| Stanford law professor lights up House impeachment hearing Posted: 04 Dec 2019 10:33 AM PST  Stanford law professor Pamela Karlan delivered powerful testimony Wednesday before the House Judiciary Committee, explaining in simple terms why President Trump's conduct warranted his impeachment.
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| Activists apologize for use of Holocaust victims’ remains Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:50 AM PST  An activist group has apologized to Jewish organizations outraged over their use of purported Holocaust victims' remains in an installation outside Germany's parliament building meant to draw attention to the perils of far-right extremism. The Center for Political Beauty, a Germany-based activist group known for provocative stunts, installed an urn outside the Reichtstag building on Monday, saying it contained victims' remains that it had unearthed from 23 locations near Nazi death and concentration camps in Germany, Poland and Ukraine. Following the uproar from Jewish organizations decrying the stunt as an instrumentalization of the Holocaust and an affront to the dead, the group apologized and by Thursday morning the urn had been wrapped in opaque black plastic so its contents could not be seen.
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| The remarkable stories behind 5 iconic photos of the Pearl Harbor attack Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:56 AM PST  News and images of the devastating attack shocked the nation. Here are the stories behind five indelible images from that shocking day.
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| Wanted Indian guru resurfaces to announce new cosmic country Posted: 04 Dec 2019 08:36 AM PST  An Indian guru facing rape and sexual abuse charges made headlines Wednesday after he emerged from hiding and announced the birth of a new cosmic country with its own cabinet and golden passports. Swami Nithyananda, a controversial self-styled godman with thousands of followers in southern India's Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states, posted a video on his YouTube channel announcing the special project to his followers. 41-year-old Nithyananda announced that his country is called Kailaasa, and is the biggest Hindu nation without boundaries.
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| Russian spies used French Alps as 'base camp' for hits on Britain and other countries Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:59 AM PST  Fifteen Russian spies, including those accused of the Salisbury nerve agent attack, used the French Alps as a "base camp" to conduct covert operations around Europe over a five-year period, according to reports. The revelations came as Germany expelled two Russian diplomats after prosecutors said there was "sufficient factual evidence" linking Moscow to the killing of a former Chechen rebel commander in central Berlin. According to Le Monde, British, Swiss, French, and US intelligence have drawn up a list of 15 members of the 29155 unit of Russia's GRU military spy agency who all passed through France's Haute-Savoie mountains close to the Swiss and Italian borders. They stayed between 2015 and late 2018, notably in the towns of Evian, Annemasse and Chamonix - the scene of a ski chase in the 1999 James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough. They arrived from London, Moscow, Spain and often Geneva. The Le Monde report added five new names to those already published by online investigative outlets such as Bellingcat and The Insider. Their identities and movements were uncovered during a joint probe by allied counterespionage services in the wake of the attempted poisoning of defector Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018, said the paper. Britain and its allies accuse the Kremlin of seeking to assassinate Mr Skripal, a charge Russia vehemently denies. Those who stayed in the Haute-Savoie included Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - the cover names of the two GRU agents accused of carrying out the attack on Mr Skripal, along with Serguei Fedotov, the suspected mastermind. According to Le Monde, a fourth agent believed to be linked to the Skripal assassination attempt and who stayed in the Alps, Serguei Pavlov, was located in the UK by MI6 in 2017. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the Russian suspects in the Skripal poisoning, are among those alleged to have used the French Alps as a base Credit: Getty Images Europe Le Mondesaid the five new names cited, all aliases, are Alxandre Koulaguiine, Evgueni Larine, Tour Nouzirov, Naman Youssoupov and Guennadi Chvets. The unit was also active in areas such as Bulgaria, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine. Western intelligence services involved found no material or arms left behind by the agents during their stays in France, Le Monde said, but their presence was confirmed by where they ate, stayed and shopped. "The most likely hypothesis is to consider it (Haute-Savoie) as a rear base for all the clandestine operations carried out by unit 29155 in Europe," said a senior French intelligence official, quoted by Le Monde. The paper said that one theory is that by staying in the Alps, the agents hoped to shake off any suspicion before they carried out their missions, which could explain why they conducted no covert missions on French soil. On Wednesday, Angela Merkel's government summoned the Russian ambassador and ordered two of the embassy staff to leave the country within seven days. The two diplomats concerned are believed to be Russian intelligence officers, according to local media reports. The German foreign ministry said they had been declared persona non grata in protest at Russia's failure to cooperate with investigations into the killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national shot dead in a Berlin park in August. The suspected killer was captured by police attempting to dispose of a gun believed to be the murder weapon in the nearby river Spree. He was carrying a Russian passport which identified him as Vadim Sokolov, but German prosecutors on Wednesday confirmed that they now believe that is a false identity. Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were both poisoned with Novichok, a banned chemical weapon, in Salisbury Credit: Social media/EAST2WEST NEWS Police findings indicate that it is "highly likely" the arrested man is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national previously wanted for the murder of a businessman in Moscow in 2013, prosecutors said. A senior MP in Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat party (CDU) on Thursday described the case as a "return to the days of the Cold War". "Counterintelligence and foreign reconnaissance against Russia must be significantly expanded," Armin Schuster told Bild newspaper. "Germany must get its act together if a foreign state can order murder on German soil.". France denies any "laxism" by its embassy in Moscow for handing him a 90-day emergency visa on July 29 on a fictitious address. He passed through Paris before travelling on to Berlin. British and French intelligence sources told Le Monde the assassination was "ordered by the pro-Kremlin Chechen regime of Ramzan Kadyrov with logistical help of the Russian state". According to Le Monde, French intelligence suspects the Berlin assassination was leaked to the public for "political reasons" linked to President Emmanuel Macron's apparent rapprochement with Moscow. Last week, Mr Macron said: "Has the absence of dialogue with Russia made the European continent any safer? ... I don't think so." "France's desire to rebuild strategic ties with Moscow has clearly prompted reactions from states who prefer direct confrontation with Russia," said one French intelligence source, who denied any French "complacency or naivity" towards Moscow. French surveillance of foreign Russian espionage was, the source told Le Monde, "no doubt higher than any other service in Europe".
