Icetruck

Texas church shooting leaves at least 26 dead

At least 26 people have been killed after a gunman opened fire at a church during Sunday services, officials say.

The attack happened at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, a small town in Wilson County, Texas.

The gunman, who is reported to have been killed in the aftermath, entered the church and opened fire at around 11:30 local time (17:30 GMT).

Governor Greg Abbott confirmed the death toll and said it was the worst mass shooting in the history of Texas.

"This will be a long, suffering mourning for those in pain," he said at a news conference on Sunday.

Texas Department of Public Safety regional director Freeman Martin said the ages of the victims ranged from 5 to 72 years old. Authorities said at least 20 people were also injured and taken to hospital.

Mr Martin described the suspect as a young white male in his early 20s, dressed in all black and wearing a ballistic vest as well as tactical-type gear. He was armed with an assault-style rifle.

He began shooting outside the church before he entered and opened fire, Mr Martin said.

A local citizen "grabbed his rifle and began shooting" at the suspect, before the gunman fled in a vehicle.

The citizen pursued the suspect, who drove off the road and crashed his car at the Guadalupe County line. Police found the suspect dead in his car, but it is unclear if he died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound or from returned fire from the citizen, Mr Martin added.

The gunman has been identified as Devin P Kelley, 26, according to US media reports. Police have not confirmed the suspect's identity.

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The First Baptist Church's pastor, Frank Pomeroy, has told ABC News that his 14-year-old daughter, Annabelle, was killed in the shooting.

Mr Pomeroy, who was out of town in Oklahoma at the time, described her as "one very beautiful, special child" in a phone call to the television outlet.

At least 10 victims, including four children, were being treated at the University Health System in nearby San Antonio, the hospital said in a tweet.

Sheriff Joe Tackitt said authorities do not know the names of any of the victims yet as they continue to work the crime scene.

Officials said 23 people were found dead inside of the church while two people were fatally shot outside. Another individual died in hospital, authorities said.

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One witness, Carrie Matula, told NBC News: "We heard semi-automatic gunfire… we're only about 50 yards away from this church.

"This is a very small community, so everyone was very curious as to what was going on."

Sutherland Springs is a small rural community with just a few hundred residents, which lies about 30 miles (50km) southeast of the Texas city of San Antonio.

The San Antonio FBI branch said its agents had been deployed, and there was no indication of the gunman's motive.

The FBI also said that while only one shooter was reported, it was looking into other possibilities.

Photos and video from the scene showed the area sealed off with tape by local law enforcement.

A number of helicopters have arrived to transport the wounded, KSAT 12 reporter Max Massey said.

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President Donald Trump, on a tour of Asia, condemned the "act of evil" and said Americans would pull together.

"And through the tears and through the sadness, we stand strong, oh so strong," he added.

Skip Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

May God be w/ the people of Sutherland Springs, Texas. The FBI & law enforcement are on the scene. I am monitoring the situation from Japan.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 5, 2017

Report

End of Twitter post by @realDonaldTrump

The shooting comes just a month after a gunman in Las Vegas opened fire on an outdoor music festival, killing 58 people and wounding hundreds in the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.

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Source – bbc.com

Homeless explosion on West Coast pushing cities to the brink

In a park in the middle of a leafy, bohemian neighborhood where homes list for close to $1 million, a tractor's massive claw scooped up the refuse of the homeless – mattresses, tents, wooden frames, a wicker chair, an outdoor propane heater. Workers in masks and steel-shanked boots plucked used needles and mounds of waste from the underbrush.

Just a day before, this corner of Ravenna Park was an illegal home for the down and out, one of 400 such encampments that have popped up in Seattle's parks, under bridges, on freeway medians and along busy sidewalks. Now, as police and social workers approached, some of the dispossessed scurried away, vanishing into a metropolis that is struggling to cope with an enormous wave of homelessness.

That struggle is not Seattle's alone. A homeless crisis of unprecedented proportions is rocking the West Coast, and its victims are being left behind by the very things that mark the region's success: soaring housing costs, rock-bottom vacancy rates and a roaring economy that waits for no one. All along the coast, elected officials are scrambling for solutions.

"I've got economically zero unemployment in my city, and I've got thousands of homeless people that actually are working and just can't afford housing," said Seattle City Councilman Mike O'Brien. "There's nowhere for these folks to move to. Every time we open up a new place, it fills up."

The rising numbers of homeless people have pushed abject poverty into the open like never before and have overwhelmed cities and nonprofits. The surge in people living on the streets has put public health at risk, led several cities to declare states of emergency and forced cities and counties to spend millions – in some cases billions – in a search for solutions.

San Diego now scrubs its sidewalks with bleach to counter a deadly hepatitis A outbreak that has spread to other cities and forced California to declare a state of emergency last month. In Anaheim, home to Disneyland, 400 people sleep along a bike path in the shadow of Angel Stadium. Organizers in Portland lit incense at a recent outdoor food festival to cover up the stench of urine in a parking lot where vendors set up shop.

