| Police officer who lost his job after shooting an unarmed man is ‘rehired to collect lifetime pension’ Posted: 13 Jul 2019 05:08 AM PDT  A police officer who was charged with murder for shooting an unarmed man in a hotel hallway was reportedly rehired temporarily so he could collect a pension, local media reports.Philip Brailsford, who killed Daniel Shaver at La Quinta hotel in Arizona in 2016, reportedly came to the agreement last year with the Mesa city manager's office. This allowed him to apply for a disability pension on the basis of a medical retirement in a reversal of his firing by the department after the shooting.He will receive a lifetime pension of around $30,000 per year.The agreement was first reported by local news outlets in Arizona, which obtained the settlement agreement that the city reached with Mr Brailsford last August.Mr Shaver's shooting captured media attention across the US when it happened in 2016, and again after Mr Brailsford's trial when his body camera video was released.Police were called to the hotel in January 2016 following a complaint about a man with a rifle in one of the rooms. Mr Shaver, 26, had been showing a legal pellet gun that he used in his job in pest control, to a woman in the room with him.Body camera footage begins with the confrontation between Mr Brailsford, other officers, and Mr Shaver and the woman. Mr Shaver complies with a series of confusing commands from the responding officers, putting his hands up and lying down on the ground.They threaten to kill him multiple times for not complying with their orders."If you move, we're going to consider that a threat and we are going to deal with it and you may not survive it," one officer says. "Please do not shoot me," Mr Shaver says at one point, his hands in the air. But Mr Brailsford opened fire after Mr Shaver appeared to reach behind himself while crawling towards the officers. He was struck five times.Mr Brailsford, who was carrying an AR-15 rifle with the phrase "You're F****d" etched into the weapon, according to a police report, was charged with murder for the shooting and fired from his job soon after.He testified in court that he believed Mr Shaver was reaching for a gun and would have done the same thing again.He was acquitted in November 2017 after a six-week trial on both second-degree murder and reckless manslaughter charges.The settlement notes that Mr Brailsford has been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder. Michael Piccarreta, his lawyer, told ABC 15 his PTSD stemmed from the shooting incident and criminal prosecution. Mesa City manager Chris Brady told ABC 15 that Mr Brailsford's PTSD claim dates to before his trial. "So in fairness he was given the opportunity to make that appeal to the board," he said. The shooting prompted a multimillion-dollar lawsuit filed by Mr Shaver's family, which is still pending.Washington Post
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| 'She is not a racist': Trump sides with Speaker Nancy Pelosi in spat with progressives Posted: 12 Jul 2019 08:42 AM PDT  President Donald Trump defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi after freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accused her of criticizing 'women of color."
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| Hawaii governor declares emergency for Maui wildfires Posted: 12 Jul 2019 12:44 AM PDT  Hawaii's governor on Friday declared an emergency on the island of Maui, where firefighters were battling a blaze that forced the evacuations of thousands of people and sent huge clouds of smoke billowing over nearby beaches. Although most of the evacuees were later allowed to return home, the blaze more than tripled in size to spread over about 9,000 acres (3,642 hectares), scorching mostly former sugarcane fields and brush. "I am declaring our Valley Isle a disaster area for the purpose of implementing the emergency management functions as allowed by law," Governor David Ige said in a statement.
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| Will Nationalism Poison Ukraine's New President? Posted: 12 Jul 2019 09:53 AM PDT  Ever since Volodymyr Zelensky's upset victory in April, Ukrainians have been wondering whether their newly elected president will take new approaches to resolve the conflict with Russia. His thumping victory over Petro Poroshenko, who tried to dismiss all of his opponents as puppets of Russian Vladimir Putin puppets, uncovered a strong, untapped desire to end the Russophobia that has been porminant with over the past five years. During that time, the Poroshenko and other senior government officials routinely referred to Ukrainians who wanted better relations with Russia as a "fifth column."During the campaign Zelensky outflanked Poroshenko by promising to do anything to achieve peace, including direct negotiations with Putin. Since winning the election, however, Zelensky has backtracked from this pledge and reassured the West that he has no intention of negotiating with Putin without Western intermediaries present. In sum, he continues to try to be everything to everyone by telling each person whatever it is they want to hear.
