Current News: October 2019

Thursday, October 31, 2019

What Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot Citroën Merger Will Mean for U.S. Car Buyers

Now that FCA and PSA confirm they're doing a 50/50 merger, we're more likely to see technology being shared than cars being added to the U.S. market.

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These Salvador Dali–Painted Tarot Cards Are as Spooky as You’d Imagine

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North's Kim sends condolences to Moon over mother's death

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has sent a message of condolence to South Korean President Moon Jae-in over his mother's recent death, Moon's office said Thursday. It was later in the day handed over to Moon, who was staying in the southeastern city of Busan where his mother's mourning station was located, Moon's spokeswoman Ko Min-jung said. Ko said Kim expressed his "deep commemorating (of Moon's mother) and condolence" over her death.

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Trump impeachment: Official says she was repeatedly urged to oust Ukraine ambassador by Republican lobbyist

A US government official has reportedly told politicians leading the impeachment hearings against Donald Trump that she was urged by a Republican-linked lobbyist to remove the US ambassador to Ukraine from her post, as the president's allies launched a smear campaign against her.Catherine Croft, a Ukraine expert who worked at the US State Department, said she was repeatedly contacted by lobbyist Robert Livingston about ousting Marie Yovanovitch, according to prepared remarks obtained by NPR.

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Al-Baghdadi paid rival for protection but was betrayed by his own

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was able to hide out in an unlikely part of Syria, the base of a rival group, because he was paying protection money to its members, according to receipts for the payments recovered by researchers. But he was ultimately betrayed by a close confidant, leading to his death in a raid by U.S. Special Operations forces last weekend.

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Death sentence confirmed against four men in Morocco backpacker murders

A Moroccan appeals court upheld, late on Wednesday, death sentences against three Moroccan men for murdering two Scandinavian women in the Atlas mountains last December. A fourth man was also handed capital punishment after he was sentenced to life in prison by an anti-terrorism court on July 18. The other three were handed death sentences at the time.

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Brazil wildfires: Blaze advances across Pantanal wetlands

The area is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, and a popular tourist destination.

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Brazil wildfires: Blaze advances across Pantanal wetlands

The area is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, and a popular tourist destination.

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Wikipedia article of the day for November 1, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for November 1, 2019 is No Such Thing as Vampires.
"No Such Thing as Vampires" is the pilot episode of the American paranormal romance television drama Moonlight. Premiering on CBS on September 28, 2007, it was written by series creators and executive producers Trevor Munson and Ron Koslow and directed by executive producer Rod Holcomb. The pilot introduces Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin, pictured), a private investigator and a vampire, along with his love interest Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), his mentor Josef Kostan (Jason Dohring), and his ex-wife Coraline Duvall (Shannyn Sossamon). Originally titled Twilight, the project was renamed and recast when picked up by CBS for the 2007–2008 American television season. Although received poorly by critics, the pilot managed to finish first for its night among total viewers and adults 18–49. Many critics faulted the acting and writing, but some thought that the series showed promise, and Dohring's performance was praised.

UPDATE 4-Islamic State vows revenge against U.S. for Baghdadi killing

Islamic State confirmed on Thursday that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a weekend raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria, and vowed revenge against the United States. The Iraqi rose from obscurity to lead the ultra-hardline group and declare himself "caliph" of all Muslims, holding sway over huge areas of Iraq and Syria from 2014-2017 before Islsmic State's control disintegrated under U.S.-led attacks. The group confirmed his death in an audio tape posted online and said a successor, identified as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, had been appointed.

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Reading Scores on National Exam Decline in Half the States

