| In new Yahoo News/YouGov poll, most voters agree with Trump's impeachment — but support for his removal falls just short of 50% Posted: 19 Dec 2019 04:20 PM PST  The bottom line is that registered voters favor the House's decision to impeach the president by a 50 percent to 45 percent margin.
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| Film documents Honduran family’s struggle to find asylum in U.S. Posted: 20 Dec 2019 02:38 PM PST  In "Towards the North," viewers get an intimate look into the daily battles of asylum seekers from Central America through the eyes of Nelly and her daughter, Joseline.
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| Female candidates asked for forgiveness. Men, not so much Posted: 20 Dec 2019 01:50 PM PST  In the final question of Thursday's Democratic presidential debate, the seven candidates were asked whether they would rather give a gift to someone on the stage. Or, they could ask for forgiveness. The men — Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Andrew Yang, Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer — opted to give a gift.
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| A Mississippi man went on a window-breaking spree just so he could get arrested and stay in jail to escape the cold Posted: 20 Dec 2019 11:39 AM PST  A homeless man in Natchez, Mississippi, asked if he could stay in jail for shelter. Deputies told him he couldn't do so unless he was in custody.
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| Look Out America: Russia's Hypersonic Avangard Nuclear Missile Is Going Live Posted: 20 Dec 2019 02:45 PM PST  The Avangard is a nuclear-armed glider that travels at hypersonic (faster than Mach 5) speed.
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| Watch the absurdly slow crash of 2 mammoth cruise ships Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:54 AM PST  Two Carnival cruise ships collided in Cozumel, Mexico, on Friday. The Carnival Glory was "maneuvering to dock," the cruise company reported, when it struck the Carnival Legend, which was already docked.Because these are modern cruise ships with weights in the range of 220 Statues of Liberty (a very normal metric), the crash was an oddly slow but certain disaster. That glacial pacing also allowed it to be caught on camera:> MORE: Dramatic video shows the moment two Carnival cruise ships collided while attempting to dock in Cozumel, Mexico. https://t.co/Dioih68YLd pic.twitter.com/VOTYcOfS04> > — ABC News (@ABC) December 20, 2019Carnival says only one passenger sustained minor injuries, and "there are no issues that impact the seaworthiness of either ship." Passengers on both ships told CNN the impact felt "like a big wave," and on-board announcements cited currents and high winds as contributing factors.More stories from theweek.com Space Force, paid parental leave signed into law Trump is now attacking Christianity Today — and its editor is doubling down 7 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's Senate impeachment trial
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| Japan Approves Record Defense Budget of $48.5 Billion Posted: 19 Dec 2019 05:10 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Japan's cabinet approved a record defense budget of 5.3 trillion yen ($48.5 billion), up about a percentage point from the previous year, amid renewed threats from neighboring North Korea.Among the items on the country's shopping list is 11.1 billion yen for developing a new-generation fighter plane, according to documents distributed by the Ministry of Defense.North Korea Conducted 'Very Important' Test at Rocket SiteThe total also includes 28.1 billion yen for three Lockheed Martin F-35A warplanes. The ministry plans to have them assembled domestically, reversing a cabinet decision made last year to import completed F-35As from the U.S. Constructing the planes in Japan will save 40 million yen per unit, according to a Defense Ministry official.The government will set aside 200.5 billion yen in financial support for the roughly 50,000 U.S. military personnel based in Japan. The agreement with the U.S. on host-nation support expires in March 2021 and President Donald Trump is pressing for a hike in contributions, which some reports say will be as much as four-fold. Japan has denied the reports.To contact the reporters on this story: Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo at ireynolds1@bloomberg.net;Emi Nobuhiro in Tokyo at enobuhiro@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Kana Nishizawa, Gearoid ReidyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China says case of detained Canadians turned over to prosecutors Posted: 19 Dec 2019 11:36 PM PST  China's foreign ministry said on Friday that an investigation into two Canadians detained on state security charges since December last year had ended, and the case had been turned over to prosecutors. Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained in China shortly after Canadian authorities arrested Huawei Technologies Co's [HWT.UL] Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver on a U.S. warrant. Canada says their arrests were "arbitrary", and has been in a diplomatic dispute with China since then.
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| Trump will ‘absolutely’ designate Mexican cartels like CJNG as terrorists. Will it help? Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:20 AM PST  President Donald Trump will "absolutely" designate Mexican cartels as terrorists, which could fray already strained U.S.-Mexico relations.
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| At the US-Mexican border, migrants give up hope of crossing Posted: 20 Dec 2019 08:47 PM PST  Ciudad Juárez (Mexico) (AFP) - In muddy makeshift camps in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez, more than 1,000 migrants had waited for weeks for a chance to request asylum in the United States, enduring cold nights and long days of uncertainty. Authorities say as of last week, there were still about 1,400 migrants, most of them from southwestern Mexico, holding out hope under tents and tarps not far from the Rio Grande.
