The Washington Post
‘Individual 1’: Trump emerges as a central subject of Mueller probe
In two major developments this week, [Donald] Trump has been labeled in the parlance of criminal investigations as a major subject of interest, complete with an opaque legal code name: “Individual 1.”
New evidence from two separate fronts of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation casts fresh doubts on Trump’s version of key events involving Russia, signaling potential political and legal peril for the president. Investigators have now publicly cast Trump as a central figure of their probe into whether Trump’s campaign conspired with the Russian government during the 2016 campaign.
Together, the documents show investigators have evidence that Trump was in close contact with his lieutenants as they made outreach to both Russia and WikiLeaks — and that they tried to conceal the extent of their activities.
An experiment requiring work for food stamps is a Trump administration model
At the end of a strip shopping mall and inside an office with a warren of cubicles, Deatre McNeal was back at ResCare, a company hired by the state of Wisconsin to help people who are poor and sometimes hungry find work to avoid losing their food stamps.
Boy, did McNeal need help. The $353 the state deposited each month on her Wisconsin Quest card — to pay for groceries for herself and her then-17-year-old son — hadn’t arrived. Also, recent training to become a nursing assistant had led McNeal only to a pair of temporary assembly line jobs, which led to prepping vegetables for the salad bar at a Golden Corral, which had hired too many people and cut her hours to zero.
In one cubicle, a ResCare case manager phoned a state agency that had records showing an income for a job McNeal hadn’t held for months. In another cubicle, a ResCare workforce coordinator brainstormed with her about a round of unpaid work experience to test whether she was suited to train for jobs in residential health-care facilities. “Things need to get better,” said McNeal, 31, in a blue hoodie and a headband over brown and red braids during her October appointment. “I want to complete — to have something to show for it.”
EPA watchdog closes two probes into Scott Pruitt’s conduct, citing his resignation
The Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Inspector General has closed two probes into Scott Pruitt’s conduct when he was EPA chief without reaching any conclusions because he resigned as administrator before he could be interviewed, according to a report the agency submitted to Congress on Thursday. The investigations focused on Pruitt’s use of staff members for personal purposes and a condo rental deal he made with a lobbyist.
The office did not make a finding as to whether Pruitt violated federal law, according to its semiannual report, saying in each case that “the result of the investigation was inconclusive.” […]
In both inquires, the office said, it interviewed witnesses and reviewed records. However, it noted, “Mr. Pruitt resigned prior to being interviewed by investigators. For that reason, the OIG deemed that the result of the investigation was inconclusive.”
Los Angeles Times
California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, leader of one of the most influential political forces in the nation, said Thursday he intended to resign after allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior toward party staff members and activists.
Bauman’s decision to resign follows a report from The Times on Wednesday that said 10 party staff members and political activists had accused him of making crude sexual comments and engaging in unwanted touching or physical intimidation in professional settings.
Syria says it repelled an enemy attack — but won't name the enemy. Fingers point at Israel
Syrian state media said the country’s air defense systems had deterred a major bombardment of military bases in the south of the country late Thursday, and suspicion immediately fell on Israel, which has attacked military targets there before.
Citing military sources, Syrian television said its air force had “successfully repelled enemy targets,” but did not specifically identify the enemy or the targets. The Saudi-owned TV network Al Arabiya reported that Israeli planes had attacked positions held by Iranian militias near the town of Kiswah, south of the capital, Damascus.
Reuters
Ex-FBI director Comey asks court to quash Republican congressional subpoena
Former FBI Director James Comey asked a federal judge on Thursday to quash a congressional subpoena from Republicans on the U.S. House Judiciary Committee who are trying to compel him to testify behind closed doors about his decision-making ahead of the 2016 presidential election.
The unusual filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia came after Comey had previously told Republican lawmakers he would agree to testify only if the hearing were open to the public.
Tracking China’s Muslim Gulag
A United Nations panel has accused China of turning its far-flung western region of Xinjiang “into something that resembled a massive internment camp shrouded in secrecy, a ‘no rights zone’.” It estimates that there could be as many as one million Muslims who have been detained there.
