| Iran says it arrested 17 CIA spies, some sentenced to death Posted: 22 Jul 2019 01:59 AM PDT  Iran said Monday it has arrested 17 Iranian nationals allegedly recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency to spy on the country's nuclear and military sites, and that some of them have already been sentenced to death. The arrests took place over the past months and those taken into custody worked on "sensitive sites" in the country's military and nuclear facilities, an Iranian intelligence official told a press conference in Tehran. The announcement comes as Iran's nuclear deal with world powers is unraveling and tensions have spiked in the Persian Gulf region.
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| California couple arrested after strangling newborn baby in hospital, police say Posted: 21 Jul 2019 10:36 AM PDT  An Oxnard couple has been arrested in connection with the death of a newborn baby, police said Friday.
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| UN nuclear watchdog chief Amano dies at 72 Posted: 22 Jul 2019 01:20 AM PDT  The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Yukiya Amano, has died after suffering poor health for some time, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Monday, as international tensions run high over Iran's nuclear activities. The longtime Japanese diplomat, who was 72, held the IAEA's top job since December 2009. "The secretariat of the International Atomic Energy Agency regrets to inform with deepest sadness of the passing away of Director General Yukiya Amano," the IAEA said in a statement, without saying when he died.
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| UPDATE 2-U.S. says Venezuelan plane aggressively shadowed a U.S. military aircraft Posted: 21 Jul 2019 11:00 AM PDT ![UPDATE 2-U.S. says Venezuelan plane aggressively shadowed a U.S. military aircraft]( "UPDATE 2-U.S. says Venezuelan plane aggressively shadowed a U.S. military aircraft") The U.S. military on Sunday accused a Venezuelan fighter aircraft of "aggressively" shadowing a U.S. Navy EP-3 Aries II plane over international airspace, a fresh sign of growing hostility between the two countries. The encounter between the two planes occurred on Friday, the same day that the Trump administration announced it was imposing sanctions on four top officials in Venezuela's military counterintelligence agency.
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| Crew capsule designed to take US astronauts back to moon completed Posted: 20 Jul 2019 03:28 PM PDT  A space capsule designed to carry US astronauts back to the moon in five years' time is ready, vice-president Mike Pence has revealed on the 50th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 landing.NASA's new Artemis lunar operation is aimed at returning humans to Earth's satellite, following in the footsteps of Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in 1969 – but this time to set up camp, rather than just pay a flying visit.The new mission, scheduled for 2024, is itself designed as a springboard for a subsequent crewed spaceship to be sent to Mars for the first time.NASA said in a statement that Artemis 1 would launch its Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket around the moon in an initial test phase, after which a crew containing at least one female astronaut would touch down on the surface to establish a lunar base."Thanks to the hard work of the men and women of NASA, and of American industry, the Orion crew vehicle for the Artemis 1 mission is complete and ready to begin preparations for its historic first flight," Vice-President Pence told the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, standing alongside Mr Pence with Aldrin and Armstrong's son Rick, said: "Similar to the 1960s, we too have an opportunity to take a giant leap forward for all of humanity."NASA is calling this the Artemis program in honour of Apollo's twin sister in Greek mythology, the goddess of the moon. And we are well on our way to getting this done."A module manufactured by Airbus in Bremen, Germany, that will power Orion during the mission, is in the process of being attached ready for a September flight to test its spaceworthiness.Mr Pence announced in March that NASA should return astronauts to the moon by 2024, halving the agency's previous deadline to get there by 2028, and requested an extra $1.6bn funding from Congress.However, President Donald Trump on Friday indicated he was not interested in a mission going back to the moon.Mr Trump instead repeated his interest in a NASA mission that would take astronauts directly to Mars, a vastly more challenging and costly endeavour."To get to Mars, you have to land on the moon, they say. Any way of going directly without landing on the moon? Is that a possibility?" the president asked Mr Bridenstine during an event in the Oval Office.Mr Bridenstine responded: "Well, we need to use the moon as a proving ground, because when we go to Mars, we're going to have to be there for a long period of time, so we need to learn how to live and work on another world."The Artemis program's objective is to conduct a series of manned and unmanned missions to the moon, using its surface as a proving ground for technologies that could lay the groundwork for the longer and more complex missions to Mars as soon as 2033, Mr Bridenstine has said.Agencies contributed to this report
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| Millions of Barrels of Iranian Oil Are Piled Up in China’s Ports Posted: 21 Jul 2019 06:12 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Tankers are offloading millions of barrels of Iranian oil into storage tanks at Chinese ports, creating a hoard of crude sitting on the doorstep of the world's biggest buyer.Two and a half months after the White House banned the purchase of Iran's oil, the nation's crude is continuing to be sent to China where it's being put into what's known as "bonded storage," say people familiar with operations at several Chinese ports. This oil doesn't cross local customs or show up in the nation's import data and is not necessarily in breach of sanctions. And while it remains out of circulation for now, its presence is looming over the market.The store of oil has the potential to push down global prices if Chinese refiners decide to draw on it, even as Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies curb production amid slowing growth in major economies. It also allows Iran to keep pumping and move its oil nearer to potential buyers."Iranian oil shipments have been flowing into Chinese bonded storage