world news: 2019-04-28

Saturday 4 May 2019

Turns Out You Can Fall 70 Feet Into Kīlauea Volcano and Survive

Not that you should follow this man’s lead.

Ted Bundy: Who was the serial killer and how did he die?

Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, a biopic about serial killer Ted Bundy, has just been released.Zac Efron portrays the murderer in the Netflix film, while Lily Collins stars as Bundy's former girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer.Bundy is believed to have started killing and assaulting women in the 1970s, murdering dozens of them until the end of the decade.Here is what you should know about Bundy before you see Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile:Who was Ted Bundy?Theodore Robert Bundy was born on 24 November, 1946 in Burlington, Vermont, and grew up in Tacoma, Washington. He dropped out of college before returning to the University of Washington and obtaining a degree in psychology in 1970, per a New York Times article published in 1978 while he was on trial.Bundy later entered law school but abandoned those studies as well. By 1971, Bundy was volunteering at a suicide hotline where he met the true crime writer Ann Rule, who later authored the book The Stranger Beside Me about her friendship with Bundy.Did Ted Bundy confess to his crimes?Bundy confessed to 30 killings across seven states by the time of his death.However, the actual death toll might be higher. Several unsolved murders have been linked to Bundy, even though evidence hasn't been sufficient to establish culpability.Bundy himself suggested that the actual number of his victims might be higher.When and how did he die?Bundy was executed by electrocution on 24 January, 1989, after being convicted on three separate murder cases – the killing of 12-year-old Kimberly Diane Leach, and the slayings of Margaret Bowman and Lisa Levy at the Chi Omega sorority house at Florida State University.He was 42 years old at the time of his death.More than 100 people cheered outside the Florida State Prison, setting off firecrackers and lighting sparklers, according to the Associated Press's report of the execution.Who was his girlfriend Elizabeth Kloepfer?Kloepfer, a single mother, started dating Bundy in 1969. The relationship started until the mid 1970s.Around that time, Kloepfer developed doubts about Bundy and gave his name to the police, though authorities didn't consider him a serious suspect.Kloepfer published a book about her relationship with Bundy, titled The Phantom Prince: My Life with Ted Bundy, in 1981 under the name Elizabeth Kendall. Bundy was on death row at the time.She has remained out of the public eye for years, and Michael Werwie, the screenwriter of Extremely Wicked, told Vanity Fair she was "not findable".

'Scientology' cruise ship detained in St Lucia after discovery of measles

A cruise ship which acts as a religious retreat for the Church of Scientology has been quarantined in the Caribbean after a person on board was diagnosed with measles. The Freewinds, a 440ft vessel, was prevented from disembarking by authorities on the island of St.Lucia. It was believed to have nearly 300 passengers on board, and the infected person was reportedly a female crew member. Dr Merlene Fredericks-James, the island's chief medical officer, said: "Because of the risk of potential infection, not just from the confirmed measles case, but from other persons who may be on the boat at the time, we thought it prudent to make a decision not to allow anyone to disembark. "One infected person can easily infect others. We thought it prudent that we quarantine the ship." She did not name the vessel but officials with St. Lucia's Marine Police confirmed it was the Freewinds. The impounded cruise ship is used by the Church of Scientology Credit: Paul Mounce/Corbis via Getty Images The development came as the United States is facing an outbreak that has led to the highest number of measles cases in 25 years. More than 700 people have been infected in 22 US states this year. Health officials have blamed the resurgence on misinformation being spread about vaccinations. Amid the outbreak Los Angeles ordered quarantines on two university campuses last month after each reported at least one confirmed measles case. The vast majority of US cases have occurred in children who have not received the three-way vaccines against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), which confers immunity to the disease. Measles is spread through casual contact with the virus, which can remain infectious in the air of an enclosed space for up to two hours after it is breathed out by someone carrying the disease. The rate of transmission from an infected person to another person nearby who lacks immunity is about 90 per cent, and an infected person can be contagious for four days before showing signs. Global measles immunisation rate Alex Azar, the US health and human services secretary, has called the measles outbreak "completely avoidable". He attacked the belief, debunked by scientific studies, that vaccine ingredients can cause autism, which has led to pockets of low vaccination rates in some communities. US states including New York, New Jersey, Maine, Oregon, Vermont, Minnesota and Iowa are considering laws to ban parents from citing religious or personal beliefs to avoid vaccinating their children. The Church of Scientology has never made any pronouncements discouraging its members from getting vaccinated. A person answering the phone at the church's media centre said no one was immediately available for comment. According to Scientology's website the Freewinds is home to its Flag Ship Service Organization (FSSO) and was bought in 1986. It is described as a "religious retreat ministering the most advanced level of spiritual counseling in the Scientology religion." What is Scientology? In 2004 it was the scene of a surprise 42nd birthday party for Tom Cruise, Scientology's best known member. The website also describes it as the "pinnacle of a deeply spiritual journey," and described how it is used for "humanitarian missions" around the world. "The Freewinds is a very special place," the website says. "It is the one place a Scientologist may go and be certain he will be able to devote himself entirely to his religious practice, and in the company of people who share his religious commitment and outlook on life in general." It is normally docked in the Dutch Caribbean island of Curacao. MarineTraffic.com, the vessel-monitoring website, showed the Panamanian-flagged ship docked in port near the St. Lucia capital of Castries, and indicated it had been heading next to the island of Dominica.

