| Hillary Clinton says evidence for impeachment inquiry is 'dramatic and irrefutable' Posted: 01 Oct 2019 09:30 AM PDT  Hillary Clinton dismissed concerns that Democrats are overreaching in their impeachment inquiry into President Trump, calling the evidence at the center of the probe "dramatic and irrefutable."
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| PHOTOS: China marks 70 years of communism with massive show of force Posted: 02 Oct 2019 06:14 AM PDT  Soldiers of People's Liberation Army (PLA) are seen in front of a sign marking the 70th founding anniversary of People's Republic of China before a military parade on its National Day in Beijing, China October 1, 2019. (Photo: Thomas Peter/Reuters) China celebrated its growing power and confidence with a big display of military hardware and goose-stepping troops in Beijing on Tuesday, overseen by President Xi Jinping who pledged peaceful development on Communist China's 70th birthday. The event is the country's most important of the year as it looks to project its assurance in the face of mounting challenges, including nearly four months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong and an economy-sapping trade war with the United States. (Reuters) See more news-related photo galleries and follow us on Yahoo News Photo Twitter and Tumblr.
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| Meghan Markle stuns in Banana Republic trench dress while on royal tour Posted: 01 Oct 2019 07:52 AM PDT  Meghan Markle stepped out solo Tuesday morning on the second to last day of the royals' South African tour.
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| 10 Fat Bears and the Machines I Think They Kinda Look Like Posted: 02 Oct 2019 06:38 AM PDT |
| Australian teen 'deliberately' mowed down, killed 20 kangaroos Posted: 01 Oct 2019 07:33 PM PDT  An Australian teenager has been charged over the deaths of 20 kangaroos, which he allegedly mowed down with his truck in a killing spree that lasted an hour. The dead kangaroos, including two joeys, were found littered over roads in Tura Beach, 450 kilometres (280 miles) south of Sydney, on Sunday morning. Police said Wednesday the man, 19, had been arrested and charged with animal cruelty offences on Tuesday.
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| The ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus contains the building blocks of life, NASA data reveals Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:07 PM PDT  NASA data revealed the most basic ingredients of life in bursts from an ocean on Saturn's moon Enceladus.
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| Fast food drive-thrus: Which chains are the fastest and slowest? Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:09 PM PDT  Time spent in fast food drive-thrus was 20 seconds slower in 2019 than the year before, a new performance study suggests.
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| Democratic demands test Trump impeachment strategy Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:17 PM PDT  President Donald Trump is rapidly confronting a decision at the core of House Democrats' nascent impeachment inquiry: Should he comply with congressional demands and risk disclosure of embarrassing information? Or should he delay and possibly deepen his legal and political predicament? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff, the intelligence committee chairman, issued a blunt warning to the president Wednesday, threatening to make White House defiance of a congressional request for testimony and documents potential grounds for an article of impeachment.
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| U.S. urges restraint after North Korea fires ballistic missile Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:01 AM PDT ![U.S. urges restraint after North Korea fires ballistic missile]( "U.S. urges restraint after North Korea fires ballistic missile") The United States called on Pyongyang on Wednesday to "refrain from provocations" and remain committed to nuclear negotiations after North Korea fired a ballistic missile off its east coast. "We call on (North Korea) to refrain from provocations, abide by their obligations under U.N. Security Council Resolutions, and remain engaged in substantive and sustained negotiations to do their part to ensure peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and achieve denuclearization," a state department spokeswoman said in Rome. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is visiting Italy.
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| Warren gets ‘dramatic shift’ in support from black voters Posted: 02 Oct 2019 06:34 AM PDT  One element of Elizabeth Warren's surge in the polls is likely to strike fear in her top Democratic rivals — her rising support among African-Americans. After struggling to win over black voters in the early stages of the primary, the Massachusetts senator appears to be gaining ground with a demographic that will play a pivotal role in determining the nomination. A Quinnipiac University national poll last week showed Warren winning 19 percent of the African-American vote — a nine-point jump over the poll's August results.
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| Shipwrecked Colombians clung to cocaine bales Posted: 01 Oct 2019 01:46 PM PDT  Three suspected drug smugglers survived in shark-infested Pacific waters by clinging for hours to floating bales of cocaine, Colombia's navy said Tuesday. The three Colombians are suspected of smuggling 1.2 tons of cocaine from Tumaco in Colombia when their boat was hit by a wave Saturday and capsized, Captain Jorge Maldonado of Colombia's Task Force Against Drug Trafficking told AFP. "The coastguard arrived and these three people were floating on a material that by its characteristics resembled drugs," said Maldonado.
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| Police Drone Finds Fugitive Who's Been Living in a Cave for 17 Years Posted: 02 Oct 2019 10:26 AM PDT  The man lived in the wilderness for the past 17 years.