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| Double the Fighters: Why Japan Wants Domestic F-3s and the F-35 Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST  Specialized roles for both planes.
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| Pakistan pulls back on prosecuting Chinese sex traffickers Posted: 05 Dec 2019 06:58 AM PST  Pakistan has declined to pursue a sprawling case against Chinese sex traffickers due to fears it would harm economic ties with Beijing, the AP reported on Wednesday. Pakistan has been seeking closer ties with China for years as Beijing continue to make major investments in the country's infrastructure.
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| Devin Nunes Tries to Explain Away His Parnas and Giuliani Calls to Hannity Posted: 03 Dec 2019 07:48 PM PST  Hours after the House Intelligence Committee released call logs on Tuesday that revealed ranking member Devin Nunes (R-CA) had multiple phone calls with Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and Giuliani's indicted Ukrainian associate Lev Parnas this past spring, Nunes appeared on Fox News host Sean Hannity's show.According to the pro-Trump Republican lawmaker, the calls with individuals at the heart of the impeachment inquiry against the president were joking in nature—or maybe didn't even happen at all (despite records saying they did).After talking about Nunes' lawsuit against CNN over the network's report that the congressman met with a former Ukrainian prosecutor in Vienna (Nunes has also threatened The Daily Beast with a suit), Hannity brought up the phone calls while offering Nunes a helping hand."My sources are telling me that three of the four so-called calls were apparently just to Giuliani and maybe on Parnas' phone and under a minute," the Trump-boosting Fox host wondered. "Is that true?"Claiming he's known Giuliani for a very long time, Nunes insisted that he was speaking to the former New York City mayor quite a bit in April due to the release of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Russian election interference."And during that time, if you remember, that was right when Robert Mueller completely bombed and flamed out," Nunes recalled. "So, I remember talking to Rudy Giuliani. And we were actually laughing about how Mueller bombed out."The California lawmaker went on to say that if there were recordings of the calls, "they are welcome to play them," as he "wouldn't care if the American people found out.""Did you ever talk to this guy Les Parnas or whatever his name is?" Hannity asked, mispronouncing the Giuliani henchman's name while acting like he barely knows who Parnas is."You know, it's possible," Nunes replied. "I haven't gone through my phone records. I don't really recall that name.""I remember the name now because he has been indicted," the conservative congressman added. "Why would CNN rely on somebody like this? I will go back and check my records, but it seems very unlikely I will be taking calls from random people."The phone logs, meanwhile, showed that one of the calls between Parnas and Nunes lasted nearly nine minutes.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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| The college admissions scandal ringleader tried to recruit 7 Stanford coaches to be part of the scheme but only one took the bait Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:04 AM PST  Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne published a letter about the school's investigation into the college admissions scandal on Tuesday.
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| In fiery memo, Dem lawmaker urges Congress to include Trump’s 'racism' in articles of impeachment Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:47 AM PST  Rep. Al Green, the first member of Congress who called for President Trump to be impeached sent a memo Wednesday to House members urging them to incorporate concerns about Trump's "racism" into the ongoing impeachment inquiry.
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| Postal worker shot at a Virginia post office Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:52 PM PST ![Postal worker shot at a Virginia post office]( "Postal worker shot at a Virginia post office") Authorities say a postal worker has been shot at a northern Virginia post office by an agent for the Postal Service's Inspector General's office. News outletsreport that it happened Wednesday morning at the parking lot of the Lovettsville post office in Loudoun County. The Loudoun County Sheriff's Office is investigating the shooting along with the inspector general's office.
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| George Zimmerman, who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, sues Martin family in Florida Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:56 AM PST  Former Florida volunteer community watchman George Zimmerman, whose 2012 killing of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin drew attention across the United States, sued Martin's family and lawyers on Wednesday, saying they used a fake witness against him. Zimmerman is seeking at least $100 million in damages from Martin's parents, state prosecutors and two women, who are accused in a Polk County, Florida, lawsuit of helping provide false statements to investigators and during the trial, according to court papers. On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman, who was then a neighborhood watch captain in a gated community in Sanford, Florida, fatally shot Martin after the teen's trip to a convenience store to buy snacks.
