| North Korea Could Have 100 Nuclear Warheads (And Soon) Posted: 28 Dec 2019 02:00 AM PST  What can America do?
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| Bolivia says Spain 'tried to extract' wanted aide from Mexico embassy Posted: 28 Dec 2019 04:38 PM PST  Bolivia on Saturday accused Spain of an abortive attempt to extract a wanted former government aide from Mexico's embassy in La Paz, prompting a sharp denial from Madrid. It was the latest twist in a murky incident Friday involving embassy personnel in the Bolivian capital that has sparked a bitter diplomatic spat. Several hours later, Bolivia's top diplomat accused Spanish embassy staff of trying to infiltrate the Mexican mission with a group of masked men in what it said was a violation of Bolivian sovereignty.
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| US contractor killed in Iraq rocket attack, troops wounded Posted: 27 Dec 2019 02:47 PM PST ![US contractor killed in Iraq rocket attack, troops wounded]( "US contractor killed in Iraq rocket attack, troops wounded") A U.S. defense contractor was killed and several American and Iraqi troops were wounded Friday in a rocket attack in northern Iraq, U.S. officials said. According to officials, the attack involved as many as 30 rockets fired at the Iraqi military compound near Kirkuk, where U.S. service members are also based.
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| A giant 'blob' of hot water more than twice the size of California threatens the survival of fish and coral near New Zealand Posted: 27 Dec 2019 03:48 PM PST  A 386,000-square-mile chunk of the Pacific Ocean east of New Zealand is 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than average in what could be a marine heat wave.
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| Five killed in Louisiana plane crash Posted: 28 Dec 2019 12:10 PM PST  A small plane crashed into the parking lot of a post office in Louisiana shortly after takeoff on Saturday, killing five people and fully engulfing a car on the ground in flames, authorities said. The two-engine Piper Cheyenne crashed about 1 mile from the Lafayette Regional Airport, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Tony Molinaro said. The plane was en route to a college football playoff game in Atlanta between Louisiana State University and Oklahoma, said Steven Ensminger Jr., who told The Associated Press that his wife, Carley McCord, was on board. Ensminger Jr. is the son of the offensive coordinator for the LSU football team. McCord was a sports reporter. View of a car which was damaged in light aircraft plane crash which killed five Credit: Scott Clause /The Daily Advertiser Video and photos showed a trail of scorched and burning grass around the crash site in the city of Lafayette. A blackened car sat in the post office parking lot, which was carpeted with scattered tree limbs. Four people were brought to the hospital: one from the plane, one on the ground and two post office employees who were brought in for evaluation, said Lafayette Fire Department spokesman Alton Trahan. The aircraft was an eight-passenger plane, Lafayette Fire Chief Robert Benoit told KLFY-TV. The plane went down in a part of the city with a scattering of banks, fast food chains and other businesses. Marty Brady, 22, said the lights went out at his apartment a couple of hundred yards (183 meters) or so away from the crash site as he was preparing to make coffee. He said he ran out and saw black smoke and flames from the post office parking lot and downed power lines. "There were some people screaming and somebody yelled that it was a plane," he said. Brady said the plane clipped a power line over the gate to his apartment complex. "If it had been a little lower, it could have been a lot worse," he said. Kevin Jackson told KLFY-TV he heard a "massive explosion" and saw a "big old ball of flame" when the plane crashed. He and other eyewitnesses told the TV station that the plane hit a car as it fell, and that someone could be heard screaming inside the vehicle. Lafayette is the fourth-largest city in Louisiana with a population of about 130,000, according to the 2018 census. It is located about 135 miles west of New Orleans. _-
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| Biden Says He Would Defy Impeachment Subpoena—Then Tries to ‘Clarify’ Posted: 28 Dec 2019 08:57 AM PST  Joe Biden told a newspaper that he would not comply with a subpoena to testify in President Trump's impeachment trial—then sought to clarify his remarks on Saturday."The reason I wouldn't is because it's all designed to deal with Trump doing what he's done his whole life: trying to take the focus off him," Biden told the Des Moines Register editorial board. "The issue is not what I did."This is all about a diversion," Biden added. "And we play his game all the time. He's done it his whole career."Biden's statement of defiance to the Register drew sharp criticism from some quarters, including a former associate White House counsel under President Barack Obama."Terrible answer @JoeBiden," Ian Bassin tweeted. "Subpoenas aren't optional. You know better. You should