| Iranian oil tanker pursued by US off the coast of Syria Posted: 01 Sep 2019 08:17 AM PDT  An Iranian oil tanker pursued by the U.S. across the Mediterranean Sea slowed to a near-stop Sunday off the coast of Syria, where America's top diplomat alleges it will be unloaded despite denials from Tehran. The ongoing saga of the Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, comes as tensions remain high between the U.S. and Iran over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers. Tehran is set to send a deputy foreign minister and a team of economists to Paris on Monday for talks over ways to salvage the accord after a call between Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and French President Emmanuel Macron.
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| Flights cancelled after Hong Kong protesters target airport Posted: 31 Aug 2019 05:02 PM PDT  More than a dozen flights were cancelled Sunday as thousands of pro-democracy activists blocked routes to Hong Kong's airport, a day after protesters and police fought pitched battles in some of the worst violence seen in the city since unrest began three months ago. At least 16 flights were cancelled, the airport's website said, with the departure hall packed with a backlog of passengers who had struggled to make it to the terminals. Earlier, operators of the Airport Express train suspended services after the station was besieged, while black-clad protesters -- hiding from CCTV cameras under umbrellas -- built barricades at the bus terminus and attempted to stop traffic on the main road leading to the facility.
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| We Need to Talk about Joe Biden Posted: 01 Sep 2019 03:30 AM PDT  There are two possible explanations of Joe Biden's inability to tell the truth about things: One is that his mind is failing him, the other is that his honor is. In neither case is Biden fit to hold the office of president of the United States of America, and Democrats would discredit themselves and endanger the nation to nominate him.Yes, yes, go ahead — "But, Trump!" etc. — and continue when you've completed the ritual of equivocation, and don't think too hard about how far and in what direction that line of moral self-justification has carried the Republican party.Joe Biden is a plagiarist and a liar, among other things. In the most recent example, detailed by the Washington Post, Biden made up a story in which he as vice president displayed personal courage and heroism in traveling to a dangerous war zone in order to recognize the service of an American soldier who had distinguished himself in a particularly dramatic way. It was a moving story. "This is the God's truth," he concluded. "My word as a Biden."But his word as a Biden isn't worth squat, as the Post showed, reporting that "Biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient wrong, as well as his own role in the ceremony." Which is a nice way of saying: Biden lied about an act of military heroism in order to aggrandize his own role in the story.Like Hillary Rodham Clinton under fictitious sniper fire, Biden highlighted his own supposed courage in the face of physical danger: "We can lose a vice president. We can't lose many more of these kids."If Biden here is lying with malice aforethought, then he ought to be considered morally disqualified for the office. If he is senescent, then he obviously is unable to perform the duties associated with the presidency, and asking him to do so would be indecent, dangerous, and unpatriotic.The evidence points more toward moral disability than mental disability, inasmuch as Biden has a long career of lying about precisely this sort of thing.The most dramatic instance of that is Biden's continued insistence on lying about the circumstances surrounding the horrifying deaths of his wife and daughter in a terrible car accident. It is not the case, as Biden has said on many occasions, that they were killed by a drunk driver, an irresponsible trucker who "drank his lunch," as Biden put it. That is a pure fabrication, and a slander on the man who was behind the wheel of that truck and who was haunted by the episode until the end of his days. Imagine yourself in the position of that man's family, whose natural sympathy for Biden's loss must be complicated by outrage at his persistent lying about the relevant events.Why would Biden lie about the death of his wife and daughter? Why would he lie about the already-heroic efforts of American soldiers? In both cases, to make the story more dramatic, to give himself a bigger and more impressive narrative arc. That he would subordinate other people — real people, living and dead — to his own political ambition in such a callous and demeaning way counsels strongly against entrusting him with any more political power than that which he already has wielded.Biden lies about matters great and small. He lies about his trip to Afghanistan. He lies about the death of his wife and daughter. He is wildly dishonest about his role in the Iraq War and the 1994 crime bill, landmark moments in his legislative career that later became political liabilities. And whatever the state of his brain today, he was not senile back in 1987, when he plagiarized the words of Margaret Thatcher and Neil Kinnock for his own speeches. Like his lies, his plagiarism is part of a lifelong habit: As recently as this year, he was filling out his policy papers with uncredited — stolen — material from advocacy groups.The United States has become an empire of lies. We are governed by liars chosen on the basis of lies, and the worst partisans have begun openly to admire the lies, so long as they are skillfully constructed and delivered. The lowest among us enjoy being lied to and celebrate it. Entire political careers are based on lies — and policy initiatives, too.But if not the serial liar Joe Biden, then whom will the Democrats choose? Elizabeth Warren, who has misrepresented her supposed Native American ancestry? Kamala Harris, who has lied about murder in order to serve her own political ends? Robert Francis O'Rourke, who cannot tell the truth for five minutes about basic and fundamental questions of public policy?The Democrats are ready to go into November with nothing better to say for themselves than, "Our liar is better than their liar!" It is doubtful they will even be morally conflicted about that. But the nation will be worse off for it, inasmuch as democratic assumptions built on a foundation of lies must necessarily be unstable.Joe Biden has exhausted whatever presumption of goodwill or benefit of the doubt we might have extended to him for the past 46 years. He has had his chance to show that he is a man capable of honor, integrity, and honesty — and he has failed that test at every turn. If there ever was a time for him, that time has passed. The last thing this country needs is another pathological liar in its highest office. He is unfit for the presidency in every way, and Democrats owe the country better than to nominate him in the pursuit of their own selfish partisan interests.
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| 9 Arizona State students from China detained at LA airport, denied admission to U.S. Posted: 31 Aug 2019 07:50 AM PDT  The students were "denied admission to the U.S. to continue their studies" and were sent back to China, ASU said.
