President Trump confirmed Sunday that he has asked his administration to explore the possibility of buying Greenland, opining that “essentially, it’s a large real estate deal.”
“A lot of things can be done,” Trump told reporters in Morristown, N.J., after wrapping up a 10-day vacation at his private golf club. He noted that owning Greenland “would be nice” for the United States from a strategic perspective, but he cautioned: “It’s not number one on the burner, I can tell you that.”
Trump’s desire to buy Greenland, which is part of the kingdom of Denmark, was first reported last week by the Wall Street Journal. Two people with direct knowledge of the directive told The Washington Post that the president has mentioned the idea for weeks, and that aides are waiting for more direction before they decide how seriously they should look into it.
Trump is scheduled to visit Denmark in two weeks, although he said Sunday that his visit is not related to his interest in Greenland.
“Not for this reason at all,” he said.
In the days since news broke of Trump’s desire to buy Greenland, the idea has been ridiculed by politicians in Denmark, and Greenland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that the island is not for sale.
Homes are illuminated after sunset in Tasiilaq, Greenland, on Friday. (Felipe Dana/AP)
“Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism,” the ministry said in a tweet. “We’re open for business, not for sale.”
Earlier Sunday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow confirmed Trump’s interest in Greenland, noting that the self-governing country is a “strategic place.”
“It’s developing. We’re looking at it,” Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Denmark owns Greenland. Denmark is an ally. Greenland is a strategic place. . . . I’m just saying the president, who knows a thing or two about buying real estate, wants to take a look.”
Trump said Sunday that owning Greenland is “hurting Denmark very badly” and that “they carry it at a great loss,” although he did not immediately provide evidence to back up those claims.
Although many in the United States have mocked the idea, one Democratic lawmaker on Sunday voiced openness to considering it. Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.) said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that “changes are happening” in Greenland as a result of climate change, “and the people up there understand it and they’re trying to adjust to it.”
“We have a very strategic base up there, a military base, which we visited,” Manchin said, referring to his visit to Greenland earlier this year as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation. “And I understand the strategy for that in that part of the world and the Arctic opening up the way it is now.”
He called Trump’s idea “a very interesting proposal” and said the Senate Armed Services Committee, on which Manchin sits, should be receiving a secure briefing about it in the near future if the plan “has any merit to it.”
Trump is not the first U.S. president to propose buying Greenland. Kudlow noted Sunday that after World War II, President Harry S. Truman’s administration offered to purchase the country from Denmark for $100 million. The U.S. military had a presence in Greenland during the war as a means to protect the continent if Germany tried to attack.
With melting ice making the region more accessible, the United States has been firm in trying to counter any moves by Russia and China in the Arctic. China declared itself a “near-Arctic nation” last year and has defended its desire for a “Polar Silk Road” in which Chinese goods would be delivered by sea from Asia to Europe.
China recently sought to bankroll the construction of three airports in Greenland, drawing concern from then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and prompting the Pentagon to make the case to Denmark that it should fund the facilities itself rather than rely on Beijing.
President Trump’s ‘America First’ approach has relied on slapping tariffs on countries, such as China and Mexico, which have led to current trade wars. What is a tariff and how do they work? We explain. Just the FAQs, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Never mind the market swings and ongoing trade wars. The U.S. economy will remain strong through 2020 and beyond, President Donald Trump’s advisers on the economy and trade said Sunday.
“There is no recession in sight,” top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday.”
White House director of trade policy Peter Navarro likewise said on the Sunday news circuit that trade negotiations with China are going well and steps being taken by the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank will keep the global economy humming.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average suffered its worst plunge of the year Wednesday, caused in part by fears of a worldwide recession and global trade wars.
The market returned to positive territory midday Thursday. But jitters remain.
There’s still the ongoing trade war with China, for example. The Trump administration announced last week it would delay until Dec. 15 tariffs on Chinese goods that were supposed to go into effect in September.
Kudlow said negotiations continue. If ground rules and other issues can be worked out in the next week or two, Chinese officials could come to Washington for face-to-face discussions.
“We are doing very well with China, and talking!” Trump tweeted Sunday afternoon.
But China last week sidestepped the idea of another meeting between Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping and threatened retaliation if the United States follows through with new tariffs on its exports.
Economists said U.S. consumers wind up paying for the tariffs, slowing economic growth and hamstringing markets.
The White House, however, has blamed the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policies for the market slump.
Navarro said both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank are expected to lower rates. China could also take steps to stimulate its economy, he said.
Navarro also held out hope that Congress will approve a pending renegotiated trade deal with Canada and Mexico.
“Things are shaping up well for stimulus worldwide,” he said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
Democratic presidential contenders, however, don’t see it that way.
