| Norway mosque "terror attack" suspect remanded in custody Posted: 12 Aug 2019 10:20 AM PDT  A Norwegian man suspected of killing his stepsister and opening fire in a mosque near Oslo this weekend was remanded in custody Monday, suspected of murder, and a "terrorist act" that police say he filmed himself. The man, identified as 21-year old Philip Manshaus, appeared in the Oslo court with two black eyes and scrapes and bruises on his face, neck and hands, probably obtained when he was overpowered at the mosque. The Norway incident comes amid a rise in white supremacy attacks around the world.
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| Airport Cancels Flight Check-Ins: Hong Kong Update Posted: 13 Aug 2019 03:45 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong's airport halted check-ins for remaining departures for a second straight day, as embattled local leader Carrie Lam warned that the city risked sliding into an "abyss."Hundreds of black-shirted protesters staged a sit-in at the departures hall at Hong Kong International Airport, preventing checked-in passengers from reaching their planes. Airlines including Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd. had already cancelled hundreds more flights Tuesday, the day after the government decided to briefly shut the airport during a mass demonstration in the arrivals area.Thousands of black-clad demonstrators occupied the airport on Monday following a weekend of violence that saw police fire tear gas into a subway station and rubber bullets at close range.Here's the latest:Key Developments:Crowds of demonstrators congregated again at the airport Tuesday, and the main terminal's departures gates were forced to close. Shares of Cathay Pacific extended their slide after falling to a 10-year low Monday. The carrier fell 2.6% Tuesday in Hong Kong, closing at the lowest since April 2009.Lam defended the police response and warned of long-term consequences to city from the unrest. The Civil Human Rights Front detailed plans for peaceful march Sunday. China said protesters showed signs of "terrorism."Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of China's state-run Global Times, said that if the situation in Hong Kong doesn't improve, he thinks China will intervene.antiELAB protesters stream out of the Hong Kong airport HongKongProtests 香港 pic.twitter.com/He5Sfal5Ol— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) August 12, 2019 Check-ins for Remaining Flights Cancelled (5:35 p.m.)Hong Kong's Airport Authority said Tuesday that check-ins for all remaining departing flights had been cancelled.Cathay Pacific's parent company, Swire Pacific Ltd., said it has "consistently and resolutely" supported Hong Kong's development and remains fully committed to the city.Departure Gates Closed (4:23 p.m.)The airport closed its north and south departure gates at international Terminal 1, leaving long lines of passengers who had already checked in to wait for further instruction.The closures came as Hong Kong police said at a daily briefing that officers fired 58 rounds of tear gas and seven rounds of rubber bullets as violence escalated Saturday, moves that helped fuel protester anger.Protests Spread to Departures Hall (3:32 p.m.)Hundreds of black-shirted protesters spread to the airport's departures area, bringing passenger check-ins to a crawl. They sat on the floor and blocked the route to the terminal's north departure gates as they chanted "Shame on Hong Kong police." A trickle of passengers were still getting through, but others remained in a long line, some sitting warily with their luggage carts. The crew channel was closed off. As the crowd of protesters shifted, the arrivals hall largely emptied out."They shoot press, they shoot first aid, they are HK police," one protester's sign read.Plans for Sunday March Detailed (1:19 p.m.)The Civil Human Rights Front, the group that organized three historically large marches against the extradition bill in June and July, detailed plans to hold a similar public procession at 3 p.m. Sunday. The group's challenge will be maintaining the largely peaceful atmosphere of the earlier events as some protests turn to violence and the police employ more forceful measures to disperse them. It's unclear whether CHRF will get sign-off from the police, who have been withholding approval from some marches.Opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo, a prominent participant in CHRF protests, separately called Lam's contention that she didn't have authority over the police force "irresponsible." "It's very clear right now who is running Hong Kong, and that's Beijing," Mo said.Airport Train Services Cut (12:51 p.m.)Hong Kong's Airport Authority announced that trains between downtown and the terminals would depart less frequently after 1 p.m. in a bid to control crowds. The agency said fewer trains were necessary due to reduced flights at the airport. Trains would run at 15-minute intervals instead of the usual 10-minute span, an agency spokesman said.Travelers Confront Protesters at Airport (11:15 a.m.)Some travelers whose flights were disrupted by the airport protests confronted demonstrators, including one man speaking the Mandarin Chinese dialect preferred on the mainland, who complained that his trip had been delayed by a day. One protester apologized to the man, explaining that the government wouldn't listen to their demands. Others shrugged off the delays.香港 pic.twitter.com/BguBaLJjIN— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) August 12, 2019 Lam: Police Used 'Lowest Level' Force (10:14 a.m.)Lam said police used the "lowest level of force" when asked why they had fired tear gas in residential areas, as she held a regular Q+A session ahead of a meeting of the city's Executive Council. She urged calm, a refrain in recent weeks as violence between protesters and police worsens and tear gas is regularly deployed in crowded areas across the city.At one point, she was interrupted by reporters as she sidestepped questions on whether she would resign -- a key protester demand -- and whether she had concrete proposals to ease residents' fears."It would take a very long time to restore Hong Kong," she said, choking up. "I again call on everyone to set aside prejudice, and be calm to look at the city, our home -- do we really want to push it into the abyss?"Read more on the potential toll of the unrest on Hong Kong's economyLam Says Hong Kong in Chaos (9:48 a.m.)After her session began, Lam asked the public whether they wanted to see Hong Kong fall into an abyss and said the city was in a chaotic situation.The city's rule of law is being hurt, she said, and non-cooperation events affected the airport and traffic. Lam also said she saw further suffering for the city's economy, and that dialogue between the two sides could resume after violence stops.Protesters Call for Return to Airport (9 a.m.)Some protesters called for a return to the airport at 1 p.m. Tuesday, circulating a flyer online calling for people to gather featuring an airplane and blue sky.Hong Kong Airlines vowed its support for the city's government and police and condemned protester violence in a half-page advertisement in pro-Beijing local newspaper Wen Wei Po. It came as state-run Air China Ltd. canceled dozens of scheduled flights to the city on Tuesday, citing issues at the airport in a post to its official account on Chinese social media platform Weibo.Read more from Monday's scene at Hong Kong's airportAirport Resumes Normal Operation (6:40 a.m.)The airport was operating normally as of now, a staff at the airport's customer service hotline said by phone. It is re-scheduling 90 canceled flights from Monday.It may cancel more flights Tuesday depending on the situation as some protesters remained at the arrival hall. Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific has canceled more than 200 flights to and out of Hong Kong Tuesday.Airport Protesters Largely Depart (1:14 a.m.)The vast majority of the thousands of protesters who occupied the airport have now left, picking up their posters and tidying up as they departed. After a day of drama, the airport is largely quiet. Now the question will be how many return later in the morning.Separately, Hu Xijin, the editor-in-chief of China's state-run Global Times, said on his Weibo account that if the situation in Hong Kong doesn't improve, he thinks China will intervene. Earlier, the Chinese People's Armed Police were seen assembling in Shenzhen city ahead of "apparent large-scale exercises," Global Times reported on its website, citing videos it obtained.Police Warn Separate Protesting Group (8:21 p.m. Monday)Officers warned a separate group of protesters to disperse after they gathered outside the police headquarters in the downtown area of Wan Chai.At one point, a policeman came out to accept a letter from a protester, and both of them shook hands. Still, the crowds continued to linger.Protesters Depart on Foot (7:06 p.m. Monday)The crowd at the airport thinned out as large groups of black-shirted protesters left the airport and began walking en masse down Airport Road, a major artery which didn't have much traffic headed toward the airport. Most people were headed to Tung Chung -- a neighborhood whose metro station leads back to central areas -- according to video feed from local news outlet Apple Daily.Stranded passengers walking with luggage were also seen on the Apple Daily feed. Amid the exodus, police concluded a marathon hours-long media briefing by saying they had completed road tests of water cannon vehicles that could now be deployed depending on the situation.Government Warns Protesters to Leave (5:43 p.m. Monday)A top Hong Kong official urged demonstrators to head home as concerns grew that police would take action to clear the area."For the safety of all flights, passengers and people who work in the airport, I urge all the people assembled at the Hong Kong International Airport to leave as soon as possible," Hong Kong's Secretary for Transport and Housing Frank Chan told reporters.It was unclear how many flights were impacted, according to Doris Lai, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong Airport Authority. The airport said in an earlier statement that it was aiming to restore operations as soon as possible.Tear Gas Possible at Airport (5:25 p.m. Monday)Police don't rule out the possibility of tear gas being deployed at the airport on Monday, deputy police commissioner Tang Ping-keung told reporters gathered at police headquarters in Wan Chai.He said it will be up to the commander at the scene to decide on the appropriate use of force. Police don't characterize the current protests as "terrorism" and instead see themselves as dealing with radical "rioters," said another official at the briefing, Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of the police's Organized Crime and Triad Bureau.Cathay Pacific Flights Canceled (5:24 p.m. Monday)Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Hong Kong's main airline, said flights departing from the city will be canceled until Tuesday morning, the company said in a travel advisory on its website. Customers should postpone non-essential travel, it said.Shares of the company tumbled to a 10-year low after the news. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index came off its session high and contracts for all three main U.S. equity indexes erased earlier gains.Armed Police Gather: Global Times (4:56 p.m. Monday)China's state-run Global Times newspaper said on its website that its paramilitary People's Armed Police have been assembling in Shenzhen, a megacity just across the border between Hong Kong and the mainland, ahead of "apparent large-scale exercises.""Numerous" armored personnel carriers, trucks and other vehicles of the force were seen heading toward Shenzhen over the weekend, it said. The paper, a tabloid run by the People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's flagship mouthpiece, cited videos it obtained.Flights Canceled (4:18 p.m. Monday)Hong Kong's Airport Authority announced that all departing flights and arrivals not already en route the city have been canceled for the rest of the day.Operations "have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly at the airport today," it said in a statement. "The traffic to the airport is very congested, and the car park spaces at all carparks are already full. Members of the public are advised not to come to the airport."China says Protesters Show Signs of Terrorism (4:07 p.m.)China stepped up its rhetoric on Monday, with a key mainland official saying protesters have committed serious crimes and showed signs of "terrorism."Hong Kong has come to a "critical juncture" and all people who care about its future should say no to violence, Yang Guang, a spokesman for its Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, told reporters on Monday.(Airport Authority corrects to show flights still departing, check-in closed.)\--With assistance from Fion Li, Justin Chin, Sheryl Tian Tong Lee, Iain Marlow, Jacob Gu, Justin Blum, Bill Faries, Jinshan Hong, Shiyin Chen, Annabelle Droulers, Stephen Engle, Dominic Lau, Natalie Lung, Stephen Tan and Will Davies.To contact the reporters on this story: Annie Lee in Hong Kong at olee42@bloomberg.net;Yvonne Man in Hong Kong at yman9@bloomberg.net;Sebastian Chau in Hong Kong at schau30@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, ;Daniel Ten Kate at dtenkate@bloomberg.net, Karen LeighFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russia Says Small Nuclear Reactor Blew Up in Deadly Accident Posted: 12 Aug 2019 06:36 AM PDT  The blast occurred Aug. 8 during a test of a missile
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| Charlottesville Survivor Blasts Terry McAuliffe’s ‘Ahistorical’ Book About Deadly Attack Posted: 13 Aug 2019 01:52 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyFormer Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe's new book, Beyond Charlottesville, tries to tackle the issues of white supremacy that resulted in a deadly neo-Nazi rally in August 2017. But the book isn't a hit with everyone in its namesake city.Beyond Charlottesville centers on Unite the Right, the 2017 white supremacist rally where a neo-Nazi drove his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, killing one. Two state troopers also died in a helicopter crash while monitoring the rally. Activists and independent investigators criticized the police response to the rally, claiming that miscommunications between a variety of police forces allowed the event to devolve into violence. McAuliffe's book omits context about the bureaucratic chaos—and at points is outright wrong, critics say."The book is about racism and white nationalism, the rise of it in the country," McAuliffe told The Daily Beast. "I talk about the issues we've had in Virginia. As I always say, horrible as Charlottesville was, the one benefit was it did rip off the scab on racism and we need to have a frank discussion."But some survivors of the Unite the Right car attack say McAuliffe's version of the story isn't completely frank. Some of those survivors have interrupted McAuliffe's book talks, including an event at D.C.'s Politics and Prose earlier this month."The story he's telling in Beyond Charlottesville is ahistorical. It's not accurate," Anna Malinowski, one of the protesters, told The Daily Beast.A report this week in Charlottesville's Daily Progress, the city's sole daily newspaper, highlighted some of the inaccuracies, from small factual errors, to larger issues of framing.In Beyond Charlottesville, McAuliffe says he "knew without a doubt that we'd done everything we could at the state level to prepare for Charlottesville, but obviously somewhere in the implementation and coordination, those plans went off the rails."But, as the Daily Progress noted, an official Charlottesville investigation revealed a high level of dysfunction at the local and state levels, including miscommunication between local and state police forces during the rally.The Progress also took issue with McAuliffe's explanation for why it took so long for state officials to declare a state of emergency. (McAuliffe wrote that he was waiting for the city to declare an unlawful assembly, which in fact they had declared during the previous night's torchlit march, and again on the rally's second day, in addition to a local state of emergency.). In the book, McAuliffe also describes calling Charlottesville's then-mayor Mike Signer and recommending he ban guns from the rally area, a move Signer could not legally make. Signer objected to elements of the book in his own op-ed for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "It's well-written and contains a powerful personal condemnation of white supremacy that deserves attention. However, it also contains errors and omissions," Signer wrote, accusing McAuliffe of shifting too much blame onto the city.The American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia released a similar critique."Governor McAuliffe's book is yet another example of a politician's effort to pass the buck of responsibility when there was a clear failure of leadership," the ACLU of Virginia told the Progress in a statement. "The leaders had ineffective and uncoordinated plans for managing the protest."Survivors and investigators blamed some of the day's chaos on poor police coordination between too many agencies."They pretty much brought in the cavalry when they found out there would be a lot of white nationalists there. There were Virginia State Police, there were National Guard, there were city and county police," Malinowski, who narrowly avoided being hit by the car, said. "There was lots of fighting going on that was incited by the white supremacists, and the police basically did nothing either to prevent it or stop it while it was happening."At the D.C. protest this month, Malinowski and other protesters accused McAuliffe of "using black folks as political currency" and not paying attention to what they say are white supremacists in law enforcement.They also objected to McAuliffe's plan to donate some proceedings to the Virginia State Police Association. This last point is of particular contention between the former governor and the Charlottesville activists.At least one person at the D.C. protest chanted "cops and Klan go hand in hand," a slogan popular among some activists on the left. They mean some of the chant literally (a number of law enforcement officers have been found to have white supremacist ties) and some of it more figuratively, in the context of police brutality against people of color. (After Unite the Right, many Charlottesville locals turned an eye to stop-and-frisks by the city's police, which disproportionately affect minorities in the city.)McAuliffe's book also addresses structural racism. But he said the chant was beyond the pale."They call the KKK and the police the same thing and that, to me, is very disrespectful to all law enforcement," McAuliffe said. "Everybody had the same goal that day, and it was to keep everybody safe. But to call police the KKK is highly offensive, highly disrespectful."Malinowski and others said the money would be better spent on survivors, some of whom have struggled to pay medical bills, or to make rent after injuries from the car attack pushed them into unemployment. Matthew Christensen, who recently served as an advocate for victims of the attack, said the problem is the result of a complicated victim support system, which sees many survivors relying on a private victims' fund called Heal Charlottesville. "I have a Master's in social work," Christensen said. "Some of the bureaucracy we were working with was difficult for me. For anyone else, especially people dealing with trauma, it'd be exponentially more difficult."Survivors can technically apply for a state fund that compensates victims of crimes. But that system only pays out in cases of "last resort," and has redirected survivors to the Heal Charlottesville fund. As of June, the fund had expended all its funds, a spokesperson told The Daily Beast. Since the protests, McAuliffe said he would split the book's proceeds between the police association, the Heather Heyer Foundation (as originally planned), and the Heal Charlottesville Fund."I say to anybody: if you've got outstanding bills, all of us—the whole community, the whole state —ought to be involved in assisting," he said. "We reached out to a couple of the groups, which is somewhat surprising to me because the main one, [the administrators of the Heal Fund], said they have a surplus left and they have no claims in front of them."(The Heal Fund told The Daily Beast it does not have a surplus, although it has secured money for survivors' ongoing claims.)McAuliffe said his book was especially timely as President Donald Trump launches Twitter attacks against legislators of color. "It's a very opportune time to have this big discussion on where we go as a nation, because we are so split today as a country," he said. "The hatred and the racism and what's going on in the country today needs to be addressed and we need to have a conversation. We need elected officials to do something about it."Malinowski, meanwhile, said the book was too late."The only thing he should be saying is 'I messed up, I should have done more to protect these people,' and he's not saying that. He's trying to be the hero in his book."Editor's note: this story has been updated to clarify the recipients of McAuliffe's book proceeds.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Devastating photos show the damage of Typhoon Lekima, which left at least 44 people dead and forced 1 million to evacuate in China Posted: 11 Aug 2019 09:55 PM PDT  A million people were evacuated from their homes and thousands of flights were cancelled across major airports in China.