The Latest: Venezuela's top court orders López's arrest

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):

UPDATE 2-McKesson to pay $37 million to resolve West Virginia opioid lawsuit

Drug distributor McKesson Corp has agreed to pay $37 million to resolve a lawsuit by the state of West Virginia alleging it helped fuel a U.S. opioid epidemic by failing to stop suspicious orders of painkillers by pharmacies in the state. The settlement announced by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey on Thursday came in one of hundreds of similar lawsuits by states and local governments against McKesson and other distributors over their roles in the opioid crisis. The settlement was the largest that a distributor has agreed with a state in the litigation.

College admissions scandal: Chinese family 'paid $6.5 million for spot at Stanford University’

The family of a Chinese student admitted to Stanford University paid $6.5m to the man at the heart of the college admissions scandal, according to reports.Yusi Zhao, also known as Molly, was admitted to Stanford in 2017 after her parents paid Newport Beach college consultant William Singer the seven-figure sum, the Los Angeles Times reported.Neither Ms Zhao nor her parents, who live in Beijing, have been charged, and it is unclear whether they are currently being investigated. Stanford University rescinded Ms Zhao’s admission in April, and she is no longer a student there.The person with knowledge of the inquiry said that Ms Zhao’s family was introduced to Mr Singer by Michael Wu, a financial adviser at Morgan Stanley based in Pasadena, California. A spokesperson for Morgan Stanley said that Wu had been terminated for not cooperating with an internal investigation into the matter and that the firm was cooperating with the officials. Mr Wu did not respond to a phone call.At a court hearing in March, the lead prosecutor in the admissions case, Eric S Rosen, said that Mr Singer had tried to get Ms Zhao – whom Rosen did not identify by name – recruited to the Stanford sailing team and created a false profile of her supposed sailing achievements.She was ultimately not recruited, but Mr Rosen said that she was admitted to Stanford University partly on the basis of those false credentials. He added that after Ms Zhao's admission, Mr Singer made a $500,000 donation to the Stanford sailing program.Mr Singer has pleaded guilty to racketeering and other charges, for masterminding a scheme that prosecutors say included both cheating on college entrance exams and bribing coaches to recruit students who were not actually competitive athletes.The former Stanford sailing coach, John Vandemoer, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit racketeering.According to Mr Rosen’s comments in his plea hearing in March, Mr Vandemoer did not help Zhao’s application “in any material way”, but accepted other donations from Singer to his programme in exchange for agreeing to reserve recruiting spots for Mr Singer’s clients.Mr Vandemoer’s lawyer, Robert Fisher, declined to comment.Ms Zhao appears to have participated in a recent conference hosted by the Princeton-US China Coalition. Her biography on the group’s website said she was planning to major in psychology and East Asian Studies and was interested in education policy in China. It added that she hoped to be involved in the Chinese government in the future.Ms Zhao worked during a recent summer in a biology and chemistry research lab at Harvard, under the direction of Daniel G Nocera, a professor of energy at the university. Mr Nocera said in an email that Ms Zhao was unpaid and worked for Stanford University credit.At the Stanford campus, several students seemed unfazed by the news that one of their colleagues had paid millions to be there. Tamara Morris, a 20-year-old junior studying political science and African American studies, said she was unaware of the Zhao case. Conversation about the college admissions scandal had died down in recent weeks on campus, Ms Morris said, adding that she was not particularly bothered by the news.“I know how I got in,” she said.New York Times

