| New release of Stephen Miller emails show him pushing link of immigrants to crime Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:02 PM PST  Newly released emails between Stephen Miller and Breitbart News seem to offer new evidence of Miller's well-established hard-line views that would eventually shape the Trump administration's immigration policies. The piece published by the Southern Poverty Law Center Monday focuses on Miller's apparent fixation on and promotion of a widely debunked narrative about immigrants and violent crime.
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| Then and now: Swiss glacier photos show impact of global warming Posted: 26 Nov 2019 10:58 AM PST  A collection of images — showing photos of modern-day mountain landscapes next to archive shots of the same scenes decades earlier — reveals the dramatic change.
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| Couple convicted of grisly 1980s murders get surprise release from prison before being deported Posted: 26 Nov 2019 02:04 PM PST  A couple convicted of a brutal double murder in 1985 have won their release from prison, and will now be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation.Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom were convicted in the brutal murders of Haysom's parents, in an attack that rocked Virginia at a time when sensational crime wasn't the norm for major news coverage.
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| Veteran, 88, saves girl from 'vicious' pit bull by hitting it with Christmas decoration Posted: 26 Nov 2019 07:17 AM PST  Leonard Miller's instincts kicked in, and he didn't hesitate to help the girl. After the attack, the dog's owner has the option to surrender the dog.
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| World's best sushi restaurant dropped from Michelin Guide after refusing to serve public Posted: 26 Nov 2019 12:22 PM PST  The world's best sushi restaurant seats just ten people and is famously housed in a Tokyo metro station. But despite its cult following, the famously exclusive restaurant has lost its listing in the Michelin Guide, not because the quality of the food has dropped, but because it is no longer open to the general public. Sukiyabashi Jiro, run by the renowned nonagenarian Japanese chef Jiro Ono, has been recognised with three Michelin stars each year since the culinary guide launched a Tokyo edition in 2007. But this year's Tokyo edition of the Michelin Guide declined to include it within its pages, saying it is "out of their scope" because of its decision to only offer reservations VIPs and return customers. "We recognise Sukiyabashi Jiro does not accept reservations from the general public, which makes it out of our scope," said a spokeswoman for the Michelin Guide after the decision was announced on Tuesday. She added that "it was not true to say the restaurant lost stars but it is not subject to coverage in our guide," rather that the guide's "policy is to introduce restaurants where everybody can go to eat." Jiro Ono's restaurant has become a cult classic With former diners including US president Barack Obama, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and a host of Hollywood celebrities, booking a table has never been easy. But now prospective diners must be regular customers, be part of an elite network or book through the concierge of a luxury hotel - as well as stomach the 40,000 yen (£285) price tag for the chef's selection menu. Sukiyabashi Jiro said it was "currently experiencing difficulties in accepting reservations" and apologised for "any inconvenience to our valued customers" in a statement on its website. It added: "Unfortunately, as our restaurant can only seat up to 10 guests at a time, this situation is likely to continue." The restaurant opened in 1965 but has gathered a cult following in recent years, particularly since the release of a 2011 documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi", which follows the life of its star chef and owner. Barack Obama arrived in a motorcade when he dined at Sukiyabashi Jiro Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images The documentary followed Ono, who is considered something of a national treasure in Japan, as he performs his meticulous sushi preparation ritual. The rice at the restaurant is crafted to fit the diner's mouth, with Ono examining customer's hands and faces to work out what size portion is appropriate for them. Diners are asked not to wear strong perfume or take photographs of the food. Ono has also faced criticism for his previous comments about women - particularly his suggestion that women make inferior sushi chefs because their menstrual cycles affect their sense of taste. Despite being in his 90s, he continues to serve sushi with the help of his eldest son Yoshikazu. A second branch run by Ono's younger son remains open to the public and has retained its two stars.
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| Founder of U.S. private jet firm tied to Venezuelan VP pleads guilty to sanctions evasion Posted: 26 Nov 2019 03:00 PM PST  Victor Mones Coro, founder of Florida-based American Charter Services (ACS), had been charged in March by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, along with El Aissami, for violating Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act sanctions imposed by the United States in 2017.
