Sanders Hits Back after Co-Sponsor Harris Criticizes Medicare for All

Senator Bernie Sanders hit back at Senator Kamala Harris Monday evening after Harris said at a fundraiser in the Hamptons that she has "not been comfortable" with the Medicare for All plan she cosponsored with Sanders.> I don't go to the Hamptons to raise money from billionaires. If I ever visited there, I would tell them the same thing I have said for the last 30 years: We must pass a Medicare for All system to guarantee affordable health care for all, not just for those who can afford it.> > -- Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) August 19, 2019Harris courted wealthy donors in the Hamptons and at Martha’s Vineyard over the weekend, assuring them that, “I believe in capitalism, but capitalism is not working for most people.”"I think almost every member of the United States Senate who's running for president, and many others, have signed on to a variety of plans in the Senate. And I have done the same," the California Democrat said. "I support Medicare for All. But as you may have noticed, over the course of the many months, I've not been comfortable with Bernie's plan, the Medicare-for-All plan."Harris floundered slightly earlier in her campaign on the question of whether private insurance plans would still be available under her health-care proposal. She originally said private health insurance would be eliminated but has since backtracked, saying that while she is “committed to reining in the private insurance companies,” phasing out private insurance “has to happen over a period of time.”Sanders is currently polling ahead of Harris but behind the front-runner, former vice president Joe Biden, and Senator Elizabeth Warren, who is in second place.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31UP8rJ

Hong Kong police in standoff with protesters after sit-in

Near the end of the event, the police began what they called a "dispersal operation, using minimum force" after some protesters blocked roads and flashed laser pointers at officers. Police with riot shields faced off at the station entrance against a group of remaining protesters, who sprayed a firehose and spread soap on the floor to slow a police approach, while piling up trash bins, a wheelchair and umbrellas in a makeshift blockade. The station's entrance shutters were lowered, barricading the protesters inside.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2U183hT

U.S. removed almost 2.7 million barrels daily of Iranian oil from market: Pompeo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has removed nearly 2.7 million barrels of Iranian oil from global markets daily as a result of Washington's decision to reimpose sanctions on all purchases of Iran's crude, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Hg2RRX

Parkland students unveil gun violence prevention plan: 'Policymakers have failed, so survivors are stepping up'

March For Our Lives, the group formed by the Parkland students in the wake of the mass shooting at their school in February 2018, has unveiled a new plan for gun control.The Peace Plan is a six-step proposal focused on changing gun laws in America to prevent mass shootings, which continue to ravage the country. The students call their steps C.H.A.N.G.E., with each letter spelling out a goal.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZfaSg1

Russia and China blast US missile test

Russia and China warned Tuesday that a new US missile test had heightened military tensions and risked sparking an arms race, weeks after Washington ripped up a Cold War-era weapons pact with Moscow. The US and Russia ditched the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty this month after accusing each other of violating the accord. Washington said the agreement also tied its hands in dealing with other powers such as China.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZeLYkR

The Latest: Albania rescues 36 Afghans in Aegean

Albania's Defense Ministry says its ship in the Aegean Sea has rescued 36 Afghans trying to cross into Greece. Defense Minister Olta Xhacka tweeted Wednesday that 19 Afghan children, eight women and nine men were rescued by the ship Oriku in cooperation with Frontex, the European Union's border control force. Xhacka did not say exactly where the migrants were found.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2MBafvF

Salvadoran woman acquitted in abortion case calls for reform

Evelyn Hernandez has a message for El Salvador's president: End the criminalization of abortion in the conservative Central American country. Hernandez, 21, was exonerated earlier this week in a closely watched retrial after an earlier judgment found her guilty of killing her stillborn son and sentenced her to 30 years in prison.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2TVF5zF

Climate change will cripple economies regardless of countries' wealth- report

Climate change will damage the economies of countries whether they are rich or poor, hot or cold by the year 2100, economists said in a new report, dispelling the notion that impoverished, warm countries will suffer the most on a warming planet. Researchers who examined data from 174 countries over 50 years found that persistent temperature changes above or below a country's historical norm adversely affected economic growth, regardless of how warm a country is. The United States could see a 10% loss in gross domestic product (GDP) without significant policy change.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZiHHgb

Greece says it won't assist Iranian tanker sought by US

Greece said on Wednesday it won't endanger its relations with the United States by aiding an Iranian supertanker sought by the U.S. but released by Gibraltar that's currently in the Mediterranean Sea, believed heading for a Greek port. Deputy Foreign Minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis said Athens is under pressure from U.S. authorities, which claim the Iran-flagged Adrian Darya 1 is tied to a sanctioned organization. The vessel can still enter Greek waters or anchor offshore, in which case Athens will "see" what it will do, Varvitsiotis added.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZmOR2Q

How China Is Trying to Quell Hong Kong’s Protests Without Troops

(Bloomberg) -- China has lots of weapons to deploy to bring Hong Kong’s protesters under control before it needs to send in the troops.From barring dissident flight attendants to encouraging “patriotic” citizens to confront protesters on the streets, China has unloaded a wide range of firepower against the city’s fractious opposition in recent weeks. That’s to say nothing of the considerable sway Beijing holds over local politics, with its own loyalist bloc in the elected legislature and veto power over all top appointments.Here’s a look at some of the tools in China’s arsenal:1\. Political InfluenceWhile Chinese officials continue to reaffirm their commitment to Hong Kong’s “high degree of autonomy,” they’ve begun to pull the levers of power more directly since some radical protesters attacked the central government’s local headquarters and other symbols of Beijing’s authority. The Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office -- China’s top agency overseeing the city -- has held an unprecedented three briefings on the protests and summoned local representatives to a closed-door meeting in Shenzhen, where attendees say officials batted away appeals for compromise.The moves demonstrate the Communist Party’s ability to reach deep into the city’s politics without resorting to military force, even if they reinforce arguments that local control is being eroded. China has also lodged formal diplomatic complaints with countries that have supported the protests, accusing the U.S. and the U.K. of meddling. On Tuesday, it was revealed that a U.K. consular worker from Hong Kong had been detained while returning from a trip to the mainland earlier this month.2\. Mainland-Dependent BusinessesChina has repeatedly shown its willingness to use its leverage as the world’s largest trading nation to express political displeasure, as South Korea, Canada, Norway and others can attest. Hong Kong, which conducts more than 40% of its trade via the mainland, is particularly vulnerable. Last week, Rupert Hogg resigned as Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.’s chief executive officer after China’s regulators banned all crew who participated in “illegal demonstrations” from mainland flights.Meanwhile, local tycoons including Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, came off the sidelines to publish statements and purchase advertisements urging an end to violent protests. At the same time, queries on Chinese e-commerce portals such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Taobao returned unsuccessful results for people seeking to ship umbrellas, masks and helmets to Hong Kong, where they’ve become common tools of protesters.3\. State Propaganda MachineEven if Beijing has no intention of deploying troops, it can unleash a vast state-run media apparatus to raise fears that it might. Chinese media have circulated photos and news reports of Chinese troops and paramilitary riot-control forces training in scenarios resembling Hong Kong’s protests. The government’s claims that the protests are the product of foreign “black hands” such as the U.S. and the U.K. are widely circulated, helping lay the ground for any more direct intervention.Moreover, the uglier parts of the protests, such as petrol bombs thrown at police stations or the defacement of national emblems, are amplified for most of the mainland’s 1.4 billion citizens. Reports frequently compared the protests to “terrorists” and “rioters” -- a label used to justify the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. Beijing’s nationwide censorship system known as the Great Firewall helps ensure that developments that might generate sympathy for the movement, including outbreaks of beatings by triad-linked mobs, go largely unmentioned.4\. United FrontLong before regaining control over Hong Kong in 1997, the Communist Party had built a deep support network that it can call for support in times of trouble, including business groups, labor unions, neighborhood associations and several pro-establishment political parties. This “United Front” plays a key role in organizing counterprotests to support the police and the government, events that receive favorable play in the city’s numerous Beijing-aligned commercial media outlets.The growing global reach of such groups -- ostensibly aimed at overseas Chinese -- has drawn accusations of political meddling in places such as Canada and Australia, where they’ve turned out to oppose causes disputed by Beijing. But they’ve helped China counter rallies organized around the globe to support Hong Kong’s protests, seen by clashes in Sydney and Melbourne on Friday. Canadian police escorted worshipers out of a Vancouver church on Sunday, after Beijing supporters surrounded a prayer meeting for Hong Kong.5\. Triad SupportWhile the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office has urged an end to all violence in the protests, the agency has also urged Hong Kong residents to “stand firm and guard our beautiful homeland” and warned demonstrators that “those who play with fire will perish by it.”Such comments have fueled concern that Beijing is at least tolerant of other, more aggressive moves against protesters. In recent weeks, groups of stick-wielding men, often dressed in matching white shirts, have turned out on the streets to assault protesters, occasionally striking passersby in the process. People have shot fireworks at rallies from passing cars. On Tuesday, a man was arrested while attempting to enter the mainland in connection with a knife attack on three people near a protest message wall.The protesters and opposition lawmakers have blamed the attacks on notorious Chinese organized crime gangs known as triads, and police said that several people with links to the groups were among those arrested after one particular shocking attack last month. They’ve accused the police of colluding with the gangs, something the local government has denied.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2TMNi9q