Occidental shareholders criticize bid for Anadarko, Buffett financing

Several major Occidental Petroleum Corp shareholders have voiced opposition to the oil company's $38 billion bid for rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp that now includes a pricey financing deal with billionaire Warren Buffett. Occidental and Chevron Corp are battling for Anadarko and its holdings of nearly a quarter million acres in the Permian Basin, the top U.S. shale field, where low-cost production has helped turn the United States into the world's top oil producer at 12.3 million barrels per day. Occidental shares were trading on Thursday at $57.48, down sharply from $66.63 a month ago, prior to rumors it might challenge Chevron.

Hardships from Hawaii volcano stretch on 1 year later

PAHOA, Hawaii (AP) — A year after a volcano on Hawaii's Big Island rained lava and gases in one of its largest and most destructive eruptions in recorded history, people who lost their homes and farms in the disaster are still struggling to return to their cherished island lifestyle.

Nadler blasts no-show Barr before empty seat at House Judiciary hearing

In a remarkable scene inside the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Thursday, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler blasted Attorney General William Barr for failing to appear before the committee.

UPDATE 1-Accused gunman in North Carolina college shooting skips court appearance

A former student at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte waived his right to a court appearance on Thursday, a prosecutor said, after police say the suspect opened fire in a crowded classroom on Tuesday, killing two students and injuring four. Trystan Terrell, 22, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder after police and witnesses say he began firing a handgun in a classroom full of nearly 50 students on UNC Charlotte's campus shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The suspect was appointed a public defender and is due to appear in court for a bond hearing on May 15, an assistant district attorney for Mecklenburg County told reporters on Thursday.

Trump urges 'fight with all our strength' against anti-Semitism

US President Donald Trump called Thursday for an all-out fight against anti-Semitism as he hosted a rabbi shot in a deadly weekend gun rampage at a California synagogue. Yisroel Goldstein was among four worshipers hit -- one fatally -- as a gunman burst into a service and opened fire in the town of Poway, near San Diego, on Saturday. "We will fight with all our strength and everything that we have in our bodies to defeat anti-Semitism," Trump told a national prayer service at the White House.

Iran must resist U.S. sanctions through oil, non-oil exports: Rouhani

President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday Iran must counter U.S. sanctions by continuing to export its oil as well as boosting non-oil exports.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2DOTt5Z

South Korea urges North Korea to avoid raising military tension

South Korea on Saturday urged North Korea to "stop action that intensifies military tension on the Korean peninsula," saying it is "very concerned about" the North's firing of short-range projectiles.

from Reuters: World News https://reut.rs/2WvXa7O

Trump Spoke With Putin About Mueller Report, Sanders Says

Sanders told reporters at the White House that the two leaders “very, very briefly” discussed Mueller’s report, which detailed a Kremlin-directed scheme to interfere in the 2016 election on Trump’s behalf. Mueller didn’t find evidence that Trump or any of his associates conspired with the Russian effort.

