| Trump administration briefing on Iran angers Republican senators, boosts effort to restrict presidential power Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:06 PM PST  A briefing by Trump administration officials about the U.S. military strike that killed Iran's most famous general backfired on Wednesday, angering two Republican senators and driving them to support a Democratic effort to require congressional approval for any further military engagement.
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| 'If you're told to leave, you must leave': mass evacuations as Australia's bushfires intensify Posted: 09 Jan 2020 07:08 AM PST  Australian authorities urged another mass evacuation across the heavily populated southeast on Thursday as a return of hot weather fanned huge bushfires threatening several towns and communities. Victoria state Premier Daniel Andrews urged communities to be on alert ahead of the extreme conditions. "If you receive instructions to leave, then you must leave," Andrews said in a televised briefing. "That is the only way to guarantee your safety." Parts of Kangaroo Island, a wildlife-rich tourist spot off the southeast coast where Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday made a plea for foreign tourists not to be deterred by the fires, were again evacuated on Thursday. "I urge everyone to heed warnings, follow advice, and to head to the east part of the island, which is deemed safe at this point," South Australia Fire Chief Mark Jones said in a separate briefing in Adelaide. A third of the island has been destroyed. Twenty-seven people have been killed this fire season, according to the federal government, as the monster fires have scorched through more than 10.3 million hectares (25.5 million acres) of land, an area the size of South Korea. Thousands have been made homeless and thousands have had to evacuate repeatedly because of the volatility of the fires. Read more | Australia's bushfire crisis A huge blaze has also now begun threatening Perth, in western Australia, with emergency warnings issued in several suburbs as the fire moved toward them with frightening speed. A thick smoke cloud hung over most of the city late in the afternoon, while residents in Mardella, Hopeland, Wellard, Casuarina and Oldbury were told to leave their home if they have a safe escape route, and otherwise to stay indoors and shelter in a room with two exits and a water supply. The fire burnt 1,000 hectares in its first four hours, and authorities warned it is out of control and highly unpredictable. Australia bushfires | Tell us your story Also in Western Australia, hopes to get stranded travellers across the only sealed road that connects the state to South Australia were dashed Thursday when the fires blocking the Eyre Highway got worse. People have been stranded on the Nullabor, on both sides of the state border, trying to get home for several days, relying in part on local truck stops for vital supplies. Also on Thursday, the Australian Academy of Science released a video summarising the impacts of the crisis on Australia's native wildlife. It is now believed one billion animals have been killed, and many species lost forever. New South Wales fire fighters said more than 2,600 homes have been incinerated or badly damaged this fire season, including 1,870 destroyed. On the same day, the state government announced a $1billion (£530,000,000) fund for reconstruction efforts. The commitment comes on top of more than $200 million already committed by the State, and a $2billion national fund provided by the Federal Government. NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said the state funds would be used for infrastructure, while the Federal relief money would go directly to people. Australia fires gallery Mining billionaire Andrew Forrest also pledged $70million (£36,820,000) for fire relief and reconstruction. Mr Forrest did, however, receive some criticism for blaming the majority of the fires on arson, when police and fire authorities in all affected states have made clear that is not the case. It emerged this week that the Bureau of Meteorology found 2019 was the hottest and driest year ever recorded in Australia. Prime Minister Scott Morrison's problematic handling of the crisis continued on Thursday too, when he said "thankfully we have had no loss of life" on Kangaroo Island while visiting an area where a father and son had been killed by the blaze. When he was quickly corrected, he said: "Yes two, that's quite right. I was thinking about firefighters firstly."
