WH Budget Director Mick Mulvaney: Trump 'fundamentally changing the way we create wealth in this country'
The U.S. economy will stay on the upswing during the Trump administration despite the warnings of critics who have a "vested interest in seeing us fail," Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told "Fox News Sunday." "The things we’ve done on the deregulatory agenda, the things we’ve done on taxes, are not a sugar high," Mulvaney said. It’s fundamentally changing the way we create wealth in this country." Mulvaney also suggested that President Trump had canceled his planned military parade in Washington, D.C. for reasons unrelated to funding. Mulvaney added that D.C. is a heavily liberal area, and suggested it would not be unreasonable to assume officials there would stand in Trump's way.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 19:30 UTC
Rescue teams wade through filthy waters to help flood victims
In the small town of Peringara, in the Thiruvalla district, water flooded hundreds of houses with no warning Wednesday. A house is partially submerged in flood waters in Chengannur in the southern state of Kerala, India, Sunday, August 19. Inflatable craft the only optionDozens of teams like Singh's have been deployed across the state over the last few days. An Indian air-force helicopter on rescue mission flies through a flooded area in Chengannur in the southern state of Kerala, India, Sunday, August 19. The team carries six people in need of medical help down a flight of stairs and gently place them in the dinghy.
Source:CNN
August 19, 2018 19:30 UTC
In Memory Of Kofi Annan: Father Of The Modern Corporate Sustainability Movement
But even during these dark months he would not abandon his faith in the ideas of the United Nations. Kofi Annan was one of the greatest diplomats in history. As a pragmatist and modernizer, Kofi Annan was tirelessly striving to overcome old ideologies. And with this “speech act”, Kofi Annan planted the seeds for the modern corporate sustainability movement. Kofi Annan not only had the courage to call on CEOs to embed universal values of humanity into corporate strategies and practices.
Source:Forbes
August 19, 2018 19:30 UTC
Stolen artifacts: European museums may loan back works from former colonies
Museums in Western Europe are starting to reevaluate how to deal with certain colonial-era artifacts added to their expansive collections over the years -- despite being stolen or plundered. As the Washington Post reports, some of Europe’s leading cultural institutions are considering whether to return various artifacts to their countries of origin, often in Africa or Asia. “I cannot accept that a large part of cultural heritage from several African countries is in France,” Macron said during the Burkina Faso visit. But this year, the V&A director floated the idea of returning the objects under a long-term loan agreement. For 2019, Germany reportedly has set aside $3.5 million to help museums determine the origins of possibly illegal or illegitimate artifacts.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 19:30 UTC
Opinion | Sanitizing Hong Kong of Free Speech
Authorities in Hong Kong want to ban the pro-independence Hong Kong National Party under a law that prohibits groups thought to endanger national security, public safety and public order. The latest punch came last week, when several pro-Beijing lawmakers and organizations spearheaded an effort to block a speech by the party leader at the city’s Foreign Correspondents’ Club. Protesters demonstrated outside the talk, called “Hong Kong Nationalism: A Politically Incorrect Guide to Hong Kong Under Chinese Rule,” but the event ultimately went ahead. Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for the Opinion Today newsletter.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 19:30 UTC
Demi Lovato's backup dancer Dani Vitale releases lengthy statement denying giving her drugs
Following the highly-public overdose of former Disney star Demi Lovato, one of her friends and backup dancers is speaking out following rumors that she played a role in giving the star drugs. Dani Vitale released a lengthy statement on her Instagram in which she denied not only giving Lovato drugs, but ever having seen drugs in her life. I DO NOT DO DRUGS, nor would I ever encourage, or supply them to anyone I love,” Vitale wrote. In the midst of everything, my whole being was ridden with sadness, confusion, love and hopelessness,” Vitale wrote. At the time of Lovato’s overdose in July, she released a smaller statement on Instagram denying that she was there when Demi went off the rails.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 19:27 UTC
PM Update: Cloudy but dry conditions tonight. Mostly cloudy and cool on Monday.
But I promise that you will like the trend in dew points after Wednesday. Tomorrow (Monday): Monday will be kind of a dreary weather day as far as cloud cover goes. Temperatures will be on the cool side, with afternoon highs in the upper 70s to low 80s and dew points in the mid- to upper 60s. A brief taste of autumn: Who is sick of dew points over 60 degrees? I don’t even know when we last had such low dew points, but, honestly, who cares?
