Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Yahoo! News: Weight Loss News

Yahoo! News: Weight Loss News


Trump and GOP allies say new Supreme Court justice may be needed to decide the election

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 09:14 AM PDT

Trump and GOP allies say new Supreme Court justice may be needed to decide the electionThe White House is preparing to backstop any lawsuits tied to the election with a 6-3 majority in the country's highest court.


A man didn’t like being arrested, so he fought back — through a Florida deputy’s pants

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 08:51 AM PDT

A man didn't like being arrested, so he fought back — through a Florida deputy's pantsOuch. Pass the Neosporin.


Volkswagen's Tesla competitor is finally here: Meet the ID.4, a cheaper alternative to the Model Y designed to sell against America's most popular cars

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 08:15 AM PDT

Volkswagen's Tesla competitor is finally here: Meet the ID.4, a cheaper alternative to the Model Y designed to sell against America's most popular carsThe German automaker is all-in on making an affordable, fully-electric car — and admits it's following Tesla's lead on design and sales.


An RV-size asteroid will zip by the Earth Thursday, closer than the moon and some satellites

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 08:53 AM PDT

An RV-size asteroid will zip by the Earth Thursday, closer than the moon and some satellitesAn asteroid about the size of a small school bus will zoom past the Earth on Thursday, passing within 13,000 miles of the Earth's surface.


‘Good guys are demonized, criminals are canonised’: One of the officers in Breonna Taylor raid speaks out in fiery email

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 07:02 PM PDT

'Good guys are demonized, criminals are canonised': One of the officers in Breonna Taylor raid speaks out in fiery emailA state of emergency has been declared ahead of an expected announcement from the state's attorney general


Louisiana trooper who faced firing in Black man's death dies in crash

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 05:15 PM PDT

Louisiana trooper who faced firing in Black man's death dies in crashA Louisiana state trooper died following a single-vehicle highway crash that happened hours after he learned he would be fired for his role last year in the in-custody death of a Black man.


Poisoned Russian opposition leader released from German hospital

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 04:01 AM PDT

Poisoned Russian opposition leader released from German hospitalIt's not yet clear whether Alexei Navalny could suffer long-term effects from the Novichok nerve agent, but he's already back to mocking Putin.


