| Republican senator on Trump soliciting foreign interference: 'Things happen' Posted: 19 Jan 2020 12:42 PM PST  Republican Senator Richard Shelby defended an argument from President Trump's legal team that soliciting foreign interference in an election is not an impeachable offense, saying, "things happen."
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| Bloomberg pledges $70 billion to bolster black America in new plan Posted: 19 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST  Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his presidential campaign's plan for bolstering economic opportunity for black Americans.
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| Five die in Russian hotel after boiling water floods basement Posted: 19 Jan 2020 10:33 PM PST  Five people, including one child, were killed in the Russian city of Perm on Monday when a hot water pipe exploded in the night and flooded a basement hotel room with boiling water. At least three other people were taken to hospital with burns after the incident in the Mini Hotel Caramel, which is located in the basement of a residential building, the region's investigative committee said. A doctor treating the victims, Andrei Babikov, said a 33-year-old woman had burns covering 35% of her body.
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| AP Explains: CFO of China's Huawei facing extradition to US Posted: 19 Jan 2020 08:02 AM PST ![AP Explains: CFO of China's Huawei facing extradition to US]( "AP Explains: CFO of China's Huawei facing extradition to US") An extradition hearing begins Monday in a Vancouver courtroom for Huawei top executive Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of the company's founder. Canada arrested Meng while she was changing planes at Vancouver's airport in late 2018.
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| Could Taiwan Stop an Invasion By China? Posted: 19 Jan 2020 11:25 PM PST  Expert: "Over the next four years, it may be more important to acquire less glamorous but nimbler weapons to prevent Beijing from considering an invasion."
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| US navy to name aircraft carrier in honour of black Pearl Harbor veteran Posted: 19 Jan 2020 03:12 AM PST  Doris Miller was working as a mess attendant on the battleship West Virginia the morning of 7 December 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. An alarm sounded, and as the ship drew heavy fire, Miller raced to assist the West Virginia's fatally wounded commanding officer. He also fired a machine gun against enemy planes.For his bravery and "distinguished devotion to duty" that day, Miller in 1942 was awarded the prestigious Navy Cross, the second-highest military decoration, making him the first African American to receive the medal.
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| Biden Tops Iowa Poll by Democratic Rural Group: Campaign Update Posted: 20 Jan 2020 08:05 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A new Iowa poll has Joe Biden leading the Democratic presidential race in the first caucus state. The former vice president also placed as likely caucusgoers' top second choice, putting him in a strong position with just two weeks to go until voters begin to choose their nominee.Biden had the support of 24% of likely caucus-goers polled by Focus on Rural America, an Iowa group with Democratic ties that has been polling in the state since last year. Biden's backing in the survey has been roughly stable since the group's September poll, when he was at 25%. He is also the second choice of 24% of those surveyed, an important measure given that caucusgoers have the chance to choose a second candidate if their first choice gets below 15% at their caucus site on Feb. 3.Elizabeth Warren was in second place at 19%, a 4-point drop from her showing in the previous poll. Pete Buttigieg was in third place at 16% and Bernie Sanders was in fourth at 12%. Amy Klobuchar, who's staking her campaign on success in Iowa, was in fifth place at 11%. Buttigieg was the second most-popular second-choice candidate, with 21% of likely caucus-goers saying they'd support him if their first choice is not viable.The poll's ordering of the top four candidates is different than the well-regarded Des Moines Register poll released 10 days ago, which had Sanders leading and Biden in fourth. The discrepancies probably reflect what's expected to be a messy caucus night result that few Iowa Democrats are willing to predict.The poll, conducted by David Binder Research, surveyed 500 likely caucusgoers and has an error margin of 4.4 percentage points.COMING UP:Democratic presidential candidates Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, and Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, both plan to address the U.S. Conference of Mayors on Wednesday.The candidates will debate again in New Hampshire on Feb. 7.The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3. The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 11. Nevada holds its caucuses on Feb. 22 and South Carolina has a primary on Feb. 29.