| Rep. Ocasio-Cortez slams 'Straight Pride' parade Posted: 01 Sep 2019 09:03 AM PDT  Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rebuked Boston's "Straight Pride" parade and its apparent lack of female participants, calling it an "'I-Struggle-With-Masculinity' parade."
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| ‘We are one’: Community vows to heal as police investigate motive for West Texas shootings Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:57 PM PDT  The West Texas rampage left seven people dead and 25 people injured, including a 17-month-old girl who suffered major facial injuries but survived.
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| Israel fires across border after anti-tank missiles launched from Lebanon Posted: 01 Sep 2019 07:22 AM PDT  Israel said it was returning fire Sunday after anti-tank missiles were launched at its territory from Lebanon, raising fears of a serious escalation with Hizbollah after a week of rising tensions. "A number of anti-tank missiles were fired from Lebanon towards an (Israeli military) base and military vehicles," an Israeli army statement said. "A number of hits have been confirmed. (Israel's military) is responding with fire towards the sources of fire and targets in southern Lebanon." After the initial reports of fire from Lebanon, a military spokesman called on Israelis living within four kilometres (2.5 miles) of the Lebanese border to remain at home and prepare shelters. Tensions have risen in the last week between Israel and its enemy Hizbollah, the Lebanese Shia movement backed by Iran. Tension between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hizbollah continues to escalate Credit: ATEF SAFADI/EPA-EFE/REX Hizbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said Saturday the group's response to an alleged Israeli drone attack on the group's Beirut stronghold had been "decided". The pre-dawn August 25 attack involved two drones - one exploded and caused damage to a Hizbollah-run media centre and another crashed without detonating due to technical failure. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the incident. The attack in Lebanon came just hours after Israel launched strikes in neighbouring Syria to prevent what it said was an impending Iranian drone attack on the Jewish state.
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| Kevin Hart Could Require Back Surgery After Malibu Horror Crash, But Docs Are Optimistic Posted: 02 Sep 2019 05:20 AM PDT  Instagram / KevinHart4realComedian Kevin Hart is being assessed to see if he will require back surgery following his dramatic crash in the Malibu hills in the early hours of Sunday morning. Hart, miraculously, walked away from the crash, and was able to go back home before checking himself into an L.A.-area hospital, where he is now under observation. The other two passengers in the car appear to have also had lucky escapes, despite being trapped in the vehicle for some time: Hart's friend Jared Black (who was driving) and personal trainer Rebecca Broxterman are both expected to make full recoveries.Hart could, however, need surgery for major back injuries he suffered in the crash, which saw his vintage Plymouth Barracuda veer off a Mulholland Highway canyon, crashing to the ground ten feet below. Pictures showed the roof of the car completely sheared off. Doctors are optimistic that Hart will make a full recovery as he has not suffered "a spinal cord injury," The Blast reports, adding that he is "able to walk and move his extremities."Hart was a passenger in the vintage muscle car, which he bought in July to mark his 40th birthday, when it went off the road and rolled down an embankment.California Highway Patrol officers said the driver was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision, which happened at around around 12:45 a.m. Sunday.The car was turning when the driver "immediately lost control of the vehicle, and the Plymouth left the road and rolled over down the northern embankment," TMZ said, quoting cops.Just hours before the crash, Hart had posted a video on Instagram of himself sitting in the car. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Afghan killer sparks far-right criticism in France Posted: 01 Sep 2019 10:04 AM PDT  Jacquet said the knifeman had been first registered in France in 2009 as a minor, but travelled to Germany, Norway, Britain and Italy before returning to France in 2016 where he was granted temporary residency rights. France has been the victim of a string of Islamist-inspired terror attacks since 2015 that have cost hundreds of lives.
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| Anxiety and impatience in long wait for Dorian in coastal US Posted: 01 Sep 2019 04:17 PM PDT  Two days after storm shutters started going up and people waited in long lines for gas and food in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, the parking lot of a Home Depot a short drive from the beach in central Florida was nearly empty as the sun peeked out behind scattered clouds. Mike Lafferty boarded up his house near Vero Beach days ago and was at the store to pick up a few more things. The National Hurricane Center has a 60% chance of the area getting hurricane force winds before early Wednesday.
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| Mayor of Jacksonville warns residents who ignore evacuation orders: If you call 911, you're likely on your own Posted: 02 Sep 2019 01:37 PM PDT  Lenny Curry says his city is ready for Hurricane Dorian but urges residents not to underestimate the powerful storm.
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| Texas gunman fired from job before massacre; victim IDs emerge: media Posted: 02 Sep 2019 12:58 AM PDT  Police continued to comb through 15 different crime scenes in neighboring Midland and Odessa, Texas. The gunman, identified by police as Seth Aaron Ator, 36, of Odessa, had been fired from his truck-driving job in Odessa on Saturday morning, the New York Times and other media reported. Hours later, Ator was pulled over in Midland by Texas state troopers on Interstate 20 for failing to use a turn signal, police said.
