| Children were told to ‘build the wall’ at White House Halloween party Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:30 AM PDT  A Halloween party on Oct. 25 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in D.C. featured candy, paper airplanes — and concerning for some attendees — a station where children were encouraged to help "Build the Wall" with their own personalized bricks.
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| Guard linked to beating had been subject of complaints Posted: 02 Nov 2019 12:49 PM PDT ![Guard linked to beating had been subject of complaints]( "Guard linked to beating had been subject of complaints") A guard accused in a lawsuit of beating a female inmate so severely she was left paralyzed had previously been accused of trading cigarettes for sex, insubordination, harassing inmates and other actions at a Florida prison, according to a news report. Despite the long history of accusations, the Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala never fired Keith Turner and he had been promoted to lieutenant a few years ago, The Miami Herald reported . Cheryl Weimar said in a lawsuit that she was nearly beaten to death by four guards in August at the prison.
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| Salmonella linked to ground beef leaves 8 ill, 1 dead Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:32 AM PDT  Ten people in six states have become infected with salmonella dublin after eating ground beef, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday.
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| Vietnam 'strongly condemns' human trafficking after UK truck tragedy Posted: 01 Nov 2019 10:14 PM PDT  Vietnam said Saturday that it "strongly condemns" human trafficking, after British police confirmed 39 people found dead in a truck last week are believed to be Vietnamese. Most of the victims are thought to come from central Vietnam, where easy-to-find brokers help to arrange trips to Europe -- often via Russia -- for migrants hoping to earn money overseas. The extreme risks of the journeys were laid bare after eight women and 31 men were found dead in a refrigerated container in Essex, east of London, on October 23.
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| The U.S. Military is Sending Thousands of Troops and Even B-1 Bombers into Saudi Arabia (To Counter Iran) Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:30 AM PDT  And that is just for starters.
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| ‘Not our mission’: private fire crews protect the insured, not the public Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:00 AM PST  Agencies hired to protect assets look like first responders but, if a fire puts them in danger, they can become a liabilityFirefighters work to defend homes from an approaching wildfire in Sonoma, California. Photograph: Jim Urquhart/ReutersThe engines, big and small, came from all over the country to fight the Kincade fire in the Sonoma county wine region of California. There were trucks from Nevada, South Dakota, Colorado – and from the wildfire protection unit of home insurer AIG.As fires have increasingly encroached on development in California's wildlands in recent years, communities are grappling with a new paradigm of risk. If the fire creates an existential crisis for people living in high-risk areas, it also creates one for the companies that insure their homes.Insurers of houses, timber and agriculture have contracted with private firefighting agencies for decades. But now, thanks to longer, more devastating fire seasons, the business is booming.While some wealthy communities and individuals have contracted their own private firefighting services to defend mansions on hilltops from flying embers, the majority of these agencies work on behalf of insurance companies. And as fire risk extends to more homes in California's flammable brushland and forest, these crews are becoming a fixture in middle class neighborhoods. It is something of a return to a pre-American civil war model of pay-for-play firefighting, before the government employed first responders.Firefighters protect a Pacific Palisades area home in Los Angeles from the flames of a wildfire. Photograph: Christian Monterrosa/Associated Press"Any policyholder that would like to have wildfire services, all they need to do is shop from more than a dozen insurers out there that have these services," said David Torgerson, president of Wildfire Defense Systems, a private firefighting firm. "It's not a special policy. It's not something that's exclusive. It's something that the insurance industry has found brings value."Insured losses for the 2018 California wildfire season topped $12bn. Insurance companies are looking for any way to reduce payouts in the future, whether by raising rates, dropping coverage, or putting new risk mitigation measures into place – including, in some cases, these kinds of private fire crews.The services they provide focus primarily on fire prevention mitigation – cutting back vegetation, creating clear defensible space around structures and providing consultations on other home hardening work. As in the Kincade fire, private crews also sometimes access mandatory evacuation zones during active wildfires to protect valuable assets while the embers are flying – a move that makes some government firefighters and local authorities uneasy."Generally speaking, from our perspective, we have found that private fire crews are not first responders," said Carroll Wills, communications director for California Professional Firefighters.Firefighters watch from a home in the Pacific Palisades area as a helicopter drops water on a wildfire. Photograph: Christian Monterrosa/Associated PressPrivate fire crews travel into evacuation zones in trucks equipped with water tanks and hoses and retardant, looking nearly identical to their government counterparts – though their sole task is to protect specific insured homes.Torgerson, president of Wildfire Defense Systems, noted that while his teams are capable of fighting fires, "that's not our mission in this case"."Our task with the insurance industry is more so to prepare the homes and secure them, prior to and after the fire, and contribute to the survivability," he said."Our [wildfire protection unit] teams are not private firefighters," said Matt Gallagher, a spokesman for AIG – yet they station engines with full tanks in evacuation zones during wildfires that can turn dangerous within seconds.Lawmakers grew concerned that civilians would see these private engines and get a false sense of security about remaining in evacuation zones. Government firefighters voiced complaints about rolling onto a scene, believing the area to be fully evacuated, only to find private fire crews who had not alerted incident command.In the 2018 Woolsey fire, Kim Kardashian famously hired private firefighters to save her $50m Calabasas mansion – a crew that, said Wills, never told anyone of their plans. "That's just incredibly dangerous," Wills said. A helicopter drops water on a brush fire during the Woolsey Fire in Malibu, California. Photograph: Ringo HW Chiu/Associated PressPrior to the 2018 fire season, California lawmakers passed a bill requiring private crews to alert public incident command and obtain permission before entering an evacuation zone. The law codified a best-practice guideline put in place in 2008. Torgerson, who founded his company that same year, said his company has always followed these directives, and will continue to do so now that the law is in effect."We've responded to more than 650 wildfires since 2008, and more than 97% of the time, we've been granted access to the evacuation zones to conduct these insurance missions," he said. "We've coordinated with hundreds of incident command teams."Torgerson said he does not know why his crews were not permitted 3% of the time."We're fully qualified under state and federal certification and training processes," he said. "We are the same resources that the federal government hires."But their mission is fundamentally different. Government firefighters are tasked with saving life, first and foremost, so if the fires turn and the private crews require rescue, "they are a liability", Wills said."We understand that when people see these massive fires, there's a tendency to say, 'Well, more is better'," Wills said. "From our perspective, more really isn't better. The more that we need is more fully trained and battle-tested, front-line firefighters and emergency responders."
