| Trump lashes out at Fox News over impeachment poll numbers: 'Whoever their Pollster is, they suck' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:23 AM PDT  President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to vent his frustration over a new Fox News poll that found a majority of Americans want to see him impeached and removed from office.
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| PHOTOS: California wildfires threaten homes in Los Angeles Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:28 AM PDT  The Saddleridge fire flares up near a firefighter in Sylmar, Calif., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019. (Photo: Michael Owen Baker/AP) A wildfire fueled by Santa Ana winds has closed two freeways, is threatening homes and has forced evacuations around Los Angeles. Fire officials say the Saddleridge fire had consumed more than 4,600 acres by Friday morning. It broke out after 9 p.m.
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| 'Trey is a joke among us': Gowdy is a divisive addition to Trump's legal team Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:08 AM PDT  The president's decision to bulk up his legal team with former Rep. Trey Gowdy amid a widening impeachment inquiry is drawing criticism from one of his high-profile supporters.
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| German suspect admits anti-Semitic attack, far-right motive Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT  The German suspect in a deadly attack targeting a synagogue has admitted to the shooting rampage, confessing it was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, federal prosecutors said Friday amid government warnings of an "elevated" risk of further attacks. Stephan Balliet, 27, made a "very comprehensive" confession during an interrogation lasting several hours, said a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe. Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned meanwhile in a ZDF television interview that there was now an "elevated" threat of another anti-Semitic or terrorist attack saying around half of 24,000 suspected far-right extremists had an "affinity" with firearms and could engage in violence.
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| Egypt discovers archaeological industrial zone in Luxor's 'Valley of the Monkeys' Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:39 AM PDT  Egypt on Thursday unveiled two archaeological discoveries in Luxor including an industrial zone at the southern city's West Valley, also known as the Valley of the Monkeys. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered 30 workshops in the industrial area, the Ministry of Antiquities said in a statement. The area is "composed of houses for storage and the cleaning of the funerary furniture with many potteries dated to Dynasty 18," the excavation team's leader, Zahi Hawass, said in the statement.
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| Greta Thunberg's fans are upset she didn't win the Nobel Prize, but a peace expert says she should have never been a contender Posted: 11 Oct 2019 06:44 AM PDT  Greta Thunberg was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize after leading strikes that push leaders to address climate change. Here's why she didn't win.
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| Putin's test missile failed and exploded in deadly nuclear accident Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:54 AM PDT  An Aug. 8 nuclear accident near Nyonoksa, Russia, was caused by a nuclear reaction that occurred while Russians were attempting to recover a nuclear-powered cruise missile submerged in the White Sea after a failed test last year.
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| Southwest Airlines flight diverted after intoxicated passenger assaults other travelers, police say Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:40 AM PDT  The Southwest Airlines flight from Dallas was headed to Los Angeles International Airport when it had to make an unplanned stop in Tucson, Arizona.
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| Photos of the 2019 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Lightning Lap Posted: 11 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT |
| The Latest: US Syria outpost vacated after coming under fire Posted: 11 Oct 2019 05:45 PM PDT  U.S. officials say an American outpost in northeastern Syria has been vacated after coming under fire from Turkish artillery. Turkey says it didn't target the U.S. outpost but was responding to fire from Kurdish groups nearby. The Pentagon says U.S. troops in Syria came under artillery fire from the Turks on Friday, in an area where Turkey knows Americans are present.
