| El Paso mass shooter on suicide watch, sheriff's office says Posted: 19 Aug 2019 05:21 PM PDT  The 21-year-old white male from a Dallas-area neighborhood was placed on a suicide watch today under the recommendation of medical staff at the jail.
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| Jordan summons Israel envoy over Jerusalem 'violations' Posted: 18 Aug 2019 08:00 AM PDT  Jordan summoned Israel's ambassador on Sunday in protest over "violations" at Jerusalem's flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, the foreign ministry said. It summoned envoy Amir Weissbrod to voice its "condemnation and rejection of Israeli violations" at the highly sensitive site, where Israeli security forces clashed with Palestinian worshippers last week. Jordan, the only Arab country apart from Egypt to have a peace agreement with the Jewish state, supervises Islamic holy sites in Jerusalem.
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| US sued over Honduran man's suicide after family separation Posted: 19 Aug 2019 01:49 PM PDT ![US sued over Honduran man's suicide after family separation]( "US sued over Honduran man's suicide after family separation") A new lawsuit blames the Trump administration's family separations for the death by suicide of a Honduran father after being separated from his 3-year-old child. The widow of Marco Antonio Muñoz sued the U.S. government and South Texas' Starr County, which operated the local jail where he died. The Texas Civil Rights Project, which announced the lawsuit Monday, said it was the first known lawsuit that linked a person's suicide to the zero-tolerance policy enacted last spring and ended amid worldwide condemnation.
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| Tourists who stole sand from beach in Sardinia could face up to six years in prison Posted: 19 Aug 2019 08:04 AM PDT  A pair of tourists face up to six years in prison after allegedly stealing a large quantity of sand from the pristine beaches of Sardinia. The French couple were found to have nearly 40kg (90lb) of fine white sand in the boot of their car. The vehicle was stopped during a routine check by border police as the tourists were preparing to board a ferry in Porto Torres, on the north coast of the island, bound for Toulon in France. The sand was found in 14 large plastic bottles and had been taken from a beach near Chia in southern Sardinia. The couple told police that they had no idea they were breaking the law, but they now face between one and six years in jail. The island has battled for years to stop tourists from pinching its sand, shells and pebbles, which are prized as souvenirs or in some cases, for indoor aquariums. WWF has run a campaign against 'beach thieves', reminding tourists that taking sand from Sardinia's shoreline is a crime To try to stop the pillaging, some locals have taken on the role of self-appointed guardians of the beaches. If they see tourists taking sand or shells, they ask them to return the material. If that does not work, they call the police or national park rangers. One of them, Pina Careddu, told an Italian newspaper on Monday that visitors sometimes become rude and aggressive when challenged. "A family of Germans were filling up some bottles with sand. I recorded them on my phone so they couldn't deny it. The father came towards me in a threatening manner. But in the end he tipped the sand back onto the beach," Mrs Careddu, 58, told Corriere della Sera. Dubbed "the granny sheriff" of the Sinis peninsula, on the west coast of the island, she is strict even with her grandchildren. "They say, 'Nana, can't we take some pebbles home to play with?' And I say no, if everyone did that, soon there would be no beach left."
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| UPDATE 1-Pakistan, India spar over using water as a weapon in Kashmir dispute Posted: 19 Aug 2019 09:39 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Pakistan, India spar over using water as a weapon in Kashmir dispute]( "UPDATE 1-Pakistan, India spar over using water as a weapon in Kashmir dispute") ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Accusing India of waging "fifth-generation warfare", Pakistan said on Monday New Delhi had failed to inform it about the release of water from a dam that could cause flooding across the border. India, however, rejected the claim saying that under the terms of a water treaty between the two nations it had informed Pakistan about the release of excess water late on Monday when it crossed a certain threshold. Relations between the neighbours, already hostile, have been further strained over India's decision this month to revoke the special status of its portion of the Kashmir region that both countries claim.
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| Serial killer who murdered SC teen featured on new season of Netflix’s ‘Mindhunter’ Posted: 19 Aug 2019 08:09 AM PDT  He has a long rap sheet of crimes throughout the South, and a controversial connection to a South Carolina murder.
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| It looks like the Russians are trying to hide the truth about that nuclear accident in Nyonoksa Posted: 19 Aug 2019 02:07 PM PDT  Evidence is mounting that Russia may be covering up a tragic nuclear accident after a mysterious blast killed seven at a military-weapons testing site.
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| Mexican man facing voter fraud trial in Sacramento. He’s a Trump supporter Posted: 19 Aug 2019 11:03 AM PDT  For years, President Trump has claimed that millions of noncitizens voted in the 2016 presidential election, unfairly skewing his vote as Democrat Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College.
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| Florida 'stand your ground' trial begins for deadly dispute over handicapped parking spot Posted: 19 Aug 2019 05:37 PM PDT  The manslaughter trial for Michael Drejka, the man involved in a deadly dispute over a handicapped parking spot in Florida, was set to begin Monday.