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| Hong Kong leader offers mea culpa, but no concessions Posted: 26 Nov 2019 01:47 AM PST  Hong Kong's unpopular leader Carrie Lam acknowledged Tuesday that public dissatisfaction with her government fuelled a landslide win by pro-democracy candidates in local elections, but she drew fresh criticism by offering no new concessions to resolve months of violent protests. In China, state media sought to downplay and discredit the weekend ballot that delivered a stinging rebuke to the financial hub's pro-Beijing establishment. In a rout that stunned the semi-autonomous territory, candidates opposing control by China seized an overwhelming majority of 452 elected seats in the city's 18 district councils, bodies historically dominated by a Beijing-aligned establishment.
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| French citizen kidnapped Sunday in central Mexico Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:56 AM PST  A French citizen and a Mexican national were kidnapped on Sunday while visiting a national park in central Mexico, according to the French Embassy in Mexico City.
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| After Trump's intervention, Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher returns to work, for now Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:38 PM PST  Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL at the center of a controversy in a case that President Trump intervened in, went to work Monday, unsure of what lay ahead.
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| Elon Musk said Tesla's $39,900 Cybertruck is better than Ford's $28,496 F-150 — here's how they stack up Posted: 25 Nov 2019 08:26 AM PST  Elon Musk compared the Tesla Cybertruck to the Ford F-150 during the Cybertruck reveal event on Thursday.
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| Accused Chinese Spy Pleads Guilty in U.S. ‘Dead-Drop’ Sting Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:16 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A California man accused of spying for China's security service pleaded guilty to a U.S. criminal charge in a case touted by prosecutors as a "rare glimpse" into how Beijing gathers intelligence in America.Xuehua "Ed" Peng, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2012, was charged in September with with acting as unregistered agent of a foreign government. As part of his plea agreement, the U.S. will recommend a four-year prison sentence and a $30,000 fine, instead of the maximum penalty of 10 years' incarceration and a $250,000 fine, a prosecutor told a judge Monday in Oakland federal court.A U.S. crackdown on national security espionage by the Chinese government and theft of intellectual property that began under former President Barack Obama has escalated during the Trump administration's trade war with China. At three former U.S. intelligence officers have been convicted in recent years of spying for China. Last year, the Justice Department launched a China Initiative targeting trade-secret theft, hacking and economic espionage.Peng, 56, worked as a guide for Chinese tourists in the San Francisco area, according to prosecutors. He was snared in a sting operation in which he allegedly hid envelopes with $10,000 to $20,000 in cash in hotel rooms and returned later to pick up memory cards containing classified security information that had been planted by U.S. agents.Read More: U.S. Tour Guide Accused as Spy for China's Security ServiceAfter staging each of the so-called dead drops at hotels in Oakland and Newark, California, as well as Columbus, Georgia -- at least one of which the FBI recorded with a hidden video camera -- Peng would later fly to China with the cards to deliver them to his handlers at the Ministry of State Security, prosecutors alleged.The U.S. said it uncovered Peng's identity as a spy through a double-agent operation in China started in March 2015.John Demers, the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for national security, said when Peng was arrested that his case exposes how Chinese intelligence officers collect information "without having to step foot in this country."Peng's attorney declined to comment after Monday's hearing.The case is U.S.A. v. Peng, 19-cr-00589, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).\--With assistance from Joel Rosenblatt.To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter BlumbergFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| YIKES: Please Don't Give Israel B-52 Bombers Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:00 PM PST  Foreign governments will hold the United States accountable for Israel's actions with American weaponry.
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| At least 8 dead, 300 injured after 6.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Albania Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST  The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.4 earthquake was centered 19 miles northwest of Tirana, the capital city of Albania.
