| Rudy Giuliani claims he's 'the real whistleblower' and that no one will know the real story on Trump and Ukraine 'if I get killed' Posted: 28 Sep 2019 11:10 AM PDT  Giuliani told Politico he believes he deserves whistleblower protection, but his attempts to defend himself have only further incriminated him.
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| Terrorism charge filed against man who crashed car into Woodfield Mall near Chicago Posted: 29 Sep 2019 01:11 PM PDT  The man who slammed his SUV into a suburban Chicago mall has been formally charged with terrorism and criminal damage to property, authorities said.
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| Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Says He Is Running for Local Office Posted: 27 Sep 2019 09:03 PM PDT  The city's district councils are a potential stepping stone to the legislature
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| Saudi King’s Bodyguard Is Killed in ‘Personal Dispute’ Posted: 28 Sep 2019 11:54 PM PDT ![Saudi King's Bodyguard Is Killed in 'Personal Dispute']( "Saudi King's Bodyguard Is Killed in 'Personal Dispute'") (Bloomberg) -- A prominent bodyguard of Saudi King Salman was killed following a personal dispute, state-run media reported.Major General Abdulaziz Al Faghem died of gunshot wounds in hospital after a friend shot him at Al Shatti district of the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday, citing the spokesman of the Mecca region police. The incident took place at a mutual friend's house, he said.The assailant, who also wounded the mutual friend and a Filipino worker, was killed by security forces after refusing to surrender, the spokesman said. Five security personnel were also wounded, he said.Al Faghem, who had often been seen pictured with King Salman and the late King Abdullah, was widely described as "the kings' walking stick." His name was trending on Twitter in Saudi Arabia on Sunday.To contact the reporters on this story: Fahad Alzahrani in Dubai at falzahrani1@bloomberg.net;Nadeem Hamid in Washington at nhamid3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chua Baizhen at bchua14@bloomberg.net, Alaa ShahineFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Every Angle of the 2020 Jeep Gladiator Rubicon Posted: 29 Sep 2019 04:14 PM PDT |
| New York city cop, suspect killed in exchange of gunfire Posted: 29 Sep 2019 11:43 AM PDT ![New York city cop, suspect killed in exchange of gunfire]( "New York city cop, suspect killed in exchange of gunfire") A New York city police officer on anti-gang duty and a suspect he was trying to arrest were both killed during an exchange of gunfire in the Bronx early Sunday, police said. Officer Brian Mulkeen, 33, was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead, police said in a statement. "There is absolutely no worse moment on our job than this," Chief of Department Terence Monahan said in remarks at the hospital, according to a police statement.
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| Pakistan Leader Warns of Kashmir 'Blood Bath' in Emotional U.N. Speech Posted: 29 Sep 2019 09:02 AM PDT  Pakistan's leader castigated India over its Kashmir crackdown from the podium of the United Nations on Friday, warning of a "bloodbath" when and if Indian authorities lift a curfew over the disputed territory.The speech by Prime Minister Imran Khan at the United Nations General Assembly was partly directed at his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, who in his own speech earlier Friday omitted any reference to Kashmir.Last month India revoked the long-standing autonomy of the mountainous border region, the flashpoint of two wars with Pakistan since both achieved independence from Britain more than 70 years ago.Indian authorities arrested thousands of Kashmiris, severed most electronic access and imposed a curfew on the entire populace of about 8 million. While some curbs have been eased, the curfew remains in effect.Modi and his subordinates have described their move as an internal domestic matter aimed at making the region more prosperous.The Indian prime minister's shift on Kashmir was welcomed by his base of Hindu nationalists, who have long wanted to exert power in the Muslim-majority region and have long accused Pakistan of supporting militant separatists there.Khan has repeatedly denounced what he has described as Modi's reckless disregard of Pakistan's historic claims to the region.The Pakistani leader has frequently reminded the world that Pakistan and India are both nuclear powers. He has used terms like genocide to describe India's intentions for the disputed Kashmir region and has complained that Modi has ignored his entreaties for a dialogue.In an interview with The New York Times Editorial Board on Wednesday, Khan said Modi was leading India down an irrational path, a theme he reiterated in his General Assembly speech."Is it arrogance that has blinded him from what is going to happen when the curfew is lifted? Does he think the people of Kashmir will quietly accept the status quo?" Khan said. "What is going to happen when the curfew is lifted will be a bloodbath."The pent-up frustration of Kashmiris living under what Khan described as Indian military occupation would inevitably come back to haunt India, he said."Would I want to live like that?" Khan said. "I would pick up a gun."Khan, who has conspicuously avoided crossing paths with Modi while both are attending the annual gathering in New York, had said that he would be using his General Assembly speech to emphasize Kashmir and implore the United Nations to intervene.Modi, in his speech, sought to portray India as a peace-loving nation that he said had given the world Buddha's philosophy of serenity. His only reference to Pakistan and Kashmir was oblique, saying India had long been a victim of terrorism."Our voice against terrorism, to alert the world about this evil, rings with seriousness and the outrage," Modi said. "It is absolutely imperative that the world unites against terrorism."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| A US soldier working at Mar-a-Lago uploaded photos of an underage girl to a Russian website — a closer look at the site reveals a horrific underworld Posted: 28 Sep 2019 11:53 AM PDT  A cursory look at the Russian website iMGSRC.ru reveals a horrific underworld of shared photos of children.
