| #NoFutureNoChildren: Teens are pledging not to have kids until the government acts against climate change Posted: 24 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT  Thousands of teenagers are pledging not to have children until the government takes greater steps to steps to combat climate change.
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| Trump Tower heist: More than $350,000 in jewelry stolen from famous Fifth Avenue building Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:34 AM PDT  More than $350,000 in diamonds, emeralds and sapphires has been stolen from apartments inside Trump Tower, according to police.
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| Thirteen Marines Charged with Smuggling Illegal Immigrants into U.S. Posted: 23 Sep 2019 11:12 AM PDT  The Marine Corps has charged 13 members with smuggling illegal immigrants into the U.S., in addition to a range of other offenses including failure to obey an order, drunkenness, endangerment, larceny, and perjury, according to a statement released Friday.Lance Corporals Byron Law and David Salazar-Quintero were specifically charged with transporting illegal immigrants into the country for financial gain. The two were based in Camp Pendleton, located between San Diego and Los Angeles, Calif.The other marines included in the indictments, some of whom were charged with distributing cocaine and LSD, were not named.Law and Salazar-Quintero were pulled over by Border Patrol agents seven miles north of the U.S.–Mexico border after picking up three migrants who had just crossed the border illegally, according to a federal complaint filed in July and first reported by Quartz. Law was found in the driver's seat with Salazar-Quintero on the passenger side, along with three undocumented immigrants in the back seat.The three were reportedly found to be Mexican citizens without documents needed to enter the U.S. legally. Two of the immigrants told agents they planned on paying $8,000 to their smugglers.During his interrogation, Law told investigators that Salazar-Quintero had suggested they pick up an illegal immigrant to make $1,000. They then succeeded in bringing one person into the U.S. but weren't paid for their endeavor, and so decided to smuggle more people and receive pay for the total number of people they brought in.
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| Bernie Sanders Proposes Wealth Tax That Would Cut Billionaires’ Net Worth in Half Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:10 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders on Tuesday unveiled a proposal for a wealth tax that takes Elizabeth Warren's signature idea and pushes it even further, saying his goal is to cut American billionaires' fortunes in half over 15 years.Sanders, who is struggling to maintain his top-three standing in the Democratic presidential primary campaign, announced the proposal while campaigning in Iowa counties that voted for Barack Obama in 2012 before switching to Donald Trump in 2016.Sanders' "Extreme Wealth Tax" targets the top 0.1% of U.S. households and would raise an estimated $4.35 trillion over the next decade. The revenue would be used to pay for his programs like Medicare for All, universal child care and housing programs.A 1% tax for households with a net worth of more than $32 million for a married couple would increase to 2% for households worth $50 million to $250 million, 3% from $250 million to $500 million, 4% on $500 million to $1 billion. The tax would cap at 8% on wealth above $10 billion.Warren's wealth tax begins with 2% on households worth $50 million or more.Sanders' campaign said his wealth tax would slash U.S. billionaires' wealth in half in 15 years, "which would substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class.""Enough is enough," Sanders, a Vermont senator, said in a statement. "We are going to take on the billionaire class, substantially reduce wealth inequality in America and stop our democracy from turning into a corrupt oligarchy."To ensure the wealthiest Americans don't evade the tax, the plans calls for the creation of a "national wealth registry" and "significant additional third-party reporting requirements."The U.S. Internal Revenue Service would be required to perform audits of 30% of wealth tax returns for those in the 1% bracket and all billionaires' wealth tax returns would be audited.For those who seek to leave the country to avoid the wealth tax, Sanders calls for a 40% exit levy on the net value of all assets of less than $1 billion and of 60% on assets greater than $1 billion.The plan would treat assets in a trust "as owned by the grantor of the trust (by the person giving assets to the trust) until that person's death."In January, before he announced his presidential run, Sanders proposed expanding the estate tax, calling for a rate of 45% tax on the value of estates between $3.5 million and $10 million. That rate would increase gradually to 77% for amounts more than $1 billion.Economists for the Sanders campaign estimate that had the wealth tax been enacted in 1982, the total wealth of the Forbes 400 richest Americans would be 40% of what it currently is, and they would have a net worth of $3 billion on average, instead of the average $7.2 billion they held last year."The share of wealth owned by the Forbes 400 would not have exploded and would only be slightly higher than it was in the early 1980s," say economists Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez who analyzed the proposal for the campaign and designed Warren's tax plan. "The current top 15 wealthiest Americans would own $196 billion (instead of the $943 billion they own in 2018)."(Updates with polling in 2nd paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Kevin WhitelawFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'Disgraceful': Fox News apologizes to Greta Thunberg after guest calls her 'mentally ill' Posted: 24 Sep 2019 08:11 AM PDT  The network apologized to the teen activist and their viewers after a guest called her 'mentally ill' during a segment about the environment.
