| Suspect Faces Federal Charges After 5 People Stabbed at New York Hanukkah Celebration. Here's What to Know Posted: 29 Dec 2019 11:26 AM PST  A man burst into a Hanukkah celebration at an Orthodox rabbi's home in Monsey, New York on Saturday evening, stabbing five people.
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| Trump to counter Iowa Democratic debate with Wisconsin rally Posted: 30 Dec 2019 11:32 AM PST  President Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally in Wisconsin next month, countering a Democratic presidential debate set for the same night in Iowa. Trump's campaign says the rally is set for Jan. 14 at the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena. It's the same night that CNN and The Des Moines Register are sponsoring the first Democratic presidential debate of 2020 at Drake University in Des Moines.
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| Homeowners in North Carolina called 911 to report an intruder. It turned out to be a rogue Roomba Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:44 AM PST  A man and his wife in North Carolina called 911 after hearing noises coming from downstairs. It wasn't an intruder.
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| Make No Mistake: China Would Destroy U.S. Cities In A Nuclear War Posted: 30 Dec 2019 07:00 AM PST  No one wins in a nuclear war.
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| The bushfires in Australia are so big they're generating their own weather — 'pyrocumulonimbus' thunderstorms that can start more fires Posted: 30 Dec 2019 05:47 AM PST  The "front" between the calm air outside the fire zone and the stormcloud is so sharp that it can generate lightning — and that can start new fires.
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| Trump Boss Twists Hanukkah Attack to Push Anti-Immigrant Agenda Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:46 AM PST  The Trump administration appeared on Monday to be trying to turn the latest violent anti-Semitic attack in New York into an anti-immigrant parable. Ken Cuccinelli, the Trump administration's acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, claimed in a morning tweet that 38-year-old Grafton Thomas, a U.S. citizen who allegedly stabbed five people at a Hanukkah party over the weekend, was the "son of an illegal alien who got amnesty under the 1986 amnesty law for illegal immigrants." It's not clear where Cuccinelli got that information or if it was correct."Apparently, American values did not take hold among this entire family, at least this one violent, and apparently bigoted, son," Cuccinelli wrote.Cuccinelli has pushed for aggressive anti-immigrant policies since his time as a state lawmaker in Virginia. For the Trump White House, he has argued against birthright U.S. citizenship for children of undocumented parents and suggested the words on the Statue of Liberty were only aimed at European immigrants.After several people called out Cuccinelli's tweet and its apparent condemnation of a Reagan-era bipartisan immigration law, the post was either deleted or otherwise removed from his Twitter page.Further on the right, white supremacists celebrated Thomas' race on 4chan and Telegram, where they discussed pushing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that they hoped would inspire violence against Jews by black Americans, whom they described with racist slurs.Thomas, who is black, allegedly burst into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in the New York suburb of Monsey on Saturday night around 10 p.m., as dozens of guests were celebrating Hanukkah.He allegedly stabbed and wounded five people with a machete, and he was charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary. All of the victims survived, but one is said to remain in critical condition with a skull fracture.Federal prosecutors on Monday also filed federal hate crime charges against Thomas and said in court documents that he had expressed anti-Semitic sentiments in hand-written journals.The patrol officers who arrested Thomas discovered him "covered with blood," The New York Times reported. Thomas pleaded not guilty to all charges on Sunday morning at his arraignment in Ramapo, New Jersey.Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has called the attack a "blatant act of domestic terrorism that sought to inflict violence, incite hate and generate fear" and ordered the State Police hate-crimes task force to investigate.Hanukkah Stabbing Suspect Caught With Bloody Machete in His CarThomas' family told CNN he had no history of anti-Semitism, violent behavior, or prior convictions. They said he is "not a member of any hate groups" and have reportedly asked his attorney, Michael Sussman, to request a mental-health evaluation for Thomas, who has "a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations" and "was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races."Sussman did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Daily Beast on Monday.United Methodist Church Pastor Wendy Paige said that she has known Thomas for 10 years and that he is "not a violent person.""Grafton is not a terrorist, he is a man who has mental illness in America, and the systems that be have not served him well," Paige told the New York Post. "I have been his pastor for a long time and I have seen him, he is not a violent person, he is a confused person.""We apologize to the families for him," said Paige. "We apologize because we know this was not him, this was an action out of mental illness, please understand… Please let's work on our systems for mental illness."After a deadly anti-Semitic shooting at a kosher market in Jersey City this month and an "alarming" surge in anti-Semitic violence in the New York area, police have said they stepped up patrols in at least three Brooklyn neighborhoods.—Staff writer Kelly Weill contributed to this report.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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| The 25 Best Small Towns in America Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:00 AM PST |
| Judge dismisses impeachment suit from ex-White House aide Posted: 30 Dec 2019 03:03 PM PST  A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from a former White House official who had challenged a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry involving President Donald Trump. Charles Kupperman, a former deputy national security adviser, sued in October after being subpoenaed by House Democrats to testify in their impeachment investigation into Trump's interactions with Ukraine.
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| US strikes Iran-backed militia strongholds in Iraq and Syria Posted: 29 Dec 2019 11:06 AM PST  The U.S. launched strike against Iranian military targets in Syria following a Friday attach in Iraq that killed one American.
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| U.S. presidential candidate Sanders given clean bill of health after October heart attack Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:45 PM PST  U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders passed a stress test this month after a heart attack required him to have two stents inserted in an artery in October, doctors to the Democratic presidential candidate said on Monday. Sanders' campaign released letters from his main doctor and two heart specialists, who all gave the 78-year-old White House hopeful a clean bill of health after physical exams, electrocardiogram monitoring and a treadmill stress test. "Mr Sanders is more than fit enough to pursue vigorous activities and an occupation that requires stamina and an ability to handle a great deal of stress," said Philip A. Ades, the director of cardiac rehabilitation at the University of Vermont Medical Center (UVM), where the senator had the stress test on Dec. 11.