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| US prosecutor says Honduran president took fortune in drug bribes Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:56 PM PDT  Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez took millions of dollars in bribes from drug lords including jailed Mexican kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, a US prosecutor said Wednesday at the opening of his brother's trial. The president's brother, Juan Antonio Hernandez -- a former Honduran congressman also known as Tony -- was arrested at a Miami airport in November 2018 for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, weapons offenses and making false statements. "The defendant was protected by the current president, who has received millions of dollars in bribes from drug traffickers like 'El Chapo' Guzman, who personally delivered one million dollars to the defendant for his brother," prosecutor Jason Richman said.
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| Before we put people on Mars, we should infect the planet with Earthly microbes, a group of scientists says Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:23 AM PDT  NASA seeks to prevent interplanetary contamination when exploring space. But some scientists argue we should be infecting Mars with Earth's microbes.
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| Boris Johnson to Suspend Parliament to Outline New Program Posted: 02 Oct 2019 10:46 AM PDT ![Boris Johnson to Suspend Parliament to Outline New Program]( "Boris Johnson to Suspend Parliament to Outline New Program") (Bloomberg) -- Follow @Brexit, sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, and tell us your Brexit story. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will suspend Parliament on Oct. 8 so that he can outline a new legislative program, two weeks after the country's highest court ruled that his previous attempt to stop parliament sitting was unlawful.But unlike that suspension, this one will only last six days, before Parliament returns Oct. 14 for a Queen's Speech. "The government will set out its plans for the NHS, schools, tackling crime, investing in infrastructure and building a strong economy," Johnson said in an emailed statement. "We will get Brexit done on Oct. 31 and continue delivering on these vital issues."Members of Parliament who want to tie Johnson's hands further on Brexit now have just three sitting days in order to do so before the suspension begins. Rebel Conservatives and opposition parties already teamed up last month to pass a law against the government's wishes compelling Johnson to seek to delay the divorce if he's unable to secure a deal acceptable to both the EU and Parliament by Oct. 19.The announcement comes just over a week after the Supreme Court declared Johnson's previous suspension -- which was supposed to last 5 weeks -- "unlawful," saying that "no justification for taking action with such an extreme effect" had been given to the court. A four- to six-day suspension is the norm before a Queen's speech, the court ruled.To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert HuttonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'This is not a day for celebration': GOP lawmakers split with Trump on China's 70th anniversary Posted: 01 Oct 2019 02:51 PM PDT  "This is not a day for celebration. Rather, it is an opportunity to remember the victims, past and present, of the (CCP)," wrote two GOP lawmakers.
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| North Korea says successfully tested new submarine-launched ballistic missile Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:21 PM PDT  North Korea said on Thursday it had successfully test-fired a new submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) from sea to contain external threats and bolster self-defense, ahead of fresh nuclear talks with the United States. The launch on Wednesday was the most provocative by North Korea since it resumed dialogue with the United States in 2018 and a reminder by Pyongyang of the weapons capability it had been aggressively developing, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, analysts said. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un "sent warm congratulations" to the defense scientists who conducted the test, state news agency KCNA said, indicating he did not attend the launch as he had done previously at tests of new weapons systems.
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| Lawyer: Uber driver killed passenger in self-defense Posted: 01 Oct 2019 04:36 PM PDT  An Uber driver charged with first-degree murder in the death of a passenger shot the man in self-defense after he touched, punched and pulled his hair as he was speeding down an interstate, his lawyer told jurors Tuesday. In opening arguments in Michael Hancock's trial, Johnna Stuart said Hancock asked a driver who stopped to help to call 911 and then urged a dispatcher to send help to save Hyun (Huhn) Kim, 45, after shooting him on Interstate 25 in June 2018.
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| A Virginia teacher is suing his school district after he was fired for refusing to use a trans student's pronouns, arguing that doing so would have been 'telling a lie' Posted: 02 Oct 2019 04:02 PM PDT  A teacher alleged that the school tried to force him to "express an objective biological falsehood" by urging him to use the student's male pronouns.
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| Trump berates reporter, refuses to answer question about Ukraine and Biden Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:55 PM PDT  At a press conference with the president of Finland, President Trump berated Reuters reporter Jeff Mason and refused to answer a question about what he wanted the Ukrainian president to do regarding former Vice President Joe Biden.
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| White US ex-cop gets 10 years in prison for killing black neighbor Posted: 02 Oct 2019 05:08 PM PDT  A former Texas police officer was sentenced to 10 years in prison Wednesday for murdering her neighbor in 2018 when she shot him after entering the wrong apartment while off duty. The Dallas jury could have handed down a sentence between five and 99 years to Amber Guyger, 31, for killing 26-year-old Botham Jean, who worked for an accounting firm. Guyger, who is white, had claimed she thought Jean, who was black, was an intruder in her own apartment.