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| Hurricane Dorian wreaks havoc in the northern Bahamas as mandatory evacuations begin on coastal Florida Posted: 01 Sep 2019 06:56 AM PDT  Mandatory evacuation orders have been issued for parts of coastal Florida in preparation for Hurricane Dorian, including the site of Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago Estate. Little over an hour after the Category Five storm made landfall and began wreaking havoc in the northern Bahamas Florida governor, Ron DeSantis announced the evacuation of some coastal communities. Dorian was reportedly packing winds of 185 mph, with fears that gusts could top 200 mph. A Hurricane watch is in force for much of the state's east coast as the storm made its slow devastating progress west towards the US mainland. In some cases the evacuations are mandatory in others voluntary. Tolls charges have been suspended to allow people to make their escape. According to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Mar-a-Lago was included in the evacuation of barrier islands and other vulnerable areas in Palm Beach County. Dorian made landfall twice in the Bahamas' Abaco Islands early on Sunday afternoon. It tied with the most powerful landfall ever recorded in the Atlantic with winds of 185 miles per hour (295 kph), according to the Miami-based National Hurricane Centre. Hurricane Dorian's powerful winds hit Abaco Islands Credit: Rich Roberts/AFP Powerlines were torn down and roofs swept away as hundreds of residents sought shelter in schools and churches. Residents in one block of flats who lost their roof were unable to leave because of the flooding outside. Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis broke down in tears as he addressed a news conference, calling it "probably the most sad and worst day of my life," the Nassau Guardian reported. "We're facing a hurricane ... one that we've never seen in the history of the Bahamas," he said. The Abaco Islands were reported to be under water as forecasters warned it was facing a towering 18 to 23 feet storm surge. Winds were gusting over 220 mph, the NHC said. Around 28,000 Britons people visit the Bahamas annually and the islands have enjoyed a bumper year for tourism. According to the latest projections Dorian, which on Sunday morning was around 225 miles off West Palm Beach, Florida, will batter the Bahamas for up to 24 hours before turning north. Hurricane Dorian Both the European and US models show the hurricane turning north on Monday night with winds still at 140 mph, but remaining offshore. By the early hours of Thursday morning, with the wind have dropped down to around 100 mph, Dorian is expected to be off the shore of Georgia, before reaching Cape Hatteras, North Carolina early on Friday. Even though the centre of the hurricane is now projected to remain off the US mainland, the states of Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina are still bracing themselves for heavy rainfall and storm damage. "This storm has been particularly difficult, a lot of uncertainty," Peter Gaynor, acting administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, told NBC's Meet the Press. Georgia Bernard, right, and Ana Perez are among residents filling sandbags to take home in preparation for Hurricane Dorian Credit: Wilfredo Lee/AP "It's going to be a slow mover as it gets towards the Florida Coast. The time now is for residents to really prepare. "It is going to impact Florida, it is going to impact Georgia, it is going to impact the Carolinas and now is the time to make those preparations." Mr Gaynor warned that people should not become complacent even though the projections suggested the hurricane would stay offshore. "I think the mistake most people make is they follow that thin black line and think that is the exact location they think the storm will be in. "Your really have to look at the 'cone of uncertainty'. If you look at that it really covers the majority of Florida and as you go north great parts of Georgia and the Carolinas. "We are not out of this just yet."
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| Iranian official mocks Trump with 'good morning selfie' after president tweets out image from secret intelligence briefing Posted: 01 Sep 2019 06:41 AM PDT  Donald Trump has found himself trolled on Twitter by a top Iranian official after he controversially tweeted a classified photograph taken by a US surveillance satellite.The US president posted the high-resolution aerial image of a smouldering launch pad surrounded by a plume of black smoke - complete with annotations - late on Friday, apparently the result of a failed rocket catching fire at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province.
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| Watch a man brazenly light a cigarette at gunpoint during an armed robbery Posted: 31 Aug 2019 01:19 PM PDT  If you think you're cool under pressure, you've got absolutely nothing on a St. Louis man who -- in a scene that could have easily been part of a Tarantino movie -- calmly and brazenly lit a cigarette while the bar he was in was being robbed.Not only that, our fearless hero refused to let the robber snatch his smartphone away. All the while, the robber was carrying around an assault weapon that was later revealed to be a Hi-Point Carbine. If that sounds familiar, the Hi-Point Carbine was one of the weapons used during the 1999 Columbine school shooting.The robbery itself was captured on video and shows all the other bar patrons smartly take immediate cover. Our cigarette toting hero, meanwhile, doesn't seem to show the tiniest ounce of concern or fear.What's more, he doesn't even flinch when the robber went around the bar and briefly pointed his weapon in his direction. Indeed, in a bad-ass demonstration of resolve, it was at this moment that he lit a cigarette, with seemingly no regard for his own well-being or St. Louis' indoor smoking laws. Even when another bar patron has a gun shoved into his back, the anonymous smoker remains incredibly calm while continuing to smoke."He just was very adamant about it like, 'I'm not playing your game," bartender Dustin Krueger told KMOV4 News.The video was shared to Facebook by the bar owner and can be viewed below.https://www.facebook.com/jkimack/videos/10213714436204738/As to how it all played out, the robber managed to escape with a handful of wallets, some cash, and a few cell phones. His total haul was said to be a few hundred dollars. Notably, and thankfully, no one in the bar was injured during the ordeal. A witness to the robber relays that the perpetrator appeared to be on some type of drug.
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| One dead, eight wounded in French knife attack Posted: 31 Aug 2019 11:25 AM PDT  A 19-year-old man was killed and another eight people were wounded, three seriously, in a knife attack Saturday in the French city of Lyon, a regional official and emergency services said. Police have arrested the suspected attacker and placed him in custody for murder and attempted murder, the Lyon prosecutor's office told AFP. A police source said the man was an Afghan asylum-seeker.
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| Trial date set for men charged with 9/11 attacks Posted: 31 Aug 2019 08:53 AM PDT  Dr. James Mitchell personally interrogated the men charged with plotting the 9/11 attacks. He says Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would kill almost 3,000 people all over again if given the chance.
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| Valerie Harper's death reminded me of my rant about 'Rhoda' and the great response I got Posted: 31 Aug 2019 07:21 PM PDT  A pioneering writer's answer to my frustrated letter about a TV sitcom crystallizes a key moment in feminist history. We were on the cusp of change.
