| Seven misleading arguments against impeachment by Trump and his allies Posted: 09 Oct 2019 03:36 PM PDT  As Democrats continue their impeachment inquiry, the president and his allies keep presenting certain misleading defenses.
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| California power outage: Isn't there an easier way? Posted: 10 Oct 2019 12:36 PM PDT  Power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses has been cut off, affecting millions of people in California. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said a forecast of extreme wind and dry weather has created fire danger of an unprecedented scope, prompting it to initiate the largest preventive outage in state history to reduce the risk of wildfires sparked by faulty power lines. HOW LONG WILL THE POWER BE OUT?
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| No Sports Car Icon Is As Important As The Porsche 356 Posted: 10 Oct 2019 07:16 AM PDT  "I looked around and could not find quite the car I dreamed of, so I decided to build it myself." - Ferry PorscheThe Porsche 911 is maybe the greatest sports car of all time. For more than 50 years the 911 has been defining how a sports car should drive and perform, consistently setting the benchmark for driver engagement and enjoyment. The 911 was not the first car Ferdinand Porsche created though. The true heritage of the 911, and the Porsche brand as a whole, can all be traced back to one machine. This is the Porsche 356 Pre-A. As a machine on its own, the 356 doesn't get as much recognition or attention as the legendary 911, but don't let that relative obscurity dampen its impact and legacy. With a rearward-mounted flat four-cylinder engine and humpbacked profile, the DNA of the 911 is evident. The 356 was also the starting point for many of Porsche's future traditions. The car was the first machine to wear the Carrera nameplate that adorns 911s today, and the 356 was used extensively in motorsport.In short, the 356 is in many ways the birth of what we consider a "true" sports car today. And now you have a chance to own one. Canepa is currently offering a near factory-perfect 1953 Pre-A 356 1500 Coupe. It's a numbers matching car that is fresh off of an extensive restoration that won several awards. This particular car took top honors in the Concours Restoration Group at the 2018 Porsche Parade, won the Gmund Achievement with a near perfect score of 299.8 points, and it was scored first in the Class Restored Category. This is conclusively and objectively one of the nicest Porsche 356 cars in existence.But owning this 356 would be about so much more than meticulous restoration and winning awards. You would be the steward of history and heritage. Every Porsche in this world today owes some semblance of its existence to this car. You will be the keeper of a legend so impactful that its influence will be felt for hundreds of years from now. Just as Henry Ford redefined what the automotive business could be with the Model T, It was Ferry Porsche and the 356 that launched a performance icon.Become part of that history and that lineage with this 1953 Porsche. Just make sure you treat it as the great Ferry himself envisioned, and keep driving it on public roads so that the rest of the world can bask in its glory. Related Articles: * 2017 Ford GT Sells for $1.54 Million, Proving Rising Prices * Roast Some Ponies With A 1969 Chevy Camaro SS
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| Married priests question raises fears of Church split Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:42 AM PDT  An idea to fill empty pulpits in remote locations by allowing married men to become priests is bitterly dividing a Vatican assembly, with critics warning the emotive issue could fracture the Catholic Church. The hot-button topic of whether an exception can be made to the centuries-old custom of celibacy in places where there is a shortage of priests has dominated the start of the three-week "synod" on the Pan-Amazonian region. Austro-Brazilian bishop Erwin Krautler said Wednesday he estimated some two-thirds of the bishops in the region support the idea of "viri probati" (married "men of proven virtue") as candidates for priesthood.
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| Evidence from ex-Dallas police officer's murder trial fuels mistrust Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:18 PM PDT  Evidence from the trial of a former Dallas police officer convicted of killing her neighbor has fueled new questions about whether accused officers are treated differently than other suspects, including testimony that a camera in the cruiser where the officer sat after the shooting was flipped off and that her sexual text messages with her partner were deleted.
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| Migrant protesters occupy U.S.-Mexico border bridge, close crossing Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:53 AM PDT ![Migrant protesters occupy U.S.-Mexico border bridge, close crossing]( "Migrant protesters occupy U.S.-Mexico border bridge, close crossing") MATAMOROS-BROWNSVILLE BRIDGE, U.S.-Mexico border, Oct 10 (Reuters) - U .S. asylum seekers camped out in a dangerous Mexican border town occupied a bridge to Brownsville, Texas on Thursday, leading to the closure of the crossing, witnesses and authorities said. Hundreds of the migrants have been camped for weeks on the end of the bridge in Matamoros, Mexico, a city known for cartel control of people trafficking and gang violence. Many of those camped out are awaiting court dates for hearings in the United States weeks or months later under a U.S. policy called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP).
