| 'My alarm bells went off': One witness offers his account of Kobe Bryant's helicopter crash Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:47 PM PST  Scott Daehlin, who witnessed Kobe Bryant's fatal crash, said he heard the helicopter hovering in low cloud cover seconds before it crashed.
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| Harvard professor charged with hiding China ties, payments Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:47 PM PST  A Harvard University professor was charged Tuesday with lying about his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program and concealing payments he received from the Chinese government for research. Charles Lieber, chair of the department of chemistry and chemical biology, is accused of hiding his involvement in China's Thousand Talents Plan, a program designed to lure people with knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property to China. Lieber was arrested early Tuesday at his office at the Ivy League university, officials said.
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| Team Trump Settles on Its Impeachment Defense: A Healthy Dose of Lib Triggering Posted: 27 Jan 2020 06:44 PM PST  The Senate impeachment trial hadn't been in session for an hour on Monday before the man famous for his drive to impeach Bill Clinton was lecturing senators on the solemn nature of impeachment and bemoaning the politicization of the process. "Like war, impeachment is hell—or at least, presidential impeachment is hell," said Kenneth Starr, the special counsel who investigated Clinton for years and is now serving as part of President Donald Trump's defense team. His words carried not a whiff of irony. "Instead of a once-in-a-century phenomenon, which it had been, presidential impeachment has become a weapon to be wielded against one's political opponent." The combination of the declaration and the person making it seemed to stun Democrats in the chamber. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI) looked up from his notes and glanced around at his colleagues as if to see if they too were in disbelief.It was appropriate that the second day of the White House's defense of the president began with a bit of shock and awe. After all, the proceedings appeared designed not only as a vigorous challenge to the case laid out by House impeachment managers, but also an elaborate troll aimed at triggering them and the Senate's Democratic jurors. By the end, at least one GOP senator had seemed to concede that the entire spectacle hadn't been about defending Trump at all, but, rather, damaging a leading Democratic rival to Trump on the eve of a contentious primary season."I'm really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus goers," Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) told reporters. "Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point?"Biden Calls for Impeachment Investigation of Trump for 'Abuse of Power'Well before then, the mood was highly charged, as Democrats who entered the chamber were already buzzing about breaking revelations in the New York Times detailing ex-Trump National Security Adviser John Bolton's account of the president's scheme to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rivals. In addition to Starr's lamentations, Trump's team of attorneys threw out a number of topics seemingly designed to make Democrats' blood boil—and delight the president and his supporters. One of the first things mentioned by the president's counsel Jay Sekulow, for example, was pens. Specifically, Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to hand them out to lawmakers during the December signing of articles of impeachment—a common practice with significant legislation—has become proof beyond doubt among the pro-Trump internet that Democrats' talk about the sadness and solemnity of impeachment was bunk.There were also, on Monday, discussion of the so-called "basement bunkers" where Democrats allegedly held the impeachment depositions without Republican participation (in reality, more than 45 House Republicans were permitted to attend and ask questions). Trump attorney Patrick Philbin at one point declared House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) a "fact witness" in the matter of the Ukraine scandal as Schiff sat just feet away, stone-faced.Then came White House lawyer Jane Raskin's lengthy, back-handed defense of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Guiliani, whom she described as "a minor player" in the scandal; "that shiny object designed to distract you" who had, in the end, been right more often than Schiff. "The score," said Raskin. "Rudy Giuliani, four. Adam Schiff, zero." 'Fox & Friends' Desperately Tries to End Unhinged Giuliani Interview, Repeatedly FailsAs the day wore on, Trump's lawyers turned the Senate floor into a corruption trial for former Vice President Joe Biden, his son, Hunter, and Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Hunter's involvement on the company's board is relevant to the impeachment at hand in the Senate only in that Republicans charge that the story validates Trump's stated desire to get to the bottom of corruption in Ukraine. The Biden part of the presentation was no surprise: Sekulow telegraphed the attacks last week. And Republicans largely seemed to delight in the spectacle. "I'm sure it's very hard for them to listen to all of these facts that the managers left out," said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-ND). But when it was folded into a case for why former President Barack Obama should be impeached, it became too much for some Democrats to take seriously. And as Eric Herschmann, another member of the president's team, spoke, Democratic senators—who had sat largely expressionless throughout the day— tittered at the analogy drawn between Trump and President Obama's 2012 "hot mic" moment with then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, during which Obama said he'd have more " flexibility" on issues like missile defense after winning re-election. Leaving the Senate floor afterward, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) described the presentation as "a campaign ad, oppo research, and a little bit of owning the libs, just for yuks." "They can't help themselves," he added.Beyond the political point-scoring, however, was some substance too. The president's legal team spent time laying the legal foundation for their case that Trump should be acquitted, which leans hard on two claims: that the president's July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reveals no quid pro- quo, and that any other evidence to that point is based on unreliable hearsay. Philbin, a member of the defense team who has impressed Capitol Hill Republicans, argued that House Democrats ran roughshod over law and precedent in pursuing Trump's impeachment.The Trump team's final presenter, Harvard Law professor and celebrity lawyer Alan Dershowitz, took a GOP argument—that Democrats' articles of impeachment are weak because they do not allege crimes—to its logical extreme."Purely noncriminal conduct, including abuse of power and obstruction of Congress," said Dershowitz, "are outside the range of impeachable offenses."As Trump's legal team worked the Senate, outside the chamber his allies were busy trying to dull the impact of the explosive Times report on Bolton's forthcoming book, which details how Trump himself linked Ukrainian aid to an investigation into the Bidens. Victoria Toensing, an informal legal adviser to Trump, posted to Twitter, "It matters NOT AT ALL what @realDonaldTrump told John Bolton. We do not prosecute people for thoughts or words. Only for conduct."Giuliani, the president's personal attorney whose role is at the center of the Ukraine saga that led to Trump's impeachment, messaged The Daily Beast on Monday evening that "of course" he agreed with Toensing's analysis, but added that "I am sure Backstabber Bolton is not telling the truth. What POTUS said when he was unknowingly tapped [sic] is definitive: 'no quid pro quo.'"Privately, numerous senior administration officials and Trump associates began to rally around a simple explanation for what was going on—that Bolton was merely a liar out to make a quick buck. Four White House officials who spoke to The Daily Beast since Sunday each independently denounced Bolton as a habitual double-crosser and notorious "rat" and "leaker," an allegation he has emphatically denied in the past.All of which created a scene odd enough to match the moment: Democrats pining for a longtime GOP nemesis to come testify before them, Republicans—many of whom had been supported by Bolton in the past—acting as if he was suddenly persona non grata, and the president's legal team simply ignoring the bombshell he'd set off. "This was out-of-body surreal," Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said. "The rest of America is talking about John Bolton, and not a single mention of him in this chamber."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:05 AM PST ![U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields]( "U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields") The United Nations raised "serious concerns" on Tuesday about the trials of hundreds of alleged Islamic State members in Iraq, some of whom merely prepared meals, offered medical services or even acted as human shields for the jihadist group. Iraq has processed thousands of cases under its anti-terrorism law - including of detainees from outside the Middle East transferred from neighboring Syria - in the aftermath of a 2014-17 war against Islamic State militants.
