Chile´s embattled Pinera promises cabinet shake-up to quell mass protests

Chilean President Sebastian Pinera on Saturday added a major cabinet reshuffle to a growing list of reforms he has promised to tame inequality and quell mass protests that have rocked the South American nation.

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Bolivia's Morales vows second-round vote if fraud found in election, threatens siege of cities

Bolivian President Evo Morales on Saturday vowed to hold a run-off election if fraud is found in a vote count that gave him an outright win, but warned his rural base would siege cities if they keep protesting his disputed re-election to a fourth term.

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Republicans enabled the impeachment process they're now criticizing

The biggest problem with Republican critiques of the impeachment inquiry is that Democrats in the House are following a playbook for investigations that was first written by Republicans in large part over the past several years.

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Millions face power cuts as California fires spread

Californian officials warned Saturday that "extreme" wind conditions were set to fan wildfires across the north of the US state as residents were ordered to evacuate and millions faced power cuts. About 50,000 people were ordered to flee their homes in Sonoma county, north of San Francisco, as the Kincade Fire spread to cover 25,455 acres (10,300 hectares) after breaking out on Wednesday. The blaze, which is burning in remote steep terrain, threatens 23,500 structures and had already forced the evacuation of the small community of Geyserville and nearby vineyard operations.

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Convicted Russian agent Maria Butina released from prison and deported

Russian gun rights activist Maria Butina released from prison and left Miami on a flight to Moscow Friday night.

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Pope, ending synod, says will re-launch study of women deacons

Pope Francis said on Saturday he would reconvene a commission to study the history of women deacons in the early centuries of the Catholic Church, responding to calls by women that they be allowed to take up the role today. Francis made the announcement at the end of a three-week assembly of bishops from the Amazon, known as a synod, that discussed issues facing the vast region, such as the shortage of priests, environmental protection and an expanded role for women. Deacons, like priests, are ordained ministers, and as in the priesthood, must be men in today's Church.

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Tulsi Gabbard goes on Hannity, calls the impeachment inquiry secretive, says she's not seeking re-election

In a podcast last week, Hillary Clinton said an unidentified female 2020 Democratic presidential candidate is being groomed by Republicans to challenge the eventual Democratic nominee and help President Trump, with support from "a bunch" of Russian "sites and bots." Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) assumed (correctly) that Clinton was referring to her, and she really poured on the umbrage.To prove Clinton wrong, Gabbard went on Sean Hannity's Fox News show Thursday night -- she and Hannity both touted mistaken initial reporting that Clinton had claimed Russia, not Republicans, were "grooming" her for a third-party run -- and blamed Clinton (a former senator and secretary of state) for the last 18 years of U.S. wars, then echoed Republican complaints about the "transparency" of the House impeachment inquiry. "I don't know what's going on in those closed doors, we in Congress don't have access to the information that is being shared," said Gabbard, who isn't among the 59 Democrats and 48 Republicans who do have access.Gabbard did dodge some of Hannity's questions on Hunter Biden and Russian election interference, apparently getting Hannity to endorse paper ballots in national elections.After Hannity aired, Gabbard tweeted that she's "fully committed to my offer to serve you, the people of Hawaii & America, as your president & commander-in-chief. So I will not be seeking re-election to Congress in 2020." Since she's polling at 1.3 percent in the Democratic primary race, according to the RealClearPolitics average, that almost certainly means she's at least temporarily retiring from politics after she's passed over for the Democratic nomination -- or that she will, you know, run for president on a third-party ticket.

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Russia expects woman convicted by U.S. of being agent home on Saturday

Russian national Maria Butina, who was jailed in the United States in April after admitting to working as a Russian agent, will be released from a U.S. prison on Friday and arrive back in Moscow the next day, Russia's foreign ministry said. Butina pleaded guilty in December last year to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia, prompting Moscow to accuse Washington of forcing her to confess to what it described as ridiculous charges. The case has been an irritant in fraught relations between Moscow and Washington that are strained over everything from Syria to the arrest in Moscow of Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine held on spying charges that he denies.

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North Korea tells U.S. not to ignore year-end deadline on Trump-Kim friendship: KCNA

North Korea said on Sunday there has been no progress in the North Korea-United States relations, and hostilities that could lead to an exchange of fire have continued, according to North Korea's state news agency KCNA. Kim Jong Un has set an end-of-the-year deadline for denuclearization talks with Washington.

