| Trump says 'I don't know' how map was altered to show Alabama in Hurricane Dorian's path Posted: 04 Sep 2019 01:15 PM PDT  During an Oval Office briefing, the president showed reporters an enlarged map that he said was the initial forecasted path of the storm. It appeared to have been altered with a marker to include Alabama.
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| Woman sets herself on fire after being charged for illegally entering football match in Iran Posted: 04 Sep 2019 12:44 PM PDT  An Iranian woman has set herself on fire outside a court in Tehran after being tried for resisting arrest by morality police for trying to enter a football stadium disguised as a male spectator. According to Rokna news agency, the woman, named only as Sahar, has been taken to a local hospital with life-threatening burns. A spokesperson for Iran's judiciary has said the woman "had been engaged in a physical confrontation with security forces in February" after resisting arrest on charges of and insulting police and bad-hejabi, refusing to abide by strict Muslim dress codes. She had been detained but later released to appear in court on charges of "insulting the public by defying the dress code for women", according to court papers. Ahead of a court hearing on Monday she says she was told by a source that she faces six months in prison. She asked the judge to postpone her trial so she could attend a funeral. When she came out of the building she set herself on fire in front of the usually crowded complex that houses several courts. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 Iranian women have been banned from attending football stadiums as the clerical regime regards watching men playing football in shorts "promoting promiscuity". Dr. Mustafa Dehmardi, the head of accident and emergency at Motahari hospital in Tehran, told Rokna news agency that Sahar had burns caused by petrol fire on 90 per cent of her body. She is currently in the hospital's intensive care unit. Iranian women's rights activists have long been campaigning to enter sports stadiums, and in recent years they have been allowed to attend volleyball matches only if accompanied by their spouses in designated areas.
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| 'Over the top:' McConnell still mad about #MoscowMitch, calls attention to 2020 election Posted: 04 Sep 2019 03:17 AM PDT  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was first called "Moscow Mitch" in July by MSNBC host Joe Scarborough on on his "Morning Joe" show
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| Utah woman arrested at Manila airport with newborn in bag Posted: 05 Sep 2019 05:39 PM PDT  An American woman who attempted to carry a 6-day-old baby out of the Philippines hidden inside a sling bag has been arrested at Manila's airport and charged with human trafficking, officials said Thursday. The Philippine officials said Jennifer Erin Talbot was able to pass through the airport immigration counter on Wednesday without declaring the baby boy but was intercepted at the boarding gate by airline personnel. Talbot was unable to produce any passport, boarding pass or government permits for the baby, airport officials said.
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| Photos show the mangled airplanes and buildings at Grand Bahama airport that Hurricane Dorian left behind Posted: 05 Sep 2019 12:21 PM PDT  Buildings and airplanes at Grand Bahama Island's only international airport were left mangled and shattered following the storm.
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| So...Why Did This Underwater Data Station Suddenly Just Disappear? Posted: 05 Sep 2019 12:01 PM PDT  The scientific instruments have vanished. Only questions remain.
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| U.S. slaps record fine on Michigan State University over Nassar abuse scandal Posted: 05 Sep 2019 10:26 AM PDT  The U.S. Department of Education has imposed a record $4.5 million fine on Michigan State University for what it called a failure to protect students from sexual abuse and ordered the university to make changes. The Education Department had launched two separate investigations into the university after the former sports doctor for the school and USA Gymnastics, Larry Nassar, was accused of sexual abuse by more than 350 women. Nassar was sentenced https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-gymnastics-usa-nassar-fallout/sexual-abuse-scandal-weighs-on-us-gymnastics-centres-idUKKBN1FL6L8 in two different trials to 300 years in prison for having abused young female gymnasts.
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| Every Angle of the 2019 Range Rover Sport HST Posted: 05 Sep 2019 12:59 PM PDT |
| Afghan intelligence director quits after deadly raid Posted: 05 Sep 2019 07:19 AM PDT  The head of Afghanistan's intelligence service resigned Thursday following a deadly raid by security forces in eastern Afghanistan that an official said left four brothers dead. Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai had served as head of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence agency since June 2016 but has come under intense pressure in recent months as violence across Afghanistan has surged.