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| Mitch McConnell's mastery Posted: 29 Sep 2019 03:35 AM PDT ![Mitch McConnell's mastery]( "Mitch McConnell's mastery") The Kentucky Republican could go down as one of the most influential Senate majority leaders in history. Why? Here's everything you need to know:What is McConnell's strength? As the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell controls the calendar for the upper chamber, giving him the ability to block legislation by simply refusing to schedule a vote. The Kentucky Republican has combined that authority -- and intricate understanding of Senate rules and procedure -- with ruthless partisanship to ensure that Republican-backed legislation and nominees are fast-tracked while all Democratic priorities are blocked. Democrats complain that McConnell has turned the Senate into a "legislative graveyard" by not allowing bills passed by the House of Representatives to even be considered on the Senate floor. During the Trump presidency, McConnell has focused on confirming judges to reshape the country through the courts. So far, the Senate has confirmed more than 150 lifetime judges appointed by President Trump. Conservative legal activist Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society says McConnell's impact on the courts will be felt for decades to come, describing him as "the most consequential majority leader, certainly, in modern history."How did he get his start? McConnell began his political career in the GOP's once influential liberal wing. As a college student, he wrote an op-ed against segregationist politics, arguing that a "strict interpretation" of the Constitution was "inherently evil" if it was used to deny basic civil rights. He even came out in favor of "truly effective campaign finance reform." In 1977, he won election as judge-executive for Jefferson County, which encompasses Louisville, campaigning in favor of collective bargaining rights for public workers, and for abortion rights. Although not personally charismatic, McConnell showed fundraising savvy and keen political instincts. For his 1984 Senate run, he hired high-profile Republican political consultant Roger Ailes, the future founder of Fox News. Ailes created a devastatingly effective ad depicting bloodhounds searching for Democratic incumbent Walter "Dee" Huddleston, exaggerating his record of missed Senate votes. McConnell won the election by 5,000 votes, about 1 percent of the total, becoming the first Republican elected statewide since 1968.What does he believe in? The Republican Party and winning elections. As the GOP moved right under President Ronald Reagan, so did McConnell. Political scientists tracking McConnell's career have found that he has become more conservative with every session of Congress. His earlier support for campaign spending caps was transformed into fierce opposition to campaign finance reform, and he won the gratitude of many senators by taking the heat for blocking bills to rein in spending on elections. McConnell embraced his villain status. When pundits labeled him "Darth Vader" for opposing the McCain-Feingold reform bill in the early 2000s, he started carrying a toy lightsaber. McConnell admitted that he never would have won his first race for Senate "if there had been a limit on the amount of money I could raise and spend."Why is he so effective? During his 34-year career in the Senate, McConnell has learned to work the rules to his and his party's advantage, both in the majority and out of it. When McConnell took over leadership of the Senate Republicans in 2007, he quickly proved to be a cunning minority leader. Huddling with his shell-shocked GOP caucus in the aftermath of President Obama's overwhelming victory in 2008, McConnell argued for a strategy of near-total obstruction to dim enthusiasm for Obama, who had campaigned as the man who could transcend Washington's partisan divide. McConnell used the filibuster -- a tactic to block action -- to impede or slow-walk almost everything Democrats tried to achieve. During the 2013-14 term, Democrats called 252 cloture votes, which are motions used to prevent or end filibusters -- double the previous record.Did McConnell's strategy work? Arguably, yes. Disgusted by Washington's gridlock and disappointed in Obama, voters punished the Democrats in power, handing the GOP the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2014. Meanwhile, McConnell blocked as many of Obama's judicial appointments as possible. When Obama left office, he'd been unable to fill 88 district- and 17 circuit-court seat vacancies -- plus the biggest vacancy of all. After Justice Antonin Scalia died in February 2016, McConnell infamously refused to hold a vote for Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland, holding the seat open for 10 months for the next president to fill. That vacancy proved critical in convincing many reluctant Republicans to support Donald Trump in a close election. With Trump in office, McConnell abolished the filibuster for Supreme Court nominations, allowing Republicans to confirm Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh with slim majorities. Although initially skeptical of Trump, he has long since made his peace with the president. "To expect Republican elected officials not to try to achieve as much as they possibly can out of pique over presidential behavior," he says, "is nonsense."How he wins elections Despite being the longest-serving Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell has never been beloved either in his home state or by conservatives. Activists on the Right have always been suspicious of McConnell's transactional nature and angered by his willingness to cut limited deals with Democrats to keep the government running. He was even booed at the 2016 Republican National Convention. McConnell's 36 percent approval rating in Kentucky makes him one of the most unpopular senators in the country, and this year he is likely to face a well-funded challenge from Democrat Amy McGrath, a former Marine fighter pilot. But McConnell has built up a massive campaign war chest, raising $10.6 million so far, more than any Republican senator -- money he's almost certain to pour into negative ads. Kentucky insiders have seen this play out before. McConnell has never lost any of the nine elections he's run in. "All those polls you see now where he has a low approval rating? That's because he doesn't have a warm-and-fuzzy personality," says veteran Kentucky political reporter Al Cross. "In those polls he's running against himself. When you match him up against somebody, he's pretty good at driving them down to his level."
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| 'Trailblazer' Deputy, First in Texas to Wear Sikh Articles of Faith on Duty, Killed During a Traffic Stop Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:48 AM PDT  "He was a trailblazer," Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said in a press conference Friday afternoon
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| EU Set to Resume Expansion Push With Balkan Accession Talks Posted: 29 Sep 2019 02:49 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The European Union will probably authorize the start of formal accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia next month, betting that the prospect of membership in the club will help further anchor the continent's troubled Balkan region to the West."In light of the progress achieved on reforms," EU ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Oct. 15 will decide to "to open accession negotiations" with the governments in Tirana and Skopje, according to a draft of their communique circulated on Friday and seen by Bloomberg. While the wording could still change, a previous draft, also seen by Bloomberg, didn't include the recommendation to begin talks.A similar push to open accession negotiations faltered in June, as countries such as France, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark resisted. Western EU governments are exasperated by the failure of some eastern nations that joined the bloc from 2004 to uphold the rule of law and fight corruption. They are thus wary of admitting new members to the world's largest trading club, where people, goods and services can move freely.Countries including Poland, Hungary and Romania -- among the largest recipients of EU structural funds and agricultural aid -- are at loggerheads with the European Commission over their democratic standards, and the bloc's executive arm has so far failed to force them to fall in line. In its June communique on enlargement, the EU said that admission of new members should take into account the bloc's "capacity to integrate" them.Even though accession negotiations last for years -- or even decades, as in the case of Turkey -- and their conclusion isn't guaranteed, the launch of the process is a victory for the government of North Macedonia. It had invested most of its political capital in a deal with Greece to change the former Yugoslav republic's constitutional name, hoping that this would pave the way for EU membership.The new Greek government has said it disagrees with the deal struck between North Macedonia and its predecessor, but won't seek to annul it due to the need to preserve continuity in international agreements. Still, the wording in the draft communique seen by Bloomberg, which "strongly welcomes the historic Prespa Agreement," could trigger a backlash in Athens, as most of the governing party's voters oppose the pact.To contact the reporter on this story: Nikos Chrysoloras in Brussels at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Keith Campbell, Bruce StanleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Native American 2020 candidate aims to raise awareness of indigenous peoples Posted: 28 Sep 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Mark