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Oct 18, 2019
The number 2023 spotted on press photos has people all excited, but Dodge told C/D it doesn't mean anything.
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Oct 18, 2019
During a closed-door impeachment meeting on Capitol Hill, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA) brought up a topic that surprised some attendees: the Steele dossier. The context, according to three sources familiar with the episode, was his effort to explain why President Trump might be "upset" about Ukraine.
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Oct 18, 2019
"This is not some outlandish claim," Clinton said in an interview this week. "This is reality."
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Oct 18, 2019
For centuries, the ancient city of Mahendraparvata has been buried under a dense canopy in the Cambodian jungle. It was one of the first capitals of the Khmer Empire, which controlled large swaths of Southeast Asia from the 9th to 15th centuries. Over the last 150 years, archaeologists have uncovered artifacts that they suspected came from Mahendraparvata, but they didn't have enough evidence to support the link — until now.
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Oct 18, 2019
Israeli forces shot a Palestinian who ran towards them with a knife near a military checkpoint in the occupied West Bank on Friday, Israel's defence ministry said, and Palestinian officials said he died of his injury. Israel's defence ministry said a Palestinian man ran towards a checkpoint between Israel and the central West Bank city of Tulkarem "with a knife in hand, with the apparent intention of attacking security personnel".
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Oct 18, 2019
We're updating this live as more subpoenas are issued
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Oct 18, 2019
Fox News attempted to help "acting" White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney clean up his admission of a "quid pro quo" with Ukraine, but Fox & Friends Weekend host and reporter Ed Henry wasn't quite ready to let him off the hook.After telling the press corp on Thursday that there is "going to be political influence in foreign policy" and that they should just "get over it," Mulvaney released a statement later in the day that walked back his comments and blamed the media for supposedly twisting his words."Once again, the media has decided to misconstrue my comments to advance a biased and political witch hunt against President Trump," Mulvaney said. "Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukrainian military aid and any investigation into the 2016 election." When he heard those words read aloud on Fox Friday morning, Henry said, "I'm not sure what Mick Mulvaney's case is. The media is to blame for writing down what he said, for Fox recording on video what he said? He stood at the podium and connected the dots for Democrats!" It was only after both Democrats and some Republicans pounced on what Mulvaney had said that he decided to walk it back, Henry explained. "So if it's the media's fault, I'm not quite sure why the White House chief of staff is clarifying," he added. Henry has been straddling the line between Trump critic and defender on impeachment for the past few weeks after the president lashed out at him for daring to suggest that pressuring a foreign co
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Oct 18, 2019
Deep-sea explorers scouring the world's oceans for sunken Second World War ships have uncovered the wreck of a Japanese aircraft carrier destroyed in the pivotal Battle of Midway.Fought in June 1942, the clash saw US aircraft carriers ambush their Japanese foes and sink all four opposing Imperial Navy (IJN) flattops thanks partly to intelligence gained through intercepted communications.
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Oct 18, 2019
For centuries, the ancient city of Mahendraparvata has been covered by dense trees that make it hard to observe.
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Boris Johnson may not even get the chance to put his Brexit deal to the vote on Saturday, with support growing for a move by an alliance of former Conservatives and opposition Members of Parliament to delay the decision by a week or more.Former Tory minister Oliver Letwin and Labour MP Hilary Benn have put down an amendment to Johnson's motion which would withhold approval for the Brexit deal until the bill that implements it is law.If it is passed, Johnson would be unable to put his deal to the vote, leaving him in a situation where he's obliged by law to seek a delay to Brexit.The main opposition Labour Party is likely to order its MPs to support the amendment, according to two people familiar with the party's plans. Other opposition parties are also on board. Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the 35-seat Scottish National Party, said she's "sympathetic" to the plan and would back anything that makes sure the deal doesn't go through on Saturday.Johnson doesn't have a majority, so a united opposition and the support of former Tories, such as Philip Hammond and David Gauke, gives the move a good chance of passing.The amendment says Parliament should withhold approval of the deal "unless and until implementing legislation is passed." That would automatically trigger the Benn Act, which says the prime minister must ask the EU for an extension if he hasn't finalized a deal with both the EU and U.K. Parliament by Oct. 19."My aim is to ensure that Boris's deal succeeds, but that we have an insurance policy which prevents the U.K. from crashing out on Oct. 31 by mistake if something goes wrong during the passage of the implementing legislation," Letwin said in an email. "Nothing in my ame
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Oct 18, 2019
A school district in New Jersey passed a new policy this week that will allow schools to bar students from attending prom if they have a school lunch debt above $75.
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Oct 18, 2019
Gordon Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, bolstered Democrats' impeachment inquiry Thursday as he broke sharply from President Donald Trump in testimony before House investigators. During nearly nine hours of testimony, Sondland said he reluctantly indulged what he described as the president's efforts to run Ukraine policy through his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
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Oct 18, 2019
New York Democrat Carolyn Maloney takes over as chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee and will play a key role in the impeachment inquiry.
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Oct 18, 2019
Across the USA, prosecutors aren't tracking officer misconduct, skirting Supreme Court "Brady" rules and sometimes leading to wrongful convictions.
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Oct 18, 2019
Argentina is going to the polls on October 27 with a Peronist politician backed by former president Cristina Kirchner expected to win an outright majority, something that has got Falkland Islanders worried. The Falklands have been in British hands since 1833 but Argentina has waged a diplomatic battle -- that spilled into economic and then actual warfare -- since the 1960s to try to gain control of the archipelago. Argentine troops invaded the windswept islands for 74 days in 1982, before Britain swiftly defeated them.
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Oct 18, 2019
The earthquakes that hammered the Southern California desert near the town of Ridgecrest last summer involved ruptures on a web of interconnected faults and increased strain on a major nearby fault that has begun to slowly move, according to a new study. Ruptures in the Ridgecrest earthquake sequence ended a few miles from the Garlock Fault, which runs east-west for 185 miles (300 kilometers) from the San Andreas Fault to Death Valley. The Garlock Fault has been relatively quiet for 500 years.
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Oct 18, 2019
A man who inadvertently triggered Hong Kong's huge protests after he murdered his girlfriend in Taiwan has agreed to return to the island to face justice, a clergyman who has visited him in prison said on Friday. Chan Tong-kai, 20, is wanted in Taiwan for the murder of his pregnant girlfriend during a holiday the two Hong Kongers took there in February last year. The case triggered an ill-fated proposal by Hong Kong's pro-Beijing government to ram through a sweeping extradition bill which would have allowed the city to extradite suspects to any territory, including the authoritarian mainland.
