| Women who attended Yale at the same time as Brett Kavanaugh in the 1980s remember an alcohol-soaked and sometimes predatory campus Posted: 17 Sep 2019 01:29 PM PDT  A new book is raising another sexual assault allegation from Brett Kavanaugh's time at Yale — but the alleged victim reportedly doesn't remember it.
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| The Attack on Saudi Arabia Is the Crisis Iran Was Waiting For Posted: 17 Sep 2019 03:30 AM PDT  A sophisticated drone and cruise-missile attack on Saudi Arabia's largest oil-processing facility on Saturday has sent shock waves through the world's oil markets and leaves the U.S. and allies at a crossroads about how to deal with a growing threat from Iran and its supporters. This is the crisis Iran has been waiting for, with pro-regime media tweeting about the "unprecedented attack" and parroting the threats of Yemen's Houthi rebels against Saudi oil infrastructure.Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said Iran was behind the attack, and U.S. officials have released satellite images and spoken to media about details of the sophisticated assault. The attack showcases Iran's precision weapons guidance. This is a threat that has been increasing for years. The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act apprised Congress of Iran's ballistic-missile program and drones. Israel also warned about similar threats in early September, asserting that Iran was transferring precision missile guidance to Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran has been boasting about its drone, cruise-missile, and precision munitions since a large drill it undertook in March.However, Tehran has also been stymied in how to employ its arsenal, weighing the responses it wants to give in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran deal, in May 2018. For a year Iran used its good-cop, bad-cop routine, threatening to walk away from provisions of the deal if European and other countries didn't work to get around Washington's sanctions. But in May Tehran changed tactics. As sanctions took a bite, Tehran intimated that if Iran couldn't export oil, neither would others. Washington has accused Iran of being behind the sabotage of six ships in May and June as well as the downing of a U.S. drone in June. Rockets also fell near U.S. bases in Iraq. Iran has also worked through its Houthi rebel allies in Yemen to supply know-how behind drone and air-defense technology. Pompeo says Iran is behind at least 100 attacks originating in Yemen.All this was window dressing for the more massive long-range attack that was to come this week. Two previous long-range attacks had targeted oil facilities west of Riyadh and near the border with the United Arab Emirates. In the latter attack, Iran's Press TV claimed ten Yemeni drones had been responsible. The early hours of September 14 showed fires and explosions at Abqaiq. Satellite images revealed damage to almost 20 buildings, including liquified-natural-gas storage tanks. The damage wasn't chaotic, as it would have been if someone tossed explosives and hoped they would hit their mark. Rather it was precise; one image shows four storage tanks hit in the same location.This level of precision is important. As salient was the ability of a force purported to include dozens of drones and cruise missiles to evade air-defense systems in eastern Saudi Arabia near Bahrain. This should be an area, not far from the U.S. naval base in Bahrain and the Al-Udeid base in Qatar, as well as U.S. bases in the UAE and Kuwait, that would be well defended. Whether the attack originated directly from Iran or from Iran-backed Houthis, either scenario shows how extremely proficient Iran and its allies have become with drones and missiles. This is an indigenous weapons program that outpaces Iran's nearest neighbors, with the exception of Israel. It is a threat that requires U.S. air defense and radar to help confront. The larger question for the Trump administration is not just about defending allies, but also about whether it wants to try to deter Iran. Despite warnings since May that Iranian actions would meet with retaliation, Washington has been reticent to retaliate militarily, preferring a campaign of "maximum pressure." It is hard to ignore the Iranian regime's pronouncements on September 10 that the departure of National Security Advisor John Bolton showed that the U.S. had failed in its pressure campaign. It is also hard to believe that the sophisticated Abqaiq attack was planned in only four days.Tehran would have known that an unprecedented attack on key Saudi Arabian oil facilities by so many drones would raise eyebrows about claims that the poor and isolated Houthi rebels were behind it. The attack sends a clear message: This can get worse; end the sanctions and don't risk the world's oil supply. Iran thinks that Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies won't risk a conflict, and the Iranians think they called the Trump administration's bluff in June. September 14 was a gamble but also a clear message felt across the Middle East. The era of Iran's sophisticated precision-guided drone and cruise-missile attacks is here.