WASHINGTON -- The average eighth grade reading score on a nationally representative test declined among public school students in more than half of the states, according to data released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, the research arm of the Education Department.The dismal results were part of the release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the "nation's report card." The test assesses a sample of fourth and eighth grade students -- more than 290,000 in each subject in 2019 -- every other year."Over the past decade, there has been no progress in either mathematics or reading performance, and the lowest-performing students are doing worse," Peggy Carr, the associate commissioner of the center, said in a statement.Such findings will inevitably prompt demands for policy change. In a statement, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is championing a $5 billion school choice program, said that the results "must be America's wake-up call.""We can neither excuse them away, nor simply throw more money at the problem," she said.That vision is in stark contrast to the one that has emerged in the Democratic presidential primary. All the leading candidates have suggested spending billions more federal dollars on traditional public schools, and two of the front-runners -- Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders -- have proposed slowing the growth of the charter school sector.The losses on the national exam were steepest for students who had been struggling the most, a segment that is the focus of many school reform policies.Eighth graders at the bottom 10th percentile of reading achievement lost 6 points on the exam compared with similar students two years ago, while students at the 50th percentile lost 3 points and students at the 90th percentile -- top achievers -- lost only 1 point."Eighth grade is a transitional point in preparing students for success in high school, so it is critical that researchers further explore the declines we are seeing here," Carr said.White, black, Hispanic, Native American and multiracial students all lost ground in eighth grade reading, while there was no significant change for Asian students.Washington, one of 27 cities to participate in a separate analysis of urban school systems, was the only city or state to see significant improvement in eighth grade reading, according to a federal analysis of the data.This year, 31 states noted a drop of 2 to 7 points in their average eighth grade reading score -- which the federal government deemed significant -- compared with their performances in 2017. Indiana, New Hampshire and Virginia were the states with the largest declines among eighth graders.Fourth grade reading scores dropped in 17 states, with New Jersey having the largest decline, 6 points; only one state, Mississippi, improved, the data showed.States' average math scores fared considerably better, particularly among fourth graders. Nine states had significant increases in fourth grade math, compared with 2017 numbers, with Mississippi again leading the pack. The eighth grade score in three states improved, while six noted a decline.While the most recent results are disappointing, trends in student achievement look more positive over the long term. American students have made large gains in math and small gains in reading since 1990, but those improvements began to level out around 2009. There is no consensus among experts as to why.The Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of large urban school systems, said it saw a hopeful story in the new data. Over the past two decades, students in cities have moved closer to national achievement averages in both math and reading."The fact that large city schools have cut their performance gap with the nation in about half is even more remarkable when you consider that our schools have substantially more poor students and English-language learners than the average public school across the nation," the group said in a statement. Such results "suggest that the nation's urban public schools are adding substantially more educational value than the average school."The National Assessment of Educational Progress is considered a "low stakes" exam, because schools and teachers do not lose funding, pay or autonomy based on how their students perform. Some researchers consider the test the gold-standard measure of learning nationwide, while others argue it is unfair to judge schools using an exam that may have little connection to the material teachers cover in the classroom.DeVos said the 2019 scores reflected a "student achievement crisis," where progress had stalled, two out of three children were not proficient readers, and outcomes continued to worsen for the most vulnerable students."Every American family needs to open the nation's report card this year and think about what it means for their child and for our country's future," she said. "The results are, frankly, devastating."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

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California Governor Accepted Donations from Utility Company He Now Excoriates for ‘Greed’

California governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, has accepted large donations from Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a utility company he now excoriates for "greed" and "mismanagement."PG&E has faced widespread criticism for implementing blackouts for millions of customers to avoid sparking wildfires in the midst of California's dry and windy fall weather."I have a message for PG&E," Newsom wrote on Twitter on Friday. "Your years and years of greed. Years and years of mismanagement. Years and years of putting shareholders over people. Are OVER."Newsom and allies accepted $208,400 from the utility during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, according to local affiliate ABC10. Of that total, $150,000 went to a political spending group called “Citizens Supporting Gavin Newsom for Governor 2018,” while the rest went to directly to Newsom's campaign.PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January 2019. Faulty PG&E electricity equipment has been blamed for sparking several wildfires in the past decade.California has consistently shut down proposals to clear dead trees from forests and to trim trees near power lines state wide, creating conditions for a rash of wildfire outbreaks in recent years.The Kincaid Fire currently burning in Sonoma County in the northern part of the state has forced the evacuation of roughly 200,000 people. The fire is twice the size of the city of San Fransisco.Newsom declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the Kincaid Fire and several other wildfires throughout the state. He again threatened PG&E in a statement on the situation."There is a plan to get out of this. This is not the new normal,” Newsom said on Sunday at an evacuation center in northern California. “This is not a 10-year process to deal with this. That will not be the case… [PG&E] will be held to account to do something radically different

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Full coverage: House passes impeachment resolution

The House on Thursday voted to pass a historic resolution establishing formal procedures for the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The 232-196 vote fell almost exclusively along party lines, with two moderate Democrats voting no.

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Putin faces Syria money crunch after U.S. keeps control of oil fields

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing an unwelcome new financial challenge in Syria after the U.S. pullback enabled his ally Bashar Assad to reclaim the biggest chunk of territory in the country still outside his control.

