorney, Scott Medlock, said Letcher's death is reflective of a systemic issue plaguing Texas prisons, which he calls ill-equipped to protect people with mental illness. He said the environment is "kind of a powder keg for suicide attempts."

"The big-picture problem is there are not enough in-patient beds to accommodate all the people" in the system who have severe mental illness, Medlock said.

Suicides in Texas prisons hit a 10-year high of 40 in 2018, and a steady rise in suicide attempts in these state-run facilities alarms prisoner rights advocates. The number of suicide attempts among Texas inmates logged by authorities has nearly tripled in the last decade, climbing from less than 700 in 2009 to nearly 2,000 in 2018 even as the number of people imprisoned in the state has fallen by 10,000, according to documents The Associated Press obtained from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice last month through a public records request.

Prisoner rights advocates say the rise supports their argument that the prisons in one of America's most heavily incarcerated states need more outside oversight. Corrections staff and some elected leaders, however, suggest the increase can be attributed to prison workers being more focused on monitoring a growing number of inmates with serious mental health needs. The officials say the state's prisons also have changed what they define as a suicide attempt, leading to more attempts being counted.

The Department of Criminal Justice likely "overcounts" suicide attempts as it focuses on preventing actual suicides, said spokesman Jeremy Desel, who declined to comment on the lawsuit filed by Letcher's mother.

In 2013, Texas started including in its attempted-suicide tally people who say they intend to take their own lives, Desel said. Last year, 88% of attempted suicides among Texas inmates did not involve any injuries and less than 2% required life-saving measures, he said.

The increase in suicide attempts parallels a rise in Texas prisoners being diagnosed with mental health conditions, despite the overall prison population being on a decline. This is part of a national trend in which people behind bars increasingly have serious mental health needs that can exceed the training of corrections officers, experts say.

"Prisons and jails have become the de facto mental health institutions in our country, and their mission is not to address mental health issues. Their mission is to keep people locked up," said Dr. Josiah Rich, a professor of medicine at Brown University and director of The Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights, both in Providence, Rhode Island.

At the end of 2018, more than 19% of Texas' nearly 148,000 prisoners required mental health care, compared with nearly 14% in 2009 when the state's prisons held about 158,000 inmates, according to the Department of Criminal Justice.

Prisons in Alabama, another state with a high incarceration rate, also have seen suicides - and suicide attempts logged by authorities - increase in recent years as prison staffs have been unable to address inmates' mental health needs. In 2017, a federal judge ruled that Alabama has provided "horrendously inadequate" care to mentally ill inmates and ordered changes, and the same judge is now weighing whether to force the state to take action after 15 inmate suicides in 15 months.

A Department of Justice report earlier this month said Alabama's suicides occurred in the nation's deadliest prisons where male inmates are housed in unconstitutional conditions. The report also cast doubt on how state officials classify some prisoner deaths.

"Prison systems are overwhelmed with the numbers of people with serious mental illness that they need to respond to," said Ronald Honberg, a senior policy adviser with the National Alliance on Mental Illness. "Oftentimes the staff don't have the training to really respond, and oftentimes the response is punitive."

Letcher became a prisoner in Rusk, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) southeast of Dallas, after being convicted of assaulting a public servant. His mother's lawyer, Medlock, said the prison's "depressing and awful atmosphere" agitated Letcher. Guards found him hanging from his bed sheets twice in the 18 months before he killed himself, and medical staff had repeatedly told the prison not to allow Letcher to have materials he could use to take his own life, the lawsuit said.

Texas lawmakers have debated about whether to establish independent prison oversight. Supporters of the approach say the rise in suicide attempts needs closer monitoring and further investigation. Others say the increase shows prison officials are responding to legislative oversight.

Republican state Rep. James White, chair of the House corrections committee, said Texas prisons changing what they define as a suicide attempt is in reaction to legislative action. As a result, he said, the Department of Criminal Justice is producing "more robust and transparent reporting" on suicide attempts.

Other changes have occurred, too. In 2015, the department increased the training people get before starting work at a prison from 216 to 240 hours, with most of the added time focused on mental health and crisis intervention, Desel, the department spokesman, said.

Those who support having someone outside the prison system do oversight say it would complement legislative oversight and bring even more transparency.

Jennifer Erschabek, executive director of the Texas Inmate Families Association, said the hope is that independent oversight would help prisons better determine who is attempting suicide and why, and get inmates the care they need.

"How many more years of numbers do they have to have of suicides continuing to rise before something happens?" she said.

