| Schumer on 'stunning' Bolton book news: 'We're all staring a White House cover-up in the face' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 09:40 AM PST  Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on his Republican colleagues to allow witnesses after the revelation that former national security adviser John Bolton will say in an upcoming book that President Trump told him he wanted Ukraine aid tied to investigations.
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| Judge frees NFL star Antonio Brown from house arrest Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:13 AM PST  A Florida judge freed NFL free agent Antonio Brown from house arrest Tuesday, allowing him to travel freely as he awaits trial on charges that he attacked the driver of a moving truck. Instead of wearing an ankle GPS monitor, Brown, 31, will have to check in with court personnel daily. Brown was one of the NFL's top wide receivers during his nine seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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| Kobe Bryant helicopter video emerges showing ill-fated flight minutes before crash Posted: 28 Jan 2020 11:25 AM PST  A video that appears to show Kobe Bryant's helicopter circling over California roughly 15 minutes before the fatal crash has been posted online, illustrating the foggy conditions faced by the chopper on its last flight.In the video, which was posted by a user on Twitter who said they live in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale — where Bryant's flight circled for roughly 10 minutes on Sunday awaiting instruction, according to flight records — the helicopter can be seen moving slowly in the sky above, obscured by the early morning fog.
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| Indonesia's Aceh unveils new female flogging squad Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:58 AM PST  The masked woman nervously approaches her target, shuffles into position and then unleashes a flurry of lashes -- proving herself as the newest member of the first female flogging squad in Indonesia's Aceh province. Such behaviour constitutes a morality crime in Aceh, the only region in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation that imposes Islamic law -- known as Sharia.
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| Newly discovered photos of Nazi death camp may show guard Demjanjuk: historians Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:44 AM PST  Historians in Germany have released previously unseen photos of the Nazi Sobibor death camp, including what they believe are images of John Demjanjuk, who was sentenced in 2011 for his role in the killing of about 28,000 people there. Ukraine-born Demjanjuk, who had been No. 1 on the Simon Wiesenthal Center's list of "Most Wanted Nazi War Criminals", was deported to Germany from the United States in 2009, where he had spent much of his life as a car worker, to face trial. The photos, described by historian Martin Cueppers as a representing a "quantum leap in the visual record on the Holocaust in occupied Poland", had belonged to Johann Niemann, once deputy commandant of Sobibor.
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| Some Patients With Wuhan Coronavirus Only Show Mild Symptoms. Here's Why That's a Problem Posted: 28 Jan 2020 07:19 AM PST  Symptoms can range from mild to severe, and at least one patient has reportedly showed no symptoms at all
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| There Is No Going Back If Iran Sinks A U.S. Navy Aircraft Carrier Posted: 27 Jan 2020 01:30 PM PST  It would mean war.
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| US military's Special Operations Command says its newest recruits may have an 'unhealthy sense of entitlement' Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:58 PM PST  "It didn't happen during our period," a former Delta Force commander told Business Insider. "We really were severe about policing ourselves."
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| Federal agency says it doesn't track foreign spending at Trump Hotel Posted: 28 Jan 2020 05:26 PM PST  The federal government doesn't know how much money foreign governments and entities have spent at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, a GSA official testified Tuesday.
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| Iranian general warns of retaliation if US threats continue Posted: 27 Jan 2020 05:47 AM PST  The chief of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard warned Monday that it will retaliate against American and Israeli commanders if the U.S. continues to threaten top Iranian generals. The U.S. killed Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, who headed the expeditionary Quds force, in a drone strike outside of Baghdad's airport in Iraq on Jan. 3. Five days later, Iran retaliated by launching ballistic missiles at two bases in Iraq housing American troops, causing injuries but no fatalities among soldiers there.
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| As Coronavirus Spreads, Warren Unveils Disease-Prevention Plan Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:00 AM PST ![As Coronavirus Spreads, Warren Unveils Disease-Prevention Plan]( "As Coronavirus Spreads, Warren Unveils Disease-Prevention Plan") (Bloomberg) -- The coronavirus has been in the news for only a few weeks, but Elizabeth Warren already has a plan to fight it.With Hong Kong announcing restrictions on travel from mainland China as part of an effort to contain the SARS-like virus that has claimed more than 100 lives, Warren released a proposal Tuesday morning aimed at containing and treating infectious diseases."Diseases like coronavirus remind us why we need robust international institutions, strong investments in public health, and a government that is prepared to jump into action at a moment's notice," she wrote in a Medium post announcing the plan.Warren criticized President Donald Trump's response to the outbreak, calling it "a mess." and assailed the administration's proposed funding cuts for feeral health agencies.She said her administration would prioritize developing a universal flu vaccine and replenish funding for the Public Health Emergency Fund, with the goal of speeding outbreak response. She proposed restoring an Obama-era White House position for health security that Trump eliminated in 2018. Warren also cited outbreaks as a reason to move towards Medicare For All, a policy proposal that she has espoused, saying it would give infected people access necessary care.This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou in Washington at megkolfopoul@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Kathleen HunterFor 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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| U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:05 AM PST ![U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields]( "U.N. criticizes Iraq trials of ISIS 'members', including human shields") The United Nations raised "serious concerns" on Tuesday about the trials of hundreds of alleged Islamic State members in Iraq, some of whom merely prepared meals, offered medical services or even acted as human shields for the jihadist group. Iraq has processed thousands of cases under its anti-terrorism law - including of detainees from outside the Middle East transferred from neighboring Syria - in the aftermath of a 2014-17 war against Islamic State militants.
