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5 top EU economies warn US about tax plans
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BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union’s top five economies are warning the United States that its massive tax overhaul could contravene some of its international obligations and risks “having a major distortive impact on international trade.”
In a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, the finance ministers of Germany, France, Britain, Italy and Spain wrote they had “significant concerns” about three tax initiatives in particular, including the so-called base erosion and anti-abuse tax Senate bill.
In a letter seen by The Associated Press, the five wrote that “it is important that the U.S. government’s rights over domestic tax policy be exercised in a way that adheres with international obligations to which it has signed-up.”
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-11 09:47:35
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/5-top-eu-economies-warn-us-about-tax-plans/
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Bears tight end Zach Miller counts blessings after injury
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LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — After eight surgeries and nearly losing his left leg, Chicago Bears tight end Zach Miller still refuses to rule out a return to the football field.
In his first visit to Halas Hall since his Oct. 29 injury, Miller on Monday expressed thanks for the support he received from the Bears, teammates and fans after vascular surgery to repair a torn artery resulting from a knee injury.
“I’ve been a football player my whole life,” Miller said. “I would love to play football. We’ll cross that road when it’s time.”
Miller said the possibility of losing his left leg was very real in the hours after the injury against the Saints.
He has been through all those surgeries, some related to the dislocated knee and some to the artery. It’s possible he may require more operations.
___
For more NFL coverage: www.pro32.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-11 15:29:28
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/bears-tight-end-zach-miller-counts-blessings-after-injury/
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10 Things to Know for Tuesday
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Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Tuesday:
1. PIPE BOMB EXPLODES IN NYC SUBWAY
The only serious wounds from the blast during the morning rush hour are to the suspected bomber himself, who authorities say was inspired by Islamic State extremists.
2. WHAT FINAL PITCH ROY MOORE IS MAKING TO VOTERS
On the eve of the Senate election, the Alabama Republican casts himself as the victim of a national barrage of unjust allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers.
3. #METOO SPOTLIGHT TURNS TO TRUMP
Several women urge Congress to investigate their claims of sexual misconduct against the president, and a number of Democratic lawmakers demand his resignation.
4. HOW PUTIN IS CELEBRATING MOSCOW’S DEEPENING MIDEAST TIES
The Russian president declares “victory” in Syria during a surprise visit to a military base there, then travels to Egypt and Turkey, highlighting his country’s expanded reach.
5. WIND-FANNED WILDFIRE FLARES ANEW
Ash falls like snow and heavy smoke forces residents to gasp for air as a Southern California wildfire spreads alarmingly, becoming the fifth largest in state history
6. WHICH RESEARCHERS HAVE HIT THE JACKPOT
Eighteen climate scientists from the U.S. and elsewhere are awarded millions of euros in grants to relocate to France for the rest of Trump’s presidential term.
7. PENTAGON OPENS DOOR TO TRANSGENDER RECRUITS
Transgender individuals will be allowed to enlist in the military beginning Jan. 1, after Trump’s ordered ban suffers another legal setback.
8. WORLDWIDE, AN ECONOMIC UPTURN
The U.N. says the global economy is growing by about 3 percent — its highest rate since 2011 — and a significant acceleration from last year.
9. CELEBRITY CHEF STEPS AWAY FROM RESTAURANT EMPIRE
The move comes after Mario Batali says that reports of sexual misconduct “match up” to his behavior.
10. STAR QB SUFFERS SEASON-ENDING INJURY
The Eagles’ Carson Wentz, a favorite in the NFL MVP race, has a torn left ACL and will miss the rest of the season and the playoffs.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-11 19:08:42
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/10-things-to-know-for-tuesday/
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Eurozone industry shows signs of slowing amid euro's rise
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BRUSSELS (AP) — Official figures show that industrial output across the 19 countries that make up the eurozone fell in June, a development that will likely reinforce concerns about the export-sapping impact of the rising euro.
Eurostat said Monday that output declined by 0.6 percent during the month, giving up half the previous month’s gain.
The fall, the first since February, was in line with predictions in financial markets, with many economists warning about the implications of the euro’s 10 percent rise against the dollar this year on the back of strong eurozone economic data and uncertainty over the economic program of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Despite the June fall, industrial production was still a healthy 2.6 percent higher compared with a year earlier, though down on May’s 3.9 percent annual rate.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 04:00:55
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/eurozone-industry-shows-signs-of-slowing-amid-euros-rise/
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Lands stripped from Utah monuments open to claims, leases
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The window opened Friday for oil, gas, uranium and coal companies to make requests or stake claims to lands that were cut from two sprawling Utah national monuments by President Trump in December —but there doesn’t appear to be a rush to seize the opportunities.
For anyone interested in the uranium on the lands stripped from the Bears Ears National Monument, all they need to do is stake a few corner posts in the ground, pay a $212 initial fee and send paperwork to the federal government under a law first created in 1872 that harkens back to the days of the Wild West.
They can then keep rights to the hard minerals, including gold and silver, as long as they pay an annual fee of $155.
It was unclear if anyone was doing that Friday.
The Bureau of Land Management declined repeated requests for information about how they’re handling the lands and how many requests and claims came in.
The agency says it must comply with a complex web of other laws and management plans.
Steve Bloch, legal director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, said he was told by the BLM Friday afternoon that inquiries were made but no claims sent in.
He said other conservation groups that have sued to block the downsized monument boundaries are watching closely to ensure no lands are disturbed in the short-term, hoping a judge will side with them and return the monuments to the original boundaries.
Two of the largest uranium companies in the U.S. — Ur-Energy Inc. and Energy Fuels Resources Inc. — said they have no plans to mine there. The price of uranium, which has fallen to about $22 per pound — down from more than $100 in the mid-2000s — would “discourage any investment in new claims,” said Luke Popovich, a spokesman for the National Mining Association.
Colorado-based Energy Fuels asked for a reduction of Bears Ears last year in a public comment, but spokesman Curtis Moore said in a statement that the company has higher priorities elsewhere. He noted the lands were open to claims for 150 years prior to President Barack Obama creating the national monument in 2016.
“There probably isn’t any land available for staking that would be of much interest to anyone,” Moore said.
In Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument — part of a major coal reserve that a company was preparing to mine before President Bill Clinton protected the lands in 1996 — has been made available again but it appears unlikely any company will immediately jump at the chance this time.
Out-of-state demand for Utah’s coal had led to a drop in coal production to about 14 million tons in 2017, down from about 27 million tons in the mid-2000s, said Michael Vanden Berg, energy and mineral program manager at the Utah Geological Survey.
“If a new mine were to open, it would be competing with existing mines in Utah for limited demand,” Vanden Berg said.
Popovich called it “doubtful given market conditions and other factors” that companies interested in coal would put in a lease request.
Vanden Berg noted that a potential coal port in Oakland, California, could open up an Asian market and that technology could be developed to change market forces.
There’s some potential for oil and gas at Grand Staircase, Vanden Berg said. But Kathleen Sgamma, president of an oil and gas industry group called Western Energy Alliance, said heavy oil shale in the area would require an intensive mining operation that doesn’t make sense in today’s market.
“There’s no fracking trucks at the border waiting to rush in,” Sgamma said.
President Trump downsized the Bears Ears National Monument by about 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly half. It earned him cheers from Republican leaders in Utah who lobbied him to undo protections by Democratic presidents that they considered overly broad.
Bears Ears, created nearly a year ago, will be reduced to 315 square miles (815.85 sq. kilometers). Grand Staircase-Escalante will be reduced from nearly 3,000 square miles (7770 sq. kilometers) to 1,569 square miles (4063.71 sq. kilometers).
Conservation groups called it the largest elimination of protected land in American history.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-02-02 21:38:01
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/02/02/lands-stripped-from-utah-monuments-open-to-claims-leases/
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Political feud erupts between Australia and New Zealand
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Like squabbling siblings, New Zealand and Australia have close ties but also a rivalry that can sometimes turn ugly.
That tension spilled into politics on Tuesday, when Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop accused New Zealand’s opposition Labour Party of conspiring to undermine her government, a claim New Zealand lawmakers said was “false” and “utter nonsense.”
The unlikely dispute involved Barnaby Joyce, Australia’s deputy prime minister. Joyce said Monday he’d been advised he was a New Zealand citizen and an Australian court was being asked to determine if he should be kicked out of parliament because Australia’s constitution bans lawmakers from being dual citizens.
If Joyce was disqualified, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s center-right government could lose its single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, where parties need a majority to govern.
But Joyce told Australia’s parliament on Tuesday that New Zealand had just told him verbally that his citizenship had been renounced after he requested as much over the weekend, and he was now awaiting written confirmation. Renunciation won’t affect the court decision since the case rests on his eligibility to run in the last election.
Bishop said Australia’s opposition Labor Party had used their New Zealand counterparts to raise questions about Joyce in the New Zealand parliament.
“This is highly unethical at least, but more importantly it puts at risk the relationship between the Australian government and the New Zealand government,” Bishop told reporters in Canberra.
“New Zealand is facing an election,” she said. “Should there be a change of government, I would find it very hard to build trust with those involved in allegations designed to undermine the government of Australia.”
New Zealand’s election is next month.
New Zealand Labour Party Leader Jacinda Ardern said the claims were false and “highly regrettable.” She said she’d contacted the Australian High Commission to register her disappointment and would be meeting with the commissioner in person.
Bishop was referring to two questions lodged in the New Zealand parliament by Labour lawmaker Chris Hipkins, who asked whether children born in Australia to a New Zealand father automatically had New Zealand citizenship.
Ardern said she had no knowledge of the questions lodged by Hipkins and knew nothing about the Joyce case until it broke in the media this week.
She told Radio New Zealand that somebody connected with the Australian Labor Party had put the questions to Hipkins without mentioning Joyce, and that Hipkins wouldn’t have asked them if he knew how they were going to be used. She called the questions inappropriate.
“I greatly value New Zealand’s relationship with the Australian government,” she said in a statement. “I will not let false claims stand in the way of that relationship. I would happily take a call from Julie Bishop to clarify matters.”
New Zealand’s Internal Affairs Minister Peter Dunne said Hipkins had not started the row.
“This is so much utter nonsense — while Hipkins’ questions were inappropriate, they were not the instigator,” Dunne tweeted. “Australian media inquiries were.”
Joyce is perhaps best known abroad for the tough stance he took on Johnny Depp’s pet dogs Pistol and Boo. Joyce threatened to have the Yorkshire terriers euthanized after saying they were smuggled into Australia in 2014 where Depp was filming the fifth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie series.
Depp’s then-wife Amber Heard pleaded guilty to falsifying an immigration document to conceal the dogs in a private jet. She avoided jail under a deal that included Heard and Depp appearing in an awkward video warning against others breaking Australia’s strict quarantine laws.
The Australian and New Zealand opposition parties are kindred center-left parties, although the Australian party uses the American spelling for its name.
____
McGuirk contributed from Canberra, Australia.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-15 01:05:42
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/15/political-feud-erupts-between-australia-and-new-zealand/
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Dennis Edwards, Temptations singer for 2 decades, dies at 74
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DETROIT (AP) — Dennis Edwards, a former member of the famed Motown group The Temptations, has died. He was 74.
Rosiland Triche Roberts, his longtime booking agent, says Edwards died Thursday in Chicago after a long illness.
The Birmingham, Alabama-born Edwards replaced founding member David Ruffin in 1968. His soulful, passionate voice defined the group for years. He was a member on and off for about two decades and part of the lineup that released “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone,” ”Ball of Confusion (That’s What The World Is Today)” and “Cloud Nine.”
Paul Riser, a Motown arranger and musician, worked with Edwards during the label’s Detroit heyday and subsequent projects. He says Edwards possessed a “voice for the ages,” with a great range, energy and artistry.
Edwards would have turned 75 on Saturday.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-02-03 09:33:41
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/02/03/dennis-edwards-temptations-singer-for-2-decades-dies-at-74/
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In tax push, Trump's team uses a dubious growth estimate
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Treasury Department just gave Republicans ammunition that their tax cuts would pay for themselves.
But the one-page memo relies on a mathematical gimmick: It includes an assumption that tax cuts and other Trump administration policies would cause the economy to expand at a 2.9 percent annual pace over 10 years. Economic growth at that level would, in theory, be enough to keep the national debt from rising.
But most analyses have concluded that the Senate tax overhaul would add at least $1 trillion to budget deficits in the next decade because the analyses foresee significantly less growth resulting from the tax cuts.
The Treasury Department report enables President Donald Trump to claim that the Senate tax overhaul would pay for itself, even though outside analyses show otherwise.
When the same report tries to estimate how much growth the tax cuts would actually produce, it also finds that the national debt would likely increase by at least $1 trillion during the next decade.
Many economists and tax experts were quick to dismiss the Treasury memo.
“It’s a joke,” David Kamin, a law professor at New York University and former economic policy aide in the Obama White House, said on Twitter.
Sen. Ron Wyden, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, said, “It’s no more than a thinly veiled attempt by the Trump administration to cover up an economic agenda that showers corporations with goodies while taking money and health care away from those who need it most.”
Most economic analyses — including one by Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation — assume that the tax cuts would cause the debt to rise significantly because the cuts would fail to deliver significantly faster growth.
An analysis of the Senate plan released Monday by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that even after factoring in additional economic growth, deficits would rise by $1.5 trillion over the next 10 years when including the additional interest costs.
A separate analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model found a similarly sized increase in budget deficits.
None of the top academic economists surveyed by the University of Chicago said the tax cuts would likely generate enough growth to pay for themselves.
The Treasury Department report, though, might provide a tool for Republican lawmakers to sell to a skeptical public tax cuts that largely help corporations and the wealthy. Both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan have said that the tax cuts wouldn’t add to budget deficits.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-11 11:27:59
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/in-tax-push-trumps-team-uses-a-dubious-growth-estimate/
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Bagley chooses Duke, could make Blue Devils preseason No. 1
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Top high school prospect Marvin Bagley III has committed to Duke and reclassified for the 2017-18 season, immediately making the Blue Devils a top national-title contender.
Bagley made his announcement on ESPN’s SportsCenter on Monday night.
The 6-foot-11 Bagley is widely considered the top recruit of the 2018 recruiting class, but last month petitioned the NCAA to reclassify and become college eligible for the upcoming season.
Bagley went on campus visits in July to Duke and USC, with UCLA also expected to be in the mix.
Bagley started his high school career at Tempe Corona del Sol High School and ended up at Southern California’s Chatsworth Sierra Canyon High School.
He will likely be in the mix to be the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft whenever he decides to leave college.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 22:42:10
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/bagley-chooses-duke-could-make-blue-devils-preseason-no-1/
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Charles Manson's remains cremated following court battle
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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Charles Manson’s cremated remains have been scattered nearly four months after the cult leader died in prison. A funeral was held Saturday following a court battle for the 83-year-old’s remains.
Pastor Mark Pitcher of the Church of the Nazarene in Porterville, California, says 20 to 25 people attended the funeral.
Among them were Manson’s grandson, Jason Freeman, and Freeman’s wife, Audrey.
Freeman prevailed last week in a months-long court fight for custody of Manson’s remains.
His grandfather was cremated after the service and his ashes scattered.
Pitcher said Monday he agreed to lead the service because Freeman and his wife are Christians.
Manson was sentenced to life in prison for orchestrating the 1969 murders of actress Sharon Tate and eight others.
He died in November.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-03-19 16:12:13
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/19/charles-mansons-remains-cremated-following-court-battle/
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Lawyer: Kim murder suspect thought smearing face was prank
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SHAH ALAM, Malaysia (AP) — A lawyer says the Vietnamese woman accused of killing the North Korean leader’s half brother told police she realized she had been used to murder him after she was detained.
Doan Thi Huong and co-defendant Siti Aisyah from Indonesia were charged with murder after Kim Jong Nam died at Kuala Lumpur’s airport last year. They could face the death penalty if convicted, but not if they lacked intent to kill.
The court heard Tuesday that Huong thought she was playing a harmless prank for a hidden camera show.
Lawyer Hisyam Teh Poh Teik said Huong told police she didn’t know the oily liquid given to her by a Korean man was VX nerve agent and she washed her hands after smearing Kim’s face because the substance was smelly and uncomfortable.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-03-20 01:12:01
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/20/lawyer-kim-murder-suspect-thought-smearing-face-was-prank/
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Turkish police arrest suspected killer of Syrian journalists
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ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s state news agency says that Turkish authorities have arrested and charged a suspected Islamic State group member with killing two Syrian journalists in Turkey in 2015.
Anadolu Agency said Monday that a Turkish court charged Muaz El Ahsin with murder for allegedly slitting the throats of Ibrahim Abdul-Qadir and Fares Hamadi. Both were journalists for the “Raqqa is being slaughtered silently” collective, a group publicizing atrocities in the Syrian city under IS rule.
Police detained Ahsin on Aug. 11 while he was trying to cross into Turkey illegally, according to Anadolu. A court later ordered him officially arrested on murder charges.
Anadolu said that Ahsin fled to Syria after the killings on Oct. 29, 2015. Anadolu said that police were still searching for other suspects.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 09:08:10
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/turkish-police-arrest-suspected-killer-of-syrian-journalists/
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7 Kenya medics union officials freed; strike continues
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NAIROBI,Kenya (AP) — A Kenyan court on Wednesday released seven doctors who are officials in the medics’ union and who were jailed earlier this week for not calling off a strike by doctors working in public hospitals and other institutions.
About 1,000 doctors outside the court celebrated the officials’ release and held a peaceful march to Parliament and Nairobi’s Freedom Park. More than 5,000 doctors from public hospitals are on strike for a 180 percent pay raise and to protest Kenya’s dilapidated health care system.
At least a dozen people have died due to lack of medical care since the strike started early December over the government’s fail to implement a collective bargaining agreement it agreed upon in 2013.
The decision to free the seven was made by three judges of the appellate court. Health minister Dr. Cleopa Mailu told the Senate committee for health that he supported their release to encourage negotiations to end the strike.
Pressure had been mounting on government after the seven doctors were jailed Monday. A peaceful vigil by their colleagues was dispersed by paramilitary police. Doctors from private hospitals protested the imprisonment of the seven by calling a 48-hour strike that started Wednesday and has paralyzed Kenya’s health care. The Kenya Medical Association de-registered the health minister and the principal secretary in the health ministry for a year for “disgracing the organization.”
In addition to the pay increase, doctors say they want government to restore the dilapidated public health facilities, ensure continuous training of and hiring of doctors to address a huge shortage of doctors. Currently doctors, who train for six years in university, earn a basic salary $400-$850 similar to some policemen who it takes six months to train.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-02-15 06:49:41
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http://newcountry923.fm/2017/02/15/7-kenya-medics-union-officials-freed-strike-continues/
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Asia shares rebound as North Korea related selling abates
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TOKYO (AP) — Shares rebounded in Asia on Monday after last week’s jitters over tensions between the U.S. and North Korea. Japan’s Nikkei 225 benchmark fell, though, as the yen stayed firm against the dollar.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index sank 1.0 percent to 19,537.10 on selling of shares in export manufacturers whose profits would be hurt by a stronger yen. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1.2 percent to 27,197.80 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 surged 0.7 percent to 5,789.33. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.6 percent to 2,333.80 and the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.9 percent to 3,235.70. Shares in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.
ANALYST’S TAKE: “Asian markets are poised to retrace some of last week’s losses at the start of the week with jitters within equity markets appearing to have declined over the weekend. Early movers in the region including the South Korean and Taiwan markets had both opened with moderate gains,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a commentary.
JAPAN GROWTH STORY: Japan’s economy grew at a hearty 4.0 percent annual pace in the April-June quarter, helped by stronger consumer spending and corporate capital investment. The numbers, the fastest quarterly expansion in over two years, were better than forecast and represented the sixth straight quarter of growth. The economy expanded at a revised 1.5 percent annual pace in January-March.
NORTH KOREA: Senior U.S. national security officials said Sunday that a military confrontation with North Korea’s is not imminent, but they cautioned that the possibility of war is greater than it was a decade ago. China’s president appealed for cool-headedness in a phone conversation with Trump on Saturday, urging both sides to avoid words or actions that could worsen the situation. That followed fresh threats against North Korea on Friday, when Trump declared the U.S. military was “locked and loaded” and warned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that he “will regret it fast” if he takes any action against U.S. territories or allies.
WALL STREET LAST WEEK: Gains among technology companies helped snap a three-day losing streak for U.S. stocks Friday, though the market ended with its worst weekly loss since March. The modest rebound came at the end of a turbulent week on Wall Street as escalating tensions between the U.S. and North Korea rattled global markets. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 0.1 percent to 2,441.32. The Dow Jones industrials average also gained 0.1 percent, to 21,858.32. The Nasdaq added 0.6 percent to 6,256.56 and the Russell 2000 index of smaller-company stocks picked up 0.1 percent to 1,374.23.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude lost 4 cents to $48.78 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 23 cents to settle at $48.82 a barrel on Friday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, slipped 13 cents to $51.97. It rose 20 cents to $52.10 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 109.57 yen from 109.19 yen late Friday. Investors tend to view the Japanese yen as a safe haven in times of crisis, and before the last flare up between President Donald Trump and North Korea it had been trading at about the 111 yen level. The euro slipped to $1.1816 from $1.1823.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 01:16:39
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/asia-shares-mostly-up-nikkei-falls-as-yen-gains-vs-dollar/
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Tass says Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived at a Russian air base in Syria
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Tass says Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived at a Russian air base in Syria
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-11 03:57:07
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/tass-says-russian-president-vladimir-putin-has-arrived-at-a-russian-air-base-in-syria/
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Gunman opens fire on foreigners in Italian town; 6 wounded
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MILAN (AP) — A lone gunman targeted foreigners in a drive-by shooting spree Saturday in a central Italian city, wounding six people, one of them with life-threatening injuries, before being arrested.
The suspect’s motive wasn’t immediately clear, but the city of Macerata in the central Marche region is still reeling from the gruesome killing and dismemberment of a young Italian woman this week, allegedly at the hands of a Nigerian immigrant.
Police said all those wounded were foreigners and they later confirmed the arrest of a suspect identified as a 28-year-old Italian with no previous record. A video posted by the newspaper il Resto di Carlino showed a man with an Italian flag draped over his shoulders being arrested by armed Carabinieri officers in the city center, a short distance from where he apparently fled his car on foot.
Macerata Mayor Romano Carancini said that six foreigners were wounded in the two-hour shooting spree, one of them with life-threatening injuries.
Carancini confirmed that all of the victims were black, and acknowledged that “the closeness of these two events makes you imagine that there is a connection.”
The shooting spree came days after the killing of 18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro and amid a heated electoral campaign in Italy where anti-foreigner sentiment has become a key theme. The head of the anti-migrant Northern League, Matteo Salvini, has capitalized on the killing in campaign appearances, and is pledging to deport 150,000 migrants in his first year in office if his party wins control of parliament and he is named premier.
The teen’s dismembered remains were found Wednesday in two suitcases, two days after she walked away from a drug rehab community.
The news agency ANSA reported that the car was seen in the area where the woman’s body was found and also near where the suspect lived. A video posted by il Resto di Carlino Video showed appeared to be a body on the ground on a shopping street.
Police had warned people to stay inside while the shootings were ongoing. Authorities ordered public transport halted and that students be kept inside schools, which are open on Saturdays.
Italians vote in the general election on March 4.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-02-03 07:43:23
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/02/03/drive-by-shooting-in-italy-citizens-urged-to-stay-indoors/
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Day of US-NKorea meetings to salvage summit on tap in NYC
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NEW YORK (AP) — A senior North Korean official and the top U.S. diplomat had dinner in New York as President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un try to salvage prospects for a high-stakes nuclear summit. It’s the highest-level official North Korean visit to the United States in 18 years.
Kim Yong Chol, the former military intelligence chief and one of the North Korean leader’s closest aides, landed midafternoon Wednesday on an Air China flight from Beijing. Associated Press journalists saw the plane taxi down the tarmac before the North’s delegation disembarked at JFK International Airport.
During his unusual visit, Kim Yong Chol had dinner for about an hour-and-a-half with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who traveled from Washington to see him. The two planned a “day full of meetings” Thursday, the White House said. Their talks will be aimed at determining whether a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un, originally scheduled for June 12 but later canceled by Trump, can be restored, U.S. officials have said.
The talks come as preparations for the highly anticipated summit in Singapore were barreling forward on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, despite lingering uncertainty about whether it will really occur, and when. As Kim and Pompeo were meeting in New York, other U.S. teams were meeting with North Korean officials in Singapore and in the heavily fortified Korean Demilitarized Zone.
“If it happens, we’ll certainly be ready,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said of the Singapore summit. Regarding the date for the meeting, she added, “We’re going to continue to shoot for June 12th.”
North Korea’s flurry of diplomatic activity following a torrid run in nuclear weapons and missile tests in 2017 suggests that Kim Jong Un is eager for sanctions relief to build his economy and the international legitimacy the summit with Trump would provide. But there are lingering doubts on whether Kim will ever fully relinquish his nuclear arsenal, which he may see as his only guarantee of survival in a region surrounded by enemies.
Trump announced that Kim Yong Chol was coming to New York for talks with Pompeo in a tweet on Tuesday in which he said he had a “great team” working on the summit. That was a shift from last week, when Trump announced in an open letter to Kim Jong Un that he had decided to “terminate” the summit following a provocative statement from the North.
Pompeo, Trump’s former CIA chief, has traveled to Pyongyang twice in recent weeks for meetings with Kim Jong Un, and has said there is a “shared understanding” between the two sides about what they hope to achieve in talks. South Korean media speculated that Pompeo could make a third trip to Pyongyang and that Kim Yong Chol was carrying a personal letter from Kim Jong Un and might push to travel to Washington to meet with Trump.
North Korea’s mission to the United Nations in New York is its sole diplomatic presence in the United States. That suggests Kim might have chosen to first go to New York because it would make it easier for him to communicate with officials in Pyongyang, North Korea’s capital. North Korea and the United States are still technically at war and have no diplomatic ties because the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
Trump views a summit as a legacy-defining opportunity to make the nuclear deal that has evaded others, but he pledged to walk away from the meeting if he believed the North wasn’t serious about discussing dismantling its nuclear program.
