| Washington Post changes al-Baghdadi headline that called terror leader an 'austere religious scholar' Posted: 28 Oct 2019 07:37 AM PDT  Critics, including President Trump's children, blasted the paper for an obituary headline that did not portray the ISIS leader's brutality.
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| Biden's communion denial highlights faith-politics conflict Posted: 29 Oct 2019 04:04 PM PDT  A Roman Catholic priest's denial of communion to Joe Biden in South Carolina on Sunday illustrates the fine line presidential candidates must walk as they talk about their faiths: balancing religious values with a campaign that asks them to choose a side in polarizing moral debates. The awkward moment for Biden came during a weekend campaign swing through South Carolina, a pivotal firewall in his hopes to claim the Democratic presidential nomination. The former vice president on Sunday visited St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, a midsize city in the state's largely rural northeast.
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| In a Kurdish prison, former IS fighters never see the sun Posted: 29 Oct 2019 10:29 AM PDT  Just months ago, the most hardcore among them were still bent on defending the last sliver of the Islamic State group's "caliphate" in Baghouz, Syria. AFP correspondents obtained exclusive access to the site in Hasakeh province. IS fighters were accused of carrying out beheadings, mass executions, rapes, abductions and ethnic cleansing in territory they held across swaths of Iraq and Syria.
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| View Every Angle of the 2019 Rolls-Royce Cullinan Posted: 29 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT |
| North Carolina's congressional map is illegal Republican gerrymander, court rules Posted: 28 Oct 2019 07:07 PM PDT  The decision was a victory for Democrats, who have struggled to gain a foothold in both the state legislature and North Carolina's 13 U.S. congressional districts, in part because of how Republicans drew the electoral lines. The ruling seems likely to ensure that the state's 2020 congressional elections will take place under a new map, dealing a blow to Republicans' hopes of recapturing the U.S. House of Representatives after Democrats swept to power in that chamber last year.
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| Navy upholds sentencing of Navy SEAL for posing with corpse Posted: 29 Oct 2019 03:25 PM PDT  The U.S. chief of naval operations on Tuesday denied a request for clemency and upheld a military jury's sentence that will reduce the rank of a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State captive in Iraq in 2017. Adm. Mike Gilday made the decision after carefully reviewing the trial transcripts and the clemency request by the lawyers of Edward Gallagher, said Cmdr. Nate Christensen, spokesman for Gilday, in a statement. Gallagher's lawyer, Timothy Parlatore, said they are disappointed in the ruling that will cost Gallagher up to $200,000 in retirement funds because of his loss of rank from a chief petty officer to a 1st class petty officer.
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| Iowa man killed wife after she found 'problems' with finances, planned meeting with banker: Records Posted: 29 Oct 2019 12:56 PM PDT  Roy Browning Jr. is charged with murder in relation to the death of JoEllen Browning, who worked for the university for more than four decades.
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| Trump: 'Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison' to Chicago Posted: 28 Oct 2019 10:24 AM PDT  President Trump used his first trip to Chicago as president to disparage the city and its police chief, who had boycotted his appearance.
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| Vietnam Seizes $4.3B in Falsely Labeled Chinese Aluminum Posted: 29 Oct 2019 05:57 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Vietnamese customs discovered and seized about $4.3 billion of Chinese aluminum falsely labeled "Made-in-Vietnam" before being shipped mostly to the U.S., the Dan Tri news website reported, citing Nguyen Van Can, head of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.The aluminum was imported from China by a company based in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau that tried to sidestep U.S. tariffs, according to the report that didn't give the company's name. Vietnamese customs worked with American authorities during the investigation.Vietnam has become a top destination for suppliers looking to avoid U.S. and Chinese tariffs amid the ongong trade war between the great powers, which also makes it a potential magnet for fraudsters.Vietnamese authorities are increasing scrutiny on product origins and tightening issuance of certificate of origins for exports, in an attempt to stop trade fraud, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Tran Quoc Khanh told reporters in Hanoi in July. The government has stepped up its efforts "to prevent the Vietnamese territory from being taken advantage of, and not being used to avoid tariff with any markets," Khanh said.Vietnamese shipments to the U.S. increased 26.6% from January through October compared to the same period last year, the Hanoi-based General Statistics Office said in an estimate released earlier today.To contact the reporter on this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at uyen1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: John Boudreau at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net, Derek WallbankFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Climate activist Greta Thunberg declines environmental award Posted: 29 Oct 2019 02:03 PM PDT  Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg on Tuesday refused to accept an environmental award, saying the climate movement needed people in power to start to "listen" to "science" and not awards. The young climate activist, who has rallied millions to her "Fridays for Future" movement, was honoured at a Stockholm ceremony held by the Nordic Council, a regional body for inter-parliamentary cooperation. Thunberg had been nominated for her efforts by both Sweden and Norway and won the organisation's annual environment prize.
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| Meet America's Mini-Warships: The Key to Taking on Iran? Posted: 29 Oct 2019 05:40 AM PDT  Or North Korea?
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| Mass grave near Mexican beach town yields total of 42 bodies Posted: 29 Oct 2019 03:03 PM PDT ![Mass grave near Mexican beach town yields total of 42 bodies]( "Mass grave near Mexican beach town yields total of 42 bodies") A total of 42 bodies and skeletons have been pulled from a clandestine burial pit in the Mexican desert near the Gulf of California beach town of Puerto Penasco, which is known to U.S. tourists as Rocky Point. Four full days of digging at the spot, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Puerto Peñasco, revealed only two of the bodies were relatively recent and still had decomposing flesh on them. The clandestine burial pit was originally located by groups of volunteers known as the Searching Mothers of Sonora and the Searchers of Puerto Penasco.
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| US police sergeant told to 'tone down the gayness' wins $20m in damages Posted: 28 Oct 2019 09:20 AM PDT  Keith Wildhaber, who was allegedly passed over for promotion 23 times, wins discrimination lawsuit against St Louis county policeSergeant Keith Wildhaber. Jurors in St Louis county court also heard that a police captain had called Wildhaber 'fruity'. Photograph: Cristina M Fletes/APA gay Missouri police sergeant has been awarded nearly $20m in damages after he was told if he wanted to be promoted he should "tone down the gayness".Keith Wildhaber, a sergeant with St Louis county police, filed a lawsuit against the department in 2017, after allegedly being passed over for promotion 23 times. Jurors in St Louis county court also heard that a police captain had called Wildhaber "fruity"."I was sickened by it," Wildhaber told the court last week, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch."I think I said: 'I can't believe we are having this conversation in 2014.' It was devastating to hear."Wildhaber said he was told to "tone down the gayness" by John Saracino, a former St Louis county police board of commissioners member. Saracino has denied it.Donna Woodland, a witness in the trial, supported Wildhaber's complaint, the Post-Dispatch reported. Woodland testified that she had heard the St Louis county police captain Guy Means say Wildhaber was "way too out there with his gayness and he needed to tone it down if he wanted a white shirt [be promoted]".She also recalled Means saying: "You know about him, right? He's fruity."The jury awarded Wildhaber $1.9m in actual damages and $10m in punitive damages on the discrimination allegation, according to the Post-Dispatch. It also found Wildhaber had been the victim of retaliation after filing his lawsuit, adding $999,000 in actual damages and $7m in punitive damages for that charge."We wanted to send a message," the jury foreman, who was not named, told reporters. "If you discriminate you are going to pay a big price … You can't defend the indefensible."The St Louis county executive, Sam Page, said in a statement he would appoint new members to the police board."Our police department must be a place where every community member and every officer is respected and treated with dignity. Employment decisions in the department must be made on merit and who is best for the job," Page said."The time for leadership changes has come and change must start at the top."
