| Ocasio-Cortez: Trump was 'clearly engaged in extortion and bribery' Posted: 19 Nov 2019 10:26 AM PST  Ocasio-Cortez discussed the issue with Yahoo News on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as the third day of public hearings was being conducted in the Democrats' ongoing impeachment inquiry.
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| Obama aides deny they left behind nasty notes when they departed White House — in 2017 Posted: 19 Nov 2019 08:50 AM PST  White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said that Obama officials left Trump personnel messages after the presidential transition.
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| Son of former German president stabbed to death in Berlin Posted: 19 Nov 2019 11:28 PM PST  The son of former German president Richard von Weizsaecker was stabbed to death while he was giving a lecture at a hospital in Berlin where he worked as a head physician, police said Wednesday. A 57-year-old German man is in custody after he jumped up from the audience at the Schlosspark-Klinik and attacked Fritz von Weizsaecker with a knife on Tuesday evening. Von Weizsaecker died at the scene from a knife wound to the neck despite immediate attention from colleagues, said Martin Steltner, a spokesman for Berlin prosecutors.
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| Prison guards arrested in connection with Jeffrey Epstein death Posted: 19 Nov 2019 06:35 AM PST  The guards are accused of failing to conduct regular checks on Epstein, who hanged himself with a bedsheet in prison.
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| Extinction Rebellion aims to turn up political heat with hunger strikes Posted: 20 Nov 2019 08:22 AM PST ![Extinction Rebellion aims to turn up political heat with hunger strikes]( "Extinction Rebellion aims to turn up political heat with hunger strikes") Extinction Rebellion activists pressing for more rapid action on climate change threats on Wednesday entered a third day of a week-long hunger strikes in 27 countries. The strikes, which began Monday, have been in part spearheaded by 20-year-old Giovanni Tamacas, a University of San Diego student, who carried out a solo hunger strike last month in front of the White House. "We are hunger striking because we have no choice," he said in a statement, arguing governments and corporations "have criminally and catastrophically failed to tackle the climate and ecological emergency".
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| Lawyer for NSC Adviser Vindman Sends Letter to Fox Demanding Retraction of ‘Espionage’ Allegation Posted: 20 Nov 2019 12:50 PM PST  A lawyer for Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman sent a letter to Fox News on Wednesday demanding the network either retract or issue a correction for a segment of the The Ingraham Angle, in which guest John Yoo, a former top lawyer in the Bush administration, seemed to suggest that Vindman might be guilty of espionage.Vindman, who listened to the July 25 phone call between President Trump and Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that forms part of the impeachment probe, testified in House hearings on Tuesday regarding the matter. Vindman is a long-serving military officer whose family fled Soviet Ukraine when he was three years old.During the October 28 airing of "The Ingraham Angle," host Laura Ingraham speculated on Vindman's motives for testifying."Here we have a U.S. national security official who is advising Ukraine, while working inside the White House, apparently against the president's interest," Ingraham said. "Isn't that kind of an interesting angle on this story?""I found that astounding," Yoo responded. "Some people might call that espionage.""LTC Vindman and his family have been forced to examine options, including potentially moving onto a military base, in order to ensure their physical security in the face of threats rooted in the falsehood that Fox News originated," Vindman's lawyer David Pressman wrote.Pressman noted that espionage is a crime punishable by death, and that Vindman "had never in his decorated 20-year career of service to his country been accused of having dual loyalties or committing espionage."A spokeswoman for Fox News said she had no immediate comment when asked by the New York Times.Yoo wrote an op-ed in USA Today after the segment aired in which he clarified that he meant Ukraine may have committed an espionage operation, but that he didn't accuse Vindman specifically of espionage.Pressman wrote in his letter that "Mr. Yoo's argument that he did not intend to accuse LTC of Vindman of 'espionage' — that he was accusing the nation of Ukraine instead — is as legally irrelevant as it is factually incredible."
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| Special envoy Kurt Volker says 'most people' didn't see the distinction between Burisma and investigating former Vice President Biden Posted: 19 Nov 2019 02:04 PM PST  Special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker said during questioning that "others didn't see the distinction" between Burisma and investigating former Vice President Biden.
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| FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower Posted: 20 Nov 2019 04:16 AM PST  The FBI recently sought to question the CIA whistleblower who filed a complaint over President Trump's July 25 Ukraine call — a move that came after a vigorous internal debate within the bureau over how to respond to some of the issues raised by the complaint's allegations and whether they needed to be more thoroughly investigated, according to sources familiar with the matter.