Homelessness is not new on the West Coast. But interviews with local officials and those who serve the homeless in California, Oregon and Washington — coupled with an Associated Press review of preliminary homeless data — confirm it's getting worse. People who were once able to get by, even if they suffered a setback, are now pushed to the streets because housing has become so expensive.

All it takes is a prolonged illness, a lost job, a broken limb, a family crisis. What was once a blip in fortunes now seems a life sentence.

"Most homeless people I know aren't homeless because they're addicts," said Tammy Stephen, 54, who lives at a homeless encampment in Seattle. "Most people are homeless because they can't afford a place to live."

Among the AP's findings:

— Official counts taken earlier this year in California, Oregon and Washington show 168,000 homeless people in the three states, according to an AP tally of every jurisdiction in those states that reports homeless numbers to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. That is 19,000 more than were counted two years ago, although the numbers may not be directly comparable because of factors ranging from the weather to new counting methods.

— During the same period, the number of unsheltered people in the three states – defined as someone sleeping outside, in a bus or train station, abandoned building or vehicle – has climbed 18 percent to 105,000.

— Rising rents are the main culprit. The median one-bedroom apartment in the San Francisco Bay Area is significantly more expensive than it is in the New York City metro area, and apartments in San Francisco are listed at a higher price than those in Manhattan.

— Since 2015, at least 10 cities or municipal regions in California, Oregon and Washington – and Honolulu, as well – have declared states of emergency due to the rise of homelessness, a designation usually reserved for natural disasters.

"What do we want as a city to look like? That's what the citizens here need to decide," said Gordon Walker, head of the regional task force for the homeless in San Diego, where the unsheltered homeless population has spiked by 18 percent in the past year. "What are we going to allow? Are we willing to have people die on the streets?"

———

With alarming frequency, the West Coast's newly homeless are people who were able to survive on the margins – until those margins moved.

For years, Stanley Timmings, 62, and his 61-year-old girlfriend, Linda Catlin, were able to rent a room in a friend's house on their combined disability payments.

Last spring, that friend died of colon cancer and the couple was thrust on Seattle's streets.

Timmings used their last savings to buy a used RV for $300 and spent another $300 to register it. They bought a car from a junk yard for $275.

Now, the couple parks the RV near a small regional airport and uses the car to get around.

They have no running water and no propane for the cook stove. They go to the bathroom in a bucket and dump it behind a nearby business. They shower and do laundry at a nonprofit and buy water at a grocery depot. After four months, the stench of human waste inside the RV is overwhelming. Every inch of space is crammed with their belongings: jugs of laundry detergent, stacks of clothes, pots and pans, and tattered paperback novels. They are exhausted, scared and defeated, with no solution in sight.

"Between the two of us a month, we get $1,440 in disability. We can't find a place for that," he said. "Our income is (about) $17,000 … a year. That puts us way out of the ballpark, not even close. It might have been enough but anymore, no. It's not."

A new study funded by the real estate information firm Zillow and conducted by the University of Washington found a strong link between rising housing prices and rising homelessness numbers. A 5 percent rent increase in Los Angeles, for example, would mean about 2,000 more homeless people there, the authors said.

Nationally, homelessness has been trending down, partly because governments and nonprofit groups have gotten better at moving people into housing. That's true in many West Coast cities, too, but the flow the other direction is even faster. And on the West Coast, shelter systems are smaller.

"If you have a disability income, you make about $9,000 a year and renting a studio in Seattle is about $1,800 a month and so that's twice your income," said Margaret King, director of housing programs for DESC, a nonprofit that works with Seattle's homeless.

"So everybody who was just hanging on because they had cheap rent, they're losing that … and they wind up outside. It's just exploded."

Nowhere is that more evident than California's Silicon Valley, where high salaries and a tight housing market have pushed rent out of reach for thousands. In ever-shifting communities of the homeless, RVs and cars cluster by the dozens in the city where Google built its global headquarters and just blocks from Stanford University.

Ellen Tara James-Penney, a lecturer at San Jose State University, has been sleeping out of a car for about a decade, ever since she lost her housing while an undergraduate at the school where she now teaches four English courses, a job that pays $28,000 a year. Home is an old Volvo.

"I've basically been homeless since 2007, and I'm really tired," she said. "Really tired."

She actually got her start in the high tech industry, before being laid off during the tech meltdown of the early 2000s. Like many who couldn't find work, she went to college, accumulating tens of thousands of dollars in student debt along the way.

Now 54, she grades papers and prepares lesson plans in her car. Among her few belongings is a pair of her grandmother's fancy stiletto pumps, a reminder to herself that "it's not going to be like this forever."

Increased housing costs aren't just sweeping up low-income workers: The numbers of homeless youth also is rising.

A recent count in Los Angeles, for example, found that those ages 18 to 24 were the fastest-growing homeless group by age, up 64 percent, followed by those under 18. Los Angeles and other cities have made a concerted effort to improve their tallies of homeless youth, which likely accounts for some of the increase.

One of the reasons is the combined cost of housing and tuition, said Will Lehman, policy supervisor at Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. A recent study by the University of Wisconsin found that one in five Los Angeles Community College District students is homeless, he said.

