| Judge blocks Trump's favorite construction company from building private border wall Posted: 06 Dec 2019 06:16 PM PST  A federal judge in McAllen, Texas, has temporarily blocked a plan for a construction firm favored by President Trump to build a privately funded segment of border wall along the banks of the Rio Grande River.
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| Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley Says South Carolinians Saw the Confederate Flag as 'Service' Before Dylan Roof 'Hijacked' It Posted: 07 Dec 2019 09:13 AM PST  Many argued Haley was not fully acknowledging the flag's Civil War and segregationists origins
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| Democrats Must Not Have an All-White Debate—and the White Candidates Should Say So Posted: 07 Dec 2019 02:15 AM PST  The news that Senator Kamala Harris has dropped out of the race highlights the fact that the Democratic field is growing less diverse with each passing month. It's now reached the point where a field that showed such promising diversity at first has been whittled down essentially to four people with first-tier status, and they're all white. There is diversity within than foursome--a gay man, a Jewish man, a woman. But in a party so dependent on voters of color, this is striking--and not in a good way. Of course, there is nothing wrong with Democrats selecting a white presidential candidate to represent the party. But that should be up to the voters, and not the DNC by means of their debate inclusion practices.Those candidates can, however strike a blow for diversity. They should band together and threaten to boycott the December Democratic debate unless the DNC and media partners agree to not exclude candidates who have shown measurable public support before the voting begins. That includes, at the very least, Cory Booker and Julian Castro, and could also include Andrew Yang and Tulsi Gabbard, who have managed to make the most recent debate stage despite long odds.Although Harris had qualified for the December debate, her exit could create an unacceptable scenario on December 19 when the candidates gather in Los Angeles. Booker and Castro's exclusion, coupled with the probable exclusion of other candidates of color including Yang and Gabbard, means the December debate could very well include only six candidates, all of them white. (Booker, Castro, Yang, and Gabbard have all hit the fundraising threshold, but not the polling one.)Kamala Harris Quits 2020 Race: 'She Didn't Know What She Was About'Democrats and the DNC should be asking themselves if they really want to eliminate all the candidates of color before the first states even get to vote. And the leading candidates, all of whom are white, should do something about it.There is precedent for the top-tier candidates banding together to protect the integrity of the debate process. Back in January 2016, NBC News, as a DNC debate sponsor, tried to bar former governor Martin O'Malley from its debate, citing his poor polling numbers compared to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. While it was apparent that O'Malley's campaign was going nowhere, it was obvious to any objective observer that eliminating him was a choice for voters in Iowa and the other primary states to make—not NBC News.On January 8, 2016 shortly after noon, Sanders tweeted that O'Malley should be allowed on the next debate stage. Literally one minute later, the Clinton campaign tweeted out similar support for O'Malley's inclusion. And a few hours later, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz tweeted that the DNC was also demanding that NBC News include O'Malley.This joint public pressure ensured O'Malley's inclusion. It turned out to be his final debate, but it was the voters, and not outside organizations, who chose O'Malley's fate.Dear Debate Moderators, You Are Working Up Democrats About the Wrong IssueNow, it is the DNC itself that is the culprit of such unfair practices. The party has established criteria for the December debate, which will mean that Booker and Castro could both be possibly excluded from the stage.Booker and Castro have been able to organically secure more than 200,000 unique donors each, and both have shown measurable poll support, especially with African-Americans and Latinos respectively. Excluding these two candidates of color, who represent crucial aspects of the Democratic base, from debates before Iowa could be a mistake with lasting implications for the party and country.I personally like some of these candidates, such as Booker and Castro, while I am not fond of Gabbard. But whether I like them isn't the point. It is not my place nor anyone else's place to deny a candidate an equal opportunity to make their case.Maybe there is an argument to be made for a smaller debate stage at some point, but the DNC has set up criteria that allows a billionaire to buy his spot while excluding serious candidates with a following and something to say.And while we're on the subject of Tom Steyer, he has spent $47 million of his own money in what amounts to a scam. Since he needs donors only to meet the DNC's bizarre debate criteria, he has essentially purchased his donor base, through tactics such as selling $1 swag with free shipping—usually items worth far more than $1—that has nothing to do with him or his presidential campaign. Why should he be allowed to "sell" a button about climate change or opposing Donald Trump for $1 and use that as some kind of indicia of popular support? He has also blanketed early states with enough TV ads and fancy mail to get his name identification up to the point that just enough people might utter it to a pollster because they recognize it.Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg is eschewing debates thus far, but with his $52 billion in net worth it's not hard to imagine clever ways for him to meet future DNC debate thresholds.A debate stage that lets a white billionaire like Steyer buy his spot but excludes substantive candidates of color like Booker and Castro is neither democratic nor representative of the Democratic Party.As a person of color, I hope the DNC and the frontrunners are listening. It isn't the DNC's place to eliminate viable candidates before voters are allowed a say. I hope Biden, Sanders, Warren, and others will step up to tell the DNC that the Democratic Party is stronger when all viable candidates are allowed to be heard.David de la Fuente is a senior political analyst at Third Way.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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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| Body of slain doctor returns home to Japan from Afghanistan Posted: 08 Dec 2019 01:26 AM PST  The body of a Japanese doctor killed in a roadside shooting in Afghanistan arrived back home Sunday, with government officials on hand to lead a brief ceremony of mourning at Tokyo's Narita International Airport. Tetsu Nakamura was killed last week, along with five Afghans who had been traveling with him. Keisuke Suzuki, Japan's state minister of foreign affairs, joined other officials in bowing their heads in prayer after laying flowers by the coffin, draped in white, in a solemn ceremony in honor of Nakamura at the airport.