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| Kamala’s Fake Lover: Jacob Wohl Told Me It Was for a Spike TV Show Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:27 PM PDT  Inept conservative operatives Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman held another bizarre press conference in Burkman's driveway on Wednesday, this time to smear Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) with obviously fake allegations of an extramarital affair. And like past efforts to manufacture sexual claims against Trump foes—from Robert Mueller, to Pete Buttigieg, to Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)—the Harris charade fell apart quickly. The pair's bogus accuser—26-year-old Sean Newaldass—told The Daily Beast on Friday that he had no idea the event in which he alleged that he was in a romantic dalliance with the Senate was real. That's because Newaldass had met Wohl and Burkman by replying to an ad posted on Craigslist seeking a "male actor" for "performance art." When he showed up at Burkman's Virginia home and delivered his lines alleging an affair, Newaldass was under the belief that the press conference was actually an audition for a Spike TV show. He said he had no idea that Harris was a politician. Indeed, he assumed she was a fictional person. "I thought I was acting for a role in a movie, like a role in a TV series," Newaldass said. "I thought everything was staged, I'm thinking everyone is an actor." Jacob Wohl Faked Death Threats Against HimselfNewaldass insists that he believed that everyone at the event, from Wohl and Burkman, to the reporters asking questions, and a heckler dressed as a corncob, were all actors. Wohl promised Newaldass $500 to appear at the event—money that Newaldass said he still has yet to receive."I'm thinking this is going to be like The Office," Newaldass said. "The Office has super dry humor."Newaldass's allegations are shocking even by Wohl and Burkman's standards. The duo are known for hamfisted attempts to manufacture smears against political figures and for roping unwitting participants into their schemes. But they have never concocted a fake TV show in order to execute their plans before. As Newaldass realized Wednesday afternoon that the event was real, and that he was being treated as an outright liar on social media, he said he became afraid to leave his home."To me, it was the most hurt I've ever received from anything in the world," Newaldass said.Asked over Instagram direct message whether he had tricked Newaldass, Wohl responded with only a laughing-crying emoji. Burkman, a lawyer and lobbyist whose membership in the D.C. Bar was recently suspended over unpaid dues, didn't respond to a request for comment. Jacob Wohl's Bogus Warren Accuser Exaggerated His Military Service RecordThis isn't the first time one of Wohl and Burkman's fake accusers has turned on them. Their Mueller accuser, Carolyne Cass, failed to show up at a much-hyped press conference and later said Wohl and Burkman had made up the claims. College student Hunter Kelly, whose name Burkman and Wohl used to accuse Buttigieg of sexual assault, turned on the pair even faster than Cass, sending out mocking tweets about their press conference announcing his claims as it happened. Their missteps don't end there. Wohl is set to be arraigned on a felony charge for unlawful sale of securities later this month in California.Newaldass said he first entered Wohl's orbit by replying to the Craigslist ad, which makes no mention of politics, Burkman and Wohl, or Harris. Shortly after responding, according to Newaldass, he was contacted by Burkman and Wohl. The phone number that Newaldass said Wohl used to contact him is the same as a number Wohl has used in the past to text and make phones call to a reporter at The Daily Beast. On Tuesday night, Wohl and Burkman got Newaldass an Uber to Burkman's home in Rosslyn, Virginia. Newaldass said he was told the house belonged to Spike TV, a network that no longer exists after parent company Viacom changed the channel's name to the Paramount Network in 2018. "I was told, 'This is the audition for a TV show that's going to be on Spike,'" Newaldass said. "And I can be a personal trainer on the show, right?" Newaldass said Burkman and Wohl showed him the statement he would read on Wednesday , but described it as a "script." Newaldass found the claims in the statement bizarre, but considered that he had seen similarly strange things in other movies and TV shows."It's hard for me to hold my laughs back because I'm like, 'This is funny,'" Newaldass said. "What kind of comedy is this?" Burkman and Wohl later emailed him the "script," according to Newaldass, but not without their signature ineptness. Newaldass initially received a statement from the pair making a series of different sexual allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden—apparently because Wohl or Burkman mixed up their smears and attached the wrong file to the email. After he asked Wohl for clarification, they sent the Harris statement instead. Newaldass began to practice what he thought would be his lines.Newaldass arrived at Burkman's house around noon Wednesday, a few hours before the press conference. He said two other people—a singer and a purported minister who would perform a blessing at the press conference—were just as nervous as he was, preparing their lines as though they were getting ready for a performance. It wasn't clear to Newaldass whether the other two people were also actors or similarly oblivious to what was actually happening, but the "minister" later told The Daily Dot that he was not actually a reverend and appeared "confused" about the event.As hecklers and a handful of reporters gathered on Burkman's sidewalk, inside, Burkman and Wohl encouraged Newaldass by talking up his future Hollywood career. Newaldass said Wohl claimed to be a "director," and both men encouraged him to sign the statement making allegations against Harris—a signature they would later use as proof that he really believed the claims."They're encouraging me like, 