| 'Gaetz-crasher': Here's why a Republican lawmaker was barred from closed-door testimony Posted: 14 Oct 2019 01:38 PM PDT  When Republican congressman Matt Gaetz tried to attend an impeachment inquiry deposition Monday morning in the U.S. Capitol, he ran smack into the often arcane and confusing rules of Congress. Here's why he wasn't allowed to attend.
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| Booze run from behind bars: Inmates escape from Texas federal prison, return with whiskey Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:11 AM PDT  The men left the prison grounds and cut through a neighboring ranch before getting caught by authorities.
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| Saudi Arabia: We are undergoing an unprecedented transformation Posted: 14 Oct 2019 02:30 PM PDT  Jamal Khashoggi's death was an aberration that should not define us as a nation, writes Fahad Nazer, spokesperson for the Saudi Embassy.
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| Soldier wounded during search for Bowe Bergdahl dies of his injuries Posted: 14 Oct 2019 03:40 PM PDT  A US soldier shot in the head during the 2009 search for army deserter Bowe Bergdahl has died from his injuries. Army Master Sgt. Mark Allen died on Saturday at the age of 46, 10 years after being injured in the hunt for his missing comrade. He spent 21 years in the army and national guard, and retired in 2013 on receiving the Purple Heart. He had been unable to walk or speak since a sniper shot him in the head in July 2009 while he was looking for Bergdahl, who had walked off his base in Afghanistan and was held by the Taliban for five years. At Bergdahl's trial, Allen's wife Shannon testified that it would take up to 90 minutes each morning to get her husband out of bed, showered, and dressed. She had to use a pulley system attached to the ceiling to move him. Shannon Allen, who testified during the trial of Bowe Bergdahl Mrs Allen did not learn about the circumstances surrounding her husband's injuries until 2014, after former president Barack Obama negotiated Bergdahl's release in a swap for five Taliban members detained at Guantanamo Bay. The Idaho-born soldier, now 33, was sentenced in January 2016 for desertion. During the trial he apologised to those injured. "I would like everyone who searched for me to know it was never my intention for anyone to be hurt, and I never expected that to happen," he said. He was reduced in rank from sergeant to private, ordered to forfeit $1,000 in pay for 10 months, and given a dishonorable discharge. He did not serve any prison time. Mrs Allen broke the news on Facebook on Sunday. "I'm heartbroken to let you all know that my husband passed away peacefully yesterday morning, with his family by his side," she said. "Over ten years ago, he sustained a severe head injury while serving in Afghanistan, which caused him lifelong health problems. "These past few months, he has faced some significant illnesses, and his body was finally ready to rest."
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| France warns of 'endless soap opera' on EU membership talks with Balkans Posted: 15 Oct 2019 02:42 AM PDT ![France warns of 'endless soap opera' on EU membership talks with Balkans]( "France warns of 'endless soap opera' on EU membership talks with Balkans") France stuck to its hardline position against European Union membership talks for North Macedonia and Albania on Tuesday, warning it could not approve negotiations until the bloc reformed the "endless soap opera" of admitting new members. Europe ministers, making a third attempt since June 2018 to approve membership talks for the Balkan hopefuls, are set to discuss in Luxembourg opening a path for Skopje and Tirana, with broad EU support and backing from the United States.
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| India blocks SMS services in Kashmir after trucker killed Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:53 AM PDT  Text messaging services were blocked in Indian Kashmir just hours after being restored when a truck driver was killed by suspected militants and his vehicle set ablaze, authorities said Tuesday. Separately, Indian officials said a 24-year-old woman died in the latest exchange of artillery fire with Pakistan over their de-facto border dividing the blood-soaked Himalayan region.
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| Jeep Gladiator Gets Even More Rugged as a Military-Spec Vehicle Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:07 AM PDT  Jeep and AM General could re-enlist with the U.S. Army as soon as next year.
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| 2020 Vision Monday: Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump, which could drag down his reelection bid Posted: 14 Oct 2019 08:57 AM PDT  A rapid 17-point shift means a majority of Americans may soon support impeachment, or, taking margin of error into account, might already. And that's terrible news for Trump.
