| Boy stabs brother because he 'would rather be in jail than spend eight hours in a car with him' Posted: 08 Jul 2019 07:14 AM PDT  A 13-year-old boy who stabbed his older brother told police he would "rather be in jail" than spend eight hours in a car with his sibling.The teenager complained his 15-year-old brother had been teasing him before he slashed him three times with a pocket knife.The victim was found bleeding heavily in the drive of a house in Florida while his sibling sat in the front seat of their car.The younger boy was arrested and charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said.The teenager said he had "had enough" of his brother and did not regret attacking him on Saturday. According to an arrest report, he told officers: "I'd rather be in jail than eight hours in the car with him."His sibling was taken to hospital for treatment but has since been discharged.The boys live in Clarksville, Tennessee, northwest of Nashville.
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| Sex trafficking charges against Epstein could rock Trump's Cabinet Posted: 08 Jul 2019 08:10 AM PDT  An investigation into former hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein for running a sex trafficking ring could affect the White House.
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| Mexican officials find 51 migrants in truck using giant X-ray Posted: 08 Jul 2019 12:17 PM PDT ![Mexican officials find 51 migrants in truck using giant X-ray]( "Mexican officials find 51 migrants in truck using giant X-ray") Mexican officials using a large X-ray scanner at a checkpoint in the central state of Zacatecas found 51 Central American migrants in hidden compartments inside a truck. Footage of the X-ray shows a ghost-like truck filled with the brightened silhouettes of the migrants, some sitting, others lying down along two levels in the crowded compartments. The migrants from Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Ecuador, 21 of whom were minors, are now in the custody of the country's National Migration Institute (INM), government officials said in a statement late on Sunday.
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| Democrats to pursue criminal contempt against Barr, Ross Posted: 09 Jul 2019 02:28 AM PDT  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi prepares to hold vote after House returns from recess; Garrett Tenney reports from Washington, D.C.
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| California's Recent Earthquakes Are Reigniting Fears of the 'Big One' Posted: 08 Jul 2019 04:49 AM PDT  'It is a wake-up call for the rest of the state'
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| Migrant children held in Texas facility need access to doctors, says attorney Posted: 07 Jul 2019 10:00 PM PDT  'Inhumane' conditions for detained children amount to 'emergency public health crisis', says attorney who visited centerOvercrowding at the US border patrol station in McAllen, Texas, on 10 June. The team who visited the center in Clint found children did not have adequate access to drinking water or food. Photograph: Handout/Getty ImagesHundreds of children at a migrant detention center in Texas are being held in "inhumane" conditions that amount to an "emergency public health crisis" and should be allowed immediate access to doctors, according to an attorney who gained rare access to the facility.Elora Mukherjee, the director of Columbia Law School's immigrant rights clinic, was one of six attorneys to visit the detention center in Clint as part of ongoing litigation about an agreement that states unaccompanied children can't be held in US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities for more than 72 hours.The team found that children had no adequate access to medical care, had no basic sanitation, were exposed to extreme cold and did not have adequate access to drinking water or food."I've been visiting children detained in federal immigration custody for 12 years," Mukherjee told the Guardian. "I have never seen anything like this before. I have never seen, smelled, had to bear witness to such degrading and inhumane conditions."The UN human rights chief Michelle Bachelet on Monday said she was "appalled" at the conditions. "As a paediatrician, but also as a mother and a former head of state, I am deeply shocked that children are forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded facilities, without access to adequate healthcare or food, and with poor sanitation conditions," the statement quoted Bachelet as saying.Two weeks ago, the attorneys met with 60 children between the ages of five months and 17 years to interview them about the conditions in the facility, which is holding 350 children. Some had bodily fluids including breast milk, urine and mucus stained on their clothes and many were wearing the same clothes they had crossed the border in, days or weeks earlier.An aerial view of the border patrol facility in Clint, Texas, where attorneys reported migrants had been held in disturbing conditions. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty ImagesIn the past, Mukherjee said she would raise concerns about conditions with the lead counsel in the case, who would then pursue a remedy. This time, however, the conditions were so shocking the attorneys were compelled to approach the media.Mukherjee noted that seven children have died in federal immigration custody or shortly after being released, compared to no such deaths in the 10 previous years. "We were extremely concerned that more children might die if we didn't go public," she said.At Clint, attorneys learned a flu epidemic had left children quarantined, but were blocked from interviewing them in-person to ensure they were receiving proper medical care and instead communicated with some of the oldest children by phone.A week before their visit to Clint, at a similar facility in McAllen, Texas, lawyers and a pediatrician had identified five detained babies who needed immediate hospitalization and were transferred to a local hospital's neonatal intensive care unit."The conditions within which they are held could be compared to torture facilities," the physician, Dolly Lucio Sevier, wrote in a medical declaration obtained by ABC News.CBP initially denied the attorneys' reports, but its own watchdog, the homeland security department's Office of Inspector General, had already put together – then released last week – reports warning of dangerous overcrowding in border patrol facilities.On 10 June, the auditor said it witnessed "serious overcrowding" in four of five facilities and prolonged detention at the other five facilities – of both adults and