Authorities have arrested a 59-year-old man in connection with the mail bombs sent to celebrities, prominent news outlets, and Democratic politicians. The suspect has a long criminal record, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports.
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Category Archives: News
worldwide news
Mail Bomb Suspect Charged With Five Federal Crimes
Authorities have arrested a 59-year-old man in connection with the mail bombs sent to celebrities, prominent news outlets, and Democratic politicians. The suspect has a long criminal record, as VOA’s Bill Gallo reports.
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Megyn Kelly’s Show Canceled After Blackface Remarks
Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News Channel personality who made a rocky transition to softer news at NBC, was fired from her morning show Friday after triggering a furor by suggesting it was OK for white people to wear blackface at Halloween.
“‘Megyn Kelly Today’ is not returning,” NBC News said in a statement. The show occupied the fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” program, a time slot that will be hosted by other co-anchors next week, the network said.
NBC didn’t address Kelly’s future at the network. But negotiations over her exit from NBC are underway, according to a person familiar with the talks who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Kelly, said in a statement that she “remains an employee of NBC News and discussions about next steps are continuing.” He did not elaborate.
$20 million a year
Kelly is in the second year of a three-year contract that reportedly pays her more than $20 million a year.
The show’s cancellation came four days after she provoked a firestorm for her on-air comments about blackface as a costume.
“But what is racist?” Kelly said Tuesday. “Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”
Critics accused her of ignoring the ugly history of minstrel shows and movies in which whites applied blackface to mock blacks as lazy, ignorant or cowardly.
Kelly apologized to fellow NBC staffers later in the day and made a tearful apology on her show Wednesday. She did not host new episodes of “Megyn Kelly Today” as scheduled Thursday and Friday.
Awkward start at softer news
Kelly, 47, made her debut as a NBC morning host in September 2017, taking over the 9 a.m. slot at “Today” and saying she wanted viewers “to have a laugh with us, a smile, sometimes a tear and maybe a little hope to start your day.” She did cooking demonstrations and explored emotional topics.
She largely floundered with that soft-news focus, and a pair of awkward and hostile interviews with Hollywood figures Jane Fonda and Debra Messing backfired. Kelly briefly found more of a purpose with the eruption of the #MeToo movement.
She made news when interviewing women who accused President Donald Trump of inappropriate behavior and spoke with accusers of Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, Roy Moore and others, as well as women who say they were harassed on Capitol Hill.
Time magazine, which honored “The Silence Breakers” as its Person of the Year, cited Kelly as the group’s leader in the entertainment field. The episode with Trump accusers had more than 2.9 million viewers, one of her biggest audiences.
Lower ratings
But strains continued behind the scenes. Kelly last month publicly called for NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack to appoint outside investigators to look into why the network didn’t air Ronan Farrow’s stories about Weinstein and allowed Farrow to take the material to The New Yorker.
And her ratings have been consistently down from what “Today” garnered in the 9 a.m. hour before Kelly came on board. In its first year, Kelly’s show averaged 2.4 million viewers a day, a drop of 400,000 from the year before.
The latest controversy may have tipped the balance. Both NBC’s “Nightly News” and “Today” did stories on her blackface comment, and weatherman Al Roker said Kelly “owes a big apology to people of color across the country.”
A former corporate defense attorney, Kelly made her name at Fox News discussing politics in prime time. During the first GOP debate in 2015, she asked Trump about calling women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” Trump later complained about her questions, saying, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
Fox News baggage
Although Kelly may have attempted a fresh start at NBC, she couldn’t always escape her baggage.
Many of her former Fox News Channel viewers were upset by her perceived disloyalty in leaving and her clashes with Trump during the campaign. At the same time, her former association with Fox caused some NBC colleagues and viewers to regard her with suspicion.
While at Fox, Kelly cultivated a reputation for toughness and a willingness to challenge conservative orthodoxy. Her private testimony about former Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes’ unwanted sexual advances a decade ago helped lead to Ailes’ firing.
She also created controversy with her stance on race. In 2013, while an anchor at Fox, Kelly addressed the ethnicity of Santa Claus by saying: “For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white.”
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Megyn Kelly’s Show Canceled After Blackface Remarks
Megyn Kelly, the former Fox News Channel personality who made a rocky transition to softer news at NBC, was fired from her morning show Friday after triggering a furor by suggesting it was OK for white people to wear blackface at Halloween.
“‘Megyn Kelly Today’ is not returning,” NBC News said in a statement. The show occupied the fourth hour of NBC’s “Today” program, a time slot that will be hosted by other co-anchors next week, the network said.
NBC didn’t address Kelly’s future at the network. But negotiations over her exit from NBC are underway, according to a person familiar with the talks who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Kelly, said in a statement that she “remains an employee of NBC News and discussions about next steps are continuing.” He did not elaborate.
$20 million a year
Kelly is in the second year of a three-year contract that reportedly pays her more than $20 million a year.
The show’s cancellation came four days after she provoked a firestorm for her on-air comments about blackface as a costume.
“But what is racist?” Kelly said Tuesday. “Truly, you do get in trouble if you are a white person who puts on blackface at Halloween or a black person who puts on whiteface for Halloween. Back when I was a kid, that was OK, as long as you were dressing up as, like, a character.”
Critics accused her of ignoring the ugly history of minstrel shows and movies in which whites applied blackface to mock blacks as lazy, ignorant or cowardly.
Kelly apologized to fellow NBC staffers later in the day and made a tearful apology on her show Wednesday. She did not host new episodes of “Megyn Kelly Today” as scheduled Thursday and Friday.
Awkward start at softer news
Kelly, 47, made her debut as a NBC morning host in September 2017, taking over the 9 a.m. slot at “Today” and saying she wanted viewers “to have a laugh with us, a smile, sometimes a tear and maybe a little hope to start your day.” She did cooking demonstrations and explored emotional topics.
She largely floundered with that soft-news focus, and a pair of awkward and hostile interviews with Hollywood figures Jane Fonda and Debra Messing backfired. Kelly briefly found more of a purpose with the eruption of the #MeToo movement.
She made news when interviewing women who accused President Donald Trump of inappropriate behavior and spoke with accusers of Harvey Weinstein, Bill O’Reilly, Roy Moore and others, as well as women who say they were harassed on Capitol Hill.
Time magazine, which honored “The Silence Breakers” as its Person of the Year, cited Kelly as the group’s leader in the entertainment field. The episode with Trump accusers had more than 2.9 million viewers, one of her biggest audiences.
Lower ratings
But strains continued behind the scenes. Kelly last month publicly called for NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack to appoint outside investigators to look into why the network didn’t air Ronan Farrow’s stories about Weinstein and allowed Farrow to take the material to The New Yorker.
And her ratings have been consistently down from what “Today” garnered in the 9 a.m. hour before Kelly came on board. In its first year, Kelly’s show averaged 2.4 million viewers a day, a drop of 400,000 from the year before.
The latest controversy may have tipped the balance. Both NBC’s “Nightly News” and “Today” did stories on her blackface comment, and weatherman Al Roker said Kelly “owes a big apology to people of color across the country.”
A former corporate defense attorney, Kelly made her name at Fox News discussing politics in prime time. During the first GOP debate in 2015, she asked Trump about calling women “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals.” Trump later complained about her questions, saying, “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes. Blood coming out of her wherever.”
Fox News baggage
Although Kelly may have attempted a fresh start at NBC, she couldn’t always escape her baggage.
Many of her former Fox News Channel viewers were upset by her perceived disloyalty in leaving and her clashes with Trump during the campaign. At the same time, her former association with Fox caused some NBC colleagues and viewers to regard her with suspicion.
While at Fox, Kelly cultivated a reputation for toughness and a willingness to challenge conservative orthodoxy. Her private testimony about former Fox News chief executive Roger Ailes’ unwanted sexual advances a decade ago helped lead to Ailes’ firing.
