| As the Trump administration fills board seats, critics see an alarming attempt to remake government Posted: 15 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  For the Trump administration, appointing board members may be an effective and little-noticed means of weakening a federal apparatus it fundamentally distrusts. His board appointments, many of which may outlast his presidency, could serve an internal Republican resistance to a future Democratic administration.
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| Supreme Court Not Buying It on Bridgegate Convictions Posted: 15 Jan 2020 11:34 AM PST  It's unclear whether they'll throw the cases out.
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| Wealthy CEOs complain about feeling 'unsafe' because of homeless people in San Francisco Posted: 16 Jan 2020 09:01 AM PST  A major healthcare conference in San Francisco this week has sparked a debate about the California city's homeless crisis as wealthy executives and investors complain of feeling 'unsafe'.The city rakes in $51m (£39m) each year from the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference despite growing concerns about the city's homeless population among attendees of the healthcare industry's leading conference, according to Bloomberg News.
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| Disease that killed millions of China's pigs poses global threat Posted: 16 Jan 2020 04:05 AM PST  Soon the dog's handler discovered and confiscated a ham sandwich in the purse of a passenger who had flown on a China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghai. China has lost millions of pigs in outbreaks of the disease, pushing its pork prices to record highs, forcing purchases of costly imports and roiling global meat markets. Bettie is among an expanded team of specially trained beagles at U.S. airports, part of a larger effort to protect the nation's $23 billion pork industry from a disease that has decimated China's hog herd, the world's largest.
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| New footage shows two Iranian missiles hitting Ukrainian plane Posted: 15 Jan 2020 06:56 AM PST  New security camera footage appears to show two separate missiles hit the Ukrainian plane that was downed in Iran last week, killing all 176 passengers and crew onboard.
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| Officials block villagers as quakes shake Philippine volcano Posted: 15 Jan 2020 08:21 PM PST  A Philippine volcano that erupted last weekend belched smaller plumes of ash but shuddered frequently with earthquakes Thursday, prompting authorities to block access to nearby towns due to fears of a bigger eruption. A crater lake and nearby river on the Taal volcano dried up in signs of its continued restiveness, and officials have warned people against speculating that the five-day eruption is waning. "We have a seeming lull, but, again, as we emphasized earlier, there is something different happening beneath the volcano," Ma.
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| Tucker Carlson Goes Full Bernie Bro in Attack on CNN Posted: 15 Jan 2020 07:11 PM PST  For most of the day on Wednesday, CNNisTrash was among the top trending topics on Twitter thanks to Bernie Sanders supporters unhappy with the way their candidate was treated at the previous night's debate. Fox News host Tucker Carlson is right there with them.Carlson opened his show Wednesday night by warning of the "chaos" that will ensue in the Democratic Party if Sanders gets the presidential nomination this summer. If the Vermont senator does win the primary, Carlson said it will have "all started" at the Des Moines debate when CNN President Jeff Zucker "decided to destroy the Sanders for President campaign." The host went on to argue that Zucker is working on behalf of the "Democratic establishment, which has dispatched him to crush Bernie Sanders before he can take control of the party." His evidence had something to do with the story that CNN reported before the debate about an alleged 2018 conversation in which Sanders told Elizabeth Warren he doesn't believe a female candidate can beat Trump. Carlson accused CNN of running the story "without any proof at all," apparently discounting their multiple unnamed sources. "Sanders denied that charge vigorously," Carlson said, "but the message was unmistakable and crystal clear: 'He's a sexist, don't vote for him!'" He also criticized "Zucker's hand-selected moderator" Abby Phillips for not taking Sanders' denial at face value. "Just more 'journalism' from our friends on cable news," he added without any sense of irony."Suddenly, in weed-scented apartments around Brooklyn and the Bay Area, legions of Bernie supporters understood for the very first time why Donald Trump is always attacking CNN," Carlson continued. "Why? Because CNN deserves it." He predicted that CNN's "stupid" and "unfair" hit on Sanders would ultimately help him more than it hurts. And why, exactly, does Carlson believe that Zucker and CNN have it out for Sanders? Because the candidate released a statement in support of unionized workers—or as Carlson called them, the "oppressed and miserable workforce"—who received a labor dispute settlement from the media company. He believes it's "personal." "Jeff Zucker was not amused by that," Carlson said. "He readied his troops for battle. But in the end it didn't work. And by the way, it won't work. Americans may dislike politicians, but they hate the media more. If forced to choose between Bernie Sanders and CNN, most people will go with Bernie." Stephen Colbert Calls Out Bernie Sanders' Sexist SupportersRead more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| United Airlines flight makes emergency landing in Newark due to engine problem Posted: 16 Jan 2020 04:50 AM PST  United Airlines says a flight heading to Los Angeles ad to return to Newark to make an emergency landing Wednesday night because of an engine issue.
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| Peru to deport tourists over Machu Picchu damage Posted: 15 Jan 2020 12:23 PM PST  Five tourists arrested for damaging Peru's iconic Machu Picchu site will be deported to Bolivia later on Wednesday, police said. A sixth was released from custody and ordered to remain in Machu Picchu pending trial after paying bail of $910. The six tourists -- four men and two women -- were arrested for damaging Peru's "cultural heritage" after being found in a restricted area of the Temple of the Sun on Sunday.
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| Warning of 'serious threats' Virginia governor bans weapons at gun-rights rally Posted: 15 Jan 2020 05:54 AM PST  Northam, who is leading the push for stronger gun laws in his state, said he wants to avoid a repeat of violence that erupted at a 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, when a march by white nationalists erupted and led to the death of a counterprotester. Gun-rights advocates, including militia groups and ultraconservative activists, are planning a "Lobby Day" rally on Monday, seeking to block gun control legislation backed by Northam, a Democrat, whose party recently won majorities in both chambers of the state legislature.
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| The Navy cryptically says it has top-secret UFO briefings that would cause 'exceptionally grave damage' to US national security if published Posted: 15 Jan 2020 02:47 AM PST  The Navy previously confirmed it was treating objects that baffled pilots in Department of Defense videos as UFOs.
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| Why Andrew Yang thinks candidates of color have been shut out of the Democratic debates Posted: 14 Jan 2020 05:15 PM PST  Andrew Yang has a theory for why there are barely any candidates of color left in the Democratic primary race.After Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) dropped out earlier this week, Yang remains the only person of color in the Democratic race with a solid base of support. And as he tells Politico ahead of Tuesday night's Democratic debate, that dilemma stems from "inequities and financial realities" that affect people of color outside of politics, too.While Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) made the December debate stage, she dropped out of the 2020 race due to a lack of financial support beforehand, leaving Yang the only person of color in that debate. That left him feeling "a bit of extra pressure" to talk about race both in the debate and in his campaign in general, he told Politico. "Race has not been the central theme of my campaign from the beginning," Yang said, but added "it's more natural to talk about it when you're literally the only person of color on a national debate stage."Now, Yang has been barred from Tuesday's debate after he failed to make the Democratic National Committee's polling threshold, leaving six white candidates on the stage. This, Yang says, "reflects the realities of our society where being able to run for office and contribute to political campaigns requires a degree of disposable income. If you're black or Latino in the country, you are much less likely to have disposable income."DNC Chair Tom Perez defended the thresholds as a "remarkably inclusive and frankly low bar" which have resulted in "the most diverse field in American history."More stories from theweek.com John Bolton will reportedly reveal some of what he knows about Trump's Ukraine scandal in his upcoming book 'Okay Boomer' was just used in a Supreme Court argument for the 1st time The paradox of Trump's trillion-dollar deficit
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| AOC-Linked Dark Money Goes After Biden and Buttigieg Posted: 15 Jan 2020 11:59 AM PST  Wait, isn't she against that...
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| Mississippi: Wide search for new leader of troubled prisons Posted: 16 Jan 2020 03:08 AM PST  Mississippi will conduct a nationwide search for a new commissioner to lead a state prison system that's reckoning with a recent outburst of deadly violence and longstanding problems with vacant jobs and damaged facilities. Republican Gov. Tate Reeves will hold a news conference Thursday afternoon to announce the group that will conduct the search. Reeves' spokeswoman, Renae Eze, said the group will be led by Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs, who is a former state lawmaker.
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| Australia’s Bushfires Show the Wicked, Self-Destructive Idiocy of Climate Denialism Must Stop Posted: 15 Jan 2020 05:00 PM PST  'We have to urgently stop burning coal,' writes Former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
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| Neda Agha-Soltan’s Blood Stained the Ground Where Iranians Protest Today Posted: 15 Jan 2020 01:28 AM PST  When politicians and pundits speak of "Iran" and "the Iranians," they often mean just the Islamist thugs who rule that nation by institutionalized terror. But Iran and the Iranians also include the protesters who brave batons and bullets in the streets of Tehran, proving themselves as desirous of freedom as any Americans in America.The most recent protests began on Sunday at a vigil for the 176 innocents who perished when a Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet was downed by an Iranian missile. The regime had initially denied any responsibility for the tragedy, but finally admitted the truth.The people at the vigil—as much or more representative of Iran as any mullah—are so decent as to be outraged that such a lie had been told by their government. The regime responded, as often before, by battering and tear-gassing and, by several accounts, firing live ammunition at the demonstrators. One noticeable difference from the demonstrations of a decade past was that women were reported to be at the forefront, some of them holding up flowers in the face of assault rifles. A video that made it through the regime's social media filters shows a wounded woman being assisted by fellow protesters."They shot her with a bullet," someone can be heard saying in Farsi.Other images that made it online are of blood-stained concrete said to be in the vicinity of Azadi Square."The blood of our people!" someone was recorded exclaiming.The saving of that blood at the edge of a square whose name means "freedom" brought to mind a decade-old video taken a short distance away showing the final moments of 26-year-old Neda Agha-Soltan. She was an aspiring musician and photographer standing at the fringe of the demonstration with her piano teacher on June 20, 2009, when a militia sniper on a nearby roof shot her in the chest. An onlooker's cellphone footage recorded her final words."I'm burning! I'm burning!" she said in Farsi.Her eyes rolled back as blood then gushed from her mouth and nose. The video that vividly captured it all went mega viral."Probably the most widely witnessed death in human history," Time magazine later said.Aerospace Chief Says He Wishes He Was Dead After Iran Admits Shooting Down Ukraine JetAt the time, Agha-Soltan had plans to spend her life with a photographer/filmmaker/journalist/poet/antiquarian/naturalist named Caspian Makan. They had met two months before, in what might be called a case of love at first sound after they chanced to board the same bus in Turkey."There were really beautiful sights on the road," Makan later told The Daily Beast. "I was taking pictures of a rainbow and heard a beautiful voice of a young lady from the backseat talking to me about the beauties of nature. We had more than one hour of very warm conversation without being able to see each other's faces because of the seats' positions."Only when the bus arrived at Kusadasi was first sound followed by his first sight of Agha-Soltan. Even the given name was perfect for this woman whose beauty he heard before he saw."Neda in Persian means: inner voice or spiritual voice," Caspian later told The Daily Beast.They proved to have flown in on the same plane from Iran, he to photograph ancient artifacts, she simply on vacation."We were together in Turkey for nine days and we were happy that we had found each other as we had many things in common," he recalled. "We went back to Iran, and our relationship got more serious. And we started living in my apartment together."Love at first sound was leading to two becoming one. She hoped one would then become three. "It was her wish for us to have a baby so much that we even had chosen a name for it," he recalled. The choice was accompanied by a hunch regarding the gender."We chose 'Joupin' as a boy's name, because we thought so!" he said.That June, Iran's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ran for another term in what was widely viewed as a rigged election. Neda Agha-Soltan was one of an estimated 500,000 Iranians who took to the streets in protest despite warnings from the regime's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei."A day before, dictator 'Mullah Khamenei' in his speech, had instructed the forces to crack down the protesters," Makan recalled. Agha-Soltan was among those who vowed not to be intimidated."She said, 'I'll go! Even if a bullet hit my heart,'" Makan remembered.Makan says that he ventured on his own into the crowds to take pictures even though photographers had been banned."The [security forces] were brutally hitting everyone who were on their way, even those who were just passing through," he later reported. "They threw an old lady on the ground who was hardly able to stand on her feet with a cane in her hand. They were breaking the windows of the houses and cars with their batons to give people fright."The bad became dire."The security forces started shooting at people and the clashes were intensified," Makan later said. "I got more worried about Neda. The telephone lines were disconnected in the areas clashes were happening. There was no way to communicate."Twelve hours later, his cellphone rang. The display said Neda was calling, but it was her sister, Hoda."Caspian, Neda is gone," she said, by his account."What do you mean Neda's gone!?" he asked."She got shot," the sister said.Makan began screaming. Agha-Soltan's mother, Zohreah, came on the line."Caspian, they took Neda away from us," she said.The regime forbade any memorial service for this young woman whose death was witnessed by millions."We were not even allowed to hold a private memorial for Neda in her parents' house," Makan reported.Only a few loved ones were permitted at the burial in grave 32 at Behesht-e Zahra Cemetery in Tehran. There came what he describes as "the most painful moments in my life.""I was standing right next to her body," he would remember. "I couldn't believe that she was my Neda. Her face was strangely in pain and it looked so sad."His love at first sound was forever silenced."Neda had sang for me a few times, and she seriously had a nice and pleasant voice even when she was just talking!" Makan said later. "I wish I had her voice now. We had decided to record her voice in an audio studio reading some of my poems. But she was gone before her wishes came true."But in the days ahead, protesters came by the thousands to the grave. The security forces dispersed them again and again."People were getting attacked, arrested, and at least one person got killed at her grave," Makan said.The security forces even turned their guns on the grave itself."You can't believe the guards shot at her gravestone and disrespected her," Makan said.Six days after Agha-Soltan's killing, the security forces raided Makan's home, setting up snipers on the surrounding rooftops. His archive of photographs—10,000 largely of nature and historical sites—were seized. He was thrown into Evin prison. He spent a fortnight in cell 34, often wishing he had himself been killed and buried near grave 32. Makan was blindfolded when taken to other parts of the prison, but the ears that had once thrilled at Agha-Soltan's sweet tones were filled with the screams of protesters under interrogation. His own interrogation swung between being hit and being offered ice cream and being threatened with execution as his captors pressured him to say that Agha-Soltan had been on a suicide mission for a subversive group. The regime in the meantime had been making the bizarre claim that she and other demonstrators had secreted vials of blood in their mouths so they could make it look like they were bleeding internally as they sprawled on the street.Thanks to pressure from Amnesty International and others, he was granted bail. Agha-Soltan had loved sunrises and and he began visiting her grave at daybreak, slipping away before the guards arrived. He did not want to leave Iran and the cause for which she died, but he understood that he would be thrown back in prison if he did not keep quiet.He finally was unable to endure the enforced silence. He went to Turkey, where he had first met Agha-Soltan, but this time continued on to Canada despite the regime's efforts to have the Turkish authorities return him to Iran. He pledged to continue wearing black in memory of Agha-Soltan and all the other victims of the regime.In November of last year, a hike in gasoline prices was met by protests in Tehran and other cities across Iran where people stopped their cars and simply sat. The security forces responded by murdering hundreds, perhaps more than 1,500. As many as a third of them were women."Neda planted herself in the ground like a seed!" Makan told The Daily Beast, "Now, we are seeing the other young people, especially girls, growing on Neda's plant and bravely standing against the religious dictatorship regime... So Neda's way has continued."Among the dead was 14-year-old Nikta Esfandani, who loved music and theater. She was fatally shot in the head on Nov. 16. The regime decreed that due to her youth, the family would not be billed for the cost of the bullet, as was standard practice. She was buried in the same cemetery as Agha-Soltan.Thousands more protesters were reportedly jailed, many in the same prison where Makan was held."I know very well what the hell is there!" he told The Daily Beast. "Every moment I wish I was killed like my fiancée in the street instead of being arrested!"Women were even more at the forefront of the protests that began on Sunday. A young woman's blood was again spilled at the edge of Azadi Square.This week, Makan said he would continue to wear black so long as Iran is controlled by a regime he calls "the original version of ISIS." A message was posted online by someone who identified herself as Agha-Soltan's sister and speaks as an Iranian of the Iran that survives despite the regime."I am alive but my sister was killed. She wanted the wind to blow into her hair; she wanted to be free; she wanted to hold her head high up and say: I am Iranian. My sister died because there is no life left; my sister died because there is no end to tyranny."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Merkel Spends Big to Kickstart Germany’s Stalled Coal Exit Posted: 16 Jan 2020 02:09 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel clinched a deal to kickstart Germany's stalled coal exit, offering billions in compensation to utilities and affected regions so that closures of plants can start this year.In talks that began Wednesday evening and lasted well into the night, the government hammered out a timeline with state leaders to shut down the country's coal-fired power generation by 2038, a plan that includes 40 billion euros ($44.6 billion) in compensation for impacted regions.Utility RWE AG, Germany's biggest coal-fired power producer, will receive 2.6 billion euros in payments, according to a person familiar with the matter. The stock was up 1.7% mid-morning and a spokesman said the company would comment later Thursday. Lignite operators in eastern Germany will receive 1.75 billion euros, German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz said at a press conference in Berlin. Merkel has been in a tight spot on the issue, facing pressure from environmentalists and miners alike. Climate tops voter concerns, and Germany will already miss its 2020 targets under the Paris Agreement. On the other hand, the poorer states in the former Communist East, where the bulk of the mines are, fear a growing gap to the West. Her predicament feeds into a broader political challenge, with the Greens party and the far-right Alternative for Germany gaining support on both sides of the political spectrum to squeeze Germany's traditional mainstream parties, including her Christian Democrats. The AfD has been particularly strong in the eastern mining states."It was a long night -- it lasted until 2 a.m. -- but we were able to achieve a sensible agreement," Armin Laschet, premier of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia, said in an interview with Deutschlandfunk radio. "The time frame that we've agreed on is ambitious, but realistic."Laschet estimates that around 3,000 jobs in his state will be affected by the closures. The premier also confirmed closures will take place more rapidly in west German states. The biggest resistance to the plan had come from states in the former communist East, which relies most heavily on coal and has a lower per capita income than in the West.Under the agreement announced early on Thursday, LEAG's Jaenschwalde power plant is to be transformed into a gas-fired unit. The Hambach Forest, which was threatened with destruction to make way for an RWE lignite mine, will be preserved, according to the government.The federal government will also pay for retraining programs for power and lignite mine workers affected by plant closures.The deal is part of a broader effort this week to showcase measures to combat climate change. On Tuesday, the government announced massive investment in railways so as to lure passengers from cars and planes, which have a higher carbon footprint.(Rewrites throughout)\--With assistance from Andrew Blackman and Chris Reiter.To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Parkin in Berlin at bparkin@bloomberg.net;Birgit Jennen in Berlin at bjennen1@bloomberg.net;William Wilkes in Frankfurt at wwilkes1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond Colitt, Iain RogersFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Former Philippine police chief indicted for drugs war corruption Posted: 15 Jan 2020 04:55 PM PST  The former chief police enforcer of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs will be charged with corruption for allegedly protecting officers linked to the narcotics trade, the justice department said Thursday. Oscar Albayalde resigned in October after serving as Philippine police chief for more than a year, having presided over an anti-narcotics crackdown that left thousands of drug suspects dead. The episode that led to his sudden fall from grace cast an unwelcome light on a drug war that is immensely popular with Filipinos, but which has faced international criticism over allegations that police were summarily executing suspects.
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| Russia says urging Gulf nations to consider a joint security mechanism Posted: 14 Jan 2020 09:13 PM PST  Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday Moscow has been urging Gulf countries to consider a common security mechanism for the region and it was time the world got rid of unilateral measures such as sanctions. "We have been suggesting to the Gulf countries to think about collective security mechanisms ... starting with confidence building measures and inviting each other to military exercises," Lavrov told a security conference in Delhi. Tensions in the Gulf have risen following the U.S. killing of Iranian military commander General Qassem Soleimani and a retaliatory missile attack by Iran on U.S. forces in Iraq.
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| White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham tells Fox News she won't hold press briefings because reporters just 'want their moment on TV so they can peddle their books Posted: 16 Jan 2020 07:11 AM PST  Press secretary Stephanie Grisham's comments came shortly after her predecessor Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced she's releasing a memoir this fall.
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| Universities, Colleges Where Students Are Eager to Enroll Posted: 16 Jan 2020 06:29 AM PST ![Universities, Colleges Where Students Are Eager to Enroll]( "Universities, Colleges Where Students Are Eager to Enroll") As students apply to their dream schools, acceptance is almost too good to pass up.
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| China Just Decided Against A Six Aircraft Carrier Fleet—Why? Posted: 15 Jan 2020 03:00 PM PST  Beijing is taking its naval cues from America.
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| US military resumes counter-Islamic State operations in Iraq Posted: 15 Jan 2020 03:55 PM PST  The U.S. military is resuming operations against Islamic State militants in Iraq and is working to soon restart training Iraqi forces, U.S. officials said Wednesday, despite deep divisions over the American drone strike that killed an senior Iranian commander in Baghdad and the resulting missile attacks by Iran on Iraqi bases. One official said some joint operations between the U.S. and Iraqi forces have already begun, but there are not yet as many as before.
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| Christian school expelled student over a 'gay' rainbow cake, family says Posted: 15 Jan 2020 01:06 PM PST  The mom of a Whitefield Academy student in Louisville said school officials believed the rainbow-related photo suggested her daughter was gay.
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| YouTube Has Been 'Actively Promoting' Videos Spreading Climate Denialism, According to New Report Posted: 16 Jan 2020 01:00 AM PST  YouTube's "up next" feature has been recommending videos containing climate misinformation, according to a Jan. 16 report by Avaaz
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| U.K. Government Agrees to Rescue of Regional Airline Flybe Posted: 14 Jan 2020 12:31 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Britain agreed to back a plan to rescue Flybe, Europe's largest regional airline, from a collapse that would have left some of the most economically challenged parts of the U.K. with diminished transport links.The deal will allow Flybe to operate as normal to maintain flights and includes a review of the air passenger duty tax levy, the government said Tuesday. Support may include a state-backed loan, according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named discussing confidential deliberations.Flybe's parent Connect Airways, made up of Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd., private-equity firm Cyrus Capital and airport operator Stobart Group, has in turn committed to keep the carrier flying with additional funding, Connect Chairman Lucien Farrell said in a release.The rescue is unusual in a country that has long eschewed state bailouts. Monarch Airlines, Flybmi and Thomas Cook Group Plc all failed without government help in the past 2 1/2 years. But Flybe's unique business profile in serving provincial cities made it a different proposition, especially with many of those areas key to Prime Minister Boris Johnson's election win a month ago."The reviews we are announcing today will help level up our economy," Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid said in the release. "They will ensure that regional connections not only continue but flourish in the years to come."While Flybe carried only 8 million passengers last year, versus almost 100 million at EasyJet Plc, it ranks No. 1 on U.K. domestic routes and provides links to London and the continent from cities spanning Belfast in Northern Ireland to Exeter in England's far southwest and Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.Cities Cut Off and Airports at Risk: What's at Stake at FlybeThe British Airline Pilots' Association said the government should "be applauded for stepping up to the plate," after previously warning that if Flybe didn't exist "it would have to be invented" to maintain crucial links and support the economy. A collapse would have effectively left some locations without an air service or reliant on rail journeys spanning many hours.By contrast, Willie Walsh, chief executive officer of British Airways parent IAG SA, said the rescue amounts to "a blatant misuse of public funds," with U.K. taxpayers picking up the bill for the "mismanagement" of Flybe by Virgin and backer Delta Air Lines Inc.Johnson swept to victory in December in part by garnering the support of Brexit-voting former Labour-held seats in northern England and other areas away from the southeast, and has said his Conservative party needs to deliver economic growth there to hold on to those "borrowed" votes.The prime minister said in a BBC interview earlier Tuesday that he understood "the importance of Flybe in delivering connectivity across the whole U.K.," while acknowledging the deficiencies of transport infrastructure in some parts of the country.Flybe was delisted in March after its purchase by Connect Airways for 2.2 million pounds ($2.9 million), with the consortium also providing 100 million pounds in rescue funding. The carrier, which employs about 2,400 people, had struggled for years with the narrow margins on regional routes, where demand is lower, together with fluctuating fuel prices and uncertainty around Brexit.The carrier operates 68 planes on almost 140 routes serving 56 cities across the U.K. and Europe. Some of its flights, like a 130-mile service from Cardiff to Anglesey off the north Welsh coast, are among the shortest in the industry.(Updates with details from U.K. government starting in second paragraph.)\--With assistance from Alex Morales and Jeremy Diamond.To contact the reporters on this story: Siddharth Philip in London at sphilip3@bloomberg.net;Charlotte Ryan in London at cryan147@bloomberg.net;Thomas Penny in London at tpenny@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Kenneth Wong at kwong11@bloomberg.net, Christopher JasperFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Father Admits to Killing Wife, 3 Kids After Family Found Dead in Florida Home: Sheriff Posted: 15 Jan 2020 10:24 AM PST  A father has confessed to murdering his wife, their three children, and the family dog inside their rented home near Walt Disney World, authorities announced Wednesday.Anthony Todt, 44, has been arrested and charged with multiple counts of homicide in connection with the murder of his 42-year-old wife, Megan, and their three children in Celebration, Florida, the Osceola County Sheriff's Office said. Todt was also charged with one count of animal cruelty after confessing to killing the family's dog, Breezy, authorities said."He is cooperating with the investigation, I can tell you that much," Osceola County Sheriff Russ Gibson said, calling the quadruple murder "despicable."Four Found Dead at Home of Missing Florida Family, Suspect in Custody: SheriffAuthorities took Todt into custody around 9 a.m. Monday, while aiding federal agents in serving the father of three with an unrelated arrest warrant. Inside the home, deputies found the bodies of Megan and the three children—13-year-old Alek, 11-year-old Tyler, and 4-year-old Zoey.The four family members are believed to have been killed "sometime toward the end of December," Gibson said. Authorities said that one out-of-state family member asked for a wellness check on the family on Dec. 29 after not hearing from them for two days. Deputies said that they checked the home at that time, but left after being unable to communicate with anyone inside. They didn't believe the situation rose "to a level of suspicion" that would justify entering or searching the home."There's an element of privacy," the sheriff said. "Your home is your castle."Authorities now believe there is a "possibility" that Todt killed his family before deputies performed the December wellness check, Gibson said. The sheriff said he would not go into detail about how the four individuals died until after the medical examiner's report has been released.Last Wednesday, relatives took to the internet to report the Todt family missing, creating a Facebook group that quickly swelled to nearly 2,500 members. According to authorities, no missing person reports were ever filed for the family.The family had recently moved from Colchester, Connecticut, to Celebration, Florida—a community on the outskirts of Disney World, designed and built by the Walt Disney Company. "It's a tragedy and we are mourning the losses in our close-knit community," one of their neighbors, Lori Leighton, told The Daily Beast.Authorities said that while Megan and the three kids lived in Florida full-time, Todt would work at his Connecticut physical therapy practice during the week and fly to meet his family on the weekends."My understanding is the kids and Megan resided here primarily. Kids were homeschooled and I believe they traveled but they have been here for a couple of years at least," one Celebration neighbor told The Daily Beast. "I was shocked and very upset. I don't think anyone can comprehend how someone could do this."Celebration, Florida: How Disney's 'Community of Tomorrow' Became a Total NightmareGibson said federal agents contacted the sheriff's office on Jan. 9 regarding an investigation into Todt. Despite several attempts that weekend to talk to Todt and his family, deputies were not able to make contact but did not see anything suspicious on the North Village property.The sheriff added he did not know the details of the federal arrest warrant but said it was tied to activity in Connecticut. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut confirmed their office is working a case involving Todt but said the warrant is currently under seal. Todt is also under investigation by the Connecticut Attorney General's office for a potential violation of the False Claims Act, a spokesperson confirmed to The Daily Beast. The act targets fraudulent insurance claims by medical providers. Anthony and Megan Todt were both physical therapists and worked together at the Family Physical Therapy practice, which has offices in Connecticut. "We grieve along with the victims' family and friends, along with the community for this tragic loss of innocent lives," Gibson said Wednesday.According to court records, the Todt family was facing mounting financial pressure over the last few years. Along with an eviction order from the family's Celebration home on Dec. 22, citing a missing $4,921 December payment, Todt was struggling to maintain his Connecticut physical therapy practice. State records show Anthony's license to practice physical therapy expired in September and had not been renewed, while his wife's license was set to expire at the end of January. 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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| Merkel to seek end to Huawei dispute in her conservative camp: sources Posted: 15 Jan 2020 03:44 PM PST  Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet senior conservative lawmakers on Thursday to resolve a dispute in her own party over whether to bar China's Huawei [HWT.UL] from the country's 5G network rollout, party sources said. Merkel's conservatives are divided on whether to support a proposal by their Social Democrat junior coalition partners that, if approved, would effectively shut out the Chinese technology giant from the network. Handelsblatt business daily was first to report on Wednesday the planned meeting between Merkel and senior conservative lawmakers.
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| Report: Putin and Assad caught laughing at Trump Posted: 15 Jan 2020 07:30 AM PST  Vladimir Putin and Bashar Assad have been caught on video mocking President Trump.
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| The Best Compact Fitness Equipment Under $300 Posted: 16 Jan 2020 09:56 AM PST |
| An Iranian general said officials lied about shooting down a Ukrainian passenger jet to defend national security Posted: 15 Jan 2020 04:49 PM PST  Amir Ali Hajizadeh said that Iran's public lies about shooting down Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 were justifiable.
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| Trump’s white nationalist aide Stephen Miller feared Dreamers would make US less American Posted: 15 Jan 2020 05:49 AM PST  Donald Trump's top immigration adviser told an editor of a far-right website that the arrival of Dreamers, children brought to the US illegally to obtain relief from deportation, would make the US less American.Emails sent to advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center, and reviewed by The Independent, show how senior White House advisor Stephen Miller fretted over the possibility that the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrrivals (Daca) program would lead a higher percentage of foreign-born workers.
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| Australia’s Wildfire Crisis: Key Numbers Behind the Disaster Posted: 15 Jan 2020 03:15 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Australia is in the grip of deadly wildfires burning across the country, triggering an emotive debate about the impact of climate change in the world's driest-inhabited continent. The unprecedented scale of the crisis, and images of terrified tourists sheltering on beaches from the infernos, has shocked many Australians.With the nation only midway through summer and suffering a prolonged drought, authorities fear the death toll will continue to mount as more homes and land are destroyed. Here are some key details of the crisis:How many people have died?Since the fire season began months ago during the southern hemisphere winter, at least 28 people have died. Among the fatalities are volunteer firefighters, including a young man who died when his 10-ton truck was flipped over in what officials have described as a "fire tornado." Australia's worst wildfires came in 2009 when the Black Saturday blazes left 180 people dead.How big an area has burned?Massive tracts of land have burned. Almost 12 million hectares (30 million acres) have been destroyed -- that's almost the size of England. In New South Wales state alone, more than 5.2 million hectares of forest and bush has been destroyed, while more than 1.4 million hectares has been burned in Victoria. The fires are so large they are generating their own weather systems and causing dry lightning strikes that in turn ignite more. One blaze northwest of Sydney, the Gospers Mountain fire, has destroyed about 512,000 hectares -- about seven times the size of Singapore.The scale of the blazes dwarfs the California wildfires in 2018, which destroyed about 1.7 million acres, and about 260,000 acres in 2019.How many homes have been destroyed?Some 2,600 homes have been destroyed, mostly in New South Wales. Scores of rural towns have been impacted, including the community of Balmoral about 150 kilometers southwest of Sydney, which was largely destroyed before Christmas.What's the economic impact?The near-term cost is mounting. Toxic smoke shrouding Canberra has shuttered businesses and government departments and forced national carrier Qantas Airways Ltd. to cancel flights. The Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of 2020 that brings in an estimated A$290 million, has seen qualification games disrupted due to the smoke. Economists estimate the wildfires and associated drought could cut up to half a percentage point off GDP growth as agriculture, tourism and sentiment take a hit.How has wildlife been affected?The University of Sydney estimates that 800 million animals have been killed by the bushfires in New South Wales alone since September and one billion have died nationally. The "highly conservative figure" includes mammals, birds and reptiles killed either directly by the fires, or later due to loss of food and habitat. The fires have raised concerns in particular about koalas, with authorities saying as much as 30% of their habitat in some areas had been destroyed. Images of the marsupials drinking water from bottles after being rescued have gone viral on social media.How can I help?Donations are flooding in to help with the relief effort, led by wealthy philanthropists, companies, investment banks and a string of celebrities. Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest's Minderoo Foundation has pledged A$70 million. Morgan Stanley Chief Executive Officer James Gorman, who is Australian, is pitching in A$1 million, while pledges have come in from stars such as Elton John, Chris Hemsworth, Bette Midler and Nicole Kidman.\--With assistance from Jason Scott.To contact the reporter on this story: Edward Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Edward Johnson at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net, Jason ScottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Texas carries out first US execution of 2020 Posted: 15 Jan 2020 05:40 PM PST  Texas on Wednesday carried out the first execution of the year in the United States, putting to death by lethal injection a man convicted of killing his wife 15 years ago because she wanted a divorce. John Gardner, 64, was sentenced to death in 2006 for killing his fifth wife, who had left him after multiple incidents of physical violence and filed for divorce. Tammy Gardner died two days later.
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| U.N. says around 350,0000 Syrians have fled Russian-led assault in Idlib Posted: 16 Jan 2020 03:35 AM PST  AMMAN/GENEVA (Reuters) - Around 350,000 Syrians, mostly women and children, have fled a renewed Russian-backed offensive in the opposition-held Idlib province since early December, and have sought shelter in border areas near Turkey, the United Nations said on Thursday. The humanitarian situation continued to deteriorate as a result of the "escalating" hostilities, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in its latest situation report. Russian jets and Syrian artillery have pounded towns and villages in recent weeks in a renewed assault backed by pro-Iranian militias and aimed at clearing the opposition.
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| Germany’s $6.7 billion frigate deal with Dutch shipbuilder Damen may be the last of its kind Posted: 16 Jan 2020 06:41 AM PST  A new policy, up for a Cabinet decision within weeks, would favor German vendors in building naval surface ships.
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| Rachel Maddow and Lev Parnas explain why Parnas has publicly flipped on Trump and Giuliani Posted: 16 Jan 2020 03:59 AM PST  After MSNBC's Rachel Maddow aired her interview with Lev Parnas on Wednesday night, fellow host Lawrence O'Donnell told her it was an "extraordinary hour" of television. But "I think a lot of us, as we were watching, had one fundamental question: Why is he doing this?" he asked. "Why has he decided to basically turn on his friends in the conspiracy and talk about the conspiracy?" Parnas worked with Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, to pressure Ukrainian officials to procure dirt on Joe Biden."What seemed to emerge today," Maddow said, "is that he really believes that the more he makes public about what he saw and what he knows and what he can document, the safer he is. He's, I think, worried that if the information he's got is only inside his own head or in his own, you know, electronic devices and things like that, that that's too easy — it's too easy to make that go away."Maddow said there's probably an "implicit" but far-fetched hope that cooperating with investigators and sharing what he knows will help him in his federal criminal case, but "I will tell you, Lawrence, I was convinced until the moment I was sitting there talking to him that it was going to be canceled." She added that for her, the "headline" from the interview was his claim about Vice President Mike Pence's involvement in the Ukraine meddling.Parnas also told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Wednesday that "of course" Pence was aware of what he and Giuliani were doing for Trump in Ukraine, and their mission "was all about 2020, to make sure he had another four years." Cooper asked if that's how Parnas "personally" saw the goal, and Parnas said "that was the way everybody viewed it. ... I mean, there was no other reason for doing it."Parnas told Cooper he "loved" and "idolized" Trump up to the moment Trump publicly denied knowing him. "The truth is out now, thank God," he said. "I thought they were going to shut me up and make me look like the scapegoat and try to blame me for stuff I haven't done." Parnas volunteered to testify at Trump's impeachment trial and predicted that between him and former National Security Adviser John Bolton, they "could fill in all the dots."Senate Republicans aren't expected to allow witnesses at Trump's trial.More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell should recuse himself Puerto Rico drains half of emergency funds as it awaits White House response on disaster designation The White House broke the law by withholding Ukraine aid, nonpartisan government agency concludes
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| The B-32 Only Fought One Battle in World War II—After It Was Over Posted: 16 Jan 2020 12:45 AM PST  Would it have been helpful?
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| Thai army chief signs intelligence pact with Indonesia Posted: 15 Jan 2020 04:34 AM PST ![Thai army chief signs intelligence pact with Indonesia]( "Thai army chief signs intelligence pact with Indonesia") An intelligence-sharing agreement signed by the army chiefs of Thailand and Indonesia is unlikely to significantly help Thailand end a Muslim separatist insurgency in its deep south, analysts said Wednesday. More than 7,000 people have died since the insurgency flared up in 2004. The pact signed Tuesday in Indonesia's Aceh province extended a cooperation agreement launched in 2008.
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| Iran president slams removal of candidates from elections Posted: 15 Jan 2020 04:51 AM PST  Iran's president Wednesday slammed the disqualification of thousands of people, including 90 current lawmakers, from running in upcoming parliamentary elections. Although hard-liners were among those disqualified by the powerful Guardian Council, most of those rejected were reformist and moderate candidates, according to Tehran's reformist newspaper Etemad. President Hassan Rouhani appeared to confirm this in his stinging critique of the council, which barred more than 9,000 from the over 14,000 people who had registered to run.
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| U.S. Army chief of staff: Russia's hypersonic missiles are not 'game changing' Posted: 14 Jan 2020 04:22 PM PST  The U.S. Army's top officer said Tuesday during an appearance in Washington, D.C., that he isn't worried by Russia's growing arsenal of hypersonic missiles.
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| 'They were friends': Texas teen mistakenly shot, killed ROTC member in class, officials say Posted: 16 Jan 2020 07:18 AM PST  A 16-year-old student mistakenly shot his friend in their Houston-area high school's ROTC room before fleeing and being arrested, officials said.
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| Political Turmoil to Be ‘New Normal’ for 2020, Risk Firm Says Posted: 15 Jan 2020 04:01 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The violent protests and political upheaval that marked 2019 and challenged governments from Hong Kong to Chile is set to stay and is now the "new normal," according to a global risk firm.Verisk Maplecroft, which advises corporate clients on political risk around the world, said in a new report released Thursday that it predicts "continued turmoil in 2020" as administrations around the world continue to be surprised by demonstrators and ill-prepared to address the underlying social grievances that spur them."We all need to buckle up for 2020," said Miha Hribernik, the Singapore-based head of Asia risk insight for Verisk Maplecroft. "The rage that caught many governments off-guard last year isn't going anywhere and we'd all better adapt."Many governments were caught by surprise by the scale and ferocity of the protests and ended up attempting to crackdown on the movements, deploying what human rights group have said were arbitrary arrests and indiscriminate violence. That response has ended up further radicalizing protesters and provoking more violent demonstrations, Verisk Maplecroft said in its Political Risk Outlook 2020.Rising UnrestOf the countries seeing significantly more angry protests than usual, some of the steepest increases on firm's unrest index were in Chile and Hong Kong. Chile rose from 91st place to 6th on the index as simmering social strife transformed Latin America's richest and most stable nation into a focal point of chaotic protests that caused some $2 billion of property damages and killed more than two dozen people.Hong Kong similarly rose from 117th to 26th after seven months of pro-democracy street protests, the firm said. Although prompted by a since-withdrawn bill that would have allowed extraditions to mainland China, Verisk Maplecroft added that the "root cause of discontent has been the rollback of civil and political rights since 1997."India and Iraq, which have both seen determined protests recently, ranked much lower on the list of worsening hot spots because they began last year with heightened levels of unrest. In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi now faces the most significant challenge to his rule since being first being elected in 2014, as protesters take to the streets criticizing his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party for its anti-Muslim policies.Many governments have "reacted with a combination of repression and limited concessions" which achieved little because resilient protest movements have adapted rapidly to police tactics, Hribernik said."During 2019, governments worldwidescrambled to find an effective response to protests," he said. "We don't see much changing during 2020, and January has so far borne this out -- protesters have continued to turn out in their thousands in Iran, Iraq, India, Chile, Hong Kong and Lebanon -- to name just a few places."To contact the reporters on this story: Iain Marlow in Hong Kong at imarlow1@bloomberg.net;Hannah Dormido in Hong Kong at hdormido@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Muneeza NaqviFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Exclusive: U.N. sanctions experts warn - stay away from North Korea cryptocurrency conference Posted: 14 Jan 2020 10:07 PM PST  United Nations sanctions experts are warning people not to attend a cryptocurrency conference in North Korea in February, flagging it as a likely sanctions violation, according to a confidential report due to be submitted to the U.N. Security Council later this month. The warning comes after the independent U.N. experts told the council in August that North Korea generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs using "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
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| Teacher asks students to ‘identify rapist’ on homework assignment, prompting investigation Posted: 15 Jan 2020 09:34 AM PST  Texas schools officials say they've taken "corrective action" after a ninth grade teacher included a question about a rape victim in a homework assignment receivedApproximately 90 students received an assignment that asked the following: "Suzy was assaulted in an alley and is a victim of rape. The police collected a sample of sperm that was left at the crime scene and now have three suspects in custody. Which of the suspects raped Suzy?"
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