| Israeli jets hit targets in Syria to prevent Iranian drone attack: army Posted: 24 Aug 2019 08:59 PM PDT  The Israeli air force struck in Syria to prevent an Iranian force from launching an attack on the Jewish state with drones armed with explosives, the army said Sunday. While Israel operates regularly in Syria, it rarely acknowledges its actions so swiftly, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warning arch-foe Iran it had no immunity from his state's military.
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| Bolivia president does about-face and will now accept aid to put out wildfires Posted: 25 Aug 2019 10:33 AM PDT  Bolivian President Evo Morales did an about-face on Sunday and said he was now open to international aid to fight the blazes that have engulfed rural villages and doubled in size since Thursday. Morales is also suspending his campaign for re-election for at least a week, just two months from election day, to focus on the wildfires. "There have been offers of aid," Morales told reporters on a tour of some of the impacted areas.
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| Montana is back among states without state-funded preschool Posted: 24 Aug 2019 08:20 AM PDT  Montana enters the upcoming school year back among the handful of states without publicly funded preschool, and the unions and education groups that are otherwise staunch allies of Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock are a big reason why his fledgling pre-kindergarten program fizzled. The state briefly broke from those ranks with a 2017 budget item that provided funding for preschool programs through 10 school districts and seven private providers. Bullock, who is now running for the Democratic nomination for president, touted it as a major win for one of his top priorities of his final term: early childhood education.
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| A Georgia attorney thought a man hit his Mercedes with a golf ball. He ran him over and killed him, DA says Posted: 25 Aug 2019 04:08 PM PDT ![A Georgia attorney thought a man hit his Mercedes with a golf ball. He ran him over and killed him, DA says]( "A Georgia attorney thought a man hit his Mercedes with a golf ball. He ran him over and killed him, DA says") An Atlanta attorney has been charged with murder after he allegedly struck and killed a real estate investor he says hit his car with a golf ball.
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| Felix Sater: Trump wanted to reveal my secret CIA, FBI work during the campaign Posted: 24 Aug 2019 12:00 PM PDT  During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump wanted to reveal years of secret work that his one-time real estate adviser Felix Sater did for the CIA and FBI, Sater tells the Yahoo News "Skullduggery" podcast.
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| British Airways Bank Holiday chaos as thousands of holidaymakers spend hours on the phone trying to salvage plans Posted: 25 Aug 2019 10:00 AM PDT  Thousands of British Airways passengers faced Bank Holiday chaos as they spent hours on the phone trying to rebook cancelled flights in the wake of the pilot strike. The pilots are on 9, 10 and 27 September, but the airline also told customers with tickets booked on other days that their flights were cancelled. However, it later admitted that these emails were sent in error, after many passengers had already rebooked flights at their own expense. As so many passengers were affected, the phone lines were jammed all day, with customers spending up to four hours on the phone during the hottest Bank Holiday August weekend on record. Some said they had tried to call the airline up to 200 times - and received no reply. The BBC's North America editor, Jon Sopel, was caught up in the chaos. He tweeted: "Dear British Airways. "This morning you wrote saying our flight was cancelled from Washington, and that we needed to rebook. We rebooked. Now you've written to say our flight is not cancelled after all. So what the ..... are we meant to do now? Thanks". BA said it received nearly 40,000 calls in the first 24 hours and had put on 70 extra members of staff to deal with the chaos. Ellie Kormis, from Surrey, spent almost £2,000 rebooking the flights for her family holiday to Greece - only to be told her original flights hadn't been cancelled. She told the BBC: "You're left in a situation where you can't speak to anyone - and you fear you'll either lose your holiday or be left out of pocket." The chaos happened on Sunday, on the centenary of the business, and frustrated customers who visited the Twitter page of the company were greeted with a screen full of animated balloons. Travel expert Simon Calder said: "British Airways: on the airline's 100th birthday, thousands of prospective passengers are stressed, upset and out-of-pocket as a result of BA's botched communication about the impending pilots' strike." Adam French, consumer rights expert at Which?, said the issue had caused "a lot of confusion and anxiety". "It is vital that the airline ensures that any customer who was initially informed that their flight was cancelled and has booked an alternative flight is not left out of pocket," he said. A British Airways spokesperson told The Telegraph that all those who had rebooked flights after the email error are eligible for a refund. She added that customers should keep all records and receipts handy for the refund process. BA has told passengers that they can request a full refund, rebook the flight for another time in the next 355 days, or use the value of the fare to fly to a different destination. Rival airline Virgin Atlantic attempted to get some business out of the chaos, and wrote on social media: "Has British Airways cancelled your flight on the 9, 10 or 27th September due to their pilot strike? We'd love to help keep your travel plans on track." The British Airline Pilots Association (Balpa) said on Friday the strikes were a "last resort" born out of "enormous frustration" with airline management. Balpa said more strike dates could yet be announced, adding that they were "a last resort and with enormous frustration at the way the business is now being run". Pilots have rejected a pay increase worth 11.5 per cent over three years, which the airline put forward in July.
