Columbiana

Should billionaires exist?

Should billionaires, who own more wealth than half the world’s population, exist? Some progressive politicians have proposed plans that could make billionaires a thing of the past.

'Who gives a s--- about Afghanistan?': Trump stunned officials with his comments during a military briefing, former aide says

Trump made the remarks during a meeting with top military officials, according to Jim Mattis' former speechwriter, Guy Snodgrass.

Silicon Valley CEOs Appear to Have Chosen Their 2020 Candidate

(Bloomberg) -- The technology industry is looking for something different in a president in 2020. And it appears Pete Buttigieg is their candidate.While Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren are topping national polls in the contest for the Democratic Party’s nomination, California’s deep-pocketed Silicon Valley is donating to the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana over the former vice president by a 5-to-1 margin.“Pete is a clean slate for the party in ways Biden can’t be,” said Cyrus Radfar, a 35-year-old technology entrepreneur and Democratic donor. “There’s new life and new energy that Pete brings, especially as the base of the Democratic Party is getting younger. I think he’s going to be on the national stage for a long time.”Buttigieg has staged a fundraising blitz in posh Northern California communities, holding events hosted by technology executives such as Netflix Inc. Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings, Nest Labs home-automation company co-founder Matt Rogers, and Chelsea Kohler, director of product communications at Uber Technologies Inc., among others.Were he to win, Buttigieg would not only be the youngest president, but also the first openly gay one. While he is successfully raising money, Buttigieg has struggled until recently to enter the top tier of candidates nationally.But there are signs that he could be a moderate voter’s alternative to Biden. While raising money in California, Buttigieg is campaigning heavily in Iowa, and it appears both efforts are paying off. A USA Today/Suffolk University poll of likely Iowa caucus goers put Buttigieg just behind Biden and Warren for the first time. Biden had 18% support, Warren 17% and Buttigieg 13%.Millennial voters in the tech industry say they appreciate that Buttigieg’s liberal policies seem grounded in reality and recognize “a cutthroat world,” as Elizabeth Moran, 28, put it at a debate watch party in Silicon Valley’s Sunnyvale. Moran, who works at Poshmark, a social commerce platform, said she likes Buttigieg’s grasp of economics.“Well-educated recognizes well-educated,” Moran said, adding that Buttigieg could have come to Silicon Valley after graduating from Harvard as many Ivy League graduates do.In other words, in their eyes, Buttigieg is like them.“There’s a big move on the Democratic side to more heavily regulate tech, and that hasn’t been part of Buttigieg’s message,” said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at California State University, Los Angeles. “His message is consistent with innovation and forward-looking technology. He has not given the impression that he would threaten their interests.”While he hasn’t said much about competition and antitrust, Buttigieg has focused on improving regulations as opposed to breaking up big tech.“We’re going to need to empower the FTC to be able to intervene, including blocking or reversing mergers, in cases where there’s anti-competitive behavior by tech companies,” he said in a CNN town hall in April, referring to the Federal Trade Commission.Buttigieg was his high school’s valedictorian and went on to Harvard, where he befriended two roommates of future Facebook Inc. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and was one of the first 300 users on the social media platform. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, joined McKinsey & Co. as a consultant, and volunteered for Barack Obama’s tech-savvy 2008 presidential campaign before joining the U.S. Navy Reserve and serving in Afghanistan.His relationship with Zuckerberg persisted. Zuckerberg, 35, visited South Bend in 2017 while doing research for his philanthropic organization, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and got a personal tour from Buttigieg. That relationship lasted into this year, when Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, recommended two people that Buttigieg ultimately hired for his campaign. Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Zuckerberg and Chan, said the couple hasn’t yet decided whom to support for president.The Golden StateCalifornia voters have an unusually large influence in choosing the party’s nominee this cycle. The state primary next year is in March instead of its previous June slot and its donors contributed 1 of every 5 dollars raised by the party’s presidential candidates in the first six months of this year, data from the Center for Responsive Politics show.Buttigieg is second only to home-state senator Kamala Harris in the percentage of his campaign money that comes from California. Harris got 45% of her donations from Californians, Buttigieg got 22%.Harris, who was the state’s attorney general, raised $1 million from California lawyers, more than twice as much as any other candidate. She was also the top recipient of donations from employees of the entertainment industry. But California employees of tech companies, including giants like Facebook, Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp., backed Buttigieg more than any other candidate.Silicon Valley bundlers -- fundraisers who gather money from numerous employees of a firm -- have raised concerns about both Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders, who are relying primarily on small-dollar contributions from online donors.Warren is particularly thorny for the tech industry. She has vowed that she will not meet with big donors who want to “buy access” -- and perhaps more troubling for them, has promised to break up big technology companies. Some technology workers are contributing to Warren and Sanders, but few are writing the $2,800 checks that Buttigieg and Biden are relying on, likely because they’ve been quieter on the question of how to handle big tech.Buttigieg is positioning himself as a younger alternative to 76-year-old Biden. Like Biden, he has not embraced the progressive wing’s Medicare for All, instead proposing government-run health care “to those who want it,” without eliminating private insurance.In other areas, he hasn’t taken many unique stances, but his Midwestern and military background seeps into some plans. An issue page on his campaign website is simply called “Unleash rural opportunity,” and he has proposed eliminating some student debt in exchange for national service.Paul Holland, a California venture capitalist and fundraiser for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, said he believes a moderate has the best chance of winning. In his circles, Biden hasn’t attracted the same kind of enthusiastic support that other candidates have.“It’s Mayor Pete and Cory Booker who are getting most of the attention,” he said.Buttigieg himself drew the contrast between his candidacy and Biden’s during a Marin County event.“Every time we’ve won in our party it’s been with a candidate with new ideas, who hasn’t been on the scene for too long,” Buttigieg said. “That’s what works. Also, Americans are most likely to support the opposite of what’s in the Oval Office.”Among Buttigieg’s donors are Ron Conway, an investor who has guided San Francisco mayors to back tech-friendly policies; Scott Belsky, the chief product officer and executive vice president at Adobe Inc.; Tony Xu, CEO of Doordash Inc.; David Marcus, the head of Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency project and Wendy Schmidt, wife of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.Buttigieg’s fundraising has been prodigious, but he’s still behind in national polls. He stands at just 5% in the RealClearPolitics national average, compared with 26% for Biden. And that raises pragmatic questions about who can win the Democratic nomination.“Even with his flaws, Biden is the guy who’s probably going to satisfy the moderates,” Holland said.To contact the reporters on this story: Bill Allison in Washington DC at ballison14@bloomberg.net;Jeffrey Taylor in San Francisco at jtaylor184@bloomberg.net;Sophie Alexander in San Francisco at salexander82@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Peter EichenbaumFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Phoenix police officer involved in viral video stop of couple fired

