| New release of Stephen Miller emails show him pushing link of immigrants to crime Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:02 PM PST  Newly released emails between Stephen Miller and Breitbart News seem to offer new evidence of Miller's well-established hard-line views that would eventually shape the Trump administration's immigration policies. The piece published by the Southern Poverty Law Center Monday focuses on Miller's apparent fixation on and promotion of a widely debunked narrative about immigrants and violent crime.
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| Then and now: Swiss glacier photos show impact of global warming Posted: 26 Nov 2019 10:58 AM PST  A collection of images — showing photos of modern-day mountain landscapes next to archive shots of the same scenes decades earlier — reveals the dramatic change.
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| Frenchman, actor kidnapped in Mexico freed: officials Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:38 PM PST  A French citizen and a Mexican actor kidnapped in a national park in central Mexico were freed Monday, officials said. The two men, identified as Frederic Michel and Alejandro Sandi, were traveling in all-terrain vehicles in the park around the Nevado de Toluca volcano when they were ambushed and abducted on Sunday, witnesses said. A source with Mexico's anti-kidnapping unit told AFP both victims were unharmed.
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| Veteran, 88, saves girl from 'vicious' pit bull by hitting it with Christmas decoration Posted: 26 Nov 2019 07:17 AM PST  Leonard Miller's instincts kicked in, and he didn't hesitate to help the girl. After the attack, the dog's owner has the option to surrender the dog.
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| Elon Musk said Tesla's $39,900 Cybertruck is better than Ford's $28,496 F-150 — here's how they stack up Posted: 25 Nov 2019 08:26 AM PST  Elon Musk compared the Tesla Cybertruck to the Ford F-150 during the Cybertruck reveal event on Thursday.
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| Billion-Dollar Art Heist: Thieves Use Fire, Axes to Plunder Dresden’s Green Vault Palace Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:09 AM PST  Axe-wielding thieves appear to have pulled off the biggest art heist in decades after they broke into one of Europe's largest collections of treasures and made off with glittering objects valued at as much as $1 billion.The daring robbery happened in the early hours of Monday in the German city of Dresden. Burglars forced entry to the Green Vault—housed in a former royal palace called the Residenzschloss—which has been the home of a historic collection of diamonds and other jewels for centuries.Surveillance video released by German authorities showed the intruders using an axe to smash glass display cases to make off with hundreds of priceless artifacts in what police are calling the largest art heist since the Second World War.The thieves—who reportedly escaped the scene in an Audi A6 and are now on the run—reportedly started a fire in the early hours of Monday that led to a power failure at the palace, disarming the elaborate network of security alarms. German media has reported the thieves then twisted back iron grill bars on a ground-floor window to gain access to the treasury's historic collection.Michael Kretschmer, the leader of Saxony—which has Dresden as its capital city—expressed his devastation at the historic heist. The minister said: "The treasures one can find there... have been collected by the people of Saxony over many centuries and are hard-won treasures... You cannot understand the history of our country, or the free state of Saxony without the Green Vault and the state art collections of Saxony."The Green Vault has been an international tourist destination since 1724, when it first opened to the public, according to The Guardian. It was heavily damaged during the Second World War during Winston Churchill's controversial bombing campaign that destroyed the city of Dresden. The vault was successfully restored and there was a grand reopening in 2006.Saxony state authorities have not given any details of what's been taken from the vault or who they think might have been capable of carrying out the audacious raid. "We have not identified a perpetrator and nor have we yet made any arrests," police spokesman Marko Laske said.By good fortune, one of the collection's best known treasures—the 41-carat Dresden "Green Diamond"—is currently on loan to New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, so wasn't there to be taken.However, it houses thousands of other treasures, including a 648-carat sapphire that was a royal gift from Russian tsar Peter the Great; a golden coffee service made in 1701; and a 25-inch figure of a Moor encrusted with precious emeralds and other jewels.Dozens of police cars are at the scene and the Green Vault is shut as the world's media awaits further details of the theft.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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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| Sarah Huckabee Sanders to New York Times: 'I don’t like being called a liar' Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:11 AM PST  Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary who admitted to Robert Mueller that she lied to reporters, told the New York Times: "I don't like being called a liar." At a White House briefing on 10 May 2017, Sanders told reporters "countless members of the FBI" had told her they had lost confidence in James Comey, the FBI director fired by Trump shortly before.