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| Macron urges French climate protesters to target Poland Posted: 23 Sep 2019 12:13 PM PDT  French President Emmanuel Macron has annoyed Poland and irritated France's climate activists by urging them to move their protests from Paris to Poland, a European Union nation that is heavily dependent on coal. Poland, which relies on coal for some 80% of its energy, is treading cautiously on cutting coal. The country has a long tradition of coal mining, a major employer that offers tens of thousands of jobs in the southern Silesia region.
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| Iran's Strange Navy of Small, Fast Boats Is No Joke Posted: 24 Sep 2019 04:47 AM PDT  A "mad max" threat?
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| A Wisconsin prisoner just reportedly confessed to the 'Making a Murderer' killing Posted: 24 Sep 2019 11:00 AM PDT  The director of a new documentary about the case told Newsweek that the inmate told filmmakers he was responsible for the notorious slaying.
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| Thousands rally against Indonesian bill to ban extra-marital sex Posted: 23 Sep 2019 04:57 AM PDT  Thousands of students protested at rallies across Indonesia on Monday against a new criminal code that would outlaw sex outside marriage and gay sex, as lawmakers met the president to discuss how to proceed with a bill that has divided Indonesians. President Joko Widodo on Friday ordered a delay in a planned vote on the controversial bill - originally slated for Tuesday - and said 14 articles needed further review before it was deliberated by a new parliament, whose term begins next month. Students rallied on Monday in the capital Jakarta - where some climbed the gates of the parliament to hang banners - and cities including Yogyakarta, in central Java, and Makassar, on Sulawesi island, to oppose the bill.
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| These DIY instant noodles are healthier than the store-bought versions and so easy to make Posted: 23 Sep 2019 12:48 PM PDT  These homemade ramen noodle recipes are quick and easy, and you can make them up to four days in advance.
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| Bill O'Reilly says new book on Trump 'will bring backlash': 'This is his actual life history' Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:20 AM PDT  Former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly latest book,'The United States of Trump,' is all about the sitting president.
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| Pakistan trained al-Qaeda, says Imran Khan Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:17 AM PDT  Pakistan's army and military spy agency trained al-Qaeda and then maintained links with the militants afterwards, Imran Khan has said. Pakistan's prime minister said his country had then made a major mistake siding with America during the war on terror after the 9/11 attacks. The decision had cost 60,000 Pakistani lives as the country battled Islamist militancy and Pakistan would have been better staying neutral. Mr Khan's comments at a New York think tank came ahead of his speech at the United Nations general assembly this week where he is expected to press the case for international action against India over Kashmir. He has also held meetings with Donald Trump trying to get the American president to restart talks with the Taliban movement in Afghanistan. Pakistan PM: "The Pakistani Army, ISI, trained al-Qaida and all these troops to fight in Afghanistan. There were always links between—there had to be links, because they trained them." pic.twitter.com/BZ61P4tgxu— Miraqa Popal (@MiraqaPopal) September 24, 2019 Asked at the Council for Foreign Relations about how Osama bin Laden had managed to stay in Pakistan undiscovered, Mr Khan said: "The Pakistani Army, ISI [military spy agency], trained al-Qaida and all these troops to fight in Afghanistan. " There were always links between—there had to be links, because they trained them." He said the links were "probably at lower levels", and he did not believe military chiefs had known of Bin Laden's presence. Mr Khan's comments may anger the military. Pakistan's security apparatus has in the past angrily rejected politicians linking it to militancy. Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, faced treason charges last year after an interview where he suggested the Pakistani state played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. Mr Khan said that after the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan had done a 180 degree turn against former militants, to side with America. " I opposed this from day one," Mr Khan said. "I said we had first trained these guys to fight jihad and it was a great idea, and now we are telling the same groups it's terrorism. So we should at least have stayed neutral. Pakistan, by joining the US after 9/11, committed one of the biggest blunders." Mr Khan also said he believed the Taliban had changed since they were ousted in 2001 and were willing to make peace He said: "This is—Taliban realise that they cannot control the whole of Afghanistan. The Afghan government knows that they cannot—you know, there needs to be some sort of a peace deal. There has to be a political settlement."
