| Hillary Clinton to Trump on a 2020 rerun: 'Don't tempt me. Do your job.' Posted: 08 Oct 2019 02:51 PM PDT  Responding to President Trump's sarcastic suggestion that Hillary Clinton should run for president again in 2020, Clinton tweeted back: "Don't tempt me. Do your job."
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| A family found more than half a million dollars in cocaine on the beach during their vacation Posted: 08 Oct 2019 07:55 PM PDT  A man and his family discovered 20 bricks of cocaine while on vacation in South Carolina, estimated to be worth $600,000.
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| Xinjiang: The making of China's far west police state Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:14 PM PDT  China's all-encompassing security crackdown in Xinjiang has turned the northwest region -- home to most of the country's ethnic Uighur population -- into a place activists describe as an open air prison. Upwards of one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities in the region are held in re-education camps, according to estimates cited by a UN panel in 2018. The United States blacklisted 28 Chinese entities this week over their alleged roles in rights violations in Xinjiang and said it would also curb visas for officials involved in "detention or abuse" of minorities.
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| Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94 Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:09 PM PDT ![Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94]( "Francis Currey, one of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipients, dies at 94") Francis Currey, one of three living World War II Medal of Honor recipients, died on Tuesday, NEWS10 reports. He was 94.Currey, from Selkirk, New York, joined the U.S. Army at 17, and was a technical sergeant. He was in Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge, and because he wasn't given proper winter gear, was suffering from frostbite. On Dec. 21, 1944, German tanks approached Currey and his company while they were guarding a bridge crossing. A rifleman, Currey exposed himself to enemy fire as he shot and killed several Germans. During the intense fighting, he also used anti-tank grenades and a bazooka against the Germans, and was able to rescue five Americans who were taking fire inside a building.Currey received the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and Medal of Honor, the highest decoration of valor. In 1998, his likeness was used to create the Medal of Honor G.I. Joe.
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| Why Do the Yemeni Houthi Rebels Have North Korean Missiles? Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:51 PM PDT  A strange tale.
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| Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister Posted: 09 Oct 2019 10:00 AM PDT ![Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister]( "Shooting in Germany was anti-Semitic attack - interior minister") German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said on Wednesday that a shooting in eastern Germany was anti-Semitic, adding that federal prosecutors who have taken on the investigation thought there were signs that it could be a right-wing extremist attack. According to the federal prosecutors' office, there are enough indications that it was possibly a right-wing extremist motive.
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| The Latest: PG&E says massive power outage is 'last resort' Posted: 08 Oct 2019 07:58 PM PDT  Pacific Gas & Electric is defending its decision to shut off power to potentially millions of Californians to prevent deadly wildfires. PG&E wildfire safety expert Sumeet Singh says Tuesday night that the company's decision to cut electricity to customers in 34 Northern and Central California counties is "a last resort" in the face of an unprecedented and sweeping wildfire risk from hot, dry weather and gusty winds. Gov. Gavin Newsom earlier said residents should be outraged by the largest preventive outage in state history.
