| Otto Warmbier's family make claim for North Korean ship 'Wise Honest' seized by US Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:50 PM PDT  The U.S. had seized the ship, the "Wise Honest," because of violations of international sanctions against North Korea.
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| UPDATE 1-U.S. sent message to Iran after drone downing, warning of limited strike - Iranian official Posted: 06 Jul 2019 11:37 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-U.S. sent message to Iran after drone downing, warning of limited strike - Iranian official]( "UPDATE 1-U.S. sent message to Iran after drone downing, warning of limited strike - Iranian official") The United States conveyed a message to Iran warning of a limited strike against the country after its unmanned drone was shot down in the Gulf, Iran's civil defence agency chief was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency on Sunday. "After the downing of its intruding drone, the United States told us through diplomatic intermediaries that it wanted to carry out a limited operation," said Gholamreza Jalali, who is also a senior commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.
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| El Chapo: US prosecutors want Mexican drug lord to forfeit $12.7bn following conviction Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:13 AM PDT  US prosecutors are seeking to recover $12.7bn (£10.1bn) from the Mexican drug lord El Chapo following his conviction for racketeering and drug trafficking crimes. The "conservative" estimate represents the total amount of cocaine, cannabis and heroin a jury found Joaquin Guzman to have trafficked into the US, multiplied by the average prices of the drugs, according to a filing by prosecutors in federal court.The US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn asked a judge to order Guzman to forfeit the massive sum. It was not immediately clear what assets, if any, the US could seize to satisfy the judgment. A spokesman for the prosecutors declined to comment."This is largely an academic exercise as the government has never located or identified a penny of this $12.7bn in proceeds supposedly generated by Mr Guzman," said Jeffrey Lichtman, a lawyer for the drug lord.Guzman, 62, was convicted in February on all 10 counts he faced, after jurors heard evidence from more than 50 prosecution witnesses offering an unprecedented look at the inner workings of his Sinaloa Cartel.He faces life in prison at his scheduled 17 July sentencing.US district judge Brian Cogan denied his motion to set aside the verdict and hold a new trial which Guzman's lawyers had argued that a new trial was needed after Vice News published an interview with one of the jurors, who said that the jury disobeyed court orders during the case.Guzman made a name for himself in the 1980s by building cross-border tunnels that allowed him to move cocaine from Mexico into the US faster than anyone else.He spent much of his career on the run, moving from one hideout to another in the mountains of Sinaloa, guarded by a private army, and twice escaped from maximum-security Mexican prisons.He was finally captured in January 2016 and extradited to the US to face trial.Despite Guzman's arrest, the Sinaloa Cartel still has the biggest US distribution presence of Mexican cartels, followed by the fast-growing Jalisco New Generation Cartel, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.Together, they are the biggest producers of drugs sold on US streets.Additional reporting by Reuters
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| Italian captain under investigation for rescuing 41 shipwrecked migrants Posted: 07 Jul 2019 05:45 AM PDT  A charity rescue vessel has been impounded and the captain is under investigation after he defied Italian authorities and brought 41 shipwrecked migrants into the Sicilian port of Lampedusa late on Saturday. It is the second boat in a week to challenge the far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini's determination to close Italian ports to migrants and Italy was facing renewed pressure from Germany to open its doors to asylum seekers. Mediterranea's Italian-flagged Alex was met by police on the quay and migrants were allowed to disembark in the latest setback for Mr Salvini's hardline immigration stance. "I do not authorise any landing for those who couldn't care less about Italian laws and who help the people smugglers," the populist deputy prime minister tweeted. On Sunday Mr Salvini accused the NGO of lying about the necessity to rescue the migrants saying that "their rubber dinghy had no problems". "I would like you to be in front of a rubber dinghy with 50 people with children, including several very small ones, and say 'There are no problems'," said Alessandra Sciurba, Mediterranea spokeswoman, told the media. "How can anyone be so cynical and cruel to make political propaganda?" After the migrants disembarked, customs police from the Guardia di Finanza searched the vessel and are expected to report to local prosecutors. The Italian capitain, Tommaso Stella, could face charges for aiding illegal immigration. "We are absolutely calm because we are convinced that we operated correctly," said Mediterranea head of mission and Italian MP, Erasmo Palazzotto. Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini gestures as he speaks Credit: Reuters Meanwhile Mr Salvini was facing renewed pressure from Germany as the country's interior minister, Horst Seehofer, called for Italy to reopen its ports to rescue vessels carrying migrants. "Absolutely not," was Mr Salvini's reply in a statement. "Instead we are asking the Merkel government to remove the German flag from ships that help traffickers and people smugglers and to repatriate their citizens who ignore Italian laws." German captain, Carola Rackete, was arrested and later released last week for defying authorities and docking the SeaWatch3 vessel with 4o migrants aboard in Lampedusa. She will return to court on Tuesday. Salvini last month issued a decree that could see fines of up to €50,000 imposed on the captain, owner and operator of a vessel "entering Italian territorial waters without authorisation". After the Alex reached port, Salvini said that he would raise the maximum fine to 1 million euros. The 'Alan Kurdi', a search-and-rescue ship run by the German NGO, Sea Watch, had also been engaged in a standoff with the Italian government and changed route. On Sunday it was heading to Malta with 65 migrants on board but the Maltese government has not yet decided whether it will allow the vessel to dock there. Pope Francis is due to hold a mass for migrants and refugees at St. Peter's Basilica on Monday to mark the sixth anniversary of his visit to Lampedusa. During his weekly audience at the Vatican on Sunday he called for the faithful to pray for the migrants killed and injured in last week's bombing of a detention centre in Libya. But most Italians appeart to support Mr Salvini's uncompromising approach. A poll published in the Italian daily, Corriere Della Sera, on Saturday showed 59 percent of Italians approved of Mr Salvini shutting Italy's ports to NGO vessels.
