| Audio: Trump seeks identity of person who leaked information to whistleblower Posted: 26 Sep 2019 01:51 PM PDT  President Trump likened the person who leaked information to a federal whistleblower to a spy.
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| Georgia sheriff's office employee fired after racist rant at McDonald's Posted: 26 Sep 2019 12:07 PM PDT  A Georgia sheriff's office employee has been fired after he was caught on video telling a teenager to "speak English" at a local McDonald's.
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| Grieving mother shares heartbreaking tribute to children on 'first day of school' Posted: 26 Sep 2019 10:47 AM PDT  A distraught mother took to Facebook earlier this month to share a touching tribute to her children, all three of whom were killed by a drunk driver.
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| Iranian president demands U.S. 'pay more' for a wider deal Posted: 25 Sep 2019 04:44 PM PDT  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded on Wednesday that the United States "pay more" for any agreement that goes beyond the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Washington abandoned.
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| Pelosi, taking on a president, meets feminists' desire for a superhero Posted: 26 Sep 2019 01:01 PM PDT  Women who study women agree that this week marks a moment.
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| The Latest: Man convicted of killing ex-wife's Texas family Posted: 26 Sep 2019 01:21 PM PDT  A young woman who was the lone survivor of a 2014 deadly shooting that claimed the lives of her parents and four siblings wiped away tears as a jury convicted her uncle of capital murder in their killings. Cassidy Stay later smiled and took deep breaths as she hugged prosecutors in the Houston courtroom Thursday. Haskell's lawyers had argued for him to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
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| Michigan school bus driver fired after kicking kids off bus for sharing bag of chips: Officials Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:20 AM PDT  A Michigan school bus driver and bus aide have both been fired after they forced "several" students to exit the bus early, officials say.
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| 'Bring on the bathroom humor': United passenger got stuck in the bathroom mid-flight Posted: 26 Sep 2019 01:10 PM PDT  Visiting the bathroom mid-flight is hardly a pleasant experience — but getting stuck in there is a whole other kind of ordeal.
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| Rudy’s Big Plan to Defend Trump on Ukraine: Play the George Soros Card Posted: 26 Sep 2019 02:12 AM PDT  HERBERT NEUBAUER/GettyDonald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's bizarre media tour defending President Trump's efforts to pressure the president of Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden has focused on a seemingly unrelated target: billionaire Democratic financier and Republican bogeyman George Soros. In several rambling cable news appearances, Giuliani has claimed that Soros—who conservative conspiracy theorists have long blamed for everything from the Barack Obama presidency to actor Jussie Smollett's faking of a hate crime—is somehow involved in a wide-ranging, anti-Trump scheme in Ukraine. Like many Soros-related claims, this one is, well, flimsy. Indeed, Guiliani's argument appears to rest almost entirely on innuendos, a single op-ed in The Hill, and his vague claims about unnamed "people" in Ukraine.Russia's Election Hackers Are Back—and Targeting George SorosGiuliani's allegations center on a "Soros NGO" that manufactured evidence against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a former FBI agent who Giuliani claims is on Soros's payroll."George Soros has a not-for-profit called AntAC," Giuliani said in a CNN appearance last Thursday. "AntAC is the one that developed all of the dirty information that ended up being a false document that was created in order to incriminate Manafort."In a Monday appearance on Fox Business, Giuliani claimed that "Soros's NGO was involved in this whole thing." On Tuesday, he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that Biden was somehow involved in an effort to save a Soros-run organization in Ukraine from prosecution. "That organization was run by George Soros, who then hired the crooked FBI agent, who is now working for George Soros," Giuliani said. Soros, who is one of the Democratic Party's largest givers, has long been targeted by right-wing activists, who often paint him as a global, political puppetmaster—a charge that critics contend reeks of anti-Semitism. Few figures, indeed, are more often portrayed as a boogeyman by Republican politicians. Guliani's vague, nefarious accusations about Soros, have been echoed by Trump allies and the Trump campaign as well. In fact, the line has become so central to the messaging war against the Bidens that Giuliani often offers it up without being prompted. "Oh, and Soros—Soros!—is very important here," Giuliani said in a Monday interview, one of several with The Daily Beast in the last few days in which he discussed the progressive donor. "Don't forget that."