After the North’s combative statements, there was debate inside the Trump administration about whether it marked a real turn to belligerence or a feint to see how far Kim Jong Un could push the U.S. in the lead-up to the talks. Trump had mused that Kim’s “attitude” had changed after the North Korean leader’s surprise visit to China two weeks ago, suggesting China was pushing Kim away from the table. Trump’s letter, the aides said, was designed to pressure the North on the international stage for appearing to have cold feet.
White House officials maintain that Trump was hopeful the North was merely negotiating but that he was prepared for the letter to mark the end of the two-month flirtation. Instead, the officials said, it brought both sides to the table with increasing seriousness, as they work through myriad logistical and policy decisions to keep June 12 a viable option for the summit.
Kim Yong Chol is a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party’s central committee. The last official of his stature to visit the United States was Jo Myong Rok, the late first vice chairman of the National Defense Commission, who visited Washington in 2000, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said.
The White House emphasized that it has remained in close contact with South Korean and Japanese officials as preparations for the talks continue. Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7 to coordinate their thinking ahead of the summit. Trump hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week.
Moon, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim Jong Un, held a surprise meeting with the North Korean leader on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.
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Lederman reported from Washington and Bodeen from Beijing. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Zeke Miller and Catherine Lucey in Washington and Hyung-Jin Kim and Kim Tong-Hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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2018-05-31 00:31:40
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The Latest: Fans ready to go for Game 2 of Stanley Cup
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Latest on Game 2 of the Stanley Cup final between the Washington Capitals and Vegas Golden Knights (all times local):
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4:17 p.m.
Hours before Vegas hosted Washington in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final, fans filed in the plaza outside T-Mobile Arena on a 98-degree day in the desert.
Some of those gathered were holding the hottest ticket in town. Many planned to simply soak up the atmosphere while watching the game on big screens outside the arena with thousands of new friends.
The Golden Knights’ logo was worked into hairdos of fans willing to make the commitment while others opted to have their face painted in black and gold.
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2:13 p.m.
The Strip has hosted countless events over the years, featuring stars on stage and in the ring.
Las Vegas can now add a championship game in a major professional sports league to its list.
And, Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final has a tough act to follow.
The Vegas Golden Knights opened with a 6-4 win over the Washington Capitals, co-starring teams that combined for a Final-record four lead changes.
There also were big hits, some which might have lingering effects Wednesday night.
Washington’s Tom Wilson was penalized for blindsiding Vegas’ Jonathan Marchessault after he passed the puck in Game 1. Ryan Reaves scored a tying goal Monday night after appearing to get away with cross-checking Capitals defenseman John Carlson.
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More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals
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2018-05-30 18:22:25
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Snow wreaks havoc on travelers in Britain, schools closed
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LONDON (AP) — Snow and wintry weather are still wreaking havoc on travelers in Britain, with flights cancelled, roads sheathed in ice and rail travel disrupted.
With temperatures dropping overnight as low as minus 11.6 Celsius (11 degrees Fahrenheit), hundreds of schools were closed Monday. Europe’s largest airport, Heathrow, warned Monday that some flights would be cancelled as it cleared the backlog of flights delayed by Sunday’s snowfall.
Heathrow asked travelers to check with their airlines. In the world of interconnected air travel, any extended disruption quickly leaves planes and flight crews out of position, knocking them out of rotation for their next assignments.
National Rail said poor weather conditions are affecting travel across England and Wales. Trains on Chiltern Railways, CrossCountry, Great Western, and Virgin Trains will all also be affected.
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2017-12-11 03:41:42
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Russian event urges new look at Syria's 'liberated' Aleppo
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GENEVA (AP) — Russian officials say that some 25,000 Christians have returned to eastern Aleppo since the city was fully retaken by Syrian government forces backed by Russia.
In a conference organized in Geneva Wednesday on the sidelines of the U.N. Human Rights Council meeting, Russian officials sought to generate a generate another narrative about the country’s war that has left at least 400,000 people dead and driven over 12 million people from their homes.
The two hour presentation entitled “Aleppo: A city free from terror. New life, new hopes,” included a video uplink to speak with several Syrians on the ground in eastern Aleppo as well as images of Russian medics helping the injured.
The Russian event was also an appeal for greater support from Western nations for Aleppo’s reconstruction.
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2017-06-14 13:42:16
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Rays' Eovaldi stellar in return from Tommy John surgery
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OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Nathan Eovaldi pitched six innings of no-hit ball in his return to the majors following a second Tommy John surgery, leading the Tampa Bay Rays to a 6-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Wednesday night.
Eovaldi (1-0) faced one over the minimum through six innings in his Tampa Bay debut. He threw 70 pitches and had four strikeouts. The only runner to reach base against him was Matt Chapman, who drew a one-out walk in the first.
Wilmer Font, acquired by the Rays from the A’s last Friday, gave up Jed Lowrie’s one-out single in the seventh for Oakland’s only hit of the game. Vidal Nuno got the last three outs to finish the one-hitter.
Rob Refsnyder hit a three-run home run off A’s starter Sean Manaea (5-6), and Johnny Field also homered for the Rays.
The game drew an announced crowd of 6,295, the smallest at the Coliseum since April 3, 2003.
Eovaldi last pitched in the majors on Aug. 10, 2016, for the Yankees. Nine days later, he underwent a second elbow surgery. Eovaldi also had Tommy John surgery in 2007 when he was a junior in high school.
The 28-year-old missed the first month of this season after undergoing surgery March 30 to remove loose bodies in his elbow. Eovaldi made four rehab starts in the minors before being activated off the disabled list prior to Wednesday’s game.
Eovaldi, the 12th pitcher in major league history to start in the majors after having two Tommy John surgeries, induced seven groundouts and retired the final 17 batters he faced following the walk to Chapman.
Font then came in and retired Matt Chapman on a liner to shortstop in the seventh before Lowrie pushed a single up the middle.
Nuno replaced Font in the ninth and gave up a leadoff walk to Chad Pinder then retired the next three batters.
That was all the offense the A’s could muster while being shut out by the Rays for the second time in three games.
Oakland went into the game batting .216 in May, the second-lowest average in the majors.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Athletics: INF Marcus Semien was placed on the paternity leave list before the game. Chad Pinder started at shortstop in Semien’s absence. RHP Josh Lucas was called up from Triple-A Nashville. … RHP Liam Hendriks began a rehab assignment with Triple-A Nashville.
UP NEXT
Tampa Bay RHP Ryne Stanek (1-0, 3.24 ERA) will make his second career start, three days after getting a win coming out of the bullpen. RHP Daniel Mengden (5-4, 2.85) goes for Oakland.
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More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
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2018-05-31 00:13:06
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Trial begins against suspects in Istanbul nightclub attack
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ISTANBUL (AP) — A trial has begun in Turkey against dozens of suspects, including the alleged shooter in the New Year’s Eve attack that left 39 people dead in Istanbul.
Fifty-seven suspects, mostly foreigners and 51 of them behind bars, were on trial Monday on the outskirts of Istanbul.
Albulkadir Masharipov — the lead suspect — is charged with membership in a terror group, murder, attempting to overthrow the constitutional order, among other charges. The prosecutor is seeking multiple aggravated life sentences.
On Jan. 1, an assailant shot his way into Istanbul’s Reina nightclub where hundreds were partying. The assailant escaped and the Islamic State group claimed the attack. Masharipov was caught 15 days later.
Turkey has been hit by a string of attacks since 2015, blamed on Kurdish militants and IS.
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2017-12-11 02:20:38
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Gaultier fetes smoking, Saab channels Gaudi in Paris couture
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PARIS (AP) — A tardy Naomi Campbell triggered a dangerous media scrum as she entered Jean-Paul Gaultier’s couture ode to smoking in Paris Wednesday.
It raised the heat in the already scorching atmosphere on the final day of Paris fall-winter shows.
Temperatures reached heatwave levels and sweating fashionistas fanned themselves with Gaultier-branded fans.
Here are some highlights of the couture collections.
GAULTIER’S ODE TO SMOKING
It’s been banned in public — but smoking evidently has not been outlawed as a source of fashion inspiration.
The unusual homage by Jean-Paul Gaultier to one of the world’s dirtiest, and most glamorous, habits made for a typically tongue-in-cheek collection of 73 varied looks.
A black bison tuxedo jacket had the words “Gaultier Smoking” emblazoned on the front.
It was a play on words on the French translation on “tuxedo,” which is “le smoking” — and one that continued in myriad black and white deconstructions of tuxedo looks.
A surreal variation on the red Fez hat from Morocco — a country famed for its shisha pipes — also made an appearance. It covered the face, and from eye slits, the red tassels seemed to hang down like tears.
Tulle mouth masks followed white plume boas representing plumes of smoke.
But the final creation — a giant silver bridal veil — was the most creative look. Its shimmering, five-meter (16-foot) train was so diaphanous, it licked the air and evoked rising smoke.
Pedro Almodovar’s muse, actress Rossy de Palma, applauded from the front row.
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ELIE SAAB
Elie Saab took his itinerant couture inspiration to Barcelona this season.
The famed Modernist architecture of Antoni Gaudi — and its organic lines — were the focus of many of the Lebanese designer’s gowns.
Oversize rounded shoulders, which were sometimes dramatically raised from the body, were a new silhouette variation on the house’s bread-and-butter cinched waist looks.
The industrious Saab couture atelier had got to work to weave the signature crystals, sequins and pearls together to — as the program notes put it — depict “the sinuosity of organic forms.”
The swirling stone reliefs of the Musee des Arts Decoratifs venue, inside the Louvre palace, accentuated the clothes’ architectural lines.
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PARIS FASHION GETS TOUGHER ON PRESS
Certain Paris Fashion Week houses pride themselves on careful image control and restrictive press access.
As privately held brands, this is their right — although it can sometimes be excessive and lead to accusations of elitism.
Invitations are sent to carefully selected journalists and buyers, and some houses prefer smaller venues. The system is thought to increase the mystery and cachet of the clothes.
Like Balenciaga, Maison Margiela under John Galliano is one of many with a highly strict policy.
For the second season Maison Margiela extended their media clampdown to all photographic agencies, bar two, sending out a note explaining they would be handling the photography mainly “in-house” for Wednesday’s morning show.
The unusual move means that almost all images of the couture are now under the direct control of the Maison Margiela house.
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Thomas Adamson can be followed at www.twitter.com/ThomasAdamson_K
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2018-07-04 10:55:24
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N. Korea leader briefed on plans for missile tests near Guam
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea said Tuesday that leader Kim Jong Un was briefed on his military’s plans to launch missiles in waters near Guam days after the Korean People’s Army announced its preparing to create “enveloping fire” near the U.S. military hub in the Pacific.
During an inspection of the army’s Strategic Forces, Kim praised the military for drawing a “close and careful plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to give order for the missile test, the Korean Central News Agency said.
Kim said North Korea will conduct the planned missile launches if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity” and that the United States should “think reasonably and judge property” to avoid shame, the news agency said.
The Korean People’s Army’s Strategic Forces said last week it would finalize by mid-August a plan to fire four intermediate ballistic missiles near Guam, which is about 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) from Pyongyang, and send it to Kim for his approval.
The North Korean report came after U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the United Sates would take out any North Korean missile seen to be heading for American soil and declared any such North Korean attack could lead to war.
Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also said during a visit to South Korea on Monday that the United States wants to peacefully resolve a deepening standoff with North Korea. But is also ready to use the “full range” of its military capabilities in case of provocation, Dunford said.
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2017-08-14 18:01:08
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Half-ton concrete bird snatched from perch at chicken farm
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TAYLORSVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Where do you hide a 1,000-pound chicken?
That’s what sheriff’s deputies in Alexander County, North Carolina, are trying to figure out as they search for the concrete statue that disappeared from a farm west of Taylorsville over the weekend.
While the chicken may be heavy, it’s only 3 feet tall.
Deputies think the statue was taken sometime between 8 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. Sunday from the driveway of the farm.
Chief Deputy Tod Jones told the Hickory Daily Record (http://bit.ly/2l7Z6BF) the statue’s base was found several miles away. Jones said the statue is valued at about $1,100.
Alexander County is near Hickory, about 60 miles north of Charlotte.
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2017-02-15 08:21:40
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AP sources: Doctors believe Wentz tore ACL, out for year
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Carson Wentz threw a touchdown pass a few plays after suffering an injury that could ruin a special season for the Philadelphia Eagles, and then stuck around to greet teammates and celebrate a division-clinching victory with them.
It’s always team-first for No. 11.
Two sources familiar with the injury told The Associated Press that doctors believe Wentz tore his left anterior cruciate ligament in a 43-35 comeback win over the Rams on Sunday and will miss the rest of the season and playoffs.
Wentz, a favorite in the NFL MVP race, will have an MRI on Monday to confirm the severity of the injury. Both people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information.
After the game, Wentz’s left knee was wrapped in a brace. He was driven in a cart up the tunnel at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and then hobbled to one of the team buses.
“I don’t know anything until we evaluate him (Monday),” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said.
Wentz wrote on Twitter: “NFC East Champs! So proud of the resiliency of this team. Such a special group of men. And I greatly appreciate all the prayers! I know my God is a powerful one with a perfect plan. Time to just lean in to him and trust whatever the circumstances! #Proverbs3:5-6”
Wentz was hurt late in the third quarter at Los Angeles. Backup Nick Foles rallied the Eagles (11-2) to a win that secured the NFC East title and put them in first place in the conference with three games remaining.
“Everyone is really excited about the win but you have your starting quarterback go down, it’s emotional,” Foles said. “It’s emotional for me. I work with him every day so I’m dealing with that.”
The Eagles have overcome several key injuries and now have to move forward without their most indispensable player. Nine-time Pro Bowl left tackle Jason Peters, return specialist/running back Darren Sproles, star linebacker Jordan Hicks and special-teams captain Chris Maragos already went down for the season.
But they’re not the franchise quarterback.
“It (stinks) more so for Carson as a person and a friend and a teammate and what he puts into the game and his preparation,” safety Malcolm Jenkins said. “But as a team we have all our goals in front of us.”
Wentz is the latest NFL star to go down in a season in which several high-profile players have been sidelined. Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman and safety Kam Chancellor, Texans defensive lineman J.J. Watt and quarterback Deshaun Watson, Giants receivers Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall, Chiefs safety Eric Berry, Browns tackle Joe Thomas and Vikings running back Dalvin Cook and quarterback Sam Bradford each sustained season-ending injuries.
After starting all 16 games as a rookie, Wentz made a giant leap this year. He passed for 3,296 yards, 33 TDs and only seven interceptions.
Wentz again was spectacular against the Rams before he got hurt after getting hit hard as he scrambled into the end zone on a play that was called back because of holding. He stayed in the game and threw a 3-yard TD pass to Alshon Jeffery on fourth down four plays later, setting the franchise record for most TD passes in a season.
“It shows how tough he is,” Pederson said.
Foles replaced Wentz the next drive after the Rams took a 35-31 lead. He led the Eagles to a pair of field goals on consecutive drives. Second-year pro Nate Sudfeld is Philadelphia’s No. 3 quarterback.
Wentz arrived in Philadelphia as the No. 2 pick in the 2016 draft out of North Dakota State. On Sunday, he outperformed Rams quarterback Jared Goff, the No. 1 pick in that draft.
Despite the injury, Wentz celebrated the victory over the Rams (9-4) with teammates.
“He’s one of the leaders on the team. He was there congratulating and celebrating with everyone,” Foles said.
Foles, a third-round pick by former Eagles coach Andy Reid in 2012, is in his second stint in Philadelphia. He replaced an injured Michael Vick in 2013 and led the Eagles to an NFC East title during Chip Kelly’s first season as coach. Foles tied an NFL record with seven TD passes in a game at Oakland in November 2013 and finished that season with 27 TDs and only two picks. The Eagles lost at home to New Orleans in the playoffs. Foles went to the Pro Bowl and was the offensive MVP.
But Kelly traded Foles to St. Louis for Sam Bradford after the 2014 season. Foles spent a year with the Rams, a season with the Chiefs and returned to Philadelphia as a free agent this season.
“I’m absolutely ready to go — need be,” Foles said. “I prepare every day.”
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AP Sports Writer Bernie Wilson contributed to this report from Los Angeles.
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For more NFL coverage: http://pro32.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_NFL
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2017-12-11 01:45:16
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Police: Girl, 8, killed as car plows into French pizzeria
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PARIS (AP) — French police say an 8-year-old girl was killed and at least five people were injured when a driver slammed his car into the sidewalk cafe of a pizza restaurant in a small town east of Paris.
An official with the national gendarme service said the driver was arrested soon after the incident Monday night in the town of Sept-Sorts.
The official said it is unclear whether the act was deliberate. The official was not authorized to be publicly named according to police policy.
An Algerian man drove his car into a group of French soldiers last week, and a truck attack in the French city of Nice left 86 people dead a little more than a year ago. Several other countries have seen cars used as weapons in recent years.
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2017-08-14 15:01:29
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Officer on fatal Charlottesville crash: 'Hahahaha love this'
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SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts police officer is facing disciplinary action for writing “Hahahaha love this” on Facebook in response to a story about a car striking and killing a counter-protester at a white supremacist rally in Virginia.
Springfield Officer Conrad Lariviere later apologized, saying in a Facebook conversation with Masslive.com that he’s a “good man who made a stupid comment.”
Springfield Police Commissioner John Barbieri said he received a complaint about the comment Sunday.
“I took immediate steps to initiate a prompt and thorough internal investigation,” Barbieri said via email. “If in fact this post did originate from an officer employed with the Springfield Police Department, this matter will be reviewed by the Community Police Hearings Board for further action.”
Democratic Mayor Domenic Sarno denounced the comments.
“There is no place for this in our society, let alone from a Springfield Police Officer,” Sarno said in a statement.
Lariviere had written on Facebook: “Hahahaha love this, maybe people shouldn’t block road ways.”
He was responding to a story about the death on Saturday of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was struck by a car that plowed into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Nineteen others were injured. James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Ohio, was arrested shortly after and charged with second-degree murder.
Lariviere also questioned whether the driver of the car that struck the crowd was a “nazi scumbag.”
He responded to a critic who asked whether he had ever been struck by a car, saying he had been struck by someone “with warrants, but who cares right you ignorant brat live in a fantasy land with the rest of America while I deal with the real danger.”
Lariviere told Masslive.com he is not a racist.
“Never would I want someone to get murdered. I am not a racist and don’t believe in what any of those protesters are doing,” he said.
Lariviere was a member of the Springfield Police Academy’s 2014 graduating class. A message left by The Associated Press at a listed number for a Conrad Lariviere in Springfield was not immediately returned.
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2017-08-14 10:41:20
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Rickie Fowler, Bryson DeChambeau share Phoenix Open lead
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Rickie Fowler took a share of the lead into the weekend in the Waste Management Phoenix Open. He knows from experience the party is just getting started.
“Just keep the gas pedal down,” Fowler said.
Fowler has had a lot of success at TPC Scottsdale without winning. He finished a shot behind Hunter Mahan in 2010, lost to Hideki Matsuyama on the fourth extra hole in 2016, and tied for fourth last year.
“From the first couple times I played it, I knew it was just kind of a matter of time before I would win here,” Fowler said. “I know I can win here. I put myself in position plenty of times.”
Fowler was tied with Bryson DeChambeau, with each shooting his second straight 5-under 66.
The festive tournament drew an estimated Friday-record crowd of 191,400 fans, bringing the week total to 439,088. The third-round mark of 204,906 set last year is expected to be shattered Saturday, and the week record of 655,434 from a year ago could fall with a day to spare.
DeChambeau birdied the final two holes, hitting a wedge to 8 inches on the par-4 18th late on another 80-degree afternoon.
“I missed a few short putts on the back nine, so definitely didn’t play my best,” DeChambeau said.
He won the John Deere Classic last year. In 2015, the former SMU star became the fifth player to win the NCAA individual title and U.S. Amateur in the same year.
Daniel Berger and former Arizona State player Chez Reavie were a stroke back.
Berger had a bogey-free 65.
“This is the fourth time I’ve been here, so I’ve kind of figured it out a little bit,” Berger said. “Mostly, it’s just about just enjoying yourself.”
Reavie eagled the 17th in a 65. He’s the only player without a bogey after two rounds.
“This is my home tournament, growing up here my whole life and coming to the tournament and carrying the sign board,” Reavie said. “So this is like the fifth major for me.”
Fowler birdied four of the first six holes. He bogeyed his old nemesis, the 317-yard 17th, after driving short of the green to the left and chipping across and off the green.
“Funky little chip where we were in a good position to make birdie,” Fowler said.
Two years ago, he blew a two-stroke lead on 17 in regulation when he drove through the green and into the water, then handed the playoff to Matsuyama when he hit into the water again.
Fowler is wearing a pin on his hat with a picture of Griffin Connell, the area boy he befriended at the event who died last week at age 7. Connell was born with a rare airway disorder.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence he’s playing so well this week, either,” said Griffin’s father, Jim Connell. “Griffin, he’s not here with us, but we know he’s watching from above.”
Scott Stallings (65), Chesson Hadley (68) and Chris Kirk (68) were 8 under, and Phil Mickelson (65) and fellow former Arizona State player Jon Rahm (68) topped the group at 7 under.
The 47-year-old Hall of Famer is making his record-tying 29th start in the event he won in 1996, 2005 and 2013. He birdied the last three holes — getting the stadium-enclosed No. 16 for the second straight day — and four of the final six.
“There’s no question that I play better down the stretch with people here,” Mickelson said. “I can feel their energy and it helps me focus.”
Justin Thomas and first-round leader Bill Haas were 6 under.
The fourth-ranked Thomas had his second 68. He was bogey-free after dropping three strokes late Thursday with a double bogey on 16 and a bogey on 17.
“I was pretty upset and mad about that last night because I really let a good chance get away to shoot, I felt like, 7 or 8 under,” Thomas said. “But stretches like that are going to happen over the course of four days.”
Haas followed his opening 64 with a 72. He made a double bogey on the par-5 third.
The tournament lost some star power when Jordan Spieth missed the cut and two-time defending champion Matsuyama withdrew because of a left wrist injury.
Spieth shot 72-70, playing alongside Thomas. The third-ranked Spieth last failed to advance to weekend play in May, when he missed consecutive cuts in The Players Championship and the AT&T Byron Nelson. Matsuyama’s injury ended his bid to match Arnold Palmer’s event record of three straight victories.
Robert Garrigus had the shot of the day, a drive on the 17th that hit the flagstick and stopped inches away. He’s 2 under after a 69. Andrew Magee aced the hole in 2001, the only hole-in-one on a par 4 in PGA Tour history.
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2018-02-02 19:55:56
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Crash marks 1st death involving fully autonomous vehicle
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TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — A fatal pedestrian crash involving a self-driving Uber SUV in a Phoenix suburb could have far-reaching consequences for the new technology as automakers and other companies race to be the first with cars that operate on their own.
The crash Sunday night in Tempe was the first death involving a full autonomous test vehicle. The Volvo was in self-driving mode with a human backup driver at the wheel when it struck 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg as she was walking a bicycle outside the lines of a crosswalk in Tempe, police said.
Uber immediately suspended all road-testing of such autos in the Phoenix area, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto. The ride-sharing company has been testing self-driving vehicles for months as it competes with other technology companies and automakers like Ford and General Motors.
Though many in the industries had been dreading a fatal crash they knew it was inevitable.
Tempe police Sgt. Ronald Elcock said local authorities haven’t determined fault but urged people to use crosswalks. He told reporters at a news conference Monday the Uber vehicle was traveling around 40 mph when it hit Helzberg immediately as she stepped on to the street.
Neither she nor the backup driver showed signs of impairment, he said.
“The pedestrian was outside of the crosswalk, so it was midblock,” Elcock said. “And as soon as she walked into the lane of traffic, she was struck by the vehicle.”
The National Transportation Safety Board, which makes recommendations for preventing crashes, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which can enact regulations, sent investigators.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi expressed condolences on his Twitter account and said the company is cooperating with investigators.
The public’s image of the vehicles will be defined by stories like the crash in Tempe, said Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor who studies self-driving vehicles. It may turn out that there was nothing either the vehicle or its human backup could have done to avoid the crash, he said.
Either way, the fatality could hurt the technology’s image and lead to a push for more regulations at the state and federal levels, Smith said.
Autonomous vehicles with laser, radar and camera sensors and sophisticated computers have been billed as the way to reduce the more than 40,000 traffic deaths a year in the U.S. alone. Ninety-four percent of crashes are caused by human error, the government says.
Self-driving vehicles don’t drive drunk, don’t get sleepy and aren’t easily distracted. But they do have faults.
“We should be concerned about automated driving,” Smith said. “We should be terrified about human driving.”
In 2016, the latest year available, more than 6,000 U.S. pedestrians were killed by vehicles.
The federal government has voluntary guidelines for companies that want to test autonomous vehicles, leaving much of the regulation up to states.
Many states, including Michigan and Arizona, have taken a largely hands-off approach, hoping to gain jobs from the new technology, while California and others have taken a harder line.
California is among states that require manufacturers to report any incidents during the testing phase. As of early March, the state’s motor vehicle agency had received 59 such reports.
Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey used light regulations to entice Uber to the state after the company had a shaky rollout of test cars in San Francisco. Arizona has no reporting requirements. Hundreds of vehicles with automated driving systems have been on Arizona’s roads.
Ducey’s office expressed sympathy for Herzberg’s family and said safety is the top priority.
The crash in Arizona isn’t the first involving an Uber autonomous test vehicle. In March 2017, an Uber SUV flipped onto its side, also in Tempe. No serious injuries were reported, and the driver of the other car was cited for a violation.
Herzberg’s death is the first involving an autonomous test vehicle but not the first in a car with some self-driving features. The driver of a Tesla Model S was killed in 2016 when his car, operating on its Autopilot system, crashed into a tractor-trailer in Florida.
