| Washington Post changes al-Baghdadi headline that called terror leader an 'austere religious scholar' Posted: 28 Oct 2019 07:37 AM PDT  Critics, including President Trump's children, blasted the paper for an obituary headline that did not portray the ISIS leader's brutality.
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| Congresswoman's exit prompts question of equity amid scandal Posted: 28 Oct 2019 02:56 PM PDT  The resignation of a female Democratic congresswoman over a consensual, sexual relationship with a campaign aide has sparked questions about whether women are held to higher standards in public life. At the center of the controversy is Katie Hill, a first-term lawmaker from California and a rising Democratic Party star. In a video released Monday, Hill said she was stepping down because she was "fearful of what might come next" following the online publication of explicit pictures that outed her relationship with a female staffer.
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| A Southwest flight attendant who accused pilots of watching the plane bathroom with a hidden camera said she was pressured not to tell or 'no one would ever fly our airline again' Posted: 29 Oct 2019 03:41 AM PDT  Renee Steinaker is suing Southwest, claiming she saw two pilots watching a livestream of the plane bathroom on an iPad in 2017.
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| View Every Angle of the 2019 Rolls-Royce Cullinan Posted: 29 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT |
| Bursting at the seams: inside an IS prison in Syria Posted: 29 Oct 2019 08:43 AM PDT  Behind the steel door, the cell is as packed as their eyes are empty -- haggard, scrawny prisoners in orange jumpsuits lying head-to-toe cover every inch of floor space. An AFP team was given rare access to one of the crowded detention facilities in northeastern Syria where Kurdish forces are holding Islamic State group (IS) suspects. As a Turkish offensive launched against Kurdish forces earlier this month wreaks chaos in the area, just how solid such doors will be is a question keeping the world on edge.
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| Trump Administration Challenges California Sanctuary Law in Supreme Court Posted: 29 Oct 2019 06:58 AM PDT  The Trump administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down California's "sanctuary law," which hinders cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.The administration is challenging several provisions in the California Values Act, or S.B. 54. The law prohibits officials from sharing information with ICE about a suspect's release from custody, eliminating any opportunity for ICE agents to take illegal immigrants into custody before they are released from local jails. It also prohibits local law-enforcement officers from sharing physical descriptions of suspects with immigration authorities."The practical consequences of California's obstruction are not theoretical; as a result of SB 54, criminal aliens have evaded the detention and removal that Congress prescribed, and have instead returned to the civilian population, where they are disproportionately likely to commit additional crimes," the Trump administration argued in its petition, which was filed Monday.While the provisions of S.B. 54 do not technically apply to suspects with a violent criminal history, since the law effectively prevents local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE, immigration officials must stake out jails and police stations to await the release of non-citizen suspects from custody, and only then make arrests.Last week at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee, ICE official Timothy Robbins claimed that the Los Angeles police department was releasing as many as 100 illegal immigrants per day from custody."Cooperation between ICE and state and local law enforcement agencies is critical to the agency's efforts to identify and arrest removable aliens, and to protect the nation's security," Robbins said at the time. "Unfortunately, we are seeing more jurisdictions that refuse to work with our officers, or directly impede our public safety efforts."
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| Vietnam Seizes $4.3B in Falsely Labeled Chinese Aluminum Posted: 29 Oct 2019 05:57 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Vietnamese customs discovered and seized about $4.3 billion of Chinese aluminum falsely labeled "Made-in-Vietnam" before being shipped mostly to the U.S., the Dan Tri news website reported, citing Nguyen Van Can, head of the General Department of Vietnam Customs.The aluminum was imported from China by a company based in the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau that tried to sidestep U.S. tariffs, according to the report that didn't give the company's name. Vietnamese customs worked with American authorities during the investigation.Vietnam has become a top destination for suppliers looking to avoid U.S. and Chinese tariffs amid the ongong trade war between the great powers, which also makes it a potential magnet for fraudsters.Vietnamese authorities are increasing scrutiny on product origins and tightening issuance of certificate of origins for exports, in an attempt to stop trade fraud, Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Tran Quoc Khanh told reporters in Hanoi in July. The government has stepped up its efforts "to prevent the Vietnamese territory from being taken advantage of, and not being used to avoid tariff with any markets," Khanh said.Vietnamese shipments to the U.S. increased 26.6% from January through October compared to the same period last year, the Hanoi-based General Statistics Office said in an estimate released earlier today.To contact the reporter on this story: Nguyen Dieu Tu Uyen in Hanoi at uyen1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: John Boudreau at jboudreau3@bloomberg.net, Derek WallbankFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump: 'Afghanistan is a safe place by comparison' to Chicago Posted: 28 Oct 2019 10:24 AM PDT  President Trump used his first trip to Chicago as president to disparage the city and its police chief, who had boycotted his appearance.
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| Ivan Milat, who killed backpackers, dies in Australia prison Posted: 27 Oct 2019 07:33 PM PDT  Ivan Milat, whose grisly serial killings of seven European and Australian backpackers horrified Australia in the early '90s, died in a Sydney prison on Sunday, ending hopes of a deathbed confession to more unsolved slayings. Milat died in Long Bay Prison where authorities sent him from a hospital last week to ensure he ended his days behind bars, officials said. Milat was convicted of murder in the deaths of three German, two British, and two Australian backpackers after giving them rides while they were hitchhiking.
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| NRA leadership thought its own TV channel was airing 'distasteful and racist' content Posted: 28 Oct 2019 11:22 AM PDT  "One particularly damaging segment featured children's cartoon characters adorned in Ku Klux Klan hoods," the court filing stated.