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| Florida man found dead with 100 dog bites after he took a shortcut home Posted: 07 Jul 2019 10:42 AM PDT ![Florida man found dead with 100 dog bites after he took a shortcut home]( "Florida man found dead with 100 dog bites after he took a shortcut home") Authorities say a man in Florida was killed by a pack of dogs who bit him more than 100 times as he took a shortcut to gt home.
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| How Can Presidential Candidates Be So Silly? Posted: 07 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  If California senator Kamala Harris is elected president in 2020 and reelected in 2024, by the time she leaves office 114 months from now she might have a coherent answer to the question of whether Americans should be forbidden to have what 217 million of them currently have: private health insurance. Her 22 weeks of contradictory statements, and her Trumpian meretriciousness about her contradictions, reveal a frivolity about upending health care's complex 18 percent of America's economy. And her bumblings illustrate how many of the Democratic presidential aspirants, snug in their intellectual silos, have lost -- if they ever had -- an aptitude for talking like, and to, normal Americans.Seven days after announcing her candidacy in January, Harris, appearing on CNN, endorsed "Medicare for All" and was asked: So, people "who like their [private] insurance, they don't get to keep it?" She answered: "The idea is that everyone gets access to medical care, and you don't have to go through the process of going through an insurance company, having them give you approval, going through the paperwork, all of the delay that may require. . . . Let's eliminate all of that." More government, less paperwork. Really.She subsequently, as the New York Times -- not an unsympathetic auditor of her campaign -- says, "waffled" regarding private insurance. But at the second Miami debate she raised her hand ("just as quickly as Mr. Sanders," the Times reported) when a moderator asked: "Many people watching at home have health insurance through their employer. Who here would abolish their private insurance in favor of a government-run plan?" Harris also raised her hand just as quickly as Senator Elizabeth Warren had done the night before, who exclaimed, "I'm with Bernie." Senator Bernie Sanders is the purest advocate of a government-only health care system.The next morning on MSNBC, Harris said, "No, I do not" support ending private health insurance, claiming that she heard the pronoun "their" in the debate moderator's question (see the paragraph above) as an ungrammatical reference to each individual candidate. This alibi might be less implausible if she had not recently said, in a detailed response to a Times inquiry about her health-insurance policy, that she favored abolishing private insurance.One cannot unring a bell, and Harris cannot erase the fact that she has repeatedly said she wants to take from 217 million Americans -- 80 million more than voted in 2016 -- something most of them like. And she is striking at a core function of organized labor, which is to negotiate employer-provided health care as untaxed compensation.Equally maladroit was her debate decision to wrap herself in an unpopular policy that ended 20 years ago. Nothing did more to fuel the conservative ascendancy in the 1980s than the 1970s enthusiasm of some judges and politicians for the compulsory busing of (other people's) children away from their neighborhood schools, assigning children to schools on the basis of skin color in order to engineer a desired racial balance. In a 1973 Gallup poll, just 4 percent of whites and 9 percent of blacks chose busing from among a variety of means of achieving integration.Yet Harris chose this issue as a cudgel with which to bludgeon Joe Biden. He, evidently lacking the courage of what once supposedly were his convictions, had neither the gumption nor the mental nimbleness to ask her whether, as president, she would favor reviving the compulsory busing of children away from homes that many parents, black and white, purchased because of their proximity to desirable neighborhood schools. Biden is becoming a conviction contortionist, as with his retreat from 40 years of support for the Hyde amendment. Suddenly he favors federal funding of abortions -- forcing many taxpayers to be complicit in a practice they abhor.Many Democrats striving to replace Donald Trump are, while execrating him, paying him the sincerest form of flattery: imitation. He prepared to campaign for president by calling America a "hellhole" and he began his presidency with an inaugural address that his would-be replacements are mimicking with their versions of his trope about "American carnage."The day the Supreme Court held that "partisan gerrymandering" is not a justiciable issue, Massachusetts representative Seth Moulton, yet another presidential candidate, tweeted: "Make no mistake: the partisan gerrymandering SCOTUS just allowed is also racial gerrymandering -- modern-day Jim Crow. Just look at what happened with Stacey Abrams last cycle in Georgia." Abrams lost a gubernatorial race. How can a statewide race be gerrymandered? How can presidential candidates be so silly?(c) 2019, Washington Post Writers Group
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| China Likely Tested Missiles That Can Kill Aircraft Carriers in the South China Sea Posted: 06 Jul 2019 02:13 AM PDT  Earlier this week China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) Rocket Force most likely tested a DF-21D or DF-26 anti-ship ballistic missile—sometimes know as "carrier-killers"—in the South China Sea. Details remain sketchy, as Chinese spokesmen have remained close-mouthed about the exercise. The test came on the heels of news last May that PLA weaponeers had installed anti-ship cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles on Fiery Cross Reef, Subi Reef, and Mischief Reef, west of the Philippine Islands. Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Dave Eastburn told CNBC that this week's missile test contradicted China's "claim to want to bring peace to the region and obviously actions like this are coercive acts meant to intimidate other South China Sea claimants."Col. Eastburn has it half right. Beijing clearly wants to coerce others. But the test was entirely consistent with its claim to want to bring peace to the region. It does want peace; it simply wants to transform the nature of that peace, and force is a means to that end. If Chinese Communist Party prelates in Beijing get their way, they—not foreign governments or international institutions—will make the rules in the South China Sea. They will issue laws or policy decrees mandating or proscribing certain actions in regional seaways, and others will obey. Peace will prevail.QED.
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| Turkey sacks central bank governor: presidential decree Posted: 05 Jul 2019 10:38 PM PDT  Turkey has sacked the governor of its central bank and replaced him with his deputy, a presidential decree published in the official gazette said on Saturday. Murat Cetinkaya, who was appointed to the role in April 2016, had been replaced by Murat Uysal, the decree said, but gave no official reason for the change. There had been recent speculation that Cetinkaya could be replaced amid disagreements with the government on cutting interest rates.