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| Jimmy Kimmel Dunks on GOP Rep Who Tweeted Fake Obama-Iran Photo Posted: 07 Jan 2020 10:28 PM PST  The day after congressman Paul Gosar posted a fake photo of former President Barack Obama shaking hands with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jimmy Kimmel had some harsh words for the Arizona Republican. "If you're not familiar with this guy, he's the congressman whose own siblings—his brothers and sisters—took out an attack ad against him during the midterms and endorsed his opponent," Kimmel said in his monologue Tuesday night. After showing the fake photo, which was accompanied by the caption, "The world is a better place without these guys in power," the host explained just how misleading it was. "Obama never met the guy," he said. "And the guy is still the president of Iran." Ronan Farrow Not 'Optimistic' About Harvey Weinstein Trial, Calls Out Manhattan DA Cyrus VanceStephen Colbert Blasts Trump's 'Tragically Ill-Conceived' Move Toward War With IranIn response to the many reporters and others on Twitter who pointed out the error, Gosar tweeted, "No one said this wasn't Photoshopped. No one said the president of Iran was dead. No one said Obama met with Rouhani in person.""Well, OK then!" Kimmel shot back "'No one said this wasn't Photoshopped?' Is that the standard now? You can post whatever you want and leave it to us to figure out if it's Photoshopped? Because if that's the case I have a photo of Paul Gosar being spanked by Jared from Subway that I would like a lot of people to see." Then Kimmel shared another "real photo" of President Donald Trump "happily shaking tiny hands with the guy who ordered the murder of a reporter for the Washington Post." He helpfully added, "That is not Photoshopped." 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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| 11 Bathroom Seating Options Beyond the Toilet Posted: 09 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST |
| Japanese man pleads not guilty to killing 19 due to mental health Posted: 07 Jan 2020 07:16 PM PST  A Japanese man accused of stabbing 19 disabled people to death pleaded not guilty on Wednesday in a dramatic trial session interrupted when he seemed to put something in his mouth, struggled with court officials and lay on the floor writhing. Satoshi Uematsu, 29, a former care home worker accused of killing 19 disabled people and wounding 26 in a care center in 2016 - one of post-war Japan's worst mass killings - was removed from the court and did not return when the trial resumed. Before the interruption, Uematsu's lawyer said Uematsu acknowledged details of the indictment were true, but he has a psychiatric disorder that led to diminished capacity at the time of the incident.
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| Why Did U.S. Missile Defense Fail In September's Saudi Oil Attack? Posted: 09 Jan 2020 12:45 AM PST  Saudi Arabia might find itself a lot more open to attack than it thinks.
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| UN Security Council declares commitment to 'international law' as tensions flare Posted: 09 Jan 2020 09:57 AM PST  The UN Security Council on Thursday reaffirmed its commitment to "an international order based on international law" amid fears of armed conflict between the United States and Iran. The declaration was issued at the start of a debate on the UN Charter which had been tabled before the present crisis by Vietnam, a non-permanent member of the Security Council and which assumes the rotating presidency this month.
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| Teen grateful to be alive after 30 hours in Utah mountains Posted: 09 Jan 2020 07:13 AM PST  A California teenager who survived nearly 30 hours alone in the snowy Utah mountains said Wednesday he kept himself awake with phone alarms, built a snow cave for shelter and held a special beaded bracelet to keep his hopes up. Nicolas Stacy-Alcantara, 17, of Fresno, was visiting Utah to see an ex-girlfriend and decided to go for a day-long hike in relatively mild weather last week, he said. The teen took an Uber up a canyon east of Salt Lake City, bringing six peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and 40 ounces of water with him.
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| Does Trump have authority to start war with Iran? Posted: 08 Jan 2020 09:32 AM PST  As tensions rise between the U.S. and Iran, legal questions about the president's power to start a war have arisen.
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| Devastating images of burned koalas and wallabies are emerging from Australia as 1 billion animals are feared dead Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:57 PM PST  Despite rescue efforts, tens of thousands of koalas are feared dead on one island alone. Ecologists worry fires could wipe out endangered species.
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| Ask the Captain: What goes into landing a plane on an icy, slippery runway? Posted: 09 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST  Though landing in icy conditions is challenging, it can be done safely, says aviation columnist John Cox. Here's how pilots manage to land safely.