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| Sudan's Bashir got $90 mn from Saudi, investigator tells court Posted: 19 Aug 2019 04:19 AM PDT  Sudan's deposed military ruler Omar al-Bashir has admitted to receiving $90 million in cash from Saudi royals, an investigator told a Khartoum court on Monday. Police Brigadier Ahmed Ali said at the opening of Bashir's corruption trial, which an AFP correspondent attended, that the former president told him that the latest payment was "delivered by some of Mohammed bin Salman's envoys". Bashir, whose military Islamist regime ruled Sudan for 30 years, arrived at the Judicial and Legal Science Institute where the trial is taking place in a huge military convoy.
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| 'That is ridiculous': Andrew Gillum rips Rick Santorum for claiming guns aren't 'problem' in mass shootings Posted: 18 Aug 2019 10:42 AM PDT  Former Tallahassee, Fla., Mayor Andrew Gillum slammed former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum's stance on gun control as "ridiculous" for saying guns are not the "problem" in mass shootings.
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| He was found hurt near downtown shuffleboard courts. Cops say it was an attempted homicide Posted: 19 Aug 2019 05:56 AM PDT  Police are asking anyone with information to come forward.
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| Detained immigrants sue over conditions, medical care Posted: 19 Aug 2019 11:11 AM PDT ![Detained immigrants sue over conditions, medical care]( "Detained immigrants sue over conditions, medical care") Immigrants held in U.S. detention facilities filed a lawsuit Monday decrying what they called shoddy medical care and a failure by authorities to provide accommodations for disabilities. In the suit filed by disability and civil rights advocates in U.S. District Court, immigrants said they're placed in isolation as punishment and denied recommended medical treatment and surgery. The problems harm disabled immigrants and threaten anyone in one of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's more than 50,000 detention beds who winds up getting sick or isolated from other detainees, said Monica Porter, staff attorney at Disability Rights Advocates, one of the organizations that filed the suit.
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| Planned Parenthood Refuses Title X Funding in Response to Trump Administration Restrictions Posted: 19 Aug 2019 12:40 PM PDT  Planned Parenthood will refuse all Title X funding rather than comply with the Trump administration's restrictions governing the discussion of abortion at clinics that participate in the program, the group announced Monday.Planned Parenthood decided to abandon Title X, which accounts for roughly 15 percent of its overall federal funding each year, in response to a Trump administration rule barring clinics that participate in the program from referring women to abortion providers."When you have an unethical rule that will limit what providers can tell our patients, it becomes really important that we not agree to be in the program. But to be clear we're doing that because we're being forced out," the group said in a Monday statement. "Trump's administration is trying to force us to keep information from our patients. The gag rule is unethical, dangerous, and we will not subject our patients to it."Prior to its withdrawal, Planned Parenthood was receiving $60 million of the $286 million allocated annually through Title X. The organization will continue to receive roughly $500 million in annual Medicaid reimbursements from the federal government.A federal appeals court ruled in July that the Trump administration's rule change could take effect while a lawsuit, brought by Planned Parenthood and other groups in February, runs its course. The Department of Health and Human Services then gave Planned Parenthood until August 19 to submit a plan demonstrating that it would make "good faith efforts" to comply with the new rule. Planned Parenthood requested a stay from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last week that would have delayed the rule-implementation deadline its legal challenge was resolved, but the court rejected that request.The March for Life, a leading pro-life advocacy group, suggested that Planned Parenthood's decision confirmed the group prioritizes abortion over women's health care. Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood fired its president, Leana Wen, after less than a year, for being insufficiently zealous in her defense of abortion rights."Planned Parenthood, our nation's largest abortion provider, today made a choice not to separate its abortion operation from Title X services, and in doing [so] declined Title X funding, which makes up approximately four percent of their annual budget," said March for Life president Jeanne Mancini. "Abortion is neither healthcare nor family planning and taxpayer dollars should not support abortion. Leana Wen's recent firing and Planned Parenthood's decision today doubles down on their ultimate goal, which is political abortion advocacy, not healthcare."
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| Couple who ran a home for troubled boys charged with trafficking children, forced labor Posted: 19 Aug 2019 01:21 PM PDT  A husband and wife who ran a home for troubled boys in Texas have been arrested a year after the home was raided and eight boys were removed, reports say.