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| Bolsonaro ambassador threatens to choke Macron and insults wife Brigitte amid Amazon fires row: 'He sleeps with a dragon' Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:56 AM PDT  Brazil's tourism ambassador has threatened to choke Emmanuel Macron and called his wife Brigitte "ugly" amid a continuing war of words between the French president and the Brazilian government over the fires in the Amazon rainforest.In a video posted on social media, Renzo Gracie accused Mr Macron, who has criticised Brazil's response to the devastating blazes, of "talking rubbish" about his country.
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| Hurricane Dorian Is Barely Moving at All. Here's Why That Makes it Especially Dangerous Posted: 02 Sep 2019 09:20 AM PDT  Dorian packs winds of over 150 miles an hour, but the storm itself is crawling along
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| Photos of Volvo Truck with Banksy's Artwork Posted: 02 Sep 2019 11:15 AM PDT |
| It's now Biden, Warren, Sanders — and everyone else Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:38 PM PDT ![It's now Biden, Warren, Sanders — and everyone else]( "It's now Biden, Warren, Sanders — and everyone else") 'It's too late in the game to keep saying it's too early,' a former Hillary Clinton adviser says of the Democratic presidential primary.
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| Where's the pope? Stuck in Vatican elevator until rescue Posted: 01 Sep 2019 05:54 AM PDT  Thousands of people who were gathered in St. Peter's Square for the traditional Sunday on-the-dot-of-noon appearance by Pope Francis were watching for the window of the Apostolic Palace to be thrown open so they could listen to the pope's remarks and receive his blessing. Then Francis popped out and answered their question: "First of all I must excuse myself for being late. Apparently referring to electrical power, Francis explained that there was a "drop in tension," causing the elevator to get stuck.
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| ICC prosecutor ordered to reopen Gaza flotilla case Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:17 AM PDT  The International Criminal Court on Monday ordered the tribunal's prosecutor for a second time to reconsider whether to press charges over a deadly Israeli raid on a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza in 2010. In the latest step in a long-running legal battle at the court in The Hague, appeals judges told prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to decide by December whether to reopen the case. Nine Turkish citizens died in May 2010 when Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara, among eight ships trying to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
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| Some Florida boat residents to ride out Dorian, hoping for the best Posted: 01 Sep 2019 04:40 PM PDT  Ned and Lisa Keahey were well aware that the second-most powerful Atlantic hurricane on record was heading for them, having watched the weather radar on Sunday at a Florida marina from the boat they have called home for the past 20 years. Dozens of Floridians who live in boats in marinas along the Atlantic Coast in Brevard County were rushing to secure their vessels on Sunday, strapping them to docks and removing canvas coverings from decks as Dorian spun toward the state. Brevard County emergency officials said mandatory evacuations were issued beginning on Monday at 8 a.m. for residents in low-lying areas, on barrier islands and in mobile homes.
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| California boat fire: Eight confirmed dead as 25 remain missing near Santa Cruz Island Posted: 02 Sep 2019 11:03 AM PDT  Four bodies have been recovered and a further four identified on the ocean floor following a fire on a diving boat off Santa Cruz Island, California.Lt Cmdr Matthew Kroll of the US Coast Guard said the bodies were found close to the wreckage of the Conception, which caught fire in the early hours while 33 passengers were asleep below deck.
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| 'Thank God we are alive': Bahamas native details surviving ferocious Hurricane Dorian Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:36 PM PDT !['Thank God we are alive': Bahamas native details surviving ferocious Hurricane Dorian]( "'Thank God we are alive': Bahamas native details surviving ferocious Hurricane Dorian") Brandisha Adderley, 29, and her two-year old daughter Mei-Lin, lived through Hurricane Dorian as it tore apart their home in the Bahamas
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| Russia’s Deputy Premier Rips New Space Center Posted: 02 Sep 2019 06:12 AM PDT ![Russia's Deputy Premier Rips New Space Center]( "Russia's Deputy Premier Rips New Space Center") (Bloomberg) -- A series of corruption scandals, cost overruns and mishaps at Russia's new Vostochny Cosmodrome have brought long-simmering questions about the leadership of the country's space agency into public view."The situation is unacceptable for everyone, including the construction of the first stage and the second stage" of the space center, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov told Vedomosti newspaper in an interview published Monday, adding that the Defense Ministry may take over part of the work.Borisov, formerly a powerful and secretive official responsible for procurement at the Defense Ministry, became deputy prime minister last year in place of Dmitry Rogozin, who was appointed to head Roscosmos by President Vladimir Putin. While Russia views the cosmodrome as a national security priority, with its current Soviet-era launch base located at Baikonur in neighboring Kazakhstan, the $3 billion project has been plagued by controversy.Rogozin, who's frequently highlighted the threat posed by Elon Musk's SpaceX venture to Russia's launch industry, quickly took to Twitter to defend himself. "It's always been this way: some build, while others criticize," Rogozin wrote. "It's part of the business."Splits within the Kremlin elite have become more visible since Putin's re-election last year to what may be his final presidential term under Russia's constitution, amid jostling by rival