| Mother of Jailed Israeli Backpacker Hopes for Russia Pardon Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:39 AM PST ![Mother of Jailed Israeli Backpacker Hopes for Russia Pardon]( "Mother of Jailed Israeli Backpacker Hopes for Russia Pardon") (Bloomberg) -- The mother of an Israeli woman imprisoned on drug-smuggling charges in Russia said she's hopeful President Vladimir Putin will pardon her daughter.Naama Issachar, a 26-year-old U.S.-born Israeli army veteran, was sentenced in October to 7 1/2 years for carrying a small amount of hashish in her luggage on a transit flight via Moscow after a backpacking trip to India. Her plight has become a cause celebre in Israel, where it's widely seen as politically motivated.Putin met with Issachar's mother, Yaffa, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem on Thursday, on the sidelines of an international forum on the Holocaust. He assured her that "everything will be all right," and on Sunday, Naama Issachar applied for a presidential pardon, her lawyers said.When asked in a text message exchange whether she expects her daughter to return to Israel soon, Yaffa Issachar replied: "I hope so." The request for a pardon has been received and "all necessary legal procedures are being carried out at the moment so the president can take a decision on this issue in the nearest future," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on a conference call Monday.A decision to free Issachar, who's been in detention since April, could bolster Netanyahu, who's been indicted on corruption charges and is fighting for his political survival at the country's third election in less than a year in March.The Kremlin said last week that Israel and Russia are also making progress in settling a dispute over the ownership of Russian Orthodox Church property in Jerusalem, which Israel's Haaretz newspaper said could form part of a quid pro quo to secure Issachar's release.The Russian leader has previously rebuffed multiple pleas from Netanyahu for Issachar's sentence to be commuted.Her case for a time became entangled with that of a Russian national, Alexei Burkov, whom Israel extradited to the U.S. in November 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.(Adds Putin spokesman's comment in 4th paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Henry Meyer in Moscow at hmeyer4@bloomberg.net;Irina Reznik in Moscow at ireznik@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Bolton's lawyer blames the White House for leaking damaging book excerpts Posted: 26 Jan 2020 10:05 PM PST  A lawyer for former National Security Adviser John Bolton expressed dismay Sunday night that excerpts from Bolton's upcoming book that badly undermine President Trump's impeachment defense were leaked to The New York Times, appearing to blame someone at the White House for the disclosing the damaging information.Bolton's "manuscript was transmitted to the White House for prepublication review by the [National Security Council]," said Bolton adviser Sarah Tinsley. "The ambassador has not passed the draft manuscript to anyone else. Period." Bolton's lawyer, Charles Cooper, said in a statement "it is clear, regrettably, from The New York Times article published today that the prepublication review process has been corrupted and that information has been disclosed by persons other than those properly involved in reviewing the manuscript."> BREAKING: Statement from Bolton's lawyer Chuck Cooper. Story TK. pic.twitter.com/u3JOV7l5dD> > — Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) January 27, 2020Multiple people close to Bolton have confirmed to The Associated Press, The Washington Post, and Axios that Bolton included his recollection of Trump's Ukraine quid pro quo in his manuscript. Cooper also released a copy of the Dec. 30 letter he sent to the NSC's preclearance officials along with the manuscript.> Here's Bolton's lawyer's cover letter transmitting the manuscript to the White House last month pic.twitter.com/rIQFzxVJum> > — Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 27, 2020It isn't clear why Bolton's team appears to believe the White House, at a key moment in Trump's impeachment trial, leaked the revelation that Bolton witnessed Trump saying he wanted to continue withholding nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine until Kyiv agreed to help investigate Trump's Democratic rivals, including Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Trump's lawyers, including White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, argued Saturday there's no evidence that Trump linked the military aid and the Biden investigations.Having access to Bolton's manuscript may have given "Trump's aides and lawyers direct insight into what Mr. Bolton would say if he were called to testify at Mr. Trump's impeachment trial," and "it also intensified concerns among some of his advisers that they needed to block Mr. Bolton from testifying," the Times reports. Meanwhile, Bolton associates tell the Times he wants to testify because "he believes he has relevant information, and he has also expressed concern that if his account of the Ukraine affair emerges only after the trial, he will be accused of holding back to increase his book sales."More stories from theweek.com Mike Pompeo is a disgrace Trump's lawyers attack the Bidens during impeachment trial All the president's turncoats
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| Kobe Bryant's helicopter crashed in foggy conditions considered so dangerous that the LAPD grounded all its flights Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:24 AM PST  The NBA legend and eight others were flying in heavy fog before crashing into a hillside in Calabasas, California, at about 9:45 a.m. on Sunday.
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| Virginia woman gets life in WVa man's decapitation death Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:00 AM PST ![Virginia woman gets life in WVa man's decapitation death]( "Virginia woman gets life in WVa man's decapitation death") A Virginia woman was sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole Monday in the death of a West Virginia man who was decapitated. Roena Cheryl Mills, 43, of Rural Retreat, Virginia, was sentenced for her December conviction on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Bo White, 29, of Lenore, news outlets reported. A neighbor called police after seeing Mills covered in blood.
