| 5 key takeaways from the Democratic debate in Ohio Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:24 PM PDT  Warren is treated like the front-runner, a "healthy" Bernie returns to the debate stage with key endorsements in his pocket and more.
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| Yang and O'Rourke propose decriminalizing opioids, including heroin Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:59 PM PDT  Two Democrats suggested making small amounts of heroin legal as a way to combat the drug epidemic.
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| School suspends girls, says rape-awareness note was bullying Posted: 15 Oct 2019 02:38 PM PDT  A 15-year-old girl was suspended for bullying after trying to draw attention to what she believed was an unaddressed problem of sexual assaults involving students at her high school. Aela Mansmann, a 15-year-old sophomore at Cape Elizabeth High School outside Portland, has been at odds with Cape Elizabeth Schools for a month after posting a note in a bathroom that said: "There's a rapist in our school and you know who it is." She and two other students who left similar notes were ordered suspended. The American Civil Liberties Union of Maine is taking on Mansmann's case and calling on federal court to stop her suspension.
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| Cory Booker wants $90m a year to prevent urban gun violence Posted: 16 Oct 2019 04:00 AM PDT  New bill would focus federal dollars on public health approaches to gun violence Senator Cory Booker gives a speech on gun violence at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal church, known as Mother Emanuel, in Charleston, South Carolina, in August. Photograph: Randall Hill/ReutersFor more than a decade, faith leaders from black and brown communities have come to Congress with the same request: spend more money on local strategies to prevent gun violence.Now, the New Jersey senator Cory Booker is introducing legislation that would devote $90m a year to programs that prevent urban gun violence.Booker's new grant program would focus federal dollars on helping the cities with the highest gun homicide rates, and it would prioritize funding for strategies that do not contribute to mass incarceration.series boxInstead of simply directing more federal money to local law enforcement, the new legislation would require cities to give at least half of their federal grant dollars to community organizations that provide services to high-risk people, or to a public department "that is not a law enforcement agency".Booker's bill does not include any gun control provisions: it's focused on strategies that prevent shootings by focusing on the people, not the guns."We're in a tough political climate," said Pastor Michael McBride, a California-based activist who has spent the last decade campaigning for more resources for local gun violence prevention. "This approach charts a way forward that does not bog us down in these intense debates over the second amendment or gun control."Booker's legislation is designed to fund programs that have shown success in reducing gun violence in cities such as Oakland and Richmond, California; Boston, Massachusetts; and New York City. The legislation would devote $90m a year over 10 years to evidence-based approaches to gun violence reduction.In the past decade, as they have invested public dollars into expanding community-based strategies, Oakland has seen a 44% decrease in its gun homicide rate, and nearby Richmond has seen a 67% decrease in its gun homicide rate.The decreases in Oakland, Richmond, and San Francisco have driven a 30% decrease in the overall gun homicide rate across the greater San Francisco Bay Area, even as the number of people living in poverty in the region has increased, and as property crime has spiked in some areas. The decrease in the area is much larger than in the nation overall.The successful local strategies highlighted in Booker's legislation include investing in street outreach workers or "violence interrupters", trusted community members who intervene in local gang conflicts to keep violence from spreading; funding intervention programs in hospitals to help shooting victims change their lives; and supporting "group violence intervention" strategies, such as Boston's Operation Ceasefire, that bring together law enforcement, community partners, and faith leaders to intervene with the small number of men in each city who are most likely to shoot or be shot.Booker's Break the Cycle of Violence Act is co-sponsored by the US representative Steven Horsford, a Nevada Democrat whose father was shot to death during a robbery when he was 19."These deaths are preventable," Horsford said in a statement.Mass shootings are usually the focus of America's gun control debate. But the majority of America's gun homicide victims are killed in smaller daily shootings in neighborhoods that have struggled with gun violence for decades.Black men and boys, who make up just 6% of America's overall population, represent more than 50% of the country's gun homicide victims.A 2015 Guardian investigation found that half of the country's gun homicides were concentrated in just 127 cities and towns. Experts have argued for years that American gun violence is highly concentrated, and that one of the best ways to save lives is to devote more resources into the neighborhoods with the greatest need.Black and brown activists have often felt "invisible" and "erased" from the American gun control debate, McBride said."Our communities are used as props, but never really given serious consideration on how to scale up strategies that save our lives and heal our communities," he said.The new legislation focuses resources on the majority of America's gun violence victims – and it also focuses on solutions that are less politically controversial than gun control laws, McBride said."We think Republicans, historically, have been huge supporters of these kinds of strategies, because of the role that faith communities and redemption and healing play," he said.
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| Buttigieg, O'Rourke clash over assault-rifle buyback plan Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:57 PM PDT  At Tuesday night's Democratic primary debate, presidential candidates Beto O'Rourke and Pete Buttigieg escalated their disagreement over O'Rourke's proposal for mandatory buybacks of assault weapons.
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| Kenya opens Chinese-built railway linking Rift Valley town to Nairobi Posted: 16 Oct 2019 01:47 AM PDT ![Kenya opens Chinese-built railway linking Rift Valley town to Nairobi]( "Kenya opens Chinese-built railway linking Rift Valley town to Nairobi") Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta is due to open a new $1.5 billion Chinese rail line on Wednesday linking the capital Nairobi to the Rift Valley town of Naivasha, despite delays in establishing an industrial park there to drive freight traffic. The development of Kenya's railways has been part of China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a multi-billion dollar series of infrastructure projects upgrading land and maritime trade routes between China and Europe, Asia and Africa. Kenya had planned to open an industrial park in Naivasha, offering companies tax breaks for investing in manufacturing, and preferential tariffs for electricity generated in the nearby geothermal fields.