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Graphic: Examining the weapons and tactics used by police and protesters in Hong Kong

As the showdown between police and protesters in Hong Kong has intensified, officers have used increasing force, deploying an arsenal of crowd-control weapons, including tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, sponge grenades and bean bag rounds. Protesters have also stepped up their actions, hurling petrol bombs, vandalizing mainland Chinese banks and businesses believed to be pro-Beijing, throwing bricks at police stations and battling officers in the streets, sometimes with metal bars. Reuters scrutinized hundreds of images of the protests, as well as dozens of police reports and video footage, and combined this research with reporting on the ground to document the weapons used by the police and protesters, and how the violence has increased from day to day.

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G.M. Union Members Return to Work, but Worries Are Far From Over

GM autoworkers returned to work with a new contract after their longest nationwide strike in nearly 50 years. Here's where they stand now.

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Top NSC Russia official confirms key testimony linking Trump to quid pro quo

President Donald Trump’s top Russia aide on Thursday corroborated aspects of a key U.S. diplomat’s testimony connecting the president to a quid pro quo with Ukraine, according to people familiar with the aide’s testimony to House impeachment investigators. Timothy Morrison, the Europe and Russia chief for the National Security Council, was cited more than a dozen times in William Taylor’s opening statement to investigators last week.

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Convicted rapist mistakenly released from Georgia prison captured in Kentucky

Tony Maycon Munoz-Mendez was serving a life sentence in Georgia when he was released "in error." Authorities captured him in Kentucky Wednesday.

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Islamic State group announces successor to al-Baghdadi

The Islamic State group declared a new leader Thursday after it confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi days earlier in a U.S raid in Syria. In its audio release by the IS central media arm, al-Furqan Foundation, a new spokesman for IS identifies the successor as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — tracing his lineage, like al-Baghdadi, to the Prophet Muhammad's Quraysh tribe. The speaker in the audio also confirmed the death of Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, a close aide of al-Baghdadi and a spokesman for the group since 2016.

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Ilhan Omar refuses to back vote recognising Armenian genocide

Ilhan Omar declined to vote in favour of a resolution recognising the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide, saying any "true acknowledgement" of such crimes must include other historical "mass slaughters".The Minnesota Democrat was one of just three House members to vote “present” on the resolution that passed in an overwhelming 405-11 vote.

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How The B-1 Lancer Went From A Nuclear Bomber To an ISIS Killer

Priorities and capabilities change with time.

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Exclusive: How Lebanon's Hariri defied Hezbollah

After hitting a dead end in efforts to defuse the crisis sweeping Lebanon, Saad al-Hariri informed a top Hezbollah official on Monday he had no choice but to quit as prime minister in defiance of the powerful Shi'ite group. The decision by the Sunni leader shocked Hussein al-Khalil, political advisor to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who advised him against giving in to protesters who wanted to see his coalition government toppled. The meeting described to Reuters by four senior sources from outside Hariri's Future Party captures a critical moment in the crisis that has swept Lebanon for the last two weeks as Hariri yielded to the massive street protests against the ruling elite.

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Donald and Melania Trump place candy on top of child's Minion Halloween costume, video goes viral

Video of the encounter went viral along with a flood of social media commentary. Some accused Trump of playing a Halloween trick at the kid's expense.

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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Prosecutors accuse ex-Trump adviser Flynn of trying to walk-back guilty plea

U.S. prosecutors on Tuesday accused President Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn of making "an extraordinary reversal" to try to undo his sworn admission that he lied to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators about his contacts with Russia. Federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan for the opportunity to oppose a bid filed by Flynn's lawyers last week to have the case dismissed - even though Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 - because of alleged prosecutorial misconduct. The retired Army lieutenant general and former Trump campaign adviser has pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents about his 2016 conversations with Sergey Kislyak, then-Russian ambassador to the United States.

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The Internet Wouldn't Be the Same Without These 11 Women

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Biden's communion denial highlights faith-politics conflict

A Roman Catholic priest's denial of communion to Joe Biden in South Carolina on Sunday illustrates the fine line presidential candidates must walk as they talk about their faiths: balancing religious values with a campaign that asks them to choose a side in polarizing moral debates. The awkward moment for Biden came during a weekend campaign swing through South Carolina, a pivotal firewall in his hopes to claim the Democratic presidential nomination. The former vice president on Sunday visited St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, a midsize city in the state's largely rural northeast.

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Here's How America Will Stop Iran from Invading Saudi Arabia

The master plan.

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Liberia's child soldiers: 'I know I killed people'

Miatta says she was forced to fight when she was 14 and can't remember how many people she's killed.

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Trump judicial nominee breaks down during Senate hearing

Lawrence VanDyke broke down when asked whether he was biased against LGBT people.