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| Mexico deports 2,300 Hondurans from '2020 Caravan' Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:52 PM PST  Mexican migration authorities said they have deported 2,300 Hondurans who illegally crossed over from Guatemala with a caravan heading to the United States. The "assisted return" of the Central Americans took place between January 18 and Monday, according to the interior ministry and the National Migration Institute. A total of 1,064 Honduran migrants were deported on National Guard planes and charter aircraft, they said in a statement.
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| Idaho Nurse Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison for Helping Cover Up Kelsey Berreth’s Murder Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:01 PM PST  A former Idaho nurse was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday for helping Patrick Frazee cover up the murder of his fiancée last Thanksgiving.Krystal Lee, 33, was sentenced after pleading guilty in February to evidence tampering and testifying against Frazee, her on-again, off-again boyfriend, who was convicted of killing 29-year-old Kelsey Berreth."I know that saying sorry is not good enough," she told a packed Teller County courtroom on Tuesday, before receiving the maximum sentence. "And I don't even know what the right word would be to describe the remorse that I feel."Patrick Frazee Convicted of Murdering His Missing Fiancée With a Baseball Bat, Burning Her BodyFrazee, a 33-year-old cattle rancher, was convicted in November on all six charges against him for the slaying and disappearance of Berreth and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, plus 156 years. Berreth, a flight instructor at Doss Aviation, was last seen at a Safeway grocery store near her Woodland Park, Colorado, home on Nov. 22, 2018. Prosecutors say later that day, Frazee fatally beat his would-be wife, with whom he shared a child, with a baseball bat before burning her body and the murder weapon at his family's ranch. The cattle rancher then enlisted the help of Lee, his secret girlfriend, to clean up the crime scene, Lee said.During her emotional two-day testimony, Lee described her troubled relationship with Frazee—which began as an affair several years ago while she was married and included a secret abortion. While the nurse has denied participating in Berreth's murder, she later admitted she witnessed him burn the evidence of his crime."She shouldn't have received the plea deal that she did," Berreth's parents, Darrell and Cheryl, wrote in a letter read aloud in court Tuesday, according to The Denver Post. "She was an active participant in the murder. The only thing she didn't do was swing the bat."'Calculating Manipulator' Patrick Frazee Murdered Kelsey Berreth With Help From Secret Girlfriend: ProsecutorsLee recounted that in 2018, Frazee asked her three times to kill Berreth on his behalf, claiming she was abusing their 1-year-old daughter and needed to be stopped. The nurse said while she initially agreed to help, she backed out before each murder attempt. "His little girl is being abused," Lee testified. "I understand if it was wrong. I didn't know what to do so I didn't make correct decisions."Prosecutors said when Lee failed to help Frazee murder Berreth, the "cold, calculating manipulator" took matters into his own hands. Afterward, Lee said Frazee told her, "I need your help, and I need your help now. You have a mess to clean up."Lee said during their frantic clean up of Berreth's apartment, Frazee told her to "get the candles wiped up, get the bathroom done, and wipe up the footprints," and threatened to kill her if she failed to do a sufficient job. Kelsey Berreth Murder Suspect's Secret Ex: He 'Told Me to Take Care of the Problem'"He asked me if I got it done. I told him the best that I could do. He said, 'You better hope you did, because your life depends on it,'" she said during the trial, according to The Gazette.After the Nov. 24 cleanup, she said the two went to Frazee's ranch, where the 33-year-old set Berreth's body on fire, along with several trash bags. To further trick authorities, Lee said she took Berreth's cellphone to Idaho—nearly 800 miles away from the missing mom's home in Woodland Park—for the signal to ping before burning it. Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| A teacher's videos inside quarantined Wuhan show the streets eerily deserted and lines out the door at the pharmacy Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:08 PM PST  Ben Kavanaugh has been chronicling his life in quarantined Wuhan, China, for the British broadcaster Channel 4.
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| The Real Trump Impeachment Battle Is About to Begin Posted: 28 Jan 2020 04:41 AM PST  Ironically, senators should consider whether House Democrats might be the ones guilty of a "corrupt motive." Attempting to remove an incumbent president during his first term, after all, is about as dramatic an interference in the next election as our system of government allows. Democrats claim that a mere phone call is enough for Trump to be guilty of trying to "cheat" in the 2020 election. Senators should not allow them to do the same by weaponizing impeachment.
