| Biden shows his tough side in Iowa and in attack ad: 'You're a dаmn liar' Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:30 PM PST  Joe Biden defended his son and released a new ad that went after President Trump as he campaigned in Iowa.
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| UPDATE 8-Indian police kill 4 men suspected of rape, murder, drawing applause and concern Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:10 PM PST ![UPDATE 8-Indian police kill 4 men suspected of rape, murder, drawing applause and concern]( "UPDATE 8-Indian police kill 4 men suspected of rape, murder, drawing applause and concern") Indian police shot dead four men on Friday who were suspected of raping and killing a 27-year-old veterinarian near Hyderabad city, an action applauded by her family and many citizens outraged over sexual violence against women. The men had been in police custody and were shot dead near the scene of last week's crime after they snatched weapons from two of the 10 policemen accompanying them, said police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar. Thousands of Indians have protested in several cities over the past week following the veterinarian's death, the latest in a series of horrific cases of sexual assault in the country.
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| Report: Officer recorded kissing Chicago chief reassigned Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:50 PM PST  A female officer who was reportedly caught on video kissing then-Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson at a popular restaurant in October was transferred weeks later from his personal security detail to another role on the police force, a department spokesman said. Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed to WBEZ that the officer, who was appointed to Johnson's security detail in 2016, was reassigned in early November to the technical services bureau. Johnson's attorney, Thomas Needham, didn't respond to questions about a relationship or the officer's transfer, the radio station reported.
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| The U.S. Navy Will Need a New Stealth '6th-Generation' Fighter After the F-35 Posted: 05 Dec 2019 10:00 PM PST  The U.S. Navy will need a new "sixth-generation" warplane eventually to follow the F-35C stealth fighter that's just beginning to enter service. But no one has any idea what that new plane might look like. Not even the Navy.
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| Russian spies used French Alps as 'base camp' for hits on Britain and other countries Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:59 AM PST  Fifteen Russian spies, including those accused of the Salisbury nerve agent attack, used the French Alps as a "base camp" to conduct covert operations around Europe over a five-year period, according to reports. The revelations came as Germany expelled two Russian diplomats after prosecutors said there was "sufficient factual evidence" linking Moscow to the killing of a former Chechen rebel commander in central Berlin. According to Le Monde, British, Swiss, French, and US intelligence have drawn up a list of 15 members of the 29155 unit of Russia's GRU military spy agency who all passed through France's Haute-Savoie mountains close to the Swiss and Italian borders. They stayed between 2015 and late 2018, notably in the towns of Evian, Annemasse and Chamonix - the scene of a ski chase in the 1999 James Bond film, The World Is Not Enough. They arrived from London, Moscow, Spain and often Geneva. The Le Monde report added five new names to those already published by online investigative outlets such as Bellingcat and The Insider. Their identities and movements were uncovered during a joint probe by allied counterespionage services in the wake of the attempted poisoning of defector Sergei Skripal in Salisbury in March 2018, said the paper. Britain and its allies accuse the Kremlin of seeking to assassinate Mr Skripal, a charge Russia vehemently denies. Those who stayed in the Haute-Savoie included Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov - the cover names of the two GRU agents accused of carrying out the attack on Mr Skripal, along with Serguei Fedotov, the suspected mastermind. According to Le Monde, a fourth agent believed to be linked to the Skripal assassination attempt and who stayed in the Alps, Serguei Pavlov, was located in the UK by MI6 in 2017. Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov, the Russian suspects in the Skripal poisoning, are among those alleged to have used the French Alps as a base Credit: Getty Images Europe Le Mondesaid the five new names cited, all aliases, are Alxandre Koulaguiine, Evgueni Larine, Tour Nouzirov, Naman Youssoupov and Guennadi Chvets. The unit was also active in areas such as Bulgaria, Moldova, Montenegro and Ukraine. Western intelligence services involved found no material or arms left behind by the agents during their stays in France, Le Monde said, but their presence was confirmed by where they ate, stayed and shopped. "The most likely hypothesis is to consider it (Haute-Savoie) as a rear base for all the clandestine operations carried out by unit 29155 in Europe," said a senior French intelligence official, quoted by Le Monde. The paper said that one theory is that by staying in the Alps, the agents hoped to shake off any suspicion before they carried out their missions, which could explain why they conducted no covert missions on French soil. On Wednesday, Angela Merkel's government summoned the Russian ambassador and ordered two of the embassy staff to leave the country within seven days. The two diplomats concerned are believed to be Russian intelligence officers, according to local media reports. The German foreign ministry said they had been declared persona non grata in protest at Russia's failure to cooperate with investigations into the killing of Zelimkhan Khangoshvili, a Georgian national shot dead in a Berlin park in August. The suspected killer was captured by police attempting to dispose of a gun believed to be the murder weapon in the nearby river Spree. He was carrying a Russian passport which identified him as Vadim Sokolov, but German prosecutors on Wednesday confirmed that they now believe that is a false identity. Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were both poisoned with Novichok, a banned chemical weapon, in Salisbury Credit: Social media/EAST2WEST NEWS Police findings indicate that it is "highly likely" the arrested man is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian national previously wanted for the murder of a businessman in Moscow in 2013, prosecutors said. A senior MP in Angela Merkel's Christian Democrat party (CDU) on Thursday described the case as a "return to the days of the Cold War". "Counterintelligence and foreign reconnaissance against Russia must be significantly expanded," Armin Schuster told Bild newspaper. "Germany must get its act together if a foreign state can order murder on German soil.". France denies any "laxism" by its embassy in Moscow for handing him a 90-day emergency visa on July 29 on a fictitious address. He passed through Paris before travelling on to Berlin. British and French intelligence sources told Le Monde the assassination was "ordered by the pro-Kremlin Chechen regime of Ramzan Kadyrov with logistical help of the Russian state". According to Le Monde, French intelligence suspects the Berlin assassination was leaked to the public for "political reasons" linked to President Emmanuel Macron's apparent rapprochement with Moscow. Last week, Mr Macron said: "Has the absence of dialogue with Russia made the European continent any safer? ... I don't think so." "France's desire to rebuild strategic ties with Moscow has clearly prompted reactions from states who prefer direct confrontation with Russia," said one French intelligence source, who denied any French "complacency or naivity" towards Moscow. French surveillance of foreign Russian espionage was, the source told Le Monde, "no doubt higher than any other service in Europe".