'Man, you're going to be a star, you're a lead actor,'" Wohl said. Newaldass's press conference devolved into farce almost as soon as it began, with a mystery man delivering an apparently fake cease-and-desist notice that Burkman claimed was from Harris' campaign and Wohl threatening to spray hecklers with a garden hose. Newaldass read the statement to the crowd, convinced, he said, that Harris was a fictional character. "I'm completely oblivious to who this person is," Newaldass told The Daily Beast.While Newaldass was able to read from his statement, he became confused when asked to answer questions from the crowd, since he thought he needed to read lines. In an interview later with a Daily Dot reporter, Burkman and Wohl repeatedly cut in whenever the reporter asked Newaldass a question.Newaldass said he left the event with promises from Burkman and Wohl for future opportunities in Hollywood, and even the prospect of an entire TV series and potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Newaldass began to think about how a role on a hit TV show would enable him to provide for his family financially."So that's what really sucked me in, thinking, 'Man, I can take care of everybody,'" Newaldass said.When he got home afterwards, though, Newaldass said he slowly began to realize he had been tricked. His Instagram page filled up with accusations that he was a liar. Newaldass began to doubt Wohl and Burkman's claim that they were just filming a show for Spike TV, and he became afraid to go outside."I was scared out of my mind," Newaldass said.Newaldass felt that he had embarrassed his family, and worried about what his family and friends would think of him. "The people that actually pay attention to this stuff are really judging me," Newaldass said. Newaldass insists that he had never heard of Harris before the press conference. And on that front, he isn't alone—12 percent of respondents in a Morning Consult poll this month said they had never heard of the senator. After researching Harris, Newaldass said he's now likely to vote for her presidential bid. Newaldass said the ruse especially stings because, like Harris, Newaldass is of mixed Indian and Caribbean ancestry. "That's what's hurtful, because I'm hurting my own ethnicity," Newaldass said. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Student's emotional allegation of sexual assault by Hong Kong police sparks investigation and anger Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:40 AM PDT  An emotional livestreamed account from a young female student alleging sexual assault at the hands of the police sparked fresh anger and new protests in Hong Kong on Friday. A video of Sonia Ng, who waived her anonymity to make the accusations during an open forum on Thursday night at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, went viral in the financial hub, prompting hundreds of office workers to stage a lunchtime rally against alleged police violence. The Hong Kong police force, currently facing an enormous trust deficit with the public, said it had immediately launched an investigation on Friday morning and had tried unsuccessfully to reach the young woman, who had not yet made a formal complaint. "The Police accord high priority to such a serious allegation and we appeal to the female to provide concrete evidence so that we can proceed with a fair fact-finding investigation," the force said in a statement on its Facebook page. Ms Ng told the packed university gathering, in the presence of Rocky Tuan, the vice-chancellor, that she had been arrested at the Prince Edward metro station, which was stormed by riot police on August 31. She claimed she was sexually assaulted at a police station before being taken to San Uk Ling, a holding centre close to the border with mainland China where the pro-democracy movement alleges arrested protesters have been abused. In an earlier testimony, which she gave anonymously at September rally, she accused a male officer of hitting her breast, reported the Hong Kong Free Press. She alleged that detained protesters had been body-searched in darkened rooms and that others had also "suffered sexual violence." The young student then removed her mask to reveal her identity, asking Mr Tuan to explicitly denounce police violence. People form a human chain during a protest in Tai Po Credit: REUTERS/Susana Vera "I am willing to be courageous and take off my mask, would you also be brave and support us?" she asked. The vice-chancellor replied that he condemned all violence, but he faced a barrage of tough questions from students about the level of support the university had provided during four months of escalating tensions with the police during pro-democracy protests. Ms Ng's claims add to the mounting public anger over heavy-handed police tactics in the city, which has seen close to 3,000 arrests, and multiple injuries on both sides, including the shooting of two teenage boys. Tony Tse, the vice-chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Council, asked people in need to come forward. "We hope that those who were treated unfairly or sexually assaulted will make complaints to us. We will follow up," he said in a radio show on Friday.
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| United States threatens Turkey with 'very significant' sanctions Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:25 PM PDT  U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday that President Donald Trump had authorized U.S. officials to draft "very significant" new sanctions to target Turkey after it launched an offensive in northeast Syria, adding that banks were being notified. Mnuchin said the United States was not activating the sanctions at this time but would do so if necessary. "We are putting financial institutions on notice that they should be careful and that there could be sanctions," Mnuchin said.
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| The Navy SEALs Could Take on Iran's Special Forces in a War Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:00 PM PDT  But at a price.