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| Small suspected homemade bomb explodes at Hong Kong hospital, no injuries Posted: 26 Jan 2020 09:53 PM PST ![Small suspected homemade bomb explodes at Hong Kong hospital, no injuries]( "Small suspected homemade bomb explodes at Hong Kong hospital, no injuries") A suspected small-scale homemade bomb exploded at a general hospital in Hong Kong on Monday, causing the temporary evacuation of some patients but no injuries, police said. The incident came after a group of protesters on Sunday set alight the lobby of a newly built residential building in Hong Kong that authorities had planned to use as a quarantine facility, as fears grow over a coronavirus outbreak in mainland China. Hong Kong has been convulsed with demonstrations over the past seven months centered on its relationship with mainland China, with anger fueled by what protesters see as growing interference from Beijing.
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| Pompeo Privately Dismissed Giuliani’s Allegations Against Former Ambassador Yovanovitch: Report Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:28 AM PST  Secretary of State Mike Pompeo privately dismissed Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's assertions that former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch had criticized the president, the New York Times reported Sunday.A record of the private conversation was contained in the manuscript of former White House national security adviser John Bolton's upcoming book. Pompeo apparently followed through on the order to recall Yovanovitch last May despite privately questioning the rationale for her dismissal.According to the manuscript, Pompeo privately speculated that Giuliani wanted Yovanovitch fired so that he could advance his own business interests in Ukraine without her interfering. (Some of Giuliani's clients were at the time being targeted by Ukrainian anti-corruption efforts that the ambassador supported). Yovanovitch offered the same explanation for her removal when she testified before the House Intelligence Committee last year.The news follows a contentious interview Pompeo gave to NPR on Friday, during which host Mary Louise Kelly asked the secretary of state why he didn't express support for Yovanovitch. Kelly said that after the interview, Pompeo berated her for asking about Yovanovitch and demanded Kelly identify Ukraine on an unmarked map. The secretary of state, meanwhile, said his and Kelly's team had agreed not to discuss Ukraine at all in the interview."NPR reporter Mary Louise Kelly lied to me, twice," Pompeo said in a statement after reports of the confrontation were released. "First, last month, in setting up our interview and, then again yesterday, in agreeing to have our post-interview conversation off the record. It is shameful that this reporter chose to violate the basic rules of journalism and decency."Kelly said that Pompeo had in fact not requested that the post-interview conversation be kept off the record. Emails obtained by the Washington Post appear to show Kelly and Pompeo's teams did agree that questions regarding Ukraine would be allowed in the interview.Yovanovitch was reportedly fired after Giuliani and associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman claimed the former ambassador was badmouthing the president. The former ambassador stated in testimony to House Democrats that Parnas and Fruman were pushing for a replacement who would cooperate with their efforts to coerce investigations that would benefit the president as well as their efforts to advance their own business interests.
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| US military jet crashes in Taliban territory in Afghanistan Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:02 PM PST  A US military jet crashed in mountainous territory in eastern Afghanistan, where there is a heavy Taliban presence, the Pentagon confirmed Monday, rejecting the insurgents' suggestions that it was shot down. Afghanistan US Forces spokesman Colonel Sonny Leggett confirmed in a statement that the aircraft was a US Bombardier E-11A, a type of jet used as a military airborne communications node in the region. "While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire," Leggett said.
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| Why The Ninth Circut Court Reluctantly Dismissed The Kids' Climate Case Posted: 26 Jan 2020 09:00 PM PST  This was not a problem for the courts.
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| CDC Split With China on Coronavirus Spread as Possible U.S. Cases Hit 110 Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:26 AM PST  As authorities in China scrambled to handle a coronavirus that has killed at least 81 people, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday described a surging potential crisis even as they pushed back on the latest thinking from Beijing about just how easily it spreads.Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters that the number of confirmed cases stateside had reached five—and that there had been a total of 110 "persons under investigation" for the virus in 26 states over the past week.Thirty-two of those people tested negative, and there had been no confirmed person-to-person transmissions inside the country, Messonnier said on Monday. The confirmed cases in the U.S. include patients in Orange County, California; a man in his 30s in Washington state; a woman in her 60s in Chicago; a passenger who felt ill after flying into Los Angeles International Airport; and a student at Arizona State University who does not live in university housing, the CDC said on Sunday. All of the U.S. cases appeared to involve patients who had recently traveled from Wuhan, China—the epicenter of the deadly virus. Seventy-three people were still being evaluated for the virus as of Monday.Fifth U.S. Case of Coronavirus Confirmed in Patient Who Traveled From Wuhan, China"We understand that many people in the United States are worried about this virus and how it will affect Americans," Messonnier said, adding that "risk depends on exposure," which for Americans remained "low" on Monday.In each U.S. case, health officials have said they will trace the patient's contacts and identify anyone who may have had prolonged exposure, then monitor those individuals for symptoms. In the U.S., anyone who has had close contact with confirmed patients has not been quarantined unless and until they display symptoms.That policy came into question over the weekend, when China's health minister Ma Xiaowei said "the ability of the virus to spread is getting stronger" and that authorities in that country now believe the virus can spread during the incubation period—even before infected patients become symptomatic. A study published last week in the journal Lancet appeared to bolster that contention.But Messonnier said the CDC had not seen "any clear evidence of patients being infectious before symptom onset" as of Monday, even if authorities in the U.S. "are being very aggressive and very cautious in tracking close contacts" of infected individuals."This outbreak