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| Tesla changed the release dates for the most and least expensive versions of the Cybertruck by a year Posted: 06 Dec 2019 08:09 AM PST  Tesla said the three-motor Cybertruck would enter production in late 2021, while production for the single-motor Cybertruck would begin in late 2022.
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| Six months of sacrifice: Hong Kong's protesters take stock Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:45 PM PST  With Beijing taking a hard line, it has since broadened into a call to halt authoritarian China's attempts to erode freedoms in the city. Raymond Yeung, a liberal studies teacher at the elite Diocesan Girls' School, joined the movement early and was there on June 12 when a massive protest descended into violence. Protesters broke into the forecourt of the city's legislative building, throwing objects including metal bars at police.
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| North Carolina GOP Rep Says He Won’t Seek Reelection After District Redrawing Posted: 06 Dec 2019 09:12 AM PST  Representative George Holding (R., N.C.) announced Friday that he will not seek reelection in 2020 after a North Carolina district reconfiguration put his seat in danger."I should add, candidly, that yes, the newly redrawn Congressional Districts were part of the reason I have decided not to seek reelection," he said in a statement. "But, in addition, this is also a good time for me to step back and reflect on all that I have learned."Holding, a former federal prosecutor who is wrapping up his fourth-term on Capitol Hill, added that he hoped to return to public office at some point in the future.> JUST IN: George Holding (R-NC) announces he's leaving Congress after redrawn map leaves him with a heavily Democratic district. pic.twitter.com/yX3tfxK1Sg> > -- Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) December 6, 2019Holding's announcement comes after a North Carolina panel of judges confirmed a GOP redrawing of Congressional Districts which likely cedes Holding's Wake-County seat to a Democratic challenge.According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, Holding's seat has changed from leaning Republican to likely Democrat.Republicans currently hold 10 of 13 congressional seats in North Carolina, but were forced to redesign the map after state judges blocked the existing district layout for the 2020 elections, citing excessive partisan bias. Despite picking up two seats, Democrats remain opposed the new map over allegations it did not do enough to reverse gerrymandering.Holding is the 18th House Republican not to seek reelection, and the second in two days, after Georgia Republican Tom Graves announced Thursday that he would no longer run for office.
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| Migrants in Bosnia refuse to move from forest camp Posted: 06 Dec 2019 06:31 AM PST  Bowing to international pressure, Bosnian authorities agreed on Friday to dismantle a makeshift refugee camp of freezing snow-covered tents, but some migrants living there have been refusing food in protest at being resettled. The migrants, who are eager to reach the European Union, say they do not want to be rehoused further away from the Croatian border, which lies just 8 km (5 miles) away. Some 800 migrants are stuck in the Vucjak camp, a former landfill area in forests near the northwestern Bosnian town of Bihac.
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| Tennessee high court rules against paper in defamation case Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:16 PM PST ![Tennessee high court rules against paper in defamation case]( "Tennessee high court rules against paper in defamation case") The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that a newspaper cannot use the state's fair report privilege law as a shield against a defamation lawsuit for a story that was based on a one-on-one interview with a police detective. The case concerns Jeffery Burke, who was accused in 2013 of stealing money from a White County football team's cookie dough fundraiser. The original trial court judge found that the story fell under Tennessee's fair report privilege, a law that shields reporters from defamation suits when they report fairly and accurately on an official action or proceeding, even if that information turns out to be inaccurate.