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| Vatican pauses decree revoking school's Catholic status for refusing to fire a gay teacher Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:38 AM PDT  Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School's appeal to the Vatican over its suspension by the Indianapolis archbishop is ongoing.
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| With military parade, Iran warns U.S. and other Western forces to leave the Persian Gulf Posted: 23 Sep 2019 11:38 AM PDT  As Iran paraded its troops and its arsenal of various weapons Sunday, the country's president demanded the U.S. and other Western nations leave the Persian Gulf.
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| Jurors convict Iowa farmer in corn rake killing of wife Posted: 23 Sep 2019 01:25 PM PDT  A jury Monday convicted an eastern Iowa hog farmer of using a corn rake to kill his wife, agreeing with prosecutors who argued he was enraged that she was having an affair. Jurors found Todd M. Mullis, 43, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Amy Mullis, according to the Telegraph Herald . Prosecutors said Mullis had wanted to kill his wife for years and was irate that she was having an affair and fearful that he'd lose their farm if she divorced him.
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| Why is Elizabeth Warren leading among Democrats in Iowa? Persistence Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate's persistence is paying off so far, as she overtakes Joe Biden in new Iowa pollSenator Elizabeth Warren runs to the stage before speaking at the Polk County Democrats' Steak Fry on Saturday in Des Moines, Iowa. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty ImagesElizabeth Warren is in the best position to win next year's Iowa caucuses – which kick off the Democratic party's primary season in February – by virtue of, yes, persistence.The Des Moines Register-CNN-Mediacom Iowa poll – the gold standard of polling – gave the strongest indication yet when it reported Saturday that Warren has 22% support of likely Iowa caucus-goers, while Joe Biden has 20% and Bernie Sanders 11%. It was the first poll to show the Massachusetts senator from Oklahoma with a lead over the former vice-president.Warren has demonstrated a steady rise in polling and support since she announced her campaign in January by first sweeping through the snowy reaches of rural, conservative western Iowa. This is where Donald Trump blew out Hillary Clinton by 20 points.Clinton never showed up.Warren attracted a crowd of some 300 people in Storm Lake, where I live, that day. Aides had every visitor signed up on cellphones as they waited in line to enter. Mainly women over 50, all got their photo taken with Warren. They nodded their heads when she talked about the economy working for Wall Street and Washington but not for Main Street. Something was happening.> Joe Biden, by contrast, is just now ramping up staff in IowaShe brought an army of organizers, much of the state's top caucus talent, with her. They stayed, and she has returned regularly with a populist message built on breaking up the huge agriculture conglomerates, Medicare for All, putting a 2% tax on wealth over $50m, declaring war on lobbyists and going all-in on climate change.Biden, by contrast, is just now ramping up staff in Iowa. He has been running in Iowa since 1988 and has a large reservoir of good will here. His campaign has been remote, and the poll reports Warren supporters with higher enthusiasm. He has yet to visit Storm Lake.Warren came to the Polk County Steak Fry where 12,000 Democrats gathered in the rain last weekend in Des Moines calling for impeachment and itching for a fight. Joe Biden found himself fending off uncomfortable questions about his son's work in Ukraine. And that's what bugs the ordinary people I know in my meatpacking town of 15,000 where you take a shower after work: politics is about the gilded trading on each other's power.Warren pledges to turn it all inside out, summoning the spirit of Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt before tens of thousands on Washington Square. Those echoes have powerful appeal around here, too, not far from where the Populist party convened with William Jennings Bryan in Omaha just before the turn of the 20th century.Iowans are fed up with trade wars, big oil and a broken Medicaid system that's not providing enough nursing homes. The admissions clerk at our hospital just shakes her head when you talk about the financial woes of working people who can't meet their deductibles. She knows that something needs to change. Rural hospitals and mental health providers are on the brink of shuttering. Farmers see the effects of extreme weather and want to do something about it.Warren addresses their concerns. But not everyone is convinced.My sister-in-law, a member of the Buena Vista County Democratic Central Committee, asked me:"But is she too progressive?"She likes Warren. She likes Medicare, but could Medicare for All – the promise to deliver universal healthcare to Americans – sink Warren? According to polls, 40% say they like it, another 18% are amenable, 8% don't