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| Trump insists incorrect ‘Sharpiegate’ hurricane map is accurate Posted: 05 Sep 2019 05:36 AM PDT  President said 'certain models strongly suggested' Alabama would be hit after displaying altered map showing path reaching the stateUnable to let a good fight with the media go to waste, Donald Trump insisted again on Thursday that his warning that Alabama could be hit by Hurricane Dorian was accurate.The federal National Weather Service (NWS) has said it was not.Dorian, meanwhile, moved back up to category 3 strength, threatening life-endangering storm surge and flooding in the Carolinas and prompting evacuations there and along the coast of Georgia. It had left at least 20 people dead in the Bahamas.The president tweeted his fury about his own side of the matter a day after he displayed a National Hurricane Center (NHC) map in the Oval Office which appeared to have been altered with a Sharpie, or marker pen, to show the storm's predicted path reaching into the Yellowhammer state.Trump insisted later on Wednesday that his original briefings on Dorian showed a "95% chance probability" that Alabama would be hit. Asked if the chart showing a government weather forecast had been altered – which would be a crime under US law – he said: "I don't know, I don't know."The incident prompted scorn and hilarity online, with some christening the scandal "Sharpiegate".On Wednesday night, Trump demanded apologies from the media.On Thursday morning, typically unabashed, he tweeted: "In the early days of the hurricane, when it was predicted that Dorian would go through Miami or West Palm Beach, even before it reached the Bahamas, certain models strongly suggested that Alabama [and] Georgia would be hit as it made its way through Florida [and] to the Gulf."Instead it turned North and went up the coast, where it continues now. In the one model through Florida, the Great State of Alabama would have been hit or grazed. In the path it took, no. Read my FULL FEMA [Federal Emergency Management Agency] statement. What I said was accurate! All Fake News in order to demean!"Saying Alabama had been predicted to be "hit or grazed" was a downgrade from Trump's initial tweet about the state, which counted it among states likely to be "hit (much) harder than anticipated".Trump also retweeted an NHC map from last Wednesday which showed outer strands of the storm crossing the Georgia-Alabama line.The first warnings of Dorian's potency began to spread across the media late last week. The NHC map showing the forecast path of the storm which Trump displayed in the Oval Office was published last Thursday. It can still be seen online. It does not show the hurricane reaching Alabama.Regardless, on Sunday, Trump tweeted: "In addition to Florida – South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama, will most likely be hit (much) harder than anticipated. Looking like one of the largest hurricanes ever. Already category 5. BE CAREFUL! GOD BLESS EVERYONE!"Shortly after that, the National Weather Service tweeted: "Alabama will NOT see any impacts from Dorian. We repeat, no impacts from Hurricane Dorian will be felt across Alabama. The system will remain too far east."
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| A Mississippi Wedding Venue Refused to Serve Gay or Interracial Couples. Amid Backlash, the Owner Is Now Apologizing Posted: 04 Sep 2019 11:25 AM PDT  The alleged owner of the event hall cited her "Christian belief"
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| Arrests of Straight Pride Parade counter protesters in Boston turns into courtroom battle Posted: 05 Sep 2019 01:26 PM PDT  The Boston DA's decision to drop charges against left-wing protesters arrested at a Straight Pride Parade has turned into a courtroom fight.
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| Judge dismisses wrongful death lawsuit over abortion Posted: 03 Sep 2019 07:41 PM PDT ![Judge dismisses wrongful death lawsuit over abortion]( "Judge dismisses wrongful death lawsuit over abortion") An Alabama judge has dismissed a wrongful death lawsuit filed on behalf on an aborted embryo by a man who was upset that his ex-girlfriend ended her pregnancy. Madison County Circuit Judge Chris Comer ruled Friday that Ryan Magers could not bring a wrongful death claim over a legal abortion. Magers had sued the Alabama clinic where he believed his ex-girlfriend obtained the abortion pill, on behalf of himself and the estate of the aborted embryo.
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| Tropical Storm Fernand forms in Gulf as it moves toward Mexico Posted: 04 Sep 2019 07:32 AM PDT  The low spinning in the Gulf near Mexico has intensified into a tropical storm. It is expected to move into Mexico Wednesday evening.
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| China found a mysterious 'gel-like' substance on the moon's uncharted far side Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:31 AM PDT  Researchers have suggested that the strange substance could be "melt glass," formed from meteorites crashing into the lunar surface.
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| Amazon's Ring camera raises civil liberties concerns: U.S. senator Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:14 PM PDT  U.S. Democratic Senator Edward Markey raised concerns on Thursday that law enforcement use of Amazon.com Inc's Ring doorbell camera in investigations could disproportionately affect people of color and encourage racial profiling. In a letter to Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos, Markey said sharing information from Ring's at-home camera systems with police departments "could easily create a surveillance network that places dangerous burdens on people of color" and stoke "racial anxieties" in communities where it works with law enforcement. Markey, the ranking member on the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Security, said he was "alarmed to learn that Ring is pursuing facial recognition technology" and that Amazon was marketing its facial recognition technology Rekognition to police departments.
