| 'How dare you': Greta Thunberg tears into world leaders over inaction at U.N. climate summit Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:11 AM PDT  In an angry and emotional speech at the United Nations climate summit on Monday, Swedish teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg tore into world leaders for failing to act.
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| Meghan Markle recycles blue Veronica Beard for South Africa museum visit Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:29 AM PDT  The duchess swapped into a blue Veronica Beard wrap dress for the occasion, one that she had previously worn on her royal tour of the Pacific last fall.
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| Jessi Combs, Fastest Woman on Four Wheels, May Get into Guinness Record Books Posted: 23 Sep 2019 07:00 AM PDT  Combs died in a crash on August 29 while pursuing a record; now her speed on that day may be immortalized.
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| 'There can be no greater crime': Trump seek to rally skeptical UN around religious freedom initiative Posted: 23 Sep 2019 09:23 AM PDT  At the UN, Donald Trump and Mike Pence are looking for global help in elevating one of his top foreign policy priorities: Religious freedom.
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| Gorsuch says US Supreme Court not split on partisan lines Posted: 21 Sep 2019 03:32 PM PDT  The conventional wisdom that the court is split along partisan lines based on the political views of the president that appointed each justice is false, a U.S. Supreme Court justice said. Gorsuch is considered one of the Supreme Court's most conservative members, though he recently agreed with more liberal colleagues in a decision reaffirming a criminal defendant's right to a jury trial. Gorsuch noted he uses the original meaning of the Constitution to guide his judicial decisions, in contrast with judges who believe interpretations of the document should evolve over time.
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| Huawei exec in Canada court, bids to quash extradition Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:37 AM PDT  Top Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou and her lawyers headed to court on Monday to try to have her extradition case thrown out, arguing that her rights were violated. The arrest of Meng -- a rising star whose father Ren Zhengfei founded Huawei and over three decades grew it into a global telecom giant -- caused an unprecedented diplomatic rift between Canada and China. The United States wants to put Meng on trial for fraud for allegedly violating Iran sanctions and lying about it to US banks -- accusations her lawyers dispute.
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| Two years after María, many in Puerto Rico 'are still living as if the hurricane happened yesterday' Posted: 22 Sep 2019 04:18 PM PDT  Outside of the town of Yabucoa, Fermín Pérez keeps his new refrigerator in a box and his new mattress in its packaging. He keeps them stored so they aren't damaged by the water that still leaks from his roof when it rains, despite the aid that came to repair it after Hurricane María made landfall practically in his backyard two years ago.María made came ashore as a strong Category 4 storm on Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, tearing into his home. Not having the money to make repairs and no family around to help, the 71-year-old man had reached out for aid. Even then, it wasn't until a year later in 2018 when he received electricity after the news organization Metro Puerto Rico brought attention to his story.The news outlet visited Pérez three times: last year, again when aid arrived within the week and a third time last week. Fermín Pérez stands in front of his house in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico, a year after Hurricane María made landfall as a strong Category 4 storm. The storm had broken his windows, his door and had damaged his roof. A year later, after having asked for aid, no help came until Metro Puerto Rico covered his story. (Metro Puerto Rico/José Encarnación) When Metro Puerto Rico returned in 2019, Pérez's door, roof and windows had been repaired after María had pummeled the city, though the outlet noted the job had looked rushed. The ceiling leaked when it rained. Pérez's house wasn't one of the thousands of roofless homes still shielded by blue tarp, but mold still clung to the walls, and the living conditions hadn't looked much better than when they had first met Pérez a year ago. They noted that while there is water, electricity and a standing structure, the home that was once there was gone.Pérez told Metro Puerto Rico that FEMA had given him the fridge and some Americans had been in charge of the infrastructure, but Peréz wasn't living in much better conditions than when the hurricane had hit. Fermín Pérez lived for about a year without electricity after Hurricane María made landfall in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico. (Metro Puerto Rico/José Encarnación) "Many Puerto Ricans are still experiencing a livelihood or a situation that is very similar to Sept. 21, Sept. 22 after Hurricane Maria. Many Puerto Ricans are still living below blue tarps," Penn State assistant professor of human development and family studies Alexis Santos told AccuWeather. "Many Puerto Ricans are still living as if the hurricane happened yesterday, and we strive and we hope that we can help them get their lives back to normality even if it's two years after the hurricane has happened."Santos had been a part of a research effort that was run from Penn State with support from individuals from the University of Texas at San Antonio, which published a study in early August of 2018 that contributed additional deaths in the months following María to the death toll. Originally, the Puerto Rican government had said 64 people had died from María. Santos said their estimates had placed them between 1,200 to 1,300 at the time before the official investigation by the Milken Institute School of Public Health.Metro Puerto Rico editor and reporter Ronald Ávila-Claudio, who has been reporting on María since before the storm made landfall, has said that the time that Puerto Rico will take to recover will depend on the money they receive for aid. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has estimated that Hurricane María caused about $90 billion in damages.Recently, Trump falsely claimed in a pair of tweets in July and again in August that Congress had given $92 billion to Puerto Rico for hurricane relief. Although Congress has allocated $42.5 billion to disaster relief for the United States territory, Puerto Rico has only received about $14 billion. In this Sept. 8, 2018, file photo, Alma Morales Rosario poses for a portrait between the beams of her home being rebuilt after it was destroyed by Hurricane María a year earlier in the San Lorenzo neighborhood of Morovis, Puerto Rico. On Friday, May 10, 2019, The Associated Press has found that stories circulating on the internet that Puerto Rico has received $91 billion from Congress for hurricane disaster relief, more than any state in the U.S, are untrue. Congress has approved $41 billion in aid for recovery efforts in the U.S. territory, but only about $11 billion of that aid has been dispersed. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Bureaucracy has also slowed down recovery and has impacted the lives of the people on the island, Ávila said."There are still a lot of people today who don't have a roof. There are buildings with blue tarp because the bureaucracy of the housing departments," he said.Ávila has described the government's response as "negligent," and that they are still fighting for information and to get accountability from the state and federal government."We received a lot of aid from outside. I have to be honest, I didn't see a lot of this aid and help in the hands of the people," Ávila said, though admitted that it was difficult to keep tabs on the government's activity while communications had been down.Ávila first found himself in the dark a few hours after María had hit. He had been reporting in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, on their preparations and had taken shelter at an Emergency Management base when María had struck, taking down communications with it. With no power or way to communicate over long distances, the island was in the dark on the amount of devastation María had caused. Ávila couldn't reach his newsroom, his editors or even his family. Hurricane María decimated Puerto Rico's power grid, causing the largest blackout in U.S. history. This photo from Dec. 2017 shows a fraction of the destruction caused. (Photo/Dan Vineberg) "All of the coverage plan was down, so I started to improvise what I could do now to get all the information I could so I could write it all down and get the news to the people," Ávila said.Only a few hours after María had left the island, Ávila found out from a first responder that a woman in the community had died from the storm. It was the first death he had heard of from María.He did some investigating, finding his way to her public housing building, where the woman's neighbors directed him to her first-floor apartment. The elderly woman had lived alone. Ávila said she hadn't been able to walk and had died in her bed from the water that had flooded her room."When I got down there, the body was on the floor. It was...it was really tough for me, and that's the moment when I started to realize the devastation was really big," Ávila said, who had been 24 at the time. "It was the hardest part of my coverage there in Aguadilla."It was one of the first of the 2,975 deaths that would illuminate the reality of María."Socioeconomics seems to be the driving force here not only for deaths, but for getting back on their feet during recovery or after the hurricane and mitigating the recovery efforts," Santos said. He estimates about 30,000 houses still have blue tarps covering their homes in the place of an absent roof. In this Oct. 19, 2017, file photo, homes in the Cantera area are covered with FEMA tarps, where buildings from the Hato Rey area stand in the background in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The U.S. government announced Tuesday, April 10, 2018, that it will award $18.5 billion worth of disaster recovery grants to Puerto Rico to help repair homes, businesses and its crumbling power grid as the U.S. territory struggles to recover from Hurricane María. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) In the aftermath, Santos and his research team found that it was the people with low income levels who were more likely to end up suffering from the post-disaster dynamics. Research had also found that older persons were more likely to die post-María, whereas people more likely to leave the island were younger people.In his research, Santos and his team found that deaths were concentrated in places like nursing homes, where people were already vulnerable to pre-disaster conditions. People with a cardiovascular disease were also more likely to die than someone who didn't have one. People with diabetes also found themselves vulnerable.After María, "People were leaving the elderly patients in the hospital because if they stayed at home, they were going to face certain death," Santos said. Nerybelle Perez poses with a portrait of her father, World War II veteran Efrain Perez, who died inside an ambulance after being turned away from the largest public hospital when it had no electricity or water, days after Hurricane Maria passed, in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, Thursday, June 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti) It was the experiences of his mother, a nurse at one of the major hospitals in Puerto Rico, which encouraged him to venture into his research on the original death toll. The numbers hadn't matched her narrative. Her story had been one of devastation, one that had made her sick as she drove to the hospital."The hospital was overrun by patients," Santos said.He describes María both as an environmental event and environmental disaster - an event with stronger impacts than what might be considered normal and that is tied to the environment and climate."This was the worst hurricane I