| New York Jews scared, defiant as mayor decries anti-Semitism 'crisis' Posted: 30 Dec 2019 01:23 PM PST  At a Hasidic synagogue in Brooklyn, police, state troopers and civilian volunteers stand guard as Orthodox Jews mark the end of Hanukkah under heightened security following a spate of attacks. New York, home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, had long been a place where Jews felt safe.
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| Explainer: The case for Trump's impeachment - and the case against it Posted: 31 Dec 2019 03:09 AM PST  The Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted on Dec. 19 to formally charge President Donald Trump, a Republican, with "high crimes and misdemeanors," making him only the third U.S. president in history to be impeached. Here is the Democrats' case for removing Trump from office, and the Republican counterargument. In their articles of impeachment https://www.congress.gov/116/bills/hres755/BILLS-116hres755ih.pdf, Democrats charge that Trump abused his power as president by pressuring a foreign government, Ukraine's, to help him win re-election.
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| PSA: REI is Having an Epic End-of-the-Year Sale Right Now Posted: 30 Dec 2019 01:27 PM PST |
| US ambassador defends moustache as South Koreans bristle at 'disrespectful' facial hair Posted: 29 Dec 2019 08:40 PM PST  The US ambassador to Seoul has defended his decision to grow a moustache, with some South Koreans bristling that the facial hair is disrespectful and a calculated slight. Harry Harris took over as US ambassador to South Korea in July 2018 after a distinguished 40-year career in the US Navy. Clean-shaven whilst an admiral in the navy, Mr Harris told The Korea Times that he decided to grow a moustache to mark his career change. "I wanted to make a break between my life as a military officer and my new life as a diplomat", he said. "I tried to get taller, but I couldn't grow any taller, and so I tried to get younger, but I couldn't get younger. But I could grow a moustache, so I did that". Mr Harris was responding to the suggestion that his new moustache was an insult to Korea. The US government has been roundly criticised in South Korea after Donald Trump announced the US would demand $5 billion a year to keep troops in South Korea. As the face of the US administration in South Korea, Mr Harris has borne the brunt of much of the criticism. The second strike against Mr Harris is his ethnicity. The son of a US Navy officer and a Japanese mother, Mr Harris was born in Yokosuka, south-west of Tokyo, leading to allegations that he has a natural affinity for Japan - which has a complicated history with the Korean Peninsula. The peninsula became a Japanese protectorate in 1905 and part of the Japanese empire from 1910 until the end of the Second World War in 1945. Some South Koreans have accused Mr Harris of sporting a moustache that harks back to the years of colonial rule on the grounds that all eight Japanese governor-generals of Korea also had moustaches. Shrugging off the controversy, he said: "All I can say is that every decision I make is based on the fact that I'm American ambassador to Korea, not the Japanese-American ambassador to Korea". Asked if he intended to shave his moustache off to quell the criticism, Mr Harris replied, "You would have to convince me that somehow the moustache is viewed in a way that hurts our relationship".
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| Riot Police Use Tear Gas to Answer Firebombs: Hong Kong Update Posted: 31 Dec 2019 08:32 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong protesters rang in the new year with a wave of fresh mass demonstrations, as they tried to show they could maintain pressure on the Beijing-backed government into 2020.The Civil Human Rights Front -- organizer of some of the biggest rallies to rock the Asian financial center over the past six months -- obtained police approval for a New Year's Day march across Hong Kong Island. On New Year's Eve, when residents might normally watch fireworks fall over Victoria Harbor, protesters urged supporters to gather at shopping centers and build a human chain around the former British colony.The turnout could signal the staying power of a pro-democracy movement that has led to countless of violent clashes with police, pushed the economy into recession and forced the cancellation of numerous events, including the New Year's fireworks show. The city's chief executive, Carrie Lam, said in a year-end video message that restoring social "order and harmony" should be the city's resolution for 2020.Historic protests erupted in June in opposition to now-withdrawn legislation that would've allowed extraditions to mainland China and quickly morphed into a broader movement against Beijing's rule. The Communist Party and its local appointees have so far refused to meet demonstrators' demands including calls for direct leadership elections.Why Hong Kong Is Still Protesting and Where It May Go: QuickTakeHere's the latest (all times local):Tear gas fired in the new year (12:07 a.m.)Riot police fired tear gas in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon shortly after the city headed into the new year. The officers moved in as protesters threw petrol bombs on the main thoroughfare.Water cannons used on protesters (11:20 p.m.)Police used water cannons briefly in Mong Kok in Kowloon to disperse protesters who blocked the main thoroughfare. Riot police made a number of arrests. In the popular shopping district Tsim Sha Tsui, thousands of protesters gathered at the harborfront as the city readied to count down to the new year. Some of the demonstrators wore masks, held up mobile phones with lights shining and displayed a banner saying, "Liberate Hong Kong. Revolution of our times."Xi defends "one country, two systems" (7:15 p.m.)Chinese President Xi Jinping used his New Year's Eve address to defend China's system for running Hong Kong. Xi argued the success of neighboring Macau, which he visited earlier this month, shows that the "one country, two systems" framework used to govern both former European colonies "is fully applicable, achievable and popular.""Without a harmonious and stable environment, how can people live in peace and enjoy their work?" Xi asked. "I sincerely wish Hong Kong well. Hong Kong's prosperity and stability is the wish of Hong Kong compatriots and the expectation of our motherland."Small scale protests were held across the city on Tuesday evening.Lam urges return to order (11:45 a.m.)Restoring order and harmony in society should be a resolution for the new year, leader Lam said in a year-end video message. "Let's start 2020 with a new resolution: to restore order and harmony in society. So we begin again, together," she said.She vowed to "not shy away" from her responsibility and to "listen humbly to find a way out," while upholding the "one country, two systems" framework that assures Hong Kong's autonomy from Beijing. "To allow Hong Kong to move forward steadily, we must handle the problems at hand and acknowledge the shortcomings in our system," Lam said.New Year's Day MarchPeople will gather at centrally located Victoria Park -- the starting point for other mass marches thrown by CHRF -- starting at 2 p.m. and begin walking toward the city's central financial and shopping areas around 3 p.m. They plan to start early if the park's central lawn is 85% full, or if crowds overflow in the Wan Chai and Admiralty areas, which have seen regular violence over the past six months."We continue to show our opposition to Carrie Lam and the police force for police brutality," Eric Lai, vice convenor of CHRF, told a news conference Monday. He said the protest's other aims included solidarity with those detained in previous demonstrations.\--With assistance from Dandan Li and Justin Chin.To contact the reporters on this story: Natalie Lung in Hong Kong at flung6@bloomberg.net;Karen Leigh in Hong Kong at kleigh4@bloomberg.net;Fion Li in Hong Kong at fli59@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| DNC rejects Andrew Yang's request to commission polls to increase diversity at January debate Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:40 PM PST  The DNC said that commissioning primary polls would break with its tradition of independent polling.
