| Trump Jr. tweets name of alleged whistleblower Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:44 AM PST  For weeks, President Trump and his supporters have demanded the identity of the whistleblower who triggered the impeachment inquiry be exposed. On Wednesday, Trump's eldest son revealed the name of the alleged whistleblower in a tweet.
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| Anchor says Buckingham Palace pressure killed ABC's story on Epstein Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:30 AM PST  In a leaked video released Tuesday, ABC News anchor Amy Robach said the network killed her story on wealthy pedophile Jeffrey Epstein under pressure from the British royal family.
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| The Latest: 2 escaped inmates arrested at US-Mexico border Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:21 AM PST  An official says two murder suspects who escaped a California jail were captured Wednesday by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents as they tried to enter the United States from Mexico. Monterey County Sheriff's Office Capt. John Thornburg says authorities received a tip that 20-year-old Jonathan Salazar and 21-year-old Santos Fonseca had been spotted in Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, and had alerted federal officials. Thornburg says the two are in the custody of Monterey County officials and are on their way to a jail in Salinas, 440 miles (708 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
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| DOJ Admits in Michael Flynn Case That FBI ‘Mistakenly Identified’ Peter Strzok Notes Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:07 AM PST  The attorneys prosecuting former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn were forced to admit in a Tuesday letter to Flynn's legal defense that the notes which formed the official document describing Flynn's January 2017 interview were not written by agent Peter Strzok, as they've maintained throughout the case."We were informed that the notes we had identified as Peter Strzok's, were actually the other agent's notes (see Surreply, Exhibit 1), and what we had identified as the other agent's notes were in fact Strzok's notes (see Surreply, Exibit 2)" the letter to Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell reads.The FBI's admission calls into further question the credibility of the case and of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who told the FBI that his partner Joe Pientka was "primarily responsible for taking notes and writing the FD-302." The case against Flynn, who entered a guilty plea for lying to the FBI in December 2017, centers around the 302 form, which per Bureau protocol, stands in place of a transcript, as the FBI does not record its interviews.In defending Flynn, Powell has argued that Strzok's supposed notes were too orderly and well constructed to have been taken in the actual interview. Now the letter, coupled with prosecution's release of notes last week, apparently reveal that Strzok, in fact, took the majority of the notes in the interviewStrzok led the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, and was fired from Mueller's investigative team when text messages disparaging President Trump were discovered between him and FBI colleague Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair.The letter was prompted by Powell's bombshell allegation that the FBI deliberately manipulated the original 302 document to suggest that Flynn lied about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak."Those changes added an unequivocal statement that 'Flynn stated he did not' — in response to whether Mr. Flynn had asked Kislyak to vote in a certain manner or slow down the UN vote [on sanctions]," Powell wrote. "This is a deceptive manipulation because, as the notes of the agents show, Mr. Flynn was not even sure he had spoken to Russia/Kislyak on the issue. He had talked to dozens of countries.""That question and answer does not appear in the notes, yet it was made into a criminal offense," Powell argued in the motion. "The draft also shows that the agents moved a sentence to make it seem to be an answer to a question it was not."Earlier this week, Powell demanded in another court filing that the FBI search its internal "Sentinel Database" to uncover any drafts of the 302 which may show substantial changes, after the government argued that any edits to the document, which was filed over three weeks after the interview, were merely "grammatical and stylistic."Released text messages between Strzok and Paige show that on February 10, the same day that news broke from "senior intelligence officials" that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Kislyak, Strozk told Paige that he had updated the 302 form to reflect her edits."I made your edits, and sent them to Joe. I also emailed you an updated 302 . . . hopefully it doesn't need much more editing. I will polish it this weekend, and have it ready for Monday. I really appreciate your times and edits," Strzok said.On Tuesday night, Powell told Fox News that the letter all but confirms her argument."Their entire case depends upon what these two agents said. And now, we're realizing 18 months later they're looking at their file and realizing that 'oh, by the way, we got the names of the two agents crossed on the notes, the notes you thought were Mr. Strzok's, that we told you were Mr. Strzok's, are not, they're the other agent's, and vice versa,'" Powell said. "It's appalling. What else have they gotten wrong? We can't trust anything they say."
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| The U.S. Army's Laser Weapons Future Has Arrived Posted: 05 Nov 2019 01:07 AM PST  The Army is preparing to incinerate enemy weapons "targets" in an upcoming in a "laser-off" firing of its emerging Stryker-armed 50-kilowatt laser weapon designed to destroy drones, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and incoming enemy missiles.
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| Scientists foresee 'untold suffering', another climate record falls Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:13 PM PST  More than 11,000 scientists warned Tuesday of "untold suffering" due to global warming, even as another team said Paris carbon-cutting pledges are "too little, too late". The European Union, meanwhile, confirmed that last month was the warmest October ever registered, fast on heels of a record September and the hottest month ever in July. Three-quarters of national commitments under the Paris climate accord to curb greenhouse gases will not even slow the accelerating pace of global warming, according to a report from five senior scientists.