"They can pay for books, for classes but just can't afford an apartment. They're choosing to prioritize going to school," Lehman said. "They don't choose their situation."

———

Michael Madigan opened a new wine bar in Portland a few years ago overlooking a ribbon of parks not far from the city's trendy Pearl District.

Business was good until, almost overnight, dozens of homeless people showed up on the sidewalk. A large encampment on the other side of the city had been shut down, and its residents moved to the park at his doorstep.

"We literally turned the corner one day . and there were 48 tents set up on this one block that hadn't been there the day before," he said.

Madigan's business dropped 50 percent in four months and he closed his bar. There are fewer homeless people there now, but the campers have moved to a bike path that winds through residential neighborhoods in east Portland, prompting hundreds of complaints about trash, noise, drug use and illegal camping.

Rachel Sterry, a naturopathic doctor, lives near that path and sometimes doesn't feel safe when she's commuting by bike with her 1-year-old son. Dogs have rolled in human feces in a local park; recent improvements she's made to her small home are overshadowed by the line of tents and tarps a few dozen yards from her front door, she said.

"I have to stop and get off my bike to ask people to move their card game or their lounge chairs or their trash out of the way when I'm just trying to get from point A to point B," she said. "If I were to scream or get hurt, nobody would know."

For Seattle resident Elisabeth James, the reality check came when a homeless man forced his way into a glass-enclosed ATM lobby with her after she swiped her card to open the door for after-hours access. After a few nerve-wracking minutes, the man left the lobby but stayed outside, banging on the glass. Police were too busy to respond so James called her husband, who scared the man away and walked her home. The man, she believes, just wanted to get out of the rain.

A neighborhood pocket park has become a flashpoint, too: When James took her 2-year-old grandchild there, she saw people injecting heroin.

"I'm not a NIMBY person, but I just think that we can do so much more," said James, who founded an activist group called Speak Out Seattle last year. "I wanted to do something that was effective, that brought frustrated people together to find solutions. We're spending a lot of money to house people and we're getting a bigger problem."

The crisis is not limited to large metropolises. In Oregon City, a suburban, working-class town of 36,000 people, the police department this summer added a full-time position for a homeless outreach officer after roughly half the calls concerned trash, trespassing, human waste and illegal encampments.

The city has no overnight shelters and never had a significant homeless population until about three years ago.

On a recent fall day, officer Mike Day tromped into a greenbelt across from a strip mall to check on a man he recently connected with a counselor, calmed an intoxicated man and arranged emergency care for a man who was suicidal.

"How many social workers have you met that go into the woods to follow up with the homeless population and to help with mental health? This is a bit of a hybrid position, certainly, and maybe it's not exactly the role of a police officer – but it's a creative approach to find a solution to the problem," he said.

The question was, "What can we do differently? Because right now, it's not working."

———

All along the West Coast, local governments are scrambling to answer that question – and taxpayers are footing the bill.

Voters have approved more than $8 billion in spending since 2015 on affordable housing and other anti-homelessness programs, mostly as tax increases. Los Angeles voters, for example, approved $1.2 billion to build 10,000 units of affordable housing over a decade to address a ballooning homeless population that's reached 34,000 people within city limits.

Seattle spent $61 million on homeless-related issues last year, and a recent budget proposal would increase that to $63 million. Four years ago, the city spent $39 million on homelessness. Sacramento has set a goal of moving 2,000 people off the streets in the next three years and may place a housing bond before voters in 2018.

Appeals for money have angered residents who see tent encampments growing in their cities despite more spending.

"Those are like whack-a-mole because they just sprout up and then they disappear and then they sprout up somewhere else," said Gretchen Taylor, who helped found the Neighborhood Safety Alliance of Seattle in 2016.

Seattle is initiating competitive bidding among nonprofit organizations for city dollars going toward homelessness programs. It's also pouring money into "rapid rehousing," a strategy that houses people quickly and then provides rental assistance for up to 18 months.

Like San Francisco, Seattle has started opening 24-hour, "low-barrier" shelters that offer beds even if people are abusing drugs, have a pet or want to sleep together as a couple. But the city's first 24-hour shelter has only 75 beds, and turnover is extremely low.

A team of specially trained police officers and social workers has also been visiting homeless camps to try to place people in shelter. After repeated visits – and with 72 hours of notice – the city cleans out the camps and hauls away abandoned belongings.

These efforts are starting to yield results, although the overall number of homeless people continues to swell.

Nearly 740 families moved into some type of shelter between October 2016 and August 2017, and 39 percent of the people contacted by the new police teams wind up sheltered, according a recent city homeless report. That's an improvement from a 5 percent shelter rate 18 months ago, said Sgt. Eric Zerr, who leads that effort.

But the approach has its detractors. The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit alleging the sweeps violate the constitutional protections against unreasonable search and seizure. And a debate is raging about whether the sweeps are necessary "tough love" or a cruel policy that criminalizes poverty in a city with a reputation for liberalism.

