| Romney says Bolton revelations make it 'increasingly likely' Senate will call witnesses Posted: 27 Jan 2020 07:59 AM PST  Mitt Romney said he thinks new revelations from former Trump national security adviser John Bolton will increase the number of Republican senators who will vote in favor of calling at least Bolton to testify in the Senate impeachment trial.
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| Justices okay immediate Trump crackdown on immigrants’ use of public benefits Posted: 28 Jan 2020 05:12 PM PST  The Supreme Court said Monday it will allow the Trump administration to begin enforcing a controversial new policy making it harder for low-income legal immigrants to obtain green cards or visas. The administration's new, expanded "public charge" rule, which makes it easier for officials to bar immigrants who use, or are deemed likely to use, non-cash government benefits such as Medicaid or food stamps, is one of the most consequential policy changes by the Trump administration to date in its efforts to curtail legal immigration.
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| Kobe Bryant helicopter video emerges showing ill-fated flight minutes before crash Posted: 28 Jan 2020 11:25 AM PST  A video that appears to show Kobe Bryant's helicopter circling over California roughly 15 minutes before the fatal crash has been posted online, illustrating the foggy conditions faced by the chopper on its last flight.In the video, which was posted by a user on Twitter who said they live in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale — where Bryant's flight circled for roughly 10 minutes on Sunday awaiting instruction, according to flight records — the helicopter can be seen moving slowly in the sky above, obscured by the early morning fog.
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| Judge frees NFL star Antonio Brown from house arrest Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:13 AM PST  A Florida judge freed NFL free agent Antonio Brown from house arrest Tuesday, allowing him to travel freely as he awaits trial on charges that he attacked the driver of a moving truck. Instead of wearing an ankle GPS monitor, Brown, 31, will have to check in with court personnel daily. Brown was one of the NFL's top wide receivers during his nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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| Soldier killed, general wounded during Mexico drug plane raid Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:36 AM PST  A Mexican soldier was killed and a general wounded Monday when traffickers opened fire on a military patrol that sought to intercept a drug plane as it landed on a roadway, officials said.
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| Indonesia's Aceh unveils new female flogging squad Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:58 AM PST  The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and then unleashes a flurry of lashes -- proving herself as the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia's Aceh province. Such behaviour constitutes a morality crime in Aceh, the only region in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic law -- known as Sharia.
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| U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:05 AM PST ![U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields]( "U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields") The United Nations raised "serious concerns" on Tuesday about the trials of hundreds of alleged Islamic State members in Iraq, some of whom merely prepared meals, offered medical services or even acted as human shields for the jihadist group. Iraq has processed thousands of cases under its anti-terrorism law - including of detainees from outside the Middle East transferred from neighboring Syria - in the aftermath of a 2014-17 war against Islamic State militants.
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| Some Patients With Wuhan Coronavirus Only Show Mild Symptoms. Here's Why That's a Problem Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:19 AM PST  Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and at least one patient has reportedly showed no symptoms at all
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| GOP senators seemed enthralled with Dershowitz's Trump impeachment defense. Elizabeth Warren found it 'nonsensical.' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:55 PM PST  Celebrity defense lawyer and retired Harvard criminal law professor Alan Dershowitz closed out Day 2 of President Trump's impeachment trial defense Monday night, and unlike Trump's other defenders, he mentioned inconvenient new revelations from Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton. Dershowitz also differentiated himself by eschewing attacks on Joe and Hunter Biden or the unkindness of impeachment and instead mounted a "constitutional" defense of Trump. Republican senators appeared thrilled with the presentation.> Dershowitz seized the attention of GOP senators like no other speaker I've seen at the trial. There were no empty seats. Sens who never take notes were writing furiously. Sen. Scott applauded at end and many later went over to shake Dersh's hand and slap his back.> > -- Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 28, 2020Other legal scholars were less impressed. Dershowitz argued that the articles of impeachment approved by the House, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, are not "constitutionally authorized criteria for impeachment."He went on to acknowledge that Bolton may claim he personally witnessed Trump link $391 million in Ukraine military aid to foreign help investigating Biden and Trump's other Democratic rivals, but argued that "nothing in the Bolton revelations, even if true, would rise to the level of an abuse of power or an impeachable offense."Dershowitz also conceded he held different views on whether abuse of power was an impeachable offense back in 1998, during President Bill Clinton's impeachment, but said he "was not fully aware of the compelling counterarguments" then and has reached a different conclusion after conducting his own research.One of the few constitutional scholars he cited, Harvard Law's Niko Bowie, dismantled Dershowitz's argument on Twitter and in a new New York Times op-ed. Former Harvard Law professor Elizabeth Warren, now a senator-juror and Democratic presidential candidate, also found Derhowitz's argument "nonsensical" and abstruse.> "...and that we should not be using the president's intent as part of understanding impeachment. Criminal law is all about intent. Mens rea is the heart of criminal law. That's the very basis of it. So it makes his whole presentation just nonsensical. I truly could not follow it"> > -- Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) January 28, 2020"Alan Dershowitz, to his credit, said that his own view was very much a minority view of what the impeachment provision means," CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin said. "To his discredit, the reason why it's a minority view is because he's wrong." More stories from theweek.com John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats It's 2020 and women are exhausted
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| China wants Danish daily to apologize for virus cartoon Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:10 AM PST ![China wants Danish daily to apologize for virus cartoon]( "China wants Danish daily to apologize for virus cartoon") China demanded Monday that a major Danish newspaper, which angered Muslims worldwide by publishing drawings of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005, apologizes for a cartoon on the new virus outbreak in China.
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| There Is No Going Back If Iran Sinks A U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:30 PM PST  It would mean war.
