| Hillary Clinton: Trump 'has turned American diplomacy into a cheap extortion racket' Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:27 AM PDT  Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accused President Trump on Friday of having "turned American diplomacy into a cheap extortion racket."
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| Iran releases photo of Khamenei with Hezbollah chief Posted: 28 Sep 2019 11:59 AM PDT  Iran has released a "never before seen" photo of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alongside Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. The three men are shown in front of what appears to be a door covered by a curtain and surrounded by shelves stacked with books -- decor associated with Khamenei's Tehran office.
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| Purple Heart recipient dies saving 3-year-old granddaughter Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:45 PM PDT  A Purple Heart recipient has died saving his 3-year-old granddaughter from a house explosion in Oklahoma.
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| Julian Assange ‘subjected to every kind of torment’ in Belmarsh prison as he awaits extradition Posted: 28 Sep 2019 09:11 AM PDT  The father of Julian Assange has said the WikiLeaks founder is "being subjected to every sort of torment" at Belmarsh prison as he awaits the hearing that could see him extradited to the US.The whistleblower who is being held alongside some of the UK's most infamous criminals ahead of his extradition hearing in February, could face a maximum prison sentence of 175 years under charges laid down by Washington.
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| Back in 2010, the U.S. Navy Surfaced 3 Elite Submarines to Warn China Posted: 28 Sep 2019 01:45 AM PDT  In 2010, China was given a glimpse of what could happen in a war.
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| Ocasio-Cortez calls for government bailout to help struggling NYC cab drivers Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:40 PM PDT  Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is now backing up a financial rescue for those who were lured into predatory loans.
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| Democratic candidate Tom Steyer backs rival Joe Biden around impeachment inquiry, says he 'should be left out of this' Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:14 AM PDT  Long-shot presidential candidate Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager and leading Democratic donor, ruled out attacks on former Vice President Biden at the next Democratic primary debate over the allegations that are central to the impeachment inquiry.
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| Hong Kong’s ‘Frontliners’ Say They’re Ready to Die for the Movement Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:00 PM PDT ![Hong Kong's 'Frontliners' Say They're Ready to Die for the Movement]( "Hong Kong's 'Frontliners' Say They're Ready to Die for the Movement") (Bloomberg) -- Fung, a 24-year-old doctor, seems an unlikely candidate to stand on the front line of Hong Kong's most violent civil unrest in half a century. Before this year, he never took part in a protest, and during Hong Kong's last major pro-democracy uprising, the 2014 Umbrella Movement, he only stopped by to take photos.Now, Fung is part of a cell of 20 protesters who face off each weekend against police on the streets of Hong Kong in clashes that have escalated from peaceful marches to flying bricks, tear gas, Molotov cocktails and, more recently, live ammunition fired into the sky. Fung, who acquired bullet-resistant body armor to wear under his black T-shirt, says the violence needs to escalate even further if protesters are to persuade Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam -- and her backers in Beijing -- to accede to their demands."If you can't give pressure to police, the police won't give any stress to Carrie Lam," Fung said in an interview in his home. "We, the frontliners, always lose when facing those police. We never win." He shows his armored vest. "Maybe someone will die next week. I hope the one getting shot is me, since I got this. But not all the frontliners have this to protect them."Fung's willingness to accept a potentially bloody escalation and his belief that the movement will ultimately succeed show that the weeks of clashes have created a hard core of determined teams of protesters whose tactics are shifting as clashes become militarized. Fung, like others interviewed for this story, declined to be quoted by their full name for fear of arrest in a city where merely participating in an unauthorized protest could mean years in prison.The front-line protesters' hardhats, gas masks and black clothing have become the movement's uniform, lionized in street art and internet memes. But their hard-line tactics have also divided the former British colony: More moderate protesters credit them with forcing concessions from a recalcitrant government, while Chinese officials denounce them as "rioters," showing signs of terrorism.Even some opposition leaders warn that the radicals risk alienating support from investors and citizens inconvenienced and endangered by the chaos. More extreme tactics, including smashing train station windows, attacking police officers with batons and lighting bonfires in the streets have helped damage Hong Kong's reputation as one of Asia's safest big cities.After some hard-line demonstrators detained and beat two men they suspected of being undercover cops during a protest at the airport last month, some activists circulated a proposed code of conduct for front-line protesters, including no beating medical personnel or journalists, on social media forums.Police have escalated, as well, deploying tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons and, one night last month, pointing their fire arms at a larger crowd of protesters who were attacking them with sticks. Lam told reporters earlier this week that it was "remarkable" that no one had died, although many protesters blame the government for suicides among demonstrators and are suspicious that authorities are withholding information on other serious injuries.Although the protests have tapered off in recent weeks, tensions could flare again as Hong Kong confronts two politically fraught dates: The fifth anniversary of the Occupy movement Saturday and the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China on Tuesday. Both occasions -- one the government would like to forget and other it plans to celebrate -- will be marked by protests just the same.One of the key principles of the movement has been to abandon their roadblocks once police move in -- summed up in the slogan "Be water." But Fung argues that there need to be more protesters who will stand their ground and fight back. "Why don't you give a fight?" he said.Such fearlessness is not universal."You have to know when to run and when to fight," said Vincent, a 26-year-old designer who first joined political protests in Hong Kong at the start of the Umbrella Movement, the last major pro-democracy movement in the city. "You can't stand face-to-face against the police." Asked how he responds when police move in to attack, he laughed. "Run faster!"Vincent and Fung are part of separate teams, highlighting the leaderless nature of the current wave of protests, which have continued since June, despite more than 1,500 arrests. Those arrests have included high-profile pro-democracy figures such as Joshua Wong, leading some protesters to wonder whether the police are trying to identify leaders where there aren't any."I agree with the small-group strategy," said Vincent. "Every time there is a leader, the leader gets arrested."Vincent and Fung reveal a highly decentralized structure, where groups of about 20 protesters operate independently, yet share information and often copy each other's tactics. When a proposal is made between groups for violent action, the key principle is respect for others' decisions, Fung said."If it really works, maybe we'll follow you. That's the most important principle in this movement," Fung said. "If someone sees, 'O.K., when I throw the Molotovs, the police really step back -- it's useful. Why don't we make more?' It's why you see more and more Molotovs in the front line."Police said on Sept. 2 that at least 100 petrol bombs had been used by protesters on the previous Saturday. Two days later, Lam announced her intention to formally withdraw the contentious extradition bill that originally sparked the protests.The move did little to reduce the unrest. The following weekend the subway station in the city's central business district became a target for arson and another 80 petrol bombs were thrown, according to police.Although police have arrested hundreds of protesters, including some on a strict rioting charge that carries a sentence as long as 10 years, many end up back on the street while awaiting trial. Only 14% of those arrested had undergone judicial proceedings.Protesters have elevated their injured members into martyrs, including a woman who was allegedly struck on Aug. 11 by a police bean-bag round that penetrated her goggles and injured her right eye. Initial reports said she lost the eye, although the South China Morning Post newspaper later reported, citing a hospital source, that she retains at least some some sight in it."'Eye for an eye' is not just a slogan," Vincent said. "It will have to be a fact to frighten the police."Like other demonstrators, Fung's journey from passive bystander to frontline protester was triggered by the escalating violence. He said he only became a frontliner after July 21, when TV footage showed passengers at a train station being attacked by white-shirted mobs, with no apparent help coming from the police,"We can't accept this; white-shirt gangsters hitting people," Fung said. "And I can't accept why police" delayed for 39 minutes.Police later defended the delay in responding to emergency calls as a consequence of their limited resources that night, given the large-scale protest that was ongoing in another district of Hong Kong.In more recent weeks, Chinese authorities have attempted to distinguish between more moderate protesters who mustered hundreds of thousands to march peaceful and the "few thugs" who adopt the frontliners' tactics. Protesters see the shift as part of a "divide and rule" strategy, assuming that people will eventually tire of the radicals and turn against them.But the do or die attitude of frontliners like Fung and Vincent is based on a feeling that this could be the endgame for Hong Kong's democratic struggle."The failure of the Umbrella Revolution gave some kind of lesson," Vincent said. "Everyone knows if you fail this time, there will not be another chance. That's why Hong Kongers fight like they're not afraid, because they realize that if they fail, the only thing waiting for them is worse than death."After guns were pointed at the protesters in Tsuen Wan, Fung decided to buy body armor. He insists that the movement must go on until the five demands are met, but acknowledges that he has written a will."I have already prepared to die in this movement," he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Mc Nicholas in Hong Kong at amcnicholas2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Adam MajendieFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'Frankenstein's monster': Dog breeder who created the labradoodle says they're his 'life's regret' Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:20 AM PDT  The man who invented the labradoodle says creating the breed is his "life's regret" and that he has no clue why anyone would want one.