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| Parasitic worms found in woman’s eye as scientists warn of ‘emerging’ disease Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:38 AM PST  A parasitic worm typically found in cattle has been discovered in a woman's eye in what scientists have warned may be an "emerging zoonotic disease" in the U.S. The 68-year-old woman is the second human to have become infected by the parasite.
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| Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 Looks to Kill Quarter-Miles in Dragon Snake Guise Posted: 05 Nov 2019 01:27 PM PST  Shelby American applies the Dragon Snake moniker to the tail of the latest GT500 and adds drag-ready power for the SEMA show.
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| Republican Matt Bevin is officially calling for a recanvass after losing Kentucky gubernatorial election by 5,000 votes Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:12 PM PST ![Republican Matt Bevin is officially calling for a recanvass after losing Kentucky gubernatorial election by 5,000 votes]( "Republican Matt Bevin is officially calling for a recanvass after losing Kentucky gubernatorial election by 5,000 votes") Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) said he wouldn't concede the state's gubernatorial election to Democratic challenger Andy Beshear, and his campaign is now officially calling for a recanvass.Citing unspecified "reports of irregularities" in the tightly contested election, which saw Beshear emerge victorious by about 5,000 votes, Bevin's campaign released a statement announcing the request Wednesday.> BREAKING: @MattBevin is formally requesting a recanvass in the race for Governor. Results from last night show about a 5,000 vote difference. pic.twitter.com/cPi4mOCxLo> > -- Hillary Thornton (@HillaryWKYT) November 6, 2019A recanvass sounds like a fancy word for recount, but it's actually a little different. Bevin's campaign is specifically calling for each county in the state to go through the ballots again on their own, while a recount would entail sending everything to the court system so it could be tallied up at once.Beshear's campaign has already issued a statement in response to the request. Rather than pushing back against Bevin, they seemed confident that it would only reaffirm their victory. > ...We hope that Matt Bevin honors the results of the recanvass, which will show he received fewer votes than Andy Beshear. As has been reported, a 'recanvassing has never changed the result of a Kentucky election.'" KYGov> > -- Johnny Verhovek (@JTHVerhovek) November 6, 2019
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| 12 Italian Relics That Were Converted Into Luxe Hotels Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:37 PM PST |
| Camp Fire survivor who lost home in deadly blaze bilked of thousands of dollars, police say Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:34 AM PST  Brenda Rose Asbury is accused of embezzling more than $60,000 from an elderly woman who survived the deadly Camp Fire in Paradise, California.
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| How the Taliban Won America's Nineteen-Year War Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:26 AM PST  It is likely that more and more Afghans will start either associating themselves with—or relating to—the Taliban insurgency.
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| Nepal cries foul over new India map Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:08 AM PST  Nepal on Wednesday objected to a new map released by India that places the disputed area of Kalapani within Delhi's borders, saying it was "clear" the territory belonged to Kathmandu. On Saturday, India released the new map following its decision to split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two administrative territories. On the map, India's border cuts into Kalapani -- long a source of contention between the two countries, particularly because Indian troops have been deployed in the area for more than 50 years.
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| Most Russians Now Want ‘Decisive’ Change in Country, Study Shows Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:13 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Nearly six in ten Russians want "decisive and full-scale changes" in the country amid growing discontent with the authorities over living standards, according to new research.The proportion wanting change reached 59% this year, up from 42% in 2017, the study by the Carnegie Moscow Center and the Levada Center polling organization showed. After five years of stagnating incomes in Russia, 24% said they wanted higher wages, pensions and living standards, followed by 13% who sought a "change of government, president, or authorities."The survey of 1,600 Russians conducted in July also found that 53% believed that necessary reforms were possible only through "serious changes to the political system," compared to 34% who thought they could be achieved under the existing structure.Only 4% identified democratic reforms as necessary, however, while 45% wanted power concentrated in the hands of one leader and 74% favored active government intervention in the economy to control prices."If the desire for political change continues to grow at the same rate as in the past two years, there may soon be massive demand for political freedoms and political choice," Denis Volkov and Andrei Kolesnikov, who conducted the research, wrote in the report. "The state is clearly not ready for this, it is moving in the direction of greater authoritarianism."The report emerged after Moscow witnessed the largest anti-Kremlin demonstrations in seven years this summer, when the authorities refused to allow opposition candidates to contest city council elections. Much of the disillusionment appears to have set in at the start of President Vladimir Putin's fourth term in May last year, however, when the researchers found that 57% favored major reform in a similar survey."The desire for change is always present in society," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday on a conference call, in response to a question on the study. "It's another question whether somebody wants abrupt changes or changes that are consistent, smooth, harmonious."Recent polls have shown that Putin's personal rating has stabilized after taking a hit last year over unpopular pension reforms, though it remains far below the peaks reached following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.Amid rising pressure to deliver on promises of better living standards, the government is boosting spending following years of ultra-tight monetary and fiscal policy that limited the damage from slumping oil prices and international sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. The central bank has also accelerated interest-rate cuts that may boost the sluggish economy, even as Governor Elvira Nabiullina has warned that growth will be limited without structural reforms.The study shows that "people want radical changes but are scared of the social cost," Volkov and Kolesnikov wrote.To contact the reporters on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net;Anya Andrianova in Moscow at aandrianova@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Keystone pipeline spill hardens landowner opposition to proposed expansion Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:07 AM PST  Operator TC Energy Corp is in the process of securing land easements for Keystone XL from scores of reluctant landowners in Nebraska, one of the final obstacles to a project linking Canada's oil fields to U.S. refineries that has been delayed for over a decade by environmental opposition. The roughly 9,120-barrel spill from the existing Keystone line brings the number of significant releases since the system was built a decade ago to four - much higher than the company estimated in its risk assessments before it was approved - raising worries Keystone XL will be just as problematic.