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Follow Jake Bleiberg on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JZBleiberg

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Rise in suicide attempts in Texas prisons alarms advocates

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Sawyer Letcher heard voices others couldn't. They told him to hurt himself. Trying to silence the clamor in his head, the 19-year-old would bang it against a prison wall in Texas until he bled. He tried to hang himself at least twice before eventually taking his life with bed sheets in his cell in May 2017.

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Rescuers found lost hikers following their footprints

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rescuers found lost hikers following their footprints - cnn video

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Rescuers found lost hikers following their footprints - CNN Video

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Two hikers who were missing for nearly five days used a water-purifying straw to survive and were rescued after search teams discovered and followed two sets of footprints in a California canyon, according to the local sheriff's office.

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On top of the extreme amounts of snow from the bomb cyclone, there were still more surprises in store for them. The storm decided to pick up dirt from texas and drop it in Minnesota

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a powerful storm swept dust from texas northward and deposited it with snow in minnesota. let's call it 'snirt' - cnn

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A powerful storm swept dust from Texas northward and deposited it with snow in Minnesota. Let's call it 'snirt'

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Minnesotans expecting a fresh layer of white stuff following Thursday's unseasonable blizzard instead found snow with a brown-orange tinge, just like the dusty expanse of West Texas.

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Florida mayor smoked crack coke while in officce

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The former mayor of a Florida town - who is facing multiple charges, including allegedly shooting at cops and conspiring to impede an investigation against him - reportedly smoked crack cocaine nightly and used meth while he was still in office.

The new allegations against former Port Richey Mayor Dale Massad were revealed in court records obtained by the Tampa Bay Times on Thursday. Massad, while he was in office, allegedly received drugs via drug runners and acted as a doctor for friends at his home, the newspaper reported.
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An investigation into Massad was reportedly launched after authorities received tips that Massad was engaging in corruption, using drugs and acting as a doctor in his home. Massad had previously lost his medical license in 1992 over a toddler's death, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Massad was arrested in February for allegedly shooting at Pasco County sheriff's deputies who were trying to serve a search warrant at his residence after reports he was operating an illegal medical practice at his home. He eventually surrendered to police and was taken into custody.

Massad was then re-arrested in March, along with the town's acting Mayor Terrence Rowe, for allegedly conspiring to intimidate a city police officer who was involved in his February arrest.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said at the time it received information the two men had discussed ways to intimidate the police officer during a recorded phone call in March at the Pasco County Jail.

Court records, obtained by the Tampa Bay Times, revealed Massad bought crystal methamphetamine from a man named Corey White. He nicknamed the drug "jet fuel" and White told officers he had delivered the drug to the mayor dozens of times. Massad would also arrange others to buy the drugs for him, according to the documents.

Massad's lawyers have maintained the former mayor is innocent of the allegations against him.

Bjorn Brunvand told the Tampa Bay Times the people who spoke to law enforcement shouldn't be considered credible.
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"We have to be very, very careful about how much weight we give to those individuals," he told the paper.
Fox News' Lucia I. Suarez Sang contributed to this report.

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Ex-Florida mayor allegedly smoked crack, acted as doctor at his home, report says

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The former mayor of a Florida town - who is facing multiple charges, including allegedly shooting at cops and conspiring to impede an investigation against him - reportedly smoked crack cocaine nightly and used meth while he was still in office.

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New 50mm Army cannon obliterates targets in live-fire demo.

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(Kingman, Ariz.) As a small ball of fire shot out of the end of a new 50mm cannon, a cloud of smoke filled the air and, in what seemed like less than one second, an explosion of smoke and fire destroyed a mock enemy target from hundreds of yards away -- on the other side of an Arizona desert valley.

The explosion was precise, burning and shattering a metal target in successive shots of three to five rounds. This blast effect, weapons developers explain, is precisely the intent for the Army's new 50mm weapon - to bring a longer-range, more-lethal measure of firepower to medium caliber armored vehicle attack.

The live-fire demonstration, taking place at Northrop Grumman's 2019 Bushmaster User Conference in Kingman, Ariz., was designed to further prepare the weapon for integration onto armored vehicles and, ultimately, send the new cannon to war. Military representatives from the US and as many as 25 partner nations gathered to see the live-fire demo, which included a host of armored-vehicle weapons and technologies - such as the 50mm cannon.

