| Johnson accuses EU of plotting food 'blockade' on UK Posted: 12 Sep 2020 05:02 PM PDT  Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accused the European Union of threatening to tear the UK apart by imposing a food "blockade" between Britain and Northern Ireland, throwing new fuel on the fire of simmering Brexit talks.
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| Letter from Africa: Behind Ghana and Nigeria's love-hate affair Posted: 12 Sep 2020 04:51 PM PDT  Why the current tensions over the closure of some Nigerian-owned shops in Ghana should come as no surprise.
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| Rudy Giuliani dodges questions about Russian agent who helped concoct Biden smear campaign Posted: 12 Sep 2020 02:49 PM PDT  Rudy Giuliani claimed ignorance Saturday about a Trump administration report that fingered one of the main sources of a failed smear campaign against Joe Biden as a longtime Russian intelligence agent. The Trump Treasury Department said Andriy Derkach, a major conduit of bogus dirt on Biden in Ukraine, has been on Russian premier Vladimir Putin's payroll for a decade.
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| Pompeo urges diplomacy in standoff over Mediterranean gas Posted: 12 Sep 2020 02:09 PM PDT  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday called for a diplomatic solution to the confrontation between Greece and Turkey over energy reserves in east Mediterranean waters, saying ongoing military tensions between two NATO allies only serve the alliance's foes. "Increased military tensions help no one but adversaries who would like to see division in transatlantic unity," Pompeo said after talks with Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. Pompeo said President Donald Trump has already spoken with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in hopes of ending the standoff.
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| Thousands of Israelis protest outside Netanyahu’s residence Posted: 12 Sep 2020 01:31 PM PDT  Thousands of Israelis demonstrated outside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's official residence in central Jerusalem late Saturday, demanding he resign over his trial on corruption charges and what is widely seen as his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic. With Israel reporting record levels of new coronavirus cases each day, the country appears to be headed toward a nationwide lockdown this week ahead of the Jewish New Year. Saturday's demonstration came a day after Israel announced an agreement to establish diplomatic relations with Bahrain, the second Arab country to normalize ties with Israel in under a month and just the fourth overall.
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| Iran executes wrestler, evoking shock and condemnation Posted: 12 Sep 2020 01:12 PM PDT  Iran said it executed a wrestler Saturday for murdering a man during a wave of anti-government protests in 2018, drawing widespread condemnation and eliciting shock from the International Olympic Committee.
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| Family of late NH man held in Lebanon starts foundation Posted: 12 Sep 2020 12:38 PM PDT |
| Boris Johnson set to opt out of human rights laws Posted: 12 Sep 2020 12:33 PM PDT  Britain is preparing to opt out of major parts of European human rights laws, risking an explosive new row with the EU. Boris Johnson's aides and ministers are drawing up proposals to severely curb the use of human rights laws in areas in which judges have "overreached". The plans under discussion include opt-outs from the Human Rights Act, which could prevent many migrants and asylum seekers from using the legislation to avoid deportation and protect British soldiers against claims relating to overseas operations. The Act allows British courts to apply the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The move sets up a major new confrontation with the EU, which has been demanding that the UK commits to remaining signed up to the ECHR and keep the Human Rights Act in place as the price of future "law enforcement co-operation" between the bloc and Britain. As Boris Johnson faced a major revolt over his decision to alter the EU divorce deal over its provisions on Northern Ireland (see video below), Sir Keir Starmer accused the Prime Minister of "reigniting old rows" over Brexit instead of focusing on the response to coronavirus.
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| Mali coup: Military agrees to 18-month transition government Posted: 12 Sep 2020 12:22 PM PDT  The announcement follows a military coup in August which ousted the country's president.
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| US says Libyan commander agrees to lift oil blockade Posted: 12 Sep 2020 11:35 AM PDT |
| Iran executes wrestler Navid Afkari, who Trump asked be spared Posted: 12 Sep 2020 10:16 AM PDT  Iranian state TV on Saturday reported that the country's authorities executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man, after President Trump asked for the 27-year-old condemned man's life to be spared. State TV quoted the chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying: "The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Torkaman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz." Afkari's case had drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran's Shiite theocracy in 2018.
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| 10,000 women march to demand that Belarus president resign Posted: 12 Sep 2020 10:07 AM PDT  About 10,000 women marched noisily through the Belarusian capital on Saturday, beating pots and pans and shouting for the resignation of the country's authoritarian president in the 35th consecutive day of large anti-government protests. Many carried portraits of Maria Kolesnikova, a leader of the opposition Coordination Council that is seeking a new presidential election for the ex-Soviet nation of 9.5 million people. Lukashenko refuses to meet with the council, and most of its leaders have been detained or have left the country.
