LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — Police have arrested a man they say robbed a woman in gunpoint in Lexington Tuesday evening.
Police say just before 7:30 Tuesday evening, 20-year-old Kameron Murray put a gun to the head of a woman who was riding with him in his car.
They say he stole her belongings and threw his gun, which police say was stolen, out the window.
According to police, the woman was able to get away without being hurt.
Police say they arrested Murray just minutes after the robbery.
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees living in sprawling camps in Bangladesh were celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Wednesday, praying for better lives and wondering if they’ll ever again celebrate at their homes in Myanmar.
The calls to the faithful came early in the camps and people streamed into the makeshift mosques, the children in freshly washed clothes.
The four-day holiday of Eid al-Adha celebrates the Prophet Ibrahim and his willingness to sacrifice his son. Muslims often slaughter sheep, cattle or goats on the holiday, distributing some meat to the poor. But few in the camps could afford such luxuries this year.
The Muslim Rohingyas have faced generations of discrimination in largely Buddhist Myanmar, denied citizenship rights, attacked in pogroms and sometimes not able to practice their faith openly.
“We could not pray during Eid in my village for years, we had to pray secretly,” said refugee Nurul Alam. “I have freedom here, but I don’t want it here.”
“We don’t belong here,” he continued. “It’s good that nobody is coming to kill us, but I want to go back where my parents’ graves are located.”
More than 700,000 Rohingya poured into Bangladesh last year fleeing a scorched-earth campaign by the Myanmar military and Buddhist mobs after attacks by a Rohingya insurgent group. Thousands of people are believed to have been killed in the crackdown, which many rights activists believe was a calculated attempt to drive Rohingya from the country.
Many in Myanmar see the Rohingya as illegal migrants from Bangladesh, deriding them as “Bengalis.” Most have long lived in poverty in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, next to Bangladesh.
The events of the past year have made for a poignant Eid al-Adha.
“We are happy, but again we are not happy, said 60-year-old Shamsul Alam as he walked to a mosque for prayers. “I had my land, I had a grocery shop there, I had rice, potatoes to eat there. Here I don’t have any problem for food, but I don’t have what I need.”
“I am nobody here,” he said finally.
French President Emmanuel Macron is back from summer vacation and he plans to launch a new push for economic changes as he faces growing criticism at home.
The 40-year-old leader holds a Cabinet meeting Wednesday at the Elysee presidential palace.
Macron hopes his break will help give his policies new impetus after a nightmare political scenario in July. His government survived two no-confidence votes last month following a scandal over a top Macron security aide, Alexandre Benalla, identified in a video as acting violently toward a protester while wearing police equipment.
While the centrist leader promised transparency and an exemplary government before his election, the scandal has raised questions about his team’s working methods and actions.
Benalla, who initially stayed in his job before a public uproar led to his dismissal, has since faced initial charges, including committing violent acts and impersonating a police officer.
The latest public opinion polls at the end of July have seen Macron’s popularity rate at its lowest level since he was elected in May 2017.
Opponents commonly describe Macron as “Jupiter,” the Roman king of gods, or “Napoleon” —in a reference to his authoritarian style and tendency to use special powers to pass some key measures without a parliamentary debate. In addition, critics often portray him as the “president of the rich,” for tax cuts for the wealthy.
Similar comments have been recently revived by his request to build a 34,000-euro ($39,200) swimming pool in the presidential summer residence on the French Riviera.
The French leader took 15 days of vacation, reading books and enjoying the view of turquoise waters. He made only a few public appearances.
He invited British Prime Minister Theresa May for dinner, with Brexit discussions on the agenda. He also had phone calls with several world leaders, including President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
An official at the French presidency said Macron’s international agenda in the coming weeks will focus on showing a united European front in Brexit negotiations.
Macron seeks to strengthen ties between pro-European governments, seen as opposed to rising populism in the European Union. He’s notably planning to visit Denmark and Finland at the end of the month and meet with Merkel in early September. The official spoke on customary condition of anonymity.
