| 'World cannot afford war': U.S. Democrats respond to Iran missile strike Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:38 PM PST  Democrats in the U.S. Congress and some of the party's presidential contenders warned on Tuesday about escalating conflict in the Middle East after Iran launched a retaliatory missile strike against U.S. forces in Iraq. The news that Tehran had fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles against at least two Iraqi military bases hosting U.S.-led coalition personnel broke during a meeting of Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives. The attack was in retaliation for last week's U.S. drone strike killing elite Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, according to a statement from Iran's Revolutionary Guards on state TV.
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| Commercial airlines reroute flights amid US-Iran tensions Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:22 PM PST  Commercial airlines are rerouting flights throughout the Middle East to avoid potential danger during heightened tensions between the United States and Iran. Jumbled schedules could affect as many as 15,000 passengers per day, lengthen flight times by an average of 30 to 90 minutes, and severely bruise the bottom line for airlines, industry analysts said. The attacks were retaliation for the U.S. killing of Iranian Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike near Baghdad last week.
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| New York opens celebrity chef probe after sex assault deal Posted: 08 Jan 2020 09:29 AM PST  Prosecutors in New York have said they will investigate celebrity chef Mario Batali after a business associate of his agreed to compensate former employees over sexual harassment allegations. New York Attorney General Letitia James said her office's probe of restaurateur Ken Friedman had unearthed information regarding Batali's alleged behaviour at a trendy Manhattan gastropub. Friedman, the majority owner of The Spotted Pig, will pay $240,000 to 11 women and give them a share of his restaurant's profits for ten years under a settlement negotiated by James, announced on Tuesday.
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| Appeals Court Refuses to Lift Injunction Freezing Trump’s ‘Public Charge’ Rule for New Immigrants Posted: 08 Jan 2020 09:37 AM PST  A federal appeals court on Tuesday refused to lift an injunction blocking the Trump administration's implementation of a new public charge rule for legal immigrants."Public charge" refers to immigrants who use government assistance such as food stamps and Medicaid. The Trump administration has attempted to restrict the number of legal immigrants who would require such assistance, by applying the public charge designation to any immigrant who requires government assistance for more than 12 months within a three-year period. However, the policy was blocked nationwide by federal court injunctions in Maryland and New York.Three judges for the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New York ruled to retain the nationwide injunction against the administration's public charge rule. The judges are all Democratic appointees of former presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama.The court also ruled that the White House, which is appealing a lower court injunction against the public charge rule, must submit legal documents for the appeal by February 14, while oral arguments will be heard soon after the submission.Officials for the White House and Justice Department did not immediately comment. New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has led opposition to the administration's public charge policy, also did not immediately comment.In December, the federal Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stayed two preliminary injunctions against the administration's policy, but did not have the authority to overturn the nationwide hold on the policy. Judge Jay Bybee, a George W. Bush appointee, attached an addendum to the court's decision in which he criticized Congress for failing to draft appropriate immigration legislation, thus transferring much of the fight over immigration policy to the courts."We have seen case after case come through our courts, serious and earnest efforts, even as they are controversial, to address the nation's immigration challenges. Yet we have seen little engagement and no actual legislation from Congress," Bybee wrote. "It matters not to me as a judge whether Congress embraces or disapproves of the administration's actions, but it is time for a feckless Congress to come to the table and grapple with these issues."
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| Warren Takes Aim at Biden With Plan to Bolster Bankruptcy Rights Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Elizabeth Warren rolled out a plan Tuesday to restore bankruptcy protections repealed in a 2005 law championed by Joe Biden, taking an implicit shot at the Democratic presidential front-runner just weeks before the first nominating contests next month.The 2005 law raised eligibility requirements and financial costs for Americans to file for personal bankruptcy, a last resort for many to eliminate debt. Warren's proposal would eliminate obstacles erected by that measure and allow Americans to clear out student debt in bankruptcy.Her plan would also allow people to protect their homes and cars in the process.The battle over the bankruptcy measure is part of a longstanding struggle within the Democratic Party between a business-friendly faction and a populist wing hungry for confrontation with Wall Street. In 2005, Biden, then a U.S. senator from Delaware, clashed with Warren, a Harvard law professor whose specialty was bankruptcy and who waged an unsuccessful campaign to thwart the legislation, which was enacted by President George W. Bush."I lost that fight in 2005, and working families paid the price," Warren wrote in her policy paper, saying that the law allowed banks to squeeze struggling Americans to bolster their profits.Her new plan, she said, would "repeal the harmful provisions in the 2005 bankruptcy bill and overhaul consumer bankruptcy rules in this country to give Americans a better chance of getting back on their feet."Although she doesn't mention his name, Warren's message in the policy paper is that Biden helped break the bankruptcy system and that she is trying to fix it. She cites the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency she helped create in 2009 before becoming a U.S. senator from Massachusetts.Warren has previously accused Biden and other proponents of the bankruptcy measure of siding with banks and credit card companies, which have a major presence in Delaware, over cash-strapped Americans.Warren said that if elected president, she would create a single bankruptcy system that would be available to all consumers. It would replace the two main types of personal bankruptcy that are available now and that she says are flawed: Chapter 7, under which individuals have to surrender their property, and Chapter 13 which requires debtors to enroll in multiyear repayments.Instead, Warren would offer a "menu of options" that she says would help cater to the needs of each case, including surrendering property or choosing to enroll in a payment plan."The 2005 bill imposed the same onerous paperwork requirements on a middle-class American filing bankruptcy that it did on a wealthy real-estate developer," Warren said. "My plan would make the bankruptcy system simple, cheap, fast, and flexible."Warren would also reverse the provision of the 2005 bill that requires people to seek prefiling credit counseling and would waive filling fees for anyone below the poverty line.She vowed to loosen the spending limitations on people who are in a bankruptcy process and make it easier to get relief from student loan debts in bankruptcy by making them dischargeable like other consumer debts. Her plan would modify