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| UPDATE 1-Russia detains two N.Korean vessels after one opens fire - reports Posted: 17 Sep 2019 08:35 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Russia detains two N.Korean vessels after one opens fire - reports]( "UPDATE 1-Russia detains two N.Korean vessels after one opens fire - reports") Russian border guards have detained two North Korean boats in Russian territorial waters in the Sea of Japan after one of them attacked a Russian patrol, local media cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying on Tuesday. A Russian border patrol discovered two North Korean schooners and 11 motorboats fishing illegally off its far eastern coast and detained the first vessel, prompting the second one to open fire, the FSB was quoted as saying. Three Russian border guards were wounded in the incident.
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| Las Vegas man faces weapons charge in synagogue, other plots Posted: 17 Sep 2019 11:03 AM PDT  A former security guard accused of compiling bomb components and guns to kill people at a Las Vegas synagogue and of drawing up plans to attack a bar catering to LGBTQ customers or a fast-food restaurant has been indicted on a federal firearm charge, court records show. Conor Climo's court-appointed attorney, Paul Riddle, said Tuesday that Climo plans to plead not guilty at his arraignment Wednesday on the one-count indictment filed Sept. 11 in U.S. District Court in Nevada. Climo, 23, was arrested Aug. 8 and remains in federal custody pending arraignment Wednesday in Las Vegas on a charge of possessing "firearms, specifically destructive devices" found at his home.
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| 'A war zone': Propane explosion kills firefighter, injures 8 others, levels building in Maine Posted: 16 Sep 2019 03:12 PM PDT  A firefighter was killed and eight others were injured when a powerful propane explosion destroyed a new building Monday in Farmington, Maine.
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| Netanyahu's Dangerous Accusations of Anti-Semitism Against HBO Show 'Our Boys' Posted: 16 Sep 2019 03:06 PM PDT  Israel's Prime Minister turned on HBO show 'Our Boys' in his hunt for enemies. That's bad for real efforts against anti-Semitism.
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| French boy, 10, dies 8 years after supermarket burger poisoning Posted: 16 Sep 2019 07:57 AM PDT  A French boy aged 10, who fell gravely ill in 2011 after consuming a beef burger from supermarket discounter Lidl that was infected with E.coli bacteria, has died of complications stemming from his poisoning, the family's lawyer said. The boy, Nolan, died on Saturday "as a consequence of his poisoning", the family's lawyer Florence Rault told AFP on Sunday. Rault said that Nolan had not "ceased to suffer" after consuming the burger in June 2011.
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| A flight from Vietnam to South Korea was delayed for 11 hours after the pilot arrived at the airport and realized he had lost his passport Posted: 17 Sep 2019 10:13 AM PDT  T'Way Air said it was investigating the incident and how the pilot lost his passport, and that it put passengers in a hotel and fed them breakfast.
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| Afghan president narrowly avoids Taliban bomb in worst violence since collapse of US negotiations Posted: 17 Sep 2019 09:15 AM PDT  Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens more in two blasts Tuesday - one at a campaign rally for the president and the other in Kabul - with the insurgents warning of more violence ahead of elections. The first attack saw a motorcyclist detonate a suicide bomb at a checkpoint leading to a rally where Ashraf Ghani, the president, was addressing supporters in central Parwan province, just north of the capital, killing 26 and wounding 42. Just over an hour later another blast also claimed by the Taliban rocked central Kabul near the US embassy. Authorities initially did not give casualty figures, but later said 22 people had been killed and a further 38 wounded. The explosions came after Donald Trump, the US president, abruptly ended talks with the Taliban earlier this month over a deal that would have allowed the US to begin withdrawing troops from its longest war. One of the bombs was detonated near the US Embassy in Kabul Credit: AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi In a statement sent to media claiming responsibility for both blasts, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack near Mr Ghani's rally was deliberately aimed at disrupting the September 28 elections. "We already warned people not to attend election rallies, if they suffer any losses that is their own responsibility," the statement said. An image from the scene near Mr Ghani's rally, roughly an hour's drive north of Kabul, showed the remains of a burnt motorcycle, with a body on top, covered by a blanket and next to a badly damaged police car. Taliban control in Afghanistan Women and children were among the causalities, Parwan hospital director Abdul Qasim Sangin said. The president, who was speaking to his supporters at the time of the blast, was unhurt but later condemned the attack, saying the incident proved the Taliban had no real interest in reconciliation. "As the Taliban continue their crimes, they once again prove that they are not interested in peace and stability in Afghanistan," said Mr Ghani in a statement.
