| Iran's top leader strikes defiant tone amid month of turmoil Posted: 17 Jan 2020 03:04 PM PST  Iran's supreme leader lashed out at Western countries as he led Friday prayers in Tehran for the first time in eight years, dismissing "American clowns" who he said pretend to support the Iranian nation but want to stick their "poisoned dagger" into its back. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei used his rare appearance at the weekly prayers to deliver a fiery address in which he insisted Iran would not bow to U.S. pressure after months of crushing sanctions and a series of recent crises — from the American killing of a top Iranian general to Iran's accidental shootdown of a Ukrainian passenger plane. Khamenei said the mass funerals for Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier this month, show that the Iranian people support the Islamic Republic despite its recent trials.
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| Why Russia Doesn't Like (Or Have) Many Aircraft Carriers Posted: 18 Jan 2020 04:00 AM PST  Not enough money?
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| Off-duty Hong Kong police officer arrested for supporting protests Posted: 17 Jan 2020 10:41 AM PST  An off-duty Hong Kong police officer was arrested along with seven other people on Friday as they tried to put pro-democracy posters on a footbridge, police said. It's the first known case of a police officer being apprehended for supporting the massive demonstrations that have led to more than 6,500 arrests in the past seven months. The officer, 31, and the seven other people aged 14 to 61, were arrested at 3:00 am on Friday in Tuen Mun, a district in northwest Hong Kong.
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| Trump threatened 25% tariffs on European cars if Britain, Germany and France didn't put Iran on notice Posted: 17 Jan 2020 11:31 AM PST  The Trump administration warned European officials in three countries that if they didn't put Iran on notice about nuclear deal violations, the US government would slap a 25% tariff on all European cars.
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| 'You have not seen anything yet,' climate activist Greta says ahead of Davos Posted: 17 Jan 2020 08:10 AM PST  Swedish activist Greta Thunberg marched with 10,000 protesters in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Friday and said "you have not seen anything yet" before some head to Davos next week to challenge the global financial elite to fight climate change. "So, we are now in a new year and we have entered a new decade and so far, during this decade, we have seen no sign whatsoever that real climate action is coming and that has to change," Thunberg said in a speech in Lausanne. Hundreds will take trains over the weekend and then march to Klosters near Davos, the annual gathering of world political and business leaders that Thunberg is attending for the second year in a row and will take part in two panel events.
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| A plane slid off the runway and more than 800 flights were canceled as winter weather hit the Midwest Posted: 18 Jan 2020 10:49 AM PST  Authorities issued alerts for areas across the Northeast as blizzard conditions were forecasted to New York and New England over the weekend.
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| SUV on grounds of Beijing's Forbidden City sparks outrage Posted: 17 Jan 2020 11:43 PM PST  A Chinese woman sparked social media outrage in her country by posting photos of herself and a friend with a Mercedes-Benz on the grounds of Beijing's Forbidden City. The reaction prompted an apology from the management of China's 600-year-old former imperial palace. Vehicles have been banned since 2013 to protect the cultural dignity of the vast site and its hundreds of historic buildings, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
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| The Hole in the Impeachment Case Posted: 18 Jan 2020 03:30 AM PST  Thought experiment No. 1: Suppose Bob Mueller's probe actually proves that Donald Trump is under Vladimir Putin's thumb. Fill in the rest of the blanks with your favorite corruption fantasy: The Kremlin has video of the mogul-turned-president debauching himself in a Moscow hotel; the Kremlin has a bulging file of real-estate transfers through which Trump laundered racketeering proceeds for Putin's favored mobsters and oligarchs; or Trump is recorded cutting a deal to drop Obama-era sanctions against Putin's regime if Russian spies hack Democratic accounts.Thought experiment No. 2: Adam Schiff is not a demagogue. (Remember, this is fantasy.) At the very first televised hearing, when he alleged that President Trump told Ukrainian president Zelensky, "I want you to make up dirt on my political opponent . . . lots of it," Schiff was not defrauding the public. Instead, impeachment's Inspector Clouseau can actually prove that Trump was asking a foreign government to manufacture out of whole cloth evidence that Vice President Biden and his son were cashing in on the former's political influence (as opposed to asking that Ukraine look into an arrangement so objectively sleazy that