| Trump says Kellyanne 'must have done some bad things' to George Conway Posted: 22 Nov 2019 07:00 AM PST  Kellyanne Conway, special counselor to President Trump, is known to berate journalists who speculate about her marriage to George Conway, a prominent Trump critic. In an interview with "Fox & Friends" on Friday, the president did just that.
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| Judge orders father of supermodels Bella and Gigi Hadid to pull down $100 million Bel Air mega-mansion Posted: 23 Nov 2019 12:37 PM PST  The property tycoon father of supermodels Gigi and Bella Hadid has been ordered by a judge to demolish his half-built $100 million Bel Air mega-mansion, which has been dubbed the "Starship Enterprise". Mohamed Hadid has been involved in a long legal battle over the palatial 30,000 sq ft residence after neighbours complained about its size. A judge in Los Angeles Superior Court decided it was a "clear and present danger" to other properties in the area. The ruling came after a structural engineer said supporting piles were not driven far enough into the ground underneath the hillside property. The judge said: "If this house came down the hill it would take a portion of the neighbourhood with it." Following the ruling Mr Hadid told TMZ the house "has not moved a millimetre! It has never been an imminent danger to the neighbours." The property developer is the father of supermodel Bella Hadid and her sister Gigi Credit: E-PRESS / BACKGRID UK He also said many city inspectors had monitored the construction process since it began in 2012, and concerns were not raised until years later. The court heard demolition would take six months and cost several million dollars. It was the latest development in a long saga over the project, which was to include an IMAX cinema. Mr Hadid, a property developer, hoped to ultimately sell the mansion for nine figures. In 2017 he told Town & Country Magazine: "Demolish this house? Never! This house will last forever. Bel Air will fall before this house will." The same year, he was sentenced to three years probation and 200 hours of community service after pleading no contest to three charges of violating building regulations. Several neighbours sued Mr Hadid claiming they lived in "constant fear" of the hillside collapsing, and that their "privacy and serenity was invaded by the illegal and unsightly structure looming above them." Mr Hadid responded that he was the victim of "witch hunt" and the neighbours' claims were "total nonsense."
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| This Is How U.S. Navy SEALs Would Go To War Against Iran Posted: 23 Nov 2019 05:30 AM PST  It would not be an easy fight.
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| Putin hands awards to widows of men killed in mysterious military test Posted: 22 Nov 2019 03:13 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin has handed top state awards to the widows of five scientists killed in an accident while testing what he called an advanced weapons system without equal in the world. The five men died on Aug. 8 in what their employer, state nuclear agency Rosatom, said was an accident during a rocket test on a sea platform off northern Russia, an incident which caused radiation levels in the surrounding area to briefly spike. Thomas DiNanno, a senior U.S. State Department official, said last month that Washington had determined that the explosion was the result of a nuclear reaction which occurred during the recovery of a Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile after a failed test.
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| Otto Warmbier’s Parents Will Work to Have North Korean Assets Seized Posted: 22 Nov 2019 05:48 AM PST  The parents of former U.S. hostage Otto Warmbier, who died in 2017 after being released from North Korea in a coma, have announced they will attempt to seize North Korean business assets around the world to punish the country's government over its human-rights abuses.Otto Warmbier was convicted in a North Korean court after he tried to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel. He was released to the U.S. in a vegetative state a year later.Otto's parents have alleged he was tortured. North Korea has denied the allegations, asserting it was the "biggest victim" in Otto's death and, without evidence, attributing Warmbier's death to botulism."My mission would be to hold North Korea responsible, to recover and discover their assets around the world," Fred Warmbier said at a Friday press conference in Seoul, South Korea, according to the Associated Press. Fred and his wife Cindy had been invited to speak at a forum for a group representing South Korean families whose members were abducted by North Korea over the course of the 1950-53 Korean War."We feel that if you force North Korea to engage the world in a legal standpoint, then they will have to ultimately have a dialogue," he continued. "They are not going to come and have a dialogue with us any other way."The Warmbiers plan to pressure European governments to close hostels run by North Korea. They are already pursuing legal action against a hostel on the grounds of North Korea's embassy in Berlin."We cannot give up, we can't give them a pass. We have to fight with all of our power," Cindy Warmbier said at the conference.President Trump has repeatedly sought to negotiate the removal of nuclear weapons from North Korea, and became the first American president to meet with a North Korean leader during negotiations. Those negotiations are currently stalled.
