| Trump says he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize Posted: 23 Sep 2019 11:47 AM PDT  The president lashes out at the Nobel Peace Prize committee for giving the award to his predecessor.
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| #NoFutureNoChildren: Teens are pledging not to have kids until the government acts against climate change Posted: 24 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Thousands of teenagers are pledging not to have children until the government takes greater steps to steps to combat climate change.
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| A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Puerto Rico as the island braces for another tropical storm Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:47 AM PDT  Tropical Storm Karen is about to hit Puerto Rico with rain that could cause flooding and landslides, after the island had an earthquake Monday night.
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| Senator Elizabeth Warren's net worth revealed as the 2020 Presidential Election heats up Posted: 24 Sep 2019 08:11 AM PDT  The 2020 President Election is heating up -- and with taxes and finances being some of the biggest areas, here's a look at Sen Elizabeth Warren's net worth.
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| Iran's Strange Navy of Small, Fast Boats Is No Joke Posted: 24 Sep 2019 04:47 AM PDT  A "mad max" threat?
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| Chinese heiress and socialite charged with murdering her ex at a California mansion says he was killed in botched kidnap plot Posted: 24 Sep 2019 01:24 PM PDT  A Chinese heiress and Bay Area socialite charged with murdering the father of her two children at her California mansion has denied the charges.
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| Russia says it won’t tell NASA why a hole appeared in the International Space Station Posted: 23 Sep 2019 03:04 PM PDT  The mystery of why a small hole appeared in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft attached to the International Space Station last year is now somehow even more bizarre than it already was. The hole, which was detected by the crew and patched in space, sparked investigations by Russia's Roscosmos and NASA, with both agencies vowing to get to the bottom of how such a thing could have happened.Now, after months of silence, Roscosmos boss Dmitry Rogozin says he knows how it happened, but that NASA will never find out. It's a bizarre state of affairs that highlights the odd tension that has been building between NASA and the Russian space agency for some time.Initially thought to be the result of a tiny space rock or other debris slamming into the space station at high speeds, it later became clear that the hole had been drilled into the side of the spacecraft. Russia set out to determine when the hole was created, and since it was clear that it wasn't drilled in space, figuring out who drilled the hole back on Earth was a top priority.Early reports out of Russia claimed that a culprit had been determined, but nothing really came of those reports and we never learned of anyone being charged with sabotaging the mission. Had it been merely an accident, it could have been easily explained, but Russia refuses to reveal what actually happened.This is sadly not surprising. Roscosmos has been increasingly moody as of late, and with NASA no longer wanting to pay for seats aboard the Soyuz crew launches to the ISS, and planning on using SpaceX's Crew Dragon and Boeing's Starliner in the near future, the Russian space program appears to be taking it personally."What happened is clear to us, but we won't tell you anything," Rogozin said in an interview with the state-run news outlet RIA Novosti.This sounds pretty sketchy, but it fits perfectly with Russia's well-documented inferiority complex. The country has long demonstrated a complete inability to admit when something doesn't go according to plan. The decades-old disaster at Chernobyl is obviously the most glaring example, but it's clearly still happening today.Earlier this summer, Russia refused to provide information about a missile explosion that killed at least five scientists, instead choosing to downplay the severity of the incident. With that in mind, holding on to secrets about a hole that mysteriously appeared on the side of a space station used by scientists from Russia, the United States, and several other countries seems perfectly mundane by comparison.In all likelihood, Roscosmos discovered the cause of the damage and, because the truth will make the agency look foolish and incompetent, Rogozin would rather just pretend that it never happened.
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| Trump Defends 'America First' Policy in U.N. Speech, Says the Future Belongs to 'Patriots' Over 'Globalists' Posted: 24 Sep 2019 08:47 AM PDT  So far, Trump's time at the U.N. has been a lonely one
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| Man drowns while proposing to his girlfriend underwater: 'This emptiness will never be filled' Posted: 23 Sep 2019 06:33 AM PDT  A man drowned Thursday while proposing to his girlfriend from outside their underwater hotel room, according to a Facebook post by his girlfriend.
