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The Latest: Iran imposes sanctions on US think tank

Iran's Foreign Ministry says it has imposed sanctions on the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies and its CEO for its role in promoting sanctions and "economic terrorism" against Iran. A Saturday report by Iranian media, including the semi-official Fars news agency, quoted a statement by Iran's Foreign Ministry as saying the foundation and its CEO Mark Dubowitz "intentionally" damaged vital interests of Iran through spreading lies and negative campaigning against Iran.

Shrugging off Trump, FBI tackles right-wing extremists

One man had three assault rifles, extra-large magazines and a gas mask. Another had over 18 weapons, including sawed-off shotguns, AR-15s, and a grenade launcher. Earlier this year, the two might not have drawn the attention of US law enforcement.

Metal detectorist finds £10,000 gold ring in garage 40 years after discarding it as worthless

A metal detectorist who discarded a gold ring in his garage for 40 years after a museum told him it was worthless has discovered its real value is £10,000. Tom Clark, 81, dug up the buried treasure while scanning an area of farmland near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, in 1979, then put it inside a metal tin and forgot about it. But the retired leather craftsman came across the rare seal ring eight years ago while sorting through items from his mother's house after she passed away. He got the item valued and was astonished to discover that it was actually a 670-year-old medieval artefact dating back to 1350. It is due to be auctioned off in Derbyshire on Tuesday (Aug 27) and is expected to sell for between £8,500 and £10,000. The turn of events is similar to the plot of BBC sitcom Only Fools and Horses, when brothers Del and Rodney come across a watch in their garage which is then auctioned off for millions of pounds. Mr Clark said: "I had completely forgotten about it. At the time I'd only been metal detecting for 10 years and didn't realise the ring was anything special. It was all twisted and broken when I dug it up." He took the rare ring along with some others to a museum to have them valued at the time, but was told they were all fairly modern. "I put them all in a tin and left them in the garage at my mother's house," he said. "A few months ago, I was sorting through some stuff in my own garage that had come from my mother's house and there it was - the tin with the rings in it." Tom is auctioning off the ring, which is expected to make between £8,500 and £10,000 Credit: Hansons / SWNS/Hansons / SWNS Mr Clark, now a much more experienced collector, said he instantly knew it was a seal ring dating back to the 1300s and would have belonged to someone important given its decoration and quality. He added: "It's rare and elegant. I'd love to know who it belonged to." A Latin inscription on the ring translates as 'I hide the true message'. Mark Becher, Historica expert at auctioneer Hansons, said: "It's a fascinating piece of medieval jewellery and I'm delighted Tom rediscovered again after all these years."

Revered as a saint by online extremists, how Christchurch shooter inspired copycat terrorists around the world

“Brenton Tarrant was a catalyst for me personally. He showed me that it could be done. And that it needed to be done.”Those were the words written by John Timothy Earnest shortly before he stormed a synagogue in Poway, California, and opened fire on the Jewish congregation.

An innocent man spent months in jail after customs officials thought honey he brought back from Jamaica was liquid meth

Leon Haughton told The Washington Post he was jailed for 82 days after customs officials in Baltimore alleged that the three jars of honey were meth.

A man was training to get a gun permit. The instructor accidentally shot him, police say

The instructor, a Riverside County Sheriff's Department trainer, accidentally shot a student attending the class to get a concealed weapons permit.

Fast-moving wildfire erupts in California, forcing thousands to evacuate

Mountain fire races across hundreds of acres in just hours as wildfire season looms large over the stateThis photo provided by Cal Fire shows an aerial view of the Mountain Fire on 22 August. Photograph: APA fast-moving wildfire that broke out on Thursday in northern California has forced the evacuation of nearly 4,000 residents, racing across at least 600 acres within just a few hours, officials say. The Mountain fire, which erupted on the outskirts of a national forest in northern California, has threatened 1,110 homes and structures. As of Friday morning the fire was 40% contained , according to Cal Fire.The cause of the fire is under investigation.Photos of the blaze posted on Twitter by the Shasta county sheriff’s office showed thick black and gray smoke billowing into the area over a highway near the Shasta-Trinity national forest.“Jones Valley and Bella Vista area residents! This situation is very fluid and rapidly changing, if you do not see your road listed but feel you are in danger YOU MAY EVACUATE to Shasta College Gymnasium,” the sheriff’s department said in a separate tweet.The Mountain fire is threatening thousands of homes and forcing evacuations. Photograph: APThe Shasta College campus was closed along with Highway 299 and about a dozen smaller roads. Residents of small communities in the path of the flames were told to evacuate or be prepared to flee on short notice.California was hit by some of the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in a century last year and state officials have warned this year’s fire season could be similarly intense.The Camp fire, which broke out in Butte county in November and overran the town of Paradise, killed 86 people and left thousands of others homeless. State fire investigators determined that the Camp fire was sparked by Pacific Gas & Electric Co transmission lines.The Mountain fire broke out on the same day that Bernie Sanders, the senator and Democratic presidential candidate, unveiled his $16.3tn climate change plan and toured Paradise, which he called a “wake-up call for our entire nation”.“Climate change is a major, major crisis for our country, and the entire world, and one of the manifestations of that crisis is what happened here,” Sanders said as he walked through a burned-out mobile home park in Paradise alongside people who lost their homes in last November’s deadly blaze.