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| NATO is finally talking about China, and there are 3 big problems it has to address Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:23 PM PST  Many of NATO's longstanding problems were under discussion at its leaders summit this week, but the agenda included a relatively new challenge: China.
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| The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:00 PM PST |
| Opposition figure freed in Nigeria after court ruling Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:24 PM PST  Nigerian opposition activist Omoyele Sowore and co-defendant Olawale Bakare were set free on Thursday after months in detention, for alleged treason. The pair were released hours after a judge gave the secret police 24 hours to release Sowore, who had been held since August by the Department of State Services (DSS) after urging protests under the online banner "#RevolutionNow". Sowore, 48, also ran unsuccessfully against President Muhammadu Buhari in the February polls.
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| President Trump's trade policy seems to have achieved the impossible Posted: 05 Dec 2019 04:42 PM PST  Past administrations' symbolic protocol exchanges with China were a fool's errand, writes Juscelino F. Colares of Case Western Reserve University
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| Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:15 PM PST ![Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader]( "Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader") The longest-serving state House speaker in modern American history is a subject of inquiries in an ongoing federal corruption investigation that has already entangled several top Illinois Democrats, according to a newspaper report published Thursday. Four people interviewed by investigators told the Chicago Tribune that FBI agents and prosecutors asked about Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's ties to ComEd lobbyists, contracts the utility had with Madigan associates and government jobs those close to Madigan have landed. A message seeking comment from Madigan spokesman Steve Brown on Thursday was not returned.
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| William Barr: 'Communities' that don't show law enforcement more respect may lose 'police protection' Posted: 04 Dec 2019 06:11 AM PST  William Barr made the comments, which have drawn some criticism, while awarding law enforcement officers and deputies for service in policing.
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| Transgender teen charged in school shooting will be tried as an adult Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:09 PM PST ![Transgender teen charged in school shooting will be tried as an adult]( "Transgender teen charged in school shooting will be tried as an adult") A 16-year-old transgender teenager should be tried as an adult on murder charges stemming from a shooting rampage at a suburban Denver high school in which one student was killed and eight others wounded, a Colorado judge ruled on Wednesday. Alec McKinney, 16, was ordered along with Devon Erickson, 19, to stand trial on first-degree murder, attempted murder and weapons charges in the May 7 shooting at the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) School in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, on May 7. An 18-year-old student at the school, Kendrick Castillo, was shot to death when he ran toward one of the two assailants in what has been called a heroic effort to stop the shooting and save lives.
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| Hermit crabs dying after mistaking plastic for shells, study finds Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:59 PM PST  Hermit crabs are mistaking plastic for shells and the problem has killed more than half a million of the crustaceans, a new study by the Natural History Museum has found. The creatures do not make their own shells but instead move from discarded shell to discarded shell as they grow. They are not used to plastic in their environment so do not know to avoid it. Once they crawl into a piece of plastic debris, the crabs frequently get stuck and starve to death. Researchers said that if even just one crab mistakes some plastic debris for a shell, this can cause a "gruesome chain reaction", as when one dies it emits a signal alerting others there is a new shell. This causes scores of crabs to come scurrying across the island and fall into the plastic trap. The team carried out several surveys across a range of sites to ascertain of how many containers there were, including how many were open, how many were in a position likely to trap crabs, and how many contained trapped crabs. The results recorded 61,000 crabs trapped in debris on Henderson Island and 508,000 on the Cocos (Keeling) islands. This equated to 1-2 crabs per m2 of beach falling foul of debris, a significant percentage of the population. Around 570,000 hermit crabs become entrapped in debris on two tropical islands - the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean and Henderson Island in the Pacific. Dr Alex Bond, Senior Curator in Charge, Birds, The Natural History Museum, said, "The problem is quite insidious really, because it only takes one crab. "Hermit crabs do not have a shell of their own, which means that when one of their compatriots die, they emit a chemical signal that basically says 'there's a shell available' attracting more crabs who fall into the containers and die, who then send out more signals that say there are more shells available. "Essentially it is this gruesome chain reaction." The results come from a first of its kind study led by the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania and including researchers from London's Natural History Museum as well as the Two Hands Project community science organization. IMAS researcher Dr Jennifer Lavers, who led the study said, "These results are shocking but perhaps not surprising, because beaches and the vegetation that fringes them are frequented by a wide range of wildlife. "It is inevitable that these creatures will interact with and be affected by plastic pollution, although ours is one of the first studies to provide quantitative data on such impacts." The study is published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
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| The U.S. Army's Ultimate Weapon Isn't a New Gun or Tank Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:55 AM PST  Nope. Think AI.
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| Tesla refused to help the police with an investigation into stolen copper wire after Elon Musk learned about the incident because the company was scared of bad press Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:08 AM PST  Tesla declined to assist authorities on other occasions amid reports of "rampant crime" in 2018, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
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| The fired Chicago police superintendent says he made a 'poor decision' on the night he was found asleep at a stop sign with his SUV running Posted: 04 Dec 2019 07:27 AM PST  Former Chicago police superintendent Eddie Johnson said he "did not intentionally mislead or deceive the Mayor or the people of Chicago."