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| 500 Years Later, MIT Proves That Da Vinci's Bridge Design Works Posted: 10 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT  If accepted at the time, the design would have likely revolutionized architecture.
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| Swath of Atlantic still at risk for tropical development into next week Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:19 AM PDT  While the window for tropical systems to brew will soon be closing for some zones in the Atlantic, the risk of tropical development is shifting southward into next week."Two areas we have been monitoring for tropical or subtropical development just off the East Coast of the United States to east of Bermuda are running out of time," AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski explained. This image, taken on Thursday, Oct. 10, 2019, shows much of the tropical Atlantic Basin. There was a non-tropical swirl of clouds well east of Bermuda and a weak, broad area of showers and thunderstorms over the western Caribbean Sea. (NOAA/GOES-East) One such area is a storm located southeast of the New England coast, which has strengthened some Thursday night. Should it continue to gather tropical characteristics into Saturday, it could briefly become a subtropical storm.More long-term, meteorologists are also watching areas in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa over the next week for possible tropical trouble.Tropical disturbances, or tropical waves, continue to move westward off the coast of Africa every three days or so.These waves make up the Cabo Verde season, which is named for the disturbances that originate near the Cabo Verde Islands just off the west coast of Africa.Even though we are past the peak of the Cabo Verde season and the hurricane season in general, these disturbances and other areas can still evolve into tropical depressions, storms and hurricanes over time."A somewhat stronger tropical wave is forecast to move off the Africa coast this weekend and move westward," Kottlowski said. "There is a low chance this becomes an organized system next week," he added.There remains a broad area of weak counterclockwise winds over the western Caribbean and Central America. This feature is called a gyre.Occasionally, as tropical waves move into this gyre, they have a greater chance at becoming a tropical depression or storm, since there is extra moisture in place and there already is a weak circulation to begin with."As a result, the area from the western Caribbean to Central America, including adjacent eastern Pacific waters, could give birth to a tropical system or two through next week," Kottlowski said."However, the chance of tropical storm formation is probably significantly higher on the Pacific side as opposed to the Caribbean side," Kottlowski added. Hurricane season continues until the end of November, and Kottlowski feels there will be another named system or two over the Atlantic Ocean before the season comes to a close. Download the free AccuWeather app to see the exact forecast for your area. Keep checking back for updates on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Syria Kurds say prison housing IS fighters hit by Turkey Posted: 10 Oct 2019 07:51 AM PDT  Syria's Kurds said Thursday that Turkish bombardment had hit a prison they use to house captured Islamic State group fighters, despite Ankara's pledge to do nothing to undermine the campaign against the jihadists. "The Turkish regime... targeted a section of the Jerkin prison," in the Kurdish-majority city of Qamishli in the northeast, the region's autonomous Kurdish administration said. The Kurdish authorities have repeatedly talked up the threat they say Ankara's offensive poses to the US-led campaign against the jihadists.
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| Could Chelsea Clinton run for a New York House seat? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 12:58 PM PDT  "If you care about what's happening in the world, you have to care about running for and holding elected office," Chelsea Clinton said last year.
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| Evidence from ex-Dallas cop's murder trial fuels mistrust Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:20 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. It also has led Dallas Police Chief U. Reneé Hall to announce the internal affairs department would look into the deleted texts and deactivated camera. The Dallas County District Attorney's Office declined to comment Wednesday on whether it is also investigating.
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| U.S. B-2 Bomber Recently Tested a New Nuclear Bomb Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:32 AM PDT  Thank god it was not live, but the point is clear: the nuclear age is not over.
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| View Photos of 2021 Toyota Mirai Posted: 10 Oct 2019 01:00 PM PDT |
| California Governor Signs Ban on Small Plastic Bottles in Hotels Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:05 PM PDT  California governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday announced that he has signed a law banning hotels from providing guests with the small, disposable plastic bottles containing personal-care products such as shampoo and conditioner that are a common staple of the industry.The ban on plastic bottles holding less than six ounces will go into effect on January 1, 2023 for hotels with more than 50 rooms, and one year after that for hotels with 50 or fewer rooms. The law allows a local agency to conduct inspections and issue citations if hotels do not comply. A first violation carries a $500 fine and a second carries a $2,000 fine.The law makes California "the first state in the country to accelerate more sustainable alternatives in hotel and lodging industry," said Ash Kalra, the Democratic state assemblyman who wrote the bill. "We have reached a tipping point for action and more needs to be done that transitions consumers and businesses towards more sustainable alternatives. Given our state's large presence in tourism, this will be a model for the nation."Many hotels have jumped on board with the law's goals. Marriott International is aiming to eliminate small plastic bottles at all its hotels by December 2020, while IHG, the owner of Holiday Inn and other hotels, plans to eliminate close to 200 million small bottles by 2021.