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| Texas Governor Issues Spate of Executive Orders Designed to Prevent Mass Shootings Posted: 05 Sep 2019 11:50 AM PDT  Texas governor Greg Abbott on Thursday issued eight executive orders aimed at preventing mass shootings after two massacres last month left the Lone Star State shaken."Mental instability, racial hatred, extremist ideology, a desire to sow domestic terror, and other factors have contributed to these horrific mass shootings in varying degrees," the executive orders said. They also pointed out that police had been alerted to both shooters before they carried out their attacks.Abbott ordered the state's Department of Public Safety and Commission on Law Enforcement to standardize procedures for determining whether information should be reported to the Texas Suspicious Activity Reporting Network, to train law enforcement in those procedures, and to raise public awareness of them.He also ordered the Department of Public Safety to work with local law enforcement, mental-health professionals, and school districts to come up with "multidisciplinary threat assessment teams" and beef up staff at government intelligence-gathering centers, and increased pressure on counties to promptly report criminal convictions to the Department.On August 3, a 21-year-old gunman opened fire on a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 20 people and injuring 26 others. He left behind a manifesto detailing his hatred of immigrants and fear of an "invasion" of Hispanics across the southern border. Last Saturday, a 36-year-old male suspect killed seven and injured 22 others in Odessa and Midland, Texas.Abbott lamented Monday that the Odessa suspect had a criminal history and previously failed to pass a background check to purchase a gun, saying that, "we must keep guns out of criminals' hands.""I will continue to work expeditiously with the legislature on laws to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous criminals, while safeguarding the 2nd Amendment rights of law-abiding Texans," Abbot promised.
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| Boris Johnson Has Badly Miscalculated Posted: 04 Sep 2019 09:01 PM PDT ![Boris Johnson Has Badly Miscalculated]( "Boris Johnson Has Badly Miscalculated") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- After just 43 days in office, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has gotten himself into a dire fix. Unfortunately, there's no easy way out — for him or for the country he nominally leads.Thanks to a series of miscalculations, Johnson's party is cracking up, his government is collapsing, and his political strategy is backfiring. This week, he ejected 21 rebels from the parliamentary Conservative Party after they joined the opposition to stop him from forcing the country out of the European Union without an exit agreement. To restore his authority and a workable majority, the prime minister then called for a prompt general election — and lost that vote as well, failing to muster the necessary two-thirds support.All politicians have bad weeks. But the first part of this one has set some kind of record. Its consequences will extend far beyond the operatic disarray in Westminster. Most immediately, Johnson has made resolving Brexit — the gravest challenge the country has faced in decades — far harder. Britain is still scheduled to leave the EU on Oct. 31. Holding a general election in the meantime, as Johnson presumably still hopes to do, could conceivably ease that process by securing a clearer majority for the prime minister's plans. The problem is that no one can say what those are.By nearly all accounts, negotiations with the EU on a revised deal have gone nowhere. Johnson can't even identify what he hopes to achieve in these talks. He wants to ditch the "backstop" arrangement intended to prevent a hard border with Ireland, but can't specify what should take its place. Meanwhile, in purging his party of no-deal opponents, he's ousted the very lawmakers who would've been most likely to support any new compromise.In proceeding so heedlessly, Johnson is not only shooting himself in the foot, but also maximizing the long-term damage Brexit is doing to Britain's constitutional order and political norms. Unelected and lacking a mandate, he has nonetheless pressed the executive's power to its limits. He seems to view Parliament as an irritant; his ministers seem to regard the rule of law as one option among many. They should all try to imagine what the opposition might do with such an expansive interpretation of the prime minister's authority.Perhaps most damaging, though, is the cost of this endless misadventure. Britain is on the verge of a recession. Business investment — the most obvious victim of Brexit uncertainty — has been in a severe funk. Services growth is stalling while manufacturing and construction are most likely in contraction. Johnson is meanwhile spending millions on an advertising campaign to convince businesses to prepare for no-deal even while assuring everyone that it's highly unlikely — a strategy that has not exactly alleviated the uncertainty.Is there any way out of this?A general election would offer one potential escape route. Yet it will also present voters with a dismal choice. On one hand, there's Johnson, and the renewed threat of his delivering a chaotic exit. On the other, there's Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, whose modest agenda includes nationalizing much of the economy, eviscerating property rights, and otherwise expunging the counterrevolution. In any event, another hung Parliament seems all too likely.The unfortunate fact is that the machinery of British politics has become stuck on Brexit. As the process grinds on — chewing through two prime ministers and counting — it is doing worsening damage without producing any forward momentum. More of the same will hardly help. Even at this late date, the best and most democratic way out of this morass is to let the public decide the matter in a second referendum. The alternatives look bleaker by the day.\--Editors: Timothy Lavin, Clive Crook.To contact the senior editor responsible for Bloomberg Opinion's editorials: David Shipley at davidshipley@bloomberg.net, .Editorials are written by the Bloomberg Opinion editorial board.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russian, Italian charged with stealing GE Aviation secrets Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:53 PM PDT  A Russian with government ties and an Italian aerospace expert have been charged with the theft of jet engine technology from leading American manufacturer GE Aviation, the US Justice Department announced Thursday. Alexander Yuryevich Korshunov, 57, and Maurizio Paolo Bianchi, 59 were charged in a just-unsealed criminal complaint with stealing trade secrets in the latest case involving theft of US aviation industry intellectual property. The Justice Department said that from 2013 to 2018, Korshunov hired Bianchi, a former director for GE Aviation's Italian subsidiary, to help with the design of jet engine gearboxes for Aviadvigatel, a subsidiary of Russian state-owned aerospace company United Engine Corp.