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| Mouse falls from White House ceiling into man's lap Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:19 AM PDT  Reporters got a surprise when a mouse fell from the ceiling at the White House.The rodent fell onto the lap of NBC News White House correspondent Peter Alexander yesterday morning, before eventually seeking refuge amid a tangle of wires behind a shelf.
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| One Nation May Have No Choice But to Buy the F-35 Stealth Fighter Posted: 01 Oct 2019 06:47 AM PDT  Canada may simply have no choice. Here's why.
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| More than 132,000 Sephardi Jews apply for Spanish citizenship as deadline expires Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:34 AM PDT  More than 132,000 Jews have applied for Spanish citizenship since the government offered residence to relatives of those expelled during the Inquisition more than 500 years ago. The deadline has now passed for Sephardi Jews - hailing from the Iberian peninsula - to claim rights to citizenship after the window for applications closed. Most have applied from South America. But in Britain the rules have created an unexpected opportunity for some members of the Jewish community to avoid the impact of Brexit by gaining a European passport. The total number of Jews applying to return is not far off the estimated 200,000 who are thought to have fled in the 1490 after facing the option of converting to Catholicism or being burned at the stake. The initiative in Spain has been coupled by a similar offer by the Portuguese government to atone for the persecution of Jews. Meanwhile in Austria last month the parliament ratified a law extending citizenship to descendants of Nazi victims who fled during and after Hitler's Third Reich. Figures from Spain's justice ministry show that by the end of August, one month before the September 30 deadline, 117 British Jews had applied for Spanish citizenship under the scheme introduced in 2015. It remains unclear how many more British Jews have applied in the final rush to meet the Spanish deadline that saw 72,000 applications flood in last month alone, more than in the previous four years combined. "Most of them were from citizens in Latin American countries, mainly Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela," Spain's justice ministry said. But more than 420 British Sephardic Jews have been granted Portuguese passports under that country's citizenship initiative, also launched in 2015. In 1492 the Catholic monarchs of Spain, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, ordered the country's approximately 200,000 Jews to convert to Christianity under the aegis of the Inquisition. Unknown thousands opted for exile, some entering Portugal, which also imposed compulsory conversion or exile by the end of the 15th century. "It was a pragmatic decision," Londoner Adam Perry told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency of his decision to apply for Portuguese citizenship, adding that it was "also a form of protest action against Brexit, with which I deeply disagree". "The Spanish government's law helps Sephardic Jews to close a circle, healing a wound that was opened more than five centuries ago," Marcelo Benveniste told The Telegraph about his decision to apply in 2015. All four of Mr Benveniste's grandparents moved to Argentina from the Greek island of Rhodes, where they had continued to speak Ladino, a language also known as Judaeo-Spanish. Spain asks Sephardic Jews wishing to gain citizenship to show that they can speak Spanish, as well as proving their hereditary connections.
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| 'Pure insanity': Intelligence veterans are floored by Barr's 'off the books' overtures to foreign officials about the Russia probe Posted: 01 Oct 2019 07:41 AM PDT  "I have not heard of so much involvement by the attorney general in this sort of investigation," a former CIA lawyer said.
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| Yang Raises $10 Million in Third Quarter, Easily Outpacing Two Sitting U.S. Senators Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:02 PM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang raised $10 million over the last quarter, easily surpassing the $2.8 million he raised in the previous quarter, his campaign announced Wednesday.The entrepreneur's crowdfunding efforts, centered around his so-called Freedom Dividend, a universal basic income plan, matched recent rising poll numbers and outpaced both Senator Cory Booker's (D., N.J.) $6 million and Senator Michael Bennett's (D., Colo.) $2.1 million for the same period.The campaign reported that 99 percent of donations were under $200. To date, Yang has over 300,000 unique donors."This grassroots fundraising total, with $6m+ in the bank, ensures this campaign will have the funding to compete and outperform expectations through Super Tuesday and beyond," Yang campaign manager Zach Graumann told CNN.During the September Democratic debate, Yang made headlines when he announced a $120,000 giveaway to random families in an effort to promote his universal basic income proposal, which will offer $1,000 a month to every adult American in an effort to cushion job upheaval from increasing automation. In the three days after the debate, the stunt drew 450,000 entries and sparked $1 million in donations, the campaign told Politico.Yang's numbers also showed $2.4 million raised from merchandise purchases, as the candidates supporters, affectionately dubbed "Yang Gang," have swelled in numbers over recent weeks. Over the last ten days of the quarter, the campaign raised $2.3 million more than Booker raised in the same period.Yang celebrated the significant fundraising haul on Twitter."Other campaigns are plateauing or contracting while we are growing quickly. The excitement rises every day," he said. "Our rate of growth makes all things possible - including our winning the general election next year."
