| Graham now says Trump's Ukraine policy was too 'incoherent' for quid pro quo Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:22 AM PST  A day after saying he wouldn't bother to read the testimony, Sen. Lindsey Graham now says he did read it, and his conclusion is that the Trump administration's Ukraine policy was too "incoherent" for it to have orchestrated the quid pro quo at the heart of the impeachment inquiry.
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| Motive one of the many questions after family is massacred in Mexico Posted: 07 Nov 2019 07:17 AM PST  Amid the horror, eight children survived the slayings on a road near Rancho La Mora in the Mexican state of Sonora.
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| South Korea deports North Koreans who fled after killing 16 Posted: 07 Nov 2019 05:32 PM PST  In an extremely unusual case, South Korea deported two North Korean fishermen on Thursday after determining they had killed 16 other crew members on their boat and then fled to South Korean waters, Seoul officials said. South Korea has a policy of accepting North Koreans who want to resettle in the South to avoid political oppression and poverty at home. This week's deportations were the first South Korea has carried out of any North Korean who came to the South since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to Seoul's Unification Ministry, which deals with North Korean affairs.
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| Looking for a hero: shirtless Chilean protester, police-hating dog rise to fame Posted: 07 Nov 2019 12:53 PM PST  A hooded, muscular man shielding himself with a traffic "Stop" sign during a clash with police amid protests in the Chilean capital has gone viral on social networks, with the man being lauded as a romantic hero of the struggle that has raged for the past three weeks. The image of "PareMan" or "Captain Pare," as he has become known - pare means stop in Spanish - was first captured on Oct. 30 by Reuters photographer Jorge Silva during protests on Santiago's central Alameda thoroughfare. The phrase #PareMan has been trending on social media with some eulogizing him as the "First Chilean Superhero" of the protests, which started over a hike in public transport fares and has broadened to include grievances over low pensions and salaries, high utility rates and patchy public services.
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| Cheapest Trucks You Can Buy for 2019–2020 Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:48 AM PST |
| Bolivian Mayor Has Hair Forcibly Cut by Masked Protesters as Post-Election Violence Continues Posted: 07 Nov 2019 10:18 AM PST  Vinto Mayor Patricia Arce was covered in red paint and had her hair cut in violence after President Evo Morales's contested election.
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| Woman claims she was 'slut-shamed' by airline Posted: 07 Nov 2019 01:11 PM PST  An Australian woman said she was "publicly slut-shamed" by two Jetstar airline employees while trying to board a flight at Sydney Airport.
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| Thailand drug suspects run to ground days after daring escape Posted: 06 Nov 2019 05:50 AM PST  An American drug suspect and his Thai wife who went on the run after they shot and stabbed their way out of a courtroom were apprehended Wednesday, authorities said, with the man shooting his wife and then himself as police closed in. The couple, along with an associate, had made their brazen and violent escape from a court holding room in the seedy southern city of Pattaya on Monday, wounding a police officer before fleeing in a pick-up truck. "The foreign suspect shot his wife, and then himself," Sattawat Hiranburana, assistant to the national police chief, told AFP, adding that the American had sustained "serious" injuries.
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| The Latest: Las Vegas makes sleeping on the streets illegal Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:09 PM PST  Despite protests about a war on the poor, Las Vegas officials passed a law Wednesday making it illegal to sleep on the streets when beds are available at established shelters. The measure framed as a ban on camping downtown makes Las Vegas the latest city in the U.S. West to take steps to try to deal with complaints about homelessness. Amid protests that they would criminalize being homeless, Las Vegas elected officials are poised to make it a misdemeanor for people to sleep or camp in public areas when beds are available at established shelters.
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| One of the world's thickest mountain glaciers is melting because of global warming Posted: 07 Nov 2019 11:09 AM PST ![One of the world's thickest mountain glaciers is melting because of global warming]( "One of the world's thickest mountain glaciers is melting because of global warming") For half a century, Taku had been the one known Alaskan glacier to withstand the effects of climate change – until now.
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| We've Got the Details on China's Submarine Drones Posted: 07 Nov 2019 05:58 AM PST  The real deal?