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| A 75-year-old cruise ship passenger jumped overboard a Carnival-owned ship between Portugal and Spain (CCL) Posted: 15 Oct 2019 11:14 AM PDT  A Costa Cruises representative said the woman "voluntarily" jumped from the balcony in her cabin on the Costa Pacifica ship.
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| UAE to launch new low-cost airline Posted: 16 Oct 2019 06:47 AM PDT  Abu Dhabi's giant Etihad Airways and Sharjah's low-cost carrier Air Arabia announced Wednesday an agreement to launch a new low-cost airline based in the United Arab Emirates capital. Etihad Airways posted a loss in 2018 for the third year running, it said earlier this year, blaming investment losses and challenging market conditions. The new Air Arabia Abu Dhabi will be launched in "due course", Tony Douglas, CEO of Etihad Aviation Group, said in a statement issued by the two Emirati carriers.
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| Trump Jr mocks Hunter Biden for admitting he got jobs because his father was vice-president Posted: 15 Oct 2019 12:00 PM PDT  Donald Trump Jr has been mocked for sending out a tweet about Joe Biden's son Hunter using his father's status for personal gain."Dumpster fire at Biden HQ!" the tweet began.
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| Russia Prepares the Way for Bashar al-Assad’s Brutal Endgame in Nothern Syria Posted: 16 Oct 2019 02:01 AM PDT  GAZIANTEP, Turkey—After eight years of Syrian civil war, the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and the displacement of half the Syrian population, U.S. President Donald J. Trump's decisions have created conditions for Bashar al-Assad's regime to re-assert control over nearly one-third of the country that had been outside its grip since 2012. Far from reining in U.S. adversaries, Trump's presidency will likely be remembered as one through which Assad, this century's greatest mass murderer, managed finally to claw his way back to a position of undisputed authority. Trump Just Enlisted America in a New Axis of EvilThis is the way that's playing out on the ground in what is, admittedly, still a complicated situation.The news began Tuesday morning with Russian pro-Kremlin journalist Oleg Blokhin streaming a live video from inside the recently abandoned American al-Sa'idi'a base in Syria on the western outskirts of the Manbij countryside. "Good morning to everyone from Manbij," exclaimed Blokhin. "I'm at the American military base right now, where they were until yesterday morning. Already, we're here [instead]. We're going to examine now how they were living here, what they were so busy with, and what's going on." A second video would show Blokhin as he mockingly played with a boom barrier at the entrance to the base, appearing to check whether or not it worked. "It's in good condition," he assured the cameraman, with a slight grin. Blokhin, who works for the pro-Kremlin ANNA news network, previously covered the activities of Russian private military contractor Wagner as it trained pro-Assad militiamen in January, and later accompanied Russian and pro-Assad forces during the latter's successful August campaign to take back the town of Khan Sheikhoun. Now, he stood gloating on a former U.S. military base. Other pro-Assad media soon conducted similar tours of other U.S. bases abandoned by American soldiers. Reports throughout the day Tuesday would also claim U.S. troops pulled out of two new additional locations including the eastern town of Tal Baydar and the Kharab Ashak base west of Ain Aissa. Shortly before U.S. troops withdrew, ISIS families still being detained at a nearby prison facility in Ain Aissa reportedly set fires throughout the camp in a renewed attempt to try to escape. In addition to exemplifying the momentous shift underway as Assad's vital ally Russia finally replaces the United States as the primary party in northern Syria capable of liaising with most all of the parties to the conflict, Blokhin's livestream carried a special significance for locals in Manbij. Over the past week, including several days after Trump's shock announcement that U.S. troops would withdraw from Syria, American soldiers at the al-Sa'idi'a base actually continued carrying out near-daily patrols in the western and northern Manbij countryside that helped successfully ward off previous attempts by Syrian regime forces to set up positions in the area. That offered hope to those in Manbij who oppose the regime—that U.S. military institutions might be capable of coercing the Turkish president to adopt a compromise that saw U.S. troops remain in the area until Turkish-backed forces were capable of assuming control. But those hopes along with more than 16 months of U.S.-Turkish diplomacy were dashed Tuesday as the American troops made their final withdrawal from the area, paving the way for Russian and Syrian regime forces to roll in free and unopposed. Elsewhere, in Ain Aissa and Tal Tamr, towns located along the M4 highway, northern Syria's main artery and transportation route, Russian and regime forces established permanent checkpoints and bases to ensure control of the strategic route in the face of oncoming Turkish assaults. Those reinforcements appeared to have helped the SDF capture three villages from Turkish-backed forces in the immediate vicinity north of Tal Tamr later that night. While the arrival of regime forces undoubtedly has provided much needed relief for the SDF on several fronts, doing so will come with a cost. As the SDF welcomes more Syrian regime reinforcements into its territory, the group undoubtedly will lose future leverage it would need in order to preserve a role for itself within civil governing institutions throughout northeast Syria. On Monday, the SDF's largely toothless civil wing, the Syrian Democratic Council, issued a directive to local councils in the area to continue to perform their duties "as previously," insisting that "nothing has changed" and that the agreement with the regime constituted no more than a temporary military alliance to protect Syria's borders. However it's unlikely that the SDF, the Syrian Democratic Council, or other SDF-backed institutions within the group's self-proclaimed "Autonomous Administration" will be able to preserve any modicum of independence as their reliance on the Assad regime becomes more solidified. And, following the failure of Russian-Turkish negotiations throughout Tuesday to reach a ceasefire between the warring parties, that reliance looks set to intensify. Negotiations between Moscow and Ankara began Tuesday morning following condemnation of Turkey's campaign by the Kremlin's special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev. A high-ranking Free Syrian Army military source in Manbij told The Daily Beast that Turkey gave orders Tuesday morning to its FSA proxies to halt temporarily their assault while both sides attempted to reach a solution. During that time, numerous pro-regime demonstrations were held in Manbij as the Syrian army sent several armored tanks into the city. According to local sources on the ground, some of these demonstrations were led by pro-regime figures that previously had been arrested by the SDF but were recently released following the Russian and Syrian regime entrance to the city. The Russian-Turkish talks come one day after the official Facebook page for