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| Make No Mistake: China Would Destroy U.S. Cities In A Nuclear War Posted: 30 Dec 2019 07:00 AM PST  No one wins in a nuclear war.
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| Bailed tycoon Ghosn flees to Lebanon from 'rigged' Japan Posted: 31 Dec 2019 08:58 AM PST  Former Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn said Tuesday he had fled to Lebanon to escape injustice in Japan, where he was on bail awaiting trial on financial misconduct charges. The auto tycoon's abrupt departure was the latest twist in a rollercoaster journey that saw him fall from boardroom to detention centre and sparked questions over an embarrassing security lapse in Japan. It was not clear how he managed to leave Japan, as his bail conditions barred him from exiting the country he had been held in since his sudden arrest in November 2018 sent shockwaves through the business world.
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| Greta Thunberg calls world leaders' attacks on her 'just funny' Posted: 30 Dec 2019 05:57 AM PST  Greta Thunberg says it's "just funny" when she's personally attacked by world leaders like President Trump.The 16-year-old Swedish climate change activist, who earlier this month was named Time's person of the year, spoke with Today on BBC Radio on Monday and was asked about recent attacks on her, such as when Trump lashed out at her in a tweet by claiming she has an anger management problem or when Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro called her a "brat.""Those attacks are just funny because they obviously don't mean anything," Thunberg said. "Well, I guess, of course, it means something. It means they are terrified of young people bringing change, which they don't want."Thunberg went on to say that these attacks are "proof that we are actually doing something and that they see us as some kind of threat."This comes after Trump went after Thunberg on Twitter in response to Time's decision to name her person of the year, writing she "must work on her anger management problem, then go to a good old-fashioned movie with a friend!"Asked in the BBC interview whether Trump is one of those people who sees her as a threat, Thunberg said "it's possible.""Not me, of course, me myself alone am not much of a threat," she added. "But it's that I'm a part of a big movement that they probably see as a threat."Thunberg also reiterated that a meeting with Trump at the United Nations earlier this year would not have been productive, saying that even if she did have an opportunity to speak with the president, she "wouldn't have wasted my time."More stories from theweek.com Trump's State Department reportedly launched a full-fledged investigation to find out which employee liked a Chelsea Clinton tweet Carlos Ghosn managed to flee Japan by hiding in a musical instrument case The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think
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| Turkey detains 124 suspected of links to the IS group Posted: 29 Dec 2019 11:09 PM PST ![Turkey detains 124 suspected of links to the IS group]( "Turkey detains 124 suspected of links to the IS group") Police in Turkey detained at least 124 people suspected of links to the Islamic State group, the state-run news agency reported Monday, in an apparent sweep against the militant group ahead of New Year celebrations. At least 33 foreign nationals were detained in the capital Ankara in a joint operation by anti-terrorism police and the national intelligence agency, according to the Anadolu Agency.In Istanbul, police raided 31 houses, detaining 24 suspects, including four foreign nationals. Police conducted simultaneous, pre-dawn raids in the city of Batman, in southeast Turkey, where 22 suspects were detained, it said in a separate report.
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| A scientist who genetically edited babies to be HIV-resistant was just sentenced to 3 years in prison. Here's how he did it and why scientists around the world are outraged. Posted: 30 Dec 2019 07:40 AM PST  He Jiankui, who claimed in 2018 that the first two gene-edited babies had been born, was sentenced to three years in prison on Monday.