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| Philippine police say will arrest anyone flouting vaping ban Posted: 20 Nov 2019 05:20 PM PST  Philippine police were ordered Wednesday to arrest anyone caught vaping in public, just hours after Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced he would ban e-cigarettes. The abrupt prohibition, revealed by Duterte late Tuesday adds to a growing global backlash against a product once promoted as less harmful than tobacco smoking. Duterte, a former smoker, called the devices "toxic" and said vaping introduced "chemicals" into the user's body.
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| Police: White teen girl aimed to attack black Georgia church Posted: 19 Nov 2019 10:54 AM PST  A white 16-year-old girl is accused of plotting to attack a mostly black church in a north Georgia city, where police say she planned to kill worshippers because of their race. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church has a predominantly black congregation, Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish said in a statement Tuesday. "Our investigation indicated the church was targeted by the juvenile based on the racial demographic of the church members," he said.
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| India Army to Cut Sniper Rifle Orders by About 70% Posted: 20 Nov 2019 01:35 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Indian Army plans to buy just 1,800 state-of-the-art sniper rifles and 2.7 million rounds of ammunition -- less than a third of its total requirement -- driven by budgetary constraints and the need to speed up deliveries, people with knowledge of the matter said.The military pruned its original requirement of 5,720 sniper rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition, which would have cost $140 million, to prioritize spending and advance the purchase of more modern equipment, they said, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public.Indian Army spokesman Aman Anand said he had no comment to offer on the change in procurement plans.The Indian armed forces have 450,000 infantry soldiers, of whom only half go into ground battle and an even smaller number of them use sniper rifles to take out specific enemy targets through precision firing.The move is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's $250-billion modernization plan for the Indian defense forces, as the infantry soldiers continue to face the brunt of deadly attacks in disputed border areas such as Kashmir and the northeast.Plans to buy new equipment from global manufacturers, however, has been hit by bureaucratic delays and the Modi government's desire to meet the needs of the armed forces through the domestic industry under his 'Make in India' initiative, a key plank to boost local defense manufacturing and woo his core supporters.The 1.3 million-strong Indian Army's previous efforts to buy 5,720 sniper rifles in a process that began in Feb. 2018 was scrapped in July this year after four vendors, including the U.S.-based Barrett, Indonesia's PT Pindad and Russia's Rosoboronexport, failed to meet technical requirements, such as technology transfers for manufacturing the ammunition by local industry.Through the new bid to buy a smaller quantity of 8.6 mm sniper rifles and .338 Lapua Magnum ammunition, India wants to overcome the hurdles in first identifying the vendor to buy them in a fast-track mode, before placing future orders for 4,000 more sniper rifles.To contact the reporter on this story: N. C. Bipindra in New Delhi at nbipindra@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Muneeza NaqviFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Two American service members killed in Afghanistan helicopter crash Posted: 20 Nov 2019 01:51 PM PST  Nineteen American service members have been killed in Afghanistan this year.
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| A Saudi Arabian princess and rights activist who 'fell off the radar' in late 2018 is reportedly detained under house arrest with 24/7 surveillance Posted: 19 Nov 2019 02:47 AM PST  Sources close to Princess Basmah told Deutsche Welle that Saudi authorities stopped her travelling to Europe for urgent medical care in December 2018.
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| Dead-end: Rohingya in Malaysia warn against fleeing from Bangladesh Posted: 19 Nov 2019 07:09 PM PST ![Dead-end: Rohingya in Malaysia warn against fleeing from Bangladesh]( "Dead-end: Rohingya in Malaysia warn against fleeing from Bangladesh") Before he flew to Thailand on a fake Bangladeshi passport and then crossed into Malaysia, Mohammed Imran was one of the most influential Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. In late 2017, at the peak of a mass exodus of Rohingya Muslims into Bangladesh fleeing violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, Imran paid traffickers $4,720 to be smuggled into Malaysia in search of a better life. Malaysia has become home to more than 100,000 Rohingya refugees, the second-highest number in the world after Bangladesh, with most braving the Andaman Sea on rickety boats or paying people smugglers for fake travel documents.
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| Trump turns 'very routine' physical into attack on media Posted: 19 Nov 2019 11:55 AM PST  President Trump lashed out at the media Tuesday over reporting about his sudden trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last weekend.