Phoenix Chief Jeri Williams announced that the officer involved in a viral video stop of Dravon Ames and Iesha Harper has been fired.

Japanese Emperor Naruhito ascends Chrysanthemum Throne

Three booming cheers of "Banzai!" rang out Tuesday at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo as Naruhito formally declared his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne as the nation's 126th emperor. As a driving autumn rain briefly gave way to sunshine and 2,000 guests looked on, Naruhito pledged at an elaborate, ritual-laden ceremony to serve as a symbol of the state for his people. The enthronement ceremony is the high point of several succession rituals that began in May when Naruhito inherited the throne after the abdication of Akihito, his father.

North Korea's Kim orders demolitions at South-built resort

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has condemned a flagship tourist development with the South as an eyesore and ordered buildings there demolished, state media reported Wednesday, in a stark illustration of dire relations between Pyongyang and Seoul. The Mount Kumgang tourist complex was built by Southern company Hyundai Asan in the North on one of the peninsula's most scenic mountains, drawing hundreds of thousands of Southern visitors.

Iranian beauty queen pleads for asylum in the Philippines

An Iranian beauty queen is seeking asylum in the Philippines, fearing for her life after Tehran demanded her extradition for a crime she claims she did not commit.  Bahareh Zare Bahari, who represented Iran at the 2018 Miss Intercontinental pageant in Manila, and who has studied dental medicine in the Philippines since 2014, has been held for six days at the country’s Ninoy Aquino airport after Iran slapped an Interpol Red Notice on her for alleged assault.  In a series of messages, the distraught Ms Bahari told the Telegraph that the case was a “big lie,” adding that she believed she was being targeted for her political activism and outspoken support of women’s rights. If she was deported to Iran, “they will kill me,” she said.  Markk Perete, undersecretary at the Philippine department of justice, said that “the only reason she was held at the airport -  and we really don’t call it detention -  it is really restraining her from entering the Philippine territory, is only because of that Red Notice issued against her.” He added that the request had been made “presumably on account of a pending criminal case against her in Iran, and this case was filed by an Iranian national against her in relation to an assault that happened presumably here in the Philippines.” Bahareh Zare Bahari, who is studying dental medicine, is an outspoken advocate for women's rights Credit: Facebook However, Mr Perete said that the Philippines was unaware of this allegation, and that an earlier accusation of commercial fraud against her had been dismissed.  There were no criminal cases pending against Ms Bahari, he confirmed. “We don’t have any cause for refusing her entry for violation of our laws.” Ms Bahari’s asylum plea is now being considered by the justice department, with the help of a lawyer.  Meanwhile, the dental student is confined to Terminal 3’s transit area awaiting her fate. “There is no updating, no information about the reason why [they] keep me here so long,” she said.  She believes her political statement at the pageant - waving a poster of Reza Pahlavi, the exiled former crown prince, and one of the foremost critics of Iran’s Islamic government - made her enemies in Tehran.  Mr Pahlavi's name has been invoked by some Iranian groups who have called for a return of the monarchy to deal with corruption and poor economic conditions. “I used his photo on stage to be [the] voice of my people because all news and media are ignoring my people,” she said.  Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called for “a fair and impartial hearing of her claim” in Manila.  “It’s absolutely critical the Philippines provides Bahareh Zare Bahari with support, including access to legal counsel, to compile and file her asylum application,” said Phil Robertson, HRW deputy Asia director.  “While waiting for the details to become clear, there should be no action under Iran’s Interpol red notice, especially since under Interpol rules a red notice is null and void if the person named in the notice is found to be a refugee fleeing from the state that issued it.”