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| Trump Administration Challenges California Sanctuary Law in Supreme Court Posted: 29 Oct 2019 08:18 AM PDT  The Trump administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down California's "sanctuary law," which hinders cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.The administration is challenging several provisions in the California Values Act, or S.B. 54. The law prohibits officials from sharing information with ICE about a suspect's release from custody, eliminating any opportunity for ICE agents to take illegal immigrants into custody before they are released from local jails. It also prohibits local law-enforcement officers from sharing physical descriptions of suspects with immigration authorities."The practical consequences of California's obstruction are not theoretical; as a result of SB 54, criminal aliens have evaded the detention and removal that Congress prescribed, and have instead returned to the civilian population, where they are disproportionately likely to commit additional crimes," the Trump administration argued in its petition, which was filed Monday.While the provisions of S.B. 54 do not technically apply to suspects with a violent criminal history, since the law effectively prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE, immigration officials must stake out jails and police stations to await the release of non-citizen suspects from custody, and only then make arrests.Last week at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ICE official Timothy Robbins claimed that the Los Angeles police department was releasing as many as 100 illegal immigrants per day from custody."Cooperation between ICE and state and local law enforcement agencies is critical to the agency's efforts to identify and arrest removable aliens, and to protect the nation's security," Robbins said at the time. "Unfortunately, we are seeing more jurisdictions that refuse to work with our officers, or directly impede our public safety efforts."
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| Northern California double-whammy: Amid blackouts, massive fire forces nearly 200,000 to flee homes Posted: 27 Oct 2019 07:42 PM PDT  Nearly 200,000 people in Northern California are under mandatory evacuation orders as the wind whips up, making the Kincade Fire even more dangerous.
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| 'The Wild West': Questions surround Trump legal team payments Posted: 29 Oct 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Until now, Trump's legal arrangements have been in a gray area of regulation. But now, critics are trying to change that.
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| Woman who repeatedly told boyfriend to kill himself charged with manslaughter after his suicide Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:01 AM PDT  The girlfriend of a university student who killed himself hours before his graduation ceremony has been charged with manslaughter after she allegedly repeatedly told him to take his own life.Inyoung You, 21, sent a series of text messages telling Alexander Urtula, 22, to "go kill yourself" or "go die" in the two months leading up to his suicide, according to prosecutors.
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| Bursting at the seams: inside an IS prison in Syria Posted: 29 Oct 2019 10:33 AM PDT  Behind the steel door, the cell is as packed as their eyes are empty -- haggard, scrawny prisoners in orange jumpsuits lying head-to-toe cover every inch of floor space. An AFP team was given rare access to one of the crowded detention facilities in northeastern Syria where Kurdish forces are holding Islamic State group (IS) suspects. As a Turkish offensive launched against Kurdish forces earlier this month wreaks chaos in the area, just how solid such doors will be is a question keeping the world on edge.
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| This Means War: Iran Has A Huge Wishlist Of Fighter Jets Posted: 27 Oct 2019 11:59 PM PDT  That all could be changing.
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| Mexico ex-governor's wife detained in London Posted: 29 Oct 2019 10:48 AM PDT ![Mexico ex-governor's wife detained in London]( "Mexico ex-governor's wife detained in London") The wife of jailed former Veracruz state Gov. Javier Duarte has been detained in London, Mexican authorities said Tuesday. A Mexican official who was not authorized to speak about the case said that Karime Macias was detained Tuesday. Macias had been with him at the time.
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| China downplays Solomon island lease debacle, tells U.S. to stay out Posted: 29 Oct 2019 02:38 AM PDT ![China downplays Solomon island lease debacle, tells U.S. to stay out]( "China downplays Solomon island lease debacle, tells U.S. to stay out") There is nothing unusual about Chinese companies experiencing issues when investing in Pacific island states or elsewhere, China's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, after a rebuffed attempt by a Chinese firm to lease an island in the Solomons. The Solomon Islands government said last week a deal signed by one of its provinces to lease the entire island of Tulagi to a Chinese company is unlawful and should be terminated, a move applauded by United States. Details of the long-term lease between the Solomons' Central Province and China Sam Enterprise Group were made public shortly after the Pacific nation switched diplomatic ties to Beijing from Taiwan in September.
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| Ukrainian Oligarch Seethed About ‘Overlord’ Biden for Years Posted: 28 Oct 2019 01:13 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIndicted Ukrainian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash spent more than $1 million hiring key figures in Republican efforts to investigate the Biden family. His lawyers—who often go on Fox News to defend President Trump—say they needed the dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden to demonstrate that Firtash's prosecution was politically motivated. But the two men have a history. Two Ukrainian gas industry experts say the gas-market reforms pushed by Biden and others in 2014 and 2015 hit Firtash in the wallet, and badly. One knowledgeable outside observer estimated that the 2014 and 2015 gas reforms and legislation cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. On Dec. 9, 2015, Biden gave a speech to Ukraine's parliament. He praised the protesters who forced out Ukraine's Russia-friendly president, he recited Ukrainian poetry, and he called for reforms to Ukraine's gas market, too. "The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles—not sweetheart deals," he said, basking in the audience's repeated applause.Firtash, who built his fortune in part through a rather sweet gas-trading deal, hated it. Earlier this year—more than three and a half years after the talk—he was still seething. Firtash told The Daily Beast that the Ukrainian parliamentarians in the audience were humiliatingly subservient to Biden. "He was the overlord," Firtash said. "I was ashamed to look at this. I was repulsed."Now people linked to Firtash are at the heart of Republicans' efforts to find dirt on Biden, and a document Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has said is key to his theory of Biden World malfeasance was produced for Firtash's legal team. The reporter who published that document, The Hill's John Solomon, is a client of Firtash's new lawyers, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Over the summer, Trump pressured Ukraine's president to cooperate with Giuliani's efforts. That pressure stunned many Republicans and gave House Democratic leadership the impetus they had long sought to announce an impeachment inquiry. And two Giuliani associates reportedly brought up Firtash's name when talking about their plans for Ukraine's energy sector. Those two associates also worked with Giuliani to find dirt on Biden, and they've both been charged with financial crimes. On top of that, Firtash's lawyers say one of them, Lev Parnas, has worked as a translator for his legal team. Firtash's blunt assessment of Biden's speech at the parliament and influence on Ukraine—shared earlier this year with The Daily Beast and published here in full for the first time—highlights how a battle over the future of Ukraine bled into the highest levels of American politics. Firtash's company did not respond to requests for comment. Biden's campaign called Firtash "a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian oligarch who's been wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the U.S. since 2014."* * *Gas Man* * *Firtash was born in Ukraine and—like many other up-and-coming oligarchs—grew rich in the rubble of the Soviet Union. After spending some time in Moscow, he started trading gas from Central Asia to Ukraine. His renown as a gas trader grew, and he made deals with Russia's state-owned giant Gazprom to move Russia's abundant gas to energy-hungry Ukraine. With Gazprom's blessing, he got deals widely characterized as of the sweetheart variety: Firtash bought cheap gas from Russia, sold it for a lot more in Ukraine, and profited. He then bankrolled Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine. One such politician was Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Paul Manafort. American diplomats at the time saw Firtash as a vector of Russian influence—part of the connective tissue between the Kremlin and Kyiv. And American law enforcement saw him as a crook. On April 2, 2014, the Justice Department announced that he had been indicted for authorizing $18.5 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The case involved efforts to mine for titanium that would be used in Boeing planes. Austrian authorities arrested Firtash a few weeks before the DOJ's announcement. He posted about $174 million in bail and has since been living in Vienna, fighting extradition from his palatial corporate offices there. And while the allegation isn't part of the DOJ's indictment of Firtash, U.S. government lawyers have said in court that he's an "upper echelon" associate of a Russian criminal organization. Firtash says the claim is baseless. In June of this year, an Austrian judge greenlit his extradition to the U.S. But his high-powered