children – that needed to be addressed immediately.Overcrowding observed by the Office of Inspector General at the border patrol station in McAllen, Texas, on 11 June. Photograph: Handout/Getty ImagesCBP said in a statement it "leverages our limited resources to provide the best care possible to those in our custody, especially children. As DHS and CBP leadership have noted numerous times, our short-term holding facilities were not designed to hold vulnerable populations and we urgently need additional humanitarian funding to manage this crisis."In response to the slew of devastating reports, the health department, which takes custody of unaccompanied migrant children until they can be paired with relatives or foster parents, is expanding its shelter network.And the House oversight committee said it will hold a hearing on Wednesday about the treatment of migrants at detention facilities.Also next week, an independent mediator in the case that spurred the attorneys' visit to Clint is due to provide a report about the detention centers before 12 July, according to court documents. That same day, Lights for Liberty vigils are planned around the country to protest the government's failure to adequately care for these children.Jennifer Nagda, policy director at the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, said that the issue stems from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) treating detention centers as part of enforcement instead of a site for protecting adults and children."It is incredibly frustrating when you know that on the part of homeland security, it is not due to a lack of resources, it is due to a lack of intention," Nagda said. "They have sufficient funds to provide three decent meals a day and a mattress a child can sleep on and a bathroom they can use privately."Nagda is one of hundreds, if not thousands, of advocates who have been raising concerns about immigration detention facilities while the US rapidly expanded immigration detention in the past two decades.The number of detained migrants increased in 1996 after then president Bill Clinton signed a pair of laws that introduced mandatory detentions for asylum seekers and legal immigrants who had committed crimes and allowed for indefinite detention.Nagda said after a decade working in this field, she was still shocked by the reports that emerged in recent weeks and was concerned a similar situation was replicated at other border facilities.Despite the grim reality at the border, Nagda clung to the power public outcry could have to change the current conditions. She thinks activists should specifically be pushing for children in detention to have access to pediatricians or medical experts with experience helping children and to have child welfare experts in the facility."Those kinds of agency changes will only happen in response to extraordinary public pressure and I think the public should take heart that their anger, and rallying and marches could actually influence how this agency spends money and cares for families arriving at the border," Nagda said, highlighting the role protests played in bringing an end to family separation in the summer of 2018.
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| UN rights chief 'appalled' by conditions in US for migrants Posted: 08 Jul 2019 02:29 PM PDT  The United Nations' human rights chief said Monday she was "appalled" by the conditions migrants and refugees face in U.S. detention facilities, intensifying a challenge to the Trump administration's immigration policies. United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said children stopped by border agents should never be held in immigration detention facilities or separated from their families, and detention should not be the norm for adults, either.
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| YouTube engineer on LSD-fuelled 4th July rampage leaves eight people hurt Posted: 08 Jul 2019 08:43 AM PDT  A YouTube software engineer has been charged with multiple counts of attempted murder after taking LSD and ramming a stolen truck into strangers, according to police in northern California.Betai Koffi, 32, hurt eight people during a violent rampage after becoming "delusional" on the hallucinogenic drug, Sonoma County Sheriff's Office said.Sergeant Spencer Crum said the tech worker initially lashed out at friends during Fourth of July celebrations at a rented home in Bodega Bay. Mr Koffi allegedly punched a woman in the chest, stabbed a man with a pencil, choked another man, and then punched a third man in the face.After driving off from the party in a rented car at about 8pm, the San Francisco resident is said to have stabbed a security guard in the chest with the sharp end of a garden light.Mr Koffi then stole the security guard's truck and drove into pedestrians out walking in the Pacific coast town, hitting three people and causing significant injuries to two women, police said.The frenzy finally came to an end when a sheriff's deputy shot Koffi through the windscreen of the vehicle, leaving him critically wounded."Koffi and the first woman hit by the truck were flown by helicopters to nearby hospitals and treated for their injuries," said Mr Crum in a statement. "The woman received significant injuries that are not expected to be life threatening."The police sergeant added: "The security guard and second woman hit by the truck were transported to a local hospital by ground ambulance and are expected to survive their injuries. Koffi received major injuries and is currently in critical condition."The 32-year-old was identified by his LinkedIn profile as a YouTube software engineer.Mr Crum said he initially took two doses of acid around noon on 4 July."At approximately 3pm Koffi became delusional around the home while his friends tried to keep him calm," said the police sergeant said.He added: "Between 4pm and 5pm, he took two more doses of LSD. Shortly before 8pm Koffi wanted to leave but his friends tried to stop him."He is under arrest in hospital on suspicion of two counts of attempted murder, three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, and one charge of carjacking."Koffi's friends at the rented home were able to treat their own injuries and did not require hospitalisation," said Mr Crum.Sonoma County Sheriff's Office identified the police deputy who shot the suspect as Jason Pasero. Police said the officer fired at Mr Koffi after he accelerated towards two patrol cars.The sheriff's office is investigating the alleged assaults and events leading up to the shooting, while Santa Rosa Police and the Sonoma County District Attorney's Office are investigating the shooting.
