| Democrat 'no's' say party didn't make impeachment case against Trump Posted: 18 Dec 2019 06:41 PM PST  Wednesday's impeachment vote against President Donald Trump posed a political test for 31 House Democrats who represent districts that backed Trump in the 2016 presidential election, as Republicans warned that those lawmakers could face a backlash if they supported the effort to remove the president from office. In the end, only three of the 31 voted against one or both of the articles of impeachment that accuse Trump of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Representative Tulsi Gabbard, who represents a safely Democratic district in Hawaii, voted "present" on both charges.
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| A 17-year-old girl was arrested after allegedly stealing a $2 million plane and driving it into an airport building in California Posted: 19 Dec 2019 02:53 AM PST  Officials at Fresno Yosemite International Airport said they are unsure how the suspect could have got inside the plane.
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| Samantha Bee Breaks Down Why Impeaching Trump Is Far From ‘Pointless’ Posted: 18 Dec 2019 08:12 PM PST  After a cold open parody of A Christmas Carol that found Samantha Bee as Ebenezer Scrooge waking up from her Trump nightmare to celebrate Impeachment Day, the Full Frontal host wished her viewers a very "Merry Impeach-mas." "Look, we should all take a moment to feel excited that Trump is finally facing a consequence," Bee said before cutting off her audience's cheers with, "OK, moment's over, time for people to ruin it." With that she cut to a series of clips of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) throwing cold water on any excitement by vowing to let Trump off the hook during his Senate trial."The really galling thing about the GOP firewall around Trump is that he's still openly doing the same crimes they're protecting him for," the host said, pointing to "nightmare before Christmas" Rudy Giuliani, who was back in Ukraine just last week continuing to search for dirt on Joe Biden and his son Hunter. "Rudy is still doing the stuff that got the president impeached today and he doesn't seem worried at all that there are going to be any consequences," Bee said, playing a clip of Giuliani telling Fox he's not "afraid" of being indicted himself. "Excuse me, but the only time Rudy Giuliani feels fear is when he gets too close to a very crisp apple," Bee joked. "One bite and those teeth fly out of his face." Looking ahead, Bee predicted that come January "this whole process is going to get even uglier," with Graham showing off his "best Kavanaugh-confirming sneer" and McConnell trying to "rush the impeachment trial through in 15 minutes." "This whole process is already excruciating and it's going to get worse," Bee said. "It might even feel like impeaching Trump was pointless. But it's not. In a world where old rich white dudes seem to increasingly operate with impunity, today Trump faces the tiniest bit of 'punity' and that is magic." The opening segment ended with David Alan Grier's Santa Claus bringing Bee the one gift she's always wanted: the approved articles of impeachment against Donald Trump.For more, listen to Samantha Bee on The Last Laugh podcast below: 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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| Former Sri Lankan minister arrested over 2016 road accident Posted: 18 Dec 2019 07:44 AM PST  Sri Lankan police arrested a former cabinet minister on Wednesday over a 2016 traffic accident in which a young man riding a motorcycle was seriously injured, state media reported. The former minister has called the government's decision to reopen a criminal case that had been closed politically motivated. A court ordered Patali Champika Ranawaka detained pending an investigation.
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| Mahathir Blames Muslim Countries for Rising Islamophobia Posted: 18 Dec 2019 09:09 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has called the leaders of Muslim countries to task over negative views of Islam, asking them to come up with a concerted plan to address Islamophobia.Speaking to state leaders including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Mahathir said "disreputable acts of terror" had caused fear of the religion to the point of creating phobia."Yes, we are angry and frustrated," he said at the KL Summit in the capital Kuala Lumpur Thursday. "We cannot wage a conventional war. No country would help us. But even so, what do we gain by such indiscriminate violent acts? Nothing."Refugees' PlightMahathir bemoaned the plight of those who had to flee their homes to seek refuge elsewhere, while many Muslim countries remain "beholden" to powerful non-Muslim nations. The comments come amid silence from the Islamic world on China's widespread detention of mostly Uighur Muslims and India's controversial citizenship law that discriminates against Muslims.The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, another gathering of Muslim countries, had commended China for "providing care" to its Muslim citizens. Saudi Arabia's King Salman Abdulaziz Al Saud and Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan won't attend the KL Summit over concern the meeting would rival the OIC.Mahathir has downplayed that worry, saying Malaysia is too small to pose a challenge and that he only seeks to "spark a sense of purpose.""If our efforts yield fruits, we would like to take them up with other Muslim nations that share our concerns and desire to do something to improve the plight of our brethren," Mahathir said in the speech.To contact the reporter on this story: Yudith Ho in Kuala Lumpur at yho35@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Russian security officer dies in shootout at Federal Security Service in Moscow Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:50 PM PST  The gunfight erupted around 7 p.m. in the reception room of the FSB, about eight blocks from the Kremlin in Moscow.
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| Pakistan ex-leader Musharraf slams 'vendetta' after death sentence Posted: 19 Dec 2019 06:41 AM PST  Exiled former Pakistan military leader Pervez Musharraf has dismissed the unprecedented treason conviction and death sentence handed to him earlier this week as the result of a "personal vendetta". Musharraf's criticism of the verdict came as the release of the court's detailed verdict sparked controversy, with one judge calling for the former general's "corpse" to be publicly hanged if he died before being apprehended. The decision, announced on Tuesday by a special court, marked the first time a former leader of the armed forces has been convicted of treason and sentenced to death in Pakistan, where the military wields enormous power and has ruled the country for roughly half its history.
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| Every McDonald's in Peru closes over deaths of two employees Posted: 18 Dec 2019 08:06 PM PST  The teenage workers were electrocuted during the job, police said, according to BBC News.