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Marine Veteran Is Deported to El Salvador

A Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan was deported to El Salvador this week after several failed attempts to stay in the United States, where he had lived since he was 3 and had been convicted of several felonies, his lawyer and immigration officials said.The case was another chapter in the contentious debate over how the United States' immigration system handles military veterans who are not citizens and have been convicted of crimes, leaving them open to deportation.The deported man, Jose Segovia-Benitez, 38, who grew up in Long Beach, California, is in hiding in El Salvador after his removal Wednesday, his lawyer, Roy Petty, said Thursday night. Segovia-Benitez's background in the U.S. military makes him a target for kidnapping by gangs, Petty said."He's a Marine," Petty said. "He's tough. He's been in worse situations before. He's in good spirits."Lori K. Haley, a spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, declined to answer questions about the case, saying in a statement, "Mr. Segovia-Benitez is a citizen of El Salvador who has repeatedly violated the laws of the United States."Segovia-Benitez was ordered removed in October 2018 and had been held at a detention center in Arizona for about a week before he was deported without advance notice, his lawyer said.Segovia-Benitez suffered a brain injury from an explosive device in Iraq and was honorably discharged from the military in 2004 after serving for five years, Petty said."He's been classified by the VA as 70% disabled for traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder," Petty said, adding that his client had not received sufficient treatment from the Department of Veterans Affairs.While in the military, Segovia-Benitez had applied for naturalization, Petty said, but because of his deployment and his injury, he was unable to complete the process.Segovia-Benitez repeatedly ran into legal trouble over the years. His felony convictions included assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment and narcotics possession, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison for corporal injury to a spouse.Petty said that people with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to act erratically.Carlos Luna, president of Green Card Veterans, an organization that works on behalf of veterans who are at risk of deportation or under removal orders, said Thursday: "The communities where these men and women come from are overpoliced. They are judged more harshly than other Americans."He added, "Veterans are no exception to any of these. In fact, we see an increased rate of veterans within our justice system."There is little data on how often veterans are deported, Luna said. The U.S. Government Accountability Office released a report in June that said ICE had developed policies for handling cases of veterans who are not citizens and may face deportation, but the agency does not consistently adhere to those policies, and it does not consistently track the veterans.Segovia-Benitez was ordered deported Oct. 10, 2018, and he appealed his case with the Board of Immigration Appeals, which was denied, ICE said. He also filed two stay requests with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, and those requests were also denied, according to the agency.Segovia-Benitez had nearly been deported Oct. 16 of this year, according to Petty. He was pulled off a plane bound for El Salvador after his lawyer contacted ICE arguing that his immigration case should be reopened. Segovia-Benitez was sent to the ICE facility in Arizona, where he was held until Wednesday.Segovia-Benitez's deportation was reported Wednesday by The Orange County Register, which had covered his case extensively.Efforts to stop Segovia-Benitez's deportation had reached Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, who was asked to consider a pardon on an expedited basis, Petty said, adding that the governor was still weighing it.Vicky Waters, a spokeswoman for Newsom, said his office was "unable to discuss individual pardon applications but can assure that each application receives careful and individualized consideration."Segovia-Benitez's deportation added him to the list of deported people who have made national headlines after being deported to countries they had never visited or had left as children.Miguel Perez-Montes, an Army veteran who arrived in the United States legally when he was 8 and served two tours of duty in Afghanistan, was deported to Mexico in early 2018 after his application for citizenship was denied because of a 2010 felony drug conviction.Other deportation stories involving veterans have ended differently. Marco A. Chavez, a Marine veteran who was deported to Mexico in 2002, was allowed to return in 2017.Petty said he was still trying to reopen Segovia-Benitez's immigration case. "We're still able to present evidence showing that his life is in danger in El Salvador because of his service in the U.S. Marines," he said, adding that criminal defense lawyers are also working to reopen his criminal cases.Petty said it was "impossible to know" how long it could take to resolve Segovia-Benitez's case."Immigration could still choose to leave him outside of the country," he said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

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Firefighters race to control blazes before winds roar back

Howling winds that fueled destructive wildfires across California began to die down Friday, but residents in the northern part of the state braced for another round of power outages aimed at preventing what are expected to be the strongest gusts in years from sparking more blazes this weekend. Fires destroyed dozens of buildings in Northern California wine country and in subdivisions on the outskirts of Los Angeles, where flames shut down a freeway and smoke forced schools to close. California's largest utility admitted its electrical equipment may have ignited the wildfire amid Sonoma County's vineyards despite blackouts imposed to prevent blazes.