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Oct 18, 2019
John Rudoff/GettyAn anti-affirmative action campaign used members of the Proud Boys for security—and is now claiming it didn't realize its protection team was an organization labeled a hate group.On Nov. 5, voters in Washington state are set to decide on the future of Referendum 88, a measure that would allow affirmative action hiring in public jobs. The measure has support from civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), but faces opposition from a state veterans group and the organization Washington Asians for Equality, which claims the measure would lead to preferential treatment for some groups. This summer, some of those opponents partnered with a more notorious organization: the Proud Boys, who featured the signature drive in a recently surfaced propaganda video.The Proud Boys—designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center—prioritizes street fights and has extensive connections to more explicit white supremacist organizations. But unlike many other extremist groups, the Proud Boys frequently cozy up to the more mainstream right. Their current leader, Enrique Tarrio, is a Florida director of Latinos for Trump, despite marching in 2017's deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.Republicans Are Adopting the Proud BoysIn the August video, a Washington Proud Boy claims Referendum 88 backers solicited the Proud Boys' help in delivering signatures to the s
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Oct 18, 2019
During his time on the board of one of Ukraine's largest natural gas companies, Hunter Biden, the son of former U.S. Vice-President Joe Biden, was regarded as a helpful non-executive director with a powerful name, according to people familiar with Biden's role at the company. Biden's role at Burisma Holdings Ltd has come under intense scrutiny following unsupported accusations by U.S. President Donald Trump that Joe Biden improperly tried to help his son's business interests in Ukraine. Interviews with more than a dozen people, including executives and former prosecutors in Ukraine, paint a picture of a director who provided advice on legal issues, corporate finance and strategy during a five-year term on the board, which ended in April of this year.
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Oct 18, 2019
A black security guard at a Wisconsin high school who was fired after he says he repeated a racial slur while telling a student who had called him that word not to use it has filed a grievance seeking his job back. The Madison School District has a policy forbidding employees from saying racial slurs. West High Principal Karen Boran sent an email to families on Wednesday asaying that racial slurs are not acceptable in schools, regardless of context or circumstance, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
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Oct 18, 2019
But they aren't exactly the best or most accurate.
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Oct 18, 2019
A Thai trafficker was sentenced to a record 374 years in jail for child trafficking in a ruling that lawyers say will send a deterrent to other criminals. Yuttana Kodsap, 31, was found guilty of child trafficking for the purpose of pornography after he lured children aged 7-12 to play computer games at his house where he filmed sexual acts with them and sold the videos on a chat app, police said. A court in Thailand's southern province of Phang Nga sentenced him to 374 years in jail for his crimes and ordered him to pay 800,000 Thai baht ($26,000) in compensation to each of the five victims, according to court documents provided to the Thomson Reuters Foundation by the Court of Justice.
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Oct 18, 2019
Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson has asked the department to investigate his actions after he was found lying down in a car near his home. Police department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi says Johnson indicated he parked his car after feeling lightheaded. The 59-year-old Johnson underwent kidney transplant surgery in August 2017.
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Oct 18, 2019
Allegiant, working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, made a five-year-old boy's dream vacation to Walt Disney World that much more special.
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Oct 18, 2019
Dodge is rumored to be working on a 50th-anniversary Challenger that would wear the ACR badge.
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Oct 18, 2019
President Trump's behavior is getting worse.We already knew Trump was vain and vulgar, a thin-skinned narcissist, the Dunning-Kruger effect made flesh. He may be the first president we've ever had with no discernible redeeming qualities, either as a politician or a human being. But impeachment is here, and Trump is finding new ways to demonstrate his sheer unfitness for office every few hours. The president's reaction to the impeachment process is proving once more why he should be removed from office -- and fast.Wednesday opened with the president's attempt to shoehorn the (unsuspecting) grieving parents of a British teenager into a reality show reconciliation with the woman who killed their son. It was the act of a man who can perceive the world -- and human emotions -- only through a show business lens. It was cruel. But 12 hours later, it was only the third or fourth most outrageous thing we'd learned about the president since sunrise.There were two other contenders for the No. 1 spot on the list. The first was Trump's reported White House meltdown with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), whom he insulted and called a "third-grade politician" during a quickly abandoned meeting. That was probably superseded, though, by the unveiling of a bonkers October 9 letter in which he cajoled and threatened Turkey's president in an unsuccessful attempt to halt that country's invasion of Syria. White House confirms authenticity of Trump letter to Erdogan, dated 10/9: "History... will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don't happen. Don't be a tough guy. Don't be a fool! I will call you later." First reported by Fox Business. pic.twitter.co
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Oct 18, 2019
U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday questioned whether a lower court sufficiently considered that a man convicted in the deadly 2002 "D.C. Sniper" shooting spree in the Washington area was a minor at the time of the crimes when he was sentenced to life in prison. The nine justices heard arguments in an appeal by the state of Virginia objecting to the lower court's decision ordering that Lee Boyd Malvo's sentence of life in prison without parole be thrown out. The most likely contender based on questions he asked during the argument would be Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
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Oct 18, 2019
Heavily armed fighters surrounded security forces in a Mexican city on Thursday and made them free one of drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's sons, after his capture triggered gunbattles and a prison break that sent civilians scurrying for cover. Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said a patrol by National Guard militarized police first came under attack from within a house in the city of Culiacan, 1,235 km (770 miles) northwest of Mexico City. After entering the house, they found four men, including Ovidio Guzman, who is accused of drug trafficking in the United States.
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Oct 18, 2019
After Turkish forces fired on US positions on Friday, Turkish-backed forces advanced on the anti-ISIS base in Syria.
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Oct 18, 2019
Deep-sea explorers scouring the world's oceans for sunken World War II ships are focusing in on debris fields deep in the Pacific, in an area where one of the most decisive battles of the time took place. Hundreds of miles off Midway Atoll, nearly halfway between the United States and Japan, a research vessel is launching underwater robots miles into the abyss to look for warships from the famed Battle of Midway. Weeks of grid searches around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands already have led the crew of the Petrel to one sunken warship, the Japanese aircraft carrier Kaga.