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| Police say a Florida Grubhub driver attacked 2 Burger King workers by swinging a 3-foot ashtray after being told his order wasn't ready Posted: 30 Dec 2019 07:25 AM PST  A Grubhub deliveryman was charged with assault, with police saying he attacked two employees at a Florida Burger King.
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| Juul can't stop its employees from vaping in the office Posted: 30 Dec 2019 07:15 AM PST  It's impossible to escape the vape — especially in Juul's own offices.More than a year ago, the e-cigarette company Juul Labs Inc. banned employees from using its products in its San Francisco headquarters and offices nationwide. But even after the company threatened to fire people who are caught vaping inside, Juul employees say not much has changed, The Wall Street Journal reports.When vaping was first on the rise, it quickly ditched the norms of smoking as users started vaping indoors. That was especially true at Juul's offices, which one employee described as looking like a 1960's-esque office straight out of Mad Men — "Just replace the cigarettes with e-cigarettes," they told the Journal. "Employees vape at their desks, in hallways, in meetings and on videoconferences," the Journal described.But last December, after getting questions from San Francisco city officials, Juul's then-CEO sent out an email announcing vaping wouldn't be allowed inside anymore. "It may feel nonsensical to prohibit at-work use of the very products we work hard to create and promote," but the company had to comply with local regulations, the email said.Yet in the year since, not much has changed. Some employees will hide their Juuls in sweater sleeves, but the company's co-founders and others "have continued to do it openly," employees told the Journal. Even the threat of being fired after a fourth vaping offense hasn't seemed to have done much.A Juul spokesperson said the company remains "committed to maintaining a smoke and vapor-free workplace in compliance with state and local laws" and takes action when those laws are violated. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com Giants, Browns fire head coaches on otherwise quiet 'Black Monday' The White House always knew Trump's order to freeze Ukraine aid could blow up, New York Times details The best headlines of 2019
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| Iraq militia chief warns U.S. airstrikes could bring tough response Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:42 AM PST  A top Iraqi militia leader warned of a strong response against U.S. forces in Iraq following airstrikes in Iraq and Syria overnight that hit several bases of his Iranian-backed group and killed at least 25 people.
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| No sign of "Christmas gift" from North Korea yet, but deadline looms Posted: 29 Dec 2019 08:34 PM PST  There's been speculation Kim Jong Un might test an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
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| US strikes hit Iraqi militia blamed in contractor's death Posted: 29 Dec 2019 10:30 AM PST  The U.S. has carried out military strikes in Iraq and Syria targeting a militia blamed for a rocket attack that killed an American contractor, a Defense Department spokesman said Sunday. U.S. forces conducted "precision defensive strikes" against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades, an Iran-backed Iraqi militia, spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement. The U.S. blames the militia for a rocket barrage Friday that killed a U.S. defense contractor at a military compound near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.
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| PSA: REI is Having an Epic End-of-the-Year Sale Right Now Posted: 30 Dec 2019 01:27 PM PST |
| United, Delta, and American Airlines flight attendants reveal their favorite planes to fly on Posted: 29 Dec 2019 06:21 AM PST  Seven flight attendants told Business Insider what their favorite plane is and why. Airbus received four responses, followed by Boeing with two.
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| Ousted Renault-Nissan boss Ghosn leaves Japan for Lebanon Posted: 30 Dec 2019 01:20 PM PST  Carlos Ghosn, the ousted boss of the Renault-Nissan <7201.T> carmaking alliance who was awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial misconduct, flew into Lebanon on Monday evening, several newspapers reported. France's Les Echos newspaper cited an unidentified source and a report in Lebanese newspaper L'Orient-Le Jour, but there was no immediate confirmation from official sources. The Wall Street Journal and New York Times said Ghosn had fled Japan.
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| Giuliani reportedly defied White House policy to oust Maduro from office Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:25 AM PST  Rudy Giuliani, a personal lawyer of President Trump, defied White House foreign policy to ease Venezuela's socialist President Nicolás Maduro out of office last year, the Washington Post reported.
