| At Senate trial, chief justice again tosses out Rand Paul's whistleblower question Posted: 30 Jan 2020 11:31 AM PST  For the second time in as many days, Chief Justice John Roberts rejected a question submitted by Sen. Rand Paul during the impeachment trial of President Trump.
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| Colombia rejects Venezuelan proposal to resume diplomatic relations Posted: 30 Jan 2020 01:42 PM PST  Colombia rejected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's proposal that the two countries resume diplomatic relations on Thursday, amid a dispute over a fugitive former Colombian congresswoman who was captured in Venezuela. Maduro abruptly cut diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia last February after Colombian President Ivan Duque helped Venezuelan opposition politicians deliver humanitarian aid to their crisis-stricken country.
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| Sarcophagus dedicated to sky god among latest ancient Egypt trove Posted: 30 Jan 2020 10:45 AM PST  Egypt's antiquities ministry on Thursday unveiled the tombs of ancient high priests and a sarcophagus dedicated to the sky god Horus at an archaeological site in Minya governorate. The mission found 16 tombs containing 20 sarcophagi, some engraved with hieroglyphics, at the Al-Ghoreifa site, about 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Cairo. One of the stone sarcophagi was dedicated to the god Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, and features a depiction of the goddess Nut spreading her wings.
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| US hits Iran with new sanctions, keeps some waivers in place Posted: 30 Jan 2020 01:30 PM PST  The Trump administration said Thursday that it will continue — at least for now — its policy of not sanctioning foreign companies that work with Iran's civilian nuclear program. Brian Hook, U.S. envoy to Iran, said the U.S. would renew for 60 days sanctions waivers that permit Russian, European and Chinese companies to continue to work on Iran's civilian nuclear facilities without running afoul of U.S. sanctions.
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| Delta, American, and United just suspended all China flights, a red flag as the unprecedented coronavirus wreaks havoc on the airline industry Posted: 31 Jan 2020 10:10 AM PST  Demand has plummeted because of the coronavirus outbreak, putting airline profits and China's economy at risk.
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| Why The Navy Risked Everything To Assassinate The Admiral Who Planned Pearl Harbor Posted: 30 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  There was no escape for Admiral Yamamoto.
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| The Best Headlight Restoration Kits Posted: 31 Jan 2020 12:40 PM PST |
| Lisa Murkowski to vote no on new witnesses: 'There will be no fair trial in the Senate' Posted: 31 Jan 2020 11:05 AM PST  President Trump's impeachment trial is set to wrap up without new witnesses being called.Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced Friday she will vote against calling new witnesses, in a statement saying she "carefully considered the need for additional witnesses and documents" but ultimately decided against it."Given the partisan nature of this impeachment from the very beginning and throughout, I have come to the conclusion that there will be no fair trial in the Senate," she wrote. "I don't believe the continuation of this process will change anything. It is sad for me to admit that, as an institution, the Congress has failed."Murkowski, who criticized the House of Representatives' "rushed and flawed" articles of impeachment charging Trump with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, also appeared to criticize Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), writing that "some of my colleagues intend to further politicize this process, and drag the Supreme Court into the fray, while attacking the chief justice." Warren asked a question Thursday suggesting there had been a "loss of legitimacy of the chief justice."As The Hill points out, Murkowski gives Republicans their 51st vote against calling new witnesses. Had Murkowski been a yes, this would have created a 50-50 tie, which NBC News writes "would have at least opened the door to the unlikely possibility that Chief Justice John Roberts could cast a tie-breaking vote." Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Mitt Romney (R-Utah) previously announced they would vote in favor of new witnesses, but no other Republicans have, with Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) on Thursday saying he'll vote no.More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell's rare blunder John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats
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| Iranian factory makes U.S. and Israeli flags to burn Posted: 29 Jan 2020 06:38 PM PST  Business is booming at Iran's largest flag factory which makes U.S., British and Israeli flags for Iranian protesters to burn. The factory produces about 2,000 U.S. and Israeli flags a month in its busiest periods, and more than 1.5 million square feet of flags a year. Tensions between the United States and Iran have reached the highest level in decades after top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad on Jan. 3, prompting Iran to retaliate with a missile attack against a U.S. base in Iraq days later.