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Oct 18, 2019
The truth gets its boots on pretty quickly in the Internet age. On October 6, the New York Times ran a piece broadcasting the striking claims made by the economists Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman in the new book The Triumph of Injustice. Just a couple of weeks later, it's clear that these claims are built atop a foundation of often questionable and sometimes indefensible assumptions.Per Saez and Zucman, while the rich have been pulling in more and more of the nation's income — grabbing about a fifth of it now, double what they got a few decades back — they're paying lower and lower tax rates. Indeed, in 2018, the richest 400 Americans paid the lowest overall tax rate (including state, local, and federal taxes) of any income group. While the very richest Americans in 1950 paid two-thirds of their income in taxes, in 2018 it was down below a quarter; even the full top 0.1 percent barely pay more than the bottom 90 percent these days. It's not that much of an exaggeration to say we have a flat tax system, not a progressive one.The debunkings came from everywhere: a Twitter thread by Journal of Public Economics editor Wojtek Kopczuk, an article by the economic historian Phil Magness, an academic response from the economist David Splinter, a report from the Republican side of the Senate's Joint Economic Committee (JEC), a traditional book review in Le Grand Continent, and more.Let's take the two claims, rising inequality and rich people pa
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Oct 18, 2019
A few days ago, Ericka Anderson, an old friend of National Review, popped up in the pages of the New York Times lamenting that "the Democratic presidential field neglects abundant pools of potential Democrat converts, leaving persuadable audiences — like independents and Trump-averse, anti-abortion Christians (some of whom are white evangelicals) — without options."It's not fair to expect the Democratic party to re-tailor its positions to appeal to conservatives disgruntled with Trump. When a Democrat and a Republican get into a bidding war for the vote of a conservative, the Republican is almost always going to win. And Democrats could reasonably argue that depending on how strictly or narrowly you define it, the demographic consisting of never-Trump or Trump-skeptical or Trump-weary right-leaning voters is not big enough to be decisive in a race. Then again, after the 2016 election came down to Florida, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and Minnesota all being decided by 2 percent or less, perhaps no demographic should be written off as being too small to be decisive.But through their actions, rhetoric, and policy stances, most Democrats are demonstrating that they are not willing to concede a rhetorical point or two to the conservatives, even if it would guarantee beating Trump. To right-leaning independents who have left the GOP, the distinctions between traditional Reaganite conservatism and modern Trumpism are crystal-clear and definitive. But to most Democratic lawmakers, meaningful differences between their old GOP foes and Tru
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Oct 18, 2019
At a press conference on Friday, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., took several questions about White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney's initial statement and clarification on whether there was a quid pro quo between the Trump administration and the president of Ukraine.
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Oct 18, 2019
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters that acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney was "very clear in cleaning up his statement" on whether President Trump floated a quid pro quo to Ukrainian leaders.
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Oct 18, 2019
Mick Mulvaney is on wobbly ground at the White House after the acting chief of staff's startling news conference, with aides around President Donald Trump waiting for their boss to digest the fallout from his top aide's bungled explanation of the Ukraine controversy. Mulvaney is already taking heat from the president's confidantes, lawyers and GOP lawmakers who were stunned by the performance. White House aides and allies expect the president to reach his own conclusions about Mulvaney later on Friday or in the coming days, as he spends time scanning newspaper headlines, catching up on cable shows and making calls to outside advisers, lawyers and Republican lawmakers.
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Oct 18, 2019
A woman described as a person of interest in the abduction of a 3-year-old Alabama girl is denying any involvement. Attorneys for 29-year-old Derick Irisha Brown of Birmingham released a statement Friday saying she had no role in the kidnapping and hopes for the safe return of Kamille "Cupcake" McKinney. Brown and a man were arrested earlier this week after being described as persons of interest in the child's abduction from a birthday party last weekend.
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Oct 18, 2019
Between 2016 to 2019, the report notes seven sightings of the Tasmanian tiger. It "had black stripes on the back side of the body."
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Oct 18, 2019
Virginia State Police/HandoutA Virginia man who is behind bars for killing his girlfriend has now been charged with the murder of his wife three decades ago, prosecutors announced Friday.Jose Rodriguez-Cruz, 53, was indicted by a Stafford County grand jury for the May 1989 murder of 28-year-old Marta Haydee Rodriguez. Rodriguez-Cruz is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence for the 2009 murder of his girlfriend, Pamela Butler, who was a federal worker in Washington, D.C.During a Friday press conference, Stafford County Commonwealth's Attorney Eric Olsen announced that the former military police officer, who was discharged after threatening to harm his female superior twice, has been charged with first-degree murder and the unlawful concealment of his wife's body, finally bringing a 30-year investigation to a close. Cops: NYPD Officer Ordered Hit on Estranged Husband, Boyfriend's Kid"This is the ultimate act of domestic violence and it's noteworthy that in the month of October justice is going to be delivered for Marta Rodriguez," Olson said, pointing out that October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Rodriguez was last seen on May 1, 1989, as she walked to a bus stop after leaving her job as a nurse's aide. Prosecutors allege Rodriguez-Cruz murdered his first wife shortly after she told police he had assaulted and kidnapped her—but before she could testify against him in court."If I can't have her, no one will," Rodriguez-Cruz once said, according to 2017 court doc
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Oct 18, 2019
An explosion rocked a mosque in eastern Afghanistan as dozens of people gathered for Friday prayers, causing the roof to collapse and killing 62 worshippers, provincial officials said. Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the governor of Nangarhar Province, said the militant attack wounded 36 others. Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, strongly condemned the attack on his official Twitter account.
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Oct 18, 2019
Carlo Allegri/ReutersThe grieving family of 19-year-old Harry Dunn have spoken out about their ill-fated meeting with Donald Trump at the White House in a new interview. Charlotte Charles and Tim Dunn told CNN on Thursday morning that the president "doesn't understand" how the accident that killed their son has "broken" their family. Dunn was killed when 42-year-old American Anne Sacoolas, who is married to an intelligence officer who was working at a spy base in Croughton, England, hit his motorcycle head-on while driving down the wrong side of the road on Aug. 27. Sacoolas initially cooperated with authorities, but then left the country under diplomatic-immunity protections in early September before authorities could formally investigate her or charge her with a crime. Dunn's parents had only hoped to convince Trump to send Sacoolas back to the U.K. for justice, not to meet her in person. Radd Seiger, the family spokesman, who appeared on CNN with the family, added that during the visit, new National Security Adviser Robert C. O'Brien "snarled" at him and jeered that Sacoolas "would never return" to the U.K. "I used to look up to that institution," Seiger told CNN. "But it's a bunch of henchmen trying to make him look good."During the White House meeting, Trump surprised Dunn's parents with the announcement that Sacoolas, who they had made clear they would only meet on U.K. soil if she returned to assist the investigation, was behind a door waiting.