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Comedian Kevin Hart shares emotional video after crash

The US comedian shared the video of his recovery after a severe car accident in September.

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Wikipedia article of the day for October 31, 2019

The Wikipedia article of the day for October 31, 2019 is Michael Collins (astronaut).
Michael Collins (born October 31, 1930) is a former astronaut and test pilot who was the command module pilot of Apollo 11 in 1969. The first person to perform more than one spacewalk, he is one of 24 people to have flown to the Moon. Collins joined the U.S. Air Force after graduating from West Point in 1952. He graduated in 1960 from the Air Force Experimental Flight Test Pilot School and was selected for NASA's third group of astronauts in 1963. He made two spacewalks on his first mission on Gemini 10 in 1966. During Apollo 11, he remained in orbit around the Moon in the command module Columbia while his crewmates Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first crewed landing on the surface. After retiring from NASA, Collins became Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs and later director of the National Air and Space Museum. Under his guidance, the museum opened on time and within budget for the United States Bicentennial in 1976.

Trump judicial nominee breaks down during Senate hearing

Lawrence VanDyke broke down when asked whether he was biased against LGBT people.

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Comedian Kevin Hart shares emotional video after crash

The US comedian shared the video of his recovery after a severe car accident in September.

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Trump Tweets Faked Photo of Hero Dog Getting a Medal

By NIRAJ CHOKSHI and KAREN ZRAICK from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Wu9WEF

Frustration mounts as California is hit with more blackouts

Frustration and anger mounted across Northern California as the state's biggest utility began another round of fire-prevention blackouts Tuesday that could leave millions of people without electricity, some for five days or longer. The shut-offs, aimed at keeping windblown electrical equipment from sparking wildfires, came as fire crews raced to contain two major blazes in Northern and Southern California before the winds picked up dangerously again. The fires have destroyed dozens of homes in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles.

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Tucker Carlson and Guest Blame Diversity and ‘Woke’ Culture for California Fires

Fox NewsFox News host Tucker Carlson and his guest, conservative YouTube personality Dave Rubin, both insisted Tuesday night that the wildfires burning across California are due largely to progressive ideology, “woke” culture, and diversity in hiring.During Tuesday’s broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson welcomed on Rubin, a political commentator and podcaster, to discuss the issues surrounding the large fires engulfing the state, including those related to the electrical grid and firefighting methods.“PG&E; strikes me as almost a metaphor for the destruction of the state,” Carlson said about the state’s power company. “Here’s the utility which doesn’t really know anything about its own infrastructure but knows everything about the race of its employees. How did we get there?”After noting that he lives near one of the fires in the Los Angeles area, Rubin immediately took aim at liberal politics as the main reason the wildfires have grown so large and dangerous.“The problem right now is that everything, EVERYTHING, from academia to public utilities to politics, everything that goes woke, that buys into this ridiculous progressive ideology that cares about what contractors are LGBT or how many black firemen we have or white this or Asian that, everything that goes that road eventually breaks down,” he declared.As Carlson nodded and said “that’s true,” Rubin continued, complaining that this isn’t how “freedom is supposed to operate.”“What is supposed to happen—imagine if your house was on fire,” he added. “Would you care what the public utility or what the fire company, what contractor they brought in, what gender or sexuality or any of those things he or she was? It’s just absolutely ridiculous.”The Fox News host continued to agree with Rubin, who went on to tie PG&E;’s preemptive blackouts to a lack of “libertarian or conservative-minded people in California to fight what the progressives are doing to the state.”“If you can’t keep the lights on and you can’t keep the place from burning down, you’ve reached the point where there is no kind of lying about it anymore,” Carlson concluded. “It’s falling apart. It’s a disaster. It’s not civilized anymore.”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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US House overwhelmingly votes to recognize Armenian genocide

