2019年10月19日星期六

Yahoo! News: Iraq

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Yahoo! News: Iraq


2020 Vision: Hillary Clinton thinks Russia will back Tulsi Gabbard to help Trump stay in power

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 12:11 PM PDT

2020 Vision: Hillary Clinton thinks Russia will back Tulsi Gabbard to help Trump stay in power"This is not some outlandish claim," Clinton said in an interview this week. "This is reality."


Republican leader struggles to defend Mulvaney quid pro quo press conference remarks

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 10:34 AM PDT

Republican leader struggles to defend Mulvaney quid pro quo press conference remarksHouse Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters that acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was "very clear in cleaning up his statement" on whether President Trump floated a quid pro quo to Ukrainian leaders.


Atomwaffen Division’s Washington State Cell Leader Stripped of Arsenal in U.S., Banned from Canada

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 02:13 AM PDT

Atomwaffen Division's Washington State Cell Leader Stripped of Arsenal in U.S., Banned from CanadaPolice HandoutKaleb James Cole, the 24-year-old leader of Atomwaffen Division's Washington State Cell stripped of his firearms by a "red-flag law" late last month, was deported and banned for life from Canada earlier this year, according to court records, which also showed that he had been previously interrogated by American border agents about his extremist views.Cole, a National Socialist black metal enthusiast who goes by the alias "Khimaere," was first identified as a member of Atomwaffen Division in a 2018 ProPublica investigation. He played a key role in organizing "hate camp" trainings for the group's members at an abandoned building known as "Devil's Tower" in Skagit, Washington, and in Nevada's Death Valley. Cole also helped craft the group's eye-catching propaganda.Atomwaffen Division is an underground neo-Nazi guerrilla organization which had 23 chapters throughout the United States as of mid-2018. Since its inception in 2015, Atomwaffen members have been implicated in five homicides and several bomb plots, and are the subject of an intensifying national investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. It makes common cause with other militant fascist groups like the Base and Sonnenkrieg Division in the United Kingdom, where authorities have charged a number of members with terrorism-related offenses.As The Daily Beast reported, the Seattle Police Department obtained an "Extreme Risk Protection Order" against Cole on September 26 to confiscate his concealed carry firearms permit and any firearms he owned for at least a year. That same day, SPD seized five rifles, a shotgun, three semiautomatic handguns and four lower receivers (the firing mechanism of a rifle that can be used to craft untraceable 'ghost guns') from Cole's father's house outside Arlington, in Washington State's Snohomish County.According to court records, none of the guns or the lower receivers seized from Cole were registered in Washington State's licensed firearms database."Law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned about the respondent's access to firearms and his involvement in the Atomwaffen Division, a known terrorist group," Seattle Police Sergeant Dorothy Kim wrote in a petition for an Extreme Risk Protection Order. As further evidence, Sgt. Kim cited Atomwaffen Division propaganda calling for "Race War Now," and the group's adherence to "acceleration theory," which urges actions that undermine the existing social order to "exacerbate the feeling of alienation among white supremacists and a greater impulse to engage in violence or destructive behavior."Cole's "words, actions and behavior suggest he has taken additional steps towards a plan with his ideologically motivated violence. Specifically, the coordinated camps with firearms training, overseas travel with Atomwaffen paraphernalia-flags/skull masks, threats to kill (gas the Kikes) and the possession of firearms, suggest an imminent risk to public safety if Cole is permitted to continue to purchase or possess firearms," Sergeant Kim wrote.The request to seize Cole's guns was reportedly made to Seattle Police by the FBI, which did not have enough information to file criminal charges but believed Cole posed a serious threat to public safety.Multiple law enforcement sources told The Daily Beast that Cole had been the target of an FBI investigation following his February 2018 identification by ProPublica. However, law enforcement made no contact with him until December 28, 2018, when Cole landed in Chicago's O'Hare International Airport on a flight from London. Customs and Border Protection pulled Cole aside for secondary screening. Records of that interview were included by the Seattle Police Department in their emergency risk petition last month.During the interview, Cole told CBP agents he had traveled to the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine with two friends from Washington State, Aidan Bruce-Umbaugh and Edie Allison Moore. The trip, Cole said, was to "see the historic architecture and museums in Eastern European countries." The three also attended a heavy metal festival while in Kyiv. The 2018 edition of Asgardsrei, a festival several National Socialist black metal bands have played in the past, was held in Kyiv from December 15-16 last year. Photographs from the concert posted to social media show an Atomwaffen Division flag brandished by individuals in the crowd. According to information obtained by The Daily Beast, Aidan Bruce-Umbaugh is a member of the Washington State cell of Atomwaffen Division, and goes by the moniker "Nythra." The drummer for Kaleb Cole's old metal band, Operblut, is listed as "Nythra" on music websites. In the CBP interview, Cole told federal agents he and Bruce-Umbaugh had been friends since grade school.Border agents searched Cole's luggage, and found a skull mask balaclava and an Atomwaffen Division flag inside his bag. When questioned about press reports tying him to Atomwaffen Division, Cole admitted to his involvement with the group and stated that he "shares a Fascist ideology, 'strong dominate the weak'." He also admitted he owned an AK-47 and multiple handguns "for his own protection."Cole's phone was also searched by border agents, who downloaded several images from the device. Amongst them are a photograph of Cole and another man wearing skull mask balaclavas in front of the gates of Auschwitz, the death camp where the Nazis murdered hundreds of thousands of Jews. Images of him posing with other Atomwaffen members, firearms, and the group's flag were also recovered from Cole's phone.According to multiple sources close to law enforcement, Cole previously attracted the interest of Canadian authorities by frequently driving across the border to British Columbia, sometimes several times a week. In late May, Cole was detained by the Canadian Border Service Agency because of press reports linking him to Atomwaffen Division, as well as "his overseas travel to Ukraine," where several right-wing extremists have traveled to fight with the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion against Russia-backed separatists.According to court records, he was held by Canadian authorities and placed into deportation proceedings due to his involvement in "an organization that may engage in terrorism," per Section 34 [1][F] of the Canadian Immigration Code. According to records prepared by the Seattle Police Department, Cole was deported in July and "barred from Canada for life."The Canadian Border Services Agency and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police both declined to comment on Cole's deportation, the Atomwaffen Division or its affiliated organizations in Canada, citing the restrictions of Canada's Privacy Act. Earlier this year, Patrik Mathews, a master corporal in the Canadian Military Reserve went AWOL after being identified as a recruiter for the Base. Mathews—who reportedly came to the attention of multiple Canadian security agencies because racist material was previously found by the Canadian Border Services Agency in his car while crossing the border with the United States—is still at large.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.