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| Nation's intelligence officers are resigned to serving a president who doesn't trust them Posted: 09 Oct 2019 02:00 AM PDT  While two intelligence officers have taken the rare step of formally reporting concerns about President Trump's activities, others employed throughout the government's intelligence community are putting their heads down and hope to stay out of the political fray.
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| Warren jumps ahead of Biden in latest 2020 polls Posted: 09 Oct 2019 01:11 PM PDT  Elizabeth Warren is leading the crowded pack of candidates vying for the 2020 Democratic primary nomination for the first time, according to new results from polling aggregation website RealClearPolitics, which averages poll data from across the US. The numbers released on Wednesday show the progressive Massachusetts senator polling at 26.6 per cent, with former Vice President Joe Biden slightly behind her at 26.4 per cent.The latest numbers follow Tuesday's Quinnipiac University poll, which found Ms Warren capturing 29 per cent of Democrat and Democrat-leaning independent voters. Mr Biden followed at 26 per cent, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders trailed on 16 per cent. No other candidates topped 4 per cent in that poll.
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| Ready for War: Iran Is Bristling with Missiles Posted: 09 Oct 2019 09:55 PM PDT  A real threat.
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| Thousands of tarantulas are emerging from the ground in the San Francisco Bay Area, looking for mates Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:51 AM PDT  Each year, tarantulas emerge in the Rockies and California to look for mates. A spate of warm weather in the Bay Area has extended that mating season.
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| Navigating the California grid: Today's Toon Posted: 10 Oct 2019 05:32 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| US urges shared decisions with pain patients taking opioids Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:19 AM PDT  The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services instead urged doctors to share such decisions with patients. The agency published steps for doctors in a six-page guide and an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Drug companies promoted that use, even as evidence grew of addiction and overdose.
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| Outrage in Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo over Handke's Nobel win Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:05 PM PDT  Austrian writer Peter Handke's Nobel literature prize win on Thursday sparked outrage in Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo, where he is widely seen as an admirer of late Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic. In the 1990s, Handke emerged as a vocal defender of the Serbs during the bloody collapse of the former Yugoslavia, even comparing them to Jews under the Nazis, a remark he later retracted. "Never thought would feel to vomit because of a Nobel Prize," Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on Twitter.
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| Ford SEMA Custom Builds Include Wild and Off-Road-Ready Rangers Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:31 PM PDT  An advance look at a few of the nearly 50 Fords that will be at the SEMA show in Las Vegas soon.
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| Carnival passenger critically injured after falling onto lower cruise ship deck Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:36 AM PDT ![Carnival passenger critically injured after falling onto lower cruise ship deck]( "Carnival passenger critically injured after falling onto lower cruise ship deck") A 23-year-old man aboard the Carnival Valor cruise ship this week fell off a railing and onto a lower deck, sustaining serious injuries.
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| Mainland China troops and police not part of Hong Kong police operations - govt Posted: 10 Oct 2019 05:23 AM PDT  China's mainland army and police are not part of Hong Kong police operations, the city's government said on Thursday, responding to Internet rumours the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and mainland police were involved in trying to quell pro-democracy unrest. The PLA has a garrison in Hong Kong but troops have remained in barracks since the protests started four months ago, leaving local police to handle the often violent and massive protests. The PLA's top brass has warned that violence in Hong Kong is "absolutely impermissible".