Former detainees describe being tortured during interrogation, living in crowded cells and being subjected to a brutal daily regimen of Communist Party indoctrination that drove some people to suicide. Most of those who have been rounded up by the security forces are Uighurs, a Muslim ethnic minority that numbers some 10 million. Muslims from other ethnic groups, including Kazakhs, have also been detained.
China rejects the allegations that it has locked up large numbers of Muslims in re-education camps. The facilities, it says, are vocational training centers that emphasize “rehabilitation and redemption” and are part of its efforts to combat terrorism and religious extremism.
Honduras court convicts seven men for killing indigenous activist
A Honduran court convicted seven people on Thursday for the 2016 murder of indigenous land rights campaigner Berta Caceres, who led opposition to the construction of a hydroelectric dam on the ancestral lands of her Lenca tribe.
The seven men face up to 30 years in jail, while four of them could spend even longer behind bars as they were also convicted of attempting to kill Mexican activist Gustavo Castro, who was with Caceres during the attack. Castro was wounded, but survived by playing dead until the gunmen left.
Caceres was shot and killed at her home on March 2, 2016 after receiving death threats over her challenges to the $50 million Agua Zarca dam that threatened to displace hundreds of indigenous Lenca.
Deutsche Welle
Angela Merkel sidesteps military aid to Ukraine
Angela Merkel has reiterated Germany's support for Ukraine in the ongoing standoff between Russia and Ukraine over three ships seized on Sunday, though she did not threaten any further action against Russia, either in terms of military aid or sanctions.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko took to Germany's Bild newspaper to ask Merkel to send navy ships to the Sea of Azov "to provide security," and accused Russia of wanting "nothing less than to occupy the sea."
Speaking at the third German-Ukrainian Economic Forum on Thursday, the German chancellor did not offer any direct answer to Poroshenko's request. Instead, the chancellor reaffirmed Germany's commitment to Ukraine, and put the blame for the current crisis squarely on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Global measles cases spike 30 percent: WHO
Reported measles cases surged globally in 2017, driven by misinformation about vaccines and lack of access to immunization in some regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Thursday.
There were some 173,000 officially reported measles cases worldwide in 2017, a spike of more than 30 percent from the previous year. However, the actual number of cases is estimated at 6.7 million as many go unreported, WHO said.
There were an estimated 110,000 deaths, mostly of children, linked to the vaccine-preventable disease last year. Through November 2018, measles cases are already 10 percent higher than all of 2017.
'Our consumption choices are driving biodiversity loss'
Biodiversity is the cornerstone of our existence — a fact many of us seem to forget in our daily lives. And biodiversity is not just about orangutans and elephants, but also the smallest living organisms in this world.
A recent World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report pointed to how wildlife populations have declined 60 percent globally since 1970. UN experts have warned that if we don't rapidly change our ways, we may be the next species to go extinct.
The Globe and Mail
Ottawa on pace to spend more than $1-billion over three years on unauthorized border crossings: watchdog
Managing the influx of asylum seekers at unauthorized points along Canada’s border with the United States is on pace to cost Ottawa more than $1-billion over three years, a new analysis from Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux says.
In a report released on Thursday, the PBO estimates the government spending at $340.2-million last year, $367.8-million in the current fiscal year and a projection of $395.9-million in 2019-20. It said the average cost for each migrant who entered Canada between border crossings is $14,321 for the entire refugee claim process. That figure is predicted to rise to $16,666 in the fiscal year that begins April 1, 2019, as wait times in the system get longer.
Hate crimes in Canada rose by 47 per cent last year: Statscan
Hate crimes surged in Canada last year, led by growth in incidents targeting the Muslim, Jewish and black populations – a spike one leading expert calls “staggering.”
The number of police-reported hate crimes rose 47 per cent last year, to 2,073 – the highest level since comparable data began in 2009, Statistics Canada said, with the biggest rises in Ontario and Quebec.
