| Trump weighs in on Hong Kong to gain leverage in China trade talks Posted: 23 Aug 2019 06:54 AM PDT  Donald Trump has shifted his stance on the unrest in Hong Kong in recent days to show greater solidarity with the pro-democracy protesters after coming to view the issue as a point of leverage in trade negotiations with China.For months, Trump administration officials described the Hong Kong uprising as an internal matter for China, aware of how delicate the issue is for president Xi Jinping and other Communist Party officials.
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| Radical gun reform may finally have a voice in Washington Posted: 22 Aug 2019 10:00 PM PDT  An ambitious agenda by the March for Our Lives activists may be the first time the majority of Americans get real representationA young girl looks on as she attends a vigil for the victims of the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Photograph: Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesMarch for Our Lives, the national youth gun violence prevention movement founded by survivors of last year's school shooting in Parkland, Florida, released a sweeping gun reform agenda this week.The agenda calls for significantly raising the standards for gun ownership in America, and reducing by about 100m the total number of guns in circulation.It's a dramatic, ambitious plan. And it may represent the first time in decades that the majority of Americans will get any real representation in the gun control debate in Washington.March for Our Lives' young activists endorsed an Australia-style mandatory government buyback and destruction of "assault weapons". They want to decrease the number of guns in circulation by 30% – which would mean roughly 100m fewer firearms in American hands. They proposed regulations that would dramatically raise the bar for who is allowed to purchase a gun, putting US law much more in line with European countries. And they want to revisit the 2009 supreme court decision, District of Columbia v Heller, which enshrined a pro-gun interpretation of Americans' second amendment right to bear arms.These proposals are substantially more aggressive, and more ambitious, than anything the Democrats in Washington have fought for in years. In fact, for decades, gun control groups and progressive politicians have done a poor job at representing the majority of Americans in Congress when it comes to gun control. A surprising voidDemocrats have fought for minor new restrictions on gun buying – and been defeated by the Republican party's gun absolutists – but, fundamentally, the Democratic party has remained supportive of gun ownership.Democratic lawmakers' efforts to "ban assault weapons", for example, have not meant an actual ban on these guns, but only a ban on future sales, meaning that Americans could keep the millions of military-style rifles they already own. President Obama's signature gun control legislation after the 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a compromise bill that would have closed just a few of the gaping loopholes in the nation's background check system – a measure so weak it's doubtful whether it would have had any effect on gun violence at all.The country's largest gun control groups, too, have made great efforts to portray themselves as pro-"gun safety", not anti-gun. They routinely advertise themselves as supporters of Americans' second amendment right to bear arms. And they have focused on "commonsense reforms", such as getting what activists see as particularly extreme weapons off the streets, or requiring a criminal background check before every gun sale.This lack of any explicit anti-gun side in the American gun debate is strange.Although many Americans may not realize it, gun owners are a minority in the United States. American civilians overall own an estimated 300m to 400m firearms, more than one gun per person. But this frequently cited statistic obscures how concentrated American gun ownership is.In recent surveys, roughly 70% to 80% of Americans said they do not personally own a gun, and a majority said that nobody in their household owns a gun. Just 3% of American adults own half the country's guns, according to a definitive 2015 survey. This small group of gun super-owners have an average of 17 guns each.Gun absolutists – the activists who oppose any gun control measures, who want Americans to be able to own any kind of gun, and carry them everywhere – are a minority within that minority. According to the best available estimates, fewer than 10% of American gun owners overall are members of the National Rifle Association.There appear to be at least as many Americans who are vehemently anti-gun as there are NRA members.Recent Gallup polls have found that 28% of American adults say they would support a law banning handgun ownership, except by the police and other "authorized persons". A 2017 Pew Research Center survey found that 9% of American adults believed that "almost no one" should be legally allowed to own guns – about the same proportion as the number of adults who believed that "almost everyone" should be able to own them.A coalition of 9% of American adults would translate into more than 20 million people. That's a group four times larger than the NRA, which claims between 5 million and 6 million members.Only a minority of Americans oppose most private gun ownership. But there's strong majority support for much tougher gun control laws than the ones currently on the books.A 2017 Pew survey found 68% supported banning assault-style weapons. Seventy-one percent supported having a federal database to track all gun sales. A 2018 Gallup survey found 68% of respondents supported raising the legal age to buy certain guns. A Quinnipiac poll in May found 77% of respondents were in favor of requiring people to obtain a license before being able to purchase a gun.It's not hard to find Americans who oppose the country's current gun culture. They show up at gun control rallies, holding signs that say things like "Repeal the Second Amendment". They live in neighborhoods burdened by decades of daily gun violence. They've lost family members or friends to shootings. They keep asking: why can't we just get rid of the guns?But for years, these Americans' views have not been well represented by America's "gun safety" groups, and they have had virtually no representation in Congress.This may finally be starting to change. Moving the gun debateIn 2016, a progressive activist launched Guns Down America, a small organization that advocates not simply for "gun sense laws", but for "a future with fewer guns". Following the Parkland shooting, the young March for Our Lives activists have advocated unapologetically for bold reform, though they, like other American gun control activists, say they're not anti-gun and their proposals for stricter regulation represent the interests of "responsible gun owners".It's not yet clear how much the 2020 Democratic presidential candidates will move towards embracing these majority opinions on gun control policy. But there's already been movement towards the actual middle of the debate.In 2016, Obama argued in a CNN Town Hall that "issues like licensing, registration, that's an area where there's just not enough national consensus at this stage to even consider it". This year, the New Jersey senator Cory Booker made gun licensing the center of his 2020 gun control platform.After the mass shooting targeting Latino families in El Paso, the former Texas congressman Beto O'Rourke said he endorsed not just an assault weapon ban, but a mandatory federal buyback of assault weapons. On Wednesday, he became the first Democratic 2020 candidate to tweet that he supported March for Our Lives' new policy agenda.O'Rourke's campaign did not back away from the most controversial elements of the youth activists' plan, including their desire to revisit the supreme court's current interpretation of the second amendment, enshrined in the Heller decision."While Beto agrees with the court's holding that the second amendment allows for regulation, he does not agree with the entirety of the Heller decision," said Aleigha Cavalier, O'Rourke's national press secretary. "One piece of the Heller case Beto believes should be revisited is the court's decision to strike down DC's safe storage requirements."America's gun debate may soon actually have two sides.