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| Labour Front-Runner Starmer Warns Brexit Risks Breaking Up U.K. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:23 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast.Keir Starmer, the front-runner to replace Jeremy Corbyn as leader of Britain's opposition Labour Party, said Brexit risks breaking up the U.K. as he called for a "radical" redistribution of power to towns and regions.In a series of broadcast interviews on Monday, Starmer, the party's Brexit spokesman, said politicians have spent the past three years arguing about what sort of divorce agreement to strike with the European Union, without focusing on the underlying causes of Brexit. That risks creating a "vacuum" that's filled by nationalism, he said."There's a very deep feeling, and this did come out in the referendum, that the power, the wealth, the resource, the opportunities are all in London and they're not in the regions: We've got got address that," Starmer told Sky News. He then told the BBC: "We are at risk of watching the breakup of the United Kingdom."The U.K. is due to leave the EU on Friday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson stormed to an 80-seat majority last month, enabling him to push his withdrawal agreement through Parliament. With 2020 set to be dominated by negotiations on the shape of future economic ties with the bloc, the premier has also said he's keen to move onto domestic priorities including the health service, public transport and policing.But Starmer argued that people around the U.K. want to see more decisions being taken locally. He said in an emailed statement he plans to tour the U.K. during the leadership contest -- scheduled to end on April 4 -- arguing "for a radical redistribution of power, wealth and opportunity based on a new federal structure."Power Monopoly"We need to end the monopoly of power in Westminster and spread it across every town, city, region and nation of the United Kingdom," Starmer said.Starmer's message chimes with that of Lisa Nandy, another candidate for the leadership, whose campaign -- focused on empowering towns -- has turned her into a genuine contender in the contest.Starmer, Nandy and Rebecca Long-Bailey -- viewed as Corbyn's preferred successor -- have all crossed the threshold of support from unions, affiliated groups and local parties they need to make it onto the final ballot paper, while the party's foreign affairs spokeswoman, Emily Thornberry, has until Feb. 14 to get there.To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Tim Ross at tross54@bloomberg.net, Robert Hutton, Thomas PennyFor 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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| Behind The Auschwitz Commemorations, A Raw Putin Power Play Posted: 27 Jan 2020 10:29 AM PST  JERUSALEM—Before he even headed to Auschwitz, the Nazi death camp liberated 75 years ago on an equally icy January 27, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin's first task on landing in Warsaw was to make peace with Polish President Andrzej Duda.Kate Middleton's Secret Photos of Holocaust Survivors UnveiledDuda was of one the few conspicuous absentees from the commemoration Rivlin hosted last week in Jerusalem, when Israel's national Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, observed the event in the presence of some 50 world leaders, including Vice President Mike Pence and Russian President Vladimir Putin.In fact, Putin was the reason Duda stayed away.The Russian president has advanced a revisionist account of World War II in which Moscow's notorious non-aggression pact with the Nazi regime is erased, and Poland, which was invaded by both Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin in September 1939, is cast as the guilty party collaborating with the Nazis.In 1941, when Hitler tore up the nonaggression pact and launched his invasion of the Soviet Union, Stalin became an ally of the United States and Great Britain. But he had already murdered, in his own right, millions of his own subjects. In 1940 his troops massacred systematically some 22,000 of Poland's military officers and members of the intelligentsia.When Polish President Duda heard that Putin would give a keynote address in Jerusalem, he demanded equal time. But Yad Vashem, a public institution, refused, so Duda stayed conspicuously away.But there is more to it than this dispute over Putin's reimagined Russian history. Behind the controversy lies a web of rivalries and power struggles pitting independent nations once under Soviet dominion against Putin's broader effort to recover what he sees as the glory—and at least some of the territory—of the Soviet empire.In a parallel channel, the controversy is fed by a feud between two Jewish billionaires leveraging the Auschwitz commemorations to vie for international influence.On one side, is former U.S. Ambassador Ronald Lauder, scion of the Estée Lauder cosmetics fortune and president of the World Jewish Congress, based in New York, who has long sponsored the annual memorial celebrations at the gates of Auschwitz in Poland.On the other is the oligarch Viatcheslav "Moshe" Kantor, a Moscow-born fertilizer magnate who is close to Putin. Kantor heads the European Jewish Congress and its subsidiary, the World Holocaust Forum Foundation.Rivlin is Israel's titular head of state. When he dreamed of Israel hosting an event to mark the Nazi defeat, he did not imagine that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of government, would still be running for office more than a year after dissolving the parliament, or that Netanyahu would be managing a campaign while facing criminal indictments.Netanyahu's Big Win Means His Party Is in Real TroubleAs the event approached, and Netanyahu encroached, hoping the moment would bolster his candidacy as "Israel's face to the world," Israel's low-budget presidency found itself in want of a sponsor.Enter Kantor, for whom the commemoration became a platform to prove his international usefulness to Putin."It wasn't Yad Vashem's event, nor Rivlin's, nor even the ministry of foreign affairs'," said Ofer Aderet, history correspondent for the Israeli daily Haaretz, who has followed Israel's increasingly fraught relations with the eastern European nations in which much of the Holocaust took place. "It was a one man show run by Moshe Kantor, a guy whose name is not known to Israelis, who understood this to be an Israeli event, something official."Rivlin's office estimated that the event cost about $5.7 million, but acknowledged paying only "several hundred thousand shekels"—a sum ranging anywhere from $60,000 to $260,000—for Wednesday night's formal dinner for heads of state.Jonathan Cummings, Rivlin's spokesman, said it was "accurate" to report that Kantor had, in effect, footed the entire bill—an undisclosed sum—for a three-day event Israel billed as one of the most important diplomatic showcases in its entire history.The question of why Israel would outsource a major diplomatic achievement to a Russian oligarch remains officially unanswered. But it was vigorously debated in Israeli cafés in recent days, especially by Israelis of Russian origin, many of whom, having left post-Soviet Russia for Israel, are no great fans of Putin or of the loose cast of ultra-rich men who surround him."It's all about propaganda," says tour guide Igor Schwartz. Now 46 years old, Schwartz has lived in Israel for 21 years, but was born in Putin's hometown of St. Petersburg, which was still called Leningrad in those days.He was unmoved by the 25-foot tall sculpture Putin and Netanyahu unveiled in Sacker Park, Jerusalem's largest green space, to honor about 1 million Russians who died during the Nazi siege of his old hometown."Here and in all the world," Schwartz said, "Putin is the enemy. He's been the leader of Russia in one way or another for about 20 years, and what has happened during that time? Russia has gone only