| In fiery memo, Dem lawmaker urges Congress to include Trump’s 'racism' in articles of impeachment Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:47 AM PST  Rep. Al Green, the first member of Congress who called for President Trump to be impeached sent a memo Wednesday to House members urging them to incorporate concerns about Trump's "racism" into the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
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| Activists apologize for use of Holocaust victims’ remains Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:50 AM PST  An activist group has apologized to Jewish organizations outraged over their use of purported Holocaust victims' remains in an installation outside Germany's parliament building meant to draw attention to the perils of far-right extremism. The Center for Political Beauty, a Germany-based activist group known for provocative stunts, installed an urn outside the Reichtstag building on Monday, saying it contained victims' remains that it had unearthed from 23 locations near Nazi death and concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Following the uproar from Jewish organizations decrying the stunt as an instrumentalization of the Holocaust and an affront to the dead, the group apologized and by Thursday morning the urn had been wrapped in opaque black plastic so its contents could not be seen.
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| Wanted Indian guru resurfaces to announce new cosmic country Posted: 04 Dec 2019 08:36 AM PST  An Indian guru facing rape and sexual abuse charges made headlines Wednesday after he emerged from hiding and announced the birth of a new cosmic country with its own cabinet and golden passports. Swami Nithyananda, a controversial self-styled godman with thousands of followers in southern India's Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states, posted a video on his YouTube channel announcing the special project to his followers. 41-year-old Nithyananda announced that his country is called Kailaasa, and is the biggest Hindu nation without boundaries.
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| Pearl Harbour shooting: two people killed after US sailor attacks base in Hawaii Posted: 04 Dec 2019 08:23 PM PST  Two people have been killed and one injured after a gunman opened fire before taking his own life at Pearl Harbour military base in Hawaii. Military officials confirmed that a US Navy sailor had attacked three Department of Defense employees before committing suicide. The injured victim, a 36-year-old man, is in a stable condition in hospital while the attacker died from "an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound", officials said. A military spokesman said the situation has been "contained". One witness saw the attacker shoot himself at the scene. The Pearl Harbour Naval Shipyard was locked down on Wednesday afternoon after the shooting which is believed to have started at 2.30pm local time (10.30pm GMT). A PA system at the base urged people to take cover while staff received text messages alerts telling them to stay inside or find a secure location. The base was on lockdown after the attack Credit: CALEB JONES/AP The shooting took place at Dry Dock 2, near the south entrance of a combined US Air Force and Navy base about 8 miles (13 km) from Honolulu. Rear Admiral Robert Chadwick, commander of the Navy in Hawaii, said: "Our thoughts are with the families of the victims and everyone involved. This is certainly a tragedy for everyone here." He said it was not yet clear whether the gunman, a sailor assigned to the USS Columbia, knew the victims, who were all shipyard employees. While the investigation into this incident continues, my thoughts and aloha are with the victims of the terrible tragedy at JBPHH and with their families. I join all of Hawaii in expressing our gratitude to the first responders who rush toward danger every day to keep us safe— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) December 5, 2019 One witness, who said he saw the gunman kill himself, told Hawaii News Now that he heard loud pops. "I kind of recognise that as gunshots," he said. "I looked out the window and saw three people on the ground." "I looked out in time to see the shooter - who I assume was a sailor because he was in uniform - shoot himself." Base security forces posted on Twitter that they had closed all access gates to the shipyard while they investigated the incident. David Ige, the governor of Hawaii, said the White House has offered assistance. "I join in solidarity with the people of Hawaii as we express our heartbreak over this tragedy and concern for those affected by the shooting," Mr Ige said. A White House spokesman said: "The president has been briefed on the shooting at Joint Base Pearl Harbour-Hickam in Hawaii and continues to monitor the situation." The incident comes three days before the anniversary of the attack on the naval base on December 7, 1941 that led the United States to enter World War Two by declaring war on Japan.
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| Jim Banks Asks Graham to Subpoena Adam Schiff’s Call Records in Letter Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:01 PM PST  Representative Jim Banks (R., Ind.) sent a letter to Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Wednesday asking the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman to subpoena the call records of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), a day after Democrats revealed they subpoenaed AT&T phone records showing contact between Representative Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) and Lev Parnas.Banks also called for the phone records of Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, and the whistleblower's lawyer Mark Zaid, in order to determine the extent of communication between Schiff and potential Republican impeachment witnesses. On Wednesday, House Democrats quickly shut down Republicans' request during the first Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing on to have Schiff testify."The public has a right to know with whom Rep. Adam Schiff has coordinated his impeachment effort and if America's national security is at risk in any way as a result of Rep. Schiff's actions," Banks's letter reads. " . . . This quixotic impeachment inquiry must be shelved, Mr. Chairman. And Rep. Adam Schiff should be held to the same standard to which he holds others. It is time to see his phone records."In its release of an impeachment report Tuesday, the House Intelligence Committee revealed new information of call records showing communication between Trump 'spersonal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his associate Lev Parnas, and House Intelligence ranking member Nunes in April.House Intelligence member Eric Swalwell (D., Calif.) told CNN that the committee "subpoenaed outside third-party phone records, and that kind of weaves together the timeline and corroborates a lot of what the witnesses testified to who did come in."Following the release of the call records, Parnas's lawyer said the Ukrainian-American had "no idea" Democrats had records of his calls, but added that "Devin Nunes was definitely part of an attempt to gather information about the Bidens.""He was definitely involved in Ukraine," Joseph Bondy said. "He definitely had involvement in the GOP shadow diplomacy efforts in Ukraine, contrary to his claims."