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| An innocent man spent months in jail after customs officials thought honey he brought back from Jamaica was liquid meth Posted: 23 Aug 2019 01:34 PM PDT  Leon Haughton told The Washington Post he was jailed for 82 days after customs officials in Baltimore alleged that the three jars of honey were meth.
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| Death row inmate who always maintained his innocence has been executed Posted: 22 Aug 2019 10:20 AM PDT  A death row inmate who always maintained his innocence has been executed for the abduction, rape and murder of a student more than 20 years ago. Larry Swearingen received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in the Texan city of Huntsville for the 1998 killing of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter.
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| Russia launches floating nuclear reactor in Arctic despite warnings Posted: 23 Aug 2019 12:01 AM PDT  Russia will launch the world's first floating nuclear reactor and send it on an epic journey across the Arctic on Friday, despite environmentalists warning of serious risks to the region. Loaded with nuclear fuel, the Akademik Lomonosov will leave the Arctic port of Murmansk to begin its 5,000 kilometre (3,000-mile) voyage to northeastern Siberia. Nuclear agency Rosatom says the reactor is a simpler alternative to building a conventional plant on ground that is frozen all year round, and it intends to sell such reactors abroad.
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| Chinese embassy says the US is trying to suppress Huawei Posted: 23 Aug 2019 02:48 PM PDT ![Chinese embassy says the US is trying to suppress Huawei]( "Chinese embassy says the US is trying to suppress Huawei") An embassy statement to The Associated Press said the arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Canada at the request of U.S. authorities is "of course different" from China's detentions of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor. "The Meng Wanzhou incident is not just a judicial case, but the U.S. using state power to work with its certain ally to suppress a private high-tech Chinese enterprise on unwarranted charges.
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| Trump fumes over emissions deal between automakers and California Posted: 22 Aug 2019 10:22 AM PDT  The president decried a deal between the most populous U.S. state and four major automakers.
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| Brexit Held at the Border Posted: 22 Aug 2019 02:22 PM PDT  In the last two days Prime Minister Boris Johnson has proposed that Ireland temporarily leave the European Union to align with the economic rules of a post-Brexit U.K. German chancellor Angela Merkel has suggested, somewhat flippantly, that the U.K. could figure out a special trading arrangement for itself and Ireland in the next 30 days. And French president Emmanuel Macron has said that there's still room for negotiation between the U.K. and the EU, but he's willing to be "the hard boy." Maybe Macron is taking the EU marriage metaphor a little too personally . . .What on earth is going on?It's been three years since a majority of the U.K.'s electorate voted to leave the European Union. And so far, all that Brexit has generated is a great deal of nearly incomprehensibly vocabulary. First we got Theresa May's red lines, her attempt to define how it was exactly that Brexit means Brexit, and what the future relationship, if any, the United Kingdom would have with the EU. These red lines, an end to freedom of movement from EU member states into the U.K., and an exit from the EU's customs union ruled out the Norway option but not Canada Plus Plus. Or Canada Plus Plus Plus. Yes, I'm serious.According to the withdrawal agreement negotiated between Theresa May and the rest of the EU, that future relationship has to be figured out in the transition period. That's a two-year window after the U.K. leaves the EU in which it would continue to follow EU rules until they came to a trade agreement. That is, unless there is a no-deal Brexit and the U.K. simply exits the European Union on October 31 and conducts business with the world based on World Trade Organization rules. Got it? Well, sort of.The focus is now on the Irish-border backstop. Basically, the backstop is a promise that there will be no hard border — a customs border across the island of Ireland, between the Republic of Ireland and the six counties of Northern Ireland. Irish public officials have argued (with the support of the EU) that a frictionless border is necessary for economic and political reasons. The frictionless border is understood there as part of the the peace settlement in Northern Ireland, following the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. So too the "all-island economy" that it creates. The backstop is a promise by the U.K. to keep Northern Ireland following a number of regulations and customs rules that match it to the Republic of Ireland.This promise became the focus of Tory and Brexiteer anger at Theresa May's withdrawal agreement. First, because it created what seemed like a negotiating trap for the U.K. during the transition period. Having already agreed to keep Northern Ireland (and the rest of the U.K. with it) aligned with the EU's rules as part of a backstop, the EU would have less incentive to come to another, different trade relationship to supersede that agreement. The price to be paid for testing and pushing the EU might carve up the United Kingdom itself. If Great Britain diverged from the EU at the end of the transition period, Northern Ireland would be partially politically detached from the Union, and perhaps its citizens would have to go through customs to travel within their own country, from Belfast to Birmingham.Recently Johnson has begun calling the backstop "undemocratic" and hinting that it violates the Good Friday Agreement. He has a point. The backstop would keep Northern Ireland subject to EU rules and regs in which they have no say. It would deprive Northern Ireland's elected ministers to Parliament of any voice on matters that would be routine for MPs in any other constituent nation of the United Kingdom. That seems quite a lot like a partial form of Irish unification. But the Good Friday Agreement ensures that Irish unity can be achieved only by a majority vote for it in the six counties and another one in the Republic of Ireland.Proponents of the backstop hold that this measure would merely be the decision of a sovereign Parliament over a part of its territory. It is an agreement between Parliament and the EU and doesn't legally touch Ireland. That's true. But, the reality is that it would create checks between constituent parts of the U.K. that normally exist between two different countries. It does so in order to prevent those checks on the island of Ireland. And it does so to meet the expectations of the Irish government based in Dublin. To whom would Northern Irish people turn when trade policy affects them? Nobody they directly elect would have a constitutional say.Effectively these economic rules would be imposed on Northern Ireland as if it were a kind of EU colony, and done in the interests of the Republic of Ireland. This may satisfy the historical imagination of Irish nationalists. (Believe me, there is a delicious irony to be savored here.) But it is hard to argue that such a result is consonant with the Good Friday Agreement. Or a wise way to endear Northern Irish unionists to the Irish government.All of this confusion is the result of a kind of gamesmanship. The EU and U.K. each want to use the Irish border as a reason to crack the other's negotiating position. The EU would like to see the U.K. bounced into a permanent customs union in which it has no say, effectively maintaining the economic size and power of the EU while reducing the political influence of Eurosceptical Britannia. On the other side, the U.K. would like to see the Irish-border issue work in the opposite way, forcing the EU to strike an especially good and liberal trade deal with the U.K. that comes with fewer strings attached than those on Norway or other states that have non-standard arrangements.The lesson is rather obvious. You cannot predetermine what kind of infrastructure will be at a border and what laws will be enforced at it, in the absence of a durable agreement on trade in goods and materials. The EU and the U.K. have been trying to resolve questions in the wrong order. Both have done so out of a reasonable fear of loss.But the hour is late, and the real work must be done.
