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Sep 18, 2019
During his unlikely rise, Yang has taken heat for playing up Asian stereotypes
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Sep 18, 2019
Jack Guez/AFP/GettyThe strangest episode of Israel's raucous election—the second in six months—flickered by almost unnoticed, one clip among the 30 videos Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted to his YouTube channel in the final two days before Tuesday's vote.Lush with images of sleek Israelis surfing off Tel Aviv beaches and sipping coffee and cocktails in a succession of inviting bars and cafés, it almost looked like a product of the tourism ministry— until the part where you see a woman's toes peek beyond a blanket, reaching out to tease the toes of the man sharing the bed with her, and those manly toes turning away."Right-wing voters have to wake up!" the caption blared. "On Tuesday, you have to go out to vote Likud, and bring family and friends!"The Likud is Netanyahu's party, and the ad was meant as a counter-incentive. Netanyahu's pitch can be summed up thus: Don't sleep with your hot girlfriend. Don't go to the beach. Don't enjoy Tel Aviv's great cafés. Go out and vote for me!If Netanyahu was concerned about voter fatigue, he needn't have worried.Turnout was a few points higher than it was in the April 9 vote, despite fresh memories of the night six weeks later in which Netanyahu acknowledged he'd failed to form a coalition government and—instead of returning the mandate to Israel's President, Reuven Rivlin—dissolved the parliament and sent Israel into second elections.On first glance it looks like Israelis returned a second inconclusive verdict, this time with gusto.The apparent draw between Net
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Sep 18, 2019
Trump's primary mission during his two-day visit to the state was to raise millions from wealthy Republicans. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, in turn, publicly called out the Trump White House for a lack of "moral authority" and lamented the state's "unfortunate relationship" with the president. The president and many Republicans see little downside to him making the nation's most populous state a ready villain.
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Sep 18, 2019
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence dropped a big hint this week that a whistleblower complaint it has been withholding from Congress involved President Trump or senior administration officials.
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Sep 18, 2019
Missing New Jersey Girl: Here's what we know about the possible abductor sought in the disappearance of a Bridgeton, New Jersey girl.
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Sep 18, 2019
Ongoing US sanctions on Iran target Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic republic's top brass, while also seeking to choke trade in a variety of goods from oil to carpets. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday promised details of new sanctions within 48 hours in response to a missile or drone attack on Saudi oil facilities that Riyadh has blamed on Iran. The United States also blacklisted Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, whose US assets were frozen on August 1.
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Sep 18, 2019
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's long grip on power appeared in jeopardy on Wednesday after elections left him tied with his main challenger Benny Gantz raising the prospect of tough negotiations to build a unity government or even the end of the Israeli premier's record long rule. In a sign of the demanding negotiations to come, sources in Netanyahu's office told AFP he was cancelling a planned trip next week to the UN General Assembly in New York due to the "political context" in Israel. With more than 95 percent of ballots counted, Netanyahu's right-wing Likud had 32 seats, while Gantz's Blue and White took 33 places in Israel's 120-member parliament.
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Sep 18, 2019
The FBI is now involved in a search for a man who may have taken the girl to a van and driven away from the park in Bridgeton, New Jersey.
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Sep 18, 2019
Three hunters were badly hurt in two separate grizzly bear attacks in Montana on the same day, state officials have said.All three suffered "moderate to severe" injuries after being mauled by a lone bear in the Gravelley Mountains on Monday, according to the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency.
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Sep 18, 2019
With protests raging nearby, Donald Trump has visited a section of the US-Mexico border in San Diego to see part of the wall he has hinged his political career on building.Mr Trump visited the border in the Otay Mesa neighbourhood, the same location he stopped at last year when he reviewed several border wall prototypes that he has prescribed as a major fix for the immigration crisis he claims is threatening American values.
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Sep 18, 2019
A cheerleading team has been placed on probation after posing with a Trump 2020 banner during a football game last month.After a photo of the cheerleaders at North Stanly High School in New London, North Carolina, circulated on social media, the team was placed on probation for the remainder of the football season by the North Carolina High School Athletic Association (NCHSAA).
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Sep 18, 2019
Steven Ferdman/GettyWednesday's CNN appearance by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, the morning after he acknowledged to the House Judiciary Committee that he feels no obligation to be honest with the news media, re-ignited an ongoing debate among staffers at the cable network over who should and not be accorded airtime if they are simply using it as a forum to mislead.CNN Brings on Corey Lewandowski, a Known Liar, for Totally Batshit InterviewThe controversial booking of Lewandowski also provoked a barrage of criticism from journalists who argued that he's a confirmed liar who can't be trusted by viewers to be a credible source of information.Lewandowski is himself a former paid CNN commentator whose 2016 hiring, after being dismissed by Trump, embarrassed the network when it was disclosed that he was continuing on the Trump campaign payroll at $20,000 a month while working for CNN.Among CNN's critics is former CBS News anchor Dan Rather, who told The Daily Beast that he agrees with concerns that Lewandowski's appearance didn't serve the public, and that a fiery televised confrontation of the kind that occurred Wednesday potentially helps the Senate Republican primary campaign Lewandowski is widely expected to launch soon in his native New Hampshire."Unfortunately, the Congress, the press and the best interests of the country—in my opinion—lost that round," Rather, who runs the News and Guts Media prod
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Sep 18, 2019
It's National Cheeseburger Day and plenty of local restaurants are offering deals to help you celebrate right.
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Sep 18, 2019
Dozens of people - including six doctors and seven pharmacists - have been charged with fraud for illegally distributing more than 6 million opioid pills.Some of the pills were obtained using counterfeit prescription pads, and the stolen identities of legitimate doctors, prosecutors say.
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Sep 18, 2019
The recently fired national security made little secret of his disagreements with the president.
