| 2 Disney workers among 17 facing child porn charges after monthlong Florida probe Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:46 AM PST ![2 Disney workers among 17 facing child porn charges after monthlong Florida probe]( "2 Disney workers among 17 facing child porn charges after monthlong Florida probe") Florida authorities have arrested 17 men, including two Disney workers and a former middle school principal, on child pornography charges.
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| Trump impeachment: CNN host interrupts senior Republican to correct president's false claims on Ukraine aid Posted: 10 Nov 2019 10:19 AM PST  CNN host Jake Tapper interrupted a senior Republican to correct him as he repeated a false claim by Donald Trump about European aid to Ukraine.Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson, chairman of the Senate homeland security committee, cited the president's claim that he had withheld almost $400 million in military assistance because he was concerned that the EU was not doing enough.
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| Members of community attacked in Mexico doubt they'll return Posted: 10 Nov 2019 11:33 AM PST  A Utah man who helped get his mother and other family members safely out of northern Mexico after nine people were killed in an apparent ambush said Sunday that most fled to Arizona with whatever they could fit in their cars and trucks and they'll likely never return. More than 100 people left their rural community in northern Mexico on Saturday in an 18-vehicle caravan after the attack Monday in which nine women and children were killed by what authorities say were hit men from drug cartels. "I went down there to get my mother and get my family out, my brothers and sisters and lots of kids," Mike Hafen said Sunday in telephone interview from his sister's home in Phoenix.
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| Elizabeth Warren hits back at Biden 'angry' criticism: 'I am angry and I own it' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:12 PM PST  * Warren retorts in fundraising email * Opinion: Surprised Pressley backs Warren? Don't beElizabeth Warren in South Carolina in October. 'Over and over,' she said in the email, 'we are told that women are not allowed to be angry.' Photograph: Sean Rayford/Getty ImagesHitting back at criticism from Joe Biden that many people said was sexist, Elizabeth Warren told supporters: "I am angry and I own it."Warren also sought to put the Biden controversy to good use: her response came in a fundraising email she sent to supporters on Friday."Over and over," the email said, "we are told that women are not allowed to be angry. It makes us unattractive to powerful men who want us to be quiet."Biden may indeed want Warren to be quiet – in Democratic primary polling he has fallen behind her in Iowa and New Hampshire, although he maintains a national lead. But he insisted his attack on the Massachusetts senator was not sexist.His initial remarks came in a Medium post entitled I Have Fought for the Democratic Party My Whole Career."The other day," wrote Biden, "I was accused by one of my opponents of running in the wrong primary. Pretty amazing. On one level, it is kind of funny.> We are told women are not allowed to be angry. It makes us unattractive to powerful men who want us to be quiet> > Elizabeth Warren"… But at another level these kinds of attacks are a serious problem. They reflect an angry unyielding viewpoint that has crept into our politics. If someone doesn't agree with you – it's not just that you disagree – that person must be a coward or corrupt or a small thinker."Some call it the 'my-way-or-the-highway' approach to politics. But it's worse than that. It's condescending to the millions of Democrats who have a different view."Biden, the leading centrist in the primary field, did not mention Warren, the leading progressive, by name. But few had much difficulty working out the former vice-president's target and on Friday, speaking to CNN, Biden owned up."The strong women in my life are angry," he said. "That has nothing to do with it. It had to do with the fact that it started off and she said, you know, Biden is running in the wrong primary because I disagreed, disagree with her Medicare for All proposal."Healthcare is a hot-button issue in the race to face Donald Trump. Earlier this month, Warren detailed a $20.5tn Medicare for All proposal, saying it would not require tax rises on middle class Americans.The plan was attacked by centrists including Biden and the mayor of South Bend, who has surged in Iowa and about whom the New York Times published a report on Saturday entitled: Why Pete Buttigieg Annoys His Democratic Rivals.Some wonder if Buttigieg, 37, might end up as the vice-presidential pick. On Saturday, though, Biden told a crowd in New Hampshire his running mate would be "preferably a woman" who could "make up for some of my weaknesses".Warren's fundraising email did not mention Biden. But in terms familiar from the senator's fiery stump speech, it said: "It's not just women. When we speak up against Wall Street and big tech … we are told that everyone with less power should be quiet."…Well, I am angry and I own it. I'm angry on behalf of everyone who is hurt by Trump's government, our rigged economy, and business as usual."
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| 9 Ingenious Smuggling Machines That Beat the Berlin Wall Posted: 09 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST |
| 'Gender Reveal' Celebration in Texas Led to a Plane Crash Posted: 09 Nov 2019 09:48 AM PST  In recent years, expectant parents have gone to extreme lengths to create splashy, Instagrammable moments to announce the sex of their child. Some of the celebrations, however, have ended in calamity: a 45,000-acre forest fire, a flaming car, a deadly explosion.And now, a plane crash could be added to that list, according to a preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board filed this week.A crop-dusting plane that dumped hundreds of gallons of pink water over a field in Turkey, Texas, about 300 miles northwest of Dallas, crashed to the ground in early September, according to safety board documents. No major injuries were reported.The pilot, Raj Horan, had been "conducting a gender reveal flight for a friend" when, after releasing about 350 gallons of water, the single-seat plane "got too slow" and stalled, records show.A passenger, identified as Jennifer Harrell, sustained minor injuries, according to the incident report. The aircraft, which struck the ground and flipped on its back, sustained substantial damage.Attempts to reach Harrell and Horan on Friday were not successful.The pilot told investigators there were "no preimpact mechanical failures or malfunctions with the airplane."Cultural researchers have traced the origins of the so-called gender reveal party to the late 2000s. But those early attempts feel almost quaint by today's standards.Despite the possibility of attracting backlash for reinforcing gender stereotypes and schadenfreude should things go wrong, some couples have felt that confetti or cake sprinkles are not flashy enough to deliver their messages.Last month, an Iowa couple trying to create a device that could shoot colored powder into the air inadvertently built a pipe bomb that killed one of their guests. A day later, authorities in the state investigated another explosion of a store-bought "gender reveal kit," according to The Associated Press.On Australia's Gold Coast, a black car was rigged to spew thick clouds of blue smoke. But after drifting slowly and spinning its wheels on the road, the car burst into flames. (The driver managed to escape.)And in 2018, a man shot a rifle at a target containing a highly explosive chemical mixed with colorful powder packets that were intended to create a pink or blue cloud. The resulting explosion, however, sparked a massive fire that took firefighters a week to extinguish and burned more than 45,000 acres in Arizona.The man who shot the rifle, a Customs and Border Protection agent, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of U.S. Forest Service regulations and agreed to pay $220,000 in restitution.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Meet the U.S. soldier whose portrait hangs over Checkpoint Charlie Posted: 08 Nov 2019 11:37 PM PST  When he saw himself immortalized above the well-known crossing point, he was "shocked"
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| What's Behind Socialism's New Appeal Among Americans? Posted: 09 Nov 2019 12:08 AM PST  Multiple forms of socialism, from hard Stalinism to European redistribution, continue to fail.