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| SCOTUS Denies Petition to Hear National Review v. Mann Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:24 AM PST  The Supreme Court announced Monday morning that it will not hear Competitive Enterprise Institute and National Review v. Michael E. Mann, a case with dire freedom-of-speech implications for National Review and all American media outlets that publish commentary on contentious public-policy debates.Mann, a Penn State climatologist famous for the "hockey stick" global-warming graph, was targeted by CEI's Rand Simberg in a 2012 blog post. Simberg criticized the methods Mann used to collect data for the study, in which Mann attempted to chart the earth's temperature over the past 1,000 years and found a sharp uptick in global temperatures in the 20th century.In 2010, Penn State investigated Mann for alleged data manipulation and university-ethics violations in regards to the study, but Mann was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. Taking an opportunity to criticize both the scientist's methodology and Penn State's administration, Simberg drew a metaphor in his column between Mann's case and the infamous Jerry Sandusky coverup, a comparison that then-syndicated columnist Mark Steyn referenced in a National Review column.Writing in dissent, Justice Alito argued that the high court has an interest in taking up the case because it would help establish free speech standards around one of the most hotly debated issues of the time, climate change."Climate change has staked a place at the very center of this Nation's public discourse. Politicians, journalists, academics, and ordinary Americans discuss and debate various aspects of climate change daily — its causes, extent, urgency, consequences, and the appropriate policies for addressing it," Alito wrote. "The core purpose of the constitutional protection of freedom of expression is to ensure that all opinions on such issues have a chance to be heard and considered. I do not suggest that speech that touches on an important and controversial issue is always immune from challenge under state defamation law, and I express no opinion on whether the speech at issue in this case is or is not entitled to First Amendment protection. But the standard to be applied in a case like this is immensely important."Mann subsequently filed defamation lawsuits against all parties involved, alleging that the leveled accusations of scientific and data molestation were false statements of fact, rather than opinion.In 2016, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Mann over the defendants, who argued on First Amendment grounds that the 2012 post represented "a subjective opinion about a matter of scientific or political controversy" and that "the evidence of record is that it actually has been proved to be false by four separate investigations." The court also turned down a defense under the Anti-SLAPP Act, which intends to stop lawsuits aimed at silencing advocates on public issues.Appeals of the decision, most recently in March, have also gone Mann's way. The stakes are high. A decision in favor of Mann would set a precedent for political rhetoric moving forward: Parties could potentially sue public adversaries and rely on juries to settle differences of policy opinion.In May, the defendants, joined by the Cato Institute, the Individual Rights Foundation, and the Reason Foundation, filed the petition the Supreme Court denied today. "In holding to the contrary, the decision below declares open season on all manner of speech offering analysis, interpretation and conjecture premised on reported fact, as the circumstances of this case illustrate," they contend.
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| Spain refloats submarine intercepted with suspected cocaine on board Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:35 AM PST ![Spain refloats submarine intercepted with suspected cocaine on board]( "Spain refloats submarine intercepted with suspected cocaine on board") Spanish police on Tuesday refloated a submarine that was intercepted with a cargo suspected to be about 3,500 kg (3.85 tons) of cocaine, a security source told Reuters. Investigators believe that the crew had attempted to sink the submarine and the drugs it had on board. It was later transported to a port in Cangas, in Pontevedra province.
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| David Axelrod calls Biden's polling resilience 'the strangest thing I've ever seen in politics' Posted: 26 Nov 2019 11:57 AM PST ![David Axelrod calls Biden's polling resilience 'the strangest thing I've ever seen in politics']( "David Axelrod calls Biden's polling resilience 'the strangest thing I've ever seen in politics'") Everyone's waiting for former Vice President Joe Biden to fall, but it just hasn't happened.Former Obama adviser David Axelrod, who has been critical of Biden's Democratic presidential campaign from time to time, acknowledged he's just not convinced the former vice president will tumble as anticipated."So many scenarios here are dependent on this idea that Biden is going to collapse," he told Politico. "But he continues to have pretty strong appeal to African Americans and to working-class whites."Axelrod mentioned Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D), and billionaire and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg as candidates who could theoretically take some of the middle ground in the Democratic Party away from Biden, but he ultimately dismissed all three as serious contenders."So the Biden thing is the strangest thing I've ever seen in politics because the guy is up there in the air and everybody is just assuming he's going to come down," he said. "There is kind of a Mr. Magoo kind of quality to the whole thing but he's still driving, you know? He's still moving forward." Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com Fox News guest: 'Why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here' 21 dead in Albania after 6.4 magnitude earthquake Trump wonders why the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage wasn't celebrated 'a long time ago'