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Oct 18, 2019
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that he would like to see "something stronger" than the bipartisan resolution the House passed on Wednesday condemning President Trump's decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria."I believe it's important that we make a strong, forward-looking strategic statement. For that reason my preference would be for something even stronger than the resolution that the House passed yesterday, which has some serious weaknesses," McConnell said in a Senate floor speech.The resolution overwhelmingly passed the House in a 354 to 60 vote, with 129 Republicans voting in favor. It states that Congress "opposes the decision to end certain United States efforts to prevent Turkish military operations against Syrian Kurdish forces in Northeast Syria" and demands the White House present a plan to support Kurdish fighters and prevent ISIS from regaining a foothold in the area.Trump announced last week that he would withdraw American troops stationed in the north part of Syria, saying he did not want the U.S. to "police" the area any longer. The decision was condemned by many in Trump's party, including some of his closest allies, who anticipated that a U.S. troop withdrawal would clear the way for the invasion of the region subsequently launched by Turkey and leave the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, wh
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Oct 18, 2019
Plans have been pushed back a day to bring down two giant, unstable construction cranes in a series of controlled explosions before they can topple onto historic New Orleans buildings, the city's fire chief said Friday, noting the risky work involved in placing explosive on the towers. Making it happen, putting people back in danger," McConnell said. Light, intermittent rain and winds were complicating efforts Friday as workers in buckets suspended from another crane worked to prepare the site, McConnell said.
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Oct 18, 2019
Sergei Gapon/AFP/GettyCongressional Democrats are eyeing for former National Security Adviser John Bolton to testify in their impeachment inquiry, The Daily Beast has learned. The possibility that they issue him a subpoena is "increasingly likely," according to a source familiar with their thinking. Bolton was President Trump's national security adviser from April 2018 until last month, when he unceremoniously left the White House. During his time there, events unfolded that precipitated Democrats' impeachment inquiry. Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney, worked to shape Trump's relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky, who became president of Ukraine in May 2019. Giuliani had been trying to investigate the Biden family's activity in Ukraine. While then-Vice President Joe Biden led the Obama administration's Ukraine policy, his son Hunter was on the board of the Ukrainian natural gas company Burisma. The Bidens maintain Hunter Biden didn't use his father's position to enrich his company. Giuliani has argued the situation was immensely corrupt. Thanks to his encouragement, Trump asked Zelensky to investigate Burisma on a now notorious July 25 phone call. At the same time, the Trump administration held up an aid package it had promised to deliver to the Ukrainians.Trump Suspects a Spiteful John Bolton Is Behind Some of the Ukraine LeaksGiuliani's efforts made Bolton deeply uncomfortable, according to multiple reports about congressional testimony from Fiona Hill, who worked under
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Oct 18, 2019
The death toll from a strong earthquake in the southern Philippines climbed to five people, with dozens more injured, officials said Thursday. The Office of Civil Defense said two people died and 18 were injured in a landslide set off by Wednesday night's quake in Davao del Sur province's Magsaysay town, where a child also was killed after a wall collapsed on her. Officials reported two more deaths elsewhere, including a girl hit by a collapsed wall in southern Maguindanao province.
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Oct 18, 2019
The Israeli ambassador to Ukraine asked police on Thursday to find and punish people who left a red paint-spattered effigy of tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky, who holds a Ukrainian Jewish community leadership post, on the steps of the main synagogue in Kiev. Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine's richest men, is in the public eye over his business ties to President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who came to fame as the star of TV show on a channel Kolomoisky owns. Kolomoisky is president of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, one of several Jewish community bodies in the country.
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Oct 18, 2019
More than 80 years since the last thylacine in captivity died and almost 40 years since it was declared extinct, rumours of the Tasmanian Tiger's survival have been reignited by a newly published document. The thylacine, or Tasmanian Tiger, was once Australia's top predator but the last one in captivity died in 1936. Tasmanian officials say "there is no evidence to confirm the thylacine still exists" but a document published this week by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE) features numerous accounts from farmers, bushwalkers, tourists and others claiming to have seen the striped carnivore over the past three years. The Department received eight reports in that period of thylacine sightings, sometimes of an adult with cubs, and usually at dusk or dawn in the northern and western parts of the island state. Two Western Australian tourists recorded in the document said they saw a striped animal the size of a "large kelpie" in February last year and were "100 per cent certain" it was a Tasmanian Tiger. In April 2017 a motorist included in the document said he saw a thylacine run across the Murchison Highway. "If it was a cat, it was a bloody big one," he said. Engravings and rock art by Aboriginal people depicting the thylacine have been found dating back to before 1000 BC, and it is believed some depictions of the animal are much older, including in the north of Western Australia - as far away
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said his government wants to boost the country's budget for next year by almost 60% to $10 billion, even though it isn't clear how he would fund the increase.The increase is meant to fight poverty, Tshisekedi, who assumed office in January, said in a speech on the outskirts of the capital, Kinshasa. A $10 billion budget is still "meager for the great Congo, but we will get there progressively," he said.The largest and one of the least-developed nations in sub-Saharan Africa, the Democratic Republic of Congo relies almost entirely on mining for its earnings. Tshisekedi has pledged to lift millions of people out of poverty over the next five years through investments in water, electricity, and infrastructure. More than three-quarters of the population of 81 million people make do with less than $1.90 per day, according to the United Nations.The announcement comes after the International Monetary Fund criticized Congo's budgeting process and said the country needs to increase the efficacy of its revenue collection. Congo and the IMF are discussing the possibility of a loan program."Budget execution bears little relation to the approved budget because revenue projects -- driven mainly by political pressures to accommodate higher spending -- and expenditure projections have been overly optimistic," the IMF said in August.The amount is roughly $3 billion higher than what Budget Minister Jean-Baudouin Mayo proposed last month, which was already 15% higher than Congo's o
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Oct 18, 2019
A US diplomat overseeing the previous administration's Ukraine policy reportedly told House investigators he was "turned away" by a staffer to then-Vice President Joe Biden after sharing concerns about his son's work in the country.George Kent, a deputy assistant secretary of state, said that he approached an aide to Mr Biden in early 2015 with concerns about Hunter Biden's position on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma, according to the Washington Post.
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Oct 18, 2019
A stealthy upgrade to its predecessor.