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| 2020 Toyota GR Supra vs. 2019 Ford Mustang Shelby GT350: Which Is the Better Driver's Machine? Posted: 23 Aug 2019 05:00 AM PDT  Vastly different yet similarly capable, one of these rear-drive sports coupes begs to be driven harder than the other.
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| Modi Ally Calls for Boycott of China Companies on Kashmir, Trade Posted: 22 Aug 2019 02:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Indians should stop buying from Chinese companies and the government should reconsider trade concessions to its biggest neighbor after China allied with Pakistan on Kashmir, according to an economic policy group linked with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.Companies like technology giant Huawei Technologies Co. should be barred from accessing the Indian market in the future and Chinese companies should be banned from state tenders, Ashwani Mahajan, co-convenor of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, affiliated to the ruling party's ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh said in an interview Thursday."Not just in Kashmir, we believe that Chinese companies are a security threat to India especially in telecom," Mahajan said by phone. "Not just in consumer goods, they're a threat in telecom because their companies have massive support from the state, are allowed to vastly underbid Indian companies and win tenders for critical infrastructure."The group met Indian telecom companies on Aug. 17 to discuss strategies to be used to curb Chinese industry. The organization had also written a letter to Prime Narendra Modi seeking action against China, Mahajan said. Calls made to the Prime Minister's Office seeking comment went unanswered.This isn't the first time that the Swadesh Jagran Manch has called for a ban on Chinese goods and companies. The group, along with the Confederation of All India Traders had called for a similar ban in March this year after China blocked the blacklisting of Pakistan-based Maulana Masood Azhar, founder of the militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed, at the U.N. Security Council.A ban called by both organizations during the festival of Diwali in 2016 wasn't successful, although traders anticipated the sale of Chinese products would fall by 30%, the Press Trust of India reported. India has a trade deficit of over $53 billion with China.To contact the reporter on this story: Archana Chaudhary in New Delhi at achaudhary2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Abhay SinghFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russia's Chechnya inaugurates what it says is Europe's largest mosque Posted: 23 Aug 2019 06:33 AM PDT  Authorities in the Russian region of Chechnya on Friday inaugurated what they said was the largest mosque in Europe in a pomp-filled ceremony attended by local and foreign officials. Named after the Prophet Mohammed, the marble-decorated mosque has capacity for more than 30,000 people and has been described by the Chechen authorities as the "largest and most beautiful" mosque in Europe. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said the mosque -- located in Shali, a town of 54,000 just outside the regional capital Grozny -- was "unique in its design, and majestic in its size and beauty".
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| Hotline for detained migrants featured on Orange is the New Black shut down Posted: 23 Aug 2019 02:10 PM PDT  Hotline shut down by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement connected detained migrants to an advocacy groupFounded in 2013, the hotline connected migrants with advocates at Freedom for Immigrants, which also consulted for the Netflix production and was named in the show. Photograph: Handout/Getty ImagesUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has shut down a national hotline that connected detained migrants to an advocacy group, a month after the hotline was featured in a storyline in the hit TV series Orange is the New Black.Founded in 2013, the hotline connected migrants in the world's largest immigration detention system with advocates at Freedom for Immigrants, which also consulted for the award-winning Netflix production and was named in the show.Freedom for Immigrants runs and supports visitation programs in detention centers. It sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ice, alleging the government agency was retaliating and violating its right to exercise free speech after its profile grew."Ice is attempting to silence its critics and block people in immigration detention from connecting with communities on the outside," said Christina Fialho, the group's co-executive director. "It's disappointing, but not unexpected, that Trump's Ice would engage in such cruel and undemocratic behavior."Shawn Neudauer, an Ice spokesman, said all Ice facilities provide detainees with reasonable access to phones and that detainees are allowed to make free calls to an Ice-approved list of free legal service providers."Pro bono organizations found to be violating [Ice] rules may be removed from the platform," Neudauer said. "However, removal from this platform in no way limits the ability of an Ice detainee to phone such an organization directly should the detainee wish to do so."The Ice phone system is operated by Talton Communications, which is mandated to provide free extensions to groups such as the UN refugee agency, consulates and Freedom for Immigrants.Freedom for Immigrants had three pro-bono extensions operating in detention centers when Donald Trump took office. Ice shut down two of the extensions before the final one was closed on 7 August.Fialho said the cease-and-desist letter was the first step in potential litigation, though the group was hoping to avoid court."We very much hope we can resolve this amicably, but our team is also ready to enforce our rights under the constitution," she said.Before Ice shut down the hotline it closed more than a dozen of Freedom for Immigrants detention center visitation programs. They were ultimately reinstated.The final season of Orange is the New Black focuses on the immigration detention system, which is run by Ice, and highlights how difficult it is for people in prison to contact family or friends because of the high cost of making phone calls in detention.In one scene, Gloria (Selenis Leyva) tells Maritza (Diane Guerrero) about the hotline and warns: "You gotta be careful, though. Apparently as soon as Big Brother figures out you're using the hotline, they shut it down."Fialho said the hotline was important for helping migrants connect with the outside world."We would get calls from people who hadn't been able to communicate with family members to tell them they've been taken by Ice, that they are in this particular immigration detention facility," she said.While the extension number was supposed to be written on a sheet available to migrants in every detention center, Fialho said Ice had never made it easily available and people learned about the hotline through word of mouth instead.Now that the extension is gone, detained migrants can still use the Freedom for Immigrants hotline, but the group will have to shoulder the cost. The extension was also supposed to be unmonitored. Ice can listen in on a normal call.Orange is the New Black actors including Guerrero, Emily Tarver and Laura Gómez signed a letter to Ice demanding the hotline be restored.