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| Boy, 13, fatally attacked at middle school. His organs will save lives, family hopes Posted: 26 Sep 2019 07:23 PM PDT ![Boy, 13, fatally attacked at middle school. His organs will save lives, family hopes]( "Boy, 13, fatally attacked at middle school. His organs will save lives, family hopes") The student, identified as Diego by police, was pronounced clinically dead Tuesday night. His family hopes to donate his organs, police say.
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| Saudi Arabia implements public decency code as it opens to tourists Posted: 28 Sep 2019 02:08 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it would issue fines for 19 offences related to public decency, such as immodest dress and public displays of affection, as the Muslim kingdom opens up to foreign tourists. The Interior Ministry decision accompanies the launch of a visa regime allowing holidaymakers from 49 states to visit one of the world's most closed-off countries. Violations listed on the new visa website also include littering, spitting, queue jumping, taking photographs and videos of people without permission and playing music at prayer times.
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| 2020 Vision: Impeachment is gaining in the polls — and so is Warren Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:50 AM PDT  How Trump impeachment is polling, Warren's continued rise, Gabbard qualifies for the fourth debate, and campaign cash troubles plague some Democrats.
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| The Treasury’s Housing Plan Would Pave the Way for Another Financial Crisis Posted: 27 Sep 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Treasury's plan for releasing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from their conservatorships is missing only one thing: a good reason for doing it. The dangers the two companies will create for the U.S. economy will far outweigh whatever benefits Treasury sees.Under the plan, Fannie and Freddie will be fully recapitalized — probably by allowing them to keep all or a portion of their profits and by selling shares to the public. However they are recapitalized, Treasury makes clear that they will continue to be backed by the government — a benefit for which they will be required to pay.The Treasury says the purpose of their recapitalization is to protect the taxpayers in the event that the two firms fail again. But that makes little sense. The taxpayers would not have to be protected if the companies were adequately capitalized and operated without government backing.Indeed, it should have been clear by now that government backing for private profit-seeking firms is a clear and present danger to the stability of the U.S. financial system. Government support enables companies to raise virtually unlimited debt while taking financial risks that the market would routinely deny to firms that operate without it.Nor, it seems, has Treasury considered what kind of business Fannie and Freddie will likely pursue as government-backed profit-seeking firms.When Fannie and Freddie had minimal capitalization and a free but "implicit" government guarantee, profitability was easy. Most of the housing finance market was open to them, and they could set their pricing at levels others could not match. That enabled them to drive competitors out of any portion of the market that they wanted to dominate. By the early 2000s they were acquiring and securitizing — or holding in portfolio — about 50 percent of all U.S. mortgages.They will not be able to do this under Treasury's plan. The demands for profitability from their shareholders, coupled with the cost of their government backing, is almost certain to eliminate the pricing advantages that allowed them to dominate the housing finance market before the financial crisis.Still, their government support will allow them to earn significant profits in a different way — by taking on the risks of subprime and other high-cost mortgage loans. That business would make effective use of their government backing and — at least for a while — earn the profits that their shareholders will demand.The Treasury plan warns Fannie and Freddie that they will have to earn "less than the return on other activities" when they acquire the mortgages of "low-and-moderate-income families." But this only means that they will have to earn more on the middle-class mortgages that are the heart of the housing finance market.This is an open invitation to create another financial crisis. If we learned anything from the 2008 mortgage market collapse, it is that once a government-backed entity begins to accept mortgages with low down payments and high debt-to-income ratios, the entire market begins to shift in that direction.Middle-class homebuyers, who could otherwise afford the down payments and other terms of a prime mortgage, seek out the opportunity to buy a larger home with a low or no downpayment.Only a firm with government backing could pursue this business, but it will be a plausible profit-making activity for Fannie and Freddie once they are released from the conservatorships and free to exploit their government guarantee. In the midst of the housing boom in the early 2000s, Fannie's staff noted that 37 percent of the subprime mortgages they were acquiring — ostensibly to meet the government's affordable-housing goals — were going to homebuyers above median income.The results were clearly on view in 2008, when a collapse in the home-mortgage system brought on by the prevalence of weak and risky mortgages produced a monumental financial crisis. Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.Given this potential outcome, why is the Treasury proposing this plan? There is no obvious need for a government-backed profit-making firm in today's housing finance market. FHA could assume the important role of helping low- and moderate-income families buy their first home.We would all be better off if the Federal Housing Finance Agency — the GSEs' regulator and conservator — simply decided to withdraw them gradually from the market. As their conservator, FHFA has the power to do this by reducing the size of the mortgages they are permitted to buy until they are no longer significant players in housing finance. Banks and private securitizers would then easily take their place, most likely focusing solely on prime mortgages.In that case, of course, today's speculators in Fannie and Freddie stock would be the losers, but the taxpayers and the financial markets would be saved from a major future loss.Why this hasn't already happened in a conservative administration remains an enduring mystery.
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| Russians Used Greed to ‘Capture’ NRA, Senator Alleges in New Report Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT  Pavel Ptitsin/APTies between the National Rifle Association and influential Russians were substantial and potentially lucrative enough to render the politically potent gun lobby an "asset" of Russia, according to a Senate Democrat's year-plus investigation. More than 4,000 pages of NRA records provided to Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the finance committee, documented deep connections between the beleaguered gun group and Maria Butina, who in December pleaded guilty to conspiring to act as a Russian agent without registering with the Justice Department. Wyden's report, released Friday and undertaken without the cooperation of committee Republicans, indicates that greed motivated some NRA officials to engage in the outreach.Butina also made clear to NRA officials long before their controversial Butina-facilitated December 2015 trip to Moscow that Alexander Torshin, her patron and an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was a man with mysterious pull in the Kremlin. She emailed former NRA president David Keene in January 2015 that Torshin's appointment to the Russian central bank was "the result of a 'big game' in which he has a very important role. All the details we can discuss with you only in person."Maria Butina's Boss Alexander Torshin: The Kremlin's No-Longer-Secret Weapon"During the 2016 election, Russian nationals effectively used the promise of lucrative personal business opportunities to capture the NRA and gain access to the American political system," Wyden said. Representatives for the NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In addition to scrutinizing the December 2015 NRA trip, Wyden found that the NRA hosted former Russian ambassador Sergei Kislyak for a three-hour tour of its headquarters in August 2015. Kislyak was a key figure in Russia's 2016 election interference before former national security adviser Mike Flynn pleaded guilty to misrepresenting his conversations with him to the FBI. An NRA calendar entry provided to Wyden suggests that NRA leaders took Kislyak hunting at the Grand National Waterfowl Hunt weeks before the Moscow trip. Wyden's report shows the NRA officials, donors, and supporters meeting with Russian officials under U.S. sanctions during the Moscow trip, something previously reported. But it also shows that Butina ensured the NRA would send sufficiently senior leaders, something necessary to enhance Torshin's prestige, by dangling opportunities for NRA luminaries to enrich themselves. While U.S. sanctions do not make meeting with foreigners under sanction illegal, U.S. nationals can't conduct business with them.Returning from Moscow further inclined the NRA to aid its Russian friend Butina, who presented herself as the head of a rare Russian gun-rights foundation. Soon after, the NRA bought Butina and Torshin memberships in a hunters' advocacy group known as Safari Club International. Later, one of the key NRA figures on the Moscow trip, Pete Brownell, confirmed to Wyden that he personally introduced Butina to Donald Trump Jr. at the NRA's 2016 annual meeting, though Brownell's counsel dismissed it as a "chance encounter." Butina would also write to NRA heavies for formal invitations to their events, something she said would help her get visas to enter the country.The NRA has attempted to distance itself from the Moscow trip after it became politically controversial. It told Wyden's office in May that any