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| Pakistan pulls back on prosecuting Chinese sex traffickers Posted: 05 Dec 2019 06:58 AM PST  Pakistan has declined to pursue a sprawling case against Chinese sex traffickers due to fears it would harm economic ties with Beijing, the AP reported on Wednesday. Pakistan has been seeking closer ties with China for years as Beijing continue to make major investments in the country's infrastructure.
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| The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:00 PM PST |
| Double the Fighters: Why Japan Wants Domestic F-3s and the F-35 Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST  Specialized roles for both planes.
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| The college admissions scandal ringleader tried to recruit 7 Stanford coaches to be part of the scheme but only one took the bait Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:04 AM PST  Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne published a letter about the school's investigation into the college admissions scandal on Tuesday.
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| Boredom, not public persuasion, is the goal in Judiciary phase of impeachment Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:54 PM PST  Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing of President Trump proved a mostly dull affair — and that may have been the point.
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| Thai cave dive hero fights back tears as he tells court ‘life sentence with no parole’ inflicted by Elon Musk Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:48 AM PST  A British diver who helped rescue a dozen boys trapped in a cave in Thailand fought back tears as he told a court Elon Musk's "pedo guy" slur amounted to "a life sentence with no parole".Vernon Unsworth choked up on Wednesday as he testified against the Tesla CEO during a defamation trial in Los Angeles.
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| George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, sues Martin family in Florida Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:56 AM PST  Former Florida volunteer community watchman George Zimmerman, whose 2012 killing of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin drew attention across the United States, sued Martin's family and lawyers on Wednesday, saying they used a fake witness against him. Zimmerman is seeking at least $100 million in damages from Martin's parents, state prosecutors and two women, who are accused in a Polk County, Florida, lawsuit of helping provide false statements to investigators and during the trial, according to court papers. On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman, who was then a neighborhood watch captain in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, fatally shot Martin after the teen's trip to a convenience store to buy snacks.
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| Russian spies used French Alps as 'base camp' for hits on Britain and other countries Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:59 AM PST  Fifteen Russian spies, including those accused of the Salisbury nerve agent attack, used the French Alps as a "base camp" to conduct covert operations around Europe over a five-year period, according to reports. The revelations came as Germany expelled two Russian diplomats after prosecutors said there was "sufficient factual evidence" linking Moscow to the killing of a former Chechen rebel commander in central Berlin. According to Le Monde, British, Swiss, French, and US intelligence have drawn up a list of 15 members of the 29155 unit of Russia's GRU military spy agency who all passed through France's Haute-Savoie mountains close to the Swiss and Italian borders. They stayed between 2015 and late 2018, notably in the towns of Evian, Annemasse and Chamonix - the scene of a ski chase in the 1999 James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough. They arrived from London, Moscow, Spain and often Geneva. The Le Monde report added five new names to those already published by online investigative outlets such as Bellingcat and The Insider. Their identities and movements were uncovered during a joint probe by allied counterespionage services in the wake of the attempted poisoning of defector Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018, said the paper. Britain and its allies accuse the Kremlin of seeking to assassinate Mr Skripal, a charge Russia vehemently denies. Those who stayed in the Haute-Savoie included Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - the cover names of the two GRU agents accused of carrying out the attack on Mr Skripal, along with Serguei Fedotov, the suspected mastermind. According to Le Monde, a fourth agent believed to be linked to the Skripal assassination attempt and who stayed in the Alps, Serguei Pavlov, was located in the UK by MI6 in 2017. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the Russian suspects in the Skripal poisoning, are among those alleged to have used the French Alps as a base Credit: Getty Images Europe Le Mondesaid the five new names cited, all aliases, are Alxandre Koulaguiine, Evgueni Larine, Tour Nouzirov, Naman Youssoupov and Guennadi Chvets. The unit was also active in areas such as Bulgaria, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine. Western intelligence services involved found no material or arms left behind by the agents during their stays in France, Le Monde said, but their presence was confirmed by where they ate, stayed and shopped. "The most likely hypothesis is to consider it (Haute-Savoie) as a rear base for all the clandestine operations carried out by unit 29155 in Europe," said a senior French intelligence official, quoted by Le Monde. The paper said that one theory is that by staying in the Alps, the agents hoped to shake off any suspicion before they carried out their missions, which could explain why they conducted no covert missions on French soil. On Wednesday, Angela Merkel's government summoned the Russian ambassador and ordered two of the embassy staff to leave the country within seven days. The two diplomats concerned are believed to be Russian intelligence officers, according to local media reports. The German foreign ministry said they had been declared persona non grata in protest at Russia's failure to cooperate with investigations into the killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national shot dead in a Berlin park in August. The suspected killer was captured by police attempting to dispose of a gun believed to be the murder weapon in the nearby river Spree. He was carrying a Russian passport which identified him as Vadim Sokolov, but German prosecutors on Wednesday confirmed that they now believe that is a false identity. Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were both poisoned with Novichok, a banned chemical weapon, in Salisbury Credit: Social media/EAST2WEST NEWS Police findings indicate that it is "highly likely" the arrested man is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national previously wanted for the murder of a businessman in Moscow in 2013, prosecutors said. A senior MP in Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat party (CDU) on Thursday described the case as a "return to the days of the Cold War". "Counterintelligence and foreign reconnaissance against Russia must be significantly expanded," Armin Schuster told Bild newspaper. "Germany must get its act together if a foreign state can order murder on German soil.". France denies any "laxism" by its embassy in Moscow for handing him a 90-day emergency visa on July 29 on a fictitious address. He passed through Paris before travelling on to Berlin. British and French intelligence sources told Le Monde the assassination was "ordered by the pro-Kremlin Chechen regime of Ramzan Kadyrov with logistical help of the Russian state". According to Le Monde, French intelligence suspects the Berlin assassination was leaked to the public for "political reasons" linked to President Emmanuel Macron's apparent rapprochement with Moscow. Last week, Mr Macron said: "Has the absence of dialogue with Russia made the European continent any safer? ... I don't think so." "France's desire to rebuild strategic ties with Moscow has clearly prompted reactions from states who prefer direct confrontation with Russia," said one French intelligence source, who denied any French "complacency or naivity" towards Moscow. French surveillance of foreign Russian espionage was, the source told Le Monde, "no doubt higher than any other service in Europe".