down."In a message to followers, an exultant Netanyahu summed up the diplomatic whirlwind in Jerusalem as "the morning with Vladimir Putin, midday with world leaders at Yad Vashem, and the evening with Vice President of the United States."But the result was clear: "It was a huge victory for Putin," Aderet said, a triumphant prance around the jewel of Jerusalem, in which he publicly cemented his role as the new face of power in the Middle East.In a Jerusalem speech that left many stunned, and made no mention of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Putin said that worse than the Nazis, were their "accomplices… often crueler than their masters. Death factories and concentration camps were served not only by the Nazis, but also by their accomplices in many European countries.""He won," Aderet said. "He succeeded in creating a situation in which he was transformed into the supreme hero, a revered king to whom everyone here pays obeisance, as if he himself opened the gates of Auschwitz."Greeting Putin at Ben Gurion airport, Israeli Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz, the son of Polish-Jewish survivors of the Holocaust, said, "Israel is appreciative of the great sacrifices the Russian people made in World War II and the overwhelmingly important contributions of the Red Army in defeating the German Nazis and liberating the concentration camps, among them Auschwitz.""We know exactly who did the liberating. We know the historical truth," Katz said.The Soviet Army did liberate Auschwitz—but in fact, Russian troops did not. The Red Army's First Ukrainian Front opened the gates of hell, commanded by Ukrainian officers then subordinate to the Soviet command. In an elegant gesture, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky ceded his delegation's seats at the Jerusalem event to Holocaust survivors, few of whom secured invitations. Space was so tight at Yad Vashem, and so many personalities had to be accommodated, that only 30 out of the 780 seats at the ceremony were reserved for those who had endured the horrors of the death camps."Israel comes off as a miserable failure," Aderet lamented, "prepared to bend history for any immediate domestic interest." He noted that in recent years, Poland's right-wing populist government has indulged in its own revisionism, even passing a law criminalizing any comment implying Polish collaboration with the Nazi final solution, such as the term "Polish death camp" instead of a Nazi death camp in occupied Poland. Putin's tactic is to suggest that he and those he supports, especially separatists in Ukraine, are still fighting the old fight against modern fascists and Nazis. And on Monday, Putin boycotted the ceremony at Auschwitz, where Lauder and Duda are the hosts.Rivlin's first act upon landing there was to lay a wreath at a memorial to Witold Pilecki, a Polish hero who, as a leader of the anti-Nazi underground, volunteered to be imprisoned at Auschwitz and gather intelligence, which he transmitted to the west.Then, expressing sorrow that Polish-Israeli ties have been harmed in the past by "political intervention in questions of history," Rivlin attempted to repair some of the wounds opened by the week's jamboree of remembrances."We remember that Poland and the Polish people are victims of the Second World War," he said, in formal remarks.Israel, he said, remembers that "over one million Jews were exterminated at Auschwitz," and that "Nazi Germany initiated, planned and implemented the genocide of the Jewish people in Poland… and takes full responsibility for its actions.""We remember that during the war the Polish people fought with courage and strength against Nazi Germany. But we also remember that many Poles stood by and even assisted in the murder of Jews."The diplomatic statement, acknowledging both Poland's truth and the truth of Europe's Jews, is typical of Rivlin, a fellow member of Netanyahu's nationalist Likud party who has spent a significant part of his presidency mitigating damage caused by the prime minister's headstrong determination to hold onto power. On Monday, Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C., with his great political ally President Donald Trump, who has promised to settle the long, painful Israeli-Palestinian dispute by unveiling "the deal of the century," which most analysts believe will die aborning.At the very moment that Netanyahu tweeted on Monday that he was "At the White House. Making History. Keeping Israel safe," Rivlin made his way along rows of about 200 Holocaust survivors who attended the commemoration at Auschwitz, slowly shaking hands, exchanging words with each of them, and finally marching with other world leaders on the dark path the Nazis forced on the Jews. 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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| Historians unveil rare photos of Sobibor death camp Posted: 28 Jan 2020 09:43 AM PST  Hundreds of newly discovered photographs, including some taken at the Sobibor death camp, represent a "quantum leap" in research into Nazi crimes against humanity, historians at the Berlin museum Topography of Terror said Tuesday. Historians said the "exceptional collection" provided unprecedented insights into the Sobibor camp in German Nazi-occupied Poland, about which little is known even 75 years after the end of World War II. The trove, consisting of 361 black-and-white photos and several written documents, also includes photos believed to show convicted Nazi guard John Demjanjuk, who denied ever being at Sobibor.
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| Warning shots fired as migrants rush Serbia's border with Hungary Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:04 AM PST  A Hungarian security officer fired three warning shots early on Tuesday after about 60 migrants tried to force their way through a checkpoint on the border with Serbia, and Serbian police said later they had arrested 37 people for trying to cross the frontier illegally. No one was wounded in the incident, which took place at the Roszke/Horgos border crossing, Hungarian police spokeswoman Szilvia Szabo said. Hungarian police said the group tried to enter the European Union member state at the crossing at about 0430 GMT, prompting the security officer on site to fire the warning shots.
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| US Navy’s first Triton drones arrive in Guam Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  Two drones arrived in Guam and will serve as part of an early operational capability to develop a concept of operations for the high-altitude, long-endurance systems.
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| Rep. Doug Collins expected to run for Senate, setting up GOP clash Posted: 27 Jan 2020 04:42 PM PST  The move complicates Republicans' efforts to hold on to a battleground Senate seat.
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| 'My alarm bells went off': One witness offers his account of Kobe Bryant's helicopter crash Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:47 PM PST  Scott Daehlin, who witnessed Kobe Bryant's fatal crash, said he heard the helicopter hovering in low cloud cover seconds before it crashed.
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| Harvard professor charged with hiding China ties, payments Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:47 PM PST  A Harvard University professor was charged Tuesday with lying about his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program and concealing payments he received from the Chinese government for research. Charles Lieber, chair of the department of chemistry and chemical biology, is accused of hiding his involvement in China's Thousand Talents Plan, a program designed to lure people with knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property to China. Lieber was arrested early Tuesday at his office at the Ivy League university, officials said.