for some months now, and continue to do so despite increased scrutiny," said Rachel Yew, an analyst at industry consultant FGE in Singapore. "We can see why the producer would want to do so, as a build-up of supplies near key buyers is clearly beneficial for a seller, especially if sanctions are eased at some point."See also: Iranian Oil Tanker Daniel Enters Chinese Port: Ship TrackingThere could be more Iranian oil headed for China's bonded storage tanks, Bloomberg ship-tracking data show. At least ten very-large crude carriers and two smaller tankers owned by the state-run National Iranian Oil Company and its shipping arm are currently sailing toward China or idling off its coast. The vessels have a combined carrying capacity of over 20 million barrels.The bulk of Iranian oil in China's bonded tanks is still owned by Tehran and therefore not in breach of sanctions, according to the people. The oil hasn't crossed Chinese customs so it is theoretically in transit.Some of the crude, though, is owned by Chinese entities that may have received it as part of oil-for-investment schemes. For example, a Chinese oil company could have helped fund a production project in Iran under an agreement to be repaid in kind. Whether this sort of transaction is in breach of sanctions isn't clear, and so the Chinese companies are keeping it in bonded storage to avoid the official scrutiny it would get once it is registered with customs, according to the people.Nobody replied to a faxed inquiry to China's General Administration of Customs.Lack of ClarityThe build-up of Iranian oil in Chinese bonded storage has yet to be clearly addressed by Washington. The White House ended waivers allowing some countries to keep importing Iranian oil on May 2.There are currently no exemptions issued to any country for the import of Iranian oil, and any nation seen importing cargoes from the Persian Gulf producer will be in breach of sanctions, according to a senior Trump administration official, who asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about the matter."The U.S. will now need to define how it quantifies the infringement of sanctions," said Michal Meidan, director of the China Energy Programme at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. There's a lack of clarity on whether it would look at "financial transactions or the loading and discharge of cargoes by company or entity," she said.See also: China Buying Iran LPG Despite Sanctions, Ship-Tracking ShowsChina received about 12 million tons of Iranian crude from January through May, according to ship-tracking data, versus about 10 million that cleared customs over the period. The discrepancy could be due to the flow of oil into bonded storage.One of the Iranian tankers that appears to have loaded oil after the U.S. waivers ended is very-large crude carrier Horse. It discharged at Tianjin in early-July after sailing from the Middle East where shipping data showed it signaling its destination as Iran's Kharg Island on May 4.Several other Iranian-owned tankers offloaded in China or were heading there, according to ship tracking data. VLCC Stream discharged at Tianjin on June 19, while Amber, Salina and C. Infinity offloaded crude at the ports of Huangdao, Jinzhou and Ningbo. Tankers Snow, Sevin and Maria III were last seen sailing in the direction of China.Putting crude into bonded tanks in China also means Iran can avoid having to tie up part of its tanker fleet by storing the oil at sea for months at a time. The Islamic Republic used floating storage in 2012 to 2016 and again in 2018 as buyers shunned its crude due to U.S.-imposed trade restrictions.Should the Iranian crude leave bonded storage and end up in the market it could pressure oil prices, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch. West Texas Intermediate plunged more than 20% from late April to mid-June as the U.S.-China trade war intensified. It's since recovered some of those losses, partly as a result of the rising tension between Washington and Tehran, and is trading near $56 a barrel."A further escalation in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods could jointly drive global economic growth a lot lower and encourage Iran-China cooperation," Bank of America Merrill Lynch said in a June note. "If Chinese refiners start to purchase Iran oil in large volumes on a sustained basis as U.S. tariffs rise again, WTI could drop to $40 a barrel."\--With assistance from Nick Wadhams.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Serene Cheong in Singapore at scheong20@bloomberg.net;Sarah Chen in Beijing at schen514@bloomberg.net;Alfred Cang in Singapore at acang@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Serene Cheong at scheong20@bloomberg.net, Andrew JanesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Some asylum seekers forced to wait in Mexico help each other Posted: 20 Jul 2019 03:43 PM PDT  A small group of asylum seekers sit under a canopy on the side of a road leading into the United States, chatting to pass the time as a blazing desert sun pushes the heat into triple digits and fumes roll in from dozens of cars lined up to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Coming from Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Cuba and many other countries, they're waiting in San Luis Río Colorado, Mexico, to seek asylum at the official border crossing just south of San Luis, Arizona. "Here, you have nobody but each other," Julio Montenegro, a 33-year-old Guatemalan who has been waiting for several weeks, said on a hot afternoon in late June.
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| NZ plans firearm register, tighter licensing amid gun law reforms Posted: 21 Jul 2019 09:18 PM PDT ![NZ plans firearm register, tighter licensing amid gun law reforms]( "NZ plans firearm register, tighter licensing amid gun law reforms") New Zealand on Monday revealed plans to establish a firearm register and to overhaul its licensing systems for gun owners in the second set of gun law reforms introduced in response to mass shootings in the city of Christchurch. The new legislation would tighten the rules for gun owners and dealers to get and keep a licence, which would have to be renewed every five years, and prohibit visitors to New Zealand from buying a gun, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said in a press conference. New Zealand banned military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles in the first phase of reforms introduced days after a lone gunman attacked Muslim worshippers at two mosques in Christchurch on March 15, killing 51 people.
