STOCKTON, Calif. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang wants to give cash to every American each month.Susie Garza has never heard of Yang. But since February, she’s been getting $500 a month from a nonprofit in Stockton, California, as part of an experiment that offers something unusual in presidential politics: a trial run of a campaign promise, highlighting the benefits and challenges in real time.Garza can spend the money however she wants. She uses $150 of it to pay for her cellphone and another $100 or so to pay off her dog’s veterinarian bills. She spends the rest on her two grandsons now that she can afford to buy them birthday presents online and let them get the big bag of chips at the 7-Eleven.“I’ve never been able to do that. I thought it was just the coolest thing,” said Garza, who is unemployed and previously was addicted to drugs, though she said she has been sober for 18 years following a stint in prison. “I like it because I feel more independent, like I’m in charge. I really have something that’s my own.”Garza is part of an experiment testing the impact of “universal basic income,” an old idea getting new life thanks to the 2020 presidential race, although Stockton’s project is an independent one and has no connection to any presidential race.Yang, a tech entrepreneur, has anchored his longshot bid with a proposal to give $1,000 in cash to every American, saying the payments will shield workers from the pain of certain job losses caused by automation. The idea has helped him win unexpected support and even muscle out some better-known candidates from the debate stages. His proposal isn’t too far off from one by U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, one of the top contenders for the Democratic nomination, who has a proposal to give up to $500 a month to working families.Stockton, once known as the foreclosure capital of the country and for one of the nation’s largest municipal bankruptcies, is a step ahead of both candidates. In February, the city launched the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration, a pilot program spearheaded by a new mayor and financed in part by the nonprofit led by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. The city chose 125 people who live in census tracts at or below the city’s median household income of $46,033. They get the money on a debit card on the 15th of each month.“I think poverty is immoral, I think it is antiquated and I think it shouldn’t exist,” said Michael Tubbs, the city’s 29-year-old Democratic mayor.Tubbs’ personal story includes a cousin who was killed, a father who is in prison and a mother who, as a teenager, raised him with the help of multiple jobs. He found his way to Stanford and public service, where he persuaded his beleaguered city to sign on to a provocative new idea: guaranteed cash.Stockton residents, who have elected Republican mayors for 16 out of the last 22 years, were skeptical, worried about encouraging people not to work. Tubbs said he calmed their fears by noting the money came from private donations, not taxpayer dollars.“I would tell people all that time that would be upset or would call angry, I would say, well, I’m just as angry as you are, but I’m angry about the problem. I’m not angry about possible solutions,” Tubbs said.A team of researchers is monitoring the participants. Their chief interest is not finances but happiness. They are using what they call a “mattering scale” to measure how much people feel like they matter to society.“Do people notice you are there? Those things are correlated to health and well-being,” said Stacia Martin-West, a researcher at the University of Tennessee who is working on the program along with Amy Castro-Baker at the University of Pennsylvania.The money has made Jovan Bravo happier. The 31-year-old Stockton native and construction worker is married and has three children, ages 13, 8 and 4. He said he didn’t see enough of his children when he worked six days a week to pay the bills.That changed when he started getting $500 a month. Now he only works one Saturday a month. He uses the other Saturdays to take his kids to the amusement park and ride bikes with them in the park.“It’s made a huge difference,” he said. “Just being able to spend more time with the wife and kids, it brings us closer together.”Stockton officials do not release the names of the program participants. They arrange interviews with journalists only for those who volunteer to discuss their experiences.The idea of a guaranteed income dates back to at least the 18th century and has crossed ideological and cultural lines.In the 1960s and 1970s, Republicans Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney oversaw four guaranteed-income experiments scattered across the country when Rumsfeld, later a defense secretary, was director of President Richard Nixon’s Office of Economic Opportunity and Cheney, the future vice president, was his deputy.The program had some hiccups, including a woman who spent all the money on alcohol and a man who went into debt buying expensive furniture for his government-subsidized apartment, according to a 1970 New York Times story. But the experiment concluded that the money did not stop people from working and led Nixon to propose expanding the program, which ultimately did not pass Congress.Since then, other studies have reached similar results. A 2018 study in Alaska, where residents have gotten a share of the state’s oil revenue every year since 1982, found the money has not shrunk the state’s labor force. The same was found in a 2010 UCLA study in North Carolina, where the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians has shared casino revenue with its members since the mid-1990s.The latest momentum comes with the help of the technology industry, which is grappling with how to prepare for the job losses likely to come with automation and artificial intelligence.The tech connection has drawn criticism from left-leaning labor unions skeptical of the industry’s motives.“We think the future of work should be defined by working people, not tech billionaires,” said Steve Smith, spokesman for the California Labor Federation, a group of 1,200 unions and a reliable ally for some of the state’s most liberal policies. “If there are no jobs available, you are pretty much stuck with your $1,000 a month check while the CEO of the tech company that automated you out of a job is being paid a billion dollars a year.”Other critics note that the programs can chip away at the social safety net. Yang’s plan requires recipients to decline food stamps and some other government assistance.There’s also the question of how to pay for it.Stockton’s program, giving 125 people $500 per month for 18 months, will cost just over $1.1 million. Harris’ plan, which covers working families making up to $100,000 annually, would cost about $275 billion per year, according to the Tax Policy Center. To pay for it, she says she would repeal some of the 2017 GOP tax cuts and impose new taxes on corporations.Yang’s plan, which covers every adult in the United States, would cost $2.8 trillion per year. He would impose a new tax on businesses’ goods and services while shrinking some other government assistance programs. Representatives for Yang and Harris did not respond to interview requests.The Stockton experiment runs through July 2020. Researchers expect to release their first round of data this fall, when the presidential campaigns are preparing for the Iowa caucuses and state primaries.Tubbs says he already sees success in making the city a focal point in the discussion about the future of capitalism and the U.S. economy. But once the experiment is over, he’s not sure what’s next. He says guaranteed income would need to be much bigger — at least statewide — to really have an impact.Garza does not know what’s next for her, either. She relies on her husband for most things, and he recently lost his job. The extra $500 a month was so helpful, it left her wondering how she was lucky enough to get it — a question she posed to the program’s director.“She goes, ‘Because you’re blessed,’” Garza said. “And I just left it at that.”

