| Trump threatens that the stock market will crash if he is impeached Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:28 AM PDT  President Trump took to Twitter on Thursday to sound off on news of his impending impeachment inquiry.
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| Doctors in India are stunned by baby born with 4 legs and 3 hands Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:06 AM PDT  The mother was expecting triplets, but ended up delivering twins — one of which seemed to have absorbed extra limbs from the third unborn fetus.
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| Young boys tortured in Kashmir clampdown as new figures show 13,000 teenagers arrested Posted: 25 Sep 2019 09:55 AM PDT  A new report claiming thousands of Kashmiri children have been incarcerated has cast doubt on claims life is returning to normal in the state. After visiting Kashmir, activists found around 13,000 boys have been detained since its autonomous status was revoked on Aug 5. The report, led by the National Federation of Indian Women, detailed claims that boys - some as young as 14 - had been imprisoned for up to 45 days. It also claimed that families were paying up to 60,000 rupees (£678) for their children's release. The Muslim-majority state has been under a rigid curfew and communications blackout since Article 370 and Article 35A were removed last month. The Jammu and Kashmir government said there is "no centralised figure" for numbers of Kashmiris who have been arrested during the crackdown. Kashmir | Read more On Monday, however, the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army said any stories of disruption were a "narrative being driven by separatists." Krishna Saagar Rao, chief spokesperson of India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) told the Telegraph it had detained Kashmiri politicians to ensure stability in the state. "Politicians in the Kashmir valley were plotting to create unrest amongst people by instigating them," said Mr Rao. According to government data, over 200 local politicians have been detained, including former Chief Ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah. Official data on the number of children imprisoned has not been released. It is also unclear why minors have been arrested, although it is believed some have been detained for throwing stones at army personnel. An Indian paramilitary trooper stands guard in Srinagar Credit: TAUSEEF MUSTAFA/AFP/Getty Images The activists visited Kashmir between September 17 and 21 and interviewed members of the Jammu and Kashmir police, doctors and professors. Their report claims the authorities used excessive force when arresting the boys, and that some have been tortured while imprisoned. Domestic and international media has detailed the use of torture against Kashmiris, including beatings and electric shocks. On Saturday, a 15-year-old boy committed suicide in Srinagar after allegedly being assaulted by the army. "It is [an] Indian variant of genocide," said Annie Raja, the General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Women. Ms Raja's organisation has called on the India to release all children detained in Kashmir since August 5.
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| Man gets life without parole in killing of 5-year-old niece Posted: 24 Sep 2019 04:00 PM PDT  Judge Kevin K. Allen scolded Alex Whipple for the "incomprehensible" terror he inflicted on Elizabeth "Lizzy" Shelley, her family and the community. Lizzy's disappearance in May triggered a massive search and widespread concern in the picturesque mountain valley community of Logan. The 22-year-old Whipple declined to speak, hung his head and showed no emotion during the hearing.
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| Climate Scientists May Not Be the Best Communicators of Climate Threats Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:59 PM PDT  Many climate controversies today are not about whether the climate is changing, but how should people change their behavior and the causes of climate change itself.
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| Chinese relatives marry, divorce 23 times in scheme Posted: 25 Sep 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Eleven Chinese relatives married and divorced each other 23 times within a month to receive apartments given out by the state, Chinese media reported.
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| Beijing opens glitzy airport ahead of China's 70th anniversary Posted: 25 Sep 2019 01:26 AM PDT  A futuristic new airport in Beijing, which is expected to become one of the busiest in the world, was opened by President Xi Jinping on Wednesday. Xi declared the starfish-shaped airport open in brief remarks at a ceremony inside the huge terminal, days before the country holds a grand celebration to mark 70 years of Communist rule. Located 46 kilometres (29 miles) south of Tiananmen Square, the Beijing Daxing International Airport will operate at full capacity in 2040, with eight runways and the potential to receive 100 million passengers per year.
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| Meghan Markle shares emotional group hug with young women in Cape Town: 'You guys are going to make me cry' Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:58 AM PDT  Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle had an adorable moment with young women outside of mothers2mothers in Cape Town.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Nissan Titan Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:15 AM PDT |
| Trump aides quickly regretted publishing the Ukraine call that has intensified calls for his impeachment, report says Posted: 26 Sep 2019 04:59 AM PDT  The release of the call between Trump and Ukraine's president was intended to absolve him amid whistleblower claims and an impeachment inquiry.