Israel, Russia, and the US are in a diplomatic standoff over a 26-year-old woman smuggling 9 and a half grams of marijuana

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 10:54 AM PDT

Israel, Russia, and the US are in a diplomatic standoff over a 26-year-old woman smuggling 9 and a half grams of marijuanaNaama Issachar, 26, was sentenced to 7.5 years of prison in Moscow, and negotiating her release is part of a bigger diplomatic dispute.


Erdogan threatens to restart Syria operation Tuesday if deal not respected

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 08:51 AM PDT

Erdogan threatens to restart Syria operation Tuesday if deal not respectedTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday warned that Ankara would restart its operation against Kurdish forces in Syria on Tuesday evening if they did not withdraw from a "safe zone". Turkey has agreed to suspend its offensive for five days in northern Syria while Kurdish fighters withdraw from the area, after high stake talks with US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara.


UPDATE 1-Mexico flies 300 Indian migrants to New Delhi in 'unprecedented' mass deportation

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 01:27 AM PDT

UPDATE 1-Mexico flies 300 Indian migrants to New Delhi in 'unprecedented' mass deportationMEXICO CITY/NEW DELHI Oct 17 (Reuters) - Mexico has deported over 300 Indian nationals to New Delhi, the National Migration Institute (INM) said late on Wednesday, calling it an unprecedented transatlantic deportation. The move follows a deal Mexico struck with the United States in June, vowing to significantly curb U.S.-bound migration in exchange for averting U.S. tariffs on Mexican exports. "It is unprecedented in INM's history - in either form or the number of people - for a transatlantic air transport like the one carried out on this day," INM said in a statement.


Could France and Germany Jointly Build an EU Aircraft Carrier?

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 08:00 PM PDT

Could France and Germany Jointly Build an EU Aircraft Carrier?All in all, a European carrier will only come about in a world where Germany is willing and able to commit far more resources to defense than it currently does; and can arrive at a joint vision with France on how to use such an expensive vessel to project force abroad. That's not the world we live in yet.


Next-Gen Dodge Challenger Coming in 2023? Don't Be So Sure, Says Dodge

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 12:40 PM PDT

Next-Gen Dodge Challenger Coming in 2023? Don't Be So Sure, Says DodgeThe number 2023 spotted on press photos has people all excited, but Dodge told C/D it doesn't mean anything.


Hondurans call for president to step down after drug verdict

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 06:04 PM PDT

Hondurans call for president to step down after drug verdictOpposition groups called Saturday for more protests to demand that Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández be removed from office after his younger brother was convicted of drug trafficking in a New York court. President Hernández insisted via Twitter that the verdict is not against the state of Honduras, saying his government has fought drug trafficking. On Saturday he attended a parade to honor the country's armed forces and posted pictures of himself on Twitter smiling alongside the U.S. chargé d'affaires to Honduras, Colleen Hoey.