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| Catholic priest denies Joe Biden Holy Communion at Mass in South Carolina because of abortion views Posted: 29 Oct 2019 10:04 AM PDT  "Any public figure who advocates for abortion places himself or herself outside of Church teaching." Rev. Robert Morey said in a statement.
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| 900 children test positive for HIV in Pakistani city Posted: 27 Oct 2019 01:19 PM PDT  Nearly 900 children under 12 in the small Pakistani city of Ratodero were affected by an HIV outbreak that overwhelmingly affected children. Health officials initially blamed the outbreak on a single pediatrician, saying he was reusing syringes.
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| Strong quake hits south Philippines, injuries reported Posted: 28 Oct 2019 07:44 PM PDT  A 6.6-magnitude quake struck the southern Philippines Tuesday, authorities said, causing injuries and damaging buildings in a region still reeling from a previous deadly tremor. Terrified locals fled into the streets after the shallow quake, which the US Geological Survey said hit the island of Mindanao as schools and offices opened for the day. USGS initially reported the quake had a magnitude of 6.8, adding there was no tsunami threat.
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| Here's What California's Kincade Wildfire Looks Like From Space Posted: 28 Oct 2019 03:03 PM PDT  The Bay-area's Kincade wildfire has grown so large that a satellite can record the plumes from 23,000 miles away in space.
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| ISIS Leader Killed on Turkey’s Doorstep Posted: 28 Oct 2019 10:56 AM PDT  Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. operation three miles from Turkey. People are asking questions.
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| Australian sentenced to 36 years for murder, rape of Israeli Posted: 29 Oct 2019 04:19 AM PDT  An Australian judge sentenced a man to 36 years in prison on Tuesday for the murder and rape of an Israeli student whom he bludgeoned into unconsciousness moments after she stepped off a tram in Melbourne before setting her corpse on fire. Victoria state Supreme Court Justice Elizabeth Hollingworth ordered Codey Herrmann, 21, to serve at least 30 years behind bars for his crimes against 21-year-old Aiia Maasarwe last January. The judge said she would have sentenced Herrmann to 40 years in prison with 35 years to be served before he became eligible for parole if he had not pleaded guilty in the face of an overwhelming prosecution case.
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| REFILE-Kenyan team aim to stop fatal snake bites Posted: 29 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT ![REFILE-Kenyan team aim to stop fatal snake bites]( "REFILE-Kenyan team aim to stop fatal snake bites") Kenyan mother Beth Mwende heard her sleeping three-year-old cry out, but did not worry further after the child quickly settled - until the next morning, when she found her daughter, Mercy, semi-conscious with two fang marks in the neck. Although snakebites are common in their home town in Kitui county, 160 km (99 miles) east of the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, antivenom medication is hard to come by.
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| Number of bodies found near Mexican resort town rises to 42 Posted: 28 Oct 2019 06:19 AM PDT  Searching Mothers of Sonora uncovered a mass grave with the remains of 13 people inside, located near the popular beach resort town of Puerto Peñasco.
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| Over 40 skulls found in den of Mexico cartel suspects Posted: 28 Oct 2019 12:04 PM PDT  Police found more than 40 skulls, dozens of bones and a fetus in a glass jar next to an altar in the den of suspected drug traffickers in Mexico City during a raid this week, authorities said on Sunday.
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| Ukrainian Oligarch Seethed About ‘Overlord’ Biden for Years Posted: 28 Oct 2019 01:13 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by Sarah Rogers/The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIndicted Ukrainian gas oligarch Dmytro Firtash spent more than $1 million hiring key figures in Republican efforts to investigate the Biden family. His lawyers—who often go on Fox News to defend President Trump—say they needed the dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden to demonstrate that Firtash's prosecution was politically motivated. But the two men have a history. Two Ukrainian gas industry experts say the gas-market reforms pushed by Biden and others in 2014 and 2015 hit Firtash in the wallet, and badly. One knowledgeable outside observer estimated that the 2014 and 2015 gas reforms and legislation cost him hundreds of millions of dollars. On Dec. 9, 2015, Biden gave a speech to Ukraine's parliament. He praised the protesters who forced out Ukraine's Russia-friendly president, he recited Ukrainian poetry, and he called for reforms to Ukraine's gas market, too. "The energy sector needs to be competitive, ruled by market principles—not sweetheart deals," he said, basking in the audience's repeated applause.Firtash, who built his fortune in part through a rather sweet gas-trading deal, hated it. Earlier this year—more than three and a half years after the talk—he was still seething. Firtash told The Daily Beast that the Ukrainian parliamentarians in the audience were humiliatingly subservient to Biden. "He was the overlord," Firtash said. "I was ashamed to look at this. I was repulsed."Now people linked to Firtash are at the heart of Republicans' efforts to find dirt on Biden, and a document Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has said is key to his theory of Biden World malfeasance was produced for Firtash's legal team. The reporter who published that document, The Hill's John Solomon, is a client of Firtash's new lawyers, Victoria Toensing and Joe DiGenova. Over the summer, Trump pressured Ukraine's president to cooperate