She also created controversy with her stance on race. In 2013, while an anchor at Fox, Kelly addressed the ethnicity of Santa Claus by saying: “For all you kids watching at home, Santa just is white.”
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Trump Hits Campaign Trail in 8-State Blitz
President Donald Trump will campaign in eight states in the final days before Nov. 6 U.S. congressional elections, putting most of his attention on tight races in which Republicans have a shot at winning Senate seats, White House officials said Friday.
From Wednesday until Election Day, the president will make campaign stops in Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee, the officials said.
Trump, who was making campaign stops in North Carolina Friday night and in Illinois Saturday, is scrambling to head off a Democratic push to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.
Officials said Trump wants to go to places where races are competitive and where he can make a difference.
“No one Republican, no surrogate, no person can better move the political needle than President Trump,” White House political director Bill Stepien told Reuters.
Democrats had appeared to be in a good position to capture the House, but many races have tightened in recent weeks to the point that some analysts think it is conceivable Republicans could hang on to control.
While realistic about their chances of holding the House, Republicans see a better-than-expected chance of not only holding their current 51-49 Senate majority but adding a small number of seats to their margin.
‘Tremendous momentum’
“I think the Republicans have tremendous momentum,” Trump told reporters at the White House, as he sought to refocus attention on the congressional races rather than the series of bombs sent to prominent Democrats and critics of the president.
A man was charged in Florida earlier Friday in connection with the bombs.
“We have a lot of Senate races where we’re leading, races that frankly were going to be uncontested,” Trump added. “… There are a lot of people in the House, so we’re going to see how that goes. But I think we’re doing very well in the House.”
Bolstered by a recent uptick in his job approval ratings to the high 40s in opinion polls, Trump is hammering away at two major themes: illegal immigration and the contentious Senate confirmation battle over U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who denied accusations of sexual misconduct. He is also promoting a plan for middle-class tax cuts.
Trump’s itinerary
In Florida, Trump will seek to boost the Senate campaign of Florida Governor Rick Scott, who is in a tough race against veteran Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, as well as lend a hand to U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis in his gubernatorial race against Democrat Andrew Gillum.
In Missouri, Trump will try to help Republican Josh Hawley in his bid to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, while in West Virginia, he will aid Republican Patrick Morrisey in his fight against Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.
Trump will be making a return visit to Montana as he seeks to help Republican Matt Rosendale unseat Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who was instrumental in derailing the president’s nominee for Veterans Affairs, presidential physician Ronny Jackson, earlier this year.
Trump will visit Tennessee on behalf of Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn, who is in a neck-and-neck battle with Democrat Phil Bredesen for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Bob Corker, a Trump critic.
The president will try to give a boost to Republican Brian Kemp in his campaign against Democrat Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia. In Indiana, Trump will campaign for Republican Mike Braun in his attempt to knock out incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly.
And in Ohio, Trump will lend a hand to Republican Mike DeWine in his campaign against Democrat Richard Cordray in the race to succeed Republican John Kasich, another Trump critic, as governor of a state that may be instrumental to Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.
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Trump Hits Campaign Trail in 8-State Blitz
President Donald Trump will campaign in eight states in the final days before Nov. 6 U.S. congressional elections, putting most of his attention on tight races in which Republicans have a shot at winning Senate seats, White House officials said Friday.
From Wednesday until Election Day, the president will make campaign stops in Florida, Missouri, West Virginia, Indiana, Montana, Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee, the officials said.
Trump, who was making campaign stops in North Carolina Friday night and in Illinois Saturday, is scrambling to head off a Democratic push to take control of the U.S. House of Representatives and possibly the Senate.
Officials said Trump wants to go to places where races are competitive and where he can make a difference.
“No one Republican, no surrogate, no person can better move the political needle than President Trump,” White House political director Bill Stepien told Reuters.
Democrats had appeared to be in a good position to capture the House, but many races have tightened in recent weeks to the point that some analysts think it is conceivable Republicans could hang on to control.
While realistic about their chances of holding the House, Republicans see a better-than-expected chance of not only holding their current 51-49 Senate majority but adding a small number of seats to their margin.
‘Tremendous momentum’
“I think the Republicans have tremendous momentum,” Trump told reporters at the White House, as he sought to refocus attention on the congressional races rather than the series of bombs sent to prominent Democrats and critics of the president.
A man was charged in Florida earlier Friday in connection with the bombs.
“We have a lot of Senate races where we’re leading, races that frankly were going to be uncontested,” Trump added. “… There are a lot of people in the House, so we’re going to see how that goes. But I think we’re doing very well in the House.”
Bolstered by a recent uptick in his job approval ratings to the high 40s in opinion polls, Trump is hammering away at two major themes: illegal immigration and the contentious Senate confirmation battle over U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who denied accusations of sexual misconduct. He is also promoting a plan for middle-class tax cuts.
Trump’s itinerary
In Florida, Trump will seek to boost the Senate campaign of Florida Governor Rick Scott, who is in a tough race against veteran Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, as well as lend a hand to U.S. Representative Ron DeSantis in his gubernatorial race against Democrat Andrew Gillum.
In Missouri, Trump will try to help Republican Josh Hawley in his bid to unseat Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, while in West Virginia, he will aid Republican Patrick Morrisey in his fight against Democratic Senator Joe Manchin.
Trump will be making a return visit to Montana as he seeks to help Republican Matt Rosendale unseat Democratic Senator Jon Tester, who was instrumental in derailing the president’s nominee for Veterans Affairs, presidential physician Ronny Jackson, earlier this year.
Trump will visit Tennessee on behalf of Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn, who is in a neck-and-neck battle with Democrat Phil Bredesen for the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Bob Corker, a Trump critic.
The president will try to give a boost to Republican Brian Kemp in his campaign against Democrat Stacey Abrams for governor of Georgia. In Indiana, Trump will campaign for Republican Mike Braun in his attempt to knock out incumbent Democratic Senator Joe Donnelly.
And in Ohio, Trump will lend a hand to Republican Mike DeWine in his campaign against Democrat Richard Cordray in the race to succeed Republican John Kasich, another Trump critic, as governor of a state that may be instrumental to Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.
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Q&A: Facebook Describes How It Detects ‘Inauthentic Behavior’
Facebook announced Friday that it had removed 82 Iranian-linked accounts on Facebook and Instagram. A Facebook spokesperson answered VOA’s questions about its process and efforts to detect what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior” by accounts pretending to be U.S. and U.K. citizens and aimed at U.S. and U.K. audiences.
Q: Facebook’s post says there were 7 “events hosted.” Any details about where, when, who?
A: Of seven events, the first was scheduled for February 2016, and the most recent was scheduled for June 2018. One hundred and ten people expressed interest in at least one of these events, and two events received no interest. We cannot confirm whether any of these events actually occurred. Some appear to have been planned to occur only online. The themes are similar to the rest of the activity we have described.
Q: Is there any indication this was an Iranian government-linked program?
A: We recently discussed the challenges involved with determining who is behind information operations. In this case, we have not been able to determine any links to the Iranian government, but we are continuing to investigate. Also, Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab has shared their take on the content in this case here.
Q: How long was the time between discovering this and taking down the pages?
A: We first detected this activity one week ago. As soon as we detected this activity, the teams in our elections war room worked quickly to investigate and remove these bad actors. Given the elections, we took action as soon as we’d completed our initial investigation and shared the information with U.S. and U.K. government officials, U.S. law enforcement, Congress, other technology companies and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
Q: How have you improved the reporting processes in the past year to speed the ability to remove such content?
A: Just to clarify, today’s takedown was a result of our teams proactively discovering suspicious signals on a page that appeared to be run by Iranian users. From there, we investigated and found the set of pages, groups and accounts that we removed today.