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| Trump news – live: Angry president lashes out amid pressure on aide over Epstein sex ring case, as Moscow Tower associate testifies Posted: 09 Jul 2019 05:36 AM PDT  Donald Trump's Russian-born business associate Felix Sater is to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday as the president resumes his row with UK ambassador to the US Sir Kim Darroch, lashing out at the "mess" Theresa May has made of Brexit. In his latest angry Twitter diatribe, the president called Sir Kim "wacky", "a very stupid guy" and "a pompous fool" before laying into Ms May for going "her own foolish way" and ignoring his advice on Britain's departure from the EU. "A disaster!" he concluded.Mr Trump talked up his environmental credentials at the White House on Monday night, during which he was brutally fact-checked by Fox News, before sitting down to dinner with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was caught up in a prostitution scandal earlier this year, just days after his former friend Jeffrey Epstein was arrested and accused of sex crimes involving underage girls.Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load
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| View Photos of the BMW X7 Pickup Concept Posted: 08 Jul 2019 11:19 AM PDT |
| Iran's Zarif calls on UK to immediately release captured oil tanker Posted: 08 Jul 2019 04:19 AM PDT  The capture of an Iranian oil tanker by Britain has set "a dangerous precedent and must end now", Iran's foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter on Monday. "Iran is neither a member of the EU nor subject to any European oil embargo. UK's unlawful seizure of a tanker with Iranian oil on behalf of #B_Team is piracy, pure and simple.
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| Cruise ship in Venice near-miss weeks after dock incident Posted: 08 Jul 2019 03:27 AM PDT  A cruise ship narrowly missed a yacht while being towed out of Venice late Sunday, just a month after a collision there renewed the controversy over the giant vessels. The 12-deck Costa Deliziosa, which is nearly 300 metres (1,000 feet) long and carries more than 3,800 passengers and crew, was being towed out in stormy conditions when the near-miss happened. A video posted by a Venetian writer and artist, Roberto Ferrucci, on his website www.robertoferrucci.com showed the massive cruise ship passing very close to a moored yacht.
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| Starbucks apologizes to Tempe police after evicting six officers, trying to quell firestorm Posted: 07 Jul 2019 12:36 PM PDT ![Starbucks apologizes to Tempe police after evicting six officers, trying to quell firestorm]( "Starbucks apologizes to Tempe police after evicting six officers, trying to quell firestorm") Starbucks has issued a formal apology to an Arizona police force after six officers were kicked out of a Tempe coffee shop on Independence Day.
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| The U.S. Navy Wants to Add the Ultimate Weapon: 'Laser Guns'? Posted: 08 Jul 2019 04:00 AM PDT  (Washington, D.C.) If swarms of enemy small attack boats armed with guns and explosives approached a Navy ship, alongside missile-armed drones and helicopters closing into strike range, ship commanders would instantly begin weighing defensive options - to include interceptor missiles, electronic warfare, deck-mounted guns or area weapons such as Close-in-Weapons System.Now, attacks such as these will also be countered with laser weapons being added to the equation, bringing new dimensions to maritime warfare on the open sea.By 2021, U.S. Navy destroyers will be armed with new ship-fired lasers able to sense and incinerate enemy drones, low-flying aircraft and small boat attacks -- all while firing at the speed of light.Lasers have existed for many years, but the Navy is now adjusting emerging Tactics, Techniques and Procedures to how new high-powered, ship-fired lasers will change ship defenses….and attack options.Lockheed Martin and the Navy have been working on ground attack tests against mock enemy targets to prepare high-energy lasers for war. The weapon, called High-Energy Laser and Integrated Optical-Dazzler with Surveillance - or HELIOS - is engineered to surveil, track and destroy targets from an integrated ship system consisting of advanced radar, fire control technology and targeting sensors.Working with the Navy, Lockheed has recently completed its Systems Design Review for HELIOS, a process which examines weapon requirements and prepares subsystems and designs. The intent is to engineer an integrated tactical laser system able to receive "real time operating feedback well in advance, before the system hits the ship," said Brendan Scanlon, HELIOS Program Director, Lockheed.
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| Saudi carrier cancels troubled Boeing 737 order for Airbus Posted: 08 Jul 2019 11:04 AM PDT  Boeing's campaign to restore the reputation of its best-selling plane after two deadly crashes suffered a blow with a Saudi airline canceling an order worth up to $5.9 billion in favor of a European rival of the U.S. manufacturer. Flyadeal, the budget airline arm of Saudi Arabian Airlines Corp., ordered 30 A320neo jets from Airbus and took options on 20 more, meaning that its entire fleet will consist of planes from that company. It's a potentially troubling sign for Boeing, which has not seen customers divert orders to Airbus en masse.
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| Trump attacks Britain’s ambassador in Washington after leaked memo branded president ‘dysfunctional’ Posted: 07 Jul 2019 02:09 PM PDT  Donald Trump has responded to the UK ambassador in Washington's leaked memos, saying Sir Kim Darroch "has not served the UK well".In the highly sensitive documents, Sir Kim described the White House as "incompetent" and "inept", writing: "We don't really believe this administration is going to become substantially more normal."Speaking to reporters in New Jersey on Sunday, Mr Trump said: "The ambassador has not served the UK well, I can tell you that." He added: "We are not big fans of that man and he has not served the UK well ... I can say things about him but I won't bother."The UK government said earlier today that it had launched an investigation to discover who leaked the memos, while the Foreign Office stated: "Our team in Washington have strong relations with the White House and no doubt ... these will withstand such mischievous behaviour."The British embassy informed the White House on Friday that the memos would be published over the weekend, according to a person familiar with the matter, and the two sides were in touch throughout the weekend.UK justice secretary David Gauke called the leak "disgraceful" but said Britain "should expect our ambassadors to tell the truth, as they see it."Foreign secretary Jeremy Hunt moved to prevent damage caused by the disclosure of candid cables, describing the comments as "personal opinions" and "not the opinions of the British government".Mr Hunt said on Sunday: "It's really important to say that the ambassador was doing his job as an ambassador which is to give frank reports and personal opinions about what's happening in the country where he works, and that's his job to send back those reports but they are personal opinions, not the opinions of the British government, not my opinion."And we continue to think that under President Trump the United States administration is both highly effective and the best possible friend of Britain on the international stage."The memos characterised Mr Trump's policy on Iran as "incoherent, chaotic." The president has frustrated European allies by withdrawing the US from a complex deal designed to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons and has seemed in recent weeks to be on the verge of armed conflict with Iran.The British ambassador said he did not believe Mr Trump's public explanation for calling off a planned military strike against Iran last month because of concern about possible civilian casualties. Sir Kim said it was more likely the strike was cancelled because he felt it would be a liability in the upcoming 2020 presidential election.Speaking to reporters on Sunday as he departed Morristown for Washington, Mr Trump said Iran "better be careful," hours after Tehran announced it would shortly boost its uranium enrichment above a cap set by a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.In one of the memos, Sir Kim warned British officials not to write the president off, saying there was a "credible path" to him winning a second term. He said Mr Trump may "emerge from the flames, battered but intact, like [Arnold] Schwarzenegger in the final scenes of The Terminator."