the Obama administration itself agitated over what to do about it).What do these two scenarios have in common, besides being fictional? Answer: If either of them were real, we'd already be talking about President Pence's upcoming State of the Union address.This is the point that gets lost in all the endless chatter over impeachment strategy and procedure. Everything that is happening owes to the fact that we do not have an offense sufficiently grave for invocation of the Constitution's nuclear option. If we had one, the machinations and the posturing would be unnecessary — even ridiculous.Why are we talking about how Chairman Schiff, Speaker Pelosi, and House Democrats rushed through the impeachment inquiry without making a real effort to interview key witnesses?Why was the Democrats' impeachment gambit driven by the election calendar rather than the nature of the president's offense? Why were the timing of hearings and the unreasonable limits imposed on Republicans' ability to call witnesses dictated by the frantic rush to get done before Christmas recess -- to the point that Democrats cynically vacated a subpoena they'd served on a relevant administration witness, fearing a few weeks of court battles that they might lose?Why did Democrats grope from week to week in a struggle over what to call the misconduct they accused the president of committing – campaign finance, extortion, quid pro quo, bribery? How did they end up with an amorphous "abuse of power" case? How did they conclude that an administration that goes to court rather than instantly surrendering potentially privileged information commits obstruction?Why such tedious recriminations over adoption of Senate procedures that were approved by a 100–0 vote the last time there was an impeachment trial? Why all the kvetching over whether witnesses will be called when those procedures provide for the calling of witnesses in the likely event that 51 senators — after hearing nearly two weeks of presentation and argument from both sides -- want to hear from one or two of them?Why, with Election Day only ten months away, would Speaker Pelosi stoke an impeachment vote that could be perilous for many of her members, on the insistence that Trump was such a clear and present danger she could brook no delay, but then . . . sit on the impeachment articles for a month, accomplishing nothing in the interim except to undermine the presidential bids of several Senate Democrats, who will be trapped in Washington when they should be out campaigning with Iowa's caucuses just two weeks away?None of this would have happened if there had been a truly impeachable offense.Adam Schiff is a smart guy. He did not idly dream up a "make up dirt" parody. He framed it because he knows that's the kind of misconduct you would need to prove to warrant impeachment and removal of a president. In fact, Schiff could never prove that, but he figured parody is good enough for 2020 campaign purposes — and that's what this exercise is all about.If collusion with Russia had been fact rather than farce, Trump would never have made it to an impeachment trial. He'd have had to resign, Prior to November 8, 2016, Republicans were not the ones in need of convincing that Russia was a dangerous geopolitical threat. If it had been real collusion that brought Democrats around to that conclusion, the votes to impeach and remove would have been overwhelming.And the timing would have been irrelevant. If Americans had been seized by a truly impeachable offense, it would not matter whether Election Day was two years, two months, or two weeks away. The public and the political class would not tolerate an agent of the Kremlin in the Oval Office.If there were such egregious misconduct that the public was convinced of the need to remove Trump, such that two-thirds of the Senate would ignore partisan ties and do just that, there would be no partisan stunts. Democratic leaders would have worked cooperatively with their GOP counterparts, as was done in prior impeachments. They would have told the president: "Sure, you can have your lawyers here, and call whatever witnesses you want." There would be a bipartisan sense that the president had done profound wrong. There would be a sense of history, not contest. Congressional leaders would want to be remembered as statesmen, not apparatchiks.If there were a real impeachable offense, there would be no fretting about witnesses at the trial. Senate leaders would be contemplating that, after hearing the case extensively presented by both sides, there might well be enough votes to convict without witnesses. But if there were an appetite for witnesses, witnesses would be called . . . as they were in Watergate. And just as in Watergate, if the president withheld vital evidence of appalling lawlessness, the public would not be broadly indifferent to administration stonewalling.If there were an obviously impeachable offense, the garrisons of Fort Knox could not have stopped Nancy Pelosi from personally marching impeachment articles into the Senate the second the House had adopted them -- in what would have been an overwhelming bipartisan vote (of the kind that Pelosi, not long ago, said would be imperative for a