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| Pressure builds for Giuliani as associate enters talks over potential plea deal Posted: 06 Dec 2019 12:30 AM PST  Pressure to cut deal comes after revelations that Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman are 'likely' to face more charges, attorney saysTalks about a potential plea deal are under way between federal prosecutors and an attorney for Lev Parnas, a Rudy Giuliani associate indicted for making illegal campaign donations who helped Trump lawyer Giuliani's search for dirt in Ukraine on Joe Biden, says an attorney familiar with the investigationThe talks appear to be in early stages, but the lawyer familiar with the investigation and ex-prosecutors say that pressure mounted on Parnas to cut a deal after prosecutors revealed on Monday that he and his business associate Igor Fruman, who was also indicted for making illegal campaign donations, are "likely" to face additional charges.If Parnas strikes a deal it could put further legal pressure on Giuliani, who is facing a growing number of legal woes including some relating to his international consulting business as part of an investigation of alleged crimes including money laundering, wire fraud, campaign finance violations, making false statements, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.Parnas and Fruman, who were both born in the former Soviet Union, pleaded not guilty to illegally funneling contributions from a foreign source and three other counts. But Parnas and his lawyer have begun cooperating with the House impeachment inquiry in response to a subpoena and have turned over video and audio recordings to the House intelligence committee.As detailed in the 300-page report by House intelligence committee Democrats and other documents and reports, Parnas played a Zelig-like role in Ukraine and the US in tandem with Giuliani and several other conservatives to try and boost Trump's political fortunes in 2020.Parnas and Fruman worked with Giuliani to help oust Marie Yovanovitch, a respected US ambassador in Kyiv who was removed this spring, and to pressure the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, to announce an inquiry into debunked allegations about former vice-president Joe Biden, a leading candidate in 2020, and his son who had worked for a Ukrainian gas company, in order to lift a secret hold on $391m in badly needed US military aid.Parnas and Fruman were arrested at Dulles airport en route to Vienna in October and charged with a complex conspiracy to funnel $325,000 to a Trump Super Pac from a Russian source using shell companies.But federal prosecutors in New York have since widened their investigation to look at Giuliani, including his business interests in Ukraine, and reportedly issued numerous subpoenas.The lawyer familiar with the investigation, who requested anonymity since he was not authorized to discuss it, said: "There are some plea negotiations under way with regards to Parnas," and the federal prosecutors in New York's southern district which brought the charges; but he noted that "a proffer by Parnas' attorney [has] not been accepted at this time".Ex-prosecutors say a plea deal would probably require Parnas to offer more information about Giuliani and probably others he had contacts with, including possibly Trump and the Republican congressman Devin Nunes.Ex-prosecutor Paul Rosenzweig said plea deals typically require defendants to provide truthful testimony about other possible defendants which in Parnas's case would include Giuliani. "That prospect has to make Mr Giuliani uncomfortable," he said. "It might also make Representative Nunes and President Trump uncomfortable as well."Similarly, ex-federal prosecutor Michael Zeldin said that having a prosecutor signal more charges as likely against Parnas and Fruman "substantially increases pressure on Parnas to work out a deal".Zeldin added that "additional charges could include such crimes as failure to register as a foreign agent, money laundering and violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act." Convictions of these crimes carry substantial prison terms.Parnas's lawyer Joseph Bondy declined to comment on whether plea talks were under way, but Bondy told the Guardian his client wanted to help the House of Representatives in its impeachment inquiry.In a statement, Bondy said that they are producing materials to the House intelligence committee "… and that Mr Parnas remains fully committed to providing relevant and accurate sworn testimony". But Parnas needs to be "granted a level of immunity, such that his statements in the impeachment inquiry cannot be used against him in his federal prosecution".Parnas and Fruman's efforts to help Trump's political fortunes go back at least to April 2018 when the duo were invited as prospective donors to a small Super Pac dinner with Trump at his DC hotel. There, Parnas talked to Trump and warned him that Ambassador Yovanovitch was hostile to his policies, to which Trump replied she should be fired, according to the Washington Post. Their $325,000 check to the Super Pac, America First Action, arrived a few weeks later.In a statement, the Super Pac indicated it has voluntarily cooperated with the federal inquiry, and the $325,000 check was put in a "segregated bank account … until these matters are resolved and a court determines the proper disposition of the funds".
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| Millions of children exposed as flu spreads following vaccine delays Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST  Millions of children are at risk of flu amid a drop in uptake of vaccinations, after deliveries were delayed, officials have warned. New figures show the number of people hospitalised because of flu has tripled in a fortnight, with the virus spreading before many of the most vulnerable have been protected. Last night health officials urged parents to come forward and ensure children receive vaccinations. They are particularly alarmed by low uptake among toddlers, dubbed "super-spreaders" because they tend to pass on the virus to high numbers of people, including elderly grandparents. Officials also warned that winter vomiting bug is on the rise, with twice as many hospital beds closed as this time last year. Hospitals in England have been forced to close more than 1,100 hospital beds over the last week due to norovirus. The new flu figures show uptake of the nasal vaccine among two-year-olds is just 25.5 per cent, compared with 34.9 per cent this time last year. And just 24.4 per cent of three-year-olds have received the vaccine, compared with 35.7 per cent at this time in last year's season. The latest weekly data from Public Health England show the hospitalisation rate from flu is now at "moderate intensity" - 4.3 admissions per 100,000 people, up from 1.4 admissions per 100,000 two weeks before. Manufacturers have been beset by delays delivering the vaccine, as a result of problems testing it. Health advice | What should I do if I feel the flu coming on? As a result, schools were last month told to cancel vaccinations, with GPs urged to prioritise toddlers and the sickest children. Health officials said the dealys were now resolved, and urged parents to take any unvaccinated toddlers to their doctor. Dr Jamie Lopez Bernal, Head of Flu, Public Health England said: "Flu season has now started and so it's really important that people get their flu vaccine as soon as possible to ensure they are protected against this potentially very serious illness. The initial evidence suggests the vaccine is a good match for the main strain of flu that is circulating. "Vaccination uptake in toddlers is lower than we would hope for at this point in the year due to previous delays in delivery of the vaccine, which are now resolved. If you have children aged two to three go to your GP to get them vaccinated now."