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China calls for 'severe punishment' for those involved in UK truck deaths

China called on Britain on Friday to seek "severe punishment" for those involved in the deaths of 39 people, believed to be Chinese nationals, found in a truck container near London, as a major state-backed paper said Britain should bear some responsibility for the case. For years, illegal immigrants have stowed away in trucks while attempting to reach Britain, often from the European mainland. In 2000, 58 Chinese were found dead in a tomato truck at the port of Dover.

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Read the Trump Administration's Warning Letter to Laura Cooper

WASHINGTON -- The White House has declared that the executive branch will not cooperate with the House's impeachment inquiry, but some officials have nevertheless provided testimony to Congress about what they know about whether President Donald Trump's attempts to pressure the Ukrainian government into investigating his political rivals were a quid pro quo in return for aid.One such witness, Laura Cooper, a Pentagon official, received a warning letter that shows how the administration has attempted to persuade officials to keep silent. Cooper appeared before impeachment investigators Wednesday during a closed-door session that was delayed by Republican lawmakers who burst into the House Intelligence Committee's secure suite to protest the inquiry.Below is a copy of the letter Cooper received, obtained and annotated with context and analysis by The New York Times.Deputy Secretary of Defense1010 Defense PentagonWashington, D.C. 20301-1010Oct. 22, 2019(The date stamp shows that the deputy secretary of defense, David Norquist, sent this warning letter Tuesday, the day before Cooper was scheduled to give voluntary, private testimony. That same day, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif. and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, signed a subpoena stating that Cooper was legally required to appear.)Daniel LevinWhite & Case LLP701 13th Street, NWWashington, D.C. 20005-3807Dear Mr. Levin:I understand that you have been retained by Ms. Laura Cooper, the Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia, as her private counsel for a deposition to be conducted jointly by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Oversight and Reform, "[p]ursuant to the House of Representatives' impeachment inquiry." The Department's October 15, 2019 letter to the Chairs of the three House Committees [Tab A] expressed its belief that the customary process of oversight and accommodation has historically served the interests of congressional oversight committees and the Department well. The Committees' purported "impeachment inquiry," however, presents at least two issues of great importance.The first issue is the Committees' continued, blanket refusal to allow Department Counsel to be present at depositions of Department employees. Department Counsel's participation protects against the improper release of privileged or classified information, particularly material covered by the executive privilege which is the President's alone to assert and to waive. Excluding Department Counsel places the witness in the untenable position of having to decide whether to answer the Committees' questions or to assert Executive Branch confidentiality interests without an attorney from the Executive Branch present to advise on those interests.It violates settled practice and may jeopardize future accommodation. Furthermore, the Department of Justice has concluded that "congressional subpoenas that purport to require agency employees to appear without agency counsel are legally invalid and are not subject to civil or criminal enforcement." See Attempted Exclusion of Agency Counsel from Congressional Depositions of Agency Employees, 43 Op. O.L.C. (May 23, 2019) [Tab B].The second issue is the absence of authority for the Committees to conduct an impeachment inquiry. In its October 15, 2019 letter, the Department conveyed concerns about the Committees' lack of authority to initiate an impeachment inquiry given the absence of a delegation of such authority by House Rule or Resolution. This correspondence echoed an October 8, 2019 letter from the White House Counsel [Tab C] expressing the President's view that the inquiry was "contrary to the Constitution of the United States and all past bipartisan precedent" and "violates fundamental fairness and constitutionally mandated due process."This letter informs you and Ms. Cooper of the Administration-wide direction that Executive Branch personnel "cannot participate in [the impeachment] inquiry under these circumstances" [Tab C]. In the event that the Committees issue a subpoena to compel Ms. Cooper's appearance, you should be aware that the Supreme Court has held, in United States v. Rumely, 345 U.S. 41 (1953), that a person cannot be sanctioned for refusing to comply with a congressional subpoena unauthorized by House Rule or Resolution.To reiterate, the Department respects the oversight role of Congress and stands ready to work with the Committees should there be an appropriate resolution of outstanding legal issues. Any such resolution would have to consider the constitutional prerogatives and confidentiality interests of the co-equal Executive Branch, see Tab D, and ensure fundamental fairness to any Executive Branch employees involved in this process, including Ms. Cooper. Sincerely,[signed] David L. Norquist Attachments: As statedThis article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

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Russian woman convicted by U.S. of being agent returns home

Russian national Maria Butina, who was jailed in the United States in April after admitting to working as a Russian agent, arrived in Moscow on Saturday, greeted by her father and Russian journalists who handed her flowers. "Russians never surrender," an emotional Butina told reporters at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport, flanked by her father and the Russian Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman. Butina pleaded guilty in December last year to one count of conspiring to act as a foreign agent for Russia by infiltrating a gun rights group and influencing U.S. conservative activists and Republicans.