is unfolding rapidly, and we are rapidly looking at how that impacts our posture at the border," said Messonnier. "I expect that in the coming days, our travel recommendations will change."Experts said that even as statements from Chinese health officials had to be viewed through a political lens, outright dismissal of asymptomatic transmission was premature.Eric Toner, a senior scientist with the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the University's School of Public Health, called the question "nuanced." "It's hard to know why the [Chinese] minister was so sure," said Toner. "The evidence we have seen is quite suggestive of pre-symptomatic transmission, at least in some people, but not conclusive. He may have information that we do not."For now, officials were still screening passengers at five American airports: Los Angeles International Airport, San Francisco International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Of course, fewer travelers are coming out of Wuhan in the wake of a travel lockdown late last week; Messonnier said the CDC had screened approximately 2,400 people in those airports so far but that "the number of people coming from Wuhan is declining."Though Chinese authorities halted travel from Wuhan to stop the spread of the virus, the U.S. is among several countries—including France and Russia—that were given special permission to evacuate diplomats and private citizens. In addition to the 81 dead in China—76 of whom reportedly lived in Wuhan—nearly 3,000 people across the world, including a 9-month-old baby girl in Beijing, had confirmed cases of the virus as of Monday morning. Aside from the five cases in the U.S., more have been reported in Thailand, Taiwan, Australia, Macau, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, France, Canada, Vietnam, and Nepal. There had been no deaths from the virus reported outside of China as of Monday morning. But the new fatalities in that country over the weekend, including an 88-year-old man in Shanghai, stoked fears that the government had failed to contain the infection's spread. Beijing announced Monday morning that it would push back the official end of the Lunar New Year holiday to Thursday from Sunday in order to "reduce mass gatherings" and "block the spread of the epidemic," according to a statement from China's cabinet.Meanwhile, Wuhan's mayor, Zhou Xianwang, on Monday offered to step down, along with the city's party secretary, Ma Guoqiang, in order to "appease public indignation." He said the pair were prepared to take responsibility for the crisis after days of public outcries from citizens, on social media and elsewhere."Our names will live in infamy, but as long as it is conducive to the control of the disease and to the people's lives and safety, Comrade Ma Guoqiang and I will bear any responsibility," Zhou reportedly said Monday.Dr. Adrian Hyzler, chief medical officer for Healix International, which provides medical information to travelers, told The Daily Beast the CDC will know much more about how easily the virus spreads once the incubation period—estimated at a maximum of 14 days—has passed in the five U.S. cases. "If, as the Chinese are saying, patients are contagious before symptoms develop, then it is much harder to control," he said.Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that the CDC cleared 32 people who tested negative for the virus out of 110 potential cases.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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| Slamming Romney, Ken Starr’s return and other news from today’s impeachment trial Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:17 AM PST  Here are some of the key moments of the day.
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| Saudi foreign minister says Israeli passport holders cannot visit: CNN Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:11 AM PST  Saudi Arabia's foreign minister said Israelis were not welcome to visit the kingdom after Israel decreed that Israeli citizens could visit Saudi Arabia under certain circumstances, CNN reported on Monday.
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| Get Early Access to Backcountry’s Big Winter Sale Right Now Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:30 PM PST |
| Government records show that Kobe Bryant's helicopter used to be owned by the state of Illinois Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:32 AM PST  Bryant's helicopter was owned by an operator called Island Express Holding Corp., which purchased it from Illinois in 2015.
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| Egypt sentences 37 to jail for joining Islamic State: judicial sources Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:50 AM PST ![Egypt sentences 37 to jail for joining Islamic State: judicial sources]( "Egypt sentences 37 to jail for joining Islamic State: judicial sources") An Egyptian court sentenced 37 people on Monday to jail terms including life imprisonment for joining or supporting Islamic State's Sinai Province affiliate, judicial sources said. Militants loyal to Islamic State have been waging an insurgency in the north of the Sinai Peninsula and other parts of the country that has killed hundreds of soldiers, police and residents. A Cairo criminal court sentenced eight defendants to life terms and 29 to terms ranging from one to 15 years, after prosecutors accused them of planning attacks, promoting the group's ideology in prisons and financing its cells, the judicial sources said.
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| Underwater bombs damage Syria's offshore oil facilities Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:43 AM PST  Bombs planted underwater off Syria's coast exploded Monday, damaging oil facilities used to pump oil into one of Syria's two petroleum refineries, state media and the oil minister said. Oil minister Ali Ghanem told state TV that the bombs were planted by divers in the facility used to pump oil to the coast. "The aim of the attack is to cease (oil) imports into Syria," Ghanem said, adding the ministry's experts are evaluating and fixing the damage.
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| America's F-35 Has Some Problems, And Iran Has Taken Notice Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:31 AM PST  Could Iran shoot one down?
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| Global alarm grows as China's capital reports first virus death Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:10 PM PST  China's capital on Monday recorded its first death from a deadly coronavirus as it struggles to contain a rapidly spreading disease that has sparked global alarm, with countries scrambling to evacuate their citizens from the epicentre of the epidemic. The fatality in Beijing raises the death toll from the new virus to 82, with more than 2,700 people infected across the nation. Mongolia closed its vast border to vehicles from China while Germany urged its citizens to avoid travelling to the country and Malaysia banned people from central Hubei province, where the pneumonia-like virus emerged, from entering its soil.
