The Latest: GOP stands by Kavanaugh, rips NY Times

The chairman of the Senate committee that hosted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings is ripping The New York Times for publishing "unsubstantiated" allegations. Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley on Monday said the paper's publication of a new, uninvestigated allegation of sexual misconduct against Kavanaugh is a "shameful" and "irresponsible" move that undermines the paper's credibility.

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

IS leader calls on fighters to free detained comrades

The leader of the Islamic State group released a new alleged audio recording Monday calling on members of the extremist group to do all they can to free IS detainees and women held in jails and camps. The purported audio by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in which he also said that his group is carrying out attacks in different countries, was his first public statement since April, when the shadowy leader appeared in a video for the first time in five years. With a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, al-Baghdadi is the world's most wanted man, responsible for steering his chillingly violent organization into mass slaughter of opponents and directing and inspiring terror attacks across continents and in the heart of Europe.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/34K0Ya9

Dad of Parkland shooting victim says taking guns away isn't the answer

The father of a Parkland shooting victim reacts to 2020 Democrat Beto O'Rourke's push for a mandatory gun buyback.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2Ia3Jbn

Afghan, U.S. forces kill Taliban governors, fighters

Afghan forces backed by U.S. forces killed two senior Taliban leaders and at least 38 fighters of the hardline insurgent group in joint air strikes conducted in northern and western regions of Afghanistan, officials said on Sunday. The operations, launched on Saturday night, were aimed at foiling attacks planned by the Taliban on Afghan forces, said a senior security official in capital Kabul, adding that clashes have escalated following the collapse of diplomatic talks between the U.S. and the Taliban. The defence ministry in a statement said that the Taliban's designate governor for northern Samangan province, Mawlavi Nooruddin, was killed along with four fighters in an air strike in Dara-e-Soof Payeen district.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/31AR0pu

Argentina's government reinforces security in Vaca Muerta shale oil zone

The Argentine government will step up security in the Vaca Muerta oil fields by placing the shale formation under the jurisdiction of the military police, the Ministry of Security said on Monday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2QuhA2T

Trump Goes to the Bullpen in Awarding His Latest Presidential Medal of Freedom

By BY MICHAEL CROWLEY AND TYLER KEPNER from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2IciVV8

‘Locked and Loaded,’ but for What?

By BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2Nk7bEh

Ask Your Questions About Inequality in California

By BY THE NEW YORK TIMES from NYT Reader Center https://ift.tt/2LTn4hX

New Kavanaugh allegation unlikely to prompt impeachment

As several Democratic presidential candidates called for the impeachment of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, newly disclosed allegations are reviving questions about the rush to confirm President Donald Trump's nominee at the height of the #MeToo movement. The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh last October after emotional, widely watched hearings over an allegation of a sexual assault from his high school years. The vote provided a signature achievement for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, fulfilling a long-held Republican desire to pack the Supreme Court and much of the federal judiciary with conservatives.

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

Snowden says he would return to US if he can get a fair trial

Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency contractor living in Russia after leaking information about the US government's mass surveillance program, has said he would like to return home if he can get a fair trial. Snowden, who faces espionage charges that could send him to prison for decades, stated his desire to return to the United States in an interview with "CBS This Morning" broadcast on Monday. "I would like to return to the United States," said Snowden, whose memoir, "Permanent Record," is to go on sale on Tuesday.

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

VIDEO: Would-be burglars kick in front door of Bay Area house, scared off by homeowner

Two masked-man kicked in the front door of a Pleasanton home in an attempted home-invasion -- and it was all caught on surveillance video.