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| A UFO Or America's Newest Stealth Plane? Iran Just Saw Something Fly By At Mach 10 Posted: 28 Jan 2020 10:56 AM PST  What on Earth...?
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| Greta Thunberg slammed the Associated Press for cropping a black activist out of a photo of her at Davos Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:21 AM PST  "You didn't just erase a photo. You erased a continent," Ugandan climate change activist Vanessa Nakate said in a tweet responding to the slight.
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| Powerful 7.7 earthquake hits between Cuba and Jamaica Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:15 PM PST  The U.S. Geological Survey says a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica.
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| How the world discovered the Nazi death camps Posted: 26 Jan 2020 08:01 PM PST  Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to global attention. Many of the ghastly pictures were at first held back from the broader public, partly out of concern for those with missing relatives. The concentration and extermination camps were liberated one by one as the Allied armies advanced on Berlin in the final days of the 1939-1945 war.
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| Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:32 AM PST ![Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office]( "Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office") Venezuelan special police detained a fugitive Colombian former senator who had illegally crossed the border, the force's chief said, four months after she escaped custody by climbing out of her dentist's office in Bogota. Aida Merlano, a former Conservative senator who was imprisoned last year for vote buying, made her theatrical escape in October, lowering herself with a rope and fleeing on the back of a delivery motorcycle. Jose Dominguez, head of Venezuela's FAES Special Action Force, wrote on his Instagram account late on Monday that officers detained her in the city of Maracaibo, capital of western Zulia state by the Colombian border.
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| A teacher's videos inside quarantined Wuhan show the streets eerily deserted and lines out the door at the pharmacy Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:08 PM PST  Ben Kavanaugh has been chronicling his life in quarantined Wuhan, China, for the British broadcaster Channel 4.
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| Bolton Revelation May Scramble Trump’s Trial Posted: 27 Jan 2020 03:05 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Want to receive this post in your inbox every day? Sign up for the Balance of Power newsletter, and follow Bloomberg Politics on Twitter and Facebook for more.His has been perhaps the most sought-after testimony of the Democrats' impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. And now John Bolton has delivered a bombshell without even making a visit to Capitol Hill.The former national security advisor's as-yet-unpublished book makes the explosive claim that Trump indeed wanted to freeze aid to Ukraine until its government investigated his political rival Joe Biden.Bolton's account in the draft of his book, as described by the New York Times, puts new pressure on Republicans to call witnesses to testify in the Senate, Billy House, Steven T. Dennis and Laura Litvan report.The disclosure comes as the president's lawyers are preparing to deliver the meat of Trump's defense when the trial reconvenes today. Trump denied the allegations in a tweet early today, saying he released aid to Ukraine without any conditions.It wasn't immediately clear how much the revelations could impact the debate on calling trial witnesses (it's almost certain not to shift the expectation that Trump won't be convicted). Four Republicans would have to join with all Democrats to make that happen.The more important audience for Bolton's claims will be voters who will decide in November whether Trump should be re-elected. Keep an eye on forthcoming polling to see if they're swayed by this latest turn of events.Global HeadlinesOrganizing strategy | Reaching out to colleagues, fellow parents and ex-husbands. Those are some of the strategies that Pete Buttigieg's female volunteers are using in Iowa in a campaign tactic the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor is relying on to an extent not seen before, Tyler Pager reports.New polls underscore the unsettled state of the Democratic primary days before the first voters weigh in at the Iowa caucuses.Not so fast | Italian populist firebrand Matteo Salvini's hopes that victory in a key regional vote would propel him toward power were dashed yesterday when his anti-migrant League suffered a stinging loss. A win by the center-left bloc led by the Democratic Party breathed new life into Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte's fragile government.Virus watch | China's death toll from the coronavirus hit at least 80 as the country extends the Lunar New Year holiday to try and contain an infection now spreading around the globe. Premier Li Keqiang visited Wuhan, the city at the epicenter of the disease, as the government faces pressure to combat the outbreak.China has canceled exams needed for entrance to schools and universities abroad. Click here for a look at the origins of the virus and its ongoing challenges. We have a map that shows the latest on the outbreak's spread.Trudeau's challenge | Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau returns to a fragmented parliament today facing sharp domestic divisions. As Stephen Wicary reports, his looming decisions on whether to ban Huawei from Canada's 5G networks, as well as whether to proceed with a massive oil-sands mine, will make ratifying a new trade agreement with the U.S. and Mexico look easy by comparison.Desperate times | Sanctioned 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. With half the population in need of food aid and inflation running at 500%, the government hopes to sell a stake in the national oil company and wants U.A.E. firms to buy more of its gold. But it's not clear the Gulf state is ready to bail out Harare just yet.What to Watch This WeekAs the U.K. prepares to exit from the European Union on Friday, its officials shouldn't harbor any hopes of reaching a new trade deal with the EU quickly or easily. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he will "make history" when he meets Trump tomorrow in Washington, where the U.S. leader is expected to present his long-awaited Middle East peace plan. Slovenian Prime Minister Marjan Sarec unexpectedly stepped down, sinking his minority government after months of bickering over budget policy. Talks for a new coalition will start but early elections are the best option, he said. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson will put his friendship with Trump to the test this week as he is poised to allow Huawei Technologies a role in the country's fifth-generation wireless broadband networks. Libya's internationally recognized government says repeated attacks by rival commander Khalifa Haftar have rendered a fragile truce all but meaningless. Peruvians voted for a new Congress yesterday, with early indications that it will be divided between as many as 10 parties, with none having enough power to effectively confront President Martin Vizcarra.Thanks to all who responded to our pop quiz Friday and congratulations to reader Ian Macauley, who was the first to correctly answer that China halted virtually all imports of plastic waste, triggering far-reaching effects around the globe. Tell us how we're doing or what we're missing at balancepower@bloomberg.net.And finally ... An aunt of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared in state media over the weekend, the first time she's been seen in public since her husband was executed in 2013. Kim Kyong Hui, 73, sat two seats away from her nephew during an orchestra performance in Pyongyang celebrating the Lunar New Year, according to a photo carried by state media. \--With assistance from Stephen Wicary and Ruth Pollard.To contact the author of this story: Kathleen Hunter in London at khunter9@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Karl Maier at kmaier2@bloomberg.net, Rosalind MathiesonFor 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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| Pilot Killed in Kobe Bryant Crash Remembered as ‘Dear Friend’ With Clean Safety Record Posted: 27 Jan 2020 02:41 PM PST  In the hours since a helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter crashed in Calabasas, California, on Sunday, gut-wrenching accounts have trickled out about the seven other passengers on board. Among them was 50-year-old Huntington Beach resident Ara Zobayan, the pilot of the aircraft who had a clean safety record and was attempting to travel through adverse conditions.Before Sunday's crash, the pilot and flight instructor had no prior accidents or flight incidents, according to Ian Gregor, a California spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration. Zobayan received his first private pilot license with a helicopter rating on January 21, 2001, and his commercial pilot license on December 3, 2007. But long before then, he had learned to fly at Group 3 Aviation, an intimate flight school in Van Nuys, California. According to the school's president, Claudia Lowry, Zobayan had come to the small academy in 1998—and quickly became embedded in their community. "This is where Ara learned to fly," she told The Daily Beast. "This is where Ara worked. We've known him since 1998. He's a dear friend and family."What We Know About the Helicopter That Crashed With Kobe Bryant on BoardLowry pointed to a post on Facebook, where she had posted a tribute to her friend. In the images, Zobayan, a trim man with a shaved head and light grey scruff, poses in sunglasses beside three helicopters. After learning to fly, Zobayan worked at Group 3 as a flight instructor. One of his students there, Darren Kemp, told the Los Angeles Times that Zobayan had worked as Bryant's private pilot for some time. "[Bryant] doesn't let anyone else fly him around but Ara," Kemp told the paper. As his instructor, Kemp and Zobayan had been close––the student recalled how his teacher had helped him through a difficult divorce. Zobayan later took a job as a pilot at Island Express Holding Corporation, the family-owned helicopter charter company that contracts with Catalina Island to do local tours and was listed as the owner of the vehicle that crashed Sunday. The vehicle, a Sikorsky S-76B, was nearly 30 years old at the time of the crash, having spent several years in the possession of the state of Illinois before getting sold to Island Express in 2015. Representatives for Island Express did not return requests for comment for this story.Zobayan was a licensed instrument pilot, meaning that he was trained on the safety and navigational tools needed to fly under poor weather conditions. According to Gregor at the FAA, he added an instrument rating to his private pilot license on October 20, 2007. On the day of the crash, flight conditions were poor, with ceilings as low as 300 feet, meaning that thick clouds were forming not far above the ground, and visibility above them was impossible. The Los Angeles Police Department confirmed Monday morning that the fog had grounded all of their aircraft, and an employee at a helicopter charter service that does business in the area told The Daily Beast that they had also suspended service. "It was a no fly day for us and pretty much all operators," the employee said. In recordings from Zobayan's conversations with aircraft controllers published by LiveATC.net, you can hear the pilot activating what's called "Special Visual Flight Rules," meaning that the air controllers might help him detect things he couldn't himself see. "If you listen to the audio recordings," the charter employee said, "he asked to be tracked by air traffic control—which means, I need you to track me because I'm in bad conditions."Jared Yochim, a pilot who said he worked as a Chevron contractor in Angola and knew Zobayan for 12 years, told The Daily Beast on Monday it was important for "armchair quarterbacks" to allow time for federal officials to investigate before jumping to conclusions about his friend."When you think of pilots and you think Tom Cruise and Maverick, that wasn't what was happening there," he said. "I promise you, any flying that Ara was doing... he was in a safe condition. He's not a guy to push limits. He's a rule follower and he knows the rules and the regulations." Zobayan's aircraft hit the ground at approximately 9:47 a.m. Pacific, leaving a crash site that authorities say will take more than eight days to fully excavate. The pilot was of Armenian descent, according to The Armenian Report, a Facebook page for English-language news in that community, and news of his death brought an outpouring from across Los Angeles. "I love all Armenians!," a Facebook user named Maria Daikovich wrote under the post. "I met Ara many years ago. This is such a big loss. Ara was the kindness and one of the most beautiful people I know. ��������RIP dear Ara. God bless all who lost their lives." Jason McGahan contributed reporting to this story.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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| Iranian general warns of retaliation if US threats continue Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:47 AM PST  The chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Monday that it will retaliate against American and Israeli commanders if the U.S. continues to threaten top Iranian generals. The U.S. killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who headed the expeditionary Quds force, in a drone strike outside of Baghdad's airport in Iraq on Jan. 3. Five days later, Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles at two bases in Iraq housing American troops, causing injuries but no fatalities among soldiers there.
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| Israel's Air Force Has a New Air-Launched "Rampage" Ballistic Missile Posted: 28 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST  And it was just used for the first time.
