A "marathon" round of talks with the Taliban in Qatar has produced an "agreement in draft" on counter-terrorism assurances and American troop withdrawal, said US envoy for peace in Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.

"The conditions for peace have improved," Khalilzad tweeted after the talks. "Despite ups and downs, we kept things on track and made real strides."

"It's clear all sides want to end the war."

Troop withdrawal and counter-terrorism assurances are the first two issues that Khalilzad and the Taliban reached an "agreement on principle" during the talks in January.

Former FBI lawyer Lisa Page testified last year that officials in the bureau, including then-FBI Director James Comey, discussed Espionage Act charges against Hillary Clinton, citing "gross negligence," but the Justice Department shut them down.

Newly released transcripts from Page's private testimony in front of a joint task force of the House Judiciary and Oversight committees in July 2018 sheds new light on the internal discussions about an investigation into Clinton's emails. This goes back to the FBI's "Midyear Exam" investigation, which looked into whether Clinton committed crimes when she sent and received classified information on her unauthorized private email server while serving as secretary of state.

Comey cleared Clinton of all charges in a press conference on July 5, 2016.

Page told the committee that the FBI "did not blow over gross negligence." Responding to a question from Rep. John Ratcliffe, R-Texas, Page testified the FBI, including Comey, believed Clinton may have committed gross negligence. "We, in fact - and, in fact, the Director - because, on its face, it did seem like, well, maybe there's a potential here for this to be the charge. And we had multiple conversations, multiple conversations with the Justice Department about charging gross negligence," she said.

Among the most foundational worldview differences between conservatives and progressives is the conservative position of family being the cornerstone of society vs the progressive position of the government being the cornerstone of society.

For conservatives, the monogamous union of man and woman is the vehicle for creating babies and raising them according to certain values. To progressives, the nuclear family is the single greatest bulwark against the growth of government power, hence the Marxist rallying cry for the "abolition of the family." Marx and Engels knew that for the state to expand and establish the egalitarian utopia, the family order had to be broken down.

With that as a preface, let's survey the national landscape as it relates to state regulation of the family.

The FEC [Federal Election Commission] hit Jeb Bush's super PAC with a $390,000 fine for illegally accepting $1.3 million in donations from Chinese-owned corporation American Pacific International Capital (APIC) during the 2016 presidential primary.

Jeb Bush's brother, Neil Bush sat on the board for APIC.

Jeb Bush founded the PAC in January of 2015, but handed over control of the PAC to Republican consultant Mike Murphy in Spring of 2016.

Campaign Legal Center (CLC), a watchdog group, filed a formal complaint with the FEC in August of 2016 citing a report from The Intercept detailing how Chinese businessmen were illegally funneling money to Jeb Bush's PAC, Right to Rise USA.

The passenger of arguably the world's most-famous aircraft, US Air Force One, Donald Trump is highly concerned that the complexity of modern planes is creating danger as pilots can no longer take control of the plane when needed.

The increasing automation of the aircraft industry drew some barbs from US President Donald Trump on Tuesday. On his Twitter account the 72-year-old leader said "airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly" and require "scientists from MIT" rather than pilots.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want Albert Einstein to be my pilot," he complained. "I want great flying professionals that are allowed to easily and quickly take control of a plane!"