legitimate impeachment effort).The Framers expected presidents to abuse their powers from time to time. And not just presidents. Our Constitution's theory of the human condition, and thus of governance, is that power is apt to corrupt anyone. It needs to be divided, and the peer components need to be incentivized to check each other. The operating assumption is that, otherwise, one component would accumulate too much power and inevitably fall prey to the tyrannical temptation. But as Madison observed, men are not angels. Separation of powers arms us against inevitable abuse, it does not prevent abuse from happening. Abuse is a given: Congress uses lawmaking power to encroach on the other branches' prerogatives; judges legislate from the bench, presidents leverage their awesome powers for political advantage. The expectation is not that government officials will never overreach; it is that when one branch does overreach, the others will bring it into line.That is the norm: corrective action or inaction, political pressure, naming and shaming, power of the purse, and so on. We expect to criticize, inveigh, even censure. We don't leap from abuse to expulsion. We don't expect routinely to expel members of Congress or impeach presidents and judges. That is reserved for historically extraordinary wrongs.On Ukraine, nothing of consequence came of President Trump's bull-in-a-china-shop excesses. Sure, they ought to be a 2020 campaign issue. Democrats, instead, would have us exaggerate them into historically extraordinary wrongs. For that, you need gamesmanship. If there were real impeachable misconduct, there would be no time or place for games.
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| Revealed: The Secrets Behind Russia's Crazy 100-Megaton Nuclear Torpedo Posted: 17 Jan 2020 09:00 PM PST  From fiction to reality.
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| Liberia souring on George Weah at two-year mark Posted: 17 Jan 2020 06:25 PM PST  Dominic Kpadeh heaves a hammer over his head to crack a half-tonne rock in a northern suburb of Liberia's capital Monrovia, knowing his hard labour earns him far less than a year ago. Stories such as Kpadeh's are common in Liberia, where rampant inflation has left many people struggling and increasingly turning their anger on President George Weah. A former football icon whose goals for AC Milan and Paris St Germain dazzled fans, Weah came to power in January 2018, promising to invest in education and create jobs.
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| TSA issues apology to Native American woman who had braids pulled by agent Posted: 18 Jan 2020 11:11 AM PST  Tara Houska 'humiliated' by TSA agent who 'snapped my braids like reins' during screening at Minneapolis-St Paul airportThe federal Transportation Security Administration has apologized to a Native American woman who said an agent at Minneapolis-St Paul international airport "pulled her braids" and said "giddy up!" when she took a flight from there this week."The agent said she needed to pat down my braids," tweeted Tara Houska, an indigenous rights advocate and attorney. "She pulled them behind my shoulders, laughed and said 'giddyup!' as she snapped my braids like reins. My hair is part of my spirit. I am a Native woman. I am angry, humiliated. Your 'fun' hurt."Houska, who is Ojibwe, added: "When I informed the middle-aged blonde woman who had casually used her authority to dehumanize and disrespect me, she said, 'Well it was just in fun, I'm sorry. Your hair is lovely.'"That is NOT an apology and it is NOT OK."According to the Washington Post, women of color have long experienced problems at TSA checkpoints, because natural, braided or twisted hair prompt "flags" on security devices, spurring "more invasive screenings".Bring Me The News, a Minnesota website, appeared to have been first to report Houska's experience.In a statement to the Guardian, the TSA said it had been "made aware of allegations made by a traveler about her screening experience at Minneapolis-St Paul International Airport [on] Monday morning."TSA officials investigated the incident and on Tuesday afternoon, TSA's federal security director for Minnesota, Cliff Van Leuven, spoke with the traveler. He apologized for actions and a comment that were insensitive and made by a TSA officer to the traveler during the screening experience."Van Leuven also wrote to airport staff."In the news last night and today," he said, "you've likely seen – or heard - of a TSA officer at MSP who was insensitive in screening the long braided hair of a Native American passenger Monday morning. Did it actually happen? Yes. Exactly as described? Yes."This morning, I reached out to the passenger via email. She called me back early this afternoon. I apologized for how she was treated during the screening of her braids – and we had a very pleasant conversation."She reiterated that she doesn't want the officer to get in trouble, but she is hoping we'll take the chance to continue to educate our staff about the many Native American Tribes/Bands in our state and region to better understand their culture."The airport apologized on Twitter.Houska could not immediately be reached for comment.