Iceland Held Talks With U.S. Ambassador Over Pence Visit

(Bloomberg) -- Iceland’ prime minister is open to a meeting with Vice President Mike Pence during his trip to the Nordic island, should the visit be extended.The option was discussed during a pre-scheduled meeting on Friday between Katrin Jakobsdottir and ambassador Jeffrey Gunter, a government spokesman told Bloomberg.Jakobsdottir, a left-of-center feminist and LGBT advocate, is due to attend a conference by Nordic trade union leaders in Sweden on Sept. 4. That’s the same day in which Pence is due to arrive.Jakobsdottir’s decision to not change her schedule to accommodate the vice president’s visit has been criticized at home.Olaf­ur Hardar­son, a professor of political science at the University of Iceland, told local media Morgunbladid it would be “unusual” for the prime minister not to greet the American vice president.According to her spokeswoman, a final decision on whether the meeting can take place has not yet been made.The White House said Pence planned to discuss trade opportunities, the Arctic and NATO efforts to counter Russian aggression in the region.The scheduling snafu is the latest episode in a series of exchanges involving Donald Trump and the Nordics.Pence’s visit would take place in the wake of a very public spat between the U.S. president and Denmark over its refusal to sell Greenland.Trump said Saturday he had held a “nice” conversation with Mette Frederiksen, with the exchange coming just days after labeling the Danish prime minister as “nasty.”In 2017, Sweden reacted forcibly to Trump’s portrayal of the Nordic nation as being in a state of chaos and overrun by crime after an influx of refugees.(Adds quote in fifth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Ragnhildur Sigurdardottir in Reykjavik at rsigurdardot@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jonas Bergman at jbergman@bloomberg.net, Nick Rigillo, Andrew DavisFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Strikes on Iran-backed militias threaten to destabilize Iraq

An Israeli airstrike on an Iranian weapons depot in Iraq, confirmed by U.S. officials, is threatening to destabilize security in the volatile country that has struggled to remain neutral in the conflict between Washington and Tehran. It would be the first known Israeli airstrike in Iraq since 1981, when Israeli warplanes destroyed a nuclear reactor being built by Saddam Hussein, and significantly expands Israel's campaign against Iranian military involvement in the region. The July 19 attack targeted a base belonging to Iranian-backed paramilitary forces in Amirli in the northern Salaheddin province, and killed two Iranians.

Joe Biden gaffes, mixes up New Hampshire and Vermont

Trump 2020 national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Joe Biden's ability to beat Trump.

Fear grips Bangladesh camp as 2 Rohingya refugees killed

Bangladesh police said they had shot dead two Rohingya refugees during a gunfight in a refugee camp on Saturday after the pair were accused of killing a ruling party official. Nearly a million Rohingya live in squalid camps in southeast Bangladesh, 740,000 of whom fled a 2017 military offensive against the Muslim minority in Myanmar. The incident comes two days after a second failed attempt to repatriate the refugees, which saw not a single Rohingya turn up to return across the border to conflict-scarred Rakhine state.

A floating nuclear plant in Russia features a gym, bar, and pool. An expert calls it 'Chernobyl on ice.'

Environmental activists worry about the perils of placing nuclear reactors at sea, where they could be vulnerable to climate-related disasters.