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| To Shake Up Trump, Kim Jong Un Gets All Mystical—Then Launches Missiles Posted: 02 Nov 2019 02:09 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Korean Central News Agency/APFrom sacred Mount Paektu, the Korean peninsula's highest peak on the North's border with China, to the 10,000 spire-like pinnacles of Mount Kumgang just above the line with South Korea, Kim Jong Un has cast himself of late as the bold, fearless, iconic leader literally daring to ascend the highest peaks in pursuit of power over the divided country.There's nothing remotely subtle about the campaign that has pictured him on a white stallion riding through the early snows of another frigid winter on Mt. Paektu or striding up the slopes of Kumgang.It's all about projecting the image of a hero in a campaign of intimidation aimed at both the U.S. and South Korea in a climactic drive to get President Donald Trump and the South's President Moon Jae-in to yield at last to his demands. North Koreans Think Trump Admin Talks Are 'Sickening.' So Should You.And now Kim had added some very important missile tests to his message. In a sequence that clearly had been pre-scripted as the second act after those daring ascents, North Korean gunners test-fired what the North's Academy of Defense Science proudly described as "super-large multiple rocket launchers."Kim, having already appeared as a fit if somewhat portly outdoorsman, did not have to be standing by to press the button. While that image of the brave warrior dominated the state media, the academy reported "the perfection of the continuous fire system" as "verified through the test-fire to totally destroy with super-power the group target of the enemy and designated target area by surprise strike of the weapon system of super-large multiple rocket launchers."The ferocity of the test, at least as claimed, carried one especially disturbing message. That kind of firepower isn't for use against American or Japanese soil, but could devastate America's largest overseas base at Camp Humphreys, 40 miles south of Seoul, 60 miles below the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas.The base, no doubt shielded by all manner of sensors, missiles and other wizardry, has got to be a sitting duck for the North's increasingly advanced weaponry. Most of America's 28,500 troops in Korea, plus families and civilian employees, are now there after the closure of U.S. bases below the DMZ and withdrawal of the central headquarters for U.S. Forces Korea from the historic Yongsan base in Seoul. Nearby Osan Air Base is headquarters for the Seventh Air Force, also an easy target."Megabase in Korea's Danger Zone," is the cover story in this week's Army Times magazine. The North Koreans "said they've been developing these weapons to be able to strike a 'fat target,'" David Maxwell, senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who spent years in Korea as an army officer, is quoted as saying. "We assume that the 'fat target' is Camp Humphreys as well as Osan Air Base."Even as U.S. forces were moving into Humphreys, writes Kyle Rempfer, "North Korea has developed large caliber rockets and ballistic missiles as well as a nuclear capability" within range of the expanded 3,500-acre base. "North Korea's 300-millimeter multiple rocket launchers and new KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles both have an advertised capability to reach Camp Humphreys."Not-to-worry is, nonetheless, the soothing message from Moon and his aides. Echoing Trump's earlier expressions of non-concern about the North's short-range missile tests, South Korea's national security adviser, Chung Eui-yong, said the latest shots, the 12th this year but the first in a month, were not "very grave threats." In fact, he argued, "our missile defense and intercept capabilities" are "absolutely superior."With two months to go before the end-of-year "deadline" set by the North for the U.S. to propose a new deal, however, the testing assumes seriously intimidating overtones. At the top of the North's demands are an end to sanctions and a "peace declaration"– but no real end to its nuclear program, long since sanctified in the North's constitution.As for Moon, Kim has come up with a bargaining tool that demonstrates the futility of any deal with North Korea. He's demanding South Korea demolish or remove an entire tourist resort at the foot of Mount Kumgang, aka Diamond Mountain, heaping scorn on what was once the most visible showcase for promoting North-South rapprochement.North Korea's state media is dressing up the demand with images of Kim, sporty in a white shirt tailored to fit his contours, appearing to conquer Kumgang on foot just as he rode up the slopes of Paektu on a white horse. Whether he got to the top of Paektu on the horse as claimed, the imagery from Kumgang leaves no doubt he trudged only far enough for a photo-op that provided the setting for his message to Moon.Packing 290 pounds on his rotund five-foot seven-inch frame, Kim was not at all fit for the hike. Missing are photographs showing him at the majestic Kuryong waterfall, which tumbles 84 meters down granite cliffs. Only four kilometers up the trail, it's the destination for just about everyone else who's been there.Also further up the trail, a special wooden bench, lovingly painted and repainted a sparkling dark blue, is said to be exactly where Kim Il Sung sat to gaze on Mount Kumgang, some of whose many pinnacles are often lost in the clouds far above. A low-lying chain link fence keeps disrespectful tourists from sitting where the late "Great Leader" once sat. No doubt Kim Jong Un would love to plant his ample posterior on granddad's bench, but he got nowhere near it.Rather than at the falls or on the bench, Kim is seen with imagery selected and edited to give an impression of an indomitable figure conquering the mountain. Shots show him with a stout walking stick standing on a footbridge, smiling with aides in a clearing, edging by large boulders, his coyly smiling wife, Ri Sol Ju, close behind. Viewers don't need to know all these photos were staged where the trail begins.The scenic setting provides the backdrop for a shocking message to South Korea—and the U.S, too. In a devastating setback to South Korea's efforts at reconciliation, Kim declared the facilities built by South Korea's largest construction firm, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, were "ugly" and "unpleasant" to look at. North Korea has demanded South Korea set a date in writing for removal or demolition of all of them, including 10 hotels, sports and entertainment facilities, a duty-free shopping center and dozens of individual structures to accommodate tour groups.Kim's denunciation of the facilities at Kumgang, which also include an 18-hole golf course and a hot springs spa, is a calculated rebuff to President Moon, who still fantasizes about reopening the resort to South Koreans. Seoul has barred them from going there ever since a South Korean woman was shot and killed by a North Korean soldier in July 2008 while wandering outside the tourist area to gaze at the sunrise. Another problem is how to get around sanctions blocking commercial transactions with the North.It was as though Kim wanted to portray himself as a daring sportsman, a larger-than-life character afraid of nothing before getting down to the serious business of dissing the South as punishment for Moon's failure to stand up to U.S demands for the North to give up its nuclear program.As for the U.S., Kim's heroics provided the window-dressing for a series of intimidating messages for his friend President Trump. After the North's state media put out photos showing Kim as a virile figure fit to climb any mountain, subordinates came out almost daily with threats against the U.S. for dithering on a deal."The Korean peninsula is at a critical crossroads," said the country's second ranking leader, Choe Ryong-hae, at a confab of the so-called non-aligned movement in Azerbaijan. The choice was "either moving towards durable peace along with the trend of detente, or facing again a touch-and-go crisis."That warning came after another top leader, Kim Yong Chol, resurgent after having been reported in May to have been executed for the failure of the Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi, said Trump had better not count on his friendship with Kim to keep the North from testing nukes and missiles."The U.S. is seriously mistaken if it has the idea of exploiting the close personal relations" between Trump and Kim, said Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Workers' Party Central Committee, in a statement carried by Pyongyang's official news agency. The U.S., he said, is now "more desperately resorting to the hostile policy" toward North Korea. Those stern words, coming right after Kim's shows on Kumgang and Paektu, left the South Koreans with no convincing response.South Korea's unification ministry called for "creative solutions" to the entire problem of dismantling the resort complex and keeping Kim happy. North Korea turned a cold shoulder to the South's suggestions for "individual" tours that might avoid sanctions.Kim's current observations from the bottom of Kumgang were meant to show how South Koreans desecrated this scenic wonderland when they opened it to tourism in deals made by South Korea's Kim Dae-jung, the country's president from 1998 to 2003."Mt. Kumgang is our land of blood," Kim Jong Un is quoted as saying. "We have our own sovereignty and dignity on the cliffs and trees." Those hideous South-made structures, he said, were "severely damaging the landscape" and "neglecting the management of cultural tourism."While Trump Shrugs, North Korea's Building Better MissilesRead 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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| Krispy Kreme orders student to halt doughnut resale service Posted: 03 Nov 2019 11:58 AM PST  An enterprising Minnesota college student who drove to Iowa every weekend to buy hundreds of Krispy Kreme doughnuts that he then sold to his own customers in the Twin Cities area has been warned by the confectionary giant to stop. There have been no Krispy Kreme stores in Minnesota for 11 years. Jayson Gonzalez, 21, of Champlin, Minnesota, would drive 270 miles (430 kilometers) to a Krispy Kreme store in Clive, Iowa, pack his car with up to 100 boxes, each carrying 12 doughnuts, then drive back up north to deliver them to customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul.
