| Fox News Anchor Tells Lone Black Panelist to Stop Thinking Trump Is Racist Posted: 30 Jul 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer completely steamrolled liberal contributor Juan Williams during a Tuesday morning discussion on President Trump's continued racist attacks against Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD) and Baltimore, with Hemmer telling the lone black panelist that Trump doesn't see race and that he's been very "equitable" to African-Americans.In the segment, first spotted by Mediaite, the Fox News panel immediately reacting to Trump's press remarks in which he kept up his racially divisive rhetoric, calling Cummings a "thief.""There is no reason for anybody to allege that Elijah Cummings is a thief," Williams contended. "That is just low."Conservative pundit Charlie Hurt pushed back, claiming Trump's attack on Cummings had nothing to do with race, and that the president is "an equal opportunity offender when it comes to being combative." A frustrated Williams attempted to point out that there is a distinctive pattern in who Trump chooses to publicly attack.The long-time Fox contributor highlighted examples of Trump targeting people of color in a way that "excites racial passions," adding that "this is divisive and rank language—and I think it hits people of color in a specific way."As Williams continued to note that Trump's targeting of a "vulnerable population" takes place during a spike in hate crimes and white-nationalist violence, Hemmer, a news anchor, interjected to defend Trump's record on race."Criminal justice reform, decriminalizing marijuana, how do you feel about all that?" Hemmer asked, prompting Williams to say he "would congratulate" Trump on those issues but that such a record is "obscured" by his racist language and actions."Allow me to preface this," the Fox anchor responded. "When you take it in its totality, don't you see a fairness? A president who is being equitable on the overall issues, who doesn't see it as color? He doesn't see it as race? He just sees what he believes is right and what is wrong."Williams shot back that he sees a president who has no sense of the "history of race in this country," causing Hemmer to express shock and further ask: "Haven't some of his policies helped African Americans?""I'm arguing that you take the whole picture," the ostensibly "straight-news" anchor added, leading Williams to bring up Trump's infamy as the leader of a racist birther movement and how his family business was sued in the past for discriminating against black people.Co-anchor Sandra Smith, meanwhile, cut off Williams to highlight black Trump supporters who have rallied to the president's defense before playing a clip of Trump administration official Lynne Patton running down Cummings.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Canadian police descend on tiny Manitoba hamlet as teen murder suspects spotted Posted: 29 Jul 2019 04:33 AM PDT  The days-long manhunt for Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, which has crossed half the country, shifted to the area of York Landing, Manitoba, about 3,000 km (1,865 miles) from the crime scenes in British Columbia. "Multiple resources are being sent to York Landing, Manitoba, to investigate a tip that the two suspects are possibly in, or near, the community," the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said on Twitter.
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| Iran cartoonists depict queen as 'pirate' after British ship seizure Posted: 30 Jul 2019 04:31 AM PDT  An exhibition of cartoons has opened in Tehran portraying Britain's Queen Elizabeth II as a pirate, seen wielding a cutlass and sporting the skull-and-crossbones, after the seizure of an Iranian oil tanker. Historically strained ties between Tehran and London have worsened since British Royal Marines took part in the seizure of Iran's "Grace 1" oil tanker off the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on July 4.
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| Photos of the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera Cabriolet Posted: 29 Jul 2019 03:01 PM PDT ![Photos of the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera Cabriolet]( "Photos of the 2020 Porsche 911 Carrera and 911 Carrera Cabriolet")
The cheapest version of the 992-gen 911 costs $98,750 and has 379 horsepower. From Car and Driver
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| Restaurant Apologizes After Asking Officer To Leave Because He Had A Gun Posted: 30 Jul 2019 12:05 AM PDT  A restaurant in San Antonio, Texas, has apologized after asking a police officer to leave the premises because he was carrying a gun.The officer was asked to leave Fogo de Chao Brazilian Steakhouse Saturday night because he was carrying a gun, KSAT reported. Texas law states that establishments can't deny service to an officer or special investigator who is carrying a weapon on the premises, as long as they are authorized to carry the weapon.The restaurant apologized to the San Antonio Police Department and the officer who was asked to leave, according to a statement."We sincerely apologize to the San Antonio Police Department and the officer in question for the incident that occurred at our restaurant last night," the statement read according to KSTA. "Unfortunately, a member of our team made the wrong call. We are working hard to address and correct this unfortunate lapse in judgement.""We will address the policy internally and make sure our team members are clear. We support, respect and appreciate everything our law enforcement does to keep each and every one of us safe, day in and day out."
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| Another tourist injured by bison at a national park; second such incident in a week Posted: 29 Jul 2019 12:44 PM PDT  Park regulations require that visitors stay at least 25 yards away from large animals such as bison, elk, deer and horses.
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| The Latest: Relative identifies 3 of 5 killed in Wisconsin Posted: 29 Jul 2019 08:25 PM PDT  The father of two of five people found dead in two houses in northwestern Wisconsin has identified two sons and a grandson as among the dead. Authorities say a man shot and killed four people and wounded two others wounded at a home in Lake Hallie on Sunday night and a home in the town of Lafayette on Monday. Ritchie German Sr. of North Prairie, Wisconsin, tells the Star-Tribune of Minneapolis-St. Paul that adult sons Ritchie German Jr. and Douglas German were among the dead, along with Douglas' 8-year-old son, Calvin German.
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| School Shooter Dies in Car Crash, 21 Years After Opening Fire at Arkansas Middle School Posted: 29 Jul 2019 12:33 PM PDT  Drew Grant and a friend shot and killed five people at Westside Middle School in 1998
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| Trump: The people of Baltimore 'living in hell' really appreciate what I'm doing Posted: 30 Jul 2019 07:35 AM PDT  President Trump tells reporters that Baltimore residents have been thanking him for pointing out the 'tremendous corruption' of the Democrat-run city under Rep. Elijah Cummings.
