The Bahamas is preparing itself for the Category 4 hurricane. Ramon Espinosa / AP
As Dorian barrels towards the island chain on Saturday, a hurricane warning has been issued in areas in northwest Bahamas, according to an alert issued by the Bahamas Department of Meteorology on Friday.
The Bahamas consists of more than 700 mainly low-lying islands -- some only a few feet above sea level. Dorian is expected to be near or over the island chain on Sunday.
Hurricane Warnings are in effect for the Abacos, Berry Islands, Bimini, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama Island, and New Providence in the Bahamas. A Hurricane Watch remains in effect for Andros Island.
The forecast expects Dorian to cause "large and destructive waves" of up to 15 feet along the "eastern and northern shores of Eleuthera and Abaco" on Sunday, and the northern and southern shores of Grand Bahama from Sunday night through to Monday morning.
People shop for supplies in Freeport, Bahamas, on Friday before the arrival of Dorian. Tim Aylen / AP
On Friday, Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Minnis ordered emergency evacuations for residents from the northern Keys of Abaco to mainland Abaco. Additional orders for evacuations were issued for areas of the island of Grand Bahama.
Both Grand Bahama and Abaco are hubs of the Bahamas tourist industry, which plays a vital part in the island chain's economy.
Tourists scrambled to leave the islands Friday before the international airport was shut down that evening, Reuters reported.
The director general of the Ministry of Tourism, Joy Jibrilu, told Reuters the country was "still reeling" from Hurricane Matthew in 2016, which pummeled the archipelago with strong Category 4 winds.
A large fire blazed across a main street in Hong Kong on Saturday night, as protesters made a wall out of barricades and set it afire. Hundreds of protesters gathered behind the fire, many pointing laser beams that streaked the night sky above them.
Earlier, the protesters threw objects and gasoline bombs over barriers set up at government headquarters. Police on the other side responded with tear gas and blue-colored water fired from a water cannon.
The protesters retreated when police arrived on the street to clear them from the area, but reassembled and built the wall and set the fire on Hennessey Road in the city's Wan Chai district. Police had yet to confront them while the fire blazed.
A march to mark the fifth anniversary of China's decision against fully democratic elections in Hong Kong was not permitted by police, but protesters took to the streets anyway in the 13th straight weekend of demonstrations.
Protestors run for cover from tear gas shells in Hong Kong, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. Many of the protesters outside Hong Kong government headquarters have retreated as large contingents of police arrive on the streets in what looks like preparation for a clearing operation. Police were using tear gas Saturday to drive back remaining protesters.
(AP)
The mostly young, black-shirted protesters took over roads and major intersections in shopping districts as they rallied and marched. Police erected additional barriers and brought out two water cannon trucks near the Chinese government office and deployed at various locations in riot gear.
While others marched back and forth elsewhere in the city, a large crowd wearing helmets and gas masks gathered outside the city government building. Some approached barriers that had been set up to keep protesters away and appeared to throw objects at the police on the other side. Others shone laser lights at the officers.
Police fired tear gas from the other side of the barriers, then brought out a water cannon truck that fired regular water and then colored water at the protesters, staining them and nearby journalists and leaving blue puddles in the street.
Protestors carry an injured to safety in Hong Kong, Saturday, Aug. 31, 2019. Many of the protesters outside Hong Kong government headquarters have retreated as large contingents of police arrive on the streets in what looks like preparation for a clearing operation. Police were using tear gas Saturday to drive back remaining protesters.
(AP)
The standoff continued for some time, but protesters started moving back as word spread that police were headed in their direction. A few front-line protesters hurled gasoline bombs at the officers in formation, but there were no major clashes as police cleared the area.
Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting said Hong Kong citizens would keep fighting for their rights and freedoms despite the arrests of several prominent activists and lawmakers in the past two days, including activist Joshua Wong.
The protests were sparked by a now-shelved extradition bill. Protesters are demanding its full withdrawal, democratic elections and an investigation into alleged police brutality in what have been pitched battles with hard-line demonstrators.
"I do believe the government deliberately arrested several leaders of the democratic camp to try to threaten Hong Kong people not to come out to fight against the evil law," Lam said at what was advertised as a Christian march earlier in the day.
About 1,000 people marched to a Methodist church and police headquarters. They alternated between singing hymns and chanting the slogans of the pro-democracy movement. An online flyer for the demonstration called it a "prayer for sinners" and featured images of a Christian cross and embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, who had proposed the extradition bill.
Protestors travel in a train en route to Causeway Bay in Hong Kong.
(AP)
Authorities rejected an application from the Civil Human Rights Front, the organizer of pro-democracy marches that have drawn upward of a million people this summer, for a march to the Chinese government office. Police said that while previous marches have started peacefully, they have increasingly degenerated into violence in the end.
The standing committee of China's legislature ruled on Aug. 31, 2014, that Hong Kong residents could elect their leader directly, but that the candidates would have to be approved by a nominating committee.
The decision failed to satisfy democracy advocates in the city and led to the 79-day long Occupy Central protests that fall, in which demonstrators camped out on major streets in the financial district and other parts of Hong Kong.
The participants in the religious march Saturday were peaceful and mostly older than the younger protesters who have led this summer's movement and, in some cases, blocked streets and battled police with bricks, sticks and gasoline bombs
Religious meetings do not require police approval, though authorities said late Friday that organizers of a procession with more than 30 people must notify police.
The government shut down streets and subway service near the Chinese government's office, about 3 miles west of the religious march.