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Ursula von der Leyen is off to a bad start. The incoming president of the European Commission and her cabinet were supposed to begin working Nov. 1. Instead, the commission will be lucky if it gets sworn in by Christmas. Even then, it may already be damaged goods. The whole process serves as an unsubtle metaphor for a union that keeps failing to rise above its internal divisions to confront its bigger problems.Von der Leyen, a former German defense minister, got her new job this summer in one of the byzantine political maneuvers the European Union specializes in. Suffice it to say that she largely had French President Emmanuel Macron to thank, and that both made a lot of enemies in the process. These include her compatriot Manfred Weber, the leader of the center-right bloc in the European Parliament, who was passed over for the presidency and is still seething.Undeterred, von der Leyen tried to put together a commission that was "balanced" in every way that matters in today's EU: between men and women, among parties in the Parliament, and with eastern, western, northern and southern member states getting adequate portfolios.But once the Parliament, citing ethical concerns, legitimately rejected two eastern candidates — a socialist Romanian woman and a conservative Hungarian man — their factions bayed for revenge. A liberal from a large western country had to go. So it was thumbs down for France's Sylvie Goulard, ostensibly because she was accused of financial shenanigans, but more likely because she was a confidante of Macron and von der Leyen. Weber tried not to show his schadenfreude. Macron was embarrassed and angry at von der Leyen. Everybody screamed betrayal.Now France, Hungary and Romania have to propose new commissioners for m
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Oct 18, 2019
The EU has made a "historic mistake" that risks destabilising the Balkans, senior officials warned Friday, after a handful of countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron again blocked membership talks for North Macedonia and Albania. There was widespread frustration and disappointment, particularly among eastern European countries keen to broaden the EU club, at the failure of the 28 leaders to agree to start formal accession negotiations with Skopje and Tirana. Leaders were deadlocked after some seven hours of heated backroom wrangling at a Brussels summit, with France alone in rejecting North Macedonia but joined by Denmark and the Netherlands in refusing Albania.
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Oct 18, 2019
A former employee of Huntington Ingalls Industries, the Virginia-based shipbuilder that helps to construct all of the U.S. Navy's submarines, has sued the company in federal court, claiming that the firm lied about problems with the external coating on Virginia-class attack subs.
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Oct 18, 2019
Still much to discuss about new contract to end the auto strike that idled nearly 50,000 U.S. workers.
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Oct 18, 2019
A global finance watchdog kept Pakistan off its terrorism financing blacklist on Friday but warned Islamabad it only had until February to improve or face international action. The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force, which tackles money laundering, said it was concerned that Pakistan had failed to complete the action plan first by a January deadline, then a May deadline and now October. "The FATF strongly urges Pakistan to swiftly complete its full action plan by February 2020," it said in a statement.
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Oct 18, 2019
A spokesperson for the US counter-ISIS mission said that the procedure was pre-planned, and reduced the base's military usefulness.
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Oct 18, 2019
Whatever westerners thought about images of Kim Jong Un trekking through mountain snows astride a white stallion, the subliminal message sent to North Koreans was to instill confidence that they have a man of strength and destiny holding the reins of power. The Internet was flooded with online jokes and memes after North Korea's state media released the photographs. "The main thing to keep in mind is that while we might think Kim looks goofy, he doesn't think that," Jeffrey Lewis, a North Korea expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, said on Twitter.
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Oct 18, 2019
The latest news and headlines from Yahoo! News. Get breaking news stories and in-depth coverage with videos and photos.
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Oct 18, 2019
One of the reasons border apprehensions have dropped from their alarming peak in May is that Mexico has been pretty aggressive in stopping third-country nationals from traversing its territory on their way north to make bogus asylum claims so they can be released into the U.S.But why has Mexico been willing to work with us like this? It's especially curious because in the past, Mexico was not at all eager to help us limit illegal immigration, a pattern we might have expected to intensify with last year's election as president of left-wing populist Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (commonly known as AMLO, pronounced as a word rather than initials).No doubt President Trump's tariff threats had some effect. Three-quarters of Mexico's exports go to the U.S., and despite increased integration of our economies over the past couple of decades, they still need us a lot more than we need them. Also, Trump's mercurial temperament clearly has the Mexicans worried that he could do something rash (similar to Iran's fears about Reagan if the hostages weren't released before he was inaugurated).But it's unlikely that these things would be enough to move a sometimes touchy nationalist like AMLO. Rather, I think a big part of the explanation is that the current flow of illegals is mainly made up of foreigners, not Mexicans. Earlier waves of mass infiltration across our southern border consisted mainly of Mexicans, and while Mexico quickly took back its people who had been nabbed by the Border P
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Oct 18, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that negotiations between the Trump administration and Democrats working to secure changes to the new North American trade pact are close to wrapping up, stressing that Democrats' top concern is enforcing the deal. "I can honestly say that I think every day we're becoming closer," Pelosi said during her weekly press conference. Democrats moved at least one step forward in their ongoing negotiations on Thursday when they received a letter from Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador pledging to fully implement sweeping labor forms required under the new agreement.
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Oct 18, 2019
Immediately after acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced Thursday that President Donald Trump's Doral golf club will host next year's G7 summit, Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano declared such a move represents a clear emoluments clause violation.During Thursday's broadcast of Fox Business Network's Cavuto: Coast to Coast, eponymous host Neil Cavuto noted that the announcement of the G7 location "is effectively saying the president has given himself this contract."Pointing out that previous summits in the United States took place at Camp David and Sea Island, Cavuto said the White House is arguing that holding the event at the president's property is not a violation of the emoluments clause. "I believe the judge has a different notion of that," Cavuto added, turning to Napolitano."It's not my notion," the judge replied. "It's the Constitution's notion. The Constitution does not address profits, it addresses any present, as in a gift, any emolument as in cash of any kind whatever. I'm quoting the emoluments clause, from any king, prince or foreign state."Explaining that this wouldn't be an issue if this were a meeting of U.S. government officials, Napolitano once again stated that the emoluments clause is to prevent the president from receiving gifts or cash from foreign entities. "He has bought himself an enormous headache now with the choice of this," he continued. "This is about as direct and profound a violati
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Oct 18, 2019
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asserted that the Russians are attempting to undermine the 2020 election by backing Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D., Hawaii) as a third-party candidate, stating "she's the favorite of the Russians."Appearing on Obama campaign manager David Plouffe's podcast, Clinton made a number of claims regarding Russian meddling in U.S. elections, including that Gabbard's substantial social-media support relies on Russian bots. Gabbard was the most-searched candidate after the first and second Democratic debates."I think they've got their eye on someone who's currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate," Clinton said on the podcast. "She's the favorite of the Russians. They have a bunch of sites and bots and other ways of supporting her so far."Clinton's comments come after Gabbard called the coverage of her campaign by The New York Times and CNN "completely despicable" during the fourth Democratic debate Tuesday night."The New York Times and CNN have also smeared veterans like myself for calling to an end to this regime-change war," Gabbard told the crowd in Ohio. "Just two days ago, the New York Times put out an article saying I am a Russian asset and an Assad apologist and all these different smears. This morning, a CNN commentator said on national television that I'm an asset of Russia."In August, Gabbard also told CNN that she would not run as a third-
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Oct 18, 2019
Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate landed in Pakistan's capital Islamabad on Friday, after turbulence forced the couple to stay overnight in Lahore in a change to their tightly-choreographed itinerary. On Thursday an RAF Voyager carrying the royals, who are on a four-day official visit to Pakistan, aborted landings in Islamabad and nearby Rawalpindi due to severe turbulence.