New York Sen. Kristen Gillibrand told ABC News that she’s concerned about a recession because the renegotiated NAFTA deal is “a disaster.”
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, called it a “fool’s errand to think you’re going to be able to get China to change the fundamentals of their economic model by poking them in the eye with some tariffs.”
“There is clearly no strategy for dealing with the trade war in a way that will actually lead to results for American farmers or American consumers,” he said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Kudlow said the administration is looking at additional tax cuts, mentioning and “interesting idea” from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to give tax cuts to consumers that offset higher prices from tariffs. The administration has already created a bailout program for farmers.
“We’ve got room to do that as well,” Kudlow said of additional help. “I can’t say definitively this morning. All I’m saying is, there’s a lot of good ideas to create more incentives to work, save and invest.”
Two of President Donald Trump’s top economic advisers sought on Sunday to tamp down concerns that the U.S. may be sliding into a recession.
In appearances on the news show circuit, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro and chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow rattled off a list of positive statistics about the economy under Trump.
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“Before I came to the White House, I spent a better part of 20 years forecasting the business cycle and stock market trends, and what I can tell you with certainty is that we’re going to have a strong economy through 2020 and beyond with a bull market,” Navarro said on “This Week“ on ABC.
Independent economists have been less optimistic, noting in particular the inversion of the Treasury yield curve — a pattern that has occurred before every recession since the 1950s.
Navarro addressed this, saying, “It’s flat, but not for bad reasons — but for good reasons.”
The comments came after a roller-coaster week on Wall Street, marked by the Dow Jones Industrial Average fluctuating by 300 points on four out of five trading days, including an 800-point drop early in the week. Trump’s decision on Tuesday to delay further Chinese tariffs until Dec. 15 did little to calm investors.
But “we have blowout retail sales,” Kudlow told “Fox News Sunday” guest anchor Dana Perino.
“Consumers, first of all, they’re working; the employment numbers are terrific,” Kudlow said. “Second of all, they’re working at much higher wages. Third of all, they’re spending. And fourth of all, interestingly, they are even saving while they’re spending. That’s about as good as it gets.”
The unemployment rate in July was unchanged from the previous month at 3.7 percent, while average hourly wages were up 3.2 percent over the previous year, up slightly from June but a slowdown from early in the year when wages hit 3.4 percent.
“Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd noted that Kudlow wrote in December 2007 that there was “no recession coming” just months before a massive downturn.
“Well, I plead guilty to that late 2007 forecast,“ Kudlow responded. “I plead guilty.”
Appearing on “This Week,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who is running for president, disagreed with Navarro’s economic outlook, saying she was “concerned” about the possibility of a recession and so were the people she’d met on the campaign trail.
“I’m concerned because I think ‘NAFTA 2.0’is a disaster,” Gillibrand said, referring to Trump’s North American free trade agreement. “I think it was a giveaway to drug companies in Mexico. It’s going to harm our jobs. President Trump said, ‘No bad trade deals.’ Not only has he entered into them but he’s started a trade war with China, and it’s really harming producers.”
Appearing on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Navarro said the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement that would replace NAFTA should have passage by early October, “if Congress rises above partisan politics.” And as for the China tariffs, Navarro insisted: “They’re not hurting anybody here. They’re hurting China.”
Later Sunday, Trump reinforced that position.
“China is eating the tariffs because of monetary manipulation, and also they’re pouring a lot of money into their country because they don’t want to lose jobs,” he told reporters in New Jersey before returning to Washington.
“I don’t think we’re having a recession,” he added. “We are doing tremendously well, our consumers are rich. I gave a tremendous tax cut, and they’re loaded up with money. They’re buying. I saw the Wal-Mart numbers, they were through the roof just two days ago. That’s better than any poll. That’s better than any economist.”
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One with first lady Melania Trump at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., on Sunday.
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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One with first lady Melania Trump at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morristown, N.J., on Sunday.
Patrick Semansky/AP
President Trump on Sunday confirmed that his administration has discussed buying Greenland from Denmark, comparing the idea to “a large real estate deal” and suggesting the island would be of strategic value to the United States.
“It’s just something we’ve talked about,” he said. “Denmark essentially owns it. We’re very good allies with Denmark. We’ve protected Denmark like we protect large portions of the world, so the concept came up.”
“Strategically, it’s interesting. And, we’d be interested. We’ll talk to them a little bit,” the president said, adding, “It’s not number one on the burner, I can tell you that.”
But the idea has gotten a chilly reception both in Greenland and in the Danish capital, Copenhagen.
