| 2 Disney workers among 17 facing child porn charges after monthlong Florida probe Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:46 AM PST ![2 Disney workers among 17 facing child porn charges after monthlong Florida probe]( "2 Disney workers among 17 facing child porn charges after monthlong Florida probe") Florida authorities have arrested 17 men, including two Disney workers and a former middle school principal, on child pornography charges.
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| Poll: Bloomberg's potential run is a flop with voters so far Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:52 AM PST  Michael Bloomberg is running at 4 percent nationally as he teases a presidential bid, showing that he's well known — but widely disliked — by the Democratic electorate, according to a new poll. No contender is viewed more negatively by Democrats than the billionaire former New York City mayor. The Morning Consult poll, released Sunday, reflects the enormous challenge confronting Bloomberg as he considers a late entry into the 2020 race.
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| Members of community attacked in Mexico doubt they'll return Posted: 10 Nov 2019 11:33 AM PST  A Utah man who helped get his mother and other family members safely out of northern Mexico after nine people were killed in an apparent ambush said Sunday that most fled to Arizona with whatever they could fit in their cars and trucks and they'll likely never return. More than 100 people left their rural community in northern Mexico on Saturday in an 18-vehicle caravan after the attack Monday in which nine women and children were killed by what authorities say were hit men from drug cartels. "I went down there to get my mother and get my family out, my brothers and sisters and lots of kids," Mike Hafen said Sunday in telephone interview from his sister's home in Phoenix.
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| 'Gender Reveal' Celebration in Texas Led to a Plane Crash Posted: 09 Nov 2019 09:48 AM PST  In recent years, expectant parents have gone to extreme lengths to create splashy, Instagrammable moments to announce the sex of their child. Some of the celebrations, however, have ended in calamity: a 45,000-acre forest fire, a flaming car, a deadly explosion.And now, a plane crash could be added to that list, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board filed this week.A crop-dusting plane that dumped hundreds of gallons of pink water over a field in Turkey, Texas, about 300 miles northwest of Dallas, crashed to the ground in early September, according to safety board documents. No major injuries were reported.The pilot, Raj Horan, had been "conducting a gender reveal flight for a friend" when, after releasing about 350 gallons of water, the single-seat plane "got too slow" and stalled, records show.A passenger, identified as Jennifer Harrell, sustained minor injuries, according to the incident report. The aircraft, which struck the ground and flipped on its back, sustained substantial damage.Attempts to reach Harrell and Horan on Friday were not successful.The pilot told investigators there were "no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane."Cultural researchers have traced the origins of the so-called gender reveal party to the late 2000s. But those early attempts feel almost quaint by today's standards.Despite the possibility of attracting backlash for reinforcing gender stereotypes and schadenfreude should things go wrong, some couples have felt that confetti or cake sprinkles are not flashy enough to deliver their messages.Last month, an Iowa couple trying to create a device that could shoot colored powder into the air inadvertently built a pipe bomb that killed one of their guests. A day later, authorities in the state investigated another explosion of a store-bought "gender reveal kit," according to The Associated Press.On Australia's Gold Coast, a black car was rigged to spew thick clouds of blue smoke. But after drifting slowly and spinning its wheels on the road, the car burst into flames. (The driver managed to escape.)And in 2018, a man shot a rifle at a target containing a highly explosive chemical mixed with colorful powder packets that were intended to create a pink or blue cloud. The resulting explosion, however, sparked a massive fire that took firefighters a week to extinguish and burned more than 45,000 acres in Arizona.The man who shot the rifle, a Customs and Border Protection agent, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of U.S. Forest Service regulations and agreed to pay $220,000 in restitution.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Meet the U.S. soldier whose portrait hangs over Checkpoint Charlie Posted: 08 Nov 2019 11:37 PM PST  When he saw himself immortalized above the well-known crossing point, he was "shocked"
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| What's Behind Socialism's New Appeal Among Americans? Posted: 09 Nov 2019 12:08 AM PST  Multiple forms of socialism, from hard Stalinism to European redistribution, continue to fail.
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| Case of the stolen lemur: man who took animal from US zoo wanted a monkey Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:00 PM PST  This week the FBI released more details of the investigation into the brief 2018 abduction of Isaac, a 33-year-old ring-tailed lemurA ring-tailed lemur. Photograph: Dmitry Feoktistov/TassWhen it comes to lemurs, Isaac is known for being an easygoing guy. He's 33, and mostly enjoys a typical lemur life: resting, eating, exploring, and napping in the sun. He's the oldest ring-tailed lemur in North America and has lived at the same address since 2000.That's why, when Isaac turned up missing in July last year, the keepers at the Santa Ana Zoo were alarmed. "All the animals at the zoo have specialized diets and care requirements," explained Ethan Fisher, the executive director of zoo. "It was especially precarious for him, as a senior animal."Isaac turned up later that day in front of a Newport Beach hotel with a note: "This belongs to the Santa Ana Zoo. It was taken last night. Please bring it to police."In May, authorities announced they had a suspect: 19-year old Aquinas Kasbar. And this week, the FBI released more details of the investigation.Investigators determined Kasbar had used bolt-cutters to make a hole in the metal enclosure Isaac shared with five other endangered ring-tailed lemurs and a handful of monkeys, allowing several animals escape in the process.Kasbar, they said, had been in search of a monkey but none of them would go with him – so he ended up with the happy-go-lucky Isaac.Isaac could have been harmed by the small plastic tote he was captive in, especially when lemurs are used to standing on two legs, the FBI said. But fortunately he made it through his lemur-napping relatively unscathed. "The zoo vets checked him and there weren't any lasting issues," said Fisher. "But any time an animal is taken, there could be real harm."Kasbar bragged to his bail agent about stealing a lemur from the zoo, even showing off selfies on his phone of himself with the lemur, according to the FBI.Stealing an endangered animal is a federal crime. Kasbar pleaded guilty and last month was sentenced to three months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $8,486 in restitution to the zoo.Around the globe, zoo theft is a continuing and pernicious problem. In 2015 alone, 25 members of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria reported thefts. In one case, thieves in France stole 79 tortoises in one heist. In 2017, a four-year-old white rhino was killed and poachers partially sawed off its horn – the first time a rhino poaching happened at a western zoo.The ring-tailed lemur is native to Madagascar and is on a list of the 25 most endangered primates, according to court documents. Ring-tailed lemurs are endangered, in part, because of the illegal pet trade. "Lemurs are suffering from habitat loss and climate change and other threats," said Fisher.Lemurs enjoy the afternoon sun, and they'll often assume a yoga-like pose sitting on a rock or the ground, with their hands upturned on their knees. They also have something called stink fights, where males grab the end of their long, striped tail, rub it in a scent gland, and wave stinky tails at each other.To any would-be animal thieves, Fisher said: "Stealing from a zoo is definitely not a good idea. There's so many reasons not to do that, but the animals that we have at the zoo are extremely cared for. They're animals the community has grown to love and appreciate."