Macron is likely to face a tough task in domestic politics. The government is preparing the country’s budget for next year as the economic growth forecast is lower than previously expected at an estimated 1.8 percent, compared with 2.2 percent last year.
Macron is planning to focus on pursuing further labor changes with a bill focusing on helping small businesses to grow by removing some financial and bureaucratic barriers.
Over the past year, the government struggled to pass labor measures and a plan to revamp national railway company SNCF.
The changes have been rejected by unions as weakening workers’ hard-won protections, prompting big protests last autumn and spring, and months-long rolling strikes from railway workers.
The government will also detail next month a sweeping overhaul of the costly health care system, including hospital financing. The plan will be closely monitored as the French are attached to preserving the system, widely considered one of the best in the world.
Meanwhile, key constitutional changes were delayed because the Benalla scandal interrupted the debate at parliament in July. The changes were aimed at fulfilling some of Macron’s campaign promises like decreasing the number of lawmakers and accelerating the process to make laws. The government hopes to be able to revive the plan this autumn.
In addition, Macron wants to reorganize the structure of the Elysee Palace and its 820 workers, especially in the fields of security, communication, transportation and logistics. The changes may be sensitive since they would challenge decades-old traditions and ways of working.
Macron’s office stresses that it needs to be modernized to be more reactive and efficient. For example, the military command unit ensuring security inside the Elysee is also in charge of mundane tasks like printing invitation cards, while Macron’s highly trained bodyguards are also responsible for carrying the luggage of the president’s aides during official trips.
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The commander of U.S. forces in South Korea said Wednesday that he’s cautiously optimistic nuclear diplomacy will work out with North Korea. But he also said Seoul and Washington must continue to apply pressure so that “there’s not a reason or even an ability” for the North to back out.
Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters that reports about continuing nuclear and missile development activities in North Korea show that Pyongyang currently lacks confidence that it can take real steps toward denuclearization and still be safe.
“While I do seek to have empathy to understand why North Korea is doing what it’s doing and where it’s coming from, nevertheless, this is a condition North Korea created for itself,” Brooks said in a news conference in Seoul. “They will have to take the risk to move into the direction toward peace, given that they created the circumstances we are in.”
Following a provocative year in weapons development, during which it tested a purported thermonuclear warhead and demonstrated potential capability to strike the U.S. mainland, the North has shifted to a diplomatic approach in 2018.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic summit with President Donald Trump in June. They issued aspirations for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing when or how it would occur.
Post-summit talks aimed at mapping out a denuclearization process got off to a rocky start, with North Korea accusing a senior U.S. delegation led by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of making unilateral demands for the country to relinquish its arsenal. North Korea has also been demanding that the United States fast-track discussions on a declaration to formally end the Korean War, which stopped with an armistice and not a peace treaty.
Nuclear diplomacy with North Korea has been littered with failures in past decades. But Brooks said the chances of success are better this time around because of the change of governments in Washington and Seoul and also because the threat posed by the North’s nuclear and long-range missile program is greater than ever. For diplomatic efforts to succeed, it would be critical for the allies and North Korea to overcome distrust and misperception, where “actions taken by one party are not understood the way they were intended to be by the actor when the receiver sees it,” Brooks said.
He noted that the United States and North Korea have made important trust-building steps in past weeks, such as the North returning 55 sets of remains of what are believed to be U.S. servicemen killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.
“It was a very important step, but it’s akin to one plank being put down on a long bridge that crosses a long gap of distrust,” Brooks said.
Analysts say a declaration to officially end the war would make it easier for Pyongyang to steer the discussions with Washington toward a peace treaty, diplomatic recognition, security assurance and economic benefits.
Washington has maintained that Pyongyang wouldn’t be offered sanctions relief and significant rewards unless it firmly commits to a process of completely and verifiably eliminating its nuclear weapons.
