| Republican senator on Trump soliciting foreign interference: 'Things happen' Posted: 19 Jan 2020 12:42 PM PST  Republican Senator Richard Shelby defended an argument from President Trump's legal team that soliciting foreign interference in an election is not an impeachable offense, saying, "things happen."
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| Bloomberg pledges $70 billion to bolster black America in new plan Posted: 19 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST  Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced his presidential campaign's plan for bolstering economic opportunity for black Americans.
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| 'I stayed alive to tell' - Auschwitz's dwindling survivors recount horrors of Nazi death camp Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:14 AM PST  A strip of skin tattooed with the Auschwitz death camp number 99288 sits in a silver frame on a shelf in Avraham Harshalom's living room. As the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation on Jan 27, 1945, nears, Harshalom, 95, is very clear about why he kept it. Harshalom is one of some 200,000 Holocaust survivors living in Israel today.
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| You Should Get an Electric Fireplace Posted: 20 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST |
| Just as Australia's deadly fires begin to subside, it's being hit with more apocalyptic weather. Videos show enormous dust storms and golf-ball-sized hail battering cars and buildings Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:15 AM PST  Rainfall helped to relieve some parts of the country affected by the bushfires, but caused damage in other ways
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| Virginia on edge as pro-gun activists seethe over governor’s state of emergency Posted: 19 Jan 2020 12:05 PM PST  Moments after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam approached the podium at the state capitol building on Wednesday to announce that he was issuing a temporary state of emergency ahead of a gun rights rally on Monday in Richmond, the angry comments started pouring in. What started in November as a fight between rural Virginia gun owners and newly elected Democratic lawmakers seeking to propose gun control legislation has since been warped and amplified by extremist groups which, for different reasons, have sought to exploit real tensions around Virginia's gun debate to advance their own agendas.
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| Watch live: SpaceX is about to blow up a rocket in a crucial test to show NASA that its spaceship ready to launch astronauts Posted: 19 Jan 2020 06:19 AM PST  Elon Musk's SpaceX is going to make one of its own rocket boosters explode to prove that its Crew Dragon spaceship is ready to send people to space.
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| Giuliani associate in campaign cash probe seeks Barr recusal Posted: 20 Jan 2020 03:25 PM PST ![Giuliani associate in campaign cash probe seeks Barr recusal]( "Giuliani associate in campaign cash probe seeks Barr recusal") An associate of Rudy Giuliani charged with illegally funneling foreign money into U.S. political campaigns has asked Attorney General William Barr to recuse himself in the case and appoint a special prosecutor. The request is made in a letter filed Monday in the docket of the federal campaign finance violation case brought by New York prosecutors against Lev Parnas. The letter signed by defense lawyer Joseph Bondy came a day before the Senate impeachment trial against President Donald Trump was scheduled to start.
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| Five die in Russian hotel after boiling water floods basement Posted: 19 Jan 2020 10:33 PM PST  Five people, including one child, were killed in the Russian city of Perm on Monday when a hot water pipe exploded in the night and flooded a basement hotel room with boiling water. At least three other people were taken to hospital with burns after the incident in the Mini Hotel Caramel, which is located in the basement of a residential building, the region's investigative committee said. A doctor treating the victims, Andrei Babikov, said a 33-year-old woman had burns covering 35% of her body.
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| Report Warned of Threat to U.S. Troops in Germany: Newsweek Posted: 19 Jan 2020 01:00 PM PST ![Report Warned of Threat to U.S. Troops in Germany: Newsweek]( "Report Warned of Threat to U.S. Troops in Germany: Newsweek") (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. received intelligence about a potentially imminent attack being planned against military personnel stationed in Germany, Newsweek reported, citing a memo it saw.The 66th Military Intelligence Brigade received third party information stating that a possible attack could occur against soldiers at either Tower Barracks in Grafenwohr or Tower Barracks, Dulmen; the exact location, date and time of possible attack was unknown Information was marked unclassified and from a senior U.S. intelligence official "The source of information stated the attack would be carried out by an unknown Jordanian extremist currently located in Germany near an unknown military base," the report saidU.S. Army Europe confirmed to Newsweek that a potential threat was identified and investigated last night "German and US officials were consulted and no imminent threat was found to exit"To view the source of this information click hereTo contact the reporter on this story: Nathan Crooks in Miami at ncrooks@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Sebastian Tong at stong41@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Leopard runs into house before being captured in south India Posted: 20 Jan 2020 06:15 AM PST  A leopard that ran into a house and sparked a frantic search and a frenzy of attention in southern India on Monday has been caught and tranquilized. The big cat emerged from the Kamdanam forest and ran into a house in Shadnagar town in Telangana state, said Dr. Mohammad Abdul Hakeem, a wildlife official. Deadly conflict between humans and animals has increased in recent years in India largely due to shrinking forest habitats and urban expansion.
