| AOC and Michael Moore urge Iowa voters not to 'play it safe' as they stand in for Sanders Posted: 25 Jan 2020 07:22 AM PST  Two of Bernie Sanders's highest-profile allies, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and liberal documentary filmmaker Michael Moore, filled in for him on the campaign trail Friday night, speaking to a rally here at the University of Iowa, as the Vermont senator participated in the impeachment trial in Washington, D.C.
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| Hong Kong Protest Against Quarantine Facilities Turns Violent Posted: 26 Jan 2020 05:47 AM PST ![Hong Kong Protest Against Quarantine Facilities Turns Violent]( "Hong Kong Protest Against Quarantine Facilities Turns Violent") (Bloomberg) -- A protest against a Hong Kong government plan to use a new and unoccupied public housing estate as a possible coronavirus quarantine facility turned violent as demonstrators set fires and destroyed some property.A group of masked protesters initially barricaded a road in the Fanling district to object to a proposal to use a nearby estate as an emergency medical facility. Some said the building was too close to their homes, while others complained that approved applicants risked losing their flats in the estate should it be implemented.Demonstrators blocked roads, built barricades with trash and paralyzed traffic in Fanling, police said. Later, they damaged traffic lights and set fire to the lobby of buildings by throwing petrol bombs, it said. Riot police were seen walking around the estate asking people to show their identities and inspecting their bags.Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Saturday upgraded the government's response against the coronavirus to the highest level and said the outbreak could extend the city's recession into 2020. Hong Kong has six confirmed infections as of Sunday.Disease Scare Gives Hong Kong Leader Lam a Diversion From UnrestHong Kong has been on high alert regarding communicable diseases since the 2003 outbreak of SARS, which originated in China's Guangdong province in 2002 and ripped through the financial hub the following year. The virus infected about 2,000 people and killed nearly 300 in Hong Kong, crippling tourism and real estate industries and dealing a major blow to the economy.The government said it readied at least three quarantine facilities and is preparing a fourth for the new coronaviris. It will halt plans to use the Fai Ming Estate in Fanling as a possible site, it said."The government acknowledges and understands that there is concern among some residents in the North District of the requisition of Fai Ming Estate," it said in a statement late Sunday. "Representatives of relevant government departments will attend North District Council meeting this Wednesday to explain and discuss on the issue. Meanwhile, the government will cease the related preparation work in Fai Ming Estate."On Saturday, police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of protesters who gathered in the crowded shopping hub of Mong Kok at the site of a 2016 protest that marked a violent turn by the city's pro-democracy movement. A rally initially planned for Sunday to mark the so-called Fishball Revolution was canceled.More than seven months of pro-democracy protests have battered the former British colony's economy, undermined its reputation for political stability and increased geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. Beijing has governed Hong Kong since 1997 under a "one country, two systems" framework that preserves its freedom of expression, independent courts and capitalist financial system.The demonstrations since June were ignited by a proposed law to allow extraditions to jurisdictions including mainland China. After a couple of months of demonstrations, the government withdrew the bill but the protesters' demands had broadened to include greater democracy and an independent inquiry into police conduct during the unrest.To contact the reporters on this story: Julia Fioretti in Hong Kong at jfioretti4@bloomberg.net;Fion Li in Hong Kong at fli59@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Andrew DavisFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Kobe Bryant was famous for using his Sikorsky S-76 private helicopter, a type that has a strong safety record Posted: 26 Jan 2020 02:06 PM PST  The S-76 was first developed in the 1970s and has developed a reputation for a strong safety record and reliability.
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| Military investigating video of Navy members shot through peephole Posted: 25 Jan 2020 11:46 AM PST  The Navy is reportedly investigating videos found on the website Pornhub that it believes show unsuspecting Navy service members through a peephole in a bathroom.
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| Chinese Uighurs in Saudi face impossible choice Posted: 25 Jan 2020 06:18 PM PST  His eyes brimming with tears, a Uighur student in Saudi Arabia holds out his Chinese passport -- long past its expiry date and condemning him to an uncertain fate as the kingdom grows closer to Beijing. The Chinese mission in Saudi Arabia stopped renewing passports for the ethnic Muslim minority more than two years ago, in what campaigners call a pressure tactic exercised in many countries to force the Uighur diaspora to return home. Half a dozen Uighur families in Saudi Arabia who showed AFP their passports -- a few already expired and some approaching the date -- said they dread going back to China, where over a million Uighurs are believed to be held in internment camps.
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| What's in a Moon Name?: A Guide to Lunar Labels Posted: 26 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST |
| As defense opens, Trump attorneys accuse Democrats of 'blind drive' to impeachment Posted: 25 Jan 2020 12:22 PM PST  Attorneys for President Trump opened their defense in his Senate impeachment trial Saturday morning by charging that the case presented by House Democrats was full of "bluster and innuendo," and that "devastating evidence" would lead to the inevitable conclusion that the two articles of impeachment now being considered have no merit.