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| Hong Kong protesters clash with police on border with mainland China Posted: 13 Jul 2019 05:43 AM PDT  Hong Kong protesters clashed with police on Saturday in a town near the boundary with mainland China where thousands rallied against the presence of Chinese traders, seizing on another grievance following major unrest over an extradition bill. The demonstration in the Hong Kong territorial town of Sheung Shui, not far from the Chinese city of Shenzhen, began peacefully but devolved into skirmishes and shouting. Protesters threw umbrellas and hardhats at police, who retaliated by swinging batons and firing pepper spray. Later in the day Hong Kong police urged protesters to refrain from violence and leave the area. The protest was the latest in a series that have roiled the former British colony for more than a month, giving rise to its worst political crisis since its 1997 handover to China. Sometimes violent street protests have drawn in millions of people, with hundreds even storming the legislature on July 1 to oppose a now-suspended extradition bill that would have allowed criminal suspects in Hong Kong to be sent to China to face trial in courts under ruling Communist Party control. Critics see the bill as a threat to Hong Kong's rule of law. Chief Executive Carrie Lam this week said the bill was "dead" after having suspended it last month, but opponents vow to settle for nothing short of its formal withdrawal. Protests against the bill had largely taken place in Hong Kong's main business district, but demonstrators have recently begun to look elsewhere to widen support by taking up narrower, more domestic issues. A supporter begs police officer not to attack protesters Credit: AP In Sheung Shui, protesters rallied to oppose small-time Chinese traders who make short trips into the territory to buy goods that they then haul back to China to sell. The demonstrators chanted demands in Mandarin, China's official language, for the Chinese traders to go home. Many street-level shops were shuttered during the march. The traders have long been a source of anger among those in Hong Kong who say they have fuelled inflation, driven up property prices, dodged taxes and diluted Sheung Shui's identity. "Our lovely town has become chaos," said Ryan Lai, 50, a resident of Sheung Shui, where so-called "parallel traders" buy bulk quantities of duty-free goods to be carried into mainland China and sold. "We don't want to stop travel and buying, but please, just make it orderly and legal. The extradition bill was the tipping point for us to come out. We want Sheung Shui back." When Britain returned Hong Kong to China 22 years ago, Chinese Communist leaders promised the city a high degree of autonomy for 50 years. But many say China has progressively tightened its grip, putting Hong Kong's freedoms under threat through a range of measures such as the extradition bill. Hong Kong's lack of full democracy was behind the recent unrest, said Jimmy Sham of the Civil Human Rights Front, which organised protests against the extradition bill. "The government, Carrie Lam, some legislators in functional constituencies are not elected by the people, so there are many escalating actions in different districts to reflect different social issues," he said. "If political problems are not solved, social well-being issues will continue to emerge endlessly." Major demonstrations in the past month against a proposal to change extradition laws have reawakened other movements in Hong Kong Credit: AP One protester said Saturday's scuffles started when demonstrators charged the police after the latter came to the assiatcne of mainland traders who had assaulted demonstrators. "Some people were attacked and got injured in a stampede. I tried to save some girls so I was also attacked by pepper spray by police. Now I feel so bad. The cops are dogs," said the man, who would only give the name Ragnar. Protesters ripped up median barriers and fences to set up roadblocks and defences. A young man was treated for a bloody head wound metres from where surrounded police were hitting activists armed with umbrellas. A baton charge by police in riot gear cleared the street minutes later to free trapped officers. "We have no weapons and we were peaceful. When we saw them taking photos of us in the crowd we had to react," said another protester, surnamed Chan, who declined to give his full name. "We are all scared now. How can they hit us with batons?" he said, staring at a pool of blood where one of his peers was treated. Last week nearly 2,000 people marched in the Tuen Mun residential district to protest against what they saw as the nuisance of brash singing and dancing to Mandarin pop songs by middle-aged mainland women. On Sunday, tens of thousands marched in one of Kowloon's most popular tourist shopping areas, trying to persuade mainland Chinese tourists to back opposition to the extradition bill. "We want to raise awareness in Washington that the United States has to do more now to help Hong Kong become fully democratic," said a resident of the nearby town of Fanling, who was one of five people in Saturday's crowd carrying U.S. flags. "They are the most important power left that can stand up to China," added the 30-year-old man, who gave his name only as David. Anti-extradition protesters plan another demonstration on Sunday in the town of Sha Tin, in the so-called New Territories between Hong Kong island and the border with China.
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| Pregnant woman, son die after car swept away in heavy rains Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:39 AM PDT  A series of storms socked the Northeast with heavy rains and strong winds, causing the deaths of a 9-year-old boy and his pregnant mother whose car was swept away by floodwaters while she was on the phone with emergency officials. Thursday's storms quickly intensified, causing flash flooding in several states and spawning a tornado in a southern New Jersey town. A firefighter who was put in contact with the woman, who was identified as 31-year-old Pamela Snyder, was able to stay on the phone with her for several minutes before they lost contact, Dzurek said.