Cathay Pacific cabin crew union leader fired as Hong Kongers warn of spread of 'white terror'

Cathay Pacific fired a cabin crew union leader on Friday, the latest casualty in a fast-spreading “white terror” as mass protests in Hong Kong continue into their third month.  Rebecca Sy, head of the Cathay Dragon flight attendant’s association, said she lost her job of 17 years, without explanation,  after managers saw and confirmed her Facebook account,  which included messages in favour of the protests. “All the employees are being frightened, not just cabin crews, but even the management,” Ms Sy told reporters. “My colleagues are all terrified because of its white terror.” “White terror” is a term used to describe a slew of events that create a climate of fear particularly as companies and employees worry of serious repercussions for voicing their views. Her departure follows a surprise resignation last week by CEO Rupert Hogg, reported first by Chinese state media, underlining the political nature of the decision. Cathay has borne the brunt of Beijing’s anger as authorities look to punish companies with any link to the Hong Kong protests - a direct challenge to the power of the Communist Party. Rebecca Sy was dismissed from her position as flight attendant for Cathay Pacific's subsidiary Cathay Dragon Credit: ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP/Getty Images In the crackdown, companies and employees could face serious repercussions for voicing their views. Hong Kong subway operator MTR has also come under fire for arranging additional trains to allow protesters to travel home, accused of “colluding with rioters” in Chinese state media.  Beijing authorities have long put the squeeze on companies over political issues by encouraging its 1.4 billion citizens to snub various brands or by throwing up a number of regulatory roadblocks – a move that can have devastating consequences for even the biggest firms. Simon Cheng, 28, a British consular official in Hong Kong and permanent resident of the city has been detained for two weeks in mainland China for allegedly visiting prostitutes.  Under Chinese law, Mr Cheng should have been released today after a 15-day administrative period but at time of publication he was still in detention. Hong Kong police said on Friday that they did not know Mr Cheng's whereabouts.  Protests in Hong Kong first kicked off over an extradition proposal that would have exposed people to China’s murky legal and judicial system, where authorities have also in the past detained foreigners to express political displeasure. Two Canadians - Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, an entrepreneur - were detained in China last year during Beijing’s diplomatic dispute with Ottawa over its arrest of Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. It is widely viewed that both men - who are still being held and have been charged with spying – are being used as political pawns. Hong Kong protests | Read more A number of multinationals operating in Hong Kong have sought to stress their political neutrality to avoid their businesses being targeted and to protect staff from arbitrary detention.  Earlier this week, the world’s “big four” accounting firms came under attack after an anonymous group claiming to be made up of their employees took out a full-page newspaper advertisement to express support for protests in Hong Kong and condemn the firms for remaining silent on the issue. Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and Pricewaterhouse Coopers all sought to distance themselves from the advertisement, saying it didn’t represent the companies’ views. But Chinese state media had already seized on the situation, calling for the firms to identify and sack the employees behind the ad. FinnAir has also issued a warning to staff to remember to “keep work and politics separate,” reported the South China Morning Post, over concerns that any link to the protests might lead to a customer backlash or flight cancellations in China, its second-largest market for long-haul travel.   “China is obviously putting pressure on companies to ensure that they all hold the same political views,” said Keenan Chuk, 30, a finance manager who attended a lunchtime rally or accountants in Hong Kong’s central business district Friday.  “I am concerned that I will be fired,” he said, adding that “we still have to fight for our rights.” Even universities have warned students against discussing politics and participating in rallies.  “In a modern society, education should be free from politics so as to alleviate the escalation of anxiety and avoid the divisive society caused by chaos,” according to a statement from the City University of Hong Kong issued earlier this month. A woman said she experienced at a police station during her detention in Hong Kong Credit: REUTERS/Thomas Peter Some banks are also now taking precautionary measures, purchasing full page ads in newspapers to affirm their support for the government. Edwin, 26, an accountant who declined to give his last name, said senior partners in his firm had invited junior employees to lunch that day in an attempt to dissuade people from attending Friday’s protest.  But he participated in the demonstration anyway, turning up again in the evening to join a human chain meant to evoke the Baltic Way, when two million lined up across three countries to protest Soviet rule in 1989.  “In the industry, we switch firms quite often,” he shrugged. Hong Kong police came under renewed pressure on Friday when officers were accused of conducting an unnecessary strip search on a female protester. The alleged victim appeared at a press conference dressed in all black with a black face mask, cap and sunglasses. Facing the cameras in front of a "MeToo" sign, she claimed she was arrested weeks ago at a protest against the now-abandoned extradition bill and was admitted to hospital for injuries she suffered that night. By her account, one officer patted her thighs with a pen, instructing her to open her legs wider after ordering her to take off all her clothes in a police cell. The police said their body search procedures had not changed during the recent outbreak of citywide protests.