factions. Last month, for example, Rostec State Corp. chief Sergey Chemezov, a longtime Putin ally and fellow spy, contradicted the official line that recent Moscow election protests should be put down forcefully, warning instead that the country risked stagnation without a healthy opposition.Putin ordered Russia's Investigative Committee to examine construction at Vostochny during a visit to the space center after a planned first rocket launch was delayed in 2015. Months earlier, workers who hadn't been paid for months went on hunger strike and appealed to Putin for help by painting a message on the roof of their barracks.The Prosecutor General's Office has opened a series of criminal cases after uncovering 10 billion rubles ($150 million) in losses during construction at Vostochny. In one sparkling example of corruption, a contractor accused of stealing 4 million rubles was detained in Minsk, Belarus, while driving a Mercedes covered in Swarovski crystals.While the space center went into operation in 2016, officials uncovered a critical defect on one of Vostochny's launchpads as recently as last November, RBC news website reported. In 2017, a satellite launch failed after the rocket was programmed with coordinates for takeoff from another launch pad.Alexei Kudrin, the head of Russia's Audit Chamber, told lawmakers last year that he had found 760 billion rubles ($11.4 billion) of financial violations in Roscosmos's books, including several billion that had been "basically stolen," describing the space agency as "the champion in terms of the scale of such violations." Roscosmos said the criticism related to a 2017 audit, before Rogozin's appointment.Rogozin, who was responsible as deputy premier for the space industry, threatened in 2015 to "rip off the heads" of construction staff involved in corruption after Vostochny risked having its electricity cut off over unpaid bills, according to the Interfax news service.\--With assistance from Ilya Arkhipov and Stepan Kravchenko.To contact the reporter on this story: Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow at jrudnitsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Ceasefire in Syria at risk of collapse after US airstrike Posted: 01 Sep 2019 08:57 AM PDT  The tentative ceasefire in northwestern ceasefire in Syria, the second in a month, threatened to unravel on Sunday after the US launched an airstrike targeting al-Qaeda figures near the city of Idlib. At least 40 people were killed after a missile struck a meeting of al-Qaeda leaders at a base near Idlib on Saturday, just hours after a Russia-brokered ceasefire ended months of bombardment of Syria's last significant anti-regime holdout. A spokesman for US Central Command said: "This operation targeted Al-Qaeda in Syria leaders responsible for attacks targeting US citizens, our partners, and innocent civilians," They added that the facility's removal will "further degrade their ability to conduct further attacks and destabilise the region." "Northwest Syria remains a safe haven where AQ-S [Al-Qaeda in Syria] leaders actively coordinate terrorist activities throughout the region and in the West," it said. But Russia, one of the key power brokers in Syria, accused the US of "endangering" a hard-won ceasefire scarcely a day old. Citing the Russian defence ministry, TASS news agency said the US had not warned Russia or Turkey of the strikes. Idlib is the last bastion for Syria's armed resistance, and over recent years, those who could not be bought in surrender deals, or those whom the Assad government has no interest in allowing into government-controlled areas, have been corralled into Syria's northwest corner. Members of al-Qaeda's Syrian offshoot, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, their allies and other anti-government groups, along with civilians including women and children, are among those slowly being swept north. Whether al-Qaeda or other groups retaliate to the strike will determine the strike's longevity, and the length of respite granted to Idlib's 3 million inhabitants. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of sources on the ground, says more than 950 civilians have been killed in Idlib since the end of April. The UN says more than 400,000 people have fled, but activists say the actual number of people on the move is far higher, but few have anywhere left to go.
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| Trump rips into actress Debra Messing after the 'Will & Grace' star praised signs trashing the president Posted: 01 Sep 2019 11:01 AM PDT  President Trump took a swipe at Hollywood actress Debra Messing after the "Will & Grace" star praised an Alabama church sign that read "A black vote for Trump is mental illness."
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| Criminal justice reform turns to list of problem officers Posted: 01 Sep 2019 01:52 PM PDT  During the 22 years he spent in prison after being convicted of killing a Boston police detective, Sean Ellis believed there was something suspicious about the officers who led the murder investigation. It would take years of digging and scores of public information requests from his attorneys to uncover evidence that several officers investigating the 1993 murder case were involved in criminal activity — information that wasn't shared with the defense. Defense attorneys have long run up against a brick wall when trying to discover whether an officer has credibility issues that could set their client free.
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| Pakistan grants India access to alleged spy on death row Posted: 02 Sep 2019 07:55 AM PDT  Pakistan granted consular access to an alleged Indian spy on death row Monday, sparking claims from New Delhi that the prisoner was under "extreme pressure" and unable to speak freely during the meeting. The consular visit comes weeks after the International Court of Justice in July ordered Islamabad to provide the prisoner and alleged spy -- Kulbhushan Jadhav -- with consular access but rejected India's demand he be freed. "While we await a comprehensive report, it was clear that Shri Jadhav appeared to be under extreme pressure to parrot a false narrative to bolster Pakistan's untenable claims," said India's foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar in a statement.