Charles knows his bid is a long shot but hopes to shed light on the historic abuse of Native Americans and other ethnicitiesMark Charles speaks on 20 August 2019 in Sioux City, Iowa. Photograph: Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesIn a video launching his presidential campaign, Mark Charles, hair tied in a tsiiyéeł, a Native American hair knot, introduces himself in the Navajo language."Yá' át' ééh. Mark Charles yinishyé," Charles says."Tsin bikee dine'é nishłí. Dóó tó'aheedlíinii bá shíshchíín. Tsin bikee' dine'é dashicheii. Dóó tódích' íi' nii dashinálí."Roughly translated, Charles is explaining that his father was Navajo and his mother Dutch American. What doesn't need explaining is that if Charles were elected in November 2020, he would become the first Native American president of the United States.It's an extremely long-shot bid. But Charles is also aiming to use his campaign to raise awareness of the historic, and continuing, abuse of Native Americans and other ethnicities, hopefully resulting in an improved constitution that he believes would better reflect the modern-day US."Do we want to be a nation where we the people actually means all the people?" Charles says."Because if we do, then we have some foundational level work to do."Native American people living on reservations, Charles says, have always been overlooked by politicians. The territory of the Navajo Nation covers 27,000 square miles alone – enough to make it the 48th largest state in the US. Despite that, Charles says, the territory of 350,000 people is rarely visited by politicians running for president.Charles is determined to change that with his campaign. He held his first campaign event on the Navajo Nation, at a chapter house – a communal meeting place – near Fort Defiance, north-east Arizona. His second event was at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and another at the Denver Indian Center."Almost every state I go to I want my first contact to be with the indigenous nations, the indigenous peoples of that state," Charles said."I really want to connect with them again because I'm coming on to their land to campaign and I want them to know me and to understand who I am and, and why, why I'm there."Charles believes he is the best person to lead the country as a whole, but he is also running with some ideas that would specifically help Native Americans, African Americans and other people of color. On the stump he talks a lot about creating a "common memory" – educating people on the atrocities committed in the past and the challenges different races face.Independent presidential candidate Mark Charles speaks on 20 August 2019 in Sioux City, Iowa. Photograph: Stephen Maturen/Getty ImagesAt the center of Charles's platform is the establishment of a "truth and conciliation commission", which would work towards creating that memory. His idea is modeled on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up in South Africa, after the end of apartheid."I don't call ours truth and reconciliation because reconciliation implies a previous harmony, and if you know our history you know that's not true."In South Africa the Truth and Reconciliation committee hearings, which allowed both victims and perpetrators to explain their experiences, were broadcast live, in what has been described as the "gold standard" for how a divided society might deal with a violent past. Charles believes his committee could eventually lead to an at least partial rewriting of the US constitution.Charles said he had the idea for "that type of conversation years ago"."But I did not know the best way to bring that proposal to the nation. And after observing several presidential campaigns, I realized every four years we have a dialogue about who we are and where we're going: our presidential campaign cycle."So I felt like this is an important enough of a proposal that it actually could very well be the center of a presidential campaign. So one of my motivations in running for president is to raise this issue of truth and conciliation to the national level."Charles grew up in New Mexico, and went to university in California, before spending 11 years living in the Navajo Nation, which is spread across Arizona, Utah and New Mexico.Three of those years were spent on a remote sheep camp, where Charles and his young family lived in a one-room hogan, a traditional Navajo house, which had a dirt floor, no running water, no electricity and was six miles from the nearest paved road.Charles isn't the first Native American to run for the White House. Russell Means, an activist from the Lakota tribe who died in 2012, ran for the Libertarian party nomination ahead of the 1988 election, but came second to the Texas congressman Ron Paul.In 2018 there was a breakthrough for Native American women in particular, when Sharice Davids, from Kansas, and Deb Haaland, from New Mexico, became the first Native American women to be elected to Congress. Both Davids and Haaland are Democrats. Charles says he has voted for both Democrats and Republicans in the past, but believes his best chance for office is to eschew both parties."I don't want people to think that becauseI'm running as an independent I'm not a serious candidate," Charles said. He believes he would not clinch the Democratic or Republican nomination – aside from anything else, he isn't a member of either party – but he plans to be on the ballot in all 50 states, and is committed to running all the way through to November."If our country does not begin creating this common memory, and does not make a decision on whether we want to be a place where we the people means all the people," Charles said, "We're going to continue to face these deep racial divides that we've had in our country since its founding."
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| U.S. and Nazi Soldiers Joined Forces for One World War II Battle Posted: 28 Sep 2019 03:33 PM PDT  A strange time.
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| Iran's iconic anti-US murals make way for a new generation of artwork Posted: 29 Sep 2019 12:16 PM PDT  Famous murals celebrating Iran's Islamic revolution daubed on walls of the former US embassy in Tehran have been erased to make way for new paintings to be unveiled on the fortieth anniversary of the hostage crisis. Three workers were on Sunday afternoon seen removing the original artwork with a sandblaster against the wall of Taleqani avenue, bordering the south side of what was once dubbed a US "spy nest" in central Tehran. On November 4, 1979, less than nine months after Iran's last shah was toppled, pro-revolution students took Americans hostage at the embassy to protest the ex-shah's admission to hospital in the US.
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| 'Alarming' rise in far-Right weapons seizures prompts Germany to beef up police powers Posted: 29 Sep 2019 06:25 AM PDT  The German government says it will respond to an "alarming" rise in weapons seizures during raids on far-Right extremists by handing police more powers to fight radicalism. Close to 1,100 weapons were confiscated in the course of investigations into Right-wing crime in 2018, marking a 61 per cent rise on the previous year when 676 weapons were found, new statistics show. Horst Seehofer, the interior minister, said the figures represent an "alarming increase" but also show that "our investigations are having an impact and authorities are keeping a close eye on the scene." Mr Seehofer, a member of the conservative Christian Social Union party, said police capabilities would be beefed up in response. "I am determined to strengthen the security services both in personnel and in structure and to give them the necessary legal tools to cope with this threat," he stated. A veteran law-and-order man, Mr Seehofer has previously faced criticism from civil liberties groups for introducing sweeping police powers in his native Bavaria which included abolishing time limits on police detentions. The weapons listed as being seized during raids last year included hand guns, rifles and knives, as well as pepper spray, fireworks and "dangerous tools". No detailed breakdown of the numbers of each type of weapon has yet been released. German police have in the past faced criticism for using a loose definition of what constitutes a weapon. Raids on the radical Left in recent years have led to confiscations of bricks and household implements as police sought to up political pressure on Berlin's militant squatter scene. Matthias Quent, an extremism expert at the Institute for Democracy and Civil Society, told ARD that the new figures showed the far-Right are "massively arming themselves". "Their aim is to intimidate society and drive out ethnic minorities. Parts of the scene even want a civil war," Mr Quent said. Coming just months after the murder of a politician from Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats by a suspected far-right fanatic, the news adds to concern about rising militancy. Walter Lübcke, mayor of Kassel, was shot at point blank range outside his house in June. Weeks later police arrested Stephan Ernst, a man with a long history of involvement in the neo-Nazi scene. In the course of investigations, police found 46 guns at Mr Ernst's home and place of work. While it is still unclear how many of the weapons were held legally, investigators have reportedly told the home affairs committee that they were "hidden professionally".
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| White House adviser says Trump 'is the whistleblower’ Posted: 29 Sep 2019 12:03 PM PDT  White House senior adviser Stephen Miller defended President Trump's attempts to have the Ukrainian president open an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, claiming on Sunday that the scandal was a "political hit job" by the "deep state" and that Trump was really the "whistleblower."