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Bishops Ask Pope to Approve Married Priests, and Open the Way to Women Deacons

Alberto Pizoli/AFP/Getty ImagesVATICAN CITY–A group of Roman Catholic bishops voted on Saturday 128 in favor and 41 against a proposal to lift a thousand-year-old ban on married priests. The 184 bishops ministering in the Amazon region voted that married “viri probati”—men of proven virtue—should be allowed to be ordained as priests for the purpose of delivering the major sacraments to Catholics in areas where no priests are assigned. Pope Says Maybe to Married PriestsNow Pope Francis must decide whether to sign off on the proposal, which many believe he just might do, which would also open up a debate on celibacy in the priesthood. The married men eligible for the priesthood would already have to be deacons which, for lack of a lengthy description, are a lighter version of priests. They can be married and they are allowed to perform many clerical functions, but not deliver holy mass. They can, however, deliver many of the sacraments including baptism, funeral and burial services, distribute holy communion known as the Eucharist, and preach the homily sermon so long as there is an ordained priest leading the mass. Deacons are either ‘permanent,’ meaning devout, sometimes married men who serve the church throughout the world, or ‘transitional,’ meaning those preparing for the priesthood. At a briefing in Rome on Saturday evening, Canadian Cardinal Michael Czerny pointed out that all men ordained into the priesthood must be deacons first. With that in mind, what the Amazon synod fathers also decided is perhaps even more groundbreaking. On Saturday, they approved a proposal to open the long-closed door to the ordination of women as deacons by agreeing to study the matter. And if women are allowed to be deacons, that could one day pave the way to female priests. Did Pope Francis Just Pave the Way for Women Priests?Pope Francis, in spontaneous remarks closing the meeting ahead of a farewell mass on Sunday, promised he would keep an open mind . “I am going to take up the challenge that you have put forward,” he said, “that women be heard.” “We still have not grasped the significance of women in the Church,” Francis said Saturday as nuns in attendance nodded their heads and the entire assembly erupted in applause. “Their role must go well beyond questions of function.”What is perhaps most remarkable about the potentially groundbreaking decisions that might change the face of the church forever is that the two issues–the question of married priests and celibacy and that of women clergy—are based on a meeting about Catholics living in some of the most remote and poverty-stricken areas in the world. But the decision to move forward on both of these issues is one that may also cause a schism in the church. Even before the final vote, conservative Catholic militants had made their message clear, that the Amazon region should not be a pacesetter on these issues. Those from the Amazon region in attendance at the conference had brought with them five so-called Pachamama wooden statues depicting a scene with a naked, pregnant woman at the center that many conservatives described as “false idols.” Conservative Catholic Twitter exploded with comments about Pope Francis worshiping the “pagan” statues and how they represented a church in demise. The same critics scoffed when Francis opened the summit by telling the prelates they could leave their cassocks at home and wear suits to the working sessions.Shortly before the vote, while those in attendance were finalizing their document, the statues were stolen from the church in Rome where they were kept during the synod meeting and thrown into the Tiber River.Roman police fished out the statues on Friday and gave them back to the pope who apologized for the act. On Saturday, the Pachamama statues were front and center inside the synod hall, undoubtedly boiling the blood of those who sought to destroy them. If the pope’s response to the stolen statues is any indication, he may well heed the vote of the bishops on two of the most important issues the Catholic church has faced outside of clerical sex abuse and, with it, change the face of Catholicism forever. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Undecided 2020 voters like Andrew Yang and Joe Biden the most of all the Democratic candidates

The former vice president and the former entrepreneur respectively represent the establishment and the insurgency of the Democratic Party in 2020.