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| Ukrainians Contacted U.S. Officials in May About Aid Fears Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:31 PM PST  NurPhotoNearly a month before President Donald Trump's July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, top officials in Kiev were so concerned about the fate of U.S. political and military support for the country, that at least two inquired about the matter with Washington, according to three sources with knowledge of those conversations.Despite strong showing of American support at Zelensky's inauguration in May, Ukrainian officials were growing increasingly concerned about Rudy Giuliani's public comments about investigations into Hunter Biden and the gas company he worked for, Burisma. Two of those Ukrainian officials inquired with current and former U.S. officials, including an official at the State Department, about whether Giuliani's efforts aligned with Washington's thinking, and if the pressure campaign from Trump's personal lawyer would impact a presidential White House meeting or the delivery of U.S. military aid, the sources said. One of the Ukrainian officials who was wary about the mixed messages from Washington and the fate of U.S. support for the country was Oleksandr Danylyuk, the Chairman of the country's National Security and Defense Council. Danylyuk, appointed to his post May 26, participated in several at least one key meeting with U.S. officials that is now under scrutiny by House impeachment investigators on Capitol Hill. Danylyuk's tenure in the Zelensky administration was short lived. He resigned in September after transcript between President Trump and President Zelensky was released. He told Ukrainain media outlets that he stepped down because of efforts by billionaire Ihor Kolomoisky to influence banking regulation.The details of Danylyuk's conversations with current and former U.S. officials, some of which are reported here for the first time, underscore how officials close to Zelensky were worried about Giuliani's efforts, and U.S. support faltering earlier than previously understood.As early as May, Danylyuk was in conversation with current and former U.S. officials about "what to do with Giuliani" and his associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, according to one former senior official close to Danylyuk."The concern was really over Giuliani appearing on TV all the time talking about corruption, Ukraine and the Bidens," the official said. "And so here's this guy who represents the president of the United States out there making these claims. People began to worry about what Trump was thinking about it all."At the time of Danylyuk's conversations, the communication channel between Kiev and Washington was far from solid. Weeks earlier, in late April, U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovonovitch had been recalled back to the U.S. The Ukraine portfolio was taken over, at least temporarily, by U.S. Ambassador to the EU Gordon Sondland, former top diplomat to Ukraine Kurt Volker and Trump Energy Secretary Rick Perry, according to the testimony transcripts of multiple impeachment inquiry witnesses. The changing diplomatic landscape had Ukrainian officials, including Danylyuk, on edge."It was really all anyone could talk about at the time," one U.S. official said, referring to Giuliani's public messaging on Ukraine. "This conversation was happening all over the place —in the business community. In the political circles. And so when you're that confused about what's going on, it's only natural that you begin to worry about this huge aid package that's on the line." The concerns about Giuliani weren't just circling in Kiev. In Washington, senior officials were fielding calls and meetings about the situation. Fiona Hill, the former top Russia advisor to the National Security Council, testified that she was hearing reports that the Ukrainians were "very concerned" that they were receiving pressure from Giuliani and his team to launch investigations. One of Danylyuk's earliest reported official meetings with a U.S. representative was on May 30 with Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI). Walberg had flown to Ukraine to attend the Ukrainian National Prayer Breakfast where he gave a speech. The two were scheduled to talk for an hour, according to a disclosure form Walberg filed with the House Ethics Committee. According to three sources with knowledge of that conversation, Walberg and Danylyuk spoke about corruption in the country, including ongoing efforts to pressure Ukrainian officials to launch investigations into the country's energy sector. And Danylyuk asked Walberg about the timing of a White House visit and the importance of the speedy delivery of U.S. military aid, one of those sources said. There's no indication that Walberg and Danylyuk discussed a quid pro quo. Danylyuk did not respond to a request for comment for this story. Dan Kotman, a spokesperson for Walberg said his meetings in Kiev while at the prayer breakfast were "in no way related to the current news surrounding Ukraine." When pressed for more information about his visit to Ukraine at a town hall meeting in Michigan last month Walberg said he communicates with Ukrainian officials about "issues of concern" regularly, including how to deal with corruption in the country.When asked if the trip was tax-payer paid Walberg said: "of course". But Walberg's trip was not tax-payer funded. It was paid for by the Ukrainian organizers of the prayer breakfast, according to his own disclosure form with the House Ethics Committee.While in Kiev, Walberg also met with former Chairman of the Ukrainian parliament Andriy Parubiy. Parubiy spoke with Walberg about how U.S. support for the "sphere of security and defense and in carrying out reforms is important for Ukraine," according to a translated version of an official press release of the meeting. Former Congressman Bob McEwen and Dan Burleigh, the organizer of the U.S. National Prayer Breakfast, also attended the meeting.Rudy Had a Secret Meeting With Zelensky's Rival, TooThe Daily Beast previously reported that McEwen helped arrange a meeting between Giuliani and former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to talk about security issues and Russian aggression in Ukraine. McEwen is a contractor for the Livingston Group, run by former Congressman Bob Livingston, which represents multiple Ukrainian clients. Former National Security Council official Catherine Croft told House investigators that Livingston called her several times in an attempt to remove former Ambassador Yovanovitch from her post. Livingston told The Daily Beast in an interview last week that he began "to get complaints about the ambassador a year and a half ago". Walberg was scheduled to meet with President Zelensky during his trip to Ukraine, but the meeting ultimately fell through.Following his meeting with Walberg, Danylyuk continued to speak with Trump officials about Giuliani's campaign to convince Ukraine to open up investigations into Hunter Biden, Burisma and unsubstantiated claims Ukrainian officials interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of Hillary Clinton."Danylyuk was negotiating President Zelensky's visit in Washington. That to me sounded strange since managers of our law enforcement agencies normally do not negotiate diplomatic events," said Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, a member of Ukraine's parliament and the former head of the country's security service. "I think that it's time both for Danilyuk and the head of [security service], Ivan Bakanov to give…the U.S. Congress all details about their negotiations with the United States."On July 10, Danylyuk attended a meeting in the White House with Zelensky aide Andri Yermak and Former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Ambassador Sondland, Volker, Hill and Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the deputy secretary of European Affairs at the State Department. According to multiple individuals who testified in the impeachment inquiry, Sondland told Danylyuk and Yermak that Zelensky would not be able to meet with President Trump unless they publicly agreed to the investigations Giuliani had been pushing for.By late July, Danyluk had made clear to top State Department officials that he and President Zelensky were aware of what Washington was up to."Gordon, one thing Kurt and I talked about yesterday was Sasha Danylyuk's point that President Zelensky is sensitive about Ukraine being taken seriously, not merely as an instrument in Washington's domestic reelection politics," Ambassador Wiliam Taylor wrote Sondland July 20. When asked by investigators what Danylyuk was referring to in his comment about Zelensky, Taylor said,: "I'm sure that was a reference to the investigations that Mr. Giuliani wanted to pursue."