Senate Republicans Release Hunter Biden Hatchet Job Weeks From Election Day

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 05:03 AM PDT

Senate Republicans Release Hunter Biden Hatchet Job Weeks From Election DaySenate Republicans have released their controversial report on Joe Biden and his son Hunter's former dealings with Ukraine in a politically-charged move to taint Biden's campaign weeks out from Election Day.The investigation, which was spearheaded by Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) focuses on Hunter Biden's work for Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings—a key issue in last year's impeachment of President Donald Trump. The probe was launched despite no evidence of any wrongdoing by Hunter Biden ever being established.The report contains little that wasn't already known. Its headline finding is that two Obama administration officials raised some concerns to the White House in 2015 about Hunter Biden serving on the board of Burisma, but the report does not support Trump's baseless claim that Joe Biden tried to use his influence as Vice President to remove a Ukrainian prosecutor in order to protect his son's gas firm. Senate Democrats tried earlier this week to prevent the report from being published, warning that the document would only serve to amplify Russian disinformation about Biden ahead of November's election. The Treasury department has sanctioned Andriy Derkach, an associate who has pushed similar theories with the help of Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani, because U.S. intelligence services believe he is an active Russian agent. It was reported on Tuesday that the CIA believes President Putin is probably directing the disinformation campaign against the Bidens personally.The GOP investigation, launched after Biden became a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination, has been framed by Johnson as explicitly political—drawing condemnation even from Republican senators. Last week, Johnson said his report would reveal that Biden "is not somebody we should be electing president of the United States."On Wednesday, following the publication, the Biden campaign immediately dismissed the report as politically-motivated nonsense.Biden spokesman Andrew Bates reportedly said: "As the coronavirus death toll climbs and Wisconsinites struggle with joblessness, Ron Johnson has wasted months diverting the Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee away from any oversight of the catastrophically botched federal response to the pandemic, a threat Sen. Johnson has dismissed by saying that 'death is an unavoidable part of life.'"The report trumpets one quote as its central finding: That a State Department official, George Kent, raised concerns in 2015 with unidentified officials at the White House about Biden's son working with Burisma. Kent wrote in one email to unidentified colleagues of his: "The presence of Hunter Biden on the Burisma board was very awkward for all U.S. officials pushing an anti-corruption agenda in Ukraine."However, Kent said as much to congressional investigators during his testimony last year, when he said he was worried that Hunter Biden's position could appear like a conflict of interest, and that he had raised that issue with the White House.Kent, who was the acting deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine at the time, also said that the U.S. government never made a decision about Burisma that was affected by Hunter Biden's board position.Kent said in October last year that "in the aggregate (Hunter's job) didn't have any discernible effect."Generally, the report aims to paint Hunter Biden's activities as unseemly, and his father as complicit. What's missing is any fresh new evidence bolstering the notion that Hunter Biden's activities actually subverted U.S. policy in Ukraine, beyond concerning U.S. officials. In the course of the investigation, Johnson's committee pursued a sweeping set of subpoenas for former Obama-Biden administration officials to appear for testimony. They secured several interviews, including with former State Department official Victoria Nuland and Biden adviser Amos Hochstein. Yet, the report relies just as heavily—if not more so—on media reports that had been in the public realm long before the GOP committees took interviews. A New Yorker profile of Hunter Biden from 2019, in particular, is heavily cited. When it is not attempting to raise the specter of general sketchiness by the Bidens, the GOP report reads as a general airing of grievances by the chairmen, particularly Johnson, who has increasingly bristled at scrutiny of his contentious investigation.A full 10 pages of the 87-page report, slotted in the middle of material about Biden and Ukraine, serves as a venue for the Republicans to vent against Democrats for arguing that the GOP probe advanced Russian disinformation efforts and for "media leaks."There is plenty of disdain, too, for the media outlets that reported critically on the investigation. "The Democrats' false narrative has continued to be picked up, amplified, and circulated by a broad network of Democrat-friendly media outlets and Democratic members of Congress," says the report.Elsewhere in the report, Republicans simply dump assorted dirt on Biden's son. Hunter, say the Republicans, paid women who were Russian nationals and allegedly linked to a prostitution ring. There's an entire section of the report devoted to how Hunter Biden received U.S. Secret Service protection on trips abroad while his father was vice president.The GOP also raises Hunter Biden's China ties—a topic that Team Trump openly encouraged the Chinese government to probe in 2019—and says the connections "raise criminal concerns and extortion threats" without citing any specific evidence other than "records acquired by the committee." These are cited in the report frequently as "confidential documents."Those mysterious documents also form the basis of the Republicans' parting shot: that they may not be done yet with Hunter Biden. Republicans say they will continue to review the documents in their possession. "There remains," reads the report's final sentence, "much work to be done."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.


Stranger tries to snatch child from moving SUV outside Costco, California cops say

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 08:09 AM PDT

Stranger tries to snatch child from moving SUV outside Costco, California cops say"I'd do anything I could to stop him because that's the worst nightmare."


Archaeologists unearthed 27 sarcophagi in an ancient Egyptian city of the dead. They've been sealed for more than 2,500 years.

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 02:25 PM PDT

Archaeologists unearthed 27 sarcophagi in an ancient Egyptian city of the dead. They've been sealed for more than 2,500 years.Egyptians buried their dead in Saqqara for thousands of years. The ancient city has yielded countless discoveries, including human and animal mummies.


Whoopi Goldberg explains to Meghan McCain why Trump’s Supreme Court nominee won’t get "Kavanaugh’ed"

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 11:27 AM PDT

Whoopi Goldberg explains to Meghan McCain why Trump's Supreme Court nominee won't get "Kavanaugh'ed""No one's going to accuse her of anything," Goldberg said in reference to presumed front-runner Amy Coney Barrett


China 'coercing' thousands of Tibetans into mass labour camps - report

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 01:54 AM PDT

China 'coercing' thousands of Tibetans into mass labour camps - reportResearchers warn the "militarised vocational training" can lead to a loss of cultural heritage.