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| Police detain Russian opposition activist after Moscow protest Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:25 PM PDT ![Police detain Russian opposition activist after Moscow protest]( "Police detain Russian opposition activist after Moscow protest") Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, an ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, was detained by police on Monday after a weekend protest in Moscow, Navalny's spokeswoman said on Twitter. A few thousand Russians took to the streets of Moscow on Saturday to demand free elections to the capital's city legislature on Sept. 8, defying a ban enforced by detentions during previous protests. Protesters have been calling for the release of activists detained in earlier rallies, and Sobol on Saturday described the arrests as "mayhem," blaming it on the city government.
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| Amazon fires: Almost 4,000 new blazes started across Brazil in 48 hours after ban on burning forest land Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:30 AM PDT  Almost 4,000 new forest fires were started in Brazil in the two days after the government banned deliberate burning of the Amazon, officials have revealed.Some 3,859 outbreaks were recorded by the country's National Space Research Institute (Inpe) in the 48 hours following the 60-day prohibition on setting trees alight.
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| Hurricane Dorian path update shows storm track could turn, potentially impact Carolinas Posted: 01 Sep 2019 05:08 AM PDT  Slow-moving Hurricane Dorian remains an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm. Latest models show Dorian turning before landfall in Florida meaning possible impact near the NC coast later this week.
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| At least 5 are dead in Bahamas as Hurricane Dorian continues to slam islands Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:26 PM PDT  The historic storm hovered over the islands after virtually grinding to a halt, pounding the islands with record winds, rain and storm surge.
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| The CAR Murders: A Critical Cold Case in the New Cold War Points to ‘Putin’s Chef’ Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:23 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyST. PETERSBURG, Russia–It's been more than a year now since someone murdered three Russian journalists on a dark road in a remote corner of the Central African Republic.Within days of the killings on the night of July 30-31, 2018, as The Daily Beast reported at the time, there were suspicions the journalists had been set up. Since then, the official investigations have gone nowhere or been diverted down blind alleys, and if the Kremlin and its front men have their way—which they normally do in the Central African Republic—the case will go completely cold. But the families of the victims, their colleagues, and the exiled Russian tycoon who sent the journalists on their fatal mission in the first place say they are determined to see justice done. Their investigations have peeled back layer after layer of an ostensibly private "company" noteworthy for conspiracy and corruption, which Russian President Vladimir Putin evidently employs to extend his influence around the world.Russian Journalists Murdered in Africa May Have Been Set UpAmericans concerned about the ruthlessness of Moscow's operations to subvert or dominate other countries should take note as evidence mounts that some of the central figures in the cyberattacks on the U.S. presidential election in 2016 may also be implicated in the Africa homicides. The victims were Orkhan Dzhemal, 51, a famous Russian war correspondent; Alexander Rastorguyev, 47, a film director; and Kirill Radchenko, 33, a cameraman. They had traveled to Africa to make a documentary about the "Wagner Group," a highly secretive private military contractor allegedly created by the infamous Russian billionaire and Putin crony, Yevgeny Prigozhin.He is the same figure named in a detailed indictment by the Mueller probe in February 2018 and in the subsequent Mueller Report released this year as the money man behind the Internet Research Agency, a troll factory here in St. Petersburg that set out to defeat Hillary Clinton, then help elect Donald Trump in 2016. (Prigozhin told a Russian state news agency that he was not upset about his indictment. "Americans see what they want to see," he said.) But the troll factory is just one of many operations that are part of what his underlings refer to as "The Company."Prigozhin, often given the anodyne sobriquet "Putin's chef," initially built his fortune on huge Russian government catering contracts, but the tentacles of his organization are spread far and wide, and in some surprising places. He even has a firm that makes candy, and there are many here who would tell you the sweets have a sinister background. "These are bloody chocolates, produced by the same people who attack and kill journalists," claims Yegor Alekseyev, a blogger from St. Petersburg. "Two men broke my nose and smashed my teeth in 2016 after I published stories about Prigozhin's 'troll factory.' These are dangerous people backed up by the [Russian government's] special services."In 2014, when Putin made his move to take the Crimean peninsula away from Ukraine and launch covertly a separatist revolution in the east of that country that has now cost more than 13,000 lives, combatants linked to a mysterious organization of mercenaries started showing up. Many of its recruits appeared to have come from Russian military intelligence, the GRU, especially the special forces component known as Spetsnaz. They answered to a former officer named Dmitry Utkin, nicknamed "Wagner." These operatives also surfaced in Syria, in Sudan, and in the Central African Republic. Their objective was not only to extend Russian influence, but to take control of industries and especially natural resources, further enriching their backer, who was soon reported to be Prigozhin. He has issued pro forma denials, but evidence of Prigozhin's ties to the group has continued to mount, especially in the private investigations of those trying to get to the bottom of the Central African murders. * * *DUELING