| GOP impeachment vote will be 'funeral of the modern Republican Party,' says former DNC head Posted: 18 Dec 2019 12:52 PM PST  The starkly partisan nature of the vote has forced Democrats to explain why no Republicans are expected to vote in favor of impeachment. The former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee says Republicans have "chosen power over principle."
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| A 17-year-old girl was arrested after allegedly stealing a $2 million plane and driving it into an airport building in California Posted: 19 Dec 2019 02:53 AM PST  Officials at Fresno Yosemite International Airport said they are unsure how the suspect could have got inside the plane.
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| China censors viral clips of a rare university protest after the academy downgrades 'freedom of thought' Posted: 19 Dec 2019 04:17 AM PST  China has censored online all mentions and video clips of a rare protest at a university after the institution dropped the phrase, "freedom of thought," from its charter. The new charter for Fudan University in Shanghai – one of China's most prestigious – now includes a pledge to "serving the governance of the Communist Party" and pushes "academic independence" below "patriotism," leading to uproar among students and faculty. The changes came to light Tuesday when the country's education ministry said it had approved similar alterations for three universities. Within hours, the Fudan charter amendments were trending online, with at least one hashtag generating at least a million views. Clips also circulated online showing students staging a flash mob protest on campus, singing the school's anthem, which includes the phrase "freedom of thought". Fudan professors also took online to express their alarm. Qu Weiguo, a professor of foreign languages, posted that he was "very shocked" to learn about the changes, which he said were made without consulting faculty. But shortly after, such mentions and posts online were all deleted by China's active government censors, which routinely block news and information, and scrub the internet clean of any dissenting comments. Video that circulated this week showed students at Shanghai's Fudan University gathering to sing the school song Credit: HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images Since Xi Jinping, leader of the Chinese Communist Party, came to power in 2012, China has engaged in a widespread crackdown online and in civil society in a campaign that has sent a chill across the country. Mr Xi has called for allegiance to the Party from the country's universities, with some institutions even setting up departments to root out ideological "weakness." All this has led to tightening of academic freedoms – professors failing to toe the party line have been suspended from their posts. Informants are also believed to be keeping an eye on them – foreign and Chinese alike. Late Wednesday, the university posted a statement online saying the charter changes were made "in strict accordance with legal procedures." Beijing has kept tight control over universities every since student-led protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989 – ending in bloodshed after the government ordered the military to suppress the uprising. Universities – and schools – have never had robus academic independence, with curriculums and textbooks all vetted by the government. Certain topics deemed sensitive by the party are left out, or presented in a fashion palatable to the government. But many experts have criticised the tightening under Xi as heralding a new era of squashing dissent. China is also on heightened watch over universities given fears that widespread protests in Hong Kong largely led by students - now entering a seventh continuous month - could spill over into the mainland. Indeed, Fudan's new charter says the university would "weaponise the minds of teachers and students using Xi Jinping's socialism ideology with Chinese characteristics in the new era." The university has since posted a statement online saying the changes were made "in strict accordance with legal procedures."
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| Suit: Police barged into Kansas home, beat man for no reason Posted: 19 Dec 2019 06:24 AM PST ![Suit: Police barged into Kansas home, beat man for no reason]( "Suit: Police barged into Kansas home, beat man for no reason") A federal lawsuit alleges that Kansas City, Kansas, police broke into a man's home in the middle of the night and beat him before having him charged with battery of a law enforcement officer. Joseph Harter, 43, claims in the lawsuit filed last week in federal court that he was temporarily blinded by blood in his eyes and went to a hospital after the October 2018 beating, The Kansas City Star reported. The police department and the Unified Government of Wyandotte County declined to comment Wednesday on the pending litigation, which alleges that Harter was the victim of illegal entry, battery, false imprisonment and excessive force.
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| Impeachment Explained: The sitting Congressman who was impeached and removed from former federal judgeship – now voting in Trump’s impeachment Posted: 18 Dec 2019 08:25 AM PST  In this episode of Impeachment Explained, Yahoo News looks at a historical instance when a Florida federal judge was impeached and removed from office in 1989 but was able to get elected to Congress in 1992. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., is still a member of Congress today but finds himself in some hot water after all these years. Who is Alcee Hastings, and how was it possible? Yahoo News explains.
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| 'Wait for Mother Nature': Last 2 victims of New Zealand's volcano eruption may never be found Posted: 18 Dec 2019 06:51 AM PST  Winona Langford and Hayden Marshall-Inman, missing since the White Island Volcano erupted, were apparently washed out to sea and may never be found.