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| Kamala Says She’s Uncomfortable with Bernie’s Health-Care Plan Two Years After Cosponsoring It Posted: 19 Aug 2019 09:05 AM PDT  Chip Somodevilla/GettyAt a fundraiser in the Hamptons this weekend, Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA) told wealthy donors she has "not been comfortable" with the Medicare-for-All proposal pushed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of her leading rivals in the primary."I think almost every member of the United States Senate who's running for president and many others, have signed on to a variety of plans in the Senate. And I have done the same," Harris said, according to remarks provided by her campaign. "[A]ll of them are good ideas, which is why I support them. And I support Medicare for All. But as you may have noticed, over the course of the many months, I've not been comfortable with Bernie's plan, the Medicare for all plan."The comments are the latest reflection of the turbulence that the California Democrat has encountered while navigating the politics of health care reform. Just two years ago, Harris was comfortable enough with Sanders' bill to become the first senator to co-sponsor it. And back then, she exhibited no discomfort in doing so. "This is about understanding, again, that health care should be a right, not a privilege. And it's also about being smart," Harris said in August 2017. "So it's not only about what is morally and ethically right," Harris argued. "It also makes sense from a fiscal standpoint, or if you want to talk about it as a return on investment for taxpayers."At the time, Harris' announcement was hailed as a shrewd reading of the direction of the Democratic Party on health care—one that would boost the senator's progressive cred ahead of a possible White House run. And as recently as April of this year, Harris' office sent a press release saying she had joined Sanders to formally introduce the Medicare-for-All Act of 2019. "Medicare for All finally makes sure every American has affordable, comprehensive health care," she said.That the senator now has reservations about the legislation was not, her campaign argued, a matter of political convenience but, rather, the end product of having worked on the issue more. "There's a difference between signing onto a good idea and running on a plan," said Harris campaign spokesman Ian Sams. He noted that Sanders is running on Medicare-for-All but was nevertheless a sponsor of a bill from Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) to establish a public option. "Senator Harris was hearing from lots of voters real concerns, specifically about proactively abolishing private insurance, the four-year transition, middle-class tax hikes, and so she came up with her own plan to adjust for those that, frankly, is better than his," said Sams. Sanders did co-sponsor the Schatz legislation in 2017. But the senator is not a co-sponsor of the most recent bill. An aide explained that he took his name off the legislation because "he believes at this point we need a Medicare for All system. It's not like he opposes [a public option]. It's whether he is putting his name and stamp on it." Dems Perplexed by Kamala's 10-Year Health-Care PushHarris' formal health care plan differs from the Sanders' model in a variety of ways. It aims to phase in Medicare-for-All over the course of a decade—as opposed to four years—and allow private insurers to offer plans through Medicare if they comply with strict government rules. Her plan also eschews some of the revenue-raising measures proposed by Sanders, by declining to hike middle-class taxes in order to fund health care coverage. The Sanders campaign has slammed Harris' plan as a contrived half-measure and one that would leave full implementation to her presidential successor. And on Monday, Sanders signaled that Harris' Medicare-for-All slight in the Hamptons may figure into their broader case against a top rival."Yes, a very strong way to show consistency is to [checks notes] tell your big donors in the Hamptons that you are suddenly opposing the bill you've co-sponsored," tweeted Sanders aide David Sirota.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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| Saudi-Led coalition attacks military targets in Houthi-controlled Sanaa: Saudi TV Posted: 19 Aug 2019 01:29 PM PDT ![Saudi-Led coalition attacks military targets in Houthi-controlled Sanaa: Saudi TV]( "Saudi-Led coalition attacks military targets in Houthi-controlled Sanaa: Saudi TV") The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen launched an attack on Monday on military targets in the capital Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthi movement, Saudi state TV reported. The Iran-aligned movement's Al-Masirah TV reported at least six airstrikes by the coalition in Sanaa and said the strikes were ongoing.
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| Ohio Police Arrest White Supremacist Who Allegedly Threatened to Attack Jewish Community Center Posted: 18 Aug 2019 09:20 AM PDT  An Ohio man was arrested on Saturday for allegedly threatening to attack a local Jewish community center.
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| French hiker missing in Italy nine days found dead Posted: 18 Aug 2019 02:58 PM PDT  The body of a French hiker who disappeared nine days ago south of Naples was found Sunday, local Italian authorities said. "The body of Simon Gautier has been found a short while ago," the authorities in Sapri, near Belvedere di Ciolandre where the 27-year-old hiker was found dead. Gautier called for help on August 9, saying he had fallen down a cliff and broken both legs, but was unable to give his location other than "in the middle of nowhere, on the coast".
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| Women 'absolutely terrified' of Donald Trump giving Afghanistan deal to the Taliban Posted: 19 Aug 2019 02:29 PM PDT  The Trump administration's haste to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan could risk the progress on Afghan women's rights since 2001: Our view
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| Nigerian President Asks Tax Agency to Explain Missed Targets Posted: 19 Aug 2019 09:12 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari asked the Federal Inland Revenue Service to explain its failure to meet tax-collection targets since 2015, after persistent shortfalls.Nigerian presidential spokesman Garba Shehu confirmed in an emailed statement that the government has sought explanations for the shortfalls from FIRS chairman Babatunde Fowler as reported by several news media on Monday."It would appear that the country might be heading for a fiscal crisis if urgent steps are not taken to halt the negative trends in target setting and target realization in tax revenue," Shehu said.The government has repeatedly missed its revenue targets since Buhari was first elected to office in 2015, as the output and price of crude, the country's main export, declined. The administration has sought to boost tax revenue with limited success in a country of more than 200 million people with a tax-to-gross-domestic-product ratio of 6%. That compares with 24.7% for South Africa, with which it vies to be Africa's biggest economy.To make up for lost income, Nigeria increased its borrowing in recent years, leaving it with a debt-service burden that consumes more than 70% of its revenue, according to the Finance Ministry.To contact the reporters on this story: Elisha Bala-Gbogbo in Abuja at ebalagbogbo@bloomberg.net;Ruth Olurounbi in Abuja at rolurounbi4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Dulue MbachuFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Is recycling collapsing in California? Advocates call on lawmakers to rescue it Posted: 19 Aug 2019 05:30 AM PDT ![Is recycling collapsing in California? Advocates call on lawmakers to rescue it]( "Is recycling collapsing in California? Advocates call on lawmakers to rescue it") When rePlanet closed its doors at its remaining 284 California locations earlier this month, alarm bells went up among recycling advocates.