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| Child seats in Italy to be fitted with alarms after spate of deaths of children trapped in hot cars Posted: 07 Nov 2019 01:11 PM PST  Parents of babies and toddlers will be required to use special alarmed child seats under a new law in Italy, in response to a spate of children dying in cars from extreme heat. Parents who fail to buy the alarmed car seats, or buy alarm attachments, face fines of up to €326 and five points being docked from their driving licence. If, within two years, a parent is caught again without the special seat, their driving licence will be suspended for two weeks. The special car seats work by motion sensor and set off audio alarms and flashing lights if a child is left alone in the car. Devices can also be linked to a parent's mobile phone. Under the law adopted on Thursday, they are now compulsory for all children under the age of four. The government has promised to contribute €30 to each family that has to buy the specially-equipped seats, which cost around €100. It will operate on a first-come-first-served basis, with warnings that there is unlikely to be enough money for every family in the country. The law was introduced in response to cases of babies and children dying in cars after being accidentally forgotten by their parents or carers during the scorching heat of summer. It applies not only to Italians but to foreigners visiting the country. An Italian road safety group said that parents "need to hurry" to buy the seats or fit alarms to their existing seats, or risk fines and the docking of licence points. Aside from car accidents and collisions, heat stroke is the main cause of vehicle-related death for children under the age of 15, according to the American Academy of Paediatrics. A small child's body heats up much faster than that of an adult's and vital organs start to shut down quicker.
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| A New Arab Spring Is Unfolding in Iraq and Lebanon. But Things Could Get Bloody If Iran Gets Its Way Posted: 07 Nov 2019 10:05 AM PST  A new Arab Spring is unfolding in Lebanon and Iraq as citizens lead protests. But Iran's involvement could be dangerous for protesters.
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| Ryanair quietly grounded Boeing 737 planes over 'pickle fork' cracking, becoming the latest airline to act on the problem Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:51 AM PST  The budget airline grounded at least three 737NG planes, The Guardian reported. Multiple airlines have done the same in recent weeks.
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| Holocaust survivor given police escort in Italy after threats Posted: 07 Nov 2019 05:09 AM PST ![Holocaust survivor given police escort in Italy after threats]( "Holocaust survivor given police escort in Italy after threats") Holocaust survivor Liliana Segre has been placed under police protection after she received threats from far-right fanatics, security sources said on Thursday, highlighting concern about rising extremism in Italy. Segre, 89, called last month for the creation of a parliamentary commission to investigate hate, racism and anti-Semitism after she was the subject of a daily barrage of abuse on social media. Italy's right-wing parties did not back her proposal and the resulting controversy has only added to the abuse, with a neo-Nazi group this week hanging up a banner to denounce anti-fascism close to where she was making a public appearance.
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| Trump fumes about reports that he wanted Barr to host news conference clearing him on Ukraine call Posted: 07 Nov 2019 06:59 AM PST  The president is lashing out on Twitter over news first reported by the Washington Post that he wanted the attorney general to hold a press conference declaring he had broken no laws during the July 25 phone call in which he urged Ukraine's new president to investigate his political rival.
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| Iranians plead guilty after arrest for spying on dissidents Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:30 PM PST  Two men arrested last year for spying on Iranian dissidents in the United States have pleaded guilty to charges in a Washington court, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. Iranian-US dual citizen Ahmadreza Mohammadi Doostdar and Majid Ghorbani, an Iranian resident of California, tried to penetrate the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a group of Iranian dissidents in exile, in New York and Washington from 2017-2018, according to the department. Doostdar traveled to the United States form Iran on three occasions to recruit Ghorbani and give him instructions and thousands of dollars in payments, according to the charges.
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| The Latest: Pilot dies as plane crashes into California home Posted: 07 Nov 2019 01:40 PM PST ![The Latest: Pilot dies as plane crashes into California home]( "The Latest: Pilot dies as plane crashes into California home") Police say the pilot of a small plane that crashed into a Southern California home has died. Upland police Capt. Marcelo Blanco said Thursday that authorities believe the pilot was the only person aboard the single-engine Cirrus SR22. Blanco says authorities don't know what caused the plane to crash into the residence, igniting a fire.
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| Baby Faith found in bullet-ridden SUV reunited with dad after Mexico family massacre Posted: 07 Nov 2019 06:02 AM PST  Christina Johnson, Faith's mother, saved her daughter's life by stashing her car seat at the bottom of the vehicle during the attack.
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| America vs. China vs. Russia: Who Should You Buy Your Fighter Jets From? Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:00 AM PST  The U.S. government has a message for those nations that would buy Russian and Chines weapons: buyer beware.