the Russian defense ministry's Hmeimim base issued a stern warning for Turkey and its allies not to "behave recklessly in entering an open war with government troops." That was issued shortly after the Russians allegedly concluded an agreement with the SDF to allow Russian and regime troops to enter the cities of Kobani and Manbij. Yet despite the repeated warnings and attempts to hold talks, by Tuesday night Turkish-backed forces re-launched their assault. Thousands of civilians fled the border city of Kobani as a result of renewed Turkish assaults on the city in an attempt by the latter to capture the site of a former U.S. base recently abandoned nearby. Shortly after, our military source would claim renewed orders had been given by Ankara to re-launch operations in Manbij by dawn. Speaking to Reuters while returning from the Azerbaijaini capital Baku, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared undeterred by recent U.S. sanctions imposed on Ankara, by the arrival of regime reinforcements into the area, or by international condemnation of his country's assault. "They say 'declare a ceasefire.' We will never declare a ceasefire," Erdogan said. "They are pressuring us to stop the operation. They are announcing sanctions. Our goal is clear. We are not worried about any sanctions."Shortly after, local media and activists would report a Turkish airstrike on the strategic town of Aun al-Dadat, the site of a former U.S. base in the north Manbij countryside along the al-Sajur River that has since been occupied by SDF and regime units. Nawaf al-Mustafa, an activist living several miles away in Manbij city, said he could hear the explosion from his home. "I heard an explosion and thought it might have been an ISIS suicide attack," he said. "But it wasn't, news came in shortly after that Turkish forces instead were bombing Aun al-Dadat."Look Who's Back! Trump Handed Terrorists a Free Pass.Ahmed Qalqali, another anti-regime activist, would send out an alert to the families of FSA fighters to several WhatsApp groups used by locals to follow the news. "Any young man in Manbij who has a brother fighting on the front lines with the FSA should avoid sleeping at home tonight," hinting at the possibility of SDF-regime house raids in response to the attacks. "Try to stay with a friend or someone to whom you're not blood related." Despite the Turkish insistence to continue fighting, in reality the tide seems to be turning against Ankara and its proxies. Despite managing to gain control of the strategic border town of Tal Abyad, after nearly one week of fighting Turkish-backed forces have been unable to capture Ras al-Ain, a city of just over 30,000 that has managed to put up stiff resistance and ward off Turkish incursions. Manbij, a city of nearly 100,000, will require much greater strength and political will in order to be captured.Recent U.S. sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on key Turkish ministers and cabinet officials will also likely further hamper Ankara's ability to freely wage war against the SDF, while significantly raising the cost of doing so. Nonetheless, these factors are unlikely to push Erdogan to end the campaign, as domestic pressures to create space to resettle Syrian refugees that have proven a burden to the Turkish economy threaten to destabilize his government. What will likely ensue will be a committed, albeit slow and protracted campaign to achieve Ankara's goal of carving out a safe zone in Manbij and along the entirety of Turkey's border with Syria. However, the likely delay in achieving further Turkish gains will also give the Syrian regime a larger window to calmly mobilize and deploy its forces throughout the region while still being able to exploit the threat posed to the SDF by Ankara in order to slowly grab more power in northeastern Syria. Further, the expansion of Syrian regime troops throughout the area doesn't seem to be a prospect that much bothers the Turkish president, so long as they don't mix with SDF and other armed Kurdish elements. Also while speaking to reporters in Baku, Erdogan stated, "The regime entering Manbij is not very negative for me. Why? It's their lands after all," he said. "But, what is important to me is that the terrorist organization does not remain there… I told this to Mr. Putin as well. If you are clearing Manbij of terrorist organizations, then go ahead, you or the regime can provide all the logistics. But if you are not going to do this, the people there are telling us to save them." By "terrorist organizations," Erdogan means primarily the Kurds who were backed by the United States in the fight against ISIS.Such a statement from a head of state who for eight years has been among the most enthusiastic supporters of the Syrian revolution to topple Assad is indicative of the extent to which international calculus surrounding the Syrian issue has changed. It will likely encourage the Assad regime to consider the possibility of going after and eliminating the SDF itself if doing so may once and for all put an end to the activities of their meddlesome Turkish neighbor. Such a prospect may occur as part of a broader swap or deal whereby Turkey would also agree to withdraw its troops from the broader Idlib region, where Ha'it Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an offshoot of al Qaeda's former Syrian branch, Jabhat al-Nusra, and other FSA groups have been engaged in a bloody standoff with the Syrian regime for over a year.Erdogan's statements make perfectly clear that, following Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. troops, the cards increasingly lie in the hands of the Assad regime and its Russian ally. Read 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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| China Threatens to Retaliate if U.S. Passes Hong Kong Bill Posted: 15 Oct 2019 05:50 PM PDT ![China Threatens to Retaliate if U.S. Passes Hong Kong Bill]( "China Threatens to Retaliate if U.S. Passes Hong Kong Bill") (Bloomberg) -- China threatened to retaliate if the U.S. Congress follows through with passing legislation that would require an annual review of whether the city is sufficiently autonomous from Beijing to justify its special trading status.The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it would take strong measures if the bill passed. The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is one of four measures passed by the U.S. House Tuesday in unanimous voice votes. The bill provides for sanctions against officials "responsible for undermining fundamental freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong." A similar bill is also before the Senate, though the timing of a vote there remains uncertain. The legislation has bipartisan support in both chambers.To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Li Liu in Beijing at lliu255@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Everything Google Revealed at Its NYC Pixel Event Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:44 AM PDT |
| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement of Bernie Sanders is a huge win for him and a way for her to hit back at the Democratic Party Posted: 16 Oct 2019 01:19 PM PDT  Bernie Sanders gets a political rock star's endorsement. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gets to prove her left-wing credibility to the progressive wing.