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| Countries that make weapons of war foment migration but refuse refugees, Pope Francis says Posted: 29 Sep 2019 04:31 AM PDT  Pope Francis on Sunday scolded countries that produce weapons for wars fought elsewhere and then refuse to take in refugees fleeing the very same conflicts. The 82-year-old Argentine pope, whose parents were of Italian immigrant stock, has made the defense of migrants and refugees a plank of his pontificate and he has often clashed over immigration policy with U.S. President Donald Trump and populist anti-immigrant politicians in Europe. Francis has also criticized the arms trade repeatedly and his sermon for 40,000 people in St. Peter's Square on Sunday linked the issues of war and migration as the Roman Catholic Church marked its World Day of Migrants and Refugees.
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| The White House reportedly tried to conceal transcripts of Trump's calls with other world leaders, including Russia's Putin and Saudi Arabia's Mohammad bin Salman Posted: 28 Sep 2019 02:00 AM PDT  The White House is accused of trying to cover up Trump's call with Ukraine by storing the transcript in a system housing the country's top secrets.
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| Meghan Markle Privately Visited a Memorial to Murdered 19-Year-Old South African Student Uyinene Mrwetyana Posted: 28 Sep 2019 12:01 PM PDT  Her death launched a wave of outrage and protests
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| 'We know they aren't feeding': fears for polar bears over shrinking Arctic ice Posted: 28 Sep 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Expert Steven Amstrup says 'the longer the sea ice is gone from the productive zone the tougher it is on the bears'This year's annual minimum of the Arctic sea ice tied with the second-lowest extent on record. Photograph: Chase Dekker/Getty ImagesThe loss of Arctic ice from glaciers, polar land and sea is declining faster than many scientists expected, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) report on oceans and the cryosphere said this week.That's bad news for polar bear populations, a top expert involved in field studies on the endangered animals has told the Guardian.This year's annual minimum of the Arctic sea ice tied with the second-lowest extent on record, a mere 1.6m sq miles, and badly affected polar bear populations that live and hunt on the north slope of Alaska, plus those that live on the ice floes in the Bering Sea."Now the ice has gone way offshore we know that the bears aren't feeding, and the bears that are forced on to land don't find much to eat. The longer the sea ice is gone from the productive zone the tougher it is on the bears," said Polar Bears International's Steven Amstrup.In 2015, the group reported that the polar bear population in the Beaufort Sea had declined by 40% over the previous decade. "We can only anticipate that those declines have continued," Amstrup said.The loss of sea ice this year was so pronounced early in the season that tagging crews from the US Geological Survey (USGS) concluded that the sea ice offshore in the western arctic was too thin and unstable to be able to conduct their studies – the first time the team have pulled their studies because of safety issues.That's a far cry from the two decades to 2010 when Amstrup did two two-month field studies a year. In recent years, the spring season has also been severely hampered by open water, fog and bad weather.This year, the trends were repeated. Amstrup said: "The ice in the spring … was really tough this year. What ice was there was thin and rough this year. That's part of progressive trend that we've seen over several years."The circumstances of global heating in the Arctic region, from record heatwaves in Alaska to the loss of more than 60bn tons of ice from Greenland's ice cap during a five-day heatwave this summer, including the biggest loss in a 24-hour period since records began.For both polar bear populations, the circumstances are grim. Those that live on shore aren't finding much to eat, says Amstrup, and those that live permanently on the pack ice don't appear to be feeding much either."They're having a long fast in the summer and there's a limit to how long that fast can last. We're already seeing indications in terms of poorer cub survival in the Beaufort Sea. An adult bear has a lot of body mass, and maybe can get through a long summer fast, but young bears don't have the body mass or hunting skills to survive," he said.But because 2019 did not set a record in terms of sea-ice loss, Amstrup stressed, we should not be fooled into thinking that, short of an extreme event, circumstances have stabilized or improved.Amstrup said funding cutbacks and the fact that biologists cannot get out and study the bears means it may never be able to collect the necessary data to assess "just how bad this year was".Instead, Amstrup says this bad ice year and record warm summer are symbols of what the future will bring. Bad years like this will be increasingly frequent and the bad years will be increasingly worse – as long as we allow CO2 levels to continue to rise."We know that as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise it's going to be warmer and we're going to have less and less sea ice until polar bears disappear," he said.
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| Don't Sleep on India's Nuclear Weapons (They Could Kill Billions) Posted: 29 Sep 2019 07:21 AM PDT  India has 130 to 140 nuclear warheads—and more are coming, according to a new report. Should the world worry?
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| US Department of Justice supports Indianapolis Archdiocese in firing of gay teacher Posted: 28 Sep 2019 08:46 AM PDT  The U.S. Justice Department filed a statement saying the First Amendment protects the right of the Archdiocese to apply Catholic doctrine.
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| Clashes Intensify With Petrol Bombs and Fires: Hong Kong Update Posted: 29 Sep 2019 05:00 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police used a water cannon, rubber bullets and tear gas on protesters who set a train station entrance on fire and hurled petrol bombs as they tried to march on the government offices in the city center.Demonstrators marched without permission on Sunday after an approved rally the day before. Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Thursday took responsibility for the "entire unrest" that has rocked the city since June in a bid to calm tensions. Even largely peaceful gatherings have descended into chaos in recent weeks as smaller groups of hard-core protesters battled with police.Key Developments:Protesters and police clashed in one of the most violent days in about 17 weeks of unrestTens of thousands gathered for a rally to mark the fifth anniversary of the pro-democracy Occupy movementThe government said it will "take forward constitutional development" in response to demands for political reform and implementing universal suffrageJoshua Wong, a prominent leader of the Occupy Movement, announced that he'll run in the city's district council elections in NovemberHere's the latest (all times local):Stations closed (6:30 p.m.)MTR Corp., operator of the city's rail network, said Wan Chai, Admiralty, Causeway Bay and Tin Hau stations were closed because of public activities. Train services in Tsuen Wan, Island and South Island lines have also been adjusted, it said.Fires started (6 p.m.)An entrance to Wan Chai train station was ablaze and fires were started in other areas as the main march was dispersed by police who fired repeated rounds of rubber bullets and tear gas. Emergency workers were treating a number of injured people in the streets, with at least one laying unconscious.Water cannon, arrests (5 p.m.)Police used a water cannon to spray a blue-dyed liquid at protesters and made numerous arrests, as activists set up barricades across Gloucester Road, a major traffic artery through the city.March goes on (4:30 p.m.)Protesters pushed ahead with their march as police blocked roads and fired repeated rounds of tear gas. The Wan Chai train station, closed because of the demonstrations, was vandalized by a small group. Fire alarms rang out and explosions could be heard after activists set objects alight and smashed glass panes.Police fire tear gas (2:20 p.m.)Riot police fired multiple rounds of tear gas at demonstrators in Causeway Bay after standoffs and clashes, as a helicopter hovered overhead. The protesters were due to march to the government offices in Admiralty, without applying for permission.At least two people were arrested. The weekend's protests come as China prepares to celebrate 70 years of Communist Party rule on Oct. 1.Pro-China rally (11:15 a.m.)Hundreds of demonstrators waved China flags and shouted pro-Beijing slogans as they rallied on the waterfront in the shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui.Across the harbor on Hong Kong island, some businesses and