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| Helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant reportedly received special permission to fly in thick fog Posted: 27 Jan 2020 12:28 PM PST  Details are still emerging about the circumstances surrounding the helicopter that killed Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, and seven others including the pilot, but the flight was reportedly granted special approval to fly in challenging weather conditions.Fog was thick Sunday morning in the Los Angeles area when the helicopter took off and made its way toward Gianna Bryant's youth basketball tournament, but air traffic control at Burbank airport gave the pilot Special Visual Flight Rules clearance, allowing the aircraft to enter Burbank's airspace.A Federal Aviation Administration official said air traffic control's approval would not have extended to Calabasas, where the helicopter crashed. By that point, the official said, it would have been up to the pilot to determine if conditions were appropriate to continue or transition to instrument flight rules.Witnesses near the site of the crash described conditions as so foggy that people had trouble driving, per The New York Times. "I couldn't see anything, not even a silhouette," said Scott Daehlin who heard the sound of the helicopter flying low before making impact with a nearby hillside. "My first thought was what in the world is a helicopter doing out here in this fog?" Read more at The New York Times.More stories from theweek.com John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi It's 2020 and women are exhausted Mike Pompeo is a disgrace
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| Biden-Tied Lobbyist Bought Island Property from Biden’s Brother, Gave Him Mortgage Loan Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:28 AM PST  Financial records reviewed by Politico show that Joe Biden's brother James sold one of his three parcels of land in the U.S. Virgin Islands at a substantial profit to a well-connected lobbyist who then extended a mortgage to James on the remaining two parcels.In May 2005, James Biden purchased an acre of land on Water Island for $150,000. He then applied for and received an easement to divide the property into three plots, one of which he sold to lobbyist Scott Green — a decade-long Senate staffer for Joe Biden in the 1980s — for $150,000. James had initially purchased all three parcels for $150,000, meaning that he made his money back and was able to keep the majority of the one acre plot for himself.Green's lobbying firm, Lafayette Group — which features a photo of Green with Biden on its website and quotes Biden endorsing Green — earned two government contracts from the Federal Emergency Management Agency worth a total of $5.8 million on April 11, 2010.Three days later, Green extended a $133,300 mortgage to James Biden for his remaining Water Island property. Property records reviewed by Politico show that Green had "received full payment and full satisfaction" and released the mortgage in September 2013.Joe Biden and his family traveled to Water Island several times during his vice presidency, but did not stay on his brother's or Green's land, which remains undeveloped.Lafayette Group earned tens of millions of dollars in government contracts during the course of Biden's time as vice president. During his time in the Senate, Biden also advocated for a number of areas in which Green's lobbying intersected, including a broadband network for first responders and the non-profit Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program.
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| China Demands Apology From Danish Newspaper Over Virus Cartoon Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:56 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Chinese Embassy to Denmark wants the newspaper Jyllands-Posten to apologize for publishing a drawing that depicts China's flag with virus symbols instead of five stars."We express our strong indignation and demand that Jyllands-Posten and [cartoonist] Niels Bo Bojesen reproach themselves for their mistake and publicly apologize to the Chinese people," the embassy said in a statement posted on its website.When asked to comment, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen avoided any direct reference to Jyllands-Posten's cartoon."I have nothing to say on the matter other than [to note that] we have a very strong tradition in Denmark not just for freedom of speech but also for freedom of satire, and we'll continue to have that in the future," she said, according to multiple news media including Politiken. "This is a well known Danish position and we're not going to change it."Denmark's largest newspaper has faced international backlash over its cartoons in the past. In 2005, the paper printed 12 drawings of the Prophet Muhammad, which angered many nations in which Islam is the main religion and sparked a diplomatic crisis. Back then, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also defended freedom of speech and said governments had no place telling newspapers what to write.The Chinese flag was printed in the opinion section of the newspaper's Monday edition with a caption titled "Corona virus".Editor-in-Chief Jacob Nybroe said the paper won't apologize."We can't apologize for something we don't think is wrong," Nybroe told news agency Ritzau. "We have no intention to demean or mock but we don't think this drawing is doing that."(Updates with comment from Denmark's prime minister)To contact the reporter on this story: Morten Buttler in Copenhagen at mbuttler@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Christian Wienberg at cwienberg@bloomberg.net, Tasneem Hanfi BröggerFor 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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| Soldier killed, general wounded during Mexico drug plane raid Posted: 28 Jan 2020 06:36 AM PST  A Mexican soldier was killed and a general wounded Monday when traffickers opened fire on a military patrol that sought to intercept a drug plane as it landed on a roadway, officials said.
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| US forces recover two bodies from jet crash site in Afghanistan Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:23 PM PST  US forces on Tuesday recovered two bodies near the wreckage of a military jet that crashed in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan, after Afghan forces trying to reach the scene clashed with insurgents. "The remains were found near the crash site, treated with dignity and respect by the local Afghan community, in accordance with their culture," the statement said. Ghazni police chief Khaled Wardak said US helicopters landed at the site in the late afternoon and were reinforced by Afghan security forces on the ground during the operation.