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| 19 unforgettable images from the Pearl Harbor attack 78 years ago Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:03 PM PST  December 7, 1941 began as a perfect Sunday morning. These photos show the attack by Imperial Japan that changed history.
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| Philippines floods force 66,000 from homes Posted: 05 Dec 2019 04:29 PM PST  The Philippines' north has been hit by some of its worst flooding in decades, with torrents of muddy runoff forcing 66,000 from their homes and prompting rescues of trapped locals, authorities said Friday. Luzon island, the nation's largest, has been hit by a string of storms that have battered its northern tip while monsoon rains were intensified by the passage of Typhoon Kammuri this week. "This is one of the biggest floods in decades," Rogelio Sending, information officer for Cagayan province in the northeast of Luzon, told AFP.
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| The 25 Best Sci-Fi Movies on Netflix Right Now Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:00 PM PST |
| Trump news – live: President faces imminent impeachment deadline with Congress poised to launch articles next week, amid warning ‘civilisation as we know it at stake’ Posted: 06 Dec 2019 07:36 AM PST  House Democrats have signalled they could have articles of impeachment against Donald Trump drawn up by next week as the president faces a 5pm EST deadline (10pm GMT) to indicate whether or not his team intends to mount a defence at further House Judiciary Committee proceedings."Civilisation as we know it today is at stake in the next election, and certainly our planet," House speaker Nancy Pelosi told a CNN town hall event in Washington on Thursday after making her historic announcement calling on Congress to commence the process.
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| Azerbaijan plants 650,000 trees to celebrate poet - but green activists grumble Posted: 06 Dec 2019 05:46 AM PST ![Azerbaijan plants 650,000 trees to celebrate poet - but green activists grumble]( "Azerbaijan plants 650,000 trees to celebrate poet - but green activists grumble") Oil-rich Azerbaijan planted more than half a million trees on Friday to celebrate a 14th century poet, an initiative the government said would help tackle climate change but some environmental activists called "a waste of money". The Azeri ministry of ecology said 650,000 trees were being planted across the country to mark the 650th anniversary of the birth of Seyid Imadeddin Nesimi, whose work touched on the relation between man and nature. Countries from India to Malawi have launched large-scale tree-planting efforts, but scientists have warned that such initiatives are not a panacea against global warming.
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| Hong Kong police sound alarm over homemade explosives Posted: 06 Dec 2019 12:04 AM PST  Hong Kong's much-maligned police force provided a rare behind-the-scenes look Friday at its bomb disposal squad to show the potentially deadly destructive force of homemade explosives seized during months of protests that have shaken the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. In July, police announced the seizure of about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of TATP, which has been used in militant attacks worldwide. Other recent seizures in Hong Kong involved far smaller amounts, just 1 gram, of TATP, or tri-acetone tri-peroxide.
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| Double the Fighters: Why Japan Wants Domestic F-3s and the F-35 Posted: 05 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST  Specialized roles for both planes.
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| A man arrested in Russia is accused of building a fake border with Finland 15 miles from the real one and charging migrants $11,000 to cross it Posted: 05 Dec 2019 10:49 AM PST  The man is accused of building fake border posts in the Vyborg region, Interfax said, and taking the men on an extended route along a series of roads.
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| Virginia Commission Calls for Repeal of ‘Explicitly Racist’ and ‘Segregationist’ Laws Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:11 PM PST  A Virginia state commission released a report Thursday calling for the official repeal of "deeply troubling" state laws still on the books that contain "explicitly racist language and segregationist policies."The Commission to Examine Racial Inequity in Virginia Law published a lengthy report saying that the outdated laws should not "remain enshrined in law" despite no longer being in effect."The commission believes that such vestiges of Virginia's segregationist past should no longer have official status," the report states. "The devastating long-term social, economic, and political impact of legalized segregation in Virginia continues to plague people of color today."While many of the laws the commission cited have been nullified by courts, such as the ban on interracial marriage in the "Act to Preserve Racial Integrity," the commission warned that they could become relevant again with another court ruling."Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no child shall be required to enroll in or attend any school wherein both white and colored children are enrolled," a 1956 law continues to read.Democratic governor Ralph Northam spearheaded the commission in June to identify state laws that "were intended to or could have the effect of promoting or enabling racial discrimination or inequity." The governor said he would focus on promoting racial equality for the rest of his term after weathering a scandal earlier this year over a racist yearbook photo depicting one person in blackface and another in a KKK outfit.Northam pledged in a statement Thursday to repeal all racially discriminatory language in Virginia law."If we are going to move forward as a Commonwealth, we must take an honest look at our past," the governor said. "We know that racial discrimination is rooted in many of the laws that have governed our Commonwealth—today represents an important step towards building a more equal, just, and inclusive Virginia."
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| As smartphones became more popular, more people were sent to the hospital after dropping their phones on themselves, study finds Posted: 05 Dec 2019 11:05 AM PST  There were more than 76,000 phone-related head and neck injuries nationwide from 1998 to 2017, a new study estimated.