INVESTIGATIONS* * *Mikhail Khodorkovsky was once reputedly the richest man in Russia–an oligarch so wealthy and powerful that Putin felt threatened, and finally managed to put him away in prison for almost a decade. When Khodorkovsky was released in 2013, he went to Britain and has since worked as one of Putin's most active opponents in exile.It was Khodorkovsky who funded the fatal trip to the Central African Republic by Dzhemal, Rastorguyev, and Radchenko to report on the Wagner Group's activities, and it is Khodorkovsky who has underwritten the most exhaustive investigation of their murder. "Somebody has to put evidence together for the day Putin's crooks end up in court," Khodorkovsky told The Daily Beast last year. He hired journalists, military experts, private detectives and others to delve into the killings, and issued a "final report" under the auspices of his Dossier Center on the anniversary of the murders.The picture that emerges over the course of almost 80 pages is highly detailed and deeply disturbing. For starters, the Dossier investigators addressed the official version put forth by Russian authorities and the CAR security forces, many of them trained and funded by the Kremlin directly and also by Wagner personnel. Their claim is that the Russian documentary makers were ambushed on a back road at night by bandits wearing turbans and speaking Arabic who shot all three of them dead. The killers let the local driver, named as Bienvenue Douvokama, escape in his car and the sketchy account of the attack came from Douvokama. When the official version failed to satisfy the victims' families, friends, or colleagues in the independent press, a Prigozhin-backed news agency, RIA FAN, conducted its own investigation of the murder and named Dominique Christophe Raineteau as the mastermind, claiming that he was a French mercenary or agent in league with terrorists."We have our vision of what happened in CAR," RIA FAN editor Yevgeny Zubarev wrote in an email to The Daily Beast. "It was a planned provocation but you are never going to publish our conclusions… Your publication is neither going to mention in a negative light Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the main suspect of this crime; nor the Western (French) special services, the possible accomplices," wrote Zubarev.Actually, the RIA FAN conclusions are quite interesting, because they do not agree at all with the official government versions blaming unknown Arabic-speaking thieves. The general thrust of the RIA FAN report is that the Russian journalists were killed in order to embarrass Russia (if not indeed to blame Prigozhin and Putin). The agent who organized the murders, according to RIA FAN, was Raineteau, a French mercenary who is protected by the French secret services, and Khodorkovsky himself, who supposedly paid Raineteau to set up the team Khodorkovsky had sent. RIA FAN notes the extensive French-Russian rivalry for resources and dominance in Africa as the motive for the French plot, and says Khodorkovsky's motive is to "discredit any activity of Russia abroad, particularly in Africa and the revenge directed at the Russian Federation."All of this makes for a fascinating narrative of conspiracy, and is typical of disinformation that tries to ascribe presumed motives—"who benefits from the crime"—as proof when it is really self-serving conjecture. There is some hearsay in the RIA FAN report, but the documentary evidence linking Raineteau to the killing is virtually nonexistent, while the account compiled by Khodorkovsky's investigators appears to be based largely on minute examination of phone records and emails (albeit without any explanation of how they were obtained). The narrative developed by the investigators for Khodorkovsky's Dossier Centre goes roughly like this:The three journalists made a critical mistake when they were looking for a "fixer" to set up appointments, transportation, lodging, translation and the like while they were in the CAR. Even though they were investigating one Prigozhin operation, Wagner, they asked a journalist working for another Prigozhin company, RIA FAN, for help. This may not be quite as unusual as it sounds, because journalists working for conflicting media often believe they have more common bonds as professionals in the field than as servants for their bosses in the home offices. That may have been the case where the request for advice from FAN journalist Kirill Romanovsky was concerned.He in turn suggested they contact by text message a Dutch man with experience in the CAR as a United Nations employee or contractor who went by the name of "Martin."The RIA FAN report would later suggest Martin was none other than the mysterious French operative Raineteau. But the Dossier Centre investigation concludes "with a high degree of probability that the fixer 'Martin'… never existed." Rather, "he was invented by the coordinators of a thoroughly planned operation.""Martin" did not show up at the airport as expected, when the crew arrived, and they never once laid eyes on him or, for that matter, spoke to him on the phone. Everything was handled by text messages, including Martin's claim that he was 376 kilometers from the CAR capital Bangui in the town of Bambari, where they were headed initially the day they were killed. According to the Dossier Centre report, cell phone records show "Martin," or at least that phone, never left the capital.The Dossier Centre investigation notes that the local driver the crew hired, Bienvenue Douvokama, is believed to be an agent or informer for the local gendarmerie, and was in "constant operational contact with gendarme Emmanuel Kotofio" who "tracked the journalists' movements and was in their immediate vicinity." (Kotofio is quoted by RIA FAN saying he and Douvokama are old friends and just like to shoot the breeze.)Kotofio, in turn, "maintained contact with a man identified by the Dossier Centre as an 'instructor in surveillance, counter-surveillance, recruitment and intelligence work'" from another Prigozhin company, M-Finans, run by one Aleksandr Sotov, who then reported to Valery Zakharov, a Russian adviser to the president of the CAR and head of a team of instructors in Prigozhin's "Company."On the fatal night of July 30, according to the Dossier Centre, Kotofio the gendarme passed through a military checkpoint at the town of Sibut, on the same road the journalists would take only minutes later. With Kotofio were three Caucasians, "presumably Russians," according to the Dossier Centre report. Kotofio drove back to the checkpoint later at 8 p.m. The journalists' driver reported their murder about 45 minutes later at a village near the scene.The following day, according to the Dossier Centre, a "disinformation campaign" began to confuse and impede any outside investigation.According to emails obtained by the Dossier Centre, which cannot be independently verified, Prigozhin is personally involved in running the Company's projects in the Central African Republic.