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| A former Oklahoma prisoner told us what it was like to be part of Monday's historic mass release of more than 450 inmates Posted: 07 Nov 2019 06:26 AM PST  Calista Ortiz, 26, had her drug possession conviction commuted on Monday and released in the largest single-day prison release in US history.
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| Hawaii Man Dies After Falling 22 Feet Into Lava Tube While Trimming His Trees Posted: 07 Nov 2019 06:57 AM PST  An elderly Hawaii man died after falling into a 22 feet-deep lava tube in his yard, police said.
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| Al-Baghdadi's wife revealed ISIS group secrets after capture Posted: 07 Nov 2019 12:43 PM PST  The wife of slain Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi revealed "a lot of information" about the jihadist group's "inner workings" after she was captured last year, a Turkish official said.
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| In Trump adviser trial, comedian contradicts Stone's account, regales jury with jokes Posted: 07 Nov 2019 10:47 AM PST  Comedian Randy Credico testified in the trial of President Donald Trump's adviser Roger Stone on Thursday where he told jokes, did a Bernie Sanders impression and said he never served as a backchannel between Stone and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Credico is a key witness in the government's case against Stone, who is charged with obstructing justice, witness tampering and lying to the House of Representatives intelligence committee in its investigation into Russia interference in the 2016 election. The government alleges that Stone misled the committee in September 2017 by claiming, among other things, that Credico was his intermediary to Wikileaks as Stone sought to learn when Assange planned to dump more damaging emails about Trump's election rival Hillary Clinton.
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| Mainland Chinese student jailed in Hong Kong protests Posted: 07 Nov 2019 11:35 AM PST  A student from mainland China arrested at a Hong Kong democracy protest was sentenced on Thursday to six weeks in prison for possession of an offensive weapon -- the city's first such case involving a mainlander in almost five months of unrest. Since the first mass demonstrations in June, more than 3,300 people have been arrested in Hong Kong in connection to the protest movement, with some charged for rioting and illegal assembly. Chen Zimou, a 24-year-old music and English student originally from Chongqing in southwestern China, was arrested for carrying an extendable baton during a protest in July.
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| 2 escaped murder suspects arrested at US-Mexico border Posted: 07 Nov 2019 04:25 AM PST  Authorities are trying to determine if anyone helped two inmates who escaped from a California jail, traveled hundreds of miles and crossed into Mexico before being captured trying to walk back into the United States. Jonathan Salazar, 20, and Santos Fonseca, 21, were arrested by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials at a port of entry in San Ysidro — the nation's largest border crossing — early Wednesday, Monterey County Sheriff's Office Capt. John Thornburg said. Thornburg said the two are in the custody of Monterey County officials and have been returned to a jail in Salinas, a farming city of about 160,000 people roughly 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of San Francisco.
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| 'Virginia is officially blue.' Democrats regain control of legislature, clearing way for liberal policies Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:55 AM PST  Democrats won control of Virginia's government for the first time in decades. The party solidified the state's blue status for the 2020 race, too.
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| Bill Gates addressed his multiple meetings with Jeffrey Epstein: 'I made a mistake in judgment' Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:22 PM PST  Bill Gates addressed his ties to Jeffrey Epstein Wednesday, saying that he "made a mistake in judgement" by associating with the convicted sex offender.
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| View Photos of 2020 Porsche 911 Turbo S Prototype Posted: 06 Nov 2019 03:01 PM PST |
| Muslim preachers must speak German to work in the country under proposed law Posted: 07 Nov 2019 07:56 AM PST  All imams who work in Germany will in future have to prove they can speak the German language, under a draft law for religious leaders introduced by the government. The bill, which passed cabinet on Wednesday, means that foreign preachers will only be granted work visas if they can demonstrate basic German. They would then need to show improvements in their language skills after a year in order to prolong their stay. Although it applies to all religious preachers, the coalition treaty signed by the German government - which includes the rule - specifically refers to imams. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer hailed it as "a vital contribution for successful integration in Germany." The government justified the move by saying that imams have a central role to play as models of integration for other immigrants, who often turn to mosques for help when they first arrive. However, the media has reported concerns about clerics preaching in other languages for several years. There are no official figures on the number of mosques in Germany, nor on where their funding comes from. But authorities suspect that Gulf states including Saudi Arabia have been financing the construction of some mosques in order to spread the fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam practised on the Arabian peninsula. Conservatives complain that, as long as imams preach in other languages, they will feel free to espouse views hostile to democracy. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said the bill was 'a vital contribution for successful integration' but others disagree Credit: Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images But Germany's Green party attacked the draft law, saying it will exacerbate the already acute shortage of imams to serve the country's growing Muslim population. According to a recent study, over 90 percent of imams active in Germany come from abroad. Criticism also came from the Islamic community. Bekir Altaş, head of the Millî Görüş mosque association, said that many Muslim associations had made German language skills a requirement for preaching in their mosques years ago. "The government's plans smack of populism. The portrayal of language skills equating with 'good imams' is dangerous - it downplays German-speaking hate preachers who use their rhetorical abilities to gain notoriety, while ignoring the good work done by other preachers in their native tongue," Altaş said. The bill now goes to the Bundestag, where it is expected to be approved.