* * *Considering the gravity with which Giuliani discusses Soros, one would think that there is ample evidence that something untoward has taken place. And yet, the allegations rest largely on a March 2019 op-ed in The Hill written by opinion writer John Solomon, who became a star on the right for his willingness to push attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In his March story, Solomon declared that the U.S. embassy in Ukraine "pressed Ukraine to drop [a] probe of George Soros group during 2016 election." The op-ed centers on Anticorruption Action Centre (AntAC), a Ukrainian anti-corruption group that has received funding from Soros's Open Society Foundation. Contrary to Giuliani's description of it as "Soros-run," though, AntAC has also received funding from the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and the European Union. Soros doesn't control AntAC's activities. It is instead operated by Ukrainian activists. In 2016, AntAC was under investigation by Ukrainian prosecutors for the alleged misuse of $4.4 million in aid, in what appears to have been a politically motivated pursuit from the investigators meant to punish the good-governance group. Even U.S. State Department sources in Solomon's own op-ed said the prosecution was believed to be just "retribution" for AntAC's anti-corruption work. In a letter sent to Ukrainian prosecutors, a State Department official in Ukraine said the United States had "no concerns" about the money. "We have accounted for every single foreign assistance dollar provided within the framework of this project," the State official continued. Smollett Conspiracy Theories Target George SorosNevertheless, Giuliani has accused the group, without any evidence, of falsifying the "Black Ledger" that listed millions in undisclosed payments to Manafort and setting the stage for his prosecution. But that document has never been disproven, as a story from The Intercept investigating Giuliani's claims found, and AntAC wasn't involved in its creation. The unfounded implication in both Giuliani's interviews and Solomon's opinion story is that the Obama administration's diplomats were either running interference for AntAC in exchange for an effort to take down Manafort, or were somehow just working generally on Soros' behalf. In a response published in The Hill and on its own website, AntAC co-founder Daria Kaleniuk pointed out a number of inconsistencies and omissions in Solomon's op-ed, alleging that he had confused key dates supposedly at the center of the opinion piece. Kaleniuk also claimed that Solomon's supposed key source, a former prosecutor, was using The Hill to retaliate against her group for its anti-corruption efforts. In an email to The Daily Beast, Kaleniuk described Giuliani's claims about her group as "bizarre allegations." Soros spokesman Michael Vachon also denied Giuliani's claims."Short answer is no, Soros was not somehow involved in cooking up charges against Trump in Ukraine," Vachon wrote in an email.Giuliani also alleges in his cable news appearances that Soros has offered a large payout to a former FBI agent who was involved in the Manafort investigation, supposedly via AntAC. "The FBI agent is now working for George Soros, making hundreds of thousands of dollars," Giuliani said in his Tuesday appearance on Fox News. That appears to be a reference to former FBI supervisor Karen Greenaway, who was part of the FBI's International Corruption Unit and the Manafort investigation. Greenaway has appeared at some anti-corruption events with AntAC staff. And her appearance is used in Solomon's article to suggest some nefarious connection between the group, Greenaway, and Soros. Greenaway retired from the FBI in February, and agreed to later join AntAC's board alongside prominent figures like "End of History" political scientist Francis Fukuyama and the former head of the EU's anti-fraud office. That appears to be where Giuliani is getting the idea that Greenaway is making "hundreds of thousands" of dollars from Soros, since the board is mentioned in Solomon's op-ed. But membership of the AntAC board is, alas, an unpaid position. Asked for proof of his claim that Greenaway is receiving large amounts of money from Soros, either through AntAC or another group, Giuliani referred only to vague sources in Ukraine. "That is what I was told by several people in Ukraine," Giuliani told The Daily Beast, adding later, "If it gets investigated we will find out." Giuliani declined to offer any more evidence of his claims against Greenaway, and accused The Daily Beast of trying to impede his "investigation" into Biden. "It seems to me your intent here is not to cover the inherent apparent corruption in the way this was done but to find any contradictions or create them," Giuliani wrote in a text message. Greenaway couldn't be reached for comment.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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| Cuban-American sues American Airlines, Latam Airlines for 'trafficking' in Havana airport. Posted: 25 Sep 2019 03:22 PM PDT  A Miami-based law firm filed a lawsuit on Wednesday on behalf of a Cuban-American who claims to be the rightful owner of Havana's international airport against American Airlines and the Latam Airlines Group for "trafficking" in the property he says the Cuban government stole. The case is one of a slew filed in U.S. courts since the Trump administration in May implemented a long-dormant and controversial law allowing U.S. citizens to sue foreign firms and Cuban entities over their use of properties expropriated after Cuba's 1959 revolution. In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, law firm Rivero Mestre argues that Cuba's main airport, in Havana, was expropriated from the father of Jose Ramon Lopez Regueiro in 1959.
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| How Pakistan Has Won the War in Afghanistan (America Lost) Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:15 PM PDT  Could it be?