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| President Trump Displays Altered Hurricane Dorian Forecast Chart Showing It Was Expected to Hit Alabama Posted: 04 Sep 2019 03:19 PM PDT  The Aug. 29 weather chart that mapped the predicted direction of Hurricane Dorian was marked in black ink to touch a corner of Alabama.
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| The 102 Most Delish Ways To Eat Potatoes Posted: 05 Sep 2019 01:21 PM PDT |
| NYPD: Fewer arrests since 'I can't breathe' officer's firing Posted: 04 Sep 2019 03:29 PM PDT  Arrests totals in New York City have plunged in the two weeks since the police department fired an officer for the 2014 chokehold death of Eric Garner, pointing to a possible slowdown amid a heated response to the firing from the officers' union. Felony arrests are down about 11% and misdemeanor arrests are down about 17% since Officer Daniel Pantaleo's Aug. 19 firing, compared with the average daily totals for the rest of the year, Police Commissioner James O'Neill said Wednesday. At the same time, the NYPD has seen a 32% drop in moving violations, he said.
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| ‘Hundreds of People’ Could Be Named in Epstein-Related Documents: Lawyer Posted: 04 Sep 2019 08:21 AM PDT  REUTERS"Hundreds of people" could be named in sealed documents in a lawsuit by one of Jeffrey Epstein's accusers against the disgraced financier's alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell, lawyers said in court Wednesday.Maxwell's lawyer, Jeffrey Paglica, revealed to U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska that "hundreds of other people" might be implicated if the new documents were unsealed without proper vetting. The filings pertaining to the 2015 federal defamation case between Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre and the British socialite. In the suit, Giuffre accused Maxwell of procuring young girls for sexual abuse by Epstein and his powerful friends and says Maxwell recruited her when she was 16 years old and working at Mar-a-Lago. (The two sides settled in 2017 and Maxwell denied all allegations.) "There are hundreds of other people implicated," Paglica said on Wednesday, adding the docket in the case contains "over 900 filings" and includes an address book with "about 1,000 names."Epstein Victim Says He Forced Her to Marry Female RecruiterPreska was set to rule Wednesday on whether to unseal the new documents from the civil case, but both parties admitted they had not come into court with an agreement on how to screen them. The 45-minute hearing concluded after Preska asked both parties to come up with a tentative plan in two weeks to create a system to categorize the thousands of pages of documents. While it is not immediately clear who could be named in the documents, Paglica stated the filings include information about Epstein's alleged victims and his friends. The materials also includes video depositions of 29 people, he said. "In these 29 depositions there are dozens if not hundreds of names of other people," said Jeffrey Pagliuca, an attorney for Maxwell. "There are hundreds of pages of investigative reports that mention hundreds of people."The hearing came one day after an anonymous man urged Preska not to release his name and the identities of others accused or named in the documents—claiming the exposure may tarnish their reputations. Last month, a federal appeals court unsealed more than 2,000 pages of documents related to the defamation case, which included accusations against political leaders and celebrities. (The men named in those documents have not been charged with a crime and all denied the allegations.)"[John] Doe is not, and has never been, a party of any judicial proceeding involving Ghislaine Maxwell or Virginia Giuffre, or in any proceeding relating to Giuffre's allegation that Jeffrey Epstein sexually abused her," the letter states, adding that the anonymous client does not have any knowledge about the allegations against Epstein. The man's lawyers, who were in court Wednesday, warned in their letter that a media frenzy could follow if the names were released. The documents, they claim, could detail a "range of allegations of sexual acts" between Giuffre and friends of Epstein's, "some famous, some not" and reveal "the identities of non-parties who either allegedly engaged in sexual acts with [Giuffre] or who allegedly facilitated such acts."Doe's lawyers attended the hearing along with an attorney for Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz and legal counsel for the Miami Herald. The Herald and others had asked a federal judge to release all sealed or redacted documents in Giuffre's case.Giuffre has long claimed that Epstein kept her as his underage "sex slave" and loaned her out to his famous friends, including Dershowitz. Dershowitz has denied the allegations and some of the recently unsealed documents seem to show inconsistencies in Giuffre's claims against him.Andrew Celli, his lawyer, told the court Wednesday Dershowitz believes there "should be maximum disclosure at maximum speed" and wants all documents to be unsealed. "I don't care," Judge Preska replied, earning laughter in the court. Epstein, 66, was found dead by suicide in his jail cell at Manhattan Correction Center last month. The sex offender was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges for allegedly abusing dozens of underage girls over two decades. Prosecutors have said they are planning to continue to investigate his alleged co-conspirators, including Maxwell. 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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| Nunes: The courts are going to have to come in and clean up Fusion GPS Posted: 04 Sep 2019 07:04 PM PDT  House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes on his lawsuit against Fusion GPS on 'Hannity.'