Archaeologists have located an ancient city hidden in the Cambodian jungle. The discovery was 150 years in the making.

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 08:45 AM PDT

Archaeologists have located an ancient city hidden in the Cambodian jungle. The discovery was 150 years in the making.For centuries, the ancient city of Mahendraparvata has been covered by dense trees that make it hard to observe.


Syria Kurds accuse Turkey of scuppering US-brokered deal

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 11:28 AM PDT

Syria Kurds accuse Turkey of scuppering US-brokered dealThe commander of Kurdish forces in Syria accused Turkey of sabotaging a US-brokered truce Saturday by blocking the withdrawal of his forces from a flashpoint border town in northeastern Syria. In a wide-ranging interview with AFP, Mazloum Abdi, head of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), also said he still wished to see a role for the US in Syria to counterbalance Russian influence, while recommitting his forces to countering the Islamic State (IS) group. "The Turks are preventing the withdrawal from the Ras al-Ain area, preventing the exit of our forces, the wounded and civilians," Abdi said in a phone interview from Syria.


7 Things To Do With Your Old Smartphone

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 12:00 PM PDT

7 Things To Do With Your Old Smartphone


'We're going to have him for another four years.' Impeachment fight riles up Donald Trump supporters for 2020

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 07:46 AM PDT

'We're going to have him for another four years.' Impeachment fight riles up Donald Trump supporters for 2020Rather than hunkering down in Washington, Donald Trump is using the impeachment fight to rile up supporters in cities like Minneapolis and Dallas.


Why Did 3 U.S. Navy Submarines Surface In The Pacific In 2010? China.

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT

Why Did 3 U.S. Navy Submarines Surface In The Pacific In 2010? China.Submarines are useful for signaling intent.


Egypt unveils biggest ancient coffin find in over a century

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 05:53 AM PDT

Egypt unveils biggest ancient coffin find in over a centuryEgypt on Saturday unveiled the details of 30 ancient wooden coffins with mummies inside discovered in the southern city of Luxor in the biggest find of its kind in more than a century. A team of Egyptian archaeologists discovered a "distinctive group of 30 coloured wooden coffins for men, women and children" in a cache at Al-Asasif cemetery on Luxor's west bank, the Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement on Saturday. "It is the first large human coffin cache ever discovered since the end of the 19th century," the Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany was quoted as saying during a ceremony in Luxor.


Post-Tropical Cyclone Nestor Makes Landfall in Florida. Here's What to Know About Its Path

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 10:10 AM PDT

Post-Tropical Cyclone Nestor Makes Landfall in Florida. Here's What to Know About Its PathReports of tornado damage in Florida have already emerged.


