| Trump orders Turkey sanctions; US scrambles for Syria exit Posted: 14 Oct 2019 05:13 PM PDT  Targeting Turkey's economy, President Donald Trump announced sanctions Monday aimed at restraining the Turks' assault against Kurdish fighters and civilians in Syria — an assault Turkey began after Trump announced he was moving U.S. troops out of the way. The United States also called on Turkey to stop the invasion and declare a ceasefire, and Trump is sending Vice President Mike Pence and national security adviser Robert O'Brien to Ankara as soon as possible in an attempt to begin negotiations.
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| British paedophile who operated in Malaysia, Cambodia found dead in prison Posted: 14 Oct 2019 05:29 AM PDT  One of Britain's most prolific child sex offenders, Richard Huckle, has died three years into a life sentence for abusing Malaysian and Cambodian children, Britain's Ministry of Justice said on Monday, with media saying he had been stabbed to death. Huckle, 33, who abused children and babies during a nine year period, was sentenced to life in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to 71 offences. Dubbed the country's worst paedophile by Britain's media, he was found stabbed to death in prison on Sunday after being attacked with a makeshift knife, the BBC reported.
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| 'It's got to stop': Superintendent condemns teacher's racist rant in school parking lot Posted: 14 Oct 2019 07:19 AM PDT  A teacher at Drexel Hill Middle School in Pennsylvania has been placed on administrative leave after she used racial slurs in a viral Facebook video.
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| View Photos of Our Sports Sedan Battle Between the Dodge Charger and Kia Stinger GT Posted: 14 Oct 2019 04:59 AM PDT |
| Climate change researchers recommend banning all frequent flyer reward programs to cut carbon emissions by targeting jet-setters Posted: 14 Oct 2019 04:20 AM PDT  A report commissioned by the Committee on Climate Change says that just 15% of the entire British population take 70% of all flights from the country.
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| Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump Posted: 14 Oct 2019 09:59 AM PDT  As of three weeks ago, a majority of Americans, 51.1 percent, on average, opposed impeaching President Trump, with only 40 percent supporting it. But the results came before the Ukraine scandal snowballed. As of today, opposition to impeachment has plummeted 7 percentage points (to 44 percent) and support has climbed nearly 10 points (to 49.8 percent), according to FiveThirtyEight's preliminary polling tracker.
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| Anthony Scaramucci is desperately trying to recruit Mitt Romney for a 2020 run Posted: 14 Oct 2019 09:02 AM PDT  Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is running for president again -- at least in Anthony Scaramucci's dreams.The famously short-lived White House communications director has since turned on the president who appointed him, and has publicly said he's trying to knock President Trump off the 2020 ticket. Now, it seems Scaramucci has decided on his dream candidate, and has launched a website and line of T-shirts to persuade him to run.Scaramucci started making his support for Romney known earlier this month, tweeting a poll that showed the 2012 GOP nominee beating the presumptive 2020 nominee in a hypothetical primary. He then revealed last week he'd launched Mitt2020.org, and on Sunday night, showed off that the site was offering "commit to Mitt" campaign T-shirts. They are being sold at $20.20 each to "test demand," and so far Scaramucci has seen an "overwhelming" response, he told ABC News.> You may be proud of your "Where's Hunter?" T-shirt...but we're really proud of ours...You see, we know where Mitt is...he's listening, he's hearing, he's seeing, he's reading and he's coming.... https://t.co/sCUTWW6IHA committomitt mitt2020 @MittRomney MittRomney pic.twitter.com/gpgTdL33UY> > -- Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) October 12, 2019While Romney hasn't even hinted at granting Scaramucci's wishes, the "Mitt Happens" shirt is sure to be a collector's item in a few years.
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| Jake Tapper Exposes Pompeo, Graham and Giuliani’s ‘Stunning’ Hypocrisy Posted: 13 Oct 2019 09:34 AM PDT  It's easy to forget just how different some of President Trump's most loyal servants felt about oversight and impeachment when there were Democrats in the White House. On Sunday morning, CNN anchor Jake Tapper made sure his viewers remembered. In the final moments of his State of the Union broadcast this week, Tapper said that the White House's outright refusal to "participate" in the House impeachment inquiry means that the president is "seemingly thumbing his nose at the very notion that the U.S. government was designed with three co-equal branches, specifically to offer checks and balances on each other." "When President Obama was in the White House, the Republican-led House of Representatives conducted lots of oversight," Tapper continued, "on the Fast and Furious scandal, on the Benghazi tragedy and more." He said that anyone who covered or followed the Benghazi saga "may find it stunning to see Republican members of Congress trash-talking whistleblowers and inspectors general and trash-talking the oversight responsibilities of the House." "After all, during the Obama years, in the trenches, pushing to conduct oversight were many of these same House Republicans," Tapper said, "such as then Congressman Mike Pompeo from Kansas." After playing a clip of Pompeo extolling the constitutional necessity of oversight, Tapper added, "Yes it is!" In response to him saying it was "unacceptable" for the Obama administration to ignore subpoenas, Tapper said, "It is unacceptable!""One has to wonder what that congressman would make of the secretary of state, who has the same name, whose department is ordering State Department officials to ignore congressional subpoenas," Tapper said, before moving onto Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who also reportedly urged Donald Trump Jr. to do the same.That is a "far cry," Tapper said, from what Graham had to say when he was tasked with prosecuting the impeachment case against Bill Clinton. "The day that Richard Nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day that he was subject to impeachment," Graham said at the time. "Similarly, during the Clinton impeachment, Rudy Giuliani made it very clear where he stood on the matter of avoiding subpoenas," Tapper said, revealing another clip from 1998 of Trump's personal lawyer telling Charlie Rose that "the president is not above the law, is not able to avoid subpoenas." "Now that Giuliani is enmeshed in the Ukraine scandal, however, Giuliani hasn't even made it clear whether he is going to honor the congressional subpoena aimed at him," Tapper added. "The arguments that Democratic presidents needed to comply with congressional oversight were correct. That's how the system was set up." Tapper concluded, "If you only apply constitutional standards to the other political party and not to your own, then those aren't principles, they're tactics." Rachel Maddow Predicts Senate GOP May Just Find Its 'Conscience' and Impeach TrumpRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Russia denies US news report it bombed 4 Syria hospitals in 12 hours Posted: 14 Oct 2019 04:00 AM PDT  Russia on Monday denied a US newspaper report that its warplanes bombed four hospitals in rebel-held territory in Syria over a period of 12 hours this year. The Russian defence ministry rubbished the claim in a report by The New York Times, saying "the alleged 'evidence' provided by the NYT is not worth even the paper it was printed on". The May strikes -- which the newspaper tied to Moscow through Russian radio recordings, plane spotter logs and accounts by witnesses -- are part of a larger pattern of medical facilities targeted by forces supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's devastating civil war.
