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2020 Vision Monday: Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump, which could drag down his reelection bid

A rapid 17-point shift means a majority of Americans may soon support impeachment, or, taking margin of error into account, might already. And that’s terrible news for Trump.

What's causing record rates of STDs?

After decades of decline, rates of certain STDs have spiked to record levels, according to the CDC. What's causing the increase?

British paedophile who operated in Malaysia, Cambodia found dead in prison

One of Britain's most prolific child sex offenders, Richard Huckle, has died three years into a life sentence for abusing Malaysian and Cambodian children, Britain's Ministry of Justice said on Monday, with media saying he had been stabbed to death. Huckle, 33, who abused children and babies during a nine year period, was sentenced to life in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to 71 offences. Dubbed the country's worst paedophile by Britain's media, he was found stabbed to death in prison on Sunday after being attacked with a makeshift knife, the BBC reported.

Mobile phones back in Indian Kashmir, but internet still down

Mobile phone networks were restored in Indian Kashmir on Monday after a 72-day blackout, authorities said, but the internet remains off-limits to the region's seven million-plus people. India cut access to mobile networks in the restive Kashmir Valley in early August citing security concerns as it scrapped the region's semi-autonomous status and imposed a lockdown. The easing on Monday covers around four million post-paid mobile phone contracts, but only for calls and text messages.

South Korean pop star Sulli found dead at her home

South Korean pop star and actress Sulli was found dead at her home south of Seoul on Monday, police said. The 25-year-old was found after her manager went to her home in Seongnam because she didn't answer phone calls for hours, said Kim Seong-tae, an official from the Seongnam Sujeong Police Department. "The investigation is ongoing and we won't make presumptions about the cause of death," said Kim, adding that security camera footage at Sulli's home showed no signs of an intrusion.

Climate change researchers recommend banning all frequent flyer reward programs to cut carbon emissions by targeting jet-setters

A report commissioned by the Committee on Climate Change says that just 15% of the entire British population take 70% of all flights from the country.

'It's got to stop': Superintendent condemns teacher's racist rant in school parking lot

A teacher at Drexel Hill Middle School in Pennsylvania has been placed on administrative leave after she used racial slurs in a viral Facebook video.

Kurds Ally with Assad’s Forces as Turks Advance into Syria

The Syrian Democratic Forces struck a deal on Sunday with president Bashar al-Assad's government to allow Syrian troops to reenter the northeast region of the country for the first time in years, following a withdrawal of U.S. troops and subsequent Turkish invasion of the area.SDF commander Mazloum Abdi outlined his reasoning for making the alliance in an article in Foreign Policy, writing that his forces cannot repel the Turkish military without the aid of allies, and that in the absence of American help his organization would be forced to ally itself with the Syrians and the Russians.“We know that we would have to make painful compromises with Moscow and Bashar al-Assad if we go down the road of working with them,” wrote Abdi. “But if we have to choose between compromises and the genocide of our people, we will surely choose life for our people.”The U.S. presence in the region has for years prevented Syria- and Russia-backed militias from gaining control over the area. Kurdish groups had allied themselves with U.S. forces to combat ISIS following the latter's emergence during the Syrian civil war.The Syrian army quickly moved to take over certain towns including Tel Amer, the site of a previous battle between Kurdish and ISIS forces."I’m here to kick out the Turkish mercenaries," said one Syrian soldier quoted on Syrian state TV.President Trump announced on October 7 that he would be withdrawing U.S. troops from the Syrian-Turkish border in anticipation of a Turkish invasion of the area. Turkey plans to resettle 3.6 million Syrian refugees in the region once the conquest is complete, while it is also fighting Kurdish groups that it deems terrorist organizations.

Meet the Massive Ordnance Penetrator: The Air Force's Newest Bunker Buster Bomb

Huge and very powerful.

CIA spy whose cover was blown by Bush administration warns Trump over chilling effect of outing whistleblower