The Chicago teachers' strike shows how to go on offense against neoliberalism

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT

The Chicago teachers' strike shows how to go on offense against neoliberalismChicago teachers led the battle against destructive reforms seven years ago – now they're showing all working people left behind by cuts how to fight'Together, the coordinated strikes have put more than 30,000 workers on the picket lines – more than 1% of the city's population.' Photograph: Xinhua/Barcroft MediaIn 2012, when Chicago teachers walked off the job in their first strike in 25 years, the cards were stacked against them, nationally and locally. Today, they're on strike again – and on the offense against austerity.Seven years ago, Rahm Emanuel had just been elected mayor and was looking to deal the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), who he saw as a barrier to privatizing the city's education system, a crushing defeat. That agenda was shared by both Republicans and Democrats across the country, with a barrage of attacks on teachers' unions, devastating budget cuts to schools and charter school networks – intended to undercut public schools and do an end run around their unions – rapidly multiplying.Yet after electing a new militant leadership in 2010 that pledged to fight not just for bread-and-butter issues like higher pay but a broad agenda of "educational justice" and opposition to austerity, Chicago teachers won that strike, inspiring educators and workers of all kinds across the country – and planting the seeds of future unrest in schools across West Virginia, Oklahoma, Arizona, Oakland, Denver and elsewhere, in the teachers' strike wave that kicked off last year.Chicago teachers are again on strike, now against the recently elected mayor, Lori Lightfoot. As in 2012, their demands are focused on burning issues in their schools and the city as a whole rather than simply wages and benefits (a strategy that has been called "bargaining for the common good"). And they're waging that fight alongside another striking union, SEIU Local 73, which represents bus aides, janitors, classroom assistants and other school staff – many of whom earn below-poverty wages.CTU's staffing demands are straightforward: a nurse, counselor, librarian and social worker in every school. The current ratio of students to counselors, nurses and social workers in Chicago public schools (CPS) far exceeds professional association recommendations. The National Association of School Psychologists recommends one psychologist for every 700 students; last year, each CPS psychologist served 1,760. For nurses, the ratio is four times what is recommended; for social workers, nearly five times. The union is also demanding enforceable caps so that classes aren't overcrowded, which CTU says is the case in nearly a quarter of all Chicago classrooms.The union is also connecting its bargaining to the city's affordable housing crisis, demanding housing assistance for both its members and its students, nearly 16,000 of whom experience homelessness. The op-ed pages of the city's newspapers have upbraided this proposal, but CTU argues that "to fully support our public schools, we must address the lack of sustainable, affordable housing in our city" – a problem faced by cities throughout the country.CTU is breaking new ground, both in the kinds of broad working-class demands it is putting forward and by striking alongside SEIU Local 73. Together, the coordinated strikes have put more than 30,000 workers on the picket lines – more than 1% of the city's population. Yesterday, a sea of CTU red and SEIU purple swarmed the city's downtown in the afternoon, with thousands on the streets for a mass march after morning school pickets.The union is up against Lightfoot, a political newcomer who won office earlier this year by campaigning as a progressive and running on an education agenda that borrowed heavily from CTU's: an elected school board rather than one appointed by the mayor, a freeze on charter expansion and major investments in public schools. But Lightfoot's progressive posturing is now running up against tens of thousands striking Chicago teachers and staff who want more than progressive rhetoric – they want hard commitments, put in writing and legally enforceable through their contract.If she continues to balk at union demands at the bargaining table, Lightfoot will probably see the goodwill she has maintained from average Chicagoans since taking office disappear. The signs don't look good for her: a Chicago Sun-Times poll conducted just before the strike shows that the public is backing the CTU over the mayor and school board. The same was true for Rahm Emanuel in 2012.Critics on the school board and in mainstream media have responded with the common refrain that Chicago is broke and can't afford such demands. But Chicago is awash in wealth – enough for Lightfoot to approve the giveaway of $1.3bn in public money to luxury real estate firm Sterling Bay for the mega-development project Lincoln Yards. CTU has long argued that the way to pay for their demands is clear: end these corporate giveaways and tax the rich.The nationwide neoliberal education reform movement was on the march when CTU struck in 2012. But after numerous corruption scandals, growing charter school unionization and strikes, and teacher walk-offs in states throughout the country, that movement is on its heels. Just as the Democratic party has been forced to at least feint left on issues like Medicare for All and free public college tuition because of Bernie Sanders's presidential campaigns, the party has been forced to back off of its most fervent support for corporate education reform.Chicago teachers led the way in the fight against these destructive reforms seven years ago. Today, they're showing educators around the country how to fight not only for themselves, but for all working people who have been left behind by budget cuts and the dismantling of the public sector.The education policy scholar Pauline Lipman once described Chicago as "the incubator, test case and model for the neoliberal urban education agenda". This week, teachers are working to make sure Chicago is where that agenda ends. * Miles Kampf-Lassin is an editor at In These Times. * Micah Uetricht is the managing editor of Jacobin and host of its podcast The Vast Majority. He is the author of Strike for America: Chicago Teachers Against Austerity and coauthor of the forthcoming Bigger Than Bernie: How We Go From the Sanders Campaign to Political Revolution in Our Lifetimes


Archaeologists discover hidden city in the jungle

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 12:08 PM PDT

Archaeologists discover hidden city in the jungleFor centuries, the ancient city of Mahendraparvata has been buried under a dense canopy in the Cambodian jungle. It was one of the first capitals of the Khmer Empire, which controlled large swaths of Southeast Asia from the 9th to 15th centuries. Over the last 150 years, archaeologists have uncovered artifacts that they suspected came from Mahendraparvata, but they didn't have enough evidence to support the link — until now.