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| The Radical Designs of the Australian Architect Peter Stutchbury Posted: 20 Dec 2019 08:24 AM PST |
| Presidential hopefuls in Senate say impeachment comes first Posted: 19 Dec 2019 02:44 PM PST  House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to delay sending the impeachment articles to the Senate risks eating further into senators' final weeks of campaigning for the Democratic presidential nomination before the first caucus in February. The five senators affected seem unfazed by the delay. Impeachment comes first, they said.
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| The Texas ex-police officer who fatally shot Atatiana Jefferson in her own home has been indicted on a murder charge Posted: 20 Dec 2019 12:40 PM PST  Atatiana Jefferson had been playing video games with her nephew on October 12 when the officer, Aaron Dean, shot her through her bedroom window.
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| Va. attorney general: Gun sanctuary resolutions have 'no legal effect' Posted: 20 Dec 2019 01:37 PM PST  Resolutions passed by local governments declaring themselves "Second Amendment Sanctuaries" have "no legal effect," Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring said Friday.
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| Durham Scrutinizing Former CIA Director Brennan’s Role in Russia Investigation Posted: 20 Dec 2019 05:01 AM PST  Federal prosecutor John Durham, tasked with probing the Russia investigation into the Trump 2016 campaign by Attorney General William Barr, is scrutinizing what role former CIA director John Brennan played in the investigation, the New York Times reported Thursday.Durham has requested various documents from the CIA including Brennan's emails and call logs, according to the Times. The prosecutor is looking into what Brennan knew of the Steele dossier, how the dossier was received by the agency, and whether Brennan conferred with former FBI director James Comey regarding it.Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz found that the dossier played a "central and essential" role in the FISA application to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page. In his report released earlier this month, Horowitz also confirmed that the FBI did not inform the court that the dossier, which some in the CIA believed amounted to an "internet rumor," was commissioned by the Hillary Clinton campaign, and was never independently verified by the bureau.Durham is also trying to discover if Brennan privately contradicted any public testimony he made regarding the Russia investigation.On Wednesday Barr confirmed on Fox News that Durham's investigation was casting a wide net by looking at several aspects of the Russia investigation."He's not just looking at the FBI, he's looking at other agencies, and departments, and also private actors, so it's a much broader investigation," Barr said. Durham "is looking at all the conduct both before and after the election."Durham upgraded the investigation from an administrative review to a criminal probe in October but it's unclear what, if any, criminal acts he's uncovered.
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| 'Steel Rain': Could This Be the U.S. Military's Ultimate Weapon? Posted: 21 Dec 2019 12:11 AM PST  Don't take on an MLRS.
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| Erdogan says Turkey will retaliate against possible U.S. sanctions Posted: 20 Dec 2019 03:50 AM PST  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying on Friday that Ankara would retaliate against potential U.S. sanctions over its purchase of Russian defense systems and a natural gas pipeline. U.S. Congress has moved to impose sanctions on Turkey over its purchase of S-400 defense systems from Russia and related to Russia's TurkStream pipeline, which will carry Russian gas to Turkey. Asked about the various sanctions against Ankara, Erdogan repeated that the S-400 deal was already completed.
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| Trump's 'shameful' migrant stance condemns thousands to violent limbo in Mexico Posted: 20 Dec 2019 01:30 AM PST  More than 57,000 asylum seekers have been forced to wait for their court hearings in Mexican border towns – some of the most violent places on EarthAlex Guevara weeps as he describes the five-month odyssey that brought his family from Venezuela to a diner just metres from the United States border – and the uncertainty and danger that lie ahead.It was June when Guevara and his family fled on foot into Colombia, carrying nothing but a Bible and a worthless Venezuelan coin to remind them of their homeland.."It was life or death – either we left or we left," Guevara's wife, Andrea, said of the persecution they had suffered because of ties to the opposition movement trying to force Nicolás Maduro from power.From Medellín, the couple flew to Cancún with their two young children before traveling overland to one of the most dangerous stretches of the US-Mexico border and crossing the Rio Grande in a rubber dinghy.When border guards detained them on US soil, the Guevaras thought their ordeal was nearly over.But, rather than being allowed to stay in the US while they sought asylum, they were separated and spent a fortnight in detention before being released into one of Mexico's most notorious border towns in the dead of night."Wow, that was a low blow," said Andrea. "After all the trauma and everything we had been through in our country … we found ourselves in the mouth of another wolf."The Guevaras – who asked for their real names not to be used – are among more than 57,000 people who have been forced back into Mexico this year by an innocuously named immigration policy that activists consider one of the cruellest and most ruthlessly efficient strands of Donald Trump's anti-migration crusade.Unveiled in January, the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) project, or Remain in Mexico as it is better known, stipulates that asylum seekers must wait for their court hearings in Mexican border towns – several of which count among the most violent places on Earth.Even when they do reach court after months of waiting, only a tiny proportion of applicants succeed. Research by academics at Syracuse University