Immigration lawyers: We saw what's happening at the US-Mexico border. It's a tragic farce.

There is no due process in Mexico for asylum seekers, just endless obstacles to staying alive, finding an attorney and communicating with authorities.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2NiOb8h

Newark man faces child sex charges; mummified remains found

Police responding to a call about child sexual abuse said they found mummified remains and an altar to an unknown deity in the home of a man who is now facing multiple charges. Robert Williams is scheduled for an initial court appearance Friday. According to the Essex County prosecutor's office, Newark police investigated after receiving reports that the 53-year-old Williams had been abusing a 13-year-old child for several months.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2KX6Bc0

Trump calls Danish PM's rebuff of Greenland idea 'nasty' as trip cancellation stuns Danes

President Donald Trump declared Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's dismissal of his idea to buy Greenland "nasty" and an affront to the United States on Wednesday, a day after shocking Danes by canceling a Copenhagen visit over the rebuff.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/33QUWEr

Argentine presidential front-runner seeks alternatives to austerity: advisers

Economic advisers to Argentina's presidential front-runner and opposition leader Alberto Fernandez said he would seek alternatives to the current administration's austerity measures in a meeting with the new Treasury Minister on Wednesday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2HkVGYD

Venezuelan officials reached out to discuss Maduro exit: US

Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido said Wednesday his rival Nicolas Maduro had been made to look ridiculous by insisting he had authorized back channel talks with Washington, only for a top US official to reveal it was Caracas who had made the initial approach behind the president's back. The sole aim of the secret talks was to discuss Maduro's exit from power and organizing free elections, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Wednesday. Bolton's comment came after Maduro said he had authorized the contacts with high level US officials, casting them as a long-standing initiative that he was aware of and had approved.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2TSkyfj

Texas executes man in 1998 slaying of college student

A Texas death row inmate who argued that his conviction was based on junk science was executed Wednesday for the abduction, rape and killing of a suburban Houston community college student more than 20 years ago. Larry Swearingen, 48, received a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville for the December 1998 killing of 19-year-old Melissa Trotter. Swearingen, who had always maintained his innocence in Trotter's death, was the 12th inmate put to death this year in the U.S. and the fourth in Texas, the nation's busiest capital punishment state.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2KJZW62

Sen. McSally calls out Omar and Tlaib, talks bill to define domestic terrorism as federal crime

Republican Sen. Martha McSally weighs in on the Israel trip turmoil in Congress and her push to have domestic terrorism defined as a federal crime after the latest mass shootings.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2zd2iUs

Judge tells jail to improve conditions for Epstein cellmate

A judge ordered a federal jail on Wednesday to improve housing conditions for one of Jeffrey Epstein's former cellmates, who wanted to be moved out of the lockup because he feared retaliation by guards. Nicholas Tartaglione, a former police officer awaiting trial in a quadruple murder case, was sharing a cell with Epstein at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan in July when the financier was placed on a suicide watch after being discovered with bruises on his neck. Several weeks later, Epstein hanged himself in his cell.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Z6kpLm

Mitch McConnell slams China over Hong Kong, threatens a global confrontation that could tank the finance hub

"Sooner or later, the rest of the world will have to do what the protesters are doing—confront Beijing," McConnell wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2KLnaca

Tens of thousands flee Russian-led onslaught on opposition enclave

Ten of thousands of people have fled to the Turkish border in the last few days as the Syrian army pushed a major advance further into the opposition's last major stronghold, residents, rights groups and opposition sources said on Wednesday. "The flow of cars and vehicles leaving is not stopping," said Abdullah Younis from the city. Rebels concede most of their fighters have fled Khan Sheikhoun but are providing fierce resistance to the Syrian army, which has secured a foothold in the town.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Z1HNtc