with Giuliani's efforts. That pressure stunned many Republicans and gave House Democratic leadership the impetus they had long sought to announce an impeachment inquiry. And two Giuliani associates reportedly brought up Firtash's name when talking about their plans for Ukraine's energy sector. Those two associates also worked with Giuliani to find dirt on Biden, and they've both been charged with financial crimes. On top of that, Firtash's lawyers say one of them, Lev Parnas, has worked as a translator for his legal team. Firtash's blunt assessment of Biden's speech at the parliament and influence on Ukraine—shared earlier this year with The Daily Beast and published here in full for the first time—highlights how a battle over the future of Ukraine bled into the highest levels of American politics. Firtash's company did not respond to requests for comment. Biden's campaign called Firtash "a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian oligarch who's been wanted on bribery and racketeering charges in the U.S. since 2014."* * *Gas Man* * *Firtash was born in Ukraine and—like many other up-and-coming oligarchs—grew rich in the rubble of the Soviet Union. After spending some time in Moscow, he started trading gas from Central Asia to Ukraine. His renown as a gas trader grew, and he made deals with Russia's state-owned giant Gazprom to move Russia's abundant gas to energy-hungry Ukraine. With Gazprom's blessing, he got deals widely characterized as of the sweetheart variety: Firtash bought cheap gas from Russia, sold it for a lot more in Ukraine, and profited. He then bankrolled Russia-friendly politicians in Ukraine. One such politician was Viktor Yanukovych, who hired Paul Manafort. American diplomats at the time saw Firtash as a vector of Russian influence—part of the connective tissue between the Kremlin and Kyiv. And American law enforcement saw him as a crook. On April 2, 2014, the Justice Department announced that he had been indicted for authorizing $18.5 million in bribes to Indian government officials. The case involved efforts to mine for titanium that would be used in Boeing planes. Austrian authorities arrested Firtash a few weeks before the DOJ's announcement. He posted about $174 million in bail and has since been living in Vienna, fighting extradition from his palatial corporate offices there. And while the allegation isn't part of the DOJ's indictment of Firtash, U.S. government lawyers have said in court that he's an "upper echelon" associate of a Russian criminal organization. Firtash says the claim is baseless. In June of this year, an Austrian judge greenlit his extradition to the U.S. But his high-powered legal team is still fighting. And this July, that team got some new oomph: DiGenova and Toensing, a husband-and-wife duo who have worked on a host of contentious fights and have deep ties in Washington's tight-knit conservative legal community. They even reportedly secured a meeting about Firtash's case with Attorney General Bill Barr—a sit-down many criminal defense lawyers would kill for. Firtash's team has long argued he's the victim of a political prosecution and that the U.S. government only targeted him to blunt his influence in Ukraine. That's where Biden comes in. * * *Direct Hit* * *In 2014, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians took to the streets in protest. After Yanukovych's government killed dozens of protesters, he was forced out and fled to Russia. He left behind a $20 billion hole in Ukraine's economy, and the country teetered on the brink of fiscal collapse. Enter Biden. The vice president helmed America's Ukraine policy, traveled to the country multiple times while in office, and said he spoke to the country's president and prime minister "probably on average once a week if you average it out over the last year." Kyiv was desperate for billions in support from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where the U.S. holds sway. The Americans and the IMF pushed Ukraine to roll out a host of reforms to get the cash. "The Obama administration, and Vice President Biden in particular, led the international community to help advance gas sector reforms in Ukraine," said a former State Department official with knowledge of the dynamics. "The thinking of the United States was that establishing an open, transparent gas sector would be vital to Ukraine's fight against entrenched oligarchic corruption and would shore up the country's strategic stability in the face of Russian aggression." "Mr. Firtash's control of RosUkrEnergo, which exerted monopolistic control over regional gas distribution, would have been threatened by these reforms," the official added.Biden has touted his leverage over Kyiv, including successfully pushing for the ouster of the country's then-chief prosecutor, Viktor Shokin. Biden wasn't the only one pushing for Shokin to leave as part of Ukraine's anti-corruption efforts. The prosecutor had put in anemic performance charging powerful and well-connected kleptocrats while in office and the IMF, the European Union, and Ukrainian anti-corruption activists all urged his ouster.Shokin had also scrutinized a gas company whose board included Biden's son Hunter Biden, a fact that Trump and his allies have cited as evidence of corruption. They note that Shokin's replacement wasn't much better. But the reporter who broke the Hunter Biden story years ago reported that Joe Biden's overall anti-corruption push in Ukraine likely endangered the company his son was linked to.The Americans and the IMF also pushed for a series of reforms to Ukraine's energy sector, including the gas industry. In 2014 and 2015, the Ukrainians unveiled a variety of changes: Kyiv changed the corporate governance of its state-owned gas company, Naftogaz; it passed its "Natural Gas Market" law, which the prime minister touted as having "de-oligarchized and de-monopolized" the gas market; and it rolled out a basket of regulatory changes to its gas sector—with Biden cheerleading along the way. In a July 2015 speech, Biden praised Ukraine for "closing the space for