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| OIC criticises Malaysia's Muslim summit Posted: 18 Dec 2019 10:42 AM PST  The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday mounted a veiled attack on a Muslim summit in Malaysia shunned by Saudi Arabia, saying such gatherings would weaken Islam. Leaders of Muslim nations, including Saudi rivals Iran, Turkey and Qatar, will attend the summit this week in Kuala Lumpur, which analysts say is aimed at rivalling the OIC, a 57-member pan-Islamic body headquartered in the Saudi city of Jeddah. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad dismissed those concerns in a phone call Tuesday with Saudi Arabia's King Salman, insisting the summit was not intended to create a new bloc.
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| Every McDonald's in Peru closes over deaths of two employees Posted: 18 Dec 2019 08:06 PM PST  The teenage workers were electrocuted during the job, police said, according to BBC News.
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| Horowitz Pushes Back on Claim that He Exonerated FBI of Political Bias: ‘We Did Not Reach that Conclusion’ Posted: 18 Dec 2019 11:12 AM PST  Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz clarified Wednesday that his investigation into the FBI's FISA abuses "did not reach" the conclusion that the bureau was unaffected by political bias during its 2016 Russia investigation.Following the release of the report, Democrats and former FBI officials were quick to point to Horowitz's statement that he "did not find documentary or testimonial evidence" of political bias in the opening of Crossfire Hurricane, arguing that the statement proved President Trump's claims of a politically-motivated "witch hunt" were false.In an op-ed published after the report's release, James Comey attacked Trump and attorney general William Barr, saying "those who smeared the FBI are due for an accounting." On Sunday, the former FBI director attributed to "sloppiness" the 17 "significant errors and omissions" included in the FISA application to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page.Appearing on CNN with former FBI former deputy director Andrew McCabe, former FBI general counsel James Baker said that Trump should "apologize to me, to my colleagues" because "there was no hoax, there was no conspiracy to overthrow anybody, there was no sedition, there was no treason, there was no evidence of any of that."But under questioning from Senator Josh Hawley (R., Mo.), Horowitz explained his investigation did leave the door open to possible political bias because his team could not accept the explanations FBI members gave on why there were "so many errors" in their investigation."We have been very careful in the connection with the FISA's for the reasons you mentioned to not reach that conclusion," Horowitz told Hawley. "As we've talked about earlier — the alteration of the email, the text messages associated with the individual who did that, and our inability to explain or understand, to get good explanations so that we could understand why this all happened."Horowitz's clarification comes after U.S. attorney John Durham released a statement saying his office did "not agree with" the report's statements regarding the origins of the FBI's 2016 Russia probe.The inspector general also said during testimony that his team was looking further into whether the FBI's "basic errors" in the case were potentially systemic.
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| 43 photos show how extreme weather and natural disasters have gotten more intense over the last decade Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:39 PM PST  Extreme weather, from snow squalls and bomb cyclones to wildfires and guerilla rain, increased in frequency and intensity over the last decade.
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| Philippine massacre masterminds jailed for life over 57 murders Posted: 18 Dec 2019 07:34 PM PST  A Philippine court found the bosses of an influential political clan guilty on Thursday of masterminding a 2009 massacre of 57 people, a ruling cheered as a partial victory for justice and a challenge to the country's notorious culture of impunity. Eight members of the powerful Ampatuan family were among 28 people sentenced to life imprisonment over their roles in a ambush on an election motorcade in Maguindanao province, and the gunning-down of all who witnessed it. Among the victims of the "Maguindanao Massacre" were 32 journalists in what was one of the world's single biggest attacks on media.
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| Georgia purge removes nearly 309,000 voter registrations Posted: 18 Dec 2019 01:32 PM PST  Georgia election officials purged nearly 309,000 voter registrations from the state's voting rolls this week, according to a list of cancelled registrations released by the secretary of state's office on Wednesday. A federal judge is set to hear arguments Thursday about whether some of those registrations should be reinstated. The hearing comes after Fair Fight Action, a voting rights advocacy group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams, filed an emergency motion earlier this week asking the court to stop part of the purge.
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| Why Russia's Tu-22M3 Bomber Terrifies the World Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:30 PM PST  And it's everywhere.
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| Russian security officer dies in shootout at Federal Security Service in Moscow Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:50 PM PST  The gunfight erupted around 7 p.m. in the reception room of the FSB, about eight blocks from the Kremlin in Moscow.
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| 2 North Koreans Tried to Defect. Did Seoul Send Them to Their Deaths? Posted: 18 Dec 2019 12:14 PM PST  SEOUL, South Korea -- In early November, two North Korean fishermen captured in South Korean waters were escorted to the inter-Korean border, blindfolded and their bodies tied with ropes. There, they were handed over to North Korean authorities.South Korea often reveals the seizure of North Korean fishermen in its waters once it happens. This time, the episode was kept secret -- until an army officer on the border sent a text message reporting the handover to a senior presidential aide and a photographer captured the message on the aide's smartphone.Revelation after shocking revelation has since followed, leaving human rights advocates and groups that include South Korea's bar association agape with outrage.As legislators looked into the matter, officials admitted that the two fishermen, ages 22 and 23, submitted hand-written statements in which they said they hoped to defect to South Korea. But after a few days of interrogation, South Korea concluded that they were not refugees needing protection but "heinous criminals" who butchered the captain and 15 other crewmen on their boat.The two were denied access to lawyers, a court hearing or a chance to appeal the government's decision to repatriate them. Until their blindfolds were taken off at the border, they did not know where they were being taken. When they finally realized it, one of them collapsed, according to lawmakers briefed by officials.For the two men, their return to North Korea could mean their likely execution.Tens of thousands of North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Until now, the South had accepted all defectors, regardless of their criminal records, because North Koreans technically qualified as South Korean citizens under the South's Constitution.For years, the United Nations has lamented widespread lack of due process in North Korea, reporting torture, starvation, murder and other crimes against humanity perpetrated against criminal suspects, especially those forcibly repatriated from abroad. "Forcibly repatriating them was an act against humanity that violated international law," Won Yoo-chul, an opposition lawmaker, told a highly emotional parliamentary hearing last month. "Their repatriation constitutes a murder through willful negligence because South Korea sent them to the North, fully aware that they would be executed there."The case of the two fishermen was also unusual because it marked the first in which South Korea rejected North Korean defectors because of their alleged crimes in the North or because their intent to defect was considered disingenuous.In a joint statement this week, Human Rights Watch and 66 other rights groups accused South Korea of failing in its obligation under international treaties to "protect anyone who would be at substantial risk of torture or other serious human rights violations after repatriation."Few personal details have been revealed about the two North Koreans, except that one was the boatswain and the other a deck hand. But their fateful journey began Aug. 15, when their 17-ton wooden boat with 19 men on board cast off from Kimchaek on the east coast of North Korea, South Korean officials said.The two, together with the ship's chief engineer, mutinied against the captain's abuse on a late October night, killing him with hammers and axes. They then went on a killing spree to hide their crime. They awakened their colleagues two at a time, lured them outside and butchered them, throwing their bodies overboard.They steered their ship back to Kimchaek, hoping to sell the squid and flee inland. When the engineer was arrested by Kimchaek police, the other two fled back to the sea.By the time their boat approached the inter-Korean sea border on Oct. 31, South Korean authorities said they had picked up intelligence that North Korea was looking for them. South Korean patrol boats fired warning shots and broadcast warnings, a standard procedure when a North Korean fishing boat crosses the border without signaling that those on the boat are defecting.The boat repeatedly crossed back and forth across the maritime border for two days, until South Korean navy commandos finally seized it on Nov. 2. Both men quickly confessed to mass murder, providing identical details of the crime during separate interrogations, South Korean officials said. They then said they wanted to defect to the South."We decided to expel them because they were atrocious criminals who could threaten the lives and safety of our people if accepted into our society," said the South Korean unification minister, Kim Yeon-chul, who added that the two "lacked sincerity when they said they wanted to defect."Few matters are that simple on the divided Korean Peninsula, however.Although the South's Constitution claims North Korea as part of its territory, both sides in reality have also recognized each other's territorial sovereignty. They joined the United Nations at the same time, and have held summit meetings and signed agreements to bolster economic and other forms of cooperation. In the past decade, South Korea has returned 185 North Korean fishermen adrift in its waters who wanted to return home. In the same period, North Korea sent home 16 South Koreans who entered the North illegally.In previously holding to its policy of never returning any North Koreans who said they wanted to defect, the South had welcomed people with tainted pasts. At least 270 North Korean defectors living in the South were found to have committed crimes serious enough to disqualify them from government subsidies, including nine who had committed murder or other serious offenses, according to government data."I am just flabbergasted," wrote Joo Sung-ha, a defector-turned-journalist in Seoul, referring to the South's refusal to believe the two North Koreans' stated intention to defect. "If they defected to the South, they had a chance to live, and if they returned to the North, it was 100% certain that they would die. Under such circumstances, wasn't it natural for them to want to defect?"Rights advocates were especially disappointed because the office of President Moon Jae-in coordinated the