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| Fox’s Chris Wallace Confronts WH Adviser Stephen Miller: ‘No Question’ Trump’s ‘Stoking Racial Divisions’ Posted: 21 Jul 2019 08:33 AM PDT  Making his first major television interview in months, White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller found himself grilled relentlessly by Fox News anchor Chris Wallace on Sunday over President Trump's repeated racist taunts of Democratic congresswomen of color.Miller, the chief architect of the Trump administration's hardline anti-immigration policies, appeared on Fox News Sunday and immediately defended both the president's week-long racist tirade against the so-called Squad and a Trump rally crowd's "Send Her Back!" chant. After saying the audience members behind the chant were like other "patriotic members" who are "tired of being beat up" by left-leaning members of Congress, Miller went on to claim that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)—a member of the Squad—had "profoundly outraged" him as an American Jew by calling border detention centers "concentration camps."Stephen Miller Keeps His Head Down as Trump Makes His Nativist Dreams Come TrueWallace, meanwhile, noted that both before and after his election, the president has been even more critical of America than the four progressive congresswomen, highlighting a series of comments in which Trump said the country has a "lot of killers" and that "nobody respects" the United States."Why is what those congresswomen have said, in general, any worse than what you just heard Donald Trump say—President Obama is ignorant, this country is killers, on and on?" Wallace asked the White House aide.Miller insisted the difference was that Trump wanted to "strengthen America's core values" with his remarks while the Squad believed the country should turn "into Venezuela," prompting the Fox News anchor to push back and point out we "are not talking about constitutional rights" but Trump's own sharp criticisms of the United States.Wallace then went on to confront Miller on the overarching theme of the president targeting the congresswomen."Nobody has any problem with what the president's policies have been, it's when he goes into stoking racial fears," the Fox host declared. "I've never called any of his tweets racist, but there's no question that he is stoking racial divisions."Miller contended that the "core element of the president's philosophy is 'America First'" before pivoting to Ocasio-Cortez, accusing her of saying undocumented immigrants are "more American than Americans." AOC, however, has never actually said this. The New York lawmaker has noted that immigrants historically commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans, She's also said that asylum-seeking refugees "are acting more American than any person who seeks to keep them out ever will be."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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| With over 40K blacked out, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo rips Con Edison: 'They should have been better prepared' Posted: 22 Jul 2019 02:02 AM PDT  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed electricity company Con Edison for blackouts in Brooklyn and Queens on Sunday night amid a heat wave.
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| UPDATE 1-Saudi minister says Iran's actions are unacceptable Posted: 21 Jul 2019 12:45 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Saudi minister says Iran's actions are unacceptable]( "UPDATE 1-Saudi minister says Iran's actions are unacceptable") Saudi Arabia's minister of state for foreign affairs on Sunday condemned Iran's seizure of a British flagged tanker in the Strait of Hormuz and urged the international community to take action to deter such "unacceptable" behaviour. "Any attack on the freedom of navigation is a violation of international law," Adel Aljubeir said in a Twitter post. "Iran must realise its acts of intercepting ships, including most recently the British ship, are completely unacceptable.
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| More F-35s Are Headed to This NATO Member Posted: 21 Jul 2019 01:18 PM PDT  The Royal Netherlands Air Force soon will buy another eight or nine F-35 stealth fighters, defense minister Ank Bijleveld said in a July 2019 interview.The additional F-35s will help the Dutch air force to reequip an additional front-line fighter squadron.The decision partially restores deep cuts to the Dutch fighter fleet that began at the end of the Cold War and continued through the 2008 global financial crisis. Today the RNLAF operates around 60 F-16s in three front-line squadrons and one training unit.At its peak in the late 1980s, the Dutch F-16 fleet included more than 200 airframes, making it one of Europe's most powerful fighter forces.The Netherlands is a major partner in the U.S.-led F-35 program and originally planned to acquire 114 of the radar-evading warplanes to fully replace the F-16 fleet. But the country's defense budget shrank and the F-35's cost rose.Amsterdam in 2013 budgeted just $6 billion to buy 37 F-35s, enough to equip two F-16 squadrons plus the training unit. Critics pointed out that 37 fighters would be sufficient to support long-term deployments of just a handful of aircraft."Because pilots are also busy with training and surveillance of Dutch airspace, only four aircraft could be permanently on a foreign mission," Dutch newspaper Trouw reported. "Should an [F-35] crash, even that limited assignment would be difficult."
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| Biden Leads in CBS Democratic Poll but Faces Enthusiasm Gap Posted: 21 Jul 2019 02:08 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden remains the top choice among Democratic voters in states that will hold early presidential primary and caucus contests in 2020, as four main contenders emerged as the top tier of the large field, a new CBS News poll showed on Sunday.Biden had 25% support as voters' first choice for the Democratic nominee, with Senators Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts at 20% and Kamala Harris of California at 16% gaining ground on the former vice president. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont was fourth in the survey with 15% support. No other candidate reached double-digit support in the poll.Biden continued to benefit from his perceived electability against President Donald Trump in the general election, with 75% of likely voters considering voting for him because they think he could beat Trump. Meanwhile, 85% of those considering Biden cited his time as former President Barack Obama's vice president as a reason for choosing him.Still, there's an enthusiasm gap for Biden among some primary voters, the poll found. A majority of those surveyed, 56%, said Warren would fight "a great deal" for people like them, and 54% said the same of Sanders. Only 38% described Biden that way.When asked who has been the most "passionate" so far, Warren and Sanders each had 28%, while Biden had just 14%. Warren, who has touted her policy proposals, was seen as the most specific candidate, with 42%, while Harris was seen as the strongest with 32%.Despite recent criticism of Biden by other candidates, 68% of respondents in the poll said they considered his record on race relations good or excellent, with 76% of black voters rating his career positively in that regard. Biden and Harris clashed in the first presidential debates over the former Delaware senator's opposition to busing in the 1970s.Debate BoostThat debate appeared to have boosted Harris, with 63% of those considering her in the poll saying her performance was a reason they were taking a look at her, while 49% said the same for Warren. Harris and Biden will next face off with eight other candidates on the second night of the presidential primary debates in Detroit on July 31, while Sanders and Warren will be among those appearing on the first night July 30.Harris and Biden are also neck-and-neck in the former's home state of California, which will award a hefty delegate total. Biden is the first choice of 24% in the most-populous state, with 23% favoring Harris. Biden had a much more comfortable lead in South Carolina, where he has courted the state's heavily black Democratic voters and focused on his relationship to Obama, the first black president. Biden is the first choice of 39% of respondents in South Carolina, followed by Sanders at 17% and Harris at 12%, the poll showed.Biden also led Sanders as voters' first choice in both Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two voting states, according to the CBS poll.The survey also showed ideological splits within the party, even as 61% of respondents described themselves as somewhat or very liberal. Warren is winning among liberal voters, taking 26%, while Biden is carrying moderates and conservatives, according to the poll.According to the survey, 59% would prefer someone who agrees with them on policy, even if that person must forgo civility. Biden does best with those who prefer civility, CBS said.The CBS poll was conducted July 9-18 by YouGov. A sample of 18,550 registered voters were polled in 18 states that will hold Democratic primaries or caucuses before and on March 3, known as Super Tuesday. The sample included 8,760 self-identified Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, and the margin of error was about plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.(Adds additional details from third paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net;Ben Brody in Washington at btenerellabr@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Mark Niquette, Kevin MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Asian markets sink as traders consider Fed rate cut Posted: 22 Jul 2019 01:21 AM PDT  Asian markets were in retreat Monday on dimming hopes for a deep interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve, but all the firms on a new tech-focused board in China rallied on its opening day. Oil prices extended last week's gains after Iran seized a British tanker in the Gulf, fuelling fresh concerns about supplies and a possible conflict in the tinderbox Middle East. Traders took a step back after last week's gains as the New York Federal Reserve tempered comments from its president, John Williams, who had suggested the central bank would cut borrowing costs by 50 basis points at its policy meeting this month.