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| Plane clips car during emergency landing on Reagan Memorial Tollway Posted: 08 Jul 2019 08:32 PM PDT  A small plane crashed onto the Reagan Memorial Tollway on Monday afternoon.
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| Sri Lanka police chief, ex-defense secretary released on bail in Easter attacks case Posted: 09 Jul 2019 06:20 AM PDT  Sri Lanka's police chief and former defense secretary were released on bail on Tuesday, a week after they were arrested over allegations that they failed to prevent the Easter Day bomb attacks that killed more than 250 people. Colombo magistrates' court granted their release and will hear the case on July 22, Anuja Premaratne, who is representing both the accused, told Reuters. The Criminal Investigation Department last week arrested Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara and former secretary to the Ministry of Defence Hemasiri Fernando while they were both receiving treatment in hospital.
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| No Matter 18,000 Lost Jobs, Germany OK With Deutsche Bank Cull Posted: 08 Jul 2019 04:49 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel's government will look past Deutsche Bank AG's cutting a fifth of its workforce as the German lender commits to an overhaul.Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing's bid to reboot the bank is viewed in Berlin as a necessary change, according to an official with direct knowledge of the issue who asked not to be named. Despite the headline 18,000 job cuts, normally a red flag for politicians, the Frankfurt-based lender's makeover is seen as necessary to cut fat and boost the bank's profitability. In addition, the government welcomes a step back from investment banking and a renewed focus on German businesses.Deutsche Bank's failure in April to combine with Commerzbank AG, in which the government has a stake of about 15.5%, was a stinging defeat for Finance Minister Olaf Scholz, whose bid to rescue a potential national champion got little public support from across the political spectrum.That left Deutsche Bank to its own devices and Sewing on Sunday pledged to do what many in Germany's political ranks have always called on it to do: drop its ambitions as a global investment bank and return to its German-lending roots.Olav Gutting, a lawmaker for Merkel's Christian Democratic Union who sits on the finance committee of the lower house of parliament, called the overhaul "bold" given a challenging business environment in which lending money is hardly profitable any more. "This is very ambitious," Gutting, who in the past has ruled out any form of state involvement in helping Deutsche Bank, said in a message, adding that job cuts naturally concerned politicians. "But I'm crossing my fingers, because we need a Deutsche Bank present globally."A spokesman at Germany's Finance Ministry declined to comment on the overhaul plans.Markets have had a mixed view on the overhaul for a bank viewed by German regulators as systemically relevant, with risk gauges falling and its euro convertible bonds climbing. Deutsche Bank shares fell 1.7% in afternoon trading after seesawing in the morning. (Updates with CDU lawmaker comments in fifth, sixth paragraphs.)To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;Birgit Jennen in Berlin at bjennen1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| $3.7 million in cash discovered in abandoned boat in Puerto Rico, Border Patrol says Posted: 09 Jul 2019 10:18 AM PDT ![$3.7 million in cash discovered in abandoned boat in Puerto Rico, Border Patrol says]( "$3.7 million in cash discovered in abandoned boat in Puerto Rico, Border Patrol says") Authorities followed a boat to the island's coast and found five duffel bags containing $3.7 million in cash.
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| F-35 in Trouble? Dispute with Lockheed Martin Means No More American F-35 Deliveries Posted: 08 Jul 2019 10:00 AM PDT  At the heart of the dispute is the government's inspection of the planes during Lockheed's production, which failed to discover problems with the fastenings, the sources said. A dispute with Lockheed Martin over a production mistake on the F-35 has prompted the Pentagon and at least two foreign countries from accepting deliveryof new aircraft.Corrosion "exceeding technical limits" was discovered during routine maintenance at Hill Air Force Base (AFB) last year. The Pentagon determined that the "lack of protective coating at the fastening point" between the carbon fiber exterior panel and aluminum airframe to be the cause.As reported by Reuters the dispute centers on who will foot the bill for Lockheed Martin technicians to travel around the world to remedy the issue on jets based overseas.
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| Are powerful billionaires above the law?: Today's Toon Posted: 08 Jul 2019 06:04 PM PDT  Want to keep up with USA TODAY's editorial cartoons? Bookmark this page. We'll update it frequently.
