| At least 5 are dead in Bahamas as Hurricane Dorian continues to slam islands Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:26 PM PDT  The historic storm hovered over the islands after virtually grinding to a halt, pounding the islands with record winds, rain and storm surge.
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| ANALYSIS-Biden seen as weak front-runner as 2020 U.S. Democratic race heats up Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:00 AM PDT ![ANALYSIS-Biden seen as weak front-runner as 2020 U.S. Democratic race heats up]( "ANALYSIS-Biden seen as weak front-runner as 2020 U.S. Democratic race heats up") As summer ends and the race for the 2020 Democratic U.S. presidential nomination shifts into a higher gear, former Vice President Joe Biden's perilous position atop the vast field stands to be tested under even more pressure. Biden, 76, has consistently maintained a comfortable lead over his rivals. Labor Day serves as the traditional marker for the White House race to intensify, with five months to go until the first nominating contest - February in Iowa - in the state-by-state process of picking the party's nominee to challenge Republican President Donald Trump in the November 2020 election.
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| Bolsonaro ambassador threatens to choke Macron and insults wife Brigitte amid Amazon fires row: 'He sleeps with a dragon' Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:56 AM PDT  Brazil's tourism ambassador has threatened to choke Emmanuel Macron and called his wife Brigitte "ugly" amid a continuing war of words between the French president and the Brazilian government over the fires in the Amazon rainforest.In a video posted on social media, Renzo Gracie accused Mr Macron, who has criticised Brazil's response to the devastating blazes, of "talking rubbish" about his country.
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| Iranian tanker blacklisted by US off Lebanon, Syria coasts Posted: 02 Sep 2019 08:43 AM PDT  The Iranian tanker Adrian Darya 1 blacklisted by the United States has been off the coast of Lebanon and Syria for the past 24 hours, maritime monitors said on Monday. The vessel has been zigzagging in the eastern Mediterranean since it was released from the British overseas territory of Gibraltar on August 18, after being held for six weeks on suspicion it was delivering oil for Tehran's ally Damascus. "The Adrian Darya 1 has stopped just 45 nautical miles (83km/52 miles) west of Tripoli, Lebanon, in international waters," TankerTrackers, a maritime traffic monitoring website said.
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| Sri Lanka church bomber's remains exhumed after protests Posted: 02 Sep 2019 07:16 AM PDT ![Sri Lanka church bomber's remains exhumed after protests]( "Sri Lanka church bomber's remains exhumed after protests") The remains of a suicide bomber who attacked a church in eastern Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday were exhumed on Monday after a court order that they be reburied elsewhere following public protests. Police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara said the remains were removed from Kalliyankadu cemetery in the presence of a judge, a medical officer and police and were taken to a hospital morgue. An official last week said the remains consisted only of a head, but Gunasekara said they also included some other body parts.
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| Kevin Hart Could Require Back Surgery After Malibu Horror Crash, But Docs Are Optimistic Posted: 02 Sep 2019 05:20 AM PDT  Instagram / KevinHart4realComedian Kevin Hart is being assessed to see if he will require back surgery following his dramatic crash in the Malibu hills in the early hours of Sunday morning. Hart, miraculously, walked away from the crash, and was able to go back home before checking himself into an L.A.-area hospital, where he is now under observation. The other two passengers in the car appear to have also had lucky escapes, despite being trapped in the vehicle for some time: Hart's friend Jared Black (who was driving) and personal trainer Rebecca Broxterman are both expected to make full recoveries.Hart could, however, need surgery for major back injuries he suffered in the crash, which saw his vintage Plymouth Barracuda veer off a Mulholland Highway canyon, crashing to the ground ten feet below. Pictures showed the roof of the car completely sheared off. Doctors are optimistic that Hart will make a full recovery as he has not suffered "a spinal cord injury," The Blast reports, adding that he is "able to walk and move his extremities."Hart was a passenger in the vintage muscle car, which he bought in July to mark his 40th birthday, when it went off the road and rolled down an embankment.California Highway Patrol officers said the driver was not under the influence of alcohol at the time of the collision, which happened at around around 12:45 a.m. Sunday.The car was turning when the driver "immediately lost control of the vehicle, and the Plymouth left the road and rolled over down the northern embankment," TMZ said, quoting cops.Just hours before the crash, Hart had posted a video on Instagram of himself sitting in the car. 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 1-Floridians evacuate and grumble as Hurricane Dorian slowly nears Posted: 02 Sep 2019 01:52 PM PDT ![UPDATE 1-Floridians evacuate and grumble as Hurricane Dorian slowly nears]( "UPDATE 1-Floridians evacuate and grumble as Hurricane Dorian slowly nears") At a retirement community in central Florida, elderly residents waited for a bus on Monday to take them to a shelter as one of the most monstrous Atlantic hurricanes on record crawled toward the state. Mary McNiff, 92, sat in her wheelchair waiting to board at the Good Samaritan Society in Kissimmee, near Orlando, one of more than a million people under evacuation orders along the U.S. East Coast on the Labor Day holiday. Forecasters warned it could still be dangerous as it drew closer to Florida even if its eye did not make landfall in the state.
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| Photos of Volvo Truck with Banksy's Artwork Posted: 02 Sep 2019 11:15 AM PDT |
| Afghan killer sparks far-right criticism in France Posted: 01 Sep 2019 10:04 AM PDT  Jacquet said the knifeman had been first registered in France in 2009 as a minor, but travelled to Germany, Norway, Britain and Italy before returning to France in 2016 where he was granted temporary residency rights. France has been the victim of a string of Islamist-inspired terror attacks since 2015 that have cost hundreds of lives.
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| Hurricane Dorian claimed its first victim, an 8-year-old boy who reportedly drowned in the Bahamas Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:22 AM PDT  Hurricane Dorian pummeled the Bahamas this weekend, destroying houses and creating a storm surge of up to 23 feet.