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| A Uighur Dutch woman admitted to leaking secret Chinese cables on Muslim oppression. She's going public to stop China's death threats. Posted: 08 Dec 2019 07:35 AM PST  Asiye Abdulaheb told the Dutch De Volkskrant newspaper that she had a role in disseminating the explosive internal documents on Xinjiang.
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| Could Mexico's Version of the Marine Corps Crush the Cartels? Posted: 07 Dec 2019 12:00 PM PST  Could this work?
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| American soldiers banned from Italian main street after vicious brawl Posted: 08 Dec 2019 08:08 AM PST  Around 2,000 US Army soldiers have been banned from one of the main streets in the Italian city of Vicenza after a brawl between soldiers and locals. The temporary ban, which affects members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade stationed in the city, involves the quaint via Contra' Pescherie Vecchie, where two young Vicenza men say they were surrounded and beaten by several soldiers after a verbal exchange just outside a popular watering hole for off duty combat paratroopers. "This is not my face. I was not like this before," Riccardo Passaro, 21, told La Repubblica from the hospital where he is recovering from reconstructive facial surgery after his jaw was shattered. City authorities are studying CCTV images to identify the culprits of the latest violent episode, which prompted Mayor Francesco Rucco to request special restrictive measures from the base commander. Col. Kenneth Burgess issued a memo warning that personnel caught entering the restricted zone during the 45-day ban faced disciplinary sanctions. "It is a decree without precedent in Vicenza and for this we thank the American authorities," Mayor Rucco said. The US military presence in Vicenza has been expanding for the last decade, with construction of the large Del Din annex north of the historic Ederle garrison to help lodge US Africa Command and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, which conducts contingency response and NATO ally training in Europe. Vicenza's 113,000 inhabitants now intermingle, mostly peacefully, with more than 12,000 Americans, including military family members and employees of the two bases bookending the city. But an uptick in problems related to heavy drinking, violence and public disorder since the expansion has exasperated locals. In 2014, several rape investigations and a car crash in the city centre involving three pedestrians made headlines. In 2016 and 2017 there were bloody brawls involving injuries and property damage. And in 2018, police intervened 550 times in violent incidents involving Americans, prompting new joint night patrols this year by U.S. military police and Italian Carabinieri.
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| UPDATE 7-Trump says Kim Jong Un risks losing 'everything' after North Korea claims major test Posted: 07 Dec 2019 05:46 PM PST ![UPDATE 7-Trump says Kim Jong Un risks losing 'everything' after North Korea claims major test]( "UPDATE 7-Trump says Kim Jong Un risks losing 'everything' after North Korea claims major test") "He does not want to void his special relationship with the President of the United States or interfere with the U.S. Presidential Election in November," he said. North Korea's state media KCNA reported earlier on Sunday that it had carried out a "very important" test at its Sohae satellite launch site, a rocket-testing ground that U.S. officials once said North Korea had promised to close.
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| Plot Emerged to Fix Venezuela Without Maduro or Guaido Posted: 08 Dec 2019 04:47 AM PST ![Plot Emerged to Fix Venezuela Without Maduro or Guaido]( "Plot Emerged to Fix Venezuela Without Maduro or Guaido") (Bloomberg) -- The standoff in Venezuela briefly took a new twist, according to a report from the Spanish newspaper ABC.People close to both President Nicolas Maduro and his rival Juan Guaido plotted to push both men aside and end the nation's crisis with the rule of a temporary junta, the newspaper reported without citing where it got the information.The article didn't cite sources by name, nor was it completely clear how deeply embedded the plan was before it was discovered and fell apart. But the story suggests a strong desire within the camps of both men to end the standoff between Maduro and Guaido almost a year old. Guaido, the National Assembly president, has been recognized by more than 50 countries, including the U.S., as Venezuela's leader.Third WayThe ABC story suggested a third way, which the paper reported was born out of talks between emissaries of high-ranking Venezuelan officials with opposition leaders, in four countries between April and October this year, after huge rallies demanding Maduro's exit.The key figure appears to be Humberto Calderon Berti, then the designated ambassador to Colombia who Guaido dismissed last month. He was the main Guaido negotiator in the talks with the emissaries for Venezuelan officials who defied Maduro.At some point in the talks, the paper said, Calderon Berti was approached to head a "transitional junta" -- a small group of powerful men who would lead the nation for 18 months. The paper said that an agreement was drafted by August, with the document outlining the political changes to oust Maduro, sideline Guaido and install the junta sent around to the key players.The Venezuelan officials who sent emissaries for the secret talks included president of the National Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello, one of Venezuela's most powerful men with strong ties to the military, Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.The negotiations were complex, involving the reconciliation of various factions within the army and voiding the May 2018 presidential elections Maduro is widely seen as winning only by fraud.Temporary JuntaThe paper cites discussions in which a Cabello emissary, army captain Carlos Aguilera Borjas, suggests that Calderon Berti head the temporary junta. The paper says that Maduro's regime discovered the talks, which then came to an end.Calderon Berti told ABC newspaper that he met with Aguilera Borjas and others. But these meetings were part of his diplomatic duties and had nothing to do with a plot to form a junta, Calderon Berti said.Guaido's representatives declined to comment on the ABC report, while the Maduro government didn't respond to requests to do so.To contact the reporter on this story: Jose Orozco in Mexico City at jorozco8@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ney Hayashi at ncruz4@bloomberg.net, Ian Fisher, Matthew G. MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 5-Year-Old Carried a Toddler Through Minus 31-Degree Weather After Left Alone in Alaska Home Posted: 08 Dec 2019 11:08 AM PST  The children, who were dressed just in socks and light clothing, both received cold-related injuries