legal team is still fighting. And this July, that team got some new oomph: DiGenova and Toensing, a husband-and-wife duo who have worked on a host of contentious fights and have deep ties in Washington's tight-knit conservative legal community. They even reportedly secured a meeting about Firtash's case with Attorney General Bill Barr—a sit-down many criminal defense lawyers would kill for. Firtash's team has long argued he's the victim of a political prosecution and that the U.S. government only targeted him to blunt his influence in Ukraine. That's where Biden comes in. * * *Direct Hit* * *In 2014, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. After Yanukovych's government killed dozens of protesters, he was forced out and fled to Russia. He left behind a $20 billion hole in Ukraine's economy, and the country teetered on the brink of fiscal collapse. Enter Biden. The vice president helmed America's Ukraine policy, traveled to the country multiple times while in office, and said he spoke to the country's president and prime minister "probably on average once a week if you average it out over the last year." Kyiv was desperate for billions in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the U.S. holds sway. The Americans and the IMF pushed Ukraine to roll out a host of reforms to get the cash. "The Obama administration, and Vice President Biden in particular, led the international community to help advance gas sector reforms in Ukraine," said a former State Department official with knowledge of the dynamics. "The thinking of the United States was that establishing an open, transparent gas sector would be vital to Ukraine's fight against entrenched oligarchic corruption and would shore up the country's strategic stability in the face of Russian aggression." "Mr. Firtash's control of RosUkrEnergo, which exerted monopolistic control over regional gas distribution, would have been threatened by these reforms," the official added.Biden has touted his leverage over Kyiv, including successfully pushing for the ouster of the country's then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Biden wasn't the only one pushing for Shokin to leave as part of Ukraine's anti-corruption efforts. The prosecutor had put in anemic performance charging powerful and well-connected kleptocrats while in office and the IMF, the European Union, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all urged his ouster.Shokin had also scrutinized a gas company whose board included Biden's son Hunter Biden, a fact that Trump and his allies have cited as evidence of corruption. They note that Shokin's replacement wasn't much better. But the reporter who broke the Hunter Biden story years ago reported that Joe Biden's overall anti-corruption push in Ukraine likely endangered the company his son was linked to.The Americans and the IMF also pushed for a series of reforms to Ukraine's energy sector, including the gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, the Ukrainians unveiled a variety of changes: Kyiv changed the corporate governance of its state-owned gas company, Naftogaz; it passed its "Natural Gas Market" law, which the prime minister touted as having "de-oligarchized and de-monopolized" the gas market; and it rolled out a basket of regulatory changes to its gas sector—with Biden cheerleading along the way. In a July 2015 speech, Biden praised Ukraine for "closing the space for corrupt middlemen who rip off the Ukrainian people." "Middleman" was an epithet often aimed at oligarchs like Firtash, whose gas business had raked in millions by acting as a broker between Ukraine's state-owned gas company and Russia's Gazprom. "There is one of the biggest state-owned enterprises, which is Ukrainian Naftogaz, a gas company, that had very shadowy and non-transparent deals with middlemen and with the Russian Federation," Arseniy Yatseniuk, the country's prime minister at the time, said in a speech just two days after Biden's. "So last year we eliminated this middleman. His name is Mr. Firtash. He is under FBI investigation and expected to be extradited to the United States."Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Center for Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, said the changes damaged Firtash's business interests. "It hit him directly," he said. * * *Yessed to Death* * *Firtash, for his part, saw in Biden a swaggering politician overstepping his bounds—and a Ukrainian audience embarrassingly enchanted with what they saw."When Biden came to Ukraine and he spoke in parliament, I was reminded of an old story from the Soviet Union when the first secretary of the ObKom [the regional committee of the Communist Party] came, and on the one side all the komsomoltsi [youth members of the Communist Party] lined up, and on the other the communists, and they all took loyalty oaths. You understand? That's how approximately it was with Biden," Firtash told The Daily Beast in February.Biden's influence in Ukraine, he added, was "enormous."Firtash saw Yatseniuk, the prime minister at the time, as a pawn of Biden and other Americans. "Who appointed whom, and who actually governed the country?" he said. Firtash has also sparred with Andriy Kobolyev, who became CEO of Naftogaz under Yatseniuk. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—the indicted Giuliani associates—reportedly discussed an effort to oust Kobolyev earlier this year. Reuters has reported that Firtash financed their work. Firtash's lawyers say scrutiny of Biden's role is necessary for his criminal defense. "The U.S. and Austrian legal teams have always been focused on Dmitry Firtash's innocence," a spokesperson for DiGenova and Toensing said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. "The U.S. Justice Department has submitted false and misleading statements about Mr. Firtash and the evidence in his case to the Austrian courts. In the context of reopening the extradition case, the Austrian legal team sought former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin's sworn statement as one of numerous statements and other evidence submitted to the Austrian court. The former Vice President's role in Mr. Firtash's extradition is materially relevant to the Austrian lawyers' argument that the prosecution is political."The 2015 reforms appear to have cost Firtash a lot of money. It's difficult to estimate how much, as the oligarch's finances are quite opaque. Victoria Voytsitska was a member of the eighth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament and a member of its committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies, and Security. She told The Daily Beast that the gas market reforms have likely cost Firtash about $215 million to $400 million a year since their 2015 rollout. "Firtash really was pushed out of Naftogaz's financial flow," Kharchenko said. That said, many caution against overestimating the significance of the reforms Ukraine implemented. Firtash remains immensely wealthy and powerful, and controls Ukrainian gas distribution networks, known as oblgazes. And in the wake of the Maidan Revolution, he kept control of his assets in Ukraine. Oligarchs still dominate Ukraine's energy sector, which is far from a bastion of transparency.Ed Chow, an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden and the U.S. didn't push hard enough for major, structural changes. "To be fair, Biden was the most senior U.S. official interested in Ukraine," he said. "Without Biden, even less would have happened in terms of the U.S. government pressuring Ukraine. Ukrainians would have moved forward even less on reform. I would give the U.S. government a mixed grade." An American political consultant who's worked in Ukraine for years and spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said Kyiv has honed its ability to satisfy Westerners without upending the status quo. "The Ukrainians, if you look at their history, they've always been at the edge of one empire or another," the consultant said. "They were used to dealing with viceroys, representatives of the sultan, representatives of the Lithuanian empire, the Polish empire, the Russian and Soviet empires. They're masters at paying lip service to the guy who comes to town for a week. They will yes him to death, and then the minute he leaves, it's business as usual."But business changed for Firtash after 2015. And Biden stayed on his mind.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| A Southwest flight attendant who accused pilots of watching the plane bathroom with a hidden camera said she was pressured not to tell or 'no one would ever fly our airline again' Posted: 29 Oct 2019 06:02 AM PDT  Renee Steinaker is suing Southwest, claiming she saw two pilots watching a livestream of the plane bathroom on an iPad in 2017.
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| Iranian beauty queen stuck at Philippine airport for nearly 2 weeks fears death if deported Posted: 29 Oct 2019 09:42 AM PDT  Bahareh Zare Bahari continues to await her fate at the Manila international airport after arriving nearly two weeks ago from Dubai.
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| Convicted rapist freed from life sentence by mistake Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:00 AM PDT  A convicted rapist serving a life sentence was released from prison in error.US marshals are on the trail of Tony Maycon Munoz-Mendez, who was wrongly let out of Rogers state prison in Reidsville, Georgia, on 25 October.
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| Global leaders, tycoons flock to Saudi 'Davos in desert' Posted: 29 Oct 2019 10:37 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia drew top finance moguls and political leaders to its Davos-style investment summit Tuesday, in stark contrast to last year when outrage over critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder sparked a mass boycott. Organisers say 300 speakers from over 30 countries, including American officials and heads of global banks and sovereign wealth funds, were attending the three-day Future Investment Initiative (FII), nicknamed "Davos in the desert". A strong turnout at the event, aimed at projecting the insular kingdom as a dynamic investment destination, would help repair de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's global image that was tainted by journalist Khashoggi's gruesome killing last October.