Poll: Majority of Americans don't want Trump to be impeached and removed from office

A majority of Americans oppose impeachment of President Donald Trump and his removal from office, according to a poll out Thursday. Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., also asked other House committee chairs Thursday to provide records that would help in making a decision whether to pursue impeachment.

'Keep Marysville white': racist remark by would-be councilor shocks Michigan city

A question about diversity in a candidate’s forum produced a jaw-dropping response from first-time candidate Jean CramerJean Cramer, a candidate for the Marysville city council, gives her opening remarks during a candidate forum on Thursday at Marysville City Hall in Michigan. Photograph: Brian Wells/APFor the first hour of the election forum in Marysville, Michigan, on Thursday night the debate between the five candidates for a city council seat dealt with the local subjects you might expect – how to improve Little League fields, new real estate developments and the like.Then the question came: “Do you believe the diversity of our community needs to be looked at?”First to answer was Jean Cramer, a local resident running her first political campaign. She replied: “Keep Marysville a white community as much as possible.”Her response, reported by the Times-Herald newspaper in Port Huron, sent a ripple of laughter and then shock across the hall. Marysville, a small town of 10,000 north-east of Detroit, is 98% white and 0.3% African American.Cramer’s unalloyed remark was immediately denounced by other Marysville figures. The town’s acting mayor, Kathy Hayman, said: “I don’t even know that I can talk yet, I’m so upset and shocked.”Hayman added that her father was Syrian. “So basically, what you’ve said is that my father and his family had no business in this community.”The outgoing mayor, Dan Damman, called Cramer’s comments “as vile as they were jaw-dropping”.After the forum ended, Cramer doubled down on her racist outburst to the Times Herald.She insisted she was not “against blacks” but went on to say: “A husband and wife need to be the same race … That’s how it’s been [since] … God created the heaven and the earth. He created Adam and Eve at the same time.”Paradoxically, of the five candidates in November’s mayoral election, Cramer has the weakest roots within Marysville. The other four were born in the town or have lived there for decades, but as the Times Herald pointed out she only moved to the community within the last 10 years.

Rep. Steve King wants to make abortion point in 'softer way'

Backed by supporters at a news conference in Des Moines, the Iowa Republican affirmed his belief that abortion should be outlawed with no exceptions for rape or incest. King faced criticism for his comment Aug. 14 that questioned whether there would be "any population of the world left" if not for births due to rape or incest. The remarks were condemned by numerous groups and individuals, including Republican and Democratic candidates seeking to oust King, Democratic presidential candidates as well as the Iowa Republican Party and Rep. Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in House leadership.

Qantas to test 'ultra long-haul' Sydney to NY, London flights

Qantas on Thursday said it will run "ultra long-haul" test flights in the coming months from New York and London to Sydney in order to assess the health of pilots and passengers, as it eyes commercial services on the marathon routes. Qantas last year introduced the first direct service from the western Australian city of Perth to London, with the 17-hour journey one of the longest passenger flights in the world. "Flying non-stop from the East Coast of Australia to London and New York is truly the final frontier in aviation, so we're determined to do all the groundwork to get this right," Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement.

Parents charged with hate crime after allegedly assaulting boy found in daughter's closet

The mother and step-father of a 15-year-old San Bruno girl are in jail after allegedly assaulting and kidnapping the teenage boy they found in their daughter's bedroom. Police are saying it was a hate crime.

Britain will withhold $37 billion from EU in no-deal Brexit: Mail on Sunday

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson plans to tell European Union leaders he will withhold 30 billion pounds ($37 billion) from the Brexit divorce bill unless they agree to changes to the deal, the Mail on Sunday reported. If Britain leaves the bloc without a trade deal, lawyers have concluded the government's will only have to pay the EU 9 billion pounds, rather than 39 billion pounds, the newspaper reported.

Journalist killed in Mexico

The head of a Mexican news website was found stabbed to death in the center of the country, authorities said Saturday, the 10th such killing this year. The body of Nevith Condes Jaramillo "was found Saturday morning... showing injuries from a sharp object," the state prosecutor said in a statement. Condes Jaramillo, 42, was the head of a local news site in Tejupilco and was also an announcer on a community radio station.

Democratic presidential candidates have a new approach for tackling gun violence: Treat it as a public-health crisis

Candidates like Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker want to draw on tactics used by community-based organizations to fight gun violence.