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| A Chief Justice to Senators: In an Impeachment Trial, You Are Not Part of the Jury Posted: 18 Dec 2019 12:09 AM PST  The Constitution's only procedural limitation is the requirement in Article I that the senators be placed under "oath or affirmation."
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| 2 North Koreans Tried to Defect. Did Seoul Send Them to Their Deaths? Posted: 18 Dec 2019 12:14 PM PST  SEOUL, South Korea -- In early November, two North Korean fishermen captured in South Korean waters were escorted to the inter-Korean border, blindfolded and their bodies tied with ropes. There, they were handed over to North Korean authorities.South Korea often reveals the seizure of North Korean fishermen in its waters once it happens. This time, the episode was kept secret -- until an army officer on the border sent a text message reporting the handover to a senior presidential aide and a photographer captured the message on the aide's smartphone.Revelation after shocking revelation has since followed, leaving human rights advocates and groups that include South Korea's bar association agape with outrage.As legislators looked into the matter, officials admitted that the two fishermen, ages 22 and 23, submitted hand-written statements in which they said they hoped to defect to South Korea. But after a few days of interrogation, South Korea concluded that they were not refugees needing protection but "heinous criminals" who butchered the captain and 15 other crewmen on their boat.The two were denied access to lawyers, a court hearing or a chance to appeal the government's decision to repatriate them. Until their blindfolds were taken off at the border, they did not know where they were being taken. When they finally realized it, one of them collapsed, according to lawmakers briefed by officials.For the two men, their return to North Korea could mean their likely execution.Tens of thousands of North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Until now, the South had accepted all defectors, regardless of their criminal records, because North Koreans technically qualified as South Korean citizens under the South's Constitution.For years, the United Nations has lamented widespread lack of due process in North Korea, reporting torture, starvation, murder and other crimes against humanity perpetrated against criminal suspects, especially those forcibly repatriated from abroad. "Forcibly repatriating them was an act against humanity that violated international law," Won Yoo-chul, an opposition lawmaker, told a highly emotional parliamentary hearing last month. "Their repatriation constitutes a murder through willful negligence because South Korea sent them to the North, fully aware that they would be executed there."The case of the two fishermen was also unusual because it marked the first in which South Korea rejected North Korean defectors because of their alleged crimes in the North or because their intent to defect was considered disingenuous.In a joint statement this week, Human Rights Watch and 66 other rights groups accused South Korea of failing in its obligation under international treaties to "protect anyone who would be at substantial risk of torture or other serious human rights violations after repatriation."Few personal details have been revealed about the two North Koreans, except that one was the boatswain and the other a deck hand. But their fateful journey began Aug. 15, when their 17-ton wooden boat with 19 men on board cast off from Kimchaek on the east coast of North Korea, South Korean officials said.The two, together with the ship's chief engineer, mutinied against the captain's abuse on a late October night, killing him with hammers and axes. They then went on a killing spree to hide their crime. They awakened their colleagues two at a time, lured them outside and butchered them, throwing their bodies overboard.They steered their ship back to Kimchaek, hoping to sell the squid and flee inland. When the engineer was arrested by Kimchaek police, the other two fled back to the sea.By the time their boat approached the inter-Korean sea border on Oct. 31, South Korean authorities said they had picked up intelligence that North Korea was looking for them. South Korean patrol boats fired warning shots and broadcast warnings, a standard procedure when a North Korean fishing boat crosses the border without signaling that those on the boat are defecting.The boat repeatedly crossed back and forth across the maritime border for two days, until South Korean navy commandos finally seized it on Nov. 2. Both men quickly confessed to mass murder, providing identical details of the crime during separate interrogations, South Korean officials said. They then said they wanted to defect to the South."We decided to expel them because they were atrocious criminals who could threaten the lives and safety of our people if accepted into our society," said the South Korean unification minister, Kim Yeon-chul, who added that the two "lacked sincerity when they said they wanted to defect."Few matters are that simple on the divided Korean Peninsula, however.Although the South's Constitution claims North Korea as part of its territory, both sides in reality have also recognized each other's territorial sovereignty. They joined the United Nations at the same time, and have held summit meetings and signed agreements to bolster economic and other forms of cooperation. In the past decade, South Korea has returned 185 North Korean fishermen adrift in its waters who wanted to return home. In the same period, North Korea sent home 16 South Koreans who entered the North illegally.In previously holding to its policy of never returning any North Koreans who said they wanted to defect, the South had welcomed people with tainted pasts. At least 270 North Korean defectors living in the South were found to have committed crimes serious enough to disqualify them from government subsidies, including nine who had committed murder or other serious offenses, according to government data."I am just flabbergasted," wrote Joo Sung-ha, a defector-turned-journalist in Seoul, referring to the South's refusal to believe the two North Koreans' stated intention to defect. "If they defected to the South, they had a chance to live, and if they returned to the North, it was 100% certain that they would die. Under such circumstances, wasn't it natural for them to want to defect?"Rights advocates were especially disappointed because the office of President Moon Jae-in coordinated the repatriation. Before winning the presidency, Moon had been a famed human rights lawyer who once defended six Korean-Chinese men who murdered 11 crewmen, including seven South Koreans, on a tuna fishing boat in 1996."President Moon Jae-in and his government are ignoring North Korea's grave human rights abuses in a misguided effort to mollify Kim Jong Un and improve relations with Pyongyang," said Phil Robertson, the Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch.Instead of hurrying to repatriate the two North Koreans, South Korea should have thoroughly investigated the case, including "whether 'the brutal criminals' were in reality not the abusers but victims of the harsh circumstance of North Korea," Ra Jong-yil, the former deputy director of the South's National Intelligence Service, wrote in the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.But under its legal system, South Korea could not have prosecuted the two men because the criminal evidence was in the North, officials and other lawmakers said. They feared that letting the two North Korean fishermen stay free in the South would have been a betrayal of the victims of their alleged crime, and might help turn South Korea into a safe haven for criminals on the run from the North."This is one of the best things the Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service have done recently," said Lee Seok-hyun, a governing party lawmaker, referring to the agencies involved in the repatriation.Conspicuously absent from the debate, however, are the voices of the two North Koreans who were sent back to their homeland. Since they were returned, North Korea has not spoken a word about their fate.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| 'Spouting Russian propaganda': Nadler calls out Gohmert Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:20 PM PST  Chairman Nadler accused Rep. Louie Gohmert of "spouting Russian propaganda on the floor of the House" ahead of the impeachment vote on Wednesday.