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| Billion-Dollar Art Heist: Thieves Use Fire, Axes to Plunder Dresden’s Green Vault Palace Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:09 AM PST  Axe-wielding thieves appear to have pulled off the biggest art heist in decades after they broke into one of Europe's largest collections of treasures and made off with glittering objects valued at as much as $1 billion.The daring robbery happened in the early hours of Monday in the German city of Dresden. Burglars forced entry to the Green Vault—housed in a former royal palace called the Residenzschloss—which has been the home of a historic collection of diamonds and other jewels for centuries.Surveillance video released by German authorities showed the intruders using an axe to smash glass display cases to make off with hundreds of priceless artifacts in what police are calling the largest art heist since the Second World War.The thieves—who reportedly escaped the scene in an Audi A6 and are now on the run—reportedly started a fire in the early hours of Monday that led to a power failure at the palace, disarming the elaborate network of security alarms. German media has reported the thieves then twisted back iron grill bars on a ground-floor window to gain access to the treasury's historic collection.Michael Kretschmer, the leader of Saxony—which has Dresden as its capital city—expressed his devastation at the historic heist. The minister said: "The treasures one can find there... have been collected by the people of Saxony over many centuries and are hard-won treasures... You cannot understand the history of our country, or the free state of Saxony without the Green Vault and the state art collections of Saxony."The Green Vault has been an international tourist destination since 1724, when it first opened to the public, according to The Guardian. It was heavily damaged during the Second World War during Winston Churchill's controversial bombing campaign that destroyed the city of Dresden. The vault was successfully restored and there was a grand reopening in 2006.Saxony state authorities have not given any details of what's been taken from the vault or who they think might have been capable of carrying out the audacious raid. "We have not identified a perpetrator and nor have we yet made any arrests," police spokesman Marko Laske said.By good fortune, one of the collection's best known treasures—the 41-carat Dresden "Green Diamond"—is currently on loan to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, so wasn't there to be taken.However, it houses thousands of other treasures, including a 648-carat sapphire that was a royal gift from Russian tsar Peter the Great; a golden coffee service made in 1701; and a 25-inch figure of a Moor encrusted with precious emeralds and other jewels.Dozens of police cars are at the scene and the Green Vault is shut as the world's media awaits further details of the theft.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Trump supporters say God chose him to be president Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:16 PM PST  Energy Secretary Rick Perry and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley see God's hand in picking Donald Trump as president.
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| From growing a beard to complaining about porn: Here are the flimsy excuses China uses to throw Uighur Muslims into prison camps Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:22 AM PST  China has imprisoned at least one million Uighurs in detention camps and prisons in Xinjiang. The Communist Party sees Uighurs' religion as a threat.
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| Frenchman, actor kidnapped in Mexico freed: officials Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:38 PM PST  A French citizen and a Mexican actor kidnapped in a national park in central Mexico were freed Monday, officials said. The two men, identified as Frederic Michel and Alejandro Sandi, were traveling in all-terrain vehicles in the park around the Nevado de Toluca volcano when they were ambushed and abducted on Sunday, witnesses said. A source with Mexico's anti-kidnapping unit told AFP both victims were unharmed.
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| Thanksgiving dinner questions that are better than ‘What are you thankful for?’ Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:00 PM PST  Want to get Thanksgiving guests talking at your holiday party? Here are questions that are better than, "What are you thankful for?"
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| U.S. consumer confidence ebbing; housing market firming Posted: 26 Nov 2019 07:04 AM PST  U.S. consumer confidence fell for a fourth straight month in November amid worries about current business conditions and employment prospects, but remained at levels sufficient to support a steady pace of consumer spending. The housing market, the most sensitive sector to interest rates, is catching up to the Federal Reserve's easy monetary policy stance, which has pushed down mortgage rates from last year's multi-year highs. The rise in housing activity early in the fourth quarter together with a narrowing in the trade deficit suggest some support for the economy as it slows amid cooling consumer spending and persistent weakness in business investment and manufacturing.
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| Bloomberg: US would benefit from more, not fewer, immigrants Posted: 26 Nov 2019 02:07 PM PST  On his second day campaigning for the Democratic nomination, the former New York City mayor contrasted his views on immigration with President Donald Trump's restrictive policies and laid out a vision of a multicultural society enriched by immigrants. "We need immigrants to take all the different kinds of jobs that the country needs — improve our culture, our cuisine, our religion, our dialogue and certainly improve our economy," the billionaire told reporters at a Mexican restaurant in Phoenix.
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| Federal prosecutors looking into Giuliani's donations to Trump fund and business dealings, reports say Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:15 AM PST  Federal prosecutors are reportedly looking into Rudy Giuliani's donations to a pro-Trump super PAC while "exploring a wide range of potential crimes" involving two of his associates who were previously charged with campaign finance violations.Donald Trump's personal attorney was previously reported to be working with Soviet-born businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to uncover dirt on one of the president's possible 2020 opponents, Joe Biden, meeting with Ukrainian officials and claiming to have documents exposing corruption on the part of the former vice president.