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| Ukrainians Contacted U.S. Officials in May About Aid Fears Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:31 PM PST  NurPhotoNearly a month before President Donald Trump's July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, top officials in Kiev were so concerned about the fate of U.S. political and military support for the country, that at least two inquired about the matter with Washington, according to three sources with knowledge of those conversations.Despite strong showing of American support at Zelensky's inauguration in May, Ukrainian officials were growing increasingly concerned about Rudy Giuliani's public comments about investigations into Hunter Biden and the gas company he worked for, Burisma. Two of those Ukrainian officials inquired with current and former U.S. officials, including an official at the State Department, about whether Giuliani's efforts aligned with Washington's thinking, and if the pressure campaign from Trump's personal lawyer would impact a presidential White House meeting or the delivery of U.S. military aid, the sources said. One of the Ukrainian officials who was wary about the mixed messages from Washington and the fate of U.S. support for the country was Oleksandr Danylyuk, the Chairman of the country's National Security and Defense Council. Danylyuk, appointed to his post May 26, participated in several at least one key meeting with U.S. officials that is now under scrutiny by House impeachment investigators on Capitol Hill. Danylyuk's tenure in the Zelensky administration was short lived. He resigned in September after transcript between President Trump and President Zelensky was released. He told Ukrainain media outlets that he stepped down because of efforts by billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky to influence banking regulation.The details of Danylyuk's conversations with current and former U.S. officials, some of which are reported here for the first time, underscore how officials close to Zelensky were worried about Giuliani's efforts, and U.S. support faltering earlier than previously understood.As early as May, Danylyuk was in conversation with current and former U.S. officials about "what to do with Giuliani" and his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, according to one former senior official close to Danylyuk."The concern was really over Giuliani appearing on TV all the time talking about corruption, Ukraine and the Bidens," the official said. "And so here's this guy who represents the president of the United States out there making these claims. People began to worry about what Trump was thinking about it all."At the time of Danylyuk's conversations, the communication channel between Kiev and Washington was far from solid. Weeks earlier, in late April, U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovonovitch had been recalled back to the U.S. The Ukraine portfolio was taken over, at least temporarily, by U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, former top diplomat to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry, according to the testimony transcripts of multiple impeachment inquiry witnesses. The changing diplomatic landscape had Ukrainian officials, including Danylyuk, on edge."It was really all anyone could talk about at the time," one U.S. official said, referring to Giuliani's public messaging on Ukraine. "This conversation was happening all over the place —in the business community. In the political circles. And so when you're that confused about what's going on, it's only natural that you begin to worry about this huge aid package that's on the line." The concerns about Giuliani weren't just circling in Kiev. In Washington, senior officials were fielding calls and meetings about the situation. Fiona Hill, the former top Russia advisor to the National Security Council, testified that she was hearing reports that the Ukrainians were "very concerned" that they were receiving pressure from Giuliani and his team to launch investigations. One of Danylyuk's earliest reported official meetings with a U.S. representative was on May 30 with Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI). Walberg had flown to Ukraine to attend the Ukrainian National Prayer Breakfast where he gave a speech. The two were scheduled to talk for an hour, according to a disclosure form Walberg filed with the House Ethics Committee. According to three sources with knowledge of that conversation, Walberg and Danylyuk spoke about corruption in the country, including ongoing efforts to pressure Ukrainian officials to launch investigations into the country's energy sector. And Danylyuk asked Walberg about the timing of a White House visit and the importance of the speedy delivery of U.S. military aid, one of those sources said. There's no indication that Walberg and Danylyuk discussed a quid pro quo. Danylyuk did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Dan Kotman, a spokesperson for Walberg said his meetings in Kiev while at the prayer breakfast were "in no way related to the current news surrounding Ukraine." When pressed for more information about his visit to Ukraine at a town hall meeting in Michigan last month Walberg said he communicates with Ukrainian officials about "issues of concern" regularly, including how to deal with corruption in the country.When asked if the trip was tax-payer paid Walberg said: "of course". But Walberg's trip was not tax-payer funded. It was paid for by the Ukrainian organizers of the prayer breakfast, according to his own disclosure form with the House Ethics Committee.While in Kiev, Walberg also met with former Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament Andriy Parubiy. Parubiy spoke with Walberg about how U.S. support for the "sphere of security and defense and in carrying out reforms is important for Ukraine," according to a translated version of an official press release of the meeting. Former Congressman Bob McEwen and Dan Burleigh, the organizer of the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast, also attended the meeting.Rudy Had a Secret Meeting With Zelensky's Rival, TooThe Daily Beast previously reported that McEwen helped arrange a meeting between Giuliani and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to talk about security issues and Russian aggression in Ukraine. McEwen is a contractor for the Livingston Group, run by former Congressman Bob Livingston, which represents multiple Ukrainian clients. Former National Security Council official Catherine Croft told House investigators that Livingston called her several times in an attempt to remove former Ambassador Yovanovitch from her post. Livingston told The Daily Beast in an interview last week that he began "to get complaints about the ambassador a year and a half ago". Walberg was scheduled to meet with President Zelensky during his trip to Ukraine, but the meeting ultimately fell through.Following his meeting with Walberg, Danylyuk continued to speak with Trump officials about Giuliani's campaign to convince Ukraine to open up investigations into Hunter Biden, Burisma and unsubstantiated claims Ukrainian officials interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Hillary Clinton."Danylyuk was negotiating President Zelensky's visit in Washington. That to me sounded strange since managers of our law enforcement agencies normally do not negotiate diplomatic events," said Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, a member of Ukraine's parliament and the former head of the country's security service. "I think that it's time both for Danilyuk and the head of [security service], Ivan Bakanov to give…the U.S. Congress all details about their negotiations with the United States."On July 10, Danylyuk attended a meeting in the White House with Zelensky aide Andri Yermak and Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Ambassador Sondland, Volker, Hill and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the deputy secretary of European Affairs at the State Department. According to multiple individuals who testified in the impeachment inquiry, Sondland told Danylyuk and Yermak that Zelensky would not be able to meet with President Trump unless they publicly agreed to the investigations Giuliani had been pushing for.By late July, Danyluk had made clear to top State Department officials that he and President Zelensky were aware of what Washington was up to."Gordon, one thing Kurt and I talked about yesterday was Sasha Danylyuk's point that President Zelensky is sensitive about Ukraine being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington's domestic reelection politics," Ambassador Wiliam Taylor wrote Sondland July 20. When asked by investigators what Danylyuk was referring to in his comment about Zelensky, Taylor said,: "I'm sure that was a reference to the investigations that Mr. Giuliani wanted to pursue."