| 2020 Vision Thursday: Why Kamala Harris is struggling in the polls Posted: 19 Sep 2019 07:05 AM PDT  Pundits have been speculating about the state of Sen. Kamala Harris's campaign ever since one of her staffers accidentally left an internal briefing memo that included the phrase "summer slump" at a Manchester, N.H., restaurant earlier this month.
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| PHOTOS: Tropical Storm Imelda floods Texas Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:30 AM PDT  The slow-churning remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda flooded parts of Texas on Thursday, leaving at least two people dead and rescue crews with boats scrambling to reach stranded drivers and families trapped in their homes during a relentless downpour that drew comparisons to Hurricane Harvey two years ago.
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| 'Shocked and devastated': Connecticut father, son die in tragic fall after riding ATVs in abandoned quarry Posted: 20 Sep 2019 07:55 AM PDT  A father and son died after they both fell off a 75-foot cliff in Connecticut Wednesday, WVIT-TV reported.
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| Texas man wanted for allegedly divorcing his wife without her knowledge Posted: 20 Sep 2019 12:32 PM PDT  A Texas man is wanted by police after he allegedly filed for and completed divorce proceedings against his wife without her knowledge.
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| Why Trump had a wad of cash in his back pocket Posted: 19 Sep 2019 07:57 AM PDT  "I don't carry a wallet because I haven't had to use a credit card in a long time," he told reporters aboard Air Force One. "I do like leaving tips to the hotel. I like to carry a little something."
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| Campaigning Trudeau vows Canada assault rifle ban Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:16 AM PDT  Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, campaigning for re-election, vowed on Friday to ban assault rifles but fell short on handguns, saying only that he would help cities restrict pistols and revolvers in response to a spate of shootings. "You don't need military-grade assault weapons, ones designed to kill the largest amount of people in the shortest amount of time, to take down a deer," he told a news conference in Toronto. There have been 311 shootings in Canada's largest city so far this year, with gun violence having increased incrementally each year to almost triple the rate in 2014.
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| Officials: Political donor caused deadly overdose during sex Posted: 19 Sep 2019 10:31 PM PDT  Gemmel Moore had moved back home with his mother in Texas two years ago and was missing Los Angeles when he texted a photo of syringe in an arm to a wealthy gay man he knew in California. Buck bought a plane ticket for Moore and had a car pick him up a week later at the airport. Federal prosecutors released new details Thursday as they charged Buck, 65, with distributing methamphetamine resulting in Moore's death on July 27, 2017.
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| Elizabeth Warren Declares War on Lobbying, Hires Lobbyist One Day Later Posted: 20 Sep 2019 04:24 AM PDT  Is she serious?
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| U.S. to return about $100 million to the Treasury for an Afghanistan project due to a lack of transparency Posted: 19 Sep 2019 07:27 AM PDT  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday that the United States would return about $100 million to the Treasury for an energy infrastructure project in Afghanistan and would withhold a further $60 million in planned assistance to the country due to a lack of transparency.
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| Architect Reinaldo Leandro on the Art of Building Design and Personal Style Posted: 20 Sep 2019 12:17 PM PDT |
| High school sparks controversy over 'ridiculous' lunch: 'It's honestly sad' Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:24 AM PDT  A Minnesota high school is facing criticism for serving a meal that many people have since called "ridiculous."
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| Who’s In Charge Here? The President Waits for Instructions from Saudi Arabia Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:29 AM PDT  The president of the United States can't say who attacked the oil fields in Saudi Arabia last week or why. But the president can announce across his Twitter feed that Prime Mohammed bin Salman will tell our military what to do about it:> Saudi Arabia oil supply was attacked. There is reason to believe that we know the culprit, are locked and loaded depending on verification, but are waiting to hear from the Kingdom as to who they believe was the cause of this attack, and under what terms we would proceed!> > -- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2019The president's effusive support for the Saudi regime reads like a caricature of what critics of our Middle Eastern foreign policy would say of it. For years we've been working to advance the argument that the United States is too solicitous of the interests of the House of Saud, and then the president just tweets it out.Confused yet? We've been here before, and recently. Back in May, U.S. naval assets were moved into the Gulf region. This was announced by former national-security adviser John Bolton in a tweet and a memo, without a press conference. Military news portal Defense One asked for clarification: "If there was a threat, what is it? And why would the White House claim it is 'deploying' a ship already underway in the region? Is this just political bluster?"But why be confused? When the world's superpower is waiting to hear Saudi Arabia's commands, you can bet the answer will be something like John McCain's reprise of that pop classic: Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran.On Fox News yesterday, host Bret Baier had on anti-war Democrat and presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard to discuss the latest doings in the Middle East. The