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| Former Rep. Scott Taylor announces US Senate bid in Virginia Posted: 08 Jul 2019 08:36 AM PDT  Republican former Rep. Scott Taylor says he's running for U.S. Senate in Virginia, hoping to unseat Democrat Mark Warner in a state that's become increasingly hostile to the GOP. Taylor is an ex-Navy SEAL and state delegate who was once a fast-rising star in the Republican Party.
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| View Photos of the 2019 Honda Civic Type R TCR Race Car Posted: 09 Jul 2019 05:00 AM PDT |
| Hong Kong police arrest five after new night of clashes Posted: 07 Jul 2019 08:51 PM PDT  Five people were arrested during overnight clashes in Hong Kong between riot officers and anti-government protesters, police said Monday, as the political violence rocking the international hub shows no sign of abating. The city has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history following a month of huge marches as well as separate violent confrontations with police involving a minority of hardcore protesters. Sunday night saw fresh political violence break out in the district of Mongkok as police baton-charged small groups of masked, largely young protesters who were walking along roads and refused to disperse following another massive, peaceful rally earlier in the day.
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| Trona, California, was trying to bounce back. Then an earthquake hit. Then a bigger one. Posted: 07 Jul 2019 11:42 AM PDT  "If we have another quake, I am not going to have a house," said a resident coping with damage in the 1,500-person town of Trona, California.
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| Biden says he picked South Carolina as spot for apology Posted: 07 Jul 2019 03:51 PM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Sunday he chose South Carolina to deliver an apology for his controversial remarks about segregationist senators because he wanted to offer it to an audience most likely to have been offended by his words. Kamala Harris, a rival for the Democratic nomination who sharply criticized Biden for those remarks and his views on federally mandated busing, used her campaign trip to the state Sunday to praise Biden for apologizing. South Carolina looms large over the early months of the Democratic contest because it is fourth in line behind Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada in voting for a nominee, is the first state in the South to vote, and has the largest African American electorate in the early states.
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| Vessels Change Names or Go Dark to Ship Venezuelan Crude to Cuba Posted: 09 Jul 2019 06:38 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Stopping the flow of Venezuelan oil to its ally Cuba might prove harder than the U.S. expected.Tankers are being renamed and vessels are switching off their transponders to sail under the radar of the U.S. government. The vessel Ocean Elegance, an oil tanker that has been delivering Venezuelan crude to Cuba for the past three years, was renamed Oceano after being sanctioned in May. The ship S-Trotter, another one that's on the sanctions list, is now known as Tropic Sea, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.The oil tanker Nedas, after being sanctioned in April, made a delivery to Cuba incognito because it turned off its satellite tracking system. It went unaccounted for 42 days, but shipping reports show that it delivered oil to Cuba. After the ghost delivery, it discreetly changed its name to Esperanza. The Nedas/Esperanza has delivered 2 million barrels of crude to Cuba this year, according to shipping reports.Halting the flow between the two countries may prove difficult. There are over 4,500 crude oil tankers in operation globally, and state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela SA also uses oil products vessels, adding to the complexity of the task.Nevertheless, the U.S. continues to target shipments between the two countries and aims to close loopholes in sanctions, according to a senior U.S. administration official. The goal is to surgically and methodically cut off funds to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro."The United States will continue to target entities involved in shipping oil between the two countries (Venezuela and Cuba) and aims to further cut off Maduro and his cronies' access to funds derived from oil sales to Cuba," National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis said by email. "Those who circumvent sanctions do so at their own risk."Last week the Treasury Department sanctioned Cubametales, the state-run Cuban oil and metals importer, because the Havana-based company is importing Venezuelan crude and Cuba, in return, "continues to provide support, including defense, intelligence and security assistance, to the illegitimate regime of former President Nicolas Maduro," Treasury said in a statement.Cuba imports Venezuelan crude for its refineries and fuel oil to run its power plants and generate electricity. The supply of Venezuelan oil was agreed on a handshake between former presidents Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro and later memorialized in contract. Shipments to Cuba peaked at 103,000 barrels a day in 2009 and have been dwindling over the years, according to data published by PDVSA. Volumes slumped to 35,177 barrels a day in the first half of 2019, amid lower production and sanctions, data compiled by Bloomberg show.(Updates with NSC comment in sixth paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Lucia Kassai in Houston at lkassai@bloomberg.net;Ben Bartenstein in New York at bbartenstei3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net, Mike Jeffers, Stephen CunninghamFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump launches furious attack on Fox News after commentators fail to praise him Posted: 08 Jul 2019 01:28 AM PDT  Donald Trump has taken a rare swipe at Rupert Murdoch's Fox News, complaining about the channel's weekend coverage.In a series of tweets attacking some of his favourite targets in the news media, including The New York Times, CNN and NBC, the US president also turned his ire on Fox News, the one news organisation he has repeatedly singled out for praise.Mr Trump wrote: "Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or [NBC chief news presenter] Lyin' Brian Williams."He also claimed Fox News was employing more Democrats, rather than Republicans, and complained it was using The New York Times as a source of information.He said "@FoxNews, who failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates, is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced @nytimes as … a "source" of information.""@FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!" he added.