Pelosi’s Go-Slow Impeachment Strategy Is Tested in Fight Over Trump’s Bank Records

(Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump’s lawyers were in a New York courtroom Friday trying to block Democrats’ access to financial records from Deutsche Bank AG and Capital One Financial Corp. -- and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has much at stake over the outcome.The president has been in a fight to keep his financial information private, especially since Democrats won control of the House in November. His lawyers went before a three-judge federal appeals court panel seeking to overturn a ruling that the banks had to comply with subpoenas issued by the House Intelligence and Financial Services committees.A Trump victory would undercut Pelosi’s litigation-first strategy to put off a politically explosive decision on whether to impeach the president. It could make it impossible for her to continue fending off the growing demands from House Democrats to at least open an impeachment inquiry, calls that have been joined by several of the party’s 2020 presidential candidates.So far, Pelosi has held to her go-slow approach as polls consistently show that the public doesn’t support impeachment at this point and Democrats can’t risk alienating voters in swing districts if they want to keep or expand their House majority.Friday’s test of the speaker’s strategy came in an appeal by Trump’s lawyers to a ruling in May by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos. They say the subpoenas in dispute, which call for records relating to Trump, his businesses and his family, are too broad and that the House is simply out to harass and embarrass him.Pelosi says getting the records from these two long-time Trump lenders is among several House legal pursuits needed to build a stronger case for impeachment -- beyond former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s findings in his report on Russian interference in the 2016 election.The bank records could document foreign influence on the president and his family, including “money laundering, illicit transactions and foreign investments,” Pelosi said in a memo this month to fellow Democrats.Friday’s hearing reflected that broader drama. The judges aggressively questioned both sides and granted each more than twice its allotted time. And the session ended in a remarkable standoff between the judges and the lawyers for Deutsche Bank and Capital One, who were repeatedly asked -- and repeatedly refused to say -- whether the banks even had tax records sought by the House subpoenas.Can’t go there, Raphael Prober, an attorney for Deutsche Bank, told a surprised trio of appellate judges.“I’m simply not able to answer that question standing here today,” he said.Read More: Democrats Want Trump’s ‘Every Debit Card Swipe,’ Lawyer SaysThe battle over the bank records is an early test in the courts of a developing contest between the executive and legislative branches that may go all the way to the Supreme Court, with all the maneuvering and delays that implies.More than roughly half of the lawmakers in Pelosi’s 235-member caucus are already calling for impeachment or at least for the opening of formal impeachment inquiry -- and the number keeps growing.This week, Ben Ray Lujan of New Mexico, the No. 4 House Democrat, joined that chorus, saying an impeachment inquiry “will continue to uncover the facts for the American people and hold this president accountable.”Against this pressure, even a mid-level court defeat could undercut Pelosi’s insistence that the House is poised for victories before judges and should stay the course with her impeachment-delay strategy.“Maxine Waters, Chair of Financial Services, and Adam Schiff, Chair of Intelligence, are winning in court in the Deutsche Bank case, seeking the president’s bank-account records,” she wrote in the memo to Democrats.Pelosi also seized on a lower court ruling in favor of the Oversight and Reform Committee’s subpoena to an accounting firm, Mazars USA LLP, seeking the president’s financial records. But Trump’s lawyers last month asked an appeals court in Washington to reverse that too, contending that the panel was overstepping its oversight responsibilities.Another front was opened last month, when the House Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit asking a federal court in Washington to force the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service to hand over the president’s tax returns for the past six years.Pelosi wasn’t commenting through her office Thursday on Friday’s scheduled legal arguments.Avoiding SetbacksBut she and her House legal team have to avoid setbacks in the various court battles for Trump financial records, testimony and other information, according to Neil Kinkopf, a law professor at Georgia State University in Atlanta.“A loss in the Second Circuit would be a major setback from every angle,” he said of the court that’s hearing Friday’s appeal regarding bank records.Kinkopf said it would undercut Pelosi’s “go slow, we’re winning in the courts strategy” but also “it would be a real blow to those who want to move forward on impeachment, because it would deny, or delay their access to documents and testimony that seem crucial to mounting a credible impeachment proceeding.”Some analysts doubt Pelosi really wants to pursue impeachment, which would likely end with the Republican-controlled Senate refusing to remove the president from office.‘Winning’ by Losing“Few people on the Hill seriously believe that Pelosi is seriously entertaining impeachment,” said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University in Washington.“If this is correct, Pelosi’s ‘winning’ strategy may be losing,” Turley said. “If she loses, she has burned the calendar for impeachment and not produced any further evidence to support articles of impeachment. Alternatively, if she wins, this goes to the Supreme Court and will be delayed into 2020,” when she can argue it’s too close to the election to act on impeachment.But Pelosi has denied that she’s determined to avert impeachment, saying last month that her patience for litigation “isn’t endless.”House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold Nadler of New York has argued that his panel’s pursuit of Trump’s “malfeasance” -- through subpoenas and in the courts -- already amounts to “formal impeachment proceedings.”“We’re gathering all the evidence,” he said Aug. 8 on CNN. “And we will, at the conclusion of this, hopefully by the end of the year, vote articles of impeachment to the House floor. Or we won’t.”In urging the appeals court to uphold the ruling demanding Trump’s bank records, the House Financial Services and Intelligence panels argued that they issued the subpoenas in support of legitimate congressional probes and that the requests for information are within Congress’s broad constitutional powers.“The subpoenas are designed to obtain documents to inform the committees’ investigations, oversight functions, and legislative judgments,” and the district court was right to hold that they serve legitimate legislative purposes, the committees said.But lawyers for Trump contend it’s overreach.“The subpoenas seek documents reaching back more than a decade, cover individuals who have never held government office (including minor children), and seek virtually every financial detail that the institutions might have about plaintiffs’ private affairs,” they said in a brief filed with the appeals court.(Updates with the events of Friday’s hearing in paragraphs 8-10.)\--With assistance from Patricia Hurtado.To contact the reporters on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net;Bob Van Voris in federal court in Manhattan at rvanvoris@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, Anna EdgertonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Evoking 1968, Joe Biden asks New Hampshire voters: What if Barack Obama had been assassinated in 2008?