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| UPDATE 4-Death toll in Brazil prison massacre rises to 57 with over a dozen decapitated Posted: 29 Jul 2019 09:59 AM PDT ![UPDATE 4-Death toll in Brazil prison massacre rises to 57 with over a dozen decapitated]( "UPDATE 4-Death toll in Brazil prison massacre rises to 57 with over a dozen decapitated") SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO, July 29 (Reuters) - A bloody clash between two prison gangs on Monday left at least 57 inmates dead with 16 of them decapitated, authorities in the state of Para said, the latest deadly clash as Brazil's government struggles to control the country's overcrowded jails. Prisoners belonging to the Comando Classe A gang set fire to a cell containing inmates from the rival Comando Vermelho, or Red Command, gang, Para's state government said in a statement. Videos circulating online showed inmates at the prison celebrating as they kicked decapitated heads across the floor.
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| Canadian police zero in on location in hunt for teen murder suspects Posted: 28 Jul 2019 07:15 PM PDT  Canadian police announced Sunday they had zeroed in on a small community in Manitoba in their hunt for two fugitive teens suspected in three murders. The suspects, identified as Kam McLeod, 19, and Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, have been on the run for more than a week. Authorities say they believe the two are behind the killings of 23-year-old Australian Lucas Fowler and his 24-year-old American girlfriend, Chynna Deese, as well as of Leonard Dyck, a 64-year-old Canadian.
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| 'Send him back': Angry reactions to Trump at Virginia event honoring foundations of democracy Posted: 30 Jul 2019 10:13 AM PDT  A Virginia legislator interrupted President Trump as he delivered remarks at an event in Jamestown commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first representative legislative assembly in America.
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| Hong Kong Train Disruptions Show Protests Becoming Daily Affair Posted: 30 Jul 2019 06:05 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Fresh train disruptions by Hong Kong protesters Tuesday show how unrest once confined to weekend marches through downtown streets is spreading across the Asian financial hub and affecting daily life.Train services were slowed on the centrally located Island Line and the Kwun Tong Line across Victoria Harbor after black-clad protesters blocked doors and requested emergency assistance during the morning rush. There was yelling and confusion as commuters found themselves stuck in large crowds on subway platforms for the second time in less than a week.Although rail operator MTR Corp. said trains were resuming their normal schedules as of 11:30 a.m., such problems are expected to spread as protesters try to keep their grievances in the headlines and force a response by the city's China-appointed government. The incident follows a weekend of rallies that saw a peaceful sit-in at Asia's busiest international airport and sometimes rowdy mass protests that prompted police to fire tear gas in residential areas.The movement has proved surprisingly resilient more than eight weeks after as many as 1 million people took to the streets to oppose Chief Executive Carrie Lam's now-suspended proposal to allow extraditions to mainland China. Authorities in Beijing have so far maintained their support for Lam, who has rejected demands that she resign, formally withdraw the bill and appoint an independent inquiry into the police's use of force.Lam's approval rating slipped another 2 percentage points over the past month to a record low 21%, according to a survey released Tuesday by the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, formerly the HKU Public Opinion Programme. The share of people satisfied with the local government's performance remained at an all-time 18%, unchanged from the previous survey.Authorities were set to charge 44 out of 49 people arrested during Sunday's clashes with police with rioting, the South China Morning Post reported Tuesday, citing an unidentified police source. The violence had erupted as officers fired volleys of tear gas at demonstrators in Sai Ying Pun, a residential and business area where the Chinese government's liaison office is located. The people were expected to be brought to court on Wednesday, the newspaper said.China warned Monday that political unrest in the former British colony had gone "far beyond" peaceful protest, underscoring concern of more direct intervention. The demonstrations ultimately stem from anxiety that China has been eroding the rights and freedoms promised to Hong Kong before the end of colonial rule in 1997.Read more about the protests' latest impact on Hong Kong stocksDuring Tuesday's protests, services at the Lam Tin, Yau Tong and Tiu Keng Leng stations were suspended. At Tin Hau station on the Island Line, dozens of passengers were queuing up for refunds as train services were suspended.MTR Corp. shares added 0.1% as of 2.47 p.m. in Hong Kong trading, erasing earlier losses."We understand some people want to express their view but we regret that their actions affected train services and other passengers," Alan Cheng, MTR's chief of operating, told reporters. He said platform safety devices had been activated 76 times during the morning, while train emergency buttons were triggered another 47.Protesters argue that they've been driven to guerrilla tactics because the former British colony's unelected government is ignoring historic protests and the police are withholding protest permits and increasing their use of force. Since last month, different groups in the largely leaderless movement have surrounded police headquarters, mobbed government buildings and ransacked the city's legislature."Every confrontation between the protesters and the police has exacerbated their mutual hostility," Hong Kong political commentator Joseph Cheng told Bloomberg Television in an interview on Tuesday. "It is difficult that there are no solutions in sight, no reconciliation process going on and it has become a test of wills."While such tactics risk alienating the general public and causing further damage to the economy, the movement has also received support from the business community. The American Chamber of Commerce's Hong Kong chapter on Monday urged an "internationally credible" independent inquiry into all aspects of the protest movement, saying action was needed to preserve the city's strength as a global financial center.Earlier: AmCham Urges Hong Kong Action to Quell Growing Business ConcernsThe city's otherwise model railway system has born the brunt of several recent incidents, including shocking mob attacks last week on protesters and other train passengers at a railway station in the northern suburb of Yuen Long. Protesters subsequently decided to disrupt train services to highlight the slow police response to the incident.The rail operator on Monday pledged a review of its safety procedures, a move the South China Morning Post newspaper said was prompted by strike threats and internal anger over criticism of a female train driver related to the Yuen Long incident. Last week, MTR chairman Rex Auyeung Pak-kuen endorsed calls for an inquiry into police action."Hong Kongers only want police to do their jobs fearlessly in an unbiased manner and not serve their bosses in Beijing," Max Chung, the organizer of the Yuen Long march, said Tuesday night after being released on bail. Chung had been arrested for inciting others to participate in an unlawful assembly, the city's Now TV reported Sunday.