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| How to Grill Pineapple for Tacos, Salsa, Sundaes, and More Posted: 12 Aug 2019 02:59 PM PDT |
| 'The fire was just nuts': At least 5 children dead in Erie blaze, authorities say Posted: 12 Aug 2019 06:35 AM PDT  At least five children died in a Pennsylvania house fire that blew flames out of every first-floor window early Sunday morning, authorities said.
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| Airline leaves group of children as young as eight ‘unaccompanied overnight after flight delayed’ Posted: 13 Aug 2019 06:34 AM PDT  Hudson Hoyt was ecstatic for his first time at Camp New Friends.The 8-year-old, who lives in Beaverton, Oregon, flew east in early August for the camp's week-long summer program outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, specifically for children with neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumours to grow on nerve tissue.It was a dream experience for Hudson - at least, until the return flight home via American Airlines, for which point Hudson's mother says he and eight other unaccompanied minors from the camp were temporarily stranded, deprived of food and met with conditions so poor it's made her son reluctant to fly again."I felt scared," Hudson, who suffers from anxiety, said in an interview with The Washington Post. "When the plane stopped moving, I was afraid I was never going to see my mum again."The first plane arrived late for a layover in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to Hudson's mother, Kristie Hoyt, and the children were rushed to their Portland, Oregon, flight without stopping for food. But then the second plane was stalled by delays that were not communicated to the parents. First, fuel spilled on the tarmac. Then, she learned that the airline needed to find replacements for the pilot and co-pilot, who had worked too many hours.When Ms Hoyt asked for a direct phone number for someone with American Airlines who could keep her updated on the children's situation, the mother says she was denied. Updates came after a 12-year-old in the group called her and gave the phone to a flight attendant. The airline never reached out to her directly, she says, even though she was listed as the contact for two children on the trip.With their flight delayed until the next morning, the children's' problems worsened at the Charlotte airport. They stayed overnight in an unaccompanied-minor room, where some of the kids had to sleep on the floor because there were not enough beds and furniture, Ms Hoyt said. Hudson and his friends still hadn't eaten a full meal since breakfast at camp that morning, and the vending machines inside didn't work.Some of the children on the flight required medication with a full meal to prevent seizures and migraines, she says.Ms Hoyt detailed the saga in Facebook posts."American Airlines, how are you okay with leaving 9 unaccompanied children all with medical needs on a plane for over 5 hours and not giving their parents updates?" she wrote Friday night. "Or allowing the kids access to electricity to charge their phones to talk to their parents? You are disgraceful! And harming these children!"After their overnight stay at the airport, Hoyt says the children were rushed onto a plane at about 6am. The children did not receive breakfast aboard the plane as promised, she said, even when the takeoff time was delayed again because "the catering service wasn't delivered."The confusion came to a head when the kids arrived in Portland and the mother was asked to sign for a child who was not hers.In all, Ms Hoyt said the children went more than 24 hours without a full meal. In a 5am text from her son, which she later posted to Facebook, Hudson wrote: "[Our] plane has not take off yet I [have] not had lunch dinner or breakfast."After his adoption, Hudson has struggled with anxiety and abandonment issues, something his mother says they are working to overcome. She and other parents say they were never contacted by the airline, even though American Airlines' policy requires staffers to "call the contacts on the unaccompanied minor form" in the event of a delay or cancelled flight.Kelley Phillips, identified by KATU as another child on the plane, told the network she and her friends had "limited" access to the bathroom and were only provided with snacks."The only thing we had were crackers and soda, which isn't good because we need real food to be able to take our medication," she said.American Airlines issued a public statement of apology and attributed the overnight delay to a mechanical problem. It said the children were kept "safe and comfortable" in the care of airline personnel."Our team is in the process of reaching out to the families involved and sincerely apologises for this travel experience. We will be reviewing with our teams internally to understand how we can do better next time," the airline wrote.Hudson, she said, wants to go back to camp but now has trepidation about flying. After meeting with a counsellor Monday, however, they've narrowed that scope to American Airlines flights, specifically."We're just trying to work through the trauma of it," she said.The Washington Post
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| Ohio teen who had 10,000 ammo rounds arrested for threatening ‘every’ agent, FBI says Posted: 13 Aug 2019 10:26 AM PDT  An Ohio teen was arrested on Wednesday after making a number of threats to law enforcement online, officials say.
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| Latest: Hong Kong police: 5 arrested after airport protests Posted: 13 Aug 2019 02:24 PM PDT  Hong Kong police say they have arrested five people for unlawful assembly, assaulting police officers and possessing weapons after a second day of mass protests at the city's airport. Officials said in a statement that some protesters detained, harassed and assaulted a traveler and a journalist, and obstructed ambulance workers from taking the two men to the hospital. Hong Kong's busy airport was the latest setting for large-scale pro-democracy protests that have rocked the city for months, with authorities canceling dozens of flights on Monday and Tuesday.
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| Pakistan Urges UN Security Council to Meet on Kashmir Standoff Posted: 13 Aug 2019 02:33 PM PDT ![Pakistan Urges UN Security Council to Meet on Kashmir Standoff]( "Pakistan Urges UN Security Council to Meet on Kashmir Standoff") (Bloomberg) -- Pakistan called on the United Nations Security Council to convene an urgent meeting on India's decision to revoke autonomy for the disputed Muslim-majority state of Kashmir, a move it says could spark a new conflict between the two South Asian nuclear powers.India's recent actions "pose a threat to international peace and security, willfully undermine the internationally recognized disputed status of Jammu & Kashmir," and violate the human rights of the Kashmiri people, Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi wrote in a letter Tuesday to the Security Council. There is a "clear and present danger" that India will provoke a conflict with Pakistan to divert attention from its recent actions, Qureshi said.Pakistan's always strained relations with its neighbor are being put to a new test after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended seven decades of autonomy for the disputed state of Kashmir. Kashmir, in the Himalayas, has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from British rule, and is claimed by both.Modi's move gives India's central government control of the local police and allows Indians outside Kashmir to buy property there. Modi said it would usher in a new era of prosperity for Kashmiris.India has traditionally sought to keep its disputes with Pakistan away from international fora like the UN while Pakistan, asserting that India is violating international law, wants the world body to put the issue on the Security Council's agenda.To contact the reporter on this story: David Wainer in New York at dwainer3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| New York Times columnist recalls Jeffrey Epstein saying that sex with teenage girls was historically acceptable and that criminalizing the act went against cultural norms Posted: 13 Aug 2019 01:16 PM PDT  James B. Stewart wrote about an "on background" conversation he had last year with Epstein in a piece published on Monday.
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| Schumer to Urge Trump to Reallocate $5 Billion in Border-Wall Money to Fight Gun Violence, White Supremacy Posted: 13 Aug 2019 05:28 AM PDT  Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer is expected to formally petition President Trump to withdraw his request for $5 billion in border-wall funding and redirect the funds to combat "the dual scourges of gun violence and violent white supremacist extremism."Schumer will ask that Trump reallocate the border-wall funds funds, which he appropriated without congressional consent by declaring a national emergency, to programs such as the Department of Homeland Security counter-violent extremism programs, FBI domestic-terrorism investigations, and Centers for Disease Control gun-violence research, Politico reported on Monday."The dual scourges of gun violence and violent white supremacist extremism in this country are a national security threat plain and simple, and it's time the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress starting treating them as such," Schumer said in a statement provided to Politico. "Now Republicans and this administration need to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to addressing gun violence and stopping the rise of domestic terrorism, especially stemming from white supremacy. Democrats are prepared to work in a bipartisan fashion to respond to Director Wray's clarion call on a briefing call with Senate Democrats last week for additional resources to address this national security crisis on our own soil."The suspected gunman who killed 22 people at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart earlier this month specifically targeted Hispanic immigrants.While it remains highly unlikely that Trump will abandon his long-running effort to build a wall on the southern border, Schumer's request is intended to place public pressure on Republicans at a time of national outrage over the spate of mass shootings that shook the country two weekends ago.In his latest budget, Trump requested an additional $8.6 billion in border-wall funding, on top of the $5 billion that he appropriated from the Department of Homeland Security construction accounts and the $3.6 billion he secured in Pentagon assistance.
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| Family sues Glenview nursing home over video of aides taunting woman, 91, with dementia; aides charged and fired Posted: 13 Aug 2019 07:27 AM PDT  Two nursing home aides in north suburban Glenview have been fired and charged after a Snapchat video showed them taunting a 91-year-old woman with dementia. Her family is now taking legal action.
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| Goldman Sachs economists say fears rise that U.S.-China trade war leading to recession Posted: 11 Aug 2019 07:53 PM PDT  "We expect tariffs targeting the remaining $300bn of U.S. imports from China to go into effect," the bank said in a note sent to clients. U.S. President Donald Trump announced on Aug. 1 that he would impose a 10% tariff on a final $300 billion worth of Chinese imports on Sept. 1, prompting China to halt purchases of U.S. agricultural products. China denies that it has manipulated the yuan for competitive gain.