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| British man and wife rescued from Islamic State militants in the Philippines after being held for two months Posted: 25 Nov 2019 12:09 AM PST  A British man and a Filipino woman have been rescued from kidnappers in the Philippines by the country's special forces troops, two months after they were abducted from a beach resort. Husband and wife Allan and Wilma Hyrons were rescued after Filipino troops attacked their captors, members of the militant bandit Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), on the island of Jolo in the country's southern Sulu province on Monday morning local time. The soldiers, including those from the Philippines Marine Corps, had been battling ASG members for three days in the town of Penang in an attempt to retrieve Mr and Mrs Hyrons and other kidnap victims. Early on Monday, after a ten-minute gunfight the bandits abandoned the couple, allowing them to escape. Later on Monday lieutenant general Cirilito Sobejana told AFP that although the couple had been rescued, troops would continue to pursue their kidnappers. "The two [hostages] were left behind, they [ASG bandits] could not bring them anymore, so they scampered away to different directions," he said. "But our hot pursuit continues, our troops are still there on the ground." Allan and Wilma Hyrons speak with Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan after the rescue Credit: Armed Forces of the Philippines, Task Force Sulu On 4 October Mr and Mrs Hyrons - who lived in the town of Tukuran where they owned a college - were kidnapped from a beach resort on Mindanao island, in the Zamboanga del Norte province. The Philippine military said that the couple were not hurt in the gunfight, and that no ransom was paid to their captors. British foreign secretary Dominic Raab said: "I am pleased to confirm that both Alan and Wilma Hyrons are safe and well, and being looked after by the Philippine authorities. "We worked closely with the government of the Philippines on Alan and Wilma's case over the last two months. I am very grateful for their tremendous efforts. We are in particular grateful to their armed forces for their courage throughout a difficult operation which resulted in Alan and Wilma's release. "Foreign office officials have been in close contact with Alan and Wilma's family throughout this ordeal. We request their privacy during this emotional time." ASG is listed as a terrorist organisation by the Philippines and the US, and has links to the Islamic State group. The group, believed to have around 400 members, is known for beheadings and kidnappings. It was forged in the 1980s among Muslim separatists in the south of the southeast Asian country. Before Monday's rescue, Philippine troops had made inroads into suppressing the group, as part of military efforts that have reduced the amount of abductions taking place in the country in recent years. On Sunday, in a battle in a different area of Sulu province to the region the rescue took place in, five ASG militants were killed. In May Dutch national Ewold Horn was reportedly murdered by kidnappers on Jolo island. The Philippine military said that Horn, who was 59, was shot when his captors fled from attacking troops.
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| Priests who abused deaf children get 40-year jail terms in Argentina Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:31 AM PST  Two Roman Catholic priests were each sentenced to more than 40 years in prison in Argentina for the sexual abuse, including rape, of deaf children, a court in the western city of Mendoza ruled Monday. Argentine priest Horacio Corbacho was sentenced to 45 years in jail, while a 42-year sentence was imposed on Italian Nicola Corradi for the abuse of some 20 children at the Provolo Institute for deaf and hearing-impaired children between 2004 and 2016.
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| Sarah Huckabee Sanders to New York Times: 'I don’t like being called a liar' Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:11 AM PST  Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary who admitted to Robert Mueller that she lied to reporters, told the New York Times: "I don't like being called a liar." At a White House briefing on 10 May 2017, Sanders told reporters "countless members of the FBI" had told her they had lost confidence in James Comey, the FBI director fired by Trump shortly before.
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| Supreme Court re-enters debate on money in politics by vacating decision on Alaska contribution limits Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:57 AM PST  The Supreme Court re-entered the national debate over the influence of money in politics by vacating a lower court's decision in an Alaska case.
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| UPDATE 1-Pompeo says documents confirm China committing 'very significant' Xinjiang abuses Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:02 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Pompeo says documents confirm China committing 'very significant' Xinjiang abuses]( "UPDATE 1-Pompeo says documents confirm China committing 'very significant' Xinjiang abuses") Recently leaked documents confirm China is committing "very significant" human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims and other minority groups in mass detention, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday. An international group of journalists released classified Chinese government documents on Sunday that described repressive inner workings of detention camps in China's troubled western region of Xinjiang.
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| Military Fact: World War II Changed Bombers and Fighters Forever Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:00 PM PST  It put every theory to the test. Most didn't stack up.