U.S. attorney general calls for counseling, intervention to prevent mass shootings

U.S. Attorney General William Barr on Wednesday announced a new effort to prevent mass shootings through court-ordered counseling and supervision of potentially violent individuals. The effort, announced in a memo to federal prosecutors and law enforcement officials, follows dozens of deadly mass shootings in the United States this year, including a massacre of 22 people at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, and another just one day later in Dayton, Ohio, in which nine people were killed. The FBI was given expanded powers after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to investigate foreign terrorism threats.

Mitsubishi Mi-Tech Is a Gas-Turbine-Powered Doorless and Roofless Off-Roader

There aren't any doors or roof in this concept, and it has an augmented-reality head-up display.

Tasmanian Tigers Are Extinct, So Why Are Locals Reporting Sightings?

These sightings, if true, would reverse the belief that the carnivore has gone extinct.

'I'm in charge of the Hatch Act': Trump lashes out at chief of staff over potential ethics violations, report says

Donald Trump reportedly told a room of his top aides that he is in charge of the Hatch Act, when warned by his chief of staff that bringing his cabinet members to a campaign rally could violate ethics rules.The comment, reported in a new Wall Street Journal article, illustrates the degree to which Mr Trump believes his administration does not have to worry about the rule, which was passed a century ago with the intention of warding off political activity by government employees.

Cummings lying in repose at historically black college

Mourners, constituents and other well-wishers paid respects to U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings on Wednesday as his body lay in repose at a historically black college in Baltimore ahead of the first in a series of services. A tan hearse with a U.S. House of Representatives seal carrying Cummings' body arrived Wednesday morning at Morgan State University's Murphy Fine Arts Center. A group of mourners led by Cummings' widow, Maya Rockeymoore, followed pallbearers who wheeled the black casket with silver trimmings into the building.

Can Israel Fend off an Iranian Missile or Drone Attack?

How good are their defenses?

Newt Gingrich and Whoopi Goldberg go at it on 'The View' over Trump's 'lynching' comments

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Whoopi Goldberg go toe to toe over Trump’s “lynching” comments on Twitter.

US far-right activists get four years in jail for attacking leftists

Two members of a US far-right group were each sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday for brawling with anti-fascist demonstrators in New York, prosecutors said. The sentencing comes as tensions between white supremacists and leftists simmer in the United States. Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, members of the Proud Boys group, were found guilty in August by a state court of several counts of attempted assault and rioting.

Trump news – live: Pentagon official set to testify in impeachment probe, as Biden extends poll lead over 2020 Democrat rivals

Bill Taylor, acting US ambassador to Ukraine, told the House impeachment inquiry on Tuesday he was informed military aid to the country was “dependent” on president Volodymyr Zelensky agreeing to publicly announce a corruption probe into Donald Trump’s 2020 rival Joe Biden, confirming the existence of the suspected quid pro quo at the heart of the Democratic-led investigation.President Trump attempted to distract from the deposition by describing the inquiry as “a lynching” and one of his key defenders in the subsequent outcry, senator Lindsey Graham, has now announced he is planning to table a resolution in the Republican-held upper chamber condemning the House’s activities.

Seattle Public Schools Want to Teach Social Justice in Math Class. That Hurts Minorities.