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| How Nazi Germany Crushed France During World War II (It Wasn't Luck) Posted: 15 Oct 2019 11:00 PM PDT  Leadership was critical.
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| A New Jersey school district wants to ban students from attending prom if they have more than $75 in school lunch debt Posted: 16 Oct 2019 12:31 PM PDT  The Cherry Hill, New Jersey school board passed a new policy Tuesday night which could allow schools to ban students from prom over lunch debt.
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| View 2021 Genesis GV70 Spy Photos Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:28 AM PDT |
| Fearing US abandonment, Kurds kept back channels wide open Posted: 15 Oct 2019 03:58 PM PDT  When Syria's Kurdish fighters, America's longtime battlefield allies against the Islamic State, announced over the weekend that they were switching sides and joining up with Damascus and Moscow, it seemed like a moment of geopolitical whiplash. Fearing U.S. abandonment, the Kurds opened a back channel to the Syrian government and the Russians in 2018, and those talks ramped up significantly in recent weeks, American, Kurdish and Russian officials told The Associated Press. "We warned the Kurds that the Americans will ditch them," Russia's ambassador to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, told Russia's Tass news agency on Monday.
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| Alan Dershowitz Gets Rival Lawyer Booted From Epstein Victim’s Case Posted: 16 Oct 2019 11:34 AM PDT  REUTERS/Andrew InnerarityAlan Dershowitz may have lost his battle to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Roberts Giuffre—who claims Jeffrey Epstein kept her as his "sex slave" and forced her to have sex with Dershowitz. But the Harvard Law professor scored his own victory: persuading a federal judge to disqualify Giuffre's attorney, David Boies, and his firm, from her case.In an opinion filed Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska said she would deny Dershowitz's motion to dismiss the case—Dershowitz claims Giuffre is lying about having sex with him and tried to extort him—but grant his motion to disqualify Boies' firm. It was a blow to Boies, who's sparred with Dershowitz for decades, and Sigrid McCawley, a partner at the firm who represents multiple victims of Epstein.In a statement, McCawley said her firm would appeal Preska's decision to remove them from Giuffre's litigation in Manhattan federal court."Today's decision rejects Alan Dershowitz's chronic capacity to make this case about anything but the facts and what he has been accused of by our client, Virginia Giuffre. The defamation case against Alan Dershowitz is going forward and he will have to face justice," McCawley, a partner at Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, said in a statement."The decision, however, to disqualify our firm, which has had the privilege of representing Virginia and advocating for her brave voice and continued call for justice, is deeply disappointing and it will be promptly appealed."Jeffrey Epstein Accuser Names Powerful Men in Alleged Sex RingThe Biggest Bombshells in Newly Unsealed Epstein DocumentsThe order comes almost a month after Giuffre's and Dershowitz's legal teams faced off during oral arguments, after which Dershowitz held a press conference and accused Giuffre and her advocates of doing "a terrible disservice" to the MeToo movement. Boies and his firm have represented Giuffre for years, including in a separate defamation suit filed against Epstein's alleged madame, Ghislaine Maxwell. (A cache of court records in that case were unsealed last summer, providing a deeper look into the sexual abuse allegations against Epstein and his powerful friends.)Dershowitz, 81, argued the 78-year-old Boies should be booted from his case based on a conflict of interest: He was briefly a client of Boies' firm and says he provided an attorney with confidential information related to his fight against Giuffre's accusations. The professor also argued Boies and his firm's attorneys would be called as witnesses in Giuffre's case.The latter argument was more significant, according to Preska's order, which noted, "Because disqualification is so clearly required under the advocate-witness rule, the Court does not reach the conflict of interest argument advanced by Dershowitz."According to the rule, an attorney cannot represent a party where the attorney will be called as a witness. "The rule differentiates between an attorney who will be called on behalf of his client and an attorney who will be called as a witness other than on behalf of his client," Preska wrote in her order."A lawyer may also not act as an advocate where 'another lawyer in the lawyer's firm is likely to be called as a witness on a significant issue other than on behalf of the client, and it is apparent that the testimony may be prejudicial to the client,'" Preska added.In her complaint, Giuffre said Dershowitz's statements that she conspired with her lawyers to extort him and Epstein's associate and client Les Wexner are false. She