—additional reporting by Anna NemtsovaRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Albanian parents smuggle children into UK drug trade Posted: 10 Nov 2019 01:59 AM PST  Parents in Albania are trafficking their teenage sons to the UK to join organised crime gangs that control large tranches of Britain's cocaine market, an investigation by The Telegraph has found. Increasing numbers of young Albanians are being illegally smuggled into the UK with the promise of earning thousands of pounds from selling and running drugs for the gangs. Court records show teenage Albanians who mostly entered the UK hidden in lorries have been prosecuted in towns across the country, from Selkirk to Bath, Dewsbury to Shrewsbury and London to Glasgow after being caught with drugs worth as much as £200,000. According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), Albania is the biggest single foreign source of people trafficking into the UK with 947 cases referred to it in 2018, a more than 50 per cent increase since 2015. "The majority of Albanian boys and young men are trafficked with the complicity of their parents and the promise of financial remuneration by the traffickers," said Steve Harvey, an international law enforcement specialist, who has presented his evidence to a Home Office inquiry into the problem. "Families are approached by traffickers and engaged with on the basis of how they will profit financially from the deal. Additionally, the family are the traffickers and the children are seen and used as resources." "The traffickers and exploiters promise them money, a lot of money, and they promise them a job or when the boys are minors, they promise them accommodation, or clothes, so things that they need to have," an anonymous source told the Home Office inquiry. The UK has no problem attracting migrants "In some cases family members were directly responsible for the recruitment and exploitation of male trafficking victims." Gangsters - notably the Hellbanianz street gang of Albanian boys in south London - promote their lifestyle to teenagers in their home country through social media. Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers, an Albanian specialist at Bournemouth University, said "blingbling" is key: "Sending messages home to their peers of success featuring an abundance of money, speedy cars, women, gold necklaces and Rolex watches, branding also guns and power." However, she noted that there were also children sent by their families to have a chance of a decent education and future. It means there is lucrative trade for smuggling gangs who can charge families up to £15,000 to get their children into the UK, according to police sources. "Traffickers always have ready recruits because parents are keen for their children to go abroad and they and sending them younger and younger," said a Home Office report on a fact-finding mission to Albania. Typical is Endrit Vishaj, who entered the UK illegally aged 16 hidden on a lorry that took him to Solihull in the Midlands. Now, 18, he is serving a four year and four month jail sentence for dealing cocaine. He was caught in a Bilston car park driving a BMW in which police officers found two one kilogram blocks of high quality cocaine worth £200,000 in a carrier bag with £55,500 cash - as well as his £1,000 fee for the job. "He was used rather than the user and was waiting for further instructions after collecting the drugs in London and the money from a man who came to the vehicle in Bilston with a bag," his lawyer told Wolverhampton Crown Court. Another is Klevis Drazhi, 20, caught with 11 wraps of cocaine in Moorgate, London, and jailed for 18 months, claimed he was coerced into supplying drugs by a member of the Albania mafia after illegally entering the UK on the back of a lorry. Alfred Hamzaj, 22 and jailed for eight months for dealing in Dewsbury, west Yorkshire, after being caught with four kilogrammes of cannabis, claimed he had fallen into crime after losing his job at a hand car wash due to his illegal immigration status. The dangers are brought to life by an asylum case presented to a Parliamentary committee. Adnan, a 16 year old made homeless in his native Albania after his new stepfather threw him out, came to the UK because his parents had lived here when he was young. In his appeal for asylum, he said: "I cannot return [to Albania] as I have no one. No one was caring for me. I want to continue my education. If I return I will be left on the streets. I don't know how I will cope." He lost his appeal, however, and was told he faced deportation. "The day after his [Home Office] interview Adnan disappeared from foster care, probably on his way by foot or hitch-hiking to London," the committee was told. "Rather than living on streets of Albania, he is now an undocumented street child in the UK."
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| French IS suspects want to go home, and 'go on with my life' Posted: 10 Nov 2019 04:37 AM PST ![French IS suspects want to go home, and 'go on with my life']( "French IS suspects want to go home, and 'go on with my life'") Three French women who escaped from a camp for suspected jihadists in northern Syria say they want to go home and face whatever legal action France requires over their alleged links to the Islamic State (IS) militant group. The three, interviewed in Syria's Suluk town, controlled by Syrian rebels backed by Turkey, said they had fled during the chaos of Turkey's incursion into Syria last month and turned themselves over to Turkish forces in hopes of returning home. The women, who declined to give their names, suggested they were prepared to go France for the sake of their children, adding that conditions in the camp in Ain Issa, run by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), had been very hard.
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| Mexico’s AMLO Mulls Freeing Ex-Governor Villanueva from Jail Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:18 PM PST ![Mexico's AMLO Mulls Freeing Ex-Governor Villanueva from Jail]( "Mexico's AMLO Mulls Freeing Ex-Governor Villanueva from Jail") (Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said late Saturday that he's working for the release of a former governor convicted of laundering money for a drug cartel, threatening to cause increased friction with the U.S.Mario Villanueva, 71, served as governor of the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, which includes the resort city of Cancun, from 1993 to 1999. He starting serving a 22-year sentence in Mexico in 2017. Yet in May, the state Congress concluded that he was falsely accused and didn't commit the crimes, and that his sentence was part of a political vendetta.Lopez Obrador said at an event in the state on Saturday that his government is working for Villanueva's release, while adding that it also depends on the autonomous Attorney General's office, where there's an injunction to prevent it.Lopez Obrador didn't elaborate on the reasons behind his position on the specific case, although he mentioned general backing for an amnesty bill for elderly convicts and people whose cases take years to resolve. Jesus Cantu, the information chief of the president's press office, said that Lopez Obrador wants Villanueva freed on humanitarian grounds based on his age, a chronic lung disease and the time served on his sentence.The Villanueva case threatens to cause another irritant in Mexico's relationship with the U.S. just days after President Donald Trump said he's waiting for Lopez Obrador's call to "wage war" against drug cartels after an attack killed nine dual citizens.Villanueva already served time in the U.S. after pleading guilty to laundering bribes from the Juarez drug cartel, and his release probably wouldn't be well-received by the Drug Enforcement Administration that helped investigate him, said Alejandro Hope, a security consultant and former official for CISEN, Mexico's intelligence agency."This sends a strong and terrible signal of impunity," said Gerardo Rodriguez Sanchez Lara, a professor of national security at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico. "The U.S. and Mexico have worked together to punish former governors who have been involved with drug trafficking, and this is one of the few cases where there's been punishment. The president needs to explain very clearly why he's taking this stance."(Updates with Mexican official's comment in fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Kevin MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iran: Case open on missing ex-FBI agent on CIA job Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:53 AM PST  Iran is acknowledging for the first time it has an open case before its Revolutionary Court over the 2007 disappearance of a former FBI agent on an unauthorized CIA mission to the country, renewing questions over what happened to him.
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| Hong Kong police shoot protester as protests start working week Posted: 10 Nov 2019 04:45 PM PST  A Hong Kong police officer shot at masked protesters on Monday morning -- hitting at least one in the torso -- during clashes broadcast live on Facebook, as the city's rush hour was interrupted by protests. Footage showed a police officer drawing his sidearm in the district of Sai Wan Ho as he tried to detain a masked man at a road junction that had been blocked by protesters. A police source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to AFP that live rounds were fired at more than one protester in Sai Wan Ho and that a statement would be issued.
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| India's Nuclear Arsenal Keeps Growing, And That's Bad News For Pakistan and China Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:30 AM PST  India could be approaching 200 warheads.