(Updates with Max Chung comment in final paragraph.)\--With assistance from Sheryl Tian Tong Lee, Fion Li, Dominic Lau, Sofia Horta e Costa and Colin Keatinge.To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Simon Fuller in Hong Kong at sfuller37@bloomberg.net;Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen LeighFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Jared Kushner owns Baltimore apartments ‘infested’ with rodents, mould and maggots Posted: 29 Jul 2019 03:18 AM PDT  Donald Trump characterised Elijah Cummings' Baltimore-based congressional district as a "rodent infested mess" where "no human" would want to live, in a now-viral tweetstorm on Saturday.His criticism rang with a particular irony in Baltimore County, where the president's son-in-law Jared Kushner owns more than a dozen apartment complexes that have been cited with hundreds of code violations and, critics say, provide sub-standard housing to lower income tenants.In an interview on Saturday, Baltimore County Executive John Olszewski Jr condemned Mr Trump's comments as "an attack on basic decency"."It is certainly ironic that the president's own son-in-law was complicit in contributing to some of the neglect that the president purports to be so concerned about," Mr Olszewski, a Democrat, added.Kushner Companies, which started operating in Maryland in 2013, has owned almost 9,000 rental units across 17 complexes, many of them in Baltimore County, the Baltimore Sun reported earlier this year.The properties generate at least $90m (£72m) in revenue annually. Mr Kushner stepped down as CEO of the company in 2017, when he became a senior White House advisor.A company spokesperson did not address questions on Sunday about whether the group agreed with Mr Trump's characterisation of the area, but wrote: "Kushner Companies is proud to own thousands of apartments in the Baltimore area."In 2017, Baltimore County officials revealed that apartments owned by Kushner Cos were responsible for more than 200 code violations, all accrued in the span of the calendar year.Repairs were made only after the county threatened fines, local officials said, and even after warnings, violations on nine properties were not addressed, resulting in monetary sanctions.In an investigation by the New York Times and Pro Publica published earlier that year, tenants of Kushner Cos properties reported mouse infestations, mould problems and maggots.A private investigator who looked into Mr Kusher's property management company, Westminster Management, described them as "slumlords".Christine Taylor, a spokeswoman for the Kushner Cos, asserted at the time that the group was in compliance with all state and local laws.Then-Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz said that was "a stretch of truth"."We expect all landlords to comply with the code requirements that protect the health and safety of their tenants, even if the landlord's father-in-law is president of the United States," added Mr Kamenetz, who died in 2018.Shannon Darrow, a programme manager at the tenant advocacy group Fair Housing Action Centre of Maryland, said on Sunday that she was "appalled" by Mr Trump's comments about Mr Cummings's district, which includes about half of Baltimore City, and most of the majority black sections of Baltimore County.She added that she found Mr Trump's attacks ironic given the legacy of Mr Kushner's properties in the district."Basically, [Mr Kushner] has been creating a race to the bottom in terms of poorly maintained properties," she said. "He's been very, very deeply implicated."In the past two years, Kushner Cos and its affiliated entities have been sued multiple times by Baltimore-area residents who allege that the company has charged them excessive fees and used the threat of eviction to pressure them into paying up.From 2013 to 2017, corporate entities associated with Kushner Cos' apartments requested the civil arrest of 105 former tenants – the highest number among all property managers in Maryland during that period, the Baltimore Sun reported."It's been our recent experience that working families have been preyed on at the benefit of Mr Kushner and his company," Mr Olszewski said.A group of tenants recently attempted to file a class-action lawsuit alleging unlawful rental practices by the company. But their request was denied by a Baltimore Circuit Court judge.Washington Post
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| Hawley Introduces Bill to Ban ‘Addictive’ Social Media Features Posted: 30 Jul 2019 04:51 AM PDT  Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.) will introduce legislation on Tuesday that would ban the "addictive" features of various social media platforms, which the freshman lawmaker believes have weaponized human psychology in service of an attention-for-profit model.The Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act would ban various popular features that are employed by every major social media platform to deprive users of the opportunity to interrupt their use of the product."Big tech has embraced a business model of addiction. Too much of the 'innovation' in this space is designed not to create better products, but to capture more attention by using psychological tricks that make it difficult to look away. This legislation will put an end to that and encourage true innovation by tech companies," Hawley said in a statement.The targeted features include Twitter's "infinite scroll," which allows users to scroll through new information endlessly without reloading the page; Youtube's "Autoplay," which loads a new video as soon as another ends; and Snapchat's "Streaks," which incentivizes users to maintain an unbroken string of messages with another user.The bill would also require that social media platforms allow users to easily opt out of using a certain feature, rather than pushing them toward consenting by making that option more visually appealing or accessible on the platform. The platforms would also be required to allow users to track their time spent using the product.Since taking office in January, Hawley has quickly established himself as the foremost Republican critic of big tech, introducing a spate of bills designed to protect consumer data and prevent political censorship on social media platforms.
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| 'Again and again and again': California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasts Republicans' inaction, calls for gun reform Posted: 30 Jul 2019 10:53 AM PDT  California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivered an impassioned condemnation of the shooting and criticized Republican lawmakers for inaction on gun control.
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| Police: 1998 Arkansas school shooter killed in crash Posted: 28 Jul 2019 02:39 PM PDT  A man who was 11 years old in 1998 when he and a friend fatally shot four students and a teacher at their Arkansas middle school has died in a crash on a northeastern Arkansas highway, the State Police said. Drew Grant, 33, who had legally changed his name from Andrew Golden and had been living in Jackson, Missouri, died at around 9 p.m. Saturday, television station KAIT reported. The vehicle he was driving crashed head-on into another vehicle on Highway 167 near Cave City, which is about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of Little Rock.