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| As House debated harsh resolution slamming Trump for not providing whistleblower complaint, administration delivered document Posted: 25 Sep 2019 07:50 PM PDT  The non-binding resolution does not mention impeachment. And the administration had already delivered the complaint to Capitol Hill by the time the vote took place.
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| APNewsBreak: California halts prison gang peacemaking effort Posted: 24 Sep 2019 04:12 PM PDT  California prison officials have halted an effort aimed at forcing warring prison gangs to get along with each other after the inmates wound up brawling and even rioting when placed together in prison recreation yards, officials told The Associated Press. This permitted officials to reduce harsh restrictions that kept gang members locked up in cells for lengthy periods without access to rehabilitation programs that could allow them to shorten their sentences. The brawls led officials to stop the practice of trying to get the gang inmates to interact with each other in the prisons, Shaun Spillane, a spokesman for the corrections department's inspector general, told the AP in an interview.
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| Cuban-American sues American Airlines, Latam Airlines for 'trafficking' in Havana airport. Posted: 25 Sep 2019 03:22 PM PDT  A Miami-based law firm filed a lawsuit on Wednesday on behalf of a Cuban-American who claims to be the rightful owner of Havana's international airport against American Airlines and the Latam Airlines Group for "trafficking" in the property he says the Cuban government stole. The case is one of a slew filed in U.S. courts since the Trump administration in May implemented a long-dormant and controversial law allowing U.S. citizens to sue foreign firms and Cuban entities over their use of properties expropriated after Cuba's 1959 revolution. In the lawsuit filed on Wednesday, law firm Rivero Mestre argues that Cuba's main airport, in Havana, was expropriated from the father of Jose Ramon Lopez Regueiro in 1959.
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| Fox News Panel Explodes When Host Accuses Colleagues of Peddling White House Talking Points Posted: 25 Sep 2019 03:51 PM PDT  Fox NewsFox News' late-afternoon opinion roundtable show The Five imploded on Wednesday when liberal co-host Juan Williams pointed out that folks in conservative media, including his colleagues, appeared to be peddling the White House's talking points on the Ukrainian call memo.Amid Wednesday's release of a memo detailing Trump's now-infamous July 25 call in which Trump asked the Ukrainian president to "do us a favor" and investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, the White House sent out talking points to its allies to combat negative press coverage. Inadvertently, the administration also sent the document to some House Democrats, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.During a panel discussion, the majority of the co-hosts downplayed the revelations that the president did indeed press Ukraine to look into Biden and work with Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. That prompted Williams to bring up the publication of the White House's talking points."I think, you know, just listening here, boy, those talking points, they have made the rounds," the liberal commentator stated. "Because the reality is—"Immediately, both Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld interrupted him, asking Williams what he was implying."What does that mean?" Gutfeld shouted. "Are you saying I got talking points?! You got to answer to the accusation!"Watters added: "Are you telling me I was told what to say?"The progressive Fox Newser pointed out that he was hearing that "all around," causing Gutfeld to complain that Williams had already had enough time to talk and it was time to give co-host Katie Pavlich some airtime.Williams, however, went back to criticizing the president's actions laid out in the call, leading Gutfeld to grumble and ask his colleague: "Did you get that from Media Matters, Juan?"Watters and Gutfeld kept badgering Williams over his apparent accusation as he attempted to finish his point about the call. Williams, for his part, struggled on until Gutfeld finally snapped at him."Juan, you've had two days to talk about it, Katie hasn't been able to say a word," Gutfeld, arms crossed, seethed. "You were on this show yesterday and we weren't. You had your shot!"As for the White House talking points, it wasn't just the opinion side that appeared to be embracing them—a number of the network's "hard news" reporters and anchors also appeared to echo them throughout the day.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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| Emaciated elephant forced to perform during religious festival in Sri Lanka has died Posted: 25 Sep 2019 09:14 AM PDT  A sickly elephant whose photos went viral in August after she was forced to walk in a Sri Lanka festival, despite her skeletal frame, died on Tuesday.