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| Could Taiwan Stop an Invasion By China? Posted: 19 Jan 2020 11:25 PM PST  Expert: "Over the next four years, it may be more important to acquire less glamorous but nimbler weapons to prevent Beijing from considering an invasion."
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| Erdogan says Somalia has invited Turkey to explore for oil in its seas: NTV Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:54 AM PST  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Somalia had invited Turkey to explore for oil in its seas, after Ankara signed a maritime agreement with Libya last year, broadcaster NTV reported. Turkey has been a major source of aid to Somalia following a famine in 2011 as Ankara seeks to increase its influence in the Horn of Africa to counter Gulf rivals like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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| A Drexel University professor has been charged with stealing $185,000 in government grant money to spend on Philadelphia strip clubs and iTunes Posted: 20 Jan 2020 02:30 AM PST  The Philadelphia district attorney's office charged Chikaodinaka Nwankpa with theft by unlawful taking and theft by deception last week.
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| Virginia gun rally: anti-fascist activists will not mount counter-protest Posted: 19 Jan 2020 02:30 PM PST  * Local leftist groups cite serious safety concerns * Far-right groups expected to attend Richmond eventAnti-fascist activists will not mount a counter-protest at a gun rights rally at Virginia's state capitol on Monday that is expected to attract thousands, including white supremacists and anti-government militia groups.Anti-fascists from Richmond and Charlottesville publicly advised supporters to avoid the rally altogether, citing serious safety concerns. Molly Conger, a journalist and activist, told the Guardian activists in Charlottesville had agreed to encourage supporters to stay away."There is no counter-demonstration planned for the 20 January convergence of armed militias on Virginia's capitol," Conger wrote on Twitter on Saturday. "Conditions [on] Monday will not be safe. This is not an outcome we can affect."Anti-fascist groups cited several reasons for their decision, including serious threats of violence, their own opposition to some gun control measures proposed by the Virginia government and concern for ordinary gun owners planning to attend the rally.A number of arrests have highlighted the risk of white supremacist violence at the event. Among those arrested are alleged members of a neo-Nazi group, including men who reportedly discussed opening fire at the Richmond rally, and men who were charged with plotting to murder an antifascist couple in Georgia.As white supremacists, militia groups and conspiracy theorists like Alex Jones announced plans to attend, the event has drawn comparisons to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017, which produced extensive violence and the murder of counter-protester Heather Heyer.Some local activists who monitor the far right, however, said there were clear differences this time."The Charlottesville event was, from the beginning, an event by neo-Nazis and for neo-Nazis," a Twitter account run anonymously by a longtime Richmond anti-fascist activist said on Saturday."There were no other players. Everyone going into that event knew exactly who would be participating and there wasn't the risk of 5,000 unknowing subjects caught in the middle."In contrast, Monday is Lobby Day, an annual event organized by a gun rights group, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, that attracts a range of local residents."I expect a lot of the participants to be older, working class Virginians that are not far-right and do not fit into the category of any hate group," the anonymous anti-fascist activist who runs the Richmond Twitter account told the Guardian. "Part of the concern is their safety."The activist said many locals showing up to the rally will likely have had no experience with volatile protest environments.As conspiracy theories about what "antifa" activists might do at Lobby Day continue to circulate on the right, one Richmond-based anti-fascist group has publicly pushed back against such rumors."Hey! Antifascists are NOT bussing [people] in," Antifa Seven Hills wrote on Twitter. "In fact we are encouraging folks to stay away from the capitol and downtown [Richmond] because of far-right escalations like this."In a direct message, the group told the Guardian: "We are against the [gun control] legislation and the racists attempting to take advantage of this typically calm and multi-issue lobby day."Skepticism about government gun control is a point of agreement between rightwing activists and some US leftists, who argue that marginalized Americans should have the right to defend themselves with firearms.Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, said last week his supporters had been told antifa "is actually on our side of the fence, because they don't like these gun laws either"."If they show, it's not going to be to protest us," Van Cleave told the Guardian on Wednesday.