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| Ex-Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean charged with murder after shooting Atatiana Jefferson in her home Posted: 14 Oct 2019 06:26 PM PDT  Fort Worth officer Aaron Dean was charged with murder Monday after fatally shooting Atatiana Jefferson while she played video games in her home.
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| Pope's bodyguard resigns over new financial leaks scandal Posted: 14 Oct 2019 02:43 PM PDT  The Vatican's latest scandal claimed its first victim Monday as Pope Francis' chief bodyguard resigned over the leak of a Vatican police flyer identifying five employees who were suspended as part of a financial investigation. The Vatican said its police chief, Domenico Giani, bore no responsibility for the leaked flyer but resigned to avoid disrupting the investigation and "out of love for the church and faithfulness" to the pope. Giani, a 20-year veteran of the Vatican's security services, has stood by Francis' side and jogged alongside his popemobile during hundreds of public appearances and foreign trips.
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| In 1986, a Russian Submarine with 27 Nuclear Missiles Sank (And Exploded) Posted: 13 Oct 2019 12:00 PM PDT  "Seawater combined with missile fuel to produce heat and toxic gases. Despite a crewman venting the tube, an explosion erupted in the silo, ejecting the missile and its warheads into the sea."
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| Meet the Army's New Airborne Trucks Posted: 13 Oct 2019 09:00 AM PDT  But only one will be selected as the service's Infantry Squad Vehicle, which get paratroopers off a landing zone in a hurry.
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| In Jamal Khashoggi's death, Saudi money is talking louder than murder Posted: 14 Oct 2019 02:35 PM PDT  Donald Trump praises Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Jared Kushner is among those flocking to the Saudi 'Davos in the Desert': Our view
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| Booker Scolds Buttigieg for Referring to Gun ‘Buybacks’ as ‘Confiscation’: ‘Doing the NRA’s Work for Them’ Posted: 14 Oct 2019 11:05 AM PDT  Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) admonished fellow presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Monday for referring to a mandatory gun buyback proposal as "confiscation" on the grounds that doing so propagates a right-wing talking point."Calling buyback programs 'confiscation' is doing the NRA's work for them," wrote Booker on Twitter, "and they don't need our help."Buttigieg insisted on referring to buybacks as "confiscation" in an interview on the Snapchat show Good Luck America. Previously, the South Bend, Indiana Mayor shied away from such comparisons."As a policy, it's had mixed results," said Buttigieg during an October 2 interview. "It's a healthy debate to have, but we've got to do something now."O'Rourke subsequently condemned Buttigieg's comments, saying Buttigieg was "afraid of doing the right thing" by supporting mandatory buybacks."[O'Rourke] needs to pick a fight in order to stay relevant," Buttigieg commented on Good Luck America.O'Rourke has previously pushed the issue of mandatory gun buybacks and outright confiscation, declaring at the third Democratic primary debate in September that he supports taking away certain semi-automatic rifles from their legal owners."Hell, yes, we're going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We're not going to allow it to be used against a fellow American anymore," O'Rourke said at the time.Buttigieg is currently polling at five percent while O'Rourke stands at just 1.8 percent. The former Texas congressman has struggled to gain more than two percent of the vote, but has captured attention for radical policy proposals on gun rights and issues of church and state.During a CNN Townhall on October 11, O'Rourke called for institutions that don't support same sex marriage, such as churches, religious schools and charities, to be stripped of their tax-exempt status.
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| Brexit on October 31 a 'priority' for British government: Queen Posted: 14 Oct 2019 04:30 AM PDT  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Monday set out his government's priorities at a parliamentary ceremony full of pomp and pageantry attended by the queen, with Brexit top of the agenda. Queen Elizabeth II announced in a speech to lawmakers a list of 26 new bills ranging from implementing a yet-to-be finalised EU divorce agreement to criminal sentencing and the environment. "My government's priority has always been to secure the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union on October 31," the 93-year-old monarch said from a gilded throne, delivering words written by government officials.
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| Son of sheriff who called immigrants ‘drunks’ at White House event arrested for public intoxication Posted: 14 Oct 2019 05:04 AM PDT  The son of a Texas sheriff who used a White House press conference to describe immigrant offenders as "drunks" likely to repeatedly break the law has been arrested for public intoxication.Sergei Waybourn, 24, faces a count of indecent exposure as well as public drunkenness just days after his father, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, was criticised for the comments.
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| When police misconduct occurs, records often stay secret. One mom's fight to change that. Posted: 14 Oct 2019 05:27 PM PDT  A police officer is accused of playing with her dead son's body after he was shot. An angry California mother wants secret cop records to go public.
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| The Latest: Louisiana governor says he expects GOP onslaught Posted: 12 Oct 2019 08:57 PM PDT  Gov. John Bel Edwards is telling his supporters to brace for a barrage of national Republican efforts trying to unseat him in the five weeks leading to Louisiana's runoff election. The Deep South's only Democratic governor fell below 50% voter support Saturday night. President Donald Trump held an election eve rally urging Louisiana's voters to reject Edwards.
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| Dropping Bombs: These Are the Best Bombers To Ever Fly Posted: 14 Oct 2019 10:00 AM PDT  What do you think? What does history tells us?
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| Mexico Ambush Kills 14 Cops in Deadliest Attack of AMLO's Tenure Posted: 14 Oct 2019 11:00 AM PDT ![Mexico Ambush Kills 14 Cops in Deadliest Attack of AMLO's Tenure]( "Mexico Ambush Kills 14 Cops in Deadliest Attack of AMLO's Tenure") (Bloomberg) -- Fourteen Mexican police were killed in the western state of Michoacan in the biggest attack on law enforcement since President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office.The slaying occurred in Aguililla, a town of about 15,000, Mexico's Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection said on Twitter on Monday. Officers were ambushed at the entrance of the town by men in armored trucks, possibly members of the Jalisco New Generation cartel, one of Mexico's most powerful and violent groups, according to TV network Televisa, which broadcast images of burning vehicles at the side of a road.Mexico has fought a decades-long war against drug gangs, with Michoacan serving as one of the deadliest battlefields. Lopez Obrador's landslide victory in last year's election was fueled in part by his promises to restore security. But homicides are on pace to break last year's record, according to data through August, rising 3.3% to more than 23,000.The national government's strategy focuses on education and subsidies for youth, along with deployment of tens of thousands of members from a new National Guard force to the most violent parts of the country. Reports of the police massacre came just hours after AMLO's security cabinet at his morning news conference provided a summary of advances under his administration.To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| States are cutting university budgets. Taxpayers aren't interested in funding campus kooks Posted: 14 Oct 2019 09:22 AM PDT  University campuses have abandoned their central mission in their pursuit of utopia. The American public has had enough.
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| China Built a Flying Saucer Posted: 14 Oct 2019 06:55 AM PDT  The UFO is still on the ground—for now.
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| The Fastest Sedans in Lightning Lap History Posted: 14 Oct 2019 11:07 AM PDT |
| Kurds announce deal with Damascus as Turkey pushes deep into Syria Posted: 13 Oct 2019 08:58 PM PDT  Syria's Kurds have announced a groundbreaking deal with Damascus on a Syrian troop deployment near the border with Turkey, as Ankara presses a deadly cross-border offensive that has sparked an international outcry. The announcement on Sunday came as the United States ordered the withdrawal of almost its entire ground force in Syria. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the move to withdraw 1,000 US troops came after Washington learned that Turkey was pressing further into Syria than expected.
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| Special Report: The hunt for Asia's El Chapo Posted: 14 Oct 2019 04:59 AM PDT  He is Asia's most-wanted man. Tse Chi Lop, a Canadian national born in China, is suspected of leading a vast multinational drug trafficking syndicate formed out of an alliance of five of Asia's triad groups, according to law enforcement officials. The syndicate, law enforcers believe, is funneling tonnes of methamphetamine, heroin and ketamine to at least a dozen countries from Japan in North Asia to New Zealand in the South Pacific.
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| California becomes first state to ban fur Posted: 14 Oct 2019 07:20 AM PDT  California has become the first U.S. state to ban the sale and manufacture of new fur products. On Saturday, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law to prohibit residents from making or selling items such as clothing, shoes or handbags made of fur.
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| Disney Skyliner reopens with modified hours after stranding passengers last week Posted: 14 Oct 2019 07:39 AM PDT  Disney's Skyliner is back in action after the new aerial cable car system stranded passengers for hours the night of Oct. 5.
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| The U.S. Army’s Robot Tanks Could Arrive Years Early Posted: 14 Oct 2019 12:50 PM PDT  The U.S. Army future robotic army is taking shape faster, and better, than some officials expected.
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| Trump loyalist accused of being president’s ‘eyes and ears’ after crashing closed-door impeachment hearing Posted: 14 Oct 2019 06:09 PM PDT  A loyal supporter of Donald Trump has been removed from a closed-door impeachment hearing after House officials ruled he had no right to be there.Matt Gaetz, a Republican congressman from Florida, had attempted to crash a meeting put together by the House intelligence, foreign affairs and oversight committees — the official congressional panels spearheading an impeachment inquiry into the president.
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| South Korean pop star Sulli found dead at her home Posted: 14 Oct 2019 04:34 AM PDT  South Korean pop star and actress Sulli was found dead at her home south of Seoul on Monday, police said. The 25-year-old was found after her manager went to her home in Seongnam because she didn't answer phone calls for hours, said Kim Seong-tae, an official from the Seongnam Sujeong Police Department. "The investigation is ongoing and we won't make presumptions about the cause of death," said Kim, adding that security camera footage at Sulli's home showed no signs of an intrusion.
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| Russia's submarines are getting harder to find, and the Navy is sending more people to keep an eye on them Posted: 14 Oct 2019 10:51 AM PDT  Russian naval activity around Europe is a growing concern, and the US Navy is reactivating command units to help manage its own forces in the region.
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| Bible found opened to Psalm 106 and 107 one of few objects to survive deadliest fire in US history Posted: 14 Oct 2019 11:59 AM PDT  When the smoke cleared, little was left intact. It was almost as if a town had never even existed there. Some broken China and a tabernacle survived the inferno. So did a Bible. The Good Book was charred by the flames and petrified by the intense heat, but found intact -- and opened to Psalms 106 and 107."Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!" the beginning of Psalm 106 and 107 reads, a haunting declaration that may seem to contradict the tragedy that unfolded one fateful night in northeastern Wisconsin but serves as a reminder of a dark chapter in American history almost 150 years ago, the country's deadliest fire.On the night of Oct. 8, 1871, a rapidly approaching fire engulfed the small town of Peshtigo, Wisconsin, a lumber boomtown in America's dairyland. The blaze tore through the town at an astonishing pace, spreading hellish flames and plumes of thick smoke. According to historical accounts, horrific sounds filled the air under an ominous orange sky that night as chaos ensued.In the span of about one hour, the fire incinerated anything and everything in its path, including numerous settlements and villages, ravaging 2,400 square miles -- an area roughly the size of Delaware. (NOAA) The story of Peshtigo is a lesser-known one, however, as it occurred the same night of the Great Chicago Fire, a disaster that overshadowed what happened in Peshtigo, 250 miles due north of the Second City. In fact, over a 48-hour period beginning on Oct. 8, a series of wildfires swept across portions of Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan and they collectively remain among the worst disasters in American history.AccuWeather National Reporter Blake Naftel recently traveled to the Great Lakes region and interviewed Sally Kahl, the curator for the Peshtigo Fire Museum. Sally Kahl, the Peshtigo Fire Museum curator. (AccuWeather / Blake Naftel) "You can't work at this museum and not feel the pain that these people must have gone through," Kahl, a lifelong Peshtigo resident, told Naftel. "I can't."Kahl became almost overwhelmed with emotion as she talked with Naftel and gestured toward some of the exhibits in the museum -- glass cases that hold the charred bible, plates and a pristine tabernacle that was found in a river, some of the few artifacts that were recovered after the inferno. The museum houses a charred bible found after the Peshtigo Fire of 1871. It was petrified from the intense heat and found opened to the pages containing Psalms 106 and 107. (AccuWeather / Blake Naftal) For weeks smoke from ongoing fires to the west cast a grey haze into the atmosphere, suggesting that dangerous fire weather and extensive grass fires were already occurring upstream of the region in the Plains.Only two weeks before the Peshtigo inferno, another fire had encircled the town but was extinguished before it did serious harm."The residents got [the fire] out and everybody celebrated," Kahl said, adding that a sense of hubris had set in after the townsfolk averted that would-be disaster.Residents were aware of a looming threat, but no one was prepared for what that terrible October evening would bring. The fires began north of Green Bay and surged northeastward."All of a sudden they noticed the sky is not grey anymore. It's orange and red. They knew something was coming. Then the wind started and they heard an awful noise like a train was coming," Kahl said. These broken plates in the Peshtigo Fire Museum are some of the only remnants left after the devastating blaze. As the firestorm charged through the town, residents only had one place to take refuge, so they fled into the Peshtigo River. In October, the water temperature of Peshtigo River is usually between 50 to 60 degrees. In water of that temperature, it only takes 10 to 15 minutes for humans to lose the ability to use their hands."[The fire] snapped off the top of trees and the trees kind of exploded. About an hour and Peshtigo was gone. There was nothing left," Kahl said of the aftermath.A local town minister, Reverend Peter Pernin, wrote an eyewitness account of what it was like to live through and survive the horror of that night:"The air was no longer fit to breathe, full as it was of sand, dust, ashes, cinders, sparks, smoke, and fire. It was almost impossible to keep one's eyes unclosed, to distinguish the road, or to recognize people, though the way was crowded with pedestrians, as well as vehicles crossing and crashing against each other in the general flight. Some were hastening toward the river, others from it, whilst all were struggling alike in the grasp of the hurricane. A thousand discordant deafening noises rose on the air together. The neighing of horses, falling of chimneys, crashing of uprooted trees, roaring and whistling of the wind, crackling of fire as it ran with lightning-like rapidity from house to house-all sounds were there save that of human voice. People seemed stricken dumb by terror. They jostled each other without exchanging look, word, or counsel. The silence of the tomb reigned among the living; nature alone lifted up its voice and spoke."Word of the fire did not reach government officials in Wisconsin's capital for days, Kahl said. However, help finally began making its way to those in need when Francis Fairchild, the wife of Wisconsin governor Lucius Fairchild, received word of the tragedy.The blazes were a wake-up call about the land-use practices of the time as communities searched for answers in the wake of the tragedy. Slash-and-burn lumbering, construction from the expanding railroads and daily use of flame all contributed to the cause of the fires that proved so destructive. But the weather in the months leading up to the blaze also played a crucial factor in creating dangerous conditions that allowed for the disastrous outcome.Meteorologists explain that a long period of drought, fierce winds and high temperatures all created fuel for flames -- dry trees, leaves and grass.The fire expanded exponentially when a powerful storm over the Plains unleashed strong, warm southwesterly winds of up to 50 mph. The storm was not accompanied by much rainfall and the strong gusts fanned the flames, causing everything in its path to ignite."A powerful area of low pressure in the Plains ushered strong southwesterly winds and they gusted up to 50 mph in some areas, fanning the already ongoing fires and hot spots," AccuWeather Broadcast Meteorologist Geoff Cornish explained.These winds also brought very warm and dry air across the region, providing ideal conditions for the spread of pre-existing wildfires and any new infernos that ignited. AccuWeather Broadcast Meteorologist Geoff Cornish explains the weather conditions that preceded and exacerbated the 1871 Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin. Some may wonder how meteorologists can be certain of the weather conditions that preceded the wildfires nearly 150 years ago. Cornish explained that meteorologists' modern weather analysis is based on data gathered by NOAA, and that in the mid-19th century, the U.S. began seeing the emergence of more reliable weather record-keeping in bigger cities."It became common for weather observers to write down daily weather data such as high and low temps, precipitation amounts and descriptions of the sky," Cornish said, adding that the 1871 data is particularly reliable because official weather records for Chicago were kept starting that very year.When all the fires finally stopped burning that year, 1.5 million acres of forest were left charred, and a dozen rural communities were devastated -- a catastrophe of biblical proportions that left a petrified Bible behind, showing a passage that tells of a punishing fire:"When men in the camp were jealous of Moses and Aaron, the holy one of the Lord, the earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. Fire also broke out in their company; the flame burned up the wicked," Psalm 107 reads in part, recounting a tale of a people's fading faith in God.Whether there is meaning to those Psalms and that passage being immortalized by that terrible fire, or whether it is anything more than an interesting coincidence, is up for debate. But what's not up for debate is that what those people suffered that night still echoes to this day with those who visit the museum in Peshtigo."We get people from so many countries and states that can't believe that something like this has happened," Kahl said of visitors to the museum who are often aghast to learn of the Peshtigo story."The Chicago Fire overshadowed us," Kahl added, "but when you lose 800 people in an hour ... that's a lot of life gone."Additional reporting by AccuWeather National Reporter Blake Naftel.