also referenced a secretly-recorded phone call between Dershowitz and Boies; Dershowitz says Boies declared on the call that Giuffre was "simply wrong" in her accusation, while Giuffre has said Boies' assertions were taken "out of context.""By so pleading, Giuffre made the truth of these statements … a necessary—indeed essential—part of the Complaint," Preska ruled."Dershowitz's allegation of an extortion conspiracy is no mere throwaway line," the judge added of Giuffre's complaint, which was filed in April. "Giuffre explicitly characterizes Dershowitz's 'central assertion' as the facts that Giuffre committed perjury and that she and her attorneys 'hatched a scheme to falsely accuse Dershowitz of sex trafficking as part of a criminal attempt to extort a settlement from another party.'"Giuffre must prove at trial that Boies Schiller Flexner (BSF) lawyers didn't participate in the extortion scheme Dershowitz has alleged. "Either way, BSF is immersed in the facts it pled," Preska stated."Again it is essential to follow the litigation jujitsu at work here," the judge continued. "Giuffre says Dershowitz defamed her by falsely saying she and BSF engaged in an extortion scheme; Dershowitz says he said it and it is true. Giuffre's burden is to prove it is false in the face of Dershowitz's vehement claim that it is true."According to Preska's order, new counsel for Giuffre and Dershowitz's legal team must submit a proposed discovery plan by Nov. 13.Giuffre released a statement on Wednesday following the ruling: "I am grateful for the Court's decision to deny Alan Dershowitz's shameful attempt to dismiss my defamation case against him. I will no longer be silenced. I will no longer be shamed. I will see Alan Dershowitz in a court of law," she said."But I am dismayed by the Court's decision in this case to deprive me of my counsel. For over five years, my lawyers at Boies Schiller Flexner have worked tirelessly to bring Jeffrey Epstein and his co-conspirators to justice. When it was not in vogue and not a breaking news story, my lawyers Sigrid McCawley and David Boies stood up to the muscle of the Epstein machine and its grip on the legal system. It is no surprise that Alan Dershowitz, who was part of Epstein's ecosystem of power and privilege, is attempting to manipulate the legal system in the face of the serious charges I have brought against him. The reckoning of accountability has begun and today's decision will be appealed."Dershowitz's attorney, Imran H. Ansari, said the academic is "pleased" with Preska's decision to remove Boies from the case. "Disqualification is clearly required by the advocate-witness rule and by the very allegations made by the Plaintiff in her own Complaint," Ansari said in a statement. "Professor Dershowitz will call David Boies and his colleagues at trial to prove that their client—in Boies' own words—is 'wrong… simply wrong' in accusing him. Any appeal taken of Judge Preska's decision regarding disqualification will be met with stiff opposition by Professor Dershowitz."Meanwhile, Dershowitz argued Giuffre's complaint should be dismissed because the statements he made in 2018 and 2019—calling her a "total liar" who fabricated allegations against him for money—are "substantially identical" to statements he made in 2015 and therefore barred under the statute of limitations.Yet, Preska's order states that Dershowitz "admits he took affirmative steps to republish his prior statements to defend himself and his reputation by influencing new audiences or re-influencing old audiences.""Said differently, Dershowitz went looking for trouble, and by his repeated affirmative republications, he found it."Read 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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| UPDATE 3-Strong quake in Philippines kills one, injures dozens Posted: 16 Oct 2019 05:43 AM PDT ![UPDATE 3-Strong quake in Philippines kills one, injures dozens]( "UPDATE 3-Strong quake in Philippines kills one, injures dozens") A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Wednesday, killing at least one child and injuring more than two dozen other people. "Our hospital chief reported that a child died because of the earthquake," Reuel Limbungan, mayor of Tulunan town in North Cotabato province, told the DZMM radio station. The earthquake also shook Davao City, the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte and among the most populous cities in the country.
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| Hiker Digs Up 1,000-Year-Old Iron Weapon Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:49 AM PDT  Climate change melted away the ancient arrowhead.
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| Sears and Kmart closing more stores in late 2019 and early 2020. Is your location closing? Posted: 14 Oct 2019 11:04 PM PDT ![Sears and Kmart closing more stores in late 2019 and early 2020. Is your location closing?]( "Sears and Kmart closing more stores in late 2019 and early 2020. Is your location closing?") More than 100 Kmart and Sears stores will close by the end of 2019 and more closures are expected to continue into early 2020.