The European commission has charged BMW, Daimler and Volkswagen with colluding to limit the introduction of clean emissions technology, in the preliminary findings of an antitrust investigation.The car manufacturers have 10 weeks to respond and could face fines of billions of euros – up to 10% of their global annual turnover – if their explanations are rejected.A similar cartel case the commission took out in 2014 against MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco and DAF ended with €2.93bn (£2.53bn) of penalties being levied.The EU’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, said: “Companies can cooperate in many ways to improve the quality of their products. However, EU competition rules do not allow them to collude on exactly the opposite: not to improve their products, not to compete on quality.”She added: “Daimler, VW and BMW may have broken EU competition rules. As a result, European consumers may have been denied the opportunity to buy cars with the best available technology.”The EU announcement follows raids on the auto manufacturers in July 2017 after allegations in Der Spiegel that they had met in secret working groups in the 1990s to coordinate a response to diesel emissions limits.Between 2006 and 2014, the commission suspects that the “circle of five” carmakers – including VW’s Audi and Porsche divisions – colluded to limit, delay or avoid the introduction of selective catalytic reduction systems (SCRs) and “Otto” particle filters.The SCR systems are used to reduce toxic diesel emissions of nitrogen dioxide, which were responsible for the premature deaths of more than 14,000 Britons in 2012, according to the EU’s environment agency.The Otto filters are supposed to control exhaust gases from petrol passenger cars and limit particulate emissions, which are associated with tens of thousands of deaths a year.William Todts, the executive director of the European Federation of Transport and Environment, said: “It would be indefensible if the German car industry colluded to fit useless emissions controls, as the allegations indicate. That would mean Europeans were breathing poisonous air that should have been avoided. The EU must fine colluding companies but it mustn’t stop there. We need to clean up the 43m dirty diesels that are on our streets today.”News of the investigation’s early findings will be a blow to the automobile industry after the 2015 Dieselgate scandal, in which VW was exposed for cheating EU emissions tests.Nicolai Laude, VW’s litigation director, stressed that the EU’s investigation was limited to conduct relating to emissions controls systems. He said: “The commission acknowledges the fact that cooperation between manufacturers on technical issues is widespread in the global automotive industry.“Volkswagen will examine the complaints and issue a statement after evaluating the investigation file as part of its cooperation.”A statement by BMW confirmed only that the company had received “a so-called statement of objections from the European commission”.Daimler, which alerted the regulator to the alleged collusion, said it did not expect to be fined as a result of its information. Topics Automotive industry Volkswagen (VW) BMW Air pollution Europe Germany Health news

closeVideoDan Bongino: Media really blew it on al-Baghdadi coverageFox News contributor Dan Bongino slams The Washington Post for calling the slain ISIS terror leader an 'austere religious scholar.'CNN editor-at-large Chris Cillizza managed to find a whopping 41 “shocking” lines from President Trump’s announcement that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed himself as U.S. troops approached – but critics feel the feigned outrage is further proof that CNN will attack the president at all costs.“President Trump just ordered the successful elimination of the world’s most wanted terrorist. Cillizza and his colleagues at CNN can’t even celebrate this victory for humanity over barbarism without trying to smear Trump,” conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News. “History will not look kindly on this new low for CNN.”TRUMP DESCRIBES AL-BAGHDADI AS 'WHIMPERING AND CRYING' BEFORE DYING IN U.S. OPERATION: 'HE DIED LIKE A COWARD'Trump on Sunday described a daring nighttime airborne raid by American special operations forces in Syria's northwestern Idlib province and said they flew over heavily militarized territory controlled by multiple nations and forces. No U.S. troops were killed or injured in the operation, Trump said.As U.S. troops bore down on al-Baghdadi, he fled into a "dead-end" tunnel with three of his children, Trump said, and detonated a suicide vest. Cillizza’s column, “The 41 most shocking lines from Donald Trump’s Baghdadi announcement,” picks apart every word of the national address.A current CNN personality told Fox News that Cillizza has the wrong title at the liberal network.“While I find Chris Cillizza to be very funny -- a razor-sharp satirist -- the idea that we promote him as an ‘editor’ and an ‘analyst’ is just dishonest. He’s a blatantly anti-Trump advocate. If we want to do journalism, he should be paired on TV with a pro-Trump partisan for fairness."— CNN on-air personality“While I find Chris Cillizza to be very funny -- a razor-sharp satirist -- the idea that we promote him as an ‘editor’ and an ‘analyst’ is just dishonest. He’s a blatantly anti-Trump advocate. If we want to do journalism, he should be paired on TV with a pro-Trump partisan for fairness,” the on-air personality said. CNN's Chris Cillizza once published a fictional article about Trump refusing to leave office after a 2020 defeat. Cillizza found problems with the way Trump described al-Baghdadi when making the announcement and criticized the president for painting the terror leader “as a fearful wimp in his last moments” and informing Americans that al-Baghdadi “was no hero.” The CNN analyst also attempted to lampoon Trump for declaring al-Baghdadi “died like a dog” and complained that he thanked Russia and Turkey for helping with the raid.PROJECT VERITAS’ ALLEGED CNN WHISTLEBLOWER CLAIMS NETWORK IS ‘PUMPING OUT PROPAGANDA'"It’s feigned outrage because outrage is the CNN response to anything Trump does, particularly anything he does well. It's not 'shocking' to describe a terrorist mastermind, someone who killed, tortured, and raped for pleasure, as the whimpering coward he was when confronted by U.S. troops,” Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News.“What's truly 'shocking' is that CNN chose to take what should have been a unifying national moment, when a brutal terrorist was killed, and turned it into another Trump-bashing opportunity," Jacobson added.Cillizza’s column included astute analysis such as “OK, got it,” “Uh, OK. So, uh, well, OK” and sarcastically noting “great third-person here by Trump." The CNN pundit highlighted Trump calling the ISIS leader an “animal” but couldn’t find the words to take another jab, simply writing “this feels like as good a place as any to end.”Dan Gainor, vice president of Media Research Center, told Fox News that journalists “always seem to care about the sensitivities of people who want to kill us” and pointed out that CNN wasn’t the only liberal news organization to criticize Trump’s announcement.“Not only was CNN bad, but The Washington Post's Greg Sargent called the president's comments ‘the deeply sick and twisted aspects of Trump's announcement,’” Gainor said. “Given how the Post headlined Baghdadi's death, it's safe to assume they really don't want Trump to have any victories -- even if America also has the victories.”The Washington Post was widely mocked for initially referring to al-Baghdadi an "austere religious scholar" in the headline announcing his death. The paper admitted it “should never have read that way” and eventually changed it, whereas CNN continued to promote Cillizza’s piece prominently on its website 24 hours after Trump’s announcement.Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly contributed to this report.