> Watching @FoxNews weekend anchors is worse than watching low ratings Fake News @CNN, or Lyin' Brian Williams (remember when he totally fabricated a War Story trying to make himself into a hero, & got fired. A very dishonest journalist!) and the crew of degenerate......> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > > July 7, 2019> .....Comcast (NBC/MSNBC) Trump haters, who do whatever Brian & Steve tell them to do. Like CNN, NBC is also way down in the ratings. But @FoxNews, who failed in getting the very BORING Dem debates, is now loading up with Democrats & even using Fake unsourced @nytimes as....> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > > July 7, 2019> ...a "source" of information (ask the Times what they paid for the Boston Globe, & what they sold it for (lost 1.5 Billion Dollars), or their old headquarters building disaster, or their unfunded liability? @FoxNews is changing fast, but they forgot the people who got them there!> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > > July 7, 2019It is unclear exactly what prompted Mr Trump's outburst, but he followed the series of tweets on Sunday night, with more aimed at former CNN commentator Donna Brazile, who Fox has hired.> Impossible to believe that @FoxNews has hired @donnabrazile, the person fired by @CNN (after they tried to hide the bad facts, & failed) for giving Crooked Hillary Clinton the questions to a debate, something unimaginable. Now she is all over Fox, including Shep Smith, by far....> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) > > July 8, 2019It also comes after Fox News broadcast a live segment over the weekend in which US football fans in France were heard chanting "F*** Trump", repeatedly while celebrating America's women's football team's world cup victory. Last month Mr Trump also lashed out at Fox News after the network broadcast the result of the political polls which put Mr Trump behind Democrat candidates as favourite for president.The polls by Fox showed Mr Trump trailing 10 percentage points behind Democratic hopeful Joe Biden when voters were asked who they would vote for if the election was now.Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg were all also ahead of Mr Trump.In a tweet the US president described it as "fake news" and said "something weird" was "going on at Fox", and he attacked Bret Baier, the network's chief political anchor.
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| Rainbow flag again set on fire at New York gay bar Posted: 08 Jul 2019 05:35 AM PDT  A rainbow flag was set on fire at the entrance to a New York City gay bar on Monday — the second such incident at the same club in just over a month. Alibi Lounge owner Alexi Minko said staff members, alerted by someone on the street, found the flag had been set aflame between 12:20 a.m. and 12:45 a.m. New York City police were already investigating a possible anti-gay bias crime after rainbow flags at the Harlem bar's entrance were torched just after midnight May 31, a day before the start of the city's Pride Month celebrations.
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| India's latest Google probe sparked by junior antitrust researchers Posted: 08 Jul 2019 03:50 AM PDT  Two junior Indian antitrust research associates and a law school student were behind a complaint that sparked a probe into Google's alleged anti-competitive practices in the country, in what has become another regulatory challenge for the U.S. firm. The Competition Commission of India (CCI) ordered a full-blown investigation into Alphabet Inc's Google in April for alleged abuse of its Android platform to hurt rivals, but the complainants' names came to light only when the order was made public last week. The case was filed by Umar Javeed and Sukarma Thapar, who work as research associates at the CCI, and Umar's brother Aaqib, a law school student who interned with the CCI briefly in 2018, their LinkedIn profiles showed.
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| Sister of Saudi leader MBS faces verdict over 'beaten workman' Posted: 09 Jul 2019 01:46 AM PDT  The sister of the crown prince of Saudi Arabia faces a verdict Tuesday in a French trial over the alleged beating of a workman who was refurbishing her ultra-luxury apartment in Paris. Hassa bint Salman, sister of powerful Mohammed bin Salman who is known by his initial "MBS", stands accused of ordering her bodyguard to beat up the workman after he was seen taking a photo inside her home in September 2016. The princess, who denies the allegations, allegedly suspected the man of planning to sell the photo of her apartment on the Avenue Foch, long a favourite destination for foreign millionaires in western Paris.
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| Bodies of woman, 3 children found in rental car in apparent murder-suicide in New York Posted: 08 Jul 2019 09:35 AM PDT ![Bodies of woman, 3 children found in rental car in apparent murder-suicide in New York]( "Bodies of woman, 3 children found in rental car in apparent murder-suicide in New York") A tow truck driver discovered the bodies of a woman and three children in New York on Sunday.
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| Technological Theft: China's J-20 Stealth Fighter Has American DNA Posted: 08 Jul 2019 08:00 PM PDT  There's a reason for this: In 2007, Lockheed Martin dealt with something of a cyber Ocean's 11 when Chinese hackers stole technical documents related to the development of the F-35. On August 1st of last year, China celebrated the founding of the People's Liberation Army by allowing some high-resolution photos of the next-generation J-20 stealth fighter to leak, complete with a tasteful photoshopped-on patriotic dragon painting just below the canopy which just screams "Happy Birthday, PLA."The new photos of the J-20 provide an up close and personal look at the fuselage of the new interceptor. But the photos also appear to show a sensor system that looks awfully similar to the Lockheed Martin Electro-Optical Targeting System (EOTS) on the front of the F-35 Lighting II.
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| Warren raises $19.1M, topping Sanders in new fundraising Posted: 08 Jul 2019 04:30 PM PDT  Elizabeth Warren raised $19.1 million in the second quarter, her campaign said Monday, cementing her status in the top tier of Democratic presidential contenders and surpassing Bernie Sanders, her main liberal rival. The strong showing leaves the Massachusetts senator behind only Pete Buttigieg, the South Bend, Indiana, mayor who reported nearly $25 million, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who has tallied $21.5 million since his candidacy began in late April. Perhaps most notably, Warren raised more money than Sanders, who is also vying for liberal voters and is the only other candidate who has joined her in swearing off high-dollar fundraisers.