“There clearly is an urgency for this, especially on part of North Korea. But this is one that really has to be understood among especially the three countries — South Korea, North Korea and the United States.” Brooks said. “What it means has to be very clear, that needs to be understood in advance, and what it doesn’t mean also perhaps need to be understood.”
RICHMOND, Ky. (WTVQ) – There are more than 1,600 tombstones at the Maple Grove Cemetery in Madison County.
“If you’re African-American in Madison County and born here, you probably have relatives here,” said Judy Greene-Baker, the President of the Friends of Maple Grove Cemetery.
She’s concerned about the condition of the cemetery. She’s enlisted the help of faith leaders such as Reverend Virgil Gardner to join the Friends of Maple Grove, a group dedicated to preserving the cemetery.
“There’s been two people that have been taking care of the cemetery since 2013, and they need help because there is a lot of work to be done here,” said Garner.
Greene-Baker says the organization will need to raise about $17,000 to accomplish all the projects they want done, such as repairing damaged tombstones, paving the road in the cemetery and putting signage outside of the cemetery. A task Greene-Baker thinks is worth every ounce of effort.
“To me, it’s just not a place where bodies are buried, it’s history, it’s our ancestry. There’s a whole lifetime between the beginning and the end,” said Greene-Baker.
MONTEZUMA, Iowa (AP) – The immigrant from Mexico charged in the kidnapping and murder of an Iowa college student worked at a dairy farm owned by the family of a prominent state Republican leader.
Yarrabee Farms said in a statement that Cristhian Bahena Rivera had worked at its farms for the last four years and was an employee in good standing. The company said it was shocked to hear that Rivera had been charged in the death of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts.
Spokesman Dane Lang said Tuesday night that Yarrabee Farms is a “small family farm” owned by him and his father, Craig Lang, who has long been a prominent Iowa farmer and political figure.
Craig Lang previously served as president of the Iowa Farm Bureau and president of the Iowa Board of Regents, which governs the state’s public universities. In June, he lost a close GOP primary in the race for state agriculture secretary.
Rivera was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder in Tibbetts’ death.
A powerful earthquake shook Venezuela‘s northeastern coast and parts of the Caribbean but likely caused little damage besides knocking out power in some places and toppling supermarket shelves because of its depth, experts said.
The 7.3 quake Tuesday was the largest to strike Venezuela since 1900, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. But at a depth of some 76 miles (123 kilometers) beneath the Earth’s surface it appeared to have caused only limited damage even near its epicenter a few miles off the Cariaco peninsula stretching into the eastern Caribbean.
“Shaking does die off at a distance,” said seismologist Lucy Jones, a research associate with the California Institute of Technology, adding that the earthquake’s considerable depth likely prevented a tragedy.
In Cumana, the biggest city near the quake’s center, supermarket shelves came crashing down.
In downtown Caracas, concrete from the top floors of the unfinished Tower of David skyscraper fell to the sidewalk, forcing firefighters to close off traffic. A block away, children wearing surgical masks stretched their neck toward the 620-foot (190 meter) building after having fled a nearby foundation for poor children suffering from cancer.
“We felt something strong and they told everyone to run,” said Marisela Lopez, who was at the foundation with her 7-year-old daughter when the quake struck.
Construction of the Tower of David began in 1990 as a symbol to the OPEC nation’s ambitions of becoming a regional finance center. But it was abandoned after a banking crisis and in the past two decades of socialist rule has become a symbol of urban blight, having been occupied by squatters until 2015.
The quake was felt as far away as Colombia’s capital of Bogota, where authorities briefly closed the international airport to inspect for runway damage.
The confusing moments after the quake were captured live on Venezuelan state television as Diosdado Cabello, the head of the all-powerful constitutional assembly, was delivering a speech at a march in support of the socialist government’s recent package of reforms to rescue an economy beset by hyperinflation and widespread shortages.
“Quake!” people yelled as Cabello and others looked from side to side with a mixture of laughter and concern. “It’s the Bolivarian revolution speaking to the world,” Cabello thundered to applause.