the law to allow people undergoing bankruptcy to modify their mortgages, which is mostly prohibited.Warren vowed to increase accountability for creditors and crack down on bankruptcy practices that the wealthy and big corporations use to shield their assets. Her plan would ensure that assets placed in self-settled trusts and revocable trusts are not exempt from creditors' claims in bankruptcy.She would stop companies from collecting debts that are no longer valid and would allow people to sue creditors who try to collect debts that have already been discharged.Reinforcing ImageIn national polls, Biden has a consistent lead and Warren places third, behind Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. But Biden is weaker in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire, where Warren is hoping for a strong finish that bolsters her prospects in subsequent states.Sanders also took aim at the former vice president over the 2005 legislation, saying Monday evening on CNN that "Joe Biden pushed a bankruptcy bill which has caused enormous financial problems for working families."The new Warren plan reinforces her image as a progressive candidate who's pitching herself as an anti-Wall Street crusader who sweats the details of policy. In her policy paper, she wrote that even with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, "there are still serious problems with our bankruptcy laws today, thanks in large part to that bad 2005 bill."To contact the reporters on this story: Sahil Kapur in Washington at skapur39@bloomberg.net;Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Husband of Missing Connecticut Mom Jennifer Dulos Arrested on Murder Charge Posted: 07 Jan 2020 08:54 AM PST  Seven months after Connecticut mom Jennifer Dulos disappeared after dropping her children off at school, her estranged husband has been charged with her murder, authorities said Tuesday.Fotis Dulos, 52, was taken into custody by Connecticut State Police after several police vehicles swarmed his Farmington home at about 11 a.m. He's been charged with capital murder, murder, and kidnapping, authorities confirmed to The Daily Beast. His bond was set at $6 million. "Justice!" the New Canaan Police tweeted on Tuesday shortly after the arrest. Dulos' former live-in girlfriend, Michelle Troconis, was also charged on Tuesday with conspiracy to commit murder. Her bail was set at $2 million. The former couple previously pleaded not guilty to tampering with evidence and hindering prosecution in connection with Jennifer Dulos' disappearance. An attorney who previously represented Dulos, Kent Mahwinney, was also charged Tuesday with conspiracy to commit murder, authorities said at a Tuesday press conference.Husband of Missing Connecticut Mom Jennifer Dulos Takes Stand in Civil Lawsuit Brought by Mother-in-LawCarrie Luft, a spokeswoman for Jennifer Dulos' family and friends, thanked authorities for their "diligent, painstaking work" in a statement to The Daily Beast."Although we are relieved that the wait for these charges is over, for us there is no sense of closure," Luft said. "Nothing can bring Jennifer back. We miss her every day and will forever mourn her loss."Dulos' lawyer, Norm Pattis, told reporters on Tuesday that while he is not surprised by the new charges, he welcomes "this fight because we think we will win it." "In fact, we are confident we will. And now we won't have to speculate what it will look like," the lawyer said. He added that Dulos "contends that he was not involved, and I think the evidence won't show he was."In a new, 35-page arrest warrant for Troconis, authorities revealed there are "indications that Jennifer Dulos is not alive." Husband of Missing Connecticut Mom Jennifer Dulos Arrested on Murder Charge"Jennifer Dulos had sustained an injury, or multiple injuries, which we would consider 'non-survivable' without medical intervention," the chief medical examiner concluded, categorizing the incident as a "homicide of violence." He added the mother died due to "some combination of traumatic, blunt-force injuries such as a bludgeoning/beating, and/or sharp-force injuries such as a stabbing/slashing."On May 24, 2018, Dulos, 50, was last seen dropping off her five kids at school. Authorities later found her car abandoned on a New Canaan road "in reverse" with its "lights on," according to the arrest warrant. Blood spatter was also found on the passenger side of the car.Investigators alleged Fotis Dulos, a luxury home builder, was "lying in wait" near his estranged wife's New Canaan home the day she vanished—and used a vintage bicycle to get to the home from his car, which was parked ten minutes away, according to the new arrest warrant. He'll 'Harm Me': Connecticut Mom Jennifer Dulos Missing Amid Two-Year Divorce BattleAt the house, authorities found "multiple stains" that "tested positive for human blood" on the floor and in a car inside the garage, prompting authorities to say the mother of five was the victim of a "serious physical assault." Zip ties were recovered at the scene, which authorities believe were used to "secure and incapacitate" Jennifer Dulos when she was alive, according to the arrest warrant.A previous warrant alleged that after the attack, Dulos and Troconis dumped several trash bags with bloody items. Evidence at the house also suggested there were "attempts to clean the crime scene," authorities said. Investigators found DNA belonging to Dulos and Troconis on a bag, shirt, mops, gloves, a sponge, a bike, and zip ties that were tossed in Hartford. The items also contained Jennifer Dulos' blood. The family nanny revealed in a police interview she noticed 10 rolls of paper towels and two camping pillows were missing from Jennifer Dulos' home. Fotis Dulos' Girlfriend Re-Arrested in Case of Missing Connecticut MomDespite initially telling police that she and her boyfriend shared a shower the morning of the murder, Troconis, 44, later recanted and said she did not see Dulos that morning. The 44-year-old also told investigators Dulos borrowed a truck from one of his employees just before his wife's disappearance. Troconis said she believed he had the truck washed because "Jennifer at some point was in there," police said. She also told authorities Dulos and his wife were in the middle of a bitter divorce and custody battle over the children at the time she went missing. In one interview, according to her arrest warrant, Troconis said Dulos often complained about his estranged wife, once telling her, "Sometimes I hope she disappears." Later, the 44-year-old said the couple's ongoing divorce caused tensions in her own relationship with Dulos and caused them to "fight all the time."In a July interview with NBC 4 New York, Dulos vehemently denied his involvement in his estranged wife's death."I know what I've done, I know what I haven't done," Dulos said at the time. "I have to stand and fight and hope the truth is going to come out."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Russia Wants 50 of These Deadly 'New' Bombers Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:00 PM PST  Buying 50 Tu-160Ms could prove too expensive for the cash-strapped Kremlin. And that's assuming the contractor actually can build the giant, swing-wing bombers.
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| California governor proposes more than $1 billion toward homelessness Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:50 PM PST  Responding to a growing crisis on the streets of California's major cities, Governor Gavin Newsom said on Wednesday his state budget proposal would include more than $1 billion in funds directed at homelessness.
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| Pakistan and China launch joint naval drills. Should India be concerned? Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:00 AM PST  A nine-day Sino-Pakistani naval exercise commenced in Pakistan's port of Karachi this week with the arrival of a Chinese naval task group. Find out what ships were in attendance.