relationship "certain individuals, including NRA supporters and volunteers" had with Butina and Torshin was entirely distinct from NRA business.Yet Wyden's report shows then-NRA president Allan Cors, who backed out of the trip, contemporaneously referring to it in an email to Torshin as a chance to "represent the NRA" to influential Russians. Among those Russians were Butina's reputed moneyman, Igor Pisarsky, whom Butina presented as Putin's "campaign manager"; the sanctioned Russian deputy prime minister for the defense industry, Dmitry Rogozin; and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Documentation the NRA provided, the report notes, did not show "action to discourage or prevent its officers from using organization resources to explore business opportunities or to meet with sanctioned individuals and entities" during the trip. Cors' absence from the trip was a problem for Butina. Without a senior NRA leader to show off to the influential Russians who had agreed to meetings, Torshin could lose face. "Many powerful figures in the Kremlin are counting on Torshin to prove his American connections—a last minute important member cancellation could affect his political future," she emailed. In November, Butina turned to Brownell, the NRA's then-vice president and Cors' future successor, with an urgent plea for his attendance. Outside the NRA, Brownell runs a business that sells guns, ammunition, and firearms accessories. A Brownell spokesperson told The Daily Beast in February that Brownell took the trip "understanding that it was an NRA-related event organized with the support of the organization." His corporate compliance officer later said Brownell could meet with sanctioned Russians insofar as his trip was not business but an NRA "cultural exchange."But materials Wyden acquired cast doubt on that. Butina, in emails, told Brownell that while it was an NRA trip, "especially for you and your company I have something more." She told him that Russian gun manufacturers "are ready to meet you and talk about export and import deals." Another email, this one from Brownell, records the NRA vice president musing that he was "not interested in attending if [it is] just an NRA trip." In another email, Brownell called the "strictly diplomatic" trip a chance to "introduce our company to the governing individuals throughout Russia." Among the people the NRA met with in Russia were representatives of the Kalashnikov Concern, a weapons manufacturer under U.S. sanctions. The report states that later Brownell explored a deal with someone he met on the trip but ultimately canceled because the Russian was unable to follow proper import-export rules. Brownell recently resigned from the NRA's board, a move seen as part of the organization's recent turmoil. In April, its president Oliver North resigned after losing a power struggle to longtime NRA magnate Wayne LaPierre. The group is locked in bitter litigation with its former ad firm, which might be the least of its legal woes, considering investigations into its tax status by attorneys general in New York and the District of Columbia.A representative for Brownell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.Brownell was not the only one to whom Butina appealed with an offer unrelated to NRA business. Wyden's report corroborated a Daily Beast report that Butina told trip attendee Keene, who was also the Washington Times' opinion editor, that one of the meetings was with a Russian media oligarch who would be able to secure Keene an interview with Putin for the paper.Butina also dangled to the NRA a meeting with Putin himself, though no such meeting appears to have manifested. An email ahead of the trip from Butina's since-indicted boyfriend, the GOP consultant Paul Erickson, to Brownell promised "private meetings with the top ministers in Putin's government and private lunches in oligarch's dachas." Butina fronted money for the attendance of another trip attendee, NRA donor Jim Liberatore, for which the NRA reimbursed her with $6,000 from its president's budget. The NRA was an open door for Butina and Torshin, whose goal was to use the organization as a lever to move U.S. politics in a direction more agreeable to Russian interests. In addition to welcoming the two to the NRA's own events, the NRA aided them in attending other conservative-friendly gatherings, including the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, a staple event for politicians of both parties. Butina asked then-presidential candidate Donald Trump a question about U.S.-Russian relations at a campaign stop in Las Vegas, boasted of being a conduit for his campaign's communications to Russia, and was photographed with prominent GOP politicians like Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Wyden stopped a step short of recommending the NRA lose its tax-exempt status, citing insufficient cooperation from the group. "A broader review of NRA's activities in recent years" from the IRS was needed to determine if the NRA's Russian connections fit within a "persistent pattern of impermissible conduct," the report concluded. "The totality of evidence uncovered during my investigation, as well as the mounting evidence of rampant self-dealing, indicate the NRA may have violated tax laws. This report lays out in significant detail that the NRA lied about the 2015 delegation trip to Moscow," Wyden said. "This was an official trip undertaken so NRA insiders could get rich—a clear violation of the principle that tax-exempt resources should not be used for personal benefit."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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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| Greta Thunberg marches in Montreal for global climate protests Posted: 28 Sep 2019 04:59 PM PDT  The 16-year-old Swede met privately with Trudeau but later told a news conference with local indigenous leaders that he was "not doing enough" to curb greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Thunberg generated headlines around the world earlier this week with her viral so-called "How Dare You?" speech at the UN climate summit, accusing world leaders of betraying her generation.
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| Murder Suspect Who Sparked Hong Kong Unrest May Soon Be Free Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:24 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- After four months of unprecedented violent demonstrations in Hong Kong and no end in sight, the city's beleaguered leader has one more thing to worry about: the suspect in the murder case that led to the social unrest could soon walk free.When Chief Executive Carrie Lam proposed amending the extradition law in February, she cited the case of Chan Tong-kai, wanted in Taiwan in connection with the February 2018 slaying of his girlfriend, Poon Hui-wing. Chan was sentenced by a Hong Kong court in April to 29 months for money-laundering after he used Poon's bank card for ATM withdrawals, but no legal framework exists for him to be returned to Taiwan to face the murder charges.While Lam was forced to eventually say she would withdraw the extradition bill, it wasn't enough to appease the protesters who've since broadened their demands to include an independent inquiry into police conduct and a more democratic form of governance. Meanwhile, Chan could be released as early as October on good behavior, Hong Kong's security head John Lee said in April. "This administration has all the reasons to bring Chan to justice -- not only was his alleged conduct serious and lethal, but also it was this administration who presented the victim's mourning family as a moral motive to push the now-withdrawn extradition bill," Alvin Yeung, a barrister and pro-democracy lawmaker in Hong Kong, said this week. "Now the chief executive has abandoned the murder case and the victim's family."Emails to Ronnie Leung, a lawyer who represented Chan in Hong Kong, and to the Secretary for Justice's Office went unanswered. A spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Security Bureau said Friday that the exact date for Chan's release depended on different factors, including his discipline while incarcerated.Chan and Poon, both Hong Kong residents, went to Taiwan on vacation in February 2018, the South China Morning Post reported. When Poon failed to return, her parents filed a missing persons report and her father traveled to Taiwan to find her, it said. Poon's decomposed body was found by Taiwan police on March 13, the day Chan was arrested, according to the Post.Hong Kong police said that Chan confessed under caution to killing his pregnant girlfriend in Taiwan, the Morning Post said. Chan said that after an argument he strangled Poon and stuffed the body in a suitcase, which he later disposed of in a park, according to the report, citing evidence at his trial. He was remanded in custody for 13 months, it said. Reports gave their ages at around 19 and 20.Judicial Assistance"I suppose he will be a free man but I doubt he can stay in Hong Kong with such attention on his every move," said Bernard Chan, a top adviser to Lam and convener of the executive council.Taiwan officials made requests to Hong Kong for judicial assistance in March and April 2018, and in December asked that the suspect be sent to Taiwan for investigations, Chiu Chih-hung, deputy chief prosecutor in Shilin district, said in a phone interview on Sept. 23. They received no reply, he said.Still, the government in Taiwan made it clear that it would not agree to the extradition bill, which it said could infringe on its sovereignty. President Tsai Ing-wen in June said she rejected Hong Kong's use of individual extradition "as an excuse to make legal amendments.""We cannot work together to crack down on crime using laws that infringe on human rights as a precondition," she said. "We will not be an accessory to the passage of this unconscionable law."Lam's proposed law sparked protests because it would have permitted the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China, opening the possibility that Hong Kong residents could become subject to its laws. In the 1984 joint declaration, Britain and China agreed among other things that the city would follow English common law under a "one country, two