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| Attempts to split China risk 'smashed' bodies: Xi Posted: 13 Oct 2019 09:10 PM PDT  President Xi Jinping has warned that any attempts to split China would result in "bodies smashed and bones ground to powder", amid four months of anti-Beijing unrest in Hong Kong. Xi issued the dire message during a weekend visit to Nepal, according to a foreign ministry statement released on Sunday. "Anyone who attempts to split any region from China will perish, with their bodies smashed and bones ground to powder," Xi said, according to the ministry.
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| Man Convicted in Murder of Law Professor Locked in Family Feud Posted: 13 Oct 2019 09:02 AM PDT  MIAMI -- The killing shook Florida's capital and stunned the international legal community: A prominent law professor locked in a rancorous battle with his ex-wife and in-laws was gunned down in his garage, in what prosecutors depicted as a murder-for-hire plot.State prosecutors charged three people with the murder of the professor, Dan Markel, hoping to pressure them into revealing whoever may have financed the murder.Two of the accused, Sigfredo Garcia and Katherine Magbanua, maintained their innocence and went to trial late last month, five years after the professor's death. Over 11 days, the case played out inside a courtroom in Tallahassee, the state capital, revealing a web of tumultuous relationships around Markel's murder.On Friday, a jury found Garcia, 37, guilty of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, and not guilty of solicitation of murder. He faces the death penalty, and sentencing will begin Monday.After more than 11 hours of deliberation, jurors told Judge James C. Hankinson that they were unable to reach a verdict on the same charges against Magbanua, 35. Hankinson declared a mistrial.The other man charged with the murder, Luis Rivera, a close friend of Garcia and a former leader of the North Miami Latin Kings gang, cooperated with law enforcement. In exchange for testifying against Garcia and Magbanua, Rivera, 36, was allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder and avoid the death penalty. He received a 19-year sentence instead, and is concurrently serving a 12-year sentence in an unrelated federal racketeering case.After a contentious divorce in 2013, Markel, 41, a professor at the Florida State University College of Law who had helped build a network of online legal scholarship, and his ex-wife, Wendi Adelson, were given joint custody of their two young sons.Prosecutors argued that Markel was murdered because a court order prevented Adelson from relocating to South Florida with the children. They said her brother and mother then got involved, and arranged for Magbanua, Garcia and Rivera to carry out the murder for $100,000."What enemy or enemies had Mr. Markel made that set into motion such a brutal act?" Georgia Cappleman, the lead prosecutor in the case, asked during closing arguments Thursday. "The answer: his own family."Markel was shot twice in the head on the morning of July 18, 2014, shortly after he pulled his car into the garage -- his keys were still in the ignition. A neighbor thought he heard a gunshot and saw a light-colored Toyota Prius drive away.From cellphone records and surveillance footage, investigators determined that a light green Prius had followed Markel the morning he was killed. They found that Rivera had rented the Prius in Miami. On the rental contract, Rivera listed cellphone numbers for himself and Garcia, his best friend since childhood.Toll transponder data showed the Prius making the 450-mile-plus trip from Miami to Tallahassee and returning after the murder. That night, the men stopped at a drive-through ATM in South Florida, where they were photographed with Rivera behind the wheel and Garcia in the passenger seat.Finding Rivera and then Garcia led investigators to Magbanua, with whom Garcia has two children and an on-again-off-again relationship. At the time of the murder, the couple was broken up, and Magbanua was dating Charles Adelson, Adelson's brother and Markel's former brother-in-law.Magbanua did part-time clerical work at a Miami Beach dental office where she met Adelson, 42, a periodontist.Her finances improved considerably after Markel's murder. Bank records showed she began receiving regular checks from a different dental practice, owned by Adelson's parents in Broward County. The checks were handwritten and signed by Adelson's mother, Donna Adelson.Two assistants who worked at the practice testified that they did not know Magbanua to be an employee. A few months after the murder, Magbanua paid a plastic surgeon $4,000 in cash for breast implant surgery.In April 2016, police tapped the cellphones of Garcia, Magbanua, Charles Adelson and Donna Adelson. To get them to talk to one another, an undercover FBI agent posed as a member of the Latin Kings gang and asked Donna Adelson for more compensation for the family of Rivera, who was in prison. Garcia was arrested the following month, and Magbanua some months later.None of the Adelsons have been charged. For years, as Markel's sensational murder has been dissected in news articles, blog posts, a popular true-crime podcast and episodes of "Dateline" and "20/20," lawyers for the Adelsons have maintained their innocence.Donna Adelson, 69, had figured prominently in her daughter's divorce. About a year before the murder, she suggested that her daughter pretend the couple's sons had converted to Catholicism -- Markel was an observant Jew -- to pressure Markel to agree to the children's relocation. Donna Adelson also floated offering Markel $1 million to allow the move.The day of the shooting, the police brought in Wendi Adelson, 40, a former clinical law professor at Florida State, to tell her what had happened to her ex-husband. She cried and buried her face in her hands, according to police video of the interview. She also mentioned that her brother, after buying her a television as a