"A public event is expected on Hong Kong Island this afternoon which may cause severe disruptions," police said. "Text messages have been sent to alert members of the public to mind their personal safety."
Unwilling to continue west towards where a large police presence has gathered outside the Chinese government's offices, protesters in central Hong Kong are currently marching in a loop.
By banning a planned march, police have left the protesters without a clear direction or destination, resulting in many people setting out by themselves -- and disrupting more roads in the process.
A group of three young protesters said they started in Southern Playground in Wan Chai, then marched to Central, and now are walking back.
“Sai Ying Pun is blocked and we heard police are blocking all the roads, and some protesters are occupying Causeway Bay but we just follow others," one told CNN. "We see that some are going back to Wan Chai and Causeway Bay. Heard protesters are even in North Point and Fortress Hill but we are not sure."
India has published the final version of a list which effectively strips about 1.9 million people in the north-eastern state of Assam of their citizenship.
The National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a list of people who can prove they came to the state by 24 March 1971, a day before neighbouring Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan.
People left off the list will have 120 days to appeal against their exclusion.
It is unclear what happens next.
India says the process is needed to identify illegal Bangladeshi migrants.
It has already detained thousands of people suspected of being foreigners in temporary camps which are housed in the state's prisons, but deportation is currently not an option for the country.
The process has also sparked criticism of "witch hunts" against Assam's ethnic minorities.
A draft version of the list published last year had four million people excluded.
What is the registry of citizens?
The NRC was created in 1951 to determine who was born in Assam and is therefore Indian, and who might be a migrant from neighbouring Bangladesh.
The register has been updated for the first time.
Families in the state have been required to provide documentation to show their lineage, with those who cannot prove their citizenship deemed illegal foreigners.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has long railed against illegal immigration in India but has made the NRC a priority in recent years.
Why is the registry happening in Assam?
Assam is one India's most multi-ethnic states. Questions of identity and citizenship have long vexed a vast number of people living there.
Among its residents are Bengali and Assamese-speaking Hindus, as well as a medley of tribespeople.
A third of the state's 32 million residents are Muslims, the second-highest number after Indian-administered Kashmir. Many of them are descendants of immigrants who settled there under British rule.
But illegal migration from neighbouring Bangladesh, which shares a 4,000-km-long border with India, has been a concern there for decades now. The government said in 2016 that an estimated 20 million illegal immigrants were living in India.
So have 1.9 million people effectively become stateless?
Not quite. Residents excluded from the list can appeal to the specially-formed courts called Foreigners Tribunals, as well as the high court and Supreme Court.
However, a potentially long and exhaustive appeals process will mean that India's already overburdened courts will be further clogged, and poor people left out of the list will struggle to raise money to fight their cases.
If people lose their appeals in higher courts, they could be detained indefinitely.
Some 1,000 people declared as foreigners earlier are already lodged in six detention centres located in prisons. Mr Modi's government is also building an exclusive detention centre, which can hold 3,000 detainees.
"People whose names are not on the final list are really anxious about what lies ahead. One of the reasons is that the Foreigners Tribunal does not have a good reputation, and many people are worried that they will have to go through this process," Sangeeta Barooah Pisharoty, author of Assam: The Accord, The Discord, told the BBC.
Why have been the courts so controversial?
The special courts were first set up in 1964, and since then they have declared more than 100,000 people foreigners. They regularly identify "doubtful voters" or "illegal infiltrators" as foreigners to be deported.
But the workings of the specially formed Foreigners Tribunals, which have been hearing the contested cases, have been mired in controversy.
There are more than 200 such courts in Assam today, and their numbers are expected to go up to 1,000 by October. (The majority of these tribunals have been set up after the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP came to power in 2014.)
The courts have been accused of bias and their workings have often been opaque and riddled with inconsistencies.
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For one, the burden of proof is on the accused or the alleged foreigner.
Second, many families are unable to produce documents due to poor record-keeping, illiteracy or because they lack the money to file a legal claim.
People have been declared as foreigners by the courts because of differences in spellings of names or ages in voters rolls, and problems in getting identity documents certified by authorities. Amnesty International has described the work by the special courts as "shoddy and lackadaisical".
Journalist Rohini Mohan analysed more than 500 judgements by these courts in one district and found 82% of the people on trial had been declared foreigners. She also found more Muslims had been declared foreigners, and 78% of the orders were delivered without the accused being ever heard - the police said they were "absconding", but Ms Mohan found many of them living in their villages and unaware they were declared foreigners.
"The Foreigners Tribunal," she says, "must be made more transparent and accountable."
Both the citizen's register and the tribunals have also sparked fears of a witch hunt against Assam's ethnic minorities.
Have the minorities been targeted?
Many say the list has nothing to do with religion, but activists see it as targeting the state's Bengali community, a large portion of whom are Muslims.
They also point to the plight of Rohingya Muslims in neighbouring Bangladesh.
However significant numbers of Bengali-speaking Hindus have also been left off the citizenship list, underscoring the communal and ethnic tensions in the state
"One of the communities worst affected by the list are the Bengali Hindus. There are as many of them in detention camps as Muslims. This is also the reason just days before NRC is to be published the BJP has changed tack, from taking credit for it to calling it error-ridden. That is because the Bengali Hindus are a strong voter base of the BJP," says Ms Barooah Pisharoty.
And in an echo of US President Donald Trump's policy to separate undocumented parents and children, families have been similarly broken up in Assam.