—additional reporting by Anna NemtsovaRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. 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| Mexico’s AMLO Mulls Freeing Ex-Governor Villanueva from Jail Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:18 PM PST ![Mexico's AMLO Mulls Freeing Ex-Governor Villanueva from Jail]( "Mexico's AMLO Mulls Freeing Ex-Governor Villanueva from Jail") (Bloomberg) -- Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said late Saturday that he's working for the release of a former governor convicted of laundering money for a drug cartel, threatening to cause increased friction with the U.S.Mario Villanueva, 71, served as governor of the Caribbean state of Quintana Roo, which includes the resort city of Cancun, from 1993 to 1999. He starting serving a 22-year sentence in Mexico in 2017. Yet in May, the state Congress concluded that he was falsely accused and didn't commit the crimes, and that his sentence was part of a political vendetta.Lopez Obrador said at an event in the state on Saturday that his government is working for Villanueva's release, while adding that it also depends on the autonomous Attorney General's office, where there's an injunction to prevent it.Lopez Obrador didn't elaborate on the reasons behind his position on the specific case, although he mentioned general backing for an amnesty bill for elderly convicts and people whose cases take years to resolve. Jesus Cantu, the information chief of the president's press office, said that Lopez Obrador wants Villanueva freed on humanitarian grounds based on his age, a chronic lung disease and the time served on his sentence.The Villanueva case threatens to cause another irritant in Mexico's relationship with the U.S. just days after President Donald Trump said he's waiting for Lopez Obrador's call to "wage war" against drug cartels after an attack killed nine dual citizens.Villanueva already served time in the U.S. after pleading guilty to laundering bribes from the Juarez drug cartel, and his release probably wouldn't be well-received by the Drug Enforcement Administration that helped investigate him, said Alejandro Hope, a security consultant and former official for CISEN, Mexico's intelligence agency."This sends a strong and terrible signal of impunity," said Gerardo Rodriguez Sanchez Lara, a professor of national security at the University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico. "The U.S. and Mexico have worked together to punish former governors who have been involved with drug trafficking, and this is one of the few cases where there's been punishment. The president needs to explain very clearly why he's taking this stance."(Updates with Mexican official's comment in fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Kevin MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Manafort's former son-in-law sentenced for multiple scams Posted: 10 Nov 2019 08:24 AM PST  Paul Manafort's former son-in-law has been sentenced in Los Angeles to nine years in prison for pulling a series of schemes totaling more than $13 million, including one that bilked $3 million from actor Dustin Hoffman. U.S. District Judge Andre Birotte Jr. ordered Jeffrey Yohai to pay $6.7 million in restitution on Friday for the schemes, some of which were carried out while he was released on bond for similar crimes. Prosecutors said Yohai persuaded Hoffman and his son Jacob to invest in a real estate project, but he used their money for personal expenses and to pay debts.
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| Iran: Case open on missing ex-FBI agent on CIA job Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:53 AM PST  Iran is acknowledging for the first time it has an open case before its Revolutionary Court over the 2007 disappearance of a former FBI agent on an unauthorized CIA mission to the country, renewing questions over what happened to him.
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| Outrage as Sri Lanka president pardons killer of Swedish teen Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:32 PM PST  Sri Lanka's president has pardoned a death-row prisoner who murdered a Swedish teenager just a week before he leaves office, officials said Sunday, in a move that sparked national outrage. Convicted killer Jude Jayamaha, from a wealthy, high-profile family, walked out of Welikada prison Saturday following the highly unusual amnesty granted by President Maithripala Sirisena. Sirisena, who is stepping down after Saturday's presidential election at which he is not a candidate, announced last month he was considering a request to grant Jayamaha a pardon.
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| Case of the stolen lemur: man who took animal from US zoo wanted a monkey Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:00 PM PST  This week the FBI released more details of the investigation into the brief 2018 abduction of Isaac, a 33-year-old ring-tailed lemurA ring-tailed lemur. Photograph: Dmitry Feoktistov/TassWhen it comes to lemurs, Isaac is known for being an easygoing guy. He's 33, and mostly enjoys a typical lemur life: resting, eating, exploring, and napping in the sun. He's the oldest ring-tailed lemur in North America and has lived at the same address since 2000.That's why, when Isaac turned up missing in July last year, the keepers at the Santa Ana Zoo were alarmed. "All the animals at the zoo have specialized diets and care requirements," explained Ethan Fisher, the executive director of zoo. "It was especially precarious for him, as a senior animal."Isaac turned up later that day in front of a Newport Beach hotel with a note: "This belongs to the Santa Ana Zoo. It was taken last night. Please bring it to police."In May, authorities announced they had a suspect: 19-year old Aquinas Kasbar. And this week, the FBI released more details of the investigation.Investigators determined Kasbar had used bolt-cutters to make a hole in the metal enclosure Isaac shared with five other endangered ring-tailed lemurs and a handful of monkeys, allowing several animals escape in the process.Kasbar, they said, had been in search of a monkey but none of them would go with him – so he ended up with the happy-go-lucky Isaac.Isaac could have been harmed by the small plastic tote he was captive in, especially when lemurs are used to standing on two legs, the FBI said. But fortunately he made it through his lemur-napping relatively unscathed. "The zoo vets checked him and there weren't any lasting issues," said Fisher. "But any time an animal is taken, there could be real harm."Kasbar bragged to his bail agent about stealing a lemur from the zoo, even showing off selfies on his phone of himself with the lemur, according to the FBI.Stealing an endangered animal is a federal crime. Kasbar pleaded guilty and last month was sentenced to three months in prison. He was also ordered to pay $8,486 in restitution to the zoo.Around the globe, zoo theft is a continuing and pernicious problem. In 2015 alone, 25 members of the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria reported thefts. In one case, thieves in France stole 79 tortoises in one heist. In 2017, a four-year-old white rhino was killed and poachers partially sawed off its horn – the first time a rhino poaching happened at a western zoo.The ring-tailed lemur is native to Madagascar and is on a list of the 25 most endangered primates, according to court documents. Ring-tailed lemurs are endangered, in part, because of the illegal pet trade. "Lemurs are suffering from habitat loss and climate change and other threats," said Fisher.Lemurs enjoy the afternoon sun, and they'll often assume a yoga-like pose sitting on a rock or the ground, with their hands upturned on their knees. They also have something called stink fights, where males grab the end of their long, striped tail, rub it in a scent gland, and wave stinky tails at each other.To any would-be animal thieves, Fisher said: "Stealing from a zoo is definitely not a good idea. There's so many reasons not to do that, but the animals that we have at the zoo are extremely cared for. They're animals the community has grown to love and appreciate."