Mexicans Outraged After Cornered Son of ‘El Chapo’ Released

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 09:25 AM PDT

Mexicans Outraged After Cornered Son of 'El Chapo' Released(Bloomberg) -- The decision by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's security cabinet to release the captured son of the world's most notorious drug lord left him struggling to contain the damage amid public outrage.AMLO, as the president is known, said the government took the decision after Mexican forces were overpowered Thursday as they attempted to take in Ovidio Guzman Lopez, son of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The son is said to have taken over some criminal operations from his father. The confrontation, which left eight dead, occurred in Culiacan, the capital of the western state of Sinaloa.His public security minister, Alfonso Durazo, admitted that the operation to capture Guzman Lopez was a failure. Reporters peppered him with questions at a news conference in Culiacan, asking if he would resign. Durazo deflected, suggesting that he could do so if the moment arrives when he decides he no longer can contribute to securing peace in the nation."The government clearly looks bad after this," Daniel Kerner, an analyst at Eurasia Group, wrote in a research report. "It clearly failed to plan and anticipate the response that going after the son of one of the most notable drug leaders in Mexico would generate given the cartel's influence in the city. As such, it looks like it had no strategy and no coordination."The incident presents the biggest security challenge yet to Lopez Obrador, who was elected on promises to stop years of violence and has maintained an approval rate of more than 60% in polls despite a stagnant economy. Homicides are on pace to break last year's record, according to data through August, rising more than 3% to exceed 23,000.Cartel members on Thursday turned Culiacan into a war zone after Mexican authorities surrounded Guzman Lopez at a house where he was taking refuge. Homemade tanks complete with machine guns rumbling through the streets, stopping traffic and firing repeatedly. The city was littered with burning vehicles as residents posted videos on Twitter of gunfire and chaos. Plumes of black smoke rose over buildings.How AMLO's Plans to Transform Mexico Ran Into Reality: QuickTake"This decision was taken to protect citizens," Lopez Obrador said at his morning news conference Friday in the southern state of Oaxaca. "You can't put out fire with fire. That's the difference between our strategy and what previous governments have done. We don't want deaths, we don't want war."Early Saturday, Lopez Obrador said U.S. President Donald Trump called him to express "his solidarity" for the Culiacan events. "I'm thankful for the respect to our sovereignty and your willingness to maintain a good neighborhood policy," Lopez Obrador said via Twitter. Representatives of the White House and National Security Council did not immediately reply to an emailed request for comment.'Pandora's Box'Responding to the violence in Culiacan by letting Guzman Lopez go free sends a dangerous message to drug cartels that the Mexican government can be cowed by terrorist-like attacks against civilians, said Alejandro Schtulmann, who heads Mexico City-based political consultancy Empra. It's also embarrassing because the Sinaloa cartel's firepower has been diminished in recent years and pales in comparison to that of other ascendant groups like the Jalisco New Generation.Now, other groups when facing an arrest may "resort to the same methods," he said. "This may have opened the Pandora's box in the context of fighting organized crime in Mexico."The case rips open an old wound for Mexico, where El Chapo twice escaped from prison before he was recaptured and finally extradited and convicted in the U.S. It comes in a week when more than a dozen police were killed in an ambush in the deadliest attack on law enforcement since Lopez Obrador took office last December. At least 15 more people were killed in another shootout with the military in the nation's south.Lopez Obrador said that the suspect had an arrest warrant and an extradition request. His father was sent to the U.S. in early 2017 just as President Trump was taking office.The son's release was immediately decried across Mexican media, with one of the nation's largest newspapers, Reforma, running a headline saying "Little Chapo Subdues the Fourth Transformation," referring to the nickname that Lopez Obrador has given to his government.AMLO Lays Out Broad Plan for Addressing Violence in MexicoMexico has fought a decades-long war against drug gangs, in part because it serves as a connector between cocaine-producing nations in South America and consumers in the U.S.AMLO's strategy focuses on deployment of tens of thousands of members from a new National Guard force to the most violent parts of the country, as well as education and subsidies for youth. But the phrase he has used to summarize his philosophy, "hugs, not shots," has been criticized by political rivals and many security analysts as naive and Pollyannish.The release of Guzman Lopez "sends a message of weakness to the blackmail of narcos," said Veronica Ortiz, a lawyer and co-host on Mexico's nonpartisan Congress channel. "It's particularly serious for the military, because their own supreme commander is weakening them. For citizens, we're left unprotected against criminals."(Updates with AMLO comments on President Trump call on 8th graph.)\--With assistance from Nacha Cattan and Jennifer A. Dlouhy.To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.net;Lorena Rios in Mexico City at lriost@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Carlos Manuel Rodriguez, Ethan BronnerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


Rudy Giuliani reportedly tried to get a visa for a former Ukrainian prosecutor ousted with the help of Joe Biden

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 08:09 AM PDT

Rudy Giuliani reportedly tried to get a visa for a former Ukrainian prosecutor ousted with the help of Joe BidenPresident Trump's personal lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani reportedly attempted to secure a visa for former Ukraine prosecutor Viktor Shokin, CNN reported Friday.George Kent, the deputy assistant of state for European and Eurasian affairs, reportedly told congressional investigators that Giuliani asked both the State Department and the White House for a visa, two people familiar with his closed-door deposition earlier this week said. The State Department reportedly objected to the request and refused to grant the visa, which led Giuliani to seek help from the White House. It's unclear what the response was there, but Shokin never did receive a visa. CNN notes that the revelation appears to reveal that Giuliani's attempts to gather information about Democrats went further than previously understood.Shokin was pushed out of his position in 2016 when several world leaders, including former Vice President Joe Biden, voiced concerns that Shokin was not pursuing corruption cases in Ukraine. Giuliani has previously said he wanted to interview Shokin because he promised to reveal information about Democrats' actions in Ukraine. Giuliani has alleged that Biden was trying to stop investigations to protect his son, Hunter, who was sitting on the board of a Ukrainian gas company at the time, though there is no evidence of wrongdoing on either of the Bidens' part. Read more at CNN and NBC News.