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| Indonesia minister says sacking Garuda CEO over smuggled Harley Posted: 04 Dec 2019 04:37 PM PST  The CEO of Indonesia's national airline Garuda will be sacked for allegedly smuggling a Harley Davidson motorcycle into the country and using a sub-ordinate's name on import papers to avoid detection, a minister said Thursday. State-owned enterprises minister Erick Thohir said the airline's chief Ari Ashkara allegedly brought over parts of the disassembled motorbike on a plane from France last month. The alleged smuggling was meant to avoid declaring the 800 million rupiah ($57,000) motorbike to customs, he added.
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| Trump’s $28 Billion Trade War Bailout Is Overpaying Farmers Posted: 04 Dec 2019 08:57 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. President Donald Trump's $28 billion farm bailout may be paying many growers more than the trade war with China has cost them.The U.S. Department of Agriculture's calculations overshot the impact of the trade conflict on American soybean prices, according to six academic studies, a conclusion that is likely to add to criticism that the bailout has generated distortions and inequalities in the farm economy."It's clear that the payment rates overstated the damage suffered by soybean growers," said Joseph Glauber, the USDA's former chief economist who published a review of the research in late November. "Based on what the studies show, the damages were about half that."The academic research has focused on soybeans in part because the crop has been the most visible target of Chinese retaliation and overall received the most trade aid. But the method the department used to calculate trade losses also likely overstates the conflict's financial impact on most other farm products, though for a few commodities it may understate the true impact, Glauber, now a senior fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, said in an interview.The divergence doesn't necessarily mean a bonanza for American farmers, who are being financially squeezed on other fronts, including a global commodity glut that is depressing prices and a year of wild weather that is damaging crop yields. Also, the trade conflict risks long-term loss of market share for U.S. producers as overseas customers build relationships with replacement suppliers. Neither the academic nor the USDA estimates take potential future market losses into account."You're ruining a huge export market," said Yuqing Zheng, an agricultural economist at the University of Kentucky. "Longer term, we don't know for sure what the impact will be. Even if there is no future tariff, China might import less from the United States."Still, a team led by Zheng estimated the trade conflict depressed U.S. soybean prices by only 36 cents per bushel in its first year, a period in which the bailout program paid soybean growers more than four times that: $1.65 per bushel.The scale of the farm rescue package has now swelled to more than twice the ultimate $12 billion cost of the controversial auto industry bailouts under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. And it's increasingly come under under fire.Senate Democrats issued a report in November arguing the trade aid program favors large producers over smaller ones. An advocacy group, the Environmental Working Group, released a study that asserted big farms so far have been the main beneficiaries of the billions of dollars in aid payments.The USDA forecast last week net farm income will rise more than 10% this year to $92.5 billion, with additional government aid accounting for all of the increase in profits. Almost 40% of projected U.S. farm profits this year will come from trade aid, disaster assistance, federal subsidies and insurance payments. With the extra aid, farmers will have their highest profits in six years, though still well below the $124 billion they netted in 2013, according to the department.A Purdue University-CME Group survey of farmers' agricultural sentiment climbed for a second month in November to match its highest level since the survey's inception in 2015. Midwest SupportersThe trade aid, particularly for soybeans, largely goes to the president's political supporters. Polls show Trump has maintained overwhelming backing from farmers. In the 2016 election, Trump won eight of the 10 states with the largest soybean acreage, all of them in the Midwest. Glauber estimates more than half of the direct payments under the USDA's market facilitation program cover soybeans.The apparent over-payment stems from the method the USDA used to compute trade damages for the rescue package. The department forecast the overall price impact of punitive tariffs China and other nations imposed on U.S. farm products without considering sales farmers would gain as the world market reorganized in response. But as China bought more soybeans from Brazil, instead of the U.S., other buyers stepped in to purchase more soybeans from the U.S., replacing product they had previously bought from Brazil."A broader analysis like some of these show the beans go elsewhere," Glauber said. "They don't just go into storage. Some of them go to Europe. Some of them go to other uses. We ended up crushing a lot more soybeans in 2018 than expected. We exported more vegetable oil, more protein meal. All of that mitigates the price impact."Pat Westhoff, director of the University of Missouri's Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, led a team that estimated tariffs from China and other nations involved in trade disputes caused the price of U.S. soybeans to drop by 78 cents per bushel.The USDA projections "do not consider the impact of exports to other markets," Westhoff said. "They consider only the negatives and not the positives."New MarketsMichael Adjemian, an economist at the University of Georgia, came up with a lower impact: 52 cents a bushel. He based his model on the export price for soybeans in New Orleans."New markets emerged," Adjemian said. "We sold more to the rest of the world, though not enough to make up all of the difference."Robert Johansson, the USDA's chief economist, said the department decided to base trade aid on a projection of "gross" trade losses rather "net" losses primarily for consistent treatment of producers of diverse farm products affected. It's harder to isolate net trade impact for specialty crops such as pecans or almonds than for major commodities such as soybeans, he said."We need to be pretty sure whatever method we use is consistent across all commodities," Johansson said. "You can imagine what the reaction would be if we said we'll use this model for soybeans and that model for sorghum and