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| Iran executes wrestler whose case drew international attention Posted: 12 Sep 2020 10:05 AM PDT  Iranian state TV on Saturday reported that the country's authorities executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man, after President Donald Trump asked for the 27-year-old condemned man's life to be spared. State TV quoted the chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying: "The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Torkaman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz." Afkari's case had drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran's Shiite theocracy in 2018.
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| DR Congo gold mine collapse leaves 50 feared dead Posted: 12 Sep 2020 09:26 AM PDT  Up to 50 people, "most of them young", may have been killed by the mine collapse in DR Congo.
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| Pence drops plan to go to fundraiser hosted by QAnon backers Posted: 12 Sep 2020 09:21 AM PDT  Vice President Mike Pence has canceled plans to attend a Trump campaign fundraiser in Montana following revelations that the event's hosts had expressed support for the QAnon conspiracy theory. President Donald Trump's reelection campaign told The Associated Press on Saturday that Pence's schedule had been changed, but the campaign did not provide a reason or say whether the fundraiser might be held at a later time. The change comes after the AP reported Wednesday that hosts Cayrn and Michael Borland in Bozeman, Montana, had shared QAnon memes and retweeted posts from QAnon accounts.
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| Lebanese protesters clash with army near presidential palace Posted: 12 Sep 2020 08:56 AM PDT  Lebanese soldiers on Saturday fired rubber bullets and live rounds in the air to disperse hundreds of protesters trying to march to the presidential palace during an anti-government demonstration. Tension is high in Lebanon following last month's devastating explosion at Beirut's port that killed nearly 200 people, and after another mysterious and huge blaze at the same site Thursday.
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| Amid smoke and ash, wildfire-scarred Paradise rebuilds Posted: 12 Sep 2020 08:20 AM PDT  When flames chased Chuck and Janie Dee down the mountain two years ago, they thought they'd never be back. With so much demand, Paradise hired a private company to act as the city's building department, which they set up in a building donated by Bank of America.
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| Iran condemns Bahrain’s plan to normalize ties with Israel Posted: 12 Sep 2020 08:16 AM PDT |
| Trump's virus debate: Project strength or level with public Posted: 12 Sep 2020 08:09 AM PDT  "Men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'" — British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Historians say Trump missed the important lessons about how other world leaders have navigated crises. Facing the coronavirus, Trump chose a different path, acknowledging that from early on he was intentionally "playing down" the threat from an outbreak that has gone on to kill more than 190,000 Americans.
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| Iranian wrestler Navid Afkari executed over 2018 security guard killing Posted: 12 Sep 2020 07:59 AM PDT  Iran executed a wrestler after authorities accused him of murder during anti-governemtn protests, defying a global campaign for him to be spared the death penalty. Navid Afkari was convicted of stabbing a security guard to death during anti-government protests in 2018. But 27-year-old Greco-Roman wrestler, a national champion, insists he was forced into a confession after being tortured by security services clamping down during unrest in 2018 over economic hardship and political repression. An international union representing 85,000 athletes had called on Tuesday for Iran's expulsion from world sport if it executed Mr Afkari. US President Donald Trump also appealed to Iran, saying the wrestler's "sole act was an anti-government demonstration on the streets". The International Olympic Committee said the execution of Mr Afkari was "very sad news", adding in a statement that IOC President Thomas Bach had written this week to Iranian leaders asking for mercy for him. "It is deeply upsetting that the pleas of athletes from around the world and all the behind-the-scenes work of the IOC... did not achieve our goal," their statement said.
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| Dakotas lead US in virus growth as both reject mask rules Posted: 12 Sep 2020 07:41 AM PDT  Coronavirus infections in the Dakotas are growing faster than anywhere else in the nation, fueling impassioned debates over masks and personal freedom after months in which the two states avoided the worst of the pandemic. The argument over masks raged this week in Brookings, South Dakota, as the city council considered requiring face coverings in businesses. The city was forced to move its meeting to a local arena to accommodate intense interest, with many citizens speaking against it, before the mask requirement ultimately passed.