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| Russia not an enemy? Macron's Moscow strategy faces first test Posted: 08 Dec 2019 02:16 AM PST  French President Emmanuel Macron this week faces the first major test of his policy of directly engaging with Russia that has disturbed some European allies, as he hosts a summit seeking progress in ending the Ukraine conflict. Joined by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Macron will bring together Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky for their first face-to-face meeting at an afternoon summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris on Monday. The stakes are high: this will be the first such summit in three years and while diplomats caution against expecting a major breakthrough, a failure to agree concrete confidence-building steps would be seen as a major blow to hopes for peace and also Macron's personal prestige.
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| He tried to save his wife from their burning home. She died holding his hand Posted: 08 Dec 2019 03:39 PM PST  "She was my best friend," Todd Gillette said of his 50-year-old wife, who died in a house fire in South Dakota.
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| Suspect's mother speaks out after Alabama officer slain Posted: 08 Dec 2019 01:47 PM PST ![Suspect's mother speaks out after Alabama officer slain]( "Suspect's mother speaks out after Alabama officer slain") The mother of man charged with killing an Alabama police officer spoke said Sunday that she doesn't believe her son is capable of committing murder. LaJeromeny Brown of Tennessee has been jailed on capital murder charges in the shooting of Huntsville police officer Billy Fred Clardy on Friday. Brown's mother, Alma Jean Applebet, told Al.com in a phone interview her son should be presumed innocent until he has a chance to stand trial, though she acknowledged he has a history of arrests in Tennessee.
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| Flu season arrives early, driven by an unexpected virus Posted: 08 Dec 2019 09:20 AM PST  The winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years. An early wave of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there's a chance flu season could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say.
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| Cory Booker: failure to engage black vote could hand White House to Trump Posted: 08 Dec 2019 08:47 AM PST  * Democrat speaks to Guardian after Iowa campaign event * Debate needs candidate 'black and brown people can trust' * After Kamala: activists fear Democratic primary whitewash Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator struggling to be the only black candidate on the Democratic debate stage this month, has warned that the party could hand re-election to Donald Trump unless it sends a more positive message to African American voters.Booker has just four days left to meet stringent criteria set by the party for the next televised primary debate, in Los Angeles on 19 December. Should he fail to make the cut, the participants will be exclusively white, with more billionaires on stage than black people.In an interview with the Guardian, Booker said he was "worried, very worried" that the party was heading towards a repeat of the 2016 election in which Trump snatched an unexpected victory partly because of the softness of the African American vote.About 4.4 million voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 stayed home in 2016. More than a third were black."There would be a President Hillary Clinton right now if the African American turnout had been close to what it had been in 2012," Booker said. "That's how real is the power and influence of the Democratic party's most loyal voting base."> We have to make sure there's a candidate on that stage that black and brown people in this country can trust> > Cory BookerHe added: "That's why we have to make sure there's a candidate on that stage that black and brown people in this country can trust, in whom they see their lived experience."The issue of the fading diversity in the Democratic race has become a major talking point in the wake of the California senator Kamala Harris dropping out for lack of funds. With Harris out, the spotlight is increasingly falling to Booker. He has been quick to sound the alarm over the consequences of black voters feeling undervalued as election year approaches.Asked what message an all-white stage would send African Americans, he told the Guardian: "The message is already being sent."I've talked to civil rights leaders, Congressional Black Caucus members, you hear this being talked about now in the black community. People are saying there, 'This can't be,' especially when there is a candidate out there who is fully qualified under any objective criteria other than the arbitrary polling system."Booker has met the bar of 200,000 unique donors set by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) but is falling short of attaining 4% in four national or early state polls. Unless he can do that by Thursday he will not have a place at the debate.To rub salt into the wound, Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has secured a position. Booker said the presence of billionaire candidates in the Democratic race – Michael Bloomberg is the other – was an insult to "voters who wonder how you can have talented, qualified, experienced, proven diverse candidates that aren't on the stage."We've seen how you gin your poll numbers up by running nonstop ads – that shouldn't be the decider of who's on stage at the debate, it sends a very bad signal."The Guardian asked Steyer what he thought of the argument that the race was being distorted with billionaires buying prominence while diverse candidates languished.He said: "I'm concerned about the diversity in the debates, too, and I have asked the DNC to change the criteria of the debates to get more diversity."