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| Johnson, Grassley ask State Department for Hunter Biden docs Posted: 07 Nov 2019 11:05 AM PST  Ron Johnson and Chuck Grassley are asking Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to release any State Department records related to Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. As President Donald Trump faces a House impeachment inquiry for pressuring Ukraine to investigate the Biden family, Republicans are focusing on Hunter Biden's role on the board the Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings while his father was vice president.
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| Dirty Indian Politics Have No Answer for the World’s Most Toxic Air Posted: 07 Nov 2019 01:00 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The politics of pollution in India's capital New Delhi are as noxious as city's air.While Delhi chokes, politicians squabble in an annual phenomenon that lasts for an intense few weeks at the start of winter, then dies down as pollution levels fall. What they haven't done is come together to find sustainable solutions to one of the world's worst air pollution problems that by the World Bank's calculations costs the country as much as 8.5% of its GDP, or around $221 billion each year.Home to seven of the 10 most polluted cities in the world, India's deadly haze was responsible for one of every eight deaths in 2017, while the life of a child born today is likely to be 2.5 years shorter because of air pollution. Delhi, with its unlikely combination of sweeping green boulevards and sprawling, unchecked urban growth, has become the symbol of the country's struggle to contain this toxic cloud.Describing the city as "gas chamber," Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said crop burning in the states of Punjab and Haryana was a key source of pollution, and called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene. The federal environment minister Prakash Javadekar blamed Kejriwal's administration for not taking serious measures, while his colleague, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, suggested in a tweet eating carrots could help beat pollution-related harm.So far Modi has not issued a statement on the crisis, which prompted the declaration of a public health emergency and the closure of schools for several days. Calls to the prime minister's office went unanswered."One key reason for the air pollution governance falling short is the absence of commitment and initiative by the political executive," said Santosh Harish, environment researcher at the New Delhi-based Centre for Policy Research, adding most policy measures had been taken at the behest of judiciary. "They are negligent in taking on issues of air pollution as a sense of urgency."The country's politicians should be on a war footing, Harish said, and address the lack of staff, equipment and enforcement power in pollution control boards, inefficiency in public transport systems and insufficient clean power generation.Global ConcernsChina -- which is also battling deadly air pollution -- reduced the annual average concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by a third between 2013 and 2017 in 74 cities, according to the State of Global Air 2019 study. India has long struggled to pull together a similarly coordinated national approach."China's society had strongly expressed their needs for clean air and health when facing air pollution, thus the government took more emphasis on the issue," said Ma Jun, founder and director of the Beijing-based Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs. There had not been a similar, significant public outcry in India, Ma said. "If there's not enough consensus from the public, it's hard for policy makers to be determined to tackle the issue."Air pollution drives up costs for companies, affecting both the bottom line and productivity, particularly when staff suffer respiratory diseases, said Hemant Shivakumar, a senior consultant at Control Risks. "In the absence of action by the government, this can become a long term risk and companies would want some kind of initiative to be taken."The South Asian nation's toxic air is driven by a combination of factors, including vehicular emissions, factory emissions, road dust and construction activities. Crop burning contributed 44% to Delhi's soaring PM 2.5 levels on Oct. 31, dropping to 2% by Nov. 7, according to System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting.Small scale farmers have been burning to prepare their land for planting for hundreds of years, said Helena Varkkey, an expert on air pollution and lecturer at the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, noting baseline pollution in many Asian cities was also high, due to domestic, vehicular and industrial emissions. "If governments focus on these constant issues outside the major haze seasons, there could be a significant improvement on air quality as a whole," Varkkey said.'Out of Hand'India's farmers, already