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| How China Brought Nearly 200 Million Students Back to School Posted: 12 Sep 2020 07:16 AM PDT  Under bright blue skies, nearly 2,000 students gathered this month for the start of school at Hanyang No. 1 High School in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged.Medical staff stood guard at school entrances, taking temperatures. Administrative officials reviewed the students' travel histories and coronavirus test results. Local Communist Party cadres kept watch, making sure teachers followed detailed instructions on hygiene and showed an "anti-epidemic spirit.""I'm not worried," a music teacher at the school, Yang Meng, said in an interview. "Wuhan is now the safest place."As countries around the world struggle to safely reopen schools this fall, China is harnessing the power of its authoritarian system to offer in-person learning for about 195 million students in kindergarten through 12th grade at public schools.While the Communist Party has adopted many of the same sanitation and distancing procedures used elsewhere, it has rolled them out with a characteristic all-out, command-and-control approach that brooks no dissent. It has mobilized battalions of local officials and party cadres to inspect classrooms, deployed apps and other technology to monitor students and staff, and restricted their movements. It has even told parents to stay away for fear of spreading germs.China's leader, Xi Jinping, said in a speech Tuesday that the country's progress in fighting the virus, including the opening of schools, had "fully demonstrated the clear superiority of Communist Party leadership and our socialist system."China's top-down, state-led political system allows the party to drive its vast bureaucracy in pursuit of a single target -- an approach that would be nearly impossible anywhere else in the world.In the United States, where the pandemic is still raging, discussions about how and when to resume in-person classes have been fraught. An absence of a national strategy has left school districts to craft their own approach. Coronavirus tests can be hard to come by. Pressure from parents has forced cities to delay opening classrooms again. Teachers unions have threatened to strike, while college students have flouted rules against gatherings.In China, where the virus has been under control for months, there is no such debate. The party controls the courts and the news media and quashes any perceived threats to its agenda. Local bureaucracies have little choice but to obey the orders of the all-powerful central government. Independent labor unions are banned, and activism is discouraged, making it difficult for the country's more than 12 million teachers to organize. Administrators have corralled college students inside campuses, forbidding them to leave school grounds to eat or meet friends."The Chinese system moves by itself," said Yong Zhao, a scholar at the University of Kansas who has studied education in China. "The system is run like a military: It just goes for it, no matter what anyone thinks."In many ways, China is applying the same heavy-handed model to reopen schools that it has used to bring the virus under control. To stop the epidemic, authorities imposed harsh lockdowns and deployed invasive technologies to track residents, raising public anger in some places and concerns about the erosion of privacy and civil liberties.With schools, the government's effort has in some places been met with similar frustrations. Teachers, who are at times doubling as medical workers, checking for fevers and isolating sick students, say they are exhausted by the new protocols. Students have complained that some policies, such as lockdowns on university campuses, are excessive.China is introducing many of the same measures as countries in Europe and elsewhere where schools have recently reopened. Principals are instructing students and teachers to keep a distance inside classrooms, although seating arrangements remain largely the same. Teachers are trying to keep students separated by grade, assigning specific routes and entrances for different age groups to avoid crowding. Masks are mostly optional inside classrooms for students and staff.But China's approach is also much more demanding, as it has been throughout the pandemic. Students and staff in areas where outbreaks had previously been reported, or who had traveled to areas considered risky, were required to show coronavirus test results before the start of school. Education officials have urged students to avoid "unnecessary outings" aside from going to school, although the rule is unlikely to be enforced. Students are also discouraged from speaking while eating or taking public transportation."One heart and one mind to prevent and control the epidemic," reads a propaganda slogan plastered around school grounds.China still faces the possibility of fresh outbreaks, epidemiologists say, especially in the fall and winter months. But so far, the measures appear to be effective, with no outbreaks or school closures reported.The opening of schools has given Xi a propaganda win in a time of slowing economic growth and international criticism over his government's early cover-up and mishandling of the outbreak.The state-run media has closely covered America's difficulties in resuming classes, while highlighting China's progress in getting parents back to work -- key to the country's attempts to drive an economic recovery."When parents start a new day at work knowing that their children are well-protected at school," read a recent commentary by Xinhua, the official news agency, "they will be filled with a sense of assurance living in this land where life is a top priority."While the central government has warned school officials to avoid becoming "paralyzed or lax," it is unclear whether the measures are sustainable. The government's blanket rules have provoked ire in some corners.Many schools are already short on staff and resources, and educators say they are struggling to keep up with long lists of virus-control tasks. Some teachers are rising at 4 a.m. just to review protocols."There are too many things, and we aren't compensated," Li Mengtian, a teacher at a primary school in the city of Shenzhen, said in a telephone interview. "We need to spend a lot of time and energy on our work."At