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| Postal worker shot at a Virginia post office Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:52 PM PST ![Postal worker shot at a Virginia post office]( "Postal worker shot at a Virginia post office") Authorities say a postal worker has been shot at a northern Virginia post office by an agent for the Postal Service's Inspector General's office. News outletsreport that it happened Wednesday morning at the parking lot of the Lovettsville post office in Loudoun County. The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting along with the inspector general's office.
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| 2020 Democrats Expose Extreme Abortion Policies in New Survey Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:30 AM PST  The New York Times has released the results from a set of questions posed to each Democratic presidential candidate about his or her views on abortion. Thus far in the primary race, very few of the candidates have been pushed to account for their position on a variety of abortion policies, especially during the debates. The Times should be commended for this effort to get candidates on the record on specific policy questions.Five candidates did not complete the survey: Montana governor Steve Bullock (who has since exited the race), former Housing and Urban Development secretary Julian Castro, former Maryland congressman John Delaney, Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, and California senator Kamala Harris (who ended her campaign yesterday).The survey is the first time that most candidates were asked whether they support restrictions on abortion procedures after fetal viability, usually somewhere around 21 weeks' gestation, the earliest a premature infant has survived. Only Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar suggested that regulations could be acceptable, saying they "must be consistent with Roe v. Wade," which would allow states to limit abortion in the third trimester with an exception for women's health. (It's worth noting that Roe companion case Doe v. Bolton defined "health" expansively to include financial, emotional, and familial health, making it difficult for states to limit abortion practically speaking.)Most candidates offered some form of a "no," including Colorado senator Michael Bennet, Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, billionaire Tom Steyer, and New Jersey senator Cory Booker. Several candidates offered longer explanations, repeating the common claim that post-viability abortions are rare and only take place in the case of medical emergencies."The fact is that less than 1 percent of abortions take place after 24 weeks of pregnancy," South Bend, Ind., mayor Pete Buttigieg said. "They often involve heartbreaking circumstances in which a person's health or life is at risk, or when the fetus has a congenital condition that is incompatible with life."Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren used the same formula. "Only 1.3 percent of abortions take place at 21 weeks or later, and the reasons are heartbreaking," she said. "20-week abortion bans are dangerous and cruel. They would force women to carry an unviable fetus to term or force women with severe health complications to stay pregnant with their lives on the line."Both Andrew Yang and Marianne Williamson offered similar responses. It's worth explaining why these are cop-out answers that obfuscate the truth about late-term abortion. Just over 1 percent of abortions after 20 weeks does sound rare, until you consider that the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute also estimates about 926,000 annual abortions, meaning that 12,000 abortions happen after viability. That means there are more post-viability abortions each year than gun homicides.Contrary to the Democratic narrative, plenty of women obtain third-trimester abortions for reasons other than a fetal-health condition (and it is certainly debatable whether it's "medically necessary" to kill unborn human beings with an illness or disability). In this interview, a U.S. doctor who performs third-trimester abortions says "a large percentage of our patients had no idea that they were pregnant" until late in pregnancy and that they then obtain an abortion at her clinic. There are a few clinics in the U.S. that advertise late-term elective abortions, including Southwestern Women's Options, a facility in Albuquerque, N.M., that performs elective abortions through 32 weeks of pregnancy.A 2013 Guttmacher article reported that "data suggest that most women seeking later terminations are not doing so for reasons of fetal anomaly or life endangerment." Rather, they most often do so for reasons such as "they were raising children alone, were depressed or using illicit substances, were in conflict with a male partner or experiencing domestic violence, had trouble deciding and then had access problems, or were young and nulliparous."These talking points from Democrats are an inaccurate excuse deployed by candidates who refuse to support any regulations on abortion but want to provide cover for that unpopular position by twisting the facts.On several other key questions, meanwhile, all of the candidates are in lockstep, showcasing that support for nearly unlimited abortion, funded by taxpayers, has become a requirement for Democratic politicians with national aspirations. For example, every candidate said he or she wouldn't so much as consider a running mate who opposes abortion rights, a signal that there is no room at the top of the party for pro-life Democrats.Several candidates answered an additional survey question about whether "opponents of abortion rights" should be welcomed as members or candidates in the party. Two non-politician candidates, Williamson and Yang, said the party should be a "big tent" free of litmus tests, and Bennet said the party "is and should be an inclusive one."Buttigieg, meanwhile, offered a vague reply seeming to suggest that pro-life Democrats are in fact unwelcome. "Democrats believe every person has the right to make decisions about their own reproductive health and about their body," he wrote. Warren had a similarly indirect answer: "We should stand up to any politician who tramples on a personal decision that has health and economic security consequences for women, their future and their families."Only one candidate, former Pennsylvania congressman Joe Sestak, who has since dropped out of the race, had an answer that articulated what Democrats risk by turning abortion into a litmus test. "In some cases, I think it is