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| U.S. officials reportedly knew about Iran's missile strike ahead of time Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:37 AM PST  There's reportedly a big reason casualties were avoided in Iran's Tuesday night strike.Shortly after midnight Wednesday morning, Iran told Iraq a response to the U.S. assassination of Qassem Soleimani "had begun or would start shortly," Iraq's prime minister's office said Wednesday morning. And as an Arab diplomatic source has since told CNN, Iraq then relayed that information to the U.S. and told it "which bases would be hit."Iran retaliated for the U.S. strike that killed Soleimani early Wednesday by shooting at least a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraqi bases where U.S. troops were housed. A U.S. defense official confirmed the advance notice given to Iraq, with CNN reporting that "Iraqis were told by Iran to stay away from certain bases.""U.S. officials had advance warning of Iran's missile assault," a U.S. official also told USA Today. But according to that official, the notice came from "an early warning system" that allowed troops to "scramble for cover."No casualties were reported after the attacks, but two Iraqi bases were damaged.More stories from theweek.com Iran has offered Trump an 'off-ramp' from war, and there's growing speculation he might take it Joe Biden's free ride is over Harvey Weinstein's legal team tries to get judge, attorney Gloria Allred removed from proceedings
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| CNN settles defamation lawsuit with Kentucky teen in Lincoln Memorial case Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:15 PM PST |
| 5 Stunning Buildings in Africa Inspired by Nature Posted: 08 Jan 2020 12:35 PM PST |
| Warren Says Americans Do Not Want War With Iran: Campaign Update Posted: 07 Jan 2020 05:42 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren on Tuesday called for de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East after Iran launched missiles at two Iraqi military bases that house U.S. forces."We have to start on a very sober note," Warren said at the beginning of a town hall in Brooklyn. "At this moment, my heart and my prayers are with our military and with their families in Iraq, and all around the world. But this is a reminder why we need to de-escalate tension in the Middle East."She added that "the American people do not want a war with Iran," a comment that was received by a standing ovation.Iran fired a series of missiles at two U.S.-Iraqi airbases early Wednesday morning Baghdad time, the Pentagon said, in the first Iranian response to the killing of General Qassem Soleimani by a U.S. drone strike last week.Bloomberg, Trump to Air Dueling Super Bowl Ads (4:27 p.m.)Two of the billionaires running for president will run dueling television ads during the Feb. 2 Super Bowl.Michael Bloomberg's campaign confirmed that it would air a 60-second Super Bowl ad, first reported by the New York Times, and said it was part of a national campaign focused on President Donald Trump.The Trump campaign spent $10 million last week for 60 seconds of commercial time during the Super Bowl, according to a person familiar with the campaign, who asked not to be named discussing internal planning. Trump's campaign plans for the ad to air early in the game when viewership is typically at its highest, the person said, though it wasn't clear whether it would be a single 60-second ad or two 30-second spots. The Trump ad buy was first reported by Politico.The Bloomberg campaign declined to provide the cost of its ad, but the prices for 30-second spots on Fox Sports were going for as much as a record $5.6 million. The Super Bowl is the most-watched television broadcast.Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. -- Mark Niquette and Mario ParkerBiden Attends Fundraiser at Skadden Arps (2:03 p.m.)Former Vice President Joe Biden held a breakfast fundraiser at the law firm Skadden Arps in New York before his foreign policy speech on the situation in Iran.The event was hosted by Mark Angelson, the former vice chair of the now-suspended Biden Foundation, a philanthropic organization. Co-hosts included Asher Edelman, an art dealer and former general partner of Edelman LP who endorsed Bernie Sanders for president in 2016, Mark Kaplan, counsel to Skadden Arps who served for seven years as president and chief executive officer of Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., and Thomas Humphreys, a partner specializing in tax transactions at Mayer Brown.Tickets for the event attended by 115 were $1,000 for guests and $2,800 for sponsors who received a photo with the candidate. In his remarks, Biden said he believed that "all politics is the logical extension of human nature, personal relationships," adding that he expects to see more cooperation in the Senate were he to become president."I think you're going to see even Mitch McConnell changing some ideas or being more — how can I say — mildly cooperative." -- Emma KineryBloomberg Says He Won't Accept Donations (1:20 p.m.)Michael Bloomberg said he's unwilling to take even $1 donations because of the appearance he could be bought, even though that means he can't qualify to participate in Democratic presidential debates."You shouldn't go down that path if you're in my situation," Bloomberg, a billionaire who is self-funding his campaign, told reporters during a campaign stop Tuesday in Richmond, Virginia, with former Governor Terry McAuliffe. "I want to be, as you would say, squeaky clean, and this is a way to show that."The Democratic National Committee requires candidates to have at least 225,000 individual contributors to make the cut for the current round of debates. Bloomberg said he'd participate in future debates if the rules change and he's eligible.Bloomberg's decision to self-finance has drawn criticism from rivals including Elizabeth Warren, who relies on multitudes of small donors. She said on MSNBC on Monday that Bloomberg is "skipping the democracy part" of the campaign by not competing in the early nominating contests and that it's wrong for billionaires to try to "buy" elections. "If that's the case, then our democracy becomes something that only works for a tiny number of people, and it's going to shut everybody else out," Warren said.Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. -- Mark NiquetteDemocratic Convention CEO Rips Trump on Media (11:20 a.m.)The chief executive officer of the Democratic National Convention criticized President Donald Trump's treatment of the media Tuesday as he promised to work for reporters' safety at the party's July convention.At a media walk-through of the convention space in Milwaukee, Convention CEO Joe Solmonese said his goal was to protect convention-goers' safety and security."For three years now, we've seen the most powerful man in the world and the head of the Republican Party -- the president of the United States -- make an enemy of the press," Solmonese said. "He taunts you at rallies, encourages his supporters to berate and mistrust you and he challenges your patriotism. This is dangerous. This is fundamentally un-American. And for Democrats, this is unacceptable."Solmonese said he's confident that when the public gets "the facts -- just the facts -- straight from reliable media" they will see that the Democrats "are better suited to lead this country into the future than the current occupant of the White House." -- Emma KineryOil lobby takes on Democrats' Climate Plans (5:30 a.m.)The oil industry's top lobbying group on Tuesday is launching a campaign to counter attacks from 2020 Democratic hopefuls vowing to phase out fossil fuels.Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have called for banning fracking and curbing the use of fossil fuels as part of efforts to combat climate change. Other candidates have also outlined ambitious environmental plans.The American Petroleum Institute will air advertisements that highlight the industry's role in paring greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change while encouraging a truce in heated political debates over energy."We have different perspectives on the best way forward, but on issues that matter, like climate change, we're more alike than we think," one of the API advertisements intones over images of people hiking, jogging and commuting. "We want cleaner solutions, and that means working with each other."API representatives declined to detail the cost of the campaign, saying only it amounted to seven-figure spending. "No nation on earth has reduced annual carbon emissions more than we have," API President Mike Sommers is set to say Tuesday in prepared remarks at the group's "State of American Energy" event in Washington. "And we have the capacity, desire and grit to keep stepping up."COMING UP:Five Democrats -- Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren and Amy Klobuchar -- have qualified for the next debate, on Jan. 14 in Iowa.President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in Milwaukee on the same night as the debate, as well as a rally in Toledo on Jan. 9.The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3.