know. My sister-in-law is among the 82% of likely caucus-goers open to persuasion. Yet she worries.There are other doubts, too. Like can a female progressive populist win Wisconsin? I point to Senator Tammy Baldwin. A lesbian, no less, in a state of German Catholics and Lutherans. Yeah, but the pain of Clinton's defeat is so fresh in the memory, my sister-in-law says. It creates a reticence that is real.As Warren slowly rose in the polls, Biden's backing eroded here over the summer. History tells us someone from the shadows will pop into the glare as John Kerry did: Pete Buttigieg, with a ton of money and a keen understanding of midwest troubles from South Bend, remains well in the game at 9%. He went on a bus tour of rural towns just after the steak fry to good reviews. Kamala Harris says she is moving to Iowa. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota jokes that she can see Iowa from her front porch. She knows the territory. Do Iowans connect with her talk of pragmatism? You betcha. She had a couple hundred during State Fair Week in Storm Lake, before Labor Day, and everyone liked her.Those women (and some men) liked Warren back in January getting their selfies, too. She stays in touch. A Warren door-knocker hit my block Sunday. The first canvasser who has stopped by so far. Her rural coordinator was heading to door-knock in Wayne county in southern Iowa, one of the poorest and most conservative counties in the nation. Anyone can tell you that's how you win Iowa, and maybe even change the healthcare system by firing up the people who need it most. She persists, and it is paying off so far. * Art Cullen is editor of the Storm Lake Times in north-west Iowa, where he won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. He is author of the book Storm Lake: A Chronicle of Change, Resilience, and Hope from a Heartland Newspaper (Viking 2018)
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| 15 Coffee Tables Under $300 (That You'll Actually Like) Posted: 23 Sep 2019 02:06 PM PDT |
| High school player collapses, dies in twin brother's arms: 'I'm about to pass out' Posted: 23 Sep 2019 10:01 AM PDT  A high school is struggling to come to terms with the death of a football player after he suddenly collapsed and died in his twin brother's arms.
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| View Photos of Radwood Detroit 2019 Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:30 AM PDT |
| Trump news: President reacts as impeachment speculation intensifies and his own lawyer admits he cannot rule out that aid to Ukraine was used as bribe Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:05 AM PDT  Donald Trump has insisted that he is not taking talk of impeachment seriously as he once again claimed he had done nothing wrong in a phone call with the president of Ukraine.Arriving at the United Nations in New York for a session on religious freedom, Mr Trump said the row over his "perfect" phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky was a "Democrat witch-hunt", adding: "They failed with Russia, they failed with recession, they failed with everything, and now they're bringing this up." Meanwhile, his personal lawyer, the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, told Fox Business he could not be "100 per cent sure" the president didn't threaten to cut off aid to Ukraine unless the former Soviet country agreed to investigate Joe Biden's son.
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| White House press secretary: Trump stopped briefings because reporters were mean Posted: 23 Sep 2019 12:51 PM PDT  Any hope that Americans may one day see Trump's new press secretary taking questions from reporters in a formal White House press briefing went out the window on Monday morning when Stephanie Grisham sat down for her first appearance on "Fox & Friends" since taking over for Sarah Huckabee Sanders earlier this year.
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| Rare painting, possibly worth millions, was just hanging in woman's kitchen, experts say Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:29 AM PDT  "Christ Mocked," a work by the 13th century pre-Renaissance painter Cimabue was found in a house in northern France, art auctioneers say.
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| Air strikes in Yemen hit Houthi territory, Houthis fire ballistic missile Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:24 AM PDT ![Air strikes in Yemen hit Houthi territory, Houthis fire ballistic missile]( "Air strikes in Yemen hit Houthi territory, Houthis fire ballistic missile") Air strikes blamed on the Saudi-led coalition killed at least 16 people in Yemen's Houthi-controlled Dalea province on Tuesday, two residents and the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV said. The strikes came four days after the Houthis, a group aligned with Iran, said they would stop aiming missile and drone attacks at Saudi Arabia if the Saudi-led coalition targeting Yemen does the same. The coalition spokesman said later on Tuesday that Houthi forces fired a ballistic missile from Amran, northwest of the capital Sanaa, but it fell inside Houthi territory in Yemen.