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

New tropical system likely to join Humberto in Atlantic

Forecasters continued to closely monitor a tropical disturbance over the open Atlantic Monday. The system, dubbed 97L, first caught the eye of meteorologists late last week and they caution that further development is expected. AccuWeather Hurricane Expert Dan Kottlowski said the system bears watching for progression to a tropical depression and perhaps even the ninth named storm of the Atlantic season."We expect this feature to become a tropical depression and [it] may go on to become Tropical Storm Imelda later this week," according to Kottlowski."The evolving tropical feature is projected to pass just east and north of the Leeward Islands on Friday," he added.As of 2 p.m. EDT Monday, the National Hurricane Center said the system was located about 1,200 miles east of the Lesser Antilles and has about a 90% chance of development over the next five days. This image, taken during Monday midday, Sept. 16, 2019, shows part of the tropical Atlantic Basin. Africa can be seen to the right and South America is visible to the lower left. The feature of interest is a patch of clouds in the middle and slightly closer to South America than Africa. (NOAA/GOES-East) "Early indications suggest this feature will track east of the United States mainland, but it is way too early to say with confidence as to exactly where it will track beyond Friday," Kottlowski said. Interests over the Leeward Islands should monitor the progress of this feature for an uptick in showers and thunderstorms late this week.As the track is uncertain, other areas of the Caribbean and Bahamas should watch this system as it evolves.Meanwhile, a tropical wave will cause some showers and thunderstorms over the Leeward and Windward islands into Tuesday.Hurricane Humberto is forecast to pass close to Bermuda during the middle of this week as a Category 2 or Category 3 hurricane.Swells propagating southward from this distant hurricane can reach unprotected northern shores of the northern Caribbean islands in the form of large waves and strong rip currents this week.

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

Hong Kong sees biggest protests since controversial bill dropped as demonstrators find their anthem

After three months of chaos in Hong Kong, tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets with a new “protest anthem” on Sunday, despite the formal withdrawal of a controversial extradition bill. Protesters gathered outside a department store in the afternoon for a pro-democracy rally took place, despite being banned by police. Some protesters threw bricks at police outside the Chinese People's Liberation Army base in the city's Admiralty district, and tore down and set fire to a red banner proclaiming the 70th anniversary on Oct 1 of the founding of the People's Republic of China, in a direct challenge to Beijing.  The illegal march marks the biggest protest since the withdrawal of the bill, which would have allowed the extradition of fugitives to mainland China.  However, protesters are urging the government to instate direct elections and an independent commission into police brutality. They are also calling for unconditional release of those detained, and an end to the authorities describing the protests as riots. Armed Riot police officers on patrol during an anti-government rally  Credit: JEROME FAVRE/EPA-EFE/REX “We are not even talking about being independent, as long as the government meets our demands, we will go home,” said James Wong, 25. “I guess this is not happening now because of the political circumstances. But I will continue to protest because this is our society, our generation. If we don’t speak out, we could be the next Xinjiang, we have to stay strong.” Protesters repeatedly sang Glory to Hong Kong, a song that has gained traction over the last few days and been dubbed the “unofficial national anthem”. The song, reportedly recently composed by a musician in his mid-20s and set to an orchestral backing, has been widely spread on social media.  Protesters sang in Cantonese: “Our flesh, our blood shall write this song. Free this land, stand with Hong Kong.” Police spray anti-government protesters with coloured water Credit: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha Mostly in black t-shirts, protesters held signs saying: “I thought freedom was a basic human right” and “Guard our future”.  Riot police fired rounds of tear gas, and hundreds of protesters surrounded the Legislative Council building showed no signs of leaving, throwing bricks and petrol bombs towards the government offices. Police later deployed water cannon with blue and white dye, protesters and reporters changed clothes and washed off the dye on nearby overpass, and bystanders received first aid treatment with saline solution after rounds of tear gas. Since the protests kicked off, police have arrested more than 1300 protesters, aged between 12 and 76. “Hong Kong people have been living under white terror for three months, we are used to it,” said Anthony Chau, 22. “We won’t give up and I will continue to attend protests.”