systems" arrangement for 50 years.Taiwan SympathizersIn Taiwan, sympathizers of Hong Kong's protests have held their own rallies since June, ranging from small gatherings to several thousands of demonstrators surrounding the legislature. Others have rallied to the cause by donating tear gas masks and helmets to be shipped to the Hong Kong activists, according to the Taipei Times.Poon's family has lobbied the government to return Chan to Taiwan to face justice. Her mother appeared in February in front of the press in a baseball hat, mask and sunglasses and urged the administration to take action. While the parents initially backed the plan for an extradition bill, after the protests erupted her father asked Lam in a letter on June 26 to consider a one-off arrangement or other measures, instead of a introducing a new law, HK01 reported.Both Lam's office and Poon's family declined to comment on the report, HK01 said.The Hong Kong Law Society said in an 11-page submission in June that the government should consult all stakeholders and the community before rushing into legislation regarding extraditions to China, Taiwan and Macau, which was proposed in the bill."The circumstances which have now purportedly given rise to this sudden need for legislation are not persuasive, notwithstanding the repeated reliance by the government on a murder case in Taiwan," the society said in the submission.Yeung was one of three lawmakers who submitted alternative proposals for Chan to be sent to Taiwan, which were rejected by the administration in July. He said he was "disappointed and dismayed" at the administration's refusal to embrace alternatives."What is happening now politically and on the streets does not necessarily prohibit the administration from pursuing other legislative proposals" to bring Chan to justice, he said.There is no law in the city enabling the government to surrender fugitive offenders to Taiwan, the Security Bureau spokeswoman said.Hong Kong's Lam Takes Blame for 'Entire Unrest' Rocking CityThe government's initial reluctance to withdraw the bill allowed protests to develop beyond the original demand and increase in intensity. Almost every week for about four months police have fired tear gas, pepper spray and non-lethal firearms to disperse demonstrations. There have been almost 1,500 arrests, and extensive damage to train stations and government buildings since the civil unrest began."The entire unrest is caused by the government's work in amending the extradition law," Lam told a town-hall style meeting in Hong Kong on Thursday.When Lam suspended the bill on June 15, she said she told the Poon family the government has "done their best" to deal with the murder case, drawing an angry response from protesters."The case has only been an excuse to introduce the extradition bill," said Ventus Lau, a 25-year-old protester and organizer for the rallies."From our perspective, our priority is not this case," he said. "I don't believe the movement will come to a halt if the Chan Tong-kai case has been dealt with."(Adds Security Bureau comment in sixth paragraph f4om end.)\--With assistance from Stanley James.To contact the reporters on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.net;Adela Lin in Taipei at alin95@bloomberg.net;Blake Schmidt in Hong Kong at bschmidt16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley JamesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A fitness influencer will serve nearly 5 years in jail for using 369 Instagram accounts to harass bodybuilding colleagues and allegedly faking her daughter's kidnapping Posted: 27 Sep 2019 03:19 PM PDT  Police also say that Tammy Steffen faked the attempted kidnapping of her 12-year-old daughter and tried to pin it on a former business partner.
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| Joseph Wilson, U.S. diplomat who spoke out on Iraq War, dies at 69: NYT Posted: 27 Sep 2019 01:20 PM PDT  Wilson's ex-wife, Valerie Plame, a former CIA officer now running for Congress, told the Times his cause of death was organ failure. Wilson died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Times reported. Wilson served in several diplomatic posts during a 23-year career that began in 1976.
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| Barreling toward impeachment proceedings, Pelosi offers Trump her thoughts and prayers Posted: 27 Sep 2019 06:50 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump took to cable news and Twitter on Friday morning as the first week of the impeachment battle came to a close in Washington.
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| Once Again, Progressive Anti-Christian Bigotry Carries a Steep Legal Cost Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:20 AM PDT  Last summer, in the days after the Supreme Court decided Masterpiece Cakeshop on the narrow grounds that Colorado had violated Jack Phillips's religious-liberty rights by specifically disparaging his religious beliefs, a bit of a skirmish broke out among conservative lawyers. How important was the ruling? Did it have any lasting precedential effect?For those who don't recall, the Supreme Court ruled for Phillips in large part because a commissioner of the Colorado Civil Rights Commission called Phillips's claim that he enjoyed a religious-freedom right not to be forced to design a custom cake for a gay wedding a "despicable piece of rhetoric." The commissioner also denigrated religious-liberty arguments as being used to justify slavery and the Holocaust.While all agreed that it would have been preferable had the court simply ruled that creative professionals could not be required to produce art that conflicted with their sincerely held beliefs, the question was whether Justice Anthony Kennedy's strong condemnation of anti-religious bigotry would resonate beyond the specific facts of the case. For example, what would happen if, in a different case, state officials called faithful Christians who seek to protect the religious freedom of Catholic adoption agencies "hate-mongers"?In the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, it turns out that such rhetoric has cost the state a crucial court ruling, granted a Catholic adoption agency a vital victory, and demonstrated — once again — that anti-religious bigotry can (and should) carry substantial legal costs.The case is called Buck v. Gordon. My friends at Becket represent St. Vincent Catholic Charities, a former foster child, and the adoptive parents of five special-needs kids. The facts are relatively complicated, but here's the short version: St. Vincent upholds Catholic teaching by referring same-sex and unmarried families who seek foster and adoption recommendations and endorsements to agencies that have no objection to providing those services. There is no evidence that St. Vincent has prevented any legally qualified family from adopting or fostering a child. In fact, same-sex couples "certified through different agencies" have been able to adopt children in St. Vincent's care.In 2015 the state of Michigan passed a statute specifically designed to protect the religious liberty of private, religious adoption agencies. In 2018, however, Dana Nessel, a Democratic attorney general, took office. During her campaign, she declared that she would not defend the 2015 law in court, stating that its "only purpose" was "discriminatory animus." She also described proponents of the law as "hate-mongers," and the court noted that she believed proponents of the law "disliked gay people more than they cared about the constitution."Then, in 2019, the attorney general reached a legal settlement in pending litigation with the ACLU that essentially gutted the Michigan law, implementing a definitive requirement that religious agencies provide recommendations and endorsement to same-sex couples and banning referrals. The plaintiffs sued, seeking to enjoin the relevant terms of the settlement, and yesterday Judge Robert Jonker (a Bush appointee) granted their motion for a preliminary injunction.His reasoning was simple. There was ample evidence from the record that the state of Michigan reversed its policy protecting religious freedom because it was motivated by hostility to the plaintiffs' faith. Because Michigan's targeted St. Vincent's faith, its 2019 settlement agreement couldn't be truly considered a "neutral" law of "general applicability" that would grant the state a high degree of deference in enforcement.Instead, the state's targeting led to strict scrutiny. Here's Judge Jonker:> Defendant Nessel made St. Vincent's belief and practice a campaign issue by calling it hate. She made the 2015 statute a campaign issue by contending that the only purpose of the statute is discriminatory animus. After Defendant Nessel took office, the State pivoted 180 degrees. . . . The State also threatened to terminate its contracts with St. Vincent. The Summary Statement's conclusion – that if an agency accepts even one MDHHS child referral for case management or adoption services, the agency forfeits completely the right to refer new parental applicants to other agencies based on its sincerely held religious beliefs – is at odds with the language of the contracts, with the 2015 law, and with established State practice. Moreover, it actually undermines the State's stated goals of preventing discriminatory conduct and maximizing available placements for children.The last point is key. As stated above, there was no evidence that St. Vincent prevented any qualified couple from adopting. In fact, if the state forced St. Vincent's to choose between upholding the teachings of its faith or maintaining its contractual relationship with the state, then it risked shrinking the available foster or adoption options in the state of Michigan. The state demonstrated that it was more interested in taking punitive action against people of faith than it was in maintaining broader access to foster and adoption services for its most vulnerable citizens.The judge rightly called the state's actions a "targeted attack on a sincerely held religious belief." Once again, Masterpiece Cakeshop pays religious-liberty dividends. Once again, a court declares — in no uncertain terms — that in the conflict between private faith and public bigotry, religious liberty will prevail.