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| Medicare Can Be Confusing: 6 Top Questions, Answered Posted: 02 Nov 2019 07:08 AM PDT  Most people on Medicare report that they are very satisfied with their health care coverage -- but the program is complicated. Medicare features an alphabet soup of plans, coverage choices, premium levels and enrollment rules.The New York Times recently invited readers to submit their questions about Medicare and responded to some of the most frequent ones.-- What kind of monthly premiums for either original Medicare or Advantage can I realistically plan on budgeting, especially considering inflation?Health care inflation has been running about double the rate of general inflation. HealthView Services, a research and consulting firm, expects annual health care inflation to run an average of 5% to 5.5% through most of the coming decade.The standard monthly premium for Part B (outpatient services) this year is $135.50; Medicare's trustees forecast annual increases averaging 5.9% through 2028. Enrollees in traditional Medicare can expect inflation of 6% if inflation for Medigap premiums is included.Among Medicare Advantage plans (Part C), 49% of plans that include drug coverage will charge no additional premium beyond Part B next year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. Plans that do have additional premiums for drugs will charge an average of $36 next year, Kaiser says.According to HealthView, a 65-year-old couple using original Medicare this year will spend around $10,300 on premiums for prescription drugs and Medigap, and various out-of-pocket costs. In 20 years, their costs are projected to be around $33,000 annually (future dollars)."The compounding effect of inflation is significant," said Ron Mastrogiovanni, HealthView's chief executive.-- How can I get insurance for dental care? I am 78 years old and this is my largest uncovered medical expense.Nearly two-thirds of Medicare enrollees have no dental insurance, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. That means a majority pay for their care out of pocket or go without.Original fee-for-service Medicare does not cover most dental care, and it also does not cover hearing or vision care. Dental care is covered only in very limited circumstances, for example, if it is necessary as part of a covered procedure.Many Medicare Advantage plans -- the managed-care private alternative to the original program -- include some dental coverage. Next year, 90% of Advantage enrollees will have access to some dental benefits, according to Avalere Health, a research and consulting firm. Sixty percent will have access to a plan covering restorative services; 78% will be able to get coverage for X-rays and cleanings.Like other dental insurance, Advantage plan coverage levels have caps. "'Limited' would be a good word to describe it," says Sean Creighton, a managing director in the policy practice at Avalere.The percentage of Medicare Advantage plans covering hearing and vision care is rising by similar percentages, he adds.In most cases, these services are being offered without an additional premium. Plans are paid based on a benchmark per-capita rate Medicare uses to pay for original Medicare enrollees; when Advantage plans bid below that rate for matching original Medicare benefits, they are permitted to use the difference to offer extra benefits.Advantage plans are "trying to attract members from original Medicare and in competition with each other," he added. "Dental, vision and hearing benefits are very popular."Original Medicare enrollees have the option of adding a commercial stand-alone dental policy. For example, a Delta Dental PPO plan offered in New York City carries a monthly premium of $48, with an annual deductible of $50 and an annual per-person payment limit of $1,500.Many of the current Medicare for All proposals would add coverage of dental, vision and hearing care.-- Someone called me claiming to be from Medicare and I gave out my Medicare number. Should I be concerned?Medicare generally does not initiate calls to enrollees -- with a couple of exceptions. Medicare health or drug plans can call current members. And customer service representatives from Medicare (1-800-MEDICARE) may call if you have left a message, or if a representative indicated that you would receive a return call.Never give out your Medicare -- or Social Security -- number to anyone who calls you on the phone, sends email or makes a personal contact. Your personal information, including your Medicare number, should be shared only with health care providers, your insurers or trusted counseling services, such as the State Health Insurance Assistance Program."Any unexpected call from someone claiming to be from Medicare is a huge red flag, especially if you didn't call first," says Amy Nofziger, director of fraud victim support at AARP.AARP's fraud help line (877-908-3360) has noted a recent increase in phone schemes, usually aimed at persuading people to order equipment or services that are then billed to Medicare. "A big one lately has been DNA genetic testing kits," Nofziger said. "Sometimes, Medicare will deny the claim and then the perpetrator mails a bill to the enrollee," she said. "You might get a bill for up to $10,000, which is pretty scary for people."If you suspect you've been victimized by fraud, alert Medicare that a scammer may have your identifying number so that your account can be flagged and monitored. And, keep a careful eye on the monthly explanation of benefits that Medicare sends, looking out for any suspicious charges."If Medicare feels the problem rises to the level of needing to provide you a new Medicare number, they can do that," Nofziger added.Issuing new numbers became easier recently after the government revamped its system. The old Medicare cards used Social Security numbers, but those were phased out. New cards use a unique, randomly assigned number.-- Why does Medicare set my 2019 premium cost using my 2017 income? I am newly retired as of August 2019 and my Part B premium is $433 a month. I'm also paying more for my prescription drug plan. My income in 2019 is much lower than it was in 2017.High-income Medicare enrollees have been paying surcharges on Part B and Part D premiums since 2007. These so-called Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amounts (IRMAA) affect a relatively small share of the Medicare population -- about 7% this year, according to federal data -- but they are steep.The standard Part B premium requires enrollees to pay 25% of the government's total per-capita program costs; the surcharges require high-income enrollees to pay anywhere from 35 to 85% more, depending on their income. The Part D income-related surcharge is calculated as a percentage of the national average cost of the standard drug benefit, using the same percentages and income thresholds used for Part B IRMAA.IRMAA is determined by your modified adjusted gross income, which includes the adjusted gross income reported on your tax return, plus tax-exempt income.For many retirees, the big surprise is the look-back that determines whether IRMAA is owed -- income often declines in retirement, but your initial premium could be set using pre-retirement income levels. The Social Security Administration determines whether surcharges are owed from data in the most recently available tax return it obtains from the IRS; for 2020 premiums, the agency will use income tax data provided this year from 2018 tax filings."The sticker shock comes in the form of the Social Security benefit," Mastrogiovanni adds. "Not only is the Part B premium deducted, but also the surcharges. So people go through their planning to see what Social Security will generate, but people in these high-income brackets could lose up to half of their gross Social Security benefit."-- In your recent discussion of limitations of Medicare Advantage plans, you did not include information about improper claims denials and the difficulty people have pursuing appeals. That certainly should be part of your coverage.A report last year by federal investigators did find that Advantage plans have a pattern of inappropriately denying patient claims. The Office of Inspector General at the Department of Health and Human Services found "widespread and persistent problems related to denials of care and payment in Medicare Advantage" plans. The report examined appeals filed by patients and health care providers from 2014 through 2016, and found that Advantage plans themselves overturned the denials in 75% of cases.However, very few claim denials are appealed -- just 1% during the three-year period reviewed in the inspector general's report.The Advantage payment model reimburses plans a preset amount per patient; that may be incentivizing plans "to deny preauthorization of services for beneficiaries, and payments to providers, in order to increase profits," the report concluded."We see plenty of denials by Advantage plans that shouldn't be denied, and wouldn't be if the patient had been enrolled in original Medicare," says David Lipschutz, associate director and senior policy attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy.Among the most common problems, he says, are early hospital discharges, denial of care in a skilled nursing facility or home health care.-- I had an accident this year that has required bilateral knee surgery -- I was in the hospital for a week and a residential rehab facility for physical therapy for one month. Now I am home with a home health nurse weekly, and visits from a physical therapist five days a week. I also have adaptive equipment. My recovery process will be at least five more months, carrying over into 2020. Can my Plan G Medigap supplemental insurance provider cancel me for 2020?Original Medicare enrollees often add a Medigap supplemental plan to cap out-of-pocket expenses -- and that comes in especially handy when a major medical problem arises. You can choose among a dizzying array of standardized plan options with varying degrees of coverage; Plan G is one of the most comprehensive, covering hospital and doctor coinsurance costs, hospice care, coinsurance for skilled nursing facilities and hospital deductibles.Fortunately, Medigap coverage does not disappear when you need it."No Medigap plan can cancel you for spending too much," says Chris Hakim, senior vice president for Medicare at eHealth, an insurance exchange. "The only way you can lose coverage is if you don't pay your premiums."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| PHOTOS: Jepkosgei wins NYC in 1st marathon, Kamworor takes men's Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:08 PM PST  Joyciline Jepkosgei arrived in New York with a modest goal for her first marathon ever. Jepkosgei upset four-time champion Mary Keitany to win the New York City Marathon on Sunday with a historic debut seven seconds off the course record. Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya won the men's event for the second time in three years.