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| After Killing Teen in U.K., Runaway Wife of U.S. ‘Spy’ Provokes Diplomatic Crisis Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:07 PM PDT  Justice4Harry FacebookHarry Dunn was an outgoing 19-year-old, a skilled motorcyclist with a twin brother and four other siblings who happened to be driving through the valley just outside the Royal Air Force base in Croughton, England, on the evening of Aug. 27, when Anne Sacoolas crested the hill in her Volvo XC90 luxury SUV. Sacoolas, the 42-year-old wife of an American who worked at the important intelligence gathering facility, had only been in the U.K. for three weeks. She pulled out of the base on the wrong side of the road, apparently forgetting for a moment the rules of left-lane British driving. The Second Oldest Profession is Here to StayDunn had no time to react when Sacoolas came straight at him, the Dunn family spokesman told The Daily Beast. The impact sent him flying over the top of the heavy SUV, causing multiple injuries. He died a few hours later in a local hospital. At the scene of the accident, Sacoolas, whose 12-year-old son was reportedly a passenger in the Volvo, was hysterical over what she had done. The car had diplomatic plates, but witnesses who rushed to the crash site told Northamptonshire police that Sacoolas immediately took the blame and gave all her details, including her British and American cellphone numbers.DMV records in Virginia, where Sacoolas previously was resident, show she had been cited for failing to pay attention while driving in 2006 but had paid the fine with no other penalty. Because Dunn was still alive when he was taken away by ambulance after the accident, Sacoolas was not arrested at the scene—nor was she checked for alcohol or drug use, according to a Northamptonshire Police spokesperson. When police went to the Croughton base the next day to tell Sacoolas that Dunn had died, she was understandably upset and assured them she had no plans to leave the country. When they came back a second time to get more information, she was lawyered up and assisted by officials from the U.S. Embassy to the U.K..The police went back again Sept. 15 to place Sacoolas under formal questioning in a wrongful death inquiry but she, her husband, Jonathan, and their three children had left the country, claiming diplomatic immunity. The U.S. Embassy in London said they did so on the advice of the U.S. State Department. The Sacoolas family has a home outside Washington, D.C., but they have so far not been spotted there. Calls to the home by The Daily Beast were met with a busy signal. The State Department issued a statement confirming they had left the U.K. but would not confirm where the family is. "We express our deepest sympathies and offer condolences to the family of the deceased in the tragic Aug. 27 traffic accident involving a vehicle driven by the spouse of a U.S. diplomat assigned to the United Kingdom," the State Department statement reads. "We can confirm the family has left the U.K."Edward Snowden Is Exposing His Own Secrets This TimeOn Tuesday, Mark Stephens, described as an expert in diplomatic law, told The Guardian newspaper that Jonathan Sacoolas was not listed in London as a diplomat and questioned whether his family indeed had full immunity. U.S. personnel working at Croughton, reportedly a major listening post for the American CIA and National Security Agency, have been granted special diplomatic immunity.The British Foreign Office did not respond to a call for confirmation of Sacoolas' status and whether it should be waived. But the U.S. State Department was quite clear on the matter. "Any questions regarding a waiver of immunity with regard to our diplomats and their family members overseas in a case like this receive intense attention at senior levels and are considered carefully given the global impact such decisions carry," it said in a statement, adding, "immunity is rarely waived."Dunn's mother, Charlotte Charles, was only told last week that Sacoolas had left Britain. She is now pleading that Sacoolas return to the U.K. to meet with her of her own accord. She isn't even asking that the supposed spy's wife be punished for accidentally killing her son. "We just don't understand from one human to another, one mom to another, how you could just get on a plane and leave behind the devastation she has without even speaking to us, without an apology of any kind?" Charles told Sky TV on Tuesday. "We're not a horrible family, we're a usual U.K. family that just need to put a face to—what we have now is a name… without knowing who this person is properly we can't begin to try and start our grieving process."The case has rattled the United Kingdom and of course has had a huge impact on the small community where the death took place and where the locals all refer to RAF Croughton as the "spy base." They are used to mingling with families stationed inside. In fact, the Sacoolas children had just started attending a nearby private school called Winchester House, where Dunn's father works as head of maintenance. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also involved, promising to take the matter up with President Donald Trump if the American diplomatic process won't compel Sacoolas to return. "I do not think that it can be right to use the process of diplomatic immunity for this type of purpose," Johnson told reporters Monday. "I hope that Anne Sacoolas will come back and will engage properly with the processes of law as they are carried out in this country... If we can't resolve it then of course I will be raising it myself personally with the White House."For the record, Sacoolas and her husband are both registered Republicans. If she does come back, it will likely be of her own free will. It is highly unlikely the American government would force her to return. Normally, diplomatic immunity is granted only to those working out of the embassy in London under the 1961 Vienna Convention, which is meant to protect families of those working for foreign governments from politically motivated prosecution. But in 1994, a special arrangement was reached to extend it to those at RAF Croughton, which is a "listening" post that handles a third of the U.S. intelligence surveillance in the region. Britain's Independent newspaper reported in 2013, based on documents supplied by whistleblower Edward Snowden, that Croughton is one of two centers for "tech support activity" run by the Special Collection Service (SCS)—a joint CIA/NSA unit that operates a network of about 100 listening posts. Among its reported accomplishments: tapping into the cellphone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.That neither Trump nor his State Department have seen fit to waive Sacoolas' immunity has not stopped Dunn's family from campaigning for Sacoolas to do the right