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Democrats Get More of Mueller Report for Impeachment Inquiry

(Bloomberg) -- Congressional Democrats reviewing possible impeachment of President Donald Trump won a court order compelling the U.S. Justice Department to turn over grand-jury materials from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election by Oct. 30.The House Judiciary Committee has shown “that it needs the grand-jury material referenced and cited in the Mueller Report to avoid a possible injustice in the impeachment inquiry,” Beryl Howell, chief judge of the U.S. District Court in Washington, said Friday in a 75-page ruling.It’s the latest in a string of defeats for the president and his administration in courts around the country. On Oct. 18 alone five courts issued rulings against the president, including ones on immigration and on keeping his tax returns secret.Howell’s decision Friday heightens Trump’s jeopardy as the House presses ahead with questioning those with information on his attempts to persuade Ukraine‘s government to investigate Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and his son Hunter.The judge was critical of the administration’s refusal to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry, saying that made the release of the grand-jury documents all the more important.“Impeachment based on anything less than all relevant evidence would compromise the public’s faith in the process,” Howell wrote.She also rejected a central claim advanced by Republicans to challenge impeachment -- that Congress’s inquiry is invalid because the full House hasn’t authorized it.“No governing law requires this test -- not the Constitution, not House rules, and not rule 6(e),” she said, referring to the rule governing disclosure of grand jury matters. “Imposing this test would be an impermissible intrusion on the House’s constitutional authority both to ‘determine the rules of its proceedings’ under the Rulemaking Clause and tp exercise ‘the sole power of Impeachment’ under the Impeachment clause.”Preserve SecrecyThe Justice Department had opposed the release of materials, citing the need to preserve grand-jury secrecy and claiming the House wasn’t engaged in a “judicial proceeding” warranting release of the information. Howell confirmed the inquiry constituted a judicial proceeding.The department is reviewing the ruling, spokeswoman Sarah Sutton said.The judge also tackled the thorny issue of the president’s claim that he’s immune from indictment while in office, per an Office of Legal Counsel opinion that was written in 1973.“This leaves the House as the only federal body that can act on allegations of presidential misconduct,” she said. Then she added: “This OLC legal conclusion has never been adopted, sanctioned, or in any way approved by a court.”The House committee, led by New York Democrat Jerrold Nadler, sued to force release of information underpinning Mueller’s report in July. It gained greater urgency two months later when a whistle blower claimed Trump tied $391 million in aid to Ukraine to its willingness to investigate the Bidens. That prompted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to start a formal impeachment inquiry.Nadler hailed the ruling in a statement calling the forthcoming information “critical to our work.”In his 448-page report made public in April, Mueller said there was insufficient evidence to show Trump or anyone working on his campaign had collaborated with Russia’s efforts to disrupt the election, but the special counsel pointedly declined to say that Trump had not obstructed the investigation.Large swaths of the document were blacked out to preserve grand jury secrecy and information related to ongoing cases and investigations.Trump is also facing pressure from a trio of lawsuits asserting he’s violated the U.S. Constitution’s two emoluments clauses. A U.S. appeals court in New York recently revived a case contending he violated one of those provisions by being enriched by foreign governments through his far-flung business empire, while a separate appellate court in Richmond, Virginia, has agreed to reconsider an earlier ruling rejecting similar claims.The president is also seeking a reversal of Washington judge’s refusal to throw out a lawsuit lodged by more than 200 Congressional Democrats who want to force him to come to them for permission to accept those benefits, as required by the Constitution.Elsewhere:A federal appeals court in Washington on Oct. 11 ordered Trump’s accountants, Mazars USA LLP, to comply with a congressional subpoena for Trump’s financial records. Trump has asked the appeals court to reconsider.A federal appeals court in New York is weighing Trump’s request to block a grand jury subpoena requiring Mazars to provide tax returns and other records to the Manhattan DA. A lower-court judge has ruled for the DA.In May, a federal judge in New York rejected Trump’s request to block Congress from obtaining his records from Deutsche Bank and Capital One Financial Corp. Trump is appealing that ruling to the New York-based appeals court.A federal judge in Washington this week imposed a 30-day deadline for the Trump administration to disclose at least some of the U.S. State Department documents related to the Ukraine influence scandal that spurred the impeachment probe by House Democrats. A watchdog group sued for the records.The case is In re Application of the Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives, for an Order Authorizing Release of Certain Grand Jury Materials, 19-gj-48, U.S. District Court, District of Columbia (Washington).(Updates with comment from House Judiciary chairman.)To contact the reporter on this story: Andrew Harris in federal court in Washington at aharris16@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Joe Schneider, Steve StrothFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Birmingham couple charged with murder after abducted 3-year-old's body found in dumpster

An Alabama couple have been charged with capital murder in the suffocation death of 3-year-old Kamille "Cupcake" McKinney who was found in a dumpster

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Firefighters battle fierce wildfires across California

Firefighters on Friday battled several wildfires raging across California that destroyed homes and forced evacuations, as more than 18 million people were under a red flag warning in the southern part of the state. Tens of thousands of residents near Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, fled their homes as the so-called Tick Fire scorched 4,300 acres (1,740 hectares) and was only five percent contained by Friday afternoon. New evacuations in the area were ordered early Friday as the fire that began the day before continued to spread, driven by so-called Santa Ana winds gusting up to 65 miles (105 kilometers) per hour.