Experts have long warned that Venezuela’s cash-strapped government is ill-prepared to deal with a major natural disaster. Hospitals have scant supplies, many ambulances are grounded and food and water are among goods that have disappeared in a country suffering from inflation estimated by the International Monetary Fund to reach 1 million percent this year.
Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said that so far there were no reports of fatalities.
Power outages were reported across nearby Trinidad, where people ran into the street and gasped as large glass panes at one supermarket shattered and falling concrete smashed several cars. The quake also cracked walls and thousands of goods fell off supermarket shelves. No injuries or deaths were immediately reported.
The earthquake also was felt in Guyana, Barbados and Grenada.
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AP Writer Danica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tony Fraser in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Christine Armario in Bogota, Colombia contributed to this report.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) – Paul Manafort, the political operative who once led Donald Trump’s successful presidential campaign, has been found guilty of eight financial crimes in the first trial victory of the special counsel investigation into the president’s associates.
A judge declared a mistrial on 10 other counts the jury could not agree on.
The verdict Tuesday was part of a stunning one-two punch of bad news for the White House, coming as the president’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, was pleading guilty in New York to campaign finance charges arising from hush money payments made to two women who say they had sexual relationships with Trump.
The jury returned the decision after deliberating four days on tax and bank fraud charges against Manafort.
NEW YORK (AP) – An attorney for President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” says his client has knowledge on certain subjects that “should be of interest” to special counsel Robert Mueller, who’s investigating possible Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.
Lawyer Lanny Davis told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Tuesday night that Michael Cohen is “more than happy to tell the special counsel all that he knows.”
Davis’ comments came after Cohen pleaded guilty earlier Tuesday to campaign-finance violations and other charges, saying Trump directed him to arrange the payment of hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels and a former Playboy model to fend off damage to his White House bid.
Davis told Maddow that from this point on, the public is going to see a “liberated Michael Cohen speaking truth to power.”
PINEVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ)- Kentucky State Police are looking for two inmates who they say assaulted staff members and escaped from the Bell County Detention Center Tuesday night.
KSP says 41-year-old David Mosely and 45-year-old Matthew Price assaulted detention staff members by spraying one staff member in the eyes with bleach while the other staff member was assaulted causing injuries to the ribs.
Mosely is described as 6’1″, 200 pounds, and bald. Price is described as 5’9″, 170 pounds with blondish brown hair. Both Mosely and Price have multiple tattoos including on their chest.
Kentucky State Police is asking the public to not approach either individual if you see them. KSP is asking you to contact 911 or KSP Post 10 Harlan with any information on the whereabouts of Price and Mosely.
A government lawmaker said on Wednesday he was planning a second challenge against Australia‘s prime minister after losing a leadership ballot.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull called on his government to unite behind him after lawmakers in the ruling conservative Liberal Party chose to keep him as their leader 48 votes to 35 in a ballot on Tuesday.
Turnbull surprised his enemies by calling the ballot before his challenger Peter Dutton had had time to lobby colleagues for support.
But Dutton confirmed that he was now sounding out support for a second challenge.
“I am not going to beat around the bush on that, I am speaking to colleagues,” Dutton told Melbourne Radio 3AW.
“You don’t go into a ballot believing you’re going to lose, and if I believe that a majority of colleagues support me, then I would consider my position,” he added.
Dutton has dashed Turnbull’s hopes of unifying the conservative coalition under his leadership ahead of general elections due by May.
Australia has had years of political instability since Prime Minister John Howard lost power in 2007 after more than 11 years in office. No prime minister has lasted a full three-year term since. They have all been thrown out of power by their own parties in the face of poor opinion polling.
Darren Chester, a minister in The Nationals party, the junior coalition partner, has threatened to take away the government’s single-seat majority in the House of Representatives if Turnbull was deposed.
Chester said he and other lawmakers were considering quitting a government that was not led by Turnbull, which could force an election.
“I know of other colleagues who are deeply worried about” Turnbull being overthrown, Chester said.