repatriation. Before winning the presidency, Moon had been a famed human rights lawyer who once defended six Korean-Chinese men who murdered 11 crewmen, including seven South Koreans, on a tuna fishing boat in 1996."President Moon Jae-in and his government are ignoring North Korea's grave human rights abuses in a misguided effort to mollify Kim Jong Un and improve relations with Pyongyang," said Phil Robertson, the Asia deputy director at Human Rights Watch.Instead of hurrying to repatriate the two North Koreans, South Korea should have thoroughly investigated the case, including "whether 'the brutal criminals' were in reality not the abusers but victims of the harsh circumstance of North Korea," Ra Jong-yil, the former deputy director of the South's National Intelligence Service, wrote in the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.But under its legal system, South Korea could not have prosecuted the two men because the criminal evidence was in the North, officials and other lawmakers said. They feared that letting the two North Korean fishermen stay free in the South would have been a betrayal of the victims of their alleged crime, and might help turn South Korea into a safe haven for criminals on the run from the North."This is one of the best things the Unification Ministry and the National Intelligence Service have done recently," said Lee Seok-hyun, a governing party lawmaker, referring to the agencies involved in the repatriation.Conspicuously absent from the debate, however, are the voices of the two North Koreans who were sent back to their homeland. Since they were returned, North Korea has not spoken a word about their fate.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Turkey's protection of Hamas is a huge blow to peace in the Middle East Posted: 18 Dec 2019 10:01 AM PST  The latest reports that Turkey is now permitting senior Hamas commanders to order attacks against Israel from Istanbul is not surprising. It is however highly disappointing and represents a huge setback in the quest of the US, the UK, and their western allies to bring about a more peaceful Middle East. It might be recalled that in mid-2014, three Israeli teenagers were abducted by Hamas operatives in the West Bank and subsequently murdered. The mastermind of the attacks was Salah al-Arouri, who moved to Turkey after residing in Syria, and issued orders to Hamas from Turkish soil. He shifted his residence multiple times, moving to Qatar and Beirut, but ultimately he would come back to Turkey where he engaged in dispatching Palestinians in the field. According to its own charter, Hamas is the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was founded in Egypt in 1928, but later expanded to many countries. Geopolitically, the movement backed the recovery of lost Islamic territories from Spain (what they still call Andalus) to the Balkans. Its leader in 1966 was assassinated in an Egyptian prison, at which point some of its most important leaders moved to Saudi Arabia, where they became active in founding what was to become al-Qaeda. Turkish Islamists have been known to speak about a need to take revenge for the Ottoman defeat at the Gates of Vienna in 1683. Hamas is an organisation with shifting loyalties. During the early 1990s, it took money from Saudi Arabia and after the 9/11 attacks Iran became its main benefactor, and to a lesser extent Qatar. A poster found by the Israel Defense Forces around 2003 in educational institutions in the West Bank pictured the founder of Hamas alongside Chechen commanders like Khattab and Shamil Basayev, as well as the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. President Putin cannot derive any comfort from these associations, as Russia draws closer to the Turkish leadership. In the last few years, while the West crushed Isil in Syria and Iraq, it still persists organisationally in Northern Sinai where it is involved in an insurgency war with the Egyptian Army. Sometimes Hamas competes with Isil, but they also cooperate. All this suggests that analysts of the trends in Turkey should be pessimistic about the future. The main centre of Hamas overseas operations cannot be a member of Nato. Yet there is a greater threat to the entire Middle East emerging in Iran. The Iranians, who pretend to be allies of a more radical Turkey, remain its main adversary. In recent years, Tehran has been infiltrating Turkey, seeking to convert whole villages in the eastern parts of the country to Shiism - a practice the Iranians followed in Morocco, Sudan and in Egypt. Israel recalls Ottoman policies of protecting Jewish refugees who were oppressed in Western Europe, especially after the Spanish Inquisition. Turkey does not need to put itself on a collision course with Israel. It needs to look back to its own rich history and rid itself of the likes of Hamas in order to take its place in the world order that will emerge in the remainder of the present century. Ambassador Gold served as Israel's ambassador to the United Nations and as the Director-General of its Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.
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| Meth boom adds to Afghanistan's opium and heroin woes Posted: 18 Dec 2019 09:15 PM PST  At a sprawling rehabilitation centre on the outskirts of Kabul, dozens of dazed-looking drug addicts clamber out of police buses and shuffle toward the facility. Almost unheard of in Afghanistan until a few years ago, meth's sudden appearance has blindsided authorities in a country already suffering from a crisis in opium and heroin addiction. "My life has been ruined by addiction," said 25-year-old Sulaiman, one of the 40 or so men arriving at the treatment centre.
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| Congress slashes funding for the Navy’s LCS sensors — again Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:33 PM PST  Appropriators are set to slice 77 percent from the Navy's mine countermeasures module, shuffling part of it to another section of the budget.
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| Grandfather offered plea deal in girl's cruise ship death Posted: 18 Dec 2019 06:40 PM PST  Puerto Rican defense attorney Jose Perez said Anello doesn't want to plead guilty and would rather clear his name at trial.
