October 1, 2018

General Electric replaces new chief executive and announces massive $23 billion charge amid struggle

Source: The Washington Post



By Washington Post Staff

October 1 at 7:43 AM

Just a year after John Flannery took over the industrial giant, General Electric announced it would replace him as chief executive. Lawrence Culp, former chief executive of Danaher Corp., will replace him. GE also said it will take a $23 billion non-cash charge for its power business and said it will fall short of earnings expectations in 2018.

GE’s stock has declined dramatically in the past year as the company saw its stock price fall and its market capitalization decline to less than $100 billion.

This is a developing story. It will be updated.

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Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2018/10/01/general-electric-replaces-new-chief-executive-and-announces-massive-23-billion-charge-amid-struggles/

October 1, 2018

Democrats Say Rosenstein Firing Would Be a Gift

October 1, 2018 at 7:19 am EDT By Taegan Goddard

Reuters: “Democratic Party sources and strategists say they know that if Trump fires Rosenstein, he will ignite a firestorm of accusations that the president is attempting to shut down the investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election he won.”

“That will likely bolster their argument that Democrats should gain power to serve as a check on the presidency.”

“This week, Trump is due to hold his first meeting with Rosenstein since a Sept. 21 New York Times report said he considered secretly recording the president as part of a possible effort to remove him from office.”

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https://politicalwire.com/2018/10/01/democrats-say-rosenstein-firing-would-be-a-gift/

October 1, 2018

Las Vegas Strip Will Go Dark to Mark One Year Since Mass Shooting

Source: The Daily Beast



The iconic Las Vegas Strip will go dark Monday night to mark a year since a mass shooting that killed 58 people and injured over 400. Gunman Stephen Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition at a country music festival crowd from his high-rise hotel room exactly a year ago. The Strip will go dark at 10:01 p.m.—the time of the shooting—and elsewhere the police department will host a remembrance ceremony, a prayer vigil will be held at City Hall, a new memorial wall will be dedicated, and a reading of the names of victims will take place at the Community Healing Garden site. Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said: “The people of Nevada will never forget this tragic day, and hold the victims of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in their thoughts and prayers.”

READ IT AT USA TODAY

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Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/las-vegas-strip-will-go-dark-to-mark-one-year-since-mass-shooting

October 1, 2018

Trump Administration Prepares a Major Weakening of Mercury Emissions Rules

Source: The New York Times


By Coral Davenport
Sept. 30, 2018

The Trump administration has completed a detailed legal proposal to dramatically weaken a major environmental regulation covering mercury, a toxic chemical emitted from coal-burning power plants, according to a person who has seen the document but is not authorized to speak publicly about it.

The proposal would not eliminate the mercury regulation entirely, but it is designed to put in place the legal justification for the Trump administration to weaken it and several other pollution rules, while setting the stage for a possible full repeal of the rule.

Andrew Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist who is now the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, is expected in the coming days to send the proposal to the White House for approval.

The move is the latest, and one of the most significant, in the Trump administration’s steady march of rollbacks of Obama-era health and environmental regulations on polluting industries, particularly coal. The weakening of the mercury rule — which the E.P.A. considers the most expensive clean air regulation ever put forth in terms of annual cost to industry — would represent a major victory for the coal industry. Mercury is known to damage the nervous systems of children and fetuses.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/climate/epa-trump-mercury-rule.html

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A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 1, 2018, on Page A13 of the New York edition with the headline: Trump Prepares Major Weakening of Mercury Rules.

October 1, 2018

China Cancels High-Level Security Talks With the U.S.

Source: The New York Times



By Jane Perlez
Sept. 30, 2018

BEIJING — China canceled an important annual security meeting planned for mid-October with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis in Beijing, saying a senior Chinese military officer would not be available to meet him, an American official said on Sunday.

The decision to withdraw from the high-level encounter, known as the diplomatic and security dialogue, was the latest sign of bad blood between China and the United States, and capped a week of tit-for-tat actions by both nations as they settled into a newly chilly relationship.

The cancellation of the dialogue, an event that China until recently had advertised as a productive way for the two sides to talk, showed how quickly the tensions over an escalating trade war have infected other parts of the relationship, particularly vital strategic concerns including Taiwan, arms sales and the South China Sea.

