President Trump continues to attack the whistleblower who led Democrats to open the impeachment inquiry. But Ivanka Trump took a different view. Paula Reid reports.
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BEIJING — China’s government looks to be settling in for a long trade war with the United States, with President Xi Jinping invoking one of the Communist Party’s most epic — and ultimately successful — battles.
The Chinese leader, accompanied by his top trade negotiator, Vice Premier Liu He, on Monday placed a floral basket at a monument in Jiangxi province commemorating the start of the Long March in 1934. In the 4,000-mile, year-long trek, the Communists broke through Nationalist lines, eventually ousting them and installing Mao Zedong as leader of China.
Meanwhile, China’s main movie channel, CCTV-6, has scrapped its regular programming in favor of films about the Korean War, which ended in a draw after China intervened to fight back the Americans.
“We are echoing the present times using the art form of film,” the channel said, explaining its sudden schedule changes.
The planned coverage of the Asian Film Awards was ditched Friday for the classic war movie “Heroic Sons and Daughters,” the story of Chinese “volunteer troops” who helped North Korea fight the Americans in the 1950s.
Then, over the weekend, came three more movies about resisting the United States: “Battle on Shangganling Mountain” and “Surprise Attack.” Another classic, the 1960 film “Guards on the Railway Line,” about Chinese scouts rooting out spies who work for the Americans, was due to screen Monday night.
The trade war reminds many Chinese of the 1950-1953 Korean War, when the two sides talked about a cease-fire for two years while continuing to fight, Xu Hailin, a commentator for the provocative nationalist tabloid the Global Times, wrote in a column published Monday.
“The Chinese people’s memories of engaging in talks and fights at [the] same time remains fresh,” he wrote. “It [lets] Chinese people realize that the trade frictions between China and the U.S. will not end very soon.”
Earlier this year, the state-run People’s Publishing House printed “Rereading On Protracted War,” an updated collection of speeches that Mao gave in 1938 amid a Japanese invasion that would take eight years for China to repel. It appeared to be a sign that authorities were preparing the people for a long and difficult trade war.
All this propaganda has a purpose, said Dali Yang, professor of political science at the University of Chicago. “The psychological aspect cannot be overestimated. The Chinese side wants to be seen as standing up to the U.S.,” he said. “They have to put on a strong face.”
Yang recalled that in the 1990s, CCTV-6 had been playing movies about its old ally, Yugoslavia, and that these had infused the social atmosphere. After the U.S. bombing of China’s embassy in Belgrade in 1999, “the students had been primed for action by these movies that had been playing,” he said, noting that it was entirely coincidental but nonetheless extremely effective.
Tens of thousands of Chinese, including students, took to the streets to protest the United States, pelting its embassy in Beijing with eggs and bricks, and even 20 years on, many Chinese say it was not an accident, as the United States and NATO insisted.
The Communist Party does, however, have to strike a careful balance. It apparently wants to unify the populace against the United States, but not so much that students pour back out onto the streets. It’s only two weeks until the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, and authorities have already clamped down on movement in Beijing and commentary online.
Still, over the past week, anti-American propaganda has intensified in Chinese state media. The slogan “Want to talk? Let’s talk. Want to fight? Let’s do it. Want to bully us? Dream on!” went viral on Chinese social media, according to What’s on Weibo, a website that monitors China’s answer to Twitter.
All of this is a sharp turnaround from the days after President Trump tweeted that he would raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent in response to China “reneging” on commitments made to seal a trade deal and end the year-long tariff war.
Then, the state media was slow to report on the U.S. tariffs, waiting more than 24 hours to mention the threats — and reporting them only once the Chinese authorities were ready to respond.
Now, the Chinese media is full of fighting talk.
When the news broke that Washington was hiking tariffs again, Chinese netizens overwhelmingly agreed with authorities: “If you want to talk, the door is open; if you want to fight, we will fight to the end,” Xinhua reported.
A former vice minister of commerce, Wei Jianguo, had previously said that China had not only the determination but also the willingness to fight a prolonged war. “China will not only act as a kung fu master in response to U.S. tricks, but also as an experienced boxer and can deliver a deadly punch at the end,” he told the South China Morning Post.
In a sign that nerves are running high, news websites appeared to accidentally resend a Xinhua alert from May 20 last year, declaring: “China-U. S. trade war ceasefire! The war has ended!”
The official news agency said it condemned the distribution of “false news” and would investigate how it had happened.
Luego de cinco días de silencio, una de los familiares del cura Juan Viroche decidió hablar. Según le confió a LA GACETA todos los allegados están seguros de que no se trató de un suicidio, como creen los investigadores, sino de un homicidio por las denuncias públicas que el sacerdote realizó contra los “transas” de La Florida y Delfín Gallo. En ese sentido, detallaron que hay varias razones que les hacen creer en esa hipótesis, y dos de ellas están relacionadas con lo que se encontró en la capilla. Además, tras la muerte, la familia comenzó a atar cabos sobre algunas situaciones sospechosas que habían sufrido en los últimos tiempos.
El Gobierno deberá explicar en tribunales porqué se mantuvo en secreto durante más de un año un decreto mediante el que se reasignaron partidas en favor del Poder Legislativo. Ayer, el fiscal Washington Navarro Dávila libró oficios al Poder Ejecutivo y solicitó informes al secretario general de la Gobernación, Pablo Yedlin, para conocer del decreto 2.941/3 (SH). El instrumento, rubricado el 16 de septiembre de 2015 por José Alperovich, dispuso el envío de $ 550 millones a la Cámara, para el pago de sueldos.
Una referente de “Madres del pañuelo negro” fue subida a la fuerza a un auto. La retuvieron más de tres horas
Durante la mañana y el mediodía del sábado, una de las referentes de Madres del Pañuelo Negro, el grupo que lucha contra la droga en Tucumán, fue retenida por delincuentes que querían evitar que viajara a Buenos Aires a dar una entrevista. Entre otras amenazas, los “narcos” le dijeron que si seguía haciendo denuncias “iba a terminar velando a un familiar”. Tras una crisis de nervios, se animó a realizar la denuncia. Se ordenó una custodia permanente para ella.