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| Giuliani Cronies Planned ‘Fraud Guarantee’ Infomercials Starring Rudy Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:37 AM PST  Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyAs Rudy Giuliani upended U.S.-Ukraine relations with a campaign of shadow diplomacy that landed his client, President Donald Trump, on the verge of impeachment, he was also exploring a gig as a television pitchman for an anti-fraud company run by two of the men he enlisted to dig up dirt on Trump's political foes in Ukraine.The company was called Fraud Guarantee, and it was run by Lev Parnas and David Correia, who were both arrested last month and charged with criminal violations of campaign-finance law—charges to which both have pleaded not guilty. Parnas and Correia had used Fraud Guarantee to funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to Giuliani, with whom they worked closely as he sought to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden in Ukraine and advance their own business interests in the country.According to two sources with knowledge of the matter, Parnas and Correia had plans to expand Giuliani's role with the company. As of early this year, they were looking to make him into Fraud Guarantee's spokesman and public face.Both sources described a key part of the plan: a television infomercial featuring Giuliani extolling the virtues of Fraud Guarantee and its services. Parnas and Correia wanted the ad campaign to start airing on U.S. cable-news channels shortly after Giuliani was finished representing Trump in matters pertaining to Special Counsel Robert Mueller's two-year investigation. The probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election concluded earlier this year. Indicted Giuliani Henchman Lev Parnas Raises Executive Privilege in Federal CourtGiuliani himself was read-in on the Parnas and Correia plans, and had multiple discussions with the two men about possibly signing on as their national pitchman, sources say.However, it's not clear whether any footage of those planned Fraud Guarantee infomercials was ever shot, or if any deal was ultimately officially inked. It's also not clear what purpose a prospective ad campaign would have served since Fraud Guarantee seemed to be conducting little if any actual business. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the company had "no identifiable customers." And its name—which, read literally, seems to be guaranteeing that its customers will be defrauded—appears to have been crafted to sanitize search-engine results for Parnas' name, so that people searching for, say, "Lev Parnas" and "fraud" would instead find his company.Daytime cable-TV shows are littered with infomercials featuring moderately prominent political celebrities promoting products such as gold and silver investment services, reverse mortgages, and catheters. The popular sleep line MyPillow, which is led by the president's friend and political ally Mike Lindell, is a frequent cable advertiser. Other Trumpworld luminaries have gotten into the game of late as well, including former White House official Sebastian Gorka, who can now be seen hawking fish-oil supplements in a series of infomercial spots for the company Relief Factor.Giuliani did not respond to questions Tuesday about his role in the potential Fraud Guarantee TV ads. But he has been willing to offer himself up for infomercials in the past. In 2013, he filmed a testimonial for the identity-theft protection service LifeLock.Additional details about Giuliani's relationship with the company could emerge as congressional Democrats intensify an investigation into his efforts to co-opt American foreign policy toward Ukraine to the benefit of Trump's political goals. Parnas announced this week that he is willing to testify and provide documents to impeachment investigators on the House Intelligence Committee.An attorney for Parnas and Correia also did not respond to requests for comment. Parnas met Giuliani a few years ago at a Republican fundraiser, and the two forged a personal and professional relationship as Parnas and another associate, Igor Fruman, bought their way into prominence in GOP political circles. Giuliani refers to them as his clients, and he and Parnas were frequently seen dining together at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C., including on the day before Parnas, Fruman, and Correia were arrested.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Macron warns of 'profound shift' in Iran deal as new report finds Tehran is dominant power in Middle East Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:10 PM PST  Iran's breach of the 2015 nuclear agreement by enriching uranium at an underground facility "marks a profound shift" which could signal the ultimate collapse of the deal, Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday. The French president, who has worked vigorously to save the nuclear deal since Donald Trump withdrew the US last year, said he was deeply alarmed Iran's decision to resume enrichment at Fordow, a nuclear facility carved into a mountain. "I think that for the first time, Iran has decided in an explicit and blunt manner to leave the JCPOA agreement, which marks a profound shift," Mr Macron said during a visit to China. His comments mark the gloomiest public assessment yet by a European leader about the chances of salvaging the agreement after the US withdrawal and as Iran continues to escalate its breaches of the deal. Meanwhile, a new report claims Iran has become the dominant power when it comes to fighting wars in the Middle East as a result of the "networks of influence" it has built throughout the region. Mr Macron spoke shortly after Iran began injecting uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges at Fordow, a facility that Iran hid from the world until 2009 and which Western and Israeli officials have long feared could be used for developing a nuclear weapon. Iran tensions | Read more The 2015 nuclear agreement forbids any uranium enrichment at Fordow and Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president acknowledged the sensitivity of the site when he announced the move earlier this week. Mr Rouhani insisted that the move was reversible and said Iran would return to full compliance