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| Kenyan Deputy President’s Ally Impeached in Deepening Rift Posted: 30 Jan 2020 03:51 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Kenyan senators voted to impeach an ally of Deputy President William Ruto, the latest sign of the deteriorating relationship between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his second in command.Senators voted to impeach Kiambu county Governor Ferdinand Waititu on three charges -- gross violation of the constitution and county governments law, crimes under national law, and abuse of office and gross misconduct, Senate Speaker Kenneth Lusaka said in televised proceedings."The governor accordingly ceases to hold office," Lusaka said.The successful impeachment of Waititu came after the authorities charged him and some family members with alleged crimes, including money laundering and the fraudulent acquisition of public funds. They have all denied any wrongdoing.A plan to swear in Waititu's deputy, James Nyoro, as the new governor was postponed, closely held Citizen TV reported, citing the Judiciary. Waititu's lawyers filed an application at the High Court challenging the Senate's impeachment decision.Ruto's relationship with Kenyatta has degenerated since the president and opposition leader, Raila Odinga, agreed on a rapprochement in March 2018. That's raised the prospect of Ruto not being handed the ruling party's candidacy to succeed Kenyatta when elections are next held in 2022.The removal of Waititu weakens Ruto's faction of the ruling Jubilee Party in the Senate and erodes his ability to settle political scores with the president in the legislative house, according to Dismas Mokua, a Nairobi-based independent political analyst.Ruto became Kenyatta's deputy after the two joined forces in elections in 2013, when they both faced International Criminal Court charges for crimes against humanity that stemmed from violence that followed a vote five years earlier. The charges were dropped after they took office for lack of evidence.(Updates with legal challenge to the Senate vote in fifth paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Ombok in Nairobi at eombok@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Malingha at dmalingha@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura, Meghan GenoveseFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Jury foreman regrets convicting teen in girl's 2002 death Posted: 31 Jan 2020 04:05 PM PST  "I do feel badly," jury foreman Joe McLean told the AP. No gun, fingerprints or DNA were ever recovered, and the 2003 trial of Myon Burrell centered on the testimony of one teen rival who offered conflicting stories when identifying the triggerman, who was standing 120 feet away, mostly behind a wall. McLean said he and other jurors did the best they could with the evidence presented and were unaware of information turned up in the AP review of the case -- in part because his co-defendants were not allowed to take the stand.
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| China virus toll passes 250 as travel curbs tightened Posted: 31 Jan 2020 02:59 PM PST  The death toll from China's coronavirus outbreak has surpassed 250, the government said Saturday, as foreign nations tightened restrictions on travellers from China in response to the rapid spread of the illness. At least 258 people have died and more than 11,000 people have been infected in China by the new coronavirus, according to new figures from officials in hard-hit Hubei province. The top Communist Party official in Wuhan, the central city of 11 million people where the virus first emerged in December, on Friday expressed "remorse" because local authorities acted too slowly.
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| American Airlines agent said Orthodox Jews only bathe once a week, lawsuit claims Posted: 30 Jan 2020 05:43 PM PST ![American Airlines agent said Orthodox Jews only bathe once a week, lawsuit claims]( "American Airlines agent said Orthodox Jews only bathe once a week, lawsuit claims") A Michigan couple say they've been defamed by American Airlines' continued statements that they were removed from a flight because of their smell.
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| This Picture Might Be How China Starts World War III Posted: 30 Jan 2020 07:51 AM PST  A barrage of anti-ship missiles moving at Mach 20?
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| Harvard professor slams Trump's lawyer for incorrectly citing him numerous times during Trump's impeachment trial: 'It's a joke' Posted: 30 Jan 2020 10:01 AM PST  Harvard professor Nikolas Bowie said Alan Dershowitz, a member of Trump's legal team was wrong during an interview with CNN.
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| Hungary to build more prisons to tackle overcrowding, halt inmates' lawsuits Posted: 31 Jan 2020 03:57 AM PST  Hungary will begin an ambitious prison-building program in an attempt to stem a tide of costly lawsuits by inmates complaining of overcrowding and inhumane conditions, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday. Orban accused "business-savvy lawyers" of exploiting the conditions to launch 12,000 lawsuits against the Hungarian state for breaking EU prison standards, leading to penalties of 10 billion forints ($33 million) in total. Orban, who has often come under fire from the European Union and rights groups over his perceived erosion of the rule of law since he took power in 2010, announced plans for more prisons to reduce the prison overcrowding and disarm "malignant lawyers".