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| Student loans: Betsy DeVos rule change means college students must fight for loan forgiveness Posted: 30 Aug 2019 05:51 PM PDT  DeVos thought it was too easy under Obama for students to get loan forgiveness if a college closed or if their degree didn't prepare them for a job.
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| Destination remains obscure for Iran oil tanker sought by US Posted: 30 Aug 2019 10:23 PM PDT  An Iranian oil tanker pursued by the U.S. on Friday again listed its destination as Turkey but the Turkish foreign minister added to the confusion by saying the vessel is headed to Lebanon — statements that were promptly denied in Beirut as America's top diplomat alleged it still would head to Syria. The flurry of contradictory statements further muddies the waters for the Adrian Darya 1, formerly known as the Grace 1, and obscures where its 2.1 million barrels of oil will ultimately go.
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| Man who served 36 years in jail for stealing $50 from bakery to be finally freed Posted: 31 Aug 2019 08:54 AM PDT  An Alabama man who served 36 years in prison for stealing $50.75 (£41 today) from a bakery will finally be released.Alvin Kennard was given a life sentence without parole in 1983 after being convicted of first degree robbery.
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| UPDATE 2-Israeli drone dropped incendiary substance in border forest - Lebanon army Posted: 01 Sep 2019 05:11 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Israeli drone dropped incendiary substance in border forest - Lebanon army]( "UPDATE 2-Israeli drone dropped incendiary substance in border forest - Lebanon army") The Lebanese military said an Israeli drone, which violated Lebanon's airspace, dropped incendiary material and sparked a fire in a pine forest by the border on Sunday. The fires near the border in Lebanon "originate with operations by our forces in the area," the Israeli military said in a statement without elaborating. Residents and security sources at the border in south Lebanon say Israel has in recent days fired flare bombs into the Israeli-occupied Shebaa farms along the border.
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| Opposition supporters defy ban, march on Moscow Posted: 31 Aug 2019 07:21 AM PDT  Chanting "This is our city", Russian opposition supporters marched in central Moscow Saturday in defiance of a protest ban, just a week before controversial elections in the capital. Under the watchful eye of police, hundreds participated in the so-called "March against political repressions", shouting out demands including: "Freedom to political prisoners!". Moscow police said turnout was about 750, while Russian media gave a figure of several thousand people.
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| Statue honors Dane credited as Nanjing Massacre lifesaver Posted: 31 Aug 2019 08:20 AM PDT ![Statue honors Dane credited as Nanjing Massacre lifesaver]( "Statue honors Dane credited as Nanjing Massacre lifesaver") A statue of a Danish citizen who is credited with saving thousands of people in China during the Japanese invasion that led to the Nanjing Massacre was unveiled by Denmark's queen on Saturday. Queen Margrethe II revealed the three-meter (10-foot) bronze statue of Bernhard Arp Sindberg at a park in Aarhus, the city where he was born in 1911. Designed by Chinese and Danish artists, the statue was a gift from the city of Nanjing, which was the capital at the time of the massacre in December 1937 and January 1938.
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| Reporter calls White House ‘unprofessional’ in cutting off his access Posted: 01 Sep 2019 01:22 PM PDT  Suspended journalist Brian Karem accuses the Trump administration of mistreating the press.
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| The 737 Max has 'no value' after 2 deadly crashes as passengers no longer trust the plane, the lawyer for an aviation firm suing Boeing says Posted: 31 Aug 2019 02:07 AM PDT  Avia Capital Services is suing Boeing, claiming it intentionally misled customers and regulators about the 737 Max's safety and asking for a refund.
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| 2-month-old Kentucky boy dies after he was left in a car for hours, police say Posted: 30 Aug 2019 07:57 PM PDT  The Lexington Police Department said the 2-month-old boy was unintentionally left in a car by a family member for several hours Thursday.
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| Meet El Paso’s Punk Rock Border Angels Posted: 31 Aug 2019 02:15 AM PDT  HandoutIf you are looking for the epicenter of America's current moral and psychic crisis, head for El Paso. The divided border city is a clash of two distinctly American visions. One, a dream of diversity and multiculturalism—all-night fusion restaurants, Native American cafes with great cactus stew, and Tex-Mex skacore mosh pits that go all night. The other, a darker vision, that threatens it all, is a gentrifying monocultural nightmare masking a history of genocide and torture that erupts into white supremacist terrorism, xenophobia, and violence and which has been amped to a fever pitch under Donald Trump.Throw in tens of thousands of asylum seekers from across the world seeking to make their home in the U.S.A. and you have the place where the battle for the soul of the American Dream is taking place.El Paso is where diversity fights for a home against America's own racist, psychotic demons, and asylum seekers fight for their vision of a better life. Even as the city is reeling from the deadliest racist terrorist violence in its recent history, new threats of racist violence are a part of life for those fighting for justice and human rights. HandoutIn the midst of all of this, a small group of indigenous activists are trying to make a stand. Their message: let's be human about this whole immigration thing please? They've formed an ad hoc consortium of punk-rock humanitarian folks, "Food Not Walls/Cosecha El Paso." It's a homegrown NGO that delivers supplies to migrants and tries to track down their separated children. It is doing God's work. Or, rather, let's say human work, because this is a fight for our humanity itself. Fighting the tide of hate and criminalization of immigrants, these folks are saying: we need to feed and clothe those in harm's way. "We are here to help the asylum seekers," says Crystal Moran from Food Not Walls/Cosecha El Paso. "We have seen horrible conditions—overcrowding them in pens, no access to clean water, holding asylum seekers under the bridge basically out in the open where it was freezing cold, kids getting sick, with nothing but mylar blankets. It was horrible." As we ride through the streets in Moran's souped-up black Mustang, everywhere are the physical reminders of recent atrocities: here a huge football-field sized tent city where thousands of migrants were held in unsanitary conditions, a place where police brutalized and arrested protesters. We pass by hidden guard posts under highway overpasses; places where migrants drowned; militarized CBP, DHS and ICE on street corners and in bars; and huge military installations ringing the city. And it seems like everywhere you look—the wall, the wall, the wall. As you ride the border highway, the wall dances along the Rio Grande, jumps over bridges and overpasses, it ripples along like a mirage that is always somehow right next to you, like a phantasm looking over your shoulder, a dark shadow that streaks across the center of your mind. A constant reminder that when you peer into Mexico, across