| Iran faces dilemma in avenging general's death: To strike back without starting a war Posted: 03 Jan 2020 03:05 PM PST  Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, vowed to exact "severe revenge" for the Thursday night U.S. airstrike that killed the country's most famous general, but the Iranian regime will have to walk a fine line to respond strongly without provoking a war with the United States, former intelligence officials familiar with the region said Friday. Qassem Soleimani headed the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force, which combines intelligence gathering, covert action and special operations. Also killed in the airstrike, which hit two vehicles, was Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the leader of the Iraqi Shiite militia group Kataib Hezbollah, along with several other Quds Force and militia members.
|
| Trump tells evangelicals that God is 'on our side' Posted: 03 Jan 2020 03:47 PM PST  Launching a political coalition called "Evangelicals for Trump" at a Florida megachurch on Friday, President Trump declared his belief that God supports his agenda.
|
| Note To Iran: Want to Start World War III? Sink a U.S. Navy Carrier Posted: 04 Jan 2020 08:00 PM PST  Tehran: Don't do it.
|
| Kentucky attorney general asks FBI to investigate Bevin's pardons Posted: 04 Jan 2020 07:14 PM PST  The investigation will focus on the pardon of Patrick Baker, who was convicted of reckless homicide. Baker's family raised more than $20,000 for the Bevin campaign.
|
| Alabama police say they found the body of a woman who texted 'I feel in trouble' just before she disappeared Posted: 04 Jan 2020 02:42 PM PST  Paighton Houston had texted a coworker on December 20, saying she might be in trouble. She was last seen at a Birmingham bar leaving with two men.
|
| Thousands of troops being called to help as bushfires rage across Australia. Here's what you need to know. Posted: 03 Jan 2020 08:58 PM PST  At least 23 people have died in southeastern Australia, and the region is blanketed with smog and blood-red skies. Food and fuel are running out.
|
| Cambodia building collapse kills 36 people, injures 23 others Posted: 04 Jan 2020 05:38 PM PST  Thirty-six people were killed and 23 more injured when a tourist guesthouse under construction in Cambodia collapsed, trapping workers under rubble, officials said on Sunday. Officials said rescue operations ended two days after the seven-storey concrete building collapsed on Friday in the coastal town of Kep, about 160 km (100 miles) southwest of the capital Phnom Penh. The 36 dead included six children and 14 women, officials said in a statement that did not detail why children were at the construction site.
|
| Some Lebanon banks close over angry clients' demands Posted: 04 Jan 2020 07:51 AM PST  Banks in a region of northern Lebanon were closed until further notice on Saturday, the National News Agency said, after lenders balked at customer anger over a liquidity crisis. Since September banks have arbitrarily capped the amount of dollars that can be withdrawn or transferred abroad, sparking fury among customers who accuse lenders of holding their money hostage. There is also a limit on Lebanese pound withdrawals.
|
| Iran Options Seem Narrow as It Seeks to Avenge Slain General Posted: 03 Jan 2020 12:38 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened "severe retaliation" against the U.S. for the assassination of the country's most prominent military commander, but he may be limited in what he can do.While Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told state TV that the Islamic Republic's response can come "at any time and by any means," U.S. sanctions have hobbled his nation's economy. Any action that triggered a conventional war with the U.S. would put the Shiite Muslim power at a severe disadvantage.Anti-government protests have also challenged the regime's dominance in Iraq, Lebanon and at home. Now, in Al Quds commander Qassem Soleimani, Iranians have lost the very man they would have relied upon to craft an effective response.Tehran's strategy since President Donald Trump pulled out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal that had promised rapprochement between Iran and the West suggests any retaliation will likely be measured. It needs to be significant enough to reflect Soleimani's stature, though not enough to invite an unbridled conflict with the world's military superpower. Such controlled reprisals could include a strike at diplomatic staff or cyberattacks."I don't think either the U.S. or Iran want all-out war," said Sir Tom Beckett, a former lieutenant general in the British Army and now executive director of the International Institute for Strategic Studies-Middle East. "The U.S. needed to assert its willingness to take military action alongside its campaign of exerting maximum economic pressure." That has now been done. The bigger question is whether the removal of Soleimani, a national hero to many Iranians, proves to have been part of a wider strategy.The U.S. and Iran are effectively already at war. Since at least the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Soleimani's approach to challenging American power was to assemble and strengthen proxy Shiite militias in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. He then used these to prosecute a hybrid war against the U.S. and its regional allies at arm's length, without triggering a direct response from Washington.The Trump administration plans to send about 2,800 troops from the Army's 82nd Airborne division to Kuwait to act as an additional deterrent against Iran. The new U.S. contingent will join about 700 troops dispatched to Kuwait earlier this week as part of the division's rapid-reaction "ready battalion," according to two U.S. officials who asked not to be identified discussing the deployment. The U.S. already had about 60,000 personnel.Game ChangerSuccessive administrations underGeorge W. Bush and Barack Obama