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| Putin Frees Israeli Backpacker, Helping Embattled Netanyahu Posted: 30 Jan 2020 04:47 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- President Vladimir Putin's pardon of an Israeli woman imprisoned in Russia on drug-smuggling charges gave a much-needed electoral gift to visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.Naama Issachar, 26, was released Thursday from a prison outside of Moscow, according to Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service. She was arrested in April and sentenced in October to 7 1/2 years for carrying a small amount of hashish on a transit flight via Moscow after a backpacking trip to India.Putin pardoned Issachar late Wednesday. He had previously rebuffed Netanyahu's appeals for her release and his about-face couldn't have been timed better for the premier, who's battling fraud and bribery charges ahead of March elections. The Israeli leader flew to Moscow from Washington, where he attended the unveiling of the U.S. Middle East peace plan, whose heavy tilt in Israel's direction also favored his campaign.Netanyahu said Russian-Israeli relations were the strongest in history as he thanked Putin at a Kremlin meeting, where the two men were due to discuss President Donald Trump's new initiative to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.The prime minister's Twitter account later posted footage of him greeting a smiling Issachar and her mother, Yaffa, at Moscow's Vnukovo airport. His plane later departed for Israel with the Issachars on board. A Kremlin foreign policy aide said earlier this month that Israel and Russia had made progress in settling a dispute over the ownership of Russian Orthodox Church property in Jerusalem, which Israel's Haaretz newspaper said could form part of a quid pro quo to secure Issachar's release. The property wasn't mentioned in public statements in Moscow on Thursday.Yaffa Issachar asked the Russian leader in November to pardon her daughter in a letter handed to him by Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Last week, she met with Putin in Jerusalem, where the president attended an international forum on the Holocaust on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Red Army's liberation of the Nazi Auschwitz death camp.Toughest BattleEarlier this week, Netanyahu was standing next to Trump and praising his peace plan as a "historic" opportunity to annex swaths of West Bank territory. With Issachar's release -- she'll be flying back home with him on his plane, Israeli media reported -- he now has another triumph to brandish as he faces the toughest battle of his political life.Victory eluded him in two inconclusive elections last year, and he's started framing the March 2 vote as a contest between a prime minister burnishing Israel's security, economy and global standing, and the inexperience of former military chief Benny Gantz, a political novice.His campaign also showcases Israel's recent natural gas deals with Egypt and Jordan, for which he takes credit.As of late Wednesday, Netanyahu's achievements hadn't pushed his Likud party past Gantz's Blue and White bloc in the polls, though neither man is expected to have enough support to form a majority government and break Israel's political stalemate.(Updates with Issachar departing Russia in fifth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Henry Meyer, Alex Sazonov and Jake Rudnitsky.To contact the reporters on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net;Yaacov Benmeleh in Moscow at ybenmeleh@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Pierre Paulden at ppaulden@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A Costco sample-stand worker turned away a kid wearing a face mask because she thought he was from China and could give her the coronavirus Posted: 29 Jan 2020 09:41 PM PST  "One thing that is in the back of my mind is that someone Asian is being judged in public right now," Cabanilla said.
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| Key senator to vote to block trial witnesses Posted: 30 Jan 2020 08:23 PM PST  Sen. Lamar Alexander said on Thursday night that he will not vote to allow witnesses and evidence into the impeachment trial of President Trump.
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| Mom of 2 missing Idaho children misses court deadline to bring kids to police Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:16 AM PST  Lori Vallow, 46, had until Thursday to present the two children to authorities in Idaho, but she, her new husband and her children were not present.
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| ‘You know your client is guilty’: Trump impeachment lawyer’s defence accused of ‘descent into madness’ Posted: 30 Jan 2020 01:59 PM PST  Senator Adam Schiff, lead impeachment manager in the Senate trial of Donald Trump, has called arguments made by the president's defence team a "descent into constitutional madness".Mr Schiff's indignation with the president's defence came in response to comments made by Mr Trump's lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, who argued his client couldn't be impeached for an action he thought might get him re-elected.