the ravine into Juarez, that you can't get there from here or vice versa.Crystal and I drop off supplies to Annunciation House, a charitable organization operating out of a warehouse where migrants are trying to regroup after detention. The atmosphere is one of hushed secrecy. The threat of violence against those trying to help migrants is palpable, constant. Crystal is unpaid, and like her cohorts at this tiny NGO, she spends most of her free time trying to help the migrants. She sees her activism as part of her indigenous culture—she is Coahuilteco and practices Aztec dance. She reminds me, "These migration routes are thousands of years old, they exist far before any borders."We rush to a relative's house for more supplies to deliver—food, clothes, diapers, feminine hygiene products—and the phone rings. Juan Ortiz is assisting our trip by phone from his hospital bed in Dallas. Juan, one of Food Not Walls/Cosecha El Paso's founders, was viciously beaten in a confrontation with white supremacists at an El Paso restaurant in May.It was his birthday. They shattered his fibula and tibula—class 4 complex fractures or breaks. He was stomped and kicked, resulting in his pectoralis major muscle being ripped off of his humerus bone. His shirt and face were imprinted with the pattern of the soles from the bottom of his aggressors' shoes. "It seems like the world is descending on us in El Paso," he says, telling me of how his hometown has become a favorite place for white supremacists and vigilantes to occupy, carrying out bizarro anti-immigrant missions. "A militia group came down and they were actually detaining people, pretending to be border patrol. There were so many groups in El Paso that were scared to speak up because there is a growing presence of right-wingers who are coming down. The militarization of our community isn't just the uniformed military, it is the culture that they are bringing." "Ever since the Trump rally in February of 2019," he adds, "we've seen a new kind of boldness, which is much more than armed guards. They are in our home trying to change our politics."And every few days, it seems, there's another incident. The horrific terrorist attack on Aug. 3 that killed 24 people at an El Paso Walmart was not only an outright assault against asylum seekers and people of color, but the murderous manifestation of anti-immigrant rhetoric that has brought white supremacists flocking to El Paso. Fueled by the xenophobia of the Trump administration and its boosters, brutal racist attacks continually threaten those working for human rights in the region. "This shooter was the foot solider, but his commander in chief is Trump and their constitution is white supremacy," added Ortiz.On the night of Aug. 7, a white supremacist Trump supporter wearing blue latex gloves and brandishing a knife was arrested outside the group's small community space. Police recovered a loaded gun and live ammunition. This happened just as Trump departed El Paso and it followed a pattern of local organizers being targeted and increased violence and hate crimes. "This terrified the community. Three women ran by me panicked, saying 'he is about to start shooting us. He is about to start shooting us,'" says Christy Velez.An aid worker who requested anonymity because of consistent threats of violence puts it a different way: "They are training here for the race wars of the future." As we speed by Fort Bliss, one of the largest military bases in the U.S., she reminds me that the policy of family separation and the relocation of children, which has caused such outrage and shock of late, has always been with us. It was a staple of both slavery and the Native American genocide. It has always been a part of American policy towards black and brown people. "We don't need to look to Nazi Germany as an example of genocide," she says, "it has always been right here. It starts here."All the activists here refuse to use any of the language of the oppressors when referring to the thousands migrating here—they are not illegals, nor refugees. They are simply "asylum seekers."But if this is an asylum, Christy Velez is keeping me sane. She makes frequent trips across the border to Juarez. She often supports migrants with food, clothing and other aid straight out of her own pocket. She and her group of punk rock border angels have taken it upon themselves to do what the federal government has failed to do: provide a human face for the United States of America. Velez has ties to both sides of the border—a substantial part of her family was split by the border wall, many of her cousins live on the Mexican side of the divided city. HandoutShe has offered to escort me to Juarez, Mexico, to interview an asylum seeker who is being helped by her organization. Not many asylum seekers want to speak to the press, let alone be on camera, so I jump at the chance.When we cross the bridge into Juarez, we immediately see bus stops and lampposts plastered with pink crosses and flyers showing missing and murdered women. You cannot walk three blocks in Juarez without seeing a shrine or a symbol or a protest or a missing person's flyer with a face of some young beautiful, innocent, wide-eyed girl who's been abducted or murdered. Even though half of her family lives here, when I ask Velez if she is afraid of being abducted herself when she comes on her humanitarian missions to Juarez she says, "Of course. Over 1,500 women have been disappeared." But brushing aside fear for her own safety to do her work is clearly a part of her daily life and mission. Velez and other Food Not Walls activists have been delivering supplies to migrants on both sides of the border for years now, sometimes by gathering donations for local aid organizations like Annunciation House, other times by staging civil disobedience actions aimed at calling attention to the brutality of the border camps. After a breakneck ride through the Juarez streets with Velez's cousins, we arrive at the parking lot of a small motel. We meet our subject there. We have only a few moments to talk. Five-foot nothing, skinny and wearing the same clothes for weeks, our subject, who shall remain nameless, talks to me out of the sheer desire to try to locate her sisters and out of the will to encourage other migrants and asylum seekers not to back down. It is a remarkable display of poise and, well, to put it mildly, gumption.In Colombia, she says, she faced extortion. She couldn't pay the local gang who threatened her life, and her two little sisters were so afraid of the circumstances they could not go to school. She decided to leave to seek help from her aunt who lives in San Antonio.In her words, she left "to find a better life, to pursue her dreams." Immediately upon declaring asylum in El Paso, her two sisters, ages 12 and 4, who had made the three-week trek to El Paso with her in search of a better more peaceful life were taken from her. Separated instantly without a trace. At the time of this interview, she hadn't seen them in more than two weeks.When I ask her if CBP or ICE or any border agencies involved have given her any way to find where her young vulnerable sisters are, she says simply, "No." No tracking number, no receipt, no information about their location or whereabouts, no contact number or agent to call, no nothing. Just GONE. Disappeared. Somewhere in the system. OR somewhere out of it. Two young girls, aged 12 and 4, simply vanished. Six weeks later, there is still no trace, no information.HandoutNow, the only hope she has of contacting them or finding her way to them is through the charity of Food Not Walls/Cosecha El Paso and other agencies helping her that are