found that only 11 out of nearly 10,000 asylum requests were granted in the first nine months of this year."It's just a chicken-shit administrative way of not letting people legally seek asylum," said Kelly Overton, whose NGO, Border Kindness, helps the policy's victims in Mexicali, one of six border cities involved in the scheme alongside Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo and Matamoros."The majority of people are fleeing something – whether that's an immediate threat of violence, [or] a guaranteed life of poverty and despair for their children. They are doing this for a reason," Overton said."And it is shameful how the United States is responding. It is devastating."Overton, whose group buses asylum seekers to hearings in the US, said the human consequences of the policy were twofold.Many of those sent back, convinced they stood no chance of being legally admitted to the US, were risking their lives by returning to Central American countries suffering some of the world's highest murder rates. "Some of the people we have helped this year that have gone back will be dead by next year," Overton said.Those who chose to wait it out, meanwhile, were exposed to con artists and kidnappers who preyed on those whose accents or clothes marked them out as outsiders.Earlier this month the advocacy group Human Rights First accused the Trump administration of exposing asylum seekers to "life-threatening dangers" after documenting 636 cases of kidnapping, rape, torture, assault and other violent attacks against those returned to Mexico.Victims included a nine-year-old disabled girl and her mother who were kidnapped and raped after being sent back to Tijuana.In Nuevo Laredo, which is located in a Mexican state the US considers as dangerous as Iraq and Syria, 197 kidnappings have already been recorded, including of a seven-year-old Honduran girl.Human Rights First researcher Kennji Kizuka said he suspected such perils were actually part of Trump's plan. Exposure to hostile environments was designed to "scare people out of remaining and waiting for their immigration proceedings" and thus reduce migration.Terrifying stories of violence and exploitation are easy to encounter in towns such as Mexicali.A Cuban woman told of how armed men had forced her into a car in broad daylight at the start of a terrifying four-day abduction during which she was deprived of food and water."They took everything – our money, our clothes, everything," said the woman, who had also fled her country for political reasons."Thank God we managed to escape and we're alive to tell the story – not everyone is so lucky."A Honduran woman, who also asked not to be named, said she had not left the shelter where she was living since being approached by a gang of pornographers offering her $50 to pose for naked photographs."I'm scared – really, really scared," she said.The Guevaras, whose home is now a cramped flat on Mexicali's outskirts, said they also lived in constant fear, speaking quietly in public to hide their distinctive Venezuelan accents and hardly venturing outside."People say to us: 'Be careful. Don't go out on the streets. Don't leave the kids on their own,'" Andrea said. "You never know who you are dealing with here."Her husband insisted they could not return to Venezuela. "But Mexico is almost as dangerous."Remain in Mexico is part of a wider set of anti-immigration initiatives created since Trump took office in 2017, including an asylum ban targeting Central American migrants, a dramatic reduction of refugee resettlements and a highly controversial family separation policy scrapped after a global outcry.Margaret Cargioli, a San Diego-based immigration lawyer, called the policy part of "an astonishing anti-migrant machine" designed to repel outsiders."All of the measures, fundamentally, are racist and xenophobic policies," Cargioli said. "It's very planned out, it's very deliberate."Trump defends the moves as intended to protect the US from "bad hombres", "thugs" and "animals".But in Mexicali the Guardian found mostly desperate young families forced from their homes by situations far beyond their control.In a dingy abandoned cinema converted into a migrant flophouse, Norma Quevedo said crime and deprivation had compelled her to flee Guatemala City with her five-year-old son, Antonio."The truth is we want a better future for our children … so we decided to risk it all," said the 30-year-old single mother.In another shelter Leonela Cabrera Martínez, a Honduran mother-of-three, said she was trying to outrun gangsters who targeted her family for failing to pay "rent"."They killed one of my brothers. That's why we came," said Cabrera, who was with three daughters aged 10, six and three."I can't go back," Cabrera insisted. "If I could go back, I would. But I can't."On a recent afternoon the shelter welcomed its latest guests: a 42-year-old asylum seeker called Santo Catalino López Velásquez who had been returned from the US just hours earlier after a 36-hour stint in the freezing hielera (icebox) detention centre with his wife, Fidelia Jaqueline García Álvarez, and their baby daughter and toddler son.Like nearly every other migrant interviewed for this story López shed tears that spoke of overwhelming emotional exhaustion as he told his story.In March, land-grabbers in southern Honduras had threatened to kill him if he failed to surrender his small farm. In April they torched his home. Days later López fled, stowing away inside lorries all the way to the US border with his wife and children.Penniless and still dazed from the ordeal, López said he had no idea how he would support his family as he remained in Mexico – let alone attend their court hearing 130 miles away in San Diego."We haven't got a single peso," he admitted. "Nada."But like many of those now stuck in border limbo, López was sure of one thing."There's no way we can go back – we'll be killed," he said, breaking down as he spoke. "I cannot go back."Additional reporting by Jordi Lebrija
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| 'A very cruel act': At least 15 horses were shot and killed in Kentucky, police say Posted: 20 Dec 2019 04:11 AM PST  Authorities are investigating after at least 15 horses were reportedly found fatally shot Tuesday near a strip mining site in Eastern Kentucky.