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| Iran vs. Royal Navy: British Naval Destroyer Deploys to Persian Gulf Posted: 29 Jul 2019 04:27 PM PDT  The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Duncan has arrived in the Persian Gulf, temporarily doubling the number of British warships in the Persian Gulf following repeated Iranian attacks on British ships.The brief increase in British warships in the region, from one to two, underscores just how few ships the Royal Navy can deploy even in an emergency. More help likely won't be coming.Duncan, a Type 45 destroyer, on July 28, 2019 joined the frigate HMS Montrose escorting vessels sailing under the British flag through the Strait of Hormuz. Naval escorts are an effective way of deterring the kinds of attacks that frequently have occurred in the summer of 2019.On July 19, 2019 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps militia forces seized the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero in the Strait of Hormuz, escalating a long-simmering conflict that began after U.S. president Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 deal that lifted sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on Iran's nuclear program.After Trump restored economic sanctions, Tehran resumed stockpiling uranium. Iran and the West soon began tussling over Persian Gulf shipping.Royal Marines in early July 2019 seized an oil tanker en route to Syria that British authorities suspected of breaching E.U. sanctions. Authorities told the BBC the ship could be carrying Iranian crude oil to the Baniyas refinery in Syria.
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| Woman who dated suspect in Ole Miss student Ally Kostial's murder: 'That could have been me' Posted: 29 Jul 2019 01:07 PM PDT  A woman who briefly dated the man suspected of killing Ally Kostial says she fears she may not be here if she continued seeing him.
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| Israelis cleared of rape to sue British accuser in Cyprus Posted: 29 Jul 2019 10:47 AM PDT  Israeli tourists released from custody in Cyprus after having been cleared of gang rape charges plan to sue the British woman who accused them, their lawyer said Monday. Twelve Israeli youths were arrested on July 12 after a 19-year-old British tourist said she was raped in a hotel in the resort town of Ayia Napa, in southeast Cyprus. Five of the accused were released last Thursday and the other seven on Sunday, as a police source said the Briton was "facing charges of giving a false statement over an imaginary offence".
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| Ilhan Omar shares tweet mocking Rand Paul's attack: 'No wonder he ripped his toupee off' Posted: 30 Jul 2019 06:54 AM PDT  The tweet, which Omar subsequently retweeted, referenced one of Paul's neighbors, Rene Boucher, assaulting the senator while he was mowing his lawn.
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| India's parliament votes to outlaw Muslim instant divorce Posted: 30 Jul 2019 08:33 AM PDT  India's parliament approved a bill on Tuesday outlawing the centuries-old right of a Muslim man to instantly divorce his wife, drawing accusations of government interference in a community matter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist administration has been pushing to criminalize "triple talaq", under which a man can divorce by uttering the word "talaq", meaning divorce in Arabic, three times in his wife's presence. India is one of the few countries where the practice has survived in law.
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| Venezuela Faces the Loss of Citgo -- and Desperately Needed Dollars Posted: 29 Jul 2019 11:31 AM PDT ![Venezuela Faces the Loss of Citgo -- and Desperately Needed Dollars]( "Venezuela Faces the Loss of Citgo -- and Desperately Needed Dollars") (Bloomberg) -- Venezuela could lose its largest U.S. asset after a court allowed a Canadian gold miner to seize shares of Citgo Petroleum Corp.'s parent to satisfy an arbitration award.A U.S. appeals court ruled on Monday that Crystallex International Corp. may seize U.S.-based stock of Citgo's parent, which is part of Venezuela's state-owned oil company, to cover a $1.4 billion award over the nationalization of gold fields.Unless reversed on appeal or blocked by the Trump administration, the decision would allow Crystallex to auction the shares to satisfy Venezuela's unpaid debt to the Canadian company. That means the country, in the grip of its worst recession, could lose control of the refiner that processes Venezuelan crude into desperately needed hard currency.It also complicates efforts by interim President Juan Guaido to retain control of Venezuelan assets including Citgo while waging a power struggle with current leader Nicolas Maduro for leadership of the country. Guaido has asked U.S. President Donald Trump to bar creditors from seizing the country's assets.Read More: Venezuela Must Pay $1.4 Billion in PDVH Stock to Crystallex"At this stage, the only action that could stop Venezuela from losing Citgo is either a successful U.S. Supreme Court appeal, which appears unlikely, or a decision by Trump to issue an asset-protection order as Guaido has been requesting," Francisco Rodriguez, chief economist for Torino Capital, said in an interview."The UN can also help," added lawmaker Rafael Guzman, part of the opposition-led National Assembly's finance committee. "We are going to push for all of them."Guaido and Maduro are battling for control of Citgo by naming conflicting board nominees for its owner, Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA. A state-court judge in Delaware will decide who has legal right to appoint directors for the state-run oil company, which owns Citgo.Guaido himself didn't immediately return calls for comment on the appeals court's ruling, nor did Jose Ignacio Hernandez, Guaido's special attorney general, who was appointed to oversee litigation worldwide. Officials of Maduro's Information Ministry didn't return calls for comment, either.Read More: Venezuela Told to Give Shares of Citgo Parent to Gold Miner"For too long Venezuela has refused to compensate Crystallex for its illegal seizure of Crystallex's assets," Bob Fung, Crystallex's CEO, said in an emailed statement. He added the court's ruling was a "crucial step in getting Venezuela finally to honor its legal obligations."Venezuela's crisis follows years of Maduro's and ex-leader Hugo Chavez's socialist economic policies and the collapse in the country's all-important oil industry. Venezuelan officials are scrambling to keep their hands on Citgo to rebuild the economy.Guaido, head of the country's National Assembly, and Maduro, who has the support of the Venezuelan Army, have held talks in Oslo, Norway, seeking to resolve the crisis. The latest round of negotiations were scheduled to take place earlier this month in Barbados.Crystallex's gold mining operations near Las Cristinas, Venezuela, were seized without compensation in 2011 when Chavez nationalized the country's gold-mining industry. The company pursued arbitration and won a $1.2 billion award plus interest in 2016.Last year, Venezuela officials handed over $425 million as partial payment of the arbitration award, but the company couldn't cut a deal to satisfy the rest of the debt. So Crystallex pushed ahead with efforts to seize shares of Citgo's parent.Crystallex officials waged a three-year battle to seize shares of PDV Holding Inc., which owns Citgo. PDVSA owns the holding company. A federal judge in Delaware concluded last year that since Venezuela controls PDVSA, shares of Citgo's parent were fair game to be seized for the debt.The Philadelphia-based appeals court upheld the trial judge's finding that PDVSA is Venezuela's alter ego in part because its run by the country's military and all profits flow to the country's coffers.|"It has the potential to be a big blow to Venezuela," Russ Dallen, managing partner of Caracas Capital, said in an interview. "The pool of creditors that can now attack and go after PDVSA is greatly expanded."Crystallex isn't the only company that has sued Venezuela over unpaid debts. Investors have sued over $65 billion in defaulted bonds while rival ConocoPhillips sued Venezuela over seizure of its oil assets in the country. The U.S. oil giant won a $2 billion arbitration award over the nationalized assets. Last year, ConocoPhillips executives got $345 million in cash and commodities in settlement after the U.S. company seized some PDVSA assets in the Caribbean.The case is Crystallex International Corp. v. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, No. 18-2797, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (Philadelphia).(Adds details throughout.)\--With assistance from Alex Vasquez.To contact the reporters on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware at jfeeley@bloomberg.net;Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.net;Porter Wells in Washington at pwells30@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, ;Jo-El Meyer at jmeyer154@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Mexican authorities arrest suspect in killing of Fresno car dealership owner Posted: 29 Jul 2019 11:16 PM PDT  Authorities in Mexico say they have arrested a suspect in the murder of Jose Arredondo, a U.S. citizen who was found dead earlier this month in a condominium in Baja California Sur state.