paying her guesthouse for the time being. Can you imagine? You travel for weeks with your two young sisters and immediately they're taken away from you and they are never mentioned again. No one can tell you where they are. No one can tell you if they're OK. No one can tell you if they're getting proper medical support or food or nutrition. No one can tell you what is happening to them. They could be in El Paso or they could be in New York or they could be in Missouri. They could be in one of the other hundreds of detainee facilities in America—loaded on a plane and shipped somewhere else, put in a foster family not their own. Nobody knows.In spite of this incredible hardship, she remains calm and poised in the interview. She is undeterred by the hardships she has endured. Her last comment simply was to other migrants:"Don't give up if they treat you badly here. Persist and fight through. Fight for your dreams. Fight for your dreams." Isn't that fighting spirit what is supposed to make this country great? Isn't that where the American dream is born?Tell me that this person is a criminal. Listen to what she says and tell me that this person wouldn't be a benefit to any community. Then look at Donald Trump and his supporter's racist rantings, and brutal beatings and terrorist massacres, and tell me who's more hateful.Tell me who's more dangerous. Tell me who you'd rather run into at Walmart.Tell me who you'd rather have as a neighbor.Josh Fox is an Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning filmmaker, journalist and author. He will tour with his latest film and book, THE TRUTH HAS CHANGED, about immigration, climate change, and journalism, this fall and winter.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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| US blacklists Iranian tanker in Mediterranean Posted: 31 Aug 2019 01:11 AM PDT  The United States has blacklisted the Iranian tanker Adrian Darya, saying it had "reliable information" it was transporting oil to Syria in defiance of wide-ranging sanctions on the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Previously known as Grace 1, the vessel was seized in July by British Royal Marines and held in Gibraltar for six weeks on suspicion it was delivering oil for Tehran's ally Damascus. The British territory released the ship -- despite US protests -- after it said it had received written assurances from Iran that the vessel would not head for countries under European Union sanctions.
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| Miniature horse gets aisle seat on flight from Chicago to Omaha Posted: 31 Aug 2019 12:35 AM PDT  A miniature horse had an aisle seat on an American Airlines flight from Chicago to Omaha.
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| Rapists who target drunk women cannot be charged with rape under New York law, prosecutor says Posted: 01 Sep 2019 09:38 AM PDT  The scenario is unfortunately common: A woman goes to a bar and chooses to have several drinks. Later that night, she becomes a victim of sexual assault.In New York, Manhattan's top prosecutor says, the assaulter can not be charged with a sex crime because of a legal loophole stipulating that someone who becomes voluntarily intoxicated is not considered "mentally incapacitated" for purposes of giving consent.
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| Ukraine, Poland want continued sanctions on Russia Posted: 31 Aug 2019 12:20 PM PDT  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Saturday he and Poland's president have agreed that sanctions ought to continue against Russia until Ukraine regains the territory it lost in Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea. Zelenskiy, accompanied by some members of his Cabinet, was on his first visit to Poland as president for political talks and to attend ceremonies planned for Sunday to mark the 80th anniversary of the start of World War II.
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| Kashmiri militant calls for Pakistan military intervention in disputed region Posted: 01 Sep 2019 11:32 AM PDT ![Kashmiri militant calls for Pakistan military intervention in disputed region]( "Kashmiri militant calls for Pakistan military intervention in disputed region") A Kashmiri militant commander said on Sunday that Pakistan should send troops to protect the people of India-controlled Kashmir if the United Nations does not send peacekeepers, after New Delhi revoked its autonomy last month. "It's binding upon the armed forces of Pakistan, the first Islamic nuclear power, to enter India-occupied Kashmir to militarily help the people of the territory," Syed Salahuddin, who heads an alliance of over a dozen groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, said. Khan has so far focused on a global diplomatic campaign condemning India's actions.
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| Anxiety and impatience in long wait for Dorian in coastal US Posted: 01 Sep 2019 04:17 PM PDT  Two days after storm shutters started going up and people waited in long lines for gas and food in anticipation of Hurricane Dorian, the parking lot of a Home Depot a short drive from the beach in central Florida was nearly empty as the sun peeked out behind scattered clouds. Mike Lafferty boarded up his house near Vero Beach days ago and was at the store to pick up a few more things. The National Hurricane Center has a 60% chance of the area getting hurricane force winds before early Wednesday.
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| Five Parisian schools delay reopening due to lead from Notre-Dame fire Posted: 01 Sep 2019 06:37 AM PDT  The Paris education authority has ordered five private schools which were to have re-opened on Monday after the summer holiday to remain closed until toxic lead from the Notre-Dame fire is removed. All schools in areas near the cathedral were deep-cleaned during the holidays after unsafe levels of lead were detected exceeding 70 micrograms per square metre. Health inspectors have given state schools the green light to reopen but say the five private schools, run by the Roman Catholic church, still require more thorough decontamination. More than 400 tonnes of lead from Notre-Dame's roofing and spire melted and were dispersed as air-borne dust during the fire in April. Lead is particularly toxic to young children. The city authorities were in charge of removing lead from state schools and nurseries. Church officials responsible for the private schools were not immediately available to comment on whether the order to delay the start of term was justified. One of the five schools concerned has been criticised for failing to test for lead or carry out decontamination until a court order was issued. Environmental groups have also accused the Paris authorities of playing down the risk. But Emmanuel Grégoire, a deputy mayor, said that the authorities had in fact done more than required by law. "There was no obligation, but we still decided to invest €200,000 (more than £180,000) to replace flooring [in state schools]," he said. Workers wearing chemical protection suits and goggles decontaminated school buildings, playgrounds and nurseries during the holidays. In the cathedral itself, work on shoring up the structure was suspended for three weeks this summer while stricter safety procedures were put in place at the demand of labour inspectors concerned about the health risks to workers who were removing lead. Environmental groups have been campaigning for a special decontamination unit to be set up a local hospital and for systematic testing of residents and workers in central areas near Notre-Dame.