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| Three US diplomats held near Russian test site where mystery blast killed five Posted: 16 Oct 2019 10:18 AM PDT  * Russian foreign ministry says trio 'obviously got lost' * August explosion caused radiation levels to surgeA Russian navy official works on the Akula nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine at the Severodvinsk site in July. The August explosion there killed at least five people. Photograph: Sergei Bobylev/TassThree American diplomats were briefly detained in Russia near the military test site where a mysterious explosion released radiation in August, several Russia state news agencies have reported.The US embassy has confirmed the incident, the Interfax news service reported, but said the three diplomats had filed the proper paperwork to travel in the area.The Russian foreign ministry said the diplomats had named a different city as their destination and had "obviously got lost".The report comes just days after the United States said the accident was caused by a nuclear reaction when Russia tried to retrieve a nuclear-powered cruise missile from the Barents Sea.The diplomats were detained on Monday on a train in the city of Severodvinsk, near where Russian authorities said they had been testing a rocket engine with a nuclear component before the accident took place.The diplomats, who have been identified by Interfax as military attaches, were later released, but could face administrative charges for traveling in a restricted military area, agencies reported.In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry confirmed that the diplomats were on an official trip and had informed the Russian defence ministry of their plans."Only, they said their intention was to visit Arkhangelsk and they ended up en route to Severodvinsk," the ministry said."They obviously got lost. We are ready to give the US embassy a map of Russia," the ministry added.The blast at the military test site in August killed at least five people and caused panic after radiation levels jumped to 16 times their normal levels in nearby Severodvinsk.Russian authorities have given little information about the accident. But a US diplomat this week said that the accident took place when Russia attempted to retrieve a nuclear-powered cruise missile called Burevestnik from the Barents Sea."The United States has determined that the explosion near Nyonoksa was the result of a nuclear reaction that occurred during the recovery of a Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile," Thomas DiNanno, the diplomat, said during a speech at the UN.Russia's plans for a nuclear-powered cruise missile that could in theory fly indefinitely were first revealed by Vladimir Putin during a speech last year. The missile is still undergoing testing, and some weapons experts doubt if it can ever be made operable.Russia's military was attempting to retrieve the missile from another failed 2017 test when the accident took place.It was not immediately clear whether the diplomats were traveling to or from Nyonoksa, the village near the military testing site, when they were detained. But train timetables would indicate they were returning from the village when they were arrested close to 6pm in Severodvinsk.Russia has maintained a shroud of secrecy around the incident, closing off waters in the White Sea to foreign ships to prevent them from collecting information about the explosion.
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| Iran president's brother starts 5-year jail term: report Posted: 16 Oct 2019 02:39 AM PDT  Iranian President Hassan Rouhani's brother entered prison Wednesday to begin a five-year sentence after he was convicted of corruption, the semi-official ISNA news agency reported, citing his lawyer. Hossein Fereydoun, who served as an aide to the president, was arrested in July 2017 and put on trial in February this year on allegations of financial violations. "This morning Mr Fereydoun together with myself were present at the prosecutor's office," Hossein Sartipi said, quoted by ISNA.
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| Andrew Yang eschewed the usual American flag lapel pin for one that said 'math' instead at the debate Posted: 16 Oct 2019 08:10 AM PDT  Yang has broken the mold before when it comes to debate fashion, after wearing the flag pin on the wrong side and going tie-less for the first debate.
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| The Latest: Pelosi says 'all roads seem to lead to Putin' Posted: 15 Oct 2019 04:45 PM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says "all roads seem to lead to Putin" when it comes to President Donald Trump. The California Democrat told reporters Tuesday that nevertheless, she's not going to call for a formal House vote on impeachment.
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| Buttigieg Claims Warren and Sanders’s Medicare for All Is ‘Infringing on Freedom’ in New Ad Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:39 AM PDT  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg released a campaign ad Monday evening taking aim at Medicare for All, the public health insurance proposal favored by several rival 2020 candidates, and proposing his alternative, "Medicare for All Who Want It."The South Bend, Ind., mayor's minute-long video, titled "Makes More Sense," features several political reporters and analysts praising his plan and juxtaposing it with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All, which would require that roughly 160 million Americans' surrender their private insurance."Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren believe that we have to force ourselves into Medicare for All, where private insurance is abolished, there are 160 million Americans to get their insurance from their employer," CNN analyst Joe Lockhart says in a clip included in the ad.Buttigieg is "trying to focus on choice not infringing on people's freedom to make that decision voluntarily," NBC reporter Josh Lederman says in another segment."Medicare for All Who Want It is different than Medicare for All because this gives Americans a choice," Buttigieg said in an additional video that was released concurrent with the ad and explains his proposal. "If you prefer a public plan like Medicare, like I think most Americans will, you can choose it. But if you prefer to keep your private insurance, you can."Medicare for All Who Want It will be a "public insurance alternative for everyone, no matter their income" with the goal of making health care "far more affordable," according to the explanatory video.Buttigieg also vowed to release a "policy series" over the next several months to diagnose problems in the country's health care system, which is "too expensive, too complicated, and too frustrating.""I trust Americans to make our own decisions regarding the type of health care that makes the most sense for each of us and our families," the mayor said.Buttigieg's ad comes hours before he is set to face off against Warren, Sanders, and other fellow contenders for the Democratic 2020 presidential nomination during Tuesday night's debate in Ohio hosted by CNN and the New York Times.
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| 'Just a matter of time' before president removed following impeachment testimony: Former Trump aide Posted: 15 Oct 2019 07:39 AM PDT  President Trump's ex-national security adviser, John Bolton, reportedly urged former Russia adviser Fiona Hill to warn the White House about a campaign to pressure Ukraine directed by the president's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, describing the latter as a "hand grenade who's going to blow everybody up."