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| California Mandates Free Abortion at Public Colleges Posted: 15 Oct 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Democratic governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation making California the first state in the country to require public colleges and universities to provide medical-abortion pills to students at campus health centers.S.B. 24, or the College Student Right to Access Act, will compel all 34 University of California and California State University campuses to make the RU-486 chemical-abortion pill available through campus health centers by 2023, in theory at no cost to students. Last fall, then-governor Jerry Brown refused to sign the legislation, using talking points similar to those that pro-life groups such as Students for Life of America used when lobbying against the bill."According to a study sponsored by supporters of this legislation, the average distance to abortion providers in campus communities varies from five to seven miles, not an unreasonable distance," Brown said in a statement at the time. "Because the services required by this bill are widely available off-campus, this bill is not necessary."Evidently, Newsom disagreed. "As other states and the federal government go backward, restricting reproductive freedom, in California we are moving forward, expanding access and reaffirming a woman's right to choose," he said in a statement after signing the bill late last week. "We're removing barriers to reproductive health, increasing access on college campuses and using technology to modernize how patients interact with providers."According to the bill, RU-486 will be provided to students by health-care workers at health centers on California campuses. But the drug in question — Mifeprex, the most common drug used in chemical abortions before about ten weeks' gestation — typically is administered at a clinic before the pregnant woman is sent home to expel the developing embryo, a fairly risky process.This past April, the Food and Drug Administration updated the adverse effects of Mifeprex to note that as of 2018, "there were reports of 24 deaths of women associated with Mifeprex since the product was approved in September 2000, including two cases of ectopic pregnancy resulting in death; and several cases of severe systemic infection (also called sepsis), including some that were fatal."Official documentation on the use of Mifeprex shows that there have been close to 4,200 women who reported adverse effects from the drug, including infections, follow-up surgery, hospitalization, and other complications. Opponents of the legislation in California lobbied against the bill in part because they argued that college-age women in particular need close supervision and will be put at risk by having abortion drugs made available without proper surveillance to ensure their health and safety.Judging from estimates provided by proponents of S.B. 24, it is likely that somewhere between 15 and 75 young women each month will require surgery after RU-486 fails. Opponents of the bill say it's unlikely that campus health centers will be adequately prepared to handle such emergencies. Many who lobbied against the bill also noted that the legislation's provisions will probably require violating the conscience rights of California's health-care professionals, who easily could be forced to facilitate medical abortions, because S.B. 24 provides no protections for anyone with religious or moral objections to the procedure.Over the summer, California's Department of Finance articulated its objections to the legislation, noting that the Commission on the Status of Women and Girls "does not have the technical expertise nor existing capacity to develop and administer a program of this size, scope, or content."According to its report, enacting the new policy would cost University of California–system schools somewhere between $4.6 million and $7.8 million to initiate, with additional ongoing costs of $2.2 million to $3.3 million beginning in 2023 to operate the program. The report didn't estimate the costs to the California State University system but noted that the CSU had said students' out-of-pocket costs for RU-486 and related lab work likely would be about $500 because the state hasn't allocated enough to actually cover the cost.S.B. 24 will allocate $200,000 each to University of California and California State University health centers "to pay for the cost, both direct and indirect, of medication abortion readiness," including updated training, new equipment, telemedicine services, and facility upgrades. Pro-abortion group JustCARE reports that private donors including the Women's Foundation of California and Tara Health Foundation raised $10,290,000 in private money to fund the new policy. Opponents of the legislation note that if the funding is insufficient to account for actual costs of implementing the program on all 34 campuses, the rest of the costs will fall to students.This year has featured a number of controversial changes to state abortion policies across the country, as several states attempted to limit abortion earlier in pregnancy and a handful of others officially legalized abortion through all nine months of pregnancy. California state senator Connie Leyva, sponsor of S.B. 24, has said she hopes that her legislation will be the beginning of a broader campaign to make chemical-abortion drugs available on campuses across the country — a new frontier in the fight over abortion policy.
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| Hundreds of police officers have been labeled liars. Some still help send people to prison. Posted: 15 Oct 2019 05:26 AM PDT  Across the USA, prosecutors aren't tracking officer misconduct, skirting Supreme Court "Brady" rules and sometimes leading to wrongful convictions.
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| Flooded bullet trains show Japan's risks from disasters Posted: 15 Oct 2019 12:20 AM PDT  The typhoon that ravaged Japan last week hit with unusual speed and ferocity, leaving homes buried in mud and people stranded on rooftops. Japan's technological prowess and meticulous attention to detail are sometimes no match for rising risks in a precarious era of climate change. "Weather conditions in Japan up to now have been relatively moderate," said Toshitaka Katada, a disaster expert and professor at the University of Tokyo.
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| In Jamal Khashoggi's death, Saudi money is talking louder than murder Posted: 14 Oct 2019 02:35 PM PDT  Donald Trump praises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Jared Kushner is among those flocking to the Saudi 'Davos in the Desert': Our view
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| What Did America Offer North Korea at Working-Level Talks? One Report Claims To Know. Posted: 15 Oct 2019 05:05 AM PDT  And it makes absolutely no sense at all.