A senior American foreign policy official summarized the administration’s attitude to China last week, telling a crowd at the celebration of national day at the Chinese Embassy in Washington that the United States was intent on competing with China — brittle language that is usually absent from formal events.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/30/world/asia/china-us-security-mattis.html

October 1, 2018

Iran Revolutionary Guard launches missiles into Syria over parade attack

Source: NBC News



The force alleged that "terrorists" are supported and guided by the United States in line with "satanic" plans of the White House.

by Associated Press / Oct.01.2018 / 3:06 AM EDT / Updated 5:26 AM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said Monday that it launched ballistic missiles into eastern Syria, targeting militants the force blames for a recent attack on a military parade in Iran.

The launch was the Islamic republic's second such missile attack on Syria in over a year.

Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency said the missiles "killed and wounded" militants in Syria, without elaborating. Syrian state media did not immediately acknowledge the strike.

The TV aired footage of one of its reporters standing by as one of the missiles was launched, identifying the area as being in Iran's western province of Kermanshah. A state TV-aired graphic suggested the missiles flew over central Iraq near the city of Tikrit before landing near the city of Abu Kamal, in the far southeast of Syria.


Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-revolutionary-guard-launches-missiles-syria-over-parade-attack-n915256

October 1, 2018

Outside counsel tells Republican senators 'reasonable prosecutor' would not bring Ford case...

Source: CNN



Outside counsel tells Republican senators 'reasonable prosecutor' would not bring Ford case against Kavanaugh

By Ariane de Vogue, CNN Supreme Court Reporter

Updated 1103 GMT (1903 HKT) October 1, 2018

Washington (CNN)In a memorandum to Republican senators, Rachel Mitchell says a "reasonable prosecutor" would not bring a case against Brett Kavanaugh based on Christine Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegation given the evidence presented to the Judiciary Committee.

But Mitchell, the sex crimes prosecutor hired by Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans who questioned Ford last Thursday, also notes, "A Senate confirmation hearing is not a trial, especially not a prosecution."

Mitchell cites inconsistencies in Ford's statements to the committee, The Washington Post, and her therapist about the alleged assault, which Ford alleges took place when she and Kavanaugh were in high school.

Mitchell also notes the lack of corroboration of Ford's account, including recalling details that could back her story.



Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2018/09/30/politics/rachel-mitchell-kavanaugh-ford/index.html

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In memo, outside prosecutor argues why she would not bring criminal charges against Kavanaugh

By Seung Min Kim
September 30 at 11:07 PM

The outside prosecutor Senate Republicans hired to lead the questioning in last week's hearing about the sexual assault allegations against Brett M. Kavanaugh is arguing in a new memo why she would not bring criminal charges against the Supreme Court nominee.

In the five-page memo, obtained by The Washington Post, Rachel Mitchell outlines more than half a dozen reasons why she thinks the testimony of Christine Blasey Ford -- who has accused Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a house in suburban Maryland when they were teenagers in the early 1980s -- has some key inconsistencies.

"A 'he said, she said' case is incredibly difficult to prove. But this case is even weaker than that," Mitchell writes in the memo, sent Sunday night to all Senate Republicans. "Dr. Ford identified other witnesses to the event, and those witnesses either refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them."

Mitchell continued: "For the reasons discussed below, I do not think that a reasonable prosecutor would bring this case based on the evidence before the [Senate Judiciary] Committee. Nor do I believe that this evidence is sufficient to satisfy the preponderance-of-the-evidence standard."

The memo is likely to prompt significant pushback from Democratic senators, who have argued that Ford is not on trial and that Kavanaugh is merely interviewing for a job. But the memo is clearly aimed at assuaging the concerns of a handful of GOP senators who are on the fence about whether to vote to confirm Kavanaugh and are considering whose story -- Ford's or Kavanaugh's -- to believe.

more
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-memo-outside-prosecutor-argues-why-she-would-not-bring-criminal-charges-against-kavanaugh/2018/09/30/4e096654-c520-11e8-9158-09630a6d8725_story.html