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| A senator wants to ban the US from sharing intelligence with countries using Huawei 5G — which is most of America's allies Posted: 09 Jan 2020 03:49 AM PST  The US has been desperately trying to convince allies to freeze out Huawei's 5G kit for a year, with limited success.
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| Fox News’ Pete Hegseth: We Need to ‘Rewrite the Rules’ of War in Dealing With Iran Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:15 AM PST  The morning after Iran launched missile attacks against several Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, Fox News host Pete Hegseth suggested the U.S. may need to "rewrite the rules" of war in engaging Iran. And that might include bombing cultural sites and hospitals, he said.Hegseth, an outside adviser to President Donald Trump who pushed him to pardon accused and convicted war criminals, reiterated his recent calls for targeting Iran's infrastructure and oil refineries during a Wednesday morning appearance on Fox & Friends."I happen to believe that we can't kick the can down the road any longer in trying to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear bomb," Hegseth declared. "They used the killing of [Qassem] Soleimani as an excuse to say, 'we're scrapping the Iran deal.'""We all know they were scrapping it anyway, so what better time than now to say, we're starting the clock, you've got a week, you've got X amount of time before we start taking out your energy production facilities," he added. "We take out key infrastructure. We take out your missile sites. We take out nuclear developments."Co-host Ainsley Earhardt, meanwhile, brought up Trump's recent threat to hit 52 Iranian targets, including cultural sites, should Iran retaliate following the assassination of Soleimani. "But what do you know about these cultural sites," she wondered. "Because we're not supposed to be hitting cultural sites, but I understand, I've been hearing that we believe that the Iranians are hiding missiles and weapons in some of these cultural sites, churches, or mosques.""Of course they do. This is what Islamists do," the Iraq War veteran exclaimed. "It's what they've done in the battlefield against folks like me and my entire generation. Human shields, using mosques, using, you know, hospitals, schools. This is what our enemies do."He continued: "Now, that doesn't mean we go on and target cultural sites. But what it means is we are clear-eyed about how our enemies use the rules that we write against us."After claiming that the rules of war are "rigged to help them so that we can't win," Hegseth then declared that "we need to rewrite the rules that are advantageous to us.""I don't want to hit cultural sites on purpose," he concluded, "but if you're using one to harbor your most dangerous weapons, then that should be on the target list, too."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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| Spy scandal rocks Taiwan ahead of weekend elections Posted: 09 Jan 2020 06:27 AM PST  Allegations in the Australian media that a Chinese spy was pressured to smear the Taiwanese ruling party with bribery charges has prompted accusations of meddling in the Taiwanese election. The island of 23 million is already on high alert for any signs of Chinese interference in its presidential and legislative polls on Saturday, amid mounting fears of targeted disinformation campaigns to undermine Tsai Ing-wen, the incumbent president who Beijing deeply mistrusts. China denies trying to do so. In the latest allegations of dirty tricks, reported in The Age, Wang Liqiang, a self-confessed Chinese intelligence operative seeking to defect to Australia, was warned in December that he could be sent back to China and killed if he did not publicly recant his story. In November, Mr Wang sparked an international furore by claiming that he had worked for a Beijing-directed operation to target independence and democracy movements in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and to promote Communist Party influence. Beijing immediately dismissed his story and said he was a convicted criminal, and Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), whom Wang said Beijing was supporting, has strongly denounced the claims, as has Han Kuo-yu, its presidential candidate. Supporters of Han Kuo-Yu, presidential candidate for Taiwan's main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party Credit: SAM YEH/AFP via Getty Images The KMT favours stronger trade ties with China although