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| Family of detained UK consulate worker rejects 'made-up' report Posted: 23 Aug 2019 02:27 AM PDT  The family of a staffer at the UK consulate in Hong Kong have rejected a "made-up" report by Chinese state media that he was detained in the mainland for visiting prostitutes. Simon Cheng disappeared after visiting the city of Shenzhen from the semi-autonomous city on August 8, and the Foreign Office in London said both British officials and relatives have been unable to speak to him since. The Global Times, a tabloid state-run newspaper, said he had been detained for "soliciting prostitutes", citing police in Shenzhen, which lies on the China-Hong Kong border.
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| Special prosecutor named to look into Jussie Smollett case Posted: 23 Aug 2019 03:57 PM PDT  A judge appointed a special prosecutor Friday to look into why the Chicago state's attorney's office abruptly dropped the case against Jussie Smollett, leaving open the possibility that the former "Empire" actor could yet face charges in what police say was a phony attack on himself that he staged to get attention. Smollett, who is black and gay, maintains that he was the target of a racist and homophobic attack in January. Webb, who was appointed by Cook County Judge Michael Toomin during a Friday hearing, told reporters afterward that he would move the investigation along as quickly as possible.
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| Trump news – live: President lashes out after economic gloom deepens as experts warn of ‘unsustainable course’ over ballooning federal debt Posted: 22 Aug 2019 06:37 AM PDT  Donald Trump has renewed his criticism of the Federal Reserve, accusing it of "moving like quicksand" compared to Germany's central bank, despite insisting the US economy is "strong", refuting analysts' fears a recession is imminent and apparently backing away from tax cuts.The attack follows the president's address to the American Veterans 75th National Convention in Kentucky on Wednesday evening, where he joked about awarding himself the Medal of Honor and trailed the idea of dumping thousands of captured Isis fighters on Europe.
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| Chinese buyers pull back from U.S. housing market, hurting home sales Posted: 23 Aug 2019 12:13 PM PDT  Chinese investors are buying fewer U.S. homes because of money controls in China. That's lowering prices and giving U.S. buyers a better chance to buy
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| Sanders campaign boss concedes he may not win New Hampshire Posted: 22 Aug 2019 05:44 PM PDT  The campaign manager for Bernie Sanders emphasized Thursday that New Hampshire is a critical presidential primary state he expects Sanders to win, but he's leaving room for a scenario in which Sanders falls short. Faiz Shakir said he doesn't "like the language of must-win," though he does believe it is an important early voting state.
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| The Hyde Amendment Denies Women Health Care. Yes, Abortion Is Health Care Posted: 23 Aug 2019 11:26 AM PDT  The Hyde Amendment keeps women of color, young people, the LGBTQ community, immigrants and lower-income people from accessing abortion care, writes Congresswoman Barbara Lee. She says it's time for Congress to repeal it.
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| Half of Venezuela's Oil Rigs May Disappear If U.S. Waivers Lapse Posted: 22 Aug 2019 09:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A looming U.S. sanctions deadline is threatening to clobber Venezuela's dwindling oil-rig fleet and hamper energy production in the nation with the world's largest crude reserves.Almost half the rigs operating in Venezuela will shut down by Oct. 25 if the Trump administration doesn't extend a 90-day waiver from its sanctions, according to data compiled from consultancy Caracas Capital Markets. That could further cripple the OPEC member's production because the structures are needed to drill new wells crucial for even maintaining output, which is already near the lowest level since the 1940s.A shutdown in the rigs will also put pressure on Nicolas Maduro's administration, which counts oil revenues as its main lifeline. The U.S. is betting on increased economic pressure to oust the regime and bring fresh elections to the crisis-torn nation, a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Latin America's biggest crude exporter until recent years.Venezuela had 23 oil rigs drilling in July, down from 49 just two years ago, data compiled by Baker Hughes show. Ten of those are exposed to U.S. sanctions, according to calculations by Caracas Capital Markets. The Treasury Department extended waivers in July for service providers to continue for three more months, less than the six months the companies had sought.Most other government agencies involved in the deliberations opposed any extension, a senior administration official said last month, adding that another reprieve will be harder to come by."Almost half the rigs are being run by the Yanks, and if the window shuts down on this in two months, then that's really going to hurt Venezuela unless the Russians and the Chinese come in," said Russ Dallen, a Miami-based managing partner at Caracas Capital Markets.Output RiskA U.S. Treasury official said the department doesn't generally comment on possible sanctions actions.More than 200,000 barrels a day of output at four projects Chevron Corp. is keeping afloat could shut if the waivers aren't renewed. That would be debilitating to Maduro because the U.S. company, as a minority partner, only gets about 40,000 barrels a day of that production.The departure of the American oil service providers would hurt other projects in the Orinoco region, where operators need to constantly drill wells just to keep output from declining. The U.S.-based companies are also involved in state-controlled Petroleos de Venezuela SA's joint ventures in other regions such as Lake Maracaibo.Limiting ExposureHalliburton Co., Schlumberger Ltd. and Weatherford International Ltd. have reduced staff and are limiting their exposure to the risk of non-payment in the country, according to people familiar with the situation. The three companies have written down a total of at least $1.4 billion since 2018 in charges related to operations in Venezuela, according to financial filings. Baker Hughes had also scaled back before additional sanctions were announced earlier this year, the people said.Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Weatherford, PDVSA and Venezuela's oil ministry all declined to comment.Halliburton has adjusted its Venezuela operations to customer activity, and continues operating all of its product service lines at its operational bases, including in the Orinoco Belt, it said in an emailed response to questions. It works directly with several of PDVSA's joint ventures, and timely payments from customers are in accordance with U.S. regulations, it said.Hamilton, Bermuda-based Nabors Industries Ltd. has three drilling rigs in Venezuela that can operate for a client until the sanctions expire in October, Chief Executive Officer Anthony Petrello said in a July 30 conference call, without naming the client.The sanctions carry geopolitical risks for the U.S. If Maduro manages to hang on, American companies would lose a foothold in Venezuela, giving Russian competitors such as Rosneft Oil Co. a chance to fill the void. Chinese companies could also benefit. Even if the waivers get extended, the uncertainty hinders any long-term planning or investments in the nation by the exposed companies.Rosneft's press office didn't respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment on operations in Venezuela.\--With assistance from David Wethe, Debjit Chakraborty and Dina Khrennikova.To contact the reporters on this story: Peter Millard in Rio de Janeiro at pmillard1@bloomberg.net;Fabiola Zerpa in Caracas Office at fzerpa@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tina Davis at tinadavis@bloomberg.net, Pratish Narayanan, Joe RyanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Le Brexit breakthrough? Europe says "Nein", "non", "no" Posted: 23 Aug 2019 04:28 AM PDT ![Le Brexit breakthrough? Europe says "Nein", "non", "no"]( "Le Brexit breakthrough? Europe says \"Nein\", \"non\", \"no\"") LONDON/PARIS/BERLIN, Aug 23 (Reuters) - After sterling soared and some British newspapers roared at a supposed Brexit victory for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Europe's power brokers had a more sobering message: the basic divorce deal is not changing. Enter PM Johnson, an avowed Brexiteer whose bet is that the threat of a disorderly 'no-deal' exit will convince German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron that the EU must grant him the divorce deal he wants.
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| Fast-moving wildfire erupts in California, forcing thousands to evacuate Posted: 23 Aug 2019 09:23 AM PDT  Mountain fire races across hundreds of acres in just hours as wildfire season looms large over the stateThis photo provided by Cal Fire shows an aerial view of the Mountain Fire on 22 August. Photograph: APA fast-moving wildfire that broke out on Thursday in northern California has forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 residents, racing across at least 600 acres within just a few hours, officials say. The Mountain fire, which erupted on the outskirts of a national forest in northern California, has threatened 1,110 homes and structures. As of Friday morning the fire was 40% contained , according to Cal Fire.The cause of the fire is under investigation.Photos of the blaze posted on Twitter by the Shasta county sheriff's office showed thick black and gray smoke billowing into the area over a highway near the Shasta-Trinity national forest."Jones Valley and Bella Vista area residents! This situation is very fluid and rapidly changing, if you do not see your road listed but feel you are in danger YOU MAY EVACUATE to Shasta College Gymnasium," the sheriff's department said in a separate tweet.The Mountain fire is threatening thousands of homes and forcing evacuations. Photograph: APThe Shasta College campus was closed along with Highway 299 and about a dozen smaller roads. Residents of small communities in the path of the flames were told to evacuate or be prepared to flee on short notice.California was hit by some of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in a century last year and state officials have warned this year's fire season could be similarly intense.The Camp fire, which broke out in Butte county in November and overran the town of Paradise, killed 86 people and left thousands of others homeless. State fire investigators determined that the Camp fire was sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric Co transmission lines.The Mountain fire broke out on the same day that Bernie Sanders, the senator and Democratic presidential candidate, unveiled his $16.3tn climate change plan and toured Paradise, which he called a "wake-up call for our entire nation"."Climate change is a major, major crisis for our country, and the entire world, and one of the manifestations of that crisis is what happened here," Sanders said as he walked through a burned-out mobile home park in Paradise alongside people who lost their homes in last November's deadly blaze.
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| Israel warns Hamas further attacks risk more Gaza suffering Posted: 22 Aug 2019 11:11 AM PDT  The Israeli army on Thursday warned the Gaza Strip's residents and its Hamas rulers that further attacks on Israel could incur tougher conditions for the coastal territory. The warning came in a tweet from the army's chief Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee, hours after Israeli aircraft hit Hamas targets in retaliation for overnight Palestinian rocket attacks. Hamas launched two rockets at Israel late Wednesday -- bringing to six the number of strikes from Gaza in less than a week -- the army said, adding that they caused no casualties or damage.
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| Trump lashes out after economic gloom deepens, as he jokes about trading Puerto Rico for Greenland Posted: 22 Aug 2019 08:37 AM PDT  Donald Trump had a much quieter day after yesterday's marathon spew. He started the morning off by renewing his criticism of the Federal Reserve, accusing it of "moving like quicksand" compared to Germany's central bank, despite insisting the US economy is "strong", refuting analysts' fears a recession is imminent and backing away from tax cuts. After that, he appeared to take the day off from social media, possibly at the hands of concerned aides, or maybe just after tiring himself out.The morning's attack follows the president's address to the American Veterans 75th National Convention in Kentucky on Wednesday evening, where he joked about awarding himself the Medal of Honor and trailed the idea of dumping thousands of captured Isis fighters on Europe.
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| Rep. Jerry Nadler slams 'growing anti-Semitism,' condemns cartoon shared by Omar and Tlaib Posted: 23 Aug 2019 11:55 AM PDT  Zach Friend and David Bahnsen weigh in on controversial comments made by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, Rep. Ilhan Omar and President Trump.