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| Vice President Pence Tours Border Patrol Facility With Almost 400 Men in ‘Crowded’ Cages, ‘Horrendous Stench’ Posted: 12 Jul 2019 06:05 PM PDT  Office of Inspector General/Department of Homeland Security via GettyVice President Mike Pence toured a Border Patrol facility in Texas on Friday where he reportedly saw hundreds of men standing in crowded cages who later yelled to tell reporters they were hungry."The stench was horrendous," White House pool reporter Josh Dawsey wrote of the brief visit to an outdoor portal at the McAllen Border Station.Nearly 400 men "were in caged fences with no cots," Dawsey wrote, adding that it was so crowded the men would not have been able to lie down even on the concrete. Pence and the reporters accompanying him saw the outdoor portal full of migrants who had allegedly crossed the U.S. border illegally. The reporters saw the migrants for all of 90 seconds before they were escorted away, and the vice president "briefly" went into the room. The men inside the cages reportedly shouted to tell reporters they had been there for longer than 40 days and wanted to brush their teeth. There were no mats or pillows, according to Dawsey, and water was only accessible outside the cages, which Border Patrol agents said was made available to the detainees when the press was not there. Agents guarding the cages were wearing face masks. A White House official said the Secret Service had opposed Pence entering the area once the press left, but the vice president entered the room, Dawsey reported. The vice president later told reporters he had expected to see similar conditions at the facility. "I was not surprised by what I saw," Pence told reporters. "I knew we'd see a system that was overwhelmed.""This is tough stuff," Pence was quoted as saying, adding that he was calling for Democrats to fund more beds for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and more spending from the Department of Homeland Security.Earlier Friday, Pence and reporters also toured a facility in Donna, Texas, that holds families, adults, and children. There, Dawsey described seeing detainees lying on "kindergarten-like napping mats" on the floor with a "thin tinfoil-like blanket." Officials said it was one of the "nicest facilities because it was new and relatively clean."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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| EU to Cut the Flow of Funds to Turkey as Drilling Spat Heats Up Posted: 12 Jul 2019 08:31 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The European Union is poised to freeze most high-level contacts with Turkey and cut the flow of funds to the country, while holding back for now on sanctions that could target Turkish companies involved in offshore drilling in the eastern Mediterranean.EU diplomats have agreed on the wording of a draft decision due to be formally adopted by the bloc's foreign ministers on Monday, two officials familiar with the talks said. The draft calls for suspending negotiations on an aviation agreement with Ankara, halting scheduled ministerial meetings, reducing aid and inviting the European Investment Bank to review sovereign-backed lending to Turkey.The bloc will also reiterate that it's working on targeted sanctions in light of Turkey's continuing controversial drilling practices, according to the final draft of the communique seen by Bloomberg. The statement was agreed on Friday afternoon after several rounds of redrafting, and it will be rubber-stamped by EU ambassadors on Monday before ministers sign off later in the day.Turkey and Cyprus are at loggerheads over offshore gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean that are claimed by the Cypriots and disputed by Ankara. Turkey has sent exploration vessels into the area, a move Cyprus calls a violation of its sovereignty.Deep-Sea ExplorationEU leaders have squarely sided with Cyprus in the dispute, declaring last month that they're ready to consider sanctions if Turkey continues drilling. That could target companies, individuals, and Turkey's deep-sea hydrocarbon exploration and production sectors, though such measures weren't officially on the menu of options debated this week.Still, the escalation marks a new low in EU-Turkey relations, which have been deteriorating since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pushed through constitutional reforms that Brussels claims weaken the country's democratic safeguards.The European Commission says Turkey has been drifting further away from the prospect of eventual EU membership, and some member states, such as Germany and France, have considered formally shelving long-stalled accession talks.The spat with Brussels adds to a climate of uncertainty weighing on Turkish assets, following the dismissal of the country's top central banker and the prospect of U.S. sanctions over Erdogan's decision to purchase Russian missiles. Washington has also called on Turkey to cease drilling off the coast of Cyprus.Maintaining CommunicationDespite renewed tensions in the Mediterranean, the EU is wary of an escalation that would risk a landmark 2016 migration agreement, under which Turkey stemmed the bulk of refugee flows to Europe in exchange for financial assistance. Even though options for targeted sanctions were mandated by the bloc's leaders last month, they are not being activated at this stage.An EU diplomat said the bloc in its Monday decision will seek a balance between sending a clear message to Ankara and agreeing on measures that won't harm the interests of EU nations or cut all ties with Turkey. The EU wants to keep some lines of communication open in areas such as migration and terrorism, the diplomat said, asking not to be named discussing sensitive issues.\--With assistance from Viktoria Dendrinou and Jonathan Stearns.To contact the reporter on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Jerrold Colten, Chris ReiterFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers propose up to $77M bail for accused sex trafficker's release Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:55 PM PDT  Accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's lawyers seek his release on a bail package as high as $77 million while the New York financier fights charges
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| Amid hurricane emergency, Trump fired off dozens of tweets promoting his golf course, skewering Andrew McCabe, and criticizing journalists Posted: 13 Jul 2019 06:50 AM PDT  As Category 1 Hurricane Barry closed in on Louisiana, Trump sent out dozens of tweets about his golf course, Mueller, Hillary Clinton, and more.
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| Kentucky Fried Chicken in ruins after explosion levels out restaurant in North Carolina Posted: 12 Jul 2019 04:59 PM PDT  Authorities say no one was in the restaurant when it exploded.
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| Dead Drone: Are Iran and America Headed Towards a Bloody War? Posted: 12 Jul 2019 01:17 PM PDT  Deptula said the Pentagon must modernize its "geriatric air force with systems that have been designed to operate against high-threat capabilities like stealth fighters, bombers and [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] aircraft."Iran's destruction of a U.S. Navy Global Hawk surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz on June 20, 2019 shouldn't deter U.S. forces from monitoring the strategic waterway, officials said.Retired U.S. Air Force general David Deptula, dean of the Air Force Association's Mitchell Institute, told Air Force magazine he would put an additional Global Hawk "in the exact same track." "We certainly don't want to be cowed," Deptula said.(This first appeared earlier in July 2019.)Northrop built four Broad-Area Maritime Surveillance-Demonstrator drones, based on the Global Hawk platform, for the Navy starting in 2008. The Navy has stationed two of them in the United Arab Emirates for operational use as it prepares to deploy the full MQ-4C naval version of the Global Hawk starting in late 2019.