To your broader question on how we’ve improved over the past two years: To ensure that we stay ahead, we’ve invested heavily in better technology and more people. There are now over 20,000 people working on safety and security at Facebook, and thanks to improvements in artificial intelligence we detect many fake accounts, the root cause of so many issues, before they are even created. We’re also working more closely with governments, law enforcement, security experts and other companies because no one organization can do this on its own.
Q: How many people do you have monitoring content in English now? In Persian?
A: We have over 7,500 content reviewers globally. We don’t provide breakdowns of the number of people working in specific languages or regions because that alone doesn’t reflect the number of people working to review content for a particular country or region at any particular time.
Q: How are you training people to spot this content? What’s the process?
A: To be clear, today’s takedown was the result of an internal investigation involving a combination of manual work by our teams of skilled investigators and data science teams using automated tools to look for larger patterns to identify potentially inauthentic behavior. In this case, we relied on both of these techniques working together.
On your separate question about training content reviewers, here is more on our content reviewers and how we support them.
Q: Does Facebook have any more information on how effective this messaging is at influencing behavior?
A: We aren’t in a position to know.
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Q&A: Facebook Describes How It Detects ‘Inauthentic Behavior’
Facebook announced Friday that it had removed 82 Iranian-linked accounts on Facebook and Instagram. A Facebook spokesperson answered VOA’s questions about its process and efforts to detect what it calls “coordinated inauthentic behavior” by accounts pretending to be U.S. and U.K. citizens and aimed at U.S. and U.K. audiences.
Q: Facebook’s post says there were 7 “events hosted.” Any details about where, when, who?
A: Of seven events, the first was scheduled for February 2016, and the most recent was scheduled for June 2018. One hundred and ten people expressed interest in at least one of these events, and two events received no interest. We cannot confirm whether any of these events actually occurred. Some appear to have been planned to occur only online. The themes are similar to the rest of the activity we have described.
Q: Is there any indication this was an Iranian government-linked program?
A: We recently discussed the challenges involved with determining who is behind information operations. In this case, we have not been able to determine any links to the Iranian government, but we are continuing to investigate. Also, Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab has shared their take on the content in this case here.
Q: How long was the time between discovering this and taking down the pages?
A: We first detected this activity one week ago. As soon as we detected this activity, the teams in our elections war room worked quickly to investigate and remove these bad actors. Given the elections, we took action as soon as we’d completed our initial investigation and shared the information with U.S. and U.K. government officials, U.S. law enforcement, Congress, other technology companies and the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab.
Q: How have you improved the reporting processes in the past year to speed the ability to remove such content?
A: Just to clarify, today’s takedown was a result of our teams proactively discovering suspicious signals on a page that appeared to be run by Iranian users. From there, we investigated and found the set of pages, groups and accounts that we removed today.
To your broader question on how we’ve improved over the past two years: To ensure that we stay ahead, we’ve invested heavily in better technology and more people. There are now over 20,000 people working on safety and security at Facebook, and thanks to improvements in artificial intelligence we detect many fake accounts, the root cause of so many issues, before they are even created. We’re also working more closely with governments, law enforcement, security experts and other companies because no one organization can do this on its own.
Q: How many people do you have monitoring content in English now? In Persian?
A: We have over 7,500 content reviewers globally. We don’t provide breakdowns of the number of people working in specific languages or regions because that alone doesn’t reflect the number of people working to review content for a particular country or region at any particular time.
Q: How are you training people to spot this content? What’s the process?
A: To be clear, today’s takedown was the result of an internal investigation involving a combination of manual work by our teams of skilled investigators and data science teams using automated tools to look for larger patterns to identify potentially inauthentic behavior. In this case, we relied on both of these techniques working together.
On your separate question about training content reviewers, here is more on our content reviewers and how we support them.
Q: Does Facebook have any more information on how effective this messaging is at influencing behavior?
A: We aren’t in a position to know.
…
Equities’ Slide Sends Bonds Higher, Dents Greenback
Stock markets around the world tumbled Friday while U.S. Treasury prices rose along with demand for safer bets as better-than-expected U.S. economic data did little to ease anxiety over disappointing corporate profits and trade wars.
Wall Street closed above its session lows, but earnings reports from Amazon.com and Alphabet, issued late Thursday, rekindled a rush to dump technology and other growth sectors.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.19 percent. The global index went 13.7 percent below its Jan. 26 record close and clocked its fifth straight week of consecutive losses for the first time since May 2013.
With equities whip-sawing each day in reaction to the last big earnings beat or miss, investors braced for more volatility through the remainder of the U.S. earnings season and ahead of the Nov. 6 U.S. midterm congressional elections.
“Once the elections and earnings are out of the way we’ll have a calmer market but not necessarily a big move up,” said Ernesto Ramos, portfolio manager for BMO Global Asset Management in Chicago.
“Investors are anxious about 2019 earnings. They know 2018 is going to be phenomenal,” he said. “There’s been a lot of panic selling. One of the things you don’t want to do is buy or sell based on emotion. … The volatility is incredible.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 296.24 points, or 1.19 percent, to 24,688.31; the S&P 500 lost 46.88 points, or 1.73 percent, to 2,658.69; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 151.12 points, or 2.07 percent, to 7,167.21.
There was some support from data that showed third-quarter U.S. economic growth slowing less than expected as a tariff-related drop in soybean exports was partially offset by the strongest consumer spending in nearly four years.
But while U.S. Treasury yields initially rose after the data, stock market volatility caused them to reverse course and fall to a three-week low.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 15/32 in price to yield 3.0793 percent, from 3.136 percent late Thursday.
The U.S. dollar slid alongside stocks after rising to a two-month high in morning trade after the GDP data.
The dollar index fell 0.35 percent, with the euro up 0.28 percent to $1.1406.
Doubt grew about whether the U.K. and the European Union can clinch a Brexit deal. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Friday that Brexit talks were on hold because Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet was not close enough to agreement on how to proceed.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.52 percent versus the greenback at 111.83 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2834, up 0.15 percent on the day.
European and Asian stocks had led the way lower. The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.77 percent and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped one percent, hitting its lowest level since February 2017.
Bear markets — a price drop of 20 percent or more from recent peaks — have increased across indexes and individual stocks since the start of this year.
Oil prices rose Friday, supported by expectations that sanctions on Iran would tighten global supplies, but futures posted a weekly drop as a slump in stock markets and concerns about trade wars clouded the fuel demand outlook.
U.S. crude settled at $67.59 per barrel, up 0.4 percent, and Brent settled up 1 percent to $77.62 on the day.
Spot gold added 0.2 percent to $1,233.95 an ounce.
…
Equities’ Slide Sends Bonds Higher, Dents Greenback
Stock markets around the world tumbled Friday while U.S. Treasury prices rose along with demand for safer bets as better-than-expected U.S. economic data did little to ease anxiety over disappointing corporate profits and trade wars.
Wall Street closed above its session lows, but earnings reports from Amazon.com and Alphabet, issued late Thursday, rekindled a rush to dump technology and other growth sectors.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe shed 1.19 percent. The global index went 13.7 percent below its Jan. 26 record close and clocked its fifth straight week of consecutive losses for the first time since May 2013.
With equities whip-sawing each day in reaction to the last big earnings beat or miss, investors braced for more volatility through the remainder of the U.S. earnings season and ahead of the Nov. 6 U.S. midterm congressional elections.
“Once the elections and earnings are out of the way we’ll have a calmer market but not necessarily a big move up,” said Ernesto Ramos, portfolio manager for BMO Global Asset Management in Chicago.
“Investors are anxious about 2019 earnings. They know 2018 is going to be phenomenal,” he said. “There’s been a lot of panic selling. One of the things you don’t want to do is buy or sell based on emotion. … The volatility is incredible.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 296.24 points, or 1.19 percent, to 24,688.31; the S&P 500 lost 46.88 points, or 1.73 percent, to 2,658.69; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 151.12 points, or 2.07 percent, to 7,167.21.