chose not to risk an escalation despite Soleimani's responsibility for U.S. fatalities. Now it's Iran that will have to weigh the risks of a determined response. As U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper put it hour before the drone strike in Baghdad: "The game has changed."Yet despite Khamenei's stark threat, Iran is unlikely to reach for a maximal option, such as a missile strike on American bases in Bahrain or elsewhere in the Gulf. To do so would invite suicide, analysts say."This is an intensely dangerous moment, but as always with Iran, we should be wary of hyperbolic predictions," said Suzanne Maloney, deputy director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. "Tehran is well practiced at calibrating retaliation around its real interests, which ultimately concern regime survival and targeting its reprisals with deliberation and precision."QuickTake: How Qassem Soleimani Helped Shape the Modern MideastIn the past, it was Soleimani who made those calibrations. A veteran of the Iran-Iraq war, Soleimani ran the elite unit of the Revolutionary Guard Corps that specialized in unconventional warfare and overseas operations.They included a series of pinpoint attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf last year that culminated with a daring attack on a Saudi oil facility. No fatalities were reported in any of the attacks and neither the U.S. nor Saudi Arabia had a response.Militia NetworkSoleimani's network of militias appear to have triggered his death. They shelled a U.S. base in Iraq, killing a U.S. contractor, and then stormed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, evoking memories of the 1979 U.S. hostage crisis in Tehran.On Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. had struck out at Soleimani because it had information he was planning further attacks against U.S. personnel.Those militias remain the most effective and usable military tool at Iran's disposal. Soleimani's deputy, who was quickly named as the new Quds force chief, said the group's strategy would not change.The question, according to British military strategist Beckett and others, is where Khamenei will opt to strike and at what level -- with a single dramatic action, or multiple much smaller attacks that would make it harder for the U.S. to escalate again."Iranian leaders are unlikely to lash out blindly," said Maloney. "Instead, they will indulge in the short-term opportunity to whip up nationalism and wait for the best opportunity to inflict damage on U.S. interests and allies."Not SarajevoPolitical risk consultancy Eurasia Group predicted on Friday that Iran's immediate response would likely involve low to moderate level clashes inside Iraq, with Iranian-backed militias attacking U.S. bases, renewed harassment of shipping in the Gulf and other strikes around the world that could be hard to anticipate. A cyberattack is one option Iranian officials are almost certainly considering, according to some experts.Zarif said Friday that the consequences of the U.S. killing Soleimani will be "broad" and will be out of Iran's hands because of the general's widespread popularity in the region.QuickTake: Iran Is Big on Cyberwarfare. How Does That Work?Unlike the political assassination in the Balkans that triggered World War I, the fallout out from Thursday's attack is likely to be far less widespread, according to Emile Hokayem, senior fellow for Middle East Security at the London-based IISS."This is not a Franz Ferdinand moment," said Hokayem. "It's at best an inflection point. Hundreds of thousands have been dying in the region over the last 10 years or so, including at the hands of Soleimani. The U.S. and Iran are already at war."(Updates with Zarif's comment, U.S. troops dispatched starting in second paragraph)\--With assistance from Lin Noueihed, Glen Carey and Polina Noskova.To contact the reporter on this story: Marc Champion in London at mchampion7@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Flavia Krause-Jackson at fjackson@bloomberg.net, Rodney JeffersonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Democrats battle White House over executive power and congressional oversight Posted: 03 Jan 2020 02:37 PM PST  Two hearings in a Washington court brought the battle between the House and the White House into stark relief.
|
| 2 inmates missing in Mississippi after riots, deaths at prisons across the state Posted: 04 Jan 2020 12:52 PM PST  Two inmates at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman were reported missing early Saturday, amid a week of riots and deaths at prisons across the state.
|
| What Iran and the Movie Top Gun Have in Common: They Both Use F-14 Tomcats Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:49 AM PST  Yes, sold to Iran.
|
| Battleground Tracker: Sanders tied with Biden and Buttigieg for lead in Iowa Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:52 AM PST  Sanders is tied with Biden and Buttigieg for the lead in Iowa and has a narrow lead in New Hampshire over Biden.
|
| Police: Psychic said girl was possessed by demon, scammed mom out of $70K Posted: 03 Jan 2020 02:50 PM PST  A woman claiming to be a psychic stole more than $70,000 from a client by telling the woman her 10-year-old daughter was possessed by a demon and she needed the money to banish the spirit, police in Massachusetts said.
|
| US sends veteran firefighters to battle Australia wildfires Posted: 04 Jan 2020 03:34 PM PST  A crew of 20 veteran firefighters based in California will head to Australia on Monday to help battle the country's out-of-control wildfires that have killed at least 23 people and scorched millions of acres. The crew of federal firefighters based in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles will depart on Monday, said Carrie Bilbao, a spokeswoman with the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, which is mobilizing U.S. resources in response to Australia's requests for international firefighting aide.