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| 'Just a matter of time' before president removed following impeachment testimony: Former Trump aide Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:39 AM PDT  President Trump's ex-national security adviser, John Bolton, reportedly urged former Russia adviser Fiona Hill to warn the White House about a campaign to pressure Ukraine directed by the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, describing the latter as a "hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up."
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| Hiker Digs Up 1,000-Year-Old Iron Weapon Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:49 AM PDT  Climate change melted away the ancient arrowhead.
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| Warren's New Campaign Finance Plan Is Putting Rivals Like Biden and Buttigieg on the Spot Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:17 AM PDT  In a new campaign finance plan, Sen. Elizabeth Warren announced that she will continue to reject big donors and corporate funding
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| Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump Posted: 14 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT  As of three weeks ago, a majority of Americans, 51.1 percent, on average, opposed impeaching President Trump, with only 40 percent supporting it. But the results came before the Ukraine scandal snowballed. As of today, opposition to impeachment has plummeted 7 percentage points (to 44 percent) and support has climbed nearly 10 points (to 49.8 percent), according to FiveThirtyEight's preliminary polling tracker.
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| Nigerian police rescue 67 from 'inhuman' conditions at Islamic 'school' Posted: 14 Oct 2019 01:37 PM PDT  The raid in Katsina, the northwestern home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, came less than a month after about 300 men and boys were freed from another supposed Islamic school in neighboring Kaduna state where they were allegedly tortured and sexually abused. "In the course of investigation, sixty-seven persons from the ages of 7 to 40 years were found shackled with chains," Katsina police spokesman Sanusi Buba said in a statement.
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| When police misconduct occurs, records often stay secret. One mom's fight to change that. Posted: 14 Oct 2019 05:27 PM PDT  A police officer is accused of playing with her dead son's body after he was shot. An angry California mother wants secret cop records to go public.
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| The Latest: 2nd crane in danger of collapse Posted: 14 Oct 2019 03:09 PM PDT  The second of two cranes towering over the site where a New Orleans hotel construction project partially collapsed two days ago is now considered in danger of toppling. Two other workers are known dead at the project site, which sits on the edge of the historic French Quarter. The coroner's office in New Orleans has identified one of two workers known to have died when a hotel under construction partially collapsed.
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| Everything Google Revealed at Its NYC Pixel Event Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:44 AM PDT |
| Why Leaving Syria Is Necessary Posted: 13 Oct 2019 05:00 PM PDT  Forever wars are a bad idea.
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| Target Cuts Workers’ Hours after Vowing to Raise Minimum Wage to $15 By 2020 Posted: 14 Oct 2019 12:57 PM PDT  Workers at Target stores are struggling to pay their bills after the company cut the total amount of employee working hours in preparation for raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, according to a report from CNN."I got that dollar raise but I'm getting $200 less in my paycheck," said Heather, who works at a Florida branch. She began working 40 hours per week but is now offered less than 20."I have no idea how I'm going to pay rent or buy food," she continued.Target committed to raising its minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 in a statement on September 25, 2017.Senator Bernie Sanders (D., Vt.) has made the $15 minimum wage a tenet of his campaign. He has blasted large companies such as McDonald's and Walmart for refusing to pay their employees $15 per hour.Last year was Target's best business year since 2005. Sales were up five percent and company stocks were up four percent since 2017, prompting Target CEO Brian Cornell to laud the company's "successful, durable model."Meanwhile, cuts in worker hours have affected employees' eligibility for health benefits. Employees who work less than 30 hours per week are deemed ineligible for company health benefits at the start of Target's spring enrollment period."Target worked me hard from mid-July of 2018 to February 2019, right before my medical coverage was about to kick in," said former employee Caren Morales of Diamond Bar, California, who worked between 35-40 hours per week. Once the enrollment date approached, she said, "They cut my hours right then."Morales quit several months later, saying she couldn't afford to pay for her daughter's day care.It was not immediately clear why many workers have seen their hours cut, although the trend may partially be attributable to the introduction of new store management methods."We needed to change the way we operate in the store to create a better, more inviting experience for our guests," commented Target COO John Mulligan. The changes include elimination of some backroom shifts and the introduction of self-checkout machines, along with specialization of some jobs to cover a specific department instead of an entire store.Several other giant retail stores have also recently decreased working hours, according to statistics from the Bureau of Labor.
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| China inflation surges as pork prices soar Posted: 14 Oct 2019 09:48 PM PDT  China's consumer inflation accelerated at its fastest pace in almost six years in September as African swine fever sent pork prices soaring nearly 70 percent, official data showed Tuesday. Authorities have gone as far as tapping the nation's pork reserve to control prices of the staple meat, as the swine fever crisis could become a political and economic liability for the state. The consumer price index (CPI) -- a key gauge of retail inflation -- hit 3.0 percent last month, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said, up from 2.8 percent in August and the highest since since November 2013.