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Sep 18, 2019
Arkansas' attorney general is asking the state Supreme Court to reassign cases involving her office from a judge who has been prohibited from handling execution cases, accusing him of regularly being biased against her staff. Attorney General Leslie Rutledge's office on Tuesday requested that the court reassign cases from Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen.
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Sep 18, 2019
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces an uncertain future and as the official count started coming in, no side emerged with a clear path to government
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Sep 18, 2019
A cruise missile and drone fragments that Saudi Arabia says it recovered from an attack on its oil industry bear similarities to Iranian-manufactured weapons, though more information is needed to make a definitive link, analysts told The Associated Press on Wednesday. Particularly striking was the cruise missile, which they said resembled a Quds-1 missile previously displayed by Yemen's Houthi rebels during a televised weapons exhibition in July. "It did not come from Yemen," said Michael Elleman, a missile expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.
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Sep 18, 2019
Security camera footage shows the owners of two pit bulls walking by minutes after you hear the dogs attack a man and his pet.
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Sep 18, 2019
Social media rumors had been developing since mid-May that there was a serial killer in Detroit, but police repudiated them.
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Sep 18, 2019
A prosecutor announced murder charges Wednesday against a 34-year-old man in the slayings of four women in Detroit whose deaths authorities have characterized as the work of a serial killer. Deangelo Martin is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of felony murder in the killings of the women whose bodies were found in abandoned houses in the city as far back as February 2018, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said at a news conference. Police Chief James Craig has said he sees similarities between three of the slayings and the assaults of at least two other women who survived attacks.
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Sep 18, 2019
A French woman was killed by her partner in front of their three children, prosecutors in northern France said, prompting hundreds of protesters to gather nearby calling for an end to deadly domestic violence. The couple were in the process of separation, prosecutors said in a statement late Tuesday.
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Sep 18, 2019
NATO has stood up a new command who job it is to speed alliance troops and tanks around Europe in order to defend against a Russian invasion.
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Sep 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a sweeping new law that could force gig companies like Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. to reclassify their workers as employees.The hotly contested legislation, Assembly Bill 5, dictates that workers can generally only be considered contractors if they are doing work that is outside the usual course of a company's business. The law codifies a 2018 state supreme court ruling, and applies it to a wide range of state laws. It could upend the business models of companies that depend on armies of independent contractors, who aren't guaranteed employment protections like minimum wage and overtime.The bill is slated to go into effect on Jan. 1. While the legislature has adjourned until next year, fierce lobbying and deal-making efforts are expected to continue in the meantime, and could potentially yield separate legislation in 2020. In a statement, Newsom called the bill "landmark legislation," and said that, "A next step is creating pathways for more workers to form a union, collectively bargain to earn more, and have a stronger voice at work—all while preserving flexibility and innovation." Lorena Gonzalez, the state assemblywoman who authored the bill, said in a statement that, "California is now setting the global standard for worker protections for other states and countries to follow." Tech companies including the ride-hailing giants have tried unsuccessfully over the past year to secure concessions that would shield them from
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Sep 18, 2019
"We want to see a refit of some of the structures of the Belfast Agreement to reflect the new emerging relationships - both between Northern Ireland and the Republic as well as between the United Kingdom and the Republic," she said. "Updated arrangements to take account of any new Brexit deal secured would allow the new environment to be managed in a pro-active and democratic manner," she said. The Democratic Unionist Party's opposition to the so-called "backstop" mechanism to maintain a seamless Irish border after Britain exits the European Union has proven a formidable obstacle to clinching an EU-UK divorce deal.
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Sep 18, 2019
Undocumented immigrants helped build poultry into Mississippi's richest agricultural commodity.
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Sep 18, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday welcomed Hong Kong pro-democracy activists to the U.S. Capitol, sending a message to Beijing that Congress supports the protesters in their months-long campaign for human rights. Pelosi thanked the activists for "challenging the conscience," not only of the Chinese government, but the worldwide community with their mass protests over the territory's autonomous status. "If we do not speak up because of commercial interests in support of human rights in China, we lose all moral authority to speak up for them any other place in the world," Pelosi said.
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Sep 18, 2019
Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels on Wednesday threatened to attack dozens of targets in the United Arab Emirates, including in the skyscraper-filled city states of Dubai and Abu Dhabi. "We announce... that we have dozens of targets in the UAE, among them Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and that they can be targeted at any moment," Huthi military spokesman Brigadier Yahya Saree said. The UAE is part of the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Huthis in Yemen in an intractable five-year conflict that has devastated the country.
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Sep 18, 2019
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has opened 24 new investigations into alleged sexual misconduct by Catholic priests.
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Sep 18, 2019
The cataclysmic asteroid impact off Mexico's coast that doomed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was not the only time an astronomical event shaped the history of life on Earth. Scientists on Wednesday said dust spawned by a gigantic collision in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter 400 million years earlier triggered an ice age on Earth that ushered in a significant increase in marine biodiversity. The event, occurring when life was concentrated in the seas and far before vertebrates first walked on land, set in motion evolutionary changes in invertebrates fundamental to marine ecosystems as they adapted to global cooling, they said.
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Sep 18, 2019
Why don't they want to know?
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Sep 18, 2019
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that his administration is revoking California's authority to set auto mileage standards stricter than those issued by federal regulators, a move critics said would result in less fuel efficient cars that create more planet-warming pollution. In a tweet, Trump said his action would result in less expensive, safer cars. "Many more cars will be produced under the new and uniform standard, meaning significantly more JOBS, JOBS, JOBS! Automakers should seize this opportunity because without this alternative to California, you will be out of business," Trump tweeted.
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Sep 18, 2019
Pittsburgh Pirates closer Felipe Vázquez was being held Wednesday in a Pennsylvania jail on multiple felony charges after allegedly telling investigators he attempted to have sex with an underage girl during a meeting at her house in 2017. Vázquez is charged with statutory sexual assault, unlawful contact with a minor and corruption of minors, all felonies, and a misdemeanor count of indecent assault of a person under 16 years old. The charges are related to Vázquez's alleged encounters with a girl starting in 2017, when she was 13.