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| A psychiatrist who's worked with inmates where Jeffrey Epstein was held weighs in on his death Posted: 24 Aug 2019 06:22 AM PDT  The Justice Department confirmed Friday that a psychologist OK'd Jeffrey Epstein's release from suicide watch. An expert scrutinized the medical call.
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| Journalist killed in Mexico Posted: 24 Aug 2019 10:32 PM PDT  The head of a Mexican news website was found stabbed to death in the center of the country, authorities said Saturday, the 10th such killing this year. The body of Nevith Condes Jaramillo "was found Saturday morning... showing injuries from a sharp object," the state prosecutor said in a statement. Condes Jaramillo, 42, was the head of a local news site in Tejupilco and was also an announcer on a community radio station.
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| Exclusive: Iran says it will not negotiate missile work, wants to export more oil Posted: 25 Aug 2019 09:34 AM PDT  Iran wants to export a minimum of 700,000 barrels per day of its oil and ideally up to 1.5 million bpd if the West wants to negotiate with Tehran to save a 2015 nuclear deal, two Iranian officials and one diplomat told Reuters on Sunday. A second official said "Iran's ballistic missile program cannot and will not be negotiated.
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| The Latest: Hong Kong police confirm warning shot, arrest 36 Posted: 25 Aug 2019 05:14 PM PDT  Hong Kong police have confirmed an officer fired a warning shot as protesters surrounded them and said they arrested 36 people during the latest pro-democracy demonstration in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. A police news release Monday said that one police officer fell to the ground as protesters threw hard objects at a small group of officers the previous night. The officers could be seen holding up their shields as protesters surged forward swinging sticks and rods.
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| Top aides say Trump still determined to hike China tariffs Posted: 25 Aug 2019 07:19 AM PDT  Trump confused the situation Sunday when asked at the G-7 summit whether he is having second thoughts about ratcheting up the trade war with China.
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| Bat poo no longer blights church and interrupts service, as worshippers rejoice over new scheme Posted: 25 Aug 2019 02:00 PM PDT  Enticing the next generation through their ancient doors, keeping donations topped up and ensuring that the organ is tuned usually rank high among any church's list of priorities. For one congregation in Leicester, however, their problems have been somewhat more ungodly. For years, members of All Saints Church in Braunston-in-Rutland have been plagued by faeces dropping from the ceiling where a 500-strong colony of bats now reside. This has meant that instead of praying or enjoying the 1,000-year-old church building, parishioners have been slipping on its floors, art and furniture has been covered in sheeting and volunteer wardens have spent hours scouring pews and floors of bat excrement. Now, however, the congregation remains clean and dry. Following a pioneering new scheme, entitled the Bats in Churches project, work has been done to fill the gaps in the ceiling to prevent faeces and urine soaking through without harming the animals. It is illegal to stop bats - which are a protected species - from reaching their roost, leaving many churches unable to patch up holes in their walls and doors which bats use for access. As a result, many congregations across the country have often found themselves at the receiving end of their sporadic, plunging excrement. Gail Rudge at All Saints Church at Braunston in Rutland, where bats have roosted and caused damage Credit: ./Photo Copyright John Robertson, 2017. All Saints Church was one of the first to benefit from £3.8million of Heritage Lottery Funds to reduce the impact of bats on the buildings across the UK. It is one of around 100 churches, which hosts a large bat roost, which is now reaping the rewards of clean floors and clean congregants. Sue Willetts, church warden, told the BBC: "Before, we had covers down on the floors to collect the droppings. "We had to clean the pews every time, it took an hour before every single service. Now we use the church how its meant to be." Mrs Willetts said that the bat problem "snowballed" five years ago when an old chimney in the village collapsed, prompting its residents to move into the church instead. She added that after signing up to the scheme, ecologists found gaps between the roof and the church and it was possible to block these gaps without harming the bats. She estimated that the church has received £100,000 worth of scaffolding, building, and ecological study works since applying for funding from the project. Rosemary Riddell, from the Bat in Churches project, said work at All Saints Church "has enabled us to sort of roll out solutions to other churches similar to Braunstone and it's really helped us to learn from their experiences". "[The church] was one of our guinea pigs and we're grateful for their engagement and involvement," she added. More than 100 churches have applied for the Bats and Churches Partnership, which monitors bats to see whether church managers could be allowed to take action to protect their historic buildings. It is funded by a multi-million-pound National Lottery grant. All Saints Church at Braunston in Rutland, Credit: ./Photo Copyright John Robertson, 2017. During the General Synod earlier this summer, The Telegraph reported that bats in the belfry were being mooted as a potential "tool for mission". Bishops visiting York were asked to answer more than 100 questions involving an array of controversial topics such as reporting abuse during confession, non-disclosure agreements and ethical investments in large technology companies; and one was on