|
| Rumbling Alaska volcano sends ash plume 5 miles into the air Posted: 04 Jan 2020 07:49 AM PST  One of Alaska's most active volcanoes, a towering ice-covered cone in the Aleutian Islands, shot a cloud of ash more than 5 miles (8 km) high on Friday, triggering a warning to aviators and putting on a show that was captured in satellite imagery. The ash burst from Shishaldin Volcano, about 670 miles (1,080 km) southwest of Anchorage, was part of an on-and-off, mostly low-level series of eruptions that began in July with a stream of lava from the crater at the peak of the 9,373-foot-tall (2,869-meter) mountain. The ash plume was spotted by a pilot and was visible in satellite images captured from space.
|
| Will Qassem Soleimani’s Death Activate Sleeper Cells in America? Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:55 AM PST  For more than a decade, Hezbollah and therefore Iran have maintained "sleeper agents" in America who await only a coded signal to commit mass murder and wreak maximum chaos."There would be certain scenarios that would require action or conduct by those who belonged to the cell," one of three sleeper agents arrested by the FBI since 2017 is quoted saying in court papers. The sleeper agent, Ali Kourani, told the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force that he would have expected to be activated if Iran and the United States went to war. "The unit is Iranian controlled," Kourani said.Other precipitating events would include major U.S. military action against Hezbollah or its Iranian overseers."In those scenarios the sleeper cell would also be triggered into action," Kourani said.That would certainly seem to include an airstrike killing Iran's most prominent military figure, General Qassem Soleimani. In the aftermath of that startling action, a senior U.S. intelligence official said that if the Iranians remain rational they will refrain from mounting an attack on the American homeland for fear of sparking a war they cannot possibly win. He noted in the next breath that emotions are no doubt running high in Tehran."If you remove the rational thinking…" he said.The official figured that Kourani and a second sleeper agent named Samer El Debek had almost certainly been replaced after they were arrested on the same day in different cities in 2017. The third, Alexei Saab, who was arrested in July of 2019, had already been in place for years but was unaware of the other two."There could be sleeper cells all over the place," the official said.And they are presumably under orders, just as Kourani was in the Bronx, El Debek was in Dearborn, Michigan, and Saab was in Morristown, New Jersey. The three were instructed to be as innocuous as the spam email they would receive carrying a one-word coded command from Hezbollah and its ally or front, the Islamic Jihad Organization or IJO."These sleepers were tasked to maintain ostensibly normal lives," the FBI says in court papers. "But could be activated and tasked with conducting IJO operations."Kourani was sentenced last month to 40 years in prison for providing material support to a terrorist organization. "As a sophisticated, well-trained IJO operative positioned under deep cover in the United States, the defendant was part of an emerging threat posed by the IJO in the Americas region, about which little was known publicly before the FBI arrested the defendant and El Debek on the same day in 2017," prosecutors said in the sentencing memorandum, referring to Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization.Another section of the memorandum has taken on particular significance in the aftermath of the Soleimani hit: "The IJO's operations in the United States are a part of Iran's proxy network, and Iran has backed this threat by funding Hizballah in annual amounts ranging between $200 million and $800 million per year... Iran's support of Hizballah results in the 'more severe' risks attendant to 'state sponsored terrorism,' as described at the trial, which in this context leads to increased focus on targeting nodes of critical infrastructure in attacks intended to cripple cities."The memorandum notes that the targets Kourani surveilled included two federal facilities with child-care centers."He has expressed no remorse to date, and argues repeatedly that he 'harmed no one,'" prosecutors note. "It is safe to say that the parents of small children who spend their days at targets surveilled by the defendant on behalf of the IJO disagree."El Debek, who has pleaded guilty and appears to be cooperating, is said in court papers to have admitted conducting surveillance at numerous possible targets. That included one outside the U.S., the Panama Canal."El Debek said Hizballah asked him to identify areas of weakness and construction at the Canal, and provide information about Canal security and how close someone could get to a ship," the FBI says. "In doing so, he stated, he took a lot of photographs of the Canal, which he later provided to the IJO."But there were also numerous targets in New York, including a federal building that has a "large daycare facility" with "exterior . . . playgrounds." The FBI notes that at one point, "The defendant, updated his Facebook status with a post in Arabic, which translated reads: 'Do not make peace or share food with those who killed your people. Irrigate the land with blood and quench the thirst of your forefathers until their bones [their remains] talk with you.'"Saab pleaded not guilty after his arrest this summer, but is said in court papers to have told the FBI about his intelligence gathering efforts at numerous possible targets, these in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and other cities. "Saab focused on structural weaknesses of the locations he surveilled to determine how a future attack could cause the most destruction-i.e., he sought to learn how to maximize damage if the IJO later bombed a location," court papers