‘Self-funded’ Donald Trump preparing to seek big-donor money ADVERTISING ‘Self-funded’ Donald Trump preparing to seek big-donor money LAS VEGAS (AP) — The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competition for relying on
‘Self-funded’ Donald Trump preparing to seek big-donor money
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The billionaire presidential candidate who prides himself on paying his own way and bashed his competition for relying on political donors now wants their money — and lots of it.
Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, recently hired a national finance chairman, scheduled his first fundraiser and is on the cusp of signing a deal with the Republican Party that would enable him to solicit donations of more than $300,000 apiece from supporters.
His money-raising begins right away.
The still-forming finance team is planning a dialing-for-dollars event on the fifth floor of Trump Tower in New York, and the campaign is at work on a fundraising website focused on small donations. In addition to a May 25 fundraiser at the Los Angeles home of real estate developer Tom Barrack, he’ll hold another soon thereafter in New York.
The political newcomer faces a gargantuan task: A general election campaign can easily run up a $1 billion tab. For the primary race, Trump spent a tiny fraction of that amount — he’s estimated $50 million of his own money, plus about $12 million from donors who sought his campaign out on their own.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah most senior commander killed in Syria
BEIRUT (AP) — The top military commander of Lebanon’s Hezbollah was killed in an explosion near the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Shiite guerrilla group said Friday, the highest-level casualty yet in its intervention in the raging civil war next door.
The death of Mustafa Badreddine strikes a heavy blow to the militant group and underscores how its deployment in Syria backing President Bashar Assad has widened its circle of enemies beyond traditional foe Israel to include Sunni extremists and conservative Gulf monarchies.
The 55-year-old Badreddine had directed Hezbollah’s operations in Syria since its fighters joined Assad’s forces in 2012, the group’s biggest ever military intervention outside of Lebanon. Thousands of guerrillas fighting alongside Syria’s military were crucial to tipping the battlefield in the government’s favor on multiple fronts, from the suburbs of Damascus to the northern province of Aleppo.
But it has come at a heavy price, with more than 1,000 Hezbollah fighters killed. Sounding a tone of defiance Friday, the group’s deputy leader said they were undeterred.
“By killing you, they gave a new push to our drive that produces one martyr after another, as well as one commander after another,” Naim Kassem said as the slain military chief was buried in a cemetery in southern Beirut.
As fliers wait in security lines, gov’t asks for patience
WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a growing backlash over extremely long waits at airport security, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson asked fliers “to be patient” as the government takes steps to get them onto planes more quickly.
Travelers across the country have endured lengthy security lines, some snaking up and down escalators, or through food courts, and into terminal lobbies. At some airports, lines during peak hours have topped 90 minutes. Airlines have reported holding planes at gates to wait for passengers to clear security.
Johnson said Friday that the government is working to ease the lines, although travelers should expect to wait as they travel this summer. Whatever steps TSA takes, Johnson said, it won’t neglect its duty to stop terrorists.
“Our job is to keep the American people safe,” Johnson told reporters at a news conference. “We’re not going to compromise aviation security in the face of this.”
The Transportation Security Administration has fewer screeners and has tightened security procedures. Airlines and the TSA have been warning customers to arrive at the airport two hours in advance, but with summer travel season approaching even that might not be enough.
Anti-counterfeiting group suspends Alibaba
SHANGHAI (AP) — An anti-counterfeiting group said Friday it was suspending Alibaba’s membership following an uproar by some companies that view the Chinese e-commerce giant as the world’s largest marketplace for fakes.
The International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition told members that it had failed to inform the board of directors about conflicts of interest involving the group’s president, Robert Barchiesi.
Earlier Friday, The Associated Press reported that Barchiesi had stock in Alibaba, had close ties to an Alibaba executive and had used family members to help run the coalition.
The coalition, in a letter to members sent after the AP report came out, said conflicts weren’t disclosed to the board “because of a weakness in our corporate governance procedures.” It said the failure was not because of “inaction on Bob’s part,” referring to Barchiesi.
The coalition said that is hiring an independent firm to review its corporate government policies.
Canadian PM arrives in fire-ravaged Fort McMurray
FORT MCMURRAY, Alberta (AP) — Canada’s Prime Minister arrived in wildfire-ravaged Fort McMurray on Friday and after taking a helicopter tour to assess the damage said he doesn’t think most Canadians comprehend yet the scope of what happened in the oil sands capital, where more than 88,000 people were forced to evacuate.
Just Trudeau arrived in the northern Alberta city almost two weeks after a massive wildfire ignited, tearing through the isolated region and surrounding areas, causing several oil sands operations to shut down. Alberta officials say they will have a plan within two weeks for getting residents back into their homes.
Trudeau said that despite following updates and watching images on TV, the scale and the disaster didn’t hit him until he visited the area.
“I don’t think Canadians yet understand what happened. They know there was a fire. They’re beginning to hear the wonderful news that so much of the town was saved,” he told 150 firefighters and first responders after his aerial tour by military helicopter of Fort McMurray.
“But they don’t yet understand that that wasn’t a fluke of wind or rain or luck that happened. This was the extraordinary response by people such as yourself. The work you did to save so much of this community, to save so much of this city and its downtown core … was unbelievable.”
New Brazil finance minister to tackle pension, labor reform
BRASILIA, Brazil (AP) — Brazil’s new finance minister pledged Friday to take on even potentially thorny reforms if they prove necessary to jump-start the stalled economy, even as the country’s interim President Michel Temer came under increasing fire for appointing an all-white, all-male Cabinet.
Temer, the former vice president, temporarily assumed the top job on Thursday after the Senate voted to impeach President Dilma Rousseff, suspending her from office and abruptly ousting nearly her entire government.
The 75-year-old career politician from the economic capital of Sao Paulo pledged that hauling Brazil out of its worst recession in decades would be his first order of business, and his appointment of Henrique Meirelles, the former head of Brazil’s Central Bank, was well-received by financial market.
The economy has been predicted to contract nearly 4 percent this year after an equally dismal 2015, and inflation and unemployment are hovering around 10 percent, underscoring a sharp decline after the South American giant had long enjoyed stellar growth.
While Meirelles pledged to take on even politically toxic reforms if his team judges them necessary — including an overhaul of the country’s onerous pension system, which allows some people to retire as early as their 50s. But he was short on details.