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| Palestinian child shot in head during West Bank clashes: ministry Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:36 AM PDT  A Palestinian child was seriously wounded Friday during clashes between Israeli forces and protesters in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry and official media said. Official news agency Wafa named him as Abdelrahman Shteiwi, saying he was 10 years old and was wounded during clashes in Kafr Qaddum near Nablus in the northern West Bank.
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| California Gov. Newsom signs law to change legal definition of beer Posted: 11 Jul 2019 05:49 PM PDT  California is updating its legal definition of beer. A new bill changes the current legal definition to include varieties of beer fermented with fruit, spices or other foods.
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| Inventive Butternut Squash Recipes, From Stuffing to Soup Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:31 PM PDT |
| Tropical Storm Barry is expected to hit parts of Louisiana with more than 3 feet of storm surge and 20 inches of rain — here's what that much water looks like Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:33 AM PDT  New Orleans has already been drenched in nearly 9 inches of rain, prompting a flash-flood emergency declaration.
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| Texas judge rejects part of state's 'sanctuary city' lawsuit Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:13 PM PDT ![Texas judge rejects part of state's 'sanctuary city' lawsuit]( "Texas judge rejects part of state's 'sanctuary city' lawsuit") A Texas judge has dismissed substantial parts of the attorney general's first "sanctuary cities" lawsuit that alleges the San Antonio police chief obstructed enforcement of immigration law. Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawsuit accuses Police Chief William McManus of releasing 12 immigrants suspected of entering the U.S. illegally. It was a rare enforcement of Texas' 2017 Senate Bill 4, which penalizes local officials who restrict federal immigration enforcement.
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| Former Trump aide Sebastian Gorka screamed in a journalist's face in the Rose Garden as supporters cheered Posted: 11 Jul 2019 04:21 PM PDT  An onlooker told the reporter that Gorka could "kick your punk a--" as some looked on in shock and others cheered in support of the former Trump aide.
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| 'The crisis is real': Mike Pence sees 'tough stuff' and 'compassionate work' at Texas border facilities Posted: 13 Jul 2019 08:13 AM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence and a group of Senate Republicans toured a pair of border facilities in Texas amid concerns over conditions at such centers.
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| Saudi Arabia and Russia among 37 states backing China's Xinjiang policy Posted: 12 Jul 2019 08:31 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia, Russia and 35 other states have written to the United Nations supporting China's policies in its western region of Xinjiang, according to a copy of the letter seen by Reuters on Friday, in contrast to strong Western criticism. China has been accused of detaining a million Muslims and persecuting ethnic Uighurs in Xinjiang, and 22 ambassadors signed a letter to the U.N. Human Rights Council this week criticizing its policies.
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| Florida deputy accused of planting drugs in traffic stops Posted: 11 Jul 2019 12:54 PM PDT  A former Florida sheriff's deputy was arrested Wednesday on charges that he routinely pulled over drivers for minor traffic infractions, planted drugs and then arrested them on fake drug charges, including one victim who lost custody of his daughter because of the arrest.
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| A Frank Lloyd Wright Home in Kansas City Is Headed to Auction Posted: 11 Jul 2019 11:01 AM PDT  There will be no minimum bid for the Sondern-Adler House
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| For Palestinian family, tunnel under Israel barrier leads home Posted: 11 Jul 2019 07:20 PM PDT  On one side of the Israeli separation barrier sits the Hajajla family's home. The Palestinians' house is cut off from the rest of their village that lies on the other side, with only a tunnel connecting the two. For more than a week, 10-year-old Mohammed Hajajla had to walk six kilometres (nearly four miles) in the blazing sun as part of his route to school due to the closure, the family says.
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| Hypersonic War: The Weapons of the Future Have Arrived Posted: 12 Jul 2019 06:07 AM PDT  Aircraft capable of hypersonic flight will be able to penetrate layered anti-aircraft defenses. During its career as one of the Air Force's premier Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platforms, the venerable SR-71, which could fly at speeds up to Mach 3, was fired upon unsuccessfully hundreds of times. A new technological competition has begun, one in which America's rivals, particularly Russia and China, may be ahead. This is the race to build and put in the field super-fast or hypersonic weapons and vehicles. The military defines a hypersonic weapon as one that travels at least Mach 5 or five times the speed of sound. In comparison, commercial aircraft fly at around Mach 1 while some military jets can push themselves to around Mach 3, but only for a short time.There are two basic types of hypersonic weapons: super-fast cruise missiles, and boost-glide vehicles that are mounted on ballistic missiles. Hypersonic cruise missiles, which would most commonly be launched from aircraft, maintain powered flight from launch to impact. Boost-glide vehicles are lofted by a ballistic missile launched from an aircraft, ship, submarine or ground unit to the edge of space from which point they use their speed and aerodynamic design to skip along the top of the atmosphere for up to 10,000 miles.(This first appeared in June 2019.)