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| Trump administration admits that the threat of Huawei spying was enough for a ban Posted: 05 Jul 2019 07:05 PM PDT  It seems the Trump administration has finally explained the rationale for its actions against Huawei that culminated in a sweeping ban of US companies doing business with the Chinese consumer electronics giant. A ban that also led to a series of newsworthy consequences, including FedEx making headlines several times for its confusion over how to handle Huawei-related packages, Huawei acknowledging that its phone sales this year will be off by millions and Google moving to cut off Huawei from Android updates, forcing the Chinese company to ratchet up plans to make a mobile operating system of its own.Huawei is challenging in federal court here the government's ban of the firm, which Huawei says was groundless and that the US has no proof to support its national security concerns. Meanwhile, the government's position, outlined in a new court filing per The New York Times, basically amounts to: So what? More specifically, that even just the potential for Huawei to act as a proxy for China's state security apparatus is reason enough for the US to ban the company's phones and other technology here.Said another way, that a potential end justifies the actual means.Huawei has filed a lawsuit challenging the legislative implementation of the US' Huawei ban, saying that it amounted to Congress passing a so-called "bill of attainder" against Huawei even though such a bill is prohibited. Congress is not supposed to use its power to single out companies or individuals for punishment.In the court filing this week, though, the US claims that the point of the action was not to punish Huawei but instead to keep US consumers safe. Also, per the NYT, the filing says that Congress enacted the Huawei ban because close ties to the Chinese government made "Huawei's products particularly susceptible to the prospective threat of wrongdoing by the Chinese government."Adding even more complexity to this whole thing, President Trump in recent days met with his Chinese counterpart, president Xi Jinping, at the G20 and reportedly backed off the Huawei ban a little. While everyone is still trying to sort out what that means and where the fault lines still lie in this dispute, Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei gave a recent interview to the French publication Le Point, in which he said that notwithstanding any reversal of the actions that led to Google cutting off Huawei, Huawei is still going to press full steam ahead on the mobile operating system it's been working on as an Android replacement.
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| Trump administration could fell 320,000 trees to supply US 2020 census Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:47 AM PDT  We've only just passed the halfway mark in 2019. Just a bit under six months left in the year, about six months before 2020 arrives.It seems, to the layperson, like a lot of time in which to accomplish something as seemingly trivial as printing out the forms needed for the next census, which will be completed next year.Most of us have printed things out before; only rarely has it taken six months for any of us to do so.So when the Trump administration claimed last week that it had to abandon its fight over adding a question about citizenship to next year's census questionnaire due to the urgency of getting the documents printed, it could seem a bit overwrought.It's going to take you more than six months to print the questionnaires?Well, maybe not exactly six months, but it's not going to be quick. The reason is a simple one: Scale.With a renewed legal battle over that citizenship question looming, NPR's Hansi Lo Wang pointed to the Government Printing Office's request-for-proposal document to explain the urgency of the deadline.The RFP is used to solicit bids for the print job itself and includes the actual numbers of documents that will need to be prepared for distribution.They are staggering. The scale of the census: what the US government needs Time is running out for US authorities to get everything prepared * About 117 million English-language questionnaires, each eight pages long * 21 million bilingual questionnaires, each 16 pages long * 385 million single-sheet letters * 273 million inserts * 209 million postcards * 522 million envelopes of varying sizes.In total, it's 1.53bn distinct pieces of material - and that's the finished product.Including the various pages of the questionnaires that need to be produced, we're talking about more than 2 billion sheets of paper which need to be printed between now and the start of the census.When I started writing this article, there were about 15.5 million seconds left until the new year.That means that a printer would need to print more than 130 items every second to finish the job before the ball drops in Times Square.That gives a sense of the scale we're talking about here, but it's not actually the deadline. Mr Wang notes that the first documents actually need to be mailed on March 12, 2020. That makes the printing pace much easier: Just 117 items per second.While it's possible that the questionnaires could be printed later in the process than intended, that would likely disrupt the printer's schedule and potentially increase costs for the government. Think about it another way. The final, produced documents that will need to be printed will use just under 300 billion square inches of paper, taking into consideration the fact that envelopes use more than twice as much paper as the finished size.How big is that? It's about 74.6 square miles - or more than enough to cover every square inch of Washington with about 6 square miles left over to paper over the Potomac.Using a generous estimate of how much paper can be produced by a single tree, the paper requirements for the census could require between 160,000 and 320,000 trees.There is no mention in the RFP of using recycled material, probably because of the increase in cost that would likely result.This excludes the fact that different documents require different types of paper; postcards are printed on stiffer stock than letters, for example.It's a massive undertaking, one that's been in the works for years. President Donald Trump's desire for a question related to citizenship was an addition that came up only relatively late in the process; his sudden reversal of the Commerce Department's decision to move forward with printing the questionnaires without that question apparently came after printing had already begun.Mr Trump speculated that perhaps the citizenship question could be part of a supplement included with the 2020 census questionnaire.Look for an RFP asking for estimates on the cost of printing another 130-million-odd forms.Oh, and asking for an expedited timeline on same.The New York Times
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| Eric Black Jr. bonds out after being charged with capital murder in shooting of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes Posted: 06 Jul 2019 09:03 PM PDT  Eric Black Jr. is back on the street after posting bond on a capital murder charge in the shooting of the 7-year-old Houston girl.
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| Tribute or prank? New statue of Melania Trump in Slovenia confounds residents Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:23 AM PDT  A life-size rough wooden sculpture of U.S. first lady Melania Trump was unveiled near her hometown of Sevnica in southeastern Slovenia on Friday. Commissioned by Berlin-based American artist Brad Downey and carved with a chainsaw by local folk artist Ales Zupevc, the statue serves as a - perhaps wry - accompaniment to Downey's exhibition in the capital Ljubljana exploring Melania's roots in the small Alpine country. The blocky, rustic figure was cut from the trunk of a living linden tree - whose base forms a tall plinth - in a field beside the Sava River in the village of Rozno, eight km (five miles) from Sevnica. There is no attempt at an accurate likeness, to the point where the gallery in Ljubljana appears uncertain how seriously to take the statue. "Perhaps we are simply trying vigorously to make sense of things that might only be a slapstick prank," it says in a leaflet. "Who knows?" After Melania cake, Melania honey, and even Melania slippers, Sevnica, the Slovenian hometown of the US's first lady now boasts a Melania statue, by conceptual artist Ales 'Maxi' Zupevc that has drawn mixed reviews. Although the statue's face is rough-hewn and unrecognizable, the figure is shown clothed in the pale blue wraparound coat that Melania wore at Donald Trump's inauguration as U.S. president. Downey said he wanted to "have a dialogue with my country's political situation" and highlight Melania Trump's status as an immigrant married to a president sworn to reduce immigration. The sculptor, known as Maxi, was born in the same hospital as Melania Trump, in the same month, and now mostly works as a pipe-layer. "Let's face it," he says in a short film being shown as part of the exhibition, "she owns half of America while I have nothing."