> It's important we have a diverse group of people competing … and I don't think it's fair, but I don't run the process> > Tom SteyerSteyer has been able to use his personal wealth – he is worth $1.6bn according to Forbes – to vastly outspend Booker so far, buying $55m of TV and online ads to Booker's $3m. The disparity is paradoxical given that one of Steyer's main political platforms is combatting growing inequality."A lot of people have complained to the DNC about how this is going," Steyer said. "It's important that we have a diverse group of people competing for the nomination of the Democratic party and I don't think it's fair, but I don't run the process."The thorny question of billionaires using their financial muscle to wrestle themselves into the Democratic race has welled up again with the late entry of Bloomberg. The former New York mayor is outspending all the top-tier candidates combined, according to the Washington Post.It did not soothe the increasingly fractious mood when Bloomberg commented that Booker was "well spoken". He later apologised.Booker carved out his political reputation as mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He has a distinguished resume that includes having been a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, though he has complained that the media rarely point that out, unlike his Democratic rival Pete Buttigieg, also a Rhodes scholar.Booker said he was still confident he would make the debate later this month, joining those who have already been guaranteed a place: Buttigieg, Steyer, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar.The decision of more than a million African American voters to stay home rather than vote in 2016 is widely considered an important factor behind Trump's shock victory. Trump won the presidency comfortably in the electoral college yet in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin he beat Clinton by only 77,000 votes.In the Wisconsin city of Milwaukee alone, Clinton attracted 70,000 fewer black votes than Obama in 2012.Booker said his anxieties about a potential repeat next November did not stop at the White House. He said low African American turnout could also have an effect on senatorial races in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Arizona that would prevent the Democrats taking back the Senate."I'm very worried about consequences for the US Senate – it's not just Donald Trump," Booker said. "We cannot win in these very diverse states without not just good turnouts of African Americans – we need Obama's record turnouts again."Booker was speaking at a Democratic presidential forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa organized by the Teamsters and focusing on workers' rights. The Guardian and The Storm Lake Times were media partners of the event.
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| Catholic Celebrity to Challenge Polish President in 2020 Vote Posted: 08 Dec 2019 09:22 AM PST ![Catholic Celebrity to Challenge Polish President in 2020 Vote]( "Catholic Celebrity to Challenge Polish President in 2020 Vote") (Bloomberg) -- Szymon Holownia, a TV show host and writer known for his Catholic views, announced plans to run against incumbent Andrzej Duda in next year's presidential election.The 43-year-old political newcomer focused his announcement on social solidarity, climate protection and higher standards in Polish politics, characterized by what he called "a devouring clinch" between the ruling Law & Justice and the main opposition party Civic Platform."It's time for a man coming from the bottom to fix what's broken at the top," he said in his announcement speech delivered in a theater in Gdansk, north of Poland. "I want a Poland in which there's no "either-or," but "and-and," and where both sides can be right."Holownia rose to fame as the co-host of Poland's edition of "Got Talent," a TV show he quit last month after 12 seasons. Holownia is an activist, writer and journalist supporting the liberal wing of Poland's Catholic church. In his announcement speech, Holownia called for "friendly separation" of the church and the state.Holownia is likely to be one of at least a handful of challengers to Duda in the 2020 vote. The current president, who has the backing of the ruling camp which won the general election this year, tops all presidential and trust polls. The Civic Platform is still to pick its presidential candidate.To contact the reporter on this story: Maciej Onoszko in Warsaw at monoszko@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Hannah Benjamin at hbenjamin1@bloomberg.net, Andrew DavisFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'I felt like I was going to die': A harrowing look into CIA torture from the eyes of a detainee Posted: 07 Dec 2019 10:27 AM PST  A CIA detainee's drawings detail the brutal reach of torture. They are part of a new Seton Hall report called "How America Tortures."
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| Lebanese-born donor of Hitler items welcomed in Israel Posted: 08 Dec 2019 07:27 AM PST  Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday welcomed a Lebanese-born Swiss real estate mogul who purchased Nazi memorabilia at a German auction and is donating the items to Israel. Chatila, a Lebanese Christian who has lived in Switzerland for decades, paid some 600,000 euros ($660,000) for the items at the Munich auction last month, intending to destroy them after reading of Jewish groups' objections to the sale. Among the items he bought were Adolf Hitler's top hat, a silver-plated edition of Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and a typewriter used by the dictator's secretary.
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| Trump complains about light bulbs making him look orange and people flushing toilets 15 times in rambling monologue Posted: 07 Dec 2019 06:22 AM PST  Donald Trump has complained about new light bulbs which supposedly make him look orange and flushing toilets, during a rambling monologue.At a small-business roundtable meeting, the president went off on a tangent about the bulbs and claimed people have to flush toilets 10 to 15 times because they "don't get any water".
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| One of the world's largest basic-income trials, a 2-year program in Finland, was a major flop. But experts say the test was flawed. Posted: 08 Dec 2019 05:51 AM PST  Two years after Finland launched a basic-income trial for unemployed residents, many of the recipients remained jobless.