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| Under siege in Nigeria, South African businesses shut stores Posted: 04 Sep 2019 06:32 AM PDT  ABUJA/JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African companies MTN and Shoprite closed stores in Nigeria on Wednesday in the face of attacks targeting their premises in retaliation to similar violence in their home country. Nigeria's vice president is also boycotting an economic forum in Cape Town on boosting intra-African trade, the country's foreign minister said, after days of rioting in South Africa aimed at foreign-owned businesses. At a Shoprite supermarket on the outskirts of the Nigerian capital Abuja, hundreds of protesters tried to break into the premises, throwing stones, setting fire to tires and nearly overwhelming police protecting the site.
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| Johnson Gets Boxed In Over Brexit With Election Only Way Out Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:51 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson was humiliated by Parliament for a second day running, with his do-or-die Brexit strategy derailed and even his plan for a general election rejected. But having bet everything on getting Britain out of the European Union by Oct. 31, he can't back down.The U.K. prime minister has lost all authority in the House of Commons and must find a way to win its support for an election so he can get a shot at commanding a majority. If he can't, he will be trapped in office, compelled by law to request a further delay to Brexit.Johnson is the third Conservative leader to be undermined by the intractable task of delivering Brexit more than three years after the fateful 2016 referendum. Unlike his two predecessors, though, he was a key architect in persuading the British public to vote for it.That decision was meant to settle the European question in British politics that had been lurking for decades. Instead, it's torn the Tories apart and left a nation that was once the benchmark for stability and pragmatism on the cusp of a third election in just over four years. There's also no guarantee it will break the deadlock that's paralyzed a country of almost 70 million people.As European Union leaders monitored events, the chaos that has engulfed the U.K. establishment was brought to life in a charged House of Commons. Earlier in the day, the grandson of Winston Churchill was close to tears in an emotional farewell to his colleagues after getting thrown out of the party for siding against Johnson. He had been a Tory member of Parliament for 37 years.And the mood only got worse as the hours wore on. In a dramatic series of evening votes on Wednesday, members of Parliament moved to stop Johnson forcing the U.K. out of the bloc without a deal next month, effectively wrecking his mission to deliver Brexit by Oct. 31.The bill was then sent to the House of Lords and will return to the Commons by Friday evening, the Press Association reported, after an earlier plan to get unelected peers to filibuster was dropped.Parliament also rejected Johnson's desperate appeal for a snap general election."You can't negotiate with Boris Johnson," said John McDonnell, one of the leading figures of the opposition Labour Party, adding that the prime minister has a "passing relationship with the truth." Good will and trust in Parliament are in short supply, adding to the impasse.Johnson, who exploited Parliament's Brexit deadlock to depose Theresa May and become prime minister, has now found himself a victim of the same forces that destroyed her.He was the face of the Leave campaign and has sold himself to his party as a tough negotiator who would force EU leaders to back down by threatening to take Britain out of the EU without a deal. Yet he has shown himself unable to get his way even in his own party.After he threw 21 MPs who voted against him out of the Conservatives on Tuesday night, the rebels turned up on Wednesday and refused to sit on the opposition benches, staying in their old seats behind the prime minister in a show of defiance."It is completely impossible for government to function if the House of Commons refuses to pass anything that the government proposes," the prime minister told a noisy parliament. "In my view and the view of the government, there must now be an election on Tuesday 15 October."His appeal didn't work as Labour is divided. Some in the party argue it's a chance to grab power, something that seemed an impossible idea only a few years ago. Others fear that Johnson would win a majority and be able to seek a no-deal Brexit. Timing -- before or after Oct. 31 -- is the key for them."We want an election because we look forward to turfing this government out," Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said. "The offer of the election today is a bit like the offer of an apple to Snow White by the wicked queen -- because what he's offering is not an apple or even an election, but the poison of no deal."Corbyn said he would back an election once the bill to stop a no-deal Brexit had become law. Johnson accused the Labour leader of being too scared of losing to fight a contest.A person familiar with the matter said Johnson plans to keep pushing. And while Johnson is a talented campaigner -- as the 2016 surprise outcome proved -- going to the polls in the current, highly volatile climate is a huge gamble for the Conservatives.Two years ago, May called a snap election expecting to win a landslide. Instead, she lost the majority she started with, a failure that resulted in the chaos and confusion that has defined British politics ever since.(Adds Lords plans to send bill back to Commons by Friday.)To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in London at rhutton1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Rodney JeffersonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trudeau says China uses detentions as political tool Posted: 05 Sep 2019 02:06 PM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday accused Beijing of using "arbitrary detentions" as a tool in pursuit of political goals -- the latest broadside in a diplomatic and trade row with China. Canada's relations with China soured after its arrest of Chinese Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou on a US warrant last December. Nine days later, Beijing detained two Canadians -- former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor -- accusing them of espionage in a move widely viewed as retaliation.