There was some support from data that showed third-quarter U.S. economic growth slowing less than expected as a tariff-related drop in soybean exports was partially offset by the strongest consumer spending in nearly four years.
But while U.S. Treasury yields initially rose after the data, stock market volatility caused them to reverse course and fall to a three-week low.
Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 15/32 in price to yield 3.0793 percent, from 3.136 percent late Thursday.
The U.S. dollar slid alongside stocks after rising to a two-month high in morning trade after the GDP data.
The dollar index fell 0.35 percent, with the euro up 0.28 percent to $1.1406.
Doubt grew about whether the U.K. and the European Union can clinch a Brexit deal. Bloomberg, citing people familiar with the matter, reported Friday that Brexit talks were on hold because Prime Minister Theresa May’s cabinet was not close enough to agreement on how to proceed.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.52 percent versus the greenback at 111.83 per dollar, while sterling was last trading at $1.2834, up 0.15 percent on the day.
European and Asian stocks had led the way lower. The pan-European STOXX 600 index lost 0.77 percent and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dropped one percent, hitting its lowest level since February 2017.
Bear markets — a price drop of 20 percent or more from recent peaks — have increased across indexes and individual stocks since the start of this year.
Oil prices rose Friday, supported by expectations that sanctions on Iran would tighten global supplies, but futures posted a weekly drop as a slump in stock markets and concerns about trade wars clouded the fuel demand outlook.
U.S. crude settled at $67.59 per barrel, up 0.4 percent, and Brent settled up 1 percent to $77.62 on the day.
Spot gold added 0.2 percent to $1,233.95 an ounce.
…
Study: Online Attacks on Jews Ramp Up Before Election Day
Far-right extremists have ramped up an intimidating wave of anti-Semitic harassment against Jewish journalists, political candidates and others ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections, according to a report released Friday by a Jewish civil rights group.
The Anti-Defamation League’s report says its researchers analyzed more than 7.5 million Twitter messages from Aug. 31 to Sept. 17 and found nearly 30 percent of the accounts repeatedly tweeting derogatory terms about Jews appeared to be automated “bots.”
But accounts controlled by real-life humans often mount the most “worrisome and harmful” anti-Semitic attacks, sometimes orchestrated by leaders of neo-Nazi or white nationalist groups, the researchers said.
“Both anonymity and automation have been used in online propaganda offensives against the Jewish community during the 2018 midterms,” they wrote.
Billionaire philanthropist George Soros was a leading subject of harassing tweets. Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew demonized by right-wing conspiracy theorists, is one of the prominent Democrats who had pipe bombs sent to them this week.
The ADL’s study concludes online disinformation and abuse is disproportionately targeting Jews in the U.S. “during this crucial political moment.”
“Prior to the election of President Donald Trump, anti-Semitic harassment and attacks were rare and unexpected, even for Jewish Americans who were prominently situated in the public eye. Following his election, anti-Semitism has become normalized and harassment is a daily occurrence,” the report says.
The New York City-based ADL has commissioned other studies of online hate, including a report in May that estimated about 3 million Twitter users posted or re-posted at least 4.2 million anti-Semitic tweets in English over a 12-month period ending Jan. 28. An earlier report from the group said anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. in the previous year had reached the highest tally it has counted in more than two decades.
For the latest report, researchers interviewed five Jewish people, including two recent political candidates, who had faced “human-based attacks” against them on social media this year. Their experiences demonstrated that anti-Semitic harassment “has a chilling effect on Jewish Americans’ involvement in the public sphere,” their report says.
“While each interview subject spoke of not wanting to let threats of the trolls affect their online activity, political campaigns, academic research or news reporting, they all admitted the threats of violence and deluges of anti-Semitism had become part of their internal equations,” researchers wrote.
The most popular term used in tweets containing #TrumpTrain was “Soros.” The study also found a “surprising” abundance of tweets referencing “QAnon,” a right-wing conspiracy theory that started on an online message board and has been spread by Trump supporters.
“There are strong anti-Semitic undertones, as followers decry George Soros and the Rothschild family as puppeteers,” researchers wrote.
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Study: Online Attacks on Jews Ramp Up Before Election Day
Far-right extremists have ramped up an intimidating wave of anti-Semitic harassment against Jewish journalists, political candidates and others ahead of next month’s U.S. midterm elections, according to a report released Friday by a Jewish civil rights group.
The Anti-Defamation League’s report says its researchers analyzed more than 7.5 million Twitter messages from Aug. 31 to Sept. 17 and found nearly 30 percent of the accounts repeatedly tweeting derogatory terms about Jews appeared to be automated “bots.”
But accounts controlled by real-life humans often mount the most “worrisome and harmful” anti-Semitic attacks, sometimes orchestrated by leaders of neo-Nazi or white nationalist groups, the researchers said.
“Both anonymity and automation have been used in online propaganda offensives against the Jewish community during the 2018 midterms,” they wrote.
Billionaire philanthropist George Soros was a leading subject of harassing tweets. Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew demonized by right-wing conspiracy theorists, is one of the prominent Democrats who had pipe bombs sent to them this week.
The ADL’s study concludes online disinformation and abuse is disproportionately targeting Jews in the U.S. “during this crucial political moment.”
“Prior to the election of President Donald Trump, anti-Semitic harassment and attacks were rare and unexpected, even for Jewish Americans who were prominently situated in the public eye. Following his election, anti-Semitism has become normalized and harassment is a daily occurrence,” the report says.
The New York City-based ADL has commissioned other studies of online hate, including a report in May that estimated about 3 million Twitter users posted or re-posted at least 4.2 million anti-Semitic tweets in English over a 12-month period ending Jan. 28. An earlier report from the group said anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. in the previous year had reached the highest tally it has counted in more than two decades.
For the latest report, researchers interviewed five Jewish people, including two recent political candidates, who had faced “human-based attacks” against them on social media this year. Their experiences demonstrated that anti-Semitic harassment “has a chilling effect on Jewish Americans’ involvement in the public sphere,” their report says.
“While each interview subject spoke of not wanting to let threats of the trolls affect their online activity, political campaigns, academic research or news reporting, they all admitted the threats of violence and deluges of anti-Semitism had become part of their internal equations,” researchers wrote.
The most popular term used in tweets containing #TrumpTrain was “Soros.” The study also found a “surprising” abundance of tweets referencing “QAnon,” a right-wing conspiracy theory that started on an online message board and has been spread by Trump supporters.
“There are strong anti-Semitic undertones, as followers decry George Soros and the Rothschild family as puppeteers,” researchers wrote.
…
Facebook Removes 82 Iranian-Linked Accounts
Facebook announced Friday that it has removed 82 accounts, pages or groups from its site and Instagram that originated in Iran, with some of the account owners posing as residents of the United States or Britain and tweeting about liberal politics.
At least one of the Facebook pages had more than one million followers, the firm said. The company said it did not know if the coordinated behavior was tied to the Iranian government. Less than $100 in advertising on Facebook and Instagram was spent to amplify the posts, the firm said.
The company said in a post titled “Taking Down Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from Iran” that some of the accounts and pages were tied to ones taken down in August.
“Today we removed multiple pages, groups and accounts that originated in Iran for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram,” the firm said. “This is when people or organizations create networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they’re doing.”
Monitoring online activity
Facebook says it has ramped up its monitoring of the authenticity of accounts in the runup to the U.S. midterm election, with more than 20,000 people working on safety and security. The social media firm says it has created an election “war room” on the campus to monitor behavior it deems “inauthentic.”
Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cybersecurity policy for Facebook, said that the behavior was coordinated and originated in Iran.
The posts appeared as if they were being made by citizens in the United States and in a few cases, in Britain. The posts were of “politically charged topics such as race relations, opposition to the president, and immigration.”
