| Trump-supporting Republican hoping to oust Ilhan Omar charged with stealing from shops Posted: 26 Jul 2019 08:11 AM PDT  A Donald Trump-supporting Republican running against Ilhan Omar for Congress in 2020 is accused of shoplifting hundreds of items from stores in Minnesota, according to reports.Danielle Stella, the 31-year-old candidate for the Midwest state, is believed to have been charged with felony theft after getting arrested at a branch of Target in the suburbs of Minneapolis.The Republican is accused of stealing 279 items worth just over $2,300 (£1,850) from the popular retailer in January, and attempting to rob a bottle of tick spray for cats at a nearby grocery store in April."I am not guilty of these crimes. In this country I am innocent until proven guilty and that is the law," she said in a series of text messages to The Guardian after it first reported details of the criminal complaint."If I was guilty of crimes, I would never run for public office, putting myself in the public eye under a microscope to be attacked by all political sides."Earlier this week, Ms Stella was revealed to be an apparent supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory.The online movement claims – without any basis in fact – that people working for the Trump administration are dropping clues about a "deep state" network of paedophiles.A representative of her campaign told the Right Wing Watch website that Ms Stella "stands 100%" with QAnon.A former Stella campaign aide later told The Daily Beast that the candidate "tries to portray herself as she supports it, but she doesn't even understand it".Last month Ms Stella officially registered as a Republican candidate for Minnesota's fifth district, currently represented by Ms Omar – one of the four congresswoman of colour attacked by Mr Trump in his racist "go back" tweets.This week the right-wing candidate accused Ms Omar of "trying to start a civil war of race baiting this Country," and repeated Mr Trump's rhetoric by saying the so-called "squad" were "attempting to destroy our Country from within".
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| ‘His Weapons Were His Hands’: California Model Says Epstein Posed as Victoria’s Secret Scout to Grope Her Posted: 26 Jul 2019 05:12 AM PDT  A decade before sex abuse claims against accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein first came to light, the math-teacher-turned-wealthy financier posed as a Victoria's Secret talent scout to try and "manhandle" a California model by luring her to a Santa Monica hotel room, according to a police report reviewed by The New York Times. "His weapons were his hands," the model, Alicia Arden, told the Times of the 1997 encounter, one of the earliest documented allegations against Epstein. Arden was 27 at the time of the alleged attack.Another model—Italian glamazon Elisabetta Tai—has made similar allegations that Epstein posed as a Victoria's Secret recruiter and tried to grope her. Arden's allegations raise disturbing new questions about what some describe as Epstein's "total control" over Leslie H. Wexner, the billionaire businessman and CEO of L Brands, the parent company of Victoria's Secret. Two former executives of the company told the Times alarm bells went off when it was learned that Epstein was attempting to get involved in recruiting lingerie models for Victoria's Secret in the 1990s. Wexner is said to have been informed of the situation and promised to take care of it, they said, but he didn't cut ties with Epstein until years later. Jeffrey Epstein Visited Clinton White House Multiple Times in Early '90sAnd in the meantime, they said, he surrendered almost total control to Epstein, shocking those closest to him, who said they were mostly isolated from Wexner once Epstein came along. Perhaps the most drastic step of all came in 1991, when Wexner signed a power of attorney giving Epstein "full power and authority to do and perform every act necessary." Epstein had control of Wexner's financial affairs for the next 16 years, and he managed to scoop up assets previously owned by Wexner or his companies during that period, including a New York mansion for which there are no publicly filed documents showing the purchase, according to the Times. Epstein also went on to take on leadership positions in two of Wexner's foundations. Epstein's alleged sexual misconduct continued throughout this time, with one woman, Maria Farmer, accusing him of a sexual assault at Wexner's own mansion in 1996, around the same time that L Brands executives had become suspicious of Epstein's attempts to worm his way into recruiting for Victoria's Secret models. Arden filed a police report about Epstein allegedly groping her less than a year after Farmer accused him of rape. In light of the 2008 charges against him for solicitation of prostitution from a minor and the federal sex trafficking charges leveled against him earlier this month, Arden questioned if his ties to Wexner had enabled him to prey on young women. "Why would someone that powerful and successful befriend someone like Jeffrey Epstein?" she was quoted as saying. 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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| Reuters photo captures Guatemalan mother begging soldier to let her enter U.S. Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:03 AM PDT  Ledy Perez fell to her haunches, a clenched hand covering her face as she wept, an arm clutching her small 6-year-old son, who glared defiantly at the Mexican National Guard soldier blocking them from crossing into the United States. The plight of this mother and son who had traveled some 1,500 miles (2,410 km) from their home country of Guatemala to the border city of Ciudad Juarez, only to be stopped mere feet from the United States, was captured by Reuters photographer Jose Luis Gonzalez as twilight approached on Monday. "The woman begged and pleaded with the National Guard to let them cross ... she wanted to cross to give a better future" to her young son Anthony Diaz, Gonzalez said.