malls shut and others said they would close early in anticipation of a march planned for later in the day.Sogo said its store in Causeway Bay wouldn't open Sunday out of concern for the safety of customers and staff. In the same district, the World Trade Centre was closed and Hysan Place posted a notice saying it would shut down at 1 p.m.'Rubbish rhetoric' (Sunday 11 a.m.)Claudia Mo, a lawmaker who has been active in the protest movement, dismissed the government's statement that it wants to move toward introducing universal suffrage."This is just one of the many, many propaganda tricks by the government of Carrie Lam. They pretend that they're taking a step towards universal suffrage but they aren't," she said. "It's just rubbish rhetoric."There can't be real freedom in Hong Kong politics because Beijing has the right to screen out any candidates it dislikes, Mo said.Stop and search operations (10:30 p.m.)Police conducted stop-and-search operations at various places across the city, challenging people on foot and on public transportation. Police stopped buses entering the Cross Harbour Tunnel and also carried out searches in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai, where passengers were forced off buses to be checked.Government responds (9 p.m.)The government said that universal suffrage for "selection of the chief executive and electing all members of the Legislative Council is enshrined as an ultimate aim in the Basic Law." In response to demands for political reform, the government will move forward in line with the Basic law and China's interpretation of it, it said in a statement."To achieve this aim, the community needs to engage in dialogues, premised on the legal basis and under a peaceful atmosphere with mutual trust, with a view to narrowing differences and attaining a consensus agreeable to all sides," it said.Water cannon deployed (8:45 p.m.)Police deployed a water cannon, shooting blue dye, and fired tear gas after clashes with protesters. A group of people hurled bricks at officers and blocked off roads, police said in a statement.Protesters praised (8 p.m.)Organizers of the rally and speakers at the event praised the protest movement and the people's solidarity in opposing Lam's extradition bill.Joshua Wong, a prominent leader of the Occupy Movement, said the demonstrations had put Hong Kong in the international spotlight and was the reason the U.S. is considering passing a human rights act to monitor the level of autonomy in the city. He said there was no turning back for the movement.Civil Human Rights Front, the organizer of the rally, said in a statement that five years after the Umbrella Movement fought for universal suffrage, nothing has been achieved and protest leaders have been jailed. This year, a new generation of activists inspired almost one third of the city's population to take to the streets and force Lam into withdrawing the bill. Still, the protesters must continue to fight for their five demands, it said.Rally starts (7 p.m.)Thousands of people packed Tamar Park in Admiralty to mark the fifth year since the Occupy protests that were centered in the area. The protesters sang, waved their mobile phones and shone lasers as they waited for the guest speakers.Protesters took over roads leading to the venue and police said they used "minimum force" to disperse some who had charged at officers' cordons.Red alert at government building (6:40 p.m.)The Legislative Council Secretariat issued a red alert, requiring everybody at the lawmakers' building in Admiralty to evacuate for safety reasons.Riot police guard stations (6:30 p.m.)Some access points into train stations near the site of Saturday's rally were shut, and rail operator MTR Corp. said service could be disrupted, as riot police stood guard outside exits to the facilities.Thousands of people poured into the area for the rally to commemorate the Occupy protest and massed at Tamar Park in Admiralty.Lennon Wall link (4 p.m.)Protesters created so-called Lennon Walls in Victoria Park in attempt to link them through the district of Wan Chai to Admiralty, where the Occupy protest was staged in 2014.In Admiralty, people plastered walls with posters of Mao Zedong, saying "Revolution is no crime, to rebel is justified" -- a popular slogan used by Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. China's President Xi Jinping's image covered the floor in some areas.Wong to stand in elections (Saturday 11:30 a.m.)Joshua Wong announced that he'll run in the city's district council elections in November. He told a press conference in Hong Kong on Saturday that if the government disqualifies him from taking part, it will face more protests and international pressure.Xi approved bill withdrawal: SCMP (7 a.m.)Hong Kong's Lam asked Chinese President Xi Jinping for approval before withdrawing her controversial extradition bill, the South China Morning Post reported, citing unidentified people.Lam said at the time that it was her decision to withdraw the proposed law to try to break the political deadlock and enter into some form of dialogue with the public, and that China respected her reasons for doing so, the Post reported. The plan was sent to Xi's office for approval before it was announced on Sept. 4, the newspaper cited a person close to the government as saying.Restore rule of law: lawyers (Saturday 7 a.m.)A group of 339 local lawyers called on the government and the people of Hong Kong to uphold and protect the rule of law in a full-page advertisement published in Sing Tao newspaper on Saturday.The lawyers, who didn't provide names but listing their identity numbers, condemned all violence and called for respect for people's safety, rights and freedoms, and for public property. They said Hong Kong must restore its place as a "shining beacon in the region for safety, personal freedoms and economic opportunity for persons of all backgrounds."They said the statement was issued in their personal capacities.\--With assistance from Melissa Cheok and Shawna Kwan.To contact the reporters on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.net;Aaron Mc Nicholas in Hong Kong at amcnicholas2@bloomberg.net;Manuel Baigorri in Hong Kong at mbaigorri@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Stanley JamesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| How about a Bipartisan Treaty against the Criminalization of Elections? Posted: 28 Sep 2019 03:30 AM PDT  Back home in the Bronx is where I first heard the old saw about the Irishman who, coming upon a donnybrook at the local pub, asks a bystander: "Is this a private fight or can anybody join?"I was a much younger fellow then. The prospect becomes less alluring with age, so I have some trepidation stepping in between two old friends, Andrew Napolitano and Joe DiGenova. Through intermediary hosts, the pair -- Napolitano a former New Jersey Superior Court jurist and law professor, DiGenova a former United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and prominent defense lawyer -- brawled this week on Fox News (where I, like they, contribute regularly).I'm going to steer clear of the pugnacious to-ing and fro-ing. Let's consider the intriguing legal issue that ignited it.Judge Napolitano argues that the July 25 conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky contains the makings of a campaign-finance crime. He highlights Trump's request for Ukraine's help in investigating then–vice president Joe Biden. In 2016, Biden pressured Kyiv to drop a corruption investigation of Burisma, a natural gas company that paid Biden's son, Hunter, big bucks to sit on its board.Biden, of course, is one of the favorites for the Democratic presidential nomination. Napolitano reasons that the information Trump sought from Ukraine would be a form of "opposition research" that could be seen as an in-kind donation to Trump's reelection campaign, which should be deemed illegal because the law prohibits foreign contributions and attempts to acquire them. (Napolitano also raised the "arguable" possibility of a bribery offense, on the theory that Trump was withholding defense aid as a corrupt quid pro quo to get the Biden information. But he emphasized the foreign contribution issue. That is his stronger argument, and I am focusing on it, given that the Trump-Zelensky transcript does not support a quid pro quo demand; plus bribery, in any event, raises the same "thing of value" proof problems addressed below.)DiGenova strongly disagrees. Though there wasn't much time to elaborate, he is clearly relying on the lack of past campaign-law prosecutions on similar facts. DiGenova is also voicing the prudent conservative hostility to campaign-finance laws: Any expansion of criminal liability would necessarily restrict political speech, the core of First Amendment liberty.I'm with DiGenova on this, but it's a closer question than he suggests. Napolitano's construction of the campaign laws, while not wholly implausible, is purely academic. It ignores real-world concerns about free speech and the prosecutor's burden to prove intent.Most of the commentary on this has been very politicized (surprise!). For dyed-in-the-wool anti-Trumpers, no technicality is too trifling to be a felony. For the Trump base, it's all a witch hunt. In light of this, the most helpful source we can turn to is the Mueller Report. (File in: Sentences I'd Have Bet My Life I'd Never Write.)Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team overflowed with partisan Democrats, and their report could have been entitled "Roadmap to Impeachment." While they faced complications (that I've addressed) in making a case against the president, the prosecutors were not inhibited when it came to other subjects of the investigation. They'd have loved to nail Donald Trump Jr. But the only thing they had was the notorious Trump Tower Meeting of June 2016, when Don Jr. orchestrated a meeting with a Kremlin-tied lawyer (Natalya Veselnitskaya) in an effort to obtain Russian dirt to be used against Hillary Clinton. Veselnitskaya supplied information, but it was a dud.The campaign-finance offense that Napolitano urges be charged against President Trump appears to be the same one Mueller considered charging against Don Jr. The Mueller team's analysis (Vol. 1, pp. 186-187) is thus on point. And it is frustratingly ambiguous -- as befits the constitutionally dubious campaign-finance laws.Two offense elements proved to be stumbling blocks for the prosecutors. The first is the question whether opposition research is a "thing of value" under federal law. Mueller's team assumed that, in theory, it might be (the Napolitano view), but that to interpret it as such would break new ground and raise troubling First Amendment issues (the DiGenova position).The second problem was the intent element. As I've observed before, regulatory crimes are not innately wrong (in contrast to, say, murder or robbery). They are illegal only because we choose to make them illegal (for you Latinists out there, they are malum prohibitum). Because the conduct is not wrong in itself (malum in se), the law requires a higher degree of malevolent intent before it can be criminalized. Prosecutors must prove willfulness, which very nearly reverses the adage that "ignorance of the law is no excuse." The defendant must be shown to have known that his intentional conduct was illegal -- not merely unsavory but actually prohibited by law. The Mueller team concluded that they could not have hoped to prove willfulness beyond a reasonable doubt.So, while there might be some conceivable scenario in which acquiring information from a foreign source for use in a campaign could be a federal crime, it is highly unlikely -- so unlikely that some Type A prosecutors wisely decided that the huzzahs they'd have gotten for indicting the president's son were outweighed by the humiliation they'd endure when the case inevitably got thrown out of court.The Mueller report is also worth considering because the campaign-finance charge the prosecutors rejected is stronger than would be any similar charge against President Trump arising out of the Zelensky call. That, no doubt, is why the Justice Department summarily declined prosecution.To hear the media-Democrat complex tell it, DOJ declined because it is beholden to the president and Attorney General Barr is acting as Trump's lawyer, not the government's chief prosecutor. No one who actually took five minutes to read the relevant section of the Mueller Report would see it that way. Moreover, the fact that the president is president complicates matters not only politically but legally.Trump detractors hyper-focus on the president's request that President Zelensky provide Attorney General Barr with any information Ukraine might have about Biden twisting arms to quash an investigation involving his son's cashing in on dad's influence. I say "hyper-focus" because there was a lot more to it than that. Long before the conversation came around to the Biden topic, the "favor" that Trump asked for was Zelensky's assistance in Barr's ongoing investigation of the genesis of the Trump-Russia investigation.No matter how much Democrats seek to discredit that probe and the AG overseeing it, it is a legitimate investigation conducted by the United States Department of Justice, which has prosecutors assigned and grand jury subpoena power. It is examining questionable Justice Department and FBI conduct. It is considering whether irregularities rise to the level of crimes. It will be essential to Congress's consideration of whether laws need to be enacted or modified to insulate our election campaigns from politicized use of the government's counterintelligence and law-enforcement powers.I mention all this because it is a commonplace for the government to seek assistance from foreign counterparts for ongoing federal investigations.Indeed, as Marc Thiessen pointed out this week in an important Washington Post column, Democratic senators pressured Ukraine to cooperate with the Mueller probe -- notwithstanding the obvious potential electoral ramifications and the specter of "foreign interference in our democracy." These requests for assistance often occur at the head-of-state level. When I was a federal prosecutor in the mid-nineties, for example, the FBI and Justice Department asked President Clinton to intervene with Saudi authorities to assist the investigation of Iranian complicity in the Khobar Towers bombing.There is nothing wrong with our government's requesting the assistance of foreign governments that have access to witnesses and evidence relevant to an ongoing Justice Department investigation. The president is the democratically elected, constitutionally empowered chief executive: There is nothing his subordinates may properly do that he may not do himself (it is his power that they exercise). And the president is never conflicted out of executive branch business due to his political interests. There is no legal or ethical requirement that the Justice Department be denied potentially probative evidence because obtaining it might affect the president's political fortunes.There was no impropriety in President Trump's asking Ukraine's president to assist the Justice Department's investigation of Russiagate's origins. Okay, you say, but what does that have to do with Biden?Well, Biden was the Obama administration's point man in dealing with Kyiv after Viktor Yanukovych fled in 2014. That course of dealing came to include Obama administration agencies leaning on Ukraine to assist the FBI in the investigation of Paul Manafort, Trump's campaign chairman. So, Biden's interaction with Ukraine is germane: The fact that he had sufficient influence to coerce the firing of a prosecutor; the fact that, while Biden was strongly influencing international economic aid for Kyiv, a significant Ukrainian energy company thought it expedient to bring Biden's son onto its board and compensate him lavishly -- although Hunter Biden had no experience in the industry.That aside, I do not understand why there has not been more public discussion of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in light of the instances of Hunter Biden conveniently cashing in with foreign firms while his dad was shaping American policy toward those firm's governments. As we saw with the collusion caper, it does not take much evidence of any crime for the FBI and the Justice Department to open an investigation and scorch the earth in conducting it. And if it would have been legit for the Justice Department to open an FCPA investigation of one or both of the Bidens, then it was appropriate for President Trump to ask President Zelensky to help the Justice Department determine if an FCPA crime took place – even if doing so could have affected the 2020 fortunes of Biden and Trump.Don't get me wrong: I am not rooting for Joe Biden or his son to be subjected to investigation and prosecution. I agree with Attorney General Barr that there has been too much politicization of law enforcement and intelligence. In the absence of a concrete, patent, and serious violation of the criminal law, I want the Justice Department and the FBI out of politics – which would be better for them and for politics. If you think there is an indecorous heavy-handedness to the way Donald Trump and Joe Biden conduct foreign policy, that's fine – go vote against them on Election Day. We don't need creative prosecutors deciding elections by testing the boundaries of abstruse statutes.Neither, however, do I believe in unilateral disarmament. There is at least as much basis for opening an FCPA investigation against the Bidens as for opening campaign-finance investigations against the Trumps. If I had my druthers, all of this nonsense would end. But as I detailed earlier this week, we have one candidate for the presidency -- a once-serious legal scholar and practitioner -- who publicly and straight-faced says Trump's call with Zelensky could rate the death penalty. As we saw in the late 1990s, when Bill Clinton got to experience the independent-counsel statute up close and personal, maybe it takes Democrats being hoisted on their own petard before we finally say: This has to stop.