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| Thousands rally against Indonesian bill to ban extra-marital sex Posted: 23 Sep 2019 04:57 AM PDT  Thousands of students protested at rallies across Indonesia on Monday against a new criminal code that would outlaw sex outside marriage and gay sex, as lawmakers met the president to discuss how to proceed with a bill that has divided Indonesians. President Joko Widodo on Friday ordered a delay in a planned vote on the controversial bill - originally slated for Tuesday - and said 14 articles needed further review before it was deliberated by a new parliament, whose term begins next month. Students rallied on Monday in the capital Jakarta - where some climbed the gates of the parliament to hang banners - and cities including Yogyakarta, in central Java, and Makassar, on Sulawesi island, to oppose the bill.
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| Mexico braces for impact as Thomas Cook collapses Posted: 23 Sep 2019 01:35 PM PDT  Cancún (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexico is bracing for a "very powerful" impact from the collapse of British travel firm Thomas Cook, an official said Monday, as several hundred tourists gathered at the Cancun airport looking for a way home. Britain sends more tourists to Mexico's Caribbean coast than any other European country, and more than any country in the world except the United States and Canada, according to Mexican tourism ministry figures.
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| LA businessman receives 4 months in prison for paying $250K to get son into USC as fake water polo recruit Posted: 24 Sep 2019 05:59 PM PDT  Devin Sloane, a Los Angles business executive, is the second parent sentenced in the nation's college admissions scandal.
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| FBI agents raid Illinois state senator's home, offices Posted: 24 Sep 2019 12:52 PM PDT  FBI agents carried materials in bankers' boxes and grocery bags out of the Illinois Capitol building on Tuesday, and multiple media outlets reported that and other raids were linked to a Democratic state senator. FBI spokesman John Althen said the agents were in the building for "law enforcement activity" but declined to elaborate. Multiple media outlets reported that the raids were conducted at Sen. Martin Sandoval's Capitol office in Springfield, his district office in the Chicago suburb of Cicero and his Chicago home.
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| Attacks on Saudi Oil – Why Didn’t Prices Go Crazy? Posted: 23 Sep 2019 12:03 PM PDT  The attack on the Abqaiq oil facilities in Saudi Arabia has sparked geopolitical tensions but has had only a minor impact on oil prices.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Audi RS7 Sportback Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:01 PM PDT |
| Bill O'Reilly says new book on Trump 'will bring backlash': 'This is his actual life history' Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:20 AM PDT  Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly latest book,'The United States of Trump,' is all about the sitting president.
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| Haiti: photojournalist shot in face as senator opens fire outside parliament Posted: 23 Sep 2019 11:30 AM PDT  * Jean Marie Ralph Féthière draws handgun amid chaotic scenes * Chery Dieu-Nalio avoids serious injury; another man woundedTwo men including a photojournalist have been shot and injured by a Haitian senator who opened fire outside the country's parliament, amid chaotic scenes as the government attempted to confirm the appointment of a new prime minister.Chery Dieu-Nalio, an Associated Press photographer, was wounded in the face and a second man, Leon Leblanc, a security guard and driver, was also injured in the incident in the country's capital, Port-au-Prince, on Monday.Although doctors were reported to be removing bullet fragments from Dieu-Nalio's face, the injuries are said not to be life-threatening.Before leaving the scene, Leblanc told reporters he had seen Jean Marie Ralph Féthière, a senator from the north of the country, draw a handgun as he tried to leave the parliamentary precincts through a crowd of protesters.Another senator, Patrice Dumont, said Féthière warned the crowd he would shoot if they did not let him leave. Féthière later justified his actions, without actually admitting firing his weapons. He told Radio Mega, "I was attacked by groups of violent militants. They tried to get me out of my vehicle. And so I defended myself. Self-defence is a sacred right."Armed individuals threatened me. It was proportional. Equal force, equal response."He said he did not know a journalist was present, even though Dieu-Nalio was wearing a helmet and flak jacket inscribed with the word "Press".Photojournalist Chery Dieu-Nalio holds a healing gauze next to his mouth. Photograph: Andrés Martínez Casares/ReutersThe incident came as the Haitian senate attempted to meet for the second time in two days to confirm the appointment of a new prime minister, Fritz-William Michel.President Jovenel Moïse is attempting to force through the appointment so he can leave the country to speak at the UN this week. His departure has already been delayed since Sunday.Haiti has been convulsed for a week by demonstrations against Moïse and the government, strengthened by fury at a serious fuel shortage and the rising cost