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| Hundreds of thousands march through Hong Kong in largest protest for weeks Posted: 08 Dec 2019 07:56 AM PST  Hundreds of thousands of black-clad, masked protesters from all walks of life took part in one of the largest mass rallies of Hong Kong's six-month-long pro-democracy movement on Sunday, in a show of continued defiance against Chinese rule. Demonstrators expressed their anger that a sweeping victory for pan-democratic parties in district elections two weeks ago has led to few concessions from the city's unpopular leader, Carrie Lam, towards demands including more voting rights and an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality. The resounding election defeat for the pro-Beijing establishment shattered earlier government claims that the city's "silent majority" was against the protests, while Sunday's march showed that public support for the protest movement remains high. "People are still eager to come out, still eager to demonstrate that they are not satisfied," said Alvin Yeung, a democrat from the Civic Party. "Hong Kong people have a very clear mind, that winning the elections was not the end of everything," he added. "We are not asking for the moon, our demands are not so outrageous. For example, a commission of inquiry, are we asking something so unreasonable?" The turnout - with some in animal masks - appeared to be an indication that the protests are here to stay Credit: Ivan Abreu/ Bloomberg Police said just hours before the march on Hong Kong island that they had arrested 11 people and seized a 9mm semi-automatic pistol, as well as other weapons they feared could be used during the rally. But despite the violent clashes between riot officers and protesters that have marred demonstrations in recent months, many families with young children and old people joined the march that began at the downtown Victoria Park and continued peacefully through the city's main streets for several hours. "I've been to about 80 percent of the demonstrations. I'm 71. What do I have to be afraid of," said Johnny, a retired manufacturer. "Today we are fighting for the freedom of Hong Kong and of the Uighurs," he said, referring to China's repressed Muslim minority. The event organisers, the Civil Human Rights Front – the non-violent umbrella group behind large rallies in June - said that some 800,000 people had joined the protest, which also marked this week's World Human Rights Day. The police force estimated that the march peaked at 183,000. The demonstrators were at times jubilant, with drums and people dressed as cartoon characters cheering the crowd, some of whom flew Union Jacks and other international flags. Some hurled abuse at observing police officers who have increasingly become the focus of public anger because of their heavy-handed tactics, but tensions remained comparatively low. The police took the rare step of granting permission for the mass rally, and officers largely stood to one side as the throngs passed without major incident. As night fell, the crowd continued to flow steadily through the wide boulevards, torch lights from their phones piercing the darkness. As night fell, demonstrators used lights from their smartphones Credit: Justin Chin/ Bloomberg "I think the CCP's [Chinese Communist Party] strategy is to wear us down through time. That's why it's important for us to come out even after the district elections to make our demands heard," said a protester in her 20s, who gave her name as Ms Chu. "In the past six months, the Hong Kong people have become braver and stronger against the police force," she added. "We want to come out to the march and continue to share our feelings because Hong Kong is very special as a multicultural, international city." The anti-government movement was initially sparked by a now-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions to the mainland, but it has now spiraled into a wider set of five demands that include universal suffrage and police accountability. Some 6,000 people have been arrested and hundreds injured during protests that have at times turned violent, and public anger remains high. While the march ended peacefully around 9pm, some fear that a planned strike on Monday may turn violent. "We're now seeking not only our five demands but also retaliation against the police and the government. If political leaders have foreign citizenship it should be revoked. The Hong Kong police should only recruit university graduates," said protester Sam Cheung, 30, ahead of Sunday's march.
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| The 25 Best Tower Defense Games Posted: 08 Dec 2019 06:00 AM PST |
| Polyamorous 20-year-old is dating 4 men while pregnant with her first child Posted: 07 Dec 2019 07:18 AM PST  Tory Ojeda is a 20-year-old woman from Jacksonville, Fla., who is in a polyamorous relationship with four men. She is now expecting her first child with one of her partners. Ojeda told Barcroft Media that while the baby is biologically one of her partner's, the five of them plan on raising the child together as a family.
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| French murder suspect emerges from coma after swallowing poison Posted: 07 Dec 2019 10:39 AM PST  The suspect for the rape and murder of a young woman in northern France almost two decades ago was slowly emerging from a coma while under guard in hospital Saturday after he swallowed pesticide in an apparent suicide bid following his conviction. Willy Bardon, on trial over the murder of Elodie Kulik in 2002 in a case that has attracted strong interest in France for years, ingested the substance at the courthouse in the northern city of Amiens late on Friday. Bardon, 45, is under round-the-clock police surveillance in hospital.
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| Piero Terracina, Rome Jew who survived Nazi death camp, dies Posted: 08 Dec 2019 07:08 AM PST  Piero Terracina, described as the last survivor among the Roman Jews who were deported from the Italian capital to Nazi death camps during World War II, has died at 91. Terracina died on Sunday, Rome's Jewish Community said. As a 15-year-old, he escaped the roundup by German occupying troops of Rome's Jews in 1943 and went into hiding with his family.
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| AOC calls out Trump after news that Amazon plans to hire 1,500 employees in New York City Posted: 07 Dec 2019 02:07 PM PST  Following reports that Amazon plans to open a new office in New York City, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the Trump administration "should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families."