Russia's Stealth Su-57 Is a Beast, But Can Russia Afford It?

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 01:00 AM PDT

Russia's Stealth Su-57 Is a Beast, But Can Russia Afford It?It's pretty expensive for Russia's flagging economy.


Bernie Sanders draws thousands to rally in New York in comeback from heart attack

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 04:21 PM PDT

Bernie Sanders draws thousands to rally in New York in comeback from heart attackU.S. presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders returned to the campaign trail in New York City on Saturday, three weeks after suffering a heart attack, and pledged to resume at full throttle his battle against the business and political establishment, including members of his own Democratic Party. Sanders, one of 19 Democrats fighting to take on Republican President Donald Trump at the polls in November 2020 was introduced by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of the leaders of the party's progressives and a frequent target of Trump's attacks.


Activists angry police who shoot can wait to face questions

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 07:23 AM PDT

Activists angry police who shoot can wait to face questionsAfter a police officer fatally shoots someone, it can take days or even weeks before the public or his supervisors hear the officer's version of what happened. In many states, that so-called cooling off period is carved out in state law or in a police department's contract. Law enforcement officials and experts say officers need to be able to collect their thoughts, so they don't provide details that are tainted by the trauma of the shooting.


Harry Dunn's family vow to expose 'cover up' as Foreign Office admit they asked police to delay passing on information

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 05:41 AM PDT

Harry Dunn's family vow to expose 'cover up' as Foreign Office admit they asked police to delay passing on informationThe family of Harry Dunn have said they suspect the British government of colluding with the United States to "cover up" details of his death and renewed calls for police to extradite Anne Sacoolas, the wife of a US intelligence agent accused of killing him. Radd Seiger, a spokesman for the family, said: "The search for justice has now expanded beyond simply Mrs Sacoolas' return, as important as that is.  "The family is now concerned that there has been misconduct and a cover up on both sides of the Atlantic and they are intent on exposing it." The call came after Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, admitted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office asked police to delay informing the family that Mrs Sacoolas had left the country. Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Mr Raab said: "I know there was a delay and we were asked our opinion by the police, and I think an official from the Foreign Office said it would be helpful to have a day or two.  "I know the police delayed a bit longer, and they are responsible for that." He added: "We have done everything we can within the law to clear the path so that justice can be done for the family and we will continue to do so."   Mr Raab was speaking after ITV News reported there had been a  been a ten-day delay between officers learning that Mrs Sacoolas had left the country and the family being told.   Dominic Raab admitted FCO officials asked police to delay telling Harry Dunn's family that Anne Sacoolas had left the country Credit: Victoria Jones/PA Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn, Harry's parents, told the Telegraph they felt that the British government had abandoned them,  saying they believe the Foreign Office "just want us to go away and forget about it all". "We don't understand why," said Mr Dunn. "Harry has died in an accident, and we feel that nobody but us wants to get justice for him."   They were due to fly back from the United States on Friday after a five day trip to plead with US officials to send Mrs Sacoolas back to the UK. The trip included a surprise meeting with Donald Trump at the White House, which the family say ended after he suggested an impromptu photo-opportunity meeting with Mrs Sacoolas in the Oval Office.  Anne Sacoolas left the country after she allegedly collided with his motorbike near RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27 Mr Seiger said when they said they would only meet her on UK soil, Robert O'Brien, Mr Trump's national security adviser, said she would never return to Britain. Mrs Sacoolas is alleged to have been driving her right-hand drive Volvo on the wrong side of the road when her car hit Mr Dunn, who was riding his motorbike, on August 27.   She and her husband Jonathan Sacoolas, a US intelligence officer, were spirited out of Britain on a private flight from a US air base after the incident.  The 42 year old mother-of-three, claimed diplomatic immunity to avoid prosecution despite not being on the official London diplomatic list. The Foreign Office confirmed however that Mrs Sacoolas and her husband, 43, were given diplomatic immunity prior to their arrival in the UK under the Vienna Convention. The immunity is extended to intelligence officers and other Americans working on military bases including RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire where the crash happened. Mr Seiger said the family did not accept that Mrs Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity and would be meeting with the chief constable of Northamptonshire police next week.  The family has called on the force to charge Mrs Sacoolas and initiate extradition proceedings. Mr Seiger said he the family had told the FCO and US officials that they were prepared to "have a conversation" if there were security concerns related to Mr Sacoolas' work, but had been rebuffed. "If there is some good reason why this lady should have been recalled, the family would have been open to that discussion. But they just completely ignored us," he said.