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| Mexican Police Chief Arrested in Mormon Massacre Case Posted: 30 Dec 2019 01:47 AM PST  CALI, Colombia—A municipal police chief in northern Mexico has been arrested for an alleged role in the deaths of three women and six children—all dual U.S.-Mexican citizens—on November 4.Fidel Alejandro Villegas, aka El Chiquilín (The Kid), is the police chief of Janos, Chihuahua. The municipality borders the U.S. and sits about 105 miles across the state line from the site of the massacre in neighboring Sonora. It's also on the same route the families had planned to travel on the day they were ambushed.Why the Drug War Can't Be Won—Cartel Corruption Goes All the Way to the TopThe victims were members of the LeBaron and Langford clans, which are part of a breakaway sect of Mormons long established in both Chihuahua and Sonora. Villegas, who was detained on Thursday, is now awaiting trial in Mexico City. He is the fifth person to be arrested as part of an investigation that has at times seemed scattershot, since the other suspects have all been picked up under questionable circumstances. Mexican federal officials claim the mothers and children were accidental victims in a turf war between rival crime groups. And prosecutors allege Villegas is tied to one of those groups, called La Línea, which is the armed enforcement wing of the Juárez Cartel and has a strong presence in Janos. Surviving members of the Mormon families reject the official "accident hypothesis" and claim they were targeted deliberately on a remote stretch of highway last month, and family spokesperson Julián LeBaron says he was less than surprised by the alleged involvement of a high-level police officer in the region."The entire northwest [of Mexico] has a reputation that all police officers work for organized crime," he said in an interview with Aristegui News, shortly after Villegas' arrest. "And that's what high school kids tell you. It's not a mystery."* * *'ENDEMIC' CORRUPTION* * *Villegas' detention raises as many questions as it answers. How was a police chief from a jurisdiction more than a hundred miles away from the crime scene, and in another state, actually involved? So far authorities have released scant details.Robert Bunker, an expert on international security at the University of Southern California, told The Daily Beast that corruption among security forces in Mexico has "metastasized over decades" to the point where it is "endemic." The most infamous case of cops working with organized crime was the disappearance of 43 students in Guerrero state in September 2014, when police and soldiers allegedly teamed up with cartel sicarios to do away with the victims.Bunker noted that a law officer like Chief Chiquilín Villegas could have provided "departmental resources—vehicles, uniforms, intelligence, weapons or even personnel—to help facilitate the ambushes." Another possibility, as Bunker noted, is that the investigation of Police Chief Villegas will be used to expose people who have "more intimate knowledge of the cartel and its operations."Emmanuel Gallardo, an independent Mexican journalist who specializes in organized crime, agrees. "They're going to investigate his bank accounts and his financial history for evidence of bribes and paybacks and where they might have come from."A similar background investigation led to another high-profile arrest earlier this month, when Genaro García Luna, the central government's former National Security Minister and mastermind of the country's ongoing Drug War, was arrested by U.S. authorities on charges of conspiring with the Sinaloa Cartel."First Luna and now Chiquilín," Gallardo said. "This shows again the relationship the cartels have with the state. We cannot think of Mexican authorities and organized crime as separate entities. They are part of the same problem, part of the same world." "This is why Mexicans are frustrated. Why they are afraid," Gallardo said. "When a violent crime happens you can't go to the police because there is a high probability the same cops who are listening to your complaint are working with drug traffickers and assassins. This is the reason that 98 percent of homicides go unsolved in Mexico."* * *TORTURE, DEATH THREATS, STARVATION* * *Added to the persistent failure to nail the killers is the equally persistent inclination of authorities to round up "the usual suspects," then let them go. The first man arrested in the LeBaron case, just two days after the shooting, already has been released. Three other men were rolled up in Janos the first week of December, amid government claims that they were high-ranking members of La Línea. But protests erupted after friends and family members claimed the men had been framed. Janos Mayor Sebastián Efraín Pineda also backed the families, telling news outlets he knew the arrestees personally and that "they're not criminal leaders." In that incident, authorities stand accused by the families of planting evidence and of trying to force confessions from the detained suspects."Scapegoating to create guilty parties" remains a frequent problem in Mexico, journalist Gallardo said, citing the case of French national Florence Cassez, who was imprisoned for seven years in Mexico on trumped up kidnapping charges before judges overturned her sentence."They can make you confess with several techniques," said Gallardo. These including physical torture, death threats to loved ones, even starvation. "This is not like the States, where you can complain of human rights abuses. Here they can torture with impunity. They know how to push prisoners to say anything they want them to say," Gallardo said. After the LeBaron killings, which made headlines around the world, the administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is "throwing suspects at the problem as it engages in damage control," said USC's Bunker. "At this level of Mexican politics it is not about getting the perpetrators or championing the rule of law—it is about making the problem go away as quickly as possible." * * *AN ALL-OUT CARTEL WAR* * *Whatever comes of Chiquilín's involvement—or the lack thereof—the killing of those nine women and children continues to cause ripples throughout the Mexican underworld.The area of eastern Sonora where the attack took place is said to be controlled by a faction of the Sinaloa Cartel under the rule of Iván Guzmán, 36, and Alfredo Guzmán, 30. These two sons of jailed kingpin Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán are known collectively as Los Chapitos. The other principal bloc of the Sinaloa Cartel is dominated by Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a shadowy figure often referred to as "El Capo de Capos," the Boss of Bosses, due to his power and longevity.As The Daily Beast reported shortly after the massacre, Zambada was none too happy about the bad publicity and the major heat brought down on the supposedly sovereign territory of the Sinaloa Cartel. The tension between El Mayo and Los Chapitos has continued to worsen, and could result in Mayo taking over the whole outfit from the Guzmán family.A source within one of the cartels that operate in the area, who agreed to speak only under condition of anonymity, described El Mayo as "an old-school man with Old Testament laws," who has little time for the "Narco Juniors'" seeming frivolity. "A couple of weeks ago the little Chapo boys were supposed to attend a meeting [with Mayo] on the mountain. They were 'too busy to go.'"Yet they have "plenty of time to post on Facebook about cars and pictures of money," the source said, and added the Chapitos were "too impressed" with their position to be good bosses due to their "immaturity.""They are getting weaker every day," he said.Reporter Gallardo agreed with that assessment, saying: "El Mayo is respected. The Chapitos are young and spoiled." Gallardo added that their growing vulnerability could have far-reaching consequences, in part due to a botched and bloody attempt to arrest two other, younger Guzmán brothers this fall. "The eyes of the federal government and of Washington are on them all now," he said. "They can handle local authorities, but not the White House [or] joint operations with the DEA."If Mayo, sensing weakness and ineptitude, moved against the younger faction, Gallardo said, the Chapitos "would just be killed. El Mayo has more resources and experience." However, conflict like that could bleed both sides, and "open the door for other groups to move in and start taking over their territory," including arch rivals like the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and La Línea's parent group, the Juárez Cartel. Smelling blood, such enemies "would move in like hyenas," touching off a kill-or-be-killed conflict between high-powered, paramilitary gangs, resulting in even higher levels of civilian deaths and collateral damage."The last thing the Mexican government wants," Gallardo said, "is an all-out cartel war." But the savage murder of those women and children on a lonely road in northern Mexico could lead to exactly that.Trump Labeling Mexico's Cartels 'Terrorists' Makes Things WorseRead 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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| A survivor of the Kazakhstan plane crash that killed at least 12 said the aircraft was crushed 'like a tin can' Posted: 29 Dec 2019 10:39 AM PST  Aslan Nazaraliyev told Sky News that the Bek Air plane started "swaying" and "vibrating" seconds after taking off from Almaty.