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| House Files Brief Arguing for Trump’s Removal From Office Posted: 18 Jan 2020 06:05 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Donald Trump's attorneys and the House Democrats managing his impeachment trial filed their first formal briefs in the case on Saturday, pursuing familiar arguments aimed more at influencing the voters than the senators who will be his jurors.In a 111-page trial brief, the seven Democratic impeachment managers say the president's pattern of misconduct made him a "threat to the nation and the rule of law." An initial six-page response from Trump's own lawyers takes aim at the House Democrats who investigated Trump, calling the impeachment probe a "brazen and unlawful" attempt to overturn the 2016 election.The Senate will begin its first impeachment trial in 20 years on Tuesday, a process that will end with the lawmakers rendering judgment on whether Trump's presidency should be ended over his efforts to force Ukraine's government to open investigations into one of his political rivals. The Republican-led Senate is exceedingly unlikely to convict Trump, but the House managers are also targeting undecided voters, with polls showing Americans leaning toward replacing the president in November's elections.Democrats called on senators to conduct a fair trial as part of the oath they took this week to "do impartial justice.""President Trump has demonstrated his continued willingness to corrupt free and fair elections, betray our national security, and subvert the constitutional separation of powers—all for personal gain," the brief says. "It is imperative that the Senate convict and remove him from office now, and permanently bar him from holding federal office."The White House declined to participate in the House's investigation, so their brief filing is the first time that Trump's counsel addressed the merits of the case against him, rather than simply criticizing the process.'Dangerous Attack'The president's legal team, including Ken Starr, who served as independent counsel for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, wrote that the articles are unconstitutional and that Trump "did nothing wrong.""The articles of impeachment submitted by House Democrats are a dangerous attack on the right of the American people to freely choose their president," Trump's team said.House Democrats dismissed Trump's response and said it demonstrates why he should be removed from office."Rather than honestly address the evidence against him, the president's latest filing makes the astounding claim that pressuring Ukraine to interfere in our election by announcing investigations that would damage a political opponent and advance his re-election is the president's way of fighting corruption," the seven impeachment managers said in a joint statement Saturday night. "It is not. Rather it is corruption itself, naked, unapologetic and insidious."The White House is slated to file its more complete trial brief on Monday at noon, which will expand on the arguments in Saturday's six-page filing.The president's legal team will be led by White House counsel Pat Cipollone and the Trump's private attorney, Jay Sekulow. Other members of the team expect to give discrete presentations on specific topics.Democratic officials close to the House impeachment managers refuted the White House's claims Saturday that Democrats are trying to undo his election, saying Trump's conduct is exactly what the framers of the Constitution had in mind when they set up the impeachment process. The officials also said that the House inquiry afforded Trump the same chances to defend himself as previous presidential impeachments.The House's prosecution team -- seven impeachment managers led by Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff -- will have the option to respond to Trump's initial legal arguments before the Senate reconvenes on Tuesday for the trial.Pressure CampaignMost of the evidence in Saturday's House filing came from weeks of closed door depositions and open hearings with witnesses who participated in the planning for -- and fallout from -- a pressure campaign from Trump associates to get Ukraine to announce an investigation of Joe Biden and his son, Hunter.Trump and his allies frequently claim that Biden acted corruptly to protect Burisma, a Ukranian gas company where his son was a board member. The impeachment managers refute that claim in the filing.The theory is "baseless" and there is "no credible evidence" to support the allegation that Biden acted improperly when he encouraged Ukraine to remove a prosecutor who was facing corruption accusations, the brief said. Biden was carrying out official U.S. policy, a view that was shared by European allies and the International Monetary Fund, according to the filing.As leverage to demand an investigation of the Bidens, the White House blocked nearly $400 million in congressionally approved security aid for Ukraine, as well as a White House meeting sought by newly elected Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The brief includes evidence from witnesses making those connections as part of a quid pro quo.The report also includes a finding released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office that Trump's withholding of military assistance for Ukraine violated federal law.The managers quoted