say. "Among other information, SAAB focused on the materials used to construct a particular target, how close in proximity one could get to a target, and site weaknesses or 'soft spots' that the IJO could exploit if it attacked a location in the future."The papers add, "Saab understood that the information he provided to the IJO would be used to calculate the size of a bomb needed to target a particular structure and the ideal location in which to place explosive devices to maximize damage. For example, SAAB provided information on how to target bridges to best allow the IJO to 'disable' them and to prevent them from being used. To that end, SAAB looked for weak points in the bridge's structure and the photographs he took would focus on structural details such as the main joints, the towers, and the cables."The papers further report that in 2004, Saab was summoned to Lebanon and taken to a safe house to meet with a handler."There, [the handler] told Saab to prepare a detailed guide to New York City. Over the course of the following two days, Saab wrote an approximately seven to 10 page report (the "Report') on New York City. The first page of the Report was a hand-drawn map with specific locations annotated by number. The second page of the Report had a legend, which indicated how the numbers corresponded to locations. The rest of the Report had a detailed summary of each location."Among the locations in the Report were: "Federal, state, and local government buildings, including 26 Federal Plaza...United Nations headquarters...The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island...Rockefeller Center...Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange..Times Square...The Empire State Building..Herald Square and Macy's in Midtown...Local airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport...Local tunnels and bridges, including the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Brooklyn Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge, and Goethals Bridge."The papers further note, "Saab included in the Report such details as directions to the local airports, the number of terminals at the local airports, and which terminals were for international or domestic travel."The FBI adds that Saab's training in explosives ranged from a "viable victim-actuated device, designed to detonate when the briefcase was lifted off the surface by a potential victim" to "a viable improvised mortar device, meaning it is command initiated and able to detonate on a time delay." Some on-the-job assassination training in Lebanon began when an instructor told him to steal a particular Mercedes.The Hezbollah Sleeper Agent Busted for Black Ops in America"Saab was given a key that appeared to be a universal key capable of accessing multiple cars, and then proceeded to steal the Mercedes."The instructor drove off in the Mercedes and later returned to pick up Saab. The instructor told Saab to reach under the passenger seat. "Saab removed a plastic bag containing a silver firearm with an attached silencer. Saab and [the instructor] then drove approximately 10 minutes to a field outside of Beirut. A small white van was parked in the field...[The instructor] then instructed Saab to walk up to the passenger's side of the Van and shoot the person inside 'twice in the belly' and 'once in the head'...Saab pointed his firearm at the van's driver. The Driver cried out twice, in sum and substance, that it 'wasn't him' and raised his hands in front of his face. Saab then pulled the trigger twice, but the gun did not fire. [The instructor] waved Saab to get back into the Mercedes, and they fled the scene. Saab later came to believe that the Driver was a suspected Israeli spy."Saab was also trained in the best way to take photos of targets back in America without raising suspicion. "For photographs, Saab learned to position an unrelated subject as the focus point of the picture, with the true object of surveillance in the background," court papers say. "Saab would also often pose people in front of the intended objects of his surveillance, to provide perspective and shield his true purpose from law enforcement."Saab is scheduled to go on trial in Manhattan federal court in February 2021. El Debek is expected to be among the witnesses against him. El Debek will likely testify about his own Hezbollah assignments, which included flying to Bangkok under an extreme cover."The handler told El Debek to say he was looking for sex in Thailand," the court papers say. Debek did hire a sex worker, but he used her solely to go ahead of him into a house so he could see if it was under surveillance. He then retrieved a stash of ammonium nitrate, a prime ingredient for explosives that another operative had abandoned. The stuff was in first-aid ice packs produced by a company in Guangzhou, China, that Kourani had once been dispatched to visit. El Debek will also likely testify about his own explosives training, which included manufacturing a bomb similar to the device one of his cousins used to kill seven aboard an Israeli tour bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2012.That was one of several attacks the IJO staged in retaliation for the killing of its leader and founder, Imad Mughniyeh, in a February 2008 joint American and Israeli operation in Syria. An earlier attack on Mughniyeh had been called off by the Americans because he was with Soleimani.Now that we have gone ahead and also killed Soleimani, the question is whether IJO will activate the sleeper agents it almost certainly still has out there in the homeland."They didn't get out of the targeting business," the senior intelligence official told The Daily Beast. IJO already has that New York Guide Book, complete with an annotated hand drawn map identifying what Saab says it termed the "hot spots" to hit.Trump Told Mar-a-Lago Pals to Expect 'Big' Iran Action 'Soon'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.