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| Firefights, blocked roads in Mexican city after senior cartel leader detained Posted: 31 Jan 2020 01:33 PM PST ![Firefights, blocked roads in Mexican city after senior cartel leader detained]( "Firefights, blocked roads in Mexican city after senior cartel leader detained") Armed men blocked roads, burned cars and there were reports of shootouts in the city of Uruapan in western Mexico after a senior leader of the Los Viagras cartel was detained, local media and a source from the prosecutor's office said. Luis Felipe, also known as "El Vocho", was captured earlier in the day in the western state of Michoacan, which has long been convulsed by turf wars between drug gangs and where unrest is not uncommon after the detention of senior cartel figures. Michoacan's state security services, without giving names, said on Twitter that three people have been detained.
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| A Bernie Sanders Win in Iowa Could Prolong the Democratic Primary Fight Posted: 31 Jan 2020 08:11 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The increasing likelihood that Bernie Sanders could win Monday's first-in-the-nation caucus threatens to fundamentally redraw the path to the Democratic presidential nomination and challenge the conventional wisdom that there are only "three tickets out of Iowa."Iowa often acts more as a bar bouncer than a kingmaker, culling the field but not anointing a leader. Candidates strive to finish in at least the top three to seize some momentum as they speed toward later nominating contests.But there are reasons to question whether that thinking still applies. Four candidates are closely clustered at the top of the polls. National front-runner Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg and Senator Elizabeth Warren are all polling well enough to have a chance at securing delegates."You may need more than a four-passenger car for all these folks to get out of here," said Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price at a Bloomberg News breakfast of political reporters Friday. He said as many as six could move on, including Amy Klobuchar and Andrew Yang.A top finish would give Sanders, a senator from Vermont, an early lead going into New Hampshire, a state that gave him a 22-point win over Hillary Clinton in 2016 and a consistent lead in 2020. And wins in both of the first two contests would provide him undeniable momentum. But he is a polarizing figure in the Democratic Party, with both fierce supporters and voters who find his ideas too liberal to be viable.That could prompt a "Stop Sanders" movement -- putting increasing pressure on lower-polling candidates to drop out and throw their support behind a more moderate alternative."Things tend to boil down to a person who's leading, and the alternative to the person who's leading," said political scientist Josh Putnam, an expert on party nominations who runs the blog Frontloading HQ. "There are differences in every cycle, but these things tend to operate in a similar fashion."Yet it's not like any of the three moderates in the race -- Biden, Buttigieg or Klobuchar -- are ready to fold and anoint one of the others as the Bernie-stopper.The most recent RealClearPolitics average of Iowa polls shows Sanders leading Biden by 3.2 percentage points. But polls aren't unanimous: One Monmouth poll Wednesday had Biden leading by 2 points, well within the margin of error.Also complicating the storyline are rule changes that will give greater transparency into the performance of the entire field. In previous years, Iowa reported only the number of state delegates each candidate was expected to win. This time, the party will reveal how many Iowans backed each candidate in the first round of voting — even if that candidate didn't meet the 15% threshold that's a major hurdle for lower-polling candidates.Those reporting rules, written in the aftermath of Sanders' complaints about his narrow loss in Iowa in 2016, could ironically blunt the impact of his finish this year. Candidates who come in second, third or even fourth in the final tally could claim much better standing if they do well in the first round.Still, Iowa punditry is partly an expectations game. A front-runner who stumbles into second place can be judged more harshly than a second-tier candidate who unexpectedly comes in third. So the candidates are already working to blunt any blow from a poor showing.Despite investing early and extensively in an Iowa organization, Warren is not polling well, and her campaign is trying to make clear she will carry on regardless."We expect this to be a long nomination fight and have built our campaign to sustain well past Super Tuesday and stay resilient no matter what breathless media narratives come when voting begins," campaign manager Roger Lau wrote in a memo last week.Yang said this week that regardless of how he finishes in Iowa, he expects to do even better in New Hampshire — where the state's libertarian streak might be more receptive to his message.Iowa awards 41 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, or just a little more than 1% of the total delegates. But its importance far outweighs the delegate count, given it is the first actual votes of the 2020 election year and gives Americans a chance to see which candidates are living up to their claim of electability.A Front-loaded CalendarMost candidates may have little incentive to drop out after