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| The Latest: Ex-lover denies rendezvous planned with Guyger Posted: 23 Sep 2019 04:21 PM PDT  The police force partner of former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger acknowledged that they had a sexual relationship and exchanged sexually explicit text messages and photos with her the day she shot Botham Jean. Prosecutors contend Guyger was distracted by a telephone conversation with Rivera when she mistook Jean's apartment for hers and entered, believed him to be an intruder and shot him.
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| Japan refers US military pilot to prosecutors over Osprey crash Posted: 24 Sep 2019 12:27 AM PDT  Japanese authorities on Tuesday referred the case of a US military pilot to prosecutors over the 2016 crash of an Osprey aircraft that fuelled sentiment against a US base on Okinawa island. The crash did not kill anyone and only caused injuries to two of the five crew members aboard the US Marine MV-22 Osprey. The Pentagon described the December 2016 crash as a "mishap", which saw the plane end up in shallow water off Okinawa.
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| From Proxies to Cyber Attacks: Here Are the Ways Iran Could Fight America Posted: 24 Sep 2019 04:09 AM PDT  Best to be avoided.
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| Phoebe Waller-Bridge's net worth upon her big Emmy wins Posted: 23 Sep 2019 01:41 PM PDT  Waller-Bridge has been around in the industry for quite some time, and she's got the credentials and capital to prove it.
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| Acting intelligence chief and top spy watchdog to appear before Senate Intel Posted: 24 Sep 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Joseph Maguire is to explain his role in withholding a whistleblower complaint filed last month regarding Trump's Ukraine scandal.
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| A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Puerto Rico as the island braces for another tropical storm Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:47 AM PDT  Tropical Storm Karen is about to hit Puerto Rico with rain that could cause flooding and landslides, after the island had an earthquake Monday night.
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| Man sprays smoker in face with fire extinguisher to put out cigarette: 'You can't smoke around here' Posted: 24 Sep 2019 05:50 AM PDT  A restaurant owner sprayed a fire extinguisher in the face of a man who refused to put out his cigarette while smoking outside the business.The man, identified by local media as Alex Jamison, can be seen in a video which is circulating online threatening to put out the smoker's cigarette with the small portable fire extinguisher.
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| Eight dead, 100 hurt in 5.8 magnitude Pakistan quake Posted: 24 Sep 2019 06:41 AM PDT ![Eight dead, 100 hurt in 5.8 magnitude Pakistan quake]( "Eight dead, 100 hurt in 5.8 magnitude Pakistan quake") MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - An earthquake of magnitude 5.8 shook northern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing eight people and injuring 100, government and police officials said. Media photos and video showed a collapsed building and cracks in roads large enough to swallow cars in Mirpur, a town on Pakistan's side of the disputed territory of Kashmir near India. District commissioner Mohammad Tayyab said eight people were killed, including three children.
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| Mother, grandmother charged with neglect after unsupervised child struck sibling with knife Posted: 23 Sep 2019 10:34 AM PDT ![Mother, grandmother charged with neglect after unsupervised child struck sibling with knife]( "Mother, grandmother charged with neglect after unsupervised child struck sibling with knife") Five kids were left home alone for about 30 minutes. Their mother and grandmother were charged with neglect after one child hit another with a knife.
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| For Uighur refugees, freedom means losing family Posted: 24 Sep 2019 12:19 AM PDT  Abdullah Rasul has so little contact with his family in China that it took three months for him to find out that his father was dead. Like other Uighur refugees from northwest China, Rasul, 35, who now lives in Istanbul, knows that making contact with relatives back home risks them coming under greater scrutiny from the authorities, or worse. Facebook is blocked in China, and relatives fear repercussions if caught using other apps such as WhatsApp.
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| See This Aircraft Carrier? Meet USS Enterprise (It Changed Everything) Posted: 22 Sep 2019 12:23 PM PDT  The Enterprise, or "Big E," was commissioned on November 25, 1961. The ship's subsequent twenty-five deployments read like a history of the Cold War and modern U.S. foreign policy. She made some serious history.
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| Egypt says 6 Muslim Brotherhood killed in Cairo shootout Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:25 AM PDT  Egyptian security forces killed six suspected members of the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood in a shootout in Cairo, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday, amid tight security across the capital following rare anti-government protests over the weekend. The six were killed in a firefight when police raided their hideout in the Cairo suburb of Sixth of October, the ministry said in a brief statement. The ministry oversees police forces.