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| 20 arrested, 18 charged in Minneapolis beatings Posted: 16 Sep 2019 09:59 PM PDT  Minneapolis police chief, assault victim talk to Fox News about arrests in downtown beatings; Matt Finn reports.
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| The New York Times faces questions over Kavanaugh story Posted: 16 Sep 2019 08:09 PM PDT  Between an offensive tweet and a significant revision, The New York Times' handling of a new sexual misconduct allegation against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh attracted almost as much attention as the accusation itself. The story also gave President Donald Trump and his allies fresh ammunition in his campaign against the media, where the Times was already a favorite target. The revelation that led several Democratic presidential contenders to call for Kavanaugh's impeachment came in the 11th paragraph of a story labeled "news analysis" that ran in the Sunday opinion section.
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| A Florida couple was arrested on DUI charges. Then they had sex in the back of a police car Posted: 17 Sep 2019 03:53 PM PDT  Aaron Thomas, 31, and Megan Mondanaro, 35, were arrested in Florida after they had sex in the back of a patrol car, according to police.
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| NYC to Allow 1.1 Million Students to Skip Class for Climate Protests Posted: 17 Sep 2019 05:49 AM PDT  New York City public schools will allow 1.1 million students to skip classes Friday in order to attend the planned "climate strike" ahead of the United Nations Climate Action Summit.The protests aim to press the Summit for immediate action to stop climate change, and are geared specifically for the participation of young people.Reactions to the decision have been ecstatic in some cases, as protest organizers contemplate what they hope will be the largest climate change protest in the history of the U.S."This completely changes things, and it's our doing," Xiye Bastida, 17, a senior at Beacon High School in Manhattan, told the New York Times. Some teachers at her school were planning to accompany students to the protests even before the school district granted permission to do so."We're not against the school system," she said. "We need the schools to work with us because our larger goal is to stop the fossil fuel industry."
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| Iran charges three detained Australians with spying Posted: 17 Sep 2019 06:20 AM PDT  Iran has charged three detained Australians with spying, a judiciary spokesman said on Tuesday, after the reported arrest of a travel-blogging couple and an academic. Two of the Australians were alleged to have used a drone to take pictures of military sites, while a third was accused of spying for another country, spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili told reporters. It was the first official confirmation that Australians have been detained in Iran after the families of three of them said last week they had been arrested in the Islamic republic.
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| Is Russia's Crazy Status-6 Nuclear Weapon a Great Idea or a Really Bad One? Posted: 16 Sep 2019 10:00 AM PDT  Let's take a look.
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| Divided Fed set to cut interest rates this week, but then what? Posted: 16 Sep 2019 10:04 PM PDT  Deep disagreements within the Federal Reserve over the economic outlook and how the U.S. central bank should respond will not stop policymakers from cutting interest rates at a two-day meeting that began on Tuesday. An oil price spike after attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities over the weekend added to the list of risks facing an economy already slowed by ongoing trade tensions and global weakness. At one end of the Fed's large boardroom table sit St. Louis Fed President James Bullard and Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari, who are expected to argue for a steep reduction in borrowing costs to counter low inflation and an inverted Treasury yield curve.
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| A flight in India was delayed when a swarm of angry bees covered the cockpit window and attacked staff who tried to remove them Posted: 17 Sep 2019 02:54 AM PDT  Firefighters were eventually brought in to get the plane, with 135 passengers and Bangladesh's information minister on board, to take off.