"When a city can't offer housing, they should not be able to sweep that spot unless it's posing some sort of significant health and safety issue," said Sara Rankin, a professor with the Homeless Rights Advocacy Project at the Seattle University School of Law.

"If someone doesn't have a place to go, you can't just continue to chase them from place to place."

———

Above all, the West Coast lacks long-term, low-income housing for people like Ashley Dibble and her 3-year-old daughter.

Dibble, 29, says she has been homeless off and on for about a year, after her ex-boyfriend squandered money on his car and didn't pay the rent for three months. Evicted, Dibble says she lived in the back of a moving truck and with several different friends around Seattle before winding up on the streets. She sent her toddler to live with the girl's paternal grandparents in Florida.

She and her new boyfriend were sleeping under tarps near Safeco Field, home of the Seattle Mariners, when an outreach team referred them to a new shelter. Now, Dibble talks to her daughter daily by phone and is trying to find a way back into housing so she can bring her home.

With an eviction on her record and little income, no one will rent to her.

"I've had so many doors slammed in my face, it's ridiculous," Dibble said, wiping away tears.

Seattle's DESC operates 1,200 so-called "permanent supportive housing units" -housing for the mentally ill or severely addicted who can't stay housed without constant help from case managers, counselors and rehabilitation programs. The nonprofit completes a new building every 18 months and they immediately fill; at any given time, there are only about eight to 10 units free in the whole city – but 1,600 people qualify.

Among this population, "almost nobody's going to get housing because there isn't any," DESC's Margaret King said. "It doesn't really matter."

There is so little housing, and so much despair. Nonprofit workers with decades of experience are shocked by the surge in homeless people and in the banality of the ways they wound up on the streets.

"It's a sea of humanity crashing against services, and services at this point are overwhelmed, literally overwhelmed. It's catastrophic," said Jeremy Lemoine, an outreach case manager with REACH, a Seattle homeless-assistance program. "It's a refugee crisis right here in the States, right here under our noses."

"I don't mean to sound hopeless. I generate hope for a living for people – that there is a future for them – but we need to address it now."

———

Associated Press writers Janie Har in San Francisco, Julie Watson in San Diego and Chris Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report. AP photographers Jae Hong in Los Angeles and Ted Warren in Seattle, and AP videographer Manuel Valdes in Seattle also contributed.

———

Follow Gillian Flaccus at https://twitter.com/gflaccus and Mulvihill at https://twitter.com/geoffmulvihill

Part of an ongoing examination of the homeless crisis along the West Coast.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

Source – bbc.com

New Argentina probe says prosecutor Nisman was murdered

A new police report has dramatically revived one of the greatest criminal mysteries in Argentine history — the possible murder of a crusading prosecutor that has roused grave suspicions about a president and added to doubts about the probe into the country's most deadly terrorist attack.

An investigation by the country's border police agency has concluded that the man who led that terror probe was murdered just four days after he formally accused then-President Cristina Fernandez of covering up the role of former Iranian officials who had been charged in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center that killed 85 people.

The new report, which was obtained by The Associated Press, bases its conclusions on controversial new evidence and sharply contradicts earlier official findings that Alberto Nisman likely killed himself.

Nisman, 51, was found dead on Jan. 18, 2015, with a bullet in his right temple. A .22 caliber pistol was found next to him.

Coming just days after Nisman challenged Fernandez, the death became a politically charged controversy. Allies of Fernandez suggested Nisman took his own life because he couldn't back up his allegations. Many other Argentines insisted he had been murdered because of them. It triggered anti-government protests ahead of the 2015 presidential election.

Fernandez has insistently denied any wrongdoing and says her government had no role in the prosecutor's death. The initial police reports and autopsies concluded there was no sign anyone else had been present when Nisman died. While the national forensics team said there was no concrete evidence it was a homicide, the federal police said the prosecutor shot himself in his bathroom.

Federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano told the AP that Nisman's death is "the most complicated" criminal case he has ever investigated. Taiano, who took over the stalled case from another judge in 2016 following a Supreme Court order, ordered a multidisciplinary border police team to provide a fresh look for an investigation that had been highly questioned for mishandling of evidence and other irregularities. Taiano said that the agency, whose main role is to guard borders and fight drug trafficking, was chosen because it hadn't been involved in the earlier, much-questioned probe.

The border police report says Nisman was beaten by two people who drugged him and placed him in front of his bathtub. While one of the attackers held him under the armpits "as in a hug," the other one placed the gun on his head and shot him. It was about 2:46 a.m. on a Sunday.

The investigation listed key evidence that wasn't mentioned in previous reports: Nisman's nasal septum was broken. He had suffered blows to his hip and other areas. Ketamine, a substance with strong anesthetic power, was in his body.

The new report concludes the attackers tried to stage a suicide, but it notes that other experts throughout the series of probes never found any traces of gunpowder on Nisman's hands.