other schools, educators say that officials are blindly following policies to satisfy higher-ups, even if they are not effective.Kang Jinzhi, a teacher at a high school in Jingzhou, a city about 130 miles west of Wuhan, said a thermal camera at the entrance of her school constantly provided inaccurate data, labeling everyone who enters as feverish."The machine is useless," she said in an interview. "But the school must set this up because the policies make such demands."At public universities, which serve some 40 million students in China, anger has erupted over campus lockdowns that have targeted students while exempting faculty and staff. Officials have also banned students from receiving takeout meals and packages. In recent days, videos have circulated online showing long lines at cafeterias and students trying to hug their dates through campus fences."Do you plan to lock us up for life?" complained Pan Sheng, a sophomore at Changshu Institute of Technology in the eastern province of Jiangsu, on Weibo, a microblogging site."I feel like I'm in high school," Pan said in an interview. "We came to college to gather knowledge and learn how to conduct ourselves in a society, not just sit in class at school every day."Many schools have already had some practice in operating under pandemic conditions. Classes resumed for some grades in April and May in many parts of China, although with staggered schedules and limits on the number of students.Since then, the government has invested heavily in equipping schools with masks, gloves, infrared thermometers and other equipment. An elementary school in the eastern city of Xuzhou, for example, said it had 8,000 masks, 400 bottles of hand sanitizer, 440 pounds of ethanol and 1,000 packages of tissue on hand.The Ministry of Education's guidelines call for temperatures to be taken at least three times a day and reported to school officials. The rules are tighter in areas that the government sees as particularly vulnerable to an outbreak. In Beijing, for example, masks are required at all times.Some measures go even further in expanding the scope of what is typically expected of the country's educators. The ministry has ordered schools to help students cope with the stress and trauma of the pandemic by providing them with counseling. Officials are being held accountable for reducing myopia among schoolchildren, rates of which rose sharply during the pandemic, the government says, as students spent more time using computers to learn (and probably play).Despite the hassle of some of the restrictions, many families welcome the resumption of classes. After months of leading makeshift lessons in their living rooms and nagging their children about playing too many video games, parents are relieved to be able to send them back to classes and after-school tutoring programs."We controlled the epidemic well, and it will be good for our country," said Sofia Tang, mother of a high school freshman in the eastern city of Hangzhou. "If we handled this at all like they are handling it overseas, there would be riots."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Brazil Indigenous group celebrates 6 months without COVID-19 Posted: 12 Sep 2020 06:43 AM PDT  "You are invited," 33-year-old Regis Tufo Moreira Tembé said to a visitor. The Tembé are the western branch of the Tenetehara ethnicity, located in the Alto Rio Guama Indigenous territory on the western edge of Para state. The virus has infiltrated the lands of dozens of Indigenous groups after they came to nearby cities to trade, buy staples and collect emergency welfare payments from the government.
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| 10 things you need to know today: September 12, 2020 Posted: 12 Sep 2020 06:31 AM PDT |
| Pro-reform Iranian religious leader dies aged 83 Posted: 12 Sep 2020 06:06 AM PDT |
| Expect US election to have consequences for troops overseas Posted: 12 Sep 2020 05:52 AM PDT  President Donald Trump and Democratic rival Joe Biden both say they want to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq and Afghanistan. During his election campaign four years ago, Trump pledged to bring all troops home from "endless wars," at times triggering pushback from military commanders, defense leaders and even Republican lawmakers worried about abruptly abandoning partners on the ground. More broadly, Trump's 'America First' mantra has buoyed voters weary of war and frustrated with the billions of dollars spent on national defense at the expense of domestic needs.
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| Germany says UK to suffer if no Brexit deal, not EU Posted: 12 Sep 2020 05:28 AM PDT  German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Saturday said Britain would face the brunt of the fallout if post-Brexit trade talks collapsed without a deal.
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| Despite calls for clemency and suspicions of false accusations, Iran executes 27-year-old wrestler Posted: 12 Sep 2020 04:54 AM PDT  Despite international calls for clemency, Iranian state news media on Saturday reported the state execution of Navid Afkari, a 27-year-old wrestler, at a prison in the southern city of Shiraz. Afkari was accused of fatally stabbing a water supply company employee during a 2018 antigovernment protest in Shiraz. His case received attention across the globe, with President Trump and international sports groups among those calling on Tehran to spare his life.Iran broadcast his confession last week, but The New York Times reports Afkari can be heard on an audio tape smuggled from prison saying that he had been tortured until he falsely confessed. Indeed, the televised segment resembled many other suspected coerced confessions aired over the last several years in Iran, The Associated Press reports.Per the Times, Afkari was not well-known in Iran before his arrest — which came a few days after he and two brothers (both of whom have been sentenced to decades in prison) demonstrated in Shiraz — but his supporters say he may have been used as an example by the government to silence dissent because of wrestling's popularity in the country. Read more at The New York Times and The Associated Press.More stories from theweek.com The true Election Day nightmare scenario The epistemic crisis of political polling Are the troops turning on Trump?
