In announcing the Doral pick just days earlier, White House acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney described the resort as “the best place”. Wochit, Wochit
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump rejected suggestions Monday that hosting the G-7 summit of world leaders at his resort in Doral, Florida, would have run afoul of the U.S. Constitution.
Speaking to reporters in the White House Cabinet Room, Trump dismissed as “phony” a section of the Constitution that bars federal office holders from accepting gifts from foreign governments.
Trumps remarks came as he was chiding Democrats for pushing back against his decision to host the G-7 at his Doral resort.
Democrats and some Republicans, as well as government watchdogs, decried the administration’s decision to award the event to one of the president’s properties. Under pressure, Trump announced Saturday on Twitter that he was reversing his decision to host the summit at Doral, suggesting Camp David could serve as an alternative site.
On Monday, Trump defended his choice of Doral.
“I would have given it for nothing,” he said. “The Democrats went crazy, even though I would have done it free.”
Trump also rejected criticism that he would have personally profited from hosting it at his Florida club.
“I don’t need promotion,” he said. “It would have been the best G-7 ever.”
The Emoluments Clause is an anti-bribery provision that forbids any U.S. president from receiving gifts from foreign leaders and is derived from the Latin word “emolumentum,” meaning “profit” or “gain.”
The Emoluments Clause is Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution. It prohibits any “Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under [the United States]” from accepting “any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.”
In July, a three-judge of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit from Maryland and the District of Columbia that alleged Trump violated the Emoluments Clause by benefiting from his business while in office. The full appeals court, however, agreed last week to rehear the case.
The suit challenged the financial benefits Trump has reaped from government entities patronizing his businesses while he is president, pointing in particular to government bookings at his Trump International Hotel, a few blocks from the White House.
Trumps dismissive remarks about the Emoluments Clause drew immediate fire on Twitter.
“There are two Emoluments Clauses that he’s violating and they are very much in the very real Constitution,” wrote the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., asked: “What other parts of the Constitution does President @realDonaldTrump think are ‘phony’? Freedom of speech?”
A couple of Democratic presidential candidates also weighed in on Trump’s remarks.
“You can’t uphold your oath to protect and defend the Constitution if you think it’s phony,” Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Ind., wrote on Twitter.
Billionaire activist Tom Steyer mocked Trump in a tweet dripping with sarcasm.
“Donald Trump – noted Constitutional scholar,” he wrote.
After three tornadoes tore through a huge swath of North Texas late Sunday, officials confirmed the best news: No one was killed or badly hurt.
But there was still plenty of heartache.
“Despite the fact that we didn’t lose any lives last night, I think we all know that we’ve suffered some significant property damage in our city,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said.
In some of the hardest-hit areas, homes and other buildings were devastated. Countless trees were destroyed, and thousands of people were still without power Monday evening.
National Weather Service crews were busy tracing the path of the strongest tornado, which cut a nearly 16-mile path from northwest Dallas into Richardson with winds up to 140 mph.
In Rowlett, a less-powerful tornado generated winds up to 100 mph. North of Wills Point in Van Zandt County, another tornado registered 80-mph winds.
The National Weather Service recorded damage from strong winds and hail across North Texas, including Fort Worth, Denton, Corsicana and Greenville. Reports of damage stretched as far as Sherman, about 60 miles north of Dallas.
Richardson and North Dallas sustained some of the heaviest damage, but Oncor’s accounting of outages reflected the storm’s wide path.
At midday, Oncor spokeswoman Kerri Dunn said 55,000 customers were still without power in the Dallas area. In the company’s entire service area, outages affected 95,000.
She said there was no definite timeline to restore power to everyone, and she cautioned that power structures in some areas need to be completely rebuilt.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins declared a local disaster to help get out-of-state resources to help with clean-up and repairs quickly. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in 15 North Texas counties, including Dallas, Collin and Tarrant.
After reports overnight of natural-gas leaks, Atmos Energy officials said its technicians had responded to more than 200 calls in the Dallas area. Extra crews were working to investigate every emergency call, the company said.
As firefighters were conducting ongoing seraches of collapsed structures in the area, Dallas Fire-Rescue had its own emergency to respond to. Fire Station 41, on Royal Lane near the Dallas North Tollway, was destroyed by high winds. No firefighters were hurt.
Police, who were helping Dallas-Fire Rescue personnel to direct traffic in areas where signals weren’t working, urged people to remain indoors from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through Thursday because of downed power lines and debris in neighborhoods.
Damaged homes near Walnut Hill and Marsh Lane are seen in aerial view of tornado damage on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
Widespread damage
Joanne Taylor told herself Monday would be the day. She’d get up early and go work out at the Planet Fitness at Walnut Hill and Marsh Lane.
“No more excuses,” she said. “Unless the gym isn’t there anymore.”
Monday morning, the northwest Dallas shopping center where the gym had been was a crumpled pile of steel and concrete.
Water poured out of the La Michoacana market from a broken line, pooling in the parking lot and rushing down the street.
The Planet Fitness was hidden behind a mass of rubble.
“It’s wild,” said Taylor, who had taken shelter in a closet when the tornado came through. “I didn’t realize I’d dodged a bullet until I walked into the neighborhood this morning.”
Behind the shopping complex, roofs were caved in and whole sides of apartment buildings were ripped off.
Angel Govea, 18, had been eating dinner with his family when their phones buzzed with the severe weather alert. About two minutes later, the wind picked up with a loud rumble. As the air pressure dropped, it felt like a mosquito bite in his ears, he said.