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| Russian Defense Ministry: Trump’s al-Baghdadi victory lap is nothing but ‘propaganda’ Posted: 28 Oct 2019 11:43 AM PDT  At the White House Sunday morning, President Trump profusely thanked Russia for its alleged involvement in the killing of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, but Russia has disputed his claims.
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| Frustration mounts as California is hit with more blackouts Posted: 29 Oct 2019 12:42 PM PDT  Frustration and anger mounted across Northern California as the state's biggest utility began another round of fire-prevention blackouts Tuesday that could leave millions of people without electricity, some for five days or longer. The shut-offs, aimed at keeping windblown electrical equipment from sparking wildfires, came as fire crews raced to contain two major blazes in Northern and Southern California before the winds picked up dangerously again. The fires have destroyed dozens of homes in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles.
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| The Internet Wouldn't Be the Same Without These 11 Women Posted: 29 Oct 2019 12:54 PM PDT |
| UPDATE 1-Iraq's Sadr calls on rival to join him in ousting PM Posted: 29 Oct 2019 10:40 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Iraq's Sadr calls on rival to join him in ousting PM]( "UPDATE 1-Iraq's Sadr calls on rival to join him in ousting PM") Populist Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has invited his biggest political rival to work with him on ousting the country's prime minister as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets for a fifth day. In a statement on Tuesday Sadr, who leads parliament's largest bloc, asked Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the second-largest, to help him introduce a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. "To answer brother Abdul Mahdi, I thought asking you to call an early election would preserve your dignity but as you have refused, I invite brother Amiri to work with me on withdrawing confidence from you immediately," he said.
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| America's B-21 Stealth Bomber vs. China's H-20 Stealth Bomber (Who Flies First?) Posted: 28 Oct 2019 11:01 PM PDT  The first B-21 stealth bomber is in production for the U.S. Air Force. But the high-tech new bomber isn't alone. Photos have emerged depicting a scale model of China's own, in-development stealth bomber.
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| Teen who stole endangered lemur from California zoo sentenced to 3 months in prison Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:07 AM PDT  Newport Beach resident Aquinas Kaspar, 19, was sentenced to three months in federal prison for stealing the endangered animal last year.
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| Women for Trump? In Search of Hidden Voters Posted: 29 Oct 2019 06:56 AM PDT  ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Lara Trump thinks that her father-in-law, President Donald Trump, could use some extra support at this particular stage of his presidency. So along with Karen Pence, the second lady, Lara Trump traveled to this (slimly) blue state with a message for women who support him: Don't be afraid to speak up -- and by all means, please speak up."We know it's not easy sometimes to be a Trump supporter," she said in praise of the hundreds of women, most of them white, who attended her Women for Trump event this month. "We appreciate you so much. You stand up for what you believe in."Onstage next to her, Karen Pence, an evangelical Christian whose initial distaste for Donald Trump's unchaste behavior has been widely reported, gave rare public testimony about how much she thinks the president respects women."I just want to encourage you not to be afraid," Karen Pence told the group gathered in a conference room in St. Paul's historic train station. "This time, we have a record, so it's like, you can't tell me stuff on the fake news."The visit was one of several that high-profile Trump campaign operatives have made in recent weeks to reach out to women -- especially those who may have turned away from the president during the 2018 midterm elections and who may be increasingly squeamish as impeachment proceedings accelerate in Washington.Their other goal is to keep existing supporters motivated and encourage them to spread the campaign's message of a healthy economy, a reverence for the military and an aggressive approach to securing the border with Mexico."You are the keys to winning this election," Kayleigh McEnany, the campaign's national press secretary, told the crowd.But the Trump campaign is facing an uphill battle. A majority of women -- including more than 90% of black women and 60% of Hispanic women -- favored Trump's opponent Hillary Clinton in 2016. And though the 53% of white women who voted for Trump were a factor in his election, a recent Quinnipiac University poll showed plummeting support for him in that demographic.And now in Minnesota, a state that Trump narrowly lost but campaign officials think he could win in 2020, a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll released last week showed voters split on impeachment, and women overwhelmingly more likely to say that Trump has abused his power.As the impeachment inquiry proceeds, the gender gap may only widen, both in Minnesota and nationally."He had a big gender problem already," said Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners and a longtime pollster and political strategist for Democrats. "The way he responds is one of the things that women don't like. This really aggressive bullying-type tone is part of what women don't like about him."But Lara Trump dismissed the recent polling on impeachment and said campaign officials were hoping to attract women who might be motivated by the president's insistence that he was a victim of a partisan effort."Things like this impeachment inquiry only motivate people," she said, "certainly people that like what they've seen from this president."Lara Trump is among the best known of the quartet of high-profile Trump campaign stars looking to build support among women. The others are Kimberly Guilfoyle, a former Fox News personality who is dating Donald Trump Jr.; Katrina Pierson, a campaign-era aide who joined the Trump team after having worked on Sen. Ted Cruz's Senate campaign; and McEnany, the campaign's Harvard-educated national press secretary, who is one of the campaign's most visible fixtures."We don't feel we need to show a different president," McEnany said. "The authenticity that he shows is enough, and we think it's enough to win reelection."But the campaign's focus on selling Donald Trump's record does not impress Geoff Garin, a Democratic pollster who works with the super PAC Priorities USA, who argues that the president's record -- particularly on issues like health care -- will cut against him."Polls clearly and consistently show that Trump is in terrible shape with women, particularly with college-educated women and younger women, but not only with them," Garin said, suggesting that the campaign's statements to the contrary are simply wishful thinking. "While Trump brags on how well women are doing in the economy today, polls show that women voters are the least likely to feel that they have benefited from Trump's economic policies."The working premise of the Trump campaign's effort with women is that there is a hidden Trump voter -- loosely defined as a woman who is unregistered, unpersuaded or less than vocal about her support for the president -- who can be identified and motivated to vote. If the campaign can reach enough of them, the thinking goes, the pollsters can be proved wrong.Democratic pollsters concede that woman may exist."A lot of us are trying to correct for it," Lake said, referring to voter surveys that Democrats are conducting. She said the woman the Trump campaign is likeliest to appeal to is white, without a college degree, married and likely to vote the way her husband does on Election Day.She is also likely to hang up on pollsters, Lake said.Jamie Starkweather, a 42-year-old from Battle Creek, Michigan, is the type of woman campaign officials want to reach. Starkweather grew up a Democrat and voted for Clinton in 2016, then married a conservative and stopped working shortly after the election. Her husband's trucking business, she said, is doing well under this economy.Starkweather, who holds an associate degree, said she began to dislike what she saw as an intense focus on racial issues on social media, which she blames on liberals. Starkweather pointed to Trump's support among people like Candace Owens, who has rallied black supporters of the president, as evidence that he is not racist."If he's so racist, and if he's such a bad man," Starkweather added, "then why are these people supporting him?"To Starkweather and other Trump supporters, the accusations about Trump's abusive or misogynistic behavior toward women -- including comments on the leaked "Access Hollywood" audio taped in which Trump bragged about grabbing women by the genitals -- are outdated indiscretions committed long before he entered politics."He was a little bit of a playboy," Starkweather said. "Everybody knows that."Pierson, one of the few African-Americans on the Trump campaign, acknowledged the difficulty of finding such voters at an event in the Detroit suburbs."I applaud you all for having the courage to stand up for what you believe in," she told the group of women at the meeting.And within the campaign, there is a renewed urgency to find more women like Starkweather.In Madison, Wisconsin, last month, Guilfoyle visited with a dozen female volunteers she affectionately deputized as her "soldiers for truth," sharing stories of making phone calls and even winning a pig-kissing contest in support of the president."You have to do whatever it takes," Guilfoyle told the volunteers, to get people to vote."Give people a ride," she told them. "Do whatever it takes. Get them there."This sustained outreach is a marked contrast to the improvisational operation of 2016, run by a handful of trusted aides and family members.Back then, there were few full-time campaign staff members and fewer women, and Corey Lewandowski, the original campaign manager, periodically walked around the campaign headquarters on the fifth floor of Trump Tower with a baseball bat.Kellyanne Conway, now the White House counselor, would later take over that role, and become the first woman to run a winning Republican campaign. And the current campaign manager, Brad Parscale, makes a point of noting that more than half the 2020 team's employees are women.Conway, who repeatedly pressed the idea of a hidden voter with reporters in 2016, said in an interview that this voter was still out there. This voter, she said, is "tired of arguing with folks in their circle of life who are very opinionated and strong willed and loud" -- and opposed to Trump.At a rally in New Hampshire in August, McEnany spoke to supporters like Carly Downs, 33, who said she was initially unsure of whom to vote for in 2016 and in an interview boiled down her split-second voting decision by using an expletive to describe Clinton."We all know who he was prior to becoming the candidate," Downs said about Trump.The campaign says its fundraising data is evidence that hidden voters exist: Half of all donations in the first quarter came from women, compared with about 25% in 2016, according to a campaign official."He may be raising buckets of money," Lake, the pollster, observed, "but he's going to need it to win women back."