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ZZzb76

Greta Thunberg Is the Climate Heroine We Need

Lionel Bonaventure/GettyThis story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 220 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. ROME–When Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg was 11 years old, her body had started to shut down due to severe self-starvation tied to debilitating depression. She spoke to almost no one but her immediate family. She was afraid of crowds. She was lost in her own world, and the world very nearly lost her.But thanks to the formal diagnosis of Asperger’s syndrome coupled with high-functioning autism and obsessive compulsive disorder, the now-16-year-old Swede has become quite literally the poster child for the generation that will have to deal with the destruction of our planet. Once she started receiving multifaceted treatment, Thunberg was able to channel her anxiety into something we should all be concerned about: the health of the planet and the science behind apocalyptic warnings of its demise. In October 2018, Thunberg started having anxiety-ridden 3 a.m. nightmares, but unlike before, they were not about her. The recurring nightmares were about the impact of global warming on the planet, according to the book, Scenes From the Heart, she wrote with her parents and sister Beata, who also suffers from many of the same emotional conditions. This time, instead of holing up in her bedroom as she did before treatment, she decided that her anxiety about the climate needed to become everyone else's, too. One of the aspects of her complicated diagnosis is obsession. Her family says she just wouldn't let the idea go that the planet was burning up and there was ample science to prove it. She did not understand why no one was doing anything. She could not comprehend why adults and policy makers were ignoring the issue. She started skipping school on Fridays to protest, all alone, on the steps of the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm where she grew up. Slowly–and in some ways inexplicably—the protests, which were dubbed Fridays for Future, caught on and soon she was joined by tens, then scores, then hundreds of Swedish children demanding that adults start paying attention to science when it comes to climate change. Soon, the girl who once would not leave her bedroom was traveling across Europe to draw her peers out of the classrooms and onto the streets for the sake of the environment. Since she began not even a year ago, the protests have been held in 100 cities by teen activists. Her intensity has become her secret weapon and her now-famous speeches at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, in front of the British Parliament and at the United Nations’ COP24 Climate Talks, landed her a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. “You have ignored us in the past, and you will ignore us again,” she told the World Economic Forum in Davos. “You say you love your children above all else, and yet you are stealing their future in front of their very eyes.”“Those who will be affected the hardest are already suffering the consequences,” she scolded the British Parliament. “But their voices are not heard. Is my microphone on? Can you hear me?”When she was invited to speak at the United Nations Climate Action Summit in New York to be held later this month, she was faced with a dilemma. Would she look like a hypocrite hopping on a jet, leaving the very carbon footprint she had won such acclaim railing against? Instead, she took a state-of-the art carbon-zero yacht called the Malizia II, and made the journey by sea. The Malizia II is owned by German property developer Gerhard Senft. It was built as a high-tech racing craft that was designed to collect data for scientists studying rates of ocean acidification from carbon emissions. Senft offered use of the boat and crew when he heard Thunberg wanted to sail across the Atlantic to address the climate summit. In the 14 days at sea, some of them in inclement weather, the crew didn't turn on the motor once. The Malizia II crew was led by Pierre Casiraghi, who happens to be the grandson of Monaco’s Prince Rainier III and actress Grace Kelly. The yacht is kitted out with solar panels and hydro generators, meaning it is completely emission-free. But its spare