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| It's now Biden, Warren, Sanders — and everyone else Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:38 PM PDT ![It's now Biden, Warren, Sanders — and everyone else]( "It's now Biden, Warren, Sanders — and everyone else") 'It's too late in the game to keep saying it's too early,' a former Hillary Clinton adviser says of the Democratic presidential primary.
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| ‘We are one’: Community vows to heal as police investigate motive for West Texas shootings Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:57 PM PDT  The West Texas rampage left seven people dead and 25 people injured, including a 17-month-old girl who suffered major facial injuries but survived.
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| Seventh illegal immigrant accused of sex crimes in Maryland county in 5 weeks Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:48 AM PDT  A seventh suspect in the U.S. illegally has been accused of sexual assault in Maryland's sanctuary Montgomery County. Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins sounds off..
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| Ten children wounded after shooting at high school football match Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:02 AM PDT  A shooting at a high school football game in Mobile, Alabama, on Friday night wounded at least 10 people, police said.The city's police chief, Lawrence Battiste, said at a news conference Friday that the victims were between 15 and 18 years old, according to local station WKRG 5. Their conditions were not immediately available.
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| Tens of thousands in Hong Kong boycott first day of school Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:50 AM PDT  Clad in gas masks along with their formal white school uniforms, tens of thousands of students in Hong Kong boycotted the first day of classes Monday as part of a citywide strike following a violent weekend of demonstrations. High school students added gas masks, goggles and hard hats to their traditional uniforms, while university pupils crowded into a square at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The young protesters strove to demonstrate their continued determination with Monday's school boycott, the first of a planned two-day strike.
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| As many evacuate for Dorian, a 'hurricane bar' caters to those who stay Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:00 PM PDT  The Hunkerdown Hideaway calls itself "the hurricane bar." There locals who aren't evacuating have gathered during major storms for years.
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| UPDATE 1-China lodges tariff case at WTO against the U.S. Posted: 02 Sep 2019 07:27 AM PDT ![UPDATE 1-China lodges tariff case at WTO against the U.S.]( "UPDATE 1-China lodges tariff case at WTO against the U.S.") HONG KONG/GENEVA, Sept 2 (Reuters) - China has lodged a complaint against the United States at the World Trade Organization over U.S. import duties, the Chinese Commerce Ministry said on Monday. The United States began imposing 15% tariffs on a variety of Chinese goods on Sunday and China began imposing new duties on U.S. crude oil, the latest escalation in their trade war. China did not release details of its legal case but said the U.S. tariffs affected $300 billion of Chinese exports.
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| ICC prosecutor ordered to reopen Gaza flotilla case Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:17 AM PDT  The International Criminal Court on Monday ordered the tribunal's prosecutor for a second time to reconsider whether to press charges over a deadly Israeli raid on a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza in 2010. In the latest step in a long-running legal battle at the court in The Hague, appeals judges told prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to decide by December whether to reopen the case. Nine Turkish citizens died in May 2010 when Israeli marines stormed the Mavi Marmara, among eight ships trying to break a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
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| Dorian kills five in Bahamas, US evacuates coast Posted: 02 Sep 2019 05:12 PM PDT  Monster storm Dorian hovered over the Bahamas Monday as surging seawaters and ferocious winds sowed chaos in low-lying island communities, killing at least five people and spurring mass evacuations on the US east coast. Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis termed the hurricane a "historic tragedy" for the archipelago. "Thus far, the Royal Bahamas Police Force has confirmed that there are five deaths in Abaco," Minnis told a news conference, referring to the islands where Dorian made landfall as a Category 5 storm on Sunday, packing blistering winds of 290 kilometers per hour (185 miles per hour).
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| Call Sign Chaos review: James Mattis pulls a flanking manuever on Trump Posted: 31 Aug 2019 10:00 PM PDT  In a memoir that is part hymn to the constitution, the former secretary of defense offers only veiled criticism of the presidentJames Mattis listens as Donald Trump speaks to the media in the cabinet room in October 2018. Photograph: Leah Millis/ReutersJames Mattis was Donald Trump's defense secretary for less than two years, resigning in December 2018. The general's departure came with headlines but little surprise. His resignation letter omitted any praise for the commander-in-chief. "Because you have the right to have a secretary of defense whose views are better aligned with yours," he wrote, "I believe it is right for me to step down."Mattis had been on thin ice for a long time. At an infamous cabinet meeting in June 2017, Mattis praised the men and women of the military instead of gushing over the president. Just months later, a White House official told me Mattis had shown insufficient loyalty to Trump. But because North Korea was on the front burner – before "Little Rocket Man" had started sending Trump love letters – the president felt he needed generals around him. In the end, everyone in Trump's orbit is expendable. Except Ivanka Trump.Call Sign Chaos, Mattis's memoir, is a readable look at more than four decades as a marine. Co-written with Bing West, a former marine and Reagan Pentagon alumnus, the book spans Mattis's career, from enlistment through retirement.It contains veiled disapproval of Trump and is sharper in expressing disagreements with his Oval Office predecessors.