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| U.S. Supreme Court wrestles over 'D.C. Sniper' life sentence appeal Posted: 16 Oct 2019 11:45 AM PDT  U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday questioned whether a lower court sufficiently considered that a man convicted in the deadly 2002 "D.C. Sniper" shooting spree in the Washington area was a minor at the time of the crimes when he was sentenced to life in prison. The nine justices heard arguments in an appeal by the state of Virginia objecting to the lower court's decision ordering that Lee Boyd Malvo's sentence of life in prison without parole be thrown out. The most likely contender based on questions he asked during the argument would be Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
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| Noah: Democratic Party is like a club on Tuesday night; anyone can get in Posted: 16 Oct 2019 10:40 AM PDT  A look at the most recent debate in Best of Late Night
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| U.S. House Passes Bill Aimed at Supporting Hong Kong Protests Posted: 15 Oct 2019 01:42 PM PDT  (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. House gave support to pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong by passing a bill that would require an annual review of whether the city is sufficiently autonomous from Beijing to justify its special trading status under U.S. law.The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act is one of four measures passed by the House Tuesday in unanimous voice votes. The bill provides for sanctions against officials "responsible for undermining fundamental freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong."A similar bill is also before the Senate, though the timing of a vote there remains uncertain. The legislation has bipartisan support in both chambers.Thousands of protesters gathered on Monday in Hong Kong's central district to support the legislation, many of them waving American flags. A spokesman for the Hong Kong government "expressed regret" over the rally calling for the U.S. legislation's passage."Human rights and freedoms in Hong Kong are fully protected by the Basic Law, the Hong Kong Bill of Rights Ordinance and other legislation. The HKSAR government attaches great importance to them and is determined to safeguard them," the spokesman said, referring to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.'Grossly Interferes'The Chinese government opposes the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, H.R. 3289, saying that it "grossly interferes in China's internal affairs.""China strongly urges certain people in the U.S. Congress to grasp the situation, immediately stop advancing the bill regarding Hong Kong and interfering in Hong Kong's affairs to avoid further damaging China-U.S. relations," said Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The House passed H.Res. 543, a resolution reaffirming the relationship between the U.S. and Hong Kong, condemning Chinese interference in the region and voicing support for protesters, some of whom have visited Capitol Hill in recent weeks.Also passed was the Protect Hong Kong Act, H.R. 4270, which would halt the export to Hong Kong of crowd-control devices such as tear gas and rubber bullets. The bill is intended to prevent police in Hong Kong from using those non-lethal weapons on protesters.In addition, the House adopted a resolution introduced by Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot Engel and top Republican Michael McCaul, which commends the Canadian government for starting extradition proceedings in the U.S. case against Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. The resolution, H.Res. 521, also calls for the release of two Canadian nationals and due process for a third sentenced to death for drug smuggling.Republican Senators Rick Scott, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley visited Hong Kong over the two-week congressional recess that ended Tuesday. Hawley met with local pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong and got into a back-and-forth with Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam. Hawley said on Twitter that he called Hong Kong a "police state" on purpose "because that is exactly what Hong Kong is becoming."(Updates with other two measures passed starting in second paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Daniel Flatley in Washington at dflatley1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Anna EdgertonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Nigeria town celebrates claim as 'twins capital' of world Posted: 15 Oct 2019 08:00 PM PDT  To celebrate its self-proclaimed title the town hosts an annual festival, now in its second year, that draws hundreds of sets of twins from around the country. Donning different traditional clothes and costumes, the twins -- male and female, old, young and even newborns -- sang and danced at the latest edition this weekend to the appreciation of an admiring audience.
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| A N.J. school district wants to ban students from attending prom if they have more than $75 in school lunch debt Posted: 16 Oct 2019 03:47 PM PDT  A school district in New Jersey passed a new policy this week that will allow schools to bar students from attending prom if they have a school lunch debt above $75.
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| The Latest: Authorities seek cause for California fuel fire Posted: 16 Oct 2019 07:51 AM PDT  Officials are trying to determine if a 4.5 magnitude earthquake triggered an explosion at a fuel storage facility in the San Francisco Bay Area that started a fire and trapped thousands in their homes for hours because of potentially unhealthy air. The earthquake struck about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southeast from the NuStar Energy fuel storage facility in the Bay Area community of Crockett 15 hours before the fire started Tuesday. Randy Sawyer, Contra Costa County's chief environmental health and hazardous materials officer, tells KQED News that quake caused malfunctions at two nearby oil refineries operated by Shell and Marathon oil.
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| Pelosi to Delay House Vote on Impeachment Inquiry Posted: 16 Oct 2019 08:49 AM PDT  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders have decided to delay a full House vote on whether to open an impeachment inquiry into President Trump, according to Politico.Several centrist Democrats facing difficult reelection bids, as well as powerful committee chairmen, reportedly were opposed to taking the vote."There's no requirement that we have a vote, and at this time, we will not have a vote," Pelosi commented to reporters on Tuesday. "We're not here to call bluffs. We're here to find the truth, to uphold the Constitution of the United States."The refusal by Democrats to authorize an impeachment inquiry with a full House-wide vote has drawn the ire of Republicans who claim the move is at odds with historical precedent."Unfortunately, you have given no clear indication as to how your impeachment inquiry will proceed — including whether key historical precedents or basic standards of due process will be observed," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) wrote in a letter to Pelosi in September.White House counsel Pat Cipollone wrote a letter to Pelosi on October 8, calling the impeachment inquiry "constitutionally invalid" without a full House vote.Democratic leadership announced the opening of an inquiry after allegations surfaced that President Trump tried to improperly pressure the president of Ukraine to conduct investigations damaging to political rival Joe Biden.