The whistle blower who sparked Donald Trump's impeachment inquiry will have his life turned upside down when his identity is inevitably revealed, according to a former CIA agent. Valerie Plame, who was forced to quit her undercover role when her name was leaked by US government officials in 2003, said her "heart goes out" to the CIA operative who raised concerns about a phone call between the US president and his Ukrainian counterpart. In his complaint, the unnamed whistleblower said multiple officials on the call had raised concerns that Mr Trump had pressured a foreign government to interfere in US elections.  Since then a second individual, who has also chosen to remain anonymous, has come forward claiming to have first hand knowledge of the allegations outlined in the original complaint.  Mr Trump has rebuffed the claims, launching a counter-attack on the original whistleblower, who he claims is politically motivated. With so much scrutiny upon him, Ms Plame told The Telegraph: "This person's life has changed forever; I think it's only a matter of time before we know his identity".  Once that happens, she added: "The partisan machines will get cranked up and he will read about this person he doesn't recognise." She warned his entire life will be raked over, even down to "what kind of salad dressing" he uses.  Ms Plame is perhaps uniquely qualified to comment; she was working as a covert agent her own cover was blown by officials in George W Bush's administration during the lead-up to the Iraq war. The move was seen as retaliation for an op-ed written by her then-husband and former diplomat, Joseph Wilson, casting doubt on the Bush administration’s rationale for going to war with Iraq.  The "Plame affair", as it came to be known, rocked the Bush administration and led to a federal investigation and a senior White House official's conviction. Ms Plame chose to leave Washington soon afterwards. But now she is plotting a return to the US capital as she vies to represent New Mexico's 3rd congressional district in the House of Representatives.   She has already created a buzz with a fiery campaign video taking aim at those she holds responsible for her own unmasking - as well as Mr Trump. In her first interview with a British newspaper, Ms Plame described the experience as akin to being "punched in the gut".   "I was concerned on so many levels," she said, describing the scrutiny that fell on everyone with whom she had ever interacted in the course of her covert work. "And of course there's a personal threat, and my children were very small and I was very worried about their physical security." She added: "You can't go to the grocery store without people looking at you sideways. I found it very disconcerting for many years to go from real anonymity to being such a public person literally overnight and I hope it doesn't happen in this case - but it doesn't seem likely." The Democrat warned the unmasking of whistleblowers will have a "chilling effect" on others, saying her former CIA colleagues already feel under assault by the president's slurs against the US intelligence community.  Naomi Watts as Valerie Plame in the film Fair Game "There's a sense of unease and it's certainly clear that President Trump does not hold the intelligence community in esteem, to the contrary he demeans them on a regular basis. It's upsetting and I know many of my former colleagues feel the same," she said. She believes that under Mr Trump's presidency, America's "credibility and standing in the world has suffered" and said she was driven to run for Congress by a desire use her "interesting" backstory as a platform "to effect positive change".  She is focusing her campaign on education, economic opportunity and the environment, the three concerns she says are most often raised on the doorstep in New Mexico. She also has some advice for the, as yet, unnamed whistleblower: "hold your friends and family close".  "It appears [his decision to come forward] was not a whimsical, arbitrary decision, he gave it some thought. Nevertheless no one has any idea how it's going to unfold - no one ever does."

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faces backlash over haircut

This week, the Washington Times published a story saying that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., had spent $80 on a haircut and $180 on color at a Washington, D.C., salon, a choice the newspaper presented as hypocritical, given she “regularly rails against the rich and complains about the cost of living inside the Beltway.”

Typhoon leaves as many as 33 dead as Japan continues rescue

Helicopters, boats and thousands of troops were deployed across Japan to rescue people stranded in flooded homes Sunday, as the death toll from a ferocious typhoon climbed to as high as 33. One woman fell to her death as she was being placed inside a rescue helicopter. Typhoon Hagibis made landfall south of Tokyo on Saturday evening and battered central and northern Japan with torrents of rain and powerful gusts of wind.

Climate Protesters Take Fight to the Bank of England, BlackRock

(Bloomberg) -- Hundreds of activists from the climate protest movement Extinction Rebellion blocked roads around the Bank of England and glued themselves to BlackRock Inc.’s London headquarters on Monday, calling out the financial sector for funding of fossil fuels.The action marks the start of the second week of disruption around London by the group who have targeted government buildings, bridges and key produce markets to raise the alarm that governments and business aren’t moving fast enough to contain climate change.“It’s time we had a grown-up conversation about the economic and legal system which is killing life on Earth,” said Gail Bradbrook, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion. “It’s time to think about what kind of finance system we need to support the thriving of life on Earth.”Among several demands, the movement wants politicians to aim for net-zero emissions worldwide by 2025, a quarter of a century quicker than the U.K.’s current plans. It’s urging government ministers to establish a citizens’ assembly to analyze climate change and draw up proposals that would feed into legislation.London police have arrested 1,336 protesters as the force balances citizens’ right to protest with causing the least amount of disruption for Londoners. Dozens of police were stationed around Bank Underground station on Monday. At Blackrock protestors glued themselves to the building and blocked entrances accusing the investment of being the “world’s biggest” backer of fossil fuels, according to a press release from the group.Pressure on companies to divest from investing in fossil fuels has never been higher. The world’s biggest investors have increasingly pushed companies this year to reverse course on climate change and set short-term targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.BlackRock has been pushing to enhance climate-related disclosures through the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures. Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority stakeholder of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP, chairs the group.However, a recent report from the largest investor initiative tackling climate change said that the world’s most polluting companies aren’t moving fast enough to fall in line with the Paris accord on global warming.Bank of England Governor Mark Carney has been at the forefront of a push to force companies to be more transparent about their climate risks. In a recent interview with the Guardian newspaper, he said that industries that are not moving toward zero-carbon emissions will be punished by investors and face bankruptcy.(Updates with Blackrock from first paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Reed Landberg at landberg@bloomberg.net, Adveith Nair, Lars PaulssonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Kurds announce deal with Damascus as Turkey pushes deep into Syria

Syria's Kurds have announced a groundbreaking deal with Damascus on a Syrian troop deployment near the border with Turkey, as Ankara presses a deadly cross-border offensive that has sparked an international outcry. The announcement on Sunday came as the United States ordered the withdrawal of almost its entire ground force in Syria. Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the move to withdraw 1,000 US troops came after Washington learned that Turkey was pressing further into Syria than expected.