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| 15 Flaws in Adam Schiff’s Case Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:40 AM PST  Adam Schiff did most of the heavy lifting for the House managers, and if he performed ably, he also relied on arguments and tropes that don't withstand scrutiny.The Democratic case for impeachment and removal is now heavily encrusted with clichés, widely accepted by the media, meant to give their indictment additional weight.In his lengthy opening statement last week, Schiff relied on all of them, and then some.This is not to say that the basic charge against Trump — withholding defense aid to Ukraine to try to force investigations that he wanted — is wrong, or that Trump's conduct was proper.It's just that to try to get it to the level of impeachment and removal requires rhetorical gymnastics. Schiff strained to make Trump's Ukraine scheme a piece of Russia's interference in the 2016 election, to exaggerate its national-security and electoral consequence, and to portray removal as the only remedy.Here are 15 times that Schiff related a stilted, distorted, or flatly erroneous version of events: 1. "Just as he made use of Secretary Clinton's hacked and released emails in the previous presidential campaign."Schiff wanted to connect Trump to Russia's hacking, even though there is no connection. So he said Trump "made use" of the emails. But what does that mean? That he cited them. Well, so did everyone else. As Byron York pointed out the other day, the press widely reported on the WikiLeaks disclosures. If it was blameworthy to make a big deal of information revealed in the hacks, Bernie Sanders was a major offender, calling for the resignation of then–DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz after the DNC hack. 2. "In 2016, then–candidate Trump implored Russia to hack his opponent's email account."Again, this is an attempt to make Trump responsible for Russia's hacking. It refers to a press conference where Trump made a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Russians' being rewarded by the press if they found Hillary's missing emails. The Russians did attempt to spearfish a domain used by Clinton's personal office on the same day, but it's hard to believe Russian hackers were taking their cues from Trump, and of course, they had already hacked the DNC — hence, the occasion for Trump's riff. 3. In pushing the Ukrainians on the discredited CrowdStrike theory, Trump was "attempting to erase from history his previous election misconduct."Trump has been, no doubt, desperate to find someone else to finger for the Russian hacking since Russia is such a focus of his critics, but the hacking wasn't his work, so to refer to it as "his previous election misconduct" is absurd. 4. Robert Mueller testified "that Russia systemically interfered in our election to help elect Donald Trump, that the campaign understood that, and they willfully made use of that help." Schiff wants to portray Mueller as having found Trump guilty in his probe, when he actually found no evidence of collusion. 5. After Mueller catalogued Russian interference, the very next day, "President Trump is on the phone with a different foreign power, this time Ukraine, trying to get Ukraine to interfere in the next election."In the Schiff version, a Trump caught red-handed working with the Russians to interfere in U.S. politics then immediately turns around to work with the Ukrainians. But the opposite was true. It was Trump's sense of outraged innocence over the Mueller probe that partly motivated him to focus on Ukraine's purported role in getting the Russia investigation started. 6. Trump believes "that under Article II, he could do anything he wants."This has become a favorite chestnut of Democrats during impeachment, but it wrenches Trump's statement out of context. He was talking about having the inherent Article II power to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. Whatever you might have thought about the wisdom of such a move, Trump was correct about his power. 7. "The military aid that we provide Ukraine helps to protect and advance American national-security interests in the region and beyond." This is certainly true, but every time Democrats revert to the importance of Ukrainian defense aid as a matter of policy, it raises the question of why, by and large, Democrats went along with Barack Obama's refusal to provide any lethal assistance to Ukraine whatsoever and how Trump, overall, has been better on Ukraine assistance. 8. Trump is guilty of "abusing the powers of that office in such a way to jeopardize our national security."It's ridiculous to suggest that what turned out to be a brief hold on Ukraine aid had dire national-security consequences for the U.S. 9. "He personally asked a foreign government to investigate his opponent."This has become the conventional way that Democrats refer to Trump's request of Zelensky, although in concrete form it became a push to get them to commit to probe Burisma, the shady Ukrainian energy company that had Hunter Biden on its board. An investigation of Burisma is not the same thing as an investigation of Joe Biden. Assuming the Bidens aren't at the center of some corrupt scheme involving Burisma (and there's zero indication that they are), the investigation would have been a nothingburger in its impact on U.S. politics. Trump would have touted the investigation, but it is doubtful that this would have had any more impact than his already full-throated denunciations of Biden corruption. 10. Trump was asking the Ukrainians to help "smear a political opponent."This accords more with Schiff's fictional version of Trump's phone call with the Ukrainian president than the reality. The Ukrainians weren't being asked to manufacture evidence against Joe Biden, and an investigation of Burisma presumably wouldn't have smeared him, per the above point. 11. Acting ambassador Bill Taylor testified that the Trump team wanted the Ukrainians "in a public box" by publicly committing to the investigations, and this shows that "President Trump didn't care about the investigations being done."Schiff's theory is that Trump wanted only a public announcement of an investigation, so he could use it against Joe Biden in his campaign. Usually, though, if you want an official to publicly commit to something, it's to make it harder for him to back out of his promise. 12. Trump doesn't have a right to solicit "prohibited foreign aid in his reelection."This makes it sound like Trump was raking in Ukrainian campaign contributions and getting the Ukrainians to run ads in swing states. In reality, he was pushing for the Ukrainians to investigate a Ukrainian company, the practical political effect of which would have been nil in the U.S. 13. "The president's misconduct cannot be decided at the ballot box, for we can't be assured that the vote will be fairly won."It's really amazing that Democrats have gone, in about three years, from insisting it's impermissible to question the potential outcome of an election, when Trump ill-advisedly did so at a debate in 2016, to making it central to their worldview. They believe they were robbed in 2016 and also believe they will perhaps be robbed again. But Hillary lost under her own power in 2016, and regardless, it's beyond the power of one person to rig a national election that will draw massive attention and turnout. 14. "I don't think that impeachment power is a relic. If it is a relic, I wonder how much longer our republic can succeed."Schiff argues that failure to remove eviscerates the impeachment power. Since no president has ever been convicted and removed, it's not clear why this would be. It just means that there is a high bar to removal. 15. "If impeachment and removal cannot hold him accountable, then he truly is above the law."Again, Schiff wants to portray impeachment as the only way a president can be held accountable, when Congress has all sorts of other levers — from investigations, to funding, to inter-branch relations, to censure — to hold a president accountable.