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| Suit: Police barged into Kansas home, beat man for no reason Posted: 19 Dec 2019 06:24 AM PST ![Suit: Police barged into Kansas home, beat man for no reason]( "Suit: Police barged into Kansas home, beat man for no reason") A federal lawsuit alleges that Kansas City, Kansas, police broke into a man's home in the middle of the night and beat him before having him charged with battery of a law enforcement officer. Joseph Harter, 43, claims in the lawsuit filed last week in federal court that he was temporarily blinded by blood in his eyes and went to a hospital after the October 2018 beating, The Kansas City Star reported. The police department and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County declined to comment Wednesday on the pending litigation, which alleges that Harter was the victim of illegal entry, battery, false imprisonment and excessive force.
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| Mexico Is About to Find Out If Minimum Wage Raises Kill Jobs Posted: 18 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Economists debating the impact of a minimum wage on inequality, inflation and the jobless rate are about to get a ton of new evidence from Mexico.The country is boosting its minimum wage 20% next year, an increase seven times faster than inflation, on top of a 16% jump this year.The leftist government of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador is using the wage as a tool to fight poverty and inequality. This is a stark break from Mexico's recent policies, when increases to the minimum salary barely topped inflation to help exporters to the U.S. keep costs down.Before Lopez Obrador took office, Mexico's minimum wage was the second-lowest among more than 30 countries in a study by the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development as a proportion of what an average worker made. Only the U.S. was lower.Economists are split on whether increases in the minimum wage hurt job creation.Harvard University's Gregory Mankiw, who used to chair the U.S. Council of Economic Advisers, has argued that it reduces job opportunities for unskilled workers. Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman says there's no evidence that raising the minimum wage costs jobs.Mass ProtestsThe wage increase comes as policy makers are debating how to reduce social disparities amid mass protests in several Latin American countries.Read More: Mexico Boosts Minimum Wage by Seven Times Rate of InflationSo how is Mexico's experiment going?Despite the warnings of Mexico's central bank, the 16% increase to the minimum salary this year hasn't stoked inflation -- at least not yet.The inflation rate has fallen to about 3% from 4.8% a year ago. Core inflation, which aims to track underlying price trends by excluding the most volatile goods such as food and energy, hardly budged during 2019.Some economists also point to strong consumer demand as a benefit of workers' higher spending power.Banxico board member Gerardo Esquivel, an appointee of Lopez Obrador and a dovish member of the famously hawkish central bank, celebrated the additional wage increase which takes effect Jan. 1, saying it was "fair and necessary."Inflation, JobsSome other economists have warned that the cumulative impact of two double-digit increases will affect prices far more in 2020 and will force the central bank to slow its series of interest rate cuts."We're starting to see some effect of high minimum wage increases on inflation in the form of higher core inflation, and that will make the central bank more prudent," said Ernesto Revilla, head of Latin America economics at Citigroup Inc. in New York. "It will make Banxico go slowly in the easing cycle."In addition, Mexico created 30% fewer formal jobs through November compared to last year. The central bank had said in an August note that the wage hike at the start of the year contributed to that job creation slowdown.Banxico, which is forecast to cut its key interest rate by a quarter point on Thursday, didn't reply to a comment request on the impact of this week's increase on jobs and prices.Mexican salaries are rising across the board which, along with higher remittances, will allow consumer spending to grow faster than the rest of the economy next year, according to Bank of America's Carlos Capistran.Still, even after the increase, the minimum wage will still be at just $6.50 per day.The adjustment is "very good for the country, very good for businesses and especially good for workers," Gustavo de Hoyos, who heads Coparmex, one of Mexico's largest business chambers, said in a video posted on his Twitter account. This is the "biggest increase in real terms since 1988."What Our Economist Says"The salary hike may have helped moderate the deceleration in consumption this year, but the positive effect has been eroded in part by the negative effect on employment and the risks for inflation."\--Felipe Hernandez, Latin America economist for Bloomberg EconomicsAmplified ImpactMexico's minimum wage is soaring so rapidly that it now will cover a much larger number of workers, amplifying its impact.This year's minimum wage hike only boosted about 1% of salaries in the formal economy. Next year, that figure may reach 10%, as more workers are earning less than the new income floor of 123.22 pesos per day, according to Jose Luis de la Cruz, director of the Industrial Development and Economic Growth Institute in Mexico City"The positive impacts, as well as the challenges for inflation and for companies, will be greater," he said.\--With assistance from Jeannette Neumann.To contact the reporters on this story: Juan Pablo Spinetto in Mexico City at jspinetto@bloomberg.net;Nacha Cattan in Mexico City at ncattan@bloomberg.net;Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Kennedy at skennedy4@bloomberg.net, Matthew BristowFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Family, church seek to bring 2-year-old girl back to life through prayer, song and praise Posted: 18 Dec 2019 01:19 PM PST  For the past week members of Bethel Church in Redding, California, have been using prayer, music and singing to bring back to life a child who died.