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| World's best sushi restaurant dropped from Michelin Guide after refusing to serve public Posted: 26 Nov 2019 12:22 PM PST  The world's best sushi restaurant seats just ten people and is famously housed in a Tokyo metro station. But despite its cult following, the famously exclusive restaurant has lost its listing in the Michelin Guide, not because the quality of the food has dropped, but because it is no longer open to the general public. Sukiyabashi Jiro, run by the renowned nonagenarian Japanese chef Jiro Ono, has been recognised with three Michelin stars each year since the culinary guide launched a Tokyo edition in 2007. But this year's Tokyo edition of the Michelin Guide declined to include it within its pages, saying it is "out of their scope" because of its decision to only offer reservations VIPs and return customers. "We recognise Sukiyabashi Jiro does not accept reservations from the general public, which makes it out of our scope," said a spokeswoman for the Michelin Guide after the decision was announced on Tuesday. She added that "it was not true to say the restaurant lost stars but it is not subject to coverage in our guide," rather that the guide's "policy is to introduce restaurants where everybody can go to eat." Jiro Ono's restaurant has become a cult classic With former diners including US president Barack Obama, Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and a host of Hollywood celebrities, booking a table has never been easy. But now prospective diners must be regular customers, be part of an elite network or book through the concierge of a luxury hotel - as well as stomach the 40,000 yen (£285) price tag for the chef's selection menu. Sukiyabashi Jiro said it was "currently experiencing difficulties in accepting reservations" and apologised for "any inconvenience to our valued customers" in a statement on its website. It added: "Unfortunately, as our restaurant can only seat up to 10 guests at a time, this situation is likely to continue." The restaurant opened in 1965 but has gathered a cult following in recent years, particularly since the release of a 2011 documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi", which follows the life of its star chef and owner. Barack Obama arrived in a motorcade when he dined at Sukiyabashi Jiro Credit: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP via Getty Images The documentary followed Ono, who is considered something of a national treasure in Japan, as he performs his meticulous sushi preparation ritual. The rice at the restaurant is crafted to fit the diner's mouth, with Ono examining customer's hands and faces to work out what size portion is appropriate for them. Diners are asked not to wear strong perfume or take photographs of the food. Ono has also faced criticism for his previous comments about women - particularly his suggestion that women make inferior sushi chefs because their menstrual cycles affect their sense of taste. Despite being in his 90s, he continues to serve sushi with the help of his eldest son Yoshikazu. A second branch run by Ono's younger son remains open to the public and has retained its two stars.
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| After Trump's intervention, Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher returns to work, for now Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:38 PM PST  Eddie Gallagher, the Navy SEAL at the center of a controversy in a case that President Trump intervened in, went to work Monday, unsure of what lay ahead.
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| Founder of U.S. private jet firm tied to Venezuelan VP pleads guilty to sanctions evasion Posted: 26 Nov 2019 03:00 PM PST  Victor Mones Coro, founder of Florida-based American Charter Services (ACS), had been charged in March by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, along with El Aissami, for violating Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act sanctions imposed by the United States in 2017.
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| Couple convicted of grisly 1980s murders get surprise release from prison before being deported Posted: 26 Nov 2019 02:04 PM PST  A couple convicted of a brutal double murder in 1985 have won their release from prison, and will now be handed over to immigration authorities for deportation.Jens Soering and Elizabeth Haysom were convicted in the brutal murders of Haysom's parents, in an attack that rocked Virginia at a time when sensational crime wasn't the norm for major news coverage.
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| YIKES: Please Don't Give Israel B-52 Bombers Posted: 25 Nov 2019 06:00 PM PST  Foreign governments will hold the United States accountable for Israel's actions with American weaponry.
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| Boeing quietly unveiled a new version of the 737 Max, even though it is still grounded around the world Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:07 AM PST  Rather than the usual fanfare and excitement surrounding the launch of a new plane model, Boeing barely publicized the launch of the Max 10.
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| At least 8 dead, 300 injured after 6.4-magnitude earthquake strikes Albania Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST  The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.4 earthquake was centered 19 miles northwest of Tirana, the capital city of Albania.