Dutton quit as Home Affairs Minister after Tuesday’s challenge failed.
Another 10 ministers who supported Dutton’s challenge have also offered their resignations, but it is not clear how many the prime minister has accepted.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- We told you about a robbery suspect who Lexington Police were looking for last Friday in connection to a robbery and an assault. Police say that man has turned himself in.
Police say 18-year-old Trey Whitaker Blackburn turned himself in Tuesday evening. They say the 17-year-old male involved in the Chelsea Woods Drive incident was found Tuesday evening and faces multiple charges.
SITKA, Ky. (WTVQ) – A woman was killed in a single vehicle crash in Johnson County Tuesday afternoon, according to State Police.
Investigators say a vehicle driven by 69-year old Toby Hall Conley, of Sitka, veered off Puncheon Creek, went over an embankment and struck a tree. She was pronounced dead at the scene, according to KSP.
The deadly accident remains under investigation.
Not so long ago, people in Bosnia were sarcastically joking that their war-scarred country is in such a bad shape that not even the migrants fleeing violence and poverty in the Mideast and Africa were willing to pass through it.
That’s not the case anymore.
As previous migration routes to Western Europe from the Balkans have closed off over the past year, the trail has shifted toward Bosnia. Now the impoverished nation is trying secure proper shelters for at least 4,000 people expected to be stranded in its territory throughout the coming winter.
Peter Van der Auweraert of the International Organization for Migration says it’s a race against time.
“We have to accelerate the process, because the danger is that when the first snow falls . we will have people sleeping outside in conditions that even in summer were already not acceptable,” he said.
Since the beginning of the year, close to 11,000 migrants and refugees have entered Bosnia, which has never truly recovered from its brutal 1992-95 war, which left more than 100,000 dead and forced more than half the population to flee before a peace deal was brokered.
That compares to just 755 migrant arrivals for all of 2017.
Bosnian authorities have increased border controls along its northeastern border with Serbia, but between 400 and 500 migrants are still entering Bosnia weekly.
Most end up living in horrible conditions in the northwestern Krajina region on the border with European Union member Croatia, which shares a 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) border with Bosnia.
Thousands have been staying in an abandoned dormitory, a windowless, roofless concrete building on the edge of Bihac, and in tents in the woodlands surrounding it. In the nearby cities of Velika Kladusa and Cazin, smaller groups of migrants have set up squalid makeshift camps where they spend days curled up on the ground, cooking simple meals over open fires and watching their children play in the dirt.
Local Red Cross volunteers have been providing food for migrants and refugees in Bihac since April. At first, they fed just a few hundred people, relying on local donations. But since July, they have been serving two meals a day to 1,500 migrants who are also receiving basic health care from local medical workers.
Although the U.N. refugee agency and the IOM have now joined the effort, local volunteers are desperate for more help.
“We are reaching the end of our rope, because this has been going on for four months already. Only God knows what awaits us in the future,” said Abdulah Budimlic, head of the Red Cross organization in Bihac.
While around 60 percent of those who entered Bosnia this year have managed to cross into Croatia, more and more migrants in Bihac and Velika Kladusa have accused Croatian police of beating them, confiscating their meager belongings and pushing them back into Bosnia.
Croatian police have repeatedly denied those claims.
“They take your mobile phones, your power pack. They destroy these and say ‘Don’t come back,'” said Abdul Hai Baloch from Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province.
Amjad Dakkakn, a 25-year-old from Syria, echoed the sentiment, swinging his fists to illustrate how he was treated by Croatian border guards, calling them thieves for smashing his phone and taking his money.
“They are hitting us as they hit an animal,” claimed AbuBakar Khan, a 20-year-old from Pakistan who has made several unsuccessful attempts to cross the border since arriving in Bihac about a month ago.
Having lived through their country’s brutal 1990s war, Bosnians sympathize more than most with those fleeing their homes in search of a better, safer life. But they are growing more vocal in their criticism of the national government, accusing officials of forcing towns and villages to deal with the migrants’ many needs on their own.