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| After impeachment, House bestows big trade victory on Trump Posted: 19 Dec 2019 09:57 AM PST  One day after its historic impeachment votes, the Democratic-led House gave President Donald Trump an overwhelming bipartisan victory Thursday on a renegotiated trade agreement with Canada and Mexico. The legislation passed after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her colleagues won key concessions from an administration anxious to pass the trade deal before next year's election season makes that task more difficult. The GOP-controlled Senate will probably take up the legislation when members return to Washington after the holidays and after dealing with impeachment.
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| Steve Bannon: Republicans are the 'working-class party;' needs to 'find our AOCs' Posted: 17 Dec 2019 07:26 PM PST  Steve Bannon says the Republican Party is representative of "working-class" voters and urged party leaders to "find our AOCs" for upcoming elections.
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| How America Could Catch China Preparing for a War Posted: 19 Dec 2019 01:08 AM PST  The U.S. Navy needs better surveillance and reconnaissance systems if it's to have any chance of detecting a Chinese build-up in the Western Pacific in the weeks or days preceding a possible major war.
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| The US Army wants to outfit dogs with tiny cameras and other advanced gear to make them even more effective in combat Posted: 19 Dec 2019 08:41 AM PST  Dogs been fighting on battlefields for centuries, but the modern military dog is more sophisticated than his predecessor with more advanced gear.
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| Barr: ‘Simply Not True’ Comey was Hands-Off During Crossfire Hurricane Investigation Posted: 19 Dec 2019 11:01 AM PST  William Barr pushed back Wednesday on James Comey's assertion that he had no knowledge of the "particulars" of the FBI's infamous Crossfire Hurricane probe, in which the bureau was found to have made 17 "significant errors" in pursuing FISA warrants to surveil members of the 2016 Trump campaign.During an interview Sunday with Fox News' Chris Wallace, Comey attributed the FBI's errors in the FISA process detailed by DOJ inspector general Michael Horowitz's report to "sloppiness," and said that he "didn't know the particulars of the investigation" as director."As a director sitting on top of an organization with 38,000 people, you can't run an investigation that's seven layers below you," he said. "You have to leave it to the career professionals to do . . . If a director tries to run an investigation, it can get mucked up in other kinds of ways given his or her responsibilities and the impossibility of reaching the work being done at the lower levels."But speaking Wednesday with Fox News' Martha McCallum, Barr disagreed with Comey's characterizations, especially the former FBI director's claim that he was "seven layers" above the investigation."One of the problems with what happened was precisely that they pulled the investigation up to the executive floors, and it was run and birddogged by a very small group of very high-level officials," Barr said. "The idea that this was seven layers below him is simply not true."In his interview with Wallace, Comey also claimed the attorney general had made "an irresponsible statement" when he said last week that the errors laid out in the IG report allow "the possibility that there was bad faith."Barr "does not have a factual basis as the Attorney General of the United States to be speculating that agents acted in bad faith," Comey said. In an op-ed published December 9, he stated "Attorney General William P. Barr owes . . . the American people, an acknowledgment of the truth."In the Wednesday interview, Barr said it is "nonsense" that he is "somehow attacking the FBI" for wanting to investigate the origins of the bureau's probe into the 2016 Trump campaign."We're criticizing and concerned about misconduct by a few actors at the top of the FBI, and they should be criticized if they engaged in serious misconduct," Barr said.The attorney general also confirmed that U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was tapped by Barr to lead an investigation into the original probe, was broadening his scope to look at other intelligence agencies."He's not just looking at the FBI, he's looking at other agencies, and departments, and also private actors, so it's a much broader investigation," Barr said. "Also, it's not just looking at the FISA aspect of it, he is looking at all the conduct both before & after the election"Following the release of Horowitz's report, Durham caused waves by saying his team did "not agree" that the FBI had an "authorized purpose" for opening its investigation.
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| 'Spouting Russian propaganda': Nadler calls out Gohmert Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:20 PM PST  Chairman Nadler accused Rep. Louie Gohmert of "spouting Russian propaganda on the floor of the House" ahead of the impeachment vote on Wednesday.
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| 12 Deals We Love From REI’s Last-Minute Holiday Sale Posted: 18 Dec 2019 01:52 PM PST |
| Uber, Lyft to stop Phoenix airport trips over higher fees Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:14 PM PST  Uber and Lyft said they will make good on their threats to stop taking customers to and from the airport in the nation's fifth-largest city, creating confusion next year for travelers used to opening a phone app to catch a ride after Phoenix decided to raise fees on ride-hailing companies. Both companies confirmed late Wednesday that they would stop curbside service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport after the City Council voted to raise fees for pickups and drop-offs at one of the largest commercial U.S. airports, serving some 44 million passengers annually. Neither provided an exact date for stopping airport operations.