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| SCOTUS Denies Petition to Hear National Review v. Mann Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:24 AM PST  The Supreme Court announced Monday morning that it will not hear Competitive Enterprise Institute and National Review v. Michael E. Mann, a case with dire freedom-of-speech implications for National Review and all American media outlets that publish commentary on contentious public-policy debates.Mann, a Penn State climatologist famous for the "hockey stick" global-warming graph, was targeted by CEI's Rand Simberg in a 2012 blog post. Simberg criticized the methods Mann used to collect data for the study, in which Mann attempted to chart the earth's temperature over the past 1,000 years and found a sharp uptick in global temperatures in the 20th century.In 2010, Penn State investigated Mann for alleged data manipulation and university-ethics violations in regards to the study, but Mann was eventually cleared of any wrongdoing. Taking an opportunity to criticize both the scientist's methodology and Penn State's administration, Simberg drew a metaphor in his column between Mann's case and the infamous Jerry Sandusky coverup, a comparison that then-syndicated columnist Mark Steyn referenced in a National Review column.Writing in dissent, Justice Alito argued that the high court has an interest in taking up the case because it would help establish free speech standards around one of the most hotly debated issues of the time, climate change."Climate change has staked a place at the very center of this Nation's public discourse. Politicians, journalists, academics, and ordinary Americans discuss and debate various aspects of climate change daily — its causes, extent, urgency, consequences, and the appropriate policies for addressing it," Alito wrote. "The core purpose of the constitutional protection of freedom of expression is to ensure that all opinions on such issues have a chance to be heard and considered. I do not suggest that speech that touches on an important and controversial issue is always immune from challenge under state defamation law, and I express no opinion on whether the speech at issue in this case is or is not entitled to First Amendment protection. But the standard to be applied in a case like this is immensely important."Mann subsequently filed defamation lawsuits against all parties involved, alleging that the leveled accusations of scientific and data molestation were false statements of fact, rather than opinion.In 2016, the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Mann over the defendants, who argued on First Amendment grounds that the 2012 post represented "a subjective opinion about a matter of scientific or political controversy" and that "the evidence of record is that it actually has been proved to be false by four separate investigations." The court also turned down a defense under the Anti-SLAPP Act, which intends to stop lawsuits aimed at silencing advocates on public issues.Appeals of the decision, most recently in March, have also gone Mann's way. The stakes are high. A decision in favor of Mann would set a precedent for political rhetoric moving forward: Parties could potentially sue public adversaries and rely on juries to settle differences of policy opinion.In May, the defendants, joined by the Cato Institute, the Individual Rights Foundation, and the Reason Foundation, filed the petition the Supreme Court denied today. "In holding to the contrary, the decision below declares open season on all manner of speech offering analysis, interpretation and conjecture premised on reported fact, as the circumstances of this case illustrate," they contend.
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| Analysis: Hong Kong election shows desire for change Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:12 AM PST  The people of Hong Kong have said in no uncertain terms that they want change. Voters came as close as they can, in what is a semi-autonomous Chinese territory, to voting out the government. The election cleared up any doubts people may have had about Hong Kong's silent majority.
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| 'Never allow escapes': Second leak reveals how China runs Uighur detention camps Posted: 25 Nov 2019 04:09 AM PST  A second leak of secret Chinese Communist Party (CCP) documents has revealed details of how over one million detainees in China are indoctrinated, controlled and punished in a huge network of internment camps. The papers, dated to 2017 and leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), have been dubbed The China Cables and feature instructions to "never allow escapes" from the camps. The venues, which in 2018 Beijing claimed did not exist then said were education centres, are populated mainly by Muslim members of ethnic minorities who have not been charged with crimes. The leak came a week after a different trove of CCP documents related to China's Muslim crackdown was revealed. Both caches provide evidence that the CCP is orchestrating a widespread campaign of brainwashing and human rights abuse against Muslims, mainly in the country's vast western Xinjiang province. The ICIJ said the documents it acquired marked the "first leak of a classified Chinese government document revealing the inner workings of the camps, the severity of conditions behind the fences, and the dehumanising instructions regulating inmates' mundane daily routines." Some of the newly-revealed documents are from an internment camp instruction manual issued by Xinjiang security authorities. One order in them is for staff to "strictly manage door locks and keys – dormitory doors, corridors doors and floor doors must be double locked, and must be locked immediately after being opened and closed." According to Beijing the venues were set up as part of a crackdown on separatist terrorism stemming from Xinjiang, which is home to around 11 million members of the mainly Muslim Uighur ethnic group. Internees undergo indoctrination to denounce religion and show loyalty to the CCP and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Escapees have reported torture and rape occurring in the camps. The documents showed how internees were regularly tested on subjects including mandarin language skills, and only allowed to leave once they gained satisfactory scores. Scores were linked to "rewards, punishments and family visits", and staff were told to "evaluate and resolve students' ideological problems and abnormal emotions at all times." They were also required to "promote the repentance and confession of the students for them to understand deeply the illegal, criminal and dangerous nature of their past behaviour." Chinese officials failing to strictly follow internment camp guidelines have faced severe consequences. The documents leaked to the New York Times showed that 12,000 officials were investigating for not implementing the rules with enough vigour. Wang Yongzhi, an official in charge of the crackdown in an area of Xinjiang called Yarkand, was investigated and disappeared from public view after quietly releasing 7,000 inmates from the system. His grovelling confession, likely given under duress, was distributed as a warning to other officials. He 'confessed': "I undercut, acted selectively and made my own adjustments, believing that rounding up so many people would knowingly fan conflict and deepen resentment... without approval and initiative, I broke the rules." Details about how internees, who can be sent to camps for behaviour such as using non-approved messaging apps or collecting money for mosques, were isolated from loved ones were also revealed. It was decreed that they were allowed a phone call with family "at least once a week", but they "may not contact the outside world apart from during prescribed activities." Adrian Zenz, senior fellow in China studies at Washington DC's Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, said of the newly-leaked papers: "It really shows that from the onset, the Chinese government had a plan for how to secure the vocational training centres, how to lock in the 'students' into their dorms, how to keep them there for at least one year." When asked about The China Cables on Monday Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said: "Some media's conspiracy to slander China's terrorist effort won't succeed. Our most powerful counterattack is to maintain solidarity among ethnic groups and a peaceful society." The documents feature a section named "Strict secrecy", which included the order: "It is necessary to strengthen the staff's awareness of staying secret."