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| Warren Calls for Imprisoning Trans Inmates with Biologically Female Inmates in New LGBTQ Rights Plan Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:41 AM PDT  Senator Elizabeth Warren called for placing transgender prisoners in detention facilities designed for the opposite biological sex in a new LGBTQ rights plan released Thursday."I will direct the Bureau of Prisons to end the Trump Administration's dangerous policy of imprisoning transgender people in facilities based on their sex assigned at birth," Warren wrote in the plan.Under the plan, transgender inmates would be placed in detention facilities that correspond to their gender identity rather than their biological sex, and would be entitled to tax-payer funded gender transition surgeries.Both Warren and fellow candidate Joe Biden have expressed support for tax-payer funded transition surgeries before. At a September 20 Iowa LGBTQ conference, Biden said that the surgery should be covered by Obamacare.In January of this year, Warren changed her stance on government-funded transition surgeries after it emerged that she had dismissed the notion that taxpayers should fund the cosmetic procedure in a 2012 interview."I have to say, I don't think it's a good use of taxpayer dollars," she said at the time.Bill de Blasio also declared his support for tax-payer funded gender transition surgery in July during his own presidential bid. De Blasio has since dropped out of the Democratic primary field following lackluster poll results.Warren has consistently run to the left of the Democratic field on social issues since beginning her candidacy. On Wednesday she released a plan designed to combat climate change and "climate injustice," pledging to invest $1.5 trillion over a decade to stop global warming and to help minority communities allegedly disproportionately affected by the warming."Our crisis of environmental injustice is the result of decades of discrimination and environmental racism compounding in communities that have been overlooked for too long," the plan states.
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| Did American-Built Patriot Missiles Fail to Protect Saudi Arabia? Posted: 08 Oct 2019 11:02 PM PDT  What can this mean?
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| Trump’s Defiance of the House Inquiry Is Hard to Defend Posted: 09 Oct 2019 10:48 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- The White House's fierce response to the impeachment inquiry by the House of Representatives, calling the enterprise "an unconstitutional effort" and a violation of "constitutionally mandated due process," seems to make one commitment: noncooperation.The key sentence in the eight-page letter, signed by White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone, is this: "Given that your inquiry lacks any legitimate constitutional foundation, any pretense of fairness, or even the most elementary due process protections, the Executive Branch cannot be expected to participate in it."What can the House do in response?Let us step back a bit. No White House welcomes a congressional investigation, and an impeachment inquiry is the least welcome of all. Any White House counsel has a duty to protect the president and the presidency (and, if necessary, to do so fiercely). Under both Democratic and Republican presidents, congressional investigations, including scandal-mongering, are often efforts to score political points by obtaining internal documents that may well be protected by executive privilege (which safeguards the confidentiality of presidential conversations).So the White House's reluctance to hand over documents is hardly unusual. What is unusual is the sweeping vow of noncooperation and this wild objection: "you have denied the President the right to cross-examine witnesses, to call witnesses, to receive transcripts of testimony, to have access to evidence, to have counsel present, and many other basic rights guaranteed to all Americans."An impeachment inquiry is hardly a criminal trial. In fact, it is not a trial of any kind. In a congressional hearing, whether open or closed, members of Congress typically call witnesses and ask them questions. There is no cross-examination. Does the White House counsel really want the president of the United States or his lawyers to be able to cross-examine and call witnesses? What does that even mean?Does the White House counsel think that the U.S. Constitution guarantees that right, in the context of an impeachment inquiry?The House has already issued a subpoena, specifically focusing on the White House's interactions with Ukraine. Compliance with a lawful congressional subpoena is not optional. The House can go to court and attempt to get the subpoena enforced. Alternatively, it can hold the recipient in contempt of Congress (that's a misdemeanor, with a jail sentence).The largest response, of course, is an article of impeachment. There is precedent for that. During the Watergate affair, a majority of the House of Representatives voted in favor of this article:In his conduct of the office of President of the United States, Richard M. Nixon . . . has failed without lawful cause or excuse to produce papers and things as directed by duly authorized subpoenas issued by the Committee on the Judiciary of the House of Representatives on April 11, 1974, May 15, 1974, May 30, 1974, and June 24, 1974, and willfully disobeyed such subpoenas. The subpoenaed papers and things were deemed necessary by the Committee in order to resolve by direct evidence fundamental, factual questions relating to Presidential direction, knowledge or approval of actions demonstrated by other evidence to be substantial grounds for impeachment of the President.Notably, the article added that Nixon was "substituting his judgment as to what materials were necessary for the inquiry" and thus "interposed the powers of the Presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the House of Representatives, thereby assuming to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by the Constitution in the House of Representatives."For an article of impeachment to be based on defiance of a subpoena, it would be best, of course, if a federal court had concluded that the president's disobedience was in fact unlawful. But that can take a long time.Moreover, it is a fair question whether and when defiance of a subpoena, as such, amounts to a high crime and misdemeanor within the meaning of the Constitution's impeachment clause. If a subpoena does not