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| Harvard Arrest Ups the U.S. Ante on China as Security Threat Posted: 28 Jan 2020 03:41 PM PST ![Harvard Arrest Ups the U.S. Ante on China as Security Threat]( "Harvard Arrest Ups the U.S. Ante on China as Security Threat") (Bloomberg) -- A Harvard University chemist, an ex-Coca-Cola Co. scientist and a University of Kansas researcher.All three have been swept up in a U.S. crackdown on intellectual property theft sponsored by China and linked to the Thousand Talents Plan, a Chinese government program to recruit overseas researchers.The charges unveiled Tuesday against Harvard's Charles Lieber -- that he lied to U.S. investigators about his role in recruiting people to pass along scientific research to the Chinese government -- mark a high-profile escalation of the Trump administration's effort to root out economic espionage in academic institutions.While the Justice Department's "China Initiative" has focused on bringing garden-variety cases against engineers and executives accused of stealing technology from American companies for Chinese corporations and startups alike, U.S. officials also have cast greater suspicion on scholars with ties to Beijing-controlled research institutions.As part of the newest prosecutions announced Tuesday, authorities charged a Boston University researcher who prosecutors say was a lieutenant for the People's Liberation Army and a cancer researcher who allegedly tried to smuggle 21 vials of biological materials in his sock."China's communist government's goal simply put is to replace the United States as a superpower," Joseph R. Bonavolonta, the FBI's special agent in charge of the Boston Field Division, said at a press conference. "China is also using what we call nontraditional collectors such as researchers, hackers and front companies."Read More: China's Thousand Talents Program Gets the U.S.'s AttentionProsecutors said Lieber lied to U.S. Defense Department investigators about his involvement with the Thousand Talents Plan and concealed that he was paid $50,000 a month and received more than $1.5 million to establish a lab and do research at Wuhan University of Technology. His deceit caused Harvard to make false statements to the National Institutes of Health about his work with China, because grants that Harvard received required disclosure of ties with foreign governments, the U.S. said. Lieber's lawyer declined to comment on the case.Agencies across the federal government have mobilized against potential Chinese industrial spies, warning companies and universities and anyone else with intellectual property to be particularly vigilant when dealing with Chinese business partners and employees. Tuesday's action comes weeks after the Trump administration signed a Phase One trade deal with the Chinese.China has tried to lure overseas scientists for years. Government initiatives, such as the Thousand Talents and Changjiang Scholar programs, offer funding to experts to work at least part time in China. A 2018 report by the U.S. National Intelligence Council called such efforts a thinly veiled way "to facilitate the legal and illicit transfer of U.S. technology, intellectual property and knowhow" to China.A top official at the National Institutes of Health said in December that the agency has investigated 140 scientists at 70 institutions over failures to disclose income and other significant resources they received from other countries while working on NIH-funded grants.Prior to Lieber's arrest, the Justice Department has taken action against other researchers with alleged Thousand Talents ties:The ex-Coke scientist was accused in February of seeking a reward from the talent program while trying to steal trade secrets valued at $120 million from companies working with the soft-drink giant on the chemical coating used in bisphenol-A-free (BPA-free) containers. Xiaorong You has pleaded not guilty and faces a trial in April in Greeneville, Tennessee.Franklin (Feng) Tao, a University of Kansas associate professor, was indicted for allegedly defrauding the U.S. government by taking federal grant money while he was employed and paid by a Chinese research university and failing to disclosed that he was chosen for a Changjiang Scholarship. He, too, has denied wrongdoing.Turab Lookman, a former Los Alamos National laboratory scientist, pleaded guilty in a New Mexico federal court in January after being charged with lying to an investigator about participating in the talent program for compensation.Van Andel Research Institute, a Michigan-based biomedical research institution, agreed to pay $5.5 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. over allegations that two NIH-funded scientists failed to disclose grants from the Chinese government.To U.S. Senator Rob Portman, who worked on a committee report in November that highlighted concerns with the Thousand Talents program, Lieber's arrest signaled validation."The charges show the lengths that China will go for access to top-notch research here in the United States," the Ohio Republican said in a statement.But some scholars say the intense scrutiny U.S. law enforcement officials are applying to ethnic Chinese scientists and, now, U.S. researchers, carries a downside: It chills academic freedom and stifles scientific progress.Read More: The U.S. Is Purging Chinese Americans From Top Cancer Research"On the one hand, it's good that the U.S. government is looking beyond ethnic identity for these cases," said Frank Wu, a professor of law at University of California Hastings. "On the other hand, the increasing scope of these investigations threatens American science more generally."The push to stanch China's well-documented and costly theft of U.S. innovation and know-how has also raised questions about overzealous prosecutors and racial profiling.Two Tulane University professors, one of them a Chinese citizen, were charged in May with trade-secrets theft after downloading a software model that predicts how the Mississippi Delta will change over time. In July, the Justice Department abruptly dropped the case, saying "extensive investigation" showed prosecutors can't prove the charges."Every prosecution should have all the fundamental facts and materials in place before they're brought forward," said Jeremy Wu, a retired federal official and member of APAJustice.org, a group that addresses racial profiling.He said the federal government's approach to the Thousand Talents Plan "is generating a lot of fear and suspicion, especially for those working in the health fields."Tao, the Kansas professor, has mounted an aggressive defense, claiming both that he never accepted a teaching position in China and that he was framed by a vindictive co-worker. He argues the prosecution's case is based on "fabricated tips" from a visiting scholar who was angry because she thought Tao didn't give her enough credit on some research papers.Lieber, whose Harvard biography page lists him as an honorary fellow of the Chinese Chemical Society, was placed on indefinite administrative leave by the university after his arrest. Harvard called the charges "extremely serious" in a statement and said it's cooperating with federal authorities.At a court hearing scheduled for Thursday, prosecutors are set to argue that Lieber shouldn't be released on bail because of the risk he'll try to flee before his trial.\--With assistance from Peter Waldman.To contact the reporters on this story: Janelle Lawrence in New York at jlawrence62@bloomberg.net;Chris Dolmetsch in Federal Court in Manhattan at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net;Malathi Nayak in San Francisco at mnayak21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter BlumbergFor 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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| Mexico deports 2,300 Hondurans from '2020 Caravan' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:52 PM PST  Mexican migration authorities said they have deported 2,300 Hondurans who illegally crossed over from Guatemala with a caravan heading to the United States. The "assisted return" of the Central Americans took place between January 18 and Monday, according to the interior ministry and the National Migration Institute. A total of 1,064 Honduran migrants were deported on National Guard planes and charter aircraft, they said in a statement.
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| Iran lawmakers call for debate on quitting nuclear arms treaty Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:49 AM PST  A group of Iranian lawmakers on Tuesday asked parliament to debate a motion for Iran to quit a treaty governing global nuclear arms control, a move apparently aimed at pressuring European powers to salvage Tehran's own 2015 nuclear deal. A report on the assembly's news site ICANA said a minimum number of MPs had signed a request to parliament's managers to arrange a debate on the motion for Iran to take the far-reaching step of leaving the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said last week that Iran could withdraw from the NPT if European countries refer the country to the U.N. Security Council over the 2015 deal, a move that would overturn diplomacy in Tehran's turbulent relations with Western powers.
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| US military's Special Operations Command says its newest recruits may have an 'unhealthy sense of entitlement' Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:58 PM PST  "It didn't happen during our period," a former Delta Force commander told Business Insider. "We really were severe about policing ourselves."
