DNC will reject Iowa Democrats' virtual caucus plan, throwing the state's first-in-the-nation status into question

The decision follows a meeting of the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee last week in San Francisco, where members voiced concerns about cybersecurity.

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China rejected HK plan to withdraw bill: sources

China recently rejected a formal submission from Hong Kong for a "full withdrawal" of an unpopular extradition bill.

That's according to three government sources who spoke exclusively with Reuters.

The bill is a key issue that's sparked months of protests in the city.

China's rejection represents concrete evidence of Beijing's control over the Hong Kong government's response to the protests.

It also calls into question China's promise that Hong Kong would have a high degree of autonomy.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) HONG KONG CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARRIE LAM, SAYING:

"I reiterate here, there is no such plan. The bill is dead."

Dead - but not 'withdrawn.'

Lam has stopped short of using that term, only saying work on the bill has stopped.

The protests didn't stop. They've lasted twelve straight weeks.

In press conferences, Lam has not been clear on whether she has the autonomy to withdraw the bill herself.

But one source told Reuters, Lam herself has said that her hands are tied and that Beijing wouldn't allow her to withdraw the bill.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) REUTERS' SENIOR CORRESPONDENT JAMES POMFRET (OFF-CAMERA), SAYING:

"Do you have the autonomy or not to withdraw the extradition bill? You have not answered the question, you have evaded the question."

Protesters' concerns have grown over the last few months, outlined in a list of five demands, including calls for fully democratic elections.

Protesters are also demanding a probe into excessive use of police force during the protests.

One source said that the demands were outlined in Lam's proposal to Beijing, and that even President Xi Jinping was aware of it.

Beijing rejected all five demands.

In recent weeks there have been signs of Beijing taking a harder line, with officials likening the protests to 'terrorism', paramilitary police conducting drills near the border and pressuring Hong Kong companies to suspend staff that supported the protests.

Lam's office did not comment directly on whether it has made a request to withdraw the bill.

China's central government also did not respond to requests for comment.

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'Your numbers are fake': Puerto Rico newspaper slams Trump for touting hurricane aid claim

"Mr. President: Your Numbers Are Fake," reads El Nuevo Dia's headline, referring to Trump's claim that the U.S. has allocated $92 billion for P.R.

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Convicted RFK assassin Sirhan Sirhan stabbed in California prison: reports

Sirhan Sirhan, the Palestinian refugee found guilty of shooting U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy to death in 1968, was wounded in a stabbing at a California prison on Friday, according to media reports. Celebrity website TMZ, citing unnamed sources, was first to report that Sirhan, 75, had been stabbed. Replying to a request for confirmation that Sirhan was wounded, Jeffrey Callison, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, said an inmate had been stabbed at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility near San Diego.

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Boston's Straight Pride Parade draws hundreds of marchers and even more counter protesters

After months of debate, a Straight Pride Parade took place place Saturday in Boston. They were outnumbered by counter protesters.

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One dead, nine wounded in French knife attack

A 19-year-old man was killed and another nine wounded, three seriously, on Saturday in a knife attack near the French city of Lyon, a regional official and emergency services said. Two men, one armed with a knife and the other with a skewer, carried out the attack in Villeurbanne, a Lyon suburb, in southeastern France, the official said, without giving further details on the motive for the stabbing.

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Hurricane Dorian track update: Storm strengthens to Cat 4 storm, may turn before FL landfall

Hurricane Dorian has gained fearsome new muscle as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm. Latest models show Dorian turning before landfall in Florida meaning possible impact near the NC coast later this week.

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Hurricane Dorian is churning towards Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina – Here is where and when it's due to strike

Hurricane Dorian's path is nearing Florida, where it is no longer projected to make landfall, but still cause 'devastating hurricane-force winds.'

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Kashmiris say Indian officers tortured them and shoved mud in their mouths so they couldn't scream. The army denies it ever happened.

A new BBC report details gruesome allegations from civilians living in Kashmiri villages known to be hubs of anti-India militant groups.