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| The US defense secretary gives US's strongest condemnation yet of Turkey's 'unacceptable incursion' in Syria Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:12 AM PDT  "Turkey's unilateral action was unnecessary and impulsive," Defense Secretary Mark Esper said, adding that US-Turkish relations was now "damaged."
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| We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records. Posted: 14 Oct 2019 05:25 PM PDT  USA TODAY is leading a national effort to obtain and publish disciplinary and misconduct records for thousands of police officers.
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| Wildfires spread through parts of Lebanon, Syria Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:25 AM PDT  Wildfires spread through parts of Lebanon on Tuesday after forcing some residents to flee their homes in the middle of the night, while others were stuck inside as the flames reached villages south of Beirut, authorities said. There were no reports of fatalities from the fires — among the worst to hit Lebanon in years. Fire crews were overwhelmed by the flames in the Mount Lebanon region early Tuesday, forcing the Interior Ministry to send riot police with engines equipped with water cannons to help.
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| Google Maps Banned on Sardinia? Mayor Wants Service Blocked After Putting Tourists in Danger Posted: 15 Oct 2019 10:31 AM PDT  GettyROME–Salvatore Corrias, the mayor of the Sardinian hamlet of Baunei, is fed up. Emergency services in his island town have been called out 144 times over the last 18 months to rescue tourists who nearly followed Google map directions to their deaths. The last straw was last week when the owners of a Porsche were trying to reach a secluded white sand beach but ended up being directed to a steep cliff several hundred feet above it. "There was no way down to the beach on foot for them," Corrias told The Daily Beast. "There wasn't even a way to turn their expensive car around. But even worse, if they had followed the directions at night, Google would have sent them right off the cliff."In the end, Baunei first responders had to turn the car around by physically lifting it up and pointing it back down the mountain range after rescuers reached them on foot (knowing they could not actually drive on the road they were called to). Now Corrias has put up signage all over the island to warn visitors "no Google maps." The rescues are depleting the tiny town's coffers so Corrias has filed a complaint to the ministry that oversees internet matters to try to block the Google Map signal on the island. "We wrote to Google hundreds of times, so we have no choice but to file a legal complaint to block it," he says. In the meantime, he's asked managers of hotels, museums, and restaurants on the island to warn tourists in cars and hikers exploring the island on foot not to rely on the popular service, urging them to use paper maps instead.Baunei is not the only town that has a problem thanks to bad directions by GPS navigation services. Several hamlets in the Alps have also signed petitions to try to block the signals because of the number of skiers trying to reach remote mountain areas who end up on service roads traversable only with heavy equipment. Last year alone, four parties had to be airlifted out of remote areas they reached entirely by bad directions. Google Maps also notoriously sends drivers into Venice despite the fact that the city is car-free.Comune di BauneiIt should be noted that Google is not the only provider with a GPS app that leads people astray. Waze, which is widely used in Europe, bills itself as a real-time traffic-beating app, but there have been plenty of complaints that the app sends people to road construction sites, which is why they seem like less congested routes. Near-death by GPS is not just about sending drivers off cliffs or into rivers. In 2016, 52-year-old Italian tourist Roberto Bardella died in Brazil when he and a friend were on motorcycles touring the city. They followed Google Map directions to the beach from the Christ the Redeemer statue, which sent them into the dangerous Rio de Janeiro favela of Morro dos Prazeres where they were accosted and killed. Bardella was wearing a helmet cam, which the thugs thought was a police camera, authorities said at a time. Had they asked directions to a real person, they would have never been sent through the dangerous area. Google does know it has a problem. When asked for a comment, Google public affairs sent a blanket statement that has been printed widely since the news of the ban broke. "We're aware of an issue in Sardinia where Google Maps is routing some drivers down roads that can be difficult to navigate due to their terrain," the statement reads. "We're currently investigating ways that we can better alert drivers about these types of roads."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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| Mayor who led America after 9/11 has lost his way: Rudy Giuliani's fall from grace Posted: 14 Oct 2019 03:28 PM PDT  Rudy Giuliani, who did and said all the right things after 9/11, seems now to have lost his way. How did it happen?
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| UPDATE 3-Tens of thousands of Hong Kong protesters plead for U.S. help Posted: 14 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT  Tens of thousands of mostly young pro-democracy activists rallied in Hong Kong on Monday in the first legal protest since the introduction of colonial-era emergency laws and pleaded for help from the United States.
