| Giuliani floats new explanation for pressuring Ukraine to investigate Biden Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:41 PM PST  Trump's personal lawyer said on Wednesday that he pressured Ukrainian officials to investigate Joe Biden to defend President Trump "against false charges."
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| Anchor says Buckingham Palace pressure killed ABC's story on Epstein Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:30 AM PST  In a leaked video released Tuesday, ABC News anchor Amy Robach said the network killed her story on wealthy pedophile Jeffrey Epstein under pressure from the British royal family.
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| Prosecutors charge man with hate crime in acid attack Posted: 06 Nov 2019 03:35 PM PST  A 61-year-old white Milwaukee man accused of throwing acid on a Hispanic man's face will be charged with a hate crime, increasing the possible sentence he may receive if convicted, prosecutors announced Wednesday. Prosecutors filed one charge against Clifton Blackwell — first-degree reckless injury — but added the sentencing enhancers of hate crime and use of a dangerous weapon. The victim, Mahud Villalaz, 42, said his attacker approached him near a restaurant Friday night and confronted him about being parked too close to a bus stop, according to charging documents.
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| DOJ Admits in Michael Flynn Case That FBI ‘Mistakenly Identified’ Peter Strzok Notes Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:07 AM PST  The attorneys prosecuting former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn were forced to admit in a Tuesday letter to Flynn's legal defense that the notes which formed the official document describing Flynn's January 2017 interview were not written by agent Peter Strzok, as they've maintained throughout the case."We were informed that the notes we had identified as Peter Strzok's, were actually the other agent's notes (see Surreply, Exhibit 1), and what we had identified as the other agent's notes were in fact Strzok's notes (see Surreply, Exibit 2)" the letter to Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell reads.The FBI's admission calls into further question the credibility of the case and of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who told the FBI that his partner Joe Pientka was "primarily responsible for taking notes and writing the FD-302." The case against Flynn, who entered a guilty plea for lying to the FBI in December 2017, centers around the 302 form, which per Bureau protocol, stands in place of a transcript, as the FBI does not record its interviews.In defending Flynn, Powell has argued that Strzok's supposed notes were too orderly and well constructed to have been taken in the actual interview. Now the letter, coupled with prosecution's release of notes last week, apparently reveal that Strzok, in fact, took the majority of the notes in the interviewStrzok led the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, and was fired from Mueller's investigative team when text messages disparaging President Trump were discovered between him and FBI colleague Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair.The letter was prompted by Powell's bombshell allegation that the FBI deliberately manipulated the original 302 document to suggest that Flynn lied about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak."Those changes added an unequivocal statement that 'Flynn stated he did not' — in response to whether Mr. Flynn had asked Kislyak to vote in a certain manner or slow down the UN vote [on sanctions]," Powell wrote. "This is a deceptive manipulation because, as the notes of the agents show, Mr. Flynn was not even sure he had spoken to Russia/Kislyak on the issue. He had talked to dozens of countries.""That question and answer does not appear in the notes, yet it was made into a criminal offense," Powell argued in the motion. "The draft also shows that the agents moved a sentence to make it seem to be an answer to a question it was not."Earlier this week, Powell demanded in another court filing that the FBI search its internal "Sentinel Database" to uncover any drafts of the 302 which may show substantial changes, after the government argued that any edits to the document, which was filed over three weeks after the interview, were merely "grammatical and stylistic."Released text messages between Strzok and Paige show that on February 10, the same day that news broke from "senior intelligence officials" that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Kislyak, Strozk told Paige that he had updated the 302 form to reflect her edits."I made your edits, and sent them to Joe. I also emailed you an updated 302 . . . hopefully it doesn't need much more editing. I will polish it this weekend, and have it ready for Monday. I really appreciate your times and edits," Strzok said.On Tuesday night, Powell told Fox News that the letter all but confirms her argument."Their entire case depends upon what these two agents said. And now, we're realizing 18 months later they're looking at their file and realizing that 'oh, by the way, we got the names of the two agents crossed on the notes, the notes you thought were Mr. Strzok's, that we told you were Mr. Strzok's, are not, they're the other agent's, and vice versa,'" Powell said. "It's appalling. What else have they gotten wrong? We can't trust anything they say."
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| The U.S. Army's Laser Weapons Future Has Arrived Posted: 05 Nov 2019 01:07 AM PST  The Army is preparing to incinerate enemy weapons "targets" in an upcoming in a "laser-off" firing of its emerging Stryker-armed 50-kilowatt laser weapon designed to destroy drones, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and incoming enemy missiles.