Denmark’s prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, who was on a visit to Greenland Sunday, responded to Trump’s remarks, saying emphatically that “Greenland is not for sale.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen briefs the media during a news conference last month with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
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Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen briefs the media during a news conference last month with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
Markus Schreiber/AP
“Greenland is not Danish. Greenland belongs to Greenland,” Frederiksen said, according to Sermitsiaq newspaper.
“I strongly hope that this is not meant seriously,” she said.
Earlier Sunday, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow told Fox News that the president had discussed the subject with his advisers.
“I don’t want to predict an outcome, I’m just saying the president — who knows a thing or two about buying real estate — wants to take a look at a Greenland purchase.”
Greenland’s government last week tried to hit a diplomatic tone while making it clear that the island wasn’t on the market.
“We have a good cooperation with USA,” the island’s government said in a statement on its website. “Of course, Greenland is not for sale.”
Former Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said of the idea, “It must be an April Fool’s Day joke.”
Greenland is about three times the size of Texas with a population of just over 57,000. Most of Greenland sits above the Arctic Circle. It is the world’s largest island — Australia and Antarctica are larger and also surrounded by water, but are considered continents. Greenland has its own parliament, premier and Cabinet, though Denmark controls foreign policy, security and financial policy in consultation with Greenland’s government.
Inuit from North America are believed to have first arrived in Greenland about 4,500 years ago. In the 10th century, it was settled by the Viking explorer Erik the Red. In the 13th century, it became part of Norway and, a century later, part of Denmark.
The Russian government is downplaying the deadly nuclear explosion suspected to be a failed missile test; Lucas Tomlinson reports.
A nuclear official said in an email Sunday that two Russian nuclear monitoring stations—specifically designed to detect radiation— “went silent” in the days following an explosion by what many believe was a nuclear-powered missile earlier this month during tests at a remote base.
Lassina Zerbo, the head of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, told The Wall Street Journal in an email that two days after the explosion, the monitoring stations in Kirov and Dubna suffered “communication and network issues.”
There have been reports that Russia has not been fully transparent about what occurred at a military base in the far northern Arkhangelsk region. The initial report from the country’s nuclear agency said that five workers were killed in a rocket engine explosion. The Guardian reported that radiation levels in Severodvinsk, a nearby city, increased 20 times above normal for about a half hour after the explosion.
It has been reported that residents in the area have been stocking up on iodine, which helps reduce the effects of radiation exposure.
Two days later, Russia’s state-controlled nuclear agency Rosatom acknowledged that the explosion occurred on an offshore platform during tests of a “nuclear isotope power source,” and that it killed five nuclear engineers and injured three others. It’s still not clear whether those casualties were in addition to the earlier dead and injured.
H.I. Sutton, a contributor to Forbes, reported that there has been speculation about what exactly Russia was testing at the time of the explosion. One theory, according to his analysis, is that Moscow was testing a “mega-torpedo” nearby, which is reportedly 30 times larger than submarine torpedoes considered “heavyweight.”
The report said, “Launched from a large submarine, potentially from under the protection of the arctic ice cap, it would virtually have unlimited range and Russia claims that it will run so deep that it cannot realistically be countered with existing weapons.”
President Trump took to Twitter and said the U.S. is “learning” from the missile explosion and said the U.S. has more advanced technology but did not elaborate.
The country and the party are still haunted by the use of the People’s Liberation Army to crush the Tiananmen Square protest movement 30 years ago this summer, which resulted in international isolation and sanctions. A military crackdown could spell the end of Hong Kong’s role as an international financial center and the unique political formula under which Beijing grants the territory freedoms unseen on the mainland.
“The military solution would have many urgent and disruptive effects,” said Wu Qiang, a political analyst in Beijing. “It would be political suicide for the Communist Party of China and the ‘one country, two systems’ arrangement of Hong Kong.”
More nationalistic voices have brushed aside such fretting, noting that China is a much stronger and diplomatically confident nation than the one that endured international opprobrium after the Tiananmen crackdown.
“The Hong Kong matter will not be a repeat of the political disturbance of 1989,” Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, wrote Friday in an editorial, referring to the year that military troops in Beijing crushed the Tiananmen protests. It said Beijing had not decided to use force to intervene in Hong Kong, but had the legal right to do so if needed.
“Washington will not be able to intimidate China by using the turmoil 30 years ago. China is much stronger and more mature, and its ability to manage complex situations has been greatly enhanced,” the editorial said.
The deployment in Shenzhen was clearly meant to focus attention in Hong Kong and beyond. A white bridge that connects Shenzhen to Hong Kong is only two miles down the road.
The message was amplified by no less than Mr. Trump, who disclosed on Twitter that American intelligence agencies had spotted the Chinese troops massing at the border. “Everyone should be calm and safe!”