> Call Sign Chaos takes aim at bigotry and lauds the military service of migrants. It gives full-throated support for NatoOfficially, the book's title derives from the call-sign bestowed when Mattis became a regimental commander, Chaos an acronym for "Colonel Has An Outstanding Solution".Mattis comes across as plain-spoken and reflective, a fan of books and history. Abraham Lincoln and Gettysburg receive their due. As a younger man, however, Mattis was not above brawling. In other words, he's interesting.He repeatedly expresses his regard for America's institutions and its constitution even as he offers criticism, one thing which sets him apart from the 45th president."I've developed a love affair with our constitution," Mattis writes.He tells of getting into a fight in Montana with three other men. Then 19, he was rewarded with a brief jail sentence and a sheriff's escort to a westbound freight train. His brush with the law became a formative experience.Mattis recalls that as a marine recruiter he was confronted with a prospect who had been arrested for a "single use of cocaine". Channeling his inner Nick Saban on the value of "second chances", Mattis pushed for a waiver. "There's a huge difference," he writes, "between making a mistake and letting that mistake define you."As Mattis moved up the ranks, interaction with Congress, the White House and civilian Pentagon leadership became a norm, although not necessarily a welcome one. Mattis professes to prefer the field and his troops. DC was not his "cup of tea". Yet he appears to have overcome that hurdle, to a point anyway, when he was appointed executive secretary to Bill Clinton's defense chiefs, William Perry and William Cohen."I gained an abiding respect for those with whom I served and from whom I also learned a new skill set," he writes. "I had a front-row seat to policymaking as it was supposed to work."As for congressional oversight and the power of the purse, Mattis "received a pragmatic introduction to article one of the constitution", a reminder to the reader that it is Congress that is tasked with raising America's armed forces.Mattis saw action in Afghanistan and Iraq. He blames Tommy Franks, head of US Central Command and an army general, for Osama bin Laden's escape from Tora Bora, his refusal to deploy the marines a key cause of that debacle. As Mattis frames things: "We in the military missed the opportunity, not the president, who properly deferred to his senior military commander on how to carry out the mission."But Iraq was a different story, and there Mattis places blame squarely on George W Bush for getting the US into the mess, and on Barack Obama and Joe Biden for the mode of the eventual pullback. As for going to war, Mattis observes: "Invading Iraq stunned me. Why were we fighting them again?"> For Mattis, Iran was an implacable foe. He also believes Tehran came to view the Obama administration as 'impotent'In a chapter titled Incoherence, Mattis acidly mocks and quotes Bush 43's Freedom Agenda. These days, Iraq is ranked "not free" by Freedom House. Irony abounds.He commends Obama for his intelligence and reserve and Biden for his warmth. Yet he tags them over the pullout from Iraq, Obama's imaginary red line in Syria and their stance toward Iran. He does not mask his disapproval.For Mattis, Iran was an implacable foe. He also believes Tehran came to view the Obama administration as "impotent". To the general, proof positive lay in the failure to respond to an Iranian plot to bomb Cafe Milano, a restaurant just miles from the White House, and assassinate the Saudi ambassador.Mattis also takes aim at WikiLeaks, describing it as "new kind of adversary" that "inflicted deep harm" to American interests. Unlike Trump, he never harbored any love for Julian Assange's creation.To Mattis, American uncertainty and messianism can both have steep downsides. As he saw it, an absence of strategy would engender the sense that the US was "proving unreliable.""I was disappointed and frustrated," he writes. "Policymakers all too often failed to deliver clear direction."Yet Mattis does not grapple with domestic political realities. Lives and treasure aside, Iraq cost the Republicans both houses of Congress in 2006 and paved the way for Obama. Furthermore, casualty counts in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were factors in Hillary Clinton's defeat. Not everything is about Russia.When it comes to Trump, Mattis flanks, avoiding a head-on clash. Call Sign Chaos takes aim at bigotry and lauds the military service of migrants. As in his resignation letter, Mattis gives full-throated support for Nato: "Nations with allies thrive, and those without wither."In his epilogue, Mattis notes America's political divide and full-throated tribalism. But he is optimistic. Call Sign Chaos ends thus: "E Pluribus Unum."
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| Russia’s Deputy Premier Rips New Space Center Posted: 02 Sep 2019 06:12 AM PDT ![Russia's Deputy Premier Rips New Space Center]( "Russia's Deputy Premier Rips New Space Center") (Bloomberg) -- A series of corruption scandals, cost overruns and mishaps at Russia's new Vostochny Cosmodrome have brought long-simmering questions about the leadership of the country's space agency into public view."The situation is unacceptable for everyone, including the construction of the first stage and the second stage" of the space center, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Borisov told Vedomosti newspaper in an interview published Monday, adding that the Defense Ministry may take over part of the work.Borisov, formerly a powerful and secretive official responsible for procurement at the Defense Ministry, became deputy prime minister last year in place of Dmitry Rogozin, who was appointed to head Roscosmos by President Vladimir Putin. While Russia views the cosmodrome as a national security priority, with its current Soviet-era launch base located at Baikonur in neighboring Kazakhstan, the $3 billion project has been plagued by controversy.Rogozin, who's frequently highlighted the threat posed by Elon Musk's SpaceX venture to Russia's launch industry, quickly took to Twitter to defend himself. "It's always been this way: some build, while others criticize," Rogozin wrote. "It's part of the business."Splits within the Kremlin elite have become more visible since Putin's re-election last year to what may be his final presidential term under Russia's constitution, amid jostling by rival factions. Last month, for example, Rostec State Corp. chief Sergey Chemezov, a longtime Putin ally and fellow spy, contradicted the official line that recent Moscow election protests should be put down forcefully, warning instead that the country risked stagnation without a healthy opposition.Putin ordered Russia's Investigative Committee to examine construction at Vostochny during a visit to the space center after a planned first rocket launch was delayed in 2015. Months earlier, workers who hadn't been paid for months went on hunger strike and appealed to Putin for help by painting a message on the roof of their barracks.The Prosecutor General's Office has opened a series of criminal cases after uncovering 10 billion rubles ($150 million) in losses during construction at Vostochny. In one sparkling example of corruption, a contractor accused of stealing 4 million rubles was detained in Minsk, Belarus, while driving a Mercedes covered in Swarovski crystals.While the space center went into operation in 2016, officials uncovered a critical defect on one of Vostochny's launchpads as recently as last November, RBC news website reported. In 2017, a satellite launch failed after the rocket was programmed with coordinates for takeoff from another launch pad.Alexei Kudrin, the head of Russia's Audit Chamber, told lawmakers last year that he had found 760 billion rubles ($11.4 billion) of financial violations in Roscosmos's books, including several billion that had been "basically stolen," describing the space agency as "the champion in terms of the scale of such violations." Roscosmos said the criticism related to a 2017 audit, before Rogozin's appointment.Rogozin, who was responsible as deputy premier for the space industry, threatened in 2015 to "rip off the heads" of construction staff involved in corruption after Vostochny risked having its electricity cut off over unpaid bills, according to the Interfax news service.