This New Submarine Could Be a Real Killer (And No, Its Not American)

Their first new submarine in a decade from France.

Rose McGowan attacks Hillary Clinton over ties to ‘monster’ Harvey Weinstein

Rose McGowan has lashed out at Hillary Clinton over a report that Ronan Farrow’s investigation into Harvey Weinstein was a “concern” for the Clinton camp.The actor was one of the first to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against the disgraced producer, and a lead campaigner for the MeToo movement. Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump

As of three weeks ago, a majority of Americans, 51.1 percent, on average, opposed impeaching President Trump, with only 40 percent supporting it. But the results came before the Ukraine scandal snowballed. As of today, opposition to impeachment has plummeted 7 percentage points (to 44 percent) and support has climbed nearly 10 points (to 49.8 percent), according to FiveThirtyEight’s preliminary polling tracker.

Portland antifa activist killed in hit and run, police say

City’s antifascist group says death of Sean D Kealiher, 23, was not ‘related to fascist activity’ and police did not specify a motiveThe Multnomah county medical examiner determined the cause of death to be homicide, caused by blunt force trauma. Photograph: Jonathan Bachman/ReutersA Portland antifascist activist was killed in the early hours of Saturday in an apparent hit-and-run near Cider Riot, a cidery and taproom popular with the city’s anarchist left that has been the scene of conflict with rightwing groups. According to the Portland police bureau, the car involved was fired upon and crashed into a nearby building. Its occupants fled the scene. Police said in a statement that the 23-year-old victim, Sean D Kealiher, was taken to a local hospital by associates. The Multnomah county medical examiner determined the cause of death to be homicide, caused by blunt force trauma. Police said homicide squad detectives would investigate and called on witnesses to come forward. Kealiher was a prominent participant in antifascist and anti-Trump protests in Portland, speaking and marching in opposition to events held by rightwing groups. His activities occasionally attracted the attention of rightwing bloggers and social media personalities. Rose City Antifa, the city’s longest-standing antifascist group, said in a tweet addressing Kealiher’s death that it “was not related to fascist activity”. Police did not specify a motive. Portland’s mayor, Ted Wheeler ,and the Oregon Democratic party, outside whose building the incident happened, expressed condolences on Twitter. Memorial tributes were laid at the site. Six men, including the Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson, are awaiting trial on charges arising from a violent incident at Cider Riot on 1 May. In an affidavit in support of Gibson’s arrest warrant, police officer Brad Kalbaugh described the group approaching Cider Riot “in an effort clearly designed to provoke a physical confrontation”. Multiple videos of that incident show punches, thrown drinks and pepper spray being exchanged. One of the men awaiting trial, Ian Kramer, is alleged to have struck a woman with a baton, fracturing her vertebra. More video appears to show members of the group planning violence ahead of the brawl. Gibson and the other men are charged with riot. Some face felony assault charges.Cider Riot’s owner, Abram Goldman-Armstrong, has commenced a $1m lawsuit against Gibson and several others. Goldman-Armstrong’s lawyer, Juan Chavez, says his client has been subject to “homophobic and antisemitic” harassment since the suit was filed.

Fox News insiders hint at years of frustration and conflicts for Shep Smith leading up to his departure from Trump's favorite network

Sources within Fox News say Shep Smith first approached executives to get out of his contract in September, after a long deliberation.

Venezuela denies entry of Guatemala's president-elect

The president-elect of Guatemala said he was blocked Saturday from entering Venezuela where he planned to meet opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is seeking to oust socialist President Nicolás Maduro. Officials defended their actions, saying Guatemala's incoming leader, Alejandro Giammattei, was turned away because he broke with normal protocol followed by heads of state. The commercial flight carrying Giammattei, who takes office in Guatemala on Jan. 14, made an early morning landing at the airport near Caracas, but his visit ended there.

Up to 35 dead as Typhoon Hagibis slams Japan

Tens of thousands of rescuers worked through the pre-dawn hours Monday to reach people trapped by landslides and floods in Japan caused by a powerful typhoon that has killed up to 35, officials and local media said. Typhoon Hagibis moved away from land on Sunday morning, but while it largely spared the capital, it left a trail of destruction in surrounding regions. More than 100,000 rescuers -- including 31,000 troops -- clawed through debris overnight Sunday to Monday to reach people trapped after torrential rain caused landslides and filled rivers until they burst their banks.