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| Harvard professor charged with hiding China ties, payments Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:47 PM PST  A Harvard University professor was charged Tuesday with lying about his ties to a Chinese-run recruitment program and concealing payments he received from the Chinese government for research. Charles Lieber, chair of the department of chemistry and chemical biology, is accused of hiding his involvement in China's Thousand Talents Plan, a program designed to lure people with knowledge of foreign technology and intellectual property to China. Lieber was arrested early Tuesday at his office at the Ivy League university, officials said.
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| White House holds off on suspending China-U.S. flights amid virus outbreak Posted: 28 Jan 2020 03:24 PM PST  The White House on Tuesday opted not to suspend flights from China to the United States as it discussed ways to deal with the coronavirus outbreak, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. The Trump administration told U.S. airlines after a meeting that it was not taking the step of canceling flights, airline and government officials told Reuters. The administration is holding daily meetings on the coronavirus and has considered a wide range of potential options.
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| Trump blasts Don Lemon as 'dumbest man on television' after CNN panel mocks the president's supporters as 'credulous rubes' Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:04 AM PST  Don Lemon was laughing too hard to speak so Rick Wilson said, "Donald Trump's the smart one — any y'all elitists are dumb!"
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| A UFO Or America's Newest Stealth Plane? Iran Just Saw Something Fly By At Mach 10 Posted: 28 Jan 2020 10:56 AM PST  What on Earth...?
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| Government records show that Kobe Bryant's helicopter used to be owned by the state of Illinois Posted: 27 Jan 2020 11:32 AM PST  Bryant's helicopter was owned by an operator called Island Express Holding Corp., which purchased it from Illinois in 2015.
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| US Navy’s first Triton drones arrive in Guam Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:25 PM PST  Two drones arrived in Guam and will serve as part of an early operational capability to develop a concept of operations for the high-altitude, long-endurance systems.
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| Biden's final Iowa drive sweeps through rival territory Posted: 28 Jan 2020 04:20 AM PST  When U.S. presidential candidate Joe Biden went to an Iowa university to campaign this week, one thing was in short supply: students who support him. Biden, 77, joked that it can be difficult to get college students to show up before 4 p.m. and, indeed, a few more young people appeared at a later campaign event at the University of Iowa. "I'm the only one that gets a significant portion of the young vote, as well as the old vote, in-between vote, black vote, Hispanic vote, all the vote," Biden said.
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| Japan confirms virus in man who had not been to China Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:13 AM PST  Japanese authorities said Tuesday a man with no recent travel to China has contracted the novel strain of coronavirus -- apparently after driving tourists visiting from Wuhan, where a deadly outbreak began. The man in his sixties from Nara in western Japan drove two groups of Wuhan tourists earlier in January and was hospitalised on Saturday with flu-like symptoms, the health ministry said. Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the country had confirmed two new cases, bringing the total so far in Japan to six.
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| Autistic futures trader who triggered crash spared prison Posted: 28 Jan 2020 04:31 PM PST  A U.S. judge Tuesday sentenced a socially awkward math whiz-turned-futures trader who earned tens of millions of dollars over several years and helped trigger a U.S. stock market "flash crash" from his parents' suburban London home to time served and a year's home confinement, sparing him imprisonment after prosecutors praised his cooperation and said his crimes were entirely unmotivated by greed. Government prosecutors and defense lawyers described the 41-year-old Navinder Singh Sarao as autistic in memos filed before sentencing in Chicago federal court.
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| Authenticated Trump signature on copy of articles of impeachment could fetch $20K in auction Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:14 AM PST  The signature, authenticated by Beckett Authentication Services and PSA/DNA Authentication Services, had a highest bid of $14,000 Tuesday morning.
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| Israel's Air Force Has a New Air-Launched "Rampage" Ballistic Missile Posted: 28 Jan 2020 09:00 AM PST  And it was just used for the first time.
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| Sinkholes appear in Cayman Islands after massive 7.7-magnitude earthquake Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:54 PM PST  Viral footage appears to show sinkholes swallowing large chunks of roads following a string of earthquakes off the coasts of Jamaica and Cuba.A major 7.7 magnitude quake prompted tsunami warnings and building evacuations as far as Miami, several hundred miles from the quake's centre.