\--With assistance from Ilya Arkhipov and Stepan Kravchenko.To contact the reporter on this story: Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow at jrudnitsky@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Torrey Clark at tclark8@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Brother of British woman killed by expat husband pleads with UAE judge for murder sentence Posted: 02 Sep 2019 10:26 AM PDT  The family of a murdered British woman has said Dubai will set a "dangerous" precedent if it releases her husband from prison this week, two years after he bludgeoned her to death with a hammer. Francis Matthew, 62, will fight his murder conviction on Wednesday on the grounds that his wife, Jane, provoked him during an argument at their Dubai family home. Two years into a potential 15 year sentence, his lawyers will claim she called him a "loser", which provoked the attack. Mrs Matthew's family criticised the proceedings, describing Dubai's legal system as "biased" and saying the defence was trying to "blame Jane for her own death". "The Dubai system is truly biased against Jane," said Peter Manning, brother of Mrs Matthew. In a letter seen by The Telegraph and sent to Dubai's Court of Cassation, the emirate's highest judicial body, Mr Manning said releasing Mr Matthew early would deny his sister justice. Francis was editor-at-large of Gulf News when he killed his wife, Jane, following an argument Credit: Telegraph "To excuse this crime in some way as being Jane's fault sends a clear message to husbands across the United Arab Emirates: you can kill your wife, even with a hammer, and all you have to do to escape justice is claim she 'demeaned you'," wrote Mr Manning. "This denies Jane her human right to life." He added, "It is very dangerous and completely opposite to the UAE's aim of being a modern, gender equal nation." Mr Matthew, a former Economist journalist and editor of Gulf News, hit his wife with a hammer in the early hours of the morning in June 2017 following an argument. Mr Matthew's original conviction of assault that led to death in March 2018 was upgraded to murder on appeal and he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The Court of Cassation overturned the conviction and a panel of judges will review the case this week. His defence will argue that he is guilty of "physical assault that led to death". If the court agrees, he could walk free with time served. Francis is appealing for a lighter conviction, arguing that Jane provoked him by calling him a 'loser' Credit: Telegraph Mrs Matthew's family said her husband picked up a hammer in his kitchen and walked to the bedroom, where Mrs Matthew was lying in bed before attacking her with intent. After killing her, he showered and went to work as editor before staging a break-in on his return that evening. "As Jane's brother I am in no doubt that this was pre-meditated murder and I confirm that I wish to see Mr Matthew convicted of pre-meditated murder and jailed appropriately," said Mr Manning. "My father and I have been frustrated with the way the Court of First Instance allowed the defence to blame Jane for her own death." It is not clear what impact the letter will have and Dubai is yet to acknowledge it."If the court was open to justice they should be less willing to erect barriers to my letter," said Mr Manning. The Foreign Office said it is supporting Mrs Matthew's family and is in touch with the relevant local authorities.
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| Kenya park suspends gorge visits after flash flood kills 7 Posted: 02 Sep 2019 10:45 AM PDT  Authorities called off search and rescue operations after seven bodies were recovered from a flash flood that killed at least six tourists and their driver visiting the gorges of the famous Hell's Gate National park. Five Kenyans of Indian descent, an Indian national and their Kenyan driver died in the Sunday evening tragedy, said Paul Udoto, spokesman for the Kenya Wildlife Service. The park was also closed, authorities said.
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| 4th time in 4 years: It's hurricane evacuation time in US Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:25 PM PDT  It's become a hurricane-season ritual in the Southeast: When a storm threatens, coastal residents board up homes, load up SUVs and fill highways where the traffic lanes are reversed to offer a speedy escape inland. For some people, Hurricane Dorian is the fourth storm they have had to flee in four years. Forecasters are not sure if the core of the powerful system will ever strike the U.S. It is predicted to stay offshore as it spins north, paralleling the coasts of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina.
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| 5 dead, 21 wounded in mass shooting in Midland-Odessa, Texas; shooter killed Posted: 01 Sep 2019 09:39 AM PDT  At least five people have been killed and 21 injured in Midland, Texas. The shooter was shot and killed by police. The incident started with a traffic violation. The driver opened fire on the officer and fled the scene.
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| Police detain Russian opposition activist after Moscow protest Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:25 PM PDT ![Police detain Russian opposition activist after Moscow protest]( "Police detain Russian opposition activist after Moscow protest") Russian opposition activist Lyubov Sobol, an ally of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, was detained by police on Monday after a weekend protest in Moscow, Navalny's spokeswoman said on Twitter. A few thousand Russians took to the streets of Moscow on Saturday to demand free elections to the capital's city legislature on Sept. 8, defying a ban enforced by detentions during previous protests. Protesters have been calling for the release of activists detained in earlier rallies, and Sobol on Saturday described the arrests as "mayhem," blaming it on the city government.
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| Hurricane Dorian: Bahamas suffers ‘huge damage’ as storm becomes joint strongest ever Posted: 01 Sep 2019 10:00 PM PDT  Hurricane Dorian has caused major damage in the Bahamas – destroying homes and ripping roofs from buildings – as it made landfall as the joint-strongest ever Atlantic storm. There were no immediate reports of deaths.As the governor of South Carolina ordered an evacuation of the entire coast as the storm threatened the US, Bahamian and tourists in places such as the Abaco Islands and Marsh Harbour, took shelter in schools and churches when Dorian made landfall as a category 5 storm with gusts of up to 220mph and a sustained speed of 185mph.
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| Saudi-led coalition says unaware prisoners held at Yemen target site Posted: 02 Sep 2019 08:04 AM PDT  The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemen's Huthi rebels said Monday it was unaware that prisoners were held at a detention site it targeted with air strikes that killed dozens of people. The United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have condemned the attack on a former college in the city of Dhamar that the Huthis used to hold their opponents. "The (facility) was not on the 'no strike list' of sites in the city of Dhamar," he told a press conference in Riyadh.