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| Into the Unknown for Israel as Netanyahu’s Election Gamble Fails Posted: 17 Sep 2019 06:05 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Israel's election do-over looked set to produce a dramatic deadlock between legally embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his political opponents, with no clear sign who will form the country's next government.The lack of a decisive victory would be a stunning setback for Israel's longest-serving leader, who gambled on a revote to strengthen his political hand -- and possibly keep himself out of jail -- after a disappointing result in April. It would also thrust Israel into further political turmoil and drag out policy paralysis at a time when diplomatic and regional security challenges are mounting.Netanyahu's nationalist Likud and former military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White are running neck and neck, the exit polls indicated. But each would need to bring in governing partners, and neither has the support of 61 of parliament's 120 lawmakers, the polls showed. The political horsetrading will be hot and heavy in the coming days as Netanyahu, who is battling corruption charges, and Gantz each try to line up the most support. There's also pressure to yoke their parties in a national unity government, a move that might require Netanyahu to step aside -- or be forced out.While the exit surveys suggest Netanyahu, popularly known as Bibi, may lose his grip on power, it's too early to eulogize him. Netanyahu is known as "the magician" for his deft political maneuvering, and he's likely to try to peel off some backing from the opposing center-left camp."The results here are less good for him than in April; and in April he didn't make a government," Simon Davies, a pollster and political consultant for Number 10 Strategies, said of Netanyahu. "Whichever way you look at it -- if the exit polls are right -- Bibi is not in a great position. Bibi is a consummate politician, though, and you'd never put it past him to get out of any situation."By 2:22 a.m., only 5% of the votes had been counted. After a near-final tally is released on Thursday, President Reuven Rivlin will consult with the various parties to see who they recommend he tap to cobble together the next government.The exit polls position former Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman, an on-again, off-again Netanyahu ally, to become this election's kingmaker. Liberman's objection to military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men led to the collapse of coalition talks after the April 9 election, propelling Netanyahu to engineer a revote rather than let a rival try to put together a government.In other worrisome news for Netanyahu, the Joint List of Arab parties is poised to become parliament's third-largest faction, increasing its representation and eating into the bloc allied with the prime minister, the exit polls showed. It hasn't ruled out recommending to Rivlin that Gantz form the government, a Joint List spokesman said. Throughout Israel's 71-year history, Arab parties have never sat in government, though Arab lawmakers have served in Knesset on behalf of Zionist parties.Gamble BackfiredA defiant Netanyahu told cheering supporters at Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv that he would enter into negotiations with prospective coalition partners "to form a strong Zionist government" and block the formation of a coalition that would rely on the support of the joint list, which represents Arabs who constitute about 20% of Israel's population. The crowd chanted, "Bibi, king of Israel," and, "We don't want unity!"Political newcomer Gantz ran a clean-hands campaign that while lackluster, resonated with voters desperate for an alternative to Netanyahu, who won four successive terms since 2009. He was unseated after his first term in 1999 by another former military chief, Ehud Barak.Gantz stopped short of declaring victory, after having prematurely done so in April, but told a cheering crowd that "tonight, no matter how it evolves, begins the journey to repair Israeli society.""Polarization and divisions are behind us, and unity and reconciliation are before us," he said, vowing to work to set up a national unity government. He's repeatedly said he would not team up with Netanyahu while he's tainted by allegations of corruption.With his political survival at stake, Netanyahu launched a nasty campaign in which he appealed to his nationalist base by making pledges dear to their hearts, such as vowing to annex West Bank territory claimed by Palestinians, and painting the liberal left and Israeli Arab leaders as bogeymen. That continued on voting day, when he convened what was billed as an emergency party meeting amid reports of high turnout in Arab and liberal areas of the country."Voters of the right, have you lost your minds?" Netanyahu said on Twitter. "Go out now and vote Likud in order to stop a left-wing government with the Arab parties." Ayman Odeh, the head of the Joint List, said Netanyahu's anti-Arab message helped to get out the Arab vote, which had been thin in the April election.The prime minister entered the race badly weakened by what he says are baseless graft allegations cooked up by left-wing opponents. Before coalition talks collapsed in May, he was promoting new legislation that would grant him immunity from prosecution as long as he's in office. If Netanyahu loses the election, that option will become a dead letter and he'll become more legally vulnerable.In early October, the prime minister's scheduled to plead his case before Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit, who will then decide whether to go ahead with planned bribery and fraud charges. Netanyahu is accused of accepting about $200,000 in gifts from wealthy friends and trying