Resolution comes at delicate time in US-Turkey relationship, shortly after House votes to impose sanctionsPeople take part in a torchlight procession as they mark the 104th anniversary of the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces, Yerevan, Armenia. Photograph: Karen Minasyan/AFP/Getty ImagesThe US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recognize the Armenian genocide of a century ago, stepping into a fraught historical debate at a particularly tense moment for the US-Turkey relationship.The House voted 405-11 in favor of the resolution, which is not legally binding, to formally recognize the systematic killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915, modern-day Turkey, as a “genocide”.Earlier on Tuesday, the House voted 403 to 16 to impose sanctions on Turkey, in a striking rebuke of Donald Trump after he pulled American forces from northern Syria following a phone call with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, paving the way for Turkey’s assault on Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria.The Turkish government has long denied the term genocide to describe the slaughter and has waged a lobbying campaign in the US and around the world to discourage the use of that word in reference to the killings.Many countries and nearly all US states officially recognize the killings as genocide. But the US Congress has resisted pressure in recent years by activists out of a desire not to inflame tensions with a Nato ally. Support for a resolution grew, particularly among Democrats, after Trump enabled the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish groups.The US had previously allied with Syrian Kurdish forces against militants of the Islamic State group. The Turkish offensive left scores of Kurdish fighters and civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more.“If we ignore history, then we are destined to witness the mistakes of the past be repeated,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said, urging support for the resolution on Tuesday. “Recent attacks by the Turkish military against the Kurdish people are a stark reminder of the danger in our own time.”The California Democrat Adam Schiff, a sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement: “The House declared that it will no longer be party to the cause of genocide denial. This is a vote I have fought for 19 years to make possible, and one that tens of thousands of my Armenian American constituents have worked, struggled, and prayed for decades to see.”The vote on the bipartisan resolution came on the heels of House passage of economic sanctions against Turkey.There is a bipartisan resolution in the Senate but it is unclear if the chamber will bring the measure to the floor.In a statement, the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, condemned the move, which he called “a meaningless political step” and an “attempt to rewrite history”.“The US Administration and politicians as well as the American people are best placed to consider the damages this resolution seeking to disrupt Turkey-US ties does and will inflict upon the US interests at an extremely fragile time in terms of the international and regional security,” the statement said, adding: “Undoubtedly, this resolution will negatively affect the image of the US before the public opinion of Turkey as it also brings the dignity of the US House of Representatives into disrepute.”But on Capitol Hill, the resolution’s passage was celebrated. California congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who is Armenian American, said she had been “waiting for this moment” since she was first elected to Congress more than a quarter-century ago. “This resolution not only honors and commemorates my ancestors who perished but all those who were lost in the first genocide of the 20th century,” she said.

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A California couple who was forced to evacuate their home and winery share what it's really like to endure the wildfires engulfing the state

California's Sonoma wine country dealt with destructive wildfires in 2017. Here's how one winery is dealing with 2019's Kincade Fire.

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Michelle Obama: White Americans 'still running' from black neighbors

Michelle Obama said that white Americans are “still running” from their nonwhite fellow citizens during a summit in which she detailed how her own experience of white flight unfolded during her upbringing on Chicago’s South Side.

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John Bolton: Former national security adviser 'summoned to testify in Trump impeachment probe'

House impeachment investigators have invited John Bolton, a former national security adviser to Donald Trump, to testify before Congress next week, according to reports.Mr Bolton was reportedly called on by House investigators to give evidence for their impeachment inquiry into Mr Trump surrounding the president’s dealings with Ukraine.

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Trump falsely says Chicago is more dangerous than Afghanistan, which topped the list of the world's 10 most dangerous countries in 2019

The latest Global Peace Index has a new least peaceful country, assessed on metrics like political instability and deaths from conflict.

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How to Eat Alone (and Like It)

By BY JESS MCHUGH from NYT Smarter Living https://ift.tt/31WLbCt

Georgia Plans to Purge 300,000 Names From Its Voter Rolls

By BY NICHOLAS CASEY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2WrdJ5X

Stick to Sports? No Way. Deadspin Journalists Quit en Masse.

By BY MARC TRACY from NYT Business https://ift.tt/31YbsQz

Hundreds of U.S. Troops Leaving, and Also Arriving in, Syria

By BY ERIC SCHMITT AND HELENE COOPER from NYT World https://ift.tt/331hmlz

Iraq Prime Minister Pressed to Quit as Protests Clog Streets

By BY ALISSA J. RUBIN from NYT World https://ift.tt/2pqzoyQ

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Residents flee, power cut as crews battle California fire

Cody Rodriguez never went to sleep the night two years ago when wildfire roared out of tinder-dry hills in Northern California wine country, trapping people unaware in their homes and forcing thousands of panicked residents to flee in the dark. "It has brought a lot of anxiety," Rodriguez said outside an evacuation center Sunday at Napa Valley College.

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Toyota’s Support of Trump Emissions Rules Shocks Californians

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Congresswoman's exit prompts question of equity amid scandal

The resignation of a female Democratic congresswoman over a consensual, sexual relationship with a campaign aide has sparked questions about whether women are held to higher standards in public life. At the center of the controversy is Katie Hill, a first-term lawmaker from California and a rising Democratic Party star. In a video released Monday, Hill said she was stepping down because she was "fearful of what might come next" following the online publication of explicit pictures that outed her relationship with a female staffer.