The 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires killed 85 people and injured hundreds. Fernandez's government struck a 2013 accord with Iran portrayed as a way to reach the truth behind the attack, but the deal, which was approved by Congress, was later ruled unconstitutional by an Argentine court. Nisman believed Fernandez was using the deal with Iran to secretly negotiate and help shield the Iranian officials allegedly behind the attack.

Taiano told the AP that he will compare the new report with previous ones and decide whether to treat Nisman's death as a murder, suicide or induced suicide. His decision, which will be sent to a judge, will guide the next steps of the investigation.

A report by forensic experts on behalf of Nisman's family in 2015 also argued that the prosecutor did not shoot himself. However, forensic experts for the family said only one attacker carried out the killing by holding Nisman's right hand and pulling the trigger to make it look like a suicide.

The fatal shot was fired from a gun that had been loaned to Nisman by aide Diego Lagomarsino, a computer technician who said the prosecutor asked for the weapon because he feared for his and his daughters' lives.

A forensic report sent by Lagomarsino's defense to Taiano contends Nisman shot himself standing in front of a mirror and then fell back, hitting his head. It says there is no proof Nisman was under the effects of ketamine and argues he suffered injuries on his left hip and ankle several hours before his death. A lesion on his bottom lip could have happened while the body was being transported, it says. The death was said to have taken place between 8 a.m. and noon, several hours later than estimated by the border police report.

Taiano said a major challenge for the investigation was contamination of the crime scene. More than 60 people walked carelessly in Nisman's luxury apartment for several hours after the body was found by his mother and security guards.

In addition, Nisman's cellphone and computer were tampered with to delete any traces of the information and calls that he received in the hours before his death. And the apartment building's security cameras had not been working for days before he died.

"The challenge is very complex," Taiano said. "If this had been investigated differently from the start, this would be a whole different thing."

Federal police officers who were in charge of Nisman's security also are being investigated, and experts say the differing conclusions on what happened could point to negligence or the mishandling of information.

"There's a serious contradiction in the broken nasal septum," criminalistics expert Olga Fernandez told the AP. "You'd have to find out who's telling the truth, and who's not."

But, she added, it is not rare to have contradictory opinions in Argentine investigations.

"Unfortunately, in these types of cases, you get pressured to deliver quick results, which can make getting exhaustive results more difficult. And there's also pressure so that the results turn out one way or another," she said.

———

Associated Press writers Victor Caivano and Paul Byrne contributed to this report.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

The Latest: Trump says making 'tremendous progress' in Japan

The Latest on President Donald Trump's trip to Asia (all times local):

1:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump says he is making "tremendous progress" in talks with Japan.

Trump spoke before a bilateral meeting Monday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh AH'-bay). The two held a working lunch earlier in the day. Trump said it was a good meeting, with conversation on trade and North Korea. He cited progress "on trade in particular."

The president says he looks forward to continuing the work and says "friendships" have been built.

Trump kicked off his first Asian tour on Sunday in Japan. He is scheduled to hold a news conference with Abe later Monday.

Abe also said they had an "in-depth" discussion and he looked forward to continuing the conversation.

———

12:18 p.m.

Japan's leader is offering his condolences after a mass shooting at a Texas church.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh AH'-bay) said Monday that he would like to express "our sincerest solidarity with the American people at this difficult time." He spoke to reporters ahead of a summit meeting in Tokyo with President Donald Trump.

Authorities say 26 people were killed and about 20 others wounded in the attack in Sutherland Springs.

Abe said that he and Trump would discuss various international issues, starting with North Korea. He said he hopes that the talks will show the world that the U.S.-Japan alliance is solid. He did not take any questions.

———

12:15 p.m.

President Donald Trump has been officially welcomed to Japan by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh AH'-bay).

Trump, Abe and their wives stood in a grand plaza outside the Akasaka Palace in Tokyo on Monday as the Japanese Self-Defense Forces honor guard played music.

Trump and Abe then walked along red carpets laid out across the cobblestones to approach the military band.

The president and the prime minister introduced each other to their respective delegations before they ventured off together to feed Asian carp fish in a koi pond.

But Trump did not appear amused by the animal feeding. He started out by tossing big handfuls of food pellets at the fish before he emptied the entire box into the pond.

———

11:20 a.m.

President Donald Trump is meeting with Japanese Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump called upon Akihito and his wife, Empress Michiko, on Monday morning, their motorcade driving past beautifully manicured pines and deciduous trees bursting with color.

The president nodded at the emperor and shook hands as he arrived. The Trumps were then ushered into a receiving room where they spoke to the imperial family with assistance from translators. Reporters were unable to hear the conversation.

———

10 a.m.

President Donald Trump has raised the touchy issue of trade with Japanese business leaders.

Trump says in remarks to business leaders in Tokyo that the U.S. and Japan will have "more trade than anybody ever thought" possible under the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the trade deal, to the dismay of many in the region.

Acknowledging disagreement with that sentiment, Trump says he'll ultimately be proven "to be right."

Trump says the U.S. has also suffered "massive trade deficits" with Japan for many years. He says he hopes to turn that around.

Trump also complained that millions of Japanese cars are sold in the U.S. but that virtually no U.S. cars are sold in Japan.