El viernes se realizó en El Árbol de Galeano el Buio Bar, una cena completamente a oscuras en la que los comensales se dejaron llevar y servir por anfitriones y mozos ciegos. El objetivo es experimentar, aunque sea por unas horas, como viven las personas no videntes y preguntarles todo lo referido a sus sensaciones. Voces sin rostro que encienden la imaginación y derriban los prejuicios de la imagen.
Los “Rojos” derrotaron 27-6 a Universitario y se subieron a la cima del Regional, torneo que ganaron por última vez en 2004. Como escolta quedó Tucumán Rugby, que parece haber recuperado la confianza: venció otra vez a Huirapuca y en la próxima fecha se medirá con las “Serpientes” en Ojo de Agua. Tarcos, en tanto, se cruzará con “Huira”.
U.S. citizens use ropes to cross the Rio Grande from San Antonio del Bravo, Mexico, into Candelaria, Texas. U.S. citizens depend on the free health clinic in San Antonio del Bravo.
Lorne Matalon for NPR
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Lorne Matalon for NPR
U.S. citizens use ropes to cross the Rio Grande from San Antonio del Bravo, Mexico, into Candelaria, Texas. U.S. citizens depend on the free health clinic in San Antonio del Bravo.
Lorne Matalon for NPR
Along one rugged stretch of the Rio Grande, U.S. citizens routinely cross the border into the United States illegally. A shortage of basic services in rural Texas, such as health care, means U.S. citizens rely on Mexican services and rarely pass through an official port of entry on return.
Informal, unregulated crossings have been a fixture of life for generations in rural communities along the U.S.-Mexico border. Today, however, with the unrelenting focus on border security, this kind of unfettered back-and-forth by U.S. citizens is rare.
“We’re citizens. We’re U.S. citizens that have to go to get help in Mexico,” said Loraine Tellez, a resident of the unincorporated town of Candelaria in West Texas. She said that the help principally involves health care.
There are two towns here, hamlets really, both remote within their own countries yet a stone’s throw from each other across the Rio Grande — San Antonio del Bravo in Mexico and Candelaria in Texas. Their combined population is estimated by residents to be approximately 150 people.
If you are in Texas and get sick or have an accident, you can walk across the river — using ropes to cross above the water — to a clinic in San Antonio del Bravo where treatment and medicine are free, paid for by the Mexican government even if you’re a U.S. citizen. In the U.S., the nearest hospital is a long drive away in Alpine, Texas.
“A 10-minute walk versus three hours to the hospital,” Tellez said, detailing her options.
It’s not a violation of U.S. law to walk into Mexico. However, returning back to Candelaria is. The official port of entry is a 90-minute drive away.
All this back-and-forth has created an unspoken but clearly understood relationship between residents and the U.S. Border Patrol. Mike Shelton is the U.S. Border Patrol agent in charge for the region that includes Candelaria and a group of tiny river towns.
Border Patrol agent Mike Shelton. “The Border Patrol doesn’t want to admit that things like this are going on,” he says, “but the reality of the situation is it does.”
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Lorne Matalon for NPR
Border Patrol agent Mike Shelton. “The Border Patrol doesn’t want to admit that things like this are going on,” he says, “but the reality of the situation is it does.”
Lorne Matalon for NPR
“The Border Patrol doesn’t want to admit that things like this are going on, but the reality of the situation is it does,” Shelton explained. He said agents are trained to use their judgement on a case-by-case basis. “We want these agents to reason for themselves: ‘Is what I’m about to do going to further the interests of the government and society?’ “
“Just because we can take enforcement action doesn’t necessarily mean we should,” Shelton continued. “We don’t want agents to put people’s lives at risk simply because [the agents] are blindly following the letter of the law. It’s about being human.”
This area is also a well-trodden corridor for both human and drug smugglers. Residents said they’ll tell agents if they have any misgivings about strangers they don’t recognize.
“That’s our way of helping them in order for them to help us,” said Evelyn Lozano, 18, who said she has seen human smugglers passing through the region on multiple occasions.
Lozano is a U.S. citizen but effectively lives in both countries, with school in Texas during the week and weekends with family in San Antonio del Bravo. Lozano must travel three hours round trip each weekday to attend school in the border city of Presidio, Texas, because Candelaria does not have a school. Nor does it have a grocery store or gas station.
“They know that we are crossing illegally,” Lozano said of Border Patrol agents working in the area from a small base in Candelaria. “But they do understand the fact that we do need to cross sometimes in order to get help, in order for us to get food, in order for us to survive. So that’s why we go to Mexico, because we don’t get that help here in Texas.”
The help is reciprocal. Some Mexican citizens receive their mail in Candelaria because there’s no postal service in San Antonio del Bravo. Their American relatives bring the mail across.
Tellez acknowledged that what is happening here flies in the face of border enforcement.
“Down deep in my heart it does make me feel guilty, but I have to do it sometimes,” she said. However, she and other residents said, they don’t flaunt what they’re doing.
They understand that the Border Patrol has a job to do.
Meanwhile, the delicate dance between otherwise law-abiding U.S. citizens and border agents will continue on this isolated section of the Rio Grande.
Iba a ser el día de su jubilación. Con una ceremonia en el cuartel de Bomberos Voluntarios de Exaltación de la Cruz, Camila, la perra rescatista líder de la Brigada Canina K-9 de San Antonio de Areco, iba a recibir el último sábado una condecoración por esos doce años de servicio. Después, dejaría de trabajar. Pero el jefe de la brigada recibió un llamado de último momento que obligó a cambiar de planes. Y a suspender el retiro de Camila. Al menos por un día.
Necesitaban a los perros de la brigada para encontrar a los ocupantes del avión desaparecido. Luego de casi un mes de búsqueda, el sábado fueron encontrados los restos del avión que desapareció el 24 de julio tras despegar del aeropuerto de San Fernando. La aeronave estaba en una zona del río Paraná Guazú cerca de la desembocadura con el río Uruguay en Entre Ríos. Y la ayuda de la Brigada Canina K-9 de los Bomberos Voluntarios de San Antonio de Areco fue clave.