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| Iraq Resumes Oil Output at Field Halted by Protesters Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:18 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Iraq resumed pumping at the Nasiriya oil field a day after protesters forced it to halt operations, the government said, as widespread unrest starts to take a toll on the country's most important industry.Employees returned to work at the field in southern Iraq after authorities cleared away protesters who had cut roads to the area, Oil Ministry spokesman Asim Jihad said Monday in a statement. OPEC's second-biggest producer maintained its overall output level during the halt by pumping more oil at its Basra fields to offset the loss of about 80,000 to 85,000 barrels a day from Nasiriya, Jihad said earlier.Nasiriya's oil refinery, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the field, also restarted after shutting down on Sunday when about 700 protesters blocked worker access to the plant, according to a person familiar with the operations. The refinery in the southern province of Thiqar processes crude into gasoline, fuel oil and kerosene sold mostly in the province. All three of its units are back on line, the person said, asking not to be identified due to the matter's sensitivity.Protesters -- most of them unemployed and some of them recent graduates -- have rallied repeatedly over the past two months near southern oil fields and refineries, though Nasiriya was the first field to be closed due to the disturbances. Iraq is the largest producer, after Saudi Arabia, in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It pumps most its oil at deposits in the south, exporting cargoes by sea through the Persian Gulf.Iraq's oil production is in line with limits set by OPEC and the group's global allies, Jihad said. The so-called OPEC+ coalition has decided to reduce its collective output until the end of March in an effort to balance the market and prop up crude prices.Around 500 people have died and more than 22,000 others have been wounded in clashes between security forces and protesters since Oct. 1. Iraqis, mostly from the Shiite majority population, are protesting against government corruption, poor services, and wide-ranging Iranian political influence, calling for an overhaul of the ruling class.(Updates with refinery restarting in third paragraph)\--With assistance from Salma El Wardany.To contact the reporter on this story: Khalid Al-Ansary in Baghdad at kalansary@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bruce Stanley at bstanley5@bloomberg.net, James HerronFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| North Korea's Kim urges 'positive and offensive' security measures ahead of nuclear talks deadline Posted: 29 Dec 2019 01:55 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for "positive and offensive measures" to ensure the country's security before a year-end deadline he has set for denuclearization talks with the United States, state media KCNA said on Monday. Kim convened a weekend meeting of top Workers' Party officials to discuss policy matters amid rising tension over his deadline for Washington to soften its stance in stalled negotiations aimed at dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. At a Sunday session, Kim suggested action in the areas of foreign affairs, the munitions industry and armed forces, stressing the need to take "positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country," KCNA said, without elaborating.
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| Russia Was Almost A France And British Enemy At The Onset Of World War II Posted: 29 Dec 2019 06:00 PM PST  Would Hitler have won?
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| Iraq militia chief warns U.S. airstrikes could bring tough response Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:42 AM PST  A top Iraqi militia leader warned of a strong response against U.S. forces in Iraq following airstrikes in Iraq and Syria overnight that hit several bases of his Iranian-backed group and killed at least 25 people.
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| Points of Progress: Where good news happened in 2019 Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:42 AM PST  Our correspondents report on significant steps of progress their regions have made headed into 2020.
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| Trump's scandals will haunt America for years Posted: 31 Dec 2019 06:13 AM PST  The year 2020 will most likely mark the end of President Trump's impeachment saga, but it won't stop the flow of scandals from this White House. It probably won't even bring real resolution to the Ukraine scandal that set the impeachment in motion.We might be stuck with the refuse of this presidency forever, condemned to an endless stream of revelations long after Trump himself has left the scene.To understand why, one only has to look at this weekend's report from The New York Times offering new revelations about the Ukraine scandal — including news that Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and then-National Security Adviser John Bolton fruitlessly joined forces to oppose the freezing of military aid. Trump, the Times reported, refused their entreaties.Some observers suggested the new revelations should increase the pressure on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) to allow new witnesses at the impeachment trial, whenever it presumably takes place."Many of these officials who were directly involved with Trump's freezing of aid are the same ones Trump blocked from appearing before the House impeachment inquiry," wrote Greg Sargent at The Washington Post. "This should make it inescapable that McConnell wants a trial with no testimony from these people ... precisely because he, too, wants to prevent us from ever gaining a full accounting."It is, of course, impossible to shame McConnell into doing anything he doesn't want to do. But that doesn't mean he can prevent a full accounting. Instead, the Times report — coming after impeachment itself was already completed in the House — suggests our understanding of the scandal will evolve for years to come, as documents emerge and administration officials decide to put their memories on the record.We know this for a couple of reasons.First, there is no shortage of source material. Former Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of the Trump campaign's connections with Russia may be over, but it wasn't complete: The president obstructed the investigation, and Mueller himself left open the question of whether Trump colluded with foreign agents to influence the election. "If we had had confidence that the president clearly did not commit a crime, we would have said so," the prosecutor said at a press appearance in May. Between the loose ends of that investigation and the untapped testimony of the Ukraine matter, there is still a lot of information out there yet to be revealed. We may not find out all of Trump's secrets anytime soon, but we'll probably learn a lot of them, and the revelations will not be pretty. What we do know is already ugly enough to warrant the rare act of impeachment.We also know that big scandals tend to endure, and to give up their secrets over the years and decades. That is true even when we have, as a society, achieved some level of closure. Former President Richard Nixon resigned after the Watergate scandal led him to the precipice of impeachment, but the slow release of tapes and documents, as well as congressional efforts to prevent another administration from repeating Nixon's sins, kept the story alive in the headlines for years. It took three decades for "Deep Throat" to be outed as former FBI official Mark Felt in 2005, and that was still one of the biggest stories of the year.The Trump administration will be making new — possibly shocking — headlines for many years to come. Yesterday it was Russia. Today it's Ukraine. Tomorrow it might be something else entirely. This is a never-ending scandal.This Senate almost certainly will not oust Trump. So the best we can hope for is that history buries him under piles of ignominy and shame. That is small consolation — we live in the here and now, when we would benefit more from this president leaving office than we will from the judgment of history. But Trump's eternal loss of face in tomorrow's textbooks may have to do as consolation. The impeachment process is nearly complete, but our collective reckoning with Trump's behavior has just begun.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com Trump's State Department reportedly launched a full-fledged investigation to find out which employee liked a Chelsea Clinton tweet Carlos Ghosn managed to flee Japan by hiding in a musical instrument case The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think
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| Mexico arrests seven suspects in Mormon family massacre Posted: 30 Dec 2019 11:29 PM PST  Mexican authorities have arrested seven suspects in connection with last month's massacre of nine Mormon women and children in the country's north, the attorney general's office said. A local police chief suspected of links to organized crime was among those taken into custody, according to local media. The victims -- six of them children -- had dual US-Mexican nationality and were shot dead on a rural road in a lawless region known for turf wars between drug cartels fighting over lucrative trafficking routes to the United States.