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| Hong Kong police target commuters with batons Posted: 01 Sep 2019 02:04 AM PDT ![Hong Kong police target commuters with batons]( "Hong Kong police target commuters with batons")
Local television footage showed police using batons and pepper spray at the Prince Edward MTR station before making arrests. Some suspects were seen being beaten as they cowered on the floor. Hong Kong's MTR network has been the source of numerous controversies since the night of July 21, when more than 100 white-shirted men stormed Yuen Long station hours after protesters had marched through central Hong Kong and defaced China's Liaison Office. Chinese state media has also alleged that the MTR corporation facilitates protesters by providing convenient transportation before and after violent clashes with the police. Police said they arrested 40 people inside the metro station on suspicion of obstructing officers, unlawful assembly and criminal damage. Three stations stayed shut on Sunday (September 1).
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| The CAR Murders: A Critical Cold Case in the New Cold War Points to ‘Putin’s Chef’ Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:23 AM PDT  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyST. PETERSBURG, Russia–It's been more than a year now since someone murdered three Russian journalists on a dark road in a remote corner of the Central African Republic.Within days of the killings on the night of July 30-31, 2018, as The Daily Beast reported at the time, there were suspicions the journalists had been set up. Since then, the official investigations have gone nowhere or been diverted down blind alleys, and if the Kremlin and its front men have their way—which they normally do in the Central African Republic—the case will go completely cold. But the families of the victims, their colleagues, and the exiled Russian tycoon who sent the journalists on their fatal mission in the first place say they are determined to see justice done. Their investigations have peeled back layer after layer of an ostensibly private "company" noteworthy for conspiracy and corruption, which Russian President Vladimir Putin evidently employs to extend his influence around the world.Russian Journalists Murdered in Africa May Have Been Set UpAmericans concerned about the ruthlessness of Moscow's operations to subvert or dominate other countries should take note as evidence mounts that some of the central figures in the cyberattacks on the U.S. presidential election in 2016 may also be implicated in the Africa homicides. The victims were Orkhan Dzhemal, 51, a famous Russian war correspondent; Alexander Rastorguyev, 47, a film director; and Kirill Radchenko, 33, a cameraman. They had traveled to Africa to make a documentary about the "Wagner Group," a highly secretive private military contractor allegedly created by the infamous Russian billionaire and Putin crony, Yevgeny Prigozhin.He is the same figure named in a detailed indictment by the Mueller probe in February 2018 and in the subsequent Mueller Report released this year as the money man behind the Internet Research Agency, a troll factory here in St. Petersburg that set out to defeat Hillary Clinton, then help elect Donald Trump in 2016. (Prigozhin told a Russian state news agency that he was not upset about his indictment. "Americans see what they want to see," he said.) But the troll factory is just one of many operations that are part of what his underlings refer to as "The Company."Prigozhin, often given the anodyne sobriquet "Putin's chef," initially built his fortune on huge Russian government catering contracts, but the tentacles of his organization are spread far and wide, and in some surprising places. He even has a firm that makes candy, and there are many here who would tell you the sweets have a sinister background. "These are bloody chocolates, produced by the same people who attack and kill journalists," claims Yegor Alekseyev, a blogger from St. Petersburg. "Two men broke my nose and smashed my teeth in 2016 after I published stories about Prigozhin's 'troll factory.' These are dangerous people backed up by the [Russian government's] special services."In 2014, when Putin made his move to take the Crimean peninsula away from Ukraine and launch covertly a separatist revolution in the east of that country that has now cost more than 13,000 lives, combatants linked to a mysterious organization of mercenaries started showing up. Many of its recruits appeared to have come from Russian military intelligence, the GRU, especially the special forces component known as Spetsnaz. They answered to a former officer named Dmitry Utkin, nicknamed "Wagner." These operatives also surfaced in Syria, in Sudan, and in the Central African Republic. Their objective was not only to extend Russian influence, but to take control of industries and especially natural resources, further enriching their backer, who was soon reported to be Prigozhin. He has issued pro forma denials, but evidence of Prigozhin's ties to the group has continued to mount, especially in the private investigations of those trying to get to the bottom of the Central African murders. * * *DUELING INVESTIGATIONS* * *Mikhail Khodorkovsky was once reputedly the richest man in Russia–an oligarch so wealthy and powerful that Putin felt threatened, and finally managed to put him away in prison for almost a decade. When Khodorkovsky was released in 2013, he went to Britain and has since worked as one of Putin's most active opponents in exile.It was Khodorkovsky who funded the fatal trip to the Central African Republic by Dzhemal, Rastorguyev, and Radchenko to report on the Wagner Group's activities, and it is Khodorkovsky who has underwritten the most exhaustive investigation of their murder. "Somebody has to put evidence together for the day Putin's crooks end up in court," Khodorkovsky told The Daily Beast last year. He hired journalists, military experts, private detectives and others to delve into the killings, and issued a "final report" under the auspices of his Dossier Center on the anniversary of the murders.The picture that emerges over the course of almost 80 pages is highly detailed and deeply disturbing. For starters, the Dossier investigators addressed the official version put forth by Russian authorities and the CAR security forces, many of them trained and funded by the Kremlin directly and also by Wagner personnel. Their claim is that the Russian documentary makers were ambushed on a back road at night by bandits wearing turbans and speaking Arabic who shot all three of them dead. The killers let the local driver, named as Bienvenue Douvokama, escape in his car and the sketchy account of the attack came from Douvokama. When the official version failed to satisfy the victims' families, friends, or colleagues in the independent press, a Prigozhin-backed news agency, RIA FAN, conducted its own investigation