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| Saudi Arabia: U.S. companies return to the kingdom Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:55 AM PST ![Saudi Arabia: U.S. companies return to the kingdom]( "Saudi Arabia: U.S. companies return to the kingdom") The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:The Saudi conference nicknamed "Davos in the Desert" returned last week -- and so did many of the Wall Street A-listers who boycotted it a year ago, said Mohamad Bazzi at The Guardian. Executives and political leaders shunned last year's lavish investment summit in Riyadh, "which took place only weeks after" Saudi agents murdered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But their return to the Future Investment Initiative this year signals that "Saudi Arabia is open for business, and U.S. firms don't want to miss out." Executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, and SoftBank, as well as Steve Mnuchin, the U.S. treasury secretary, and Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, were among the 300 speakers from 30 countries. The big draw was the planned initial public offering of a small piece of the world's most profitable company, Saudi Aramco, "the state-owned oil monopoly" that finally got the green light to launch from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman."The IPO is a cornerstone of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 plan to make the Saudi economy ready for the post-oil era," said Matthew Martin at Bloomberg, but the $2 trillion valuation the prince originally wanted for Aramco has already been knocked down to between $1.6 trillion and $1.8 trillion. Many investment bank analysts think it's worth substantially less. Aramco has to "contend with the strengthening movement against climate change" and automakers' accelerating shift away from the internal combustion engine. So far, MBS has had trouble delivering on his promise to "wean the kingdom off oil," said Varsha Koduvayur at CNN. Human rights abuses "have marred Saudi Arabia's image and heightened reputational risks for investors." The issues go well beyond Khashoggi. "Foreign direct investment to Saudi Arabia cratered after the crown prince's so-called anti-corruption roundup in 2017," when he imprisoned many of the country's most prominent business figures in the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh and made them sign away big chunks of their wealth. All the "glitz and glamour" of this conference at the very same hotel won't make investors forget that.The major tech firms did stay away, said Theodore Schleifer at Vox. But the snubs from the industry mainly show "just how sensitive tech leaders are to media crises." Ultimately, a few CEOs not showing up for a conference matters less "than the fact that Silicon Valley companies like SAP and Amazon Web Services continue to expand in Saudi Arabia." This would have been the perfect time for the world to hold the Saudis to account, said David Andelman at NBCNews. The kingdom desperately "needs deep pockets to fund Aramco's future," but no one was willing to question "the conduct -- past or present -- of the crown prince." The U.S. will "keep looking the other way" as long as the kingdom maintains its 2017 pledge to pay $350 billion for American arms over 10 years. "Call it a quid pro quo, or simply business as usual." Once again, the Saudis have been able to use their vast oil wealth to buy critical friendships, starting with Donald Trump's.More stories from theweek.com The return of honor politics Lindsey Graham is 'confident' the whistleblower is 'from the deep state' Someone made a font out of gerrymandered congressional districts
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| Trump blames media for his behaviour, makes series of false claims then says whistleblower's lawyer should be sued for treason Posted: 09 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST  Donald Trump has blamed the media for his behaviour before claiming the impeachment inquiry was a hoax and suggesting a whistleblower's lawyer should be sued for treason.The US president lashed out at the "fake news" - a pejorative term he routinely deploys to describe media outlets which publish stories that reflect badly in him - during a two-minute rant in response to criticism that his "unpresidential deportment" was tearing the country apart.
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| US man convicted of murder says life term completed when he briefly 'died' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:25 AM PST  Benjamin Schreiber says 2015 'death' when heart stopped means life sentence should be considered served – but judges disagreeBenjamin Schreiber. The judges concluded: 'Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot.' Photograph: APAn Iowa prisoner serving a life sentence argued he had paid his debt to society – after "dying" momentarily in hospital.Benjamin Schreiber was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1996, after he clubbed a man to death with the handle of a pickax and left his body outside a trailer, the Des Moines Register reported. He had conspired with the man's girlfriend to murder him.In March 2015, Schreiber developed severe complications from kidney stones and went into septic shock. He lost consciousness in his cell and was taken to hospital.Once there, he momentarily "died" in doctors' care. He was revived using a combination of epinephrine and adrenaline, his sepsis was treated and he was sent back to jail.According to his attorneys, his momentary "death" meant he had completed his life sentence and his return to prison was therefore illegal. Schreiber also said he was revived against his wishes.A lower court found the argument "unpersuasive and without merit". Schreiber took the matter further but appeals court judges were also not convinced.For the three-judge panel, justice Amanda Potterfield wrote: "We do not believe the legislature intended this provision, which defines the sentences for the most serious class of felonies under Iowa law and imposes its 'harshest penalty'... to set criminal defendants free whenever medical procedures during their incarceration lead to their resuscitation by medical professionals."The judges concluded: "Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot."Schreiber, 66, is still in prison in Iowa.
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| Australia's east coast declares state of emergency amid 'catastrophic' fire threat Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:58 PM PST  Authorities in Australia's Queensland and New South Wales states on Monday declared a state of emergency as the country's eastern region prepared for "catastrophic" fire conditions. Fires in northern New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland over the weekend killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes. While Australia's most populous city Sydney avoided the worst of the weekend conditions, temperatures are set to soar to more than 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit), with strong, dry winds.
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| Venezuelans charting escape selling off past at flea markets Posted: 08 Nov 2019 09:48 PM PST  Having decided it's time to abandon her crisis-torn homeland, Yenika Calderon spreads out her worldly possessions in the middle of a flea market in Venezuela's capital, hoping to pocket enough money to give her young family a fresh start far away in Spain. Millions of Venezuelans have already left on similar journeys in recent years, and many of those planning to follow are putting their hopes in street-side markets that are popping up across Caracas. Calderon, 41, has trekked to one of the markets every Sunday in recent weeks, haggling with customers over prices for her favorite handbags and her son's baby clothes.
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| Elizabeth Warren hits back at Biden 'angry' criticism: 'I am angry and I own it' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:12 PM PST  * Warren retorts in fundraising email * Opinion: Surprised Pressley backs Warren? Don't beElizabeth Warren in South Carolina in October. 'Over and over,' she said in the email, 'we are told that women are not allowed to be angry.' Photograph: Sean Rayford/Getty ImagesHitting back at criticism from Joe Biden that many people said was sexist, Elizabeth Warren told supporters: "I am angry and I own it."Warren also sought to put the Biden controversy to good use: her response came in a fundraising email she sent to supporters on Friday."Over and over," the email said, "we are told that women are not allowed to be angry. It makes us unattractive to powerful men who want us to be quiet."Biden may indeed want Warren to be quiet – in Democratic primary polling he has fallen behind her in Iowa and New Hampshire, although he maintains a national lead. But he insisted his attack on the Massachusetts senator was not sexist.His initial remarks came in a Medium post entitled I Have Fought for the Democratic Party My Whole Career."The other day," wrote Biden, "I was accused by one of my opponents of running in the wrong primary. Pretty amazing. On one level, it is kind of funny.> We are told women are not allowed to be angry. It makes us unattractive to powerful men who want us to be quiet> > Elizabeth Warren"… But at another level these kinds of attacks are a serious problem. They reflect an angry unyielding viewpoint that has crept into our politics. If someone doesn't agree with you – it's not just that you disagree – that person must be a coward or corrupt or a small thinker."Some call it the 'my-way-or-the-highway' approach to politics. But it's worse than that. It's condescending to the millions of Democrats who have a different view."Biden, the leading centrist in the primary field, did not mention Warren, the leading progressive, by name. But few had much difficulty working out the former vice-president's target and on Friday, speaking to CNN, Biden owned up."The strong women in my life are angry," he said. "That has nothing to do with it. It had to do with the fact that it started off and she said, you know, Biden is running in the wrong primary because I disagreed, disagree with her Medicare for All proposal."Healthcare is a hot-button issue in the race to face Donald Trump. Earlier this month, Warren detailed a $20.5tn Medicare for All proposal, saying it would not require tax rises on middle class Americans.The plan was attacked by centrists including Biden and the mayor of South Bend, who has surged in Iowa and about whom the New York Times published a report on Saturday entitled: Why Pete Buttigieg Annoys His Democratic Rivals.Some wonder if Buttigieg, 37, might end up as the vice-presidential pick. On Saturday, though, Biden told a crowd in New Hampshire his running mate would be "preferably a woman" who could "make up for some of my weaknesses".Warren's fundraising email did not mention Biden. But in terms familiar from the senator's fiery stump speech, it said: "It's not just women. When we speak up against Wall Street and big tech … we are told that everyone with less power should be quiet."…Well, I am angry and I own it. I'm angry on behalf of everyone who is hurt by Trump's government, our rigged economy, and business as usual."