(Michael Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Edward DufnerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Erdogan says Somalia has invited Turkey to explore for oil in its seas: NTV Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:54 AM PST  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Somalia had invited Turkey to explore for oil in its seas, after Ankara signed a maritime agreement with Libya last year, broadcaster NTV reported. Turkey has been a major source of aid to Somalia following a famine in 2011 as Ankara seeks to increase its influence in the Horn of Africa to counter Gulf rivals like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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| Republican leader tells 'white supremacist garbage' to stay away from Virginia gun rally Posted: 19 Jan 2020 09:09 AM PST  The Republican leader in Virginia has told groups planning to spread "white supremacist garbage" at a pro-gun rally on Monday to stay away. Amid fears that violence could erupt with far-right militias joining pro-gun activists in a march on the state capitol in Richmond, Todd Gilbert joined forces with Democrat governor, Ralph Northam, in a plea for peace. The rally has been called to protest against sweeping gun-control measures proposed by Mr Northam's administration. "Lobby Day is a time for people to peacefully assemble and petition their government. It is not a place for hate and violence," Mr Gilbert said in a statement on Saturday. "Any group that comes to Richmond to spread white supremacist garbage, or any other form of hate, violence, or civil unrest isn't welcome here." My statement on Monday's 2nd Amendment rally in Richmond: pic.twitter.com/41imrpW6Ey— Todd Gilbert (@cToddGilbert) January 18, 2020 The display of unity among Virginia's political leaders came against a backdrop of rising tension in the city of nearly 230, 000 following the arrest of several members of The Base, a neo-Nazi group last week. Fearing that the rally could become a repetition of the riot at Charlottesville, in which one person died, Mr Northam declared a state of emergency last week. Leaders of the "Unite the Right" groups, such as the Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia, who were present at Charlottesville, have said they are planning to go to Richmond. Mr Northam said the state had received credible intelligence that acts of violence were being planned including storming the state's Capitol. Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins has sworn to protect second amendment rights Credit: Eva Hambach/AFP An array of security measures has been put in place including a ban on carrying weapons in the Capitol grounds. The Federal Aviation Administration has imposed temporary flight restrictions above the city. Rally organiser Philip Van Cleave also called for the protests to be peaceful. US 2020 Newsletter (REFERRAL) Virginia has become the political epicentre of the battle over the second amendment which guarantees the right of citizens to bear arms. The Democrats, who control the statehouse for the first time in a generation, are poised to introduce a series of curbs including universal background checks on gun purchases and a ban on military-style assault weapons. Opposition to the measures has seen over 100 municipalities in the state declaring themselves "Second Amendment Sanctuaries" in which the authorities will refuse to enforce the new state laws. Last week Donald Trump gave his support to gun rights groups in the state. "Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia he said on Twitter.
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| Illegal crossings plunge as US extends policy across border Posted: 19 Jan 2020 09:24 AM PST  Adolfo Cardenas smiles faintly at the memory of traveling with his 14-year-old son from Honduras to the U.S.-Mexico border in only nine days, riding buses and paying a smuggler $6,000 to ensure passage through highway checkpoints. Father and son walked about 10 minutes in Arizona's stifling June heat before surrendering to border agents. Instead of being released with paperwork to appear in immigration court in Dallas, where Cardenas hopes to live with a cousin, they were bused more than an hour to wait in the Mexican border city of Mexicali.
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| A Drexel University professor has been charged with stealing $185,000 in government grant money to spend on Philadelphia strip clubs and iTunes Posted: 20 Jan 2020 02:30 AM PST  The Philadelphia district attorney's office charged Chikaodinaka Nwankpa with theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception last week.
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| You Should Get an Electric Fireplace Posted: 20 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST |
| Leopard runs into house before being captured in south India Posted: 20 Jan 2020 06:15 AM PST  A leopard that ran into a house and sparked a frantic search and a frenzy of attention in southern India on Monday has been caught and tranquilized. The big cat emerged from the Kamdanam forest and ran into a house in Shadnagar town in Telangana state, said Dr. Mohammad Abdul Hakeem, a wildlife official. Deadly conflict between humans and animals has increased in recent years in India largely due to shrinking forest habitats and urban expansion.