In 1986, a Russian Submarine with 27 Nuclear Missiles Sank (And Exploded)

"Seawater combined with missile fuel to produce heat and toxic gases. Despite a crewman venting the tube, an explosion erupted in the silo, ejecting the missile and its warheads into the sea."

States are cutting university budgets. Taxpayers aren't interested in funding campus kooks

University campuses have abandoned their central mission in their pursuit of utopia. The American public has had enough.

Booker Scolds Buttigieg for Referring to Gun ‘Buybacks’ as ‘Confiscation’: ‘Doing the NRA’s Work for Them’

Senator Cory Booker (D., N.J.) admonished fellow presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg on Monday for referring to a mandatory gun buyback proposal as "confiscation" on the grounds that doing so propagates a right-wing talking point."Calling buyback programs 'confiscation' is doing the NRA's work for them," wrote Booker on Twitter, "and they don't need our help."Buttigieg insisted on referring to buybacks as "confiscation" in an interview on the Snapchat show Good Luck America. Previously, the South Bend, Indiana Mayor shied away from such comparisons."As a policy, it’s had mixed results," said Buttigieg during an October 2 interview. "It’s a healthy debate to have, but we’ve got to do something now.”O'Rourke subsequently condemned Buttigieg's comments, saying Buttigieg was "afraid of doing the right thing" by supporting mandatory buybacks."[O'Rourke] needs to pick a fight in order to stay relevant," Buttigieg commented on Good Luck America.O'Rourke has previously pushed the issue of mandatory gun buybacks and outright confiscation, declaring at the third Democratic primary debate in September that he supports taking away certain semi-automatic rifles from their legal owners.“Hell, yes, we’re going to take your AR-15, your AK-47. We’re not going to allow it to be used against a fellow American anymore,” O'Rourke said at the time.Buttigieg is currently polling at five percent while O'Rourke stands at just 1.8 percent. The former Texas congressman has struggled to gain more than two percent of the vote, but has captured attention for radical policy proposals on gun rights and issues of church and state.During a CNN Townhall on October 11, O'Rourke called for institutions that don't support same sex marriage, such as churches, religious schools and charities, to be stripped of their tax-exempt status.