segment is worth watching. Gabbard had criticized President Trump, accusing him of trying to "pimp out" the U.S. military to Mohammed bin Salman. Baier tries to press her into a corner, making her choose between Saudi Arabia and Iran, even saying she sounded like a "fan of Iran." Gabbard gamely refuses the choice, saying she is "on the side of the United States" and noting that Saudi Arabia's government and its elite funds, appeases, and occasionally controls al-Qaeda. She's right.She's more than right. Saudi Arabia sponsors demotic Sunni radicalism throughout the Middle East, which has extended human conflict and contributed to the waves of refugees heading into Europe. Once in Europe, these refugees turn to mosques, funded by the Saudis, that preach a far more radical version of Islamism than what they had back in their home country. If in the past few years you ever stumbled on one of those confusing videos of various actors in the Syrian civil war using materiel provided by the U.S. Department of Defense to fire on others in the Syrian civil war who were using materiel provided by the CIA, well, you can thank Saudi Arabia for that too.One of the reasons that Donald Trump says that he'll wait for instructions from Saudi Arabia is that he and the political class wouldn't dare consult with the American people. When our relationship to the Saudis is explained, there are halting gestures at history, and a vague threat that somehow the Saudi royal family is better than any alternative regime. Saudi Arabia's bone-saw, cholera-epidemic foreign policy doesn't exactly inspire Americans to cry out to their government to support our gallant allies in the Peninsula. Americans like to be told they are fighting for nations with similar values — friends of freedom. American reporters who, until recently, attended "ideas conferences" in Riyadh used to burble credulously about how the country was modernizing under its new leadership. And yet Saudi Arabia will happily torture and behead a kid who was accepted to one of our universities because he attended a pro-democracy protest.Shia Islam is not going away anytime soon. And so the United States has no conceivable interest in taking such a strong side in the ongoing religious cold war roiling the dar al-Islam. We need to stop Saudi Arabia from outsourcing all the costs of its foreign policy to the United States and our allies in Europe. The president needs to be swiftly reminded that the people through the representatives are those who declare that the United States is at war with other sovereign nations, not Prince Bone Saw.
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| Colt to stop making AR-15 rifles, weapon of choice in US mass shootings Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:53 AM PDT  Legendary US gun manufacturer Colt has said it will no longer produce the AR-15, blaming market forces rather than the semi-automatic rifle's role in some of the country's worst mass shootings. "Over the last few years, the market for modern sporting rifles has experienced significant excess manufacturing capacity," said the company's chief executive Dennis Veilleux in a statement released on Thursday. For that reason, "we believe there is adequate supply for modern sporting rifles for the foreseeable future," he said, noting that his firm would continue to make assault rifles for the US military and law enforcement agencies, as well as its world-famous revolvers.
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| Alien enthusiasts descend on Nevada desert near secretive U.S. base Posted: 19 Sep 2019 12:27 PM PDT  Scores of UFO enthusiasts converged on rural Nevada on Thursday for a pilgrimage of sorts to the U.S. installation known as Area 51, long rumored to house government secrets about alien life, as law enforcement officials beefed up security around the military base. Visitors descended early in the day on the tiny desert town of Rachel, a short distance from the military site, in response to a recent, viral social-media invitation to "storm" Area 51 on Friday, raising concerns by local authorities of unruly crowds overwhelming the community. Situated about 150 miles (240 km) north of Las Vegas, the remote hamlet of just 50 year-round residents lacks a grocery store or even a gasoline station.
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| Imelda’s toll in Texas: Flooding and fears about a bridge Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:30 AM PDT  As the remnants of the former Tropical Storm Imelda moved north on Friday, residents in southeast Texas awoke to shut down roads, scattered thunderstorms and the possibility of more flooding from a storm that became one the top 10 wettest in U.S. history.The storm that had barely earned a name — it briefly ranked as a tropical storm before being downgraded to a tropical depression — took many residents by surprise with its relentlessness, rekindling memories from when Hurricane Harvey dumped more than 50 inches of rainfall in some areas and caused dozens of deaths in 2017.
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| House votes to end forced arbitration in business disputes Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:40 AM PDT  The House approved a bill Friday to end forced arbitration clauses that prevent workers and consumers from filing lawsuits in disputes with companies over employment practices, billing or civil rights. Supporters, mostly Democrats, said the bill would restore access to justice for millions of Americans who are now locked out of the court system and forced to settle disputes against companies in a private arbitration system that often favors the company over the individual. Opponents, mostly Republicans, said the measure would make it harder for individual workers or consumers by forcing them into lengthy, expensive court fights that may end up shutting them out of the justice system entirely.
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| An Exclusive Image of the Interstellar Comet That Stunned Astronomers Posted: 19 Sep 2019 07:36 AM PDT  Here's what scientists are saying about our solar system's newest visitor.