The Israel lobby's buying off of nearly every senior politician in the United States, facilitated by our system of legalized bribery, is not an anti-Semitic trope. It is a fact. The lobby's campaign of vicious character assassination, smearing and blacklisting against those who defend Palestinian rights-including the Jewish historian Norman Finkelstein and university students, many of them Jewish, in organizations such as Students for Justice in Palestine-is not an anti-Semitic trope. It is a fact. Twenty-four state governments' passage of Israel lobby-backed legislation requiring their workers and contractors, under threat of dismissal, to sign a pro-Israel oath and promise not to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement is not an anti-Semitic trope. It is a fact. The shameless decision in 2014 by all 100 U.S. senators, including Bernie Sanders, to pass a Soviet-style plebiscite proposed by the Israel lobby to affirm Israel's "right to defend itself" during the 51 days it bombed and shelled homes, water treatment plants, power stations, hospitals and U.N. schools in Gaza, killing 2,251 Palestinians, including 551 children, is not an anti-Semitic trope. It is a fact. The U.S. refusal, including in the United Nations and other international bodies, to criticize Israel's apartheid state and routine violation of international law is not an anti-Semitic trope. It is a fact. The well-funded campaigns by the Israel lobby, which works closely with Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, to discredit any American politician or academic who even slightly deviates from Israeli policy is not an anti-Semitic trope. It is a fact. (One infamous example of a U.S. politician kowtowing was the unconstitutional invitation by then-House Speaker John Boehner to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress in 2015 to denounce President Barack Obama's Iranian nuclear agreement.) The massive interference in our internal affairs by Israel and the Israel lobby, far exceeding that of any other country, including Russia or China, is not an anti-Semitic trope. It is a fact.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is setting a high bar for impeachment of President Donald Trump, saying he is "just not worth it" even as some on her left flank clamor to start proceedings.

Pelosi said in an interview with The Washington Post that "I'm not for impeachment" of Trump.

"Unless there's something so compelling and overwhelming and bipartisan, I don't think we should go down that path, because it divides the country," she said.


While she has made similar comments before, Pelosi is making clear to her caucus and to voters that Democrats will not move forward quickly with trying to remove Trump from office. And it's a departure from her previous comments that Democrats are waiting on special counsel Robert Mueller to lay out findings from his Russia investigation before considering impeachment.

The People's Bank of China increased its gold reserves for a third straight month in February, bringing total holdings to 1,874 tons, or 60.26 million ounces. The move is part of China's strategy to shift away from the US dollar.

According to the central bank, it has added about 32 tons of the precious metal to its coffers in the last three months, purchasing some 10 tons in February.

Before December, the Chinese central bank had not reported an increase in gold reserves for more than two years, and the official figures remained unchanged from October 2016 to November 2018. Analysts say Beijing is trying "to diversify its reserves" away from the greenback.

The uptick in gold holdings comes at a time when global central banks are hoarding the commodity. In January, China dropped to sixth place among the world's largest holders of gold behind Russia.

The amount of gold added by global central banks in 2018 hit the second highest annual total on record, according to World Gold Council (WGC) estimates. Countries bought 651.5 metric tons of gold last year, and now hold nearly 34,000 tons. As a safe haven hedge, gold will become more attractive in 2019, due to greater market uncertainties and the expansion of protectionist economic policies, WGC forecasts.

UK police have confirmed that a group calling itself the Irish Republican Army (IRA) has claimed responsibility for a spate of parcel bombs that were received at buildings in London and Glasgow last week.

The group, which is also known as the 'New IRA', say five devices were posted to UK addresses but only four have been detected so far.

Police say the paramilitary organization claimed responsibility for the explosive parcels by sending a statement containing a recognized codeword to a Northern Irish media outlet.

Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday if one wants tonic of motivation, he or she should meet Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman.

IAF pilot Varthaman was released by Pakistan on March 1 as a 'peace gesture' by Pakistan amid escalating tensions between the two countries. On her meeting with the airforce officer, Sitharaman said, "When I met Abhinandan Varthaman, he was calm and composed. He bore no malice against Pakistan. He said it was my job to fight, and I did".

Speaking at the Aaj Tak National Security Summit, Sitharaman said, "Pakistan always says it is also a victim of terrorism. But if you are, please take action. Don't play victim". The minister said Pakistan has always remained in denial mode when it comes to their involvement in the terror activities.

Referring to the recent dogfight between Indian and Pakistani airforce in February, Sitharaman said, "It is sad that Pakistan is still in denial on shooting down of F-16 aircraft, but we have proof and we have shown some proof of missile, which are compatible only with F-16. I am not revealing the fact, but social media from Pakistan side has revealed the fact about death of their pilot in dog fight."

"Pakistan did not admit to have lost its jawans in Kargil war too. They won't even now," Sitharaman added.