Nadler Makes Another Accommodation to Barr to Get Mueller Report Material

Zach Gibson/GettyIn a letter to Bill Barr on Friday, House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) said that his committee was willing to receive specific portions but not all of the underlying evidence from the Mueller report as part of the Attorney General’s document production. The letter marked the an accommodation from House Democrats as they attempt to jump start negotiations with the Department of Justice for the release of the full, unredacted Mueller report. Previously, Nadler had been demanding all of the report’s evidence. But in his letter, the New York Democrat said the committee was now willing to “prioritize a specific, defined set of underlying investigative and evidentiary materials for immediate production” including “reports from witness interviews … and items such as contemporaneous notes taken by witnesses of relevant events.”“Since these materials are publicly cited and described in the Mueller report, there can be no question about the Committee’s need for and right to this underlying evidence in order to independently evaluate the facts that Special Counsel Mueller uncovered and fulfill our constitutional duties,” the letter said.Nadler has come under some pressure from some Democrats for the approach he’s taken with Barr. Though the chairman did issue a subpoena for the Mueller report, he was criticized for taking his time in doing so. Other top Democrats have publicly ridiculed Barr for his opaque testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Following the news that Mueller had written a note to Barr saying that his summary of the report did not fully capture the nature and context of the special counsel’s work, several lawmakers went as far as to call on the attorney general to resign. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Barr had committed a crime by lying to the Senate.Nadler has been critical too but he also declined to immediately hold Barr in contempt after the attorney general declined to show up to a committee hearing on Thursday, though the chairman, in his letter, said he would do so if DOJ did not make steps to comply with the committee’s subpoena.“The committee is prepared to make every realistic effort to reach an accommodation with the Department. But if the Department persists in its baseless refusal to comply with a validly issued subpoena, the Committee will move to contempt proceedings and seek further legal recourse,” the letter said.Relations between House Judiciary and DOJ have been contentious, with the sides in disagreement over both how much of the Mueller report should be released, who should have access to the underlying evidence, and what type of hearings should be conducted about its production. Among other matters, DOJ has not agreed to a specific date when Mueller would testify before House Democrats, though sources confirm that the committee is now directly engaging Mueller’s team on the matter. Things took a turn this week when DOJ said Barr would not show for a scheduled committee hearing because Nadler’s “conditions” were both “unprecedented and unnecessary.” Nadler had proposed that committee attorneys question Barr instead of members—a format that is not unprecedented. And on Wednesday, DOJ blew past its deadline to respond to the committee’s subpoena for the release of the Mueller report. In a letter to the committee on May 1, DOJ said that it would release the report, though portions of it are still redacted, to only 12 members of the committee. Those members would not be allowed to share or discuss that version of the report with anyone else, DOJ said.Read more at The Daily Beast.

Do I need a measles booster shot? Is the vaccine effective? Your questions answered

Vaccines are the best way to prevent spreading measles. Some adults might need a booster immunization against the contagious virus.

Accused gunman in North Carolina college shooting skips court appearance

Trystan Terrell, 22, was taken into custody on Tuesday and charged with two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder after police and witnesses say he began firing a handgun in a classroom full of nearly 50 students on UNC Charlotte's campus shortly before 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

Measles-plagued Scientology ship leaves St Lucia

A cruise ship owned by the Church of Scientology that was quarantined in St Lucia for two days because of a measles case has left the Caribbean island and was headed toward Curacao on Friday, maritime tracking services said. The Freewinds left the port capital Castries on Thursday at 11:15pm (0315 GMT Friday) and was cruising toward Willemstad in Curacao, a distance it previously covered in two days, according to myshiptracking.com and cruisin.me. A spokeswoman for St Lucia's health ministry confirmed that the ship had left the island.

'Avengers: Endgame' midnight showing crowd in California may have been exposed to measles

"Avengers: Endgame" movie-goers in California may have been exposed to measles, the Orange County Health Care Agency warns.

UPDATE 3-Venezuela opposition figure, facing arrest warrant, says he met with generals

Venezuelan opposition politician Leopoldo Lopez, evading arrest in a Spanish diplomatic residence, on Thursday disclosed he met with senior military officials before a failed uprising against President Nicolas Maduro this week. Suggesting coordination continues with armed forces figures in the campaign to oust Maduro, Lopez said more "military movements" were on the way. The pre-dawn military uprising on Tuesday, urged on by opposition leader and Lopez ally Juan Guaido, failed to gain steam as security forces loyal to Maduro cracked down on demonstrators who had taken to the streets in support of Guaido.

NY Police Say Teen Charged with Murder in Fatal Stabbing, Mother Faces Charges

The teen suspect allegedly seen on surveillance video in the fatal stabbing of a 17-year-old in Brooklyn has been charged with murder, police said. David Lopez is accused of stabbing Rohan Burke to death. He is charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon. Moments after the stabbing, surveillance video shows the alleged attacker pass the murder weapon to his mother, 38-year-old Barbara Galloza, whom police believe tried to cover up the crime.

Trump discusses 'Russian Hoax' in long call with Putin

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin discussed what Trump again dismissed as the "Russian Hoax" in their first known phone call since the release of special counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russia's extensive meddling during the 2016 election campaign. Putin chuckled about Mueller's conclusions, Trump said.

The Rare Porsche Racer Not Built By Porsche

The Elva Porsche MK7 served as a stopgap while the 904 racer was being developed in Germany. Porsche knew they were on to something while developing the 904. Its lightweight construction and four-cam engine was set to be a winning combination, however, the German marque needed a stopgap racer until its new package was ready to race.