He says "we'll have to negotiate that out," adding that "we'll do it in a very friendly way."

9:45 a.m.

President Donald Trump is pitching the U.S. to Japanese business leaders, saying he's made it easier for them to get projects approved.

Trump is talking about efforts he's made to roll back regulations. He described the CEOs he addressed at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Tokyo as the "rock stars of business."

Trump says he wants to make the U.S. the most attractive place for local companies to hire, invest and grow.

———

8:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump is getting down to business in Tokyo on the second day of his maiden trip to Asia.

Trump opens with a speech Monday to American and Japanese business leaders, then joins first lady Melania Trump for a welcoming ceremony and meeting with Japan's emperor.

In the afternoon, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (shin-zoh AH'-bay) will meet over lunch and with their staffs, and hold a joint news conference.

Trump and Abe spent Sunday together. They played golf and chatted over lunch and dinner.

Trump and his wife are also meeting Monday with the families of North Korean abductees — to put a human face on the North's human rights abuses.

He'll end the day at a state banquet.

———

7:45 p.m.

President Donald Trump is stressing his close ties with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The two leaders dined with their wives in Tokyo, as part of Trump's first stop on a 12-day trip through Asia.

Trump says that he and Abe "like each other and our countries like each other." He adds that "I don't think we've ever been closer to Japan than we are right now."

The president adds that they are discussing a number of subjects "including North Korea and trade and other things

———

4:45 p.m.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he and U.S. President Donald Trump had a lively conversation over golf.

Abe spoke to reporters after he and Trump had lunch and played golf Sunday. He said that the two leaders were able to talk frankly in a relaxed atmosphere while out on the course.

Abe said he and Trump were able to "carry out in depth discussion, at times touching on various difficult issues."

Their formal talks Monday are expected to focus on North Korea and other regional and bilateral issues.

———

4:30 p.m.

President Donald Trump's first trip to Asia began with a round of golf, a custom cap and a hamburger of American beef.

The president got a taste of home as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe welcomed him to Japan Sunday with a display of friendship that will soon give way to high-stakes diplomacy. The two men have struck up an easy rapport.

The leaders played nine holes of golf at Japan's premiere course.

The low- key start was a prelude to the formal talks planned in Tokyo Monday. Abe will be looking for a united front against North Korea and reassurances that the U.S. will stand by its treaty obligations to defend Japan if attacked.

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Source – abcnews.go.com

“The only time you fail is when you fall down and stay down.” – Stephen Richards

Negativity doesn’t have to surround us in our day to day lives. Sure, sometimes we can avoid negative people or situations, but they don’t have to be the things that we interact with the most. For a lot of people, negative energy is the one thing keeping them from feeling fulfilled in their life. Maybe they have a family member, or a friend, who is always bringing negativity around with drama or complaints. It can be frustrating to deal with.

Many people find that once they distance themselves from the negative people or situations, their lives change for the better. And the changes in their lives happen almost immediately, too! When people distance themselves from negativity, they’ll find that positive things fill in that space where the negativity used to be.

5 Positive Things That Happen When You Leave Negativity Behind

1. Your thoughts become more positive

The one thing that happens immediately after distancing yourself from negativity, is a shift in the way that you’re thinking. When surrounded by negative energy, your thoughts will also become more and more negative. You may find it harder and harder to think of the silver lining in situations, or slight inconveniences can sometimes ruin your whole day.

That is a result of being surrounded by too much negativity. When you distance yourself, you’ll find that your positive thoughts now have room to come back. You won’t be weighed down by negative thoughts anymore.

2. You’ll feel better physically

It’s no secret that negativity causes stress, and stress causes health problems. When you’re surrounded by other people’s negativity, you may find that it’s harder to regulate your own positive and negative reactions and emotions. This can lead to you feeling stress more frequently and for longer periods of time. Stress is known to weaken the immune system, and cause you to feel wrung out and exhausted.

Assistant professor of anesthesiology at the School of Medicine Dr. Peter Nagele, MD said, “Our findings need to be replicated, but we think this is a good starting point, and we believe therapy with nitrous oxide eventually could help many people with depression … It’s kind of surprising that no one ever thought about using a drug that makes people laugh as a treatment for patients whose main symptom is that they’re so very sad.”

If you find that you’re feeling more sickly than usual, it may be time to evaluate how much negativity is being let into your life. And the minute you distance yourself from that negativity, you’ll start to feel healthier and more like yourself.

3. You’re happier

Negativity causes negative emotions. Before, you may have felt sad or angry or frustrated more often. When you’re surrounded by negativity, it’s hard to find reasons to feel happy or positive. However, once you distance yourself from negativity, your positive emotions will start to show themselves again. Instead of becoming frustrated at a slight inconvenience, you’ll find that you’re able to more easily laugh it off.

Remember what William James once said, “We don’t laugh because we are happy, we are happy because we laugh.”

Instead of feeling sad, you’ll be able to enjoy life and feel happier. Whether the cause of the negativity was a person, or a situation, the minute you start to distance yourself from it, you’ll be much happier.