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| Holocaust survivors meet their saviour 75 years later Posted: 03 Nov 2019 05:26 PM PST  Eyes brimming with tears, 92-year-old Melpomeni Dina Gianopoulou was reunited Sunday with Jewish siblings she had helped hide from Nazis in her native Greece during World War II. Holocaust survivor Sarah Yanai, 86, had tears in her eyes as she held Melpomeni's hand. The highly emotional meeting took place at the Hall of Names, in Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre, a memorial to millions of Jews killed in the Holocaust.
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| Pete Buttigieg says he offers style and message parallels with Barack Obama's Iowa campaign Posted: 01 Nov 2019 07:19 PM PDT  As Pete Buttigieg tries to stand out in Iowa this weekend, he's drawing parallels to former President Barack Obama's first campaign in the state.
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| Vigil held in UK for 39 Vietnamese who died in a truck Posted: 03 Nov 2019 07:52 AM PST  London's Vietnamese community has gathered at a vigil and a service to honor the 39 Vietnamese victims who died in a refrigerated truck container in southeastern England. The community is mourning the unidentified victims, who were trying to enter Britain in hopes of finding greater opportunities. Rev. Simon Nguyen offered prayers for the victims and for their loved ones in Vietnam.
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| What Is Daylight Saving Time? Posted: 03 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST  Times they are a changin'.
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| Trump impeachment: Whistleblower offered to communicate directly with Republicans after repeated attacks Posted: 03 Nov 2019 11:51 AM PST  The US official whose whistleblower complaint led to the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump, has agreed to communicate directly with members of the Republican Party on the intelligence committee leading the probe, his attorney has said.Mark Zaid said he had reached out to congressman Devin Nunes to offer to provide sworn written responses to questions from Republicans, under penalty of perjury.
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| Central European governments accused of abusing European agriculture subsidies Posted: 03 Nov 2019 10:56 AM PST  Central European governments have been systematically abusing the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy to enrich family members and political allies, an investigation claims. The New York Times survey of subsidies in nine European countries found that millions of euros in agricultural subsidies had been directed to a handful of companies, often linked to national leaders. It alleged that the CAP had even underwritten "mafia-style land grabs" in Slovakia and Bulgaria. Prominent beneficiaries reportedly include Andrej Babis, the billionaire prime minister of the Czech republic, who the paper says is linked to a company that received at least $42 million (£32 million) in subsidies last year. Lukáš Wagenknecht, a senator from the opposition Pirate Party, last week filed a complaint against the European Council saying it should not allow Mr Babis to take part in the bloc's budget discussions because his Agrofert conglomerate receives tens of millions of Euros in subsidies annually. Mr Babis no longer owns the company and has denied a conflict of interests, but organisations including Transparency International claim that he remains its end beneficiary. Andrej Babis, the Czech prime minister, denies a conflict of interest Credit: Martin Divisek/Bloomberg The paper also accused Viktor Orban, the prime minister of Hungary, of abusing the EU's subsidies to fund a system of patronage linked to land leases. It cited Mr Orban's sale of 12 state farms to close associates when he was prime minister between 1998 and 2002, which became eligible for large subsidies when Hungary joined the EU in 2004. In 2015, five years after he returned to power, Mr Orban's government began to sell and auction leases to hundreds of thousands of hectares at cut price rates, arranging for most of them go to businessmen with close connections of Fidesz. The paper implies that this created a system of "modern feudalism" in which small farmers were left beholden to barons who received land eligible for European subsidies based on their loyalty to Mr Orban. Individuals who are reported to have built up considerable landholdings include Mr Orbans family and close business and political allies. The European Union supported farmers with 58.82 billion Euros (£50.8 billion) in 2018. Subsidies are meant to support food production, rural community development, and environmentally friendly farming. The subsidies it provides are often crucial to the survival of small farmers across the bloc. Ivan Haralampiev, the Bulgarian farmer whose cow Penka was at the centre of an outcry over EU agricultural regulations in 2018, told the Telegraph that he had bought cattle only because the subsidies they qualified for made it possible to live. The Telegraph sought comment from Mr Orban's office. A spokesman for the Hungarian government said: "The procedures in Hungary for administering EU agricultural subsidies fully satisfy EU rules and regulations for the management of these funds. Hungary is also fully compliant in the sale of state land, which is regulated by law. Furthermore, it should be noted, that concerning a plot of land larger than 1,000 hectares, subsidies for or sale of that plot must follow strict rules. The NYT's questions and sources clearly reflect a biased preconception about the topic."