Trump news: Pelosi says Barr committed ‘crimes’ as house votes to force president to keep US in Paris climate agreement

Attorney general William Barr has refused to show up for planned testimony before the House Judiciary Committee after enduring a grilling by Democratic senators on Wednesday, who questioned his handling of the Mueller report and called for his resignation.On Thursday, Democrats in the House blasted Mr Barr for skipping the hearing, and accused the executive branch of subverting constitutional checks and balances by undermining Congress.“Ladies and gentlemen, the challenge we face is that the president of the United States wants desperately to prevent Congress, a co-equal branch of government, from providing any check whatsoever to even his most reckless decisions,” said chairman Jerrold Nadler, addressing an empty chair as colleague Steve Cohen chewed on a bucket of fried chicken, a stunt to imply Mr Barr was a coward for failing to attend.Democrats accused Mr Barr on Wednesday of acting as Donald Trump’s human shield by declining to pursue obstruction of justice charges against the president. And, those same Democats called for the attorney general's resignation after the existence of a letter written to him by Robert Mueller appeared to suggest he had lied to Congress during a previous appearance on 10 April.That drama playing out in Washington came as unrest in Venezuela has persisted, with the United States supporting regime change.In response to the US position, representative Ilhan Omar claimed that US use of sanctions to force regime change has led to strife in Central America. Ms Omar went as far as to say that US foreign policy in Central America has exacerbated the immigration problem at the US southern border.Please allow a moment for our liveblog to load

Young Indians Helped Put Modi in Power. Can He Count On Them Again?