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| The 2020 Chevy Corvette C8 Drew Tons of Attention at the Concours of America Posted: 30 Jul 2019 10:30 AM PDT |
| Pakistani army plane crashes into homes, killing 19 Posted: 30 Jul 2019 07:18 AM PDT  A Pakistani military plane crashed into a residential area before dawn on Tuesday, killing at least 19 people, most of them in their homes on the outskirts of the city of Rawalpindi, officials said. Fires, damaged houses and debris were visible in Mora Kalu village near Rawalpindi after daybreak. Victims' relatives were seen wailing and crying as rescuers loaded charred bodies into ambulances.
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| Siberia forest fires spark potential 'disaster' for Arctic Posted: 29 Jul 2019 11:51 PM PDT  Gigantic forest fires have regularly raged through the vast expanses of Russia's Siberia, but the magnitude of this year's blazes has reached an exceptional level with fears of a long-term impact on the environment. More than 3.2 million hectares (7.9 million acres) were in the grip of fires on Monday, mainly in the vast regions of Yakutia in the north and Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk in Siberia, authorities said. The fires, triggered by dry thunderstorms in temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit), were spread by strong winds, Russia's federal forestry agency said.
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| 'There was no clown': Cruise company, police deny reports that fight broke out because of a clown Posted: 29 Jul 2019 09:00 AM PDT  Following reports that six people were assaulted on a cruise ship in a brawl with a clown, police and P&O; Cruises are setting the record straight.
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| Senate bows to Trump vetoes, allows Saudi arms sales Posted: 29 Jul 2019 04:37 PM PDT  The Senate failed Monday in a bid to override a trio of vetoes issued by President Donald Trump, allowing the administration to move forward with plans to sell billions of dollars of weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Trump's decision to sell the weapons in a way that would have bypassed congressional review infuriated lawmakers from both parties. In a bipartisan pushback, Democrats and Republicans banded together to pass resolutions blocking the $8.1 billion weapons sales to the U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf.
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| US senator helps pregnant migrant with life-threatening condition apply for asylum at US-Mexico border Posted: 29 Jul 2019 04:29 PM PDT A pregnant Mexican woman suffering complications was told by immigration officers that they couldn't process her family's asylum claim at the US border on Saturday before a US senator intervened to persuade the officers to take the woman to a Texas hospital.While visiting a migrant shelter on Saturday, Ron Wyden grew concerned about a woman who was 38 weeks pregnant and suffering from pre-eclampsia and other complications.The senator and his staff decided to take the woman, her husband and 3-year-old son to a port of entry to make their asylum claim.At the Paso del Norte Bridge linking Juárez and El Paso, the family approached two US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, presented their identification and said they wanted to request asylum.They then heard the words that tens of thousands of asylum seekers have been told for more than a year at the US-Mexico border: "We're full," a CBP officer told them.Mr Wyden, who had followed behind the family along with an entourage of staff members and friends from Oregon, then stepped forward and identified himself.He told the officers that Mexicans are exempt from the "metering" programme CBP has used to strictly control the number of people allowed to request asylum at ports of entry.He also told the officers the woman was late term in her pregnancy and suffering complications.The officers called a supervisor, who arrived minutes later, and allowed the family to go to the port of entry to make their asylum claim.Mr Wyden was clearly shaken by his two-day visit to the border, which included a tour of CBP holding cells and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility.At the Juárez shelter, he met a 3-year-old boy who had stopped speaking after being held with his father by the US Border Patrol and then sent back to Mexico.Mr Wyden spoke with families who were required to stay in Mexico for six months before their first US immigration court hearing."These policies that I've seen are not what America is about. And in fact what we saw with respect to the woman who is here today is just a blatant violation of US law," Mr Wyden said, referring to the pregnant woman.He said he believed the CBP agents would have turned away the family if he had not intervened, a sentiment echoed by Taylor Levy, an El Paso immigration attorney who took Mr Wyden and his staff to Juárez."I feel very confident that if the family had tried to present alone, they would not have been allowed in," Ms Levy said.A CBP spokesman said the officer would not have told the family that asylum processing was at capacity if they had explained that they were Mexican and that the mother was pregnant.However, the family gave the officer, whose uniform identified his last name as Loya, a folder that contained their Mexican birth certificates and identification.Shaw Drake, the policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Border Rights Centre in El Paso, Texas, said he asked the officer afterward if the family had identified themselves as Mexican asylum seekers, and the officer said they had.Mr Wyden was also critical of a CBP officer who told the senator's staff they were not allowed to take photos or video on the bridge.The ACLU's Mr Drake said the officer, whose name tag identified him as Castro, was wrong, and he told the staff they could continue to record."Certainly it looked like it had the potential for not going well. The ACLU folks talked about their legal rights to be able to record the [processing], and one of the officers said, 'We have a situation'," Mr Wyden said."So having done this for a while, those are the kinds of things that concern you and might suggest it's not going well."Metering is used as a way to cap the number of people allowed to apply for asylum at ports of entry.Mexicans are supposed to be exempt from metering under US asylum laws, Mr Drake said. He said he had seen CBP agents turning back Mexican asylum seekers before."If someone arrives on our border and expresses a fear of return to their home country, the government is barred from returning that person to their home country until a process has been followed to determine whether they have the right to remain in the United States as an asylee or a refugee," he said."And so turning a Mexican away at the border, back into Mexico, is directly returning an asylum seeker to the country from which they're fleeing persecution with no process to determine whether they have a fear of returning to that country."Mr Wyden met the family, who asked not to be identified, at a shelter that houses about 250 migrants in Juárez. They were sharing a small room with 11 other migrants.They said they were from the Mexican state of Guerrero and wanted to seek asylum because they feared violence from drug cartels and their government allies."There's a lot of insecurity, and the government is involved and corrupted with the cartels. There's just no way to survive," the father told Mr Wyden.The