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| China Is Building Supersonic Drones to Spy on Navy Aircraft Carriers Posted: 26 Sep 2019 12:03 AM PDT  Report: The DR-8 reconnaissance drone has a role in assessing the strike impact of China's "aircraft carrier killer," the DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, and the DF-26 ballistic missile.
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| Senate again rebukes Trump on national emergency declaration Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:35 PM PDT  The president will likely veto the resolution.
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| The defense secretary praised the crew of an attack submarine that hasn't been on a mission since 2015 Posted: 25 Sep 2019 02:12 PM PDT  Defense Secretary Mark Esper visited the nuclear-powered attack sub USS Boise on Wednesday, calling it an "accomplished warship."
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| 11-year-old boy drives stolen car 200 miles for Snapchat meetup: South Carolina police Posted: 25 Sep 2019 07:43 AM PDT ![11-year-old boy drives stolen car 200 miles for Snapchat meetup: South Carolina police]( "11-year-old boy drives stolen car 200 miles for Snapchat meetup: South Carolina police") The boy told Charleston police that he had driven his brother's car from Simpsonville, North Carolina, about 200 miles away.
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| Off-duty officer won't be charged in deadly Costco shooting Posted: 25 Sep 2019 04:36 PM PDT  An off-duty Los Angeles police officer will not be charged for fatally shooting a mentally ill man who had attacked him and his young son from behind in a California Costco, prosecutors said Wednesday. In announcing a grand jury's findings, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Officer Salvador Sanchez believed he had been shot in the head and a shooter was on the loose when he and his son were knocked to the ground in the unprovoked assault. Hestrin said his office would not bring its own charges against Sanchez in the wake of the grand jury decision.
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| UPDATE 2-Iran commits new breach of fraying nuclear deal, expands enrichment-IAEA Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:58 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Iran commits new breach of fraying nuclear deal, expands enrichment-IAEA]( "UPDATE 2-Iran commits new breach of fraying nuclear deal, expands enrichment-IAEA") Iran has committed another breach of its nuclear deal with major powers by enriching uranium with advanced centrifuges, a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog policing that deal said on Thursday, further fraying the landmark accord. Iran is breaching the restrictions of its deal with major powers step-by-step in response to U.S. sanctions imposed since Washington pulled out of the agreement in May of last year. Washington has repeatedly said it is prepared to hold talks with Iran on a more far-reaching deal, arguing its crippling economic sanctions will force Iran to the negotiating table.
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| Dershowitz: Epstein Victim Accused Billionaire Les Wexner of Sex Abuse ‘to Obtain Money’ Posted: 24 Sep 2019 01:12 PM PDT  Jefferson Siegel/ReutersAlan Dershowitz is dragging Victoria's Secret mogul Les Wexner into his legal battle with Virginia Roberts Giuffre—a victim of Jeffrey Epstein who claims she was coerced into sex with Dershowitz and is suing him for defamation. (He denies the accusation.)In Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, counsel for Giuffre and Dershowitz argued over whether the defamation suit should be dismissed—despite Dershowitz's previous claims to the press that he welcomed such litigation to prove his innocence—and whether Giuffre's lawyers should be disqualified from the case.Dershowitz argues Giuffre's lawyer David Boies and his firm, Boies Schiller Flexner, should be booted from the case because the defense will call them as witnesses. Dershowitz claims a member of Boies' firm consulted with Dershowitz and nearly represented him in 2015 over Giuffre's allegations. He also claims to have a secret phone recording where Boies allegedly questions his own client's credibility. Send The Daily Beast a TipEpstein Accuser Sues Alan Dershowitz Over Alleged Sex RingBoies' firm has denied Dershowitz's interpretation of events, saying that Boies has no doubts Giuffre is telling the truth, and that he was speaking hypothetically with Dershowitz, who, he says, is taking the recording out of context.Imran Ansari, a lawyer for Dershowitz, told Judge Loretta Preska that he plans to file a transcript of the recording under seal. Ansari also referred to a separate conversation relating to Wexner, prompting Judge Preska to say Wexner was "irrelevant" to the arguments.But Howard Cooper, another lawyer for Dershowitz, replied that Giuffre's complaint accuses Dershowitz of making defamatory statements relating to Wexner, and that one of Dershowitz's defenses in court will be proving his claims are true. ("Roberts made up the accusations out of whole cloth in order to obtain millions of dollars from Leslie Wexner," Dershowitz declared in December 2018, according to Giuffre's lawsuit.)Wexner's name also came up while Dershowitz's team tried arguing that he couldn't be sued for repeating in 2018 and 2019 "virtually the same statements" he made in 2015.Sigrid McCawley, a lawyer for Giuffre, disagreed and told the court that Dershowitz hasn't merely been