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| Historic Afghan peace talks fraught with uncertainty Posted: 12 Sep 2020 03:40 AM PDT  The U.S. had hoped negotiations would start within two weeks of Feb. 29, when it signed a peace deal with the Taliban, effectively acknowledging a military stalemate after nearly two decades of conflict. The Afghan government, which was in the throes of a political crisis over a disputed presidential election held last September, balked at being told to free 5,000 Taliban but eventually relented. U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad, who invested a year and a half negotiating the peace deal, called negotiations between Afghanistan's warring sides "a historic opportunity for peace ... one that benefits all Afghans and contributes to regional stability and global security."
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| New Orleans under hurricane watch from Tropical Storm Sally Posted: 12 Sep 2020 02:27 AM PDT  Tropical Storm Sally formed Saturday off south Florida amid forecasts it would reach hurricane strength early in the week before striking the northern Gulf Coast with high winds and a possible life-threatening storm surge. The earliest 18th-named storm in an Atlantic tropical season, Sally already was better organized within hours of forming and was expected to become a hurricane by late Monday, the National Hurricane Center said. New Orleans and surrounding areas, along with a stretch of the coast from Grand isle, Louisiana, to the Alabama-Florida line, were placed under a hurricane watch.
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| Iran executes man whose case drew international attention Posted: 12 Sep 2020 02:16 AM PDT  Iranian state TV on Saturday reported that the country's authorities executed a wrestler for allegedly murdering a man, after President Donald Trump asked for the 27-year-old condemned man's life to be spared. State TV quoted the chief justice of Fars province, Kazem Mousavi, as saying: "The retaliation sentence against Navid Afkari, the killer of Hassan Torkaman, was carried out this morning in Adelabad prison in Shiraz." Afkari's case had drawn the attention of a social media campaign that portrayed him and his brothers as victims targeted over participating in protests against Iran's Shiite theocracy in 2018.
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| Johnson accuses EU of plotting food 'blockade' on UK Posted: 12 Sep 2020 01:14 AM PDT  Prime Minister Boris Johnson has accused the European Union of threatening to impose a food "blockade" between Britain and Northern Ireland that could tear the UK apart, throwing new fuel on the fire of simmering Brexit talks.
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| Some migrants move into tents after fire guts Greek camp Posted: 12 Sep 2020 12:40 AM PDT  Some asylum-seekers on the Greek island of Lesbos moved into temporary tent housing Saturday, part of the thousands left homeless after fires destroyed the notoriously overcrowded Moria migrant camp. Over 12,000 people were left homeless after fires on Tuesday and Wednesday gutted the Moria camp in the midst of a coronavirus lockdown. The Moria camp was built to house around 2,750 but overcrowding led to more than 12,500 people living in squalor, and had been held up by critics as a symbol of the European Union's migration policy failings.
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| Istanbul limits size of weddings, parties as virus spreads Posted: 12 Sep 2020 12:14 AM PDT  The governor of Istanbul has banned boating companies from hosting weddings and similar gatherings as part of new measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Turkey's most populous city. Coronavirus infections and deaths began increasing in Turkey after the government loosened restrictions on public activity in June, returning to levels last seen in mid-May. Officials have cited engagement parties and weddings as a key source for new infections, many from the party boats that cruise Istanbul's scenic Bosporus strait, which bisects the city of about 16 million.
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| Antarctica is still free of COVID-19. Can it stay that way? Posted: 11 Sep 2020 11:28 PM PDT  From the U.K.'s Rothera Research Station off the Antarctic peninsula that curls toward the tip of South America, field guide Rob Taylor described what it's like in "our safe little bubble." Like teams across Antarctica, including at the South Pole, Taylor and his 26 colleagues must be proficient in all sorts of tasks in a remote, communal environment with little room for error. At New Zealand's Scott Base, rounds of mini-golf and a filmmaking competition with other Antarctic bases have been highlights of the Southern Hemisphere's winter, which ended for the Scott team when they spotted the sun last Friday.