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| Taiwan loses another ally as Kiribati switches allegiance to China Posted: 20 Sep 2019 05:36 AM PDT  The tiny Pacific island nation of Kiribati severed ties with Taiwan on Friday, switching its diplomatic allegiance to China in the second such defection in a week. "Kiribati today officially notified us that it was cutting diplomatic ties with our country," Joseph Wu, Taiwan's foreign minister, told reporters at a hastily organised press conference. "Today we are also announcing that we are dropping ties with Kiribati," he added. Earlier this week, Tsai Ing-wen accused China of "dollar diplomacy" after the Solomon Islands, a Pacific archipelago and former British protectorate of some 600,000 people, also changed its diplomatic recognition to Beijing. "Over the past few years, China has continually used financial and political pressure to suppress Taiwan's international space," Ms Tsai said, calling the Chinese move "a brazen challenge and detriment to the international order." Kiribati is the seventh country to drop ties with Taiwan since Ms Tsai - who is viewed with deep suspicion in Beijing for not adhering to its 'One China' policy - took office in 2016. China, which seeks to annex the island of 23 million, has tried to lure or pressure Taiwan's diplomatic allies, claiming the state has no right to formal ties with any other nation, while trying to exclude it from international bodies such as the United Nations. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has accused China of dollar diplomacy Credit: AP Some analysts believe Beijing's relentless push to isolate Taipei internationally is part to a determined strategy by Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to bring Taiwan under his control during his tenure. Taiwan, meanwhile, operates like any other democratic nation with its own elections, government, currency, military and foreign policy and the majority of citizens identify as Taiwanese, enjoying visa-free access to 149 countries worldwide. Taipei has now accused China of pressuring its allies to try to meddle in its January elections when Ms Tsai will stand for a second term. The latest break leaves Taiwan with just 15 formal allies although it still enjoys strong informal relations with many countries, including the US, UK, Australia and Japan. While the dwindling number of Taiwan's formal supporters may have a limited effect on Ms Tsai's electoral chances, there could be a more significant longer term impact on the US and its Pacific allies, who are nervous of China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region. "It is clear that broader geopolitics played as important a role in Beijing's calculations as the desire to punish the Tsai administration," wrote Michael Cole, a senior fellow in the Taiwan studies programme at Nottingham university, in the Nikkei Asian Review. "In the Solomon Islands' case, the aim is to undermine the US's strategy in the Indo-Pacific and extend China's influence closer to the US's defensive line in the Western Pacific." As a result of the decision, Mike Pence, the US vice-president, reportedly cancelled plans to meet Manasseh Sogavare, the Solomon Islands prime minister, in the margins of the UN general assembly in New York next week.
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| Iranian Foreign Minister Says U.S. Military Strike Means ‘All-Out War’ Posted: 19 Sep 2019 09:53 AM PDT  Iran warned Thursday that a U.S. military strike would result in an "all-out war" with the state terror sponsor that would result in "a lot of casualties.""What would be the consequence of an American or Saudi military strike on Iran right now?" CNN correspondent Nick Paton Walsh asked Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in an interview."An all-out war," Zarif said."You make a very serious statement there, sir," Walsh told the diplomat."Well, I make a very serious statement about defending our country," Zarif said. "I'm making a very serious statement that we don't want war. We don't want to engage in a military confrontation. We believe that a military confrontation based on deception is awful. We'll have a lot of casualties. But we won't blink to defend our territory."President Trump warned over the weekend that the U.S. is "locked and loaded" to respond to military the attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities that knocked out half the country's oil production.Iran has denied responsibility for the attacks, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has explicitly blamed Iran. Meanwhile, Yemen's Houthi rebels have claimed responsibility for the high-tech attacks. Pompeo dismissed the claim, saying there is "no evidence" of Yemen's involvement.The attacks were approved by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, U.S. officials said.Pompeo met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Thursday to discuss the attacks against his country's oil infrastructure. "The U.S. stands with SaudiArabia and supports its right to defend itself. The Iranian regime's threatening behavior will not be tolerated," the secretary of state said of the meeting.
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| 6 things to know about teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg Posted: 19 Sep 2019 09:20 PM PDT  Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg has addressed a UN summit, sailed across the Atlantic, and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
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| Drowning of U.S.-bound Honduran mother and son underscores plight of migrants Posted: 19 Sep 2019 06:53 PM PDT ![Drowning of U.S.-bound Honduran mother and son underscores plight of migrants]( "Drowning of U.S.-bound Honduran mother and son underscores plight of migrants") TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras/MATAMOROS, Mexico Sept 19 (Reuters) - W hen Delia Hernandez, 44, bade farewell on Aug. 1 to Idalia Herrera, 27, and nearly two-year-old Iker Cordova, she dreamed her daughter and grandson were fleeing the arid fields of southern Honduras for a bright new life in the United States, she said. Instead, Herrera and Cordova drowned last week in the Rio Grande just shy of Brownsville, Texas, weeks into an anguished wait in the Mexican border city of Matamoros for an asylum hearing with U.S. authorities, migrants there and Herrera's grandmother said.