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| James Mattis’s Blistering Criticism of Obama Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:27 AM PDT  Most of the coverage of James Mattis's new book, Call Sign Chaos, co-authored with Bing West, deals with the former defense secretary's relationship with President Trump. The Atlantic's pre-publication interview with Mattis was headlined, "The Man Who Couldn't Take It Anymore." The New York Times editorial page ran a column about Mattis called "The Man Trump Wishes He Were."Both articles establish that Mattis doesn't have much to say right now, in either the book or in interviews, about President Trump. Neither piece, though, mentions another president about whom Mattis is more than willing to dish. That would be Barack Obama, who was Mattis's commander in chief when the then–Marine general led Central Command. Mattis's critique of Obama isn't just harsh. It's blistering.Mattis's tenure at Central Command lasted from 2010 to 2013. It was during this time that the Obama administration took steps that diminished American influence in the greater Middle East and empowered Iran. The spillover effect includes the migrant crisis that contributed to the rise of national populism in Europe. Mattis dissented from Obama policy. "In 2010," he writes, "I argued strongly against pulling all our troops out of Iraq."When the Arab Spring came to Egypt in 2011, "I thought we should use quiet diplomacy to urge inclusive government." Obama instead called for Hosni Mubarak to resign. Mattis writes:> President Obama came out vocally against Mubarak, insisting that in Egypt, "we were on the right side of history." Having read a bit of history and found that events, good and bad, had been "written" by both good and evil characters, I put little stock in the idea that history books yet to be written would somehow give yearning Arabs what they fervently desired today.In the spring of 2011, Attorney General Eric Holder revealed an Iranian plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil. Mattis urged the White House to make the public case for reprisals against Tehran. He was rebuffed. "We treated an act of war as a law enforcement violation, jailing the low level courier."Through it all, Mattis was dealing with Iran's malign behavior across the region. "Each step along the way, I argued for political clarity and offered options that gave the Commander in Chief a rheostat he could dial up or down to protect our nation." The commander in chief wasn't interested. He turned the rheostat off.Mattis was informed he would be relieved of command in December 2012. He writes:> I was leaving a region aflame and in disarray. The lack of an integrated regional strategy had left us adrift, and our friends confused. We were offering no leadership or direction. I left my post deeply disturbed that we had shaken our friends' confidence and created vacuums that our adversaries would exploit.The following year, Barack Obama failed to enforce his "red line" against Syrian dictator Bashar Assad's use of chemical weapons against civilians. "This was a shot not heard around the world," Mattis writes. He continues:> Old friends in NATO and in the Pacific registered dismay and incredulity that America's reputation had been seriously weakened as a credible security partner. Within thirty-six hours, I received a phone call from a friendly Pacific-nation diplomat. "Well, Jim," he said, "I guess we're on our own with China."Americans will have to wait for Mattis's full assessment of the Trump presidency. We were provided some clues in his resignation letter. It has also been reported that Mattis left over differences with the president regarding troop deployments in Syria and the potential abandonment of U.S. partners there.In the meantime, at this very moment, we have Mattis's devastating assessment of Barack Obama's foreign policy and its calamitous effects on American prestige and American power. Maybe we ought to pay attention?
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| California becomes the first state in the nation to outlaw fur trapping Posted: 04 Sep 2019 10:27 PM PDT  Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Wednesday banning the controversial fur industry in California.
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| Sealed Jeffrey Epstein Court Documents Name at Least 1,000 People. A Judge Must Decide Whether to Release Them Posted: 04 Sep 2019 03:49 PM PDT  An individual only named "John Doe" sent a letter to the court arguing that the documents should remain sealed.
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| Mexico president says El Chapo's drug wealth should go to Mexico Posted: 05 Sep 2019 10:47 AM PDT ![Mexico president says El Chapo's drug wealth should go to Mexico]( "Mexico president says El Chapo's drug wealth should go to Mexico") Mexico's president on Thursday welcomed a proposal to give the alleged fortune of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the country's indigenous people, and said the wealth of Mexican criminals in the United States should be returned to Mexico. Jose Luis Gonzalez Meza, a lawyer for Guzman, said this week his client had proposed that billions of dollars in revenue that U.S. authorities had attributed to his business operations should be handed to indigenous communities in Mexico. Speaking at his regular morning news conference, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who earlier this year announced the creation of a "Robin Hood" institute to return ill-gotten wealth to the Mexican people, gave his approval to the idea.