|
| Trump's lawless thuggery is corrupting justice in America Posted: 04 Jan 2020 10:00 PM PST  Intimidating whistleblowers, politicizing law enforcement, protecting rogue military officers and criminal sheriffs – the pattern is depressingly clear As the Senate moves to an impeachment trial and America slouches into this election year, the rule of law is center stage.Yet Donald Trump is substituting lawless thuggery for impartial justice.The biggest immediate news is the president's killing of Qassem Suleimani. The act brings America to the brink of an illegal war with Iran without any congressional approval, in direct violation of Congress's war-making authority under the constitution.But other presidents have disregarded Congress's war-making power, too. What makes Trump unique is the overall pattern. Almost wherever you look, he has shown utter disdain for law. Consider Trump's outing of the person who blew the whistle on his phone call to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy – tweeting just after Christmas a link to a Washington Examiner article headlined with the presumed whistleblower's name, then retweeting a supporter who named the presumed whistleblower.Even before outing the whistleblower, Trump had whipped his followers into a lather by calling the whistleblower a "spy", guilty of "treason".The outing not only imperils the whistleblower's safety. It violates the purpose of the Whistleblower Act, which is to protect people who alert authorities that government officials are violating the law.It's on this deeper level that Trump's lawlessness is most corrosive. From now on, anyone aware of illegality on the part of a government official, including a president, will think twice before sounding the alarm.Trump's intrusion into the navy's prosecution of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher on war crimes has the same corrosive effect.Trump not only stopped the navy from possibly giving Gallagher a less-than-honorable discharge. Trump also upended the military code of justice, designed for the military to handle legal violations in its ranks, including war crimes.Gallagher's Navy Seal accusers were themselves whistleblowers who broke the Seal's code of silence in order to stop a rogue chief. Now they face recrimination from within the ranks. From now on, any soldier who witnesses a superior officer committing possible war crimes will be more reluctant to report them.Similarly, Trump's ongoing intrusions into the justice department (DoJ) and the FBI aren't just efforts to derail investigations of his wrongdoing. They're attacks on the system of impartial justice itself.Trump's attorney general, William Barr, is supposed to be responsible to the American people. Instead he's become Trump's advocate. Barr even advised the White House not to turn over the whistleblower complaint to Congress.After misleading the public on the contents of Robert Mueller's report, Barr bowed to Trump's demand that the department look into the origin of the FBI investigation that had led to the Mueller report.And now, after the DoJ's own inspector general has found that the FBI had plenty of evidence to start its Russia inquiry – more than 100 contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russian agents during the 2016 campaign – Barr refuses to be bound by the findings, and has appointed a prosecutor to launch yet another inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation.The deeper systemic corrosion: from now on, attorneys general won't be presumed to be administering impartial justice, and the findings of special counsels and inspectors general will have less finality and legitimacy.Barr is part of Trump's private goon squad, along with Rudy Giuliani, chief enabler Mick Mulvaney and Trump's resident white supremacist, Stephen Miller.Giuliani is using the authority of the presidency to mount a rogue foreign policy designed to keep Trump in power. It's double lawlessness: Giuliani is bending the law and he's accountable to no one.Miller, meanwhile, is waging Trump's ongoing war against people legally seeking asylum in the United States – featuring family separations, caged children and inhumane detention.Miller even got Trump to pardon Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff who was ordered by a federal judge to stop detaining people solely on suspicion of their immigration status. Arpaio disregarded the order, which is why he was convicted of criminal contempt of court.From now on, rogue sheriffs will be less constrained.You see the pattern: whistleblowers intimidated, the justice department politicized, findings of special counsels and inspectors general distorted or ignored, foreign policy made by a private citizen unaccountable to anybody, rogue military officers and rogue sheriffs pardoned.Each instance is disturbing on its own. Viewed as a whole, Trump's lawlessness is systematically corrupting justice in the US.Impartial justice is the keystone of a democracy. Even if the Senate fails to remove Trump for impeachable offenses, American voters must do so next November.
|
| Fresno mass shooting: police arrest six suspects in deadly November attack Posted: 03 Jan 2020 10:03 AM PST  Authorities say that gang members targeted an event where they believed rival gang members were gatheredPolice in Fresno, California, have arrested seven suspects in a mass shooting that left four dead in November, alleging gunmen targeted a backyard where they believed rival gang members were gathered.Police in the central valley city said this week that seven gang members were responsible for the 17 November shooting at a watch party for a Sunday afternoon football game. The suspects opened fire at a party in retaliation for a recent gang-related killing, authorities said, but the victims were not gang members and not part of the group that the suspects meant to target.All four men killed were of Hmong descent, part of the vibrant community of families who came to California as refugees after fleeing war and violence in south-east Asia. The tragedy devastated Hmong people across the globe, and families of the victims were initially outraged at law enforcement's suggestions that their loved ones may have had ties to gangs.Police alleged Tuesday that Mongolian Boy Society gang members were behind the killing, and that two gunmen with semiautomatic weapons attacked the home because they thought it was a party of a rival Asian Crips gang. But the investigation revealed only one person watching the football game had a connection with Asian Crips,and was "not an active gang member", said Andy Hall, Fresno's police chief. The department has said there was no evidence suggesting the four fatal victims were gang members.A police spokesman said there were some people who left the party who have not been identified.The victims were Xy Lee, 23, a well-known Hmong singer; Kou Xiong, 38, a chef at a local restaurant; Phia Vang, 31, a musician who worked at a local lab; and Kalaxang Thao, 40, who worked at an Asian grocery store. Six other people were injured.On 17 December, police arrested Billy Xiong, a 25-year-old Fresno resident, on suspicion of mail theft and located one of the guns used to kill the four men, authorities said. The mass shooting was allegedly retaliation for the killing of his brother, Randy Xiong, 16 hours earlier. Police also eventually arrested Anthony Montes, 27; Jhovanny Delgado, 19; Pao Vang, 19; Porge Kue, 26; Johnny Xiong, 25; and Ger Lee, 27.Hall alleged the men were "self admitted" Mongolian Boy Society members and that they all planned the shooting, but police have not said who shot the men in the backyard. Lee, Montes, Kue and Billy Xiong were charged Thursday in state court with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and a gang charge. The other three men were charged in federal court with conspiracy to commit murder in the aid of racketeering.Lawyers for the suspects could not immediately be reached."It is bittersweet," said Bobby Bliatout, a local Hmong community leader. "We are happy that they were caught … so we can have some closure and move on."He said the initial suggestion by police that the killings were gang-related had overshadowed the horror of the losses: "It's a terrible tragedy … in minority communities, we are targeted right away with the word 'gang' or 'criminals'."Nou Xiong, a reporter for the local Hmong TV Network, who is also one of the victim's cousins, said many in the Fresno Hmong community were surprised to learn police had made arrests: "They thought it was going to be another cold case or just disregarded as another 'gang shooting'. That's what they do with minority communities."Vong Mouanoutoua, a local councilman, said it was clear "innocent lives were taken", adding that people shouldn't dwell on the gang label."A gang member's life is not less important than a non-gang member's life. It's always a loss," he said, noting that the men arrested were all very young. "Their lives are changed forever."Kou Lee, the 31-year-old brother of Xy Lee, the famous singer killed in the attack, told the Guardian after the shooting that he was "distraught" about the word gang being tied to his brother, who was well known and celebrated in Fresno: "Everybody fell in love with him when he sings."Xy Lee's community was other artists and musicians, said Mitch Herr, another Hmong community leader, who had lunch with the singer a week before he was killed: "Anyone that came to know him loved him, because he was always there for the community, always there for his friends … The future was so bright for him."