have seen in my life," Ávila said, having experienced a few on the island before. In this December 2017 photo, debris is piled at the side of the road as residents begin to clean up the destruction caused by Hurricane María. Blue tarp still covers thousands of homes even two years after the storm. (Photo/Dan Vineberg) Seeing the devastation of buildings collapsed and overturned and listening to the stories from the people in Aguadilla after the hurricane, Ávila eventually was brought to the point where he could no longer stay in the city. He needed to know about his family."When I started to find all these buildings that were down or houses that were moved and all the people without anything, because people lost everything, I yelled, I said I have to go back to my house and my home to see my mom," he said. In this Saturday, Sept. 30, 2017, file photo, the foundation of a heavily damaged house stands amid broken trees in the mountains after the passing of Hurricane María in the San Lorenzo neighborhood of Morovis, Puerto Rico. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa,File) After driving nearly the entire length of the island, Ávila found his family was safe in San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico. He continues to cover the impacts of María, despite the psychological challenges it has presented."The coverage of the emergency process of the response of the government, it was really difficult for us journalists here in Puerto Rico," Ávila said. "I went six months without power in my apartment, so I was covering this, I was visiting the island, I was talking with people that lost everything and when I get back to my house, I was living that too. It was really stressful for us. It was a psychological challenge for us journalists to cover it."People across Puerto Rico pulled blue tarp over their homes in the place of the roofs that had been blown away or demolished by María. Two years later in late August, Puerto Rico and its 30,000 blue tarp-covered houses braced for a hit from Dorian. The storm took mercy upon the island.The people of Puerto Rico are well aware of where they are and the probability of another hurricane hitting the island. Ávila said that now they know what to prepare for."The people know that there's the probability that we have to save ourselves," he said. "There is no one that is going to go up to your house and help you."
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| Long-live the Electoral College! All of the Reasons to Keep It Posted: 22 Sep 2019 08:30 AM PDT  Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., recently proposed killing it on the grounds that the presidential selection mechanism leads candidates to focus on just a handful of "swing states" that are most likely to determine the election.
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| South Korea Justice Minister’s Home Raided in Corruption Investigation Posted: 22 Sep 2019 09:42 PM PDT ![South Korea Justice Minister's Home Raided in Corruption Investigation]( "South Korea Justice Minister's Home Raided in Corruption Investigation") (Bloomberg) -- South Korean prosecutors raided the home of Justice Minister Cho Kuk, the Yonhap News Agency reported, as part of a widening corruption investigation that has already dented support for President Moon Jae-in.Investigators entered Cho's house shortly after 9 a.m. Monday, Yonhap said, citing the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office. The move comes amid a range of inquiries into issues involving Cho and his wife including their children's university applications and an investment in a private equity fund. Cho has denied wrongdoing.The Seoul Central Prosecutors Office, the Justice Ministry and the presidential office declined to comment when reached by phone Monday.The raid comes two weeks after Moon appointed Cho -- a political ally and close confidant -- despite parliamentary resistance to his nomination. The president's approval rating slipped to a record low of 40% last week, a regular Gallup Korea survey showed, as the appointment controversy, a slowing economy and setbacks in U.S.-North Korea talks all weighed on his support.Prosecutors are investigating how Cho's daughter won admission to a prestigious university after she was credited as a main author of a published scientific paper while a high school student on a brief internship. They're also looking into how his family made a hefty profit from a questionable investment in the private equity fund.Cho's university professor wife Chung Kyung-shim was indicted earlier this month on allegations that she interfered with the probe by forging documents, YTN reported. Chung has denied the allegations in a Facebook post.On Monday, prosecutors visited Cho's home in southern Seoul to collect computer hard drives and numerous work-related documents, Yonhap said. Investigators have visited numerous locations related to the probes, including the private equity fund's office and university campuses.To contact the reporter on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@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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| Missing Marine found safe at Texas rest stop Posted: 22 Sep 2019 07:28 AM PDT  A U.S. Marine thought to have left Arizona for California's Camp Pendleton never arrived, but was found days later at a Texas rest area, unharmed.
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| Redux? For Trump, another allegation of foreign meddling, another furious counter-attack Posted: 22 Sep 2019 02:17 PM PDT  Sound familiar? Trump faces allegations of seeking foreign interference in the presidential campaign, and responds with a fierce counterattack.
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| 3 dead, 4 hospitalized in suspected drug overdose Posted: 22 Sep 2019 02:45 PM PDT  All of the victims were wearing orange paper bands on their wrists. Police determined the victims initially went to a venue together, then headed to the apartment where they overdosed. It appears to have been isolated to a single location," the Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety said in a statement.