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| British man dies in US immigration detention in Florida Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:16 PM PST  * Death of man, 39, initially attributed to hanging * UK Foreign Office said to be in touch with man's wifeA British man has died while being held in US immigration detention in Florida, the Guardian has confirmed.The death was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which said the man was 39 years old and that the cause was initially attributed to asphyxiation due to hanging. The incident was reported to have occurred on Saturday last week."Our staff are in contact with the US authorities following the death of a British man in Florida," said a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London.Foreign Office officials are understood to have been in contact with the deceased man's wife, as US officials investigate the circumstances of the death.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) did not respond to multiple requests for comment from the Guardian.In a statement to BuzzFeed, the agency identified the deceased man as Ben James Owen and clarified he had died at the Baker county detention center in Macclenny, Florida. Officials said Owen had entered the US on a temporary visa in July and had been arrested on suspicion of felony aggravated stalking, felony false imprisonment, domestic assault, and violating the conditions of his pre-trial release. The agency said the case remained under investigation.The incident marks the fifth death at a detention centre in the 2020 fiscal year, which begins in October 2019. There were eight deaths in Ice detention in the 2019 fiscal year.The immigration detention population in the United States has soared under the Trump administration. Last year Ice detained 510,854 people, compared with 396,448 in 2018. The administration has also increased its use of detention facilities, mostly run by private security companies, with a new concentration of detention centres opening in the deep south.Medical provision and mental health care at detention facilities has come under increased criticism under the Trump administration after a spate of high profile deaths since 2017.At the end of last year House Democrats on the oversight and reform committee launched an inquiry to investigate a "troubling pattern of abuse and poor treatment" of migrants in custody.
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| Historians Unmask Fourth Soviet Spy Who Worked on the Atomic Bomb Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:07 PM PST  Just what nuclear secrets did "Godsend" deliver to Russia in the 1940s?
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| Idaho Doomsday Couple Found in Hawaii—Without Missing Kids Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:29 AM PST  A doomsday-obsessed couple from Idaho who are at the center of several missing-child and suspicious death investigations have been found in Hawaii, police announced Monday.Chad Daybell and Lori Vallow were served with a search warrant on Sunday—but authorities did not find Vallow's children, Tylee and J.J., with them in Princeville on the island of Kauai.Daybell and Vallow got married weeks after first wife, Tammy, had died months earlier of what authorities at first listed as natural causes. They have since exhumed the 49-year-old's body to conduct an autopsy, which has not been released yet.Grandparents in Doomsday Missing Kids Case Offer $20K RewardLess than three months earlier, Vallow was widowed when her fourth husband, Charles, was shot to death by her brother in what police initially described as a self-defense situation but is now being reinvestigated.The newlyweds attracted scrutiny when extended family told police they were worried because they had not heard from Vallow's children, 17-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old J.J., who has special needs.Daybell and Vallow then skipped town. Rexburg, Idaho, police publicly pleaded with the couple to disclose the children's whereabouts but they refused to cooperate."We strongly believe that Joshua and Tylee's lives are in danger," Rexburg police said in a statement at the beginning of the month.Idaho Cops Blast Doomsday Parents of Missing KidsSo Idaho authorities initiated a child-protection action on behalf of the missing kids and obtained a court order to force Vallow to produce them within five days."We can confirm that Lori Vallow was served with that order in the city of Princeville on the island of Kauai, Hawaii, on Saturday, January 25th by the Kauai Police Department and that Chad Daybell was with her," police said in a statement."We can further confirm that Tylee and J.J. were not with Lori and Chad and there is no evidence that Tylee and J.J. were ever in Hawaii."Lori and Charles had lived in Kauai for several years before moving to Arizona.She reportedly became obsessed with Daybell's books on doomsday scenarios and near-death experiences, marketed for a Mormon audience, and bonded with the author. After Charles was killed by her brother—who later died under unknown circumstances—Lori moved to Idaho, where Daybell also lived.It's believed they got married in November, reportedly in Hawaii.If Vallow doesn't comply with the court order to produce Tylee and J.J., she could be arrested on contempt of court charges, police said.J.J.'s grandparents have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to their return. "We truly believe and we hope and pray these kids are alive," grandfather Larry Woodcock said at a press conference earlier this month.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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| US officials are testing for the new coronavirus in 26 states after 5 cases were confirmed. Here's what we know about the US patients. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:34 PM PST  The US's confirmed cases of the coronavirus consist of two patients in California, one in Arizona, one in Washington, and one in Illinois.