The tornado passed just south of his house, knocking down branches and toppling a huge live oak across the street into his front yard.
As he and his family began surveying the damage, they saw that their neighbors were missing roofs and walls.
“We’re feeling something,” Govea said, “but they feel it more.”
All morning, chainsaws buzzed as residents and work crews cleared fallen trees.
Two trees landed in Richard Espinosa’s front yard on Constance Street, near Walnut Hill and Marsh lanes. Another destroyed a fence behind his home.
He recalled how long it had taken to recover from Dallas’ bad storms in June, and with his curb already full by late morning, he knew his cleanup work wasn’t finished.
He doesn’t expect all the debris to be picked up soon, but for now he’s more worried about the essentials.
“No water, no gas, no light,” Espinosa said. “Can’t warm anything up to eat.”
Rachel Gutknecht, 28, looks at the damage in her bedroom where the roof collapsed on top of her bed on Oct. 21, 2019, a day after a tornado devastated homes on Rickshaw Drive in Preston Hollow.(Hayat Norimine)
Rachel Gutknecht, whose apartment was severely damaged by flooding on Rickshaw Drive, tried to salvage anything she could Monday as she and her brother prepared to move in with a friend.
The heavy rain had flooded through to the floor after parts of her ceiling and an HVAC unit collapsed.
She said the changing air pressure right before the tornado blew through caused a massive headache. Moments later, the windows in her bedroom shattered.
“I don’t get scared easily,”Gutknecht said. “I was scared.”
The Home Depot employees A.J. Kobena (center) raises the U.S. flag on the slightly bent flagpole outside the destroyed store on N. Central Expressway in Dallas, Monday, October 21, 2019. Jining him were fellow employees Jonathan Shields and Jordan Jasper. A tornado tore through the entire neighborhood knocking down trees and ripping roofs from homes. (Tom Fox/The Dallas Morning News)(Tom Fox / Staff Photographer)
Parts of Lake Highlands sustained serious damage, including Texas Instruments’ south campus near Interstate 635 and Forest Lane.
A company spokeswoman said the campus was closed because of broken windows, debris and water damage. No injuries were reported.
Damage also was widespread In Preston Hollow, where residents were loading salvaged belongings into their vehicles Monday.
At a house on Eppling Lane, a large tree had uprooted and toppled over in the front yard.
Volunteers were helping with cleanup and directing traffic through the neighborhood.
Heavy roof damage exposed the interior of one home, and a gaping hole appeared to have been blasted through the exterior wall of another home.
Damaged homes in a cul-de-sac on Stillmeadow Drive in Richardson are seen in aerial view of tornado damage on Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Richardson, Texas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News)(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)
In one badly damaged Richardson neighborhood, 71-year-old Gizaw Gedlu walked through his home Monday morning as the sun streamed in through large holes in the roof.
“It’s like a war zone, a disaster,” he said. “It’s gone. It’s unbelievable.”
He and his sister Mena hid in the bathroom as the storm tore through. Two bedrooms and the living room were ripped open, tossing his belongings and pink insulation across the floor.
But the kitchen and garage are just as he left them, he said.
Gedlu, who works as a security guard, said he has insurance, but he isn’t sure when someone will show up. He wants to place tarps on the roof in case it rains again and begin trying to salvage what he can.
His sister was making plans for them to stay in a hotel for the night.
“It’s gone. It’s destroyed,” she said. “Everything is gone.”
Tommy Edmonds, left, embraces his wife, Heidi Edmonds outside of their home, which was destroyed when a tornado hit the night before, on Westway Avenue in Garland, Texas, on Sunday, Oct. 21, 2019. (Ryan Michalesko/The Dallas Morning News)(Ryan Michalesko / Staff Photographer)
In Garland, police reported significant property damage but no serious injuries.
The most severe winds hit between Shiloh Road and Glenbrook Drive, as well as Miller Road and Avenue B, Garland police said. The effects included roof damage, fallen trees, debris, structure damage and downed power lines.
About 5,500 Garland Power and Light customers were without electricity as of 1 a.m. Monday, most in southwestern Garland. The storms took down several transmission lines, which disabled two power substations.
Authorities closed Shiloh Road between Forest Lane and Kingsley Road and warned motorists to be cautious because of malfunctioning traffic lights and downed power lines and other debris.
But officials said it was remarkable the city hadn’t sustained more damage in the tornado that generated winds up to 100 mph.
Rowlett police spokesman Lt. David Nabors said the winds affected only the city’s far northeast side where there are few homes.
One home near President George Bush Tollway and Hickox Road was destroyed and a barn on Larkin Lane also sustained damage, he said.
In Sachse, police said high winds damaged six homes along Eastview Drive, leaving four of them uninhabitable. No injuries were reported.
Police spokesman Martin Cassidy said the homes were near Rowlett, where the most severe damage occurred on the border with Sachse.
He said it was likely the storm had passed over the Bush Turnpike from Sachse to Rowlett. It was unclear whether the damage in Sachse was from a tornado or strong winds.
High winds also blew through northern Ellis County, where officials said Midlothian was most heavily affected by the storms.
Northern Ellis Emergency Dispatch Manager Christine Thompson said officials hadn’t fully assessed the extent of damage in Midlothian.
Kasey Cheshier, executive director of the United Way of West Ellis County, said the storms hit hardest in north Midlothian and Red Oak but that he had not heard of any homes that were uninhabitable.
Businesses near U.S. Highway 67 at North Ninth Street had significant damage, he said.