of living.Protesters have blocked roads the length and breadth of the Caribbean nation, using trees, rocks, burning tyres and cars and trucks.Michel's nomination has already caused violence in the parliament, with politicians hitting each other with chairs and fists in the national assembly.Two years into his five-year term, Moïse is widely discredited. Annual per capita income is $350 a year and inflation is currently standing at 19%. Fuel price rises and their associated effect on food, have left Haitians to the point of despair.Even before the recent wave of unrest, Haitians have been saying the current situation is more serious than the Duvalier dictatorships, the US invasion or the 2010 earthquake. "I can't remember a situation this bad," said Leslie Voltaire, a former presidential candidate and adviser to two former presidents.Tensions had been rising outside the senate since early on Monday.The senate president, Carl Murat Cantave, had given instructions to the police that only senators would be allowed in to the senate precinct with one driver and two police-appointed security agents.People run as Haiti's Senator Jean Marie Ralph Féthière holds a gun in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photograph: Andrés Martínez Casares/ReutersWithin hours he was criticising the police on Radio Magik9, saying they could not contain the crowds and there was chaos in the yard. Separately the senator Jean Rigaud Belizaire complained the senate's rooms had been smeared with a liquid resembling faeces.Senators, realising that the session would not happen and the ratification would have to be delayed again, began trying to leave to shouts of "thief, thief, thief."Cantave himself was reported to be confined to parliament, having to retreat in his car under a barrage of rocks.In a separate incident, in the town of Gonaïves, the offices of Cantave's foundation were attacked and destroyed.Demonstrators continue to move through Port-au-Prince, as rumours swirled that there would be other attempts, possibly at another location, to ratify Michel.
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| Russia summons senior U.S. diplomat over U.N. visa row Posted: 24 Sep 2019 01:27 AM PDT  Russia on Tuesday summoned a senior U.S. diplomat in Moscow to protest over what it said was Washington's unacceptable refusal to issue visas to members of a Russian delegation traveling to the United Nations General Assembly. The Kremlin promised a tough response and said Jon Huntsman, the U.S. ambassador in Moscow, had been summoned to the foreign ministry, but Russian news agencies said that Huntsman's deputy had gone instead. Moscow said 10 members of a Russian delegation traveling to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York had not been issued visas by U.S. authorities.
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| Japan refers US military pilot to prosecutors over Osprey crash Posted: 24 Sep 2019 12:27 AM PDT  Japanese authorities on Tuesday referred the case of a US military pilot to prosecutors over the 2016 crash of an Osprey aircraft that fuelled sentiment against a US base on Okinawa island. The crash did not kill anyone and only caused injuries to two of the five crew members aboard the US Marine MV-22 Osprey. The Pentagon described the December 2016 crash as a "mishap", which saw the plane end up in shallow water off Okinawa.
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| The Former Police Officer Who Shot And Killed Botham Jean is Now on Trial. Here's What To Know About Amber Guyger's Case Posted: 23 Sep 2019 10:18 AM PDT  Amber Guyger fatally shot Botham Jean in his Dallas apartment in 2018. She says she thought she was walking into her own apartment.
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| Man's brain tumor was misdiagnosed as mental illness for six years Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:55 AM PDT  A New Zealand man who was told he had a mental illness learned that he, in fact, had a brain tumor.
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| Rare painting, possibly worth millions, was just hanging in woman's kitchen, experts say Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:29 AM PDT  "Christ Mocked," a work by the 13th century pre-Renaissance painter Cimabue was found in a house in northern France, art auctioneers say.
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| Muslim girl ‘forced to remove hijab’ before flight, lawsuit says Posted: 24 Sep 2019 06:05 AM PDT  A Muslim girl who plays for the US national squash team was forced to remove her hijab in public before boarding a flight, a lawsuit claims.Fatima Abdelrahman, who was 12 at the time, was allegedly made to remove the head covering by Air Canada workers at San Francisco International Airport – despite having already been through security.
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| Correction: Social Security Fraud story Posted: 24 Sep 2019 10:06 AM PDT  In a story Sept. 23 about a new lawsuit over federal disability benefits for former clients of Eric Conn, The Associated Press erroneously reported that a federal appeals court ruling in November restored benefits for about 300 of Eric Conn's former clients. The federal appeals court ruling paved the way for the restoration of benefits. A class action lawsuit has been filed on behalf of a group of people who lost federal disability benefits after their lawyer was arrested for fraud.