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| Greta Thunberg calls world leaders' attacks on her 'just funny' Posted: 30 Dec 2019 05:57 AM PST  Greta Thunberg says it's "just funny" when she's personally attacked by world leaders like President Trump.The 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist, who earlier this month was named Time's person of the year, spoke with Today on BBC Radio on Monday and was asked about recent attacks on her, such as when Trump lashed out at her in a tweet by claiming she has an anger management problem or when Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called her a "brat.""Those attacks are just funny because they obviously don't mean anything," Thunberg said. "Well, I guess, of course, it means something. It means they are terrified of young people bringing change, which they don't want."Thunberg went on to say that these attacks are "proof that we are actually doing something and that they see us as some kind of threat."This comes after Trump went after Thunberg on Twitter in response to Time's decision to name her person of the year, writing she "must work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old-fashioned movie with a friend!"Asked in the BBC interview whether Trump is one of those people who sees her as a threat, Thunberg said "it's possible.""Not me, of course, me myself alone am not much of a threat," she added. "But it's that I'm a part of a big movement that they probably see as a threat."Thunberg also reiterated that a meeting with Trump at the United Nations earlier this year would not have been productive, saying that even if she did have an opportunity to speak with the president, she "wouldn't have wasted my time."More stories from theweek.com Giants, Browns fire head coaches on otherwise quiet 'Black Monday' The White House always knew Trump's order to freeze Ukraine aid could blow up, New York Times details The best headlines of 2019
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| US carries out first strikes in a decade against Iran-backed Kataib Hizbollah in Iraq and Syria Posted: 29 Dec 2019 05:04 PM PST  The United States has launched its first airstrikes in nearly a decade against the Iran-backed militia forces in Iraq and Syria. The Pentagon said it hit five bases used by the Iraqi Hizbollah militant group following a rocket attack in Iraq that killed a US civilian contractor. Three of the bases were in Iraq, and two in Syria, where the militia has been trying to bolster the regime of President Assad. "US forces have conducted precision defensive strikes against five KH facilities in Iraq and Syria that will degrade KH's ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces," the Pentagon said. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the strikes send the message that the US will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardise American lives. The strike is the first direct confrontation between US and Iranian-backed forces in Iraq since 2011, when President Obama withdrew some of his forces. "I would note also that we will take additional actions as necessary to ensure that we act in our own self-defence and we deter further bad behavior from militia groups or from Iran," said Defence Secretary Mark Esper, who was accompanied by Mr Pompeo and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A combination of images depicts what the U.S. military says are bases of the Kataib Hezbollah militia group that were struck by U.S. forces, in the city of Al-Qa'im Credit: Reuters The delivered the brief statement to reporters in a ballroom at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, where the president is on a more than two-week winter break. According to the Al Arabiya news network, the US evacuated dozens of staff from its embassy in Baghdad on Sunday night amid concerns of retaliation. The targets of the US bombs included weapons storage facilities and command locations used to plan and execute attacks, the statement added. On Friday, terrorists fired a barrage of 30 rockets at an Iraqi military base in Kirkuk, an oil-rich region north of Baghdad. A US civilian contractor died in the strike. Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement that three U.S. airstrikes on Sunday evening Iraq time hit the headquarters of the Hezbollah Brigades at the Iraq-Syria border, killing four fighters. Iraq's Hezbollah Brigades, a separate force from the Lebanese group Hezbollah, operate under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran. The Popular Mobilization Forces said Sunday that the U.S. strikes killed at least 19 of Kataeb Hezbollah's members. Kataeb Hezbollah is led by Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, one of Iraq's most powerful men. He once battled US troops and is now the deputy head of the Popular Mobilization Forces. Washington had recently promised "a decisive US response" to a growing number of unclaimed attacks on its interests in Iraq, which it blames on pro-Iran factions. US-Iran tension levels have soared since Washington pulled out of a landmark nuclear agreement with Tehran last year and imposed crippling sanctions.
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| NTSB: Poor condition of wreckage will slow plane crash probe Posted: 29 Dec 2019 01:01 PM PST  The lack of a distress call and flight data recorder coupled with mangled and charred wreckage will make finding the cause of a fiery airplane crash in Louisiana extremely challenging, federal officials said Sunday. National Transportation Safety Board Vice Chairman Bruce Landsberg said at a press conference that it could take 12 to 18 months to figure out why the two-engine Piper Cheyenne fell from the sky about a minute after taking off from the Lafayette Regional Airport on Saturday.
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| I went to Ireland's bizarre Barack Obama-themed service station, complete with a museum and statues that make it as otherworldly as it sounds Posted: 30 Dec 2019 02:43 AM PST  Barack Obama Plaza is a service station branded after the former the US president after he visited the local town of Moneygall, home of his ancestor.