Transportation
Dallas Area Rapid Transit crews began removing debris and trying to make repairs soon after the tornadoes hit Sunday night, spokesman Gordon Shattles said.
He said branches and wreckage from roofs landed on the overhead catenary lines that power the light-rail trains near the Walnut Hill/Denton station at the intersection of Harry Hines Boulevard and Walnut Hill Lane, close to where the storm hit hardest.
“Teams are out clearing those and trying to verify that those catenary lines are in good shape,” Shattles said.
On Monday morning, DART passengers using the Red and Orange lines, which run along Central Expressway, struggled to get from Plano and Richardson to downtown Dallas because of power outages. Service to downtown was available only from Park Lane Station.
Blue Line service between downtown Rowlett and Garland also was disrupted.
Shattles said the agency expected for service to resume normally on the Red, Orange and Blue lines by peak ridership times abut 5 p.m.
He added, however, that because of heavy damage in northwest Dallas, Green Line service may be a bit slower to fully restore, Shattles said.
“Our teams continue to work diligently to resume service. … [Bus shuttles] will be provided where needed,” Shattles said. “We’ll do our best to keep everyone informed.”
Orange and Red line passengers should expect delays and look for shuttle buses between Park Lane and Spring Valley stations due to issues from last night’s severe weather. Thank you for your patience.
Hundreds of insurance claims already had been filed by early Monday, said Mark Hanna, a spokesman for the Insurance Council of Texas.
Hanna said the only North Texas weather event from recent years that compares to Sunday night’s in scale occurred Dec. 26, 2015, when at least nine tornadoes tore through the area, killing 11 people.
That storm’s insured losses were estimated at $1.2 billion. The Dec. 26 tornado, with winds up to 180 mph, traveled 13 miles and had a maximum width of 550 yards, according to the National Weather Service.
As of Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service had not described the path or other details of the reported tornadoes, but it’s likely Sunday night’s traveled farther than the 2015 one did, Hanna said.
He said it will take at least a couple of days to assess all of the damage, project the number of claims and place a dollar loss on the storm.
State Farm spokesman Chris Pilcic warned residents to be wary of door-to-door solicitors who may try to take advantage of residents in the aftermath of the storm.
He also recommended that people save receipts for home repairs.
“Often in your homeowner’s insurance policy, you’ll have coverage for making temporary repairs,” Pilcic said. “Whether you go out and buy a tarp or plywood and do that work yourself or you hire someone to do it, make sure you save those receipts and take pictures of the temporary work you’ve done until you meet with your insurance company.”
Interabang Books in Preston Royal Shopping Center was one of dozens of businesses destroyed or damaged by Sunday night’s tornado.(Robert Wilonsky / Staff writer)
Restaurants and business closures
At least 11 restaurants and businesses in the Preston Road-Royal Lane area of Dallas were closed because of storm damage Monday morning.
Employees at Fish City Grill hunkered down inside a walk-in cooler as the storm ravaged the restaurant and nearby businesses around it, including Interabang Books and Central Market.
“It’s like a bomb went off,” said Bill Payne, Fish City Grill’s co-founder.
How to help or get help
Dallas’ mayor said the city did not need anyone to donate food, water or other items. People who want to help may donate money to Dallas’ emergency assistance fund here.
Anyone who needs shelter can go to the Bachman Recreation Center in northwest Dallas.
Organizations including the North Texas Food Bank and the Salvation Army are among the organizations offering assistance.
Staff writers Hayat Norimine, Eva-Marie Ayala, Dom DiFurio, Sarah Blaskovich, Maria Halkias, Melissa Repko and Hannah Costley contributed to this report.
PACIFIC PALISADES, LOS ANGELES (http://www.noticiasdodia.onlinenewsbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/) — Firefighters were battling a blaze that was threatening homes in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles as the fire consumed more than 40 acres of hillside brush.
The blaze was reported in the area of the 500 block of N. Palisades Drive around 10:40 a.m. It was burning on steep hillside terrain as temperatures hovered in the mid-80s, but fire officials noted that it was fortunate the winds were not significant on Monday.
Evacuations were ordered in the area surrounded by Charmel Lane to the west, Bienveneda Avenue to the east, Merivale Lane to the south and the end of Lachman Lane to the north.
The evacuations encompassed about eight residential blocks and roughly 200 homes, Los Angeles Fire Department officials said.
An evacuation center was established at the Palisades Recreation Center, 851 Alma Real Dr., Pacific Palisades.
Evacuations were ordered in neighborhoods of Pacific Palisades as a brush fire approached dangerously close to homes.
“This is an extremely challenging fire for hand crews,” said one LAFD official. “They’re essentially clawing their way up this hillside with rocks coming down at them.”
About 150 city and county firefighters were in place to battle the blaze from the air and the ground.
“We’re hitting it hard and fast,” said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
Homeowners were seen spraying hoses on the hillside and evacuating their homes.
PHOTO GALLERY: Pacific Palisades brush fire threatens homes
Traffic was jammed on local roads as dozens of residents tried to leave the area but in some cases were blocked by fire equipment and slowed by the challenge of navigating narrow hillside roadways.
Flames came within feet of the backyards of some homes along Vista Grande Drive and Charmel Lane. But water drops from the air appeared to be having an effect in keeping the flames from spreading to the actual structures.
No structure damage or injuries had been reported.
The fire began at the base of Palisades Drive, but no cause has been established. Arson investigators were on scene.