to win sympathetic press coverage by shaping rules to benefit media moguls.The political uncertainty dovetails with renewed confrontations with Iran and its proxies in Syria, Lebanon and the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, and serious questions over the fate of the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan. Israel's political paralysis has already held up the presentation of the plan, which is facing an uphill struggle five years after Israeli-Palestinian peace talks stalled.U.S. President Donald Trump has been one of Netanyahu's most fervent allies. In the run-up to the April election, he presented Netanyahu with political gifts that included moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, withholding funds from the Palestinians, recognizing Jerusalem as Israel's capital and declaring that Israel had sovereignty over a section of the war-won Golan Heights. That still wasn't enough to help Netanyahu over the top this time.Exit polls show a surge in support for Liberman, whose tough stand against sweeping military draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jewish men resonated among voters on both left and right in a country where conscription is compulsory and many resent the concession. After the exit polls were revealed on Tuesday, he repeated his call for a national unity government that would include his party, Blue and White and Likud, while freezing out the ultra-Orthodox.Blue and White has said it won't join a coalition with Netanyahu, so such a secular, broad-based coalition plan might not come to pass unless Likud pushes the prime minister out."Assuming the numbers are correct, we are witnessing quite a dramatic outcome for a first time after a decade. There is a very high likelihood that Mr. Netanyahu will not serve as prime minister of Israel," said Yohanan Plesner, president of the Israel Democracy Institute research center."It looks like Mr. Netanyahu's path to 61 is blocked, while Mr. Gantz has greater options," Plesner said. "We might also see change within the Likud, where a new chairman of the Likud might be able to form a new unity government with Blue and White."Netanyahu has led Israel for a total of 13 years in which he scored unprecedented diplomatic achievements for his country, including the transfer of the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, while seeing prospects for peacemaking with the Palestinians retreat.He also dismantled much of the socialist legacy of the country's founders, with the broad economy and trade links flourishing even as a large income inequality gap makes it difficult for many to make ends meet.(Updates with Netanyahu speech in ninth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Yaacov Benmeleh.To contact the reporter on this story: Amy Teibel in Jerusalem at ateibel@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Benjamin HarveyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Couple reveal they are raising child 'gender neutral' and haven't even told close family their baby's sex Posted: 17 Sep 2019 09:34 AM PDT  A couple have decided to keep their baby's sex a secret from close relatives in a bid to avoid gender bias. Hobbit Humphrey, 38, and Jake England-Johns, 35, refer to their 17-month-old child, Anoush, with the pronoun, "they", and dress them in both girls' and boys' clothing. The married couple, who are members of the climate action group, Extinction Rebellion, have been accused of "virtue signalling". However, they are keen to let their child, Anoush, choose their own gender identity when they are old enough, because they wish for them to "grow into their own person". Close family members have not been told the child's sex and grandmother, Camille, only found out when she changed a nappy. The couple, who live on a houseboat in Keynsham, Somerset, discussed the ways in which they could challenge gender bias after discovering Ms Humphrey was pregnant. Mr England-Johns told the BBC's Inside Out: "The neutral in gender neutral refers to us trying to behave neutrally towards our child rather than trying to make them neutral." "Eventually, we decided that we wouldn't tell people whether they were a boy or a girl … in order to create this little bubble for our baby to be who they are," Ms Humphrey said. However their decision has sparked some controversy. Rosa Freedman, Professor of law conflict and global development at the University of Reading, said: "While this is an individual case the worry would be that in the unlikely event many parents took up this way of parenting, that the NHS, government, and service providers would not know what to plan for in the future as they would not know how many boys or girls exist." "Parents concerned about gendered social construct would do better to fight patriarchy, homophobia and transphobia rather and try to virtue signal to their friends and communities so they can get praise." The couple have said that the reaction to their decision has been mixed. However Mr England-Johns said: "But over a year in, it's clear that we are serious and gradually people have got used to it. "Although, that still doesn't stop some pretty confused looks from old ladies in the park when they come up to us and ask if they're a boy or a girl. It can take a bit of explaining. "We are quite good now at holding space for people's discomfort in us going, 'Oh well, actually we don't tell anyone, we're not telling anyone for now."
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| California woman rescued by cops who stopped her abductor over vehicle violations Posted: 15 Sep 2019 09:46 PM PDT  Northern California cops free a woman who says she was being held captive. The bruised and upset woman told police she had been kidnapped four days prior. They began questioning her after they arrested the driver of the vehicle she was a passenger in.
