| PHOTOS: Iraqi Shiites break into U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Posted: 31 Dec 2019 05:24 AM PST  Dozens of Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday, smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire, angered over deadly U.S. airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed militia. An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the main embassy building. It followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah.
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| Russian court jails 2 terrorism suspects arrested on US tip Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:21 PM PST  A St. Petersburg court on Monday ordered the detention of two Russian men who were arrested on a tip provided by the U.S. and are suspected of plotting unspecified terrorist attacks in the city during the New Year holidays. The Dzerzhinsky District Court ruled that the suspects identified as Nikita Semyonov and Georgy Chernyshev should remain in custody pending their trial. The FSB didn't elaborate on their alleged motives or targets, but Russia's state television reported that the suspects had recorded a video swearing their allegiance to the Islamic State group.
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| Thousands flee to beaches amid devastating Australian wildfires Posted: 31 Dec 2019 05:00 AM PST  Thousands of Australians were forced to flee to beaches on Tuesday as wildfires continued to blaze in New South Wales and Victoria.About 4,000 people sought refuge on nearby beaches in the town of Mallacoota in Victoria, with thousands along the New South Wales coast needing to evacuate their homes, CNN reports. Fires have been raging in Australia for the past several months, and 70 new fires reportedly started in Victoria on Monday, while more than 60 fires haven't yet been contained in New South Wales."It was like we were in hell," a vacationer in New South Wales told CNN. "We were all covered in ash.""It should have been daylight but it was black like midnight and we could hear the fire roaring," a local business owner in Mallacoota told BBC News. "We were all terrified for our lives."After the death of a father and son in Cobargo, at least 11 people have died amid Australia's devastating fire season, during which more than 900 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales, The New York Times reports. Victoria Emergency Services Commissioner Andrew Crisp said there have been "significant" property losses, The Associated Press reports.Australian military aircraft and vessels will assist in the emergency services, BBC News reports, and the United States and Canada have also been asked to help in the effort. CNN reports that weather conditions are expected to improve in the next 24 hours before worsening by the end of the week, again "bringing dangerous fire conditions."More stories from theweek.com The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think Trump's scandals will haunt America for years The first decade in history
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| World welcomes 2020, but celebrations shadowed by wildfires, protests, Korea tensions Posted: 31 Dec 2019 04:24 AM PST  SYDNEY/HONG KONG/LONDON (Reuters) - The world celebrated the New Year on Wednesday with fireworks displays from Sydney to London, although celebrations were clouded by deadly wildfires in Australia, protests in Hong Kong and India and new nuclear tensions with North Korea. Large crowds gathered in European capitals for spectacular fireworks displays that lit up the skies over landmarks like Big Ben in London, the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, the Parthenon in Athens and the Kremlin in Moscow.
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| MSC Cruises' new and largest ship, MSC Grandiosa, crashes in the port of Palermo, Sicily Posted: 31 Dec 2019 11:13 AM PST ![MSC Cruises' new and largest ship, MSC Grandiosa, crashes in the port of Palermo, Sicily]( "MSC Cruises' new and largest ship, MSC Grandiosa, crashes in the port of Palermo, Sicily") MSC Cruises' new ship experienced a collision on Monday morning. MSC Grandiosa collided with the dock in Palermo, Sicily, a spokesperson confirmed.