correct record and commit to complying with any lawful subpoena, reserving the right to contest it in court if you believe it to be unlawful. Let Trump tarnish the rule of law; you should defend it."Dems Warn Against Calling Bidens to Testify: It 'Would Be Literally Rolling a Grenade Down' the SenateOn Saturday, Biden appeared to back off his original comments to some degree in a Twitter thread that suggested he might fight any subpoena in court."I want to clarify something I said yesterday," he wrote. "In my 40 years in public life, I have always complied with a lawful order and in my eight years as VP, my office — unlike Donald Trump and Mike Pence — cooperated with legitimate congressional oversight requests."Stopping short of denying he would defy a subpoena, he went on to say that he was "just not going to pretend that there is any legal basis for Republican subpoenas for my testimony in the impeachment trial. That is the point I was making yesterday and I reiterate: this impeachment is about Trump's conduct, not mine."He then tried to shift focus back to the president. "The subpoenas should go to witnesses with testimony to offer to Trump's shaking down the Ukraine government — they should go to the White House," he wrote.Bassin then praised Biden for revising his comments:"This is what responsible leadership looks like. He said something imprecise that mattered and fixed it because, unlike Trump and his lawless crew, Biden cares about the Constitution and the rule of law. Will Trump's team now comply w the law?"The issue of whether Biden has any role to play in impeachment proceedings in the Senate has become a focal point for many Republicans seeking to protect the president. They said Biden and his son Hunter should be forced to answer questions about their activities in Ukraine.The impeachment process kicked off after Trump spoke to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky about investigating the Bidens and then held back military aid. Biden himself has repeatedly said he and Hunter did nothing wrong and that he did not speak to his son about official business involving Burisma, the Ukrainian natural gas company on whose board the younger Biden served. The House of Representatives voted along party lines on Dec. 18 to impeach Trump. The order is expected to be passed to the Senate for a trial in early 2020.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| In 2010, The Navy Surfaced 3 Nuclear Submarines To Scare China Posted: 28 Dec 2019 03:30 AM PST  Submarines are good for more than defense.
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| Philippines bans two U.S. senators, considers tighter entry restrictions for U.S. citizens Posted: 27 Dec 2019 09:03 AM PST  The Philippines has banned two U.S. lawmakers from visiting and will introduce tighter entry restrictions for U.S. citizens should Washington enforce sanctions over the detention of a top government critic, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman said on Friday.
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| Man, 60, dies after beating in $1 Christmas Eve mugging Posted: 28 Dec 2019 06:12 AM PST  A 60-year-old man who was kicked and punched while defending his partner during a $1 mugging on Christmas Eve has died. Juan Fresnada died Friday afternoon at the Bronx hospital where he was taken in critical condition after the mugging early Tuesday, the New York Police Department said Saturday.
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| Japan police find human remains in boat suspected from North Korea: Coast Guard Posted: 28 Dec 2019 01:59 AM PST ![Japan police find human remains in boat suspected from North Korea: Coast Guard]( "Japan police find human remains in boat suspected from North Korea: Coast Guard") Japanese police found the remains of at least five people in a wooden boat suspected to be from North Korea on the coast of one of Japan's outlying islands on Saturday, a Coast Guard official said. Police made the discovery in the wooden boat's stem around 9:30 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Saturday on Sado island, which is off the coast of Japan's northwestern prefecture of Niigata, Coast Guard official Kei Chinen said.
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| Survivors tell of France's 'dirty war' in Cameroon independence Posted: 27 Dec 2019 07:46 PM PST  Ekité (Cameroon) (AFP) - It was a "dirty war" waged by French colonial troops but it never made headlines and even today goes untold in school history books. The brutal conflict unfolded in Cameroon, which on January 1 marks its 60th anniversary of independence -- the first of 17 African countries that became free from their colonial masters in 1960. "My life was overturned," Odile Mbouma, 72, said in the southwestern town of Ekite.
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| A New York Times column exploring why 'Jews are smart' is prompting heavy criticism and canceled subscriptions Posted: 28 Dec 2019 01:13 PM PST  Columnist Bret Stephens relied on a study about IQ tests written in part by a professor who is associated with white supremacist groups.