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| Former NC GOP head pleads guilty to lying in bribery case Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:15 AM PDT  The former chairman of North Carolina's Republican Party admitted Wednesday that he broke the law by lying to federal agents about his role in an alleged effort to bribe the state's top insurance regulator to help a major GOP donor. Robin Hayes, 74, pleaded guilty to making a false statement in August 2018 to FBI agents conducting the bribery investigation. Hayes, a former congressman, was initially also charged with conspiracy and bribery.
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| Will a wealth tax be crippled by avoidance schemes? Posted: 02 Oct 2019 02:55 AM PDT ![Will a wealth tax be crippled by avoidance schemes?]( "Will a wealth tax be crippled by avoidance schemes?") Wealth taxes are hot in American politics right now. Polling consistently finds that the idea of taxing the massive fortunes held by our richest citizens is broadly popular on a bipartisan basis. And the two most progressive candidates in the Democratic presidential primary -- Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) -- have dueling proposals to do just that.But wealth is a mercurial thing, and more difficult to measure than straight income. Critics contend that a wealth tax would be crippled by avoidance schemes the rich would cook up. As an idea, a wealth tax may fire people up. But would it actually work?I can't answer that question for you in a single column. But it's not just complicated because of the technicalities of tax evasion. It's hard for everyone to even agree on what a wealth tax "working" would mean.One of the arguments worth engaging with comes from Larry Summers, who's worked in previous Democratic administrations, and his co-author, Natasha Sarin, who point to the already-existing estate tax, which itself is a form of wealth tax. And revenue for the estate tax chronically comes it at much lower levels than you'd expect if you just ran the raw numbers on the tax rate and the amount of wealth it could hit. Summers and Sarin argue this is due to numerous evasion strategies: "questionable appraisals; valuation discounts for illiquidity and lack of control; establishment of trusts that enable division of assets among family members with substantial founder control; planning devices that give some income to charity while keeping the remainder for the donor and her beneficiaries; tax-advantaged lending schemes" to cite a few examples.As a crude intellectual exercise, they use the results of the estate tax to estimate Warren's wealth tax would only bring in one-eighth to three-eighths of the roughly $200 billion in annual revenue she calculates. They don't do this so much to claim their numbers are right, as to point out the enormous variances evasion can cause. (This same problem would also apply to Sanders' proposal, which is even more aggressive.)Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, the economists who consulted with Warren and ran her numbers, certainly aren't unaware of this criticism. They point out that the make-up of wealth among the very rich is different than among average citizens: 80 percent of the wealth held by the top 0.1 percent is in stocks, bonds and real estate, which are actually pretty easy to measure and value. Warren has committed to keeping the definitions and language of her tax bill as clean and simple as possible, so as to avoid creating loopholes. She wants to significantly bulk up the resources available to the IRS to police tax avoidance. And Warren wants her wealth tax to apply globally, so as to cut down on efforts by the wealthy to simply move their money overseas.More broadly and ambitiously, Saez and Zucman propose ideas like a global wealth registry, built on international cooperation, to track and police wealth holdings, and to enable a more coherent international taxation regime.The underlying challenge is that dealing with tax evasion boils down to political will, influence, and discipline. Over time, either your lawmakers allow lobbyists to blow loopholes in the tax code, or they don't; either they continue giving tax authorities the resources and funding they need to crack down on avoidance, or they don't; and so on. Critics of wealth taxes such as Summers are essentially invoking a skepticism that the necessary political will can ever be mustered, while champions of wealth taxes like Warren and Sanders think these proposals can be used to muster the political will where it once was lacking.Finally, to go one more layer down, mustering the political will to impose a wealth tax inherently involves combating the political leverage and influence that mass concentrations of wealth represent. The more a wealth tax is successful, presumably, the more political force can be mustered to preserve and protect it.This gets to one other complication: Is revenue really the best measure of whether a wealth tax is working?Most everyone both in favor of and opposed to wealth taxes assumes their purpose is to raise the money that will then pay for big spending programs. But the U.S. federal government is the source of all U.S. federal currency -- it can "print" as much money as it wants. "For the federal government, taxes are not about raising revenue, taxes are about reducing consumption to prevent inflation," as economist Dean Baker recently put it. And there's a critical distinction between how much money a tax brings in and how much aggregate consumption it affects in the economy: "Do we think this additional tax bill will reduce the number of times Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos goes out to dinner," Baker asked. "Will they take fewer vacations or buy fewer cars, planes, and yachts?" The effect on consumption won't be zero, but it will be far lower than the effect of the same amount of money taken out of a broader and less wealthy group of taxpayers.Essentially, a wealth tax wouldn't really be about financing government spending or holding down inflation. It'd be about changing the structure of the economy, and ownership in particular: Are companies owned by a small number of rich shareholders, or a bigger number of rich shareholders? Do politicians need to get donations from a small number of rich people, or a larger number of less rich people? Who gets to control decision-making in the economy, and how much power do they wield?If a rich person sells one set of financial instruments and buys another somewhere else to avoid a new wealth tax, that's not necessarily a problem. If that rich person sells off a factory or a business to move their money, that presents more of a quandary. But whether that sale is good or bad depends on what happens next: Is the business ended (Along with the jobs it represents?) or does it simply change ownership? Is it sold to a more socioeconomic diverse group of owners with different prerogatives? Given the right conditions and surrounding policy changes, could it be sold to the workers themselves? Those latter results would ultimately be better for American democracy.None of this is a slam dunk argument in favor of a wealth tax. For example: Baker is also skeptical of wealth taxes, because he fears they'll encourage more people to become lawyers and accountants in the tax evasion industry, when our society could make better use of their talents elsewhere.But to decide a wealth tax's worth, these are the questions we should be asking.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.