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Sep 18, 2019
Representatives from the White House and the Department of Justice met Tuesday with senior Republicans to discuss expanding background checks for the sale of firearms within the parameters of legislation first introduced by Senators Joe Manchin (D., W.V.) and Pat Toomey (R., Pa.).The relevant legislation seeks to expand background-check requirements to include "all advertised commercial sales, including sales at gun shows," according to an idea sheet first obtained by The Daily Caller.Such background checks would be conducted "either through an FFL [Federal Firearm Licensee] or through a newly-created class of licensed transfer agents."White House Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley said that President Trump did not necessarily approve of the plan, despite the fact that White House Director of Legislative Affairs Eric Ueland is among those circulating the idea sheet.The Tuesday meetings were attended by Ueland as well as Attorney General Bill Barr. Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Ted Cruz of Texas Representative Mark Meadows of North Carolina were also present. There was a planned meeting between Barr and Utah senator Mike Lee, but Barr canceled the meeting.The Manchin-Toomey bill failed to pass last April after it didn't muster enough votes to survive a filibuster. The bill has remained a moderate alternative to more sweeping legislation that would mandate background checks on any and all gun sales. It would require background checks for any comm
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Sep 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia said attacks on its critical oil infrastructure were "unquestionably sponsored by Iran" but stopped short of saying the strikes were launched directly from or by the Islamic Republic, claims that could have propelled a drift toward war.With parts of drones and missiles recovered from the attack sites at Abqaiq and Khurais on display, Saudi Defense Ministry spokesman Turki al-Maliki on Wednesday showed maps aimed at proving the strikes originated from the north and could not have been launched by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who shortly after repeated their claims of responsibility."Despite Iran's effort to make it appear so," the attack didn't originate from Yemen, Maliki said. "Data analysis of the attack sites indicate weapons of Iranian origin."Iran has denied it was involved in the worst attack in Saudi Arabia's history and President Hassan Rouhani said earlier Wednesday that his country did not want war.The Saudi defense official's comments, and moves by the U.S., suggested the two allies were also working to deescalate tensions in the region. President Donald Trump, who had initially declared the U.S. "locked and loaded" for a response, said Wednesday he was tightening sanctions on Iran.Iran's economy is already under severe pressure from existing sanctions, though analysts said there were still a number of potential targets for restrictions. Iran is gradually scaling back its commitments under the deal and has said it will not reopen talks without sanctions relief.Speaking just
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Sep 18, 2019
REUTERSPresident Donald Trump on Wednesday used his Twitter account to boost a baseless smear claiming that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) danced at an event last week on the anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, a claim that's based on footage that wasn't actually taken from that day.Trump's tweet circulated a video from conservative personality Terrence Williams, in which Williams declared that Omar "partied on the anniversary of 9/11." In his video, Williams comments on footage of the Muslim congresswoman dancing and fumes that she's disrespecting the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks.But the footage of Omar dancing actually came from a Sept. 13 event hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus and wasn't taken on the 11th, as Williams and Trump wrongly claimed. Trump, however, used Williams' video to declare that Omar would help Republicans win Minnesota. "Ilhan Omar, a member of AOC Plus 3, will win us the Great State of Minnesota," the president tweeted. "The new face of the Democrat Party!" Williams' original tweet was deleted from Twitter at some point on Wednesday. Twitter confirmed to The Daily Beast that the video post was not removed by the social media site's administrators but was instead deleted by Williams or someone with access to his Twitter account.Williams did not respond to a request for comment.Omar blasted Trump's smear on Wednesday, tweeting that he has put her life in danger."The President of the United States is continuing to spread lies that put my life at risk," she wrote. "What is Twitter doing
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Sep 18, 2019
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro did not inform Norway's foreign ministry, which is mediating a dialogue between his government and opposition leader Juan Guaido, about a side deal with a smaller sector of the opposition before it was announced earlier this week, a member of Guaido's negotiating team said on Wednesday. Guaido, leader of the opposition-controlled National Assembly, over the weekend declared the Oslo-backed talks dead more than six weeks after Maduro walked away in protest over U.S. sanctions. The government responded on Monday by announcing a deal with smaller opposition parties to resolve the South American country's deep political divide by reforming the National Electoral Commission, accused of bias in favor of the ruling socialists.
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Sep 18, 2019
Israel's prime minister says he will seek to lead a ruling coalition with his religious and nationalist allies, despite falling short of a parliamentary majority in Tuesday's elections. Neither Netanyahu's Likud party nor its main rival — the Blue and White party headed by former military chief of staff Benny Gantz — won enough votes to declare an outright victory. Gantz's centrist bloc, which could potentially include the Joint List of Arab parties, has a slight edge over Netanyahu and his longtime ultra-Orthodox and religious nationalist allies.
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Sep 18, 2019
Women in southern Nigeria marched in the streets on Wednesday to protest the deaths of several women in hotel rooms by what appears to be a serial killer. "Their killers must be found," the women chanted, many dressed in black for mourning, during the second day of protests in the city of Port Harcourt in the oil-producing Niger Delta region. Eight women have been strangled in hotel rooms in Rivers State in the past two months, police spokesman Nnamdi Omoni said.
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Sep 18, 2019
An Oklahoma church is under fire after a man claimed that he was pinned down by his fellow congregants as they tried to pray his homosexuality away.
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Sep 18, 2019
Americans overall don't think either former Vice President Joe Biden or Sen. Elizabeth Warren — the current frontrunners — would beat Trump in 2020.