Camila, una de sus integrantes más viejas y más condecoradas, fue la que halló a los ocupantes del avión y les dijo a los investigadores dónde debían buscar para recuperar los cuerpos.
Guillermo Testoni, el jefe del cuartel de Bomberos Voluntarios de Areco fue quien tomó la decisión de suspender el retiro de Camila. Si alguien podía liderar esa búsqueda era ella. Y no se equivocó.
El lugar donde cayó el avión es un pantano difícil de penetrar. Los investigadores se desplazan en barcazas, cortando cañas para avanzar. Una persona no puede pararse sobre la turba que flota en el río y que rodea lo que queda del avión. Por eso se decidió usar drones y perros. Así fue como se convocó a la brigada canina K de los Bomberos Voluntarios de San Antonio de Areco, que funciona a unos 80 kilómetros del lugar del impacto.
Camila es una perra negra de patitas blancas que llegó a la brigada en 2005, tenía pedigrí de labradora pero que resultó ser una perra callejera con grandes dotes para la investigación. “Nosotros decimos que es una perra BM, por Barrio Municipal. Es raza perro, pero con unas aptitudes fenomenales”, cuenta Testoni. De hecho, Camila, que tiene doce años, es la única perra de rastreo del país certificada dos veces en Estados Unidos y con premios internacionales.
Hace un año, a Camila le encontraron un tumor y para los miembros de la brigada canina fue un gran golpe. Hicieron quimioterapia y la perra logró ganarle la batalla al cáncer, pero el tratamiento la dejó bastante debilitada. Además, ya estaba bastante mayor como para seguir en funciones. El mismo día que iba a recibir una condecoración y el pase a retiro, Testoni recibió la llamada de que necesitaban los servicios de la brigada. Y si alguien estaba en condiciones de encontrar a los ocupantes de ese avión desaparecido era Camila.
“Se los entrena mediante el juego, con pelotitas para que puedan determinar en qué área hay restos humanos. Se les hace oler los rastros e incluso restos cadavéricos para que produzcan distintas respuestas según lo que encuentran. Para los perros, el premio es el juego. Cuando encuentran algo, se les da una pelotita, porque lo que quieren los perros es jugar”, explicó Testoni.
“Cuando la llevamos al lugar del accidente, Camila ladró y se sentó en la zona del cráter de la caída del avión. Ese ladrido significa presencia de restos humanos. Después la alejamos para ver si había más rastros en otra zona cercana, pero permanentemente Camila volvía al lugar de la cola del avión, que era lo único que sobresalía. No había dudas de que estaban allí adentro”, explicó.
Los investigadores siguieron esas pistas y poco después encontraron los cuerpos del piloto Matías Ronzano, del copiloto, Emanuel Vega y el dueño del avión, Matías Aristi. Así fue el último día de esta perra de rastreo antes de jubilarse, como sacado de una película norteamericana.
El día de su retiro, resolvió el misterio del avión desaparecido que mantuvo en vilo al país durante casi todo un mes. Según dijo Testoni, la Provincia se comprometió a hacerle una despedida con los honores que se merece.
An all-male draft has been ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge in Texas, declaring that the “time has passed” for debating the role of women in the army Time
A federal court ruling that it’s unconstitutional to require only men to register for the draft will increase the pressure on Congress to either expand the draft or eliminate it.
“The court ruling itself changes nothing as far as the commission is concerned,” said Joe Heck, the former Army general and congressman who chairs the National Commission for Military, National and Public Service.
That process could lead to any number of outcomes – only one of which is that women would be required to register for the draft.
Some questions and answers about women in the draft:
Q: Will the decision be appealed?
A: Justice Department spokeswoman Kelly Laco declined to comment Sunday. But lawyers involved in the issue say the government will probably have no choice but to appeal the ruling to defend an act of Congress. The next step would be the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans.
Miller denied a stay of his ruling, so the government would likely seek first to temporarily block the ruling while it’s appealed.
Q: Didn’t the Supreme Court already decide this issue?
A: Yes. In 1981, the Supreme Court ruled in Rostker v. Goldberg that Congress had a reasonable basis to exclude women from the draft because at the time, combat positions were off-limits to women.
That law has not changed, Miller said. But the facts have.
“In the nearly four decades since Rostker, however, women’s opportunities in the military have expanded dramatically,” Miller said. “In 2013, the Department of Defense officially lifted the ban on women in combat. In 2015, the Department of Defense lifted all gender-based restrictions Thus, women are now eligible for all military service roles, including combat positions.”
Q: Has the draft registration process changed as a result of the decision?
A: In the short term, no.
Miller made a declaratory judgment finding that the current system is unconstitutional. But, notably, he did not issue an injunction. There is no immediate court order requiring any particular change to the Selective Service requirement.
The Selective Service System said Monday that it is continuing its operations as usual.
“As an independent agency of the executive branch, the Selective Service System does not make policy and follows the law as written,” legislative liaison Jacob Daniels said in a statement.
“As such, until Congress modifies the Military Selective Service Act or a court orders Selective Service to change our standard operating procedure, the following remains in effect: (1) Men between ages 18 and 25 are required to register with Selective Service and (2) Women are not required to register with Selective Service.”
Q: Does the decision mean women will be required to register with the Selective Service?
A: Not necessarily. If the district court’s ruling is upheld, it could mean one of three things:
► Women would have to register for the draft at their 18th birthday, just like men;
► Selective Service would be eliminated entirely, and neither men nor women would have to register; or
► Selective Service would become voluntary and men and women could continue to register, but would not lose any benefits if they fail to do so.
“There are several different potential outcomes that the commission is considering,” Heck said. “That’s why it’s so important that we talk not just to policy experts but the American public.”
The commission will hold a public hearing on the issue on April 24 and 25 at Gallaudet University in Washington, and is seeking public comment at inspire2serve.gov.