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| McConnell Tells Caucus They Lack the Votes to Block Impeachment Witnesses Posted: 28 Jan 2020 03:23 PM PST  Senator Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) on Tuesday said he doesn't have the votes to block a resolution to allow witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial, according to multiple reports.McConnell made the admission in talks with Senate Republicans after President Trump's defense team concluded its arguments.If the Senate votes to summon witnesses, Democrats will likely attempt to call on former White House national security adviser John Bolton to give testimony in the trial. On Sunday the New York Times reported that Bolton wrote in the manuscript of his upcoming book that Trump had conditioned aid to Ukraine on that country's commitment to conduct investigations into Joe and Hunter Biden.Republicans may react to a subpoena of Bolton by summoning Hunter Biden and the government whistleblower, whose complaint sparked the impeachment inquiry, to testify."Those are the ones that I want to call," Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said on Monday of Hunter Biden and the whistleblower, despite having told reporters on Friday that he would vote against summoning Hunter Biden. "If we add to the record, we are going to do it completely."Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) concurred during an interview on Fox & Friends."My view is this — if the Senate decides to call witnesses later this week . . . we need to hear from Hunter Biden, he is right at the center of this," Hawley said. "What was he doing in Ukraine? What was he doing with Burisma?"Hawley also wrote on Twitter, "if the Senate is going to call witnesses, then I will ask to hear from Adam Schiff, Hunter Biden, Joe Biden & the whistleblower, at a minimum."
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| How the world discovered the Nazi death camps Posted: 26 Jan 2020 08:01 PM PST  Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to global attention. Many of the ghastly pictures were at first held back from the broader public, partly out of concern for those with missing relatives. The concentration and extermination camps were liberated one by one as the Allied armies advanced on Berlin in the final days of the 1939-1945 war.
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| There Is No Going Back If Iran Sinks A U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:30 PM PST  It would mean war.
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| Government records show that Kobe Bryant's helicopter used to be owned by the state of Illinois Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:32 AM PST  Bryant's helicopter was owned by an operator called Island Express Holding Corp., which purchased it from Illinois in 2015.
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| Remains of 2 US troops recovered from Afghanistan crash site Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:56 AM PST  U.S. forces on Tuesday recovered the remains of two American service members killed in the crash of an Air Force plane in Afghanistan, the U.S. military command in Kabul said. The statement from Kabul said the cause of the crash is under investigation, but there are no indications that it was downed by enemy fire. Monday's plane crash there is not expected to derail U.S.-Taliban peace talks if the crash investigation determines, as expected, that it was not the result of hostile action.
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| China Demands Apology From Danish Newspaper Over Virus Cartoon Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:56 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Chinese Embassy to Denmark wants the newspaper Jyllands-Posten to apologize for publishing a drawing that depicts China's flag with virus symbols instead of five stars."We express our strong indignation and demand that Jyllands-Posten and [cartoonist] Niels Bo Bojesen reproach themselves for their mistake and publicly apologize to the Chinese people," the embassy said in a statement posted on its website.When asked to comment, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen avoided any direct reference to Jyllands-Posten's cartoon."I have nothing to say on the matter other than [to note that] we have a very strong tradition in Denmark not just for freedom of speech but also for freedom of satire, and we'll continue to have that in the future," she said, according to multiple news media including Politiken. "This is a well known Danish position and we're not going to change it."Denmark's largest newspaper has faced international backlash over its cartoons in the past. In 2005, the paper printed 12 drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, which angered many nations in which Islam is the main religion and sparked a diplomatic crisis. Back then, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also defended freedom of speech and said governments had no place telling newspapers what to write.The Chinese flag was printed in the opinion section of the newspaper's Monday edition with a caption titled "Corona virus".Editor-in-Chief Jacob Nybroe said the paper won't apologize."We can't apologize for something we don't think is wrong," Nybroe told news agency Ritzau. "We have no intention to demean or mock but we don't think this drawing is doing that."(Updates with comment from Denmark's prime minister)To contact the reporter on this story: Morten Buttler in Copenhagen at mbuttler@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Wienberg at cwienberg@bloomberg.net, Tasneem Hanfi BröggerFor 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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| Former U.S. diplomat thinks Trump's Middle East peace plan will 'deepen' Israel-Palestine conflict Posted: 28 Jan 2020 11:17 AM PST  President Trump unveiled his administration's Middle East peace plan alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, just hours after Netanyahu was indicted on corruption charges.The two leaders touted the two-state plan as a "win-win" for Israel and Palestine. Trump promised $50 billion in international aid to build up the Palestinian state, which would house its capital in East Jerusalem, leaving Israel in control of a unified Jerusalem. The White House included a perplexing-looking map of the proposed solution, complete with a tunnel connecting Gaza and the West Bank.