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| Gabbard faces heat back home for vote on impeachment Posted: 20 Dec 2019 03:53 AM PST  Long-shot presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard is facing some heat in her heavily Democratic home state of Hawaii for voting "present" on two articles of impeachment against President Trump.
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| 23 dead as protests grow against India citizenship law Posted: 21 Dec 2019 01:01 AM PST  Nine people died Saturday during clashes between demonstrators and police in northern India, raising the nationwide death toll in protests against a new citizenship law to 23, police said. Uttar Pradesh state police spokesman Pravin Kumar said the nine fatalities increased the death toll in the state to 15 in the protests against the new law, which the demonstrators say discriminates against Muslims. Around a dozen vehicles were set on fire as protesters went amok in the northern Indian cities of Rampur, Sambhal, Muzaffarnagar, Bijnore and Kanpur, where a police station was also torched, Singh said.
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| Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun ‘He Was Hoping to Use’ Posted: 20 Dec 2019 11:15 PM PST ![Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun 'He Was Hoping to Use']( "Hong Kong Police Arrest Man, Seize Gun 'He Was Hoping to Use'") (Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police arrested a 19-year-old after coming under fire Friday night, and also seized a semi-automatic rifle they say the man planned to use at a public event.The suspect shot at police with a semi-automatic pistol when they intercepted him, the force said in a video posted on its Facebook page. Officers fired tear gas at a crowd that confronted them at the scene of the incident in Tai Po, according to the post.Police said the suspect was previously arrested in December 2018 for illegal possession of firearms. He was released on bail in late February and failed to report to police as required this month, according to the post. Officers seized an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and 211 rounds of ammunition in an apartment in the neighborhood after Friday's arrest, they said."According to our intelligence, we know he was hoping to use the gun to cause chaos and hurt police officers during the public gathering," senior superintendent Steve Li of the Organized Crime and Triad Bureau said in the video.Hong Kong has been gripped by increasingly violent protests that were ignited in June by the government's plans to enact a law which would have allowed extraditions to jurisdictions including mainland China. The government scrapped the bill after continued public pressure but the unrest continued and protesters' demands expanded to include broader democracy and an independent commission of inquiry into police conduct.Arrows, petrol bombsDemonstrators hurl petrol bombs and launch arrows at riot police almost weekly, while officers have fired more than 10,000 rounds of tear gas, and used rubber bullets and water cannons. At least 6,000 protesters have been arrested since June.Friday's arrest comes as Chinese authorities are reported to have ruled out the formation of an independent commission of inquiry. Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam sought the central government's response to the idea during her four-day trip to Beijing this month, South China Morning Post reported on Saturday, citing an unidentified person close to the government.In another blow for Lam, several retired judges approached by the government have turned down requests to join an independent review committee to look into the ongoing unrest, the Post cited the person as saying.Public sentiment in Hong Kong seems to be squarely behind the demonstrators, with pro-democracy candidates winning a landslide victory against pro-government rivals in local elections last month. There has been a relative lull in the scale and frequency of the violence since the polls, but the protests are continuing, including rallies planned for this weekend.Meanwhile police have intensified their efforts to limit financial support for the protesters. On Thursday evening, officers announced the arrest of four people for suspected money-laundering in the first case related to funding of the demonstrations.About 80 school teachers and teaching assistants have been arrested for their involvement in anti-government protests, South China Morning Post reported on Saturday, citing Secretary for Education Kevin Yeung. He called for schools to suspend educators held for serious offenses, out of concern for students' safety.There were 123 complaints against teachers over protest-related misconduct from mid-June to late November, he said. Four teachers have resigned or been suspended by schools, according to Yeung.To contact the reporters on this story: Bei Hu in Hong Kong at bhu5@bloomberg.net;Chester Yung in Singapore at kyung33@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley JamesFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 13 horses apparently shot and killed in Kentucky Posted: 19 Dec 2019 05:17 PM PST  Donations have poured in from all over the country to find the person or persons responsible.
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| British Aircraft Carriers Could Soon Be Sailing In The U.S. Navy Posted: 19 Dec 2019 10:00 PM PST  Britain needs cash.
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| Venezuela detains lawmaker ahead of Guaido re-election vote: opposition Posted: 20 Dec 2019 05:27 PM PST ![Venezuela detains lawmaker ahead of Guaido re-election vote: opposition]( "Venezuela detains lawmaker ahead of Guaido re-election vote: opposition") Venezuelan police detained a lawmaker from Juan Guaido's opposition party on Friday, the party said, the latest in a wave of legal actions against lawmakers ahead of Guaido's bid for re-election as National Assembly leader on Jan. 5. The Popular Will party, known for its hardline approach to seeking to oust socialist President Nicolas Maduro, said a special forces police unit known as FAES detained lawmaker Gilber Caro and one of his assistants in Caracas. Venezuela's information ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and it was not immediately clear what charges, if any, Caro faced.
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| 5 key takeaways from the 6th Democratic debate Posted: 19 Dec 2019 08:53 PM PST  Pete Buttigieg on the defensive, climate change finally gets its due and septuagenarian candidates brush off questions about their age.