Detainees have complained of poor living conditions and overcrowding in the detention centres.
One detainee told a rights group after his release that he was taken to a room which had a capacity of 40 people, but was filled with around 120 people. People who have been declared foreigners as well as many inmates have been suffering from depression. Children have also been detained with their parents.
Human rights activist Harsh Mander who has visited two detention centres has spoken about a situation of "grave and extensive human distress and suffering".
What happens to people who are declared foreigners?
The BJP which rules the state, has insisted in the past that illegal Muslim immigrants will be deported. But neighbouring Bangladesh will definitely not accede to such a request.
Many believe that India will end up creating the newest cohort of stateless people, raising the spectre of a homegrown crisis that will echo that of the Rohingya people who fled Myanmar for Bangladesh.
It is not clear whether the people stripped of their Indian citizenship will be able to access welfare or own property.
One possibility is that once they are released, they will be given work permits with some basic rights, but will not be allowed to vote.
Read more on the NRC:
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Have you been affected by this decision? Please share your experiences by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.
Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:
Dorian, now a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph, is due to slow in the coming days, gaining intensity over warm Caribbean waters to fuel the heavy rains, damaging wind and storm surge it's expected to deliver, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
Hurricane watches have been issued for the northwestern Bahamas, where Dorian is expected to hit Sunday as a Category 3 storm, the National Hurricane Center said.
It is then forecast to roar toward the US mainland Monday evening into Tuesday morning at major-hurricane strength, though experts warn that forecasts are subject to change.
"There is a wide cone of uncertainty of the storm, especially since it is still days from landfall on Florida," CNN meteorologist Rob Shackelford said. The cone extends from Key West up to around Jacksonville, a distance of 500 miles, he added.
Big storm, big response
Dorian warrants a multibillion dollar price tag, FEMA associate administrator Jeffrey Byard told reporters Thursday.
"This is going to be a big storm. We're prepared for a big response," he said.
Since Dorian had minimal impact on Puerto Rico, the agency is shifting staff from the island to Florida in preparation.
Dorian already has claimed the title of strongest storm so far of this year's Atlantic hurricane season.
If it reaches Florida, this will be the fourth year in a row a hurricane of any strength has hit the state. That would be the most years in a row since the 1940s.
And if it reaches Florida as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of around 130 mph, it would be the strongest hurricane to strike Florida's east coast since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller said.
Florida residents are stocking up
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all 67 Florida counties. The state has 819,000 gallons of water and 1.8 million meals ready for distribution, he said.
Florida residents have been stocking up on gas and food for a stormy weekend, and officials are urging those in the state to be prepared.
"Get water, get gas, get cash out of the ATMs," West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said. "The more we hear about this storm, it sounds like a serious one."
With Dorian scheduled to arrive in time for Labor Day weekend, major airlines have offered waivers for flights to Florida, Georgia and the Caribbean. And tourist areas were emptying out Thursday, CNN affiliate WFLA reported.
"We usually get hundreds of visitors every day, and it's just been one of those days that drives everyone away. It's a gorgeous day but the hurricane is just going to kill it all," Jason Pun, owner of a Cocoa Beach restaurant, told the station.
"it is taking a little bit of a hindrance, especially when we're supposed to be preparing for one of our busiest weekends of the year," Frank Figueroa, owner of the neighboring Sandbar, said.
Military and NASA are making adjustments
To avoid damage from Dorian, the US Navy is moving more than 40 planes from Jacksonville to bases in Michigan, Ohio and Texas.
The US Air Force is evacuating 16 aircraft from MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas, an Air Force official said.
Because Dorian could impact Florida's Kennedy Space Center, NASA has said it will have a crawler-transporter move NASA's mobile launcher Friday from launch pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building about 3.5 miles away. The launcher was being tested on the pad in anticipation of future Space Launch System missions.
CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Omar Jimenez, Jason Hanna, LaRell Reynolds, Meg Wagner, Tina Burnside and Daniel Shepherd contributed to this report.
Dorian, now a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph, is due to slow in the coming days, gaining intensity over warm Caribbean waters to fuel the heavy rains, damaging wind and storm surge it's expected to deliver, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
Hurricane watches have been issued for the northwestern Bahamas, where Dorian is expected to hit Sunday as a Category 3 storm, the National Hurricane Center said.
It is then forecast to roar toward the US mainland Monday evening into Tuesday morning at major-hurricane strength, though experts warn that forecasts are subject to change.
"There is a wide cone of uncertainty of the storm, especially since it is still days from landfall on Florida," CNN meteorologist Rob Shackelford said. The cone extends from Key West up to around Jacksonville, a distance of 500 miles, he added.
Big storm, big response
Dorian warrants a multibillion dollar price tag, FEMA associate administrator Jeffrey Byard told reporters Thursday.
"This is going to be a big storm. We're prepared for a big response," he said.
Since Dorian had minimal impact on Puerto Rico, the agency is shifting staff from the island to Florida in preparation.
Dorian already has claimed the title of strongest storm so far of this year's Atlantic hurricane season.
If it reaches Florida, this will be the fourth year in a row a hurricane of any strength has hit the state. That would be the most years in a row since the 1940s.
And if it reaches Florida as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of around 130 mph, it would be the strongest hurricane to strike Florida's east coast since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller said.
Florida residents are stocking up
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all 67 Florida counties. The state has 819,000 gallons of water and 1.8 million meals ready for distribution, he said.