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| View Photos of the Nissan IMk Concept Posted: 01 Oct 2019 10:00 AM PDT |
| Dallas policewoman gets 10 years for murder; 'I forgive you,' victim's brother says Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Former Dallas police officer Amber Guyger was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Wednesday by a Texas jury that found her guilty of murder for walking into a neighbor's apartment thinking it was her own and shooting him as he ate ice cream. The jury came to its verdict in less than six hours on Tuesday, convicting Guyger, who is white, in the 2018 killing of Botham Jean, a 26-year-old black PwC accountant.
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| Outcry as Pakistan appoints new envoy to UN Posted: 01 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT  A decision by Pakistan to appoint a former diplomat as its ambassador to the United Nations has sparked criticism over his alleged involvement in a domestic violence dispute in 2002. Munir Akram "has been appointed as Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations in New York, in place of Dr. Maleeha Lodhi," the country's ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement late Monday. Akram served a previous stint in the post from 2002 to 2008.
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| DANGER AHEAD: China's Six Carrier Navy Is Just Around the Corner Posted: 01 Oct 2019 09:22 PM PDT  Will it tilt the balance against local U.S. forces?
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| Woman climbs into lion enclosure and taunts animal Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:14 AM PDT  A woman who climbed into a lion enclosure and taunted a large male lion at a zoo in New York put herself "in serious danger", the zoo has said.A video posted to Instagram shows the bemused-looking lion regarding the woman as she waves her hands and dances at it.
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| The son of a late Deutsche Bank executive who had a stash of secret bank records has spoken to investigators probing Trump Posted: 02 Oct 2019 04:02 AM PDT  Val Broeksmit has cooperated with FBI agents investigating Deutsche Bank after finding a trove of his late father's documents.
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| Stranded Asylum Seekers Ask Appeals Court to Let Them In Posted: 01 Oct 2019 12:32 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Central Americans seeking asylum in the U.S. said they've waited long enough in Mexico for their applications to be assessed under a Trump administration policy they call unlawful.On Tuesday, their advocates asked the federal appeals court in San Francisco to rule that the policy is illegal. Such a ruling would open the border gates to about 45,000 people, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.The three-judge panel didn't decide whether to uphold a judge's ruling to block the "forced return" policy, as the ACLU asked, but it expressed concern why the government doesn't ask immigrants whether they had any fears about being sent back to Mexico. It's standard practice for asylum seekers to be asked if they are fearful of returning to their home countries.The appeals court previously has allowed the policy to remain in effect during the litigation -- which the ACLU says is endangering the tens of thousands of people."Individuals returned to Mexico are sent to areas with some of the highest murder rates in the world," the ACLU said in a court filing. "They face extreme dangers -- killings, kidnappings, sexual assault, robbery, and other forms of violence -- from cartels, the gangs they fled their home countries to escape, corrupt government officials, and an anti-migrant sentiment."The lawsuit is one of the many fronts on which immigrant rights' advocates have been battling the administration's efforts to block entry to the swelling number of migrants from Central American countries.The government also is trying to stop people from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they didn't make such an application in another country on their way to the U.S. -- so a person from El Salvador should have applied for asylum in Guatemala, or Mexico, according to the U.S.In another case the appeals court heard Tuesday, the U.S. is seeking to overturn a judge's decision that found it was illegal to require asylum seekers to apply only at official border crossings.An appeals panel in December rejected the government's request to put the judge's ruling on hold while the case was tried. The panel said it was likely the rule was "arbitrary and capricious."The cases are: East Bay Sanctuary Covenant v. Trump, 18-17274, and Innovation Law Lab v. McAleenan, 19-15716, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth District (San Francisco).(Updates with hearing in second paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Edvard Pettersson in Los Angeles at epettersson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg, Steve StrothFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Judge upholds voter ID, strikes parts of 2017 voting law Posted: 01 Oct 2019 01:24 PM PDT  An Iowa judge has upheld voter ID as allowable under the Iowa Constitution but struck down as unconstitutional portions of a 2017 voting reform law challenged by a Hispanic civil rights group and an Iowa State University student. The law signed by former Gov. Terry Branstad requires voters to show certain forms of identification when voting at the polls, provide an identification number on absentee ballot applications and allows county auditors to reject ballots if they believe signatures don't appear to match a voter signature on record. The League of United Latin American Citizens of Iowa and ISU student Taylor Blair sued Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate in May 2018 challenging the law as unconstitutional saying it could lead to voter suppression and disenfranchise voters, especially Latinos who vote absentee in large numbers.