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| First Central American Migrant Offered Asylum In Guatemala Returns Home to Honduras Instead Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:59 AM PST  The first Central American migrant offered asylum in Guatemala, under an arrangement between that country and the U.S., has decided to return to his home in Honduras, according to the Associated Press.Erwin José Ardón Montoya, 23, travelled to the U.S. in September in a bid to see his newborn daughter. The daughter's mother had chosen to migrate to the U.S. while still pregnant."I wanted to see my daughter, to help her," Ardón Montoya told his parents through tears as he arrived at his family's home in Trujillo, Honduras.Ardón Montoya was caught by federal agents in El Paso, Texas. He was offered a job and a place to live in Guatemala, but chose to return to his family.The 23-year-old told the Associated Press he might try to enter the U.S. again after Christmas.The Trump administration has enacted a host of policies meant to curb illegal immigration to the U.S., including placing restrictions on asylum seekers who enter the U.S. illegally. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a policy change preventing illegal asylum seekers from obtaining work permits until their applications have been approved.The Department of Homeland Security has also instituted the so-called "remain in Mexico" policy, whereby asylum seekers who enter the U.S. illegally are required to wait in Mexico while their applications are processed.While some of the Trump administration's immigration policies have been challenged in court, a senior Border Patrol official warned in October that striking down those policies could bring the flow of illegal immigration to "crisis level.""We will go back, mark the words, we will go back to the crisis level that we had before," said the Border Patrol's chief of law enforcement operations Brian Hastings. "It is kind of a new norm. We're at risk at any time."
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| Federal prosecutors are reportedly probing whether Rudy Giuliani acted as an 'unregistered foreign agent' Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:28 AM PST  According to reports, investigators have widened their investigation to probe Giuliani's firm in connection with possible criminal offences.
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| Jury hears 911 call from night engaged doctors were killed in penthouse Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:09 PM PST  Jury in the murder trial of Bampumim Teixeira hears a 911 call from the night Dr. Richard Field and Dr. Lina Bolaños were killed in their penthouse
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| A gun is fired on US school grounds twice a week, database reveals Posted: 26 Nov 2019 03:02 PM PST  More than once a month in the past year, gunfire has turned deadly, gun control advocates findPolice officers take part in active shooter response training exercise at Fountain middle school in Fountain, Colorado, in June 2017. Photograph: Dougal Brownlie/APA gun is fired on a school campus in America nearly twice a week. Suicide, homicides, a police shooting, attacks on students by other students: more than once a month this past year, gunfire on American school and university campuses has turned deadly, according to a database of school gunfire incidents compiled by advocates.In the latest in a series of brutal shootings in California, and 11-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy were shot to death in the parking lot of an elementary school in Union City, California, in the early hours of Saturday morning. Police had no immediate motive for the shooting, but said that a suspect or suspects had fired into the van the boys were sitting in multiple times.Schools are one of the safest places for kids in the United States, and shootings in and around schools represent only a tiny fraction of the violence that children face here on a daily basis. But even the small amount of gun violence that occurs at American schools adds up.Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, at least 233,000 kids across 243 schools have been exposed to gun violence during school hours, a Washington Post investigation found.Experts are quick to put that number in context. Researchers found that nearly 1,300 American children aged 17 and younger die from gunshot wounds each year, and they are more likely to be killed in homes or neighborhoods than at school.Domestic violence is particularly deadly. In San Diego, a domestic violence mass shooting claimed the lives of three young boys and their mother, all shot to death by the boys' father on 16 November, according to police. The fourth brother, nine-year-old Ezekiel Valdivia, died on Saturday afternoon, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.That single domestic violence shooting was deadlier than any of the school shooting attacks in the United States so far in 2019, according to tallies compiled by the Washington Post and the New York Times."Gunfire on school grounds is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how gun violence affects children and teenagers," said Ruhi Bengali, a senior associate at Everytown for Gun Safety, the country's largest gun control advocacy organization.But tracking gun violence on school grounds, as Everytown has done since after the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, does provide a window into the many ways gun violence burdens young people, even in places that are "inherently meant to be safe spaces for learning", Bengali said.Everytown's analysis found that 20% of all gunfire on school grounds comes from unintentional shootings, but that even these "actually resulted in a fair number of injuries. Gun suicides, with no intent to harm anyone else, represented 12% of all incidents," she said.As with other kinds of gun violence in America, students of color, and black students in particular, were disproportionately affected.Black students make up only 15% of the school population for K-12 schools, yet represented 24% of student victims in instances of gunfire on school grounds, she said.For the students affected by ongoing gun violence in and around their schools, local officials can offer additional counselors, but little evidence of national change on gun laws: Republican lawmakers have blocked any substantive gun control laws for the past quarter-century.In Union City, where the two kids were killed in the elementary school parking lot, students are out of school this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, but will have "district and community mental health providers available" when they return to school, spokesman John Mattos said.Not far away, students at Carl Munck elementary school in Oakland have also had additional counselors available to them. The president of the school's Parent Teacher Association, Misty Smith Walton, was shot to death outside her Oakland apartment earlier this month.Her death wasn't a school shooting. But that didn't mean it does not affect the school."She was always looking to improve her sons' classes and their school, always there to do whatever was needed in the front office, on the yard or anywhere else on campus," the superintendent said in a statement, calling her death a "horrific crime".