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| How a publishing error may have revealed China's secret super missile Posted: 19 Nov 2019 05:26 AM PST  A Chinese magazine may have accidentally committed espionage after it published what appeared to be the first image of a top-secret missile system. The apparent gaffe came in a centrefold graphic devoted to China's new H-6N strategic bomber in the latest edition of Modern Ships, a government-produced magazine. The H-6N, which is modelled on the Soviet Union's now retired Tu-16 Badger bomber, is a long-range aircraft designed to project Chinese air power into the western Pacific. But in the image published in Modern Ships showed the aircraft with a never-before-seen ballistic missile strapped beneath its fuselage. The huge missile is unlike any known Chinese weapons system and analysts believe it may be the first glimpse of an air-launched ballistic missile (ALBM) Beijing is known to have been working on. The magazine showed a large missile beneath the fuselage Malcolm Davis, senior analyst in Defence and Strategy capability at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said: "This may be the CH-AS-X-13 Air Launched Ballistic missile (ALBM), which is evidently an air-launched variant of the DF-21 medium range ballistic missile. "The combination of the range of that system - about 1700km plus the range of the H-6N - would give China greater ability to strike either at land targets as far out as Guam, or potentially, if equipped with an antiship mode, maritime targets at similar range. "That means, between the DF-26 antiship capable IRBM, this missile, and the land-based DF-21D, China is building a much more sophisticated A2AD in which precision conventional missiles play a major role. " The Global Times, China's state-owned English language daily, quickly published a piece saying the picture was nothing more than an artist's impression. "The images are computer generated, merely conceptual and have no official background," the paper said citing an "insider" source. DF-17 missiles parade through Beijing on October 1 Credit: Ng Han Guan/AP China is believed to have been developing an ALBM as part of a "carrier killing" missile programme designed to challenge US naval supremacy. Such a weapon would combine immense speed and range with the ability to carry a nuclear warhead, allowing China to project fearsome firepower deep into the Pacific Ocean. The only other country to have developed an ALBM is Russia, which unveiled its nuclear-capable Kinzhal missile in 2017. The H-6N made its public debut in a fly-past marking the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China over Beijing last month. Chinese media trailed the bomber's air-to-air refuelling capacity as its major innovation. But observers also noted that it lacked the bomb bay of its Soviet predecessor - suggesting it was designed instead to externally carry large missiles in a recess on its fuselage. China is known to have been working on a series of drones, missiles, and aircraft designed to hunt and destroy American aircraft carrier groups deep in the Pacific ocean. Last week the South China Morning Post reported that the H-6N was designed to carry the DF-100, a third generation anti-ship cruise missile, or the DR-8, a supersonic reconnaissance drone. Other weapons in China's new "carrier killer" arsenal include the DF-17, a hypersonic missile that can travel at five-times the speed of sound and is almost impossible to intercept.
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| American Airlines admits a midair accident that knocked out 2 flight crew was not caused by spilled soap Posted: 20 Nov 2019 11:19 AM PST  American Airlines admitted Tuesday the powerful fumes that knocked two flight attendants unconscious and forced a flight to make an emergency landing were not caused by spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed.
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| Mexicans sue Walmart over El Paso shooting Posted: 20 Nov 2019 02:13 PM PST  Mexico's government said Wednesday it has helped 10 Mexican citizens file lawsuits against Walmart over an August shooting at a store in El Paso, Texas, where a suspected white nationalist killed 22 people. "The objective of these suits, presented in El Paso county, is to hold the company responsible for not taking reasonable and necessary measures to protect its clients from the attack," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Eight Mexicans were killed and eight wounded in the August 3 attack in El Paso, a city on the US-Mexican border where 83 percent of the population is Latino.
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| Biden just sent out a post-debate email hours before the debate starts Posted: 20 Nov 2019 12:54 PM PST ![Biden just sent out a post-debate email hours before the debate starts]( "Biden just sent out a post-debate email hours before the debate starts") Former Vice President Joe Biden is getting a little ahead of himself.Hours before the fifth Democratic debate was set to begin, Biden's campaign on Wednesday sent out a fundraising email obviously not intended for release until the debate ended. The message hit inboxes roughly eight hours early."I'm leaving the fifth Democratic debate now," read the very first sentence of this email, sent long before the debate even started. "I hope I made you proud out there and I hope I made it clear to the world why our campaign is so important." Well, he made clear why sending prepared emails at a time that actually makes sense is so important, at least.> Looks like Biden's campaign has accidentally sent a post-debate fundraising email out early. It suggests he may target Warren again tonight. > > "We need more than plans... We need to reach across the aisle and demand that our leaders do what's right." pic.twitter.com/7YSvzy1bGm> > -- Jess Bidgood (@jessbidgood) November 20, 2019Spoiler alert: expect some more slams on Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) from Biden this evening, something supporters were presumably supposed to have already seen before they read, "we need more than plans" in his emailWith the White House having accidentally sent talking points to Democrats at least two times in recent months, should Biden defeat President Trump in 2020, the White House tradition of totally incompetent email use may continue for years to come.More stories from theweek.com Ken Starr on the Sondland testimony: 'It's over' Putin says the Ukraine scandal has distracted the U.S. from Russian election meddling: 'Thank God' Sondland just obliterated Trump and put the entire White House in peril
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| Russia's TU-22M3 Backfire Bomber Has A New Supersonic Missile (And The Navy Is Worried) Posted: 19 Nov 2019 03:30 PM PST  A formidable strike capability.