with the agreement if European countries found a way around US sanctions to deliver the economic benefits Iran was promised in 2015. The reopening of Fordow comes days after Iran announced it was deploying advanced new centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster. But neither move brings Iran significantly closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. A weapon would require uranium enriched at 90 per cent, whereas Iran is currently enriching at around 5 per cent. Iran insists it has no intention of developing a nuclear weapon. The latest breaches have nonetheless alarmed European states and Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, repeated his warning this week it would take military action to stop Iran getting a bomb. "This is not only for our security and our future; it's for the future of the Middle East and the world," he said. Amid the growing tensions, it emerged that Iran briefly detained an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector last week and seized her travel documents, the first such encounter since the nuclear deal. Q&A; | The 2015 Iran nuclear deal Iran confirmed it had stopped the inspector from entering its Natanz nuclear site out of suspicion she was carrying "suspicious material". Iran is believed to have begun secretly constructing the Fordow facility in the early 2000s but it was only known to the world when Barack Obama exposed it in 2009 and accused Iran of covertly working on a weapons programme. The base is around 80 metres underground, making it difficult to destroy with an airstrike, and is protected by anti-aircraft batteries. Israel came close to bombing the site in 2011 but ultimately decided not to move ahead. The network of alliances Iran has built with terror groups such as Hizbollah in Lebanon, as well a pro-Iranian Shia militias in Iraq, mean the balance of power in the Middle East is now in Iran's favour, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank. At a glance | Key players in Tehran Iran's ability, moreover, to fight and win wars in the Middle East without resorting to conventional military forces has been allowed to develop because there has been no effective international response to Iran's activities in the region. According to the IISS's latest report, "Iran's Networks of Influence in the Middle East" which is published on Thursday, while the US and its allies still retain military superiority over Iran in terms of conventional forces, Tehran has proved to be more effective in waging war in what it calls the "Grey Zone" of conflict. This means Iran is able to avoid risking a traditional "state-on-state" confrontations, which it would be likely to lose. Instead, by building what the report calls "networks of influence" with proxies throughout the region, Tehran has succeeded in gaining a distinct advantage over rivals in the region, such as Saudi Arabia. "Iran is fighting and winning wars 'fought amongst the people', not wars between states," the report concludes.
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| The Latest: Texas man executed in 2002 strangulation Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:43 PM PST  A white supremacist gang member has been executed for strangling a West Texas woman over fears she would alert police about his drug operation. Justen Hall received a lethal injection Wednesday evening at the state penitentiary in Huntsville. The 38-year-old Hall was condemned for the October 2002 killing of 29-year-old Melanie Billhartz.
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| ‘The disappeared’: searching for 40,000 missing victims of Mexico’s drug wars Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:00 AM PST  José Barajas, who was snatched from his home, joins the ever-swelling ranks of thousands of desaparecidos, victims of the drug conflict that shows no sign of easingRelatives of the disappeared form a human chain to comb a suspected clandestine burial ground in the Mexican town of Ensenada last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAs he set off into the wilderness under a punishing midday sun, Jesse Barajas clutched an orange-handled machete and the dream of finding his little brother, José."He's not alive, no. They don't leave people alive," the 62-year-old said as he slalomed through the parched scrubland of tumbleweed and cacti where they had played as kids. "Once they take someone they don't let you live."series boxIt has been six months since José Barajas was snatched from his home near the US border, for reasons that remain obscure."I think he was working so hard that he forgot his own safety, you know?" Jesse said as he recounted how his 57-year-old brother was dragged from his ranch and joined the ever-swelling ranks of Mexico's desaparecidos – now estimated to number at least 40,000 people.Jesse, the eldest of seven siblings, said US-based relatives had implored José to join them north of the border as the cartels tightened their grip on a region notorious for the smuggling of drugs and people."We told him how big a monster is organised crime. It is a huge monster that nobody knows where it is hiding," he said.Jesse Barajas searches for the remains of his brother José, who was was dragged from his ranch on 8 April 2019 and has not been seen since, last month near the town of Tecate. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianBut José – who had built a successful business making decorative concrete columns for ranches and was in the process of erecting a new house – was adamant he would abandon neither his workers nor his homeland."He was a man that believed in Mexico," said Jesse, who left Mexico as an undocumented migrant aged 14 and is now a US citizen. "He chose to stay here because he thought that he could change things, you know?"The disappeared are perhaps the dirtiest secret of Mexico's drug conflict, which has shown no sign of easing since leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power last December promising a new era of peace.Calderón sends in the armyMexico's "war on drugs" began in late 2006 when the president at the time, Felipe Calderón, ordered thousands of troops onto the streets in response to an explosion of horrific violence in his native state of Michoacán.Calderón hoped to smash the drug cartels with his heavily