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| US ambassador defends moustache as South Koreans bristle at 'disrespectful' facial hair Posted: 29 Dec 2019 08:40 PM PST  The US ambassador to Seoul has defended his decision to grow a moustache, with some South Koreans bristling that the facial hair is disrespectful and a calculated slight. Harry Harris took over as US ambassador to South Korea in July 2018 after a distinguished 40-year career in the US Navy. Clean-shaven whilst an admiral in the navy, Mr Harris told The Korea Times that he decided to grow a moustache to mark his career change. "I wanted to make a break between my life as a military officer and my new life as a diplomat", he said. "I tried to get taller, but I couldn't grow any taller, and so I tried to get younger, but I couldn't get younger. But I could grow a moustache, so I did that". Mr Harris was responding to the suggestion that his new moustache was an insult to Korea. The US government has been roundly criticised in South Korea after Donald Trump announced the US would demand $5 billion a year to keep troops in South Korea. As the face of the US administration in South Korea, Mr Harris has borne the brunt of much of the criticism. The second strike against Mr Harris is his ethnicity. The son of a US Navy officer and a Japanese mother, Mr Harris was born in Yokosuka, south-west of Tokyo, leading to allegations that he has a natural affinity for Japan - which has a complicated history with the Korean Peninsula. The peninsula became a Japanese protectorate in 1905 and part of the Japanese empire from 1910 until the end of the Second World War in 1945. Some South Koreans have accused Mr Harris of sporting a moustache that harks back to the years of colonial rule on the grounds that all eight Japanese governor-generals of Korea also had moustaches. Shrugging off the controversy, he said: "All I can say is that every decision I make is based on the fact that I'm American ambassador to Korea, not the Japanese-American ambassador to Korea". Asked if he intended to shave his moustache off to quell the criticism, Mr Harris replied, "You would have to convince me that somehow the moustache is viewed in a way that hurts our relationship".
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| PHOTOS: #MenToo: The hidden tragedy of male sexual abuse in the military Posted: 31 Dec 2019 04:53 PM PST  Award-winning photojournalist Mary F. Calvert has spent six years documenting the prevalence of rape in the military and the effects on victims. She began with a focus on female victims but more recently has examined the underreported incidence of sexual assaults on men and the lifelong trauma it can inflict.
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| Immigration in 2019: Trump restricts asylum and overhauls legal immigration Posted: 31 Dec 2019 03:43 AM PST  2019 was arguably the Trump administration's most successful one in its quest to severely restrict asylum and overhaul the legal immigration system.
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| U.S. Taking Democracy for Granted, Chief Justice Roberts Says Posted: 31 Dec 2019 03:00 PM PST ![U.S. Taking Democracy for Granted, Chief Justice Roberts Says]( "U.S. Taking Democracy for Granted, Chief Justice Roberts Says") (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. has "come to take democracy for granted," Chief Justice John Roberts said, urging his fellow judges to keep educating the public about the workings of the federal government and the Constitution.Roberts, who is slated to oversee the Senate's impeachment trial of President Donald Trump in the coming weeks, used his year-end report Tuesday to laud the federal judiciary's work on civic education, while issuing a thinly veiled warning about the fragility of American democracy in a fractious time."We have come to take democracy for granted, and civic education has fallen by the wayside," Roberts wrote. "In our age, when social media can instantly spread rumor and false information on a grand scale, the public's need to understand our government, and the protections it provides, is ever more vital."Roberts described a 1788 riot that incapacitated John Jay while he was working with Alexander Hamilton and James Madison on the Federalist Papers, a series of articles published to promote the ratification of the Constitution. Jay was hit in the head with a rock while trying to quell the riot, which was sparked by a rumor that medical students were dissecting the body of a recently deceased woman. Jay later became the first U.S. chief justice."It is sadly ironic that John Jay's efforts to educate his fellow citizens about the framers' plan of government fell victim to a rock thrown by a rioter motivated by a rumor," Roberts wrote.Roberts has become the nation's leading champion of judicial independence since being appointed to the Supreme Court by President George W. Bush in 2005. In his new report, the chief justice called the judiciary "a source of national unity and stability" but added a cautionary note."We should also remember that justice is not inevitable," Roberts wrote in a passage directed at his judicial colleagues. "We should reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor, deciding each matter with humility, integrity, and dispatch."Roberts, 64, is in the middle of a challenging Supreme Court term that includes cases on LGBTQ discrimination, abortion and gun rights. In late March or early April the court will hear arguments on Trump's effort to prevent his financial information from being turned over to Congress and a New York grand jury.Roberts released the report three days after his mother, Rosemary A. Roberts, died at age 90. Her obituary said she was surrounded by her family when she passed away.To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Anna EdgertonFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| New York Jews scared, defiant as mayor decries anti-Semitism 'crisis' Posted: 30 Dec 2019 01:23 PM PST  At a Hasidic synagogue in Brooklyn, police, state troopers and civilian volunteers stand guard as Orthodox Jews mark the end of Hanukkah under heightened security following a spate of attacks. New York, home to the largest Jewish community outside of Israel, had long been a place where Jews felt safe.