British Isil 'matchmaker' feared to have escaped after mass prisoner breakout

Northern Syria was collapsing into chaos last night as hundreds of Islamic State (Isil) family members escaped from prison and Kurdish forces prepared to surrender key cities to the Assad regime after the US announced it was evacuating all troops from the area.  A notorious British Isil female recruiter was feared to be among nearly 800 wives and children of jihadist fighters who burst out of a Kurdish camp in the biggest prison break since Turkey launched its offensive last week.  The US also said it was pulling out all 1,000 of its soldiers in northern Syria, an abrupt reversal of policy that came just days after the Trump administration insisted it was only moving a few dozen commandos.  In a stark sign of how quickly US influence in Syria has collapsed, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) last night appeared to have brokered a deal with Russia and the Assad regime to hand over control of two key cities.  Smoke rises from a Turkish bombardment in northeast Syria on Sunday, seen from the Turkish side of the border Credit: ERDEM SAHIN/EPA-EFE/REX The SDF agreed to surrender Kobani and Manbij to Syrian government forces in a bid to shield them from Turkish attack, according to Kurdish and Syrian media. Both areas have immense symbolism for the Kurds, who lost hundreds of men while fighting Isil for control of them. "The betrayal process is officially completed," an SDF official said of the US withdrawal.   News of the US retreat sparked panic across northern Syria as civilians, who believed their towns might be spared from Turkish onslaught by the presence of American forces, started fleeing their homes. At least 200,000 people have been displaced so far, aid groups said, and the number is likely to rise.    At least 26 civilians were reportedly killed on Sunday as a Turkish airstrike hit a convoy and Turkish-backed Syrian rebels were accused of killing a prominent female Kurdish politician and several other unarmed people. The rebels denied the allegations.   Kurdish authorities said early on Sunday around 785 women and children escaped from a camp in Ain Issa when it came under attack from Turkish shelling. Isil inmates “attacked the camp guard and opened the gates” while Kurdish forces were under fire, authorities said.  Turkey - Syria map Tooba Gondal, 25, and her two children, may have been among those who fled and her whereabouts were unknown last night. Ms Gondal traveled to Syria to join Isil in 2015 and has been accused of grooming other young British women, including Shamima Begum, to follow her. The Telegraph understands at least three other British women, and reportedly three British orphans, were held in Ain Issa camp before the break-out. The SDF warned the West the breakout may be the first of many and that the resurgent jihadists “will come knocking on your doors” if the Turkish offensive is not stopped. Mark Esper, the US defence secretary, said he and Donald Trump had decided to withdraw all 1,000 US troops from northern Syria because the Turks “likely intend to expand their attack further south than originally planned”.  “We have American forces likely caught between two opposing advancing armies and it's a very untenable situation,” he said.   Tooba Gondal is pictured before leaving for Syria While Mr Trump said last week he was removing around 50 US commandos from a 120km section of the Turkey-Syria border, hundreds of others American soldiers remained near Kurdish key cities like Kobani and Qamishli.  The complete US retreat is likely to remove any remaining obstacles to Turkey mounting a full-scale assault on those cities, prompting civilians to start packing their belongings into cars and trucks and flee south.    While US officials insisted America was opposed to the Turkish invasion, Mr Trump struck a laissez-faire note in a series of Sunday morning tweets. “The Kurds and Turkey have been fighting for many years,” he noted. “Others may want to come in and fight for one side or the other. Let them!” Read more | Syria crisis The US has yet to slap any sanctions on Turkey for the assault, despite White House warnings that it would target the Turkish economy if the offensive led to a humanitarian crisis or disrupted anti-Isil operations. Both outcomes have already happened. Operations against Isil appeared to have come to a complete halt last night as US forces prepared to evacuate and all available Kurdish forces were directed to the fight against Turkey.  Mr Esper said the US understood that the SDF was “looking to cut a deal if you will with the Syrians and the Russians”. Sources said Mazloum Kobani, the top SDF commander, met with Russian officers to broker the agreement.  Turkey would likely welcome a deal that reasserts Damascus’ authority over northeast Syria, as that would fatally undermine Kurdish aspirations for an independent political region of their own.   As the area plunged into chaos civilian casualties mounted during the bloodiest day of the offensive so far. Several civilians were killed by a Turkish airstrike on a convoy, including at least one unidentified journalist.  The SDF said Turkish-backed rebel fighters intercepted a car carrying Hevrin Khalaf, a Kurdish political leader with the Future Syria Party, and shot her to death along with her driver and an aide on Saturday. Very smart not to be involved in the intense fighting along the Turkish Border, for a change. Those that mistakenly got us into the Middle East Wars are still pushing to fight. They have no idea what a bad decision they have made. Why are they not asking for a Declaration of War?— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 13, 2019 Video footage showed her black SUV riddled with bullet holes while Arabic-speaking Syrian fighters cheered. Turkey has said such fighters, known as the National Army, would be at the forefront of anti-Isil operations once the Kurds were defeated.  But analysts said the group, which includes some jihadist sympathisers, was unlikely to be an effective counter-terrorism force. “They do what they are told to by Turkey but they do it very poorly,” said Elizabeth Tsurkov, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.  At least 60 civilians have been killed in northern Syria and 18 civilians have died from Kurdish shelling in southern Turkey since last Wednesday, according to the Syrian Observatory.  France and Germany both announced they were halting arms sales to Turkey but the UK did not match their announcements. Britain approved military export licenses worth £583m to Turkey in 2017, including licenses for attack aircraft and helicopters. France is expected to propose an EU-wide arms embargo against Turkey on Monday, a Western diplomat said. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, has signalled he plans to press ahead with the attack despite widespread Western criticism.

China Built a Flying Saucer

The UFO is still on the ground—for now.

'Be water': Police swoop as Hong Kong protests shift tactics

Taking a page from ancient Chinese military philosophy, black-clad protesters in Hong Kong changed tactics and wreaked havoc by popping up in small groups in multiple locations across the city Sunday, pursued by but also often eluding police who made scores of muscular arrests. Violence spiraled as protests stretched from Sunday afternoon into the night, with police struggling to restore order. Video broadcast on Hong Kong television also showed a masked, black-clad protester dropping a riot officer with a flying high kick, followed by two other protesters who beat the officer on the ground and tried unsuccessfully to snatch his gun.

Son of sheriff who called immigrants ‘drunks’ at White House event arrested for public intoxication

The son of a Texas sheriff who used a White House press conference to describe immigrant offenders as “drunks” likely to repeatedly break the law has been arrested for public intoxication.Sergei Waybourn, 24, faces a count of indecent exposure as well as public drunkenness just days after his father, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn, was criticised for the comments.

Can The U.S. Army's Latest Air Defense System Handle 21st Century Warfare?

A demonstration might give us hints.

Disney World retesting Skyliner after malfunction grounds cable cars, reports say

Disney World's Skyliner system is back up and running, but without passengers, as the park begins testing the system before reopening to guests.