divorce present, had joked, "I looked into a hiring a hit man and it was cheaper to get you this TV.""But he would never," Adelson added. "It's such a horrible thing to say."Wendi Adelson testified at the trial that she had no knowledge of the murder. She moved her sons to South Florida a few days after Markel was killed.Magbanua took the rare step of testifying in her own defense. She said she began receiving the checks from the Adelsons after she asked Charles Adelson to hire her as his assistant -- a favor so she could qualify for state health insurance for her children. The money for her surgery, she added, had been saved up from cash tips she made working in nightclubs.Magbanua denied any part in the murder but said she believed that Charles Adelson was involved. Her defense lawyers suggested that Garcia, the father of her children, agreed to kill Markel in exchange for Adelson to stop dating her. Garcia briefly confronted Adelson 17 days before the murder."The only thing she's guilty of is terrible taste in men," Tara Kawass, one of Magbanua's lawyers, said during opening arguments.Rivera testified that Magbanua had served as the conduit for the murder plot, and that Garcia had pulled the trigger.Garcia's defense posited a different theory: that Rivera must have been the shooter because Garcia disliked Adelson too much to kill someone for him. Saam Zangeneh, Garcia's lawyer, argued that Adelson had bought drugs from Rivera and hired him directly to commit the murder."I don't think that you can believe anything that he says out of his mouth," Zangeneh told jurors of Rivera. "Do you think he would have gotten the deal that he got if he admitted to being the shooter?"Investigators found no direct link between Adelson and either Rivera or Garcia. David Oscar Markus, a lawyer for Charles Adelson, said the mistrial against Magbanua showed why prosecutors have never charged the Adelson family."The case simply isn't there," Markus said in a statement. "Professional prosecutors rightfully understood that they couldn't prove a case against Charlie before this trial. After the hung jury, their prospects have gone down, not up."Lawyers for Markel's parents said they expect a new trial against Magbanua."After waiting five long years, we are relieved that at least one of the people responsible for Danny's murder was convicted today," their statement said. "Yet justice was only partially served."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Putin aide: Turkish operation 'not exactly' compatible with Syria's territorial integrity Posted: 14 Oct 2019 08:00 AM PDT ![Putin aide: Turkish operation 'not exactly' compatible with Syria's territorial integrity]( "Putin aide: Turkish operation 'not exactly' compatible with Syria's territorial integrity") Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Monday that Turkey's military incursion into northern Syria was "not exactly" compatible with Syria's territorial integrity. Ushakov, speaking in Riyadh during an official visit to Saudi Arabia by President Vladimir Putin, was commenting on Turkey's military operation which it launched last week.
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| Boris Johnson’s Brexit Deal On Knife Edge as EU Needs More Time Posted: 14 Oct 2019 03:43 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal was hanging in the balance Tuesday, after the European Union Presidency said more time was needed before a summit of its leaders this week.Antti Rinne, premier of Finland -- which currently has the rotating presidency of the EU -- said negotiations may need to continue after the EU Council summit that starts Thursday."I think there is no time in a practical way and in a legal base to reach an agreement before the Council meeting, I think we need to have more time," Rinne told reporters in Helsinki.With 17 days before the U.K. is due to leave the EU, Johnson repeatedly pledged to "get Brexit done," as he spoke in Parliament on Monday following a Queen's Speech that laid the ground for a general election. He's refused to ask for a delay to Brexit, even though the Benn Act says he must do so if he hasn't finalized a deal with both the EU and U.K. Parliament by Oct. 19.The EU plans to decide Wednesday whether there will be a deal for leaders to sign during the Oct. 17-18 summit and has ruled out negotiating during the actual meeting of leaders.Johnson postponed a meeting of his political cabinet to Wednesday, when it may become clearer whether a Brexit deal will be done this week, and the government will then be able to decide whether to call MPs in for a sitting on Saturday.Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid also announced Nov. 6 as the date for his annual Budget, but that will only take place if the government gets a Brexit deal.Pound Shaken Up by Positioning in Fear of Swift and Brutal MoveWith the clock ticking down, Johnson's Brexit opponents in the U.K. met Monday to discuss their next move. They concluded any deal Johnson brings back would probably be incomplete, meaning he'd likely have to delay Brexit anyway, according to two people familiar with the discussions.The group, which consists of some Labour MPs, the Liberal Democrats, Wales' Plaid Cymru, the Scottish National Party and Greens — alongside some former Conservatives — said they'd wait and see how the next 48 hours pans out.If Johnson gets a deal they would then decide whether to seek a confirmatory public vote on it as a price for allowing it to pass Parliament, the people said.But Johnson once again ruled out another referendum on Brexit on Monday."If there could be one thing more divisive more toxic than the first referendum, it would be a second referendum," he said.\--With assistance from Kitty Donaldson and Kati Pohjanpalo.To contact the reporter on this story: Jessica Shankleman in London at jshankleman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Meet the Massive Ordnance Penetrator: The Air Force's Newest Bunker Buster Bomb Posted: 13 Oct 2019 07:00 PM PDT  Huge and very powerful.