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| Trump’s Stonewalling on Impeachment Shows Cracks With Testimony Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:55 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Three days after the White House said it was going to block all cooperation with the House impeachment inquiry, one State Department official testified and another plans to.Their appearances raise questions about whether the Trump administration may back down from its threat to stonewall House Democrats' request for testimony and documents, or whether the White House is being selective in how it proceeds.On Oct. 17, the committees will hear from a witness Republican lawmakers expect will be friendly to the president: Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who donated more than $1 million to Trump's inauguration.On Friday, three House panels heard testimony damaging to Trump from former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who said in a closed-door session that she was removed from the post "under pressure" from Trump and a "concerted campaign" against her.Yovanovitch still works in the State Department, and the Democratic chairmen of the Intelligence, Foreign Affairs and Oversight and Reform committees said Friday the department "at the direction of the White House" directed her "not to appear for her voluntary interview." They said the Intelligence panel responded by issuing a subpoena to compel her to testify.No-Cooperation StanceThe Trump administration had set out what appeared to be an unyielding no-cooperation stance in a letter Tuesday from White House Counsel Pat Cipollone to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the three chairmen of the committees leading the impeachment inquiry.He rejected what he said were "legally unsupported demands made as part of what you have labeled -- contrary to the Constitution of the United States and all past bipartisan precedent -- as an 'impeachment inquiry.'"The Democratic chairmen said in their statement Friday that "any efforts by Trump administration officials to prevent witness cooperation with the committees will be deemed obstruction of a co-equal branch of government."The White House declined to comment on Friday's testimony.Matthew Whitaker, a former acting attorney general in the Trump administration, told Fox News on Friday that the White House may have decided that trying to prevent Yovanovitch from testifying would be too bruising."From what I can tell, they determined that the fight to keep her from testifying wasn't worth it," Whitaker said. "I would expect that this is part of a strategy they've adopted to pick the right fights and fight the right battles to ultimately win the overall war."The testimony by Yovanovitch and Sondland gives lawmakers a chance to question two key figures in the impeachment inquiry, which is focused on Trump's July call with Ukraine's president, and his suggestion to investigate a political rival, Democrat Joe Biden.Left unsaid by the White House is whether the administration will cooperate with the House inquiry under pressure from subpoenas -- or when it expects that the results are likely to help the president.Impeachment SupportPolls show rising support for full impeachment proceedings against Trump, who has said he did nothing wrong and publicly repeated some of the things he was accused of doing on the private call.Yovanovitch said in her opening statement that she was targeted by Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani."I do not know Mr. Giuliani's motives for attacking me," she said. "But individuals who have been named in the press as contacts of Mr. Giuliani may well have believed that their personal financial ambitions were stymied by our anti-corruption policy in Ukraine."She said the idea she was disloyal to Trump is "fictitious.""I have heard the allegation in the media that I supposedly told the embassy team to ignore the President's orders 'since he was going to be impeached,'" she said. "That allegation is false."While Sondland has indicated he will testify, he said he doesn't have the power to provide documents sought by Congress because they are under the control of the State Department.To contact the reporters on this story: Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net;Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net;Erik Wasson in Washington at ewasson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The obscure law that explains why Google backs climate deniers Posted: 10 Oct 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Company wants to curry favour with conservatives to protect its 'section 230' legal immunity * Revealed: Google made large contributions to climate change deniersEric Schmidt being interviewing on Bloomberg in 2014. Photograph: Bloomberg via Getty ImagesWhen Eric Schmidt was asked on a radio show in 2014 why Google was supporting an ultra-conservative climate-denying pressure group in Washington, the then chairman of the internet giant offered an unequivocal response: it was wrong and Google was not going to do it again."The consensus within the company was that that was some sort of mistake and so we're trying to not do that in the future," Schmidt told NPR. People who opposed or questioned climate science were making the world "a much worse place", he added, and Google "should not be aligned with such people".But five years later, Google still funds more than a dozen organisations that deny the climate crisis and oppose political action to try to solve it. Among them is the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), the group that launched the notorious Cooler Heads Coalition two decades ago, a group of conservative and libertarian pressure groups dedicated to dispelling the "myths" of global heating.The Guardian has collaborated with leading scientists and NGOs to expose, with exclusive data, investigations and analysis, the fossil fuel companies that are perpetuating the climate crisis – some of which have accelerated their extraction of coal, oil and gas even as the devastating impact on the planet and humanity was becoming clear. The investigation has involved more than 20 Guardian journalists working across the world for the past six months.The project focuses on what the companies have extracted from the ground, and the subsequent emissions they are responsible for, since 1965. The analysis, undertaken