Reflecting on a turbulent period in the late 1960s that included high-profile assassinations of prominent U.S. political figures, former VP Joe Biden asked voters in New Hampshire to imagine what would have happened if Barack Obama had been assassinated in 2008.

Tear gas fired as Hong Kong police, protesters clash

Hong Kong riot cops fired tear gas and baton-charged protesters who retaliated with a barrage of stones, bottles and bamboo poles on Saturday, as a standoff in a working-class neighbourhood descended into violence, breaking an uneasy peace that had lasted several days. Earlier thousands of demonstrators, many wearing hard hats and gas masks, marched through the industrial Kwun Tong area, where they were blocked by dozens of riot police with shields and batons outside a police station. Frontline protesters -- known as "braves" -- pulled together a barricade of traffic barriers and bamboo construction poles.

A man with schizophrenia was found guilty of murdering a Saint Augustine's University student in 1979. 40 years later, a panel of judges decided he's innocent after all.

Blackmon's lawyers argued he was tricked by police and prosecutors into falsely confessing to a crime he didn't commit.

Russia's Chechnya inaugurates what it says is Europe's largest mosque

Authorities in the Russian region of Chechnya on Friday inaugurated what they said was the largest mosque in Europe in a pomp-filled ceremony attended by local and foreign officials. Named after the Prophet Mohammed, the marble-decorated mosque has capacity for more than 30,000 people and has been described by the Chechen authorities as the "largest and most beautiful" mosque in Europe. Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said the mosque -- located in Shali, a town of 54,000 just outside the regional capital Grozny -- was "unique in its design, and majestic in its size and beauty".

Ghost Particles Could Explain Just About Everything in the Universe

You might also know them by their other name: neutrinos.

Russian doctor has trace of radiation after explosion

More than 100 Russian medical workers who helped treat victims of a recent mysterious explosion at a military testing range have undergone checks and one man has been found with a trace of radiation, officials said Friday. It was followed by a brief rise in radiation levels in nearby Severodvinsk, but the authorities insisted it didn't pose any danger. The Arkhangelsk regional administration said Friday that 110 medical workers have undergone checks that one man was found with a low amount of radioactive cesium-137 in his muscle tissue.