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| Ex-casino employee to seek parole chance in Vegas killing Posted: 26 Sep 2019 11:01 AM PDT  A former Las Vegas Strip casino card dealer intends to seek a chance at parole when he's sentenced for killing a resort executive and wounding a co-worker at a company picnic in 2018, a defense lawyer said Thursday. Anthony Wrobel decided it was in his best interest to plead guilty before trial to murder in the shooting death of Venetian casino executive Mia Banks and attempted murder for wounding co-worker Hector Rodriguez, court-appointed defense attorney Joseph Abood said. The plea agreement by the 44-year-old Wrobel says he could face up to life behind bars without the possibility of parole.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's Next Big Effort: Tackling Poverty Posted: 25 Sep 2019 04:51 AM PDT  WASHINGTON -- For a House freshman and political neophyte, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has proved to be remarkably adept at shaping the debate on her Democratic Party's left flank, boosting the visibility of single-payer health care through her support of "Medicare for All" and elevating climate change with her Green New Deal.On Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez hopes to do for the nation's poor what she has done with health care and climate politics with the unveiling of an ambitious anti-poverty package that, among other things, would cap annual rent increases, ensure full access to social welfare programs for people with convictions and unauthorized immigrants, pressure federal contractors to offer better wages and benefits, and update official poverty measurements by taking into account geographic cost-of-living variations and access to health insurance, child care, and "new necessities" such as internet access."I think this really starts to approach, head-on, economic injustice in America," Ocasio-Cortez said. "We are at our richest point that we've ever been, but we've also been our most unequal."She added, "It's something that we have to talk about."Since defeating Rep. Joe Crowley, a senior member of the Democratic leadership, during the 2018 primaries, Ocasio-Cortez, 29, has used her social media following -- 4 million followers on Instagram and more than 5 million on Twitter -- and strong ties to the party's progressive wing to shift the party leftward. Her Green New Deal would move the nation's energy economy rapidly away from fossil fuels, with vague promises of guaranteed job security. Medicare for All would replace all private insurance with one government-run health care system like Britain's or Canada's.Such ideas would have once been dismissed as fringe initiatives on the far left, but many members of Congress and Democratic presidential candidates have rushed to embrace them, seeking the approval of Ocasio-Cortez and her supporters."She's a lightning rod," said Dianne Enriquez, a director at the Center for Popular Democracy, a liberal advocacy group. "I think the boldness, the ability to be innovative, the willingness to go out on a limb for what she believes is right is really what makes her an ideal champion for a lot of the issues that have gone largely ignored at the federal level."Establishment Democrats have worried that Ocasio-Cortez has moved the conversation too far to the left too fast, becoming the policy face of the party and jeopardizing the political futures of more moderate members elected last year in Republican-leaning districts.But in recent weeks, Ocasio-Cortez has pushed out her chief of staff, who had picked fights with moderate Democrats, and moved her combative communications director to her campaign. Unlike the Green New Deal, which is a gauzy congressional resolution, her anti-poverty initiative, "A Just Society," is six fully formed bills, written in legislative language -- another sign of serious legislative intent.She had good reason to make overtures to fellow House Democrats, who had grown weary of her staff's antagonism. Matt Bennett, the executive vice president of Third Way, a centrist Democratic organization, said Ocasio-Cortez is "vastly more influential" than most freshman House members.But, he added: "Legislating is an inherently group activity. The question is, if she wants to move this legislation, or any that she's sponsoring, can she attract co-sponsors and votes? We'll see if she has the ability to do that as well."As the Green New Deal looked to Franklin D. Roosevelt's signature initiative, "A Just Society" echoes Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society."With the Green New Deal, we weren't just talking about climate change; we're talking about the systems that got us to climate change," Ocasio-Cortez said. "We're addressing root causes.""And similarly," she added, "with our Just Society package, we're not simply addressing poverty or wages. We're addressing some of the basic structural reasons that are resulting in those outcomes."Nearly 40 million people in the United States live in poverty. Even middle-class workers face a shortage of affordable housing and stagnant wages. The problems are worse for people of color, including immigrants, and people who were formerly incarcerated. The Trump administration's response has been to tighten access to some federally funded low-income programs.The bills in Ocasio-Cortez's package seek to change the federal response. She conceded that because Democrats do not control the Senate or the White House, her intention is to lay "down a vision for when we take back both of those bodies."The Recognizing Real Poverty Act requires the secretary of health and human services, in collaboration with the Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to work with the National Academy of Sciences to change the poverty line, adjusting for family size and geographic differences in the cost of goods and services. The poverty threshold would be raised to account for health insurance costs, work expenses, child care, and consideration of new necessities such as internet access.Poverty has been "a taboo word in our politics for so long," Ocasio-Cortez said. Even if they are officially above the poverty line, there are "people who are living a quality of life on par" with the impoverished, she added, "but you wouldn't see that based on our numbers because we choose not to measure it."Enriquez said housing has not been a central topic of the Democratic presidential debates, even though several contenders have released full-fledged affordable housing plans. She said she hopes that Ocasio-Cortez can help elevate the issue with one of the bills in her package, the Place to Prosper Act, which would provide tenant protections and regulate corporate landlords.That bill would cap rent increases at 3% a year and restrict the reasons that landlords could evict tenants. For instance, tenants could be evicted only if they have not paid rent for two or more consecutive months or have wrecked a property, or if the landlord needs a unit to house an immediate relative. The bill would prohibit discrimination because of the source of a tenant's income and would provide funding for tenant legal representatives.The act would also mandate that landlords keep rental units in good repair. It would allocate $10 billion for fiscal years 2020 through 2029 for removing toxins.Housing in America "is a crisis," she said, "and it's not one that we are discussing enough at the level that we need to be discussing it."Two other bills, The Embrace Act and The Mercy in Re-Entry Act, would outlaw the denial of any federal benefit because of immigration status or a past criminal conviction.The Uplift Our Workers Act would create a "worker-friendliness score" for federal contractors which would consider, for example, whether the contractor offers paid overtime for those who work more than 40 hours per week, or provides predictable scheduling, paid sick leave and paid parental and family leave.None of this will be enacted in the foreseeable future."No one questions her ability to raise awareness around an issue," Bennett said, "just because she wields her social media and mainstream media platforms very effectively. But that's not the same as getting votes on a bill."Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged the package's ambitions. "I don't think there's any shortage of obstacles that we have ahead of us, but I don't think that we not do things just because they're hard," she said. "In fact, sometimes the hard things to do are the most worthwhile."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| 'Historic' September blizzard, bitter cold to wallop northern Rockies this weekend Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:13 AM PDT !['Historic' September blizzard, bitter cold to wallop northern Rockies this weekend]( "'Historic' September blizzard, bitter cold to wallop northern Rockies this weekend") Heavy snow – up to 3 feet in some areas – and temperatures in the 20s and 30s will bring an early taste of winter to Montana, Idaho and Wyoming.