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| Why the U.S. Navy SEALs are Falliing Apart Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:23 AM PDT  SEALs were walking on water as the best military force in the world a decade ago. They killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. They rescued Capt. Richard Phillips from Somali pirates. No one seemed more professional or capable than they were.The only thing more remarkable about how much esteem the SEALs had is how far they've fallen since then. In the latest disgrace, the special operations commander in Iraq just unceremoniously kicked out a SEAL platoon, "Due to a perceived deterioration of good order and discipline within the team during non-operational periods," U.S. Special Operations Command has announced."The Commander lost confidence in the team's ability to accomplish the mission," A SOCOM news release said.Defense officials are not saying exactly what these special operators did to deserve being sent back to San Diego early, but Navy Times Editor Carl Prine revealed the SEALs allegedly threw an alcohol-soaked July 4th party.Coincidentally, the SEALs came from the same team as Eddie Gallagher, who was recently found not guilty of murder after being accused of stabbing a wounded ISIS fighter to death in Mosul in 2017, according to San Diego Union-Tribune reporter Andrew Dyer.
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| Kellyanne Conway signals the GOP line on Mueller: He 'may be feeble' Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:22 AM PDT  The White House counselor on Thursday endorsed a talking point that has emerged in the aftermath of the former special counsel's testimony before Congress.
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| 27 children removed from Montana treatment facility over allegations of 'egregious' abuse Posted: 26 Jul 2019 07:16 AM PDT  The allegations include physical and psychological abuse and assault at the Ranch for Kids in Rexford, Montana health officials said Tuesday.
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| Andy McCarthy's biggest takeaway from Mueller hearing: 'Inconceivable' he ran the investigation Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:59 AM PDT  Fox News contributor and former federal prosecutor Andy McCarthy said Thursday on "Fox & Friends" that his biggest takeaway from the Mueller hearing was the "staff-driven" nature of the Russia probe.
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| Ford's "Baby Bronco" Compact SUV Shows Off Its Off-Road Chops Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:00 AM PDT  This Escape-based crossover could be called Bronco Scout, Bronco Sport, or Adventurer.
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| 40+ Halloween Desserts That'll Thrill Everyone At Your Holiday Party Posted: 25 Jul 2019 01:19 PM PDT |
| US officials: Iran test-launched a medium-range missile Posted: 26 Jul 2019 09:23 AM PDT |
| Co-conspirator in ex-India PM's assassination released on parole Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:40 AM PDT  India's longest-serving female prisoner, who was convicted over the assassination of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, walked out of prison Thursday on a 30-day parole to arrange her daughter's marriage. Nalini Sriharan was granted parole earlier this month by the Madras High Court after spending nearly three decades in jail over her role in Gandhi's murder by a female suicide bomber in 1991.
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| At least 20 members of Nigerian Shi'ite group dead after protests: spokesmen Posted: 26 Jul 2019 05:29 AM PDT  At least 20 members of a Nigerian Shi'ite organization have been killed this week, group spokesmen said, during a series of protests that show little sign of ending despite the increasing death toll and authorities saying they have boosted security. Members of the Shi'ite Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) have been marching in the capital Abuja calling for the release of their leader, Ibrahim Zakzaky, who has been in detention since 2015 despite a court order to release him. Nigerian police met the protests with gunfire and tear gas.