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| Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn fled prosecution in Japan in a private jet, under a fake name, hiding in a musical instrument box, reports suggest Posted: 31 Dec 2019 03:27 AM PST  Japanese authorities are trying to find out how Ghosn, one of its highest-profile defendants, managed to evade surveillance and leave the country.
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| CIA devised way to restrict missiles given to allies, researcher says Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:21 PM PST  The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has devised technology to restrict the use of anti-aircraft missiles after they leave American hands, a researcher said, a move that experts say could persuade the United States that it would be safe to disseminate powerful weapons more frequently. The new technology is intended for use with shoulder-fired missiles called Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems (MANPADS), Dutch researcher Jos Wetzels told a cybersecurity conference https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHj_iQZ9pTk in Leipzig, Germany on Saturday. Wetzels said the system was laid out in a batch of CIA documents published by WikiLeaks in 2017 but that the files were mislabeled and attracted little public attention until now.
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| Maryland police identify pilot killed in plane crash Posted: 30 Dec 2019 10:21 AM PST  The New York pilot who died when his plane crashed into a suburban Washington, D.C., home was communicating with air traffic controllers before impact, a federal investigator said Monday. Allen's plane took off from College Park, Maryland, and was bound for White Plains, New York.
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| FBI Agents: McCabe Apologized for Changing His Story on Leak Posted: 31 Dec 2019 02:03 PM PST  Former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe faced scorching criticism and potential criminal prosecution for changing his story about a conversation he had with a Wall Street Journal reporter. Now newly released interview transcripts show McCabe expressed remorse to internal FBI investigators when they pressed him on the about-face. The FBI released the documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). They provide fresh details about the investigation into a leak to the Journal, McCabe's role in it, and the reaction of agents who investigated it.In the final weeks of the 2016 presidential campaign, the Journal broke news about an FBI investigation involving then-candidate Hillary Clinton, describing internal discussions among senior FBI officials.Emails Show McCabe Scrambling to Handle Stories About Hillary ProbeThe apparent leak drew scrutiny from the bureau's internal investigation team, which interviewed McCabe on May 9, 2017, the day President Donald Trump fired James Comey from his post as FBI director. The agents interviewed him as part of an investigation regarding a different media leak to the online publication Circa, and also asked him about the Journal story. In that interview, McCabe said he did not know how the Journal story came to be. But a few months later, his story changed after he reviewed his answer. On Aug. 18, FBI officials met with McCabe in an attempt to work through what they said was "conflicting information" they had gathered about the possible leak to the Journal."I need to know from you," an agent said he told McCabe in a sit-down meeting, "did you authorize this article? Were you aware of it? Did you authorize it?" McCabe then looked at the story he had reviewed months earlier. The FBI investigator described his response this way: "And as nice as could be, he said, yep. Yep I did."Ex-FBI Head Andrew McCabe Sues, Says Trump Ordered His FiringThe investigator then said that "things had suddenly changed 180 degrees with this." The interviewers stopped taking notes on what McCabe was saying, and the agent indicated their view of McCabe had changed: He was no longer a witness or victim. "In our business, we stop and say, look, now we're getting into an area for due process," the agent said.But the agent said that the team did not raise that line of thought with McCabe. "I was very careful to say… with all due respect, this is what you told us. This has caused us some kind of, you know, sidetracking here now with some information other people have told us."The agent's next comments to McCabe took on a frustrated tone."I remember saying to him, at, I said, sir, you understand that we've put a lot of work into this based on what you told us," the agent said. "I mean, and I even said, long nights and weekends working on this, trying to find out who amongst your ranks of trusted people would, would do something like that. And he kind of just looked down, kind of nodded, and said yeah I'm sorry."McCabe's lawyer has said his story changed because in the initial interview he wasn't prepared for the question. The question surprised him, and he didn't give his answer a second thought because Comey was fired shortly after the interview concluded and his world turned upside down. McCabe, who became acting director of the FBI after Trump fired Comey, was fired in March 2018, two days before he was expected to retire. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he was axing McCabe because of the leak investigation's findings. McCabe, who had been assailed by Trump over and over again on Twitter over the Russia investigation, denied wrongdoing and alleged his firing was politically motivated. In August, he sued DOJ for wrongful termination and has since accused the Trump administration of withholding evidence that would help his case.The DOJ Inspector General, meanwhile, later accused McCabe of lying to investigators multiple times. After that report came out, McCabe's lawyer said it was "far less fair than he deserved," and "utterly failed to support the decision to terminate Mr. McCabe." Lying to federal investigators is a crime, and the Inspector General referred its investigation of McCabe to the U.S. Attorney's office for Washington D.C. McCabe has not been charged with any crime––despite numerous Trump tweets calling him a criminal. 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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| Ukraine and Russia Can Deal When They Must But Peace Isn’t Close Posted: 31 Dec 2019 03:05 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Quickfire agreements on energy and the Kremlin-backed war that erupted after Vladimir Putin annexed Crimea show Ukraine and Russia can increasingly look past their differences to strike deals.The natural-gas pact agreed late Monday, which ended fears of disruptions to European Union supplies, comes a day after the former allies' second prisoner swap in four months. EU diplomats, mediating in both cases, may feel they're making headway in easing tensions more than five years after the conflict in eastern Ukraine rekindled Cold War animosity and brought a barrage of sanctions against Russia.That Ukraine and Russia now meet at all -- let alone reach consensus on hot-button issues like these -- marks undoubted progress. It's been driven by pragmatism and a readiness to compromise under EU and U.S. pressure, including the Trump administration's sanctions against Russia's Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project.The gas deal was necessary as transit contracts ran down. Putin wants sanctions relief and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has prioritized ending a war that's killed more than 13,000 people.The fundamental question -- whether Ukraine leans east or west -- is going nowhere without concessions regarded as impossible by one side or another. The standoff with Moscow over Ukraine's desire to join the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will remain a headache for world powers from Brussels to Washington."The events of the past several years have created significant changes in how the two governments and their people relate to one another, and to the rest of Europe," said Alex Brideau, an analyst at Eurasia Group. "Recent developments help ease tension, but they don't reset that relationship."Ensure FlowsThe EU will nevertheless breathe a sigh of relief after the accord was signed to ensure flows of gas through Ukraine from Russia's Gazprom for the next five years. Supplies to the region have been cut twice during in the past 13 years at times of peak demand because of financial and political disputes between the two neighboring states.Russia, keen to take advantage of French President Emmanuel Macron's push to reintegrate it after years of isolation, has less incentive to cause mayhem this time. But it retains its long-term goal of seeking to slash dependence on Ukraine's transit network.That Russia agreed to a longer-than-expected gas deal this time reflects potential fallout from the U.S. sanctioning its Nord Stream 2 pipeline to send flows directly to Europe bypassing Ukraine rather than any act of kindness. For Zelenskiy, it ensures Ukraine remains one of the key transit routes for Russian gas during the remainder of his five-year term and beyond, earning the country billions of dollars in fees.Still, the fact an initial deadline to finalize the deal was missed stems from a lack of trust that prompted demands for safeguards to be added to the new contracts.Prisoner DealThere are similar reasons to scrutinize the exchange of prisoners.Despite efforts to return all his countrymen, Zelenskiy remains frustrated, with hundreds still being held.What's more, the latest swap included Ukrainian riot police who sided with the Kremlin-backed leader that protesters toppled in 2014 after more than 100 were killed on the streets of Kyiv. Handing over those officers, who aren't prisoners of war, prompted demonstrations against their release back home.The gas agreement and the prisoner swap cap a month in which Putin and Zelenskiy held their first face-to-face meeting during talks on the conflict in eastern Ukraine in Paris. While the detente