Seattle’s public-school district has proposed a new math curriculum that would teach its students all about how math has been “appropriated” -- and how it “continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities.”A draft of the curriculum, which was covered in an article in Education Week, would teach students how to “explain how math and technology and/or science are connected and how technology and/or science have (sic) been and continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities of color,” as well as to “identify and teach others about mathematicians* of color in their various communities: schools, neighborhoods, places of worship, businesses, etc.”Education Week reports:> If adopted, its ideas will be included in existing math classes as part of the district’s broader effort to infuse ethnic studies into all subjects across the K-12 spectrum. Tracy Castro-Gill, Seattle’s ethnic studies director, said her team hopes to have frameworks completed in all subjects by June for board approval.> > If the frameworks are approved, teachers would be expected to incorporate those ideas and questions into the math they teach beginning next fall, Castro-Gill said. No districtwide—or mandated—math/ethnic studies curriculum is planned, but groups of teachers are working with representatives of local community organizations to write instructional units for teachers to use if they wish, she said.As strange as it may sound, this proposed curriculum is not the first time that someone has argued for teaching math in this way. In fact, in 2017, an online course developed by Teach for America -- titled “Teaching Social Justice Through Secondary Mathematics” -- instructed how to teach their students how “math has been used as a dehumanizing tool.” Also in 2017, a University of Illinois math-education professor detailed what she saw as some of the more racist aspects of math, claiming that “mathematics itself operates as Whiteness.”I wrote columns about both of these stories that year -- and, at the time, most people likely saw them simply as examples of “fringe” beliefs, confined to only super-progressive, ultra-woke circles. With the announcement of this Seattle proposal, however, we can no longer reassure ourselves that this is the case. Now, the social-justice approach to teaching math has officially entered the mainstream (and taxpayer-funded!) arena.This concerns me, and, believe it or not, that’s actually not because I despise “people and communities of color.” In fact, it’s quite the opposite: It’s because this approach to teaching math will only end up harming the very groups it claims it champions. As The American Conservative’s Rod Dreher notes:> The young people who are going to learn real math are those whose parents can afford to put them in private schools. The public school kids of all races are going to get dumber and dumber.Guess what? Minority students are far more likely to attend public school than whites. In fact, according to Private School Review, “[t]he average percent of minority students in private schools is approximately 28 percent.”In other words? The minority students, the members of the very groups that this curriculum presumably aims to aid, are actually going to be learning less math than they would have without it -- because they will be spending some of that class time learning about how math’s racism has hurt them. Ironically, one of the curriculum’s goals is to teach students how to “critique systems of power that deny access to mathematical knowledge to people and communities of color,” and yet, that’s exactly what the district itself would be doing with it.The historical contributions of communities of color are important, and students should study them. A better place to study them, though, would (quite obviously) be a history class, not a mathematics one. Mathematics classes should be for mathematics lessons; this is especially important considering the fact that math is exactly where American students (of all races) struggle compared to students in other countries. In fact, according to a Pew Research study from 2017, American students ranked 38th out of 71 countries in the subject. If we want to fix this, we need to focus more on math, instead of looking for ways to teach less of it in the very classes where our students are supposed to be learning it.The bottom line is: If Seattle’s school district really wants to help minority students excel in mathematics, the last thing it should be doing is proposing a math curriculum that would teach less of it in the schools that they’re most likely to attend.

Putin and Erdogan agreed to a 'historic' deal to consolidate power in Syria and humble Kurdish forces. Here are the winners and losers.

Here are the winners and losers from the agreement reached Tuesday, and what it means for the region's future as it tries to rebuild.

Kim orders South's buildings at resort in North be destroyed

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the destruction of South Korean-made hotels and other tourist facilities at the North's Diamond Mountain resort, apparently because Seoul won't defy international sanctions and resume South Korean tours at the site. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim had visited the resort and described its facilities as "shabby" and lacking national character.

Boris Johnson's Brexit-deal timetable rejected by Parliament

British lawmakers back Boris Johnson's Brexit deal but he lost a key vote to get it through Parliament before a Halloween deadline.

Iraq: U.S. troops crossing border from Syria don't have approval to stay

U.S. forces that crossed into Iraq as part of a withdrawal from Syria do not have permission to stay and can only be there in transit, the Iraqi military said on Tuesday.

Indicted Giuliani Henchman Lev Parnas Raises Executive Privilege in Federal Court