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Illinois governor pardons Army vet deported to Mexico

The governor of lllinois said Friday he's erased the drug conviction of an Army veteran who was deported to Mexico in 2018, a step that the man's supporters hope will help him return to the U.S. "I recognize this pardon is not a perfect solution, but it is the most just action to take to allow a U.S. veteran the opportunity to be treated fairly by the country he served," Gov. J.B. Pritzker said. Miguel Perez Jr., 41, who was born in Mexico, doesn't have U.S. citizenship but had a green card as a permanent U.S. resident.

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Hurricane Dorian path update shows storm track could turn, potentially impact Carolinas

Hurricane Dorian has gained fearsome new muscle as an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm. Latest models show Dorian turning before landfall in Florida meaning possible impact near the NC coast later this week.

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What If Obama Endorses Warren?

Barack Obama thinks about his brand and his legacy a lot, and he dreads what Joe Biden might do to it. This month alone, Biden mistook New Hampshire for Vermont even though the sole reason he was in that part of the country was the first-in-the-nation primary, which is famously not held in Vermont. He said RFK was assassinated in the 1970s. He said he couldn’t remember the name of the British prime minister in the midst of bragging about his foreign-policy chops. And he speculated about what it might have been like if Obama had been assassinated.This last, ghastly gaffe might be too much for Obama to take. Obama believes his brand is cool, technocratic, tightly controlled, a bit wonkish and professorial, inspirational, buttoned-down, Ivy League, definitely forward-looking. Biden is warm, free-wheeling, intellectually ungifted, frank and unguarded to the point of outright sloppiness, so old he served in the Senate alongside segregationist Democrats, and so out of touch he actually touts his friendship with these guys. Obama thought back in 2008 Biden was so old that he would never again run for president, his team strongly discouraged Biden from entering the race in the fall of 2015, and Biden’s jaw-dropping string of verbal blunders indicates a strong possibility of incipient cognitive decline.As Barack Obama surveys the Democratic contenders for 2020, he must be thinking: 1) None of these people has half my political skills but 2) Elizabeth Warren is my kind of gal. Warren is also cool, wonky, and professorial, also a Harvard product. Though she is 70, she looks younger and hasn’t displayed any signs of cognitive decline. Like Obama, she would be labeled a “historic” president. If she reached the Oval Office, he wouldn’t have to cringe every time she opened her mouth. He wouldn’t have to worry that her back-slapping tendencies would allow her to get rolled by Mitch McConnell. He trusts her so much that he let her guide one of his signature achievements, setting up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.One poll released in late August gave Warren a one-point lead over Biden. Two other polls released in the second half of August show her within three points of Biden. True, most others give him a double-digit lead, and some have her in third place, albeit narrowly, behind Bernie Sanders. Yet she’s close enough that Obama must be wondering if his endorsement could vault her into the lead position.What then? Like everyone else on earth, Obama notices that Biden looks like a much stronger candidate than Warren in a matchup against Trump. Warren might well be Hillary 2.0: She’s off-putting. She’s smug. She’s . . . a she. Polls show Democrats are extremely worried that the American people won’t accept  a woman president. The more she uses words like “My Daddy” and ostentatiously drinks beer, the less relatable she is. It’s hard to imagine the American people are thinking, “Yes, this is the voice I want to listen to every day for the next four years.”So there would be risk involved in backing Warren. But from Obama’s perspective, there’s also risk involved in Biden’s becoming president and embarrassing him every day. Maybe even, in his dotage, Biden might let what’s left of the Obama legacy slip away. If Obama thinks like most Democrats, he probably believes that nonsensical hullabaloo about email servers, not Hillary Clinton’s deficiencies as a candidate or sexism, was what cost her the presidency.Obama proved to be a failure at almost everything except getting Obama elected to office, but he is not a man notable for a modest view of his own skills. He must be thinking his star power could restore black turnout to levels approaching where it was when he was on the ballot. He must be thinking that with a push from him, and a little help from his turnout wizards, Elizabeth Warren could avoid Hillary Clinton’s errors and enter the White House.If Obama were to endorse Warren, the 2020 Democratic primaries would be upended, and Obama would be praised for lighting a path to a genuinely progressive presidency. And if Biden won the nomination anyway, no biggie: Obama could simply campaign for him in the general election and settle for a less-than-ideal Democratic presidency. I’m guessing Obama comes out strong for Warren.