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| Pro-Life Women Travel to the Border, with Supplies Posted: 08 Jul 2019 03:30 AM PDT  'As pro-lifers we must stand with the vulnerable wherever and whenever we see them suffering." Destiny Herndon-De La Rosa is founder of the New Wave Feminists, and she is explaining to me how she came to be involved -- not for the first time -- in organizing a fundraising drive for supplies for asylum seekers at the border. Living in Dallas, she and her fellow activists felt a responsibility to find out what was going on and whether people had needs that they could help meet.In December, "our ragtag secular lady gang" raised just under $10,000 dollars to take two van loads of supplies to the Humanitarian Respite Center" in McAllen, Texas, Rachel Lamb, director of Humanitarian Outreach for New Wave Feminists explains. (They were encouraged by the director of the center to bring the supplies and help process the gifts themselves, because volunteers are stretched there.) "We raised another $1,000 to have more toilet facilities built." Their current campaign has a deadline of July 13 for another delivery."We are pro-life because we care about the inherit human dignity of every living person, inside the womb and out," Herndon-De La Rosa says. She feels a heightened responsibility to not look away from people at the border because "as a Texan . . . it's happening in my backyard," she notes. "All are vulnerable and all are human beings."New Wave Feminists previously made headlines when, owing to their anti-abortion views, they were denied a place at the Women's March on Washington the day after Donald Trump's inauguration. Herndon-De La Rosa's efforts at the border are consistent with the tone she strikes on abortion: Let's get to a place where we support initiatives we can agree on; in this case, it's about making sure conditions are safe and humane for mothers and children and families as they seek asylum in the U.S.Herndon-De La Rosa and her New Wave Feminists want our society to ultimately see abortion as unthinkable -- which is only going to come with establishing more credibility and trust than people across the political aisles and labels on abortion currently have.Also consistent with this thinking, she tells me:> The people at the border are not "others." They're not our enemy. Many of them are . . . people of faith, mothers and fathers, good, decent people just trying to escape a horrific situation. They are just like us. . . . We have a two-party system that's broken, and it's not going to be fixed overnight. We have to be there to fill in the gaps where we can.The New Wave Feminists' Bottles to the Border 2.0 campaign began as the media debated Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's remark about the detention centers at the border being "concentration camps." Having previously learned how quickly the respite center runs through donations, New Wave Feminists decided it was time to go back down to McAllen. Lamb explains:> Over 50 nonprofit organizations are partnering with us to help meet the basic needs of families at the border. We are providing thousands of dollars' worth of shoelaces. Because it is Border Patrol policy to confiscate the shoelaces, jewelry, and rosaries of all asylum seekers, all 800 people arrive without shoelaces at the respite center every single day, including children and toddlers. Our generous donors maxed out the first Amazon wish list so quickly, we had to stop accepting in-kind donations because we didn't have a van big enough to fit everything.Just before Independence Day, that need was answered by a sponsor with a trucking company who offered to donate an 18-wheeler and a driver. "I've worked for non-profits for a decade," Lamb says, "and this is my first experience of an in-kind donation of 18-wheeler. We are stoked."When I ask Herndon-De La Rosa who from the border she'd like Americans to become more acquainted with, she names two, starting with Sister Norma Pimentel, who runs the Humanitarian Respite Center in McAllen (a project of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley). Herndon-De La Rosa says:> She tirelessly dedicates her days to making sure the families brought to her facility by ICE feel welcome and respected. The second is a little boy, who had to have been around my son's age, playing with a toy truck on a sidewalk around dusk the night we left McAllen after our last supply drive. There he was, likely experiencing one of the most uncertain times of his young life, just rolling a Tonka truck around like a regular kid. Because he is a regular kid. My heart broke for him because I knew he had snuck away in order to find some peace and quiet at the overcrowded facility. And I knew in a few moments when the sun finally fell, he would have to go back into a packed room with 20 other people. I couldn't imagine trying to get my son to bed under those types of conditions . . . sleeping on an inch-thick plastic mat, placed on a cold concrete floor, surrounded by strangers. . . . I can't litigate his immigration hearing, but I can make sure he has pull-ups and a toothbrush."We can all do something," Herndon-De La Rosa emphasizes about their campaign. Besides argue, that is.This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal's Newspaper Enterprise Association.