Ousted Communist leader Zhao Ziyang is buried: family

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 12:00 PM PDT

Ousted Communist leader Zhao Ziyang is buried: familyA former Chinese Communist Party leader ousted after he opposed the use of force to quell 1989 democracy protests was buried over a decade after he died, his family said, in a service ignored by state media. Zhao Ziyang, who is a revered figure among Chinese human rights defenders, is still a sensitive topic in the country, where commemorations of his death are held under tight surveillance or prevented altogether. There was no mention of his burial ceremony Friday on state media, and searching for his name on social media returned no results.


Mexico deports 311 Indian nationals in 'unprecedented' move

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 07:17 AM PDT

Mexico deports 311 Indian nationals in 'unprecedented' moveMore than 300 Indian nationals who paid tens of thousands of dollars each trying to get into the United States arrived in New Delhi Friday after an "unprecedented" mass deportation by Mexico. The move, which saw those deported flown back to the capital on a charter flight, follows a deal on illegal migration struck between Mexico and US President Donald Trump in June. The only woman in the group of 311 people, Kamaljit Kaur, 34, told the Press Trust of India news agency she spent 5.3 million rupees ($74,500) for herself, her husband and her son.


South Korean Students Break Into U.S. Ambassador’s Residence

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 10:27 PM PDT

South Korean Students Break Into U.S. Ambassador's Residence(Bloomberg) -- A group of South Korean students broke into the residence of American ambassador Harry Harris on Friday, in a protest against Donald Trump's campaign to get the Asian nation to pay more for U.S. military support.Nineteen students, who described themselves as members of a liberal university students' group, were detained by police after staging a protest against plans to impose a bigger financial burden for the stationing of U.S. troops in the country, the Yonhap News Agency reported.The students used a ladder to climb the walls of the ambassador's residence, next to an old South Korean palace, and urged Harris to leave the country.The incident happened days before officials from the U.S. and South Korea are due to meet in Honolulu for the next round of talks on sharing defense costs.After the incident, Seoul police dispatched 80 more officers to beef up security of the envoy's home, according to Yonhap.Earlier this year, the two allies reached a one-year cost-sharing deal for maintaining about 28,500 American troops in South Korea. That deal expires at the end of 2019.The relationship between the two allies soured after Seoul abruptly announced the termination of a three-year-old pact with Japan -- another U.S. key ally -- for exchanging classified military information. That was in response to Japan's move to restrict exports of key materials for the manufacture of semiconductors to South Korea.To contact the reporters on this story: Kanga Kong in Seoul at kkong50@bloomberg.net;Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Marcus Wright, Jasmine NgFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


India's Nuclear Weapons Arsenal Keeps Getting Bigger and Bigger

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 11:30 AM PDT

India's Nuclear Weapons Arsenal Keeps Getting Bigger and BiggerA large arsenal in a dangerous part of the world.


Ex-officer who killed black man given 1-year prison sentence

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 02:30 PM PDT

Ex-officer who killed black man given 1-year prison sentenceA former Georgia police officer who fatally shot an unarmed, fleeing black man was sentenced to one year in prison Friday, nearly two weeks after a jury acquitted him of manslaughter charges but found him guilty of violating his oath of office. Superior Court Judge Stephen Scarlett in Camden County near the Georgia-Florida state line also gave Zechariah Presley four years of probation. Presley's wife said her husband was the "backbone" of their family, and their sons would be devastated if he were away longer.


What Happens Next in Ecuador

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 01:49 PM PDT

What Happens Next in EcuadorProtests erupted in Ecuador this past week. What do they mean for the country and its economy? Ian Bremmer breaks it down.


Long-extinct Tasmanian tigers spotted at least eight times, officials say

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 10:23 AM PDT

Long-extinct Tasmanian tigers spotted at least eight times, officials sayBetween 2016 to 2019, the report notes seven sightings of the Tasmanian tiger. It "had black stripes on the back side of the body."


The U.S. Army And Marines Have a Plan To Take On China and Russia's Navies

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 06:00 AM PDT

The U.S. Army And Marines Have a Plan To Take On China and Russia's NaviesDispersed attacks from land and sea.