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| Kentucky's Republican Senate president says the GOP-led legislature may pick the next governor Posted: 06 Nov 2019 03:24 AM PST ![Kentucky's Republican Senate president says the GOP-led legislature may pick the next governor]( "Kentucky's Republican Senate president says the GOP-led legislature may pick the next governor") Democrat Andy Beshear declared victory in Kentucky's gubernatorial race Tuesday night, and he did get more votes than incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin (R) -- 5,189 more votes, according to the uncertified final tally, or a margin of about 0.4 percentage points.But this doesn't appear to be the end of the process. Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes said her office considers Beshear the victor and doesn't believe Bevin can make up the gap. Yet Bevin refused to concede, citing unspecified "irregularities," and The Associated Press hasn't called the race.Kentucky doesn't have an automatic recount provision, though candidates can petition -- and bankroll -- a statewide recount, Joe Sonka explains at the Louisville Courier Journal. First, losing candidates typically request a recanvas of the vote in each county. The recount is the next stage, and it involves a judge counting ballots and determining the winner, subject to appeal up to the Kentucky Supreme Court.Republican Senate President Robert Stivers suggested a dicier option Tuesday night: Let the GOP state legislature decide the winner. Section 90 of the state Constitution says "contested elections for governor and lieutenant governor shall be determined by both houses of the General Assembly, according to such regulations as may be established by law." Stivers said his staff believes that might apply in this case. The last "contested" governors race was in 1899, the Courier Journal reports.Sam Marcosson, a constitutional law professor at the University of Louisville, told the Courier Journal that Republicans can't just make up a legal procedure to review the election, and warned it's a risky "proposition to suggest that the General Assembly would take vague allegations of unspecified irregularities and call into question a gubernatorial election." Joshua Douglas, a professor at the University of Kentucky Law School, explained Bevin would have to call a special session of the General Assembly, then a panel of eight House members and three senators "would hear evidence and make a final determination. And that determination would be final."The Kentucky Constitution stipulates that the next governor be sworn in Dec. 10.
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| AT&T to pay $60 million in settlement for slowing cellphone data on unlimited plans Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:06 AM PST  AT&T will pay $60 million to resolve U.S. allegations it misled millions of smartphone customers by charging them for "unlimited" data plans that reduced data speeds if they used too much, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said on Tuesday. As part of the settlement of the 2014 complaint, AT&T is also prohibited from making any representation about the speed or amount of its mobile data without also disclosing any material restrictions on the data. AT&T issued a brief statement acknowledging that it had reached a settlement with the FTC.
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| Trial to begin for Omoyele Sowore, a New Jersey journalist imprisoned in his native Nigeria Posted: 05 Nov 2019 04:24 PM PST  Omoyele Sowore, a journalist held in a Nigerian prison since August, is set to go on trial Wednesday as his wife and supporters anxiously await news.
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| Parasitic worms found in woman’s eye as scientists warn of ‘emerging’ disease Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:38 AM PST  A parasitic worm typically found in cattle has been discovered in a woman's eye in what scientists have warned may be an "emerging zoonotic disease" in the U.S. The 68-year-old woman is the second human to have become infected by the parasite.
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| View Photos of 450-HP Chevy E-10 Pickup Concept Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:35 AM PST |
| 2 escaped murder suspects arrested at US-Mexico border Posted: 06 Nov 2019 03:52 PM PST  Two murder suspects who escaped from a jail on California's central coast eluded an intense manhunt, traveled hundreds of miles and crossed into Mexico but were arrested trying to walk back into the United States, authorities said Wednesday. Jonathan Salazar, 20, and Santos Fonseca, 21, were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at a port of entry in San Ysidro — the nation's largest border crossing — early Wednesday, said Monterey County Sheriff's Office Capt. John Thornburg. Thornburg said the two are in the custody of Monterey County officials and were on their way to a jail in Salinas, a farming city of about 160,000 people roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of San Francisco.
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| Turkey captured ISIS leader al-Baghdadi's sister, who was living in a trailer 50 miles from where he was killed by US special forces Posted: 05 Nov 2019 03:06 AM PST  Turkish forces captured Rasmiya Awad in Azaz, Syria, on Monday night. They hope to gain from her intelligence on ISIS' inner workings.
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| Fifteen IS jihadists killed in Tajikistan border attack Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:42 AM PST  Fifteen jihadists were killed in Tajikistan Wednesday during an attack on a border post that officials blamed on members of the Islamic State group who crossed over from Afghanistan. It came as the country prepared to celebrate its Constitution Day on Wednesday and with long-serving President Emomali Rakhmon on a visit to Europe. The interior ministry said about 20 armed assailants attacked the Ishkobod border post some 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Dushanbe at 3:23 am local time.
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| A U.S. diplomat texted Ukraine a script for their president to say about the Biden investigation Posted: 05 Nov 2019 12:34 PM PST ![A U.S. diplomat texted Ukraine a script for their president to say about the Biden investigation]( "A U.S. diplomat texted Ukraine a script for their president to say about the Biden investigation") More revelations pertaining to the congressional impeachment inquiry flowed Tuesday after House committees released two more transcripts of testimony from U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland and Kurt Volker, the former special representative to Ukraine.Volker also supplied text messages to House investigators, which included an exchange he had with Andrey Yermak, one of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's top aides. In the message, Volker sent Yermak what was more or less a script of what Washington wanted Zelensky to publicly announce about Kyiv's investigations into both the gas company Burisma -- where former Vice President Joe Biden's son Hunter once served on the board -- for corruption and Ukrainian politicians for interfering in U.S. politics and the 2016 presidential election.Volker's message says nothing about military aid being withheld in exchange for launching investigations and, therefore, doesn't bring to light any specific quid pro quo, but it does highlight the Trump administration's commitment to convincing Kyiv to get the probe going. > WOW: Kurt Volker TEXTED to a top Ukrainian official the script they wanted Zelensky to read to announce the Burisma (i.e. Biden)/2016 election investigaitons. > > The latest:https://t.co/g9bkSdlarw > > The text: pic.twitter.com/GpQPSiBrDw> > -- Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) November 5, 2019
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| Paris withdrawal: Trump officially turns his back on climate crisis and our own children Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:15 AM PST  Leaving the Paris climate accord isn't about putting America first. It's about putting fossil fuel profits first and putting the rest of us at risk.