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Sep 18, 2019
Yemen's Houthi group said on Wednesday it had identified dozens of sites in the United Arab Emirates as possible targets, in an attempt to underscore its military clout following a weekend attack it claims to have carried out on Saudi oil facilities. "To the Emirati regime we say only one operation (of ours) would cost you dearly," Yahya Saria, the military spokesman for the Iran-aligned movement, said in a televised speech. In Riyadh, Saudi Defense Ministry spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said the attack could not have come from Yemen, adding the Houthi movement was "covering up" for Iran.
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Sep 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia on Wednesday said weekend attacks on its critical oil infrastructure were "unquestionably sponsored by Iran" but stopped short of saying the strikes were launched directly from or by the Islamic Republic.Displaying parts of drones and missiles which were recovered from the attack sites at Abqaiq and Khurais, Saudi defense ministry spokesman Turki al-Maliki showed maps aimed at proving the strikes originated from the north and could not have been launched by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who have claimed responsibility.Twenty-five pilotless aircraft and cruise missiles were used to attack the two sites, Maliki said. He told reporters gathered in Riyadh that the weapons were of Iranian origin but Saudi Arabia was still working to pinpoint the exact launch point. The range and accuracy of the weapons were beyond the capabilities of the Houthis, he added. "Despite Iran's effort to make it appear so," the attack didn't originate from Yemen, Maliki said. "Data analysis of the attack sites indicate weapons of Iranian origin."Iran has denied it was involved in the worst attack in Saudi Arabia's history and President Hassan Rouhani said earlier Wednesday that his country did not want war.Just before the press briefing, President Donald Trump said he had decided to tighten U.S. sanctions on Iran following the attacks, which had raised the risk that the key energy-exporting region could slide into a regional conflict. The sanctions announcement and Saudi Arabia's reluctance to pinpoint
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Sep 18, 2019
Speaking at an event in Washington, William McRaven, a SEAL who oversaw the bin Laden raid, said the US was approaching a "Sputnik moment" with China.
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Sep 18, 2019
Less than 24 hours after former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski admitted that he has "no obligation to be honest to the media" while being caught lying red-handed, CNN brought on the pugnacious Trump loyalist for an interview that predictably went sideways.Appearing on CNN's New Day on Wednesday morning, Lewandowski and anchor Alisyn Camerota spent a frustrating and headache-inducing 16 minutes going round and round over his contentious and combative testimony before the House Judiciary Committee. The lengthy CNN segment, in fact, basically came across like a microcosm of Tuesday's hearing—lots of deflection, insults, contradiction, and condescension.For instance, Camerota began the interview by asking Lewandowski about his tactic of stonewalling or just straight-up refusing to answer questions from House Democrats during his testimony, prompting the possible Senate hopeful of doing the same exact thing to her. "You just mischaracterized saying I didn't answer the majority of questions," Lewandowski complained at one point. "You and I both know that's not an accurate statement. You and I both know I answered the majority of their questions."This prompted a mini-argument between the two over whether or not Lewandowski invoking executive privilege during the hearing was the same as refusing to answer a question. This was merely the beginning of the insufferability.Later on, Lewandowski—a one-time CNN political commentator—used a Trumpian line to mischaracterize the findings
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Sep 18, 2019
Saudi Arabia said Wednesday that strikes on its oil infrastructure came from the "north" and were "unquestionably" sponsored by Iran, but that the kingdom was still investigating where exactly they were launched from. "The attack was launched from the north and unquestionably sponsored by Iran," defence ministry spokesman Turki al-Maliki told a press conference. Maliki displayed pieces of what he said were cruise missiles and drones used in the strike, recovered from the site of Saturday's attack in the country's east.
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Sep 18, 2019
Appearing on Capitol Hill for the second straight day, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg urged U.S. lawmakers to take action.
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Sep 18, 2019
The Boeing 737 Max has been grounded worldwide for months after two fatal crashes. A new report suggests that Boeing doesn't deserve all the blame.
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Sep 18, 2019
The Boeing 737 Max has been grounded worldwide for months after two fatal crashes. A new report suggests that Boeing doesn't deserve all the blame.
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Sep 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Moldova requested assistance from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to bring to justice participants in a $1 billion fraud that led to a bailout of three of the nation's banks.Interior Minister Andrei Nastase said he met with senior FBI officials and handed over a letter seeking assistance.The letter "put on the FBI's agenda the theft of the billion, the laundromat of the international mafia and all the other schemes that have ruined the financial and banking system and have deprived our country of much needed resources," he said Wednesday in a post on Facebook. The FBI gave assurances they would help, he said.The former Soviet republic of 3.5 million people was rocked by the 2014 theft that forced the government to seek assistance from the International Monetary Fund. A new government led by Prime Minister Maia Sandu took power in June, and the banking sector has been overhauled and sold to foreign investors.\--With assistance from Olga Tanas.To contact the reporter on this story: Aaron Eglitis in Riga at aeglitis@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Michael Winfrey, Andrew LangleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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Sep 18, 2019
The Atlantic basin has become a cauldron of tropical activity in recent weeks, and the latest system to develop out over the Atlantic Ocean is Tropical Storm Jerry, which came alive in the early-morning hours Wednesday, just on the heels of the rapidly-forming Imelda.Jerry, the 10th named storm of the Atlantic season, will also go through some rapid intensification and could strengthen into a hurricane by Friday, if not sooner, as it swirls over the open ocean about 1,000 miles from the Leeward Islands. On Wednesday morning, Jerry was moving west-northwest at 14 mph and was packing sustained winds of 50 mph.Interests in the Leeward Islands should closely monitor the strength and path of Jerry, which is forecast to pass nearby and become the Atlantic's fourth hurricane of 2019.The system rapidly organized on Tuesday into early Wednesday and transition from a tropical disturbance to a tropical depression to the tenth tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season in about 18 hours. Tropical Storm Jerry track map 9.18 The tropical cyclone has the appearance of a well-organized, rapidly strengthening system. The storm has a tightly wound core with high-level clouds fanning outward from the center. Water is sufficiently warm over the region to support further growth.While strengthening to a hurricane is likely, there is a chance the tropical cyclone could intensify beyond Category 1 status into the end of this week before encountering increasing wind shear that could cause it to go through some we
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Sep 18, 2019
Federal agencies are prepping for the alien-themed music festival Alienstock in the Nevada desert near the U.S. Air Force Base Area 51 this weekend. The event was spawned by the viral Facebook event "Storm Area 51," and while you can Naruto-run there, you sure can't fly there now.The Federal Aviation Administration announced two "temporary flight restrictions for special security reasons," effectively banning air traffic ahead of the festival from early Wednesday to late Sunday, CNET reports. The airspace will be closed to news helicopters, drones, private pilots, and any other aircrafts above Rachel, Nevada, U.S. Air Force's Nevada Test and Training Range, and Area 51 itself.SEE ALSO: People are already getting arrested at Area 51, and of course they're YouTubersWhile the original meme event "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All Of Us" was meant in jest, it garnered 2 million RSVPs worldwide and a pretty sick music video for one of Lil Nas X's many "Old Town Road" remixes. Eventually the Air Force had to step in to squash the tin foil hat dreams. Amidst reports that even the neighboring town couldn't hold the influx of tourists, a music festival was planned to either deter or distract alien-lovers from actually trespassing on government property. But Matty Roberts, the original poster of the page, has since severed his ties with Alienstock, calling it "a possible humanitarian disaster" and "FYREFEST 2.0." He cited the "lack of infrastructure, poor planning, risk management and blatant dis
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Sep 18, 2019
House Judiciary Committee holds hearing on alleged surveillance abuse as Justice Department watchdog Michael E. Horowitz is set to testify before the oversight panel; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports from Washington.