|
| These Horrors Awaited The U.S. Army At Nordhausen Concentration Camp Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST  On March 30, 1945, the U.S. 3rd Armored Division made a startling discovery at the Nordhausen Concentration Camp the same day its commander was killed near Paderborn, Germany.
|
| The Fed says interest rates are likely to remain at historically low levels — for now Posted: 03 Jan 2020 12:21 PM PST  Federal Reserve officials saw fewer risks to the economy at the end of 2019 and predicted there would be no need to adjust interest rates this year.
|
| Funerals held for reporter, pilot from Louisiana plane crash Posted: 04 Jan 2020 04:54 PM PST ![Funerals held for reporter, pilot from Louisiana plane crash]( "Funerals held for reporter, pilot from Louisiana plane crash") Funeral services were held Saturday for a Louisiana sports reporter and a pilot who died last week in a plane crash in Lafayette. Five people were killed in the crash as they headed to the Peach Bowl to see Louisiana State University play Oklahoma in Atlanta. Carley McCord, 30, was a local reporter and the daughter-in-law of the LSU offensive coordinator, Steve Ensminger.
|
| Swiss oppose drive to end free movement of EU citizens: poll Posted: 05 Jan 2020 03:16 AM PST ![Swiss oppose drive to end free movement of EU citizens: poll]( "Swiss oppose drive to end free movement of EU citizens: poll") Most Swiss oppose a referendum campaign launched by the far right to end the free movement of citizens from the European Union, a poll published on Sunday found. The referendum drive reflects unease with the influx of foreigners, who now account for a quarter of the Swiss population. A binding referendum is expected in May on whether Switzerland should take back unilateral control of immigration, if necessary at the cost of abrogating the free-movement pact that took full effect in 2007.
|
| Diver killed in Australia shark attack Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:53 PM PST  A man has been mauled to death by a suspected great white shark at a popular diving spot off Australia's southwestern coast, officials said Sunday. The man was attacked at Cull Island near the town of Esperance in Western Australia state, the state's primary industries department said in a statement. "A man received fatal injuries after being bitten by a reported white shark," the department said.
|
| Netanyahu calls Israel 'nuclear power' in apparent stumble Posted: 05 Jan 2020 07:24 AM PST  In an apparent verbal stumble on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel as a "nuclear power" before correcting himself.
|
| Trump says U.S. killed Soleimani 'to stop a war' Posted: 03 Jan 2020 12:58 PM PST  President Trump said Friday that he ordered the targeted killing of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq in order "to stop a war."
|
| Carlos Ghosn: Escape to Lebanon was 'unjustifiable' and 'illegal' says Japan Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:20 PM PST  Carlos Ghosn's escape from Japan is "unjustifiable" and he is thought to have left the country using "illegal methods", the Japanese justice minister said on Sunday, in the first official public comments on the case. Mr Ghosn, the former boss of Nissan and Renault, made a daring escape from Japan where he was on bail awaiting trial for corruption charges. He arrived in Lebanon via a private jet on New Year's Eve after allegedly organising a concert at his house in Tokyo to dodge detectives before being smuggled out inside a musical instrument case. "It is clear that we do not have records of the defendant Ghosn departing Japan, Masako Mori, Japan's justice minister, said. "It is believed that he used some wrongful methods to illegally leave the country. "It is extremely regrettable that we have come to this situation. The flight by a defendant on bail is unjustifiable." Read more | Ghosn away Ms Mori confirmed that Japan is undertaking an investigation into how Mr Ghosn was able to leave the country and that her ministry has ordered the tightening of immigration procedures following his escape. "Our country's criminal justice system sets out appropriate procedures to clarify the truth of cases and is administered appropriately, while guaranteeing basic individual human rights," she said. Interpol issued a "red notice" for Mr Ghosn, which urges police forces around the world to arrest him. Lebanese officials will interview Mr Ghosn this week but Lebanon does not have an extradition treaty with Japan. Carlos Ghosn: The car tycoon turned fugitive after dramatic escape to Lebanon Mr Ghosn's escape has been a huge embarrassment for the Japanese justice system. The government is struggling to work out how he was able to flee despite being under heavily guarded house arrest. Mr Ghosn was accused of hiding millions of pounds of payments from Nissan. He says the charges, which carry a potential prison term of up to 15 years, are a politically motivated stitch-up by opponents of his planned merger of Nissan and Renault. Mr Ghosn, who denies the charges, insists that he has not "fled justice" but has "escaped injustice and political persecution".