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| Saudi Arabia: U.S. companies return to the kingdom Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:55 AM PST ![Saudi Arabia: U.S. companies return to the kingdom]( "Saudi Arabia: U.S. companies return to the kingdom") The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:The Saudi conference nicknamed "Davos in the Desert" returned last week -- and so did many of the Wall Street A-listers who boycotted it a year ago, said Mohamad Bazzi at The Guardian. Executives and political leaders shunned last year's lavish investment summit in Riyadh, "which took place only weeks after" Saudi agents murdered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But their return to the Future Investment Initiative this year signals that "Saudi Arabia is open for business, and U.S. firms don't want to miss out." Executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, and SoftBank, as well as Steve Mnuchin, the U.S. treasury secretary, and Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, were among the 300 speakers from 30 countries. The big draw was the planned initial public offering of a small piece of the world's most profitable company, Saudi Aramco, "the state-owned oil monopoly" that finally got the green light to launch from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman."The IPO is a cornerstone of Prince Mohammed's Vision 2030 plan to make the Saudi economy ready for the post-oil era," said Matthew Martin at Bloomberg, but the $2 trillion valuation the prince originally wanted for Aramco has already been knocked down to between $1.6 trillion and $1.8 trillion. Many investment bank analysts think it's worth substantially less. Aramco has to "contend with the strengthening movement against climate change" and automakers' accelerating shift away from the internal combustion engine. So far, MBS has had trouble delivering on his promise to "wean the kingdom off oil," said Varsha Koduvayur at CNN. Human rights abuses "have marred Saudi Arabia's image and heightened reputational risks for investors." The issues go well beyond Khashoggi. "Foreign direct investment to Saudi Arabia cratered after the crown prince's so-called anti-corruption roundup in 2017," when he imprisoned many of the country's most prominent business figures in the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh and made them sign away big chunks of their wealth. All the "glitz and glamour" of this conference at the very same hotel won't make investors forget that.The major tech firms did stay away, said Theodore Schleifer at Vox. But the snubs from the industry mainly show "just how sensitive tech leaders are to media crises." Ultimately, a few CEOs not showing up for a conference matters less "than the fact that Silicon Valley companies like SAP and Amazon Web Services continue to expand in Saudi Arabia." This would have been the perfect time for the world to hold the Saudis to account, said David Andelman at NBCNews. The kingdom desperately "needs deep pockets to fund Aramco's future," but no one was willing to question "the conduct -- past or present -- of the crown prince." The U.S. will "keep looking the other way" as long as the kingdom maintains its 2017 pledge to pay $350 billion for American arms over 10 years. "Call it a quid pro quo, or simply business as usual." Once again, the Saudis have been able to use their vast oil wealth to buy critical friendships, starting with Donald Trump's.More stories from theweek.com The return of honor politics Lindsey Graham is 'confident' the whistleblower is 'from the deep state' Someone made a font out of gerrymandered congressional districts
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| Australia's east coast declares state of emergency amid 'catastrophic' fire threat Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:58 PM PST  Authorities in Australia's Queensland and New South Wales states on Monday declared a state of emergency as the country's eastern region prepared for "catastrophic" fire conditions. Fires in northern New South Wales (NSW) and Queensland over the weekend killed three people and destroyed more than 150 homes. While Australia's most populous city Sydney avoided the worst of the weekend conditions, temperatures are set to soar to more than 34 degrees Celsius (93 degrees Fahrenheit), with strong, dry winds.
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| India's Nuclear Arsenal Keeps Growing, And That's Bad News For Pakistan and China Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:30 AM PST  India could be approaching 200 warheads.
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| Trump blames media for his behaviour, makes series of false claims then says whistleblower's lawyer should be sued for treason Posted: 09 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST  Donald Trump has blamed the media for his behaviour before claiming the impeachment inquiry was a hoax and suggesting a whistleblower's lawyer should be sued for treason.The US president lashed out at the "fake news" - a pejorative term he routinely deploys to describe media outlets which publish stories that reflect badly in him - during a two-minute rant in response to criticism that his "unpresidential deportment" was tearing the country apart.
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| After strike, scandal, US auto union faces reckoning Posted: 09 Nov 2019 05:44 PM PST  All fall, as the United Auto Workers launched and ended a lengthy strike amid contract talks with Detroit's "Big Three" manufacturers, the union has been shadowed by a growing corruption probe. The scandal -- which led to last week's leave of absence announcement from UAW President Gary Jones -- has centered on bribes and kickbacks as well as revelations that some union officials and auto executives effectively stole money meant for worker training and spent it on golfing outings, pricey cigars and fancy meals. From all appearances, hourly workers have set aside frustrations with UAW leadership during the crunch period of contract talks, backing a 40-day strike at General Motors that ended last month before negotiations with Ford and then Fiat Chrysler.