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| 20 dead as truck falls off cliff in southern Philippines Posted: 17 Sep 2019 04:12 AM PDT  Twenty villagers were killed and 14 others were injured when the truck they were riding in lost control and fell off a cliff Tuesday in a remote mountain village in the southern Philippines, police and the Red Cross said. Provincial police chief Joel Limson said the truck was negotiating a downhill road in Tboli town in South Cotabato province when its brakes apparently failed and plummeted down a ravine, pinning 15 people to death. Police, Red Cross volunteers and villagers retrieved the 15 bodies from the wreckage at the bottom of the ravine.
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| Wisconsin brothers charged with operating counterfeit vaping cartridge operation Posted: 17 Sep 2019 11:15 AM PDT  Tyler and Jacob Huffhines ran an operation that cranked out 3,000 to 5,000 counterfeit vaping cartridges each day, authorities say.
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| Earth warming more quickly than thought, new climate models show Posted: 17 Sep 2019 07:59 AM PDT  Greenhouse gases thrust into the atmosphere mainly by burning fossil fuels are warming Earth's surface more quickly than previously understood, according to new climate models set to replace those used in current UN projections, scientists said Tuesday. The new calculations also suggest that the Paris Agreement goals of capping global warming at "well below" two degrees, and 1.5C if possible, will be challenging at best, the scientists said. "With our two models, we see that the scenario known as SSP1 2.6 -- which normally allows us to stay under 2C -- doesn't quite get us there," Olivier Boucher, head of the Institute Pierre Simon Laplace Climate Modelling Centre in Paris, told AFP.
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| Exclusive: Russia carried out a 'stunning' breach of FBI communications system, escalating the spy game on U.S. soil Posted: 16 Sep 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Russian compounds and diplomats in the U.S. played key roles in a counterintelligence operation that stretched from the Bay Area to the nation's capital, according to former U.S. officials.
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| Belgian F-16s scrambled to intercept 2 Russian nuclear-capable supersonic bombers over the Baltic Sea Posted: 17 Sep 2019 01:23 PM PDT  The Belgian Air Force intercepted two Russian Tu-160 supersonic, nuclear-capable bombers at close range in Baltic airspace.
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| Manhattan District Attorney Issues Subpoena for Trump’s Tax Returns Posted: 16 Sep 2019 01:06 PM PDT  New York state prosecutors, led by Manhattan district attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., have subpoenaed President Trump's accounting firm for records of his tax returns for the last eight years, according to a report from the New York Times.The subpoena is part of an investigation into hush-money payments made by the president to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels during the 2016 presidential campaign. Trump's lawyer and fixer, Michael D. Cohen, was convicted in federal court of breaking campaign-finance laws after paying $130,000 to Daniels, and received a three-year prison sentence.Daniels claims that she had a sexual encounter with Trump in 2006 shortly after the birth of his son, Barron Trump, and received the payment in exchange for her silence on the matter.The Manhattan D.A.'s office is looking into the possibility that the hush-money payments broke New York state law in addition to federal law. It was unclear, however, why prosecutors subpoenaed documents from as far back as 2011.The subpoenaed tax returns include Trump's personal returns as well as those of his company, the Trump Organization.Congressional Democrats have been trying for years to force Trump to reveal his tax returns, and have subpoenaed six years of those documents from the Treasury Department. The president has fought back by challenging the subpoena in federal court, effectively tying up the release of the documents.