* * *THE PAIN OF THE FAMILIES* * * The Kremlin remains deaf to the victims' families' demands to question Prigozhin and his men on the ground, including commanders of the Russian militia working for CAR's leadership. Alexander Radchenko's, the father of the cameraman, says it is easy for him to connect the dots identifying the main suspects. Since July 30, 2018, the day his son's body was found in CAR, Radchenko has been analyzing reports by private investigators and journalists, and read and watched interviews with Moscow's key man in CAR, Valery Zakharov, a former Russian military intelligence officer, who is now the country's main security adviser. "The investigators–along with Russian diplomats, FSB, GRU–back up the Russian military instructors working in CAR instead of questioning the main guy, Zakharov,and his bosses," Radchenko told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.The heartbroken father has written more than 30 petitions to Russian state detectives investigating the criminal case. Some of his requests ostensibly were taken into consideration, but most of them were ignored. Radchenko told The Daily Beast that in his opinion the murder was "undoubtedly a set up." Over the last six months, the father says, he has seen enough evidence collected by independent reporters to conclude that "Yevgeny Prigozhin, Valery Zakharov and his aide Alexander Sotov are the principal suspects to be questioned about the murder of my son." But Radchenko sounds hopeless: "Every time I ask the state detective on this case, Igor Zolotov, to call them for questioning, he seems too shy and tells me: 'We should not bother such important men, they must be busy.'"Putin's Man in the Central African Republic: Is Valery Zakharov at the Heart of Russian Skulduggery? Khodorkovsky's team has tried to fill that investigative gap. "We have done our part of the job, presented mobile phone billing to demonstrate that Zakharov, his aid Alexander Sotov, the gendarme they trained and the crew called each other dozens of times during the two days before the murder," Maxim Dbar, Khodorkovsly's spokesman, told The Daily Beast. "We have no authority to question the key suspects."Irina Gordiyenko, a reporter for independent Novaya Gazeta, especially wants to know who killed Orkhan Dzhemal, the father of her son. "I want to ask both Zakharov and Sotov about the billing data, what sort of actions they coordinated from the moment of the journalists' arrival in CAR," Gordiyenko said in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. "I have questions for Zakharov about CAR gendarmes being trained in Russia. I want to ask the Russian MID [ministry of foreign affairs] why the journalists' belongings have not been moved to Russia, why our diplomats consult with Prigozhin's Wagner about the official version of the murder to give to the public."Somebody shot Rostorguyev from a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle. Two bullets hit the journalist's heart. "Only a professional could fire so accurately in the dark," Gordiyenko added her doubts. The United States imposed sanctions against billionaire Prigozhin and his Concord holding company in 2016 for constructing a military base for Russian forces near Ukraine. But neither the sanctions, nor the links to the CAR murder that shook the entire country, has slowed the growth of Prigozhin's business empire. Concord keeps working on immense state contracts, his Zinger Development group is planning to build an artificial island in the Gulf of Finland, and foreign tourists keep buying his chocolates at Eliseyev Emporium, a historic architectural landmark on Nevsky Prospect. Jessica from Vermont was purchasing Marzipans shaped as carrots, half a pound of Lukum and chocolates with lime taste. "I am not sure I know who Prigozhin is, I am sorry," the tourist told The Daily Beast.Prigozhin has access to the highest offices in the Kremlin and cooperates closely with the defense ministries of both Russia and the CAR. The power is on his side. "The murder of the three journalists is not going to be investigated, at least there will never be public knowledge of who ordered the killing," a political analyst close to the Kremlin, Sergei Markov, told The Daily Beast. "Prigozhin has created private military forces to help Russia, he is fighting the war against Russia's enemies that are constantly undermining our power, so of course Moscow will not go against him to support the dossier created by Putin's enemy, Khodorkovsky." In the eyes of much of the world, however, Putin's name will be linked forever to the murder of the three journalists just as it is linked to the killing of journalists Anna Politkovskaya or Natalia Estemirova.Dzhamal, Rastorguyev, and Radchenko were—and remain—important symbols for Russians who still believe the search for solid facts and the truth is the only way to combat corruption and the disinformation used to disguise it, even if the quest costs you your life.Anna Nemtsova reported from St. Petersburg, Christopher Dickey from Paris.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| See Photos of the 2019 Mercedes-AMG GT63 S Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:59 AM PDT |
| The Latest: Surviving crew from boat fire talk to police Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:51 PM PDT  Police have interviewed the five crew members who survived a boat fire off the Southern California coast. The Coast Guard says 39 people were aboard the Conception, a dive ship on a three-day scuba diving excursion to the Channel Islands. Authorities say four more victims of a catastrophic dive boat fire have been located on the ocean floor off Southern California, bringing the known death toll to eight.