4. You complain less

Let’s face it: being surrounded by people who complain a lot makes it easier for us to justify all of the times that we complain. And nobody likes complaining! It doesn’t really feel as good as we think it does, and it doesn’t do anything to attract positive people to us.

Life coach and author Tandee A. Victor says, “Complaining can completely ruin your life by taking all the happiness out of it. When you constantly complain, you develop a negative mentality about everything. That leads to discontent and inner turmoil.”

When you’re surrounded by negativity, you may find that you complain about things a lot more than you would otherwise. Once you start to distance yourself from that negative energy, you’ll find that you have a lot less to complain about. In fact, you may find that you no longer feel the need to complain at all!

5. You attract more positive people

Despite the old saying that opposites attract, there’s nothing about negative people and negative energy that attracts positivity. When you’re surrounded by negativity, that’s the only thing that you’re going to be attracting in life. More negative people, more negative situations. But, the minute that you kick that negativity to the curb, you’ll find that you attract more positive people in your atmosphere.

“Negative thoughts and feelings about yourself will draw more negative people and experiences, thus validating your undesirable feelings! To have positive people in your life, you must first be positive about yourself and your life as it is now. Being optimistic gives you a brighter outlook and more gratitude for what you have, and that radiates higher energy, which naturally attracts positive people, circumstances and events,” says author, media expert and life coach Carol Whitaker

It’s easier to think, feel and stay positive when you’re surrounded by such happy, good and positive energy. You’ll be surrounded by good people and good things, rather than an endless feedback loop of negative energy.

Final thoughts

A lot of people don’t notice that they’re surrounded by negativity until they start to distance themselves from it. The amazing change between being surrounded by negativity, and being surrounded by positivity is simply one of the best feelings that anyone can experience. Not only is it good for your mental and physical health, but it’s good for your whole life and the people surrounding you.

(C)Power of Positivity, LLC. All rights reserved

References:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201412/why-does-having-positive-attitude-keep-you-healthier
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/20-beautiful-women/complaining-less-will-transform-your-life_b_8924174.html
http://www.themomiverse.com/lifestyle-and-personal-growth/3-tips-to-surround-yourself-with-positive-people/

The post 5 Positive Things That Immediately Happen When You Distance Yourself From Negativity appeared first on Power of Positivity: Positive Thinking & Attitude.

Source – powerofpositivity.com

Venezuela opposition politician Freddy Guevara seeks refuge

A prominent Venezuelan opposition politician has taken refuge in the Chilean ambassador's residence in Caracas, after the Supreme Court stripped him of his immunity from prosecution on Friday.

Freddy Guevara is accused of instigating violence during opposition protests.

The opposition say Mr Guevara is the victim of political persecution.

Mr Guevara, 31, is the vice-president of Venezuela's National Assembly.

Chile's foreign ministry said he had asked for protection from what he considered to be imminent threats to his security and added he was being treated as a guest.

'Shameful cowardice'

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza has labelled Mr Guevara a coward.

"Some people are brave when it comes to inciting violence, destruction and death," Mr Arreaza wrote on Twitter.

"But when justice is done, they run away in shameful cowardice."

The opposition said his house was surrounded by agents from Venezuela's secret service, Sebin, over the weekend.

The National Assembly's president, Julio Borges, said the government of President Nicolas Maduro was behind the court's ruling.

"This is an arbitrary and political decision that seeks to weaken a congress that has the full support of the people," he said.

"Venezuela is hungry for food, but also freedom, justice and dignity," added Mr Borges.

Several key figures in the Venezuelan opposition have been prosecuted, jailed or stripped of their political rights since Mr Maduro was elected to replace the late Hugo Chavez in 2013.

Opposition leaders say he has tightened his grip to power since he convened a constituent assembly earlier this year, which in effect replaces the National Assembly.

The opposition boycotted the vote to establish the new assembly.

Mr Maduro's term ends in 2019 and elections are expected to take place some time next year.

He has accused the opposition of inciting violence and colluding with foreign powers to destabilise his government and undermine the programme of social reforms initiated by Mr Chavez in 1999.

Source – bbc.com

Patton Oswalt marries Meredith Salenger 4 months after engagement

Congratulations to newlyweds Patton Oswalt and Meredith Salenger. The two wed Saturday, the actor announced on Twitter.

Oswalt, 48, shared a photo from the wedding where he sported a gray suit, without a tie, while his bride donned an off-the-shoulder wedding gown. "What’d you guys do yesterday?" he captioned the photo.

What’d you guys do yesterday? (Photo @jeffvespa) pic.twitter.com/WMW39tif0I

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) November 5, 2017

His daughter, Alice, served as the flower girl. She's Oswalt's 8-year-old daughter with his late wife, Michelle McNamara.