Hotline for detained migrants featured on Orange is the New Black shut down

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement shut down hotline that connected detained migrants to an advocacy groupFounded in 2013, the hotline connected migrants with advocates at Freedom for Immigrants, which also consulted for the Netflix production and was named in the show. Photograph: Handout/Getty ImagesUS Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) has shut down a national hotline that connected detained migrants to an advocacy group, a month after the hotline was featured in a storyline in the hit TV series Orange is the New Black.Founded in 2013, the hotline connected migrants in the world’s largest immigration detention system with advocates at Freedom for Immigrants, which also consulted for the award-winning Netflix production and was named in the show.Freedom for Immigrants runs and supports visitation programs in detention centers. It sent a cease-and-desist letter to Ice, alleging the government agency was retaliating and violating its right to exercise free speech after its profile grew.“Ice is attempting to silence its critics and block people in immigration detention from connecting with communities on the outside,” said Christina Fialho, the group’s co-executive director. “It’s disappointing, but not unexpected, that Trump’s Ice would engage in such cruel and undemocratic behavior.”Shawn Neudauer, an Ice spokesman, said all Ice facilities provide detainees with reasonable access to phones and that detainees are allowed to make free calls to an Ice-approved list of free legal service providers.“Pro bono organizations found to be violating [Ice] rules may be removed from the platform,” Neudauer said. “However, removal from this platform in no way limits the ability of an Ice detainee to phone such an organization directly should the detainee wish to do so.”The Ice phone system is operated by Talton Communications, which is mandated to provide free extensions to groups such as the UN refugee agency, consulates and Freedom for Immigrants.Freedom for Immigrants had three pro-bono extensions operating in detention centers when Donald Trump took office. Ice shut down two of the extensions before the final one was closed on 7 August.Fialho said the cease-and-desist letter was the first step in potential litigation, though the group was hoping to avoid court.“We very much hope we can resolve this amicably, but our team is also ready to enforce our rights under the constitution,” she said.Before Ice shut down the hotline it closed more than a dozen of Freedom for Immigrants detention center visitation programs. They were ultimately reinstated.The final season of Orange is the New Black focuses on the immigration detention system, which is run by Ice, and highlights how difficult it is for people in prison to contact family or friends because of the high cost of making phone calls in detention.In one scene, Gloria (Selenis Leyva) tells Maritza (Diane Guerrero) about the hotline and warns: “You gotta be careful, though. Apparently as soon as Big Brother figures out you’re using the hotline, they shut it down.”Fialho said the hotline was important for helping migrants connect with the outside world.“We would get calls from people who hadn’t been able to communicate with family members to tell them they’ve been taken by Ice, that they are in this particular immigration detention facility,” she said.While the extension number was supposed to be written on a sheet available to migrants in every detention center, Fialho said Ice had never made it easily available and people learned about the hotline through word of mouth instead.Now that the extension is gone, detained migrants can still use the Freedom for Immigrants hotline, but the group will have to shoulder the cost. The extension was also supposed to be unmonitored. Ice can listen in on a normal call.Orange is the New Black actors including Guerrero, Emily Tarver and Laura Gómez signed a letter to Ice demanding the hotline be restored.

Trump’s disastrous China trade war could make a recession unavoidable

We're going to have a recession sooner or later. But Trump's trade war hurts the economy, and his tax cut ideas won't help. Here's what we should do.

Ex-wife, children of Atlanta surgeon Christopher Edwards found dead in apparent murder-suicide

Authorities say they believe Marsha Edwards shot Christopher Edwards Jr. and Erin Edwards before turning the gun on herself.

The Latest: Harris gets warm welcome at California meeting

California Sen. Kamala Harris is getting a rousing hometown welcome at the Democratic National Committee summer meeting in San Francisco. Harris is looking to California as a potentially key part of her path to the Democratic presidential nomination. With scores of supporters in the gallery Friday, Harris harkened back to her first political race for district attorney.

After night of clashes, Hong Kong braces for fresh rally

Protesters gathered at a sports stadium Sunday as Hong Kong braced for more anti-government rallies, a day after clashes returned to the city's streets following several days of relative calm. Hong Kong has been gripped by three months of street demonstrations that started against a proposed extradition bill to China, but have spun out into a wider pro-democracy movement. The MTR -- the city's metro -- is the latest Hong Kong business to be rebuked by the public, after appearing to bend to Chinese state-media attacks accusing the transport system of being an "exclusive" service to ferry protesters to rallies.