struggling with depressed crop prices, are tired of shouldering responsibility for the crisis."They blame farmers because farmers are the easiest people to beat," said V.M. Singh, convener of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee, a group representing around 250 farmer's organizations. He urged governments to focus on programs to generate income from crop stubble, rather than expecting farmers to shoulder costs themselves."Either you take stubble away from farmers or you provide a cheap affordable technological solution to them," said Sagnik Dey, associate professor of atmospheric sciences at Indian Institute of Technology in New Delhi. "You can't expect farmers to bear those high costs."Modi's government has promoted solar power, improved emission standards and handed out millions of gas canisters to households to reduce cooking over open fires. In January it launched the National Clean Air Program. But the measures have yet to alleviate the impact of India's rampant growth, from the dust left by thousands of new construction sites to exhaust from millions of cars."The situation is getting out of hand," said Dey. "The real frustration is that we know what to do but we are not able to implement it because of lack of coordination and limited resources."\--With assistance from Manish Modi, Adrian Leung and Feifei Shen.To contact the reporters on this story: Bibhudatta Pradhan in New Delhi at bpradhan@bloomberg.net;Ragini Saxena in Mumbai at rsaxena30@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China jails nine for selling fentanyl into US Posted: 07 Nov 2019 07:06 AM PST  China on Thursday jailed nine people for selling fentanyl to Americans, the result of a landmark joint probe, and pledged further co-operation following President Donald Trump's fury at Beijing's perceived inaction against Chinese suppliers fuelling the deadly US opioid crisis. Despite Trump's criticism earlier this year that Beijing had reneged on its promise to crack down on the production of the drug, China said it was "willing to conduct sincere and concrete anti-drug cooperation" with the US to tackle fentanyl trafficking. The court in northern Hebei province described the case as the first successful joint US-Chinese probe related to fentanyl smuggling, and US officials also hailed the verdict.
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| COLUMN-Carbon taxes will be needed to reduce CO2 emissions: Kemp Posted: 07 Nov 2019 07:29 AM PST ![COLUMN-Carbon taxes will be needed to reduce CO2 emissions: Kemp]( "COLUMN-Carbon taxes will be needed to reduce CO2 emissions: Kemp") No one likes paying taxes, but a significant and rising tax on carbon dioxide emissions is probably the only way to stem the rise in emissions contributing to climate change. Putting a price on CO2 emissions and letting the market figure out how best to reduce them is the lowest-cost and least-distorting way to cut the amount released into the atmosphere. There are several alternative routes to establishing a carbon price, all of which are theoretically equivalent, but the simplest, most comprehensive and most straightforward to administer is via the imposition of a tax.
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| Mexico prison raid leads to chaos in border city Posted: 07 Nov 2019 03:05 PM PST ![Mexico prison raid leads to chaos in border city]( "Mexico prison raid leads to chaos in border city") As 850 Mexican local, state and federal security personnel prepared to raid a big state prison near the U.S. border, criminals inside orchestrated a wave of chaos outside the walls in Ciudad Juarez. "At least eight of these murders were tied to the diversion issue," Chihuahua state prosecutor Jorge Nava said. Four men who were arrested in the violence said they were paid in methamphetamine to wreak havoc, Nava said at a news conference.
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| Ohio police officer shot while executing search warrant has died, department said Posted: 07 Nov 2019 12:16 PM PST  Detective Jorge DelRio was carrying out a search warrant when he was shot. The injuries suffered were "tragically not survivable," police said.
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| Russia may have taken Israel's most advanced missile from Syria — and could figure out how to defeat it Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:40 PM PST  Experts worry that the Russian military could learn how to defeat the missile system or refine its air defense systems.
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| View Photos of Ram 1500 Built to Serve Edition Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:01 PM PST |
| The Air Force Could Have 100 New B-21 Stealth Bombers Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:00 AM PST  Air Force weapons developers are immersed in an intricate plan to bring the service's bomber fleet into future decades -- by adding weapons, avionics and networking technologies to current aircraft and moving quickly to bring new B-21 bombers to the force.