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| Most Russians Now Want ‘Decisive’ Change in Country, Study Shows Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:13 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Nearly six in ten Russians want "decisive and full-scale changes" in the country amid growing discontent with the authorities over living standards, according to new research.The proportion wanting change reached 59% this year, up from 42% in 2017, the study by the Carnegie Moscow Center and the Levada Center polling organization showed. After five years of stagnating incomes in Russia, 24% said they wanted higher wages, pensions and living standards, followed by 13% who sought a "change of government, president, or authorities."The survey of 1,600 Russians conducted in July also found that 53% believed that necessary reforms were possible only through "serious changes to the political system," compared to 34% who thought they could be achieved under the existing structure.Only 4% identified democratic reforms as necessary, however, while 45% wanted power concentrated in the hands of one leader and 74% favored active government intervention in the economy to control prices."If the desire for political change continues to grow at the same rate as in the past two years, there may soon be massive demand for political freedoms and political choice," Denis Volkov and Andrei Kolesnikov, who conducted the research, wrote in the report. "The state is clearly not ready for this, it is moving in the direction of greater authoritarianism."The report emerged after Moscow witnessed the largest anti-Kremlin demonstrations in seven years this summer, when the authorities refused to allow opposition candidates to contest city council elections. Much of the disillusionment appears to have set in at the start of President Vladimir Putin's fourth term in May last year, however, when the researchers found that 57% favored major reform in a similar survey."The desire for change is always present in society," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday on a conference call, in response to a question on the study. "It's another question whether somebody wants abrupt changes or changes that are consistent, smooth, harmonious."Recent polls have shown that Putin's personal rating has stabilized after taking a hit last year over unpopular pension reforms, though it remains far below the peaks reached following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.Amid rising pressure to deliver on promises of better living standards, the government is boosting spending following years of ultra-tight monetary and fiscal policy that limited the damage from slumping oil prices and international sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. The central bank has also accelerated interest-rate cuts that may boost the sluggish economy, even as Governor Elvira Nabiullina has warned that growth will be limited without structural reforms.The study shows that "people want radical changes but are scared of the social cost," Volkov and Kolesnikov wrote.To contact the reporters on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net;Anya Andrianova in Moscow at aandrianova@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Oregon comes to California's aid in fighting hotter fires: 'When help is needed, help will come' Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:32 AM PST  As California's fire season grows longer and hotter, more and more out-of-state firefighters – and sometimes out-of-country firefighters – head West.
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| The Latest: Executed inmate: 'I forgive' parents of victim Posted: 04 Nov 2019 06:43 PM PST  A convicted killer executed in South Dakota used his last words to speak to the parents of his victim. Charles Rhines was executed Monday evening at the state prison in Sioux Falls for the 1992 slaying of 22-year-old Donnivan Schaeffer. Rhines ambushed Schaeffer when Schaeffer interrupted him as he was burglarizing the doughnut shop where Schaeffer worked.
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| Krispy Kreme is giving 500 boxes of doughnuts to a student after trying to shut down his business reselling them in his hometown Posted: 05 Nov 2019 02:40 PM PST  Krispy Kreme is encouraging Jayson Gonzalez to continue his business venture after initially telling him to stop all operations.
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| Yes, North Korea Does Have a Nuclear Missile Submarine Posted: 05 Nov 2019 06:30 PM PST  A major step towards a second-strike capability.