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| Top Trump ally in U.S. House to leave Congress, eyes work with president Posted: 19 Dec 2019 04:32 AM PST  One of U.S. President Donald Trump's most stalwart allies in the House of Representatives, Republican Mark Meadows, said on Thursday he will not seek re-election next year and could seek a position to work with Trump in some capacity. "My time serving Western North Carolina in Congress will come to a close at the end of this term," Meadows, a founding member of Republican's conservative House Freedom Caucus, said in a statement. "My work with President Trump and his administration is only beginning," Meadows wrote.
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| Is China's Second Aircraft Carrier A Floating Paper Tiger? Posted: 17 Dec 2019 11:35 PM PST  Her layout limits her military potential and also puts a cap on the power-projection capabilities of the Chinese fleet. That's because Shandong merely is a slightly more capacious copy of China's first carrier Liaoning, a refurbished Ukrainian hull from the 1980s.
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| Putin drops cryptic hint on 2024 exit in press marathon Posted: 19 Dec 2019 07:24 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dropped a cryptic hint seen by some as a sign he may not serve another term while also staunchly defending his Kremlin policies in a marathon news conference. Clocking in at four hours and twenty-five minutes, the question-and-answer session was one of the longest ever held by Putin in a format that has become an annual end-of-year tradition for the Russian leader. Putin -- who will shortly mark two decades since Boris Yeltsin dramatically handed him the presidency at the start of 2000 -- faced the media with Russia still isolated internationally and speculation growing about his own plans when his mandate ends in 2024.
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| Italian Cops Tried to Take Revenge on U.S. Kids Who Killed One of Their Own Posted: 19 Dec 2019 08:04 AM PST  ROME–The criminal case against two American teens from California's Bay Area who are accused of fatally stabbing an Italian police officer here in July has just taken a truly Italian twist. On Wednesday, Italian police concluded their own internal investigation into three police officers who are now facing charges that could jeopardize the case against 19-year-old Finnegan Elder and 18-year-old Gabe Natale Hjorth. Elder allegedly confessed to stabbing the officer, Mario Rega Cerciello. But he says he did so in self defense because neither Cerciello nor his partner that night identified themselves as police officers by showing weapons or badges. Hjorth also says he was manhandled during the interrogation, as shown by a photo of him blindfolded in custody. Officer Fabio Manganaro is accused of using excessive measures and abuse of office for blindfolding Natale Hjorth when he was in custody being questioned about the murder. Officer Silvio Pellegrino is accused of circulating the photo of the blindfolded American, which was disseminated widely in the press. Police say Pellegrino circulated the images on "at least two WhatsApp chats," causing what they say was "unjust damage" to the case against Natale Hjorth. Pellegrini is also accused of abuse of office for relaying information to the press and other police officers about the Americans allegedly searching for cocaine, which, they say, compromised the investigation. It is unclear what Pellegrini's motive might have been in making a move that undermines the investigation by Italian police into the murder of one of their own officers. Another officer, Sandro Ottaviani, is accused of forgery for falsifying an official document to make it appear Cerciello and Varriale were carrying weapons. Ottaviani allegedly told his superiors that the officers had their government-issue weapons the night of the murder, when, in fact, they did not. American Teen Plunged 7-Inch Knife Deep Into Italian Cop According to Leaked Autopsy ReportCerciello was killed when he and his police partner met the Americans to retrieve a backpack they allegedly stole from a many who had lined them up with a pusher. They had expected to buy cocaine, and had spent about $80, only to discover they'd been sold crushed aspirin instead. So they stole the go-between's bag, with a phone still in it. According to police, he called the phone, and the Americans set up a meeting to exchange the bag for the money they'd spent and for some real cocaine. But when the Americans went to the rendezvous they were met by Cerciello and his partner. That these cops stepped in to help a drug pusher and his shill over an $80 drug deal has raised eyebrows across Italy, with the general consensus that one or both were police informants. Neither the go-between nor the pusher has been arrested for selling or abetting the sale of drugs. When the police officers met the Americans to retrieve the bag, a fight ensued and Cerciello was stabbed with a 7-inch military grade knife that Elder had brought from the U.S., according to a police report seen by The Daily Beast. Elder allegedly confessed to the stabbing, which he said was in self defense after Cerciello grabbed his neck. Hjorth has said through his attorney that he did not know Elder was armed, despite the fact that police say his fingerprints were found on Elder's hotel room ceiling panel under which the weapon used in the murder was found. The twist in the investigation will surely give the American defense team hope that they can question the police work as part of their defense. In November, police leaked details from what is purported to be a secret taping of Elder and his father and American lawyer in the prison visiting room during which Elder is supposed to have said that, indeed, he did know Cerciello was a police officer. Elder's lawyers told The Daily Beast they strongly deny the content of the leaked police transcript of the tape. They continue to insist that Elder did not know he and Hjorth were faced with police officers that fatal night. "When they quickly flashed their cards or whatever ...," Elder allegedly said before being interrupted by his lawyer, Craig Peterson, during their prison conversation. Peterson then is supposed to have whispered to his client, "Stay calm, stick to your statement, review it point by point, remember it. Your statement shouldn't worry us during the interrogation," Peterson reportedly said, then added, "You did not see anything." Peterson adamantly denied to The Daily Beast that such a conversation ever happened. Italian lawyers for Elder told The Daily Beast on Thursday that they were still weighing the significance of the investigation into the police officers, but that it certainly underscored the flaws in the case. Lawyers for Hjorth declined to comment, but have previously asked that their client, who is a dual American-Italian citizen, be placed under house arrest. The young Americans are in separate prisons in Rome accused of aggravated homicide and other charges awaiting a Feb. 26 trial date. They have separate defense teams but will be tried together. They face life in prison if convicted. 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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| Atmospheric river expected to slam West Coast Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:29 AM PST  For most, dreams of a white Christmas will remain just that.