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| 4-year-old dies after accidentally dousing herself with boiling water, Texas cops say Posted: 13 Aug 2019 07:44 AM PDT  A child is dead and a woman has been arrested after a tragic accident in Texas on Saturday.
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| Inventive Butternut Squash Recipes, From Stuffing to Soup Posted: 12 Aug 2019 07:21 PM PDT |
| General orders ethics review of US special operations forces Posted: 12 Aug 2019 02:20 PM PDT ![General orders ethics review of US special operations forces]( "General orders ethics review of US special operations forces") The head of U.S. Special Operations Command has ordered an ethics review of his commando forces, in the wake of a number of recent incidents of bad behavior and criminal allegations against troops. Army Gen. Richard Clarke said that "recent incidents have called our culture and ethics into question and threaten the trust placed in us." And, he said the review will focus on how the command recruits special operators, how it educates and trains the force and how it addresses ethical failures when they occur. Ken McGraw, a spokesman for Special Operations Command, said Monday that Clarke ordered the review last Friday and expects it will be complete by the end of November.
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| UK baby loses all 4 limbs following horrific sepsis infection Posted: 13 Aug 2019 06:53 AM PDT  UK mom warning to other parents after her 11-month-old son loses his limbs to sepsis infection.
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| Mexico march demands justice for girls allegedly raped by police Posted: 12 Aug 2019 05:12 PM PDT  Protesters in Mexico City demanded justice Monday for two teenage girls who say police officers raped them, dousing the capital's security minister in pink glitter and smashing the glass doors of the local prosecutor's office. Shouting "Justice!", around 250 people, mostly women, took to the streets to protest the lack of punishment in the two cases, the latest to trigger outrage over the high rate of violence against women and girls in Mexico.
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| Beijing 'preparing tanks at Hong Kong border', warns Trump as protesters clash with police at airport Posted: 13 Aug 2019 01:32 PM PDT  Protesters clashed with riot police at Hong Kong's international airport on Tuesday evening after flights were disrupted for a second day, as Donald Trump warned that China is moving troops to the border. The airport scuffles broke out in the evening between police and protesters, after demonstrators allegedly detained two men suspected of being undercover Chinese officials. Trouble began as about 10-15 regular police officers entered the airport without riot gear to assist paramedics after a man collapsed. The man was accused by demonstrators of being a member of Chinese state security. Protesters then drove the police out of the terminal building. Shortly after, about 50 riot police arrived and clashes broke out in and around the entrance of the airport. Police used pepper spray and made a handful of arrests as scenes briefly turned violent. A policeman was cornered and beaten with his own baton before protesters dispersed when he drew his pistol. Cameramen and photographers film a detained man, who protesters claimed was a police officer from mainland China Credit: Vincent Yu/AP Protesters also detained a second man who they suspected of being an undercover agent. After emptying out his belongings, they found a blue T-shirt that has been worn by pro-Beijing supporters that they said was evidence he was a spy. The editor-in-chief of the Global Times claimed one of the men seen detained and tied to a trolley was a reporter for the Chinese state newspaper. About 30 protesters remained at the airport early on Wednesday while workers scrubbed it clean of blood and debris from overnight. Check-in counters reopened to queues of weary travellers who had waited overnight for their flights. Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, tweeted: "Concerning to see what's happening in Hong Kong and the worrying pictures of clashes between police & protesters at the airport. As I said to Carrie Lam during my call last week, we condemn the violence & encourage constructive dialogue to find a peaceful way forward." Meanwhile, Chinese paramilitary police were assembling across the border in the city of Shenzhen for exercises. While China has yet to threaten sending in the army - as it did against pro-democracy protesters in Beijing in 1989 - the Shenzhen exercises were a sign of its ability to crush the demonstrations, even at the cost to Hong Kong's reputation as a safe haven for business and international exchange. Images on the internet showed armored personnel carriers belonging to the People's Armed Police driving in a convoy on Monday towards the site of the exercises. Mr Trump said in a tweet: "Our Intelligence has informed us that the Chinese Government is moving troops to the Border with Hong Kong. Everyone should be calm and safe!" He retweeted a video purporting to show army trucks queuing in Shenzhen, the Chinese city that borders Hong Kong. Disturbing video taken in Shenzhen just across the boarder with HongKong. Something extraordinarily bad is about happen. ChinaHongKongProtestsDemocracySaveHongKongpic.twitter.com/Gad5R5HVZL— Alexandre Krauss (@AlexandreKrausz) August 12, 2019 The US president, who is embroiled in a major trade dispute with China, added: "Many are blaming me, and the United States, for the problems going on in Hong Kong. I can't imagine why?" Ten weeks of increasingly violent clashes between police and protesters have roiled the Asian financial hub as thousands of residents chafe at a perceived erosion of freedoms and autonomy under Chinese rule. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged Hong Kong to exercise restraint and investigate evidence of its forces firing tear gas at protesters in ways banned under international law. China later rejected what it called a "wrongful statement" by the UN, saying it amounted to interference in its domestic affairs. Riot police clashed with pockets of protesters at the airport as demonstrations crippled terminals Credit: THOMAS PETER/ REUTERS At a news conference in the government headquarters complex, which is fortified behind 6-foot (1.8-m) -high water-filled barricades, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said: "Take a minute to look at our city, our home." Her voice cracked as she added: "Can we bear to push it into the abyss and see it smashed to pieces?" Ms Lam's repeated refusals to make any concessions or show sympathy towards protesters, some of whom have been injured as police shoot tear gas and rubber bullets, has only upset them more and boosted public support for the activists plunging the city into its worst political crisis in decades. Chris Patten, the last governor under British colonial rule, said that Hong Kong was "close to the abyss", because Ms Lam refused to withdraw a controversial extradition bill. "I think there is a degree of frustration and anger at the government refusing to give any sensible ground at all, which probably provokes more violence," Mr Patten told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He urged Boris Johnson to take a firmer line with Beijing, and to put pressure on visiting National Security Advisor John Bolton for US help. Tom Tugendhat, chairman of the foreign affairs committee, said the UK should extend citizenship rights to Hong Kong citizens. The White House has also urged "all sides" to avoid violence in Hong Kong. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, on Monday praised protesters for standing up to the Chinese Communist Party, warning that the "world is watching" for any violent crackdown by authorities. Mr Trump earlier said he hoped no one would be killed. The crisis was a "very tricky situation," the president told reporters in New Jersey. "I hope it works out peacefully, nobody gets hurt, nobody gets killed," he said. Hong Kong protests | Read more China this week condemned some protesters for using dangerous tools to attack police, calling the clashes "sprouts of terrorism". They present President Xi Jinping with one of his biggest challenges since he came to power in 2012. Hong Kong legal experts say Beijing might be paving the way to use anti-terrorism laws to try to quell the demonstrations. The clashes at the airport followed an unprecedented airport shutdown on Monday. Again on Tuesday, thousands of black-clad protesters jammed the terminal, chanting, singing and waving banners. Floors and walls were covered with missives penned by activists and other artwork. Initially, the scene was peaceful as knots of protesters spoke to travellers, explaining their aims. "Sorry for the inconvenience, we are fighting for the future of our home," read one protest banner at the airport. "I think paralysing the airport will be effective in forcing Carrie Lam to respond to us ... it can further pressure Hong Kong's economy," said Dorothy Cheng, 17. The weeks of protests began as opposition to a now-suspended bill that would have allowed suspects to be extradited to mainland China, but have swelled into wider calls for democracy. Demonstrators say they are fighting the erosion of the "one country, two systems" arrangement that enshrined some autonomy for Hong Kong since China took it back from Britain in 1997. They want Ms Lam to resign. She says she will stay. Fu Guohao, reporter of GT website is being seized by demonstrators at HK airport. I affirm this man being tied in this video is the reporter himself. He has no other task except for reporting. I sincerely ask the demonstrators to release him. I also ask for help of West reporters pic.twitter.com/sbFb0L3s92— Hu Xijin 胡锡进 (@HuXijin_GT) August 13, 2019 "My responsibility goes beyond this particular range of protest," Ms Lam said on Tuesday, adding that violence had pushed the territory into a state of "panic and chaos". As she spoke, the benchmark Hang Seng index hit a seven-month low. It shed more than 2%, dragging down markets across Asia. Ms Lam did not respond to questions at a press briefing to clarify if she had the power to withdraw the extradition bill and satisfy a key demand made by the protesters, or if she needed Beijing's approval. Airport authorities had earlier suspended check-in operations. Crowds of protesters continued to swell in the evening. "Terminal operations at Hong Kong International Airport have been seriously disrupted as a result of the public assembly," the airport authority said. Some passengers challenged protesters over the delays as tempers began to fray, while the demonstrators, using a Chinese term of encouragement, chanted, "Hong Kong people - add oil!" Flag carrier Cathay Pacific said: "There is potential for further flight disruptions at short notice". The airline, whose British heritage makes it a symbol of Hong Kong's colonial past, is also in a political bind. China's civil aviation regulator demanded that the airline suspend staff who joined or backed the protests from flights in its airspace, pushing the carrier's shares past Monday's 10-year low. Other Chinese airlines have offered passengers wanting to avoid Hong Kong a free switch to nearby destinations, such as Guangzhou, Macau, Shenzhen or Zhuhai, with the disruption sending shares in Shenzhen Airport Co Ltd surging.