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Oct 18, 2019
Ocean researchers have pulled a 13-foot-long great white shark from the seas that had bite marks from an even bigger predator.
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Oct 18, 2019
A good or bad idea?
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Oct 18, 2019
Felicity Huffman became the first parent in the college admissions scandal to be sentenced. Here's everyone else facing jail time or fines.
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Oct 18, 2019
Mykola Zlochevsky, the Kremlin's former minister of natural resources and the founder of Burisma Holdings, reportedly hired Hunter Biden "as a helpful non-executive director with a powerful name," according to a Friday Reuters report.Oleksandr Onyshchenko, a Ukrainian businessman and former politician who knows Zlochevsky says Burisma's founder hired Biden in 2014 "to protect [the company]" in the face of potential prosecution. Zlochevsky was investigated for tax violations, money-laundering, and corruption and initially cleared of any wrongdoing. Earlier this month, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Ruslan Ryaboshapka told reporters that 15 cases involving Zlochevsky were being reviewed.According to sources, Hunter Biden never visited Ukraine, but participated regularly in biannual board meetings, all of which were held outside Ukraine. Sources also said Biden was appointed during a time when Burisma was seeking foreign investment, a process which Biden helped by finding lawyers for the potential deal, which ultimately broke down when war broke out in east Ukraine. "He was a ceremonial figure," a source said.Reuters reviewed payment records allegedly from Burisma which show $3.4 million in payments to a company headed by Biden's business partner, Devon Archer, called Rosemont Seneca Bohai LLC, between April 2014 and November 2015.Every month during that 18-month period, the records show two payments of $83,333 for "consulting services," which sources say were intend
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Facebook Inc. chief executive Mark Zuckerberg's decision not to ban political ads that Democrats say are inaccurate drew praise from the top Republican in the House of Representatives Friday.Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, said he appreciated Zuckerberg's comments on Thursday that policing political speech would be undemocratic."The idea of banning speech you might not like is nonsense, but sadly the mindset is creeping into places like college campuses and our presidential campaign platforms," McCarthy told reporters. "Yesterday was a heartwarming reminder that free expression is the best business model in the world."In recent weeks, the presidential campaigns of Democrats Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren have called on Facebook to remove ads from President Donald Trump's campaign that include claims with no evidence. Facebook has declined to do so, raising the larger question of whether such ads on social media should be regulated."I don't think most people want to live in a world where you can only post things that tech companies judge to be 100% true," Zuckerberg said Thursday at Georgetown University in Washington. "People should be able to see for themselves what politicians are saying.""In a democracy, I believe people should decide what's credible, not tech companies," Zuckerberg said.\--With assistance from Emily Wilkins.To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story:
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Oct 18, 2019
Amid what experts are calling a surge in voter suppression measures, Democrats are sending a clear signal they want to restore portions of the Voting Rights Act that were removed by the Supreme Court in 2013, as well as expand the law's reach.
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Oct 18, 2019
REUTERSMayor Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign announced Friday that the co-host of a controversial campaign fundraiser was dropping out amid sharp public criticism over the role he played in delaying the release of a video of an infamous 2014 shooting death of a black teenage boy.The would-be co-host, Steve Patton, is a former Chicago city attorney who pushed to withhold video depicting the death of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald until after a contentious mayoral runoff election, more than a year after a judge had ordered the video to be released. Patton already donated $5,600 to Buttigieg in June—a donation that the South Bend mayor's campaign said it would be returning. "Transparency and justice for Laquan McDonald is more important than a campaign contribution," Chris Meagher, the Buttigieg campaign's national press secretary, told The Daily Beast. "We are returning the money he contributed to the campaign and the money he has collected. He is no longer a co-host for the event and will not be attending."Patton's role in the Friday fundraiser, first reported by the Associated Press, prompted sharp criticism of Buttigieg, including from the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the city's most prominent civil rights leader, who called on the Democratic nominee to "adjust his schedule."Buttigieg's campaign had initially declined to comment on the story, directing the Associated Press to his "Douglass Plan" to end systemic racism.Buttigieg, who is struggling in the polls among black voters, has had difficul
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong protesters flooded the city's streets again on Friday and police banned a large pro-democracy march planned for Sunday, as the Asian financial hub prepared for yet another weekend of unrest. Meanwhile, the suspect in a Taiwan murder case that sparked Hong Kong's crisis agreed to surrender himself.Protesters are seeking to keep the pressure on Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam with a 20th-straight weekend of demonstrations. Earlier this week, Lam was twice shouted down in the city's legislature by opposition lawmakers as she discussed her annual policy address.The protests began in opposition to Lam's since-scrapped bill allowing extraditions to mainland China and have since expanded to include calls for greater democracy and an independent inquiry. The unrest has turned increasingly violent, with frequent clashes between protesters and police, including an attack Wednesday on the organizer of Sunday's march by several men wielding hammers.Here's the latest (all times local): Homicide suspect to surrender himself to Taiwan (11:28 p.m.)Hong Kong's Chief Executive received a letter Friday from Chan Tong-kai, a Hong Kong man who's been accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend during a Valentine's Day trip to Taiwan, saying that he'd decided to surrender himself to Taiwan, according to a statement on the website of Hong Kong's government.Chan, who's currently serving a prison sentence for money laundering in a Hong Kong jail, "requested the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to assist him in making the relevant arrangement," according to the statement.Hong Kong newspaper Sing Tao Daily reported earlier on Friday, citing a person it didn't iden
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Oct 18, 2019
General Motors' proposed agreement to end a labor strike includes a wage increase and faster transition to fulltime status for temporary workers but permanently shuts four plants, according to a union summary released Thursday. The United Auto Workers said they achieved "key gains" during negotiations held during a strike launched on September 26, according to a 19-page summary released by the union, while UAW leadership met with local chapters to discuss the deal. The UAW announced Wednesday it had reached a preliminary bargain but said the strike would continue until its national council approved the agreement and the stoppage could be extended until the full membership votes.