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| Impeachment witnesses tested Republican defenses of Trump one by one Posted: 22 Nov 2019 12:47 PM PST  While it remains highly unlikely that the Democrats' House impeachment inquiry will lead to a conviction of Donald Trump by the Republican-controlled Senate, the testimony did succeed in straining the defenses put forth by the president and his allies.
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| Through the wire -- Palestinians risk all to work in Israel Posted: 22 Nov 2019 04:42 PM PST  It is well before dawn when the first work deprived Palestinians arrive to sneak through a two-metre hole cut in the metal fence that is supposed to keep them out of Israel. The men are among the thousands of Palestinians working in Israel illegally, risking bad working conditions, exploitation and jail for a chance of employment. On the morning AFP visited, Yunis, from Dahariya in the southern West Bank, was one of hundreds running the gauntlet as police patrolled the area.
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| Walmart unveils memorial for El Paso mass shooting victims Posted: 23 Nov 2019 03:22 PM PST  The memorial to the El Paso shooting victims, called the "Grand Candela," was welcomed by the public at the Walmart on Saturday.
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| ‘Give that dog a license.’ Black lab seen on video doing donuts in Florida cul-de-sac Posted: 22 Nov 2019 09:18 AM PST  His owner reportedly left the car running with the dog inside.
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| California school shooting shines light on murky 'ghost gun' world Posted: 22 Nov 2019 04:04 AM PST  AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - "Ghost guns" like the one a 16-year-old boy used to kill two classmates and injure three others at a California high school last week are self-assembled, virtually untraceable - and completely legal. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's department confirmed that the .45-caliber pistol that Nathaniel Berhow used in the shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, on his 16th birthday was made from a kit. Kits can be purchased online or at gun shows, as long as the frames are not fully functional.
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| Former Iowa governor says Biden has ‘heart of a president’ Posted: 23 Nov 2019 09:01 AM PST  In endorsing Democrat Joe Biden for president on Saturday, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack said, above all, the former vice president's personal losses give him "the capacity to comfort" and "the need to heal" a divided nation. More fundamentally, the death of Biden's first wife and infant daughter in a car accident in 1972 and his son Beau's death from cancer in 2015 have given Biden a deep sense of suffering important to understanding the day-to-day struggles, and personal pain, of many Americans. The endorsement comes as Biden has slipped from being the early favorite in Iowa last spring to trailing newcomers, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
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| Medicare for All's thorniest issue is how much to pay doctors and hospitals. Any new system could become a convoluted mess if it goes wrong. Posted: 23 Nov 2019 06:45 AM PST  Warren faces challenges in her plan to set payment rates for doctors and hospitals in line with Medicare without creating more losers than winners.
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| Many voters say they're OK with a gay president, but America isn't. I don't buy it. Posted: 23 Nov 2019 05:51 AM PST  It's an interesting if puzzling dichotomy: Some voters say they would not penalize Pete Buttigieg for being gay — but are fearful others would.
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| Trump says Ukraine envoy Yovanovitch wouldn't hang his picture. Fact check: There was no official portrait for most of 2017. Posted: 22 Nov 2019 10:46 AM PST  "She is in charge of the embassy," the president said on "Fox & Friends" Friday morning. "She wouldn't hang it. It look a year and a half or two years to get the picture up."
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| Internet outage forces Iranians to resort to old ways Posted: 23 Nov 2019 03:48 AM PST  The internet restrictions, for their part, apparently aimed to temper shows of dissent and anger over the move and stop footage of the unrest from being shared. Brigadier General Salar Abnoosh, a deputy head of the Basij volunteer militia, said Friday that the internet outage had helped to "disrupt the complicated" plans by Iran's enemies. On Saturday -- day seven of the internet restrictions and the start of the working week in Iran -- people in Tehran were trying to overcome problems brought on by the outage.