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| Airport hacks: 31 tips that will save you time and money, like going in through arrivals Posted: 31 Aug 2019 05:00 AM PDT ![Airport hacks: 31 tips that will save you time and money, like going in through arrivals]( "Airport hacks: 31 tips that will save you time and money, like going in through arrivals") From getting dropped off near arrivals instead of departures to bringing your own oatmeal packets, these airport hacks may save you time and/or money.
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| How Trump Can Win the Trade War Posted: 31 Aug 2019 06:00 PM PDT  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- If the trade war's objective is to even the playing field for American firms, President Donald Trump isn't going about it the right way. China's easy access to U.S. dollars over the past decade has fueled asset bubbles, driven an overseas debt binge and laid the groundwork for its low-cost, export-driven economy. Only cutting off the supply of cheap money will reverse this.So while Trump is pressuring Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to cut interest rates – questioning the central bank chief's patriotism and calling him "a bigger enemy than Xi Jinping" – the way to wring equitable behavior out of China is for the Fed to hold the line.Fundamentally, money will go where it can find yield. And however much capital the world has to spare, China has shown an appetite to absorb it. During the most expansive years of quantitative easing in the U.S., foreign money seeking yield went into China labeled as "trade" and "investment."From 2009 to 2014, China may have taken in as much as $2 trillion in hot money spewing from the Federal Reserve's low interest-rate policy. My company looked at just one measure – the over-invoicing of exports via Hong Kong – in just one year, 2013, and found $390 billion of such flows into China.Since Beijing's capital controls, at the time, aimed to shut out foreigners eager to bet on a steadily strengthening yuan, speculators looked for bypasses: For example, some trading companies in China would inflate the value of their exports, enabling more money to enter the country as "export receipts." Exaggerated foreign direct investment was also a popular channel for incoming speculative money, as was debt.China's economic story begins and ends with liquidity; with so many dead assets that have to be refinanced every year, the country requires an ever-growing supply of capital. Much more than cheap labor, this cheap capital is what has created bargain-basement export goods. It also fosters anti-competitive behavior. Domestic companies can operate at a much lower cost than their U.S. counterparts, and they are rewarded in capital markets, despite growing evidence of intellectual-property theft.Consider what a decade of near-zero interest-rate policy has done for China:IPOs: Chinese companies listed in the U.S. now have a value of about $890 billion. Not even the high-profile delistings and fraud charges against China MediaExpress Holdings Inc. and Sino-Forest Corp. could drain the hype for the IPOs of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., JD.com Inc. and Vipshop Holdings Ltd. Bonds: Investors hungry for yield have lapped up bonds issued by China's riskiest companies. That's enabled firms such as junk-rated China Evergrande Group, one of the country's most indebted developers, to continue tapping U.S. markets. Chinese firms have raised more than 90% of the high-yield Asian dollar debt issued this year. Mainland developers have about $110 billion in offshore junk-rated debt outstanding. Dumping: A steady flow of dollars into China fueled an investment splurge that supported the manufacturing of ultra-cheap exports, from DVD players and TV sets to solar panels. China's history of leniency toward borrowers – its first onshore default was in 2014 – meant firms were able to sell their goods at cut-rate prices without worrying about how they'd pay back their loans.All this means that the best way to curb Chinese excess is to limit the availability of the dollar. Trump's demand that Powell cut rates by one percentage point is counterproductive to what appears, anyway, to be the goal of the trade war. There are other, more targeted measures that the U.S. can pursue in tandem. These include: Halting new Chinese IPOs in the U.S. American regulators have already ramped up scrutiny over such listings, which have tumbled to $2.8 billion so far this year compared with $29.1 billion in 2014. The U.S. needs to close the door to all share sales until China agrees to enable investigation and prosecution of fraud by listed companies. Requiring that American auditors and stock regulators have access to the audit papers of Chinese companies that are part of U.S.-listed entities, under penalty of delisting. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, a Washington-based non-profit that scrutinizes audits, also should be permitted to review its members in China, a goal the Securities and Exchange Commission highlighted in recent commentary. Taxing incoming Chinese (and other foreign) investment. U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Josh Hawley in late July submitted a bill that would allow the Fed to impose a flexible tax on capital inflows. This measure would make it less attractive to park money in U.S. assets, thereby shrinking the capital account imbalance, and by extension, the trade deficit.Depending on whether Trump gets his rate cut, China's slowdown will be fast or slow. By enabling new stimulus, cheap dollars would give the Chinese more rope to hang themselves with. Holding the line will mean Chinese austerity and unemployment. In that case, there would be no way out of economic recession other than an ambitious program of economic reform.To contact the author of this story: Anne Stevenson-Yang at anne@jcapitalresearch.comTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Rachel Rosenthal at rrosenthal21@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Anne Stevenson-Yang is co-founder and research director of J Capital Research Ltd., a provider of investment advisory services.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Rio-Paris crash relatives finger Airbus in new report Posted: 01 Sep 2019 01:53 PM PDT  Relatives of victims of the 2009 Rio-Paris air crash have provided evidence they say supports their claim that Airbus knew of problems with an onboard instrument five years earlier, it emerged Sunday. The news comes a decade into a legal wrangle and weeks after French prosecutors recommended that only Air France face trial over allegations that it had known about the instrument problem on its Airbus A330 plane. On the night of the crash it is alleged the tubes frosted over and caused the speed sensors to freeze up, according to a probe undertaken in November 2004 for Thales, the tubes' manufacturer.
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| China's Loyal Wingman Drone Flies Alongside Manned Fighters Posted: 31 Aug 2019 12:00 PM PDT  It's another endorsement for the robotic flying buddy concept.