EU Seeks to Halt U.S. Tariffs Over Airbus Aid in Last-Gasp Plea

(Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. The European Union made a last-ditch appeal to the U.S. to refrain from triggering retaliatory tariffs over illegal subsidies to Airbus SE, warning of economic harm to both sides and repeating a call for a negotiated solution.European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told her U.S. counterpart, Robert Lighthizer, that his plan to hit $7.5 billion of EU goods ranging from planes to whiskey with duties would compel the EU to apply countermeasures in a parallel lawsuit over market-distorting aid to Boeing Co. U.S. levies would make a negotiated settlement harder to reach, she said.“I strongly believe that imposing additional tariffs in the two aircraft cases is not a solution,” Malmstrom said in an Oct. 11 letter to Lighthizer seen by Bloomberg News. “It would only inflict damage on businesses and put at risk jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, harm global trade and the broader aviation industry at a sensitive time.”The World Trade Organization is due to give final approval for U.S. retaliation in the Airbus case on Monday, allowing tariffs to kick in as planned on Friday.The trans-Atlantic dispute over aircraft aid risks fraying a trade truce struck between the U.S. and EU in July 2018. At the time, both sides pledged to try to scale back commercial barriers and avoid a repeat of tit-for-tat tariffs that began with President Donald Trump’s duties on European steel and aluminum on U.S. national-security grounds.The WTO cases over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing are 15 years old. Because of the calendar, the U.S. is entitled to strike first and the EU would follow suit sometime in 2020.Malmstrom gave no sign in her letter to Lighthizer that an idea floated in some EU circles for quicker European retaliation is gaining ground. The idea weighed was to hit back by invoking an unrelated, older WTO case against a now-defunct U.S. tax break given to companies, including Boeing, via subsidiaries known as foreign sales corporations.Instead, Malmstrom said the EU’s planned countermeasures of $12 billion would be applied “when the time comes on the parallel Boeing case.”Aside from causing economic harm, hastier European retaliation could undermine the EU’s claim to be working to uphold the WTO system that Trump’s protectionism is shaking.“We are ready to negotiate a settlement for both the Airbus and the Boeing case addressing remaining compliance obligations on both sides, putting these cases behind us,” Malmstrom said.To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Stearns in Brussels at jstearns2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka, Linus ChuaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Pope Francis's main bodyguard resigns over a leak

Domenico Giani, the Vatican's longtime security chief and Pope Francis's main bodyguard, resigned on Monday over a leak of information from an investigation into alleged financial wrongdoing in the Vatican.