design doesn't have a functioning toilet, shower or other amenities.Not everyone wants to hear Thunberg’s message and there is a growing chorus of people who say she and her obsessive condition are being exploited for political purposes. Thunberg has been the object of cruel attacks from climate change deniers who have used her medical conditions against her. Arron Banks, a prominent British businessman who bankrolled the drive for Brexit, tweeted, “Freak yachting accidents do happen in August.” He later said the tweet was a joke, but he has not removed it from his feed. Far-right groups across Europe have chided her and her message, referring to the "apocalyptic dread in her eyes” and saying many other things far too cruel to repeat. There is an argument to be made that climate deniers tend to be men and climate activists, with the exception of Al Gore, tend to be women, sparking debate whether there is a misogynistic element to the debate. A 2016 study in the Journal of Consumer Research,“Is Eco-Friendly Unmanly? The Green-Feminine Stereotype and Its Effect on Sustainable Consumption,” backs up the theory. “Men may shun eco-friendly behavior because of what it conveys about their masculinity,” the authors write. “It’s not that men don’t care about the environment. But they also tend to want to feel macho, and they worry that eco-friendly behaviors might brand them as feminine.”Thunberg’s most vocal critics, it has to be said, are all men, but many of them actually go beyond misogyny and come very close to shaming her for her Asperger’s.Steve Milloy, a former Trump staffer and full-time Thunberg obsessive, regularly tweets about the “climate puppet.” He claims that the “the world laughs at this Greta charade,” often posting pictures of the teenager in awkward poses. Her response has always been swift to her 1.4 million Twitter followers and 3.1 million followers on Instagram. “I am indeed ‘deeply disturbed’ about the fact that these hate and conspiracy campaigns are allowed to go on and on and on just because we children communicate and act on the science,” she tweeted in August. “Where are the adults?”Thunberg chronicled her journey to America by sea on her social media, but after each post is a usual barrage of hate, insults and cruelty of the kind you might expect on a playground. She reads them all, often commenting, but most often questioning why people just don't want to see the truth. When she neared Manhattan in late August after two weeks on the high seas, she was escorted into the harbor by a fleet of 17 boats representing the U.N.’s sustainability development goals and hordes of teens who stood in the rain at 3 a.m. to cheer her to shore. Many will attend the Fridays for Future protest in New York City on September 20. Others just wanted to get a glimpse of their unlikely heroine. But one person she won’t see when she is in the U.S. is President Donald Trump. She has not been invited to meet him, but if she is, she told her supporters that she would decline because she has “nothing to say” to those who don’t believe the science. “I usually ignore them,” she said when asked recently what she would tell a climate change denier like Trump. “I have nothing to say to them and they have nothing to say to me.”She added that, indeed, if she did meet the president or someone “like him” she would keep going back to the science. “Many people think climate change is an opinion,” she said. “But it's not an opinion, it's a fact.”On September 23, Thunberg will address the U.N. Climate Change Summit, quoting from her recent book No One Is Too Small to Make a Difference. She has held weekly Fridays for Future protests since her arrival in late August, inspiring hundreds of American teens to protest for policy changes. She has also inspired many of her peers to ignore the naysayers.  “When haters go after your looks and differences, it means they have nowhere left to go,” she tweeted a few hours after she docked in New York. “And then you know you’re winning! I have Aspergers and that means I’m sometimes a bit different from the norm. And - given the right circumstances- being different is a superpower.” Indeed, in the case of this young Swedish climate-busting hero, it most certainly is. 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.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/303gj6U