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| Trump supporters say God chose him to be president Posted: 25 Nov 2019 02:16 PM PST  Energy Secretary Rick Perry and former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley see God's hand in picking Donald Trump as president.
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| Spain refloats submarine intercepted with suspected cocaine on board Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:35 AM PST ![Spain refloats submarine intercepted with suspected cocaine on board]( "Spain refloats submarine intercepted with suspected cocaine on board") Spanish police on Tuesday refloated a submarine that was intercepted with a cargo suspected to be about 3,500 kg (3.85 tons) of cocaine, a security source told Reuters. Investigators believe that the crew had attempted to sink the submarine and the drugs it had on board. It was later transported to a port in Cangas, in Pontevedra province.
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| Priests who abused deaf children get 40-year jail terms in Argentina Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:31 AM PST  Two Roman Catholic priests were each sentenced to more than 40 years in prison in Argentina for the sexual abuse, including rape, of deaf children, a court in the western city of Mendoza ruled Monday. Argentine priest Horacio Corbacho was sentenced to 45 years in jail, while a 42-year sentence was imposed on Italian Nicola Corradi for the abuse of some 20 children at the Provolo Institute for deaf and hearing-impaired children between 2004 and 2016.
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| French citizen kidnapped Sunday in central Mexico Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:56 AM PST  A French citizen and a Mexican national were kidnapped on Sunday while visiting a national park in central Mexico, according to the French Embassy in Mexico City.
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| A teen says she wouldn't have tried Juul's e-cigarettes had she known they contained nicotine, and is now considering a lawsuit Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:00 AM PST  Bailey Legacki, now aged 18, told the New York Times she was taken in by Juul's advertising but did not realise there was nicotine in Juul's products.
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| Supreme Court re-enters debate on money in politics by vacating decision on Alaska contribution limits Posted: 25 Nov 2019 09:57 AM PST  The Supreme Court re-entered the national debate over the influence of money in politics by vacating a lower court's decision in an Alaska case.
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| British man and wife rescued from Islamic State militants in the Philippines after being held for two months Posted: 25 Nov 2019 12:09 AM PST  A British man and a Filipino woman have been rescued from kidnappers in the Philippines by the country's special forces troops, two months after they were abducted from a beach resort. Husband and wife Allan and Wilma Hyrons were rescued after Filipino troops attacked their captors, members of the militant bandit Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), on the island of Jolo in the country's southern Sulu province on Monday morning local time. The soldiers, including those from the Philippines Marine Corps, had been battling ASG members for three days in the town of Penang in an attempt to retrieve Mr and Mrs Hyrons and other kidnap victims. Early on Monday, after a ten-minute gunfight the bandits abandoned the couple, allowing them to escape. Later on Monday lieutenant general Cirilito Sobejana told AFP that although the couple had been rescued, troops would continue to pursue their kidnappers. "The two [hostages] were left behind, they [ASG bandits] could not bring them anymore, so they scampered away to different directions," he said. "But our hot pursuit continues, our troops are still there on the ground." Allan and Wilma Hyrons speak with Maj. Gen. Corleto Vinluan after the rescue Credit: Armed Forces of the Philippines, Task Force Sulu On 4 October Mr and Mrs Hyrons - who lived in the town of Tukuran where they owned a college - were kidnapped from a beach resort on Mindanao island, in the Zamboanga del Norte province. The Philippine military said that the couple were not hurt in the gunfight, and that no ransom was paid to their captors. British foreign secretary Dominic Raab said: "I am pleased to confirm that both Alan and Wilma Hyrons are safe and well, and being looked after by the Philippine authorities. "We worked closely with the government of the Philippines on Alan and Wilma's case over the last two months. I am very grateful for their tremendous efforts. We are in particular grateful to their armed forces for their courage throughout a difficult operation which resulted in Alan and Wilma's release. "Foreign office officials have been in close contact with Alan and Wilma's family throughout this ordeal. We request their privacy during this emotional time." ASG is listed as a terrorist organisation by the Philippines and the US, and has links to the Islamic State group. The group, believed to have around 400 members, is known for beheadings and kidnappings. It was forged in the 1980s among Muslim separatists in the south of the southeast Asian country. Before Monday's rescue, Philippine troops had made inroads into suppressing the group, as part of military efforts that have reduced the amount of abductions taking place in the country in recent years. On Sunday, in a battle in a different area of Sulu province to the region the rescue took place in, five ASG militants were killed. In May Dutch national Ewold Horn was reportedly murdered by kidnappers on Jolo island. The Philippine military said that Horn, who was 59, was shot when his captors fled from attacking troops.