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| Driver pins paramedic against her ambulance in Walmart parking lot, NC police say Posted: 19 Aug 2019 08:08 AM PDT  The woman was airlifted to a hospital with serious leg injuries, officials say.
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| How the Government Creates Wealth Inequality Posted: 19 Aug 2019 03:30 AM PDT  There are economic storm clouds on the horizon, but for now wages are rising, jobs are plentiful, and poverty is falling. Democrats running for president need an economic line of attack, so the solution has been to focus on wealth inequality. Senator Bernie Sanders claims that there has been a "massive transfer of wealth from the middle class to the top one percent." Senator Elizabeth Warren lambastes America's "extreme concentration of wealth." Even the establishment Joe Biden laments, "This wealth gap that exists in the United States of America is so profound now."Wealth inequality has risen in recent years, but by far less than the Democrats and many media articles imply. The scarier claims about inequality usually stem from the flawed data created by French economist Thomas Piketty and his colleagues. More careful studies by other economists and the Federal Reserve Board reveal surprisingly modest changes in wealth inequality given the huge revolutions in globalization and technology that have occurred.Are increases in wealth inequality the awful thing that Democrats claim? It depends on what causes them. Much of the recent modest rise in wealth inequality stems from innovations in our economy that are pulling everyone up. Brian Acton and Jan Koum, for example, built huge multibillion dollar fortunes by creating WhatsApp, which provides free phone service for 1.5 billion users globally.Acton and Koum's success may have increased the wealth owned by the top 1 percent, but their product has created massive consumer value as well. Most of the wealthiest Americans are entrepreneurs who have fueled economic growth, which is clear in examining the Forbes 400 list. Wealth created this way is not the zero-sum struggle that Democrats imagine it is.That is the good news. The bad news is that the government itself generates wealth inequality in at least two ways that make us worse off. First, governments give subsidies, regulatory preferences, and other crony-capitalist benefits to wealthy insiders. In the recent Fat Leonard scandal, for example, Leonard Francis gained hundreds of millions of dollars of government contracts by cozying up to Navy officers and providing them with gifts, prostitutes, and other favors to get them to do his bidding.The other way that the government fuels wealth inequality is a deeper scandal. The expansion of social programs over the decades has undermined incentives for lower- and middle-income families to save while reducing their ability to save because of higher taxes. Government programs have displaced or "crowded out" wealth-building by all American families but the richest.Politicians complain loudly about wealth inequality, but their own policies are generating it. This issue receives too little policy attention, but it is profoundly important and reveals the hypocrisy of the political left.Many Americans have saved little for retirement because Social Security discourages them doing so, as does the heavy 12.4 percent wage tax that funds the program. Economist Martin Feldstein found that every dollar increase in Social Security benefits reduces private savings by about 50 cents.Social Security accounts for a larger share of retirement income for the non-rich than for the rich, so this crowd-out effect increases wealth inequality. In a simulation model, Jagadeesh Gokhale and Laurence Kotlikoff estimated that Social Security raises the share of overall wealth held by the top 1 percent of wealth holders by about 80 percent. This occurs because the program leaves the non-rich with "proportionately less to save, less reason to save, and a larger share of their old-age resources in a nonbequeathable form."A study by Baris Kaymak and Markus Poschke built a model of the U.S. economy to estimate the causes of rising wealth inequality. They found that most of the rise in the top 1 percent share of wealth in recent decades was caused by technological changes and wage dispersion, but the expansion of Social Security and Medicare caused about one-quarter of the increase. They concluded that the "redistributive nature of transfer payments was instrumental in curbing wealth accumulation for income groups outside the top 10% and, consequently, amplified wealth concentration in the U.S."More government benefits result in less private wealth, especially for the non-rich. It is not just Social Security and Medicare that displaces private saving, but also unemployment insurance, welfare, and other social spending. Some social programs have "asset tests" that deliberately discourage saving.Total federal and state social spending as a share of gross domestic product soared from 6.8 percent in 1970 to 14.3 percent in 2018. That increase in handouts occurred over the same period that wealth inequality appears to have increased. Generations of Americans have grown up assuming that the government will take care of them when they are sick, unemployed, and retired, so they put too little money aside for future expenses.Cross-country studies support these conclusions. A 2015 study by Pirmin Fessler and Martin Schurz examined European data and found that "inequality of wealth is higher in countries with a relatively more developed welfare state . . . given an increase of welfare state expenditure, wealth inequality measured by standard relative inequality measures, such as the Gini coefficient, will increase."A study by Credit Suisse found: "Strong social security programs — good public pensions, free higher education or generous student loans, unemployment and health insurance — can greatly reduce the need for personal financial assets. . . . This is one explanation for the high level of wealth inequality we identify in Denmark, Norway and Sweden: the top groups continue to accumulate for business and investment purposes, while the middle and lower classes have a less pressing need for personal saving."That is why it is absurd for politicians such as Sanders and Warren to decry wealth inequality and then turn around and demand European-style expansions in our social programs. The bigger our welfare state, the more wealth inequality we will have.The solution is to transition to savings-based social programs. Numerous countries have Social Security systems based on private savings accounts. Chile has unemployment-insurance savings accounts. Martin Feldstein proposed a savings-based approach to Medicare. The assets in such savings accounts would be inheritable, unlike the benefits from current U.S. social programs.Sanders and Warren are right to criticize crony capitalism as a cause of wealth inequality. But their big government approaches to social policy would have the opposite effect on wealth inequality than what they may believe.