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| How the leader of a notorious Chicago street gang evolved into an ISIS supporter Posted: 22 Nov 2019 05:05 PM PST  The gang leader thought he had provided $500 in cash to man fighting for ISIS in Syria. In reality, it was an undercover FBI agent.
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| These 5 Weapons Show Us How The U.S. Marines Would Fight North Korea Posted: 23 Nov 2019 06:00 AM PST  Let's hope it never has to happen.
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| Cuba acknowledges "vestiges" of racism, launches program to fight it Posted: 22 Nov 2019 04:26 PM PST ![Cuba acknowledges "vestiges" of racism, launches program to fight it]( "Cuba acknowledges \"vestiges\" of racism, launches program to fight it") Cuba's government has launched a program to combat racism, acknowledging that a problem that Fidel Castro tried to eliminate after the 1959 leftist revolution remains unresolved. The program aims to identify steps to fight discrimination, broaden education on Cuba's African legacy and start a public debate on racial issues, Culture Vice Minister Fernando Rojas told a cabinet meeting, according to state-run media on Friday. "Everyone recognizes our revolution has been the social and political process that has possibly done most to eliminate racial discrimination," state-run media quoted President Miguel Diaz-Canel as saying.
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| Jeffrey Epstein was not murdered, it was a 'perfect storm of screw-ups', William Barr says Posted: 22 Nov 2019 11:06 AM PST  The death of financier and paedophile Jeffrey Epstein in August has been the subject of continued interest and debate.Epstein was found dead in his cell at the Metropolitan Correctional Centre in New York City on August 10, 2019 after being arrested on charges of trafficking of minors.
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| 26 of the Most Fascinating Public Sculptures Posted: 22 Nov 2019 05:00 AM PST |
| German soldier who posed as Syrian refugee to face new terror trial Posted: 23 Nov 2019 07:43 AM PST  A German soldier who lived a double life posing as a Syrian refugee is to face a new trial on charges of planning a far-Right terror attack. Lieutenant Franco Albrecht spent more than a year posing as a Christian refugee from Syria, and was given a place in a German government refugee shelter. Prosecutors allege he was planning to assassinate high-profile figures in a false flag terror attack and pin the blame on the fictitious Syrian. The original terror charges against Lt Albrecht were dismissed for lack of evidence in a court hearing last year, but Germany's highest criminal court this week upheld a prosecution appeal and ordered a new trial. Lt Albrecht's arrest in 2017 stunned Germany and made headlines around the world. As a high-flying cadet officer, he trained at France's prestigious St Cyr Military academy under an exchange programme and was entertained as a guest of the British army at Sandhurst. Lt Albrecht's defence lawyers say he masqueraded as a refugee in order to expose the shortcomings of the German asylum system and its failure properly to identify those entering the country. They deny that he was planning a terror attack Lt Albrecht was a guest at Sandhurst while he was training as part of an exchange programme at France's prestigious St Cyr military academy Credit: Private Germany's federal court of justice ruled this week that there is sufficient evidence to support the charge Lt Albrecht was planning to assassinate public figures and ordered that he must face it in court. But it ruled there was no evidence to support the charge that he was planning to pin the blame for an attack on Syrian refugees. Prosecutors allege that Lt Albrecht procured firearms and ammunition and prepared a list of possible assassinations targets including Heiko Maas, the foreign minister, former President Joachim Gauck and Anetta Kahane, a prominent human rights activist. They allege he scoped out a car park near the activist's office as a possible assassination site. Lawyers for Lt Albrecht deny the allegations and say he obtained weapons as a member of the "prepper" scene. They say the alleged "death list" is a list of people the soldier wished to contact to discuss the political situation, and that he only visited the car park in an attempt to meet Ms Kahane. Lawyers for the soldier have not commented on this week's decision by the appeals court. Lt Albrecht has been suspended from duty but remains an officer in the German army until the case is resolved. A date for a new trial has not yet been set.
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| 4 reasons Democrats have an uphill climb on Donald Trump impeachment and removal Posted: 22 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  If the ending of this movie is inevitable, the undecided public may move toward the Republican claim that the whole thing is a waste of time and money.