Oil fields in other parts of Syria, including the Euphrates River valley and northeastern Syria, were under the control of the SDF — and in some places, secured alongside U.S. troops or American contractors, he said. Together, the fields in those regions could produce perhaps 60,000 barrels a day, but it was unclear how much, if any, is being produced at present, he said.
President Donald Trump is prepared to use military force against Turkey over its actions in Syria if “needed,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday as U.S. troops withdrew from the region.
“We prefer peace to war,” Pompeo told CNBC’s Wilfred Frost in a taped interview that aired on “Closing Bell” on Monday. “But in the event that kinetic action or military action is needed, you should know that President Trump is fully prepared to undertake that action.”
The president is under heavy criticism for his decision to withdraw American forces from northern Syria, abandoning the Kurds, who led the ground war against ISIS. The withdrawal precipitated Turkey’s incursion into the border zone earlier this month, which has left more than 120 civilians dead, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Pompeo declined to lay out a red line for what action would prompt a U.S. military response, saying he did not want to “get out in front of the president’s decision about whether to take the awesome undertaking of using America’s military might.”
“You suggested the economic powers that we’ve used. We’ll certainly use them. We’ll use our diplomatic powers as well. Those are our preference,” Pompeo said.
The State Department declined comment on Pompeo’s remarks.
Trump told reporters at a Cabinet meeting on Monday that the U.S. “never agreed to protect the Kurds for the rest of their lives.”
“We’re not going to take a position. Let them fight themselves,” Trump said.
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Turkey last week following the country’s incursion into Syria’s northern border area, which has been occupied by Kurdish allies in America’s fight against the Islamic State group. Turkey views the Kurds as terrorists.
On Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence announced that Turkey agreed to a five-day pause in attacks as the U.S. facilitated the withdrawal of Kurdish fighters in the region. Following the completed withdrawal, the U.S. will eliminate its sanctions on the country, Pence said.
The cease-fire agreement was immediately criticized even by the president’s Republican allies in Congress, who said it gave Turkey everything it wanted while abandoning U.S. allies. In the interview, Pompeo defended the agreement, saying he was “fully convinced that that work saved lives.”
“Not only the lives of the [Syrian Democratic Forces] fighters, but the ethnic minorities in the region,” Pompeo said, referring to the Kurdish-led military force.
“Our allies see it the same way. We got real commitments to protect ethnic minorities throughout the region from the Turks in the course of negotiating that statement. I think the work that we did saved lives,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo also sought to distance Trump’s actions in the Middle East with those of his predecessor.
The former Kansas congressman was sharply critical when President Barack Obama appeared to violate his 2012 “red line” in Syria by not authorizing a threatened military strike against the country despite evidence that its forces had used chemical weapons.
Trump had pressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan not to invade northern Syria before the Turks moved into the country. In an extraordinarily undiplomatic letter sent Oct. 9, Trump told Erdogan not to be a “tough guy.” But Erdogan reportedly threw the letter in the trash, and the country’s military operation began that day.
He added: “Turkey didn’t — the country that Turkey invaded, they conducted an incursion into, is Syria, a sovereign nation. We worked with Kurdish friends, the SDF up and down the Euphrates River.”
“We jointly took down the threat of the Caliphate of ISIS,” Pompeo added. “It was to the benefit of the SDF, it was to the benefit of the United States of America, and indeed, to the benefit of the world. The commitment that we made to work alongside them we completely fulfilled.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen during a news conference last month in Jerusalem, has told President Reuven Rivlin that he can’t form a government. The move opens the door for his rival, Benny Gantz, to attempt to do so in his stead.
Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
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Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, seen during a news conference last month in Jerusalem, has told President Reuven Rivlin that he can’t form a government. The move opens the door for his rival, Benny Gantz, to attempt to do so in his stead.
Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty Images
After nearly a month of fraught negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has abandoned his attempt to form a new government. On Monday the longtime leader, who heads the conservative Likud party, acknowledged his failure to cobble a coalition together from last month’s muddled election results and returned the mandate to President Reuven Rivlin.
Netanyahu had been given 28 days to secure the 61 seats necessary to achieve a functioning majority by building support from other, smaller parties in the 120-member Knesset. After the most recent election — the country’s second inconclusive vote in less than six months — Likud won 32 seats, but the scandal-plagued prime minister could not make up the gap necessary to obtain a majority and secure his fifth straight term in office.
Now, on Netanyahu’s 70th birthday, Rivlin has turned to the prime minister’s principal rival, Benny Gantz, a former army chief of staff and leader of the centrist Blue and White party. In a tweet Monday, Gantz responded to the new mandate quite simply: “It is time for blue and white.”
In accordance with Basic Law: The Government (2001), Director General of Beit HaNasi Harel Tubi will inform Knesset factions thaat the president intends to transfer the mandate to Chairman of Kachol Lavan MK Benny Gantz and make available the 28 days allocated under the law.
“The time of spin is over; it is now time for action,” his party said in a statement posted to Twitter. “Blue and White is determined to form the liberal unity government, led by Benny Gantz, that the people of Israel voted for a month ago.”
Still, it is unclear if the path to power will prove any easier for Gantz, as his party picked up just one more seat than Likud did in the past election. Despite the Blue and White party’s narrow win in September, Netanyahu’s bloc of conservative and hard-line religious lawmakers proved slightly larger than Gantz’s group of center-left politicians, earning him first crack at forming a government.
Now Gantz, too, will have 28 days to make good on his mandate. If he cannot, a gridlocked Israel faces the prospect of having to hold a third election in the span of a year — with little sign of an end to its political impasse.