another one for cotton."USDA officials also concluded after consulting with U.S. trade negotiators that there was an advantage to using the gross damages method because it is the basis the country uses for arguing cases before the World Trade Organization, which handles international trade disputes, Johansson said.Transportation FactorIndividual producers also may face greater losses than the overall net price impact of the trade war depending on their location because there may be higher transportation costs for moving their goods to a different market or other adjustment costs, he added.In some cases, though, the method the USDA uses to compute trade aid may understate losses to farmers. Westhoff cited corn growers. The gross trade losses cover only the direct impact of the tariff dispute. Corn growers have primarily been hurt by indirect effects as farmers who might otherwise grow soybeans produce corn instead, bringing down corn prices, he said.The USDA has made a higher trade damage estimate for soybeans in this year's aid program, at $2.05 per bushel, which Westhoff said also exceeds his group's estimate for the impact in the period.This year's payment is higher because the USDA decided to calculate the damage based on export sales over the past 10 years; last year's payment was based on a comparison with the prior year.Wendy Brannen, a spokeswoman for the American Soybean Association, declined to comment.(Updates with sentiment survey in 11th paragraph. A previous version of the story corrected the spelling of Johansson.)To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Dorning in Washington at mdorning@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Millie Munshi, Steven FrankFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| UN says 58 migrants dead as boat capsizes off Mauritania Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:22 PM PST ![UN says 58 migrants dead as boat capsizes off Mauritania]( "UN says 58 migrants dead as boat capsizes off Mauritania") At least 58 people are dead after a boat carrying dozens of migrants capsized in the Atlantic Ocean off the West African nation of Mauritania, the U.N. migration agency said Wednesday. It was one of the deadliest disasters this year among migrants trying to make the perilous journey to Europe. The boat carrying at least 150 people had been low on fuel while approaching Mauritania, the International Organization for Migration said in a statement.
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| NATO allies just want the United States to subsidize European defense Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:11 PM PST  Reform NATO. China is our foremost adversary, not Russia, writes Jordan Schachtel, an investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C.
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| Employee shot at a Virginia post office Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:56 AM PST  Authorities say a postal worker has been shot at a northern Virginia post office by an agent for the Postal Service's Inspector General's office. News outlets report that it happened Wednesday morning at the parking lot of the Lovettsville post office in Loudoun County.
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| This Is How the U.S. Marine Corps Wants to Deter Russia and China Posted: 05 Dec 2019 11:00 AM PST  Big changes are coming.
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| Second evacuation order lifted in Texas city hit by explosion, chemical fire Posted: 04 Dec 2019 09:24 PM PST  Authorities on Thursday lifted a second evacuation order in a week for thousands of people in a Texas city as U.S. safety officials began examining what caused the latest in a series of chemical plant fires in the state. The about 14,000 residents of Port Neches 95 miles (153 km) east of Houston were told to flee late on Wednesday when air monitors detected high levels of cancer causing petrochemicals butane and butadiene following an explosion last week. Butadiene is the main product of the TPC Group's facility in the city struck by last week's blast and fire, which injured three workers and prompted an initial, two-day evacuation.
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| Two school shootings a day apart: Wisconsin reckons with impact of armed guards Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:04 PM PST  Shootings involving resource officers renew debate over the role of armed teachers or police in schools Shootings a day apart at two high schools in Wisconsin have shaken the state and sparked a renewed debate over how to combat violence in American schools.An Oshkosh police department resource officer shot a 16-year-old student Tuesday after the boy stabbed him in the officer's office at Oshkosh West high school. A day earlier, a resource officer at Waukesha South high school helped clear students out of a classroom after a 17-year-old student pointed a pellet gun at another student's head. Another police officer entered the room and shot the student.Neither of the students who were shot suffered life-threatening injuries. The Democratic governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, called the shootings "breathtaking and tragic"."The trauma that happens because of this just ripples through the community," Evers added. "It will take time for people to recover from this. Trauma is a significant issue. We have to be patient."The debate about the role of armed teachers or police in schools has been a constant in the wake of school shootings across the country. But rarely have armed resource officers been able to prevent a shooting.An estimated 43% of public schools have armed officers on campus, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics. The survey covered the 2015-2016 school year, the most recent year surveyed. That figure doesn't include schools with armed private security guards or teachers and administrators who carry guns.The US Department of Justice has adopted best practices for resource officers from the National Association of School Resources. Those guidelines call for resource officers to serve as police officers as well as teachers and mentors.Nasro recommends such officers have three years of experience and says they should be willing to engage with students and have excellent communication skills. They should complete a school-based policing course before being assigned to the beat and complete an advanced school policing course Nasro provides within a year of completing the basic course. They also should complete biannual training on how lone officers should handle threats and assailants.No Wisconsin laws spell out any special requirements for resource officers or restrictions on their