By KAI SCHULTZ from NYT World https://nyti.ms/2LlhfN7

Don't be fooled: Joe Biden is no friend of unions

The former vice-president is dressing up his candidacy in a blue-collar costume. But he’s never taken a political risk for workersThe former vice-president Joe Biden speaks at a campaign rally at Teamsters Local 249 union hall on Monday in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Getty ImagesIn San Francisco there’s a high-end boutique called “Unionmade”. There you will find expensive work jackets and overalls, lit by bare bulbs and displayed on unvarnished metal shelves. The aesthetic could not convey its message any more clearly: buy these clothes, and access a bygone era of authenticity and American craftsmanship. But it’s a lie – the clothes on offer are largely not union-made. “The unfortunate reality is that there are not many unions left in the garment industry and so the name was cultivated as a signifier of well-made and aesthetically timeless goods,” explains a spokesperson.As the industrial working class has faded, its afterimage has become available for appropriation in commerce, in culture and in politics. Such appropriation need not entail commitment to the workers’ movement. Everyone from Levi’s jeans to Donald Trump has made this move – and now, Joe Biden, the would-be candidate of labor.Biden is the Unionmade of politicians. The former vice-president is taking great care to dress up his new candidacy in a blue-collar costume; as Andrew Epstein puts it, he is an “aesthetic populist”. His kickoff rally was on Monday in a union hall in Pittsburgh, where the president of the United Steelworkers of America promised his members would be present “wearing their USW gear”.The International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), whose president has long been close to Biden, has endorsed him. Bob Casey, the Pennsylvania senator of the old New Deal variety (anti-abortion, pro-labor), chimes in that Biden has an “electric” connection with “old-school union guys”.When he was considering running in 2016, CNN observed, “Joe Biden’s relationship with America’s working men and women is at the core of his political soul.” Yet the idea that Biden is some kind of working-class hero has no discernible substance. Like the myth on the right that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is an empty-headed idiot, it’s pure projection – though one that he’s at great pains to encourage.To be sure, Biden is a nominally pro-union liberal. Like any Democrat, he won’t cross a picket line. He loves to talk in union halls. He’s always saying things like, “There’s an old saying – all men are created equal but then a few became firefighters,” and “The best place for me to be my whole career is surrounded by organized labor. And I know how to say ‘union’.”The notional blue-collar appeal of Joe from hard-luck Scranton was widely understood to be one of the main reasons that Barack Obama – famously the effete “wine track” candidate – selected him as a running mate. But where does this appeal come from? Biden’s not a scion of wealth, but he grew up in the middle class: his father was a used-car salesman, not a factory worker.At no point in his career has Biden proven willing to take the slightest political risk on behalf of workers. His appearances in union halls occur when he needs something from labor. On the other hand, when Biden went to vacation in the Hamptons during the 2011 Verizon strike, workers in the area sought him out “just to possibly get a show of support, a thumb’s-up, a head nod, anything” – to no avail. That same year in Wisconsin, labor leaders specifically asked Biden to come to rally their resistance to the brutal, ultimately successful attack by Scott Walker; Biden declined.In fact, I can find reports of only two instances of Biden appearing on a picket line or otherwise supporting embattled workers at any point in his very long public life: once in Iowa, during his 1987 presidential campaign, and just this month in Boston. Now, his first major presidential fundraiser is being hosted by the founder of one of the country’s leading anti-union law firms. The man running to be labor’s champion is sponsored by someone who has made millions choking the life out of the labor movement.Nor does Biden have a public policy record favorable to the working class. In 1977-1978, during unions’ big push for labor law reform, he vacillated for months and sabotaged the proposal with public criticism. He voted for Nafta and supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership. He authored the punishing 2005 bankruptcy bill, a reward to creditors and punishment to debtors. Worse still, he has been one of the main legislative architects of mass incarceration, a regime that has devastated the heavily policed and punished American working class.But this brings us to the real substance of the problem. Biden would surely not recognize the targets of mass incarceration as members of what he imagines as the “working class”. As he put it in a speech to the IAFF in March, “In my neighborhood you grew up either to be a firefighter or a cop, a tradesman or a priest.” This stratum is what has often been called the “aristocracy of labor”. These occupations and their unions have historically been hostile to women and people of color and de facto segregated. They are more economically comfortable and politically conservative than the rest of the working class, and are notorious for pursuing their own immediate interests over broader working-class solidarity. The building trades, for instance, have played a central role in leading organized labor’s opposition to the Green New Deal.When Biden cracked a joke several weeks ago about his habit of touching women without consent, he was speaking to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. While the IBEW today takes a strong public stand for workplace equality, both the union and the industry have deep histories of ignoring sexual harassment and racial discrimination. According to a 2013 study, only one-quarter of women in the building trades believe they are equally respected on the job. This context makes Biden’s joking about the accusation of a Latina before that particular crowd seem altogether more insidious. Harassment, after all, is nothing if not a workplace issue. You’d only joke about it to a union crowd if you didn’t think women were really workers.But Biden’s vision of a better deal for labor is, explicitly, to turn back the clock. “There used to be a basic bargain in this country,” he is fond of saying. “All we’re trying to do is get it back to where we were.”The unions that are considering supporting Biden are the blue-collar ones that were party to what he calls the “basic bargain” of mid-century. The leaders of those organizations were unnerved by how strongly Donald Trump ran among their members, and it is this anxiety that fuels their attraction to Biden, who they hope will do their persuasion work for them.Unions closer to politicians than to their members are unions waiting to die. As labor’s fortunes have declined, so has the imaginative scope of many labor leaders. Each year of shrinking membership has driven them to behave more narrowly and defensively, to abandon the initiative.This is all the worse in a moment that invites broad and radical vision. More workers went on strike in 2018 than in any year since 1986. Over 90% of those who did worked in either healthcare or education – sectors that were not included in the mid-century “basic bargain”.What’s remarkable is that Biden’s proletarian minstrel act has worked for this long. When he dropped out of the 1988 presidential race, it was after getting caught plagiarizing a monologue by the British Labour party leader, Neil Kinnock, on his coalminer roots. Biden’s spokesperson explained that, while Biden had no immediate relations who were coalminers, the “people that his ancestors grew up with in the Scranton region, and in general the people of that region were coalminers.” In fact, Biden did have an ancestor in the coal industry, Patrick F Blewitt, who died in 1911. But he wasn’t a miner – he was a boss.

The Latest: Baby found dead after raft flips on Rio Grande

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on migrants missing after their raft flipped on the Rio Grande (all times local):

What Happens Next with the Mueller Report? The Answer May Lie in the Footnotes

"The devil is truly in the details," writes former FBI agent Asha Rangappa

Nadler blasts no-show Barr before empty seat at House Judiciary hearing

Guaido calls for protests at military bases as Maduro rallies troops

Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido on Thursday called for peaceful demonstrations at army bases, days after a military uprising in support of his bid to oust President Nicolas Maduro fizzled out. The latest appeal came after Maduro called on the armed forces of the crisis-wracked nation to oppose "any coup plotter", as the embattled leader dug in his heels in the face of ongoing protests and international pressure, especially from the United States. Guaido -- recognized by more than 50 countries as Venezuela's interim president -- had on Tuesday called on the military to rise up against Maduro, and a small group heeded his call.