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| Five Things You Need to Know to Start Your Day Posted: 24 Sep 2019 10:08 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on what's moving European markets in your inbox every morning? Sign up here.Good morning. U.K. lawmakers return to work, Donald Trump is facing an impeachment inquiry and China is buying more U.S. pork. Here's what's moving markets.Parliament ReturnsU.K. lawmakers will get back to work after the Supreme Court ruled that Prime Minister Boris Johnson's prorogation was unlawful and that, essentially, Parliament was never prorogued. Johnson, facing calls to resign, was defiant and will return from his trip to New York early to face what is likely to be a cavalcade of criticism. Given Johnson doesn't have a majority to work with, Parliament is now in control but, as has been the case for some time now, what members of parliament will actually do with that power remains to be seen. All eyes on Westminster.ImpeachmentU.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said a formal impeachment inquiry will be opened into President Donald Trump, with an accusation that the president had violated his oath of office and his obligations under the constitution. You'd have to have been willfully ignoring American politics to miss that impeachment has been talked about many times, but the formal step appears to have been triggered by revelations that Trump pushed Ukraine's government to investigate Joe Biden, now the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. The transcript of that call is due to be released on Wednesday.Pork PurchasesChinese companies are preparing to buy more U.S. pork, according to people familiar with the situation, ahead of a meeting of top trade negotiators from both sides in Washington next month. That may soothe some concerns after Donald Trump used his speech at the United Nations on Tuesday to accuse China of currency manipulation and reiterate his distaste at their trade practices. On a whole other front for the U.S., beyond the aforementioned issues at home, European allies are urging the country to talk with Iran as the window to ease tensions between the nations appears to be closing. All the above adds to the risk for investors, according to Goldman Sachs Inc.'s COO.Listing BlitzThe much-awaited listing of German software firm TeamViewer will materialize on Wednesday, only the fifth IPO in the country this year. It comes in a busy week for listings, even if much of the attention is still on bankers scrambling for a place on the Saudi Aramco deal and ongoing discussions about WeWork's postponed attempt to go public, heightened by the departure of its controversial boss. This week we've already had Anheuser Busch-InBev NV's Asia-Pacific unit listing, with the price at the bottom end of the range, but Swedish buyout firm EQT AB not only priced near the top end of guidance but also popped on day one. Let's see how TeamViewer fares.Coming Up...U.S. stock futures edged higher and Asian stocks pared losses following the report of a slight easing of U.S.-China tensions, though European stock futures are pointing to a negative start. Watch out for any read-across into Adidas AG and Puma SE after U.S. sportswear giant Nike Inc. hit a record high after earnings and keep an eye on results from Boohoo Group Plc, the high-flying U.K. online clothing retailer. We'll have consumer confidence data from both France and Germany, plus a central bank decision in Czech Republic.What We've Been ReadingThis is what's caught our eye over the past 24 hours.The collapse of Thomas Cook has been felt far and wide. Libertarians on an anti-Paul Krugman cruise. Uber got a two-month license extension in London. Electric car owners don't necessarily love solar panels. Not making the Champions League is hurting Manchester United. Harvard was "freaking out" over a troubled Brazilian investment. A private equity house wants to build a train to Las Vegas.Like Bloomberg's Five Things? Subscribe for unlimited access to trusted, data-based journalism in 120 countries around the world and gain expert analysis from exclusive daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close.Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can't find anywhere else. Learn more.To contact the author of this story: Sam Unsted in London at sunsted@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pompeo has no comment on possibility of U.S.-Iran prisoner swap Posted: 26 Sep 2019 10:04 AM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declined on Thursday to discuss the possibility of a U.S.-Iranian prisoner swap after the United States deported an Iranian woman who pleaded guilty to exporting restricted U.S. technology to Iran. "So, I never talk about sensitive issues as you described there," Pompeo told reporters in New York when asked about Negar Ghodskani, whose lawyer said she was deported on Tuesday, and whether he expected Iran to soon release a detained U.S. doctoral student.
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| Woman says she contracted deadly flesh-eating bacteria after getting a manicure at a nail salon: 'I'm just lucky to be alive' Posted: 26 Sep 2019 07:45 AM PDT  A woman in Tennessee said she contracted a rare, but deadly bacterial infection and nearly lost her hand after getting a manicure at a nail salon.