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| A Direct Threat to the U.S. Military: China's New Hypersonic Weapons Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:34 AM PDT  China celebrated the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct. 1 in typical fashion – with a military parade. Some of the new weapons on display that day provide cause for serious concern among U.S. policymakers.
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| Court Ruling Extends Vote Protest of Philippine Marcos’ Son Posted: 15 Oct 2019 02:50 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The Philippines' top court on Tuesday decided to release the initial results of the vice-presidential vote recount, which the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos' son said will delay his chance to assume the post.Former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he is "frustrated" by the court's decision not to resolve his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo victory in the 2016 polls. Robredo is already halfway through her six-year term.The court instead decided to make public the result of the recount covering three provinces that will serve as basis for any further action on Marcos' challenge. It also asked the two camps to comment on Marcos' plea to nullify votes in three other provinces due to supposed irregularities in the 2016 elections."The proper vice president -- myself -- is being robbed of years of service," Marcos said in a televised interview. President Rodrigo Duterte, who has faced questions on his health, has repeatedly said Marcos is his preferred successor if he had to leave office before his single term expires in 2022.Robredo, leader of the opposition party, said she welcomes the court decision, as she urged the court to already junk Marcos' protest. "The mere fact that this has been dragging on for so long only provides Marcos a platform for his lies," she said in a separate televised briefing.(Updates with comments from Marcos and Robredo from fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Andreo Calonzo in Manila at acalonzo1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net, Muneeza NaqviFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russia Begins Patrolling Area Dividing Syrian and Turkish Forces Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:09 AM PDT  Russia announced on Tuesday that its forces have begun patrolling the area between Syrian and Turkish troops and allied militias positioned near the Turkey-Syria border.The Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement saying its forces had established a presence in "the northwestern borders of Manbij district along the line of contact of the Syrian Arab Republic military and the Turkish military."Meanwhile, Russian military personnel appeared to take over an abandoned U.S. military base in Manbij in a video obtained by the Wall Street Journal."The Syrian government army has taken full control of the city of Manbij and nearby populated areas," the Russian Defense Ministry statement continued.Russia also moved to prevent any possible conflicts between Syrian and Turkish troops."No one is interested" in such conflict, said Russian envoy to Syria Alexander Lavrentyev in comments to Russian state media. He further emphasized that Russia "is not going to allow" fighting between Syrian and Turkish troops.President Trump on October 7 announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from northeast Syria in anticipation of a Turkish invasion of the area. Turkey intends to resettle the conquered region with 3.6 million Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey. The offensive is also intended to push back Kurdish militia groups it regards as terrorist organizations.The U.N. estimates roughly 130,000 people from the heavily Kurdish region in northeastern Syria have fled the Turkish assault.Trump has faced bipartisan fury for effectively abandoning the Kurds, who were instrumental in the U.S.-led fight against ISIS and played a large role in reconquering territory overrun by the group in 2014.After a report emerged of ISIS fighters escaping Kurdish-run detention camps, commentators warned of a possible ISIS resurgence after the fighting ends.
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| 'I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA is failing farmers Posted: 15 Oct 2019 02:01 AM PDT !['I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA is failing farmers]( "'I'm standing here in the middle of climate change': How USDA is failing farmers") Rick Oswald is standing on the doorstep of the white farmhouse he grew up in, but almost nothing is as it should be. "This house is 80 years old," Oswald says, stepping inside the darkened living room, which now smells faintly of mold. American farmers are reeling after extreme rains followed by a "bomb cyclone"— an explosive storm that brought high winds and severe blizzard conditions — ravaged the heartland, turning once productive fields into lakes, killing livestock and destroying grain stores.
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| The Latest: $200,000 bond set for ex-cop charged with murder Posted: 14 Oct 2019 06:30 PM PDT  A $200,000 bond has been set for a white former police officer jailed in the fatal shooting of a black woman inside the woman's Fort Worth home. Aaron Dean was booked Monday evening into the Tarrant County Jail on the murder charge in the death of Atatiana Jefferson. Jail records do not list an attorney for Dean.
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| Lebanon turns to neighbours for help fighting forest fires Posted: 15 Oct 2019 10:32 AM PDT  Lebanon has turned to its neighbours for help battling forest fires that have ravaged homes and killed a volunteer firefighter in the Mediterranean country, its premier said on Tuesday. Heavy rain fell on parts of the country including Beirut in the evening, after Cyprus dispatched help and as Greece and Jordan vowed to follow suit. "We have contacted the Europeans who will send means of help," Prime Minister Saad Hariri said earlier in comments carried by national news agency NNA.