The NTSB said that driver inattention was to blame but that design limitations with the system played a major role in the crash.
The U.S. Transportation Department is considering further voluntary guidelines that it says would help foster innovation. Proposals also are pending in Congress, including one that would stop states from regulating autonomous vehicles, Smith said.
Peter Kurdock, director of regulatory affairs for Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety in Washington, said the group sent a letter Monday to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao saying it is concerned about a lack of action and oversight by the department as autonomous vehicles are developed. That letter was planned before the crash.
Kurdock said the deadly accident should serve as a “startling reminder” to members of Congress that they need to “think through all the issues to put together the best bill they can to hopefully prevent more of these tragedies from occurring.”
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Krisher reported from Detroit. Susan Montoya Bryan in Albuquerque, New Mexico; and Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Arizona, contributed to this story.
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2018-03-20 02:12:20
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/20/crash-marks-1st-death-involving-fully-autonomous-vehicle/
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The Latest: Melania Trump's white hat attracts attention
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the White House visit of French President Emmanuel Macron (all times local):
12:16 p.m.
A pair of designers is responsible for Melania Trump’s white skirt suit and matching hat.
The first lady’s office says Michael Kors designed the two-piece suit that Mrs. Trump wore for Tuesday’s White House arrival ceremony for President Emmanuel Macron of France and his wife, Brigitte.
Mrs. Trump also wore the suit on an outing to the National Gallery of Art in Washington with Mrs. Macron.
The first lady topped her outfit with a broad-brimmed white hat designed by Herve Pierre. Pierre designed the first lady’s inaugural ball gown.
The white hat quickly became the talk of the town, as well as on Twitter. Mrs. Trump typically doesn’t wear hats.
Still to come is Tuesday night’s piece de resistance: the first lady’s state dinner gown.
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10:40 a.m.
President Donald Trump is warning that if Iran restarts its nuclear program it “will have bigger problems than they have ever had before.”
Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron will be discussing the Iran nuclear deal Tuesday during their meetings at the White House.
Macron wants Trump to maintain the deal. Trump is undecided but has called it “a terrible deal.”
Though Trump has warmly welcomed Macron to Washington, the two have disagreements to sort through, including Trump’s decision to leave the multinational Paris climate change agreement.
While with Macron, Trump refused to answer a reporter’s question as to whether he is considering a pardon for his personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, whose office was raided by the FBI. Trump called it “a stupid question.”
Cohen has not been charged.
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9:54 a.m.
French President Emmanuel Macron is highlighting the close ties between his nation and the United States during his visit to the White House.
Macron, standing alongside President Donald Trump Tuesday, said “America represents endless possibilities for my country.”
He also told Trump that “France shares with your country an ideal of freedom and peace.”
Macron touted how the French fought alongside George Washington during the American Revolution, which laid the blueprint for cooperation between the nations.
The French president, who enjoys a closer relationship with Trump than many of his European peers, said that France works alongside the U.S. on challenges like terrorism, North Korea and Iran.
He is expected to lobby Trump to maintain the Iran nuclear deal and reconsider the decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
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9:30 a.m.
President Donald Trump is sending prayers to the Bush family and wishing former President George H.W. Bush a “speedy recovery.”
Trump is recognizing the former president as he greets French President Emmanuel Macron on the South Lawn of the White House.
Bush has been hospitalized in Houston with an infection, just days after attending the funeral of his wife, Barbara Bush.
Trump is also sending the nation’s sympathies to the Canadian people following the “horrendous tragedy” in Toronto.
A driver plowed a rented van along a crowded sidewalk in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 15 others. Trump says the nation’s hearts are with the grieving families in Canada.
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9:25 a.m.
President Donald Trump says the “wonderful friendship” he has developed with French President Emmanuel Macron is a testament to two nations’ enduring alliance.
Trump is thanking Macron for his “steadfast partnership” in responding to the recent chemical attack in Syria.
The president is speaking at an arrival ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House.
Trump and Macron are meeting Tuesday on a number of issues, including the future of the Iran nuclear deal and the crisis in Syria.
The two leaders are holding a joint news conference later in the morning and then Macron will be honored with Trump’s first state dinner.
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9 a.m.
President Donald Trump is welcoming French President Emmanuel Macron to the White House in a formal arrival ceremony.
The president and first lady are greeting Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, on rolled-out red carpet on the South Lawn.
The arrival is heavy on pomp, with nearly 500 U.S. service-members from all five military branches participating in the ceremonial welcome, which includes a “Review of the Troops.”
Vice President Mike Pence and several members of Trump’s Cabinet, lawmakers, and military families are in attendance. The audience includes students from the Maya Angelou French Immersion School in Temple Hills, Maryland.
The two leaders are spending the morning in meetings and then will hold a joint news conference. On Tuesday night, Macron will be feted at Trump’s first state dinner.
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12:50 a.m.
A sit-down between President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron followed by a joint news conference highlight the business portion of the French leader’s second day in Washington.
The pageantry of Macron’s official state visit, the first of the Trump presidency, comes Tuesday night with a lavish state dinner at the White House. About 150 guests are expected to dine on rack of lamb and nectarine tart and enjoy an after-dinner performance by the Washington National Opera.
Monday night was more relaxed, featuring a helicopter tour of Washington landmarks and a trip to the Potomac River home of George Washington for dinner.
Pomp and ceremony aside, Trump and Macron disagree on some fundamental issues. A prime dividing point is the multinational Iran nuclear deal, which Trump wants to abandon.
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2018-04-24 11:27:16
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Judge: June 15 deadline in study of materials in Cohen raids
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NEW YORK (AP) — A New York judge set a June 15 deadline Wednesday for lawyers for President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and Trump to make attorney-client privilege claims over data seized in April raids, saying it was important not to delay the criminal investigation.
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood said a special taint team of prosecutors will make determinations after that date.
Wood presided over a hearing at which a prosecutor revealed that the contents of a shredder and two Blackberry devices were all that remained to be turned over to a court-appointed special master screening evidence for attorney-client privilege. Also reviewing the materials are lawyers for Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, the president and the Trump Organization.
Cohen’s lawyers asked to be allowed to review materials from the April 9 raids of Cohen’s office and home until mid-July, but Wood said she had to balance their needs to protect their client with the need of prosecutors to pursue their criminal fraud case against Cohen.
Cohen did not speak during the court proceeding, which lasted more than an hour and featured a colorful argument between lawyers for Cohen and Trump on one side and California attorney Michael Avenatti on the other as they discussed Avenatti’s public statements on behalf of his porn-star client, Stormy Daniels.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had sex once with Trump in 2006. Trump denies it. Daniels was not in court Wednesday.
Stephen Ryan, an attorney for Cohen, argued that Avenatti had acted outrageously by releasing banking information related to Cohen publicly and by criticizing Cohen in dozens of television appearances.
Wood noted that Avenatti would have to stop making comments about his perception of what he believed was wrongdoing by Cohen if he wanted to formally intervene in Cohen’s efforts to protect materials seized from violations of attorney-client privilege.
Cohen’s lawyers said they had finished studying about a third of the materials that were seized and were working around the clock.
Special Master Barbara Jones said in a letter Tuesday that lawyers Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organization have designated more than 250 items as subject to the privilege. She said the material includes data from a video recorder.
Jones said more than a million pieces of data from three of Cohen’s phones are ready to be given to criminal prosecutors, and more than 12,000 pages of documents from eight boxes that survived attorney-client privilege scrutiny already have been given back to prosecutors. More than a dozen electronic devices were seized or copied in the raids, and Jones said she has not yet received data from three seized items.
The raids on Cohen were triggered in part by a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller, who separately is looking into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Wood became involved after Cohen came to court, complaining that he feared attorney-client privilege would not be protected. Trump also expressed those concerns on Twitter.
Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has said she had sex once with Trump in 2006. Trump denies the affair.
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2018-05-30 11:14:36
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/05/30/judge-readies-for-update-on-trump-personal-lawyer-probe/
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US man accused of illegal gun exports to Europe, Australia
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BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — A fugitive captured in Mexico is due in a U.S. courtroom Tuesday on accusations that he orchestrated an elaborate scheme to export handguns to countries with restrictive gun laws.
Eric Daniel Doyle was indicted by a grand jury on federal firearms charges in 2015, but fled before he could be arrested and eluded authorities for more than two years.
Authorities allege the 37-year-old Kalispell man used the internet to set up handgun sales to customers in Australia, Norway, Denmark and Sweden. The weapons were shipped through the U.S. Postal Service.
Doyle pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance last week. His attorney, Andrew Nelson, told The Associated Press that he had no comment on the case ahead of Tuesday’s detention hearing in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Montana.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeremiah Lynch will decide if Doyle remains a flight risk. He faces 44 counts of illegal gun exports and related crimes.
Details on the allegations against Doyle were unsealed by a federal judge following his capture Nov. 8 in the Mexican state of Sonora by a joint operation between local authorities and the U.S. Marshals Service.
Authorities allege that in 2014, at least 14 firearms — primarily high-caliber handguns — were shipped by Doyle to customers in Australia, Norway and Sweden, court documents show. The suspects also attempted to export at least one handgun to Denmark and four more to customers in Australia.
Court documents contained only the initials of the buyers. It was unclear if U.S. authorities had reached out to their counterparts in the destination countries to inform them of the sales.
In most cases, the serial numbers on the weapons had been obliterated, according to the 2015 indictment. Many of the guns had been obtained through a “straw purchaser” who would buy firearms from a licensed dealer on Doyle’s behalf, according to the indictment.
Doyle had been prohibited from possessing firearms because of felony convictions in Illinois in 2006 on drug and burglary charges, according to public records.
Four alleged accomplices were previously sentenced. Among them was Doyle’s uncle, Jay Isles, also of Kalispell.
In sentencing those defendants last year, U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy said the case had far-reaching implications because the alleged scheme’s customers resided in countries with highly-restrictive gun laws. Molloy rejected plea deals that had been offered by prosecutors for everyone in the case but Doyle, saying they were too lenient.
“This is the most obvious conspiracy that I have seen on 20 years on the bench,” Molloy said in his sentencing order.
But after attorneys for the other defendants made their cases, Molloy ended up handing down relatively light sentences. The punishments ranged from time already served for Isles, to five years of probation with periods of home confinement for defendants Jeffrey Lee Palmer and Tanna Lee Meagher. Brian Spain received two years of probation.
Defense attorney Peter Leander, who represented Palmer, said his client had been taken advantage of by Doyle, who purported to be Palmer’s friend. Prosecutors said in court documents that it was Doyle who first came up with the idea to use the internet to sell firearms to foreign customers.
“It was my impression that he was really manipulating and taking advantage of a lot of guys,” Leander said. “The bad guy got away, literally and figuratively, and these guys were left holding the bag.”
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Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at www.twitter.com/matthewbrownap .
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2017-12-11 14:28:38
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Both Korean leaders, US signal turn to diplomacy amid crisis
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Tuesday presented leader Kim Jong Un with plans to launch missiles into waters near Guam and “wring the windpipes of the Yankees,” even as both Koreas and the United States signaled their willingness to avert a deepening crisis, with each suggesting a path toward negotiations.
The tentative interest in diplomacy follows unusually combative threats between President Donald Trump and North Korea amid worries that Pyongyang is nearing its long-sought goal of accurately being able to send a nuclear missile to the U.S. mainland. Next week’s start of U.S.-South Korean military exercises that enrage the North each year make it unclear, however, if diplomacy will prevail.
During an inspection of the North Korean army’s Strategic Forces, which handles the missile program, Kim praised the military for drawing up a “close and careful plan” and said he would watch the “foolish and stupid conduct of the Yankees” a little more before deciding whether to order the missile test, the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said. Kim appeared in photos sitting at a table with a large map marked by a straight line between what appeared to be northeastern North Korea and Guam, and passing over Japan — apparently showing the missiles’ flight route.
The missile plans were previously announced. Kim said North Korea would conduct the launches if the “Yankees persist in their extremely dangerous reckless actions on the Korean Peninsula and its vicinity,” and that the United States should “think reasonably and judge properly” to avoid shaming itself, the news agency said.
Lobbing missiles toward Guam, a major U.S. military hub in the Pacific, would be a deeply provocative act from the U.S. perspective, and a miscalculation on either side could lead to a military clash. U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis said the United States would take out any such missile seen to be heading for American soil and declared any such North Korean attack could mean war.
Kim’s comments, however, with their conditional tone, seemed to hold out the possibility that friction could ease if the United States made some sort of gesture that Pyongyang considered a move to back away from previous “extremely dangerous reckless actions.”
That could refer to the U.S.-South Korean military drills set to begin Monday, which the North claims are rehearsals for invasion. It also could refer to the B-1B bombers that the U.S. has occasionally flown over the Korean Peninsula as a show of force.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in, meanwhile, a liberal who favors engagement with the North, urged North Korea to stop provocations and to commit to talks over its nuclear weapons program.
Moon, in a televised speech Tuesday on the anniversary of the end of World War II and the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule, said that Seoul and Washington agree that the crisis over the North’s nuclear program should “absolutely be solved peacefully,” and that no U.S. military action on the Korean Peninsula could be taken without Seoul’s consent.
Moon said the North could create conditions for talks by stopping nuclear and missile tests.
“Our government will put everything on the line to prevent another war on the Korean Peninsula,” Moon said. “Regardless of whatever twist and turns we could experience, the North Korean nuclear program should absolutely be solved peacefully, and the (South Korean) government and the U.S. government don’t have a different position on this.”
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Dunford, on Monday met with senior South Korean military and political officials and the local media, and made comments that appeared to be an attempt to ease anxiety while also showing a willingness to back Trump’s warnings if need be.
Dunford said the United States wants to peacefully resolve tensions with North Korea, but Washington is also ready to use the “full range” of its military capabilities in case of provocation.
Dunford is visiting South Korea, Japan and China after a week in which Trump declared the U.S. military “locked and loaded” and said he was ready to unleash “fire and fury” if North Korea continued to threaten the United States.
North Korea’s military had said last week it would finalize and send to Kim for approval the plan to fire four ballistic missiles near Guam, which is about 3,200 kilometers (2,000 miles) from Pyongyang.
The plans are based on the Hwasong-12, a new missile the country successfully flight-tested for the first time in May. The liquid-fuel missile is designed to be fired from road mobile launchers and has been previously described by North Korea as built for attacking Alaska and Hawaii.
The North followed the May launch with two flight tests of its Hwasong-14 intercontinental ballistic missile last month. Analysts said that a wide swath of the continental United States, including Los Angeles and Chicago, could be within reach of those missiles, once they’re perfected.
The North’s latest report said Kim ordered his military to be prepared to launch the missiles toward Guam at any time. Kim said that if the “planned fire of power demonstration” is carried out because of U.S. recklessness, it will be “the most delightful historic moment when the Hwasong artillerymen will wring the windpipes of the Yankees and point daggers at their necks,” the North reported.
North Korea is angry about new United Nations sanctions over its expanding nuclear weapons and missile program and the upcoming military drills between Washington and Seoul.
Kim said the United States must “make a proper option first and show it through action, as it committed provocations after introducing huge nuclear strategic equipment into the vicinity of the peninsula” and that it “should stop at once arrogant provocations” against North Korea, state media said.
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AP writers Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.
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2017-08-15 00:23:09
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Firm denies Flynn texted its director on US sanctions
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WASHINGTON (AP) — An investment firm that once hired Michael Flynn has denied he sent text messages during President Donald Trump’s inauguration indicating U.S. sanctions would be “ripped up” so a nuclear reactor project in the Middle East involving Russian interests could proceed.
The firm, however, cited only one set of cell phone records to show that there were no text messages between Flynn and the firm’s managing director on Inauguration Day. That leaves open the possibility that Flynn relied on other devices or private messaging applications.
Before becoming White House national security adviser, Flynn was advising ACU Strategies on a project to build nuclear reactors in the Middle East that had been stymied by sanctions targeting Russia.
Last week, Maryland Democrat Rep. Elijah Cummings said a whistleblower reported that ACU’s managing director boasted on Inauguration Day that he had exchanged texts with Flynn indicating that the project was “good to go” and that U.S. sanctions hobbling the project would be “ripped up.”
Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said the account raised serious questions about the blurring of Flynn’s private and public interests.
Flynn, who spent a month as Trump’s top national security aide before he was fired by the new president, pleaded guilty 10 days ago to lying to FBI agents about his conversations with Russia’s ambassador about the Obama administration’s Russia sanctions.
Flynn is now cooperating with Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election. Cummings said last week in a letter to House Oversight committee chairman Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., that his staff had informed Mueller’s office about the whistleblower’s account and delayed making the information public “until they completed certain investigative steps. They have now informed us that they have done so.”
In ACU’s letter to Cummings last week, Thomas Cochran, the firm’s senior scientist, said the witness’ allegations “are patently false and unfounded.” Cochran said that phone billing records for the firm’s managing director showed no communications with Flynn.
On Monday, Cummings’ staff released his response to Cochran’s denial, questioning whether the text message billing records it cited covered all communications on Jan. 20 between Flynn and Copson. Cummings noted that Copson could have messaged with Flynn through encryption applications that would not reveal the texts in billing statements.
“Of course, it is possible that you were using a messaging application that does not generate a telephone company record. It is possible that the website printout that you provided does not reflect all text messages,” Cummings said to Copson. Cummings urged Copson to allow House investigators to question him “to help resolve these questions.”
It was also not clear whether Flynn had been provided a government cell phone by the inauguration or owned a private cell phone with another number — or whether Copson was using another phone at the time.
Both Copson and Cochran worked with Flynn starting in 2015 when the former U.S. Army lieutenant general joined up with ACU in its plan to build dozens of reactors in the Mideast with aid from Russian and other international firms. Copson has said that his firm provided Flynn with a $25,000 check — left uncashed — and paid expenses for Flynn’s 2015 trop to the Mideast to aid the project.
Cochran said that Copson sent only two messages and received only one message on the day of Trump’s inauguration. None came from a cell phone that Flynn used when he worked for the firm in 2015 and 2016, Cochran said.
Copson’s billing statements “flatly contradict the core allegation that Mr. Copson received a text message from General Flynn during President Trump’s inaugural speech,” Cochran said in his note to Cummings.
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2017-12-11 11:55:47
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/reactor-plan-investor-denies-flynn-inauguration-texts/
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Ex-US deserter to NKorea who married Japan abductee dies
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TOKYO (AP) — Charles Jenkins, a U.S Army deserter to North Korea who married a Japanese abductee and lived in Japan after their release, has died. He was 77.
Jenkins was found collapsed outside his home in Sado, northern Japan, on Monday and rushed to a hospital and later pronounced dead, a group representing families of Japanese abductees to North Koreas said Tuesday.
Japan’s NHK national television said he died of a heart failure.
Jenkins, of Rich Square, North Carolina, disappeared in January 1965 while on patrol along the Demilitarized Zone dividing North and South Korea. He later called his desertion a mistake that led to decades of deprivation and hardship in the communist country.
Jenkins met his wife Hitomi Soga, who was kidnapped by Pyeongyang in 1978, in North Korea and the couple had two daughters, Mika and Blinda. His wife was allowed to visit Japan in 2002 and stayed. Jenkins and their daughters followed in 2004.
Once in Japan, Jenkins in 2004 was subject to a U.S. court-martial in which he said he deserted because of fear of being sent to fight in Vietnam. He pleaded guilty to desertion and aiding the enemy and was dishonorably discharged and sentenced to 25 days in a U.S. military jail in Japan.
Jenkins and his family lived in Soga’s hometown of Sado, where he was a popular worker at a local souvenir shop and could often be seen posing in photos with visiting tourists.
Soga is one of 13 Japanese that Tokyo says were kidnapped to the North in the 1970s and 1980s as teachers of Japanese culture and language for agents spying on South Korea. Pyongyang acknowledged the abductions and allowed a Japan visit in 2002 for Soga and four others, who eventually stayed.
Jenkins, in his 2005 autobiographical book “To Tell the Truth,” and appearances at conferences on North Korean human rights, revealed that he had seen other American deserters living with women abducted from elsewhere including Thailand and Romania.
After settling in Japan, he visited North Carolina to see his mother and sister. But he said he had no plans to move back to the U.S.
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Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
Find her work at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi
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2017-12-12 00:48:50
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/12/ex-us-deserter-to-nkorea-who-married-japan-abductee-dies/
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650,000 fans at parade cheer Penguins for Stanley Cup win
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PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup championship, the first an NHL team has won back to back in almost 20 years, spawned by far the biggest victory parade of any of the franchise’s five titles.
An estimated 650,000 people turned out along a downtown parade route that ended with a rally at Point State Park, city public works and public safety officials said Wednesday. A sunny day with temperatures in the 80s didn’t hurt, as the smell of sunscreen was as pungent as the Penguins’ love in a city that boasts, officially, only 305,000 residents.
“These guys are fierce competitors,” coach Mike Sullivan told the crowd from a stage in the triangular park formed by the confluence of the city’s three rivers. “They just know how to win.”
Roughly 400,000 fans attended last year’s celebration, which was the biggest for any of the team’s Stanley Cup championships to that point.
The Penguins won the cup Sunday against the Nashville Predators with a 2-0 win in Game 6. And judging from signs and chants from the crowd, this championship was sweetened by the adversity the team overcame.
Playoff MVP and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was knocked out for the better part of two games with a concussion against the Washington Capitals, and the Penguins played without their best defenseman, Kris Letang, who had neck surgery before the playoffs.
As the players took the stage to PPG Paints Arena announcer Ryan Mill’s introductions, fans also learned that Ian Cole, another defenseman, played through a broken hand and broken ribs. And Nick Bonino, who broke his leg blocking a shot but still finished Game 2 of the finals before missing the rest, hobbled around on crutches while taking selfies with fans.
A couple of bittersweet story lines punctuated the festivities: 40-year-old veteran Matt Cullen, who has won two Cups since joining the Penguins as a free agent last season, has hinted he might retire, prompting fans to chant, “One more year!” And, perhaps the best story of the playoffs was how former starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury regained that job when rookie Matt Murray was injured during warm-ups in the first game of the playoffs. Fleury was in net for nine of the 16 victories the Penguins needed to win the Cup before Murray returned from injury to replace Fleury after a shaky third-round game against Ottawa and was in net for Pittsburgh’s final seven playoff wins.
Fleury, one of the most popular Penguins with fans and teammates, is likely to leave when the new Las Vegas franchise drafts its players or in an offseason trade.
Phil Kessel, another fan favorite since the Penguins acquired him from Toronto two seasons ago, drew some of the biggest cheers.
Fan Kristen Pearce, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, drove down to honor Kessel, a Wisconsin native, and was lucky enough to have him autograph her jersey and her sign, which read, “We drove from Wisconsin to see our Stanley Cup champion!”
Some fans lined up the night before, and most waited several hours for the parade to start.
Karla and Don Donahue drove 30 miles from Freeport to claim their seats in Point State Park at 2:30 a.m. This was the third victory parade for the Donahues, who also attended in 2009 and 2016.
Karla Donahue said if they aren’t at the games they’re watching on TV.
“If we’re somewhere else, it’s on the radio,” she said. “We haven’t missed a game in years.”
The Penguins also won the Cup in 1991 and 1992. They became the first team to repeat as champions since the Detroit Red Wings did it in 1997 and 1998.
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This story corrects the first name of a Penguins player to Nick Bonino.
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2017-06-15 00:56:33
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/06/15/500000-fans-may-attend-parade-for-penguins-stanley-cup-win/
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'Firefall' phenomenon wows visitors to Yosemite's El Capitan
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YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — Mother Nature is again putting on a show at California’s Yosemite National Park, where every February the setting sun draws a narrow sliver of light on a waterfall to make it glow like a cascade of molten lava.
The phenomenon known as “firefall” draws scores of photographers to a spot near Horsetail Fall, which flows down the granite face of the park’s famed rock formation, El Capitan.
Capturing the sight is a challenge. Horsetail Fall only flows in the winter or spring, when there is enough rain and snow. The sun lights up the fall for only about two minutes at dusk for a few days in February.
Some photographers have had success this year as pictures of the glowing falls are showing up on social media.
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2017-02-15 06:57:33
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Pantone creates shade of purple named for Prince symbol
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NEW YORK (AP) — A shade of purple inspired by the late superstar Prince and his custom-made Yamaha piano was announced Monday by the icon’s estate.
The royal hue created by the Pantone Color Institute was dubbed “Love Symbol #2,” paying tribute to the graphic Prince began using as his name in 1993 in a testy battle with Warner Bros. Records over ownership of the master recordings of some of his biggest hits. He switched back to Prince in 2000 after his Warner Bros. contract expired.
Prince also used the symbol on the cover of a 1992 album before he took it as a name and it was his signature early on after release of his hit “Purple Rain.”
Prince died in April 2016 at age 57 of an opioid overdose, according to authorities.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 14:47:03
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/pantone-creates-shade-of-purple-named-for-prince-symbol/
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Australian deputy prime minister under citizenship cloud
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CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s deputy prime minister on Monday became the latest lawmaker to reveal he might have breached a constitutional prohibition on dual citizens becoming lawmakers, after the New Zealand government declared he was a kiwi.
Barnaby Joyce told Parliament he would become the fifth lawmaker to be referred to the High Court since last month for scrutiny over whether he was entitled to remain in Parliament.
Joyce, who leads the conservative Nationals minor coalition party, said he had legal advice that he would be cleared by the court and would not stand down from Cabinet.
The 116-year-old section of the constitution that bans dual nationals is taking an extraordinary toll on the finely balanced Parliament elected in July last year. Before the careers of five came under a cloud since July, only two elected lawmakers were caught. Both were elected in the late 1990s and were quickly disqualified by the High Court, the first over New Zealand citizenship and the second for being British.
Critics of the constitutional rule argue it no longer suits the modern multicultural Australia in which almost half the population was born overseas or has at least one overseas-born parent.