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| Two school shootings a day apart: Wisconsin reckons with impact of armed guards Posted: 05 Dec 2019 01:04 PM PST  Shootings involving resource officers renew debate over the role of armed teachers or police in schools Shootings a day apart at two high schools in Wisconsin have shaken the state and sparked a renewed debate over how to combat violence in American schools.An Oshkosh police department resource officer shot a 16-year-old student Tuesday after the boy stabbed him in the officer's office at Oshkosh West high school. A day earlier, a resource officer at Waukesha South high school helped clear students out of a classroom after a 17-year-old student pointed a pellet gun at another student's head. Another police officer entered the room and shot the student.Neither of the students who were shot suffered life-threatening injuries. The Democratic governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, called the shootings "breathtaking and tragic"."The trauma that happens because of this just ripples through the community," Evers added. "It will take time for people to recover from this. Trauma is a significant issue. We have to be patient."The debate about the role of armed teachers or police in schools has been a constant in the wake of school shootings across the country. But rarely have armed resource officers been able to prevent a shooting.An estimated 43% of public schools have armed officers on campus, according to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics. The survey covered the 2015-2016 school year, the most recent year surveyed. That figure doesn't include schools with armed private security guards or teachers and administrators who carry guns.The US Department of Justice has adopted best practices for resource officers from the National Association of School Resources. Those guidelines call for resource officers to serve as police officers as well as teachers and mentors.Nasro recommends such officers have three years of experience and says they should be willing to engage with students and have excellent communication skills. They should complete a school-based policing course before being assigned to the beat and complete an advanced school policing course Nasro provides within a year of completing the basic course. They also should complete biannual training on how lone officers should handle threats and assailants.No Wisconsin laws spell out any special requirements for resource officers or restrictions on their weapons. But the state department of justice has adopted best practices similar to Nasro's recommendations, calling for officers to work with schools on the extent of their duties, the skills they need, and where school discipline ends and illegal conduct begins. The state guidelines also suggest officers receive training in child development, restraint policies and de-escalation strategies.It's not clear what led to Tuesday's stabbing at Oshkosh West high school, which has 1,700 students. The police chief, Dean Smith, said that the officer and the student got into an "altercation" in the officer's office, the student stabbed the officer with an edged weapon – Smith declined to elaborate – and the officer opened fire with his 9mm pistol, hitting the student once. It's unclear how many times the officer may have fired. Officials said the officer has 21 years of experience with the Oshkosh police department and has served as a school resource officer since 2017.At Waukesha South high school, 80 miles (130km) south of Oshkosh in suburban Milwaukee, a 17-year-old student apparently grew angry with another student and pointed a pellet gun at the other student. The school's resource officer helped clear students from the classroom.Linda Ager told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Waukesha shooting happened in the classroom of her husband, Brett Hart, a special education teacher at Waukesha South. Ager said her husband restrained the student until the resource officer arrived.At some point, another officer entered the room and shot the student who refused to drop the weapon. Police said the boy pointed the gun at officers as they confronted him.Police said the student with the pellet gun underwent surgery and was in stable condition."Today's tragic event shows that trained school resource officers can save lives," Vickie Cartwright, the Oshkosh superintendent, said at a news conference on Tuesday.As school shootings have become more frequent, gun rights advocates and gun control advocates have sparred over how best to respond to them. Supporters of gun restrictions have argued that putting more guns in schools does little to prevent shootings and just puts students at greater risk.Last year armed guards at three high-profile school shootings – Marshall county high school in Benton, Kentucky; Majory Stoneman Douglas high school in Parkland, Florida; and Santa Fe high school in Texas – were unable to stop those shootings. In Parkland, the school's resource officer remained outside rather than enter the building to engage the shooter and try to stop it.But gun-rights advocates believe having more armed educators and law enforcement in schools will help stop a shooter from going on a rampage."This confirms that action can, and should, be taken to mitigate harm and limit casualties when weapons are brought into school," Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican, said on Tuesday.Evers, the Wisconsin governor, said he is committed to working with Republicans who control the legislature on increasing mental health funding for schools.Evers said on WTMJ-Radio that he thinks Republicans will work with him on that, even though they did not provide as much funding for mental health programs as Evers requested in the state budget approved this summer. Republicans also refused to take up a pair of gun safety bills earlier this year that Evers said were part of the solution to combating violence in schools.Evers, a former state superintendent of schools who worked as a principal, school superintendent and administrator before he was elected governor, said the issue is particularly striking for him, given his background and the fact that has three grown children and nine grandchildren. Two of his children attended the high school in Oshkosh where the shooting occurred."Our kids need help," he said. "I've been around long enough to see how this has amplified over time. The time is now to take it on."
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| US first lady wades into impeachment fight to defend teen son Posted: 04 Dec 2019 10:14 PM PST  US First Lady Melania Trump on Wednesday publicly rebuked a scholar who used her 13-year-old son's name to make a point during a hearing as part of the impeachment inquiry into the president. Constitutional law professor Pamela Karlan invoked Barron Trump, the son of Donald and Melania Trump, to demonstrate how the Constitution imposes distinctions between a monarch's power and that of a president. "The constitution says there can be no titles of nobility," Karlan told lawmakers during the House Judiciary Committee's first hearing on impeachment, which featured four constitutional scholars.