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| Woman will spend 60 years in prison for first-degree murder of boyfriend Posted: 15 Oct 2019 06:46 AM PDT  A woman who poured gasoline on the couch where her sleeping boyfriend lay and then shut the door after seeing him jump up and yell "hot, hot" will spend 60 years in prison for first-degree murder.
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| The Family That Worked for Jeffrey Epstein—and a Trump Posted: 14 Oct 2019 01:47 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyJeffrey Epstein and the Trumps didn't just share the same rarefied air of Palm Beach society; the multimillionaire sex offender and at least one member of the Trump clan hired employees from the same family, too.While Janusz Banasiak served as Epstein's Palm Beach house manager, his wife and stepdaughter snagged jobs with another famous face in town: President Trump's former wife Ivana, The Daily Beast has learned. As Epstein's butler for more than a decade, Banasiak testified that he lived in a staff house attached to the financier's waterfront property, answered the door for girls who gave Epstein "massages," and kept wads of cash to hand them on their way out.His spouse, Rodica "Ofelia" Banasiak, is also linked to Epstein's El Brillo Way mansion through addresses on her driver's license and previous voter registration records. As recently as October 2015, a traffic citation for Ofelia listed Epstein's estate as her place of residence.Ofelia found long-term employment working for Ivana Trump until the socialite sold her Palm Beach home in 2014. That year, Ofelia's 25-year-old daughter, a law student at Columbia University, landed a summer job with Ivana, too. (An online résumé for the daughter, which was found on the website sydex.net, includes a job with "Mrs. Ivana Trump" from May 2014 to July 2014.) The Biggest Bombshells in Newly Unsealed Epstein DocumentsSteven Mnuchin's Mysterious Link to Creepy Epstein Model ScoutGary Lyman, a lawyer for Ivana, told The Daily Beast that the student, who is from Romania, was tasked with helping Ivana pack her things for the move."The connection was the mom—her mom worked for Ivana," Lyman said, adding that Ofelia's "husband was the guy who worked for Epstein."It's unclear if Epstein played a role in Ofelia's employment with the Trumps. Ivana declined to answer further questions left with Lyman, and Ofelia and Banasiak declined to comment.Still, the ties between the Trumps and Epstein run deep. (As The Daily Beast reported, Epstein was also linked to former President Clinton and his family, visiting the White House and donating to the Clinton Foundation.)Ivana Trump's name was registered in Epstein's infamous Little Black Book, which also contains numbers for President Trump and daughter Ivanka, now-first lady Melania, and Trump's younger brother, Robert, and his ex-wife Blaine."I've known Jeff for 15 years. Terrific guy," Trump told New York in 2002. "He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it—Jeffrey enjoys his social life."In the 1980s and '90s, Trump and Epstein enjoyed that social life together until, as Trump claims, they had a falling-out. "The reason doesn't make any difference, frankly," Trump told reporters, days after Epstein's arrest for child sex-trafficking. "But I haven't spoken to him in probably 15 years or more. I wasn't a big fan of Jeffrey Epstein, that I can tell you."Epstein's brother, Mark, has claimed Trump flew on Jeffrey's plane "numerous times" and that the two "were good friends." According to another report, in 1992, Trump threw a "calendar girl" party at Mar-a-Lago solely for himself, Epstein and 28 young women.The reality star often dropped in on the creepy financier's mansion, according to the 2009 deposition of former Epstein staffer Juan Alessi. Trump "would come, have dinner," Alessi testified as part of one victim's civil case against Epstein. "He never sat at the table. He eat with me in the kitchen.""Did he ever have massages while he was there?" Katherine Ezell, a lawyer for the victim, asked Alessi of Trump."No. Because he's got his own spa," Alessi answered.Trump barred Epstein from Mar-a-Lago after Florida cops filed charges against him, one Trump Organization attorney told the Washington Post. Brad Edwards, an attorney for multiple Epstein victims, has also previously mentioned the supposed ban.In a 2010 affidavit, Edwards said he intended to take Trump's deposition as he battled a lawsuit Epstein had filed against him. "I learned through a source that Trump banned Epstein… because Epstein sexually assaulted an underage girl at the club," Edwards stated in the court filing.In the same pleading, Edwards named Banasiak as one of several employees that Epstein paid attorneys to represent in the face of a federal criminal probe and stream of civil suits filed by victims.Banasiak, 66, started working for Epstein in February 2005—one month before Palm Beach police launched their investigation into the perverted hedge-funder's sexual abuse of underage girls.The butler said he entered Epstein's employ shortly after a Maryland staffing agency notified him of a job opening in Florida, according to a 2010 deposition taken in one victim's lawsuit.Banasiak's testimony took place during Epstein's house arrest, following the financier's 2008 conviction in Florida for soliciting minors for prostitution. A Polish national who moved to the U.S. in 1980, Banasiak said he previously worked for a Manhattan family and ran a conference center for the Seagram's beverage company.Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's alleged madam, was the first to interview Banasiak for the job. In December 2004, Banasiak met Maxwell in her Manhattan apartment, before visiting with Epstein at his Madison Avenue office.Banasiak said he flew his belongings down to Florida on Epstein's private jet. And once he arrived in Palm Beach, he moved into a staff house on Epstein's waterfront property. (Property records indicate Banasiak purchased a $601,368 home in West Palm Beach in 2014.)Asked about the extent of Maxwell's and Epstein's relationship, Banasiak said, "They were like partners in business.""I don't know what kind of business but she was the one who organized I would say employment with this organization. So, whatever I need, if I have some kind of problem, I contact her," Banasiak testified. He said when Maxwell wasn't in Florida, he'd phone her in New York for instructions instead of speaking to Epstein directly.Banasiak said he was told a few years later to report to Nadia Marcinkova—one of Epstein's alleged co-conspirators who is accused of participating in sex with underage victims in Florida.It wasn't long into the butler's employment when he observed young women visiting the home. Epstein's assistants Sarah Kellen and Adriana Ross, two more alleged accomplices, told Banasiak what times girls would come over to give Epstein massages."I notice that those young women were coming for massage. And most of the time I opened the door for them and let them in," Banasiak testified.Banasiak said he didn't know there was anything illegal about Epstein's massages until police executed a search warrant in October 2005. "Before that I didn't know anything about what was going on beside the massage," he said, adding that he was "shocked" to see police at the mansion.A month or so before the search warrant, Ross came over with an unidentified man to haul three computers out of Epstein's home, Banasiak said.Epstein hired a lawyer for Banasiak, who was subpoenaed by the FBI.Banasiak said he was concerned about the charges against Epstein but it didn't impact his future employment because he believed Epstein didn't realize his victims were minors. "I assume he didn't know…. the age of those girls," the butler said.He said his duties involved running errands, buying groceries and flowers and collecting cash from the bank, so that he always had $2,000 on hand. He answered the door for the young women and led them inside and sometimes paid them after the massages were over. On other occasions, he said, Ross or Kellen would call while Epstein was gone and inform Banasiak a girl was coming over to collect money. When Epstein was on "work release," Banasiak said, he gave the inmate rides to the Florida Science Foundation and back to jail.At one point, Banasiak said, he rented a vehicle in his own name for one young masseuse at the behest of Kellen. Authorities later identified this woman as one of Epstein's victims.Banasiak also said modeling agent Jean-Luc Brunel would stay at the home and was comfortable enough to cook in Epstein's kitchen and swim in his pool, and that sometimes he'd give Brunel rides to and from the airport.When attorney Brad Edwards asked, "Given that you observed these young females and different females coming to the house, with great frequency, at some point… did you ever think, hey, this is unusual, this is unusual behavior?""Well, you know, I didn't question anything. It's not my job," Banasiak replied."It's not your job?" Edwards asked."Not my job," Banasiak said, adding, "I just do my job" and when someone "shows up" to Epstein's home it's "not to [sic] me to question."On LinkedIn, Banasiak says he's the "property manager" for Neptune LLC, a company associated with Epstein. (That Virgin Islands company was one of several Epstein corporations that donated $5,200 to New Mexico gubernatorial candidate Gary King.)Marriage records show he wed Ofelia, his second wife, in August 2011.While he purchased a West Palm Beach home with her in 2014, his stepdaughter's listed address in public records is Epstein's El Brillo Way residence.Earlier this year, the stepdaughter was sued for a car accident that occurred in Palm Beach County in March 2015. Janusz Banasiak, as owner of the vehicle his stepdaughter was driving, is also named as a defendant in the lawsuit.A summons in the case, addressed to the young woman, names her place of residence as Epstein's El Brillo Way mansion. (A crash report from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles also lists the woman's address at Epstein's home.)According to court filings, the plaintiff's lawyers had trouble locating Banasiak to serve the suit, which is pending. "Plaintiff has made a diligent search, on multiple dates and at multiple addresses, to serve Banasiak, but has been unable to do so," one August 2019 pleading stated. "Plaintiff has a good-faith reason to believe that Banasiak is evading service."While Banasiak has no other public social media presence, his wife and stepdaughter have frequently posted photos of their travels together, including jaunts to Paris, St. Tropez and the Hamptons this summer.Ofelia's daughter has also posted Instagram photos of herself at a Trump World Tower apartment in 2016 and at The World Bar at the high-rise in 2018.On July 4, two days before Epstein's arrest, Ofelia shared a video of the Rocky Mountains from a plane. Throughout the month of July, Ofelia posted scenic photos of Gunnison, Colorado, where Epstein's close friends Glenn and Eva Dubin own a ranch.The Dubins' longtime chef, Emily Womac, commented with a heart emoji on Ofelia's July 21 photo at the Ouray Hot Springs, and Ofelia responded in kind. Womac, who declined to comment when reached by The Daily Beast, was also sharing photos of her meals made with Colorado produce. The Dubin family declined to comment on whether they know Ofelia and if she works for them, or why she might have been posting from what appeared to be their private ranch.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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| North Korea's Spy Submarines Have Performed Some Wild Missions—But This One Ended In Disaster Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:04 AM PDT  A mechanical meltdown?