By Dec. 13, 2018 10:49 am ET BAGHDAD—Syrian forces have unearthed mass graves near the border with Iraq containing the remains of several hundred people executed by Islamic State, providing more evidence of the militants’ reign of terror as they are driven out of territory they once controlled. Two Iraqis who have been in contact with Syrian forces said the discovery was made in the Abu Kamal area of eastern Syria on Wednesday. Photographs they provided showed men wearing white protective suits sifting through earth in several ditches. One image showed... To Read the Full Story Subscribe Sign In

The deadly wildfires that hit California in 2018 are to become the subject of a new film, it has been announced.According to the Hollywood Reporter, A Private War’s Matthew Heineman will write and direct a film set against the backdrop of the Camp Fire, named for its point of origin on Camp Creek Road in Butte County, which killed 85 people and destroyed the small town of Paradise.Heineman’s film will focus on the real-life story of Heather Roebuck, who was forced to flee the town’s Feather River hospital minutes after giving birth. Roebuck chronicled her ordeal in a Facebook post, in which she explained she was unable to walk after her operation, was separated from her baby and that the ambulance she was initially placed in almost immediately caught fire.Heineman said in a statement: “Heather’s journey of inner strength in the face of unparalleled and unexpected adversity is one of the most exciting and visceral stories that I’ve ever encountered.” Topics Movies Wildfires California Natural disasters and extreme weather news

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department will open an antitrust investigation of Facebook Inc (FB.O), a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, marking the fourth recent antitrust probe of the social media company. FILE PHOTO: Stickers bearing the Facebook logo are pictured at Facebook Inc's F8 developers conference in San Jose, California, U.S., April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Stephen Lam/File PhotoFacebook also faces probes by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a group of state attorneys general led by New York and the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee. Large tech companies, including Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google, have increasingly been on the defensive in recent years over lapses such as privacy breaches and outsized market influence. Facebook has faced extra scrutiny tied to how it allowed its platforms to be used during the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The company, which owns one-time rivals Instagram and WhatsApp and has 2.4 billion monthly users, recently paid a $5 billion settlement for sharing 87 million users’ data with defunct British political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. Facebook declined to comment on Wednesday. Reuters and others reported in June the two federal agencies had divided up responsibility for the companies being investigated, with the Justice Department taking Google and Apple while the FTC looked at Facebook and Amazon. The Justice Department later said it was opening a probe of online platforms. It did not specify which ones, but said it would consider concerns raised about “search, social media and some retail services online”. Neither agency has revealed the focus of investigations into Facebook, though the Wall Street Journal has reported that the FTC’s probe is focused on the company’s acquisitions. The world’s largest social network has purchased nearly 90 companies since 2003, showed data from S&P Global. The Justice Department’s antitrust chief likewise told a tech conference in August that the government is looking at previously approved acquisitions as part of its broad review. This led some industry observers to question whether the two federal investigations would overlap. Lawmakers, in particular Sen. Mike Lee, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, criticized the appearance of an overlap in a hearing last week. The agencies generally have a practice of meeting to decide who will investigate which matter but the FTC cannot probe certain areas, for example price-fixing. The probe into Facebook by the state attorneys general, announced earlier this month, is being led by New York and also includes Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia. New York Attorney General Letitia James said that investigation would look into whether Facebook’s actions had endangered consumer data, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices or increased the price of advertising. Reporting by Diane Bartz; Additional reporting by Katie Paul; Editing by Lincoln Feast and Christopher CushingOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

What is bitcoin worth? This was the question on many minds as the cryptocurrency’s price soared last year, and has remained a puzzler as Lamborghini-coveting investors have watched the rally run out of gas in recent months. Researchers from Goldman Sachs, as well as Nobel prize-winning economist Robert Shiller, have warned about the futility of trying to value the digital asset with traditional means.However, analysts at Barclays think they have a useful method for tracking bitcoin trends—infectious disease models. And by their reckoning, the crypto fever may have broken.Barclays divides the global population into three categories: vulnerable people who are susceptible, those who are infected (some of whom are recovering), and those who are immune. Transmission takes place through cocktail party conversation, blogs, tweets, and news reports. The fear of missing out is a symptom of the infection, which is defined as buying cryptocurrency.Does it seem like everybody has an opinion about bitcoin these days? Indeed, according to studies cited by Barclays analysts led by Joseph Abate, 90% of South Koreans are aware of the original cryptoasset, 88% of Japanese know about it, and American awareness is around 75% or higher. However, willingness to own crypto, at between 3% and 10%, is much lower, according these studies.An inflating asset bubble can have multiple peaks as awareness spreads, according to Barclays. Surveys suggest that many of the people in developed markets who are willing to bet on bitcoin already know about it. Once that happens, ”upward pressure on prices stalls,” and speculative bitcoin holders are more likely to sell (that is, recover from the infection). Further price increases are less likely because those susceptible to bitcoin FOMO (a small share of the population) already know about it, according to Barclays.The analysts estimate that the ceiling for the total crypto market is between $660 billion and $780 billion, which are levels that were reached in January. ”The speculative froth phase of crypto currency investment—and perhaps peak prices—may have passed,” they wrote.Wall Street pedigrees aren’t necessarily protection against infection, but analysts at Goldman Sachs seem to be immune. ”The crucial question underpinning the real value of cryptocurrencies themselves is what economic problem they actually solve,” according to Allison Nathan, a senior strategist at Goldman Sachs. She said gold appears to be a superior store of wealth, though bitcoin could be useful in countries without stable currencies.Yale’s Shiller has also suggested that traditional financial analysis is confounded by manias, but psychology and neurological research into human decision-making could have promise. The economics professor told Quartz last year that “there really are idea epidemics,” which tend to spread through compelling narratives.In a post-crisis world, amid doubts that big financial institutions can be trusted, Bitcoin’s story—that it flouts central control and is kept pure by encryption—is certainly catchy. Infectious, even.

New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), who's leading a multistate antitrust investigation into Facebook, met with officials at the Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Monday to raise concerns about the company's market power."As we have said in the past, we have grave concerns over potential anticompetitive practices by large tech companies," James said in a statement. "We are concerned that Facebook’s actions may have put consumer data at risk of data breaches, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, and increased the price of advertising, so we will continue to work in a bipartisan manner to protect consumers and protect competition.”The FTC declined to comment. Facebook and the Department of Justice did not immediately respond to requests for comment.The meeting was first reported by Axios.Last month, James announced that she, along with the attorneys general from seven other states and the District of Columbia, would be investigating Facebook for potential antitrust violations.The FTC, which leveled a record $5 billion fine against Facebook over the summer for privacy violations, also has an open antitrust investigation into the company.