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| Military studies 'hyperfit' women who pass grueling courses Posted: 21 Jul 2019 09:31 AM PDT  In the nearly four years since the Pentagon announced it was opening all combat jobs to women , at least 30 have earned the Army Ranger tab, two have graduated Marine infantry school and three have passed the grueling initial assessment phase for Green Beret training. Army medical researchers hope to uncover answers in a just-launched voluntary study. "We're really interested in those elite women that are the first to make it through physically demanding training," said Holly McClung, a nutritional physiologist at the Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Massachusetts.
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| 2020 Candidates Delayed Paying Staff to Look Richer on Paper Posted: 22 Jul 2019 01:54 AM PDT  Drew Angerer/GettyFor months, Sen. Amy Klobuchar's (D-MN) presidential campaign made regular payments to its staff and vendors, with varying daily expenditures that never exceeded $335,000. But on April 1, 2019, the campaign's spending exploded.Whereas Klobuchar's campaign spent an average of about $55,000 per day through the end of June, according to FEC filings, it dropped a whopping $624,000 on the first day of April, including a $300,000 payment to the campaign's digital vendor. That massive uptick in expenses was likely due to the fact that April 1 marked the beginning of the new fundraising quarter. By putting off the payments until then, Klobuchar was able to put the best possible spin on her presidential campaign's financial position during the previous three months. If those expenses had come a day earlier, Klobuchar's cash on hand figure would have been roughly $6.35 million. Instead, the campaign was able to claim roughly $7 million in reserves—a sum that placed her among the better-positioned Democrats in the presidential race. A Daily Beast review of campaign finance records indicates that the delayed-expenses strategy has continued through the just completed cycle, and has involved payments to campaign staffers as well.Klobuchar Gets Barr to Defend Trump Over and Over AgainKlobuchar, whose campaign did not respond to multiple requests for comment, is one of at least four Democratic presidential candidates who appear to have skipped a staff payday at the end of June, putting off that pay period until the beginning of the following month and hence transferring the expense to the next quarter's balance sheets.Virtually every campaign engages in forms of accounting gimmicks in order to enhance their financial standings. Veterans of past and current races say that it is common to try and delay spending to future quarters in order to bolster cash reserves that have to reported at filing deadlines. That pressure is particularly acute in elections with crowded fields (such as the 2020 Democratic primary) when reporters, donors, and voters are ever attuned to any signs of momentum or lack thereof.For some campaigns, the ability to put off a payroll payment—whether by design or coincidence—made a substantial difference. That's most true for the Klobuchar campaign, which reported $186,000 in salary expenditures on its last reported pay day, June 15.Federal Election Commission records indicate that the campaign was otherwise paying staffers on the 15th and last day of each month. But no paychecks went out at the end of June, according to its second quarter financial filing. Klobuchar didn't simply eliminate those expenses by postponing the last payroll payment of the second quarter. That's because her campaign appears to have put off its last pay period of the first quarter as well after writing salary checks on February 20, February 28, and March 15, the next payments went out on April 1. But her staff, and accompanying payroll expenses, were larger in June than in March. And at some point, she will either have to make all wage payments or simply not pay her staff. And by kicking the can down the road, she has been able to avoid taking the hit on a campaign finance filing for the time being. Three other campaigns also departed from previous payroll schedules by skipping end-of-month paychecks last month, according to a review of campaign finance records. Rep. John Delaney's (D-MD) campaign said the change in schedule was simply a product of switching to a new payroll management service that restructured that schedule.Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO) and Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA) both attributed it to the fact that June 30 was a Sunday, so checks went out the following day. But it's common practice for employers to send out paychecks on the preceding Friday when paydays fall on a weekend. The decision to do so the following Monday served, intentionally or not, to boost apparent cash-on-hand figures at the end of the quarter in a way that shrouded the campaigns' actual liabilities.There's nothing improper or problematic with structuring campaign payments in order to present the best possible picture of its financial situation. But an understanding that campaigns do so, and how they do so, can give the public a better grasp of the financial standing of the various political camps vying for the 2020 Democratic nomination.Delayed payroll payments can be relatively small fractions of total cash on hand figures. But campaign staffers are not heavily compensated employees to begin with. And the absence of a regular paycheck—even by just a matter of days—can cause life complications. "I haven't heard of this practice before but I am not surprised," said Kim McMurray, an executive council member of the Campaign Workers Guild and a former organizer for 2020 contender Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). "FEC timing deadlines are such an important moment for campaigns to show enthusiasm, support, etc. so campaigns want to show the largest number possible.""It is very disappointing if this came at the expense of the workers," McMurray added.