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| Google search for 'When did Kobe Bryant die' no longer lists Jan. 26 as 'date of assassination' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 12:19 PM PST  The Google search for "When did Kobe Bryant die" now says "date of death" after initially saying "date of assassination" late Sunday and early Monday.
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| U.S. government urges Americans to reconsider travel to China because of coronavirus Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday it had not recorded any new confirmed cases of the illness overnight since its last update of five, but that as many as 110 potential cases were under investigation.The State Department said Americans should reconsider any plans to travel to China during the outbreak.
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| Georgia inmate who came close to execution in 2017 dies Posted: 26 Jan 2020 06:13 AM PST  A Georgia death row inmate whose planned execution was halted in September 2017 by the U.S. Supreme Court after his lawyers argued his death sentence was tainted by a juror's racial bias has died, according to the state Department of Corrections. Keith "Bo" Tharpe, 61, died of natural causes Friday, Georgia Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joan Heath confirmed in an email Sunday. In 1991, a jury convicted Tharpe of murder in the September 1990 slaying of his sister-in-law, Jacquelyn Freeman, and sentenced him to death.
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| Bloomberg Opposed Iran Nuclear Deal But Also Trump’s Withdrawal Posted: 26 Jan 2020 03:18 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg said Sunday that despite his opposition to the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran, he also opposed the way President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it in 2018, saying it was "tantamount to giving Iran permission to re-launch its nuclear program."In a speech in Miami to launch his outreach to Jewish voters, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said he spoke out against the 2015 deal at the time because it should have done more to address Iran's ballistic missile program and other concerns. But Trump shouldn't have left the deal made with the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany because Iran is once again moving toward the development of a nuclear weapon after years of compliance, he said."As president, I will work to make the strongest deal possible to constrain the Iranian regime's aggression and territorial ambitions, and put an end to their nuclear program, because the world must never allow Iran to threaten Israel and the whole region with a nuclear attack," Bloomberg said in his prepared remarks.Bloomberg also addressed the rise in anti-Semitic violence in America. He said that while one person can't be blamed for it, Trump's rhetoric, support of conspiracy theories and silence about racist groups means "there is just no escaping the direct line between his conduct in office and the rise of violent attacks targeted at minority groups." He vowed to launch a national effort to crack down on violent extremists.The former New York mayor also said Trump was harming the U.S. relationship with Israel because the president is "trying to use Israel as a wedge issue for his own electoral purposes.""We must never let Israel be a football that American politicians kick around in an effort to score points," Bloomberg said. Bloomberg also vowed never to impose conditions on U.S. military aid to Israel, including missile defense, and said he wouldn't wait three years to release an Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. His remarks came just days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main election challenger, former Israeli military chief Benny Gantz accepted invitations to the White House this week ahead of Trump's planned release of his long-awaited plan.It was a public embrace of his Judaism by Bloomberg, who launched a "United for Mike" national coalition Sunday with a council of Jewish community leaders to rally support from Jewish voters in his bid for the Democratic nomination. In his speech Bloomberg discussed the connection between his faith and American values and the 2020 race against Trump."Sometimes democracy is a birthright," Bloomberg said. "Sometimes it is a gift. And sometimes it is a fight. Today, it's a fight -- and I'm asking you to stand and fight with me as proud Americans, and as proud Jews."Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg. (Updates with additional comments from fifth paragraph.)This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan SherzaiRos KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 'Chernobyl 2020:' Chinese people are comparing the government's delayed response to the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak to the Chernobyl disaster and the HBO series about it Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:31 AM PST  Chinese people are criticizing their government's slow response to the Wuhan coronavirus online, comparing its handling of the outbreak to Chernobyl.
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| 10 Tax Breaks for People Over 50 Posted: 27 Jan 2020 06:41 AM PST ![10 Tax Breaks for People Over 50]( "10 Tax Breaks for People Over 50") Older people get a bigger standard deduction, and they can earn more before they have to file a tax return at all. If you don't itemize your tax deductions, you can claim a larger standard deduction if you or your spouse is age 65 or older. The standard deduction for seniors is $1,650 higher than the deduction for people younger than 65 who file as individuals.
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| Navistar loses lawsuit against US Army and Oshkosh over vehicle buys Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  The U.S. Court of Federal Claims has dismissed Navistar's complaint against the U.S. Army and Oshkosh Defense over the service's decision to avoid competition for a vehicle procurement effort.
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| Taliban says it gunned down U.S. military plane in Afghanistan, killing all personnel onboard Posted: 27 Jan 2020 08:13 AM PST  The Taliban said it had shot down a U.S. military plane in the central Afghan province of Ghazni on Monday, killing all personnel onboard.
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| South Carolina shooting: Two dead and four wounded after gunman opens fire in bar Posted: 27 Jan 2020 08:24 AM PST  Two people are dead and at least four are wounded following a shooting at a South Carolina bar on Sunday morning.The Darlington County Coroner's Office identified Dicaprio Collins, 21 and Bryan Robinson, 29 as the victims of the shooting at Mac's Lounge in Hartsville, South Carolina.