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| INSIGHT-Besieged Kashmiri neighbourhood in test of wills with India's Modi Posted: 19 Aug 2019 04:17 PM PDT ![INSIGHT-Besieged Kashmiri neighbourhood in test of wills with India's Modi]( "INSIGHT-Besieged Kashmiri neighbourhood in test of wills with India's Modi") For more than a week, the young men of Soura, a densely populated enclave in Kashmir's main city of Srinagar, have been taking turns to maintain an around-the-clock vigil at the entry points to their neighbourhood. The aim: to keep Indian security forces, and particularly the paramilitary police, out of the area.
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| Salvadoran suspected of having abortion acquitted at retrial Posted: 19 Aug 2019 02:53 PM PDT |
| Johnson tells EU he wants Brexit deal but without backstop Posted: 19 Aug 2019 02:23 PM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote Monday to EU President Donald Tusk reaffirming his desire to conclude a Brexit deal as well as his opposition to the controversial "backstop" on Ireland. The so-called backstop is a mechanism that would keep the UK in EU customs arrangements to prevent a hard border between the British province of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, an EU member state. Brussels says the backstop is needed as a fallback option to preserve the integrity of European trade and avoid risking a return of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
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| Tempest in a Tardigrade cup: Cute little 'water bears on the moon' don't contaminate space Posted: 19 Aug 2019 09:22 AM PDT  Scientists can't claim space for themselves alone, and fretting about contamination is overblown. Apollo crews after all left bagged feces on the moon.
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| 'They don't respect our security measures': Large alligator scales fence at Florida naval air station Posted: 19 Aug 2019 04:12 PM PDT !['They don't respect our security measures': Large alligator scales fence at Florida naval air station]( "'They don't respect our security measures': Large alligator scales fence at Florida naval air station") A video shared by a Florida television station shows an alligator climbing over a fence at Naval Air Station Jacksonville.
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| Turkey Fires Kurdish Mayors Ahead of Military Push Into Syria Posted: 19 Aug 2019 04:57 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Turkey fired the elected mayors of three major Kurdish-dominated cities in the country's southeast and detained more than 400 people in a crackdown as it prepares to push a Syrian Kurdish militia away from its border.The mayors of Diyarbakir, Mardin and Van were removed Monday for their alleged ties to the PKK, an autonomy-seeking Kurdish group classified as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union. Police used water cannons to disperse hundreds of Kurdish protesters outside the mayor's office in Diyarbakir, according to footage by Arti TV.While Turkish authorities have in the past evicted Kurdish officials at times of heightened political tension at home, this time the moves were seen as linked to a long-promised military operation in northern Syria.President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to carve out a frontier buffer zone that will be off-limits to the Syrian YPG militia, which authorities say has links to the PKK. The seizure of three Turkish municipalities with a population of about 3.7 million people where the PKK traditionally enjoys strong backing aims to prevent any support for the militants.But it also renewed accusations that Erdogan and his nationalist allies are damaging Turkey's democracy by attacking the pro-Kurdish HDP after it swept back to office in ballots in the southeast and helped Turkey's main opposition party to win mayoral races in the capital and the nation's commercial hub."All political parties and society should react to this coup against the will of the people," Garo Paylan, an HDP lawmaker, said on Twitter. "If you remain silent, then the next in line could be Ankara and Istanbul."Erdogan warned before local elections in March that his government would not hesitate to replace HDP mayors if they are deemed to be linked to Kurdish militants. The HDP has faced a broad clampdown since it won enough votes to enter parliament in 2015. Since then, the government has jailed hundreds of Kurdish politicians and seized about 100 municipalities in the southeast.The HDP denies it's influenced by the PKK and blames the group's armed rebellion on a history of repressive policies toward Kurds.All three mayors were elected with a majority of votes on March 31. Diyarbakir Mayor Adnan Selcuk Mizrakli got 63% of the provincial vote, while Mardin Mayor Ahmet Turk had 56% and Van Mayor Bedia Ozgokce Ertan received 54% support.Officials have said they expect a headquarters for the expected joint operation by Turkey and the U.S., which supported the Syrian YPG in the fight against Islamic State, to be up and running this week.(Updates with context in third paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.net;Taylan Bilgic in Istanbul at tbilgic2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Alaa ShahineFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| John Delaney draws 11 people to 2020 event – does he truly think he can win? Posted: 18 Aug 2019 11:00 PM PDT  The former congressman has put $24m of his own cash into an increasingly quixotic presidential run – and he's ploughing on despite a near total lack of supportJohn Delaney speaks at the Wing Ding fundraiser in Clear Lake, Iowa. What Delaney lacks in support, he makes up for in optimism. Photograph: Brian Cahn/Zuma/Rex/ShutterstockJohn Delaney has poured a staggering $24m of his own money into running for president. He has been campaigning for the White House for more than two years, and in that time has held more than 200 events in Iowa.On one recent Thursday morning, these efforts translated into a grand total of 11 people coming out to see Delaney, at a campaign event in the small town of Algona, in the north of the state.The former