If Joyce was disqualified, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s center-right government could lose its single-seat majority in the House of Representatives where parties need a majority to govern. The other four lawmakers are senators who if disqualified would be replaced by members of their own parties.
Joyce said he was notified by the New Zealand High Commission on Thursday that the New Zealand government had discovered “I may be a citizen by descent of New Zealand.”
“Needless to say, I was shocked to receive this information,” said Joyce, whose father migrated from New Zealand in 1947. Joyce was born in Australia in 1967.
New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English said he was told last week that Joyce was a New Zealand citizen.
“Unwittingly or not, he’s (Joyce) a New Zealand citizen and then it’s a matter for the Australian system to decide how Australian law applies in his case and how they deal with the issue,” English said.
The Australian opposition demanded that the government refuse to accept Joyce’s vote in Parliament and dump him from Cabinet until the court resolved his status. But Turnbull said he was confident that Joyce was eligible to sit in Parliament.
“We did not refer this matter to the court because of any doubt about the Member for New England’s (Joyce’s) position, but because of the need, plainly in the public interest, to give the court the opportunity to clarify the operation of the section (of the constitution) so important to the operation of our Parliament,” Turnbull told Parliament.
The citizenship crisis first took hold in Parliament when two minor Greens party senators, Scott Ludlam and Larissa Waters, quit days apart after discovering they were still citizens of their birth countries. Ludlam was born in New Zealand and Waters was born in Canada. Both left as children and made no efforts to secure citizenship other than Australian.
Turnbull accused the Greens of “incredible sloppiness” in vetting candidates, before senior government minister Matt Canavan announced that he had discovered he was Italian.
Australia-born Canavan, who said his mother applied for his Italian citizenship without his permission when he was aged 25, stood down as resources minister, but said he was staying in the Senate unless the court declares them ineligible.
Joyce temporarily shouldered Canavan’s portfolio and became a vocal supporter of his Nationals colleague.
New Zealand Minister of Internal Affairs Peter Dunne said that under the 1948 New Zealand Citizenship Act, every person born outside of New Zealand to a parent who was a New Zealand citizen by birth was automatically a New Zealand citizen.
“The problem is not with the New Zealand citizenship laws but rather with the Australian constitution,” Dunne said.
Last week, anti-immigration, anti-Muslim party One Nation Sen. Malcolm Roberts was referred to the High Court after he revealed that he only received written confirmation that he was not a British citizen five months after he was elected in July last year.
____
Associated Press writer Nick Perry, in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 00:34:29
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/australian-deputy-prime-minister-under-citizenship-cloud/
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Germany: Merkel pledges 'every effort' to avert US trade war
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BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says the European Union will make every effort to avoid a trade war with the United States, but Washington needs to join in that effort.
President Donald Trump’s administration has imposed tariffs on EU steel and aluminum imports and is mulling whether to add tariffs on cars, trucks and auto parts.
Merkel told the German parliament Wednesday: “It is worth every effort to try to defuse this conflict so that it doesn’t turn into a real war, but of course there are two sides to that.” She added that the good functioning of the world economy depends on countries working together as partners.
The U.S. is also pressing Germany over what it considers insufficient defense spending. Merkel said that “Germany is a reliable partner in NATO.”
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-07-04 03:12:47
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/07/04/germany-merkel-pledges-every-effort-to-avert-us-trade-war/
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Israel's Netanyahu in Greece to tout energy projects
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THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Under heavy security, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in northern Greece to discuss plans to become a key supplier of European energy through an ambitious Mediterranean undersea natural gas pipeline project.
Netanyahu met in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, while Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades was also due to attend the talks.
More than 3,500 police officers were deployed for security around the city, which historically had a large Jewish community that was almost wiped out during the Nazi occupation in World War Two.
Israel is hoping to export much of its newly discovered natural gas to Europe by a proposed undersea pipeline to Cyprus and Greece.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-06-15 04:30:12
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/06/15/israels-netanyahu-in-greece-to-tout-energy-projects/
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LISTEN: All I Need to Know About You 4/24
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When you ask to test drive the truck I have advertised that clearly states has NO motor…that’s all I need to about you! Call us with your stories about the moments in life that make you think, “That’s All I Need to Know About You,” each morning at 7:50a! 314.969.9230 from MO or 618.399.9230 from IL.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-04-24 08:41:19
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/04/24/listen-all-i-need-to-know-about-you-4-24/
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Bills new receiver Matthews has chip fracture in his sternum
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PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills newly acquired receiver Jordan Matthews has been diagnosed with a chip fracture in his sternum and will be listed week to week.
The team provided the update Monday morning, a day after Matthews was hurt in his first practice since being acquired in a trade with Philadelphia. Matthews finished practice before being escorted off the field complaining of a chest injury.
The Bills are counting on Matthews to fill starting receiver Sammy Watkins’ spot after he was also dealt to the Los Angeles Rams in a separate trade on Friday. Buffalo gave up starting cornerback Ronald Darby to acquire Matthews and a third-round draft pick from Philadelphia.
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AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP_NFL
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 07:31:14
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/bills-new-receiver-matthews-has-chip-fracture-in-his-sternum/
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France to name winners of anti-Trump climate change grants
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PARIS (AP) — Several U.S.-based climate scientists are about to win multi-year, all-expenses-paid grants to relocate to France.
The “Make Our Planet Great Again” grants are an effort by French President Emmanuel Macron to counter U.S. President Donald Trump on the climate change front. Macron announced a competition for the grants hours after Trump declared he would withdraw the U.S. from the global accord reached in Paris in 2015 to reduce climate-damaging emissions.
Macron is unveiling the winners Monday evening ahead of a climate summit Tuesday aimed at giving new impetus to the Paris accord and finding new funding to help governments and businesses meet its goals.
More than 50 world leaders are expected in Paris for the “One Planet Summit,” co-hosted by the U.N. and the World Bank. Trump was not invited.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-11 02:42:05
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/france-to-name-winners-of-anti-trump-climate-change-grants/
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AP Analysis: Rio de Janeiro Olympics cost $13.1 billion
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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — An analysis by The Associated Press shows that the cost of putting on last year’s Rio de Janeiro Olympics was $13.1 billion, paid for with a mix of public and private money.
Officials of Brazil’s Public Authority for Olympic Legacy said at a news conference Wednesday, the cost for “sports-related venues” was 7.23 billion reals ($2.06 billion). In addition, the Rio organizing committee previously said the cost of running the Games at 9 billion reals ($2.8 billion).
The Olympic legacy body did not account for other Olympic-related costs. But the AP obtained them in emailed statements from city, state and federal agencies.
Those costs were 26.385 billion reals ($8.2 billion) for, among other things, a subway line, a doping laboratory, a renovated port and cleanup of polluted Guanabara Bay.
The doping laboratory was paid for by the federal government and cost 163.7 million reals ($50 million). A delay-plagued subway line project that was built to connect fans to Olympic Park had a price tag of 9.7 billion reals ($2.98 billion). According to a state auditor’s report cited in August, the railway was overbilled by 25 percent.
Another legacy project, the renovation of Porto Maravilha, a run-down historic area in Rio, cost the city 10 billion reals ($4.2 billion).
“Should a country with such inequality as Brazil have hosted such an event with this level of investment,” federal prosecutor Leandro Mitidieri said. He said it would be difficult to use the Olympic venues in a way that would generate enough income to cover maintenance expenses.
“It is a challenge and we can see the difficulties,” he said. “We recognize the difficulties.”
Officials presented the report at the Olympic Park in suburban Barra da Tijuca, which now consists of mostly vacant venues. Last month a federal prosecutor said many of the venues were “white elephants” that were built with “no planning.”
The Rio Olympics, which opened 10 months ago, were plagued by countless financial and organizational problems, and were hosted as Brazil sank into its deepest recession since the 1930s.
The state of Rio de Janeiro has been months late paying teachers, hospital workers, and pensions. The state also reported record-breaking crime in 2016 in almost all categories from homicides to robbery.
The problems around the Rio Games — and the aftermath — have called into question the wisdom of cities building new venues every few years to accommodate an event that lasts just over two weeks.
Paulo Marcio, the head of the Public Authority for Olympic Legacy, talked vaguely about plans to use the venues. The Olympic Park has staged mainly small national or local events.
He did not offer any cost or income figures with most of the Olympic arenas now being operated by Brazil’s federal government. A plan to auction off the venues to private operators failed when only one bidder was reported to be interested.
“I think that in a short period of time I will be able to deliver this legacy, and we have already been successful,” he said.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-06-14 18:56:57
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/06/14/ap-analysis-rio-de-janeiro-olympics-cost-13-1-billion/
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AP Explains: What's next after Turkey seizes Syria's Afrin
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BEIRUT (AP) — Turkey’s seizure of the town of Afrin in northern Syria is a significant military achievement for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that gives him control over a large chunk of Syrian territory but also entrenches his troops as an occupying force in a crowded terrain packed with adversaries.
Ignoring criticism by the United States and Europe of his eight-week military offensive, Turkish forces and allied Syrian militiamen swept into Afrin on Sunday, marching victoriously into the town’s center and shooting in the air in celebration.
And it doesn’t stop there, Erdogan says.
Emboldened, he vowed on Monday to expand military operations into other Kurdish-held areas in Syria and even into neighboring Iraq — a move that would potentially put his troops in direct confrontation with U.S. troops stationed nearby.
The main Kurdish militia, acknowledging defeat in Afrin, has vowed to turn to guerrilla warfare to confront Turkish troops.
Here’s a look at Turkey’s seizure of Afrin, and what lies ahead:
___
WHAT DOES ERDOGAN REALLY WANT?
At this point, that question is anyone’s guess. Turkey has long backed rebels fighting to oust President Bashar Assad from power, opening its borders to foreign fighters to join the war in Syria.
But the war has greatly empowered Erdogan’s No. 1 enemy, the Kurds, whose rag-tag fighters Turkey considers to be “terrorists” and an extension of its own Kurdish insurgency. In the chaos of war, the Kurdish fighters have partnered with the United States to fight the Islamic State group and carved out a huge autonomous region along the border with Turkey, amounting to a quarter of Syria’s entire territory.
That has led Ankara to recalibrate its focus toward halting Kurdish expansionism.
Erdogan, who first launched military operations in Syria in 2016, has repeatedly said Turkey will not allow a “terror corridor” along its border and has vowed to push eastward in Syria after Afrin, to prevent the Kurdish militia from linking up territories it controls in eastern and western Syria. Turkey is home to some 3 million Syrian refugees, and Turkey has also said Afrin could be a place where those refugees would return to.
Afrin, a separate Kurkish-run canton cut off from the rest of Kurdish-held territory by a Turkish-held enclave, was an easy target.
But by pushing eastward as he is threatening to do, Erdogan risks overplaying his hand and getting bogged down in a fight bigger than Turkey can handle.
___
WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR THE KURDS?
It’s a huge setback. Until a few months ago, Syria’s long-marginalized Kurds were described as the biggest winners in Syria’s civil war. They bragged of being the main ground force that ousted the Islamic State group out of its strongholds in Syria, including Raqqa, the extremist group’s de facto capital.
But the Kurds’ dream of self-rule is looking increasingly fragile. They have been historically used and cast aside, and may once again become the losers in the big powers’ play over influence in Syria.
The Turkish offensive on Afrin, which began Jan. 20, has put the U.S. in a tough spot, juggling between the interests of the Kurds, its only ally in war-torn Syria, and its relations with Turkey, a key NATO ally. It did not move a finger to help the Kurds fight for Afrin.
The Kurds vowed to defend the enclave until the end, describing it as an existential fight to preserve their territory. They relocated hundreds of fighters from front lines with the Islamic State group to bolster the defense of Afrin.
In the end, they were no match for Turkey’s NATO army’s overwhelming firepower.
The Kurds lost more than 800 fighters in the 58 days of fighting for Afrin. An estimated 500 civilians were killed, and tens of thousands of Afrin residents streamed out of the town before the Turkish troops entered.
The Kurdish fighters also withdrew, ostensibly, to spare the remaining civilians.
___
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
A lot hinges on whether Erdogan goes ahead with his threat to expand military operations eastward, toward the town of Manbij and other areas east of the Euphrates River controlled by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish forces, and where U.S. bases are also housed.
While the U.S. was able to distance itself from the fighting in Afrin, it can’t sit by silently if Turkey expands the fight to Manbij. Kurdish guerrilla-type attacks against Turkey and its Syrian allies could also jeopardize the U.S.-led mission to stabilize areas that have been captured from IS.
President Bashar Assad’s response is also an open question. His forces are now preoccupied with recapturing eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, and other areas deemed more essential. But he has condemned Turkish “occupation” of parts of northern Syria and vowed to eventually recapture the region.
Another major question is whether the takeover would lead to ethnic cleansing of the Kurdish majority there. Images that emerged Sunday following Afrin’s takeover bode ill for the future of the ethnically-mixed region. Afrin residents reported widespread looting and pillaging soon after Turkish troops and allied Syrian fighters marched into the town center Sunday.
Turkey, along with its Syrian allies, already controls large chunks of territory east of Afrin. But its presence there was more accepted than in Afrin because it chased IS militants from those areas.
Some 200,000 people fled Afrin over the past few days, and whether they will be permitted to return remains an open question.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-03-19 13:22:38
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/19/ap-explains-whats-next-after-turkey-seizes-syrias-afrin/
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Severe storms spawn tornadoes, damage homes in Southeast US
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ATLANTA (AP) — Severe storms that spawned tornadoes damaged homes and downed trees as they moved across the Southeast on Monday night.
Forecasters warned that the storms could threaten more than 29 million people, raising the risk of powerful tornadoes, damaging winds and hail the size of tennis balls.
Cities in northern Alabama reported power outages, and the National Weather Service in Huntsville reported at least three confirmed tornadoes in the area.
In Limestone County, an Alabama county on the Tennessee border, the sheriff’s office posted photos online of houses with roofs ripped off and outbuildings torn from their foundations. Several roads were closed because of power lines or trees, the office tweeted. But it had no reports of injuries from the storms.
The athletic director at Jacksonville State University said late Monday there was significant damage to the campus.
“I can confirm we have major roof damage at Pete Mathews Coliseum, but The Pete is not completely destroyed,” Greg Seitz said in a tweet.
Seitz later tweeted that they were still surveying the campus but that there was major roof damage to two halls, adding that his was thankful that JSU was on spring break this week and that most students are out of town.
Portions of northern Alabama and southern Tennessee were still under tornado warnings Monday night, and the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for much of northern Georgia as the line moved eastward.
Forecasters said the storm threat is unusually dangerous because of the possibility of several tornadoes, some of which could be intense. The weather service says hail as large as 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) in diameter could fall, and there’s a possibility of wind gusts to 70 mph (115 kph).
“The potential for strong to violent, long-track tornadoes is a real possibility,” Alabama state meteorologist Jim Stefkovic said at a news conference.
Alabama Emergency Management Executive Operations Officer Jeff Smitherman raised the threat level and increased staffing at Alabama’s emergency management agency. The storms are the first severe weather to threaten the state this year.
School systems from central Tennessee as far south as Birmingham, Alabama, let out early, hoping students and staff would have time to get home before the storms moved through.
The threatened storms come one day before the official start of spring, and are “by far the most impressive setup we’ve seen so far this year,” said Kurt Weber, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Huntsville, Alabama.
“We can’t rule out a strong tornado east of Interstate 65 at this point with all the ingredients coming together,” Weber added. “Hopefully not, but definitely a possibility.”
He said golf ball to tennis ball-sized hail, which can do serious damage to buildings and cars, was possible.
“This is one of those days you want to put the car in the garage if you can,” Weber said.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey urged Alabamians to implement safety plans and get in a safe location.
“We are not taking the situation lightly,” Ivey said. “Severe weather is unpredictable and that is why it is paramount we prepare ahead of time.”
The University of Alabama suspended operations Monday from 6:30 p.m. to midnight, meaning classes and campus activities were cancelled, libraries closed and shelters were opened on campus.
___
Associated Press writer Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, Mallory Moench in Montgomery, Alabama, and Kate Brumback in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-03-20 01:49:26
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/20/damaging-hail-and-tornadoes-threatened-for-southeast-us/
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For GOP, a dimmed zeal for investigations in Trump era
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republicans’ ardor for investigations and oversight, on display throughout the Obama administration, has cooled off considerably with Donald Trump in the White House.
Each day seems to bring a new headache or near-crisis from Trump, the latest being the departure of his national security adviser under questionable circumstances involving Russia.
Yet if there is a line too far, at which point Republicans will feel duty-bound to call for an independent investigation of their president or his administration, Trump hasn’t crossed it yet.
Democrats are clamoring for a full-scale probe of the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, including demanding to know what Trump knew, and when, about Flynn’s pre-inauguration conversations with a Russian ambassador about U.S. sanctions. White House press secretary Sean Spicer disclosed that Trump was told in late January that Flynn had misled Vice President Mike Pence about those conversations.
Rather than go along with Democrats’ call for an independent outside investigation, Senate Republicans insisted Tuesday that the Intelligence Committee could look at the circumstances as part of an existing probe into Russia’s interference in the presidential election.
“The Intelligence Committee is already looking at Russian involvement in our election and they have broad jurisdiction over the intel community writ large and they can look at whatever they choose to,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., adding that “it’s highly likely they’d want to take a look at this episode as well.”
The intelligence panel’s chairman, Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina, told reporters that “aggressive” oversight would continue “privately. We don’t do that in public.”
House Republicans were even less interested, with some shrugging off Democrats’ calls for an investigation entirely. Rep. Devin Nunes of California, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said that the “real crime” is how Flynn’s phone conversations were leaked, echoing a complaint Trump himself made over Twitter.
“I think the situation has taken care of itself” in light of Flynn’s resignation, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told reporters. That’s a far different stance toward potential wrongdoing by the executive branch than Chaffetz took last year, when House Republicans issued more than 70 letters and subpoenas aimed at investigating Democrat Hillary Clinton over a period of less than three months after the FBI announced criminal charges weren’t warranted related to her use of a private email server as secretary of state.
Chaffetz did turn his attention to a different Trump administration matter later Tuesday, sending a letter to the White House seeking information about Trump’s discussion of a North Korea missile launch while dining al fresco with the Japanese prime minister at a resort in Florida.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., went so far as to counsel publicly against spending too much time investigating the White House, saying that doing so could only be counterproductive at a moment when the GOP faces a daunting legislative agenda on Capitol Hill.
“I just don’t think it’s useful to be doing investigation after investigation, particularly of your own party,” Paul said in an appearance on Fox News Radio’s “Kilmeade and Friends.” ”We’ll never even get started with doing the things we need to do like repealing Obamacare if we’re spending our whole time having Republicans investigate Republicans. I think it makes no sense.”
The relatively hands-off stance of the GOP toward the Trump White House angers Democrats, who are powerless to do much except fume from the minority in both chambers of Congress.
“Do you hear the silence? This is the sound of House Republicans conducting no oversight of President Trump. Zero,” Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland, top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, complained at a news conference Tuesday. “That is what it sounds like when they abdicate their duty under the Constitution. We’ve been asking for months for basic oversight.”
The GOP’s lack of enthusiasm about investigating the Trump White House comes as Capitol Hill Republicans struggle to come to terms with a new administration that has been engulfed in upheaval after upheaval. Republicans are trying to focus on their agenda despite the distractions. And for now, they appear to have concluded, going easy on Trump is the best way to achieve their goals, including confirming a Supreme Court justice and passing a new health care law and other legislation they want the president to sign.
“We know full well that there are issues that are going to come up on a daily basis that we’re going to get asked about and have to respond to,” said Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 3 Senate Republican, “but we’re interested in repealing and replacing Obamacare, reforming the tax code, reducing the regulatory burden on businesses, confirming a Supreme Court justice, getting these Cabinet nominees through — that’s what our agenda is right now.”
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-02-15 02:45:49
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http://newcountry923.fm/2017/02/15/for-gop-a-dimmed-zeal-for-investigations-in-trump-era/
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Trump bans US use of Venezuelan cryptocurrency
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Monday banned all use by Americans of Venezuelan cryptocurrency, saying that its introduction is intended to skirt U.S. sanctions. In a separate move, the administration also slapped sanctions on four current and former senior Venezuelan officials accused of corruption and mismanagement.
In an executive order that took effect immediately upon its issuance, President Donald Trump declared illegal all U.S. transactions related to Venezuelan digital currencies, coins or tokens. The prohibition applies to all people and companies subject to U.S. jurisdiction. The move follows the introduction last month of a Venezuelan cryptocurrency known as the “petro,” for which the government says it has received investment commitments of $5 billion.
In the executive order, Trump said it was an “attempt to circumvent U.S. sanctions” imposed for democratic backsliding.
The Treasury had said in January that the petro appeared to be an extension of credit to Venezuela and warned that transactions in it may violate U.S. sanctions.
In February, cash-strapped Venezuela became the first country to launch its own version of bitcoin, the petro, in a move that President Nicolas Maduro celebrated as putting his country on the world’s technological forefront.
The petro is backed by Venezuela’s crude oil reserves, the largest in the world, yet it has arrived on the market as the socialist country sinks deeper into an economic crisis marked by soaring inflation and food shortages that put residents in lines for hours to buy common products.
Maduro had announced late last year that he was creating the digital currency to outmaneuver U.S. sanctions preventing Venezuela from issuing new debt.
Bitcoin and other digital tokens are already widely used in Venezuela as a hedge against hyperinflation and an easy-to-use mechanism for paying for everything from doctor visits to honeymoons in a country where obtaining hard currency requires transactions in the illegal black market.
The government has promised that Venezuelans will be able to use the $60 coins to pay taxes and for public services. But with the Venezuelan minimum wage hovering around $3 a month, it’s unlikely citizens will buy in large amounts.
In its own statement on Monday, Treasury said it was hitting the four current and former Venezuelan officials with sanctions that freeze any assets they may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bar Americans from doing business with them.
The four include Americo Alex Mata, a director of Venezuela’s National Bank of Housing and Habitat and coordinator of Maduro’s 2013 campaign, Willian Antonio Contreras, the head of the body that oversees price controls in the country, Nelson Reinaldo Lepaje, the head of the Office of the National Treasury, and Carlos Alberto Rotondaro, the former president of the Board of Directors of the Venezuelan Institute of Social Security.
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-03-19 16:43:12
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/19/trump-bans-us-use-of-venezuelan-cryptocurrency/
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US-based climate scientists to take research to France
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PARIS (AP) — It is a dream come true for U.S.-based climate scientists — the offer of all-expenses-paid life in France to advance their research in Europe instead of in the United States under climate skeptic President Donald Trump, two of the winners say.
American scientist Camille Parmesan and British scientist Benjamin Sanderson are among the 18 initial winners, including 13 based in the U.S., of French President Emmanuel Macron’s “Make Our Planet Great Again” climate grants.
Macron congratulated the winners during a brief ceremony in Paris on Monday evening, ahead of a climate summit that gathers more than 50 world leaders in the French capital Tuesday.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Parmesan expressed elation at the prospect of spending the next five years doing her research in France instead of the United States.
A scientist from the University of Texas at Austin, she is a leader in the field on how climate affects wildlife. She lived for a few years in Britain for family reasons and was considering returning to the U.S. until Trump’s election.
“He very, very rapidly has been actively trying to erode science in the U.S.A. and in particular climate science,” she said. “And it’s hard for two reasons: Funding is becoming almost impossible, and in a psychological sense.”
Parmesan answered with enthusiasm Macron’s appeal for climate researchers to come work in France, minutes after Trump’s rejection of the Paris climate accord. “It gave me such a psychological boost, it was so good to have that kind of support, to have the head of state saying I value what you do,” she said.
Parmesan, who said she is looking forward to improving her French, will be working at an experimental ecology station in the Pyrenees mountains.
Sanderson, who also worked in the U.S., told the AP that he found it “very reassuring” that France is “openly encouraging climate research.”
He said his application was motivated by “the fact that France is making a stand on prioritizing climate change research, but also it’s increasingly hard to get research funding in the U.S.”
Sanderson used to work at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado, on risks and uncertainties under climate change. For the next few years, he will be living in Toulouse, in southern France, where the country’s national meteorological service is based.
France’s ministry of Research said the selection of the laureates focused on “scientific excellence and relevance to the call”.
“It’s very troubling,” that researchers feel they need to leave the United States to get needed support for their work, said Chris McEntee, chief executive officer of the American Geophysical Union, an organization of more than 60,000 Earth and space scientists. “Ever since the election there has been fear and anxiety among the scientific community.
“It’s not good for the U.S. but it’s not good for the world either,” McEntee said.
___
Science writer Seth Borenstein contributed from New Orleans.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-12 02:50:05
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/12/us-based-climate-scientists-to-take-research-to-france/
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Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish leader Shteinman dies at 104
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JERUSALEM (AP) — Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the spiritual leader of Israel’s non-Hassidic ultra-Orthodox Jews of European descent and one of the country’s most influential and powerful rabbis, died Tuesday. He was 104.
Shteinman was hospitalized several weeks ago with shortness of breath and passed away early on Tuesday. Hundreds of thousands were expected to attend his noontime funeral in the central Israeli ultra-Orthodox city of Bnei Brak and major roads were being shut down in advance of the procession.
Shteinman was a longtime political kingmaker whose orders were strictly followed by his representatives in parliament. His influence, however, far surpassed just that and he was seen as the leading voice of the entire community on many issues of religion and state. Following the 2012 death of his predecessor, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, he was widely regarded as “Gadol Hador,” or “leader of the generation.”
The ultra-Orthodox, known in Hebrew as “Haredim,” or “those who fear God,” are the fastest growing sector in Israel. Due to their high birth rate, they now number more than 1 million people, or about 12 percent of Israel’s 8.7 million citizens, with the majority living beneath the poverty line.
Shteinman was known for his rabbinic scholarship, his relatively pragmatic rulings and extremely modest lifestyle. He was often called to judge on sensitive matters such as how much the traditionally insular community should integrate with the larger Israeli society, embrace technology, pursue higher education, work or agree to serve in the largely security military. In recent years, he had faced a challenge from a more extremist rabbi in Jerusalem who sent thousands into the street to protest the small numbers of ultra-Orthodox who have enlisted.
Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer, an expert on the ultra-Orthodox community, said that until just recently Shteinman was of clear mind and hosting followers who sought his advice.
“He was a person who knew very carefully how to balance the needs of the community with the needs of the individual,” he said. “His legacy is greatness of scholarship … but at the same time a very nuanced leadership.”
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin praised Shteinman as a leader who “carried on his shoulders the existential weight of the Jewish people.”
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-12 03:12:53
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/12/israeli-ultra-orthodox-jewish-leader-shteinman-dies-at-104/
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Leagues, casinos lobby states for cut of legal sports bets
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WASHINGTON (AP) — With the Supreme Court poised to rule on a case that could end the federal ban on sports gambling, more than a third of U.S. states are considering legislation to get in on the action, and professional leagues and casino interests are lobbying against each other for the biggest cut of the winnings.
The push to legalize betting on sports has already led to fractures in an uneasy alliance that had developed between leagues and gambling legalization advocates before Supreme Court arguments last fall.
The NBA and Major League Baseball have been asking states to give them 1 percent of the total amount wagered on their games, calling it an “integrity fee” so they can protect their products and snuff out attempts at cheating and game-fixing.
“Now, let’s be clear — that’s just a euphemism for a cut of the action,” Joe Asher, CEO of William Hill U.S., a sports book operator, told New York state lawmakers in January. “There will be plenty of financial benefits to the leagues.”
Gambling proponents say kicking back that much to the leagues would make sports books unprofitable and prevent a legal, regulated betting market from developing. They’re seeking an arrangement similar to what exists in Nevada, where the state takes 6.75 percent of winnings on top of a federal tax of 0.25 percent of the amount wagered.
Casinos have a built-in edge when it comes to battling in statehouses. Casinos are legal in 40 states; the commercial companies and American Indian tribes that run them are well-versed in dealing with regulators and state lawmakers. The NBA and MLB, on the other hand, are new to lobbying states on gambling and have sometimes relied upon the bully pulpit of their commissioners to get their point across.
“The leagues feel like they’re out of their element, and that’s making them uncomfortable,” said Kevin Braig, a Columbus, Ohio-based attorney, gambling industry analyst and handicapper. “The gaming industry lobbies all the states. I think it goes even beyond that: They’re almost partners in what they’re doing. They have a very close relationship because they have very closely overlapping interests.”
Before the Supreme Court heard New Jersey’s challenge to the 1992 federal law limiting sports betting to the four states that already had laws on the books, casino interests — and their influential trade group, the American Gaming Association — were encouraged by the professional leagues’ changing attitudes about gambling, even as leagues argued before the justices that the ban should remain. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said betting should be legalized and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said it could enhance fan interest in the sport. Although the NFL remains publicly opposed to gambling, Commissioner Roger Goodell has said his position has “evolved.”
The NFL and the NCAA have sat out the debate entirely in states considering legislation. That’s despite the fact that 31 percent of sports gambling winnings in Nevada last year came from football bets, and more is wagered on college basketball’s NCAA Tournament than on the Super Bowl.
The NBA and MLB argue their reputations are on the line because of the possibility of games being fixed. Sports fans are still familiar with the Black Sox scandal of 1919, Pete Rose’s lifetime banishment from baseball for betting on games and a point-shaving scandal involving former NBA referee Tim Donaghy.
“The damage from even a hint of scandal will hurt the sports leagues far worse than anyone else,” said Bryan Seeley, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at MLB.
“The NBA spends billions of dollars each year creating the games that would serve as the foundation for legalized sports betting, while bearing all of the risk and therefore incurring enormous additional expenses for compliance and enforcement,” NBA spokesman Mike Bass said. “As a result, we believe it is reasonable for operators to compensate the NBA with a small percentage of the total amount bet on our games.”
State regulators monitor wagering 24/7 in Nevada, and the leagues pay contractors to monitor overseas bets.
Casinos argue that sports books don’t make much money and are really there to get gamblers in the door. Unlike blackjack or slots, where casinos have a house edge, sports books make money by encouraging individual gamblers to each side of a wager, and then charging a percentage for placing the bet. Casinos say leagues will benefit from enhanced fan interest and gambling-company sponsorships.
Bills to legalize sports betting have been introduced in 18 states. This month, West Virginia approved a bill that would legalize sports betting immediately if the Supreme Court allows it. A decision by the court is expected this spring.
Mississippi, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania have also already authorized sports gambling. New York is considering whether to expand a law already on the books to allow sports gambling at racetracks and betting parlors. In Iowa, a bill to authorize sports books has advanced out of committee.
The states that have only introduced bills or are not as far along in the process are California, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
The NBA and MLB haven’t successfully sold lawmakers on a 1 percent cut so far, although the New York bill was amended to give 0.25 percent of the amount wagered to the leagues.
West Virginia’s new law doesn’t kick back anything to the leagues. Manfred said it has “serious problems” and benefits “only the gaming industry.” He may have found a sympathetic ear in Republican Gov. Jim Justice, who allowed the bill to become law without his signature and urged lawmakers to consider partnering with the leagues.
While 1 percent may not sound like a lot, sports books generally hold onto only around 5 percent of what’s wagered. That means a 1 percent tax on the handle can siphon away about 20 percent of gambling revenue. Add state and federal taxes, and casinos may find sports books to be a sucker bet.
Sara Slane, senior vice president of public affairs at the American Gaming Association, said the proposed fee runs counter to the leagues’ and casinos’ shared goal of curtailing illegal gambling.
“If you are trying to stamp out the illegal market and drive more traffic to the legal, regulated market,” Slane said, “you’re not going to be able to accomplish that with this type of business model.”
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-03-20 01:40:21
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/20/leagues-casinos-lobby-states-for-cut-of-legal-sports-bets/
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NBA estimates 40,000 more travel miles in a top 16 playoffs
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NEW YORK (AP) — The NBA estimates an increase of 40,000 miles of travel in the postseason if it scrapped its current conference format and took the top 16 teams.
Calls to change the system were renewed this week when LeBron James left Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers, which could create another strong Western Conference team, where both Houston and Golden State finished above .700. The only team in the Eastern Conference with a similar record was Toronto. Houston and Golden State met in a thrilling West final before the Warriors swept the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals.
Commissioner Adam Silver has said ideally there would be a format allowing the two best teams to meet for the title, but he has repeatedly expressed concern about the additional travel that would be created if teams were seeded 1 to 16 in the postseason, instead of the current format in which it’s the top eight teams in each conference.
“I think, as I’ve said in the past, the obstacle is travel, and it’s not tradition in my mind, at least,” Silver said at the All-Star break. “It’s that as we’ve added an extra week to the regular season, as we’ve tried to reduce the number of back-to-backs, that we are concerned about teams crisscrossing the country in the first round, for example. We are just concerned about the overall travel that we would have in the top 16 teams.”
The league says it averages about 90,000 miles of total travel in the postseason and estimates that would increase to 130,000. It estimates, based on historical data, an average of 2½ series per year matching teams separated by three time zones before the NBA Finals, with about a 90 percent chance of at least one per season.
The WNBA switched its playoff format to the top eight teams instead of by conference in 2016.
A 1-to-16 format would likely mean the league would have to balance the schedule so teams played the same amount of games in the regular season against East and West teams, instead of playing more against the teams on its side.
That would create about 150,000 additional miles of travel in the regular season, the league estimates, from the 1.4 million miles of total travel in 2017-18.
“It’s still my hope that we’re going to figure out ways,” Silver said. “Maybe ultimately you have to add even more days to the season to spread it out a little bit more to deal with the travel. Maybe air travel will get better. All things we’ll keep looking at.”
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This story has been corrected to show that Houston and Golden State had the top two records in the Western Conference, not the entire league.
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball
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2018-07-04 09:15:10
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/07/04/nba-estimates-40000-more-travel-miles-in-a-top-16-playoffs/
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Paris attacks victims aim to find out who held back soldiers
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PARIS (AP) — Survivors and families of victims of the deadly 2015 attack on Paris’ Bataclan concert hall have brought a case before France’s administrative court to find out why French soldiers stationed nearby were ordered not to intervene when Islamic State gunmen stormed the venue.
The new procedure Wednesday seeks to expose who was responsible in the French government for the soldiers’ actions. It comes one month after victims filed a legal complaint with the same goal.
During the attacks, eight soldiers standing near the Bataclan as part of an internal security operation were ordered not to use their weapons. The government later clarified the rules of engagement for its military in similar situations.
The attack on the Bataclan and other Paris venues on Nov. 13, 2015, killed 130 people and wounded hundreds.
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2018-07-04 05:41:18
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/07/04/paris-attacks-victims-aim-to-find-out-who-held-back-soldiers/
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Knights outworked by Capitals in Game 2, take rare home loss
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Golden Knights coach Gerard Gallant for months talked about his team’s hard work, ability to battle and their devotion to playing a full “200 feet of hockey.”
In pockets of Game 2 in the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night, the Golden Knights were surprisingly outworked, outbattled and outhustled in losing 3-2 to the Washington Capitals. Game 3 is Saturday night in Washington and Vegas is going to need to up the energy level even further in a frantic series with scoring chances galore.
Vegas outshot the Capitals 39-26, but the hustle stats in Game 2 went to Washington, which handed the expansion club just its second home loss of the postseason. Washington had 18 blocked shots to eight for Vegas, helping goaltender Braden Holtby turn things around. He allowed five goals in the opener but was sublime in Game 2 as he made 37 saves — none bigger than stopping Alex Tuch with the paddle of his stick in a sprawling move with just 1:59 left.
Washington also showed its mettle on the penalty kill, limiting the Golden Knights to a single goal in four attempts — including a 5-on-3 on the third period.
“You’ve got to try and capitalize on those,” Vegas defenseman Luca Sbisa said. “It’s just one of those games, even at the end, with Tuchy having that chance. Most of times it goes in. It’s just one of those games.”
And while Washington outhit the Golden Knights, 46-39, it was some of Vegas’ bigger hits that ignited the Capitals in the second period.
Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb hammered Washington’s first-line forward Evgeny Kuznetsov, sending him to the dressing room with a little more than five minutes left in the first period. He didn’t return.
Washington coach Barry Trotz didn’t provide an update on his star afterward, but said it was the key moment in the game for his team.
“It galvanized us as a group, I think it might be a turning point for us,” Trotz said.
With Kuznetsov out, Trotz added Nicklas Backstrom to his top line with Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson. And 5:38 into the second period, with the game tied at 1-all and the Capitals on a power play, Ovechkin scored his first career Stanley Cup Final goal to give the Capitals the lead.
“I think they got energy from that, I think they were pissed off, that’s how sports go,” Vegas forward Erik Haula said. “You see one of your best players go down and you’re pissed off, that’s part of it. It’s no excuse for us. Bottom line is we were right in that game I think, it was right there for us to grab, we just came short.”
Vegas unraveled and gave up more uncharacteristic chances in front of Marc-Andre Fleury, who has yet to lose consecutive games this postseason. The Golden Knights also had 12 turnovers compared to Washington’s four.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a few times with some turnovers,” Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “At the end of the day you really have got to see where your game is at. If you look at it as a whole, we played really well for parts of the first period and we got caught up in the transition game in the second period — and that’s not the game we want to play.”
Instead, Washington fed off the momentum and dictated the tempo, and a little less than four minutes after Ovechkin scored, Brooks Orpik broke a 220-game goal drought with the eventual game winner. It was his first goal since Feb. 26, 2016.
“I haven’t yelled that loud for someone to score a goal since Ovi scored one of his milestones,” Washington forward T.J. Oshie said.
Though the Golden Knights outshot Washington 15-6 in the third period, the Capitals skated faster, competed better, worked harder and played smarter to steal home-ice advantage with their first-ever Final win. The Capitals return to Capital One Arena, where they have just a 4-5 record in the postseason. Vegas is 6-2 on the road in the playoffs.
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More Stanley Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/StanleyCupFinals
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-05-31 00:04:33
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/05/31/knights-outworked-by-capitals-in-game-2-take-rare-home-loss/
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Scaramucci: If it were up to me, Bannon would be gone
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NEW YORK (AP) — Short-lived White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci says if it were up to him, top adviser Steve Bannon would be gone from President Donald Trump’s administration.
But, he notes, “it’s not up to me.”
“The Mooch,” a few weeks removed from his spectacular flameout following an expletive-laden conversation with a reporter, appeared Monday on CBS’ “Late Show” with Stephen Colbert. Colbert has seen his ratings soar since Trump’s inauguration with his relentless comedic attacks.
Colbert showed a picture of Scaramucci former White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus glaring at each other. Scaramucci said there was “no love lost” between the two.
He said he and Priebus got along well when he was writing checks to the Republican National Committee, which Priebus once led.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 21:30:57
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/scaramucci-if-it-were-up-to-me-bannon-would-be-gone/
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Asian shares track Wall Street rebound, as Italy fears fade
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Asian shares rose Thursday after U.S. stocks recovered most of their sharp losses from a day earlier as jitters over Italy’s political situation subsided.
KEEPING SCORE: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.9 percent to 22,220.69 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 0.8 percent to 30,282.91. The Shanghai Composite index rebounded 1.4 percent to 3,083.49 and Australia’s S&P ASX 200 climbed 0.5 percent to 6,014.00. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.5 percent to 2,421.18. Shares rose in Taiwan and were mostly higher in Southeast Asia.
WALL STREET: Banks and energy companies surged Wednesday as investors reversed course on hopes that Italy will be able to avoid a new round of elections. Stocks had plunged the previous day as investors expected the Italian gridlock would be resolved with new elections that could have turned into a yes-or-no referendum deciding whether Italy would continue to use the euro. The S&P 500 index jumped 1.3 percent to 2,724.01 and the Dow Jones industrial average also climbed 1.3 percent to 24,667.78. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.9 percent to 7,462.45. The Russell 2000 index surged 1.5 percent, closing at a record high of 1,647.99. Italy’s FTSE MIB stock index climbed 2.1 percent after a 2.7 percent drop a day earlier. Prices for Italian government bonds also rose, sending yields down following a huge surge the day before.
CHINA MANUFACTURING: Chinese factory activity grew at its fastest rate in eight months on stronger demand, a survey showed Thursday, in a positive sign for the world’s No. 2 economy despite trade tensions with the U.S. The official purchasing managers’ index, or PMI, rose to 51.9 in May from 51.4 the previous month. Readings above 50 indicate expansion, while lower numbers indicate contraction on the index’s 100-point scale.
ANALYST’S VIEWPOINT: “Today’s strong set of official PMIs tell a reassuring story about current growth momentum. However, we will have to wait for more reliable indicators to be published in order to get a clearer picture of the health of China’s economy,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary.
CHINA TRADE: Beijing criticized the U.S. for renewing a threat to raise duties on some imports from China. At the same time, officials from the U.S. and European Union held talks on tariffs the Trump administration has proposed on European steel and aluminum. European Union negotiators seemed pessimistic and said they expected the U.S. to announce a final decision Thursday. China and the EU have both said they will react to new tariffs imposed by the U.S. with duties of their own, which has raised the prospect of greater tensions and the possibility of trade wars.
CURRENCIES: The euro rose to $1.1666 from $1.1664. The dollar fell to 108.78 yen from 108.89 yen.
ENERGY: U.S. crude oil slipped 11 cents to $68.10 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It jumped 2.2 percent on Wednesday to $68.21 per barrel in New York. Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 21 cents to $77.51 per barrel. It added 2.8 percent to $77.50 a barrel in London. Oil prices fell 7.6 percent in five days following reports OPEC countries and Russia might start producing more oil soon.
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AP Markets Writer Marley Jay contributed to this report. He can be reached at http://twitter.com/MarleyJayAP . His work can be found at https://apnews.com/search/marley%20jay
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2018-05-31 00:27:27
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/05/31/us-stocks-jump-as-italian-worries-ease-oil-prices-climb/
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US factory output rose in January for 2nd straight month
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WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. manufacturers cranked out more steel, machinery and electronics last month as factories appear to be rebounding after two years of stagnation.
The Federal Reserve says factory output rose 0.2 percent in January, its second straight increase. While modest, the gain is equal to the industry’s growth in all of 2016.
Oil and gas drillers cut back on building new rigs after energy prices plunged two years ago. That caused orders for steel pipe and other drilling equipment to plummet. Weak overseas economies in Europe and China also cut into exports. Yet those trends have largely reversed.
Mining production rose 2.8 percent last month, pushed higher by a big gain in oil and gas drilling. A broader measure of industrial production, which includes manufacturing, mining and utilities, dropped 0.3 percent.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-02-15 08:15:19
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Americans sentenced in Panama for 5 murders
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PANAMA CITY (AP) — A court in Panama has sentenced American William Dathan Holbert to 47 years in prison for robbing and killing five other Americans in a Caribbean tourist destination.
Holbert’s ex-wife Laura Reese was sentenced to 26 years for her role.
Authorities say Holbert admitted killing five people between 2007 and 2010 in Bocas del Toro province in order to steal their property.
Holbert and Reese were arrested trying to enter Nicaragua from Costa Rica in 2010.
The bodies of four adults and one child were found buried on the property of a hostel Holbert owned. Holbert and Reese had fled North Carolina where he had sold his landscaping business and filed for bankruptcy.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 13:52:45
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/americans-sentenced-in-panama-for-5-murders/
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Man who disarmed Waffle House shooter hailed by lawmakers
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The co-owner of a Colorado crane company where the suspect in a deadly weekend shooting at a Nashville restaurant once worked said she had urged federal officials to keep him in custody after he was arrested at the White House last year.
Travis Reinking, 29, is accused of opening fire Sunday outside a Waffle House with an AR-15 rifle and then storming the restaurant, wearing only a green jacket. Four people were killed and four others were wounded in the shooting.
But Reinking had exhibited erratic behavior for years before the shooting. Darlene Sustrich, who co-owns a Colorado crane company where Reinking once worked, said they got a call from the FBI after he allegedly tried to jump the White House fence last July.
“We told them, ‘Hang onto him if you can. Help him if you can,'” Sustrich said.
Federal officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reinking has been charged with four counts of criminal homicide. And a tweet from the Metro Nashville Police Department said he also faces four counts of attempted murder and one count of unlawful possession in the commission of a violent felony.
Davidson County Sheriff Daron Hall said Tuesday that Reinking has been “compliant” and “cooperative” since he was transferred to the jail late Monday after he was captured near the apartment where he lived. Reinking is wearing a vest known informally as a “suicide smock” and will remain under close observation at a maximum-security facility in Nashville.
An attorney listed as Reinking’s lawyer did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Meanwhile, the man who snatched the rifle away from the gunman during the shooting told Tennessee lawmakers Tuesday he faced “the true test of a man,” drawing a standing ovation during his brief address. As the state House hailed him as a hero, James Shaw Jr. said he acted to save his own life early Sunday and saved others in the process.
“I never thought I’d be in a room with all the eyes on me, but you know, I’m very grateful to be here,” Shaw told House members. Shaw said he has gone to see some of the shooting victims in the hospital and they all remembered him. He apologized to the people whose loved ones died in the attack.
The state Senate also honored Shaw on Tuesday.
After the shooting, authorities say Reinking escaped on foot from the restaurant and shed his only item of clothing. By the time he was captured in the woods nearby, police had searched his apartment and found the key fob to a stolen BMW they had recovered in the parking lot days earlier. The BMW theft had not initially been tied to Reinking.
Police seized multiple items from his apartment including: a Remington rifle with a magazine, cartridges for different calibers of guns, two rifle scopes and gun cleaning equipment. Police also found three books on patents in the apartment, along with a sketchbook, two iPhones and a number of pieces of computer equipment, court records show.
Nashville Police Department Lt. Carlos Lara told reporters Reinking was arrested Monday after detectives were tipped to the suspect’s presence by some construction workers. He carried a black backpack with a silver semi-automatic weapon and .45-caliber ammunition.
The arrest ended a 24-hour manhunt involving more than 160 law enforcement officers, but it left troubling unanswered questions about official responses to months of bizarre behavior before the restaurant attack, including encounters with police in Illinois and Colorado and an arrest at the White House that raised red flags.
Sustrich, Reinking’s former boss, described him as appearing paranoid and delusional at times. A former co-worker told a Salida, Colorado, police detective Reinking was infatuated with singer Taylor Swift and claimed to be a sovereign citizen.
Last July, Reinking was arrested by the U.S. Secret Service after he entered a restricted area near the White House and refused to leave, saying he wanted to meet President Donald Trump. The suspect told Washington, D.C., police he was a sovereign citizen and had a right to inspect the grounds, according to an incident report.
Reinking was not armed at the time, but at the FBI’s request, Illinois police revoked his state firearms card. Four guns, including the AR-15 used in the shootings, were transferred to his father, a procedure allowed under Illinois law.
Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston said Jeffrey Reinking pledged he would “keep the weapons secure and out of the possession of Travis.” Don Aaron, a Nashville Police spokesman, said Reinking’s father “has now acknowledged giving them back” to his son.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives special Agent Marcus Watson said Monday that his father’s action is “potentially a violation of federal law.”
Phone calls to a number listed for the father went unanswered.
___
Associated Press writers John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia; Ed White in Detroit; Michael Kunzelman in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Kathleen Foody in Denver, Colorado; and Justin Pritchard in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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2018-04-24 22:07:19
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/04/24/man-who-disarmed-waffle-house-shooter-hailed-by-lawmakers/
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New CDC Director questioned about financial conflicts
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NEW YORK (AP) — A U.S. Senator is criticizing the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for an apparent financial conflict of interest that the senator says may prevent the director from doing her job.
Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald became director of the Atlanta-based CDC in July, and was required to sell a range of stocks she owned, including beer and soda companies, the tobacco company Philip Morris International, and a number of health care companies such as vaccine manufacturers and health-care companies.
“I’ve done everything that they’ve requested, in a timely manner as they’ve requested,” Fitzgerald said Monday in an interview with The Associated Press. “My financial people tell me we have now sold all the stocks.”
But last week, Sen. Patty Murray wrote Fitzgerald saying she’s concerned about unresolved financial holdings noted in Fitzgerald’s ethics agreement with U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. CDC is part of HHS.
The agreement notes Fitzgerald is unable to divest from certain investments that could prevent her from talking about cancer and prescription drug monitoring programs, wrote Murray, a Democrat from Washington.
“I am concerned that you cannot perform the role of CDC Director while being largely recused from matters pertaining to cancer and opioids, two of the most pervasive and urgent health challenges we face as a country,” wrote Murray, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Committee of Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, which oversees the CDC.
She called on Fitzgerald to release more information and to meet with the committee about the issue.
Public health leaders have noted Fitzgerald has kept an unusually low profile since becoming CDC director. Fitzgerald says she’s simply wanted time to learn about the agency, but also said she bowed out of an Oct. 5 Congressional hearing on opioids due to a financial conflict of interest.
Fitzgerald said her stock purchases had been handled by two financial management companies and that she hadn’t been aware of particular holdings until they were raised to her by ethics compliance officials at HHS. She said her stock sales have been completed since the October hearing.
HHS and CDC officials did not provide a copy of Fitzgerald’s ethics agreement to the AP, and did not respond to questions about Murray’s concerns.
CDC, the nation’s top public health agency, is the only federal agency headquartered outside of Washington, D.C. It has nearly 12,000 employees, and about three-quarters of them are based in the Atlanta area.
Fitzgerald, 71, was a long-time obstetrician-gynecologist in the Atlanta area, a former major in the U.S. Air Force, and campaigned twice, unsuccessfully, as a Republican candidate for Congress in the 1990s. She led Georgia’s state health department for six years before being tapped for the CDC job.
People who’ve met with her say that in small groups or personal meetings she can be gregarious, and she was a prominent spokesperson on health issues in the past.
But since Fitzgerald took office, she has skipped important public health meetings and bowed out of at least one Congressional hearing. For months, she declined nearly all media interviews, and was absent from the kind of flu vaccination promotions that traditionally star CDC directors.
Fitzgerald said she was traveling or had other scheduling conflicts during many of those events.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-12-11 18:48:42
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/12/11/new-cdc-director-questioned-about-financial-conflicts/
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Archaeologists urge Albania to protect underwater heritage
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TIRANA, Albania (AP) — Researchers are urging Albanian authorities to build a museum to display hundreds of Roman and Greek artifacts and ancient shipwrecks that are sitting under the country’s barely explored coastline.
Archaeologists at the Albanian Underwater Archaeology conference warned Tuesday that the wealth of underwater artifacts in the country’s southwestern seabed, near its border with Greece, could easily fall prey to looters or treasure hunters.
James Goold, chairman of the Florida-based RPM Nautical Foundation, said the objects — dating from the 8th century B.C. through to World War II — would be a great tourist attraction if properly displayed.
Goold’s RPM has mapped out the Ionian seabed from the Greek border all along to the Vlora Bay, finding at least 22 shipwrecks from the ancient times to World War II and hundreds of ancient amphorae. Those long, narrow terracotta vessels carried olive oil and wine along trade routes between North Africa and the Roman Empire, where Albania, then Illyria, was a crossroad.
“The time has come to build a museum for Albanian and foreign tourists,” said Albanian archaeologist Neritan Ceka.
Some amphorae may have already been looted — they are not infrequently seen decorating restaurants along the Albanian coastline.
Albania is trying to protect and capitalize on its rich underwater heritage, long neglected by its former communist regime, but preservation still receives scarce funding from the government in one of Europe’s poorest nations.
The arrival of RPM’s Hercules research vessel 11 years ago was “a real revolution,” Ceka said, praising its professional divers, high-tech sonar and remotely operated underwater vehicle.
RPM and a joint Albanian-Italian expedition are the only scientific underwater efforts in Albania so far, both with the government’s approval.
Now RPM believes it’s time for the not-for-profit Institute of Nautical Archaeology research organization, which is based in Texas, U.S., to explore the possibilities of excavating shipwrecks, a financially expensive and scientifically delicate process.