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| 7 sent to hospital after smoke fills cabin of Hawaii flight Posted: 22 Aug 2019 06:47 PM PDT  Seven people were taken to the hospital Thursday after smoke filled the cabin of a Hawaiian Airlines flight from California to Hawaii. Hawaiian Airlines says 184 passengers and seven crew members used evacuation slides to get off the plane after it declared an in-flight emergency and landed in Honolulu. Jon Snook, Hawaiian Airlines chief operating officer, said smoke was first detected on Hawaiian Airlines Flight 47 from Oakland, California, about 20 minutes prior to landing as the plane began to descend.
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| Brown bear that is killing livestock and startling hikers in Italy's Dolomites is wanted, dead or alive Posted: 22 Aug 2019 09:13 AM PDT  A bear that is raiding beehives, attacking livestock and startling hikers in the Dolomite mountains of Italy is now wanted dead or alive. The brown bear is known to scientists as M49 but was nicknamed Papillon, after the Henri Charrière novel about escaping from Devil's Island in French Guiana, when it managed to climb over a 16ft-high fence and flee an enclosure last month. It had been captured just a few hours before after being identified as a problem bear which posed a threat to farm animals. Since escaping the enclosure in a wildlife sanctuary in the province of Trentino on July 15, it has been slowly moving northwards, disemboweling a cow and encountering hikers. The province of South Tyrol has now issued an order which calls for the capture or, if necessary, the killing of the 140kg, three-year-old bear. It is normally illegal to kill or capture Italy's bears, which were introduced from Slovenia in the 1990s. The order was signed on Wednesday by Arno Kompatscher, the president of the autonomous, German-speaking province, which was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire until the end of the First World War when it passed to Italy. "We want to capture the bear in order to protect other bears, and also wolves, because if it continues to be a nuisance, then bears and wolves will never be accepted by the population," said Arnold Schuler, the deputy president of the province. The bear is roaming the Dolomites in northern Italy, between the provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol The authorities say the bear poses a risk to humans. In the last few days, it was seen snuffling around a caravan used by shepherds in a remote mountain spot, looking for discarded food. Two national park rangers fired shots into the air to scare it away. The bear was encountered this week by a hiker on a mountain trail near the Bletterbach Canyon in South Tyrol. "My legs were shaking," the 64-year-old man told a local newspaper. "People joke about meeting a bear in the wild, but when you really do encounter one, you're no longer laughing." Carlo Groff, an expert on large carnivores from Italy's Forestry Corps, says rangers are trying to keep track of the bear's movements and hope to tranquilise and capture it. "The safety of humans comes before the bear," he told La Stampa newspaper. Conservation organisations and animal rights groups have threatened to take legal action against the authorities if the bear comes to any harm. "The bear is simply living its normal life. It has never been dangerous to humans. It has caused a few thousand euros' worth of damage, and it is right that compensation should be paid, but we need to learn to value bears as an asset, not a threat," said Isabella Pratesi of WWF Italy. While the autonomous provincial government has called for the bear's capture or, if necessary, killing, Sergio Costa, the environment minister, has called for the bear to be spared.
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| Huawei Puts a Price on Trump’s Aggression Posted: 23 Aug 2019 03:19 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Huawei Technologies Co. expects U.S. export restrictions to reduce annual revenue at its consumer devices business by about $10 billion, as the company is banned from buying American components like semiconductors and software.China's largest technology company is seeking ways to replace key U.S. suppliers such as Cadence Design Systems Inc. and Synopsys Inc., Deputy Chairman Eric Xu said Friday. The overall damage to the company will be a "little less" than billionaire founder Ren Zhengfei's initial estimate, Xu added.Huawei is seeking to develop alternatives after coming under intense pressure from the Trump Administration, which has argued its technology represents a security threat. On Friday, it introduced its most powerful artificial intelligence chipset, the Ascend 910, which is poised to rival some of the best offerings from Qualcomm Inc. and Nvidia Corp. Earlier this month, it offered the first glimpse of an in-house software -- HarmonyOS -- that may someday replace Google's Android.The company is also researching ways to replace chip-design software tools offered by Cadence and Synopsys, Xu told a news briefing in Shenzhen without elaborating. "There were no chip design tools 10 years ago, but the industry still developed chips," said Xu, who argued that Cadence and Synopsys were not must-haves for design. "Intel started to develop chips in the 1970s, when those companies didn't exist."Since May, Huawei has occupied the uncomfortable position of being both an established global brand and a member of the U.S. Entity List, which bars it from trading freely with American suppliers. Despite a series of 90-day reprieves, the latest of which came this week, the uncertainty caused by American sanctions has already cost the company a great deal.Even if Huawei is eventually brought in from the cold, the impact of this summer's upheaval will be widespread and painful. Already, it reported slower sales growth in the second quarter compared to the first as the ban started to bite, especially into a consumer business encompassing smartphones and laptops. That in turn is accelerating Huawei's effort to become self-reliant.One area in which the Chinese company is rapidly developing in-house expertise is semiconductors, propelling Beijing's ambitions of weaning itself off foreign chips. HiSilicon -- Huawei's chip design subsidiary -- has been developing its capabilities for a long time, and it's recently grown into the second largest customer (after Apple Inc.) for the world's biggest chip manufacturing contractor Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Huawei has also elevated the presence of home-grown technologies throughout its product line -- from base stations to smartphones and servers -- as a key step to limiting the damage of the U.S. ban.The Ascend 910 processor unveiled Friday is a show of technological prowess. It will be used for AI model training, and Huawei says it outperforms all existing competition. Xu proclaimed that "without a doubt, it has more computing power than any other AI processor in the world." The company also unveiled MindSpore, an AI computing framework that -- along with the 910 -- is supposedly twice as fast as Google's TensorFlow."The May 16 sanctions incident had no impact on the execution of Huawei's AI strategy nor commercialization of AI products," said Xu. "Our R&D project related to AI is building up steadily."(Updates with Ascend's specs from the third paragraph)To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Vlad SavovFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 20 of the Craziest Pickup Trucks Ever Posted: 23 Aug 2019 08:55 AM PDT |
| Ex-US marine says injured by Russian prison guards Posted: 23 Aug 2019 09:11 AM PDT  A former US marine who was arrested in Moscow on espionage charges said Friday he had been injured by guards in the prison where he is being held awaiting trial. "I was injured in the prison... the prison doesn't want to tell you," Paul Whelan told journalists from a cage in a Moscow court, which was to decide on whether to extend his provisional detention. Whelan arrived in the court handcuffed and escorted by two security guards wearing black masks and plain clothes.