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| Outrage as Sri Lanka president pardons killer of Swedish teen Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:32 PM PST  Sri Lanka's president has pardoned a death-row prisoner who murdered a Swedish teenager just a week before he leaves office, officials said Sunday, in a move that sparked national outrage. Convicted killer Jude Jayamaha, from a wealthy, high-profile family, walked out of Welikada prison Saturday following the highly unusual amnesty granted by President Maithripala Sirisena. Sirisena, who is stepping down after Saturday's presidential election at which he is not a candidate, announced last month he was considering a request to grant Jayamaha a pardon.
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| Poll: Bloomberg's potential run is a flop with Democrats Posted: 10 Nov 2019 11:15 AM PST A new poll shows Michael Bloomberg at 4 percent nationally as he considers a presidential bid, showing that he's well-known — but widely disliked — by the Democratic electorate, according to a new poll.
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| Two Hong Kong Protesters Shot by Police in Morning Chaos Posted: 10 Nov 2019 05:08 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Two protesters were shot by police during scuffles Monday, as activists called for disruptions to the morning commute following a weekend of demonstrations that resulted in almost 90 arrests.The masked demonstrators were shot around 7:24 a.m. during a scuffle in the Sai Wan Ho area on Hong Kong Island, police said, adding that the injured were conscious while being sent to Eastern Hospital. While a video circulating online appeared to show at least three shots fired, police said they couldn't confirm the number of rounds discharged.Railway operator MTR Corp. suspended part of the East Rail running from the New Territories to Kowloon, as well as the suburban Ma On Shan line. The disruptions were "due to obstruction on tracks and train equipment being damaged," the MTR said on its website. Light rail services were also affected. Some schools, including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, had suspended classes.The protests intensified throughout the city over the weekend in response to the death Friday of a student who was injured earlier near a recent clash between police and protesters. Activists vandalized shops and train stations, and threw Molotov cocktails at a police station, blocked roads, hurled objects at police, officials said in a statement.The police said tear gas and special vehicles were deployed to disperse the crowds. The arrests were for offenses ranging from unlawful assembly to possession of weapons."Police reiterate that no violent behavior will be tolerated," the police said in a statement. "Police will continue to take resolute enforcement action so as to safeguard the city's public safety and bring all lawbreakers to justice."The student who died Friday suffered a brain injury after falling from a parking garage near a demonstration where police used tear gas to disperse a crowd. Hong Kong police officials denied reports that officers had chased and pushed the student. A memorial drew tens of thousands of people.Police also stormed into the Citywalk Mall in Tsuen Wan after protesters vandalized shops deemed to be "pro-Beijing." Some retailers closed earlier than usual.Beijing will ensure only people loyal to it will become Hong Kong's chief executive, damping the hopes of the pro-democracy activists as tensions rise after five months of historic unrest in the city.The majority of representatives in Hong Kong's cabinet, judiciary and legislative bodies should also support the central government, Zhang Xiaoming, China's top official overseeing Hong Kong affairs, said in a post on the agency's website.The inability to implement Article 23 -- the section of Hong Kong's Basic Law that prohibits requiring legislation on treason and subversion against the Chinese government -- and its failure to set up units to follow through were the main reasons separatist movements are on the rise, Zhang said. In 2003, the Hong Kong government halted implementation after protests drew hundreds of thousands of people.Anger over police tactics in the latest protests that have injured demonstrators has been a major focus of recent rallies. Hong Kong's police watchdog has neither the authority nor the resources to effectively investigate the ongoing protests in the city, according to the Independent Expert Panel brought in to advise it.The panel saw "a shortfall" in the powers of the Independent Police Complaints Council, according to a statement posted on the Twitter account of panel member Clifford Stott, a dean for research at Keele University in England. In July, Chief Executive Carrie Lam tasked the IPCC with conducting a fact-finding study into the unrest after growing public concern about police behavior and tactics.The five experts of the panel were announced in September by the IPCC to advise the council as the rift between the government and protesters widened, with activists including the establishment of an independent inquiry into police conduct as one of their five demands."There's a requirement for the IPCC to have increased capacity if it's going to address the scale of events in question," Stott said by phone. "We're calling for that as a matter of urgency."The demonstrations were initially sparked by a proposed law to allow extraditions to jurisdictions including China. While the bill was withdrawn, the protests have developed into anti-Beijing expressions and demands have broadened to include democratic elections for lawmakers and the chief executive, with the extended period of unrest taking its toll on the city's economy.Tighten ControlThe comments from China's top official overseeing Hong Kong affairs "is part of Beijing's plan to tighten control over Hong Kong and exert further pressure on the pro-democracy camp," said Joseph Cheng, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong and a pro-democracy activist. "The present situation in Hong Kong has turned into a crisis and that's giving Chinese leaders a reason to press for a hard line."Read more: Hong Kong Officer Fires Warning Shot After Death Fuels ProtestsThe city is due to hold elections next September for members of its lawmaking body, the Legislative Council, which are expected to be fiercely contested, given the ongoing unrest.\--With assistance from Iain Marlow.To contact the reporters on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.net;Fion Li in Hong Kong at fli59@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Rand Paul brushes aside GOP governor’s apparent defeat in Kentucky Posted: 10 Nov 2019 10:44 AM PST  Sen. Rand Paul downplayed the implications of his home state of Kentucky apparently electing a Democratic governor earlier this week, declining to attribute Gov. Matt Bevin's loss to his attempts to nationalize the race. The closely watched race between Bevin, the extremely unpopular Republican incumbent, and Andy Beshear, the state's Democratic attorney general, was seen by many in the pundit class as the first major test of how the politics of impeachment would fare in a deep-red state and a potential bellwether for next year's elections. The handful of local elections that took place on Tuesday painted a dark picture for Republicans, as the party continues to suffer losses in suburbs around the country.
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| Roman Catholic Priests Will Not Break Confession to Report Child Abuse, U.K. Inquiry Told Posted: 09 Nov 2019 05:56 AM PST  The Roman Catholic Church says it would reject any recommendation that would require priests to break confession to report child sexual abuse.
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| Israeli farmers lament the end of Jordan land deal Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:54 AM PST ![Israeli farmers lament the end of Jordan land deal]( "Israeli farmers lament the end of Jordan land deal") It has been a bitter harvest for some Israeli farmers on the border with Jordan. Under the deal, part of the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, two territories straddling the border were recognized as under Jordanian sovereignty but with special provisions allowing Israeli farmers to work the land and visitors to tour the Isle of Peace park in the area. "It was like a punch to the face," said Eli Arazi, 74, a farmer whose kibbutz, or agricultural community, worked one of the land parcels that in Hebrew is called Naharayim and in Arabic, Baqoura.
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| Manafort's former son-in-law sentenced for multiple scams Posted: 10 Nov 2019 08:24 AM PST  Paul Manafort's former son-in-law has been sentenced in Los Angeles to nine years in prison for pulling a series of schemes totaling more than $13 million, including one that bilked $3 million from actor Dustin Hoffman. U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. ordered Jeffrey Yohai to pay $6.7 million in restitution on Friday for the schemes, some of which were carried out while he was released on bond for similar crimes. Prosecutors said Yohai persuaded Hoffman and his son Jacob to invest in a real estate project, but he used their money for personal expenses and to pay debts.