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| Shunned by the West and China, Zimbabwe Turns to U.A.E. Posted: 27 Jan 2020 07:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterSanctioned by the West and spurned by China, Zimbabwe has turned to the United Arab Emirates in its latest bid to find a savior that can arrest the collapse of its economy.Zimbabwe's government has approached the U.A.E. in hopes of selling a stake in its national oil company, according to three company and government officials familiar with the plan. It also wants companies in the U.A.E. to buy more of its gold, they said.President Emmerson Mnangagwa has said U.A.E. investors will build solar plants in Zimbabwe, and U.A.E. President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan a year ago issued a decree to open an embassy in Zimbabwe. Dubai also contributed to relief efforts when Zimbabwe was hit by a cyclone last year.Zimbabwe's economy is in free-fall: It likely contracted by more than 6% last year, according to government estimates. Half the population is in need of food aid, inflation is running at over 500% and its currency has depreciated by more than 90% against the dollar since a 1:1 peg was abolished in February last year."They need investment desperately," said Jee-A van der Linde, an economic analyst at NKC African Economics in Paarl, South Africa. "It's been snowballing. I don't know where it's going to end up. I don't know how that would be appealing for the U.A.E."Oil companies in the U.A.E. said they were unaware of the interest.Belarusian BusesThe U.A.E.'s foreign ministry didn't respond to requests for comment.The U.A.E. is not the only country Mnangagwa has targeted for potential investment. Since taking power from Robert Mugabe in a November 2017 coup, he has crisscrossed the globe and attended gatherings such as the World Economic Forum in Davos, repeating the mantra 'Zimbabwe is open for business.' Two trips to Russia and former Soviet republics revived interest in a platinum project and a fleet of second-hand Belarusian buses now ply the streets of the capital, Harare, and the second-biggest city, Bulawayo.By May 2019, investment pledges worth $27 billion had been announced in projects ranging from steel mills to abattoirs. There's little evidence that they are being developed.A visit by Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister in January ended with only pledges of further infrastructural projects being carried out by China. There was no mention by the "all-weather-friend" as Zimbabwe likes to describe China, extending any financial bailout.Zimbabwe wants to sell a stake of as much as 25% in the National Oil Infrastructure Company of Zimbabwe, the people said, declining to be identified as the plans haven't been disclosed.NOIC owns storage depots at the port of Beira in neighboring Mozambique as well as five locations in Zimbabwe. It also owns gas stations and the pipeline that brings oil products from Beira to Mutare for companies including Puma Energy BV, in eastern Zimbabwe.Fuel ShortagesZimbabwe is prone to frequent shortages of motor fuel and sees a relationship with the U.A.E., possibly through the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, as a way of securing supply, one of the people said. The southern African nation consumes 1.4 million liters of gasoline and 2.5 million liters of diesel daily, according to the Zimbabwe Energy Regulatory Authority."We are working toward establishing a permanent arrangement with friendly countries and that also includes the U.A.E.," said Fortune Chasi, Zimbabwe's energy minister, declining to comment directly on whether Zimbabwe had approached the U.A.E.(Adds Davos in eighth paragraph)\--With assistance from Zainab Fattah and Mahmoud Habboush.To contact the reporters on this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net;Ray Ndlovu in Johannesburg at rndlovu1@bloomberg.net;Godfrey Marawanyika in Harare at gmarawanyika@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: John McCorry at jmccorry@bloomberg.net, Pauline Bax, Gordon BellFor 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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| Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:32 AM PST ![Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office]( "Venezuelan police capture fugitive Colombian senator who fled via dentist's office") Venezuelan special police detained a fugitive Colombian former senator who had illegally crossed the border, the force's chief said, four months after she escaped custody by climbing out of her dentist's office in Bogota. Aida Merlano, a former Conservative senator who was imprisoned last year for vote buying, made her theatrical escape in October, lowering herself with a rope and fleeing on the back of a delivery motorcycle. Jose Dominguez, head of Venezuela's FAES Special Action Force, wrote on his Instagram account late on Monday that officers detained her in the city of Maracaibo, capital of western Zulia state by the Colombian border.
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| She Says He Raped Her Over 40 Years Ago. Now He's a Suspected Serial Killer. Posted: 28 Jan 2020 01:56 AM PST  When Fran met Bruce Lindahl, he didn't seem like a monster. Today, more than 40 years later, she considers herself lucky to be alive.She was 15 and Lindahl was in his early twenties when he first invited Fran and her friends over to his apartment in Lisle, Illinois, she recalled to The Daily Beast. He would buy alcohol for the girls and host parties at his place with his live-in girlfriend.He initially seemed like a "wonderful person," according to Fran, whose last name is being withheld at her request. (The Daily Beast does not name survivors of sexual violence without their consent.) He took her ice skating or to the movies, and even earned the trust of Fran's mother, who allowed him to be the adult driver in the passenger seat when she only had her learner's permit. Perhaps most of all, he was charming, she said.Now, police say Lindahl—who has been dead since the 1980s—could easily prove to be a serial killer.Is a Serial-Killer Gang Murdering Young Men Across the U.S.?On Jan. 13, police detectives in Lisle, a Chicago suburb, announced that thanks to advanced DNA forensics they were able to tie Bruce Lindahl to the murder of Pamela Maurer of Woodridge, who was found strangled on the side of a road in 1976. Mauer, who was just 16 at the time, decided to walk to a nearby store to buy a Coke that night. Police found her body the next morning. Perhaps most disturbing about the latest developments in the case: The lead detective, Chris Loudon, suggested DNA evidence could eventually tie Lindahl to dozens of other victims of violent crimes ranging from rape to murder."If Bruce wouldn't have accidentally killed himself, the death toll would have