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| 'Ecological breakdown': Greta Thunberg and youth activists rally as wildfires burn Posted: 01 Nov 2019 07:04 PM PDT  The Swedish climate activist joined more than 1,000 people for an afternoon of youth-led climate action in Los AngelesSwedish activist Greta Thunberg addresses the crowd while attending a climate action rally in Los Angeles, California on 1 November 2019. Photograph: Frederic J Brown/AFP via Getty ImagesParadise is not what it used to be, as Greta Thunberg witnessed earlier this week. Today the town with a lovely name is best known for the apocalyptic fire that ripped through it last year, decimating nearly every home and killing 86 people.This week California is once more in flames as fires rage in the north and south – a point that was not lost on the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who spoke at a rally in Los Angeles on Friday."We can see the wildfires happening right around the corner," Thunberg said outside City Hall, just miles from an ongoing blaze. "Right now we are living in the beginning of a climate and ecological breakdown, and we cannot look away from this crisis anymore."More than a thousand people joined Thunberg for an afternoon of youth-led environmental action, a scene that has become familiar as she – and young people like her – are increasingly frustrated with the inaction of their elders."The older generations are failing us," she told the crowd, where organizers of the Youth Climate Strike were demanding that California's governor Gavin Newsom impose an immediate moratorium on new oil and gas drilling. "They are failing future generations. But future generations do not have a voice. And the biosphere does not have a voice. So we will be the voice that speaks for them."Thunberg kept a low profile at the march. She was not on the frontlines, where all the cameras were; she was just another marcher, somewhere in the back. Photograph: Charles Davis/The GuardianYoung people – especially young women – came out in force. Lily Olson, a 17-year-old high school senior from Los Angeles, said Thunberg was an inspiration to people of her generation, her existence a rejoinder to those who think the young should wait to speak out about their future."It's amazing to see someone my age with such articulation and care and passion for what other people would consider 'not a big deal'," she said. "People seem to think because we're young we don't know what we're talking about, or we don't have the ability to make change. But seeing someone like Greta speak about what she's truly passionate about – it really gives me faith in my generation."Morgan Wright, an 11-year-old from Burbank, attended Friday's rally with her mother. She too cited Greta as a role model. "I've watched a lot of her speeches and rallies in my history class," she said, noting that she had since helped start an eco-club to pressure her school to do more to protect the environment. "It's really cool to see someone that can go up there and talk, even though they're technically not an adult yet," Wright said. "And they go up there and inspire people just like me."Casey Anell, 10, came from Huntington Park to attend the rally with her mother. She's been learning about climate change at school, and she too feels there is no more time for stalling."There's a 50-50 chance the rainforest is going to be gone, and I'm going to be sad," she said, and her classmates are frightened. "They're scared because they don't want any animals to go extinct," she explained. "Some adults are doing something about it," she said, "but I don't know about the government."Though undoubtedly a star, Thunberg kept a low profile at the march. When young people began marching through the streets of downtown, she was not on the frontlines, where all the cameras were; she was just another marcher, somewhere in the back, melting into the anonymity of the crowd, rumors of her presence whispered by many who came to hear her speak.Greta Thunberg marches in front of Los Angeles City Hall at the youth climate strike. Photograph: Christian Monterrosa/EPAThe limelight was ceded to local activists and their campaign: not just to address the global effects of the climate crisis, but the fact that Los Angeles remains a major producer of the very thing fueling it.Up to 8,000 barrels of oil are produced each day from wells in the city of Los Angeles, according to a July 2019 report from City Hall, and an estimated 1.6bn more barrels remain in the ground below. Over half a million people live within 2,500ft of an active oil or gas well, a number activists want reduced to zero. Not only does this production fuel the climate crisis, which in turn intensifies the fires now threatening the city, but the air pollution this drilling creates has itself increased rates of asthma and the risk of cancer among those living immediately next door – a majority of whom are members of low-income, minority communities.Nalleli Cobo, 18, has been campaigning against such drilling since she was 9 and growing up across the street from an oil well operating on land in South LA leased to a private firm, AllenCo, by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles."Allowing this oil well to spew toxic emissions is another way the archdiocese is abusing children," she reminded Angelenos. "It is time to switch to clean, renewable energy. There is no more time to waste."
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| TikTok Said to Be Under National Security Review Posted: 02 Nov 2019 07:06 AM PDT  The United States government has opened a national security review of a Chinese company's acquisition of the American company that became TikTok, the hugely popular short-form video app, according to people briefed on the inquiry.The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, a federal panel that reviews foreign acquisitions of American firms on national-security grounds, is now reviewing the two-year-old deal after lawmakers raised concerns about TikTok's growing influence in the United States, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was confidential. One of the people said that the U.S. government had evidence of the app sending data to China.The move is the latest in a back and forth between the United States and China, which are enmeshed in a global competition for technological dominance that has begun to cleave the high-tech world in two and start what some analysts refer to as a new Cold War.ByteDance, a seven-year-old company based in Beijing, acquired Musical.ly in November 2017 for $800 million to $1 billion. At the time, Musical.ly, an app popular with teenagers to make homemade karaoke videos, had about 60 million users in the United States and Europe. ByteDance said it would keep Musical.ly separate from its family of Chinese apps. Less than a year later, ByteDance merged Musical.ly with its similar service, called TikTok, and the result has since become one of world's fastest-growing apps and a global cultural phenomenon.Over the past 12 months, TikTok's app has been downloaded more than 750 million times, more than Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat, according to the research firm Sensor Tower."While we cannot comment on ongoing regulatory processes, TikTok has made clear that we have no higher priority than earning the trust of users and regulators in the U.S.," a ByteDance spokesman said in an email. "Part of that effort includes working with Congress, and we are committed to doing so." TikTok does not send any user data to China, he added.Reuters earlier reported the review by the federal panel, known as CFIUS, of the Musical.ly acquisition.China blocks many foreign companies from openly existing online in the country, but Chinese companies that have developed cutting-edge technologies are growing more popular around the world. Many lawmakers and Trump administration officials see the trend as a threat to U.S. national security and the economy, and they have set up numerous barriers to block Chinese firms from acquiring American data and technology.The Trump administration prevented Singapore-based Broadcom from purchasing Qualcomm, an American chipmaker, and quashed deals like Ant Financial's bid for Moneygram.President Donald Trump has also placed Huawei and other Chinese tech firms on a blacklist that blocks them from purchasing American products over national security and human rights concerns. He has also imposed tariffs on more than $360 billion of Chinese products in a trade war that was at least partly in response to Chinese theft of American intellectual property.U.S. government officials have been particularly alarmed by the implications of China's 2017 national intelligence law, which contains sweeping language that requires companies to comply with intelligence gathering operations, if asked. Chinese officials have pushed back against these assertions, saying that companies should comply with local laws while abroad.On TikTok, users create and share short, inventive videos and bizarre memes, an endless scroll of clips that has been called "the last sunny corner on the internet." The vast majority of its footage comes from Western users, in large part because TikTok isn't available in mainland China; ByteDance instead offers a highly similar service there called Douyin.But TikTok's Chinese connections and growing popularity in the United States have drawn new concern in Washington after news reports highlighted that there were few signs of the Hong Kong protests on the app and that TikTok moderators were instructed to censor videos that featured a number of political themes.ByteDance has said that the Chinese government does not order it to censor content on TikTok. The spokesman said that the app's content policies are led by a team in the United States and are not influenced by any government."To be clear: we do not remove videos based on the presence of Hong Kong protest content," a ByteDance spokesman said.A former content moderator for TikTok said in an interview that managers in the United States had instructed moderators to hide videos that included any political messages or themes, not just those related to China. The moderator spoke on the condition of anonymity because he didn't want to speak publicly about a former employer while seeking another job in the tech industry.The moderator said that the policy was to allow such political posts to remain on users' profile pages but to prevent them from being shared more widely in TikTok's main video feed. The person said that while moderators were told to censor racy videos, such as those featuring scantily clad women, in Muslim countries, he never received specific instructions to censor content related to China.The ByteDance spokesman said the company had recently changed the policy restricting political videos and called the previous rules a blunt approach intended to keep the app fun.Last month, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who leads CFIUS, urging him to open a national security review of ByteDance's purchase of Muscial.ly."There continues to be ample and growing evidence that TikTok's platform for Western markets, including those in the U.S., is censoring content that is not in line with the Chinese Government and Communist Party directives," Rubio wrote.Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., the Senate minority leader, said the security review was "validation of our concern that apps like TikTok -- that store massive amounts of personal data accessible to foreign governments -- may pose serious risks to millions of Americans."Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank, said that new guidelines passed by Congress last year about personal data clearly indicate that CFIUS should review the purchase. He said the companies would likely have to take steps to convince the administration that American data would be secure."It's a large transaction, it's a tech transaction, and it does involve American users transferring data to a Chinese firm," Scissors said. "I don't see how they get away with not taking some sort of mitigation here."The ByteDance spokesman said the company hired a consulting firm in Colorado called Special Counsel to analyze TikTok's app to understand where it sent user data.Data about TikTok users, including their videos, names, dates of birth and other information, was stored exclusively on computer servers in Virginia and Singapore, said Douglas Brush, who led the analysis for Special Counsel. He added that in the analysis from July to October, which included interviews with TikTok employees and a review of the app's underlying computer code, his team found no way TikTok could send data to China during those months.ByteDance has tried to build its relationships in Washington amid the growing scrutiny. TikTok has joined NetChoice, a trade association that has been aggressive in pushing back on critics of tech companies. One of Bytedance's own staff members registered to lobby for the company this summer. The company also hired the powerful corporate law firm Covington & Burling -- whose clients include Facebook, among others -- to advocate on its behalf.In total, ByteDance spent $120,000 on its federal lobbying operation last quarter, according to a public disclosure posted last week.TikTok announced last month that it was working with the law firm K&L Gates on its moderation policies, and it joined a nonprofit focused on children's online safety. In February, ByteDance agreed to pay a $5.7 million fine to the Federal Trade Commission to settle accusations that Musical.ly illegally collected information on users under 13."We've just gotten started," said Bart Gordon, the K&L Gates partner working with TikTok, on Friday.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Saudi bourse sags as giant Aramco listing looms Posted: 03 Nov 2019 05:35 AM PST  Saudi stocks sagged two percent Sunday after the announcement that the blockbuster listing of state energy firm Aramco was headed its way, as analysts warned it risked overwhelming the local bourse. After years of repeated delays, Aramco on Sunday announced its intention to float an unspecified percentage of its shares on the Tadawul stock market, the region's biggest capital market. The state-owned company however said there was no decision yet on the second part of the IPO to list on an international stock market, raising doubts that this much-anticipated step will ever happen.
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| Republicans, Democrats, 'SNL' attack Warren's 'Medicare for All' plan Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:10 PM PST  Senator Elizabeth Warren's $20.5 trillion plan to provide healthcare for all Americans was attacked and mocked over the weekend by Democrats, Republicans, and "Saturday Night Live," the long-running New York comedy show. The 20-page "Medicare for All" plan, which Warren's 2020 presidential campaign released on Friday, calls for cuts in defense spending and passing immigration reform to increase tax revenue from newly legal Americans, two steps that would face an uphill battle in Congress. It is also funded by cost-cutting, business contributions, and new taxes on Wall Street, big businesses and wealthy individuals, which each carry their own challenges.
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| The Most Cringe-Worthy 90s Internet Guides That We Can't Stop Watching Posted: 02 Nov 2019 09:00 AM PDT |
| Russia’s Predator Drone Flew Strikes in Syria Posted: 02 Nov 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Russia's Orion drone has completed combat trials in Syria and is now beginning to equip units in Russia for further testing, state media reported on Nov. 1, 2019.
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| A 9,000-barrel leak in the Keystone pipeline in North Dakota spilled enough crude oil to fill half an Olympic-sized swimming pool Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:00 AM PDT  The second large oil spill from the Keystone pipeline in two years provoked outrage because TC Energy told activists that spills were unlikely.
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| Chicago teen charged in suspected gang shooting that injured girl who was trick-or-treating Posted: 02 Nov 2019 09:34 AM PDT  A 7-year-old girl was trick-or-treating in Chicago when she was hit by a stray bullet. A teenager has now been charged.
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| US white supremacist arrested hours before far-right conference in Norway Posted: 03 Nov 2019 02:58 PM PST  An American white supremacist was arrested hours before he was due to speak at an international far-right conference in Norway.Greg Johnson was detained under immigration law on the basis that he posed a threat to national interests, according to the police security agency PST.
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| Iran student leader says he regrets 1979 US Embassy attack Posted: 02 Nov 2019 08:11 AM PDT  His revolutionary fervor diminished by the years that have also turned his dark brown hair white, one of the Iranian student leaders of the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover says he now regrets the seizure of the diplomatic compound and the 444-day hostage crisis that followed. Speaking to The Associated Press ahead of Monday's 40th anniversary of the attack, Ebrahim Asgharzadeh acknowledged that the repercussions of the crisis still reverberate as tensions remain high between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran's collapsing nuclear deal with world powers. Asgharzadeh cautioned others against following in his footsteps, despite the takeover becoming enshrined in hard-line mythology.
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| 'SNL' applauds Trump's leaving New York for Florida Posted: 03 Nov 2019 07:09 AM PST  "Weekend Update" returned on this weekend's episode of "Saturday Night Live." Colin Jost and Michael Che focused on Trump's decision to officially leave New York City for Florida.
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| Boat stuck above Niagara Falls for over a century moves downriver Posted: 03 Nov 2019 01:55 PM PST  An iron boat stuck above Niagara Falls for more than a century has moved because of severe weather, a park official said. Known as the "Iron Scow," the boat is an iconic feature of Niagara Falls and had been stuck in the rocks about 600 meters from the edge of the falls. The boat broke loose from a tug on August 6, 1918, leaving two men stranded aboard, but they were rescued the following day, according to Niagara Parks.
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| In China, Macron wants to take Beijing "at its word" on free trade Posted: 03 Nov 2019 03:00 AM PST ![In China, Macron wants to take Beijing "at its word" on free trade]( "In China, Macron wants to take Beijing \"at its word\" on free trade") SHANGHAI/PARIS, Nov 3 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron will seek to make China deliver on promises to grant more access to foreign companies, eyeing agribusiness and finance, advisers said ahead of his arrival in Shanghai for a giant import fair. Macron, who will attend the fair along with other European officials including incoming EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan, would take China "at its word" that it aims to open itself up to trade, a presidential adviser said ahead of the Nov. 4-6 trip.
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| PG&E CEO Causes Outrage After Saying Struggling California Residents’ Houses Are ‘Still There’ Because of Blackouts Posted: 03 Nov 2019 12:25 PM PST  California Gov. Gavin Newsom has been vocal in his criticism of PG&E
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| Trump's Naval Dream Seems Sunk: America Can't Afford a 355 Ship Navy Posted: 02 Nov 2019 12:30 PM PDT  Like a Christmas wish list, the Navy wants a fleet of 355 ships. It just can't afford it.