Iowa, regardless of their showing, given that contests in New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina quickly follow in February.Biden has built a firewall in South Carolina's Feb. 29 primary, where his support among black Democrats could make up for any early stumbles. And it's not just Biden: The Martin Luther King Day events there this month became virtually mandatory for any serious candidate for president."South Carolina has come into its own this time," said Elaine Kamarck, author of "Primary Politics: Everything You Need to Know about How America Nominates Its Presidential Candidates." "It's the last, best stop before Super Tuesday."Super Tuesday — a 14-state primary on March 3, three days after South Carolina — will award 34% of all delegates. And unlike Republicans, who allow states to award delegates on a winner-take-all basis, Democratic delegates are awarded proportionally. Any candidate getting at least 15% — statewide or in a congressional district — is eligible to win delegates.That could increase the likelihood that the front-runner could divide and conquer the opposition."Let me put it this way: The Democrats can choose to repeat the Republican folly of 2016," said Kamarck, a member of the Democratic National Committee's rules committee. "They all stayed in the race. They did not rally around the alternative, and Donald Trump became the nominee."Another harbinger of a drawn-out nomination fight: money.The importance of Iowa is as much about fund-raising as it is about delegates, said Jeff Link, a Democratic Iowa political strategist.Klobuchar, a senator from neighboring Minnesota, may feel the most pressure if she doesn't do well, but Warren and Buttigieg could also struggle with donors if they have a poor showing," Link said.But candidates sustained by small-dollar donors — like Sanders and Yang — can keep going as long as the recurring monthly donations continue."If Bernie got seventh, he'd move on," Link said.And the two billionaires in the race — Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg — have already spent hundreds of millions on states that vote after Iowa and New Hampshire. Bloomberg is skipping the early states entirely and isn't seeking any delegates until March 3.Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.Age, too, might be a factor in keeping more candidates in the race longer. Younger candidates often have more incentive to drop out early in the interests of party unity -- and their political futures. For candidates over 70 — Sanders, Biden, Bloomberg and Warren — waiting four to eight years for another chance at higher office is an unlikely option.(Adds quote from Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price in fourth paragraph)\--With assistance from Ryan Teague Beckwith and Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou.To contact the reporters on this story: Gregory Korte in Des Moines at gkorte@bloomberg.net;Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan CraneFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Indonesia deports American journalist over visa regulations Posted: 31 Jan 2020 04:38 PM PST ![Indonesia deports American journalist over visa regulations]( "Indonesia deports American journalist over visa regulations") Indonesian authorities deported an American journalist who was detained for more than six weeks after meeting with indigenous rights activists on Borneo island, his lawyer said Saturday. Philip Myrer Jacobson of California was detained on Jan. 21 in Palangkaraya city and faced up to five years in jail and a 500 million rupiah (US$36,500) fine on charges of violating immigration laws for failing to secure a journalist visa. Jacobson, 31, is an editor for Mongabay, an environmental science news website that features information on tropical rain forests.
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| A U.S. Plane Crashed in Afghanistan. Why So Many Believed a CIA Chief Was On It. Posted: 31 Jan 2020 03:31 PM PST  The wreckage of a U.S. military plane that crashed and burned on a snowy mountain peak in Afghanistan on Monday was still fresh when Iranian…
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| 'Do not travel': The US issued its most extreme warning against going to China as the coronavirus continues to spread Posted: 30 Jan 2020 07:11 PM PST  The State Department advises against travel to China after the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency.
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| More than 6,000 people are trapped on a cruise ship in Italy after a woman was suspected of having the coronavirus Posted: 30 Jan 2020 06:18 AM PST  Passengers of a Costa Cruises cruise ship can't disembark. Two passengers, one of whom was experiencing coronavirus symptoms, were quarantined.
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| Man dies after woman trying to help him accidentally runs over him, police say Posted: 31 Jan 2020 08:39 AM PST  A man died Thursday after a woman who was trying to help him with a medical issue forgot to put her vehicle in park, and it ran over him, police said.
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| Why You Should Be Afraid of Russia’s New Heavy Flamethrower Battalions Posted: 31 Jan 2020 03:51 AM PST  Heavy flamethrower battalions are coming to the Russian army. The goal is to use incendiary weapons – devastating physically and psychologically – to clear enemy troops from cities, bunkers and tunnels.