thing. The family has set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to fight for justice for their son, even if that means traveling to the U.S. to petition Trump in Washington or even to find Sacoolas in person. "This funding page is being set up to help the family and his twin brother Niall through these traumatic times," the campaign note says. "And to build up a fund as the family embark on a campaign to search for Justice for Harry as the legal process unfolds." They have also set up Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook pages under the justice4harry hashtag where they post articles and information from the family. In one message, the family thank well-wishers for showing the respect for Harry they would like from Sacoolas. "His love for his family and friends outshone everything and made him the caring and loving young man he was," they write. "It's not until now, with all the messages we have received, that we have come to realize how many people's lives he has touched."RAF Croughton would not comment on the matter, but the Dunn family spokesman, Radd Seiger, whose own son was Harry Dunn's best friend, told The Daily Beast that the family will not stop fighting for justice until Sacoolas is back in the U.K.."President Trump, please listen," Dunn's mother said in her interview with Sky TV. "We're a family in ruin. We're broken. We can't grieve. Please, please, let her get back on a plane, come back to the U.K. We could understand how she's feeling, but more importantly, she needs to face justice, see what she's done."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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| Minneapolis mayor responds to Trump: I don't have time to be 'tweeting garbage out' Posted: 08 Oct 2019 02:27 PM PDT  Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey hit back at President Trump regarding the use of the Target Center for a Thursday campaign rally.
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| Chevy Colorado Will Look a Little Cooler for 2021 Posted: 08 Oct 2019 03:45 PM PDT  All Colorados get different badging and a tweaked front end, and the ZR2 and Z71 off-road models benefit from a new color.
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| China destroys dozens of Uighur cemeteries in drive to 'eradicate' cultural history of Muslims Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:02 AM PDT  Even in death there is no respite for the Uighurs, one of the world's most persecuted minorities, according to a new investigation that has revealed China is destroying burial grounds where generations of families have been interred. Over the past two years, tombs have been smashed and human bones scattered in dozens of desecrated cemeteries in China's northwest region, research by Agence France Presse and satellite imagery analysts Earthrise Alliance has revealed. While the official explanation for the policy is urban development or the "standardisation" of old graves, overseas Uighurs say the destruction is part of the state's concerted effort to eradicate their ethnic identity and control every aspect of their lives. "This is all part of China's campaign to effectively eradicate any evidence of who we are, to effectively make us like the Han Chinese," said Salih Hudayar, who said the graveyard where his great-grandparents were buried was demolished. "That's why they're destroying all of these historical sites, these cemeteries, to disconnect us from our history, from our fathers and our ancestors," he said. Satellite images received on September 30, 2019 from CNES 2019, distributed by Airbus DS and produced by Earthrise shows a picture from April 24, 2018 (top) showing the Sulanim cemetery (C) in Hotan, Xinjiang province and the same view on August 6, 2019 (bottom) Credit: AFP An estimated one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up into re-education camps in Xinjiang in the name of combatting religious extremism and separatism. Former detainees interviewed by The Telegraph have recounted horrific torture, being forced to memorise Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and to renounce Islam. Those who are free are intimidated by suffocating surveillance and restrictions, including bans on beards and veils. A further Telegraph investigation in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in June found evidence of widespread intimidation of the local population, whether inside mosques or in family homes, including reports that officials were offering "gifts" of pork, a forbidden food for Muslims. A picture from August 29, 2017 (top) showing a cemetery (C) and the same view on July 5, 2019 with no sign of the facility in Xayar, Xinjiang province Credit: AFP Beijing has long sought to control the resource-rich region of Xinjiang, where decades of government-encouraged migration of the Han – China's ethnic majority – have fuelled resentment among Uighurs. Last year, Uighur exile groups reported that the Chinese authorities were setting up "burial management centres" in a bid to exert control over the most private aspects of their lives. The latest investigation claims that the destruction of existing graveyards has been carried out with little respect for the dead – with AFP journalists discovering human bones discarded at three site and other sites where tombs were reduced to mounds of bricks. Satellite imagery analysed by AFP and Earthrise Alliance, shows that the Chinese government has, since 2014, exhumed and flattened at least 45 Uighur cemeteries - including 30 in the past two years. The Xinjiang government did not respond to a request for comment. This photo taken on September 13, 2019 shows the works of a park in a place where before there was a Uighur cemetery in Kuche in the region of Xinjiang. Credit: AFP The destruction is "not just about religious persecution," said Nurgul Sawut, who has five generations of family buried in Yengisar, southwestern Xinjiang. "It is much deeper than that," said Ms Sawut, who now lives in Australia and last visited Xinjiang in 2016 to attend her father's funeral. "If you destroy that cemetery ... you're uprooting whoever's on that land, whoever's connected to that land," she explained. China has dismissed the escalating global criticism of its treatment of Uighurs, denying there are any human rights issues in the region. This week, the United States said it would curb visas for officials over the alleged abuses and blacklisted 28 Chinese facial recognition and artificial intelligence technology firms that it accuses of being implicated in the repression of the Muslim minority. "This kind of behavior seriously violates the basic norms of international relations, interferes in China's internal affairs, and harms China's interests," said Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman. "The Chinese side strongly deplores and opposes it."