corrupt middlemen who rip off the Ukrainian people." "Middleman" was an epithet often aimed at oligarchs like Firtash, whose gas business had raked in millions by acting as a broker between Ukraine's state-owned gas company and Russia's Gazprom. "There is one of the biggest state-owned enterprises, which is Ukrainian Naftogaz, a gas company, that had very shadowy and non-transparent deals with middlemen and with the Russian Federation," Arseniy Yatseniuk, the country's prime minister at the time, said in a speech just two days after Biden's. "So last year we eliminated this middleman. His name is Mr. Firtash. He is under FBI investigation and expected to be extradited to the United States."Oleksandr Kharchenko, the director of the Center for Energy Industry Research Center in Kyiv, said the changes damaged Firtash's business interests. "It hit him directly," he said. * * *Yessed to Death* * *Firtash, for his part, saw in Biden a swaggering politician overstepping his bounds—and a Ukrainian audience embarrassingly enchanted with what they saw."When Biden came to Ukraine and he spoke in parliament, I was reminded of an old story from the Soviet Union when the first secretary of the ObKom [the regional committee of the Communist Party] came, and on the one side all the komsomoltsi [youth members of the Communist Party] lined up, and on the other the communists, and they all took loyalty oaths. You understand? That's how approximately it was with Biden," Firtash told The Daily Beast in February.Biden's influence in Ukraine, he added, was "enormous."Firtash saw Yatseniuk, the prime minister at the time, as a pawn of Biden and other Americans. "Who appointed whom, and who actually governed the country?" he said. Firtash has also sparred with Andriy Kobolyev, who became CEO of Naftogaz under Yatseniuk. Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—the indicted Giuliani associates—reportedly discussed an effort to oust Kobolyev earlier this year. Reuters has reported that Firtash financed their work. Firtash's lawyers say scrutiny of Biden's role is necessary for his criminal defense. "The U.S. and Austrian legal teams have always been focused on Dmitry Firtash's innocence," a spokesperson for DiGenova and Toensing said in a statement provided to The Daily Beast. "The U.S. Justice Department has submitted false and misleading statements about Mr. Firtash and the evidence in his case to the Austrian courts. In the context of reopening the extradition case, the Austrian legal team sought former Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin's sworn statement as one of numerous statements and other evidence submitted to the Austrian court. The former Vice President's role in Mr. Firtash's extradition is materially relevant to the Austrian lawyers' argument that the prosecution is political."The 2015 reforms appear to have cost Firtash a lot of money. It's difficult to estimate how much, as the oligarch's finances are quite opaque. Victoria Voytsitska was a member of the eighth convocation of the Ukrainian parliament and a member of its committee on Fuel Energy, Nuclear Policies, and Security. She told The Daily Beast that the gas market reforms have likely cost Firtash about $215 million to $400 million a year since their 2015 rollout. "Firtash really was pushed out of Naftogaz's financial flow," Kharchenko said. That said, many caution against overestimating the significance of the reforms Ukraine implemented. Firtash remains immensely wealthy and powerful, and controls Ukrainian gas distribution networks, known as oblgazes. And in the wake of the Maidan Revolution, he kept control of his assets in Ukraine. Oligarchs still dominate Ukraine's energy sector, which is far from a bastion of transparency.Ed Chow, an energy expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Biden and the U.S. didn't push hard enough for major, structural changes. "To be fair, Biden was the most senior U.S. official interested in Ukraine," he said. "Without Biden, even less would have happened in terms of the U.S. government pressuring Ukraine. Ukrainians would have moved forward even less on reform. I would give the U.S. government a mixed grade." An American political consultant who's worked in Ukraine for years and spoke anonymously because of client sensitivities said Kyiv has honed its ability to satisfy Westerners without upending the status quo. "The Ukrainians, if you look at their history, they've always been at the edge of one empire or another," the consultant said. "They were used to dealing with viceroys, representatives of the sultan, representatives of the Lithuanian empire, the Polish empire, the Russian and Soviet empires. They're masters at paying lip service to the guy who comes to town for a week. They will yes him to death, and then the minute he leaves, it's business as usual."But business changed for Firtash after 2015. And Biden stayed on his mind.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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| The Kincade Fire in California's Sonoma County has forced nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes. Here are the latest updates. Posted: 29 Oct 2019 09:36 AM PDT  The Kincade Fire in California's Sonoma County has burned 75,415 acres. PG&E; told regulators that a broken jumper cable may have started the blaze.
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| Gulf dispute unacceptable, must be resolved: Kuwaiti emir Posted: 29 Oct 2019 03:32 AM PDT  A damaging 30-month-old dispute between Qatar and its Gulf neighbours "is no longer acceptable" and must be resolved, Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah said Tuesday. Addressing the opening session of parliament's new term, Sheikh Sabah said the Saudi-led boycott has greatly weakened the unity of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in which Qatar and its foes are members. GCC members Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, in addition to Egypt, imposed a sea, land and air boycott of Qatar in June 2017 accusing it of ties to radical groups.