(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)\--With assistance from Jennifer A. Dlouhy, Mark Niquette, Emma Kinery and Mario Parker.To contact the reporter on this story: Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Max Berley, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Kansas City Sues Gun Manufacturer for Illegal Trafficking in First Such Suit in Ten Years Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:48 AM PST  Kansas City, Mo. announced Tuesday that it is filing suit against a gun manufacturer and several firearms dealers, accusing the group of running a trafficking ring that supplied guns to known felons.The public nuisance lawsuit, filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, marks the first time a U.S. city has sued a gun manufacturer for illegal trafficking in over a decade.The city alleges that firearms manufacturer Jiminez Arms and local firearm dealers Conceal & Carry, CR Sales Firearms, and Mission Ready Gunworks aided and abetted in a gun trafficking ring run by former Kansas City fire captain James Samuels.Samuels was arrested in October and faces criminal charges of trafficking guns from 2013 to 2018, including to individuals he knew were felons who informed him they planned to shoot people. He has pled not guilty and remains in federal custody.The lawsuit states that Nevada-based Jimenez Arms repeatedly shipped dozens of firearms to Samuels "knowing that he was not a licensed dealer and knowing that he was going to resell these guns."Mayor Quinton Lucas, who has promised to curb gun violence in the city, cited a "significant problem with illegal gun trafficking in our city.""While a lot of our criminal justice partners certainly try to make sure that they root this out, that they address it, there are a lot of private actors that, each day, create new threats for the citizens of Kansas City — frankly to the citizens of our entire region," Lucas said."Gun dealers and manufacturers have a legal responsibility not to ignore suspicious purchasing behaviors that indicate illegal gun trafficking or straw purchasing," said attorney Alla Lefkowitz, of Everytown Law, which is representing Kansas City.Lawsuits against firearms manufacturers and dealers are few and far between since such businesses are generally protected under federal law from charges when their weapons are used to commit crimes. However, the city argues such protections do not apply when the businesses violate federal gun laws by selling weapons to people they know to be felons.
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| Heartbreaking photos show animals impacted by Australia's bushfires Posted: 08 Jan 2020 04:28 AM PST  As the bushfires in Australia continue to rage, they are taking a toll on animals as well as humans.
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| Quake hits near Iran nuclear plant, injuring seven Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:26 AM PST  A magnitude 4.5 earthquake on Wednesday rattled an area less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant near the country's Gulf coast, a US monitor said. The quake, which had a depth of 10 kilometres, struck 17 kilometres south-southeast of Borazjan city at 6:49 am (0319 GMT), the US Geological Survey said on its website. State news agency IRNA said the earthquake was felt in Bushehr.
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| US allies see Mideast strategy vacuum that Putin can fill Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:37 AM PST  He was the leader on the world stage, visiting troops stationed in a far-flung war zone for the holidays, shoring up alliances and economic deals in the Mideast, requesting a meeting with the German chancellor in his capital, portraying himself and his country as reliable partners in an increasingly uncertain world. Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a busy week, stepping into the aftermath of the American drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Putin's visit Tuesday to Syria was emblematic of a reality that has been playing out in recent months: The U.S. strategic position in the Middle East is a mystery to many of its allies, and Russia is more than ready to fill any vacuum.
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| Body of child stowaway found in Air France landing gear after Ivory Coast to Paris flight Posted: 08 Jan 2020 11:29 AM PST  The body of a child stowaway was found in the landing gear of a plane at a Paris airport on Wednesday - thought to have died from cold or asphyxiation on the long-haul flight from Ivory Coast. The child, aged around 10, had hidden in the undercarriage of the Air France Boeing 777 in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital. It took off on Tuesday evening and landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, north of the French capital, six and half hours later. The corpse, which officials said was "not warmly dressed", was found in the plane's undercarriage cavity after landing. "Air France confirms that the lifeless body of a stowaway was found in the landing gear compartment of the aircraft operating flight AF703 from Abidjan to Paris-Charles de Gaulle on 7 January 2020," Air France said in a statement. It expressed its "deepest sympathy and compassion for this human tragedy." Sources close to the investigation told AFP the boy was about 10 years of age, and that he had "died either from asphyxiation or from the cold". "Aside from the human drama, this shows a major failing of security at Abidjan airport," according to an Ivorian security source who asked how a child, alone, could gain such access. While the economy is vibrant in Ivory Coast with annual growth of eight percent in recent years, illegal immigration to Europe has rocketed. A Kenyan stowaway fell from a plane into a south London garden in July 2019 Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire Several stowaways, notably adolescents from Africa, have been found frozen to death or crushed in the undercarriage of Western-bound planes. The last such case in France dates to April 2013, when the body of a boy, likely a minor, was similarly found in the undercarriage of a plane from Cameroon. Last July, a suspected stowaway fell to his death from a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to Heathrow, landing in a garden in south London. The chances of survival are slim given the extreme conditions people face if they try to travel in the undercarriage of a plane, which is neither heated nor pressurised. These include being crushed when landing gear retracts, frostbite, hearing loss, tinnitus and acidosis - the build-up of acid in body fluids which can cause coma or death. During the flight, temperatures can drop to as low as -63C (-81F), bringing on hypothermia. At 18,000ft, hypoxia sets in, where the whole or part of the body is deprived of an adequate oxygen supply. It causes weakness, tremors, light-headedness and eyesight problems. When a plane reaches 22,000ft, a stowaway will be struggling to keep conscious as blood oxygen level drops. Worse, a typical long-haul cruising altitude of 33,000ft - or higher - lungs require artificial pressure to function normally. Then compartment doors re-open a few thousand feet above ground for landing, which can cause stowaways to fall to their deaths. However, some people have survived the ordeal. In June 2010, a 20-year-old Romanian was found alive inside a wheel bay after a flight from Vienna landed at Heathrow Airport. In that case, the jet had kept below 25,000ft because of bad weather. According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, some 96 people hid under planes during flights around the world between 1947 and 2012. Of those, 23 people - about one in four - had survived the journey.