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| Trump, AOC and McConnell: the personalities that could determine who wins the Senate in 2020 Posted: 14 Oct 2019 07:37 AM PDT  Democrats need four seats to retake the Senate. It's possible, depending on who the presidential nominee is and how impeachment plays out.
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| The Latest: 2nd crane in danger of collapse Posted: 14 Oct 2019 03:09 PM PDT  The second of two cranes towering over the site where a New Orleans hotel construction project partially collapsed two days ago is now considered in danger of toppling. Two other workers are known dead at the project site, which sits on the edge of the historic French Quarter. The coroner's office in New Orleans has identified one of two workers known to have died when a hotel under construction partially collapsed.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faces backlash over haircut Posted: 14 Oct 2019 09:46 AM PDT  This week, the Washington Times published a story saying that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., had spent $80 on a haircut and $180 on color at a Washington, D.C., salon, a choice the newspaper presented as hypocritical, given she "regularly rails against the rich and complains about the cost of living inside the Beltway."
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| British experts in Iran to upgrade Arak reactor: embassy Posted: 14 Oct 2019 02:20 AM PDT  A team of British experts arrived in Iran on Monday to begin work to upgrade the Arak heavy water nuclear reactor, the UK embassy in Tehran said. Iran removed the core of the Arak facility and filled part of it with cement as part of a 2015 deal that gave the country relief from sanctions in return for curbs on its nuclear programme. Located southwest of Tehran, the reactor is to be modernised with the help of foreign experts under the deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
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| Fort Worth Officer Who Killed Atatiana Jefferson Charged With Murder. Here's What to Know About the Police Shooting Posted: 14 Oct 2019 02:11 PM PDT  Fort Worth Police Officer Aaron Dean shot and killed Atatiana Jefferson inside her her home early on Oct. 12. Here's what to know about the case.
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| Malaysia to study impact of India's planned trade action Posted: 13 Oct 2019 07:13 PM PDT ![Malaysia to study impact of India's planned trade action]( "Malaysia to study impact of India's planned trade action") Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said his government will monitor the trade situation with India, which is reported to be considering trade curbs on the Southeast Asian nation over his criticism of actions in Kashmir, news wire Bernama reported. Government and industry sources told Reuters last week that New Delhi is looking for ways to limit palm oil imports and other goods from Malaysia, in retaliation for Mahathir's speech at the United Nations in September when he said India had "invaded and occupied" Jammu and Kashmir. Malaysia had said it did not receive "anything official" from India.
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| A Relationship With Jeffrey Epstein That Bill Gates Now 'Regrets' Posted: 13 Oct 2019 08:58 AM PDT  Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender who committed suicide in jail, managed to lure an astonishing array of rich, powerful and famous men into his orbit.There were billionaires (Leslie Wexner and Leon Black), politicians (Bill Clinton and Bill Richardson), Nobel laureates (Murray Gell-Mann and Frank Wilczek) and even royals (Prince Andrew).Few, though, compared in prestige and power to the world's second-richest person, a brilliant and intensely private luminary: Bill Gates. And unlike many others, Gates started the relationship after Epstein was convicted of sex crimes.Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, whose $100 billion-plus fortune has endowed the world's largest charitable organization, has done his best to minimize his connections to Epstein. "I didn't have any business relationship or friendship with him," he told The Wall Street Journal last month.In fact, beginning in 2011, Gates met with Epstein on numerous occasions -- including at least three times at Epstein's palatial Manhattan town house, and at least once staying late into the night, according to interviews with more than a dozen people familiar with the relationship, as well as documents reviewed by The New York Times.Employees of Gates' foundation also paid multiple visits to Epstein's mansion. And Epstein spoke with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and JPMorgan Chase about a proposed multibillion-dollar charitable fund -- an arrangement that had the potential to generate enormous fees for Epstein."His lifestyle is very different and kind of intriguing although it would not work for me," Gates emailed colleagues in 2011, after his first get-together with Epstein.Bridgitt Arnold, a spokeswoman for Gates, said he "was referring only to the unique decor of the Epstein residence -- and Epstein's habit of spontaneously bringing acquaintances in to meet Mr. Gates.""It was in no way meant to convey a sense of interest or approval," she said.Over and over, Epstein managed to cultivate close relationships with some of the world's most powerful men. He lured them with the whiff of money and the proximity to other powerful, famous or wealthy people -- so much so that many looked past his reputation for sexual misconduct. And the more people he drew into his circle, the easier it was for him to attract others.Gates and the $51 billion Gates Foundation have championed the well-being of young girls. By the time Gates and Epstein first met, Epstein had served jail time for soliciting prostitution from a minor and was required to register as a sex offender.Arnold said that "high-profile people" had introduced Gates and Epstein and that they had met multiple times to discuss philanthropy."Bill Gates regrets ever meeting with Epstein and recognizes it was an error in judgment to do so," Arnold said. "Gates recognizes that entertaining Epstein's ideas related to philanthropy gave Epstein an undeserved platform that was at odds with Gates' personal values and the values of his foundation."The First MeetingTwo members of Gates' inner circle -- Boris Nikolic and Melanie Walker -- were close to Epstein and at times functioned as intermediaries between the two men.Walker met Epstein in 1992, six months after graduating from the University of Texas. Epstein, who was an adviser to Wexner, the owner of Victoria's Secret, told Walker that he could land her an audition for a modeling job there, according to Walker. She later moved to New York and stayed in a Manhattan apartment building that Epstein owned. After she graduated from medical school, she said, Epstein hired her as a science adviser in 1998.Walker later met Steven Sinofsky, a senior executive at Microsoft