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| New details emerge on fatal plane crash that occurred during snowstorm Posted: 18 Dec 2019 01:41 PM PST  An NTSB investigator examines the wreckage of a Pilatus PC-12 airplane at Chamberlain Municipal Airport in South Dakota. The aircraft crashed on Saturday, November 30, 2019, moments after taking off. The crash killed nine of the 12 people on board. (NTSB) The pilot and a passenger worked for three hours "to remove snow and ice from the airplane," according to a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report, prior to a deadly plane crash late last month in South Dakota that claimed the lives of nine passengers and injured three others.The NTSB said a witness recalled having seen the efforts to clear the single-engine Pilatus PC-12 before the plane took off and then crashed within a mile of takeoff in Chamberlain, South Dakota, Nov. 30."If you have the proper equipment it shouldn't take three hours, especially for a plane that size," Ethan Klapper, a journalist and licensed aircraft dispatcher, told AccuWeather. "Sounds like something improper happened here. Also, they were clearing the snow while it was still snowing. So likely there was additional accumulation that was occurring during this, and they took off with still more snow that accumulated on the aircraft."Chamberlain, and much of South Dakota, was under a Winter Storm Warning from the National Weather Service at the time of the crash. Winds of 7 mph and moderate snow were reported at the time of the flight with overcast conditions and half-mile visibility, according to the report. Freezing rain and snow were observed at the Chamberlain Municipal Airport the previous afternoon and overnight.The plane arrived in Chamberlain Friday at about 9:30 a.m. CST, according to an earlier NTSB statement. The airplane remained parked on the airport ramp until the accident a day later."It seems a classic case of no deicing chemicals were sprayed or that there was some kind of buildup of new snow on the wings," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. "Or is it possible the air speed indicator was clogged with, or again became clogged with, snow and ice? Or, did they damage something on the plane while clearing it of snow and ice?" A photo of a Pilatus PC-12 in flight. (Pilatus Aircraft Ltd) Ice and snow need to be properly removed from a plane for the flight to be legal, and if that doesn't happen, the consequences can be dire. Variations in drag and lift could be substantial if a plane is not properly deiced, an aviation expert confirmed with AccuWeather.Three of the plane's warning systems - the stall warning, stick shaker and stick pusher \- activated within 15 seconds after liftoff, the NTSB report noted. The airplane immediately rolled about 10 degrees to the left after takeoff. The plane then reversed to five degrees to the right before it "ultimately entered a 64-degree left bank as the airplane reached its peak altitude of 460 feet above ground," according to the report.It's also possible the time taken to clear the plane's snow and ice affected pre-flight preparations. The pilot and passenger worked for three hours before being joined by the remaining passengers shortly before the flight, according to the NTSB report. The pilot requested clearance from Minneapolis Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) at 12:24 p.m., saying he'd be ready in five minutes. At 12:27 p.m., he received clearance with a void time of 12:35 p.m. No radio communications were received from the pilot and radar contact was never established. At 12:40 p.m., Minneapolis ARTCC contacted the Chamberlain airport manager, who advised the plane had departed about 10 minutes earlier. An alert notice was then issued.Another factor that could have contributed to the crash was a possible load imbalance. The Pilatus PC-12 pilot's information manual notes the "maximum number of occupants is 9 passengers" plus 1-2 pilot(s). According to the NTSB report, there were 12 people on the plane.The data recorder captured cockpit sound, the report noted; the NTSB will convene a group of technical experts to produce a transcript. The preliminary report does not include analysis or a probable cause for the accident. Probable cause will be determined at the end of the investigation, which could take between 12-14 months to complete.According to Travis Garza, president of wellness company Kyani, the company's two founders, Jim Hansen and Kirk Hansen, were among the crash victims. The other seven passengers who died were their relatives; three passengers survived.There were 393 U.S. civil aviation deaths in 2018, an increase from 347 in 2017, according to the NTSB. Most aviation deaths in 2018 took place during general aviation operations - all civilian flying except scheduled passenger airline service - when 381 were killed, compared to 331 in 2017.