The cannon attack was part of a live-fire demonstration intended to move the 50mm Bushmaster cannon closer to integration onto a turret and Army armored combat vehicle -- to include the service's now-in-development Next-Generation Combat Vehicle slated to emerge in the mid-2020s.

The 50mm cannon, built by Northrop Grumman, is engineered to blend a variety of emerging, high-tech armored vehicle attack technologies into a single system -- to include advanced fire-control, automated targeting sensors, next-gen ammunition, new computer processing speed and longer-range medium caliber attack options.
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According to Northrop information, the new 50mm cannon, referred to as the experimental XM913, can hit ranges more than twice as far as the roughly 2-kilometer range of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle's existing M242 25mm cannon. "Dozens of countries have either parity or overmatch to the Bradley Fighting Vehicle's M242," a Northrop statement says. The 50mm is being engineered to address this potential disparity, by hitting ranges well over 4km.

The Army's Combat Capabilities Development Command at Picatinny Arsenal and Northrop Grumman's Armament Systems have partnered to engineer, test and deliver the new cannon While called a 50mm cannon, the new weapon represents a new, high tech iteration of Chain Gun technology first developed as a high-speed 30mm gun for the Apache Attack helicopter. One senior Northrop weapons developer, Lisa Brown, Vice President of Guns, Northrop Armament Systems, explained this technical trajectory as something bringing "Apache lethality to land-based platforms."

The evolution of Chain Gun attack technology has gone through several significant steps. The Apache 30mm gun, called the M230, provides an initial technological foundation from which subsequent land-fire applications have emerged - such as the existing vehicle-mounted 30mm Bushmaster Chain Gun and the new 50mm Chain Gun, or cannon. A Chain Gun is described as a type of auto-cannon that uses "an external source of power to cycle the weapon rather than diverting energy from the cartridge," using a continuous loop.

The 50mm cannon incorporates adaptations of the original Apache 30mm Chain Gun technology, which fires a fast-paced belt of "linked" ammunition. While equipped with targeting technology for individual targets, the Apache 30mm can often be used as somewhat of an "area" weapon to blanket an area with dispersed, mobile rapid-fire attack. Such a tactic can both lay down suppressive fire, enabling ground troops to maneuver or itself directly destroy small, moving ground targets.
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The new 50mm evolves Chain Gun systems and makes use of a "linkless" ammunition technology. This can slow down the pace of fire, from 600 to 200 shots per minute in some cases, bringing precision and higher levels of destruction upon heavier enemy targets, Brown explained.

"This is an adaptation of the historic Bushmaster. With Chain Gun ammo you traditionally have a link belt....now we have ammo boxes that feed the ammunition," John McCollum, Northrop's Director of Business Development, Bushmaster Cannons, told Warrior Maven in an interview.

In development for roughly eight years, the 50mm cannon represents a new technical effort to engineer what might be called a "middle ground" kind of attack cannon; it must not only bring more firepower, range, precision and lethality to armored combat but also integrate into the kinds of expeditionary future armored vehicles sought after by the Army. In effect, the new cannon represents a new sphere of attack options, lodging itself as a new attack option positioned between a 30mm chain gun such as that fired by the Stryker -- and a heavier 120mm cannon fired by an Abrams tank.

Therefore, the new 50mm canon aligns with the Army future armored combat vehicle strategy which aims to both harness the lethality and survivability afforded by new technologies, yet merge it with unprecedented levels of maneuverability, speed and deployability.

This strategic emphasis, involving a conceptual and technical balancing act, was explained by Maj. Gen. Brian Cummings, Program Executive Officer, Ground Combat Systems, in an interview with Warrior Maven a few months ago. The NGCV is being built to be upgradeable so as to accommodate new technologies as they emerge to increase firepower and targeting while also lowering weight and increasing combat mobility. The NGCV, Cummings explained, is being engineered with this particular challenge in mind so that it can quickly be ready for near-term fights and also prepare for the "war after next," as he put it. The idea is to embrace a developmental trajectory designed to optimize continued technological innovation when it comes to achieving an ideal balance between survivability and mobility.
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The challenge of merging advanced survivability with battlefield maneuverability has been a central focus for Army developers. To some extent, its success hinges upon a host of "still in development" technologies, Army program managers say. Some of these include lighter-weight armor composites offering the same or improved protection as current heavy vehicles as well as sophisticated networking, computer processing and integrated long-range sensors. The 50mm, developers explained, is engineered to integrate with these kinds of systems.