“Those are not the values of the people of New Hampshire. So if I get into this race I think I can beat her.”
Lewandowski, a conservative firebrand who has maintained a close relationship with President Trump despite being fired from the campaign in June 2016, told The Hill earlier this month that he’s “seriously considering” a Senate run and casted Shaheen as a “failed” senator.
Lewandowski slammed Shaheen Sunday, suggesting she’s been using her office to boost her personal finances.
“Jeanne Shaheen has been an elective office in New Hampshire for over 20 years and now she is exceptionally wealthy,” he said. “I think it’s time to hold these people accountable. They go win poor and they come out very rich. They think that it’s a job that they’re entitled to, and that they can keep for the rest of their lives.”
Lewandowski has already received the strong endorsement of Trump, who said at a rally in New Hampshire this week that he would be a “fantastic” senator.
James Reardon, 20, is set to be arraigned in Struthers Municipal Court.
Police Chief Vincent D’Egidio said Reardon posted a video on Instagram last month of a man shooting a semi-automatic rifle with sirens and screams in the background.
The caption post read, “Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O’Rearedon.”
The post tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown.
According to a release from the FBI, on the same day police were informed about the online video, a warrant was obtained and executed at his parents’ home.
Reardon remains in the Mahoning County Jail on telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing charges.
The baby was rescued in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Friday when a passerby heard her crying from a nearby street, police said. The baby’s cries may have saved her life.
“He went to investigate the sound and found a naked baby approximately ten feet from the sidewalk in the woods,” the Montgomery County Department of Police said in a statement on Friday. “The female newborn was transported to a local hospital where she is in stable condition.”
Montgomery County Police Department
A newborn baby was found in a wooded area in Silver Spring, Md., Aug. 16, 2019.
Medical personnel at the hospital said the baby appeared to be just a few hours old. Investigators located the child’s mother on Sunday, but they have not determined why the baby was left naked and unattended.
Police said the mother was receiving medical care at a hospital, but did not offer details on her condition. The baby was listed in stable condition as of Sunday evening.
The department said its Special Investigations division is handling the ongoing probe and said “no additional information will be released at this time.”
Montgomery County Police Department
A newborn baby was found in a wooded area in Silver Spring, Md., Aug. 16, 2019.
It also shared a link to the Maryland Department of Human Resources website to make residents aware of the state’s safe haven law.
The law allows a “distressed parent” who is unable or unwilling to care for their infant to surrender custody of the baby with no questions asked.
Under the law, a parent, or another adult with the approval of the mother, has up to 10 days from birth to anonymously leave a baby with a responsible adult at a designated Safe Haven location, according to the Department of Human Resources.
“In Maryland, no one ever has to abandon a newborn baby,” Department of Human Resources said in a statement. “A person who invokes Safe Haven is immune from civil liability or criminal prosecution provided the child is unharmed.”
At least 63 dead, 182 people injured following a suicide blast in Afghanistan.
At least 63 people were killed and nearly 200 others were wounded by a suicide bomber at a wedding hall in Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.
The attacker set off the explosives among the roughly 1,200 guests at the event at the Dubai City wedding hall in Kabul, Nusrat Rahimi, a spokesperson for the Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press. An affiliate group of the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
“There are so many dead and wounded,” survivor Ahmad Omid said. “I was with the groom in the other room when we heard the blast and then I couldn’t find anyone. Everyone was lying all around the hall.”
The blast, which left 182 people injured, occurred in a western Kabul neighborhood that’s home to many of the country’s minority Shiite Hazara community, was the deadliest attack in Kabul this year.
At least 63 people were killed at Dubai City wedding hall in Kabul, Afghanistan, by a suicide bomber on Sunday, officials said. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
A local affiliate of ISIS in Afghanistan wrote on an ISIS-linked website on Sunday that a Pakistani-ISIS fighter seeking martyrdom was responsible for the suicide bombing, and claimed a car bomb was also detonated in the attack.
The bombing broke a period of relative calm in Afghanistan’s capital city, after 14 people were killed and another 145 were wounded — most of them women, children and other civilians — on Aug. 7 when a Taliban car bomb aimed at Afghan security forces detonated explosives.
Kabul’s huge, brightly lit wedding halls are centers of community life in a city weary of decades of war, with thousands of dollars spent on a single evening. Such wedding halls also serve as meeting places and, in November, at least 55 people were killed when a suicide bomber sneaked into a Kabul wedding hall where hundreds of Muslim religious scholars and clerics had gathered to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Taliban denied involvement in that attack, and IS did not claim responsibility.
Daniel Komins, a hiker who went missing in Northern California’s Trinity Alps.
Daniel Komins, a hiker who went missing in Northern California’s Trinity Alps.