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| U.S. envoy says latest peace talks with Taliban 'most productive' so far Posted: 06 Jul 2019 07:59 AM PDT  U.S. and Taliban officials will reconvene on Tuesday to continue peace talks described as the "most productive session" by a top U.S. negotiator leading the discussions with the hardline Islamists group to end the Afghan war. The warring sides started a seventh round of peace talks last week, aiming to hammer out a schedule for the withdrawal of foreign troops in exchange for Taliban guarantees that international militant groups will not use Afghanistan as a base for launching attacks. In a tweet on Saturday, U.S envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who has been holding peace talks with the Taliban to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan since last year, said the latest round of discussions were the "most productive session" to date.
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| 7.1-magnitude earthquake felt in Southern California, could be largest in 20 years Posted: 06 Jul 2019 06:03 AM PDT  The epicenter of Friday's powerful quake was 11 miles north-northeast of Ridgecrest, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
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| PIC's Matjila to Say He Was Ousted to Facilitate Edcon Rescue Posted: 07 Jul 2019 10:08 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Daniel Matjila, the ousted chief executive officer of Africa's biggest fund manager, is expected to say his opposition to funding the rescue of a clothing retailer ahead of national elections was one of the reasons he was dismissed.Matjila is scheduled to begin testimony to a special commission of inquiry on Monday that will include his assertion that the rescue of Edcon Holdings Ltd., which supports 140,000 jobs through direct employment and its supply chains, didn't meet the investment criteria of the Public Investment Corp.'s clients, according to his prepared statement.On the day he was ousted, Nov. 23, he met the chairman of the PIC, the country's economic development minister and the CEO of Edcon to put forward the conditions for supporting the deal, he is expected to say at the inquiry. Those weren't viewed favorably, he said.The ongoing inquiry has heard from about 70 witnesses -- several of whom flagged Matjila as playing a key role in approving questionable deals. He has denied that. President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the investigation in October last year, one of a handful he's instituted to probe alleged graft since taking office 16 months ago after Jacob Zuma's scandal-marred nine-year rule.Union PressureIn February, a senior official of the Congress of South African Trade Unions emailed the chairman of the PIC, who was also deputy finance minister at the time. He wrote that unless the PIC supported the rescue, the labor federation wouldn't be able to encourage its members to vote for the ruling African National Congress party in May elections.The rescue was announced a week later, with the PIC leading the 2.7 billion rand ($191 million) rescue. It used 1.2 billion rand of money from the Unemployment Insurance Fund, one of its clients.Matjila is expected to say he was removed, at least partly, to ensure the Edcon rescue could take place. He cited the email, from Cosatu's Parliamentary Coordinator, Matthew Parks, as evidence.Matjila asserts that he and the PIC's then head of private equity, Mervin Muller, maintained they would only back the rescue if Long4Life Ltd.'s proposal to invest 500 million rand in the deal went ahead. Long4Life is led by Brian Joffe, a veteran South African businessman. The company didn't invest.While the bailout would have rescued jobs it was unlikely to generate adequate returns, according to Matjila.The PIC on Thursday denied that the decision to invest the funds was politically influenced. Mondli Gungubele, the former deputy finance minister and chairman of the PIC, hasn't responded to phone calls and text messages about the Edcon deal. Matjila's departure from the PIC "occurred in the context of an avalanche of allegations of serious looting, indefensible investments costing billions of rand and a complete collapse of good governance at the PIC" and the labor federation only got involved two months later, in January, Cosatu said in an emailed statement on Sunday. "Yes we unashamedly championed the Edcon intervention. Cosatu's members have mandated us to fight to the very end to defend workers' jobs.(Adds Cosatu response in last paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Janice Kew in Johannesburg at jkew4@bloomberg.net;Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Gordon Bell, Karl MaierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran denies tanker detained by UK was headed to Syria Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:09 PM PDT  Iran denied Sunday that an oil tanker detained by Britain in Gibraltar was carrying crude to Syria, which would put it in violation of EU sanctions. "The tanker was carrying Iran's oil... Contrary to what the British government claims, its destination was not Syria," said Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi at a press conference in Tehran. "The port named in Syria does not even have the capacity for such a supertanker to dock.
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| Ed Henry announces he will be donating part of his liver to his sister Posted: 07 Jul 2019 05:50 AM PDT  'Fox & Friends' host Ed Henry announces he will be donating part of his liver to his younger sister Colleen.
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| 2020 Dems' opposition builds against Trump judges Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:55 AM PDT ![2020 Dems' opposition builds against Trump judges]( "2020 Dems' opposition builds against Trump judges") Exclusive data obtained by POLITICO shows that Senate Democrats are rejecting the president's judicial nominees far more often than during the last Congress.
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| North Korea says released Australian student was spying Posted: 06 Jul 2019 07:55 AM PDT  North Korea said Saturday that an Australian student who it detained for a week had spread anti-Pyongyang propaganda and engaged in spying by providing photos and other materials to news outlets with critical views toward the North. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency, or KCNA, said North Korea deported Alek Sigley on Thursday after he pleaded for forgiveness for his activities, which the agency said infringed on the country's sovereignty.