|
| Israel's Iron Dome Has Protected The Country From Hundreds Of Rocket Attacks Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:07 AM PST  And is still going strong.
|
| I spent New Year's trapped by Australian bushfires that looked like a scene from a warzone Posted: 04 Jan 2020 01:55 AM PST  Australia is currently experiencing its worst bushfire season in history and I was trapped in it over New Year's Eve.
|
| Al-Shabab attacks military base used by US forces in Kenya Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:08 PM PST |
| Peru prosecutors seek 12-year term for Kenji Fujimori Posted: 04 Jan 2020 04:38 PM PST  Peruvian prosecutors are seeking a 12-year prison term for former lawmaker Kenji Fujimori on charges of attempting to buy votes in a plot to keep ex-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski from being impeached. Prosecutor Bersabeth Revilla accused the son of jailed ex-president Alberto Fujimori of bribery and influence-peddling. Also charged are former lawmakers Guillermo Bocangel and Bienvenido Ramirez.
|
| Are we ready for an America without civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis? Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  Can we use the civil rights icon as a reminder to learn from and preserve the legacies of older Americans? Will they trust us enough to allow it?
|
| U.S. To Deploy Thousands of Troops to Middle East Following Soleimani Strike Posted: 03 Jan 2020 10:06 AM PST  The U.S. is preparing to deploy some 3,000 troops to the Middle East in preparation for Iran's response to the Thursday airstrike that killed Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani, according to multiple reports.The remainder of the 82nd Airborne Division's Immediate Response Force, a brigade that remains on standby for quick deployment, will join 500 fellow brigade troops who were sent to Kuwait over the weekend following an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad by Iranian-backed militias.President Trump said after the attack that he was satisfied with how the situation was resolved, and promised the incident "will not be a Benghazi," referring to the deadly 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya."I think it's been handled very well," Trump told reporters. "We have some of our greatest warriors there. They got in there very quickly."After Secretary of Defense Mark Esper released a statement warning Iran that "attacks against us will be met with responses in the time, manner, and place of our choosing," the U.S. then retaliated Thursday by killing Soleimani in an airstrike at the Baghdad airport.In a statement, the Pentagon explained that Soleimani was heavily involved in the attacks on the U.S. embassy, and was currently "developing plans to attack American diplomats and service members in Iraq and throughout the region."Expressing outrage at Soleimani's death, Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei took to Twitter to call for revenge against "the criminals who have stained their hands with his & the other martyrs' blood last night.""The loss of our dear General is bitter. The continuing fight & ultimate victory will be more bitter for the murderers & criminals," Khamenei wrote.
|
| Plane carrying 107 passengers slid off taxiway at Wisconsin's Austin Straubel airport Posted: 05 Jan 2020 07:41 AM PST  No one was injured after a Delta plane carrying 107 passengers slid of the taxiway Saturday morning at Austin Straubel International Airport in Wisconsin.