involve a matter of great importance – if it involves, say, alleged misconduct by low-level officials at the Department of Agriculture – it would be very difficult to justify impeachment. And if a White House believes, reasonably and in good faith, that a subpoena is unlawful, it would be hard to argue that disobedience is impeachable.But in this case, there is no question that the subpoena involves a matter of great importance. Whether the White House reasonably believes that it is unlawful depends on what, exactly, it is asking for.That's why its categorical refusal to cooperate is difficult to defend. Under normal circumstances, Cipollone's over-the-top letter would be an opening salvo – the first step in a negotiation. But, to say the least, these aren't normal circumstances.To contact the author of this story: Cass R. Sunstein at csunstein1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Katy Roberts at kroberts29@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Cass R. Sunstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of "The Cost-Benefit Revolution" and a co-author of "Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness."For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Germany probes synagogue suspect, pledges better security Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:59 AM PDT  German investigators puzzled Thursday over how the suspect in a botched attack on a synagogue on Judaism's holiest day managed to amass at least 4 kilograms (nearly 9 pounds) of explosives and acquire four firearms, an arsenal they said he planned to use in a massacre. While many questions remain about the suspect, German officials sought to reassure a shaken Jewish community after Wednesday's attack in the eastern city of Halle. The attacker, a German identified by prosecutors as Stephan B., tried but failed to force his way into the synagogue as up to 80 people were inside.
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| China destroys dozens of Uighur cemeteries in drive to 'eradicate' cultural history of Muslims Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:02 AM PDT  Even in death there is no respite for the Uighurs, one of the world's most persecuted minorities, according to a new investigation that has revealed China is destroying burial grounds where generations of families have been interred. Over the past two years, tombs have been smashed and human bones scattered in dozens of desecrated cemeteries in China's northwest region, research by Agence France Presse and satellite imagery analysts Earthrise Alliance has revealed. While the official explanation for the policy is urban development or the "standardisation" of old graves, overseas Uighurs say the destruction is part of the state's concerted effort to eradicate their ethnic identity and control every aspect of their lives. "This is all part of China's campaign to effectively eradicate any evidence of who we are, to effectively make us like the Han Chinese," said Salih Hudayar, who said the graveyard where his great-grandparents were buried was demolished. "That's why they're destroying all of these historical sites, these cemeteries, to disconnect us from our history, from our fathers and our ancestors," he said. Satellite images received on September 30, 2019 from CNES 2019, distributed by Airbus DS and produced by Earthrise shows a picture from April 24, 2018 (top) showing the Sulanim cemetery (C) in Hotan, Xinjiang province and the same view on August 6, 2019 (bottom) Credit: AFP An estimated one million mostly Muslim ethnic minorities have been rounded up into re-education camps in Xinjiang in the name of combatting religious extremism and separatism. Former detainees interviewed by The Telegraph have recounted horrific torture, being forced to memorise Chinese Communist Party propaganda, and to renounce Islam. Those who are free are intimidated by suffocating surveillance and restrictions, including bans on beards and veils. A further Telegraph investigation in Kashgar, Xinjiang, in June found evidence of widespread intimidation of the local population, whether inside mosques or in family homes, including reports that officials were offering "gifts" of pork, a forbidden food for Muslims. A picture from August 29, 2017 (top) showing a cemetery (C) and the same view on July 5, 2019 with no sign of the facility in Xayar, Xinjiang province Credit: AFP Beijing has long sought to control the resource-rich region of Xinjiang, where decades of government-encouraged migration of the Han – China's ethnic majority – have fuelled resentment among Uighurs. Last year, Uighur exile groups reported that the Chinese authorities were setting up "burial management centres" in a bid to exert control over the most private aspects of their lives. The latest investigation claims that the destruction of existing graveyards has been carried out with little respect for the dead – with AFP journalists discovering human bones discarded at three site and other sites where tombs were reduced to mounds of bricks. Satellite imagery analysed by AFP and Earthrise Alliance, shows that the Chinese government has, since 2014, exhumed and flattened at least 45 Uighur cemeteries - including 30 in the past two years. The Xinjiang government did not respond to a request for comment. This photo taken on September 13, 2019 shows the works of a park in a place where before there was a Uighur cemetery in Kuche in the region of Xinjiang. Credit: AFP The destruction is "not just about religious persecution," said Nurgul Sawut, who has five generations of family buried in Yengisar, southwestern Xinjiang. "It is much deeper than that," said Ms Sawut, who now lives in Australia and last visited Xinjiang in 2016 to attend her father's funeral. "If you destroy that cemetery ... you're uprooting whoever's on that land, whoever's connected to that land," she explained. China has dismissed the escalating global criticism of its treatment of Uighurs, denying there are any human rights issues in the region. This week, the United States said it would curb visas for officials over the alleged abuses and blacklisted 28 Chinese facial recognition and artificial intelligence technology firms that it accuses of being implicated in the repression of the Muslim minority. "This kind of behavior seriously violates the basic norms of international relations, interferes in China's internal affairs, and harms China's interests," said Geng Shuang, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman. "The Chinese side strongly deplores and opposes it."