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| Baby Shortage Prompts China’s Unwed Mothers to Fight for Change Posted: 28 Oct 2019 02:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for Next China, a weekly email on where the nation stands now and where it's going next.For generations, a Chinese woman who gave birth out of wedlock was shunned by society and discriminated against by authorities. Now, as the Communist Party seeks to boost a slowing birthrate, that is starting to change.Yue Li, based in the southern port city of Guangzhou, thought she would face a range of obstacles in getting her son legal documents after she gave birth last year following a separation from her ex-boyfriend. But she was surprised how easy it was to access maternity benefits and obtain a residential permit known as a hukou for her son-- so much so that she posted a step-by-step guide for others in a WeChat account for non-conventional families.Even though authorities finally scrapped the one-child policy in 2016, along with rules requiring a marriage certificate for hukous, implementation has been mixed across China's 31 provinces. In Guangdong, where Yue lives, provincial authorities have removed fines that were levied against unwed mothers for flouting the nation's "family planning" laws."To be honest, the looser policies really gave me a lot more courage to have the baby," Yue wrote in the WeChat account named Diverse Family Network, which advocates reproductive rights and has more than 2,000 followers. "It would not have been possible a year earlier. The penalties would have cost tens of thousands of yuan!"Zhan Yingying, who runs the WeChat account, said more than 100 unwed mothers from a dozen of China's most developed cities told her they hadn't been harassed by the authorities over fines or encountered problems getting hukous for their children."We do see signs of easing restrictions in places," Zhan said by phone, adding that more women are speaking out and pushing for change. "If they don't tell the stories, they will always be ignored."Changing AttitudesThe societal shift is underway as the Communist Party gets desperate for newborns. The number of babies born in the country dropped to the lowest level in almost 60 years in 2018, signaling the looser two-child policy has done little to reverse its slowing birthrate, and worsening the outlook for growth in the world's second-largest economy.After taking power in 1949, the Communist Party codified centuries of culture that placed the traditional nuclear family at the center of society into so-called "family planning" laws, leaving little room to accommodate single parents or same-sex relationships. While no law in China directly penalizes women for having children outside of marriage, for a long time almost every aspect of her child's life -- including during pregnancy -- was made harder without a father named on official paperwork.There is no official data on single mothers in China. A state-run Shanghai media outlet called The Paper estimated that more than 1 million people have been born out of wedlock in China, based on the 2010 census and a study conducted by local academics in 2014.Attitudes toward single parents are changing in China, as they are in the rest of the world. In a survey released in 2016 of about 2,800 Chinese by three NGOs including the Rainbow Lawyers Network, more than 86% of respondents said it was acceptable for a single woman to have a child, and 75% said it was acceptable for lesbian couples to have children.He Yafu, a Guangdong-based demographer, said moves to give back reproductive rights to individuals would have "little impact" on the overall fertility rate as financial pressures, high housing prices and the demands of work often discourage both single and married women from having children. But, he said, the moves are "still significant as it means a departure from decades of family planning policies."Losing BattleAlthough things are getting better, many women still struggle against ingrained biases in many parts of China. Zou Xiaoqi has been locked in a two-year court battle with the Shanghai Social Insurance Fund Management Center as it refused to reimburse her for medical expenses after having a child because she couldn't produce a document that required a marriage certificate."You won't find explicit discriminatory policies in official documents against unwed mothers but in reality they are everywhere," said Zou, the mother of a two-year-old son. "Unwed mothers' reproductive rights aren't explicitly denied in the country's national law, but once you get on the ground and start to claim your benefits, it's just impossible."In China, employers pay into a government fund that covers its female employees' maternity insurance and salary when they have a baby, but requirements for making claims differ between cities and provinces. Zou's case is now before the Shanghai Supreme Court after she lost twice in lower courts."For us, it's no longer about claiming the benefits, or even about winning," said Li Jun, Zou's lawyer. "It's about the social awareness toward those women who are denied from their legal rights, just because they brought babies into this world without that piece of paper, a marriage certificate."Unlike many in China, Zou is aware of her rights and has the means to fight for them. She's college-educated, works for a foreign company, and is able to afford a live-in nanny who charges 7,000 yuan ($990) a month. Born in 1977, Zou came of age during China's period of opening up under former leader Deng Xiaopeng, a time that led many to question the strictures governing daily life and assert their rights more strongly.Seeking ChangeFor the younger generation, the question is even more fundamental. Alan Zhang, a 28-year-old single freelance film director, has sought to push China's lawmakers to reverse a rule that excludes single women from accessing state-operated sperm banks."Why do I have to get married to become a mother?" Zhang, whose Chinese name can also be translated as Ellen, asked in a January WeChat post seeking a sperm donor. "I'm ready physically and psychologically, but the sperm banks in China do not accept applications from unwed mothers."Zhang got mixed responses to her post. Along with critics calling her irresponsible and radical, she also received applications from a dozen candidates both inside and outside China, though none of them met her standards.Zhang ended up writing letters to the 64 delegates of the National People's Congress, China's legislature, who are from Jilin -- the only province that doesn't exclude single women from the state-operated sperm banks. She asked them to push for the same reform nationwide, but never heard back.One lawmaker who has sought change hasn't had much luck either. Huang Xihua, a delegate of China's legislature and the deputy secretary general of the government in Huizhou, a city in Guangdong, proposed removing all limits on family planning at this year's annual gathering. Women make up about a quarter of the NPC, which has almost 3,000 members.Huang has also called on the National Health Commission to remove the specific regulations barring single women from sperm banks, but told Bloomberg News she hasn't received any feedback from them on her suggestion. The National Health Commission, which formulates the nation's family planning policies, didn't immediately respond to a fax seeking comment on the progress of reforms for unwed mothers."As a country modernizes, there is little it can do to boost fertility: reducing the cost of female births and introducing public measures are necessary, but not enough," Huang said. "What is needed is greater independence for women, a break with traditional patriarchal structures and recognition of the legal rights of children born out of wedlock."To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Judge Allows Covington Student’s $250 Million Suit against WaPo to Move Forward Posted: 29 Oct 2019 05:15 AM PDT  A Covington Catholic High School student can move forward with his defamation suit against the Washington Post, a federal judge in Kentucky ruled on Monday.U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman of Kentucky had ruled in July that the student, Nicholas Sandmann, could not sue the Post for defamation. Bertelsman partially reversed that decision on Monday, ruling that of 33 allegedly defamatory statements in the Post's coverage of Sandmann, three of those statements could be challenged in court."The Sandmann family and our legal team are grateful that Judge Bertelsman has allowed the case to proceed," said Sandmann family attorney Todd McMurtry in an email to the Washington Times. "The Court's ruling preserves the heart of the Nicholas Sandmann's claims. We can consider this a huge victory and look forward to initiating discovery against the Washington Post."On January 18 of this year, Sandmann and classmates were in Washington, D.C. to participate in the March for Life, an annual pro-life demonstration. A viral video of Sandmann and his classmates appeared to show a confrontation between the students and a Native American man, Nathan Phillips.Sandmann and several other students were wearing MAGA hats, and the Post asserted in its coverage of the incident that the students had blocked Phillips on his way to the Lincoln Memorial. Phillips told the Post that the students had surrounded him.The three defamatory statements approved by Bertelsman for further investigation assert that Sandmann blocked Phillips's path.The students were pilloried as racist on social media when the video went viral. However, longer videos of the incident showed that Phillips had in fact approached the students and started to drum loudly when he came close to Sandmann. The students were also chanting during the incident with permission of their instructor, to drown out the shouts of a group of black nationalists nearby who were yelling insults such as "fa**ot" and "cracker" at the group.Covington Catholic High School cancelled classes for several days after the incident due to online harassment of its students.