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| US finds ally in Mexico as asylum policy marks first year Posted: 30 Jan 2020 10:37 AM PST  The Perla family of El Salvador has slipped into a daily rhythm in Mexico while they wait for the U.S. to decide whether to grant them asylum. The Homeland Security Department said Wednesday that it started making Brazilians wait in Mexico. Others, like the Perlas, became entrenched in Mexican life.
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| Egypt's population nears 100 million, putting pressure on resources and jobs Posted: 31 Jan 2020 06:02 AM PST  Sitting in her sister's apartment on a noisy Cairo street, Rania Sayed one day hopes to leave a city that is becoming more congested as Egypt's population ticks up to 100 million, a milestone it will pass next month. Like many others, she wants to move to one of the new satellite settlements being built for a booming population whose rapid growth President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi has identified as one of Egypt's biggest challenges alongside terrorism. Egypt's 100 millionth person is expected to be clocked up on the official statistics agency's digital counter in central Cairo in February.
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| Berlin Adopts Five-Year Freeze to Rein In Soaring Rents Posted: 30 Jan 2020 04:50 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Berlin's plan to rein in the city's rental market was approved by lawmakers, capping revenue for property owners and potentially driving investors away from the German capital. Shares in major landlords slumped.Berlin's legislature backed measures including a five-year rent freeze Thursday, more than six months after they were proposed by the left-leaning administration. The changes will likely come into force by the end of February, though opposition parties have signaled their intention to challenge them in court.The initiative put forward by the Left party's Katrin Lompscher, head of urban development and housing, is intended to ease the burden on tenants after a property boom caused rents to double over the past decade. The political intervention has spooked investors as a separate campaign attempts to force Berlin's government to expropriate properties from large landlords including Deutsche Wohnen SE."We don't want Berlin to become a copy of overpriced cities like London and Paris, where many people can no longer afford an apartment," Lompscher said during the debate that preceded the ballot. Out of 150 votes cast, 85 lawmakers voted in favor and 64 against, with one abstention.Deutsche Wohnen shares fell as much as 2.1% and were down 0.6% at 1:30 p.m., extending its decline over the past 12 months to about 13%. Vonovia SE, Germany's largest landlord and owner of about 40,000 apartments in the capital, declined as much as 1%, and Berlin-based property owner Adler Real Estate AG dropped as much as 2.4%.The Christian Democratic Union -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's party, which is in opposition in Berlin -- plans to challenge the measures in Germany's constitutional court "as soon as possible," according to a spokesman. That can only happen once the new legislation takes effect.The adoption of the measures "sends a fatal signal to investors," Ulrich Lange, a deputy leader of Merkel's bloc in the national parliament, said in an emailed statement."What's more, there's a high possibility that the law will be declared unconstitutional," Lange added. "That will create rental chaos. It cannot be emphasized enough that the only solution that will ease the pressure on Berlin's rental market remains: build."'El Dorado'Michael Voigtlaender, an economist at the Cologne-based IW Institute, has also criticized Berlin's focus on rent controls rather than encouraging investors and developers to build more affordable homes to keep pace with the city's rapidly growing population.The government's actions are a catastrophe that "threatens to cause considerable damage to both the housing market and Berlin as a whole," the IW said in a recent report for the CDU. The value of some properties in the city could fall by more than 40% as a result of the rent restrictions, the institute estimates.Lompscher has dismissed such concerns. In an interview this month, she called Berlin an "El Dorado" for real-estate companies. Her department has worked closely with other German cities, and she expects Berlin's intervention in the property market to "have consequences" within the country and internationally.Not everyone agrees, though. Vonovia this month described the rent reforms as "Berlin specific." The company doesn't expect the measures to be replicated by other German states "except in the unlikely event that the Federal Constitutional Court were to rule largely in favor of the legislation," Vonovia said in a Jan. 23 note to investors.(Updates with lawmaker comment from seventh paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Blackman in Berlin at ablackman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Iain Rogers, Chris ReiterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| How Trump's impeachment created two Democratic superstars Posted: 30 Jan 2020 02:03 AM PST  Adam Schiff and Hakeem Jeffries are seeing their profiles rise during the Senate trial. How high can they go?