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| Lesotho Premier to Resign as Police Probe Wife’s Murder Posted: 17 Jan 2020 03:18 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterLesotho's prime minister said he intends to step down, following increased calls for his resignation over the murder of his second wife, which police have linked to the woman he married a little over two months later.Thomas Thabane, 80, was inaugurated as prime minister of the tiny African mountain kingdom two days after his second wife was shot in June 2017. He previously held the post from 2012 to 2015, but fled to South Africa in 2014 after an alleged coup attempt."I have decided to retire from my position as the prime minister of Lesotho, and the time of my retirement will be officially announced when that time comes," Thabane said in the capital, Maseru, on Friday. His decision to resign had already been announced the previous day by Communications Minister Thesele Maseribane.Earlier this month, court documents showed that the country's police chief asked Thabane to clarify why his mobile phone number was linked to the crime scene, naming Thabane's current wife, Maesiah Thabane, as a suspect in the killing. Thabane had issued a notice to replace the police chief but withdrew it after the Lesotho High Court intervened.Maesiah has been on the run since the police issued an arrest warrant last week. Neither she nor her husband have commented on the murder case.The opposition on Wednesday said it would organize protests if Thabane doesn't resign within seven days, while a faction within his All Basotho Convention also urged him to step down.Lesotho, which is surrounded by South Africa, has one of the highest murder rates on the continent.(Updates with Thabane's statement in third paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Mathabiso Ralengau in Johannesburg at mralengau@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Antony SguazzinFor 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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| Ten charred bodies found in vehicle in violence-plagued Mexican state Posted: 18 Jan 2020 10:08 AM PST ![Ten charred bodies found in vehicle in violence-plagued Mexican state]( "Ten charred bodies found in vehicle in violence-plagued Mexican state") Mexican prosecutors are investigating the discovery of a burned-out vehicle containing the charred bodies of 10 people in the southwestern state of Guerrero, authorities said late on Friday. Police made the grisly discovery on a country road in the municipality of Chilapa de Alvarez after locals saw the vehicle on fire and alerted authorities, state security spokesman Roberto Alvarez said in a statement published on Facebook.
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| Discovery of unused disaster supplies angers Puerto Rico Posted: 18 Jan 2020 01:56 PM PST  People in a southern Puerto Rico city discovered a warehouse filled with water, cots and other unused emergency supplies, then set off a social media uproar Saturday when they broke in to retrieve goods as the area struggles to recover from a strong earthquake. With anger spreading in the U.S. territory after video of the event in Ponce appeared on Facebook, Gov. Wanda Vázquez quickly fired the director of the island's emergency management agency. The governor said she had ordered an investigation after learning the emergency supplies had been piled in the warehouse since Hurricane Maria battered Puerto Rico in September 2017.
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| The United States' main allies are abandoning Trump as his threats to world leaders backfire Posted: 18 Jan 2020 06:31 AM PST  European leaders are talking openly about loosening Europe's alliance with the United States as President Donald Trump alienates long-standing allies.
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| 220 wounded as Lebanon protesters clash with police Posted: 18 Jan 2020 12:38 PM PST  Clashes between police and Lebanese protesters wounded more than 220 people on both sides Saturday in the highest such tally in three months of anti-establishment demonstrations. The sound of ambulance sirens rang out across Beirut as the Red Cross reported 80 wounded had been taken to hospital and 140 more were treated on site. The protest movement rocking Lebanon since October 17 revived this week as a deepening economic crisis increases pressure to form a new government.