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| Russia Rejects Jailed Israeli’s Appeal As Netanyahu Faces Vote Posted: 19 Dec 2019 08:28 AM PST ![Russia Rejects Jailed Israeli's Appeal As Netanyahu Faces Vote]( "Russia Rejects Jailed Israeli's Appeal As Netanyahu Faces Vote") (Bloomberg) -- A Russian court rejected an appeal by an Israeli woman imprisoned in Russia on drug-smuggling charges after President Vladimir Putin snubbed repeated pleas to free her from Israel's embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who's facing his third election in a year.The Moscow Regional Court on Thursday upheld the conviction of Naama Issachar, 26, who received a 7 1/2-year sentence in October for transporting a small quantity of hashish on a transit flight via Moscow. While Issachar can appeal her conviction through higher courts, she will now be transferred to a penal colony to begin her sentence, the Interfax news service reported.Her mother last month personally appealed to Putin to pardon Issachar in a letter handed to him by Theophilos III, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Putin until now hasn't intervened to avoid bolstering Netanyahu at a time of electoral uncertainty in Israel, according to two people with knowledge of internal Kremlin discussions. The Russian president will personally decide Naama's fate once a new government is in place in Israel, they said.The plight of the U.S.-born Israeli army veteran has become a cause célèbre in Israel, where Netanyahu is facing the greatest threat of his 13-year rule as he battles bribery and fraud charges that could see him ejected from office and jailed. Elections will be held on March 2 after Netanyahu and his centrist rival Benny Gantz failed to form an administration.The issue has caused tensions between Israel and Russia, which were further fueled by an incident on Wednesday in which about 40 passengers traveling from the Jewish State were detained on arrival in Moscow "for no apparent reason," according to the Israeli embassy. Russia's embassy in Israel responded by complaining that 5,771 Russian tourists have been refused entry to Israel in the first 11 months of the year.Putin is scheduled to be Israel's guest of honor at a ceremony in Jerusalem on Jan. 27 marking the 75th anniversary of the Red Army's liberation of the Auschwitz Nazi death camp. Issachar's case for a time became entangled with that of a Russian national, Alexei Burkov, whom Israel extradited to the U.S. last month on charges including hacking and credit card fraud. Russia had offered to swap the two, according to Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident and Israeli politician.\--With assistance from Ilya Arkhipov.To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net;Gwen Ackerman in Jerusalem at gackerman@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Erdogan says 50,000 Syrians fleeing Idlib to Turkey Posted: 19 Dec 2019 01:25 AM PST  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that 50,000 people were fleeing Syria's northwestern region of Idlib to Turkey, and slammed Muslim nations for not supporting his plans to resettle refugees in other parts of north Syria. Turkey currently hosts some 3.7 million Syrian refugees, the largest refugee population in the world, and fears another influx from the Idlib region, where up to 3 million Syrians live in the last significant insurgent-held swathe of territory.
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| Horowitz Pushes Back on Claim that He Exonerated FBI of Political Bias: ‘We Did Not Reach that Conclusion’ Posted: 18 Dec 2019 11:12 AM PST  Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz clarified Wednesday that his investigation into the FBI's FISA abuses "did not reach" the conclusion that the bureau was unaffected by political bias during its 2016 Russia investigation.Following the release of the report, Democrats and former FBI officials were quick to point to Horowitz's statement that he "did not find documentary or testimonial evidence" of political bias in the opening of Crossfire Hurricane, arguing that the statement proved President Trump's claims of a politically-motivated "witch hunt" were false.In an op-ed published after the report's release, James Comey attacked Trump and attorney general William Barr, saying "those who smeared the FBI are due for an accounting." On Sunday, the former FBI director attributed to "sloppiness" the 17 "significant errors and omissions" included in the FISA application to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page.Appearing on CNN with former FBI former deputy director Andrew McCabe, former FBI general counsel James Baker said that Trump should "apologize to me, to my colleagues" because "there was no hoax, there was no conspiracy to overthrow anybody, there was no sedition, there was no treason, there was no evidence of any of that."But under questioning from Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), Horowitz explained his investigation did leave the door open to possible political bias because his team could not accept the explanations FBI members gave on why there were "so many errors" in their investigation."We have been very careful in the connection with the FISA's for the reasons you mentioned to not reach that conclusion," Horowitz told Hawley. "As we've talked about earlier — the alteration of the email, the text messages associated with the individual who did that, and our inability to explain or understand, to get good explanations so that we could understand why this all happened."Horowitz's clarification comes after U.S. attorney John Durham released a statement saying his office did "not agree with" the report's statements regarding the origins of the FBI's 2016 Russia probe.The inspector general also said during testimony that his team was looking further into whether the FBI's "basic errors" in the case were potentially systemic.
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| Why Russia's Tu-22M3 Bomber Terrifies the World Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:30 PM PST  And it's everywhere.
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| Meth boom adds to Afghanistan's opium and heroin woes Posted: 18 Dec 2019 09:15 PM PST  At a sprawling rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of Kabul, dozens of dazed-looking drug addicts clamber out of police buses and shuffle toward the facility. Almost unheard of in Afghanistan until a few years ago, meth's sudden appearance has blindsided authorities in a country already suffering from a crisis in opium and heroin addiction. "My life has been ruined by addiction," said 25-year-old Sulaiman, one of the 40 or so men arriving at the treatment centre.
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| Congress slashes funding for the Navy’s LCS sensors — again Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:33 PM PST  Appropriators are set to slice 77 percent from the Navy's mine countermeasures module, shuffling part of it to another section of the budget.
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| Report: German spy agency releases Himmler daughter files Posted: 19 Dec 2019 06:26 AM PST  Germany's foreign intelligence agency has declassified documents regarding its employment of the daughter of top Nazi Heinrich Himmler as a secretary in the early 1960s, the country's top-selling newspaper reported Thursday. The BND agency declassified the documents on Gudrun Burwitz-Himmler at the Bild newspaper's request. The paper previously confirmed the intelligence agency employed Burwitz-Himmler from 1961 to 1963.