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| What You Missed at the 2019 Goodwood Festival of Speed Posted: 07 Jul 2019 01:14 PM PDT |
| Manhunt launched after five bodies found in Missouri apartment Posted: 07 Jul 2019 09:15 AM PDT  Five people were found dead at an apartment in St Louis, Missouri, prompting police to appeal to the local community for help.The victims' bodies were discovered after a friend of the group returned to the building in the north of the city at around midday on Saturday.All five are adults but detectives did not release any information about their ages, genders or causes of death."We can tell they are homicides," said St Louis County police officer Tracey Panus outside the scene on Chambers Road."We got a call around noon for suspicious deaths in the 1900 block of Chambers. When we responded we found five deceased victims."We don't know cause of death, we don't have any suspects in custody, we are just looking for tips, we are looking for people to call our investigators to provide any information they may have seen between 9pm and noon today."Detectives used specialist equipment to take 3D images of the crime scene as part of the homicide investigation. The St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper reported that the bodies were discovered by the father of one of the victims.Ronald Brewster, 68, said he went to the apartment to pick up his 40 year-old son, also named Ronald, for a family reunion. He said his son was a drug user, adding: "I worried about him and tried many times to get him into rehab."Photographs of the single-floor apartment block showed several windows and doors boarded up. Police said not all of the units were vacant.St Louis County Police chief Jon Belmar said: "It's a tragedy for a community, any time there is a scene like this, when five individuals are a victim of homicide."We need help from the community to assist us - somebody out there knows what happened."
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| Ultimate Weapon? Sanctions on Iran's Supreme Leader Really a Game Changer? Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:45 AM PDT  Despite the limited reach of the United States to directly affect some areas of the Iranian economy with sanctions, it does have room to add effective secondary sanctions.The United States, reacting to the shooting down of a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle last week, launched two sanctions-related salvos against Iran on June 24. It layered sanctions on top of those already targeting commanders in Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which are unlikely to have more than a limited effect on the Iranian economy. The second set of sanctions, targeting Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his appointees, could bite much deeper than typical sanctions issued by the United States by hampering Iran's engagement with the world and damaging its economy.An Executive Order Lays the GroundworkAn executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump freezes all property subject to U.S. jurisdiction that is held by Iran's supreme leader or the supreme leader's office. In addition, the order allows the U.S. Treasury Department to similarly sanction any person or entity the supreme leader, or his office, appoints, such as a state official or the head of an entity such as a company leader. The order also extends that connection a step further, allowing sanctions to be placed on any appointment made by an appointee of the supreme leader, as well. It also threatens sanctions against anyone who provides support for people or entities sanctioned under those designations.
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| Salmonella outbreak linked to fresh Cavi papayas from Mexico has sickened 71 people Posted: 06 Jul 2019 02:07 AM PDT ![Salmonella outbreak linked to fresh Cavi papayas from Mexico has sickened 71 people]( "Salmonella outbreak linked to fresh Cavi papayas from Mexico has sickened 71 people") A salmonella outbreak linked to fresh Cavi papayas from Mexico has sickened 71 people in eight states, according to the CDC and FDA.
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| Johnson Set for Crushing Victory Over Hunt, Poll Suggests Posted: 06 Jul 2019 01:19 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson looks set for a landslide victory over rival Jeremy Hunt in the race to become Britain's next prime minister.According to a YouGov poll published in the Times newspaper, Johnson is backed by 74% of Conservative Party members with Hunt languishing on 26%.The survey also suggests that the vast majority of the 160,000 grassroots party members who will receive their ballot papers this weekend don't believe Hunt's claim that he's prepared to take Britain out of the European Union without a deal. Only 27% think Hunt would do so, compared with 90% for Johnson.In an interview with the Times, Hunt sought to play down perceptions that Johnson's status as the Brexit referendum's poster child would influence the outcome of the vote. Preparing for an exit without an agreement with Brussels is key, he said, adding that the best way to deliver Brexit would be do so with an accord."The choice on this election isn't actually between our approach to no-deal, it's who is the candidate who is most likely to negotiate a deal so that we don't have those difficult decisions to take," Hunt said.In an interview with the Daily Mail, Johnson responded to a question on what he would do if, by the Brexit deadline at the end of October, the EU has refused to reopen the Withdrawal Agreement and Parliament has blocked a no-deal exit, saying it wouldn't happen "in a month of Sundays."Brexit has become an "existential" issue for both main parties so they need to "move on and get it done," the newspaper quoted him as saying.In the Daily Mail interview Johnson sought to buttress his law and order credentials with a commitment to ensure that serious sexual or violent offenders serve out their full sentences rather than being released at the halfway point as at present. Restrictions on stop-and-search, put in place by Theresa May when she was Home Secretary, should be dumped, he said.The new prime minister is expected to be announced -- and then take office -- during the week of July 22.(Updates with excerpts from Daily Mail interview from sixth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: James Ludden in New York at jludden@bloomberg.net;John Glover in London at johnglover@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew G. Miller at mmiller144@bloomberg.net, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| President Trump Invited a Cartoonist Known for 'Anti-Semitic' Images to a White House Social Media Summit Posted: 07 Jul 2019 08:47 AM PDT  A 2017 cartoon was slammed by the Anti-Defamation League for anti-Semitic imagery
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| Hong Kong protesters hold vigil ahead of Sunday march Posted: 06 Jul 2019 08:37 AM PDT  A vigil was held Saturday night for a Hong Kong woman who fell to her death this week, one of three apparent suicides linked to ongoing protests over fears that freedoms are being eroded in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. A mostly youthful gathering placed lit candles and incense at temporary memorials in a square in central Hong Kong. Before falling from a shopping mall on June 30, the 29-year-old woman left a message on Facebook that wished for the protesters' success but said she could not carry on, Hong Kong media have reported.