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| FBI Has Contacted Ukraine Whistle-Blower’s Lawyers in Probe Posted: 20 Nov 2019 11:30 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The FBI has contacted lawyers for the whistle-blower whose complaint about President Donald Trump's July call with Ukraine's president helped kick-start the House impeachment inquiry.Initial contacts between the FBI and counsel for the whistle-blower took place in October and have continued this month, according to a person familiar with the situation. The investigators indicated they were in the early stages of a probe and no interviews are currently scheduled, according to the person.The person said the Federal Bureau of Investigation was making no demands for testimony or material, but merely asking for cooperation regarding the focus of the complaint made to the intelligence community's inspector general. The whistle-blower's report revealed details of Trump's July 25 call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.Trump and his allies have repeatedly demanded that they be told the identity of the whistle-blower and be able to confront him or her. But the substance of the complaint has been confirmed by a wide range of witnesses testifying to the impeachment inquiry, as well as the White House's rough transcript of the phone call. The president has said his call with Zelenskiy was "perfect."The person said it was unclear whether the FBI is conducting a criminal investigation into the details revealed in whistle-blower's complaint.Other media outlets, including NBC News and Yahoo News, earlier reported the FBI's contacts with the lawyers.To contact the reporter on this story: Billy House in Washington at bhouse5@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Kevin WhitelawFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UPDATE 1-FBI wishes it had acted quicker as China stole intellectual property Posted: 20 Nov 2019 01:32 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-FBI wishes it had acted quicker as China stole intellectual property]( "UPDATE 1-FBI wishes it had acted quicker as China stole intellectual property") The FBI wished it had taken swifter action as Beijing recruited U.S.-based researchers to transfer intellectual property from American laboratories, a senior official at the agency said on Tuesday during Senate testimony. China has repeatedly insisted Washington has exaggerated the problem for political reasons, and asked for a response to the FBI's comments, a Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said on Wednesday that "Cold War mentalities" should be discarded.
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| Indiana officer fired after telling black men he had the right 'to do anything I want' Posted: 20 Nov 2019 03:00 PM PST ![Indiana officer fired after telling black men he had the right 'to do anything I want']( "Indiana officer fired after telling black men he had the right 'to do anything I want'") The viral video, which has more than 450,000 views, shows the constable yelling "I got my rights to do anything I want to do! I'm a police officer!"
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| US aircraft carrier transits Strait of Hormuz Posted: 19 Nov 2019 01:43 PM PST  The US aircraft carrier strike group Abraham Lincoln sailed through the key Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday to show Washington's "commitment" to freedom of navigation, the Pentagon said, amid tensions with Tehran. The group's move through the strategic waterway separating Iran and the United Arab Emirates towards the Gulf was scheduled, and unfolded without incident, the US Navy said in a statement. It was the first time a US aircraft carrier group went through the strait since Iran downed a US drone in June in the same area.
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| 22 farmers arrested in India for causing air pollution Posted: 20 Nov 2019 01:41 AM PST  Twenty-two farmers were arrested in northern India on Wednesday for setting fires to clear their fields and contributing to some of the worst air pollution in the country, a government official said. India's Supreme court last week ordered a fine of up to 100,000 rupees ($1,420) for those polluting the air. Air pollution in northern India peaks in the winter due to smoke from agricultural fires.
