Newsfront

• Atlanta Fed Keeps 3rd-Quarter GDP Growth View at 4.3%
  
  The U.S. economy is expanding at a 4.3 percent annualized rate in the third quarter, the Atlanta Federal Reserve’s GDPNow forecast model showed on Thursday following the release of the housing starts data for July.
• MBA: Home-Purchase Loan Applications Fall to 6-Month Low
  
  U.S. mortgage applications to buy a home decreased to their lowest levels in nearly six months last week even as most home borrowing costs fell, data from the Mortgage Bankers Association released this week showed.
• Amazon in Running to Acquire Landmark Movie Chain
  
  Amazon.com Inc. is in the running to acquire Landmark Theaters, a move that would vault the e-commerce giant into the brick-and-mortar cinema industry, according to people familiar with the situation.
• WSJ: Terrorists Target US Military Pilots With Lasers
  
  Increasing the chances of midair catastrophes, Middle Eastern terrorists are aiming lasers at American military flyers at a growing rate, according to The Wall Street Journal report.
• Kellyanne Conway: Trump 'Has Been the Best Friend to Veterans'
  
  President Donald Trump has been the "best friend" to veterans, according to Kellyanne Conway on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on Friday.
• Cape Cod Beaches Close Following Shark Sightings
  
  Authorities in Massachusetts have closed two Cape Cod beaches following shark sightings. According to the Cape Cod National Seashore, a shark was seen in the waters off Race Point Beach in Provincetown.
• China's 'Procreation Fund' Idea Slammed as 'Thoughtless, Absurd'
  
  With critics calling it a "thoughtless" and "absurd" way to battle the problem of an aging population, a proposal by two Chinese researchers to force couples with fewer than two children to pay into a "procreation fund" backfired Friday.
• Elon Musk: Nobody Reviewed My Fateful Tesla Funding Tweet
  
  Elon Musk said no one saw or reviewed his tweet about the plan to take Tesla Inc. private before he posted it, The New York Times reported, citing an interview in which the billionaire frequently teared up and discussed the personal strain of leading the electric-car...
• Google Clarifies Location-Tracking Policy
  
  Google has revised an erroneous description on its website of how its "Location History" setting works, clarifying that it continues to track users even if they've disabled the setting.The change came three days after an Associated Press investigation revealed that several...
• Alaska Man Faces Life in Prison for Florida Airport Shooting
  
  Having plead out of the death penalty, the Alaska man who killed give and wounded six in January 2017 Florida airport shooting will be sentenced Friday to life prison sentence plus 120 years.
• Bishops Request Vatican Investigation as Abuse Crisis Grows
  
  The leading body of U.S. Catholic leaders said Thursday it would ask the Vatican to investigate the scandal involving a former cardinal who allegedly engaged in sexual misconduct with children and adult seminarians.
• Pennsylvania Bishops Mostly Silent on State AG's Challenge
  
  The leadership of Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic Church is under pressure to support a change in state law to give those victims, now adults, a temporary opportunity to file lawsuits on decades-old abuse claims
• Pentagon: Chinese Pilots 'Likely Training' for Bomber Strikes on US
  
  Chinese bombers are likely training for strikes against U.S. and allied targets in the Pacific, according to a new Pentagon report that also details how Beijing is transforming its ground forces to "fight and win."
• More than 1,000 Google Workers Protest Censored China Search
  
  More than a thousand Google employees have signed a letter protesting the company's secretive plan to build a search engine that would comply with Chinese censorship.The letter calls on executives to review ethics and transparency at the company.The letter's contents were...
• NY Times: Omarosa May Have 200 Tapes
  
  Omarosa Manigualt Newman might have as many as 200 secret tapes, which is rattling the White House, according to The New York Times.
• 9 Planes Grounded by Bomb Threats in South America
  
  Nine planes were forced to make emergency changes to their routes within Chilean, Argentine and Peruvian airspace on Thursday because of bomb threats issued to Chile's civil aviation authority, its director general told journalists.At least two of the planes were operated...
• Papadopoulos' Wife: Drop Plea Deal Amid 'Exculpatory Evidences'
  
  The wife of a former Trump campaign aide who is alleged to have set off a chain of events that started the Russia investigation wants her husband to pull out of his plea deal with special counsel Robert Mueller ahead of his sentencing.
• Cox Survey: Support for Self-Driving Cars Declines
  
  In a new survey, almost half of Americans vowed to not purchase a fully automated vehicle, part of a trend of declining support for self-driving cars.
• Report: Special Master Rules 7,146 Cohen Docs Privileged
  
  Among over 1 million documents and materials seized from President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen are more than 7,000 determined to be protected by attorney-client privilege.
• WSJ: Trump 'Grab 'Em' Tape Inspired Cohen to Give Hush Money
  
  Michael Cohen refused giving hush money to Stormy Daniels but had to change his mind after a 2005 video of Donald Trump talking about groping women surfaced in October 2016, according to The Wall Street Journal.
• Drug Cartels, Gangs Using Drones in 'Arms Race' Against Police
  
  Drug cartels and organized criminals are now using high-tech drones to conduct surveillance on police, thereby evading law enforcement, analysts and agencies say.Not so long ago, most of the headlines about drone technology reflected civil-liberty concerns: What would keep...
• GOP Buys Cuomo Ticket to Canada for Saying America Not Great
  
  New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's political opponents on the right and left seized Thursday on his comment that America "was never that great," with Republicans buying him a bus ticket to Canada and intra-party rival Cynthia Nixon accusing him of trying and failing to sound like...
• Corn Farmers Advocate Calls for EPA Deregulation on E15 Fuel
  
  President Donald Trump's promise to fix a regulatory barrier that prevents gas stations from selling 15 percent ethanol blends year-round must be carried through, according to a renewable fuels and corn farmers' advocate urging of the EPA.
• Manafort Jury Ends First Day of Deliberations With Questions
  
  The jury in the fraud trial of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort ended its first day of deliberations with a series of questions to the judge, including a request to "redefine" reasonable doubt.The questions came after roughly seven hours of deliberation,...
• Tax Lawyer: Strzok Might Have to Pay Tax on GoFundMe Windfall
  
  If Anti-Trump texter Peter Strzok cannot prove more than $422,000 in GoFundMe donations poured in out of "pure generosity," the IRS could tax the cash, a tax lawyer told The Weekly Standard.

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