> Trump's map. A Palestinian state on 75% of the West Bank more or less; Palestinians get "land swap" in the Negev and remote neighborhoods of East Jeruaslem; Tunnels and roads connect the whole thing. 15 settlements remain as enclaves, and so does the Israeli military. pic.twitter.com/e4xcwyGmrC> > — Amir Tibon (@amirtibon) January 28, 2020Many of the early reactions to the proposal were critical — analysts like Nicholas Burns, a Harvard professor and former U.S. diplomat, anticipate a rejection from the Palestinians and even an escalation of tensions between the two sides since it does little to curb Israeli settlements in the West Bank in the long run.> President Trump's Middle East plan is clearly good for Israel but not for the U.S. It forfeits any presence of fairness and consigns the Palestinians to live as stateless people on their own land. It will deepen, rather than resolve, this seven-decade conflict. https://t.co/57ysjbV6ww> > — Nicholas Burns (@RNicholasBurns) January 28, 2020Neighboring Jordan warned against the "annexation of Palestinian lands" in response to the plan, as well. But it does have at least one potential fan. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson reportedly said that after speaking with Trump earlier in the day, he thinks it could help pave the way forward.More stories from theweek.com John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats It's 2020 and women are exhausted
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| Idaho Nurse Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Helping Cover Up Kelsey Berreth’s Murder Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:01 PM PST  A former Idaho nurse was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday for helping Patrick Frazee cover up the murder of his fiancée last Thanksgiving.Krystal Lee, 33, was sentenced after pleading guilty in February to evidence tampering and testifying against Frazee, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who was convicted of killing 29-year-old Kelsey Berreth."I know that saying sorry is not good enough," she told a packed Teller County courtroom on Tuesday, before receiving the maximum sentence. "And I don't even know what the right word would be to describe the remorse that I feel."Patrick Frazee Convicted of Murdering His Missing Fiancée With a Baseball Bat, Burning Her BodyFrazee, a 33-year-old cattle rancher, was convicted in November on all six charges against him for the slaying and disappearance of Berreth and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 156 years. Berreth, a flight instructor at Doss Aviation, was last seen at a Safeway grocery store near her Woodland Park, Colorado, home on Nov. 22, 2018. Prosecutors say later that day, Frazee fatally beat his would-be wife, with whom he shared a child, with a baseball bat before burning her body and the murder weapon at his family's ranch. The cattle rancher then enlisted the help of Lee, his secret girlfriend, to clean up the crime scene, Lee said.During her emotional two-day testimony, Lee described her troubled relationship with Frazee—which began as an affair several years ago while she was married and included a secret abortion. While the nurse has denied participating in Berreth's murder, she later admitted she witnessed him burn the evidence of his crime."She shouldn't have received the plea deal that she did," Berreth's parents, Darrell and Cheryl, wrote in a letter read aloud in court Tuesday, according to The Denver Post. "She was an active participant in the murder. The only thing she didn't do was swing the bat."'Calculating Manipulator' Patrick Frazee Murdered Kelsey Berreth With Help From Secret Girlfriend: ProsecutorsLee recounted that in 2018, Frazee asked her three times to kill Berreth on his behalf, claiming she was abusing their 1-year-old daughter and needed to be stopped. The nurse said while she initially agreed to help, she backed out before each murder attempt. "His little girl is being abused," Lee testified. "I understand if it was wrong. I didn't know what to do so I didn't make correct decisions."Prosecutors said when Lee failed to help Frazee murder Berreth, the "cold, calculating manipulator" took matters into his own hands. Afterward, Lee said Frazee told her, "I need your help, and I need your help now. You have a mess to clean up."Lee said during their frantic clean up of Berreth's apartment, Frazee told her to "get the candles wiped up, get the bathroom done, and wipe up the footprints," and threatened to kill her if she failed to do a sufficient job. Kelsey Berreth Murder Suspect's Secret Ex: He 'Told Me to Take Care of the Problem'"He asked me if I got it done. I told him the best that I could do. He said, 'You better hope you did, because your life depends on it,'" she said during the trial, according to The Gazette.After the Nov. 24 cleanup, she said the two went to Frazee's ranch, where the 33-year-old set Berreth's body on fire, along with several trash bags. To further trick authorities, Lee said she took Berreth's cellphone to Idaho—nearly 800 miles away from the missing mom's home in Woodland Park—for the signal to ping before burning it. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Biden's final Iowa drive sweeps through rival territory Posted: 28 Jan 2020 04:20 AM PST  When U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden went to an Iowa university to campaign this week, one thing was in short supply: students who support him. Biden, 77, joked that it can be difficult to get college students to show up before 4 p.m. and, indeed, a few more young people appeared at a later campaign event at the University of Iowa. "I'm the only one that gets a significant portion of the young vote, as well as the old vote, in-between vote, black vote, Hispanic vote, all the vote," Biden said.
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| Mexico deports 2,300 Hondurans from '2020 Caravan' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:52 PM PST  Mexican migration authorities said they have deported 2,300 Hondurans who illegally crossed over from Guatemala with a caravan heading to the United States. The "assisted return" of the Central Americans took place between January 18 and Monday, according to the interior ministry and the National Migration Institute. A total of 1,064 Honduran migrants were deported on National Guard planes and charter aircraft, they said in a statement.
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| A UFO Or America's Newest Stealth Plane? Iran Just Saw Something Fly By At Mach 10 Posted: 28 Jan 2020 10:56 AM PST  What on Earth...?