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| Wealthy couple gets prison terms for U.S. college admissions scam Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:56 PM PDT  The founder of a food and beverage packaging company and his wife were each sentenced to one month in prison on Tuesday for their roles in what prosecutors say is the largest college admissions scam uncovered in the United States. Gregory and Marcia Abbott received lighter sentences than the eight-month terms sought by federal prosecutors in Boston after they admitted to paying $125,000 to have a corrupt test proctor secretly correct their daughter's answers on college entrance exams. The couple's sentence by U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani also includes a requirement that they each pay a $45,000 fine.
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| During the Vietnam War, Commandos Sunk a U.S. Aircraft Carrier Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:05 AM PDT  It was a huge blow.
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| Politician charged in human trafficking adoption scheme Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:26 PM PDT  An Arizona elected official ran a human smuggling scheme that promised pregnant women thousands of dollars to lure them from a Pacific Island nation to the U.S., where they were crammed into houses to wait to give birth, sometimes with little to no prenatal care, prosecutors allege. Paul Petersen, the Republican assessor of Arizona's most populous county, was charged in Utah, Arizona and Arkansas with counts including human smuggling, sale of a child, fraud, forgery and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Investigators also found eight pregnant women from the Marshall Islands in raids of his properties outside Phoenix, and several more are waiting to give birth in Utah, authorities said.
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| An NBC reporter's young son adorably wandered onto set during her live broadcast Posted: 09 Oct 2019 07:44 AM PDT ![An NBC reporter's young son adorably wandered onto set during her live broadcast]( "An NBC reporter's young son adorably wandered onto set during her live broadcast") NBC News' national security and Pentagon correspondent Courtney Kube was able to sneak a little extra family time in while she was live on air Wednesday.Kube was in studio reporting on the Turkish military offensive in northern Syria, when her young son, who was visiting the studio, popped up behind her and stole the spotlight. Kube couldn't help but crack a smile as the camera cut to a graphic. She handled the rest of the report like a pro, too, diving right back into a detailed explanation of what's going on in Syria.> Sometimes unexpected breaking news happens while you're reporting breaking news. MSNBCMoms workingmoms pic.twitter.com/PGUrbtQtT6> > -- MSNBC (@MSNBC) October 9, 2019Kube's colleagues had nothing but praise for her, and how she handled what turned out to be a sweet moment. > Mother of twins and best on the beat. @ckubeNBC does it all https://t.co/HGHil2mKV9> > -- Julia E. Ainsley (@JuliaEAinsley) October 9, 2019> I couldn't love this more. You're amazing @ckubeNBC! msnbcmoms https://t.co/SlR4MUSmYD> > -- Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) October 9, 2019
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| Who are the Kurds? A Middle Eastern people with 'no friends but the mountains' Posted: 09 Oct 2019 11:35 AM PDT  The U.S. and others have turned their backs on the Kurds before. Now President Trump and his administration have done so again.