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Puerto Rico's senate majority leader has introduced a bill to combat corruption in the bankrupt U.S. commonwealth, whose officials have faced presidential criticism and federal prosecution as it rebuilds after 2017's devastating Hurricane Maria.The bill by Senator Carmelo J. Rios-Santiago of the ruling New Progressive Party, would require government contractors to use software that would track hours worked, screen time used and subject matter handled."This is a good step we can take as a government to show that we're doing our part to make sure money is well spent," Rios-Santiago said in an interview. "It will help us keep track that people are spending money on what they're supposed to be spending it on."In recent months, Puerto Rico has seen several high-profile arrests.In July, the island's former secretary of education and the former head of its health insurance administration were indicted along with the head of an accounting firm and three others. They face allegations of theft, money laundering and wire fraud.Last month, two Federal Emergency Management Agency officials who oversaw the reconstruction of Puerto Rico's electrical grid and the former president of Cobra Acquisitions were also arrested on fraud and conspiracy charges linked to recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria, which killed thousands.President Donald Trump says recovery costs have been inflated by corruption on the island; opponents on the island say his administration is discriminating against the predominantly Latino population.To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Deibert in San Juan at mdeibert@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew Bristow at m
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Oct 18, 2019
Mexico has deported more than 300 Indian nationals to New Delhi, the National Migration Institute said late on Wednesday, in what it described as an unprecedented transatlantic deportation.
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Oct 18, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi walked out of a meeting with Donald Trump about the crisis in Syria Wednesday after she said the president had had a "very serious meltdown" and insulted her in front of other congressional leaders.
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Oct 18, 2019
Energy Secretary Rick Perry emphatically denied anything improper occurred as part of the Trump administration's efforts in Ukraine and said he was comfortable consulting with the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani in those pursuits. Perry, who announced his resignation Thursday, defended the administration's efforts in Ukraine — he was known as one of the administration's "three amigos" on Ukrainian policy — as a genuine effort to fight general corruption in the country and said he never heard any effort to seek political ammunition against former Vice President Joe Biden now at the center of an impeachment inquiry in the House.
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Oct 18, 2019
Brexit could overturn the lives of more than a million Britons living in the European Union in terms of residency, travel, and social security.
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Oct 18, 2019
Maya Alleruzzo/APBRUSSELS-"The guards have said if the war comes close, then they will leave here," a Western ISIS wife texted me today from Camp Roj in far northeastern Syria, a detention center that houses 500 ISIS wives and 1,200 of their children. "What to do if we are left alone?" she asks. "There's nowhere to go and too risky to get caught by Bashar [al-Assad]."As she writes, I'm in Belgium sitting next to an FBI agent. I ask him what she should do, but amid all of this chaos, he doesn't have an immediate answer. The Kurds Gave Their Lives to Defeat the Islamic State. Trump Just Pissed It All Away.The ISIS wife continues: "I like how America thinks it's too dangerous for them [the U.S. military] to be here but safe for us to remain with Assad."Over the past two years I've been in and out of the northeastern territory of Syria held by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) six times with staff from the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism (ICSVE). We have conducted in-depth interviews with 217 ISIS men and women, 100 of them in SDF held territory, for our project countering the ISIS brand, which the SDF has supported fully. The woman texting me today gave us an interview last year and has managed to stay in touch via illicit phones other detainees allow her to use.At the same time she is texting me, our Kurdish translator texts that they are living under the sound of bombs and troops advancing. Assad's troops are marching eastward, while Turkey is bar
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Oct 18, 2019
Meaning better than America's M1 Abrams? We take a look.
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Oct 18, 2019
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent an offering to Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine for war dead on Thursday, prompting neighboring South Korea to call on Japan to reflect on its wartime actions. Abe sent a "masakaki" ceremonial evergreen branch to the shrine for the autumn festival that runs until Sunday, a spokeswoman at Yasukuni said.
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron heaped pressure on the British Parliament to back Boris Johnson's Brexit deal, saying the U.K.'s departure from the European Union shouldn't be delayed a moment longer.With Parliament due to vote on the revised agreement on Saturday, Macron's remarks echoed the message Johnson himself has been sending to reticent MPs: it's now or never. "I don't think a new extension should be granted," Macron told reporters after a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, where the deal had been rubber stamped. "The Oct. 31 deadline must be met."Macron's stance increases the risk that the U.K. will crash out of the EU without a deal on Oct. 31. But the reality is more nuanced, according to EU diplomats who doubt the bloc will ever throw the U.K. off a cliff without a safety net. The pound dipped on the comments, and then recovered.Selling the DealAfter sealing a revised deal with the EU on Thursday, Johnson is spending Friday frantically talking to politicians from his own and other parties as he tries to rustle up a majority. The prime minister needs to add 61 votes to the tally his predecessor Theresa May managed when her version of the Brexit deal was defeated for a third and final time in March.The new agreement differs from May's agreement because only Northern Ireland rather than the whole U.K. will continue to apply the EU's customs rules. That's upset the province's Democratic Unionist Party whose MPs say they won't back Johnson's deal on Saturday.If J
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Oct 18, 2019
The head of a Maldivian activist group said Thursday police contacted her as part of an investigation into a report published by her organization that has been accused of slandering Islam. The Maldives government ordered the Maldivian Democracy Network to suspend its activities a week ago because of its 2016 report on religious radicalization in the Indian Ocean archipelago. The group's executive director, Shahinda Ismail said the report has been on the group's website for three years.
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Oct 18, 2019
The climbers were closing in on the top of California's second-highest peak when they came upon the grisly discovery of what looked like a bone buried in a boulder field. Tyler Hofer and his climbing partner moved rocks aside and discovered an entire skeleton. The discovery a week ago beneath Mount Williamson unearthed a mystery: Who was the unfortunate hiker?
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Oct 18, 2019
China said Thursday it detained two U.S. citizens on suspicion of organizing others to illegally cross the border, amid sharpening tensions between the sides over trade, technology and other sensitive issues. Police in the eastern province of Jiangsu arrested Alyssa Petersen and Jacob Harlan on Sept. 27 and Sept. 29, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said. "The department handling the case has informed the U.S. Consulate General in Shanghai in a timely manner, arranged U.S. diplomats to conduct consular visits and protected the legitimate rights and interests of the two," Geng said at a regular press briefing.
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Oct 18, 2019
Heavily armed fighters surrounded security forces in a Mexican city on Thursday and made them free one of drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman's sons, after his capture triggered gunbattles and a prison break that sent civilians scurrying for cover. Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said a patrol by National Guard militarized police first came under attack from within a house in the city of Culiacan, 1,235 km (770 miles) northwest of Mexico City. After entering the house, they found four men, including Ovidio Guzman, who is accused of drug trafficking in the United States.