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| Hunter Biden will pay child support to the mother of his child in Arkansas Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:22 AM PST  Hunter Biden has agreed to pay child support to the mother of his child in Arkansas and backpay 13 months of missed installments.
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| US military's Special Operations Command says its newest recruits may have an 'unhealthy sense of entitlement' Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:58 PM PST  "It didn't happen during our period," a former Delta Force commander told Business Insider. "We really were severe about policing ourselves."
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| Pompeo Privately Dismissed Giuliani’s Allegations Against Former Ambassador Yovanovitch: Report Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:28 AM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo privately dismissed Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's assertions that former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch had criticized the president, the New York Times reported Sunday.A record of the private conversation was contained in the manuscript of former White House national security adviser John Bolton's upcoming book. Pompeo apparently followed through on the order to recall Yovanovitch last May despite privately questioning the rationale for her dismissal.According to the manuscript, Pompeo privately speculated that Giuliani wanted Yovanovitch fired so that he could advance his own business interests in Ukraine without her interfering. (Some of Giuliani's clients were at the time being targeted by Ukrainian anti-corruption efforts that the ambassador supported). Yovanovitch offered the same explanation for her removal when she testified before the House Intelligence Committee last year.The news follows a contentious interview Pompeo gave to NPR on Friday, during which host Mary Louise Kelly asked the secretary of state why he didn't express support for Yovanovitch. Kelly said that after the interview, Pompeo berated her for asking about Yovanovitch and demanded Kelly identify Ukraine on an unmarked map. The secretary of state, meanwhile, said his and Kelly's team had agreed not to discuss Ukraine at all in the interview."NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice," Pompeo said in a statement after reports of the confrontation were released. "First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record. It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency."Kelly said that Pompeo had in fact not requested that the post-interview conversation be kept off the record. Emails obtained by the Washington Post appear to show Kelly and Pompeo's teams did agree that questions regarding Ukraine would be allowed in the interview.Yovanovitch was reportedly fired after Giuliani and associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman claimed the former ambassador was badmouthing the president. The former ambassador stated in testimony to House Democrats that Parnas and Fruman were pushing for a replacement who would cooperate with their efforts to coerce investigations that would benefit the president as well as their efforts to advance their own business interests.
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| 'Danger, danger, danger': Trump defense team warns against impeachment and other takeaways Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:00 PM PST  Donald Trump's legal defense team ended its arguments with more than 13 hours on the clock after closing arguments Tuesday.
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| Autistic futures trader who triggered crash spared prison Posted: 28 Jan 2020 04:31 PM PST  A U.S. judge Tuesday sentenced a socially awkward math whiz-turned-futures trader who earned tens of millions of dollars over several years and helped trigger a U.S. stock market "flash crash" from his parents' suburban London home to time served and a year's home confinement, sparing him imprisonment after prosecutors praised his cooperation and said his crimes were entirely unmotivated by greed. Government prosecutors and defense lawyers described the 41-year-old Navinder Singh Sarao as autistic in memos filed before sentencing in Chicago federal court.
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| Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:32 AM PST ![Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office]( "Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office") Venezuelan special police detained a fugitive Colombian former senator who had illegally crossed the border, the force's chief said, four months after she escaped custody by climbing out of her dentist's office in Bogota. Aida Merlano, a former Conservative senator who was imprisoned last year for vote buying, made her theatrical escape in October, lowering herself with a rope and fleeing on the back of a delivery motorcycle. Jose Dominguez, head of Venezuela's FAES Special Action Force, wrote on his Instagram account late on Monday that officers detained her in the city of Maracaibo, capital of western Zulia state by the Colombian border.
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| Indonesia's Aceh unveils new female flogging squad Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:58 AM PST  The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and then unleashes a flurry of lashes -- proving herself as the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia's Aceh province. Such behaviour constitutes a morality crime in Aceh, the only region in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic law -- known as Sharia.
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| Israel's Air Force Has a New Air-Launched "Rampage" Ballistic Missile Posted: 28 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST  And it was just used for the first time.
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| Mexico deports 2,300 Hondurans who crossed illegally in '2020 Caravan' Posted: 28 Jan 2020 09:37 AM PST  Mexican migration authorities said they have deported 2,300 Hondurans who illegally crossed over from Guatemala with a caravan heading to the United States.
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| Airlines are cutting flights to China — and the coronavirus could be a 'substantial' risk for the industry, an analyst warns Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:45 PM PST  United said it was canceling 24 flights to China in February as demand plummets due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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| US Navy’s first Triton drones arrive in Guam Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  Two drones arrived in Guam and will serve as part of an early operational capability to develop a concept of operations for the high-altitude, long-endurance systems.