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| Boy, 4, who was diagnosed with autism and cancer within months of each other beats odds Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:05 PM PDT  A 4-year-old boy who was diagnosed with autism and cancer within three months has impressively beaten the odds
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| The Latest: US may send some asylum-seekers to El Salvador Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:33 PM PDT  The Latest on an agreement between the U.S. and El Salvador to make it a haven for migrants seeking asylum. A copy of an agreement between the United States and El Salvador says the U.S. may send some asylum-seekers to El Salvador but not until both countries have taken the necessary legal actions and an implementation plan is in place. The Associated Press obtained an unsigned draft copy of the agreement after acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan and El Salvador's Foreign Minister Alexandra Hill Tinoco signed the agreement during a live-streamed event.
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| Atlantic likely to churn out tropical systems into 2nd half of September Posted: 20 Sep 2019 08:35 AM PDT  Since the peak of Atlantic hurricane season, which occurred on Sept. 10, there has been no shortage of Atlantic tropical threats during the last full week of summer. The most menacing of those systems was Imelda, a storm that brewed quickly in the western Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday before moving inland over Texas and unleashing deadly flooding through late in the week.Meteorologists were also monitoring Humberto, which strengthened into a major hurricane in the western Atlantic and then weakened ahead of delivering fierce winds in Bermuda on Wednesday night. The powerful hurricane stayed well east of the United States, but threatened dangerous surf along the coastline.Not far behind Humberto, Jerry brewed over the open waters of the Atlantic and rapidly strengthened into a hurricane by Thursday before beginning to skirt northeast of the Leeward Islands on Friday.Three additional areas over the Atlantic Basin are being closely monitored for potential tropical development in the coming days, while the western Gulf may be an area to watch late in September or early October. A wide satellite shot of the Atlantic basin shows several of the tropical disturbances that meteorologists are monitoring on Friday, Sept. 20, 2019. One tropical disturbance was hovering over the central Caribbean, located to the south of Hispaniola, on Friday, according to AccuWeather meteorologists."While this central Caribbean feature was producing a broad area of showers and thunderstorms, significant wind shear has and is likely to continue to keep this system in check this weekend," Dan Kottlowski, AccuWeather's top hurricane expert, said. This image, taken on Friday morning, Sept. 20, 2019, shows part of the tropical Atlantic Basin. Jerry was near the center of the image with one tropical disturbance near the center of the Caribbean and another tropical disturbance northeast of South America over the lower right. (GOES-East/NOAA) Farther to the east, an area of showers and thunderstorms, located about 700 miles east of the Windward Islands and a couple of hundred miles northeast of the coast of South America on Friday, may drift into a zone with conditions more conducive for development into early next week.Steering winds are likely to push this feature close to the coast of South America initially. However, a northwestward or northward turn over the eastern Caribbean is possible, where waters are quite warm and able to sustain tropical development. However, rapid and strong development of this feature is unlikely due to wind shear once again. However, some organization and low-end development are possible."There is a small chance this system might attempt to wrap up and become a tropical depression from late Sunday to Tuesday," Kottlowski said.At the very least, an uptick in downpours and locally gusty winds is likely in the Windward and Leeward islands later this weekend and then perhaps across Puerto Rico and Hispaniola from Monday to Wednesday.This would occur only a day or two after Jerry passes by to the north of the Leeward Islands.Meanwhile, a potent tropical disturbance with a batch of heavy showers and thunderstorms is forecast to move off the coast of Africa this weekend. Indications are that this feature may have the greatest chance of becoming the Atlantic's next tropical depression and perhaps the 11th named storm of the 2019 hurricane season into next week."Because this feature is so far on the edge of the basin, movement and impact, if any on the Lesser Antilles and the Caribbean in general from one to two weeks away is highly uncertain," Kottlowski said.There is a chance this feature is steered northward over the middle of the Atlantic perhaps before approaching the Lesser Antilles.While the overall weather pattern will be conducive to spawning long-track Cabo Verde systems, which form off of the coast of Africa, and turning them away from the Atlantic coast of the United States, there is some risk of additional systems forming over the Gulf of Mexico into early October.Anytime there is a general area of high pressure that lingers from the western Atlantic to the south-central United States, the clockwise flow around this system can generate a broad area of counterclockwise flow, what meteorologists refer to as a gyre, near Central America. "This gyre can help spin up an organized tropical system from any tropical disturbance that comes along and passes through the wind field," Kottlowski said.Weak to moderate tropical systems can form in the western Caribbean or the southern and western Gulf of Mexico. These systems could brew with close proximity to land, similar to how Imelda formed near Texas, and thus could form with little lead time before striking.As we saw with Imelda, a powerful hurricane is not needed to cause great risk to lives and considerable property damage and disruptions due to flooding.This time of the year, residents, travelers, shipping and cruise interests should closely monitor the tropics as conditions can change significantly from one day to the next. The Atlantic hurricane season continues through the end of November.
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| Jeffrey Epstein victim says Prince Andrew bought her vodka at a London club when she was 17 before having sex with her Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:21 PM PDT  Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused Jeffrey Epstein of sex trafficking her, explained how the late financier's close associate Ghislaine Maxwell coerced her into having sex with Prince Andrew of Britain.