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| Israeli woman dies months after wounds from Gaza rocket Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:07 AM PDT  An Israeli woman wounded by Palestinian rocket fire from the Gaza Strip in November 2018 has died from her injuries, officials said Monday. The southern coastal city of Ashkelon, where she lived, announced the death of Nina Genisdanova in a statement. Israeli media said she was 74 and died last week.
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| Chinese journalists will have to pass a government test on Marxism and President Xi Jinping to be granted press passes Posted: 22 Sep 2019 01:38 PM PDT  'Pilot tests' will reportedly be issued to Chinese journalists next month on an app to test their loyalty to President Xi Jinping to get press passes.
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| Delta has an incredible fare sale through Wednesday with flights as low as $97 Posted: 22 Sep 2019 06:06 AM PDT  Regular travelers probably don't associate the idea of sales and low-fares with a carrier like Delta Airlines, which are more in the wheelhouse of a low-cost brand like Southwest that offers up flash fare sales on the regular.Nevertheless, that's exactly what Delta has going at the moment \-- a fare sale with deals that start as low as only $97, though they come with a few important catches.One is that you've only got until September 25, to lock one of these fares in. Just as important to know: These are Delta basic economy fares, a classification that leaves several things to chance. You'll be assigned a seat at check-in, for example, and you'll be stuck in the last boarding group and thus will probably have to gate-check your luggage.If you can be fine with those limitations, though, there are some great deals to be had. In most cases, they're fares that are meant for travel happening sometime between October and February 2020, and the deals include a $97 round-trip offer in basic economy between Atlanta and Nashville; a $99 round-trip offer between Los Angeles and San Diego; a $117 offer between Austin and Cincinnatti; and a $127 offer between Seattle and San Jose.The full list of routes and discounted fares offered can be found on Delta's sale website. Of course, just because a fare that's discounted here looks pretty low doesn't mean you won't find a comparable offer elsewhere -- one that may also have some of the perks like earlier boarding that you're denied through this Delta sale. Speaking of those basic economy limitations here, savvy travelers should be able to easily get around them using certain co-branded credit cards that offer perks like early boarding, luggage benefits and the like.If you decide these deals are worth it, though, remember -- you've only got a few more days to decide, as the fare sale is only good through Wednesday.
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| Patriot Missile Defense: America's Answer to Ballistic Missiles, Drones, and Aerial Threats Posted: 22 Sep 2019 01:00 AM PDT  Can it handle 21st-century threats?
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| Israel's president floats unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz Posted: 22 Sep 2019 08:54 AM PDT ![Israel's president floats unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz]( "Israel's president floats unity government between Netanyahu and Gantz") Israel's president on Sunday began consulting with party leaders to discuss who should lead the country after no clear victor emerged from last week's election, suggesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud join forces with its main rival. Netanyahu's right-wing Likud failed, for the second time in five months, to secure a clear election victory. The centrist Blue and White party led by ex-armed forces chief Benny Gantz has a slight lead with nearly all votes counted.
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| National Health Insurance Might Be Good for Capitalism Posted: 23 Sep 2019 04:30 AM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- Health insurance has emerged as a central issue in the Democratic presidential primary contest. The major candidates are divided between those who favor a national health-insurance system -- commonly referred to as Medicare for All -- and those who favor letting the government compete with private insurers, sometimes known as the public option. Either way, Democrats seem certain to make a big push for some sort of expansion of health insurance.The typical justification given for national health insurance is that it would make coverage universal. Though Obamacare reduced the uninsured population significantly, about one out of 10 non-elderly Americans still lack coverage. Another oft-cited advantage is that national health insurance would require lower out-of-pocket payments -- deductibles and co-pays -- than most private plans, reducing hassle and anxiety. A third selling point is that national health insurance would be funded largely through taxation, meaning that there would lots of redistribution, with the wealthy and the upper-middle class paying for the health care of lower-income Americans.National health insurance thus seems designed to appeal to socialists and other skeptics of the market economy. But it also might appeal to capitalists, because taking health insurance out of the private market could boost entrepreneurship and make the labor market more flexible.The U.S. private sector has grown less dynamic in recent decades, marked by a decline in new business formation:Entrepreneurship is the soul of capitalism; it holds the potential to make normal people rich. Without that promise, capitalism loses much of its appeal.Health care might have something to do with this decline. A majority of non-elderly Americans now get health insurance through their employers:The employer-based insurance system tilts the playing field against entrepreneurs in two ways. First, someone starting a new business will have to search for and select a plan filled with arcane and technical language that can be almost impossible for an untrained person to grasp. But even more importantly, the employer-based system absorbs many of the costs and risks of coverage, which then tend to shift to the