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| U.S. Marines Say a Moment's Confusion Caused the Fatal 2018 Air Collision Posted: 29 Sep 2019 02:09 PM PDT  The report also described the squadron as having "a command climate of general unprofessionalism and misconduct."
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| Two people killed after Mexico theme park crash Posted: 29 Sep 2019 01:09 PM PDT  At least two people have died after a speeding roller coaster car flipped over midride at a Mexican amusement park. When the last car on the ride derailed at La Feria theme park, two men 18 and 21 years old died from head injuries and other wounds, according to officials.
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| China Celebrates an Anniversary of a “People’s Democratic Dictatorship” Posted: 28 Sep 2019 08:30 PM PDT  A terrible regime.
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| Saudi Arabia to enforce 'decency' amid tourism push Posted: 28 Sep 2019 10:56 AM PDT  Saudi Arabia on Saturday said it would impose fines for violations of "public decency", including immodest clothing and public displays of affection, a day after the austere kingdom opened up to foreign tourists. The interior ministry said it had identified 19 such "offences" but did not specify the penalties, as the ultra-conservative Islamic country begins issuing tourist visas for the first time as part of a push to diversify its oil-reliant economy. "The new regulations require men and women to dress modestly and to refrain from public displays of affection.
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| Trailblazing Texas deputy who was first local Sikh officer 'ruthlessly' killed during traffic stop Posted: 28 Sep 2019 12:07 PM PDT  Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, the county's first Sikh officer, was killed Friday during a traffic stop near Houston. Police have arrested Robert Solis.
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| Protesters take to streets in Mexico to demand safe and legal abortions Posted: 29 Sep 2019 03:33 AM PDT  Mexican activists took to the streets in large cities to demand safe and legal abortions, many wearing green bandannas that have become a symbol with the abortion rights movement in Latin America.
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| Moroccan king ill, forced to miss Chirac funeral service Posted: 29 Sep 2019 12:07 PM PDT  Doctors have advised Morocco's King Mohammed VI to rest for several days to recover from a viral lung infection that forced him to miss a remembrance ceremony in Paris for France's late president Jacques Chirac, the palace said on Sunday. In a rare statement on the health of the 56-year-old monarch, who last year underwent heart surgery, the palace said Mohammed had been unable to attend the commemoration event for Chirac, who died last week aged 86. Chirac served as French president from 1995 to 2005.
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| Senate Has No Way to Sidestep an Impeachment Inquiry, Aide Says Posted: 29 Sep 2019 09:47 AM PDT ![Senate Has No Way to Sidestep an Impeachment Inquiry, Aide Says]( "Senate Has No Way to Sidestep an Impeachment Inquiry, Aide Says") (Bloomberg) -- There's no way the U.S. Senate can avoid receiving articles of impeachment on President Donald Trump if the House of Representatives votes in favor of formal charges, according to a Republican Senate leadership aide.Under U.S. law, the House's role is to consider articles of impeachment against an individual -- in this case, the president. If approved, the Senate then considers whether to remove that person from office.The aide laid out guidance on what may happen in the Senate, saying the GOP-led body and its leader, Senator Mitch McConnell, can't simply ignore the outcome in the House, where Democrats hold the majority, and take no action -- as some recent reports by the Washington Post and Politico have implied.The rules of impeachment are clear on that point, the aide said, and questions have been asked and answered in the past. The aide cited a 1986 memo from then-Parliamentarian Robert Dove to then-Secretary for the Majority Howard Greene.In that memo, Dove wrote that "both the rules and the precedents argue for a rapid disposition of any impeachment trial in the United States Senate."The House "must immediately be informed that the Senate is ready to receive the managers 'whensoever the Senate shall receive notice' of an impeachment," Dove wrote.Precedent SetThe Senate's impeachment trial, he wrote, must begin at 1 p.m. each day, except for Sundays, and continue until a final judgment is rendered.An earlier precedent to refer the question of impeachment to committee, as was done in the case of President Andrew Johnson in 1868, was nullified by the adoption of specific Senate rules on the matter. It would take a two-thirds vote to suspend those rules.Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set House Democrats on a course toward the impeachment of Trump. The case centers on an allegation that Trump improperly solicited the help of a foreign leader -- the president of Ukraine -- to investigate a political rival, Democrat Joe Biden.Pelosi was asked Saturday if McConnell had the ability to "Merrick Garland this deal," a reference to the Senate leader's decision not to consider the President Barack Obama's nominee to the Supreme Court in 2016, under the guise of waiting for the next election."Oh, he could. He could," Pelosi said during a question-and-answer session at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin. "But I think he said he is going to have a hearing."To contact the reporter on this story: Ros Krasny in Washington at rkrasny1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, James LuddenFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A vital Boeing 737 Next Gen part that attaches the plane's body to its wings is having a 'cracking issue' (BA) Posted: 29 Sep 2019 07:49 AM PDT  The FAA ordered inspections of a Boeing 737 model after the company found a "cracking issue" in a crucial part that attaches the body to its wings.
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| Like many Americans, my divorce destroyed my mental health and nearly drove me to suicide Posted: 29 Sep 2019 05:38 AM PDT ![Like many Americans, my divorce destroyed my mental health and nearly drove me to suicide]( "Like many Americans, my divorce destroyed my mental health and nearly drove me to suicide") During my long divorce, I was pressed by a fear: If the relationship with my husband could dissolve, what about the relationship with my children?