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| China Is Building Supersonic Drones to Spy on Navy Aircraft Carriers Posted: 26 Sep 2019 12:03 AM PDT  Report: The DR-8 reconnaissance drone has a role in assessing the strike impact of China's "aircraft carrier killer," the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, and the DF-26 ballistic missile.
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| Correction: Liberty University-Falwell story Posted: 26 Sep 2019 12:41 PM PDT  In a story Sept. 25 about Liberty University, The Associated Press, relying on information from the school's accreditor, reported erroneously that the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges sent a letter asking for more information about recent news reports about Jerry Falwell Jr. A spokeswoman for the commission says that no letter has been sent but that the news reports are under review. RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — The accrediting body that oversees Liberty University is reviewing recent news reports that have questioned President Jerry Falwell Jr.'s leadership style and personal business interests, a spokeswoman told The Associated Press.
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| The US is sending more firepower to the Middle East to check Iran — here are the weapons the US has sent that way Posted: 26 Sep 2019 12:53 PM PDT  The US has sent a carrier strike group, bombers, fighters, and ground troops to counter Iran, and just announced it's sending more forces.
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| Pakistan overturns man's blasphemy conviction after 17 years on death row Posted: 26 Sep 2019 07:22 AM PDT  A man sentenced to death in 2002 for blasphemy and who spent 17 years awaiting execution has had his conviction overturned by Pakistan's Supreme Court, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday. Wajih-ul-Hassan, a Muslim, also spent a year in jail before his conviction. Blasphemy is a hugely sensitive issue in Pakistan, where even unproven allegations of insulting Islam can lead to assassinations and lynchings.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Nissan Titan Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:15 AM PDT |
| Factbox: Six new pieces of information in memo on Trump's Ukraine call Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:57 AM PDT  The White House released a memo on Wednesday summarizing President Donald Trump's phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in July that prompted Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives to start an impeachment inquiry. In the memo, Trump asks Zelenskiy directly to investigate his political rival, Democratic challenger Joe Biden, Biden's son's business dealings, and a Ukraine prosecutor.
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| Woman who rescued kitten on busy road surprised to learn it is not a kitten at all Posted: 26 Sep 2019 11:21 AM PDT  A Tennessee woman who believed she was rescuing a lost kitten was surprised when she found out the creature was actually a baby bobcat.
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| Tesla squad car almost runs out of battery during a high-speed police pursuit Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:11 AM PDT  A Tesla Model S is being piloted by police in the San Francisco-area. One of the cars almost ran out of battery power during a high speed chase.
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| China Launched a Special Type of Warship That Can Help Invade Taiwan Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:10 PM PDT  Beijing now has an 'assault ship'. It probably can accommodate dozens of helicopters and landing craft and hundreds of marines.
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| Army sergeant faces charges in fatal West Point accident Posted: 26 Sep 2019 06:45 AM PDT ![Army sergeant faces charges in fatal West Point accident]( "Army sergeant faces charges in fatal West Point accident") A staff sergeant is facing charges in a rollover accident that killed a U.S. Military Academy cadet during training exercises this summer, Army officials confirmed Thursday. Staff Sgt. Ladonies P. Strong was charged Sept. 13 with multiple violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including involuntary manslaughter, negligent homicide and reckless operation of a vehicle. The sergeant, assigned to Fort Benning in Georgia, also was charged with prevention of authorized seizure of property and two specifications of dereliction of duty, according to a release from the Army.
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| Emaciated elephant forced to perform during religious festival in Sri Lanka has died Posted: 25 Sep 2019 09:14 AM PDT  A sickly elephant whose photos went viral in August after she was forced to walk in a Sri Lanka festival, despite her skeletal frame, died on Tuesday.
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| The defense secretary praised the crew of an attack submarine that hasn't been on a mission since 2015 Posted: 25 Sep 2019 02:12 PM PDT  Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited the nuclear-powered attack sub USS Boise on Wednesday, calling it an "accomplished warship."
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| US bars Cuba's Raul Castro and family Posted: 26 Sep 2019 10:42 AM PDT  The United States on Thursday announced travel sanctions against Cuba's Raul Castro and his family, accusing the former president of violations of human rights. In his continued role as first secretary of the ruling Communist Party, "Raul Castro oversees a system that arbitrarily detains thousands of Cubans and currently holds more than 100 political prisoners," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. The sanctions mean that the former president -- brother of late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro -- will be ineligible for travel to the United States.