No deal with Israel, but Saudi pushes outreach to Jews

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 09:35 PM PDT

No deal with Israel, but Saudi pushes outreach to JewsFrom scrubbing hate-filled school textbooks to a taboo-defying religious sermon, Saudi Arabia is pushing for another kind of normalisation after declining to establish formal relations with Israel -- co-existence with Jews.


Russia touts nuclear-powered icebreaker as proof "the Arctic is ours"

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:51 AM PDT

Russia touts nuclear-powered icebreaker as proof "the Arctic is ours"The 570-foot-long "Arktika" is designed to smash Putin's Russia a path of "sovereignty" through ice 9 feet deep in the sensitive northern region.


The FDA is reportedly about to make approving a coronavirus vaccine before the election a lot tougher

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 01:26 PM PDT

The FDA is reportedly about to make approving a coronavirus vaccine before the election a lot tougherThe Food and Drug Administration is poised to roll out new, rigorous standards for an emergency approval for a coronavirus vaccine, The Washington Post reports.The standards, which appear to be an example of the agency's efforts to increase public trust amid the politicization of vaccine development, could be unveiled as soon as this week and are expected to be much tougher than what was used for the controversial emergency clearances of potential COVID-19 treatments hydroxychloroquine and convalescent plasma, per the Post. Manufacturers will be asked to follow vaccine trial participants for at least two months after they receive their second shot, two individuals familiar with situation told the Post on condition of anonymity. The agency will also reportedly be looking for at least five severe COVID-19 cases in the placebo group for each trial, as well as some cases of the disease in older people to see if the vaccine works. Given the new standards, plus the time it will take companies developing vaccine candidates to apply for an emergency use authorization and for the FDA to review the data, "it's hard to imagine how an EUA could possibly occur before December," Paul Offit, the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and FDA vaccine advisory board member, told the Post.That will likely allay at least some fears that the White House will try to push a vaccine out before the November election, although there are some people who think the FDA shouldn't grant an EUA for a vaccine at all since there'd still be less safety data required for approval than under normal circumstances. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com America needs to hear the bad news first A mild defense of Republican hypocrisy on the Supreme Court Trump is the only one being honest about the Supreme Court fight


'Sobering and stunning': Dr Fauci warns against surging Covid cases as death toll reaches 200,000 and Trump remains silent

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 12:57 PM PDT

'Sobering and stunning': Dr Fauci warns against surging Covid cases as death toll reaches 200,000 and Trump remains silentInfectious disease expert urges Americans to follow public health guidelines


‘Super pigs’ can have piglets at only 3 months old. They’re terrorizing US, experts say

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 05:10 PM PDT

'Super pigs' can have piglets at only 3 months old. They're terrorizing US, experts say"I've heard it referred to as a feral swine bomb," one expert said.