Florida residents have been stocking up on gas and food for a stormy weekend, and officials are urging those in the state to be prepared.
"Get water, get gas, get cash out of the ATMs," West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said. "The more we hear about this storm, it sounds like a serious one."
With Dorian scheduled to arrive in time for Labor Day weekend, major airlines have offered waivers for flights to Florida, Georgia and the Caribbean. And tourist areas were emptying out Thursday, CNN affiliate WFLA reported.
"We usually get hundreds of visitors every day, and it's just been one of those days that drives everyone away. It's a gorgeous day but the hurricane is just going to kill it all," Jason Pun, owner of a Cocoa Beach restaurant, told the station.
"it is taking a little bit of a hindrance, especially when we're supposed to be preparing for one of our busiest weekends of the year," Frank Figueroa, owner of the neighboring Sandbar, said.
Military and NASA are making adjustments
To avoid damage from Dorian, the US Navy is moving more than 40 planes from Jacksonville to bases in Michigan, Ohio and Texas.
The US Air Force is evacuating 16 aircraft from MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas, an Air Force official said.
Because Dorian could impact Florida's Kennedy Space Center, NASA has said it will have a crawler-transporter move NASA's mobile launcher Friday from launch pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building about 3.5 miles away. The launcher was being tested on the pad in anticipation of future Space Launch System missions.
CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Omar Jimenez, LaRell Reynolds, Meg Wagner, Tina Burnside and Daniel Shepherd contributed to this report.
Dorian, now a Category 2 hurricane with sustained winds of 105 mph, is due to slow in the coming days, gaining intensity over warm Caribbean waters to fuel the heavy rains, damaging wind and storm surge it's expected to deliver, CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam said.
Hurricane watches have been issued for the northwestern Bahamas, where Dorian is expected to hit Sunday as a Category 3 storm, the National Hurricane Center said.
It is then forecast to roar toward the US mainland Monday evening into Tuesday morning at major-hurricane strength, though experts warn that forecasts are subject to change.
"There is a wide cone of uncertainty of the storm, especially since it is still days from landfall on Florida," CNN meteorologist Rob Shackelford said. The cone extends from Key West up to around Jacksonville, a distance of 500 miles, he added.
Big storm, big response
Dorian warrants a multibillion dollar price tag, FEMA associate administrator Jeffrey Byard told reporters Thursday.
"This is going to be a big storm. We're prepared for a big response," he said.
Since Dorian had minimal impact on Puerto Rico, the agency is shifting staff from the island to Florida in preparation.
Dorian already has claimed the title of strongest storm so far of this year's Atlantic hurricane season.
If it reaches Florida, this will be the fourth year in a row a hurricane of any strength has hit the state. That would be the most years in a row since the 1940s.
And if it reaches Florida as a Category 4 storm, with sustained winds of around 130 mph, it would be the strongest hurricane to strike Florida's east coast since Hurricane Andrew in 1992, CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller said.
Florida residents are stocking up
DeSantis declared a state of emergency for all 67 Florida counties. The state has 819,000 gallons of water and 1.8 million meals ready for distribution, he said.
Florida residents have been stocking up on gas and food for a stormy weekend, and officials are urging those in the state to be prepared.
"Get water, get gas, get cash out of the ATMs," West Palm Beach Mayor Keith James said. "The more we hear about this storm, it sounds like a serious one."
With Dorian scheduled to arrive in time for Labor Day weekend, major airlines have offered waivers for flights to Florida, Georgia and the Caribbean. And tourist areas were emptying out Thursday, CNN affiliate WFLA reported.
"We usually get hundreds of visitors every day, and it's just been one of those days that drives everyone away. It's a gorgeous day but the hurricane is just going to kill it all," Jason Pun, owner of a Cocoa Beach restaurant, told the station.
"it is taking a little bit of a hindrance, especially when we're supposed to be preparing for one of our busiest weekends of the year," Frank Figueroa, owner of the neighboring Sandbar, said.
Military and NASA are making adjustments
To avoid damage from Dorian, the US Navy is moving more than 40 planes from Jacksonville to bases in Michigan, Ohio and Texas.
The US Air Force is evacuating 16 aircraft from MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa to McConnell Air Force Base near Wichita, Kansas, an Air Force official said.
Because Dorian could impact Florida's Kennedy Space Center, NASA has said it will have a crawler-transporter move NASA's mobile launcher Friday from launch pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building about 3.5 miles away. The launcher was being tested on the pad in anticipation of future Space Launch System missions.
CNN's Paul P. Murphy, Omar Jimenez, LaRell Reynolds, Meg Wagner, Tina Burnside and Daniel Shepherd contributed to this report.
Shoppers wait in long lines at Costco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Davie, Fla., as they stock up on supplies ahead of Hurricane Dorian. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Good morning and welcome to Fox News First. Here's what you need to know as you start your Friday...
Hurricane Dorian getting stronger as Florida braces for Labor Day weekend impact Hurricane Dorian was upgraded to Category 2 strength late Thursday, and forecasters said it could develop into a potentially catastrophic Category 4 storm as it heads toward Florida, with landfall there expected Monday. As of 11 p.m. ET Thursday, the storm was approaching Category 3 status, with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported. Dorian was expected to remain a major hurricane through Friday and hit the U.S. somewhere between the Florida Keys and southern Georgia — a 500-mile stretch that reflected the high degree of uncertainty regarding the storm's projected path.