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| 71 Gifts That Give Good Vibes Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:57 AM PST |
| 3 accused war criminals wanted by Trump for campaign: Reports Posted: 26 Nov 2019 06:44 AM PST  President Trump has reportedly told aides he wants three convicted or accused war criminals to campaign for him during his bid for reelection in 2020.
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| US, EU 'owe half the cost' of repairing climate damage Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:02 AM PST  The United States and Europe bear more than half the cost of repairing the damage already wrought by climate change, a coalition of environmental groups said Monday. Based on their historic greenhouse gas emissions, the US and EU should be held jointly responsible for 54 percent of funding owed to developing nations already dealing with extreme flooding, droughts and megastorms rendered more frequent and intense by global warming, the groups said. A week ahead of a UN climate summit in Madrid -- in which the controversial issue of how funding for the so-called "loss and damage" inflicted by climate change will be provided -- they said the amount needed would hit $300 billion annually within a decade.
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| Freed film-maker Sentsov tells Europe: beware of Russia Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST  Oleg Sentsov, who was arrested in Crimea after Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory in 2014, was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought last year while he was still in jail. Russia and Mr Putin will absolutely cheat you. A Russian military court sentenced Sentsov to 20 years in a maximum security prison in 2015 after finding him guilty of setting fire to two offices in Crimea, including one belonging to Russia's ruling political party.
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| 10 Secret Santa gifts under $30 that won't get thrown away Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:19 AM PST  Is your Secret Santa situation seriously stumping you? Our product experts are here to help. These are our picks for best Secret Santa gifts under $30.
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| Could the U.S. Navy Have Destroyed Japan With Battleships? Posted: 26 Nov 2019 10:00 AM PST  At the end of World War II, the Navy had a problem of too many battleships—and an unusual solution.
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| Giuliani Represented Venezuelan Tycoon Accused of Connections to Chavez Regime Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:12 AM PST  President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani represented a wealthy Venezuelan businessman in a Justice Department investigation into alleged money laundering in Florida, the Washington Post reported on Monday.Alejandro Betancourt López was reportedly an uncharged co-conspirator in a case in which a group of Venezuelan businessmen, including Betancourt's cousin, tried to steal money from Venezuela's state-owned oil company and launder about $1.2 billion of those funds through real estate purchases in Florida. Giuliani represented Betancourt earlier this year during the DOJ investigation into the case, in which he argued Betancourt should not be made to face criminal charges.Giuliani also stayed at Betancourt's estate south of Madrid, Spain in August while simultaneously working to unearth corruption connected to Ukrainian officials and former vice president Joe Biden, at the behest of President Trump. While in Spain he met with top Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak to discuss details of the investigation into Biden that Trump wanted Ukraine to pursue.Betancourt, who was educated at Suffolk University, cofounded a power company called Derwick Associates. That company was alleged to have paid bribes to strongman Hugo Chavez's regime in order to build power plants for the country, according to the Wall Street Journal.In response to the Post's story, Giuliani denied wrongdoing."This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it," Giuliani told the Post via text.John Sale, an attorney of Betancourt and a friend of Giuliani from law school, declined to comment on the relationship between his client and the former mayor.Giuliani's businesses and several of his associates are currently under federal scrutiny in a wide-ranging investigation. One concern of the investigation is whether Giuliani acted as an unregistered agent for a foreign power or foreign nationals. When asked about the allegation that he acted as an unregistered foreign lobbyist, Giuliani told the Journal that whenever his foreign clients asked for assistance navigating the Trump administration, he passed them on to registered lobbyists.