As the leadership drama plays out, another huge story is shaking the highest rungs of power in Israel: Netanyahu faces a likely indictment on corruption charges that could include bribery and fraud — a state of affairs that Blue and White has listed as one of its primary reasons for rejecting the possibility of a unity government with Likud.
Firefighters are battling a brush fire that quickly chewed through at least 30 acres in Pacific Palisades, burning dangerously close to multimillion-dollar homes in a hillside neighborhood.
Firefighters responded about 10:40 a.m. Monday to the blaze, which erupted near 500 N. Palisades Drive. The fire, initially reported as about one acre in size, grew to an estimated 30 acres in less than an hour, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.
About 200 homes in the area bordered by Charmel Lane, Bienveneda Avenue, Merivale Lane and Lachman Lane are under mandatory evacuation orders.
“These evacuations are just out of an abundance of caution. There are no structures threatened in the area at this time,” L.A. Fire Department Capt. Brandon Silverman said. “We are going to have a significant amount of air resource coming into the area above those homes so we’d rather have residents pack their bags and leave the area.”
Shortly after it broke out, the terrain-driven blaze raced uphill toward homes on Charmel Lane and Vista Grande Drive, where some residents fled the neighborhood in cars. Others were on their decks with garden hoses, trying to protect their homes from a wall of advancing flames.
Firefighters pulled hoses from trucks into backyards and stood on roofs to defend homes. Television images showed residents running from the flames as fire engulfed a tree in a backyard, sending a plume of dark smoke billowing over homes. At one point, a resident quickly drove his car from his garage as flames hit his backyard.
Before noon, fire crews had largely beaten back a significant portion of the flames that were threatening homes. Several helicopters were fighting the fire with water drops as crews scaled a section of the hillside in an effort to extinguish the smoldering blaze.
“This is an extremely challenging fire for hand crews,” said LAFD Assistant Chief Patrick Butler. “They’re essentially clawing their way up this hillside with rocks doming down on them.”
Women from the all-female inmate crew retreated just before 1 p.m. as the fire jumped toward them over the ridge.
One firefighter was taken to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center with heat exhaustion.
Fire officials say no homes have sustained significant damage in part because of firefighters’ efforts and the lack of wind in the area. However, the region is still experiencing hot, dry weather, which can dry out the brush that fuels wildfires.
Tom Danco, 65, said he had told his wife, Lynne, to evacuate when she called him Monday morning. She had been walking their dog and said that she could see flames several hundred yards from their home in the Palisades Highlands. She took her dog and some important documents from their safe and left.
Danco, who was nearby, headed to their home to try to retrieve more items but was stopped at a roadblock on Palisades Drive. He said he wasn’t concerned at the moment about their home, citing favorable weather conditions.
“As long as there’s not a lot of wind, the Fire Department is really good,” he said.
The fire sent up a large plume of smoke that blanketed the region and was visible across the Southland.
People visiting the Getty Villa in Malibu stood outside, phone cameras at the ready and watched as thick smoke billowed above the museum.
“People are buzzing about it, but nobody seems unduly alarmed,” said John Britt, a resident of Calabasas.
Ash rained down nearby on Pacific Coast Highway as the canyon smoldered, choking the region with thick smoke.
Saleem Major, 34, was taking a walk on the beach with his service dog, Eve, near Coastline Drive when he heard several firetrucks zooming by on Pacific Coast Highway, sirens blaring.
He checked Twitter to see where the fire was. Then, he looked up.
“Next thing you know, I look to my left and it was right behind the hill where I’m at,” said Major, who lives in Venice. “I didn’t even notice it.”
The fire seemed to creep up on him. It wasn’t too windy, he said, and he didn’t see or smell smoke until the moment the firetrucks drove by. Soon, ash started falling onto Pacific Coast Highway.
He counted at least a dozen firetrucks on PCH. One of them was carrying a bulldozer.
Roughly a mile away from where the fire broke out, customers and employees of the K Bakery Eatery and Bakeshop smelled smoke.
“We saw the smoke and all the firefighters going up the street,” employee Rosario Ruiz said.
The business has remained open, as has nearby Calvary Christian School. But that didn’t stop parents from collecting their children.
Greg Philyan went to the school to retrieve his 3-year-old daughter, Alexandra, when he saw the fire spreading. The pair hiked up Palisades Drive — Alexandra on her father’s shoulders — as a helicopter doused flames across the road.
“A lot of parents are coming, but it’s tough to get in and out,” he said. “My first concern is it’s going to come down the hill.”
Tracey Price, 45, picked up her daughter Audrey, 6, and several of her daughter’s classmates from the school after neighborhood friends sent her photos of smoke near the campus on 701 Palisades Drive.
“I got here as soon as I could,” she said as she packed the children into the car.
(Reuters) – Boeing Co (BA.N) may have to book billions of dollars in additional charges related to its parked 737 MAX jets, brokerages said on Monday, citing fresh uncertainty over the time frame for lifting a safety ban imposed after deadly crashes.
Credit Suisse and UBS downgraded the stock after Reuters on Friday reported that a series of internal messages from a former Boeing pilot described the plane’s software as behaving erratically months before the jet entered service.
The new revelation plunged the world’s largest planemaker into a fresh crisis involving its flagship single-aisle aircraft, as the worldwide safety ban on the 737 MAX stretches into its eighth month.
Boeing booked a $5.6 billion pre-tax charge in the second quarter and in July had estimated the total cost of the MAX grounding to be more than $8 billion.