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| The Navy SEAL who ran the bin Laden raid says negotiating with the Taliban is like sitting down for talks with ISIS Posted: 19 Sep 2019 12:19 PM PDT  Talking to the Taliban is like meeting with ISIS, the retired Navy SEAL said weeks after Trump tried to bring Taliban leaders to the US for talks.
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| 2019 Editors' Choice Awards: The Best Trucks, SUVs, and Vans Posted: 20 Sep 2019 10:15 AM PDT |
| Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Verdict Leads to Angry Fallout Posted: 19 Sep 2019 09:54 AM PDT  Christopher FurlongTOKYO—Three executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) who ignored repeated warnings of a potential tidal wave that could result in a nuclear disaster, which did in fact take place, were found not guilty of criminal negligence resulting in death and injury by a Tokyo Court on Thursday. Many feel justice was poorly served. However, a former prosecutor says that the verdict was to be expected. * * *The Four-Hour Verdict* * *The Tokyo District Court ruled former executives of TEPCO were not guilty of criminal negligence, in the only criminal prosecution to come out of the 2011 nuclear disaster in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.The cataclysm at the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant in March of 2011 resulted in over 100,000 people losing their homes, wide-spread radioactive pollution, injuries, and the deaths of patients who had to be evacuated. The disaster, on the scale of Chernobyl, raised alarms around the world about nuclear energy and atomic safety. The disaster area has not been cleaned up entirely and is essentially a nuclear accident still in progress, requiring constant cooling. Radioactive water stored at the TEPCO facilities is likely to be dumped into the ocean next year—probably after the Olympics. The three former executives of TEPCO who were indicted on charges of professional negligence resulting in injury and death were: Tsunehisa Katsumata, 79, chairman of TEPCO at the time of the accident, and two former vice presidents—Sakae Muto, 69, and Ichiro Takekuro, 73. The trial centered on whether these three could be held criminally responsible for what the Japanese Parliament's Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission called "a man-made disaster." How the Earth Is Reclaiming Fukushima, the Ninth Ward, and Staten IslandThe central issue at stake could be summarized as this: Did the TEPCO officials know about the possibility of a nuclear-meltdown-inducing tidal wave, when did they know, and what did they do—or not do about it? TEPCO's six-reactor plant, located on the Pacific coast, was disabled after tsunamis triggered by the massive earthquake of March 11, 2011 flooded power supply facilities, which were unprotected, and crippled reactor cooling systems. Some reactors suffered fuel meltdowns, while hydrogen explosions damaged others. The indictment blamed the three former executives for injuries to more than 10 people from hydrogen explosions at the plant, as well as the deaths of 44 patients forced to evacuate from nearby hospitals. As early as 2002, TEPCO and the Japanese government were aware of a potentially disastrous earthquake and tidal wave causing a nuclear accident. The prosecutors argued, and the court also acknowledged that several times between February 2008 and March 2009 the TEPCO executives were warned of the risk of a tidal wave 14 meters (45 feet) high or higher hitting the power plant and causing a potential nuclear disaster. On March 11, tidal waves between 11.5 and 15.5 meters (50 feet) did hit the power plant, knocking out the power grid and, yes, as predicted for years, triggering the nuclear disaster. There were also independent reports that suggested the earthquake's tremors caused a nuclear meltdown in the 40-year-old Reactor One even before the waves hit, but those allegations were not considered by the court.The verdict, which took several hours for the judges to finish reading out loud—starting at 1:15 p.m. and ending around 4:30 p.m. with a short break—concluded that while the TEPCO executives did receive several warnings of a tidal wave large enough to cause a nuclear accident, they were justified in taking no safety measures for a number of reasons:1) If they had taken the warnings seriously and tried to take countermeasures it would have required them to close the plant down temporarily, which was considered prohibitively expensive. 2) There were questions as to how seriously to take the data about tsunamis.3) Even if the TEPCO executives had acted on the warnings, they probably wouldn't have completed safety countermeasures in time. In reaching the decision, the court stated that tsunami forecast information was vague, and that the three could not have "realistically" foreseen a disaster on such a grand scale. It took the judges so long to read out the explanation for their ruling because as ex-prosecutor Nobuo Gohara explains, "Legally the judgment made sense but on an emotional level, gut instinct level—it all seems wrong and the judges must know that. They wanted to convince people their judgment makes sense." Residents of Fukushima Prefecture took the judgment less gracefully. "It's a disgrace. It's a slap in the face and it shows that the courts here always value profits over people," said a 67 year old farmer from the area who had come to hear the verdict himself this afternoon. Former prosecutor Gohara noted, "There are limits to the Japanese justice system and I have said from the start that it was unlikely the individuals would be found guilty. What you have in the Fukushima Nuclear disaster is a failure of policy and of the entire organization. Japan does not have a legal mechanism for holding a corporation responsible for criminal behavior, and in this case the charges were criminal negligence—on an individual level. The hurdle is very high to prove that." * * *The Trial That Almost Never Took Place* * *The trial of TEPCO executives almost never took place at all.In June of 2012 