Trump Campaign Spent Nearly Half a Million on Fireworks

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 01:17 PM PDT

Trump Campaign Spent Nearly Half a Million on FireworksThe Trump campaign finds itself in an unexpected financial crunch heading into the election's homestretch: substantially behind Joe Biden in the cash it has on hand despite years of advanced preparation. If the president is looking to cast blame, however, the receipts suggest that it starts with himself.During the month of August, the Trump campaign spent nearly half-a-million dollars on fireworks, almost certainly for the display that was put on over the south lawn of the White House during the Republican convention. That display was indisputably ostentatious—a seemingly never ending stream of lights that culminated in the words "Trump" and "2020" bedazzling the sky above the Washington Monument. But the price tag—$477,000—made the company behind the show, Grucci Inc., the campaign's ninth largest vendor of the entire month. The campaign paid more to the Long Island fireworks company in August than it spent on legal bills for its top firm, Jones Day, or its top pollster, Fabrizio Lee & Associates. It was well more than half of the $762,826.08 the campaign spent on its entire payroll.Considering how much the Trump campaign brought in during August—$61,750,338—the fireworks expense may seem like a drop in the bucket. But Trump is badly trailing Biden in terms of money in the bank. The president and the Republican National Committee currently have $325 million cash on hand, compared to the $466 million Biden and the Democratic National Committee enjoy.With the map of battleground states i expanding, that means that dollars must be spent wisely. And buried in the Trump campaign's latest FEC report are other expenditures that suggest the president's personal proclivities—from over-the-top displays of grandeur to his incessant feuds with the media—are having a literal cost.The Trump campaign did not respond to questions about its August financial report.That same month, the Trump campaign paid $202,911.15 to Harder LLP. The firm, run by mega-lawyer Charles Harder, specializes in targeting media outlets. He's one of a coterie of Trump lawyers who have concocted lawsuits and legal threats against authors, news organizations, opposing political groups, and former aides whom the president accuses of wronging him. All told, Trump's campaign has spent over $3.3 million on legal consulting fees for Harder LLP. But that's just a portion of what he's spending on lawyers. In total, the Trump campaign has spent more than $11 million for legal fees—about ten times what the Biden campaign has paid for the same services.That's not the only area where the campaigns' different priorities are evident in their balance sheets. As COVID-19 has spread, Biden's team has largely opted against in-person canvassing and campaign events, instead steering resources towards advertising and remote voter contacts such as peer-to-peer text messaging.The Trump campaign, in contrast, has built a robust ground game. And Trump continues to jet around the country to his signature large-scale rallies, events that come with new challenges—and expenses—in the midst of a deadly viral pandemic. The campaign has retained a company called Wellness Coaches to staff its events with registered nurses and lab technicians who can handle COVID testing for campaign and event staff and temperature checks for attendees, according to a source familiar with the campaign's advance work. The campaign has paid Wellness Coaches more than $675,000 for its services since June.The Trump campaign has also beefed up more traditional aspects of its campaign of late, such as its polling operation. The campaign brought on a new polling firm in August called D13 Strategies. The company was formed in Wyoming in May, lists a Texas P.O. box as its address, and lists no other public information about what it does or who is behind it. The Trump campaign paid the company $257,800 in August, part of a polling services tab that exceeded $650,000 that month.That was less than the nearly $800,000 the Biden campaign spent on polling over the same period of time. And while voter surveys are traditionally activities for which national parties foot much of the bill, the Biden team's payments to polling companies in August more than doubled its total polling expenses for the cycle.But at just over $1.5 million in polling related expenditures, Biden's campaign has still spent just a fifth of what the Trump campaign has on surveying potential voters.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.


The DOJ is reportedly narrowing the focus of its antitrust case against Google to the company's search dominance

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 05:08 PM PDT

The DOJ is reportedly narrowing the focus of its antitrust case against Google to the company's search dominanceThe new, narrower focus reflected political disagreements between the DOJ and state attorneys general, according to The New York Times.


Great power competition heats up in the thawing Arctic, and the US must respond

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 07:53 AM PDT

Great power competition heats up in the thawing Arctic, and the US must respondRussia and China have been busy in a rapidly changing Arctic, and America seems to have barely noticed.


France's Macron says U.S. maximum pressure on Iran not working

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 10:55 AM PDT

France's Macron says U.S. maximum pressure on Iran not workingThe United States' maximum pressure campaign on Iran has so far failed, France's president said on Tuesday, and he dismissed U.S. efforts to restore U.N. sanctions against Tehran because Washington had left the 2015 nuclear deal. "The maximum pressure strategy, which has been under way for several years, has not at this stage made it possible to end Iran's destabilising activities or to ensure that it will not be able to acquire nuclear weapons," Emmanuel Macron said in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly. "This is why France, along with its German and British partners, will maintain its demand for the full implementation of the 2015 Vienna Agreement and will not accept the violations committed by Iran."