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| Ex-Trump Adviser Michael Flynn Should Get Jail Time, Prosecutors Say Posted: 07 Jan 2020 02:33 PM PST |
| Clips from 2003 Interview Contradict Biden’s Claim to Have Turned on the Iraq War ‘The Moment’ It Began Posted: 08 Jan 2020 11:07 AM PST  Joe Biden has claimed repeatedly on the campaign trail that he reversed his support for the invasion of Iraq as soon as it began, but resurfaced clips from a 2003 interview suggest he continued to defend his pro-war vote for years after the conflict was launched.Speaking with journalist Fareed Zakaria in September 2003, Biden defended his initial support for the war, saying he "still probably would have voted" to invade Iraq even if "the Lord Almighty" had told him the U.S. occupation would go poorly. When asked by Zakaria if it was a "good idea" for Democrats to "take a strong anti-war position in the next election," Biden said "I do not.""I think there's a need for more enlightened foreign policy, and I think to make the case that the use of force against Saddam was unjustified is, I think, the wrong case to make," Biden explained.> ZAKARIA: Do you think its a good idea though for the Democratic Party to take a strong anti-war position in the next election?> > BIDEN: I do not….I think to make the case that the use of force against Saddam was unjustified is, I think, the wrong case to make.> > (September 2003) pic.twitter.com/0GAN1xNWiZ> > -- Zaid Jilani (@ZaidJilani) January 7, 2020The interview came two years before Biden first called his 2002 vote to authorize military force in Iraq a "mistake."But the former vice president has suggested multiple times on the campaign trail that he was against the war immediately after it began.During the Democratic debate in July, Biden said that "from the moment 'shock and awe' started, from that moment, I was opposed to the effort, and I was outspoken as much as anyone at all in the Congress and the administration."In a September interview with NPR which The Washington Post later called him out for, Biden said "before you know it, we had 'shock and awe.' Immediately, the moment it started, I came out against the war, at that moment."And on Saturday, Biden told an Iowa voter "from the very moment" President George W. Bush launched "shock and awe" Biden "opposed what he was doing, and spoke to him."Biden has repeatedly couched his comments with the claim that his vote for the war happened after Bush privately promised that he was only trying to get weapons inspectors into the country, a characterization that Bush denies."I'm sure it's just an innocent mistake of memory, but this recollection is flat wrong," Bush spokesman Freddy Ford told NPR in an email.During the 2012 race, Biden also seemed to imply that he opposed the war effort, saying that while Paul Ryan voted "to put two wars on a credit card . . . I was there. I voted against him."While campaigning in New Hampshire in August, Biden fabricated a war story about awarding a medal to a reluctant Navy captain by stitching together details from three separate stories.
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| Australian teens rescued a carload of koalas from an island where more than 25,000 of the animals have died Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:08 AM PST  In a video that has gone viral, teenager Micah Lovegrove and his cousin loaded at least six koalas into their car on Kangaroo Island on January 2.
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| Oil up, stocks down after Iran missile attack on US troops Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:40 AM PST  Oil prices rose and global stock markets fell Wednesday after Iran fired missiles at U.S. bases in Iraq in retaliation for the killing of an Iranian general. Brent crude futures, the benchmark for international oils, spiked more than $3 per barrel in London before retreating. Stock markets in London and Frankfurt opened lower and Tokyo's benchmark fell nearly 2% before recovering some of its losses.
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| Iran threatens to hit American bases with medium- and long-range missiles Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:40 AM PST  Iranian military forces have said they are prepared to use medium- to long-range missiles to attack U.S. bases in the Middle East, in revenge for the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was the commander of Iran's Quds Force.
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| In rebuke to Lebanese leaders, U.N. says "irresponsible" to leave country without government Posted: 08 Jan 2020 12:41 AM PST |
| Ghosn lawyers in Japan refuse to comply with seizure warrant Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:16 PM PST  Lawyers for former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn on Wednesday refused to turn over a computer used by the auto tycoon before he jumped bail and fled the country last month. Prosecutors arrived at the offices of one of Ghosn's Japanese lawyers with a warrant for seizure of the machine -- only to be told to go away. Ghosn was out on bail in Japan on financial misconduct charges before he fled the country for Lebanon in late December.
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| Oregon woman sues Mormon church for $10 million for revealing husband's child sex abuse Posted: 08 Jan 2020 01:21 PM PST  A man confessed to child sex abuse to clergy, which led to his arrest. His wife is suing the church for violating "priest-penitent privilege."
