Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said North Korea's leader "begged" for their summit to be rescheduled after the US president cancelled it. Speaking at a conference in Israel, Mr Giuliani said Mr Trump's tough stance had forced Pyongyang's hand. Mr Trump called off the summit in May, accusing North Korea of "tremendous anger and open hostility". But plans for the 12 June bilateral in Singapore were revived after a conciliatory response from Pyongyang. Mr Giuliani was speaking at an investment conference in Israel when he made the remark. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Mr Giuliani said: "Well, Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in." Trump-Kim to meet on Sentosa island What not to say to North Korea Dennis Rodman: The Trump-Kim matchmaker? How Kim the outcast became popular Mr Giuliani is an attorney for the president tackling the Russia collusio
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A robot followed me around New York to carry my stuff
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A robot followed me around New York to carry my stuff
But I had to wear a dorky belt.
When I first met Gita the robot, it was a bit banged up. An accident in Central Park a day prior left a small jagged hole in its plastic frame, and only one wheel was lighting up as it should.
Two hours later, the poor thing also busted its front camera sensor in a crash with my office glass door.
But hey, that's all part of testing a prototype, right?
Gita is an extremely nimble cargo bot, designed to follow its owner for miles, carrying 40 pounds of stuff inside its 2-foot-tall body.
It doesn't have the features you'd expect of a companion robot. There are no arms. It doesn't make small talk. There's not even a smiley face programmed into the screen to ease your trepidation over having a robot follow your every move.
It has more in common with a scooter than a robot pet -- and with good reason. It's made by Piaggio, the Italian company behind the Vespa. With a zero-turn radius and sleek design, this intelligent bot has all the style and performance of an Italian vehicle, but the brains of the beast come from a research lab based in Boston.
There are currently four prototype Gita vehicles. When one made a visit to New York City, I got to take it for a short spin outside around our office to help me lug some groceries.
There's nothing cooler than having your own rolling robot buddy follow you around the city. That is, until you have to strap on this massive, blocky white belt over your coat to make it work. Camera sensors are packed into what looks like a Stormtrooper costume accessory. Data gathered by the belt syncs up with camera sensors surrounding the Gita robot. That way, it can map out where I'm going, turn a corner to follow me, and not run into walls or people walking between us.
But don't be too distracted by the belt. The creators say the final version won't require the owner to wear something so bulky. In fact, it could just be something small you clip to a pocket.
It being a prototype, of course there were buggy moments. When the belt didn't sync up with the robot, an engineer would step in with a remote control to steer it in the right path. (A remote drive is how Gita got into that little glass door accident that busted a sensor. Ooof. The team said future models will be made of a tougher material that's less prone to accidental cracking.)
Gita has many tricks that my demo wasn't set up to show off. It can travel up to 22 miles per hour so it can keep up with someone running or riding a bike. It's able to stay close your side when you need to keep it on a tight leash -- such as when entering an elevator.
The company is also working on a mode to have it park outside a store and wait for you. If you're worried about someone rolling away with your Gita, it's cumbersome to move, weighing in at around 50 pounds. The door latch is locked by a fingerprint scanner. And alarms will go off if someone starts messing with your bot.
It also can map an area to memorize it for future trips, so it doesn't always need to follow someone to know where to go.
For now, the team behind the Gita is shopping it around to different businesses to test it out in office and customer-service environments. Later this year, you could see Gita trailing nurses in hospitals, or assisting bellhops in hotels.
It may be another two years before we can use Gita ourselves to carry our groceries home, lug those heavy college textbooks -- or better yet, follow you around a tailgate party as your personal beer cooler.
Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said North Korea's leader "begged" for their summit to be rescheduled after the US president cancelled it. Speaking at a conference in Israel, Mr Giuliani said Mr Trump's tough stance had forced Pyongyang's hand. Mr Trump called off the summit in May, accusing North Korea of "tremendous anger and open hostility". But plans for the 12 June bilateral in Singapore were revived after a conciliatory response from Pyongyang. Mr Giuliani was speaking at an investment conference in Israel when he made the remark. The Wall Street Journal first reported that Mr Giuliani said: "Well, Kim Jong-un got back on his hands and knees and begged for it, which is exactly the position you want to put him in." Trump-Kim to meet on Sentosa island What not to say to North Korea Dennis Rodman: The Trump-Kim matchmaker? How Kim the outcast became popular Mr Giuliani is an attorney for the president tackling the Russia collusio
Vice President Mike Pence greets members of the audience at a reception for the Organization of American States in the Indian Treaty Room at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House complex in Washington, Monday, June 4, 2018, as the Trump administration renewed its call Monday for the Organization of American States to suspend Venezuela and for other members to step up pressure on the country's government to restore constitutional order. Andrew Harnik AP Photo WHITE HOUSE Haiti excluded from White House reception of 'like-minded' friends on Venezuela June 04, 2018 10:31 PM WASHINGTON The government of Haiti was not invited to a special White House reception Monday night for “like-minded” governments who are standing with the United States in a call to suspend Venezuela from the Organization of American States. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen invited a group of more than 22 countries' leaders to the White House for a cocktail reception
In the spring of 2017, a high level Trump administration official asked for details on how many Haitians with Temporary Protected Status were on public benefits, how many were convicted of “crimes of any kind,” and how many had been in the country unlawfully before being granted TPS. When told by staffers that this information wasn’t relevant to granting TPS and that the existing data “wasn’t good,” she continued to press ahead. She explained that the Homeland Security Secretary “is going to need this to make a final decision” that spring on whether to extend TPS for Haitians. They were granted the right to stay in the U.S. after a devastating 2010 earthquake. To critics of that decision, these emails, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild, reveal an administration intent on seeking negative information to doom the renewal of TPS for nearly 60,000 Haitians. “Keep in mind that this is in no way relevant to dec
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