likely been astronomical," Loudon told The Daily Beast, adding that he would "bet his entire paycheck" Lindahl was responsible for at least nine murders—and may be linked to 12. And with at least 25 tips coming in daily, Loudon said, he believed that number could grow. He and fellow officers have leaned on some of the same techniques that were at least partially responsible for the capture of the suspected Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo, in 2018. Through DNA databases from popular services like 23andMe, a composite sketch was created. It bore a striking resemblance to Lindahl.Lindahl often had run-ins with the law, and investigators had suspected him in a number of heinous crimes prior to his death in 1981. He was charged with kidnapping and raping a woman named Debra Colliander in 1980, but the case fell apart when the victim went missing two weeks before she was set to testify. Her body was discovered in 1982.By then, Lindahl was dead, having been found in an apartment in the nearby Chicago suburb of Naperville, draped over 18-year-old Charles Huber. Detectives concluded Lindahl accidentally severed his own femoral artery while stabbing the young man 28 times with a six-inch kitchen knife.But Fran knew Lindahl was capable of wanton brutality and violence before police did.When she was still a teenager, Lindahl invited her over for drinks early one morning, which had become a regular occurrence by then. When Fran arrived, she recalled, he had her favorite—a scotch on the rocks—ready for her. But after just a couple of sips, she said, she dropped the drink, lost control of her motor functions, and went limp.Lindahl proceeded to attack her, she said, stripping her of her clothes, taking photographs of her in various poses, and raping her. She recalled the assault continuing until she grew "very, very sick."She said she asked Lindahl to take her to a nearby hospital and that he refused, insisting she was OK. Instead, Fran remembered Lindahl going so far as to take some of her friends skiing that same day. She spent the day trying to sleep in the back of his car.Despite the assault, Fran added, she didn't feel comfortable completely distancing herself from Lindahl, and their relationship—abusive and violent though it was—would continue for a few more years. "When Bruce said jump, I said, 'How high?'" she said.At the time, and perhaps even today, Fran says, she felt responsible for what happened to her. Although she was just a teenager, she described some sexual encounters with Lindahl that were "consensual" in her mind.She didn't tell any of her friends or family. Not only did she worry about being believed, she felt that Lindahl would do "something terrible" to her.Fran recalled another night when Lindahl insisted she come over to his place. When she arrived, Lindahl's girlfriend was sleeping in the next room. He then forced Fran to perform oral sex on him and demanded she sneak out the window when he was finished, she recalled."I thought if I screamed, he would hurt me," she said. Fran still remembers the last time she saw Lindahl, too.She was 18 and had taken a job that required her to work the graveyard shift. That meant she almost never saw Lindahl anymore. She thought she had escaped him, or perhaps that he had moved on to other women.Until one morning, when she passed Lindahl's car on the way home from work. Lindahl must have been waiting for her; he followed her back to her house.She pleaded with Lindahl that she was tired from work and needed sleep, but he ignored her and followed her into the house, she said. When he grabbed the family Polaroid camera and followed her upstairs, she feared the worst.To this day, Fran isn't entirely sure how she convinced Lindahl to leave that morning. But she was able to coax him out of the house and escape unharmed.Learning of his death was the only way out of being haunted by him."I was thrilled," she said, recalling relief washing over her when she saw him on local news.Fran never allowed Lindahl to define her life. She started a family and worked hard; years would go by without her thinking about the man. But she never stopped worrying about Lindahl's girlfriend, she said.Years after Lindahl died, she thought she ran into her in a Chicago suburb. When Fran asked if she was who she thought she was, the woman denied it and turned white. She was living under a different name than Fran remembered, she said. "I always worried that maybe she didn't know Bruce was dead," she said. "That maybe she was living her life in hiding."Over the years, Fran has grappled with guilt and wondered if she should have spoken up sooner. But when she saw the news of his being tied to so many other grisly crimes, she realized how close she may have come to becoming one of Lindahl's alleged murder victims herself.She said she doesn't feel brave or courageous telling her story. But after reading pleas from detectives in media reports, she felt the need to come forward. "I always felt like everything was my fault. I guess I've always been that way," she said. She subsequently reached out to police and was interviewed by Detective Loudon. Still, Fran added, she couldn't help suspecting that keeping her head down saved her at a time when perpetrators of sexual violence were even less likely to be prosecuted than they are today."Somehow, I always knew to be afraid," she said. "I feel lucky I kept my mouth shut."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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| Sandy Hook denier charged with having victim's dad's ID info Posted: 28 Jan 2020 08:45 AM PST  A Florida man who repeatedly harassed parents of shooting victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School has been arrested for possessing the identification of one of the parents, authorities said. Wolfgang Halbig, 73, was arrested Monday on a charge that he was in unlawful possession of another person's identification, according to the Lake County Sheriff's Office. Halbig was a guest on the radio show of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