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| Fox News poll finds independents want the Senate to convict and remove Trump by 19-point margin Posted: 27 Jan 2020 04:07 AM PST  President Trump's defense team will wage its second day of arguments in his Senate impeachment trial on Monday, explaining to the Republican-controlled chamber why it should acquit Trump on both impeachment charges and not call witnesses later this week. A Fox News poll released Sunday found that voters think the Senate already has enough evidence to render its verdict — 48 percent to 44 percent who say senators should subpoena witnesses. But by a margin of 6 percentage points, they think the evidence points to guilt and removal from office.> New Fox News poll: by a margin of 50% to 44%, Americans want Trump convicted and removed from office. pic.twitter.com/G2IStl7TlC> > — Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) January 26, 2020Two polls last week found that 51 percent of Americans want the Senate to convict and oust Trump, whose approval rating in the Fox News poll is 45 percent, 54 percent disapproval. By comparison, Fox News notes, "around the time former President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial began in January 1999, some 38 percent said the Senate should remove him from office, and 65 percent approved of the job he was doing as president."Luckily for Trump, the party with a Senate majority is taking his side — 84 percent of Republicans told the Fox News pollsters that Trump shouldn't be convicted and removed, versus 81 percent of Democrats who said he should be; independents wanted Trump removed by a 19-point margin, 53 percent to 34 percent.The poll was conducted Jan. 19-22 by Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Co. (R), surveying 1,005 randomly selected registered votes over the phone. The poll's overall margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.More stories from theweek.com John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi Mike Pompeo is a disgrace Late night hosts choke up while sharing memories of Kobe Bryant, most involving being a 'girl dad'
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| Helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant reportedly received special permission to fly in thick fog Posted: 27 Jan 2020 12:28 PM PST  Details are still emerging about the circumstances surrounding the helicopter that killed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others including the pilot, but the flight was reportedly granted special approval to fly in challenging weather conditions.Fog was thick Sunday morning in the Los Angeles area when the helicopter took off and made its way toward Gianna Bryant's youth basketball tournament, but air traffic control at Burbank airport gave the pilot Special Visual Flight Rules clearance, allowing the aircraft to enter Burbank's airspace.A Federal Aviation Administration official said air traffic control's approval would not have extended to Calabasas, where the helicopter crashed. By that point, the official said, it would have been up to the pilot to determine if conditions were appropriate to continue or transition to instrument flight rules.Witnesses near the site of the crash described conditions as so foggy that people had trouble driving, per The New York Times. "I couldn't see anything, not even a silhouette," said Scott Daehlin who heard the sound of the helicopter flying low before making impact with a nearby hillside. "My first thought was what in the world is a helicopter doing out here in this fog?" Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi It's 2020 and women are exhausted Mike Pompeo is a disgrace
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| Remains of 2 US troops recovered from Afghanistan crash site Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:56 AM PST  U.S. forces on Tuesday recovered the remains of two American service members killed in the crash of an Air Force plane in Afghanistan, the U.S. military command in Kabul said. The statement from Kabul said the cause of the crash is under investigation, but there are no indications that it was downed by enemy fire. Monday's plane crash there is not expected to derail U.S.-Taliban peace talks if the crash investigation determines, as expected, that it was not the result of hostile action.
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| The Israeli Army Is Unprepared for a Ground War with Iran and Hezbollah Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:53 AM PST  If Israel has to go to war tomorrow against Iran or its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, there's a problem. The Israeli mechanized division that would defend Israel's northern border, or enter Syria or Lebanon to eject Iranian and pro-Iranian forces, are in bad shape.
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| Idaho Nurse Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Helping Cover Up Kelsey Berreth’s Murder Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:01 PM PST  A former Idaho nurse was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday for helping Patrick Frazee cover up the murder of his fiancée last Thanksgiving.Krystal Lee, 33, was sentenced after pleading guilty in February to evidence tampering and testifying against Frazee, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who was convicted of killing 29-year-old Kelsey Berreth."I know that saying sorry is not good enough," she told a packed Teller County courtroom on Tuesday, before receiving the maximum sentence. "And I don't even know what the right word would be to describe the remorse that I feel."Patrick Frazee Convicted of Murdering His Missing Fiancée With a Baseball Bat, Burning Her BodyFrazee, a 33-year-old cattle rancher, was convicted in November on all six charges against him for the slaying and disappearance of Berreth and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 156 years. Berreth, a flight instructor at Doss Aviation, was last seen at a Safeway grocery store near her Woodland Park, Colorado, home on Nov. 22, 2018. Prosecutors say later that day, Frazee fatally beat his would-be wife, with whom he shared a child, with a baseball bat before burning her body and the murder weapon at his family's ranch. The cattle rancher then enlisted the help of Lee, his secret girlfriend, to clean up the crime scene, Lee said.During her emotional two-day testimony, Lee described her troubled relationship with Frazee—which began as an affair several years ago while she was married and included a secret abortion. While the nurse has denied participating in Berreth's murder, she later admitted she witnessed him burn the evidence of his crime."She shouldn't have received the plea deal that she did," Berreth's parents, Darrell and Cheryl, wrote in a letter read aloud in court Tuesday, according to The Denver Post. "She was an active participant in the murder. The only thing she didn't do was swing the bat."'Calculating Manipulator' Patrick Frazee Murdered Kelsey Berreth With Help From Secret Girlfriend: ProsecutorsLee recounted that in 2018, Frazee asked her three times to kill Berreth on his behalf, claiming she was abusing their 1-year-old daughter and needed to be stopped. The nurse said while she initially agreed to help, she backed out before each murder attempt. "His little girl is being abused," Lee testified. "I understand if it was wrong. I didn't know what to do so I didn't make correct decisions."Prosecutors said when Lee failed to help Frazee murder Berreth, the "cold, calculating manipulator" took matters into his own hands. Afterward, Lee said Frazee told her, "I need your help, and I need your help now. You have a mess to clean up."Lee said during their frantic clean up of Berreth's apartment, Frazee told her to "get the candles wiped up, get the bathroom done, and wipe up the footprints," and threatened to kill her if she failed to do a sufficient job. Kelsey Berreth Murder Suspect's Secret Ex: He 'Told Me to Take Care of the Problem'"He asked me if I got it done. I told him the best that I could do. He said, 'You better hope you did, because your life depends on it,'" she said during the trial, according to The Gazette.After the Nov. 24 cleanup, she said the two went to Frazee's ranch, where the 33-year-old set Berreth's body on fire, along with several trash bags. To further trick authorities, Lee said she took Berreth's cellphone to Idaho—nearly 800 miles away from the missing mom's home in Woodland Park—for the signal to ping before burning it. 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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| Hunter Biden will pay child support to the mother of his child in Arkansas Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:22 AM PST  Hunter Biden has agreed to pay child support to the mother of his child in Arkansas and backpay 13 months of missed installments.