recycling his 2015 statements. Instead, she said he's elaborated on his old claims and referred to other individuals including Wexner. "These statements go well beyond his statements in 2015," she said.McCawley argued that the law doesn't allow someone to become a "serial defamer" and avoid legal accountability after they've said one bad thing about someone in the past. Every new publication of defamatory statements triggers a new statute of limitations, she said.McCawley argued Giuffre has an actual malice claim against Dershowitz because he "went to the media and said he wanted to be sued" by Giuffre. Dershowitz "knew he had abused my client, then went before the public and called her a liar," she said.But Cooper said Dershowitz has continued to call Giuffre a "liar" in order to defend his reputation—referring to the constant stream of news relating to Dershowitz's friend and former client, wealthy sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. "What would someone in Professor Dershowitz's position do?" Cooper asked Judge Preska.After the proceeding, Dershowitz and his team addressed reporters outside the courthouse, where the Harvard academic claimed he was "defending not only my right but the rights of everyone who's ever been falsely accused."Asked for proof that Giuffre's claims were false, Dershowitz said, "I am standing here in front of you the media and I am stating unequivocally without the protection of defamation privilege, subject to being sued for defamation, I am saying to you I never met Virginia Giuffre. I never had sex with her. And the reason I'm saying it is because it's true. She on the other had… has never and will never stand in front of any media and repeat her lie saying that she did have sex with me.""We don't believe you. We don't believe you. Go back to your office!" a woman in the crowd yelled over Dershowitz, but he was undeterred.When a reporter asked about the Victoria's Secret mogul, Epstein's only known client, Dershowitz replied, "Les Wexner will be a major witness.""And we will prove that [Giuffre's attorneys] Sigrid McCawley and David Boies went to Les Wexner's lawyers and said that Les Wexner had sex with Virginia Giuffre between five and 10 times and that Les Wexner insisted that she wear Victoria's Secret-type lingerie. And I can't imagine any reason for having that conversation unless it was part of an effort to obtain money. So we will call Les Wexner as a witness, we will call Sigrid McCawley as a witness, we will call David Boies, we will call Les Wexner's lawyer. "And our goal is simply to have the entire whole truth come out."A spokesman for Wexner declined to comment.Those close to Wexner, however, appear to have denied Dershowitz's claims since 2015, when one insider told the New York Times that Wexner had never met Giuffre and that no extortion attempt was made.Brad Edwards, a longtime lawyer for victims of Epstein, recently told reporters that he did not believe Wexner had knowledge of Epstein's abuse of underage girls."I believe, based on the information that we have accumulated over 11 years, that the statements that he [Wexner] gave yesterday in the press that he did not know about the sexual proclivities of Mr. Epstein, are very highly likely to be true," Edwards said in July."We have not seen where he is in the company of Jeffrey Epstein at the time when he was engaging in these things," Edwards added. "In fact, it's very seldom that many of the victims actually even met him or saw him. I do know that there's a lot of business ties to him, but other than receiving information about their business connection, I don't have any information to believe otherwise."In affidavits filed as exhibits in the defamation suit, McCawley and Boies denied Dershowitz's extortion claims."Mr. Dershowitz asserts that I participated in an attempt and a conspiracy to extort Leslie Wexner," McCawley stated. "Again, Dershowitz cites no evidence to support his assertions, and they are false."For his part, Boies stated that "no settlement demand was ever made of, or even discussed with, Mr. Wexner or his counsel."Dershowitz also claimed on Tuesday that Giuffre and her lawyers have "done a terrible disservice" to the MeToo movement. When Miami Herald reporter Julie Brown asked Dershowitz why he goaded Giuffre to sue him and is now trying to dismiss her case, Cooper jumped in, "There's a competing balance between inviting a lawsuit and putting forth First Amendment defenses.""You cannot be faced with this situation and let the First Amendment die on the vine," Cooper added.Brown countered that Dershowitz could vindicate himself by going through with the trial as he said he wanted to do."He could vindicate himself by talking as he is now," Cooper replied. "Denying the allegations and making clear that he's telling the truth."Dershowitz intoned a now-familiar line, "I predict that if this case goes to trial, perjury will be committed in this courtroom. Because I will swear unequivocally I never met this woman, and if she says that she ever met me or had sex with me, she will be committing perury."Dershowitz said he invited the FBI to attend the trial, which he now wants dismissed, to determine who is committing perjury."It's not me," he declared.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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| China Launched a Special Type of Warship That Can Help Invade Taiwan Posted: 25 Sep 2019 12:10 PM PDT  Beijing now has an 'assault ship'. It probably can accommodate dozens of helicopters and landing craft and hundreds of marines.