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Federal Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses Against Jeffrey Epstein’s Cronies Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:47 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIt's been more than two months since Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, but the investigation into possible accomplices is still very much alive. In recent days, federal prosecutors probing the financier's sex-trafficking ring have been asking Epstein victims if they could serve as witnesses in the criminal case they are building.Representatives from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York traveled to Florida for an Oct. 15 meeting with several of Epstein's victims and their counsel. The staffers, who worked in the victim services unit, held a similar meeting in New York on Oct. 23, lawyers for the women and a law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.Two people familiar with the investigation said that prosecutors have heard from "dozens" of witnesses or victims since Epstein's arrest in July.Following Epstein's death in August, which was ruled a suicide by hanging, the Department of Justice said that it would continue to investigate anyone who helped Epstein procure underage girls or helped him to cover up crimes. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment on where the probe stands, only saying that the "investigation is continuing."The Biggest Bombshells in Newly Unsealed Epstein DocumentsSpencer Kuvin, a Palm Beach attorney who represents two women who were abused by Epstein, said the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York offered counseling services to the group of victims who gathered in Miramar, Florida.The representatives also worked to debunk conspiracy theories, which the victims have encountered online, related to Epstein's jailhouse suicide. According to Kuvin, prosecutors continue to battle wild speculation on how the 66-year-old money-manager died, along with rumors that he isn't dead at all."The U.S. Attorney's Office wanted to put to rest some of those conspiracy theories—that he was killed, that he's still alive. There are people still talking about that," Kuvin told The Daily Beast. "There are still people that think this was an absolute ruse and he's sitting pretty in another part of the world." Kuvin said investigators assured the women that their probe into Epstein's alleged co-conspirators was ongoing. The lawyer declined to comment on the identities of those suspected accomplices."They wanted to meet with some of the victims to discuss whether or not they could be potential witnesses in that ongoing investigation," Kuvin said. "One of my clients is going to meet with them privately about that issue."Epstein Victim: Ghislaine Maxwell Made Me Recruit 'Youngest-Looking' Girls for EpsteinDuring the Florida meeting, coordinators for federal prosecutors answered questions from the women, some of whom felt burned over their treatment 12 years ago, when the U.S. Attorney's Office in Miami secretly negotiated a cushy plea deal for Epstein. Back then, the feds promised the women they'd prosecute the creepy multimillionaire; instead, they collaborated with his legal team to downgrade the charges."The focus really is: What are you doing now and are you honestly going to pursue the co-conspirators or are those just words?" Kuvin said."They've been wronged by the system numerous times," Kuvin added of his clients and other victims of Epstein, "from the late 2000s all the way up to him killing himself. Every time an official comes forward and says, 'Don't worry. We're going to do the right thing,' they shake their heads and say, 'We'll see.'"In New York last week, prosecutors met with victims at a federal building downtown where local FBI headquarters is housed to inform the women of their rights and offer counseling services.Duncan Levin, a former assistant U.S. Attorney and chief of asset forfeiture at the Manhattan District Attorney's office, said Epstein's inner circle shouldn't rest easy. "There is at least some evidence that other people facilitated his crimes, and there's obviously enough public interest in the case that [prosecutors] aren't going to drop it just because he's dead," said Levin, managing partner at Tucker Levin, PLLC.Levin said prosecutors are likely to thoroughly investigate Epstein's alleged enablers and seek forfeiture of Epstein's properties that were used to facilitate the sex crimes. Jeffrey Epstein Reveals His Fortune Includes $56 Million in CashA bare-bones rundown of Epstein's assets submitted by his lawyers following his arrest, and bank records obtained by prosecutors, provided a glimpse into Epstein's net worth which is estimated at more than $550 million, but it may not be a complete accounting. The listed assets included $56 million in cash and another $500 million in properties and investments.The properties include $85 million worth of real estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands—including his own private island—an $8.6 million Paris apartment, a $12 million Palm Beach estate, a $17 million New Mexico ranch, and his Manhattan mansion—which Epstein claimed is worth $55 million but prosecutors have said is worth $77 million."Justice is a slow-moving train," Levin said. "This is par for the course. Investigations are measured in months and years not days and weeks.""I would be very nervous if I were somebody who helped Jeffrey Epstein at this point and would be seeking legal counsel," Levin added.Epstein was arrested on July 6 and charged with sex-trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex-trafficking. The indictment referred to three victims and three unnamed employees of Epstein who allegedly assisted in the sex pyramid scheme.According to the complaint, Epstein created a "network of minor victims in multiple states to sexually abuse and exploit" and "worked and conspired with others, including employees and associates who facilitated his conduct by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with Epstein."From 2002 to 2005, the indictment states, Epstein "enticed and recruited" minor girls as young as 14 to visit his mansions and engage in sex acts with him, after which he or his assistants gave the victims hundreds of dollars in cash.It's unclear which alleged co-conspirators prosecutors are targeting.In one July court filing, prosecutors requested a protective order, indicating they planned to produce certain documents and materials that "would impede, if prematurely disclosed, the Government's ongoing investigation of uncharged individuals."In 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, his non-prosecution agreement with the feds granted immunity to his alleged accomplices, "including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova."Where Are Jeffrey Epstein's Alleged Accomplices Now?Groff's lawyer, Michael Bachner, previously told The Daily Beast: "At no time during Lesley's employment with Epstein did she ever engage in any misconduct."Attorneys for Marcinkova told CNN last month that she was a victim herself and "is and has been severely traumatized." They added: "She needs time to process and make sense of what she has been through before she is able to speak out."According to the report, Kellen's spokeswoman had a similar explanation. "Very soon after Sarah was brought into Epstein's world, he began to sexually abuse her, and this abuse went on for years. Sarah continues to struggle with the trauma of her experiences and has chosen not to speak publicly at this time."Ross hasn't spoken publicly on the allegations.One lawsuit, filed by a Jane Doe in September against Epstein's estate, describes Kellen and Groff as a pair of adult employees who "specifically facilitated his abuse." The women scheduled the girl's visits to Epstein's Manhattan mansion and "often asked Doe to bring other girls with her," paying her every time she did so.Meanwhile, Groff, a former assistant to Epstein, is facing a lawsuit from Jennifer Araoz, who says she was in high school when Epstein raped and abused her. A second assistant, Cimberly Espinosa, is also listed as a defendant in the case.Araoz's complaint also targets Epstein's alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell—who's kept a low profile since the hedge-funder's arrest and has long faced accusations of recruiting underage girls and taking part in sexual abuse herself.Ghislaine Maxwell.Mark Mainz/GettyAnother lawsuit, recently filed by Priscilla Doe, alleges that "in addition to providing sexual instruction, Ghislaine Maxwell further made sure that Plaintiff and the other young females were constantly on call to sexually service Jeffrey Epstein."Maxwell isn't the only Epstein friend under scrutiny in the press. Authorities in France are looking into sexual misconduct claims against talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel, accused in civil court filings of procuring young models for Epstein to exploit."Jeffrey Epstein has told me that he has slept with over 1,000 of Brunel's girls, and everything that I have seen confirms this claim," said accuser Virginia Giuffre in a 2015 affidavit. Giuffre says she was 16 when Maxwell recruited her into Epstein's trafficking ring.In response, Brunel issued a statement denying Giuffre's claims, saying he never participated "directly nor indirectly, in the actions Mr. Jeffrey Epstein is being accused of."Models Say Jeffrey Epstein's Closest Pal Drugged, Raped ThemLast year, Epstein may have attempted to buy the silence of alleged co-conspirators just as his name re-emerged in the press.Prosecutors say Epstein wired payments to two unnamed women—one received $250,000 while the other got $100,000—shortly after the Miami Herald's exposé on Epstein's 2007 sweetheart deal. Those individuals were listed as possible co-conspirators in Epstein's non-prosecution agreement, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in July.At a bail hearing that month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller told the court that "after seven days of this case being public following months of a covert investigation, the evidence is already significantly stronger and getting stronger every single day."Many individuals identifying themselves as victims and witnesses have contacted the government," Rossmiller continued, "and we are in the process of receiving and corroborating this additional evidence."Brad Edwards, an attorney who sued the government on behalf of victims over Epstein's lenient plea deal, said, "I assume that if there are others that should be held accountable for crimes that can still be prosecuted, then they will."Edwards said he trusts that New York prosecutors "are trying to leave no stone unturned."Last month, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra refused to scrap the non-prosecution agreement that shielded Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators from facing serious charges—despite Marra's ruling that the agreement was illegal. Marra also denied the victims' requests for other relief: attorneys' fees, a hearing where victims could speak, and the release of documents including grand jury materials. The decision was part of a 2008 lawsuit Jane Does 1 and 2 filed against the United States, alleging the feds violated the Crime Victims' Right Act. Courtney Wild, who has come forward as Jane Doe 1, has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Oral arguments are scheduled for January."A ruling rescinding the immunity provisions would have permitted the victims to confer with government prosecutors about the possibility of obtaining prosecution of Epstein's co-conspirators in the Southern District of Florida — i.e., would have afforded them their rights under the CVRA," Wild's appeal states.