James Comey bruised by inspector general’s ‘damning’ report -- but he should prepare for worse, critics warn The reputation of James Comey took a hit Thursday with the release of a scathing inspector general's report on his handling of memos about contacts with President Trump. However, the fired former FBI director should be wary of what Connecticut federal prosecutor John Durham may find in his probe into the origins of the Russia investigation, critics warn. "Obviously, today was a bad day for James Comey," said Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C. and chairman of the influential House Freedom Caucus, on "Hannity." He added it was unbelievable that Comey was nonetheless going on Twitter, seeking apologies from his detractors.
Video from 2005 raid on Jeffrey Epstein's Palm Beach mansion showed nude images of young women Video of a 2005 police raid of Jeffrey Epstein’s Palm Beach, Fla., mansion reveals a home partially decorated with illicit photos and imagery of young women. Inside the home, the video shows a wall covered in artsy nude photos of men and women, a painting of a nude woman lying on her back and a photo of a naked woman – reportedly Epstein's ex-girlfriend and alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell – lying on a sandy beach. Police also discovered a green massage table leaning against a wall under framed photos of Epstein, who was accused of molesting dozens of girls at the mansion.
By 2006, Palm Beach investigators had interviewed more than 30 young women – some of whom were minors at the time of the alleged crimes. In the end, prosecutors and Epstein’s lawyers negotiated a then-secret plea deal which led Epstein to serve just 13 months in jail under work-release privileges, allowing him to visit his office six days a week.
Detective handcuffed to Oswald when he was fatally shot dies The Texas police officer handcuffed to Lee Harvey Oswald when he was fatally shot at Dallas police headquarters two days after the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy, died Thursday at age 99, according to his family. Former Dallas police Detective Jim Leavelle was transporting Oswald to the Dallas County Jail when the assassin was suddenly shot on live television by nightclub owner and police informant Jack Ruby at point-blank range on Nov. 24, 1963. Karla Leavelle, daughter of the retired detective, confirmed her father's death to FOX 4 Dallas.
Cadbury ridiculed over new chocolate bar meant to promote diversity The British confectionery giant Cadbury faced backlash on social media for a new candy bar introduced in India that features four types of chocolate — dark, blended, milk and white — to promote diversity. “This is as absurd as Kendall Jenner fighting police brutality with a Pepsi,” tweeted legal analyst Imani Gandy. “Congratulations to Cadbury for solving racism,” wrote restaurant critic Tejal Rao. Cadbury rolled out the multi-flavored chocolate bars Aug. 15 — teaming up with the global advertising agency Ogilvy — to celebrate India’s Independence Day. - Reported by the New York Post
MINDING YOUR BUSINESS Some 2020 Dems want a 'wealth tax' - what you should know. More than half of Americans are satisfied with their jobs - here's why. Yankees join Amazon, Sinclair to buy YES from Disney.
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SOME PARTING WORDS
Sean Hannity says the report by the Justice Department's inspector general proves fired former FBI Director James Comey is not the "super patriot" he claims to be, but is a "liar and a leaker."
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Fox News First is compiled by Fox News' Bryan Robinson. Thank you for joining us! Enjoy your Friday and Labor Day weekend! We'll see you in your inbox first thing on Tuesday morning.
Hurricane Dorian has already battered the US Virgin Islands and is now churning through the Atlantic Ocean towards the US state of Florida. The horrifying weather system is whipping out maximum sustained winds of 105mph, making it a Category 2 hurricane on the Saffir Simpson hurricane wind scale. Dorian is forecast to further strengthen and develop into a major Category 3 hurricane later on Friday. Hurricane warnings could be issued today.
Hurricane Dorian is expected to be on Florida’s doorstop on Monday morning, but weather models are showing very different tracks for the hurricane.
According to the National Hurricane Center (NHC) Dorian continues northwestward, and while the forecast for the next 24 hours is fairly high, it turns uncertain.
NOAA said: "As you can imagine, with so many complex variables in play, it is no wonder the models have been having a difficult time nailing down the path of the hurricane.
"There's been a notable trend on this model cycle toward a slower, more westward track beyond 36 hours, which can be seen most strongly in the GFS-based guidance."
However, the GFS model keeps Dorian off the Floridian coast, perhaps making landfall further north in Jacksonville.
The model even suggests that Dorian could ride up the coastline, not making landfall in Florida at all.
Accuweather reports: “At this point, there is the likelihood of stormy conditions with heavy rain and gusty winds that push northwestward across part of the Florida Peninsula beginning Saturday night and continuing into Sunday night.
The weather service added: “Flooding downpours and power outages are possible.”
Another tracker, the Euro model, sees the hurricane making landfall in southeastern Florida, perhaps close to Fort Lauderdale.
Following this, Dorian will head west, affecting areas from the coast of Sarasota.
“Should Dorian remain over land for the duration after reaching Florida, the system will slowly weaken and rain itself out over the southeastern corner of the US during Labor Day and beyond”, AccuWeather said.
The key message from NHC is the risk of dangerous storm surge and hurricane-force winds later this week and this weekend.
This risk continues to increase in the central and northwestern Bahamas and along Florida’s east coast, although it is too soon to determine exactly where these hazards will occur.
NHC warned: “Residents in these areas should ensure they have their hurricane plan in place and not focus on the exact forecast track of Dorian’s centre.”
With lower shear and very warm waters, all of the intensity models forecast Dorian to begin strengthening again soon, and rapid intensification could occur.
Dorian is likely to reach major hurricane strength in the next day or two and is forecast to maintain that status until it reaches land.