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| Biden Says Trump Doesn’t Have Authority for War: Campaign Update Posted: 06 Jan 2020 06:52 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden stepped up his criticism of Donald Trump for escalating tensions with Iran as the Democratic presidential hopeful continues to assert that his decades of foreign policy experience make him best suited to take on the president."No president can take the nation to war without the consent of the American people. Whether or not this ends up in war remains to be seen, but it's becoming frighteningly close to getting this engaged in a war in the region," Biden told donors at a Monday night fundraiser in New York."The whole situation has been turned upside down," the former vice president said. "And does anybody here – should anybody -- think the president knows what he's going to do next, has an idea of what he's going to do next?"Biden spent the weekend in Iowa voicing similar concerns about the tensions with Iran that followed the Jan. 3 killing by a U.S. drone of a top Iranian military commander, Qassem Soleimani.The Democratic front-runner plans a more formal speech in New York on Tuesday on "the imperative need to restore respected, responsible, and dignified leadership on the world stage." He's also scheduled for an interview with NBC's Lester Holt."I've been on the Intelligence Committee since it started. I chaired the Foreign Relations Committee. I've have been more deeply involved in foreign policy – that's why I got picked as vice president, because of that factor," Biden said.Senator Bernie Sanders, in an appearance on CNN on Monday night, criticized Biden for his vote as a senator to allow the 2003 invasion of Iraq, saying his record of support for that war would prevent him from generating the kind of voter enthusiasm required to defeat Trump in November.Sanders said he opposes any U.S. military expansion in the Middle East in response to tensions with Iran. "I'll do everything I can to stop another disaster," he said, pointing to legislation he introduced that would bar the administration from spending funds to take military action against Iran.The Biden fundraiser was hosted by Barry Gosin, chief executive officer of Newmark Group, Inc., and Jeffrey Gural, chairman of GFP Real Estate LLC. About 80 people attended the event, for which tickets cost $2,800. Attendees included Caroline Kennedy, a former U.S. ambassador to Japan, and her son, John Schlossberg, as well as former New York Congressman Steve Israel.Trump to Hold Rally for Party-Switcher Van Drew 8:13 p.m.)President Donald Trump will host a campaign rally for a New Jersey congressman who just crossed over to the Republican Party amid the impeachment furor.Trump's campaign announced Monday that he'll hold a Keep America Great rally on Jan. 28 in Wildwood, N.J., in the district of Representative Jeff Van Drew. Elected as a Democrat, Van Drew crossed the aisle last month, joining Republicans after voting against both articles of impeachment.Trump's rally there could potentially fall in the middle of a Senate impeachment trial, giving him a venue to fire back at Democrats alongside the lawmaker who jumped ship. Democrats vying to run against Van Drew include Amy Kennedy, the wife of former Representative Patrick Kennedy.While Trump tries to blunt the impact of impeachment proceedings, his New Jersey event is unlikely to make a splash in this year's election. The state is reliably Democratic, and Trump lost it in 2016 by 14 percentage points. Van Drew first won election in 2018 in a district that had long been in Republican hands. -- Josh WingroveDeval Patrick Releases His First Ad (3:34 p.m.)Deval Patrick is launching his first paid ad of the campaign, set to begin running on cable outlets in four states on Wednesday.The campaign is spending about $245,000, according to Advertising Analytics, for ads that will run on cable and digital platforms in Iowa, South Carolina, Nevada and New Hampshire. Patrick, who served as governor in neighboring Massachusetts, is spending $100,000 on cable ads in the Granite State alone.Patrick's campaign is running a 30-second spot featuring his wife, Diane Patrick, describing her battle with cancer and the decision they made for him to enter the race. It's already started running the ad in online media.The former Bain Capital LP managing director joined the campaign in November. He tallied less than 1% support in the most recent WBUR poll of New Hampshire voters.Julian Castro Endorses Warren for President (10:38 a.m.)Four days after ending his own bid for the White House, Julian Castro announced his endorsement of Senator Elizabeth Warren for president.The former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, and Obama administration HUD secretary announced his endorsement in video released on Monday. He describes Warren as the most qualified candidate to win the nomination and beat Donald Trump. The move has led to speculation that Castro might be vying to be Warren's running mate should she win the Democratic nomination."There's one candidate I see who's unafraid to fight like hell to make sure America's promise will be there for everyone," Castro says in the video. "Who will make sure that no matter where you live in America or where your family came from in the world, you have a path to opportunity, too. That's why I'm proud to endorse Elizabeth Warren for president."Castro and Warren worked together when he was housing secretary and she served on the Senate Banking Committee, which oversees HUD. Castro will join Warren at an event in Brooklyn on Tuesday. -- Misyrlena EgkolfopoulouJudge Judy Rules For Bloomberg (10:26 a.m.)Judy Sheindlin, who presides over the daytime television courtroom show "Judge Judy," appears in a new campaign ad endorsing former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the Democratic presidential nomination."I like to say you can judge someone's character by what they've done," Sheindlin says in the ad, which Bloomberg's campaign said will run across digital channels and on television in 26 states. "Mike Bloomberg has done amazing things and will be a truly great president."The campaign said Sheindlin, a New York City native and a former supervising judge of the Family Court in New York County, hadn't ever endorsed a presidential candidate. In a USA Today opinion piece before Bloomberg announced his candidacy, Sheindlin encouraged him to run because "he represents our best chance to bring America together again and begin the long national process of healing."Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. -- Mark NiquetteCOMING UP:Five Democrats -- Biden, Buttigieg, Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar -- have qualified for the next debate, on Jan. 14 in Iowa.President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a campaign rally in Milwaukee on the same night as the debate, as well as a rally in Toledo on Jan. 9.The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3.(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)\--With assistance from Mark Niquette, Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou, Bill Allison and Laura Litvan.To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Chelsea Mes, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Progressive Governments’ Economic War on the NRA Fails in Court Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:30 AM PST  Some politicos just can't stop grandstanding, even if it means their court case goes down in flames. Consider what just happened in a federal court in Los Angeles.Not long ago, progressive state and local officials nationwide were vowing to take down the hated National Rifle Association by targeting its pocketbook. When city authorities in Los Angeles and San Francisco gave that idea a try, they were following the lead of Governor Andrew Cuomo, who had unleashed New York financial regulators to go after the gun-rights organization's access to insurance and banking services.Now all three are facing a reckoning in court, based not on the Second Amendment but on the First. Without needing to even consider the issue of gun rights, federal courts are recognizing that boycotts enforced by government power can menace free speech and free association.The amusing part is that the public officials themselves are helping to provide the basis for these rulings by tweeting and speechifying about how much damage they intend to do the NRA.In December, a federal court in California granted a preliminary injunction against a Los Angeles ordinance requiring city contractors to disclose any business links to, or memberships in, the gun group. It found the evidence "overwhelming" that the city's intent in passing the law was "to suppress the message of the NRA."