family showed Mr Wyden their number for the metering list, which is kept by the Chihuahua State Population Council in Juárez.The number 17,647 was handwritten on a slip of paper. More than 5,000 people were ahead of them on the list, meaning they faced a four- or five-month wait before being allowed to come to a US port of entry and seek asylum.The family said they had not previously gone to a port of entry because they thought they had to get on the metering list.Lauren Herbert, an Oregon paediatrician who accompanied Mr Wyden on the border tour, said she became concerned when talking to the mother."She had a previous diagnosis of preeclampsia, which already places her at high risk," Herbert said after the family crossed the border."And then she described two days of leaking fluid," which could indicate a ruptured membrane that threatened the life of mother and unborn child. "This is a high-risk pregnancy, and she needs to be seen by a doctor. Now."After Mr Wyden met the woman and her family, Ms Levy, the immigration attorney, and Mr Drake urged the senator to push CBP to get the woman to a hospital as soon as possible."The US government keeps saying that they don't put Mexicans on the metering list and that Mexicans will always be accepted because they're fleeing Mexico," Ms Levy said. She suggested Mr Wyden approach the border officers along with an ACLU representative and lawyers."That's what we're going to do," Mr Wyden said.About an hour later, the family was undergoing initial processing by CBP to begin their asylum claim. CBP officials told Mr Wyden that the mother would quickly be taken to a hospital for evaluation. Their status was not clear on Saturday night.Ian Philabaum, programme director for the legal group Innovation Law Lab who accompanied the senator on his two-day border tour, said the family's plight would have been much different without Mr Wyden's assistance."If not for the presence of a US senator, another asylum-seeker would have been sent back to dangerous conditions in Mexico, the same country she is fleeing, and despite the fact that she is pregnant and in dire need of medical attention," he said..Washington Post
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| New York state decriminalizes pot, stops short of Cuomo's legalization call Posted: 29 Jul 2019 09:09 AM PDT |
| Majority of Trump’s Trade Aid Went to Biggest Farms, Study Finds Posted: 30 Jul 2019 07:58 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. More than half of the Trump administration's trade-war aid for farmers went to just one-tenth of the recipients in the program, according to an analysis of payments by an environmental organization.Eighty-two farming operations received more than $500,000 each in payments through April under the U.S. Agriculture Department's Market Facilitation Program, according to the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed payment records it obtained through the Freedom of Information Act covering $8.4 billion in payments.One farm, DeLine Farm Partnership of Charleston, Missouri, has so far received $2.8 million in trade aid payments, according to the analysis.Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a Republican who has long favored payment limits on farm subsidies, said the findings show the need for "hard payment caps" on the assistance.Trade aid and other farm subsidies are "meant to help people over humps beyond their own control," Grassley told reporters. "Some large farmers do have the benefit of having resources to get over those humps without government help."The Trump administration has announced a new $16 billion round of trade aid for farmers this year as the trade dispute with China continues.Acreage PlantedWhile the initial set of trade aid was based on crops produced, the new aid payments are to be tied to the acreage planted, making more explicit "the bigger the farm, the bigger the government check," the environmental group said. The organization regularly analyzes and publishes detailed databases on federal farm subsidy payments, often highlighting disparities in aid.The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement that the program "is designed to provide a level of support that's proportionate to a farm's size and success." It added, "Payments were made based on a producer's individual production -- the more acres they farm and bushels per acre they produce, the more assistance they receive.""To our knowledge, USDA's payments have all been made in accordance with our published regulations and existing procedures," the department said.The environmental organization, which published a searchable database of trade aid recipients on its website Tuesday, said the top 1% of farmers were paid an average $188,000 while the bottom 80% averaged less than $5,000.Trade aid payments are capped at $125,000 per person in each of three categories of commodities: one for soybeans and other row crops; one for pork and dairy; and one for cherries and almonds.'Deeply Flawed'Still, farms set up as corporations or partnerships can exceed those limits. Relatives and partners who don't live or work on a farm can collect payments as long as they help make management decisions such as what to plant, said Scott Faber, senior vice president for government affairs for the environmental organization.The organization also found that thousands of farm trade aid recipients live in the nation's largest cities."When Market Facilitation Program payments continue to overwhelmingly flow to an elite group of the largest farms, wealthy landowners and city residents with no real connection to the day-to-day operations on the land, it's clear the program is deeply flawed and not delivering aid to those farmers in desperate need," said Donald Carr, a senior adviser to the group.The analysis and searchable database covers payments to more than 563,000 participants in 2018 through April 2019. Illinois received the largest share of the market facilitation payments, totaling $1.1 billion through April, followed by Iowa, which received $979 million, and Minnesota, which received $676 million.The database only covers payments made directly to farmers. Last year's $12 billion farm trade assistance package also included other programs, including commodity purchases and export promotion assistance.(Updates with Grassley comment, additional detail beginning with third paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Dorning in Washington at mdorning@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Real Reason the U.S. Navy's F-14 Tomcat Was Born Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:54 AM PDT  One of the best fighters ever built, the Grumman F-14 was born when the General Dynamics F-111B (for which Grumman was prime contractor) failed to meet the U.S. Navy requirement for a long range carrier-based interceptor aircraft.But to understand why the Tomcat was developed, it is necessary to explain why the F-111B was conceived and why missed to meet the service requirement.In the 1960s the then Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara decided that a multi-role, combat aircraft would have been jointly developed by both the U.S. Air Force (USAF) and the U.S. Navy. The following program was called Tactical Fighter Experimental (TFX) and was aimed to satisfy the requirements of the two services with two variants of the variable swing wing General Dynamics F-111. The F-111A was a land based low-level bomber for the USAF, while the F-111B was an interceptor armed with six AIM-54A Phoenixmissiles for the U.S. Navy.