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| Shock in Russia as Napoleon expert confesses to chopping up lover Posted: 10 Nov 2019 06:44 AM PST  A prominent Saint Petersburg-based Napoleon expert has confessed to murdering his young lover and former student and dismembering her body in a grisly crime that sent shock waves across Russia. Oleg Sokolov, a 63-year-old history lecturer who received France's Legion d'Honneur from Jacques Chirac in 2003, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder after he was hauled out of the icy Moika River with a backpack containing a woman's arms. Sokolov was reportedly drunk and fell into the Moika, a tributary of the Neva, in central Saint Petersburg as he tried to dispose of body parts near the offices of investigators.
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| Democrats Say Republican Impeachment Witnesses May Testify Posted: 10 Nov 2019 12:22 PM PST ![Democrats Say Republican Impeachment Witnesses May Testify]( "Democrats Say Republican Impeachment Witnesses May Testify") (Bloomberg) -- Democrats signaled their willingness to let some witnesses requested by Republicans testify as the House starts public impeachment hearings of Donald Trump this week, but only those people with knowledge of the president's actions. And not Hunter Biden or the whistle-blower.Ahead of the first session on Wednesday, Republicans gave the committee a list of witnesses they want called -- including former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, and the anonymous whistle-blower whose complaint sparked the inquiry.Democratic Representatives Jackie Speier of California and Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, both members of the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday morning political shows that there are Republican witnesses panel Chairman Adam Schiff could call -- not Biden's son or the whistle-blower, whose account has been corroborated by other witnesses.Speier suggested former National Security Council official Tim Morrison and former U.S. special representative to Ukraine Kurt Volker could appear. But Speier said the whistle-blower, whose identity is protected, isn't needed, and any testimony has to be focused on the July call in which Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate the Bidens.'Stay Focused'"We want to stay focused on the Ukraine call," Speier said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, calling the conversation "a very strong case of bribery." She added: "Having Hunter Biden come in is unrelated to the Ukraine call. And so that becomes irrelevant."Public testimony starting with career public servants could raise political risks for Trump as he seeks to de-legitimize the impeachment process while preserving his re-election prospects in 2020. But there is also risk for Democrats who are trying to build public support for impeachment and protect moderate members who will be campaigning in Trump-friendly districts next year.Republican Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, a vocal Trump ally, called the Democratic impeachment inquiry a "complete joke" because the whistle-blower has not been identified and subjected to cross-examination."If they don't call the whistle-blower in the House, this thing is dead on arrival in the Senate," Graham said on Fox News's "Sunday Morning Futures."Representative Mac Thornberry of Texas, the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said on ABC that what Trump did was "inappropriate" but not an impeachable offense. Fellow Texas Republican Will Hurd, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, said while Trump's actions may have been illegal, impeachment may not be the right tool to address it."I think if you're trying to get information on a political rival to use in a political campaign is not something a president or any official should be doing," Hurd said on "Fox News Sunday." "Most Republicans have said that would be a violation of the law."He said talk about impeachment "has been premature," and said he wanted to see whether the actions established "a criminal intent." And, Hurd said the whistle-blower's identity should be protected.Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said on CBS's "Face the Nation" the case could come down to Trump's intent and motive -- and whether he was asking for an investigation of a political rival or a probe of possible corruption of someone who happened be a political rival.If a request for a probe of a rival could be proved, that would be "over the line," Kennedy said. Asked whether that means impeachable, Kennedy replied, "yeah, probably" but that he wants to hear the testimony.Trump sent a tweet Sunday afternoon telling congressional Republicans not to suggest what he did was wrong but not impeachable."Republicans, don't be led into the fools trap of saying it was not perfect, but is not impeachable. No, it is much stronger than that. NOTHING WAS DONE WRONG!" Trump tweeted.The president also complained on Twitter that Schiff won't allow a White House lawyer or "ANY of our requested witnesses." He called it "a first in due process and Congressional history!"Thornberry defended Republicans focusing on the process and complaints that Democrats are being too partisan, noting that under the U.S. legal system, murders, robbers and rapists are sometimes allowed to go free if their due process rights are violated."The integrity of the processes under our legal system is more important than the outcome of one particular case," Thornberry said. "So I don't think you can sweep under the rug."Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell of California, another member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on CBS the panel won't "chase witnesses to the courts" that the White House is blocking, such as former National Security Adviser John Bolton. He said the committee already has enough "evidence of an extortion scheme," but it's important for witnesses to answer questions from members of both parties.William Taylor, who took charge of U.S. embassy in Ukraine after the former ambassador was ousted in May, told House committees that he initially thought a July 25 phone call between Trump and the Ukrainian president "sounded like a good idea" as Ukraine sought to strengthen its fight against Russian-backed separatists.But as the date approached, Taylor became concerned by the efforts of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani to involve Ukraine in an investigation of one of Trump's political rivals, according to a transcript of the diplomat's Oct. 22 closed-door testimony released Wednesday.Taylor, a career diplomat, is scheduled to be one of the first two witnesses when the committee begins public hearings. He is scheduled to testify Wednesday along with State Department official George Kent. Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who Taylor replaced, will testify two days later.(Updates with Trump tweets from 14th paragraph and comment from Swalwell in 19th.)\--With assistance from Christopher Condon.To contact the reporters on this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.net;Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at jludden@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Aide to Ukrainian President Addresses Bill Taylor Testimony Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:46 PM PST  Tom Brenner/ReutersIn his testimony before the impeachment inquiry last month, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor described a conversation about a sensitive topic: whether or not Ukrainian law enforcement should investigate Petro Poroshenko, the former president of Ukraine who lost a re-election bid to Volodymyr Zelensky on April 21. Now, one of the Ukrainians in that conversation is indicating that Taylor's testimony didn't capture the full story. Taylor, America's top diplomat in Kyiv, is a key witness in Democrats' investigation of President Donald Trump and his policy toward Ukraine. In his testimony, Taylor said two Zelensky aides, Andriy Yermak and Igor Novikov, reacted strongly after Taylor and then-special envoy Ambassador Kurt Volker urged them not to scrutinize Poroshenko. Poroshenko faced criticism during the election for certain military decisions and had faced a bruising scandal when news broke in the weeks before Election Day about the alleged involvement of the son of one of his close business partners in a scheme to soak Ukraine's defense sector for millions of dollars. One of Poroshenko's top national security officials, Oleg Gladkovsky, resigned over the news and was reportedly detained last month as part of an investigation into the situation. "Kurt said, you know, you should move forward, don't prosecute Poroshenko," Taylor said in his testimony, describing a conversation that happened on September 14. "And they responded, take a look at this."Yermak and Novikov pulled out their phones, according to Taylor, and showed the two American diplomats "pictures of their relatives–one was a brother, and one was a cousin–who had been killed or wounded in the east."Taylor apparently saw a connection between the military service of the aides' family members and the Zelensky administration's approach to Poroshenko. "[T]hey showed this to Kurt and me, and they said, Poroshenko is responsible for this," Taylor said. "There was a deep-seated anger at Poroshenko at an emotional level. And that was one of the things motivating–one of the things motivating the attacks on, or the court cases on President Poroshenko."Reached for comment about the exchange, Novikov offered a view of the issues they discussed at that dinner that differed from Taylor's. "The fact that one of my close relatives is serving Ukraine, risking his life to protect our country from the Russian aggression makes me proud, not angry," he told The Daily Beast. "The main issue with Mr. Poroshenko is corruption, especially within the defense sector. In my view, it is unacceptable to steal from the very people who are defending our freedom." "I strongly believe that if Ukraine were to deoligarchize itself, there should not be two separate categories: 'good oligarch' and 'bad oligarch,'" he added. "No one should be above the law. Is Mr. Poroshenko an oligarch? I have an opinion on that, but I'll let everyone else also be the judge of that." Volker and Taylor's efforts to influence Ukrainian prosecutors' investigation decisions made for a bit of discomfort, according to George Kent, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. Kent said that when Taylor and Volker urged Yermak not to investigate Poroshenko, Yermak pointed to American efforts to get Ukraine to open politically motivated investigations. "Andry Yermak said: What? You mean the type of investigations you're pushing for us to do on Biden and Clinton? And at that point Kurt Volker did not respond," Kent said. Taylor is set to testify publicly next week as part of Congressional Democrats' impeachment inquiry. The inquiry focuses on efforts by members of the Trump administration to pressure Kyiv to announce investigations into alleged Ukrainian interference in the U.S. 2016 election and a company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden. 