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| Crews battling California fires head to devastated areas Posted: 11 Sep 2020 11:08 PM PDT  Smoke from massive wildfires that painted California skies orange was also helping crews corral the deadliest blaze of the year, but despite the progress there was concern that the death toll could mount as crews reach devastated areas. Nine people, including a 16-year-old boy, have been confirmed dead since lightning-caused fires that started weeks ago fused into a monster that largely destroyed Berry Creek, a tiny hamlet in the Sierra Nevada foothills northeast of San Francisco. Nearly 15,000 firefighters were battling 28 major wildfires across California, although 24 were sparked Thursday and quickly contained.
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| Warring Afghans meet to find peace after decades of war Posted: 11 Sep 2020 10:30 PM PDT  Afghanistan's warring sides started negotiations for the first time, bringing together the Taliban and delegates appointed by the Afghan government Saturday for historic meetings aimed at ending decades of war. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended the opening ceremony in Qatar, where the meetings are taking place and where the Taliban maintain a political office. "Each of you carry a great responsibility," Pompeo told the participants.
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| Rage review: Will Bob Woodward's tapes bring down Donald Trump? Posted: 11 Sep 2020 10:00 PM PDT  The Watergate reporter offers a jaw-dropping portrait of a president he deems 'the wrong man for the job'. But Trump's electoral fate is far from clear * Woodward: allies tried to rein in 'childish' foreign policy * Opinion: Trump has spilled his biggest secretIn the pages of Rage, Jared Kushner acknowledges that Donald Trump is not wedded to the truth. Rather, both men find exaggeration a potent weapon in stirring opinion. Asked about the president's propensity to inflate his achievements, Kushner responds: "Controversy elevates message."If so, both the president and his son-in-law should be eternally grateful to Bob Woodward, his latest book and the ensuing tumult. By the president's own tape-recorded admission, he was acutely aware of the dangers posed by Covid-19 but elected to lie about the danger faced by the American public.The plague did not vanish, more than 190,000 are dead. When Jonathan Karl of ABC News pressed the president at a press conference about his lie, he was on very solid ground. To say otherwise is delusional – or fan fiction. Kayleigh McEnany, the latest White House spokeswoman, knows that for sure.While the president claims his sole aim was to avoid chaos, the pandemic has fused itself to the social fabric. As the head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has acknowledged, the effort to eradicate Covid-19 is a marathon not a sprint, and it is far from over.And yet re-election is a real possibility. Florida has shifted, no longer leaning Democratic. A Biden-Harris win in Nevada appears less certain. Trump is down, but not out. Rage arrives at what may be an inflection point, formally published seven weeks before one of the most consequential electoral contests. However you slice it, the US stands polarized, a nation divided.> Unlike Nixon when Frost came calling, the president was not paid to be a witness against himselfAs expected from Woodward, those in proximity to power share their stories. James Mattis, the former defense secretary, Dan Coats, the former director of national intelligence, and Kushner all make more than cameo appearances. Coats is caught musing that Vladimir Putin must have something over the president."How else to explain the president's behavior?" Woodward writes. "Coats could see no other explanation."Rage also catches the discomfort of Coats' wife. As fate would have it, Trump dismissed Coats after unexpectedly running into the couple at one of his golf courses.But what sets Rage apart from the Pulitzer-winning author's earlier works is that Trump consented to be taped, on the record. In other words, the book possesses more than a patina of similarity to the famous televised interviews between David Frost and Richard Nixon, the president Woodward and Carl Bernstein brought down with their reporting on Watergate nearly a half-century ago.Woodward recalls a famous Nixon quote, from more than 40 years earlier: "I gave them a sword. And they stuck it in. And they twisted it with relish. And, I guess, if I'd been in their position, I'd have done the same thing."The response is pure Trump: "Nixon was in a corner with his thumb stuck in his mouth."Rage makes clear that Trump's affinity for dictators and strongmen is part of his DNA. In addition to capturing the bromance with Kim Jong-un of North Korea, Woodward quotes Trump discussing his rapport with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey, and others."It's funny the relationships I have," Trump says. "The tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them … Explain that to me someday." The answer to that may have been evident to the president.Senator Lindsey Graham also makes numerous appearances. According to Woodward, the South Carolina Republican served as a conduit between Bill Barr, the attorney general, and the White House. But Graham also appears as a friendly critic.After seeing Trump wave a Bible in front of St John's church, across from the White House, after peaceful protesters had been cleared with teargas, Graham exclaims that he has "never been more worried". South Carolina's senior senator explained that Trump could have responded to