entrepreneur who strikes out on their own.Starting a business is a risky proposition, and half fail within five years. There's also a huge commitment of time, and usually a major commitment of personal wealth. If a business fails, an entrepreneur will suddenly be without an income, and most or all of the capital invested will vanish. No income and no employer means no health insurance.Adding the risk of losing health insurance to the inherent risk of starting a business makes entrepreneurship all the more daunting. For someone who's on the fence about staying in at a corporate job or leaving to start a business, the comfort of the employer-sponsored health plan can tip the scales in favor of the low-risk path.There is a growing body of evidence to support the idea that national health insurance would boost entrepreneurship. Researchers at the Kauffman-RAND Institute for Entrepreneurship Public Policy found that people who get health coverage through their spouses are much more likely to strike out on their own, as are people who qualify for Medicare. Meanwhile, a reform in New Jersey that made it easier to purchase insurance independently has boosted self-employment. A nationwide program to provide insurance to low-income families with children also appears to have increased entrepreneurship.National health insurance would act like these programs, but on a grand scale. Aspiring entrepreneurs would no longer have to worry about getting their health insurance from their spouse, or buying a costly plan on their own in the private market; it would just be there, in the background, providing a safety net that makes the prospect of starting a business less frightening.Similarly, national health insurance would also make it easier to switch jobs. Quitting your job to look for a better one can mean losing your health insurance -- a scary prospect, particularly for those with chronic medical conditions. Economists have found evidence that the employer-based health system locks people into their jobs. This not only gives employers more power to hold down wages, but it contributes to the nationwide trend of declining job mobility. Worker who are reluctant to move to the best jobs make the economy less productive.Our current health insurance system is holding back capitalism. That system could be eliminated simply by ending policies that subsidize employer-based insurance, of course. But without a good replacement, the health insurance market will be plagued by the old problems of overpricing, market breakdown and inequality. Entrepreneurship and job-switching would still be out of reach for many without personal wealth or family support.Instead, national health insurance -- of the kind that has been successful in many other developed countries -- would remove health risk from the decision to start a business or switch jobs. It would free Americans to pursue their capitalistic dreams. A dose of national health insurance might therefore be just what the free market needs.To contact the author of this story: Noah Smith at nsmith150@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Greiff at jgreiff@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Noah Smith is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He was an assistant professor of finance at Stony Brook University, and he blogs at Noahpinion.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| New York Post blasts Bill de Blasio with 'obituary' for his ended presidential campaign Posted: 21 Sep 2019 11:48 AM PDT  The New York Post wrote that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio's presidential campaign had "died" from "ego-induced psychosis."
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| Government warns people against using conditioner after a nuclear explosion Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:30 AM PDT  Last month, the United States pulled out of a nuclear treaty with Russia that prohibited the two nations from possessing, producing or testing thousands of land-based missiles. The U.S. then conducted a missile test that would have been forbidden under the treaty. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers a few dos and don'ts that citizens should remember in case a nuclear explosion were to take place.
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| 'Don't open the door': US activists organize to thwart ICE Posted: 21 Sep 2019 06:24 PM PDT  Though she speaks little English, Yoana was calm when two officers from the US federal agency tasked with deporting undocumented people such as herself appeared outside her apartment. Reading from a card that said, "This is to advise any law enforcement officer that I cannot answer any questions," she parried their demands until the agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) left.
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| UN agency: Tanzania not sharing details on Ebola-like cases Posted: 22 Sep 2019 05:47 AM PDT  The World Health Organization has issued an unusual statement raising questions about whether Tanzania is covering up possible cases of the deadly Ebola virus, a significant cause for concern during a regional outbreak that has been declared a rare global health emergency. The statement Saturday says Tanzania's government "despite several requests" is refusing to share the results of its investigations into a number of patients with Ebola-like symptoms and is refusing to ship patient samples to an outside WHO partner lab. Tanzania's government, which has said it has no Ebola cases, could not immediately be reached for comment Sunday.
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| The UK expects to spend £100 million flying back stranded Thomas Cook passengers, which is only £50 million less than bailing out the company Posted: 23 Sep 2019 03:17 AM PDT  The collapse of Thomas Cook left 600,000 people stranded and prompted the UK to launch a massive effort to get 150,000 British people home.
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| Facial Recognition Meets the Fourth Amendment Test Posted: 22 Sep 2019 12:15 PM PDT  There may be no way to address the overarching fears all new surveillance technologies raise; however, major concerns can be addressed without slowing the use of facial recognition.