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| Ukraine's Zelensky 'breaks record' for world's longest press conference Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:57 AM PDT  Volodymyr Zelensky, a popular comedian before he was elected president of Ukraine this spring, promised to bring a fresh kind of politics to the ex-Soviet nation. Around eight hours into the marathon event, Zelensky's first major press conference since coming to power in May, a representative of the agency stood up to deliver the news. The previous record was held by Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko, with a press conference that lasted over seven hours, Ukrainian media reported.
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| The Marines Are Changing the Way They Do Business Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:22 AM PDT  With possible wars looming, the Marine Corps of the future will be smaller, help defend Navy ships, and rely more on drones.
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| Pay freeze at the UN? Trump administration owes the United Nations $1 billion Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:15 PM PDT  Trump brushed aside a warning from the U.N. that the organization risks being unable to pay its staff and bills if member countries don't chip in.
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| Off the rails: Hanoi closes trackside cafes thronged by selfie-seeking tourists Posted: 09 Oct 2019 12:30 AM PDT  It's the kind of shot every Instagram connoisseur yearns for: century-old railway tracks cutting through dusty backstreets, flanked by tourists drinking beer or iced tea mere inches from the slow-moving trains. The sight has become such a draw in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi that authorities have set a weekend deadline for the removal of dozens of cafes that have cropped up, citing safety concerns. It's crazy, and completely different to anywhere I've been before," said Australian tourist Laura Metze, after a train rumbled by.
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| Erdogan Threatens To ‘Open the Doors’ to Europe for Refugees if Criticisms Continue Posted: 10 Oct 2019 05:32 AM PDT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued a warning to the European Union during a speech to his party on Thursday, threatening to flood the continent with millions of refugees in response to international criticism of Turkey's recent military offensive in northern Syria."Hey EU, wake up. I say it again: if you try to frame our operation there as an invasion, our task is simple: we will open the doors and send 3.6 million migrants to you," Erdogan said in the speech. The public opinion over Erdogan's actions has largely been negative.On Thursday, France's foreign ministry requested the Turkish ambassador, Ismail Hakki Musa, speak in Paris about the recent attacks, according to sources. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio also called for an immediate end to the fighting."As a government we think that the Turkish offensive initiative is unacceptable. We condemn it … because military action in the past has always led to more terrorism," he said. "We call for an immediate end to this offensive which is absolutely not acceptable given that the use of force continues to endanger the life of the Syrian people, who have already experienced tragedy in recent years."Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement Thursday joining his European counterparts in calling for Turkey to end its attacks against the Kurds. "Israel strongly condemns the Turkish invasion of the Kurdish areas in Syria and warns against the ethnic cleansing of the Kurds by Turkey and its proxies. Israel is prepared to extend humanitarian assistance to the gallant Kurdish people," he said.Iran, a close ally of the Syrian government, called for the Turks to halt their advance, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Russia would push for the necessity of dialogue between Turkey and Syria."During the Thursday rally, an inflammatory Erdogan defended his government's decision-making and accused other countries of being dishonest in their criticisms."They are not honest, they just make up words," he said. "We, however, create action and that is our difference."
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| Trump defends diplomat's wife who killed teenage Briton in crash: 'It happens' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 12:22 PM PDT  President Trump has defended the wife of a U.S. diplomat who killed a British teenager in a road accident, suggesting it is difficult to drive on the other side of the road and that "we've all done it."