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| 'We Can't Deal With This Tsunami.' As the Coronavirus Spreads, Hong Kong Medical Workers Feel the Pressure Posted: 30 Jan 2020 11:53 PM PST  The coronavirus crisis has exposed cracks in Hong Kong's already overburdened healthcare system.
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| China is using drones to scold people for going outside and not wearing masks amid the coronavirus outbreak Posted: 31 Jan 2020 01:22 PM PST  A video posted by a Chinese state-run paper shows drones hovering above rural and urban areas with a voice commanding them to don masks or go indoors.
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| Hillary Clinton refusing to be served $50m defamation lawsuit, Tulsi Gabbard lawyer claims Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:20 AM PST  Hillary Clinton's representatives have refused to accept legal papers relating to the $50 million defamation lawsuit filed against her by Tulsi Gabbard, according to the Hawaii congresswoman's lawyer.Ms Gabbard, who is currently seeking the Democratic party's 2020 presidential nomination, filed the suit against Ms Clinton after the former secretary of state and 2016 presidential candidate insinuated that she was "the favourite of Russians".
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| Mayor Pete’s South Bend Awarded No Major Contracts to Black-Owned Firms for Three Years Posted: 31 Jan 2020 01:47 AM PST  DES MOINES, Iowa—Of the many pledges that Pete Buttigieg has made in his as-yet unfruitful quest to earn the support of black voters, his guarantee that a quarter out of every federal contracting dollar will be awarded to minority- and women-owned businesses is one of his most ambitious. "Look at what it would be like if we were co-investing in promising businesses led by black entrepreneurs, start-ups and other kinds of businesses that have the best track record of creating the kind of employment that can help lift people up economically," Buttigieg told BET in September. But an analysis of such spending during Buttigieg's tenure as mayor of South Bend, Indiana, shows that the presidential hopeful fell dramatically short of that goal. According to a 2019 study analyzing the city's contract data conducted by Colette Holt & Associates, a national law and consulting firm specializing in disparity studies, the city of South Bend did not award a major contract to a black-owned business for three straight years.The study found that from 2015 through 2017, the city of South Bend distributed $83,675,547 in contract dollars, roughly 12 percent of the city's contracts, to businesses owned by racial and gender minorities—and none to a black-owned business, despite the study finding that there were more than 200 qualifying minority-owned firms in the market at the time.Minority-owned and women-owned businesses make up 15 percent of the market in the city, which means that while South Bend was close to achieving proportional awards for some categories, black-owned businesses continued to lag. While the city is more than 25 percent black by population, eligible black-owned contractors make up a mere 3.25 percent. More than 88 percent of contracts between 2015 and 2017 went to businesses not owned by women or racial minorities.At the same time, Buttigieg's administration awarded numerous lucrative contracts to past campaign donors and to corporations whose lobbyists and executives had given to Buttigieg's mayoral election efforts.One minority business owner told the study's authors that South Bend employees "are trained to believe that black folks, poor people, or minorities can't deliver," and that she keeps her status as the owner of a minority-owned business under wraps because the "stigma" has kept her from winning contracts."I really felt like [the city of South Bend] didn't want me to have the job. It wasn't because I wasn't the best at what I do, because I am—it was just because they would say, 'Well, you don't need that much money,' like, 'You just a little black girl. You won't need that much money,'" she told the study's authors. "Our problem is that people are trained to believe that black folks, poor people, or minorities can't deliver… There's a whole lot of black people in here that wanna do something, and somebody needs to see that." Another black business owner said that the difficulty in obtaining South Bend city contracts had even led to some minority-owned businesses to go under."There are black-owned construction companies, but one reason a lot of them that I talked to went out of business [is] because they can't get contracts with the city," the business owner said. "So, they can't get any big contracts, then they have to try to build their business with only small ones, and it's hard to maintain a cash flow with the other issues that you deal with." The analysis, titled "The South Bend Disparity Study" and produced at Buttigieg's behest, measured contracts and subcontracts worth $50,000 and up, and found a 72.38 percent disparity ratio for contract utilization of minority-owned business enterprises in the city. That ratio measures the participation of a group in contracting opportunities by dividing that group's utilization by the availability of that group to participate in the contracting process.A disparity ratio of less than 100 indicates that a given group is utilized less than would be