Last year marked the fourth consecutive year of increases. Both violent and non-violent hate crimes grew in 2017; hate-related property crimes led the gains, while there was also growth in incitement of hatred, threats, assaults and harassment.
Sydney Morning Herald
Striking students defy PM to protest at inaction on climate change
Thousands of Sydney students have defied the Prime Minister's instruction to stay in the classroom by going on strike to protest against the federal government's climate change policies.
Thirty major strike events took place around the country, organisers said, as students united with a common goal.
Students gathered from 11am in Martin Place in Sydney's CBD, with loud cheers and chanting whenever a new group arrived. Organisers estimated the crowd at 5000.
Cyclone could form as Queensland fires set to burn through weekend
Two alleged arsonists have been arrested and could face up to 14 years in jail as dangerous bushfires continue to burn across the state.
Heatwave conditions are expected to linger into next week as Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk warns there is up to a 50 per cent chance a tropical cyclone could form off the Queensland coast at the weekend.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned of the potential for a tropical low near the Solomon Islands to move into the northern Coral Sea and intensify into a cyclone during the next five days.
Australia's emissions continue to climb, reaching seven-year highs
Australia's greenhouse gas emissions continued to rise in the June quarter, ending the financial year at their highest level since mid-2011, government figures show.
Total emissions in the economy at the end of June were the equivalent of 533.7 million tonnes, up 3.4 million tonnes from a year earlier, according to the latest quarterly report. Compared with the March quarter, emissions fell 3 million tonnes, halving the annual growth rate from 1.3 per cent to 0.6 per cent.
BBC News
Trump's trade war: Stakes are high at G20 summit
The stakes are high at this week's G20 summit, where [Donald] Trump is due to meet China's President Xi Jinping.
Hopes that the meeting could open the way for a deal over trade between the two countries have been undermined by recent threats by the [Trump].
Only days before the summit in Argentina, [Donald] Trump said current tariff levels on $200bn (£157bn) of Chinese imports would rise as planned. He also threatened tariffs on $267bn of other Chinese exports to the US.
London's Metropolitan Police force considers armed foot patrols
The Metropolitan Police is considering deploying armed officers on foot patrols to prevent violence in areas "where gang activity is likely".
Met Commissioner Cressida Dick told a hearing the move would only be used in "extreme circumstances". In a memo seen by the BBC, she said the measure would only be used for "short periods of time".
The Met said armed patrols would not be "routine", but a Labour peer warned they would be "seen as provocative".
Climate change: Last four years are 'world's hottest'
The year 2018 is on course to be the fourth warmest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization.
It says that the global average temperature for the first 10 months of the year was nearly 1C above the levels between 1850-1900.
The State of the Climate report says that the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, with the 2015-2018 making up the top four.
If the trend continues, the WMO says temperatures may rise by 3-5C by 2100. The temperature rise for 2018 of 0.98C comes from five independently maintained global data sets.
The Guardian
'Botched Brexit' could spark electoral wipeout for Tories, rebels say
Theresa May’s Brexit deal could lead to electoral armageddon for the Conservative party, three leading Tory rebel MPs and former ministers have warned as they threw their weight behind a “people’s vote”.
In his first major speech since resigning as transport minister earlier this month, Jo Johnson joined David Willetts and Justine Greening to sketch out a future in which their party faced an existential crisis and would have its brand thrashed by the economic fallout from Brexit.The package their party leader had agreed with the EU was described by Johnson as a “botched deal” that would put British firms at a competitive disadvantage and fail the services sector, which he said had been “scandalously” neglected during negotiations on Brexit.
Second referendum campaigners split over parliamentary tactics
A row has broken out among campaigners for a second referendum about when to push the issue to a vote in parliament, with the Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston resisting pressure not to table her amendment demanding a “people’s vote”.
With the Labour leadership withholding its support, some campaigners fear forcing the issue to a vote on 11 December would undermine their cause.
They believe once it has been shown that there is no majority for a second referendum – and achieving one is likely to be impossible without Labour backing – it will be difficult to return to the question again if May’s deal is rejected.