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| 15 years on, relatives of Beslan massacre victims demand answers Posted: 01 Sep 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Relatives of victims of the Beslan massacre on Sunday said they were still waiting for answers, 15 years after the tragedy that left over 330 dead including 186 children. Sunday marks the anniversary of the school siege in the town of Beslan in the Russian Caucasus when Chechen militants stormed the school, herding over 1,100 people into a gymnasium and rigging the building with explosives. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2017 that Russia's handling of the siege had "serious failings" in terms of its failure to prevent the attack and its use of excessive lethal force and called on Moscow to take measures to establish the truth.
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| West Texas gunman killed seven and wounded 22, including toddler Posted: 01 Sep 2019 07:50 AM PDT  Police said the second mass shooting in Texas in four weeks began on Saturday afternoon with a routine traffic stop and ended when the suspect, a white male in his 30s, was cornered by officers in the parking lot of a cinema complex. Police, motorists and shoppers were all caught up in the chaos that unfolded between the cities of Odessa and Midland during a busy Labor Day holiday weekend. "There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point, but we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone," Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said at a news conference.
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| Which of These Doomsday Scenarios Is Most Likely to Kill Us All? Posted: 02 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| Iranian official mocks Trump with 'good morning selfie' after president tweets out image from secret intelligence briefing Posted: 01 Sep 2019 06:41 AM PDT  Donald Trump has found himself trolled on Twitter by a top Iranian official after he controversially tweeted a classified photograph taken by a US surveillance satellite.The US president posted the high-resolution aerial image of a smouldering launch pad surrounded by a plume of black smoke - complete with annotations - late on Friday, apparently the result of a failed rocket catching fire at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province.
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| Hurricane Dorian heading to the Bahamas: What we know about its latest path Posted: 31 Aug 2019 08:53 PM PDT  The strengthened storm bears down on the Bahamas but may turn north before hitting Florida directly.
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| Seventh illegal immigrant accused of sex crimes in Maryland county in 5 weeks Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:48 AM PDT  A seventh suspect in the U.S. illegally has been accused of sexual assault in Maryland's sanctuary Montgomery County. Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins sounds off..
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| Residents, protesters converge on Mong Kok Police Station to vent anger at Hong Kong officers Posted: 02 Sep 2019 07:32 AM PDT  The tense scene followed a stand-off earlier near Tamar Park in Admiralty.
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| Why Millions in India Risk Losing Their Citizenship Posted: 01 Sep 2019 11:12 PM PDT ![Why Millions in India Risk Losing Their Citizenship]( "Why Millions in India Risk Losing Their Citizenship") (Bloomberg) -- Officials in Assam -- a lush, tea-growing state in northeastern India -- have published an updated citizenship registry for the first time in decades. About 1.9 million people's names have been left off the list. Anyone who can't prove they are living in the state legally risks being stripped of his or her citizenship and potentially deported. The state government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, says the move is needed to identify illegal migrants. Critics accuse it of pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda that seeks to clear out Muslims.1\. What's the background?Illegal migration has been a source of ethnic conflict and political unrest in Assam for decades. When Bangladesh declared independence in 1971, leading to a war with Pakistan, many families fled across the border into India to escape the fighting, settling in Assam. Some were granted citizenship, while others never registered. BJP president Amit Shah, Modi's home affairs minister, promised at a rally in 2018 to purge the voter list of "infiltrators."2\. What's the list?It's called the National Register of Citizenship, although it only covers the roughly 33 million people living in Assam state. It was first prepared after a 1951 national census, and debate about updating it has been going on for years. Draft lists released in 2018 and 2019 excluded some 4.1 million residents -- roughly equal to the population of Ireland or the U.S. state of Oregon.3\. How do you qualify?The government released a number of criteria for registering, including people whose names were on the 1951 census or on voting lists in Assam up to midnight on March 24, 1971 -- the day before Bangladesh declared independence -- and their descendants. People who arrived from Bangladesh before that date, registered and became Indian citizens also qualify. The registration is being monitored by India's Supreme Court.4\. What if you're not on the list?Modi's federal government and the BJP-run state government have assured people that those left off the list won't face detention immediately and will be given opportunities to appeal. But millions of people who have been there for decades are living in fear of losing their rights to vote or own property, access welfare programs -- or worse. Many are afraid they will be forced into detention camps or deported to Bangladesh if they can't prove their identities, a process that could take months.5\. Could it spread to other states?Stripping Bengali-speaking Muslims and other minorities of Indian citizenship is part of the BJP's election platform, which saw Modi re-elected in May 2019 with a greater mandate. BJP politicians want to replicate the Assam move nationwide, potentially leading to a surge in sectarian violence at a time when India's economy is slowing. Muslims in India suffered another setback in August when Modi scrapped the autonomy of Kashmir, a disputed region between India and Pakistan. Moreover, the Modi government has tried to push legislation that would offer citizenship to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian descent. Modi's political opponents say it's a move to shelter non-Muslim refugees and push its core ideology.Millions May Be Left Stateless in India's Citizenship CrackdownThe government of Assam answers FAQs on the registry.QuickTakes on why India and Pakistan keep clashing, and India's caste system.An opinion piece: A flawed process that pleased noneTo contact the reporter on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, ;Paul Geitner at pgeitner2@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Kenya park suspends gorge visits after flash flood kills 7 Posted: 02 Sep 2019 10:45 AM PDT  Authorities called off search and rescue operations after seven bodies were recovered from a flash flood that killed at least six tourists and their driver visiting the gorges of the famous Hell's Gate National park. Five Kenyans of Indian descent, an Indian national and their Kenyan driver died in the Sunday evening tragedy, said Paul Udoto, spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service. The park was also closed, authorities said.