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| Labour Front-Runner Starmer Warns Brexit Risks Breaking Up U.K. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:23 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Keir Starmer, the front-runner to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, said Brexit risks breaking up the U.K. as he called for a "radical" redistribution of power to towns and regions.In a series of broadcast interviews on Monday, Starmer, the party's Brexit spokesman, said politicians have spent the past three years arguing about what sort of divorce agreement to strike with the European Union, without focusing on the underlying causes of Brexit. That risks creating a "vacuum" that's filled by nationalism, he said."There's a very deep feeling, and this did come out in the referendum, that the power, the wealth, the resource, the opportunities are all in London and they're not in the regions: We've got got address that," Starmer told Sky News. He then told the BBC: "We are at risk of watching the breakup of the United Kingdom."The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson stormed to an 80-seat majority last month, enabling him to push his withdrawal agreement through Parliament. With 2020 set to be dominated by negotiations on the shape of future economic ties with the bloc, the premier has also said he's keen to move onto domestic priorities including the health service, public transport and policing.But Starmer argued that people around the U.K. want to see more decisions being taken locally. He said in an emailed statement he plans to tour the U.K. during the leadership contest -- scheduled to end on April 4 -- arguing "for a radical redistribution of power, wealth and opportunity based on a new federal structure."Power Monopoly"We need to end the monopoly of power in Westminster and spread it across every town, city, region and nation of the United Kingdom," Starmer said.Starmer's message chimes with that of Lisa Nandy, another candidate for the leadership, whose campaign -- focused on empowering towns -- has turned her into a genuine contender in the contest.Starmer, Nandy and Rebecca Long-Bailey -- viewed as Corbyn's preferred successor -- have all crossed the threshold of support from unions, affiliated groups and local parties they need to make it onto the final ballot paper, while the party's foreign affairs spokeswoman, Emily Thornberry, has until Feb. 14 to get there.To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Hutton, Thomas PennyFor 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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| Joe Scarborough Trashes Trump’s Defense Team: ‘Confederacy of Dunces!’ Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:24 AM PST  MSNBC host Joe Scarborough kicked off Tuesday's edition of Morning Joe by going off on a lengthy and raucous rant against President Donald Trump's impeachment defense team, branding the whole group as a "Confederacy of Dunces."After Monday's arguments by the president's legal squad featured a slew of Fox News regulars essentially rehashing their Hannity segments, Scarborough spent the first few minutes of MSNBC's signature morning program blasting the most standout moments."Well, I mean—you had Confederacy of Dunces defending him in impeachment," Scarborough declared, referencing the famous irreverent novel by John Kennedy Toole. "Their arguments were absolutely stunning."Taking aim at Jane Raskin's insistence that Trump personal attorney Rudy Giuliani was only a "minor player" regarding Ukraine, the MSNBC star pointed out that Giuliani's name was mentioned multiple times by Trump himself in his infamous July 25 call with the Ukrainian president."Where do we begin with Ken Starr?" Scarborough then exclaimed. "If irony weren't already dead and buried years ago, it was Ken Starr yesterday talking about how abuse of power is not sufficient to impeach a president. You need a crime.""He literally dragged the corpse of irony out of the grave," the former Republican congressman continued as the rest of the panel laughed. "He meticulously tied the corpse's neck bone to the back of a tractor, and he ran that tractor throughout the graveyard of stupidity and ran over every headstone before once again kicking dirt on the corpse of irony, again!""Wow," co-host Willie Geist responded."And then putting its bones back in the grave, one by one by one!" Scarborough added.Scarborough, meanwhile, continued to roundly mock Starr, who was the independent counsel during President Bill Clinton's impeachment, sarcastically observing that Starr was "so sad and mournful" over the "age of impeachment" we are now in."You are a flashing billboard, a gaudily-printed, like, sandwich board sign going down Times Square saying, 'We're all dunces. We're all hypocrites. We are all making fools of ourselves,'" he shouted.The former Florida lawmaker would then devote a couple more minutes to former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi, whose argument was centered on Hunter Biden and Burisma. Claiming that Bondi apparently thinks all Trump supporters and conservatives are "stupid," Scarborough ended his tirade by comparing himself to James Brown.Yes, sigh, that happened.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Bloomberg creates a parallel presidential race. Can he win? Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:18 PM PST  When the leading Democratic presidential candidates marked Martin Luther King Jr. Day by linking arms and marching through South Carolina's capital, Michael Bloomberg was nowhere near the early primary state. "Mike Bloomberg," a supporter clarified. While his competitors are hunkered down in the four states with the earliest primaries, Bloomberg is almost everywhere else — a Minnesota farm, a Utah co-working space, an office opening in Maine.
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| Iran lawmakers call for debate on quitting nuclear arms treaty Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:49 AM PST  A group of Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday asked parliament to debate a motion for Iran to quit a treaty governing global nuclear arms control, a move apparently aimed at pressuring European powers to salvage Tehran's own 2015 nuclear deal. A report on the assembly's news site ICANA said a minimum number of MPs had signed a request to parliament's managers to arrange a debate on the motion for Iran to take the far-reaching step of leaving the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said last week that Iran could withdraw from the NPT if European countries refer the country to the U.N. Security Council over the 2015 deal, a move that would overturn diplomacy in Tehran's turbulent relations with Western powers.
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| Japan confirms virus in man who had not been to China Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:13 AM PST  Japanese authorities said Tuesday a man with no recent travel to China has contracted the novel strain of coronavirus -- apparently after driving tourists visiting from Wuhan, where a deadly outbreak began. The man in his sixties from Nara in western Japan drove two groups of Wuhan tourists earlier in January and was hospitalised on Saturday with flu-like symptoms, the health ministry said. Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the country had confirmed two new cases, bringing the total so far in Japan to six.
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| The Israeli Army Is Unprepared for a Ground War with Iran and Hezbollah Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:53 AM PST  If Israel has to go to war tomorrow against Iran or its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, there's a problem. The Israeli mechanized division that would defend Israel's northern border, or enter Syria or Lebanon to eject Iranian and pro-Iranian forces, are in bad shape.
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| Sinkholes appear in Cayman Islands after massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:54 PM PST  Viral footage appears to show sinkholes swallowing large chunks of roads following a string of earthquakes off the coasts of Jamaica and Cuba.A major 7.7 magnitude quake prompted tsunami warnings and building evacuations as far as Miami, several hundred miles from the quake's centre.
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| ‘Leave history research to historians, not politicians': Israeli President in Auschwitz Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:18 AM PST 
The presidents of Israel and Poland called for the end of historical revisionism, as they laid tributes at the site of an Auschwitz monument on Monday (January 27). World leaders and Holocaust survivors gathered in Poland to mark 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp on Monday, where more than 1.1 million people, most of them Jews were murdered. (SOUNDBITE) (Hebrew) ISRAELI PRESIDENT, REUVEN RIVLIN, SAYING: "Leave the job of factual research in the hands of expert historians, Israeli experts, Polish experts and also (experts) from other countries who take part in Holocaust research, and let the political leaders have the responsibility to design the present and the future." Polish President Andrzej Duda joined President Rivlin in referencing recent comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who suggested that Poland shares responsibility for instigating World War Two. Last month Putin said Poland - which was invaded first by Nazi Germany from the west and then by Soviet forces from the east in September 1939 - had helped bring disaster on itself, by plotting the previous year in plans to cut off routes to its southern neighbour Czechoslovakia. Duda and Rivlin also called for greater global efforts to combat anti-Semitism, amid concerns over a resurgence of anti-Jewish prejudice.