LONDON — Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament next month has brought a fresh wave of consternation and confusion to Britain’s already chaotic efforts to leave the European Union, while still leaving wide open the question of where Britain will end up on Oct. 31., the day the country is scheduled to leave the bloc.
Mr. Johnson says he would rather Britain leave with a reworked Brexit deal but, failing that, it would be out the door anyway. His opponents have sworn to remove any possibility of leaving without a deal, which they say would be economically calamitous.
Adding to the confusion, what happens next depends not just on the battle between the prime minister and his opponents in Parliament, but also on the flexibility of the so-far unyielding European Union leadership and, down the line, quite possibly on a British court.
Following are six of the most likely outcomes leading up to Oct. 31.
1: Lawmakers Take Charge
Members of Parliament don’t agree about much on Brexit, but a majority oppose what they consider a destructive “no-deal” departure and would like to rule it out of bounds. By suspending Parliament for several crucial weeks, Mr. Johnson has made this hard. But he has also galvanized his opponents into action, and Jo Swinson, leader of the Liberal Democrats, hinted in a BBC interview that they may copy Mr. Johnson in using an arcane procedure — she did not specify what — to stop a “no-deal” Brexit. So don’t count them out quite yet.
Image
If they fail to legislate against a no-deal Brexit, lawmakers can resort to the ultimate weapon: a motion of no confidence, ousting Mr. Johnson from office.CreditMatt Dunham/Associated Press
2: Parliament’s Nuclear Option
If they fail to legislate against a no-deal Brexit, lawmakers can resort to the ultimate weapon: a motion of no confidence, ousting Mr. Johnson from office. Currently, they do not appear to have the votes to pull this off. But even if they did, it might not solve their problem.
The law calls for the formation of a new government within two weeks or a general election. One option might be a caretaker administration that would presumably request another Brexit delay to afford time to hold an election. The problem is opposition leaders cannot agree on a caretaker prime minister. Jeremy Corbyn, the natural choice as leader of the Labour Party, is too left-wing, and as a lifelong critic of the European Union, is distrusted by determined opponents of Brexit.
Many would prefer a more centrist figure — perhaps the former Conservative cabinet minister Kenneth Clarke — as the caretaker. That would require Mr. Corbyn agreeing to stand aside, because a no-confidence motion could not succeed without his support.
And even if it did, Mr. Johnson has another trick up his sleeve, one that his supporters have repeatedly telegraphed: He could refuse to resign and then schedule a general election for November, in effect forcing through a no-deal Brexit. Dirty pool, perhaps, it would leave deep scars in the body politic. But there is nothing in the relevant law, the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act, requiring the prime minister to step down immediately.
3: A Snap Election
If lawmakers should succeed in quickly passing legislation outlawing a no-deal Brexit before Parliament is suspended, Mr. Johnson could try to outflank them again by calling a general election. This would be risky, but he needs to hold one soon anyway because he has a working majority in Parliament of just one seat, a margin far too small for comfort for any government. If there is an election soon, Mr. Johnson is likely to run as a champion of the people against a Parliament intent on obstructing the pro-Brexit outcome of the 2016 referendum. One theory is that the election could take place on Oct. 17, allowing Mr. Johnson — if he wins — to go to the European Union summit the following day with a fresh mandate.
But there could be a significant roadblock. To call an election, Mr. Johnson would need the support of two-thirds of the House of Commons, so he would need opposition votes. The Labour Party wants an election, but might demur if it thinks that, instead of a quick vote, Mr. Johnson wants to delay it until after the Brexit deadline.
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Mr. Johnson says he would rather Britain leave with a reworked Brexit deal but, failing that, it would be out the door anyway.CreditTolga Akmen/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
4: Leaving the E.U. With a Deal
No one seems to think this option has much chance. After all, Parliament voted three times against a Brexit agreement negotiated by Mr. Johnson’s predecessor, Theresa May, and the European Union is stubbornly refusing to reopen negotiations. But don’t rule it out.
The critical date is Oct. 17-18, when the bloc’s leaders meet, providing an opportunity for last-minute negotiations (which is practically the only way things get done there). If a potentially disastrous no-deal Brexit is still a possibility, Mr. Johnson can put a gun to the heads of European leaders to get a revised deal, then put the gun to the heads of his lawmakers to get the measure passed. “Either accept my new, revised, Brexit agreement,” he will say, or we are headed for the dreaded no-deal exit.
5: A No-Deal Brexit
While it is widely thought that Mr. Johnson is using the threat of an unruly exit as a negotiating tactic, it is also possible that he actually means what he says. If European leaders offer too few concessions for his liking, he might plow ahead with a no-deal exit and, given the limited parliamentary time to stop it, he might succeed. It is, after all, the default option. That would allow Mr. Johnson to unite Brexit supporters behind him in a general election either late in 2019 or in 2020. The risk, however, is that the predictions of economic chaos after a no-deal Brexit are borne out, making an election unwinnable for him (and, if things are bad enough, possibly for the Conservative Party for years to come).
6: The Courts Decide
There are already three cases being considered against Mr. Johnson’s decision to suspend Parliament. Experts think these are unlikely to succeed — though Gina Miller, an anti-Brexit campaigner, defied such predictions when she won a case against Mrs. May’s efforts to bypass Parliament when starting exit talks. She is trying again now.