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| Masked gunmen attack protesters in Iraq holy city; 18 killed Posted: 29 Oct 2019 09:37 AM PDT  Masked gunmen opened fire at Iraqi protesters in the Shiite holy city of Karbala on Tuesday, killing 18 people and wounding hundreds, security officials said, in one of the deadliest single attacks since anti-government demonstrations erupted earlier this month. The overnight attack came as Iraqis took to the streets for a fifth straight day after a hiatus in the demonstrations that began earlier this month to protest government corruption, a lack of jobs and municipal services, and other grievances. The earlier protests also saw violence against protesters, and a total of 240 people have been killed since the unrest began.
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| Impeachment: DOJ appeals order to release secret evidence gathered by Robert Mueller in Russia investigation Posted: 28 Oct 2019 01:08 PM PDT  The Department of Justice says it shouldn't turn evidence over to a House committee contemplating Trump's impeachment because it wouldn't be kept confidential.
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| House Republicans Are Taking Another Shot At Reforming America's Healthcare Posted: 27 Oct 2019 01:33 PM PDT  Is this the right policy for Americans?
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| Turkey says Kurdish YPG has not fully withdrawn from Syria border area Posted: 28 Oct 2019 05:01 AM PDT  ANKARA/ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Kurdish YPG forces have not fully withdrawn from a strip of northeastern Syria under a Russia-brokered accord that is about to expire, Turkey's foreign minister said on Monday, as Ankara prepared to discuss its next steps with Moscow. Turkey began a military offensive in northeastern Syria https://tmsnrt.rs/35ZoIro targeting the YPG forces on Oct. 9 after President Donald Trump pulled U.S. troops out of the area, setting off a regional power shift that analysts say benefits Moscow and Damascus. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said a Russian delegation was headed to Turkey to discuss joint patrols that could begin as soon as Tuesday.
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| View Photos of FCA's New Vehicle Simulator Posted: 28 Oct 2019 02:52 PM PDT |
| 'It's hell' without Compaore: Burkinabes miss dictator five years on Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:23 AM PDT  Ziniaré (Burkina Faso) (AFP) - Five years after the people of Burkina Faso rose up against Blaise Compaore, chasing him out of the nation he ruled with an iron fist for 27 years, dire living conditions are prompting nostalgia for the old days. "Before, there were projects, work, businesses," said Maurice Iboudo, a sales agent in Ziniare, home to Compaore's sprawling residence near the capital Ouagadougou. The deprivation even extends to the zoo on Compaore's former presidential estate.
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| The biggest private coal miner in the country just filed for bankruptcy Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:14 AM PDT ![The biggest private coal miner in the country just filed for bankruptcy]( "The biggest private coal miner in the country just filed for bankruptcy") Another coal company is filing for bankruptcy, and this time, it's the largest private coal miner in the United States. Murray Energy has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after recently failing to make payments to lenders, CNN reports. The company has formed a restructuring agreement with lenders and received $350 million in credit to continue operating, it said Tuesday. This, The Wall Street Journal reports, marks the "eighth coal company to collapse into bankruptcy over the past year," with the Journal writing that the filing is a "stark example of coal's diminished role in the U.S. energy sector."Murray Energy CEO Robert Murray is also stepping aside, being replaced as chief executive by former Chief Financial Officer Robert Moore, although Murray will stay on as chair. Murray is an ally of President Trump's who the Journal reports had been "relentless" in his lobbying of a federal bailout of the coal industry. Although Trump in a 2018 speech said that "coal is back," CNBC reports that last year, demand for coal reached its lowest level in four decades.
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| The Washington Post faces backlash for headline calling ISIS terrorist 'austere religious scholar' Posted: 28 Oct 2019 06:32 AM PDT  Twitter users are using the hashtag WaPoDeathNotices to mock the outlet for its obituary headline.
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| Iowa woman dies after gender-reveal-party explosion Posted: 27 Oct 2019 11:20 AM PDT  An Iowa woman died after an explosion at a gender reveal party created debris that hit her. The Marion County Sheriff's office says that the explosion happened at a home in central Iowa around 4 p.m. on Saturday during a party to announce the gender of a baby a couple is expecting.
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| Egypt arrests train conductor after youth jumps to his death Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:33 AM PDT  An Egyptian train conductor who forced two poor street vendors without tickets to jump off a moving train, leading to the death of one of the youths, has been arrested, authorities said Tuesday. Footage of an ensuing argument between the conductor and other passengers on the train went viral, along with calls on social media for the resignation of Egypt's Transportation Minister Kamel el-Wazir. Railway authorities said the conductor demanded the youths "pay tickets but they refused," after which he opened a carriage door for them to jump.