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| Investigators: Kobe Bryant's pilot tried to gain altitude before crash Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:11 PM PST  The National Transportation Safety Board provided an update on Monday afternoon about its investigation into the helicopter crash that killed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others Sunday morning in Calabasas, California.There was heavy fog in the area, and the pilot told air traffic controllers that he was going to try to fly higher to avoid a cloud layer, the NTSB said. When controllers asked him to share more information, he did not respond. Flight radar suggests the helicopter made it to 2,300 feet then began dropping down to the left, The New York Times reports.Investigators are taking a "broad look at everything" around the accident, NTSB official Jennifer Homendy said. "We look at man, machine, and the environment, and weather is just a small portion of that."Investigators are now searching a debris field of 500 to 600 feet for perishable evidence. The helicopter did not have a cockpit voice recorder.More stories from theweek.com John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats It's 2020 and women are exhausted
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| Shunned by the West and China, Zimbabwe Turns to U.A.E. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 07:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterSanctioned by the West and spurned by China, Zimbabwe has turned to the United Arab Emirates in its latest bid to find a savior that can arrest the collapse of its economy.Zimbabwe's government has approached the U.A.E. in hopes of selling a stake in its national oil company, according to three company and government officials familiar with the plan. It also wants companies in the U.A.E. to buy more of its gold, they said.President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said U.A.E. investors will build solar plants in Zimbabwe, and U.A.E. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan a year ago issued a decree to open an embassy in Zimbabwe. Dubai also contributed to relief efforts when Zimbabwe was hit by a cyclone last year.Zimbabwe's economy is in free-fall: It likely contracted by more than 6% last year, according to government estimates. Half the population is in need of food aid, inflation is running at over 500% and its currency has depreciated by more than 90% against the dollar since a 1:1 peg was abolished in February last year."They need investment desperately," said Jee-A van der Linde, an economic analyst at NKC African Economics in Paarl, South Africa. "It's been snowballing. I don't know where it's going to end up. I don't know how that would be appealing for the U.A.E."Oil companies in the U.A.E. said they were unaware of the interest.Belarusian BusesThe U.A.E.'s foreign ministry didn't respond to requests for comment.The U.A.E. is not the only country Mnangagwa has targeted for potential investment. Since taking power from Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 coup, he has crisscrossed the globe and attended gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, repeating the mantra 'Zimbabwe is open for business.' Two trips to Russia and former Soviet republics revived interest in a platinum project and a fleet of second-hand Belarusian buses now ply the streets of the capital, Harare, and the second-biggest city, Bulawayo.By May 2019, investment pledges worth $27 billion had been announced in projects ranging from steel mills to abattoirs. There's little evidence that they are being developed.A visit by Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister in January ended with only pledges of further infrastructural projects being carried out by China. There was no mention by the "all-weather-friend" as Zimbabwe likes to describe China, extending any financial bailout.Zimbabwe wants to sell a stake of as much as 25% in the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe, the people said, declining to be identified as the plans haven't been disclosed.NOIC owns storage depots at the port of Beira in neighboring Mozambique as well as five locations in Zimbabwe. It also owns gas stations and the pipeline that brings oil products from Beira to Mutare for companies including Puma Energy BV, in eastern Zimbabwe.Fuel ShortagesZimbabwe is prone to frequent shortages of motor fuel and sees a relationship with the U.A.E., possibly through the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as a way of securing supply, one of the people said. The southern African nation consumes 1.4 million liters of gasoline and 2.5 million liters of diesel daily, according to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority."We are working toward establishing a permanent arrangement with friendly countries and that also includes the U.A.E.," said Fortune Chasi, Zimbabwe's energy minister, declining to comment directly on whether Zimbabwe had approached the U.A.E.(Adds Davos in eighth paragraph)\--With assistance from Zainab Fattah and Mahmoud Habboush.To contact the reporters on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net;Ray Ndlovu in Johannesburg at rndlovu1@bloomberg.net;Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Gordon BellFor 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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| Sandy Hook denier charged with having victim's dad's ID info Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:45 AM PST  A Florida man who repeatedly harassed parents of shooting victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School has been arrested for possessing the identification of one of the parents, authorities said. Wolfgang Halbig, 73, was arrested Monday on a charge that he was in unlawful possession of another person's identification, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Halbig was a guest on the radio show of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
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| U.S. Supreme Court lets hardline Trump immigration policy take effect Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:31 AM PST  The U.S. Supreme Court gave the go-ahead on Monday for one of President Donald Trump's hardline immigration policies, allowing his administration to implement a rule denying legal permanent residency to certain immigrants deemed likely to require government assistance in the future. The justices, on a 5-4 vote, granted the administration's request to lift a lower court's injunction that had blocked the so-called public charge policy while litigation over its legality continues.
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| Chinese villages are cutting themselves off from the world with makeshift brick walls to try to stop outsiders from giving them the Wuhan virus Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:18 AM PST  The Wuhan coronavirus has killed 106 people, infected 4,500, and spread to more than a dozen countries, China's health commission said Tuesday.
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| Iran's Rouhani sounds alarm for 'democracy' after candidates barred Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:34 AM PST  Iran's president warned Monday of threats to the Islamic republic's "democracy and national sovereignty", after a body dominated by his ultra-conservative rivals disqualified thousands of candidates, weeks before elections. President Hassan Rouhani's moderate conservatives and their reformist allies are locked in a public quarrel with the Guardian Council over the disqualification of thousands of candidates -- including 92 sitting MPs.