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| Seattle race between socialist and Amazon-backed candidate too close to call Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:23 AM PST  * Amazon funneled $1.5m into city council elections * Egan Orion currently ahead of incumbent Kshama Sawant Egan Orion poses for a photo at his headquarters in Seattle on 28 October 2019. Photograph: Elaine Thompson/APA Seattle city council race between socialist Kshama Sawant and business-backed Egan Orion that saw unprecedented financial contributions from the local corporate giant Amazon and some of its top executives was too close to call early Wednesday – although Orion was ahead in early counting.Amazon funneled $1.5m into the local city council elections by way of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce's political action committee, which backed Orion and six other candidates considered to be business-friendly. In 2015, the tech corporation and its employees only contributed about $130,000 to the city council candidates, according to the New York Times.With about half of Seattle's ballots counted, incumbent council member Sawant trailed Orion by about eight percentage points. But given that later voters in the city often lean far left, it was difficult to predict in the early hours of Wednesday which candidate would ultimately prevail.Orion said he was excited about the initial results and while he thought the funds from Amazon may have had a very minor impact, he considered them unnecessary."From my perspective, I think that the Amazon money was a big distraction when we were trying to make our closing arguments with voters," said Orion.Some top local-based global giants such as Amazon, Boeing and Microsoft also contributed to Orion's campaign. Kshama Sawant speaks at City Hall in Seattle. Photograph: Ted S Warren/AP"We have run a historic grassroots campaign, with working people, community members rejecting Amazon and billionaires' attempt to buy this election, and that doesn't mean we're going to win every battle against the billionaires," said Sawant.."What matters is the political clarity that the billionaires are not on our side and that this is going to be a struggle."At a time when many Seattleites are already critical of Amazon's influence in the city – with many pointing to the role it has played in Seattle's rising cost of living and growing income inequality – the contributions left an unsavory taste in some residents' mouths.Sarah Champernowne, 29, a tech worker in Seattle who is a strong supporter of Sawant, said she was concerned about the corporation contributing this type of money in the election."It's supposed to be a democratic process and it's not a democratic process when Amazon can contribute that much to basically a small election," she said.Sawant, a member of the Socialist Alternative party and former tech worker, has long been a fierce critic of big business and its influence on the city. After winning a council seat six years ago and becoming the first socialist on the Seattle city council in almost 100 years, she soon helped lead the push to bump the city's minimum wage to $15 an hour (a first for a major US city). She also helped secure better protections for renters, such as barring landlords from increasing rent on substandard homes.But her battle against the influence of big business came to a head with her push last year for the Head Tax. The proposal would have implemented a per-employee tax on corporations making more than $20m each year to fund housing and services for the homeless in a city that has the third largest homeless population in the US, according to a 2018 federal report. With about 45,000 workers in Seattle, Amazon would have probably had to pay millions each year through the tax.The nine-member council unanimously approved the tax. But after Amazon, another locally based global giant, Starbucks, and other companies contributed financially to the campaign to kill it, called No Tax on Jobs, all but two members of the council then quickly voted to repeal it. Sawant and Democratic council member Teresa Mosqueda, who is not up for re-election this year, were the only two who voted for the tax.Sawant has said that if she were re-elected, she would push for the tax again. She has also been very vocal about the need for rent control in Seattle (it is currently banned in the city), and recently proposed a plan in which rent increases each year would not be allowed to outpace inflation.Orion, an LGBTQ community leader and huge advocate of small businesses who considers himself a progressive liberal, does not support the Head Tax or rent control. Instead, he proposed plans that involve landlords being prohibited from increasing rent more than about 10% annually and a partnership between Seattle and King county to create 1,500 units of permanent supportive housing.
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| Nepal cries foul over new India map Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:08 AM PST  Nepal on Wednesday objected to a new map released by India that places the disputed area of Kalapani within Delhi's borders, saying it was "clear" the territory belonged to Kathmandu. On Saturday, India released the new map following its decision to split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two administrative territories. On the map, India's border cuts into Kalapani -- long a source of contention between the two countries, particularly because Indian troops have been deployed in the area for more than 50 years.
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| Australian trade minister arrives in China amid rising tensions Posted: 04 Nov 2019 05:56 PM PST ![Australian trade minister arrives in China amid rising tensions]( "Australian trade minister arrives in China amid rising tensions") Australia's Minister for Trade, Simon Birmingham, on Tuesday became the highest-ranking Australian official to visit China in a year, as Canberra attempts to ensure that cooling diplomatic relations do not hinder trade. The Australian-China diplomatic relationship has frayed in recent years amid allegations that Beijing has committed cyber-attacks and has attempted to interfere in Canberra's domestic affairs.
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| Trump ‘approves expanded military mission’ to secure Syria’s oil fields Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:44 AM PST  Donald Trump has reportedly approved an expanded US military mission to secure an expanse of oil fields across eastern Syria.The US president's actions raise a number of legal questions about whether American troops can launch attacks against Syrian, Russian or other forces if they threaten the oil.
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| Man arrested in Texas Halloween party shooting freed days after cop said he was '100%' guilty Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:53 AM PST  Brandon Gonzales, a suspect arrested in the deadly shooting at a Halloween and homecoming party in East Texas, has been released from jail.
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| Serbia set to buy Russian missiles despite US sanctions hint Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:06 AM PST  Russia will deliver a sophisticated anti-aircraft missile system to Serbia even though the U.S. has warned of possible sanctions against the Balkan country in the event of such purchases. The U.S.'s special envoy for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, warned Serbia last week that the purchase of Russian weapons "poses a risk" of U.S. sanctions. "We hope that our Serbian partners will be careful about any transactions of this kind," Palmer said in an interview with Macedonian television Alsat M.
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| View Photos of 2020 Dodge Challenger Drag Pak Posted: 05 Nov 2019 04:45 PM PST |
| North Korea Hates This: Meet South Korea's Very Special F-15 Fighter Posted: 05 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  A deadly plane.
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| Keystone pipeline spill hardens landowner opposition to proposed expansion Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:07 AM PST  Operator TC Energy Corp is in the process of securing land easements for Keystone XL from scores of reluctant landowners in Nebraska, one of the final obstacles to a project linking Canada's oil fields to U.S. refineries that has been delayed for over a decade by environmental opposition. The roughly 9,120-barrel spill from the existing Keystone line brings the number of significant releases since the system was built a decade ago to four - much higher than the company estimated in its risk assessments before it was approved - raising worries Keystone XL will be just as problematic.