Denmark reacts with shock and anger as 'disrespectful' Trump cancels trip over Greenland sale row

Denmark’s political leaders and royal family have expressed shock after Donald Trump cancelled a state visit to the country over their refusal to consider selling Greenland. Mette Frederikse, the Danish prime minister, said she was “disappointed” by the decision while a spokesman for the Danish royal palace admitted it had been taken by “surprise”. Less diplomatic responses came from former politicians and opposition figures who said the US president's behaviour was “grotesque”, “smug” and “disrespectful”. Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the former Danish prime minister, tweeted: “Is this some sort of joke? Deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark.” The outpouring of frustration came after Mr Trump made clear that his interest in buying Greenland, an autonomous country which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark, was not a joke.  On Monday, Mr Trump appeared to play up the comic aspect of his considerations, tweeting a picture of a vast gold Trump hotel, writing: “I promise not to do this to Greenland!” I promise not to do this to Greenland! pic.twitter.com/03DdyVU6HA— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 20, 2019 But on Tuesday night he announced that due to the flat-out rejection by Denmark he would be cancelling a trip on September 2 and 3, which was planned after an invitation by the Danish royal family. “Denmark is a very special country with incredible people, but based on Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen’s comments, that she would have no interest in discussing the purchase of Greenland, I will be postponing our meeting scheduled in two weeks for another time,” he wrote.  “The Prime Minister was able to save a great deal of expense and effort for both the United States and Denmark by being so direct. I thank her for that and look forward to rescheduling sometime in the future!” The remarks clearly indicated that the refusal to consider selling Greenland, a country with a population of 56,000 people which is mainly covered by an ice sheet, was to blame for the cancellation.  Mr Trump had said over the weekend that Greenland’s strategic benefits – there is renewed geopolitical interest in the Arctic as its ice caps melt – and natural resources made it an alluring proposition.  He has also referenced former US president Harry Truman’s attempts to buy the island for $100 million after the Second World War, a move taken in part because of military benefits that would have followed. So the POTUS has cancelled his visit to Denmark because there was no interest in discussing selling Greenland @BBCRadio4 Is this some sort of joke? Deeply insulting to the people of Greenland and Denmark.— Helle Thorning S (@HelleThorning_S) August 21, 2019 However, defending the cancellation, Mr Trump indicated that it was actually the way in which the Danish prime minister had rejected the proposal that was really to blame.  “I thought that the prime minister’s statement that is was an ‘absurd’ idea was nasty,” Mr Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday.  “I thought it was an inappropriate statement. All she had to do is say ‘no, we wouldn’t be interested’.”  The two-day trip had been designed as a way to celebrate Denmark’s recent past in standing with America, not least in military campaigns in the Middle East.  More than 40 Danish soldiers have been killed in US-led missions in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan – a stark number given the country's population of around 5.8 million.  Danish press said the row marked a major deterioration in the country's ties to America, with one newspaper headline calling relations ”ice cold” and another saying they had reached “freezing point”.  Ms Frederikse, the Danish prime minister, over the weekend had brushed off Mr Trump’s Greenland interest, saying: “Thankfully, the time where you buy and sell other countries and populations is over.” But she gave a more sober statement on Wednesday, telling the cameras: “It is with regret and surprise that I received the news that President Trump has cancelled his state visit.”  Ms Frederikse said that preparations for the trip had been “well under way”, but added: ”This does not change the character of our good relations.”  She was not the only one caught out. Carla Sands, the US ambassador to Denmark, had tweeted on Tuesday afternoon that “Denmark is ready” for Mr Trump, adding the words “partner, ally, friend!”  Within hours the trip had been cancelled.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/30mE5Hr

Are Max 737s closer to flying? FAA 'looks forward' to international panel's findings as grounding drags on

The FAA "looks forward" to a panel's findings on the Boeing 737 Max jets but stands by the process that certified a key component of the aircraft.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2P6yinY

PRAYER REQUEST - 'It is a Bigger God': Searchers Say They Are in a 'Race Against Time' to Find Two Missing Firefighters

Time may be running out, but the faith of the wife of a firefighter still missing at sea is still strong. The search has been on for five days for two firefighters who set out on a fishing expedition from the coast of Florida but never came home.

from CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2KNKK8f