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| Expelled LSU Student Sentenced to Five Years in Fraternity Hazing Death Posted: 20 Nov 2019 11:21 AM PST  REUTERS/Sean GardnerThe former Louisiana State University student who was found guilty of negligent homicide for the hazing death of 18-year-old Phi Delta Theta pledge Max Gruver was sentenced to five years in prison on Wednesday.Jurors reportedly took just one hour to convict Matthew Naquin in July. The 21-year-old Texas native was also sentenced to three years of probation and 1,000 hours of community service. The judge ordered Naquin to write a letter of apology to the Gruver family, and for every year he is on probation he must go to three separate high schools and give a one-hour talk about hazing, according to WVLA-TV.He was expelled from LSU in the weeks following Gruver's death.Gruver died of alcohol poisoning and aspiration—choking on his own vomit—after a hazing ritual called "Bible Study" at the fraternity house on Sept. 13, 2017. During the ritual, prosecutors said Naquin and other fraternity members ordered pledges to stand in a dark hallway facing a wall while loud music played; they were told to chug 190-proof liquor if they could not correctly answer questions about Phi Delta Theta, The Advocate reported.Witnesses reportedly testified during the trial that Naquin, whom authorities have said was a ringleader of the hazing ritual, targeted Gruver that night because he didn't want him to join the fraternity. Just two days before Gruver's death, fraternity brothers said they warned Naquin to tone down his extreme and dangerous interactions with pledges, according to court documents and testimony during the trial.When he died, Gruver's blood-alcohol level was 0.495 percent—more than six times the state's legal limit to drive, according to the local newspaper. Another pledge had testified during trial that he believed Gruver "had not had much experience with drinking." A toxicology expert said on the stand that Gruver's high blood-alcohol concentration led to "sleep, coma and death." "There was no way his body could get through this," said the expert, Patricia Williams. "He was a dead man walking at midnight."Naquin's attorney, John McLindon, argued during the trial that he was unfairly singled out by the prosecution and that Gruver continued to drink on his own after the hazing event."It was a hazing event, but there were probably 10 other active members up there that night and at least five of them were handing out alcohol," McLindon told The New York Times. "Matthew didn't do anything differently from those boys, but he got picked out because he is very loud."But East Baton Rouge District Attorney Hillar Moore III countered, in a separate interview with The Times, that Naquin "stood out" through the ferocity with which he tormented pledges that night."Everyone kept saying he was the one who led everything, who made people drink more, who asked questions," Moore said. "This is grain alcohol—this is 180-proof or 190-proof alcohol. It is what they put tissue samples in to study them in a lab, when you have to wear a hood."Moore added: "We have never alleged that the defendant wanted him dead or wanted to kill him, but his actions led to this young man's death."Naquin has been separately charged with obstruction of justice after federal agents say he deleted nearly 700 files from his phone minutes after he learned from his attorney that a search warrant had been issued for his device. The FBI never successfully recovered the files. He has not been tried yet on that charge.After the trial, Max's mother, Rae Ann Gruver, called the guilty verdict "justice for our son and for the man who caused his death." Gruver was from Roswell, a suburb of Atlanta."We want this to send a message to the country that hazing should not exist," Stephen Gruver, Max's father, told The Advocate after the conviction. "It's dangerous and we have to all work together to bring an end to hazing."Three other fraternity brothers face misdemeanor hazing charges in the case, two of which have pleaded no contest. Phi Delta Theta has been banned from LSU's campus until 2033. The school also reportedly convened a task force to study Greek life on campus in the aftermath of Gruver's death."Hazing is an irresponsible and dangerous activity that we do not tolerate at LSU," a spokesman for the school said after the trial. "These tragedies, and the penalties that follow, can be prevented, and we have been working diligently to put more safeguards, education and reporting outlets in place for our students regarding hazing."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Maria Ressa: "Our dystopian present is your dystopian future" Posted: 20 Nov 2019 02:15 AM PST  Ressa was among a group of journalists recognized by Time magazine as 2018's Person of the Year
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| Kurt Volker completely reverses his previous impeachment testimony and now says he thought discussions about political investigations were 'inappropriate' Posted: 19 Nov 2019 02:30 PM PST  Volker has been accused of working with Rudy Giuliani and the US ambassador to the EU to pressure Ukraine to investigate Trump's political opponents.