Photo: Trinity County Sheriff’s Office
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Daniel Komins, a hiker who went missing in Northern California’s Trinity Alps.
Daniel Komins, a hiker who went missing in Northern California’s Trinity Alps.
Photo: Trinity County Sheriff’s Office
Daniel Komins, a 34-year-old hiker who had gone missing in the Trinity Alps in Northern California, was found dead Sunday morning, the Trinity County Sheriff’s Office said.
A California Highway Patrol helicopter found a backpack off the trail between L Lake and Mirror Lake. Search and rescue teams then found Komins’ remains near the backpack, which they determined to be his.
“A preliminary investigation appears to indicate that Komins may have fallen in the steep and rocky terrain,” the Sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Komins, an emergency medical technician from Blue Lake in Humboldt County, had not been seen since August 11.
According to the Sheriff’s office, Komins was an “experienced” hiker who embarked on a five-day solo trip to the Trinity Alps, about 75 miles northwest of Redding.
Komins was reported missing by his girlfriend on August 14 after failing to return home. Officials said Komins had a cellphone and GPS tracker with him.
He used his cellphone on August 11 to contact his girlfriend, but the device “has seen no activity” since then. The sheriff’s office said his GPS tracker was “not presently operating appropriately” either.
Lauren covers North Lake County government, breaking news, crime and environmental issues for The Times. She previously worked at The Herald-News in Joliet. She holds a master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting.
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President Trump called the possibility of buying Greenland a “large real estate deal” but added that it is not his number one priority.
“Essentially it’s a large real estate deal,” Trump told reporters in New Jersey on Sunday. “A lot of things could be done. It’s hurting Denmark because they’re losing almost $700 million a year carrying it. So they carry it at a great loss. And strategically, for the United States it would be nice.
“Greenland, it got released somehow. It’s something we talked about. Denmark essentially owns it. We’re very good allies with Denmark. We protect Denmark like we protect large portions of the world,” he continued. “So the concept came up, and I said, ‘Certainly, I’d be.’ Strategically, it’s interesting, and we’d be interested, but we’ll talk to them a little bit. It’s not number one on the burner.”
“Greenland is rich in valuable resources such as minerals, the purest water and ice, fish stocks, seafood, renewable energy and is a new frontier for adventure tourism. We’re open for business, not for sale,” the foreign ministry tweeted.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the president had told several of his advisers with varying levels of seriousness that he was interested in purchasing Greenland.
In the interview with Tolo News, Mirwais Elmi recalled greeting smiling guests in the packed wedding hall only to see their bodies carried out hours later.
“My family, my bride are in shock, they cannot even speak. My bride keeps fainting,” he said.
“I’ve lost hope. I lost my brother, I lost my friends, I lost my relatives. I will never see happiness in my life again.
“I can’t go to the funerals, I feel very weak … I know that this won’t be the last suffering for Afghans, the suffering will continue,” he added.
The bride’s father told Afghan media that 14 members of his family had died in the attack.
What happened?
An IS statement said that one of its fighters blew himself up at a “large gathering” while others “detonated a parked explosives-laden vehicle” when emergency services arrived.
The attack took place in a district populated mainly by Shia Muslims.
Media captionThe floor of the wedding hall was covered in blood after the explosion
Sunni Muslim militants, including the Taliban and the Islamic State group, have repeatedly targeted Shia Hazara minorities in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Image copyright Reuters
Image caption
Funerals have been taking place for the victims of the blast
Speaking from a hospital bed, wedding guest Munir Ahmad, 23, said his cousin was among the dead.
“The wedding guests were dancing and celebrating when the blast happened,” he told AFP news agency.
“Following the explosion, there was total chaos. Everyone was screaming and crying for their loved ones.”
Afghan weddings often take place in large halls where men are segregated from the women and children.
What reaction has there been?
Writing on Twitter, President Ghani said he had called a security meeting to “review and prevent such security lapses.”
Afghanistan’s chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah, described it as a “crime against humanity” and the US ambassador to Afghanistan, John Bass, called it an act of “extreme depravity”.
A Taliban spokesman said the group “strongly condemned” the attack.
“There is no justification for such deliberate and brutal killings and targeting of women and children,” Zabiullah Mujaheed said in a text message to the media.
How are Afghan peace talks progressing?
Taliban and US representatives have been holding talks in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and both sides have reported progress.
On Sunday, US President Donald Trump told reporters in New Jersey that the negotiations were going well.
“We’re having very good discussions with the Taliban. We’re having very good discussions with the Afghan government,” he said.
The US has about 14,000 troops in Afghanistan and is part of a Nato mission there. Since the start of his presidency Mr Trump has said he wants to pull the US troops out.