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| Winterlike storm unleashing feet of snow, life-threatening conditions in northwestern US Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:04 AM PDT  See a photos recap of the snowstorm by clicking here. * * *Snow will continue to pile up and roadways will remain treacherous for travel as a storm unleashes an early winter blast in the northwestern United States through Sunday.Winter weather advisories, winter storm warnings and/or high wind warnings were in effect for all five states in the northwestern United States as the snowstorm began to take shape on Saturday.Forecasters warned that the early wintry blast could be "historic" for the Northwest and southern Canada due to the combination of heavy wet snow, strong winds and bitter cold expected. A look at the snow continuing to fall across the Northwest on Sunday morning. Those in the high country and intermediate elevations will be at risk of becoming stranded and could be in a life-threatening situation during and after the storm, with below-freezing temperatures predicted.Glacier National Park in Montana announced road closures ahead of the storm. While St. Mary Campground remains open, "camping not advised" signs have been put in place.> 740AM: This photo was taken from the @MontanaDES Central District Field Officer ~7:30am near Browning on Hwy 2 with up to a foot of snow on the road. If you are caught outdoors or become stranded while traveling, this could become a life threatening situation. mtwx pic.twitter.com/HPoZm1V1JI> > -- NWS Great Falls (@NWSGreatFalls) September 28, 2019Travel is not advised during the storm with snow likely along stretches of Canada Highway 1 and interstates 15 and 94. Anyone who does venture out may be at risk of becoming stranded. If you must travel, make sure you have a fully charged cellphone, blankets and an emergency kit in your vehicle.Very difficult driving conditions were occurring on I-15 north of Great Falls, Montana, early Saturday morning, with snow-covered roads and blowing snow, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).Road closures are possible due to the poor driving conditions, as well as the potential for strong winds to topple trees over the roadways."Stay home. Stay safe. Don't do anything silly," public information officer for the City of Butte-Silver Bow, Jason Parish, told AccuWeather ahead of the storm. At times, the combination of wind and snow will make for very low visibility that can approach blizzard conditions, including in Glacier National Park.Winds are forecast to frequent 20-40 mph (32-64 km/h) with gusts up to 60 mph (97 km/h) possible over the mountains and through the passes.The combination of the strong winds and heavy, wet nature of the snow is threatening to bring down trees and power lines. Trees were already beginning to feel the weight of the snow early Saturday morning in Montana."It's a very big concern here; we're just beginning to turn our colors, so trees are fully loaded with foliage here," LeeAnn Allegretto, a meteorologist with the NWS in Missoula, told AccuWeather. "Snow will have a huge impact and will likely cause downed trees and potentially plenty of damage/power outages." Residents who are left in the dark will face subfreezing temperatures with AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures approaching zero F in some areas. These bitterly cold conditions are expected to last for days after the storm.The heaviest amount of snow, 2-3 feet (60-91 cm), with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 65 inches (122 cm) is forecast along the east-facing slopes of the Sawtooth, Flathead and Lewis and Clark ranges in Montana.However, a general 1-2 feet (30-60 cm) of snow will fall over the mountains with anywhere from a bit of slush to several inches of snow at low elevations. This includes some of the valley floors in central and eastern Montana and British Columbia and the High Plains and Prairies of Alberta and Saskatchewan.By Saturday afternoon, local time, snowfall in Browning, Montana, nearly reached 2 feet, measuring 23 inches. Up to a foot of snow (30 cm) is forecast to fall on parts of Yellowstone National Park in northwestern Wyoming and south-central Montana.In Missoula, Montana, this event could turn out to be the greatest one-day September snowfall since 1934 when 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) fell. AccuWeather meteorologists are predicting 1-3 inches (3-8 cm) to fall on the city.Several inches can also blanket portions of the Cascades, Bitterroots, and Blue Mountains.The vast area of fresh snowcover will set the stage for record-challenging low temperatures early this week. Temperatures are likely to dip into the single digits over the high country and the teens and 20s F over the intermediate elevations, to near or just below freezing over the High Plains and Prairies during Sunday night, Monday night and perhaps Tuesday night.Meanwhile, drenching showers and locally gusty thunderstorms will pivot to the southeast of the snowstorm over parts of the Great Basin, central Plains and Upper Midwest into Monday.
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| Surprise! A U.S. F-22 Stealth Raptor 'Flew Under' Iran's F-4 Fighter Posted: 28 Sep 2019 05:43 AM PDT  Never had a chance.
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| Three more elephants killed in Sri Lanka, bringing toll to seven Posted: 28 Sep 2019 06:45 AM PDT  Wildlife officials found three more dead wild elephants in central Sri Lanka Saturday, raising the number believed to have been poisoned by angry villagers to seven. The animals were found at a forest reserve near Sigiriya, a fifth-century rock fortress and UNESCO-protected heritage site, police said. "Since Friday, we have found the remains of seven cow elephants, including a tusker," police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.
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| Princeton graduate got 30 years to life for murdering father after his allowance was cut Posted: 28 Sep 2019 08:12 AM PDT  Shelley Gilbert asked the judge for "as light a sentence as possible" so her son could receive treatment for a variety of his mental health struggles.
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| China ‘poised to unveil new nuclear missile’ at military parade in warning to Trump Posted: 29 Sep 2019 12:38 AM PDT  A parade by China's secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade marking the ruling Communist Party's 70th anniversary in power.
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| UPDATE 4-Fire at Saudi high-speed train station injures at least five Posted: 29 Sep 2019 04:53 AM PDT ![UPDATE 4-Fire at Saudi high-speed train station injures at least five]( "UPDATE 4-Fire at Saudi high-speed train station injures at least five") A fire broke out in the Haramain high-speed rail station in Saudi Arabia's coastal city of Jeddah, injuring at least five people, authorities said on Sunday. The fire, which caused plumes of black smoke to rise from the roof of the station after fire erupted at 12:35 p.m. (0935 GMT), was brought under control about 12 hours later, the civil defence service said. The 450-km (280-mile) Haramain Railway linking the two holiest cities in Islam, Mecca and Medina, with the Red Sea city of Jeddah, was opened in 2018 and cost 6.7 billion euros ($7.3 billion).
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| Saturday Night Live Returns With Trump Seeking Impeachment Advice From Rudy Giuliani, Kim Jong Un and More Posted: 29 Sep 2019 07:40 AM PDT  Alec Baldwin's Trump also talks to Kanye West, AG William Barr and Mike Pence
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| The 50 most miserable cities in America Posted: 28 Sep 2019 07:00 AM PDT  Based on US census data, we've ranked the most miserable cities across the country. Here are the 50 most miserable.
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| Thousands rally in Moscow to demand release of jailed protesters Posted: 29 Sep 2019 03:33 AM PDT  More than 20,000 Russians took to the streets of Moscow on Sunday to demand the release of protesters jailed over the summer in what opponents of the Kremlin say is a campaign to stifle dissent. The protesters were arrested at rallies that flared in July when opposition politicians were barred from a local election. Allegations of police brutality and what many Muscovites saw as harsh jail sentences have sparked an unusual public outcry.
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| Man yelling over Puerto Rican flag shirt convicted of hate crimes Posted: 28 Sep 2019 11:56 AM PDT  A Chicago man who was seen last year in a viral video berating a woman in a city park for wearing a T-shirt with the Puerto Rican flag was convicted this week of two felony hate crime charges.
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