residents of Fukushima Prefecture submitted criminal complaints against TEPCO executives and central government officials to try to make sure someone was found responsible for the nuclear accident. As noted, the Japanese Parliament's Fukushima Nuclear Accident Independent Investigation Commission called it "a man-made disaster," so it would seem to follow that men should be help accountable.However, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office decided not to indict anyone named in those complaints. In typical Tokyo Prosecutor's Office fashion, they deliberately tried to bury the story at first by leaking their decision not to prosecute on the day Japan won the bid for the 2020 Olympics.Despite the best efforts of the prosecutors not to serve the public interest, a prosecutorial review board decided on two separate occasions that the former executives should be indicted and made to stand trial. The Prosecutorial Review Board system was introduced in May of 2009 as part of judicial reforms in Japan that included the introduction of a modified jury system. If eight of 11 citizens chosen for the board agree that the prosecutors have failed to do their job, and that indeed an indictment is warranted—on two separate occasions—the individual named must stand trial. The court designates civilian lawyers to act as prosecutors, who then indict the individual. In February of 2016, the three former executives were indicted formally. The trial began in June of 2017. All of the former executives pled not guilty. The prosecution asked for five years in prison. * * *Jokyu Kokumin* * *It should be noted that even after the TEPCO executives were indicted, they were not jailed, although the charges were very serious and involved loss of life. In Japan, suspects in criminal cases typically are arrested and held for up to 23 days. But the executives of TEPCO, who are politically connected, belong to what the Japanese public now angrily refer to as Jokyu Kokumi (upper-class citizens who are above the law) so they remained at large during the entire trial. Carlos Ghosn, the former Chairman of Nissan charged with far lesser crimes, but a foreigner, spent months in detention without bail while prosecutors tried to extract a confession. Miwa Chiwaki, a 49-year old woman who was living in a small village in Fukushima Prefecture at the time of the meltdown, was outraged by the verdict. She is the spokesperson for a group of citizens supporting the pursuit of criminal justice in the Fukushima nuclear disaster. She told The Daily Beast, "It's as if the Japanese courts said that there is no one responsible at all. The argument that TEPCO executives would have had to shut down the power plant to put safety measures into place, therefore they had reason not to do it, makes no sense. It is the same as saying corporate profits matter more than people. The Japanese courts care more about the well-being of a company than a person. At least the case established that they knew of the danger...and did nothing."The Real Fukushima Fallout Isn't RadiationThe designated prosecutors in the case may appeal and demand a second trial. In Japan, prosecutors do have the right to appeal a case. Not guilty verdicts are rare and occur in less than one percent of all criminal cases. In general, prosecutors almost always appeal when losing the first round, but the prosecutors in this case are civilian lawyers. It is not clear what will happen next, or if anything will happen at all. Nuclear power plant operators in Japan have faced charges of criminal negligence resulting in death in the past and were found guilty. In April 2003, the Mito District Court found six of employees of JCO guilty over a fatal nuclear accident. They ruled that the company had allowed workers to use buckets to pour uranium solution into a processing tank, causing a nuclear fission chain reaction that resulted in the deaths of workers. The guilty were given suspended sentences and served no time in jail.Hiroyuki Kawai, a lawyer who represents the 5,700 Fukushima residents who filed the original criminal complaint, said in a press conference, "It's a terrible verdict. Yet, if there had been no indictment, the evidence would have never seen the light of day. In that sense, [the trial] has a historical significance." 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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| UPDATE 2-Pro-China groups to tear down pro-democracy graffiti in Hong Kong Posted: 20 Sep 2019 02:09 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-Pro-China groups to tear down pro-democracy graffiti in Hong Kong]( "UPDATE 2-Pro-China groups to tear down pro-democracy graffiti in Hong Kong") A pro-Beijing lawmaker has called for a Clean Hong Kong Day on Saturday, urging supporters to pull down "Lennon Walls" of anti-government graffiti across the Chinese-ruled city, a possible flashpoint in more than three months of unrest. The Lennon Walls are large mosaics of Post-it notes calling for democracy and denouncing perceived Chinese meddling in the former British colony that have cropped up in underpasses, under footbridges, outside shopping centres and elsewhere. Legislator Junius Ho, who has taken a tough stand against the protests, has called for cleanups of 77 Lennon Walls from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, by 100 people at each site.
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| Daniel Hoffman reacts to firestorm over whistleblower complaint against Trump Posted: 18 Sep 2019 09:18 PM PDT  Fox News contributor Daniel Hoffman, a former CIA station chief, reacted Thursday to the firestorm in Washington, D.C. over a whistleblower complaint that reportedly involved allegations President Trump made a troubling and unspecified "promise" to a
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| Carson Daly surprises 'Today' co-hosts on-air with pregnancy news: 'How long have you been sitting on this?!' Posted: 20 Sep 2019 06:58 AM PDT  Carson Daly shared an exciting announcement live on-air during the 'Today' show, taking his co-hosts by total surprise.