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| All of the Google Pixel and Home Products on Sale Now Posted: 15 Oct 2019 12:39 PM PDT |
| Russian troll freed in Belarus after arrest for US election tampering Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:07 AM PDT  Anna Bogacheva was detained and briefly threatened with extradition to the US after being named in Mueller reportRobert Mueller alleges that Anna Bogacheva and others posed as US citizens to set up social media accounts aimed at swaying the 2016 presidential vote. Photograph: Tom Brenner/ReutersA Russian national charged with attempting to meddle in the 2016 American presidential elections was briefly threatened with extradition to the United States after being arrested in Belarus, before she was was freed by local authorities. Anna Bogacheva was detained late on Monday evening by police at a hotel in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, while on holiday with her family, according to RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency. Her lawyer said she had been detained under an international arrest warrant issued by the United States.Bogacheva was one of 13 Russians indicted last year by the US justice department after the investigation into election interference led by the special counsel Robert Mueller. Three Russian entities, including a notorious state-backed "troll farm" called the Internet Research Agency, were also indicted. Russia's foreign ministry confirmed on Tuesday that Bogacheva had been arrested and said that it was providing consular assistance. But shortly after the foreign ministry statement, Russia's embassy in Minsk announced that Bogacheva had been freed. A spokesman for Belarus' general prosecutor's office said that there were "no grounds" for her arrest or extradition to the United States. "She has been released," the spokesman said, adding that Minsk would apply to have the international warrant for her arrest invalidated on the territory of Belarus. Mueller alleges that the St Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency's employees, including Bogacheva, posed as US citizens to set up social media accounts aimed at swaying the 2016 presidential vote that brought Donald Trump to power, as well as sowing "discord" in the US political system. US investigators say the Internet Research Agency is controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a wealthy businessman known as "Putin's chef" because his companies often provide catering services to the Kremlin. Prigozhin is also reported to provide mercenaries for Russia's military operations in Syria, Ukraine and parts of Africa. Bogacheva is accused of working as a translator for the agency and overseeing its data analysis group. She and Alexander Krylova, another agency employee, travelled to the United States in June 2014 on what US investigators say was an intelligence gathering trip. Bogacheva's arrest in Minsk briefly looked set to derail relations between Belarus and Russia. Viktor Vodolatsky, an MP from Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party, accused Belarus of a "betrayal" before news of her release broke.
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| Russian reporters receive threats after investigating secret military group -editor Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:44 AM PDT ![Russian reporters receive threats after investigating secret military group -editor]( "Russian reporters receive threats after investigating secret military group -editor") A group of Russian journalists who investigated the activities of a secretive group of Russian mercenaries in Africa and the Middle East have been subject to a campaign of physical threats and harassment, their editor-in-chief said. Around the same time, Roman Badanin, its editor-in-chief, said his journalists began to get emailed threats promising physical retribution for their work. Badanin said he could not prove who was behind the harassment campaign, which he said peaked last month when Proekt ran an investigation into Wagner's alleged activities in Libya.
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| State Department website promotes Mike Pompeo speech on 'Being a Christian Leader' Posted: 14 Oct 2019 05:30 PM PDT  The speech and promotion of it on the department's website were met with criticism that it violates the principle of separation of church and state.
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| Florida jury spares life of man who killed law professor Posted: 15 Oct 2019 10:13 AM PDT ![Florida jury spares life of man who killed law professor]( "Florida jury spares life of man who killed law professor") A Florida jury took a half hour Tuesday to spare the life of a man they convicted last week in the slaying of a Florida State University law professor who was gunned down in his garage. Instead, a Leon County judge sentenced Sigfredo Garcia to spend the rest of his life in prison for his role in the killing of law professor Dan Markel five years ago. The case had riveted Florida's capital as sordid details began to emerge about a messy divorce, tensions with in-laws and child custody battles that culminated in a murder-for-hire plot.
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