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| Oregon state senator faces hearing on 'heavily armed' comment Posted: 05 Jul 2019 06:12 PM PDT ![Oregon state senator faces hearing on 'heavily armed' comment]( "Oregon state senator faces hearing on 'heavily armed' comment") An Oregon state senator who was among Republican lawmakers who fled the Capitol last month to scuttle a vote on a bill to fight climate change faces a conduct hearing over remarks tinged with threats of violence about any efforts to force the senators to return. Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, enlisted the State Police on June 20 to try to bring Republicans back to the Capitol, but ultimately the Democratic-sponsored bill died. By fleeing the Capitol, the Republican senators prevented a vote from being held because, under Senate rules, there were not enough lawmakers present for legislation to be voted on.
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| Alaska sees record temperatures in heatwave Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:52 AM PDT  An "all-time high" temperature record has been set in the US state of Alaska, despite much of the country sitting in the Arctic circle.Temperatures peaked at 32.22 Celsius (90F) on 4 July at an airport in Anchorage, the state's largest city.National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Clay said Anchorage's average high temperature for US Independence Day is 23.89C (75F).Other local records were set across southern Alaska and come after five weeks of above average temperatures.Shawn King, who has lived his entire life in Anchorage, said he had never seen a stretch of similar hot weather. > The 4thofjuly2019 was one for the books. Several ALL-TIME high temperature records were set at official observation sites throughout Southern Alaska. But that's not all...there were more daily temperature records set too! AKwx ItsHotInAlaska pic.twitter.com/GxcdUaD9ld> > — NWS Anchorage (@NWSAnchorage) > > July 5, 2019The 31-year-old used the occasion to take his daughter, Tessa, fishing for the first time on the dock of Jewel Lake.She insisted on going barefoot."It's too hot for shoes," the four-year-old said.While tourists have been caught out after being told to expect cooler temperatures. Judy Zickmund, who arrived in Anchorage on a cruise, said: "We didn't pack clothes for it".Three other Alaska locations, Kenai, Palmer and King Salmon, set or tied all-time high temperature records. However the statewide record of 37.8C (100F), was set at Fort Yukon in the state's north east region over a century ago.Meteorologists say a "heat dome" over the state is responsible for the latest heatwave, and is set to continue for days as the system moves north.Rick Thoman, a climate specialist at the University of Alaska said these exceptionally warm weather events will only become more frequent because of the loss of sea ice and warming in the Arctic Ocean."These kinds of extreme weather events become much more likely in a warming world," Thoman said. "Surface temperatures are above normal everywhere around Alaska. The entire Gulf of Alaska, in the Bering Sea, in the Chukchi Sea south of the ice edge, exceptionally warm waters, warmest on record, and of course record-low sea ice extent for this time of year off the north and northwest coasts of the state."
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| Is China's J-20 Stealth Fighter a Ripoff of Russian Technology? Posted: 06 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT  TASS, Russia's leading state news agency, echoed Sputnik in noting that a number of J-20's currently run on the AL-31F engine and that the J-20 shares a distinctive "duck-like" aerodynamic design with the MiG-1.44, but stopped just short of claiming that the Chinese directly consulted the Russian fighter's design in building the J-20.As the Su-57 enters serial production in much larger quantities than previously expected, Moscow is making a concerted effort to pitch the fifth-generation fighter to major arms importers including Turkey, India, and China.Over the past several years, Chinese defense media has been particularly keen on following the Su-57's development; their--mostly positive commentary--has long been taken as one bellwether of Chinese import interest.(This first appeared in June 2019.)But the question is rarely asked in reverse: namely, what does Russia think of China's own J-20 fighter?
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| California earthquake: Here's what we know about injuries, damage and aftershocks Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:35 PM PDT  A 7.1 magnitude earthquake rocked Southern California late Friday. Here's what we know about injuries, damage and aftershocks.
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| Buttigieg campaign multiplies in size after huge cash haul Posted: 06 Jul 2019 04:54 AM PDT ![Buttigieg campaign multiplies in size after huge cash haul]( "Buttigieg campaign multiplies in size after huge cash haul") The mayor's presidential campaign is adding hundreds of on-the-ground staff this summer, catching up to some campaigns who staffed up early.
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| Organs of executed prisoners in Iran could be sold under new law Posted: 07 Jul 2019 10:36 AM PDT  A new law in Iran could see the organs of convicts on death row pre-sold to buyers if the prisoners agree before their executions. Reports suggested that under the new head of the Iranian judiciary, Ebrahim Raeesi, an article in the criminal justice laws has been included which says: "If a convict voluntarily offers his or her organ before or after execution and no medical obstacle is offered, then the judge can approve this in coordination with the ministry of justice and the coroners' office." Iran's Association of Surgeons has strongly condemned the move, describing it as "extremely worrying, damaging to our profession and the prestige of Iran in the eyes of the civilised world". Professor Ali Jafarian of the liver transplant unit at Khomeini hospital in Tehran, who is also a member of the American Society of Transplantation, told the semi-official ISNA news agency that no specialist surgeon in Iran would be prepared to follow the law as "it is immoral and against all the values of our profession". "Anyone sentenced to death would not be in a right frame of mind to 'voluntarily' offer their organs, unless they are forced to do so under immense pressure," Dr Jafarian said. "Members of our association of surgeon will never abide by this law." There is a huge market in Iran for organ transplants due to the vast number of the country's kidney, heart and liver patients. Thousands of people from Arab countries also visit Iran specifically for this purpose, spending millions of pounds at Iran's private clinics. It is legal to sell organs in Iran. According to Mrs. Katayoun Najafizadeh, the head of Iran's Organ Donations Society, currently more than 25,000 Iranian patients are waiting to receive a transplant, but last year only 926 organs, mainly from victims of car crashes, were made available to the country's specialist hospitals. The shortage has led to the emergence of an illicit market where many poor people openly advertise the sale of one of their kidneys to those in need for as little as £200. The only country in the world that used the organs of executed prisoners in this way was China, which banned the practice in 2015, although reports suggest that organs continue to be harvested.