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| Ukraine releases MH17 'suspect' ahead of expected prisoner swap Posted: 05 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT  A court in Ukraine on Thursday released from detention a man suspected of involvement in the downing of flight MH17, prompting concern from the Netherlands that he may avoid questioning. The release of Vladimir Tsemakh, an alleged air defence specialist for pro-Russian separatists, comes amid speculation he might be part of a high-profile prisoner swap with Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday confirmed for the first time the "large-scale" prisoner exchange with Ukraine was being finalised.
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| Britain Can’t Fix Brexit Until It Drafts a Constitution Posted: 04 Sep 2019 09:30 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Democracy, Winston Churchill once famously said, was the worst way to run a country "apart from all the others that have ever been tried." Unfortunately, he did not make clear what kind of democracy he favored.Britain's dreadful Brexit impasse has divided the country into roughly equal camps, both convinced democracy has been traduced. And they both have a point. What started as an argument over the European Union's democratic deficit, and the way in which it encroached on Britain's unwritten constitution, has degenerated into something more fundamental: an argument about the nature of democracy itself in the U.K.This crisis is in turn the bequest of generations of making minor tweaks to an unwritten constitution while avoiding the extremely difficult decisions needed to write a new one. In the void, two forms of democracy are attempting to co-exist in Parliament -- representative democracy and direct democracy.On the one hand, Britain is a representative democracy, leaving decisions to elected MPs. Yet those same MPs sanctioned a Brexit referendum, or an act of direct democracy. The current crop of representatives, elected a year after the referendum, cannot agree on a way to enact it. The House of Cards-style intrigue plainly shows the limits of representative democracy. Within the Commons there is no majority for any one course of action, and nobody has managed to thrash out a workable compromise. Two prime ministers – Theresa May, and now Boris Johnson – have tried to paint the issue as Parliament thwarting the will of the people. But the imbroglio also shows the weakness of direct democracy. Britain's membership in the EU, we now know, was far too complicated and subtle to be framed as an either/or question. One tribe says that nobody voted for a "no-deal" Brexit, while the other says that a majority is for a Brexit in some form. Both are right.To deal with this, either the people should be asked ever more questions to help their representatives sort out the mess, which is impractical. Or they must trust their representatives to sort it out. Neither is happening.And the problem runs deeper. Time and again in the last few decades, politicians have confronted anachronisms in Britain's political apparatus and made changes while shirking the far harder task of devising new institutions. The result is a political system in gridlock.Under Britain's unwritten constitution, the monarch is absolutely powerful but faces a duty of eternal self-restraint. In this way, Britain has avoided arguments attending any attempt to write a constitution and abolish the monarch. The Queen worked on the assumption that she had no right to turn down Johnson's request to suspend Parliament. For a hereditary monarch to say no to a prime minister would have introduced an even deeper constitutional crisis. But the incident revealed that the prime minister enjoyed monarchical powers to suspend Parliament – and it is not surprising that it triggered a rebellion.Next look at the House of Lords which, it is whispered in the parliamentary lobbies, might yet try to stage a filibuster of the bill barring Johnson from accepting a "no-deal" Brexit. The Lords has been stripped of hereditary peers but it is still an unelected body. It is hard to believe it has the the legitimacy to thwart the will of elected MPs. Now turn to the parties. Until a generation ago, MPs alone chose their leaders. Both Labour and the Conservatives have moved toward a looser model like the American system, where all party members have a vote. But the result has been half-baked. Johnson was elected by 140,000 Conservative activists far more strongly opposed to the EU than the rest of the country. Labour's Jeremy Corbyn was elected by an expanded party that allowed anyone to be a voting member after paying a modest fee. An influx of enthusiastic ideological left-wingers swung the result. Neither party's leader has anything like the broad mandate of a U.S. presidential nominee. Both represent unrepresentative electorates while failing to command the support of their own MPs in Parliament. So the major parties lack the legitimacy to sort the Brexit mess.Would a general election help, as Johnson suggests? Probably not. The "first past the post" system works well in a purely representative democracy where MPs as individuals have great latitude. It is useless if there is any hope that Parliament should reflect the "will of the people." In that scenario, results are affected by the geographic distribution of votes and distorted by the presence of major alternative parties. There is no reason to think that MPs in a new Parliament would accurately reflect the broad spread of opinions about Brexit. So it looks hard for the U.K. to sort Brexit without reforming its parties and its electoral system (while also possibly agreeing on an elected upper chamber and even limiting or replacing the power of the monarch). Moreover, nothing will be solved until Britain drafts a written constitution. The nation's democratic deficit appears at least as serious as that of the EU, and resolving it may require turning the U.K. into something far more like a continental European country.And that is not what anyone thought they were voting for back when the Brexit referendum first surfaced. To contact the author of this story: John Authers at jauthers@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Timothy L. O'Brien at tobrien46@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.John Authers is a senior editor for markets. Before Bloomberg, he spent 29 years with the Financial Times, where he was head of the Lex Column and chief markets commentator. He is the author of "The Fearful Rise of Markets" and other books.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Latest: Dorian nearing North Carolina coast Posted: 05 Sep 2019 05:34 PM PDT  Hurricane Dorian is getting closer to North Carolina as it continues to weaken. In an 8 p.m. advisory, the National Hurricane Center says the storm is about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of Cape Fear, North Carolina, near the state's border with South Carolina. Forecasters say the Category 2 storm has maximum sustained winds of 100 mph (161 kph) and is moving northeast at 10 mph (16 kph).