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| US official charged with leaking secrets to journalists Posted: 09 Oct 2019 04:15 PM PDT  A Defense Intelligence Agency official was arrested Wednesday and charged with leaking classified intelligence information to two journalists, including a reporter he was dating, the Justice Department said. Henry Kyle Frese, 30, was arrested by the FBI when he arrived at work at a DIA facility in Virginia. Frese, who has a top secret government security clearance, is alleged to have accessed at least five classified intelligence reports and provided top secret information about another country's weapons systems to the reporter with whom he was having a relationship.
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| Europe Says It’s Ready for a Trade War If Pressured by the U.S. Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:19 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. France's finance minister said he doesn't want the European Union to become the latest front in the global trade war, but that the bloc would hit the U.S. with sanctions if a settlement isn't reached in a long-running dispute over aircraft aid."We are all aware of the dramatic consequences of this trade war between China and the U.S. on the level of growth,'' minister Bruno Le Maire told reporters in Luxembourg on Thursday. "Do we really want to add a trade war between the U.S. and Europe to the Chinese and American trade war?''The World Trade Organization gave the U.S. the go-ahead as soon as this month to impose tariffs on about $7.5 billion of European exports annually in retaliation for illegal government aid to Airbus SE. The EU has said that it will retaliate against any Airbus-linked tariffs when the WTO rules early next year on a similar dispute over subsidies the U.S. supplied to Boeing Co.And while the EU's top trade negotiator, Cecilia Malmstrom, said she's hopeful a settlement can be reached that would avoid a tit-for-tat tariff escalation, the bloc has already published a preliminary list of U.S. goods -- from ketchup to video-game consoles -- being targeted in a $12 billion plan for retaliatory levies related to the Boeing case."I'm still in favor of a settlement,'' Le Maire said. "But the American administration must be aware that if there is not a settlement, Europe will not have any other choice but to retaliate and to put sanctions.''"It's not in the interest of Europe to enter into a trade war with the U.S. and I strongly believe too that it's not in the interest of the U.S.,'' he said.\--With assistance from Viktoria Dendrinou, Nikos Chrysoloras and Caroline Connan.To contact the reporters on this story: Maria Tadeo in Madrid at mtadeo@bloomberg.net;Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Nikos ChrysolorasFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Activists Can't Agree on How to Fight Climate Change. The IMF Says Just Do Something. Posted: 10 Oct 2019 12:34 PM PDT  The IMF says a carbon tax is best to fight climate change but says countries should do what works best for them — so long as they do something.
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| Dems Want to Know: Who Paid Rudy? Posted: 10 Oct 2019 05:09 PM PDT  Drew Angerer/GettyA member of the House Intelligence Committee is calling on Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, to disclose information on who financed his attempts to dig up dirt on Joe Biden amid a wave of reports that the work has dovetailed into official government business. "Rudy needs to disclose his clients for the Ukraine work," said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY). "He's up to his neck in criminals and dirty money. Was he playing the President to get himself paid? Seems there's no honor among thieves."It's unclear if Giuliani's finances have been a component of House Democratic investigations into the pressure campaign that the former New York City mayor and President Trump applied to Ukrainian leadership in order to persuade them to investigate the work Biden's son, Hunter, was doing in that country. But CNN reported that his financial dealings are under renewed scrutiny by investigators following the arrests of two clients, Soviet-born businessmen Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, on Thursday for campaign finance violations. And Maloney's comments suggest that there is an appetite for congressional investigators to better understand the money-trail as well. In an interview with The Daily Beast this week, Giuliani steadfastly denied that he was paid for any work he did in Ukraine, saying that he helped Trump on a "pro bono" basis. He said that the costs of his travel were covered by private clients for separate work that happened to correspond with his Ukraine portfolio. Speaking specifically about an August trip he made to Madrid to urge Andriy Yermak, a top Ukrainian official, to reinvestigate the Bidens, Giuliani said that he happened to be going to the Spanish capital already for "business and vacation." Rudy's Ukraine Henchmen Made Big Donation to Pro-Trump PAC"I have law clients and I have security clients in London and Madrid," he said. "And that particular trip has not been reimbursed but about three-fourths of it would be business and one-fourth would be personal. The Trump part would be considered personal because I don't get paid for representing the president." Giuliani also said that