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| Boy improving after Michigan buggy crash kills 3 siblings Posted: 19 Sep 2019 02:51 PM PDT ![Boy improving after Michigan buggy crash kills 3 siblings]( "Boy improving after Michigan buggy crash kills 3 siblings") The condition of a Michigan boy who survived a horse-drawn buggy crash that killed his three siblings improved Thursday, a day after the tragedy that shocked the local Amish community. Henry Detweiler told the Lansing State Journal that the children — ages 6, 8, 10 and 13 — had finished school Wednesday and were headed to his blacksmith shop, less than 3 miles (4.8 kilometers) away, in Eaton County, southwest of the state capital. "I bawled all the way home," said Kevin Newton, who often drives for the Amish and knew the victims.
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| Trump Announces ‘Highest Level’ of New Sanctions on Iranian National Bank Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:53 AM PDT  President Trump announced Friday that his administration has placed harsh sanctions on Iran's national bank."We have just sanctioned the Iranian National Bank — that is their central banking system — and it's going to be at the highest level of sanctions," Trump told reporters from the Oval Office.> NEW: Pres. Trump says the U.S. has sanctioned the Iranian National Bank: "We have just sanctioned the Iranian National Bank – that is their central banking system – and it's going to be at the highest level of sanctions." https://t.co/AkUE5Xqu8E pic.twitter.com/OU8G2bQQCF> > -- ABC News (@ABC) September 20, 2019The announcement comes two days after Trump said he had instructed Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin to "substantially increase" sanctions on Iran following several attacks on Saudi Arabian oil facilities that the U.S. attributed to the Islamic republic.The attacks, a series of coordinated strikes that hit Saudi oil facilites last Saturday, cut the country's oil production, which accounts for 5 percent of the world's daily supply, in half. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran for what he called "an act of war," though Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed they carried out the attacks. The Saudi government said Iran "sponsored" the attacks. Iran has denied responsibility.The president said Sunday that the U.S. is "locked and loaded," ready to respond to the attacks, but said Washington is still working to positively identify the culprit. On Thursday, Iran's foreign minister warned of an "all-out war" should the U.S. launch a military strike.
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| Vaping is leading to a spate of lung injuries, comas, and death. Lung experts say oils like vitamin E may be partially to blame. Posted: 19 Sep 2019 02:38 PM PDT  E-cigarettes were billed as a safer alternative to smoking, but evidence is emerging that the devices may have life-threatening health consequences.
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| Newsmaker: The anti-Netanyahu? Ex-general Gantz poised for top office Posted: 19 Sep 2019 05:30 AM PDT  Benny Gantz has little of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's worldly polish or flair as a showy ideologue - and that may be exactly why so many weary Israelis want the ex-general in top office. A towering and laid-back former military chief, Gantz appears to have edged out the conservative Netanyahu in a Tuesday election, but not enough to win a governing center-left majority in parliament led by his Blue and White party. A weakened Netanyahu, whose right-wing Likud party also fell short of victory, called on Gantz, 60, on Thursday to join him a broad, unity government.
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| Son who threw his terminally ill 79-year-old mother to her death spared jail Posted: 20 Sep 2019 11:13 AM PDT  A teacher who threw his terminally ill 79-year-old mother to her death from a first-floor balcony spared jail as judge describes it as a "mercy killing". A "devoted, loving son" who killed his dying mother to end her suffering by dropping her from a first floor fire escape at a care home has been given a suspended jail term. Robert Knight, 53, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his 79-year-old mother June at an earlier hearing at Basildon Crown Court. The languages teacher had denied murder and was cleared by a jury. Judge Samantha Leigh, sentencing Knight at Basildon Crown Court on Friday, told him: "You are someone who acted out of love and desperation. "You have been punished enough and you have to live with what you have done." She went on to describe it as a "mercy killing". Knight was sentenced to 24 months in prison suspended for 24 months. The incident happened at Langley Lodge Care Home in Westcliff, Essex, where Mrs Knight was receiving end-of-life care. Credit: EAST NEWS PRESS AGENCY Knight, of The Fairway, Leigh-on-Sea, signed into the care home on the evening of December 10 and lifted his mother out of bed. He dropped her from a fire escape and there was "no planning" involved, the judge said. The judge said: "This is a very sad case - anyone listening to the details of Mrs Knight's illness and her condition couldn't fail to be moved." She added that to "watch someone you love suffer as she was suffering... is truly cruel". The court heard that Mrs Knight had dementia and Alzheimer's disease, and a post-mortem report showed she had a twisted bowel that would have caused her pain. Knight visited her regularly, brushing her hair and cutting her nails, the judge said. She added that a "do not resuscitate" notice was in place at the time and care home staff "didn't think she would survive the night" from December 9 to December 10 last year. "You were convinced that she was suffering and it was more than you could bear," the judge told Knight. "You are described as a devoted, loving son," she added. "This case, I'm sure, was a very finely balanced one as to whether it was in the interest to prosecute in the first place." Michael Levy, mitigating, said Knight had no previous convictions, was remorseful, had admitted manslaughter and had spent more than nine months in custody while criminal proceedings were under way. Knight was ordered to complete 60 days of rehabilitation as part of his sentence, before he walked free from court.