the nonpartisan congressional watchdog's statement that "faithful execution of the law does not permit the President to substitute his own policy priorities for those that Congress has enacted into law.Senate Democrats said last week the GAO report bolsters their push to subpoena documents and witnesses that are relevant to the withholding of military aid.'Ominous Pattern'The impeachment managers cite the administration directive for current and former officials to not participate in the House inquiry, as well as Trump's own statements, as evidence of obstruction. They point to the 12 Trump officials who declined to appear for requested testimony, "nine of whom did so in defiance of duly authorized subpoenas."The brief also accuses Trump of "intimidation tactics" against the witnesses who did appear, as well as "sustained attacks" on the intelligence community whistle-blower who filed a complaint about Trump's actions regarding Ukraine.This is part of an "ominous pattern" of behavior for the president, the House prosecutors said in the brief, pointing to the way Trump responded to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's nearly two-year investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election."Allowing this pattern to continue without repercussion would send the clear message that President Trump is correct in his view that no governmental body can hold him accountable for wrongdoing," according to the brief. "That view is erroneous and exceptionally dangerous."Although the articles of impeachment don't rely on evidence from Mueller's report, the House managers drew parallels between Trump's behavior in the two episodes. Both included Trump associates in contact with a foreign power regarding a U.S. election, as well the president's refusal to engage with investigators probing those interactions."Special Counsel Mueller's investigation -- like the House's impeachment inquiry -- sought to uncover whether President Trump coordinated with a foreign government in order to obtain an improper advantage during a Presidential election," the managers said.Obstruction of JusticeMueller said there was not enough evidence that the Trump campaign engaged in a criminal conspiracy with Russia regarding the 2016 election. His report highlighted several episodes that could amount to obstruction of justice, but it left it up to Congress to weigh the severity of those offenses."President Trump repeatedly used his powers of office to undermine and derail the Mueller investigation, particularly after learning that he was personally under investigation for obstruction of justice," the brief says.The case that House prosecutors sent to the Senate references new evidence that wasn't part of the impeachment inquiry, including material from Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.Parnas, who was arrested in October and indicted on campaign finance violations, this month provided House committees with documents to reinforce accusations that the president was personally involved in efforts to pressure Ukraine to conduct investigations that would benefit him politically.At least four of the impeachment managers, including Schiff, are scheduled to appear Sunday on political talk shows. All of them will be back in Washington on Sunday, and they'll do a walk-through of the Senate chamber Monday on the eve of the trial, the officials said.(Updates with impeachment managers response starting in ninth paragraph)\--With assistance from Laura Davison.To contact the reporters on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.net;Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Whitelaw at kwhitelaw@bloomberg.net, Anna EdgertonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| US envoy say it's his mustache; South Koreans say otherwise Posted: 20 Jan 2020 01:24 AM PST  The U.S. ambassador to South Korea has some unusual explanations for the harsh criticism he's faced in his host country. Or a Japanese ancestry that raises unpleasant reminders of Japan's former colonial domination of Korea? Many South Koreans, however, have a more straight-forward explanation for Harry Harris' struggle to win hearts and minds in Seoul, and it's got more to do with an outspoken manner that they see as undiplomatic and rude.
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| Mysterious Sars-like virus spreading across China amid sharp rise in new cases and a third death Posted: 19 Jan 2020 11:21 PM PST  China says a mysterious Sars-like virus has spread across the country, including to Beijing, raising concerns as millions begin trips for the Lunar New Year. A day after state authorities said the virus was "controllable", officials said a third person was confirmed to have died and there were nearly 140 new cases. The new coronavirus strain has caused alarm because of its connection to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. In Wuhan, the central city where the coronavirus was first discovered, 136 new cases were found over the weekend, the local health commission said, without giving details about the person who died. Health authorities in Beijing's Daxing district said two people who had travelled to Wuhan were treated for pneumonia linked to the virus and are in stable condition. In Guangdong, a 66-year-old Shenzhen man was quarantined on January 11 after contracting a fever and showing other symptoms following