This pretty girl. ??. Photo credit. @jeffvespa

A post shared by Meredith Salenger (@meredithsalenger) on Nov 5, 2017 at 11:12am PST

Patton Oswalt fires back at critics of his engagement to Meredith Salenger Patton Oswalt pays tribute to his late wife Michelle McNamara

World Champion Flower Girl. pic.twitter.com/nORAwEB8eS

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) November 5, 2017

Oswalt became engaged to his then-fiancee Salenger in July, more than a year after McNamara died on April 21, 2016.

The actor was forced to defend his engagement on Facebook after receiving some negative comments from fans.

Oswalt said he "decided to ignore" the "bitter grub worms," who had negative things to say about his engagement. Instead, he shared a blog, titled "A Widow's Rage Defense Against Patton Oswalt's Engagement," in which writer Erica Roman defended the actor.

"Who gave you the position to judge when it’s 'too soon' for a person who has suffered the worst to be able to find happiness and companionship again?" Roman wrote. "It's been 15 months! How long should a widow sit in isolation before YOU are comfortable enough to release them from their solitary confinement?"

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Catalonia ex-officials surrender to Belgian police

Catalonia's deposed leader Carles Puigdemont and four former advisers turned themselves in to Belgian police, says a prosecutors' spokesman.

The five were freed late on Sunday evening after being questioned.

An investigating judge will decide by Monday morning whether to execute an EU arrest warrant issued by a Spanish judge last week.

Mr Puigdemont fled to Belgium after Madrid imposed direct rule on Catalonia following an independence referendum.

He has said he will not return to Spain unless he is guaranteed a fair trial.

He and his four associates are wanted on charges of rebellion, sedition, misuse of public funds, disobedience and breach of trust following the referendum which a Spanish court deemed unconstitutional.

Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy imposed direct rule on Catalonia, dissolved the regional parliament and called local elections for 21 December.

• Catalonia's longest week

• The man who wants to break up Spain

• Catalonia crisis: What next for Spain?

Mr Puigdemont's associates who are also listed on the arrest warrant are Meritxell Serret (former agriculture minister), Antoni Comín (former health minister), Lluís Puig (former culture minister), and Clara Ponsatí (former education minister).

They all handed themselves in to Belgian federal police, accompanied by their lawyers, at 09:17 local time (08:17 GMT) on Sunday, said Gilles Dejemppe, a spokesman for Belgian prosecutors.

They will be heard by the investigating judge who will then "have 24 hours, until 09:17 on Monday, to decide whether to refuse the European Arrest [Warrant], arrest them, release them under conditions or grant bail", Mr Dejemppe said.

If the judge decides to go ahead and arrest them, Belgium has a maximum of 60 days to return the suspects to Spain. But if the suspects do not raise legal objections, a transfer could happen much sooner.

On what basis could Belgium reject the arrest warrants?

A country can reject an EU arrest warrant if it fears that extradition would violate the suspect's human rights.

Discrimination based on politics, religion or race is grounds for refusal. So are fears that the suspect would not get a fair trial.

There is an agreed EU list of 32 offences – in Article Two of the European Arrest Warrant law – for which there is no requirement for the offence to be a crime in both countries. In other words, any of those offences can be a justification for extradition, provided the penalty is at least three years in jail.

However, neither "sedition" nor "rebellion" – two of the charges levelled against the Catalan leaders – are on that list.

What's happening back in Spain?

Sunday saw more protests in Catalonian cities against the detention of Catalan officials and activists held by the Madrid authorities.

Protesters plastered city squares with posters depicting the detainees as political prisoners.

Eight politicians are being held in an investigation into alleged rebellion and sedition linked to Catalonia's unilateral declaration of independence.

Two activists are being detained in a separate investigation.

Meanwhile, Mr Puigdemont's nationalist Catalan European Democratic Party (PDeCAT) said it wanted him to lead the party in the 21 December elections.

It comes a day after Mr Puigdemont called for separatist parties to come together in a united front to continue the push for independence in the poll.

Source – bbc.com

Trump calls church shooting "act of evil"

President Donald Trump says a Texas church shooting that left 26 dead was an "act of evil" and promised his administration's full support to the investigation.

Speaking to U.S. and Japanese business leaders in Tokyo on Monday during his Asian trip, Trump expressed his sorrow over what he called a "horrific shooting" at a "place of sacred worship."

Trump said that "our hearts are broken but in dark times — and these are dark times — such as these, Americans do what they do best." He said Americans will pull together to help the suffering and he pledged to continue monitoring the investigation during his lengthy Asian tour.

The attack happened Sunday morning when a man dressed in black tactical-style gear and armed with an assault rifle opened fire inside a church in a small South Texas community, killing 26 people and wounding at least 16 others in what the governor called the deadliest mass shooting in the state's history.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also offered his condolences, saying on Twitter: "I offer my deepest condolences for those who lost their lives in the incident that occurred in the U.S. state of Texas."

He added: "My thoughts are with those who suffered injuries in the incident."

The shooting comes just over a month after a gunman opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip from the 32nd floor of a hotel-casino, killing 58 people and wounding more than 500. Trump traveled to Las Vegas several days after to meet with families of victims and first responders.

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Associated Press writer Catherine Lucey in Washington contributed to this report.

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Source – abcnews.go.com