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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| Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:08 AM PST ![Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane']( "Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane'") South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's fellow Democratic presidential candidates find the 37-year-old and his mercurial rise to be, well, kind of annoying, The New York Times reports.That's not unexpected, as former President Barack Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod pointed out. "It is a natural thing when a young candidate comes along and has success for other candidates who feel like they've toiled in the vineyards to resent it," he said.Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), for example, reportedly became "extremely agitated" at the mere mention of Buttigieg's name during a conversation with fellow candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in the Senate chamber over the summer. But it turns out that it was former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) who may have been most rankled by Buttigieg's emergence, per the Times. O'Rourke, who dropped out of the race last week, was another relatively young and inexperienced candidate, but he failed to reel in the support that the Indiana mayor has, both in terms of polling and donations.One O'Rouke aide told the Times that the former congressman viewed Buttigieg as a "human weather vane" that represented the worst of politics. Stranger things have happened, but it doesn't sound like Buttigieg can expect an endorsement from O'Rourke anytime soon. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The return of honor politics Lindsey Graham is 'confident' the whistleblower is 'from the deep state' Someone made a font out of gerrymandered congressional districts
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| UPDATE 2-United States "very actively" asking N.Korea to return to talks - S.Korea Posted: 10 Nov 2019 12:13 AM PST ![UPDATE 2-United States "very actively" asking N.Korea to return to talks - S.Korea]( "UPDATE 2-United States \"very actively\" asking N.Korea to return to talks - S.Korea") The United States is "very actively" trying to persuade North Korea to come back to negotiations, South Korea's national security adviser said on Sunday, as a year-end North Korean deadline for U.S. flexibility approaches. South Korea was taking North Korea's deadline "very seriously", the adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters, at a time when efforts to improve inter-Korean relations have stalled.
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| Mexico uncovers 10 more bodies from mass grave in Sonora Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:53 PM PST ![Mexico uncovers 10 more bodies from mass grave in Sonora]( "Mexico uncovers 10 more bodies from mass grave in Sonora") Forensic scientists in the Mexican state of Sonora have recovered 10 more bodies from mass graves near a beach town, raising the total number of bodies and skeletons found in the area since October to 52. The bodies were found near the Gulf of California beach town of Puerto Peñasco, known to U.S. tourists as Rocky Point. Authorities began pulling human remains from the burial pits about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Puerto Peñasco at the end of October.
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| Roommate, boyfriend arrested in death of Atlanta college student Alexis Crawford Posted: 10 Nov 2019 01:29 PM PST  Alexis Crawford was reported missing Nov. 1, five days after she filed a report accusing her roommate's boyfriend of "unwanted kissing and touching."
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| China's Xi arrives in Athens to 'deepen cooperation' Posted: 10 Nov 2019 09:57 AM PST ![China's Xi arrives in Athens to 'deepen cooperation']( "China's Xi arrives in Athens to 'deepen cooperation'") Chinese President Xi Jinping touched down in Athens on Sunday, for a three-day visit looking at "a deeper cooperation with Greece in all sectors". Xi is expected to meet President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, and the two countries are due to sign cooperation documents on education, shipping and energy. "It is our duty to steadily upgrade our cooperation in all sectors, by delving deeply into existing fields and expanding the range of investments", the Chinese president said in an article published in "Kathimerini" newspaper on Sunday.
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| Why The U.S. Army Really Needs The Precision Strike Missile Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:45 AM PST  The Army's number one modernization priority.
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| Teenagers charged with murder of photographer after allegedly pushing log off cliff Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:06 PM PST  Two teenagers are facing murder charges after a 6-foot log fell from a cliff and killed a photographer taking school pictures below.
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| Asia Stocks Dip Led by Slide in Hong Kong Shares: Markets Wrap Posted: 10 Nov 2019 05:35 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Stocks in Hong Kong led most Asian shares lower Monday, after two protesters were shot by police during the morning commute. U.S. equity futures dipped as investors parsed the latest developments in the trade conflict.Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index lost about 1% at the open as tensions flared. Shares in Shanghai slid as traders kept an eye on Alibaba's Singles' Day for a gauge of consumer health in China. Japanese shares inched higher. Contracts on the S&P 500 retreated after the U.S. benchmark index eked out another record high on Friday. Veterans' Day in the U.S. means no Treasuries trading.Data over the weekend showed Chinese factories are threatening to drag down prices around the world as producer prices dropped for a fourth month in October. Alibaba's sales event kicked off with a bang, with 136 billion yuan ($19 billion) of purchases in less than five hours. The world's biggest shopping event could help investors gauge how willing Chinese consumers are to spend as economic growth threatens to slip below 6% and the trade war drags on.An easing of economic worries and signs of progress toward an interim trade deal have helped lift risk assets, with global equities rising the past five weeks. President Donald Trump said trade talks with China are moving along "very nicely" and Beijing wants a trade deal "much more than I do." There is now a risk that market prices already account for a partial U.S.-China deal, said Oliver Pursche, a market strategist at Bruderman Asset Management LLC."I do get the sense that we are very close to a trade deal," he told Bloomberg TV. But "we don't know what the phased reduction of tariffs looks like. There is a risk of disappointment there."In Spain, the Socialists are set to win the greatest number of votes from Sunday's election, but the fragmented results point to weeks of negotiations for party leader Pedro Sanchez if he is to form a government.Meantime, Saudi Aramco will allow investors to start bidding for shares starting on Nov. 17. The firm said it'll provide the number and percentage of shares sold at a later stage, with book-building kicking off this week.Elsewhere, the pound fluctuated after the U.K.'s sovereign credit rating was placed on negative outlook by Moody's Investors Service, which said the country's ability to set policy has weakened in the Brexit era along with its commitment to fiscal discipline.Here are some key events coming up this week:Earnings include Tencent, Nissan Motor, Japan Post Bank and Mitsubishi UFJ.New Zealand's policy decision is due Wednesday, with market pricing tilting in favor of an interest-rate cut.Fed Chairman Jerome Powell addresses the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, in Washington Wednesday. Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari speaks in La Crosse, Wisconsin.Thursday brings China retail sales and industrial production data.U.S. retail sales on Friday are forecast to rebound in October after unexpectedly falling the prior month. The health of American spending is key to extending the record-long expansion.These are the main moves in markets:StocksJapan's Topix index advanced 0.2% as of 10:30 a.m. in Tokyo.Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 1.1%.The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.5%.Futures on the S&P 500 slipped 0.2%. The underlying gauge added 0.3% on Friday.Australia's S&P/ASX 200 Index added 0.5%.South Korea's Kospi index lost 0.7%.CurrenciesThe yen rose 0.1% to 109.12 per dollar.The offshore yuan dipped 0.1% to 6.9938 per dollar.The euro bought $1.1020, little changed.BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries added three basis points to 1.94% on Friday. Futures were flat.Australia's 10-year yield remained at 1.29%.CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude oil slid 0.7% to $56.87 a barrel.Gold rose 0.3% to $1,462.90 an ounce.To contact the reporters on this story: Adam Haigh in Sydney at ahaigh1@bloomberg.net;Sybilla Gross in Sydney at sgross61@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christopher Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net, Andreea PapucFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump says he will release second ‘very important’ Ukraine call transcript Posted: 09 Nov 2019 05:50 AM PST  Donald Trump has said he plans to release the transcript of a second phone call with Ukraine's leader as early as next week, as Democrats stepped up their impeachment pressure on the president.In a move he presumably hopes will support his case that there was nothing untoward with his interactions with Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Trump told reporters he would make public details of a call the two had in April.