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| Hawaii helicopter crash: Six people dead and one person missing after crash at top of 'Jurassic Park island' Posted: 27 Dec 2019 07:39 PM PST  The remains of six people have been found after a helicopter heading to one of the most rugged and remote coastlines in Hawaii crashed at the top of a mountain on the island of Kauai, authorities said. Officials said that there are no indications of survivors and that a search for the last person yet to be recovered would resume in the morning. Those who were recovered have not been identified and their families are being notified, authorities said. Two passengers are believed to be minors, the Coast Guard said. A search began for the helicopter carrying a pilot and six passengers from two families after it was reported overdue Na Pali Coast on Kauai, known as "Jurassic Park island". An aircraft from Safari Helicopters went missing at about 6pm on Thursday (4am GMT on Friday). "The last contact with the helicopter was made at approximately 4.40pm, when the pilot relayed that the tour was leaving the Waimea Canyon area," the statement said. Mark Zuckerberg bought a sprawling estate in Kauai in 2014, and has since bought neighbouring parcels of land The helicopter had six passengers, including two children, on board, as well as the pilot. It was last seen off the coast of Kauai island, where the dinosaur epic was partly filmed. The owner of the helicopter contacted the Joint Rescue Coordination Center in Honolulu, which coordinated crews to search the scene. The helicopter is equipped with an electronic locator, but officials said that no signals has been received. Nearly 80 per cent of Kauai is uninhabited, and much of that is a state park that most helicopter tours include as a point of interest. Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder, owns a $100 million estate on the island. Officials said weather conditions in the area may factor into the search, but trained crews are on the scene searching for any signs of the helicopter and the seven aboard, said Petty Officer 1st Class Robert Cox, Coast Guard Joint Rescue Command Center Honolulu. There is reportedly four miles of visibility in the area because of clouds and rain. Winds are at 28mph and waves at six feet, with scattered rain showers. Some of the 70,000 residents there have braced for holiday rains and floods, which closed part of a highway on Christmas Day. The company that conducted the tour was not identified by officials. Politicians in Hawaii have considered implementing tighter restrictions on aerial tours in Hawaii following a string of deadly incidents. The north coast of Kauai Three people were killed when a tour helicopter plummeted onto an Oahu highway in April, and a commercial skydiving plane crashed in June, killing 11 people. Ed Case, a Democrat representative for Hawaii introduced in August a bill that would "impose strict regulations on commercial tour operations," including helicopters. The bill would prohibit helicopter pilots from serving as tour narrators while flying, among other restrictions. "These tragedies occurred amidst a rapid increase in commercial helicopter and small plane overflights of all parts of Hawaii . . . [and] increased risk to not only passengers but those on the ground," said Mr Case. However, opponents of the bill pointed out how much money is brought in by the tours. The Hawaii Helicopter Association estimates that air-tour operators contribute nearly $150 million to the state's economy each year. "Safe operations, and regulations to ensure that operations are safe, must take into account the geography, weather including cloud cover, specific equipment and air traffic control," the association said in September.
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| 'The Issue Is Not What I Did.' Joe Biden Says He Would Not Comply With Subpoena to Testify in Trump Impeachment Trial Posted: 28 Dec 2019 11:42 AM PST  "The reason I wouldn't is because it's all designed to deal with Trump doing what he's done his whole life: trying to take the focus off him," Joe Biden said.
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| Man who made 27,000 crosses for shooting victims is retiring Posted: 27 Dec 2019 01:03 PM PST  An Illinois man who made more than 27,000 crosses to commemorate victims of mass shootings across the country is retiring. Greg Zanis came to realize, after 23 years, his Crosses for Losses ministry was beginning to take a personal and financial toll on him, according to The Beacon-News. "I had a breaking point in El Paso," he said, referring to the mass shooting outside of a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
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| Record cocaine haul worth more than $1bn seized in Uruguay after drugs found in flour containers Posted: 28 Dec 2019 07:29 AM PST  A record haul of 6 tonnes of cocaine estimated to be worth more than $1bn (£765m) has been seized in Uruguay, according to the country's navy.Naval and customs officers seized 4.4 tonnes of cocaine which had been hidden in four soy flour containers destined for Lome, Togo, in Montevideo port and another 1.5 tonnes on a ranch, local reports said.
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| Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein Associate, under FBI Investigation Posted: 27 Dec 2019 08:17 AM PST  Reuters reports that the FBI has opened an investigation into several associates of late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, including his longtime friend Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of being complicit in the financier's underage-sex trafficking ring.Maxwell, 58, is a former girlfriend of the wealthy financier who remained in his circle and is accused by multiple women of helping Epstein find underage girls to have sex with. The British socialite has not been criminally charged, and she has denied all allegations.One of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre, has alleged in a civil lawsuit that Maxwell lured her to the billionaire financier and forced her to have sex with Epstein as well as British Prince Andrew.The British royal family said any interview with Prince Andrew would be "a matter for the FBI."Epstein, 66, was found dead by apparent suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in August, shortly after he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking underage girls as young as 14 from 2002 to 2005. His death sparked a Justice Department investigation and came a day after court documents were unsealed detailing the allegations against billionaire. Epstein had pleaded not guilty to the charges against him before his death."Any co-conspirators should not rest easy," Attorney General William Barr said in August of the ongoing investigation.Maxwell, the daughter of late British media heavyweight Robert Maxwell, has been spotted in various locations since Epstein's death, including a Los Angeles shopping mall.