The deal would include a phased US troop pullout in exchange for Taliban guarantees that Afghanistan will not be used by extremist groups to attack US targets.
The Taliban would also begin negotiations with an Afghan delegation on a framework for peace including an eventual ceasefire. The militants have been refusing to negotiate with the Afghan government until a timetable for the US withdrawal is agreed upon.
The Taliban now control more territory than at any point since they were forced from power in 2001.
Protestors turned up in both Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas as President Donald Trump visited following two mass shootings that left 31 dead. USA TODAY
An Ohio man was arrested Friday after police received a tip about an online video where the man identified himself as the shooter at a Jewish community center — an incident that hadn’t happened yet, according to the FBI.
James P. Reardon, 20, was arrested on charges of telecommunications harassment and aggravated menacing, according to a news release from the FBI Cleveland Division. The FBI did not state whether Reardon would face federal charges.
“According to charges filed, New Middletown Police Department was informed on Friday, August 16, 2019, of an online video posted by James Reardon depicting himself being identified as the shooter at an area Jewish Community Center, the shooting had not actually taken place,” the FBI Cleveland Division said.
A search warrant was executed at Reardon’s parent’s home the same day local police received the tip about the video. Reardon was arrested without incident.
“Grateful for the work of the FBI, local law enforcement and our community partners in the Youngstown Jewish community,” the Anti-Defamation League’s regional office in Cleveland tweeted Saturday. “We will continue to employ all our resources to stop the spread of white nationalism and violent extremism.
The organization continued: “Although there is no continued active threat to the community, we ask that people remain vigilant, and if you see something, please contact law enforcement immediately.”
The FBI did not describe what was found during the search of Reardon’s parent’s house.
“This is considered an ongoing investigation, further details can not be released at this time,” the FBI said in the release.
A message from USA TODAY seeking comment from the New Middletown Police Department in Ohio — the arresting agency in this case — was not immediately returned.
Fox News Flash top headlines for August 18 are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com
Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco, who led her state during the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, died Sunday after a long battle with cancer. She was 76.
The office of Gov. John Bel Edwards confirmed Blanco’s death. She had been battling a rare form of cancer that had spread to her liver.
The Democrat who served in state government offices for more than two decades had announced in December 2017 that she was being treated for the incurable melanoma. “I’ve had an extraordinarily full life,” she said in her announcement of her terminal condition. A devout Catholic, Blanco thanked Louisiana residents for their “abiding love” during her years in public service and called it an “honor and a blessing” to lead the state during the response to Katrina and Hurricane Rita weeks later.
Blanco was the first woman to hold the post of Louisiana governor; she took office in 2004. Her career was largely defined by Katrina 20 months later, in August 2005. The storm devastated New Orleans and resulted in over 1,400 deaths and thousands being displaced.
Local leaders, as well as Blanco, were criticized for what was considered an unprepared and inadequate response. She shouldered much of the blame as pictures of flooded streets and people stranded on rooftops made news worldwide.
She said the situation was made worse by a Republican-led White House looking to shift the blame for its disaster-response failures.
Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, seen here in 2007, died Sunday at 76. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File)
“I wasn’t aware in those days that there was some intentional stalling going on in Washington,” Blanco said in a 2015 interview with USA Today Network. “I felt like I had to ask more times than should have been necessary.
“Katrina certainly left its mark and Rita left her mark on Louisiana. It made us tougher people though. It made us stronger,” the former governor said this past July.
Her political career never recovered and she decided against seeking a second term.
“She was a woman of abiding faith and unconditional love for her family, Louisiana and those she served,” Edwards said Sunday speaking next to first lady Donna Edwards, as the News Star newspaper reported. “Louisiana has lost a champion. Donna and I have lost a friend.”
A former high school teacher, Blanco served 24 years in elected office, making her way through state politics while rarely making waves. She first served in the state House in 1984 and eventually served as lieutenant governor from 1996 to 2004 before being elected governor.
She was also the first women to serve on the Louisiana Public Service Commission.
Former Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco addressing a news conference as Gov. Bobby Jindal looked on, in June 2009. (AP Photo/Bill Haber, File)
She dropped out of the 1991 governors’ race but ran a successful campaign in 2003 to defeat then-rising Republican star Bobby Jindal, who served as the state’s Republican governor after Blanco.
She earned praise for raising public school teacher salaries during her tenure, as supporters said she ran a corruption-free government.
During her final months, Blanco described feeling “blessed by God” and said it was a “wonderful time for me, even though it is a time of a kind of countdown.”
A leaked Brexit document predicts a “catastrophic collapse” of the U.K.’s infrastructure if Britain leaves the EU with no deal. Above, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks outside 10 Downing Street in London in July.