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| Deutsche Bank says to slash 18,000 jobs by 2022 Posted: 07 Jul 2019 09:55 AM PDT  Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank said Sunday it would cut 18,000 jobs by 2022, as the former leading light of the country's financial sector looks to escape years of turmoil. The slashing of around one in five of its workforce, to 74,000 employees, is an unprecedented round of departures for Deutsche. The bank said the layoffs would reduce annual costs by six billion euros ($6.7 billion) over the same period.
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| Investigators scour scene of Bahamas chopper crash for clues Posted: 06 Jul 2019 03:13 PM PDT  Accident investigators in the Bahamas are going well below the surface of the water to try to figure out what went wrong in the moments before a helicopter crashed after takeoff and killed seven people, including West Virginia coal magnate Chris Cline. The Air Accident Investigation Department of the Bahamas said via Twitter late Friday that salvage teams were conducting "underwater surveying and mapping of debris field." The department said the operation has been underway since the crash of the Augusta AW139 chopper, which went down Thursday in waters just off Grand Cay after departing for Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
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| Trump Says Fed ‘Doesn’t Have a Clue’ Posted: 06 Jul 2019 09:58 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump renewed his attack on the Federal Reserve, saying the central bank "doesn't have a clue," and may be sizing up his two latest picks for Fed governor as successors to Chairman Jerome Powell.The fresh criticism is consistent with ideas that the president is laying the groundwork to replace Powell when the chairman's term is up in 2022, assuming Trump is re-elected, or will attempt to do so earlier if the Fed doesn't bend quickly enough to his will."Our most difficult problem is not our competitors, it is the Federal Reserve," Trump said in a Twitter post late Friday. The Fed had "raised rates too soon, too often" and "doesn't have a clue," he said. Trump has repeatedly accused Powell of not doing enough to bolster the economy.Trump this week nominated economists Judy Shelton and Christopher Waller to seats on the Fed's board of governors. While their backgrounds are divergent, both are thought likely to enthusiastically support the president's call for lower interest rates.Either may be in line for the Fed's top job once Powell's term as chairman expires or even before, according to a person familiar with the matter.Trump discussed firing Powell in late 2018 and asked White House lawyers earlier this year to explore options for removing him as Fed chairman, according to people familiar. Last month Trump denied in an interview that he'd threatened to demote Powell back to a board governor -- Powell's term on the board runs until 2028 -- but said he'd "be able to do that if I wanted."Powell has said that he intends to serve his full four-year term at the helm of the Fed and that "the law is clear" on that issue.The Federal Reserve Act says governors may be "removed for cause" by the president, which generally has been taken to mean inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance -- not merely setting policy that displeases the commander-in-chief. Trump's regular assertions of policy missteps may be a way to build a case for neglect of duty.The latest comments by Trump -- two rounds on Friday alone -- came after the government said June growth in payrolls smashed expectations and overturned ideas that the central bank was almost certain to cut rates at its July 30-31 meeting, as the president has urged.Growth "would be like a rocket ship" if the Fed eased, Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday.Trump has spent a year criticizing Powell and the Fed for raising rates in 2018 and failing to reverse course since then. He first said in July 2018 that he was "not thrilled" with the Fed's actions, and the criticisms have only ratcheted up since then.Friday's payrolls report for June shifted the debate from how much to cut interest rates this month to whether to move at all.Yields on two-year U.S. Treasuries previously jumped to 1.87% from 1.76%, reflecting reduced odds of the Fed aggressively reducing borrowing costs in the near term. Fed funds futures, which had been indicating some possibility of a half-point rate cut in July before the Labor Department's data, are now pricing a quarter-point reduction this month, and at one point on Friday even showed that outcome was less than 100% certain.Powell, who has said uncertainties in the U.S. outlook could call for lower rates, will give his read on the economy in two days of semiannual testimony before Congress starting Wednesday. He'll almost certainly be asked about Trump's regular criticism.Beyond that, policymakers at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting this month will discuss whether the U.S. needs an "insurance cut" amid a slowing global economy, trade frictions and low inflation.Powell, whom Trump nominated to replace Janet Yellen and who took up the position in February 2018 -- isn't the only central banker facing political pressure.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan removed that country's central bank governor, who kept interest rates on hold in June, according to a presidential decree published Saturday. The official, Murat Cetinkaya, was said to have refused an informal request to resign.What Our Economists SayWhile the Fed dropped "patient" from its policy guidance at its June meeting, the strength in the pace of hiring will enable the FOMC to delay the onset of a mini-easing cycle until September; but the central bank will still need to cut in order to steepen the yield curve.-- Carl Riccadonna and Yelena Shulyatyeva, economistsClick here for the full note.Payrolls climbed 224,000, compared with the median economist estimate for 160,000, after a relatively weak 72,000 advance the prior month, according to the Labor Department figures. The jobless rate ticked up to 3.7% from a half-century low of 3.6% while average hourly earnings increased 3.1% from a year earlier, slightly less than projected.In a report after the employment release, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economists led by Jan Hatzius said recent Fed speeches and interviews suggest the central bank will go ahead with a cut in July."We continue to see rate cuts as the most likely outcome,'' with 60% odds of a July quarter-point cut, 15% odds of a half-point reduction, and 25% odds of no policy change."The July meeting is probably a closer call than what the markets are implying," said Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research. "If you were thinking they would cut rates three times this year, the momentum is so strong in July that that is not going to happen."In a separate tweet Saturday, Trump said the U.S. is the "envy of the World" after all three U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs before the July 4 holiday. On the eve of his formal re-election announcement, Trump warned of an epic stock market crash if he was not returned to office in 2020.\--With assistance from Katia Dmitrieva, Steve Matthews, Ros Krasny and Michael Sin.To contact the reporters on this story: Tony Czuczka in New York at aczuczka@bloomberg.net;Saleha Mohsin in Washington at smohsin2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pope Francis claims US televangelist performed miracle, paving way for sainthood Posted: 06 Jul 2019 10:40 AM PDT  Pope Francis has declared that a late US television preacher once performed a miracle, moving him one step closer to sainthood.The Vatican announced on Saturday the formal approval of the miracle, thought to relate to claims about a baby's extraordinary recovery in an Illinois hospital.The Diocese of Peoria believes that Archbishop Fulton J Sheen – who died in 1979 – interceded in 2010 on behalf of a baby who began breathing 61 minutes after showing no signs of life at birth.One miracle allows a candidate for sainthood to be beatified in the Catholic faith, but a second miracle must be approved in order for sainthood to be conferred.No date has been given for his beatification ceremony, but the Peoria Diocese said it was beginning preparations for the celebration in the central Illinois city.Archbishop Sheen's on-air evangelism made him a well-known figure in the US over several decades, having started on NBC radio in 1930 with a weekly programme called The Catholic Hour.He expanded to television in 1950 with NBC's Life is Worth Living, regularly amassing more than 30 million viewers.The pope's decision comes just weeks after a New York court ruling allowing the American archbishop's niece to bury him in Peoria, where he was ordained, ending years of litigation and allowing the process for sainthood to resume.Peoria Bishop Daniel Jenky said he was grateful the Vatican acted quickly after the transfer of the archbishop's remains, and hopeful Pope Francis will set a date for beatification soon."It is truly amazing how God continues to work miracles," Bishop Jenky said.The diocese conducted a canonical investigation into the 2010 birth at a Peoria hospital and submitted its findings to the Vatican in 2011.The Church teaches that only God performs miracles but that saints who are believed to be with God in heaven intercede on behalf of people who pray to them. A miracle is usually the medically inexplicable healing of a person.Additional reporting by agencies
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| Boeing 737 Max crash: Did foreign pilots have enough training to fly commercial jets? Posted: 07 Jul 2019 02:43 PM PDT  In the U.S., copilots must have a minimum of 1,500 flight hours. Internationally, it's only 240 hours -- and regulators might decrease or scrap that.