a trip to visit relatives in Wuhan, the provincial health commission said in a statement. A total of 201 people have now been diagnosed with the virus in China. In Wuhan, 170 people are still being treated at hospital, including nine in critical condition, the city health commission said. Read more: Just how worried should we be about this virus - and what do we know? Wuhan is a city of 11 million inhabitants that serves as a major transport hub, including during the annual Lunar New Year holiday when hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel across the country to visit family. In its first statement since the virus was detected, China's National Health Commission said on Sunday the disease's source was unknown but vowed to "step up monitoring" of any mutations during Chinese New Year period. Chinese authorities said they had begun "optimised" testing of cases across the city to identify those infected, and said they would begin "detection work ... towards suspected cases in the city" as a next step, as well as carrying out "sampling tests". How the coronavirus spreads Scientists from the MRC Centre for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College in London have warned that the number of cases in Wuhan is likely to be closer to 1,700, much higher than the number officially identified. China is yet to confirm whether the virus can be spread from one person to another, but Wuhan's health commission has previously said the possibility "cannot be excluded". China's centre for disease control sought to quash speculation about the coronavirus at the weekend, publishing a flyer that dismissed "five big rumours". One of them included claims about the coronavirus spreading, which China's disease control authority had dismissed at the time by saying all cases were being treated in Wuhan. Global outbreaks of coronaviruses Although there has been no official announcement of screening measures on the mainland, Chen Xiexin, Wuhan deputy mayor, said infrared thermometers had been installed at airports, railway stations and coach stations across the city. Mr Chen said passengers with fevers were being registered, given masks and taken to medical institutions. Nearly 300,000 body temperature tests had been carried out, according to state broadcasters. Authorities in Hong Kong have also stepped up detection measures, including temperature checkpoints for travellers arriving from the Chinese mainland. The United States has said it will begin screening direct flights arriving from Wuhan at San Francisco airport and New York's JFK, as well as Los Angeles, where many flights connect.
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| Photos surface showing convicted Nazi guard Demjanjuk at Sobibor Posted: 20 Jan 2020 03:36 AM PST  New photos have emerged which for the first time show convicted Nazi guard John Demjanjuk at the Sobibor death camp, a Berlin archive confirmed Monday, although he always denied ever being there. Ukrainian-American Demjanjuk was convicted of being an accessory to the murder of nearly 30,000 Jews at Sobibor by a German court in 2011. According to the Berlin-based Topography of Terror archive, photos of Demjanjuk are among a newly discovered collection of more than 350 snaps which give "detailed insight" into the camp in German-occupied Poland.
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| Bodies of Ukrainian victims of Iran plane crash returned home Posted: 19 Jan 2020 02:30 AM PST  The bodies of the 11 Ukrainian citizens who died when a passenger plane was accidentally shot down by Iran this month were brought back to Ukraine on Sunday in a solemn ceremony at Kiev airport. All 176 on board the Ukraine International Airlines flight from Tehran to Kiev were killed when the Boeing 737-800 was shot down on Jan. 8, at a time when Iran was on high alert for a U.S. attack. Nine of the Ukrainian citizens were crew members.
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| John Roberts Has More Power Than Mitch McConnell Would Like You to Think. But Will He Use It? Posted: 20 Jan 2020 01:50 PM PST  If John Roberts deems it relevant to call witnesses during the impeachment trial, he, as presiding officer, has the power and the duty to do so, whatever Mitch McConnell thinks.
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| The US Air Force recently acquired a new $64 million Gulfstream private jet for VIP government officials — see inside Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:53 AM PST  The US president isn't the only government official that flies in a VIP plane operated by the US Air Force.
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| Deadly NJ police chases kill innocent victims, catch few crooks Posted: 20 Jan 2020 11:11 AM PST  Many police pursuits across the nation end tragically and disproportionately affect black people. Chases often start with a traffic violation.
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| How 27 senators in Trump impeachment trial voted in Bill Clinton's Posted: 20 Jan 2020 02:49 AM PST  27 sitting senators are on record about where they stood the last time a president faced impeachment.
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| China's Navy Warships Are Now Armed With Land-Attack Missiles Posted: 20 Jan 2020 08:20 AM PST  China says its newest destroyer is capable of launching land-attack missiles.