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| Sirhan Sirhan: Robert Kennedy assassin stabbed in prison Posted: 31 Aug 2019 10:21 AM PDT  The man who was convicted of shooting Robert F Kennedy was stabbed in a California prison by a fellow inmate.Sirhan Sirhan, 75, was taken to hospital after the attack at the Richard J Donovan Correctional Facility, where he is serving a life sentence for the 1968 killing of the senator and presidential candidate.
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| Government: Let's end agreement for migrant kid detention Posted: 30 Aug 2019 09:42 PM PDT  The U.S. government on Friday took another major step to end a settlement agreement governing the length of time and conditions in which it can detain immigrant children. Government attorneys have filed a notice requesting that a federal judge dissolve what's widely known as the Flores settlement agreement. First signed in 1997, the agreement limits how long children can be in detention to generally 20 days while also spelling out conditions.
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| Man arrested at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey after weapons found in car Posted: 01 Sep 2019 05:47 AM PDT  Police arrested a man at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey after they say an arsenal of weapons was found in his car.
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| Diplomat says U.S. does not want military intervention in Venezuela: report Posted: 01 Sep 2019 04:14 PM PDT  The United States is not seeking a military intervention as a solution to the economic and political crisis in Venezuela, the U.S. envoy to the troubled South American nation said in an interview published by a Venezuelan online news site on Sunday. Washington this year disavowed Maduro, whose 2018 re-election was widely dismissed as a farce, and recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as the legitimate president. The United States on Wednesday opened a representative office called the Venezuela Affairs Unit (VAU), based in Colombia, to provide U.S. diplomatic representation to Guaido's interim government and to continue pressuring for a transition.
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| National Trust blames summer heatwave for missing visitor target as it sounds warning about climate Posted: 01 Sep 2019 04:07 PM PDT  The National Trust has blamed the heatwave of last summer for failing to hit its visitor targets, as it warned climate change could threaten the future of its sites. The charity said admission incomes were down nearly £5 million against budget due to what it described as "one of the strangest weather patterns in modern times". Scorching temperatures prevailed over the UK from June to August last year, leading to widespread crop failures, wildfires and, it seems, an apathy for wholesome excursions. Around 26.9 million people paid to visit National Trust sites in the year ending February 2019, short of the 27.4 million target it set itself, according to its annual report. It said: "We had set a budget of £123 million for the year but the difficult weather conditions in the early season and the very hot weather in the summer affected our visitor numbers - admissions income was down nearly £5 million against budget and our commercial contribution missed its target by £10 million." The changing climate was a recurring theme throughout the 94-page review amid concerns it could have a ruinous impact on the land which the Trust works to preserve. The National Trust is one of Britain's largest landowners and has committed itself to slashing energy use and minimising its properties' carbon footprint. Earlier this summer, it vowed to cease investment in fossil fuel companies - and now claims to get more of its energy from renewable sources than from "oil and liquid petroleum gas combined". However, due to the remote location of many of the National Trust's holdings, the organisation conceded both it and its visitors would rely on fossil fuels for "some years to come". A strategy has now been put in place to ensure properties are able to cope as best they can with "long-term changes in climate and extreme weather events". The trust said the risks posed by climate change were "numerous and diverse", especially if coupled with any cuts to public funding for the environment. The report added: "The impact of failing to adapt effectively to climate change will be considerable and could significantly impede the delivery of our strategic aims. "In particular, there may be implications for our ability to restore a healthy, beautiful natural environment and to look after the places in our care both now and into the future." The National Trust overseas the 780 miles of coastline, 248,000 hectares of land and more than 500 historic houses, gardens and parks in Britain. Elsewhere in the report, the National Trust admitted trust had slumped in the third sector following "failings in some charities' controls and behaviours". It claimed the negative publicity that followed high-profile scandals - such as revelations Oxfam staff hired prostitutes in Haiti - had "long-term reputational ramifications for all charities". The organisation also said it was at increasing risk of digital fraud after moving much of its information online. "The Trust recognises that any digital fraud or theft would have a greater impact than it would ever have done in the past," the report said, adding that measures were being taken to repel cyber attacks.
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| Dorian strikes Bahamas with record fury as Category 5 storm Posted: 01 Sep 2019 04:29 PM PDT  McLEAN'S TOWN CAY, Bahamas (AP) — Hurricane Dorian struck the northern Bahamas as a catastrophic Category 5 storm Sunday, its record 185 mph winds ripping off roofs, overturning cars and tearing down power lines as hundreds hunkered down in schools, churches and shelters. Dorian slammed into Elbow Cay in Abaco island at 12:40 p.m., and then made a second landfall near Marsh Harbour at 2 p.m., after authorities made last-minute pleas for those in low-lying areas to evacuate. "It's devastating," said Joy Jibrilu, director general of the Bahamas' Ministry of Tourism and Aviation.
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| 'Shut up': 911 dispatcher scolded drowning woman during her final moments, police say Posted: 31 Aug 2019 01:59 PM PDT  Debra Stevens drowned while she was on the phone with a 911 dispatcher Saturday after flash floods swept her away. Police said they were working to "save" her.