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| A couple who ran a religious conversion therapy program have been charged with trafficking underage boys Posted: 21 Aug 2019 05:34 PM PDT  Gary and Meghann Wiggins were arrested in Alabama, and remain in custody at the Burnet County Jail in Texas on a $100,000 bond.
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| Trump tells Republicans he may begin cutting social security and Medicare if he wins in 2020 Posted: 23 Aug 2019 10:35 AM PDT  Republicans on Capitol Hill say Donald Trump may be willing to cut Social Security and Medicare if he wins in 2020, reportedly describing the potential move as a "second-term project".Several senators told the New York Times in a report published this week they spoke to the president about reducing the costs of the federal health care and retirement programmes — a move that would likely stir controversy in a presidential election season.
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| Alaska wildfires sparked by high winds force mandatory evacuations Posted: 22 Aug 2019 12:03 PM PDT  An unusual combination of high winds and dry weather sparked six blazes in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough in Alaska.
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| Man Throws Brick at Woman's Head in One of Several Random NYC Attacks Posted: 23 Aug 2019 10:38 AM PDT  A man has attacked at least four people in random Manhattan attacks this August, police said.
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| Russian doctor has trace of radiation after explosion Posted: 23 Aug 2019 08:12 AM PDT  More than 100 Russian medical workers who helped treat victims of a recent mysterious explosion at a military testing range have undergone checks and one man has been found with a trace of radiation, officials said Friday. It was followed by a brief rise in radiation levels in nearby Severodvinsk, but the authorities insisted it didn't pose any danger. The Arkhangelsk regional administration said Friday that 110 medical workers have undergone checks that one man was found with a low amount of radioactive cesium-137 in his muscle tissue.
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| Putin Needs to Bury This Relic of Stalin Posted: 23 Aug 2019 04:52 AM PDT ![Putin Needs to Bury This Relic of Stalin]( "Putin Needs to Bury This Relic of Stalin") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- As Europe marks 80 years of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, which carved up eastern Europe between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, Russia is trying to defend the agreement again. There is no political benefit to doing this. President Vladimir Putin needs to abandon his Stalinist inheritance of a foreign policy based solely on national interest.If Moscow needed any reminder that many in eastern Europe still hold the treaty against it and still consider it a threat, plenty came on the anniversary. The governments of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania – the countries directly affected by the pact's secret protocol – issued a joint statement saying the document "sparked World War II and doomed half of Europe to decades of misery."More than a million people gathered to celebrate the Baltic Chain, the 419-mile (675 kilometer) long line of people who protested Soviet rule on Aug. 23, 1989. The demonstrators didn't pick that day at random – they, too, were making the point that the subjugation of their countries by the Soviet Union began with the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.Russia is fighting back. In Moscow, the original of the treaty is now exhibited alongside documents relating to both the 1938 Munich Agreement, where British and French leaders sanctioned the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland, and Poland's subsequent invasion of part of Czechoslovakia.At the opening of the exhibition earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke of Britain and France's treachery: By cosying up to Hitler, they forced the Soviet Union to sign a deal with the Nazis to ensure its own security, he said. Had the Western Europeans listened to the Soviets and set up a collective security system, the bloodshed of World War II could have been averted. Lavrov was making a clear analogy with Russia's efforts to build an alternative security architecture in today's Europe – an idea the Kremlin hasn't abandoned despite the rest of Europe's lack of interest.For its part, the Russian mission to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the group the Kremlin sees as the foundation for its alternative security architecture, tweeted on Aug. 20 that lots of other countries had signed pacts with the Nazis before the Soviet Union did.Kremlin officials can say all this until they go hoarse, but that can't erase the undeniable fact that the Soviet Union's security didn't require it to grab the Baltics and parts of Poland and Romania. Poland, which tried to benefit from the Nazis' aggression, has admitted it was in the wrong when it invaded part of Czechoslovakia. President Lech Kaczynski apologized for it in 2009.In 1989, the Soviet Union, too, officially condemned the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact – but subsequent Russian communications about it, including an entire article signed by Putin himself in the Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza, have come with the caveat that lots of others were at it, too.These excuses are a major reason other European countries don't trust Russia: To them, Putin and his subordinates are saying that Moscow would do something like this all over again if its interests dictated it, small countries be damned.Concern this might happen was what drove eastern Europeans into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The reality of the annexation of Crimea – another opportunistic move dictated ostensibly by Russian security considerations – is pushing Ukraine in the same direction.If Putin's goal was to inspire trust and start a meaningful conversation about collective European security in an age of increasing global competition, an unconditionally apologetic stance would work much better. Refraining from invading neighboring countries would be an even more meaningful step.I suspect, however, that Putin doesn't really believe in such goals, because, like Stalin, he thinks a deal with the devil, based on common interest rather than trust, is the best.My epiphany about the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact came when I read the long-lost diary of Alfred Rosenberg, Nazi ideologue and Hitler's one-time minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories. Rosenberg was skeptical about the deal and recoiled in horror when fellow Nazi Richard Darre told him of Joachim von Ribbentrop's comment that he had "felt as though among old party comrades" when meeting the Soviet leadership.Incredulously, Rosenberg recounted that during Ribbentrop's visit, Stalin raised his glass not just to Hitler but also to Heinrich Himmler, the Nazi security chief, calling him "the guarantor of order in Germany.""Himmler has eradicated communism, i.e. those who believed in Stalin, and this one – without any need for it – raises a toast to the exterminator of his faithful," Rosenberg noted.For Stalin, any kind of ideology took a back seat to expediency. He was a man of interests, not values. In that sense, Putin, an avowed