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| Alligators, Bananas, Naked People and Dogs Driving Cars: 2019 in Florida News Posted: 29 Dec 2019 12:54 PM PST  In 2019, a Florida banana managed to eclipse Florida man
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| CIA devised way to restrict missiles given to allies, researcher says Posted: 30 Dec 2019 10:11 AM PST  The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has devised technology to restrict the use of anti-aircraft missiles after they leave American hands, a researcher said, a move that experts say could persuade the United States that it would be safe to disseminate powerful weapons more frequently. The new technology is intended for use with shoulder-fired missiles called Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPADS), Dutch researcher Jos Wetzels told a cybersecurity conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHj_iQZ9pTk in Leipzig, Germany on Saturday. Wetzels said the system was laid out in a batch of CIA documents published by WikiLeaks in 2017 but that the files were mislabeled and attracted little public attention until now.
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| The Naval Strike Missile Is Giving The Navy's Littoral Combat Ship A Second Chance At Life Posted: 31 Dec 2019 01:00 AM PST  The Navy has spent $30 billion over a period of around two decades in order to acquire just 35 LCSs. Sixteen were in service as of late 2018. Of those 16, four are test ships. Six are training ships. In 2019 just six LCSs, in theory, are deployable.
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| Iranian-backed militia threatens retaliation for US strikes on their forces in Iraq and Syria Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:05 PM PST  An Iran-backed militia vowed on Monday to retaliate for US military strikes in Iraq and Syria which killed 25 of its fighters and wounded dozens. "Our battle with America and its mercenaries is now open to all possibilities," Kataib Hizbollah said in a statement. "We have no alternative today other than confrontation and there is nothing that will prevent us from responding to this crime." Iraq described the attacks on Kataib Hizbollah as a "flagrant violation" of its sovereignty, and Iran said the airstrikes were "an obvious case of terrorism". Moqtada al-Sadr, the notorious Iraqi Shia cleric, said on Monday that he was willing to work with Iran-backed militia groups - his political rivals - to end the United States military presence in Iraq through political and legal means. If that does not work, he will "take other actions" in cooperation with his rivals to kick out US troops. Sadr's militia fought US troops for years following Washington's invasion of Iraq in 2003. Iraqi Shiite cleric and leader Moqtada al-Sadr attends a meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister in Najaf on June 23, 2018 The US launched strikes against five targets in Iraq and Syria on Sunday, aiming to damage Kataib Hizbollah – a separate entity to the better-known Hizbollah, based in Lebanon. The US blames the group for the killing last week of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base. The US attack - the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia since 2011 - represents a new escalation in the proxy war between the US and Iran playing out in the Middle East. Russia's foreign ministry called the "exchange of strikes" between Kataib Hizbollah and US forces in Iraq "unacceptable," and called for restraint from both sides. "We consider such actions unacceptable and counterproductive. We call upon all parties to refrain from further actions that could sharply destabilise the military-political situation in Iraq, Syria, and the neighboring countries," a ministry statement said. Thousands of protesters blocked roads and bridges across southern Iraq on Dec 23, condemning Iranian influence and political leaders who missed another deadline to agree on a new prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, praised the "important" strikes, in a phone call to Mike Pompeo, the US secretary of state. Mr Netanyahu "congratulated him on the important US action against Iran and its proxies in the region," according to a statement issued by the Israeli leader's office. Mr Pompeo said the strikes send the message that the US will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardise American lives. "We have repeatedly – the president, the secretary of state - made clear that if we are attacked by the regime or its proxies we will respond," said Brian Hook, Donald Trump's special envoy to Iran. He refused to comment on further possible actions. The US has maintained some 5,000 troops in Iraq at the invitation of the Iraqi government, to help assist in the fight against the Islamic State group. But on Monday Iraq's prime minister, Adel Abdul Mahdi, said that invitation could now be rescinded. "The prime minister described the American attack on the Iraqi armed forces as an unacceptable vicious assault that will have dangerous consequences," his office said.