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| Indigenous Mexicans tortured in migrant crackdown win public apology Posted: 07 Nov 2019 11:32 AM PST  * Quartet were accused of being undocumented Guatemalans * Immigration agents handed out beatings and electric shocksOn Thursday, Mexico's current immigration (INM) chief admitted the four indigenous Mexicans were subjected to human rights violations as a result of racial profiling. Photograph: José Luis González/ReutersFour indigenous Mexicans who were illegally detained and abused by immigration agents during a US-backed crackdown have received a rare public apology by the Mexican government for the ordeal.The group were on a bus of seasonal farmhands in central Mexico when apprehended in 2015 by immigration agents who targeted them because of their physical features, clothes and limited Spanish.The agents accused the four of being undocumented immigrants from Guatemala, but they were indigenous Tzeltal Mayans from the poor state of Chiapas in southern Mexico, where 25% of the population speak an indigenous language.Shortly after the ordeal, the Guardian revealed that three of the four – siblings aged 15 to 24 – were taken to a detention centre in Querétaro in central Mexico and held for eight days. One of them, then aged 18, was beaten and given electric shocks until he agreed to sign a deportation document admitting they were Guatemalan, even though he cannot read or write.The siblings narrowly avoided being expelled from their home country after the fourth – the older sister's boyfriend – alerted a human rights organization.On Thursday, Mexico's current immigration (INM) chief admitted they were subjected to human rights violations as a result of racial profiling."On behalf of the National Migration Institute, I offer this public apology, for the transgression of their human rights, for the damage to their image, honor and dignity caused by the actions of the migration agents," said Francisco Garduño Yáñez.Six immigration officials, who have not been named, were suspended for two to four weeks for their role in the abuse, Garduño said.The apology does not mention torture, even though the Human Rights Commission in Mexico City concluded that Alberto suffered post-traumatic psychological symptoms as a result of being tortured."I really thought I was going to die, so I signed lots of sheets of paper – but I can't read or write so I didn't know what I was signing," Alberto told the Guardian through a translator in 2016.At the time, the INM denied the incident ever happened.As part of its package of reparation measures, the INM has also pledged to stamp out racial profiling by training agents in cultural sensitivity and human rights: "The institute is committed to ensuring that human rights violations like these do not happen again," Garduño said.The youngest victim, now 19, welcomed the news. "Good. That means my younger brothers and sisters will be able to travel to Sonora to work," she told the Guardian through her lawyer.The supreme court will soon rule on the constitutionality of the current migration law, which permits agents to employ racial profiling on Mexican citizens who may not know the law, speak Spanish – or who are simply afraid of authorities, said Gretchen Kuhner, the director of Institute for Women in Migration (Imumi), one of the organizations representing the victims.Kuhner said: "The case demonstrates a larger pattern of abuse by INM agents who use racial profiling to harass indigenous and other Mexicans. In the current crackdown, Mexicans are even more vulnerable to these types of abuses by immigration agents and the new national guard."In recent months, thousands of troops have been deployed to help the INM detain migrants as part of a controversial deal in which President Andrés Manuel López Obrador agreed to stop more migrants reaching the US border to avoid punishing US trade tariffs.
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| Robots 'not evil' says Boston Dynamics as humanoids go viral Posted: 07 Nov 2019 08:41 AM PST  As videos of robot-like dogs made by Boston Dynamics go viral on the internet, the humanoids' uncanny abilities have also sparked worries that they could become a threat to humans. Not so, says their creator Marc Raibert in an interview with AFP at the Lisbon Web Summit, claiming that the Spot robots aren't evil and won't be turned into weapons. US engineering and robotics firm Boston Dynamics, founded in 1992, was in 2013 bought by Google, which sold the firm on to Japan's Softbank in 2017.