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| Saudi to consider 'all options' in response to attack on oil facilities: official Posted: 24 Sep 2019 12:21 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia believes Iran conducted the recent attacks on its oil facilities and will consider a military response once its investigation is complete, the kingdom's minister of state for foreign affairs said on Tuesday. Jubeir said the United Nations was helping it identify the launch site for the Sept. 14 attacks, which temporarily knocked out over 5 percent of global oil production and sent petroleum prices spiking higher. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for the attacks on Saudi's Abqaiq and Khurais facilities, but both Riyadh and Washington have laid the blame on Iran.
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| With military parade, Iran warns U.S. and other Western forces to leave the Persian Gulf Posted: 23 Sep 2019 11:38 AM PDT  As Iran paraded its troops and its arsenal of various weapons Sunday, the country's president demanded the U.S. and other Western nations leave the Persian Gulf.
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| Meghan Markle shares 'Cinderella moment' with teenager in South Africa: Watch! Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:17 PM PDT  Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle made light of a potentially awkward situation during an engagement in Cape Town.
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| The Secret Reason America's Military Dominates: Nazi Weapons Tech? Posted: 23 Sep 2019 04:30 AM PDT  Before the guns fell silent in 1945, the Allies had already drawn up plans for gathering as much German technology as they could take. What did they find?
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| Trump administration announces the end of 'catch and release'; changes take effect soon Posted: 24 Sep 2019 02:56 AM PDT  Acting Homeland Secretary Kevin McAleenan announced the end of the release of Central American families into the interior of the United States.
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| Bernie Sanders Proposes Wealth Tax That Would Cut Billionaires’ Net Worth in Half Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:10 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders on Tuesday unveiled a proposal for a wealth tax that takes Elizabeth Warren's signature idea and pushes it even further, saying his goal is to cut American billionaires' fortunes in half over 15 years.Sanders, who is struggling to maintain his top-three standing in the Democratic presidential primary campaign, announced the proposal while campaigning in Iowa counties that voted for Barack Obama in 2012 before switching to Donald Trump in 2016.Sanders' "Extreme Wealth Tax" targets the top 0.1% of U.S. households and would raise an estimated $4.35 trillion over the next decade. The revenue would be used to pay for his programs like Medicare for All, universal child care and housing programs.A 1% tax for households with a net worth of more than $32 million for a married couple would increase to 2% for households worth $50 million to $250 million, 3% from $250 million to $500 million, 4% on $500 million to $1 billion. The tax would cap at 8% on wealth above $10 billion.Warren's wealth tax begins with 2% on households worth $50 million or more.Sanders' campaign said his wealth tax would slash U.S. billionaires' wealth in half in 15 years, "which would substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class.""Enough is enough," Sanders, a Vermont senator, said in a statement. "We are going to take on the billionaire class, substantially reduce wealth inequality in America and stop our democracy from turning into a corrupt oligarchy."To ensure the wealthiest Americans don't evade the tax, the plans calls for the creation of a "national wealth registry" and "significant additional third-party reporting requirements."The U.S. Internal Revenue Service would be required to perform audits of 30% of wealth tax returns for those in the 1% bracket and all billionaires' wealth tax returns would be audited.For those who seek to leave the country to avoid the wealth tax, Sanders calls for a 40% exit levy on the net value of all assets of less than $1 billion and of 60% on assets greater than $1 billion.The plan would treat assets in a trust "as owned by the grantor of the trust (by the person giving assets to the trust) until that person's death."In January, before he announced his presidential run, Sanders proposed expanding the estate tax, calling for a rate of 45% tax on the value of estates between $3.5 million and $10 million. That rate would increase gradually to 77% for amounts more than $1 billion.Economists for the Sanders campaign estimate that had the wealth tax been enacted in 1982, the total wealth of the Forbes 400 richest Americans would be 40% of what it currently is, and they would have a net worth of $3 billion on average, instead of the average $7.2 billion they held last year."The share of wealth owned by the Forbes 400 would not have exploded and would only be slightly higher than it was in the early 1980s," say economists Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez who analyzed the proposal for the campaign and designed Warren's tax plan. "The current top 15 wealthiest Americans would own $196 billion (instead of the $943 billion they own in 2018)."(Updates with polling in 2nd paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Kevin WhitelawFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Coalition forces in Iraq say attacks 'will not be tolerated' Posted: 24 Sep 2019 11:30 AM PDT  U.S.-led coalition forces in Baghdad said Tuesday that attacks on coalition personnel and facilities in Iraq "will not be tolerated," adding that coalition forces retain the right to self-defense. No coalition or U.S.-occupied facility was struck in Monday night's attack in which two Katyusha rockets were fired into the heavily fortified Green Zone, according to a statement issued by the coalition and Iraqi security forces. The rockets landed few hundred meters (yards) away from the U.S. Embassy compound's perimeters, triggering alert sirens that sounded across the capital's Tigris River.