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Hong Kong riot police fire tear gas during clashes with protesters amid further violent unrest Posted: 21 Jul 2019 07:40 PM PDT  Clashes involving Hong Kong's protest movement escalated violently late Sunday as police launched tear gas at protesters who didn't disband after a massive protest march. The ugly scenes in the financial hub also saw subway passengers attacked by masked assailants who appeared to target the pro-democracy demonstrators. The firing of tear gas was the latest confrontation between police and protesters who have taken to the streets for almost two months to fight a proposed extradition bill and call for electoral reforms in the Chinese territory. The march had been peaceful when it reached its police-designated end point in Hong Kong's Wan Chai district in the late afternoon, but thousands tried to continue onward. Protesters threw eggs at the building and spray-painted its surrounding surveillance cameras, while China's national emblem, which adorns the front of the Liaison Office, was splattered with black ink. The Liaison Office's Chinese emblem was defaced Credit: Bloomberg The Liaison Office said in comments published on Chinese state media that the acts "openly challenged the authority of the central government and touched the bottom line of the 'one country, two systems' principle." Later, police threw tear gas canisters at protesters to try to disperse the protesters, many of whom scattered and went back in the direction of a key business district after clashes with police. Police officers remained at the site and the force said on their official social media accounts that protesters threw bricks and petrol bombs at them and attacked the Central police station. Hong Kong's protest movement escalated violently and was met with tear gas Credit: REX Hong Kong media released footage showing masked assailants, dressed in white with black masks pulled over the heads, attacking commuters in a subway station. Screams rang out when the men attacked the subway passengers, according to footage taken by commuters and Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting. Lam, who was injured in the attack, said he was angry about a slow police response after he alerted them to the trouble, government-funded broadcaster RTHK reported. Lam said the police action had failed to protect the public. "Is Hong Kong now allowing triads to do what they want, beating up people on the street with weapons?," he asked reporters. The Hong Kong government said in a statement shortly after midnight that commuters were attacked at a subway station in the city's Yuen Long neighborhood, leading to "confrontations and injuries." Police officers rest after clashes with protesters Credit: AFP The statement also said some "radical protesters initiated a series of violent acts ... despite repeated warnings" by police. They said the acts included hurling petrol bombs, setting fires and throwing bricks. "This is absolutely unacceptable to Hong Kong as a society that observes the rule of law," the statement said, referring to the acts of the subway attackers as well as the protesters. Large protests began early last month in opposition to a contentious extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to stand trial in mainland China, where critics say their rights would be compromised. Hong Kong's leader, Carrie Lam, has declared the extradition bill dead, but protesters are dissatisfied with her refusal to formally withdraw the legislation. Some are also calling for her to resign.
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| Explosion in popularity of hemp products leaves Texas unable to bust marijuana users Posted: 20 Jul 2019 12:30 PM PDT  Texas politicians thought they were clear: the bill they overwhelmingly passed allowing the growth and sale of hemp had nothing to do with legalising cannabis."This is no slippery slope towards marijuana," Charles Perry, a Republican state senator who sponsored the bill, said in May, according to The Dallas Morning News.But since Greg Abbott signed the measure into law in June, county prosecutors around Texas have been dropping some marijuana possession charges and declining to file new ones, saying they do not have the time or the laboratory equipment needed to distinguish between legal hemp and illegal marijuana.Collectively, the prosecutors' jurisdictions cover more than 9 million people — about a third of Texas' population — including in Houston, Austin and San Antonio.The accidental leniency represents one of the unintended consequences states may face as they race to cash in on the popularity of products made with or from hemp.Interest has surged in oils, gummies and other goods infused with CBD, or cannabidiol, which is processed from cannabis plants but does not produce a psychoactive effect.The police and prosecutors in Florida are facing the same problem as their Texan colleagues after the Sunshine State legalised hemp in July."This is not just Texas," said Peter Stout, president of the Houston Forensic Science Centre, which runs tests for the Houston Police Department and other agencies."Everybody is struggling with this."In Texas, prosecutors have already dropped scores of possession cases, and they're not just throwing out misdemeanours.The Travis County district attorney, Margaret Moore, announced this month that she was dismissing 32 felony possession and delivery of marijuana cases because of the law.Ms Abbott and other state officials, including the attorney general, pushed back on Thursday, saying prosecutors should not be dropping cases because of the new legislation, known as H.B. 1325."Marijuana has not been decriminalised in Texas, and these actions demonstrate a misunderstanding of how H.B. 1325 works," the officials, all Republicans, wrote in a letter to prosecutors.Kim Ogg, the Harris County district attorney and a Democrat, shot back by saying that laboratory confirmation "has long been required" to prove someone's guilt.Before the legislation went into effect, laboratories had to identify hairs on marijuana flowers and test for the presence of cannabinoids, a process that required just a few minutes and a test strip that turned purple when it was positive.Because the new law distinguishes between hemp and illicit marijuana, prosecutors say labs would now be required to determine the concentration of THC in the seized substance.Mr Stout said he has been able to identify only two labs in the country that can make the fine distinction necessary and that are accredited in Texas. Both of them are private.Prosecutors would need to pay the labs to run the tests — sometimes hundreds of dollars for each sample — and to testify about the results at trial.Sending all of the state's suspected marijuana to a small number of labs would likely overwhelm them, prosecutors have said, and would result in severe backlogs.Still, many prosecutors agree with the governor and are continuing to charge and prosecute