“In less than a month, the weather will change. It will get cold,” said Bihac resident Halid Dedic. “I fear that the local people will be left alone to face the migrants.”
Bosnian Security Minister Dragan Mektic hopes the pressure will be eased after the EU pledged 6 million euros ($6.9 million) earlier this month to help Bosnia with the unprecedented migrant influx. It comes on top of 1.5 million euros ($1.7 million) Bosnia already received from the EU in June for migration-related needs.
“Now that the EU had provided us with this substantial donation … I believe we will have enough time to set up proper reception centers where migrants can spend the winter and be treated humanely,” Mektic said.
Those better conditions can’t come soon enough for the migrants in Bosnia.
“I just want a safe life, to work and live like normal people,” said Khan, but he appeared resigned to the fact he probably will spend many months in Bosnia under the “very worst” conditions before he is able to leave.
“(The EU) needs to fund Bosnia to prepare camps here and to protect refugees,” he said.
Was that martini offered to Idris Elba at the “Yardie” premiere shaken or stirred?
Unclear, but it was a good try by a reporter looking to find out if he’ll become the first black James Bond.
Elba, who directed “Yardie,” was also hounded by a flying insect that buzzed him and fiancee Sabrina Dhowre on the yellow carpet (We aren’t referring to media who wouldn’t let the Bond question go).
Last week, Elba posted a selfie on Twitter and wrote “my name’s Elba, Idris Elba,” echoing Bond’s catchphrase. The actor acknowledged that “apparently” he set off a bit of a firestorm “by telling people my name.”
Many Elba fans have campaigned for him to be the first black James Bond over the years.
One reporter extended a martini and asked if he’d like it shaken or stirred.
Elba’s response: “Stir fried.”
MARTIN COUNTY, Ky. (WTVQ)- Martin County schools will be closed for a second straight day on Wednesday, August 22, due to ongoing air conditioning issues, according to school officials.
Classes weren’t held today because of the lack of air conditioning and Martin County Middle School students were dismissed early Monday for the same reason.
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Lexington firefighters say food left unattended on a stove led to a fire that damaged a home on Keeneland Court late Tuesday afternoon.
Investigators say an observant passerby saw smoke coming out of a window of the home and immediately called 911.
Firefighters say they were able to quickly get the fire under control.
They say no one was inside the home when the fire began. No one was hurt.
A powerful earthquake shook Venezuela‘s northeastern coast on Tuesday, spooking residents in the capital who evacuated buildings and briefly interrupting a pro-government rally in favor of a series of controversial economic reforms.
The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 7.3 and said it had a depth of 76 miles (123 kilometers). Its epicenter was 12 miles (20 kilometers) northwest of Yaguaraparo, Venezuela.
A witness in Cumana, one of the biggest cities near the epicenter, said there were initial reports of several injuries at a shopping center where an escalator fell, but that there were no other immediate signs of damage in the vicinity.
John Boquett, a firefighter captain in Caracas, said there were no initial reports of injuries or major damage in the capital.
The quake was felt as far away as Colombia’s capital of Bogota, and in Caracas office workers and residents fled from their buildings and homes. The confusing moments after the quake were captured on state television as Diosdado Cabello, the head of the all-powerful constitutional assembly, was delivering a speech at a march.
“Quake!” people yelled as Cabello and others looked from side to side.
A similar-sized quake in the same area left dozens dead in 1997.
It may have been a lousy night for Madonna at the MTV Video Music Awards, but the event offered some glimmers of hope for the network.
The Nielsen company estimated that 5.23 million watched Monday’s annual tribute to what’s current in popular music across several Viacom-owned networks. While that’s down from the 5.68 million who watched last year, the network appears to have slowed the show’s rapid decline over the past years while showing increases in digital engagement.
MTV estimated that there had been some 141.6 million video streams of content related to the awards show for the past month — including Monday night — up from 76 million a year ago. MTV said it doesn’t have an estimate of how many people streamed Monday’s entire show through the network’s app.