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| How a routine training flight ended with 6 Marines killed in a tragic midair collision and 4 officers out of a job Posted: 23 Sep 2019 08:01 AM PDT  The deadly incident led to to a loss of "trust and confidence" in a squadron commander and saw the firing of another three Marine Corps officers.
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| ‘Fox & Friends’ Host Steve Doocy: ‘Off-the-Rails Wrong’ if Trump Sought Quid Pro Quo From Ukraine on Biden Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:58 AM PDT  Fox News' Steve Doocy has now drawn a line in the sand when it comes to President Donald Trump seeking assistance from a foreign leader in the upcoming election. We'll see how long it will stand.During Tuesday's broadcast of Trump's favorite morning talk show Fox & Friends, Doocy declared that it would be "really off-the-rails wrong" if the president offered a quid pro quo in exchange for the Ukrainian government opening an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.In the wake of a blockbuster Washington Post report that revealed Trump ordered to withhold nearly $400 million of military aid to Ukraine days before he pushed the Ukrainian president to investigate the Bidens, Doocy said that the freeze of money "doesn't look like good timing" before offering up a defense for Trump."But, Fox News has confirmed that apparently the president wanted to make sure that the new president of Ukraine understood that if you are going to get this money, we really want you to end corruption before we give you that dough," he added. "Then there are other stories out about whether or not other allies and other countries were actually kicking in as much money as they should on the world stage."Co-hosts Brian Kilmeade and Ainsley Earhardt then rallied to the president's side, stating that they do not have a "problem with the timing" of the withholding of aid and claiming that "it's ridiculous" for House Democrats to be discussing impeachment over this.Doocy, meanwhile, acknowledged that there should be a scenario that they can all agree is inappropriate. "If the president said I will give you the money but you have got to investigate Joe Biden, that is really off-the-rails wrong," he stated. "But if it's something else, you know it, would be nice to know what it is."This didn't seem to faze his colleagues, however, as Kilmeade went on to say that the whistleblower behind the complaint surrounding the call could potentially be someone who is still upset about the 2016 election and disagrees with Trump's policies.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Meghan Markle shakes up royal tradition with casual denim look in South Africa Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:26 AM PDT  Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's second day of the royal tour of Africa has kicked off with a few breaks to royal protocol!
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| China buys about 10 cargoes of U.S. soybeans after trade talks Posted: 23 Sep 2019 09:28 AM PDT  Chinese importers bought about 10 boatloads of U.S. soybeans on Monday following deputy-level trade talks in Washington last week that were overshadowed by the abrupt cancellation of a U.S. farm state visit by Chinese agriculture officials. Benchmark U.S. soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade <0#S:> jumped about 1.5% on news of the renewed buying, the market's steepest rise since Chinese buyers bought a large volume of U.S. soybeans on Sept. 12. Purchases of U.S. agricultural products like soybeans, the most valuable U.S. farm export, and pork are seen as key to securing a deal to end a bilateral trade war between the United States and China that has lasted more than a year.
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| Fired police officer defends KKK application, Confederate flags in his Michigan home Posted: 24 Sep 2019 10:42 AM PDT  Former police officer Charles Anderson said the Confederate flags are a part of his extensive "Dukes of Hazzard" collection.
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| Panther stolen from zoo after rescue from French rooftops Posted: 23 Sep 2019 05:00 PM PDT  It appears to be France's most coveted cat: A black panther rescued from rooftops near the northern city of Lille last week has been stolen from the zoo where it was taken after capture, officials said. The feline was seized overnight from the zoo in Maubeuge near the Belgian border, the city's mayor, Arnaud Decagny, told AFP on Tuesday. Firefighters caught the cat last Wednesday as it roamed rooftops in Armentieres after escaping through the window of a private apartment believed to have been its home.
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| How Iran's Aging Air Force Still Poses a Threat to America's F-35 Stealth Fighter Posted: 24 Sep 2019 04:31 AM PDT  You never know what could happen.
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| China calls on Washington to cancel Xinjiang meeting Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:02 AM PDT ![China calls on Washington to cancel Xinjiang meeting]( "China calls on Washington to cancel Xinjiang meeting") China called on Washington on Tuesday to cancel a planned meeting at the United Nations to discuss accusations of repression and mass detentions in its Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang. The foreign ministry accused the Trump administration of slandering China and interfering in its affairs. A deputy U.S. secretary of state, John Sullivan, is scheduled to lead a panel discussion on the "human rights crisis in Xinjiang" during this week's U.N. General Assembly meeting.