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| New dedicated migrant bus route prompts outrage in Greece. Posted: 21 Dec 2019 07:04 AM PST  A new bus route devised specifically for migrants has sparked outrage in a town in northern Greece, with accusations of segregation and racism following hostility to migrants from some locals. In 2016 an old military settlement in Diavata, on the outskirts of Thessaloniki, has been turned into a refugee camp for about 1,000 people, 30 of whom are unaccompanied minors. The camp has been met with hostile protests since the beginning. In 2016, when construction started, former Mayor Mimis Fotopoulos was assaulted by locals who opposed it. Protests by anti-refugee groups have been mounting since then. Most recently, in November, a "barbeque against illegal migrants" was organised by a group called "United Macedonians" where attendants ate pork and drank alcohol in view of the camp's mostly Muslim residents. The action drew heavy criticism. Senior members of the governing conservative New Democracy party expressed their support for the barbeque, and one of them even attended. Other members of the party condemned the event. The "Ionia Committee", another protest group of locals against the camp has been pushing for a separate bus line. Migrant and refugee numbers are rising across Europe In early November, a spokesperson claimed that the number 54 bus, which currently services both residents and the camp, "is filled with migrants and locals can't fit on", adding that there have been reports of harassment. On their Facebook page, the Ionia Committee described the approval of the new bus line as a "vindication of their struggle". In a press release, the Communist Party of Greece said the decision on the new bus "caters to the far-right, ramps up racist views and is no cause for celebration". Users on social media have also described the decision as "racist" and have drawn parallels with mid-century segregation in the US. Greek newspaper Documento likened the route to 20th-century segregation in the US Deep South with a headline saying it was like "Alabama '55", while local news outlet Alterthess in an editorial described it as "an ignorant decision that resembles dark times". A child holds a banner reading "Asylum and shelter for refugees" as an anti-racist group protests in solidarity with refugees and migrants outside the refugee's camp of Diavata The bus will go by the refugee camp and then follow a parallel route to the existing one. The municipality's announcement claimed that the new line would "relieve line 54 which services Diavata". Ioannis Ioannidis, the Mayor of Delta claims that it wasn't the Committee, but the Municipality that requested the bus line and dismisses all criticism of segregation. "The issue is that OASTH has greatly reduced bus routes", he told The Daily Telegraph. "The new bus will also pick up locals and visitors along the way, it will not start from the camp and head straight to the train station". Evangelos Papadakis, a Public Information Officer in UNHCR's Thessaloniki branch says they expect the new bus will benefit the residents in the area, but they will remain sceptical until its exact route and the particulars of accessibility to all are announced. According to recent data, there are 103,500 refugees staying in Greece. 71,368 arrivals have been recorded in 2019. More than a million refugees have passed through Greece since 2015. Hardened immigration laws have made it difficult for them to be relocated towards mainland EU. Anti-refugee protests have broken out in various locations across the country over the last few months.
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| A floating nuclear power plant that activists dubbed 'Chernobyl on ice' has started producing electricity in Russia. Here's what it looks like. Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:01 AM PST  The plant sailed 3,100 miles to a remote area in northern Russia in the fall. But environmentalists say floating nuclear plants are risky.
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| ‘You have a terribly homosexual face’: Brazil’s president launches homophobic attack on journalist Posted: 21 Dec 2019 04:55 AM PST  Brazil's president has launched a homophobic attack on a journalist in a likely attempt to detract from a criminal investigation into his son's alleged corruption.Jair Bolsonaro, who was elected on a ticket to purge the political class of corruption, railed against media scrutiny of his racism and apparent disdain for the environment, accusing the press of bias against him and his son Flavio Bolsonaro.
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| Iowa woman admits she hit 14-year-old with SUV because the girl 'is Mexican' Posted: 21 Dec 2019 07:32 AM PST  Nicole Franklin is charged with attempted murder for running down a 14-year-old as she walked to school. Police are considering hate crime charges.
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| Gunmen attack plane in Indonesia's Papua; no casualties Posted: 21 Dec 2019 03:26 AM PST ![Gunmen attack plane in Indonesia's Papua; no casualties]( "Gunmen attack plane in Indonesia's Papua; no casualties") Gunmen opened fire on a small commercial plane as it landed in Indonesia's restive province of Papua carrying nine passengers, one of the plane's pilots said Saturday. The attack occurred Friday in the hilly district of Puncak, a stronghold of separatists who have battled Indonesian rule in the mineral-rich but impoverished region since the early 1960s, said the Indonesian co-pilot, Purwanto Condro Usodo. Usodo said that he and the Australian pilot, Michael Cumming, were initially unaware of the shooting and managed to land the aircraft safely at Beoga airport from the mining town of Timika until passengers told them that they saw gunmen spray the plane with bullets while landing.