Seoul: Missing South Korean official may be in North Korea

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 12:05 AM PDT

Seoul: Missing South Korean official may be in North KoreaA South Korean official who disappeared off a government ship near the disputed sea boundary with North Korea this week may be in North Korea, South Korea's Defense Ministry said Wednesday. The Defense Ministry said in a statement it had information that the missing official was on North Korean shores on Tuesday afternoon. The ministry said officials will contact North Korea to ask about the missing official and take other steps to find more details.


The Mississippi Senate race is tightening, a new poll shows

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 01:29 PM PDT

The Mississippi Senate race is tightening, a new poll showsMississippi may have a real Senate race on its hands.At least that's what the latest Tyson Group poll suggests. The survey has incumbent Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) up just one point on her Democratic challenger, Mike Espy, who represented Mississippi in the House from 1987 to 1993 before serving as agriculture secretary in the Clinton administration for a time.> MISSISSIPPI (!!) SENATE RACE:> > Mike Espy (D): 40% > Cindy Hyde-Smith (R): 41%https://t.co/Sx0Y15R87z> > — Tim Hogan (@timjhogan) September 21, 2020As with all polling, there are caveats, and it's worth noting that although the Tyson Group survey was released Monday, it was conducted between Aug. 28-30. So it's tough to tell how well it reflects the current sentiment among Mississippi voters, especially since Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's death will likely affect elections around the country. But it's the latest poll out of the state, and if recent fundraising is any indication, Espy does have some momentum. On Saturday, buoyed by a nationwide in Democratic donations, he raised more money in a singe day than any Mississippi candidate for federal office in history, The Mississippi Free Press reports.> Latest polls of Mississippi Senate race, from newest to oldest:> > Hyde-Smith +1 > Hyde-Smith +5 > Hyde-Smith +8> > The most recent poll, from late August, is +1 HS with margin of error +/- 1.> > You can see why Espy thinks national Dems should pay more attention. https://t.co/56ViPVCHCr> > — Ashton Pittman (@ashtonpittman) September 21, 2020Espy and Hyde-Smith faced off in a special Senate election in 2018. The latter emerged victorious, but it was the closest Senate race in Mississippi since 1988.The Tyson Group poll was conducted between Aug. 28-30 and consisted of responses from 600 likely Mississippi voters. The margin of error is 4 percent. Read the full results here.More stories from theweek.com Democrats have a better option than court packing Cindy McCain plans to endorse Joe Biden Trump supporters boo Ohio's GOP lieutenant governor for encouraging mask use


Letters to the Editor: The right has been calling liberals 'baby killers' for years. No wonder QAnon took hold

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 03:00 AM PDT

Letters to the Editor: The right has been calling liberals 'baby killers' for years. No wonder QAnon took holdTrump says the governor of Virginia favors executing babies. A GOP lawmaker blamed RBG for 30 million child murders. The right was primed for QAnon.


Fact Check: Rand Paul's office confirms he did not call for a judge to subpoena antifa

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 06:34 PM PDT

Fact Check: Rand Paul's office confirms he did not call for a judge to subpoena antifaSen. Rand Paul did not call for subpoenas of antifa's travel and financial records as social media users claim. Paul's office confirmed this is false.


Federal judge rules absentee ballots in battleground Wisconsin can be counted up to six days after Election Day

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 04:30 PM PDT

Federal judge rules absentee ballots in battleground Wisconsin can be counted up to six days after Election DayDemocrats had sued to extend the deadline in the crucial swing state


Kenosha protesters who say they were assaulted by right wing militias are suing Facebook for hosting a 'Kenosha Guard' page

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 08:53 AM PDT

Kenosha protesters who say they were assaulted by right wing militias are suing Facebook for hosting a 'Kenosha Guard' pageThe lawsuit challenges the precedent of Section 230, a federal law that shields platforms like Facebook from being held liable for users' posts.