REUTERSLev Parnas, a Soviet-born business associate with ties to Rudy Giuliani, President Trump’s personal lawyer, raised the issue of executive privilege during a court proceeding Wednesday, arguing it could apply to some of the evidence gathered in his campaign-finance case in New York.The issue was raised during an arraignment for Parnas and Igor Furman, who pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges in a four-count indictment that accused them of funneling money through straw donors into U.S. elections in an effort to gain influence. Prosecutors also allege the pair petitioned U.S. politicians, including a congressman, to have the ambassador to Ukraine removed from her post. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebekah Donaleski, offered a glimpse into the “voluminous” evidence that prosecutors have recovered so far on the two men who have become figures in the Trump impeachment proceedings, through “dozens of search warrants,” property searches, and subpoenas. The information includes emails and social media accounts and financial records from more than 50 bank accounts.Rudy Giuliani’s Ukraine Henchmen Arrested Over Trump Group DonationDuring the hearing, Parnas’ attorney, Edward MacMahon, told the judge that his client was told to invoke executive privilege in a letter that was submitted on Parnas’ behalf by John Dowd, a former lawyer for the president, to a congressional committee conducting the impeachment inquiry.Asked by Judge Paul Oetken if Parnas has worked for the president, MacMahon said no, but that “he worked for Mr. Giuliani.” MacMahon said that his concern stems from Parnas having used Giuliani as his lawyer for both personal and business dealings and that Giuliani also works for the Trump.“There are issues that we need to be very sensitive to,” MacMahon said, not going into detail what those issues are. He continued, adding that he doesn’t “know who is looking at all this evidence. If information gets out that we determine it is all privileged, we’ve got a problem,” MacMahon said in court.“I can’t invoke [executive privilege], only the President of the United States and the government can,” MacMahon said, telling the judge that he doesn’t know how to proceed if the issue arises. “I just wanted to raise the issue with you.”Prosecutors, seemingly shocked by the executive privilege claim, told the judge that while “this is the first time that we’ve heard of this...we’re happy to have a conversation.” Donaleski, added that the government has already set up a “filter team” a separate team of prosecutors within their investigation, who ensure that possibly sensitive information does not get exposed. The judge instructed the two sides to discuss the issues over the coming weeks. Parnas and Fruman are scheduled to return to court on Dec. 2. Flanked by his wife and attorneys, Parnas spoke briefly to the scrum of reporters outside the courthouse saying that he is looking forward to defending himself “vigorously in court.” “Many false things have been said about me and my family in the press and media recently,” he said, before adding that he is “certain that in time the truth will be revealed, and I will be vindicated. In the end, I put my faith in God. Thank you.”His defense attorney, Joseph Bondy, reiterated the sentiment, saying that his team “looks forward to defending Mr. Parnas in the court based upon the evidence and not a smear campaign that’s been driven by self-serving and misleading leaks apparently from the highest levels of our government.”Prosecutors are also looking into Giuliani’s business dealings as part of their investigation, sources have told The Daily Beast and other news organizations.Parnas and Fruman were arrested two weeks ago at Washington’s Dulles airport as they were preparing to board a flight to Frankfurt, Germany, holding one-way tickets. When prosecutors learned that the two were leaving the country, they moved quickly to secure the indictments, which were issued a day before the two were apprehended.The two have both been released on $1 million bail and are relegated to house arrest while they await trial. Their movements have been restricted to New York, where the trial is scheduled to take place and the Miami area where they both live.The case is the first criminal prosecution related to an apparent Trumpworld pressure campaign to coerce Ukrainian officials into digging up dirt on Trump’s political opponents for the 2020 re-election campaign, particularly former Vice President Joe Biden, an effort which is at the center of an impeachment inquiry underway by the U.S. House of Representatives.Parnas and Fruman are charged in four-count indictment with making illegal straw donations, including a $325,000 contribution to the group America First Action, which was first reported by The Daily Beast.That donation actually came from an entirely different, undisclosed company owned by Parnas. It is illegal to donate to federal political candidates in the name of another person or entity.During an arraignment for David Correia and Andrey Kukushkin, two businessmen charged with conspiring with Parnas and Fruman to use straw donors to make illegal campaign contributions, prosecutors offered a broad brushstroke of “fairly voluminous” amounts of evidence they have gathered in the case from 10 search warrants and more than 50 bank accounts.Parnas and Fruman are accused in the indictment in a separate scheme of helping Giuliani to dig up dirt on the president’s political opponents in Ukraine.Prosecutors say that scheme involved having the former ambassador to Ukraine recalled. Giuliani believed the ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, was standing in the way of investigations he and Trump wanted to see launched into Joe and Hunter Biden’s work in the country.The campaign-finance allegations against Parnas and Fruman are inextricably linked with that effort. Prosecutors say their extensive political contributions, beginning in early 2018, were designed to curry favor with American policymakers in an effort to advance Parnas’ and Fruman’s political and business endeavors.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Making do with less: Mexican media bruised by president's austerity

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador took office in December promising to reduce public spending to free up more resources for the poor. Between January and August, Lopez Obrador's government spent 88 million pesos ($4.6 million) on advertising, just 3.6% of the sum spent in the same months of 2018 by his predecessor Enrique Pena Nieto, Public Administration Ministry (SFP) data show. The reduction in government publicity, which had accounted for 10% or more of advertising revenue for many outlets, has sparked layoffs and the suspension of projects in an industry still suffering disruption from the shift to the internet.

Lebanon's Hezbollah under rare street pressure

When mass anti-government protests engulfed Lebanon, a taboo was broken as strongholds of the Shiite Hezbollah movement saw rare demonstrations criticising the party and revered leader Hassan Nasrallah. This shattered the myth of absolute acquiesence among Hezbollah's popular base, baffling even those who hail from the movement's strongholds. "No one ever expected that in any of these areas in south Lebanon we would hear a single word against Nasrallah," or Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri, said Sara, a 32-year-old activist who participated in protests in the southern city of Nabatiyeh.

Croatia Gets Green Light to Join EU’s Visa-Free Schengen Zone

(Bloomberg) -- Six years after Croatia joined the European Union, the Balkan nation is getting a green light from the European Commission to join the bloc’s passport-free Schengen area.Croatia has continued to fulfill all of Schengen criteria, the Commission said in a statement in Brussels on Tuesday. The European Council would still need to sign off on Croatia’s accession. It’s the latest country to join the EU.“I commend Croatia for its efforts and perseverance to meet all the necessary conditions to join Schengen,” President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement. “This is why I trust the member states will take the right steps for Croatia to become a full Schengen member soon.”Fellow EU nations Romania and Bulgaria, which joined the bloc in 2007, are still waiting to join the world’s largest multinational free-travel zone.(Updates with comments from Juncker from third paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jasmina Kuzmanovic in Zagreb at jkuzmanovic@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, ;Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, ;Nikos Chrysoloras at nchrysoloras@bloomberg.net, Michael WinfreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Fire at New Zealand construction site sends smoke over city

A large fire that broke out Tuesday on the roof of a convention center that's under construction in downtown Auckland sent plumes of thick black smoke over New Zealand's largest city. The St. John ambulance service said it took one person to Auckland City Hospital in a serious condition in the late afternoon, about three hours after the fire began. There were no initial reports of any deaths or other serious injuries from the blaze.