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| Man severely burned after falling into hot spring by Old Faithful in Yellowstone Posted: 01 Oct 2019 11:56 AM PDT  Walking off the boardwalks in Old Faithful is illegal, punishable by up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine. Siemers may face criminal charges.
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| Ukraine opens Chernobyl's infamous reactor four control room to tourists Posted: 01 Oct 2019 12:00 PM PDT  Ukraine has opened the control room of Chernobyl reactor four, the epicentre of the worst nuclear disaster in history, to the public as part of a tourist boom. It was in this room in April 1986 that Soviet engineers shut down cooling pumps as part of a test, causing an out-of-control reaction, explosion and fire that killed at least 54 people and exposed hundreds of thousands to harmful radiation. Now those brave or foolhardy enough to venture inside can catch a very brief glimpse of the place where this tragic history was made. An estimated 200 tonnes of radioactive fuel still remain in the increasingly unstable steel-and-concrete sarcophagus erected over reactor four by the accident "liquidators". Such is the fear of radiation leaks that a 355-foot, 36,000-tonne steel arch, the world's largest movable metal structure, was built and rolled over it in 2016 at a cost of £1.3 billion. What Chernobyl left behind: inside an abandoned city Human habitation is sharply curtailed within the 1,000-square-mile exclusion zone around the accident site. But thanks to a "green corridor" to streamline tourism announced by president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in July, fans of the Chernobyl HBO series can find a wide variety of tours. Previously, most visitors were only able to see the plant from the outside. For many the highlight was the crumbling flat blocks and ferris wheel of the nearby ghost town of Pripyat, whose 50,000 residents were abruptly evacuated. Last week, however, officials took journalists through the plant's kilometre-long corridor of gold-coloured aluminium and into the reactor four control room, which is located under the new containment arch but outside the old sarcophagus, to announce its opening as part of 21 new tourist routes. While much of the equipment was removed from the control room during an investigation after the accident, rusting panels with banks of buttons and displays can still be seen. A worker is scanned for radiation during the visit to the control room Credit: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA-EFE/REX The visit lasted only a few minutes to keep radiation exposure from reaching dangerous levels. Guests spent far more time donning respirators, helmets and protective clothing and going through scanners on the entrance and exit. Radiation levels vary widely but tend to concentrate in plants and soil. Inside the reactor four building, the biggest threat is radioactive dust. A visitor who accidentally wipes against something can get a large dose, according to maintenance workers, who spray chemicals to keep the dust down. While numbers had been increasing before the HBO programme, more than 87,000 people have already visited Chernobyl this year, compared to 72,000 last year. The government has been improving walking trails, checkpoints and mobile reception and recently approved river boat tours. Not everyone has welcomed the tourists, however. A rash of scantily clad selfies led to the producer of the HBO series to call on people to "comport yourselves with respect". Yaroslav Yemelianenko, director of the largest excursion company Chernobyl Tour, said if visitors stay on the guided route for the day, they are exposed to no more than 4 micro-sieverts, less radiation than in an hour on a transatlantic plane flight. Radioactive dust still lingers in the Chernobyl plant Credit: Sergey Dolzhenko/EPA-EFE/REX But doctor Yury Bandazhevsky, who has studied Chernobyl for decades, has opposed tourism to the exclusion zone as a needless risk of radiation exposure. Campfires in particular can release large amounts of dangerous particles, he warned. "Tourists can be both a victim and source of this danger," he said. On Monday, Kiev region police said they had arrested 323 "stalkers," as explorers of abandoned places are called after a popular video game, who bypassed exclusion zone checkpoints this year.
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| UAW rejects new GM offer as strike forces 6,000 Mexico layoffs Posted: 01 Oct 2019 11:58 AM PDT  The union said it made a counterproposal and warned "there are still many important issues that remain unresolved." Also on Tuesday, GM said the strike by U.S. workers forced it to halt production at its pickup and transmission plants in Silao, Mexico, resulting in temporary layoffs of 6,000 workers. About 48,000 UAW members went on strike on Sept. 16 seeking higher pay, greater job security, a bigger share of the leading U.S. automaker's profit and protection of healthcare benefits. The statements on "comprehensive proposals" indicate the talks have shifted into a higher gear as the dispute is taking a toll on both the automaker and striking UAW workers, whose $250 a week from the union strike fund is a fraction of their normal pay.