it maintains it will not do so at the cost of Taiwanese sovereignty. The island, which China claims as its own territory and threatens to annex, functions as a de facto independent nation. However, the Australian Security Intelligence Operation issued an earlier rare statement to say it took the claims of foreign interference seriously. Security agencies later uncovered a list of threats against Mr Wang on Christmas Eve, the Age reported. He was allegedly asked to recant his accusations by Alex Tsai, a senior KMT official, and directly threatened by a Chinese businessman. He was reportedly told that his family would be spared punishment if he backtracked on his spy claims. It is also claimed he was provided with a script and told to record a video message in which he would falsely claim that Taiwan's governing Democratic Progressive Party had bribed him to lie with "a large sum of money." Wang Liqiang is seeking asylum in Australia, where he has offered a trove of secrets about Chinese political interference Speaking to reporters in Taipei, Alex Tsai, the KMT official named in the story, confirmed he had spoken to Mr Wang, but denied threatening him or offering inducements. "It has nothing to do with Taiwan's elections," he stressed. "Wang Liqiang is not a spy. That is sure," he said, claiming that he had contacted Mr Wang to negotiate to clear the name of a Chinese businessman he had implicated in his espionage accusations. "Both are not Communist spies. Some people say that they're spies working to infiltrate Taiwan, but they've got the wrong person. It's a serious violation of human rights," he said. The DPP, which has repeatedly warned throughout the election campaign that China wants to impose authoritarian rule on Taiwan, expressed shock over the controversy and accused Mr Tsai of not revealing the whole truth. "This is an international scandal," Kuan Bi-ling, a DPP legislator said. In Australia, the federal police force told local media that it was "aware of threats made against a man currently residing in Australia." A spokesman added: "The AFP takes threats of this nature seriously and has commenced an investigation."
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| Court refuses to greenlight Trump rule restricting immigration Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:52 PM PST  The rule would make it easier for the government to reject visas and green cards from people officials determine rely — or will rely — on public benefits.
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| China Would Rather You Forget Their Losing a War Against Vietnam Posted: 08 Jan 2020 11:08 PM PST  In 1979 the PLA didn't live up to expectations.
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| Jeffrey Epstein suicide attempt video accidentally deleted, prosecutors say Posted: 09 Jan 2020 12:44 PM PST  Surveillance footage taken outside Jeffrey Epstein's jail cell on the day of his first apparent suicide attempt has been permanently deleted, federal prosecutors say.The sex offender was found semiconscious in his cell inside the Metropolitan Correctional Centre (MCC) in Manhattan in July, as he awaited trial over allegations of sex trafficking that threatened to see him behind bars for the rest of his life.
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| Christ's bodyguards: the men protecting the Philippines' revered Catholic icon Posted: 08 Jan 2020 11:45 PM PST  Frenzied crowds, exhaustion and blazing heat were dangers bearing down on the cadre of guards who shield one of the Philippines' most revered Catholic icons from the believers desperate to touch it. The protectors served as human shields on Thursday, as they do every year, during the procession through Manila of the historic statue of Jesus Christ that believers say grants miracles to those who touch it. Miracles attributed to the Black Nazarene have made it powerfully revered in Asia's bastion of Catholicism, and also engendered a class of admirers desperate to reach it.
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| 1 skier still missing after deadly avalanche at Idaho resort Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:16 AM PST  One skier remains missing at an Idaho resort where an avalanche on Tuesday killed two skiers and injured four others. The resort said it received a telephone call Wednesday morning from a concerned family member of the missing skier who was confirmed to be skiing there at the time of the avalanche. Resort officials said Wednesday afternoon that an intense search with dogs did not find the missing person.