who became president of its Windows division, and moved to Seattle to be with him. In 2006, she joined the Gates Foundation with the title of senior program officer.At the foundation, Walker met and befriended Nikolic, a native of what is now Croatia and a former fellow at Harvard Medical School who was the foundation's science adviser. Nikolic and Gates frequently traveled and socialized together.Walker, who had remained in close touch with Epstein, introduced him to Nikolic, and the men became friendly.Epstein and Gates first met face to face on the evening of Jan. 31, 2011, at Epstein's town house on the Upper East Side. They were joined by Dr. Eva Andersson-Dubin, a former Miss Sweden whom Epstein had once dated, and her 15-year-old daughter. (Andersson-Dubin's husband, hedge fund billionaire Glenn Dubin, was a friend and business associate of Epstein's. The Dubins declined to comment.)The gathering started at 8 p.m. and lasted several hours, according to Arnold, Gates' spokeswoman. Epstein subsequently boasted about the meeting in emails to friends and associates. "Bill's great," he wrote in one, reviewed by the Times.Gates, in turn, praised Epstein's charm and intelligence. Emailing colleagues the next day, he said: "A very attractive Swedish woman and her daughter dropped by and I ended up staying there quite late."Gates soon saw Epstein again. At a TED conference in Long Beach, California, attendees spotted the two men engaged in private conversation.Later that spring, on May 3, 2011, Gates again visited Epstein at his New York mansion, according to emails about the meeting and a photograph reviewed by the Times.The photo, taken in Epstein's marble-clad entrance hall, shows a beaming Epstein -- in blue-and-gold slippers and a fleece decorated with an American flag -- flanked by luminaries. On his right: James Staley, at the time a senior JPMorgan executive, and former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers. On his left: Nikolic and Gates, smiling and wearing gray slacks and a navy sweater.A Vast Charitable FundAround that time, the Gates Foundation and JPMorgan were teaming up to create the Global Health Investment Fund. Its goal was to provide "individual and institutional investors the opportunity to finance late-stage global health technologies that have the potential to save millions of lives in low-income countries."As the details of the fund were being hammered out, Staley told his JPMorgan colleagues that Epstein wanted to be brought into the discussions, according to two people familiar with the talks. Epstein was an important JPMorgan customer, holding millions of dollars in accounts at the bank and referring a procession of wealthy individuals to become clients of the company.Epstein pitched an idea for a separate charitable fund to JPMorgan officials, including Staley, and to Gates' adviser Nikolic. He envisioned a vast fund, seeded with the Gates Foundation's money, that would focus on health projects around the world, according to five people involved in or briefed on the talks, including current and former Gates Foundation and JPMorgan employees. In addition to the Gates money, Epstein planned to round up donations from his wealthy friends and, hopefully, from JPMorgan's richest clients.Epstein thought he could personally benefit. He circulated a four-page proposal that included a suggestion that he be paid 0.3% of whatever money he raised, according to one person who saw the proposal. If Epstein had raised $10 billion, for example, that would have amounted to $30 million in fees.Arnold said Gates and the foundation had been unaware that Epstein had been seeking any fee. She said Epstein "did propose to Bill Gates and then foundation officials ideas that he promised would unleash hundreds of billions for global health-related work."In late 2011, at Gates' instruction, the foundation sent a team to Epstein's town house to have a preliminary talk about philanthropic fundraising, according to three people who were there. Epstein told his guests that if they searched his name on the internet they might conclude he was a bad person but that what he had done -- soliciting prostitution from an underage girl -- was no worse than "stealing a bagel," two of the people said.Some of the Gates Foundation employees said they had been unaware of Epstein's criminal record and had been shocked to learn that the foundation was working with a sex offender. They worried that it could seriously damage the foundation's reputation.In early 2012, another Gates Foundation team met Epstein at his mansion. He claimed that he had access to trillions of dollars of his clients' money that he could put in the proposed charitable fund -- a figure so preposterous that it left his visitors doubting Epstein's credibility.Flying to FloridaGates and Epstein kept seeing each other. Arnold would not say how many times the two had met.In March 2013, Gates flew on Epstein's Gulfstream plane from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey to Palm Beach, Florida, according to a flight manifest. Arnold said Gates -- who has his own $40 million jet -- hadn't been aware it was Epstein's plane.Six months later, Nikolic and Gates were in New York for a meeting related to Schrodinger, a pharmaceutical software company in which Gates had a large investment. On that trip, Epstein and Gates met for dinner and discussed the Gates Foundation and philanthropy, Arnold said.In October 2014, Gates donated $2 million to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. University officials described the gift in internal emails as having been "directed" by Epstein. Arnold said, "There was no intention, nor explicit ask, for the funding to be controlled in any manner by Epstein."Soon after, the relationship between Epstein and Gates appears to have cooled. The charitable fund that had been discussed with the Gates Foundation never materialized. Epstein complained to an acquaintance at the end of 2014 that Gates had stopped talking to him, according to a person familiar with the discussion.The relationship, however, wasn't entirely severed. At least two senior Gates Foundation officials maintained contacts with Epstein until late 2017, according to former foundation employees. Arnold said the foundation was not aware of any such contact."Over time, Gates and his team realized Epstein's capabilities and ideas were not legitimate and all contact with Epstein was discontinued," she said.Days before Epstein hanged himself in a Manhattan jail cell on Aug. 10, he amended his will and named Nikolic as a fallback executor in the event that one of the two primary executors was unable to serve. (Nikolic has declined in court proceedings to serve as executor.)Nikolic, who is now running a venture capital firm with Gates as one of his investors, said he was "shocked" to be named in Epstein's will. He said in a statement to the Times: "I deeply regret ever meeting Mr. Epstein."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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