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| Canada's Chinese community faces racist abuse in wake of coronavirus Posted: 28 Jan 2020 10:51 AM PST  Country has seen just three confirmed cases of the virus but panic is already spreading, causing an uptick in racist incidentsWhen Toronto resident Terri Chu tweeted that she and other Chinese mothers feared the "inevitable wave of racism" that would accompany the spread of coronavirus around the world, she didn't realize how visceral the reactions would be."My Twitter has just exploded with vitriol since this morning," she said on Tuesday. "But it's just par for the course, growing up as a minority when you're not part of a dominant class."Canada has so far seen three confirmed cases of the virus, which originated in China, but members of the country's Chinese community have already become the target of racism.What is the virus causing illness in Wuhan?It is a member of the coronavirus family that has never been encountered before. Like other coronaviruses, it has come from animals, or possibly seafood. New and troubling viruses usually originate in animal hosts. Ebola and flu are examples.What other coronaviruses have there been?Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers) are both caused by coronaviruses that came from animals.What are the symptoms of the Wuhan coronavirus?The virus causes pneumonia. Those who have fallen ill are reported to suffer coughs, fever and breathing difficulties. In severe cases there can be organ failure. As this is viral pneumonia, antibiotics are of no use. The antiviral drugs we have against flu will not work. If people are admitted to hospital, they may get support for their lungs and other organs as well as fluids. Recovery will depend on the strength of their immune system. Many of those who have died are known to have been already in poor health.Is the virus being transmitted from one person to another?Human to human transmission has been confirmed by China's national health commission. As of 27 January, the Chinese authorities had acknowledged more than 2,700 cases and 56 deaths. In the past week, the number of confirmed infections has more than tripled and cases have been found in 13 provinces, as well as the municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Tianjin. The virus has also been confirmed outside China, in Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, Nepal, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam. There have not been any confirmed cases in the UK at present, with the more than 70 people tested for the virus all proving negative. The actual number to have contracted the virus could be far higher as people with mild symptoms may not have been detected. Modelling by WHO experts at Imperial College London suggests there could be as many as 100,000 cases, with uncertainty putting the margins between 30,000 and 200,000.How worried are the experts?There were fears that the coronavirus might spread more widely during the week-long lunar new year holidays, which start on 24 January, when millions of Chinese travel home to celebrate, but the festivities have largely been cancelled and Wuhan and other Chinese cities are in lockdown.At what point should you go to the doctor if you have a cough, say?Unless you have recently travelled to China or been in contact with someone infected with the virus, then you should treat any cough or cold symptoms as normal. The NHS advises that there is generally no need to visit a doctor for a cough unless it is persistent or you are having other symptoms such as chest pain, difficulty breathing or you feel very unwell.Should we panic?No. The spread of the virus outside China is worrying but not an unexpected development. It increases the likelihood that the World Health Organization will declare the outbreak to be a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday evening. The key concerns are how transmissible this new coronavirus is between people and what proportion become severely ill and end up in hospital.Sarah Boseley Health editor and Hannah Devlin The country saw a similar wave of xenophobia during 2003 Sars outbreak, which also started in China.During that panic, many Chinese-run businesses in Canada took steep losses as fear overrode public health advice: Toronto lost an estimated C$1bn as residents and tourists avoided the city, especially areas with a high concentration of Chinese businesses.The irrational public worry that paralyzed much of the city seems to be returning, said Amy Go, the interim president of the Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice."I was hopeful it wasn't going to be like 2003. But it's is. It's happening now and it's just going to be amplified [by social media]."When a popular Toronto blog, reviewed a new Chinese restaurant on Instagram on Monday, the post quickly received a torrent of racist comments.And nearly 9,000 parents in the York school district – an area north of Toronto – signed a petition demanding students who had traveled to China in the last 17 days be prevented from attending school."This has to stop. Stop eating wild animals and then infecting everyone around you," wrote one petition signer. "Stop the spread and quarantine yourselves or go back."On Monday, the board – which represents 208 schools – condemned the petition amid fears students will be targeted based on their ethnicity."We are aware of an escalated level of concern and anxiety among families of Chinese heritage," wrote York board chair Juanita Nathan and education director Louise Sirisko. "Individuals who make assumptions, even with positive intentions of safety, about the risk of others, request or demand quarantine can be seen as demonstrating bias and racism."Chu said fears about the coronavirus were disproportionate."Air pollution and the proliferation of STDs are far greater public health risk to my kids than the coronavirus right now – it's being completely blown out of proportion," she said. The total death toll of Sars in Canada was 44, she said. "Last year in Toronto, 41 people got hit by cars."Racist responses have also been seen in other countries with Chinese diaspora communities. In Australia, Queensland MP Duncan Pegg warned residents of false health bulletins circulating online that stoked fear of communities with high proportions Asian residents.But Go also said that the reactions in Canada – which includes some of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world – expose a current of everyday racism which is always present."Two or three months from now, the coronavirus will likely be gone. But this is not just a public health issue. This is an issue of racism in Canada. "The best thing to come from this – the best impact – would be people collectively learning that we can do better."
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| Recording: Trump called for firing Ukraine ambassador after campaign donor complained Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:20 PM PST  Recording: President Donald Trump calling for firing Ukraine Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch's firing a year before she was recalled to Washington
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| The Israeli Army Is Unprepared for a Ground War with Iran and Hezbollah Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:53 AM PST  If Israel has to go to war tomorrow against Iran or its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah, there's a problem. The Israeli mechanized division that would defend Israel's northern border, or enter Syria or Lebanon to eject Iranian and pro-Iranian forces, are in bad shape.