of the murder and named Dominique Christophe Raineteau as the mastermind, claiming that he was a French mercenary or agent in league with terrorists."We have our vision of what happened in CAR," RIA FAN editor Yevgeny Zubarev wrote in an email to The Daily Beast. "It was a planned provocation but you are never going to publish our conclusions… Your publication is neither going to mention in a negative light Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the main suspect of this crime; nor the Western (French) special services, the possible accomplices," wrote Zubarev.Actually, the RIA FAN conclusions are quite interesting, because they do not agree at all with the official government versions blaming unknown Arabic-speaking thieves. The general thrust of the RIA FAN report is that the Russian journalists were killed in order to embarrass Russia (if not indeed to blame Prigozhin and Putin). The agent who organized the murders, according to RIA FAN, was Raineteau, a French mercenary who is protected by the French secret services, and Khodorkovsky himself, who supposedly paid Raineteau to set up the team Khodorkovsky had sent. RIA FAN notes the extensive French-Russian rivalry for resources and dominance in Africa as the motive for the French plot, and says Khodorkovsky's motive is to "discredit any activity of Russia abroad, particularly in Africa and the revenge directed at the Russian Federation."All of this makes for a fascinating narrative of conspiracy, and is typical of disinformation that tries to ascribe presumed motives—"who benefits from the crime"—as proof when it is really self-serving conjecture. There is some hearsay in the RIA FAN report, but the documentary evidence linking Raineteau to the killing is virtually nonexistent, while the account compiled by Khodorkovsky's investigators appears to be based largely on minute examination of phone records and emails (albeit without any explanation of how they were obtained). The narrative developed by the investigators for Khodorkovsky's Dossier Centre goes roughly like this:The three journalists made a critical mistake when they were looking for a "fixer" to set up appointments, transportation, lodging, translation and the like while they were in the CAR. Even though they were investigating one Prigozhin operation, Wagner, they asked a journalist working for another Prigozhin company, RIA FAN, for help. This may not be quite as unusual as it sounds, because journalists working for conflicting media often believe they have more common bonds as professionals in the field than as servants for their bosses in the home offices. That may have been the case where the request for advice from FAN journalist Kirill Romanovsky was concerned.He in turn suggested they contact by text message a Dutch man with experience in the CAR as a United Nations employee or contractor who went by the name of "Martin."The RIA FAN report would later suggest Martin was none other than the mysterious French operative Raineteau. But the Dossier Centre investigation concludes "with a high degree of probability that the fixer 'Martin'… never existed." Rather, "he was invented by the coordinators of a thoroughly planned operation.""Martin" did not show up at the airport as expected, when the crew arrived, and they never once laid eyes on him or, for that matter, spoke to him on the phone. Everything was handled by text messages, including Martin's claim that he was 376 kilometers from the CAR capital Bangui in the town of Bambari, where they were headed initially the day they were killed. According to the Dossier Centre report, cell phone records show "Martin," or at least that phone, never left the capital.The Dossier Centre investigation notes that the local driver the crew hired, Bienvenue Douvokama, is believed to be an agent or informer for the local gendarmerie, and was in "constant operational contact with gendarme Emmanuel Kotofio" who "tracked the journalists' movements and was in their immediate vicinity." (Kotofio is quoted by RIA FAN saying he and Douvokama are old friends and just like to shoot the breeze.)Kotofio, in turn, "maintained contact with a man identified by the Dossier Centre as an 'instructor in surveillance, counter-surveillance, recruitment and intelligence work'" from another Prigozhin company, M-Finans, run by one Aleksandr Sotov, who then reported to Valery Zakharov, a Russian adviser to the president of the CAR and head of a team of instructors in Prigozhin's "Company."On the fatal night of July 30, according to the Dossier Centre, Kotofio the gendarme passed through a military checkpoint at the town of Sibut, on the same road the journalists would take only minutes later. With Kotofio were three Caucasians, "presumably Russians," according to the Dossier Centre report. Kotofio drove back to the checkpoint later at 8 p.m. The journalists' driver reported their murder about 45 minutes later at a village near the scene.The following day, according to the Dossier Centre, a "disinformation campaign" began to confuse and impede any outside investigation.According to emails obtained by the Dossier Centre, which cannot be independently verified, Prigozhin is personally involved in running the Company's projects in the Central African Republic.* * *THE PAIN OF THE FAMILIES* * * The Kremlin remains deaf to the victims' families' demands to question Prigozhin and his men on the ground, including commanders of the Russian militia working for CAR's leadership. Alexander Radchenko's, the father of the cameraman, says it is easy for him to connect the dots identifying the main suspects. Since July 30, 2018, the day his son's body was found in CAR, Radchenko has been analyzing reports by private investigators and journalists, and read and watched interviews with Moscow's key man in CAR, Valery Zakharov, a former Russian military intelligence officer, who is now the country's main security adviser. "The investigators–along with Russian diplomats, FSB, GRU–back up the Russian military instructors working in CAR instead of questioning the main guy, Zakharov,and his bosses," Radchenko told The Daily Beast on Tuesday.The heartbroken father has written more than 30 petitions to Russian state detectives investigating the criminal case. Some of his requests ostensibly were taken into consideration, but most of them were ignored. Radchenko told The Daily Beast that in his opinion the murder was "undoubtedly a set up." Over the last six months, the father says, he has seen enough evidence collected by independent reporters to conclude that "Yevgeny Prigozhin, Valery Zakharov and his aide Alexander Sotov are the principal suspects to be questioned about the murder of my son." But Radchenko sounds hopeless: "Every time I ask the state detective on this case, Igor Zolotov, to call them for questioning, he seems too shy and tells me: 'We should not bother such important men, they must be busy.'"Putin's Man in the Central African Republic: Is Valery Zakharov