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| Minneapolis mayor fires back at Trump: Doesn’t have time to be ‘tweeting garbage out’ Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:59 PM PDT  After President Trump criticized Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over security costs for a campaign rally on Thursday, Frey said he doesn't have time to be "tweeting garbage out."
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| 10 Cheapest New Cars for 2020 Posted: 09 Oct 2019 02:05 PM PDT |
| Hong Kong 'won't rule out' Chinese help over protests: leader Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:43 AM PDT  Hong Kong's under-fire leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday said China intervening to end months of pro-democracy protests is an option following a particularly violent week of unrest that paralysed the city. Hong Kong was virtually locked down over the three-day holiday weekend, with the majority of subway stops closed. It is also the position of the central government (in Beijing) that Hong Kong should tackle the problem on her own.
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| Nobel prize winner laments lack of money for young physicists Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:53 AM PDT  Swiss scientist Michel Mayor, who shared the 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics, said on Wednesday he was concerned about how hard is it for young physicists to make a living from their science work. "For young people doing science it is always a problem to find a permanent position, and some of them are extremely good," Mayor said in an interview with Reuters Television at an event near Madrid. While there is financial support for some top researchers, such as himself, many young scientists do not have enough resources to develop their own careers, he said.
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| California governor signs law capping rent increases Posted: 08 Oct 2019 04:56 PM PDT  California will limit rent increases for some people over the next decade after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a law Tuesday aimed at combating a housing crisis in the nation's most populous state. Newsom signed the bill at an event in Oakland, an area where a recent report documented a 43% increase in homelessness over two years. Sudden rent increases are a contributing cause of the state's homeless problem, which has drawn national attention and the ire of Republican President Donald Trump.
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| Russia's Missiles Can't Take the Heat (Seriously) Posted: 08 Oct 2019 09:05 PM PDT  They don't work like they're supposed to in the scorching Middle East.
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| Trump's approach to the impeachment inquiry bears a striking resemblance to how the mafia operates Posted: 09 Oct 2019 09:09 AM PDT  The mafia "did everything Trump is doing, but he's doing it on a much larger scale," said a former federal prosecutor who dealt with organized crime.
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| No, Betsy DeVos is not going to jail Posted: 08 Oct 2019 09:28 PM PDT  A judge said to Betsy DeVos' department: "I am not sending anyone to jail yet, but it's good to know that I have that ability." The internet exploded.
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| Warren Releases $1.5 Trillion Plan to Address ‘Environmental Racism’ Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:06 AM PDT  Senator Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) released on Wednesday a plan to combat climate change while addressing "environmental racism," the concept that climate change disproportionately affects minority communities.Warren's plan would invest $1.5 trillion in technologies and job training programs designed to address global warming. The funds will be disproportionately allocated to impoverished communities, which, Warren argues, will suffer immediate economic disruption due to climate change."Our crisis of environmental injustice is the result of decades of discrimination and environmental racism compounding in communities that have been overlooked for too long," the new plan states. "It is the result of multiple choices that put corporate profits before people, while our government looked the other way. It is unacceptable, and it must change."The plan builds off an earlier initiative in which the presidential hopeful pledged $3 trillion over ten years to fight global warming. The new plan draws on the "Principles of Environmental Justice" agreed upon by the 1991 National People of Color Environmental Leadership Summit.The details of the plan include proposals for retraining workers in fossil fuel industries, such as coal miners and oil rig workers, for jobs considered to be more environmentally friendly. "Workers should not be forced to make an impossible choice between fossil fuel industry jobs with superior wages and benefits and green economy jobs that pay far less," the plan states.Warren is leading the Democratic primary field in polling, ahead of Joe Biden by a slim margin.Warren is currently facing questions over her account of her firing from a job at a public school when she was 22. While she claimed in a recent interview with CBS that she was fired due to her pregnancy, in 2007 she said she left the job of her own volition in order to care for her baby.