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| Unprecedented fires burn the Arctic Posted: 13 Jul 2019 08:35 AM PDT  Smoke is rising over the forests of Alaska and Siberia.The World Meteorological Organization called the wildfires now burning around the Arctic "unprecedented." The United Nations agency noted that over 100 intense fires burned in the Arctic Circle alone over the past six weeks, releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than Sweden does in an entire year. A rare fire even ignited in Greenland, amid unusually hot and dry weather.Amplified wildfires are an expected, predictable consequence of a warming climate. This is all the more true in the Arctic, a sprawling region that is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the globe. The profound changes here can be easily observed over the Arctic ocean, too, where sea ice has broken records for melting throughout the 2019 summer.Over the course of 10 days in July, Alaskan wildfires burned an area of land the size of Rhode Island. This is way above normal -- though this doesn't match Alaska's extreme burning of 2015. > Alaska wildfires have now burned 1.28 million acres (519k ha), the 3rd highest total to date (since 1993) according to @BLM_AFS analysis. This includes 1218 square miles burned in July. That's one Rhode Island in 10 days. akwx wildfire @Climatologist49 @IARC_Alaska @TScottRupp pic.twitter.com/gVTIox3x2k> > -- Rick Thoman (@AlaskaWx) July 10, 2019> Record-breaking heat in Alaska has exacerbated clusters of wildfires burning throughout the state. https://t.co/8zqVC5JAjx NASA MODIS fire pic.twitter.com/64zL7gYETx> > -- NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) July 11, 2019The largely Arctic state, however, just had its warmest 12-month period on record.SEE ALSO: Climate change will ruin train tracks and make travel hellJust across the Bering Sea, in Siberia, NASA satellite images from July 13 show dense smoke swirling over eastern Russia, with red spots designating wildfires.Fires in Siberia on July 13, 2019.Image: nasa worldviewWhile a warming climate itself doesn't create weather events or fires, it amplifies these events and significantly boosts the odds of such events occurring. That's why leading climate scientists emphasize looking at the bigger picture -- and following trends.And the trends are clear. On Earth, 18 of the 19 warmest years on record have occurred since 2001. Warmer climes mean an atmosphere that holds more water, which translates to a boost in pummeling deluges -- like the type that flooded Washington, D.C. earlier this week. The U.S. just experienced its wettest 12 months in 124 years of recorded history. Such warming also means momentous declines in Arctic sea ice, amplified, growing drought in arid swathes of the United States, and fires that are burning for weeks longer than they were in the 1980sThe future may have its many unknowns. But it's almost certain that the Arctic will be a smokier place as the region continues a relentless, accelerating warming trend. This July, Anchorage hit 90 degrees Fahrenheit. That's the hottest day ever recorded in the city's history. WATCH: Ever wonder how the universe might end?
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| Vietnam Goes From Trade War Winner to Trump Target Posted: 11 Jul 2019 11:55 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Americans are buying solar panels from Vietnam like never before, but local manufacturer IREX Energy JSC isn't celebrating.After U.S. President Donald Trump slapped higher tariffs on China, production in neighboring Vietnam went into overdrive. Chinese manufacturers, who face a 55% U.S. tariff on their goods, relocated some production to Vietnam, while local businesses saw a jump in orders. In June alone, U.S. imports of solar cells from Vietnam surged 656% from a year ago.That trade boom in everything from Ikea furniture to Nike Inc. shoes is now prompting more scrutiny from the U.S. and making businesses like IREX concerned."We are worried that the U.S. may raise tariffs on our solar panels," Pham Thi Thu Trang, the company's chief operating officer, said from Ho Chi Minh City. "Though the U.S market is huge, it is a complicated market when it comes to its politics."Communist Party-led Vietnam has steadily opened up to foreign investors over the years to become a manufacturing hub in the region, with household names like Samsung Electronics Co., Intel Corp. and Nestle SA setting up factories there. It's that trade openness, as well as its low-cost labor and proximity to China, that's helped Vietnam successfully navigate growing global protectionism as companies seek out refuges from the trade war.It's very quickly climbed the ranks to become a significant U.S. trade partner. Vietnam's annual trade surplus with the U.S. has exceeded $20 billion since 2014 and reached $40 billion last year, the highest in records going back to 1990, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. For the first five months of the year, the surplus is already 43% higher than a year ago at $21.6 billion.The Trump administration is now pressuring the nation of 97 million people to slash its trade surplus, threatening one of the world's fastest-growing economies.Trouble began in May, when the U.S. Treasury added Vietnam to a watchlist of countries being monitored for possible currency manipulation. Then, in response to U.S. pressure, Vietnam announced a crackdown on Chinese exporters rerouting products through the Southeast Asian nation with fake Made-in-Vietnam labels to bypass Trump's tariffs.Trump described Vietnam last month as "almost the single-worst abuser of everybody" when asked if he wanted to impose tariffs on the nation. And just last week, the U.S. slapped duties of more than 400% on steel imports from Vietnam which originated in South Korea and Taiwan.Vietnam officials have been left reeling. The government says it's committed to buying more U.S. goods, from Boeing Co. jets to energy products to help narrow its trade surplus with the world's largest economy. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last week told officials to monitor U.S. reactions to the nation's monetary policy more closely."They are very nervous and confused. They don't know what Trump's next move will be," said Alexander Vuving, a professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Hawaii.Vietnam has not been adept at responding to charges against its trading practices in Washington, where a cadre of lawyers are needed to quickly engage the government, said Nestor Scherbey, a licensed U.S. customs broker and consultant based in Ho Chi Minh City. "It's like being charged in court and not showing up."Cheap LaborCapital Economics Ltd. estimates that if Trump levied a 25% tariff on imports from Vietnam as he did with Chinese goods, Hanoi would see a 25% drop in export revenue, equivalent to more than 1% of the nation's gross domestic product. That would erase the estimated 0.5 percentage-point gain it has had over the past year as a beneficiary of the trade war.Even before the trade tensions, Vietnam was benefiting from businesses looking for low-cost alternatives to China as wages there grew. That trend will likely continue, which should help to sustain Vietnam's economic trajectory, according to Adam McCarty, chief economist with Mekong Economics in Hanoi."It's not going to stop the underlying economic motivation to move basic factory work from China to Vietnam," he said. "China is getting too expensive."Vietnam's leaders have also long worked to buffer the country from trade shocks by hedging its reliance on any single market, including the U.S., the nation's largest export destination. Vietnam has inked more than a dozen free trade agreements such as the just-signed deal with the European Union that will eliminate 99% of customs duties, and the revamped Trans-Pacific Partnership, which eventually provides duty-free access to markets such as Canada and Japan for many products."Vietnam's foreign policy for decades has been the opposite of what Groucho Marx said: he'd never want to join a club that would have him," McCarty said. "The Vietnamese approach is to join every trade and investment club they possibly can."For manufacturers like IREX, Trump's recent action means they can't sit back either."Our sales department is looking for new markets, so if the U.S. increases Vietnam tariffs it won't impact IREX's business much," said Trang, the company's COO.(Updates with comments in 12th paragraph.)\--With assistance from Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen.To contact the reporters on this story: John Boudreau in Hanoi at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net;Mai Ngoc Chau in Ho Chi Minh City at cmai9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Karthikeyan SundaramFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'You don't know what you did for me': Released from prison by Obama, now on the dean's list Posted: 12 Jul 2019 09:04 AM PDT  President Obama let her out of prison. Then she enrolled in college and made the dean's list. "I'm finally coming into my own," she wants to tell him.
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| A Japanese spacecraft has landed on an asteroid after blasting it with a bullet. The mission will bring back rock samples to Earth. Posted: 11 Jul 2019 02:56 PM PDT  Asteroid Ryugu could hold clues to the history of our solar system, so Japan's Hayabusa-2 probe is designed to bring samples of it back to Earth.
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| South Africa sends troops into 'warzone' township Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:56 AM PDT  South African president Cyril Ramaphosa ordered troops into the suburbs of Cape Town to quell a crime wave that municipal officials say has turned the city into a "warzone." Hundreds of soldiers will be deployed into sprawling area of townships known as the Cape Flats to combat gang-related violence that saw 14 people killed in 24 hours last week. More than 900 people have been killed in gang-related violence in the Cape Flats in the past year. Last Friday, six women between the ages of 18 and 26 were murdered by unknown gunmen at a home in a shanty town in the area. The next day another five men, aged 18 to 39, were shot dead and one was injured in two separate shooting incidents in the township of Philippi. The victims included three members of the same family: Sonwabo Zwilibi's, 17, and his brother Aphiwe, 18, and their cousin Sikelela Zwilibi, 25. Six policemen have also been shot and injured in the past week. Bheki Cele, the Police Minister, said the military deployment would last three months and see troops backing up police officers. "We'll go door to door, we'll collect every illegal firearm, we'll collect all criminals that we want, we'll collect all outstanding criminals that have been on bail and that is happening from two o'clock this morning," he said. The opposition Democratic Alliance, which control Cape Town and the Western Cape province, welcomed the move. "We have truly reached a state of emergency, which threatens the stability and reputation of the city," said Jean-Pierre Smith, a DA mayoral committee member for safety and security. He said the people of the Western Cape needed the army "because they want safety." More than 20,000 people, or 57 per day, were murdered in South Africa last year. Under apartheid, South Africa's Group Areas legislation assigned all the different racial groups to separate residential and business districts, mostly in urban areas Many people of mixed race who used to live close to the heart of Cape Town were uprooted from their homes in the 1950s and moved to the Cape Flats, a treeless, sandy area of ancient former beaches, so that the inner city would be exclusive to white people. "This situation has its roots in the history of South Africa. People were removed from their homes and dumped far away to areas where there was nothing, no society no shops, nothing," said Jakkie Cilliers, head of African Futures & Innovation at South Africa's influential Institute for Security Studies. "This created a generation of alcoholics which had a particularly violent impact in the Western Cape."