the racial unrest fomented by the murder of George Floyd like George Wallace, Nixon or Robert Kennedy.Wallace was a segregationist governor of Alabama. Nixon fancied himself as the law-and-order candidate. Kennedy was a slain president's younger brother, who tried to keep the peace after the killing of Martin Luther King and was then killed himself.Trump opted to emulate Wallace.As Graham saw things, incumbent presidents lack the luxury of acting as bystanders to events. In Woodward's account, Trump is portrayed as preferring to claim credit even as he eschews responsibility.While the coronavirus spread, Trump repeatedly let governors know the burden of shoring up their sick, their doctors and their people would fall on their shoulders first. Woodward emphasizes Trump's reluctance to throw the weight of the federal government behind fighting Covid-19. It was to be the world's greatest backstop.In Graham's words, Trump "wants to be a wartime president, but he doesn't want to own any more than he has to own".And yet Rage also makes clear that Trump's desire for accolades knows few bounds. After adopting a partial ban on travel to and from China, as urged by at least five advisers, Trump asserted that he had fathered and birthed the plan on his own."I had 21 people in my office," he said. But only "one person had said we have to close it down. That was me."Woodward is puzzled by Trump's cooperation. Unlike Nixon when Frost came calling, the president was not paid to be a witness against himself.Rage comes with a definite viewpoint. Woodward contends that a "president must be willing to share the worst with the people, the bad the news with the good". Instead of "truth-telling", Woodward writes, Trump has "enshrined personal impulse as a governing principal".When Trump's "performance is taken in its entirety", he concludes, history will show that he was "the wrong man for the job".Perhaps. 3 November comes first.
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| Trump looks west, eyeing new paths to White House Posted: 11 Sep 2020 09:31 PM PDT  Pushing for new roads to reelection, President Donald Trump is going on the offense this weekend in Nevada, which hasn't supported a Republican presidential candidate since 2004. Trump is defying local authorities by holding public events Saturday and Sunday after officials blocked his initial plans for rallies in Reno and Las Vegas because they would have violated coronavirus health guidelines. It's the kind of fight that Trump's team relishes and underscores the growing importance of Nevada in Trump's quest for 270 electoral votes as the race against Democrat Joe Biden looks tight in a number of pivotal states.
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| Smoke chokes West Coast as wildfire deaths keep climbing Posted: 11 Sep 2020 09:31 PM PDT  Wildfire smoke that posed a health hazard to millions choked the West Coast on Saturday as firefighters battled deadly blazes that obliterated some towns and displaced tens of thousands of people, the latest in a series of calamities this year. The death toll from the fires in California, Oregon and Washington stood at 28 and was expected to rise sharply. Most of the fatalities were in California and Oregon.
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| Prosecutor looking into the origins of Russia probe resigns Posted: 11 Sep 2020 09:20 PM PDT  A federal prosecutor who was helping lead the investigation into the origins of the Trump-Russia probe has resigned from the Justice Department, a spokesman said. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Connecticut on Friday confirmed Dannehy's departure, which was first reported by The Hartford Courant, but the spokesman declined to comment further.
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| Navalny’s No. 2 Suspects ‘Putin’s Chef’ Ordered Novichok Hit on Opposition Leader Posted: 11 Sep 2020 09:14 PM PDT  MOSCOW—Tears of joy ran down Lyubov Sobol's face when news came through that Alexei Navalny had awakened after more than two weeks in a coma. The 32-year-old blond lawyer, who cultivates a nerdy look with her dark-rimmed glasses, spent a decade fighting Russia's state corruption at Navalny's side. His partial recovery doesn't make her work any less dangerous.In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Sobol revealed who she suspects of poisoning Navalny and why. With Navalny in a hospital in Berlin, Sobol is the de facto leader of the Russian opposition. In spite of the arrests, blackmail, and violent attacks, she has not left Russia, she says, because this fight is her life.Navalny hired Sobol when she was a teenager in law school, as the first employee for his nonprofit group, the Anti-Corruption Foundation. Together they have produced dozens of video investigative reports about high-profile, outrageous cases of corruption by President Vladimir Putin's closest allies. These reports have touched his inner circle: the petroleum kingpins Igor Sechin and Gennady Timchenko, and the Kremlin-linked catering magnate Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as "Putin's chef." More than 36 million people watched Navalny's investigation into the former president and prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, alleging he had secret real-estate holdings valued at $85 million in 2017. "We showed millions of Russians how corrupt our prime minister was and Putin replaced Medvedev, we demonstrated ex-Prosecutor General Yuriy Chaika's corruption and Putin fired him; Putin tried to change a lot, except for himself," Sobol said.Navalny Had Many Enemies in the Kremlin—but Who Wanted Him