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| Thousands evacuated in Germany as WWII bomb found Posted: 02 Sep 2019 11:56 AM PDT  More than 15,000 people were evacuated late Monday from the northern German city of Hanover following the discovery of an unexploded World War II bomb, city officials said. Residents of the capital of the state of Lower Saxony were told to leave their homes in the early evening as a precaution on the discovery of the 250 kilogram (550 pound) device, city authorities said on their website. The unearthing of World War II era bombs is a common occurrence in Hanover, home to some 500,000 people and one of dozens of cities the Allies targeted during the conflict.
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| U.S. wants Brexit that encourages stability in Ireland: Vice President Pence Posted: 02 Sep 2019 10:15 AM PDT  The United States wants the terms of Britain's exit from the European Union to protect stability on the island of Ireland and respect Northern Ireland's 1998 peace deal, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday. A proposed clause in Britain's EU divorce deal designed to protect the peace deal by ensuring an open border between Ireland and Northern Ireland has become the key sticking point in efforts to agree a managed exit before Britain's exit date of Oct. 31, raising fears of a chaotic withdrawal.
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| We need Unions for All. It's a bold agenda for helping everyone get ahead in our economy. Posted: 02 Sep 2019 05:43 AM PDT  We need serious plans to empower all workers to form unions, no matter what job they do. 'Unions for All' is our litmus test for 2020 candidates.
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| Trump travels to Trump National Golf Course as Hurricane Dorian crawls toward US Posted: 02 Sep 2019 08:33 AM PDT  President Donald Trump spent his Labor Day morning at the Trump National Golf Course in Sterling, Va., as Hurricane Dorian continued its slow crawl toward the United States.
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| Dorian kills five in Bahamas, US evacuates coast Posted: 02 Sep 2019 05:12 PM PDT  Monster storm Dorian hovered over the Bahamas Monday as surging seawaters and ferocious winds sowed chaos in low-lying island communities, killing at least five people and spurring mass evacuations on the US east coast. Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis termed the hurricane a "historic tragedy" for the archipelago. "Thus far, the Royal Bahamas Police Force has confirmed that there are five deaths in Abaco," Minnis told a news conference, referring to the islands where Dorian made landfall as a Category 5 storm on Sunday, packing blistering winds of 290 kilometers per hour (185 miles per hour).
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| Here's What A $9,500 GMC Typhoon Looks Like Posted: 02 Sep 2019 06:51 AM PDT ![Here's What A $9,500 GMC Typhoon Looks Like]( "Here's What A $9,500 GMC Typhoon Looks Like") Spoiler alert: it's in great shape!Despite being known for auctions of seven- and eight-figure price tags for cars, the 2019 Monterey Car Week, surprisingly, had no shortage of cars exchanging hands for four-figure amounts. The same can be said for this rare teal 1992 GMC Typhoon, although you weren't going to find this high-performance SUV crossing any auction blocks.Before heading to the Pebble Beach festivities, Tyler Hoover, of the Hoovie's Garage YouTube channel, bought the teal Typhoon from another YouTuber for the amazingly low sum of just $9,500. While it's not impossible to find a Typhoon in this type of price range, said examples are usually abused or modified and they are definitely not one of the Typhoon's rare colors as this one is. Unlike the Syclone pickup truck, the Typhoon was available in colors other than black, although black was, by far, the most popular color for this SUV.Teal with gray cladding was one of nine color combinations available on the Typhoon for the 1992 model year, and the video says that of the almost 2,500 Typhoons made that year, just 135 had this paint color. This model looks absolutely amazing, and it even still has the factory wheels. It's a really clean and straight truck considering the years and the price. Only available for the 1992 and 1993 model years, the GMC Typhoon – along with the 1991 Syclone – was one of the fastest vehicles of the era, and it was famous for having quicker acceleration than a Ferrari 348 or Corvette. That's thanks to the turbocharged 4.3-liter V6 and the standard all-wheel drive system allowing this compact SUV to rocket off the line.It's safe to assume that some of the low price can be accounted to a little exposure on the seller's behalf, but this is still a great deal for one of GM's greatest vehicles of the '90s. Read More... * A Storm Is Brewing Thanks To A 1993 GMC Typhoon * Another 1991 GMC Syclone Is Ready For A New Owner
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