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| In Syria, a vast underground hideout housed rebel base Posted: 26 Sep 2019 02:56 AM PDT  Tunnels run for hundreds of metres, connecting caves strewn with mattresses that formed what the Syrian army and its Russian allies say was a vast rebel underground network. The road leading to the entrance of the tunnels in Lataminah in northwestern Syria is lined with the charred shells of cars and armoured vehicles. According to the Russian army, which organised a press tour of the site for dozens of journalists, the network of caves dug into a rocky outcrop could shelter up to 5,000 people.
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| View Photos of the 2020 Ford Super Duty Posted: 26 Sep 2019 09:45 AM PDT |
| Trump whistleblower complaint declassified: ‘This thing is bigger that I thought’ Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:47 PM PDT  The complaint at the centre of Donald Trump's Ukraine scandal has been declassified but is yet to be publicly released.Members of congress took to Twitter and television to react to the document.
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| Here's what the US Air Force has planned for all its bombers Posted: 25 Sep 2019 11:56 AM PDT  From the venerable B-52 to the future B-21, the US leads the way in firepower and stealth technology. This is what the US has in the skies.
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| FBI agents raid Illinois state senator's home, offices Posted: 24 Sep 2019 12:52 PM PDT  FBI agents carried materials in bankers' boxes and grocery bags out of the Illinois Capitol building on Tuesday, and multiple media outlets reported that and other raids were linked to a Democratic state senator. FBI spokesman John Althen said the agents were in the building for "law enforcement activity" but declined to elaborate. Multiple media outlets reported that the raids were conducted at Sen. Martin Sandoval's Capitol office in Springfield, his district office in the Chicago suburb of Cicero and his Chicago home.
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| Khashoggi murder 'happened under my watch,' Saudi crown prince tells PBS Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:39 PM PDT  Saudi Arabia's crown prince said he bears responsibility for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last year by Saudi operatives "because it happened under my watch," according to a PBS documentary to be broadcast next week. It is the first time that Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, has publicly indicated personal accountability for the killing inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul by operatives seen as close to him. The CIA and some Western governments have said they believe he ordered it, but Saudi officials say he had no role.
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| Iranian president demands U.S. 'pay more' for a wider deal Posted: 25 Sep 2019 04:44 PM PDT  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani demanded on Wednesday that the United States "pay more" for any agreement that goes beyond the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that Washington abandoned.
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| Hitting the Pause Button: The "Frozen Conflict" Dilemma in Ukraine Posted: 25 Sep 2019 02:57 AM PDT  Reforms are needed.
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| In-Depth Photos of the 2020 Porsche Taycan Posted: 24 Sep 2019 03:01 PM PDT |
| Read the full memo of Trump's call with Ukraine Posted: 25 Sep 2019 08:13 AM PDT  The White House on Wednesday released a summary of President Trump's controversial July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in which Trump repeatedly urged Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Biden's son.