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| In Syria camp, uncertain future for foreign IS orphans Posted: 01 Oct 2019 07:04 PM PDT  Sitting in a wheelchair beside a metal fence in a camp in northern Syria, nine-year-old Ruqaya Mohammad raises a scarf over her face to hide from journalists. The Egyptian girl lost her left eye, her legs and both her parents during battles against the Islamic State group in their last Syria redoubt in March. Aged 18 months to 13-years-old, the children were born to parents from Russia, Uzbekistan, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Egypt and Iraq.
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| China's Air Force Has One Flaw It Could Never Fix (Until Now) Posted: 01 Oct 2019 08:05 PM PDT  Making quality jet engines.
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| See Photos of the 2020 BMW 840i Gran Coupe Posted: 02 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT |
| Trump ally suing reporter for $75m over claims of undocumented workers on his family’s farm Posted: 01 Oct 2019 07:01 AM PDT  A top ally of Donald Trump has sued a journalist for $75m (£61.3m) in damages for alleging his family's farm partially relied on undocumented workers.Devin Nunes, a California representative and former dairy farmer, filed the lawsuit in federal court against Hearst Magazines, the publisher of Esquire, and reporter Ryan Lizza.
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| Blackstone Is Warned Denmark Will Act on High Apartment Rents Posted: 02 Oct 2019 03:50 AM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- Denmark's new left-wing government pledged tough laws to control housing costs and singled out Blackstone Group Inc. for "unsustainable" rental practices.Kaare Dybvad, the Danish housing minister, said Blackstone is "challenging" local legislation "where there are holes." By taking advantage of those holes, the concern is that properties are being bought up and then rented out at prices that Danes are finding increasingly difficult to afford.Speaking in an interview in Copenhagen on Tuesday, Dybvad said that "it's clear we need to do something about this.""We're not going to legislate around an individual firm, but the way this has been going so far isn't sustainable," he said. "If Blackstone chooses to conduct itself in a different way in Denmark, in a more sustainable way here than in many other places in the world, then it's clear that they're allowed to be here on the same terms as others."Dybvad said the Social Democrat government that has ruled Denmark since June will now start formulating stricter laws to address the concerns. He has previously criticized Blackstone for "driving up prices in the Copenhagen rental market" and making it harder for low-income earners to remain in the city.The housing minister laid out his plans as Denmark's parliament met for its first session since the summer break. As the chamber reconvened, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen took the opportunity to lash out at what she described as corporate greed.The 41-year-old became Denmark's youngest ever head of government this year after promising a more equal society with increased spending on welfare. Her government's budget proposal means that Denmark will need to raise its borrowing requirement for next year by about $2.3 billion, the finance ministry estimates.Frederiksen also used her speech to lawmakers to zero in on the housing market. "An American private-equity fund is purchasing our houses," she said. And she touched on the list of financial scandals that have angered Danish voters in recent years. "Does greed know no boundaries? Apparently not," she said.Blackstone has said it's a long-term investor in the Danish market, and that it complies with all regulations. Jean Ahlefeldt-Laurvig, a spokeswoman for Blackstone-owned 360 North Property Management, said in August that "the under-supply of rental housing in Copenhagen needs to be addressed, which is why we are bringing additional units to market, while continuing to invest capital into the properties, improving sustainability and contributing to the local economy.""We intend to own these properties for decades and will ensure that they are operated to the highest standard," Ahlefeldt-Laurvig said back then. "We have always operated within the existing regulatory framework, which is one in which all leases are and will remain indefinite for the existing tenants."(Adds reference to borrowing requirement.)\--With assistance from Frances Schwartzkopff and Nick Rigillo.To contact the reporter on this story: Morten Buttler in Copenhagen at mbuttler@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net;Paul Sillitoe at psillitoe@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Netanyahu’s legal saga reaches critical stage in Israel Posted: 02 Oct 2019 12:15 AM PDT  Prosecutors began a pre-indictment hearing for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, opening a critical stage in a lengthy legal saga that threatens to end the career of the long-serving Israeli leader and has paralyzed the country's political system. If formal charges are filed, Netanyahu, who denies any wrongdoing, could come under heavy pressure to step down. Mandelblit already has recommended that Netanyahu be indicted on fraud, breach of trust and bribery charges in three cases.
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| Fairfax County, Va., cop suspended for turning individual over to ICE Posted: 02 Oct 2019 01:14 PM PDT  The Fairfax County, Va., Police Department has suspended an officer for detaining and turning the driver in an accident over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Saturday in violation of the department's policy not to assist ICE with civil enforcement.