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| Grandfather offered plea deal in girl's cruise ship death Posted: 18 Dec 2019 06:40 PM PST  Puerto Rican defense attorney Jose Perez said Anello doesn't want to plead guilty and would rather clear his name at trial.
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| Norway’s New Oil Chief Has a History Denying Climate Science Posted: 18 Dec 2019 07:47 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.Norway has handed political control of its most important export to a former justice minister who's raised doubt about climate science and whose actions last year almost toppled the government.The appointment of Sylvi Listhaug as petroleum and energy minister, overseeing the oil industry in western Europe's biggest crude and gas-producing nation, means business as usual for the Conservative-led government's mostly pro-oil policies. It also highlights the country's contradictions as one of the world's biggest fossil-fuel exporters and a would-be leader in the fight against climate change.In an interview in 2011, Listhaug said that "it's not proven that human CO2 emissions lead to climate change." A few minutes after formally taking her new position on Wednesday, she told reporters in her office in Oslo that she now believes global warming is "also" caused by man.Vows DevelopmentListhaug vowed to develop the oil & gas industry further and said climate activists, including striking school children, are giving it too little credit for its contributions to fighting climate change, such as developing greener technology and replacing more-polluting coal in Europe."Symbolic policies won't save the world," she said.The 41-year-old, who until now was minister for the elderly and public health, replaced Kjell-Borge Freiberg, who took the position in mid-2018. Listhaug, who as minister is set to oversee the entire energy industry in Norway, including the state's 67% stake in Equinor ASA and the country's hydro and wind power sectors, has also voiced distaste for onshore wind turbines, which are also meeting increased opposition locally in Norway."We shouldn't have wind turbines in the entire country," she said on Wednesday. "We need to preserve the beautiful landscapes that we have."Some of the issues Listhaug will handle include a decision on whether to build a new power interconnector to the U.K. and how far north in the Arctic oil companies should be allowed to drill.Divisive PoliticianListhaug was forced to resign as justice minister in March 2018 as a no-confidence vote in parliament threatened to overthrow the government. She had sparked a tense standoff when she said in a Facebook post that the opposition Labor Party -- the victim of a terrorist attack in 2011 -- cared more about the rights of terrorists than about national security.Read: Crisis Ends as Norway's Listhaug Resigns Claiming 'Witch Hunt'Listhaug again joined the government in May as public health minister and was also made first deputy leader of the party. She has a power base within the anti-immigration wing of the party, which is led by Finance Minister Siv Jensen.Listhaug has in the past called political correctness on immigration a "tyranny of good" and has posted a picture on Facebook of an immigrant being expelled from Norway, encouraging followers to "like and share!"Listhaug's divisive character was one of the reasons the Christian Democrats, a small party that's supported the government in parliament, delayed joining Solberg's coalition until this year. Under its former leader Knut Arild Hareide, the centrist party tipped the scales ahead of the no-confidence vote in 2018, forcing Listhaug's resignation. Hareide then lost a power struggle over the party's future strategy, ending with the Christian Democrats joining the government and paving the way for Listhaug's return.The coalition also includes the Liberal Party, making energy and climate policies some of the most divisive issues within the government, with especially Progress pitted against the two smallest allies.Terje Soviknes, a former petroleum minister and now second deputy leader of Progress, replaced Listhaug as public health minister, the government said in a statement.(Adds Equinor reference. A previous version of the article was corrected to amend the day of the week.)To contact the reporter on this story: Mikael Holter in Oslo at mholter2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tasneem Hanfi Brögger at tbrogger@bloomberg.net, Rakteem KatakeyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Seeking fresh momentum, Democrat Warren recalibrates 'Medicare for All' rhetoric Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:51 PM PST  Elizabeth Warren has recalibrated her rhetoric on Medicare for All, as concerns about her support for replacing private insurance with a government-run plan continue to buffet her once-surging Democratic presidential campaign. During a three-day, seven-stop tour of Iowa last weekend, the U.S. senator from Massachusetts repeatedly emphasized the word "choice" and focused on the transition plan she unveiled last month that would delay full implementation of the sweeping healthcare overhaul for three years. "It's your choice if you want to come in and get full healthcare coverage," Warren told about 180 people at a community center in Clinton, Iowa.
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| Connecticut Man Named Prime Suspect in His Baby's Disappearance, Mother's Murder Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:54 PM PST  Police in Ansonia have officially named Jose Morales, 43, a suspect in the killing of Christine Holloway,43, and the disappearance of their one-year-old daughter Vanessa Morales.
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| How America Could Catch China Preparing for a War Posted: 19 Dec 2019 01:08 AM PST  The U.S. Navy needs better surveillance and reconnaissance systems if it's to have any chance of detecting a Chinese build-up in the Western Pacific in the weeks or days preceding a possible major war.
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| Trump news: Republicans turn on president for suggesting dead congressman is in hell as Pelosi reveals shock decision on impeachment articles Posted: 19 Dec 2019 03:57 PM PST  Donald Trump has been impeached by the House of Representatives, making him just the third president in American history to receive such a rebuke.The House, voting largely upon party lines, charged him on Wednesday night after hours of debate with abusing the power of his office in attempting to extort a political favour from Ukraine and obstructing the subsequent congressional investigation into his conduct. Just as votes were cast, Mr Trump began a rally of his in Michigan, where he mocked the proceedings against him, and the Democrats behind the effort.
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| Saudi Arabia, Pakistan snub Malaysia's Muslim summit Posted: 17 Dec 2019 09:42 PM PST  KUALA LUMPUR/RIYADH (Reuters) - Leaders from many Islamic nations including Turkey and Iran gathered in Malaysia on Wednesday to tackle issues that have agitated Muslims worldwide, but the summit was snubbed by Saudi Arabia and its close ally Pakistan. At a welcome dinner, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said the Kuala Lumpur Summit would aim to "do something" to improve the lives of Muslims and overcome Islamophobia. "We need to find a way to address our shortcomings, our dependency on non-Muslims to protect ourselves against the enemies of Islam," said Mahathir, 94, the world's oldest head of government and one of its most outspoken.
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| China commissions first home-built aircraft carrier Posted: 17 Dec 2019 07:04 PM PST ![China commissions first home-built aircraft carrier]( "China commissions first home-built aircraft carrier") President Xi Jinping attended the commissioning of China's first entirely home-built aircraft carrier, underscoring the country's rise as a regional naval power at a time of tensions with the U.S. and others over trade, Taiwan and the South China Sea. The Shandong is the second Chinese aircraft carrier to enter service after the Liaoning, which was originally purchased as a hulk from Ukraine and entirely refurbished .
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| Postal worker accused of selling crack out of mail truck on delivery routes Posted: 19 Dec 2019 07:16 AM PST  Darcy Spangler, 52, appeared in Ashtabula Municipal Court in Ashtabula, Ohio, on Wednesday on charges of trafficking in drugs, court records show.
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| Atmospheric river expected to slam West Coast Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:29 AM PST  For most, dreams of a white Christmas will remain just that.
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| Taipei Allows Expats Back Into Bike-Sharing Program After Uproar Posted: 18 Dec 2019 01:05 AM PST ![Taipei Allows Expats Back Into Bike-Sharing Program After Uproar]( "Taipei Allows Expats Back Into Bike-Sharing Program After Uproar") (Bloomberg) -- The first time Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je heard foreign residents were to be excluded from Taipei's much-loved bike-rental scheme was in the middle of an interview Tuesday afternoon. He turned his wrath on one of his aides, telling them to call the transport department."Tell them to fix the problem tonight," he ordered, while simultaneously texting the head of the department himself. "They have to report to me tomorrow morning if they can't fix it tonight."The YouBike issue, which triggered an online uproar from expats, highlighted the point Ko had made earlier in the interview with Bloomberg News: Taipei struggles to compete with the likes of Singapore and Hong Kong in attracting multinational companies and expatriates.That may be changing, with the pro-democracy protests that have engulfed Hong Kong since June presenting an opportunity for Taipei to pitch itself as a good place to do business. The number of people moving from Hong Kong to Taiwan is set to reach its highest in at least four years in 2019, up 23% in the first 10 months of 2019 from a year earlier, according to the National Immigration Agency.Taiwan's more affordable housing and schools are among attractions. But while Ko has established a task force to attract businesses from Hong Kong, he conceded it had had little success so far."Taipei has to be more open, more multicultural." he said. "In the end, foreign companies prefer Singapore."Presidential AmbitionsIt's that blunt style that has endeared the 60-year-old former surgeon to many residents of the city, leading to regular speculation he'll one day seek Taiwan's presidency. First elected as an political newcomer unattached to any party in 2014, Ko won a second term in a close-run election in November last year.While he toyed with the idea of a run for the presidency in upcoming elections in January, he instead set up the Taiwan People's Party, which will field 46 candidates in legislative elections running concurrently with the presidential vote.He refused to confirm whether or not he will seek the presidency in the next election in 2024, but insisted he would prepare to do so."The future has too many unpredictable events. You should ask me in 2023," he said, illustrating his thought processes with a scrawled series of formulas on scrap paper.Angry ExpatsKo needed no time -- or calculations -- to make a decision on the YouBike issue.That's in part because Taipei is proud of its growing reputation among foreigners for quality of life and affordability. It's been ranked the best city in the world for expats for two years running in a survey by InterNations, a network for people living abroad.Ko touted his success in streamlining the application process for foreign businesses looking to invest in his city, with Taipei City's approval of foreign investments climbed more than 50% to $8.8 billion in 2018."H&M were on the verge of giving up on opening a store in Taipei after spending months going from department to department getting all the right permits," Ko said of Swedish clothing giant Hennes & Mauritz AB. "In the end I gave them the direct number to my office and told them if they have any more trouble to call me."H&M opened its first shop in Taipei in 2015. When asked if he hands his personal number out to every company looking to invest in Taipei, Ko said: "As long as you're big or valuable enough."Frustrating BureaucracyKo's exasperation with slow and burdensome bureaucracy was evident in his response to the YouBike fiasco.The 10-year-old bike-rental scheme is hugely popular among residents and a draw for visitors, with 26.6 million trips last year. Over the weekend, the company running the program informed frequent users that they would have to re-register. The wrinkle? Only ID numbers from citizens would be accepted, effectively shutting out Taiwan's roughly 800,000 foreign residents.When Bloomberg informed him of the issue, officials hastened to tell the mayor they were already working on a solution, saying it could be fixed by Christmas Eve. He demanded it be done immediately.Within hours, the city said the issue was fixed, and foreign residents can now enjoy the orange and yellow bikes.To contact the reporters on this story: Adela Lin in Taipei at alin95@bloomberg.net;Samson Ellis in Taipei at sellis29@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Samson Ellis at sellis29@bloomberg.net, Adrian Kennedy, Karen LeighFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Israel strikes Gaza after rocket attack: military Posted: 18 Dec 2019 10:23 PM PST  Israeli warplanes attacked an arms plant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip early Thursday, after Palestinian militants in the enclave fired a rocket at Israel,the army said. "Overnight, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory," an English-language army statement said. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the overnight rocket attack or the air strike that followed.