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| Is Russia's New Anti-Tank Weapon Aimed at the Army's M1 Abrams? Posted: 07 Dec 2019 12:42 PM PST  Maybe, but Russia has its own problem.
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| RPT-EXCLUSIVE-U.S. says drone shot down by Russian air defenses near Libyan capital Posted: 07 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST ![RPT-EXCLUSIVE-U.S. says drone shot down by Russian air defenses near Libyan capital]( "RPT-EXCLUSIVE-U.S. says drone shot down by Russian air defenses near Libyan capital") The U.S. military believes that an unarmed American drone reported lost near Libya's capital last month was in fact shot down by Russian air defenses and it is demanding the return of the aircraft's wreckage, U.S. Africa Command says. Such a shootdown would underscore Moscow's increasingly muscular role in the energy-rich nation, where Russian mercenaries are reportedly intervening on behalf of east Libya-based commander Khalifa Haftar in Libya's civil war. Haftar has sought to take the capital Tripoli, now held by Libya's internationally recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).
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| Obergefell: Supreme Court, lawmakers have more to do to prevent anti-LGBTQ discrimination Posted: 08 Dec 2019 02:00 AM PST  Everyone should be treated with dignity and respect — and that means ensuring no one faces unfair treatment because of their LGBTQ+ identity.
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| Desperate Syrian Kurds who fled Turkish incursion head home to uncertainty Posted: 08 Dec 2019 07:57 AM PST  Hundreds of Syrian Kurds have returned home from Iraqi refugee camps over recent weeks despite fears for their safety, amid complaints that thousands have been 'imprisoned' with little access to food, healthcare and work. Over the past month, around 100 people have been voluntarily returning each week from camps in Iraq after fleeing northern Syria at the start of a Turkish offensive in October designed to force out Kurdish forces. With winter setting in and resources dwindling, the numbers are likely to grow. Despite an official ceasefire, violence has continued in northeast Syria. The forced withdrawal of Kurdish forces has allowed the return of the Assad regime to some areas, with many fearing it may carry out revenge attacks on its opponents. Human Rights Watch has also accused Turkish-backed forces of human rights abuses against the local population in the so-called 'safe zone' declared by the Turkish government. Some 17,000 Kurds have sought refuge in Iraqi Kurdistan since the early days of the operation. Thousands have fled a Turkish-led offensive that has led to accusations of ethnic cleansing against Kurds in northern Syria Credit: Anadolu Bardarash Camp, which is home to 9,500 newly displaced Syrian Kurds, is under strict security protocols. People are only allowed to step foot outside of the camp if they have a relative already living in the region who will sponsor them and are not allowed to return once they have left. Unable to leave the camp to work, food is scarce and many have turned to selling their blankets and mattresses. Amid growing despair, a young man set himself on fire a few weeks ago, later dying of his burns. A second man is said to have tried the same last week - he was already doused in kerosene when he was saved by intervention from others in the camp. Those without any family in living locally are left with two unfavourable choices. They can stay inside the relatively small camp or return to uncertainty in Syria. "I'd rather die with dignity on my own land than die of hunger," one man said, on the bus to take him back to Syria. He was one of the few daring to try and get back to his home in Darbasiyah on the Turkish border. Most are trying to get back to al Hasakah, wanting to settle just outside of the 'safe zone'. For 52-year-old diabetic Mayasa, the lack of anything more than very basic healthcare is forcing her to go back to Syria. "We are really scared for her. Our areas are still not that safe and the situation could turn at any minute," her son said, explaining that the doctor at the camp would not refer her to a hospital. According to USAID, 117,000 of the 200,000 displaced since the start of the offensive have returned, though it is believed the majority are Arabs rather than Kurds. While the number of Kurds who have returned so far is believed to be relatively low, dozens of people told the Daily Telegraph that they fear they will soon have no choice but to return. Like many young men, 27-year-old Walat, escaped military conscription in 2013 and is wanted by the regime. He said that if conditions don't improve in the coming weeks he will be forced to go back. "The regime is everywhere in Kurdish areas now," he said, referring to a Russian-brokered deal that saw the SDF allow Assad regime troops into its territory - for the first time in five years - to help fight the Turkish offensive. "For me, especially as a Kurd, there is no safety for me in Syria, but at least I might be able to work." he said. While over 5,500 people have been given clearance to leave the camps in KRI, the process is slow, with many citing it as one of the main reasons they are going back to Syria.
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| Former Rep. Katie Hill says the wave of harassment she faced after alleged revenge porn leak left her contemplating suicide Posted: 07 Dec 2019 02:30 PM PST  Former Rep. Katie Hill now says that she has "to keep going forward, and be part of the fight to create the change" to protect young women.
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| Day 5 of public transport chaos as French strike bites Posted: 08 Dec 2019 05:32 PM PST  French commuters and tourists braced for a fifth day of public transport chaos Monday as the government prepared to respond to widespread anger over pension reform that has sparked open-ended walkouts. President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and senior cabinet ministers met late Sunday to discuss the contentious reform, which the country's powerful labour unions claim will force many to work longer for a smaller retirement payout. As both the government and unions vowed to stand firm, businesses started counting the costs of the strike which began last Thursday when some 800,000 people took to the streets across France in a mass rejection of plans to introduce a single, points-based pension scheme, unifying 42 existing plans.