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Sep 18, 2019
"The PLA's performance in the 1979 war was so bad, even Vietnamese commanders were surprised, according to some sources."
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Sep 18, 2019
Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of what it described as Iranian drones and cruise missiles used in an attack on Saudi oil facilities as "undeniable" evidence of Iranian aggression. Defence Ministry spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said a total of 25 drones and missiles were launched at two oil plants in last weekend's strikes, including what he identified as Iranian Delta Wing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and "Ya Ali" cruise missiles. "The attack was launched from the north and unquestionably sponsored by Iran," he told a news conference.
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Sep 18, 2019
Abdelhamid Al-Madioum, a naturalized US citizen, told CBS News his story from a prison in Syria, run by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
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Sep 18, 2019
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri announced on Wednesday the suspension of Future TV, his ailing mouthpiece whose employees had recently been on strike over unpaid wages. The channel set up by his father Rafiq al-Hariri in 1993 follows several other once-thriving Lebanon-based media outlets into bankruptcy. "It is with a sad heart that I announce today the decision to suspend the work at Future TV and settle the rights of the workers," Hariri's office said in a statement.
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Sep 18, 2019
Two Dutch tourists have pleaded guilty to trespassing after they were arrested for attempting to capture footage of US government site Area 51.On Monday, Govert Sweep, 21, and Ties Granzier, 20, were sentenced to a year in county jail, following their 10 September arrest in Nevada. They will only serve three days if they agree to pay fines of $2,280 each.
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Sep 18, 2019
The sinking of the Card was a stunning victory for the Viet Cong, yet little remembered today. It illustrated how vulnerable naval vessels can be even when faced with a low-tech enemy … and how difficult maintaining port security can be in a war with no real front.
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Sep 18, 2019
A fire at a Quranic school outside Liberia's capital has killed at least 27 people and many are thought to be children, police said Wednesday. The fire around midnight gutted a dormitory and school building where students slept about 7 miles (11 kilometers) east of Monrovia, police spokesman Moses Carter said. The president of the West African nation, George Weah, visited the scene and was set to attend the victims' funeral at a Monrovia mosque before burial later in the day, said spokesman Isaac Solo Kelgbeh.
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Sep 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- Qatar Airways reported a near ten-fold increase in annual losses as higher fuel costs and a weaker regional economy compounded an already tough operating environment from Saudi-led airspace closures.The loss for the 12 months through March swelled to 2.33 billion riyals ($637 million) as currency fluctuations and the increased kerosene bill led costs to outstrip an advance in revenue, the company said in a statement Wednesday.Chief Executive Akbar Al Baker said the figures were disappointing, but that the company faces challenges "unparalleled in the airline industry" from what he called an illegal blockade of Qatari airspace that had led to a cull of profitable routes. He said the carrier still added new destinations in the 12 months, lifted passenger numbers and made its cargo business the largest in the world.Qatar Airways isn't alone in its woes among top Gulf carriers. Dubai's Emirates Group suffered a 44% earnings drop to a seven-year low in the year through March, prompting the world's biggest long-haul airline to begin a strategy review. Eithad Airways of Abu Dhabi has accumulated losses of $4.8 billion in three years after over-expanding and investing in weaker foreign operators.Barred from overflying Saudi Arabia and three other countries amid a spat over Qatar's links with Iran, the Doha-based carrier has had to abandon more than 20 routes and make lengthy diversions in order to continue others, further enlarging its fuel bill.The embargo led Qatar Air to suspend plans to add destinations in West and Central Africa and South America, according to the statement. "Sustainability indicators were also negatively impacted by the illegal blockade as fuel consumption incre
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Sep 18, 2019
Pakistan's anti-graft agency said on Wednesday it had arrested opposition Pakistan People's Party leader Khursheed Shah in an investigation into the sources of his wealth, the latest high-profile detention of an opposition politician. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said that Shah was arrested in relation to allegations of his assets being higher than his known sources of income. "NAB's Sukkur chapter has arrested Syed Khursheed Shah over 'assets beyond means'," the NAB said in a statement, adding that he would appear in an anti-corruption court in the southeastern city of Sukkur.