“There’s a special environment in Albania, because the coast has been so protected for so many years,” said INA’s David Ruff, a former commander of a nuclear-powered submarine.
Ruff said “one of the real gems of Albania is the Butrint site” — a UNESCO-protected ancient Greek and Roman site in southernmost Albania close to the Greek border.
He said INA’s Virazon II research vessel will stay for a month in Albanian waters “to understand the coast of Albania and if we can run a large-scale excavation here.”
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Follow Llazar Semini on Twitter https://twitter.com/lsemini
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2018-07-04 03:42:54
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Monsoon flooding kills at least 160 across South Asia
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GAUHATI, India (AP) — Heavy monsoon rains have unleashed landslides and floods that killed at least 160 people in recent days and displaced millions more across northern India, southern Nepal and Bangladesh.
Officials said Monday that they were still trying to determine the scale of the disaster, as weather forecasters predicted more rain and casualties were reported in multiple locations across the Himalayan foothills of South Asia.
Many of those killed had drowned or been caught in collapsed houses or under toppled trees.
Nepalese police were searching Monday for 85 people reported missing after rivers burst their banks and killed at least 75, according to police spokesman Pushkar Karki.
“The death toll may go up further as reports come in from remote areas,” Karki said.
The floods destroyed key rice crops in Nepal and drove thousands of farmers and their families to take shelter in schools or tents on higher ground, as water submerged roads and cut transport to affected areas. Aid workers said many did not have enough food or water.
“The heavy rains hit at one of the worst times, shortly after farmers planted their rice crop,” Sumnima Shrestha, a spokeswoman for the U.S.-based anti-poverty charity Heifer International, said in a statement. “Making matters worse, large numbers of livestock have been swept away in the flash flooding.”
Landslides and flooding are common across South Asia during the summer monsoon season, and have become more dangerous thanks to widespread deforestation and poor urban planning that makes it harder for the land to absorb rainfall.
Bangladesh was bracing for worse flooding Monday, as weather forecasters predicted more rain. At least 18 major rivers were flowing at dangerously high levels, according to the state-run Flood Forecasting and Warning Center.
Twenty people have been killed over the last few days in the low-lying delta nation, while another 600,000 are marooned, the country’s disaster management minister said Monday.
Bangladeshi soldiers were working to evacuate those who were stranded on rooftops or in trees, after floodwaters inundated hundreds of northern villages. Around 368,000 people have taken refuge in more than 970 makeshift government shelters, said Bangladesh’s disaster management minister, Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury.
In the northeastern Indian state of Assam, the floodwaters have damaged bridges, downed power lines and washed away thousands of homes. Officials said at least 2.5 million people had been affected, including some 200,000 now staying in 440 relief camps.
With railway lines inundated, the remote region was largely cut off from the rest of the country. Indian air force helicopters were dropping food and drinking water packets in the worst-hit districts, said Assam’s chief secretary, V. K. Pipersenia.
Large areas of Assam’s Kaziranga National Park were also under water, forcing many of the wildlife reserve’s endangered rhinos and deer to move to higher ground. Dozens of deer were killed by cars after they leapt onto a nearby highway to escape the floods.
Farther to the west, in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, soldiers recovered the bodies of 46 people who had been traveling in two buses that were buried in a massive landslide of rocks and mud on Sunday.
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George reported from New Delhi. Associated Press writers Julhas Alam in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Roshan Sedhai in Kathmandu, Nepal, and Ashwini Bhatia in Dharmsala, India, contributed to this report.
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2017-08-14 04:23:48
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Syrian rebels down purported Russian warplane; pilot dead
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BEIRUT (AP) — A Russian pilot who ejected from his fighter jet after it was shot down in northwestern Syria on Saturday was killed by militants after he landed alive on the ground and resisted capture by an al-Qaida-linked group, Syrian monitors and a Syrian militant said.
Moscow did not confirm the downing of its plane or the killing of a pilot in Syria. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the Russian pilot was dead but had no further details.
A Syrian militant in the area told The Associated Press that the Russian pilot was shot and killed when he resisted capture by opening fire from his pistol on the militants who tried to seize him alive. The militant refused to be identified by his real name because was not authorized to speak to the media.
A video circulating on social media shows a lifeless body of a man, his face stained with blood, as bearded gunmen stand around him. One of the armed men shouts: “He is Russian.” The authenticity of the video could not be independently confirmed but it corresponded to events reported by the AP.
According to the Observatory, the plane was downed on Saturday afternoon in the rebel-held Idlib province, near the rebel-held town of Sarqeb, which Syrian troops have been trying to take under the cover of Russian airstrikes.
Russia is a key ally of President Bashar Assad, and has been waging a military campaign on behalf of his forces since 2015. Since then, Syrian government forces have captured wide parts of the country and in recent weeks have been marching in the rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib. The province is also a base for al-Qaida’s branch in Syria and other Islamic groups.
The opposition’s Aleppo Media Center said the plane was a Russian-made SU25 but did not say whether it was Russian.
Earlier in the day, the Observatory and the media arm of al-Qaida-linked militants reported intense airstrikes on the rebel-held stronghold.
The Observatory reported more than 35 airstrikes on Saraqeb since late Friday, adding that many of its residents are fleeing.
The Ibaa News Agency of the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee, said Russian and Syrian warplanes and helicopter gunships have been pounding Saraqeb and Tel Mardeekh village in Idlib since the early hours of Saturday.
Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said Syrian troops captured the village of Maasaran as well as the Tel Tokan hill, cutting links between Saraqeb and the rebel-stronghold of Maarest al-Numan to the south.
In recent weeks, Syrian government forces and their allies pushed into Idlib, an opposition stronghold, inching closer to a key highway that connects Syria’s two largest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.
The U.N. says more than 270,000 have been displaced in Idlib because of the government onslaught since Dec. 15.
The violence in Idlib came as fighting raged between Turkish troops and Turkey-backed opposition gunmen with Syrian Kurdish fighters in the northern Syrian enclave of Afrin.
The Turkish military said two of its soldiers were killed in Syria and a third was killed on the Turkish side of the border in an attack by Syrian Kurdish militiamen.
The military said Saturday’s deaths were related to Turkey’s operation against the Syrian Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin, codenamed Olive Branch. One of the soldiers was killed when a Turkish tank was hit in Afrin.
A total of eight Turkish soldiers and at least 24 allied Syrian opposition fighters have died so far in Ankara’s offensive, which started on Jan. 20.
The Turkish operation aims to clear Afrin of the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia, known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG, which Turkey considers to be a terrorist group and an extension of the Kurdish insurgency within its borders.
Turkish presidential spokesman said Turkey will not tolerate the presence of a Syrian Kurdish militia “anywhere” along its southern border, hinting that Ankara might expand its military operation underway in the Syrian enclave of Afrin eastward.
The spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said on Saturday that Turkey’s first demand is to see the Syrian Kurdish militia — the People’s Protection Units or YPG — move east of the Euphrates River and leave the town of Manbij, where American troops backing the Syrian Kurdish fighters are stationed.
Turkey considers the YPG a “terrorist group” and an extension of Kurdish rebels inside Turkey.
Kalin called on the United States to “disengage” from the YPG and said Turkey will continue communications with “our American allies to avoid any confrontation.”
Turkey shares a 911-kilometer border with Syria. The YPG controls much of the territory along the border and an uninterrupted strip from Manbij to the Iraqi border.
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Bilginsoy reported from Istanbul.
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2018-02-03 10:47:10
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Victims' dad apologies after lunging at Nassar in courtroom
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CHARLOTTE, Mich. (AP) — A distraught father seething over sexual abuse suffered by three daughters tried to attack former sports doctor Larry Nassar in a Michigan courtroom after a judge rejected his request to confront the “demon” in a locked room, a stunning rush that reflected the anguish felt by parents who trusted him with their children.
Randall Margraves was blocked by an attorney, tackled by sheriff’s deputies and hauled out of court Friday. He later apologized, saying he had lost control. Eaton County Judge Janice Cunningham said there was “no way” she would fine him or send him to jail under her contempt-of-court powers.
“I don’t know what it would be like to stand there as a father and know that three of your girls were injured physically and emotionally by somebody sitting in a courtroom. I can’t imagine that,” the judge said.
Nonetheless, she added, it is “not acceptable that we combat assault with assault.”
The incident occurred during the third and final sentencing hearing for Nassar, who has admitted to sexually assaulting girls under the guise of medical treatment. This case focuses on his work at Twistars, an elite gymnastics club southwest of Lansing.
Nassar, 54, already will spend the rest of his life in prison. He was sentenced last week to 40 to 175 years in prison for assaults at Michigan State University and his home and was ordered in December to spend 60 years in a federal prison for child pornography crimes.
Nassar pleaded guilty to molesting nine victims in Eaton and Ingham counties, but the courts have been open to anyone who says she was assaulted during his decades of work at Michigan State, Twistars and USA Gymnastics, which trains Olympians. More than 200 accusers so far have spoken or submitted statements in the two counties, and at least 80 percent have agreed to be publicly identified.
Margraves’ dramatic move occurred after he listened to two of his daughters speak in court for 10 minutes. Lauren Margraves, a college student, said her parents were “filled with regret” because they took three daughters to see Nassar for sports injuries.
“I see the look in their faces and I know they want to be able to do something but they can’t,” she told Nassar. “The guilt they have will never go away. All this is because of you.”
Her father then stepped up and asked the judge if she would grant him “five minutes in a locked room with this demon.” Cunningham declined and also turned down his request for “one minute.” That is when Randall Margraves rushed toward Nassar.
There were gasps and tears in the courtroom. Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis turned to the gallery and told families to “use your words,” not violence.
“This is letting him have this power over us,” she said. “We cannot behave like this.”
During a return to court, Margraves told the judge that he just snapped. He said he had not known what exactly his daughters were going to say about their abuse.
“I look over here and Larry Nassar’s shaking his head, no, like it didn’t happen. … I’m embarrassed,” Margraves said of his conduct. “I’m not here to upstage my daughters. I’m here to help them heal.”
About 30 more people spoke in person, by video or had statements read after the incident. The case will end Monday with final remarks from the prosecutor, defense and Nassar, followed by the judge’s sentence. Nassar faces a minimum of 25 to 40 years in prison.
At a news conference, Margraves repeated his apology and insisted he’s “no hero.”
“My daughters are the heroes, and all the victims and the survivors of this terrible atrocity,” he said.
Melissa Alexander Vigogne, who traveled from France to speak, said she was surprised that an attack had not been attempted earlier.
“It’s not that that’s how we should respond. But it’s truly understandable — the amount of pain that we’ve all gone through,” Vigogne said outside court.
Sheriff Tom Reich said his officers will investigate what happened in court and send a report to the local prosecutor.
The judge started the day by addressing comments made by a Nassar lawyer who said she had doubts about the large number of women and girls who say they were assaulted by Nassar. Cunningham called Shannon Smith’s remarks “unfortunate” and said Nassar did not authorize them.
Smith told Detroit radio station WWJ that it is “really unfortunate” if some people stepped forward only because of all the recent attention. Nassar released a statement saying Smith’s comments were a distraction and that his accusers’ remarks “have pierced my soul.”
Many of Nassar’s accusers have blamed Michigan State, USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Olympic Committee for not doing more earlier to stop him. The USOC announced Friday that it hired a law firm to conduct an independent investigation. And the coordinator of the women’s national team for USA Gymnastics, Valeri Liukin, said he was stepping down.
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AP reporter Ed White in Detroit contributed to this story.
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2018-02-02 22:38:19
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Former French president Sarkozy in police custody - source
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PARIS (AP) — A judicial source says former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed in custody as part of an investigation that he received millions of euros in illegal financing from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
A person with direct knowledge of the case told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Sarkozy was quizzed by police at the Nanterre police station, west of Paris.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
An investigation has been underway since 2013 into the case, involving funding for his winning 2007 presidential campaign.
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2018-03-20 03:01:03
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Mattis' reassurance tour in Europe could include US requests
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BRUSSELS (AP) — For Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, the next few days will be a reassurance tour with a twist.
As much he’ll tell allies the U.S. is committed to NATO, he also is expected to visit Europe with a hand out, hoping to secure bigger defense spending commitments and greater assistance in military campaigns in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Mattis also will field questions on national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation over his pre-inauguration discussions with Russia, and what the change means for U.S. policy on Moscow.
Speaking to reporters on the way to a NATO defense ministers’ meeting, Mattis said Flynn’s departure “has no effect at all” on him.
“Frankly, this has no impact,” he said. “I haven’t changed what I’m heading there for. It doesn’t change my message at all. Who is on the president’s staff is who I will work with. And so, you know, it’s full speed ahead.”
Mattis also reinforced earlier comments he’s made on NATO’s importance.
Calling it “the most successful military alliance in history,” he told reporters on the plane that “our commitment remains to NATO.” But he said allies need to discuss increasing their military funding to the benchmark goal of 2 percent of gross domestic product.
After spending his first official trip telling America’s Asian allies they wouldn’t be abandoned, Mattis is on a similar journey in Brussels and Munich this week, where he will have to address the mixed messages from President Donald Trump on the value of NATO before and after he took office.
“I think there will be a lot of reassuring words spoken over the next week,” said Derek Chollet, a former senior defense official who is now senior adviser at the German Marshall Fund.
Nations want Mattis to maintain the U.S. commitment to providing military support and troops to bolster Poland and the Baltics, who feel threatened by Russia, he said. While Mattis’ words may provide some comfort, Chollet said: “It will leave the question: What does the president think? If anything, the sum total of all of this will just perpetuate the confusion.”
Wednesday marks Mattis’ first NATO meeting as defense secretary. During his Senate confirmation hearing last month, the retired Marine general said he wanted the U.S. to “maintain the strongest possible relationship with NATO.”
With remarks such as those, Mattis has distanced himself from Trump’s criticism of the military alliance and threats that the U.S. might not defend allies that don’t fulfill their financial obligations as NATO members.
Mattis, however, is aligned with Trump’s call for the 27 NATO members to meet the defense spending requirement. Only a few are currently hitting the 2 percent mark, while the U.S. spends more on its armed forces than all the others combined. Washington also foots more than 22 percent of NATO’s commonly funded budget.
The U.S. also would like to see an increased NATO commitment in Afghanistan, where forces have been fighting the Taliban for more than 15 years, since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Washington wants more trainers in Afghanistan, where about 8,400 American troops are still deployed.
There also will be discussions about how to accelerate the newer, U.S.-led campaign to defeat the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria.
Europe’s leaders will first be looking for clarity from Mattis. They’re still rattled by Trump’s declarations that NATO is “obsolete” and his repeated praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Such comments have triggered fears Trump will ease sanctions imposed on Moscow after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and supported an insurgency in eastern Ukraine. Another concern: lessened U.S. military support for eastern European allies near Russia’s border who worry about being the next target.
During his confirmation hearing, Mattis told senators that he has discussed NATO with the president and that Trump was “open” to changing his position. Among Mattis’ first calls after Trump’s inauguration was one to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
In recent weeks, Trump’s public statements on NATO have softened somewhat.
After meeting Trump, British Prime Minister Theresa May told reporters that he assured her he was “100 percent” behind NATO. A joint statement issued after Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel spoke by telephone said the two agreed on the “fundamental importance that the NATO alliance has for trans-Atlantic relations” and the need for all members to pay their fair share. Trump made similar comments in a call with French President Francois Hollande.
Only four countries other than the U.S. — Britain, Estonia, Greece and Poland — are meeting NATO’s spending target. Many are increasing their budgets in response to Russia’s actions.
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2017-02-14 21:00:58
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China reserves right to retaliate for US investment curbs
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BEIJING (AP) — China on Thursday criticized proposed U.S. investment controls as a violation of global trade rules and says it reserves the right to retaliate if they take effect.
The Commerce Ministry’s comment came as the two sides prepared for weekend talks in Beijing on American complaints about China’s trade surplus and Beijing’s promise to buy more American goods.
A ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said the White House proposal to restrict Chinese investment in the United States violates the “rules and basic spirit” of the World Trade Organization.
Gao said, “The Chinese side will carefully evaluate the U.S. measures and reserves the right to take corresponding measures.”
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2018-05-31 00:24:48
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Abortion impasse may shut down effort to reduce premiums
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The polarizing politics of abortion have burst into the congressional budget debate, overwhelming bipartisan efforts to help millions of consumers who buy their own health insurance policies get relief from soaring premiums.
On Monday, Senate and House Republicans released their latest plan to stabilize the Affordable Care Act’s insurance markets. It calls for new federal money to offset the cost of treating the sickest patients and restores insurer subsidies that President Donald Trump terminated last year.
That’s clearly a shift from when repealing “Obamacare” was the GOP’s demand. But the fine print of the GOP offer includes restrictions on abortion funding that Democrats have already rejected, a “poison pill” to abortion rights supporters. They say the proposal could block abortion coverage by some health insurance plans consumers purchase with their own money.
Lawmakers of both parties have been negotiating over a health insurance stabilization bill for months, but chances it will be added to the budget deal appear to be dwindling. Some experts estimate such legislation could reduce premiums by 20 percent to 40 percent, after two years of relentless increases.
The office of one of the leading Democratic negotiators, Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, on Monday called the Republican offer “partisan,” saying in a statement it came as a surprise.
In an interview last Friday, Murray said her GOP counterparts have only recently started raising the issue of abortion restrictions.
“To me that is just unacceptable,” Murray said. “Why would they add it on at the last minute?” She complained that some Republicans were taking the stabilization bill “hostage.”
Republicans say their longstanding support for restrictions on abortion funding is well-known.
Abortion is just one of several divisive social issues complicating prospects for a $1.3 trillion spending bill that would keep the government open and provide funding increases for military and domestic programs.
Others include a Republican demand for stronger “conscience” protections for clinicians, and a Democratic maneuver to protect family planning money for Planned Parenthood clinics, which provide birth control for many low-income women.
Federal funding for abortion has long been restricted by a series of laws known as the Hyde amendment, which prohibit taxpayer funds from being used to pay for abortions, expect in cases of rape, incest, or when the woman’s life is endangered.
Abortion remains a legal medical procedure in the United States, covered by many employer plans. However, the abortion rate has dropped significantly, from about 29 per 1,000 women of reproductive age in 1980 to about 15 in 2014. Better contraception, fewer unintended pregnancies and state restrictions may have played a role, according to a recent scientific report.
Former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act attempted a compromise over abortion coverage.
Passed with only Democratic votes, the health law allowed plans sold through HealthCare.gov to cover abortion, provided they didn’t tap taxpayer subsidies that help consumers pay premiums. Instead the plans must collect a separate premium for abortions, and keep the accounts strictly separate.
The ACA also allowed states to prohibit abortion coverage in their insurance markets, and about half have done so.
But abortion opponents decried Obama’s compromise as a bookkeeping exercise. They wanted the Hyde amendment applied to plans sold through HealthCare.gov and state insurance markets.
The new GOP bill would apply Hyde restrictions to two streams of federal money.
One is restored subsidies that compensate insurers for required discounts on copays and deductibles for low-income people.
The second funding stream would stabilize insurance markets by helping cover costs for the sickest patients.
Abortion rights supporters say that the second prohibition could result in abortion restrictions for health insurance that consumers buy with their own money outside of HealthCare.gov. That’s because a fund to help with the costs of the sickest patients would help reduce premiums across all plans in a given state.
Sen. Murray is hoping Republicans will change their minds.
But Republicans say they’ve already come a long way, by signing onto legislation that would address some of the problems with “Obamacare.”
“I’m willing to ensure payments are there to bring premiums down,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J. “But we don’t want to be complicit in taking the lives of unborn children.”
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2018-03-19 17:17:06
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New York's governor orders review of 2015 Weinstein case
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NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s governor on Monday directed the state’s attorney general to review the 2015 decision by the Manhattan district attorney’s office to not prosecute a sex abuse case against Harvey Weinstein.
“It is critical not only that these cases are given the utmost attention but also that there is public confidence in the handling of these cases,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
The Democratic governor asked that the review be conducted “in a way that does not interfere with the current investigation,” which he said the Manhattan district attorney believes will be completed within approximately 45 days.
The directive comes on the same day that Time’s Up, an initiative started by a powerhouse group of Hollywood industry women to fight systemic sexual harassment, called for Cuomo to investigate the district attorney’s office.
In a statement, the group says a report in New York magazine is disturbing because it suggests the district attorney’s office may have been improperly influenced by Weinstein and sought to intimidate an Italian model who accused the disgraced media mogul of groping her.
“An independent investigation into the full decision-making process in this case, including a full review of the correspondence within the office and with any representatives for Mr. Weinstein, must be undertaken immediately to ensure that prosecutorial integrity was maintained and to restore faith in the DA’s office,” the statement says.
The article centers on the case of Ambra Battilana Gutierrez. In 2015, police conducted a sting after she accused Weinstein of groping her, secretly recording Weinstein apologizing for this conduct.
Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. ultimately decided there wasn’t enough proof and didn’t bring a case. Following criticism over the decision last year, prosecutors said police arranged the sting without their knowledge and there were other proof issues, but police pushed back saying they’d presented enough evidence.
Danny Frost, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office, said the allegations in the magazine had “little resemblance to the facts. The office has an “unwavering” commitment to justice in such case and great admiration “for the courageous women and men who have brought about a long-overdue reckoning with decades of intolerable sexual abuse,” he said.
Police and prosecutors play different roles, Frost said. Disagreements happen, but they don’t undermine justice, he said.
“Police evaluate arrests based on probable cause, whereas prosecutors must make sure they can prove to a jury that every element of a criminal statute was violated beyond a reasonable doubt — a much higher standard,” he said.
Weinstein’s attorneys have said he denies any non-consensual sexual contact.
Since scores of new allegations against Weinstein surfaced, both the New York Police Department and the district attorney’s office have said they are working together, but no grand jury has been convened despite police officials saying publicly they have enough evidence for a case. Less than two weeks ago, the police department’s chief of detectives said witnesses were ready for the grand jury — but it was up to the district attorney to decide when to convene it. Frost said the case is still under active investigation.
The Time’s Up statement says a prosecution of the 2015 case could have prevented other alleged sexual assaults.
“There will only be real consequences for abusive behavior when our public officials, sworn to uphold the law, care as much about the rights of the victim as concerns for the accused.”
The Associated Press does not typically identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they speak publicly, as Battilana Gutierrez has done.
Time’s Up was created by about 300 women and includes the producer Shonda Rhimes and actresses Reese Witherspoon and America Ferrera.
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2018-03-19 19:52:03
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The Latest: UK cyber-expert pleads not guilty in US case
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MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Latest on the U.S. case against a British cybersecurity researcher accused of creating a malware program (all times local):
10:15 a.m.
A British cybersecurity researcher credited with helping curb a recent worldwide ransomware attack has pleaded not guilty to federal charges accusing him of creating malicious software to steal banking information in 2014.
Marcus Hutchins entered the plea Monday during a hearing in Wisconsin federal court. He and an unnamed co-defendant face charges of conspiring to commit computer fraud in the state and elsewhere. Authorities arrested the 23-year-old man Aug. 2 in the Las Vegas airport on his way home to Ilfracombe, England, after a cybersecurity convention.
The legal troubles Hutchins faces are a dramatic turnaround from the status of cybercrime-fighting hero he enjoyed four months ago when he found a “kill switch” that slowed the outbreak of WannaCry virus.
The indictment says the crimes happened from July 2014 to July 2015.
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6:25 a.m.
A British cybersecurity researcher credited with helping curb a recent worldwide ransomware attack is expected in court to hear federal charges accusing him of creating malicious software to steal banking information in 2014.
Marcus Hutchins could enter a plea during Monday’s hearing in Wisconsin federal court. Prosecutors have charged him and an unnamed co-defendant with conspiring to commit computer fraud in the state and elsewhere. Authorities arrested the 23-year-old man on Aug. 2 in the Las Vegas airport on his way home to Ilfracombe, England, after a cybersecurity convention.
The legal troubles Hutchins faces are a dramatic turnaround from the status of cybercrime-fighting hero he enjoyed four months ago when he found a “kill switch” that slowed the outbreak of WannaCry virus.
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2017-08-14 10:17:38
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Gov't report: Health care deductibles higher under GOP bill
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WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump promised to make health care more affordable but a government report finds that out-of-pocket costs — deductibles and copayments — would average 61 percent higher under the House Republican bill.
And even though the sticker price for premiums would be lower than under the Obama-era law, what consumers actually pay would edge up on average because government financial assistance would be curtailed.
The report from the Office of the Actuary, a nonpartisan economic unit at the Health and Human Services Department, was released earlier this week with little fanfare.
“It’s fascinating,” said Chris Sloan, a policy expert with the Avalere Health consulting firm. “They actually think that on average people will be paying more even though the underlying premium is less.”
The estimates are for the year 2026, and apply to people who buy their own health insurance policies. That group was a major focus of former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Individually-purchased coverage is also key to the GOP’s American Health Care Act, which would roll back much of “Obamacare.”
The report tracks with findings by the Congressional Budget Office, which said millions more would be uninsured under the Republican legislation, in particular due to Medicaid cuts affecting low-income people. But at first blush the impact appears to be less dramatic. The budget office estimate of 23 million more uninsured in 2026 compares with 13 million projected by the experts at HHS.
However, Sloan said much of the contrast appears due to a fairly technical issue: the two groups of experts make different assumptions about the number of people covered as a result of Obama’s law.
The HHS report also finds that the Republican bill would shorten the life of the Medicare hospital trust fund by two years, partly because it repeals a tax on upper-income earners.
In a statement, the Trump administration said the new HHS estimate doesn’t take into account other changes proposed by the president, including relief from burdensome regulations and additional health care legislation.
While Trump celebrated passage of the House bill with a Rose Garden ceremony, lately he’s told senators it’s too “mean,” and he’s urged lawmakers to spend more money on health care. Republican senators are trying to find a compromise that will let them advance their own version.
The HHS experts projected forward nearly a decade, estimating that sticker-price premiums would average $801 a month in 2026 if the Obama law stays in place.