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| Hong Kong Protesters Try to Drum Up Support Among Mainland Chinese Tourists Posted: 07 Jul 2019 02:52 AM PDT  Hong Kong demonstrators marched through the heart of the mainland shopping district and tried to engage Chinese tourists
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| At least 5 hurt in Pamplona bull run Posted: 07 Jul 2019 06:49 AM PDT  At least five people have been injured in the opening bull run of this year's San Fermin festival in the northern Spanish city of Pamplona on Sunday. (July 7)
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| Indians P Carrasco reveals leukemia diagnosis Posted: 06 Jul 2019 08:05 AM PDT ![Indians P Carrasco reveals leukemia diagnosis]( "Indians P Carrasco reveals leukemia diagnosis") Cleveland Indians right-hander Carlos Carrasco, who last pitched on May 30, revealed Friday night that he is being treated for leukemia. The Indians placed him on the 10-day injured list in early June, citing a blood condition. Carrasco, 32, revealed the news during an excerpt of an interview that aired on CDN 37 in the Dominican Republic.
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| Bill Gates explains why he couldn’t duplicate Steve Jobs’ magic ‘spells’ Posted: 07 Jul 2019 10:04 AM PDT  Bill Gates would like you to know that the reason his late rival was able to resuscitate Apple and take the iPhone maker from near-death to being the most valuable company in the world is that Steve Jobs was so successful at making people believe in an idea. Or, as Gates puts it, that Jobs was so good at "casting spells."You get it, right? It's an uncommonly fantastical metaphor to hear from the Microsoft co-founder, who can get pretty wonky and technical in his description of these kinds of things. But in a segment set to be broadcast on Sunday during the CNN program Fareed Zakaria GPS, that's how Gates will explain why he thinks Steve was able to do what he did and engineer one of the greatest business success stories of all time. And why Gates was able to see through it all, even though he admits couldn't recreate the magic to the same degree."I was like a minor wizard because he would be casting spells, and I would see people mesmerized, but because I'm a minor wizard, the spells don't work on me," Gates said, according to advance news of his remarks reported by Bloomberg.What exactly does Gates mean by casting spells? He brings up Jobs' 1988 launch of the NeXT computer. NeXT soon after gave up on hardware altogether and was bought by Apple less than a decade after that, but even though the computer "completely failed, it was such nonsense, and yet he mesmerized those people."But Gates goes even farther in the description he shares during Sunday's CNN program about the rival with whom he also collaborated on occasion. Gates, who seems to be in something of a reflective, philosophical mood lately during his recent interviews and public remarks, says he's never met anyone as good as Jobs "in terms of picking talent, hyper-motivating that talent, and having a sense of design of, 'Oh, this is good. This is not good.'"It's not a sugar-coated walk down memory lane he shares either, acknowledging that Jobs was sometimes an "asshole." Gates also acknowledges his own tendency toward micromanaging that seems to remain in place to this day -- specifically, at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which works to promote healthcare globally and fight poverty. "I'm still clear about, 'Hey, that toilet design's too expensive," Gates says at one point during the segment. "It's a dead end. We're not going to put more money into that."It's interesting to hear Gates looking back on these key players and moments from his life, such as his assertion that Jobs used something beyond technical competency to turn Apple into a powerhouse. Likewise, Gates also recently made headlines by acknowledging what he feels has been his biggest mistake -- the failure to invent Android."It's amazing to me that having made one of the greatest mistakes of all time, and there was this antitrust lawsuit and various things, that our other assets like Windows and Office are still very strong, so we are a leading company," Gates said recently at Village Global. "If we had gotten that one right, we would be the leading company, but oh well."
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| Woman, 3 children missing in deadly mobile home fire Posted: 06 Jul 2019 05:06 PM PDT  Police say a woman and three children are unaccounted for following a deadly fire at a mobile home park site in western Washington. Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith said the blaze began at the residential Welcome Inn RV Park in west Port Angeles along the Olympic Peninsula about 2:30 a.m. Saturday. The bodies were found inside the trailer where the fire began, and the flames had spread to another trailer and a vehicle before being contained by emergency crews.
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| 'Reclamation project': Trump hits back at Biden Posted: 06 Jul 2019 07:02 AM PDT  "Some things are just not salvageable," Trump wrote on Twitter.
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