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| View Audi RS Q3 and RS Q3 Sportback Photos Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:35 AM PDT |
| U.S. Ambassador Roped Into Rudy’s Quest to Smear Biden Posted: 24 Sep 2019 06:07 PM PDT  Alex WongRudy Giuliani's contacts with officials at the State Department as part of his controversial efforts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine are more extensive than have been publicly reported. And they raise additional questions about the degree to which senior officials throughout the Trump administration were involved in—or privy to—attempts by the president to muddy a top potential political opponent. Over the course of the past year, Giuliani has participated in a far-flung campaign by Trump allies to unearth damaging information about Biden and his son Hunter. As part of that effort, Giuliani pressed the Ukrainian government to investigate so-far unfounded allegations of corruption in the country involving the Bidens. At the time, Hunter Biden was accused of using his father's political standing to secure lucrative business opportunities abroad. Ukraine's prosecutor general would subsequently say he had no evidence of any wrongdoing.This summer, Giuliani briefed U.S. diplomats, including special representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker, on his work in Ukraine and his efforts to convince the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens. But Giuliani confirmed to The Daily Beast that he also briefed another diplomat: U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland. President Trump's lawyer said that he briefed both Volker (who he referred to as the "main one" in terms of his State contacts) and Sondland on multiple conference calls earlier this year about his progress in pursuing a Ukraine investigation.It wasn't exactly an unknown topic for Sondland. The ambassador was also closely involved with the Trump phone call to Zelensky in which Trump repeatedly pressured the Ukrainian president to investigate the Bidens. "I spoke with both of them before and after this conversation," Sondland told Ukraine's state-run news agency after the phone call. "The conversation was very successful. They found a common language immediately." The two leaders discussed Ukraine's civil war, energy security, and "the rule of law," Sondland said in July. That same day, Zelensky met with both Sondland and Volker to discuss Ukraine's war with pro-Russian rebels. It was a particularly poignant topic at the time; the U.S. was holding back on nearly $400 million worth of equipment promised to Kyiv to deter Moscow and her allies.Not Just Ukraine: Rudy and Bannon Try a Whole New Way to Slime BidenWhile Giuliani has said publicly that his overtures to the Ukrainians were brokered in part by the State Department, the specifics of his contacts with Foggy Bottom have remained opaque—including what, if anything, Secretary Mike Pompeo knew about the Ukraine work. According to two sources inside the department, U.S. diplomats, including Sondland and Volker, were aware of the details Giuliani's work in Ukraine on Biden as early as this spring. Those sources said senior officials at the department were read in on Giuliani's calls with Volker and Sondland."I've spoken to Kurt Volker the most about this, but have been on conference calls with [Sondland],." Giuliani said. Giuliani also claimed that he had not been asked to be put in touch with Sondland, but one day unexpectedly found himself "on a conference call with him" to discuss the Ukraine efforts.They weren't the only senior members of the Trump administration brought into the president's efforts to use a foreign government to squeeze a political foe. According to the Washington Post, Trump ordered Mick Mulvaney, his acting chief of staff and director of the Office of Management and Budget, to hit pause on hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine—just days before a now-infamous July phone call between Trump and Zelensky. Mulvaney's OMB deputies then directed officials Departments of Defense and State not to distribute the military aid. Giuliani's work on Ukraine began months earlier. The Trump attorney's work, done with the president's explicit blessing, involved chasing leads on possible origins of the Mueller investigation. It eventually led to his attempts to dig up dirt on the Biden family. This was all happening as Trump was preparing to head into a presidential election year, with Trump and his advisers viewing Biden, the 2020 Democratic frontrunner, as a prominent political enemy.Giuliani was planning to travel to Ukraine in May to look into allegations of corruption involving the Bidens there. The trip was pulled. But the president's lawyer met up with Andrei Yermak, a close adviser to Zelensky, in Spain last month. It was before that meeting that Giuliani said the department reached out to him and requested that he take a call with Yermak. And after the meeting, Giuliani told The Daily Beast he briefed Volker and Sondland.While Volker is known in diplomatic circles as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine, Ambassador Sondland has—until recently—maintained a lower-profile. The founder and chairman of Provenance Hotels, Sondland appeared to be uncomfortable with his status as a Trump supporter during the 2016 campaign. Sondland appeared on a list of bundlers for Trump distributed by the RNC in July 2016 and was listed as a co-host of a Seattle fundraiser for the Trump campaign. When the Seattle Times reported Sondland's participation in the fundaiser he and wife , said that Trump's treatment of the family of a Muslim Gold Star family, they were backing out of the event. Trump's "constantly evolving positions diverge from their personal beliefs and values on so many levels" that the couple could no longer support him, according to a spokesperson.But as The Intercept subsequently reported, Sondland appeared to have a change of heart after Trump won the election. The hotel magnate donated a million dollars to the Trump inaugural committee using limited liability corporations which masked his name from the list of Trump contributors. The move prompted a Federal Election Commission complaint from campaign finance watchdog, the Campaign Legal Center, but Sondland's relationship with the Trump administration wasn't harmed by his apparent discomfort—Trump nominated him for U.S. ambassador to the European Union in May 2018. Sondland attended Zelenskiy's presidential inauguration as part of the U.S. delegation in May 2019 shortly after Giuliani announced he was canceling plans to visit the country in pursuit of dirt on the Biden family. Sondland is known inside the State Department as key to helping the administration promote better U.S.-Ukraine trade relations. Together with U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, Sondland has spoken out against the Nordstream 2 pipeline project, saying it undermines Ukraine's sovereignty by bypassing the country and cutting off its ability to export natural gas to Europe. In an op-ed Grenell, Sondland and U.S. Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands said the pipeline would "bring more than just Russian gas." "Russian leverage and influence will also flow under the Baltic Sea and into Europe, and the pipeline will enable Moscow to further undermine Ukrainian sovereignty and stability," the op-ed said.Ukraine Likely to Reopen Probe of Hunter Biden Firm: SourcesThe State Department did not respond to a request for comment for this story and did not provide details about whether it had reached out to Giuliani to take a call with Yermak. But it appears the State Department and other Trump administration officials were well on their way to establishing a connection with the Zelensky team. By the time of Giuliani's debriefings this August, leading Zelensky ally Ivan Bakanov had already visited Washington twice—once in April and once following Zelensky's inauguration. Bakanov, who now heads the country's security service, met with members of Congress, including Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), one of the leaders of the Ukraine caucus, and officials inside the administration, including Fiona Hill, then who at the time was served as the top White House advisor for Russia. Bakanov also met George Kent, the Deputy Assistant Secretary in the European and Eurasian Bureau at the State Department.Volker and Sondland had also visited Kyiv twice—once in May and the other time coming on the heels of Trump's July 25 phone call with Zelensky. They went to Ukraine with Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Energy Secretary Rick Perry and briefed the White House on their visit just days later. Sondland and Volker met with Zelensky July 26 to express "unwavering support for Ukraine's democracy", according to a U.S. embassy tweet.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Meghan Markle's 24K gold plated earrings are not as expensive as you think Posted: 25 Sep 2019 01:25 PM PDT  The duchess recently stepped out wearing a simple black jumpsuit by Everlane and styled it up with gold statement earrings.