In terms of the reach of the posts, “about 1.02 million accounts followed at least one of these Pages, about 25,000 accounts joined at least one of these groups, and more than 28,000 accounts followed at least one of these Instagram accounts.”
A more advanced approach
The company released some images related to the accounts.
An analysis of 10 Facebook pages and 14 Instagram accounts by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab concluded the pages and accounts were newer, and more advanced, than another batch of Iranian-linked pages and accounts that were removed in August.
“These assets were designed to engage in, rather than around, the political dialogue,” the lab’s Ben Nimmo and Graham Brookie wrote. “Their behavior showed how much they had adapted from earlier operations, focusing more on social media than third party websites.”
And those behind the accounts appeared to have learned a lesson from Russia’s ongoing influence campaign.
“One main aim of the Iranian group of accounts was to inflame America’s partisan divides,” the analysis said. “The tone of the comments added to the posts suggests that this had some success.”
Targeting U.S. midterm voters
Some of the accounts and pages directly targeted the upcoming U.S. elections, showing individuals talking about how they voted or calling on others to vote.
Most were aimed at a liberal audience.
“Proud to say that my first ever vote was for @BetoORourke,” said one post from an account called “No racism no war,” which had 412,000 likes and about half a million followers.
“Get your ass out and VOTE!!! Do your part,” said another post shared by the same account.
U.S. intelligence and national security officials have repeatedly warned of efforts by countries like Iran and China, in addition to Russia, to influence and interfere with U.S. elections next month and in 2020.
Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who is a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Facebook’s decision to pull down the questionable pages and accounts and share the information with the public is critical to “keeping users aware of and inoculated against such foreign influence campaigns.”
“Facebook’s discovery and exposure of additional nefarious Iranian activity on its platforms so close to the midterms is an important reminder that both the public and private sector have a shared responsibility to remain vigilant as foreign entities continue their attempts to influence our political dialogue online,” Schiff said in a statement.
But not all the Iranian material was focused on the U.S. midterm election.
“These accounts masqueraded primarily as American liberals, posting only small amounts of anti-Saudi and anti-Israeli content,” the Digital Forensic Research Lab said.
A number of posts also took aim at U.S. policy in the Middle East in general. One post by @sut_racism, accused Ivanka Trump of having “the blood of Dead Children on Her Hands.”
Still, the analysts said many of the posts also contained errors that gave away their non-U.S. origins. For example, in one post talking about the deaths of U.S. soldiers in World War II, the account’s authors used a photo of Soviet soldiers.
Michelle Quinn contributed to this report.
…
Facebook Removes 82 Iranian-Linked Accounts
Facebook announced Friday that it has removed 82 accounts, pages or groups from its site and Instagram that originated in Iran, with some of the account owners posing as residents of the United States or Britain and tweeting about liberal politics.
At least one of the Facebook pages had more than one million followers, the firm said. The company said it did not know if the coordinated behavior was tied to the Iranian government. Less than $100 in advertising on Facebook and Instagram was spent to amplify the posts, the firm said.
The company said in a post titled “Taking Down Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from Iran” that some of the accounts and pages were tied to ones taken down in August.
“Today we removed multiple pages, groups and accounts that originated in Iran for engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior on Facebook and Instagram,” the firm said. “This is when people or organizations create networks of accounts to mislead others about who they are, or what they’re doing.”
Monitoring online activity
Facebook says it has ramped up its monitoring of the authenticity of accounts in the runup to the U.S. midterm election, with more than 20,000 people working on safety and security. The social media firm says it has created an election “war room” on the campus to monitor behavior it deems “inauthentic.”
Nathaniel Gleicher, head of cybersecurity policy for Facebook, said that the behavior was coordinated and originated in Iran.
The posts appeared as if they were being made by citizens in the United States and in a few cases, in Britain. The posts were of “politically charged topics such as race relations, opposition to the president, and immigration.”
In terms of the reach of the posts, “about 1.02 million accounts followed at least one of these Pages, about 25,000 accounts joined at least one of these groups, and more than 28,000 accounts followed at least one of these Instagram accounts.”
A more advanced approach
The company released some images related to the accounts.
An analysis of 10 Facebook pages and 14 Instagram accounts by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab concluded the pages and accounts were newer, and more advanced, than another batch of Iranian-linked pages and accounts that were removed in August.
“These assets were designed to engage in, rather than around, the political dialogue,” the lab’s Ben Nimmo and Graham Brookie wrote. “Their behavior showed how much they had adapted from earlier operations, focusing more on social media than third party websites.”
And those behind the accounts appeared to have learned a lesson from Russia’s ongoing influence campaign.
“One main aim of the Iranian group of accounts was to inflame America’s partisan divides,” the analysis said. “The tone of the comments added to the posts suggests that this had some success.”
Targeting U.S. midterm voters
Some of the accounts and pages directly targeted the upcoming U.S. elections, showing individuals talking about how they voted or calling on others to vote.
Most were aimed at a liberal audience.
“Proud to say that my first ever vote was for @BetoORourke,” said one post from an account called “No racism no war,” which had 412,000 likes and about half a million followers.
“Get your ass out and VOTE!!! Do your part,” said another post shared by the same account.
U.S. intelligence and national security officials have repeatedly warned of efforts by countries like Iran and China, in addition to Russia, to influence and interfere with U.S. elections next month and in 2020.
Democratic Representative Adam Schiff, who is a ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said Facebook’s decision to pull down the questionable pages and accounts and share the information with the public is critical to “keeping users aware of and inoculated against such foreign influence campaigns.”
“Facebook’s discovery and exposure of additional nefarious Iranian activity on its platforms so close to the midterms is an important reminder that both the public and private sector have a shared responsibility to remain vigilant as foreign entities continue their attempts to influence our political dialogue online,” Schiff said in a statement.
But not all the Iranian material was focused on the U.S. midterm election.
“These accounts masqueraded primarily as American liberals, posting only small amounts of anti-Saudi and anti-Israeli content,” the Digital Forensic Research Lab said.
A number of posts also took aim at U.S. policy in the Middle East in general. One post by @sut_racism, accused Ivanka Trump of having “the blood of Dead Children on Her Hands.”
Still, the analysts said many of the posts also contained errors that gave away their non-U.S. origins. For example, in one post talking about the deaths of U.S. soldiers in World War II, the account’s authors used a photo of Soviet soldiers.
Michelle Quinn contributed to this report.
…
US Stocks Plunge, Then Recover Some Ground Friday
U.S. stock market indexes fell sharply in Friday’s early trading, but saw losses ease later in the day.
At one point the S&P 500 and the Dow were down by two percent or more, while the NASDAQ was off by 3.5 percent at one point.
Investors worried about faltering growth, rising interest rates, trade tensions, and weak profit outlook for major tech firms, including Amazon and Google’s parent company.
By afternoon, losses moderated with the S&P off by 1.3 percent, the Dow down six-tenths of a percent, and the NASDAQ sliding 1.9 percent.
Key European indexes dropped about one percent.Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off a bit more than one percent, while Japan’s Nikkei moved down four-tenths of a percent.
The market turbulence comes at the same time as U.S. unemployment is low, and reports show growth and consumer confidence are strong.
…
US Stocks Plunge, Then Recover Some Ground Friday
U.S. stock market indexes fell sharply in Friday’s early trading, but saw losses ease later in the day.
At one point the S&P 500 and the Dow were down by two percent or more, while the NASDAQ was off by 3.5 percent at one point.
Investors worried about faltering growth, rising interest rates, trade tensions, and weak profit outlook for major tech firms, including Amazon and Google’s parent company.
By afternoon, losses moderated with the S&P off by 1.3 percent, the Dow down six-tenths of a percent, and the NASDAQ sliding 1.9 percent.