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A leaked Brexit document predicts a “catastrophic collapse” of the U.K.’s infrastructure if Britain leaves the EU with no deal. Above, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson gestures as he speaks outside 10 Downing Street in London in July.
Frank Augstein/AP
Britain would face gridlock at ports; shortages of medicine, fuel and food; and a hard border with Ireland if it left the European Union with no deal, according to a leaked government document.
The U.K. seems increasingly likely to crash out of the EU on Oct. 31, and the picture the government paints in a confidential document compiled under the code name Operation Yellowhammer and obtained by the Sunday Times is sobering. It details the ways government leaders are working to avert a “catastrophic collapse in the nation’s infrastructure.”
Trucks could be dealt 2 1/2-day delays at ports, with significant disruption lasting up to three months, which would affect fuel supplies in London and the southeast of England, according the document.
Medical supplies will also be vulnerable to “severe extended delays,” since about three-quarters of the U.K.’s medicine comes across the English Channel.
Fresh food will become less available, and prices will rise, according to the document. That outcome is expected to especially hit vulnerable groups.
The government anticipates the return of a hard border with Ireland, which could spark protests and roadblocks.
It also forecasts the closure of two oil refineries after import tariffs are eliminated, causing an expected loss of 2,000 jobs, worker unrest and disruptions to fuel supplies.
A government source told the Sunday Times: “This is not Project Fear — this is the most realistic assessment of what the public face with no deal. These are likely, basic, reasonable scenarios — not the worst case.”
The revelations come just before Boris Johnson takes his first official foreign trip as prime minister to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in advance of this coming weekend’s G-7 summit in Biarritz, France.
The Financial Timesquoted government insiders who rebutted the document, saying it is not a realistic scenario for a no-deal Brexit and pointing out that it was written under the leadership of Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, and does not reflect the preparations spearheaded by Johnson that are now underway.
“This document is from when ministers were blocking what needed to be done to get ready to leave and the funds were not available. It has been deliberately leaked by a former minister in an attempt to influence discussions with EU leaders,” a source told the paper.
British Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng also downplayed the report in an interview with a British broadcaster.
“I think there’s a lot of scaremongering around and a lot of people are playing into Project Fear,” he told Sky News when asked about the leaked document. “We will be fully prepared to leave without a deal on the 31st of October.”
Despite heavy rain, threats from Beijing, and weeks of clashes with the police, hundreds of thousands of protesters marched through the streets of Hong Kong on Sunday for the 11th weekend in a row.
The huge turnout for the demonstrations — which began as an objection to a controversial extradition bill and have since evolved into a broader call for greater political freedoms — suggests that the threat of a military crackdown by the state has not caused the protest movement to lose momentum.
Protesters first gathered in Victoria Park, the starting point for several marches in June. The crowd was reportedly a mix of old and young Hongkongers, and filled with families. The protesters then marched through Hong Kong’s Central district — in defiance of a police ban — clogging up streets and jamming up traffic and public transportation. At certain points the lines of protesters stretched for miles.
Many people could be heard chanting: “Hong Kong people, keep going!”
Sunday’s protests came amid escalating tensions in Hong Kong
There were questions about what turnout might look like after an especially tense week for protesters, but the New York Times estimates that Sunday’s protest could be the biggest demonstration in weeks.
Some accused the protesters of having gone too far, and there were questions over whether the incidents at the airport would depress turnout during this weekend’s demonstrations. But Grace, a 26-year-old Hongkonger at the protests on Sunday, told Vox that protesters dismiss the controversy as “drama set up by the airport authorities” and that ultimately clashes at the airport have energized protesters.
“I would say protesters are furious, and [that the airport protests] encouraged more people to be here today,” she told us. She also said the response to the airport controversy and Beijing’s increased shows of military force at the Hong Kong border have pushed many protesters to demand more sweeping reforms: “After the [airport] incident, more protesters are eager to shout out, ‘Revive Hong Kong, revolution of the time!’ which most protestors didn’t agree with before.”
Obstacles for protesters go well beyond the controversy surrounding the airport incidents. Beijing is growing impatient with the protests, calling them “the work of the US” and has stationed several thousand troops in Shenzhen near the mainland’s border with Hong Kong. That paramilitary force conducted very public exercises in the area last week.
Chinese military personnel arrive in Shenzhen.STR/AFP/Getty Images
For now, that force — and the 6,000 People’s Liberation Army troops routinely stationed in Hong Kong — have not moved against protesters, but in recent weeks, Hong Kong police have been increasingly inclined to use force against demonstrators, and have made over 700 arrests. And protesters and residents’ complaints over police use of tear gas in subway stations and nonlethal force that has nevertheless left demonstrators injured (one woman’s eye was ruptured last Sunday) have only increased tensions between civilians and officers. Protesters have taken to decrying the police at protests, and have also called on their local government to rein in officers they see as being overly quick to employ force.