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| Khashoggi murder 'happened under my watch,' Saudi crown prince tells PBS Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:39 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia's crown prince said he bears responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year by Saudi operatives "because it happened under my watch," according to a PBS documentary to be broadcast next week. It is the first time that Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, has publicly indicated personal accountability for the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by operatives seen as close to him. The CIA and some Western governments have said they believe he ordered it, but Saudi officials say he had no role.
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| 'OK' hand gesture, 'Bowlcut' added to civil rights group's online database of hate symbols Posted: 26 Sep 2019 07:10 AM PDT  The "OK" hand gesture, a mass killer's bowl-style haircut and an anthropomorphic moon wearing sunglasses are among 36 new entries in a Jewish civil rights group's online database of hate symbols used by white supremacists and other far-right extremists.
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| Guilty plea in case of man forced by police to lick urinal Posted: 25 Sep 2019 08:09 PM PDT  A Honolulu homeless man fearing he would be arrested, reluctantly obeyed a police officer's orders to lick a urinal, according to a court document made public Wednesday after a former officer pleaded guilty to failing to report the incident. Officer John Rabago had previously threatened another man he was questioning that he wouldn't be arrested only if he stuck his head in a toilet, the document said. Rabago, who remains on restricted duty, and Reginald Ramones, who left the department in August, were arrested and charged earlier this year with depriving a man of his civil rights.
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| 3 of the Oldest Weapons in the Pentagon’s Inventory Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT  If it ain't broke, why fix it?
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| In Syria, a vast underground hideout housed rebel base Posted: 26 Sep 2019 02:56 AM PDT  Tunnels run for hundreds of metres, connecting caves strewn with mattresses that formed what the Syrian army and its Russian allies say was a vast rebel underground network. The road leading to the entrance of the tunnels in Lataminah in northwestern Syria is lined with the charred shells of cars and armoured vehicles. According to the Russian army, which organised a press tour of the site for dozens of journalists, the network of caves dug into a rocky outcrop could shelter up to 5,000 people.
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| China Accused of Harvesting Organs of Uighurs, Falun Gong Religious Group Posted: 26 Sep 2019 10:03 AM PDT  A human rights lawyer has accused the Chinese government of murdering members of the Uighur Muslim minority and the Falun Gong religious group to harvest their organs, and has urged the U.N. Human Rights Council to investigate the allegations.The lawyer, Hamid Sabi, represents the China Tribunal, an independent panel founded to examine the issue of Chinese organ harvesting. The tribunal is headed by British Lawyer Sir Geoffery Nice, who previously led the prosecution against Serbian president Slobodan Milošević."Forced organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience, including the religious minorities of Falun Gong and Uighurs, has been committed for years throughout China on a significant scale," Sabi told the U.N.H.R.C. on Tuesday.The tribunal's final report on the matter details abuses committed by the Chinese government, and asserts that the government sanctioned doctors to "cut open [victims' bodies] while still alive for their kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, cornea and skin to be removed and turned into commodities for sale."Falun Gong, a religious practice based on meditation, has long been banned in China. Its practitioners are often imprisoned.China maintains that it ceased using organs from executed prisoners in 2015.Waiting times in China for an organ transplant are extremely low, leading patients from overseas to seek treatment there. The tribunal charges that under Chinese organ donation laws, the supply of organs on the market should be much lower than it currently stands if all the donations are voluntarily given.China is concurrently accused of human rights violations with regard to the Uighur minority. Reports from the Xinjiang region, home to the Uighur population, indicate that China has arrested around one million Uighur citizens and placed them in political and religious re-education camps.
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| Trump threatens that the stock market will crash if he is impeached Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:28 AM PDT  President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to sound off on news of his impending impeachment inquiry.
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| Navy Nightmare: Meet the 1 Thing That Could Make Submarines Obsolete Posted: 26 Sep 2019 12:37 AM PDT  Underwater drone swarms?