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| Kim Jong Un Weighs ‘Offensive Measures’ Ahead of Year-End Deadline Posted: 29 Dec 2019 08:14 PM PST ![Kim Jong Un Weighs 'Offensive Measures' Ahead of Year-End Deadline]( "Kim Jong Un Weighs 'Offensive Measures' Ahead of Year-End Deadline") (Bloomberg) -- Kim Jong Un urged "positive and offensive measures" to bolster North Korea's security, as the Trump administration said it was watching for provocations around the regime's year-end deadline.Kim issued his call for action during an unusually large and lengthy meeting of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, which continued behind closed doors Monday in Pyongyang. Donald Trump's national security adviser, Robert O'Brien, who credited the president with persuading Kim to forego a destabilizing action during the Christmas holiday, said the administration was monitoring the situation."President Trump took a different tack with personal diplomacy, and so far we've had some success," O'Brien said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" program. "So perhaps he's reconsidered that, but we'll have to wait and see."While Christmas came and went without the "gift" North Korea had threatened to deliver to Trump for the holiday, all signals from Pyongyang in recent months have pointed to escalation in the new year. Kim has vowed to take a "new path" in nuclear talks without further U.S. concessions and North Korea promised to issue its "final judgment" on Trump by end of this month.North Korean state media has so far said little about the ongoing Workers' Party meeting, although the size and duration of the gathering suggested it was the among the most significant since Kim took power in 2011. The North Korean leader was expected to deliver a New Year's address Wednesday, which was being watched even more closely than usual for signs of whether he plans to escalate tensions in the coming months.During the second day of the party meeting Sunday, Kim made remarks "emphasizing the need to take positive and offensive measures for fully ensuring the sovereignty and security of the country as required by the present situation," the state-run Korean Central News Agency said without elaborating. A spokesman for South Korea's Unification Ministry said the meeting was the largest party gathering held since at least 2013."It could be interpreted as North Korea considering 2020 as a very significant year in terms of managing the nation as well as economy construction," said Kim Dong-yub, a professor of North Korean studies at Kyungnam University and a former director of nuclear weapons policy at South Korea's defense ministry. "It could also indicate that the party is considering this year to be a crucial make-or-break point for Kim Jong Un's leadership and the stability of it."Kim has suspended tests of nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could deliver a warhead to the U.S. since he began talks with Trump in 2018. But he has also been busy expanding his nuclear arsenal in that time -- rolling out a new line of solid-propellant, nuclear-capable ballistic missiles and producing enough fissile material for about a dozen or so more nuclear bombs, weapons experts have said.How Kim Jong Un Keeps Advancing His Nuclear Program: QuickTakeO'Brien, 53, a former hostage envoy and Trump's fourth national security adviser, said that the U.S. was ready to respond should Kim fire additional long-range missiles or conduct further nuclear weapons tests. The Pentagon sent a guided-missile destroyer, the USS Milius, to waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous U.S. defense officials."We'll reserve judgment, but the United States will take action as we do in these situations," O'Brien said, incorrectly referring to Kim as "Chairman Un" before switching to his full name. "If Kim Jong Un takes that approach, we'll be extraordinarily disappointed and we'll demonstrate that disappointment."Trump has touted his outreach to Pyongyang, and his personal ties to Kim, as a foreign policy triumph. Kim and Trump have met three times -- a first for any sitting U.S. president -- and the two regularly praise each other.O'Brien declined to discuss whether Washington and Pyongyang have had recent discussions beyond noting that "channels of communication" were open.U.S. Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat, said he has seen little progress from Trump's efforts, and that Kim needed to announce that he plans to give up his nuclear weapons."The meetings with the two leaders have produced very little in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Cardin, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday."Vase Incoming?While Trump in 2018 claimed that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear threat" and that he and Kim "fell in love," a deal between the two countries has remained elusive. Neither side has agreed on any terms of disarmament or the easing of a U.S.-led international sanctions regime.North Korea suggested a "Christmas gift" would be forthcoming after demanding additional concessions as part of the stalled nuclear talks. Trump played down the threat, saying on Christmas Eve that the U.S. would "deal with it" and joking that Kim's gift could be a "beautiful vase."\--With assistance from Laura Davison.To contact the reporters on this story: Jihye Lee in Seoul at jlee2352@bloomberg.net;Steve Geimann in Washington at sgeimann@bloomberg.net;Susan Decker in Washington at sdecker1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Jon HerskovitzFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Putin, Ukraine's leader talk about natural gas, prisoners Posted: 31 Dec 2019 04:03 AM PST  The presidents of Russia and Ukraine have spoken by telephone to express satisfaction with a newly signed contract on natural gas transit and the recent exchange of prisoners between Ukraine and Russia-backed rebels in Ukraine's east. A Kremlin statement says the Tuesday call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy took place on Ukraine's initiative. Sunday's swap of a total of 200 prisoners has raised hopes of an end to the five-year-long war in eastern Ukraine that has killed 14,000 people.
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| Huawei says it will generate a record $122 billion in annual revenue despite US sanctions Posted: 31 Dec 2019 05:05 AM PST  The $122 billion figure would, however, fall short of Huawei's own annual revenue projections for 2019.
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| Panama marks 20 years in charge of canal, faces climate threat Posted: 30 Dec 2019 09:23 PM PST  On December 31, 1999 at midday sharp, then-president Mireya Moscoso hoisted Panama's red, blue and white flag over the Canal administration building for the first time. The entire Central American nation was swept with joy, having finally received sovereignty over the Canal after 85 years of management by the US, which built and inaugurated the ocean route in August 1914. Twenty years later, recurrent droughts caused by climate change are the main threat to the 80 kilometer-long canal between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, through which mostly American, Chinese and Japanese merchant ships pass.
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| Indonesia protests to China over border intrusion near South China Sea Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:08 AM PST ![Indonesia protests to China over border intrusion near South China Sea]( "Indonesia protests to China over border intrusion near South China Sea") Indonesia said on Monday it had protested to Beijing over the presence of a Chinese coastguard vessel in its territorial waters near the disputed South China Sea, saying it marked a "violation of sovereignty".
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| China’s Giant New Warship Packs Killer Long-Range Missiles Posted: 30 Dec 2019 11:35 PM PST  The Chinese navy's new guided-missile cruisers can launch land-attack cruise missiles, the Chinese navy confirmed. That capability places the Type 055 cruisers in the same class as the U.S. Navy's own large surface combatants.