12 Hours. 4 Syrian Hospitals Bombed. Evidence Reveals One Culprit: Russia.

The Russian Air Force has repeatedly bombed hospitals in Syria in order to crush the last pockets of resistance to President Bashar Assad, according to an investigation by The New York Times.An analysis of previously unpublished Russian Air Force radio recordings, plane-spotter logs and witness accounts allowed The Times to trace bombings of four hospitals in just 12 hours in May and tie Russian pilots to each one.The 12-hour period beginning on May 5 represents a small slice of the air war in Syria, but it is a microcosm of Russia's four-year military intervention in Syria's civil war. A new front in the conflict opened this week, when Turkish forces crossed the border as part of a campaign against a Kurdish-led militia.Russia has long been accused of carrying out systematic attacks against hospitals and clinics in rebel-held areas as part of a strategy to help Assad secure victory in the eight-year-old war.Physicians for Human Rights, an advocacy group that tracks attacks on medical workers in Syria, has documented at least 583 such attacks since 2011, 266 of them since Russia intervened in September 2015. At least 916 medical workers have been killed since 2011.The Times assembled a large body of evidence to analyze the hospital bombings on May 5 and 6.Social media posts from Syria, interviews with witnesses, and records from charities that supported the four hospitals provided the approximate time of each strike. The Times obtained logs kept by flight spotters on the ground who warn civilians about incoming airstrikes and cross-checked the time of each strike to confirm that Russian warplanes were overhead. We then listened to and deciphered thousands of Russian Air Force radio transmissions, which recorded months' worth of pilot activities in the skies above northwestern Syria. The recordings were provided to The Times by a network of observers who insisted on anonymity for their safety.Spotter logs from May 5 and 6 put Russian pilots above each hospital at the time they were struck, and Air Force audio recordings from that day feature Russian pilots confirming each bombing. Videos obtained from witnesses and verified by The Times confirmed three of the strikes.Recklessly or intentionally bombing hospitals is a war crime, but proving culpability amid a complex civil war is extremely difficult, and until now, Syrian medical workers and human rights groups lacked proof.Russia's position as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council has shielded it from scrutiny and made U.N. agencies reluctant to accuse the Russian Air Force of responsibility."The attacks on health in Syria, as well as the indiscriminate bombing of civilian facilities, are definitely war crimes, and they should be prosecuted at the level of the International Criminal Court in The Hague," said Susannah Sirkin, director of policy at Physicians for Human Rights. But Russia and China "shamefully" vetoed a Security Council resolution that would have referred those and other crimes in Syria to the court, she said.The Russian government did not directly respond to questions about the four hospital bombings. Instead, a Foreign Ministry spokesman pointed to past statements saying that the Russian Air Force carries out precision strikes only on "accurately researched targets."The U.N. secretary-general, Antonio Guterres, opened an investigation into the hospital bombings in August. The investigation, still ongoing, is meant in part to determine why hospitals that voluntarily added their locations to a U.N.-sponsored deconfliction list, which was provided to Russia and other combatants to prevent them from being attacked, nevertheless came under attack.Syrian health care workers said they believed that the U.N. list actually became a target menu for Russian and Syrian air forces.Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the secretary-general, said in September that the investigation -- an internal board of inquiry -- would not produce a public report or identify "legal responsibility." Vassily Nebenzia, the Russian permanent representative to the U.N., cast doubt on the process shortly after it was announced, saying he hoped the inquiry would not investigate perpetrators but rather what he said was the U.N.'s use of false information in its deconfliction process.From April 29 to mid-September, as Russian and Syrian government forces assaulted the last rebel pocket in the northwest, 54 hospitals and clinics in opposition territory were attacked, the U.N. human rights office said. At least seven had tried to protect themselves by adding their location to the deconfliction list, according to the World Health Organization.On May 5 and 6, Russia attacked four. All were on the list.The first was Nabad al Hayat Surgical Hospital, a major underground trauma center in southern Idlib province serving about 200,000 people. The hospital performed on average around 500 operations and saw more than 5,000 patients a month, according to Syria Relief and Development, the U.S.-based charity that supported it.Nabad al Hayat had been attacked three times since it opened in 2013 and had recently relocated to an underground complex on agricultural land, hoping to be protected from airstrikes.At 2:32 p.m. on May 5, a Russian ground control officer can be heard in an Air Force transmission providing a pilot with a longitude and latitude that correspond to Nabad al Hayat's exact location.At 2:38 p.m., the pilot reports that he can see the target and has the "correction," code for locking the target on a screen in his cockpit. Ground control responds with the green light for the strike, saying, "Three sevens."At the same moment, a flight spotter on the ground logs a Russian jet circling in the area.At 2:40 p.m., the same time the charity said that Nabad al Hayat was struck, the pilot confirms the release of his weapons, saying, "Worked it." Seconds later, local journalists filming the hospital in anticipation of an attack record three precision bombs penetrating the roof of the hospital and blowing it out from the inside in geysers of dirt and concrete.The staff of Nabad al Hayat had evacuated three days earlier after receiving warnings and anticipating a bombing, but Kafr Nabl Surgical Hospital, 3 miles northwest, was not as lucky.A doctor who worked there said that the hospital was struck four times, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The strikes landed about five minutes apart, without warning, he said, killing a man who was standing outside and forcing patients and members of the medical staff to use oxygen tanks to breathe through the choking dust.A spotter logged a Russian jet circling above at the time of the strike, and in another Russian Air Force transmission, a pilot reports that he has "worked" his target at 5:30 p.m., the time of the strike. He then reports three more strikes, each about five minutes apart, matching the doctor's chronology.Russian pilots bombed two other hospitals in the same 12-hour span: Kafr Zita Cave Hospital and Al Amal Orthopedic Hospital. In both cases, spotters recorded Russian Air Force jets in the skies at the time of the strike, and Russian pilots can be heard in radio transmissions "working" their targets at the times the strikes were reported.Since May 5, at least two dozen hospitals and clinics in the rebel-held northwest have been hit by airstrikes. Syrian medical workers said they expected hospital bombings to continue, given the inability of the U.N. and other countries to find a way to hold Russia to account."The argument by the Russians or the regime is always that hospitals are run by terrorists," said Nabad al Hayat's head nurse, who asked to remain anonymous because he feared being targeted. "Is it really possible that all the people are terrorists?"The truth is that after hospitals are hit, and in areas like this where there is just one hospital, our houses have become hospitals."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

Canadian Snowbird plane crashes during Atlanta air show

The remaining festivities associated with the annual air show were cancelled following the crash

Syria's Kurds look to Assad for protection after US pullout

Syria's Kurds said Syrian government forces agreed Sunday to help them fend off Turkey's invasion — a major shift in alliances that came after President Donald Trump ordered all U.S. troops withdrawn from the northern border area amid the rapidly deepening chaos. The shift could lead to clashes between Turkey and Syria and raises the specter of a resurgent Islamic State group as the U.S. relinquishes any remaining influence in northern Syria to President Bashar Assad and his chief backer, Russia.