at the Heart of Russian Skulduggery? Khodorkovsky's team has tried to fill that investigative gap. "We have done our part of the job, presented mobile phone billing to demonstrate that Zakharov, his aid Alexander Sotov, the gendarme they trained and the crew called each other dozens of times during the two days before the murder," Maxim Dbar, Khodorkovsly's spokesman, told The Daily Beast. "We have no authority to question the key suspects."Irina Gordiyenko, a reporter for independent Novaya Gazeta, especially wants to know who killed Orkhan Dzhemal, the father of her son. "I want to ask both Zakharov and Sotov about the billing data, what sort of actions they coordinated from the moment of the journalists' arrival in CAR," Gordiyenko said in a recent interview with The Daily Beast. "I have questions for Zakharov about CAR gendarmes being trained in Russia. I want to ask the Russian MID [ministry of foreign affairs] why the journalists' belongings have not been moved to Russia, why our diplomats consult with Prigozhin's Wagner about the official version of the murder to give to the public."Somebody shot Rostorguyev from a 7.62 mm Kalashnikov assault rifle. Two bullets hit the journalist's heart. "Only a professional could fire so accurately in the dark," Gordiyenko added her doubts. The United States imposed sanctions against billionaire Prigozhin and his Concord holding company in 2016 for constructing a military base for Russian forces near Ukraine. But neither the sanctions, nor the links to the CAR murder that shook the entire country, has slowed the growth of Prigozhin's business empire. Concord keeps working on immense state contracts, his Zinger Development group is planning to build an artificial island in the Gulf of Finland, and foreign tourists keep buying his chocolates at Eliseyev Emporium, a historic architectural landmark on Nevsky Prospect. Jessica from Vermont was purchasing Marzipans shaped as carrots, half a pound of Lukum and chocolates with lime taste. "I am not sure I know who Prigozhin is, I am sorry," the tourist told The Daily Beast.Prigozhin has access to the highest offices in the Kremlin and cooperates closely with the defense ministries of both Russia and the CAR. The power is on his side. "The murder of the three journalists is not going to be investigated, at least there will never be public knowledge of who ordered the killing," a political analyst close to the Kremlin, Sergei Markov, told The Daily Beast. "Prigozhin has created private military forces to help Russia, he is fighting the war against Russia's enemies that are constantly undermining our power, so of course Moscow will not go against him to support the dossier created by Putin's enemy, Khodorkovsky." In the eyes of much of the world, however, Putin's name will be linked forever to the murder of the three journalists just as it is linked to the killing of journalists Anna Politkovskaya or Natalia Estemirova.Dzhamal, Rastorguyev, and Radchenko were—and remain—important symbols for Russians who still believe the search for solid facts and the truth is the only way to combat corruption and the disinformation used to disguise it, even if the quest costs you your life.Anna Nemtsova reported from St. Petersburg, Christopher Dickey from Paris.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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| Which of These Doomsday Scenarios Is Most Likely to Kill Us All? Posted: 02 Sep 2019 06:00 AM PDT |
| We need Unions for All. It's a bold agenda for helping everyone get ahead in our economy. Posted: 02 Sep 2019 05:43 AM PDT  We need serious plans to empower all workers to form unions, no matter what job they do. 'Unions for All' is our litmus test for 2020 candidates.
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| Do I stay or do I go? For Joe Manchin, a big decision awaits Posted: 01 Sep 2019 05:38 AM PDT  Joe Manchin is once again at a career crossroads that says as much about the West Virginia politician as it does the state of American politics. The Democrat says he'll decide right after Labor Day whether to stick with being in the U.S. Senate, where he was just reelected for a six-year term, or make a run for West Virginia governor in 2020. In some ways, it's almost a risk-free political choice because Manchin can try to return to the governor's office, the job he had before joining the Senate, without forfeiting his Senate seat or complicating his party's drive to control Congress.
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| Costco is closed for Labor Day, but here are the stores and restaurants staying open Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:25 PM PDT  Most major retailers and restaurant chains are open Monday, though some will have special holiday hours. Many pharmacies will be closed.
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| West Texas gunman killed seven and wounded 22, including toddler Posted: 01 Sep 2019 07:50 AM PDT  Police said the second mass shooting in Texas in four weeks began on Saturday afternoon with a routine traffic stop and ended when the suspect, a white male in his 30s, was cornered by officers in the parking lot of a cinema complex. Police, motorists and shoppers were all caught up in the chaos that unfolded between the cities of Odessa and Midland during a busy Labor Day holiday weekend. "There are no definitive answers as to motive or reasons at this point, but we are fairly certain that the subject did act alone," Odessa Police Chief Michael Gerke said at a news conference.
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| Dorian triggers massive flooding across Bahamas; at least 5 dead Posted: 02 Sep 2019 12:45 PM PDT  Forecasters warned that Dorian could generate a storm surge as high as 23 feet.
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| Hong Kong stocks rocked by city's latest violent protests Posted: 02 Sep 2019 01:24 AM PDT  Hong Kong stocks sank on Monday, with property firms among the worst hit after the city was gripped by another weekend of violence that saw protesters battle police in the streets and cause more disruption at the airport. The Hang Seng Index ended down 0.38 percent, or 98.18 points, at 25,626.55, with uncertainty over the China-US trade row also weighing. The unrest is beginning to bite as tourist numbers fall, impacting a range of businesses, with property and casino companies among the worst hit.
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| Amazon fires: Almost 4,000 new blazes started across Brazil in 48 hours after ban on burning forest land Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:30 AM PDT  Almost 4,000 new forest fires were started in Brazil in the two days after the government banned deliberate burning of the Amazon, officials have revealed.Some 3,859 outbreaks were recorded by the country's National Space Research Institute (Inpe) in the 48 hours following the 60-day prohibition on setting trees alight.