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| Erdogan Plots an Overhaul of Political Realm as Challenges Mount Posted: 24 Nov 2019 10:20 PM PST ![Erdogan Plots an Overhaul of Political Realm as Challenges Mount]( "Erdogan Plots an Overhaul of Political Realm as Challenges Mount") (Bloomberg) -- Almost two decades into President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rule, he sees rivals running Turkey's most important cities and ex-allies who helped build his political empire on the verge of becoming opponents.It's time for a rethink. Over the next year or so, Erdogan's Justice and Development Party is planning a "grand congress" to rejuvenate decision-making by electing younger officials and women to bodies from the grassroots to the top echelons of the organization.The AK Party, as it's known by its Turkish acronym, will "refresh itself and its energy," Erdogan has said, acknowledging the need to learn lessons from stinging defeats in citywide elections in Istanbul and Ankara this year. The party will "strengthen its ranks with new friends and women" to reflect changes in society, said its deputy chairman, Erkan Kandemir.Erdogan and his party remained popular in Turkey's vast hinterland. And since those ballot box losses, the 65-year-old leader has consolidated backing among nationalist Turks with an offensive against a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia in northern Syria that Ankara considers a foe. Erdogan has garnered additional support by rejecting American pressure to abandon Turkey's purchase of a Russian missile-defense system.Young PretenderThe economy has so far escaped a long-lasting recession as fears of a military collision with pro-government forces in Syria, or severe U.S. sanctions over the deal with Moscow, haven't materialized. And Erdogan's near one-man presidential rule isn't scheduled to be tested at the ballot box until 2023.But it's increasingly clear that the AK Party -- and an increasingly autocratic Erdogan since he shifted Turkey to an executive presidency with sweeping powers -- are losing touch with two important constituencies: urban women and younger Turks angered by unemployment among their cohort hovering around historical peaks.The beneficiaries have included the Iyi Party led by Meral Aksener, one of Turkey's leading female politicians, and Ekrem Imamoglu, 49, who won the mayorship of Istanbul in a stinging defeat for the president in June, and now enjoys a growing profile with his pledges to rejuvenate the city.Former economy czar Ali Babacan and ex-Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, both sidelined by Erdogan, are also likely to appeal to younger voters, who are estimated to make up a third of the electorate. The two former AK Party stalwarts will probably launch their own parties by the end of this year.Istanbul's Mayor Says His Victory Is a Message Against PopulismThe governing party needs to show voters that the new presidential system it introduced is actually a functional one before it can push for elections again, according to Hilmi Dasdemir, the general manager of Ankara-based polling company Optimar."While Ekrem Imamoglu is the strongest potential rival, he needs to deliver his promises to sustain his popularity," Dasdemir said. That flux means Turks are likely to get a break from the torrent of recent elections as parties, including Imamoglu's Republican People's Party, focus on cementing support.Erdogan's government is 6% more popular than after June's redo election in Istanbul and is now backed by 56.7% of respondents, said Murat Gezici, head of the Gezici polling company. Optimar puts Erdogan's own approval rate at 53.6%, while the share of those supporting the creation of a new political party had slumped to 12.5% from 34% a year ago.That's bad news for Babacan and Davutoglu, whose camps are already complaining of intimidation tactics by Erdogan's party.Former Turkish Premier Davutoglu Quits Erdogan's Ruling AK Party Landlords have come under pressure not to rent their buildings to the aspiring parties, according to two people, one from each group, who asked not to be named. The people said the government's tight control of the media meant new parties were loath to name heavyweight members early on for fear of a prolonged assault on their characters in newspapers and on TV.They face other hurdles, too: the lack of clear support by Babacan or Davutoglu for the Syria operation risks backfiring amid heightened national sentiment, according to pollsters Gezici and Optimar.Davutoglu served as premier and chairman of the AK Party from 2014 to 2016, while Babacan, who presided over the boom that tripled the size of Turkey's economy following the financial crisis of 2001, severed ties with the party in July. Both were alarmed by Erdogan's growing dominance over the state but have have no plans to join forces, the people said.Erdogan has urged solidarity to ward off attempts to wrest power from his party as it regroups. "If we keep our brotherhood strong, then seeds of unrest can't grow," he said. "Those who wanted to harm the AK Party for their own political ambitions and aspirations have always been disappointed."To contact the reporters on this story: Firat Kozok in Ankara at fkozok@bloomberg.net;Selcan Hacaoglu in Ankara at shacaoglu@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, ;Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| How Thieves Just Pulled Off the Largest Treasure Heist Since World War II Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:59 PM PST  And how you can, too!
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| Archaeologists discovered a catacomb filled with mummified lion cubs, crocodiles, and cobras in an ancient Egyptian city of the dead Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:27 AM PST  Egyptologists discovered an ancient city of the dead in Saqqara. The grave site recently revealed dozens of mummified creatures, including lion cubs.
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