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| Trump threatens Iran after protesters break into U.S. embassy in Baghdad Posted: 31 Dec 2019 06:22 AM PST  President Trump is blaming Iran after supporters of Iraq's Iran-backed militias stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.In a tweet Tuesday morning, Trump accused Iran of "orchestrating" the attack on the U.S. embassy, threatening to hold them "fully responsible."> Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019Protesters breached the embassy on Tuesday following U.S. airstrikes against Kataib Hezbollah, which came in response to an attack on an Iraqi military base that killed an American contractor, The New York Times reports. Kataib Hezbollah has denied involvement. A spokesperson for the militia said it would erect tents outside of the embassy and "not leave these tents until the embassy and the ambassador leave Iraq."The Associated Press described this "unprecedented breach" as "one of the worst attacks on the embassy in recent memory," reporting that the embassy's main door was smashed, a reception area was set on fire, and protesters hurled stones over the compound's wall. Per AP, the protesters were joined by some commanders of militia factions that are loyal to Iran, and The Wall Street Journal reports some protesters identified themselves with fatigues and badges as members of Kataib Hezbollah.Trump on Tuesday also defended the airstrikes while writing the U.S. expects Iraq "to use its forces to protect the embassy." AP notes "Iraqi security forces made no effort to stop the protesters."More stories from theweek.com Trump's State Department reportedly launched a full-fledged investigation to find out which employee liked a Chelsea Clinton tweet Carlos Ghosn managed to flee Japan by hiding in a musical instrument case The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think
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| British teenager found guilty of lying about 'gang rape' in Cyprus holiday resort Posted: 30 Dec 2019 03:11 AM PST  A British teenager has been found guilty of lying about being gang-raped while on holiday in the Cypriot resort of Ayia Napa, in a case that has raised questions about the island's treatment of victims of sexual assault. The 19-year-old Derbyshire woman, whom The Telegraph has chosen not to identify, says she was raped by up to 12 Israeli men in her hotel room in July. She later retracted the accusation after hours of questioning by police. The teenager was convicted on Monday of the charge of "public mischief" by Famagusta district court in the nearby town of Paralimni. In his ruling, Judge Michalis Papathanasiou said the defendant did not tell the truth and tried to deceive the court with "convenient" and "evasive" statements. "She did not make a good impression on the court," he said. "She was never clear on what happened. She was not stating the truth and I reject the version she gave." He delayed sentencing until January 7, when the woman could be ordered to pay a €1,700 (£1,500) fine and serve up to a year in prison. The teenager, dressed in black with her blonde hair tied up, sighed in disbelief as the court's translator relayed Judge Papathanasiou's decision. Around 25 protesters from the Network Against Violence Against Women sat in court with gags over their mouths showing an image of stitched-up lips. As the defendant walked out of court in a blindfold to hide her identity, they shouted: "We are with you. We know. We believe you." More than a dozen women from an association for the protection of women attended court wearing white scarves with an image of lips sewn shut printed on them. Credit: REX The case has raised grave concerns for the safety of female tourists on the island, which attracts more than a million British holidaymakers each year. The teenager reported the alleged rape to police hours after the alleged incident on July 17. Soon afterwards, the Israeli teenagers, who denied the allegations, were arrested. Two weeks later the woman was questioned for eight hours by Cyprus police without a lawyer or family member present. During that time, she signed a statement of retraction saying she concocted the story. The alleged gang rape took place in the party resort of Ayia Napa in Cyprus Credit: AFP The prosecution claimed she had made up the story because she felt ashamed and humiliated after discovering that she had been filmed having sex with one of the Israelis. Her lawyers claimed she was suffering from trauma after the alleged incident and made the statement to police under duress. She was charged with causing public mischief, defined by the Cypriot criminal code as knowingly providing police with "a false statement concerning an imaginary offence". She was arrested in August and had her passport confiscated. The Israelis, aged 15 to 22, were allowed to return home to Tel Aviv, where they celebrated their release, shouting "the Brit is a whore" and popping champagne at Ben Gurion airport. The woman, who has had to forego a place at university in the UK because of the trial proceedings, spent Christmas in Cyprus after she was refused permission to return home until after the verdict. An Israeli teenager is embraced by relatives after being released from Famagusta police headquarters in southeast town of Paralimni, Cyprus, Credit: AP Her lawyers tried to get the retraction statement thrown out as evidence. However, Judge Papathanasiou ruled that the questioning did not amount to undue pressure and her statement - which her defence team claimed did not appear to have been written by a native English speaker - was admissible. The court heard how the men, who were not required to give evidence during the trial, had targeted the teenager and had bragged that they were going to "do orgies" with her. She had chosen to give evidence in court to prove she was not lying after the judge branded her an "unreliable witness". She told the hearing earlier this month that she had initially agreed to have sex with one of the accused men, a man identified only as Sam, 21, who she met while working in Ayia Napa. The teenager said his friends burst into the room and she shouted out "No." "I said I am not doing that and told them all to go," she said. "They left for a few seconds and Sam told me to lie on the bed and he got on his knees and put them on my shoulders," she continued. She described being pinned down and raped multiple times by different members of the group. "I tried to cross my legs. I was trying to throw my arms about," she told the court. "I don't know how many of them raped me. I couldn't see." Suspects cover their faces with their shirts as they arrive at the Famagusta courthouse in Paralamni, Cyprus, in July Credit: AP The woman claims she then fled the hotel semi-naked to friends who took her to a medical clinic. She was examined by doctors before the police were called. The handling of the case has been questioned by experts and has raised serious questions about the rigour of both the police and judiciary in investigating the woman's allegation. Marios Matsakis, a forensic pathologist, testified in court that he had found DNA traces from four men on the woman. He claimed the rape kit exam presented in court as evidence was incomplete. ''There was no examination of the