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| Report Warned of Threat to U.S. Troops in Germany: Newsweek Posted: 19 Jan 2020 01:00 PM PST ![Report Warned of Threat to U.S. Troops in Germany: Newsweek]( "Report Warned of Threat to U.S. Troops in Germany: Newsweek") (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. received intelligence about a potentially imminent attack being planned against military personnel stationed in Germany, Newsweek reported, citing a memo it saw.The 66th Military Intelligence Brigade received third party information stating that a possible attack could occur against soldiers at either Tower Barracks in Grafenwohr or Tower Barracks, Dulmen; the exact location, date and time of possible attack was unknown Information was marked unclassified and from a senior U.S. intelligence official "The source of information stated the attack would be carried out by an unknown Jordanian extremist currently located in Germany near an unknown military base," the report saidU.S. Army Europe confirmed to Newsweek that a potential threat was identified and investigated last night "German and US officials were consulted and no imminent threat was found to exit"To view the source of this information click hereTo contact the reporter on this story: Nathan Crooks in Miami at ncrooks@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Sebastian Tong at stong41@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| McConnell proposal envisions speedy impeachment trial for Trump Posted: 20 Jan 2020 03:38 PM PST  U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell on Monday proposed rules that would execute a potentially quick impeachment trial for President Donald Trump, with no guarantee that witnesses or new evidence would be allowed. A resolution McConnell unveiled on Monday would give House Democratic prosecutors and Trump lawyers 48 hours, evenly split, to present their arguments over a maximum of four days. Under the resolution, which could face a vote as early as Tuesday, lawyers for Trump could move early in the proceedings to ask senators to dismiss all charges, a senior Republican leadership aide said, a motion that would likely fall short of the support needed to succeed.
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| Evacuation crackdown ordered as Philippine volcano 'recharges' Posted: 20 Jan 2020 01:42 AM PST  Philippine authorities ordered a crackdown Monday on evacuees' daily visits to their homes in the danger zone around Taal volcano as scientists warned it could be "recharging" for a more powerful explosion. More than 110,000 people have taken refuge in evacuation centres since Taal burst to life a week ago, but many hard-hit towns have let residents back for hours each day to fetch items, feed livestock and clean up their houses. "We are directing DRRMCs (civil defence officers)... not to allow anyone to enter the danger zone," said Epimaco Densing, undersecretary for the Department of Interior.
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| The US Air Force recently acquired a new $64 million Gulfstream private jet for VIP government officials — see inside Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:53 AM PST  The US president isn't the only government official that flies in a VIP plane operated by the US Air Force.
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| Puerto Rico governor fires more cabinet ministers after Hurricane Maria supplies discovered Posted: 20 Jan 2020 06:00 AM PST  Puerto Rico's governor Wanda Vazquez announced the dismissal of two more cabinet officials on Sunday — the latest fallout over the discovery of a warehouse full of emergency supplies intended for Hurricane Maria relief.Glorimar Andujar, the secretary of family service, and Fernando Gil-Ensenat, the secretary of housing, were sacked on Sunday, becoming the most recent cabinet members to lose their jobs after the dismissal of the director of Puerto Rico's Office of Emergency Management, Carlos Acevedo, who was fired on Saturday.
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| China's Navy Warships Are Now Armed With Land-Attack Missiles Posted: 20 Jan 2020 08:20 AM PST  China says its newest destroyer is capable of launching land-attack missiles.