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| Kobe Bryant created his 'Black Mamba' alter-ego as a way to get through the lowest point of his career Posted: 27 Jan 2020 08:51 AM PST  Kobe Bryant created the alter-ego at a time when he was going through several off-the-court ordeals.
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| Powerful 7.7 earthquake hits between Cuba and Jamaica Posted: 28 Jan 2020 12:15 PM PST  The U.S. Geological Survey says a powerful magnitude 7.7 earthquake has struck south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica.
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| Argentina’s Clean Energy Future Is at Risk Under New Leadership Posted: 28 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Winds that howl along Argentina's Atlantic coast have long captivated the energy industry. But it wasn't until Mauricio Macri's government offered appealing terms that the country's clean power boom began.Since 2016, billions have flooded into the struggling nation as generators worked to harness those famed gusts, as well as world-class solar conditions. Clean energy attracted about as much money as state-run oil giant YPF SA spent on shale fields regarded as Argentina's golden ticket to a stronger economy.But now hopes for a wind-powered future are fading as Macri's pro-investment experiment collapses into yet another bout of financial turmoil and a jolt back to interventionism under new President Alberto Fernandez. Pessimism stems not only from policies already implemented in Fernandez's first weeks in office but also from precedents in several other nations where government changes put the breaks on clean energy development."The government looks less likely to encourage private development in the power market," Natalia Castilhos Rypl, South America analyst at BloombergNEF, wrote in a report. That would push ambitious renewable goals "even further out of sight," she said.Several factors are fanning fears that clean energy will be one of the biggest casualties of the free-market fizzle. For a start, Fernandez has tightened capital controls and is preparing to renegotiate tens of billions of dollars of sovereign debt, leading an industry that relies on global finance to brace for the worst.The new administration also froze the cost of electricity for six months as it looks for a new pricing framework after Fernandez campaigned on "un-dollarizing" utilities, raising fears he will meddle with the terms of power purchase agreements. That'd be disastrous for renewable projects because the yearslong stability that PPAs provide was very often the catalyst to getting the green light from investors.Read More: Argentina Companies May Bear Cost of Fernandez's Utilities ShiftThe government's renewable energy office — which organized auctions during Macri's four-year term that raked in $5.4 billion of investment, compared with just $395 million in the previous four years — may also lose rank as it's merged into a broader power department.While the office's future is still uncertain, the mere possibility it'll be downgraded is driving a strong suspicion that renewables — and more auctions — aren't a priority.What's more, the new president has already been meeting with oil executives, promising them a law that'd safeguard investments in a bid to reverse waning shale activity. There have been no such signals to power generators, who are tasked with supplying 20% of electricity needs with renewables by 2025, a target that was already looking hard to reach.There are plenty of examples of clean energy's vulnerability to policy swings. Spain's solar industry is just starting to gather speed again after the government imposed retroactive subsidy cuts that curbed runaway growth. In Taiwan, officials slashed prices for wind generation, while the U.S. has moved to undermine the economics of clean energy by levying duties on imports of solar equipment.If renewables do slip down the pecking order under Fernandez, the dynamic would most closely mimic what's happened in Latin American neighbor Mexico under leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said James Ellis, head of research in the region for BloombergNEF.Under Lopez Obrador, Mexico is strengthening the role of state-run entities like oil driller Pemex and electricity company CFE to the detriment of private investment. That's casting a pall over a renewables rush that had taken root before he took office a year ago.To be sure, Argentina's progress in renewables had already begun to stumble under Macri, who failed to tame a fiscal deficit and turned to the International Monetary Fund for a record credit line. Capital controls introduced by Macri last year — in a desperate attempt to protect central bank reserves — threw grit into companies' plans.The controls meant international banks halted disbursements for funding construction of several projects because they weren't sure how they'd get paid back. Restricted access to dollars also slowed imports of turbine parts.Read More: Bond Payment Is 85 Days Late and Argentina Holders Are Fed UpThere are 2.3 gigawatts of wind farms and 1.1 gigawatts of solar farms in Argentina's clean energy pipeline that still need to secure financing, according to BloombergNEF's Castilhos Rypl. In total, those investments are worth about $4.8 billion.Renewables investment can spur the economy at a time when Fernandez wants growth to be able to pay back creditors, and wind farms that tap impressive coastal gusts can also help the government bring down power prices, said Ben Backwell, who heads the Global Wind Energy Council lobby group.The key issue is project finance, but that's becoming evermore problematic amid tighter capital controls and looming sovereign debt renegotiations. Still, there was a morsel of good news earlier this month when YPF Luz signed a financing deal for a wind farm in Patagonia.\--With assistance from Lynn Doan, Ramsey Al-Rikabi and Reed Landberg.To contact the author of this story: Jonathan Gilbert in Buenos Aires at jgilbert63@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: James Attwood at jattwood3@bloomberg.net, Joseph RichterFor 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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