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| European splits emerge over Saudi attack as UN diplomacy begins Posted: 23 Sep 2019 05:05 AM PDT ![European splits emerge over Saudi attack as UN diplomacy begins]( "European splits emerge over Saudi attack as UN diplomacy begins") France and Britain were at odds on Monday over who to blame for an attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, potentially complicating efforts to defuse tensions between the United States and Iran on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. France has led a European push to try to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran and sees the annual gathering of global leaders that begins on Monday as an opportunity to revive diplomacy.
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| Kevin Hart Likely To File Lawsuit Against Company Who Built His Barracuda Posted: 21 Sep 2019 03:09 PM PDT  Hart along with the other two people involved in the crash are said to be armed with lawyers.Whenever anything happens to a celebrity, whether it's good, bad, major, or mundane, news circulates as fast as a dry Christmas tree going up in flames after being doused in gasoline. That's what happened with one of the biggest names in Hollywood today, Kevin Hart, when his insanely modified 1970 Plymouth Barracuda dubbed Menace was involved in a major accident on Labor Day weekend which left the classic in a pile of twisted metal.Now that actor/comedian Kevin Hart has been released from the hospital after sustaining three fractures to his spine that required back surgery, it is said that he is now in the process of preparing a lawsuit against Speedkore, the company who built his beastly 720-horsepower Plymouth Barracuda that was powered by a modern 6.4L Hemi V8 and topped with a Whipple supercharger. In addition, the driver, Jared S. Black, and the backseat passenger who sustained minor injuries, have also hired lawyers due to the lack of safety equipment in the car which is said to have a roll cage, airbags, and five-point harnesses. They believe the addition of these safety features would have prevented their injuries.According to TMZ, the big issue is that Speedkore should have refused the job to Hart even if he wanted the custom car to come without safety equipment. TMZ contacted 10 different custom car companies to see if they would still offer cars without safety equipment considering the Hart crash, and 8 out of 10 said that they still would.The California Highway Patrol is still investigating the crash but talks of changing the laws revolving around classic cars are already in the works. If this legislation is approved, that means that all cars, no matter how old, must have seatbelts or harnesses installed to be legal and road worthy. While safety is no doubt a priority, these classics have been around for decades without any of these features. Also, this means drilling holes into million-dollar Concours cars just to add tacky seatbelts that will hardly ever be used. Plus, it is not unheard of for these laws to trickle over to other states. So, if Kevin Hart, and the two others involved in the crash, file lawsuits against SpeedKore over safety equipment, what impact will that have on the impending changes on California laws regarding safety restraints in muscle cars? No doubt it would have a negative impact for classic car owners that are forced to drill into their beloved classic cars to add features they have never been equipped with.It was Labor Day weekend when Hart threw the keys to his powerful '70 Barracuda over to his friend, Jared Black. A female passenger crammed in the back, although, it is unsure where she was sitting due to a rear seat delete. They set off for Mulholland drive, an infamous road known as "The Snake" that is notorious for bad accidents. It features twists and turns with large drop-offs on each side. Black lost control of the car on Mulholland where it went down an embankment and crashed through a wooden fence. Both Hart and Black suffered back injuries, and the woman with them suffered minor injuries.One should know what could go wrong when toying with a car of that caliber. Knowing the raw power it possesses, and still getting rowdy with it anyway should not be a fault of the manufacturer, but the fault of those knowing and getting in anyway. Even the rear passenger got in knowing that there was no seat for her to occupy. Source: TMZ Read More... * Watch A 1970 Chevy Chevelle LS6 Barn Find * One-Up Your Buddies With This Monster 1972 Chevy C50
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| Capital gains tax reform may be coming. Here's what Republicans and Democrats want Posted: 22 Sep 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Some Republicans are pushing an idea to tie the tax to inflation, which would lower what many owe. Democrats want to see the rich pay more.