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| The Jewish Group Taking on ICE — and the ‘Concentration Camp’ Taboo Posted: 12 Jul 2019 08:26 PM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettySome of the protesters last month outside the Elizabeth, New Jersey Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center spoke into megaphones. Others used an older call to action, blowing shofars, musical horns used in Jewish ceremonies for millennia. They carried banners with the words "never again means never again." This protest was the first in a series by Never Again Action, a newly formed coalition of Jews opposed to ICE and its treatment of immigrants. By the end of the evening, 36 activists were arrested. The group isn't just challenging ICE; it's entering a fierce debate within the Jewish community about when, if ever, to compare a situation to the Holocaust. While some Jews, and even the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, object to comparisons between the Holocaust and the Trump administration's treatment of migrants, other Jews are taking up the post-Holocaust cry of "never again" to protest migrant detentions and deaths.And they're willing to go to jail over it. Since the Elizabeth protest, Never Again Action and its allies, including immigrant rights organizations, have held demonstrations in D.C., Philadelphia, Chicago, New York City, Boston, San Francisco, and South Bay, California, resulting in more than 120 activist arrests.Stephanie Guedalia, a Jewish activist arrested in Elizabeth said the debate over the term "never again" was secondary to the real issues she and others protest. "Fuck the semantics. Children are dying. That should be enough," she said. "My goal is not to convince you to use those semantics. It's to get you to stop these atrocities."Sophie Ellman-Golan, Never Again Action spokesperson, said the group isn't waiting for conditions to match those of the Holocaust to take action."We look at what is happening and what our government is doing immigrant communities," Ellman-Golan told The Daily Beast. "We see nothing less than a mass atrocity. While conditions might not exactly mirror the Holocaust, we shouldn't wait for them to mirror the Holocaust to take action. That's why we say 'never again' means never again for everyone, and never again means now."Protesters at Never Again demonstrations have called attention to filthy and overcrowded conditions in U.S. detention facilities, and to the seven reported deaths of detained children in recent months. These activists, as well as politicians like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), have referred to the U.S. camps as "concentration camps," a term associated with but not exclusive to Nazi Germany.But many on the right, and even some prominent Jewish institutions, have rejected comparisons between U.S. treatment of immigrants and Nazi treatment of Jews."The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum unequivocally rejects efforts to create analogies between the Holocaust and other events, whether historical or contemporary," the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum wrote in a June statement. (Hundreds of scholars signed a letter urging the Holocaust Museum to reverse its stance.)Guedalia said she understands why the debate, particularly around the slogan "never again" is so loaded in the Jewish community."'Never again' is a really interesting term. I grew up with it," she told The Daily Beast. "It's a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it means that if I see something like this, I'm going to stop it. Nothing like this is ever going to happen again. On the other hand, 'never again' means nothing like the Holocaust is ever going to happen again; nothing can ever compare to the Holocaust.""The question I have" for people who subscribe to the second meaning, she said, "is what needs to happen for you to say 'I'm standing up?' Does it need to be happening to the Jews? Does it need to be in Germany? Does it need to be in the 1930s and '40s?"Never Again Action organizes alongside longer-standing immigrant rights groups like Movimiento Cosecha. Cata Santiago, a community organizer who works with the immigrant rights group, said the protests linked the historical experiences of immigrant and Jewish communities."The Jewish community basically said 'we will speak on the pain of our ancestors, as children of Holocaust survivors, as grandchildren of Holocaust survivors, and as a resilient people who have that in our lineage,'" Santiago said. "We were able to uplift our immigrant resilience as well. It definitely was a container for both communities to come together, build together, and take a stand."For some arrested in Elizabeth, the comparisons are as clear as recent family history.Guedalia's own great-grandparents were Polish Jews who associated with partisans during Nazi occupation, she said. They escaped a Nazi roundup in their village ("their first story of disobedience and lawbreaking," Guedalia said) and lived a hardscrabble life with other refugees in the forest. Old newspaper clippings show her grandfather with a homemade rifle reportedly used in skirmishes with Nazis. The couple's daughter, Guedalia's grandmother, was born in a concentration camp after their capture, Guedalia said.A video of Guedalia's arrest in Elizabeth has racked up more than a million views on Twitter, garnering new attention for the Never Again actions.By demonstrating in major cities, and not just outside the most notorious border facilities, activists want to draw attention to ICE's presence across the country."It's not a new phenomenon that Trump has created, but a daily crisis that the immigrant community has endured for decades," Santiago said. "We see the people impacted are immigrants all across the country, not just at the border."The groups are planning future protests, including another in D.C. on July 16. Never Again activists say they'll continue using the slogan, even as some politicians object to it."We've heard a lot of politicians, including a lot of non-Jewish politicians, attempting to weaponize and use Jewish trauma in order to deflect away from the trauma that they are funding, that they just voted to give funding to against immigrants," Sophie Ellman-Golan said.For the Jewish and non-Jewish activists, the goal is the same, Santiago said: "to not let history repeat itself.""It's what solidarity means, right?" she added. "You feel for each other."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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| 20 Vintage 4x4s That Are Cooler Than Modern SUVs Posted: 13 Jul 2019 04:03 AM PDT |
| Chevron spills 800,000 gallons of oil, water in California Posted: 12 Jul 2019 05:54 PM PDT  Officials began to clean up a massive oil spill Friday that dumped nearly 800,000 gallons of oil and water into a California canyon, making it larger — if less devastating — than the state's last two major oil spills. The newly revealed spill has been flowing off and on since May and has again stopped, Chevron spokeswoman Veronica Flores-Paniagua said. Chevron reported that 794,000 gallons (about 3 million liters) of oil and water have leaked out of the ground where it uses steam injection to extract oil in the large Cymric Oil Field about 35 miles (56 kilometers) west of Bakersfield.