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| So Much of the Arctic Is on Fire, You Can See It From Space Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:09 AM PDT  Wildfires burning large swaths of Russia are generating so much smoke, they're visible from space, new images from NASA's Earth Observatory reveal.Since June, more than 100 wildfires have raged across the Arctic, which is especially dry and hot this summer. In Russia alone, wildfires are burning in 11 of the country's 49 regions, meaning that even in fire-free areas, people are choking on smoke that is blowing across the country.The largest fires -- blazes likely ignited by lightning -- are located in the regions of Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk and Buryatia, according to the Earth Observatory. These conflagrations have burned 320 square miles (829 square kilometers), 150 square miles (388 square km) and 41 square miles (106 square km) in these regions, respectively, as of July 22. [In Photos: Fossil Forest Unearthed in the Arctic]The above natural-color image, taken on July 21, shows plumes rising from fires on the right side of the photo. Winds carry the smoke toward the southwest, where it mixes with a storm system. The image was captured with the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP, a weather satellite operated by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.The Russian city of Krasnoyarsk is under a layer of haze, the Earth Observatory reported. And while Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city, doesn't have any fires as of now, smoke carried there by the winds caused the city's air quality to plummet.Wildfires are also burning in Greenland and parts of Alaska, following what was the hottest June in recorded history. It's common for fires to burn during the Arctic's summer months, but the number and extent this year are "unusual and unprecedented," Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS), a part of the European Union's Earth observation program, told CNN.These fires are taking a toll on the atmosphere; they've released about 100 megatons of carbon dioxide from June 1 to July 21, which is roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon dioxide Belgium released in 2017, according to CAMS, CNN reported.The Arctic is heating up faster than other parts of the world, making it easier for fires to thrive there. In Siberia, for example, the average June temperature this year is nearly 10 degrees Fahrenheit (5.5 degrees Celsius) hotter than the long-term average between 1981 and 2010, Claudia Volosciuk, a scientist with the World Meteorological Organization, told CNN.Many of this summer's fires are burning farther north than usual, and some appear to be burning in peat soils, rather than in forests, Thomas Smith, an assistant professor of environmental geography at the London School of Economics, told USA Today. This is a dangerous situation, because whereas forests might typically burn for a few hours, peat soils can blaze for days or even months, Smith said.Moreover, peat soils are known carbon reservoirs. As they burn, they release carbon, "which will further exacerbate greenhouse warming, leading to more fires," Smith said. * In Photos: The Deadly Carr Fire Blazes Across Northern California * In Photos: Devastating Wildfires in Northern California * In Photos: The Vanishing Ice of Baffin IslandOriginally published on Live Science.
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| Another 'straight pride' parade plans draw critics: 'That’s all hate crime stuff to me' Posted: 26 Jul 2019 02:54 AM PDT  Modesto, California, officials are weighing whether to approve a "straight pride" parade to "celebrate" heterosexuality and western civilization.
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| Giant dinosaur bone found in southwestern France Posted: 25 Jul 2019 12:28 PM PDT  The thigh bone of a giant dinosaur was found this week by French paleontologists at an excavation site in southwestern France where remains of some of the largest animals that ever lived on land have been dug up since 2010. The two-meter long femur at the Angeac-Charente site is thought to have belonged to a sauropod, herbivorous dinosaurs with long necks and tails which were widespread in the late Jurassic era, over 140 million years ago. "This is a major discovery," Ronan Allain, a paleontologist at the National History Museum of Paris told Reuters.
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| '45 is a puppet': Can you spot the mistakes in the fake presidential seal behind Trump? Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:24 AM PDT  A doctored presidential seal with a double-headed eagle holding golf clubs was displayed before President Trump gave a speech on Tuesday.
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| Canadian police confirm sightings of murder suspects Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:39 PM PDT  Police said Thursday there have been two sightings of the suspects in the slaying of an American woman, her Australian boyfriend and another man in the Gillam area of Manitoba and they are believed to still be nearby. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Julie Courchaine said authorities have corroborated the sightings of 19-year-old Kam McLeod and 18-year-old Bryer Schmegelsky.
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| Gambia ex-president accused of ordering murder of two US businessmen Posted: 25 Jul 2019 02:16 PM PDT  Former members of a Gambian death squad known as the Junglers on Thursday accused ex-president Yahya Jammeh of ordering the murder of two US citizens in 2013, having already confessed to the killing of a well known journalist. Since Monday, Gambians have been gripped by live coverage of three ex-Junglers -- Malick Jatta, Omar Jallow and Amadou Badjie -- before the West African country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. On the last day of hearings before the commission adjourns until August 5, Badjie, a member of Jammeh's elite hit squad, said the head of state had ordered in June 2013 that two US-Gambian businenessmen, Alhaji Ceesay and Ebrima Jobe, who he suspected were planning a coup, should be "chopped into pieces".