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| iPhone 11 Pro is the first smartphone ever to survive SquareTrade’s savage tumble test Posted: 23 Sep 2019 06:26 AM PDT  The iPhone 11 series finally hit stores on Friday, with people still lining up to buy Apple's newest smartphones. The iPhone 11 has many advantages over its predecessor, with the camera, battery life, and processor performance being among the notable improvements. When it comes to design, all three new iPhones look just like their predecessors aside from the new rear cameras and frosted glass. The iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max all feature glass-sandwich designs, meaning there's a metal chassis placed between the front and rear glass panels. While the glass on the new iPhones can withstand certain shocks, do not be surprised to learn that you might still need a protective case to "ruin" the phone's design. However, a bunch of drop and durability tests revealed a pleasant surprise. The smallest of the three new iPhone models is also the "most durable iPhone in generations," one that's likely to survive a bunch of accidental drops.These conclusions come from SquareTrade, which put all three new iPhones through its extensive tests. The tests show that drops from a height of six feet will break the screen or back glass panel, so you probably need to add a screen protector to the phone as well, just to make sure your device has a chance against that particular type of drop.Drops from a lower height, however, will be better tolerated by all three handsets, as several other drop tests have shown in recent days. That means your mileage may vary since no two drops are the same, no matter how controlled the entire process is.What is interesting about SquareTrade's findings is that the iPhone 11 Pro is the first smartphone that survived the company's dreaded tumble test "with virtually no damage," as you'll see in the video below."After our robots dropped, dunked, tumbled and bent the devices, we found the new iPhone 11 Pro to be the most durable iPhone we've tested in generations," SquareTrade's vice president and global creative director Jason Siciliano said. "It's the first smartphone to survive our tumble test, which simulates the effects of multiple, random impacts experienced by a smartphone during long-term use. That's a real achievement when it comes to durability. However, dropping any of the new iPhone 11 models on a sidewalk without a case, face-down or back-down, can still cause serious damage, as we saw with our drop tests."Those breakability scores you'll find at the end of the clip below do not tell the whole story, because there's no way to objectively quantify a series of drop tests and other durability tests. But if you were looking to buy the "safest" new iPhone, the iPhone 11 Pro appears to be the model you should choose.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWBxVl5Ubmw
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| Elizabeth Warren's choice: 'Medicare for All' purity or a path to beating Donald Trump? Posted: 23 Sep 2019 06:58 AM PDT  Warren is not as all or nothing as her health care rhetoric suggests. But her support for phasing out private insurance is scaring people off.
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| With military parade, Iran tells the US and other Western forces to leave the Persian Gulf Posted: 23 Sep 2019 07:11 AM PDT  A general warned that Iran "won't stop until the destruction of any aggressor" while the Iranian president told Western forces to leave the region.
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| From IS camp, Syrian family returns home to a hostile city Posted: 22 Sep 2019 12:17 AM PDT  After two years on the run with the Islamic State group, Um Mahmoud just wanted to return home. When she finally made it to Raqqa with her daughters and grandchildren, she found her home partially burned but livable. The 53-year-old seamstress had returned from al-Hol camp, where 73,000 people, most of them families of IS militants, have been kept since the territorial defeat of the group in March.
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| Number One Priority: The Pentagon Is Doubling-Down on Hypersonic Missiles Posted: 22 Sep 2019 02:43 AM PDT  An important weapon of the future.
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| Zimbabwe's Mugabe died from cancer, president says Posted: 23 Sep 2019 02:04 AM PDT ![Zimbabwe's Mugabe died from cancer, president says]( "Zimbabwe's Mugabe died from cancer, president says") Former Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe died from cancer after chemotherapy treatment was stopped because it was no longer effective, a state-owned newspaper quoted President Emmerson Mnangagwa as saying, the first time the government has given the cause of his death. Mugabe, who led Zimbabwe to independence and crushed his foes during nearly four decades of rule that impoverished his country, died on Sept 6. Mnangagwa told ruling party supporters in New York where he is attending this week's United Nations General Assembly that Mugabe had cancer, but he did not disclose the type.
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| China Offers Its Side of Human Rights Debate Before National Day Posted: 22 Sep 2019 08:03 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- China issued a white paper arguing it has improved the protection of human rights ahead of celebrations to commemorate 70 years of Communist Party rule, as activists criticize its treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang and police action against protesters in Hong Kong.The white paper published by the State Council Information Office on Sunday said Chinese people enjoy real democracy, according to Xinhua. Titled "Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China," the document said the nation has made regular contributions to the international cause of human rights, according to the news agency.China is regularly criticized by human rights groups and the U.S. government for its treatment of ethnic and religious minorities. Its detention of as many as one million ethnic Uighurs is among several sources of tension with the U.S., and the nation's policies in the far western region of Xinjiang have prompted calls for sanctions from lawmakers, human rights advocates and religious groups.Amnesty International this month said in a report that Hong Kong police beat pro-democracy protesters in custody, committed acts that amount to "torture," and warned the situation could get worse ahead of protests planned to coincide with the Oct. 1 anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Lulu Shen in Shanghai at lshen37@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, James MaygerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Florida caretaker napped while man with Down syndrome died in hot car, according to police Posted: 23 Sep 2019 07:14 AM PDT  Joshua Russell took Kratom and fell asleep, leaving the 'non-verbal' man inside a van reaching 125 degrees, Pinellas County officials said.