'Johnny Reb' no longer welcome in Norfolk: Virginia city gets OK to move Confederate statue

Virginia's attorney general says the city of Norfolk can move its "Johnny Reb" Confederate statue from a busy downtown intersection to a cemetery

Former ICE Head Slams L.A. Police for Releasing Illegal Immigrants

The former head of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Tom Homan slammed the Los Angeles police department on Tuesday after an ICE spokesman testified to Congress that L.A. police were releasing as many as 100 illegal immigrants from custody per day.The L.A. police chief "has taken a political stance," Homan asserted during an interview on Fox and Friends. "He forgot the oath he's taken; he stopped being a cop and became a politician."During a Monday Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on "sanctuary jurisdictions," ICE official Timothy Robbins stated that the L.A. police department was releasing captured illegal immigrants at a high rate, up to 100 per day, in accordance with a policy implemented by chief Michel Moore."Cooperation between ICE and state and local law enforcement agencies is critical to the agency’s efforts to identify and arrest removable aliens, and to protect the nation’s security," Robbins said. "Unfortunately, we are seeing more jurisdictions that refuse to work with our officers, or directly impede our public safety efforts.""Are you saying that local law enforcement, if they knew they had a violent offender in custody, that they would release those persons?" asked Senator Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) during the hearing."Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying,” Robbins responded.A 2017 California law signed by former governor Jerry Brown greatly restricts the ability of local law enforcement agencies to work with the ICE to capture illegal immigrants. The legislation in effect turns California into a "sanctuary state."However, Homan said during the Tuesday interview that California police generally opposed the legislation.California is home to roughly 2.5 million illegal immigrants comprising about one tenth of the state's workforce, according to the Public Policy Institute of California, a non-profit think tank.

An Air France flight was forced to turn back in midair when staff found an unattended cellphone that wasn't claimed by any of the passengers

Air France flight 136 to Chicago from Paris landed at Ireland's Shannon Airport, where the police scanned a cellphone found on board.

U.S. Marine Corps Stealth Fighters Get a New Home. A British Aircraft Carrier

A squadron of U.S. Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighters will embark on the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2021 when the vessel sails on her first operational deployment.

As teachers strike, Chicago mayor touts $838M deficit fix

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who's still trying to settle a nearly week-old teacher's strike, proposed a combination of debt refinancing, tax and fee hikes and assistance from the state Legislature on Wednesday to close a massive $838 million budget deficit.

Colorado mother accused of murdering daughter she said was terminally ill

A Colorado mother who authorities said solicited donations, charitable services, and government aid for her purportedly terminally ill daughter who died in 2017 has been indicted on murder charges in the girl's death, court documents showed on Monday. Kelly Renee Turner, 41, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her seven-year-old daughter, Olivia Gant, and with forgery, theft, child abuse and bilking Medicaid out of nearly $538,000, according to the indictment handed down in Douglas County District Court. Colorado's Office of the Public Defender, which represents Turner, has a policy not to comment on its cases outside of court.