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| To Dim Guaido's Appeal, Maduro Offers Venezuela His Own Version Posted: 08 Jul 2019 02:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Juan Guaido, the 35-year-old head of Venezuela's opposition, arrived this year with Tigger-like energy. He bounced around holding rallies in the poorest neighborhoods, showing up onstage at a relief concert, trying to sway troops to his side outside a military base. The middle-aged regime of Nicolas Maduro, dominated by burly revolutionaries in Castro-chic fatigues and dated facial hair, needed to counter him. Enter Hector Rodriguez. Increasingly visible in Maduro's circle of trust, the 37-year-old governor of Miranda state regularly draws crowds at events in Caracas and was sent to Oslo in May to negotiate with the opposition. He shows up in tailored button-down shirts or polos to make soothing statements about dialogue and unity. He has a fashionably shaved pate. He grins.Venezuela under Maduro has fallen into dysfunction and international condemnation. Hunger is rampant, and the mainstay oil industry continues to devolve. With Maduro deeply unpopular amid the devastation -- but with Guaido so far unable to dislodge him -- Rodriguez is increasingly visible as the regime retools itself for a long haul. In some Chavista circles, his name is now whispered as the regime's best chance of holding onto power if an international coalition forces new elections."Hector Rodriguez is a liked figure; he's seen as a different kind of Chavista, open to dialogue and able to charm the opposition members who were once Chavez supporters," said Felix Seijas, head of pollster Delphos. "If handled right, he could be a figure that could give life to Chavismo and make it competitive."Maduro's natural successors would be Diosdado Cabello, who heads the supreme National Constituent Assembly created by Maduro's government in 2017 or Industry Minister Tareck El Aissami. But both are unpopular and have been sanctioned by the U.S., which accuses them of money laundering and drug trafficking, among other offenses. This limits their ability to act on a global stage."Eighty percent of the people reject Maduro, and nobody likes Cabello or El Aissami. With the emergence of a young leader like Guaido, the only option left is Hector Rodriguez," said political scientist Luis Salamanca of Venezuela's public Central University in Caracas. "If a democratic election is agreed upon, Rodriguez would be the candidate."Rodriguez traveled to Oslo with Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez and Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, two close allies of Maduro. After the inconclusive negotiations, Maduro appeared a couple of times with Rodriguez on state television to congratulate him for his effort.Rodriguez, who rarely speaks to the press and declined requests for an interview, has been conspicuous at key moments. In 2017, when Maduro announced the country's decision to stop paying its foreign debt, Rodriguez sat by his side on national television. He was also at the presidential palace on Jan. 23, the day Guaido claimed the constitution made him interim president because the regime stole the election. QuicktakeWhy Venezuela Has Two Presidents, One Thorny Standoff: QuickTakeBut Rodriguez has cultivated an image as a domestic powerhouse. Rather than making showy threats against the yanquis, he focuses publicly on fighting crime, cultivating fallow land for cocoa exports and promoting a food program in Miranda schools."I like Rodriguez better than Maduro," said Maria Victoria Ballesteros, a Miranda state school teacher. "Maduro doesn't do anything right. If Rodriguez orders a highway repair, he actually shows up to supervise the work."His image belies his actual accomplishments. Rodriguez equipped Miranda police with dozens of SUVs, bicycles and motorcycles and has increased the number of officers. But Miranda reported the second-highest rate of violent deaths in Venezuela last year, with 124 homicides for every 100,000 people, according to the Venezuelan Violence Observatory. Local cocoa producers fear he will take over production and sell it to allies in China or Turkey.And despite his promotion of food programs, almost 11% of children in Miranda 5 years old and younger suffer from acute malnutrition, according to the Catholic charity Caritas.Yet some regime supporters believe Rodriguez -- relatively young and unsullied -- could one day take the reins of the socialist revolution. "He has all the profile, the commitment, maturity, talent and the trajectory to assume a presidential candidacy," said Ricardo Sanchez, a Constituent Assembly member who's known Rodriguez since college.Born in a modest beach town in northeast Venezuela, Rodriguez has two children with his wife, Dubraska Moreno. He first stood out as a student leader at Central University, where he obtained a law degree. While he hewed to the socialist ideology of the late President Hugo Chavez, he had good relationships with students in the opposition. He's even admitted to calling opposition lawmakers including Stalin Gonzalez and Miguel Pizarro friends, a bold move in a nation that imprisons dissidents as traitors. Pizarro has since fled the country.Chavez, who died of cancer in 2013, saw Rodriguez as someone who could perpetuate his program of redistributing Venezuela's oil-created wealth."Rodriguez emerges the same year as the year the young generation of students like Guaido," said Nicmer Evans, a Central University political scientist and disaffected regime supporter. "Chavez liked him for his conceptual depth and his oratorical skills. He saw in Rodriguez some kind of relay generation."Rodriguez first dazzled Chavez with his fiery speeches during a wave of 2007 protests, where he stood his ground against student activists after the president closed the popular channel RCTV, which took an opposition editorial line. The next year, Chavez named him chief of staff. Since then, he has run ministries devoted to education, youth and sports and led the ruling party in the National Assembly, since bypassed by the Constituent Assembly.In 2017, Rodriguez became Miranda's governor by a margin of 6% in an election decried by the opposition as a fraud. The elections agency, which is controlled by the government, moved dozens of voting centers at the last minute, displacing some 225,000 voters. Opposition observers also were forcibly removed from several centers.Rodriguez "knows how to work in teams," said Victor Clark, a close friend and governor of Falcon state, who met Rodriguez in college. "He knows how to listen and ask questions. He is analytical and disciplined."That might not be enough. Even if Maduro somehow left the scene, Rodriguez would drag the weight of his ruinous economy, one so bad 4 million Venezuelans have left the country. Evans said Rodriguez must know that his window of opportunity to assume real leadership is limited. "He knows that this is a disaster and he is sinking with the country's collapse," Evans said. To contact the author of this story: Alex Vasquez in Caracas at avasquez45@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Merelman at smerelman@bloomberg.net, Melinda GrenierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 91 Freeway shooting: Family releases photo of teen girl killed in officer-involved shooting Posted: 08 Jul 2019 07:14 PM PDT  Family members have released the photo of a 17-year-old girl killed in an officer-involved shooting on the 91 Freeway in Anaheim.
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