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| Putin Loses Legendary Approval-Rating Crown to His New Neighbor Posted: 16 Sep 2019 09:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.Vladimir Putin takes great pride in his sky-high approval rating. But with Muscovites rising up and a new government instilling hope in Ukraine, he's being outshone by the president next door, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.It's still early days for the administration in Kyiv. While pushing a raft of popular reforms, Zelenskiy, 41, remains in his honeymoon period, while cries he's too close to a local billionaire grow louder.The 66-year-old Putin, meanwhile, is approaching two decades as Russia's leader. Economic expansion has fizzled out, and along with it the spending largess that kept the masses happy.The last time his popularity sagged meaningfully, Putin famously got a boost after annexing Crimea from Ukraine and fomenting a war between the two former allies.Zelenskiy has a long way to go to match the 89% rating Putin reached back then.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Langley in London at alangley1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Gregory L. WhiteFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| House of Ukraine's former top central banker set on fire Posted: 17 Sep 2019 05:58 AM PDT  The home of Ukraine's former central bank chief has been burned to the ground, the third chilling incident involving the banker over the past few weeks. Police said in a statement Tuesday that they are investigating a suspected arson attack late Monday on the house of Valeria Gontareva outside the capital, Kyiv. Gontareva has said she has received threats from Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoyskyi, who lost his PrivatBank to a government nationalization that was carried out while Gontareva was at the helm of the central bank in 2016.
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| GM stops paying for health insurance for striking union workers; talks continue Posted: 17 Sep 2019 08:18 AM PDT  General Motors Co shifted health insurance costs for its striking workers to the United Auto Workers union as its members walked the picket line for the second day on Tuesday. The UAW on Monday launched the first company-wide strike at GM in 12 years, saying negotiations toward a new national agreement covering about 48,000 hourly workers had hit an impasse. This year's talks between the union and GM, Ford Motor Co and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) were expected to be tough, with thorny issues such as healthcare costs, profit-sharing and the use of temporary workers on the table.
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| Oil prices sink as quick Saudi output recovery seen Posted: 17 Sep 2019 03:39 PM PDT  Oil prices sank more than five percent on Tuesday, reversing some of the previous day's gains as analysts predicted Saudi output would recover sooner than expected after weekend drone attacks. At the same time, global stocks were in a holding pattern while investors awaited the US Federal Reserve's latest decision on monetary policy due on Wednesday. Economists widely expect the Fed to cut interest rates.
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| Triple threat: Tropical Storm Imelda swamps Texas, Humberto nears Bermuda and TD 10 forms in Atlantic Posted: 17 Sep 2019 05:16 PM PDT  While Hurricane Humberto nears Bermuda, there's flooding in Texas due to Tropical Storm Imelda, and Tropical Depression 10 is spinning up in the Atlantic
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| Biden's 1960s gang fight yarn: Son of 'bad dude' Corn Pop confirms his father knew Dem frontrunner Posted: 17 Sep 2019 10:27 AM PDT  The saga of Joe Biden's mysterious story from the 1960s, in which he and a man called Corn Pop almost battled with a knife and a chain but ultimately did not, may have been confirmed.Mr Biden has told the story of a 1962 confrontation with a man who frequented a public pool in Wilmington, Delaware where he was a lifeguard several times, including in his book. But a video of him retelling it at an event in 2017, at the pool's dedication ceremony after it was renamed for him, resurfaced earlier this week.
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| California woman who dreamed about swallowing engagement ring woke up to realize she actually did Posted: 17 Sep 2019 10:19 AM PDT  A California woman had her dreams come true earlier this month — although probably not in the way she would have liked.
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| The High-Risk Strategy That Could Hand Democrats the White House Posted: 17 Sep 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Democratic voters live in clusters — but there's a way to take advantage of that
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| China Might Not Actually Be Able to Hold Its South China Sea Bases but That's Not the Point Posted: 16 Sep 2019 11:00 AM PDT  What does Bejing plan to do with them?
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| Surprising Facts You Didn't Know About Rhinos Posted: 17 Sep 2019 11:59 AM PDT |
| A North Carolina sheriff allegedly plotted the death of his own deputy because the officer had a tape of him making 'racially offensive' comments Posted: 17 Sep 2019 01:28 PM PDT  Granville County Sheriff Brindell Wilkins urged someone to kill a deputy, saying, "The only way you gonna stop him is kill him," an indictment says.
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| US sanctions Italy, Panama and Colombia firms over Venezuela ties Posted: 17 Sep 2019 01:28 PM PDT  The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on 16 companies linked to Colombian businessman Alex Nain Saab Moran, an associate of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The move is the latest US escalation of sanctions targeting the inner circle of Maduro, who is grappling with a political and economic crisis that the United Nations says has left a quarter of Venezuela's 30 million people in need of humanitarian aid.