Under the GOP bill, that gross monthly premium would drop to $695, or about 13 percent less.
Yet financial assistance would also be reduced under House bill, which provides government tax credits based on age, not income. After taking that and other changes into account, net premiums would average $380 under the GOP bill, a little bit more than the $360 a month consumers would pay under current law.
The GOP bill also would eliminate current subsidies that help reduce deductibles and copayments for people of modest incomes. And it would allow insurers to offer plans that cover fewer benefits, among other changes. Both those shifts lead to higher deductibles and copayments.
When all that is factored in, the HHS estimate found that cost-sharing would average $380 a month, 61 percent more than the estimate of $236 under current law.
In a Washington Post interview shortly before taking office, Trump promised “much lower deductibles.”
“You can see promise of the lower premiums holding up,” said Sloan. “But there is nothing in this proposal that is going to lead to lower deductibles or lower cost-sharing. There is just nothing there.”
The HHS report cautioned that averages don’t tell the whole story. The impacts would vary widely by age, income, and where a consumer lives. And the cost-sharing average includes people who use their insurance a lot, and people who don’t go to the doctor.
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HHS Office of the Actuary report: https://tinyurl.com/ycc9cmvt
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2017-06-15 02:48:10
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The Latest: China cuts off host of imports form NKorea
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and U.S. relations with China (all times local):
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5:45 a.m.
China has announced that it will cut off imports of North Korean coal, iron ore and other goods in three weeks under U.N. sanctions imposed over the North’s nuclear and missile programs.
China, the isolated North’s main trading partner, has been reluctant to push leader Kim Jong Un’s regime too hard for fear it might collapse. But Beijing is increasingly frustrated with Pyongyang and supported a U.N. Security Council ban on Aug. 5 on coal and other key goods.
The Chinese customs agency said Monday that it will stop processing imports of North Korean coal, iron and lead ores and fish at midnight on Sept. 5.
The announcement follows an escalating exchange of angry words between Kim’s government and the Trump administration in Washington. The latest U.N. sanctions are intended to block North Korean exports worth $1 billion — a significant share of total exports valued at $3 billion last year.
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3:30 a.m.
Even as he seeks Beijing’s help on North Korea, President Donald Trump is poised to seek a trade investigation of China for the alleged theft of American technology and intellectual property.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order Monday asking his trade office to consider the probe. In the midst of a 17-day vacation, Trump plans to leave his New Jersey golf club and return to Washington to sign the order.
There is no deadline for deciding if any investigation is necessary. Such an investigation easily could last a year.
In a phone call Friday, Trump praised Chinese President Xi Jinping for backing the recent U.N. vote to impose tougher sanctions on North Korea, and the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula. But Trump also told Xi about the move toward a possible inquiry into China’s trade practices, according to two U.S. officials familiar with that conversation. They were not authorized to publicly discuss the private call and spoke on condition of anonymity.
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2017-08-14 05:28:34
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First lady embraces moment in spotlight during state visit
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Melania Trump is embracing her moment in the spotlight for the French president’s state visit.
She traded in her usual dark sunglasses for a white wide-brimmed hat that quickly became a trending topic on social media. She has thrown herself into planning the state dinner for President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte. All eyes will be on the former model again Tuesday when she steps out in a designer gown to greet the Macrons as they arrive for dinner.
Seeing the gown is typically the highlight of a state dinner. But for once, it may pale in comparison to the hat.
The hat bobbed up and down across the bottom of TV screens as the first lady took her seat for the president’s news conference with Macron.
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2018-04-24 16:29:24
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Rinne stops 35 in Predators' 4-0 win over Sabres
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Pekka Rinne stopped 35 shots for his eighth shutout of the season and the Nashville Predators set a franchise record by earning a point in their 15th consecutive game with a 4-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres on Monday night.
Mike Fisher and Ryan Johansen scored goals 4:34 apart in the second period, and Filip Forsberg and Ryan Hartman sealed the victory by scoring in the final four minutes.
The NHL-leading Predators improved to 14-0-1 in their past 15, and also extended their team-best road winning streak to nine straight.
Rinne won his 11th straight to match his personal best in a stretch in which he’s allowed just 18 goals. The shutout was the 51st of his 12-year career and third in nine games.
And Rinne also improved to 40-9-4 in becoming the NHL’s seventh goalie to win 40 games in a season three or more times.
The Predators haven’t lost in regulation since a 3-1 defeat to Detroit at home on Feb. 17. And they improved to 12-0-3 in their past 15 road games since a 3-0 loss at Vegas on Jan. 2.
The Sabres were unable to build off a 5-3 win over Chicago on Saturday and lost in rookie coach Phil Housley’s first meeting against his former team. The Hockey Hall of Fame defenseman spent the previous four seasons as a Predators assistant coach.
Buffalo ranks last in the Eastern Conference and had its NHL-worst home record drop to 11-21-5.
Minor-league call-up Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots, starting in place of Robin Lehner, who was sidelined with an undisclosed injury.
Ullmark had little chance on Fisher’s goal that opened the scoring 12:29 into the second period.
Fisher and teammate Scott Hartnell were both parked in front when Fisher deflected in Mikka Salomaki’s shot from the blue line. The Sabres challenged the goal by arguing Fisher interfered with Ullmark. The goal was allowed to stand despite a replay showing Fisher nudged the back of Ullmark’s skate in the crease and also got a hand on the goalie’s glove.
There was no disputing Johansen’s goal. Ullmark stopped Viktor Arvidsson’s initial shot from the right circle. The rebound fell at Ullmark’s his feet where Forsberg chipped the puck to Johansen, who snapped it in the open left side.
The first period was lively with both teams putting their speed on display.
Arvidsson nearly scored 7 seconds in on a breakaway off the opening faceoff.
Buffalo’s Jack Eichel burst up the left side and behind the Predators defense to drive across the crease only to have his shot stopped by Rinne’s left pad. Rinne also got an assist from Kevin Fiala who got his stick out to stop Justin Bailey’s attempt to tap in a bouncing puck in the crease.
NOTES: Rinne joined a list of three-time 40-game winners led by former New Jersey goalie Martin Broduer, who reached the milestone eight times. Washington’s Braden Holtby is the only other active goalie to win 40 games three times. The other three-time 40-game-winners were Terry Sawchuk, Jacques Plante, Mikka Kiprusoff and Evgeni Nabokov. … Sabres RW Kyle Okposo returned after missing three games with a concussion. … With 10 games left, the Predators inched closer to matching franchise records for most wins (51) and points (110) set in 2006-07.
UP NEXT
Predators: Host Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.
Sabres: Host Arizona Coyotes on Wednesday in matchup of NHL’s two worst teams.
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More NHL hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
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2018-03-19 20:40:27
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Closing arguments expected in Taylor Swift groping case
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DENVER (AP) — Lawyers are expected to make closing arguments Monday in a trial concerning allegations that a former radio host groped Taylor Swift backstage before a concert in Denver, and competing allegations the singer’s mother and her radio liaison set out to destroy the DJ’s career after the photo op took place.
A federal judge on Friday determined that former DJ David Mueller didn’t prove that Swift personally tried to end his career, but identical allegations against Andrea Swift and Frank Bell are expected to go to jurors.
Mueller sued the three after Swift’s team reported the 2013 encounter to his bosses. He’s seeking up to $3 million, saying the allegation cost him his job.
Swift countersued for a symbolic $1. The jury will also consider her assault claim.
She called the encounter with Mueller despicable.
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2017-08-14 02:14:30
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Final push for Moore and Jones in Alabama Senate race
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Democrats see Tuesday’s special Senate election as a chance to renounce a history littered with politicians whose race-baiting, bombast and other baggage have long soiled the state’s reputation beyond its borders.
Many Republicans see the vote as chance to ratify their conservative values and protect President Donald Trump’s agenda ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
At the center are Republican Roy Moore, a former jurist twice removed as state chief justice and now accused of sexual misconduct with teenage girls decades ago, and Democrat Doug Jones, an erstwhile federal prosecutor best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for killing four black girls in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church.
The winner will take the seat held previously by Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions. Republicans control the Senate with 52 seats.
In truth, the matchup mixes both Alabama’s tortured history and the nation’s current divisive, bitterly partisan politics, and it has made a spectacle of a Deep South state well acquainted with national scrutiny but not accustomed to competitive general elections.
“This is an election to tell the whole world what we stand for,” Jones told supporters at one stop Sunday, adding that his campaign “is on the right side of history.” At an earlier appearance, he declared Alabama is “at a crossroads” and that Moore, an unapologetic evangelical populist, tries only to “create conflict and division.”
Jones, 63, stops short of explicitly comparing Moore to the four-term Gov. George Wallace, whose populism was rooted in segregation. But Jones alluded Sunday to that era of Alabama politics.
“Elect a responsible man to a responsible office,” Jones said, repeating the campaign slogan of another Alabama governor, Albert Brewer, who nearly defeated Wallace in 1970 in a contest Alabama liberals and many moderates still lament as a lost opportunity.
Some of Jones’ supporters put it even more bluntly. “I thought Alabama’s image was pretty much at the bottom,” said Pat Lawrence, a retired software engineer in Huntsville. A Moore win, Lawrence added, “will be a whole new bottom.”
Those concerns extend even to some GOP quarters. Alabama’s senior senator, Richard Shelby, confirmed Sunday that he did not vote for Moore, saying he wrote in another “distinguished” party figure he declined to name.
Yet for many Republicans, Moore is a paragon of traditional values. They reject accusations that he molested two teenage girls and pursued relationships with others decades ago. Moore denies the charges.
“Everyone has to vote their convictions,” said Kevin Mims of Montgomery, as he held his Bible outside his Baptist church Sunday in Montgomery. “My conviction is he’s the right man for the job.”
Where Moore’s critics see a state judge who defied federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage, Mims see a stalwart who stands “on the word of God.” Other conservatives see an anti-establishment firebrand in the mold of Trump, who won Alabama by 28 percentage points.
Moore encourages that view with fundraising emails that urge backers to help him “defeat the elite,” a swipe at both Democrats and the establishment Republicans who tried to deny him the GOP nomination earlier this year.
Ultimately, Republicans from Moore to Trump himself are betting on a simple bottom line: Most Alabama conservatives simply won’t defect to a Democrat.
“If Alabama elects liberal Democrat Doug Jones, all of our progress will be stopped cold,” Trump says in a robocall the Moore campaign plans to push out Monday.
The president also invokes a common fear among Republicans, calling Jones “a puppet of Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” the Democratic House and Senate leaders in Washington, both of them reviled by conservative voters. “Roy Moore is the guy we need to pass our Make American Great Again agenda,” the president insists.
Moore’s baggage could make it difficult to draw conclusions about what the results might mean beyond Alabama, but both parties are watching closely.
Democrats need to flip 24 GOP-held seats to reclaim a House majority, and they’re trying to dent the slim Republican advantage in the Senate and its dominance of statehouses around the country. In many of those races, they’ll need the same thing Jones must get to win in Alabama: strong turnout among young and non-white voters, along with improved performance among suburban moderates.
A Jones victory would be hailed as a potential precursor, and Democrats have indicated they have a post-Alabama strategy even if Jones loses: They’ll take Alabama’s brand national, hammering Republicans as “the party of Donald Trump and Roy Moore.”
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Barrow reported from Mobile, Alabama. Follow Barrow on Twitter at https://twitter.com/BillBarrowAP and Chandler at https://twitter.com/StatehouseKim.
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2017-12-11 02:41:35
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Education Department urged to resume loan cancellations
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WASHINGTON (AP) — A government watchdog on Monday urged the Education Department to resume the process of forgiving student loans for tens of thousands Americans who were defrauded by for-profit colleges.
The Office of Inspector General, an independent body within the education agency, recommended in a report that the department restart “review, approval, and discharge process” for defrauded studs.
The group also recommended that the department establish timeframes for considering the claims and “develop controls to ensure timeframes are met.” The report also noted that the department has significantly shrunk the staff of its unit the processes these claims, from 19 contracted staff, on top of attorneys, in November 2016, to just six contracted staff in September 2017.
A spokeswoman for the department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has come under criticism for stalling the review of over 95,000 claims for loan cancellations. The agency has not approved a single claim during her time in office and DeVos’ critics charge that she is looking out for the interests of the for-profit industry, rather than colleges. DeVos says she needs time to put together new rules for how loans are forgiven that would be fair to students, but also prevent any potential abuse of the system.
The AP reported in October that the department is considering abandoning the Obama-era practice of full loan forgiveness in favor of partial relief.
The department has halted Obama-era revisions to the process of loan forgiveness that boosted protections for students, citing pending litigation. The agency is now in the process or rewriting those rules with input from educators and experts.
Senator Patty Murray, the top Democrat on the Senate committee overseeing education, said the report confirms that DeVos “tried to shirk her responsibility to these students and shut down the borrower defense program, leaving them with nowhere to turn.”
“Secretary DeVos needs to stop listening to the for-profit executives she hired and start following the recommendations of the Department’s independent watchdog by providing much needed, and legally required, relief to students who were cheated out of their education and savings,” Murray said in a statement.
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2017-12-11 16:44:28
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White House: Mideast peace may not be 2 -state solution
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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration said Tuesday that peace between the Israelis and Palestinians may not come in the form of a two-state solution — a dramatic shift from former President Barack Obama, who said he saw no alternative.
Speaking to reporters ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting Wednesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a senior White House official said Trump is eager to begin facilitating a peace deal between the two side and hoping to bring them together soon.
But the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to preview the visit, said it will be up to the Israelis and Palestinians to determine what peace will entail.
The official said peace is the goal, regardless of whether it comes in the form of a two-state solution. He says the administration will work as a facilitator, but is not going to dictate what the terms of peace are going to be.
During his final White House news conference, Obama warned that the moment for a two-state solution “may be passing” and said the “status quo is unsustainable.”
Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House Wednesday, after which he’ll head to Capitol Hill for meetings with lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Trump takes pride in his deal-making skills and said during his campaign that he’d love the challenge of negotiating a Mideast agreement. At one point Trump pointed to his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, as the best man for the job.
The official said the Trump and Netanyahu are likely to discuss peace as well as expanded Israeli settlements, Iran and Trump’s campaign pledge to move the U.S. embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
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2017-02-14 19:31:08
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Congressman shot at baseball practice is avid sports fan
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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Rep. Steve Scalise, a member of the House Republican leadership, is known for his love of baseball and the late-night meals he often serves his colleagues in his office near the Capitol’s ornate Statuary Hall.
Scalise, the No. 3 House Republican, was shot Wednesday along with several others during a GOP baseball practice in Alexandria, Virginia. He was in critical condition following surgery, the hospital said, and will require several more operations.
An avid sports fan, Scalise distributed commemorative baseball bats to fellow House members when he ran for the leadership post in 2014. The Louisiana conservative was elected majority whip, the job of chief Republican vote counter.
His campaign for the whip job had a Louisiana flair that included distribution of “Geaux Scalise” T-shirts and a Cajun dinner with sausage, oysters and gumbo.
A major supporter of the oil industry, Scalise also is known for hosting lawmakers on tours of offshore rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. One of his major legislative accomplishments was ensuring that penalties paid after the BP oil spill go to areas affected by the spill.
Scalise, 51, was first elected to the House in 2008 and served as chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservatives, before becoming whip in the leadership shuffle that followed the surprise defeat of then-Majority Leader Eric Cantor in a Republican primary.
In his whip campaign, he boasted about his conservative credentials and pointed out that he’d be the only GOP leader from the South, which had a major role in giving Republicans their largest House majority in decades.
At the time of the shooting, the lawmakers were preparing for an annual congressional game scheduled for Thursday night.
Scalise, who was shot in the hip, was transported to MedStar Washington and underwent surgery.
“Prior to entering surgery, the whip was in good spirits and spoke to his wife by phone. He is grateful for the brave actions of U.S. Capitol Police, first responders and colleagues,” his office said in a statement.
Scalise has forged a close relationship with President Donald Trump, working together on the House health care bill and a pending effort to overhaul the tax code.
Trump, in remarks from the White House, called Scalise “a very good friend” and said, “He’s a patriot, and he’s a fighter. He will recover from this assault.”
As the No. 3 House Republican, Scalise has a security detail assigned to him at all times. Lawmakers who were at the practice said the shootings could have been much worse if the security detail had not been there.
Scalise represents a district that includes some New Orleans suburbs and bayou parishes. Before entering Congress, he was a lawmaker in Louisiana for 12 years. His signature legislation included a film industry tax credit program aimed at helping Louisiana become “Hollywood South” and a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage.
As a state lawmaker, Scalise built relationships with people of diverse views, even as he maintained a rock-solid conservative voting record. One of his closest friends remains Rep. Cedric Richmond, a New Orleans Democrat who leads the Congressional Black Caucus and befriended Scalise when the two were both in the state House.
Rep. Ralph Abraham, R-La., described Scalise as a great leader who is the go-to person for the state’s congressional delegation.
“Any time we need anything, we go to Steve and he makes it happen,” Abraham said.
Scalise has faced questions about some of his Louisiana ties. Six months after his election as whip, it came to light that he had spoken in 2002 to a white supremacist group founded by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. Scalise apologized for the speech and said he was unaware of the group’s racial philosophy when he agreed to speak as a state legislator.
“I reject bigotry of all forms,” Scalise said then.
A fun-loving, unabashed champion for Louisiana’s culture and food, Scalise is known as someone who likes to have a good time just as much as he likes rough-and-tumble politics. He returns to the Louisiana legislature every year during session to revisit the House and Senate chambers where he once worked and mingle with his former colleagues, quick with hugs and handshakes.
Scalise is so unassuming and low-key that Louisiana politicians have often joked about his security detail.
“I’ve seen him a couple of times like in the Superdome and I often wondered, ‘Well, why in the hell did he have all those security people with him?” Louisiana Senate President John Alario said.
“I see why now,” Alario added. “It was an abundance of caution. I’m glad they did it.”
Matt Rudiger, a 45-year-old salesman who was at a Metairie, Louisiana, coffee shop near Scalise’s district office, said the shooting “really hit close to home” because he and Scalise both graduated from Archbishop Rummel High School in Metairie.
“We’re all brothers. I feel like it happened to one of us,” Rudiger said.
Scalise and his wife, Jennifer, have two children.
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Daly reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Kevin McGill in Metairie, Louisiana, contributed to this story.
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2017-06-14 20:42:04
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More questions than answers in death of North Korean royalty
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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — It looks like a perfectly staged assassination, straight out of the pages of a spy novel: North Korean royalty Kim Jong Nam, the estranged, exiled half-brother of leader Kim Jong Un, falls ill at a Malaysian airport, complains of being sprayed with some sort of chemical, and drops dead.
But, as with many things about the alleged motives of cloistered North Korea, the unknowns currently far outweigh the certainties.
A look at what officials are trying to piece together as they work to reconstruct one of the most audacious, mysterious assassinations in recent Asian history:
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WHY NOW?
This is the big one: Motive.
Kim Jong Nam, a jovial, overweight gambler and playboy, had embarrassed Pyongyang before — he tried to sneak into Tokyo Disney; he criticized his half-brother — but he’s been generally seen more as an annoyance than an existential threat to North Korea’s stability.
Why would Kim Jong Un go through the massive logistical trouble — and potential embarrassment — of staging the risky assassination of a blood relation on foreign soil?
Without elaborating, South Korea’s spy service told lawmakers Wednesday that the North had been trying to kill Kim Jong Nam for five years. Spy officials offered a single, shaky motive for the death: Kim Jong Un’s “paranoia” over his estranged brother.
But the South’s National Intelligence Service has a long history of botching intelligence on North Korea and has long sought to portray the North’s leadership as mentally unstable.
Some in Seoul wonder if Kim Jong Un might have become enraged when a South Korean newspaper reported last week that Kim Jong Nam tried to defect to the South in 2012. South Korea’s spy service denied this, but it’s still an open question: Could public speculation that a member of the exalted Kim dynasty wanted to flee to the hated South have pushed Kim Jong Un to order his brother’s assassination?
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WHY THE AIRPORT IN MALAYSIA?
There would seem to be easier, less public places to kill such a high-profile target.
A possible explanation might be found in another nugget provided by South Korea’s spy agency: China had long protected Kim Jong Nam and his family in their home base of Macau. Analysts have seen Beijing as looking to Kim Jong Nam as a potential leader should North Korea’s regime collapse.
With security, presumably overseen by China, tight in Macau, could there have been a security gap in Malaysia that offered North Korean assassins an opportunity they couldn’t have gotten elsewhere?
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WHO ARE THE MYSTERY WOMEN?
The details of the attack itself are a tangled mess as of now.
Kim told medical workers that he’d been sprayed with a chemical, which brings to mind past attacks with poison-tipped pens linked to North Korean assassins.
South Korea’s spy agency says two women believed to be North Korean agents attacked Kim. They then reportedly fled. Japanese media quoted the government in Tokyo as saying those women may now be dead. None of this has been confirmed yet.
Still, finding out who these women are and who hired them could go a long way to unlocking the mystery.
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WHAT NEXT?
North Korea has said nothing officially about the death, but that’s not unusual. The country’s propaganda specialists are masters at reporting only details that lionize the Kim family as paragons of virtue. This clearly doesn’t do that.
China may be angry at the killing of a close North Korean contact, so there could be some sort of reaction, possibly back-channel, from Beijing.
But a more concrete punishment could come from Washington.
Cheong Seong-Chang, a South Korean analyst, said the assassination might convince the U.S. Congress to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, further isolating the already widely shunned country.
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Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed to this report.
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2017-02-14 23:13:25
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Man accused of car-ramming in Charlottesville remains jailed
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (AP) — An Ohio man accused of ramming his car into a crowd of protesters at a white nationalist rally in Virginia will remain in jail – at least until he has an attorney.
Judge Robert Downer declined to set bond at a hearing Monday for James Alex Fields Jr., who faces second-degree murder and other charges, until he has legal representation.
The judge says the public defenders’ office informed him it could not represent Fields because a relative of someone in the office was injured in Saturday’s protest. Downer said Charles Weber, a local attorney, will be appointed to represent the 20-year-old Fields.
The next scheduled court hearing is Aug. 25, though Fields’ attorney could request a bond hearing before then.
Fields was not physically present in the courtroom but appeared via a video monitor. He was seated and wearing a black and white striped uniform. He answered questions from the judge with simple responses of “Yes, sir” when asked if he understood the judge.
He told the judge, “No, sir” when asked if he had ties to the community of Charlottesville.
Fields is charged in the death of Heather Heyer, 32, of Charlottesville. She died when Fields allegedly slammed his car amid a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally Saturday. Fields was arrested shortly after and has been in custody ever since.
A high school teacher said Fields was fascinated with Nazism, idolized Adolf Hitler and had been singled out by school officials in the 9th grade for his “deeply held, radical” convictions on race.
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2017-08-14 10:07:28
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Mattis: US would 'take out' any NKorean missile aimed at US
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WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. will “take out” any North Korean missile it detects is heading for American soil, including the Pacific island of Guam.
Mattis says a North Korean missile strike on the U.S. would mean war.
North Korea has said it is considering a plan to launch four ballistic missiles to land in the sea just short of Guam.
Asked how the U.S. would respond, Mattis initially declined to say.
When pressed, he said that if U.S. radars and other detection and tracking systems determine that a missile was going to fall into the sea, short of Guam, then the matter would be taken to President Donald Trump for a decision on how to respond.
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2017-08-14 16:06:00
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Ozuna HR starts comeback as Marlins beat A's 11-6
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MIAMI (AP) — Marcell Ozuna homered to start the Miami Marlins’ comeback from an early four-run deficit, and they beat the Oakland Athletics 11-6 Wednesday to complete a two-game sweep.
Ozuna hit his 17th home run to start the second inning, added a double and had three RBIs. Tyler Moore hit his fifth homer and scored three times to help the Marlins overcome a wobbly outing by Edinson Volquez, who had a no-hitter in his most recent home start.
Ichiro Suzuki had a pinch-hit single in the fifth for his 365th interleague hit, breaking Derek Jeter’s major league record.
Ryon Healy hit a three-run homer for the Athletics (27-38), who fell to 11 games below .500 for the first time. They went 1-5 on their trip and lost their ninth consecutive road series, their longest such streak since 1986.
Oakland lost after leading by three or more runs three times on the trip. Daniel Gossett (0-1) couldn’t hold a 4-0 lead in his major league debut after being called up from Triple-A Nashville, and allowed seven runs, six earned, in 3 1-3 innings.
Volquez lasted only four innings and gave up four hits, four walks and five runs, four earned.
Kyle Barraclough (2-1), the first of six Miami relievers, pitched a scoreless fifth.
PITCHER HITTING
Gossett reached in the fourth on an infield single, his first major league hit and the first by Athletics pitchers in their past 27 at-bats over two seasons. He then scored on Jed Lowrie’s double to put Oakland ahead 5-4.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Oakland: RF Matt Joyce left in the third, one inning after he cut his chin colliding with first baseman Yonder Alonso pursuing a popup, which Alonso caught.
Miami: LHP Braxton Garrett, the Marlins’ top prospect, will receive a second opinion on his sore left elbow next week from specialist Dr. James Andrews. Garrett has been diagnosed with a partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament and could require Tommy John surgery.
ROSTER MOVE
To make room on the roster for Gossett, 1B-OF Matt Olson was optioned to Nashville.
DRAFT PICK
The Marlins took the brother of Chicago Bears tight end Dion Sims in the 14th round of the draft. Demetrius Sims is a shortstop at Bethune-Cookman.
UP NEXT
Miami: The Marlins hit the road after winning for the 10th time in their past 12 home games. They begin a three-game series at Atlanta on Friday, when RHP Dan Straily (4-4, 3.89) will pitch against LHP Sean Newcomb (0-1, 0.00).
Oakland: The A’s return home for a four-game series against the Yankees beginning Thursday, when RHP Sonny Gray (2-2, 4.37) will face LHP Jordan Montgomery (4-4, 3.55).