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| Islamic State says it beheaded Christian captives in Nigeria Posted: 27 Dec 2019 11:36 AM PST  The Islamic State group released a video purporting to show its militants beheading 10 Christian men in Nigeria, saying it was part of a campaign to avenge the deaths of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and its spokesman.
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| Nuclear power plant in UAE risks sparking arms race, expert warns Posted: 27 Dec 2019 11:00 PM PST  Four nuclear reactors being built in the United Arab Emirates could spark a nuclear arms race in the Middle East and leave the Persian Gulf at risk of a Chernobyl-style disaster, a leading nuclear scientist has claimed. In a report, Dr Paul Dorfman, chairman of the Nuclear Consulting Group, warned the UAE's Barakah nuclear power plant lacks key safety features, poses a threat to the environment, is a potential target for terrorists and could be part of plans to develop nuclear weapons. "The motivation for building this may lie hidden in plain sight," Dr Dorfman told the Telegraph. "They are seriously considering nuclear proliferation." Dr Dorfman, who is also an honorary senior research associate at University College London's Energy Institute, has served as a nuclear adviser to the British government and led the European Environment Agency response to the Fukushima disaster. However, the UAE has stressed that it is committed to "the highest standards of nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation." The UAE hired the South Korean firm Korea Electric Power Corporation to build the Barakah - "Divine Blessing" in Arabic, plant in 2009. It will be the first nuclear power plant in the Arabian peninsula, and has fuelled speculation that Abu Dhabi is preparing for a nuclear arms race with the Islamic Republic. The UAE has denied allegations by the Qatari government that its power plant is a security threat to their capital of Doha and the Qatari environment, dismissing any causes for concern. Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan photographed in Germany earlier this year Credit: Reuters However, Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed they hit the Barakah nuclear power plant with a missile in 2017. The UAE denied that the rebels fired any such missile, adding that they had an air defence system to deal with such threats. Dr Dorfman said that scrambling fighter aircraft or firing surface to air missiles in time to intercept an incoming strike would be difficult. In September, Saudi air defences failed to stop a drone attack on oil processing facilities. Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for that attack, though Saudi Arabia blamed Iran. The increase in transportation of radioactive materials through the Persian Gulf when the plant goes into operation could also raise the risk of potentially fatal collisions, explosions, or equipment and material failure. Any radioactive discharge resulting from accidents could easily reach population centres on the Gulf coast and have a potentially devastating impact on delicate Gulf ecosystems, including rare mangrove swamps. The plant is also vulnerable to climate change and extreme temperatures that could affect its cooling system, Dr Dorfman's report says. The International Panel on Climate Change has said that extreme sea level events are now likely to happen more frequently, meaning coastal power plants such as Barakah could become defenseless against rising sea levels, tidal ingress and storm surges. High average sea water temperatures in the Gulf could also make it more difficult to cool the reactor using sea water. The cost of the 1986 Chernobyl accident has been recently estimated to be around $235 billion (£179 billion). The Japanese Centre for Economic Research has said the 2011 Fukushima accident cost over 81 trillion YEN(£567 billion), although the Japanese government has put the cost at YEN 22 million (£142 billion). The United Arab Emirates Foreign ministry had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
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| Scores in Turkey protest Russia over Idlib assault Posted: 28 Dec 2019 07:41 AM PST  Several hundred Turkish and Syrian protesters held an anti-Russia demonstration in Istanbul on Saturday against intensified Russian and regime bombardment in Syria's rebel bastion of Idlib. The protesters -- mostly Syrians living in Turkey -- gathered close to the Russian consulate in Istanbul, shouting "Murderer Putin, get out of Syria!", referring to the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Since mid-December, regime forces and their Russian allies have heightened bombardment on the southern edge of the final major opposition-held pocket of Syria, eight years into the country's devastating war.
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| Baltimore breaks city record for killings per capita in 2019 Posted: 27 Dec 2019 01:05 PM PST  Baltimore broke its annual per capita homicide record after reaching 342 killings Friday. With just over 600,000 residents, the city hit a historically high homicide rate of about 57 per 100,000 people after recent relentless gunfire saw eight people shot — three fatally — in one day and nine others — one fatally — another day. The total is up from 309 in 2018 and matches the 342 killings tallied in 2017 and 2015, the year when the city's homicide rate suddenly spiked.