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| Warren Says She’s Ready to Fight After Des Moines Register Nod Posted: 25 Jan 2020 04:53 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Des Moines Register endorsed progressive favorite Senator Elizabeth Warren a little more than a week before the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 3, saying the Massachusetts lawmaker would "push an unequal America in the right direction." The influential newspaper in Iowa's largest city revealed its pick for the first-in-the-nation nominating contest on its website Saturday evening."At this moment, when the very fabric of American life is at stake, Elizabeth Warren is the president this nation needs," the Register's editorial board said.The Register said that many of Warren's ideas "are not radical. They are right. They would improve life in America, and they are generally shared by the other Democratic candidates, who bring their own strengths to this race." The candidate is "tough and compassionate," the newspaper said. ``Thank you, @DMRegister, for your endorsement! Iowans are ready to make big, structural change—and I'm going to fight my heart out for everyone in Iowa and across the country,'' Warren said on Twitter. Fair Markets Warren, 70, is polling at 16.3% in Iowa. She's trailing Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, and statistically tied for third pace with Pete Buttigieg, in the RealClearPolitics polling average of the state. In a New York Times Iowa poll released on Saturday, Warren's standing had slipped recently. The newspaper said the second-term senator is ``a capitalist" but one that ``wants fair markets, with rules and accountability. She wants a government that works for people, not one corrupted by cash." Warren, a former Harvard Law School professor, ``believes government should actively work to prevent and respond to abusive practices that jeopardize individuals and the country's economy,'' the Register's editorial said. The newspaper wrote at length about what it described as the pluses and minuses of other Democratic candidates contesting next month's caucus. Biden, the former vice president, was said to lack Warren's specific expertise on income inequality issues. Biden was also said to represent ``incremental improvements on the Obama years'' rather than ``the bold agenda the times demand.'' Poor Predictor The newspaper said it had doubts about whether Sanders, who is not a member of the Democratic Party, could build the consensus needed to govern. The Vermont senator has also opposed trade agreements supported by Iowa's farmers, it noted. Buttigieg was said to offer ``refreshing, common-ground approaches unburdened by the constraints of Washington insider politics." But his eight-year tenure as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, ``hardly seems adequate preparation for leading this vast, diverse, divided country,'' the editorial board said.While coveted by candidates, the Des Moines Register's endorsement has been a poor predictor of caucus-night performance. Since the Register started making recommendations in 1988, only three of its endorsed candidates went on to win the state's caucuses: Republicans Bob Dole in 1988 and 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000, and Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. (Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.) To contact the author of this story: Gregory Korte in Washington at gkorte@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Max Berley at mberley@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Photos show the horrors of Auschwitz, 75 years after its liberation Posted: 26 Jan 2020 06:15 AM PST  Over 1.1 million people were murdered at Auschwitz, including nearly a million Jews. On the day of liberation 75 years ago, only 7,000 were saved.
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| Hong Kong bars Hubei residents from entering city as coronavirus fears intensify Posted: 26 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST  Hong Kong authorities on Sunday barred residents of China's Hubei province, the center of the coronavirus outbreak, from entering the city, in response to mounting pressure to enact preventative measures to contain the spreading epidemic. The ban includes those who have been in the province in the past 14 days but excludes Hong Kong citizens. Earlier a group of protesters set alight the lobby of a newly built residential building in Hong Kong that authorities planned to use as a quarantine facility for the coronavirus outbreak.
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| To Combat the Soviets, the U.S. Almost Built Its Own "Skyfall" Nuclear Powered Missile Posted: 26 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST  The mistake was narrowly avoided.
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| Jordanian charged with 'terror' over tourist stabbings Posted: 25 Jan 2020 04:48 PM PST  A Jordanian court on Sunday levelled "terrorism" charges against a man suspected of wounding eight people in a November knife attack at a popular tourist site. The suspect, Moustafa Abourouis, 22, faces up to 20 years in prison after the stabbing of three Mexicans, a Swiss woman, a Jordanian tour guide and a security officer at the Roman city of Jerash. At a hearing open to the press, prosecutors accused Abourouis of committing a "terrorist act" and "promoting the ideas of a terrorist group" -- a reference to the Islamic State (IS) group.
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| India celebrates Republic Day with military parade Posted: 25 Jan 2020 10:30 PM PST  Thousands of Indians converged on a ceremonial boulevard in the capital amid tight security to celebrate the Republic Day on Sunday, which marks the 1950 anniversary of the country's democratic constitution. Brazilian President Jair Messias Bolsonaro was the chief guest for this year's celebrations.