Protesters have also had violent showdowns with pro-establishment groups, including with bands of mysterious white-clad individuals (demonstrators typically wear black) who many suspect to be associated with the city’s triad criminal gangs.
What demonstrators are fighting for
Sunday’s march was organized by the Civil Human Rights Front, the same group that has organized many of the mass protests since they began. The group says that marches will continue until their demands are met, which include a complete retraction of a bill that wold allow Hongkongers to be extradited to mainland China, universal sufferage to elect Hong Kong’s leaders, and amnesty for all arrested protesters.
As Riley Beggin has explained for Vox, the protesters’ grievances and objectives have morphed over time:
The demonstrations began in early June as a challenge to legislation that would allow extradition to mainland China; critics feared the bill would allow Chinese officials to detain anyone seen as a threat.
Debate on the bill was postponed indefinitely due to the protests, but the demonstrations have continued as a platform for citizens to push back against what they call “police brutality” at the protests, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s dismissal of protesters as rioters and “stubborn children,” and Beijing’s growing influence in the city’s politics.
The question of Beijing’s influence over Hong Kong’s political affairs is a major one. As Rachel Withers has explained for Vox, historically Hong Kong has a unique degree of freedom from Beijing’s government, and Hongkongers are reluctant to give that up.
While Hong Kong is technically under the control of the People’s Republic of China, under the terms of the 1997 handover of power from the UK to China, the city is supposed to be allowed to govern itself until 2047 under a policy known as “one country, two systems.” Essentially, this means that while Hong Kong is under Chinese sovereignty, it is supposed to be free to retain its own political and legal systems. However, Beijing has been pressuring Hong Kong’s leaders to pass laws that bring it more closely in line with the Chinese government, including this recent extradition law, which is sponsored by the pro-Beijing government.
While the protests have expanded in scope, demonstrators have not lost sight of the fact the extradition law that set off the protests has only been shelved rather than completely removed from consideration. Jason, a protester and 30-year-old finance professional, told Vox the protest won’t end before “the complete withdrawal of the bill.”
What comes next?
The protests have now gone on for 11 weeks, and neither Hong Kong’s local government nor party officials in Beijing have shown any willingness to grant protesters any additional concessions.
As tensions rise, a number of US lawmakers have called for bipartisan legislation designed to pressure Hong Kong to align with protesters and to push back against creeping influence from Beijing. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) reintroduced the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act earlier this year, a bill that would make it harder for Hong Kong to maintain its special trade status with the US if does not maintain a sufficient degree of autonomy from mainland China.
You Wenze, a spokesman for China’s ceremonial legislature, has condemned criticism from American lawmakers as “a gross violation of the spirit of the rule of law, a blatant double standard and a gross interference in China’s internal affairs.”
The European Union has called for protesters and government authorities to enter talks in order to prevent further escalation.
“It is crucial that restraint be exercised, violence rejected, and urgent steps taken to de-escalate the situation,” the European Union’s High Representative Federica Mogherini said in a statement. “Engagement in a process of broad-based and inclusive dialogue, involving all key stakeholders, is essential.”
Protesters are showing no signs of fatigue. In fact, Grace and Jason both spoke of expansions to the movement that go beyond street demonstrations — “Aside from walking out to the street, we are striking Beijing economically,” Grace said. “It’s a change in battlefield.”
“Chains and shops are already being affected by their perceived or expressed political stance with the current protests. People are boycotting shops because of the ultimate owner’s stance or what they’ve said about the protests,” Jason said. “Even movies are being boycotted,” he added, alluding to the recent #BoycottMulan campaign — a push to boycott Disney’s upcoming Mulan remake due to its star’s support of Hong Kong’s police and her criticism of the city’s protesters — something Grace also spoke of.
As demonstrations expand and weekly marches continue, protesters and their government appear to be at an impasse. Since Beijing is not yet inclined to use military force to quash protests, it’s unclear what kind of event might trigger a sweeping crack down.
Grace believes there could be a day of reckoning on October 1, when China celebrates the 70th anniversary of Communist rule and a massive military parade will take place in Beijing.
“President Xi will not want anything to happen on that day,” she said. “I think the People’s Republic of China will try to end [protests] on October 1, no matter what measures [must] be taken.”
But she said she is unafraid of that happening. “[That would] be the endgame,” she said. “We could foresee that. Protestors are not afraid of that since it will definitely bring US into the game.”
And either way, Grace said the protests will not stop: “For protestors, we will continue to fight even after October 1.”
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