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| Sixth-Grade Boys Allegedly Attack, Cut Girl’s ‘Ugly’ Dreadlocks at Private Christian School Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:33 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Courtesy Cynthia AllenAmari Allen was about to use the slide at the Immanuel Christian School playground on Monday when three white classmates appeared. Within "seconds," the 12-year-old said, she was pushed down, her hands held behind her back as the boys called her names and cut off patches of her "ugly, nappy" dreadlocks. "One of the boys put his hand over my mouth so I wouldn't scream while they used scissors on my hair," she recalled to The Daily Beast on Thursday. "They were all laughing, calling me ugly, and saying I should have never been born."The alleged assault only lasted "a minute or two" before the bell rang to signal the end of recess, the sixth grader said. The three boys took off running to go into their math class while Amari stayed on the slide, trying to collect herself before following behind. "They ran off laughing, and I was just sitting there," the soft-spoken teenager said. "I'm hurt that it happened. All I want to ask them is, Why?"The Monday afternoon racist attack at the private Immanuel Christian School—an already controversial school where Karen Pence, the second lady of the United States, teaches art class part-time—has "destroyed" the Allen family, and they are now seeking legal and administrative retributions. Courtesy of Cynthia AllenAmari's mother, Cynthia Allen, told The Daily Beast that the family met with school officials on Thursday morning to demand the three boys be removed and updated policies be put into place to ensure "this doesn't happen again." Allen also said Amari filed a police report. "We take seriously the emotional and physical well-being of all our students, and have a zero-tolerance policy for any kind of bullying or abuse. We are deeply disturbed by the allegations being made, and are in communication with the family of the alleged victim to gather information and provide whatever support we can," the school said in a statement to The Daily Beast. "We have also reached out to law enforcement to ask them to conduct a thorough investigation, and further inquiries should be directed to the Fairfax County Police Department.""All I am asking for is this to be resolved, if they can't leave school, then I will," Amari said. Her mother agreed, adding, "She's in real pain but she wants justice."The 53-year-old mom said it took two days for Amari to finally admit the attack even happened. At first, the 12-year-old told her mother that the missing parts of her hair were the result of playing "beauty salon" with another friend. "We continued to press her on it because it just didn't sound like something she would do," Cynthia Allen said. "Then she started breaking down crying, trembling, and shaking before telling us what happened."Amari said she "instantly felt better" when she told her family about how the three sixth-grade boys pinned her down on the playground. She said while one boy covered her mouth, a second boy put her hands behind her back, and a third boy cut her dreadlocks while calling her names."They called her 'ugly,' told her she was an 'attention seeker,' called her hair 'nappy,' all of these horrible things," her mother said. "And when they ran away laughing, she just had to sit there and get herself together." Amari admitted she initially denied that anyone cut her hair out of fear of retaliation. The three boys—including one that used to be her friend—are in six of her classes and she said she was afraid they "would come after me.""They had scissors, so they could have done anything to me," the sixth grader said. "I was afraid if I told the teacher they wouldn't care."Amari's mom explained that this was not the first time her daughter had been subjected to bullying by these three classmates. Throughout the school year, the boys have allegedly been "taking her lunch every single day and calling her names.""My concern is, how did they not see what was taking place, on the playground and all year," Allen said. "Karen Pence, the vice president's wife, works at the school. There is security and secret service everywhere. How did they not know!"The Immanuel Christian School, which enrolls kindergartners through eighth graders at its campus in Springfield, Virginia, has been previously embroiled in controversy after its school banned LGBT students and demanded all employees affirm the belief that marriage should only be between a man and a woman.According to The New York Times, the school's employment application requires prospective teachers to describe their faith and sign their initials next to a list of beliefs, including Immanuel Christian's definition of marriage and stances on sexual identity."I understand that the term 'marriage' has only one meaning; the uniting of one man and one woman," the application reads, detailing that certain "moral misconduct" considered disqualifying includes "heterosexual activity outside of marriage (e.g., premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex), homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female."Pence, 62, has had a long history with the school, having taught from 2001 to 2013 while her husband served in Congress. And in December, the second lady decided to return twice a week to the private school as an art teacher. Cynthia Allen said despite the school's recent controversies, she is more concerned with its future and said she is planning to speak to administrators further about preventing another racist attack. But for now, she said, Amari will not return to school. "Amari is surviving, but this can't happen again," she said. "She is terrified, she has not been able to sleep. And she is strong, I can't imagine if this happened to somebody else."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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| Descending skydiver crashes into big rig driving on California highway Posted: 26 Sep 2019 07:17 PM PDT ![Descending skydiver crashes into big rig driving on California highway]( "Descending skydiver crashes into big rig driving on California highway") A skydiver crashed into a big rig trailer on a central California highway and died Thursday, authorities said. She collided while descending.
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| US rejects Iran FM hospital visit unless American freed Posted: 28 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT  The State Department said Saturday that it would only allow Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to visit the country's ambassador in a US hospital if Tehran releases a detained American citizen. "Foreign Minister Zarif would like to visit a colleague who is in the hospital receiving world-class care. Iran has wrongfully detained several US citizens for years, to the pain of their families and friends they cannot freely visit," a State Department spokesperson told AFP.
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| North Carolina Detective Fired After Allegedly Sending Inappropriate Messages to Women Whose Rape Cases He Handled Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:32 PM PDT  Paul G. Matrafailo III was fired in May from the Fayetteville Police Department for allegedly writing inappropriate messages to rape victims.
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| Philadelphia students sickened after eating laced rice cereal treats: Police Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:26 AM PDT  Several children have been sickened after allegedly eating laced rice cereal treats from a fellow student, Philadelphia police say.
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| Zimbabwe's Mugabe buried in home village, ending an era Posted: 28 Sep 2019 09:00 AM PDT  Zimbabwe's founding leader Robert Mugabe was buried on Saturday in his home village of Kutama, ending a dispute between his family and the government of his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his final resting place. Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years from independence in 1980 but was a polarizing figure idolized by some for his role in the country's liberation struggle and hated by others for ruining a promising nation through disastrous economic policies and repression against opponents. After Mass by a Roman Catholic priest and speeches by family members, Mugabe was buried in the courtyard of his rural homestead without the pomp and fun fare usually reserved for national heroes.