Key European indexes dropped about one percent.Earlier in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was off a bit more than one percent, while Japan’s Nikkei moved down four-tenths of a percent.
The market turbulence comes at the same time as U.S. unemployment is low, and reports show growth and consumer confidence are strong.
…
US Official: Putin Invited to Visit Washington Next Year
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to visit Washington next year.
Bolton said on Friday in the ex-Soviet nation of Georgia: “We have invited President Putin to Washington after the first of the year for, basically, a full day of consultations.”
He says no date has been set.
Bolton noted that Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are set to meet in Paris when they attend November 11 events marking 100 years since Armistice Day.
Putin and Trump held a summit in Helsinki in July amid sharp differences over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.
…
US Official: Putin Invited to Visit Washington Next Year
U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton says Russian President Vladimir Putin has been invited to visit Washington next year.
Bolton said on Friday in the ex-Soviet nation of Georgia: “We have invited President Putin to Washington after the first of the year for, basically, a full day of consultations.”
He says no date has been set.
Bolton noted that Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump are set to meet in Paris when they attend November 11 events marking 100 years since Armistice Day.
Putin and Trump held a summit in Helsinki in July amid sharp differences over the Ukrainian crisis, the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. 2016 presidential election.
…
US Economy Grew at Strong 3.5 Percent Rate in 3rd Quarter
The U.S. economy grew at a robust annual rate of 3.5 percent in the July-September quarter as the strongest burst of consumer spending in nearly four years helped offset a sharp drag from trade.
The Commerce Department said Friday that the third quarter’s gross domestic product, the country’s total output of goods and services, followed an even stronger 4.2 percent rate of growth in the second quarter. The two quarters marked the strongest consecutive quarters of growth since 2014.
The result was slightly higher than many economists had been projecting. It was certain to be cited by President Donald Trump as evidence his economic policies are working. But some private economists worry that the recent stock market declines could be a warning signal of a coming slowdown.
The GDP report along with next week’s unemployment report for October are the last major looks at the economy before voters go to the polls in the mid-term elections.
For this year, economists are projecting the momentum built up should result in growth of 3 percent, the best annual showing in 13 years. But they believe the impact of Trump’s trade war with China and rising interest rates will slow growth in 2019 to around 2.4 percent, with a further decline to under 2 percent in 2020.
“I think we will see a significant slowdown, in part because economic growth has been raised to an artificially high level by the tax cuts,” said Sung Won Sohn, chief economist at SS Economics in Los Angeles.
Trump in recent weeks has accelerated his attacks on the Federal Reserve for raising interest rates, contending that the higher rates by slowing the economy will work against his efforts to speed up growth through the $1.5 trillion tax cut package Trump got Congress to pass last year.
“Every time we do something great, he raises interest rates,” Trump said in an interview this week with the Wall Street Journal in which he again said he viewed the Fed as the “biggest risk” facing the economy “because I think interest rates are being raised too quickly.”
The central bank has raised rates three times this year and signaled it will raise rates one more time this year and expect to raise rates three times in 2019. Those moves are being made to ensure that tight labor markets, with unemployment at a 49-year low of 3.7 percent, and strong growth don’t trigger unwanted inflation.
The GDP report Friday was the government’s first of three reviews of overall economic activity for the July-September period.
The report showed that consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of economic activity, surged at an annual rate of 4 percent in the third quarter, even better than the 3.8 percent gain in the second quarter and the best showing since last 2014.
Trade, which had boosted second quarter growth by 1.2 percentage points, shaved 1.8 percentage points off growth in the third quarter. Exports, which had surged at a 9.3 percent rate in the second quarter, fell at a 3.5 percent rate in the third quarter. Analysts had forecast this turn-around, saying it reflected the surge in exports of goods such as soybeans in the spring as producers tried to beat the higher tariffs being imposed by China in retaliation for Trump’s tariffs.
Another big swing factor in the third quarter was business restocking of their shelves. Inventories had trimmed 1 percentage point off growth in the second quarter but boosted growth by 2 percentage points in the third quarter.
Housing continued to be a drag, falling for a third straight quarter. Business investment, which had surged at an 8.7 percent rage in the second quarter, slowed to a small 0.8 percent gain the third quarter.
…
Trump Vows Prosecution of Mail Bomber to ‘Fullest Extent of the Law’
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Friday that those responsible for mailing suspicious packages to former president Barack Obama, other high-profile Democrats and critics of President Trump will be prosecuted to the “fullest extent of the law.”
“These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country,” Trump told an enthusiastic group attending the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House. “We must never allow political violence to take root in America.”
Federal authorities have detained a person in connection with a series of 12 mailed suspicious packages, a Justice Department official said Friday. Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said authorities are planning to announce more information at a news conference later Friday (at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time).
The detainee has been identified as Cesar Alteri Sayoc Jr., a 56-year-old registered Republican in Florida, according to numerous media outlets citing law enforcement authorities.
Court records show Sayoc has a lengthy criminal history, including a conviction on a 2002 threat to “throw, place, project or discharge any destructive device.” Florida attorney Ronald Lowy, who represented Sayoc, said his client was sentenced in August 2002 for threatening to throw a bomb during a conversation with a state utility representative.
Federal authorities apprehended Sayoc just hours after the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted two more suspicious packages, one addressed to Democratic Senator Cory Booker, the other to former National Intelligence Director James Clapper.
The FBI said both packages, which raised the total to 12, were similar to the crude pipe bombs that were addressed in recent days to former president Barack Obama, other high-profile Democrats and critics of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Other packages were addressed to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. attorney general, two Democratic Party members of Congress and former Central Intelligence Director John Brennan.
The 11th package addressed to Booker was discovered at a mail sorting facility in Florida, the FBI said.
The agency said a 12th package targeting Clapper was addressed to him at cable network CNN and was found at a New York City post office.
Clapper said on CNN Friday morning he was not surprised he was targeted and said the incidents were “serious.”
Shortly before the person was detained Friday Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday law enforcers are “working tirelessly” to resolve the issue and vowed to “find the person or persons responsible and bring them to justice.”
Federal investigators searched a massive mail sorting facility in Florida late Thursday, after determining that at least one of the pipe bombs was processed there. They are specifically looking at the southern part of the state of Florida as a source of some of the packages, according to media reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump is largely blaming the media for the angry political atmosphere in America that critics contend has led to what is being regarded as a wide-scale assassination attempt.
On Friday, he directed his ire at CNN.
Trump’s Thursday tweet came as suspected explosive devices addressed to actor Robert De Niro and former Vice President Joe Biden were found Thursday.
Pressed by reporters Thursday on whether there could be a link between Trump’s insults of political opponents and the bombs, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders replied, “the president is certainly not responsible for sending suspicious packages to someone no more than [Democratic Party Senator] Bernie Sanders was responsible for a supporter of his shooting up a baseball field practice last year.”
Throughout the day on Wednesday, leaders from both the major parties called for a return to civility in the political arena.
The U.S. Secret Service said the package addressed to Clinton was discovered late Tuesday, intercepted at a mail screening facility near her home in a New York suburb where she lives with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
A separate package addressed to Obama, according to the Secret Service, was intercepted at a screening facility at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, a 365-hectare military facility in Washington.
Two suspect packages were sent to California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, one intended for her office in the nation’s capital and the other for her home district office. The first was intercepted at a congressional mail sorting center in the state of Maryland, and the second discovered by postal inspectors at the Los Angeles Central Mail Sorting Facility.
The first in the series of explosive devices was found Monday in a mailbox outside the New York home of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a major donor to Democratic candidates.
…
Trump Vows Prosecution of Mail Bomber to ‘Fullest Extent of the Law’
U.S. President Donald Trump vowed Friday that those responsible for mailing suspicious packages to former president Barack Obama, other high-profile Democrats and critics of President Trump will be prosecuted to the “fullest extent of the law.”