A grand jury in Chicago has returned a 16-count felony indictment against television actor Jussie Smollett, accusing him of filing a false police report when he claimed he was the victim of a hate-crime assault by supporters of Donald Trump, local media reported on Friday, citing court records.The Empire actor was previously charged in a criminal complaint with felony disorderly conduct, involving lying to police in relation to a supposed racist and homophobic attack in downtown Chicago on 29 January.“Jussie Smollett knew that at the time … there was no reasonable ground for believing that such offenses had been committed,” according to the indictment, CBS Chicago said in a report on Friday afternoon.The actor, who is openly gay and best known for his role as the gay character Jamal Lyon on the Fox TV show, prompted widespread shock and concern when it emerged he had reported being attacked while walking home in the early hours. He told police two masked men – one of them wearing a red Make America Great Again hat – shouted racist and homophobic slurs as they beat him, put a noose around his neck, and doused him with a chemical.Police said Smollett had paid those two men, Ola and Abel Osundairo, to stage the attack.Smollett’s attorney, Mark Geragos, criticised the indictment in a statement as “redundant and vindictive,” adding that his client “adamantly maintains his innocence even if law enforcement has robbed him of that presumption.”Geragos also said that levelling charges in an indictment spares prosecutors the need to submit evidence and witnesses to defence cross-examination in a preliminary hearing, where a judge decides if sufficient cause exists for the case to proceed to trial. At the time he was initially charged two weeks ago, Chicago police officer Eddie Johnson said Smollett had paid two brothers $3,500 to stage an assault on him in a hoax orchestrated to somehow further his acting career.Questions about Smollett’s potential role in the alleged attack started with reports that he had not fully cooperated with police, and word that detectives in a city full of surveillance cameras could not find video of the attack.Police looked through hours of video surveillance from the area but found no footage of any attack.The actor told Good Morning America he had been unable to give detectives a good description of his assailants as their faces were obscured. “You have to understand it’s Chicago in winter – people can wear ski masks and nobody’s going to question that,” he said.Police said after Smollett was arrested last month that they believed he staged the attack because he was “dissatisfied with his salary” on Empire and was trying to draw attention to his plight. Topics Empire Chicago US television Television news

TIANJIN, China (Reuters) - China’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday it resolutely opposed “slanderous” accusations from the United States and other allies criticizing China for economic espionage, urging Washington to withdraw its accusations. The United States should also withdraw charges against two Chinese citizens, the ministry said, adding that China had never participated in or supported any stealing of commercial secrets and had lodged “stern representations” with Washington. “We urge the U.S. side to immediately correct its erroneous actions and cease its slanderous smears relating to internet security,” it said, adding that it would take necessary measures to safeguard its own cybersecurity and interests. It has long been an “open secret” that U.S. government agencies have hacked into and listening in on foreign governments, companies and individuals, the ministry added. “The U.S. side making unwarranted criticisms of China in the name of so-called ‘cyber stealing’ is blaming others while oneself is to be blamed, and is self-deception. China absolutely cannot accept this.” U.S. prosecutors indicted two Chinese nationals linked to China’s Ministry of State Security intelligence agency on charges of stealing confidential data from American government agencies and businesses around the world. Prosecutors charged Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong in hacking attacks against the U.S. Navy, the space agency NASA and the Energy Department and dozens of companies. The operation targeted intellectual property and corporate secrets to give Chinese companies an unfair competitive advantage, they said. The pair were members of a hacking group known within the cyber security community as APT 10 and also worked for a Tianjin company Huaying Haitai Science and Technology Development Co, prosecutors said. Reuters was unable to locate immediately contact details for Zhu or Zhang. Corporate records show Huaying Haitai is registered at an address in a non-descript yellow office tower complex in the southern fringes of Tianjin, which is about an hour’s drive southeast of capital Beijing. A woman who answered the door to the small unmarked office told Reuters she worked for an advertising company which had only moved in months earlier. She confirmed the previous occupants were a company called Huaying Haitai, but said she was unsure what they did. Britain, Australia and New Zealand joined the United States in slamming China over what they called a global campaign of cyber-enabled commercial intellectual property theft, signaling growing global coordination against the practice. People leave a building where the Huaying Haitai Science and Technology Development Co is registered, in Tianjin, China, December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Thomas PeterChina’s Foreign Ministry said Britain and other countries had also made “slanderous comments” stemming from “ulterior motives”. Five sources familiar with the attacks told Reuters the hackers breached the networks of Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (HPE.N) and IBM (IBM.N), then used the access to hack into their clients’ computers. IBM said it had no evidence that sensitive data had been compromised. HPE said it could not comment. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters she noted IBM’s statement that it had no evidence sensitive data had been compromised. Certain people in the United States have taken to regular slandering of China, Hua told reporters. “Perhaps they think that if they repeat a lie 1,000 times it becomes the truth. But I want to tell them that it’s still a lie even if repeated 10,000 times.” China-U.S. ties in recent months have also been affected by a protracted trade war, though there is currently a truce as both countries try and work out a resolution. Asked whether China’s anger over the cyber accusations would impact upon China-U.S. trade talks, Hua reiterated a line from the ministry’s statement earlier in the day that if the United States did not mend its ways then relations would be seriously harmed. Adding to the tensions, on Thursday China denounced a new U.S. law related to Tibet. The official China Daily wrote in an editorial on Friday that the new Tibet-related legislation added an “additional flashpoint” to already rocky relations. “With Washington favoring a confrontational approach aimed at maintaining its hegemony rather than a cooperative one for the common good, Beijing will have to be prepared to stand its ground and respond as necessary to safeguard its core interests.” The Australian foreign affairs and home affairs departments said in a statement that APT 10 was engaged in “sustained cyber intrusions” on large managed service providers (MSPs), or information technology contractors globally. “Australia calls on all countries, including China, to uphold commitments to refrain from cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets and confidential business information with the intent of obtaining a competitive advantage,” the joint statement said. An Australian government source said the Chinese had breached “a small number” of targets but the extent of the attack was unclear. “We may never know how many companies were impacted,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the attacks. “We’ve informed those caught up but we need others to make urgent checks.” Slideshow (3 Images)Nick Savvides, chief technology officer for cybersecurity provider Symantec Corp SYMC.O in Asia Pacific, said in an email that cyber espionage had become “overt in recent years”. “Attackers are getting clever, hiding in plain sight by using tools and techniques already installed on targeted computers, making them difficult to detect,” he added in the email which did not mention China. Reporting by Philip Wen; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Zhang Min, Colin Packham and Byron Kaye; Editing by Paul Tait and Michael PerryOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Brazil advanced to the Copa América final with a 2-0 win over their old rivals Argentina in Belo Horizonte on Tuesday thanks to a goal in each half from Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino.Jesus gave Brazil the lead in the 19th minute when Firmino sent in a low cross for the unmarked striker to side-foot home from close range. The two combined again on the counter-attack after 71 minutes to make it 2-0 after good work from Jesus left Firmino with the simplest of tap-ins.“We knew that it would be difficult because of the players they have,” said Brazil’s Casemiro. “It’s about details. We knew it would be scrappy and that there would be wind-ups and time wasting. But we have to congratulate our strikers who did a great job. When they got chances, they scored.”Argentina have not beaten Brazil in a major competitive fixture since 2005 and that run rarely looked like ending in front of 52,000 fans at the Mineirao stadium.Sergio Agüero hit the bar with a header in the first half and Lionel Messi struck the post 11 minutes into the second period but the visitors had little luck in front of goal and were never on top for any length of time. The result ensures that Messi remains without a major title with Argentina.Brazil, who have lost only twice in 42 games under coach Tite, will now head to the Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro for Sunday’s final against either Peru or reigning champions Chile. Topics Copa América Brazil Argentina match reports