anti-communist who has condemned Stalin on many occasions, is following the dictator's realpolitik. His adherence to his current Orthodox Christian brand of social conservatism is as flimsy as Stalin's link to leftist idealism was. If Putin can do a deal that will promote what he sees as Russia's interests, he will do it with anyone. He will wear any hat required of him while doing so, and raise any toast. He is oblivious to Molotov-Ribbentrop's biggest lesson of all: That such agreements don't hold.That's why eastern Europeans, and especially Ukrainians, are so worried about the possibility of a grand bargain between Putin and a U.S. president, most recently Donald Trump. The consequences for them could be comparable to those of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact.What's needed from Russia isn't an apology for carving up Europe with Hitler, but a different foreign policy is – one in which principles trump interests. Only such a change can bring closer the idealistic vision of a Europe that stretches from Lisbon to Vladivostok, a goal to which both Russian and European leaders still like to refer. And that shift shouldn't come at a moment of weakness, as it did in the waning years of the Soviet Union. Restoring trust should be a conscious process. It will take some time.To contact the author of this story: Leonid Bershidsky at lbershidsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Leonid Bershidsky is Bloomberg Opinion's Europe columnist. He was the founding editor of the Russian business daily Vedomosti and founded the opinion website Slon.ru.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Sweden 'receives indications' Iran is ready to release British tanker Posted: 23 Aug 2019 03:48 AM PDT  Sweden has reportedly received "very strong indications" from Iran that it will release the British-flagged Stena Impero oil tanker sometime in the coming days. Sweden's foreign ministry believes that the ship, which is operated by a Swedish firm, will be set free in the near future, according to Swedish public television. The report emerged after Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, met with his Swedish counterpart, Margot Wallstrom, in Stockholm earlier this week. The Iranian minister also met with the chief executive of Stena Bulk, the ship's operator. A spokeswoman for Sweden's foreign ministry would not confirm or deny the STV report. "We look positively at what Foreign Minister Zarif himself has said publicly about hopes for a possible quick solution for Stena Impero, but we do not disclose what is said in the meetings," the spokeswoman said. The Stena Impero was seized by Iran's Revolutionary Guard on July 19 in apparent retaliation for Royal Marines seizing the Iranian Grace 1 tanker off the coast of Gibraltar on July 4. Javad Zarif, Iran's foreign minister, met with his Swedish counterpart Credit: REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo The Grace 1, renamed the Adrian Darya 1, was released from Gibraltar over the weekend. British officials hoped its release would pave the way for the release of the Stena Impero. Iran has so far given no indication when, or if, it plans to release the British-flagged tanker. Iranian officials initially indicated that the Stena Impero had been seized in response to the Grace 1's seizure but now claims that the ship violated maritime rules in the Persian Gulf. Tehran has said that a court in the southern port of Bandar Abbas will decide the ship's fate. British officials believe Tehran is hiding behind legalism when the ship's seizure and release are in reality in the hands of political decision makers. The US has continued to pursue the Grace 1 after it left Gibraltar and has warned European states not to give the ship safe harbour as it sails east across the Mediterranean. That warning has now been extended to any European shipping firms that might interact with the tanker. "The shipping sector is on notice that we will aggressively enforce US sanctions," a US official told Reuters.
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| Dog owner charged with murder in mauling death of nine-year-old girl Posted: 22 Aug 2019 10:55 PM PDT ![Dog owner charged with murder in mauling death of nine-year-old girl]( "Dog owner charged with murder in mauling death of nine-year-old girl") Pierre Cleveland, 33, was arrested and charged on Thursday with involuntary manslaughter and having dangerous animals, as well as the murder charge, several media outlets, including the Detroit Free Press, reported. The child, Emma Hernandez, 9, was riding her bicycle near her home in Detroit on Monday, the last day of summer vacation, when she was attacked and killed by the dogs despite efforts by neighbors to save her. Cleveland's Detroit home is across the street from where the child lived, and news media reported that neighbors had long complained to the city about his dogs running loose through a broken fence.
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| Taiwan warns Pacific islands of China's 'empty promises' on aid Posted: 22 Aug 2019 01:49 AM PDT  Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu warned Pacific island nations Thursday against "empty promises" of financial aid from China, as the Solomon Islands considers switching diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing. Visiting Palau to shore up Taiwan's relations in the Pacific -- where six of its 17 diplomatic allies are located -- Wu said democratic nations were concerned about Chinese inroads into the region.
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| Printer who nixed gay pride shirt goes to Ky. Supreme Court Posted: 23 Aug 2019 11:49 AM PDT ![Printer who nixed gay pride shirt goes to Ky. Supreme Court]( "Printer who nixed gay pride shirt goes to Ky. Supreme Court") A Kentucky print shop owner who refused to make a gay pride T-shirt argued before the Kentucky Supreme Court that he shouldn't be compelled to promote messages that go against his religious beliefs. Blaine Adamson, owner of Hands-On Originals in Lexington, declined a T-shirt order from Lexington's Gay and Lesbian Services Organization for the city's 2012 Gay Pride Festival. The design had the text "Lexington Pride Festival" wrapped around the number five, celebrating the event's fifth year.
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| Trump dismisses recession warnings: 'I always find a way to win' Posted: 23 Aug 2019 05:19 AM PDT  The president has crowed about the state of the economy despite words of caution from within his administration.
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| Gary Ray Bowles: Death row serial killer executed by lethal injection despite last-minute plea Posted: 23 Aug 2019 12:46 AM PDT  A serial killer who admitted killing six gay men in just eight-months in the US east coast has been executed.Gary Ray Bowles was given a lethal injection in Florida late Thursday after more than 20 years on death row.
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| Tropical disturbance creeps closer to Florida Posted: 22 Aug 2019 03:33 PM PDT ![Tropical disturbance creeps closer to Florida]( "Tropical disturbance creeps closer to Florida") A tropical disturbance that formed Wednesday near the Bahamas continues to spin toward Florida.
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| Every Angle of the 2020 BMW 745e xDrive Plug-In Hybrid Posted: 22 Aug 2019 09:59 AM PDT |
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