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| Scientists say this planet could unlock insights about Earth Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:45 PM PST  Venus' heat-trapping atmosphere – 97% carbon dioxide – and 900-degree average surface temperature present both a challenge and an opportunity for learning about Earth's formation.
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| Postal worker dies a week after being shot while delivering mail in Mississippi Posted: 25 Jan 2020 03:59 PM PST  The local community rallied around Ingold by hosting prayer vigils, dressing in purple and placing purple bows along her mail route.
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| Trump impeachment: President’s lawyer claims Democrats are asking senators to ‘tear up the ballots’ Posted: 25 Jan 2020 07:34 AM PST  Donald Trump's legal team began their defence of the president with an aggressive rebuttal of House Democrats' charges that he tried to "cheat" to win the 2020 presidential race, while also warning senators they are being asked to remove their client from the ballot.Using the kind of brash rhetoric employed daily by Mr Trump, White House counsel Pat Cipollone closed Saturday's session by warning the Democratic and Republican senators who will decide whether the president is removed from office that doing so would amount to an "abuse of power".
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| Death Toll Rises in Turkey Quake as Erdogan Slams Social Media Posted: 26 Jan 2020 01:12 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A magnitude 6.8 earthquake in Turkey's eastern Elazig province on Friday evening killed at least 31 people and injured hundreds. By Sunday, 45 people had been rescued from the rubble of collapsed buildings.A total of 76 buildings were destroyed and 645 heavily damaged, the Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency, or AFAD, said in a statement. As many as 20 of the 640 aftershocks since the first temblor had a magnitude greater than 4 on the Richter scale, according to the agency.Speaking on Sunday in Istanbul, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan targeted "provocative" social media posts about the earthquake. "Some messages are terrible, depraved," he said, according to the Anadolu Agency. "For example, some question what the government has done about earthquakes in the past two decades."The earthquake occurred at 8:55 p.m. local time on Friday at a depth of 6.75 kilometers (4.2 miles) on the East Anatolia Fault Line. Tremors were felt in many cities across the region.Prosecutors have launched an investigation into social media posts found to be "provocative," Anadolu reported. Two people in Gaziantep province have been detained.Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, Environment & Urbanization Minister Murat Kurum and Health Minister Fahrettin Koca were in Elazig as of early Sunday to coordinate rescue efforts.Turkey is situated in a seismically active area and is among countries, including China and Iran, that can experience catastrophic earthquakes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. In 1999, a 7.5-magnitude quake shook the western Marmara region killing thousands of people and damaging more than 300,000 buildings. The nation's economy contracted 3.4% that year.To contact the reporters on this story: Cagan Koc in Istanbul at ckoc2@bloomberg.net;Taylan Bilgic in Istanbul at tbilgic2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Lars Paulsson, Michael GunnFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A 62-year-old Chinese doctor in Wuhan 'at the front line' of the coronavirus outbreak has died after treating patients Posted: 25 Jan 2020 06:55 AM PST  Chinese state media confirmed that Liang Wudong, an ENT specialist who retired in March 2019, died after treating coronavirus patients in Wuhan.
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| Hong Kong, U.S. take steps to curb coronavirus spread Posted: 25 Jan 2020 07:14 AM PST  As experts tell people not to panic about the unfamiliar coronavirus, several governments are taking steps to limit its spread.A second case of the respiratory virus that originated in Wuhan, China, leaving more than 40 people dead and causing quarantines and transit closures throughout China, has been confirmed in the United States. Officials said Friday that a Chicago woman in her 60s has been diagnosed with the virus, and they're monitoring 63 other possible cases across 22 U.S. states. The Chicago patient, who last week returned home from Wuhan, is reportedly isolated in the hospital, and officials say she's doing well and has had limited contact with others.The U.S. is reportedly planning to evacuate its citizens and diplomats from Wuhan on Sunday via a chartered plane — any additional seats may be offered to non-U.S. citizens. Elsewhere, Hong Kong, where there's five confirmed cases, on Saturday declared the outbreak "an emergency," scrapping Lunar New Year celebrations, restricting links to the mainland, and keeping schools closed. Australia, Malaysia, and France also reported cases Friday.More than 1,300 have been infected across the globe, mostly in China. Read more at The Wall Street Journal and Reuters.More stories from theweek.com The Grammys are America's worst awards show 9 dead in helicopter crash that killed Kobe Bryant Trump is winning the impeachment battle — but losing the war
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| Will China Invade Taiwan Before the Communist Party Approaches its 100th Anniversary? Posted: 25 Jan 2020 12:30 AM PST  Could it happen?
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| 3 dead in protest against Gambian head Barrow: hospital Posted: 26 Jan 2020 11:58 AM PST  Three people died Sunday as hundreds of people took to the streets demanding the resignation of Gambian President Adama Barrow who wants to extend his term. Police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who responded by throwing stones and setting tyres on fire, an AFP correspondent at the scene saw. "I can confirm that there have been three dead," said Kebba Manneh, director of the Serrekunda hospital where victims were taken.