The crisis over the messages continued to consume Boeing on Monday, two days before the company reports quarterly financial results. Chief Executive Officer Dennis Muilenburg told all employees by email they should speak to managers if they have questions about their content.
Muilenburg began the email, sent on Sunday evening Seattle time, by saying Boeing continues to make “steady progress” toward returning the 737 MAX to commercial service. The company was “deeply committed” to cooperating fully with regulators and investigators, he added.
Boeing’s shares fell as much as 5.7% to $324.40 in early trading on Monday, making the stock the biggest percentage loser on the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI. The stock has lost 18% of its value since the second deadly crash of the popular jet in March.
The planemaker has already cut production of the 737 to 42 aircraft monthly. It plans to increase output to a record level next near, though several industry sources say there is an increasing possibility the company may have to cut production if regulators further delay their approvals.
Reuters reported on Monday that European regulators expect to clear the 737 MAX to return to service in January at the earliest, later than Boeing’s estimate of the plane flying before year-end.
“We see increasing risk that the Federal Aviation Administration won’t follow through with a certification flight in November and lift the emergency grounding order in December,” UBS analyst Myles Walton said, downgrading the stock to “neutral” from “buy.”
Walton cut his target price on Boeing’s shares by $95 to $375, citing an increase in “likelihood of a pause on the 737 MAX production system” due to a delay in the jet’s return.
UBS also downgraded Boeing’s biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems (SPR.N), to “neutral” from “buy” and cut its target price on the stock to $88 from $92.
BILLIONS IN LOSSES
Boeing’s shares fell nearly 7% on Friday after Reuters first reported on the former pilot’s messages and a separate series of emails, which prompted a demand by U.S. regulators for an immediate explanation and a new call in Congress for the company to shake up its management.
The company on Sunday expressed regret over the messages, and said it was still investigating what they meant. Boeing also echoed the pilot’s lawyer in saying a flight simulator used by the pilot had technical problems.
Credit Suisse, which had stuck to its “outperform” rating since July 2017, downgraded the stock to “neutral” and cut its target price by $93 to $323, 6% below Boeing’s Friday closing price of $344.
With the likely delay in MAX’s return to service until February 2020 and the stoppage of production, the American planemaker could record $3.2 billion in charges over four months on top of the $5.6 billion charge its took in the second quarter, Credit Suisse analyst Robert Spingarn said.
“BA could be forced to furlough or fire a portion of its MAX workforce. This could result in lost labor force productivity when/if the MAX does return to service. We have seen the consequences of such events in shipbuilding: it can be ugly,” said Spingarn.
Slideshow (5 Images)
Several industry sources said there was speculation inside the company of significant job cuts as Boeing continues to drain cash. Boeing’s board was wrapping up two days of meetings in San Antonio.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch reduced its price target on Boeing’s shares to $370 from $400, saying there were many questions swirling around Boeing’s culture, brand and corporate governance following the latest developments.
“Risk management, disclosure and accountability of management and the board … could weigh on the stock in the wake of this setback,” BofA analyst Ronald Epstein said.
Reporting by Ankit Ajmera in Bengaluru; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, Alistair Bell and Tom Brown
But despite the government’s insistence that it is fighting terrorism to protect Turks, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s campaign against the Kurdish militia in Syria has hurt communities at home, with already 20 dead and 80 wounded in Turkey.
It has also reopened old wounds and anxieties in southeast Turkey’s deeply traumatized population. Syrians are reliving the horrors of war. For the Kurds, many of whom distrust the intentions of the central government in Ankara, it is only reinforcing longstanding disaffection.
Young people gathered at the scene of the mortar strike in Nusaybin were even questioning whether the mortars had been fired on the town by Turkish forces, although the trajectory indicated they had been launched from Syria.
Those skeptical of the official account noted that throughout the course of Syria’s long civil war, the Syrian Kurdish group had never so much as thrown a single stone across the border, contradicting the government’s talk of a terrorist threat.
While these deadly mortar attacks are new, Turkey’s southeast is no stranger to conflict.
The majority-Kurdish population has lived through decades of violence as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or P.K.K., has waged a separatist insurgency in Turkey. Thousands have been killed in Turkish military campaigns against the P.K.K., and tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced since the 1980s.
The entire region is heavily policed today, and most Kurds interviewed refused to give their names, saying they risked detention. Those who did talk made sure to do so out of view of closed circuit police cameras, which monitor the main streets and intersections of many towns.
The severe storms, featuring 70 mph winds, heavy rain, lightning and half-dollar-sized hail, left 65,000 people without power Sunday night, according to Oncor, the state’s largest utility company.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday reversed his decision to host the G7 summit at his Trump National Doral Miami resort in Florida.
Though he blamed the reversal on Democrats and the media, the switch was actually prompted by irate Republicans, sources told The Washington Post and New York Times.
The decision to host the event at the resort, announced last Thursday, prompted accusations of corruption.
US President Donald Trump reversed his decision to host the G7 resort at his private golf club after being told that Republicans objected to the idea, an administration official told The Washington Post.
According to the official, the president spoke to conservative allies by telephone over the weekend and was told that Republicans are struggling to defend him on multiple fronts.
He later announced that he would not be hosting the summit at his resort in Doral, Florida, contrary to what he said a few days earlier.
The New York Times also reported that the reversal was prompted by Republican opposition. The outlet said Trump had been told that moderate party lawmakers gathered for a meeting at Camp David could not defend the decision.