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| Nepal makes first arrest over 'menstrual hut' death Posted: 05 Dec 2019 05:54 AM PST ![Nepal makes first arrest over 'menstrual hut' death]( "Nepal makes first arrest over 'menstrual hut' death") Police in Nepal have arrested the brother-in-law of a woman who died after she was banished to a 'menstrual hut', the first such arrest in the Himalayan nation as it seeks to end the practice. The body of Parbati Buda Rawat, 21, was found on Monday after she lit a fire to keep warm in a mud and stone hut and suffocated in Nepal's western Achhan district, the latest victim of the centuries-old, "chhaupadi" custom, outlawed in 2005. "This is the first time we have arrested any person in connection with a death under the chhaupadi custom," Achham's chief district officer, Bhoj Raj Shrestha, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
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| Reporter freed from immigration custody settles lawsuits Posted: 06 Dec 2019 08:39 AM PST ![Reporter freed from immigration custody settles lawsuits]( "Reporter freed from immigration custody settles lawsuits") A Spanish-language reporter who spent 15 months in immigration detention following his arrest during a protest has reached a legal settlement in a lawsuit against two governments in Memphis, Tennessee. The Commercial Appeal reports that the Shelby County government has paid Manuel Duran and his lawyers $10,000. The county government runs the jail where Duran was held before he was taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody in April 2018.
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| World of Weddings: In India, arranged marriages are as strong as ever Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:35 PM PST  Centuries-old traditions continue, with the help of technology – and the wedding blowouts dwarf their Western counterparts
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| NATO allies just want the United States to subsidize European defense Posted: 04 Dec 2019 02:11 PM PST  Reform NATO. China is our foremost adversary, not Russia, writes Jordan Schachtel, an investigative journalist based in Washington, D.C.
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| A woman Photoshopped her family's Christmas card to include her military husband who's serving overseas Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:06 PM PST  Danielle Cobo's husband is serving overseas in the military, but they still wanted to take a family picture together for this year's Christmas card.
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| Jeremy Corbyn reveals secret document he says shows Boris Johnson is 'misleading' voters on Brexit Posted: 06 Dec 2019 02:15 AM PST  The Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn revealed the confidential Brexit documents ahead of next week's general election.
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| Fearing protests, North Carolina town cancels Christmas parade featuring Confederate group Posted: 05 Dec 2019 03:16 PM PST ![Fearing protests, North Carolina town cancels Christmas parade featuring Confederate group]( "Fearing protests, North Carolina town cancels Christmas parade featuring Confederate group") Wake Forest, North Carolina, said it canceled its annual Christmas parade over fears of violence and protest of a Confederate group's participation.
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| FBI Failed to Inform FISA Court that Steele Dossier was Unreliable: Report Posted: 05 Dec 2019 09:19 AM PST  The Justice Department's inspector general has concluded that the FBI omitted crucial details in its requests for warrants to surveil Trump campaign associate Carter Page, saying the agency neglected to mention that some of the information the warrant applications were based on was shaky.Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's yet unpublished draft report found that the FBI did not inform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that the controversial Steele dossier, cited in applications to spy on Page, was unreliable, according to the Washington Post.The dossier was compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele who was investigating Donald Trump for an opposition research firm hired by the Hillary Clinton campaign. The dossier purported to show connections between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.The FBI found Steele's information about a Russian government connection to be dubious but declined to mention as much in the later applications to the FISA court for warrants to surveil Page.Horowitz also found that an FBI lawyer doctored an email used in the warrant application, a potential crime prosecutors are now investigating.However, the inspector general did not say the FISA court should have declined to grant the warrants and nevertheless concluded that political bias did not compromise the FBI's handling of the Russia investigation.Attorney General William Barr has reportedly said privately that he disagrees with the inspector general that FBI had enough information in July, 2016 to justify opening an investigation into members of the Trump campaign."I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal. It's a big deal," Barr said in April. "Frankly, to the extent that there were any issues at the FBI, I do not view it as a problem that's endemic to the FBI. I think there was probably a failure among a group of leaders there in the upper echelon."
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| Indian rape victim set ablaze by gang of men on her way to court as outrage grows over violence against women Posted: 05 Dec 2019 10:12 AM PST  A 23-year-old rape victim is in critical condition after being set on fire by a group of men, including two of her alleged rapists, as she made her way to court in northern India on Thursday. It came after thousands took to the streets of several cities on Monday to protest the brutal rape and murder of a 27-year-old vet in Hyderabad and called for the rape cases to be fast-tracked and for rapists to be given tougher punishments. A June 2018 survey of 550 experts on women's issues by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found India was the worst country in the world for sexual violence against women. 32,000 rapes were recorded by the National Crime Records Bureau in 2017 although 99 per cent of attacks are thought to go unreported. India also ranked top for human trafficking for domestic work, forced labour, forced marriage and sexual slavery. The 23-year-old victim was on her way to catch a train to a court hearing in the Unnao district of Uttar Pradesh when the mob doused her in kerosene and set her alight. Activists burn effigies of rapists in Amritsar Credit: NARINDER NANU/AFP via Getty Images Doctors treating the victim at the Civil Hospital in the regional capital of Lucknow said she had suffered 90 per cent burns and would be flown in an air ambulance for further treatment in Delhi. Police documents show the woman had filed a case with police in Unnao, alleging she was raped at gun-point in December, 2018. Her alleged rapist was released suddenly last week after securing bail, a police spokesperson said. It is not the first time that even the Unnao district has made headlines over a rape case. Women have taken to the streets to protest India's appalling record on women's rights Credit: SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images Police opened a murder investigation in July against a lawmaker from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after he allegedly orchestrated a fatal car crash against a minor who had accused him of rape. During Monday's outpouring of anger, one member of parliament suggested that India's rape problem could only be solved by publicly lynching attackers. On Thursday, police in the state of Madhya Pradesh confirmed they had arrested a man on suspicion of raping and murdering a 4-year-old girl on December 1. Local media also reported a teenager was allegedly gang-raped and killed in the state of Bihar on Tuesday.