he never charged the State Department for the work he did to meet with and talk to Ukrainian officials, including Yermak."I've done work for the State Department before and I never charged them for it," he said. "They call upon citizens all the time. I did it at least three times with [former Secretary of State] Colin Powell... I did this as a service to my government." The extent of the work Giuliani did with and for the State Department has become a central component of the ongoing impeachment drama that has roiled the Trump administration. Text messages revealed during the course of congressional investigations showed that top officials at Foggy Bottom leaned on the former mayor to get a better sense of how newly-elected Ukrainian leadership was operating. But Giuliani also played a role in feeding State highly conspiratorial, and largely discredited information aboutUkraine supposedly playing a role in the launch of the special counsel probe into 2016 election meddling and Hunter Biden's post atop a natural gas company in that country. Giuliani Says Some of the Documents State Dept IG Handed to Congress Came From HimGiuliani's private clients also appear to have gotten preferential treatment from the president. On Wednesday, Bloomberg reported that Trump pressed his then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to encourage the Department of Justice "to drop a criminal case against an Iranian-Tukrish gold trader who was a client of Rudy Giuliani." And last week, the Associated Press reported that at the same time Giuliani was trying to persuade Ukrainian leaders to launch investigations, individuals with ties to the former mayor were "trying to install new management at the top of Ukraine's massive state gas company"—all while touting their connections to Trump and Giuliani. Giuliani called the AP article "totally false" and a "Biden-inspired hit job." "I haven't done anything in Ukraine in two years. I have never done a deal in Ukraine," he said. "I haven't even thought about a deal in Ukraine over the last two years."But government ethicists and watchdogs have said that the opaqueness around Giuliani's finances does raise alarms about whether the president's lawyer is acting in a formal diplomatic capacity or as a conduit for private interests. "Giuliani is acting as this unofficial envoy at times with the apparent backing of the State Department, so he's in this quasi-official diplomatic role representing the interests of the U.S. government," said Brendan Fischer, the director of federal and FEC reforms for the Campaign Legal Center. "But he's not subject to any of the ethics obligations that would attach to a federal government employee, most notably financial disclosure forms."Fischer noted that one particular area where Giuliani could be pressing the boundaries of the law related to whether he has provided a material benefit to the Trump re-election campaign for which he either was not reimbursed or for which a foreign actor provided the reimbursement. The matter was tricky, Fischer conceded, because Giuliani is not technically working for the re-election campaign even though there are a "number of areas where his claims of personal work intersect with the campaign."How Rudy Giuliani's Bid to Discredit Mueller Played Into Impeachment ProbeAsked directly to respond to the idea that he may have pushed the boundaries—if not outright violated—the limits of campaign finance law, Giuliani insisted that it was impossible because his work in Ukraine ended before Biden formally announced his presidential bid. "Are you kidding me, a campaign finance violation?" he responded. "It is an absolutely stupid question. Quote this, 'nobody would ask such a stupid question unless they were in the tank for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party.'"Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. 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| UPDATE 2-GM CEO Barra takes role in talks to end UAW strike Posted: 10 Oct 2019 12:09 PM PDT ![UPDATE 2-GM CEO Barra takes role in talks to end UAW strike]( "UPDATE 2-GM CEO Barra takes role in talks to end UAW strike") General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra met with senior United Auto Workers officials to discuss the No. 1 U.S. automaker's most recent proposal to end a more than three-week-old strike that has cost it over $1 billion, a union spokesman said on Thursday. Barra met with UAW President Gary Jones and senior union negotiator Terry Dittes on Wednesday at a time when GM had not yet received a formal response to a new offer made on Monday morning, sources briefed on the matter said. GM declined to comment on the meeting, but said progress was being made in the talks.
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| Kashmir hotels empty or shut as tourist restrictions lifted Posted: 10 Oct 2019 07:31 AM PDT  India lifted on Thursday restrictions on tourists visiting Kashmir, but for hotels around the picturesque lake in Srinagar two months into a lockdown it was still far from business as usual. A few days later on August 5 New Delhi scrapped Indian-administered Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status, sent in tens of thousands of extra troops and imposed a lockdown. "Lifting the restrictions on tourists coming will not help until communications are restored," Vishal Sharma, general manager of the five-star Taj Vivanta hotel told AFP.