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| As Republicans Face Impeachment Dilemma, Romney is a Lonely Voice of Concern Posted: 27 Sep 2019 07:12 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- As House Democrats push forward with an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, Republicans have largely rushed to Trump's defense, or at least tempered their criticism to avoid his furious reprisals.Among the handful of exceptions, though, there has been none louder or more prominent than Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, a figure who once embodied the essence of the Republican Party before Trump commandeered it, and is now in a lonely category of his own.Since the first reports a week ago that Trump urged President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden set off a still-unfolding furor in the capital, Romney has repeatedly been the first Republican lawmaker to raise concerns about the president's conduct.He has pronounced himself "deeply troubled" by Trump's effort to enlist a foreign leader for political assistance, and has refused to rule out impeaching the president.Romney's public statements reflect what many in his party believe privately but are almost uniformly unwilling to say: that they are faced with damning revelations about the president that are difficult to explain away, and are unsure of whether there is more damaging material to come. What's more, they are contending with a leader whose appetite for political payback for real or imagined slights is insatiable, and who is responding to the crisis with angry new threats and accusations that will only increase the pressure on them to choose a side.It amounts to an unenviable dilemma for Republicans at a consequential moment for the party. Any internal fractures over the next year could undermine both Trump's reelection and Republican hopes for retaining their Senate majority and retaking the House.To Romney, who represents a state where he is beloved and is unlikely to seek another office, it is a moment where he believes country should trump party."Each person should search their own heart and do what they think is right -- which is just what I do," he said.Romney's willingness to level measured criticism at Trump has annoyed liberal activists, who see his comments as woefully insufficient to the moment. It has also enraged the president's most loyal allies, who view the Utah senator as a resentful foe. Yet it could prove most pivotal with a third constituency: his fellow lawmakers.As Senate Republicans begin to grapple with the unappealing prospect of serving as jurors in the impeachment trial of a president of their own party, Romney has emerged as a crucial figure."He's in a different place from many politicians still feeling out their place in the party and hoping to be president someday," said Sen. Christopher Murphy, D-Conn., who has become friendly with Romney from their service together on the Foreign Relations Committee. "He's a loyal Republican, but that's not his first priority -- he's a bit of a throwback."For Romney and Trump, it is the latest, and perhaps last, installment of an off-and-never-really-on relationship between two men who shared little more than the same political ambition. It began when Romney, as the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, solicited Trump's endorsement, and carried through 2016, when the former Massachusetts governor began the year as a ferocious critic of Trump but ended it as a supplicant, sharing dinner with a president-elect in hopes of becoming his secretary of state.Now, though, Romney holds a crucial position of power. He could be part of an effort to eventually remove Trump from office, and is already in the ear -- and perhaps conscience -- of other Republicans.He plays down his role, noting that he is not attempting to lead any sort of insurrection against the president."I spoke out because I believe this is a matter of importance and personal principle," he said. "Nothing more, nothing less."But by reproaching Trump, he offers Democrats the ability to counter claims that the inquiry is a wholly partisan and politically fueled witch hunt, as the president has repeatedly called it. And Romney both provides cover for and exerts pressure on his fellow Republicans, who are anxiously calibrating what to say about a scandal that only deepened on Thursday when audio emerged of Trump privately suggesting that government officials who expressed concerns about his dealings with Ukraine deserve to be punished severely.The president's leading advisers recognize the threat posed by as high-profile a figure as Romney, perhaps the second most well-known elected Republican in Washington, and are trying to isolate him. After his critical remarks about the Ukraine affair, Trump hit back at the senator by posting a video on Twitter showing a glum Romney at the moment on election night in 2012 that he learned he had lost the presidential race."Mitt Romney is still disappointed he was never elected President of the United States and Donald Trump was," said Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager and a prospect to lead the president's public relations defense against impeachment.Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., went even further, saying that Romney "knows that as long as Donald Trump is leading the GOP he is irrelevant."He said Romney was "desperate to be loved by the left and the media," and was "forever bitter that my father succeeded where he so embarrassingly failed."Yet since Romney first went public with his alarm on Sunday -- saying Trump's alleged conduct was "troubling in the extreme" -- other Republicans have gradually started to sound notes of concern.On Wednesday, after viewing the secret complaint of an intelligence whistleblower who expressed concerns about Trump's conduct, Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., adopted Romney's formulation, calling the report "troubling," and saying that Republicans "ought not just circle the wagons." Sasse was once a vocal critic of Trump, but had dialed back his comments considerably ahead of his 2020 reelection race, and had received the president's endorsement earlier this year.Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said on Thursday that he was concerned about the claim in the report that White House officials sought to restrict access to the transcript of Trump's call to Zelenskiy. Rep. Michael Turner, R-Ohio, a member of the Intelligence Committee, said at a hearing on the matter that Trump's conversation "is not OK."Romney said he was not attempting to steer a party he believes is overwhelmingly in Trump's grip. But as the 70-year-old contemplates what he acknowledges will likely be his last period of public service, his friends say he is appalled by what he sees as the president's win-at-all-costs immorality and his party's willingness to remain mum in the face of such misconduct.Further, he is deeply uneasy with the behavior of Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal lawyer and a rival to Romney in the 2008 Republican presidential primary."I'm not quite sure who he was acting on behalf of with Ukraine," Romney said of Giuliani. (In response, the former New York mayor said: "Where is he on, Mars? I was acting on behalf of Donald Trump.")And even as he insisted he was not attempting to nudge other Republicans, it was impossible to miss his indignation."I can't imagine being in the Senate or in any other position of responsibility and looking around to see who's with you," Romney said. "You stand for what you believe in."His challenge as the impeachment debate unfolds will be how to balance his outrage, and leverage his platform, without sounding more sanctimonious than righteous.Appearing at a forum sponsored by The Atlantic magazine this week, he pointedly separated himself from other politicians, who he suggested were more susceptible to political considerations."It's just in human nature to see things in a way that is consistent with your own worldview and your sense of what's necessary for the preservation of your position of power," Romney said. "I don't know why I'm not afflicted to the same degree as perhaps others are in that regard; perhaps it's because I'm old and have done other things."Some of his more pro-Trump colleagues are already voicing irritation at Romney, who they believe is overreacting to the revelations about the president's dealings with Ukraine."I'm very troubled by anybody that's looking for an excuse to see the downside in this," said Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., repurposing Romney's word. The Utah senator, he said, has "an ax to grind."Some of Romney's associates believe his sense of outrage can shame at least those senators who, as Republican strategist Mike Murphy put it, "have some moral compass."But Murphy, a longtime Romney friend and anti-Trump Republican, said, "It's going to take a while, even though the news cycle wants this in an hour."Some of Romney's Democratic colleagues are counting on it -- and are hoping that those Republican voters not fully in Trump's thrall will look to their last standard-bearer's example."The Trump die-hards are going to be skeptical," Murphy said. "But a lot of traditional Republicans are going to shake their heads and think, 'When somebody like Mitt Romney says this is not right it's not right.'"This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| The US is zeroing in on marijuana vapes as it investigates a spate of mysterious illnesses and deaths tied to vaping Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:03 AM PDT  At least 805 people have become ill and 12 have died from a mysterious illness tied to vaping.
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| Parents plead not guilty to abandoning daughter. Records show they legally changed her age Posted: 27 Sep 2019 03:21 PM PDT  Parents are accused of abandoning their adopted daughter and moving the rest of the family to Canada.
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| Cairo on lock-down as Egyptian government tries to head off anti-Sisi protests Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:40 AM PDT  Egypt's government put central Cairo on lockdown Friday as it tried to head off protests against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi but was unable to stop scattered demonstrations in other parts of the country. In an effort to prevent a repeat of last week's protests calling for Mr Sisi's overthrow, Egyptian forces sealed off Cairo's Tahrir Square and blocked several of the main bridges over the Nile. Military vehicles rumbled through otherwise largely empty streets. But demonstrators reportedly still turned out on Warraq, a rural island in the Nile near downtown Cairo, where they chanted for Mr Sisi to resign. Government forces fired tear gas and buckshot to break up the protests, according the Mada Masr new site. Videos showed also demonstrators in Qina, a small city south of Cairo, trampling on government posters and deriding Mr Sisi as "the date", a mocking nickname referring to the president's thinning hair. The protests were sparked by a series of videos from Mohamed Ali, a former state building contractor now living in exile in Spain. He has alleged widespread corruption in Mr Sisi's government and has become an unlikely resistance figure with his calls for revolution. تمزيق لافتات تأييد للسيسي في قوص بقنا صعيد مصر pic.twitter.com/cdRyWAh5cu— Amr Elqazaz (@amrsalama) September 27, 2019 By sundown on Friday, the mass protests that Mr Ali called for had failed to materialise, despite his last-minute videos urging people to take to the streets against the president. "Enough with the humiliation," he said. "Get rid get rid of him today. This is your historic chance." However, last Friday's protests did not begin until after nightfall, when youths in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez, and other cities demonstrated. Mr Sisi, arriving back in Cairo from a week at the UN in New York, said the protests were the work of conspirators trying to damage Egypt. "It is a war between us and them," he said. The government staged several large pro-Sisi demonstrations, including one near Rabaa Square, where Mr Sisi's forces killed a thousand people in a single day in August 2013 while breaking up a sit-in by Islamist protesters. Supporters of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi during a rally in Cairo Credit: KHALED ELFIQI/EPA-EFE/REX The security forces have arrested around 2,000 people since last Friday's protests, including prominent lawyers and academics. At least 76 have been "disappeared", meaning they were arrested but authorities are denying they are in custody, according to the Egypt Commission on Rights and Freedoms, a human rights group. The top Democrat and Republican on the House foreign affairs committee put out a joint statement calling on the government to allow peaceful protests to go ahead. "Egyptians have the right to protest peacefully and to exercise that right without fear of retribution," they said. The government postponed a football match between FC Masr and Aswan FC on security grounds, in an apparent effort to prevent crowds from gathering during the game and turning into a demonstration.