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| America Needs to Win the Battle for 5G Supremacy Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:30 AM PDT  The struggle for global supremacy between the United States and China has come to rest on a single vital battlefield: advanced wireless telecommunication, or 5G.5G telecommunication technology represents a revolution in how we will connect to the Internet, and everything else. Future wireless 5G networks will span the planet, enabling everything from AI-supported smartphones and driverless cars to the smart grid, as well as governments' access to data and networks essential to their functions, including their defense establishments. According to the Communications Technology Industry Association, in the United States alone the technologies enabled by 5G would spawn upwards of three million new jobs and $500 billion in economic growth. The impact on the rest of the world, including Africa and Southeast Asia, could be even greater.But if China becomes the 5G hegemon of the 21st century, America will be increasingly relegated to the past, rather than the future, of advanced technologies.The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board released a report this year that stated, "Carriers to date have not demonstrated deployment capability that would deliver high speeds to large parts of the U.S. population." The DIB warns, "The country that owns 5G will own" future innovations such as autonomous vehicles and the Internet of Things. Under today's policies, "that country is currently not likely to be the United States."China and its hand-picked 5G corporate colossus, Huawei, are poised to bestride the globe with Huawei's version of 5G technology. At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona last February, Huawei had more than 64 countries signed up to either use or test its 5G networks — this despite the long history of allegations that Huawei is a serial cyber and IP thief and tool of the Chinese military and intelligence services.Today that number has grown to more than 90. More than 60 percent of Huawei's contracts are on the European continent (some countries have more than one carrier using Huawei technology), including many leading U.S. allies.China's success isn't just due to Huawei's offer of highly favorable terms for building 5G's capital-intensive infrastructure from thousands of cell towers to miles of fiber-optic cable, including credits from Chinese banks. The Trump administration's current efforts to get countries to reconsider their support for Huawei, and join our ban on Huawei technology, have failed.Even more important, our own telecommunications industry still hasn't arrived at a workable 5G standard that can make the technology interoperable and secure and that can build an effective supply chain that networks can rely on, without having to turn to Huawei components.In order to win the 5G race, then, the Trump administration needs to reset its approach and adopt a four-pronged national strategy.First, continue to expose the well-founded allegations about Huawei as a corporate wrongdoer and a tool of the Chinese military and intelligence agencies. But also make allies understand that if they aren't willing to work with us in this vital area, we aren't going to feel compelled to support them where it counts for them. The global military balance is the one sphere in which the U.S. is still absolutely indispensable to other democracies around the world. We need to leverage that essential role in order to reestablish our leadership in 5G.Second, we need to get our own 5G house in order by launching a new model for expanding access to spectrum through a wholesale market. Clearing spectrum takes too long and costs too much — up to a decade and $17 billion, according to the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Sharing even a portion of Pentagon-controlled spectrum will accelerate the buildout of privately financed, privately operated shared networks. It will also provide a model for the rest of the world — and an alternative to cheap Chinese money and subsidized Huawei equipment.Third, United States carriers need to develop a truly global 5G standard to compete with China. Chinese carriers will use a spectrum band similar to what they used for 3G and 4G, which will allow them to reuse a number of their existing cell sites. Carriers such as AT&T and Verizon, however, plan to use a high-frequency band in which signals travel less far, and which consequently will require three to four times as many cell sites as 4G did. We need a standard aimed squarely at the mid-spectrum market.Fourth, we need sound the quantum and post-quantum alarm. If 5G networks aren't resistant to intrusion and disruption by a future quantum computer, which would be able to penetrate asymmetric encryption of data, and aren't capable of using future quantum technologies, such as quantum keys. for protecting that data, they will be obsolete, even dangerous to use, in ten to 15 years. America can lead the world in requiring post-quantum security and quantum capability for our own 5G standards. While China is striving to make its own 5G networks quantum-safe, it's not going to do the same for the networks it builds elsewhere — for obvious reasons. Here's where America can offer a competitive quantum edge — one that protects our allies and ourselves for years to come.In the end, America can't achieve an effective 5G strategy without leadership from the White House. Without that, we would have lost World War II and the race to the moon. The future of 5G, and the other amazing technologies it will support, represent the same race for the future. The U.S. can't afford to lose this time, either.