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| EPA: Our goal is to improve California’s air quality Posted: 09 Oct 2019 01:14 PM PDT  'If the EPA disapproves ... that triggers statutory clocks for highway funding sanctions. ... We request a response from (California) by Oct. 10'
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| Zimbabwe quadruples electricity price as crisis deepens Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:51 AM PDT  Zimbabwe on Wednesday quadrupled electricity tariffs amid crippling power shortages which have plunged parts of the country into darkness for up to 18 hours as the economy lurches deeper into crisis. Zimbabwe's economy is caught in a major downturn with shortages of fuel, medicine, and currency as well as hyperinflation which has seen many families living on a single meal a day. Citing "the depreciation of the local currency," the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority (ZERA) said the price of electricity would jump to around 162 Zimbabwe cents (11 US cents) per kilowatt hour up from 38 Zimbabwe cents.
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| Mayor in Mexico tied to a truck and dragged through streets for ‘failing to fulfill campaign promises’ Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:28 AM PDT  Angry farmers in Mexico abducted the mayor of their village and dragged him through the streets after claiming he went back on key campaign promises.Police intervened to free Jorge Luis Escandón Hernández, who suffered no major injuries after the ordeal.
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| Teacher at Elite Boarding School Used Nightly ‘Check-In’ System to Molest Sleeping Students, Cops Say Posted: 09 Oct 2019 11:01 AM PDT  Nelson Almeida/GettyA teacher at an elite boarding school in New Jersey used his position as a dorm "duty master"—who is responsible for nightly check-ins with students—to molest two teens while they slept, police said.Dominic Brown, a 23-year-old history teacher and water polo coach at The Lawrenceville School, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual contact, the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office said in a Monday press release.But an affidavit filed by the prosecutor's office and obtained by NJ.com shines more light on the allegations. Brown used his position as "duty master" to enter a 15-year-old student's room around 3 a.m. and touch the sleeping teen, who awoke to see Brown trying "to fall to the floor to hide from me," according to the affidavit. Police Officer Told Victim That Men's College Doesn't 'Generally' Expel or Suspend Rapists, Lawsuit ClaimsThe teacher also allegedly claimed that the teen hadn't checked in to the dorm that night, and he was making sure he was in his room. (The Lawrenceville School student handbook stipulates that students must report in person to the "duty master" each night before bed.)About an hour later, a 14-year-old boy was similarly awakened by hands touching his body, and he found Brown "crouching partially under the side of his bed," the affidavit alleges. Though Brown reportedly left the room after the student confronted him, the teen told police that he peered back inside a short time later. The students, who were reportedly in a group Snapchat message together, relayed their similar experiences and then told campus security, who notified police.Brown has since been fired, NJ.com reported. Prosecutors said he will remain in jail until a Thursday morning detention hearing. 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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| Egypt denounces Ethiopia for moving ahead with Nile dam amid water: shortage fears Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:04 AM PDT  Egypt denounced Ethiopia on Wednesday for moving forward with building and operating a hyropower dam on the Nile, which Cairo worries will threaten already scarce water supplies. Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile which joins the White Nile in Khartoum and runs on to Egypt, says the dam will not disrupt the river's flow and hopes the project will transform it into a power hub for the electricity-hungry region. Egypt relies on the Nile for up to 90% of its fresh water, and fears the dam, which is being built in Ethiopia close to the border with Sudan, will restrict already scarce supplies.
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| The Russian Navy is Building New (Heavily Armed) Nuclear-Powered Submarines Posted: 08 Oct 2019 01:10 PM PDT  How should NATO respond? Would the same old Cold War tactics work?
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| View Photos of the 2020 Dodge Charger Widebody Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:12 AM PDT |
| US moves 2 British IS members known as 'Beatles' from Syria Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:36 PM PDT  Two British militants believed to be part of an Islamic State group that beheaded hostages and was known as "The Beatles" have been moved out of a detention center in Syria and are in American custody, U.S. officials said Wednesday. President Donald Trump said earlier Wednesday that the U.S. has moved some of the Islamic State prisoners amid fears some could escape custody as Turkey invades northeast Syria. In 2014 and 2015, the militants held more than 20 Western hostages in Syria and tortured many of them.