The report contradicts the explanation for the decision given in tweets by the president Saturday, in which he claimed that he abandoned the plan because of “crazed and irrational” hostility from Democrats and the media.
Bowing to objections from Republicans would appear to acknowledge that legitimate concerns over the original choice do exist.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
The decision to host the event at the golf course was announced by acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney at a press conference last week, igniting another controversy for the White House.
The president is already struggling to battle an impeachment inquiry, and widespread criticism of his decision to withdraw US forces from Syria.
The president is reliant on the support of moderate congressional Republicans in the impeachment battle.
House Democrats were quick to accuse the president of seeking to corruptly profit from his office after last week’s announcement, and said the decision would form part of their impeachment inquiry.
“Once again, Donald Trump is using the office of the presidency and our relationships with some of our closest allies to enrich himself,” said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island Democrat. He backed legislation from Democrats introduced last week to block the move.
“The founding fathers worried about perks flowing to a corrupt president, but they could have never dreamt of corruption this brazen.”
Mulvaney, when announcing the venue of the summit last week, said that Trump would make the resort available “at cost” and would not profit.
Critics said the resort would clearly benefit from the windfall of publicity even if it made no profit on paper.
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s attempts to force a Brexit plan through Parliament this week could be foiled by the outspoken House of Commons Speaker John Bercow on Monday.
With Johnson facing another crunch week in Britain’s ongoing Brexit saga, and after the prime minister hammered out a deal with the European Union, Bercow could refuse to allow the vote because rules generally bar considering the same measure for a second time during the same session of Parliament unless something has changed.
Bercow — who is known for his efforts to impose calm on the tumultuous chamber with bellows of “Order! Order!” — said on Saturday that he was blindsided by the government’s debate proposal.
Bercow is scheduled to make a statement shortly after Parliament opens at 2:30 p.m (9:30 a.m. ET).
Johnson, who has staked his political career on leaving the European Union on Oct. 31, had hoped his divorce plan would have been voted on in an extraordinary parliamentary session on Saturday. But, as with much to do with Brexit, the session did not go as planned.
Johnson was ambushed by rebel lawmakers who forced the government to ask Europe for another extension — something Johnson once vowed he’d rather be “dead in a ditch” than do.
European officials haven’t yet given their answer to the request for more time to get the deal through Parliament. European leaders of the other 27 member states will be conflicted between their desire to put the Brexit issue to bed and a wish to avoid the U.K. crashing out of the E.U. without a deal at all. It is expected that they will agree to an extension.
House of Commons Speaker John Bercow address the chamber on Saturday.UK Parliament / Reuters
Whatever happens the other side of the English channel, British government ministers have reaffirmed Johnson’s intention to leave the European Union on Oct. 31 come what may and said they believed they had the numbers to get the divorce deal through Parliament this week.
“We seem to have the numbers in the House of Commons, why hasn’t Parliament pushed this through? That’s what we’re going to do next week,” Foreign Secretary Dominc Raab told the BBC on Sunday.
Raab added that the government would continue to speak to the government’s Northern Irish allies, the Democratic Unionist Party, which currently opposes the deal because it treats Northern Ireland differently to the rest of the U.K.
The support of the DUP, which has 10 seats in Parliament, would give Johnson a better chance of passing his deal.
The new deal replaces an earlier divorce plan negotiated by former Prime Minister Theresa May that was rejected three times by Parliament. It comes as Britain’s opposition Labour party has called for a second referendum on whether Britain should even leave the European Union.
The tense start to the parliamentary week also comes as Scotland’s highest court is due to consider whether Johnson intentionally set out to block Parliament’s intent by not signing the first letter and sending a second, even if he technically complied with what was legally required of him, according to the Associated Press.
Image caption
Pierre Delecto, otherwise known as Mitt Romney, is a Republican senator for Utah
US Republican Senator Mitt Romney has revealed he uses a secret Twitter account under the name Pierre Delecto.
In an interview with The Atlantic magazine on Sunday, the former presidential candidate admitted he had a “lurker” Twitter handle to follow the US political conversation anonymously.
The Utah senator and former governor of Massachusetts is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, a fellow Republican. It is unknown why he chose the account name, Pierre Delecto.
Coppins asked the senator about President Trump’s prolific tweeting – including attacks on Mr Romney himself – and prompted the revelation that he “uses a secret Twitter account – ‘What do they call me, a lurker?’ – to keep tabs on the political conversation”.
Media captionTrump reacts to Romney’s attack: “I wish Mitt could be more of a team player”
The senator did not give away the name, but listed some of the roughly 700 accounts he follows – including journalists, athletes and comedians.
Mr Trump was not among them. Mr Romney said in the interview the president “tweets so much”, comparing him to his niece on Instagram. “I love her, but it’s like, Ah, it’s too much.”
Who is Pierre Delecto?
All this was not enough for Slate journalist Ashley Feinberg, who launched an investigation into what possible account the senator could be using.
It first opened on the social media site in July 2011, one month after Mr Romney announced plans to run for the presidency. Pierre Delecto follows a number of Mr Romney’s family members and former aides.
The account has only tweeted a handful of times, all in reply to other tweets.
Image copyright @qaws9876
Coppins, who wrote the Atlantic piece, then called Mr Romney to see if the speculation was accurate.
Asked if he was indeed Pierre Delecto, Mr Romney gave his brief reply in French. The senator had learnt the language while doing missionary work in France as a young man.
Who is Mitt Romney?