Hong Kong protesters and police clash, metro and shops targeted

Rallies in shopping malls on Hong Kong island and across the harbor in the Kowloon district began peacefully around midday with a few hundred people at each chanting "Free Hong Kong" and other slogans. Police said protesters threw bricks and petrol bombs at police, with one setting a police van alight in Kowloon's Sha Tin district. Police made several arrests and used tear gas to disperse protesters, saying they used "minimum force".

Special Report: The hunt for Asia's El Chapo

He is Asia’s most-wanted man. Tse Chi Lop, a Canadian national born in China, is suspected of leading a vast multinational drug trafficking syndicate formed out of an alliance of five of Asia’s triad groups, according to law enforcement officials. The syndicate, law enforcers believe, is funneling tonnes of methamphetamine, heroin and ketamine to at least a dozen countries from Japan in North Asia to New Zealand in the South Pacific.

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Iran has taken notice.

California becomes first US state to ban fur products

California has become the first US state to ban the sale and manufacture of new fur products.On Saturday, California’s governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law to prohibit residents from making or selling items such as clothing, shoes or handbags made of fur.

When Elizabeth Warren ducked and dodged on Medicare for All

Seven years before Elizabeth Warren said “I’m with Bernie on Medicare for All," she was campaigning for the Senate and didn’t want to talk about single-payer health care. Running a tough race against Republican incumbent Scott Brown, the first-time candidate repeatedly distanced herself from the idea. In one interview, she was grilled by New England Cable News host Jim Braude: He wanted to know if she’d support single-payer if she were “the tsarina” — in other words, if politics weren’t an obstacle.

Harry Dunn: Parents reject apology from Anne Sacoolas as they fly to the United States

The mother of Harry Dunn has rejected an apology from the woman suspected of involvement in his fatal car accident, saying "sorry doesn't cut it". Charlotte Charles made the comments as she flew out to the United States, in a further attempt to secure justice for her son. Harry, 19, died when his motorcycle was hit by a car allegedly driven by Anne Sacoolas, 42, the wife of an American intelligence officer based at RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27. Mrs Sacoolas, who claimed diplomatic immunity and left Britain following the accident, has now written a letter expressing her "deepest sympathies and apologies" and offering to meet Harry's parents. But Ms Charles said: "My opinion on Anne Sacoolas now wanting to come forward and say sorry - to be perfectly honest, yes it's the start of some closure for our family.   "Having said that, as it's nearly seven weeks now since we lost our boy, sorry just doesn't cut it. "That's not really quite enough. But I'm still really open to meeting her, as are the rest of us. I can't promise what I would or wouldn't say, but I certainly wouldn't be aggressive." A spokesman for the teenager's family said they would only be satisfied if Mrs Sacoolas agreed to return to Britain and face the full legal process. The family will initially spend time in New York City fulfilling a series of media interviews before travelling to Washington to meet US officials. Anne Sacoolas has apologised and offered to meet Harry Dunn's family Their trip comes as Dominic Raab, the Foreign Secretary, confirmed in a letter to the family that Mrs Sacoolas no longer has diplomatic immunity now she has left Britain. His comments led to speculation that prosecutors might now seek to extradite her from her home in Virginia to face prosecution in Britain. But legal experts have insisted that if Mrs Sacoolas had diplomatic immunity at the time of the accident, that protection from prosecution would still exist if she were to return. Geoffrey Robertson QC, who is the family's barrister, dismissed Mr Raab's intervention and called on the Government to support the family in bringing a civil case against Mrs Sacoolas in the United States. The parents of Harry Dunn have flown to the United States He said: "Of course it should have been obvious to the Foreign Office from day one that diplomatic immunity does not apply once she has left the country. "She could be sued for negligence in the United States and the Foreign Office should make funds available for the family to do so if that is the only way to provide them with some measure of closure and justice. "On the other hand, if Mrs Sacoolas is genuinely contrite, she has the right, no matter how much pressure is placed upon her by the State Department and the CIA, to follow her conscience and come back to Britain to face possible prosecution." Northamptonshire Police are expected to hand a file on the accident to prosecutors this week. But experts have said the thorny issue of the diplomatic immunity will need to be resolved before any charges can be considered. Lawyer, Edward Grange, a partner at Corker Binning, specialising in extradition, said: "In order to apply for extradition the Crown Prosecution Service would need to be in a position to charge her and they will not be able to do that if she does have diplomatic immunity." He said even if it were proven she did not have diplomatic immunity extradition might still be problematic. "Given that President Trump has already made comments about her not returning to face prosecution, it seems highly unlikely that they will accede to any request but that does not stop us making it." He said another option open to the British authorities would be to apply for Mrs Sacoolas to be added to the Interpol red list, which could leave her open to extradition proceedings if she were to travel to another country outside the United States.

India tightens security clampdown ahead of divisive temple ruling

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$20,000 worth of ride props were reportedly stolen from Walt Disney World

The Orlando Sentinel reported on Thursday that the items were taken from a shed behind Test Track in Epcot.