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| Boeing's 777X jetliner successfully completes maiden flight Posted: 25 Jan 2020 07:01 PM PST  Boeing Co successfully staged the first flight of the world's largest twin-engined jetliner on Saturday in a respite from the crisis over its smallest model, the grounded 737 MAX. The 777X, a larger version of the 777 mini-jumbo, touched down at the historic Boeing Field outside Seattle at 2 pm (2200 GMT) after a debut which began almost four hours earlier at Boeing's revamped wide-body assembly lines north of the city. "It's a proud day for us," said the chief executive of Boeing's commercial airplane unit, Stan Deal.
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| NASA is hiring someone to help figure out how to get Mars rocks back to Earth — and the position pays at least $182,000 Posted: 25 Jan 2020 05:31 AM PST  The Mars Sample Return mission aims to get pristine rocks from the red planet back to Earth, perhaps by the end of the decade.
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| Pompeo lashes out at journalist; NPR defends reporter Posted: 25 Jan 2020 11:14 AM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out Saturday at an NPR reporter who accused him of shouting expletives at her after she asked him in an interview about Ukraine. In a personal attack, Pompeo said the journalist had "lied" to him and called her conduct "shameful."
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| Trump lawyers argue Democrats just want to overturn election Posted: 25 Jan 2020 09:18 AM PST  President Donald Trump's lawyers plunged into his impeachment trial defense Saturday by accusing Democrats of striving to overturn the 2016 election, arguing that investigations of Trump's dealings with Ukraine have not been a fact-finding mission but a politically motivated effort to drive him from the White House. "They're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history," White House Counsel Pat Cipollone told senators. The Trump legal team's arguments in the rare Saturday session were aimed at rebutting allegations that the president abused his power when he asked Ukraine to investigate political rival Joe Biden and then obstructed Congress as it tried to investigate.
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| Putin Decides Low-Growth Russia Could Use Some Help From Keynes Posted: 25 Jan 2020 10:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Explore what's moving the global economy in the new season of the Stephanomics podcast. Subscribe via Apple Podcast, Spotify or Pocket Cast.With time running out on his final term as president, Vladimir Putin evidently wants to end it with a boom.Putin has been a cautious steward of Russia's $1.7 trillion economy, partly to shield it against blowback from his more adventurous foreign policy. For the last five years, he's imposed some of the world's toughest budget austerity. Combined with high interest rates, that's made Russia a favorite of carry-trade investors –- but it's left living standards mired at 2012 levels and economic growth stuck below 2%.Now, the president is changing course –- and channeling an economist whose pro-growth ideas are mainstream almost everywhere else: John Maynard Keynes. Putin just appointed a new cabinet stacked with advocates for more government spending and investment, a Keynesian recipe. And he's told them to hurry up about it.In power for 20 years, Putin gets credit at home for steadying an economy that suffered a decade of chaos and debt default after the Soviet Union collapsed. But lately, stability has threatened to turn into stagnation.Until now, the government hasn't rushed to the rescue. It's pared borrowing to a minimum in the last five years, and has been stashing any spare cash from Russia's commodity exports into a massive rainy-day fund."Russia's first priority was to secure its borders to reduce its vulnerabilities," said Elina Ribakova, deputy chief economist at the Institute of International Finance in Washington. "At the time, it would've been wrong to lean on Keynesian theories. Now they're so comfortable on that front that it's time to start thinking about how to boost potential growth."'Feel the Change'Western sanctions and volatile oil prices have been a key reason for Putin's "fortress Russia" approach, which aimed to make the economy self-sufficient. But the turn to Keynesian stimulus shows that Russia isn't walled off from wider currents of economic thinking. There's been a similar shift in other countries.The U.S. has widened budget deficits even after a decade-long expansion, and the U.K. and Germany have begun to shift away from austerity. India and Turkey are trying to boost growth via fiscal policy.At the first meeting of Russia's new government, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said he wants to get the spending spree underway quickly. Russians should "feel the changes in their lives and surroundings in the near future," he said.Mishustin has appointed former Kremlin adviser Andrey Belousov, who's lobbied for more government borrowing and spending, as his deputy premier. Evgeny Yasin, a director at Russia's Higher School of Economics and one of the country's most prominent economists, calls Belousov a "Russian Keynesian.""Russian political changes at this moment have one goal: to boost economic growth," Billionaire