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More AP baseball: https://apnews.com/tag/MLBbaseball
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-06-14 14:54:41
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/06/14/ozuna-hr-starts-comeback-as-marlins-beat-as-11-6/
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Target moves to shore up grocery, improve delivery service
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NEW YORK (AP) — Target announced moves Monday aimed at helping it shore up two key areas: groceries and delivery.
To boost its grocery business, the company said it hired executives from rival Walmart and from Cheerios maker General Mills. Target’s grocery section hasn’t been as big a draw for shoppers as the department has been for Walmart.
Mark Kenny, who will join Target from Walmart later this month, will oversee Target’s meat, seafood and deli sections. Former General Mills executive Liz Nordlie will run Target’s privately owned food and beverage brands.
The Minneapolis-based retailer said earlier Monday that it would buy delivery logistics company Grand Junction to help it offer same-day delivery service to in-store shoppers.
Software made by the San Francisco-based company connects retailers with about 700 delivery companies around the country that pick up items from stores or distribution centers and take them to customers.
Expanding delivery and making it faster have been key areas for retailers trying to attract convenience-seeking shoppers. Target and Walmart have adjusted their shipping programs as they try to lure online shoppers away from Amazon.
Target’s move is aimed not at online shoppers, but at making buying an easier decision for in-store shoppers. The company has been working with Grand Junction to test same-day delivery at a New York store. Shoppers there can ask to have heavy bags, a sofa or anything else delivered that day for a fee, that’s calculated based on time and location.
Target plans to expand the service to other New York locations this year, and then bring it to other major cities next year. The company said it eventually plans to use the software to offer faster deliveries for online orders.
Target Corp. did not say how much it will pay for Grand Junction. It said the company will become a part of the company’s technology unit and said Grand Junction will stop working with other retailers when those contracts end.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 15:00:20
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/target-buys-tech-company-to-help-it-offer-same-day-delivery/
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China reserves right to retaliate for US investment curbs
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BEIJING (AP) — China has criticized proposed U.S. investment controls as a violation of global trade rules and says it reserves the right to retaliate if they take effect.
The Commerce Ministry’s comment Thursday came as the two sides prepared for weekend talks in Beijing on American complaints about China’s trade surplus and Beijing’s promise to buy more American goods.
A ministry spokesman, Gao Feng, said the White House proposal to restrict Chinese investment in the United States violates the “rules and basic spirit” of the World Trade Organization.
Gao said, “The Chinese side will carefully evaluate the U.S. measures and reserves the right to take corresponding measures.”
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-05-30 23:34:59
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/05/30/china-reserves-right-to-retaliate-for-us-investment-curbs/
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US vet returns dead Japanese soldier's flag to grateful kin
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HIGASHISHIRAKAWA, Japan (AP) — Tatsuya Yasue buried his face into the flag and smelled it. Then he held the 93-year-old hands that brought this treasure home, and kissed them.
Marvin Strombo, who had taken the calligraphy-covered Japanese flag from a dead soldier at World War II island battlefield 73 years ago, returned it Tuesday to the family of Sadao Yasue. They had never gotten his body or — until that moment — anything else of his.
Yasue and Tatsuya’s sister Sayoko Furuta, 93, sitting in her wheelchair, covered her face with both hands and wept silently as Tatsuya placed the flag on her lap. Strombo reached out and gently rubbed her shoulder.
“I was so happy that I returned the flag,” Strombo said. “I can see how much the flag meant to her. That almost made me cry … It meant everything in the world to her.”
The flag’s white background is filled with signatures of 180 friends and neighbors in this tea-growing mountain village of Higashishirakawa, wishing Yasue’s safe return. The signatures helped Strombo find its rightful owners.
“Good luck forever at the battlefield,” a message on it reads. Looking at the names and their handwriting, Tatsuya Yasue clearly recalls their faces and friendship with his brother.
The smell of the flag immediately brought back childhood memories. “It smelled like my good old big brother, and it smelled like our mother’s home cooking we ate together,” Tatsuya Yasue said. “The flag will be our treasure.”
The return of the flag brings closure, the 89-year-old farmer and younger brother of Sadeo Yasue told The Associated Press at his 400-year-old house on Monday. “It’s like the war has finally ended and my brother can come out of limbo.”
Tatsuya Yasue last saw his older brother alive the day before he left for the South Pacific in 1943. He and two siblings had a small send-off picnic for the oldest brother outside his military unit over sushi and Japanese sweet mochi. At the end of the meeting, his brother whispered to Tatsuya, asking him to take good care of their parents, as he would be sent to the Pacific islands, harsh battlegrounds where chances of survival were low.
A year later, Japanese authorities sent the family a wooden box with a few stones at the bottom — a substitute for his body. They knew no details of Sadeo’s death until months after the war ended, when they were told he died somewhere in the Mariana Islands presumably on July 18, 1944, the day Saipan fell, at age 25.
“That’s all we were told about my brother. We never knew exactly when, where or how he died,” he said. The family had wondered whether he might have died at sea. About 20 years ago, Tatsuya Yasue visited Saipan with his younger brother, trying to imagine what their older brother might have gone through.
So Strombo was able to give Yasue’s family not just a flag, but also some answers.
He said he found Sadeo Yasue’s body on the outskirts of Garapan, a village in Saipan, when he got lost and ended up near the Japanese frontline. He told Yasue’s siblings their brother likely died of a concussion from a mortar round. He told them that Sadao was lying on the ground on his left side, looking peacefully as if he was sleeping and without severe wounds.
And there is one more thing Strombo delivered: a little hope that Yasue’s remains might one day be recovered, given the details about where he found the body.
The remains of nearly half of the 2.4 million Japanese war dead overseas have yet to be found. It’s a pressing issue as the bereaved families reach old age and memories fade.
Allied troops frequently took the flags from the bodies of their enemies as souvenirs, as Japanese flags were quite popular and fetched good prices when auctioned, Strombo said. But to the Japanese bereaved families, they have a much deeper meaning, especially those, like Yasue, who never learned how their loved ones died and never received remains. Japanese government has requested auction sites to stop trading wartime signed flags.
Strombo said Tuesday that he originally wanted the flag as a souvenir from the war, but he felt guilty taking it, so he never sold it and vowed to one day return it.
He had the flag hung in a glass-fronted gun cabinet in his home in Montana for years, a topic of conversation for visitors. He was in the battles of Saipan, Tarawa and Tinian, which chipped away at Japan’s control of islands in the Pacific and paved the way for U.S. victory.
In 2012, he was connected to the Obon Society, an Oregon-based nonprofit that helps U.S. veterans and their descendants return Japanese flags to the families of fallen soldiers. The group’s research traced it to the village of 2,300 people in central Japan by analyzing family names.
___
Follow Mari Yamaguchi on Twitter at https://www.twitter.com/mariyamaguchi
Her work can be found at APNews at https://www.apnews.com/search/mari%20yamaguchi
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2017-08-15 03:10:04
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/15/us-vet-returns-dead-japanese-soldiers-flag-to-grateful-kin/
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Guatemala ups number of missing to 332 in volcano eruption
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GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Authorities in Guatemala have raised by more than 130 the number of people officially missing from last month’s deadly eruption of the Volcano of Fire.
The country’s disaster agency says in a statement that the new figure is 332, up from 197 previously.
It said Wednesday that the revision followed a review of nearly 200,000 records and verifying lists of people living in shelters.
The Volcano of Fire is one of the region’s most active, located to the southwest of Guatemala City.
Authorities have confirmed at least 113 deaths from the June 3 eruption, which sent superheated flows raging through small villages. Eighty-five of those bodies have been identified.
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2018-07-04 12:57:12
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/07/04/guatemala-ups-number-of-missing-to-332-in-volcano-eruption/
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South Korean leader: Nuclear crisis must "absolutely be solved peacefully;" US military action requires Seoul's consent
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South Korean leader: Nuclear crisis must “absolutely be solved peacefully;” US military action requires Seoul’s consent
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2017-08-14 20:47:44
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/south-korean-leader-nuclear-crisis-must-absolutely-be-solved-peacefully-us-military-action-requires-seouls-consent/
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10 Things to Know for Today
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Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
1. WHO UNITED AGAINST WHITE NATIONALISTS
Opponents of the Virginia event that descended into chaos included clergy, students, Black Lives Matter activists, armed militia members and protesters with an anti-fascist movement.
2. WHAT TRUMP IS BEING CALLED TO DO
Bipartisan pressure is mounting for the Republican to explicitly condemn white supremacists and hate groups involved in deadly, race-fueled clashes in Charlottesville.
3. ARCTIC VOYAGE DETAILS CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT
An AP team takes a monthlong, 6,200-mile journey through the Northwest Passage to document global warming on the environment, people and animals.
4. ‘NO LOST GENERATION’ PLEDGE RINGS HOLLOW
More than half a million Syrian refugee children of school age are not enrolled in school or informal education in host countries Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq.
5. MIXED REVIEWS OF TILLERSON AS TOP DIPLOMAT
The U.S. secretary of state earns praise for his temperament, yet he’s also stoked doubts about his leadership among many U.S. diplomats and the foreign policy establishment.
6. TRUMP EXPECTED TO SIGN EXECUTIVE ORDER IN DC
The president is poised to seek a trade investigation of China for the alleged theft of American technology and intellectual property.
7. VIOLENCE HITS BURKINA FASO AGAIN
Suspected Islamic extremists open fire at a Turkish restaurant popular with foreigners in the capital of Ouagadougou, killing at least 18 people.
8. A SOLAR ECLIPSE, A CENTURY IN THE MAKING
NASA and others will monitor next week’s eclipse with an armada of satellites, airplanes, balloons and citizen-scientists looking up from the ground.
9. HOW AMERICANS FEEL ABOUT WORKPLACE
Nearly one in five workers find it grueling, stressful and surprisingly hostile, an in-depth survey finds.
10. FROM A GOLFING FAMILY RISES A MAJOR CHAMPION
The son and grandson of golf professionals, Justin Thomas couldn’t think of a better major to win than the PGA Championship.
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2017-08-14 05:18:50
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/10-things-to-know-for-today-2/
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Scandal-hit Weinstein Co. files for bankruptcy protection
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NEW YORK (AP) — The Weinstein Co. filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday with a buyout offer in hand from a private equity firm, the latest twist in its efforts to survive the sexual misconduct scandal that brought down co-founder Harvey Weinstein, shook Hollywood and triggered a movement that spread out to convulse other industries.
The company also announced it was releasing any victims of or witnesses to Weinstein’s alleged misconduct from non-disclosure agreements preventing them from speaking out. That step had long been sought by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who filed a lawsuit against the company last month on behalf of its employees.
“Since October, it has been reported that Harvey Weinstein used non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon to silence his accusers. Effective immediately, those ‘agreements’ end,” the company said in a statement. “No one should be afraid to speak out or coerced to stay quiet.”
In a statement, Schneiderman praised the decision as “a watershed moment for efforts to address the corrosive effects of sexual misconduct in the workplace.”
The movie and TV studio becomes the first high-profile company to be forced into bankruptcy in the nationwide outcry over workplace sexual misconduct. Dozens of prominent men in entertainment, media, finance, politics and other realms have seen their careers derailed, but no other company has seen its very survival as tightly intertwined with the fate of one man as the Weinstein Co.
Some 80 women, including prominent actresses, have accused Harvey Weinstein of misconduct ranging from rape to harassment. Weinstein, who was fired as his company’s CEO in October, has denied any allegations of non-consensual sex.
The Weinstein Co. said it has entered into a “stalking horse” agreement with an affiliate of Dallas-based Lantern Capital Partners, meaning the equity firm has agreed to buy the company, subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.
Lantern was among a group of investors that had been in talks for months to buy the company outside of bankruptcy. That deal was complicated when Schneiderman filed his lawsuit, citing concerns that the sale would benefit executives accused of enabling Weinstein’s alleged misconduct and provide insufficient guarantees of compensation for his accusers. Talks to revive the sale finally fell apart two weeks ago when the group of buyers said they had discovered undisclosed liabilities.
The Weinstein Co. said it chose Lantern as a potential buyer because the firm was committed to keeping on the studio’s employees as a going concern.
“While we had hoped to reach a sale out of court, the Board is pleased to have a plan for maximizing the value of its assets, preserving as many jobs as possible and pursuing justice for any victims,” said Bob Weinstein, who co-founded the company with his brother Harvey in 2005 and remains chairman of the board of directors.
Lantern co-founders Andy Mitchell and Milos Brajovic said they were committed to “following through on our promise to reposition the business as a pre-eminent content provider, while cultivating a positive presence in the industry.”
Under bankruptcy protection, civil lawsuits filed by Weinstein’s accusers will be halted and no new legal claims can be brought against the company. Secured creditors will get priority for payment over the women suing the company.
Schneiderman’s lawsuit will not be halted by the bankruptcy filing because it was filed by a law enforcement agency. Schneiderman said his investigation would continue and that his office would engage with the Weinstein Co. and Lantern to ensure “that victims are compensated, employees are protected moving forward, and perpetrators and enablers of abuse are not unjustly enriched.”
Other bidders also could emerge during the bankruptcy process, particularly those interested in the company’s lucrative 277-film library, which includes award-winning films from big-name directors like Quentin Tarantino and horror releases from its Dimension label. Free of liabilities, the company’s assets could increase in value in a bankruptcy.
In more fallout over the scandal, New York’s governor directed the state attorney general to review a decision by the Manhattan district attorney’s office not to prosecute a 2015 case involving an Italian model who said Weinstein groped her.
The bankruptcy process will bring the company’s finances into public view, including the extent of its debt. The buyers who pulled out of the sale earlier this month said they discovered up to $64 million in undisclosed liabilities, including $27 million in residuals and profit participation. Those liabilities came on top of $225 million in debt, which the buyers had said they would be prepared to take on as part of a $500 million acquisition deal.
The Weinstein Co. already had been struggling financially before the scandal erupted in October with a news stories in The New York Times and The New Yorker. Harvey and Bob Weinstein started the company after leaving Miramax, the company they founded in 1979 and which became a powerhouse in ’90s indie film with hits like “Pulp Fiction.” After finding success with Oscar winners “The Artist” and “The King’s Speech,” the Weinstein Co.’s output and relevance diminished in recent years. The company let go 50 employees in 2016 and continuously shuffled release dates while short of cash.
Last year, the studio sold distribution rights for the movie “Paddington 2” to Warner Bros. for more than $30 million.
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2018-03-20 00:17:17
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/03/20/weinstein-co-files-for-bankruptcy-protection/
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Police: 1 girl dead, at least 5 people injured after driver rams into patrons at pizza restaurant east of Paris
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Police: 1 girl dead, at least 5 people injured after driver rams into patrons at pizza restaurant east of Paris
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2017-08-14 14:53:54
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/police-1-girl-dead-at-least-5-people-injured-after-driver-rams-into-patrons-at-pizza-restaurant-east-of-paris/
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Daily Mail branches into TV with syndicated US show
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LONDON (AP) — The Daily Mail is branching into television, hiring ESPN football analyst Jesse Palmer to host a daily U.S. syndicated show starting next month.
The New York-based show seeks to replicate the blend of news, sensation, human interest and entertainment that has made the brand’s online offering a trans-Atlantic success.
Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper has expanded internationally with websites based in the U.K., U.S. and Australia that claim 244 unique visitors a month.
The TV show promises a diet ranging “from exclusive stories to breaking news, showbiz, politics, crime, health and science and technology.”
It starts Sept. 18. and is distributed through CBS Television Distribution.
The Mail said Monday that Palmer has left his job as a contributor to ABC’s “Good Morning America,” but will continue to appear on ESPN.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 08:16:53
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/daily-mail-branches-into-tv-with-syndicated-us-show/
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Jets' Forte on those who think team is tanking: 'Bring it'
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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Matt Forte remains focused only on winning, no matter what anyone else thinks.
So, when some New York Jets fans suggest the team is tanking the upcoming season — or, should — to get a high draft pick next spring, the veteran running back completely disagrees with the notion.
“It’s a good thing we don’t operate off of what the fans think and what everybody on the outside thinks,” Forte said Wednesday before the team’s second minicamp practice. “What we think as a team, that’s what’s going to happen. And none of us on the team think that we’re going to tank.
“So all I have to say about that is: Bring it.”
The Jets are coming off a 5-11 season and parted ways with several productive and popular veterans in the offseason to cut some big salaries. Gone are the likes of Darrelle Revis, Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker, Nick Mangold, David Harris and Nick Folk.
When asked if he thinks the Jets have a competitive roster, Forte laughed.
“What kind of question is that?” he said. “This is a professional football team. We have athletes on this team. In the league, it’s not about the team that has the most talent on the roster. It’s about the guys who have a brotherhood together. They play on the field, not next to each other, they play for each other. They make sacrifices on the field so the other guys can make plays.
“That’s the kind of culture that we’ve been creating throughout the offseason here.”
The 31-year-old Forte is one of the few remaining vets. And he hasn’t been assured that he’ll be around for this season.
“I don’t worry about stuff like that,” said Forte, whose 813 yards rushing in his first season with the Jets were the lowest of his career. “Nobody has come to me about any of that stuff. I’m pretty sure if they did, my agent would’ve called me. I go out and practice every day to attain a goal, which is reaching the championship and being the best I can be.”
Forte has been one of the league’s best dual threats out of the backfield during his nine NFL seasons. He has run for 9,415 yards, ranking him 34th all-time and fifth among active rushers. His 517 catches rank him 11th on the league’s career list among running backs. He hopes to return to his playmaking days in new coordinator John Morton’s West Coast-style system with the Jets.
But despite all of the individual success he’s had, Forte has played in the postseason just once: his third season in 2010 with Chicago. Despite his team’s current predicament, he’s still motivated. And he implores his young teammates to follow his lead.
“Don’t blink,” Forte said of his advice to them. “Don’t ever get complacent, as well. I told somebody the other day that the minute you come into the league and think you’ve made it, you’re on your way out. And what I mean by ‘don’t blink’ is all that noise on the outside about everything going on, just focus on your job and what you’ve got to do and whatever you can to help your teammates and you’ll be fine.”
Forte echoed the sentiments of coach Todd Bowles, who on Tuesday dismissed the “tanking” notion.
“Lucky for me, I don’t read the media,” Bowles said, “but my expectations are high and the team’s expectations are high and that’s really all that counts.”
When asked what he’s looking to accomplish in a season with such gloomy outside predictions, Bowles insisted nothing has changed.
“I’m trying to get to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl,” the coach said. “It’s no different than any other year.”
___
For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-06-14 18:18:31
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/06/14/jets-forte-on-those-who-think-team-is-tanking-bring-it/
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Crank or Stank! Zac Brown Band "My Old Man"
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Weeknights at 6:30, we play a brand new song! Call, text or vote here! If you love it, tell us to CRANK IT! If you don’t love it, tell us it STANKS!
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-02-14 19:00:15
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http://newcountry923.fm/2017/02/14/crank-stank-zac-brown-band-old-man/
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76ers investigate critical tweets linked to Colangelo
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers are investigating whether team president Bryan Colangelo used Twitter accounts to anonymously trash some of his own players and fellow executives and to defend himself against criticism from fans and the sports media.
The five accounts took aim at Philadelphia players Joel Embiid and Markelle Fultz, former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie, Toronto Raptors executive Masai Ujiri and former Sixers players Jahlil Okafor and Nerlens Noel, according to a report by The Ringer website.
Colangelo acknowledged using one of the accounts to monitor the NBA industry and other current events, but said he wasn’t familiar with the other four and didn’t know who was behind them.
“The allegations are serious and we have commenced an independent investigation into the matter,” the Sixers said Wednesday in a statement. “We will report the results of that investigation as soon as it is concluded.”
Embiid, the 24-year-old All-Star center, tweeted that he didn’t believe the report.
“I don’t believe the story. That would just be insane,” he wrote.
The Ringer said in its report that it has been monitoring the accounts since February, when it received an anonymous tip about the accounts. The site said it does not know the source of the tip, but archived and monitored the tweets themselves and found connections between the accounts.
The Ringer said it initially asked the Sixers about just two of the five accounts to see if anything would change with the other three after its query, and the same day the other three accounts were made private.
Colangelo was hired as president of basketball operations for Philadelphia in April 2016. He served as Toronto’s general manager from 2006-2013.
Colangelo, the son of longtime sports executive Jerry Colangelo, stepped in with the Sixers after Hinkie resigned. He lost his GM job in Toronto after the Raptors missed the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season, and Ujiri took over basketball operations.
According to The Ringer, one of the Twitter accounts it connected to Colangelo downplayed Hinkie’s role in the franchise’s turnaround. It also lamented in another post that Ujiri hadn’t done anything to make the Raptors better.
Another account accused Embiid of “playing like a toddler having tantrums,” and one criticized Fultz for his work with his “so called mentor/father figure.”
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More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball
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newcountry923.fm
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2018-05-07 00:00:00
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https://newcountry923.fm/2018/05/30/76ers-president-denies-blasting-embiid-others-via-twitter/
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Costly crossing: London bridge project closed down
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LONDON (AP) — Supporters of a proposed footbridge and public garden in London spanning the River Thames have abandoned the project after support from the city withered away.
The trust established to build the Garden Bridge, which would have linked Temple with South Bank, shut down Monday after failing to secure guarantees for annual maintenance costs.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan had refused to allocate more public money to the idea, despite the support of predecessor Boris Johnson. Khan’s refusal followed an independent report critical of the project.
The report concluded there was too much uncertainty about the final cost. The project was set to cost 60 million pounds ($77.8 million), but the report said it would end up costing more than 200 million pounds.
The trust described it as “sad day” for London.
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newcountry923.fm
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2017-08-14 07:18:52
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/costly-crossing-london-bridge-project-closed-down/
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Trump to pull nomination of top environmental adviser
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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The White House late Saturday confirmed plans to withdraw the nomination of a climate change skeptic with ties to the fossil fuel industry to serve as President Donald Trump’s top environmental adviser.
Kathleen Hartnett White was announced last October as Trump’s choice to chair the Council on Environmental Quality. She had served under former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, now Trump’s energy secretary, for six years on a commission overseeing the state environmental agency.
But White’s nomination languished in the Senate, and was among a batch of nominations the Senate sent back to the White House at the end of 2017 when Congress closed up for the year. Trump resubmitted White’s nomination in January.
White, who is not a scientist, has compared the work of mainstream climate scientists to “the dogmatic claims of ideologues and clerics.” In a contentious Senate hearing last November, she defended past statements that particulate pollution released by burning fuels is not harmful unless one were to suck on a car’s tailpipe.
Critics of White’s nomination to head the council pointed to her praise of fossil fuels as having improved living conditions around the world and helping to end slavery. She has called carbon dioxide not a pollutant but “a necessary nutrient for plant life.”
During Perry’s tenure as governor of Texas, White often was critical of what she called the Obama administration’s “imperial EPA,” the Environmental Protection Agency, and she opposed stricter limits on air and water pollution.
White was a senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank that received funding from Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, Chevron and other fossil-fuels companies. White could not immediately be reached late Saturday for comment.
The Washington Post first reported late Saturday on plans by the White House to pull White’s nomination, citing two administration officials who had been briefed on the matter but spoke on condition of anonymity because the White House has not formally announced its decision.
A White House official later confirmed the Post report. The official was not authorized to discuss personnel decisions by name and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump himself has called climate change a hoax and has laid the groundwork for withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accords.
Other top Trump administration officials who question the scientific consensus that carbon released in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of global warming include Perry, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke.
U.S. Senator Tom Carper, the top Democrat on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said it was “abundantly clear very early on” that heading the Council on Environmental Quality wasn’t the right job for White. Carper called withdrawing White’s nomination “the right thing to do” and urged the Trump administration to nominate a “thoughtful environmental and public health champion to lead this critical office in the federal government.”
___
Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsupervilleap
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2018-02-03 22:20:18
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The Latest: 18 killed in Burkina Faso restaurant attack
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OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso (AP) — The Latest on the attack in Burkina Faso (all times local):
7 a.m.
Turkey says a Turkish national was killed and another was wounded in the attack by suspected Islamic extremists at a Turkish restaurant in the capital of Burkina Faso.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry released a statement Monday condemning “in the strongest way” the attack on the upscale Aziz Istanbul restaurant which killed at least 18 people.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which continued into the early hours Monday.
The ministry statement said Turkey would maintain its support and solidarity with Burkina Faso, which it said had become the target of international terror over the past years.
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Suspected Islamic extremists opened fire at a Turkish restaurant in the capital of Burkina Faso late Sunday, killing at least 18 people in the second such attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners in the last two years.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the violence, which continued into the early hours Monday. Gunfire could be heard almost seven hours after the attack began.
Communication Minister Remi Dandjinou told journalists that at least 18 people were dead and eight others wounded, according to a provisional toll. He said two of the attackers were also killed.
The victims came from several different nationalities, he said. At least one of the dead was French.
Security forces arrived at the scene with armored vehicles after reports of shots fired near Aziz Istanbul, an upscale restaurant in Ouagadougou. The attack brought back painful memories of the January 2016 attack at another cafe that left 30 people dead.
Police Capt. Guy Ye said three or four assailants had arrived at the Aziz Istanbul restaurant on motorcycles, and then began shooting randomly at the crowds dining Sunday evening.
Burkina Faso, a landlocked nation in West Africa, is one of the poorest countries in the world. It shares a northern border with Mali, which has long battled Islamic extremists.
The three attackers in the 2016 massacre were of foreign origin, according to al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which claimed responsibility in the aftermath along with the jihadist group known as Al Mourabitoun. But the terror threat in Burkina Faso is increasingly homegrown, experts say.
The northern border region is now the home of a local preacher, Ibrahim Malam Dicko, who radicalized and has claimed recent deadly attacks against troops and civilians. His association, Ansarul Islam, is now considered a terrorist group by Burkina Faso’s government.
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2017-08-14 02:00:14
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https://newcountry923.fm/2017/08/14/the-latest-18-killed-in-burkina-faso-restaurant-attack/
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