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Chile’s Pinera Fires Top Economic Ministers Amid Protests

(Bloomberg) -- Ten days of riots, protests and reprisals claimed their first political victims Monday as Chile’s President Sebastian Pinera fired eight ministers, including the biggest hitters in the cabinet.The interior, finance and economy ministers were all dismissed, with Pinera naming a younger, more centrist team to convince protesters that their voice has been heard.A wave of riots, looting and protests has caused more than a billion dollars of damage this month, before spawning the largest peaceful demonstration in the country’s history. Yet, today’s announcement is unlikely to placate a movement that has demands ranging from tax reform to constitutional change, via the resignation of the billionaire president himself.“These have been difficult days,” Pinera said at a ceremony in the presidential palace. “Our government has heard the loud and clear message of the Chilean people who want a more fair and more inclusive society.”The president’s approval rating slumped to 14% last week as the protests all but paralyzed the country’s largest cities, according to a survey by pollster Cadem. Opposition lawmakers have announced a constitutional accusation against Pinera on the grounds of human rights violations.Outgoing CousinPinera appointed Gonzalo Blumel as interior minister and Ignacio Briones as finance minister.Briones is dean of the school of government at Universidad Adolfo Ibanez. He has a PhD in political economy from Institut d´Etudes Politiques de Paris and was a senior adviser to the Finance Minister during Pinera’s first term in office.“I have a very positive opinion of Briones as an academic and an expert in public policy, but he doesn’t have much experience in the political arena and this may eventually show,” said Tomas Izquierdo, an economist and chief executive officer of research firm Gemines Consultores.Today’s firings also included Andres Chadwick, the interior minister and Economy Minister Juan Andres Fontaine.Chadwick was a particular source of anger because of the violent suppression of the protests and the fact he is Pinera’s cousin. His replacement, Blumel, 41, was until now minister of the presidency, coordinating the passing of government bills with Congress.Fontaine was another target of protesters after remarking that to avoid the higher subway prices, people should just get up earlier to take the subway at non-peak hours. A study earlier this year showed that Santiago residents face commutes as long as two hours.Mounting AngerThe firings are unlikely to quell mounting anger over how Pinera has dealt with the protests. More than 1,000 people have been injured and over 3,000 arrested, according to the Chilean Human Rights Institute. Police and the armed forces between them are responsible for five deaths for which it is bringing homicide charges, the institute said on Oct. 22.Protests resumed in front of the government’s Moneda palace after the announcement, according to images on TV.“Chileans have been marching against Pinera’s agenda and the new interior minister is precisely the person that was in charge of pushing that agenda,” said Yasna Provoste, a senator for the opposition Christian Democrats party. “Pinera’s government just can’t get a grasp of the citizens’ demands.”The extent of the protests shows the challenge facing Pinera’s center-right government. Pinera initially tackled the violence as a law-and-order matter, stating the country was at war with criminals. That only made things worse. He then apologized for failing to recognize genuine grievances and announced measures including raising taxes for high-income earners and lifting basic pensions.While more than 600 supermarkets have been looted, the occurrence of serious violence has slowed. Losses for Chile’s retail sector due to looting and lost sales reached $1.4 billion since the protests began, according to the Santiago Chamber of Commerce.Former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, now the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she would send a team to look into allegations of human-rights violations, a move the government welcomed.(Updates with comment from opposition senator in 13th paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Eduardo Thomson in Santiago at ethomson1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net, Philip SandersFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Elected Arizona official accused of selling babies suspended

An elected official in Arizona was suspended Monday after he was charged with running a human smuggling scheme that brought pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. to give birth and then paid them to give up their children for adoption. Leaders in Arizona's most populous county suspended Assessor Paul Petersen without pay for 120 days. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors doesn't have the power to permanently remove him from his office, which determines the value of properties for tax purposes in Phoenix and its suburbs.