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| Source for ‘Ukraine Collusion’ Allegations Met Devin Nunes Posted: 05 Nov 2019 02:26 AM PST  Mark Wilson/GettyThe former Ukrainian diplomat at the center of allegations that Kyiv meddled in the 2016 election has met Rep. Devin Nunes, the California firebrand who is one of President Trump's top defenders. The revelation indicates that Andrii Telizhenko's connections in Washington are wider than previously known. Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, has enthusiastically promoted Telizhenko's allegations and met with him extensively. And Trump has touted his claims. "Congressman Nunes had a really interesting and good impact on me as a very positive and influential politician who loves America and is interested in Ukraine and developments on fighting Russia," Telizhenko told The Daily Beast. "We talked about how to fight Russian aggression in Ukraine and Russian propaganda." The previously unreported conversation is the only known encounter between two of the more significant figures in the story of Trump's relationships with Russia and Ukraine. Nunes' office did not respond to a request for comment on this story.Telizhenko worked at Kyiv's embassy in Washington from December 2015 through June 2016, according to a copy of his C.V. that he shared with The Daily Beast. And he has played a key role in the promotion of the contentious narrative, popular on the political right, that the Ukrainian government worked with Democrats during the 2016 campaign to damage Trump.Politico first reported in January 2017 on alleged efforts by Ukraine's Washington embassy to find and dole out dirt about Paul Manafort, who was Trump's campaign chairman for several months and is now serving a prison sentence for financial crimes unrelated to the 2016 election. 'Traitor!': Disheveled Paul Manafort Assailed at Hearing for 16 New ChargesIn Politico's story, former DNC consultant Alexandra Chalupa and then-deputy chief of mission Oksana Shulyar both denied any inappropriate moves related to Manafort. Telizhenko, however, went on the record to say Shulyar directed him to share any relevant information with Chalupa. "They were coordinating an investigation with the Hillary team on Paul Manafort with Alexandra Chalupa," he said at the time. The allegation reverberated through conservative media. And while most coverage of election interference in early 2017 focused on the Kremlin's well-funded operation to hack emails and spread disinformation over Facebook and Twitter, Telizhenko's allegations about Ukraine found an eager audience among the president's staunch supporters. A BuzzFeed story published earlier this week tracked Telizhenko's reach through conservative media—including an appearance on the conspiracy site InfoWars—and called him "a bespoke purveyor of conspiracy theories."Since going public, Telizhenko has helped Giuliani try to investigate matters related to American politics and Ukraine. Telizhenko told NBC earlier this week that the two met earlier this year and have become friends. His allegations have also drawn the attention of congressional Republicans defending Trump in the impeachment inquiry; a newly released transcript shows a Republican staffer who questioned former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch as part of the inquiry asked her if she was familiar with the story. The staffer also said the issue could damage the relationship between the two countries. "I think most Americans believe that there shouldn't be meddling in our elections," she said. "And if Ukraine is the one that had been meddling in our elections, I think that the support that all of you have provided to Ukraine over the last almost 30 years, I don't know that—I think people would ask themselves questions about that."Telizhenko met Nunes at a housewarming party in May of this year, he told The Daily Beast. The two chatted for about 15 minutes, he said, and didn't follow up after the party. "We had an interesting conversation," he said. "He's well aware on Ukraine politics and from what I understood, he's a true patriot in the United States. And that's how I saw it. It was interesting for me to meet him." Since their conversation, Nunes has touted claims that originated with Telizhenko. On Sept. 24, he tweeted out an article by John Solomon at The Hill arguing that Democrats have pressured Ukraine to meddle in American politics. The story quoted Telizhenko. A few weeks later, the congressman tweeted out another story highlighting claims that the Ukrainian embassy colluded with the DNC. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Israel approves controversial Jerusalem cable car Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:38 AM PST  Israel's government has approved a controversial Jerusalem cable car that will ferry thousands of passengers an hour over Palestinian homes in the east of the city to within a few hundred yards of the Western Wall. The plan, which was given the green light this week, imagines a cable car beginning in west Jerusalem and swooping over a valley towards the Old City, where it will deposit visitors at the 16th-century Dung Gate. The cars will carry up to 3,000 people an hour and Israel's government says the plan will boost tourism, relieve traffic congestion, and make it easier for worshippers to reach the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. "We've waited 2,000 years to return to the Western Wall and it's impossible that heavy traffic prevents thousands of people from praying," said Moshe Kahlon, Israel's finance minister. But many Palestinians see the plan as an effort to entrench Israel's presence in east Jerusalem, which most of the international community considers to be Palestinian territory under Israeli military occupation. Jerusalem - Cable car route The construction is also likely to cause disruption to residents of the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, who will find the cable being built above their homes. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, called the cable car plan "an illegal assault on the occupied Palestinian city and its people who have been living there for centuries". Other critics have taken aim at the plan not because of its politics but because they believe it will be a modern eyesore that will blight the iconic Jerusalem skyline and spoil views of the Dome of the Rock and the turreted walls of the Old City. Architects and historians have decried the plan as "Disneyfication" of a historic area sacred to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Unesco, the global heritage body, has also protested the plan as a threat to the "authentic character" of the Old City. Opponents of the plan have vowed to sue the government over its decision and the case is likely to be taken up before Israel's supreme court, potentially heralding a lengthy legal battle that may postpone construction.