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| Venezuelans accused of smuggling $5 mn in gold into US Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:09 PM PDT  Two Venezuelans have been charged in US federal court with allegedly smuggling $5 million worth of gold bars into the United States in a private airplane. Jean Carlos Sanchez Rojas and Victor Fossi Grieco, who piloted the airplane, were arrested on September 20 at Florida's Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport after US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents discovered the undeclared cargo in the airplane's nose.
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| View Photos of Radwood Detroit 2019 Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:30 AM PDT |
| Jessica Simpson has lost 100 lbs in 6 months: 'Yes, I tipped the scales at 240' Posted: 24 Sep 2019 11:49 AM PDT  During her third pregnancy, Jessica Simpson 'tipped the scales at 240,' but she's spent the last six months getting back on track.
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| Meet the F-4 Phantom: This 60-Year-Old Fighter Jet Won't Stop for Anyone Posted: 23 Sep 2019 09:54 PM PDT  The story of the legendary F-4 Phantom II.
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| A woman caught a rare flesh-eating bacteria from a manicure, and doctors had to remove chunks of her thumb Posted: 24 Sep 2019 11:09 AM PDT  The infection can be deadly if not caught early and treated. The woman's doctor said she was lucky she didn't need her arm amputated.
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| Thirteen Marines Charged with Smuggling Illegal Immigrants into U.S. Posted: 23 Sep 2019 11:12 AM PDT  The Marine Corps has charged 13 members with smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S., in addition to a range of other offenses including failure to obey an order, drunkenness, endangerment, larceny, and perjury, according to a statement released Friday.Lance Corporals Byron Law and David Salazar-Quintero were specifically charged with transporting illegal immigrants into the country for financial gain. The two were based in Camp Pendleton, located between San Diego and Los Angeles, Calif.The other marines included in the indictments, some of whom were charged with distributing cocaine and LSD, were not named.Law and Salazar-Quintero were pulled over by Border Patrol agents seven miles north of the U.S.–Mexico border after picking up three migrants who had just crossed the border illegally, according to a federal complaint filed in July and first reported by Quartz. Law was found in the driver's seat with Salazar-Quintero on the passenger side, along with three undocumented immigrants in the back seat.The three were reportedly found to be Mexican citizens without documents needed to enter the U.S. legally. Two of the immigrants told agents they planned on paying $8,000 to their smugglers.During his interrogation, Law told investigators that Salazar-Quintero had suggested they pick up an illegal immigrant to make $1,000. They then succeeded in bringing one person into the U.S. but weren't paid for their endeavor, and so decided to smuggle more people and receive pay for the total number of people they brought in.
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| Trump responds to whistleblowers: Today's Toon Posted: 24 Sep 2019 04:13 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| China calls on Washington to cancel Xinjiang meeting Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:02 AM PDT ![China calls on Washington to cancel Xinjiang meeting]( "China calls on Washington to cancel Xinjiang meeting") China called on Washington on Tuesday to cancel a planned meeting at the United Nations to discuss accusations of repression and mass detentions in its Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang. The foreign ministry accused the Trump administration of slandering China and interfering in its affairs. A deputy U.S. secretary of state, John Sullivan, is scheduled to lead a panel discussion on the "human rights crisis in Xinjiang" during this week's U.N. General Assembly meeting.
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| GM gets court to keep UAW picketers from blocking Spring Hill Assembly entrances Posted: 23 Sep 2019 06:37 PM PDT  A court in Tennessee says the UAW can't block the entrance at the Spring Hill plant.
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| Oceans, climate report approved after all-night standoff: delegates Posted: 24 Sep 2019 02:55 AM PDT  A major report detailing the dire impact of global warming on oceans and Earth's frozen zones was approved by the UN's 195-nation climate science body Tuesday after an all-night standoff with Saudi Arabia over wording. "Gavelled! The IPCC Special Report on the #Ocean and #Cryosphere is approved!", Jean-Pierre Gattuso, a French scientist and one of the report many authors, tweeted at the end of the five-day talks. The Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) confirmed with a tweet of its own and will unveil an executive summary on Wednesday.
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