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| Point Break: Is Iran Ready to Retaliate Against America? Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:32 AM PDT  The United States and Iran remain locked in a tense standoff, punctuated by periodic escalations, that could easily transition into a full-blown conflict. Following the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA, Iran has been subjected to crushing sanctions that have contracted its economy and put pressure on its leadership. Rather than concede, Iran has responded with increasingly provocative moves—sabotaging several oil tankers, shooting down a U.S. drone, and openly violating the uranium enrichment and storage thresholds in the JCPOA. Many in Washington want the United States to launch military strikes on Iran because they believe the prospect of a war that it would lose would force Iran into submission. Military action is much more likely to backfire, however, since it would only legitimize Iran's nuclear program and make a nuclear arsenal essential to defend itself from the United States.Iran has clearly telegraphed that it would restart uranium enrichment unless America's European allies—who want to remain in the JCPOA—defy U.S. sanctions and continue to import Iranian oil. Iran's recent moves are a desperate effort to recapture some of the economic benefits of the deal in exchange for its continued compliance. So far, modest European efforts to that end have done little to ease Iran's economic crisis. Iran's recent seizure of a British oil tanker—retaliation for the Royal Navy's seizure of an Iranian vessel—is likely to make the Europeans even less willing to risk angering the United States on Iran's behalf.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Lexus RX Crossover Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:00 AM PDT |
| Amanda Knox faces backlash for crowdfunding her wedding: 'I'm a figure to be demonized' Posted: 24 Jul 2019 05:53 PM PDT  Amanda Knox has shared her space-themed wedding website and receiving criticism for "crowdfunding." Here's what she thinks of the backlash.
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| Justice Department will not pursue criminal contempt charges in Census dispute with Congress Posted: 24 Jul 2019 02:11 PM PDT  The U.S. Justice Department will not pursue criminal charges against Attorney General William Barr and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, after Democrats in the House of Representatives voted to hold them in contempt in a dispute over documents concerning whether to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. "Accordingly, the department will not bring the congressional contempt citations before a grand jury or take any other action to prosecute the Attorney General or the Secretary," he added.
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| Democrats ask Mueller if Trump could avoid criminal charges if he serves a 2nd term Posted: 24 Jul 2019 12:14 PM PDT  After testifying that the president could be charged with obstruction of justice after he leaves office, former special counsel Robert Mueller is asked about the statute of limitations.
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| Three Girls Arrested in Attack of 15-Year-Old with Special Needs Captured on Video Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:31 PM PDT  Three juvenile girls, between the ages of 13 and 15, have been arrested in connection with an attack on a Chicago girl with special needs that was captured on video.
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| Libya militia says arrests Al-Qaeda leaders Posted: 25 Jul 2019 04:03 AM PDT  A Libyan militia has arrested a number of Al-Qaeda-linked jihadist leaders in a raid near the capital Tripoli, the group said. The Misrata Joint Security Force carried out the raid against "wanted terrorists, classified as Al-Qaeda leaders", the group linked to the UN-recognised Government of National Accord's interior ministry said on Facebook late Wednesday. Libya has been gripped by chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled and killed dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.
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| No F-35 for You: Iran's Air Force Might Be Dying Posted: 25 Jul 2019 12:43 AM PDT  Not good.Two incidents in late August 2018 involving Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force F-5F Tiger II fighter jets underscored the ongoing crisis in Iran's air force.On Aug. 21, Iran unveiled what it described as a new, fourth-generation fighter jet. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani even sat in the plane's cockpit and posed for photographs.One problem. The aircraft in question was conspicuously an F-5F, one of the 17 Iran bought from the United States during the rule of the Shah. It was not domestically-built."Iran has probably upgraded the electronics systems, originally from the 1960s, and made other upgrades," Iran analyst Nader Uskowi suggested. "But it is not clear why the president of the country should unveil a 40-year-old plane as a new fighter."War Is Boring contributor Sebastien Roblin pointed out that Iran is in fact developing a new plane called the Kowsar-88, another in a long line of modified reverse-engineered F-5s that Tehran will either use as a trainer or light-attack aircraft.But that jet "wasn't ready for display this August, so Tehran simply took an old, very well-known jet fighter and claimed it was a new one, in full view of domestic and international audiences that would know better," Roblin wrote at The National Interest.
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| University fires 9 officers over social media posts Posted: 26 Jul 2019 07:51 AM PDT ![University fires 9 officers over social media posts]( "University fires 9 officers over social media posts") Hampton University's statement did not detail the remarks the officers made. Hampton University Police Chief David Glover did not immediately respond to a phone message and email seeking comment on Friday. WAVY TV reported that it had obtained a copy of a termination letter that one of the officers received.
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| 2-year-old injured after riding baggage conveyor belt at Atlanta airport Posted: 25 Jul 2019 06:52 AM PDT  A 2-year-old boy was hurt after jumping on a baggage conveyor belt at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. He landed in a luggage room.