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| UPDATE 3-China tortured me over Hong Kong, says former British consulate employee Posted: 20 Nov 2019 12:29 AM PST ![UPDATE 3-China tortured me over Hong Kong, says former British consulate employee]( "UPDATE 3-China tortured me over Hong Kong, says former British consulate employee") A former employee of Britain's consulate in Hong Kong said Chinese secret police beat him, deprived him of sleep and shackled him in an attempt to force him to give information about activists leading pro-democracy protests. Hong Kong, which was returned to China by Britain in 1997, has been convulsed by sometimes violent protests and mass demonstrations, the biggest political crisis for Beijing since the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
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| Israel Nears Unprecedented Third Vote as Gantz Coalition Bid Fails Posted: 20 Nov 2019 11:03 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Former military chief Benny Gantz failed to muster enough support in parliament to form a government and dislodge Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, bringing Israel closer to its third election in a year and prolonging its drawn-out political gridlock.Four weeks after Netanyahu fell short in that same task, political newcomer Gantz -- the only politician to present a serious challenge to the prime minister over the past decade -- informed Israeli President Reuven Rivlin that he couldn't cobble together a governing coalition.Gantz, in a televised address, said he was "willing to make far-reaching concessions" to form a broad-based government uniting his Blue and White faction and the legally embattled Netanyahu's Likud, but was confronted by "a bloc that insisted on putting the interests of one man before the interests of the country."Now, in a development that has never happened before in Israel's 71-year history, the ball goes to parliament's court.If a majority of Israel's 120 lawmakers can line up behind a member of parliament -- including Netanyahu or Gantz -- they can ask Rivlin to give that person 21 days to take a crack. But that appears to be a long shot, potentially paving the way for another vote early next year."Short of one or both of the leaders coming down a little bit further from their tree, or perhaps a game-changing decision from the attorney general," who will soon decide whether to indict Netanyahu on corruption charges, "we're going to third elections," said political strategist Ashley Perry.Political ParalysisWhile Netanyahu and Gantz stare each other down, the country has been run by caretaker governments with limited ability to fix urgent problems like the budget deficit, an antiquated transportation system and overcrowded hospitals -- let alone the country's intractable conflict with the Palestinians."It could really hurt the economy," said Alex Zabezhinsky, chief economist for Meitav Dash Investments Ltd. "If you don't have a government for a long period of time, like about a year, you feel substantially the impact of this on investment, infrastructure, in many industries."The stalemate has already frustrated the Trump administration's efforts to introduce its long-delayed play for Middle East peace."For the sake of Israel's security, for the sake of the will of the nation, for the sake of national reconciliation, we have to form a unity government," Netanyahu said. "We have historic opportunities, but we also have tremendous challenges, and we can't lose any time."Polls suggest a third round of balloting would produce another deadlock. But the cards could be shuffled if Attorney General Avihai Mandelblit decides before the election to charge Netanyahu with bribery and fraud, as he's signaled he intends to do. An indictment would ratchet up calls for the prime minister's immediate resignation and could weaken him and his Likud party ahead of the vote. If cases are dropped, or he's charged with less serious offenses, his prospects would improve.Israeli TV stations have reported that the attorney general aims to render a decision by mid-December at the latest.Although Netanyahu denies wrongdoing, he's angling to change Israeli law to grant sitting prime ministers immunity from prosecution. For this reason, he's been less willing to compromise than Gantz, analysts say.Options ClosedGantz, who promised a respite from the divisiveness and corruption scandals that tarnished Netanyahu's tenure, started the day with a midnight deadline and two problematic routes to a coalition government that would send the prime minister packing. By mid-day, both seemed closed.Talks with Netanyahu on Tuesday night on teaming up their parties in government broke down, in part due to disputes over allowing Netanyahu to remain in office if indicted. His other alternative -- forming a minority government -- was shot down by political kingmaker Avigdor Liberman, whose party he would have needed to get there."There's no option other than a unity government," Liberman said.(Updates with Netanyahu comment in eleventh paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Yaacov Benmeleh in Tel Aviv at ybenmeleh@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Amy TeibelFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| French court confirms sentence for Picasso's electrician over hoarded art Posted: 19 Nov 2019 07:45 AM PST  A French court on Tuesday confirmed the two-year suspended jail terms given to Pablo Picasso's former electrician and his wife, who hoarded 271 of the great painter's works in a garage for four decades. The verdict by the Lyon court is the latest twist in a decade-long legal saga, which took the couple, who claim the works were a gift, all the way to France's top appeals court. Pierre and Danielle Le Guennec were first given two-year suspended terms in 2015 after being convicted of possession of stolen goods over the huge trove of works by Picasso, including nine rare Cubist collages and a work from his famous Blue Period.
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| A California nanny promised children would be 'safe' in his care. He instead used them in porn videos, authorities say Posted: 20 Nov 2019 09:08 AM PST  A former California nanny will serve 30 years in federal prison for filming child pornography with at least 5 victims in his care, authorities said.
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| What If Iran Could Take down the F-35? Posted: 19 Nov 2019 10:30 PM PST  Is it possible?
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| Democratic debate: All eyes are on Pete Buttigieg, especially from skeptical black voters Posted: 20 Nov 2019 11:24 AM PST  Pete Buttigieg's surging presidential campaign means his Democratic primary opponents will be gunning for him on the Atlanta debate stage.