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| The 10 most-viewed fake-news stories on Facebook in 2019 were just revealed in a new report — take a look (FB) Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:06 AM PST  Fake news stories targeting American voters are still rife on Facebook, and a new investigation from Avaaz just revealed the 10 most-viewed in 2019.
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| Camp Fire survivor who lost home in deadly blaze bilked of thousands of dollars, police say Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:34 AM PST  Brenda Rose Asbury is accused of embezzling more than $60,000 from an elderly woman who survived the deadly Camp Fire in Paradise, California.
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| 12 Italian Relics That Were Converted Into Luxe Hotels Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:37 PM PST |
| Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:09 AM PST ![Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword]( "Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword") An Ohio sheriff wearing white gloves displayed a sword wielded in the American Revolution and by a future U.S. president in the War of 1812, and pledged Wednesday an exhaustive investigation to determine whether it's the one that disappeared from Cincinnati four decades ago. It's believed the sword Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil held up was carried in battle by President William Henry Harrison and before him, Continental Army Col. John Cleves Symmes, Harrison's future father-in-law. Police in Connecticut seized the sword last month, just before it was to be auctioned.
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| Orphan in adoption scandal says she's a teenager, adoptive parents' claims are false Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:24 AM PST  The Ukrainian orphan at the center of an adoption scandal in Indiana has broken her silence this week in an interview with Dr. Phil.
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| China's H-20 Stealth Bomber Is Soon Coming To Asian Skies Posted: 04 Nov 2019 07:01 PM PST  America and its allies are on notice.
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| UPDATE 6-Iran distances itself further from nuclear deal, alarming Russia, France Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:34 AM PST ![UPDATE 6-Iran distances itself further from nuclear deal, alarming Russia, France]( "UPDATE 6-Iran distances itself further from nuclear deal, alarming Russia, France") Iran has stepped up activity at its underground Fordow nuclear plant, state TV said on Wednesday, a move France said showed for the first time that Tehran explicitly planned to quit a deal with world powers that curbed its disputed nuclear work. In another development that could also aggravate tensions between Iran and the West, diplomats said Iran briefly held an inspector for the U.N. nuclear watchdog and seized her travel documents, with some describing this as harassment.
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| Dems flip Virginia; Kentucky governor race too close to call Posted: 06 Nov 2019 03:25 AM PST  Democrats took full control of the Virginia legislature for the first time in more than two decades while the race for governor in deeply Republican Kentucky was too close to call despite a last-minute boost from President Donald Trump. In Kentucky, Democratic challenger Andy Beshear held a narrow lead and declared victory in the governor's race over Republican incumbent Matt Bevin on Tuesday, though Bevin had not conceded. "I'm here to officially declare today, Nov. 5, 2019, that Virginia is officially blue," Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam told a crowd of supporters in Richmond.
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| South African Consumer Confidence Sinks to 2017 Low Posted: 05 Nov 2019 12:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- South African consumer confidence dropped to the lowest level since Cyril Ramaphosa became president as the outlook for the economy dimmed.The consumer-confidence index fell to -7 in the third quarter from 5 in the previous three-month period, FirstRand Ltd.'s First National Bank said in an emailed statement on Tuesday. That's the weakest level since the fourth quarter of 2017, when uncertainty over who would take over from Jacob Zuma as leader of the ruling African National Congress weighed on sentiment.With household consumption spending that makes up about 60% of gross domestic product, the drop in confidence could further weigh on an economy that's forecast to expand only 0.5% this year. Slow growth is adding to the state's fiscal woes, as set out in the medium-term budget statement last week, as revenue falls short of estimates and government debt balloons."A confluence of adverse economic developments in all likelihood contributed to the slump in consumer sentiment," said FNB economist Siphamandla Mkhwanazi. This included rapidly rising unemployment, declining per-capita incomes, an upsurge in attacks against foreigners in South Africa, the financial woes of the country's state-owned power utility, and disappointment that the central bank didn't cut interest rates to help indebted consumers, he said.High-income consumers who earn more than 14,000 rand ($950) a month were the most pessimistic as they became increasingly concerned about the outlook for their own household finances, which are further being strained by high taxes, Mkhwanazi said. On the contrary, low-income earners expected an improvement."Sales of new vehicles, jewelry, furniture and household appliances and other expensive luxuries are therefore expected to continue to perform poorly, while the pricing power of retailers in general will likely remain constrained during the festive season," he said.The reading was below the long-run average of 2 since 1994, said FNB, which compiles the data with the Bureau for Economic Research.To contact the reporter on this story: Vernon Wessels in Johannesburg at vwessels@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Stefania Bianchi at sbianchi10@bloomberg.net, Paul Richardson, Rene VollgraaffFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Ryanair quietly grounded Boeing 737 planes over 'pickle fork' cracking, becoming the latest airline to act on the problem Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:51 AM PST  The budget airline grounded at least three 737NG planes, The Guardian reported. Multiple airlines have done the same in recent weeks.