teenager's clothing which is surprising," Mr Matsakis said. "The woman was obviously in bad shape with a large number of external injuries, most of which were recent," he added. Women rights activists stage a protest in support of a British teenager accused of falsely claiming she was raped by Israeli tourists Credit: AFP Responding to the verdict, Nir Yaslovitzh, the lawyer representing the young men, said: "I applaud the court's decision to convict the girl. I hope that the court will find it appropriate to aggravate the punishment imposed on the girl who refuses to this day to take responsibility for the horrible act she has done against the boys." Ritsa Pekri, the woman's defence counsel, asked the judge for leniency in sentencing on Monday, citing her age and "maturity" handling the pressure she had been under. "She's been in prison for one month and in Cyprus, effectively as a prisoner, for five. She's lost her friends, her place at university, her social life. She now has psychological problems as a result of the incident. She should be allowed home to be treated." Her mother has claimed her human rights had been violated. "We were told no one could interfere because it's local judicial process, and I understand that, but I find it shocking that neither Europe, nor the embassy, nor our Government, feel able to make sure her rights are being observed." Women's rights groups and civil society organisations reacted with anger to the guilty verdict. "This woman was not only raped by those 12 men, but raped by the state, by society and by the media here," protester Maria Mappouridou told The Telegraph outside the court. "Police in Cyprus always find a reason not to believe women who claimed they have been raped, many of us here today have experienced it. It's like Cyprus is 100 years behind on this, it's hard to believe we're fighting this in 2019 in an EU country." Equality Now, an international women's rights organisation that campaigns on failings in laws relating to sexual violence, said there needed to be an investigation into how the teenager was treated by the Cypriot police on the night she signed her retraction statement. "The teenager's court testimony about being gang-raped and her subsequent treatment by state authorities, alongside the supporting evidence provided by expert witnesses for the defence, clearly expose the need for a comprehensive investigation into the night in question and the way the case has been handled by Cypriot police, medical authorities and state prosecutors," said Alexandra Patsalides, a human rights lawyer with the organisation. The manner in which the British woman was treated by police and prosecutors "appears to have fallen considerably below international standards," she said. "There are various complex reasons why a victim of sexual violence may retract their allegation. They might be traumatised and vulnerable, and have a lack of confidence in or fear of the justice process, especially if they have been subjected to prejudicial attitudes and negative gender stereotypes by the investigating authorities." The Cyprus Womens' Lobby, an advocacy group, called for a wide-ranging review of how the police treat cases of rape and sexual assault. "The whole process is fraught with problems, not just this case," Eleni Karaoli, a member of the group, told The Telegraph. "Everything needs to be reviewed, from the first moment a victim approaches the police to how they take statements and how they treat the medical evidence. If that means changing the law, then we need to do that." There was no information on how many similar cases there may have been in Cyprus. "But we do know there are cases of domestic violence where women who have been beaten by their husbands are told by the police just to go back to them." Michael Polak, part of the teenager's defence team Credit: EPA/REX Michael Polak, a British lawyer who is part of the teenager's defence team, told The Telegraph: "We are very disappointed with the decision but we are not surprised given how the trial was conducted. "The judge said it was not about the rape but about whether she lied. But we say the two are inextricably linked. The rape is an essential element of whether she lied. He did not consider the case properly. "We say the evidence - including defence witnesses' testimony and the police's failure to secure the crime scene - should have exonerated our client. "It doesn't finish here. The next stage will be to appeal to the Supreme Court of Cyprus and then, if necessary, to the European Court of Human Rights." The appeals process could take up to four years, he said. The handling of the case should prompt Cyprus to make the recording of police station interviews obligatory, Mr Polak said. The woman's questioning on the night she retracted the rape claim was not recorded because there is no such requirement under current Cypriot law. "The Cypriot police should ask themselves whether they want a proper justice system or not. We need to know what happens inside police stations when defendants are questioned," said the lawyer. A spokesperson for the FCO told the Telegraph: "We continue to support a British woman and her family following her arrest in Cyprus. This has been a deeply distressing case. Our staff have visited her a number of times in detention, attended court hearings, and are in regular contact with her legal representatives and the local authorities."
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| Abducted Sri Lanka journalist's wife: Military derails case Posted: 31 Dec 2019 01:31 AM PST  The wife of an abducted Sri Lankan journalist is accusing the military of trying to derail a court case in which nine soldiers have been charged with her husband's abduction and enforced disappearance nearly 10 years ago. Prageeth went missing in 2010 during the presidency of Mahinda Rajapaksa, the brother of current President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Prageeth, an analyst and cartoonist, wrote against alleged corruption, nepotism and Rajapaksa's conduct during a military campaign against ethnic Tamil rebels in ending Sri Lanka's long civil war.
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| 37 Great Gifts for DIYers Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:58 PM PST |
| Greta Thunberg and David Attenborough met for the first time, and the 2 climate icons fangirled over each other Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:21 AM PST  In their BBC interview, Thunberg called Attenborough "inspiring," and he praised her for having "achieved things that many of us ... have failed to."
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| Hanukkah candles burn in Iraqi Kurdistan Posted: 30 Dec 2019 10:40 AM PST  Al-Qosh (Irak) (AFP) - In the glow of the nine-candled menorah, with kippa skullcaps on their heads and tallit prayer shawls around their shoulders, a small association is working to revive Hanukkah in Iraq. The country has been nearly emptied of its Jewish community amid regional conflict and violence within its borders, but this year, the town of Al-Qosh hosted its first Hanukkah celebrations. Al-Qosh is a majority Christian town around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Mosul, the former self-proclaimed "capital" of the Islamic State group (IS) in Iraq.