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| Abandoned by Allies, EU Censure Pushes Orban Toward EPP Exit Posted: 17 Jan 2020 01:13 AM PST ![Abandoned by Allies, EU Censure Pushes Orban Toward EPP Exit]( "Abandoned by Allies, EU Censure Pushes Orban Toward EPP Exit") (Bloomberg) -- Hungary's prime minister said he was on the verge of quitting the European Union's biggest political group after it backed a resolution demanding that the bloc intensify efforts to rein in his perceived democratic backsliding.In a joint resolution on Hungary and Poland, the European Parliament said Thursday that EU probes into the rule of law in both countries haven't resulted in improvements. EU lawmakers also called for additional mechanisms to reinforce the bloc's ability to discipline rogue member states.Pointedly for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, whose ruling Fidesz party is in the EPP, a large majority of the umbrella group supported the resolution. The EPP is considering whether to expel Fidesz over the dismantlement of checks and balances in Hungary."We were within a centimeter of quitting the EPP," Orban told state radio in an interview on Friday. "When our allies betray us -- and the majority of the EPP betrayed us -- we have no place there."The EPP suspended Fidesz in March over the erosion of the rule-of-law. Orban reiterated that he may preemptively withdraw his party from the EPP, and if he does he will most likely create a new EU umbrella platform.Orban has already held talks about possible cooperation with Poland's nationalist ruling Law & Justice Party, which is a member of a smaller group in the European Parliament."Things can't go on like this, that's for sure," Orban said, adding that the only reason he didn't withdraw Fidesz from the EPP already was because Italian, French and Spanish members voted against the resolution. "That gives us some hope, though it's waning."(Updates with Orban comments in fourth and last paragraphs.)\--With assistance from Veronika Gulyas.To contact the reporter on this story: Zoltan Simon in Budapest at zsimon@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net, Andrea Dudik, Michael WinfreyFor 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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| The most iconic tourist attraction in 26 countries around the world Posted: 18 Jan 2020 09:32 AM PST  There's something powerful about finally seeing a famous landmark or natural wonder in person instead of on a postcard (or on Instagram).
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| Woman pleads guilty to killing husband by putting eye drops in his water Posted: 17 Jan 2020 04:23 AM PST  A South Carolina woman pleaded guilty to fatally poisoning her husband by putting eye drops in his water for days. She was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
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| Remains of fallen US soldier returned to Fort Bragg Posted: 18 Jan 2020 04:08 PM PST  The remains of a paratrooper who was killed a week ago in Afghanistan have been returned to his family in the U.S. The family of Staff Sgt. Ian McLaughlin greeted his flag-draped casket at Pope Army Airfield at Fort Bragg on Saturday, The Fayetteville Observer reported. The 29-year-old from Newport News, Virginia, was killed Jan. 11 by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan.
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| Trump must be removed from office to safeguard 2020 election, Democrats say in impeachment trial brief Posted: 18 Jan 2020 04:08 PM PST  Donald Trump must be removed from office to safeguard the 2020 election, preserve the constitution and protect national security, according to an impeachment trial brief filed by House Democrats.The US president abused the powers of his office, "abandoned his oath to faithfully execute the laws and betrayed his public trust" in his dealings with Ukraine, the memorandum stated.
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| Austria's 'ghetto' language classes stir segregation fears Posted: 17 Jan 2020 06:38 PM PST  Every morning Abulrahman leaves his normal primary school lessons in Vienna and joins about 20 other children for three hours to learn to read, write and speak German. Despite conservative Chancellor Sebastian Kurz's new coalition partners, the Greens, having expressed concerns about the controversial policy, it looks set to continue. Kurz has pledged to maintain his anti-immigration reforms -- with junior partner, the Greens, conceding -- including the special classes, which the government argues allow children with weak German skills to learn at their own pace without holding others back.