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| ‘Like Frankenstein’: Woman’s head attached to man’s body found lying next to bucket of human parts in lab Posted: 26 Jul 2019 01:10 AM PDT  FBI agents working to uncover how dismembered body parts were coming to be illegally trafficked reportedly found buckets full of heads, arms and legs, refrigerated heaps of male genitalia and different people's body parts sewn together at a science lab in Arizona.The Biological Resource Centre in Phoenix – a body donation and tissue bank facility – is being sued by eight families following the discovery.The FBI followed a paper trail leading to the centre, run by owner Stephen Gore, which they said was profiting from dismembering and selling remains without donor consent.The lab was raided by the FBI in 2014, but the testimonies detailing what the agents found have just been made public because of the lawsuits.Agents said when they raided the lab they found the bodies had been dismembered with chainsaws and band saws, according to a report by US news outlet KMOV4."Pools of human blood and bodily fluids were found on the floor of the freezer," and there were no identification tags to mark the corpses, the lawsuit reportedly alleges.One agent said he found a "cooler filled with male genitalia", "a bucket of heads, arms and legs", and says he saw "infected heads". They also described the sight of a small woman's decapitated head which had been sewn onto a large male torso "like Frankenstein" and hung up on a wall. The creation is reportedly referred to as a "morbid joke" in the lawsuit.The going rate for a head was said to be $500 (£400). Arms were $750 and a whole body could fetch up to $5,000, according to ABC 15, who cited a federal search warrant."This is a horror story. It's just unbelievable! This story is unbelievable," Troy Harp, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the facility, told KMOV4.Mr Harp had donated both his mother and grandmother to the facility in 2012 and 2013 on the understanding the bodies would be used for scientific purposes."Cancer, and leukaemia and whatever else, using sample cells," said Mr Harp. "That's what I was told."Speaking about what the agents found, Mr Harp said: "Who in their right mind... It's absolutely gross."He also said the use of chainsaws and band saws for dismembering the bodies were "not appropriate". The lawsuit alleges the illegal activity at the centre dates back to 2007, according to ABC15.Mr Gore pleaded guilty in October 2018 to illegal control of an enterprise, and was sentenced to one year of deferred jail time and four years probation.
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| Salvini wants Europe to take migrants from Italy coastguard Posted: 26 Jul 2019 07:14 AM PDT  Far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on Friday ordered 135 migrants and refugees rescued in the Mediterranean to remain aboard an Italian coastguard vessel until other European countries agree to take them in. Salvini, also deputy prime minister, has been trying to take a hardline against migrants rescued at sea being brought to Italy, which he says bears an unfair share of their numbers. The migrants were spotted aboard two makeshift boats, one by Tunisian fishermen and the other by Italians, on Wednesday, the day before at least 115 other migrants are believed to have drowned in a shipwreck off Libya.
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| U.S. warship sails through Taiwan Strait, stirs tensions with China Posted: 24 Jul 2019 04:05 PM PDT  BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - China expressed "deep concerns" on Thursday over a U.S. Navy warship sailing through the Taiwan Strait, a day after Beijing warned that it was ready for war if Taiwan moved toward independence. Taiwan is among a growing number of flashpoints in the U.S.-China relationship, which include a trade war, U.S. sanctions and China's increasingly muscular military posture in the South China Sea, where the United States also conducts freedom-of-navigation patrols. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman in Beijing said China had "expressed deep concerns to the U.S. side" over its latest action in the strait separating China from Taiwan.