bats. The Archdeacon of Lincoln, the Venerable Gavin Kirk, asked for an update on the progress of the Bats in Churches project, and "how those afflicted by bats may find out more about it?" Sir Tony Baldry, chair of the Church Buildings Council, responded: "A number of projects involve volunteers from the community in managing and even exploiting the presence of bats, for school projects and the like. Bats might even prove to be a tool for mission, if we can get them to behave politely." Asked how bats may prove to be tools for mission, Sir Tony told the media: "We have to work out how to encourage them out of the belfry to roost in bat boxes in churchyards. "They could then be of interest for projects for schools and A-level students studying the life cycles of bats and so on. They are part of God's creation and are interesting mammals. "There are serious challenges. They poo and urinate over large parts of the church, it is very distressing for parishioners on a Sunday to have to clear a whole load of bat poo off the altar and pews and so for some churches that bats have made almost unusable."
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| Joe Biden asks audience to imagine Barack Obama’s assassination Posted: 24 Aug 2019 01:48 AM PDT  Former US vice president Joe Biden has speculated about how a political assassination of Barack Obama might have affected the country in 2008.Speaking at a town-hall-style campaign event nominally dedicated to health care, speculating, he went on to recall that he was accused of being gay because of his support of women's rights in the 1970s.
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| 2 women accused of shoplifting strollers and accidentally leaving their baby behind Posted: 24 Aug 2019 10:30 AM PDT  Two women were arrested for allegedly shoplifting baby strollers and accidentally leaving their own baby behind as they tried to get away.
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| BlackRock Mideast Foray May Grow With Israel Infrastructure Push Posted: 25 Aug 2019 04:51 AM PDT ![BlackRock Mideast Foray May Grow With Israel Infrastructure Push]( "BlackRock Mideast Foray May Grow With Israel Infrastructure Push") (Bloomberg) -- The world's largest asset manager BlackRock Inc. could add to its footprint in the Middle East by joining Israel's infrastructure boom.Representatives of the Israeli government and the New York-based financial giant are discussing an investment in the country's infrastructure, according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's top economic adviser Avi Simhon.BlackRock expressed interest in an investment and Israel offered to help with any regulatory barriers, he said in an interview this month in Jerusalem, adding that it was too early for specifics. A spokeswoman for BlackRock in Israel declined to comment.To cope with a low-interest rate world, investors have looked to real assets including infrastructure to wring greater returns not tied to stock and bond prices. BlackRock Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink has said the firm was chasing opportunities across the Middle East, broadening its reach to attract customers outside the U.S. in pursuit of what he sees as untapped potential abroad.BlackRock, which has nearly $7 trillion in assets under management, joined KKR & Co. in February in agreeing to invest $4 billion in Abu Dhabi's oil pipelines, securing two decades of guaranteed returns. In April, Fink was among executives in attendance at a financial summit in Riyadh, with BlackRock launching a dedicated Saudi exchange-traded fund tracking the kingdom's mid- and large-cap companies.Toehold in IsraelThe money manager has already been increasing its presence in Israel, after opening its first office in the country two years ago. It's partnered with local institutional investor Altshuler Shaham Group, and this summer cross-listed some of its exchange-traded funds on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.Infrastructure may be next, especially now that the government is getting serious about giving the $370 billion economy a makeover. Netanyahu faces voters in a bid for reelection next month, potentially endangering his cabinet. Israel has the worst traffic congestion in the developed world.The Jewish State will invest billions of shekels over the coming decade on projects that range from roads and ports, to a metro in the commercial hub of Tel Aviv. Public-private partnerships are one way that Israel is hoping to fund such spending.Infrastructure BonanzaA team appointed by Israel's Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon in 2017 recommended significantly boosting infrastructure investment by 2030. Anticipated public-private partnerships will amount to about 48 billion shekels ($13.7 billion).Simhon, the chair of Israel's National Economic Council, said the country is dedicated to improving infrastructure and should boost spending. "We'll do it even if it means increasing our budget deficit," he said.To contact the reporter on this story: Ivan Levingston in Tel Aviv at ilevingston@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Paul Abelsky, Stefania BianchiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Islamic scholar Ramadan targeted by new rape complaint Posted: 24 Aug 2019 05:44 PM PDT  Tariq Ramadan, a leading Islamic scholar charged in France with raping two women, has also been accused of taking part in the gang rape of a journalist, French judicial sources said Sunday. The sources confirmed reports on Europe 1 radio and in Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper that a woman in her 50s had accused Ramadan, 56, of raping her along with a member of his staff when she went to interview the academic at a hotel in Lyon in May 2014. The woman, who filed a criminal complaint in May 2019, also accused Ramadan of issuing "threats or acts of intimidation" aimed at dissuading her from reporting the alleged attack to the police, the judicial sources added.