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Oct 18, 2019
LONG VALLEY, N.J. -- The gunshots rang out from the back porch of the farmhouse, a little ways off from the stables and Olympic-level dressage arena, the improbable sound rising over the 53-acre estate. A woman had been shot twice in the chest by a man well known not merely to her but also to just about everyone in the rarefied dressage community: Michael Barisone, an Olympic rider, the owner of the farm and the woman's trainer. The shooting was the shocking culmination of a landlord-tenant dispute that the woman, Lauren Kanarek, had documented all summer on social media, openly fearful of what might happen. "I'm afraid," she wrote, five days before the attack. "I'm being bullied." Barisone, who was charged with two counts of attempted murder, said that he shot Kanarek in self-defense. In the week before the shooting, Barisone had called 911 several times, claiming that she and her fiance were squatters on his farm and were harassing him; in one call, Barisone described the conflict as "a war. And it's going to be dealt with." Kanarek survived the attack but was placed in a medically induced coma. Finally, after an extensive surgery to repair damage from a bullet to her left lung and more than a week of hospitalization, she had recovered enough to start reconnecting with the world. The first thing she saw, she recalled, were comments that "wished I was dead."
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Oct 18, 2019
REUTERS/Andrew InnerarityAlan Dershowitz may have lost his battle to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre—who claims Jeffrey Epstein kept her as his "sex slave" and forced her to have sex with Dershowitz. But the Harvard Law professor scored his own victory: persuading a federal judge to disqualify Giuffre's attorney, David Boies, and his firm, from her case.In an opinion filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said she would deny Dershowitz's motion to dismiss the case—Dershowitz claims Giuffre is lying about having sex with him and tried to extort him—but grant his motion to disqualify Boies' firm. It was a blow to Boies, who's sparred with Dershowitz for decades, and Sigrid McCawley, a partner at the firm who represents multiple victims of Epstein.In a statement, McCawley said her firm would appeal Preska's decision to remove them from Giuffre's litigation in Manhattan federal court."Today's decision rejects Alan Dershowitz's chronic capacity to make this case about anything but the facts and what he has been accused of by our client, Virginia Giuffre. The defamation case against Alan Dershowitz is going forward and he will have to face justice," McCawley, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, said in a statement."The decision, however, to disqualify our firm, which has had the privilege of representing Virginia and advocating for her brave voice and continued call for justice, is deeply disappointing and it will be promptly appealed."Jeffrey Epstein Ac
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- A key hurdle to extending a landmark nuclear treaty between the U.S. and Russia isn't Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin. It's China.The New START treaty, the last major arms control accord between the world's two nuclear superpowers, is set to expire in early 2021. Like another key treaty covering intermediate-range nuclear missiles, which collapsed this year after the U.S. quit that accord, Trump administration officials say the agreement may not be worth extending if China isn't brought into the fold.A failure to renew or extend the accord would mark the effective end of decades of agreements aimed at limiting the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Experts say it would also send a worrisome signal to other nations -- from Saudi Arabia to North Korea -- already pursuing or seeking to pursue nuclear programs.U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said in August that the U.S. should consider "multi-lateralizing" the agreement. "If we really want to go after avoiding an arms race, and capture these systems, we should multi-lateralize it."Yet while the U.S. believes China will double its nuclear stockpile over the next decade, most arms control experts say it would be better for Washington and Moscow to settle on an extension of New START and worry about Beijing later."China doesn't have anything like the number of warheads the U.S. and Russia possess," Sam Nunn, a former Democratic senator from Georgia who co-chairs the Nuclear Threat Initiative, said in an interview. "We will at some point h
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Oct 18, 2019
Two giant, badly damaged construction cranes towering over a partially collapsed hotel project are to be demolished Friday with a series of controlled explosions in hopes of dropping them straight down without damaging nearby businesses and historic buildings around the site at the edge of the French Quarter. Fire Chief Tim McConnell said work was beginning Thursday in hopes of bringing the multi-ton structures down ahead of approaching tropical weather. Forecasters said a tropical storm could form in the Gulf of Mexico and affect the area by Friday night.
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Oct 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- One of Hong Kong's most prominent protest organizers -- including a march planned for Sunday -- was recovering after being attacked on the street by men wielding hammers.Jimmy Sham -- convenor of the Civil Human Rights Front, which has organized many of the city's largest peaceful protests -- issued a plea from his hospital bed Thursday for police to allow the march go ahead in the Tsim Tsa Tsui area as planned. Sham was assaulted by four to five men Wednesday while on his way to a meeting in nearby Mong Kok -- the second time he's been attacked since August."When Jimmy was at his street counter, many of the citizens expressed that they really hope there will be a safe march on Sunday," the Civil Human Rights Front said in a statement Thursday. "Jimmy therefore urges the Police to issue Letter of No Objection, so that Hongkongers can express their views."The Civil Human Rights Front has helped organize several of the largest protests ever held in the former British colony, including two largely peaceful marches in June that drew more than a million people. The demonstrations have since mushroomed into a broader push for greater democracy, leading to regular clashes between protesters and police and occasional incidents of mob violence.On Thursday, Hong Kong's embattled leader, Carrie Lam, was forced to repeatedly halt a question session in the city's legislature as opposition lawmakers demanded her to step down and address other protester demands. The coming weekend will be the Asian financial cente
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Oct 18, 2019
Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters donned cartoon character masks as they formed human chains across the semiautonomous Chinese city on Friday night, in defiance of a government ban on face coverings at public assemblies. Chinese internet users have joked that Chinese President Xi Jinping resembles the talking bear, leading the country's censors to scrub online references to the character. The protesters were taking a lighthearted approach to oppose the government's decision this month to invoke colonial-era emergency regulations banning face masks at rallies as it struggles to contain the chaotic protest movement.
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Oct 18, 2019
Two businessmen have pleaded not guilty to conspiring with associates of Rudy Giuliani to make illegal campaign contributions. David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin made a federal court appearance Thursday afternoon in Manhattan.
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Oct 18, 2019
President Donald Trump reportedly claimed he had "captured" ISIS and did so faster than what his defense secretary had predicted.
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Oct 18, 2019
At a press conference with the president of Italy, President Trump said that the Kurdish group PKK is worse than ISIS, and that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., would keep the U.S. in the Middle East for "the next thousand years with thousands of soldiers fighting other people's wars."
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Oct 18, 2019
Britain's Prince William and his wife Kate left Pakistan on Friday after visiting an army dog training school, a day after a severe thunderstorm forced them to change their schedule and stay the night in Lahore. "What happens here in Pakistan directly correlates to what happens on the streets of the UK," William told British media after he and Kate saw dogs that are trained to sniff out explosives.
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Oct 18, 2019
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Friday warned that Ankara would restart its operation against Kurdish forces in Syria on Tuesday evening if they did not withdraw from a "safe zone". Turkey has agreed to suspend its offensive for five days in northern Syria while Kurdish fighters withdraw from the area, after high stake talks with US Vice President Mike Pence in Ankara.
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