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| Harry Dunn's family claims Donald Trump was ready to write cheque during meeting over teenager's death Posted: 07 Nov 2019 12:58 PM PST  Donald Trump tried to pay off Harry Dunn's grieving parents when they visited the White House, the family spokesman has said. The President was "standing by, ready to write a cheque" during the meeting at which the teenager's parents lobbied for his alleged killer to return to the UK to face justice. The 19-year-old died after his motorbike was hit by a car being driven on the wrong side of the road by Anne Sacoolas, the wife of an American intelligence agent who then claimed diplomatic immunity. The Dunn family spokesman Radd Seiger disclosed yesterday that at the October meeting in the White House, Mr Trump had said the "Treasury department will sort this out". Mrs Sacoolas was waiting in a next door room, but the parents declined Mr trump's invitation for them to meet her. Mr Seiger said: "You can imagine how intense the atmosphere was in there. What Trump said was to Robert O'Brien, his National Security Adviser. What he was clearly saying was the Treasury will sort you out. Clearly the government are expecting to pay the bill. "The arrangement was let's get harry's family to hug and kiss the lady [Mrs Sacoolas] and pay them off. That was the plan. It makes me sick to the stomach." Charlotte Charles (R) and Tim Dunn, parents of teenage motorcyclist Harry Dunn Credit: DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS Charlotte Charles, the boy's mother, has said money "is not going to bring Harry back" and that she and the rest of the family just want the authorities involved in the case to "tell us the truth" and "learn that this cannot happen again". Mrs Sacoolas, 42, a mother-of-three, is alleged to have been driving out of the RAF Croughton, a US airbase in Northamptonshire, on August 27 when the crash happened. Mrs Charles and Harry's father Tim Dunn yesterday met Northamptonshire Police and Crime Commissioner Stephen Mold to discuss the conduct of the force's Chief Constable Nick Adderley throughout the investigation into their son's death. After the meeting Mr Mold admitted there were lessons to be learned from the investigation and said he would look at ways in which the family could be more supported. Mrs Charles said after the meeting: "It's harder to lie and withhold information and it's easier to tell the truth. "That's all we want. We want her (Mrs Sacoolas) to come back and we want the systems all the way around it to just tell us the truth." Anne Sacoolas Asked if a cheque from Mr Trump would help them, Mrs Charles said: "No it's not. It's not going to bring Harry back. "Justice has to be done. They all need to learn that this can't happen again and they need to learn that things need to be put into place to stop this." Mr Dunn said he hoped Mrs Sacoolas would come back to the UK to face justice. "It is frustrating," he added. The police have passed a file to the Crown prosecution service in which it is understood officers are recommending Mrs Sacoolas be charged with causing death by dangerous driving. It is not clear if prosecutors can charge Mrs Sacoolas with any offence. The Foreign Office has insisted she has immunity as the spouse of a US diplomat. Her husband Jonathan Sacoolas is understood to be an intelligence agent, almost certainly working for the National Security Agency and was entitled to diplomatic status. The immunity only applies in the UK however and with Mrs Sacoolas now back in the US, the family can sue her in American courts for civil damages. Lawyers for the teenager's family believe her diplomatic immunity should not have applied in the UK either and that she should be prosecuted in a British criminal court.
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| UPDATE 1-Police say all 39 people found dead in UK truck were Vietnamese Posted: 07 Nov 2019 06:32 AM PST ![UPDATE 1-Police say all 39 people found dead in UK truck were Vietnamese]( "UPDATE 1-Police say all 39 people found dead in UK truck were Vietnamese") HANOI/LONDON, Nov 7 (Reuters) - The 39 people who were found dead in the back of a refrigerated truck after being smuggled into Britain last month all came from Vietnam and have been formally identified. The discovery of the bodies in a container on an industrial estate near London has shone a spotlight on the illicit trade that sends the poor of Asia, Africa and the Middle East on perilous journeys to the West. British police have been working with Vietnamese officials to identify the 31 men and eight women.
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| Charges: Chinese surveillance goods illegally sold to US Posted: 07 Nov 2019 01:19 PM PST  A Long Island firm sold tens of millions of dollars in Chinese-made surveillance and other sensitive security equipment to customers, including the U.S. military to use on aircraft carriers, by falsely claiming the goods were manufactured in America, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The fraud that prosecutors allege by Aventura Technologies Inc. raised "a grave concern" over cyber security, U.S. Attorney Richard Donoghue said. The equipment made in China and sold by Aventura "as purportedly U.S.-made has been installed on dozens of Army, Navy and Air Force bases, Department of Energy facilities and, among other places, on Navy aircraft carriers," prosecutors said in the criminal complaint.
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| Rep. Tulsi Gabbard clashes with 'View' co-host Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:28 PM PST  Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, a 2020 candidate who as of now is still running as a Democrat, returned to "The View" for the third time on Wednesday morning and immediately confronted co-host Joy Behar for accusing her of "being a traitor to my country, a Russian asset, a Trojan horse or a useful idiot, ... which basically means that I am naive or lack intelligence."
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