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| Psychologist approved Jeffrey Epstein's removal from suicide watch Posted: 23 Aug 2019 11:27 PM PDT  A psychologist at the federal detention center in New York City where financier Jeffrey Epstein was jailed on sex-trafficking charges had approved his removal from suicide watch before he killed himself, the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday. The disclosure came in a letter dated on Thursday from Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd and addressed to the leaders of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, seeking details about the circumstances surrounding Epstein's death earlier this month. Epstein, who was 66, was found dead Aug. 10 in his cell inside a segregated housing unit of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan.
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| Attorneys: Charges expected in Florida nursing home deaths Posted: 25 Aug 2019 04:10 PM PDT  Defense attorneys said Sunday that arrests are expected shortly in the case of a Florida nursing home where 12 patients died after its air conditioning power went out amid sweltering heat following Hurricane Irma in 2017. Lawrence Hashish told The Associated Press his client is one of three nurses, in addition to an administrator, expecting to be charged in connection with the deaths after Hurricane Irma, which blew through Florida on Sept. 10 of that year. The storm knocked out a transformer linking the main air-conditioning unit to the power grid at the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills, sending temperatures soaring .
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| Immigration: Baby girl in critical condition after illegal border crossing in Texas Posted: 24 Aug 2019 01:57 PM PDT  A baby girl is in critical condition after being detained by the U.S. with her father. They had crossed the Rio Grande illegally in a group of 21 people.
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| CNN’s Brian Stelter: ‘We Can't Tiptoe’ Around Trump’s Mental Instability ‘Anymore’ Posted: 25 Aug 2019 09:33 AM PDT  CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter called on media outlets to focus more coverage on what he feels is President Trump's obvious mental instability, saying Sunday morning that it is an issue we can no longer "tiptoe around.""He's getting worse," Stelter said at the top of his weekend show focussing on the media CNN's Reliable Sources. "We can see it. It's happening in public but it's still a very hard, very sensitive story to cover. I'm talking of course about President Trump, about his behavior, about his instability."Noting that several prominent conservative figures—notably, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway's husband—are pleading with the press and Republicans to take the president's erratic behavior more seriously, the CNN host then ticked off a list of the president's comments and actions that have raised eyebrows."Look, all of these stories are covered in the moment, individually, by reporters," Stelter said. "News outlets use words like erratic, volatile, unstable but rarely are Trump's words and actions covered as a whole and rarely do news outlets take it to that next level. Okay, what he just said seems crazy—what does that reveal about him? We rarely see it go to that next step."Pointing out that Trump will always have a chorus of supporters backing him up and defending him, the CNN media analyst added that Trump's "Fox fans pretend the worst episodes didn't happen at all or blame the media for bad coverage."While Stelter went on to credit CNN and MSNBC for doing a decent job of showing the "ugly reality" with their on-screen graphics, he also stated that there is not "really a vocabulary" or a "format" for covering concerns about a president's mental well-being. "It's really a series of questions that no one is able to answer," he declared. "Why does he make it all about himself even after visiting a hospital after a massacre? Why does he lie so often? Is there a method to the madness or is something wrong? Is he suffering from some sort of illness? It's questions, questions and then just more questions."Prior to bringing on two psychiatrists to debate the ethics of media outlets openly discussing the president's mental fitness, Stelter ended his monologue by noting "we can't tiptoe around it anymore.""We've got to talk about this," he concluded. "So let's talk about it. Let's do it."This isn't the first time that Stelter has taken to the air to speculate about the president's mental health. In Aug. 2017, the CNN personality wondered aloud why more journalists weren't asking the "uncomfortable questions" about whether Trump was fit for office or "suffering from some kind of illness." And in Jan. 2018, called on reporters to do "more reporting" on Trump's possible mental instability. 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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| Iranian oil tanker pursued by US says it is going to Turkey Posted: 24 Aug 2019 09:21 PM PDT  An Iranian-flagged oil tanker pursued by the U.S. amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington changed its listed destination to a port in Turkey after Greece said it wouldn't risk its relations with America by aiding it. The crew of the oil tanker Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, on Saturday updated its listed destination in its Automatic Identification System to Mersin, Turkey, a port city in the country's south and home to an oil terminal.