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Funeral set for girl abducted, killed in Alabama

A funeral service is set for this weekend for a 3-year-old Alabama girl who was abducted from a birthday party and asphyxiated, and officials said Friday they are establishing a permanent reward fund in her memory. The service for Kamille McKinney was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, with burial to follow at Elmwood Cemetery. The funeral is planned for New Beginning Christian Ministry, where pastor Sylvester Wilson said the church has a 700-seat sanctuary and can use its fellowship hall as an overflow auditorium.

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Hizbollah leader warns of civil war after days of Lebanon protests

The leader of Hizbollah on Friday warned Lebanon that nationwide protests calling for the overthrow of the government could lead to chaos and civil war.  Hassan Nasrallah praised protesters for achieving “unprecedented” economic reforms but also suggested foreign intervention had a role in the demonstrations.  Over a quarter of Lebanon’s population are reported to have taken to the streets in anti-corruption protests over the past week. Hizbollah supporters have in recent days organised counter-attacks on the protests, which have so far remained largely free of sectarian division.  The powerful Shiite group, which is backed regionally by Iran, is in coalition with the government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.  Speaking to the nation for the first time on day nine of the mass protests, Nasrallah warned that he had “intelligence” of foreign “conspiracies” to drag Lebanon into civil war.  Lebanon has been swept by more than a week of nationwide protests against the political elite Credit: AFP The leader claimed that the protests had started spontaneously, but were now being funded and organised by local and foreign actors who were exploiting the naivety of protestors. His speech echoed those given earlier this week by Mr Hariri and Michel Aoun, the country's president.  On the streets, protesters appeared unmoved. “All of them means all of them” they chanted, in reference to the demand for the country's entire cabinet to be replaced.   For the second day, security forces had to create human walls between the protestors and Hizbollah supporters in attempts to stop scuffles. “We are not going to stop our protests until we get what we want. We have been suffocated in these conditions for years. They have to go. All of them means all of them,” said Hieba, a 42-year-old restaurant owner.

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Steven Mnuchin may have gone against IRS warnings to help a friend get a major tax break

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin may have used his position to help a billionaire friend earn a significant tax break and subsequent profits, despite the Internal Revenue Service warning against it, The New York Times reports. The Treasury Department, reportedly at the personal instruction of Mnuchin, made an area of land in Nevada owned by financier Michael Milken, who was reportedly an inspiration for the character of Gordon Gekko in the film Wall Street, eligible for a federal tax break that it did not previously qualify for after alleged pressure from Milken's business partner other landowners. The IRS expressed its doubts about the decision, arguing in an internal memo obtained by the Times that "failure to apply the designation standards equally across the board will call into question the legitimacy of the process by which the designations were made." The memo also stated that the appearance of "arbitrary" Treasury standards like this one could open the "door for accusations that the determination process was influenced by political considerations or bias." Spokespersons for both Mnuchin and Milken, who are reportedly longtime friends, said the two men did not discuss the matter and Mnuchin had no knowledge of Milken's investments in Nevada. Regardless, the report has already spurred criticism. Read more at The New York Times. > THREAD: Let's start with this smoking-gun memo-obtained by The New York Times. Treasury at direct order of Sec. Mnuchin took what staff at IRS warned would be seen as a overtly political act & one could undermine the integrity of a multi-billion dollar Trump-era federal tax break pic.twitter.com/XrToQiBa1r> > -- Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) October 26, 2019> And the bottom line is that Mr. Mnuchin directed his staff to take a move that many strongly objected to, and which some saw as overtly political, and which stood to benefit his billionaire friend, Milken. (Nevada Gov sent in this letter 45 minutes after phone call with Mnuchin) pic.twitter.com/CnlzVcDAxF> > -- Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) October 26, 2019

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Fifteen killed, dozens wounded as Iraq protests flare for second day

At least 67 Iraqis were killed and hundreds wounded in two days of protests over the weekend, as demonstrators clashed with security forces and militia groups in a second wave of protests against Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's government this month.

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