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| Georgia college pays $145,000 to settle anthem protest case Posted: 05 Dec 2019 09:05 AM PST ![Georgia college pays $145,000 to settle anthem protest case]( "Georgia college pays $145,000 to settle anthem protest case") Kennesaw State University's decision to remove its cheerleaders from the field after they protested police brutality during the national anthem has cost Georgia taxpayers $145,000 in a legal settlement. Former KSU cheerleader Tommia Dean settled her lawsuit and will get $93,000 of the award, with the rest going to her attorneys, The Marietta Daily Journal reported after obtaining the settlement through an Open Records Act request. Dean and four other cheerleaders took a knee before a football game in 2017 to protest police brutality.
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| China to waive tariffs on some U.S. soybeans, pork in goodwill gesture Posted: 05 Dec 2019 10:10 PM PST  In a positive gesture, China said on Friday that it will waive import tariffs for some soybeans and pork shipments from the United States, as the two sides try to thrash out a broader agreement to defuse their protracted trade war. The tariff waivers were based on applications by individual firms for U.S. soybeans and pork imports, the finance ministry said in a statement, citing a decision by the country's cabinet. China had imposed the levies in response to tariffs launched by Washington over allegations that China steals and forces the transfer of American intellectual property to Chinese firms, known as Section 301.
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| Bombs Away! The Powerful B-52 Bomber Is Getting Even More Deadly Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:00 PM PST  Time for an upgrade.
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| Video captures the moment an Amazon delivery driver cries out with joy and breaks into dance after discovering free snacks on a doorstep Posted: 05 Dec 2019 11:14 AM PST  Mail carriers spend long hours delivering anywhere from 150 to 400 packages daily during the peak holiday season.
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| Bloomberg gun plan: Permits, assault weapon ban, age limits Posted: 05 Dec 2019 12:22 PM PST ![Bloomberg gun plan: Permits, assault weapon ban, age limits]( "Bloomberg gun plan: Permits, assault weapon ban, age limits") Democratic presidential contender Michael Bloomberg unveiled a gun control policy on Thursday just steps from the site of one of Colorado's worst mass shootings, calling for a ban on all assault weapons, mandatory permits for gun purchasers and a new position in the White House to coordinate gun violence prevention. "I've been all in on the fight against gun violence for 15 years, and I'm just getting started," Bloomberg declared.
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| 'Hang these traitors': Outrage over Republican campaign email threatening Ilhan Omar Posted: 04 Dec 2019 11:13 AM PST  A Florida Republican campaign sent a fundraising email suggesting that a member of Congress and other House Democrats should be killed.The email from the campaign of George Buck, who's running to replace Democratic Congressman Charlie Crist, repeats a right-wing conspiracy targeting Somali-born Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who is Muslim.
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| US and UK bust one of the worst cyber banking hacks in a decade, charging Russians in multi-million dollar scheme Posted: 05 Dec 2019 09:14 AM PST  The group of Russian hackers allegedly behind one of the worst cyber bank frauds of the last decade was unmasked on Thursday, with its leader indicted in America and the full scale of purported crimes revealed in remarkable detail. The Moscow-based unit was identified as Evil Corp and dubbed "the world's most harmful cyber crime group" as British and American officials revealed the results of an investigation into the group and its activities that has lasted a decade. Maksim Yakubets, 32, was accused of being the group's leader and was indicted over two separate hacking schemes. A $5 million reward was announced by the US State Department for any information that leads to his arrest. Customers of nearly 300 organisations in 43 different countries have been targeted by the group, with financial losses in UK alone assessed to be worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Evil Corp was accused of ruthlessly exploiting online vulnerabilities, tricking people into clicking on internet links that would install viruses, scanning for bank account details and then creating wires transfers to "money mules" working with the hackers. Masim Yakubets, who led the cyber crime group and now has a $5m bounty on his head Victims ranged from small businesses and schools to individuals saving for retirement and even religious groups, including some Franciscan sisters in America who lost tens of thousands of dollars. The US Treasury announced sanctions against 17 individuals linked to Evil Corps, including Yakubets, the baby-faced Russian alleged to have hidden behind the moniker 'Aqua' online whose image is now on "wanted by the FBI" posters. Seven entities were also sanctioned. Yakubets was accused by the US Treasury of working with the Russian spying agency FSB in 2017, including "acquiring confidential documents through cyber-enabled means" for the Russian state. He was also said to have been trying to get a license to work on classified material with the FSB last year. The claim raises questions about whether the Kremlin is turning a blind eye to notorious computers hackers in its capital, or even leaning on their expertise to support Russia's nefarious online activities. The hackers stole millions of dollars, officials say Credit: Samuel Corum /Getty The group's willingness to boast about the proceeds of their alleged criminality online, acting like "extravagant millionaires" according to one senior UK investigator, was said to have helped result in their unmasking. Videos released by the UK's National Crime Agency [NCA] featured alleged members of Evil Corp showing off their sports cars and holding up traffic in Moscow as pulled doughnuts in the middle of the street. Other videos purported to show the hackers petting the group's lion cub and mucking about on segways. According to UK officials, Yakubets has a customized Lamborghini supercar with a personalised number plate that translates to 'Thief' and spent a quarter of a million pounds on his wedding. The announcements were the work of a pain-staking investigation from officials at