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| Cruel jokes about the old are everywhere. When will we face our ageism epidemic? Posted: 09 Nov 2019 11:00 PM PST  We tolerate mockery of the elderly that we'd never allow if it targeted another group. But we'll all be old one day'It's not only in the sphere of comedy that the old are discussed in ways that would never be tolerated by (or about) another group.' Photograph: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesWatching Saturday Night Live over the past few seasons, I've noticed the increasing number and frequency of jokes about old people: the feebleness of the aging brain, the repulsiveness of the elderly body, particularly the elderly female body.Partly because no one, it seems, is ever "called out" for ageism – I can't think of one public figure who has been "cancelled" for mocking the aged – I persuaded myself that, as an older person, I was being hypersensitive. But then, this past weekend, on the Weekend Update segment, the cast member Micheal Che told a series of jokes about a report that a Chinese woman in her 60s had given birth. The labor, Che noted, had involved an unusual amount of "friction" and (I may be slightly misquoting here) the delivery had been like "removing a penny from a wad of chewing gum". Moreover, he added, the new mother could nurse simply by leaning over the crib. The audience laughed. I winced. My husband said: "Ouch."I tried to think of another demographic – Asians? African Americans? Women? Members of the LGBT community? – who would have been the object of humor quite so cruel, so barbed, so personal. But it's not only in the sphere of comedy, and on network TV, that the old are discussed in ways that would never be tolerated by (or about) another group.This summer, the New York Times ran a piece by Ann Bauer titled Do Old People Have a Different Smell? After renting her house to an elderly couple, Ms Bauer returned to find that her home had an odd scent, "strange and cloyingly human". A Google search provided Ms Bauer with conflicting results. One biologist at the Monell Chemical Research Center found that an increased concentration of an unsaturated aldehyde produced, in the old, "a distinctive grassy, waxy or fatty odor". This confirmed what a Japanese study had found in 2001. Apparently the Japanese "have a name for older person odor – kareishu – and it has a definitely negative association". These conclusions were disputed by an organic chemist, also at the Monell, who was himself jokingly accused of being biased, because he was old.The results of these studies interested me less than the fact that they were carried out out at all – and, I assume, funded. Are there studies in progress designed to determine if black people smell funny, or if one can identify a gender nonconforming person by an educated sniff?Ageism is more than a joke. Age discrimination in the work place is difficult to prove, to prosecute and to rectify than any other sort of employment bias. That elderly person greeting you at the door of Target or checking out your groceries at the supermarket may well have once held – and been fired from – a very different job.> Imagine how you might feel, in some as yet unimaginable future, to be told, simply because you have survived, to have a terrible dayIt's unsurprising that animosity toward the elderly has been profitably commodified. Again according to the New York Times, the phrase "OK Boomer" is "Generations Z's ... retort to the problem of older people who just don't get it." OK Boomer now appears on phone cases, stickers, pins, and sweatshirts and on a range of products that say, "OK boomer, have a terrible day." "'If they do take it personally'," according to one 17-year-old quoted in the piece, "'it just further proves that they take everything we do as offensive.'" And yet one wonders if the public would be quite so amused by a logo that said: "OK Jews, have a terrible day." Given the losses and infirmities that so often accompany age, don't the elderly have enough bad days without being told to have more?The accepted explanation and justification for all this is that the old have ruined things for the young: we're responsible for climate change, for income inequality, for the cascading series of financial crises, for the prohibitive cost of higher education. Fair enough, I suppose, though it does seem unjust to direct one's anger at the average middle-class senior citizen struggling to survive on social security rather than raging at, let's say, the Koch brothers the Sacklers, the big banks, and the fossil-fuel lobbyists who have effectively dismantled the EPA. OK, Morgan Stanley, have a terrible day.In any case, I think that the animosity toward the old is less economic than existential, less political than primal, less about student debt than about fear of one's own ageing. No one particularly wants to get old, however preferable it is to the alternative: an early death. What's striking is that the prejudice against the elderly is the only bigotry directed at the inevitable future of the bigot. Few misogynists, I imagine, fear that they eventually will turn into women, nor do racists worry that the passing decades will radically alter their ethnicity and the color of their skin. But the young will get old, if they're lucky. Meanwhile they might consider the fact that ageing is challenging enough without one's being mocked and derided for having experienced a natural process that no medical or cosmetic intervention can ultimately prevent.I'm not suggesting more "calling out", more cancellations. We have enough of that already. So perhaps the answer is more consciousness, more compassion, a more empathic imagination. Believe it or not, the old still have a sense of humor, even about the ageing process. But cruelty is something else. Imagine how your grandpa would feel surrounded by scientists eager to determine if he had an unpleasant odor, or how your grandmother would like hearing her flesh compared to a wad of chewing gum. Then imagine how you might feel, in some as yet unimaginable future, to be told, simply because you have survived, to have a terrible day.
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| Turkey should scrap Russian missile system or face U.S. sanctions: White House official Posted: 10 Nov 2019 11:15 AM PST  The United States is very upset about Turkey's purchase of Russian missile defense systems and could impose sanctions on Ankara if it does not "get rid" of them, White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said on Sunday. "Turkey will feel the impact of those sanctions," O'Brien told CBS's "Face the Nation" in an interview, referring to penalties under the U.S. law known as the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which he said would pass Congress with "overwhelming" bipartisan support.
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| NRA turmoil creates rift among some big donors Posted: 10 Nov 2019 10:05 AM PST  Joe Olson was once such a passionate supporter of the National Rifle Association that he pledged to bequeath several million dollars from his estate to the gun organization upon his death. The NRA will no longer get his money. Olson reflects what has become a new challenge for the NRA as its legal and financial issues stack up: the loss of big donors.
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| New York City wrestles with surge of violent police clashes Posted: 10 Nov 2019 08:56 AM PST  A surge in violent police clashes has left a trail of bodies across New York City, stoking tensions between officers and critics who say they have been too quick to use deadly force. Since mid-October, New York Police Department officers have shot five people, killing four of them — a torrent that left department veterans struggling to recall another time there were so many on-duty shootings in the city in such a short span. Two days later, police killed a man in Brooklyn after they say he slammed an officer's head with a chair.
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