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| How conservatives are making the best case against the death penalty Posted: 25 Aug 2019 03:00 AM PDT  There are many reasons to oppose capital punishment. People of faith have reasons to be against it. So do people who see the inequities in the system.
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| First Ladies Raise Glasses on Morning Out in French Countryside Posted: 25 Aug 2019 08:21 AM PDT ![First Ladies Raise Glasses on Morning Out in French Countryside]( "First Ladies Raise Glasses on Morning Out in French Countryside") (Bloomberg) -- While their husbands sparred over Iran and the global economy in Biarritz, the first ladies of the U.S. and France were all smiles as they sampled local sangria in a Basque countryside town 30 kilometers to the southeast.Residents of the commune of Espelette -- known for its spicy dried red peppers -- greeted U.S. first lady Melania Trump warmly on Sunday morning as she browsed in local shops, accompanied by the spouses of other world leaders attending the Group of Seven summit nearby.But it was Brigitte Macron, the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, who drew cheers of "Brigitte! Brigitte!" from the gathered crowd when the spouses emerged from a tasting a La Cave Des Barons D'ezpeleta."Just an advice, don't drink too much," Macron could be heard warning her counterparts as reporters were ushered out of the local wine shop in the town center.The sangria was "very good," Jenny Morrison, the wife of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed as she exited the tasting, glass still hand.Trump, Macron and Morrison -- along with the first ladies of Chile and Japan, as well as Malgorzata Tusk, the wife of European Council President Donald Tusk -- also visited a textile store, a bakery and a shoe merchant specializing in locally-made espadrilles.A White House official said the first lady didn't make any purchases.At a sixteenth-century church on the town's outskirts, Akie Abe, the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, snapped photos on her phone as the group took in a choir performance in front of a Baroque altarpiece.Their next stop was Villa Arnaga, built in the early 1900s by French playwright Edmond Rostand. A dance troupe from La Bastide-Clairence, a village near the Spanish border, entertained the women as they sat in the shade to avoid the midday heat in the villa's manicured gardens.For lunch, the group dined on fresh tomatoes in a light broth and farm-raised organic chicken with sweet bell pepper sauce, a local specialty. Dessert was a peach parfait and Basque-style cake.To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen Hunter in Biarritz at khunter9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Kathleen Hunter, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Muslim man left in coma after Thai army interrogation dies Posted: 25 Aug 2019 12:22 AM PDT  A Muslim man left in a coma after being interrogated at a notorious Thai detention centre died Sunday, as pressure mounts on the army to release further findings of a probe into the case. Abdulloh Esormusor, a suspected rebel from the country's restive south died early Sunday morning, more than a month after he was taken to the Inkayuth military camp, his cousin Mohammatrahmat Mamu told AFP. Inkayuth is the Thai army's biggest detention centre in the south, where suspects are taken for interrogation and held under emergency laws and where rights groups have documented torture.
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| UK PM Johnson says £39 billion divorce bill not due in no-deal Brexit Posted: 24 Aug 2019 08:55 PM PDT  Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, it will no longer legally owe the 39 billion pound ($47.88 billion) divorce bill agreed by his predecessor Theresa May. Earlier British media reported Johnson would use a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk on the sidelines of the G7 Summit to set out that Britain would pay less than 10 billion pounds of the settlement if it leaves without a deal. Sky News said the figure was 9 billion pounds, while the Sunday Times reported British government lawyers had concluded the amount Britain was legally obliged to pay could be as low as 7 billion pounds.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez takes aim at the Electoral College Posted: 23 Aug 2019 06:40 PM PDT  Extreme Democrats now running the Democratic Party; reaction from Charlie Hurt, Washington Times opinion editor, Allie Beth Stuckey, 'Relatable' podcast host, and Washington Examiner senior campaign reporter Kerry Picket.
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| 'Words and pictures matter': Two Alaska 13-year-olds arrested for middle school shooting plans, police say Posted: 25 Aug 2019 04:38 PM PDT !['Words and pictures matter': Two Alaska 13-year-olds arrested for middle school shooting plans, police say]( "'Words and pictures matter': Two Alaska 13-year-olds arrested for middle school shooting plans, police say") Alaska authorities arrested two 13-year-old students for planning to bring a gun to their school and shoot people, the Juneau Police Department said.