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| Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 10:08 AM PST ![Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane']( "Beto O'Rourke reportedly considered Pete Buttigieg a 'human weather vane'") South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg's fellow Democratic presidential candidates find the 37-year-old and his mercurial rise to be, well, kind of annoying, The New York Times reports.That's not unexpected, as former President Barack Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod pointed out. "It is a natural thing when a young candidate comes along and has success for other candidates who feel like they've toiled in the vineyards to resent it," he said.Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), for example, reportedly became "extremely agitated" at the mere mention of Buttigieg's name during a conversation with fellow candidate Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) in the Senate chamber over the summer. But it turns out that it was former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) who may have been most rankled by Buttigieg's emergence, per the Times. O'Rourke, who dropped out of the race last week, was another relatively young and inexperienced candidate, but he failed to reel in the support that the Indiana mayor has, both in terms of polling and donations.One O'Rouke aide told the Times that the former congressman viewed Buttigieg as a "human weather vane" that represented the worst of politics. Stranger things have happened, but it doesn't sound like Buttigieg can expect an endorsement from O'Rourke anytime soon. Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The return of honor politics Lindsey Graham is 'confident' the whistleblower is 'from the deep state' Someone made a font out of gerrymandered congressional districts
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| Israeli farmers lament the end of Jordan land deal Posted: 10 Nov 2019 03:54 AM PST ![Israeli farmers lament the end of Jordan land deal]( "Israeli farmers lament the end of Jordan land deal") It has been a bitter harvest for some Israeli farmers on the border with Jordan. Under the deal, part of the 1994 Jordan-Israel peace treaty, two territories straddling the border were recognized as under Jordanian sovereignty but with special provisions allowing Israeli farmers to work the land and visitors to tour the Isle of Peace park in the area. "It was like a punch to the face," said Eli Arazi, 74, a farmer whose kibbutz, or agricultural community, worked one of the land parcels that in Hebrew is called Naharayim and in Arabic, Baqoura.
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| Poll: Bloomberg's potential run is a flop with Democrats Posted: 10 Nov 2019 11:15 AM PST  A new poll shows Michael Bloomberg at 4 percent nationally as he considers a presidential bid, showing that he's well-known — but widely disliked — by the Democratic electorate, according to a new poll.
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| Rand Paul brushes aside GOP governor’s apparent defeat in Kentucky Posted: 10 Nov 2019 10:44 AM PST  Sen. Rand Paul downplayed the implications of his home state of Kentucky apparently electing a Democratic governor earlier this week, declining to attribute Gov. Matt Bevin's loss to his attempts to nationalize the race. The closely watched race between Bevin, the extremely unpopular Republican incumbent, and Andy Beshear, the state's Democratic attorney general, was seen by many in the pundit class as the first major test of how the politics of impeachment would fare in a deep-red state and a potential bellwether for next year's elections. The handful of local elections that took place on Tuesday painted a dark picture for Republicans, as the party continues to suffer losses in suburbs around the country.
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| Cruel jokes about the old are everywhere. When will we face our ageism epidemic? Posted: 09 Nov 2019 11:00 PM PST  We tolerate mockery of the elderly that we'd never allow if it targeted another group. But we'll all be old one day'It's not only in the sphere of comedy that the old are discussed in ways that would never be tolerated by (or about) another group.' Photograph: NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty ImagesWatching Saturday Night Live over the past few seasons, I've noticed the increasing number and frequency of jokes about old people: the feebleness of the aging brain, the repulsiveness of the elderly body, particularly the elderly female body.Partly because no one, it seems, is ever "called out" for ageism – I can't think of one public figure who has been "cancelled" for mocking the aged – I persuaded myself that, as an older person, I was being hypersensitive. But then, this past weekend, on the Weekend Update segment, the cast member Micheal Che told a series of jokes about a report that a Chinese woman in her 60s had given birth. The labor, Che noted, had involved an unusual amount of "friction" and (I may be slightly misquoting here) the delivery had been like "removing a penny from a wad of chewing gum". Moreover, he added, the new mother could nurse simply by leaning over the crib. The audience laughed. I winced. My husband said: "Ouch."I tried to think of another demographic – Asians? African Americans? Women? Members of the LGBT community? – who would have been the object of humor quite so cruel, so barbed, so personal. But it's not only in the sphere of comedy, and on network TV, that the old are discussed in ways that would never be tolerated by (or about) another group.This summer, the New York Times ran a piece by Ann Bauer titled Do Old People Have a Different Smell? After renting her house to an elderly couple, Ms Bauer returned to find that her home had an odd scent, "strange and cloyingly human". A Google search provided Ms Bauer with conflicting results. One biologist at the Monell Chemical Research Center found that an increased concentration of an unsaturated aldehyde produced, in the old, "a distinctive grassy, waxy or fatty odor". This confirmed what a Japanese study had found in 2001. Apparently the Japanese "have a name for older person odor – kareishu – and it has a definitely negative association". These conclusions were disputed by an organic chemist, also at the Monell, who was himself jokingly accused of being biased, because he was old.The results of these studies interested me less than the fact that they were carried out out at all – and, I assume, funded. Are there studies in progress designed to determine if black people smell funny, or if one can identify a gender nonconforming person by an educated sniff?Ageism is more than a joke. Age discrimination in the work place is difficult to prove, to prosecute and to rectify than any other sort of employment bias. That elderly person greeting you at the door of Target or checking out your groceries at the supermarket may well have once held – and been fired from – a very different job.> Imagine how you might feel, in some as yet unimaginable future, to be told, simply because you have survived, to have a terrible dayIt's unsurprising that animosity toward the elderly has been profitably commodified. Again according to the New York Times, the phrase "OK Boomer" is "Generations Z's ... retort to the problem of older people who just don't get it." OK Boomer now appears on phone cases, stickers, pins, and sweatshirts and on a range of products that say, "OK boomer, have a terrible day." "'If they do take it personally'," according to one 17-year-old quoted in the piece, "'it just further proves that they take everything we do as offensive.'" And yet one wonders if the public would be quite so amused by a logo that said: "OK Jews, have a terrible day." Given the losses and infirmities that so often accompany age, don't the elderly have enough bad days without being told to have more?The accepted explanation and justification for all this is that the old have ruined things for the young: we're responsible for climate change, for income inequality, for the cascading series of financial crises, for the prohibitive cost of higher education. Fair enough, I suppose, though it does seem unjust to direct one's anger at the average middle-class senior citizen struggling to survive on social security rather than raging at, let's say, the Koch brothers the Sacklers, the big banks, and the fossil-fuel lobbyists who have effectively dismantled the EPA. OK, Morgan Stanley, have a terrible day.In any case, I think that the animosity toward the old is less economic than existential, less political than primal, less about student debt than about fear of one's own ageing. No one particularly wants to get old, however preferable it is to the alternative: an early death. What's striking is that the prejudice against the elderly is the only bigotry directed at the inevitable future of the bigot. Few misogynists, I imagine, fear that they eventually will turn into women, nor do racists worry that the passing decades will radically alter their ethnicity and the color of their skin. But the young will get old, if they're lucky. Meanwhile they might consider the fact that ageing is challenging enough without one's being mocked and derided for having experienced a natural process that no medical or cosmetic intervention can ultimately prevent.I'm not suggesting more "calling out", more cancellations. We have enough of that already. So perhaps the answer is more consciousness, more compassion, a more empathic imagination. Believe it or not, the old still have a sense of humor, even about the ageing process. But cruelty is something else. Imagine how your grandpa would feel surrounded by scientists eager to determine if he had an unpleasant odor, or how your grandmother would like hearing her flesh compared to a wad of chewing gum. Then imagine how you might feel, in some as yet unimaginable future, to be told, simply because you have survived, to have a terrible day.