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| Boy sets lawn on fire with magnifying glass, mother says Posted: 31 Dec 2019 12:29 AM PST  "...It will now be a Christmas to remember! 2019- The Christmas the lawn lit on fire," the boy's mother wrote on Facebook.
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| Exclusive: Modi's office proposes waiving carbon tax on coal Posted: 30 Dec 2019 03:31 AM PST  Prime Minister Narendra Modi's office has proposed waiving a tax on coal to help finance pollution-curbing equipment, according to documents, but the move would also make coal more competitive in price with solar and wind energy. Modi's office has proposed waiving the carbon tax of 400 rupees ($5.61) per tonne that was levied on the production and import of coal, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters. The documents say the savings would improve the financial health of utilities and distribution companies, and help the power producers to install pollution-curbing equipment.
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| Air Force Special Operations Are Ready To Take On A 'Major Power' Posted: 30 Dec 2019 03:00 PM PST  Who is the next big enemy?
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| Trump signs law to reduce robocalls, though they won't end Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:17 PM PST  An anti-robocalls measure signed into law Monday by President Donald Trump should help reduce the torrent of unwanted calls promising lower interest rates or pretending to be the IRS, though it won't make all such calls disappear. The new law gives authorities more enforcement powers and could speed up measures the industry is already taking to identify robocalls. The law is a "big victory," said Consumer Reports' Maureen Mahoney.
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| Rare Chinese Bureaucratic Shakeup Reveals Future Leaders Posted: 30 Dec 2019 04:40 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- China's sprawling bureaucracy is undergoing a regional reshuffle of a rare scale, with new appointments and job swaps offering hints of potential future leaders being groomed by Beijing.At least 32 new mayoral-level officials have been appointed since Dec. 21, with 29 of them being relocated to a new province for the first time, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. The other three are being moved for just the second time. While the Communist Party has routinely relocated minister-level officials from one province to another, that's less common among lower-level officials."We have almost never seen the transfer of mid-level officials between provinces at a scale this massive," said Suisheng Zhao, executive director of the Center for China-U.S. Cooperation at the University of Denver's Graduate School of International Studies. "Grooming the party's talent pipeline is the most important aspect of Xi Jinping's reform of governance modernization."Xi has repeatedly called for training more capable cadres and the Communist Party's Central Committee vowed in March to accelerate that by promoting the exchange of officials across local areas, departments and state-owned enterprises. The equivalent of the party's human resources department is overseeing the current spate of new appointments, underscoring their importance.The personnel moves come has Xi seeks to control a nationwide economic slowdown amid high pork prices and a trade war with the U.S. The Chinese president might touch on the challenges facing the nation Tuesday evening, when he's expected to deliver an annual New Year's Eve address.Future LeadersSince Dec. 21, when two officials from Zhejiang and Shandong in the east were sent to the predominately-Muslim western region of Xinjiang, new positions have been announced every day.On Monday, Huaian -- a city of about 5 million in Jiangsu -- welcomed its new mayor, Chen Zhichang, the former head of Beijing's Shijingshan district. Born in 1974, Chen spent his whole career in Beijing aside from a short stint in Tibet. His profile is similar to most of the cadres who were moved around this month, who spent most of their working lives in one place.Of the 32 officials who got new jobs, 21 were born after 1970, signaling the emergence of a new generation of leaders.Wang Liqi, born in 1977, was appointed China's youngest mayor. He was nominated to manage Jiuquan City in Gansu, pending rubber-stamp approval by the local legislature. Since graduating from Tsinghua University with a master's degree in engineering in 2003, Wang spent his entire political career in Heilongjiang, a northeastern province bordering Russia.Top-down CampaignA local bureaucrat from Inner Mongolia's Organization Department shed light on the changes when welcoming an official from Chongqing as the new mayor of its Wuhai city.The change in leadership was part of the Central Organization Department's decision "to select and send outstanding cadres on cross-provincial and regional exchanges," local media cited Sun Fulong, the director of Inner Mongolia's Civil Service Bureau as saying on Dec. 24.Sun said the swapping of officials across regions was done to implement Xi's instructions on bureaucratic organization and of "extreme significance to the modernization of national governance."Xi has repeatedly complained about a lack of drive among some local officials, and urged cadres to be more daring and take on more challenges. He warned in January that "the party is facing sharp and serious dangers of a slackness in spirit, lack of ability, distance from the people, and being passive and corrupt."As these reshuffles become more institutionalized, they will help "break the curse of the central government's orders not being able to travel beyond the top leadership's compound of Zhongnanhai," said Zhao. "Party central wants to select people who are not only politically reliable but also have an outstanding performance record, and send them to other provinces to effectively disrupt the intertwined local interest groups."(Updates with Xi's speech in fifth paragraph.)To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Sharon Chen, John LiuFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| For Palestinians, sudden wave of election talk rekindles hope Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:05 AM PST ![For Palestinians, sudden wave of election talk rekindles hope]( "For Palestinians, sudden wave of election talk rekindles hope") Promises of progress in the Middle East are often viewed with skepticism. But a hunger for democracy makes talk of Palestinian elections tantalizing.
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| Judge dismisses impeachment suit from ex-White House aide, Charles Kupperman Posted: 30 Dec 2019 03:59 PM PST  A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from a former White House official who had challenged a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry involving President Trump.
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