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| North Korea Is Broke, But Sitting On $10 Trillion In Mineral Wealth Posted: 27 Dec 2019 02:51 AM PST  Yes, $10 trillion.
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| Trump sparked a tourism boom in Ghana when he told congresswomen to 'go back' to where they came from Posted: 27 Dec 2019 11:02 AM PST  President Trump's tweets telling four freshmen congresswomen to "go back" to the "totally broken and crime infested places from which they came" had an unexpected and surprising upside: a massive tourism boom in Ghana.Akwasi Agyeman, the chief executive of the Ghana Tourism Authority, told The Washington Post that after Trump's July tweets, interest in visiting the West African nation surged: "People spoke of booking a trip, he said, as a way to strike back at Trump's words." Applications to visit Ghana this year have reportedly risen from 1,000 per week to 10,000.Trump's tweets had been directed at Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), all of whom are U.S. citizens. Omar, a Somali refugee and the only one in the group to have actually been born abroad, was visiting Ghana at the time of Trump's attack. She'd tweeted in response: "So grateful for the honor to return to Mother Africa."In addition to retaliation to Trump, tourists flocked to Ghana in 2019 to honor the "Year of Return," which marked 400 years since the first slave ship reached the state of Virginia; the nation expected "some 500,000 visitors this year, up from 350,000 in 2018," the Christian Science Monitor reports. Celebrity interest, including posts by Cardi B, also enticed Americans across the Atlantic. Many have even moved to Ghana permanently."When I think about going home to the States," one Boston emigrant, Pierre Delva, told the Post, "it almost makes me want to cry."More stories from theweek.com The evangelical resistance? The best novels published in 2019 Porn is evil. Don't ban it.
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| Ivory Coast leader says Soro must face full force of the law Posted: 28 Dec 2019 11:19 AM PST  Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara on Saturday said former rebel leader and presidential candidate Guillaume Soro was not above the law and would face justice for allegedly seeking to destabilize the country. Soro this week canceled plans to return to Ivory Coast after the authorities issued a warrant for his arrest as part of an investigation into an alleged coup plot that has seen more than 15 people close to him detained. In his first comments on the case, Ouattara said at a news conference in Abidjan that anyone "involved in destabilizing the country, must face the full force of the law".
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| Massive redwood tree falls and kills hiker in California park Posted: 27 Dec 2019 11:18 AM PST  A man was killed and another person injured by a massive redwood tree that fell inside a California national park, in what officials have described as an "unfortunate, tragic event" that occurred on Christmas Eve.Subhradeep Dutta, a 28-year-old Minnesota resident, was visiting the Muir Woods National Monument when a tree measuring over four feet (one metre) in diameter collapsed.
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| An American Citizen Died After Being Injured in the Deadly Volcanic Eruption in New Zealand Posted: 27 Dec 2019 11:23 AM PST  The latest victim is one of at least 17 casualties from the Dec. 9 volcanic eruption
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| Doomsday Writer’s Friend Says He Prophesied Wife’s Mysterious Death Posted: 28 Dec 2019 07:56 AM PST  Idaho author Chad Daybell, who wrote a series of doomsday books for Mormon readers, confided in a friend that he had visions his first wife would die. "Angels had told him that he was going to lose Tammy," Julie Rowe told a local TV station this week.Tammy did end up dead—and now Daybell is at the center of a tangled mystery that includes the exhumation of her body, an investigation into two missing children, and questions about the deaths of his second wife's husband and brother.Daybell and wife Lori Vallow have not been seen since October. They reportedly left their Rexberg home before police showed up with a search warrant amid concern that two of Vallow's children, a 17-year-old girl and an adopted 7-year-old with special needs, were missing. In a Dec. 20 statement, police said the missing children, Tylee Ryan and Joshua Vallow, may be tied to a suspicious death investigation. They say neither was reported as missing to authorities but that their whereabouts are unknown. Lori Vallow married Daybell just weeks after his first wife Tammy Daybell died in the family's home at the age of 49. After Daybell refused to order an autopsy on his wife, which is his right, the coroner listed her cause of death as "natural." Vallow's own husband Charles Vallow was fatally shot by Lori Vallow's brother Alexander Cox during a domestic disturbance in July that is now also under investigation. Cox died on Dec. 12 of unknown causes. Vallow and Daybell were members of an organization called Preparing a People that says its goal is to "help prepare the people of this earth for the second coming of Jesus Christ." Vallow's extended family members told East Idaho News that they felt the group was a cult. "I don't want to attack anyone's beliefs," Brandon Boudreaux, a relative of Vallow's said. "But when you look at the fruit that's come from this group and its beliefs … it certainly, from my mind, doesn't come from God." Preparing a People founders Michael and Nancy James deny the group is a cult or represents a specific religion. They have removed references to the couple, both contributors, from their website. "We considered Chad Daybell a good friend, but have since learned of things we had no idea about," they wrote. "We recently learned of Chad's new marriage to Lori Vallow a couple weeks after Tammy Daybell died... We did not know Lori as well as we thought we knew Chad."Rowe was also a Preparing a People member—and a close friend of Daybell's since he published her book on a near-death experience at the publishing house he founded with his first wife. She said Daybell told her he wanted to get out of the publishing business but that Tammy did not."He said I'm ready to get out and Tammy doesn't want to get out," Daybell told Rowe, according to local media reports. "When she passes, I'm done, I can't keep doing this." Rowe, who said she is using her own visions to try to send messages to Daybell, insists the missing children are safe. "I do know the kids are safe. I can see them," she said. "I can see their energy and that they're in a bright house."Police aren't so sure. On Dec. 11, Rexberg police exhumed Tammy's remains to conduct a proper autopsy. Those results have not been released, but Daybell and Vallow denied any wrongdoing through attorney Sean Bartholick—who says he does not know where the couple or Vallow's children are, says they deny any accusations. "Chad Daybell was a loving husband and has the support of his children in this matter," Bartholick told the East Idaho News. "We look forward to addressing the allegations once they have moved beyond speculation and rumor."