Oleg Deripaska, founder of aluminum producer United Co Rusal Plc, told Bloomberg Television in Davos.There are limits to how far he can loosen the purse-strings. The government is sticking to a budget law that says revenue from oil above $42 a barrel (it currently trades around $61) must be saved, not spent.Still, extra spending this year could total 2.1 trillion rubles ($34 billion), or 1.3% of gross domestic product, according to calculations by ING Groep NV in Moscow. The government will likely tap its rainy-day fund and release about 500 billion rubles left over from last year's budget, which posted a surplus equal to 1.8% of GDP.Any Means NecessaryA key part of the fiscal push will be speeding up an existing plan to invest $400 billion in things like highways, housing and ports over four years. The so-called National Projects got mired in bureaucracy and made little progress in 2019.Other elements are new. Putin proposed last week to spend about $65 billion through 2024 on expanding benefits for families and the poor.Putin's growth program relies mainly on state spending because increased pressure on business and a still-uncertain sanctions outlook has stalled private-sector investment.Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina argues that Russia needs structural reform aimed at improving the business climate and increasing competition. Putin has long claimed to support such measures, but never made much progress on implementing them."This isn't a market economy," and Putin doesn't follow any particular economic principles, Yasin said. The president "uses any methods that seem necessary to him in order to maintain full control."His latest methods may not deliver much of a boost right away. Budget easing will probably add 20 or 30 basis points to economic growth rates in the short term, according to Bloomberg Economics.But as Keynes always argued, spending is better for growth than squirreling away money. Markets have generally welcomed the shift –- including even some of the bond investors who've reaped rewards from years of tight policy.Russian austerity was geared all along to "preparing for a future crisis," said Oleg Shibanov, a finance professor at Moscow's New Economic School."Russia is prepared now," he said. "I expect that there'll be more spending and more investment."\--With assistance from Anya Andrianova.To contact the reporters on this story: Natasha Doff in Moscow at ndoff@bloomberg.net;Evgenia Pismennaya in Moscow at epismennaya@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Ben HollandFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'Doorbell Ditch' Prank Led to Crash That Killed 3 Teens, Officials Say Posted: 25 Jan 2020 07:02 AM PST  A man who the authorities contend deliberately crashed his car into another one on a Southern California road last Sunday, killing three of the six teenagers inside, did so because the group had played a so-called doorbell ditch prank on him, prosecutors said this week.The man, Anurag Chandra, 42, faces several murder charges for his role in the Temescal Canyon Road crash, which the Riverside County District Attorney's Office said Thursday occurred after the boys played a doorbell ditch prank on him.In a doorbell ditch, also commonly known as a ding-dong-ditch, a person rings a doorbell and tries to run away before anyone opens the door.After one of the boys had been dared, all six teenagers drove to a nearby home on Mojeska Summit Road in Corona, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles, the district attorney's office said, citing the California Highway Patrol's investigation. The boy rang the doorbell and returned to the 2002 Prius that they were riding in, and the group took off.But Chandra, who lives at the home, chased after them in his 2019 Infiniti Q50, prosecutors said. His car rammed into the back of the Prius, "causing it to veer off the road and into a tree," prosecutors said.Daniel Hawkins, Jacob Ivascu and Drake Ruiz, all 16-year-old passengers, were killed in the crash, prosecutors said. The 18-year-old driver and two other boys, ages 13 and 14, were injured but survived."The circumstances in this case are unusual," John Hall, a spokesman with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office, said in an email Friday. "Based on the evidence in this case, the response and actions taken by the defendant are egregious and extremely disproportionate to a teen ringing a doorbell and running away."Chandra was scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, but "it was continued at the request of the defense," Hall said. A new arraignment has been scheduled for Feb. 21, he said.Chandra "is being held on no bail because this is a potential death penalty case," Hall said. "That is because we have alleged a special circumstance allegation of multiple murders, making him eligible for the death penalty."District Attorney Mike Hestrin of Riverside County will decide whether to seek the death penalty at a later date, he said.Phone calls and messages to numbers listed for Chandra were not immediately returned Friday night. Calls and messages on Friday to the public defender's office, which represented him in court Thursday, were not immediately returned.Speaking to NBC4 in Los Angeles, a bandaged and still-healing Sergio Campusano, the driver of the Prius, said in an interview this week that he had