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| Shock in Russia as Napoleon expert confesses to chopping up lover Posted: 10 Nov 2019 06:44 AM PST  A prominent Saint Petersburg-based Napoleon expert has confessed to murdering his young lover and former student and dismembering her body in a grisly crime that sent shock waves across Russia. Oleg Sokolov, a 63-year-old history lecturer who received France's Legion d'Honneur from Jacques Chirac in 2003, was arrested Saturday on suspicion of murder after he was hauled out of the icy Moika River with a backpack containing a woman's arms. Sokolov was reportedly drunk and fell into the Moika, a tributary of the Neva, in central Saint Petersburg as he tried to dispose of body parts near the offices of investigators.
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| UPDATE 2-United States "very actively" asking N.Korea to return to talks - S.Korea Posted: 10 Nov 2019 12:13 AM PST ![UPDATE 2-United States "very actively" asking N.Korea to return to talks - S.Korea]( "UPDATE 2-United States \"very actively\" asking N.Korea to return to talks - S.Korea") The United States is "very actively" trying to persuade North Korea to come back to negotiations, South Korea's national security adviser said on Sunday, as a year-end North Korean deadline for U.S. flexibility approaches. South Korea was taking North Korea's deadline "very seriously", the adviser, Chung Eui-yong, told reporters, at a time when efforts to improve inter-Korean relations have stalled.
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| Why The U.S. Army Really Needs The Precision Strike Missile Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:45 AM PST  The Army's number one modernization priority.
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| Father of Atatiana Jefferson dies of heart attack, family spokesperson says Posted: 10 Nov 2019 04:14 AM PST  The father of Atatiana Jefferson, the black woman who was fatally shot by a Fort Worth police officer, died of a heart attack, a spokesperson said.
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| The ‘Whistleblower’ and the President’s Right to Present a Defense Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:30 AM PST  Right church, wrong pew, as we Catholic types are wont to say.As I tried to explain in Thursday's column, Rand Paul is wrong to insist that the Sixth Amendment's confrontation clause demands that the so-called whistleblower be unmasked and publicly questioned. That does not mean, though, that Senator Paul's general idea (that the "whistleblower" should testify) is wrong; nor does it mean that the Constitution's guarantee of trial rights is irrelevant.The right to present a defense, also vouchsafed by the Sixth Amendment, is the guarantee on which Paul and the rest of the president's supporters should focus.This comes with the same caveats elaborated on Thursday. The Constitution vests the House and Senate with plenary authority over their respective impeachment proceedings (the House to decide whether to file articles of impeachment, the Senate to try the case). No court has the power to make either legislative chamber afford a particular quantum of due process.That said, impeachment is inherently political. Here, it has been launched when we are less than a year out from an election in which the American people are supposed determine for themselves whether the president should keep his job. By the time impeachment has run its course, we could be just a few months from Election Day. Apparently, though, the political class is intent on end-running the sovereign, attempting to remove President Trump on its own. To pull that off, it will need to convince the country that (a) it has grounds so extraordinarily serious that Trump must be ousted forthwith and (b) the procedures under which it impeached were fundamentally fair.I don't think they have a prayer of demonstrating the former, such that two-thirds of the GOP-controlled Senate would be spurred to remove the president. (Trump's approval rating among Republicans is hovering around 90 percent.) As for the latter concern, due process, there must be some and it must be meaningful -- not because it is legally mandated, but because it is politically essential.This is why many of the more pragmatic Democrats knew impeachment was a bad idea. As a practical matter, they don't have close to the votes to remove, so it's doomed to fail. The public knows it's doomed to fail and may well resent Democrats for gratuitously putting the country through it. If Trump is denied due process, the proceedings will look like a kangaroo court and Democrats will be blamed. And if Trump is afforded due process, the case he presents may damage Democrats come November.We do not have a ton of prior impeachment experience to go on, but the presidents in each episode were afforded the right to present a defense -- both in the House proceedings leading to articles of impeachment and in the Senate trial.The right to present a defense is importantly different from the right to confront the House Democrats' case for impeachment.As I noted in Wednesday's column, the confrontation right emphasized by Senator Paul only allows the accused to cross-examine whatever witnesses the prosecution chooses to call in making its case. It does not give the accused a right to cross-examine every source who may have provided accusatory information, even sources whom the prosecutor does not call. Consequently, if the Democrats believe (as they do) that they could establish their case for articles of impeachment without summoning the so-called whistleblower as a witness, the president and his Republican defenders would have no right to call the whistleblower merely to cross-examine him on the statements made in his hearsay complaint.By contrast, the right to present a defense is more extensive. Broadly speaking, it empowers an accused to do two things: (1) pointedly discredit the prosecution's version of events, whether through cross-examination of the prosecution's witnesses or presentation of the accused's own witnesses, and (2) present the accused's own witnesses and evidence in order to prove facts and theories that favor the accused and cast doubt on the worthiness of the prosecutor's case.In most any criminal case, courts will give the accused a decent-sized berth to prove and argue that the accused was set up by the investigators; or that the investigative procedures used were underhanded or otherwise skewed against the accused. Here, the president will want to persuade the factfinders (and the country) that Democrats have conspired with like-minded officials in the bureaucracy, particularly in the intelligence agencies (including the FBI and the Justice Department), to paralyze and, if possible, shorten the Trump presidency.Most defenses based on government misconduct do not get very far. They tend to be fabricated, overblown, or focused on prosecutorial misconduct that is far afield from the charges against the accused. In this instance, however, the president has a great deal to work with.Prominent Democrats and Trump detractors have been quite brazen in their public rhetoric about Trump (including, as is now being reported, the so-called whistleblower's counsel, who has spoken explicitly about a "coup" by bureaucrats). Moreover, the Justice Department inspector general's report on the Clinton emails investigation outlines in wince-inducing detail pervasive anti-Trump bias on the part of government investigators.The same IG is about to release a report specifically dealing with investigative irregularities in the Trump-Russia investigation. Of course, we do not yet know what that report will yield (and even less what will come of the Barr/Durham probe of the Trump-Russia investigation's origins). We do know, though, that the FBI and Justice Department represented to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the FBI believed Trump's campaign was likely