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| In rare move, N. Carolina county removes Confederate statue Posted: 20 Nov 2019 04:01 AM PST  A North Carolina county removed a Confederate statue from a historic courthouse early Wednesday, joining the handful of places around the state where such monuments have come down in recent years despite a law protecting them. Preparations began Tuesday night to carefully dismantle the statue of a soldier outside the historic Chatham County courthouse, where it had stood since 1907, and continued for hours overnight, said county spokeswoman Kara Lusk Dudley. The removal comes months after Winston-Salem officials removed a Confederate statue from land there that had passed into private hands.
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| Lam Calls for Peaceful End to Hong Kong Siege as Numbers Dwindle Posted: 19 Nov 2019 02:20 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam has called for a peaceful resolution to a university siege that has transfixed the city and raised fears of a crackdown on scores of protesters who remain trapped in a campus surrounded by police.Lam said she had instructed police to try and resolve the situation at Hong Kong Polytechnic University peacefully and to not immediately arrest minors under the age of 18 who remain trapped there. Several dozen are believed to be left inside after some 600 protesters escaped or were evacuated overnight, including several hundred who were under 18 years old."We're extremely worried about the dangerous situation in the campus," Lam said in a briefing on Tuesday morning. She added a peaceful resolution "can only be achieved with the full cooperation of the protesters, including, of course, the rioters. They have to stop violence, give up their weapons, and come out peacefully and take the instructions from police."The city's hospitals said later Tuesday they were overwhelmed by an influx of some 280 injured protesters coming from the campus, as police fired 1,458 rounds of tear gas the day before. PolyU requested that officers not enter the campus for the time being so that people who remain can be given the chance to leave in a peaceful and orderly manner, according to a statement on the school's website that didn't provide details of their condition.Running battles between police and protesters on Monday featured raging fires, tear gas and flaming vehicles. By the evening tens of thousands of demonstrators marched toward the university to aid those stuck in the campus, leading to more clashes throughout the night. Some managed to leave from the university in Kowloon by climbing over walls, while police arrested dozens of others on Monday -- sometimes tackling them to the ground or pounding them with batons.Lam Urges Besieged Protesters to Heed Police: Hong Kong UpdateThe government on Monday had warned those inside to surrender peacefully and urged others to stay away from the site as protesters pleaded for reinforcements to battle police. Medical personnel were allowed in to tend to the wounded, while university officials called for a negotiation and parents held signs saying "Save the Kids."Hong Kong Financial Elites Shun Local Schools as Protests MountThe chaos again made Hong Kong look in television images more like a war zone than a financial hub. Although stocks finished the day higher after losing 5.6% last week, signs of disarray were evident: The government ordered schools to remain shut for a sixth day, a major tunnel linking Kowloon with Hong Kong Island remained closed and officials warned that they may need to scrap District Council elections scheduled for Sunday."If the police want to go in and smash the movement, this is their opportunity," said David Zweig, director of Center on China's Transnational Relations and professor emeritus at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. "On the other hand, it could also be an opportunity to tone things down and start a dialog with university officials that could lead to a broader discussion.""It can't go on in this form forever," Zweig said. "The world now sees Hong Kong as a mess."Campus BattlegroundSecretary of State Michael Pompeo said the U.S. is "gravely concerned" about rising violence in Hong Kong and called on Lam to allow an independent probe of protest incidents -- one of the key demands of protesters. U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell urged President Donald Trump to speak out on behalf of the demonstrators."The world should hear from him directly that the United States stands with these brave women and men," McConnell said Monday afternoon on the Senate floor, where lawmakers are considering a bill supporting the demonstrators that would impose penalties on Beijing for infringing on the city's autonomy.Police surrounded the university over the weekend after students fortified the campus with makeshift barricades and scattered debris in front of the nearby cross-harbor tunnel that connects the peninsula with Hong Kong Island.Protesters fired arrows from behind the barricades, injuring one officer, and threw scores of petrol bombs at officers who tried to sweep in. They also set police vehicles ablaze as officers warned protesters that they would use live rounds. Police kept up pressure, surrounding the campus, blocking exits and making dozens of arrests.Read the latest on Hong Kong's protests"We have to take the risk," said one 26-year-old protester surnamed Lee, who took part in battle. "We have no alternative."Some of the most prominent members of the protest movement warned that the siege could end with widespread bloodshed."Is the world going to witness bloody crackdown w/o stopping ruthless regime?" said Joshua Wong, who led the 2014 Occupy protests and has been one of the most visible demonstrators in what is now a leaderless movement.Over the