Mr Romney ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2012, losing to incumbent Barack Obama.
Since January 2019, he has served as the junior US senator from Utah.
Mr Romney is not the only US politician to use a pseudonym:
Former FBI Director James Comey – who was sacked by President Trump in May 2017 – tweeted under the name of American theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. Reporter Ashley Feinberg again was behind speculation it was him before he confirmed his use of the account in October 2017
Debate winners and losers, Warren on the defensive, and what we’re watching for before the next Democratic debate. Hannah Gaber, USA TODAY
It’s a new three-way race in Iowa.
Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who was initially seen as a long-shot presidential contender, has surged within striking distance of former vice president Joe Biden and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, a Suffolk University/USA TODAY Poll finds.
Biden, long viewed as the Democratic frontrunner, is faltering in the wake of a debate performance last week that those surveyed saw as disappointing.
The poll, taken Wednesday through Friday, put Biden at 18%, Warren at 17% and Buttigieg at 13% among 500 likely Democratic caucusgoers.
Those standings reflect significant changes since the Suffolk/USA TODAY poll taken in Iowa at the end of June, when Biden led Warren by double digits and Buttigieg trailed at a distant 6%. California Sen. Kamala Harris, who was then in second place after a strong showing in the first Democratic debate, has plummeted 13 percentage points and is now in a three-way tie for sixth. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders earned 9% support, the same number as in the June poll.
“Iowa is unquestionably up for grabs,” said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk Political Research Center. Buttigieg “has found a lane and is accelerating toward the front of the pack, surpassing Bernie Sanders. All of this is happening while the number of undecided voters continues to grow as Democratic caucusgoers pause to reevaluate the changing field.”
The number of caucusgoers who say they are undecided has spiked 8 points since June to 29%. Among those who have a preferred candidate, nearly two-thirds (63%) say they might change their minds before the caucuses.
Among the second tier of candidates, activist Tom Steyer was at 3%. Three other candidates also reached 3% because of rounding: Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, Harris and Klobuchar.
The Iowa caucuses, now 105 days away, historically have had an outsize influence in propelling the winner into the primaries that follow in New Hampshire and South Carolina – and in creating sobering challenges for those who do worse than expected.
At 37, Buttigieg is the youngest contender in the field, and he is the first openly gay candidate to seek the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination. He has gained ground through strong performances in the Democratic debates: Among those surveyed who watched the debate last Tuesday, 4 in 10 said Buttigieg was the candidate who did better than they expected.
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Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., left, speaks as from left, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg listen during a Democratic presidential primary debate at Otterbein University. John Minchillo, AP
An additional 3 in 10 cited Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar as doing better than expected, although so far that hasn’t translated into support. She is just below 3% in the poll.
Biden was by far the candidate seen as doing worse than expected in the debate, cited by 1 in 4 poll respondents.
Among debate-watchers only, Buttigieg held a narrow lead in the poll, at 19%. Biden and Warren were tied at 17%.
There were other signs of a friendly political landscape for Buttigieg and Warren in the poll. They led the field as the second choice of respondents; Warren was picked by 22% and Buttigieg by 14%. That could be important if and when other candidates drop out of the race, or if other candidates fail to reach the 15% threshold for delegates in the caucuses and caucusgoers decide to move to another contender.
In the survey, Democrats who hadn’t named Warren as their first or second choice were asked why they weren’t supporting her. In the open-ended question, the three most frequent responses were: that they didn’t know enough about her; that they might support her; and that they were undecided. Those are all factors that the Massachusetts senator could address in her campaign.
Others said they didn’t agree with her on issues. About 5% said she wasn’t electable or couldn’t defeat President Donald Trump.
When the same question was asked in the June survey about why Democrats hadn’t named Biden as their first or second choice, the most frequent response was that he was too old. Others said they wanted fresh ideas or that it was time to “pass the torch” to a new generation.
Support for impeaching President Trump has risen significantly. In the June poll, before disclosures about White House contacts with Ukraine prompted the U.S. House to launch a formal impeachment inquiry, 41% said it was very important that the Democratic nominee support impeachment. Now that number has risen to 52%.
The telephone poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 points.
The opinions of this subset hew closely to Mr. Trump’s positions on immigration, for instance. Both groups, which make up more than a third of the party, are more likely than other Republicans to back Trump administration policies like the separation of migrant families apprehended at the border. And they largely shrug when asked whether they wished he behaved more like a typical president.
When asked whether they believed that immigrants were “invading the country” and replacing its ethnic and cultural background, 78 percent of Republicans who rely on Fox News said yes, compared with 52 percent of Republicans who do not consider the network their main news source.
Among the Republicans who said they wished Mr. Trump’s behavior were more consistent with that of other presidents, only 29 percent were regular Fox News viewers, compared with 60 percent who were not.
“That’s pretty remarkable,” Mr. Jones said, “when you have this one variable that can cause a 10-, 20-, 30-point gap.”
And when the survey asked whether Mr. Trump’s conduct made them more likely or less likely to support him, white evangelicals were the largest bloc of people who said his actions made no difference at all, at 47 percent. A clear majority of Republicans who support the president and watch Fox News, 55 percent, responded that there was virtually nothing he could do to make them stop supporting him.
Though many of the survey’s most striking findings were on the polarization within the Republican Party, there were other signs that the rest of the country was just as divided.
Eighty-two percent of Republicans, for example, believe the Democratic Party has been taken over by socialists. And almost the same percentage of Democrats, 80 percent, said the Republican Party had been taken over by racists.
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