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| FedEx Pilot Detained in China for Item Found in Luggage Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:51 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- A FedEx Corp. pilot was temporarily detained in southeastern China after authorities found hundreds of air-gun pellets in his luggage prior to boarding a commercial flight to Hong Kong, marking the delivery firm's latest setback in the country.The pilot, who was held in the city of Guangzhou, was later released on bail and the company is working with relevant authorities to understand the facts better, Memphis-based FedEx said in an email. Geng Shuang, spokesman at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a briefing Friday that he was detained after being found with 681 air-gun pellets in his luggage.While FedEx didn't provide details, a Wall Street Journal report earlier cited people familiar with the matter as saying Chinese authorities have started a criminal probe on the former U.S. Air Force colonel for allegedly carrying ammunition illegally. China notified the U.S. consulate in Guangzhou about the matter and the case is still under investigation, Geng said.FedEx has been under particular scrutiny in recent months, after Huawei Technologies Co. said documents it asked to be shipped from Japan to China were diverted to the U.S. instead without authorization. In another incident, FedEx said it mistakenly rejected a package containing a Huawei phone being sent to the U.S. from the U.K., a claim China rebuffed.Separately, police in China's Fujian province started an investigation into a package containing a gun delivered by FedEx to a company in China, state media reported in August. Chinese authorities also began probing FedEx on suspicion of illegally handling a package sent to Hong Kong containing knives, Xinhua News Agency reported in early September.The fracas over the Huawei packages has seen FedEx targeted in Chinese state media, with Beijing considering adding the company to a list of so-called unreliable entities it is drafting, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in June.China Mulls FedEx Blacklisting After Huawei Delivery ErrorsAfter the U.S. slapped curbs on Huawei, China's Commerce Ministry announced the creation of the list in late May to target firms that the government says damage the interests of domestic companies.(Updates with foreign ministry comment in second paragraph.)\--With assistance from Thomas Black, Feifei Shen and April Ma.To contact the reporter on this story: Young-Sam Cho in Hong Kong at ycho2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Young-Sam Cho at ycho2@bloomberg.net, Emma O'BrienFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| The Macallan unveils Edition No. 5 -- and it looks like nothing you've ever seen from the brand before [Exclusive] Posted: 20 Sep 2019 09:23 AM PDT ![The Macallan unveils Edition No. 5 -- and it looks like nothing you've ever seen from the brand before [Exclusive]](http://l2.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/FeqZrh.jX9g7ZJmMVH5dXA--/YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b247aD04Njt3PTEzMDs-/https://o.aolcdn.com/images/dims3/GLOB/crop/2700x1770+0+593/resize/1028x675!/format/jpg/quality/85/https://s.yimg.com/os/creatr-uploaded-images/2019-09/51dfca70-dbc2-11e9-bff6-dd3a7bbd36bc "The Macallan unveils Edition No. 5 -- and it looks like nothing you've ever seen from the brand before [Exclusive]") The newest iteration of the Macallan Edition Series, Edition No. 5, might be the most out-of-the-box yet.
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| Climate change could turn oceans from friend to foe, UN report warns Posted: 19 Sep 2019 08:28 PM PDT  Global warming and pollution caused by humanity's carbon-heavy footprint are ravaging Earth's oceans and icy regions in ways that could unleash misery on a global scale, a landmark UN report to be unveiled next week will warn. The underlying 900-page scientific report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the fourth such UN tome in less than a year, with others focused on a 1.5-Celsius cap on global warming, the decline of biodiversity, as well as land use and the global food system. All four conclude that humanity must overhaul how it produces, distributes and consumes almost everything to avoid the worst ravages of global warming and environmental degradation.
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| State sending troopers to help fight St. Louis crime Posted: 19 Sep 2019 04:09 PM PDT  Missouri Gov. Mike Parson is sending highway patrol troopers and other state workers to St. Louis as part of an effort to fight the surge of violent crime that has included the killings of more than a dozen children in the region so far this year. Parson said the total cost of the state's commitment, including the 25 state employees who will work in the St. Louis region, is up to $4 million. "This is about targeting violent criminals and getting them off the street," Parson said at a news conference in St. Louis.
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| Justin Trudeau says he'll ban assault rifles amid backlash to blackface controversy Posted: 20 Sep 2019 01:15 PM PDT  The Canadian Liberal Party's push comes at the same time the American Democratic Party is splintered over a similar proposal.
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