complicit in Russia's hacking operations to influence the 2016 election. And we know that the Obama administration -- undoubtedly in collusion with foreign intelligence services -- ran informants against Trump-campaign officials in an effort to establish a Trump–Russia conspiracy. Finally, we know that the president was repeatedly told that he was not a suspect of the FBI's investigation, under circumstances where he appears to have been the central suspect.After years of very aggressive, expensive investigation -- by a special counsel who staffed his investigation with notorious partisans -- no Trump–Russia conspiracy was found. Moreover, the FBI and the Justice Department on four occasions obtained warrants to monitor a former Trump-campaign adviser, telling the federal court under oath that he was a clandestine agent of a foreign power and a key cog in the Trump–Russia cyberespionage conspiracy; yet that adviser, Carter Page, was never accused of any crime, much less the traitorous misconduct outlined in the warrant applications.The president and his supporters will want to lay much of this out in his defense case against any impeachment allegations. It is clearly relevant on the question whether the Democrats are to be believed that the Ukraine episode is what they portray it to be: a matter of such grave severity that Congress should remove the president from power just ahead of an election. The fact finders and the public are entitled to consider whether Democrats are blowing the Ukraine episode way out of proportion, just as they did with the collusion caper. Indeed, in the Clinton impeachment case, the president and his Democratic supporters were permitted to press the case that Republican claims about the egregiousness of his misconduct were overwrought, as evidenced, for example, by Clinton's high approval ratings.In the presentation of his defense, President Trump would thus seek to call the "whistleblower" as a witness (a hostile one, no doubt). His counsel and Republicans would proceed to try to demonstrate his connections to senior Democrats with intelligence-community ties who have been scurrilous in their public comments about the president. They would grill him on allegations that he is among the intelligence-community officials who leaked information in a manner intended to cast the president in a poor light. And they would press him on the preparation of his hearsay complaint -- his consultation with an Adam Schiff staffer, his close collaboration with overtly anti-Trump lawyers, and so on. I might even have him read aloud from Schiff's wannabe Godfather IV caricature of the Trump-Zelensky conversation and ask whether he helped the chairman's staff write it.It is in connection with the president's right to present a defense, not his confrontation-clause right, that Senator Paul and the president's defenders should frame their argument that the "whistleblower" should be subpoenaed to testify at public impeachment hearings.A cautionary note. When I was a prosecutor, I loved defense cases. They were often not very well thought through -- just an effort to dirty up investigators toward no coherent end, or toss in some favorable details about the accused that were quite beside the point of the charges. A defense case can open the door to prosecutors to place before the factfinders a great deal of unflattering information about the accused that would otherwise have been excluded as irrelevant. Defense lawyers tend to be much better at dismantling the prosecutor's case for conviction than at presenting their own affirmative case for acquittal. When a defendant proceeded with an extensive defense case, I almost always ended up concluding that it had helped me more than it helped the defendant.Presenting an affirmative case would not be without risk for the president. If the Democrats' case for impeachment is weak and has no chance of success, he would probably be better advised to leave well enough alone. Nevertheless, if the president wants to argue that the bureaucracy has had it in for him from the start, and has coordinated with Democrats to undermine him, he has an unusual embarrassment of riches to exploit.
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| Teenagers charged with murder of photographer after allegedly pushing log off cliff Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:06 PM PST  Two teenagers are facing murder charges after a 6-foot log fell from a cliff and killed a photographer taking school pictures below.
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| Venezuelans charting escape selling off past at flea markets Posted: 08 Nov 2019 09:48 PM PST  Having decided it's time to abandon her crisis-torn homeland, Yenika Calderon spreads out her worldly possessions in the middle of a flea market in Venezuela's capital, hoping to pocket enough money to give her young family a fresh start far away in Spain. Millions of Venezuelans have already left on similar journeys in recent years, and many of those planning to follow are putting their hopes in street-side markets that are popping up across Caracas. Calderon, 41, has trekked to one of the markets every Sunday in recent weeks, haggling with customers over prices for her favorite handbags and her son's baby clothes.
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| The Vietnamese victims of UK truck tragedy Posted: 09 Nov 2019 02:44 AM PST  British police on Friday confirmed the names of the 39 victims, who are all Vietnamese nationals, found dead in a refrigerated truck in southeast England last month. After Tiep dropped out of high school, he told his family he wanted to work overseas instead of becoming a fisherman in his coastal home province. On October 21, two days before the truck was found, he wrote to his family asking them to get $13,000 to pay to smugglers for his trip to the UK, the last they heard from him.
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| US man convicted of murder says life term completed when he briefly 'died' Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:25 AM PST  Benjamin Schreiber says 2015 'death' when heart stopped means life sentence should be considered served – but judges disagreeBenjamin Schreiber. The judges concluded: 'Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot.' Photograph: APAn Iowa prisoner serving a life sentence argued he had paid his debt to society – after "dying" momentarily in hospital.Benjamin Schreiber was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison in 1996, after he clubbed a man to death with the handle of a pickax and left his body outside a trailer, the Des Moines Register reported. He had conspired with the man's girlfriend to murder him.In March 2015, Schreiber developed severe complications from kidney stones and went into septic shock. He lost consciousness in his cell and was taken to hospital.Once there, he momentarily "died" in doctors' care. He was revived using a combination of epinephrine and adrenaline, his sepsis was treated and he was sent back to jail.According to his attorneys, his momentary "death" meant he had completed his life sentence and his return to prison was therefore illegal. Schreiber also said he was revived against his wishes.A lower court found the argument "unpersuasive and without merit". Schreiber took the matter further but appeals court judges were also not convinced.For the three-judge panel, justice Amanda Potterfield wrote: "We do not believe the legislature intended this provision, which defines the sentences for the most serious class of felonies under Iowa law and imposes its 'harshest penalty'... to set criminal defendants free whenever medical procedures during their incarceration lead to their resuscitation by medical professionals."The judges concluded: "Schreiber is either still alive, in which case he must remain in prison, or he is actually dead, in which case this appeal is moot."Schreiber, 66, is still in prison in Iowa.