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| 'The saddest dive of my life': A diver's before-and-after photos reveal the death of a coral reef Posted: 13 Aug 2019 06:02 AM PDT  As our planet and its oceans warm, coral reefs worldwide are experiencing bleaching — when the corals expel their food source and turn ghostly white.
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| NRA Wins First Round Over L.A. Law It Says Is About Shaming Posted: 12 Aug 2019 05:35 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A federal judge in Los Angeles rejected the city's request to throw out a National Rifle Association lawsuit challenging a new law that requires contractors to disclose all business ties to the organization.The NRA says the law violates its First Amendment rights to free speech and association by discriminating against the group over its viewpoints and trying to freeze out its corporate supporters.U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson on Monday rejected the city's argument that contractors' involvement with the NRA -- such as offering discounts -- isn't "expressive" within the meaning of the First Amendment."That is rejected," Wilson, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, said at a hearing on the city's request. "It is expressive, so there is a First Amendment issue."The judge is still considering an NRA request for an order blocking the ordinance while it pursues its lawsuit to nullify the measure. He set another hearing for Sept. 9.Read more on the dispute hereThe NRA's lawyer, Sean Brady, told Wilson that the Los Angeles ordinance is aimed at discouraging companies from partnering with the organization by putting their city contracts at risk -- even if the law itself has more benign language."The government cannot curtail support for an organization because of its speech," he said. The city wants to subject NRA supporters "to ridicule and boycott," he said.Wilson noted several city council members had said during debates on the law, and on Twitter, that they disagreed with the NRA's mission and its influence.That could be seen as contradicting the city's claim that the law is merely intended to increase transparency about contractors doing business with the NRA."They don't like the NRA," Wilson said. "That ought to be considered."He questioned why the city needed the information, comparing it to the government demanding that contractors reveal if they spent their money on a Cadillac or a Porsche. "Why does the city want to know that?" he asked.Benjamin Chapman, the city's lawyer, compared the ordinance to a sunshine law, saying it was about transparency.He repeatedly challenged the NRA's claim that the law essentially was a backdoor attempt to see the organization's membership list. He said several companies had already revealed their NRA deals to the city under the law, including a major law firm and a national telecommunications company, and said the city hadn't canceled its contracts with them.Contracts "are not integral to expression," Chapman said.(Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, is a donor to candidates and groups that support gun control, including Everytown for Gun Safety.)(Updates with details from court hearing.)To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in Los Angeles at elarson4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Peter BlumbergFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Tokyo urges caution for Japanese travelers to South Korea Posted: 13 Aug 2019 06:31 AM PDT  Tokyo issued a travel advisory to Japanese citizens visiting South Korea, ahead of crucial anniversaries this week, urging them to be cautious about safety as ties between the neighbours worsen over trade and historical issues. South Korea commemorates girls and women forced to work in Japan's wartime brothels on August 14 and marks August 15 as a national day of liberation from Japanese rule, which ran from 1910 to 1945. Japan's foreign ministry advised Japanese residents in South Korea and visitors to be careful and avoid areas in which Japan-related protests and gatherings are expected to be held on Wednesday and Thursday.
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| Massachusetts judge allowed to keep $181K salary amid federal charges for obstructing ICE Posted: 13 Aug 2019 01:34 PM PDT  In a reversal, a Massachusetts judge indicted for allowing an undocumented immigrant to evade ICE will be able to keep her $181,328 annual salary.
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| Only passenger on a Delta flight has the time of his life with the crew Posted: 13 Aug 2019 03:03 PM PDT  Have you ever wished you could have a whole plane to yourself? Same.One lucky man, Vincent Peone, recently found himself in that rare position, and as you may imagine it did not suck.Upon learning he was the only passenger on a Delta flight, Peone -- who also happens to be a director -- recorded his unique experience and spliced together clips to make a hilarious video."Last week @Delta gave me my own private jet...kind of," Peone tweeted alongside the footage.SEE ALSO: Passenger and tarmac worker play rock-paper-scissors through plane windowIn the video you'll see Peone getting special treatment from Delta employees before he even boards the plane."Good evening ladies and gentleman, we're about to board our flight to Salt Lake City from Gate 5, would the only passenger on this flight kindly board at this time," an airport employee announces, to which Peone says, "That's me," and grabs his bag."I'm going to record this," Peone says to an employee as they walk across the tarmac to the plane. He then asks her if she's ever seen anyone fly alone on a plane before, and, crushing his history-making dreams, she says, "Yes they have. Sorry." Peone also recorded crew members "adding weight" to the plane "because there are no people" and himself enjoying a drink while the flight attendant welcomed him and only him over the speakers."Good evening Vincent, and welcome aboard. We look forward to taking care of you today. If you need any assistance getting settled we're delighted to serve you. To ensure an on-time departure please remain in your seat," she said.After Peone's plane landed, he stopped by the cockpit to meet and personally thank his pilots for his private flight, and proceeded to pose for a photograph outside the plane.In an interview with the Washington Post, Peone said he believes the unique circumstance was the result of the flight being rescheduled. He also confirmed that he was allowed to pick his own seat, which is a real dream."I sat window and aisle. I was tempted to try to set a record to sit in every single seat for like, two minutes on the flight, so that I could actually sit everywhere. But I didn't feel that ambitious," he explained.Though Delta hasn't officially reached out to its star passenger, the airline's Twitter account did reply to the video.> Hi Vincent! That looks like an awesome experience! Thank you for the shoutout, and we truly appreciate you for choosing Delta! Take care. ✈️ AJM> > -- Delta (@Delta) August 12, 2019It's always nice to hear about positive travel experiences every once in a while, and this one was truly impressive. WATCH: This 'hybrid drone' can hover like a helicopter and fly like a plane -- Future Blink
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| President of Honduras says he faces no US criminal charges Posted: 13 Aug 2019 03:45 PM PDT  Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández offered assurances Tuesday that he faces no criminal charges in the United States and said recent allegations by U.S. federal prosecutors were based on drug traffickers trying to take revenge against him. Hernández came to Washington only days after prosecutors accused him of essentially running a narco-state and of having received campaign contributions from cocaine traffickers in exchange for protection. "That is an allegation from a drug trafficker in a separate trial," Hernández replied when The Associated Press asked him whether he faces formal charges in the United States.
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| These Bosnian refugees came to Charlotte 20 years ago. Why doesn’t it feel like home? Posted: 13 Aug 2019 10:35 AM PDT  When Almedina Suljicic Ijaz had her son a year ago, sadness almost overcame her joy. In that moment, she couldn't help but think of the mothers in Srebrenica, a small town in Ijaz's home country of Bosnia in eastern Europe. The Srebrenica massacre was 24 years ago, but it's still not easy to talk about.
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| Russia warns of 'foreign meddling' after protests Posted: 13 Aug 2019 02:15 PM PDT  Russian lawmakers will hold a special session next week to discuss alleged "meddling" by foreign powers after huge protests in Moscow, following a government warning to YouTube. The speaker of the lower house State Duma, Vyacheslav Volodin, said on Monday that "facts of meddling in domestic issues in our country" would be debated on August 19. Russia has accused foreign governments and media of backing the demonstrations, which have seen tens of thousands rally in recent weeks demanding free local elections.