militarized onslaught but the approach was counter-productive and exacted a catastrophic human toll. As Mexico's military went on the offensive, the body count sky-rocketed to new heights and tens of thousands were forced from their homes, disappeared or killed.Kingpin strategySimultaneously Calderón also began pursuing the so-called "kingpin strategy" by which authorities sought to decapitate the cartels by targeting their leaders.That policy resulted in some high-profile scalps – notably Arturo Beltrán Leyva who was gunned down by Mexican marines in 2009 – but also did little to bring peace. In fact, many believe such tactics served only to pulverize the world of organized crime, creating even more violence as new, less predictable factions squabbled for their piece of the pie.Under Calderón's successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, the government's rhetoric on crime softened as Mexico sought to shed its reputation as the headquarters of some the world's most murderous mafia groups.But Calderón's policies largely survived, with authorities targeting prominent cartel leaders such as Sinaloa's Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.When "El Chapo" was arrested in early 2016, Mexico's president bragged: "Mission accomplished". But the violence went on. By the time Peña Nieto left office in 2018, Mexico had suffered another record year of murders, with nearly 36,000 people slain."Hugs not bullets"The leftwing populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in December, promising a dramatic change in tactics. López Obrador, or Amlo as most call him, vowed to attack the social roots of crime, offering vocational training to more than 2.3 million disadvantaged young people at risk of being ensnared by the cartels. "It will be virtually impossible to achieve peace without justice and [social] welfare," Amlo said, promising to slash the murder rate from an average of 89 killings per day with his "hugs not bullets" doctrine.Amlo also pledged to chair daily 6am security meetings and create a 60,000 strong "National Guard". But those measures have yet to pay off, with the new security force used mostly to hunt Central American migrants.Mexico now suffers an average of about 96 murders per day, with nearly 29,000 people killed since Amlo took office.In August Mexican authorities, who after years of public pressure are beginning to demonstrate greater interest in investigating such crimes, acknowledged over 3,000 clandestine burial sites. More than 500 had been discovered since López Obrador took power.One as-yet undiscovered grave is thought to guard the remains of José Barajas. And one recent morning his family set off to find it, in the company of a government forensic team and – a heavily armed federal police escort."It just sucks not knowing where he's at," said the missing man's 28-year-old son, who is also called José and had travelled from California to join the search.Forensic experts work with police protection during a search for the body of José Barajas last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianThe mission – one of the first conducted in conjunction with a newly created state search commission – began shortly before noon as searchers formed a human chain to comb a stony heath east of José's ranch.Jesse struck out ahead, pausing occasionally to skewer the ground with his machete. After puncturing the earth, he would raise the blade's tip to his nose in the hope of detecting the sickly scent that might reveal the whereabouts of his brother's corpse. Other searchers probed soft patches of soil with T-shaped steel rods.Minutes later, Jesse spotted a black bomber jacket, half buried in the soil. He quickly decided it was not his brother's but photographed the garment with his smartphone: "Maybe somebody is looking for somebody with this jacket, huh?"As Jesse marched on – shadowed by a rifle-toting police agent – the hidden perils that lay behind his brother's disappearance became clear.Pickup trucks, apparently sent by cartel bosses to monitor the search party, rattled past on the country lane down which José's abductors fled."These assholes are halcones," Jesse complained, using the Spanish slang word for lookouts.searchingUnsettled by their presence, Jesse radioed another nearby search team to request a protective roadblock."They're spying on us … watching our movements to see what we are looking for and what we are doing," the police officer said.Nerves jangled as the hawks continued to circle. "The criminals here are very bloody. They are beyond limits," Jesse murmured as the police agent trained his gun on the road.Twenty tense minutes later, reinforcements arrived. But the drama was not yet over. As Jesse clambered into the open back of a police vehicle two shiny SUVs appeared on the horizon and sped down the sun-cracked asphalt towards the group, before being forced to stop.A relative shows a photograph of José Victoriano Barajas, 57, a businessman who is feared dead. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAs the police car's occupants braced for a gunfight, two men descended from the first SUV and exchanged a few inaudible words with the federal agents before the second car was allowed to pass unmolested.The identity of its occupants remained a mystery. But as the vehicle raced away it left the unshakable impression that a local crime boss had been inside – and a serious confrontation narrowly avoided."We're in a hostile place – and it's not Iraq," Jesse said as the team regrouped, heaving a collective sigh of relief.After a lunch of energy drinks and granola bars, the hunt for José resumed."All we want to do is give him a proper burial, like every human," the missing man's son as a sniffer dog joined the search.José's son said relatives had not told his 92-year-old grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, what had happened and had yet to fully comprehend it themselves. "I guess we have to be OK with not being OK," he said.Once his father was found, José said the family would sell up and cut ties with the land his father had so loved. "It's not the same any more, you know what I mean?"Three hours later, nothing had been found but coyote bones and clothes ditched by migrants as they trekked towards the US. Back at his brother's ranch, Jesse busied himself