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Sep 18, 2019
Tehran says any move by the U.S. against Iran will receive immediate reaction and the response 'won't be limited to its source'; Lucas Tomlinson reports from the Pentagon.
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Sep 18, 2019
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he would impose fresh sanctions on Iran over the devastating 14 September attack on one of Saudi Arabia's key oil facilities.In the wake of the attack, world powers worried about a possible new war in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia said it had "undeniable" evidence that Iran sponsored the attack, which took half the kingdom's full oil-producing capacity off-line, though the output has since been partially restored.
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Sep 18, 2019
In July, Harris was tied with Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden for first place in the state.
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Sep 18, 2019
Former President Jimmy Carter says he hopes 'there's an age limit' for presidency. The jab could be aimed at President Trump, Senator Bernie Sanders and Former Vice President Joe Biden's age. The three are all well into their 70s.
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Sep 18, 2019
Imelda is threatening to dump up to 18 inches (46 centimeters) of rain in parts of Southeast Texas and southwestern Louisiana as the tropical depression moves inland over the next few days. Jeff Lindner, a meteorologist and director of flood operations for the Harris County Flood Control District in Houston, said the main threat from Imelda remained the potential for heavy rainfall and flooding.
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Sep 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Donald Trump ordered tighter sanctions on Iran days after strikes on Saudi Arabia's biggest oil installation rattled energy markets and raised the specter of a slide toward regional war."I have just instructed the Secretary of the Treasury to substantially increase Sanctions on the country of Iran!" Trump said in tweet.Trump didn't say what the new measures may involve. The U.S. has already imposed sweeping sanctions on much of Iran's economy -- especially its oil sales -- since exiting the landmark 2015 nuclear deal last year in an effort to curtail Tehran's regional influence and military capabilities. Tightening U.S. penalties have battered the Iranian currency, driving up prices and causing shortages. Iran is gradually scaling back its commitments under the deal and has said it won't reopen talks without sanctions relief.The confrontation has sporadically convulsed the Gulf, with the strikes on oil tankers, an American drone and a key pipeline pushing the region to the brink of open conflict. Saturday's attack on the heart of the Saudi oil industry drove tensions to new heights.Trump's announcement comes hours before Saudi Arabia unveils what it says is evidence of Iran's involvement in the attack, which shook crude markets and slashed output at OPEC's largest producer. U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is also due to arrive in the kingdom on Wednesday.While Trump hasn't directly blamed Iran for the attacks, Pompeo has, and U.S. officials have said the location of the dama
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Sep 18, 2019
When President Trump arrived in California Tuesday, Democrats saw his arrival as a platform for protest, but there's another reason his visit should concern them.
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Sep 18, 2019
Key Point: Unfortunately, the Air Force has been consistently under-resourced for over 20 years. As a result the U.S. Air Force is the oldest, smallest, and least ready in the entire history of its existence.
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Sep 18, 2019
End support for the war in Yemen, change the relationship with Saudi Arabia, and talk to Iran - the answers for the US are clear ‘While there is growing support to completely change America's Middle East policy US policy remains stuck in a rut.' Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/ReutersThe fact that the United States is up in arms over an attack with no reported casualties on an oil refinery in Saudi Arabia - while at the same time supporting Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen that has killed tens of thousands - tells us everything we need to know about how messed up US priorities in the Middle East are.If anything, the latest round of tensions between the US, Iran and Saudi Arabia - and the debate over whether or not to retaliate militarily against Iran - illustrates the many ways US policy in the region is bankrupt, and how Trump crafts US policy based on the interests of other countries, not America.The years-long struggle for regional influence between Iran and Saudi Arabia and their partners plays out in proxy wars that rip the region apart, such as the current humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen. The US has taken Saudi Arabia's side in this regional conflict, in which there is no "good side", and in the process only exacerbated the tensions and violence.Iran is a bad actor, and the United States already takes serious steps to curb its support for terrorism, and to defend Israel. But Trump is making the threat worse by ending the Iran nuclear deal and provoking Iran. We now find ourselves in yet a
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Sep 18, 2019
O'Rourke has has advocated for aggressive proposals aimed at curbing firearm violence.
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Sep 18, 2019
The number of women who have abortions in the U.S. has dropped to its lowest point since the procedure was legalized in 1973, according to a new report.The rate of abortions was 13.5 per 1,000 women of childbearing age in 2017, down from 14.6 in 2014, and 16.9 in 2011, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion research organization cited by those on both sides of the issue politically. The group releases the study every three or so years.The latest recorded rate from 2017 is the lowest rate since the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade declared abortion legal nationally. The rate was highest in 1980 at 29.3 abortions per 1,000 women. The 862,320 abortions performed in the U.S. in 2017 represent a 7 percent drop from 2014, according to Guttmacher."The anti-abortion activists will try to take credit for this decline, but the facts don't support their argument," said Guttmacher research scientist Rachel Jones. "This means fewer people became pregnant, not that individuals chose or were made to give birth rather than have an abortion."Birth control has become more widespread, the group pointed out, since the Affordable Care Act was passed, making birth control more accessible to women. The number of medication abortions has also gone up as the total number of abortions has declined, making up 39 percent of the total number in 2017.Meanwhile, the number of clinics that perform abortions rose 2 percent between 2014 to 2017, but abortions declined in those states where clinics have closed due to new restrictions, Virg