Prada has apologized after some of its products displayed at a store in New York appeared to contain blackface imagery.The products, part of a line of goods called Pradamalia, were pulled after they prompted outrage and accusations that they depicted racist caricatures of black people.Prada said in a statement that it had not intended the products – some of which seemed to resemble black monkeys with outsized red lips – to have any reference to the real world or blackface imagery.“The Pradamalia are fantasy charms composed of elements of the Prada oeuvre. They are imaginary creatures not intended to have any reference to the real world and certainly not blackface. Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery,” the firm said.New York-based civil rights attorney Chinyere Ezie had seen the products at the Prada store in Manhattan’s Soho. She later recounted on Facebook how the sight had left her “shaking with anger”.“History cannot continue to repeat itself. Black America deserves better. And we demand better,” Ezie wrote in the post, which quickly went viral.Scandals over blackface imagery continue to break in the US. In October, top NBC host Megan Kelly was ousted from the channel after she appeared to defend blackface Halloween costumes in a discussion on her show. She later apologized, saying: “The history of blackface in our culture is abhorrent; the wounds too deep.” Topics Prada New York Race news

New York State Attorney General Letitia James announced Tuesday that 47 attorneys general from states and U.S. territories plan to take part in a New York-led antitrust probe into Facebook.The multistate investigation was announced in September with participation from seven other states, but it has since expanded to nearly the entire country. The probe will zero in on whether Facebook broke any state or federal laws as a result of any anti-competitive conduct related to its dominance of social media.Byers Market NewsletterGet breaking news and insider analysis on the rapidly changing world of media and technology right to your inbox.“After continued bipartisan conversations with attorneys general from around the country, today I am announcing that we have vastly expanded the list of states, districts, and territories investigating Facebook for potential antitrust violations,” James said in a statement. “Our investigation now has the support of 47 attorneys general from around the nation, who are all concerned that Facebook may have put consumer data at risk, reduced the quality of consumers’ choices, and increased the price of advertising. As we continue our investigation, we will use every investigative tool at our disposal to determine whether Facebook’s actions stifled competition and put users at risk.”Facebook already faces a separate antitrust investigation launched by the Federal Trade Commission in July. The probe was announced on the heels of the FTC’s $5 billion fine against Facebook over its privacy policies.Facebook and its rivals, including Google, Amazon and Apple, also face a separate probe from the U.S. Department of Justice. The probe, which opened in July, seeks to examine the practices of online platforms that dominate internet search, social media and retail services, specifically, whether the companies haveThe New York-led probe initially included Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and the District of Columbia.Joining them are attorneys general from Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the territory of Guam. James said six other states can’t confirm their participation in the investigation.Facebook's stock price fell 3.2 percent Tuesday.