Supreme court rules against endangered dusky gopher frog
The US supreme court on Tuesday decided against the interests of a warty amphibian and handed a victory to a timber company and other landowners in the first major move on the environment from the bench this term.
The court ruled in favor of the commercial interests seeking to limit the federal government’s power to designate private land as protected habitat for endangered species, in a property rights case involving the dusky gopher frog.
The court, in a 8-0 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, threw out a 2016 appeals court ruling that had favored the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The Daily Progress
Fields trial focuses on his motive in car attack
Defense attorneys for James Alex Fields Jr. do not appear to dispute that he was behind the wheel of his car when it plowed into a crowd of people, injuring dozens and killing Heather Heyer on Aug. 12, 2017.
Instead, opening statements and witness testimony on Thursday focused on whether he acted maliciously or in self-defense. “This is not about what the defendant did, it’s about why he did it,” Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Nina-Alice Antony said.
Defense attorney John Hill said the violent atmosphere in Charlottesville that day caused his client to be afraid for his safety. “We’re going to show you why this event took place,” Hill said. “Was it intended to be malicious, or was it done to protect himself?”
The Denver Post
“The world has changed”: Colorado Republicans’ strategy for governing from the minority’
The Republican leader of the Colorado Senate harbors no illusions about what the 2019 legislative session holds for his party.
“The world has changed,” said Sen. Chris Holbert, R-Parker. “The Democrats can pass any bill they want to.”
Colorado Democrats took control of the statehouse, the governor’s office and other statewide positions in the 2018 elections. For the second time this decade, Democrats have the votes to change everything from how Coloradans attend kindergarten to how courts treat people struggling with addiction and mental health issues.
Nearly 48,000 Colorado children could lose health insurance if Trump administration’s proposed change goes into effect, experts say
The number of children in Colorado with health insurance has increased for almost a decade, but now the decline in the state’s youth uninsured rate is stagnating — and advocates fear more children could lose coverage due to a rule change proposed by the Trump administration.
The number of uninsured children in Colorado remained unchanged in 2017, with about 57,000 individuals under 19 without coverage, according to a new report by Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s Center for Children and Families.
That stagnation comes after Colorado saw the percentage of children without health insurance drop from 14 percent in 2008 to 4.3 percent in 2016, according to Colorado Children’s Campaign, a nonprofit group advocating for children’s health and education.
The Houston Chronicle
AP: As Trump readies to sign new NAFTA, opposition rises in Washington
Donald Trump is set to sign a new North American free trade deal at the G-20 Summit in Argentina Friday following a more than a year of fraught negotiations, but the deal to continue to almost three decades of close trade with Canada and Mexico faces new hurdles — starting with the shifting political dynamic in Washington following the midterm elections.
With both Democrats and Republicans unhappy with aspects of the 1,800-page agreement, and special interests from labor unions to oil companies pressing for changes, the Trump administration has an uncertain path to winning congressional ratification of what is known as the in what is known United State Mexico Canada Agreement.
“It’s going to be a heck of a fight,” said Josh Zive, a Washington trade attorney. “This is a difficult issue that does not break cleanly along party lines.
Behind-the-scenes breeding at Houston Zoo keeps jellyfish tanks stocked
Tucked away in an unseen corner of the Houston Zoo, a 5-gallon bucket — called the “romantic weekend getaway” by those in the know — sits in an open-air tank filled with salt water.
There, adult jellyfish spend their days in close proximity, releasing eggs and sperm that hopefully meet up and eventually turn into polyps that attach to the plastic sides of the pail.
It’s just the beginning stages of the months-long, sometimes years-long, process of hand-rearing these Medusa-like, gelatinous creatures in captivity, a method that the Houston Zoo began perfecting about 10 years ago.
The Miami Herald
How a future Trump Cabinet member gave a serial sex abuser the deal of a lifetime
On a muggy October morning in 2007, Miami’s top federal prosecutor, Alexander Acosta, had a breakfast appointment with a former colleague, Washington, D.C., attorney Jay Lefkowitz.