Marines' 1st-Ever Littoral Regiment Will Include Combat, Logistics and Anti-Air Personnel

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 12:42 PM PDT

Marines' 1st-Ever Littoral Regiment Will Include Combat, Logistics and Anti-Air PersonnelPlans are moving ahead to form the first-ever Marine littoral regiment, or MLR.


He couldn’t get a drink on Duval Street. Then he waved a gun, Key West police said

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 02:25 PM PDT

He couldn't get a drink on Duval Street. Then he waved a gun, Key West police saidTwo men visiting Key West found out what happens when you wave a gun out of a car window on Duval Street, according to police.


Covid uptick in 6 NYC neighborhoods

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 03:28 AM PDT

Covid uptick in 6 NYC neighborhoodsNew York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city is targeting six neighborhoods that have seen recent upticks in coronavirus cases, with an emphasis on expanded testing and contact tracing.


UK told U.S. it was Brussels, not London, threatening Irish peace

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 11:46 PM PDT

UK told U.S. it was Brussels, not London, threatening Irish peaceBritain's Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he told the U.S. government during a recent visit to Washington it was the European Union, not the United Kingdom, that was threatening the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland. The British government has put forward new legislation that would breach the Northern Ireland protocol, a part of Britain's divorce deal with the EU that seeks to avoid border checks between British-ruled Northern Ireland and EU member Ireland.


Australia whales: 90 dead in mass stranding off Tasmania

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 12:01 AM PDT

Australia whales: 90 dead in mass stranding off TasmaniaRescuers are racing to save the survivors of a group of 270 whales beached off Tasmania's west coast.


Women in President Donald Trump’s White House earn 69 cents for every $1 paid to male staffers

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Women in President Donald Trump's White House earn 69 cents for every $1 paid to male staffersThe gender pay gap is wider than the national pay gap and wider than the gap in the Obama White House.


Chicago quarantine COVID-19 travel order: Wisconsin among several states added back on list

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 03:05 PM PDT

Chicago quarantine COVID-19 travel order: Wisconsin among several states added back on listWisconsin is among several states added back to Chicago's COVID-19 emergency travel order Tuesday.


World leaders who skipped past UN meetings get their moment

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 10:14 PM PDT

World leaders who skipped past UN meetings get their momentVenezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has good reason not to travel to New York for the annual United Nations gathering of world leaders. Instead, Maduro will speak from the comfort of the presidential palace, renewing his place on the international stage after missing out on last year's event.


Chicago postal workers threaten to stop delivering mail after multiple employees shot on the job

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 03:26 PM PDT

Chicago postal workers threaten to stop delivering mail after multiple employees shot on the jobIt comes as shootings and murders in Chicago are up by 50 per cent compared to last year