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| From the mouths of babes: bottles that weaned prehistoric infants Posted: 25 Sep 2019 06:42 PM PDT  Archaeologists have uncovered the first evidence that our prehistoric ancestors in Europe weaned their infants much the way we do now, using specialised baby bottles to feed them animal milk. The discovery casts rare light on childhood and child-rearing in ancient humans -- an area that experts say has long been overlooked. "This is the first direct evidence for what babies and infants were eating and drinking in prehistory," Julie Dunne, the study's lead author and a biomolecular archaeologist at the University of Bristol, told AFP.
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| Guilty plea in case of man forced by police to lick urinal Posted: 25 Sep 2019 08:09 PM PDT  A Honolulu homeless man fearing he would be arrested, reluctantly obeyed a police officer's orders to lick a urinal, according to a court document made public Wednesday after a former officer pleaded guilty to failing to report the incident. Officer John Rabago had previously threatened another man he was questioning that he wouldn't be arrested only if he stuck his head in a toilet, the document said. Rabago, who remains on restricted duty, and Reginald Ramones, who left the department in August, were arrested and charged earlier this year with depriving a man of his civil rights.
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| 3 of the Oldest Weapons in the Pentagon’s Inventory Posted: 26 Sep 2019 08:00 AM PDT  If it ain't broke, why fix it?
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| Sanders Calls for ‘National Wealth Registry’ to Enforce New Tax Posted: 24 Sep 2019 10:45 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders on Tuesday rolled out his plan to levy an "extreme wealth tax" on millionaires and billionaires, which he plans to enforce through the creation of a "national wealth registry.""Today, the United States has more income and wealth inequality than almost any major country on Earth, and it is worse now than at any time since the 1920s," Sanders said in his proposal.Sanders' annual tax on the top 0.1 percent would apply to Americans with a net worth of over $32 million, or about 180,000 households, and would raise approximately $4.35 trillion over the next decade, the Sanders campaign estimates.The Vermont senator's plan seeks to combat capital flight and other forms of tax avoidance through a "national wealth registry" and the addition of "significant additional third party reporting requirements." The proposal calls for increased funding for the Internal Revenue Service to cover the bureaucratic costs associated with enforcing the wealth tax.Under the plan, the IRS will be required to audit 30 percent of the top one percent's wealth tax returns and 100 percent for billionaires.The tax would start at one percent for a married couple with $32.5 million and would progressively increase one percent for each bracket up to eight percent for those with a net worth of $10 billion. Those rates would be halved for single individuals.The new tax will partially fund Sanders' Medicare for All plan as well as his affordable housing and universal childcare plans.Sanders argues there has been a "massive transfer of wealth from those who have too little to those who have too much" over the last three decades."Under this plan, the wealth of billionaires would be cut in half over 15 years which would substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class," the progressive candidate said.Sanders' plan goes beyond Senator Elizabeth Warren's wealth tax plan, which would impose just a 2 percent tax on families with $50 million and a 3 percent tax on those with $1 billion.
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| How Pakistan Has Won the War in Afghanistan (America Lost) Posted: 24 Sep 2019 09:15 PM PDT  Could it be?
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| 'Bring on the bathroom humor': United passenger got stuck in the bathroom mid-flight Posted: 26 Sep 2019 05:26 AM PDT  Visiting the bathroom mid-flight is hardly a pleasant experience — but getting stuck in there is a whole other kind of ordeal.