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| ‘The disappeared’: searching for 40,000 missing victims of Mexico’s drug wars Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:00 AM PST  José Barajas, who was snatched from his home, joins the ever-swelling ranks of thousands of desaparecidos, victims of the drug conflict that shows no sign of easingRelatives of the disappeared form a human chain to comb a suspected clandestine burial ground in the Mexican town of Ensenada last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAs he set off into the wilderness under a punishing midday sun, Jesse Barajas clutched an orange-handled machete and the dream of finding his little brother, José."He's not alive, no. They don't leave people alive," the 62-year-old said as he slalomed through the parched scrubland of tumbleweed and cacti where they had played as kids. "Once they take someone they don't let you live."series boxIt has been six months since José Barajas was snatched from his home near the US border, for reasons that remain obscure."I think he was working so hard that he forgot his own safety, you know?" Jesse said as he recounted how his 57-year-old brother was dragged from his ranch and joined the ever-swelling ranks of Mexico's desaparecidos – now estimated to number at least 40,000 people.Jesse, the eldest of seven siblings, said US-based relatives had implored José to join them north of the border as the cartels tightened their grip on a region notorious for the smuggling of drugs and people."We told him how big a monster is organised crime. It is a huge monster that nobody knows where it is hiding," he said.Jesse Barajas searches for the remains of his brother José, who was was dragged from his ranch on 8 April 2019 and has not been seen since, last month near the town of Tecate. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianBut José – who had built a successful business making decorative concrete columns for ranches and was in the process of erecting a new house – was adamant he would abandon neither his workers nor his homeland."He was a man that believed in Mexico," said Jesse, who left Mexico as an undocumented migrant aged 14 and is now a US citizen. "He chose to stay here because he thought that he could change things, you know?"The disappeared are perhaps the dirtiest secret of Mexico's drug conflict, which has shown no sign of easing since leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power last December promising a new era of peace.Calderón sends in the armyMexico's "war on drugs" began in late 2006 when the president at the time, Felipe Calderón, ordered thousands of troops onto the streets in response to an explosion of horrific violence in his native state of Michoacán.Calderón hoped to smash the drug cartels with his heavily militarized onslaught but the approach was counter-productive and exacted a catastrophic human toll. As Mexico's military went on the offensive, the body count sky-rocketed to new heights and tens of thousands were forced from their homes, disappeared or killed.Kingpin strategySimultaneously Calderón also began pursuing the so-called "kingpin strategy" by which authorities sought to decapitate the cartels by targeting their leaders.That policy resulted in some high-profile scalps – notably Arturo Beltrán Leyva who was gunned down by Mexican marines in 2009 – but also did little to bring peace. In fact, many believe such tactics served only to pulverize the world of organized crime, creating even more violence as new, less predictable factions squabbled for their piece of the pie.Under Calderón's successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, the government's rhetoric on crime softened as Mexico sought to shed its reputation as the headquarters of some the world's most murderous mafia groups.But Calderón's policies largely survived, with authorities targeting prominent cartel leaders such as Sinaloa's Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.When "El Chapo" was arrested in early 2016, Mexico's president bragged: "Mission accomplished". But the violence went on. By the time Peña Nieto left office in 2018, Mexico had suffered another record year of murders, with nearly 36,000 people slain."Hugs not bullets"The leftwing populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in December, promising a dramatic change in tactics. López Obrador, or Amlo as most call him, vowed to attack the social roots of crime, offering vocational training to more than 2.3 million disadvantaged young people at risk of being ensnared by the cartels. "It will be virtually impossible to achieve peace without justice and [social] welfare," Amlo said, promising to slash the murder rate from an average of 89 killings per day with his "hugs not bullets" doctrine.Amlo also pledged to chair daily 6am security meetings and create a 60,000 strong "National Guard". But those measures have yet to pay off, with the new security force used mostly to hunt Central American migrants.Mexico now suffers an average of about 96 murders per day, with nearly 29,000 people killed since Amlo took office.In August Mexican authorities, who after years of public pressure are beginning to demonstrate greater interest in investigating such crimes, acknowledged over 3,000 clandestine burial sites. More than 500 had been discovered since López Obrador took power.One as-yet undiscovered grave is thought to guard the remains of José Barajas. And one recent morning his family set off to find it, in the company of a government forensic team and – a heavily armed federal police escort."It just sucks not knowing where he's at," said the missing man's 28-year-old son, who is also called José and had travelled from California to join the search.Forensic experts work with police protection during a search for the body of José Barajas last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianThe mission – one of the first conducted in conjunction with a newly created state search commission – began shortly before noon as searchers formed a human chain to comb a stony heath east of José's ranch.Jesse struck out ahead, pausing occasionally to skewer the ground with his machete. After puncturing the earth, he would raise the blade's tip to his nose in the hope of detecting the sickly scent that might reveal the whereabouts of his brother's corpse. Other searchers probed soft patches of soil with T-shaped steel rods.Minutes later, Jesse spotted a black bomber jacket, half buried in