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Federal Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses Against Jeffrey Epstein’s Cronies

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIt’s been more than two months since Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, but the investigation into possible accomplices is still very much alive. In recent days, federal prosecutors probing the financier’s sex-trafficking ring have been asking Epstein victims if they could serve as witnesses in the criminal case they are building.Representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York traveled to Florida for an Oct. 15 meeting with several of Epstein’s victims and their counsel. The staffers, who worked in the victim services unit, held a similar meeting in New York on Oct. 23, lawyers for the women and a law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.Two people familiar with the investigation said that prosecutors have heard from “dozens” of witnesses or victims since Epstein’s arrest in July.Following Epstein’s death in August, which was ruled a suicide by hanging, the Department of Justice said that it would continue to investigate anyone who helped Epstein procure underage girls or helped him to cover up crimes. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on where the probe stands, only saying that the “investigation is continuing.”The Biggest Bombshells in Newly Unsealed Epstein DocumentsSpencer Kuvin, a Palm Beach attorney who represents two women who were abused by Epstein, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York offered counseling services to the group of victims who gathered in Miramar, Florida.The representatives also worked to debunk conspiracy theories, which the victims have encountered online, related to Epstein’s jailhouse suicide. According to Kuvin, prosecutors continue to battle wild speculation on how the 66-year-old money-manager died, along with rumors that he isn’t dead at all.“The U.S. Attorney’s Office wanted to put to rest some of those conspiracy theories—that he was killed, that he’s still alive. There are people still talking about that,” Kuvin told The Daily Beast. “There are still people that think this was an absolute ruse and he’s sitting pretty in another part of the world.” Kuvin said investigators assured the women that their probe into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators was ongoing. The lawyer declined to comment on the identities of those suspected accomplices.“They wanted to meet with some of the victims to discuss whether or not they could be potential witnesses in that ongoing investigation,” Kuvin said. “One of my clients is going to meet with them privately about that issue.”Epstein Victim: Ghislaine Maxwell Made Me Recruit ‘Youngest-Looking’ Girls for EpsteinDuring the Florida meeting, coordinators for federal prosecutors answered questions from the women, some of whom felt burned over their treatment 12 years ago, when the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami secretly negotiated a cushy plea deal for Epstein. Back then, the feds promised the women they’d prosecute the creepy multimillionaire; instead, they collaborated with his legal team to downgrade the charges.“The focus really is: What are you doing now and are you honestly going to pursue the co-conspirators or are those just words?” Kuvin said.“They’ve been wronged by the system numerous times,” Kuvin added of his clients and other victims of Epstein, “from the late 2000s all the way up to him killing himself. Every time an official comes forward and says, ‘Don’t worry. We’re going to do the right thing,’ they shake their heads and say, ‘We’ll see.’”In New York last week, prosecutors met with victims at a federal building downtown where local FBI headquarters is housed to inform the women of their rights and offer counseling services.Duncan Levin, a former assistant U.S. Attorney and chief of asset forfeiture at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, said Epstein’s inner circle shouldn’t rest easy. “There is at least some evidence that other people facilitated his crimes, and there’s obviously enough public interest in the case that [prosecutors] aren’t going to drop it just because he’s dead,” said Levin, managing partner at Tucker Levin, PLLC.Levin said prosecutors are likely to thoroughly investigate Epstein’s alleged enablers and seek forfeiture of Epstein’s properties that were used to facilitate the sex crimes. Jeffrey Epstein Reveals His Fortune Includes $56 Million in CashA bare-bones rundown of Epstein’s assets submitted by his lawyers following his arrest, and bank records obtained by prosecutors, provided a glimpse into Epstein’s net worth which is estimated at more than $550 million, but it may not be a complete accounting. The listed assets included $56 million in cash and another $500 million in properties and investments.The properties include $85 million worth of real estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands—including his own private island—an $8.6 million Paris apartment, a $12 million Palm Beach estate, a $17 million New Mexico ranch, and his Manhattan mansion—which Epstein claimed is worth $55 million but prosecutors have said is worth $77 million.“Justice is a slow-moving train,” Levin said. “This is par for the course. Investigations are measured in months and years not days and weeks.”“I would be very nervous if I were somebody who helped Jeffrey Epstein at this point and would be seeking legal counsel,” Levin added.Epstein was arrested on July 6 and charged with sex-trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex-trafficking. The indictment referred to three victims and three unnamed employees of Epstein who allegedly assisted in the sex pyramid scheme.According to the complaint, Epstein created a “network of minor victims in multiple states to sexually abuse and exploit” and “worked and conspired with others, including employees and associates who facilitated his conduct by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with Epstein.”From 2002 to 2005, the indictment states, Epstein “enticed and recruited” minor girls as young as 14 to visit his mansions and engage in sex acts with him, after which he or his assistants gave the victims hundreds of dollars in cash.It’s unclear which alleged co-conspirators prosecutors