“These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country,” Trump told an enthusiastic group attending the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House. “We must never allow political violence to take root in America.”
Federal authorities have detained a person in connection with a series of 12 mailed suspicious packages, a Justice Department official said Friday. Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur Flores said authorities are planning to announce more information at a news conference later Friday (at 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time).
The detainee has been identified as Cesar Alteri Sayoc Jr., a 56-year-old registered Republican in Florida, according to numerous media outlets citing law enforcement authorities.
Court records show Sayoc has a lengthy criminal history, including a conviction on a 2002 threat to “throw, place, project or discharge any destructive device.” Florida attorney Ronald Lowy, who represented Sayoc, said his client was sentenced in August 2002 for threatening to throw a bomb during a conversation with a state utility representative.
Federal authorities apprehended Sayoc just hours after the Federal Bureau of Investigation intercepted two more suspicious packages, one addressed to Democratic Senator Cory Booker, the other to former National Intelligence Director James Clapper.
The FBI said both packages, which raised the total to 12, were similar to the crude pipe bombs that were addressed in recent days to former president Barack Obama, other high-profile Democrats and critics of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Other packages were addressed to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the former U.S. attorney general, two Democratic Party members of Congress and former Central Intelligence Director John Brennan.
The 11th package addressed to Booker was discovered at a mail sorting facility in Florida, the FBI said.
The agency said a 12th package targeting Clapper was addressed to him at cable network CNN and was found at a New York City post office.
Clapper said on CNN Friday morning he was not surprised he was targeted and said the incidents were “serious.”
Shortly before the person was detained Friday Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Friday law enforcers are “working tirelessly” to resolve the issue and vowed to “find the person or persons responsible and bring them to justice.”
Federal investigators searched a massive mail sorting facility in Florida late Thursday, after determining that at least one of the pipe bombs was processed there. They are specifically looking at the southern part of the state of Florida as a source of some of the packages, according to media reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump is largely blaming the media for the angry political atmosphere in America that critics contend has led to what is being regarded as a wide-scale assassination attempt.
On Friday, he directed his ire at CNN.
Trump’s Thursday tweet came as suspected explosive devices addressed to actor Robert De Niro and former Vice President Joe Biden were found Thursday.
Pressed by reporters Thursday on whether there could be a link between Trump’s insults of political opponents and the bombs, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders replied, “the president is certainly not responsible for sending suspicious packages to someone no more than [Democratic Party Senator] Bernie Sanders was responsible for a supporter of his shooting up a baseball field practice last year.”
Throughout the day on Wednesday, leaders from both the major parties called for a return to civility in the political arena.
The U.S. Secret Service said the package addressed to Clinton was discovered late Tuesday, intercepted at a mail screening facility near her home in a New York suburb where she lives with her husband, former President Bill Clinton.
A separate package addressed to Obama, according to the Secret Service, was intercepted at a screening facility at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, a 365-hectare military facility in Washington.
Two suspect packages were sent to California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, one intended for her office in the nation’s capital and the other for her home district office. The first was intercepted at a congressional mail sorting center in the state of Maryland, and the second discovered by postal inspectors at the Los Angeles Central Mail Sorting Facility.
The first in the series of explosive devices was found Monday in a mailbox outside the New York home of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a major donor to Democratic candidates.
…
Pipe Bombs Inject Fear, Uncertainty in Midterm Campaign
Less than two weeks before crucial midterm congressional elections, a new element of fear and uncertainty has been injected into the campaign in the wake of pipe bombs that were sent to several prominent Democrats.
Federal authorities announced Friday morning that a suspect in the bomb investigation was arrested. News media, quoting law enforcement sources, said the man was arrested in Plantation, Fla., which is near Miami. Local television stations broadcast footage of police examining a white van with political stickers covering its windows. The vehicle was covered with a tarp and hauled away on a truck.
The mail bombs sparked a renewed focus on the sharp political rhetoric that has long defined the current divisive atmosphere, with calls from both parties to temper the partisanship ahead of congressional elections.
WATCH: Trump Calls for Unity, Blames Media Amid Bomb Threats
A softer Trump?
While announcing the arrest during a White House event, President Donald Trump called on Americans to show unity.
“We must never allow political violence to take root in America,” Trump said.
On the campaign trail in Wisconsin late Wednesday, President Donald Trump made a similar appeal for calm.
“We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it. It will happen,” he said.
But Trump later blasted the news media in a tweet.
During his remarks in Wisconsin, Trump also made a plea to moderate the heated political rhetoric on both sides.
“Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective. We have to do that.”
Democrats respond
Democrats pounced on that, countering that Trump has been a key instigator of political tension with his partisan attacks.
Senate Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi issued a joint statement criticizing the president for condoning violence and dividing Americans.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said any effort to temper rhetoric should start at the top.
“This is a very painful time in our nation. It is a time when people are feeling a lot of hatred in the air, and incidents like this exacerbate that pain and exacerbate that fear,” de Blasio said.
Trump has aggressively gone after Democrats in the midterm campaign, including at a recent rally in Montana.
“The Democrat Party has become too extreme to be trusted with power. Their radical policies are a danger to your family and to your country,” Trump said to cheers from the crowd in Missoula.
Trump also emphasized issues that he believes will appeal to his base.
“This will be an election of (Supreme Court Justice Brett) Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense. That is what it is going to be. It is going to be an election of those things,” he said.
WATCH: Bomb Scares Inject Fear and Uncertainty into Midterms
Republicans believe their voters have become energized in the wake of the bitter confirmation battle over Kavanaugh.
And in recent days the president has stoked immigration fears by highlighting the caravan of Central American migrants moving through Mexico.
Immigration remains a core motivator for Trump’s base, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said.
“We can’t be a country without borders. No country in the world allows anybody they want to come in without recourse, and we should not be any different than that,” Lewandowski said.
Obama’s role
For their part, Democrats are countering with a furious get-out-the-vote effort in the final days of the campaign with help from former President Barack Obama.
“The stakes are high. The consequences of anybody here not turning out and doing everything you can to get your friends, neighbors and family to turn out,” Obama told Democrats at a recent rally in Nevada. “The consequences of you staying home would be profoundly dangerous to this country, to our democracy.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden has also been active on the campaign trail.
“Folks, we know who Donald Trump is. We know. But here’s the deal, guys. The public has to know who we are as Democrats.”
Biden campaigned in Indiana on behalf of Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly.
Get the voters to the polls
American University political science expert David Barker told VOA that both parties are now focused on mobilizing their voters.
“What both sides need, though, is for their people to turn out on Election Day. And traditionally, that is more critical for Democrats, because Republicans are just more inclined to do it no matter what.”
Democrats remain confident of gains Nov. 6, said Jim Kessler of Third Way, a center-left policy group.
“There is a blue wave coming. The question is, how big? I believe that Democrats will take back the House. I don’t think they will take back the Senate at this point,” Kessler said.
Recent polls suggest Republicans may be rallying to keep some of the Senate seats in states Trump won easily in 2016.
“And some of what has happened in recent days with the Kavanaugh hearing and Republicans kind of coming home as a party are helping in that area,” said John Fortier of the Bipartisan Policy Center. “So, it will be mostly a win for Democrats, with probably a bright spot in the Senate for Republicans.”
It remains to be seen how the late focus on security and immigration will impact the final days of the midterm campaign, a classic October surprise that could determine which party controls Congress for the next two years.
…
Pipe Bombs Inject Fear, Uncertainty in Midterm Campaign
Less than two weeks before crucial midterm congressional elections, a new element of fear and uncertainty has been injected into the campaign in the wake of pipe bombs that were sent to several prominent Democrats.
Federal authorities announced Friday morning that a suspect in the bomb investigation was arrested. News media, quoting law enforcement sources, said the man was arrested in Plantation, Fla., which is near Miami. Local television stations broadcast footage of police examining a white van with political stickers covering its windows. The vehicle was covered with a tarp and hauled away on a truck.