weapons. But the state department of justice has adopted best practices similar to Nasro's recommendations, calling for officers to work with schools on the extent of their duties, the skills they need, and where school discipline ends and illegal conduct begins. The state guidelines also suggest officers receive training in child development, restraint policies and de-escalation strategies.It's not clear what led to Tuesday's stabbing at Oshkosh West high school, which has 1,700 students. The police chief, Dean Smith, said that the officer and the student got into an "altercation" in the officer's office, the student stabbed the officer with an edged weapon – Smith declined to elaborate – and the officer opened fire with his 9mm pistol, hitting the student once. It's unclear how many times the officer may have fired. Officials said the officer has 21 years of experience with the Oshkosh police department and has served as a school resource officer since 2017.At Waukesha South high school, 80 miles (130km) south of Oshkosh in suburban Milwaukee, a 17-year-old student apparently grew angry with another student and pointed a pellet gun at the other student. The school's resource officer helped clear students from the classroom.Linda Ager told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Waukesha shooting happened in the classroom of her husband, Brett Hart, a special education teacher at Waukesha South. Ager said her husband restrained the student until the resource officer arrived.At some point, another officer entered the room and shot the student who refused to drop the weapon. Police said the boy pointed the gun at officers as they confronted him.Police said the student with the pellet gun underwent surgery and was in stable condition."Today's tragic event shows that trained school resource officers can save lives," Vickie Cartwright, the Oshkosh superintendent, said at a news conference on Tuesday.As school shootings have become more frequent, gun rights advocates and gun control advocates have sparred over how best to respond to them. Supporters of gun restrictions have argued that putting more guns in schools does little to prevent shootings and just puts students at greater risk.Last year armed guards at three high-profile school shootings – Marshall county high school in Benton, Kentucky; Majory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida; and Santa Fe high school in Texas – were unable to stop those shootings. In Parkland, the school's resource officer remained outside rather than enter the building to engage the shooter and try to stop it.But gun-rights advocates believe having more armed educators and law enforcement in schools will help stop a shooter from going on a rampage."This confirms that action can, and should, be taken to mitigate harm and limit casualties when weapons are brought into school," Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, said on Tuesday.Evers, the Wisconsin governor, said he is committed to working with Republicans who control the legislature on increasing mental health funding for schools.Evers said on WTMJ-Radio that he thinks Republicans will work with him on that, even though they did not provide as much funding for mental health programs as Evers requested in the state budget approved this summer. Republicans also refused to take up a pair of gun safety bills earlier this year that Evers said were part of the solution to combating violence in schools.Evers, a former state superintendent of schools who worked as a principal, school superintendent and administrator before he was elected governor, said the issue is particularly striking for him, given his background and the fact that has three grown children and nine grandchildren. Two of his children attended the high school in Oshkosh where the shooting occurred."Our kids need help," he said. "I've been around long enough to see how this has amplified over time. The time is now to take it on."
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| Pentagon Denies U.S. is Considering Deploying Thousands of Additional Troops to Middle East Posted: 05 Dec 2019 05:18 AM PST  The Pentagon denied a report from the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that the U.S. is considering a buildup of military forces in the Middle East, including dozens of ships and up to 14,000 additional soldiers.The possible deployment of military forces could be intended to counter threats from Iran throughout the region. U.S. officials are reportedly concerned that an Iranian attack on U.S. forces as they currently stand would leave America with few options to respond. Sending additional forces may give the U.S. more leeway in choosing an appropriate response to Iranian aggression.Pentagon press secretary Alyssa Farah flatly denied the Journal's report on the number of troops the U.S. was considering for deployment."This reporting by the @WSJ is wrong.The U.S. is not considering sending 14,000 additional troops to the Middle East," Farah wrote on Twitter.In September, Iran launched a sophisticated attack combining drones and cruise missiles on Saudi Arabian oil-processing infrastructure, briefly halting the flow of five percent of the world's oil supply. The Iranian government is currently under intense domestic pressure after protests over fuel prices rocked the country. Regime security forces have reportedly killed hundreds of demonstrators while the government imposed a country-wide internet blackout.President Trump is weighing a buildup of U.S. forces even as the country prepares for an election year. Trump has repeatedly promised to end American involvement in "endless wars" and touted the withdrawal of troops from northern Syria in October as a fulfillment of his pledge, despite severe Republican criticism of the decision.
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| Reps. Collins and Gohmert: 'Too late to submit a unanimous consent request?' 'Typical, just typical' Posted: 04 Dec 2019 04:51 PM PST  Sparks fly between House Judiciary chairman Rep. Jerry Nadler and Reps. Doug Collins and Louie Gohmert during closing statements on Day 1 of the committee's impeachment inquiry.
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| A man arrested in Russia is accused of building a fake border with Finland 15 miles from the real one and charging migrants $11,000 to cross it Posted: 05 Dec 2019 10:49 AM PST  The man is accused of building fake border posts in the Vyborg region, Interfax said, and taking the men on an extended route along a series of roads.
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| Missile Shield: Romania Now Has America's Aegis Ashore Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:10 AM PST  A powerful system.