It was an unusual meeting for the then-38-year-old prosecutor, a rising Republican star who had served in several White House posts before being named U.S. attorney in Miami by President George W. Bush.
Instead of meeting at the prosecutor’s Miami headquarters, the two men — both with professional roots in the prestigious Washington law firm of Kirkland & Ellis — convened at the Marriott in West Palm Beach, about 70 miles away. For Lefkowitz, 44, a U.S. special envoy to North Korea and corporate lawyer, the meeting was critical.
His client, Palm Beach multimillionaire Jeffrey Epstein, 54, was accused of assembling a large, cult-like network of underage girls — with the help of young female recruiters — to coerce into having sex acts behind the walls of his opulent waterfront mansion as often as three times a day, the Town of Palm Beach police found.
Florida claims Walgreens, CVS are complicit in opioid crisis, adds them to lawsuit
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi has named the nation’s two largest pharmacy chains in the state’s massive opioid lawsuit, accusing Walgreens and CVS of racketeering in their “relentless campaign” to supply Floridians with opioids.
The two pharmacy giants, which have more than 1,500 locations between them across the state, broke Florida law by ignoring suspicious orders “all while claiming misleadingly to the public that they were fulfilling their duties as pharmacists,” Bondi’s lawyers say.
NPR News
Trump Judicial Nominee Set To Fail Amid Voter Suppression Charges
The controversial judicial nomination of Thomas Farr has been derailed in the Senate.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — the lone African-American Republican in the Senate — sealed Farr's fate by saying on Thursday that he opposed the nomination. His opposition, along with Arizona GOP Sen. Jeff Flake and all Senate Democrats, means there is not enough support for the nomination to go forward.
Farr is [Donald] Trump's nominee to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, and had been under scrutiny for defending a controversial voter ID law and other possible suppression of black voters in that state. A Justice Department memo obtained by the Washington Post this week detailed voter suppression efforts aimed at African-Americans during the 1990 campaign of the late Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., for which Farr was the top lawyer.
Brazil Rescinds Its Offer To Host Major U.N. Climate Summit
Brazil has rescinded its bid to host a major U.N. conference on climate change next year, raising questions about how the incoming far-right administration will handle environmental issues.
Brazil's foreign ministry made the announcement, saying it withdrew its offer due to "the current fiscal and budget constraints, which are expected to remain in the near future," according to a statement provided to The Associated Press.
But shortly after, President-elect Jair Bolsonaro stated that he had asked his incoming foreign minister to scuttle the summit plans. And he provided a different reason.
U.S. Life Expectancy Drops Amid 'Disturbing' Rise In Overdoses And Suicides
For the second time in three years, life expectancy in the U.S. has ticked downward. In three reports issued Thursday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laid out a series of statistics that revealed some troubling trend lines — including rapidly increasing rates of death from drug overdoses and suicide.
CDC Director Robert Redfield described the data as "troubling."
"Life expectancy gives us a snapshot of the Nation's overall health and these sobering statistics are a wakeup call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable," he said in a statement released Thursday.
The New Yorker
The White House Coverup of the Saudi Coverup of the Jamal Khashoggi Murder
can’t imagine the anguish of Jamal Khashoggi’s children hearing the callous comment from John Bolton, the national-security adviser, about the audiotape of the Saudi journalist’s murder, last month, in Istanbul. “No, I haven’t listened to it, and I guess I should ask you, why do you think I should?” Bolton told reporters, on Tuesday. “Unless you speak Arabic, what are you going to get from it, really?”
Turkish intelligence captured the recording in apparently routine electronic monitoring of conversations inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It reportedly includes Khashoggi’s anguished struggle against a hit squad dispatched from Riyadh, his subsequent execution, the sounds of dismembering his body, and comments by his executioners as they did it all. It is the most vivid proof of a travesty that has captivated the world since October 2nd. After the international uproar erupted, the Trump Administration flew Gina Haspel, the C.I.A. director, to Turkey to hear it. Bolton, who is closest to [Donald] Trump on foreign policy, was asked if he had access to an interpreter to explain the words accompanying the obvious sounds. “I mean, if they were speaking Korean, I wouldn’t learn any more from it, either,” he said.