marijuana cases as usual.The district attorney in El Paso, Jaime Esparza, a Democrat, said this month that the law "will not have an effect on the prosecution of marijuana cases in El Paso" and a spokeswoman confirmed that he had not thrown out any cases because of the law.The sudden dismissals in other districts have been a welcome surprise for those who had been facing charges.Brandon Ball, a lawyer, said one of his clients in Fort Bend County had been distraught about the possession charge she faced until it was unexpectedly dismissed.She kept thanking him, but it wasn't her lawyer who beat the case."I was trying to explain, it wasn't me, it was this law," Mr Ball said, referring to the hemp legislation.Mr Ball, now an assistant public defender in Harris County, explained that test results are vital for prosecutors trying to prove that someone had an illegal substance."The law is constantly changing on what makes something illegal, based on its chemical makeup," Mr Ball said."It's important that if someone is charged with something, the test matches what they're charged with."New York Times
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| British PM to hold emergency meeting on seized tanker Posted: 21 Jul 2019 02:26 PM PDT ![British PM to hold emergency meeting on seized tanker]( "British PM to hold emergency meeting on seized tanker") Prime Minister Theresa May will hold a meeting of Britain's emergencies committee on Monday to discuss Iran's seizure of a UK-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf. In one of her final important acts as prime minister before resigning on Wednesday, May will chair a meeting of Britain's COBR emergencies committee at around 10:30 am (0930 GMT), her Downing Street office said. "As well as receiving the latest updates from ministers and officials, the COBR meeting will discuss the maintenance of the security of shipping in the Persian Gulf," a spokeswoman said in a brief statement.
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| South Korea detains 6 for illegally entering Japan consulate Posted: 22 Jul 2019 01:00 AM PDT  South Korean police on Monday detained six people for allegedly illegally entering a Japanese diplomatic facility in South Korea and staging an anti-Tokyo demonstration there. The incident came amid growing anti-Japanese sentiments in South Korea as the two countries are locked in trade and political disputes. The six men and women were given temporary passes to enter the Japanese consulate in the southeastern city of Busan earlier Monday after they told staff there they would visit a library inside the building, according to Busan police officers.
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| Murders in Mexico surge to record in first half of 2019 Posted: 21 Jul 2019 03:10 PM PDT ![Murders in Mexico surge to record in first half of 2019]( "Murders in Mexico surge to record in first half of 2019") Murders in Mexico jumped in the first half of the year to the highest on record, according to official data, underscoring the vast challenges President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces in reducing violence in the cartel-ravaged country. There were 14,603 murders from January to June, versus the 13,985 homicides registered in the first six months of 2018, according to data posted over the weekend on the website of Mexico's national public security office. Mexico is on course to surpass the 29,111 murders of last year, an all-time high.
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| New German defence chief pledges to speed up race to Nato 2pc spending target Posted: 21 Jul 2019 12:05 PM PDT  Germany's new defence minister has picked an early fight inside the country's troubled coalition, pledging to beef up military spending against the will of junior partners the Social Democrats. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer will make it a priority to allocate a budget equivalent to 2 percent of the German economy to the Bundeswehr, the 56-year-old told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper in an interview published on Sunday. The woman known as "mini-Merkel" due to her loyalty to the Chancellor, took over as leader of the Christian Democrats from Angela Merkel at the end of 2018 and is set to take a run at the Chancellery in 2021 at the latest. "We made a clear commitment to NATO's two percent goal. I know that we can't get there from one day to the next, but I'm just as clear on the fact that we must get there in the end," she said. Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer, who took over as defence minister on Wednesday, is likely to ignite yet another fire under Berlin's tinder-dry coalition with her first concrete pledge in the role. After she struggled for popularity and recognition early on though, Ms Merkel parachuted her into the defence ministry after it was vacated by new European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen last week. Nato defence expenditure and major annual exercises involving US troops The defence ministry is a notoriously tricky portfolio in Germany. Chronic under-spending on equipment has left the Bundeswehr overstretched, while the army has been dogged recently by allegations it has done too little to tackle extremism in its ranks. Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer appears to have come to the conclusion that a bigger budget is the only way to avoid embarrassing headlines about malfunctioning helicopters while also appeasing the US over defence targets. Germany committed itself to spending 2 percent of GDP on defence at a Nato conference in 2014. But its actual spending stills lags back at 1.3 percent with the Social Democrats reluctant to support a significant increase. Berlin's foot dragging has been a source of fury for Donald Trump, the US president, who has repeatedly lambasted his NATO ally on Twitter. The Social Democrat-run treasury has set out the defence budget up until 2023 and plans to lower spending by a billion euros to €44 billion at the end of that timeline. Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer said she would use her influence "as party leader and defence minister" to fight for more spending at an autumn debate in the Bundestag on the budget.
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| Thousands without power after explosion, fire at Madison Gas and Electric Posted: 21 Jul 2019 11:58 AM PDT  Two fires are burning at downtown Madison properties of the Madison Gas and Electric company.