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Gulf dispute unacceptable, must be resolved: Kuwaiti emir Posted: 29 Oct 2019 03:32 AM PDT  A damaging 30-month-old dispute between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours "is no longer acceptable" and must be resolved, Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said Tuesday. Addressing the opening session of parliament's new term, Sheikh Sabah said the Saudi-led boycott has greatly weakened the unity of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in which Qatar and its foes are members. GCC members Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in addition to Egypt, imposed a sea, land and air boycott of Qatar in June 2017 accusing it of ties to radical groups.
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| Woman in 'total control' of boyfriend charged in his suicide Posted: 28 Oct 2019 12:29 PM PDT  Inyoung You, 21, was "physically, verbally and psychologically abusive" to fellow Boston College student Alexander Urtula during an 18-month relationship
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| He was undocumented. Now he's exposing detention center abuse Posted: 29 Oct 2019 02:49 PM PDT  Tom Wong, a UC San Diego professor, has surveyed 600 asylum seekers and says the president's policy is 'sending people to die'Tom Wong, a UC San Diego professor, is uncovering the abuse immigrants face in overcrowded detention facilities. Photograph: Erik Jepsen/UC San Diego PublicationsTom K Wong's world shattered at age 16 in 1998 when his parents told him he was undocumented. The Riverside, California, teenager thought his life was over.Now 37, Wong is one of the prominent scholars in the US on immigration, most recently uncovering abuses inside detention centers in his latest University of California, San Diego research. The political science professor, whose family migrated from Hong Kong when he was two and overstayed their visas, released groundbreaking research on Tuesday on asylum seekers, exposing violence and suffering at the border as the Trump administration is escalating its crackdown on migrants.Wong surveyed more than 600 asylum seekers affected by Donald Trump's controversial "remain in Mexico" policy, which has forced tens of thousands to return to Mexico while their cases advance. Roughly, 85% reported that immigration detention facilities failed to provide adequate food and water and that they were unable to sleep due to overcrowding, cold temperatures and other conditions. Only 20% reported being able to take care of basic hygiene, such as showering and brushing their teeth.More than half said they faced verbal abuse inside detention, with some saying they also suffered physical abuse. Roughly 25% also had their property seized when taken into detention, including important documents and cash that was not returned to them, he said.A majority said they were forced to return to Mexico without any further investigation of the violence they might face there, which Wong said was a direct violation of the policy.While waiting in Mexico, one out of four said they were threatened with physical violence, and more said they ended up homeless.Asked about Wong's research, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) said the agency "provides safe, humane, clean, professionally run and appropriate conditions of confinement" and access to legal and translation services. A spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection, which also detains migrants, said it "takes allegations of mistreatment of individuals in our facilities seriously" and that employees found to violate standards "will be held accountable".Wong talked with the Guardian about his non-traditional academic career, the crisis at the border, and how he uses his PhD to fight back. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.Can you tell me what it was like to discover you were undocumented?My parents told me I couldn't go with my high school basketball team to Canada. Then they told me I couldn't get a driver's license. I couldn't get a job. And there was just a cascade of no, no, no. And finally my parents said it's not because we don't want you to do these things, it's because you can't. All my hopes and dreams about growing up were literally shattered in a single moment. And it was during a time when there wasn't the undocumented youth movement, so I wasn't able to find other students.I grew up in a predominantly Latino neighborhood, and before I found out I was undocumented, California was becoming a ground zero for this emerging anti-immigrant movement. I remember there were policy debates with the white kids on one side, the brown kids on the other, and me feeling like I had little understanding. But everything that was being said negatively toward my Latino classmates actually applied more directly to me.How did you overcome this and become an academic?I barely graduated high school after learning I was undocumented, because at the time I thought, what's the point? But I got married when I was 19 and I was able to adjust my immigration status. I paid for a summer politics class, and I thought if this professor can make a living teaching, maybe I can do the same.It took me years to realize I bring a different perspective to the study of immigration, politics and policy, that my history is my comparative advantage. It's a perspective that helps me ask questions that others don't. It took me a while to talk about my experience of being undocumented, because my parents' immigration status was still tenuous. But they're fine now, and I'm able to speak out.What has been most shocking to you about your findings on what happens to asylum seekers?Some findings were simultaneously shocking, but also very expected since we've heard anecdotal reports. There were over 200 incidents of verbal abuse, dozens of instances of physical abuse and even property being taken away. I heard of someone losing their life savings.The findings about language access also really stuck out. Individuals are getting instructions about critically important steps in languages that they don't speak: often Central American asylum speakers who speak an indigenous language by default are given instructions in Spanish. In San Diego, there are a lot of different languages – Asian Indians seeking asylum who speak Hindi were given instructions in English or Spanish. I find it hard to believe that we as a country can't find a Hindi speaker. This is a basic due process tenet.What do we now know about the conditions people face when they are forced to return to Mexico?So many have experienced or been threatened with physical violence while waiting. Despite the handshake agreement between the United States and Mexico that Mexico is responsible for the humanitarian needs of these asylum seekers being returned, we areputting people in harm's way by returning them to Mexico.What do you think is most important for the public to understand about the impact of Trump's policies on asylum seekers right now?This administration wants to see net zero refugee admissions, which we are getting close to. This is a core part of the agenda. It's not just in disregard of international and domestic law, but it's in disregard of the fact that so many of the asylum seekers who are being turned away are seeking protection from persecution. It's an agenda that is blind to the experiences of these families. The inevitable result is that people will be sent to circumstances where they will likely die.What do you hope is the impact of your work and your findings?I used to believe in facts swaying public opinion. But I fear we are in a political moment where the ability to select which facts to consider true is making the work we do less important. Now it may be very difficult to move public opinion when opinions are formed on such a visceral level.But facts still matter. The truth still matters, because what is happening now is the administration is often acting first, and then the courts are litigating later. So even if the public is less and less swayed by the facts on the ground, judges still are.Were there moments in your career where you found academia unwelcoming?It can be strange having lived through something and then hearing about that subject through the perspective of somebody who studies the topic, but doesn't have that personal connection. But I do quantitative work, and at the end of the day, the data speak much louder than my own personal background.What's the hardest part of doing academic work that is relevant to urgent policy matters?A lot of academics are just scared about being wrong and being publicly wrong. But I believe in the importance of the work, and that means I need to be confident that I can stand by it. A few years ago I thought my bar was peer review in an academic journal. Now I understand my bar to be that as well as, "Can this pass muster with a federal judge or can this withstand a deposition from attorneys for the Department of Justice?"What effect does the work have on you personally?It's often miserable. It's difficult to hear. It's difficult to interact with people, to see women and little kids who are the ages of my own children in shelters in Mexico, not knowing what's going on. It is difficult to not internalize it. But I believe in the work. If it's not me, I'm afraid there won't be others who step up. Because it'll be too easy for those others who want to step up to then step out after really understanding how difficult it is to have these conversations.How do you think we can get out of this crisis moment?We have to know our immigration policy past. Every generation gets to decide for itself, whether it embraces diversity through our immigration system or pushes it away by closing our golden door. We are defining for this generation how we are answering the question of what it means to be a nation of immigrants. And we have done that historically. And in some periods in our history, we have closed our doors to immigrants, and in other periods we have opened them again. This is cyclical. It is difficult to live through, but this has been a cyclical part of our immigration policy past.Every four years we as a country get to collectively answer whether or not we still believe in this idea that we are a nation of immigrants. In 2020, we will get to vote.