Congress has been outraged over the Administration’s response to the Khashoggi murder, especially Trump’s willingness to give the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, a pass. “I never thought I’d see the day a White House would moonlight as a public relations firm for the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia,” Bob Corker, the Tennessee Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, tweeted recently. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary James Mattis went to the Hill to explain U.S. policy on Saudi Arabia—in the context of the Khashoggi murder—and U.S. military support propping up the kingdom’s brutal four-year war in Yemen. Moves to punish Saudi Arabia for the murder by curtailing its war have rapidly gained momentum in recent weeks. Mysteriously missing from the briefing, however, was Haspel.
Ars Technica
France to retire 14 nuclear reactors while Japan restarts 5 of its reactors
In a speech this week, French President Emmanuel Macron talked about the country's future plans for nuclear power, saying France would retire 14 nuclear reactors but on a slower timeline than had been suggested previously.
France is a major player in the nuclear industry: in 2012, about 75 percent of its electricity came from nuclear reactors. But since the Fukushima disaster that same year, the country has been pushing to retire some of its older reactors (although not as aggressively as Germany did). According to Power Magazine, in 2014 France's lower house of parliament passed a bill that would have capped nuclear power at 50 percent of the country's energy mix by 2025. Since then, the cap has been removed and reinstated by legislative bodies, and while reducing nuclear reliance to 50 percent of the country's energy mix seemed to be certain, the timeline to do it was far from certain. […]
As France moves away from nuclear, Japan is slowly turning some of its nuclear reactors back on. After the Fukushima disaster, Japan suspended its nuclear fleet for safety inspection, leaving the country with no nuclear power. Instead, Japan currently burns more coal, oil, and natural gas. In 2015, two reactors came back online for the first time, and a handful of reactors have been approved to reconnect with the grid every year since then.
Trump tried to rescue coal. Instead, coal capacity retirements doubled in 2018
In 2018, 14.3 gigawatts (GW) of coal-fired capacity was retired, up from 7GW retired in 2017. That constitutes the second-biggest year for coal-fired capacity retirement since 2015, according to new research from S&P Global Market Intelligence. In 2015, 14.7GW of coal-fired capacity was retired.
The Trump administration campaigned on its ability to save coal by cutting back Obama-era regulations. But in 2017, a Department of Energy-commissioned report gave the administration some bad news: environmental regulations aren’t what’s killing coal—economics are. According to a recent report from market research firm Lazard on the leveled cost of energy, building new renewable energy is currently cheaper than paying marginal costs for many coal plants. And innovations in fracking have dropped the cost of US natural gas far below that of coal.
As the US coal fleet ages, utilities and energy companies are incentivized to replace old coal plants with natural gas plants and renewable energy.
Plot twist: Mitochondrial DNA can come from both parents
The vast majority of our DNA—the chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell—is just what you’d expect: a mix of genetic material from both mother and father. But mitochondria are an exception. They contain a relatively tiny amount of DNA, and in nearly all mammals and even unicellular organisms, that DNA comes strictly from the mother. We've even used that fact to trace the spread of humanity around the globe.
But in 2002, researchers in Copenhagen reported a jaw-dropping finding. In an effort to work out why one of their patients had extreme fatigue during exercise despite seeming healthy in many respects, they started examining his mitochondria—the energy-generating power stations living in each cell. What they found floored them: the man had mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) that matched both his father's and his mother's.
Since 2002, no other cases of paternally inherited mtDNA have been reported in humans, despite several research groups actively looking. But a paper in this week’s PNAS reports mtDNA inherited from both parents in 17 different people from three families. This kind of inheritance is still extremely rare and seems potentially linked to mitochondrial disease, but the robust confirmation of it in humans is huge news for biology and medicine.
