Friday morning news: August 30, 2019

Florida, Georgia residents brace for Hurricane Dorian » Florida and Georgia are bracing for what forecasters now say could be a category 4 hurricane at landfall. 

As Dorian lurks over the Atlantic, residents are boarding up windows and gassing up their cars. In some parts of Florida that is no easy task. 

AUDIO: I actually waited a little bit later and I went to three gas stations that had no gas.

And as many try to stock up on essentials, tempers flared at a grocery store in Miami-Dade County.     

AUDIO: [Sound from grocery store] 

The cone of uncertainty still stretches from the Florida Keys all the way up to the Georgia coast. At the moment central Florida’s Space Coast appears to be in the bullseye. But Governor Ron DeSantis said Thursday…

DESANTIS: You can make a case that this could have an effect in virtually every part of the state. I urge you to follow local reports. I urge you to listen to the National Hurricane Center. 

Strong winds will start blowing in on Sunday, with Dorian smashing the coastline on Labor Day. 

While forecasters warn of 130 mile per hour winds, officials say storm surge and flooding pose just as great a threat. 

President Trump on Thursday called off a planned trip to Poland. He said he’ll stay put to oversee the federal response to the storm. 

China, U.S. continue trade talks as new tariffs loom » China said Thursday that it wants to deescalate the ongoing trade war with the United States. A spokesman for the Commerce Ministry said his government does not immediately plan to retaliate against new tariffs on Chinese goods that President Trump announced last week. 

Gao Feng said the two sides should continue discussing how to end the trade war. 

President Trump on Thursday said negotiators continue to talk. 

TRUMP: There is a talk scheduled for today at a different level. And yeah, they’ve been talking and, you know, the fake news tried to say we weren’t talking last week and then the vice premier of China said no, no, we have been talking. You know, he spoke to people. 

But, while the Chinese delegation was expected to travel to Washington next month, Gao Feng said the two sides are “still discussing” whether that will happen.

He said—quoting here—“The most important thing now is to create the necessary conditions for continuing the negotiations.” He added that the “US must call off its plan to impose [additional] tariffs” on more than $500 billion dollars of Chinese goods. 

DOJ watchdog says Comey violated FBI policies but does not recommend charges » Former FBI Director James Comey broke agency rules by keeping and leaking information about private conversations with President Trump. That according to the internal watchdog at the Department of Justice. WORLD Radio’s Anna Johansen has more. 

ANNA JOHANSEN, REPORTER: The DOJ’s inspector general released a report Thursday detailing its probe of James Comey’s handling and leaks of sensitive information. 

The report said Comey violated FBI policies when he took home memos about private meetings with President Trump and passed information to a friend to leak to the media. It also stated that Comey failed to notify the bureau after he was dismissed in May 2017 that he still had some of those memos in a safe at his house. 

Comey admitted he hoped the leak would lead to the appointment of a special counsel to lead the Justice Department’s Russia probe. 

The report said by violating bureau policies, Comey set a “dangerous example” for other FBI employees. But the inspector general did not recommend any criminal charges against him. 

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Anna Johansen. 

Police thwart would-be college shooter » Police in High Point, North Carolina say they’ve thwarted what might have been a deadly shooting. 

Classmates of a 19-year-old freshman at High Point University reported him for having firearms on campus. When security officials investigated, they discovered two guns in his possession. 

Police arrested the suspect and charged him with two felony counts of having weapons on campus and making threats of violence. Investigators say the man claimed if his roommate got into a fraternity and he did not, he would kill his roommate and himself because he was tired of being an outcast. 

The man purchased the guns over the weekend and police say he had recently studied videos of previous mass shootings. 

Italy forms new governing coalition » Italy’s top leaders are holding onto power and squeezing out the politician who attempted to dismantle the government last week. WORLD Radio’s Kristen Flavin reports. 

KRISTEN FLAVIN, REPORTER: Giuseppe Conte resigned as prime minister last week. But on Thursday helped forge a partnership between two opposing parties—the populist Five Star movement and the center-left Democratic Party.

The new governing coalition pushes out the right-of-center League party and its firebrand leader, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini. Salvini pulled his party out of the previous governing coalition last week. He had hoped to trigger new elections and become prime minister, but the move backfired.

The new coalition has tapped Conte to serve again. Conte said the new government will welcome—quote—“a new humanism.” That could hint at a big shift away from Salvini’s anti-migration stance.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Kristen Flavin. 

Apple apologizes for Siri eavesdropping » Hey Siri, stop eavesdropping! 

Apple said Wednesday it will stop recording user interactions with its digital voice assistant Siri. That after a whistleblower told The Guardian that Siri had captured voice recordings of private interactions when iPhone users accidentally activated the feature.  

Apple apologized and said it only used data to help improve voice recognition and dictation. But going forward, it will only record audio if users gave prior consent.

The company fired more than 300 external contractors in Ireland involved with the project.

(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) Shoppers wait in long lines at Costco, Thursday, Aug. 29, 2019, in Davie, Fla., as they stock up on supplies ahead of Hurricane Dorian. 

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