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| Giuliani Says He Had to Borrow From Trump Lawyer to Pay Taxes Posted: 25 Jul 2019 09:43 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Rudy Giuliani said he was forced to borrow $100,000 from President Donald Trump's lawyer Marc Mukasey to pay his taxes after his wife tied up a joint bank account in their bitter divorce case.Giuliani, who has been working as a lawyer for Trump free of charge, discussed the loan outside New York state court in Manhattan after his wife's lawyer raised it at a hearing on Thursday.Giuliani, 75, argues his income is drying up as the divorce case drags on, and that $800,000 he's made so far this year from other business ventures has been spent entirely on "marital expenses" tied to the couple's lavish lifestyle. Giuliani said he still owes $10,000 to Mukasey, who used to be his law partner."I had to borrow the money to pay taxes, because she was holding up the account," he said outside the courtroom. "I'll pay that back to him as soon as this is decided."Justice Michael Katz said he'll rule soon on how and when the couple can access the account, as the case heads toward trial in January, and ordered Giuliani to sit for five more hours of depositions in the case.Mukasey declined to comment in an email.Too Old to WorkGiuliani's lawyer, Faith Miller, told Katz that Judith Giuliani refuses to take a job to contribute to their estate, which is valued at about $30 million, including real estate and retirement accounts."Ms. Giuliani testified she's 64 and far too old to work," Miller told the judge. "She's a registered nurse. She refuses to do anything."Judith Giuliani came to court Thursday with allegations of her own. Her lawyer Bernard Clair renewed a claim that Rudy Giuliani was wrongfully deflating his income, including by turning down a high-paying job as a lawyer in February and squandering his money working for Trump."Not only does he work for free, but all of his expenses every time he goes down to Washington, D.C., or travels with the president, it comes out of his own pocket," Clair said at the hearing. "And he won't say how much it's costing him."Giuliani has denied the claim and argues that the high-paying job offer he allegedly received, for $6 million a year, was a draft offer and was rescinded.Giuliani remained quiet and composed during the hearing, in contrast to an outburst in March when he shouted at his wife's lawyer and drew a rebuke from the judge. On Thursday, it was Judith Giuliani who was rebuked after she loudly denied a claim that she's stripped their Manhattan condo of items that didn't belong to her, including rugs and framed photographs."She took everything," Miller said."I did not!" she shouted, pounding the table."I'm not going to tolerate any outbursts," the judge said.Judith Giuliani spent the rest of the hearing seated away from the table and staring out a window. After the hearing, she said she was entitled to items she took and that her husband was refusing to return her grandmother's Christmas decorations."I was entitled to my family antiques, and he knows that," she said.Read More: Giuliani's Bitter Divorce Animated by 'Cheap Shot' OutburstTo contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey, Steve StrothFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The medical examiner said a man died of natural causes. Funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck Posted: 24 Jul 2019 06:33 PM PDT ![The medical examiner said a man died of natural causes. Funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck]( "The medical examiner said a man died of natural causes. Funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck") A medical examiner in Georgia ruled a man died of natural causes. Then funeral home employees found stab wounds in his neck.
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| Chris Wallace says Mueller's testimony does not give Trump a 'clean bill of health' Posted: 25 Jul 2019 11:54 AM PDT ![Chris Wallace says Mueller's testimony does not give Trump a 'clean bill of health']( "Chris Wallace says Mueller's testimony does not give Trump a 'clean bill of health'") Chris Wallace says former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Capitol Hill testimony was a win for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi because she doesn't want to spend the political capital on impeachment.
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| No F-22: Why Iran's Qaher 313 "Stealth" Fighter Is an Utter Joke Posted: 24 Jul 2019 03:00 PM PDT  Iran's then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ahmad Vahidi, then the country's defense minister, unveiled the Qaher 313 at a staged event in February 2013. Officials claimed the plane could carry two 2,000-pound bombs or at least six air-to-air missiles.Tensions have escalated in the Persian Gulf region in the aftermath of U.S. president Donald Trump's decision unilaterally to withdraw the United States from the agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program.The U.S. military has implicated Iranian agents in several summer 2019 attacks on civilian ships sailing near Iran. The U.S. Navy sent the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and her strike group to the region. The U.S. Air Force deployed B-52 bombers and F-22 and F-35 stealth fighters.If war breaks out, American forces likely will attempt to secure Gulf air space by destroying or suppressing Iran's air forces. The regular Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force and the air wing of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps militia together operate around 700 aircraft, including around two dozen U.S.-made F-14s.(This first appeared earlier in July 2019.)One thing U.S. forces won't have to worry about is an Iranian stealth fighter. The Islamic republic's supposedly radar-evading Qaher 313 fighter was nothing but a cheap mock-up when it first rolled out in early 2013. It was still a cheap mock-up when it appeared again in public in 2017.Iran's then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ahmad Vahidi, then the country's defense minister, unveiled the Qaher 313 at a staged event in February 2013. Officials claimed the plane could carry two 2,000-pound bombs or at least six air-to-air missiles.
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| Air-board inventor makes it more than halfway across Channel Posted: 25 Jul 2019 03:28 PM PDT  Looking like a superhero, the French inventor of an airborne hoverboard glided partway over the English Channel on his personal flying machine then crashed in the sea Thursday. Unharmed and undeterred, 40-year-old Franky Zapata said he plans to try again. Zapata took off to cross the Channel from the French coastal town of Sangatte.
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| Tractor-trailer hits, kills 2 SCDOT workers in Horry County crash, investigators say Posted: 25 Jul 2019 07:48 PM PDT ![Tractor-trailer hits, kills 2 SCDOT workers in Horry County crash, investigators say]( "Tractor-trailer hits, kills 2 SCDOT workers in Horry County crash, investigators say") Two South Carolina Department of Transportation workers died after a tractor-trailer hit them as they fixed a U.S. 501 pothole in Horry County.