Nothing captures the gravity of India’s rape crisis better than the string of accusations against leaders of its ruling party.As soon as rape allegations against one Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader fades from the headlines, a fresh one emerges. The situation is worsened by the party’s refusal to acknowledge the problem within its ranks. It is often accused of being slow to act against the accused and, worse, it has often tried to protect alleged rapists.However, it is not just the optics of it all. Numbers paint a sordid picture, too. The BJP had at least 12 incumbent lawmakers (in central or state legislatures) charged crimes against women, the highest for any Indian political outfit, according to a 2018 study by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).This does not bode well for a country ranked the most dangerous for women last year. In 2016, India reported 106 rape cases a day, and this figure does not account for low reporting. On Aug. 24, a law student in Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh put out a video on social media accusing BJP leader Chinmayananda, also a religious guru, of sexually harassing many women including herself. It is common for people to disappear when they are accused of a heinous crime, but in this case it was the victim who fled, fearing for her life. The UP police found her after more than two weeks. “Modi ji, please help me, he (Chinmayananda) is… threatening that the police, DM (district magistrate) and everyone else is on his side and no one can harm him,” she had appealed to the prime minister in a video, alleging the police had not registered even a complaint against Chinmayananda despite her repeated pleas. The police finally arrested the monk only after the video went viral, and there was media pressure. It also filed an extortion case against the young woman. Unconfirmed reports suggest the victim has been arrested, although her arrest was stayed by a local court.The victim had good reasons to believe the BJP-run Uttar Pradesh government was on Chinmayananda’s side. He is a former minister of state for home affairs and was facing charges in a rape case filed in 2011. When the BJP came to power in UP in 2017, the Yogi Adityanath government withdrew the case against him. The victim’s letters to the president of India and other authorities, were of no avail.Such complicity in sexual violence belies the BJP’s claims that it is concerned about rape. In the 2014 general election, amid the backdrop of large-scale anti-rape protests in India, one of the BJP’s election slogans was aimed at addressing the matter. When Narendra Modi became prime minister, he came up with a programme, “Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao (Protect our daughters, educate our daughters).” This has now become a joke on social media: “BJP se beti bachao” (Save our daughters from the BJP).The UP law student’s case is not an isolated one. The BJP, in power at the centre and in many states, has often actively tried to save rape-accused leaders. Given that it has reportedly become the world’s largest party, it may not be surprising that many criminal politicians are now found in the BJP.In January 2018, in Kathua district of Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), an eight-year-old girl was raped and murdered inside a Hindu temple. When the accused were arrested, Hindu organisations supported by the BJP took out protest marches in their defence. Two sitting BJP ministers of the J&K government even attended one such protest. Lawyers associated with the party even tried to prevent the police from filing charges against the accused in the case. It was only after a national uproar that the BJP made the two ministers resign.Around the same time, the BJP was busy trying to save a state lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh in another case. Rape victims are often murdered so they may not be able to identify the accused, as in Kathua. But when BJP lawmaker Kuldeep Singh Sengar and his friends gang-raped a 17-year-old girl in Unnao in 2017, Sengar did not try to kill her. Such was his impunity that he, instead, wiped her tears and promised her a job. Once again, it was national outrage that made the BJP belatedly act against Sengar. Cornered and in jail, Sengar allegedly tried to get her killed in a staged road accident. The BJP then finally, and reluctantly, sacked him. Earlier, the police did not register a case until the victim tried to immolate herself. And when they finally did, they also booked her father in an allegedly fake case, arrested him. Incredibly, he died in police custody under suspicious circumstances.After this, she repeatedly informed the authorities—the state police and the chief justice of India—that she feared for her life. However, nobody is powerful enough in India today to come in the way of a rape-accused BJP lawmaker.These are just the incidents that caught public attention. There are many more cases against BJP members.This rape culture—and the impunity that breeds it—is reflected daily on social media. Pro-BJP trolls frequently threaten women they don’t like with rape. One such was arrested for threatening to rape the daughter of former Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi.The sanction for this culture seems to come from the very top. “Not even Lord Ram can stop rapes,” a BJP lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh said last year. Even the BJP’s women leaders don’t question it. Kirron Kher, the party’s member of parliament from Chandigarh, said in 2017 that it is the rape victim who should have been more cautious. Kher was only reflecting the views of Mohan Bhagwat, head of the BJP’s parent organisation, the Hindu nationalist Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS). In 2013, he said rape was an urban problem, and that it didn’t exist in rural India. He blamed “western influence” for it and went on to advise women to be good housewives. The patriarchy-rape culture link can’t get more obvious than that. We welcome your comments at ideas.india@qz.com.

The US is to terminate a programme that gives more than 50,000 immigrants from Haiti protection against deportation.Immigrants from the Caribbean nation received protected status in 2010 after a devastating earthquake.But the Trump administration says conditions there have now improved and its nationals can return safely.It says their protected status will end in July 2019, giving Haitians 18 months to return or otherwise legalise their immigration status in the US."Those extraordinary but temporary conditions caused by the 2010 earthquake no longer exist," a statement from the US Department of Homeland Security said."Significant steps have been taken to improve the stability and quality of life for Haitian citizens, and Haiti is able to safely receive traditional levels of returned citizens," the statement added.But campaigners say the Trump administration has unfairly singled out small numbers of the most vulnerable people as part of its tougher stance on immigration.In a statement, House Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi said: "Deporting tens of thousands of men and women back into the nation will only deepen the suffering in Haiti.""I completely disagree with the characterization that the situation in Haiti has improved", she added.The Temporary Protected Status (TPS) programme grants temporary visas to more than 435,000 people from 10 countries ravaged by natural disasters or war.The move to terminate TPS for Haitians comes after a similar step was taken against 5,000 Nicaraguans. Protection for 86,000 Hondurans in the US has been extended. A decision on El Salvador's status, which was given TPS after its 2001 earthquake, is due in January. The US decision to end TPS could have repercussions in Canada, where thousands of Haitians flocked over the summer due to fears of deportation. Montreal was forced to set up temporary shelters to house the asylum seekers who crossed illegally into the province of Quebec after the Trump Administration signalled last May it was considering cancelling TPS for Haitians. At its August peak, over 5,500 asylum seekers crossed into the province. Canada builds camp for US refugees Canada's migrant crisis: Hundreds crossing US border daily Canadian members of Parliament continue to travel to the US on outreach missions to cultural communities in an effort to counteract misinformation they believe is bringing them to Canada's doorstep, including that asylum is easy to obtain. Canada completely lifted its own protected status for Haitians over a year ago. In 2016, about 50% of all asylum claims made by Haitian nationals were rejected, and they were subsequently deported.