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| Battle to save Australian wildlife as bushfires rage Posted: 29 Dec 2019 09:58 PM PST  A possum severely burnt by bushfires in Australia's Blue Mountains laps water from a bowl as her rescuer holds her gently in a towel, while at a nearby home a kangaroo with bandaged feet is rocked like a baby by another carer. As Australia battles wildfires that have razed more than 4 million hectares (9.9 million acres) across five states, volunteers are trying to save wild animals caught in the inferno. Australia's bushland is home to a range of indigenous fauna, including kangaroos, koalas, wallabies, possums, wombats and echidnas.
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| 37 Great Gifts for DIYers Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:58 PM PST |
| Prosecutors charge Hanukkah stabbing suspect with hate crime, citing journals Posted: 30 Dec 2019 10:56 AM PST  The United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York filed the charges. A day earlier the suspect, Grafton Thomas, was arraigned on five counts of attempted murder in a state court in the town of Ramapo. Thomas is accused of stabbing five people on Saturday night with what the criminal complaint described as a "machete" after bursting into a Hanukkah celebration that included dozens of people at Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg's home in Monsey, about 30 miles (48 km) north of New York City.
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| Nicaragua releases dozens of political prisoners Posted: 30 Dec 2019 09:05 AM PST  Nicaraguan authorities on Monday released more than 30 political prisoners held following a deadly crackdown on 2018 protests in the Central American country, a human rights body said. Among those released was Belgian-born student leader Amaya Coppens, her family and a local rights organization said. Coppens was arrested in mid-November for being part of a group of volunteers trying to deliver water to hunger-striking mothers of political prisoners.
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| Rudy Giuliani reportedly participated in a phone call with Nicolás Maduro. The White House was confused. Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:48 AM PST  You've probably heard about President Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani getting involved with Ukraine, but he also played a role in back-channel negotiations regarding Venezuela, The Washington Post reports. And nobody was really sure why.In September 2018, Giuliani, who isn't an official member of the Trump administration, reportedly listened in on a phone call between Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and then-Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas) — who went on to assist Giuliani in the ouster of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch — in which the sides discussed easing Maduro from power.When White House officials eventually found out about Giuliani's participation in the phone call, alarms bell went off, the Post reports. They reportedly couldn't figure out why someone in a private role was getting involved in a shadow diplomatic effort, especially because Giuliani and Sessions' plan went against the White House's official sanctions-heavy stance championed by former National Security Adviser John Bolton. "We didn't know why Rudy was involved at the time," a former senior administration official said.Giuliani reportedly met with Bolton around the time of the phone call to discuss the softer proposal, and sources told the Post it didn't go well. Washington went on to stick with the tougher line.It's not exactly clear why Giuliani was involved in the discussions or how large his role was, but even if it was just the one phone call, the White House still found it a head-scratcher. Read more at The Washington Post.More stories from theweek.com Giants, Browns fire head coaches on otherwise quiet 'Black Monday' The White House always knew Trump's order to freeze Ukraine aid could blow up, New York Times details The best headlines of 2019
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| DNC rejects Andrew Yang's request to commission polls to increase diversity at January debate Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:40 PM PST  The DNC said that commissioning primary polls would break with its tradition of independent polling.
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| Can Russia's Tsunami-Creating Nuclear Torpedo Be Stopped? Posted: 28 Dec 2019 10:00 PM PST  How useful such a weapon would be is debatable.
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| Alligators, pricey bananas and naked people: 2019 in Florida Posted: 29 Dec 2019 08:48 AM PST  In 2019, Florida Banana managed to eclipse Florida Man. From alligator antics to naked people doing wacky things, Florida did not disappoint in the weird news department this year. In December, a Miami couple spent more than $100,000 on the "unicorn of the art world" — a banana duct-taped to a wall — during Art Basel. Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan sold three editions of "Comedian," each in the $120,000 to $150,000 range.
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| Juul employees vape at desks despite company threat to dock bonuses for e-cigarette use, report says Posted: 30 Dec 2019 10:02 AM PST  Juul banned vaping at its offices last year, but some employees continue to use e-cigarettes at their desks, in hallways and in meetings, according to the Wall Street Journal.