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| Is the Infamous Russian Troll Farm Pushing Deadly LGBT Hate? Posted: 25 Jul 2019 12:34 PM PDT  Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/GettyMOSCOW—Thousands of people stood in silence at an anti-government rally in downtown St.Petersburg, Russia, on Wednesday night. The demonstrators demanded an end to violence against Russia's LGBT community and political opposition. The minute of silence was devoted to the victim of a terrible murder, Yelena Grigoryeva, a 41-year-old gay activist who was stabbed to death last week.A pedestrian found her body in some bushes near Pulkovskaya Street on Sunday. There were eight stab wounds and her neck had signs of strangulation, according to her friends, Alexander Mironov and Alexander Khmelev, who identified the body. LGBT, Terrified for Their Lives in Russia, and Desperate for AsylumEarlier this year Grigoryeva complained to her friends and to Russian bureaucrats about nasty threats from homophobes, but nobody helped her, and while police question a Kyrgyz national suspected of killing Grigoryeva without any political motive, her friends and fellow activists have little doubt she was targeted for her militancy. She was a prominent member of the St. Petersburg-based Alliance of Heterosexuals and LGBT People for Equal Rights.For years, threats and lists targeting LGBT people, supporters of the community, and journalists reporting the attacks on it have circulated on social media and the dark web. Those who posted them adopted the rubric "Saw," taken from a gruesome series of American horror films. Then last year, a homophobic Saw "game" appeared on the internet with the title Chechnya's Comeback, alluding to the government-sanctioned persecution, including torture and murders, of alleged gays in that North Caucasus republic."The Saw site has been publishing photographs of lesbians, gay men, and transgender, threatening to kill them, but neither police nor investigators react to these threats," gay rights activist Igor Kochetkov said in a video addressed to the authorities. "And if you think that citizens like us do not deserve to be defended, find yourself a different job." According to the U.K. based news site Gay Star News, people were encouraged to post photographs and details about the lives of alleged gays, particularly around the city of Ufa in central Russia, and extortion was part of the game. Players could get the personal information they needed to hunt down their victims by paying about $3, and they could get their own names taken off for about $23. Eventually that site was taken down. But a new one surfaced on social media earlier this year that named Grigoryeva and many others. It reportedly was taken down only days before her murder. This week—after Grigoryeva's murder—someone claiming to be Saw opened a channel on the encrypted Telegram messaging app, claiming it could could recruit assassins for 300,000 rubles ($4,753.14) per hit. As before, Saw's targets are LGBT activists and independent journalists all across Russia. "The game begins," Saw announced on Wednesday, inviting "aggressive hunters for LGBT" who knew martial arts and were ready to obey the group's orders."My name is on their list, so I have a choice, whether to flee the country—that is exactly what they want us to do—or stay and stand for my rights. I won't run," one of the gay men on Saw's list told The Daily Beast. The homophobes' latest posts sound like a call for massacre. And Grigoryeva has not even been buried yet. The first hit list appeared in 2016. "It included up to 800 names of people from the Russian LGBT community, opposition activists, their children, and just random people like me, who posted funny memes of Putin as Gollum on social media pages—at that time I was not an activist," Yulia Rusa, a 42-year-old interpreter told The Daily Beast.First Rusa was sent photographs of her husband outside their house, then threatening notes with her home address in Vkontakte, the most popular Russian social media platform, then two men set her Renault on fire, burning it completely. "When I realized that fascists attack us, I became an opposition activist," Rusa says. She discovered other victims. "We united and with the help of journalists found out that the web site whoiswhos.me had links to structures that might be affiliated with Yevgeny Prigozhin's troll factory," Rusa said.Prigozhin, who made his fortune with food catering contracts for the Russian government, is sometimes known as President Vladimir Putin's "chef." But in recent years he has been linked to a number of shady "unofficial" activities supporting Putin's policies. He was indicted by the Mueller probe for setting up the trolling operation that attacked the U.S. presidential elections in 2016, and has been linked to the Wagner mercenaries fighting alongside Putin allies in Syria and in Africa.Analyzing Saw's statements, Rusa found many similarities with the previous black lists. "It must be Prigozhin's factory working again or his Wagner private militia," she told The Daily Beast. This week Prigozhin's employees have also launched an operation in Moscow to attack opposition candidates before September municipal elections. According to the independent news site Proekt.media, Igor Osadchy, several Prigozhin people who formerly worked in his Africa operations recently went to work attacking the opposition. * * *There is no substantive proof that the latest attacks on Russian LGBT people are staged by Prigozhin's minions. But Saw radicals do claim in their posts that Russian authorities support them, and activists simply take that as a given."Of course they do, this is the result