weekend, Chinese troops exited their barracks in the former colony to help clear roadblocks, raising fears among the opposition that Beijing might directly intervene. On Tuesday, Lam downplayed the significance of People's Liberation Army troops appearing on the streets of Hong Kong for the first time during the ongoing unrest."It is not uncommon from time to time for the garrison to undertake voluntary and charitable activities in Hong Kong," she said. "I would suggest that we do not over-interpret this particular act of voluntary involvement."The Communist Party's flagship People's Daily newspaper said there was no room for compromise, and the editor-in-chief of the Global Times newspaper called for police to use live rounds if attacked.China further signaled it would take a hard line when a spokesman for the top office overseeing Hong Kong said a court ruling Monday that declared a mask ban unconstitutional challenged the authority of Beijing's rule. The decision by the High Court marked a setback for Lam and raised questions about the limits of colonial-era emergency powers that she invoked for the first time in more than a half century to pass the measure.Chaotic StartOfficials in her administration pleaded on Monday with protesters to leave, saying the bill that sparked the protests allowing extraditions to China had been completely withdrawn. Demonstrators are still demanding an independent inquiry into police abuses and the right to nominate and elect their own leaders, even if they stand up to Beijing."Realistically, we must put an end to violence," said Matthew Cheung, Lam's deputy. "Unless you've got a peaceful environment, law and order restored to law-abiding Hong Kong, you won't have the environment, the ambiance to conduct dialogue."Hong Kong Home Sales Plunge as Violent Protests Shut Down CityThe chaotic beginning to the workweek on Monday followed a previous week of unprecedented violence, with five straight days of chaos beginning with the shooting of a protester last Monday.The worsening violence prompted many major universities to cancel the entire semester and led to classes being canceled at Hong Kong's pricey private schools. Countless major events -- including a major music festival and a Goldman Sachs anniversary event -- have been cancelled or postponed."Some Hong Kong people have really lost patience with the radical protesters," said Emily Lau, a veteran politician and former chairperson of the opposition Democratic Party, on Bloomberg Television. "But there are others who are very sympathetic, who will take to the streets in black to continue to support them. So it is a city that is split asunder."'Political Solution'Even with growing disenchantment about the increased violence, many white-collar professionals have flooded into the city's financial district to voice support for the students."We don't really care about politics," said one 40-year-old woman surnamed Cheung, who wore a blazer and an Apple watch, at a lunch time protest on Friday as crowds chanted "Fight for freedom! Stand with Hong Kong!" "But right now, they just want to show the world, the Hong Kong government, that we do care -- that we do want to fight for it, even though we're not in the front lines, holding the umbrellas, fighting through tear gas."As the violence worsens between protesters and police, the government has insisted it won't yield to any further political demands. At the same time, there's a growing sense that protester tactics are beginning to lead to fiercer confrontations, particularly as they dig in to hold territory like the PolyU campus."This is a political problem requiring a political solution," said Steve Vickers, a former head of the Royal Hong Kong Police Criminal Intelligence Bureau who is now chief executive officer of Steve Vickers and Associates, a political and corporate risk consultancy."But in the end," he added, "when the violence gets to a point where people are throwing hundreds of petrol bombs, and bows and arrows are wounding people, there comes a point when you can't let that go on."(Updates with injuries in fourth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Aaron Mc Nicholas, Natalie Lung, Fion Li, Chris Kay and Colin Keatinge.To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Shelly Banjo in Hong Kong at sbanjo@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Daniel Ten Kate, Karen LeighFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Pentagon discovers $81 million of U.S. Navy gear during audit Posted: 20 Nov 2019 10:41 AM PST ![Pentagon discovers $81 million of U.S. Navy gear during audit]( "Pentagon discovers $81 million of U.S. Navy gear during audit") The Pentagon found $81 million of military equipment at a U.S. Navy facility that had not been inventoried, a top Pentagon official said on Wednesday as he described the Department of Defense second straight failed audit. The Pentagon says that it has made progress toward fixing accounting discrepancies, but that it will take years to eventually pass a full audit, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist told a U.S. Senate panel.
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| Literature Nobel winner Handke defends support of Serbs Posted: 20 Nov 2019 08:16 AM PST  Austrian Nobel literature prize winner Peter Handke on Wednesday defended his vocal support for Serbs in the 1990s wars in the former Yugoslavia, but said he "never bowed down" before Slobodan Milosevic. The Swedish academy's pick last month triggered outrage in the Balkans and beyond because of Handke's admiration for the late Serbian strongman. As well as for his literary works, Handke was widely criticised for speaking at the 2006 funeral of Milosevic, who died awaiting trial for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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