appropriate for the Democratic Party to welcome candidates who oppose abortion rights," Sestak wrote. "Such cases could include candidates running in places where a Democrat who supports abortion rights would be unable to win. . . ."Consider the recent reelection of Democratic governor John Bel Edwards in Louisiana, who defeated his Republican challenger by a narrow margin in mid November. Of all the heartbeat bills signed into law earlier this year — prohibiting abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which usually takes place around six weeks' gestation — only Louisiana's was signed by a Democrat: Edwards. Without his pro-life bona fides, Edwards almost surely would've lost his seat. If most national Democrats got their way, candidates like him would be excised from the party entirely, to the benefit of Republicans.There was unanimous support among candidates for "codifying" the Supreme Court's decision in Roe, though it is unclear how they would do so within the bounds of the Constitution. Every survey respondent expressed support for repealing the Hyde Amendment, a rider that prevents federal funds from directly underwriting abortion procedures. Even Joe Biden — who for decades of his public career supported Hyde as a protection for pro-life Americans with whom he says he personally agrees — has reversed his position, an indication of the party's dramatic shift on the issue."Biden will repeal the Hyde Amendment and use executive action to on his first day in office withdraw the Mexico City 'global gag rule' and Donald Trump's Title X restrictions," Biden's campaign told the Times in a statement. But despite his willingness to jettison his lifelong stance and drift along with party dogma, Biden didn't answer two additional questions in the survey: whether he would sign a budget that included Hyde and whether he would require private insurers to cover abortion.Several candidates, including Buttigieg, Warren, Williamson, Yang, Bennet, Booker, and Sanders said they would compel private insurers to cover abortion, a step further even than opposing Hyde.Democrats running for president have made it abundantly clear up to this point that they plan to align their campaigns with their party's most hard-core supporters of abortion rights. This survey suggests that they're willing to do so even when it requires exposing their extremism to voters who disagree.
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| Big delays at US-Mexico border crossings after migrants use car lanes to claim asylum Posted: 04 Dec 2019 12:08 PM PST  Customs and Border Protection has reduced lanes at the Nogales and Douglas ports of entry after migrants used car lanes to present asylum claims.
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| Giuliani Is in Kyiv, and Ukrainian Officials Are Steering Clear Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:13 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Rudy Giuliani, whose work in Ukraine is at the heart of U.S. impeachment proceedings, is back in the country -- and officials in Kyiv appear to be keeping their distance.People with knowledge of his trip say Giuliani flew into Kyiv from Budapest on Wednesday, the same day that U.S. hearings stemming from his shadow diplomacy in Ukraine kicked over to the House Judiciary Committee. Social media postings show him meeting with current and previous Ukrainian political figures as part of a cable news documentary series that's critical of the impeachment inquiry.But President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine won't be meeting with him, according to the president's spokeswoman. Igor Kolomoisky, a Ukrainian billionaire who had ties to Zelenskiy, also said he wasn't planning to meet Giuliani. Zelenskiy's predecessor, Petro Poroshenko, met Giuliani twice in Kyiv in 2017; through a spokesman, he, too, said he had no plans to see Giuliani during his trip.Andriy Yermak, a key aide to Zelenskiy who figured prominently in the House's impeachment report, was in London for a conference on Ukraine. He also said he wasn't meeting Giuliani. "How can I? I'm in London," he said.Giuliani has been accompanied in Kyiv by Andriy Telizhenko, a Ukrainian who worked at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington in 2016 and is the source of unsubstantiated allegations that his country interfered with the 2016 U.S. election.Telizhenko, who featured in the first episode of the documentary series on the One America News Network, declined to comment on the meetings, citing security issues.Others who have figured prominently in Giuliani's Ukraine overtures in the past year -- former prosecutors Viktor Shokin and Kostyantyn Kulyk -- didn't respond to requests for comment on whether they would be meeting Giuliani.Giuliani's decision to descend on Kyiv to meet with some key people in the impeachment saga comes after months of public testimony in Washington about his back-channeling in Ukraine. Journalists in Kyiv clambered to learn where he was holding meetings. A group of reporters rushed to the Fairmont Grand Hotel, which declined to comment on whether he was staying there.With his visit, Giuliani appears to be doubling down on his efforts to dig up dirt in Ukraine on political opponents of President Donald Trump. He met, among others, with Andriy Derkach, a Kremlin-friendly Ukrainian parliamentarian who recently wrote a letter to Giuliani beseeching him to support criminal justice reform in the country -- an effort that could help Giuliani take on the mantel of corruption fighter rather than dirt digger.Meanwhile, Zelenskiy's government is pursuing its own anti-corruption efforts. Giuliani's visit to Kyiv coincided with a visit by Philip Reeker, the acting U.S. assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. On the same day Giuliani met with former Ukraine prosecutor general Yuri Lutsenko -- who is accused of corruption in the House impeachment report -- Reeker was meeting with Ruslan Ryaboshapka, Zelenskiy's new prosecutor general, to discuss changes to the country's law enforcement structures."The new prosecutor office will be oriented at society's trust," Ryaboshhapka's office said in a written statement. "It must be effective and fair."To contact the reporters on this story: Stephanie Baker in London at stebaker@bloomberg.net;Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeffrey D Grocott at jgrocott2@bloomberg.net, David S. JoachimFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Missile Shield: Romania Now Has America's Aegis Ashore Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:10 AM PST  A powerful system.