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| Yemen Houthi drones, missiles defy years of Saudi air strikes Posted: 17 Sep 2019 12:24 PM PDT  At a weapons exhibition in July in Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa, military officials whipped silken sheets off what they said were newly-developed drones and missiles. The theatrical gesture revealed the proud slogan "Made in Yemen" spray-painted onto the weapons' bodywork. The moment was a celebration of sorts for Yemen's Houthi fighters.
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| Boy Scout leader sang naked in front of kids, and organization failed to investigate: Lawsuit Posted: 16 Sep 2019 12:03 PM PDT  A Boy Scout leader who was accused of singing naked in front of several young boys was not investigated by his troop despite multiple complaints.
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| Video shows burglars kick in California family's front door, before being scared away Posted: 16 Sep 2019 04:50 AM PDT  Two masked-man kicked in the front door of a Pleasanton home in an attempted home-invasion -- and it was all caught on surveillance video.
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| Saudi Arabia knows its defences are not up to war with Iran Posted: 16 Sep 2019 09:50 AM PDT  The smoke rising above above Saudi Arabia's Abqaiq oil field might seem at first like the justification Riyadh has been waiting for. If the White House is to be believed, Iran launched an unprovoked attack on the kingdom's most important oil facilities. Saudi Arabia would be within its rights to strike its Iranian archrivals in response. In an evening tweet, Donald Trump even appeared to give Saudi Arabia a say in whether the US would attack Iran. "[The US is] waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!" Saudi Arabia has the power to bring fire and fury down on its most-hated foe but may be reluctant to actually use that power. The reality is the Saudis are deeply skittish about the prospects of any war with Iran because they know they will be Tehran's main target. If fighting breaks out between the US and Iran, the Iranians will have relatively few chances to strike America directly. They could target US ships in the Persian Gulf or order their Shia militia proxies to harass American forces in Iraq. But most of their fire is likely to be aimed at the soft underbelly of Saudi Arabia, which is well within range of Iran's missiles on the other side of the Gulf. Strikes against Saudi oil plants "Saudi Arabia will not support a war with Iran that has a Saudi return address on it," said Joshua Landis, director of the Centre for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma. "Saudi Arabia would support a war between the US and Iran, if Saudi Arabia could hide behind the US, but not one where the Saudis must step out in front, because the Saudis would lose." Although the kingdom is the world's third largest defence spender after the US and China, its military is fairly ineffective and would struggle against Iranian forces hardened by decades of unconventional warfare across the region. Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, openly lamented the disparity between the quality of his troops' weapons and the paucity of their fighting skills. "It is unacceptable that we are the world's third or fourth biggest country in military spending but our army is ranked in the twenties [in ability]," he said in 2016. "There is a problem." Mohammed bin Salman had lamented his forces' capabilities Credit: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo That problem has been mercilessly exposed on the battlefields of Yemen, where Saudi forces equipped with state-of-the-art British and American weaponry have been fought to a stalemate by ragtag Houthi rebel fighters backed by Iran. This vulnerability explains why, despite Riyadh's strong rhetoric towards Iran, the Saudis have often looked to de-escalate in the face of Iranian provocations. After two Saudi oil tankers were bombed in a mysterious sabotage attack in May, the US pointed the finger directly at Iran. Yet, Saudi Arabia hemmed and hawed and appeared reluctant to place the blame on anyone. In their initial statements about this week's attack, Saudi officials have confirmed the weapons were Iranian-made but have not gone as far as the US in directly blaming Iran. As with the tanker attacks, they may now say that a lengthy investigation is needed to determine the culprits, giving time for passions to fade. The kingdom surely dream of ridding itself of its rivals in the Islamic Republic across the narrow water. But if the price of confronting Iran is far more smoke billowing above burning Saudi oil fields then Riyadh will probably look for a way to back down.
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| Why Stalin's Dreams of a Soviet Navy of Battleships Never Came True Posted: 16 Sep 2019 05:00 AM PDT  It never happened.
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| Blaming shelters and street sleeping, Donald Trump blasts California for homeless crisis Posted: 17 Sep 2019 05:38 PM PDT  Donald Trump hands out a conservative prescription to remedy homelessness, blaming shelters and calling for cities to ban sleeping on streets.
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