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| Romanian President Set for Election Runoff With Rival Ex-PM Posted: 10 Nov 2019 12:13 PM PST ![Romanian President Set for Election Runoff With Rival Ex-PM]( "Romanian President Set for Election Runoff With Rival Ex-PM") (Bloomberg) -- Romanian President Klaus Iohannis won the first round of presidential elections to set up a runoff in two weeks against a former prime minister with whom he's frequently clashed.Iohannis, who's been a steadying force in a nation where political chaos has become the norm, won about 39% of votes in Sunday's election, according to surveys by CURS-Avangarde and IRES. Social Democrat leader Viorica Dancila, whose government was ousted last month, was some way back on about 22%."Our battle doesn't have a party name but it's aimed at totally removing the Social Democrats from power so they can no longer hold Romania captive and make it a prisoner of the past," Iohannis said after voting ended. "We have one more fight in this war in two weeks' time."Dancila is one of the five prime ministers to have come and gone since Iohannis was elected in 2014, during which time Bucharest has seen its biggest protests since communism collapsed three decades ago. The unrest was sparked by Social Democrat attempts to ease punishments for crooked officials and keep their party's leader out of prison. Its reforms raised similar rule-of-law concerns to those that have turned Hungary and Poland into villains in Brussels.Iohannis, 60, helped repel and delay legislation long enough that the ruling-party boss was eventually convicted and sent to prison. After replacing him, Dancila halted the plans, avoiding the risk of European Union sanctions, before she was toppled.Facing Dancila, Romania's first female prime minister and the first woman to make it to the second round of a presidential election, is likely to be easier for Iohannis than a contest with third-placed Dan Barna, an anti-corruption newcomer whose voters will probably switch to the incumbent in the deciding ballot.Diaspora VotesLate Sunday, Barna -- who scored about 16% in the exit polls -- hadn't given up on reaching the runoff himself, saying the diaspora weren't included in those surveys. At least three million Romanians live abroad as the country's population has slipped to below 20 million."Iohannis's chances are close to 100% unless something significant and totally unexpected happens," said Andrei Taranu, deputy dean at the Political Science University in Bucharest.That's despite the fact his first term wasn't a total success. Critics say he was unable to curb government spending that's pushed the budget deficit toward EU limits. Nor could he stop the Social Democrats from firing anti-graft crusader Laura Codruta Kovesi, who was recently appointed as the bloc's first top prosecutor.The EU said in October it would maintain judicial monitoring of the country, which has been in place since Romania joined in 2007, keeping it out of the passport-free Schengen area.Iohannis recently helped his ally, Liberal Party head Ludovic Orban, take charge of the new government. He may also lead Romania through its first-ever snap elections early next year.(Updates with comments from president in third paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Andra Timu in Bucharest at atimu@bloomberg.net;Irina Vilcu in Bucharest at isavu@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Andrew LangleyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Malta has deal with Libya coastguard over migrant interceptions -report Posted: 10 Nov 2019 04:03 AM PST ![Malta has deal with Libya coastguard over migrant interceptions -report]( "Malta has deal with Libya coastguard over migrant interceptions -report") Malta's armed forces have started cooperating with Libya's coastguard to turn back migrant boats heading into Malta's search and rescue zone, a newspaper reported on Sunday, citing a secret government deal. The government declined to comment directly on the report in the Sunday Times of Malta, but told Reuters the Mediterranean state had been working with the Libyan coastguard for many years and always operated within the law. Under the terms of the deal, when a migrant boat is spotted sailing towards Malta, the island's armed forces seek the intervention of the Libyan coastguard to intercept them before they enter Malta's territorial waters, the paper said.
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| China's Investments In Special Forces Are Paying Off In Deadly Ways Posted: 09 Nov 2019 07:00 PM PST  Special operations soldiers are a force multiplier.
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| Cutting the cord isn't just for pay TV. Here's some other smart options to shave your bills Posted: 09 Nov 2019 06:09 AM PST  New technologies and devices can be used to apply the cord-cutting concept to other services you want at home -- and help you lower recurring bills.
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| House Republicans Will Call Hunter Biden to Testify Publicly as Their Top Impeachment Witness: Report Posted: 09 Nov 2019 08:06 AM PST  House Republicans intend to call Hunter Biden as their top witness in the impeachment inquiry, according to a list of witnesses obtained by Fox News on Saturday, just days before public impeachment hearings will commence.Biden, whose time on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma has become a central issue in the impeachment inquiry, denied that his business dealings in Ukraine and his father's position as vice president represented a conflict of interest during an interview last month, but called the decision to join Burisma "poor judgement on my part."In October, a U.S. State Department official told impeachment investigators that he worried Ukrainian officials would use Hunter Biden's position at the company to influence the vice president, and conveyed his opinion to Joe Biden's office, only for a staffer to tell him that the vice president didn't have the "bandwidth" to address the issue.Earlier this week, Republican senators Chuck Grassley and Ron Johnson asked the State Department for documents pertaining to Burisma, after email records showed that Biden and business partner Devon Archer scheduled meetings with senior State Department officials in 2015 and 2016.Republicans also plan on calling on Archer to testify, as well as the anonymous whistleblower who first raised concerns over the July call between President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky."Because President Trump should be afforded an opportunity to confront his accusers, the anonymous whistleblower should testify," House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) wrote in a letter to Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff on Saturday."Given the multiple discrepancies between the whistleblower's complaint and the closed-door testimony of the witnesses, it is imperative that the American people hear definitively how the whistleblower developed his or her information, and who else the whistleblower may have fed the information he or she gathered and how that treatment of classified information may have led to the false narrative being perpetrated by the Democrats during this process."On October 2, the New York Times reported that the whistleblower communicated with Schiff's office before filing a formal complaint.It is unclear whether Schiff will allow Republicans to call Biden and other witnesses, as current House rules on the inquiry allow Republicans to only call witnesses who are "authorized" by Schiff.Nunes, in his letter, said that Republicans expect Schiff "to call each of the witnesses listed above to ensure that the Democrats' 'impeachment inquiry' treats the President with fairness, as promised by Speaker Pelosi."
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| Small Yet Mighty Mercury Still Holds Many Mysteries Posted: 09 Nov 2019 03:00 PM PST  Two different spacecraft have visited the planet, but there's still so much we don't know about it.
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| Mexico uncovers 10 more bodies from mass grave in Sonora Posted: 10 Nov 2019 02:53 PM PST ![Mexico uncovers 10 more bodies from mass grave in Sonora]( "Mexico uncovers 10 more bodies from mass grave in Sonora") Forensic scientists in the Mexican state of Sonora have recovered 10 more bodies from mass graves near a beach town, raising the total number of bodies and skeletons found in the area since October to 52. The bodies were found near the Gulf of California beach town of Puerto Peñasco, known to U.S. tourists as Rocky Point. Authorities began pulling human remains from the burial pits about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Puerto Peñasco at the end of October.
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