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| Mexico Investigator Finds No Wrongdoing by CFE Chief Bartlett Posted: 19 Dec 2019 05:04 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A probe into the head of Mexican state electric company CFE by the nation's comptroller found no wrongdoing in his family's purchases of luxury real estate, casting doubt on President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's campaign against corruption.Manuel Bartlett, 83, hasn't used his role in the current administration to benefit himself nor his family, nor did he try to hide his assets, federal comptroller Irma Sandoval said at a news conference in Mexico City on Thursday. The probe came after journalist Carlos Loret de Mola reported in late August that Bartlett allegedly failed to report 23 residences in wealthy neighborhoods in the Mexico City area in his required declaration of assets.Bartlett had declared to the comptroller that his net worth was 51 million pesos ($2.69 million), but his family had amassed a fortune 16 times that amount, according to Loret de Mola.Sandoval said that her "exhaustive" investigation only covered the conduct of Bartlett since he became the head of CFE a year ago, even though he has worked at high levels of the Mexican government for much of the past half century. The properties owned by his partner, Julia Elena Abdala Lemus, didn't need to be declared because the two aren't married, although he and others will need to disclose such assets starting next month based on a new law, Sandoval said.Loret de Mola's investigation found that the holdings that Bartlett allegedly omitted were registered in the name of his partner and the children that each had from previous marriages. Most of the properties were acquired after Bartlett became a senator in 2000, including two apartments in Mexico City's exclusive St. Regis hotel, Loret de Mola reported.The comptroller's conclusions quickly came under scrutiny from analysts."It looked more like the investigation was to justify his situation rather than determine if he acquired these properties through illicit enrichment," said Leonardo Nunez Gonzalez, an investigator with the nonprofit organization Mexicans Against Corruption. "For most of his life, Bartlett has been a public official. These assets don't correspond with that level of income. This was an investigation that was strictly a formality with a convenient conclusion for the public official."For many, the conclusion has echoes of a probe under Lopez Obrador's predecessor, Enrique Pena Nieto. His public comptroller in 2015 exonerated the president, first lady and finance minister of conflict of interest in home purchases from government contractors in part because they were acquired before they became federal officials. Lopez Obrador in 2017 used the town of Malinalco, site of one of the investigated homes, as the backdrop for an election video promoting his party's candidate for governor of the State of Mexico, who highlighted plans to fight corruption.\--With assistance from Michael O'Boyle and Lorena Rios.To contact the reporters on this story: Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.net;Amy Stillman in Mexico City at astillman7@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net, ;Nacha Cattan at ncattan@bloomberg.net, Robert JamesonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| China criticizes U.S. defense bill as interference Posted: 21 Dec 2019 03:57 AM PST  China's top lawmaking body on Saturday criticized the defense bill that Washington passed this week as "interference", Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported. You Wenze, a spokesperson for the Foreign Affairs Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), expressed "strong dissatisfaction" with the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), passed overwhelmingly in the U.S. Senate this week. U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to quickly sign the $738 billion bill into law.
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| Trump is now attacking Christianity Today — and its editor is doubling down Posted: 20 Dec 2019 06:55 AM PST  The prominent evangelical magazine Christianity Today published an editorial Thursday arguing that President Trump's actions in Ukraine are both "a violation of the Constitution" and "profoundly immoral." That "Trump should be removed from office," wrote editor-in-chief Mark Galli, "is not a matter of partisan loyalties but loyalty to the Creator of the Ten Commandments." Trump reacted about about as you'd expect.> ....have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President. No President has done more for the Evangelical community, and it's not even close. You'll not get anything from those Dems on stage. I won't be reading ET again!> > — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 20, 2019On Friday's New Day, CNN's John Berman read Trump's tweet to Galli and asked for his reaction. Most people consider Christianity Today "a pretty centrist magazine in the evangelical world," he said. "We're certainly not far-right, and I suppose anyone who's not far-right, he would consider far-left." Galli seemed surprised that Berman found his judgment of Trump's moral behavior more notable than his call for Trump's ouster. Trump's immoral behavior is broadly acknowledged, he said. "The question is, when does his behavior — which is described as immoral, accurately — rise to the level where he's no longer fit to serve office? And to me, we crossed that line with the impeachment hearings."> "When Christians of any stripe support a cause that strikes me as manifestly immoral, it does damage to the cause that I've given my life to," says Mark Galli, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, on calling for Trump's removal from office in an op-ed.https://t.co/7ngFEniPle pic.twitter.com/j2uAJm9zFz> > — New Day (@NewDay) December 20, 2019Galli addressed in his editorial Trump's argument that his evangelical-friendly policies merit turning a blind eye to his unconstitutional and immoral acts, and he found it unpersuasive. He elaborated in an interview with The Atlantic's Emma Green. Galli compared Trump to a verbally abusive husband who "starts to become violent, and dangerously violent. He's still a good provider. He still loves the kids. But nobody would say, 'You need to weigh this!'" Trump has "done some good that I am grateful for," he said. "But the moral scales no longer balance. It's time for him to get out of the house, so to speak."Green asked if Galli was motivated by his "belief that the association with Trump is going to do long-term damage to the ability of Christians to share the Gospel." "Oh my God," Galli said. "It's going to be horrific."More stories from theweek.com Space Force, paid parental leave signed into law 7 brutally funny cartoons about Trump's Senate impeachment trial Rise of Skywalker dominates box office despite devastating reviews
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| Man who stamped his estranged wife to death in family home jailed for life Posted: 20 Dec 2019 09:16 AM PST  A British man who stamped and kicked his estranged wife, a mother of five, to death in a "jealous rage" has been handed a life sentence.