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| Kamala Harris wants to ban plastic straws but says paper straws too 'flimsy' Posted: 05 Sep 2019 04:05 AM PDT  During CNN's climate change town hall Wednesday, the California senator said that she believes single-use plastics like plastic straws need to be banned, but that the paper alternative breaks too often and is ripe for some innovation.
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| Zimbabwe's Catholic Church launches bid to make British missionary its first saint Posted: 05 Sep 2019 08:56 AM PDT  A British lay missionary could be declared Zimbabwe's first ever saint, as the Catholic Church on Thursday began a three-day ceremony to determine whether John Bradburne qualifies for canonisation on the 40th anniversary of his death. Bradburne worked among lepers in what was then known as Rhodesia, and refused to leave his post even as the civil war intensified. The country's Catholic Church will hear arguments for and against Bradburne's sainthood. Many Catholics from Zimbabwe and beyond make an annual pilgrimage to the site where he lived, worked and died, and several people say they have been healed after praying to him. Bradburne arrived in Rhodesia in 1969, just before the war began and became warden of the Mutemwa mission station about 90 miles north east of Harare, not far from the border with Mozambique. Supporters claim Bradburne's miracles include curing brain tumour patient Credit: John Bradburne Memorial Society He worked at the Mutemwa Leprosy and Care Centre which was established 30 years earlier. Even after the Catholics evacuated its white priests from north eastern Zimbabwe earlier in the year, Mr Bradburne, a tall, thin, long-haired man, who colleagues say spoke like a British aristocrat, refused to leave, and continued to attend to lepers, write poetry and play his harmonium in the tin hut in which he lived. He was abducted and shot dead on a road in the bush. John Bradburne was killed in Zimbabwe Credit: Paul Grover Earlier this year, one of Bradburne's colleagues at that time, Father Fidelis Mukonori, said he was in Mutemwa about two weeks before Bradburne was killed. "I never thought at that time that this could happen," he said. "It was the most shocking news." Father Mukonori was a senior Jesuit who had a special relationship with former President Robert Mugabe, and ended up mediating during the coup d'état in 2017. Mr Mugabe, 95, who is a Catholic, was leader of guerrilla forces in Mozambique that killed Bradburne. Other senior church leaders were also killed by both sides in the war.
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| Make Your Sweet Tooth Happy With These Apple and Caramel Recipes Posted: 05 Sep 2019 11:57 AM PDT |
| Pentagon chief says he currently has no plan to seize Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 Posted: 05 Sep 2019 04:04 PM PDT  U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Thursday he currently had no plan on his desk to seize the Iranian oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, which is at the center of a dispute between Tehran and Western powers. The vessel, formerly named Grace 1, was detained by British Royal Marine commandos off Gibraltar on July 4 as it was suspected to be en route to Syria in violation of European Union sanctions. "We do not talk about plans, but currently I have no plan right now sitting on my desk to do such a thing," Esper told reporters in London when asked if there was any plan to seize the ship.
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| Why Boris Johnson Lost His Bid for a New Election Before Brexit Posted: 04 Sep 2019 04:19 PM PDT  U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had been pinning his hopes on public fatigue with Brexit, betting it would help him unite "leave" voters.
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| Some migrant parents deported without kids can return to US Posted: 04 Sep 2019 05:29 PM PDT  A federal judge ordered the U.S. government Wednesday to allow the return of 11 parents who were deported without their children during the Trump administration's wide-scale separation of immigrant families. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled that government agents unlawfully prevented those parents from pursuing asylum cases. The parents who will be allowed back include David Xol, the Guatemalan father of 9-year-old Byron , who has lived for several months with a family in Texas after spending nearly a year in government custody.
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| Stunning satellite images show Hurricane Dorian's floodwaters engulfing The Bahamas Posted: 05 Sep 2019 01:28 PM PDT ![Stunning satellite images show Hurricane Dorian's floodwaters engulfing The Bahamas]( "Stunning satellite images show Hurricane Dorian's floodwaters engulfing The Bahamas") A satellite image taken Monday shows the floodwaters that engulfed Grand Bahama Island after Hurricane Dorian struck the Bahamas.
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