blacked out after the driver of the Infiniti "rammed his car into my back" and his head whipped into his window.Describing the prank, which Campusano said the group came up with during a sleepover, one of the boys was dared to "either jump into a pool at night or go ding-dong-ditch a house."After the boys drove away from the house where the doorbell was rung, the group saw a man from the home following them, and Campusano said the other car got "really, really close.""I was like, 'What is this guy doing?'" Campusano, who tried to drive away from the Infiniti, told the TV station. "Then I felt like a nudge forward, like he hit me from the back.""When he rammed us from the side, I thought, I was like, if anything happens, I love these guys," said Campusano, who described the close-knit group of friends as "all a part of me."The group had been celebrating Jacob's birthday over the weekend, the TV station reported.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| At least 53 dead after record-breaking rainfall triggers landslides in Brazil Posted: 26 Jan 2020 09:55 AM PST  The highest rainfall total in 110 years poured down over Belo Horizonte, a state capital in Brazil, which forced thousands to flee from their homes. Record-breaking flooding rain and landslides have killed at least 53 people in this area.Civil Defense officials told the Associated Press that 2,600 people were evacuated from their houses, 19 people are listed as missing following a landslide on Saturday in the state of Minas Gerais, where they experienced 48 hours of torrential rains.For federal disaster aid, State Gov. Gustavo Zema declared a state of emergency in 47 cities. Locals work to clean up mud and debris around houses destroyed by a landslide after heavy rains in Vila Ideal neighborhood, Ibirite municipality, Minas Gerias state, Brazil, Saturday, Jan.25, 2020. (AP Photo/Alexandre Mota-Futura Press) "A cold front swept across eastern South America through the end of last week, spreading periods of rain and thunderstorms from northern Argentina into eastern Brazil," AccuWeather Meteorologist Maura Kelly said.Ahead of this front northerly winds helped to draw in tropical moisture from near the equator, which Kelly said fueled flooding downpours across eastern Brazil, particularly in the state of Minas Gerais."As the front moved into Minas Gerais on Thursday and Friday, daily rainfall totals climbed over 100 mm (4 inches) each day. On Thursday, Florestal received 174mm (6.85 inches) of rain," Kelly said.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP"Farther north in Diamantina, 128 mm (5.04 inches) of rain fell on Friday with total rainfall of 350 mm (13.78 inches) from Monday to Friday. To the southeast, Caratinga reported 121mm (4.76 inches) on Saturday with 312 mm (12.28 inches) of rain throughout the week," Kelly said."The capital city of Belo Horizonte reported 154 mm (6.06 inches) from Thursday into Friday with 193 mm (7.60 inches) from Monday to Friday. Normal rainfall for the month of January in this region is around 150-175 mm (6-7 inches)," Kelly said.According to Kelly, the front that bought the flooding rainfall to part of Brazil is expected to linger over the region into at least the middle of the week and will continue to produce periods of rain and thunderstorms across Minas Gerais as rescue and recovery efforts continue.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| The Fate of the China-Russia Alliance Posted: 25 Jan 2020 11:34 AM PST  The Moscow-Beijing collaborative relations have already yielded major shifts in the military balance in the Asia-Pacific two times. Will the third time be a global transformation?
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| Anxious foreigners await rescue from China virus epicentre Posted: 26 Jan 2020 03:47 AM PST  Anxious foreigners in the locked-down city that spawned China's deadly viral epidemic say they are stranded at home, running out of food and desperate to leave, as governments scrambled to draw up evacuation plans. Authorities have barred travel to and from Hubei province and its capital Wuhan, where the coronavirus was first detected before it spread across China and to a dozen other countries -- including the United States, France and Australia. Several other large cities in China have introduced their own travel restrictions in a bid to contain the disease, which has killed 56 people and infected nearly 2,000 others.
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| Dutch Prime Minister apologizes for country's role in Holocaust Posted: 26 Jan 2020 10:27 AM PST  Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Sunday he was sorry for his country's role during the Holocaust and the lack of action against the persecution of Jews, becoming the first Dutch premier to make such an official apology. "With the last remaining survivors among us, I apologize on behalf of the government for the actions of the government at the time", Rutte said at an event in Amsterdam to mark the 75th anniversary on Monday of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Earlier Dutch governments have made apologies for the way Jews who survived World War Two atrocities were treated when they returned home from concentration camps, but have shied away from condemning the country's part in the persecution of Jews and other minorities during the German occupation.