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| Iraqi state forces, militia man checkpoints after bloodshed Posted: 08 Dec 2019 09:21 AM PST  Iraqi security forces on Sunday set up checkpoints and manned them alongside unarmed members of a militia group, Iraqi police officials said, to protect anti-government protesters in central Baghdad plazas, two days after a deadly attack by unknown gunmen. The militia group, Saraya Salam or Peace Brigades, are linked to influential Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and have been present in Tahrir Square, the epicenter of Iraq's protest movement, where they have offered protection for hundreds of peaceful demonstrators.
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| Why Texas’s fossil fuel support will ‘spell disaster’ for climate crisis Posted: 06 Dec 2019 11:30 PM PST  The state – which leads the way as US output of oil and gas is forecast to rise 25% in the next decade – is intensifying its production pipeline by pipelineIn the same month that Greta Thunberg addressed a UN summit and millions of people took part in a global climate strike, lawmakers in America's leading oil- and gas-producing state of Texas made a statement of their own.Texas's Critical Infrastructure Protection Act went into effect on 1 September, stiffening civil and criminal penalties specifically for protesters who interrupt operations or damage oil and gas pipelines and other energy facilities.Within a couple of weeks, two dozen Greenpeace activists who dangled off a bridge over the Houston ship channel became the first people charged under the new law, which allows for prison sentences of up to 10 years and fines of up to $500,000 for protest groups.The new Texas law is emblematic of the unyielding loyalty of conservative lawmakers to the fossil fuel industry in a state stacked with influential climate science deniers or sceptics such as the US senator and former Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz and which named a pipeline tycoon to its parks and wildlife conservation commission.With kindred spirits in the Trump White House, Texas is now intensifying its support of the fossil fuel industry and, pipeline by pipeline, literally laying the groundwork for production to ramp up even more in the next decade.The scale of new production is "staggering", according to an analysis by Global Witness, a campaign group, with Texas leading the way as US output of oil and gas is forecast to rise by 25% over the next decade. This makes it a "looming carbon timebomb", the group believes, in a period when global oil and gas production needs to drop by 40% to mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis."The sheer scale of this new production dwarfs that of every other country in the world and would spell disaster for the world's ambitions to curb climate change," the report states.The US is already the planet's leading producer of oil and gas and central to its rise is the Permian Basin, a shale region of about 75,000 sq miles extending from west Texas into New Mexico.Despite the oil price crash of 2014, the Permian's oil production has soared from about a million barrels a day in 2011 to about 4.5m this autumn, while natural gas production has trebled since 2013, according to US government figures.In March, the Permian overtook Saudi Arabia's Ghawar to become the world's most productive oilfield. While Saudi Arabia's overall production remains far higher, predictions that the Permian's output will continue to grow at a similar rate – doubling by 2023 as pipeline capacity expands and major oil companies increase their presence – are alarming environmentalists.> Having some kind of wild west boom going on in Texas ... that's just the precise opposite to what should be going on> > Lorne Stockman"Having some kind of wild west boom going on in Texas where it's every man for himself drilling as quickly as possible and trying to pull the stuff out of the ground in a kind of frenzy, that's just the precise opposite to what should be going on," said Lorne Stockman, a senior research analyst at Oil Change International, a clean energy advocacy group.While there are some indicators of a slowdown in the growth rate, Chevron's president of North American exploration and production, Steve Green, told an industry event in October that the oil major sees a "boom boom boom kind of economy" with a "long, healthy pace of activity in the Permian and Texas for decades to come", Bloomberg reported.The Permian's fortunes are not dependent on the whims of one or two dominant companies – there are hundreds of operators, from tiny independents to huge multinationals such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and ConocoPhillips, many of the corporations which, as the Guardian has reported, are behind a large proportion of the planet's carbon emissions and are poised to flood markets with an additional 7m barrels per day over the next decade.Gene Collins has witnessed firsthand the flipside of the Permian's economic boom. The 68-year-old, who runs an insurance agency and is on the board of a local economic development corporation, was born and raised in Odessa, a city which, with neighbouring Midland, is at the heart of the Permian. Heavy trucks are damaging road surfaces, traffic accidents have increased and housing rates have soared, he claimed."It has not been a gradual growth. It's been the type of growth that puts such a strain on the community that we're unable to keep up with what we need to handle the crowds, the influx. Our housing shortage is really epidemic. It puts a burden on our school districts. We need teachers but we can't bring teachers in because we have no place for them to stay," Collins said.A report last May by the Environmental Integrity Project, a not-for-profit group, cited a lack of air quality monitoring in west Texas, with only one station to track sulphur dioxide levels, and limited regulatory oversight which relies on companies to self-report unauthorised emissions.The pace of drilling, low prices and lack of capacity have led to the Permian's frackers producing more natural gas than the infrastructure system can handle, prompting them to vent gas or deliberately burn it off in an environmentally harmful process known as flaring."We probably have some of the worst air that we've ever had out here in west Texas" Collins said. "Every night we flare out here, let off natural gas, a lot of it really fugitive emissions because we don't have the regulators out here." A spokeswoman for the Texas Oil and Gas Association, a trade group, did not respond to a request for comment on how the industry plans to improve air quality in the Permian. Its president, Todd Staples, has said that its members "are accomplishing emissions progress through voluntary programmes, innovations and efficiencies".New pipelines should help relieve the bottlenecks, such as the Gulf Coast Express, a 448-mile pipeline which went online in September to take natural gas from west Texas towards the state's portion of the Gulf coast. But these too come at an environmental cost.