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| Trump's foreign policy is for sale. That threatens our national security Posted: 02 Oct 2019 03:00 AM PDT  The president's efforts to govern in his own self-interest will undermine the world's faith in our commitments'Trump will use the full power of the United States to compel countries to do his dirty work.' Photograph: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Ukraine scandal is not only undermining American democracy – it's damaging national security. US foreign policy increasingly looks like that of a mafia state, wielded at the behest of, and for the benefit of, one man's personal interests, and for sale to the highest bidders. This is devastating America's role in the world.Trump led an effort – along with other government officials and the president's personal lawyer – to use the power of the United States to pressure the government of Ukraine to fabricate smears about one of Trump's domestic political opponents. As the White House admitted in a transcript of Trump's 25 July call with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump asked Zelenskiy for a "favor" – to look into the former vice-president Joe Biden and his son – and said that the US attorney general, Bill Barr, and Trump's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, would help.At the same time, Trump withheld military assistance to Ukraine – which is fighting a war with Russia – on a timeline that makes it clear that it was part of an attempt to use taxpayer dollars as leverage to get Ukraine to do Trump's personal bidding.> The US under Trump could be treated like a powerful autocracy – a country that must be dealt with, but not trustedThis is confirmed by the whistleblower complaint from a member of the US intelligence community, who sums it all up: "The President of the United States is using the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country in the 2020 US election." The complaint also describes an effort by the White House to hide the president's conversation with Zelenskiy because officials knew how damning it was. And then, the White House and the Department of Justice intervened to prevent the complaint from making its way to Congress as the law requires.Many more facts are sure to follow, but the facts we already know are damning: Trump has been using the power of the presidency to extort a foreign government to help his own re-election chances. Trump's administration then tried to cover it up. And when it came out, Trump threatened the whistleblower with retaliation. All of this has fueled an impeachment inquiry.This kind of behavior, coming from the president of the United States, is shocking. But coming from Trump, it is hardly surprising.The former FBI director Robert Mueller documented in 448 pages of a Department of Justice report the extent to which Trump and his campaign worked to solicit, receive and coordinate assistance from Russia in the 2016 election, as well as the numerous attempts by Trump to obstruct that investigation.Trump refused to shed his private business interests before assuming office, meaning that as president he has faced numerous conflicts of interest. His family's financial dealings with countries ranging from China to Saudi Arabia raise suspicion about whose interests Trump is pursuing.'Now we are learning that Trump attempted to convince the Australian prime minister to help discredit the origins of the Mueller investigation.' Photograph: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty ImagesNow we are learning that Trump attempted to convince the Australian prime minister to help discredit the origins of the Mueller investigation – and the White House again recognized how explosive this was and hid the transcript of the conversation. It also appears that Barr is a lead player in conducting Trump's personal foreign policy, trying to get others, including the United Kingdom and Italy, to help discredit the Mueller investigation. That Trump and the top official in charge of enforcing US law would try to get some of America's closest allies and intelligence partners to help with Trump's own personal political agenda is deeply troubling.All of this makes clear (if it wasn't already clear) that Trump will use the full power of the United States to compel countries to do his dirty work. The reports of more hidden transcripts of presidential conversations – a practice that appears to extend at least to conversations with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Saudi Arabia's leader, Mohammed bin Salman – raise serious questions about what other US interests Trump has sacrificed for his own gain.The possibilities for Trump to undermine US interests are endless.If allies want the United States to uphold treaties, maybe Trump will demand cash payments – not to the United States, but to Trump himself.If countries want good trade terms, maybe Trump will require them to fabricate scandals about members of Congress who are investigating him. Perhaps China will sweeten the pot of a trade deal with more trademarks for Ivanka Trump's businesses or assistance in her father's re-election campaign. In fact, there is a report that Trump may have already attempted to ask China to look into the Biden family.At their next summit, the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, could offer to use North Korea's cyber-hacking capabilities to help Trump's campaign in exchange for sanctions relief.We're through the looking glass now. America's friends are perplexed, and the damage could be incalculable. Some countries may try to placate Trump because the United States is indeed powerful and they are scared that the US mob-boss-in-chief might break their legs. But they will hate us, look for other options, and ditch us at the first opportunity.Our closest allies will reject us. No matter how important the US alliance is for these countries, the current scandal will force them to distance themselves even further from the United States. Intelligence cooperation could slow because allies know Trump is abusing those channels. No one will have faith in US commitments because they fear that Trump will sell them out for personal gain. The United States under Trump could be treated like a powerful autocracy – a country that must be dealt with, but not trusted, and always hedged against.Trump must be held to account for the sake of national security.
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