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| Seven months detained: seven-year-old is longest-held child migrant in US Posted: 26 Jan 2020 01:00 AM PST  Maddie Hernandez and her father, Emerson, fled crime in Guatemala. After months, her parents says she has changedEmerson Hernandez and his daughter Maddie have withstood hunger and thirst.They've been dumped in a threatening border city in Mexico, a foreign country with nowhere to shelter. And, for seven months, they've been locked up at what critics call a "baby jail".The father and daughter have weathered all of this just for a chance at asylum in the United States after they fled a home in Guatemala that's now overrun with crime."I don't want my daughter to grow up in that environment of delinquency. I really am afraid that something could happen to her," Emerson told the Guardian.Maddie has been detained the longest of any child currently held in family immigration detention across the country, her attorneys say. On 17 January, she turned seven years old at Berks county residential center, a controversial detention facility in Pennsylvania where she has spent roughly 8% of her life.Despite her lawyers exhausting the legal avenues that could get her out, the government won't release her and Emerson together.A spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), the agency detaining them, said, "ICE's custodial determinations for Mr. Hernandez and Maddie have been based on the merits and factors of their individual cases and are in conformity with the law and current agency priorities, guidelines and legal mandates."Emerson said Maddie has always been strong, but being confined for such a long time has changed her. She's gone from an easy, smiley little girl to someone who has become violent and throws explosive temper tantrums, according to her parents and an attorney."Her change was sudden," Emerson said. "And she says to me, 'When are we going to leave this place?'"The truth is no one knows. The Flores settlement, a landmark 1997 federal agreement that regulates child and family detention, made it the longstanding rule that kids and families should be released within 20 days. But there have been huge exceptions: Bridget Cambria, a lawyer representing Maddie, said the longest she was aware of a child being held through family detention was 707 days.Emerson and Maddie are desperate to see the rest of their family, Maddie's mother, Madelin, and her newborn baby, who still hasn't met his dad. Madelin traveled to the US with a visa and lives in New Jersey, but Maddie's visa application was denied. She and Emerson made a more perilous journey north last spring, when they went a full day without stopping."That day was hard for me," Emerson remembered. "To see that my daughter said to me, 'Papi, I'm thirsty, Papi, I want to eat,' and I had nothing to give her."Madelin said she came to the US because she thought her family would be reunited soon after. But Maddie and Emerson were swept into the Trump administration's increasingly hardline immigration policies, and Madelin hasn't seen them since.Last April, Emerson and Maddie finally made it to the US only to be turned back to Tijuana, Mexico, through the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), a Trump-era program that returns people across the border while they await US immigration court hearings.Suddenly, they were homeless in one of the world's most dangerous cities.Emerson called Madelin to say there was no space for them at the local shelter. "I remember that he started to cry, and I did, too, because we didn't know what to do," she said.A US Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said around 57,000 people had been subject to MPP, and in October, Reuters found that 16,000 migrants under 18 had been sent to Mexico.At least 816 violent attacks against migrants under MPP have been reported, including 201 cases of children who were kidnapped or almost kidnapped, according to the not-for-profit Human Rights First.On days when Emerson and Maddie found housing with good Samaritans, she rarely went outside because the city was so dangerous."Tijuana is not a very pretty place, it's not a safe place," Emerson said.After two months in Mexico, they got their opportunity to go in front of a US immigration judge in June. Emerson made the mistake of following advice he said an immigration official gave him. He told the judge that he had come to the US to give his daughter a better life, a line that completely discredited his case.There are immigration laws that protect asylum seekers. There aren't immigration laws that protect devoted parents.The judge gave him two options: he could return to Mexico and, against all odds, continue to fight for the right to come to the US. Or – after all Emerson and Maddie had endured –they could return to Guatemala.Faced with an impossible choice, Emerson opted for the latter because at least if something happened to him at home, his family could look after his daughter and wife. But when he and Maddie boarded a plane, it didn't land in Guatemala. Instead, they took a long trip deep into the country's interior, to Berks county residential center in Leesport, Pennsylvania.The family immigration detention facility garnered national notoriety a few years ago after an employee admitted to sexually assaulting a 19-year-old woman who was being held there. Critics have advocated for its closure, and reports of poor medical care and racism from employees have hamstrung the facility's reputation.But it continues to operate, as it has since 2001.After Emerson and Maddie arrived at Berks, they met Cambria, the attorney who has helped to revive their asylum bid. When the government flew them to San Diego in July and tried to return them to Mexico again, Cambria quickly filed a federal lawsuit to bring them back to Berks, where they've remained ever since.That lawsuit could eventually set a major precedent as to whether children can legally be placed under MPP. A ruling in Maddie's favor would mean other kids like her could sue the government, arguing they shouldn't be sent to Mexico. (Ice's spokesperson said the agency did not comment on pending litigation.)But Maddie didn't come to the US to challenge immigration policy. She's a kid who celebrated a Christmas and a birthday in detention, without her mom and little brother."This little girl is not doing well psychologically, we'll put it that way," said Cambria. "She's saying things that are scary. She's very sad."Ice has offered for Maddie to leave Berks, but without Emerson. This family separation is legally dubious, and Cambria said it was unprecedented in her experience representing immigrant families.Amy Maldonado, another of Maddie's lawyers, said Ice could release both Maddie and Emerson at any time, and has done so for families in similar situations.Cambria said she doesn't know why Ice is treating Emerson and Maddie differently from any other family at Berks. But the detention center is only for parents with children. If Maddie leaves and Emerson doesn't, he'll be sent away to another facility for adults or returned to Mexico.Maddie is so young that she thinks of everything she's gone through as a vacation, and she keeps telling her parents she's ready for the vacation to be over."When I speak to her, she sometimes cries and says, 'Mami, I want to leave already,'" Madelin said."'I want to leave already.'"