* * *Public officials have been on notice about this sort of thing for at least two decades, since the 1996 Supreme Court case Board of County Commissioners v. Umbehr. In that case, the Court held that a county's having terminated a government contract in retaliation for the contractor's persistent and annoying political speech could violate the First Amendment. Controversial and unpopular speech is protected speech; officials cannot yank a contract from some business, or threaten to, just because it has donated to, or partnered in some venture with, the Sierra Club, the NAACP, or the NRA.Lawyers for Los Angeles tried to defend their ordinance by saying all it did was require disclosures from contractors, which wouldn't necessarily amount to punishing or chilling speech. But this sort of First Amendment claim comes down to a question of intent. And the court found that the city's lawmakers had made their intent to suppress speech and association utterly clear. They had done so in the text of the ordinance itself, in its legislative history, and in the statements made at the time by its chief sponsor, Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell (Hollywood-Silver Lake).The ordinance starts off with a long preamble that, amid much demagogy, cites the NRA's $163 million (2015) in membership dues and asserts that those dues go toward foiling beneficent legislative ends. That helped establish nicely that part of the bill's aim was "to cut off revenue to the NRA because of its pro-firearm advocacy," as the court put it.Then there were O'Farrell's various pronouncements. Earlier in the year, he had motioned the city to "rid itself of its relationships with any organization that supports the NRA" and further moved that the city's chief legislative analyst "report back with options for the City to immediately boycott those businesses and organizations" that do business with the NRA "until their formal relationship with the NRA ceases to exist."Were doubt left about his intentions, O'Farrell's Twitter outbursts through 2018 told of his efforts to jawbone businesses such as FedEx and Amazon into cutting off business relations with the NRA, often tagging friendly accounts such as @everytown, @momsdemand, @shannonrwatts, and @bradybuzz. It was unnecessary to show that the city had actually cut off any businesses, or that any such businesses had cut ties with the NRA for fear of city displeasure. So long as the ordinance was intended to chill speech and association, as it was, it would fall.* * *San Francisco's similar ordinance, although also the subject of a brief challenge in court, collapsed as a practical matter even more quickly. The measure's tantrum-like preamble branded the NRA a domestic terrorist group, in a move calculated to draw wide national attention. The text of the ordinance proclaimed that the city should "take every reasonable step to limit those entities who do business with the City and County of San Francisco from doing business with" the gun-rights organization. Commentators promptly pointed out that any such step would fail in court as unconstitutional.Soon thereafter, San Francisco mayor London Breed issued a memo clarifying that "the City's contracting processes and policies have not changed and will not change as a result of the Resolution" because only an actual ordinance can enact changes to city law. The NRA is suing anyway, but by the city's own account the measure at this point does nothing except beam out vain hostility.* * *Governor Cuomo was shrewder. He avoided the blatant statements of intent that tripped up his California counterparts. But did he retain enough deniability to survive a court challenge? In April 2018, he issued a statement saying he was directing "the Department of Financial Services to urge insurance companies, New York State-chartered banks, and other financial services companies licensed in New York to review any relationships they may have with the National Rifle Association and other similar organizations." Review such relationships for what, exactly? Well, "the companies are encouraged to consider whether such ties harm their corporate reputations and jeopardize public safety." In a press release, he made things a tad more explicit, saying that he was directing his financial regulators "to urge insurers and bankers statewide to determine whether any relationship they may have with the NRA or similar organizations sends the wrong message" (emphasis added).Those regulators, of course, have the discretion to make life very unpleasant for insurers and banks dense enough not to take the hint. Sure enough, the NRA in short order was cut off by some long-term business partners, notable among them one major insurer and one major insurance broker. The state declared that it had found regulatory infractions in NRA-branded insurance-affinity offerings, and in the ensuing settlements with the insurer and the broker it got them to promise never to do business with the NRA again, in New York or anywhere else. Yet at the same time, the NRA says, the state took no action against similarly marketed affinity products sold by others. Cuomo's financial regulator made things a little more explicit still: "DFS urges all insurance companies and banks doing business in New York to join the companies that have already discontinued their arrangements with the NRA."In November 2018, a federal court in New York found that all in all, there was enough plausible evidence of "direct and implied threats to insurers and financial institutions because of these entities' links with the NRA" to allow the group to proceed with a First Amendment suit. While Cuomo was of course free to express his own views, the Constitution would have something to say about it if he or his appointees had made veiled threats against banks and insurers to encourage them to disassociate from the NRA. The court also asked for more evidence documenting a selective-enforcement claim, and this summer, against stiff legal resistance from the state, the NRA succeeded in getting discovery of some state files. In a filing on December 20, the NRA said it had found new documentation of both the pressure and the selective enforcement.* * *One reason the California disputes went so well for the NRA is that the officials just couldn't help grandstanding at every turn in search of followers' applause. That's how O'Farrell, in Los Angeles, helped tweet his side of the case right out of court. But Cuomo, while he's been more circumspect, has not covered himself as thoroughly as he might have. "If I could have put the NRA out of business, I would have done it 20 years ago," he declared in response to one legal development.Tell us more, Governor.
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| Taiwan takes a sobering lesson from Hong Kong Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:04 AM PST |
| An Iranian-American who fled during the 1979 revolution is commanding the US aircraft carrier posted to the region Posted: 07 Jan 2020 11:16 AM PST  Capt. Kavon Hakimzadeh spent his early childhood in his father's home country of Iran, but the family was forced to flee during the 1979 Revolution.
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| Serbian church protests 'suffering' of Serbs in the Balkans Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:56 AM PST  Orthodox priests led a procession through downtown Belgrade to the landmark St. Sava Temple, one of the world's largest Orthodox churches, to pray about the "suffering" of Serbs living in Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia and elsewhere in the Balkans. The demonstration featured religious iconography, including Serbian church flags and paintings. The focus of the protest was a religion rights law adopted last month by the Parliament of Montenegro.
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| Russia's Putin makes rare visit to Syria, meets Assad Posted: 07 Jan 2020 06:14 AM PST  BEIRUT/MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin met Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, the Russian leader's second trip to Syria since Moscow intervened decisively on the Syrian president's behalf in the country's civil war. The visit comes at a time of heightened regional tension - Assad's other main military ally, Iran, has said it will retaliate against the United States for the killing of an Iranian general in a drone strike. Qassem Soleimani, who was one of the key figures in Syria's war as the architect of Iranian military operations in the Middle East, had just arrived in Iraq from Syria when he was killed by a U.S. drone on Friday at Baghdad airport.