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| Calls to end inhumane border conditions aren’t enough. Ice must be abolished Posted: 01 Sep 2019 11:30 AM PDT  What is there to salvage in an agency that exists solely to hunt, catalogue and detain the most vulnerable among us? Ice's violence is as systematic as it is cruel'Abolitionist movements have always been discredited as impossible until they are realized.' Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty ImagesThis summer, a coalition of award-winning authors came together with a plea to Congress: they called for an end to the inhumane conditions in detention centers, where women are forced to drink out of toilets and children go without food, water or medical care.The writers, immigrants and refugees themselves, know just what is at stake: "Many of us came to the US as children and shudder to think how this country would treat us now," they write. They urge Congress to mitigate the worst abuses of our immigration system, from unsafe conditions – in detention or third countries – to endless backlogs and convoluted legal processes.The plea is commendable. But where are we as a society if we cannot dream bigger? What does it mean that some of our most beloved writers – who have laboriously envisioned new and radical worlds – didn't imagine a future that respects the right to human movement?The writer and political theorist Mark Fisher spoke to the stagnation of our political imagination through what he called capitalist realism. The concept, he wrote, is "the widespread sense that not only is capitalism the only viable political and economic system, but also that it is now impossible even to imagine a coherent alternative to it". Following the fall of the Soviet Union, the encroachment of neoliberalism was read as a natural, inevitable progression – "the end of history", the political scientist Francis Fukuyama wrote. Mark Fisher reminds us that this sense of inevitability is no accident, that there is nothing natural about it. Though other systems might be in many ways preferable to capitalism, a lack of coherent alternatives in the public imagination leaves us resigned to a future where we fight each time more desperately for ever-smaller crumbs.Although Fisher tragically took his own life two years ago, his assessment reminds us that there exist futures far more radical and utopian within our reach, should we strive for them.> It's far more radical to tolerate borders – to accept this violence as normal – than it is to call for their abolitionWhat does a "fair trial" look like on stolen land? Who has the authority to serve as arbiter of life and death? Faced with a system that fetishizes cruelty, our demands are too modest. It's far more radical to tolerate borders – to accept this violence as normal – than it is to call for their abolition.Consider Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), which has been embroiled in scandals for its treatment of detainees for months on end. Although the agency has been in existence for under two decades, it has been mythologized such that it seems impossible to live without it.Still, some are bravely calling for just that. While at first glance it may seem an impossible demand, Fisher's alternative invites us to ask: what is there to salvage in an agency that exists solely to hunt, catalogue and detain the most vulnerable among us? Scandal after scandal has shown that the rot goes far beyond a few bad apples – Ice violence is as systematic as it is cruel. A child of the war on terror, there is no Ice without a tacit agreement that immigrants present an existential threat to our wellbeing. Calls to abolish Ice challenge us to know better.The US spends more than $7bn a year on an agency so universally reviled that even its own agents want to be distanced. What could an alternative vision of justice look like? Republicans have never shied from making policy demands, however harmful and outlandish. Democrats have a singular opportunity to put forth a bold plan for immigration premised on human dignity and the freedom of movement. Abolitionist movements have always been discredited as impossible until they are realized. It is by refusing to concede to a rightwing vision of possibility that unimaginable prospects become reality. * Natascha Elena Uhlmann is the author of Abolish Ice (Or Books)
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| Pope freed by firemen after getting stuck in Vatican lift Posted: 31 Aug 2019 05:44 PM PDT  Pope Francis said Sunday he was late to his weekly Angelus prayer because he had been stuck in a Vatican elevator and had to be freed by firemen. "I have to apologise for being late," the smiling 82-year old pontiff told crowds of faithful patiently waiting for him to appear at his study window overlooking Saint Peter's Square. "I was trapped in a lift for 25 minutes, there was a power outage and the lift stopped, but then the firemen came," he said.
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| Beto O’Rourke says AK-47 and AR-15 owners will ‘have to sell them to the government’ if he becomes president Posted: 01 Sep 2019 05:58 AM PDT  Beto O'Rourke said he would implement a sweeping government buy-back policy for two types of assault rifles, including one commonly used in mass shootings across the US, if he were elected president in 2020.The Texas Democrat responded to questions on the campaign trail Saturday in Charlottesville, Virginia, about concerns the government would take assault weapons away from gun owners.
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| Julián Castro: Trump needs to step up on universal background checks Posted: 01 Sep 2019 08:58 AM PDT  "The biggest lies that the president has told include that he would do something about universal background checks," he said.
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| British police urged to assist New York investigators with Epstein case Posted: 31 Aug 2019 09:36 AM PDT  British police should assist the New York investigators with their inquiry into Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking network, a source close to one of his victims has said. New York authorities have repeatedly said that they will continue investigating whether he had co-conspirators, and will not let the case die with the disgraced financier. Epstein, 66, died on August 10 from what a coroner ruled was suicide, while awaiting trial in a Manhattan jail. New York prosecutors are now turning their attention to any co-conspirators – among them Ghislaine Maxwell, the British heiress, and Sarah Kellen, another Epstein employee. Two sources close to the investigation told The New York Times on Friday they were looking into the activities of Haley Robson, now 33, who told police in a 2009 deposition how she was paid to bring young girls to Epstein in Florida. Haley Robson, now 33, said in a 2009 deposition that she had been paid to recruit girls for Epstein Asked if the British police should assist the New York prosecutors, the source replied: "They should". Epstein owned homes in New York, Paris and New Mexico, and spent much of his time on the island he owned in the Caribbean. But his globe-trotting extended to the United Kingdom, where in June 2000 he was among 600 guests at Windsor Castle to celebrate four Royal birthdays, with "the dance of the decades". In December 2000 he joined Prince Andrew and Miss Maxwell at the Queen's Sandringham estate, and in early 2001 he was in London for a night out with Prince Andrew, Miss Maxwell and Virginia Roberts-Giuffre. Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, photographed at Sandringham in December 2000 Mrs Roberts-Giuffre claims that she was forced to have sex with the prince after their night out. He has vehemently denied her claims. All the allegations against the Duke were struck from the court record in 2015 after being described as "immaterial and impertinent" by a judge. Now British police are being asked whether they intend to assist the New York prosecutors with their case. New York police refused to comment on their ongoing investigation. Last week detectives at the Metropolitan Police revealed they have "revisited" the decision not to investigate Epstein's London links, but said their choice "remains entirely appropriate". The Met has previously received an allegation of non-recent trafficking for sexual exploitation but had closed the matter after deciding that the case would not progress to a full investigation. Despite possible information sharing between US and French authorities, the force confirmed on August 26 that it stands by its original decision and will not investigate his links to alleged crimes committed in the UK capital. "We acknowledge the considerable interest and concern around this case and have revisited that decision making and believe it remains entirely appropriate," a spokesman for the force said. "Therefore no further action is being taken. The Met will always take seriously any allegation concerning sexual exploitation."
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