A: The Department of Defense wants to keep the Selective Service System as a backstop to the all-volunteer military. And in a report to Congress in 2017, it went on record to support including women.
“It would appear imprudent to exclude approximately 50 percent of the population – the female half – from availability for the draft in the case of a national emergency,” officials said at the time. “And, if a draft becomes necessary, the public must see that it is fair and equitable. For that to happen, the maximum number of eligible persons must be registered.”
Even if there’s never a draft, the Pentagon sees benefits to an all-volunteer force from including women in Selective Service. One such benefit: The number of recruiting leads that the Pentagon could target with direct mail would double.
Q: What is President Trump’s position?
A: Shortly before President Barack Obama left office, Obama expressed support for universal draft registration regardless of sex as “a logical next step.”
President Donald Trump has been mostly silent on the issue. In a 2017 memorandum to the commission studying the draft, Trump asked the panel to “ensure close examination of … the feasibility and advisability of modifying the Selective Service process to leverage individuals with critical skills for which the Nation has a need without regard to age or sex.”
Q: Why do we need Selective Service, and what happens to the draft if it goes away?
A: President Richard Nixon ended the draft in 1973, as the United States was attempting to wind down its involvement in the Vietnam War.
President Jimmy Carter created the Selective Service System in 1980, after Russia invaded Afghanistan. The intent was to identify a pool of young men available to be drafted in case of a national emergency.
But the United States drafted men into war even before draft registration, and could do so again.
The Constitution gives Congress the power to “raise and support Armies.” The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that this gives Congress the power of conscription.
Q: How are transgender people handled in the draft?
A: President Donald Trump has moved to ban transgender people from the military. According to the Selective Service System, the registration requirement is based on the sex observed at birth and not on gender identity. However, if the draft were to resume, men who had transitioned to women could file for an exemption.
While Friday’s court ruling did not specifically address the transgender issue, it made clear that men and women should be treated equally in draft registration.
The rally had been planned by Women for America First, which was quietly becoming the closest thing Mr. Trump had to a political organizing force, gathering his aggrieved supporters behind the lie of a stolen election.
The group’s founder, Amy Kremer, had been one of the original Tea Party organizers, building the movement through cross-country bus tours. She had been among the earliest Trump supporters, forming a group called Women Vote Trump along with Ann Stone, ex-wife of the longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone.
With donors including the Trump-affiliated America First Policies, Women for America First had rallied support for the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett and defended Mr. Trump during his first impeachment.
The group’s executive director was Ms. Kremer’s daughter, Kylie Jane Kremer, who recently worked on Sean Hannity’s radio show. Two organizers helping the effort, Jennifer Lawrence and Dustin Stockton, were close to Mr. Bannon, having worked at Breitbart and then at his nonprofit seeking private financing to help complete Mr. Trump’s border wall. (In August, federal prosecutors accused Mr. Bannon of defrauding the nonprofit’s donors, after an investigation that included a raid of Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Stockton’s motor home; they were not implicated, and Mr. Bannon, who pleaded not guilty, was later pardoned by the president.)
A onetime organizer for the hard-line Gun Owners of America, according to his LinkedIn page, Mr. Stockton had come to know members of the Three Percenters militia group. He had an online newsletter, Tyrant’s Curse, whose credo was, “A well-armed and self-reliant populace, who take personal responsibility and put their faith in God, can never be oppressed and will never be ruled.” One post featured a photo from the Dec. 12 rally — Mr. Stockton posing with several Three Percenter “brothers” in military-grade body armor.
Ms. Lawrence had personal ties to Mr. Trump. Her father was a real estate broker in the Hudson Valley, where Mr. Trump has a golf club and his sons have a hunting ranch. “He’s done business with Mr. Trump for over a decade, so I’ve had the opportunity of meeting the president and interacting with him on a lot of occasions,” she said in an interview. She also knew Mr. Flynn through their mutual association with a conservative think tank, she said.
Biden likely was asking people to text “Joe” to that number. But his botched phrasing made it sound like a plug for a website, and sure enough, someone bought Joe30330.com.
From left, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Andrew Yang, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio are introduced before the second of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN Wednesday, July 31, 2019, in the Fox Theatre in Detroit. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)
From left, Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro, Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., former Vice President Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Andrew Yang, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stand for the National Anthem as they are introduced before the second of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN Wednesday, July 31, 2019, in the Fox Theatre in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
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A database search reveals that someone bought the URL via a discount registrar shortly after the Biden flub, but no contact name is listed.
It’s not clear if Fayer bought the URL quickly or if someone else did and redirected it to his website. Early reports on Twitter indicated that the URL may have redirected to Pete Buttigieg’s campaign website first and Fayer’s donations page suggests sending contributions to the South Bend, Indiana, mayor.
Fayer’s Twitter profile says he is a student at Syracuse University studying public relations and public communications.
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff looks to expand scope of Russia probe; Fox News contributor Trey Gowdy reacts.
One day after President Trump decried what he called “the politics of revenge” and “partisan investigations” in his State of the Union address, Democratic House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff announced a new, wide-ranging probe into the president’s foreign business dealings and Russian election meddling.
The move was fiercely condemned by Trump, who called Schiff a “political hack” on a partisan search-and-destroy mission.
The Intelligence Committee on Wednesday also voted to hand over a slew of interview transcripts to Special Counsel Robert Mueller that were generated by the panel’s previous Russia investigation, which was conducted under GOP leadership and concluded last March. That investigation found “no evidence” of collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government in the 2016 election.
Although the precise nature of the new Democrat-led House probe is unclear, Schiff said the investigation will include “the scope and scale” of Russian intervention in the 2016 presidential election, the “extent of any links and/or coordination” between Russians and Trump’s associates, whether foreign actors have sought to hold leverage over Trump or his family and associates, and whether anyone has sought to obstruct any of the relevant investigations.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., now ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, exits a secure area to speak to reporters, on Capitol Hill last March. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Schiff, D-Calif., charged late last year that Trump’s financial records with Deutsche Bank and Russia might reveal a “form of compromise” that “needs to be exposed.” Schiff has long maintained that there had to be some reason that the German banking giant, which has what he called a “history of laundering Russian money,” was willing to work with the Trump Organization.