Other technologies expected to integrate with the 50mm include Active Protection Systems and various iterations of AI and EW tactics designed to jam or disable enemy communications and incoming weapons. The Army's new NGCV is also called an "optionally manned vehicle," a designation which raises the possibility of having a forward-positioned lethal armored vehicle able to conduct attack and reconnaissance missions without placing human crews at risk. In this scenario, fast, lighter-weight vehicles - armed with substantial firepower such as a 50mm cannon - could bring a new level of attack possibilities.

Interestingly, the challenge of merging mobility with protection and integrated sensors is taken up in a 2017 essay in the Defence Science Journal.

The essay, called "Armored Fighting Vehicles - Future Perspective." refers to future armored vehicle design as "a great challenge, considering the emergence of various new technologies and the need to effectively integrate it in the vehicle. A priori configuration model to evaluate the tactical mobility, and protection requirements with respect to weight and volume of various systems can lead to a compact fighting vehicle."

The essay, it seems clear, refers to the difficult task of maximizing firepower on what may need to be a smaller vehicle able to achieve the requisite amount of maneuverability, high-tech computing, sensor integration and speed. This goal of blending seemingly contradictory attributes, without compromising survivability, is exactly what the Army has in mind.
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The new 50mm specifically built to help address this challenge by seeking to optimize massive firepower with the kind of expeditionary vehicle envisioned for the NGCV. The need, according to Army developers, is to engineer armored combat vehicles faster and more easily deployable than large platforms like an Abrams tank, which can at times have mobility limitations due to its weight. A 70-ton Abrams, for instance, may have trouble crossing certain bridges or keeping pace with some fast moving infantry units.

Perhaps of greatest significance, the 50mm adds a new suite of more lethal ammunition options, bringing a vastly increased envelope of combat effects. The new gun has a full suite of ammunition, including high-explosive rounds, airburst rounds and armor-piercing rounds; it is the same as the current 30 173 rounds fired by the Stryker, yet with additional "reach and lethality." The ammunition, a major emphasis of the 50mm's developmental trajectory, will include both "airburst" ammunition and a "proximity" fuse.

"When the ammunition technology roadmap is complete, we hope to bring proximity fusing to the weapon...and potentially guide the ammunition .... which will let us get out to some extended ranges and hit targets you typically cannot hit with direct fire systems," Dan Olson vice president of Northrop Grumman's Armament Systems Business Unit, told Warrior Maven in an interview.

A proximity fuse, for instance, is an existing technology now being adapted to the 50mm, Northrop weapons developers say; it will enable a round to explode in the area of a target instead of attacking in a more narrow or linear way. This kind of blast effect brings a possibility to disperse lethal, explosive materials across a wider area and destroy different kinds of targets such as groups of on-the-move enemy fighters.

Olson explained that the 50mm, in combination with its airburst rounds, will bring a new ability to destroy targets in "defilade" or otherwise not observable to attackers due to an obstruction such as a rock or wall. By exploding at a predetermined point above or near the intended target, airburst rounds disperse lethal explosive material such that it can destroy an enemy hiding behind a rock. While airburst rounds already exist, and can, for instance, be fired from a Stryker-mounted 30mm gun, the Army and Northrop are adapting the technology to the 50mm.
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"Currently in the air burst munition you can suppress targets out in the open to about 2,200 meters. With the 50mm gun, you can suppress targets out to 4,200 meters. This is leap ahead technology compared to what we currently have with 25 and 30mm guns," Brown said.

The existing 30mm cannon can not only arm the Stryker, but lightweight variants can also mount onto thinner-skinned vehicles such as a Humvee or even a pick-up truck. This 50mm cannon lethality effect, as described by Olson, goes beyond this through use of a larger cannon and warhead able to destroy heavier targets.

Significantly, multiple ammunition effects for the new 50mm cannon exist within the same, single form factor - size, shape and general configuration - bringing several attack options into a single size round. This advantage was anticipated in another chapter of the Defence Science Journal essay, which states "it is to be noted that as the variety in ammunition increases due to mission requirements, the dimensions need to be same to achieve uniformity in configuration."