Source:Washington Post
August 19, 2018 19:18 UTC
Interviewing Elon Musk
Still, even the executives I speak with for Corner Office are careful not to leave themselves too exposed. But on Thursday with Mr. Musk, none of these rules seemed to apply. After a few awkward minutes of introductions, Mr. Musk began speaking in deeply personal terms, and went on for a full hour. “It was excruciating.”Mr. Musk provided new details about how and why he sent his fateful tweet, and new insights about his bizarre run-in with the rapper Azealia Banks. “It’s not been great, actually,” Mr. Musk said.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 19:18 UTC
SL Green to Sell Stake in Midtown Tower to Moinian Group
Two big names in the New York office-building business have agreed to end their seven-year-old joint ownership of a Midtown tower in a deal that closes the book on a commercial real-estate saga that dates back to the dark days of the downturn. In 2011, SL Green Realty Corp. rode to the rescue of the Moinian Group by helping it recapitalize 3 Columbus Circle, which at the time was a distressed redevelopment project. SL Green’s move blocked another New York real-estate heavyweight, Related Cos., which had acquired the $250 million...
Source:Wall Street Journal
August 19, 2018 19:18 UTC
Venezuelans jittery ahead of sudden economic reforms
Maduro says he'll also raise gasoline prices to international levels — a combination of measures critics say will only make things worse. Maduro's government says that in late-September, the world's cheapest gas will rise to international levels to curtail rampant smuggling across borders. Maduro said Friday that the minimum wage will also soon jump dramatically. Maduro also announced Friday a more-than-3,000 percent leap in the minimum wage, bringing it up to around $30 at the widely used black market rate. "The measures announced on Friday are not any economic recovery plan for the country," opposition leader Andres Velasquez said.
Source:Forbes
August 19, 2018 19:07 UTC
Catholics consider withholding donations amid scandals
Brice Sokolowski helps small Catholic nonprofits and churches raise money, but he too supports the recent calls to withhold donations. "In an organization that spans the whole world like the Catholic Church, you don't know where your money is going. Calls to financially boycott the Catholic Church are not new. Five years ago, after sex-abuse scandals rocked the archdiocese in St. Paul, Minnesota, parishioners talked about withholding their donations in protest. "I am struggling with it — it's not easy for me," said Shih, a Taiwanese immigrant who lives in New York City and attends several Catholic churches.
Source:Fox News
August 19, 2018 19:07 UTC
A jury convicted a doctor of raping a patient at a hospital — and sentenced him to probation
A Houston doctor who was convicted of raping a hospital patient will not serve prison time and, instead, will spend a decade on probation. The crime is punishable by up 20 years in prison, but the Texas jury sentenced Sheikh to 10 years of probation on Friday. But one of Sheikh’s attorneys, who have argued that the sex between Sheikh and the patient was consensual, defended the jury’s decision. She told authorities that a male doctor came to her room three times that night, raping her during the third visit. “There were no reports of misconduct or any incidents involving this doctor while he was at Houston Methodist,” spokeswoman Stefanie Asin said.
Source:Washington Post
August 19, 2018 19:04 UTC
A Death in Duterte’s Drug War Resonates With Overseas Filipinos
MANILA — In an impoverished area near Manila, the Philippine capital, the body of Allan Rafael lay in a white coffin as distraught relatives reminisced about the cancer-stricken man who died in detention after being arrested in President Rodrigo Duterte’s brutal drug war. On top of the coffin were photographs of Mr. Rafael, a former overseas Filipino worker, taken when he was still employed as a cook in the Middle East, and one donated by activists, with the words: “Justice for Allan, Stop the Killings.”When the police arrested him on Aug. 2, Mr. Rafael, 35, who had lymphoma, tried to explain why he looked emaciated. It wasn’t because of narcotics. He was just really sick, having undergone chemotherapy since his return from Saudi Arabia last year for treatment. But his reasoning fell on deaf ears, and he was detained, beaten and tortured by the police to obtain a confession, according to his younger brother, Aarun Rafael, who had visited him in jail.
Source:New York Times
August 19, 2018 19:04 UTC
Cannabis Is Helping Bio-Pesticides Gain Ground In US Agriculture
As legal cannabis farms take the spotlight, safer methods of pest control are also taking root in more 'mainstream' agriculture. Biopesticides can also be used simultaneously, Marrone said, or used to treat multiple pest problems by themselves. "People have been coating wheat, cotton, and other crops with chemical pesticides; now they can coat them with biological products." "[Crop pest control] is a $50 billion industry, and half of that is spent on weed killers." As the legal cannabis industry keeps growing rapidly, the demand for products like Marrone's have also climbed sky high.
Source:Forbes
August 19, 2018 19:01 UTC
Giuliani says Trump Tower meeting was to get Clinton dirt
Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani said Sunday that the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting between senior Trump campaign officials and Russians "was originally for the purpose of getting information about (Hillary) Clinton," but denied any collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. Giuliani's words mirror the President's insistence that the Trump Tower meeting was held "to get information on an opponent" and was "totally legal," but ultimately "went nowhere." Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. Giuliani suggested the Trump campaign officials in attendance at the Trump Tower meeting might not have known that the meeting was with Russians or that the lawyer in attendance, Veselnitskaya, was a Russian with ties to the Kremlin. They knew it when they met with her, not when they set up the meeting," Giuliani said.
Source:CNN
August 19, 2018 18:57 UTC