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| Kamala Harris Argues Racism, Sexism Jeopardize Her Electability Posted: 28 Oct 2019 09:47 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris described electability as the "elephant in the room" of her campaign and pondered whether America is ready for a woman of color to be commander in chief."Essentially, is America ready for a woman and a woman of color to be president of the United States?" Harris said in an interview with Axios on HBO. "There is a lack of ability or a difficulty in imagining that someone whom we have never seen can do a job that has been done 45 times by someone who is not that person."The same conversation happened when Barack Obama ran for president, the California senator added.Harris has been especially vocal about both racial justice and women's rights during her 2020 campaign. During this month's debate, she accused the debate moderators and fellow contenders for the Democratic nomination of failing to adequately prioritize the discussion of abortion rights. The former California attorney general also made headlines during the first Democratic debate in June when she called out former vice president Joe Biden for remarks he made praising two segregationist senators."It was hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and careers on the segregation of race in this country," Harris said from the debate stage."It was not only that, but you also worked with them to oppose busing," she continued. "There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day. That little girl was me."Biden made the offending remarks several weeks earlier when he reminisced about bygone days when politics was characterized by a higher level of civility, citing his ability to get along with two segregationist senators despite their differences as an example."At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn't agree on much of anything," Biden said. "But today you look at the other side and you're the enemy."Harris is currently polling in fifth place behind former vice president Joe Biden, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Senator Bernie Sanders, and South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.
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| This Means War: Iran Has A Huge Wishlist Of Fighter Jets Posted: 27 Oct 2019 11:59 PM PDT  That all could be changing.
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| Chicago teachers strike enters ninth day after overnight talks end Posted: 29 Oct 2019 01:52 AM PDT  The Chicago Teachers Union and education officials broke off talks early on Tuesday with no deal in sight to end a teachers' strike after meeting behind closed doors overnight. Both the union and Chicago Public Schools officials had announced before midnight that they planned to stay at the table until a tentative agreement was hammered out, but talks are expected to resume at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. The strike in Chicago is the second longest in recent memory.
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| Disney World moves on from Skyliner mishap, touts 1 million riders Posted: 28 Oct 2019 07:02 AM PDT  Disney announced in a new blog post that 1 million guests have been on its new Skyliner attraction — though neglected to mention a key incident.
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| Indian boy dies after three days stuck in well Posted: 28 Oct 2019 11:38 PM PDT  The body of a two-year old boy trapped 26-metres (85-feet) down a well in southern India for more than three days was recovered on Tuesday, authorities said. Sujith Wilson was the second toddler in four months to grab nationwide attention after falling into the 30-centimetre (one-foot) diameter pipe while playing near his home in Tiruchirappalli district of Tamil Nadu state on Friday. "The body was retrieved using special equipment and he was in a decomposed state," district official S. Sivarasu told journalists.
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| Macron Backs Brexit Delay as Johnson Faces Vote on Election Posted: 28 Oct 2019 01:08 AM PDT ![Macron Backs Brexit Delay as Johnson Faces Vote on Election]( "Macron Backs Brexit Delay as Johnson Faces Vote on Election") (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.French President Emmanuel Macron will agree to a Brexit extension, easing the risk of the U.K. leaving the European Union without a deal on Oct. 31, according to a French government officialMacron has agreed a delay until Jan. 31, said the official, who asked not to be identified. With other member states already supporting the move, France's backing paves the way for EU diplomats to sign off on an extension during talks in Brussels on Monday. The draft proposal under consideration includes an option for the U.K. to leave earlier -- on Nov. 30 or Dec. 31 -- if both sides ratify the divorce deal.A three-month Brexit extension would buy time for Prime Minister Boris Johnson as he seeks an early U.K. election to break the impasse in British politics. Macron spoke with the British leader over the phone on Sunday afternoon.Stymied twice in his efforts to force an early general election, Johnson accused opponents of holding the U.K. "hostage" by refusing to support his agenda for leaving the EU based on a draft exit deal sealed this month. He looks unlikely to win a vote in the House of Commons later on Monday.Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn reiterated Sunday he would not support the government's bid for an election on Dec. 12 unless a no-deal Brexit is completely ruled out -- and said that would require more of a guarantee than just a three-month extension by the EU. Labour's stance suggests Johnson will fall short of the two-thirds majority he needs in Parliament to trigger a vote. All the same, Macron was convinced that an election is increasingly likely after his conversation with Johnson, the French official said. Macron had blocked the EU's attempt on Friday to delay Brexit for three months, insisting on a one-month extension to Nov. 30.Brexit Twists Point to Election. Here's How It Works: QuickTakeAmid the party maneuvering, the government will consider "all options" to trigger an election if Parliament continues to block Brexit, a U.K. official said Sunday.Earlier, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party presented a proposal to secure an early election via an amendment to the fixed-term law, which could be passed by simply majority. The two parties, both strongly in favor of staying in the EU, offered to back the bill if the election were set for Dec. 9, three days before Johnson's preferred date.AdvantageousThe Liberal Democrats and the SNP could gain from an election held before Brexit is delivered. An earlier date would make it more likely that students, who are among the most pro-EU voters and a natural constituency for both parties, will still be at their universities to cast ballots.Government ministers