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| CIA Director Gina Haspel reportedly pushed for Soleimani's killing — and perfectly predicted Iran's response Posted: 09 Jan 2020 07:10 AM PST  The Trump administration reportedly knew exactly what would happen when it killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.Okay, so it may have just been the prediction of CIA Director Gina Haspel that Iran would retaliate with airstrikes on Iraqi military bases holding U.S. troops. But it was partly based on her analysis that the U.S. decided to assassinate Soleimani in the first place, administration officials tell The New York Times:> In the days before General Suleimani's death, Ms. Haspel had advised Mr. Trump that the threat the Iranian general presented was greater than the threat of Iran's response if he was killed, according to current and former American officials. Indeed, Ms. Haspel had predicted the most likely response would be a missile strike from Iran to bases where American troops were deployed, the very situation that appeared to be playing out on Tuesday afternoon. [The New York Times]The Times is careful to point out that "Haspel took no formal position about whether to kill General Soleimani," but "officials who listened to her analysis came away with the clear view that the C.I.A. believed that killing him would improve — not weaken — security in the Middle East." Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com The world is abandoning America 37 TV shows to watch in 2020 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's Iran mess
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| Sarah Huckabee Sanders: ‘Can’t Think of Anything Dumber’ Than Giving Congress War Powers Posted: 09 Jan 2020 08:21 AM PST  Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Thursday that should couldn't "think of anything dumber" than allowing Congress to authorize war, seemingly unaware that the U.S. Constitution specifically gives the legislative branch that exact power.Ahead of Thursday's House vote on a war powers resolution aimed at limiting President Donald Trump's military actions against Iran, Sanders—now a Fox News contributor—appeared on Fox & Friends to discuss the president's handling of the Iran crisis."Sarah, the president yesterday said the U.S. is ready to embrace peace," Fox & Friends co-host Ainsley Earhardt said, referencing Trump's speech on Wednesday. "He's calling for more economic sanctions on Iran's already struggling economy. He did say that Iran is standing down, so why is the House putting up this resolution to try to limit the president's powers?""You know, I can't think of anything dumber than allowing Congress to take over our foreign policy," Sanders huffed. "They can't seem to manage to get much of anything done. I think the last thing we want to do is push powers into Congress' hands and take them away from the president."She went on to claim that Democrats who don't seem to understand "that America is safer now" that former Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani is dead are "completely naive," adding that she doesn't want to see them "take power away from President Trump and put it into their own hands.""I don't think anything could be worse for America than that," she concluded.Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, meanwhile, specifically states that Congress has the power "to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water, to raise and support armies and... to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces."Furthermore, the War Powers Act of 1973, which Congress is looking to pass a resolution reaffirming this week, asserts that only Congress can declare war and the president needs to seek Congress's approval in the case of sustained military action. The act was passed in the shadow of the Vietnam War in an effort to prevent other drawn-out overseas wars.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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| US Army to field Israeli-made long-range missile on helicopters Posted: 09 Jan 2020 07:59 AM PST  An Israeli-made missile is joining the family of Army airborne munitions, but on an interim basis, as the service fleshes out its requirements for weapons that get after greater standoff.
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| Police, villagers clash over land in Vietnam, leaving 4 dead Posted: 09 Jan 2020 01:35 PM PST  Residents of a Hanoi suburb used grenades, firebombs and spears Thursday in an attempt to stop soldiers from building a wall around a military airport on land they say is private, leaving three police and a villager dead, officials said.
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| 23 Exoplanets That Could Be a 'Second Earth' Posted: 09 Jan 2020 02:59 PM PST |
| Many victims of Britain's most prolific rapist didn't know they had been assaulted until police told them Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:23 AM PST  Reynard Sinaga was convicted of 159 sexual offences and was described by British prosecutors as the most prolific rapist to be brought to justice.
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| Even the Russians Think The U.S. Navy Would Defeat the Chinese Posted: 08 Jan 2020 11:47 AM PST  Konstantin Sivkov, a member of the Russian Academy of Rocket and Artillery Sciences, says superior U.S. reconaissance would give it the defining advantage.
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| Ten years after deadly Haiti quake, survivors feel forgotten Posted: 08 Jan 2020 06:39 PM PST  Port-au-Prince (AFP) - Ten years ago, Herlande Mitile was left disabled by the massive earthquake that devastated Haiti. Today, she uses a wheelchair jury-rigged with a piece of string, which means she cannot go far.