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| India warns China to stay out of Kashmir dispute as crisis intensifies Posted: 12 Aug 2019 03:15 AM PDT  India has issued a warning to China to stay out of the dispute over Kashmir's status, after Pakistan said it would take the issue to the United Nations Security Council with the support of Beijing. The remarks by the Indian foreign minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, came after his Pakistani counterpart visited China in a bid to seek allies for a UN resolution against New Delhi for revoking Kashmir's autonomy. Mr Jaishankar flew to Beijing himself to meet China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, saying at the talks that "the two nations should ensure that it was important that differences between us, if any, should not become disputes". China's foreign ministry said in a statement later that it had taken a "principled" stand on "unilateral" actions by India, and had urged New Delhi to play a constructive role in regional peace and stability. But India's Ministry of External Affairs bluntly said decisions on Kashmir were "an internal matter concerning the territory of India". "India does not comment on the internal affairs of other countries and similarly expects other countries to do likewise," the ministry added. Kashmir China has described India's revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status, in place since Partition in 1947, as "unacceptable" and a threat to its territorial sovereignty. As well as the dispute between India and Pakistan, China also claims a strip of Kashmir, Aksai Chin. Following Friday's meeting between Mr Wang and the Pakistani foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the Chinese diplomat expressed grave concern about the situation in Kashmir, the cause of two wars between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan. Mr Wang had assured Mr Qureshi that Beijing would continue to support Pakistan to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests, his ministry said in a statement. Kashmir itself on Monday remained under a communications blackout and a police curfew, with information still difficult to come by or verify. The Indian government said it was easing restrictions yesterday, and that the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha had been observed largely peacefully. It also condemned as "irresponsible" a series of tweets by Pakistani officials, including Prime Minister Imran Khan, which likened the Indian government to "Nazis" and "fascists". The row spilled over into a Los Angeles beauty event, where former Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra was accused of "encouraging nuclear war" over an Instagram caption in which she wrote "Jai Hind", meaning "victory to India" and included the hashtag IndianArmedForces. Referring to the post from February, an audience member at a beauty panel told Chopra: "You are a Unicef ambassador for peace and you're encouraging nuclear war against Pakistan. There's no winner in this." Chopra said: "War is not something that I'm really fond of, but I am patriotic." The woman, who named herself on Twitter as Ayesha Malik, was handed the microphone during the Q&A; portion of a BeautyCon panel featuring Chopra. The exchange was caught on camera. Ms Malik said: "It was kind of hard hearing you talk about humanity, because as your neighbour, a Pakistani, I know you're a bit of a hypocrite." The actress, a Unicef ambassador, was accused of fuelling tensions with a tweet backing Indian armed forces and exclaiming "Jai Hind" (Victory to India) Credit: John Sciulli/Getty Ms Malik added: "As a Pakistani, millions of people like me have supported you in your business of Bollywood." Staff then grabbed the microphone away. Chopra, who is married to US pop star Nick Jonas, replied: "I hear you. Whenever you're done venting. Got it? Done? Okay, cool." The 37-year-old said "war is not something that I'm really fond of, but I am patriotic", adding "but I think that all of us have a sort of middle ground that we all have to walk". She added: "The way you came at me right now, girl, don't yell. We're all here for love. Don't yell. Don't embarrass yourself."
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| 'It's not right': 7-year-old boy shot to death in St. Louis Posted: 13 Aug 2019 11:48 AM PDT !['It's not right': 7-year-old boy shot to death in St. Louis]( "'It's not right': 7-year-old boy shot to death in St. Louis") Xavier Usanga was supposed to start second grade Tuesday. Instead, grief counselors were consoling his would-be classmates at Clay Elementary School, after the 7-year-old boy became the 11th child killed by gunfire in St. Louis since June. Xavier was shot Monday afternoon while standing near a teenager and two other children on the city's north side.
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| Watch a Tesla Model 3 on Autopilot crash into a parked truck and burst into flames Posted: 12 Aug 2019 06:03 PM PDT  A Tesla Model 3 burst into flames over the weekend after crashing into a tow truck parked on a highway shoulder. The incident occurred in Moscow and the driver -- named Alexei Tretyakov -- noted that the car was on Autopilot at the time of the crash. Incidentally, Tretyakov made a point of noting that his hands were on the steering wheel at the time, per Tesla's guidelines. As to the specifics of the crash, Tretyakov said he was driving at about 60 miles per hour when he abruptly collided with a tow truck that had escaped his line of sight for some reason. Shortly thereafter, the Tesla caught fire with the flames ultimately destroying the car entirely. Incidentally, there were also two explosions that rattled the car following the accident. At the time of the incident, Tretyakov was in the car with his family. Thankfully, Tretyakov managed to escape with only a broken leg while the rest of his family -- which included two children in the back -- managed to escape with just a few minor bruises. The collision itself was captured on video and can be seen below. If you watch closely, you'll note that the Model 3 didn't veer to the left or do anything unusual. If anything, the Model 3 was exactly in the middle of the lane as it approached a tow truck that was jutting out from the shoulder of the road into the highway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0ZUB5jvffo A more detailed video of the aftermath, along with the resulting fire and explosion, can be seen below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reTFVSlXTfA Another angle of the incident, along with the aftermath of the fire, can be seen via the video below. https://youtu.be/usHzST-tw40
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| Muslim pilgrims pray in Mecca as haj winds down without incident Posted: 13 Aug 2019 11:22 AM PDT ![Muslim pilgrims pray in Mecca as haj winds down without incident]( "Muslim pilgrims pray in Mecca as haj winds down without incident") Millions of haj pilgrims began heading back to Mecca for final prayers on Tuesday as the world's largest annual gathering of Muslims wound down without incident despite the logistical challenges and escalating regional tensions. Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam's holiest sites, Mecca and Medina, and its organisation of the pilgrimage. Pilgrims participated in a symbolic stoning of the devil, part of the haj rituals, in Jamarat before returning to Mecca, where the Grand Mosque filled with worshippers preparing to depart.
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| Prosecco Grapes, Kiwi Pops, and More Easy Fruit Desserts Posted: 13 Aug 2019 02:23 PM PDT |
| New Mexico man choked a cat, fed it meth, abused his girlfriend, police say Posted: 13 Aug 2019 04:51 PM PDT  Aaron Spaulding was already facing multiple felony counts from a domestic incident when he was charged with animal cruelty.
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| From Bill Clinton to Julius Caesar, here are 12 world leaders who were left-handed Posted: 12 Aug 2019 05:06 AM PDT  August 13 is International Left Handers Day. Though left-handers make up just 10% of the world, many of them have very important jobs.
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| Sun City woman attacked by alligator Monday night while walking her dog Posted: 13 Aug 2019 07:51 AM PDT  The gator bit her on the leg and wrist, according to SCDNR.
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| Iran Says It Expects Tanker Held by U.K. to Be Released Soon Posted: 13 Aug 2019 08:24 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Iran expects an oil tanker seized by the U.K. in the Strait of Gibraltar in July will be released soon, the semi-official Fars News agency reported Tuesday, a move that could help to ease concerns about the safety of shipping routes in the Middle East."Official and unofficial documents have been exchanged to resolve the matter and we hope the problem will be dealt with in the very near future," Fars cited Jalil Eslami, deputy for maritime affairs at Iran's Ports and Maritime Organization, as saying. The future of a U.K.-flagged tanker that Iran seized later in the Persian Gulf depends on "the necessary judicial processes," Eslami added.Iran's Grace 1 tanker was seized by the Royal Navy on suspicion it was sending crude oil to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. Tehran denied breaking sanctions and two weeks later impounded the U.K.-flagged Stena Impero near the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important chokepoint for oil.Gibraltar's Supreme Court is scheduled to hold its next hearing on the vessel on Thursday, according to the official Gibraltar news service in Spain. The current detention order for the ship expires late on Saturday, local media reported. A spokesperson for the U.K. Foreign Office said that the "ongoing investigation" into the Grace 1 was a matter for Gibraltar authorities. The tanker seizures and other suspected Iranian operations against shipping in the Persian Gulf region have inflamed a crisis between Iran and the West triggered by the Trump administration's decision to quit the multiparty nuclear deal with Iran a year ago and renew crippling economic sanctions. Iran has responded by abandoning some restrictions on uranium enrichment imposed by the 2015 accord.The frictions on the seas have led the U.S. and U.K. to mount a joint mission to protect commercial shipping lanes in the Middle East. Reports of Israeli involvement in that mission have drawn fire from Tehran, and on Tuesday, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corp's naval forces warned against "any illegal presence in the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, especially Israel's.""We in the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps are in charge of providing security for the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf, and there is no need for strangers," Rear Admiral Alireza Tangsiri said, according to the semi-official Iranian Students' News Agency.Last week, Israel's Ynet website reported that Israel is providing intelligence and other, unspecified assistance to U.S.-led efforts to protect Persian Gulf shipping routes. It cited Foreign Minister Israel Katz's remarks to parliament's foreign affairs and defense committee.Israel considers Iran to be its most formidable enemy, due to its nuclear work, ballistic missile program and support for anti-Israel militant groups in the Middle East. Iranian officials have also referred multiple times to Israel's annihilation. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied hard against the nuclear deal, and pressed President Donald Trump to abandon it.Israel has been striking Iranian targets in Syria over the past few years in an effort to limit the Islamic Republic's presence in its immediate neighborhood, and according to recent reports, has expanded those operations to hit Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.(Updates with Thursday hearing at Gibraltar court in fourth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Alex Morales and Charles Penty.To contact the reporter on this story: Arsalan Shahla in Tehran at ashahla@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Mark WilliamsFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Guatemala election winner Alejandro Giammattei says he wants to rewrite controversial Trump migration deal Posted: 12 Aug 2019 01:36 AM PDT  Conservative "eternal candidate" Alejandro Giammattei has won Guatemala's presidential election, saying he wants to make changes to a controversial migration deal the Central American country signed with the Trump administration last month. Speaking to Reuters shortly before being declared victor, Mr Giammattei, who had made three previous presidential bids, said he wanted to see what could be done to improve the deal that outgoing President Jimmy Morales agreed to stem US-bound migration from Central America. Mr Giammattei will not take office until January, by which time Guatemala may be under severe pressure from the deal that effectively turns the country into a buffer zone, by forcing migrants to seek refuge there rather than in the United States. "I hope that during this transition the doors will open to get more information so we can see what, from a diplomatic point of view, we can do to remove from this deal the things that are not right for us, or how we can come to an agreement with the United States," Mr Giammattei, 63, said in the interview. Threatened with economic sanctions if he said no, Mr Morales reached an accord in late July to make Guatemala a so-called safe third country for migrants, despite the endemic poverty and violence plaguing the Central American nation. "It's not right for the country," Mr Giammattei said of the deal. "If we don't have the capacity to look after our own people, imagine what it will be like for foreigners." The agreement is also highly unpopular in Guatemala, which is itself now the biggest source of migrants intercepted at the US-Mexico border, according to US government data. A poll published this week by Guatemalan newspaper Prensa Libre showed more than eight out of 10 respondents rejected the idea of the country accepting foreign migrants seeking asylum. Mr Giammattei noted that since a US judge had already suspended a separate safe third country accord, there was a chance that the deal with Guatemala could change. "We'll have to see what happens in the United States with the federal judge's decision. The most likely outcome is that the United States will have to modify ... the deal," he said, also noting Guatemala's Congress would need to be consulted. In July, a US federal judge in California blocked a Trump administration rule that would bar asylum applications at the US-Mexico border. Prior to the accord president Mr Morales signed, Guatemala's Constitutional Court said Congress, which is in recess, needed to be consulted on any safe third country deal. But when Mr Trump threatened to impose tariffs on Guatemalan exports, and to levy charges on billions of dollars in remittances sent home by Guatemalans living in the United States if he failed to sign the migration deal, Mr Morales relented. Three million Guatemalans live and work in the United States, which is also the country's main trading partner. Mr Giammattei also said he doubted that migrants would be willing to comply with the deal. "They are looking for asylum in the United States," he said. "I don't think there are a lot of people from El Salvador and Honduras who want to seek asylum in Guatemala, especially if they are fleeing poverty." To address the migration problem, Mr Giammattei has pledged to build a "wall of investment" along Guatemala's impoverished border region with Mexico as a means of promoting economic development and encouraging people to stay at home. Mr Giammattei defeated his centre-left rival, former first lady Sandra Torres, by a landslide, winning more than 58 per cent of the vote, preliminary results showed.
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| Kansas City, Kansas, police fatally shoot rifle-toting man Posted: 13 Aug 2019 01:32 PM PDT ![Kansas City, Kansas, police fatally shoot rifle-toting man]( "Kansas City, Kansas, police fatally shoot rifle-toting man") Kansas City, Kansas, police shot and killed a man on Tuesday who told a hotel manager that he had killed his wife and was heading to a popular shopping and restaurant area. The "very angry and distraught" man entered the Country Inn & Suites near the Legends Outlet shopping area said he had killed his wife, said Jacob Honeycutt, general manager of the business. You better call police,'" Honeycutt told The Associated Press.
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| Mexican former minister detained, deepening president's anti-graft quest Posted: 13 Aug 2019 05:53 AM PDT  A judge ordered a former Mexican Cabinet minister to be detained pending a trial over suspected losses to taxpayers, her lawyer said on Tuesday, opening a new front in President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's campaign to eradicate corruption. The detention of former social development minister Rosario Robles is likely to ramp up scrutiny of the administration of Lopez Obrador's predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto, whose 2012-2018 presidency was plagued by graft scandals. Lopez Obrador has made rooting out corruption the cornerstone of his career, though he took office in December saying he did not want to rake through the past.
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| Chinese firms learn to adapt as US trade war rages Posted: 11 Aug 2019 10:17 PM PDT  Export-reliant Chinese companies are slashing prices, moving production abroad, creating new domestic markets and even rebranding goods as they try to survive the escalating trade war with the United States. Factories along the eastern coast, fish processors in the south, apple juice exporters in central China and farmers in the northeast have all been forced to change their business models since US President Donald Trump launched the conflict more than a year ago, hitting everything from motorcycles to MRI machines. "It's impacted all of us exporters... we include the tariffs in our quotes now," a sales manager at Shaanxi Hengtong Fruit Juice, who gave his surname as Liu, told AFP.
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| Shooting of two ICE offices in San Antonio was a ‘targeted attack,’ FBI officials say Posted: 13 Aug 2019 02:37 PM PDT  An ICE official blamed "misinformation" spread about the agency by politicians, media and activists.
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| Joe Biden, Designated White Guy Posted: 13 Aug 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Joe Biden's case for himself is this: "If I was good enough for Barack Obama, I'm good enough for you." Biden literally made the good-enough-for-Obama argument when challenged during a recent debate about his occasional racial gaffes: "Barack Obama knew exactly who I was," he said. "He had ten lawyers do a background check on everything about me on civil rights and civil liberties, and he chose me, and he said it was the best decision he made. I'll take his judgment." It's the ultimate "My Black Friend" card.But Joe Biden does not seem to understand Barack Obama's judgment on the interesting matter of Joe Biden.Biden may not remember, but Barack Obama was in a peculiar position in 2008.He had been sworn in as a senator on Jan. 3, 2005, and announced his presidential campaign on Feb. 10, 2007. Before that, he'd been a relatively obscure member of the state senate in Illinois and mainly was known for having made one rousing speech at the 2004 Democratic convention. He was inexperienced and callow — no less a Washington fixture than Joe Biden himself had declared Obama "not yet ready" to run for the presidency — but he had some reason to be confident: Hillary Rodham Clinton had been running for the Democratic nomination since the day after her husband's reelection, if not earlier, gloried in a Senate seat formerly occupied by Daniel Patrick Moynihan, enjoyed easy access to money and a vast network of political connections, and signed her autograph with what was, at the time, the best brand name in Democratic politics short of Kennedy or Roosevelt. And Obama, a gifted nobody, had dispatched her — and been cocky while doing it: "Likable enough," etc.Obama makes a great deal about the racial aspect of his political career; and, of course, that was a big deal — probably the most significant thing about his presidency — but he either misunderstood or misrepresented it. His being black was, on balance, probably an asset, even given the reality that there remain a non-trivial number of Americans who would vote against him based on that and nothing else. There is race hatred, but there also is a hunger in our nation for some event that will allow us to in some sense close the book on the saga of race in America. This is, of course, wishful thinking: Neither Gettysburg nor Brown v. Board nor the Civil Rights Act of 1964 nor the election of Barack Obama was going to do it, because it cannot be done. But still Americans, including Republicans, were eager for the historical milestone of an African-American president. A great many Republicans would have danced all night long after the swearing in of President Condoleezza Rice.But that eagerness does not liberate us from seeing public events within the inescapable frame of race. Obama's understated radicalism was not the radicalism of the Black Panthers or Louis Farrakhan — it was Harvard Law radicalism, but Obama was correct that his African ancestry and his exotic-sounding name set him apart and together were apt to imbue him with an alien quality among many voters. Mrs. Clinton's campaign, along with Donald Trump and the rest of the "birther" conspiracy nuts, were clever to emphasize Obama's "lack of American roots," as Mark Penn's strategy memo put it.Race inflects our views in ways great and small: The Black Lives Matter critics exaggerate the problem of police conduct, but it is reasonably well-established fact that black men are perceived as being more dangerous and more threatening than white men; black men are even perceived as being larger than white men of the same size. Obama understood that much. The racial frame is inescapable, even in trivial things: Obama likes gold Rolex watches but never wore one as president. Dwight Eisenhower wore one, and so did Lyndon Johnson. Why not Barack Obama? Because in America a gold Rolex means something different on a black man. Practically every line of criticism directed at President Obama was dismissed at some time as a racial dog-whistle; again, an exaggeration, but there certainly was a racial resonance to the endless talk-radio complaints about Obama's travel spending, and especially that of his wife. The fact that