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| This Picture Could Start World War III: If North Korea Blasts Seoul with the 'Big Guns' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:02 AM PST  Or a massive artillery attack.
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| Tsunami threat issued after 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes near Jamaica Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:21 PM PST  A tsunami threat message was issued Tuesday after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck near Jamaica and Cuba, CNN reports.The International Tsunami Information Center said Tuesday "hazardous tsunami waves are forecast for some coasts," per Reuters, and CNN writes there was a "threat of tsunami waves reaching 0.3 to 1 meter (about 1 to 3 feet) above tide level for the coasts of Jamaica, Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico and the Cayman Islands."The earthquake, which struck shortly after 2:00 p.m. Eastern, was felt in Miami and caused "very strong to severe shaking in far western Jamaica," The Weather Channel reports, citing the U.S. Geological Survey. The Associated Press also reports it could be felt "strongly" in Santiago, where a witness said, "We were all sitting and we felt the chairs move. We heard the noise of everything moving around."There have not been reports of any casualties, and according to the National Tsunami Warning Center, there is no tsunami threat for the eastern United States or the Gulf of Mexico. The Washington Post reports, though, this "appeared to be one of the biggest [earthquakes] on record in the Caribbean, and the largest since 1946."More stories from theweek.com John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats It's 2020 and women are exhausted
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| China Is Perfectly Prepared to Fight the Last Virus Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- China has a bigger and more sophisticated toolbox to combat any economic slowdown from the coronavirus than in 2003, when it battled the SARS pandemic. The challenge now is a worsening backdrop both domestically and abroad, and how both hamper the effectiveness of Beijing's response.It's hard to be precise about the damage given the situation is still unfolding. Bloomberg Economics is likely to downgrade its projection for China's first-quarter growth from its current forecast of 5.9%. When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome raged in the second quarter of 2003, China's expansion cooled to 9.1% from 11.1% in the prior three months.Trouble is brewing beyond China's shores, too. With trade wars, heightened tension between Iran and the West and declining demographics, there were plenty of challenges before this outbreak. The International Monetary Fund is penciling in growth of 3.3% this year, after crawling along at 2.9% in 2019. Yet that pace has stalled from the 3.4% estimate just a few months ago. In 2003, the world economy expanded more than 4% and approached 6% in 2007.China has changed dramatically in the past 17 years. For starters, its economy is roughly eight times the size. But on a more granular level, key elements of monetary- and currency-policy frameworks have evolved. Most notably, the country has a more flexible exchange rate, to put it mildly. While the central bank still manages the contours of the yuan's moves, the currency was pegged at 8.3 to the dollar for a decade until July 2005. Moreover, the People's Bank of China now uses an array of rates to manage borrowing costs. In 2004, it was considered almost revolutionary when China raised interest rates, a measure that hadn't been deployed as a tool of economic management in nine years.These changes allow policy shifts to come more frequently. Faced with the trade war and a cooling domestic economy, the PBOC began 2020 with a statement of intent: The central bank cut the required reserve ratio for lenders by half a percentage point, the latest in a series of reductions. This signals that officials were aiming to shore up liquidity in the private sector well before the Wuhan outbreak. Damage from the coronavirus might conceivably tip the central bank's hand.Yet China's perilous corporate-debt burden could remain a constraint. Over the course of last year, worries that a benchmark interest-rate cut wouldn't reach the private sector kept the PBOC from acting, despite expectations it would do so. Whether easier monetary policy in China would trickle through the rest of the global economy remains an open question. Many multinational firms have already started to relocate their supply chains as a result of the trade war.When SARS broke out, China was still basking in the glow of its entry to the World Trade Organization in late 2001. Six years later, growth reached a peak of 15%. Executives and officials the world over marveled at the mainland economy and Beijing's decision-making prowess. Globalization was still very much in vogue and China became shorthand for a flattening world. Few dared offending Beijing, let alone consider imposing tariffs. (The idea of a trade war horrified President George W. Bush's administration.) American economic diplomacy amounted to the Treasury Department's gentle prodding that maybe China could, pretty please, end the yuan's hard peg to the greenback.Many of the people who went out of their way to praise China also urged it to rebalance its economy, to focus less on exports and investment and more on consumption. That shift has largely happened. But now China is more susceptible to changes in household sentiment — precisely the slice of the economy that a fresh outbreak will hit hardest. Since late last week, travel has been curtailed and Lunar New Year holiday activities were curbed in many parts of China.The good news is that Beijing can deploy more weapons to address this slowdown than in 2003. But given the scale of the changes since then, that may not matter much. Nor will this arsenal be particularly effective if the global economy, which China feeds and relies upon, remains a shadow of its former self.To contact the author of this story: Daniel Moss at dmoss@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Rosenthal at rrosenthal21@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Daniel Moss is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asian economies. Previously he was executive editor of Bloomberg News for global economics, and has led teams in Asia, Europe and North America.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| She Says He Raped Her Over 40 Years Ago. Now He's a Suspected Serial Killer. Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:56 AM PST  When Fran met Bruce Lindahl, he didn't seem like a monster. Today, more than 40 years later, she considers herself lucky to be alive.She was 15 and Lindahl was in his early twenties when he first invited Fran and her friends over to his apartment in Lisle, Illinois, she recalled to The Daily Beast. He would buy alcohol for the girls and host parties at his place with his live-in girlfriend.He initially seemed like a "wonderful person," according to Fran, whose last name is being withheld at her request. (The Daily Beast does not name survivors of sexual violence without their consent.) He took her ice skating or to the movies, and even earned the trust of Fran's mother, who allowed him to be the adult driver in the passenger seat when she only had her learner's permit. Perhaps most of all, he was charming, she said.Now, police say Lindahl—who has been dead since the 1980s—could easily prove to be a serial killer.Is a Serial-Killer Gang Murdering Young Men Across the U.S.?On Jan. 13, police detectives in Lisle, a Chicago suburb, announced that thanks to advanced DNA forensics they were able to tie Bruce Lindahl to the murder of Pamela Maurer of Woodridge, who was found strangled on the side of a road in 1976. Mauer, who was just 16 at the time, decided to walk to a nearby store to buy a Coke that night. Police found her body the next morning. Perhaps most disturbing about the latest developments in the case: The lead detective, Chris Loudon, suggested DNA evidence could eventually tie Lindahl to dozens of other victims of violent crimes ranging from rape to murder."If Bruce wouldn't have accidentally killed himself, the death toll would have likely been astronomical," Loudon told The Daily Beast, adding that he would "bet his entire paycheck" Lindahl was responsible for at least nine murders—and may be linked to 12. And with at least 25 tips coming in daily, Loudon said, he believed that number could grow. He and fellow officers have leaned on some of the same techniques that were at least partially responsible for the capture of the suspected Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, in 2018. Through DNA databases from popular services like 23andMe, a composite sketch was created. It bore a striking resemblance to Lindahl.Lindahl often had run-ins with the law, and investigators had suspected him in a number of heinous crimes prior to his death in 1981. He was charged with kidnapping and raping a woman named Debra Colliander in 1980, but the case fell apart when the victim went missing two weeks before she was set to testify. Her body was discovered in 1982.By then, Lindahl was dead, having been found in an apartment in the nearby Chicago suburb of Naperville, draped over 18-year-old Charles Huber. Detectives concluded Lindahl accidentally severed his own femoral artery while stabbing the young man 28 times with a six-inch kitchen knife.But Fran knew Lindahl was capable of wanton brutality and violence before police did.When she was still a teenager, Lindahl invited her over for drinks early one morning, which had become a regular occurrence by then. When Fran arrived, she recalled, he had her favorite—a scotch on the rocks—ready for her. But after just a couple of sips, she said, she dropped the drink, lost control of her motor functions, and went limp.Lindahl proceeded to attack her, she said, stripping her of her clothes, taking photographs of her in various poses, and raping her. She recalled the assault continuing until she grew "very, very sick."She said she asked Lindahl to take her to a nearby hospital and that he refused, insisting she was OK. Instead, Fran remembered Lindahl going so far as to take some of her friends skiing that same day. She spent the day trying to sleep in the back of his car.Despite the assault, Fran added, she didn't feel comfortable completely distancing herself from Lindahl, and their relationship—abusive and violent though it was—would continue for a few more years. "When Bruce said jump, I said, 'How high?'" she said.At the time, and perhaps even today, Fran says, she felt responsible for what happened to her. Although she was just a teenager, she described some sexual encounters with Lindahl that were "consensual" in her mind.She didn't tell any of her friends or family. Not only did she worry about being believed, she felt that Lindahl would do "something terrible" to her.Fran recalled another night when Lindahl insisted she come over to his place. When she arrived, Lindahl's girlfriend was sleeping in the next room. He then forced Fran to perform oral sex on him and demanded she sneak out the window when he was finished, she recalled."I thought if I screamed, he would hurt me," she said. Fran still remembers the last time she saw Lindahl, too.She was 18 and had taken a job that required her to work the graveyard shift. That meant she almost never saw Lindahl anymore. She thought she had escaped him, or perhaps that he had moved on to other women.Until one morning, when she passed Lindahl's car on the way home from work. Lindahl must have been waiting for her; he followed her back to her house.She pleaded with Lindahl that she was tired from work and needed sleep, but he ignored her and followed her into the house, she said. When he grabbed the family Polaroid camera and followed her upstairs, she feared the worst.To this day, Fran isn't entirely sure how she convinced Lindahl to leave that morning. But she was able to coax him out of the house and escape unharmed.Learning of his death was the only way out of being haunted by him."I was thrilled," she said, recalling relief washing over her when she saw him on local news.Fran never allowed Lindahl to define her life. She started a family and worked hard; years would go by without her thinking about the man. But she never stopped worrying about Lindahl's girlfriend, she said.Years after Lindahl died, she thought she ran into her in a Chicago suburb. When Fran asked if she was who she thought she was, the woman denied it and turned white. She was living under a different name than Fran remembered, she said. "I always worried that maybe she didn't know Bruce was dead," she said. "That maybe she was living her life in hiding."Over the years, Fran has grappled with guilt and wondered if she should have spoken up sooner. But when she saw the news of his being tied to so many other grisly crimes, she realized how close she may have come to becoming one of Lindahl's alleged murder victims herself.She said she doesn't feel brave or courageous telling her story. But after reading pleas from detectives in media reports, she felt the need to come forward. "I always felt like everything was my fault. I guess I've always been that way," she said. She subsequently reached out to police and was interviewed by Detective Loudon. Still, Fran added, she couldn't help suspecting that keeping her head down saved her at a time when perpetrators of sexual violence were even less likely to be prosecuted than they are today."Somehow, I always knew to be afraid," she said. "I feel lucky I kept my mouth shut."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| NY, feds sue 'Pharma Bro' for 'scheme' to keep drug price up Posted: 27 Jan 2020 06:34 PM PST  State and federal authorities sued imprisoned entrepreneur Martin Shkreli on Monday over tactics that shielded a profitable drug from competition after a price hike made the so-called "Pharma Bro" infamous. Shkreli was scorned as the bad-boy face of pharmaceuticals profiteering after he engineered a roughly 4,000% increase in the price of a decades-old medication for a sometimes life-threatening parasitic infection. At least four potential competitors have so far been kept from making cheaper generic versions of the medication, the suit says.
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