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| Mexican authorities remove almost 100 Mexican migrants from border camp Posted: 08 Jan 2020 10:33 AM PST  Mexican authorities on Tuesday removed almost 100 Mexican migrants seeking asylum in the United States from a camp in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas, according to a Reuters witness, after state police threatened to separate parents from their children.
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| Trump's Situation Room photo from the Iran missile strike on US troops includes one woman, but 2 Marks and 2 Mikes Posted: 08 Jan 2020 05:53 PM PST  The White House press secretary was the only woman seen at the table as President Donald Trump met with senior advisors following the Iraq attacks.
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| New Kansas proposal breaks impasse on expanding Medicaid Posted: 09 Jan 2020 08:06 AM PST  Kansas' Democratic governor and a top Republican lawmaker on Thursday outlined a new proposal for expanding the state's Medicaid program, breaking an impasse that had allowed a handful of GOP leaders to thwart bipartisan legislative majorities. The plan from Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly and Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning would give Kelly the straightforward expansion of state health coverage that she has advocated, covering as many as 150,000 additional people. Denning had proposed financing his new program by increasing tobacco taxes, including a $1-per-pack increase in the state's cigarette tax, to $2.29.
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| Shifts in Auto Industry Lead to Merger of Washington Lobbying Groups Posted: 08 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The two primary trade associations for automakers in the U.S. have merged in a bid to bolster the industry's influence in Washington as decisions are being made on trade, environmental and technology policies that could impact carmakers for decades to come.The new group, called the Alliance for Automotive Innovation, combines the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers into a single entity representing nearly every global auto manufacturer, several large parts suppliers and other newer entrants in the sector, the group announced Wednesday."This is an opportunity to be the singular, clear and respected voice for the auto industry, and I mean the auto industry broadly defined," said John Bozzella, the new group's chief executive officer, who previously headed the Association of Global Automakers.The consolidation comes as the auto industry is facing unprecedented challenges in Washington. President Donald Trump's trade agenda has ballooned industry costs, and threatened to upend industry supply chains with steep levies on imported vehicles and parts. Automakers struggled to influence Trump's still-pending rollback of fuel economy and emissions standards, while a separate conflict looms as cars driven by artificial intelligence come to market regulated by decades-old safety rules designed with human drivers in mind."As the industry is undergoing rapid transformation it is critical that we come together with a stronger voice," Mary Barra, chief executive officer of General Motors Co., said in a statement.Shaping U.S. auto safety regulators' work on autonomous vehicles will be a key priority for the new group, Bozzella said in an interview. Other policy priorities include still-developing areas with potentially longer term effects for the industry, including data privacy, cybersecurity and connectivity, he said.Yet the Alliance will steer clear of some areas where the priorities of their members diverge. The group won't lobby on trade issues, for example, which will continue to be done by separate groups such as the American Automotive Policy Council, which represents GM, Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV but not their Asian and German counterparts.Similarly, the new Alliance won't intervene in litigation over the Trump administration's revocation of California's authority to regulate automobile greenhouse gas emissions, which has split carmakers into opposing camps.Bozzella said the consolidation also reflects how closer ties new partnerships between the auto and tech sectors have blurred the lines between the two."The trade association model ought to change as those business models and those partnerships change as well," Bozzella said. "There's an opportunity here to be more effective across a broader platform."To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Beene in Washington at rbeene@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Jon Morgan at jmorgan97@bloomberg.net, Elizabeth WassermanFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Montana girl Selena Not Afraid, 16, has been missing since New Year's Day. The FBI is asking for help to find her Posted: 08 Jan 2020 08:52 PM PST  The FBI on Wednesday alerted to a missing Montana girl, Selena Not Afraid, 16, who disappeared on New Year's Day near an interstate rest area.
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| How the U.S. Assassinated The Man Responsible for Pearl Harbor Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:30 PM PST  Admiral Yamamoto's death in 1943 was a major turning point in the war in the Pacific.