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| Zimbabwe court appoints Mugabe daughter to identify his assets Posted: 05 Dec 2019 03:13 AM PST  A court in Zimbabwe on Thursday appointed Robert Mugabe's daughter to identify assets left by the late former leader so they can be distributed to his beneficiaries, his lawyer said. Zimbabweans are keen to know how much wealth Mugabe accrued during his 37 years in power. The Master of High Court in Harare appointed Bona Chikore executor of her father's estate, the Mugabe family lawyer Terrence Hussein told reporters, adding that this had been agreed by family members.
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| Warren Is Drafting U.S. Legislation to Reverse ‘Mega Mergers’ Posted: 04 Dec 2019 03:43 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is drafting a bill that would call on regulators to retroactively review about two decades of "mega mergers" and ban such deals going forward.Warren's staff recently circulated a proposal for sweeping anti-monopoly legislation, which would deliver on a presidential campaign promise to check the power of Big Tech and other industries. Although the Trump administration is currently exploring their own antitrust probes, the proposal is likely to face resistance from lawmakers.According to a draft of the bill reviewed by Bloomberg, the proposal would expand antitrust law beyond the so-called consumer welfare standard, an approach that has driven antitrust policy since the 1970s. Under the current framework, the federal government evaluates mergers primarily based on potential harm to consumers through higher prices or decreased quality. The new bill would direct the government to also consider the impact on entrepreneurs, innovation, privacy and workers.Warren's bill, tentatively titled the Anti-Monopoly and Competition Restoration Act, would also ban non-compete and no-poaching agreements for workers and protect the rights of gig economy workers, such as drivers for Uber Technologies Inc., to organize.A draft of Warren's bill was included in an email Monday from Spencer Waller, the director of the Institute for Consumer Antitrust Studies at Loyola University Chicago. Waller urged fellow academics to sign a petition supporting it. He said Warren was working on the bill with Representative David Cicilline, the most prominent voice on antitrust issues in the House. Waller declined to comment on the email.Representatives for Cicilline and Warren declined to comment. The existence of the bill and Warren's support of it were reported earlier this week by the technology publication the Information.In Washington, there is some support across the political spectrum for increased antitrust scrutiny of large technology companies. Warren positioned herself as a leader on the issue this year while campaigning on a plan to break up Big Tech. She has repeatedly called for unwinding Facebook Inc.'s acquisitions of WhatsApp and Instagram, along with Google's purchase of YouTube and advertising platform DoubleClick.Read more: Warren Accuses Michael Bloomberg of 'Buying the Election'It's not clear when a bill would be introduced or whether it would move forward in its current form. Cicilline has said he would not introduce antitrust legislation until he concludes an antitrust investigation for the House Judiciary Committee in early 2020.Amy Klobuchar, a Senator from Minnesota who's also vying for the Democratic nomination, has pushed legislation covering similar ground. Klobuchar plans to introduce additional antitrust legislation soon, according to a person familiar with the matter who wasn't authorized to discuss the plans and asked not to be identified.Any proposal would face significant hurdles to becoming law, and Warren's version could be particularly problematic because it promotes the idea that antitrust enforcement is equivalent to being against big business, said Barak Orbach, a law professor at the University of Arizona who received a draft of the bill. "The way I read it is that Elizabeth Warren is trying to make a political statement in the course of her campaign," Orbach said. "It's likely to have negative effects on antitrust enforcement, so I just don't see the upside other than for the campaign."The bill proposes a ban on mergers where one company has annual revenue of more $40 billion, or where both companies have sales exceeding $15 billion, except under certain exceptions, such as when a company is in immediate danger of insolvency. That would seemingly put a freeze on many acquisitions for Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc., Facebook, Microsoft Corp. and dozens of other companies. The bill would also place new limitations on smaller mergers.Chris Sagers, a law professor at Cleveland State University, said the proposal would serve as an effective check on corporate power. "I don't think you'll have new antitrust policy until Congress says the courts have incorrectly interpreted the statutes," he said. "Someone has to do what Elizabeth Warren is doing."(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Newcomer in San Francisco at enewcomer@bloomberg.net;Joshua Brustein in New York at jbrustein@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Milian at mmilian@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Israel and Czech Republic sign $125 mn missile defence deal Posted: 05 Dec 2019 09:23 AM PST  Israel's defence ministry signed a deal with its Czech counterpart on Thursday to sell it radar systems used in the Jewish state's Iron Dome missile defence system. The radars will be integrated into the Czech air defence system which will use Prague's own rocket launchers, a ministry spokesperson said. Czech defence minister Lubomir Metnar said the acquisition was one of the country's "key modernisation projects" for its armed forces.
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| North Korea just called Trump an old imbecile in the latest sign the country is back on a warpath Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:49 AM PST  Kim Jong Un first used the insult "dotard" — referring to someone who's senile and losing it — in 2017, when Trump called him "Little Rocket Man."
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| 3 charged over Australia’s largest crystal meth seizure Posted: 04 Dec 2019 06:08 PM PST  Two customs agents and an information technology worker appeared in a court on Thursday charged with drug offenses over Australia's largest seizure of methamphetamine, which had been smuggled to Melbourne from Bangkok in stereo speakers. Police estimate the 1.6 metric tons (1.7 U.S. tons) of the drug also known as ice and crystal meth had a street value of AU$1.197 billion ($818 million). The 37 kilograms (82 pounds) of heroin also seized was the largest haul of that drug in Australia since 2017, police said.