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| 8 Hero Dogs That We Don't Deserve Posted: 29 Oct 2019 02:51 PM PDT |
| Trump mimics Dayton shooting during first visit to Chicago as president: 'Boom boom boom' Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:56 PM PDT  President Trump on Monday mimicked officers killing a mass shooter in Dayton, Ohio, who murdered nine people with a semiautomatic rifle in August. "Boom, boom, boom," the president said. "They were out there. Perfect. There was no fear. There was no anything. They reacted."
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| Baby Shortage Prompts China’s Unwed Mothers to Fight for Change Posted: 28 Oct 2019 02:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for Next China, a weekly email on where the nation stands now and where it's going next.For generations, a Chinese woman who gave birth out of wedlock was shunned by society and discriminated against by authorities. Now, as the Communist Party seeks to boost a slowing birthrate, that is starting to change.Yue Li, based in the southern port city of Guangzhou, thought she would face a range of obstacles in getting her son legal documents after she gave birth last year following a separation from her ex-boyfriend. But she was surprised how easy it was to access maternity benefits and obtain a residential permit known as a hukou for her son-- so much so that she posted a step-by-step guide for others in a WeChat account for non-conventional families.Even though authorities finally scrapped the one-child policy in 2016, along with rules requiring a marriage certificate for hukous, implementation has been mixed across China's 31 provinces. In Guangdong, where Yue lives, provincial authorities have removed fines that were levied against unwed mothers for flouting the nation's "family planning" laws."To be honest, the looser policies really gave me a lot more courage to have the baby," Yue wrote in the WeChat account named Diverse Family Network, which advocates reproductive rights and has more than 2,000 followers. "It would not have been possible a year earlier. The penalties would have cost tens of thousands of yuan!"Zhan Yingying, who runs the WeChat account, said more than 100 unwed mothers from a dozen of China's most developed cities told her they hadn't been harassed by the authorities over fines or encountered problems getting hukous for their children."We do see signs of easing restrictions in places," Zhan said by phone, adding that more women are speaking out and pushing for change. "If they don't tell the stories, they will always be ignored."Changing AttitudesThe societal shift is underway as the Communist Party gets desperate for newborns. The number of babies born in the country dropped to the lowest level in almost 60 years in 2018, signaling the looser two-child policy has done little to reverse its slowing birthrate, and worsening the outlook for growth in the world's second-largest economy.After taking power in 1949, the Communist Party codified centuries of culture that placed the traditional nuclear family at the center of society into so-called "family planning" laws, leaving little room to accommodate single parents or same-sex relationships. While no law in China directly penalizes women for having children outside of marriage, for a long time almost every aspect of her child's life -- including during pregnancy -- was made harder without a father named on official paperwork.There is no official data on single mothers in China. A state-run Shanghai media outlet called The Paper estimated that more than 1 million people have been born out of wedlock in China, based on the 2010 census and a study conducted by local academics in 2014.Attitudes toward single parents are changing in China, as they are in the rest of the world. In a survey released in 2016 of about 2,800 Chinese by three NGOs including the Rainbow Lawyers Network, more than 86% of respondents said it was acceptable for a single woman to have a child, and 75% said it was acceptable for lesbian couples to have children.He Yafu, a Guangdong-based demographer, said moves to give back reproductive rights to individuals would have "little impact" on the overall fertility rate as financial pressures, high housing prices and the demands of work often discourage both single and married women from having children. But, he said, the moves are "still significant as it means a departure from decades of family planning policies."Losing BattleAlthough things are getting better, many women still struggle against ingrained biases in many parts of China. Zou Xiaoqi has been locked in a two-year court battle with the Shanghai Social Insurance Fund Management Center as it refused to reimburse her for medical expenses after having a child because she couldn't produce a document that required a marriage certificate."You won't find explicit discriminatory policies in official documents against unwed mothers but in reality they are everywhere," said Zou, the mother of a two-year-old son. "Unwed mothers' reproductive rights aren't explicitly denied in the country's national law, but once you get on the ground and start to claim your benefits, it's just impossible."In China, employers pay into a government fund that covers its female employees' maternity insurance and salary when they have a baby, but requirements for making claims differ between cities and provinces. Zou's case is now before the Shanghai Supreme Court after she lost twice in lower courts."For us, it's no longer about claiming the benefits, or even about winning," said Li Jun, Zou's lawyer. "It's about the social awareness toward those women who are denied from their legal rights, just because they brought babies into this world without that piece of paper, a marriage certificate."Unlike many in China, Zou is aware of her rights and has the means to fight for them. She's college-educated, works for a foreign company, and is able to afford a live-in nanny who charges 7,000 yuan ($990) a month. Born in 1977, Zou came of age during China's period of opening up under former leader Deng Xiaopeng, a time that led many to question the strictures governing daily life and assert their rights more strongly.Seeking ChangeFor the younger generation, the question is even more fundamental. Alan Zhang, a 28-year-old single freelance film director, has sought to push China's lawmakers to reverse a rule that excludes single women from accessing state-operated sperm banks."Why do I have to get married to become a mother?" Zhang, whose Chinese name can also be translated as Ellen, asked in a January WeChat post seeking a sperm donor. "I'm ready physically and psychologically, but the sperm banks in China do not accept applications from unwed mothers."Zhang got mixed responses to her post. Along with critics calling her irresponsible and radical, she also received applications from a dozen candidates both inside and outside China, though none of them met her standards.Zhang ended up writing letters to the 64 delegates of the National People's Congress, China's legislature, who are from Jilin -- the only province that doesn't exclude single women from the state-operated sperm banks. She asked them to push for the same reform nationwide, but never heard back.One lawmaker who has sought change hasn't had much luck either. Huang Xihua, a delegate of China's legislature and the deputy secretary general of the government in Huizhou, a city in Guangdong, proposed removing all limits on family planning at this year's annual gathering. Women make up about a quarter of the NPC, which has almost 3,000 members.Huang has also called on the National Health Commission to remove the specific regulations barring single women from sperm banks, but told Bloomberg News she hasn't received any feedback from them on her suggestion. The National Health Commission, which formulates the nation's family planning policies, didn't immediately respond to a fax seeking comment on the progress of reforms for unwed mothers."As a country modernizes, there is little it can do to boost fertility: reducing the cost of female births and introducing public measures are necessary, but not enough," Huang said. "What is needed is greater independence for women, a break with traditional patriarchal structures and recognition of the legal rights of children born out of wedlock."To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Ex-California governor slams GM for backing Trump on tailpipe emissions Posted: 29 Oct 2019 04:11 AM PDT  Former California Governor Jerry Brown slammed General Motors Co on Tuesday for siding with the Trump administration in its bid to bar California from setting its own fuel efficiency and tailpipe emission rules for passenger cars and trucks. "It's really something at this very moment when California is burning that General Motors jumps on the bandwagon as Trump's lapdog to join the opposition to undercut California's rules," Brown said, referencing the wildfires currently besieging California.