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| Harvey Weinstein Defense Knocked White Women Off Jury, D.A. Says Posted: 17 Jan 2020 11:36 AM PST ![Harvey Weinstein Defense Knocked White Women Off Jury, D.A. Says]( "Harvey Weinstein Defense Knocked White Women Off Jury, D.A. Says") (Bloomberg) -- The jury for Harvey Weinstein's New York rape trial has been selected and is made up of seven men and five women, with Friday's selection of three white men bringing fierce objections from prosecutors who said the defense had intentionally kept white women off the case.Friday also brought further questioning of jurors that highlighted an important element of Weinstein's defense -- that any sexual relations with the fallen movie mogul were consensual.During arguments outside the hearing of potential jurors, prosecutor Joan Illuzzi repeatedly blasted Weinstein's lawyers as coming up with what she called "pretextual" reasons to exclude what she said was "every white woman" from the panel with their peremptory challenges. The defense has said white women would identify with the two alleged victims in the case, as well as with the four women whom prosecutors will call as witnesses to show a pattern of "prior bad acts."Each side in the case has 20 such challenges it can use to strike people from the jury without giving a reason. But New York State Supreme Court Justice James Burke told the lawyers they had to show they weren't motivated by bias and didn't exhibit a pattern of discrimination, by race, gender or any other category protected under New York law.In the end, three African-American women, two white women, six white men and an African-American man were selected.Read More: Judge Warns Jurors That Trial Isn't a Referendum on Me TooEarlier, defense attorney Arthur Aidala said one young woman should be excluded because she was from an upper-middle-class background and lacked the life experience to understand testimony about events that occurred before she was born, or to assess the truthfulness of the female witnesses. He also excluded a Latina model with an acting background who he said would likely identify with the Weinstein witnesses."The modeling photos, they're staged," he told Burke. "It's exactly the same. She was a beauty queen, and she said she was an actress who didn't make it. Who knows how she's going to hold that against Mr. Weinstein, who was the person who was doing the selecting? I believe that's a race-neutral reason."More than 80 women have accused Weinstein, 67, of sexual harassment or assault, many saying he used his power over their careers to abuse them. The New York criminal case against him, in which he is charged with rape and predatory sexual assault, involves two women.Burke asked Aidala to answer the prosecution's argument that the defense had used its peremptory challenges to strike "all white women" from the jury. Aidala noted that the defense had selected black women."So you discriminate equally against everybody?" the judge asked in jest."I try," Aidala said with a smile.Read More: Weinstein's Dream Jury Is Conservative, Traditional, SkepticalNonetheless, Burke disagreed with Illuzzi's argument that the defense had worked to keep white women off the panel.Prosecutors and defense lawyers, together with Burke, have spent the past two weeks narrowing the field of prospective jurors from about 500 Manhattanites summoned last week, finally bringing them in for questioning in groups of 20.Aidala saved a particularly pointed question for his last of the group that started the day on Friday, signaling an element of the defense."Who here thinks that someone could have consensual sexual relations with someone at work to get ahead at work?" he asked the group of 20 seated in the jury box.At least 10, mostly men, raised their hands.In addition to the jury, an African-American woman, a Latina and a white man were selected on Friday as the three alternates in case any of the 12 can't continue to serve. Burke has set Wednesday for the start of opening arguments.Weinstein is alleged to have raped a woman in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013 and performed a forcible sex act on another in 2006 in his apartment in the city.The case is People v. Weinstein, 450293/2018, New York State Supreme Court (Manhattan).To contact the reporter on this story: Patricia Hurtado in Federal Court in Manhattan at pathurtado@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey, Steve StrothFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A startup company took billions of photos from Facebook and other websites to create a facial-recognition database, and hundreds of law-enforcement agencies are using it Posted: 18 Jan 2020 01:54 PM PST  Law enforcement is using a database of billions of photos scraped from social media sites, likely against policy, by an unknown startup company.
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| Why Did The U.S. Navy Surface 3 Submarines At The Same Time In Asia? Posted: 18 Jan 2020 07:42 AM PST  A stern message to China.
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| Zimbabwe gripped by drama of vice president's nasty divorce Posted: 17 Jan 2020 04:15 AM PST  Black magic, drug addiction, attempted murder and a wrestling match over luxury cars and overseas properties. Zimbabwe is riveted by the explosive charges being made in the divorce of First Vice President Constantino Chiwenga and his wife Marry. A glimpse of the luxurious lives of Zimbabwe's ruling elite, as the rest of the country grapples with economic collapse, hyperinflation and hunger, is emerging in the divorce papers filed in court.
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| Lawmakers condemn conditions faced by asylum-seekers in Mexico Posted: 18 Jan 2020 12:50 AM PST  Members of a congressional delegation described the squalid conditions faced by the asylum-seeking families and children they met in Matamoros, Mexico.