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| Climate models have been right all along, study finds Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:59 AM PST  Even the rather primitive climate computer models of the 1970s, 80s and 90s were impressively accurate, lending extra credibility to the much more advanced climate models of today, study finds
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| Investigators probing role weather may have played in deadly South Dakota plane crash Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:52 AM PST  An NTSB investigator examines the wreckage of a Pilatus PC-12 airplane near Chamberlain Municipal Airport in South Dakota. The aircraft crashed on Saturday, November 30, 2019, moments after taking off amid heavy snowfall. The crash killed nine of the 12 people on board. (NTSB) The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released new information Tuesday about the plane crash in Chamberlain, South Dakota, that killed nine people and injured three others within a mile of takeoff. A review of the available information about the fatal crash, which occurred Saturday within a mile of takeoff, indicates weather was a significant, if not major, factor, experts say.Chamberlain, and much of South Dakota, was under a winter storm warning and experiencing near-blizzard conditions around the time of the crash on Saturday.The single-engine Pilatus PC-12 arrived in Chamberlain Friday at about 9:30 a.m. CST, according to the NTSB report. The airplane remained parked on the airport ramp until the accident a day later, the report noted."They landed on Friday ahead of the storm, and it looks like they just left the plane parked on the runway," said AccuWeather senior meteorologist David Samuhel, who reviewed the NTSB statement. "There was probably 8 or 9 inches of snow, so the plane probably had a whole lot of snow and ice on it." The NTSB is still investigating the crash, and it's not clear if the snow and ice were cleared from the aircraft before takeoff. Samuhel said, "If they didn't get the snow and ice off the wings, that would be a huge problem." A photo of a Pilatus PC-12 in flight. (Pilatus Aircraft Ltd) An aviation expert AccuWeather spoke with also said there was likely frost or ice below the layer of snow and added that it's "doubtful the facilities exist for that sort of deicing at this small airport." AccuWeather reached out to the Chamberlain airport manager, who as of late Thursday had not yet responded.Ice and snow needs to be properly removed from a plane for the flight to be legal, and if that doesn't happen, the consequences can be dire. "You're looking at [an] increase in drag of 40 percent and decrease of lift of 30 percent if you don't deice properly."Also, the NTSB reported the weather observation station at the Chamberlain airport recorded winds of 7 mph, with half-mile visibility and moderate snow and icing. AccuWeather's Samuhel believes the winds were likely much stronger."I question the wind reading at Chamberlain airport," he said. "Pierre is about 65 miles to the northwest of Chamberlain, but the conditions probably weren't much different and winds in Pierre were gusting to 40 mph and even higher some parts of the day."They were leaving Saturday and the storm was starting to wrap up, but they were still in a bad part of it where the wind was really kicking up and they were probably getting blowing snow, too," Samuhel said.According to Travis Garza, president of wellness company Kyani, the company's two founders, Jim Hansen and Kirk Hansen, were among the crash victims. The other seven passengers who died were their relatives; three passengers survived.Another factor that could have contributed to the crash was a possible load imbalance. The Pilatus PC-12 pilot's information manual notes the "maximum number of occupants is 9 passengers" plus 1-2 pilot(s). According to the NTSB report, there were 12 people on the plane.There were 393 U.S. civil aviation deaths in 2018, an increase from 347 in 2017, according to the NTSB. Most aviation deaths in 2018 took place during general aviation operations - all civilian flying except scheduled passenger airline service - when 381 were killed, compared to 331 in 2017.
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| Rep. Duncan Hunter Shows no Signs of Resigning Despite Pleading Guilty to Campaign Finance Charges Posted: 05 Dec 2019 06:34 AM PST  Representative Duncan Hunter (R., Calif.) has not indicated that he will leave his seat in the House after he pleaded guilty on Wednesday to campaign finance violations.Hunter had long criticized the investigation against him as a "witch hunt," but announced on Sunday that he would change his stance and plead guilty. Hunter and his wife, who pleaded guilty to similar charges in June, were accused of using $250,000 in campaign funds to pay for family vacations to Hawaii, plane tickets for their pet rabbit, and other personal expenses. Both face a possible sentence of eight to fourteen months in jail."I failed to monitor and account for my campaign spending. I made mistakes, and that's what today was all about," Duncan told reporters on Tuesday after his guilty plea. He said he wanted to avoid a trial "for my kids. I think it would be really tough for them."However, the congressman has not yet discussed resigning from the House with minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.). Hunter refused to answer Politico on Wednesday when they asked whether he planned to resign.Hunter is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17. One Republican lawmaker said party leadership would give him time to "get his affairs in order," but that time would be limited. Republicans had to force Hunter to give up positions on various House committees after his guilty plea.Former Rep. Chris Collins (R., N.Y.) resigned on September 30, one day before he pleaded guilty to charges of insider trading.
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