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, who is on trial on tax and bank fraud charges, had $16.5 million in unreported taxable business income between 2010 and 2014, a U.S. Internal Revenue Service agent testified on Wednesday. Paul Manafort (L), former campaign chairman for U.S. President Donald Trump, in Washington, DC, U.S., December 11, 2017, and Rick Gates, former campaign aide to Trump, in Washington, U.S., December 11, 2017 are pictured in this combination photograph. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File PhotoIRS agent Michael Welch told a jury that Manafort’s unreported income includes foreign wire transfers to U.S. vendors like landscapers and clothiers, wire transfers to buy property, and income improperly reclassified as loans. Welch’s testimony came as prosecutors sought to refocus the courtroom’s attention on Manafort’s alleged financial crimes after his defense attorneys spent hours trying to undermine the credibility of their star witness, former Manafort business partner Rick Gates. Welch said he arrived at the $16.5 million figure based on an accounting method used by Manafort. During his review, he said, he discovered that many of the foreign wire transfers did not appear on general ledgers for Manafort’s political consultancy and therefore, “I was not able to trace it into the tax return.” Gates ended three days of testimony earlier on Wednesday, the trial’s seventh day, after admitting he lied, stole money and cheated on his wife, as lawyers for Manafort attacked his character. Manafort lawyer Kevin Downing got in a final shot in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, raising the possibility Gates had not one, but four extramarital affairs. Prosecutors objected and Gates never answered the question. In cross-examination on Tuesday and Wednesday, Downing fired questions at Gates for several hours as he sought to portray him as an inveterate liar and thief to undermine his credibility with the jury. Meanwhile, Downing on Wednesday afternoon tried to draw the jury’s attention back to admissions by Gates that he had embezzled funds from Manafort, asking Welch if his client could claim a business embezzlement deduction. While businesses can deduct losses from theft, Welch said on redirect by one of the prosecutors: “If money is stolen from money that is untaxed, there is no deduction.” Manafort has pleaded not guilty to 18 counts of bank fraud, tax fraud and failing to disclose foreign bank accounts. According to trial testimony, he used the accounts to receive millions of dollars in payments from Ukrainian oligarchs. Manafort, a longtime Republican political consultant, is the first person to be tried on charges brought by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Manafort made millions of dollars working for pro-Russian Ukrainian politicians before he took an unpaid position with the Trump campaign that lasted five months. Gates, who worked as Manafort’s right-hand man for a decade, served as deputy chairman of the Trump campaign. He pleaded guilty to charges in February and is cooperating for the possibility of a reduced sentence. He testified at length about how he and Manafort doctored and backdated financial documents, hid foreign income and falsified tax returns. He said he engaged in the wrongdoing at Manafort’s direction. He also admitted to leading a “secret life,” embezzling funds from his former boss Manafort, and getting involved in other shady dealings. And the defense has tried to pin much of the blame for the financial crimes on him. After Gates left the stand on Wednesday, the jury heard from Morgan Magionos, a forensic accountant with the FBI. She said she had identified 31 accounts located in Cyprus, the Grenadines and the United Kingdom belonging to Manafort. She explained how she traced payments for luxury items back to those hidden bank accounts, describing documents from banks and corporations and how the corporate entities and offshore accounts were linked to Manafort. Prosecutors also introduced emails from Manafort to vendors of luxury items he bought in which he promises payment via wire transfers from “my” account, citing some of the offshore entities he is accused of using to hide his wealth. A conviction of Manafort would undermine efforts by Trump and some Republican lawmakers to paint Mueller’s inquiry as a political witch hunt, while an acquittal would be a setback for the special counsel. Rudy Giuliani, a lawyer for Trump, on Wednesday again called for Mueller to end his inquiry “without further delay.” Prosecutors have said they hope to finish presenting their case by the end of the week. U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis has repeatedly prodded them to move swiftly while seemingly giving the defense more latitude. He also has repeatedly made comments that some legal experts say may prejudice the jury against the prosecution. The judge has belittled and yelled at prosecutors in front of the jury and made comments that could undercut the prosecutor’s case and help the defense. Washington attorney Gene Rossi, a former federal prosecutor in Virginia who has appeared before Ellis hundreds of times, said the comment was “classic Judge Ellis injecting his views into the courtroom.” If he is too tough, Rossi said, the jury might “start to feel sorry for the prosecution.” Although questions tied to the Trump campaign have been severely limited at trial, Manafort remains a central figure in the broader inquiry into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia, including a 2016 Trump Tower meeting at which Russians promised “dirt” on Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and his role in watering down the 2016 Republican Party platform position on Ukraine. Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Nathan Layne and Karen Freifeld; Writing by Doina Chiacu and Warren Strobel; Editing by Grant McCool and Lisa ShumakerOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

A $1.2bn Chinese-built “luxury city” is being built in Cambodia, accelerating what critics concerned about Beijing’s influence in the south-east Asian country call the region’s “Chinafication”.Chinese developer Tianjin Union Development Group (UDG) says Tourism Vacation Town will feature high-end hotels, offices and theme parks on 1,200 hectares of land in Cambodia’s southwestern Koh Kong province. Details are scant, but building work is expected to begin next year.The company has already started work on another $3.8bn resort in the same province, named Dara Sakor. In 2008 UDG was given a 99-year lease for land in Koh Kong to build Dara Sakor, which is expected to feature a port as well as attractions such as casinos. Many villagers have allegedly been displaced by the project, with some launching protests against what they said were unlawful “land grabs”.Cambodian prime minister Hun Sen sees Chinese investment as vital for his country’s development, and such issues have not deterred him from embracing Beijing. With Hun’s ties with the European Union and many western countries fraying following his controversial election win in July, branded undemocratic by critics, he has welcomed both political and financial support from China.In 2017 China invested $1.7bn in Cambodia, with president Xi Jinping giving money to Hun’s military as well as encouraging Chinese businesses to invest in the country. Critics say Chinese businesses moving into Cambodia, which has a modest GDP of $20bn, have pushed out many locals and decimated their culture in areas such as Sihanoukville, near Koh Kong.The Centre for Advanced Defence Studies, a US thinktank, warned of Beijing’s “ulterior motives” behind Cambodian investment beyond the “win-win” economic benefits it claims. In a report released in April the authors suggested that by gaining more access to ports in Cambodia, Beijing could get greater access to maritime trade routes and support for territory claims in disputed areas. Topics Cambodia China Asia Pacific news

The grandparents of French children of Islamic State group (IS) fighters are lobbying for their return from Syria and Iraq. But why, they ask, is the government moving so slowly?France has more nationals in the region than any other Western country. As of November 2017, an estimated 700 French nationals were still fighting with IS in Iraq and Syria.Nearly 2,000 French citizens are believed to have travelled to join the group during the conflict.In addition, there are more than 500 children under 18 in the region, dozens of whom are in refugee camps in northern Syria run by France's Kurdish allies. A few years ago, Chantal, not her real name, received a phone call from her daughter Melanie, saying she was in Syria with her Muslim husband and two children, aged five and under. The decision to go there was apparently made on religious grounds. "I said, 'What are you doing in Syria?' I can't believe it. No-one takes their children to a war zone!" As the war raged on and coalition forces closed in on IS territory, the young family, now with three very young children, began to fear for their lives."My son-in-law contacted me to say it was too dangerous, and the children needed to come back," said Chantal. "I advised them to hand themselves in to the Kurds; the French foreign ministry said that was the best option. But that was a year ago... I am waiting to get them back. But I don't know if I will." Chantal is part of a group of families now lobbying the French government to bring their children and grandchildren back. Earlier this year, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said that while adult French fighters would be tried wherever they were arrested, children were a different matter. "We want to make sure we can repatriate them to France, with the help of the Red Cross," he explained. So far, 77 French children, most of them under eight, have arrived back from Iraq and Syria. Each child is closely monitored by psychiatrists, social workers and security personnel. Guidelines issued by the prime minister suggest some form of monitoring will continue indefinitely.Muriel Domenach, who runs the French government's de-radicalisation programme for the returning children, says that French authorities found themselves asking: "Are they victims or are they dangerous?""They're victims, of their parents' choice to start with, but they might be dangerous. We don't know what they experienced on the ground. Probably they witnessed horrific events."She admits some of them may have taken part in horrific events themselves, and are being investigated.Bringing back the children of IS supporters is a sensitive issue in France. The Paris prosecutor has described them as "time bombs" because of the danger he believed they posed. IS and the crisis in Iraq and Syria in maps Hamoudi: the man who stood up to Islamic State group in Raqqa Since the fall of the IS stronghold in Raqqa in October 2017, the number of children returning to France has slowed to a trickle. An estimated 40-50 French mothers and children are now living in the Kurdish-run camps. Their relatives argue these citizens, at least, should be easy to bring back.The Kurdish authorities are keen to send them home, and US officials have called on allied governments to prosecute their adult citizens at home, saying it is "not a [Kurdish] job".France says it respects the right of the local authorities to try adults arrested in Iraq and Syria, and is treating each family on a case-by-case basis.But Nadim Houry, from Human Rights Watch, says that when it comes to the Kurdish-run areas of northern Syria there's a problem.French policy, he explains, is that adults should be prosecuted there, but the French authorities don't say what happens if the Kurdish authority does not want to prosecute or doesn't have the laws to do so. "If I want to be charitable to the French policy, I would say it's confused, because politically they do not want to make a decision on the issue." Not all French citizens in the camps want to go home. And French officials point out they have no consular presence in Kurdish areas. But Nadim Houry, who has visited the camps, says both US and European interrogators are already working there.We asked the foreign ministry several times to answer our questions, but they declined.Conditions in the camps are basic: there are reports of tuberculosis, and concerns over sexual abuse. Chantal says that Melanie and her children are still living in a camp and that her grandson has daily asthma attacks. A doctor has told the family that he needs to come back to France for treatment, she says, but no one can get them out."They are going to let them die there because public opinion doesn't want them back. But my grandchildren aren't time bombs."The return of citizens France sees as "enemies" is a sensitive issue in a country that has suffered so many jihadist attacks.