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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| India's protests: why now? Posted: 27 Dec 2019 07:45 PM PST  Mumbai-based copywriter Sarah Syed says she was long alarmed by the Hindu nationalist direction of India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi but felt powerless to stop it -- until now. Like many others taking part in the current wave of protests, the final straw was Modi's new citizenship law and then the images of students being tear-gassed when they demonstrated against it. "Now though it feels criminal to sit out the protests and say nothing," the 27-year-old told AFP.
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| China's South China Sea Bases May Be More Trouble Than They Are Worth Posted: 28 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST  More territory to defend.
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| Trump claims homelessness 'so easy' to handle in attack on Democrats Posted: 28 Dec 2019 09:45 AM PST  President says governors of New York and California should 'politely' ask him for help in latest broadsideDonald Trump has continued to use America's homelessness crisis to attack his political opponents in California and New York, tweeting on Saturday that homelessness should be "easy" to handle and that the governors of the two liberal states should ask him for help.Workers and activists on the front lines of the crisis have repeatedly said that Trump's "tough talk" on homelessness is concerning, and that some of his proposed policies will only make the situation worse.As the number of homeless people has increased sharply in cities across California, some local politicians have already tried to try to penalize people for being homeless, rather than addressing root causes of the crisis, including unaffordable rents and evictions pushing people on to the streets.Meanwhile, Trump has continued to fuel anxiety by repeatedly suggesting he might try to implement some kind of police crackdown in California to clear the streets of encampments.On Christmas Day, Trump attacked California's governor, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, for his "bad job" on "taking care of the homeless population in California"."If he can't fix the problem, the Federal Govt. will get involved!" the president said.On Thursday, Trump attacked Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who has lead the effort to impeach him, and told her to "clean up her filthy dirty District & help the homeless there".On Saturday, Trump wrote that fixing the homeless crisis "would be so easy with competence!"The governors of California and New York "must do something", Trump wrote, and if they "can't handle the situation, which they should be able to do very easily, they must call and 'politely' ask for help."In September, a report from Trump's Council of Economic Advisers concluded that "policing may be an important tool to help move people off the street and into shelter or housing where they can get the services they need".Trump told reporters that month he was concerned about homeless people living on "our best streets, our best entrances to buildings", places "where people in those buildings pay tremendous taxes, where they went to those locations because of the prestige"."We can't let Los Angeles, San Francisco, and numerous other cities destroy themselves," he said, citing his concern that "foreign tenants" who moved to the cities because of the "prestige" now wanted to leave because of the homeless people and tents on the streets.Violent attacks directly targeting homeless people have risen in California in the past year: in Los Angeles alone, there have been at least eight incidents in which people threw makeshift explosives or flammable liquids on homeless people or their tents, according to officials and the Los Angeles Times.Trump's repeated tweets about homelessness have been labeled "vile and reprehensible" by activists.Diane Yentel, the president and chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), noted on Thursday that Trump had proposed drastically shrinking or eliminating federal programs that keep the lowest-income people affordably housed, an important prevention measure that keeps people from becoming homeless."In California, over 37,000 of the lowest-income people are at risk of eviction from this Trump proposal alone," Yentel said.She also noted that Trump's Department of Housing and Urban Development had "proposed allowing homeless shelters to discriminate and refuse shelter to transgender and other LGBTQ people, subjecting them to high risk of violence".Homelessness is continuing to rise across California: a year-end Guardian investigation found that homelessness had increased 16% in Los Angeles, 17% in San Francisco, 42% in San Jose, 47% in Oakland, and 52% in Sacramento county, home to the state's capital. Many people were experiencing homelessness for the first time, and both families and seniors are increasingly struggling with homelessness.Trump's focus on homelessness in California and elsewhere is not the first time he has suggested that he could "easily" solve complex social problems in cities where Democrats hold political power.During his presidential campaign, Trump claimed that an unnamed Chicago police official had told him that violence in Chicago could be stopped "in one week" if officers were allowed to be "very much tougher than they are right now".Chicago typically has the highest total number of murders of any American city, though other smaller cities, including St Louis, have higher per capita murder rates.