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| EU Tells China More Access Needed to Seal Investment Accord Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:25 AM PST ![EU Tells China More Access Needed to Seal Investment Accord]( "EU Tells China More Access Needed to Seal Investment Accord") (Bloomberg) -- Sign up for Next China, a weekly email on where the nation stands now and where it's going next.European Union Trade Commissioner Phil Hogan said China must improve an offer to scale back barriers to foreign money if the two sides are to reach a long-sought investment agreement this year.While demanding more concessions from Beijing, Hogan kept alive an end-2020 target date for achieving an accord that would ease European investors' access to the Chinese market."We are making progress," Hogan told a BusinessEurope conference on Monday in Brussels. "We are not satisfied with the existing offer."The outcome of the investment accord talks may serve as an indication of the EU's broader approach toward China. So far, the bloc has taken a less confrontational approach than U.S. President Donald Trump in seeking to rebalance its trading and investment relationship with the world's second-largest economy.The EU is China's No. 1 trade partner, while the Chinese market is the second biggest for European exports after the U.S.Both sides have been in talks since 2013 on a bilateral pact that would reduce Chinese restrictions on European companies. In April last year, the EU and China set a 2020 target date for reaching an "ambitious" investment deal."Our objective is to keep working with China in relation to this agreement and conclude it by the end of this year," Hogan said on Monday. "We will be as ambitious as we possibly can."In the negotiations, the EU will give priority to "substance over speed," he said."We'll have to make an assessment as we go along about whether we're going to get 100% of what we want; usually that doesn't happen that way," Hogan said. "But if we get 99 I'll be happy."To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Flavia Krause-JacksonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump urges Senate to reject impeachment as affront to U.S. Constitution Posted: 20 Jan 2020 08:36 AM PST  President Donald Trump's lawyers argued on Monday that the impeachment case against him is a product of a rigged process by Democrats and "must be rejected" in the Senate trial that gets under way in earnest on Tuesday. An executive summary of Trump's pre-trial brief for the Senate proceedings urges the Republican-led Senate to quickly acquit the president on two articles of impeachment approved against him by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. "The Senate should speedily reject these deficient articles of impeachment and acquit the president," said the summary, released on Monday.
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| Just as Australia's deadly fires begin to subside, it's being hit with more apocalyptic weather. Videos show enormous dust storms and golf-ball-sized hail battering cars and buildings Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:15 AM PST  Rainfall helped to relieve some parts of the country affected by the bushfires, but caused damage in other ways
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| Photos surface showing convicted Nazi guard Demjanjuk at Sobibor Posted: 20 Jan 2020 03:36 AM PST  New photos have emerged which for the first time show convicted Nazi guard John Demjanjuk at the Sobibor death camp, a Berlin archive confirmed Monday, although he always denied ever being there. Ukrainian-American Demjanjuk was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of nearly 30,000 Jews at Sobibor by a German court in 2011. According to the Berlin-based Topography of Terror archive, photos of Demjanjuk are among a newly discovered collection of more than 350 snaps which give "detailed insight" into the camp in German-occupied Poland.
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| Panama begins exhumation of victims from 1989 US invasion Posted: 20 Jan 2020 02:53 PM PST  Forensic workers took preliminary steps Monday for digging up the remains of some victims of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, an effort that has lifted the hopes of Panamanians who had relatives die or disappear and have lived with unanswered questions about their fate for 30 years. Authorities gave the approval for exhumation of the 19 bodies buried in a Panama City cemetery after a truth commission set up three years ago documented about 20 disappearances from the U.S. military action to topple strongman Manuel Noriega. Prosecutor Maribel Caballero told reporters the remains will be compared to a database of DNA from relatives in 14 cases.
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| 'I stayed alive to tell' - Auschwitz's dwindling survivors recount horrors of Nazi death camp Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:14 AM PST  A strip of skin tattooed with the Auschwitz death camp number 99288 sits in a silver frame on a shelf in Avraham Harshalom's living room. As the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation on Jan 27, 1945, nears, Harshalom, 95, is very clear about why he kept it. Harshalom is one of some 200,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel today.
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| 2 more Puerto Rico officials fired after warehouse break-in Posted: 19 Jan 2020 01:57 PM PST  Gov. Wanda Vázquez fired the heads of Puerto Rico's housing and family departments Sunday in the latest fallout over the discovery of a warehouse filled with emergency supplies dating from Hurricane Maria. The removal of Housing Secretary Fernando Gil and Department of Family Secretary Glorimar Andújar came a day after the governor fired the director of Puerto Rico's emergency management agency. Vázquez fired him hours after a Facebook video showed angry people breaking into the warehouse in an area where thousands have been in shelters since a recent earthquake.
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| Turkey Alone Cannot Save Its Allies in Libya's Civil War Posted: 19 Jan 2020 10:00 AM PST  Too little aid, too late.