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| U.S. Takes Custody of ISIS Fighters Involved In James Foley Murder Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:55 AM PDT  The U.S. military is moving to take several dozen ISIS fighters into custody from Kurdish prisons in northeast Syria, and already holds two British fighters involved in the murder of freelance journalist James Foley and other Western hostages of the terror group, according to U.S. officials.The Justice Department seeks to bring the two men, El Shafee Elsheikh and Alexanda Kotey, to trial in Virginia.The pair were part of a four-man cell of British fighters that included Foley's alleged killer, Mohammed Emwazi, who became known as "Jihadi John" and who was later killed in a drone strike. The cell executed at least 27 prisoners.Foley was captured by ISIS in Syria in 2012. He was beheaded in 2014 , purportedly by Emwazi, in a filmed execution that shocked the international community. Foley was the first American citizen killed by ISIS.U.S. forces are currently scrambling to find places to hold other ISIS detainees currently in U.S. custody in Syria. The Trump administration had no plan for moving the detainees when it announced a withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeastern Syria in advance of Turkey's planned invasion of the region.Officials are looking into the possibility of sending the most dangerous fighters to the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, according to NBC. The U.S. has repeatedly pressed the home countries of foreign ISIS fighters to imprison them, a plea that nearly every country has refused.President Trump announced on Monday that U.S. troops would withdraw from northeast Syria, in advance of a planned invasion of the area by Turkey. The Turkish government plans to set up a "safe zone" inside Syria to resettle Syrian refugees who fled their country's civil war, as well as to fight Kurdish groups it considers terrorist organizations.Officials are unsure of what will subsequently happen to the 12,000 ISIS fighters currently detained by Kurdish forces.
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| Delaware man attacks Walmart cashier in Florida Posted: 09 Oct 2019 06:24 AM PDT  Raw video: The man faces multiples charges after attacking the cashier without any provocation.
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| Man gets 100 years in prison for killing, dismembering woman Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:23 PM PDT  Jared Chance, 30, had turned down a plea deal that would have made him eligible for parole after 31 years. Ashley Young's torso was found in December in the basement of Chance's Grand Rapids rental home. Chance and Young knew each other and were last seen together at a Grand Rapids bar in late November.
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| Airlines ground Boeing 737s after emergency checks ordered over cracks in planes Posted: 10 Oct 2019 07:11 AM PDT  An American airline has grounded two Boeing jets after finding cracks in parts that connect the wings to the fuselage.A Brazilian airline has also grounded 11 Boeing 737s after finding evidence of "the need to replace a specific component".
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| ICE reportedly gave an asylum-seeker at a detention center ibuprofen after he was shot in the head Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:08 AM PDT  A Guatemalan asylum-seeker who was shot in the head and tortured was given just ibuprofen to treat his pain while detained at an ICE.
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| As Turkey pounds Syria, Trump downplays ties to Kurds: 'They didn't help us in the Second World War' Posted: 09 Oct 2019 03:38 PM PDT  Amid Turkey's attacks on northern Syria, Donald Trump played down the alliance with the Kurds, saying they didn't help with Normandy in World War II.
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| White House denies report China's Liu He plans to leave Washington on Thursday: CNBC Posted: 09 Oct 2019 05:34 PM PDT  "We are not aware of a change in the Vice Premier's travel plans at this time," a White House spokesman told CNBC. When asked if a breakthrough can be expected in the China talks this week, the official told CNBC that U.S. President Donald Trump has not yet made up his mind.
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| Khamenei says nuclear weapons forbidden for Iran Posted: 08 Oct 2019 05:53 PM PDT  Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Wednesday that Iran could have taken the step to develop nuclear weapons but will not because their use is "haram", or forbidden in Islam. "Although we could have taken steps on this path, based on Islamic ruling we firmly and bravely said we won't take this path," Khamenei said. "If we had a nuclear weapon, it would have been obvious that it would have been impossible for us to use anywhere," said the Iranian leader.
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| View Photos of Lunaz Classic Luxury Cars Turned into EVs Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:30 AM PDT |
| Russia's Missiles Can't Take the Heat (Seriously) Posted: 08 Oct 2019 09:05 PM PDT  They don't work like they're supposed to in the scorching Middle East.
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