by Richard Heede at the Climate Accountability Institute, calculates how much carbon is emitted throughout the supply chain, from extraction to use by consumers. Heede said: "The fact that consumers combust the fuels to carbon dioxide, water, heat and pollutants does not absolve the fossil fuel companies from responsibility for knowingly perpetuating the carbon era and accelerating the climate crisis toward the existential threat it has now become."One aim of the project is to move the focus of debate from individual responsibilities to power structures – so our reporters also examined the financial and lobbying structures that let fossil fuel firms keep growing, and discovered which elected politicians were voting for change. Another aim of the project is to press governments and corporations to close the gap between ambitious long-term promises and lacklustre short-term action. The UN says the coming decade is crucial if the world is to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of global heating. Reining in our dependence on fossil fuels and dramatically accelerating the transition to renewable energy has never been more urgent.For Google, providing financial backing to groups such as CEI and the Cato Institute – staunch free marketeers – has nothing to do with climate science, and everything to do with its effort to curry favour with conservatives on its most pressing issue in Washington: protecting an obscure section of the US law that is worth billions of dollars to the company.The law – known as section 230 of the Communications Decency Act – was established in the 1990s, at a time when the internet was in its infancy, and helped to give rise to internet giants, from Google to Facebook, by offering legal immunity to the companies for third party comments, in effect treating them as distributors of content and not publishers.Section 230, in effect, allowed Google and Facebook to be shielded from the kinds of libel laws that can ensnare other companies, such as newspapers.The law has important advocates across the political spectrum, from Democrats who hail it as a triumph of free speech, to Republicans who say it has promoted free enterprise and innovation.But now some lawmakers, including Republicans, think it might be time to revise section 230. The senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, has said Google's alleged bias in favour of Democrats means it is not a neutral platform and should not be protected from liability.Google's decision to give to groups such as CEI reflects an attempt to win friends in Republican and conservative circles, and support those lawmakers on the right who are champions of section 230."I think the future of conservatism is up for grabs in the Trump era," said one person who is familiar with the company's thinking on political giving. "We are in a moment where Google has been injected in a lot of culture wars … and there is a lot of hostility in conservative circles."There is little doubt that Google has a loyal friend in CEI. In a recent letter to members of Congress, CEI and other conservative groups called for the protection of section 230, saying it had created "new venues for conservative speech", and that lawmakers who wanted to upend it were "well-meaning but mistaken".CEI has also defended Google in other realms. In a recent op-ed published in the Atlantic, a CEI senior fellow named Mario Loyola argued that the launch of a recent antitrust investigation into Google by 48 state attorneys general, led by the Texas attorney general Ken Paxton – a strong supporter of Ted Cruz – would not do anything to help the public.A CEI spokesperson, who declined to comment on questions about Google, told the Guardian: "CEI is a nonprofit organisation that advocates free-market solutions to public policy issues. CEI's research programmes and positions are developed independently by policy experts and reflect a longstanding, steadfast dedication to principles of economic liberty and limited government."When Google was asked about its support for CEI and groups like it, a company spokesperson said: "We sponsor organisations from across the political spectrum that advocate for strong technology policies. We've been extremely clear that Google's sponsorship doesn't mean that we endorse that organisation's entire agenda – we may disagree strongly on some issues."Google employees have privately spoken out about the company's support for some conservative groups. In a discussion with employees in March 2018 – a recording of which was heard by the Guardian – Adam Kovacevich, who at the time served as head of public policy at Google (he has since left the company), defended the company's alignment with some conservatives.He said he had been directed to forge the relationships after the 2016 election of Donald Trump. It reflected a view that the company was seen as too close to Hillary Clinton's campaign and other Democrats.The discussion took place after a controversy over Google's sponsorship of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual meeting of conservatives, where Google hosted a party.To the consternation of many employees, its logo appeared on banners next to the NRA's. In his opening remarks on the call, Kovacevich said it was important to build relationships not only with people in power "but also the people who influence them"."It can be hard sometimes to reconcile our business interests with our stated values, and finding that balance is something our team has to navigate really on a daily basis, and it has gotten more and more complicated," Kovacevich can be heard saying in the recording.While Google staff seemed to accept Google needed to forge ties across the political spectrum, the majority of the employees on the call expressed concern that the company was too far out of step with its values. The Wall Street Journal and Wired have previously reported on the meeting.This year, Google did not sponsor CPAC. But big technology companies were frequently named – and lambasted – by conservative participants in their speeches. In one case, the rightwing provocateur James O'Keefe encouraged tech employees to secretly record colleagues in their offices in order to expose their alleged biases."We will equip you with a camera," O'Keefe said. "If they're lying, cheating, scamming, we're going to find them, make them famous internet celebrities, expose them for all the world to see."