Trump Announces New Syria Plan: Blood for Oil

REUTERSPresident Donald Trump announced Wednesday he’s keeping a small U.S. force in northeastern Syria, even as he declaimed responsibility for fighting the so-called Islamic State there.“Let someone else fight over this long bloodstained sand,” Trump said from the Oval Office, in what sounded like a victory speech over an outcome negotiated between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Ratifying the Turkish invasion that began Oct. 9 and has displaced what UNICEF estimates as 80,000 children, Trump announced he will permanently lift “all sanctions imposed” on Turkey. The decision ensures Erdoğan will face no consequences for its invasion of northeastern Syrian areas previously held by Kurdish forces fighting alongside the United States. It was not immediately clear where this residual force of U.S. troops will be stationed or what local partner they will have. The U.S. military command, which has been taken by surprise by a wrenching month of withdrawal decisions, did not immediately respond to comment. The other enduring U.S. base in the war-torn country, known as al-Tanf, is in the southeastern Syrian desert, far from the oil fields and pipelines that Trump claimed as the residual mission for the U.S. in Syria. “We will be deciding what to do with [the oil] in the future,” Trump declared. Using U.S. forces to claim another nation’s oil is likely to prompt backlash, though it is unclear whether Trump’s pronouncements, an echo of his campaign rhetoric, will translate to actual American policy.After Trump gave Erdoğan a green light to invade on Oct. 6, the administration, facing substantial political opposition, has attempted after the fact to portray itself as opposing the incursion. Last week, Vice President Mike Pence and other senior administration officials in Ankara announced a ceasefire that ratified all of Turkey’s military goals: clearing the Kurds out of a 20-mile-deep area away from the Turkish border. The vice president said that while the ceasefire held, the Turks would enjoy a reprieve from the sanctions the U.S. placed on Turkey post-invasion. Trump claimed victory out of the five-day durability of the ceasefire, something that resulted from a deal reached Tuesday by Erdoğan and Putin for joint Turkish-Russian patrols in an area that effectively redraws the Turkish-Syrian border. Yet Trump presented this fait accompli as “an outcome created by us, the United States, and no other nation.” He praised Erdoğan as “a man I have gotten to know very well” and referenced an invitation to the White House that he first extended to his Turkish counterpart days before the offensive began. It was not the only unreality in Trump’s brief speech. He claimed all ISIS fighters had been recaptured, said the U.S. has been in Syria for “almost ten years” instead of the four years it has been there, portrayed the conflict between Kurds and Turks as ancient instead of political and glossed over the horrific scenes of violence against Kurds that resulted from the Turkish invasion. Trump’s posture on Wednesday was to wash his hands of whatever ISIS resurgence results. “Now Turkey, Syria and others in the region must work to make sure ISIS doesn’t regain any territory,” he said. “It’s their neighborhood.”Even though he made no effort to explain when the new, plunder-driven goals of the U.S. in Syria will be satisfied, permitting an actual withdrawal, Trump contended that he had reoriented the U.S. military out of a generation of conflict in the Middle East that has agonizingly produced neither peace nor victory.With “a clear objective, a plan for victory and a path out of conflict,” Trump said, the U.S. will now “only win—our whole basis has to be the right plan, we will win, no one can beat us.” Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Boris Johnson Still Has a Bazooka at His Disposal

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- It turned out last week that the key to getting a new Brexit agreement in Brussels wasn’t so complicated: Boris Johnson simply gave in on a couple of major negotiating red lines and then declared victory. He’ll have a much harder time repeating the trick in Parliament this week.The price of Johnson’s concessions to the European Union became clear on Saturday. Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, whose interests were sold out by the British prime minister so he could strike the deal, gave their backing to a parliamentary amendment that vastly complicates Johnson’s task. The Letwin amendment, named after the former Conservative lawmaker who drafted it, says the new Brexit deal isn’t done until Parliament passes the legislation to implement it.That had two effects. First, it forced Johnson to ask the EU for an extension to the Oct. 31 deadline, as required by a law that he said he’d rather “die in a ditch” than comply with. Second, it has set up another epic battle between the executive and Parliament that will determine whether Britain leaves on Halloween. It might also determine the shape of future U.K.-EU customs arrangements, whether there’s a second referendum and even the timing of new elections.The new battlefield is over the Withdrawal Agreement Bill, which would turn Johnson’s agreement into British law, including things such as controversial new customs arrangements and institutional frameworks, among many others.Unlike the U.K.-EU deal itself (a formal treaty), the withdrawal bill can be amended by Parliament. Given the bitter opposition to Johnson’s administration from many lawmakers, expect it to be larded with attempted amendments to tie his hands in implementing the new treaty. The two most important ones being discussed are an amendment from the opposition Labour Party that would seek to keep the U.K. in the EU customs union and one to put the deal to a referendum. Johnson would probably abort the effort rather than submit to either.For those who just got their heads around the “Irish backstop” — the guarantee in former prime minister Theresa May’s deal to keep the Irish border fully open — my sympathies. Her backstop would have effectively locked the whole of the U.K. into the EU customs union (anathema to Brexiters), while Johnson’s deal effectively does that only for Northern Ireland, to the displeasure of his erstwhile allies in the DUP. There was no wriggling out of May’s backstop in a way that satisfied Brexiters without exactly these consequences.The central feature of Johnson’s deal is a permanent customs arrangement that leaves Northern Ireland in the U.K.’s customs regime legally but that creates a complex customs system in the Irish Sea between the U.K. mainland and Northern Ireland. The system will require the filling in of detailed customs forms for each good being transported from the mainland to Northern Ireland that might end up in Ireland and the EU. And it creates an entirely untested system by which EU tariffs would be paid for those goods, and then refunded if they didn’t go to the EU in the end.And people thought the backstop was a brain twister.This arrangement imposes a new barrier on mainland-Northern Ireland trade, however much Johnson tries to dress it up as a simple matter of box-ticking. As such, it drives a cart and horses through the DUP’s one main demand: that Northern Ireland be treated no differently from the rest of Britain. It would be surprising, to put it mildly, if the famously recalcitrant DUP moved at all.Johnson has two strong cards, however. First, momentum. Such is the general exhaustion with Brexit (and fear that further delay will see it never delivered) that his parliamentary support is already greater than any registered for May’s deal. The European Research Group of hard-core Brexiters, most of the Conservative moderates he booted out of the party for defying him and some Labour MPs seem to be on board. His deal could squeak through if given the chance.The prime minister had hoped to keep the momentum going with a vote on Monday to show his deal could pass Parliament. But the House of Commons speaker John Bercow disallowed the motion. Tuesday will see the government seek approval from lawmakers for the so-called second reading of the withdrawal bill — which would be a huge win for Johnson. If it passes, a second vote would follow immediately on an expedited three-day timetable to try to get the legislation through this week. If his attempt to speed up the legislative process fails, then it will be up to the EU to offer an extension.If the legislation does indeed become bogged down or unacceptable amendments are attached, Johnson would probably play his second card and move to get a general election agreed this week, to be held at the end of November. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn may run out of excuses to deny him a vote, especially once the EU approves Johnson’s request for an extension.Another bit of good news for Johnson: Polls suggest that Leave voters express a greater preference for his deal than a no-deal exit, which might just banish his fears of losing support at the ballot box to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party. Things could change once the withdrawal bill gets an airing, but Johnson’s election strategy, as I wrote Saturday, is now clear: It’s his deal or no deal.Having retreated once in Brussels, the withdrawal bill may be a hill Johnson can’t hold either. But once again, he could fall back, this time asking Britain’s electorate to arm him for the next battle with a bazooka: a parliamentary majority.(This column was updated with details of the plan to expedite the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.)To contact the author of this story: Therese Raphael at traphael4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Boxell at jboxell@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Therese Raphael writes editorials on European politics and economics for Bloomberg Opinion. She was editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal Europe.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Indian troops kill 3 senior Kashmiri militants

Indian forces have killed a top militant commander and his two associates in a counterinsurgency operation in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Wednesday. Hamid Lelhari and his associates were killed Tuesday evening in a gunfight that erupted after Indian security forces launched a counterinsurgency operation in southern Awantipora area, said Dilbagh Singh, chief of police in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Police say Lelhari became the operations chief of Ansar Ghawzat-ul-Hind, an affiliate of the al-Qaida militant group, after Indian troops killed a top militant, Zakir Musa, last year.

Fall of a royal consort and the Thai king's assertive reign

The very public downfall of the Thai king's 34-year-old consort -- stripped of all royal titles and military ranks by a late-night command -- left the country open-mouthed Tuesday at the latest abrupt act from its mercurial monarch. Former royal bodyguard and army nurse Sineenat Wongvajirapakdi was dismissed from the rank of Chao Khun Phra, or noble consort, and accused of "disloyalty to the king". Here are five ways royal power has been displayed under Thailand's new king so far, from beefing up his security to taking direct control of a fortune.

Driver dies days after pickup collided with small plane

Patrick J. Schounard died from injuries he suffered when a single-engine aircraft attempting to land collided with his pickup truck in Wisconsin.

U.S. Navy Pilots Admit: We Could Lose a War With China

A panel of young aviators voiced a harsh warning to the audience at the U.S. Navy’s annual Tailhook aviation convention in Nevada in September 2019: the Navy’s pilots aren’t ready to do battle with a high-tech foe such as China.

A Single Bird Takes Down the U.S. Navy's 'Doomsday' Plane

Built for nuclear war, but not errant bird strikes.

Canadian Court Rules against Transgender Activist Jessica Yaniv in Fight with Beauticians over Waxing

The British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal has ruled against Canadian transgender activist Jessica Yaniv in a case stemming from a complaint Yaniv filed against multiple female beauticians who refused to wax Yaniv’s male genitalia.“Self-identification does not erase physiological reality,” said Jay Cameron, a lawyer for the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, which represented the beauticians. “Our clients do not offer the service requested. No woman should be compelled to touch male genitals against her will, irrespective of how the owner of the genitals identifies.”The Tribunal said in its decision that Yaniv had had filed the “complaints for improper purposes,” and had contradicted herself in “disingenuous” testimony. Yaniv, who is sexually attracted to women, brought 15 complaints against a number of beauticians in the Vancouver area, seeking as much as $15,000 in damages from each one.“Most of the women who were the target of Yaniv’s complaints work out of their own home, are of immigrant background, and have small children with them in the house during the day,” the Justice Centre’s report said. Yaniv also apparently accused immigrants during the trial of discrimination for refusing service on religious grounds, writing earlier this year on Facebook that “we have a lot of immigrants here who gawk, judge and aren’t the cleanest of people, they’re also verbally and physically abusive, that’s one reason I joined a girl’s gym.”Yaniv is being ordered to pay $2,000 to three of the accused women, one of whom was forced out of business due to the case.In August, Yaniv was arrested for owning a taser, after brandishing it on camera during an interview about Yaniv’s alleged history of predatory behavior toward children. Screen-captured messages allegedly from Yaniv highlighted intimate questions to underage girls, and legal documents showed an attempt to organize a topless pool party for such girls.

Italy PM says Barr's meetings with Rome intelligence were legitimate

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Wednesday confirmed that U.S. Attorney General William Barr held two secret meetings with Italian intelligence officers in Rome and described the encounters as "legal and correct". The meetings, which took place on Aug. 15 and Sept. 27, have been widely reported as being part of an investigation by President Donald Trump's administration into the origins of an inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 American election.