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| Huawei Billionaire Dangles 5G Secrets to Create a U.S. Foe Posted: 26 Sep 2019 02:18 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Huawei Technologies Co. founder Ren Zhengfei is ready to license his fifth-generation networking technology only to one other company -- and he wants that potential arch-rival to be American.The army officer-turned-billionaire reiterated an offer Thursday to license out Huawei's full portfolio of 5G wireless technology -- which would include chip designs, hardware and source code -- to a single, exclusive licensee. That should be a U.S. company because Europe is home to close competitors like Nokia Oyj and Ericsson AB and doesn't need help to compete, he added.Huawei, accused by Donald Trump's administration of aiding Beijing in spying while spearheading China's tech-superpower ambitions, is trying to claw back business and shore up trust in its products. Ren reaffirmed an earlier estimate that U.S. sanctions could depress the company's sales by $10 billion annually. His lieutenants have lately echoed his 5G licensing proposal to reassure foreign customers Huawei's gear is free of security loopholes. But a willing buyer has yet to emerge."We would like to offer an exclusive license to one company from the West so that it's able to achieve economies of scale to support a business," Ren said in a live-streamed discussion with visiting foreign academics. "With this one company, I think it should be a U.S. company."Read more: China's Huawei Woos Tech World With $1.5 Billion and 5G SecretsCritics charge that intellectual property theft from the likes of Cisco Systems Inc. and Motorola Solutions Inc. helped Huawei vault into the upper echelons of telecommunications providers, while Ren and his executives credit years of investment and research. The wireless giant is now accelerating spending on artificial intelligence chips and mobile software. It's mobilizing its employees to source or develop alternatives to American circuitry and software to keep its edge in smartphones and next-generation 5G wireless technology.Huawei is on track to produce 600,000 base stations this year and 1.5 million of those the next. The company can make it happen without American components but it would prefer buying from U.S. suppliers, Ren said.The billionaire has gone from recluse to media maven in the span of months as he fights to save the $100-billion company he founded. The 74-year-old billionaire has taken the lead in Huawei's defense after the arrest of eldest daughter and Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou as part of a broader probe into the company. He's since become a central figure in a U.S.-Chinese conflict that's potentially the most important episode to shape world affairs since the collapse of the Soviet Union."As time goes by, trust levels will increase," he said during a discussion with Stanford lecturer Jerry Kaplan and fellow academic Peter Cochrane. "If we're talking about a tech decoupling or separate governance, I don't think it's possible."Read more: Billionaire Huawei Founder Defiant in Face of Existential ThreatTo contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Gao Yuan in Beijing at ygao199@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Peter Elstrom at pelstrom@bloomberg.net, Edwin Chan, Vlad SavovFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Rudy’s Big Plan to Defend Trump on Ukraine: Play the George Soros Card Posted: 26 Sep 2019 02:12 AM PDT  HERBERT NEUBAUER/GettyDonald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's bizarre media tour defending President Trump's efforts to pressure the president of Ukraine into investigating Joe Biden has focused on a seemingly unrelated target: billionaire Democratic financier and Republican bogeyman George Soros. In several rambling cable news appearances, Giuliani has claimed that Soros—who conservative conspiracy theorists have long blamed for everything from the Barack Obama presidency to actor Jussie Smollett's faking of a hate crime—is somehow involved in a wide-ranging, anti-Trump scheme in Ukraine. Like many Soros-related claims, this one is, well, flimsy. Indeed, Guiliani's argument appears to rest almost entirely on innuendos, a single op-ed in The Hill, and his vague claims about unnamed "people" in Ukraine.Russia's Election Hackers Are Back—and Targeting George SorosGiuliani's allegations center on a "Soros NGO" that manufactured evidence against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and a former FBI agent who Giuliani claims is on Soros's payroll."George Soros has a not-for-profit called AntAC," Giuliani said in a CNN appearance last Thursday. "AntAC is the one that developed all of the dirty information that ended up being a false document that was created in order to incriminate Manafort."In a Monday appearance on Fox Business, Giuliani claimed that "Soros's NGO was involved in this whole thing." On Tuesday, he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that Biden was somehow involved in an effort to save a Soros-run organization in Ukraine from prosecution. "That organization was run by George Soros, who then hired the crooked FBI agent, who is now working for George Soros," Giuliani said. Soros, who is one of the Democratic Party's largest givers, has long been targeted by right-wing activists, who often paint him as a global, political puppetmaster—a charge that critics contend reeks of anti-Semitism. Few figures, indeed, are more often portrayed as a boogeyman by Republican politicians. Guliani's vague, nefarious accusations about Soros, have been echoed by Trump allies and the Trump campaign as well. In fact, the line has become so central to the messaging war against the Bidens that Giuliani often offers it up without being prompted. "Oh, and Soros—Soros!