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| Britain sends another warship to Gulf Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:26 AM PDT  A third British warship is heading to the Gulf, the Royal Navy announced Saturday, amid heightened tensions in the region. Britain has already sent the HMS Kent to cover for frigate HMS Montrose while it undergoes maintenance in nearby Bahrain, and is now redirecting the Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender from its mission to the Pacific. Britain outraged Iran by seizing one of its tankers -- the Grace 1 -- on July 4 on suspicion it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.
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| Oregon defends past nonunanimous jury verdicts to high court Posted: 24 Aug 2019 01:29 PM PDT  Oregon's criminal justice system would be "overwhelmed" if the U.S. Supreme Court rules in an upcoming case that nonunanimous jury verdicts are unconstitutional, the state's attorney general has told the court. Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum said in an amicus brief on Friday that if the U.S. Supreme Court finds nonunanimous juries unconstitutional, it could invalidate hundreds or even thousands of convictions in Oregon. Oregon is the only state in America allowing 11-1 or 10-2 jury verdicts in criminal trials, except first-degree murder convictions.
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| Joe Biden is my Harvard, not my 'safety school.' He really is my favorite 2020 Democrat. Posted: 25 Aug 2019 10:39 AM PDT  Pundits say there's no enthusiasm for Joe Biden. Why is it so hard to believe that many people, including me, like him best of all the 2020 Democrats?
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| China Signals Intervention as Hong Kong’s Protests Intensify Posted: 25 Aug 2019 11:43 AM PDT ![China Signals Intervention as Hong Kong's Protests Intensify]( "China Signals Intervention as Hong Kong's Protests Intensify") (Bloomberg) -- China sent the strongest warning yet of using troops on Hong Kong's streets where Beijing says protests have turned into a "Color Revolution," with water cannons and tear gas fired in skirmishes between police and demonstrators in the 12th straight weekend of unrest."It's not only China central government's authority but also its responsibility to intervene when riots take place in Hong Kong," the state-run Xinhua News Agency said Sunday in a commentary, recalling comments by former top leader Deng Xiaoping saying Beijing has to act under such circumstances.President Donald Trump on Aug. 13 said reports from U.S. intelligence agencies show the Chinese government is moving troops to its border with Hong Kong. A day earlier, Global Times, a Chinese tabloid run by the People's Daily, reported that the Chinese People's Armed Police were assembling in Shenzhen ahead of "apparent large-scale exercises," where "numerous" armored personnel carriers, trucks and other vehicles of the paramilitary force were seen heading toward Hong Kong's neighboring city.In Sunday's commentary, Xinhua said Hong Kong's protests have turned into a Color Revolution aimed at overturning the Special Administrative Region's constitutional institutions, a signal it was ready to take further action. Previously, Chinese officials had described the protests as having some characteristics of a "color revolution."Protesters' violent acts have pushed Hong Kong to an extremely dangerous edge, the city's government said in a statement after a day full of violent clashes between demonstrators and the police where an officer fired warning shots in the air.\--With assistance from Dandan Li.To contact the reporter on this story: Jacob Gu in New York at jgu3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kean Zhang at kzhang65@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, James LuddenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| EXPLAINER-Why are the Amazon fires sparking a crisis for Brazil - and the world? Posted: 25 Aug 2019 10:51 AM PDT ![EXPLAINER-Why are the Amazon fires sparking a crisis for Brazil - and the world?]( "EXPLAINER-Why are the Amazon fires sparking a crisis for Brazil - and the world?") A record number of fires ravaging the Amazon has drawn international outrage because of the rainforest's importance to the global environment and prompted Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to dispatch the military to assist in firefighting. WHY DOES THE AMAZON MATTER? The Amazon - 60% of which is in Brazil - is the world's largest tropical rainforest.
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| South Korea begins annual war games to defend against Japan Posted: 24 Aug 2019 07:16 PM PDT  South Korea Sunday began two days of war games to practise defending disputed islands off its east coast against an unlikely attack from Japan, further stoking tensions between the Asian neighbours. The annual drills come just days after Seoul terminated a military intelligence-sharing pact with Tokyo, with the countries at loggerheads over Japan's use of forced labour during World War II. The two-day exercise will involve warships and aircraft, the South Korean navy said in a text message without providing more detail.