are targeting.In one July court filing, prosecutors requested a protective order, indicating they planned to produce certain documents and materials that “would impede, if prematurely disclosed, the Government’s ongoing investigation of uncharged individuals.”In 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, his non-prosecution agreement with the feds granted immunity to his alleged accomplices, “including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova.”Where Are Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Accomplices Now?Groff’s lawyer, Michael Bachner, previously told The Daily Beast: “At no time during Lesley’s employment with Epstein did she ever engage in any misconduct.”Attorneys for Marcinkova told CNN last month that she was a victim herself and “is and has been severely traumatized.” They added: “She needs time to process and make sense of what she has been through before she is able to speak out.”According to the report, Kellen’s spokeswoman had a similar explanation. “Very soon after Sarah was brought into Epstein's world, he began to sexually abuse her, and this abuse went on for years. Sarah continues to struggle with the trauma of her experiences and has chosen not to speak publicly at this time.”Ross hasn’t spoken publicly on the allegations.One lawsuit, filed by a Jane Doe in September against Epstein’s estate, describes Kellen and Groff as a pair of adult employees who “specifically facilitated his abuse.” The women scheduled the girl’s visits to Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and “often asked Doe to bring other girls with her,” paying her every time she did so.Meanwhile, Groff, a former assistant to Epstein, is facing a lawsuit from Jennifer Araoz, who says she was in high school when Epstein raped and abused her. A second assistant, Cimberly Espinosa, is also listed as a defendant in the case.Araoz’s complaint also targets Epstein’s alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell—who’s kept a low profile since the hedge-funder’s arrest and has long faced accusations of recruiting underage girls and taking part in sexual abuse herself.Ghislaine Maxwell.Mark Mainz/GettyAnother lawsuit, recently filed by Priscilla Doe, alleges that “in addition to providing sexual instruction, Ghislaine Maxwell further made sure that Plaintiff and the other young females were constantly on call to sexually service Jeffrey Epstein.”Maxwell isn’t the only Epstein friend under scrutiny in the press. Authorities in France are looking into sexual misconduct claims against talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel, accused in civil court filings of procuring young models for Epstein to exploit.“Jeffrey Epstein has told me that he has slept with over 1,000 of Brunel’s girls, and everything that I have seen confirms this claim,” said accuser Virginia Giuffre in a 2015 affidavit. Giuffre says she was 16 when Maxwell recruited her into Epstein’s trafficking ring.In response, Brunel issued a statement denying Giuffre’s claims, saying he never participated “directly nor indirectly, in the actions Mr. Jeffrey Epstein is being accused of.”Models Say Jeffrey Epstein’s Closest Pal Drugged, Raped ThemLast year, Epstein may have attempted to buy the silence of alleged co-conspirators just as his name re-emerged in the press.Prosecutors say Epstein wired payments to two unnamed women—one received $250,000 while the other got $100,000—shortly after the Miami Herald’s exposé on Epstein’s 2007 sweetheart deal. Those individuals were listed as possible co-conspirators in Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in July.At a bail hearing that month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller told the court that “after seven days of this case being public following months of a covert investigation, the evidence is already significantly stronger and getting stronger every single day.“Many individuals identifying themselves as victims and witnesses have contacted the government,” Rossmiller continued, “and we are in the process of receiving and corroborating this additional evidence.”Brad Edwards, an attorney who sued the government on behalf of victims over Epstein’s lenient plea deal, said, “I assume that if there are others that should be held accountable for crimes that can still be prosecuted, then they will.”Edwards said he trusts that New York prosecutors “are trying to leave no stone unturned.”Last month, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra refused to scrap the non-prosecution agreement that shielded Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators from facing serious charges—despite Marra’s ruling that the agreement was illegal. Marra also denied the victims’ requests for other relief: attorneys’ fees, a hearing where victims could speak, and the release of documents including grand jury materials. The decision was part of a 2008 lawsuit Jane Does 1 and 2 filed against the United States, alleging the feds violated the Crime Victims’ Right Act. Courtney Wild, who has come forward as Jane Doe 1, has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Oral arguments are scheduled for January.“A ruling rescinding the immunity provisions would have permitted the victims to confer with government prosecutors about the possibility of obtaining prosecution of Epstein’s co-conspirators in the Southern District of Florida — i.e., would have afforded them their rights under the CVRA,” Wild’s appeal states.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. 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UPDATE 1-Iraq's Sadr calls on rival to join him in ousting PM

Populist Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has invited his biggest political rival to work with him on ousting the country's prime minister as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets for a fifth day. In a statement on Tuesday Sadr, who leads parliament's largest bloc, asked Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the second-largest, to help him introduce a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. "To answer brother Abdul Mahdi, I thought asking you to call an early election would preserve your dignity but as you have refused, I invite brother Amiri to work with me on withdrawing confidence from you immediately," he said.

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