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| President Trump's trade policy seems to have achieved the impossible Posted: 05 Dec 2019 04:42 PM PST  Past administrations' symbolic protocol exchanges with China were a fool's errand, writes Juscelino F. Colares of Case Western Reserve University
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| Opposition figure freed in Nigeria after court ruling Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:24 PM PST  Nigerian opposition activist Omoyele Sowore and co-defendant Olawale Bakare were set free on Thursday after months in detention, for alleged treason. The pair were released hours after a judge gave the secret police 24 hours to release Sowore, who had been held since August by the Department of State Services (DSS) after urging protests under the online banner "#RevolutionNow". Sowore, 48, also ran unsuccessfully against President Muhammadu Buhari in the February polls.
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| Transgender teen charged in school shooting will be tried as an adult Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:09 PM PST ![Transgender teen charged in school shooting will be tried as an adult]( "Transgender teen charged in school shooting will be tried as an adult") A 16-year-old transgender teenager should be tried as an adult on murder charges stemming from a shooting rampage at a suburban Denver high school in which one student was killed and eight others wounded, a Colorado judge ruled on Wednesday. Alec McKinney, 16, was ordered along with Devon Erickson, 19, to stand trial on first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges in the May 7 shooting at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, on May 7. An 18-year-old student at the school, Kendrick Castillo, was shot to death when he ran toward one of the two assailants in what has been called a heroic effort to stop the shooting and save lives.
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| Conman sets up fake Russia border with Finland to trick migrants Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:20 AM PST  Border guards in Russia's north west last week arrested a man who had set up a bogus border outpost with Finland and taken thousands of euros from migrants for what they thought was a journey through the woods to the European Union. The man, who was only identified as a citizen of one of the former Soviet Union republics, put up border posts in the forest outside St Petersburg and charged four men from South Asia more than 10,000 euros (£8,400) for his services for smuggling them into neighbouring Finland, Russia's Border Guard Service said on Wednesday. Russia's 1,340-kilometer border with Finland mostly runs across sparsely populated areas in the forest, offering a relatively easy way for migrants to get into the European Union. The Russian Border Guard Service said that the conman took the migrants on a trip out of town and led them to the bogus Russian-Finnish border where he left them. The conman apparently took the trouble to fake the migrant journey so meticulously that he even carried a dingy with him. The Komsomolskya Pravda daily said that the four men were from Sri Lanka and that they were detained when they reached a real Russian border guard outpost. A video released by authorities showed four men with their hands up standing in a dark forest. "The incredible adventures of the foreigners in the stillness of the night ended with a ruling of the Vyborg district court," the Border Guards said in a statement. The men were fined and deported out of Russia. Authorities did not specify their nationalities. The unidentified smuggler now faces charges of fraud. The Russian border with Finland became a popular destination for asylum seekers at the end of the 2015 migrant crisis in Europe. In 2016, Russia and Finland even briefly restricted access at two crossings only to the citizens of Finland, Russia, and Belarus, plus their family members, following a hike in the number of asylum seekers. Russians living in the border areas were at that time offering the migrants help to get to the border crossing with Finland.
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| Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:15 PM PST ![Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader]( "Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader") The longest-serving state House speaker in modern American history is a subject of inquiries in an ongoing federal corruption investigation that has already entangled several top Illinois Democrats, according to a newspaper report published Thursday. Four people interviewed by investigators told the Chicago Tribune that FBI agents and prosecutors asked about Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's ties to ComEd lobbyists, contracts the utility had with Madigan associates and government jobs those close to Madigan have landed. A message seeking comment from Madigan spokesman Steve Brown on Thursday was not returned.
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| Employee shot at a Virginia post office Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:56 AM PST  Authorities say a postal worker has been shot at a northern Virginia post office by an agent for the Postal Service's Inspector General's office. News outlets report that it happened Wednesday morning at the parking lot of the Lovettsville post office in Loudoun County.