handing out burritos and spicy nachos to the famished searchers.Fernando Ocegueda, the activist who had organized the mission, insisted searchers should keep faith. "Once we spent 15 days searching and found nothing – and on the last day we found three bodies."Jesse and Alfredo Barajas, two of the victim's brothers, and his son, José, searched an area near his ranch last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The Guardian"This kind of activism is about patience, not speed," Ocegueda later added.Two days later, after a second fruitless hunt near the ranch, the Barajas family headed south to join another search, though this time not for José.Outside a police station in the coastal town of Ensenada they met dozens of mostly female searchers – members of a local "collective"hoping to find their loved ones.As the group explored its first location – a rocky wasteland behind the town's country club – terrible stories of violence, fear and grief emerged."It was my nephew. They took him 18 days ago," said one thirtysomething woman, who – like all of the collective's members – asked not to be identified for fear of the cartels."My brother," said a 15-year-old boy as he pummeled the earth with a shovel. "Three weeks."Another woman said she was seeking her son. "In December it will be six years since they disappeared him … and I've been in this fight ever since," she said.interactiveAs the minutes and hours ticked by and no bodies were found, bloodshot eyes shed tears of sorrow and there were crossed words of frustration."It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," José's son complained after a traipse through the wasteland found only swarms of bees and a poisonous snake.But as the group moved from the viper-infested wild to a reeking landfill and, finally, a junkyard police suspected had served as a torture centre and burial ground, there was also camaraderie and warmth.The bleakness of the task was tempered by shared experiences and laughter. Jokes were told. New friendships formed."We all have the same goal, which is finding our missing ones," said Ocegueda who became a campaigner after his own son was taken, in 2007, and has recovered more than 120 bodies since.Ocegueda has yet to locate his son – but he has found a calling. "This is where I like to be because it's here I've found my people," the 62-year-old said. "Along the way you make friends – and this is the most important thing."A police vehicle parked outside the unfinished home that José Barajas had been building when he was abducted in April for reasons that remain a mystery. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAlso present was a woman still grappling with a more recent loss: José's 49-year-old wife, Irma Bonilla Barajas.Visibly drained, Irma threw herself into the search operation, determined to bring others closure, even if she had yet to find it herself.Pausing from her digging, Irma remembered a hardworking family man whose absence was still sinking in. "He was so, so intelligent," she said. "He used to calculate all the exact measurements for the concrete and his gazebos in his head."Six months after José vanished, Irma voiced bewilderment at the "evil minds" responsible for snatching so many Mexican lives."I just can't make sense of it … If they've already killed them, why don't they leave them for us?" she wondered. "What more harm can they do to them, if they are already dead?"Additional reporting by Jordi Lebrija
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| Trial to begin for Omoyele Sowore, a New Jersey journalist imprisoned in his native Nigeria Posted: 05 Nov 2019 04:24 PM PST  Omoyele Sowore, a journalist held in a Nigerian prison since August, is set to go on trial Wednesday as his wife and supporters anxiously await news.
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| Yes, North Korea Does Have a Nuclear Missile Submarine Posted: 05 Nov 2019 06:30 PM PST  A major step towards a second-strike capability.
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| Fifteen IS jihadists killed in Tajikistan border attack Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:42 AM PST  Fifteen jihadists were killed in Tajikistan Wednesday during an attack on a border post that officials blamed on members of the Islamic State group who crossed over from Afghanistan. It came as the country prepared to celebrate its Constitution Day on Wednesday and with long-serving President Emomali Rakhmon on a visit to Europe. The interior ministry said about 20 armed assailants attacked the Ishkobod border post some 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Dushanbe at 3:23 am local time.
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| Turkey captured ISIS leader al-Baghdadi's sister, who was living in a trailer 50 miles from where he was killed by US special forces Posted: 05 Nov 2019 03:06 AM PST  Turkish forces captured Rasmiya Awad in Azaz, Syria, on Monday night. They hope to gain from her intelligence on ISIS' inner workings.
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| View Photos of 450-HP Chevy E-10 Pickup Concept Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:35 AM PST |
| Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:09 AM PST ![Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword]( "Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword") An Ohio sheriff wearing white gloves displayed a sword wielded in the American Revolution and by a future U.S. president in the War of 1812, and pledged Wednesday an exhaustive investigation to determine whether it's the one that disappeared from Cincinnati four decades ago. It's believed the sword Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil held up was carried in battle by President William Henry Harrison and before him, Continental Army Col. John Cleves Symmes, Harrison's future father-in-law. Police in Connecticut seized the sword last month, just before it was to be auctioned.
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| A Bevin-Beshear recount? Here's what could happen in the Kentucky governor's race Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:29 PM PST  After one of the wildest finishes to a gubernatorial election in Kentucky history, Andy Beshear declared victory and Gov. Matt Bevin wouldn't' concede. What now?