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Statue resembling Trump erected in Melania's home country Slovenia

A large wooden sculpture that strongly resembles Donald Trump was erected this week in Slovenia, home country of Trump's wife Melania, though its designer insists it is meant to represent a "statue of liberty", not the U.S. president. Tom Schlegl's 8-metre (26 foot) statue in the village of Sela, north of the capital Ljubljana, depicts a man with blond hair and an angry expression, wearing a blue suit, white shirt and red tie. "I designed the statue because people have forgotten what the Statue of Liberty stands for.

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US police fire pepper spray after pro-Trump 'Straight Pride' parade

US police fired pepper spray Saturday after counter-demonstrators accused them of protecting "Straight Pride" advocates who support President Donald Trump, and refused to let officers re-open a road. The unrest came after the counter-protesters and "Straight Pride" group -- considered homophobic extremists by their opponents -- staged dueling rallies in Boston. Officers fired pepper spray and made several arrests.

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President says decision on whether to order evacuations in Florida will be made on Sunday

Donald Trump has said the decision on whether to evacuate residents of Florida to protect them from Hurricane Dorian, would be made on Sunday after meeting with officials.As he left the White House for the presidential retreat at Camp David in Maryland, he said members of the federal emergency management agency (FEMA) would be joining him to monitor events.

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Hong Kong activists freed on bail, protest march banned

Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and another core member of a pro-democracy group were granted bail after being charged with inciting people to join a protest in June, while authorities denied permission for a major march Saturday as they took what appears to be a harder line on this summer's protests. The organizers of the march on the fifth anniversary of a decision by China against allowing fully democratic elections for the leader of Hong Kong said they were calling it off after an appeals board denied permission. The police commander of Hong Kong island, Kwok Pak Chung, appealed to people to stay away from any unauthorized rallies, warning that those caught could face a five-year jail term.

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Iran goes further in breaching nuclear deal, IAEA report shows

Iran has gone further in breaching its nuclear deal with world powers, increasing its stock of enriched uranium and refining it to a greater purity than allowed, the U.N. atomic agency report said on Friday. The quarterly report from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is policing the 2015 deal, confirms Iran is progressively backing out of the deal in retaliation for Washington's withdrawal form the accord and renewal of sanctions that have hit Iranian oil sales. Iran has said it will breach the deal's limits on its nuclear activities one by one, ratcheting up pressure on parties who still hope to save it.

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2020 Vision: 'Gaffe machine' in high gear, Biden's campaign says it doesn't matter

A new poll shows Trump trailing the top Democratic contenders in a hypothetical 2020 general election match-up. The next step for Democrats is a strong debate performance on Sept. 12. Also crucial is a campaign’s follow-through.

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View Photos of the 2020 Ford Explorer ST

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Dorian is forecast to become a Category 3 'major' hurricane. What does this mean?

The latest forecast has Dorian strengthening into a major Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph by Sunday off the U.S. East Coast.

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We need Unions for All. It's a bold agenda for helping everyone get ahead in our economy.

We need serious plans to empower all workers to form unions, no matter what job they do. 'Unions for All' is our litmus test for 2020 candidates.