This emphasis upon ammunition configuration is quite significant, according to Northrop information, which explains that the Bradley's current 25mm round is "not conducive for the development of advanced ammunition, including "Proximity Sensing ammunition."
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Following some additional live-fire testing to refine some of the mechanics for the weapon, the Army and Northrop plan to work with turret manufacturers to mount the weapon onto armored fighting vehicles for further development. McCollum said that the gun, as a heavier variant of the known Bushmaster chain gun family, should not be too difficult to integrate.
More Weapons and Technology -WARRIOR MAVEN (CLICK HERE)-

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New next-gen Army 50mm cannon destroys targets in live-fire demo

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As a small ball of fire shot out of the end of a new 50mm cannon, a cloud of smoke filled the air and, in what seemed like less than one second, an explosion of smoke and fire destroyed a mock enemy target from hundreds of yards away -- on the other side of an Arizona desert valley.

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because of climate change your allergies are way worse this year. pollen is very high

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climate change is making allergy season worse - cnn

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Climate change is making allergy season worse

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You're sneezing your head off, and your eyes sting. The air around you is yellow -- along with your house, your car, your pets. Yes, of course, you already know that allergy season has arrived. Now for more bad news: Climate change makes it much worse.

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BTS's new album (released at 4am this morning) is expected to DEMOLISH charts across the globe

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k-pop: bts is the biggest band you've never heard of. that changes now  - cnn

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BTS is the biggest band you've never heard of. That changes now

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The Korean boy band BTS is taking over the world. And while K-pop music isn't exactly a new sensation outside of Korea, BTS and similar groups are cultivating devoted followings across the globe and leading a full-blown international movement.

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protected by first amendment: Judge Napolitano

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Judge Andrew Napolitano said WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, will be protected by the first amendment if he is brought to the U.S.

"What Assange did here was not to steal a secret, but to reveal a secret and that act of revelation, in that case numerous acts of revelation, is absolutely protected in the first amendment pursuant to the very now-well known and highly regarded case called the Pentagon Papers Case," Judge Napolitano told FOX Business' Kennedy on Thursday.

"The people that are furious at Assange should be furious at two people: Chelsea Manning and Barack Obama," Judge Napolitano added. "Chelsea Manning is the thief. Prosecuted, tried, convicted, sentenced to a long jail term- and then President Obama commuted the sentence for whatever reason. That's where those who say American lives were put in danger, that where their anger should be focused, not on a journalist who exposed it."
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What will happen next for Assange is still uncertain, as he begins to fight extradition to the United States. But Judge Napolitano said that the extradition process to the U.S. may take years, as the United Kingdom faces legal issues of its own.

"Brexit plays a role here, because while Great Britain is in the EU, the final appeal from an order of extradition is not to the highest court in Great Britain, it's the highest appellate court in Brussels, a decidedly un-American place," he said. "And that court has final say in whether or not he will be extradited."

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WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protected by first amendment: Judge Napolitano

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Judge Andrew Napolitano said WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, will be protected by the first amendment if he is brought to the U.S.

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Disney releases new dole whip frozen treat, called the Froscato.

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Happy hour in the happiest place on earth just got, well, happier.

Walt Disney World Resort has been coming up with lots of creative ways to make the park even more fun for adults, especially when it comes to adult-friendly treats at the park. You can probably find a good cocktail pretty much anywhere at Disneyland or Disney World, including the Magic Kingdom, but the park isn't resting on their laurels by a long shot.

Now, the park is adding Dole Whip mimosas and Dole Whip Froscatos to its ever-growing list of boozy slushies and frozen treats.

According to Delish, the Dole Whip Froscatos, found at Wine Bar George in Disney Springs are made of vodka, Moscato wine, and the park's famous Dole Whip pineapple soft serve. Apparently, the treat is pretty sweet (and potent), but what else can you expect from ice cream and sweet wine?

The Froscato, which costs a hefty $13, is offered as part of Wine Bar George's new Wine Country Brunch on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

If you'd prefer something more traditional, you can also order a Dole Whip Mimosa when you head to the bar for brunch, as well. On the menu for $15, the special mimosa is made from pineapple juice, Moscato and Prosecco, according to PureWow.

While these drinks are mainly being served as part of brunch, guests can also grab them from Wine Bar George's quick service window, The Basket, for a limited time as well.

You can also find a huge array of unique treats at Disney Springs, from Guy Fieri's fried chicken restaurant to cupcake sundaes.
This story was originally published by Travel + Leisure.

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Disney World Just Introduced Dole Whip Froscatos and Brunch Will Never Be the Same

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Happy hour in the happiest place on earth just got, well, happier. Walt Disney World Resort has been coming up with lots of creative ways to make the park even more fun for adults, especially when it comes to adult-friendly treats at the park.

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Woman's daughters boyfriend stabs her by throwing dish rack

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Woman survives stab to the head, leads police to suspect

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