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| Executive Director of House Dems’ Campaign Arm Resigns amid Backlash over Lack of Diversity Posted: 29 Jul 2019 10:15 AM PDT  The executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) resigned Monday after Democratic lawmakers and DCCC staffers lashed out publicly at the organization's leadership over their failure to prioritize racial diversity.Allison Jaslow announced her resignation during an emergency meeting that was held on Monday morning in response to calls from staffers and lawmakers for an "immediate restructuring" of the group's senior leadership, Politico reported.Democratic representatives Vicente Gonzalez and Filemon Vela of Texas specifically called for Jaslow's resignation in a statement provided to Politico on Sunday."The DCCC is now in complete chaos," Gonzalez and Vela said in their statement. "The single most immediate action that Cheri Bustos can take to restore confidence in the organization and to promote diversity is to appoint a qualified person of color, of which there are many, as executive director at once. We find the silence of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus on this issue to be deafening."Politico highlighted a longstanding rift within the DCCC last week, publishing a report that quoted staffers and lawmakers complaining about a lack of racial diversity within the group's leadership, and among the vendors hired by the group.DCCC chairwoman Cheri Bustos was forced to return to Washington on Monday to address lawmakers' and staffers' concerns after an emergency meeting on Friday, which Bustos did not attend, and a conference call on Saturday, proved insufficient.Jaslow reportedly wept while assuming blame for the lack of diversity during the Friday meeting while Bustos responded to the complaints by emphasizing her marriage to a Mexican man and her son's engagement to an African-American woman during the Saturday call. She also agreed to hold mandatory diversity training for Committee staff.
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| Gilroy garlic festival shooting: Gunman shot dead after killing at least three at California event Posted: 28 Jul 2019 10:34 PM PDT  A six-year-old boy and 13-year-old girl were among those killed by a gunman who opened fire at a popular food festival in California on Sunday. Santino William Legan, 19, appeared to target people randomly as he began shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival after cutting through a fence to gain entry, according to the police. He killed three people and injured another 12 with an assault-style rifle before being fatally shot by police officers who responded to the incident in less than a minute. Six-year-old Stephen Romero, the 13-year-old girl and a man in his 20s were killed, officials and authorities said. The motive for the attack is unclear. Alberto Romero, Stephen's father, told the San Francisco Bay Area news station KNTV: "My son had his whole life to live and he was only 6. That's all I can say." The attack came at the end of the three-day festival in Gilroy, a city in north California known as the "Garlic Capital of the World". The event is attended by more than 100,000 people. Festival attendees have to pass through metal detectors and have their bags searched, but the shooter is believed to have gained access through a fence near a car park. Details of the attack are still emerging. BREAKING UPDATE: Ambulance crews were told 11 people down in a reported shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival. https://t.co/ufzR4VllULpic.twitter.com/giApm5t2bX— Stephen Ellison (@sj_ellison) July 29, 2019 Jack van Breen, a musician playing at the festival, said he saw a man wearing a green shirt and grayish handkerchief around his neck fire into the food area with what looked like an assault rifle. He and other members of the band dove under the stage. Mr Van Breen said he heard someone shout: "Why are you doing this?" The reply was: "Because I'm really angry." Donna Carlson of Reno, Nevada, told reporters she was helping a friend at a jewellery booth when "all of a sudden it was pop, pop, pop." She hid behind a table until police said it was safe to leave. Donald Trump, the US president, condemned the "wicked murderer" during an event at the White House on Monday morning. He said: "We express our deepest sadness and sorrow for the families who lost a precious loved one in the horrific shooting last night in Gilroy, California." Police Chief Scot Smithee said police officers in the area confronted the suspect less than a minute after he opened fire, and the suspect was shot and killed. "He had some sort of a rifle," Mr Smithee said, adding they were investigating the possibility there was a second shooter. Witnesses reported confusion and panic as shots rang out at the event in the city of 50,000 located about 80 miles southeast of San Francisco. People leave the Gilroy Garlic Festival following a deadly shooting Credit: AP Videos posted on social media appeared to show festival attendees scattering in confusion as at least one loud popping sound could be heard in the background. "What's going on?" a woman can be heard asking on one video. "Who'd shoot up a garlic festival?" Herman Solis, of Hollister, said he and his girlfriend dropped to the ground when he heard shots fired. "You could hear the bullets whizzing by," he told the San Francisco Chronicle. "It was unreal. We ran and ducked for cover. It was chaos. At first I thought it was fireworks. Then I realised it wasn't." Another witness, Julissa Contreras, told NBC a white man in his 30s armed with a rifle opened fire indiscriminately. "I could see him shooting in just every direction. He wasn't aiming at anyone specifically. It was just left to right, right to left," Ms Contreras told the network. Emergency personnel stand outside Gilroy High School Credit: AP Tim Cook, the Apple CEO, shared his condolences on Twitter, saying he was "deeply saddened" by the targeting of the "beloved community tradition". Earlier Gilroy police said: "The hearts of the Gilroy Police Department and the entire community go out to the victims of today's shooting at the Garlic Festival."