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| Body of child stowaway found in Air France landing gear after Ivory Coast to Paris flight Posted: 08 Jan 2020 11:33 AM PST  The body of a child stowaway was found in the landing gear of a plane at a Paris airport on Wednesday - thought to have died from cold or asphyxiation on the long-haul flight from Ivory Coast. The child, aged around 10, had hidden in the undercarriage of the Air France Boeing 777 in Abidjan, the Ivorian economic capital. It took off on Tuesday evening and landed at Charles de Gaulle airport, north of the French capital, six and half hours later. The corpse, which officials said was "not warmly dressed", was found in the plane's undercarriage cavity after landing. "Air France confirms that the lifeless body of a stowaway was found in the landing gear compartment of the aircraft operating flight AF703 from Abidjan to Paris-Charles de Gaulle on 7 January 2020," Air France said in a statement. It expressed its "deepest sympathy and compassion for this human tragedy." Sources close to the investigation told AFP the boy was about 10 years of age, and that he had "died either from asphyxiation or from the cold". "Aside from the human drama, this shows a major failing of security at Abidjan airport," according to an Ivorian security source who asked how a child, alone, could gain such access. While the economy is vibrant in Ivory Coast with annual growth of eight percent in recent years, illegal immigration to Europe has rocketed. A Kenyan stowaway fell from a plane into a south London garden in July 2019 Credit: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire Several stowaways, notably adolescents from Africa, have been found frozen to death or crushed in the undercarriage of Western-bound planes. The last such case in France dates to April 2013, when the body of a boy, likely a minor, was similarly found in the undercarriage of a plane from Cameroon. Last July, a suspected stowaway fell to his death from a Kenya Airways flight from Nairobi to Heathrow, landing in a garden in south London. The chances of survival are slim given the extreme conditions people face if they try to travel in the undercarriage of a plane, which is neither heated nor pressurised. These include being crushed when landing gear retracts, frostbite, hearing loss, tinnitus and acidosis - the build-up of acid in body fluids which can cause coma or death. During the flight, temperatures can drop to as low as -63C (-81F), bringing on hypothermia. At 18,000ft, hypoxia sets in, where the whole or part of the body is deprived of an adequate oxygen supply. It causes weakness, tremors, light-headedness and eyesight problems. When a plane reaches 22,000ft, a stowaway will be struggling to keep conscious as blood oxygen level drops. Worse, a typical long-haul cruising altitude of 33,000ft - or higher - lungs require artificial pressure to function normally. Then compartment doors re-open a few thousand feet above ground for landing, which can cause stowaways to fall to their deaths. However, some people have survived the ordeal. In June 2010, a 20-year-old Romanian was found alive inside a wheel bay after a flight from Vienna landed at Heathrow Airport. In that case, the jet had kept below 25,000ft because of bad weather. According to the US Federal Aviation Administration, some 96 people hid under planes during flights around the world between 1947 and 2012. Of those, 23 people - about one in four - had survived the journey.
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| Bridal party, academics among Canadian victims of plane crash in Iran Posted: 08 Jan 2020 07:04 AM PST  A newlywed couple that had traveled to Iran to get married were among the 63 Canadians killed when their Ukrainian Airlines flight crashed early on Wednesday, according to friends and community leaders in the western Canadian city of Edmonton that was home to 30 victims. The plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 people on board in a crash that intelligence sources said was likely caused by a technical malfunction. Arash Pourzarabi, 26, and Pouneh Gourji, 25, who were graduate students in computer science at the University of Alberta, had gone to Iran for their wedding, said Reza Akbari, president of the Iranian Heritage Society of Edmonton.