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| Tesla refused to help the police with an investigation into stolen copper wire after Elon Musk learned about the incident because the company was scared of bad press Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:08 AM PST  Tesla declined to assist authorities on other occasions amid reports of "rampant crime" in 2018, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
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| The fired Chicago police superintendent says he made a 'poor decision' on the night he was found asleep at a stop sign with his SUV running Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:27 AM PST  Former Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson said he "did not intentionally mislead or deceive the Mayor or the people of Chicago."
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| The U.S. Army's Ultimate Weapon Isn't a New Gun or Tank Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:55 AM PST  Nope. Think AI.
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| ‘It’s not defensible what the president has done’: Curious argument against Trump’s impeachment given short shrift Posted: 04 Dec 2019 04:42 PM PST  George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley has won praise from civil libertarians by representing "out of the box" defendants, such as whistleblowers and terrorism suspects, in federal court cases.At Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearing, Mr Turley took on another difficult case: defending the president of the United States against allegations that he abused his office.
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| 'In cold blood': Syria Kurds say killed, robbed by Turkey proxies Posted: 04 Dec 2019 05:47 PM PST  Syrian Kurdish mother Shara Sido says the news came to her via a messaging application. Sitting inside a modest house in the de-facto Syrian Kurdish capital of Qamishli, the displaced 65-year-old scrolls through her phone to find a picture. Turkish troops and their Syrian proxies have overrun a swathe of northern Syria since October, after a deadly military campaign against Kurdish forces that caused tens of thousands to flee their homes.
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| Rep. Duncan Hunter Shows no Signs of Resigning Despite Pleading Guilty to Campaign Finance Charges Posted: 05 Dec 2019 06:34 AM PST  Representative Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.) has not indicated that he will leave his seat in the House after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to campaign finance violations.Hunter had long criticized the investigation against him as a "witch hunt," but announced on Sunday that he would change his stance and plead guilty. Hunter and his wife, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in June, were accused of using $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for family vacations to Hawaii, plane tickets for their pet rabbit, and other personal expenses. Both face a possible sentence of eight to fourteen months in jail."I failed to monitor and account for my campaign spending. I made mistakes, and that's what today was all about," Duncan told reporters on Tuesday after his guilty plea. He said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."However, the congressman has not yet discussed resigning from the House with minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). Hunter refused to answer Politico on Wednesday when they asked whether he planned to resign.Hunter is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17. One Republican lawmaker said party leadership would give him time to "get his affairs in order," but that time would be limited. Republicans had to force Hunter to give up positions on various House committees after his guilty plea.Former Rep. Chris Collins (R., N.Y.) resigned on September 30, one day before he pleaded guilty to charges of insider trading.
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| Hermit crabs dying after mistaking plastic for shells, study finds Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:59 PM PST  Hermit crabs are mistaking plastic for shells and the problem has killed more than half a million of the crustaceans, a new study by the Natural History Museum has found. The creatures do not make their own shells but instead move from discarded shell to discarded shell as they grow. They are not used to plastic in their environment so do not know to avoid it. Once they crawl into a piece of plastic debris, the crabs frequently get stuck and starve to death. Researchers said that if even just one crab mistakes some plastic debris for a shell, this can cause a "gruesome chain reaction", as when one dies it emits a signal alerting others there is a new shell. This causes scores of crabs to come scurrying across the island and fall into the plastic trap. The team carried out several surveys across a range of sites to ascertain of how many containers there were, including how many were open, how many were in a position likely to trap crabs, and how many contained trapped crabs. The results recorded 61,000 crabs trapped in debris on Henderson Island and 508,000 on the Cocos (Keeling) islands. This equated to 1-2 crabs per m2 of beach falling foul of debris, a significant percentage of the population. Around 570,000 hermit crabs become entrapped in debris on two tropical islands - the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean and Henderson Island in the Pacific. Dr Alex Bond, Senior Curator in Charge, Birds, The Natural History Museum, said, "The problem is quite insidious really, because it only takes one crab. "Hermit crabs do not have a shell of their own, which means that when one of their compatriots die, they emit a chemical signal that basically says 'there's a shell available' attracting more crabs who fall into the containers and die, who then send out more signals that say there are more shells available. "Essentially it is this gruesome chain reaction." The results come from a first of its kind study led by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania and including researchers from London's Natural History Museum as well as the Two Hands Project community science organization. IMAS researcher Dr Jennifer Lavers, who led the study said, "These results are shocking but perhaps not surprising, because beaches and the vegetation that fringes them are frequented by a wide range of wildlife. "It is inevitable that these creatures will interact with and be affected by plastic pollution, although ours is one of the first studies to provide quantitative data on such impacts." The study is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
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| Second evacuation order lifted in Texas city hit by explosion, chemical fire Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:24 PM PST  Authorities on Thursday lifted a second evacuation order in a week for thousands of people in a Texas city as U.S. safety officials began examining what caused the latest in a series of chemical plant fires in the state. The about 14,000 residents of Port Neches 95 miles (153 km) east of Houston were told to flee late on Wednesday when air monitors detected high levels of cancer causing petrochemicals butane and butadiene following an explosion last week. Butadiene is the main product of the TPC Group's facility in the city struck by last week's blast and fire, which injured three workers and prompted an initial, two-day evacuation.