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| The World's Only 'Battlecrusiers' are Back (And in Russia's Navy) Posted: 21 Dec 2019 12:20 AM PST  But are they just as obsolete as battleships?
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| New Jersey Governor Signs Bill Allowing Illegal Immigrants to Get Driver’s Licenses Posted: 20 Dec 2019 07:43 AM PST  New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Thursday signed a bill allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses.The bill will allow those living in New Jersey who are unable to prove they are legal residents to obtain permits, "standard" driver's licenses, and "Real ID" cards. The measure was passed by the state legislature this week."Expanding access to driver's licenses is critical for the safety of New Jerseyans and a step toward building a stronger and fairer New Jersey for all," the governor said in a statement. "Allowing residents the opportunity to obtain driver's licenses regardless of their immigration status will decrease the number of uninsured drivers and increase safety on our roads."The new type of license for undocumented residents will be available by January, 2021 at the latest. The documentation required to obtain the licenses is yet to be determined, but applicants will have to prove their identity, age, and residency in New Jersey. Applicants will not be allowed to obtain a commercial driver's license or drive school buses.The bill also mandates that New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission must provide translators for applicants who do not speak English.MVC Chief Administrator Sue Fulton said granting driver's license to undocumented immigrants will also help prevent the "break-up of families.""Those who pass our driver testing and meet our strict identity requirements will be able to drive to work, school, doctor's appointments, and other activities, without risking the break-up of their families," she said.The bill makes New Jersey the 14th state to grant driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants. New York's law granting the licenses went into effect this week after a legal challenge fell flat.
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| Buttigieg playing catchup in reaching Nevada voters of color Posted: 21 Dec 2019 07:25 AM PST  Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg is working to make inroads with Latino, black and Asian American voters in Las Vegas this weekend, outreach that the South Bend mayor has been slow to make compared with many of his rivals. Buttigieg is appearing at a series of town halls and roundtables across Las Vegas, including a town hall with Asian American voters Friday night and a "Black empowerment conversation" at a soul food restaurant Saturday afternoon, followed by a Latino community leader roundtable. It will be Buttigieg's first event with leaders of the Latino community in Nevada — a significant slice of the state's Democratic electorate.
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| South Africa’s Biggest Labor Group Proposes Debt Plan for Eskom Posted: 20 Dec 2019 05:52 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- South Africa's biggest labor group is proposing that more than half the debt of state-owned Eskom Holding SOC Ltd. be put into a special purpose vehicle to help save the utility and avoid job cuts.The Congress of South African Trade Unions urged the government strike a deal with the Public Investment Corp., Africa's biggest money manager, to help cut Eskom's debt to 200 billion rand ($14 billion) from 450 billion rand, according to a document dated Nov. 10-11 and seen by Bloomberg News. Development finance institutions should also be involved, the group said.The debt restructuring would help diffuse a crisis that "threatens not only to implode the state but also the economy," Cosatu said. "Not only are the jobs of workers at Eskom at risk, but in fact all workers in the event of Eskom collapsing."South Africa is under intense pressure to come up with a workable turnaround plan for Eskom, which is struggling to service debt and was forced into a fresh round of managed power cuts this month. Yet passing debt to the PIC would come with its own risks, as the company is the main manager of government-worker pension funds.Cosatu and other union federations, government departments and the National Treasury have been in talks with Eskom's creditors, said Matthew Parks, Cosatu's parliamentary co-ordinator. The group's meeting with them "went very well" and are ongoing, he said.Eskom's turnaround plan must also include public and private investments "to produce renewable-energy technology locally," especially in Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Eastern Cape provinces where the coal is mined and used in power stations, Cosatu's proposal said. Many of the utility's coal stations are close to being decommissioned.Those responsible for mismanaging Eskom should be fired and anyone found to have stolen funds from the utility be arrested, Cosatu said. The company should assess the workforce and reskill employees where necessary, the group added, provided no staff lose their jobs.To contact the reporters on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net;Paul Burkhardt in Johannesburg at pburkhardt@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: James Herron at jherron9@bloomberg.net, John Bowker, Karl MaierFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| U.S. considers sending Mexican migrants to Guatemala Posted: 20 Dec 2019 09:18 PM PST  The Trump administration is weighing the possibility of sending Mexican asylum-seekers to Guatemala, which has seen hundreds of thousands of its own citizens trek north in the past year.