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| California's groundbreaking privacy law takes effect in January. What does it do? Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:00 AM PST  Landmark law, the 'most comprehensive' in the US, gives Californians an arsenal of tools to protect their data online Last year, California passed a landmark privacy law that gives consumers more control over their data. The legislation gives residents unprecedented rights to control what information companies collect on them and how it is used.The California Consumer Privacy Act will go into action 1 January 2020, giving residents of the state a whole new arsenal of tools to protect their data and personal information online – and saddling businesses with a lot more responsibility.Here is everything you need to know about California's "groundbreaking" new privacy law. What is the law?The California Consumer Privacy Act, passed in 2018, is the "most comprehensive" privacy legislation to be enacted in the United States to date, according to the American Bar Association.Under the new regulations, California residents will be able to demand companies to disclose what information is collected on them and request a copy of that information.Companies will be forced to delete consumers' data upon request and they'll be prohibited from selling information if the customer instructs them to via a mandatory "do not sell" link on the company's website.Consumers will also have the right to "receive equal service and price whether or not they exercise their privacy rights" or in other words, companies won't be able to treat a user differently because they have requested their data. When does it go into effect?The law is effective on 1 January – meaning consumers can submit requests for their data starting on that date. The California attorney general's office will not take any enforcement action against companies that do not comply until 1 July 2020. What businesses does it affect?Businesses will be required to comply with the new regulations if they have an annual gross revenue in excess of $25m, derive 50% or more of their annual revenue from selling consumers' personal information, or annually buy, receive, sell, or share the personal information of more than 50,000 consumers, households, or devices for commercial purposes.That means at least 500,000 businesses will be required to comply with the new law, according to the not-for-profit the International Association of Privacy. Who else does it affect?Consumers in California will be most directly affected by the new law. However, even people who not live in California may see ripple effects, said Peter Yared, the founder and chief executive officer of data management company InCountry."There are similar laws manifesting all over the world so increasingly companies are set up to receive and process these kinds of requests for data," he said. I live in California – how can I get my own data?Consumers can receive a copy of their data by sending "a verifiable consumer request" to a business. The company is then required to comply with the request within 45 days of receipt. In some cases, companies can extend this time period for a maximum of 90 days total.Consumers may only make a request for information twice a year, and only for a 12-month look-back period. What happens if a company doesn't give me my data?Companies may face fines of $2,500 to $7,500 per violation of the new law, if the violation is deemed intentional. However, the CCPA also grants businesses a 30-day period to address a violation after receipt of a consumer's request. The law is enforced by the California attorney general. How does the CCPA compare to other privacy laws?The California Consumer Privacy Act has often been called "GDPR-lite", bearing resemblance to the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect in May 2018.GDPR's scope is broader, affecting all businesses that handle user data, whereas the CCPA applies only to businesses with a gross revenue over $25m, more than 50,000 customers, or whose revenue is 50% or more based on user data.The CCPA provides more explicit "opt out" options for users who do not want their personal data sold. Under the CCPA, companies must include a "Do Not Sell My Personal Information" link in a clear and conspicuous location on their websites. Under GDPR, by comparison, businesses do not necessarily need the individual's consent to collect and use data.The rules also differ in their approaches to the collection of children's data. Under GDPR, parents must provide consent for the processing of data of children under the age of 16. The CCPA requires businesses obtain consent from parents of children ages 13 and under, while kids older than 13 can provide their own consent. What's next?Although the CCPA is the most extensive privacy law yet to be passed in the US, some advocates say it does not go far enough. Before the comment period on the law closed on 6 December, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, and other privacy advocates filed a request to strengthen the regulation.The law as it is written does not do enough to address data collection, said Hayley Tsukayama, an EFF legal advocate, and California has few resources to enforce the law in 2020."You have the right to go to companies that have your data and ask to have it back, but they don't have to come to you to ask to have it in the first place", she said. "This is what we call opt in versus opt out."Companies that violate the law will also have the "right to cure", meaning they can change their violating policies after they have been apprehended."We see this as a get out of jail free card," Tsukayama said.
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| Human remains — including 2 decapitated heads — were found on a North Korean 'ghost ship' that washed ashore in Japan Posted: 30 Dec 2019 07:57 AM PST  The vessel washed ashore on the Japanese island of Sado on Friday. Officials said they found seven human remains onboard.
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| After ICE Raids, a Reckoning in Mississippi's Chicken Country Posted: 29 Dec 2019 08:27 AM PST  MORTON, Miss. -- Juan Grant strode into the Koch Foods chicken processing plant for his new job on a Wednesday morning, joining many other African Americans in a procession of rubber boots, hairnets and last cigarettes before the grind.At 20, Grant was too young to remember the days of a nearly all-white workforce in Mississippi's poultry industry or the civil rights boycotts and protests that followed. He was too young to have seen how white workers largely moved on after that, leaving the business of killing, cutting and packing to African Americans.He did not know the time before Hispanic workers began arriving in the heart of chicken country by the thousands, recruited by plant managers looking to fill low-paying jobs in an expanding industry.But Grant clearly remembered Aug. 7, the day the Trump administration performed sweeping immigration raids on seven chicken plants in central Mississippi. He remembered the news flashing on his phone: 680 Hispanic workers arrested. He remembers seeing an opportunity."I figured there should be some jobs," he said.He figured right.The raids were believed to be the largest statewide immigration crackdown in recent history and a partial fulfillment of President Donald Trump's vow to deport millions of workers living in the U.S. illegally. The impact on Mississippi's immigrant community has been devastating. For nonimmigrant workers, the aftermath has forced them into a personal reckoning with questions of morality and economic self-interest: The raids brought suffering, but they also created job openings.Some believe that the immigrant workers had it coming. "If you're somewhere you ain't supposed to be, they're going to come get you," said a worker named Jamaal, who declined to give his full name because Koch Foods had not authorized him to speak. "That's only right."But there was also Shelonda Davis, 35, a 17-year veteran of the plant. She has seen many workers -- of all backgrounds -- come and go. But she was horrified that so many of her Hispanic colleagues were rounded up. Some of them, she said, wanted to work so badly that they tried to return the next day."I'm glad that I see my people going to work," she said of her fellow African Americans. "But the way they came at the Hispanic race, they act like they're killing somebody. Still, they were only working, you know?"Some of the new replacement hires also felt conflicted. While the roundup "gave the American people their jobs back," said Cortez McClinton, 38, a former construction worker who was hired at the plant hours after the raids, "how they handle the immigration part is that they're still separating kids from their families."Devontae Skinner, 21, denounced the raids one recent morning while finishing up his first turn on the night shift. "Everybody needs a job, needs to work, provide for their families."Then there was Grant, only two years out of high school and still finding his way in the world. He said it felt good to be earning $11.23 an hour, even if the new job entailed cutting off necks and pulling out guts on a seemingly endless conveyor of carcasses. It was about $4 better, he said, than what he used to earn at a Madison County cookie factory.But he also called the raids "cruel" and "mean." There were moments when the necks and guts and ambivalence and guilt all mixed together