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| Largest captive alligator in US spends goes missing in Storm Imelda floods at height of hunting season Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:52 AM PDT  Some people can't sleep if they know there's a spider in their house.Imagine being in Beaumont, Texas, and thinking that the largest alligator ever caught in the United States was on the loose.
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| Shooting death of South Carolina postal worker sparks massive investigation Posted: 27 Sep 2019 10:15 AM PDT  More than 70 federal, state and local authorities are now investigating the shooting death of United States Postal Service carrier Irene Pressley.
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| Bogota in photos row over Venezuela at UN Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:21 PM PDT  Colombian President Ivan Duque said he handed the UN photographic evidence this week proving Venezuela was sheltering ELN rebels, but the images were duds. The pictures were contained in a 128-page dossier he handed to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres at the General Assembly in New York on Thursday. One purportedly shows guerrillas carrying out "indoctrination" of rural schoolchildren in the Venezuelan state of Tachira in April 2018.
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| Oil shipping rates soar as U.S. supertanker sanctions rattle crude trade Posted: 27 Sep 2019 02:02 AM PDT  SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) - Key oil freight rates from the Middle East to Asia rocketed as much as 28% on Friday in a global oil shipping market spooked by United States sanctions on units of Chinese giant COSCO for alleged involvement in ferrying crude out of Iran. In what the State Department called "one of the largest sanctions actions the U.S. has taken" since curbs were re-imposed on Iran in November last year, two units of COSCO were named alongside other companies in claims of involvement in sanctions-busting shipments of Iranian oil. The surprise move, affecting one of the world's largest energy shippers operating more than 50 supertankers, comes as U.S. President Donald Trump seeks to exert maximum pressure on Iran to drop nuclear programmes.
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| Leaked Memo: Colleagues Unload on John Solomon, the Journo Who Kicked Off Trump’s Ukraine Conspiracy Posted: 28 Sep 2019 02:07 AM PDT  Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post/GettyBeltway-centric newspaper The Hill employs a team of dozens of journalists from a variety of backgrounds. But only one has managed to alienate many of his colleagues, fuel the paranoia of Fox News viewers, and inadvertently play a key role in the whistleblower complaint and President Donald Trump's potential impeachment.Over the past several years, John Solomon, a long-time journalist with bylines at the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and Newsweek/The Daily Beast, has pivoted to becoming the Trumpian right's favorite "investigative reporter." And now, thanks to several mentions in the whistleblower's complaint, his work has come under intense scrutiny following the revelation that a series of his stories about Ukraine, along with his Fox News appearances promoting them, may have led to the president asking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to team up with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani to investigate the Biden family.Over the past several months, and with the benefit of substantial airtime from Fox News primetime host Sean Hannity, Solomon has peddled a series of Ukraine-based conspiracy theories and allegations that have primarily taken aim at two of Trumpworld's biggest targets: Biden and Hillary Clinton.In the process, his questionable reporting, which often seems specifically tailored to stoke the flames of right-wing paranoia, has enraged many of his colleagues at The Hill who have for years seen his tactics and reporting as overtly ideological, convoluted, and often lacking in crucial context."He's a lightning rod of anxiety for us," one Hill insider told The Daily Beast.Hired away from now-defunct news site Circa in 2017 to help launch The Hill's over-the-top streaming service Hill TV, Solomon split his time between digital video strategy and running his own one-man conservative investigative unit, pumping out stories destined for Hannity's show and—inevitably—the eyes of the president.Before pivoting to Ukraine conspiracy theories, Solomon wrote a series of stories heavily suggesting the Department of Justice covered up a quid pro quo between Clinton and Russia during the approval of the Uranium One deal—a debunked scandal that nevertheless provided ammo for Trumpworld's long-running narrative that the "real Russia scandal" centered on Clinton and the Obama administration. He also published an "exclusive" story saying that several women who accused Trump of sexual harassment sought payments from tabloid news outlets for exclusive rights to their stories as well as financial support from partisan donors.While both questionable-at-best stories received the usual conservative media plaudits, Solomon's reporting rankled colleagues and reportedly caused consternation among Hill middle management.The Washington Post reported that more than a dozen staffers wrote a memo specifically criticizing Solomon's handling of the story about Trump's alleged harassment victims, which they said omitted the important context that seeking donor support is neither a new practice nor is it unique to one political party. The staffers also expressed dismay about other stories, including the Uranium One deal, and noted that Solomon's work often negatively colored the way some important sources viewed engaging with The Hill."I am disturbed that a reporter at a purportedly non-partisan publication is pumping out pieces that appear to be heavily slanted towards one side of the ideological spectrum, and I am especially disturbed that these stories appear to be repeatedly leaked to a close informal adviser of President Trump (Sean Hannity) ahead of their publication," one staffer wrote, according to a copy of the 2018 memo obtained this week by The Daily Beast. "It is difficult to see myself having a future at this company if it continues to prioritize heavily-slanted reporting that appears to be designed to curry favor with one side of the aisle."As a result of the memo, Hill management tried to simultaneously assuage internal concerns and tamp down any perception of internal strife. Editors eventually sent around a social-media policy memo unsubtly warning staffers against publicly criticizing colleagues or talking about internal matters to outside media. But the company also tried in earnest to quell tension in the ranks, instituting a parental leave program—which staff had been seeking for months—and, in a victory for the paper's reporting staff, labeling Solomon's stories as "opinion" pieces. (Hannity, of course, has continued to hype Solomon as an "investigative reporter," despite The Hill's clarification.)And yet even with his own employer openly downplaying the "reporting" aspect of his work, Solomon emerged this year as a key figure in jump-starting Team Trump's Ukraine-Biden narrative that may now lead to impeachment. In Solomon's March 20 interview with Yuriy Lutsenko, the then-Ukrainian prosecutor general made a series of wild claims, including accusing Biden of pressuring the then-Ukrainian president in 2016 to fire the country's top prosecutor—at the time, Viktor Shokin—to squash an investigation into a Ukrainian gas company connected to Hunter Biden. (Lutsenko would later retract some of the claims made to Solomon, eventually walking back his claims of wrongdoing by the Bidens, ultimately concluding: "Hunter Biden did not violate any Ukrainian laws.")This specific interview with Solomon was featured in a U.S. government whistleblower's complaint as one of the key circumstances that eventually led to Trump's now-infamous request on a July 25 call with the Ukrainian president. Solomon also promoted the interview and its unfounded claims on Hannity's show later that evening, prompting an approving tweet from the president.Giuliani, meanwhile, had already met with Lutsenko twice by the time of the interview, in January and February 2019, according to the complaint. And following his Lutsenko chat, Solomon published a piece on April 1 claiming the investigation into the Biden-connected energy company had been revived—"Joe Biden's 2020 Ukrainian nightmare," as Solomon blared. That article, too, was referenced in the whistleblower's complaint. Besides reporting that Shokin claimed he "had made specific plans" to investigate the company's board, "including Hunter Biden," Solomon claimed that part of the probe was "reopened in 2018" and Lutsenko was now looking to share information with U.S. Attorney General William Barr.Following the piece, Hannity and several of his Fox News colleagues ran wild with the story, with multiple on-air segments on it over the following days, including an April 3 broadcast in which Hannity declared that Solomon had caught Biden in an "international corruption scandal."And on the same day that Biden officially launched his presidential campaign, Hannity interviewed both Solomon and President Trump on his program. During that April 25 broadcast, Hannity cited Solomon's reporting to claim Ukraine had evidence that Biden was "bragging about having gotten [the prosecutor] fired using American money" while Solomon said the prosecutor was actively investigating the junior Biden at the time. (The investigation into Burisma, the energy company, had long been dormant.)Trump, meanwhile, said that Lutsenko's "incredible" and "big" allegations laid out by Solomon—that Ukrainian officials leaked information on Paul Manafort to help Clinton—was something he "would imagine" Barr would want to look into. This was also highlighted in the whistleblower's complaint.Solomon's connection to the Ukraine scandal re-opened old wounds at The Hill, particularly among staffers who have long been troubled by Solomon's reporting.Following the Thursday release of the whistleblower's complaint, many staffers privately grumbled about the fact that, although Solomon's pieces were now edited by the site's opinion editor, they were styled after regular news stories and were also occasionally reviewed by top news editors before they went live.Earlier this month, Solomon announced that he will leave The Hill to create his own start-up media firm. In an email to staff obtained by The Daily Beast, he seemed to attempt to quash any suggestion that his departure was related to his reporting problems, saying that he had agreed with Hill CEO Jimmy Finkelstein months ago that he would depart but stay on as a consultant for Hill TV.In a statement, a Hill spokesperson relayed that "Mr. Finkelstein says John Solomon's has done excellent work for The Hill and wishes him success with his new media venture."And despite Solomon's imminent exit, several Hill insiders told The Daily Beast that some staffers have discussed whether they should raise the Ukraine issue to management, or even issue a public response, noting how the whistleblower complaint had brought negative attention to the company and its reporters."This is the most press Hill TV has gotten," one staffer quipped, expressing exasperation with Solomon.On Thursday afternoon, Solomon responded on Twitter to being named in the whistleblower's complaint, saying he stands "100 percent" by his "completely accurate and transparent" stories."So I'm fast at work writing my next column and will strive to make it as accurate and transparent as my past work," he added. "As that work documented, the people and leaders of Ukraine have been trying to send a loud message to America about the conduct of our government."Solomon appeared on Hannity's show on Thursday night to promote his latest piece for the outlet he will soon leave. (The article was essentially a recap of his previous columns packaged as a brand-new bombshell on the Biden-Ukraine ties.) Somewhat acknowledging his omnipresence throughout the complaint, Solomon defended his work to Hannity's viewers, claiming he'd gathered hundreds of pages of "once-secret memos" over the past 18 months that put Biden's story in doubt, calling on the ex-veep to put out his own documents to challenge his work."Where are Joe Biden's documents? Let's put forth the proof that they really thought this guy had the evidence—he has not done that."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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. 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| Before Pearl Harbor America and Nazi Germany Were Fighting a Secret War Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:00 PM PDT  A conflict before the wider war to come.