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| UPDATE 2-UK PM Johnson says 39 bln stg divorce bill not due in no-deal Brexit Posted: 24 Aug 2019 11:30 PM PDT ![UPDATE 2-UK PM Johnson says 39 bln stg divorce bill not due in no-deal Brexit]( "UPDATE 2-UK PM Johnson says 39 bln stg divorce bill not due in no-deal Brexit") Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Sunday that if Britain leaves the European Union without a deal, it will no longer legally owe the 39 billion pound ($47.88 billion) divorce bill agreed by his predecessor Theresa May. Earlier British media reported Johnson would use a meeting with European Council President Donald Tusk on the sidelines of the G7 Summit to set out that Britain would pay less than 10 billion pounds of the settlement if it leaves without a deal. Sky News said the figure was 9 billion pounds, while the Sunday Times reported British government lawyers had concluded the amount Britain was legally obliged to pay could be as low as 7 billion pounds.
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| NJ Cop Sent to Psychiatric Ward After Wife’s Slaying Will Finally Face Judge Posted: 24 Aug 2019 08:20 PM PDT  Chip East/ReutersA New Jersey cop accused of breaking into his estranged wife's home, shooting her, and then chasing her into the streets to put a final bullet in her head—all while in uniform—will finally face a judge next week.Newark Lt. John Formisano was arrested a couple of hours after the July 15 slaying. But instead of being brought to court, he was taken to a psychiatric unit after telling investigators that he "blacked out" just before the shooting.According to a police affidavit, the 49-year-old exhibited "suicidal behavior." Five weeks later, he was still in the hospital and had not been arraigned in a court of law—frustrating victim Christie Solaro-Formisano's family."What we feel is we want to have some justice. Any justice can bring a small fraction of peace and closure," her aunt, Joy Mandara, said earlier this week. "Right now, it seems justice is working very slowly and differently from how we expected."Uniformed Cop Who Allegedly Gunned Down Screaming Wife Hasn't Faced JusticeAfter The Daily Beast and local media reported on the delay, the wheels of justice seemed to speed up. Prosecutors confirmed Saturday that there will be a hearing in the case on Wednesday, and that Formisano will appear via video hookup from the psychiatric unit.Before the hearing was scheduled, prosecutors had insisted Formisano was not getting special treatment because he is a police officer."If this defendant was a house painter or a businessman on Wall Street in the same circumstances, it would have been handled in the same way," a spokesman for the Morris County Prosecutor's Office told The Daily Beast earlier in the week.At the time of the shooting, Solaro-Formisano and the Newark lieutenant were in the process of getting a divorce.Formisano told investigators that he went to her home to drop off glasses for their 8-year-old daughter, the older of their two children. The mother of two was home with her boyfriend, and went down to the door."He's got a gun!" Solaro-Formisano yelled, according to the boyfriend. "Call 911!"A nightmarish scene ensued. Formisano allegedly chased his estranged wife through the house, shooting at her, then broke down the bedroom door and shot the boyfriend in the abdomen, thigh, arms, and hand.Bleeding from her wounds, Solaro-Formisano ran outside. She was scrambling up the steps to a neighbor's house when the cop allegedly caught up to her and shot her in the head.The neighbor called 911 and identified the gunman. "He's a Newark cop. He lives on the corner. I saw it. I saw him through my window. He's in his uniform," she told the dispatcher.N.J. Cop Claims He 'Blacked Out' Before Killing Estranged Wife, Shooting Her Boyfriend: AuthoritiesAccording to police, Formisano locked his service weapon in the trunk of his car, tossed his cellphone and drove 30 miles. He was nabbed in a parking lot.During a police interview, he did not deny his role in the bloodshed."After entering the residence, Formisano stated he began to suspect that [his estranged wife] had a male guest in the bedroom, at which point he 'blacked out,'" the police affidavit said."He stated that he recalls firing his weapon numerous times."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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| Iranian official Javad Zarif arrives unexpectedly at G7 amid tensions. Trump's response? 'No comment' Posted: 25 Aug 2019 11:00 AM PDT  Iranian official Mohammad Zarif arrived unexpectedly at the G7 meeting in France, a dramatic move that seemed likely to highlight U.S. isolation.
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| 200,000 Rohingya rally to mark 'Genocide Day' in Bangladesh camps Posted: 25 Aug 2019 08:30 AM PDT  Some 200,000 Rohingya rallied in a Bangladesh camp Sunday to mark two years since they fled a violent crackdown by Myanmar forces, just days after a second failed attempt to repatriate the refugees. During the brutal August 2017 offensive, around 740,000 of the Muslim minority escaped Myanmar's Rakhine state -- joining those who had fled earlier persecution. A total of nearly one million refugees now live in three dozen squalid camps in Bangladesh's southeastern border district of Cox's Bazar.