so that he wondered whether he wanted to stick with the job."It's like I stole it," he said, "and I really don't like what I stole."The New Cotton FieldsThe story of poultry work tracks closely with the 20th-century story of race relations in Mississippi.White women dominated the lines until the 1960s, when African Americans pressed for their rights. In Canton, African Americans called for a boycott of the local chicken plant over its refusal to hire black workers, according to Angela Stuesse, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of North Carolina and author of the 2016 book "Scratching out a Living: Latinos, Race, and Work in the Deep South."By the end of the 1960s, black workers predominated on the lines.It was an important win for African Americans looking for an alternative to housework in wealthy white homes, or for those who had seen fieldwork dry up in an increasingly mechanized agricultural sector."The chicken plant," Stuesse quoted a civil rights veteran saying, "replaced the cotton field."But as U.S. chicken consumption boomed in the 1980s, manufacturers went in search of "cheaper and more exploitable workers," Stuesse wrote -- chiefly Latin American immigrants.At the time, the Koch plant in Morton was owned by a local company, B.C. Rogers Poultry, which organized efforts to recruit Hispanics from the Texas border as early as 1977. Soon, the company was operating an effort it called "The Hispanic Project," bringing in thousands of workers and housing them in trailers.A 2016 study on the effects of immigration on the U.S. economy found that immigration had "little long run effect" on U.S. wages. But some wonder whether Hispanic immigrants displaced black workers in central Mississippi, the heart of the state's multibillion-dollar chicken industry.Some black Mississippi workers, Stuesse said, took advantage of less dangerous new job opportunities in retail, fast food, construction and auto parts. But "an eager pool of black labor did indeed exist," she wrote, noting that a black labor force moved in when a large number of Hispanics were fired from a Carthage chicken plant in the mid-2000s.And yet much of the outrage over the August raids has come from leaders in Mississippi's black community. Constance Slaughter-Harvey, a renowned local lawyer and civil rights activist who was the first black woman to receive a law degree from the University of Mississippi, called the raids a "Gestapo action."Wesley Odom, 79, president of the Scott County NAACP, spoke of the family members separated -- the Hispanic mothers and fathers who remain in custody -- as well as the moments, on the day of the raids, when some schoolchildren must have wondered whether they would walk into empty homes."The blacks were witness to that same thing as slaves," he said.Jere Miles, a special agent in charge with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, recently told a congressional committee that the Mississippi raids would deter future illegal immigration. He also said authorities discovered 400 instances of identity theft that had been perpetrated against legal U.S. residents. Conservative columnist Henry Olsen, citing high poverty rates and low incomes in the area, argued that the Mississippi workers living in the country illegally were taking jobs from Americans.Koch Foods representatives did not return requests for comment. The company, which has said it did not knowingly hire workers without legal status, has challenged the raid on its Morton plant in federal court, calling it an "illegal search" and demanding the return of seized property and records.Bryan Cox, a spokesman for ICE, said there was a continuing criminal investigation into the operation and hiring practices at all of the Mississippi plants. No executives from the targeted companies have been charged.'The Smell of Money'The Koch Foods plant is in the heart of Morton, a rural community with about 3,600 residents, about one-quarter of whom are Hispanic. The parking lot at shift change can feel like the most social place in town, outside of church and school sporting events.A sleepy clutch of downtown blocks hugs the opposite side of the highway. There are a few fast-food places, trailers and ranch houses, and several markets and businesses that cater to what has been for several decades a growing Hispanic population. A smaller chicken processing plant, owned by the company PH Food, was also raided in August.Sometimes the smell of chicken hangs over the place. But longtime residents hardly notice anymore. "Of course, the joke in Mississippi is, that's the smell of money," said David Livingston, a real estate appraiser who grew up in town.Today, the unknowable future for the Hispanic workers and their families hangs heavy over Morton and the nearby city of Forest, the county seat roughly a 15-minute drive away. Signs of pain and fear are everywhere; most of the people affected declined to give their full names for fear of government retribution.On a recent afternoon in a quiet Latin grocery, a 46-year-old immigrant named Mariela said she had no choice but to shut down the taco truck she once stationed at a workplace that had been raided. She burst into tears as she realized she was unable to afford a basket of cilantro, radishes and pumpkin seeds.At the Trinity Mission Center, a church in Forest that serves as a crisis response center, a man who was swept up in the raids stood by his van, rifling through confusing legal papers, unsure of his next court date. The man, Victoriano Simon-Gomez, 32, said he had a disabled child and was afraid she would receive insufficient care if he was forced to return to Guatemala.At the church entrance, a 31-year-old Guatemalan mother of two named Eva waited to pick up a donated lunch. She had been detained at a chicken plant in Carthage and was wearing an electronic ankle monitor, now a common sight around Scott County. She referred to it as "la grilleta" -- "the shackle." She said she was going to fight to remain in the United States with her children, 13 and 9, who are U.S. citizens.She knew it was going to be difficult. "The president doesn't want us here," she said. But she said she harbored no ill will toward the people who have taken jobs like hers. "I'm not mad."More than one-third of the 680 arrested workers across Mississippi were picked up at the Koch plant in Morton. In an affidavit taken a few weeks after the raid, Robert Elrod, a vice president of human resources, said 272 of the 1,170 employees there were Hispanic.Marquese Parks, who works for a staffing agency that helped Koch Foods find new employees after the raids, said applicants included "a lot of African American, a lot of white, Caucasian. Latinos, not so much."He said potential hires were being subjected to strict identification checks.Parks, who is black and grew up in Morton, said he never wanted to work in the chicken plants. He went away to college but later found himself in the industry anyway, first as a poultry supervisor and now at the staffing agency. He said he did not know how long the new non-Hispanic recruits would last on the job."I honestly don't think they will stay because of the simple fact that the jobs are that hard," said Parks, 28. "It's something they didn't see themselves doing growing up, something they don't want to do."The opportunity to earn more than $11 an hour can still turn heads in this part of Mississippi. Grant was not the only person to jump at the chance the raids provided. Niah Hill, manager of the Sonic Drive-In in Morton, said 10 of her workers quit soon after the raid at Koch Foods."When they heard about the raids, they all went over there and got jobs right away," Hill said. Carhops at this Sonic make $4.25 an hour -- $3 less than the state's minimum wage -- plus tips, she said.Yet the belief that native-born Americans are not sufficiently motivated to work persists, even among some African Americans. Jeff White, a Morton-based builder and rental property owner, said so many chicken plant jobs became available in the 1980s because American-born residents "didn't want to work, period."He added that he quickly learned he was not chicken plant material after landing a job at one shortly after high school. "I worked there 3 hours and 20 minutes," he said, chuckling. "I didn't even get the check. It's too hard."For a while, Grant said the hard work was worth it. With his better wage, he was starting to finally save a little. He talked about buying a used Honda and about getting serious with his girlfriend.But Morton was 75 miles from his trailer home in rural Holmes County, and after a while it proved to be too much. He showed up late one too many times, and in November, he said, Koch let him go.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Iraq condemns U.S. air strikes as unacceptable and dangerous Posted: 30 Dec 2019 01:17 AM PST  Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Monday condemned U.S. air strikes on bases of Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, a move that could plunge Iraq further into the heart of a proxy conflict between the United States and Iran. The U.S. military carried out air strikes on Sunday against the Kataib Hezbollah militia in response to the killing of a U.S. civilian contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base, officials said. "The prime minister described the American attack on the Iraqi armed forces as an unacceptable vicious assault that will have dangerous consequences," his office said.