The mail bombs sparked a renewed focus on the sharp political rhetoric that has long defined the current divisive atmosphere, with calls from both parties to temper the partisanship ahead of congressional elections.
WATCH: Trump Calls for Unity, Blames Media Amid Bomb Threats
A softer Trump?
While announcing the arrest during a White House event, President Donald Trump called on Americans to show unity.
“We must never allow political violence to take root in America,” Trump said.
On the campaign trail in Wisconsin late Wednesday, President Donald Trump made a similar appeal for calm.
“We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony. We can do it. We can do it. We can do it. It will happen,” he said.
But Trump later blasted the news media in a tweet.
During his remarks in Wisconsin, Trump also made a plea to moderate the heated political rhetoric on both sides.
“Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective. We have to do that.”
Democrats respond
Democrats pounced on that, countering that Trump has been a key instigator of political tension with his partisan attacks.
Senate Democratic leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi issued a joint statement criticizing the president for condoning violence and dividing Americans.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said any effort to temper rhetoric should start at the top.
“This is a very painful time in our nation. It is a time when people are feeling a lot of hatred in the air, and incidents like this exacerbate that pain and exacerbate that fear,” de Blasio said.
Trump has aggressively gone after Democrats in the midterm campaign, including at a recent rally in Montana.
“The Democrat Party has become too extreme to be trusted with power. Their radical policies are a danger to your family and to your country,” Trump said to cheers from the crowd in Missoula.
Trump also emphasized issues that he believes will appeal to his base.
“This will be an election of (Supreme Court Justice Brett) Kavanaugh, the caravan, law and order, and common sense. That is what it is going to be. It is going to be an election of those things,” he said.
WATCH: Bomb Scares Inject Fear and Uncertainty into Midterms
Republicans believe their voters have become energized in the wake of the bitter confirmation battle over Kavanaugh.
And in recent days the president has stoked immigration fears by highlighting the caravan of Central American migrants moving through Mexico.
Immigration remains a core motivator for Trump’s base, former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said.
“We can’t be a country without borders. No country in the world allows anybody they want to come in without recourse, and we should not be any different than that,” Lewandowski said.
Obama’s role
For their part, Democrats are countering with a furious get-out-the-vote effort in the final days of the campaign with help from former President Barack Obama.
“The stakes are high. The consequences of anybody here not turning out and doing everything you can to get your friends, neighbors and family to turn out,” Obama told Democrats at a recent rally in Nevada. “The consequences of you staying home would be profoundly dangerous to this country, to our democracy.”
Former Vice President Joe Biden has also been active on the campaign trail.
“Folks, we know who Donald Trump is. We know. But here’s the deal, guys. The public has to know who we are as Democrats.”
Biden campaigned in Indiana on behalf of Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly.
Get the voters to the polls
American University political science expert David Barker told VOA that both parties are now focused on mobilizing their voters.
“What both sides need, though, is for their people to turn out on Election Day. And traditionally, that is more critical for Democrats, because Republicans are just more inclined to do it no matter what.”
Democrats remain confident of gains Nov. 6, said Jim Kessler of Third Way, a center-left policy group.
“There is a blue wave coming. The question is, how big? I believe that Democrats will take back the House. I don’t think they will take back the Senate at this point,” Kessler said.
Recent polls suggest Republicans may be rallying to keep some of the Senate seats in states Trump won easily in 2016.
“And some of what has happened in recent days with the Kavanaugh hearing and Republicans kind of coming home as a party are helping in that area,” said John Fortier of the Bipartisan Policy Center. “So, it will be mostly a win for Democrats, with probably a bright spot in the Senate for Republicans.”
It remains to be seen how the late focus on security and immigration will impact the final days of the midterm campaign, a classic October surprise that could determine which party controls Congress for the next two years.
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Trump Says Proposal Will Lower Some US Drug Prices
Less than two weeks before the midterm elections, President Donald Trump on Thursday announced a plan to lower prices for some prescription drugs, saying it would stop unfair practices that force Americans to pay much more than people in other countries for the same medications.
“We are taking aim at the global freeloading that forces American consumers to subsidize lower prices in foreign countries through higher prices in our country,” Trump said in a speech at the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Same company. Same box. Same pill. Made in the exact same location, and you would go to some countries and it would be 20 percent of the cost of what we pay,” said Trump, who predicted the plan would save Americans billions. “We’re fixing it.”
But consumers take note:
— The plan would not apply to medicines people buy at the pharmacy, just ones administered in a doctor’s office, as are many cancer medications and drugs for immune system problems. Physician-administered drugs can be very expensive, but pharmacy drugs account for the vast majority of what consumers buy.
— Don’t expect immediate rollbacks. Officials said the complex proposal could take more than a year to be put into effect.
In another twist, the plan is structured as an experiment through a Medicare innovation center empowered to seek savings by the Affordable Care Act. That’s the law also known as “Obamacare,” which Trump is committed to repealing.
Trump has long promised sweeping action to attack drug prices, both as president and when he was running for the White House. He made his latest announcement just ahead of the Nov. 6 elections, with health care high among voters’ concerns.
Under the plan, Medicare payment for drugs administered in doctors’ offices would gradually shift to a level based on international prices. Prices in other countries are lower because governments directly negotiate with manufacturers.
Drugmakers immediately pushed back, arguing the plan amounts to government price-setting.
“The administration is imposing foreign price controls from countries with socialized health care systems that deny their citizens access and discourage innovation,” Stephen Ubl, president of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, said in a statement. “These proposals are to the detriment of American patients.”
Trump is linking the prices Americans complain about to one of his long-standing grievances: foreign countries the president says are taking advantage of U.S. research breakthroughs.
Drug pricing expert Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy and Outcomes called the plan “a pretty substantive proposal” but one that faces “serious political challenges.”
“The rhetoric about finally dealing with foreign freeloading suggests that we are going to take steps to get other countries to pay their fair share for innovation,” Bach added. But that’s “quite literally the opposite of what is being proposed. What is being proposed is that we freeload off of other countries’ ability to negotiate more effectively.”
Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill were dismissive. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California said if Trump wants to save seniors money, he should seek congressional approval for Medicare to negotiate prices for its main prescription drug program, Part D. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, “It’s hard to take the Trump administration and Republicans seriously about reducing health care costs for seniors two weeks before the election.”
The health insurance industry, at odds with drugmakers over prices, commended the administration’s action.
As an experiment, the proposal would apply to half the country. Officials said they’re seeking input on how to select the areas that will take part in the new pricing system. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said politics would have nothing to do with it.
In advance of Trump’s speech, HHS released a report that found U.S. prices for the top drugs administered in doctors’ offices are nearly twice as high as those in foreign countries. The list includes many cancer drugs. Medicare pays directly for them under its Part B coverage for outpatient care.
Physician-administered drugs cost Medicare $27 billion in 2016. HHS says the plan would save Medicare $17.2 billion over five years. Beneficiaries would save an estimated $3.4 billion through lower cost-sharing.
The plan could meet resistance not only from drugmakers but also from doctors, now paid a percentage of the cost of the medications they administer. However, HHS officials said the plan was designed so it would not cut into doctors’ reimbursements.
Azar said more plans were being developed on drug costs.
“This is not the end of the road, the end of the journey,” he said. “There is more coming.”
Trump has harshly criticized the pharmaceutical industry, once asserting that the companies were “getting away with murder.” But it’s largely been business as usual for drugmakers even as Trump has predicted “massive” voluntary price cuts.
A recent Associated Press analysis of prices for brand-name drugs found far more increases than cuts in the first seven months of this year. The analysis found 96 price hikes for every price cut. The number of increases slowed somewhat, and they were not quite as steep as in past years, the AP found.
The Trump administration proposal is open for public comment for 60 days.
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