the soil. He quickly decided it was not his brother's but photographed the garment with his smartphone: "Maybe somebody is looking for somebody with this jacket, huh?"As Jesse marched on – shadowed by a rifle-toting police agent – the hidden perils that lay behind his brother's disappearance became clear.Pickup trucks, apparently sent by cartel bosses to monitor the search party, rattled past on the country lane down which José's abductors fled."These assholes are halcones," Jesse complained, using the Spanish slang word for lookouts.searchingUnsettled by their presence, Jesse radioed another nearby search team to request a protective roadblock."They're spying on us … watching our movements to see what we are looking for and what we are doing," the police officer said.Nerves jangled as the hawks continued to circle. "The criminals here are very bloody. They are beyond limits," Jesse murmured as the police agent trained his gun on the road.Twenty tense minutes later, reinforcements arrived. But the drama was not yet over. As Jesse clambered into the open back of a police vehicle two shiny SUVs appeared on the horizon and sped down the sun-cracked asphalt towards the group, before being forced to stop.A relative shows a photograph of José Victoriano Barajas, 57, a businessman who is feared dead. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAs the police car's occupants braced for a gunfight, two men descended from the first SUV and exchanged a few inaudible words with the federal agents before the second car was allowed to pass unmolested.The identity of its occupants remained a mystery. But as the vehicle raced away it left the unshakable impression that a local crime boss had been inside – and a serious confrontation narrowly avoided."We're in a hostile place – and it's not Iraq," Jesse said as the team regrouped, heaving a collective sigh of relief.After a lunch of energy drinks and granola bars, the hunt for José resumed."All we want to do is give him a proper burial, like every human," the missing man's son as a sniffer dog joined the search.José's son said relatives had not told his 92-year-old grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, what had happened and had yet to fully comprehend it themselves. "I guess we have to be OK with not being OK," he said.Once his father was found, José said the family would sell up and cut ties with the land his father had so loved. "It's not the same any more, you know what I mean?"Three hours later, nothing had been found but coyote bones and clothes ditched by migrants as they trekked towards the US. Back at his brother's ranch, Jesse busied himself handing out burritos and spicy nachos to the famished searchers.Fernando Ocegueda, the activist who had organized the mission, insisted searchers should keep faith. "Once we spent 15 days searching and found nothing – and on the last day we found three bodies."Jesse and Alfredo Barajas, two of the victim's brothers, and his son, José, searched an area near his ranch last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The Guardian"This kind of activism is about patience, not speed," Ocegueda later added.Two days later, after a second fruitless hunt near the ranch, the Barajas family headed south to join another search, though this time not for José.Outside a police station in the coastal town of Ensenada they met dozens of mostly female searchers – members of a local "collective"hoping to find their loved ones.As the group explored its first location – a rocky wasteland behind the town's country club – terrible stories of violence, fear and grief emerged."It was my nephew. They took him 18 days ago," said one thirtysomething woman, who – like all of the collective's members – asked not to be identified for fear of the cartels."My brother," said a 15-year-old boy as he pummeled the earth with a shovel. "Three weeks."Another woman said she was seeking her son. "In December it will be six years since they disappeared him … and I've been in this fight ever since," she said.interactiveAs the minutes and hours ticked by and no bodies were found, bloodshot eyes shed tears of sorrow and there were crossed words of frustration."It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," José's son complained after a traipse through the wasteland found only swarms of bees and a poisonous snake.But as the group moved from the viper-infested wild to a reeking landfill and, finally, a junkyard police suspected had served as a torture centre and burial ground, there was also camaraderie and warmth.The bleakness of the task was tempered by shared experiences and laughter. Jokes were told. New friendships formed."We all have the same goal, which is finding our missing ones," said Ocegueda who became a campaigner after his own son was taken, in 2007, and has recovered more than 120 bodies since.Ocegueda has yet to locate his son – but he has found a calling. "This is where I like to be because it's here I've found my people," the 62-year-old said. "Along the way you make friends – and this is the most important thing."A police vehicle parked outside the unfinished home that José Barajas had been building when he was abducted in April for reasons that remain a mystery. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAlso present was a woman still grappling with a more recent loss: José's 49-year-old wife, Irma Bonilla Barajas.Visibly drained, Irma threw herself into the search operation, determined to bring others closure, even if she had yet to find it herself.Pausing from her digging, Irma remembered a hardworking family man whose absence was still sinking in. "He was so, so intelligent," she said. "He used to calculate all the exact measurements for the concrete and his gazebos in his head."Six months after José vanished, Irma voiced bewilderment at the "evil minds" responsible for snatching so many Mexican lives."I just can't make sense of it … If they've already killed them, why don't they leave them for us?" she wondered. "What more harm can they do to them, if they are already dead?"Additional reporting by Jordi Lebrija
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| Two Maryland men got into a fight over a Popeyes chicken sandwich. One of them was stabbed to death, police say Posted: 05 Nov 2019 07:23 AM PST  A 28-year-old man in Maryland was stabbed to death on Monday night in a fight "related to the release" of Popeyes chicken sandwich, police said.
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