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| Australian wildfires threaten Sydney water supplies Posted: 26 Dec 2019 06:38 PM PST  Australian authorities said on Friday they are focused on protecting water plants, pumping stations, pipes and other infrastructure from intense bushfires surrounding Sydney, the country's largest city. Temperatures in New South Wales (NSW) state are forecast to head back towards 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) early next week, fuelling fires near Warragamba Dam, which provides water to about 80% of Sydney's 5 million residents. "In recent days up to the cool change, the fires had been a potential threat to supply and assets, particularly in Warragamba and in the Blue Mountains," a spokesman for the state's water authority, WaterNSW, told Reuters.
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| "Double murder-suicide" likely in deaths of mom and 2 kids Posted: 27 Dec 2019 01:01 AM PST  A district attorney called the deaths of Erin Pascal and her children Allison, 4, and Andrew, 1, "unspeakable."
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| Teen fatally crashed ATV after cop used stun gun; family wins $12 million settlement Posted: 28 Dec 2019 12:49 PM PST ![Teen fatally crashed ATV after cop used stun gun; family wins $12 million settlement]( "Teen fatally crashed ATV after cop used stun gun; family wins $12 million settlement") The settlement will go to the family of 15-year-old Damon Grimes, who was driving his ATV in August 2017 when the fatal incident occurred.
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| Massive redwood tree falls, kills hiker in California park Posted: 27 Dec 2019 07:17 AM PST  A huge redwood tree fell and killed a man visiting Muir Woods National Monument in California on Christmas Eve, authorities said Thursday. Subhradeep Dutta, 28, of Edina, Minnesota, died while walking on a marked dirt trail with two other people in the park north of San Francisco famous for its towering trees, according to the Marin County coroner's office and a spokesman for the park. Dutta was pinned by the trunk of the 200-foot-tall (61-meter-tall) tree and died at the scene.
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| McDonald's workers assist woman after she mouths 'help me' in drive-through Posted: 27 Dec 2019 01:29 PM PST  A woman was able to escape from a life-threatening situation on Christmas Eve thanks to the quick thinking of McDonald's employees.