America's Justice Department, FBI, State Department and Treasury as well as Britons at the NCA and Metropolitan Police. Evil Corp group member Dmitriy Smirnov standing on his Nissan GTR and a Camera Chevrolet, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: SOURCE: NCA As well as Yakubets a second alleged Russian hacker, the 38-year-old Igor Turashev, was indicted for his role in one of the computer hacking schemes. Both men are believed to be residing in Russia, meaning they could escape arrest and a trial should they never leave the country. However US officials insisted it was still worth pursuing them, with one senior FBI official saying: "We have a very long memory and we will never give up." The two US indictments involved two different types of malware, with the alleged crimes likened to "a cyber-enabled bank robbery" by one US official. A photograph from the wedding of Maksim Yakubets in 2017, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: Source: NCA The US administration announcement accused Yakubets of being behind "two of the worst computer hacking and bank fraud schemes of the past decade". Lynne Owens, the NCA director general, said of Evil Corp: "We are unlikely to ever know the full cost, but the impact on the UK alone is assessed to run into the hundreds of millions." The response of Yakubets and Turashev to the charges is not known, nor is the response of the other individuals sanctioned by the US Treasury for their links to Evil Corp. One US official said the Russian government had responded to a request for mutual legal assistance which was "helpful" in the investigation, but only "to a point". The Victims The list of victims from Evil Crop's alleged criminality is exhaustive, with scores of different businesses and groups losing out thanks to its cyber-hacking schemes. Everything from a genetics lab in California and a public high school in Pennsylvania to a bank in Nebraska and a dairy company in Ohio were targeted according to court documents. There was even a group of Franciscan sisters near the outskirts of Chicago who were left $24,141 out of pocket after one member opened an email which appeared to be from her bank. Audi R8 belonging to an Evil Corp group member, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: SOURCE: NCA And that is America alone. Some 300 companies in 43 different countries were said to have been targeted by the Russian hackers, with thousands of victims. Even that, one senior UK official said, was a "low estimate". Victims in Britain were not been named on Thursday, but it is understood almost every significant UK financial institution has been targeted at one stage. Some may be reluctant to report hacks for fear of what would happen to their stock value. One US official said that ever dollar stolen amounted to a dollar less for retirement, or a dollar less for the high school sports team, or for business innovation. "This is why we go to the ends of the world to investigate and prosecute cyber criminals," the official added. How they did it Evil Corps hackers would relentlessly pray on online vulnerabilities through sophisticated schemes that would morph once detected, according to UK and US officials. 'Phishing' emails were sent to thousands of people, sometimes pretending to be genuine messages from banks, in the hope someone would accidentally click the website link included. Once that happened, malware would be installed which would then search the compromised computer systems for bank account details and passwords that could be exploited. Wire transfers would then be setup from the victim's bank account to people dubbed "money mules" who were working with the hackers and would distribute the stolen funds. Evil Corp group member Andrey Plotnitskiy standing in front of a Porsche, according to the UK's National Crime Agency Credit: SOURCE: NCA The Evil Corps hackers allegedly made little attempt to hide their ill-gotten gains, spending it on luxury sports cars which they would screech round Moscow. Asked how people could protect themselves from the group's members – who remain at large – one US official gave some advice. He suggested changing passwords to make them hard to predict and using two-factor authentication for logging into electronic devises. The official also warned people against clicking on links which they are not certain are authenticate, saying: "Before you click, think hard."
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| Trump Administration Authorizes 'Cyanide Bombs' to Kill Predators Again, Months After Backlash Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:42 PM PST  The devices have been used to poison thousands of coyotes, foxes and feral dogs to protect wildlife
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| Russia suspends revamp work at Iran's Fordow nuclear plant Posted: 05 Dec 2019 07:08 AM PST ![Russia suspends revamp work at Iran's Fordow nuclear plant]( "Russia suspends revamp work at Iran's Fordow nuclear plant") Russian state nuclear company Rosatom has suspended work on revamping a factory at Iran's Fordow nuclear complex due to an issue with uranium compatibility, Rosatom's nuclear fuel cycle unit TVEL said on Thursday. "Uranium enrichment and the production of stable isotopes cannot be carried out in the same room," TVEL said in a statement, adding that it was "technologically impossible" to implement the project at this time. In November, the United States said it would cease waiving punitive sanctions related to the Fordow plant from Dec. 15 - a move Russia condemned - after Tehran resumed uranium enrichment at the underground site in contravention of a nuclear deal it signed with world powers in 2015.
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| Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader Posted: 05 Dec 2019 02:15 PM PST ![Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader]( "Report: Investigators ask about Illinois House leader") The longest-serving state House speaker in modern American history is a subject of inquiries in an ongoing federal corruption investigation that has already entangled several top Illinois Democrats, according to a newspaper report published Thursday. Four people interviewed by investigators told the Chicago Tribune that FBI agents and prosecutors asked about Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan's ties to ComEd lobbyists, contracts the utility had with Madigan associates and government jobs those close to Madigan have landed. A message seeking comment from Madigan spokesman Steve Brown on Thursday was not returned.
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