Astronomers Observe the Most Massive Neutron Star Ever

It's 15 miles across with a mass of more than twice the sun.

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

Yes, Iran Was Behind the Saudi Oil Attack. Now What?

(Bloomberg Opinion) -- Following the Houthi attack on Saturday on Saudi Aramco’s crude-oil processing facility, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made an obvious and necessary point: Blame Iran.It is obvious because the Houthi rebels in Yemen lack the drones, missiles or expertise to attack infrastructure inside Saudi Arabia. In 2018, a United Nations panel of experts on Yemen examined the debris of missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen into Saudi Arabia and concluded there was high probability the weapons were shipped in components from Iran. As one Hezbollah commander told two George Washington University analysts in 2016: “Who do you think fires Tochka missiles into Saudi Arabia? It’s not the Houthis in their sandals, it’s us.” Hezbollah, of course, is a subsidiary of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.Pompeo’s response is necessary because, historically, Iran pretends to seek peace as it makes war. This is why it sent Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to France last month to plead with the world’s great economic powers as it escalated its proxy war against Saudi Arabia. Iranian diplomacy depends on its adversaries treating the aggression of its proxies as distinct from its statecraft.What is surprising is that Pompeo’s remarks have already drawn fire from leading Democrats. Even Senator Chris Murphy’s more nuanced view (or at least as much nuance as is possible in a tweet) gets the big picture wrong — and it’s worth dwelling on why.Murphy starts by lamenting the secretary’s “irresponsible simplification” of “Houthis=Iran.” He is smart enough to acknowledge that Iran “is backing the Houthis and has been a bad actor.” He then strikes a note of naivete. “The Saudis and Houthis are at war,” he tweeted. “The Saudis attack the Houthis and the Houthis attack back.”This kind of neutralism is regrettable for a few reasons. To start, the sheer scale and devastation of Saturday’s attack (the Saudis estimate that half of their oil production has been taken out) counts as an escalation. The effects are not limited to Yemen or the Persian Gulf. The world economy will suffer.And while Murphy is correct to criticize Saudi brutality, as he has in the past, the two sides in this regional conflict are not equivalent. Iran is a revisionist power, challenging the status quo throughout the Levant and the Gulf. The U.S. and its allies are trying to keep Iran in check. The U.S. has tried to pressure Saudi Arabia to de-escalate, whereas Iran is pushing the Houthis to dig in.Fortunately, Murphy and other Democrats will not decide how to respond to this latest aggression. This decision falls to President Donald Trump. And now is a good time to re-evaluate his recent push to negotiate with Iran. The president could start by reaffirming Pompeo’s 12 conditions for sanctions relief for Iran. Last month, Trump pared them down to three, narrowly related to its nuclear program. Indeed, the Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia shows just how important it is that any future deal commit the Iranian regime to ending its adventures in the Middle East.Trump also now needs to reconsider military options to deter future escalations. As I have reported, U.S. intelligence agencies have mapped the precise locations of Iranian bases and commanders in Yemen and the Middle East. If Trump wants to respond militarily without attacking Iranian territory, he has many targets outside the country.If Trump continues to pursue negotiations with Iran’s regime, he will be inviting more attacks on America’s allies. This is exactly the strategy — and the consequences — followed and paid by his predecessor, Barack Obama, in his second term. During and after the negotiations for the nuclear deal, Iran armed and trained its proxies in Syria and later in Yemen. The Middle East is now paying for these mistakes. Trump would be a fool to repeat them.To contact the author of this story: Eli Lake at elake1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Newman at mnewman43@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.Eli Lake is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering national security and foreign policy. He was the senior national security correspondent for the Daily Beast and covered national security and intelligence for the Washington Times, the New York Sun and UPI.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2O4nc0S

Iran seizes vessel in Gulf for allegedly smuggling diesel fuel: ISNA

Iran's Revolutionary Guards have seized a vessel in the Gulf for allegedly smuggling 250,000 litres of diesel fuel to the United Arab Emirates, Iran's semi-official Students News agency ISNA reported on Monday. "It was detained near Iran's Greater Tunb island in the Persian Gulf...the crew have been handed over to legal authorities in the southern Hormozgan province," ISNA said, without elaborating on the nationalities of the crewmen.

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

They were once the face of the anti-Trump resistance, but now 3 original Women’s March co-chairs are out after accusations of anti-Semitism

Women's March leaders Linda Sarsour, Tamika Mallory, and Bob Bland are officially out of the organization, following numerous controversies.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2LTYg9p

Conservative group known for hardball tactics leads charge in Kavanaugh defense

A conservative group that has aided the confirmation of President Trump’s judicial nominees is now leading the GOP's charge against the most recent allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2O09En0

Tom Homan rips Democratic efforts to abolish ICE

Former Acting Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Tom Homan joins Mark Levin to discuss Democratic lawmakers' opposition to border enforcement.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2LwuLf2

Middle East Mystery Theater: Who Attacked Saudi Arabia's Oil Supply?

The United States doesn't know how to respond to the attack on its ally's oil plant—or who to hold responsible for it.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2O4wbz1

Venezuela’s Maduro Trains Sights on Opposition’s Last Bastion: Congress

By BY ANATOLY KURMANAEV AND ANA VANESSA HERRERO from NYT World https://ift.tt/2UYefrn