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| Trump says Hong Kong would be ‘obliterated in 14 minutes’ without him Posted: 22 Nov 2019 09:04 AM PST  President Trump said Friday he had saved Hong Kong from being destroyed by persuading Chinese President Xi Jinping to hold off on sending in troops to crush the pro-democracy movement there.
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| France takes aim at US inaction in Mideast Posted: 23 Nov 2019 12:10 AM PST  French Defence Minister Florence Parly took aim Saturday at "gradual US disengagement" in the Middle East and said its failure to respond to provocations blamed on Iran set off a dangerous chain of events. Since May, tensions in the Gulf have increased with attacks against tankers, a US unmanned drone being downed, and strikes on key Saudi oil facilities. Iran was blamed but denied involvement.
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| Iowa Supreme Court says stand-your-ground law has limits Posted: 22 Nov 2019 08:11 AM PST ![Iowa Supreme Court says stand-your-ground law has limits]( "Iowa Supreme Court says stand-your-ground law has limits") An Iowa law allowing people to use lethal force to defend themselves doesn't apply to defendants who engaged in criminal activity prior to the perceived threat, the state Supreme Court ruled Friday. Baltazar maintains he feared Mercado had a weapon and was acting in self-defense under the state's stand-your-ground law. The Court of Appeals faulted Baltazar's trial court for giving a faulty jury instruction in his case that did not abide by the state's new stand-your-ground law, which was enacted 27 days before the killing.
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| World War III? In 1956, Russia Almost Fought Britain, France, and Israel With Nuclear Weapons Posted: 22 Nov 2019 05:16 AM PST  The Suez Canal Crisis was a dangerous gambit.
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| UPDATE 1-China attacks U.S. at G20 as the world's biggest source of instability Posted: 23 Nov 2019 04:18 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-China attacks U.S. at G20 as the world's biggest source of instability]( "UPDATE 1-China attacks U.S. at G20 as the world's biggest source of instability") The United States is the world's biggest source of instability and its politicians are going around the world baselessly smearing China, the Chinese government's top diplomat said on Saturday in a stinging attack at a G20 meeting in Japan. Relations between the world's two largest economies have nose-dived amid a bitter trade war - which they are trying to resolve - and arguments over human rights, Hong Kong and U.S. support for Chinese-claimed Taiwan. Meeting Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers meeting in the Japanese city of Nagoya, Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi did not hold back in his criticism of the United States.
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| AR-15 rifle, target list, school map seized in Los Angeles student threat, cops say Posted: 22 Nov 2019 11:25 AM PST  A Los Angeles County school shooting threat was foiled after deputies seized a student's AR-15 rifle, target list and more, Southern California authorities said on Friday.
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| Our 20 Favorite Car Toys for Kids Posted: 22 Nov 2019 12:34 PM PST |
| Rep. Will Hurd: no proof Trump committed bribery, extortion. Top takeaways from impeachment hearings Posted: 22 Nov 2019 09:15 AM PST  Holmes, who testified alongside former National Security Council official Fiona Hill, laid out the competing priorities in Ukraine on Thursday.
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| Haunting photos of the 'Forbidden City,' an abandoned military base that hasn't been used in 25 years Posted: 23 Nov 2019 05:51 AM PST  The "Forbidden City" was used as the Nazi command center during World War II and housed 40,000 Soviet soldiers during the Cold War.
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| Chinese spy defects to Australia with trove of intel: report Posted: 22 Nov 2019 09:18 PM PST  A Chinese spy has defected to Australia with a trove of intelligence on China's political interference operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and elsewhere, according to a media report Saturday. The Nine network newspapers said the defector, named as Wang "William" Liqiang, had given Australia's counter-espionage agency the identities of China's senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong and provided details of how they funded and conducted operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.
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| Police seize unregistered AR-15 and ammo in 13-year-old's arrest Posted: 23 Nov 2019 02:53 AM PST  Authorities said they found a they found an unregistered AR-15 with a high-capacity magazine, approximately 100 rounds of ammunition, a map of the school, and a list of some students and teachers in the suspect's home
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| Iran Has A New Missile, Should Israel Be Worried? Posted: 23 Nov 2019 09:00 AM PST  Iran wants to give its regional allies precision-guided missiles.