> We're facing a massive wave of fossil fuel facilities that we've never seen before> > Rebekah HinojosaIn the Rio Grande valley, at the border with Mexico, activists are battling to stop the construction of three planned liquefied natural gas processing and export facilities at the port of Brownsville."We're facing a massive wave of fossil fuel facilities that we've never seen before," said Rebekah Hinojosa, a local organiser with the Sierra Club, a national environmental group. "The lifeblood of those communities is nature, ecotourism, shrimping, fishing, dolphin watch tours. Having a massive fossil fuel industry is not compatible."Though Texas is also the national leader in wind power capacity, the fracking investment locks the state into a fossil fuel future and enables the US to export cheap gas to other countries, perpetuating worldwide demand.Democrats in Texas are pinning their hopes on long-term demographic shifts that point to the state becoming a political battleground within the next decade, potentially paving the way for more climate-conscious policies such as restrictions on fossil fuel production, tougher regulatory regimes and promotion of renewables."Will Texas have a political shift that might empower Democrats at some stage who might be more willing to think about restraining the growth of the oil sector, if not reversing it?" said Joshua Busby, an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin and senior research fellow at the Center for Climate and Security. Busby believes natural disasters might accelerate change by altering the economic equation. The Gulf coast's vulnerability to storms potentially made more severe by global heating – such as Harvey, which flooded much of the Houston area in 2017 - could damage ports, refineries and petrochemical plants, erode financial markets' enthusiasm for fossil fuel investments, hurt companies' bottom lines and push climate concerns higher up the priority list for voters in traditionally conservative suburban and rural areas.Collins doubts that a radical transformation is imminent. "We have climate change deniers running the government. So there's really no benefit to them [in restricting drilling] if they think that the energy that is produced outweighs the risk," he said.The new measure punishing protesters, he said, underlines the political priorities in Texas: "For them to pass a law like that gives you an indication of what they think about the oil industry versus the rights and the health of human beings."
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| Brazil Scraps Envoy Trip to Fernandez Ceremony as Spat Worsens Posted: 08 Dec 2019 11:06 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's government scrapped plans to send a delegate to Alberto Fernandez's inauguration ceremony in Argentina, representing an escalation in tensions between South America's top economies.President Jair Bolsonaro has opted not to send anyone to the Dec. 10 swearing-in ceremony in Buenos Aires, according to a Brazilian official with direct knowledge of the matter. The move comes after he decided that Citizenship Minister Osmar Terra will no longer represent Brazil at the event.Relations between Brazil and Argentina, which are traditionally political and trade allies, have worsened in recent weeks amid an ideological clash between Fernandez's left-wing movement and Bolsonaro's hard-right administration. The spat has also raised prospects that Latin America's largest economy may pull out of the Mercosur customs union - which counts Brazil and Argentina as its two largest members - if differences persist.The press office for Brazil's presidency didn't immediately respond to a request for comment via email.Hours after his election victory, Fernandez set the stage for the first diplomatic tiff between the two countries by calling for the release of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, a leftist icon and Bolsonaro adversary. Bolsonaro later said he wouldn't call Fernandez to congratulate him and wouldn't attend the Argentine presidential inauguration, marking the first time in recent history for a Brazilian head of state.Read more: Bolsonaro to Skip Fernandez Inauguration as Argentina Spat GrowsNewspaper Clarin reported earlier that Bolsonaro made his decision after he was annoyed by a Brazilian delegation led by lower house Speaker Rodrigo Maia, which met Fernandez in Argentina last week. Bolsonaro was aware of the delegation's travel plans, Clarin reported Maia as saying.Terra had been preparing to meet with both Fernandez and outgoing President Mauricio Macri, as well as local business leaders.To contact the reporter on this story: Simone Iglesias in Brasília at spiglesias@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto at jspinetto@bloomberg.net, Matthew Malinowski, Linus ChuaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Why Russia Is Packing Its Old Typhoon-Class Submarines With Hundreds Of Cruise Missiles Posted: 07 Dec 2019 06:00 AM PST  Will it succeed?
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| Samoa says almost 90% of people vaccinated against measles after deadly outbreak Posted: 06 Dec 2019 07:12 PM PST  Samoa said on Saturday nearly 90% of eligible people had been vaccinated against measles as it lifted a two-day curfew imposed amid an outbreak that has killed 65 in recent weeks. There were, however, 103 new cases of measles reported since Friday, Samoa's Health Ministry said it a statement. The measles virus has infected almost 4,500 people in the South Pacific nation of just 200,000 since late October.
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| Is Donald Trump's bromance with Benjamin Netanyahu over? Bibi not cited in Florida speech Posted: 07 Dec 2019 07:17 PM PST  Donald Trump's address to an Israeli-American group in Florida could signal changes in U.S.-Israeli policy and his close bond with Benjamin Netanyahu.
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