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| Poll: 40% of Americans say they think Mike Pence would make a better president than Trump Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:54 AM PDT  An outsize chunk of the American population think Vice President Mike Pence would make a better president than President Trump, according to a new Insider poll.
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| Pope accepts resignation of NYC bishop accused of abuse Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:33 AM PDT  Pope Francis accepted the resignation of a New York City bishop who was accused of sexually abusing a teenage boy in the 1980s, the Vatican said Thursday. Auxiliary Bishop John Jenik denied the allegation when it was first brought to the New York City archdiocese last year. Cardinal Timothy Dolan said the archdiocese's lay review board had found the allegation to be "credible and substantiated," and he turned the case over to the Holy See for further investigation, since only the pope can decide a bishop's fate.
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| Iranian oil tanker hit off Saudi coast, may have been missiles: Iranian media reports Posted: 10 Oct 2019 10:33 PM PDT  An Iranian-owned oil tanker was struck, probably by missiles, in the Red Sea off Saudi Arabia's coast on Friday, Iranian media said, an incident that if confirmed will stoke tension in a region rattled by attacks on tankers and oil sites since May. The Sabiti was hit in the morning about 60 miles (96 km) from the Saudi port of Jeddah, Iranian media reported. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the ship was damaged but now heading to the Gulf, denying reports it was set ablaze.
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| NATO Has a Secret Plan to Destroy Russia's Kaliningrad Base Posted: 09 Oct 2019 08:30 PM PDT  Let's hope it never comes to that.
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| ‘I’m standing here in the middle of climate change’: How USDA fails farmers. Posted: 10 Oct 2019 06:57 PM PDT !['I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.]( "'I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA fails farmers.") Rick Oswald is standing on the doorstep of the white farmhouse he grew up in, but almost nothing is as it should be. "This house is 80 years old," Oswald says, stepping inside the darkened living room, which now smells faintly of mold. American farmers are reeling after extreme rains followed by a "bomb cyclone"—an explosive storm that brought high winds and severe blizzard conditions—ravaged the heartland, turning once productive fields into lakes, killing livestock and destroying grain stores.
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| Turkey's plan to flood Europe with millions of refugees if it is condemned for attacking Syria is a real and dangerous threat, officials warn Posted: 11 Oct 2019 04:18 AM PDT  An official with the Greek government told Business Insider that Turkey could "send about 500,000 refugees immediately."
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| California governor slams PG&E, saying 'greed,' 'mismangement' led to widespread power cuts Posted: 10 Oct 2019 07:09 PM PDT  California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized PG&E; for greed, mismanagement amid power cuts
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| See Photos of the 2020 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport Posted: 11 Oct 2019 07:15 AM PDT |
| Three dead in China bridge collapse Posted: 10 Oct 2019 08:12 PM PDT  Three people were killed and two injured in eastern China when a highway overpass collapsed and crushed cars below it, local officials said Friday. Videos posted online showed a large section of the bridge in Jiangsu province swaying before falling on top of moving vehicles on Thursday night. Other images showed crushed cars, with only their front sections or headlights visible under a huge block of grey concrete.