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| 'It's an authoritarian nightmare': Trump administration fails to help NYT journalist facing arrest in Egypt, publisher claims Posted: 24 Sep 2019 12:43 AM PDT  The Trump administration failed to help a New York Times journalist who was in danger in Egypt and withheld information that he faced arrest, according to the newspaper's publisher.In a scathing op-ed, Arthur Gregg Sulzberger accused Donald Trump's administration of retreating from the US' "historical role as a defender of the free press" and encouraging other countries to target journalists.
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| Boris Johnson Vows to Deliver Brexit After Historic Court Defeat Posted: 24 Sep 2019 07:50 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit and sign up to our Brexit BulletinA defiant Boris Johnson vowed to force the U.K. out of the European Union with or without a deal next month, despite suffering an unprecedented legal defeat over his Brexit strategy from the highest court in the land.In a sweeping rebuke to the prime minister, Britain's Supreme Court ruled that Johnson broke the law when he decided to suspend Parliament for five weeks in the run-up to the Oct. 31 deadline for leaving the EU. He gave Queen Elizabeth II "unlawful" advice to pause the legislature and his decision wrecked the ability of Britain's elected politicians to fulfill their crucial democratic role overseeing his government's actions, the court found."Obviously this is a verdict that we will respect and we respect the judicial process," Johnson said in a pooled interview in New York. "I have to say that I strongly disagree with what the justices have found. I don't think that it's right, but we will go ahead and of course Parliament will come back."What NextThe ruling marks an extraordinary constitutional moment and an unprecedented political crisis for the U.K. It blows a hole in Johnson's political authority and calls into question his ability to remain in office as the Queen's principal adviser. Senior politicians, including the former Conservative prime minister John Major, demanded that he apologize to Parliament. While the opposition was quick call for his resignation, Johnson's aides say he won't go.Johnson will fly home early from New York after holding a crisis call with his cabinet ministers on Tuesday. After the court's decision, Parliament will reconvene on Wednesday, and the coming days could hold even more shocks.The question now is what the crisis means for Brexit. Johnson's opponents began legal action because they feared his decision to suspend Parliament for five weeks in the run up to Brexit day would rob them of the chance to pass laws to stop him taking Britain out of the EU without a deal.Johnson says he is determined to deliver Brexit by the end of next month, whatever the cost, even if it means leaving with no agreement in place to cushion the blow.Undeterred"The most important thing is we get on and deliver Brexit on Oct. 31 and clearly the claimants in this case are determined to frustrate that and to stop that," Johnson said. "I think it would be very unfortunate if Parliament made that objective which the people want more difficult, but we will get on."But MPs moved quickly earlier this month, taking control of the House of Commons agenda and passing a new law designed to stop Johnson carrying out his no-deal Brexit threat.How Brexit Has Unleashed a U.K. Constitutional Crisis: QuickTakeWith Parliament now set to reconvene earlier than Johnson had planned, there will be many more potential opportunities for politicians to tie the prime minister's hands and dictate the shape of Brexit.Further court battles could lie ahead. Johnson's team have threatened to ignore the new law that was designed to stop a no-deal divorce by forcing him to seek a Brexit delay by Oct. 19 if he is unable to reach agreement with the bloc.If they did it would likely trigger another court challenge. Johnson's aides are also braced for attempts in Parliament to pass laws potentially cancelling Brexit altogether.Yet the fate of the U.K.'s split from the EU remains far from certain.In New York, the prime minister has been meeting with EU leaders in an attempt to persuade them to give ground so a deal can be done. Officials on both sides regard it as a make-or-break round of talks for the chances of getting a deal.Yet the Supreme Court ruling showed Johnson's weakness and may make the EU less likely to offer a compromise, a fact he is aware of. If Johnson decides to play hardball and fight on to deliver Brexit without a deal on Oct. 31, it is still not clear that his opponents in Parliament, or the courts, will be able to stop him.To contact the reporters on this story: Tim Ross in London at tross54@bloomberg.net;Robert Hutton in New York at rhutton1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| In the 1980s, the World Acted to Save the Ozone Layer. Here's Why the Fight Against Climate Change Is Different Posted: 23 Sep 2019 10:47 AM PDT  A scientist who helped saved the ozone layer in the 1980s weighs inn on why it's been harder for science to lead to action on climate change
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