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| Trump Denies Giuliani Acted on His Behalf in Ukraine: ‘Rudy Has Other Clients’ Posted: 26 Nov 2019 04:35 PM PST  Drew Angerer/GettyPresident Donald Trump appeared to hang his personal lawyer out to dry in an interview with former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly on Tuesday night, insisting that Rudy Giuliani's push for a Biden investigation in Ukraine was not done on his behalf and noting that Giuliani has "other clients." Asked point-blank if Giuliani was acting on his behalf in trying to dig up dirt on former vice president Joe Biden—an issue now at the heart of an impeachment inquiry—Trump said, "No, I didn't direct him, but he is a warrior, he is a warrior." When asked what Giuliani was doing in Ukraine, Trump deflected and told the ex-Fox anchor that he would "have to ask that to Rudy." "I know that he was going to go to Ukraine and I think he cancelled the trip. But Rudy has other clients, other than me. He's done a lot of work in Ukraine over the years," the president continued. According to the White House's own rough transcript of Trump's now infamous July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump himself repeatedly brought up Giuliani in the same conversation where he reminded Zelensky of all that America does for Ukraine and asked him for a "favor." "Rudy very much knows what's happening, and he is a very capable guy," Trump told Zelensky, after asking him to investigate a widely debunked conspiracy theory about Ukraine interfering in the 2016 election. "If you could speak to him that would be great," he said. In early November, Giuliani wrote on Twitter that his probe into "2016 Ukrainian collusion and corruption" was done to "defend (his) client against false charges." Giuliani's consulting business—Giuliani Partners—and Ukraine activities are reportedly being examined by federal prosecutors. Two of Giuliani's associates—Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman—recently pleaded not guilty to campaign finance charges, and Parnas' own firm paid Giuliani Partners for consulting work. Both men reportedly met with Giuliani before meeting with Ukrainian officials to push for the investigations.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get 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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| Freed film-maker Sentsov tells Europe: beware of Russia Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:27 AM PST  Oleg Sentsov, who was arrested in Crimea after Russia annexed the Ukrainian territory in 2014, was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought last year while he was still in jail. Russia and Mr Putin will absolutely cheat you. A Russian military court sentenced Sentsov to 20 years in a maximum security prison in 2015 after finding him guilty of setting fire to two offices in Crimea, including one belonging to Russia's ruling political party.
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| First remains of UK truck victims arrive in Vietnam Posted: 26 Nov 2019 03:41 PM PST  The first remains of the 39 people found dead in a truck in Britain last month arrived in Vietnam early Wednesday, an airport security source said. An official letter seen by AFP confirmed that 16 bodies would arrive in Vietnam Wednesday. The 16 victims came from three provinces in central Vietnam.
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| Could the U.S. Navy Have Destroyed Japan With Battleships? Posted: 26 Nov 2019 10:00 AM PST  At the end of World War II, the Navy had a problem of too many battleships—and an unusual solution.
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| First Central American Migrant Offered Asylum In Guatemala Returns Home to Honduras Instead Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:59 AM PST  The first Central American migrant offered asylum in Guatemala, under an arrangement between that country and the U.S., has decided to return to his home in Honduras, according to the Associated Press.Erwin José Ardón Montoya, 23, travelled to the U.S. in September in a bid to see his newborn daughter. The daughter's mother had chosen to migrate to the U.S. while still pregnant."I wanted to see my daughter, to help her," Ardón Montoya told his parents through tears as he arrived at his family's home in Trujillo, Honduras.Ardón Montoya was caught by federal agents in El Paso, Texas. He was offered a job and a place to live in Guatemala, but chose to return to his family.The 23-year-old told the Associated Press he might try to enter the U.S. again after Christmas.The Trump administration has enacted a host of policies meant to curb illegal immigration to the U.S., including placing restrictions on asylum seekers who enter the U.S. illegally. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has announced a policy change preventing illegal asylum seekers from obtaining work permits until their applications have been approved.The Department of Homeland Security has also instituted the so-called "remain in Mexico" policy, whereby asylum seekers who enter the U.S. illegally are required to wait in Mexico while their applications are processed.While some of the Trump administration's immigration policies have been challenged in court, a senior Border Patrol official warned in October that striking down those policies could bring the flow of illegal immigration to "crisis level.""We will go back, mark the words, we will go back to the crisis level that we had before," said the Border Patrol's chief of law enforcement operations Brian Hastings. "It is kind of a new norm. We're at risk at any time."