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| China's H-20 Stealth Bomber Is Soon Coming To Asian Skies Posted: 04 Nov 2019 07:01 PM PST  America and its allies are on notice.
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| Israel approves controversial Jerusalem cable car Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:38 AM PST  Israel's government has approved a controversial Jerusalem cable car that will ferry thousands of passengers an hour over Palestinian homes in the east of the city to within a few hundred yards of the Western Wall. The plan, which was given the green light this week, imagines a cable car beginning in west Jerusalem and swooping over a valley towards the Old City, where it will deposit visitors at the 16th-century Dung Gate. The cars will carry up to 3,000 people an hour and Israel's government says the plan will boost tourism, relieve traffic congestion, and make it easier for worshippers to reach the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. "We've waited 2,000 years to return to the Western Wall and it's impossible that heavy traffic prevents thousands of people from praying," said Moshe Kahlon, Israel's finance minister. But many Palestinians see the plan as an effort to entrench Israel's presence in east Jerusalem, which most of the international community considers to be Palestinian territory under Israeli military occupation. Jerusalem - Cable car route The construction is also likely to cause disruption to residents of the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, who will find the cable being built above their homes. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, called the cable car plan "an illegal assault on the occupied Palestinian city and its people who have been living there for centuries". Other critics have taken aim at the plan not because of its politics but because they believe it will be a modern eyesore that will blight the iconic Jerusalem skyline and spoil views of the Dome of the Rock and the turreted walls of the Old City. Architects and historians have decried the plan as "Disneyfication" of a historic area sacred to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Unesco, the global heritage body, has also protested the plan as a threat to the "authentic character" of the Old City. Opponents of the plan have vowed to sue the government over its decision and the case is likely to be taken up before Israel's supreme court, potentially heralding a lengthy legal battle that may postpone construction.
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| Paris withdrawal: Trump officially turns his back on climate crisis and our own children Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:15 AM PST  Leaving the Paris climate accord isn't about putting America first. It's about putting fossil fuel profits first and putting the rest of us at risk.
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| The 10 most-viewed fake-news stories on Facebook in 2019 were just revealed in a new report — take a look (FB) Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:06 AM PST  Fake news stories targeting American voters are still rife on Facebook, and a new investigation from Avaaz just revealed the 10 most-viewed in 2019.
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| Chicago Public Schools to plug new budget hole with one-time measures Posted: 05 Nov 2019 03:10 PM PST ![Chicago Public Schools to plug new budget hole with one-time measures]( "Chicago Public Schools to plug new budget hole with one-time measures") The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) said on Tuesday it would use $134 million in one-time revenue and savings to cover additional spending in its current budget partly because of a tentative contract agreement with its teachers union that ended an 11-day strike. Blake Yocom, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings, which rates CPS BB-minus with a positive outlook, said that while the one-time measures should close the fiscal 2020 budget gap, CPS could face future challenges.
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| Serbia set to buy Russian missiles despite US sanctions hint Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:06 AM PST  Russia will deliver a sophisticated anti-aircraft missile system to Serbia even though the U.S. has warned of possible sanctions against the Balkan country in the event of such purchases. The U.S.'s special envoy for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, warned Serbia last week that the purchase of Russian weapons "poses a risk" of U.S. sanctions. "We hope that our Serbian partners will be careful about any transactions of this kind," Palmer said in an interview with Macedonian television Alsat M.
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| View Photos of 2020 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak Posted: 05 Nov 2019 04:45 PM PST |
| Orphan in adoption scandal says she's a teenager, adoptive parents' claims are false Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:24 AM PST  The Ukrainian orphan at the center of an adoption scandal in Indiana has broken her silence this week in an interview with Dr. Phil.
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| North Korea Hates This: Meet South Korea's Very Special F-15 Fighter Posted: 05 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  A deadly plane.
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| US executes gay man who said trial tainted by homophobia Posted: 04 Nov 2019 08:36 PM PST  The US state of South Dakota on Monday executed an inmate who said that jurors at his trial were prejudiced against him because he was gay. Charles Rhines, 63, was put to death by lethal injection soon after the Supreme Court rejected a last-ditch appeal by his lawyers claiming that his trial was tainted. Rhines was sentenced to death in 1993 for killing an employee in a shop he was robbing in the rural state.
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| Oregon comes to California's aid in fighting hotter fires: 'When help is needed, help will come' Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:32 AM PST  As California's fire season grows longer and hotter, more and more out-of-state firefighters – and sometimes out-of-country firefighters – head West.