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| US meth lab strikes in Afghanistan killed at least 30 civilians says UN Posted: 09 Oct 2019 02:36 AM PDT  An American blitz on dozens of Taliban drug factories in Western Afghanistan killed at least 30 civilians and may have left dozens more dead, a United Nations report has found. United States aircraft struck more than 60 methamphetamine labs earlier this year during a one-day onslaught to deny Taliban insurgents income from the lucrative drug trade. The raids killed at least 30 civilians according to a UN investigation and may have killed a further 30. The UN also said the raids broke international law because drugs workers are not considered a legitimate military target. American forces in Afghanistan immediately disputed the reports findings, saying they disagreed with the UN's methods, analysis and "narrow definition" of legitimate targets. A spokesman said the labs had been under lengthy surveillance before they were struck and "extraordinary measures" had been taken to avoid killing civilians. Col Sonny Leggett said he was "deeply concerned" by the UN's methods and findings. Taliban insurgents have long been accused of obtaining huge sums from the country's extensive opium trade, as militants tax production and levy protection money. Methamphetamine production has recently been added to the country's drugs business, with UN officials earlier this year warning seizures were growing exponentially. The May 5 raids in Farah and Nimroz province were carried out after "comprehensive intelligence confirmed that all personnel inside of the laboratories were Taliban combatants", the US told investigators. Investigators verified 30 civilians killed and nine injured, including 14 children, but said they were investigating "reliable and credible information" another 30 civilians were also killed, the UN said. The UN in its report contended the drug facilities were owned and operated by criminal groups, so "did not meet the definition of legitimate military objectives under international law." The factories and workers inside "may not be lawfully made the target of attack based on their possible economic or financial contribution to the war effort of a party to a conflict," it concluded. The US, however, insisted the labs were run and owned by the Taliban, who used revenue to "fund ongoing indiscriminate violence against innocent Afghans".
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| A snowstorm will wallop central USA this week, plunging temps as much as 60 degrees in one day Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:44 AM PDT  Winter storm watches and warnings are in effect from Idaho to Colorado to Minnesota, where heavy snow and cold temperatures are expected.
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| China warns Apple against 'reckless' support of HK protesters Posted: 08 Oct 2019 09:01 PM PDT  China's state media accused Apple Wednesday of supporting pro-democracy protesters, warning the US tech giant would suffer consequences for its "unwise and reckless" decision, in an echo of campaigns against other Western firms. An opinion piece in the People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party, highlighted a transport app available on Apple's store that it alleged helped protesters identify police in Hong Kong. "Apple's approval for the app obviously helps rioters," the article said.
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| Delaware man attacks Walmart cashier in Florida Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:24 AM PDT  Raw video: The man faces multiples charges after attacking the cashier without any provocation.
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| These are the fugitives on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list — and how they got there Posted: 09 Oct 2019 09:22 AM PDT  The FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list constantly changes. Individuals come and go as they're captured. Here are the 10 who are now on the list.
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| The US Supreme Court just sent a strong signal it wants to hear a case on transgender bathroom rights Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:45 AM PDT  The justices believe they will eventually be asked whether it is constitutional for authorities to control which bathrooms trans people can use.
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| During War Games, an Indian Diesel Submarine Sank a U.S. Nuclear Submarine Posted: 08 Oct 2019 10:02 PM PDT  What does this mean?