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| Iran general warns of retaliation if U.S. threats continue Posted: 27 Jan 2020 07:39 AM PST  The chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warned on Monday that it will retaliate against American and Israeli commanders if the United States continues to threaten top Iranian generals.
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| Downing of jet in Iran reveals Islamic Republic's wider woes Posted: 26 Jan 2020 10:23 PM PST ![Downing of jet in Iran reveals Islamic Republic's wider woes]( "Downing of jet in Iran reveals Islamic Republic's wider woes") The Ukrainian jetliner stood ready for takeoff at Iran's main international airport bound for Kyiv, packed with passengers and so many bags on one of the cheapest routes to the West that the ground crew rushed to unload some luggage to make its weight for flight. Nearly an hour late, Tehran air traffic controllers finally cleared Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 for takeoff, carrying a newlywed couple, Iranian students bound for universities in Canada and others seeking a better life abroad. The plane would be shot down only minutes later by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
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| Shunned by the West and China, Zimbabwe Turns to U.A.E. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 07:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterSanctioned by the West and spurned by China, Zimbabwe has turned to the United Arab Emirates in its latest bid to find a savior that can arrest the collapse of its economy.Zimbabwe's government has approached the U.A.E. in hopes of selling a stake in its national oil company, according to three company and government officials familiar with the plan. It also wants companies in the U.A.E. to buy more of its gold, they said.President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said U.A.E. investors will build solar plants in Zimbabwe, and U.A.E. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan a year ago issued a decree to open an embassy in Zimbabwe. Dubai also contributed to relief efforts when Zimbabwe was hit by a cyclone last year.Zimbabwe's economy is in free-fall: It likely contracted by more than 6% last year, according to government estimates. Half the population is in need of food aid, inflation is running at over 500% and its currency has depreciated by more than 90% against the dollar since a 1:1 peg was abolished in February last year."They need investment desperately," said Jee-A van der Linde, an economic analyst at NKC African Economics in Paarl, South Africa. "It's been snowballing. I don't know where it's going to end up. I don't know how that would be appealing for the U.A.E."Oil companies in the U.A.E. said they were unaware of the interest.Belarusian BusesThe U.A.E.'s foreign ministry didn't respond to requests for comment.The U.A.E. is not the only country Mnangagwa has targeted for potential investment. Since taking power from Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 coup, he has crisscrossed the globe and attended gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, repeating the mantra 'Zimbabwe is open for business.' Two trips to Russia and former Soviet republics revived interest in a platinum project and a fleet of second-hand Belarusian buses now ply the streets of the capital, Harare, and the second-biggest city, Bulawayo.By May 2019, investment pledges worth $27 billion had been announced in projects ranging from steel mills to abattoirs. There's little evidence that they are being developed.A visit by Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister in January ended with only pledges of further infrastructural projects being carried out by China. There was no mention by the "all-weather-friend" as Zimbabwe likes to describe China, extending any financial bailout.Zimbabwe wants to sell a stake of as much as 25% in the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe, the people said, declining to be identified as the plans haven't been disclosed.NOIC owns storage depots at the port of Beira in neighboring Mozambique as well as five locations in Zimbabwe. It also owns gas stations and the pipeline that brings oil products from Beira to Mutare for companies including Puma Energy BV, in eastern Zimbabwe.Fuel ShortagesZimbabwe is prone to frequent shortages of motor fuel and sees a relationship with the U.A.E., possibly through the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as a way of securing supply, one of the people said. The southern African nation consumes 1.4 million liters of gasoline and 2.5 million liters of diesel daily, according to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority."We are working toward establishing a permanent arrangement with friendly countries and that also includes the U.A.E.," said Fortune Chasi, Zimbabwe's energy minister, declining to comment directly on whether Zimbabwe had approached the U.A.E.(Adds Davos in eighth paragraph)\--With assistance from Zainab Fattah and Mahmoud Habboush.To contact the reporters on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net;Ray Ndlovu in Johannesburg at rndlovu1@bloomberg.net;Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Gordon BellFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A Dangerous Game: Russia and America Keep Flying Their Planes Near Each Other's Borders Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:58 AM PST  Nuclear chicken anyone?
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| Icelandic volcano swell signals potential eruption Posted: 27 Jan 2020 08:06 AM PST  Small earthquakes and a so-called "inflation" of the mountain, signalling a potential volcanic eruption, have been reported near Iceland's famous "Blue Lagoon," local authorities said Monday. The Icelandic Met Office declared a state of uncertainty over the weekend, following days of several smaller earthquakes and a swelling of the mountain. For nearly a week, a series of earthquakes have been shaking the area around Grindavik, not far from the steaming waters of the "Blue Lagoon," a popular geothermal spa in southwestern Iceland on the Reykjanes Peninsula.
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| Family of 5 found dead in North Carolina home: All died of single gunshot wounds Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:44 AM PST  A family of five and their dog were found dead Friday in their Vanceboro, North Carolina home.
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| The outbreaks of both the Wuhan coronavirus and SARS likely started in Chinese wet markets. Photos show what the markets look like. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:41 AM PST  The Wuhan coronavirus outbreak likely started in a Chinese wet market, where livestock and poultry are sold alongside animals like dogs and civets.