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| Why Millions in India Risk Losing Their Citizenship Posted: 01 Sep 2019 11:12 PM PDT ![Why Millions in India Risk Losing Their Citizenship]( "Why Millions in India Risk Losing Their Citizenship") (Bloomberg) -- Officials in Assam -- a lush, tea-growing state in northeastern India -- have published an updated citizenship registry for the first time in decades. About 1.9 million people's names have been left off the list. Anyone who can't prove they are living in the state legally risks being stripped of his or her citizenship and potentially deported. The state government, run by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party, says the move is needed to identify illegal migrants. Critics accuse it of pushing a Hindu nationalist agenda that seeks to clear out Muslims.1\. What's the background?Illegal migration has been a source of ethnic conflict and political unrest in Assam for decades. When Bangladesh declared independence in 1971, leading to a war with Pakistan, many families fled across the border into India to escape the fighting, settling in Assam. Some were granted citizenship, while others never registered. BJP president Amit Shah, Modi's home affairs minister, promised at a rally in 2018 to purge the voter list of "infiltrators."2\. What's the list?It's called the National Register of Citizenship, although it only covers the roughly 33 million people living in Assam state. It was first prepared after a 1951 national census, and debate about updating it has been going on for years. Draft lists released in 2018 and 2019 excluded some 4.1 million residents -- roughly equal to the population of Ireland or the U.S. state of Oregon.3\. How do you qualify?The government released a number of criteria for registering, including people whose names were on the 1951 census or on voting lists in Assam up to midnight on March 24, 1971 -- the day before Bangladesh declared independence -- and their descendants. People who arrived from Bangladesh before that date, registered and became Indian citizens also qualify. The registration is being monitored by India's Supreme Court.4\. What if you're not on the list?Modi's federal government and the BJP-run state government have assured people that those left off the list won't face detention immediately and will be given opportunities to appeal. But millions of people who have been there for decades are living in fear of losing their rights to vote or own property, access welfare programs -- or worse. Many are afraid they will be forced into detention camps or deported to Bangladesh if they can't prove their identities, a process that could take months.5\. Could it spread to other states?Stripping Bengali-speaking Muslims and other minorities of Indian citizenship is part of the BJP's election platform, which saw Modi re-elected in May 2019 with a greater mandate. BJP politicians want to replicate the Assam move nationwide, potentially leading to a surge in sectarian violence at a time when India's economy is slowing. Muslims in India suffered another setback in August when Modi scrapped the autonomy of Kashmir, a disputed region between India and Pakistan. Moreover, the Modi government has tried to push legislation that would offer citizenship to illegal migrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan who are of Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, Parsi or Christian descent. Modi's political opponents say it's a move to shelter non-Muslim refugees and push its core ideology.Millions May Be Left Stateless in India's Citizenship CrackdownThe government of Assam answers FAQs on the registry.QuickTakes on why India and Pakistan keep clashing, and India's caste system.An opinion piece: A flawed process that pleased noneTo contact the reporter on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, ;Paul Geitner at pgeitner2@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten KateFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 15 years on, relatives of Beslan massacre victims demand answers Posted: 01 Sep 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Relatives of victims of the Beslan massacre on Sunday said they were still waiting for answers, 15 years after the tragedy that left over 330 dead including 186 children. Sunday marks the anniversary of the school siege in the town of Beslan in the Russian Caucasus when Chechen militants stormed the school, herding over 1,100 people into a gymnasium and rigging the building with explosives. The European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2017 that Russia's handling of the siege had "serious failings" in terms of its failure to prevent the attack and its use of excessive lethal force and called on Moscow to take measures to establish the truth.
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| 8 Tech Items That’ll Upgrade Your Living Space Posted: 02 Sep 2019 03:00 AM PDT |
| Hurricane Dorian batters Bahamas as dangerous Category 5 storm Posted: 01 Sep 2019 05:16 PM PDT  Extremely powerful, life-threatening Hurricane Dorian has reached the Bahamas. The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sunday that Dorian made landfall in Elbow Cay at 12:40 p.m. EDT.
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| Criminal justice reform turns to list of problem officers Posted: 01 Sep 2019 01:52 PM PDT  During the 22 years he spent in prison after being convicted of killing a Boston police detective, Sean Ellis believed there was something suspicious about the officers who led the murder investigation. It would take years of digging and scores of public information requests from his attorneys to uncover evidence that several officers investigating the 1993 murder case were involved in criminal activity — information that wasn't shared with the defense. Defense attorneys have long run up against a brick wall when trying to discover whether an officer has credibility issues that could set their client free.
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| Five dead in Bahamas from Dorian as storm threatens US coast Posted: 01 Sep 2019 08:44 PM PDT  Five people have been killed by Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, the nation's prime minister has revealed, as Donald Trump spent part of the day playing golf.As the category 4 storm pummelled the Bahamas with 145mph winds, triggering huge damage and massive flooding, the nation's prime minister said at least five people had been killed.
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| Residents, protesters converge on Mong Kok Police Station to vent anger at Hong Kong officers Posted: 02 Sep 2019 07:32 AM PDT  The tense scene followed a stand-off earlier near Tamar Park in Admiralty.
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| Italian police seize German rescue ship, say migrants to disembark Posted: 02 Sep 2019 02:55 AM PDT ![Italian police seize German rescue ship, say migrants to disembark]( "Italian police seize German rescue ship, say migrants to disembark") Italian police on Monday seized a German migrant rescue ship that had been stranded at sea for a week with more than 100 migrants aboard, and will disembark the migrants soon, a police spokesman said. The ship's captain had earlier set course for the port of Pozzallo, on the island of Sicily, sparking a new standoff between rescuers and Italy's interior minister just as he looks set to lose his job. Matteo Salvini, leader of the far-right League, signed a decree last week banning the Eleonore from entering Italian waters as part of his closed-door policy on migrants arriving by boat from north Africa.
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| We need to pass the National Right-to-Work Act. No one should be forced to join a union. Posted: 01 Sep 2019 02:00 AM PDT  Every American should have the right to work. Compulsory union membership is a violation of workers' free speech and association liberties.
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| Brazil president to skip Amazon summit on doctor's orders Posted: 02 Sep 2019 04:16 PM PDT  Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro will skip a regional summit on fires that have devastated swaths of the Amazon because doctors want him to get ready for surgery scheduled for next week, a spokesman said Monday. The far-right president has been widely criticized over his support for Amazon deforestation and a delayed reaction to wildfires that have hit the rain forest. Bolsonaro has to go on a liquid diet starting Friday, the same day as the summit in Colombia, and this makes the trip unfeasible, said spokesman Otavio Rego Barros.
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