Democrats make similar complaints about white Republicans does not really change that.And so Obama's balancing act: a Wilsonian-Johnsonian commitment to expanding the welfare state and regimenting critical sectors of the economy under Washington's direction; all that dopey, content-free "hope and change" stuff that worked so well for Bill Clinton; and, in both international relations and sensitive domestic cultural affairs, a politics of respectability, which was often enough in practice a politics of condescension — and insincerity. Senator Obama, you'll recall, was too much of a social conservative to stand a chance in today's Democratic party — he opposed homosexual marriage and cited his religious beliefs in service of that position, meaning that 2008's great progressive hope is 2019's irredeemable hate monster. Not many people thought that he actually believed any of that, but they admired the calculation and the so-called realism of his self-conscious positioning. Democrats do not mind being lied to if they are skillfully lied to — Bill Clinton left the White House a hero.Barack Obama is famously unsentimental, including on racial questions, for instance in shaping his romantic life in a way that would comport better with his political ambitions. When it came time for him to choose a running mate, his short list consisted exclusively of white, moderate, establishment Democratic figures, mostly with Catholic backgrounds: a governor of Kansas, a governor and senator from Indiana, a governor of Virginia, and Joe Biden, an eternal Senate fixture who had chaired two committees important to the Obama campaign: Foreign Relations, which might help provide some heft on international relations that Obama's own résumé wanted, and Judiciary, which would make the vice president a potential asset in high-court confirmation hearings. It was put out that Mrs. Clinton was under consideration, but Obama himself apparently never took that idea seriously.It is common for a presidential candidate to seek "balance" from his vice president, though Bill Clinton chose another young, moderate, white man from the South as part of his "double Bubba" ticket. The "balance" that Biden brought wasn't exclusively racial. Part of it was age: Biden was an old hand and a known quantity, and Obama uncharacteristically miscalculated that his age would dissuade him from a presidential run of his own. But it is very difficult to imagine Obama's having selected another African American for the No. 2 spot, or anything other than a moderate, familiar, white male. Given the ways in which unreasoning racial fear historically has been wrapped up with reasonable fears about violent crime and good-faith efforts to combat it, Biden's role as author of an important Clinton-era crime bill might also have been considered a vaccine against a particularly enduring strain of American racial politics.Obama did not bring a designated driver to the party — he brought a designated white guy.***"In other words," Ed Kilgore writes in New York magazine, "Team Obama was looking at Biden strictly as a veep, and perhaps as someone who could help out with congressional relations and international matters — but not as any sort of heir apparent or successor as leader and shaper of the Democratic Party." And yet Biden, at this moment, leads in the Democratic primary polls, 13 points ahead of the pack overall, up only four points in California but nine points in Iowa and 21 points in North Carolina. That may not actually mean very much. In the summer of 2015, former Florida governor Jeb Bush — a respectable conservative with a very good record in office and practically universal name recognition — was leading the Republican field; in the actual primary elections, Republicans went a different way. It may be only that Democrats know the name "Biden" and that they remain personally fond of Barack Obama, even as his policy record among Democrats has turned rancid faster than gas-station sashimi in August. If it is the case that Democrats really are well disposed toward Biden rather than merely familiar with him — why?Sometimes, organizations that are redefined for a time by a single charismatic leader pull back and reconsolidate their ranks once that leader has left the scene: The Catholic Church chose the quiet and retiring Cardinal Ratzinger to follow the world-shaking and sainted John Paul II; the Republican party after Ronald Reagan leaned away from crusading ideologues, nominating Vice President George H. W. Bush and then Senator Bob Dole, an admirable man who possesses the cure for charisma; Apple replaced the visionary Steve Jobs with Tim Cook, a logistics man who once compared the firm to a dairy operation. Seen from that point of view, Biden's promise to the Democratic party in 2020 would be the same as it was in 2008: that he is a reliable and steady hand on the steering wheel and not shy about using the brakes if needed.That is an unlikely case for Biden: For one thing, he no longer seems very reliable or steady to anybody, possibly even to himself. His once-endearing penchant for blurting out whatever is passing through that three-pound wad of meat in his skull is a considerable liability in this age of hysterical and performative social-media outrage politics. He is an atavistic creature that evolved in a different environment and is ill-suited to thriving in this one. And the Democrats looking toward 2020 do not seem to be very much in search of a brake pedal. They are the mirror image of Republicans in 2016 contemplating the prospect of nominating Donald Trump as their presidential candidate: They do not merely want to win the upcoming election — they also want a national cultural repudiation of the incumbent. It is not enough that they win the office; it must be understood that their doing so is a precondition for their cultural project, which is, of course, to "Make America Great Again," as they understand it.Joe Biden is an unlikely instrument of that deliverance."The assumption that Biden would be too old to run for president in 2016 is rather interesting now that he's running four years later," Kilgore continues. "But it does help explain why there was little apparent worry over Biden's touchy history on racial issues. The Obama–Biden ticket had more than enough biracial bona fides to cover a multitude of old sins and associations." That may in fact be too meek of an explanation. It may be that 2008 Biden's value came from his prefiguration of 2019 Biden. Professor LaFleur Stephens-Dougan, writing in the Washington Post, detects something deeper in Biden's awkward racial talk:> Biden's "gaffe" may have been more strategic—an example of what my research calls "racial distancing." Racial distancing is a political strategy whereby politicians try to win over racially moderate and conservative whites by making it clear they will not disrupt the existing racial hierarchy, with white Americans at the top of social, political and economic institutions.This would suggest that Obama chose Biden in 2008 for the same reason he pretended to be morally opposed to homosexual marriage: His "hope and change" talk, and his promises to "fundamentally transform" the country, were by design amorphous and lacked well-defined focus or boundaries; the caution on homosexual marriage almost certainly was intended at least in part to signal a wider and more general cautiousness and moderation on questions of cultural or even economic radicalism, a concern that was intensified in the general electorate by his racial identity and his Muslim name. Biden, who spent decades courting and flattering Democratic segregationists in the Senate (from the unreconstructed to the reformed), offered another indication that President Obama would emphasize conventional Democratic lunch-bucket issues — the creation of new welfare benefits and other modes of income redistribution — that he was not, in spite of his millenarian happy-talk, looking to usher in the Age of Aquarius, that his banal speechifying on racial issues was likely to be, in effect, the extent of it.That is one promise President Obama mostly kept.***Paul Begala and other critics are correct to point out that there is a deep division in the Democratic party between "pain-in-the-ass white liberals," as Begala calls them, and more old-fashioned Democrats more oriented toward issues touching jobs, wages, and economic security. In today's Democratic party, the moderate wing is largely black and Hispanic, while the more radical left wing is disproportionately white. That's a funny little pickle for the 2020 primary candidates: Joe Biden, Barack Obama's designated white guy, is probably closer to most black and Hispanic Democratic primary voters than is, say, Cory Booker, who is trying to present himself as the racial-justice candidate. Kirsten Gillibrand has spent a great deal of time lecturing other well-off white women about "white privilege," while Kamala Harris is fending off criticism that she is too much of a law-and-order candidate, in part because she worked as a prosecutor during a period in which legal norms were deeply influenced by Joe Biden's sweeping 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law-Enforcement Act and its famous "three strikes" provision. It is a funny old world.What can be derived from all this is that almost none of what made Joe Biden attractive to Barack Obama as a vice president in 2008 is likely to prove helpful to the candidate in 2020, and that much of it is likely to prove encumbering to him. He is the designated white guy in a party that does not want one this time around or believe itself to need one. And three cheers for that: Joe Biden's political redundancy might, from this point of view, be welcomed as a kind of milestone in American racial politics, not quite so significant as Barack Obama's election to the presidency but certainly complementary to it.Barack Obama is, as of this writing, maintaining an absolutely prudent and practically monastic silence on the 2020 Democratic primary. If he had been so circumspect as president — if he had had just a slight touch of Calvin Coolidge upon his soul — he might have become the great unifier that had been so intensely hoped for by many of his admirers and more than a few of his critics. But he was what he was, and his presidency's main bequests to the country are an even more deformed body of health-insurance regulations and a heightened feeling of whatever product you get when you multiply cynicism by paranoia.Whatever we do, let us please abandon the notion of Joe Biden as an avuncular, conciliatory, reasonable politician of the courtly old school. Whatever his contribution to Obama's presidency, Biden's legacy already is fixed and has been since long before anybody cared about that stirring young state senator from Illinois: Joe Biden will be remembered for his central role in the Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas hearings, during which he arguably did more than any other living American to convert ordinary partisanship into scorched-earth culture war. Dopey old "Uncle Joe"? He is as vicious and conniving a man as the politics of our time has thrown up. But even his viciousness will not save him in 2020. In that, the teacher has been surpassed by his students. If they tear him apart, as I expect them to, there will be some poetic justice in the spectacle.Joe Biden was good enough for Barack Obama in 2008. This is not 2008.
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