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| 'I Think and Hope That Netanyahu Will Fail.' A Top Israeli Arab Lawmaker on the State of Coalition Talks Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:32 AM PDT  Joint List leader Ayman Odeh responds now that Israel's incumbent has been asked to form a government
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| 18 Transgender Killings This Year Raise Fears of an 'Epidemic' Posted: 27 Sep 2019 11:55 AM PDT  ATLANTA -- In the most recent killing of a transgender woman, her body was found inside an abandoned car, burned beyond recognition. In another case, the woman was pulled from a lake at a Dallas park. And in a third, she was found dead near a golf course, just weeks after she survived a brutal beating that was captured on video.In the United States this year, at least 18 transgender people -- most of them transgender women of color -- have been killed in a wave of violence that the American Medical Association has declared an "epidemic." The killings, which have been reported across the country, have heightened fears and alarm among communities already familiar with looming threats to their safety."It's always in the forefront of our minds, when we're leaving home, going to work, going to school," said Kayla Gore, who lives in Memphis. "Guys were flirting with me at the gas station, and the first thought was, 'This could go horribly wrong.'"The killings this year follow at least 26 recorded last year by the Human Rights Campaign. But transgender advocates acknowledged that those figures fail to grasp the full extent of the perils the community faces, as data provided by law enforcement officials can be incomplete and many crimes are never reported.The paucity of reliable data makes it difficult to measure whether violence against transgender people has increased. But many advocates say that hostility has intensified, as a rise in visibility has also stirred animosity and emboldened people to attack.The climate of fear reflects a widening gulf in the acceptance of transgender groups, which today have far more representation in popular culture. There are transgender or gender-nonconforming characters on television and in movies, and Mattel recently introduced a line of gender-neutral dolls. Yet that cultural progress has not trickled down to everyday life, particularly for those who are the most vulnerable."We are the most afraid we've ever been," said Mariah Moore, a program associate for the Transgender Law Center, who lives in New Orleans. "But we're also stronger than we've ever been."Many transgender people said they have hunkered down, avoiding meeting people they do not know and sticking to places where they will have greater odds of staying safe."A lot of folks are living in silos," Gore said.Between May and July -- when pride events were taking place across the country -- at least 14 LGBTQ people were killed, according to a report from the Anti-Violence Project. Seven of the victims were black transgender women."The increased visibility is a signal for them that they need to double down in fighting back," Beverly Tillery, the executive director of the Anti-Violence Project in New York, said of those looking to harm transgender people. "We're definitely seeing what we would call a backlash."The dangers, of course, extend beyond explicit bias crimes. Discrimination can stand in the way of housing, education and job prospects, pushing many transgender people into homelessness as well as into sex work, elevating risks to their safety. And for black transgender women, racism can compound the discrimination."The prejudices don't add upon one another, they multiply upon one another," said Sarah McBride, the national press secretary for the Human Rights Campaign.Police departments have hired more LGBTQ officers and have sought to mend strained relationships, but advocates say many transgender people avoid calling the police if they are threatened or even physically attacked.Dana Martin, 31, was the first known transgender person killed in 2019, found shot to death in a vehicle in Montgomery, Alabama, in January.Since then, three transgender women have been killed in Dallas, including Muhlaysia Booker, a 23-year-old who was shot to death about a month after being brutally assaulted in an unrelated attack that was captured on video and garnered national attention. Another transgender woman in Dallas was shot several times last week and gravely wounded in an attack that the authorities are investigating as a hate crime.In Detroit in June, an 18-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder for the targeted killings of a transgender woman, Paris Cameron, and two gay men.The most recent killing, at least the 18th, took place near Clewiston, Florida. The body of Bee Love Slater, 23, was found in a scorched car on Sept. 4, her body so badly burned that she had to be identified with dental records.The series of killings has mobilized transgender and LGBTQ groups, with calls for lawmakers to strengthen hate crime legislation and bar the use of the so-called gay- or trans-panic defense for people charged with attacks. They have also organized self-defense classes and guides on where to find affirming places to eat and shop.The violence against transgender women has been cited by several Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Kamala Harris and Cory Booker and Rep. Julian Castro. At a candidates forum on LGBTQ issues in Iowa last week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren read aloud the names of those who have been killed this year."We do not talk enough about trans Americans, especially trans African-Americans and the especially high rates of murder right now," Booker said on Twitter after the Democratic debate in Miami in June. "It's not enough just to be on the Equality Act. We need to have a president who will fight to protect LGBTQ Americans every day."Jennicet Gutierrez, a national community organizer for Familia: Trans Queer Liberation Movement, said she has had moments when people felt entitled to question her identity or insult her with transphobic comments. Some had threatened her with guns, she said, "or at times, they get very physical.""Fortunately," she continued, "I have experience with those sort of attacks and have been able to survive and been able to organize my community and speak up and really challenge these injustices."Moore said she felt a call to action in 2017, after Chyna Gibson, a 31-year-old black transgender woman, was fatally shot in New Orleans. Moore, 31, said the killing in her hometown rattled her.Even so, she was already deeply aware of the risks she and other transgender people face. She recounted the time, in 2014, when she was attacked and had to leap from a third-story window to save herself, shattering her knees."I want us to live in a world," she said, "where we don't have to worry about walking out of our front doors and being killed because someone doesn't understand who we are."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| The story behind the 'awkward-looking' machinery that carried a team of CIA officers to Afghanistan after 9/11 Posted: 27 Sep 2019 04:35 AM PDT ![The story behind the 'awkward-looking' machinery that carried a team of CIA officers to Afghanistan after 9/11]( "The story behind the 'awkward-looking' machinery that carried a team of CIA officers to Afghanistan after 9/11") "This huge artifact ... helps us tell the account of the CIA's response to 9/11," CIA Museum Director Robert Byer said.
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