Those numbers hold a greater importance for the younger viewers that MTV seeks, considering how many people experience “television” now on their devices.
Among viewers aged 18 to 34, MTV topped all other cable and broadcast numbers for the period of time that the VMAs were on, Nielsen said.
Television ratings for the awards show have been shrinking rapidly in recent years. In 2015, for example, 9.8 million watched on television. In 2011, when Katy Perry was the big winner, the show had a record viewership of 12.4 million people.
MTV moved the event from Sunday to Monday this year, which is generally a better night for the network, and closer to the middle of August so there would be less competition.
The show had its moments, including a glittery Jennifer Lopez medley. Madonna received a harsh reaction for telling a story about the late Aretha Franklin that had more to do with her than the late Queen of Soul.
The event as a whole, however, was lacking in star power, with Drake, Bruno Mars, Childish Gambino, Beyonce, Rihanna and Kendrick Lamar among the missing. If MTV can prove that it has arrested the event’s decline, it may make stars more willing to show up in the future.
With a double shot of its most popular show, “America’s Got Talent,” NBC won the week in prime-time, averaging 4.4 million viewers. CBS had 3.6 million viewers, ABC had 3.2 million, Fox had 1.6 mullion, ION Television had 1.4 million, Telemundo had 1.2 million, Univision had 1.1 million and the CW had 800,000.
Viewers continue to find other things to do. Prime-time ratings for the four biggest networks were down by 13 percent compared to the same week last year. Two of the three cable news networks had better ratings than the Fox network.
Fox News Channel was the week’s most popular cable network, averaging 2.24 million viewers in prime time, MSNBC had 1.78 million viewers, HGTV had 1.35 million, USA had 1.34 million and ESPN had 1.26 million.
ABC’s “World News Tonight” led the evening newscasts with an average of 8 million viewers. NBC’s “Nightly News” was second with 7.4 million viewers and the “CBS Evening News” had 5.6 million.
For the week of Aug. 13-19, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: “America’s Got Talent” (Tuesday), NBC, 11.14 million; “America’s Got Talent” (Wednesday), NBC, 9.86 million; “60 Minutes,” CBS, 6.29 million; “Big Brother” (Wednesday), CBS, 5.83 million; “Big Brother” (Sunday), CBS, 5.8 million; “Big Brother” (Thursday), CBS, 5.73 million; “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS, 5.51 million; “NCIS,” CBS, 5.4 million; “World of Dance,” NBC, 5.13 million; “American Ninja Warrior,” NBC, 5.08 million.
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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox is owned by 21st Century Fox. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks.
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Online:
http://www.nielsen.com
USGS: Magnitude 7.0 earthquake shakes Venezuela; buildings evacuated in Caracas.
NEW YORK (AP) – The Latest on a financial fraud probe involving Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Michael Cohen (all times local):
5:15 p.m.
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen says that he made hush money payments to two women “at the direction” of Trump.
Deputy U.S. Attorney Robert Khuzami told reporters on Tuesday after Cohen’s guilty plea that he submitted invoices to the candidate’s company to obtain reimbursement for the unlawful campaign contributions.
Cohen pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The 51-year-old Cohen said in federal court in New York on Tuesday that he made the payments in coordination with Trump, who wasn’t named, to influence the election. Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he denies.
The other charges Cohen pleaded guilty to involve bank fraud and income tax evasion.
As part of his plea agreement, Cohen agreed not to challenge any sentence from 46 to 63 months.
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4:55 p.m.
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer,” Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The 51-year-old Cohen said in federal court in New York on Tuesday that he made the payments in coordination with Trump, who wasn’t named, to influence the election. Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he denies.
The other charges Cohen pleaded guilty to involve bank fraud and income tax evasion.
As part of his plea agreement, Cohen agreed not to challenge any sentence from 46 to 63 months.
Cohen’s plea follows months of federal scrutiny and a falling out with the president, whom he previously said he’d “take a bullet” for.
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4:45 p.m.
Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and “fixer” Michael Cohen, has pleaded guilty to charges including campaign finance fraud stemming from hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels and ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal.
The 51-year-old Cohen entered the plea in federal court in New York on Tuesday. The other charges involve bank fraud and income tax evasion.
As part of his plea agreement, Cohen agreed not to challenge any sentence from 46 to 63 months.
Cohen’s plea follows months of scrutiny from federal investigations and a falling out with the president, whom he previously said he’d “take a bullet” for.
FBI raids in April sought bank records, communications with Trump’s campaign and information on payments to Daniels and McDougal.
Both women claimed Trump had affairs with them, which he denies.
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4:30 p.m.
President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has told a federal judge he plans to plead guilty to federal charges.
Cohen is facing a judge in federal court in New York on Tuesday.
The charges include campaign contribution violations, tax evasion and making a false statement to a financial institution.
The investigation into Cohen has pulled back the curtain on Cohen’s role as the president’s loyal “fixer.”
Earlier this year he admitted arranging a $130,000 payment to quiet porn actress Stormy Daniels’ claims that she had an affair with Trump
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4:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney has entered a federal courtroom in New York where two people familiar with his case say he will plead guilty to federal fraud charges.
Michael Cohen sat down by himself at the defense table Tuesday before he was joined by his lawyer, Guy Petrillo.
The people spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
They say the campaign finance charges involve payments to two women.
The investigation into Cohen has pulled back the curtain on Cohen’s role as the president’s loyal “fixer.”
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3:10 p.m.
Two people familiar with the financial fraud investigation of Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, say he will plead guilty to federal charges including campaign finance fraud, bank fraud and tax evasion.
Cohen is due to appear in court in New York at 4 p.m. Tuesday. He was earlier seen going into an FBI building.
The people spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
They say the campaign finance charges involve payments to two women.
The investigation into Cohen has pulled back the curtain on Cohen’s role as the president’s loyal “fixer.”
Earlier this year he admitted arranging a $130,000 payment to quiet porn actress Stormy Daniels’ claims that she had an affair with Trump.
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2:45 p.m.
Two people familiar with the financial fraud investigation of Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, say he has reached a plea agreement.
Cohen is due to appear in federal court in New York at 4 p.m. Tuesday. He was earlier seen going into a building where the FBI has its New York offices.
The people spoke to the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.
They did not know the details of the agreement.
The investigation into Cohen has pulled back the curtain on Cohen’s role as the president’s loyal “fixer.”
Earlier this year he admitted arranging a $130,000 payment to quiet porn actress Stormy Daniels’ claims that she had an affair with Trump.
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1:35 p.m.
Two people familiar with the financial fraud investigation of Donald Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen, say his lawyers are in negotiations with prosecutors that could result in a plea deal, possibly within hours.
The people say the lawyer could plead guilty in Manhattan federal court as early as Tuesday afternoon, if a deal is struck requiring cooperation with the government. The people spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to publicly discuss the case.
Cohen was Trump’s longtime personal lawyer until weeks ago. He was seen going into his lawyers’ offices early Tuesday.
Prosecutors had been investigating Cohen for possible fraud related to his businesses for months. The FBI raided his hotel room, home and office on April 9, seizing more than 4 million items.
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12:10 p.m.
A New York judge has formally ended the attorney-client privilege review of items seized from President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer, leaving prosecutors to decide what’s next in their fraud probe.
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood on Tuesday publicly filed an order that was signed Monday, ending attorney Michael Cohen’s effort to bar as privileged some items seized by the FBI in April raids on his dwellings.
The judge had appointed a special master to review 4 million items. She says she agrees with the special master 7,146 items are privileged, eight are partially privileged and 285 are highly personal.
She says Cohen, Trump or the Trump Organization wanted another 57 items designated privileged but agreed not to contest the special master’s findings.
Cohen’s then-lawyer called the use of search warrants “completely inappropriate.”
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8/21/2018 5:27:17 PM (GMT -4:00)