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| 30 Ceramic Table Lamps to Elevate Your Space Posted: 18 Dec 2019 10:13 AM PST |
| Rick Santorum Praises ‘Woke’ GOP for Impeaching Clinton, Giving Trump a Pass Posted: 18 Dec 2019 06:29 PM PST  Twenty years ago, Sen. Rick Santorum was among the 45 Republicans who voted to remove President Bill Clinton from office. Today, as a CNN contributor, he is one of President Donald Trump's staunchest defenders. As the House voted to impeach Trump on two counts Wednesday night, Santorum declared it a "tragic day" in America. "Donald Trump is going to be be judged, his presidency will be judged by the fact he was impeached," he said. "But the people who voted to impeach him will be judged, too. I don't think this is going to reflect well on them any more than it reflected on the radical Republicans who tried to get rid of Andrew Johnson." Santorum then had to admit that Johnson is "not thought well of" by history, "but neither were the people that tried to impeach him," he added.Then he turned to his own impeachment experience with Clinton. "If Bill Clinton had done what he did today, there isn't one MeToo person that wouldn't want him out of office. There was a different time that he got away with 'just sex' that today he wouldn't get away with. It was a different standard.""Looking back on that, I think Republicans actually look pretty good as being pretty woke at the time of this going on," Santorum added. But with Trump, he said he agrees with the current Republicans who have characterized impeachment as a "constant attempt by Democrats to go after this president" and nothing more. "I think it's going to reflect badly," he predicted. "And this next election will probably be that first element of how that's going to be judged."Climate Scientist Katharine Hayhoe Accuses CNN of Bumping Her Expertise for Rick SantorumRead 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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| Erdogan says world powers have not backed refugee 'safe zone' in Syria: NTV Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:31 AM PST  Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said world powers had not yet offered any support for his planned "safe zone" in northern Syria, where he intends to resettle a million Syrian refugees, broadcaster NTV reported on Wednesday. Turkey has said the zone will let refugees camped out in its territory return safely to their own country, and help secure its border with Syria. "Not even the countries we regard as the most powerful and respected have come out yet in response to our call on the safe zone and said 'we're in'," Erdogan was quoted as telling reporters in Geneva, where he attended the Global Forum on Refugees on Tuesday.
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| Prayer at Kashmir's biggest mosque for 1st time in 4 months Posted: 18 Dec 2019 03:39 AM PST  A call to afternoon prayer rang out from the central mosque in disputed Kashmir's largest city for the first time in more than four months on Wednesday, ending a virtual ban on religious practice in the Muslim-majority region's biggest mosque. The Jamia Masjid in Srinagar was shut Aug. 5 as part of India's security lockdown after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist-led government stripped Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status. "We were waiting for conditions to improve and the mosque gates to be opened by the police," said Mufti Ghulam Rasool, who leads daily prayers at the mosque.
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| Aircraft Theft: Why China's J-11 Fighter Looks Like Russia's Su-27 'Flanker' Posted: 19 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST  China continues to reverse-engineer foreign military hardware.
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| Iowa man sentenced to 16 years for setting LGBTQ flag on fire Posted: 19 Dec 2019 04:40 PM PST  Police said Adolfo Martinez stole a pride banner hanging at Ames United Church of Christ and burned it outside the Dangerous Curves Gentleman's Club.
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| Merkel Downplays Chinese Threats Over Huawei’s 5G Presence Posted: 18 Dec 2019 06:37 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Chancellor Angela Merkel dismissed any public threats from China should her government issue a ban on equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co. from the country's fifth-generation network."Nothing has been communicated to me in terms of pressure from Chinese state actors," Merkel told lawmakers in a question-and-answer session in the Bundestag on Wednesday.Chinese ambassador Wu Ken last week said that a Huawei ban would result in consequences and cited German auto sales in the Asian giant's market.Merkel, who is trying to strike a balance between trade ties with China and hardliners warning about potential security risks from Huawei's ties to the Beijing government, stuck to her position of opposing a ban."My position is not to say at the very beginning that one single company is completely out of the question,"Merkel said. "But on the other hand, not to be blind. So, we must have an eye on the trust aspect."The German government is thrashing out 5G security standards with lawmakers in the Bundestag in negotiations that are likely to stretch into next year. Legislators from across Merkel's coalition presented a draft bill last week that would impose a full ban on any "untrustworthy" vendors -- taking direct aim at Huawei.Peter Beyer, a senior lawmaker in Merkel's Christian Democratic Union, said earlier on Wednesday that a draft would be finalized at the beginning of 2020 and have to take into account trade interests as well as national security. But he said there was reason to be wary of Huawei as as a factor in cybersecurity."We have a lot of information from our intelligence services that makes us a little uneasy," Beyer, who has been critical of Huawei, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television.To contact the reporters on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at pdonahue1@bloomberg.net;Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Once a glorified ATM for Democrats, California becomes major player in election race Posted: 19 Dec 2019 03:00 AM PST  California has moved its primary up by three months to Super Tuesday – and its trove of delegates is extremely attractive to Democratic contendersCalifornia is America's richest and most populous state and a political heavyweight by any measure. But for more than 30 years – ever since its adopted son Ronald Reagan rode off from the Oval Office into a golden Pacific sunset – it has yearned for relevance in presidential elections and largely failed to find it.That is, until now.In a highly fluid 2020 race for the Democratic party nomination, candidates participating in Thursday's debate in Los Angeles have packed their schedules with campaign appearances all over the Golden State in the days before and after. They are opening California field offices at a frenetic pace, falling over each other to hire the state's most talented campaign staffers, and laying the groundwork for big, expensive advertising buys in the final weeks before the state's 3 March primary.All of this is highly unusual in a state that most candidates, Republican and Democrat alike, tend to treat like a glorified ATM – a place to woo donors and raise money to be spent elsewhere. An unassailably blue state with a primary late in the election cycle is not worth the cost of its unusually expensive media markets, the rationale