expected based on availability; a ratio of less than 80 percent has been presented by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission as indicating a prima facie case of discrimination.Buttigieg's poor track record on awarding city contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses has been reported before. In November 2019, shortly after his proposal mandating that the city award 15 percent of its contracts to minority- and women-owned businesses was passed through South Bend's city council, the Intercept reported that Buttigieg had only awarded 3 percent of city contracts to black-owned businesses as mayor, citing annual audits conducted by the city.But the outside analysis by Colette Holt & Associates, revealing the eye-popping three-year stretch with zero contract awards to black-owned businesses, has not been reported, and comes at a moment when even Buttigieg's most diehard fans are growing increasingly anxious that his statistically insignificant support among black registered voters represents an insurmountable obstacle to his electability."It is a concern! It is a concern about the South—can he win in the South? Can he win the black vote?" June Schindler, a potential supporter, told The Daily Beast, at a Buttigieg town hall in Ottumwa on Tuesday. "It's a concern."Buttigieg's campaign pointed to the small number of eligible black-owned firms in the region as a partial explanation for why South Bend lagged so far behind the former mayor's Douglass Plan. In an interview with Charlamagne Tha God last week, Buttigieg explained that the disparity study was a painful but crucial step to understanding how the city would address the problem in the future."We found out that we are below where we ought to be," Buttigieg said, of the city's contracts with black-owned firms. "That wasn't a surprise, but now I had the legal power to do something about it."While Buttigieg has touted the creation of a training program aimed at helping minority-owned and women-owned businesses apply for city contracts, the city was slow to improve the city's designated official in charge of ensuring minority- and women-owned businesses were being included in the selection process. In 2014, Buttigieg's office proposed cutting the hours for the city's Diversity Compliance Officer position from 32 hours a week to 18 hours per week. At the time, members of the city's Common Council expressed open concern that cutting the officer's hours would undermine efforts to expand the number of contracts awarded to such businesses."I don't think 18 hours per week is going to be enough to support the goals of the ordinance," said Valerie Schey, a Democrat on the council, in August 2014. "Even with a 32-hour workweek, the workload has been enormous."The move would have saved the city roughly $18,000 per year.In 2016, that role was instead changed following the signing of an executive order by Buttigieg ordering the creation of South Bend's Office of Diversity & Inclusion, a position intended to boost the number of contracts and subcontracts to minority- and women-owned businesses with the job description of "[leading] efforts to make hiring and management practices more inclusive, and city purchasing more diverse."Christina Brooks, who served as South Bend's first Diversity & Inclusion Officer until last year and hired the firm Colette Holt and Associates to conduct a disparity study, said in a statement that the shift in resources was critical for the city to understand how poor its history of awarding contracts to minority-owned businesses had been up to that point. "It wasn't a priority for three decades until Pete shifted resources to really focus on this by creating a department that was intentional about supporting, creating, and sustaining women- and minority-owned businesses and building up capacity," Brooks said.During the same three-year period that black-owned businesses received zero dollars in city contracts, South Bend did award plenty of city contracts to businesses owned by white men—including several generous political donors who had supported Buttigieg's mayoral campaigns and his ill-fated run for Indiana state treasurer in 2010.Among the beneficiaries of city contracts include lobbyist Brad Queisser, whose lobbying firm, mCapitol, and its parent company, MWH, gave $2,000 in cash and an in-kind contribution of $2,577.82 to Buttigieg's 2011 mayoral campaign. The firm was later contracted to lobby the federal government on South Bend's behalf, and was paid $230,000 over the next three years for its lobbying work. In 2014, MWH was awarded a contract worth as much as $2 million by South Bend's Board of Public Works to modernize the city's sewers—a favorite achievement of Buttigieg's. Four months later, it won an additional $430,000 in city contracts for its work on the system.Another lobbyist later hired to work on the city's sewer plan was Thomas New, executive director of government affairs at the Indianapolis law firm Krieg DeVault. New, who had donated $1,500 to Buttigieg's 2010 treasurer campaign, was later retained by the city to handle federal authorities on the plan.The Buttigieg campaign has explained in the past that both Queisser and New had been involved in city contract work and municipal politics long before Buttigieg first ran for mayor.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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