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| Pelosi’s Impeachment Blunder Posted: 09 Jan 2020 09:46 AM PST  We are in the midst of an imaginary impeachment standoff between House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell. "Both have drawn firm lines in the sand. Someone's got to give," one reporter recently declared.There is, of course, nothing to "give." Pelosi has no standing to dictate the terms of a Senate trial; no constitutional right or political leverage. Why she has put herself in a position that will ultimately end, one way or another, with her surrendering to McConnell is perplexing.A new piece in Time magazine does shed some light on the thought process behind Pelosi's decision to refuse to hand over articles of impeachment to a Senate whose majority doesn't want them. One of the most interesting nuggets in the piece isn't that Pelosi -- portrayed as courageous risk-taker -- had gotten the bright idea from CNN; it's that she specifically got it from noted felon John Dean, Nixon's former White House lawyer. Now, Dean is often portrayed as a patriotic, whistleblowing impeachment expert -- which is true insofar as he planned the Watergate coverup, and then informed on everyone whom he conspired with after they were caught. His real expertise is cashing in on criminality for the past 50 years (I wrote about Dean's slimy past here).Surely Pelosi, blessed with preternatural political instincts, wouldn't rely on Dean's advice? Surely Pelosi wasn't browbeaten into doing this by podcast bros and talking heads on America's least popular major cable-news network?Because whatever you make of the case against Donald Trump, it's getting increasingly difficult to argue that this amateurish, constantly shifting effort by the House has been effective. After two dramatic emergency impeachment hearings, a pretend standoff, and massive cooperative coverage from the media, poll numbers haven't budged. They may even have ticked back toward Donald Trump.Yet, to hear Time tell it, Pelosi has micromanaged every step of this process, from signing off on every committee report and press release -- "aides say she caught typos in the Intelligence Committee's final report before it went out" -- to picking furniture that would make Adam Schiff and the more diminutive Jerry Nadler look like equals.My working theory is this: Pelosi realized that impeachment was a mistake. She didn't want the president to be able tell voters that he had been exonerated by Senate. The only way to mitigate the damage was to undertake a ham-fisted effort to attack the Senate trial and dampen, or perhaps circumvent, that inevitable moment.In the process, however, Pelosi destroyed the Democrats' justification for rushing impeachment in the first place. Nadler and Schiff both argued that Trump's tenure in office constituted a national emergency, and that the only way to save the republic from another stolen election was to move quickly.McConnell, on the other hand, had to take only a short break from confirming judges to inform the House that the Senate would treat the impeachment of Donald Trump the same way it treated the impeachment of Bill Clinton -- with a rules package that passed 100–0 in 1998. Under the Clinton precedent, the Senate would allow both the House impeachment managers and Trump's lawyers to make their case, with questions from the Senate to follow.Pelosi's defenders are running out of arguments. Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin now says that acting on the Clinton precedent means that moderate Republican senators such as Susan Collins "will face the real possibility that conclusive evidence of Trump's wrongdoing will come to light after a sham trial. That would make for a disastrous, humiliating legacy."The gaping hole in this argument, and the reason Democrats are losing the debate, is that they've already claimed to have conclusive evidence of Trump's wrongdoing. They claimed they had proof of bribery, but they didn't include it in the impeachment articles. They claimed to have proof in the Mueller report that Trump obstructed justice, yet it's not in the article of impeachments either. Rubin herself has alleged, dozens of times, that we already have definitive proof Trump has committed an impeachable offense.In truth, if the House had made a persuasive case, there would be public pressure on Republicans to act in a different manner. That the House did not is the only reason Pelosi embraced John Dean's silly idea -- which has drastically backfired.
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| Mississippi moms question state as they bury slain inmates Posted: 08 Jan 2020 03:15 PM PST  Manslaughter isn't supposed to be a death sentence. All three prisoners were slain by fellow inmates at Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman last week. The outbreak of violence has brought national attention to problems that have long plagued Mississippi's overstretched prison system.
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| Men are paying $76,000 for a limb-extending surgery that involves breaking leg bones and inserting nails and screws Posted: 09 Jan 2020 11:35 AM PST  The procedure tricks a person's body into thinking it's still growing, allowing patients to eventually grow up to six inches taller.
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