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| Pete Buttigieg: race is between me and Warren – as new poll puts him fourth Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:07 AM PST  * Buttigieg: Senator's Medicare for All plan is 'polarising' * Opinion: Goodbye, Beto. A sad end to a pointless campaignDemocratic presidential candidate South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg speaks in Des Moines, Iowa, on 1 November. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesPete Buttigieg is fourth in a four-strong pack clear of the Democratic presidential field, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But he thinks the final choice of who will challenge Donald Trump will be between him and Elizabeth Warren.In an interview to be broadcast on Showtime on Sunday, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said the race is "getting to be a two-way" between him and the Massachusetts senator."A world where we're getting somewhere is that world," he said, "where it's coming down to the two of us".According to the Post-ABC poll, former vice-president Joe Biden leads nationally among likely primary voters, with 28% support, from Warren in second on 23%, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders on 17% and Buttigieg on 9%.Asked on ABC's This Week if this is really a two-way race, Buttigieg said: "Not yet, no. There is a tremendous amount of energy for a range of candidates who are extremely capable. I'm proud to be part of I think the most diverse field ever in Democratic politics and some formidable competition."But what I will say is there is amazing energy behind our campaign right now. We're seeing it on the ground here in Iowa, we're seeing it pick up in a lot of places. And I think voters are really narrowing down their choices instead of just getting to know us."Buttigieg has surged to second in Iowa, the first state to vote. According to the realclearpolitics.com average, Warren leads there with 22.3% from Buttigieg on 17%, Biden on 15.7% and Sanders on 15.3%.In New Hampshire, the second state to go to the polls, Warren leads the RCP average with 25%, from Biden on 21%, Sanders on 20% and Buttigieg at 8.7%.On Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa, the main candidates addressed the Liberty and Justice Celebration, a major party event. Speaking to ABC from the Hawkeye state on Sunday, Buttigieg was asked how he was different from Warren.He took a swipe, saying: "I think we can deliver major, meaningful, bold changes that move this country forward in a way that galvanises an American majority instead of polarising our country further.""We're going to need a president who can pick up the pieces and can bring the country together."On Friday, Warren unveiled a $20.5tn Medicare for All plan which duly attracted criticism from Democrats as well as attacks from Republicans and President Trump. Buttigieg has proposed "Medicare for all who want it", meaning a plan that would not end private insurance cover. He also says he will not raise taxes on the middle class to pay for healthcare reform.Asked about Warren's contention that opponents of Medicare for All "are not going to win by repeating Republican talking points and by dusting off the points of view of the giant insurance companies and the giant drug companies", Buttigieg said: "Well, the insurance companies are fighting my proposal, because they don't want the competition."What is just not true is that her's is the only solution. This 'my way or the highway' idea, that either you're for kicking everybody off their private plans in four years or you're for business as usual, it's just not true. I'm proposing Medicare for all who want it."Medicare for All, he said " could very well be the long-run destination".Buttigieg was also asked about his struggle to attract support from black voters, a key constituency. The New York Times reported recently that his own focus groups had indicated such problems were in part due to the fact he is gay.Buttigieg said: "I think the biggest question on any voter's mind when they're sizing us candidates up and thinking about how they're going to vote is this: how will my life be different if you're president versus one of your competitors?"He did not entirely dodge the question, adding pointedly: "And when we have the best answer to that question, I think a lot of prejudices and a lot of those other considerations fall away, and it comes down to vision and results."Elsewhere in the Democratic race, this week saw former congressman Beto O'Rourke drop out. Other notable recent moves include the California senator Kamala Harris slashing staff in New Hampshire to focus on Iowa and Biden acceding to the formation of a Super pac, making him open to corporate funding.In the Post-ABC poll, Harris, fellow senators Amy Klobuchar and Cory Booker, representative Tulsi Gabbard and the tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang all polled 2%. Other candidates with national name recognition, including former Obama housing secretary Julián Castro, polled even lower.The Post-ABC poll also asked some sharp questions, given claims by opponents that Biden, 76, and Sanders, 78, may be too old to fight the Trump machine.On the question of which leading Democrat had "the sharpest mental ability", Warren led with 24%, from Biden at 21%, Sanders at 17% and Buttigieg at 15%. Harris, a former California attorney general, placed fifth on 7%.Sanders recently suffered a heart attack. Poll respondents were split on whether he was healthy enough to be president, 48% saying he was and 45% saying he was not.
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| Maria Fire broke out minutes after utility company re-energized high-voltage power line Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:51 AM PDT  Southern California Edison says it turned power back on minutes before the Maria Fire erupted nearby in Ventura County
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| Late-week storm could spell wintry weather for the mid-Atlantic Posted: 03 Nov 2019 08:39 AM PST  A storm budding in the south-central U.S. earlier in the week, will take aim at the East Coast, and could deliver both heavy rain and wintry weather.An active pattern will continue to bring several storms from the center of the country to the Eastern Seaboard throughout the week. The presence of many moving parts makes for a more long-term complex pattern.One such moving part is a high pressure system that will move across the northern half of the country late in the week."The strength and location of the high pressure delivering cold to the northern tier of the country will determine how far north the storm is able to go," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alan Reppert.No matter how far north the storm traverses, the likelihood of rain for states like Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia from late on Thursday through Friday is pretty high. The situation with the high pressure will instead determine the precipitation amount, and precipitation type for parts of Kentucky to the Carolinas and Virginia.At this time, the most likely scenario is for the high in the northern part of the country to be pretty powerful, moving farther east and suppressing the storm to the south.Cold present in the Appalachians and to the east of the mountains when the storm arrives could allow wet snowflakes to mix in with the rainfall, especially during the morning and overnight hours."In this scenario, accumulating snow will be possible in parts of Virginia, and in the mountains of North Carolina," added Reppert.Residents will want to keep a close eye on this storm, and prepare for changeable conditions.Snow falling in the mid-Atlantic is not unprecedented for early November.Richmond's earliest accumulating snowfall, and even Raleigh earliest snowfall is during the first week of November. Snowflakes can come as early as October in these areas. The occurrence of accumulating snowfall in the higher elevations of the Appalachians is even more common.However, a snowy situation in Virginia and North Carolina at the end of the week is not set in stone.Should the high hang back farther to the west, so will the cold air. Instead of the cold being present during the arrival of the storm, it will follow the wet weather. This second scenario, combined with a more northerly storm track, would minimize the presence of snow for most across the south. Instead, there is a slight chance for some wet snowflakes to mix in with rain in places like Delaware, Maryland and northern Virginia.Additionally, the storm may move faster, most locations away from the Carolina Coast and Florida would be dried out by Friday afternoon.Cold would be able to dive farther to the south, bringing a chill for many across the region, including northern Florida, where cities experienced a record-warm October.Much of the southern and eastern Untied States has seen its fair share of storminess as of late.Cities like D.C., Raleigh, Nashville and Atlanta all recorded above-normal precipitation for the month of October. In fact D.C., and Nashville had almost double the normal amount of rain they get during the month.Download the free AccuWeather app to see the latest forecast for your region. 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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| Rep. Steube on the impeachment investigation: There's nothing about this that's bipartisan Posted: 01 Nov 2019 09:25 PM PDT  Florida Republican Rep. Greg Steube on why he voted against the House impeachment resolution.