of the Kremlin's 2013 approval of the anti-gay law, ostensibly targeting homosexual 'propaganda,' which legitimized homophobia and gave birth to a group like Saw," well-known Moscow producer and writer Karen Shainyan told The Daily Beast.She said she hopes the threats will have an effect that is the opposite of Saw's intent. "There are a large number of gay people among Russian celebrities, politicians, even in the close circle to President Vladimir Putin," Shainyan said, "Now is the time to push, and end violence."Shainyan and ex-presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak are planning to open a discussion on social media and YouTube addressing Russian gay women and men living in the closet. "Grigoryeva's case showed all of us that this is a matter of life and death," Shainyan said.In February of last year, two men with covered faces attacked an opposition politician Oleg Maksakov and several other activists. "They beat me up violently in my apartment building, clearly for my opposition activity," Maksakov, who is running in the Saint Petersburg municipal elections this year, told The Daily Beast. "Police did not investigate any of these cases and now we have more hit lists and LGBT are the target, but they will not manage to shut us up, we'll demand an investigation."The independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper was also on The Saw's ugly list. "We are treating this threat very seriously, since we have lost reporters to assassinations in the past," Nadezhda Prusenkova, the paper's spokeswoman, told The Daily Beast. "So we are taking extra security measures." Several journalists of Novaya Gazeta have been attacked by Prigozhin's structures in the past. This year Grigoryeva took part in dozens of opposition protests and rallies: she supported LGBT rights and demanded an end to political repression of Crimean Tatars and Chechen human rights activists.Terrifying threats rained down on her in social media, so at some point Grigoryeva asked her friend to take care of her cat, if she gets killed. "I was filming Grigoryeva and other protesters at a recent rally, when a crazy homophobe hit me with a stick, yelling that we are all on sale to the U.S. State Department," human rights defender Yevgeniya Litvinova told The Daily Beast. "Grigoryeva was brave but she is not alone, there will be many more protests now."The organizer of the mass rally on Wednesday, deputy of the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly Boris Vishnevsky, was furious."Lawlessness once again takes power in Putin's former home town of Saint Petersburg: some violent homophobes go unpunished, make hit lists, police fail to investigate the attacks on peaceful opposition and LGBT activists," deputy Vishnevsky told The Daily Beast. "The strategy is wrong: by making peaceful activists their enemies, authorities multiply the opposition." 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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| Malaysia resumes $10-bn China-backed rail project Posted: 24 Jul 2019 10:47 PM PDT  Malaysia on Thursday restarted a $10-billion, China-backed rail project that is part of Beijing's global infrastructure drive following its suspension last year when a corruption-plagued government was ejected from power. The 640-kilometre (400-mile) line will link northeast Malaysia, near the Thai border, to the country's main port on the busy Strait of Malacca in the west, forming part of a network it is hoped will eventually run from southern China right through Southeast Asia. At a ceremony in the northeastern state of Terengganu, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said the line would improve "public transport systems in rural areas, especially in the east coast of peninsular Malaysia".
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| Trump news - live: Unprecedented impeachment call issued as president renews attack on Mueller and invents imaginary word Posted: 26 Jul 2019 12:07 AM PDT  Donald Trump has continued to lash out in the wake of Robert Mueller's explosive testimony in front of Congress, while taking the time to make up words and tweet about the imprisonment of A$AP Rocky.The president is trying to undo the damage from the hearings involving Mr Mueller, who said he was not able to say that his report had cleared Mr Trump of any wrongdoing.He has also been wrapped in another controversy after he spoke in front of a bizarre version of the presidential seal, which included references to the Russian flag and a set of golf clubs.Yet more footage has emerged from that same Turning Point USA event, which showed the president being introduced by a bizarre campaign video that highlighted Mr Trump's sporting prowess and popularity among friends.It also comes as the president's administration announced it would begin federal executions for the first time in more than 15 years.Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
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| Brazil judge orders Petrobras to refuel Iran ships: source Posted: 25 Jul 2019 08:35 AM PDT  BrasÃlia (AFP) - A Supreme Court judge on Thursday ordered Brazil's state oil giant Petrobras to refuel two Iranian ships stranded off the country's coast, a source involved in the dispute and a report said. The order came after Iran's top envoy to Brazil told Bloomberg that Tehran could suspend imports from the Latin American country if the issue was not resolved. Petrobras has refused to provide fuel to the vessels, which have been stuck at Paranagua port in the southern state of Parana since early last month, for fear of breaching US sanctions.
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