Enlarge this image Andrew Yang participates in the second of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN last month in Detroit. Paul Sancya/AP hide caption toggle caption Paul Sancya/AP Andrew Yang participates in the second of two Democratic presidential primary debates hosted by CNN last month in Detroit. Paul Sancya/AP Entrepreneur Andrew Yang is the ninth Democrat to qualify for September's next presidential primary debates. Yang crossed the threshold on Thursday after a Monmouth poll in Iowa put him at 2% support. He had previously hit the donor requirements of 130,000 unique donors from 20 different states. His campaign had said he qualified outright based on an earlier poll, but the Democratic National Committee said it wouldn't count that poll. Loading... Don't see the graphic above? Click hereYang has gained surprising momentum in the crowded field, edging out senators, governors and members of Congress for a coveted spot in next month's debate in Houston, which will be moderated by ABC News and Univision. Yang has campaigned on a "Freedom Dividend," which would give every American adult $1,000 per month to combat the automation of jobs. He has touted his nerdiness as an asset, quipping in the July debate that "the opposite of Donald Trump is an Asian man who likes math." Former HUD Secretary Julián Castro remains next closest to qualifying — he has hit the donor marks but still needs one more poll before Aug. 28 to register the required 2%, and in the Monmouth Iowa survey he received less than 1%. Billionaire activist Tom Steyer, who announced just last month he was running for president after first passing on a run, hit 3% in the Monmouth poll, which means he also now has three qualifying polls where he has registered at least 2% support. But because of his late start, he still hasn't hit the fundraising marks. However, the wealthy executive — who has already spent millions on a campaign designed to pressure House Democrats to back impeaching President Trump — is spending heavily to try to get there, asking for just $1 donations to help him qualify for the debates, given that he intends to self-fund otherwise. Politics Debate May Be Last-Ditch Effort For Struggling Democrats To Stay Alive New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand also hit 2% in the poll, marking her first qualifying survey. Both Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper have qualified in one poll as well, but only Gabbard has hit the required donor benchmark. But with Castro inching closer and possibly even Steyer, more than 10 candidates could qualify — meaning there could again be two debates spread across two nights instead of just one. According to the DNC, both Sept. 12 and 13 are reserved for now.

Brazil's incoming far-right president has said he will seek to issue a decree loosening the country's gun laws.Jair Bolsonaro, who takes over on 1 January, had made the pledge a key part of his presidential campaign.Brazil currently has strict gun ownership laws, requiring any prospective owners to undergo psychological tests.But Mr Bolsonaro has said more guns would allow "good people" in Brazil help combat violent crime.In response to Brazil having one of the world's highest murder rates, the Senate passed the Disarmament Statute in 2003.Under the statute, which stands to this day: only strictly defined groups of people, including police and security officials are able to obtain a gun licence anyone using a gun without a licence could face four years in jail proof of residence, employment, technical and psychological capacity are needed to get a licence. In the first year after the statue was introduced, the murder rate in Brazil dropped by 8%. In the same time, about 500,000 guns were seized by police under a buy-back scheme.Since that drop, murder rates have started to climb again.According to the World Bank, Brazil has the eighth highest murder rate in the world, behind countries such as El Salvador and Jamaica.The Brazilian Public Security Forum, which collects and analyses crime data from state and federal government, there were 63,880 homicides in Brazil last year (equivalent to 175 a day) - an increase of 2.9% on the previous year.A number of factors have been identified, including Brazil's role as a hub in the international cocaine trade, and dwindling police resources.Why are there so many murders in Brazil?Impoverished parts of north-east Brazil in particular has seen a large increase in recent years. Over the past decade the murder rate in Rio Grande do Norte state has soared by more than 250%, according to the government-affiliated IPEA research body.Between 2016 and 2017, there was also a significant jump in the number of people killed by police in Brazil - up 20% to 5,144.Security became one of the key themes of the presidential campaign, which Mr Bolsonaro won in October with 55.2% of the vote.During his campaign, he would often make the case for more people owning guns, adding that gangs had continued to obtain guns despite strict legislation."Every honest citizen, man or woman, if they want to have a weapon in their homes - depending on certain criteria - should be able to have one," he said.Mr Bolsonaro, a former paratrooper, is an avid supporter of America's National Rifle Association, and the door of his campaign office was emblazoned with the slogan: "If guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."Reuters reports that shares in Brazilian gun maker Taurus Armas SA climbed by about 88% year-on-year amid expectation gun rights would be relaxed.In his tweet on Saturday announcing the decree, Mr Bolsonaro said those with criminal records would continue to be prevented from owning guns. A poll last August found that 58% of Brazilians believed that restrictions should continue on gun ownership. But any decree Mr Bolsonaro puts before Congress is likely to pass with a majority.