In response, Trump told reporters at the White House that Schiff was grandstanding.
“He has no basis to do that. He’s just a political hack who’s trying to build a name for himself,” Trump said. “It’s just presidential harassment and it’s unfortunate, and it really does hurt our country.”
Trump, who last November called Schiff “little Adam Schitt,” warned during his State of the Union that an “economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations.”
“We’re going to do our jobs and the president needs to do his,” Schiff said. “Our job involves making sure that the policy of the United States is being driven by the national interest, not by any financial entanglement, financial leverage or other form of compromise.”
While it was unclear whether Mueller had requested that the Intelligence Committee turn over the interview transcripts, Republicans unanimously voted in September to release the documents, pending a review for potentially sensitive contents. Democrats have long vowed to turn over the transcripts to Mueller.
President Donald Trump announces his nomination of David Malpass, under secretary of the Treasury for international affairs, to head the World Bank, during an event in the Rosevelt Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2019, in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci)
That investigation, which Democrats said had been concluded prematurely, found “no evidence of collusion, coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians.”
Since then, both former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone have been charged with lying to the panel. Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to the House and Senate intelligence committees about his role in a Trump business proposal in Moscow. He acknowledged that he misled lawmakers by saying he had abandoned the project in January 2016 when he actually continued pursuing it for months after that.
Stone pleaded not guilty to charges last month that he lied to the House panel about his discussions during the 2016 election about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy group that released thousands of emails stolen from Democrats. Stone is also charged with obstructing the House probe by encouraging one of his associates, New York radio host Randy Credico, to refuse to testify before the House panel in an effort to conceal Stone’s false statements.
Schiff on Wednesday also announced a delay in an upcoming closed-door interview with Cohen, “in the interests of the investigation.” The interview was originally scheduled for Friday. It will now be held on Feb. 28, Schiff said.
Schiff said he could not speak about the reason for the delay. Hours after the meeting was pushed back, a document was filed under seal in the criminal case against Cohen brought by special counsel Robert Mueller’s office. The court’s docket did not contain any details about the nature of the document.
Special counsel spokesman Peter Carr declined comment, as did Lanny Davis, an attorney for Cohen.
Fox News’ Alex Pappas and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
America’s deadliest serial killer, Samuel Little, who confessed to strangling 93 people, has died in California aged 80 with the identity of almost half of his victims still unknown.
Little said he targeted disadvantaged and mostly black women, including sex workers, in the belief that this would draw less attention from a disjointed law enforcement system that had little apparent interest in such victims – a calculation that proved grimly correct. His death means families of many of the victims may never have closure.
He was serving three consecutive sentences of life without parole for the killing of three women in Los Angeles County during the late 1980s, crimes to which he was linked through DNA matches. He was convicted of first-degree murder by a Los Angeles County jury on 25 September 2014 and began serving his prison sentence about two months later.
According to the FBI, Little began confessing to additional murders to a Texas Ranger who interviewed him in his California prison cell in 2018, and ultimately admitted to killing 93 people across the country by strangulation between 1970 and 2005.
The FBI said investigators had since verified 50 of those confessions, with many more pending final confirmation, making Little the deadliest US serial killer on record.
Authorities have said he appears to have targeted mostly vulnerable young black women, many of them sex workers or addicted to drugs, whose deaths were not well publicised at the time and in some cases were not recorded as homicides.
Describing how he killed with impunity for years, Little boasted to investigators of avoiding “people who would be immediately missed”, in an interview acquired by the Washington Post, which examined the repeated failures to catch Little. “I’d go back to the same city sometimes and pluck me another grape,” he said. “How many grapes do you all got on the vine here? I’m not going to go over there into the white neighbourhood and pick out a little teenage girl.”
Many of his killings were initially recorded as overdoses or attributed to accidental or undetermined causes, and some bodies were never recovered, according to an FBI profile of the killer.
Samuel Little in 2014. Photograph: AP
Before his convictions in 2014, Little was linked to at least eight sexual assaults, attempted murders or killings, but he repeatedly escaped serious punishment.
Little served two prior sentences in a California state prison, including a four-year term ending in 1987 for assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment, and a stint of about 14 months ending in April 2014.
FBI video recordings of his jailhouse confessions showed Little sitting in front of a cinder-block wall in blue prison scrubs and a grey knit cap, sometimes appearing bemused or smiling as he recounted the circumstances of the killings.
He was incarcerated at a state prison in Lancaster, California, north of Los Angeles, and died early on Wednesday morning at an outside hospital, the state department of corrections said. It said an official cause of death would be determined by the county medical examiner’s office.
The nation’s capital ended a day full of Independence Day celebrations with fireworks. USA TODAY
WASHINGTON – Fourth of July festivities in the nation’s capital were anything but typical this year. It wasn’t just the military tanks, jet flyovers or the speech by President Donald Trump.
The president’s role in what is usually a nonpartisan celebration created what felt like three different events: Protesters who decried his administration and its policies; a campaign rally where supporters cheered for him to keep the White House for another term; and those who simply wanted to enjoy hot dogs and fireworks with their families for the annual Independence Day festivities.
On a holiday marking America’s birthday, the country’s divisions were on full display.
There was a giant blimp depicting the president as an orange infant. There was also a sea of red, “Make America Great Again” hats. And there were families spread out along the National Mall with blankets and children anxiously awaiting the fireworks display and not focused on politics.
When the protesters and Trump supporters clashed over a flag burning in front of the White House, there were two arrests, although most confrontations did not go beyond shouting matches.
Trump’s influence on the annual celebrations were easy to spot.
Supporters poured into the National Mall throughout the day, many waving “Trump 2020” flags or wearing “MAGA” hats. They passed by the heckling of protesters with disgust, some yelling “SNOWFLAKES!” to the crowds gathered in opposition of Trump.