‘Safe Haven’ Israel Became Hot Money Bait for Central Bank Chief

(Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Israel’s economic transformation has turned it into an “emerging markets safe haven” that continued to absorb money from abroad despite maintaining near-zero interest rates, according to central bank Governor Amir Yaron.The inflows in recent years were a reflection of “the structural change in the fundamentals of the Israeli economy,” including the county’s declining debt burden and current-account surpluses, Yaron said in a speech at the annual retreat for central bankers from around the world in Jackson Hole, Wyoming,“In spite of having kept rates very low, Israel faced capital inflows following the U.S. rate hikes,” Yaron said in prepared remarks. “And appreciation pressures emerged -- a marked change from past patterns.”Israel has struggled to normalize its monetary policy after years of near-zero borrowing costs. As a strong currency dampened inflation this year and major central banks turned more dovish, Yaron put off a future hike and said in late July that rates won’t rise for a “long time.”Yaron cited research to demonstrate how “Israel is caught in between” policies in major economies. Unlike the period before the global financial crisis a decade ago, short maturities on Israeli government bond yields are now more correlated with Europe’s while longer tenors more closely track the U.S.“A challenge for the policy makers in markets like Israel is to deal with divergence of policies in the major blocs,” Yaron said.Another issue he raised in Jackson Hole was Israel’s weak inflation, which he said had been higher than among its peers before slowing.“Such developments make real-time assessments of whether policy makers are faced with transitory divergence or structural economic changes a challenge,” Yaron said. “While there is a wish to not be behind the curve, the uncertainty and ambiguity suggest a call for greater patience and risk aversion.”To contact the reporter on this story: Ivan Levingston in Tel Aviv at ilevingston@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

A youth sports organization is raffling off a semi-automatic weapon to help its cheerleading and football teams

As a result of the controversy, the president of the organization said he is considering doing away with the rifle raffle for future fundraisers.

Britain sends another warship to Gulf

A third British warship is heading to the Gulf, the Royal Navy announced Saturday, amid heightened tensions in the region. Britain has already sent the HMS Kent to cover for frigate HMS Montrose while it undergoes maintenance in nearby Bahrain, and is now redirecting the Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender from its mission to the Pacific. Britain outraged Iran by seizing one of its tankers -- the Grace 1 -- on July 4 on suspicion it was carrying oil to Syria in violation of EU sanctions.

Pompeo says Huawei CEO is not a bargaining chip in Trump-China trade war

Mike Pompeo has rejected claims that detained Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou is being used for leverage in the US-China trade war. Speaking with his Canadian counterpart, Chrystia Freeland, in Ottawa on Thursday, the US secretary of state appeared to rule out dropping the extradition request for Ms Meng to ease tensions with Beijing, insisting it is a legal matter. In December, US president Donald Trump implied he might intervene in the case to help secure a trade deal with China. “Whatever’s good for this country, I would do,” he said at the time. The US alleges Ms Meng – the Chinese technology company’s chief financial officer and the daughter of its chief executive – helped  Huawei circumvent sanctions on Iran. According to Vancouver court documents released this week, she told a Canadian border official that the company has an office in Iran. The US has charged Ms Meng, 47, with bank fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit both. She is currently on bail living under house arrest in one of her Vancouver mansions while her lawyers fight her extradition to the US. Asked on Thursday if she is a “bargaining chip” in US-China trade talks, Mr Pompeo replied simply: “No.” Since Ms Meng’s arrest in Vancouver airport on a US arrest warrant in December, ties between Ottawa and Beijing have fallen to a historically low ebb. Two Canadians, businessman Michael Svapor and former diplomat Michael Kovrig, were arrested and charged with espionage shortly afterwards in what is widely viewed as a reprisal by Beijing. “Our team is focussed on helping those two Canadians be released,” Mr Pompeo said later ahead of a meeting with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Mr Trump spoke directly to Chinese president Xi Jinping about their “arbitrary detention” in June, he told journalists. Mr Pompeo, 55, also slapped down a question comparing their confinement with that of Ms Meng, accusing the journalist of taking “the Chinese line”. Mr Pompeo was visiting Canada ahead of the G7 meeting in France, where relations with China will be discussed. On Friday, Beijing escalated the trade dispute, announcing fresh tariffs on US imports worth $75 billion (£61 billion).

2 women accused of shoplifting strollers and accidentally leaving their baby behind

Two women were arrested for allegedly shoplifting baby strollers and accidentally leaving their own baby behind as they tried to get away.

US homeland security chief tours Panama jungle migrant camp

The acting U.S. homeland security secretary visited a camp in the Panamanian jungle Friday housing hundreds of migrants who survived the perilous border crossing from Colombia, usually heading for the United States. Kevin McAleenan arrived by SUV in Penitas shortly before midday and was briefed on the camp's operations and the physical conditions of those who crossed the region known as the Darien Gap.

On this day, the British set fire to Washington, D.C

The United States capital of Washington, D.C., burned on this day in 1814, but it may have been an act of nature that forced the British from the besieged city.

Released from death row, then returned — forced to prove race discrimination a second time

Cases before N.C. Supreme Court show link between slavery, Jim Crow and modern death penalty is as connected as 'ropes of the lynch-man's noose'