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Sep 18, 2019
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took aim at House Judiciary Committee chairman Jerry Nadler in a closed-door meeting last week, saying that the panel has taken the push for impeachment of President Trump far beyond the position of the House Democratic caucus.Pelosi shocked those present at the meeting with her criticism of Nadler and added that the Democrats don't have the necessary votes to impeach Trump."You can feel free to leak this," Pelosi said to those present, according to Politico.The revelations come on the heels of a contentious hearing in which former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was summoned to testify regarding allegations of obstruction of justice on the part of the president.During the Tuesday hearing, Lewandowski was asked to shed light on whether Trump asked him to tell then-attorney general Jeff Sessions to curtail the investigation into possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian operatives. The investigation itself ultimately concluded there had been no collusion, but prosecutors did not make a charging decision as to whether Trump's alleged attempts to curtail the investigation constituted obstruction of justice.Pelosi and Nadler have been at odds for some time over how to handle possible impeachment proceedings. The latter is extremely supportive of impeachment, and has turned up his rhetoric on the issue recently."Personally, I think the president ought to be impeached," Nadler said on Monday in an interview with WNYC's Brian Lehrer. Nadler is
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Sep 18, 2019
(Bloomberg) -- South Africa's 2.4 trillion rand ($163 billion) savings industry has a request for the ruling party: stop threatening to dictate where funds must invest and get going on projects that pensions can help finance."You can prescribe, but nothing will happen unless you have proper projects," Leon Campher, the chief executive officer of the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa, an industry body of fund managers and insurers, said in an interview in Johannesburg. "The savings industry would gladly invest in infrastructure or developmental projects provided they are properly done."President Cyril Ramaphosa last month echoed the election manifesto of the African National Congress saying a discussion was required to investigate the use of prescribed assets as a tool for fostering economic growth. A lack of detail on how retirement funds could be forced into investing in state-owned companies or government projects has stoked concerns it could leave pensioners poorer if these don't make inflation-beating returns.There has been very little visible progress since Ramaphosa last year announced that the government would create a multi-billion rand infrastructure fund. Banks and even Ramaphosa's envoys appointed to lure investment into the country have complained over a dearth of projects that has led to the near demise of South Africa's construction industry."If it's funding for developmental projects South Africa is after, government would be better off ensuring that the infrastructure init
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Sep 18, 2019
Pete Buttigieg is a role model to mayors. We proudly endorse him from heartland towns, coastal cities and suburban communities across this country.
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Sep 18, 2019
Cash-starved Air India is putting its crew on a diet, changing their inflight menu to special low-fat meals. Dhananjay Kumar, the state-run airline's spokesman, said Wednesday that the objective is to provide healthy and cost-effective meals to crews on domestic and international flights. Kumar declined comment on media reports that the cost per meal, mostly vegetarian, will fall to one-third of the current 500-800 rupees (up to $11) per meal.
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Sep 18, 2019
Avigdor Lieberman, whose campaign against Israel's religious political parties may make him a kingmaker, has turned from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's closest ally to his biggest headache. Reported results of Israel's general election on Tuesday show both Netanyahu's right-wing Likud and former military chief Benny Gantz's centrist Blue and White without an obvious path to a majority coalition.
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Sep 18, 2019
A US businessman has been described as a "violent, dangerous sexual predator" after a man nearly died in his West Hollywood home, following two identical deaths.Ed Buck, a prominent Democratic donor, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with battery causing serious injury, after years of accusations that he preys on homosexual black men.
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Sep 18, 2019
Biden remains the highest-polling candidate, coming in at 31%, a five percentage point gain from July. Warren jumped from 19% to 25%.
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Sep 18, 2019
At least 12 people were injured when gunmen stormed a crowded government building in eastern Afghanistan Wednesday after a suicide bomber attack, with desperate survivors leaping from windows to escape the fighting, witnesses and officials said. Security forces rushed to the scene after armed men attacked the office in Jalalabad, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, in the latest violence to hit the war-torn country as it gears up for a presidential election on September 28. Terrified children at a nearby school climbed over walls to get further away from the fighting.
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Sep 18, 2019
A New York town judge was forced off the bench after a written complaint said his post appeared 'to convey racial and/or political bias.'
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Sep 18, 2019
MONTREAL/PARIS Sept 18 (Reuters) - While the world's Boeing 737 MAX fleet remains grounded after two fatal crashes, a solitary Air Canada plane has been spotted in the skies, shuttling between Quebec and Ontario. In a rare exemption, approved by Canadian aviation regulator Transport Canada, the 11 flights in August and September were partly to maintain the qualifications of senior training pilots, Air Canada told Reuters in response to a query about flight tracking data. A spokesman for Air Canada said the airline was not able to use similar 737s within its fleet "to maintain check pilot authority in alignment with (Canadian aviation regulations)".
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Sep 18, 2019
People on Bermuda rushed to make final preparations for an expected close brush with Hurricane Humberto, a powerful Category 3 storm that caused authorities on the British Atlantic island to order early closings of schools, transportation and government offices. National Security Minister Wayne Caines said schools, government offices and ferries on the island would close at noon and bus service would halt at 4 p.m. Officials expected tropical storm-force winds to begin whipping at Bermuda before dawn and warned that hurricane-force gusts would probably last until early Thursday.
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Sep 18, 2019
We've got them ranked.