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| Kansas GOP congressman faces probe of voter registration Posted: 04 Dec 2019 10:52 AM PST  Authorities plan to investigate whether a freshman Kansas congressman broke state laws by listing a UPS Inc. store as his address on a voter registration form and for obtaining a mail-in ballot in a November election. The questions about Rep. Steve Watkins come as some fellow Republicans hope to oust him during the August 2020 primary. Watkins' spokesman said Wednesday that the congressman's use of the UPS store's address in southwest Topeka was an inadvertent mistake that will be corrected.
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| NATO is finally talking about China, and there are 3 big problems it has to address Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:23 PM PST  Many of NATO's longstanding problems were under discussion at its leaders summit this week, but the agenda included a relatively new challenge: China.
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| Democratic congressman announces retirement, says 'countless hours' investigating impeachment 'rendered my soul weary' Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:37 AM PST ![Democratic congressman announces retirement, says 'countless hours' investigating impeachment 'rendered my soul weary']( "Democratic congressman announces retirement, says 'countless hours' investigating impeachment 'rendered my soul weary'") Rep. Denny Heck (D-Wash.) was not shy about why he won't seek re-election next year. Heck, who recently could be seen in a recurring role on the House Intelligence Committee, said the "countless hours" he spent investing both 2016 Russian election interference and President Trump's impeachment "rendered my soul weary," prompting him to leave his lawmaking days behind and spend more time with his wife of 44 years.The 67-year-old congressman said the work simply took too much of a toll. But he was also clear that he doesn't regret his time on the committee -- he called it "incredible work" -- and that he was no fan of the president. "I will never understand how some of my colleagues, in many ways good people, could ignore or deny the president's unrelenting attack on a free press, his vicious character assassination of anyone who disagreed with him, and his demonstrably very distant relationship with the truth," he said. Heck's district in Washington is solidly Democratic at this point, though the ballot to replace him is expected to be pretty crowded, per Politico.More stories from theweek.com Trump's pathological obsession with being laughed at The most important day of the impeachment inquiry Jerry Falwell Jr.'s false gospel of memes
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| Indonesia minister says sacking Garuda CEO over smuggled Harley Posted: 04 Dec 2019 04:37 PM PST  The CEO of Indonesia's national airline Garuda will be sacked for allegedly smuggling a Harley Davidson motorcycle into the country and using a sub-ordinate's name on import papers to avoid detection, a minister said Thursday. State-owned enterprises minister Erick Thohir said the airline's chief Ari Ashkara allegedly brought over parts of the disassembled motorbike on a plane from France last month. The alleged smuggling was meant to avoid declaring the 800 million rupiah ($57,000) motorbike to customs, he added.
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| Israeli same-sex couples find legal loophole for marriage Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:59 PM PST  Israel embraces gay tourists – and even hosts a gay Pride – but lags behind when it comes to gay rights
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| Millions of children exposed as flu spreads following vaccine delays Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST  Millions of children are at risk of flu amid a drop in uptake of vaccinations, after deliveries were delayed, officials have warned. New figures show the number of people hospitalised because of flu has tripled in a fortnight, with the virus spreading before many of the most vulnerable have been protected. Last night health officials urged parents to come forward and ensure children receive vaccinations. They are particularly alarmed by low uptake among toddlers, dubbed "super-spreaders" because they tend to pass on the virus to high numbers of people, including elderly grandparents. Officials also warned that winter vomiting bug is on the rise, with twice as many hospital beds closed as this time last year. Hospitals in England have been forced to close more than 1,100 hospital beds over the last week due to norovirus. The new flu figures show uptake of the nasal vaccine among two-year-olds is just 25.5 per cent, compared with 34.9 per cent this time last year. And just 24.4 per cent of three-year-olds have received the vaccine, compared with 35.7 per cent at this time in last year's season. The latest weekly data from Public Health England show the hospitalisation rate from flu is now at "moderate intensity" - 4.3 admissions per 100,000 people, up from 1.4 admissions per 100,000 two weeks before. Manufacturers have been beset by delays delivering the vaccine, as a result of problems testing it. Health advice | What should I do if I feel the flu coming on? As a result, schools were last month told to cancel vaccinations, with GPs urged to prioritise toddlers and the sickest children. Health officials said the dealys were now resolved, and urged parents to take any unvaccinated toddlers to their doctor. Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, Head of Flu, Public Health England said: "Flu season has now started and so it's really important that people get their flu vaccine as soon as possible to ensure they are protected against this potentially very serious illness. The initial evidence suggests the vaccine is a good match for the main strain of flu that is circulating. "Vaccination uptake in toddlers is lower than we would hope for at this point in the year due to previous delays in delivery of the vaccine, which are now resolved. If you have children aged two to three go to your GP to get them vaccinated now."
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| Zimbabwe court appoints Mugabe daughter to identify his assets Posted: 05 Dec 2019 03:13 AM PST  A court in Zimbabwe on Thursday appointed Robert Mugabe's daughter to identify assets left by the late former leader so they can be distributed to his beneficiaries, his lawyer said. Zimbabweans are keen to know how much wealth Mugabe accrued during his 37 years in power. The Master of High Court in Harare appointed Bona Chikore executor of her father's estate, the Mugabe family lawyer Terrence Hussein told reporters, adding that this had been agreed by family members.