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| Follow the law, get pulled over: Why a police plan to 'ticket' drivers backfired in Arizona Posted: 30 Jul 2019 03:15 AM PDT  Tempe Police Department started a "Positive Ticketing Campaign" initiative to hand out Circle K drink coupons for following traffic laws.
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| US officials: Afghan soldier kills 2 US troops Posted: 29 Jul 2019 12:07 PM PDT ![US officials: Afghan soldier kills 2 US troops]( "US officials: Afghan soldier kills 2 US troops") An Afghan soldier shot and killed two American service members in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak on the record about details that have not yet been made public. U.S. Central Command confirmed that two U.S. troops were killed, but provided no details.
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| Women taking photos of themselves without headscarves face 10-year prison sentence in Iran Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:28 AM PDT  Iranian women who post photos of themselves online without their headscarves on could face up to 10 years in prison.They face the punishment for posting images or video online, and for sending them to Masih Alinejad, a US-based activist who founded the "White Wednesdays" campaign in Iran to oppose the compulsory hijab.The campaign encourages women to post photos of themselves without headscarves.The semi-official Fars news agency quoted the head of the Tehran Revolutionary Court, Mousa Ghazanfarabadi, saying "those who film themselves or others while removing the hijab and send photos to this woman ... will be sentenced to between one and 10 years in prison."Wearing the Islamic headscarf is mandatory in public for all women in Iran. Those who violate the rule face up to two months in prison and a fine of £20.Scores of women in Iran have been arrested for removing their headscarves as part of the "White Wednesdays" campaign.Last year, an Iranian woman was sentenced to two years in prison and 18 years probation for removing her headscarf in a protest.Shaparak Shajarizadeh said she had been sentenced for "opposing the compulsory hijab" and "waving a white flag of peace in the street".
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| Trump billionaire friend aimed to profit from Mideast nuclear deal: Democrats Posted: 29 Jul 2019 02:11 PM PDT  Tom Barrack, a billionaire friend of U.S. President Donald Trump, pursued a plan to buy Westinghouse Electric Corp even as he lobbied Trump to become a special envoy to promote the building by the firm of nuclear power plants in Saudi Arabia, said a congressional report released on Monday. While Barrack failed in both efforts, the report provides fresh evidence of the ease with which some corporate and foreign interests have gained access to Trump and other senior members of his administration. Documents obtained by the Democratic-led U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee raise "serious questions about whether the White House is willing to place the potential profits of the President's friends above the national security of the American people and the universal objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons," the report said.
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| Mosquitos carrying deadly, brain-swelling virus detected in Florida Posted: 29 Jul 2019 01:00 PM PDT  A potentially deadly mosquito-borne virus known to cause brain swelling hasbeen detected in Florida, according to the state's health department
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| North Carolina school bus driver suspected of setting up hit on student, police say Posted: 29 Jul 2019 06:14 PM PDT  Durham police said they believe a school bus driver may have ordered someone to shoot a 17-year-old Northern High School student.
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| The 1 Thing the U.S. Marines Could Teach U.S. Navy SEALs Posted: 29 Jul 2019 04:25 AM PDT  Two services. Two incidents involving service members accused of serious misconduct. Two vastly different approaches to openness and transparency.When U.S. Special Operations Command announced on Wednesday that a SEAL platoon was being sent home early from Iraq because their commander has lost confidence in them, U.S. military officials did not mention that one of the SEALs had been accused of sexually assaulting a female service member. That was first revealed by New York Times reporter David Phillips about 24 hours later.San Diego-based attorney Jeremiah Sullivan confirmed to Task & Purpose that he represents a member of Foxtrot Platoon SEAL Team 7 who is being investigated for sexual assault but has not been charged.In contrast: The Marine Corps issued a detailed news release on Thursday about 16 Marines at Camp Pendleton, California, who were arrested on allegations of taking part in human smuggling. 1st Marine Division spokeswoman Maj. Kendra Motz also immediately knocked down a false rumor that the division had held a bogus awards ceremony so that NCIS could nab the Marines.Bravo Zulu to the Marines for providing timely and accurate information. They understand that hiding bad news does not make it go away and let the facts come out in drips and drabs undermine your credibility.
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| Ex-Tehran mayor sentenced to death over wife's murder Posted: 29 Jul 2019 05:03 PM PDT  Former Tehran mayor Mohammad Ali Najafi was sentenced to death after being convicted of murdering his wife, the judiciary said Tuesday, after a high-profile case that received extensive media coverage. A prominent reformist, Najafi was found guilty of shooting dead his second wife Mitra Ostad at their home in the capital on May 28, said Iran's judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili. According to Iranian media reports, her body was found in a bathtub after Najafi, 67, turned himself in and confessed to killing her.
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| 'He will never forgive himself': Wife defends husband in devastating hot car deaths of twins Posted: 29 Jul 2019 07:00 AM PDT  Death of twin 1-year-olds brings to 23 the number of hot car deaths this year across the nation.
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| Malaysia's new king calls for racial unity at coronation Posted: 29 Jul 2019 10:55 PM PDT  Malaysia's sports-loving Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah called for racial unity as he was installed Tuesday as the country's 16th king under a unique rotating monarchy system. It was a double celebration for Sultan Abdullah from central Pahang state, who turned 59 the same day. Nine ethnic Malay state rulers take turns as king for five-year terms under the world's only such system, which has been maintained since Malaysia's independence from Britain in 1957.
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