In the afternoon at the National Independence Day Parade parade, thousands of people lined the streets of Washington to watch floats, drum lines and military units march by. As the parade marched on, the heat did too. Spectators migrated towards the shade, picking up ice-cold bottles of water from vendors, to watch the parade.
Hundreds of Trump supporters were part of the crowd that lined Constitution Avenue.
Trump’s new campaign slogan, ‘Keep America Great,’ also filled the surrounding streets of the parade. Vendor stands at nearly every corner pushed Trump hats and paraphernalia on energetic supporters.
Jim Sutton usually attends the parade each year with his wife, Gigi. But the couple, who sported head-to-toe Trump gear, said something felt different this year.
“It’s just fantastic,” Gigi Sutton said, in her white Trump T-shirt and flag pants. The pair said the criticism of Trump’s use of military equipment in the event was unwarranted.
“We’ve been having all these problems with Iran, North Korea. This says something,” Gigi Sutton said. Her husband chimed in, “It let’s the world know our nation’s defense is well at hand.”
After watching Trump’s speech and the military aircraft flyovers for each branch of the military, Amiee LeDoux was left in tears.
“That was the first time I ever cried during the Fourth of July,” LeDoux, who traveled with her family from New Hampshire, said as she started to tear up again. “I just felt like it really embraced who we are and it just felt like God was really honored, and America was honored and the military was honored.”
Wearing a blue Trump hat, LeDoux said she thought Trump’s speech helped bring the country together.
“I think there was a lot of unity and the mentioning of our history and how rich of a history we have, it was just so beautiful,” she said.
Blimps, toilet robots, burning flags
While the event was mostly peaceful, a fight broke out at a flag burning event in front of the White House that led to at least two arrests.
Trump supporters, some wearing hats emblazoned with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, charged a circle of protesters who were burning a flag, causing the protesters to topple over. The Trump supporters, some of whom were wearing attire identifying themselves as Proud Boys, a far-right organization, attempted to stamp out the fire.
But the flag burning was far from the only act of protest happening in the heart of Washington. Many wore shirts about impeaching Trump or supporting Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic rival in the 2016 election. They carried balloons depicting Trump as a small, orange baby — a miniature depiction of a famous blimp that was briefly inflated on the National Mall.
Along with the Baby Trump blimp, the liberal activist organization Code Pink also parked a 16-foot-tall “Dumping Trump” robot featuring the president sitting on a golden toilet wearing a MAGA-style hat saying “Make America Great Again: Impeach Me.”
The robot sporadically shouted out some of Trump’s most-used lines, including “no collusion” and “witch hunt.”
Nearby, Noel Eldridge gathered with the nearly 100 protesters, holding a sign plastered with photographs of migrant detention centers. It read “Are you proud to be American? Today?”
Eldridge said he grew up in the same New York neighborhood as Trump. “I know the particular kind of bully and racist he is,” Eldridge said.
Just yards away, a miniature baby Trump balloon was locked inside of a metal cage. Linda Berns said she has traveled from her home in Bethesda, Md. each year for 40 years to watch the fireworks along the National Mall. This year, she came to protest.
She said she joined the protest against Trump’s immigration policies because of her family’s history. “This is a country of immigrants,” Berns said. “My grandparents were immigrants.”
Anne and Emily Balderson, both waving mini-Trump-baby balloons, came to D.C. from Texas to experience the holiday in the capital but said Trump role in the event was unnecessary and causing more division in the country.
“I think it’s making 4th of July more of a divisive holiday,” Emily Balderson said. “He’s making it about himself instead of the country and it should just be about how our country was founded.”
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Charlotte Stolz, center, 8, jumps with excitement as she is doused with red and blue colored powder while crossing the finish line in the 3rd annual Red, White, and Blue Color Run on Thursday, July 4, 2019, at Joe Mack Campbell Park in Jonesboro, Ark. The race was the culmination of the 4th Fest event which also included fireworks the previous night. Money from the race will be donated to benefit flooding victims in Arkansas. Quentin Winstine, The Jonesboro Sun via AP
At the opposite end of the National Mall, near the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument, things were different. There were no protests. Scarcely anyone wore Trump attire.
Instead, families, wearing red, white and blue, sat on blankets, held up small American flags and enjoyed the music from the “A Capitol Fourth” concert.
After the last of the military jets flew over the crowd and many left, families were left camped out on picnic blankets, and kids huddled together under umbrellas eager to watch the fireworks display. Some came more prepared than others, with plastic bags to put under their blankets and rain ponchos with hoods.
David Portis was among those camped out. He said there were remarkably fewer people along the Mall than he remembered in past years, which he blamed on the rain and not the additions to the program.
Portis said he was neutral on Trump’s presence during the holiday. “I even brought my daughter and her friend,” he said, pointing to an open grassy area near the Washington Monument where a group of children were playing ball barefooted.
Others also weren’t preoccupied by the politics thrust into the event.
Mitchell Reed, the band director for a group of 99 Florida high school students who attended the concert and played during a parade earlier in the day, said the event took on a different meaning for his group.
“It’s been crazy,” he said as he watched the nearby concert. “But it’s a day everyone in our band will never forget.”
Un terremoto de magnitud 7,9 sacudió este miércoles la costa oeste de Indonesia, informó el Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos (USGS, por sus siglas en inglés).
De acuerdo al USGS, el sismo se produjo a las 19:49 hora local (12:49 GMT) a 10 kilómetros de profundidad y tuvo su epicentro 808 kilómetros al suroeste de la ciudad de Padang.
Por el momento no se han reportado daños.
Funcionarios indonesios emitieron una alerta de tsunami para las regiones de Sumatra occidental, Sumatra del norte y el sultanato de Aceh, la que ya fue retirada.
Australia también hizo esa advertencia para las Islas Cocos o Islas Keeling y la Isla de Navidad.
En 2004, un terremoto con el epicentro en esa misma zona provocó el tsunami más mortífero de la historia, que se cobró la vida de 200.000 personas.