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| Get a water-resistant Bluetooth speaker with 24,000 5-star ratings on Amazon for $22 Posted: 21 Jul 2019 07:59 AM PDT  Sometimes you come across a best-selling product on Amazon that's something of a surprise. This, however, is not one of those times. The OontZ Angle 3 Bluetooth Portable Speaker has been the best-selling portable wireless speaker on Amazon forever because it offers terrific sound quality, great battery life, next-gen Bluetooth tech with extra-long 100-foot range, water-resistance, and more. On top of all that, it's insanely affordable -- and it's discounted even further right now to just $21.99!Here are the key details from the product page: * HIGHER QUALITY CRYSTAL CLEAR STEREO SOUND - The OontZ Angle 3 (3rd Gen) is Designed and Engineered by Cambridge Sound Works in the USA for greater clarity sound, accurate mids and clear highs from dual precision acoustic stereo drivers; the bass output is enhanced by our proprietary passive bass radiator; unique triangular design and downward facing bass radiator further enhance the sound quality; the Higher Quality Crystal Clear Sound & Features distance it from the competition * LOUDER VOLUME - Surprisingly loud, the Volume Booster 10+ watt power AMP pumps out more volume and plays your music with no distortion, even at maximum volume; the louder volume makes the OontZ Angle 3 (3Rd Gen) Portable Bluetooth Speakers the perfect speaker for any room and the ideal Outdoor Speakers * INCREDIBLE 100 FOOT BLUETOOTH RANGE - Play the OontZ Angle 3 (3rd Gen) Bluetooth Speakers up to 100 unobstructed feet away from your device; advanced antenna design with Bluetooth 4.2 provides greater wireless range and faster Bluetooth connection; connects easily with the Echo Dot, Echo Dot 3rd Gen, Echo, Echo Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 7, iPhone 8, iPhone X, iPad, Samsung Galaxy 8, Samsung Galaxy 9, Samsung Note, Smartphone, Cellphone, Laptop, computer, Mac, and all other Bluetooth devices * IPX5 WATER RESISTANT - The OontZ Angle 3 (3rd Gen) is totally Splashproof, Rainproof shower speaker, great Shower Speaker; with IPX5 certification the speaker can resist gentle water spray and splash but cannot be partially or fully submerged * LONGER BATTERY PLAYTIME UP TO 14 HOURS - Play from morning till night; battery can play up to 14 hours at 2/3 volume; AUX IN Jack connect from TVs and non-Bluetooth devices with a 3.5mm Line-In cable for the Perfect Line-In Speaker; BUILT-IN Microphone for personal handsfree speakerphone calls from a Cellphone or iPhone; Light-weight just 10 oz, 5" long, 2.8" high INCLUDES Micro-USB charging cable; Official OontZ Angle 3 Carry Case available sold separately on Amazon
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| Trump Says ‘NASA’s Back’ Thanks to ‘Rich Guys’ Paying U.S. Rent Posted: 20 Jul 2019 09:11 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump pledged to re-establish U.S. dominance in space, a day after he welcomed the surviving Apollo 11 astronauts to the White House to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing."Sustained exploration that extends from our Earth to the Moon and on to the Martian surface will usher in a new era of American ingenuity," Trump said in a message on Saturday, which he declared Space Exploration Day.Trump on Friday invited retired astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and the family of Neil Armstrong -- the first man to walk on the moon -- to the White House to mark the space milestone. "NASA's back," Trump said. "We're having rich guys use it and pay us rent."The U.S. lost its domestic capability to put humans in orbit after the shuttle program was shut down in 2011 without a replacement, and relied on Russia to send astronauts to work in the International Space Station. Trump has waffled on NASA's priorities. In December 2017, he directed the space agency to return astronauts to the moon by 2025, then in a June tweet made Mars the priority.On Saturday, he said few moments "spark more pride" than the Apollo 11 mission, which helped inspire generations of scientists and engineers and was the catalyst for a technological revolution."My administration is committed to reestablishing our Nation's dominance and leadership in space," he said, adding that NASA was directed to "send the next man and first woman to the Moon and to take the next giant leap -- sending Americans to Mars."The space agency recently announced it would allow "private astronauts" to pay to visit the International Space Station.At the White House on Friday, the president said: "We are going to the moon and then we're going to Mars.""We don't know what we're going to find on Mars but it's certainly a trip that's going to be very interesting," he said.NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine told Trump they'll eventually get to Mars from a space station orbiting the moon.Vice President Mike Pence said that "within the next year" American astronauts will return to space on rockets launched from U.S. soil.Trump in February signed an order to clear the way for creation of a new branch of the military called Space Force. He said the administration is "very close to getting that completed and operating."To contact the reporters on this story: Margaret Talev in Washington at mtalev@bloomberg.net;Josh Wingrove in Washington at jwingrove4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Steve Geimann, Andrew DavisFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Why Nazi Germany's 'Destroyer Bomber' BF 110 Bomber Failed Miserably Posted: 21 Jul 2019 12:00 AM PDT  That the heavy fighters were called zerstorer (destroyers) was emblematic of the confidence the Germans placed in their heavy fighters. They were considered the elite of the Luftwaffe arm, and they lived up to that reputation in 1939, flying against 230-mile-per-hour Polish biplanes, or unescorted British bombers flying over Germany.In the mid-1930s, Nazi Germany had a problem. Its twin-engined medium bombers, such as the Heinkel 111, had a range of perhaps 1,500 miles. However, the Luftwaffe's single-engined fighter plane, the Messerschmitt Bf 109, had a range of only 400 miles (it wasn't until mid-World War II that fighters carried drop tanks). Before 1939, airpower enthusiasts believed "the bomber will always get through" enemy air defenses, but the Germans also realized they needed a fighter capable of escorting bombers all the way to the target and back.Their solution was the Messerschmitt 110, a twin-engined fighter that looked more like a small bomber. With a range of 1,500 miles for the early models such as the Bf 110C, it was far more heavily armed than single-engined fighters, with up to four cannons and four machine guns firing to the front, plus a rear gunner with a machine gun to ward off attacks from behind. Remarkably, with a speed of around 350 miles per hour, the Bf 110 was also as fast or faster than many early World War II fighters.Yet there is never a free lunch in aircraft design. Carrying all that extra fuel meant a bigger, heavier aircraft. A bigger, heavier aircraft required two engines and two propellers, which added even more weight. The result was that the Bf 110 weighed more than four tons, or twice that of the Bf 109.(This first appeared in July 2016.)