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| Deadly NJ police chases kill innocent victims, catch few crooks Posted: 20 Jan 2020 11:11 AM PST  Many police pursuits across the nation end tragically and disproportionately affect black people. Chases often start with a traffic violation.
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| John Roberts Has More Power Than Mitch McConnell Would Like You to Think. But Will He Use It? Posted: 20 Jan 2020 01:50 PM PST  If John Roberts deems it relevant to call witnesses during the impeachment trial, he, as presiding officer, has the power and the duty to do so, whatever Mitch McConnell thinks.
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| Virginia gun rally: Trump shows support for activists as thousands descend on Richmond on Martin Luther King Jr Day Posted: 20 Jan 2020 08:35 AM PST  Thousands of guns rights activists descended on Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia, for a rally after the state Senate passed a series of bills limiting the purchasing of firearms and establishing mandatory background checks.Gun owners rallied on the streets amid heavy security, with many demonstrators holding weapons, pro-gun rights banners and wearing camouflage clothing. Activists were campaigning for their right to bear arms, which is protected by the Second Amendment of the constitution.
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| Palestinian family pledge appeal over Jerusalem eviction ruling Posted: 20 Jan 2020 10:08 AM PST  A Palestinian family pledged on Monday to appeal an Israeli court order to evict them from their home in a mainly-Palestinian east Jerusalem neighbourhood in a case lodged by a settler organisation. The Israeli anti-settlement NGO Peace Now said a Jerusalem magistrates court ruled Sunday in favour of evicting the Rajabi family from their home in the Silwan neighbourhood following a lawsuit filed by members of the pro-settlement Ateret Cohanim organisation. The three-storey building houses 17 Palestinians, the family said.
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| The 11 most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2020 Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:27 AM PST  The 16th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey reveals cities bordering the Pacific Ocean are the most expensive.
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| 3 killed, 100-plus hurt in collapse during Ethiopia ceremony Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:38 AM PST  At least three people were killed and more than 100 others injured when a wooden stand erected for the colorful Epiphany celebration collapsed in Ethiopia on Monday, an official and hospital source said. The security chief for the city of Gondar, Tesfa Mekonnen, did not specify the number of deaths in comments to regional broadcaster Amhara Mass Media Agency. A hospital source in Ethiopia's city of Gondar confirmed that at least three people died.
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| 2 more bodies found on Tijuana property owned by missing Garden Grove couple believed dead Posted: 19 Jan 2020 08:03 AM PST  Two other bodies have been discovered by Mexican officials on a property in Tijuana, one day after the bodies of a missing Garden Grove couple were also found there.
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| ‘A Defining Moment.’ An Indian State’s Decision to Challenge the Country's Controversial Citizenship Law Signals a Growing Divide Posted: 20 Jan 2020 11:47 AM PST  Kerala's lawsuit argues that the Citizenship Amendment Act is "discriminatory" and runs counter to the Indian constitution's secular principles.
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| Giuliani associate in campaign cash probe seeks Barr recusal Posted: 20 Jan 2020 03:25 PM PST ![Giuliani associate in campaign cash probe seeks Barr recusal]( "Giuliani associate in campaign cash probe seeks Barr recusal") An associate of Rudy Giuliani charged with illegally funneling foreign money into U.S. political campaigns has asked Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself in the case and appoint a special prosecutor. The request is made in a letter filed Monday in the docket of the federal campaign finance violation case brought by New York prosecutors against Lev Parnas. The letter signed by defense lawyer Joseph Bondy came a day before the Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump was scheduled to start.
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| Mexican troops repel border-storming migrant caravan Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:47 PM PST  Hundreds of Central Americans from a new migrant caravan tried to storm into Mexico Monday by fording the river that divides the country from Guatemala, but National Guardsmen fired tear gas to force them back. The Central Americans, from the so-called "2020 Caravan" of around 3,500 undocumented migrants, gathered on the Guatemalan side of the Suchiate River at dawn, demanding migration authorities let them continue their journey to the United States. Scores of migrants, many with cloths tied around their faces to protect them from the gas, pelted the military police guarding the southern border with large stones, as the latter sheltered behind riot shields.
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