rejected the proposal. Conservative Party Chairman James Cleverly called it a "gimmick" that opposition parties could use to thwart Brexit by stopping Parliament from debating the divorce deal."They have obviously made it clear that they have no intention of wanting Brexit to be done, no intention of wanting the Withdrawal Bill," Culture Secretary Nicky Morgan told Sky News. "It is important for the sake of the country that we bring this uncertainty to an end."Risky ChangesLabour, which has been criticized by some of its MPs for not matching the Liberal Democrats' full-throated opposition to Brexit, joined the government in ruling out the plan.Corbyn said the Liberal Democrat move was a "stunt" and that his party's stance on an early general election has not changed.No GuaranteesThe U.K. government hasn't laid out a Plan B if it fails to secure an election on Monday, though Johnson's office has previously said it would focus on its domestic agenda rather than trying again to ratify the Brexit deal. It said the legislation is paused until MP agree to an early election.Parliament's fragmentation over Brexit could give rise to an alternative maneuver: the opposition or Johnson himself could trigger a no-confidence vote in the government, which requires a simply majority to succeed.Party leaders then would have 14 days to form a new government that can win a confidence vote with Johnson's Conservatives given the first shot as the party with the most seats. But Labour could also try, or some sort of national unity government might be formed. If no government can be formed, Parliament will be dissolved triggering an election.Confidence TestThe SNP's leader in Westminster, Ian Blackford, made it clear that his party was prepared to seek a confidence vote if necessary to remove the Tories from office.Given the risks, Johnson was still trying to focus MPs' minds on Monday's vote.Parliament has "run its course" and must agree to a Dec. 12 election, he said in comments released Saturday. "If they refuse this timetable -- if they refuse to go the extra mile to complete Brexit -- then I will have no choice but to conclude that they are not really sincere in their desire to get Brexit done."(Updates with potential Macron concession in second paragraph.)\--With assistance from Ian Wishart, Nikos Chrysoloras and Geraldine Amiel.To contact the reporters on this story: Stuart Biggs in London at sbiggs3@bloomberg.net;Helene Fouquet in Paris at hfouquet1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka, James LuddenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The 2020 World Monuments Watch Reveals Cultural Sites in Urgent Need of Conservation Posted: 29 Oct 2019 08:44 AM PDT |
| Trump news – live: President booed at World Series as Democrats demand to know why Congress was not briefed on al-Baghdadi raid Posted: 28 Oct 2019 01:15 AM PDT  Donald Trump was roundly booed as he attended Game 5 of baseball's World Series in DC on Sunday, with fans of the Washington Nationals and Houston Astros chanting "Lock him up!" as "Veterans for Impeachment" signs were held aloft by spectators, prompting the president to leave the stadium early.On Saturday, Mr Trump had triumphantly announced the death of Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in a US-led raid that saw him cornered in a dead-end tunnel in Syria, the president assuring the world the terrorist had died "crying and screaming".
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| Man pleads not guilty in deaths of 4 sleeping on NYC streets Posted: 28 Oct 2019 12:03 PM PDT  A homeless man charged in the beating deaths of four men as they slept on the New York City streets may pursue a mental health-related defense, his lawyer told a judge Monday at his arraignment. Randy Santos, 24, pleaded not guilty to murder and other charges during a brief excursion to court from the psychiatric ward, where he has been held since shortly after his arrest in the Oct. 5 killings in Manhattan's Chinatown neighborhood. Santos appeared in an orange jail suit and gray undershirt with his hands cuffed behind his back and a Spanish interpreter by his side.
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| Sanders: U.S. Should Withhold Military Aid Unless Israel ‘Fundamentally Changes’ Relationship With Gaza Posted: 29 Oct 2019 07:23 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, who has earned endorsements from Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich), supporters of an Israel boycott, said during the annual J Street national conference on Monday that the U.S. should "leverage" military aid to Israel in order "to demand respect for human rights and democracy.""My solution is to say to Israel: you get $3.8 billion dollars every year, if you want military aid you're going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza," Sanders said. "In fact, I think it is fair to say that some of that should go right now into humanitarian aid in Gaza."The U.S. has agreed to give Israel a massive military-aid package. The latest aid package was approved by the Obama administration and commits to giving Israel $38 billion in military aid to Israel over 10 years. The memorandum of understanding for the aid runs through 2028.> "My solution is to say to Israel: you get $3.8 bil every year, if you want military aid you're going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza, in fact I think it is fair to say that some of that should go right now into humanitarian aid" JSt2019 pic.twitter.com/z5WmEEjbxI> > -- People for Bernie (@People4Bernie) October 28, 2019Sanders denounced the situation in Gaza as "absolutely inhumane," "unacceptable," and "unsustainable." He also criticized President Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "One is going to be impeached, the other one may end up in jail, so I don't know how much credibility they have, actually in terms of integrity.""The Palestinian people have a right to live in peace and security as well. It is not anti-Semitism to say that Netanyahu's government has been racist," Sanders continued.The Gaza strip is run by the terrorist organization Hamas, which in May launched nearly 300 rockets into Israel. In July, Hamas official Fathi Hamad told Palestinians that "there are Jews everywhere! We must attack every Jew on planet Earth — we must slaughter and kill them, with Allah's help. Enough warming up!"Sanders's remarks drew criticism from prominent conservatives, including former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who last year defended Israeli "restraint" in clashes with Palestinian protestors.> Just when you thought Bernie Sanders couldn't get any more radical, he outdid himself. He wants to take money we give to Israel to defend itself from terrorists, and give it to Gaza, which is run by terrorists?? Unreal. Why isn't every other Dem pres candidate saying he's wrong?> > -- Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) October 29, 2019
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