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| Taiwan foreign minister calls for 'genuine' elections in Hong Kong Posted: 21 Jul 2019 09:05 PM PDT  Taiwan's foreign minister on Monday called for "genuine" democratic elections to be held in Hong Kong after the city was rocked by fresh political violence, comments that will likely infuriate Beijing. Hong Kong has been plunged into its worst crisis in recent history by weeks of marches and sporadic violent confrontations between police and pockets of hardcore protesters. The initial protests were lit by a now-suspended bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China.
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| Japan's Abe says will make every effort to reduce tension with Iran Posted: 21 Jul 2019 10:31 PM PDT  Japan wants to make every effort to reduce tension between the United States and Iran before responding to an expected U.S. request to send its navy to guard strategic waters off Iran, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday. Japanese media have said a U.S. proposal to boost surveillance of Middle East oil shipping lanes off Iran and Yemen, where the United States says Iran and its proxies have carried out tanker attacks, could be on the agenda during this week's visit by U.S. national security adviser John Bolton.
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| Lightning strikes one man at Florida beach, injures 7 others Posted: 21 Jul 2019 01:17 PM PDT ![Lightning strikes one man at Florida beach, injures 7 others]( "Lightning strikes one man at Florida beach, injures 7 others") The lightning strike sent one man into cardiac arrest and left others with burn injuries.
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| Trump Makes His Peace With Pakistan’s Deception Posted: 21 Jul 2019 06:00 AM PDT ![Trump Makes His Peace With Pakistan's Deception]( "Trump Makes His Peace With Pakistan's Deception") (Bloomberg Opinion) -- When Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan visits Washington this week, he will have the benefit of meeting an American president with a short memory.Just a year and a half ago, Donald Trump tweeted that the U.S. "has foolishly given Pakistan 33 billion dollars in aid over the last 15 years, and they have given us nothing but lies & deceit." He then announced a suspension of that aid until Pakistan ended its relationship with various terrorist groups.Now Trump is changing his tune. Last week he welcomed Pakistan's arrest of the leader of the terrorist group that went on a four-day killing spree in Mumbai in 2008, despite the fact that he has been arrested and released several times before. Trump tweeted that the arrest was the result of pressure building over the last two years.Some of this change in tone is to recognize the baby steps Islamabad has taken to address longstanding U.S. concerns. Khan's government recently announced that it was investigating the funding of some terrorist groups the U.S. has long accused Pakistan's military intelligence service of sponsoring.Nonetheless, these steps are not nearly enough. Dr. Shakil Afridi, the heroic Pakistani physician who helped the CIA identify Osama bin Laden before the 2011 raid that killed him, remains in a high-security prison. According to recent reports, he is severely underweight.A more powerful reason that Trump is changing his tune is that he needs Pakistan's cooperation for his plan to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Since the fall, U.S. special representative Zalmay Khalilzad has been negotiating what he says will be a peace agreement with the Taliban, whereby the group shares power with the elected government in Kabul. Nonetheless, the Taliban have continued a terror rampage against civilians and the military, killing a U.S. service member this month. The Pakistanis have enough short-term leverage with the Taliban to get them to allow an orderly exit of U.S. forces fighting America's longest war.In this respect, one might argue that a little amnesia can go a long way. Isn't the pageantry of a White House visit a small price to pay for tamping down the Taliban?Maybe so — but this logic also exposes the foundational problem with the U.S.-Pakistani relationship. Pakistan's military and intelligence agencies play a double game. Its leaders give lip service to the wider war on terrorism when in Washington. Meanwhile its operatives in Southeast Asia continue to supply and fund the terrorists the U.S. has been fighting. Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington and now a fellow at the Hudson Institute, said Pakistan's support for the Taliban is evident even in the peace negotiations. The planes that fly Taliban leaders to negotiations in Doha, he said, are provided by Pakistan's military intelligence service.Thomas Joscelyn, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and co-founder of the Long War Journal, said the olive branch from Trump counts as a reversal of his administration's policy. "The strategy that Trump endorsed in August 2017 was intended to put pressure on Pakistan to try to change their behavior," he said. Yet to this day, the Pakistani military continues to support senior Taliban leaders as well as the deadly Haqqani network in the border region near Afghanistan.All of which raises the question: Why should anyone believe the Pakistanis this time around?Trump's advisers would say that the meeting offers an opportunity for Pakistan to get out of the president's doghouse. A senior administration official told reporters Friday that Khan could agree to make permanent his government's recent gestures toward counterterrorism. What's the harm in trying a softer touch after taking a hard line? The Pakistanis have proved they can be spoilers when it comes to Afghanistan. A little pomp and flattery could persuade them to be more constructive.That's the positive spin, anyway. The deeper problem is that the U.S. has no real leverage in Afghanistan. Khan knows this, and so does the Taliban. Trump has made it clear that he wants U.S. forces out of the country, the sooner the better. Even if the Pakistanis can coerce or persuade their Taliban allies to back off until the U.S. leaves, what will stop them from violating a peace agreement after the U.S. is gone?To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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