Tras el desastre se implementó un sistema de monitoreo más eficiente.
Ahora las alertas se emiten con mayor frecuencia en el océano Índico.
Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what’s clicking on Foxnews.com.
A 14-year-old Ohio girl drowned Tuesday at a Middletown theme park, authorities said.
The teen was identified as Mykiara Jones who was from Dayton, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies were called to the Land of Illusion Adventure Park at about 5 p.m. after a report of a juvenile drowning.
A lifeguard spotted Jones about a half-hour after she first went under. The teenager was transported to Dayton Children’s Hospital where she was pronounced dead, the sheriff said.
The Associated Press reported that Jones was not wearing a life vest and fell into the water after being on a “jumping apparatus,” officials said.
“This is a tragedy no parent should have to endure,” stated Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones. “These are the calls first responders dread and have difficulty dealing with. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.”
Life vests are available at the park, though guests are not required to wear them, reports said.
The park was closed Wednesday – out of respect for Jones, her family, and employees who were also “dealing with this tragedy,” according to a statement on its Facebook page.
“We are fully supporting state and local officials as they investigate the incident,” the park said.
Mykiara Jones, from Dayton, went underwater at 5 p.m. at Land of Illusion Adventure Park, according to the Butler County Sheriff’s Office ( Butler County Sheriff’s Office)
Middletown is about 40 miles northeast of Cincinnati.
Viviana Dávila, una de las caras más representativas de la sección de farándula y entretenimiento de Noticias Caracol, decidió cambiar de fuente para dedicarse a noticias generales.
De acuerdo con la edición digital de la revista TVyNovelas, la joven tendrá un nuevo rol en el espacio informativo: “Ahora decidió innovar en noticias generales, cubriendo fuentes como Bogotá y algunos temas periodísticos de modo investigativo”, cita el magazine.
Viviana Dávila fue una de las favoritas en el año 2014 para quedarse con la corona del Concurso Nacional de Belleza. Sin embargo, la mujer confesó que nunca quiso ser reina
“Para que su padre desistiera de enviarla a un reinado a los 15 años, la presentadora se hizo un tatuaje, el que luego en su año de reinado hizo lo posible por ocultarlo, algunos aseguraron que ella había perdido la corona por el tatuaje”, señala La Red.
Donald Trump, left, directed then-lawyer Michael Cohen, center, to help arrange payments to Stormy Daniels, right, and another woman, to silence them about alleged sexual relationships with Trump.
AP
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Donald Trump, left, directed then-lawyer Michael Cohen, center, to help arrange payments to Stormy Daniels, right, and another woman, to silence them about alleged sexual relationships with Trump.
AP
Updated at 3:14 p.m. ET
Donald Trump took part in phone calls with his then-personal lawyer Michael Cohen as the attorney and other aides scrambled to arrange hush payments to a woman in 2016 to buy her silence about an alleged sexual relationship with Trump.
Those details come from hundreds of pages of court papers — warrant applications, affidavits and other related materials — made public on Thursday.
Federal Judge William Pauley of the Southern District of New York ordered the documents unsealed after prosecutors said they had concluded their investigation into the scheme and any related campaign finance violations.
Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance charges related to payments made shortly before Election Day in 2016 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and adult film star Stephanie Clifford, whose stage name is Stormy Daniels.
Cohen has said that he made the payments in coordination with and at the direction of Trump. Cohen is now serving a three-year prison sentence after he admitted that and other crimes in court.
Cohen remains the only person to be charged in connection with the payments, although two individuals struck non-prosecution agreements with the government in exchange for their testimony.
Inside the room
While many details about the payments already were public, thecourt records released Thursday provide a behind-the-scenes look into how Cohen worked with executives from American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer tabloid, to make them happen — and prevent news of Trump’s alleged extramarital affairs from getting out ahead of Election Day.
Team Trump was particularly desperate to keep a lid on the alleged affairs after news broke of the Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump uses crude language about touching women.
One section of a warrant application filed in April 2018 states that Cohen exchanged a series of calls, text messages, and emails with Trump, Clifford’s lawyer, Keith Davidson, AMI’s David Pecker and Dylan Howard, as well as Trump campaign press secretary Hope Hicks in the days after the Access Hollywood tape appeared.
“Based on the timing of these calls, and the content of the text messages and emails, I believe that at least some of the communications concerned the need to prevent Clifford from going public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story,” the FBI agent wrote in an affidavit supporting the warrant.
The agent then details a flurry of calls on Oct. 8, 2016—one day after the Access Hollywood tape was revealed in The Washington Post. At around 7:20 P.M., the agent’s affidavit says, Cohen received a call from Hicks.
“Sixteen seconds into the call, Trump joined the call, and the call continued for over four minutes,” it says.
The documents then describe a string of calls over the next hour that Cohen made to Hicks, Pecker, Howard and again Trump.
“At 8:03 p.m., about three minutes after ending his call with Pecker, Cohen called Trump, and they spoke for nearly eight minutes,” the papers say.
After two more quick calls with Howard, Cohen received a text message from Howard that read: “Keith will do it. Let’s reconvene tomorrow,” referring to Clifford’s lawyer, Davidson.
In the days and weeks that followed, the agreement almost unraveled after Cohen failed to transfer the money. He was then left scrambling to finalize the deal in late October.
On the morning of Oct. 26, Cohen spoke with Trump twice over the phone. That same morning, Cohen set up a bank account for a shell company he had established earlier that month, Essential Consultants LLC, and transferred funds into the account from a home equity line of credit that he had open at the same bank.
The following day, Cohen transferred $130,000 to Clifford, care of Davidson, to buy her silence about her alleged extramarital affair with Trump.
Trump then repaid Cohen via a series of checks drawn from accounts he controlled or which were controlled by his business; Cohen revealed copies of some of the checks to Congress in March.
AMI, meanwhile, also has admitted arranging a separate payment to McDougal in a so-called “catch-and-kill” arrangement to keep her quiet about her alleged relationship with Trump.
End to the investigation?