Maryland congressman, former businessman and formerly much wealthier candidate is one of a slew of long-shot candidates for the Democratic nomination. In a crowded, historically diverse field, Delaney is part of a group of white, middle-aged men who are forging ahead with their increasingly quixotic presidential campaigns in spite of a collective lack of support.Delaney strode into Miller's Sports Bar & Grill, one of a chain of bars across Iowa, just after 10am. One of his team had taped a couple of Delaney 2020 campaign posters to a wall in the back of the bar, and a sign-up list was on a table. The crowd, all silver haired apart from a thirtysomething man who walked in late, were sitting patiently at four different tables.Clad in the off-duty politician's uniform of open-necked shirt, blue jeans and casual brown shoes, Delaney got to work, vigorously shaking 11 hands. One member of the crowd was immediately impressed with the 56-year-old."You actually look even better than you do on TV," one woman said."I think I'm just going to stay around here," Delaney quipped.If Delaney was disappointed with the turnout, he didn't show it. Besides, in a way, the 11-person crowd was a positive. The night before, on Delaney's Facebook page, just two people had said they would attend, and one of those was his campaign director.Delaney, who served in Congress for six years before resigning to run for president, was joking when he said he might just stay around Iowa. But in fact, it would be hard for him to spend more time here. The 58-year-old has made 34 separate visits to the state in two years. This trip was the first of three in August. And the actual vote in Iowa – the state's caucuses – is still six months away.It's a grueling schedule. On Thursday alone, Delaney was scheduled to hold five different events in the space of nine and a half hours.With the pleasantries over at Miller's Delaney dived into his pitch. The two most important questions in 2020, he said, are: "Who can beat Trump?" and: "Who is the best leader for this country at this moment in time?"Delaney gestures at the end of his speech during a visit to the Iowa state fair in Des Moines earlier this month. Photograph: Charlie Neibergall/AP"I believe I'm the right answer to those two questions," he concluded.Delaney's problem is that very few people agree. Despite a marathon campaign – he declared his candidacy in July 2017, 18 months before any other major contenders – and a big pot of cash, he is barely registering – even in Iowa. Delaney is currently polling at 1% in the state – in ninth place. Nationally, Delaney has just 0.3% of the vote.But Delaney, an electrician's son turned millionaire, isn't about to let a near total lack of support stop him."I don't want to be the president just to be the president," Delaney said at his second event of the day. "I want to be the president to do the job."Later, Delaney was speaking to a crowd of 15 people, at the Rustic Brew in Hampton, an hour and a half drive east of Algona. He had been allocated an area in the back, in a room with a painting of a reindeer on one wall. Delaney had almost immediately been interrupted by a man wearing a Vietnam cap.The man complained about veterans' hospitals. Delaney, hoping to appease him, said he would allow veterans to visit a wider range of hospitals for their care. The man in the cap said that was exactly the plan he was opposed to. Delaney said he would talk to him about it later, then carried on with his speech. The man in the cap slumped in his chair, mumbling something to himself.The main part of Delaney's pitch is that he can beat Donald Trump and actually pass legislation, whereas, in his view, people such as the leftwing senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are making "impossible promises". After Delaney criticized the more ambitious proposals of his rivals during the recent televised Democratic debates, Warren chopped him down, telling the audience: "I don't understand why anybody goes to all the trouble of running for president of the United States just to talk about what we really can't do and shouldn't fight for."Far from being cowed by that, Delaney told the Guardian that if he could change one thing about his campaign, he actually would have plugged his centrist credentials earlier."The kind of sharp contrasts I'm making now, I would have made them earlier," Delaney said.But what Delaney lacks in support, he makes up for in optimism. He brushed off concerns that he won't make the next Democratic debates – the bar for entry is far higher for the next round, in mid-September – by insisting he could make the one after that, because he expects other candidates to drop out.As Delaney closed out at the Rustic Brew, his campaign manager abruptly announced that the rest of the day's events were cancelled. He had only completed two out of five. The campaign manager put it down to a schedule conflict. John Delaney at the Iowa state fair in Des Moines, on 9 August. Photograph: Eric Thayer/ReutersThe Guardian chased Delaney down in Des Moines the next day, where he was appearing at the Iowa state fair. Delaney spent some time prodding pork chops on a grill – a classic state fair photo opportunity – before speaking for about 15 minutes to a crowd, again pitching his centrist vision. He drew a decent number of people, but his crowd was dwarfed by those who came out for speeches by Warren, Sanders and Biden.Delaney is probably right when he says other people will soon quit the race. The California congressman Eric Swalwell ended his campaign in July, citing a lack of money and a lack of support. Colorado ex-governor John Hickenlooper dropped out last week. Delaney doesn't have to make that choice yet. He has loaned his campaign $24m, but according to Forbes, he is worth $200m, so he has plenty of cash left to splurge.But there will surely come a point where he has to make a decision. Given Delaney is polling within the margin of error of zero, that point might come soon.Or perhaps Delaney, ever the optimist, could bide his time. If Trump wins in 2020, then there's always 2024. If Delaney doesn't bankrupt himself first, maybe he could be a contender.At the very least, he will know his way around Iowa.