remains fragile, the two sides enter 2020 with potentially the best prospects in years for easing tensions.Putin and Zelenskiy spoke by phone on Tuesday and agreed to coordinate lists of detainees for possible future exchanges, according to a statement from the Ukrainian president's office. The gas agreement creates a "favorable atmosphere for resolving other bilateral problems" and the Dec. 29 prisoner swap "helps strengthen mutual trust," the Kremlin said in a statement.There may be more prisoner exchanges, though "I do not think we will see real compromises on big issues" from Russia in relation to resolving the conflict, said John Herbst, director of the Atlantic Council's Eurasia Center and a former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine.To contact the reporters on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kyiv at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net;Andrew Langley in London at alangley1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Tony Halpin, Gregory L. WhiteFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Hanukkah candles burn in Iraqi Kurdistan Posted: 30 Dec 2019 10:40 AM PST  Al-Qosh (Irak) (AFP) - In the glow of the nine-candled menorah, with kippa skullcaps on their heads and tallit prayer shawls around their shoulders, a small association is working to revive Hanukkah in Iraq. The country has been nearly emptied of its Jewish community amid regional conflict and violence within its borders, but this year, the town of Al-Qosh hosted its first Hanukkah celebrations. Al-Qosh is a majority Christian town around 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Mosul, the former self-proclaimed "capital" of the Islamic State group (IS) in Iraq.
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| Thousands of Google cafeteria staff have unionized, and it's the latest group of Google's 'shadow workforce' to join a union Posted: 31 Dec 2019 08:07 AM PST  The union organizing comes as Google is facing a wave of internal activism from its own employees protesting the company's treatment of workers.
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| A Plan for World War III: How the Warsaw Pact Planned to Defeat NATO Posted: 31 Dec 2019 02:30 AM PST  History had other ideas.
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| Policy expediting migrant deportations at the border expands Posted: 31 Dec 2019 05:16 PM PST  Advocates say the policy denies asylum-seekers due process, restricts access to lawyers and effectively ensures their prompt deportation.
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| Woman Jumps From Ferry Boat at Walt Disney World in Orlando Posted: 31 Dec 2019 07:49 AM PST  The 56-year-old woman received minor injuries and was transported to a local hospital
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| Hong Kong to end year with multiple protests, kick off 2020 with big march Posted: 29 Dec 2019 07:58 PM PST  Hong Kong will end 2019 with multiple protests planned for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day aimed at disrupting festivities and shopping in the Asian financial hub, which has seen a rise in clashes between police and protesters since Christmas. Events dubbed "Suck the Eve" and "Shop With You" are set for New Year's Eve on Tuesday in areas including the party district of Lan Kwai Fong, the picturesque Victoria Harbour, and popular shopping malls, according to notices on social media. A pro-democracy march on Jan. 1 has been given police permission and will start from a large park in bustling Causeway Bay and end in the central business district.
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| Judge orders Alex Jones to pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook case Posted: 31 Dec 2019 10:43 AM PST  A Texas judge ordered conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to pay $100,000 in another court setback over the Infowars host using his show to promote falsehoods that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax. Jones is being sued for defamation in Austin, Texas, by the parents of a 6-year-old who was among the 26 people killed in the Newtown, Connecticut, attack. State District Judge Scott Jenkins ruled on Dec. 20 that Jones and his defense team "intentionally disregarded" an earlier order to provide witnesses to attorneys representing a Sandy Hook father who brought the lawsuit, Neil Heslin.
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| Points of Progress: Where good news happened in 2019 Posted: 30 Dec 2019 08:42 AM PST  Our correspondents report on significant steps of progress their regions have made headed into 2020.
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| 19-year-old found guilty of lying about being gang-raped Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:06 PM PST  A British teenager has been found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus. The woman, 19, was convicted of a single count of public mischief at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni, Cyprus, on Monday.