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| Burned tigers, rescued kangaroos: Australia bushfire disinformation Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:46 PM PST  Social media is packed with powerful images of Australia's bushfires -- but many are fake. As deadly blazes tear across southeastern Australia, false or deliberately misleading images and claims have proliferated online, in languages from Arabic to Hindi. A graphic photo that appears to show a tiger being devoured by flames has been shared tens of thousands of times in Facebook posts decrying the deaths of millions of animals in deadly Australian bushfires.
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| Many victims of Britain's most prolific rapist didn't know they had been assaulted until police told them Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:23 AM PST  Reynard Sinaga was convicted of 159 sexual offences and was described by British prosecutors as the most prolific rapist to be brought to justice.
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| Sanchez’s Fragile Coalition Targets Big Business in Spain Posted: 07 Jan 2020 05:48 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Spain's first coalition government since before the rise of dictator Francisco Franco has vowed to make banks pay for the financial crisis. The question now is whether the fragile left-wing partnership can last long enough to make its mark.While leftist parties across the rest of Europe have been plunged into existential crisis, Pedro Sanchez is taking charge of an unexpectedly radical government in Spain after salvaging a disappointing result in November's election through a coalition deal with the anti-austerity group Podemos.The 47-year-old Socialist squeaked back into office for a second term on Tuesday after persuading 13 deputies from Catalan separatist group Esquerra Republicana to abstain in a confidence vote in parliament. That result gives the country a proper government for the first time in nine months but leaves the prime minister vulnerable to more turmoil in Catalonia as well as the resurgence of any tensions in his stormy relationship with Podemos Leader Pablo Iglesias.The new government's first test will be passing a budget for 2020, to include higher taxes for banks in a bid to recoup some of the 60 billion euros ($67.2 billion) Spain spent bailing its financial system during the economic crisis.The coalition's policies could make it one of the most left-wing administrations since Spain returned to democracy in the late 1970s, according to Ignacio Jurado, an analyst with political-risk consulting firm Quantio in Madrid. "But it remains unclear how much of it they are going to be able to implement," he said.Podemos was born from a wave of street protests in the spring of 2011 at the height of the financial crisis and came to embody the anger of the younger Spaniards who felt that their generation bore most of the pain instead of the bankers and politicians who were responsible.The party helped to end the dominance of the traditional groups -- the Socialists and the conservative People's Party -- who've dominated Spanish politics since the end of the dictatorship. The country has had no stable majority since Podemos won its first seats in parliament in 2015.The challenge for Sanchez and Iglesias, who was in tears after the confidence vote on Tuesday, is to forge a working government for the first time since the crisis redrew the country's political map."It is extremely complicated for Sanchez, but by no means is it doomed to inevitable failure," said Jordi Alberich, an economist and former head of Cercle d'Economia, a business lobby and think-tank in Barcelona. "It's all going to be about how much political trust is allowed to develop."In partnership with the Socialists, Podemos now has real power to reshape the Spanish society to benefit its supporters.Even after six consecutive years of economic growth, unemployment in Spain is still running at 14% and the youth unemployment rate of 33% is the highest in the European Union alongside Greece's. Average wages lag behind all the major economies in western Europe.Spain's Economy Can No Longer Rely on Easy Growth SourcesTo reverse the situation, Sanchez wants to bring in more protection for workers and a higher minimum wage as well as higher taxes on large companies to fund more social spending. There are also plans for rent controls and restrictions on real estate investors as the government tries to increase access to housing -- a complaint of young people for a generation.If he can create a stable foundation in domestic politics, Sanchez has a chance to raise Spain's profile on the European stage as the U.K. leave the EU and political divisions buffet Italy and Germany.But hanging over him, is the chronic situation in Catalonia.While most of those who led the 2017 attempt to force a split with Spain are now in jail, the political wounds of that crisis are still raw. Sanchez pledged a new round of talks with the regional government in order to secure the support of Esquerra for his investiture, but that arrangement could collapse at any moment."I don't care one bit for the governability of Spain," Esquerra lawmaker Montserrat Bassa told the parliament on Tuesday. Her sister Dolors is among the Catalan politicians currently serving jail terms.Sanchez is betting that a period of stability will allow him to reduce tensions in Catalonia and create the time and space for his social and economic policies to take effect. But to achieve that he'll need to achieve something unprecedented in modern Spanish politics, and forge a working relationship with a party that didn't exist a decade ago."A lot will depend on the extent to which Podemos realizes it's now in national government and not trying to run a town hall," said Alberich. "Above all, it's a test of political maturity."\--With assistance from Jeannette Neumann.To contact the reporter on this story: Charles Penty in Madrid at cpenty@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Ben Sills, Caroline AlexanderFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Timeline set to get troubled flattop Ford to sea Posted: 08 Jan 2020 01:36 PM PST  In a message last month to the fleet, the Acting SECNAV pushed for a renewed sense of urgency to deploy the carrier.
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| That Time Nazis and Americans Fought On the Same Side Posted: 07 Jan 2020 02:00 PM PST  They did in this one, strange World War II battle.
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| Mexican authorities remove almost 100 Mexican migrants from border camp Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:33 AM PST  Mexican authorities on Tuesday removed almost 100 Mexican migrants seeking asylum in the United States from a camp in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, according to a Reuters witness, after state police threatened to separate parents from their children.
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| 25 photos show what Iran looked like before the 1979 revolution turned the nation into an Islamic republic Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:11 AM PST  From 1941 to 1979, Iran was ruled by King Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah. On February 11, 1979, the Islamic Revolution swept the country.
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| Venezuela's Guaido pushes past troops to enter congress after socialist takeover Posted: 07 Jan 2020 03:04 AM PST  Venezuelan security forces let U.S.-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido enter the legislative palace on Tuesday amid a showdown for control of parliament after the ruling socialist party installed its own rival congressional chief. Guaido, who was re-elected on Sunday to a second one-year term as head of the opposition-held congress, had pledged to preside over Tuesday's opening session after security forces blocked him from the building over the weekend to allow socialist legislators to swear in their own speaker. Local television images early Tuesday showed Guaido arguing for half an hour with troops wielding riot shields who again blocked the entrance to the legislative building, but eventually allowed him to push past them.
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| 2 Mississippi men tried to cash in a lottery ticket for $100,000 after supergluing the winning numbers onto it, police say Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:18 AM PST  Police said two men signed the ticket and presented it to the Mississippi Lottery Corporation, but officials realized it was fake and called police.
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