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| Rare Chinese Bureaucratic Shakeup Reveals Future Leaders Posted: 30 Dec 2019 04:40 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- China's sprawling bureaucracy is undergoing a regional reshuffle of a rare scale, with new appointments and job swaps offering hints of potential future leaders being groomed by Beijing.At least 32 new mayoral-level officials have been appointed since Dec. 21, with 29 of them being relocated to a new province for the first time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The other three are being moved for just the second time. While the Communist Party has routinely relocated minister-level officials from one province to another, that's less common among lower-level officials."We have almost never seen the transfer of mid-level officials between provinces at a scale this massive," said Suisheng Zhao, executive director of the Center for China-U.S. Cooperation at the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies. "Grooming the party's talent pipeline is the most important aspect of Xi Jinping's reform of governance modernization."Xi has repeatedly called for training more capable cadres and the Communist Party's Central Committee vowed in March to accelerate that by promoting the exchange of officials across local areas, departments and state-owned enterprises. The equivalent of the party's human resources department is overseeing the current spate of new appointments, underscoring their importance.The personnel moves come has Xi seeks to control a nationwide economic slowdown amid high pork prices and a trade war with the U.S. The Chinese president might touch on the challenges facing the nation Tuesday evening, when he's expected to deliver an annual New Year's Eve address.Future LeadersSince Dec. 21, when two officials from Zhejiang and Shandong in the east were sent to the predominately-Muslim western region of Xinjiang, new positions have been announced every day.On Monday, Huaian -- a city of about 5 million in Jiangsu -- welcomed its new mayor, Chen Zhichang, the former head of Beijing's Shijingshan district. Born in 1974, Chen spent his whole career in Beijing aside from a short stint in Tibet. His profile is similar to most of the cadres who were moved around this month, who spent most of their working lives in one place.Of the 32 officials who got new jobs, 21 were born after 1970, signaling the emergence of a new generation of leaders.Wang Liqi, born in 1977, was appointed China's youngest mayor. He was nominated to manage Jiuquan City in Gansu, pending rubber-stamp approval by the local legislature. Since graduating from Tsinghua University with a master's degree in engineering in 2003, Wang spent his entire political career in Heilongjiang, a northeastern province bordering Russia.Top-down CampaignA local bureaucrat from Inner Mongolia's Organization Department shed light on the changes when welcoming an official from Chongqing as the new mayor of its Wuhai city.The change in leadership was part of the Central Organization Department's decision "to select and send outstanding cadres on cross-provincial and regional exchanges," local media cited Sun Fulong, the director of Inner Mongolia's Civil Service Bureau as saying on Dec. 24.Sun said the swapping of officials across regions was done to implement Xi's instructions on bureaucratic organization and of "extreme significance to the modernization of national governance."Xi has repeatedly complained about a lack of drive among some local officials, and urged cadres to be more daring and take on more challenges. He warned in January that "the party is facing sharp and serious dangers of a slackness in spirit, lack of ability, distance from the people, and being passive and corrupt."As these reshuffles become more institutionalized, they will help "break the curse of the central government's orders not being able to travel beyond the top leadership's compound of Zhongnanhai," said Zhao. "Party central wants to select people who are not only politically reliable but also have an outstanding performance record, and send them to other provinces to effectively disrupt the intertwined local interest groups."(Updates with Xi's speech in fifth paragraph.)To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen, John LiuFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Trump sets 'red line' for Tehran amid mounting risks Posted: 30 Dec 2019 02:37 PM PST  President Donald Trump's order for airstrikes on a Tehran-backed Iraqi militia group, after resisting retaliating against Iran for months, sent a clear message Sunday that killing Americans was his red line. US officials said Monday that Trump had exercised "strategic patience" during the past year in the face of Iran's stepped-up military activities in the region challenging the US and its allies.
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| Earthquake Bombs: How Britain Killed Hitler's Most Powerful Battleship Posted: 29 Dec 2019 05:00 AM PST  They may have led to this super bomb.
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