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| Top House Democrat Says Removing Trump from Office Ahead of 2020 Election Will Hurt The Party Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:28 AM PST  A top House Democrat is predicting that Democrats will suffer politically if President Trump is impeached and removed from office before the 2020 election."As much as I believe that President Trump should be removed from office and represents an imminent threat to our democracy and our national security and many other things, politically it's probably not a good thing to get rid of him," House Budget Committee Chairman John Yarmuth told The Hill.The Kentucky Democrat explained that he doubts the Republican Party would nominate Vice President Mike Pence in that scenario but rather someone like former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley."Somebody who would be very, very tough for a Democrat to beat," Yarmuth said.Haley has been proposed as a viable Republican presidential nominee, but she has attempted to quash speculation about whether she will run in 2020, saying she plans to campaign for Trump.Yarmuth's remarks come as the Democrat-led House Intelligence, Oversight and Foreign Affairs committees continue to release transcripts of their closed-door interviews with witnesses for the impeachment inquiry. The inquiry centers around whether Trump withheld $400 million in U.S. military aid to Ukraine on the condition that Ukraine promise to investigate former vice president Joe Biden's business connections to a local gas company.Some White House officials have refused to testify despite congressional subpoenas ordering them to do so, frustrating Democrats and exacerbating the lawmakers' legal battle with the White House."This will only add to the body of evidence on a potential obstruction of Congress charge against the president," House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff said.
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| Factbox: Key facts about Ethiopia's giant Nile dam Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:04 AM PST  Ethiopia says the hydropower project is crucial to its economic development. Egypt is worried the dam will affect flow of the Nile, its main source of fresh water. The $4 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) was announced in early 2011, as Egypt was in political upheaval following a popular uprising that toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
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| Standing tall: Scientists find oldest example of upright ape Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:02 PM PST  An international team of researchers says the fossilized partial skeleton of a male ape that lived almost 12 million years ago in the humid forests of what is now southern Germany bears a striking resemblance to modern human bones. The findings "raise fundamental questions about our previous understanding of the evolution of the great apes and humans," said Madelaine Boehme of the University of Tuebingen, Germany, who led the research. Boehme, along with researchers from Bulgaria, Germany, Canada and the United States, examined more than 15,000 bones recovered from a trove of archaeological remains known as the Hammerschmiede, or Hammer Smithy, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) west of the Germany city of Munich.
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| Sea levels set to keep rising for centuries even if emissions targets met Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  Generations yet unborn will face rising oceans and coastal inundations into the 2300s even if governments meet climate commitments, researchers findA potential scenario of future sea level rise in South Beach, Miami, Florida, with a global temperature rise of 2C. Photograph: Nickolay Lamm/Courtesy Climate CentralSea level rise is set to challenge human civilization for centuries to come, even if internationally agreed climate goals are met and planet-warming emissions are then immediately eliminated, researchers have found.The lag time between rising global temperatures and the knock-on impact of coastal inundation means that the world will be dealing with ever-rising sea levels into the 2300s, regardless of prompt action to address the climate crisis, according to the new study.Even if governments meet their commitments from the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement, the first 15-year period of the deal will still result in enough emissions that would cause sea levels to increase by around 20cm by the year 2300.This scenario, modeled by researchers, assumes that all countries make their promised emissions reductions by 2030 and then abruptly eliminate all planet-warming gases from that point onwards. In reality, only a small number of countries are on track to meet the Paris target of limiting global heating to 2C above the pre-industrial era."Even with the Paris pledges there will be a large amount of sea level rise," said Peter Clark, an Oregon State University climate scientist and co-author of the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."Sea level rise is going to be an ongoing problem for centuries to come, we will have to keep on adapting over and over again. It's going to be a whole new expensive lifestyle, costing trillions of dollars."Sea level has a very long memory, so even if we start cooling temperatures the seas will continue to rise. It's a bit like trying to turn the Titanic around, rather than a speedboat."Researchers used a computer model that simulates sea level rise in response to various emissions levels, looking both at historical emissions since 1750 and also what the emissions scenario would be from 2015 to 2030 if countries met their Paris agreement obligations.About half of the 20cm sea level rise can be attributed to the world's top five greenhouse gas polluters – the US, China, India, Russia and the European Union – according to the researchers. The US was a key architect of the Paris deal but this week Donald Trump formally triggered its exit from the agreement."Our results show that what we do today will have a huge effect in 2300. Twenty centimetres is very significant; it is basically as much sea-level rise as we've observed over the entire 20th century," said Climate Analytics' Alexander Nauels, lead author of the study. "To cause that with only 15 years of emissions is quite staggering."The results reveal the daunting prospect of a near-endless advance of the seas, forcing countries to invest huge resources in defending key infrastructure or ceding certain areas to the tides. Many coastal cities around the world are already facing this challenge, with recent research finding that land currently home to 300 million people will flood at least once a year by 2050 unless carbon emissions are drastically slashed.As the world heats up, ocean water is expanding while land-based glaciers and the two great polar ice caps are melting away, causing the oceans to swell.According to the UN's climate science panel, the global sea level rise could reach as much as 1.1 metres by the end of the century if emissions aren't curbed. Clark pointed out the real situation could be even worse if the melting of the Antarctic turns out to be on the dire end of the spectrum of uncertainty."People are going to become less inclined to live by the coast and there are going to be sea level rise refugees," Clark said. "More severe cuts in emissions are certainly going to be required but the current Paris pledges aren't enough to prevent the seas from rising for a long, long time."
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