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Sep 18, 2019
In 2005, a wave of lawsuits threatened to bankrupt the gun industry. These suits were based on — pick your adjective — "creative," "novel," "inventive," and "imaginative" legal theories that rarely held up in court, and they did their damage primarily by forcing gun companies to incur the costs of defending against them. Congress, seeing the problem, stepped in to put a stop to it — or at least tried to — by passing the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA).A decade and a half later, anti-gun activists have responded with yet more new legal theories, and the Connecticut courts have bought one of them. Some families victimized by the Newtown massacre are being allowed to pursue a wrongful-death claim against Remington, which owns Bushmaster, the company that made the rifle used in the attack.The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to take the case and reverse the Connecticut supreme court's decision. It should, as numerous briefs from gun-rights supporters have argued this month.The problem here traces back to a flurry of legal activity in the 1980s and 1990s. Anti-gun activists faced a conundrum: It's easy enough to file a wrongful-death suit against someone who committed murder with a gun, or to sue a company that sold a defective gun, or to go after a gun store that knowingly sold a gun to a criminal. But the activists didn't just want to punish those who broke the existing rules; they thought the rules were too lax, and they'd had little success getting legislatures to change them.So they sued gun c
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Sep 18, 2019
My daughter Meadow was murdered in the Parkland school shooting in Florida last year. It was the most avoidable mass murder in American history. And last week, Governor Gavin Newsom just forced into every school in California the policies that made it inevitable.The Parkland shooter was a known-wolf. Before the massacre was over, students knew who did it. He was considered so dangerous when he attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that school administrators banned him from bringing a backpack and frisked him every day for fear that he'd bring a deadly weapon.Even though security staff brought him to the principal's office all the time, his disciplinary record looked pretty clean on paper. If he had been arrested at school for his crimes, maybe the FBI could have followed through on tips that he would shoot up the school. And if he'd been disciplined for his sub-criminal misbehavior, maybe school administrators could have made a strong case for sending him back to a specialized school for disturbed students, where he so badly needed to be.But the Broward County school district had embarked on a quest to fight the "school-to-prison pipeline" by lowering suspensions, expulsions, and arrests. And school principals responded by systematically sweeping disturbing behavior under the rug. If one individual in the Broward school district made one responsible decision about the killer, the tragedy could have been averted. But you can't even call what happened a "failure," because each obviously
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Sep 18, 2019
An annual fireworks display in Hong Kong marking China's National Day on Oct. 1 was called off Wednesday as pro-democracy protests show no sign of ending. Major protests are expected on Oct. 1, which will be the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party-governed People's Republic of China. Hong Kong has experienced often-violent demonstrations all summer as many residents fear the Chinese government is eroding the rights and freedoms the semi-autonomous territory is supposed to have under a "one country, two systems" framework.
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Sep 18, 2019
Democrats appear to have their best shot at capturing the state since Bill Clinton won it more than two decades ago.
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Sep 18, 2019
India banned the sale of electronic cigarettes on Wednesday and warned of an "epidemic" among young people, in the latest and potentially biggest move globally against vaping over growing health concerns. It could dash the expansion plans of companies such as Juul Labs and Philip Morris International in the country. "These novel products come with attractive appearances and multiple flavours and their use has increased exponentially and acquired epidemic proportions in developed countries, especially among youth and children," India's health ministry said.
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Sep 18, 2019
Weeks shy of his 95th birthday, former President Jimmy Carter said he doesn't believe he could have managed the most powerful office in the world at 80 years old. Carter, who earlier this year became the longest-lived chief executive in American history, didn't tie his comments to any of his fellow Democrats running for president in 2020, but two leading candidates, Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, would turn 80 during their terms if elected. Biden is 76.
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Sep 18, 2019
Johnson's negotiators have so far only presented the EU with a draft of the withdrawal agreement with the backstop scrubbed out.
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Sep 18, 2019
Former US president Barack Obama met with teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg on Monday, describing her as "one of the planet's greatest advocates".The pair discussed the school strikes for which Thunberg achieved fame, with the Swedish activist praising the enthusiasm of the schoolchildren who gathered to protest in Washington and New York.
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Sep 18, 2019
Iran on Wednesday threatened a crushing response to any military strike after attacks on Saudi oil sites blamed by Washington on Tehran, though it said the Islamic Republic had no desire for conflict in the Gulf region. In a letter sent on Monday to the United States via the Swiss embassy, which represents U.S. interests in Iran, Tehran said it "denies and condemns claims" by U.S. officials that "Tehran was behind the attacks".
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Sep 18, 2019
LOS ANGELES/JEDDAH (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday there were many options short of war with Iran after U.S. ally Saudi Arabia displayed remnants of drones and missiles it said were used in a crippling attack on its oil sites that was "unquestionably sponsored" by Tehran. Trump, who earlier said on Twitter that he had ordered the U.S. Treasury to "substantially increase sanctions on the country of Iran!" told reporters the unspecified, punitive economic measures would be unveiled within 48 hours. Trump's tweet followed repeated U.S. assertions that the Islamic Republic was behind Saturday's attacks and came hours after Saudi Arabia said the strike was a "test of global will".
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Sep 18, 2019
JEDDAH/DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia said it would produce evidence on Wednesday linking regional rival Tehran to an unprecedented attack on its oil industry that Washington believes originated from Iran in a dangerous escalation of Middle East frictions. "They want to impose maximum ... pressure on Iran through slander," Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said according to state media. "We don't want conflict in the region ... Who started the conflict?" he said, blaming Washington and its Gulf allies for war in Yemen.
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Sep 18, 2019
Charley Gallay/Getty for International Innovators of Justice/American Justice AllianceHours after the world learned that journalist Cokie Roberts had passed away following complications from breast cancer, right-wing provocateur Michelle Malkin took a swipe at the reporter's legacy by calling her "one of the first guilty culprits of fake news."Taking part in a panel at the Paley Center on Tuesday, Malkin joined an array of liberal and conservative commentators and media figures to discuss whether the media is biased.At one point in the discussion, Malkin—who has recently been making the media rounds hawking her latest anti-immigrant book—took aim at Roberts."Cokie Roberts, of course, passed away today and God bless her for an incredible career that she had but I distinctly remember that she was one of the first guilty culprits of fake news," she declared."We're doing this today?" CNN chief media correspondent Brian Stelter, who was also on the panel, interjected."Yes, yes we are," Malkin confirmed."You're attacking her today," Stelter continued. "I just want to be clear: The body isn't even cold yet."Malkin, meanwhile, said her remark was "pertinent" to the issue of "fake news," bringing up an instance in 1994 when Roberts stood in front of a projection of the Capitol to do an ABC News report from the State of the Union address."This was a deliberate attempt to deceive the viewing public into thinking she was actu
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Sep 18, 2019
'Who is the real racist, the person warning about illegal immigrants or the person saying that's racist?' When that's the debate, Donald Trump wins.
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