—is very important here," Giuliani said in a Monday interview, one of several with The Daily Beast in the last few days in which he discussed the progressive donor. "Don't forget that."* * *Considering the gravity with which Giuliani discusses Soros, one would think that there is ample evidence that something untoward has taken place. And yet, the allegations rest largely on a March 2019 op-ed in The Hill written by opinion writer John Solomon, who became a star on the right for his willingness to push attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In his March story, Solomon declared that the U.S. embassy in Ukraine "pressed Ukraine to drop [a] probe of George Soros group during 2016 election." The op-ed centers on Anticorruption Action Centre (AntAC), a Ukrainian anti-corruption group that has received funding from Soros's Open Society Foundation. Contrary to Giuliani's description of it as "Soros-run," though, AntAC has also received funding from the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and the European Union. Soros doesn't control AntAC's activities. It is instead operated by Ukrainian activists. In 2016, AntAC was under investigation by Ukrainian prosecutors for the alleged misuse of $4.4 million in aid, in what appears to have been a politically motivated pursuit from the investigators meant to punish the good-governance group. Even U.S. State Department sources in Solomon's own op-ed said the prosecution was believed to be just "retribution" for AntAC's anti-corruption work. In a letter sent to Ukrainian prosecutors, a State Department official in Ukraine said the United States had "no concerns" about the money. "We have accounted for every single foreign assistance dollar provided within the framework of this project," the State official continued. Smollett Conspiracy Theories Target George SorosNevertheless, Giuliani has accused the group, without any evidence, of falsifying the "Black Ledger" that listed millions in undisclosed payments to Manafort and setting the stage for his prosecution. But that document has never been disproven, as a story from The Intercept investigating Giuliani's claims found, and AntAC wasn't involved in its creation. The unfounded implication in both Giuliani's interviews and Solomon's opinion story is that the Obama administration's diplomats were either running interference for AntAC in exchange for an effort to take down Manafort, or were somehow just working generally on Soros' behalf. In a response published in The Hill and on its own website, AntAC co-founder Daria Kaleniuk pointed out a number of inconsistencies and omissions in Solomon's op-ed, alleging that he had confused key dates supposedly at the center of the opinion piece. Kaleniuk also claimed that Solomon's supposed key source, a former prosecutor, was using The Hill to retaliate against her group for its anti-corruption efforts. In an email to The Daily Beast, Kaleniuk described Giuliani's claims about her group as "bizarre allegations." Soros spokesman Michael Vachon also denied Giuliani's claims."Short answer is no, Soros was not somehow involved in cooking up charges against Trump in Ukraine," Vachon wrote in an email.Giuliani also alleges in his cable news appearances that Soros has offered a large payout to a former FBI agent who was involved in the Manafort investigation, supposedly via AntAC. "The FBI agent is now working for George Soros, making hundreds of thousands of dollars," Giuliani said in his Tuesday appearance on Fox News. That appears to be a reference to former FBI supervisor Karen Greenaway, who was part of the FBI's International Corruption Unit and the Manafort investigation. Greenaway has appeared at some anti-corruption events with AntAC staff. And her appearance is used in Solomon's article to suggest some nefarious connection between the group, Greenaway, and Soros. Greenaway retired from the FBI in February, and agreed to later join AntAC's board alongside prominent figures like "End of History" political scientist Francis Fukuyama and the former head of the EU's anti-fraud office. That appears to be where Giuliani is getting the idea that Greenaway is making "hundreds of thousands" of dollars from Soros, since the board is mentioned in Solomon's op-ed. But membership of the AntAC board is, alas, an unpaid position. Asked for proof of his claim that Greenaway is receiving large amounts of money from Soros, either through AntAC or another group, Giuliani referred only to vague sources in Ukraine. "That is what I was told by several people in Ukraine," Giuliani told The Daily Beast, adding later, "If it gets investigated we will find out." Giuliani declined to offer any more evidence of his claims against Greenaway, and accused The Daily Beast of trying to impede his "investigation" into Biden. "It seems to me your intent here is not to cover the inherent apparent corruption in the way this was done but to find any contradictions or create them," Giuliani wrote in a text message. Greenaway couldn't be reached for comment.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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| Rudy Giuliani calls fellow Fox News guest a 'serial liar' and a 'moron' Posted: 25 Sep 2019 10:32 AM PDT  Rudy Giuliani hurled abuse at a fellow Fox News guest, calling him a "serial liar" and a "moron" as the president's opponents pledged to seek Donald Trump's removal from office.
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