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| Married only minutes, Texas newlyweds killed in crash Posted: 24 Aug 2019 06:22 PM PDT ![Married only minutes, Texas newlyweds killed in crash]( "Married only minutes, Texas newlyweds killed in crash") Harley Morgan was still wearing his dark suit and Rhiannon Boudreaux her wedding dress when the Texas "childhood sweethearts" were killed in a crash with a truck minutes after they were married. Nineteen-year-old Morgan and 20-year-old Boudreaux were pronounced dead Friday at the scene by the same justice of the peace who had just married them. You may kiss the bride," said Orange Police Cpt.
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| You should change this one setting on your iPhone if you want to save data (AAPL) Posted: 24 Aug 2019 05:50 AM PDT  Your iPhone probably burns through data each month. Changing this one setting can help you keep it under control.
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| Illinois State Police trooper shot while executing warrant in East St. Louis dies, officials say Posted: 23 Aug 2019 08:16 PM PDT  An Illinois State Police trooper who was shot Friday while executing a search warrant in East St. Louis has died, according to state police.
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| ‘Safe Haven’ Israel Became Hot Money Bait for Central Bank Chief Posted: 24 Aug 2019 08:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Israel's economic transformation has turned it into an "emerging markets safe haven" that continued to absorb money from abroad despite maintaining near-zero interest rates, according to central bank Governor Amir Yaron.The inflows in recent years were a reflection of "the structural change in the fundamentals of the Israeli economy," including the county's declining debt burden and current-account surpluses, Yaron said in a speech at the annual retreat for central bankers from around the world in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,"In spite of having kept rates very low, Israel faced capital inflows following the U.S. rate hikes," Yaron said in prepared remarks. "And appreciation pressures emerged -- a marked change from past patterns."Israel has struggled to normalize its monetary policy after years of near-zero borrowing costs. As a strong currency dampened inflation this year and major central banks turned more dovish, Yaron put off a future hike and said in late July that rates won't rise for a "long time."Yaron cited research to demonstrate how "Israel is caught in between" policies in major economies. Unlike the period before the global financial crisis a decade ago, short maturities on Israeli government bond yields are now more correlated with Europe's while longer tenors more closely track the U.S."A challenge for the policy makers in markets like Israel is to deal with divergence of policies in the major blocs," Yaron said.Another issue he raised in Jackson Hole was Israel's weak inflation, which he said had been higher than among its peers before slowing."Such developments make real-time assessments of whether policy makers are faced with transitory divergence or structural economic changes a challenge," Yaron said. "While there is a wish to not be behind the curve, the uncertainty and ambiguity suggest a call for greater patience and risk aversion."To contact the reporter on this story: Ivan Levingston in Tel Aviv at ilevingston@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Democratic presidential field shrinks as debate cut looms Posted: 24 Aug 2019 06:20 PM PDT  The 2020 presidential election is still more than 14 months away, but with an early key deadline looming this week, the record field of Democratic hopefuls is dwindling. With a trio of 70-somethings breaking away from the pack -- former vice president Joe Biden, independent Senator Bernie Sanders and fellow progressive Elizabeth Warren -- four of the cash-strapped, younger or lesser-known candidates have so far thrown in the towel. Only 10 of the remaining 21 candidates have met the qualifying criteria -- based on poll numbers and fundraising success -- and most of those are still struggling to catch up with the Big Three.
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| UPDATE 1-Seven killed in collision between helicopter, small plane in Mallorca Posted: 25 Aug 2019 08:22 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Seven killed in collision between helicopter, small plane in Mallorca]( "UPDATE 1-Seven killed in collision between helicopter, small plane in Mallorca") Seven people, including two minors, were killed on Sunday in a collision between a helicopter and a light plane on the Spanish island of Mallorca, the regional government said. Five people were on board the helicopter, two of them minors, and they were all likely Germans, the Balearic Islands government said on Twitter. Emergency services were notified of the crash at 1:35 p.m. time in the municipality of Inca.
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| Innocent man jailed for 82 days and loses jobs for bringing three jars of honey back to US Posted: 25 Aug 2019 02:00 PM PDT  Leon Haughton likes honey in his tea.Which is why during his Christmas visit to relatives in Jamaica, he made his regular stop and bought three bottles from a favourite roadside stand before heading home to Maryland.
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| Lindsey Graham warns Trump not to pull all U.S. forces out of Afghanistan Posted: 25 Aug 2019 11:32 AM PDT  Trump has long been eager to withdraw American troops out of the country.
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