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| Photos show why Boeing was forced to stop production of its grounded 737 Max Posted: 19 Dec 2019 12:31 PM PST  Boeing has hundreds of 737 Max airplanes in storage, and the company decided making more while then the FAA says they can't fly is no longer tenable.
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| Report: German spy agency releases Himmler daughter files Posted: 19 Dec 2019 06:26 AM PST  Germany's foreign intelligence agency has declassified documents regarding its employment of the daughter of top Nazi Heinrich Himmler as a secretary in the early 1960s, the country's top-selling newspaper reported Thursday. The BND agency declassified the documents on Gudrun Burwitz-Himmler at the Bild newspaper's request. The paper previously confirmed the intelligence agency employed Burwitz-Himmler from 1961 to 1963.
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| In debate, Democrats promise to make the case for Trump's impeachment Posted: 19 Dec 2019 03:11 AM PST  The Democratic U.S. presidential candidates promised during a debate on Thursday to make the case to a divided American public that the impeachment of President Donald Trump was necessary to protect the dignity and honor of the office. The day after the House of Representatives voted to impeach Trump, many of seven contenders taking part in the debate acknowledged that the American public is split over the move, with Republicans largely opposing it and Democrats favoring it. "We cannot have a president with that temperament who is dishonoring the presidency of the United States," said U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, one of three senators in the debate who will sit as jurors in a trial of Trump in the Republican-led Senate that will determine whether he is removed from office.
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| Family, church seek to bring 2-year-old girl back to life through prayer, song and praise Posted: 18 Dec 2019 01:19 PM PST  For the past week members of Bethel Church in Redding, California, have been using prayer, music and singing to bring back to life a child who died.
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| Aircraft Theft: Why China's J-11 Fighter Looks Like Russia's Su-27 'Flanker' Posted: 19 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST  China continues to reverse-engineer foreign military hardware.
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| Israel strikes Gaza after rocket attack: military Posted: 18 Dec 2019 10:23 PM PST  Israeli warplanes attacked an arms plant in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip early Thursday, after Palestinian militants in the enclave fired a rocket at Israel,the army said. "Overnight, a rocket was launched from the Gaza Strip at Israeli territory," an English-language army statement said. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the overnight rocket attack or the air strike that followed.
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| Postal worker accused of selling crack out of mail truck on delivery routes Posted: 19 Dec 2019 07:16 AM PST  Darcy Spangler, 52, appeared in Ashtabula Municipal Court in Ashtabula, Ohio, on Wednesday on charges of trafficking in drugs, court records show.
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| The Military Is Getting Ready to Fight China and Russia at the Same Time Posted: 19 Dec 2019 09:00 AM PST  Just in case?
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| Immigration Drives Fastest Canadian Population Growth Since 1971 Posted: 19 Dec 2019 05:30 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- An influx of immigrants and non-permanent residents boosted Canada's population by 0.6% in the third quarter, the biggest increase in records dating back almost five decades.The country's population grew by 208,234 in the July to September period, with some 83% of that increase due to international migration, according to estimates from Statistics Canada released Thursday in Ottawa. Growth of this magnitude from international migration "had never been seen before in a single quarter," the agency said. Immigration has become one of the main drivers supporting Canada's economic expansion over the past several years, driving robust gains in the housing and labor markets. The inflows have countered some of the effects of an otherwise aging demographic. New immigrants totaled 103,751 in the quarter, while the number of non-permanent residents rose by 82,438. British Columbia saw the fastest population growth, while Newfoundland's was the lowest. Statistics Canada's current demographic accounting system goes back to 1971. For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Feds: Seattle barrel company used hidden drain to pollute Posted: 18 Dec 2019 02:10 PM PST  A century-old Seattle barrel company has been indicted along with its third-generation owner in what prosecutors describe as a long-running pollution conspiracy. The 36-count indictment made public Wednesday said Seattle Barrel and Cooperage used a hidden drain to pump caustic wastewater directly into the King County sewer system. Seattle Barrel refurbishes used industrial and commercial barrels and drums.
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| 6 foreigners arrested on Bali for drugs, paraded by police Posted: 18 Dec 2019 04:15 AM PST  Indonesian authorities said Wednesday that they have arrested six foreigners for allegedly trying to smuggle drugs onto the tourist island of Bali.
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