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| Assistant scoutmaster charged with sexually abusing boy, 12 Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:41 AM PDT  An assistant scoutmaster on Long Island has been charged with sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy at several Boy Scouts of America retreats and meetings. Nassau County police arrested 26-year-old Jonathan Spohrer at his home in North Bellmore on Thursday after an extensive investigation, the department said. Police said Spohrer abused the boy during Boy Scouts retreats at several locations in New York state from January through November of 2018.
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| US military calls on Kurdish forces in northeast Syria Posted: 02 Nov 2019 07:42 AM PDT  US military vehicles Saturday entered a Kurdish-held area in northeastern Syria and met with officials, AFP correspondents and a local source said, in the second such visit since an announced US pullout from the Turkish border area. Beige-coloured armoured vehicles flying the American flag pulled up at the headquarters of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces outside the city of Qamishli. A US-led coalition has for years backed the SDF in fighting the Islamic State group, but the announcement of an American withdrawal triggered a deadly Turkish invasion against the Kurds on October 9.
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| Nigeria's border closure to last at least until end-Jan - spokesman Posted: 03 Nov 2019 07:58 AM PST ![Nigeria's border closure to last at least until end-Jan - spokesman]( "Nigeria's border closure to last at least until end-Jan - spokesman") Nigeria will keep its land borders closed to trade until at least January 31, 2020, the customs spokesman told Reuters on Sunday. Nigeria launched a partial border closure in August to tackle smuggling of rice and other goods. Last month the head of customs confirmed that all trade via land borders was halted indefinitely.
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| ISIS Raid Canine Hero Holds Mock White House Press Briefing on 'Saturday Night Live' Posted: 03 Nov 2019 09:20 AM PST  Conan was honored to do his job because he loves his country and belly rubs
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| Meet the Qing-Class: China's Homegrown Nuclear Missile Submarine Posted: 03 Nov 2019 05:30 AM PST  Why did Beijing only build one?
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| How Al-Baghdadi's Death Will Change the Terrorism of Tomorrow Posted: 02 Nov 2019 09:30 AM PDT  Will the war ever end?
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| Flights resume after 'threatening note' found on plane at Atlanta airport Posted: 02 Nov 2019 11:36 AM PDT  Flights have resumed at the Atlanta airport after police determine a 'threatening note' found on a plane is not credible.
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| Katie Hill, Done In by the Perfect Storm of Misogyny, Sexism, and Uptight Boomer Values Posted: 02 Nov 2019 02:08 AM PDT  Win McNamee/Getty ImagesShe was a millennial congresswoman who won a competitive seat in a swing district and then was derailed by revenge porn peddled by an angry ex-husband to a Republican Oppo research website in a story written by a campaign adviser to her Republican opponent. Ten days later, Katie Hill had resigned. Was she the last victim of boomer values? Should an internet generation be held to the old-fashioned mores of their parents' generation? Should racy photos derail members of the digital world? Or should internet culture drag Boomers into the modern age? "A lot of these baby boomers I serve with don't understand that millennials, by virtue of having smartphones, have shared stupid moments and regrettable moments for a substantial portion of their lives," said 37-year-old Republican Congressman Matt Gaetz. And as much as I hate to agree with Gaetz and as much his defense of Hill makes me wonder what kind of pictures Gaetz has floating around, he's right: Congress is one of the most boomer places on earth. Rep. Katie Hill Blasts 'Misogynistic Culture' in Exit SpeechThe average age of a congressperson is 57.6. The three top Democrats in leadership are either 80 or turning 80. Most of these members of Congress came of age in the time of rotary phones and party lines. Most of Congress doesn't understand millennials' relationship with digital culture. So perhaps that's why leadership was so silent when the Katie Hill revenge porn photos surfaced. "I am leaving because of a misogynistic culture that gleefully consumed my naked pictures, capitalized on my sexuality and enabled my abusive ex to continue that abuse—this time, with the entire country watching," said Hill in her last floor speech. But she was really leaving because she was a victim of boomer values, of cultural mores that no longer hold. Hill was leaving because the boomer told her to, because Nancy Pelosi said she'd made "errors in judgment." Because the older members of Congress didn't understand that most millennials have a raft of naughty photos somewhere up there in the cloud, just waiting to be disseminated to their political adversaries.Pelosi did eventually stand up for the congresswoman, saying, "It's shameful that she's been exposed to public humiliation and to cyber exploitation," but some of her defense seemed to show that the 80-year-old speaker didn't totally get the nuances of online culture. Pelosi offered this weird greatest generation assessment of the case: "I do say to my own children and grandchildren, especially young children, you know, some of these—I don't know what to call them—appearances on social media can come back to haunt you if they are taken out of context and that. But I do think that we have to be careful." I mean, I guess, but this isn't really about context, nor is it about social media. No, this is about an angry ex-husband peddling revenge porn to the conservative media, which happily disseminated it.Of course, in a world where every seat matters in a district that Cook rates dead even, Pelosi wanted an untainted candidate. One could see where keeping the House might be more important to the woman famous for her vote-counting abilities.But even so, a lot of younger members of the House felt that leadership did not support Hill in the way they should have. Thirty-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and 43-year-old Rashida Tlaib both stood up for the millennial. "We're talking about a major crime... being committed against her," said AOC. And Gaetz added, "We cannot adopt an ethic that some bad thing or embarrassing thing that you've done, released through the inflamed passions of an ex, somehow impairs your public service or fitness as a candidate." These younger Congress people know that revenge porn is a larger crime than naughty photos, but the older people in congress are stuck on the naughty photos. How would Pelosi have gotten this right? Perhaps by dealing with the revenge porn issue first and letting an ethics investigation run its course? There needs to some kind of congressional precedent for this, because this is not going to be the last time it happens.What if the culture is shifting faster than the Congress? What if naked photos are just a fact of millennial life? What if Katie Hill is actually the victim of a pack of puritans? That said, this is not a cut and dried case: Hill had multiple partners, including a younger female staffer. Of course, so did another California congressman, Duncan Hunter, who had five affairs and used campaign funds to pay for them and shows no sign of resigning. Yes, there's an obvious difference here: Hill dated a subordinate, which leads to a metoo aspect. But the generational divide seems the most striking. We live in a digital age now, where more and more of modern life happens on the internet. While boomers and young generation Xers (like myself) are more cautious about photos, we didn't grow up digital the way millennials did. We were already of age when the digital world exploded; millennials were not. It seems likely that Congress will be confronted with this Katie Hill scenario again and again and again. The question is, will they eventually get it right?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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| White nationalists seen filming at lynching victim memorial Posted: 03 Nov 2019 04:38 PM PST  People carrying a white nationalist flag were caught on security cameras trying to film in front of a new memorial to lynching victim Emmett Till. Patrick Weems, executive director of the Emmett Till Memorial Commission, told The Associated Press that the incident was captured Saturday by new security cameras at the memorial site in Mississippi. Security video from the commission shows the people, including a person carrying the flag of a neo-Confederate group flag, filming at the site.
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