But there may be other opportunities to go to court. If Mr. Johnson refuses to resign after losing a vote of confidence and tries to push a general election beyond the Halloween deadline, a legal challenge would be likely. Then it could be judges, not lawmakers, who have the decisive voice in Britain’s biggest peacetime decision in decades.
Caretaker Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has accepted a mandate to form a new coalition with a vow to lead a "more united, inclusive" Italy, a week after the collapse of his government dominated by nationalists.
He said Italy should play a leading role in Europe, a marked change from the policies of the right-wing League.
League leader Matteo Salvini triggered the downfall of the previous coalition.
His partner, Five Star, has now reached a deal with the centre left.
Mr Conte, an independent ex-law professor, had already savaged Mr Salvini in parliament last week, accusing him of creating a political crisis for "personal and party interests".
After President Sergio Mattarella gave him a mandate to form a new coalition, he said Italy had to make up for lost time as it was in a "very delicate phase".
"It will be a government for the good of the citizens, to modernise the country, to make our nation even more competitive internationally, but also more just, more supportive and more inclusive."
Mr Conte has also accused the League leader of having an obsession with closing ports to migrants, and in one of his last acts as interior minister, Mr Salvini refused to allow a charity rescue ship into Italy carrying 100 migrants. The interior ministry has since agreed to allow women, children and sick people off the Mare Ionio.
The Eurosceptic Mr Salvini has announced a protest in Rome on 19 October, condemning the nascent coalition as conceived in Paris or Brussels.
Who will be in the coalition?
The anti-establishment Five Star Movement has long been hostile to its new prospective partner, the Democratic Party (PD).
But on Wednesday evening the two parties buried the hatchet. They entered talks last week after Mr Conte resigned ahead of a no-confidence motion tabled against him by Mr Salvini.
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One of the stumbling blocks had been Five Star's insistence on Mr Conte remaining as prime minister.
"We consider it worthwhile to try this experience," the PD's Nicola Zingaretti said after meeting the president, with the aim of forming a government to serve until the next scheduled elections in 2023.
"In difficult times like these, shunning our responsibility to have the courage to try this is something we cannot afford," Mr Zingaretti said.
The markets reacted positively to news of the president's mandate, with the Milan Borsa climbing almost 2%. Italy is the eurozone's third biggest economy and bond yields fell to a record low at one stage on Thursday.
The so-called "spread" between Italian and German 10-year bond yields was also at its narrowest for a year as Mr Conte promised to make economic growth a priority.
A major blow for Salvini
This coalition agreement represents a major setback for the League's leader Matteo Salvini.
For 14 months, he was the dominant figure in Italian politics. But a share of power wasn't enough for him - he wanted outright power.
This led him to overreach. Mr Salvini brought down the government last week in the hope of winning a potential snap election.
But it turns out that his gamble had a fatal flaw. The League Party's leader did not count on the possibility of his opponents teaming up to stop him.
A common aim - Stop Salvini - now binds together the Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party in their new coalition. But in order for this administration to last, the two parties may need to find more common ground than their mutual distrust of a single man.
Their coalition will be harried and chased at every step by the man they've sent into sudden opposition.
What will Conte have to do now?
The two parties still have a long way to go to agree a platform and appoint ministers.
Five Star will also require its 100,000 members to back the deal via its controversial online "Rousseau" platform. There are plenty of supporters who will have reservations about a deal with a centre-left, mainstream party that they consider part of the problem in Italian politics.
Some centre-left politicians have also rejected a PD-Five Star coalition, with MEP Carlo Calenda resigning from the leadership in protest.
Mr Conte has promised, once the coalition is confirmed, that the government will proceed quickly to agreeing a new budget for 2020.
Italy has the second biggest debt in the eurozone in proportion to its output and the incoming administration is keen to avoid a rise in VAT (sales tax), which will kick in unless the government can tackle the shortfall elsewhere.
After 14 months of being ignored, mocked and yanked around by his deputies in Italy’s nationalist-populist government, the departing prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, used his resignation speech last week as a last-ditch audition — filled with previously unseen flashes of gravitas and steel — for the leading role in the government to come.
On Thursday, Mr. Conte got the part.
Italy’s president, Sergio Mattarella, gave the little-known lawyer turned political power broker the task of forming a sequel, but drastically different, government known as Conte II. (“Conte Reloaded,” preferred the conservative daily Il Giornale.)
Mr. Conte will now begin meetings with all party leaders and is expected next week to submit to Mr. Mattarella a cabinet that, if approved, will then be brought to parliament for a confidence vote.
In accepting the mandate, Mr. Conte said on Thursday that he wanted to win back lost time “to allow Italy, a founding member of the European Union, to rise again as a protagonist” and “transform this moment of crisis into an opportunity.”
He acknowledged that he had entertained “doubts” about taking on a reconstituted government after the last one collapsed, but said he “overcame this perplexity” out of a responsibility to serve Italy’s interests.
In taking on “this political project,” he said, he did not represent a single party, but the interests of all Italians, something he said Italians had come to appreciate.
The joining of two parties that have called each other every name in the book, including Mafiosi and kidnappers, internet trolls and hatemongers, was remarkable.
But so was the resuscitation of Mr. Conte, who hardly seemed to matter through much of the last government, where he was overshadowed by the hard-right leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, ostensibly his deputy.
Mr. Conte once even called a news conference to remind the country that he was the prime minister.
During a side-by-side news conference at the White House in July 2018, President Trump introduced Mr. Conte as “my new friend.”CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times
Now he will have an opportunity, as the European establishment is hoping, to help Italy heal its rifts in the European Union, rediscover a modicum of financial responsibility and return to the table of European leaders.