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| Trump campaign 'still hasn't paid security bills for rallies to at least six cities' Posted: 11 Oct 2019 07:38 AM PDT  As Donald Trump prepares for a rally in Louisiana ahead of the state's gubernatorial election, the president is reportedly on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in local security costs in at least six other cities where his campaign has held rallies and events.This week, the campaign threatened to sue over its unpaid $530,000 security bill in Minneapolis, according to CNN. The arena that hosted the event has withdrawn its request, but the city maintains that the cost of services provided for campaign events should come from Mr Trump's campaign chest and not city coffers.
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| The Latest: Pritzker board member resigns amid senator probe Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:29 PM PDT  An appointee of Illinois Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker has stepped down from the Illinois Tollway board after he was mentioned as part of a federal investigation into a state senator. Cesar Santoy resigned Friday at Pritzker's request after an unredacted search warrant released Friday indicated that authorities sought information involving Santoy and his architectural firm Studio Arq.
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| El Paso mass murder suspect pleads not guilty, accused of targeting Mexicans Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:17 AM PDT  The Texas man accused of deliberately targeting Mexicans in a shooting spree that killed 22 people at an El Paso Walmart store pleaded not guilty on Thursday in his first court appearance. Patrick Crusius, 21, was indicted last month for capital murder and will face the death penalty if he is convicted, the El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza said. Crusius strolled into the courtroom trailing his two lawyers.
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| How Big Of A Threat To NATO Is Russia's New PAK-DA Stealth Bomber? Posted: 11 Oct 2019 05:11 AM PDT  Will it even get built?
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| NRA troubles: A hunter targets the world’s most powerful gun lobby Posted: 11 Oct 2019 02:44 AM PDT  NRA corruption allegations have weakened the group. Plenty of gun rights advocates are ready to step in.
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| Lindsey Graham dishes on Trump in hoax calls with Russian pranksters Posted: 10 Oct 2019 03:37 PM PDT  Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham has in the last year become something of a congressional point man for President Trump's negotiations with Turkey, leading discussions on everything from Ankara's purchase of a Russian missile system over the summer to its more recent incursion into northern Syria.
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| Kia Telluride, Subaru Forester Owners Complaining to NHTSA about Windshields Posted: 10 Oct 2019 02:04 PM PDT  NHTSA has received dozens of complaints of broken or cracked windshields on the two vehicles, along with beefs that it takes too long to get replacements.
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| Nobel snub no obstacle in Greta Thunberg's climate quest Posted: 11 Oct 2019 04:15 PM PDT  Hours after judges passed her up for the Nobel Peace Prize, Greta Thunberg stood before a cheering throng, insisting once again that something must be done about climate change -- and fast. "We as young people are tired of constantly being betrayed by those who are supposed to work for our greater good," the 16-year-old Swedish activist told hundreds of supporters gathered in an outdoor ampitheater in Colorado's largest city, Denver. "We are here because we care about the future, about what we one day will leave after us," Thunberg, clad in a cream-colored jacket with her hair in her trademark braid, said to thunderous applause.
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| Secretary of Defense Esper blames Turkey for attacks on Kurds, says US has not abandoned them Posted: 11 Oct 2019 01:38 PM PDT  Top Pentagon official says Turkey's attack on Kurds was 'impulsive,' and Turkish artillery shells land within a quarter mile of U.S. troops.
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| New fresco with gladiators discovered in Pompeii Posted: 11 Oct 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Archeologists excavating what may have been an ancient Roman drinking den in the ruined city of Pompeii said Friday they have unearthed a well-preserved wall painting of gladiators in action, complete with realistically gory wounds. The 3ft by 4.5ft fresco is located in the Regio V site, in the northern section of Pompeii's archaeological park, in an area not currently accessible to visitors. "Very probably the fresco decorated a place used by gladiators, perhaps a watering hole .
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| Go home, Tanzanian President tells Burundian refugees Posted: 11 Oct 2019 08:50 AM PDT  Refugees in Tanzania must go home, President John Magufuli said on Friday, a week after officials began mass repatriations of Burundians despite concerns that they may face political persecution. Tanzanian officials have said that all repatriations will be voluntary but Magufuli warned in his speech that refugees in Tanzania, most of whom are Burundians, cannot stay indefinitely and will not be granted citizenship. "Go back to your home ... don't insist on staying in Tanzania as refugees or expect citizenship while Burundi is now stable," Magufuli said during a rally in Katavi region near a large refugee camp in northwestern Tanzania.
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