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| The Rich Really Do Pay Lower Taxes than You Posted: 08 Oct 2019 12:24 PM PDT  Almost a decade ago, Warren Buffett made a claim that would become famous. He said that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary, thanks to the many loopholes and deductions that benefit the wealthy.His claim sparked a debate about the fairness of the tax system. In the end, the expert consensus was that, whatever Buffett's specific situation, most wealthy Americans did not actually pay a lower tax rate than the middle class. "Is it the norm?" fact-checking outfit PolitiFact asked. "No."Time for an update: It's the norm now.For the first time on record, the 400 wealthiest Americans last year paid a lower total tax rate -- spanning federal, state and local taxes -- than any other income group, according to newly released data.The overall tax rate on the richest 400 households last year was only 23%, meaning that their combined tax payments equaled less than one quarter of their total income. That was down from 70% in 1950 and 47% in 1980.For middle-class and poor families, the picture is different. Federal income taxes have also declined modestly, but these families haven't benefited much, if at all, from the decline in the corporate tax or estate tax. And they now pay more in payroll taxes (which finance Medicare and Social Security) than in the past. Overall, their taxes have remained fairly flat.The combined result is that over the last 75 years the U.S. tax system has become radically less progressive.The data here come from the most important book on government policy that I've read in a long time -- called "The Triumph of Injustice," to be released next week. The authors are Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, both professors at the University of California, Berkeley, who have done pathbreaking work on taxes. Saez has won the award that goes to the top academic economist under age 40, and Zucman was recently profiled on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine as "the wealth detective."They have constructed a historical database that shows how much households at different points along the income spectrum have paid in taxes going back to 1913, when the federal income tax began. The story they tell is maddening -- and yet ultimately energizing."Many people have the view that nothing can be done," Zucman told me. "Our case is, 'No, that's wrong. Look at history.' " As they write in the book: "Societies can choose whatever level of tax progressivity they want." When the United States has raised tax rates on the wealthy and made rigorous efforts to collect taxes, it has succeeded in doing so. And it can succeed again.Saez and Zucman portray the history of U.S. taxes as a struggle between people who want to tax the rich and those who want to protect the fortunes of the rich. The story starts in the 17th century, when northern colonies created more progressive tax systems than Europe had. Massachusetts even enacted a wealth tax, which covered land, ships, jewelry livestock and more.The southern colonies, by contrast, were hostile to taxation. Southern plantation owners worried that taxes could undermine slavery, as historian Robin Einhorn has explained, and made sure to keep tax rates low and tax collection ineffective. (The hostility to taxes ultimately hampered the Confederacy's ability to raise money and fight the Civil War.)By the middle of the 20th century, the high-tax advocates had prevailed. The United States had arguably the world's most progressive tax code, with a top income-tax rate of 91% and a corporate tax rate above 50%.But the second half of the 20th century was mostly a victory for the low-tax side. Companies found ways to take more deductions and dodge taxes. Politicians cut every tax that fell mostly on the wealthy: high-end income taxes, investment taxes, the estate tax and the corporate tax. The justification for doing so was usually that the economy as a whole would benefit.The justification turned out to be wrong. The U.S. economy has not fared better when tax rates are lower. Lower taxes on the wealthy instead end up benefiting the wealthy, not society as a whole. The great decline in high-end taxation has happened over the same period that economic growth has been disappointing and middle-class income growth even worse.That's the maddening part of the story. The energizing part are the solutions that Saez and Zucman propose. They call for a set of policies that would raise the overall tax rate on the wealthiest Americans to about 60% (still not as high as in 1950). Doing so would bring in about $750 billion a year, or 4% of GDP, enough to pay for universal pre-K, an infrastructure program, medical research, clean energy and more. Those are the kinds of policies that really do lift economic growth.One crucial part of the agenda is a minimum global corporate tax of at least 25%. A company would have to pay the tax on its U.S. operations even if it set up headquarters in Ireland or Bermuda. Saez and Zucman also favor a wealth tax; Elizabeth Warren's version is based on their work. And they call for the creation of a Public Protection Bureau, to help the IRS crack down on tax dodging.I already know what the critics will say about these arguments -- that the rich will always figure out a way to avoid taxes. That's simply not the case. True, they will always be able to avoid some taxes. But history shows that serious attempts to collect more taxes usually succeed.Ask yourself this: If efforts to tax the superrich were really doomed to fail, why would so many of the superrich be fighting so hard to defeat those efforts?This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Closely watched GOP senator calls impeachment a 'mistake' Posted: 09 Oct 2019 04:27 PM PDT  A retiring Republican senator who's being closely watched for his view on President Donald Trump's potential impeachment strengthened his stance against Democrats' investigation of the president on Wednesday. Just last week, Alexander issued a more cautious statement.
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| U.S. Secretary of State calls for EU to condemn Iran over tanker Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:28 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday called on the European Union to condemn Iran and hold Tehran accountable after he said oil from Iranian tanker Adrian Darya had been offloaded in Syria. "Oil from the #AdrianDarya1 has been offloaded in Syria, proving that Iran lied to the UK and Gibraltar ... EU members should condemn this action, uphold the rule of law, and hold Iran accountable," Pompeo wrote in a post on Twitter.
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| 11 elephants died in plunge from waterfall while trying to save drowned calf Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:43 AM PDT  Elephant carcasses were found at Haew Narok waterfall in Khao Yai National Park in Thailand.
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