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| The suspect in the stabbing attack at a rabbi's home pleaded not guilty to all charges. Here's what we know about him so far. Posted: 29 Dec 2019 11:28 PM PST  Grafton E. Thomas, 37, has pleaded not guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. Here's what we know about him so far.
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| Does Russia Really Have A 100 Megaton Nuclear Torpedo Called Status-6? Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:30 PM PST  The Pentagon thinks so.
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| China took their parents: the Uighur refugee children of Turkey Posted: 30 Dec 2019 06:01 PM PST  The school on the outskirts of Istanbul is a rare place where Uighur child refugees from China can study their language and culture. Having fled a worsening crackdown on Uighur Muslims in northwest China, some of their parents thought it was still safe to return occasionally for business and to visit family, only to disappear into a shadowy network of re-education camps from which no communication is permitted. Nine-year-old Fatima has only vague memories of her homeland -- and now, of her father, too.
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| ‘This is a threat’: Iran will pay heavy price for damage at US embassy in Baghdad, Trump says in furious New Year tweet Posted: 31 Dec 2019 01:24 PM PST  Donald Trump has issued a furious threat to Iran following an attack on the US embassy in Baghdad.The US president had earlier said he held Tehran responsible for Tuesday's storming of the compound gates by Iraqi militia members. Iran, which sponsors the militias, has denied being behind the incident.
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| Bosnia indicts Serb army general over Srebrenica genocide Posted: 31 Dec 2019 07:14 AM PST  A Bosnian war crimes prosecutor on Tuesday indicted a Bosnian Serb former army general for taking part in the 1995 massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, an atrocity described as genocide by two international courts. Milomir Savcic, 60, is accused of commanding the Bosnian Serb Army headquarters 65 Protection Motorised Regiment, which included a military police battalion, to capture, kill and bury adult Muslim Bosniaks from the U.N.-protected eastern enclave of Srebrenica in July 1995. Bosnian Serb forces led by General Ratko Mladic attacked Srebrenica on July 11, 1995, separated men from women and children, and killed about 8,000 Muslims, who were then buried in mass graves.
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| Cliffs, jungle a big hurdle for feds in Hawaii copter crash Posted: 30 Dec 2019 02:09 PM PST  The remote and rugged terrain on the Hawaiian island of Kauai where a sightseeing helicopter crashed, killing all seven people aboard, could make it difficult or even impossible to piece together what led to the wreck. Federal investigators who arrived Sunday are calling the inaccessible area of steep cliffs and thick jungle canopies one of the most challenging crash sites they have seen. Getting a team to the actual site was proving to be one of the initial challenges, National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Eric Weiss said Monday.
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| Boy sets lawn on fire with magnifying glass, mother says Posted: 31 Dec 2019 12:29 AM PST  "...It will now be a Christmas to remember! 2019- The Christmas the lawn lit on fire," the boy's mother wrote on Facebook.
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| 'Difficult or impossible travel': Winter storm wreaks havoc from Midwest to Northeast Posted: 30 Dec 2019 11:44 AM PST  A sprawling winter storm continued to deliver snow, ice and wind to much of the Midwest and Northeast on Monday, wreaking havoc with travelers.
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| Does the US Army have enough weapons to defend Europe? Exercise Defender 2020 will reveal all. Posted: 30 Dec 2019 07:19 AM PST  The Army's pre-positioned stock in Europe will be put to the test during Defender 2020, as will the service's entire supply chain and ability to rapidly move soldiers and equipment.
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| Russia Was Almost A France And British Enemy At The Onset Of World War II Posted: 29 Dec 2019 06:00 PM PST  Would Hitler have won?
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| North Korea's Kim calls for 'military countermeasures' Posted: 30 Dec 2019 11:35 PM PST  North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for "diplomatic and military countermeasures", state media said Tuesday, ahead of a year-end deadline for Washington to change its stance on stalled nuclear talks with Pyongyang. The party meeting will continue to review an unspecified "important document", it added. Talks on denuclearising the Korean peninsula have been largely deadlocked since the second summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump collapsed in Hanoi at the start of this year.