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| Iran Has New Submarines, And That's Bad News For America Posted: 17 Jan 2020 01:00 PM PST  The new Fateh-class vessel was unveiled by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani late last week, at a ceremony held at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
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| How Trump's impeachment differs from a criminal trial Posted: 17 Jan 2020 02:37 PM PST  Yes, it's a trial — but the Senate's impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump won't resemble anything Americans have seen on Court TV. In Trump's trial, the Senate will serve as both judge and jury. COURTROOM TRIAL: Federal trials, both civil and criminal, are presided over by District Court judges who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate.
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| Susan Collins surpasses Mitch McConnell as the most unpopular senator in a new poll Posted: 17 Jan 2020 11:00 AM PST  The Maine Senator's net approval rating has dropped 10 points since the end of September, leaving her with a 52 percent disapproval rating
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| US dumps huge amounts of sand on Miami Beach to tackle climate change erosion Posted: 17 Jan 2020 01:14 PM PST  Dozens of trucks have started dumping hundreds of thousands of tons of sand on Miami Beach as part of US government measures to protect Florida's tourist destinations against the effects of climate change. "We have erosion hotspots," said Stephen Leatherman, an expert on beaches and the environment at Florida International University. Leatherman -- known locally as "Dr Beach" -- said that rising sea levels, triggered by climate change, are causing the accelerated erosion of the famous beach, as well as coastal storms and in particular hurricanes.
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| A mysterious and deadly virus from China could have infected 35 times more people than official totals, scientists warn Posted: 17 Jan 2020 11:00 PM PST  Airports in the US and parts of Asia have started screening travellers from Wuhan, central China, in the hope of stopping the disease from spreading.
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| Police detain 185 climate protesters at Brussels car show Posted: 18 Jan 2020 03:17 PM PST  Police detained 185 protesters in central Brussels on Saturday after the environmental protest group Extinction Rebellion staged demonstrations at a car show in protest at the auto industry's role in CO2 emissions that cause climate change. The protest came only days after the European Commission unveiled ideas on how to finance its flagship Green Deal project that aims to make the European Union a CO2 emissions-neutral area by 2050, in part through the transformation of the car industry. A member and former spokesman for the group, Christophe Meierhans, said Extinction Rebellion targeted the car industry because it told "a lot of lies in order to sell more cars".
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| Denver officials won't hand over information sought by ICE Posted: 16 Jan 2020 07:07 PM PST  Denver officials on Thursday said they would not hand over information requested by U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement on four men wanted for deportation. ICE, the Homeland Security agency tasked with arresting and deporting people in the U.S. illegally, sent four administrative subpoenas earlier this week to law enforcement looking for information on three Mexican nationals and one Honduran who had been in custody in Denver. It was the first time subpoenas had been sent to a law enforcement agency — an escalation of the conflict between the Trump administration and so-called sanctuary cities.
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| Israel's F-35i 'Adir' Stealth Fighter Is a Beast (And Now A Second Squadron Is Ready) Posted: 18 Jan 2020 01:50 AM PST  Iran, you might want to read this.
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| Pakistani court hands down 55-year sentences to 86 Islamists Posted: 16 Jan 2020 11:27 PM PST  A Pakistani court has sentenced 86 members of a radical Islamist party to 55-year prison terms each for taking part in violent rallies in 2018 over the acquittal of a Christian woman in a blasphemy case, a party official said Friday. The verdicts, unusually harsh for Pakistan, were announced late Thursday night by the court in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near Islamabad. Pir Ejaz Ashrafi, a senior leader of the radical Tehreek-e-Labbaik party, said the sentences would be appealed.
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| DOJ: Rod Rosenstein authorized release to news media of Strzok-Page texts about Trump Posted: 18 Jan 2020 10:43 AM PST  Rod Rosenstein said he authorized the release of the Lisa Page and Peter Strzok messages because he thought they would become public anyway.
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| Parnas: 'I'm scared,' speaking out because of William Barr Posted: 17 Jan 2020 03:21 AM PST  Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas said he was giving media interviews about his role in President Trump's attempts to convince Ukrainian officials to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden because he wanted to protect himself from Attorney General William Barr.
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