once went.This year, though, California has moved its primary up by three months to Super Tuesday. And its trove of delegates is especially attractive as the three Democratic frontrunners – Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren – are within spitting distance of each other and a fourth, Pete Buttigieg, is likely to enjoy considerable momentum coming out of the earlier contests in Iowa and New Hampshire.Add to that the large number of state endorsements up for grabs now that the California Senator Kamala Harris has left the race, and the wrench thrown into everyone's calculations by the late entry of Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York who is spending lavishly on advertising and consultants, and it becomes apparent that California has flipped from a state everyone can safely ignore to one nobody can afford to bypass."There's a tremendous amount at stake," Buttigieg spokeswoman Tessa Whittlesey told the Guardian.California campaigning is not for the faint-hearted. Candidates win delegates if they snag at least 15% of the statewide vote, and 15% of the vote in any one of the state's 53 congressional districts. In other words, they don't just have to campaign – they have to campaign everywhere.> As the field thins, California is only going to become more important> > Raphael Sonenshein"It's helpful to think of California as a country more than a state," said Raphael Sonenshein, a political analyst who last month hosted a Democratic candidates' forum at Cal State Los Angeles, where he runs a public affairs institute. "We have regions as complex as a small country's, and a lot of delegates. As the field thins, California is only going to become more important."The early advantage probably goes to Sanders, who was narrowly ahead in a recent statewide poll and has had a staffed operation in California since June. He had 10 offices up and down the state at last count – far more than anyone else – and expects to have 15 by the turn of the year. Bernie 2020 volunteers have opened up their own storefront operations in working-class and hipster neighborhoods alike.Sanders started this week in the desert communities around Palm Springs, attracting noisy crowds and the endorsement of the entire council in the small city of Coachella. He will end it on the Mexican border south of San Diego. He lost the 2016 California primary to Hillary Clinton, but by a margin narrow enough that Clinton felt compelled to hire 40 staffers in the last two months for what was not ultimately the pivotal race.Closest to Sanders in energy and activity is Buttigieg, who has visited California dozens of times and has made a point of appearing in rural and inland areas, not just the state's fundraising meccas, LA and San Francisco. His state director, Cecilia Cabello, is a California insider with experience of both big city and presidential politics. As his campaign staffs up, he's establishing volunteer networks in every congressional district.Buttigieg and Sanders both appear to have understood that much in the race may turn on their ability to refresh parts of the state that the other candidates, running on TV ads and name recognition alone, fail to reach.The Sanders spokeswoman Anna Bahr said the campaign's staff offices were designed to target Latinos, in particular, and working-class communities in general. Two of the newer offices are in California's agricultural Central Valley, and the campaign is also focusing on the sprawl of inland suburbs stretching 60 or 70 miles east of Los Angeles.Buttigieg, meanwhile, has been active in the Central Valley for a while. He held a low-dollar fundraiser in Sacramento, the state capital, last June that attracted 2,500 people. And this week he will take the fight directly to Sanders as he talks about Latino issues and the environment in two contrasting LA suburbs.There is a chance that none of this activity will make much difference come election day. When California moved its primary up to March, legislators entertained the notion that they would now be fifth in line after Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. But Texas, another huge state, quickly followed suit, and so did Virginia, Colorado and 10 other states, all of whom will be competing for candidate time and campaign cash on an unusually "super" Super Tuesday.That might explain why Warren and Biden, who can count on a strong following in California whether they campaign here or not, have kept their powder relatively dry to this point. An argument can still be made that since the delegates will be split in California anyway, it is not a state that represents good return on investment.Another big unknown is Bloomberg. There is little evidence, yet, that he commands much in the way of public support, in California or anywhere else, but he has stunned some of the other campaigns by scooping up political consultants and managers they had been vying to hire and earning endorsements from mayors he knows through his extensive work with cities on the environment and other issues. On a recent swing through California, he appeared with former governor (and three-time presidential candidate) Jerry Brown – a coup for any candidate that he pulled off with little apparent effort.The pressure is evident in the sniping that has begun among the candidates on the campaign trail. On Monday night, Sanders sought to contrast his refusal to take money from big donors with the fundraising dinner that Buttigieg was attending that night. The Buttigieg camp countered that they too had raised a lot of money from small donors paying as little as $25 to attend events like the Sacramento dinner.Sanders, in turn, has been accused of spreading himself wide but thinly in California. Critics say the noise generated by his appearances is not always matched by staff efforts to form relationships with new groups of voters and work to turn them out on election day. Spokesperson Bahr swiftly dismissed this. "You can't accuse of us of being shallow when we've invested more than anyone else in this state," she said. * This article was amended on 19 December 2019 to reflect that Cecilia Cabello is not the only native Californian state director in the race.
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| Photos show why Boeing was forced to stop production of its grounded 737 Max Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:31 PM PST  Boeing has hundreds of 737 Max airplanes in storage, and the company decided making more while then the FAA says they can't fly is no longer tenable.
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| The Military Is Getting Ready to Fight China and Russia at the Same Time Posted: 19 Dec 2019 09:00 AM PST  Just in case?
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| Trump impeachment: Nancy Pelosi glares at applauding Democrats after historic vote Posted: 19 Dec 2019 09:57 AM PST  Nancy Pelosi's stern warning to Democratic members of Congress who cheered for Donald Trump's impeachment has gone viral, as she appeared to whip members of her party in real-time while voting was under way to support the president's removal from office.The House Speaker had reportedly ordered representatives to couch their reactions to the affirmative votes, but that didn't stop several representatives from applauding the vote.
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| San Francisco homeless crisis worsens as people poop in stores, bite workers Posted: 17 Dec 2019 06:17 PM PST  Fox News medical correspondent Dr. Marc Siegel discusses San Francisco's homeless crisis.
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