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| Earthquake cluster slams Kansas county with 11 quakes in 5 days Posted: 18 Aug 2019 09:19 AM PDT  A county in central Kansas experienced a pretty shocking uptick in seismic activity last week — 11 earthquakes in five days.
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| Trump is 'not happy' with Fox News over poll results Posted: 19 Aug 2019 10:47 AM PDT  After a series of unfavorable polls from Fox News' polling unit, President Trump has stepped up his complaints about the network, which he no longer considers a reliable ally.
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| Bahrain to join US-led efforts to protect Gulf navigation Posted: 19 Aug 2019 08:26 AM PDT  Bahrain said Monday it would join US-led efforts to protect shipping in the Gulf amid tensions between Washington and Tehran after a series of attacks on tankers. Bahrain's King Hamad voiced his country's appreciation of the "US role in supporting regional security and stability" during a meeting with US Central Command (CENTCOM) chief General Kenneth McKenzie, state media said. "The king confirmed the kingdom of Bahrain's participation in the joint effort to preserve the safety of international maritime navigation and secure international corridors for trade and energy," the official Bahrain News Agency reported.
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| Police: Men with guns in Missouri Walmart broke no laws Posted: 18 Aug 2019 03:47 PM PDT ![Police: Men with guns in Missouri Walmart broke no laws]( "Police: Men with guns in Missouri Walmart broke no laws") Two men with handguns in their waistbands alarmed shoppers when they entered a Kansas City-area Walmart on Sunday, but police say they were just buying ammunition for target practice. Kansas City, Missouri, Police Sgt. Jake Becchina says the men were cooperative and were released because they hadn't violated Missouri law. Shopper Clennon Jones said he saw officers speed into the parking lot and one jumped out with shotgun in hand.
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| China's State Council calls for Shenzhen integration with Hong Kong, Macau Posted: 18 Aug 2019 06:27 PM PDT ![China's State Council calls for Shenzhen integration with Hong Kong, Macau]( "China's State Council calls for Shenzhen integration with Hong Kong, Macau") China's State Council has called for greater development of the southern city of Shenzhen and the integration of its culture and economy with neighbouring Hong Kong and Macau. The directive comes as anti-government protests in Hong Kong threaten the status of the Asian financial hub. Hong Kong, one of the world's busiest ports, is on the verge of its first recession in a decade as violent anti-government protests scare off tourists and bite into retail sales and investment.
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| Newt Gingrich says slavery needs to be put 'in context', calls 1619 project a 'lie' Posted: 19 Aug 2019 05:40 PM PDT  "There were several hundred thousand white Americans who died in the Civil War in order to free the slaves," Gingrich argued.
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| Tons of pot found in truck full of jalapeno peppers in California, Border Patrol says Posted: 18 Aug 2019 01:03 PM PDT  A U.S. Customs and Border Protection dog picked up on something strange Thursday night in a tractor-trailer shipment of jalapeno peppers at a San Diego crossing, the agency says in a release.
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| Three Palestinians shot dead by Israeli helicopter Posted: 18 Aug 2019 08:51 AM PDT  Three Palestinians were shot and killed by an Israeli helicopter and tank on the northern Gaza border fence in a marked escalation of violence along the tense stretch. Israel opened fire on what it described as "armed suspects" several hours after Palestinian militants in Gaza fired three Qassam rockets at Israel late Saturday. On Sunday morning Hamas' health ministry reported three men dead and a fourth injured following the incident just north of Beit Lahia. Hamas said in a statement that the deaths of Mahmoud al-Walayda, 24, Mohammed Abu Namus, 27, and Mohammed Samir al-Taramsi, 26, were "another crime by the Israeli occupation to be added to its grim toll against the Palestinian people's rights, land and holy sites." No casualties were reported following Saturday's rocket attack on the southern Israeli town of Sderot. Israel's military said two rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome air defence system, but did not comment on the third. Saturday was the second consecutive night that residents of southern Israel heard the wail of rocket sirens, after a rocket fired on Friday was intercepted. Israel responded to Friday's rocket by carrying out strikes on what it said were two of Hamas' "underground targets" in the northern and central Strip. Tensions along the Gaza border fence, particularly in the north, have been roiling since March 2018, when weekly demonstrations began taking place just inside the border fence, often followed by bloody clashes. Since then, Gaza-related violence has seen seven Israelis and at least 305 Palestinians killed, and both Hamas and Israel's centre and right accuse the other of deliberately escalating the situation. But the recent escalation, which began on 1 August when a Palestinian was shot by Israeli forces during a firefight as he tried to breach the border, has threatened to set the tinderbox alight. Hamas recently warned that "the rage and stress that the Palestinian people live in is going to blow up in Israel's face if the blockade over the Gaza Strip is not removed." But the loosening of any of the restrictions shaping Gazans' lives looks unlikely with the escalated security situation and with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long leaned to the right for support, facing a make-or-break election in mid-September.