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| Accused Chinese Spy Pleads Guilty in U.S. ‘Dead-Drop’ Sting Posted: 25 Nov 2019 03:16 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A California man accused of spying for China's security service pleaded guilty to a U.S. criminal charge in a case touted by prosecutors as a "rare glimpse" into how Beijing gathers intelligence in America.Xuehua "Ed" Peng, who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2012, was charged in September with with acting as unregistered agent of a foreign government. As part of his plea agreement, the U.S. will recommend a four-year prison sentence and a $30,000 fine, instead of the maximum penalty of 10 years' incarceration and a $250,000 fine, a prosecutor told a judge Monday in Oakland federal court.A U.S. crackdown on national security espionage by the Chinese government and theft of intellectual property that began under former President Barack Obama has escalated during the Trump administration's trade war with China. At three former U.S. intelligence officers have been convicted in recent years of spying for China. Last year, the Justice Department launched a China Initiative targeting trade-secret theft, hacking and economic espionage.Peng, 56, worked as a guide for Chinese tourists in the San Francisco area, according to prosecutors. He was snared in a sting operation in which he allegedly hid envelopes with $10,000 to $20,000 in cash in hotel rooms and returned later to pick up memory cards containing classified security information that had been planted by U.S. agents.Read More: U.S. Tour Guide Accused as Spy for China's Security ServiceAfter staging each of the so-called dead drops at hotels in Oakland and Newark, California, as well as Columbus, Georgia -- at least one of which the FBI recorded with a hidden video camera -- Peng would later fly to China with the cards to deliver them to his handlers at the Ministry of State Security, prosecutors alleged.The U.S. said it uncovered Peng's identity as a spy through a double-agent operation in China started in March 2015.John Demers, the Assistant U.S. Attorney General for national security, said when Peng was arrested that his case exposes how Chinese intelligence officers collect information "without having to step foot in this country."Peng's attorney declined to comment after Monday's hearing.The case is U.S.A. v. Peng, 19-cr-00589, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland).\--With assistance from Joel Rosenblatt.To contact the reporter on this story: Robert Burnson in San Francisco at rburnson@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter BlumbergFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| 10 Secret Santa gifts under $30 that won't get thrown away Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:19 AM PST  Is your Secret Santa situation seriously stumping you? Our product experts are here to help. These are our picks for best Secret Santa gifts under $30.
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| 3 accused war criminals wanted by Trump for campaign: Reports Posted: 26 Nov 2019 06:44 AM PST  President Trump has reportedly told aides he wants three convicted or accused war criminals to campaign for him during his bid for reelection in 2020.
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| Federal prosecutors are reportedly probing whether Rudy Giuliani acted as an 'unregistered foreign agent' Posted: 26 Nov 2019 05:28 AM PST  According to reports, investigators have widened their investigation to probe Giuliani's firm in connection with possible criminal offences.
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| U.S. Supreme Court turns away case on website's liability over gun sale Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:04 AM PST ![U.S. Supreme Court turns away case on website's liability over gun sale]( "U.S. Supreme Court turns away case on website's liability over gun sale") The daughter of a woman killed in a 2012 mass shooting will not be able to sue the operator of a firearms classified advertising website from which the killer illegally bought his gun after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear her appeal. The justices left in place an April ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme Court that found that a federal law that shields website operators from liability for user content applied to Armslist LLC, the operator of Armslist.com. Armslist is an Oklahoma-based website that allows users to post classified advertisements for firearms and related equipment.
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| Firefighters battle new blaze in California Posted: 26 Nov 2019 01:31 PM PST  Hundreds of California firefighters on Tuesday battled a wind-driven brushfire that grew out of control overnight near Santa Barbara, threatening thousands of homes and prompting evacuation orders. The so-called "Cave Fire" that started on Monday in Los Padres National Forest, grew to nearly 4,300 acres (1,740 hectares) overnight as it moved toward populated areas in the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta and nearby communities about a two hours' drive north of Los Angeles. Some 600 firefighters were battling the blaze that prompted evacuation orders for about 2,300 homes, or nearly 5,500 people.
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| Military Fact: World War II Changed Bombers and Fighters Forever Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:00 PM PST  It put every theory to the test. Most didn't stack up.