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| U.S. sanctions firm it says provides jet fuel to Russia in Syria Posted: 26 Sep 2019 07:30 AM PDT ![U.S. sanctions firm it says provides jet fuel to Russia in Syria]( "U.S. sanctions firm it says provides jet fuel to Russia in Syria") The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on a firm it said was participating in a scheme to avoid U.S. sanctions while helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria. The U.S. Treasury Department said the newly sanctioned firm, Maritime Assistance LLC, was operating as a front company for OJSC Sovfracht, a company the United States had previously sanctioned in relation to operations in Ukraine. The Treasury also targeted three individuals it said were tied to Sovfracht, freezing any assets they may hold in the United States and barring Americans from dealing with them.
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| Cats Like People! (Some People, Anyway) Posted: 25 Sep 2019 04:54 AM PDT  In the perennial battle over dogs and cats, there's a clear public relations winner.Dogs are man's best friend. They're sociable, faithful and obedient. Our relationship with cats, on the other hand, is often described as more transactional. Aloof, mysterious and independent, cats are with us only because we feed them.Or maybe not. On Monday, researchers reported that cats are just as strongly bonded to us as dogs or infants, vindicating cat lovers across the land."I get that a lot -- 'Well, I knew that, I know that cats like to interact with me,'" said Kristyn Vitale, an animal behavior scientist at Oregon State University and lead author of the new study, published in Current Biology. "But in science, you don't know that until you test it."Research into cat behavior has lagged that into dogs. Cats are not social animals, many scientists assumed -- and not as easy to work with. But recent studies have begun to plumb the depth of cats' social lives."This idea that cats don't really care about people or respond to them isn't holding up," Vitale said.In a study in 2017, Vitale and her colleagues found that the majority of cats prefer interacting with a person over eating or playing with a toy. In a 2019 study, the researchers found that cats adjust their behavior according to how much attention a person gives them.Other researchers have found that cats are sensitive to human emotion and mood, and that cats know their names.Scientists had arrived at conflicting findings about whether cats form attachments to their owners, however, so Vitale and her colleagues designed a study to more explicitly test the hypothesis.They recruited owners of 79 kittens and 38 adult cats to participate in a "secure base test," an experiment commonly used to measure bonds that dogs and primates form with caretakers.A similar test is also used for human infants. It is based on the theory that infants form an innate bond with caretakers that manifests as a strong desire to be near that person.In the experiment, which lasted six minutes, cat and kitten owners entered an unfamiliar room with their animals. After two minutes, the owner left the room, leaving the cat or kitten alone -- a potentially stressful experience for the animal. When the owner returned two minutes later, the researchers observed the feline's response.About two-thirds of cats and kittens came to greet their owners when they returned, and then went back to exploring the room, periodically returning to their owners. These animals, the researchers concluded, were securely attached to their owners, meaning they viewed them as a safe base in an unfamiliar situation."This may be an adaptation of the bond they would have with their parents when they were young," Vitale said. This behavior, she added, may mean: "Everything's OK. My owner's back, I feel comforted and reassured, and now I can go back to exploring."About 35% of cats and kittens displayed insecure attachment: They avoided their owners, or clung to them when they came back into the room. This does not mean that these pets have a bad relationship with their owners, Vitale said, but rather that they do not see their owners as a source of security and stress relief.The findings mirror those found in studies of dogs and human children. In humans, 65% of infants display secure attachment to their caretakers, as do 58% of dogs."This result suggests a similarity in sociality in humans and companion animals," said Atsuko Saito, a behavioral scientist at Sophia University in Tokyo, who was not involved in the new research. "Investigating this phenomenon will help us better understand the evolution of sociality in animals, including us."After the first round of tests, the researchers enrolled half the kittens used in the study in a training and socialization course. The other half served as a control group.One day a week for six weeks, kittens played with one another and were trained to sit, stay and do tricks. When the course was complete, the researchers repeated the secure base test with the kittens.They found the same results, meaning the training did not have an effect on kittens' attachment behavior toward their owners. This indicates that once a cat forms a bond, it seems to remain stable over time, Vitale said.In cats -- as in infants and dogs -- researchers still do not know all of the factors that shape the caretaker relationship, but it's likely a complex mix of genetics, personality and experience.It is possible that even more cats are securely bonded to their owners than the new study found, said Mikel Delgado, an animal behavior researcher at the University of California, Davis, who was not involved in the research.Unlike dogs and infants, many cats spend nearly all of their time inside, so being in a new environment can be a foreign and frightening experience, she said. For some cats, a fearful response to a stressful situation may take precedence over a secure bond with an owner, so the study results may not fully capture the attachments of some cats.Testing cats' responses to strangers, rather than to just their owners, might reveal whether cats are truly bonded to a specific person or are sociable toward humans in general, Delgado added.Vitale and her colleagues plan to delve more deeply into cats' relationships with people, and to test whether specific interventions can help shelter cats form early bonds that help them feel more secure and get adopted more quickly."The more we find out about cats, the more we're seeing that they are social creatures and that social bonds are really important for them," she said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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