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| McConnell’s Big Mistake Defending Trump? Listening to Him. Posted: 27 Dec 2019 01:39 AM PST  The first crack in Donald Trump's red wall came on Christmas Eve when not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse, except for Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who said she was "disturbed" by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's promise of "total coordination" with Donald Trump in his impeachment trial in the Senate. "It's wrong to pre-judge," she said of McConnell working "hand-in-glove" with Trump.Straightforward and conscientious, so press-reluctant her name auto-corrects to "Murrow skis," the daughter of a former governor breaking publicly with McConnell is like her donning a lampshade and popping open the Champagne on New Year's Eve. When she opposed the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh, rather than dramatize her struggle—by contrast to Sen. Susan Collins, who went on about how hard it all was but finally voted as Trump told her to—Murkowski voted "present." It didn't change the outcome—Kavanaugh's approval was in the bag—but by going against Trump and McConnell she stayed true to her conscience, something the rest of her caucus lost in 2016, bearing out Sen. Lindsey Graham's warning to his party that, by nominating Trump, "We will get destroyed… and we will deserve it." Murkowski wouldn't have gone so far as to be "disturbed" had McConnell not committed one of the few mistakes of his political life in no longer simply doing everything Trump tells him to do, but doing it the way Trump tells him to. McConnell, left to his own devices, wouldn't have revealed that "Everything I do during this [trial] I'm coordinating with White House counsel. There will be no difference between the president's position and our position." When defending Trump, it must be done loudly and immediately. He keeps score. Trump is driven so mad by impeachment—he claimed not to have been impeached in one of the hundreds of unhinged tweets he's issued since the two articles were passed in the House—that he not only needed to be assured of acquittal, he had to have it blasted out prematurely to buy him a night or two when Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't disturb his dreams. Even before Murkowski's rebuke, McConnell had inched back from the ledge Trump lured him on to. He told Fox & Friends Monday morning that he hadn't "ruled out" witnesses. He had, of course, calling it an untimely "fishing expedition." The cagey, sphinx-like McConnell realized too late he shouldn't listen to Trump, a creature of impulse and immediate gratification. It's McConnell, not Trump, who's stacked the federal courts with 175 judges, setting a new indoor record when he got confirmed his seventh "unqualified" nominee: 37-year-old Kentuckian Justin Walker, who lacked any time in a courtroom or practicing law since graduating. The Obama administration and most other administrations have had none. McConnell has a point that impeachment is a "political process" but not that "there's not anything judicial about it." We're all political and partial: Some people swear by the Mets over the Yankees or Dunkin' over Starbucks, but no one admits to favoring wrong over right. It's why we have trials, and as anyone who's watched Law & Order knows that means witnesses and exhibits, direct testimony and cross-examination, and an impartial judge. McConnell keeps citing Clinton's impeachment as precedent for what he's doing. The 100-to-0 vote in that trial kept open having witnesses—and three were called ultimately called—even though there was already a stack of deposition testimony from the Starr Report. McConnell argued that "every other impeachment has had witnesses," and that Clinton's should include at least three. There might be some holiday sympathy for McConnell. Imagine what Trump would have done had McConnell held the door open for testimony from Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who may be escaping to run for the Senate in Kansas—not to mention former National Security Council chief John Bolton, who saw a "drug deal" going down in the Situation Room. There's still time before the Jan. 28 deadline to recruit a new primary opponent for McConnell's 2020 re-election bid.Before going all in with Trump, McConnell should have talked to those who've left his White House, or read the shelf full of books recounting life inside the West Wing and how, no matter how bad we think it is, it's worse. Former White House Counsel Don McGahn packed up his belongings rather than carry out Trump's orders to end the Mueller inquiry. Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis resigned rather than carry out Trump's deadly Syria policy. John Kelly predicted impeachment should Trump have only "yes men" like Mulvaney and Pompeo around him. Rex Tillerson never took back calling Trump a "moron." While Bolton may be exaggerating his superpowers, without his containment of Trump and Trump's penchant for photo-op summits, North Korea's beautiful leader might be even closer to leveling Detroit. If Trump played his cards as well as the majority leader had until now, his casinos would not have gone bankrupt. He might not have made that perfect call and 90 minutes later ordered congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine halted. He wouldn't have sent Mulvaney out to admit everything and advise everyone to get over bribing a foreign leader, or told Mulvaney to take it back and then disappear. He wouldn't have Pompeo lie that he wasn't in on the "perfect" call only to have to deny his denial when the truth came out. If only McConnell hadn't blurted out his plans, he could have done everything he said he would with impunity. Now, with Murkowski questioning McConnell throwing his lot in with Trump, he's lost the first post-impeachment round to Nancy Pelosi. At worst, by holding on to the articles of impeachment, Pelosi chose a slow death over a quick one in the craven Senate. At best, she may get a fairer, if not a fair, trial, a witness or two that if she had waited—and waited—for court rulings to compel their testimony that would have been met with cries of outrage for daring to continue hearings in the midst of an election. Pelosi has also exposed that when McConnell swears an oath to be impartial at the opening of the trial, in the sight of his Baptist God and Chief Justice John Roberts, he's either had an unbelievable change of heart, like Saul on the road to Damascus, or he's perjuring himself. If we had a functioning Senate, McConnell would have to recuse himself. Alas, with Trump as de facto majority leader, that won't happen.Senate Republicans didn't ask for a spine for Christmas, but Murkowski showed what having one is like. "If it means that I am viewed as one who looks openly and critically at every issue in front of me, rather than acting as a rubber stamp for my party or my president, I am totally good with that," she said. And so are we. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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