|
| Slain Hubby Claimed Doomsday Mom Threatened to Kill Him Posted: 04 Jan 2020 03:48 PM PST  Lori Vallow, the mother of two Idaho children who have vanished, allegedly threatened to kill her estranged husband five months before he was murdered, according to divorce documents.Charles Vallow said in the papers that Lori was obsessed with doomsday and near-death scenarios and told him in January that she was a "translated being who cannot taste death sent by god to lead the 144,000 into the Millennium."By July, Charles Vallow was dead—allegedly shot by Lori's brother, Alex Cox, who himself died of unknown causes on Dec. 12. A few months later, Lori married Chad Daybell, a doomsday writer whose own wife had died weeks earlier.The newlyweds left Idaho, police said, after investigators began inquiring about the whereabouts of Lori's minor children, 17-year-old Tylee Ryan and adopted 7-year-old Joshua "J.J." Vallow.Doomsday Writer's Friend Says He Prophesied Wife's Mysterious DeathThe children have not been seen since October and Rexburg, Idaho, police said last week they are believed to be in serious danger. Daybell and Vallow are not cooperating with police and the FBI.According to local news outlets that obtained the divorce papers, Charles Vallow filed a divorce petition last February seeking sole custody of J.J. and painting a disturbing portrait of Lori, referred to as "mother" in the documents."Mother believes that she is receiving spiritual revelations and visions to help her gather and prepare those chosen to live in the New Jerusalem after the Great War as prophesied in the Book of Revelations," the petition read.Lori allegedly told Charles that if he got in the way "of her mission she would murder him" and that she "had an angel there to help her dispose of the body."Charles' sister, Kay Woodcock, says she talked to her brother throughout this time and described him as "fearful.""He was sleeping with one eye open," Woodcock told NBC affiliate 12 News. "People I've spoken with said she would just be doing something and say, 'Well, Charles just has to go.'"Idaho Cops Blast Doomsday Parents of Missing KidsCharles obtained an order of protection and unsuccessfully tried to get authorities to put a 72-hour mental health hold on Lori—who had allegedly cleaned $35,000 out of their bank account.Charles' older son helped him move from Chandler, Arizona, to Texas. In July, he went back to Arizona to pick up J.J. and things turned ugly. Cox allegedly shot him dead in what police deemed a case of self-defense.The older son told Fox 10 that his dad would never have gotten violent."I knew my dad was the most passive person. He hated arguing with people. He'd never been in a fight, he was not an aggressive person in any way. I don't believe it at all," he told the TV station.The deaths of both Cox and Charles Vallow are under investigation—along with the death of Chad Daybell's first wife, Tammy.After she was found dead at their Idaho home in July, he declined an autopsy and the cause of death was listed as natural. Then he married Lori, whom he apparently met through a doomsday site called Preparing a People.Cops in Missing Siblings Case Search Doomsday Writer's HomeAfter J.J. and Tylee were reported missing by extended family, authorities exhumed Tammy's body. The results of the autopsy have not yet been made public, but police said Friday that they had developed probable cause to search the Daybell home for evidence related to her death and the disappearance of the kids."I'm terrified for JJ. I'm terrified for Tylee," Charles' older son told Fox 10. "I'm terrified for everyone surrounding them and their safety. I'm terrified for my family's safety."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.
|
| Indian government seeks to woo Bollywood stars as citizenship law protests rage on Posted: 05 Jan 2020 07:39 AM PST  The Indian government invited numerous Bollywood stars and film industry personalities to a private gathering on Sunday in an effort to garner support for a new citizenship law that has triggered weeks of sometimes violent protests nationwide. At least 25 people have been killed so far in clashes with the police during five weeks of protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), which eases the path for non-Muslims in the neighbouring Muslim-majority nations of Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh to gain Indian citizenship. If combined with a proposed national register of citizens, critics of the CAA fear it will discriminate against India's Muslim minority and chip away at its secular constitution.
|
| Airstrike death toll in Libya’s besieged capital rises to 30 Posted: 04 Jan 2020 11:30 PM PST  The death toll from an airstrike that slammed into a military facility in Libya's capital climbed to at least 30 people, most of them military trainees, health authorities said Sunday, as fighting over control of Tripoli between rival armed groups escalated. Eastern Libyan forces led by Gen. Khalifa Hifter launched an offensive in April to take the capital from the weak but U.N.-supported government. Libya is governed by rival authorities in the east and in Tripoli in the west, with each relying on different militias.
|
| U.S. says it's ready for fight with North Korea if necessary Posted: 03 Jan 2020 11:03 AM PST  Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed that America remains ready for conflict with North Korea.
|
| Uganda's Museveni begins jungle march to highlight liberation struggle Posted: 04 Jan 2020 10:45 AM PST  Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Saturday began a six-day march through the jungle to re-trace the route through which his guerrilla forces seized power three decades ago, which critics dismissed as a bid to rally support ahead of 2021 elections. Museveni is one of Africa's longest-ruling leaders, having seized power in 1986 after taking part in rebellions to end the brutal rule of Idi Amin and Milton Obote, and is expected to seek a sixth term in office in the next elections.
|
| Ross Perot's Forgotten Mission During the Vietnam War Posted: 05 Jan 2020 05:45 AM PST  50 years ago Ross Perot set out on a mission to Vietnam at the height of the war. What this episode reveals about him and American then.
|
| An Iranian military commander says there are '35 vital American positions in the region' which they can strike in response to top general's assassination Posted: 04 Jan 2020 01:33 PM PST  The potential targets include US ships stationed near Iran, as well as cities in Israel, one of America's closest allies.
|
| Federal judge allows Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas to provide evidence for impeachment inquiry Posted: 03 Jan 2020 12:40 PM PST  A federal judge Friday allowed Lev Parnas, an indicted associate of Rudy Giuliani, to provide evidence subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee.
|
| British death row inmate could be freed after 33 years as lawyers reveal new evidence ‘that proves his innocence’ Posted: 04 Jan 2020 05:03 AM PST  A British man, who has spent 33 years imprisoned in the US – 10 of them on death row – could be freed after judges agreed to hear an appeal which lawyers claim will prove his innocence.Krishna Maharaj was jailed in 1987 for the double murder of father and son businessmen Derrick and Duane Moo Young.
|
| The Navy Wants Torpedo Boats To Help Deter Iran Posted: 04 Jan 2020 10:30 PM PST  Washington may need more of such warships to patrol contested waters.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment