Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert

PROGRAMMING ALERT: Rudy Giuliani reacts to subpoena on 'Hannity,' 9 pm ET

09/30/19 5:36 PM

Trump’s Claims About Biden Aren’t ‘Unsupported.’ They’re Lies.

By BY MICHELLE GOLDBERG from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2neddLi

Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers to Travel to Ukraine this Week

REUTERSA delegation of Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee is traveling to Ukraine this week, a Democratic aide to the committee confirmed to The Daily Beast on Monday.The trip has been in the works for some time and includes stops elsewhere in Europe, but it is moving forward at a moment when Ukraine is dominating American politics. In the last week, an anonymous whistleblower’s allegation that President Trump repeatedly pressed the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden has gone public, and the expanding congressional probe into those claims is forming the basis of an official impeachment inquiry from House Democrats. The delegation is the first group of U.S. lawmakers to travel to Ukraine since early September, before any details of the whistleblower’s complaint were publicly known. The Democratic committee aide affirmed the trip is unrelated to the current Ukraine news, and said that lawmakers are heading there to perform oversight over the U.S. military’s European area of command, or EUCOM. The aide declined to go into more detail about the trip. Of course, a key detail of the  Trump-Ukraine saga falls under the purview of Armed Services Committee members: the Trump administration sat on $250 million in security assistance to the country—which has been sent without incident for each of the last four years—while the president and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, pressed the newly-elected administration of Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate the Bidens. After bipartisan outcry, the administration suddenly released the aid on Sept. 12. Whether or not the security aid was the center of a quid-pro-quo arrangement sought by Trump remains a key question in Democrats’ investigation. Lawmakers on the House Appropriations and Budget Committees sent letters to the administration last Friday demanding a full explanation of how and why the funds were withheld.Send The Daily Beast a TipRead 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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‘We’ve been taken hostage’: African migrants stranded in Mexico after Trump's crackdown

Hundreds of migrants from Africa are stuck in Tapachula because of Mexico’s willingness to bow to Trump and stem the flow of migrants African migrants protest outside the Siglo XXI migrants detention center, demanding Mexican authorities to speed up visas that would enable them to cross Mexico to the US. Photograph: Isaac Guzman/AFP/Getty ImagesNeh knew she was taking a risk when she got involved with English-language activists in mostly-Francophone Cameroon.She had no way of know that her decision would eventually force her to flee her country, fly halfway across the world and then set out on a 4,000-mile trek through dense jungle and across seven borders – only to leave her stranded in southern Mexico, where her hopes of finding safety in the US were blocked by the Mexican government’s efforts to placate Donald Trump’s anti-migrant rage.“It is just too much,” sobbed Neh,at a protest camp set up by migrants from across Africa outside the main immigration offices in the sweltering southern city of Tapachula. “We thought our suffering was almost over. And now we’re stuck here, treated like the lowest citizens on earth.”Not that long ago, Neh worked as a microfinance officer and lived with her husband and three children in a small town in the West of Cameroon. Earlier this year, she joined a group campaigning for anglophone independence. She insists her activism was peaceful and that she never supported rebel groups, but amid spiralling violence, she was arrested, beaten, and raped by soldiers. One night, an officer took her from her cell and told her to start running. She imagined she was about to die – but instead she ran into the arms of her husband who had paid a bribe for her freedom.Hustled into hiding, Neh was then put on a plane to Quito where she joined the growing number of migrants from around the world using Ecuador as the jumping off point for the passage north. mapThe harrowing journey requires crossing the the lawless jungles of Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, where migrants risk wild animals, raging rivers and predatory robbers .For seven days, the 37-year-old hauled herself up and down mountain slopes, hanging on tree roots. Crossing a river, she was almost swept away by the current; an insect bite paralyzed her arm. And each day, her group passed the bloated and half-eaten corpses of others who had died on the same trail.The next stage of her odyssey was more straightforward. With the help of bribes and official paperwork, Neh travelled by bus across Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala. She began to dream of a new life in the US, reunited with the three children she had left behind.And then, in Mexico, everything ground to an halt. She joined hundreds of migrants from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Eritrea, Mauritania, and a smattering of other African countries who are stuck in Tapachula because of Mexico’s willingness to bow to Trump and stem the flow of migrants.Until recently, African migrants were waved through Mexico by immigration officials who had no interest in stopping them. Photograph: Isaac Guzman/AFP/Getty ImagesTrump’s main target has always Central Americans who account for most of the migrant flow through Mexico. But the crackdown has caught up travelers from all around the world.Their situation has only been exacerbated by US policies. Earlier this month the US supreme court ruled that the US authorities could deny asylum to anybody who passed through another country to get there.Meanwhile, US officials have pressured Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador to accept asylum seekers from third countries, even though they are among the most dangerous countries in the world. “We have been taken hostage. We want our freedom,” said José Pelé Messa, a TV presenter who fled the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010 – first for Angola, and then Brazil, which he had left earlier this year when the security situation there made life untenable.Around him, the inhabitants of the protest camp were gearing up for another day of boredom, under the watchful eye of a group of National Guard officers in riot gear.Railings were draped with blankets and clothes sodden in the previous night’s downpour. Migrants – grouped by nationality or language – pored over documents in Spanish that they couldn’t read or scanned their phones for news from home. A pregnant woman prepared soup on a small wooden burner outside her tent. A couple of toddlers were using discarded plastic bottles as drums.Pelé gestured at the desultory scene: “I took my children through the jungle for this? I’m a corpse. I just haven’t started rotting yet.”Until recently, African migrants were waved through Mexico by immigration officials who had no interest in stopping them.But after Trump’s threat of trade tariffs in May, Mexico’s government scrambled to clamp down: flooding the south of the country with law enforcement, and stepping up cooperation with the US policy of sending asylum seekers back into northern Mexico while their cases are processed.For migrants from countries in Africa, who are much harder to repatriate, it has meant being kept in limbo. Photograph: Isaac Guzman/AFP/Getty ImagesFor Central Americans trying to get through southern Mexico the crackdown has brought more raids, record numbers of deportations, and greater vulnerability to criminal attacks as they are pushed into less visible routes.For migrants from countries in Africa, who are much harder to repatriate, it has meant being kept in limbo.Previously, Mexican immigration authorities had typically issued African migrants with documents ordering them to sort out their status or leave the country within 21 days. Now these documents, which had previously served as de facto transit visas, order them to leave by the southern border. “Mexico is using us as an instrument of politics to please Donald Trump,” said Serge, 21, who also fled the conflict in Cameroon. “This is creating a lot of anger among us.”Frustration in the camp has bubbled over several times, leading to some scuffles with the authorities. This weekend a small group of desperate Africa temporarily blocked a car carrying Filippo Grandi, the head of UNHCR who was visiting Tapachula. One pregnant woman threw herself in front of the car’s wheels crying and pleading for help.Migrants are particularly angered by the perception that they are being coerced into applying for asylum in Mexico – where few feel safe and almost none want to stay.“Mexico is playing games with us,” said a 36-year-old engineer from Eritrea who identified himself as Mr Testahiwet. “This is the way to get to America and we want to go to America. Mexico is the wrong place to ask for asylum.”Some are so desperate they have begun looking for ways to get through Mexico undetected – though their skin colour and their lack of Spanish makes this hard to do.One recent dawn, at a major crossing point on the Suchiate river, not far from Tapachula, around 10 Cameroonians clambered onto a raft made of huge inner tubes and headed towards the Guatemalan side. The migrants sat in a glum and nervous silence as they were punted across, and then piled into cars with blackened windows, presumably driven by people smugglers who had promised to get them through Mexico by another route.Back at the camp, Kelly, another English-speaking refugee from Cameroon, said she hadn’t been able to speak to her children for weeks. Back home, she had been a physics teacher, but she fled her job and her home when the rebels enforced a school boycott on pain of death.“You leave when you can’t take it anymore. You start running, and you keep running until you can stop,” she said. “We are not looking for greener pastures – we are looking for safety.”

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Haitian journalist shot in wrist in latest round of protests

A journalist was wounded by gunfire in Haiti on Monday as police fired live ammunition to disperse protesters, his employer, Haitian broadcaster Radio Sans Fin (RSF) said, amid mounting anger over an escalating economic and political crisis.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2n2xeEF

UPDATE 3-San Francisco tour guide charged with carrying U.S. secrets to China

A San Francisco tour guide has been charged with being an agent of the Chinese government, accused of picking up U.S. national security secrets from furtive locations and delivering them cloak and dagger style to Beijing, federal prosecutors said on Monday. Xuehua Peng, also known as Edward Peng, was arrested on Friday in the San Francisco suburb of Hayward, California, and was denied bail during an initial court appearance by a U.S. magistrate judge that same day, federal prosecutors said at a Monday morning news conference. "Defendant Xuehua (Edward) Peng is charged with executing dead drops, delivering payments, and personally carrying to Beijing, China, secure digital cards containing classified information related to the national security of the United States," Anderson said.

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Al-Shabaab attacks US base, EU convoy in Somalia

The Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a US base in Somalia on Monday, as the European Union confirmed a separate strike against a convoy of Italian advisers. The raid on the base prompted a counter-attack by US forces who staged "two air strikes and used small arms fire targeting al-Shabaab terrorists," Major General William Gayler, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) director of operations said, adding that 10 "terrorists" died and a vehicle was destroyed.

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Alberto Salazar: Mo Farah's former coach banned from athletics for four years after doping violations

Alberto Salazar, Mo Farah's former athletics coach, has been banned from the sport for four years after being found guilty of doping violations.

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Restive Hong Kong hunkers down as China's birthday celebrations begin

Hong Kong went into lockdown on Tuesday to ensure anti-government protests do not overshadow Chinese President Xi Jinping's commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2o07SqW

Alberto Salazar: Mo Farah's former coach banned from athletics for four years after doping violations

Alberto Salazar, Mo Farah's former athletics coach, has been banned from the sport for four years after being found guilty of doping violations.

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Republican leadership memo suggests Senate can't block trial if House votes to impeach

Republican leadership clarified that the Senate must take action if the lower chamber approves articles of impeachment against President Trump.

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A passenger filmed the engine cover coming off a United Airlines plane, which was forced to turn back to the airport

United Airlines flight 293 had to turn back to Denver International Airport over what United called a "mechanical issue with one of the engines."

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Saudi prince says war with Iran would gut world economy

Saudi Arabia's crown prince said in an interview aired Sunday that war with Iran would devastate the global economy and he prefers a non-military solution to tensions with his regional rival. "Oil supplies will be disrupted and oil prices will jump to unimaginably high numbers that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes," the prince said. The prince said a war between Saudi Arabia and Iran would be catastrophic for the world economy.

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Amtrak crash: Why train rammed into CSX freight cars, killing 2 and injuring 91, per NTSB

A CSX freight train conduc tor failed to throw the correct switch, leading to the crash that jackknifed the Amtrak train

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Rudy Giuliani's television appearances reportedly led to his congressional subpoena

Be careful about what you say on television, kids.President Trump's personal lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was issued a subpoena by Congress on Monday in relation to the House's impeachment inquiry of President Trump over his communications with Ukraine's government. House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), and House Oversight Committee Chair Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), sent a joint letter compelling Giuliani to produce key documents that could aid the inquiry by Oct. 15.> BREAKING: Giuliani subpoenaed pic.twitter.com/ult4WCMVHo> > -- Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) September 30, 2019Giuliani reportedly landed himself in such a position, in part, because he said on CNN that he asked Ukraine's government government to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden over his activities in Ukraine. The committee chairs also wrote that Giuliani has stated he possesses evidence indicating he did not act alone in his dealings with Ukraine, and that there is a "growing public record" of information indicating he pressed Kyiv to investigate Ukrainians who provided evidence against Trump's convicted campaign chair, Paul Manafort.Giuliani was reportedly expecting to be subpoenaed and has said he would cooperate if Trump asked him to. Read more at The Washington Post.

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California man arrested after leading police on 2-hour chase through corn maze

A California man was caught and arrested by police Saturday morning, but not before he managed to elude them for two hours while hiding inside a corn maze.

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CBS News poll: Majority of Americans, Democrats approve impeachment inquiry

More than half of Americans — and an overwhelming number of Democrats — say they approve of the fact that Congress has opened an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. But as the inquiry begins, there is no national consensus on how to assess the president's actions.

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Floods kill 113 in north India in late monsoon burst, jail, hospital submerged

Heavy rains have killed at least 113 people in India's Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states over the past three days, officials said on Monday, as flood waters swamped a major city, inundated hospital wards and forced the evacuation of inmates from a jail. India's monsoon season that begins in June usually starts to retreat by early September, but heavy rains have continued across parts of the country this year, triggering floods. An official said that at least 93 people had died in most populous Uttar Pradesh since Friday after its eastern areas were lashed by intense monsoon showers.

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Russia has hidden the details of a handful of nuclear accidents since the 1950s — here's what we know about them

In addition to Chernobyl, Russia has tried to hide the details of other nuclear incidents, including an explosion that killed seven people in August.

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Terrorism charge filed against man who crashed car into Woodfield Mall near Chicago

The man who slammed his SUV into a suburban Chicago mall has been formally charged with terrorism and criminal damage to property, authorities said.

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Three more elephants killed in Sri Lanka, bringing toll to seven

Wildlife officials found three more dead wild elephants in central Sri Lanka Saturday, raising the number believed to have been poisoned by angry villagers to seven. The animals were found at a forest reserve near Sigiriya, a fifth-century rock fortress and UNESCO-protected heritage site, police said. "Since Friday, we have found the remains of seven cow elephants, including a tusker," police spokesman Ruwan Gunasekera said.

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Hong Kong protesters to rally after another night of violence

Hong Kong protesters are to join a global "anti-totalitarianism rally" on Sunday, following another night of violent clashes with police after weeks of pro-democracy unrest in the Chinese-ruled city. Police fired tear gas and water cannon on Saturday night to disperse protesters who threw petrol bombs and rocks, broke government office windows and blocked a key road near the local headquarters of China's People's Liberation Army. Thousands, young and old, gathered peacefully on Saturday at a harbourside park to mark the fifth anniversary of the "Umbrella" pro-democracy movement which gridlocked streets for 79 days in 2014.

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How about a Bipartisan Treaty against the Criminalization of Elections?

Back home in the Bronx is where I first heard the old saw about the Irishman who, coming upon a donnybrook at the local pub, asks a bystander: “Is this a private fight or can anybody join?”I was a much younger fellow then. The prospect becomes less alluring with age, so I have some trepidation stepping in between two old friends, Andrew Napolitano and Joe DiGenova. Through intermediary hosts, the pair -- Napolitano a former New Jersey Superior Court jurist and law professor, DiGenova a former United States Attorney for the District of Columbia and prominent defense lawyer -- brawled this week on Fox News (where I, like they, contribute regularly).I’m going to steer clear of the pugnacious to-ing and fro-ing. Let’s consider the intriguing legal issue that ignited it.Judge Napolitano argues that the July 25 conversation between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky contains the makings of a campaign-finance crime. He highlights Trump’s request for Ukraine’s help in investigating then–vice president Joe Biden. In 2016, Biden pressured Kyiv to drop a corruption investigation of Burisma, a natural gas company that paid Biden’s son, Hunter, big bucks to sit on its board.Biden, of course, is one of the favorites for the Democratic presidential nomination. Napolitano reasons that the information Trump sought from Ukraine would be a form of “opposition research” that could be seen as an in-kind donation to Trump’s reelection campaign, which should be deemed illegal because the law prohibits foreign contributions and attempts to acquire them. (Napolitano also raised the “arguable” possibility of a bribery offense, on the theory that Trump was withholding defense aid as a corrupt quid pro quo to get the Biden information. But he emphasized the foreign contribution issue. That is his stronger argument, and I am focusing on it, given that the Trump-Zelensky transcript does not support a quid pro quo demand; plus bribery, in any event, raises the same “thing of value” proof problems addressed below.)DiGenova strongly disagrees. Though there wasn’t much time to elaborate, he is clearly relying on the lack of past campaign-law prosecutions on similar facts. DiGenova is also voicing the prudent conservative hostility to campaign-finance laws: Any expansion of criminal liability would necessarily restrict political speech, the core of First Amendment liberty.I’m with DiGenova on this, but it’s a closer question than he suggests. Napolitano’s construction of the campaign laws, while not wholly implausible, is purely academic. It ignores real-world concerns about free speech and the prosecutor’s burden to prove intent.Most of the commentary on this has been very politicized (surprise!). For dyed-in-the-wool anti-Trumpers, no technicality is too trifling to be a felony. For the Trump base, it’s all a witch hunt. In light of this, the most helpful source we can turn to is the Mueller Report. (File in: Sentences I’d Have Bet My Life I’d Never Write.)Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team overflowed with partisan Democrats, and their report could have been entitled “Roadmap to Impeachment.” While they faced complications (that I’ve addressed) in making a case against the president, the prosecutors were not inhibited when it came to other subjects of the investigation. They’d have loved to nail Donald Trump Jr. But the only thing they had was the notorious Trump Tower Meeting of June 2016, when Don Jr. orchestrated a meeting with a Kremlin-tied lawyer (Natalya Veselnitskaya) in an effort to obtain Russian dirt to be used against Hillary Clinton. Veselnitskaya supplied information, but it was a dud.The campaign-finance offense that Napolitano urges be charged against President Trump appears to be the same one Mueller considered charging against Don Jr. The Mueller team’s analysis (Vol. 1, pp. 186-187) is thus on point. And it is frustratingly ambiguous -- as befits the constitutionally dubious campaign-finance laws.Two offense elements proved to be stumbling blocks for the prosecutors. The first is the question whether opposition research is a “thing of value” under federal law. Mueller’s team assumed that, in theory, it might be (the Napolitano view), but that to interpret it as such would break new ground and raise troubling First Amendment issues (the DiGenova position).The second problem was the intent element. As I’ve observed before, regulatory crimes are not innately wrong (in contrast to, say, murder or robbery). They are illegal only because we choose to make them illegal (for you Latinists out there, they are malum prohibitum). Because the conduct is not wrong in itself (malum in se), the law requires a higher degree of malevolent intent before it can be criminalized. Prosecutors must prove willfulness, which very nearly reverses the adage that “ignorance of the law is no excuse.” The defendant must be shown to have known that his intentional conduct was illegal -- not merely unsavory but actually prohibited by law. The Mueller team concluded that they could not have hoped to prove willfulness beyond a reasonable doubt.So, while there might be some conceivable scenario in which acquiring information from a foreign source for use in a campaign could be a federal crime, it is highly unlikely -- so unlikely that some Type A prosecutors wisely decided that the huzzahs they’d have gotten for indicting the president’s son were outweighed by the humiliation they’d endure when the case inevitably got thrown out of court.The Mueller report is also worth considering because the campaign-finance charge the prosecutors rejected is stronger than would be any similar charge against President Trump arising out of the Zelensky call. That, no doubt, is why the Justice Department summarily declined prosecution.To hear the media-Democrat complex tell it, DOJ declined because it is beholden to the president and Attorney General Barr is acting as Trump’s lawyer, not the government’s chief prosecutor. No one who actually took five minutes to read the relevant section of the Mueller Report would see it that way. Moreover, the fact that the president is president complicates matters not only politically but legally.Trump detractors hyper-focus on the president’s request that President Zelensky provide Attorney General Barr with any information Ukraine might have about Biden twisting arms to quash an investigation involving his son’s cashing in on dad’s influence. I say “hyper-focus” because there was a lot more to it than that. Long before the conversation came around to the Biden topic, the “favor” that Trump asked for was Zelensky’s assistance in Barr’s ongoing investigation of the genesis of the Trump-Russia investigation.No matter how much Democrats seek to discredit that probe and the AG overseeing it, it is a legitimate investigation conducted by the United States Department of Justice, which has prosecutors assigned and grand jury subpoena power. It is examining questionable Justice Department and FBI conduct. It is considering whether irregularities rise to the level of crimes. It will be essential to Congress’s consideration of whether laws need to be enacted or modified to insulate our election campaigns from politicized use of the government’s counterintelligence and law-enforcement powers.I mention all this because it is a commonplace for the government to seek assistance from foreign counterparts for ongoing federal investigations.Indeed, as Marc Thiessen pointed out this week in an important Washington Post column, Democratic senators pressured Ukraine to cooperate with the Mueller probe -- notwithstanding the obvious potential electoral ramifications and the specter of “foreign interference in our democracy.” These requests for assistance often occur at the head-of-state level. When I was a federal prosecutor in the mid-nineties, for example, the FBI and Justice Department asked President Clinton to intervene with Saudi authorities to assist the investigation of Iranian complicity in the Khobar Towers bombing.There is nothing wrong with our government’s requesting the assistance of foreign governments that have access to witnesses and evidence relevant to an ongoing Justice Department investigation. The president is the democratically elected, constitutionally empowered chief executive: There is nothing his subordinates may properly do that he may not do himself (it is his power that they exercise). And the president is never conflicted out of executive branch business due to his political interests. There is no legal or ethical requirement that the Justice Department be denied potentially probative evidence because obtaining it might affect the president’s political fortunes.There was no impropriety in President Trump’s asking Ukraine’s president to assist the Justice Department’s investigation of Russiagate’s origins. Okay, you say, but what does that have to do with Biden?Well, Biden was the Obama administration’s point man in dealing with Kyiv after Viktor Yanukovych fled in 2014. That course of dealing came to include Obama administration agencies leaning on Ukraine to assist the FBI in the investigation of Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign chairman. So, Biden’s interaction with Ukraine is germane: The fact that he had sufficient influence to coerce the firing of a prosecutor; the fact that, while Biden was strongly influencing international economic aid for Kyiv, a significant Ukrainian energy company thought it expedient to bring Biden’s son onto its board and compensate him lavishly -- although Hunter Biden had no experience in the industry.That aside, I do not understand why there has not been more public discussion of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in light of the instances of Hunter Biden conveniently cashing in with foreign firms while his dad was shaping American policy toward those firm’s governments. As we saw with the collusion caper, it does not take much evidence of any crime for the FBI and the Justice Department to open an investigation and scorch the earth in conducting it. And if it would have been legit for the Justice Department to open an FCPA investigation of one or both of the Bidens, then it was appropriate for President Trump to ask President Zelensky to help the Justice Department determine if an FCPA crime took place – even if doing so could have affected the 2020 fortunes of Biden and Trump.Don’t get me wrong: I am not rooting for Joe Biden or his son to be subjected to investigation and prosecution. I agree with Attorney General Barr that there has been too much politicization of law enforcement and intelligence. In the absence of a concrete, patent, and serious violation of the criminal law, I want the Justice Department and the FBI out of politics – which would be better for them and for politics. If you think there is an indecorous heavy-handedness to the way Donald Trump and Joe Biden conduct foreign policy, that’s fine – go vote against them on Election Day. We don’t need creative prosecutors deciding elections by testing the boundaries of abstruse statutes.Neither, however, do I believe in unilateral disarmament. There is at least as much basis for opening an FCPA investigation against the Bidens as for opening campaign-finance investigations against the Trumps. If I had my druthers, all of this nonsense would end. But as I detailed earlier this week, we have one candidate for the presidency -- a once-serious legal scholar and practitioner -- who publicly and straight-faced says Trump’s call with Zelensky could rate the death penalty. As we saw in the late 1990s, when Bill Clinton got to experience the independent-counsel statute up close and personal, maybe it takes Democrats being hoisted on their own petard before we finally say: This has to stop.

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Be More Chill: The word-of-mouth hit musical now heading to London

Be More Chill was kept alive thanks to the cult following its soundtrack built up on streaming.

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Hong Kong’s Status as Neutral Ground at Risk as China Asserts Power

By BY PETER S. GOODMAN AND AUSTIN RAMZY from NYT Business https://ift.tt/2oqI2g4

M.L.B.’s Juggernauts Set to Clash After a Season of Extraordinary Numbers

By BY TYLER KEPNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2nGnFLy

Man Is Charged With Terrorism After Driving S.U.V. Through Illinois Mall

By BY MARIEL PADILLA from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2mHfgHD

Yankees Turn Their Focus to the Playoffs, and Stifling the Twins

By BY JAMES WAGNER from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2m4Qe4G

Be More Chill: The word-of-mouth hit musical now heading to London

Be More Chill was kept alive thanks to the cult following its soundtrack built up on streaming.

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Greece: Deadly fire triggers riots at Moria refugee camp

Police fire tear gas to control a crowd who say firefighters were too slow to respond to the fire.

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Inequalities in heart attack care 'costing women's lives'

Thousands of women are dying needlessly because of delays in diagnosis and poor care, a report says.

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Amazon fires: The volunteer firefighters battling to save Brazil’s rainforest

A band of volunteer firefighters are on a mission to stop their stretch of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest from going up in flames.

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Private schools say abolition would be vote-loser

Independent-school leaders hit back at Labour's plans to ban fee-paying schools.

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Cocaine and alcohol a 'deadly combination'

At least 13 self-inflicted deaths among people who took alcohol with cocaine have occurred in a year.

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Greece: Deadly fire triggers riots at Moria refugee camp

Police fire tear gas to control a crowd who say firefighters were too slow to respond to the fire.

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Inequalities in heart attack care 'costing women's lives'

Thousands of women are dying needlessly because of delays in diagnosis and poor care, a report says.

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Amazon fires: The volunteer firefighters battling to save Brazil’s rainforest

A band of volunteer firefighters are on a mission to stop their stretch of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest from going up in flames.

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Cocaine and alcohol a 'deadly combination'

At least 13 self-inflicted deaths among people who took alcohol with cocaine have occurred in a year.

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Trump impeachment T-shirts? Grow up, Rep. Tlaib. Removing a president is serious business.

If Donald Trump is her tutor on tactics, Rashida Tlaib is doing it wrong. Neither of them serve Americans well by appealing to their coarser appetites.

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How Ukraine envoy's resignation could affect his possible congressional testimony

Kurt Volker, the State Department's special envoy for Ukraine, resigned Friday amid a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump and his communications with the Ukrainian government, including the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Volker did not provide a public explanation for leaving his post, but a source familiar with his decision said Volker concluded he could not perform the job effectively as a result of the recent developments.One person familiar with the matter told NBC News that Volker's resignation will likely enable him to be much freer in what he can say about his time at his post if he is called at some point to testify before Congress.The whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry alleges that Volker went to Kiev to help guide Ukrainian officials on how to handle Trump's alleged demands that the government investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. He also reportedly spoke with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in an attempt to "contain the damage" to U.S. national security.Giuliani has said Volker encouraged him to meet with Ukrainian officials regarding the Biden family. That indeed appears to be the case, but The New York Times reports Volker was acting at the request of the Ukrainians, who were reportedly concerned about how Giuliani's attempts to procure information about the Bidens and other Democrats might affect their relationship with the U.S. Read more at NBC News and The New York Times.

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China ‘poised to unveil new nuclear missile’ at military parade in warning to Trump

A parade by China’s secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade marking the ruling Communist Party’s 70th anniversary in power.

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Trailblazing Texas deputy who was first local Sikh officer 'ruthlessly' killed during traffic stop

Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, the county's first Sikh officer, was killed Friday during a traffic stop near Houston. Police have arrested Robert Solis.

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View 2020 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat / Scat Pack Widebody Photos

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Trump Whistle-Blower Goes Where Mueller Never Could

(Bloomberg) -- Revelations about Donald Trump’s interactions with Ukraine’s president are shaping up to be the most serious threat to his presidency so far, surpassing even the special counsel investigation into Russian election interference that dogged the first two years of his administration.A whistle-blower complaint released Thursday alleging that Trump abused his power when he asked Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate Joe Biden in a July 25 call compounded the damage from a rough transcript of the conversation the White House released a day earlier.The complaint emboldened Democrats pursuing Trump’s removal from office, while Republicans -- many of whom had criticized the House’s move toward impeaching the president -- largely refrained from comment.Trump hurt himself further after telling U.S. diplomats in a private meeting on Thursday that “we’re at war” and the whistle-blower was “almost a spy,” according to video obtained by Bloomberg News.“That is a gross mischaracterization of whistle-blowers,” Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, told reporters.Trump evaded consequences after Robert Mueller’s investigation because the special counsel couldn’t tie the president directly to Russian interference in the 2016 election and didn’t clearly accuse him of obstructing the probe. But in the Ukraine affair, the most damaging facts are rooted in the president’s own words, recorded in a five-page memorandum that largely corroborates the whistle-blower’s complaint.Senate InvestigationWhite House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham on Thursday issued a statement calling the whistle-blower complaint “nothing more than a collection of third-hand accounts of events and cobbled-together press clippings — all of which shows nothing improper.”Trump, she said, “has nothing to hide.”Late Thursday, Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said his panel would also conduct an investigation of Trump’s Ukraine actions. He said he is “committed to make sure that we get to the bottom of what questions need answers.”It’s illegal for foreigners to contribute to U.S. political campaigns or for American politicians to solicit their contributions. The memorandum shows Trump asking Zelenskiy for an investigation into Biden, who was at the time the front-runner to challenge the president’s re-election in 2020 -- a request that could be construed as the president seeking a non-monetary contribution to his campaign.The Department of Justice conducted a preliminary review of the whistle-blower complaint and determined a criminal investigation wasn’t warranted. But Congress could decide otherwise. For purposes of impeachment, the Constitution leaves it to lawmakers to decide whether the president’s actions amount to “high crimes and misdemeanors.”The whistle-blower also implicated Trump’s personal lawyer, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and Attorney General William Barr in the president’s efforts to seek a Ukraine investigation of Biden. “Anyone who’s involved with this episode should be facing questions of criminal campaign finance violations,” said Jed Shugerman, a law professor at Fordham University in New York.In a statement Wednesday, the department attempted to distance Barr from the events. He didn’t learn of the July 25 phone call until “several weeks” afterward, department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said.“The president has not spoken with the attorney general about having Ukraine investigate anything relating to former Vice President Biden or his son,” Kupec said. “The president has not asked the Attorney General to contact Ukraine -- on this or any other matter. The attorney general has not communicated with Ukraine --- on this or any other subject. Nor has the attorney general discussed this matter, or anything relating to Ukraine, with Rudy Giuliani.”Shugerman called Barr “a witness” to Trump’s actions. Giuliani may face more liability.“It’s simply illegal to solicit information or something of value from a foreign national to benefit a campaign and this looks like a months-long effort by the president and his private attorney to do just that,” New York University law professor Ryan Goodman said in an interview.Edifice of LoyaltyThe public release of the whistle-blower complaint also revealed cracks in the edifice of loyalty Trump has attempted to construct around himself, both in the West Wing and on Capitol Hill.In addition to Collins’s criticism, Representative Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, said in a public hearing on the complaint Thursday that Trump’s call was “not okay.”While some of the president’s closest allies on Capitol Hill rushed to his defense, the vast majority of Senate Republicans were silent on the complaint. Many claimed they hadn’t had a chance to read it. Senator Todd Young, an Indiana Republican, said that because he might be a juror in Trump’s impeachment trial, he shouldn’t comment.Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said some Republicans privately told him they’re concerned about the latest development. But he said he doesn’t expect them to break with Trump “yet.”White House officials have expressed concern that the impeachment investigation -- focused on the president’s foreign policy -- comes at a time of vulnerability for Trump. Several high-profile national security officials who could have direct knowledge of his actions toward Ukraine have recently departed.They include the former director of national intelligence, Dan Coats, who announced his resignation three days after Trump’s call with Zelenskiy, and his deputy, Sue Gordon, who was forced out of her position in August. Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton left earlier this month after a dramatic split between the two men.Unprepared for ImpeachmentThe White House appears unprepared for an in-depth impeachment inquiry. Many offices across the West Wing are already depleted, and Trump has been slow to fill jobs despite record-setting attrition. The White House has not yet retained the help of outside legal counsel to help with the potential burden.QuickTake: All About Impeachment, Including What Happens NextMeanwhile, aides have been consumed by this week’s United Nations General Assembly in New York, where Trump met with a string of foreign leaders including Zelenskiy, leaving them flat-footed to respond to ground-shaking developments. Staff members began to formally plan strategy for an impeachment response upon returning to the White House on Thursday -- two days after the inquiry was announced.Still, there’s reason for the White House to remain confident. Republican control of the Senate means he is unlikely to be convicted and removed from office, even if the House votes to recommend articles of impeachment. While a handful of congressional Republicans have expressed some concern about Trump’s behavior, none have yet said it warrants impeachment.Moreover, while public opinion is swinging in favor of impeachment, many voters still believe Congress should not pursue proceedings to remove Trump from office. In an NPR News/Marist poll released Thursday, 49% of Americans said they approved of Democrats’ impeachment push while 46% did not.The president’s re-election campaign says the impeachment effort is galvanizing voters against Democrats while firing up Trump’s base.“Democrats are trying to block the inevitable re-election of President Trump because they know they can’t beat him fair and square at the ballot box,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday.\--With assistance from Jennifer Jacobs, Jordan Fabian, Steven T. Dennis, Chris Strohm and Nick Wadhams.To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net;Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;Andrew Harris in federal court in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Joshua GalluFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Trump calls out CNN for missing punctuation mark as impeachment looms

An impeachment inquiry is looming, and the revelations in the whistleblower scandal pop up hour by hour, but President Trump took CNN to task on Friday over the use of the word “liddle.”

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McConnell Attempts to Shield GOP From Potential Trump Fallout

(Bloomberg) -- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has tried to insulate Republicans in case more damaging information comes out about President Donald Trump and swings public opinion, even as he lashes out at Democrats for pursuing an impeachment inquiry.The Kentucky Republican has accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of caving to the Democratic “far left” in pursuing “a never-ending impeachment parade in search of a rationale.”Still, he has yet to offer a vigorous public defense of Trump and his interactions with the Ukrainian president, which are at the center of the latest controversy. And he allowed passage of a resolution pushed by Democratic leader Chuck Schumer that urged the White House to let lawmakers see a whistle-blower’s complaint about the president’s actions.Several Republican senators are following McConnell’s lead, offering circumspect reactions to the release of a White House memo of Trump’s call and the whistle-blower complaint that flagged it as potentially criminal. On Thursday, an increasingly common response from GOP senators was that they’re withholding judgment because they could be called upon to act as jurors if Trump is impeached in the House.“The question that my House colleagues are having to contemplate right now is whether or not it rises to the level of a high crime or misdemeanor” necessary for impeachment, Senator Todd Young, a Republican from Indiana, said Thursday. “I’m a potential juror in this whole situation if they determine that it is. Jurors aren’t supposed to talk.”While some Republicans have expressed disapproval of Trump’s conduct in the past, Pelosi’s impeachment threat has elevated the stakes for lawmakers expressing their opinion.Since his initial comments Tuesday, McConnell used his speeches on the Senate floor to defend Trump’s border wall and to implore Democrats to pass the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal. He hasn’t commented on the whistle-blower’s report released Thursday, but he said in a statement to Politico Wednesday that from what he saw in the rough transcript of the call, it was “laughable to think this is anywhere close to an impeachable offense.”McConnell also took the rare step on Tuesday of agreeing to join Schumer’s resolution calling for the Trump administration to immediately hand the whistle-blower complaint over to the House and Senate intelligence committees.Perhaps even more significant, the resolution was adopted via unanimous consent -- a warning to the White House from the lawmakers who would determine the president’s fate if he is impeached in the House. Two-thirds of the Senate would have to convict Trump to remove him from office, and no Republican has yet said Trump’s conduct was worthy of impeachment.Allowing Schumer’s resolution to pass without a fight protected McConnell’s Republicans from potential accusations that they were aiding a cover-up. That still allowed them to criticize Pelosi, as McConnell did, for a “rush to judgment” by declaring an impeachment inquiry before she had all the facts.Lawmakers who would have the task of evaluating the president will have to decide whether Trump committed an impeachable offense. The House’s inquiry will look into Trump’s decision to withhold aid for Ukraine while pressing that country to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, now a leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.McConnell has said that Congress needs to get the facts and that senators want to protect whistle-blowers who go through the proper channels to lodge their concerns. He has not backed up the president’s call to investigate the Bidens.Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, said it’s appropriate to dig further into what transpired and have a “normal process” through the intelligence committee.“I think we should look at this and understand exactly what happened here,” he said.Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard Burr, a North Carolina Republican, said his panel is beginning it’s own review and “is committed to getting to the bottom” of questions about the Ukraine issue. “There’s a lot we have to learn,” he said.‘Nothing Burger’Some Republican senators, however, have hewed more closely to Trump’s talking points, raising questions about Biden’s conduct as vice president and declaring that the rough transcript of the phone call shows no explicit threat from the president in order to exact a favor from Ukraine.One notable loyal ally for Trump is South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican chairman of the Judiciary Committee. He has routinely dismissed any suggestion that the president’s conduct was out of line.“This phone call is a nothing burger in terms of a quid pro quo,” Graham said. “The president of the United States did not remotely suggest to the Ukraine, ‘If you don’t do my political bidding against the Bidens I’m going to cut your money off.’”Foreign Aid HoldupMcConnell has made no secret of his disagreement with the Trump administration’s decision earlier this year to hold up aid for Ukraine.He said this week he had worked for months behind the scenes to have the Trump administration deliver the congressionally appropriated funds, pressing both the secretary of Defense and the secretary of State on the matter personally and also having his staff engage the administration.He told reporters on Tuesday, a day before release of the call memo, he had not been given any explanation for why the aid had been delayed -- further insulating himself from Trump.Senator Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, said some Republicans have privately told him they are concerned about the new developments, but he doesn’t expect them to break with Trump “yet.” He said many Republicans seem glad that Congress is about to take a two-week break, which will let them “avoid questions” from reporters in the Capitol.Connecticut Democrat Chris Murphy said it will be interesting to see what his Republican colleagues say after they’ve had a chance to speak with their constituents.“What matters here is not first reactions of congressional Republicans but first reactions of voters,” Murphy said. “I think voters are going to see this as a stinking fish.”\--With assistance from Evan Sully.To contact the reporters on this story: Steven T. Dennis in Washington at sdennis17@bloomberg.net;Laura Litvan in Washington at llitvan@bloomberg.net;Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Joe Sobczyk, Anna EdgertonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Rwanda welcomes first group of African refugees from Libya

A group of 66 African refugees and asylum-seekers arrived in Kigali late Thursday, the UN said, the first of what could be thousands relocated from Libya under a new programme. Earlier this month, Rwanda signed a deal with the African Union (AU) and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR agreeing to take in African refugees and asylum-seekers stranded in Libya.

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Trump blurs lines between personal lawyer, attorney general

As Washington plunges into impeachment, Attorney General William Barr finds himself engulfed in the political firestorm, facing questions about his role in President Donald Trump's outreach to Ukraine and the administration's attempts to keep a whistleblower complaint from Congress. Trump repeatedly told Ukraine's president in a telephone call that Barr and Trump personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani could help investigate Trump's Democratic rival Joe Biden, according to a rough transcript of that summertime conversation.

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Mets’ Pete Alonso Breaks Rookie Home-Run Record

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‘You’re a Bad Police Officer’: Official Confronts Deputy at Awards Ceremony

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First Republican member of Congress voices support for Trump impeachment probe

Rep. Mark Amodei became the first GOP member of Congress to back the impeachment inquiry into President Trump.

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Iran releases photo of Khamenei with Hezbollah chief

Iran has released a "never before seen" photo of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei alongside Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah. The three men are shown in front of what appears to be a door covered by a curtain and surrounded by shelves stacked with books -- decor associated with Khamenei's Tehran office.

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Israel's Air Force Is Armed with F-35s and F-15s (And Now Supersonic Missiles)

How good are they?

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Ivory Coast Leader Wants to Hand Over Power to New Generation

(Bloomberg) -- Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara is in favor of “handing over to the new generation” in next year’s presidential polls, but did not rule out running in the election.The 78-year-old, who has just over a year left of his second term in office, was addressing reporters in his hometown of Dimbroko after a four-day visit to the surrounding region.Ouattara addressed plans to amend the constitution to include an age limit for presidential hopefuls, saying “it’s part of the evolution of our country,” Seventy-five percent of the population is aged under 30 and “we can’t remain indifferent.” But he also said “don’t interpret this as me not being a candidate.”His fiercest political rivals include Henri Konan Bedie , 85, who broke away from the ruling coalition last year after Ouattara claimed a new constitution adopted in 2016 allows him to seek a third mandate if he wishes.Another, Laurent Gbagbo, 74, was acquitted by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity committed after a disputed vote in 2010, but prosecutors are appealing the ruling.To contact the reporter on this story: Leanne de Bassompierre in Abidjan at ldebassompie@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andre Janse van Vuuren at ajansevanvuu@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Mackenzie, Keith CampbellFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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UPDATE 3-Yemen's Houthis say attacked Saudi border frontline, no immediate Saudi confirmation

Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday it had carried out a major attack near the border with the southern Saudi region of Najran and captured many troops and vehicles, but there was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabian authorities. The Houthis' military spokesman said in a statement that three "enemy military brigades had fallen" in the attack, which he said was launched 72 hours ago and supported by the group's drone, missile and air defence units.

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2020 Vision: Impeachment is gaining in the polls — and so is Warren

How Trump impeachment is polling, Warren's continued rise, Gabbard qualifies for the fourth debate, and campaign cash troubles plague some Democrats.

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Democrats have a long list of possible witnesses in Trump impeachment inquiry

The list of people Democrats may seek information from regarding President Trump's attempt to obtain dirt on Joe Biden seems to grow by the minute.

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Saudi Arabia implements public decency code as it opens to tourists

Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it would issue fines for 19 offences related to public decency, such as immodest dress and public displays of affection, as the Muslim kingdom opens up to foreign tourists. The Interior Ministry decision accompanies the launch of a visa regime allowing holidaymakers from 49 states to visit one of the world's most closed-off countries. Violations listed on the new visa website also include littering, spitting, queue jumping, taking photographs and videos of people without permission and playing music at prayer times.

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