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| The Latest: Colombia president opens ‘national conversation’ Posted: 22 Nov 2019 03:25 PM PST  Colombian President Iván Duque says his government will open a "national conversation" aimed at reaching an agreement on reforms following massive demonstrations that have paralyzed much of the capital city. In a televised address Friday, Duque said the dialogue will include all social sectors and take place in cities around the country starting next week. The president also announced that he is boosting police and military patrols in focal points where there is continuing unrest.
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| Syracuse students have been besieged by racist attacks, and more than a dozen told us they're scared and angry with the school's tepid response Posted: 22 Nov 2019 03:18 PM PST  Insider spoke with more than 15 students about the recent spate of racist incidents to sweep Syracuse University's campus in upstate New York.
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| Colorado man faces new charges for plotting to bomb synagogue Posted: 22 Nov 2019 02:21 PM PST  An avowed white supremacist being held without bond for plotting to bomb a Colorado synagogue this month has been indicted on additional charges of attempted arson and using explosives to commit a felony, federal prosecutors said on Friday. The two additional charges against Richard Holzer, 27, on top of an earlier count of attempting to obstruct religious services by force, could send him to prison for 50 years, U.S. Attorney Jason Dunn said in a statement. Holzer was arrested on Nov. 4 after an undercover sting by FBI agents, who said he plotted to bomb the Temple Emanuel synagogue in Pueblo, Colorado.
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| John Bolton announces his next move will be Pac amid calls to testify Posted: 23 Nov 2019 09:42 AM PST  Ex-Trump adviser promoted political action committee on Twitter while his name has been frequently raised in inquiry * Impeach: Neal Katyal makes strong case against TrumpThe former ambassador to the UN and Fox News contributor became Donald Trump's third national security adviser in April 2018 and left in September this year. Photograph: Evan Vucci/APThe former national security adviser John Bolton acknowledged intense speculation "about what I plan to do next" in a tweet on Saturday morning, but to the disappointment of many did not follow up by saying he would testify in the impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.Instead, the moustachioed Bush veteran and foreign policy hawk linked to his own political action committee, John Bolton Pac, which seeks "to identify and support Senate and House candidates committed to policies promoting a strong America".Reaction was predictably downbeat, the writer Molly Jong Fast responding: "Testify, testify, testify."The former ambassador to the UN and Fox News contributor became the president's third national security adviser in April 2018. He left the White House in September this year amid a dispute over whether he resigned or was shown the door.His name has been frequently raised in testimony in the impeachment inquiry, as a senior official apparently appalled by Trump's moves to pressure Ukraine into investigating unfounded allegations of corruption against Joe Biden and his son Hunter and a baseless conspiracy theory which seeks to shift blame for Russian interference in the 2016 election.The former Russia adviser Fiona Hill said Bolton characterised the attempts as a "drug deal" cooked up in part by Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer who she said Bolton called "a hand grenade that was going to blow everyone up".It has been reported that Bolton played a key role in freeing part of nearly $400m in security aid to Kyiv which was being held as bait. Furthermore, Bolton's lawyer has said he has "personal knowledge" of meetings and conversations "that have not yet been discussed in testimonies thus far".But Bolton has nonetheless asked a judge to decide if he should comply with House Democrats and testify, a move largely seen as an effective means of delay.Gordon Sondland, ambassador to the EU, remains the most senior Trump appointee to have testified – damningly for the president, most observers agreed.Bolton has reportedly signed a book deal worth $2m, prompting suggestions that he intends to save his revelations for the commercial market.On Friday Bolton returned to Twitter after a two-month silence, claiming to have "liberated" his account after it was "suppressed unfairly in the aftermath of my resignation"."The White House," he claimed, "refused to return access to my personal Twitter account. Out of fear of what I may say? To those who speculated I went into hiding, I'm sorry to disappoint!"He seemed to be enjoying trolling those who want him to speak to the House intelligence committee, claiming his tweets represented "full disclosure" and adding on Saturday: "The presidency and control of the House and the Senate will all be decided in less than one year. It's time to speak up again!"
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| Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Grand Canyon transforms into winter wonderland Posted: 22 Nov 2019 07:15 AM PST  We may only be approaching Thanksgiving, but it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Grand Canyon.
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