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Wreck of paddle steamer throws light on British support for Confederacy slave states during US Civil War

Britain has long been proud of its historically progressive attitude to slavery, frequently pointing to the fact that this country abolished the trade across its territories as early as 1833. But beneath the waters of Liverpool Bay lies something that should dent our complacency about this country’s role in the ending of human bondage. The wreck of the paddle steamer Leila, which sank on its maiden voyage in 1865, sheds new light on the actions of some British businessmen in supporting the southern slave states of the Confederacy during the US Civil War. Now the wreck - described by historians as “one of the most historically-significant in the north west” - is to be granted protected status on the advice of Historic England. The 19th century paddle steamer was on its maiden voyage from Liverpool to Bermuda loaded with guns and supplies for Confederate forces when it foundered on 14th January 1865 during stormy weather in Liverpool Bay, with the loss of 47 lives. The wreck on the Leila on the seabed in Liverpool Bay Credit: Historic England Leila was secretly built in Liverpool on behalf of the Confederate Government late in the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865 as a purpose-built vessel to run the blockade imposed on the southern states by the Union forces of Abraham Lincoln. She was technically advanced for her day and was designed to evade the northern Union ships enforcing the blockade. Duncan Wilson, Chief Executive of Historic England said: “The Lelia is one of a small group of British ships involved in British complicity in running guns and munitions to the Confederates. “Though the UK remained officially neutral throughout the American Civil War, the Leila comprises evidence of the British financing of blockade runners that sent munitions and luxuries to Confederate ports in return for cotton and tobacco. As such it is very significant as historical evidence.” Although the British Government’s position on the blockade was officially neutral, opinion in Britain over the issue of the Civil War was split. Many Lancashire cotton workers supported the blockade and the Union’s fight against the slave states, even though it resulted in a downturn in the weaving industry and severe hardship for their families. Such was their support for the abolitionist cause that a statue of Lincoln was erected in their honour in 1919, with a plaque reproducing his letter of 19th January 1863 to the Manchester cotton workers thanking them for their support. Statue of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln Square, Manchester, inscribed with his letter of thanks to the city's cotton weavers Credit: Phil Portus / Alamy Stock Photo But there were those in Britain willing to take advantage of the war and help supply the slave states with goods and materials. At the start of the Civil War, the Confederacy lacked the manufacturing capacity to compete with the more industrialised northern states and so relied on importing war supplies, including guns and ammunition, to sustain its war effort. It acquired fast steamships, mainly paddle steamers, from British and other shipbuilders, intended to breach the naval blockade of its main ports imposed by the Union in 1861 in an attempt to strangle the southern war effort.  They hoped a combination of speed and stealth would help them to break the blockade, enabling them to carry cotton and tobacco to Europe and war supplies back to the Confederacy. The Lelia was built in Millers shipyard in Toxteth, Liverpool, where shipbuilders had been experimenting with the early use of steel, which, being lighter than iron, allowed for larger cargo space and greater speed - perfect for blockade runners. The paddle steamer was only identified in 1997 after a bell marked ‘Lelia 1864’ was recovered from close to the wreck beneath Liverpool Bay by a local diver. An infra-red photograph of the wreck of the Leila Credit: Historic England The partially-buried remains of the Leila include one of the paddle wheels, the engine and boiler rooms, less well-preserved cargo areas and a steam winch.  The deck and all structures that were on it have not survived, but as much as 1.9m of its hull remains buried in the seabed, raising the prospect that its cargo of British-manufactured munitions and machinery may have been partially preserved . The Leila is one of three blockade busters to have been discovered in British waters. The other is the paddle steamer Iona II, which sank in 1864 in foggy conditions close to the Isle of Lundy in the Bristol Channel on her first trans-Atlantic voyage. The Iona II’s sister ship Iona I, also a paddle steamer believed to be involved in gun-running, was lost in 1862 in the inner Clyde Estuary, near Greenock, in Scotland. Rebecca Pow, Heritage Minister at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, said: “Protecting sites like the wreck of the Lelia helps us to preserve an important story about Britain’s role in the American Civil War.  “Although the conflict happened over a hundred years ago, it is right that we ensure the protection of this site so we can learn more about one of the most significant shipwrecks off the coast of North West England and broaden our knowledge about our nation's seafaring history." A print depicting the upsetting of the Liverpool lifeboat during its ill fated attempt to rescue the crew of the Leila Credit: Historic England

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October Democratic presidential primary debate to be held in Ohio, state party says

The debate could stretch into two nights if more candidates meet the polling and fundraising qualifications before Oct. 1.

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