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| Dozens of birds fall from the sky like 'a horror movie.' They were poisoned, experts say Posted: 12 Jul 2019 07:44 AM PDT  Sarah King, founder of local nonprofit Casper's Bird Rescue, was contacted by a member of her staff who discovered corella birds falling out of nearby trees and the sky.
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| 5 reasons why you should avoid getting gas at Costco Posted: 13 Jul 2019 06:31 AM PDT  It's usually hard to beat Costco's gas prices. But Costco isn't necessarily the best place for every American to fill their tank.
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| Protesters rail against Biden on deportations Posted: 12 Jul 2019 04:20 PM PDT  Biden has come under fire for the 3 million deportations that occurred under the Obama administration.
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| Sudan's desert nomads untouched by Bashir's downfall Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:44 PM PDT  Not far from Sudan's capital Khartoum, the epicentre of an uprising that toppled autocratic ruler Omar al-Bashir, dozens of camel traders are oblivious to the country's biggest political upheaval in decades. "I love the desert and drinking camel milk is enough to make me happy," Habiballah told AFP during a tour of El Molih's camel market. Sudan has been rocked by a political crisis since December 19, when protests erupted against the tripling of bread prices by the then government of Bashir.
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| This Was Sig Sauer's Plan to Crush Glock's Best Guns Posted: 13 Jul 2019 01:18 AM PDT  As Sig Sauer GmbH in Germany and Sig Sauer, Inc in the United States cleaved themselves from the remnants of the Swiss Schweizer Industrie Gesellschaft (SIG) in the 1990s, both firms needed a new pistol to compete with Glock. Glock's polymer frame offerings were beginning to dominate the pistol market, and their frames and striker-fired design made them cheaper to produce than the alloy-framed, hammer-fired P22x series.To counter the Glock, the American and German branches of Sig Sauer would collaborate on a new series of pistols, the Sig Pro. The Sig Pro was to be more affordable, more ergonomic, and cheaper to produce than the P22x series. It would accomplish that through the use of a polymer frame and replaceable polymer grip panels.However, the P22x series would continue to grab sales alongside the Sig Pro, though the Sig Pro would see large adoption by some national police agencies, most notably the Police Nationale of France. The Police Nationale issue a version of the Sig Pro, the SP2022, as their standard issue sidearm.The SP2022 is one of the most common pistols in France, as the order of over 270,000 units was the largest French purchase of a handgun following WWII, dwarfing the French military's order of the PAMAS (a French version of the Beretta 92). Moreover, in police service, the SP2022 replaced the MR 73 revolver, a powerful, yet limited .357 magnum revolver.
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| Federal court: Duggar sister privacy lawsuit can proceed Posted: 12 Jul 2019 11:00 AM PDT  A lawsuit filed by four reality show sisters can proceed against an Arkansas city that released confidential information about their alleged sexual abuse by a brother, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Jill Duggar Dillard, Jessa Duggar Seewald, Jinger Duggar Vuolo and Joy Duggar had an expectation of privacy when officials from the city of Springdale and Washington County investigated allegations that their brother Josh sexually abused them between 2002 and 2003, when they were minors.
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| The 51 Most Delish Baby Shower Appetizers Posted: 12 Jul 2019 03:00 PM PDT |
| Hurricane Barry: What to know about Barry's path, hurricane status, timeline and more Posted: 13 Jul 2019 09:38 AM PDT  Some 14 trillion gallons of rainwater are forecast to fall on Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas during Barry. Three million people may be impacted.
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| Trump's pick to lead the armed forces says China will be the US's biggest military threat for 100 years and warns it is improving 'very, very rapidly' Posted: 12 Jul 2019 04:06 AM PDT  Gen. Mark A. Milley told lawmakers during Senate confirmation hearings that China watched the US closely, drawing lessons to build its military.
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| Pakistani traders strike over IMF austerity measures Posted: 13 Jul 2019 05:04 AM PDT ![Pakistani traders strike over IMF austerity measures]( "Pakistani traders strike over IMF austerity measures") Markets and wholesale merchants across Pakistan closed on Saturday in a strike by businesses against measures demanded by the International Monetary Fund to crack down on tax evasion and bolster the country's depleted public finances. In Karachi, the country's main commercial city, around 80% of markets dealing in bulk goods were closed, said Atiq Mir, president of the All Karachi Traders Alliance, which represents hundreds of markets in the city. "Government policies have created mistrust in trade and industry," said Mir, who added that traders were already struggling with corrupt tax officials demanding bribes.
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