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| Warren Is Drafting U.S. Legislation to Reverse ‘Mega Mergers’ Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:43 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is drafting a bill that would call on regulators to retroactively review about two decades of "mega mergers" and ban such deals going forward.Warren's staff recently circulated a proposal for sweeping anti-monopoly legislation, which would deliver on a presidential campaign promise to check the power of Big Tech and other industries. Although the Trump administration is currently exploring their own antitrust probes, the proposal is likely to face resistance from lawmakers.According to a draft of the bill reviewed by Bloomberg, the proposal would expand antitrust law beyond the so-called consumer welfare standard, an approach that has driven antitrust policy since the 1970s. Under the current framework, the federal government evaluates mergers primarily based on potential harm to consumers through higher prices or decreased quality. The new bill would direct the government to also consider the impact on entrepreneurs, innovation, privacy and workers.Warren's bill, tentatively titled the Anti-Monopoly and Competition Restoration Act, would also ban non-compete and no-poaching agreements for workers and protect the rights of gig economy workers, such as drivers for Uber Technologies Inc., to organize.A draft of Warren's bill was included in an email Monday from Spencer Waller, the director of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at Loyola University Chicago. Waller urged fellow academics to sign a petition supporting it. He said Warren was working on the bill with Representative David Cicilline, the most prominent voice on antitrust issues in the House. Waller declined to comment on the email.Representatives for Cicilline and Warren declined to comment. The existence of the bill and Warren's support of it were reported earlier this week by the technology publication the Information.In Washington, there is some support across the political spectrum for increased antitrust scrutiny of large technology companies. Warren positioned herself as a leader on the issue this year while campaigning on a plan to break up Big Tech. She has repeatedly called for unwinding Facebook Inc.'s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, along with Google's purchase of YouTube and advertising platform DoubleClick.Read more: Warren Accuses Michael Bloomberg of 'Buying the Election'It's not clear when a bill would be introduced or whether it would move forward in its current form. Cicilline has said he would not introduce antitrust legislation until he concludes an antitrust investigation for the House Judiciary Committee in early 2020.Amy Klobuchar, a Senator from Minnesota who's also vying for the Democratic nomination, has pushed legislation covering similar ground. Klobuchar plans to introduce additional antitrust legislation soon, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn't authorized to discuss the plans and asked not to be identified.Any proposal would face significant hurdles to becoming law, and Warren's version could be particularly problematic because it promotes the idea that antitrust enforcement is equivalent to being against big business, said Barak Orbach, a law professor at the University of Arizona who received a draft of the bill. "The way I read it is that Elizabeth Warren is trying to make a political statement in the course of her campaign," Orbach said. "It's likely to have negative effects on antitrust enforcement, so I just don't see the upside other than for the campaign."The bill proposes a ban on mergers where one company has annual revenue of more $40 billion, or where both companies have sales exceeding $15 billion, except under certain exceptions, such as when a company is in immediate danger of insolvency. That would seemingly put a freeze on many acquisitions for Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Facebook, Microsoft Corp. and dozens of other companies. The bill would also place new limitations on smaller mergers.Chris Sagers, a law professor at Cleveland State University, said the proposal would serve as an effective check on corporate power. "I don't think you'll have new antitrust policy until Congress says the courts have incorrectly interpreted the statutes," he said. "Someone has to do what Elizabeth Warren is doing."(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at enewcomer@bloomberg.net;Joshua Brustein in New York at jbrustein@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| This Is How the U.S. Marine Corps Wants to Deter Russia and China Posted: 05 Dec 2019 11:00 AM PST  Big changes are coming.
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| Justice Department praises watchdog's upcoming report on Russia inquiry amid reported criticism by Attorney General Barr Posted: 04 Dec 2019 05:38 PM PST  Justice Department lauds inspector general's work in advance of anticipated report on Russia inquiry, due to be released Dec. 9.
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| Israel and Czech Republic sign $125 mn missile defence deal Posted: 05 Dec 2019 09:23 AM PST  Israel's defence ministry signed a deal with its Czech counterpart on Thursday to sell it radar systems used in the Jewish state's Iron Dome missile defence system. The radars will be integrated into the Czech air defence system which will use Prague's own rocket launchers, a ministry spokesperson said. Czech defence minister Lubomir Metnar said the acquisition was one of the country's "key modernisation projects" for its armed forces.
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| Climate models have been right all along, study finds Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:59 AM PST  Even the rather primitive climate computer models of the 1970s, 80s and 90s were impressively accurate, lending extra credibility to the much more advanced climate models of today, study finds
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| Iran gas explosion kills at least 11 people, injures dozens: Mehr Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:40 PM PST ![Iran gas explosion kills at least 11 people, injures dozens: Mehr]( "Iran gas explosion kills at least 11 people, injures dozens: Mehr") At least 11 people were killed and dozens were injured in a gas explosion in Iran's western Kurdistan province on Thursday, the country's semi-official Mehr news agency quoted a provincial emergency official as saying. "At least 11 people were killed and unfortunately five children were among them when the gas explosion occurred at a wedding hall at night at Saqqez city," Mehr reported, adding that dozens were injured when trying to escape.
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