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| 'I stayed alive to tell': Auschwitz's dwindling survivors recount the horror Posted: 20 Jan 2020 10:27 AM PST 
(SOUNDBITE) (English) VERA KRIEGEL GROSSMAN, AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU SURVIVOR, SAYING: "The hate of the past is forever spreading, like wildfire in the field. No lesson has been learned and hate is on its stampede." Tattooed on her arm, Vera Kriegel Grossman still has the number to show for it. She's one of a dwindling number of people who survived the Nazi concentration camp at Aushwitz. Aged six, Vera and her twin sister were subjected to the pseudo-medical experiments of doctor Josef Mengele. His terrifying and grotesque practices, earning him the name "Angel of Death". (SOUNDBITE) (English) VERA KRIEGEL GROSSMAN, AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU SURVIVOR, SAYING: "I won against all odds. I am here. Look at me. I am here". We filmed her as she told her stories to a group of guides from a Holocaust memorial museum. Stories of how she was kept naked in a cage, given painful injections into her spine, and stories of how she was beaten if she cried as she saw other children suffer and die. Many did. Six million Jews were killed in the Holocaust - six million Jews who never lived to provide first-hand testimony to the atrocities of the Nazis. Ninety-five-year-old Avraham Harshalom is another of the lucky few who did survive. And as the 75th anniversary of the camp's liberation approaches, he's keen that stories like his aren't forgotten. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AVRAHAM HARSHALOM, AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU SURVIVOR, SAYING: "In the first, let's say, 20 years after the war, all Holocaust survivors and especially prisoners of Auschwitz were not talking at all, you know. We were not talking because people didn't believe us that what we are telling is true and second, they start to ask questions: 'Listen, if everything (was) so bad, how you survived?' And the story of surviving is really a very complicated story which every one of us has his own story how he survived." On his arm, a scar where his prisoner number was tattooed before he had it removed. He now keeps it in a frame on a shelf in his living room. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AVRAHAM HARSHALOM, AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU SURVIVOR, SAYING: "My number, everyone was asking what is it, they didn't know what it is, you know, a man with a number. And then I decided by the first possibility to take out the number."
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| Philippine military says 5 Indonesians kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf militants Posted: 19 Jan 2020 03:16 AM PST  Eight Indonesians were abducted in Sabah on Thursday. Three were released, while the remaining five were probably brought by their captors to the southern Philippine province of Sulu, said Lieutenant General Cirilito Sobejana, chief of the military's Western Mindanao Command.
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| Palestinian family pledge appeal over Jerusalem eviction ruling Posted: 20 Jan 2020 10:08 AM PST  A Palestinian family pledged on Monday to appeal an Israeli court order to evict them from their home in a mainly-Palestinian east Jerusalem neighbourhood in a case lodged by a settler organisation. The Israeli anti-settlement NGO Peace Now said a Jerusalem magistrates court ruled Sunday in favour of evicting the Rajabi family from their home in the Silwan neighbourhood following a lawsuit filed by members of the pro-settlement Ateret Cohanim organisation. The three-storey building houses 17 Palestinians, the family said.
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| The 11 most expensive cities to live in around the world in 2020 Posted: 20 Jan 2020 05:27 AM PST  The 16th Annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey reveals cities bordering the Pacific Ocean are the most expensive.
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| After Jeffrey Epstein suicide, Bureau of Prisons tells guards: Stop surfing the web and watch inmates Posted: 20 Jan 2020 10:37 AM PST  Two corrections officers face criminal charges for claiming they checked on Jeffrey Epstein and other inmates. Feds say they slept and browsed online.
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| North Korea Picks Army Man Who Led Korean Talks as Top Envoy Posted: 19 Jan 2020 12:49 AM PST ![North Korea Picks Army Man Who Led Korean Talks as Top Envoy]( "North Korea Picks Army Man Who Led Korean Talks as Top Envoy") (Bloomberg) -- North Korea named a former army officer who led military and high-level talks between the two Koreas as its top diplomat, Yonhap News reported, in a move that could change the course of stalled nuclear negotiations between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump.Foreign envoys in Pyongyang were notified late last week that Ri Son Gwon replaced Ri Yong Ho as foreign minister, Yonhap said, citing various sources it didn't identify. Ri Yong Ho had served as the top diplomat since 2016.South Korea's Unification Ministry said in a text message that the government is trying to confirm whether the foreign minister was replaced and Ri Son Gwon's official title has been changed. The move, which is yet to be announced in North Korea's state media, is likely to be confirmed to resident diplomats at an event scheduled for Jan. 23 in Pyongyang, NK News reported separately.Ri Son Gwon, former chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, became known to South Koreans after he led a delegation to high-level inter-Korean talks in January 2018. He was accused of being rude to a visiting group of South Korean conglomerate chiefs later that