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| Trump's tariffs have backfired, at least so far, Federal Reserve reports Posted: 30 Dec 2019 12:22 AM PST  President Trump has promoted his trade policy, specifically his tariffs on imported goods, as a means of reviving American manufacturing. It has done the opposite, according to a new study from Federal Reserve economists. Trump's trade war with China and other countries has led to higher consumer prices, failed to boost U.S. manufacturing, and led to domestic job losses."We find that the 2018 tariffs are associated with relative reductions in manufacturing employment and relative increases in producer prices," write Fed economists Aaron Flaaen and Justin Pierce. The tariffs did boost the competitiveness of some U.S.-made goods inside the U.S., they found, but that was "completely offset in the short-run by reduced competitiveness from retaliation and higher costs in downstream industries," and protectionist policies are now intrinsically "complicated by the presence of globally interconnnected supply chains."The industries hit especially hard by "tit-for-tat retaliation" from China and other trading partners include automobiles, iron and steel, aluminum sheet, leather goods, appliances, and various appliances and electronic goods. Those hurt by increased prices include aluminum, steel, boilers, and appliances. "While the longer-term effects of the tariffs may differ from those that we estimate here, the results indicate that the tariffs, thus far, have not led to increased activity in the U.S. manufacturing sector," Flaeen and Pierce conclude."The researchers don't measure the effects on business confidence resulting from the uncertainty regarding U.S. international trade policy," says Greg Robb at MarketWatch. "Many economists see this doubt about future government policy as a primary driver in the decline in business investment this year." Read The Week's Jeff Spross for other economic policy failures that ended up making the 2010s a lost decade.More stories from theweek.com Trump's State Department reportedly launched a full-fledged investigation to find out which employee liked a Chelsea Clinton tweet Carlos Ghosn managed to flee Japan by hiding in a musical instrument case The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think
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| 18 Inventions that Changed Our Lives in the 2010s Posted: 31 Dec 2019 08:53 AM PST |
| Medical Student Arrested, Held Without Bail After Alleged Attempt to Smuggle Cancer Research to China Posted: 31 Dec 2019 07:27 AM PST  Research specimens were found in a sock in Zaosong Zheng's suitcase, bound for China
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| Judge dismisses impeachment suit from ex-White House aide, Charles Kupperman Posted: 30 Dec 2019 03:59 PM PST  A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit from a former White House official who had challenged a congressional subpoena in the impeachment inquiry involving President Trump.
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| Judge: 'Filthy' zoo must give up animals; Zoo appeals Posted: 31 Dec 2019 12:35 PM PST ![Judge: 'Filthy' zoo must give up animals; Zoo appeals]( "Judge: 'Filthy' zoo must give up animals; Zoo appeals") A western Maryland zoo where five endangered animals died was ordered by a judge to send its remaining big cats to a sanctuary. Tri-State Zoological Park in Cumberland has seen two tigers, a lion and a lemur die within a three-year span. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued the zoo in 2017 after conducting undercover inspections.
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| Thousands lose jobs, casinos shut as Cambodia bans online gambling Posted: 31 Dec 2019 02:41 AM PST  More than 7,000 Cambodians have lost their jobs and dozens of casinos have been shuttered since a ban on online gambling in August, with more losses expected when the government begins inspections this week, officials said on Tuesday. The southern coastal city of Sihanoukville has emerged as a center for gambling and many of the dozens of Chinese-run casinos that have sprung up there have online gambling operations. Prime Minister Hun Sen said this week that he would make the online gambling ban permanent after first announcing a halt in August, saying that the industry had been used by foreign criminals to extort money.
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| Huawei says it will generate a record $122 billion in annual revenue despite US sanctions Posted: 31 Dec 2019 05:05 AM PST  The $122 billion figure would, however, fall short of Huawei's own annual revenue projections for 2019.
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