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| 'Swing Set Susan' charged with impersonating a police officer after threatening to arrest Hispanic teens Posted: 28 Oct 2019 07:09 AM PDT  Video of a white woman threatening to arrest a group of Hispanic teens at a park in Texas has been viewed more than 5 million times.
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| Syrian and Turkish armies in deadly border clash Posted: 29 Oct 2019 05:31 PM PDT  The armies of Syria and Turkey traded deadly fire Tuesday for the first time since Ankara launched an anti-Kurdish offensive in early October, as Russia announced Kurdish forces had withdrawn from the key border area. Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Kurdish forces had pulled back from the entire Turkish-Syrian border in accordance with a deal struck between Ankara and regime backer Moscow in Sochi earlier this month. "The withdrawal of armed units from territory where a security corridor should be created has been completed ahead of time," Shoigu said, as quoted by Russian news agencies.
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| The Preppy Murderer Who Cried Rape—and the Media Listened Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:47 AM PDT  Paul DeMaria/NY Daily News Archive via Getty ImagesTo understand why the MeToo movement is so necessary—and long overdue—look no further than The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park, Sundance TV's five-part documentary series about the 1986 death of Manhattan 18-year-old Jennifer Levin at the hands of her 19-year-old friend and occasional lover Robert Chambers. It was a case that rocked New York City, became daily tabloid headline fodder, and eventually attracted national attention, thanks to the fact that Levin and Chambers were attractive, well-off white kids, as well as Chambers' claim that, though he had committed the crime, it was an accidental byproduct of Levin's attempts to rape him. A circus ensued, fueled by a degree of sexist victim-blaming so severe that it's stunning to remember that, as recently as 30 years ago, America could be so blind to, and/or simply comfortable with, the misogyny it was perpetrating.Briskly directed by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, The Preppy Murder—a three-night event debuting on Nov. 13 on both Sundance TV and AMC—takes a straightforward approach to its tale, beginning with the Aug. 26, 1986, discovery of Levin's body under a tree in Central Park. It was clear from the deep bruising around Levin's neck, and her numerous other wounds and scratches, that this was a homicide. And it didn't take long for cops, led by detective Mike Sheehan, to find a suspect. Visiting the home of Robert Chambers, they discovered the 6-foot-4 young man with a face full of deep scratches. Brought in for questioning, Chambers chose to speak without a lawyer, and his videotaped explanation of what had transpired, replayed at length here, would form the basis for the prosecution and defense's subsequent cases.'The Morning Show': A MeToo Screed Against Matt Lauer That's Almost GreatLouis C.K. Is Going on a Big 'Comeback' Tour. He Hasn't Earned His Forgiveness.According to Chambers, he and Levin had met the prior evening at Dorrian's, an Upper East Side bar that served as the de facto clubhouse for the area's affluent prep-school crowd, who—despite residing in a crime-ridden 1980s New York—were habitually left to their own devices by absentee jet-setting parents. Following a row with his current 16-year-old flame Alex Kapp, Chambers stated that he had reluctantly left Dorrian's with Levin and walked uptown to the park, where Levin, who'd previously slept with Chambers a few times, proceeded to tie his hands behind his back with her panties and mount him. Objecting to her belligerent advances, he had grabbed her around the neck and tossed her over his shoulder, resulting in her unintentional death. He'd sat stunned across the street until after her body had been found, and then gone home and fallen asleep until the police arrived.Hearing Chambers' preposterous version of events today, it's hard to fathom how anyone could have bought it for a second. The notion that this strapping man had been physically assaulted by a petite woman rang false, as did the notion that this had all been an instance of unwanted "rough sex" that had gotten out of hand—an angle that became popularized by the sensationalist New York Post and New York Daily News. Furthermore, Chambers' account didn't jibe with the obvious and severe strangulation marks found on Levin's corpse, which indicated that this attack had been prolonged and deliberate. Nonetheless, because the handsome Chambers looked like a member of the Kennedy clan, all chiseled good looks and well-heeled suits, the idea that someone like him (i.e. cultured, debonair, Caucasian) couldn't have committed such an atrocity took hold, especially thanks to the media-manipulating efforts of his repugnant lawyer Jack Litman.Through interviews with Levin's mother Ellen, her sister Danielle, and other friends, The Preppy Murder puts the lie to the heinous character-assassination portrait of Levin that Litman and company promoted through one newspaper story after another. Their fury over Levin's slut-shaming is matched only by their anguish over her loss and the ensuing ordeal of her public trial. What emerges is a clear-cut case of societal prejudice against women, and in particular, a young, carefree, independent teenager whose only crime was that she apparently wanted to sleep with a guy she liked. That was enough to open the floodgates to endless slander about her being a wild child who liked "rough sex" and kept a "sex diary." Moreover, it afforded Chambers an opportunity to cast himself as a choir boy—literally, as he leaned heavily on the Catholic Church for support, to the point that Cardinal Thomas McCarrick even wrote a letter to the judge on Chambers' behalf during his bail hearing.If there's a bombshell in The Preppy Murder—which is driven by a bounty of archival news footage and interviews with Sheehan, prosecuting DA Linda Fairstein (of Central Park Five notoriety), defense attorney Roger Stavis and local reporters Rosanna Scotto and Magee Hickey—it's the suggestion that the church's perplexing support of this cretin may have been the result of earlier sexual abuse by McCarrick, who was defrocked earlier this year for being a serial pedophile. There's no concrete proof of that claim, unlike Chambers' indisputable drug addiction and habit of burglarizing his ritzy acquaintances at every opportunity. As the show reveals, he was an impostor in this moneyed milieu—his mother, a nurse to New York's elite, had shoehorned him into a lifestyle of the rich and famous—and a blank-faced sociopathic creep with no sense of accountability. Jennifer LevinSundanceTVStern and Sundberg convey a potent sense of the privileged environment in which this tragedy took place, and recount their story with a clarity that brings the horror of it all home. Though there are occasional hiccups, such as soundbite-y comments from Fairstein and Sheehan used to segue into commercial breaks, the series gets the facts right, as well as the underlying sexism that turned the affair into a three-ring fiasco.To say that Chambers' first-degree guilt is obvious in hindsight is to imply that it wasn't evident at the time, no matter that a deadlocked jury compelled attorneys to strike an outrageous plea deal that sent Chambers away for five to 15 years on a lesser manslaughter charge. That he's still behind bars thanks to a later conviction for drug dealing at least means he'll be off the streets until 2024. But the revelation that he received more time for that bust than for his killing of Levin simply underscores the twisted priorities of a society (and criminal justice system) that cared more about narcotics than the life of an innocent woman—and demonstrates why the feminist social movements of today remain so vital.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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| Senators grill Boeing CEO over plane involved in 2 crashes Posted: 29 Oct 2019 12:02 PM PDT  Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg faced withering questions from senators Tuesday about two crashes of 737 Max jets and whether the company concealed information about a critical flight system. "We have made mistakes, and we got some things wrong," Muilenburg conceded. Some members of the Senate Commerce Committee cut Muilenburg off when they believed he was failing to answer their questions about a key flight-control system implicated in both crashes.
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