year, appearing to rebuke them for not taking enough action to boost business development between the two sides.The apparent replacement comes days after the isolated nation publicly declared that it won't rely on its leader's personal relationship with Trump as it doesn't intend to trade its nuclear weapons for a halt in sanctions.Since the failure of working-level denuclearization talks in October in Stockholm, Pyongyang hasn't responded to Washington's continued demands for another talk and instead stepped up tensions verbally and with weapons tests.'Crucial' TestMost recently, it said late last year that it successfully conducted a "crucial" test at a long-range projectile launch site and had boosted its nuclear-deterrent capabilities, without elaborating on details.Kim declared in a speech at the start of the year that a lack of U.S. response in nuclear talks meant he was no longer bound by his pledge to halt major missile tests and would soon debut a "new strategic weapon." Declining to go into detail, Kim also left the outside world guessing what "new path" he will take, and how he will deal with the U.S. in 2020.Ri Son Gwon served as a senior colonel in 2010 and last appeared in the North's state media when the KCNA reported in April he was elected as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee along with Choe Son Hui, first vice-minister of foreign affairs. He previously also led a working-level military dialogue between the two Koreas in 2011.Ri has no direct experience of dealing with the U.S., nor is an official with the traditional elite-diplomat background, said Cheong Seong-chang, a researcher at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, casting doubts over a possible breakthrough in the U.S.-North Korea talks."I think the North will take a harder line against the U.S.," Cheong said. It "will be under greater influence of the military, which has urged to strengthen its position as a nuclear power," he said.The replacement of foreign minister also coincides with Seoul's sudden turn to improve inter-Korean ties as the Kim-Trump talks for denuclearization remain in deadlock and rising cracks in South Korea's relations with the U.S.South Korean President Moon Jae-in said he would help on projects such as individual tourism with North Korea if they require approval from the United Nations to exempt them from sanctions. His Unification Ministry later said the government is considering allowing South Korean individuals to travel to North Korea to expand inter-Korean exchanges in the private sector.U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris said such a push by Seoul should be discussed with the U.S., and his comment was immediately denounced by Moon's office as "very inappropriate."(Updates with comments from South Korea's Unification Ministry and analyst from third paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Kanga Kong in Seoul at kkong50@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Virginia Van Natta, Jiyeun LeeFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Turkey Alone Cannot Save Its Allies in Libya's Civil War Posted: 19 Jan 2020 10:00 AM PST  Too little aid, too late.
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| "The Rock" opens up about dad's "quick" death Posted: 20 Jan 2020 12:50 AM PST  Rocky "Soul Man" Johnson died last week at the age of 75 – and in an emotional video, "The Rock" said he would deliver his dad's eulogy.
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| UK's Johnson, France's Macron reiterate commitment to Iran nuclear deal Posted: 19 Jan 2020 06:07 AM PST  British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated their commitment on Sunday to the Iran nuclear deal and agreed a long-term framework was needed, Downing Street said on Sunday. "On Iran, the leaders reiterated their commitment to the JCPoA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) and also acknowledged the need to define a long-term framework to prevent Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon," a Downing Street spokeswoman said in a statement after the two met on the sidelines of a Libya summit in Berlin.
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| Panama begins exhumation of victims from 1989 US invasion Posted: 20 Jan 2020 02:53 PM PST  Forensic workers took preliminary steps Monday for digging up the remains of some victims of the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, an effort that has lifted the hopes of Panamanians who had relatives die or disappear and have lived with unanswered questions about their fate for 30 years. Authorities gave the approval for exhumation of the 19 bodies buried in a Panama City cemetery after a truth commission set up three years ago documented about 20 disappearances from the U.S. military action to topple strongman Manuel Noriega. Prosecutor Maribel Caballero told reporters the remains will be compared to a database of DNA from relatives in 14 cases.
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| Mexican troops repel border-storming migrant caravan Posted: 20 Jan 2020 04:47 PM PST  Hundreds of Central Americans from a new migrant caravan tried to storm into Mexico Monday by fording the river that divides the country from Guatemala, but National Guardsmen fired tear gas to force them back. The Central Americans, from the so-called "2020 Caravan" of around 3,500 undocumented migrants, gathered on the Guatemalan side of the Suchiate River at dawn, demanding migration authorities let them continue their journey to the United States. Scores of migrants, many with cloths tied around their faces to protect them from the gas, pelted the military police guarding the southern border with large stones, as the latter sheltered behind riot shields.
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