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| Steven Mnuchin's wife, Louise Linton, sides with Greta Thunberg over her husband, deletes post Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:18 AM PST  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin mocked 17-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, last week, telling reporters that because Thunberg lacks an economics degree like he has, she has no standing to criticize the U.S. and other nations for failing to adequately tackle what scientists call the existential global threat of climate change. "After she goes and studies economics in college, she can come back and explain that to us," Mnuchin said.Not everyone agreed with Mnuchin's dismissive response to Thunberg, including — at least for half an hour — his wife, Louise Linton. "I stand with Greta on this issue," Linton wrote Saturday on Instagram. "(I don't have a degree in economics either.) We need to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels. Keep up the fight @gretathunberg."> Louise Linton comes out against her own husband, Steve Mnuchin, to side with Greta Thunberg> > Earlier this week, Mnuchin said Thunberg could explain climate change, "after she goes and studies economics in college." pic.twitter.com/DgEMi8qKXR> > — Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) January 25, 2020Linton deleted the post after about 30 minutes, New York's Olivia Nuzzi reports, so it looks like she's not going to start a Trump spouse support group with, say, George Conway. But it was brave while it lasted.More stories from theweek.com Mike Pompeo is a disgrace Trump's lawyers attack the Bidens during impeachment trial All the president's turncoats
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| Pro-Life Dem Confronts Buttigieg over Party’s Commitment to Abortion: ‘We Have No Part in the Party’ Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:45 AM PST  South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg was confronted by a pro-life Democratic voter over the party's position on abortion during a Fox News town hall event on Sunday."I am a proud pro-life Democrat," audience member Kristin Day said. "Would you support more moderate platform language [regarding abortion] in the Democratic Party to ensure that the party of diversity and inclusion really does include everybody?" Currently, the Democratic party platform supports abortion up to nine months into pregnancy."I support the position of my party, that this kind of medical care needs to be available to everyone, and I support the Roe vs. Wade framework that holds that early in pregnancy there are very few restrictions and late in pregnancy there are very few exceptions," Buttigieg responded. "The best I can offer is that we may disagree on that very important issue and hopefully we will be able to partner on other issues."The exchange happened two days after President Trump became the first U.S. president in history to address the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C."Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House," Trump told the audience at the march.The highest-ranking Democrat to address the march was Louisiana state representative Katrina Jackson, who wrote legislation in 2014 that restricted abortion in the state."Louisiana is the number one pro-life state. And do you know why? Because in Louisiana, the majority of Democrats who are elected are pro-lifers," Jackson said. "Every day that I walk into the state capitol, I am greeted by pro-lifers regardless of whether they're black, white, Republican, Democrat, male, female."
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| A group of bystanders lifted an SUV off a 25-year-old woman in New York after it struck her and pinned her to the ground Posted: 27 Jan 2020 08:05 AM PST  In a video shared to Twitter, a group of bystanders can be seen running toward the SUV, joining forces, and removing it from a woman who had been hit.
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| Father arrested in killings of 5 of his infant children Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:44 AM PST  A California father about to be freed from prison has been taken into custody in connection with the decades-old killings of five of his infant children in a case a sheriff said has haunted his agency for years. Paul Perez, 57, a convicted sex offender with a 20-year criminal history, was charged in the deaths of the children born between 1992 and 2001, authorities announced Monday, the same day he was supposed to be released from a state prison in Delano on unrelated charges. A homicide investigation was launched in the spring of 2007 after a fisherman found the badly decomposed remains of a 3-month-old boy recently identified as Nikko Lee Perez.
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| Sanders Goes After JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon in New Ad Posted: 26 Jan 2020 10:39 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders goes after Jamie Dimon in a new campaign ad, labeling the JPMorgan Chase & Co. chief executive officer "the biggest corporate socialist in America today."The jab continues criticism by the Vermont senator and presidential candidate after Dimon knocked socialism in an op-ed published last week in Time magazine as part of its coverage of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "Are you kidding me?" a Sanders aide exclaims in the ad, which was posted on Twitter. The spot cites Dimon's pay, including $31.5 million last year, and says JPMorgan received bailouts after the global financial crisis 12 years ago.Dimon, a 63-year-old billionaire, has previously said JPMorgan, which expanded during the crisis by acquiring collapsing rivals, didn't need a bailout to survive at the time. In 2012, he said his firm temporarily accepted money from a Treasury Department program because "we were asked to" so weaker rivals could tap it without being singled out. (Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Todd Shields in Washington at tshields3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ros Krasny at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net, Magan SherzaiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iraqi security forces kill protester, rockets hit U.S. embassy Posted: 26 Jan 2020 02:12 AM PST  Iraqi security forces shot at anti-government protesters in Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least one person, and unidentified men set fire to sit-in tents in a southern Iraqi city, police and medics said, as months-long civil unrest escalated. Separately, at least one of five Katyusha rockets fired at Baghdad's fortified Green Zone hit the U.S. embassy, wounding three people, in a rare direct targeting of the compound, security sources said. Anti-government protests erupted in Baghdad on Oct. 1 and quickly turned violent.
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| What Happens if a Battleship and Submarine Had a Baby? Posted: 25 Jan 2020 08:00 PM PST  It's been tried before.
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