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| Iran's So-Called New Fighter Jet Is Most Likely a Scam (Sort Of) Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:00 PM PDT  Or just another F-5 ripoff?
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| Dark web child porn bust leads to 338 arrests worldwide Posted: 16 Oct 2019 07:38 AM PDT  Law enforcement officials said on Wednesday they had arrested hundreds of people worldwide after knocking out a South Korea-based dark web child pornography site that sold gruesome videos for digital cash. Officials from the United States, Britain and South Korea described the network as one of the largest child pornography operations they had encountered to date. Called Welcome To Video, the website relied on the bitcoin cryptocurrency to sell access to 250,000 videos depicting child sexual abuse, authorities said, including footage of extremely young children being raped.
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| Sleep Soundly Outdoors by Saving on Klymit Sleeping Pads Posted: 15 Oct 2019 11:26 AM PDT |
| Here are the winners and losers from Tuesday's Democratic debate Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:40 PM PDT  Pete Buttigieg was ready to hit back, and those who didn't make the debate stage have an uphill battle.
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| Blizzard Bans Three Student Gamers Over ‘Free Hong Kong’ Sign Posted: 16 Oct 2019 01:43 PM PDT  PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP/Getty ImagesActivision Blizzard has suspended three collegiate gamers for expressing support for the Hong Kong protests and advocating for a boycott of the company. The three players—American University students identified by Vice as Casey Chambers, Corwin Dark, and one only by his handle TJammer—held up a sign that read "Free Hong Kong, boycott Blizz" during an official Blizzard broadcast of a tournament for the strategy card game Hearthstone. Now, they're barred from the league for six months. The students were expressing their support for Chung Ng Wai, who goes by Blitzchung in-game, for speaking out in support of Hong Kong protesters during an official tournament broadcast from Taiwan. Blizzard initially banned Chung from the league for a year but later reduced his sentence to six months, a decision many saw as too harsh and bowing to censorship pressure from Beijing.Blizzard on Pro-Hong-Kong Player's Ban: He Can't Go UnpunishedIn making the determination, Blizzard said the broadcasts need to be free from politics."Our official broadcast needs to be about the game and the competition, and to be a place where all are welcome," Blizzard spokesman Dustin Blackwell said in an email to the Daily Beast. "If we allow the introduction of personal views about sensitive issues into the channel, it ceases to be what it's meant for—esports.""Blitzchung's initial punishment was insane," Chambers told the Daily Beast. "Both of us getting punished is largely more equitable, though. I would say that us calling for a boycott of the company deserved more severe punishment than his because his was entirely human-rights-focused."Blizzard has been mired in controversy since banning Chung, which added fuel to the fire of the NBA's own imbroglio involving China. Chinese tech giant Tencent owns a stake in Blizzard, and the company generates a 12 percent of its revenue in the Chinese video game market. Blizzard issued a statement Friday saying that its relationship with China was "not a factor" in its decision to ban Chung. The company's own employees had walked out of work October 9th to protest its treatment of the player.Chambers told the Beast he'd never play Hearthstone again."[Blizzard's] messaging Friday didn't apologize for the initial ban, which was far beyond the pale of what could be considered reasonable. There was no apology for that," he said.Read 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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| Romania's ex-anti-graft chief confirmed as EU's top prosecutor Posted: 16 Oct 2019 12:47 PM PDT  Romania's former anti-graft chief Laura Codruta Kovesi has been confirmed as the European Union's first top fraud prosecutor, the European Parliament announced on Wednesday in an appointment that comes despite opposition from Bucharest. Kovesi can now head the new European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO)for a seven-year term after a majority of EU member states, including the President of the European Parliament David Sassoli, backed her nomination in September.
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| New Jersey police are looking for a possible witness to the kidnapping of a 3-year-old girl 30 days ago Posted: 16 Oct 2019 07:35 AM PDT  Five-year-old Dulce Maria Alavez disappeared from Bridgeton City Park in New Jersey on September 16.
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| Scientists discover big storms can create 'stormquakes' Posted: 16 Oct 2019 01:59 PM PDT  The shaking of the sea floor during hurricanes and nor'easters can rumble like a magnitude 3.5 earthquake and can last for days, according to a study in this week's journal Geophysical Research Letters. A stormquake is more an oddity than something that can hurt you, because no one is standing on the sea floor during a hurricane, said Wenyuan Fan, a Florida State University seismologist who was the study's lead author. "This is the last thing you need to worry about," Fan told The Associated Press.
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| Turkey ‘effectively holding 50 US nuclear bombs hostage’ at air base amid Syria invasion Posted: 16 Oct 2019 05:14 AM PDT  An estimated 50 US nuclear bombs are effectively being held hostage in Turkey as Washington attempts to find a diplomatic way of responding to the country's invasion of Syria, officials are reported to have warned.The withdrawal of American troops from northern Syria – creating a power vacuum that has allowed Turkey and Russia to move into the region and displace Washington's Kurdish allies – has caused international outcry.
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| America's “Dauntless” Dive-Bomber Was a World War II Classic Posted: 15 Oct 2019 09:00 AM PDT  An excellent plane.
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