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| Fourth correctional officer arrested after alleged Florida prison beating on video Posted: 19 Aug 2019 09:31 AM PDT  A fourth Florida Department of Corrections officer has been arrested in connection with an alleged July 8 beating of an inmate that was caught on video.
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| Portland protests: Woman pinned to ground by police officers after spitting towards them Posted: 18 Aug 2019 08:11 AM PDT  A woman was pinned to the ground by six police officers after she spat towards them during a day of protests between duelling far-right and anti-fascist activists in Portland.Hundreds of far-right protesters and anti-fascist counter-demonstrators swarmed the Oregon city at the weekend for a widely publicised right-wing rally that attracted the attention of Donald Trump.In video circulating online, a woman can be seen walking towards police and spitting at them once before she is wrestled to the floor by a group of officers wearing riot gear."Police brutality cannot be tolerated on any level," Riley Renn, the woman who filmed the video, told The Independent."Many of the people who were counter-protesting were also there to speak out against [the] lack of accountability when it comes to the United States and our massive police presence."It is not clear whether the woman involved was part of an official protest or just a passer-by in the area.Portland Police have been contacted for comment on the incident shown in the video.At least 13 people were arrested in the city on Saturday as officers seized metal poles, bear spray and other weapons during the right-wing rally.On Saturday, Mr Trump showed support for one of the demands of right-wing demonstrators by saying "major consideration" was being given to naming the anti-fascist group Antifa an "organisation of terror".Leaders of right-wing groups have vowed to return to the city so long as Antifa groups remain active in the area.However, Portland's mayor Ted Wheeler said Joe Biggs, the organiser of the event, was not welcome in the city."We do not want him here in my city. Period," Mr Wheeler said, adding that he believed the demonstrations were linked to "a rising white nationalist movement" in the US."Portland, being a very progressive community, is always going to be at or near ground zero of this battle," he said.More than two dozen local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, were in the city for the event, which was attended by members of the far-right Proud Boys group and Three Percenters militia movement.Lieutenant Tina Jones, a police spokesperson, said there were about 1,200 people on the streets at the peak of the protests.The Proud Boys, who organised the event on Saturday, have been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Centre.The rally was inspired by a viral video of conservative blogger Andy Ngo being attacked by anti-fascist protesters in June.Agencies contributed to this report
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| Asylum Seekers Pursue National Order Barring New Constraints Posted: 19 Aug 2019 03:14 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Lawyers representing migrants asked a federal judge in California to reinstate a nationwide order that blocked the Trump administration from preventing some Central Americans from applying for asylum in the U.S.The administration last month imposed new restrictions on the asylum seekers, barring them from requesting protection if they traveled through another country on their way to the U.S. unless they already tried and failed to receive asylum there. The judge then issued the order blocking the new rules across the country.A three-judge appeals-court panel in San Francisco upheld that order for California and Arizona, the border states in its jurisdiction, but said it couldn't be applied nationally, including in the border states of New Mexico and Texas.On Monday, lawyers for the American Civil Liberties Union, the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Southern Poverty Law Center asked the lower-court judge to consider evidence that the nationwide injunction should be reinstated, arguing asylum seekers face "grave harm" because they frequently don't enter the country and complete their proceedings in one state."An asylum seeker may enter the U.S. through Texas, have a credible-fear interview in New Jersey and ultimately apply for asylum in California," the groups said.(Updates with details and context starting in third paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey, Joe SchneiderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Spain rails against Salvini's refusal to accept rescued migrants Posted: 19 Aug 2019 05:07 PM PDT  Spain on Monday stepped up criticism of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's refusal to allow 107 migrants on board a charity vessel to disembark at an Italian port, calling it "a disgrace to humanity". The Open Arms has been anchored since Thursday within swimming distance of Lampedusa island. Some have been on board the boat operated by Spanish charity Proactiva Open Arms for 18 days, putting them on track to surpass the record of 19 days which 32 migrants spent stranded on another charity rescue ship, the Sea-Watch 3, in January.
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| 'Nightmare' as Egypt aided China to detain Uighurs Posted: 17 Aug 2019 10:04 PM PDT  Abdulmalik Abdulaziz, an Uighur student, was arrested and handcuffed by Egyptian police and when they removed his blindfold he was surprised to see Chinese officials questioning him in custody. "They never said their names or mentioned who they were exactly," said Abdulaziz, 27, who spoke to AFP helping to uncover new details of the 2017 arrests of over 90 Uighurs from the mostly Muslim Turkic minority. Abdulaziz, like most swept up in the three-day crackdown in the first week of July 2017, was an Islamic theology student at Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim world's most prestigious educational institution.
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| Fugitive lived in isolated bunker for 3 years to evade arrest in Wisconsin Posted: 18 Aug 2019 11:29 AM PDT  Jeremiah Button was sleeping in a homemade bunker in the woods on the morning of Aug. 9 when his three-year run from the law came to an end.
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