Mr. Conte, fond of pocket kerchiefs and purple ties, is studiously dapper even when discussing legislation with a man in his underwear on a Naples balcony. His florid vocabulary — he has casually dropped words like logomachy — sounds official without actually saying much. In time, he has overcome a delivery and facial expressions that seemed marked by fear and indigestion.
“He’s a minor figure who managed to carve out a role for himself,” said Donatella Di Cesare, a professor of political philosophy at La Sapienza University in Rome.
“He had no history,” she added, which helped him fit into the part of an institutional administrator who could give the harshly euroskeptic, populist and anti-migrant government a more amenable face. The parties chose him, she said, because he was “someone who played the role.”
Newspaper headlines on Thursday expressed admiration for his transformation. “He went from yes man to the lord of politics,” read La Stampa. “A quasi-leader who put bullies in their place,” read La Repubblica. “A Portrait of a Puppet Who Became Prime Minister,” read il Foglio.
And he has made friends in high places.
During a side-by-side news conference at the White House in July 2018, President Trump introduced Mr. Conte as “my new friend” and on Tuesday came through for him, endorsing him in a tweet, albeit one that spelled Mr. Conte’s name wrong. (Mr. Trump called him Giuseppi.)
That vote of confidence was invoked on Wednesday night by Five Star’s political leader, Luigi Di Maio. “The endorsement from Donald Trump made us understand that we are on the right track,” he said in announcing the agreement with the Democratic Party to bring Mr. Conte back.
At the 2018 news conference, Mr. Trump stressed that he and Mr. Conte had a lot in common. In one sense, he had a point.
“Like the United States, Italy is currently under enormous strain as a result of illegal immigration. And they fought it hard,” Mr. Trump said. “And the prime minister, frankly, is with us today because of illegal immigration.”
It was a backlash to the migrant crisis, and the promised crackdown by the League and the more subtle anti-migrant messaging of the populist Five Star movement, that resulted in their election.
If Mr. Conte never seemed entirely at ease with the harsh anti-migrant policies, at times asking Mr. Salvini to at least let women and children off stranded ships, he never stood up to him and signed off on the toughest anti-migrant legislation.
His greatest concerns seemed to be about the political damage Mr. Salvini wrought on the Five Star Movement, with which he was clearly aligned. In December, an Italian television program caught Mr. Conte appealing in so-so English to Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany at the coffee bar of an international meeting for pointers on how Five Star could stop Mr. Salvini’s electoral juggernaut.
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Mr. Conte, center, was embraced by his deputy and Five Star leader, Luigi Di Maio, right, after addressing the Senate in Rome this month. Matteo Salvini, the hard-right leader of the League party, is at left.CreditEttore Ferrari/EPA, via Shutterstock
“We have made polls and they are worrying, because Salvini is at 35, 36 percent,” he told Ms. Merkel. She nodded politely.
Before the election in March 2018 that brought Five Star to power, its leaders introduced him as a potential minister in a Five Star government. When they needed the support of another party to govern and turned to the League, the two parties settled on Mr. Conte as a consensus prime minister.
He had a rough start. His rollout was complicated by the discovery that he inflated his résumé. Only last year he seemed unsure of his job security when, while acting as prime minister, he was caught planning to take part in an English proficiency exam for a teaching job at a Rome university.
In his first weeks on the job, he was caught in Parliament asking Mr. Di Maio, technically his deputy, if he was allowed to say something.
But it was Mr. Di Maio he ended up eclipsing.
In Mr. Conte’s resignation speech last week, as he lambasted Mr. Salvini, seated to his right, as a dangerous, authoritarian, disloyal opportunist who cared more about his own political success than the country, Mr. Di Maio, seated on Mr. Conte’s left, brimmed with visible delight.
Mr. Di Maio, his own poll numbers cratering, had sought to elevate Mr. Conte over the past year as a counterbalance to Mr. Salvini. Even Mr. Salvini’s social media gurus admired Mr. Conte’s increased popularity, which they attributed to his institutional bearing.
At first, the Democratic Party insisted on a clean break with the previous government. But the insistence of the Five Star Movement on Mr. Conte, and Mr. Conte’s track record of not mattering much, made it easy for the Democratic Party’s negotiators to accept him as a condition of an alliance that would bring them back to power.
And in negotiations over the past week, the Democratic Party infuriated Mr. Di Maio by making it clear that it now naturally considered Mr. Conte as its chief interlocutor and the Five Star Party leader, despite his lack of official membership.
Mr. Di Maio, whose previous job experience consisted largely of working as an usher at a soccer stadium, was again forced to search for a job in the government while support for Mr. Conte came from the party’s highest authority.
Beppe Grillo, a founder of the Five Star Movement and one of its power brokers, wrote on his blog Tuesday that God had personally given him a message to send to Mr. Conte. In the post, which Mr. Grillo signed as God, he made it clear that Mr. Conte was the chosen one.
“Am I wrong,” he wrote, “or one of the biggest fears in Italy today is that you get back in the playing field, Mr. Giuseppe?”
Even Mr. Di Maio had to exalt the once-and-future leader.
“A great interpreter of this new humanism, how he himself likes to call it,” Mr. Di Maio said through a gritted smile on Wednesday night. “A man of great courage, who has demonstrated his will to serve the country with a spirit of self-sacrifice and abnegation.”