Dead?Putin's opposition has suffered countless violent attacks. Activists have been jailed, tortured and assassinated; but today one man's attacks on the group stand out, Sobol said."Navalny's poisoning does not look like a Chechen attack; it has the handwriting of secret services," she said. "Yevgeny Prigozhin, who is extremely dangerous, has the Kremlin's license for persecutions, for murder both inside Russia and in other countries, including Africa and Syria."Sobol does not have any hard evidence to link Prigozhin to the attack on Navalny."It was wrong for Interpol to drop the extradition notice for Prigozhin. The world's leaders should realize that Prigozhin's hands are absolutely free now to interfere in the U.S. presidential election in November. He has millions of corrupt dollars to spend on the interference."Sobol says Prigozhin once attacked her family: Somebody stabbed her husband, a sociologist, Sergei Mokhov, with a syringe. The attacker injected a cocktail of chemicals that made him lose consciousness. "Poisonings are Prigozhin's style, he waited for two months after our very popular investigation into his financial schemes—more than four million people watched it. Then, he conducted an attack on my husband," Sobol said.Prigozhin is not known to be under investigation for any crime in Russia and his company has sued Navalny's group for slander related to other accusations."If not for the quick ambulance pickup and the hospital around the corner from our house, my husband would have been dead," Sobol said.Protests are all but banned in Russia. People who gather in the street are punished with high fines and time behind bars. Putin regularly talks about the West financing Russian opposition: "Countries that conduct an independent policy or that simply stand in the way of somebody's interests get destabilized," he said in 2014.Some voices in Russia's liberal circles say it's time for a female leader to take on Putin. Yulia Navalny, whose prominence has risen since she took control of the situation when her husband was poisoned, is one potential candidate. Sobol is another. "Women's rights, gender equality become acute issues on Russia's agenda. People feel a lot of sympathy and support for Navalny's wife Yulia, who managed to win the battle with authorities, demonstrate incredible courage, and move her husband to Germany," Alisa Ganiyeva, an influential member of Moscow's literary circles, told The Daily Beast. "And Lyubov Sobol is a vivid example of a woman's significant transformation from a lawyer, an assistant into an independent political figure and influencer." Navalny's family is now with him in Germany, where doctors believe Putin's nemesis has been poisoned with the military-grade Novichok nerve agent.While he recovers in hospital, the political battles around Navalny's poisoning continue. The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee is calling for President Trump to investigate Navalny's poisoning. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is demanding Russian authorities "investigate this crime to the last detail and do so in full transparency."Before the poisoning, French President Emmanuel Macron was planning to reset relations with the Kremlin and visit Moscow. Those plans are now reportedly under threat.Moscow denies there was a poisoning and the foreign ministry has complained about Germany's "unfounded allegations and ultimatums."In the future, Sobol thinks, Russia should move away from having a single all-powerful leader. "It is important to understand that both Russians and Belarusians are tired of authoritarian leaders. People organize protests and movements on the horizontal level," she said. "Only this summer, we saw giant rallies in the Russian Far East, in Khabarovsk and in Bashkiria—activists realized that their leaders get arrested or attacked, so communities organize, communicate on social media, and plan strategies and rallies."Police often raid Navalny's anti-corruption group, and confiscate office and film equipment. Sobol says she spends all her spare money on fines for organizing rallies. She and her colleagues get arrested every few months, and now they have seen their boss attacked with a chemical weapon.And yet still Sobol stepped forward to fill Navalny's position as the face of the opposition. "We, Navalny's team, are like water: They squash us in Moscow, we open headquarters all across Russia. They arrest some of us, others immediately fill the gaps," Sobol said."I am never going to escape abroad—people recognize me in the streets. I am in charge of YouTube channels watched by more than six million people. And I am planning to run for Parliament next year."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Amid ashes, California governor fires away on climate change Posted: 11 Sep 2020 06:37 PM PDT  California Gov. Newsom offered some of his most impassioned comments on climate change, denouncing the "ideological BS" of those who deny the danger and vowing Friday to accelerate the state's already ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gases. Newsom spoke against a backdrop of ghost-like trees and ground covered in snow-like gray ash left by the deadliest of the record-breaking fires that have charred huge swaths of California in recent weeks. "The data is self-evident, the experience that we have in the state of California just underscoring the reality of the ravages of climate change," he said.
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| Family believes boy died in fire trying to save grandmother Posted: 11 Sep 2020 06:27 PM PDT |
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