Another document unsealed on Thursday was a July 15, 2019 letter to Judge Pauley from prosecutors.
They write that they have “effectively concluded” their investigations into whether anyone besides Cohen may also be criminally liable for the campaign finance violations, as well as whether certain individuals lied to investigators.
After news broke Wednesday that the probe had ended, Trump’s personal lawyer, Jay Sekulow, said in a statement that “we have maintained from the outset that the president never engaged in any campaign finance violation.”
On Thursday, Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, responded with a statement of his own.
“I challenge Jay Sekulow, who issued a misleading and false statement to answer the following two questions: Is it not a fact that SDNY prosecutors found President Trump to have ‘directly and coordinated’ the commission of a felony involving campaign finance federal laws? Is it not also a fact that upon his loss of purported immunity as president of the United States, he is subject to arrest, incarceration and a trial?”
Media captionA Royal Navy frigate can be heard warning Iranian armed forces, before the oil tanker is seized
A recording has emerged of radio exchanges between a Royal Navy frigate and Iranian armed forces vessels, moments before a British-flagged oil tanker was seized in the Gulf.
In the recording, what is thought to be an Iranian vessel tells HMS Montrose it wants to inspect the tanker for security reasons.
The Stena Impero was boarded by Iranian authorities on Friday.
The foreign secretary has urged Iran to reverse the tanker’s “illegal” seizure.
In the radio recording the Iranian vessel can be heard telling a ship – thought to be the Stena Impero – to change its course, saying: “If you obey you will be safe.”
HMS Montrose identifies itself in the recording, obtained by British maritime security firm Dryad Global.
It tells the Stena Impero: “As you are conducting transit passage in a recognised international strait, under international law your passage must not be impaired, impeded, obstructed or hampered.”
The frigate then asks the Iranian vessel to confirm it is not “intending to violate international law” by attempting to board the tanker.
What happened?
On Friday, the Stena Impero was seized by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard in the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping route in the Gulf.
Tehran said the vessel was “violating international maritime rules”.
Video released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency on Saturday appeared to show the moment the tanker was raided.
It shows masked forces dropping down ropes on to the ship from a helicopter after it was surrounded by high-speed vessels.
Media captionFootage released by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard-affiliated Fars news agency appears to show Stena Impero being seized
HMS Montrose was alerted but it was too far away to stop the seizure.
Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency said the tanker was captured after it collided with a fishing boat and failed to respond to calls from the smaller craft.
But Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was seized in Omani waters in “clear contravention of international law” and then forced to sail into Iran.
The tanker’s owners, Stena Bulk, said it had been complying with regulations and had been in international waters.
It said it had requested access to the port of Bandar Abbas to visit crew members, who are Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino, and said to be in good health.
The seizure of the Stena Impero comes two weeks after Royal Marines helped seize Iranian tanker Grace 1 off Gibraltar, because of evidence it was carrying oil to Syria in breach of EU sanctions.
Speaking after a call with his Iranian counterpart on Saturday, Mr Hunt said Iran viewed this as a “tit-for-tat situation” but he added that “nothing could be further from the truth”.
Ministers have held emergency Cobra meetings and a senior Iranian diplomat was summoned to the Foreign Office.
Media captionJeremy Hunt says Iran views the tanker seizure as a ‘tit-for-tat situation’
Mr Hunt said MPs would be updated on Monday.
“Our priority continues to be to find a way to de-escalate the situation,” he said.
The government is advising UK shipping to stay out of the area.
He said Iran guarantees the security of the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and insisted its action were to “uphold international maritime rules”.
Media captionWhy does the Strait of Hormuz matter?
Abbasali Kadkhodaei, spokesman of the state watchdog the Guardian Council, said on Twitter that “the law of retaliation is a recognised concept in international law”.
What’s the background to this?
The latest developments come against a backdrop of deteriorating relations between Iran and the UK and US.
Tensions between the US and Iran have risen since April, when the US tightened sanctions it had reimposed on Iran after unilaterally withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear deal.
Last week, Iranian boats attempted to impede a British oil tanker in the region before being warned off by HMS Montrose. Iran denied it was attempting to seize the ship.
International reaction
A White House National Security Council spokesman said Friday’s incident was the second time in over a week the UK had been “the target of escalatory violence” by Iran.
And US Central Command said it was developing a multinational maritime effort in response to the situation.
France, Germany, and the European Union called on the Iranian authorities to quickly release the Stena Impero.
The EU’s foreign affairs office, which represents 28 member states, expressed “deep concern”.
How ‘British’ is the tanker?
Ships must fly the flag of a nation state, explains Richard Meade, managing editor of maritime intelligence publication Lloyd’s List.
But that doesn’t need to be the same nation as its owners, its crew, or its cargo, he says.
The Stena Impero is Swedish-owned and those on board are Indian, Russian, Latvian and Filipino.
But it’s the UK flag that is important symbolically, he says. “Historically speaking it means that the UK owes protection to the vessel.”
“The UK has political responsibilities to anything that is flagged. And that’s why it’s much more serious than if there just happened to be a British captain on board.”
He says the impact on trade in the region had so far been minimal, but warns that if the international community began viewing the Strait of Hormuz as a dangerous place, it could create a “very different” scenario.
Highly volatile
The seizing of a British-flagged tanker in Omani waters, empty and inbound to a Saudi port, marks a serious escalation in a whole catalogue of recent incidents in the Gulf.
It comes on the back of the mysterious mining of tankers, the downing of both US and Iranian drones and the near capture of another British-flagged tanker only a few days ago.
Britain wants its response be two things: Measured and multinational.
The government is trying to send a robust message to Iran that this action is unacceptable, not just to the UK but to the rest of the world, but not so robust that it ends up being part of an avoidable US military strike.
This has become a highly volatile situation where not everyone believes in diplomacy. There are figures in Washington who have been pushing for an ever-tougher line with Iran.
And there are figures in Iran, notably in the Revolutionary Guards Corps and the security apparatus, who are quite prepared to push this right up to the brink of a conflict, yet probably stopping just short of one.
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