NYPD Officer Spied on Tibetan New Yorkers for Chinese Government: Feds

Posted: 21 Sep 2020 11:27 AM PDT

NYPD Officer Spied on Tibetan New Yorkers for Chinese Government: FedsA New York City police officer was arrested Monday by federal authorities, who say the cop has been secretly working as an agent of the Chinese government for the past six years.The accused officer, Baimadajie Angwang, 33, is a community affairs liaison at the 111th Precinct in Queens. He is a former member of the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, and now serves as a civil affairs specialist in the Army Reserve, according to prosecutors. Angwan served three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and holds a secret-level security clearance.Angwang has "maintained a relationship with at least two PRC officials stationed at the [Chinese] Consulate" in New York City, says a complaint unsealed Monday in Brooklyn federal court. One is reportedly assigned to the "China Association for Preservation and Development of Tibetan Culture," a division of the country's United Front Work Department. Angwang referred to this man as "boss" and "big brother," according to the complaint, and allegedly offered to provide the consulate with inside information about the NYPD."This Department is responsible for, among other things, neutralizing sources of potential opposition to the policies and authority of the PRC," the filing explains.China Steals 'Hurt Locker' Footage for Unhinged Propaganda Film Simulating Attack on U.S. BaseAngwang, who is ethnically Tibetan, allegedly began communicating with his "handler" in 2014, according to court filings. The FBI says it has documented more than 100 conversations between Angwang and his Chinese government contacts during that time."The investigation has revealed that ANGWANG, while acting at the direction and control of PRC officials, has, among other things, (1) reported on the activities of ethnic Tibetans, and others, in the New York metropolitan area to the Consulate, (2) spotted and assessed potential ethnic Tibetan intelligence sources in the New York metropolitan area and beyond, and (3) used his official position in the NYPD to provide Consulate officials access to senior NYPD officials through invitations to official NYPD events," says the complaint, which dryly points out that "none of these activities" fall within Angwang's official law enforcement responsibilities.Angwang is a naturalized U.S. citizen, having first come to America on a cultural exchange visa. After receiving—and overstaying—a second visa, Angwang was granted asylum for the persecution and torture he claimed to have endured at the hands of the Chinese government "due partly to this Tibetan ethnicity," says the complaint.As an agent, he was allegedly tasked with locating and recruiting potential intelligence assets among the Tibetan community in New York. And even though the family is Tibetan, a minority group long oppressed by Beijing, the FBI says Angwang's ties to the Chinese government run deep. His father is a retired member of the People's Liberation Army, where his brother currently serves as a reservist. Angwang's mother is a retired government official and a member of the Chinese Communist Party, according to the complaint.Investigators also tracked Angwang's finances, zeroing in on large transfers he made between the U.S. and China. In 2016, Angwang—who makes about $50,000 a year—wired $100,000 to his brother's account in China. The following month, Angwang wired $50,000 to another account in China, held in someone else's name.In a statement, the International Campaign for Tibet, a Washington, D.C., human-rights NGO, said, "If confirmed by the courts, the alleged spying operation established at the direction of the Chinese government against the Tibetan American community in New York shows that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in malign operations to suppress dissent, not only in Tibet, where Tibetans are oppressed and denied all freedoms, but any place in the world where Tibetans are free to express themselves, starting with the United States of America. By strictly limiting access to Tibet for the Tibetan American community, the Chinese government tries to create an atmosphere of suspicion among the members of the community and tries to exploit it to its advantage."Angwang's detention hearing was held Monday afternoon. After about an hour's delay, during which court staff struggled to dial into the remote hearing, the proceeding got underway. Still, it wasn't without hitches. U.S. Magistrate Judge Roanne Mann had a problem with her device's camera: She could see Angwang, but he could not see her from the court's holding cell.Angwang confirmed that he understood the charges against him and consented to being detained without prejudice, meaning he retains the right to apply for bail in the future.John Carman, Angwang's lawyer, declined to comment.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.


Belarus's neighbours open doors to tech talent

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 08:57 PM PDT

Belarus's neighbours open doors to tech talentWith Belarus in upheaval, its neighbours are eyeing its tech sector in the hope of attracting the talent behind global successes such as calling app Viber and the game World of Tanks.


Biden is prepping for first debate. Trump is watching TV news and testing attack lines

Posted: 23 Sep 2020 04:00 AM PDT

Biden is prepping for first debate. Trump is watching TV news and testing attack linesPresident Trump and Joe Biden will hold their first of three debates on Tuesday. How are they preparing?


How Elon Musk's car collection has evolved over the years, from the million-dollar McLaren F1 he destroyed to the Lotus he bought that was in a James Bond movie

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 10:17 AM PDT

How Elon Musk's car collection has evolved over the years, from the million-dollar McLaren F1 he destroyed to the Lotus he bought that was in a James Bond movieWhen it comes to Musk's cars, some got destroyed, while others inspired certain design elements in the cars Tesla makes today.


California's Bobcat Fire not expected to be contained until Oct. 30; 4,000 forced to evacuate

Posted: 22 Sep 2020 12:37 PM PDT

California's Bobcat Fire not expected to be contained until Oct. 30; 4,000 forced to evacuateUp to 85 structures may have burned, officials say. The blaze has torched more than 106,000 acres and full containment is not expected until Oct. 30


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