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| Trump Pulled Plug on Pompeo’s November Ukraine Trip Over Impeachment Heat Posted: 20 Dec 2019 01:21 AM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was scheduled to visit Ukraine in November following his trip to Germany to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling. But President Donald Trump, in coordination with the State Department, cut the Kyiv trip from Pompeo's schedule at the last minute amid the impeachment inquiry, according to a U.S. official and two other individuals familiar with the matter.In the lead-up to the trip, the State Department had solidified most of the details of the travel to Ukraine, but in the final stages of planning the secretary's office notified officials and staffers inside the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv that the visit would not go forward. Trump had pulled the plug, according to those same sources, in part because the White House did not want administration officials landing in Ukraine during the impeachment investigation. Pompeo also wanted to refrain from visiting the embassy in Kyiv because the top diplomat there, Bill Taylor, had told impeachment investigators that Rudy Giuliani pushed Ukraine to "intervene in domestic policy," two individuals with knowledge of the State Department's thinking said. Taylor also said he was aware that the delivery of U.S. military aid to Ukraine was contingent upon President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration launching investigations sought by the White House. His deposition transcript was released the day Pompeo landed in Germany.Trump Wanted Zelensky to Publicly Announce He Was Investigating Biden"I told Ambassador Sondland that President Trump should have more respect for another head of state," Taylor said in his deposition, referring to U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland, one of the U.S. officials who helped establish a backchannel with Ukraine. "At that point, I asked Ambassador Sondland to push back on President Trump's demand."The White House and the State Department did not respond to a request for comment for this report. Pompeo is now scheduled to arrive in Kyiv on Jan. 3, according to two U.S. officials and one Ukrainian official. Two other individuals familiar with his visit to Ukraine said the secretary wanted to visit the country after Taylor's departure. The Wall Street Journal reported that Taylor was instructed to step aside before Pompeo's arrival. In conversation with department aides about planning a trip to Ukraine, Pompeo said he wanted to avoid the embassy altogether and would hold meetings in his hotel, according to two individuals with knowledge of those conversations. Pompeo's planned visit to Ukraine in November came at a time when the White House was trying to manage the fallout from the House impeachment investigation. Congressional investigators had for weeks questioned witnesses about what they knew about the administration's communications with the Zelensky team and what demands had been transmitted by individuals close to Trump. At the beginning of November, right before Pompeo's scheduled departure, the three congressional investigating committees began to release to the public full deposition transcripts of each witness, including Taylor. Taylor's interview with Congress was one of the most damning of the series for the State Department. It outlined details of a shadow foreign-policy campaign between the U.S. and Ukraine led by Sondland, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Kurt Volker, the former lead for Ukraine negotiations.Taylor said in a phone call with Sondland in June about scheduling a call between Trump and Zelensky that the EU ambassador "cut out" officials who would normally be involved and requested it not be transcribed. "This suggested to me that there were the two channels," Taylor said in his deposition. "This suggested to me that the normal channel, where you would have staff on the phone call, was being cut out, and the other channel, of people who were working, again, toward a goal which I supported, which was having a meeting to further U.S.-Ukrainian relations, I supported, but that irregular channel didn't have a respect for or an interest in having the normal staff participate in this call with the head of state."Pompeo will land in Kyiv in January one day after Taylor's departure. His visit to Ukraine will come at a time when the White House attempts to shape the narrative ahead of the Senate impeachment trial. The high-level meeting between Pompeo and Zelensky will likely be used by Trump, who is ramping up his 2020 campaign activities, as a show of defiance just two weeks after the Democrats voted to impeach him. According to two individuals with knowledge of the Trump administration's planning of the trip, Pompeo is expected to announce a timeline for setting up a meeting between Trump and Zelensky at the White House.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| This Is What It Looks Like When Octopuses Attack Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:37 PM PST |
| The Upgraded AC-130 Is the Ultimate Gunship Posted: 19 Dec 2019 06:30 PM PST  ISIS already knows how deadly the gunship is.
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| Hong Kong protesters face off with police in mall protests Posted: 20 Dec 2019 06:58 PM PST  Hong Kong riot police swept into several shopping malls on Saturday, chasing off and arresting some anti-government Hong Kong demonstrators who had gathered to press their demands in the peak shopping weekend before Christmas. In a mall in Yuen Long, close to the China border, hundreds of black-clad protesters marked the five-month anniversary of an attack in a train station by an armed mob wearing white T-shirts which beat up bystanders and protesters with pipes and poles. The protesters demanded justice for the attack, shouting "Fight for Freedom" and "Stand With Hong Kong".
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| Nurses defend Ohio doctor charged in deaths at hospital Posted: 20 Dec 2019 10:35 AM PST ![Nurses defend Ohio doctor charged in deaths at hospital]( "Nurses defend Ohio doctor charged in deaths at hospital") Ten former colleagues of an Ohio hospital doctor who pleaded not guilty to murder in 25 patients' deaths are coming to his defense in a new lawsuit. The action was brought Thursday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court by nine nurses and a pharmacist once employed by Mount Carmel Health System in Columbus, NBC News reported. In it, the former employees argue that the hospital wrongfully terminated and defamed Dr. William Husel.
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