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| Chasten Buttigieg goes from opening act to fundraising star Posted: 22 Sep 2019 03:57 AM PDT  Pete Buttigieg's husband is now headlining fundraisers solo, helping power the mayor's 2020 campaign as he focuses on Iowa and New Hampshire.
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| Greta Thunberg Calls Out World Leaders at United Nations: ‘You Are Failing Us’ Posted: 23 Sep 2019 09:01 AM PDT  UNITED NATIONS— Greta Thunberg shocked the United Nations Climate Action Summit on Monday with an angry, accusatory tone and direct, frank talk."This is all wrong," said the 16-year-old climate activist from Sweden, fighting back tears. "I shouldn't be up here – I should be in school, across the ocean."Taking an angry tone, she continued, "You come to young people for hope? How dare you? You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.""And yet," she said, "I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering, people are dying, entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you?"Thunberg's rage hearkened back to the youth-led Climate Strike last Friday, in which an estimated 4 million people took to the streets across the globe."For more than thirty years," Thunberg said, "the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away?"Thunberg said she would prefer to believe that present-day leaders simply do not understand the extent of the crisis."You say you hear us and understand the urgency," she said. "But no matter how sad and angry I am, I don't want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and went on failing to act, you would be evil, and that I refuse to believe."President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were briefly in attendance. Trump has publicly questioned the scientific consensus that humans are causing the earth's climate to change in dangerous ways (97 percent of the world's climate scientists say that is the case).Thunberg said that even existing efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half within ten years are woefully inadequate. "The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in ten years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5C degrees, and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control," she said. "But those numbers don't include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of justice and equity."But, she said, "there will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures today. Because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.""You are failing us," Thunberg concluded. "But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us I say we will never forgive you. We will not let you get away with this."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| GM workers mark 'Solidarity Sunday' on week two of strike Posted: 22 Sep 2019 06:51 PM PDT  Union members picketing a sprawling automobile assembly plant in Detroit marked "Solidarity Sunday" as the United Auto Workers (UAW) strike against General Motors entered its second week. Nearly 50,000 GM workers had walked off the job last week, beginning the largest industrial action to hit the carmaker in more than a decade, after talks on a new four-year contract between GM and the UAW hit an impasse. On Sunday, about 250 union members holding up placards reading "UAW on strike" demonstrated outside the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly plant, joined by Democratic presidential contender Elizabeth Warren and sympathetic union members employed elsewhere.
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| Joe Biden got defensive during an LGBTQ forum in Iowa, calling the moderator 'a real sweetheart' as they walked offstage Posted: 21 Sep 2019 06:09 PM PDT  When the moderator at the LGBTQ forum for presidential candidates pressed Joe Biden on his record, he called her 'a real sweetheart' afterward.
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| Pakistan bus crash kills 26; brakes fail on mountain road Posted: 22 Sep 2019 06:27 AM PDT  A bus crash in northern Pakistan killed 26 people Sunday after its brakes failed on a winding mountain road, police said. Another 20 passengers were injured when the bus smashed head-on into a dirt embankment, said Abdul Wakil, a local police officer. Such road accidents are common in Pakistan, where motorists largely disregard traffic rules and safety standards on worn-out roads.
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| Why Russia's Air Force Is So Dangerous Posted: 22 Sep 2019 01:30 AM PDT  Cheaper than Western aircraft and almost just as good.
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| Scientists race to read Austria's melting climate archive Posted: 23 Sep 2019 04:03 AM PDT  Scientists are racing to read a rapidly melting archive of climate data going back thousands of years - the inside of Austria's Alpine glaciers. Mountain glaciers are receding the world over as average global temperatures rise - a phenomenon that will be described in detail in a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change this week. Glaciers in Austria, on the eastern edge of the Alps, are particularly sensitive to climate change and have been shrinking even more rapidly than most, making it all the more urgent to examine their contents before they disappear, said Andrea Fischer, a scientist conducting the work.
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| After my daughter's cancer diagnosis, I helped discover our town is a cancer hot spot. Posted: 23 Sep 2019 03:00 AM PDT  I was going to accept my daughter's thyroid cancer diagnosis as just the cards we were dealt, but I realized things were not normal in my hometown.
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| Face transplant recipient's donor face failing Posted: 22 Sep 2019 01:49 PM PDT  A woman who was severely burned in Vermont is hoping for a second face transplant after doctors recently found tissue damage that likely will lead to the loss of her donor face.
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| Michelle Carter, who encouraged boyfriend to kill himself, denied early release from prison Posted: 21 Sep 2019 09:59 AM PDT  The Massachusetts Parole Board called Michelle Carter's behavior 'irrational' and lacking sincerity as the board denied her early release request.
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