U.K. serial killers had affair in prison, lawyer claims

Posted: 19 Oct 2019 07:47 AM PDT

U.K. serial killers had affair in prison, lawyer claimsNotorious U.K. serial killers Rose West and Myra Hindley were lovers in prison, according to one of their former lawyers. West's ex-attorney Leo Goatley claimed his client fell for the Moors murderer in 1995 after they were both jailed in the hospital wing of Durham prison.


View Photos of the 2020 Porsche Macan Turbo

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 11:29 AM PDT

View Photos of the 2020 Porsche Macan Turbo


Trump Has a New Punching Bag at Fox News

Posted: 18 Oct 2019 02:00 AM PDT

Trump Has a New Punching Bag at Fox News(Bloomberg) -- On Oct. 13, Chris Wallace, the host of "Fox News Sunday," grilled Secretary of Defense Mark Esper about the administration's response to the growing Ukraine scandal. That night, President Donald Trump jumped on Twitter and compared Wallace unfavorably to his late father."Somebody please explain to Chris Wallace of Fox, who will never be his father (and my friend), Mike Wallace, that the Phone Conversation I had with the President of Ukraine was a congenial & good one," Trump tweeted.Expect much more of the same to follow.Two days earlier, Shepard Smith, whose tough and factual reporting style often drew the ire of Trump and his supporters,  abruptly left the network. For years, Smith served not only as Fox News' premier breaking news anchor but also as the most prominent banner carrier for the network's team of straight-news reporters. His abdication positions Wallace as his natural successor.It's a role guaranteed to attract fire. Trump has made it clear that he doesn't appreciate it when his favorite TV channel exposes its viewers to unflattering news about him.Smith's departure also makes Wallace more important than ever to the network, which relies on the credibility of its news division to counter criticism about its Trump-friendly prime-time hosts."Smith leaving is a big deal" because Wallace can't do it on his own, said Andrew Tyndall, publisher of the Tyndall Report, which monitors newscasts. To be considered a legitimate news outlet, "you can't just point to one person."Fox News says Wallace is just one of many respected journalists at the network who have confronted members of the Trump administration, including Bret Baier, Neil Cavuto and Martha MacCallum. But Wallace's tough interviews, especially with Republicans, have been shared on social media and cited by other news outlets, reinforcing the notion that Fox News is feeding viewers more than just conservative talking points.While Smith appeared on Fox News every weekday, Wallace's show only airs on Sundays, making him a less regular presence to viewers. (Wallace will join a rotating cast of news anchors filling in for Smith's vacated 3 p.m. hour until the network names a permanent replacement.)"Chris becomes the next voice of realism at Fox News, but I'm not sure that he replaces Shep," said Conor Powell, a former Fox News foreign correspondent. "Chris is a really good interviewer and plays an important role. But he only has one show once a week. Shep was on every day."Wallace's contract keeps him at Fox News through the 2020 election. His journalistic credibility is also good for business, helping Fox News host presidential debates, attract advertisers and charge distributors like Comcast Corp. higher fees to carry the network."If it turns out you're not a news organization anymore, you lose bargaining leverage with cable operators," Tyndall said."That's been their mantra for decades: 'We're a real news organization. We have Shep Smith and Chris Wallace.'"Wallace, 72, was praised in 2016 for his performance moderating a presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Trump. More recently, he's gained attention for pushing back on explanations from the White House. He described responses by Trump aide Stephen Miller as "an exercise in obfuscation" and said Trump's backers had been "deeply misleading."Wallace calls himself an "equal opportunity inquisitor" and has said that he has the full support of Fox News executives.His father, Mike Wallace, was one of the original correspondents for "60 Minutes" on CBS. He died in 2012.Mike passed down his confrontational, devil-may-care gene to his son, said Jonathan Klein, a former president of CNN's U.S. network."Chris plows ahead and does what he thinks is right," Klein said. "It serves Fox News viewers well because Chris knows they deserve to hear the truth."The late Fox News founder Roger Ailes hired seasoned journalists like Wallace because he thought it would deflect criticism of the network's right-leaning opinion hosts, Klein said."That's been their mantra for decades: 'We're a real news organization. We have Shep Smith and Chris Wallace,'" Klein said. "But these days I'm not sure how much they care about that. Their brand has morphed."Fox News executives say they are investing more in journalism, a push that includes hiring new reporters, opening a high-tech studio and launching a news program at 11 p.m.Trump has attacked Wallace before. In May, he complained that Wallace complimented Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg, tweeting, "I like Mike Wallace better."At a recent event during Advertising Week, Wallace reacted to Trump's comparison: "One of us has a daddy problem, and it's not me."To contact the author of this story: Gerry Smith in New York at gsmith233@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Felix GilletteFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.


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