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| Democrats are having a field day after Trump's lawyers accidentally made the strongest case to call witnesses in his impeachment trial Posted: 26 Jan 2020 01:01 PM PST  Democrats are gloating after the president's lawyers complained that there isn't enough firsthand evidence to impeach him.
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| LGBT Rights Group Demands Sanders Renounce Rogan Endorsement Posted: 25 Jan 2020 08:52 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Human Rights Campaign is calling on Bernie Sanders to renounce an endorsement from radio host Joe Rogan, who has made derogatory comments about African Americans and LGBTQ people.Rogan, who hosts "The Joe Rogan Experience," one of the most downloaded podcasts, said he would "probably vote for Bernie," adding "I believe in him. I like him a lot."In response, HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement that while Sanders' campaign has been "unabashedly supportive of the rights of LGBTQ people," Rogan "has attacked transgender people, gay men, women, people of color and countless marginalized groups at every opportunity."The statement from the largest LBGTQ advocacy group and lobbying organization in the U.S. pointed to instances in which Rogan had compared African Americans to "Planet of the Apes,'' and repeatedly misgendered transgender people, including referring to MMA fighter Fallon Fox as "that tranny."Sanders has appeared on Rogan's show, as have fellow Democratic candidates Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Max Berley at mberley@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Georgia inmate who came close to execution in 2017 dies Posted: 26 Jan 2020 06:13 AM PST  A Georgia death row inmate whose planned execution was halted in September 2017 by the U.S. Supreme Court after his lawyers argued his death sentence was tainted by a juror's racial bias has died, according to the state Department of Corrections. Keith "Bo" Tharpe, 61, died of natural causes Friday, Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath confirmed in an email Sunday. In 1991, a jury convicted Tharpe of murder in the September 1990 slaying of his sister-in-law, Jacquelyn Freeman, and sentenced him to death.
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| India Has Fallen Far Behind China’s Military—Here are Five Affordable Steps It Can Tale to Secure Its Border With China Posted: 26 Jan 2020 12:30 AM PST  This could work. Here's how.
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| White House Counsel Cipollone delivers closing remarks Posted: 25 Jan 2020 09:47 AM PST  White House Counsel Pat Cipollone delivered his closing remarks during the Senate impeachment trial on Saturday.
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| Public anger grows over coronavirus in Thailand, with eight cases of the illness Posted: 26 Jan 2020 04:38 AM PST  The health minister in Thailand, the country with the most confirmed cases outside China of the new coronavirus, called an emergency meeting on Sunday with the transport and tourism ministries amid rising public discontent over the government's handling of the illness. "We can control the situation and are confident in our ability to handle the crisis," Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul told reporters. The number of cases of the disease in Thailand rose on Sunday to eight.
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| France withdraws controversial grenade from police use Posted: 26 Jan 2020 06:16 AM PST  France will withdraw from use an explosive tear gas grenade used by riot police and blamed for injuring numerous protesters, the interior minister said Sunday, amid growing anger at perceived police brutality. Sanctioned for use by French law enforcement since 2011, the GLI-F4 grenade explodes with a loud, powerful blast to release a cloud of tear gas. The grenade is designed to help law enforcers under attack escape from a dangerous situation, but is blamed for maiming protesters in sometimes hairy confrontations with police in more than a year of anti-government "yellow vest" protests.
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| Paula White, a White House employee and Trump's spiritual advisor, calls for 'satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now' Posted: 26 Jan 2020 04:20 PM PST  Paula White, a prosperity gospel televangelist who last year joined the White House, says the words in her sermon were taken out of context.
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| Sanders Goes After JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in New Ad Posted: 26 Jan 2020 10:39 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders goes after Jamie Dimon in a new campaign ad, labeling the JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer "the biggest corporate socialist in America today."The jab continues criticism by the Vermont senator and presidential candidate after Dimon knocked socialism in an op-ed published last week in Time magazine as part of its coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Are you kidding me?" a Sanders aide exclaims in the ad, which was posted on Twitter. The spot cites Dimon's pay, including $31.5 million last year, and says JPMorgan received bailouts after the global financial crisis 12 years ago.Dimon, a 63-year-old billionaire, has previously said JPMorgan, which expanded during the crisis by acquiring collapsing rivals, didn't need a bailout to survive at the time. In 2012, he said his firm temporarily accepted money from a Treasury Department program because "we were asked to" so weaker rivals could tap it without being singled out. (Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ros Krasny at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net, Magan SherzaiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Indiana 4-year-old dies after being accidentally shot while wrestling with his father Posted: 26 Jan 2020 10:13 AM PST ![Indiana 4-year-old dies after being accidentally shot while wrestling with his father]( "Indiana 4-year-old dies after being accidentally shot while wrestling with his father") A 4-year-old boy in Indiana died after he was shot accidentally by a handgun that discharged while he was wrestling around with his father.
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