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| Hostel at North Korean embassy must close, Berlin court rules Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:59 AM PST  The "City Hostel" in Berlin may look fairly innocuous from the outside -- but it now faces closure in an unlikely legal drama over international sanctions against North Korea. The hostel, which opened in 2007 and is run by a Turkish company called EGI, is located on the premises of the North Korean embassy. On Tuesday, an administrative court in Berlin threw out an EGI lawsuit against the district authorities, who had ordered them to cease operations.
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| White House Threatens to Veto Legislation Aimed at Curbing Trump’s Military Power in Iran Posted: 28 Jan 2020 11:26 AM PST  The White House on Tuesday threatened to veto legislation proposed by Democrats that would limit President Trump's military options and require him to seek congressional authorization before taking military action against Iran, saying the proposed constraints would "embolden our enemies."The measures would repeal the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which authorized the war in Iraq, and block funding for further military operations in Iran that are not approved by Congress. The House is set to vote on the proposals this week."The 2002 AUMF has long been understood to authorize the use of force for, among other purposes, addressing threats emanating from Iraq, including threats such as ISIS — a group whose objectives have included establishing an Islamic state in Iraq and using that state to support terrorism against the United States — as well as threats directed by Iran," the White House said."This legislation would undermine the Administration's reestablishment of deterrence with Iran, which could perversely make violent conflict with Iran more likely," the administration added.The administration incurred the ire of Democrats and some Republicans earlier this month when the U.S. military carried out the assassination of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad, critics of the move saying it tempted war with Iran.The drone strike that killed Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds Force, came after several attacks by Iranian-backed forces in Iraq on U.S. troops, one of which killed an American contractor. The Pentagon claimed Soleimani was "actively developing" plans to attack Americans at the time of his death, although officials have declined to produce specific evidence to that point.Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia said earlier this month that the Senate has the votes to pass a measure to limit Trump's military power in Iran after at least four Republicans said they would support it.
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| Magnitude 7.7 earthquake jolts Caribbean, sparks tsunami fears throughout region Posted: 28 Jan 2020 11:38 AM PST  A powerful earthquake struck the Caribbean on Tuesday afternoon, shaking parts of Jamaica and Cuba shortly after 2 p.m. local time and rising fears of a dangerous tsunami.The earthquake was originally rated a 7.3 by the USGS but was later upgraded to a 7.7. The epicenter of the earthquake was 78 miles (125 km) northwest of Lucea, Jamaica, and was shallow with a depth of just 6.2 miles (10 km).Shortly after the powerful earthquake jolted the Caribbean, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) warned of the potential for hazardous tsunami waves as high as 1 meter (3 feet) along some coasts of Belize, Cuba, Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, and the Cayman Islands.Roughly 30 minutes after the shaking had stopped, a tsunami wave of 0.11 of a meter (0.4 of a foot) was officially observed at George Town, Cayman Islands. No tsunami waves were observed at Jamaica or the Dominican Republic, with the tsunami danger passing by 4 p.m. local time Tuesday. Shaking was felt as far away as Miami, Florida, and reports began surfacing on social media that high-rise buildings were felt swaying. Twitter users posted video footage on the platform showing people streaming out of office buildings in Miami, as helicopters buzzed overhead.> pic.twitter.com/RtTFjTAMil> > -- Fall seven times stand up eight. (@MarioG2681) January 28, 2020> Came to pick up my boyfriend at work - EMERGENCY evacuations because the buildings are shaking Miami @OfficialJoelF datran pic.twitter.com/50G0TowuVO> > -- Gabrielle Alexander (@TheMutedAlpha) January 28, 2020Some reports had suggested that Miami International Airport had been evacuated following the shaking. However, the airport refuted this claim, stating that there were no evacuations and that operations have remained normal.Tuesday's magnitude 7.7 earthquake was the strongest to hit the region since a magnitude 8.1 quake struck near the Dominican Republic on Aug. 4, 1946.This was also the strongest earthquake anywhere on the globe since a magnitude 8.0 earthquake hit near Peru on May 26, 2019, according to USGS records.> This M 7.7 earthquake is one of the strongest on record for the Caribbean. Here's the top 12 prior to today. pic.twitter.com/55apG4ZAK6> > -- Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) January 28, 2020> The M7.7 earthquake between Jamaica and Cuba was so powerful it was detected by seismographs in Connecticut. You can see the tremor was felt just after 2:15 p.m. as the p-waves reached Westport, Connecticut. nbcct pic.twitter.com/RsYRQSdU05> > -- Ryan Hanrahan (@ryanhanrahan) January 28, 2020The U.S. Geological Survey also reported a magnitude 6.5 aftershock near the Cayman Islands shortly after the earthquake.
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| Nighttime mortar attack on US Embassy in Baghdad injured 1 Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:45 AM PST  A top U.S. commander said Monday that mortars were used in an attack on the American embassy in Baghdad that injured one person and caused some material damage the previous night, not katyusha rockets as was initially reported by staffers and a statement from the military. Gen. Frank McKenzie, a top U.S. commander for the Middle East, told reporters traveling with him that the mortar attack started a fire that was put out. A military statement had said five rockets hit inside Baghdad's Green Zone, where the embassy sits.
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| An F-22 Raptor Just Like This One Flew Under An Iranian F-4 Phantom (Undetected) Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:15 PM PST  Stealth is king.
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