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| Jury hears 911 call from night engaged doctors were killed in penthouse Posted: 25 Nov 2019 10:09 PM PST  Jury in the murder trial of Bampumim Teixeira hears a 911 call from the night Dr. Richard Field and Dr. Lina Bolaños were killed in their penthouse
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| A gun is fired on US school grounds twice a week, database reveals Posted: 26 Nov 2019 03:02 PM PST  More than once a month in the past year, gunfire has turned deadly, gun control advocates findPolice officers take part in active shooter response training exercise at Fountain middle school in Fountain, Colorado, in June 2017. Photograph: Dougal Brownlie/APA gun is fired on a school campus in America nearly twice a week. Suicide, homicides, a police shooting, attacks on students by other students: more than once a month this past year, gunfire on American school and university campuses has turned deadly, according to a database of school gunfire incidents compiled by advocates.In the latest in a series of brutal shootings in California, and 11-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy were shot to death in the parking lot of an elementary school in Union City, California, in the early hours of Saturday morning. Police had no immediate motive for the shooting, but said that a suspect or suspects had fired into the van the boys were sitting in multiple times.Schools are one of the safest places for kids in the United States, and shootings in and around schools represent only a tiny fraction of the violence that children face here on a daily basis. But even the small amount of gun violence that occurs at American schools adds up.Since the Columbine shooting in 1999, at least 233,000 kids across 243 schools have been exposed to gun violence during school hours, a Washington Post investigation found.Experts are quick to put that number in context. Researchers found that nearly 1,300 American children aged 17 and younger die from gunshot wounds each year, and they are more likely to be killed in homes or neighborhoods than at school.Domestic violence is particularly deadly. In San Diego, a domestic violence mass shooting claimed the lives of three young boys and their mother, all shot to death by the boys' father on 16 November, according to police. The fourth brother, nine-year-old Ezekiel Valdivia, died on Saturday afternoon, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.That single domestic violence shooting was deadlier than any of the school shooting attacks in the United States so far in 2019, according to tallies compiled by the Washington Post and the New York Times."Gunfire on school grounds is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to how gun violence affects children and teenagers," said Ruhi Bengali, a senior associate at Everytown for Gun Safety, the country's largest gun control advocacy organization.But tracking gun violence on school grounds, as Everytown has done since after the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school shooting, does provide a window into the many ways gun violence burdens young people, even in places that are "inherently meant to be safe spaces for learning", Bengali said.Everytown's analysis found that 20% of all gunfire on school grounds comes from unintentional shootings, but that even these "actually resulted in a fair number of injuries. Gun suicides, with no intent to harm anyone else, represented 12% of all incidents," she said.As with other kinds of gun violence in America, students of color, and black students in particular, were disproportionately affected.Black students make up only 15% of the school population for K-12 schools, yet represented 24% of student victims in instances of gunfire on school grounds, she said.For the students affected by ongoing gun violence in and around their schools, local officials can offer additional counselors, but little evidence of national change on gun laws: Republican lawmakers have blocked any substantive gun control laws for the past quarter-century.In Union City, where the two kids were killed in the elementary school parking lot, students are out of school this week for the Thanksgiving holiday, but will have "district and community mental health providers available" when they return to school, spokesman John Mattos said.Not far away, students at Carl Munck elementary school in Oakland have also had additional counselors available to them. The president of the school's Parent Teacher Association, Misty Smith Walton, was shot to death outside her Oakland apartment earlier this month.Her death wasn't a school shooting. But that didn't mean it does not affect the school."She was always looking to improve her sons' classes and their school, always there to do whatever was needed in the front office, on the yard or anywhere else on campus," the superintendent said in a statement, calling her death a "horrific crime".
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| Turkey 'to sign new missile defence system contract' with Russia, in fresh blow to US ties Posted: 26 Nov 2019 04:27 AM PST  Turkey is to sign a new contract for S-400 missile-defense systems with Russia, according to Moscow, which would risk further souring ties with the US and could trigger threatened sanctions. Ankara received the first batch of Russia's surface-to-air missile systems systems in July, prompting the US to kick Turkey off its F-35 fighter jet programme. The Trump administration warned Ankara it could face sanctions, but said Ankara could be spared if it does not activate the S-400 system. But the Nato member yesterday came one step closer as it began testing a newly acquired Russian missile defence system against American-made fighter jets. Footage of the first trial run, which began on Monday and continued into Tuesday, showed the system's radars rotating over an air base outside the capital. US-made F-16 fighter jets were used as mock targets during the exercise, which will likely irk Washington. Initial tests may just be to ensure that the radars are working properly or to see if they can adequately distinguish between friendly and enemy aircraft. The US, as well as Nato, had been concerned that the Turkish military might conduct exactly these tests, potentially giving Russia insights into Western jets' capabilities. Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) shakes hands with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) during a joint news conference following Russian-Turkish talks in the Black sea resort of Sochi, Russia, last month Credit: Reuters A senior US State Department official said last week that Turkey needed to get rid of the S-400s it had already bought to mend fences. Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State, said the tests were "concerning" but said on Tuesday that the US was "still talking to the Turks, still trying to figure out our way through this thing." Alexander Mikheev, Russian state arms exporter Rosoboronexport, said in an interview on Tuesday that Moscow hopes to seal a deal to supply Turkey with more S-400 missile systems in the first half of next year. "We hope that in the first half of 2020 we will sign the contract documents," RIA news agency cited Mr Mikheev as saying. "But I want to stress that military technical cooperation with Turkey is not limited to the supply of the S-400s. We have big plans ahead." As Mr Mikheev's comments emerged, President Tayyip Erdogan was cited on Tuesday as saying Turkish and US officials would conduct efforts until April to sort out the dispute between the Nato allies over the S-400s. President Donald Trump (R) and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan attend a joint press conference at the White House in Washington D.C on Nov 13 Credit: Xinhua "There is a process that is ongoing until April. Our defence and foreign ministers will carry out these efforts. We need to see where we get with these efforts," broadcaster NTV reported him as saying when asked how they would resolve the row. Turkey's relationship with the US and Nato has been fraught, over the sale of the defence system and over Mr Erdogan's offensive in northern Syria. The US has asked Ankara to show restraint in its operation, which the latter claims is to clear Kurdish militias is considers terrorists. Turkey and allied Syrian rebels have been accused of war crimes against civilians in the area.
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| Giuliani Represented Venezuelan Tycoon Accused of Connections to Chavez Regime Posted: 26 Nov 2019 09:12 AM PST  President Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani represented a wealthy Venezuelan businessman in a Justice Department investigation into alleged money laundering in Florida, the Washington Post reported on Monday.Alejandro Betancourt López was reportedly an uncharged co-conspirator in a case in which a group of Venezuelan businessmen, including Betancourt's cousin, tried to steal money from Venezuela's state-owned oil company and launder about $1.2 billion of those funds through real estate purchases in Florida. Giuliani represented Betancourt earlier this year during the DOJ investigation into the case, in which he argued Betancourt should not be made to face criminal charges.Giuliani also stayed at Betancourt's estate south of Madrid, Spain in August while simultaneously working to unearth corruption connected to Ukrainian officials and former vice president Joe Biden, at the behest of President Trump. While in Spain he met with top Ukrainian official Andriy Yermak to discuss details of the investigation into Biden that Trump wanted Ukraine to pursue.Betancourt, who was educated at Suffolk University, cofounded a power company called Derwick Associates. That company was alleged to have paid bribes to strongman Hugo Chavez's regime in order to build power plants for the country, according to the Wall Street Journal.In response to the Post's story, Giuliani denied wrongdoing."This is attorney client privilege so I will withstand whatever malicious lies or spin you put on it," Giuliani told the Post via text.John Sale, an attorney of Betancourt and a friend of Giuliani from law school, declined to comment on the relationship between his client and the former mayor.Giuliani's businesses and several of his associates are currently under federal scrutiny in a wide-ranging investigation. One concern of the investigation is whether Giuliani acted as an unregistered agent for a foreign power or foreign nationals. When asked about the allegation that he acted as an unregistered foreign lobbyist, Giuliani told the Journal that whenever his foreign clients asked for assistance navigating the Trump administration, he passed them on to registered lobbyists.
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| From growing a beard to complaining about porn: Here are the flimsy excuses China uses to throw Uighur Muslims into prison camps Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:22 AM PST  China has imprisoned at least one million Uighurs in detention camps and prisons in Xinjiang. The Communist Party sees Uighurs' religion as a threat.
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| US, EU 'owe half the cost' of repairing climate damage Posted: 25 Nov 2019 07:02 AM PST  The United States and Europe bear more than half the cost of repairing the damage already wrought by climate change, a coalition of environmental groups said Monday. Based on their historic greenhouse gas emissions, the US and EU should be held jointly responsible for 54 percent of funding owed to developing nations already dealing with extreme flooding, droughts and megastorms rendered more frequent and intense by global warming, the groups said. A week ahead of a UN climate summit in Madrid -- in which the controversial issue of how funding for the so-called "loss and damage" inflicted by climate change will be provided -- they said the amount needed would hit $300 billion annually within a decade.
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| Does Russia Have a Key Advantage Over America in a Ground War? Posted: 24 Nov 2019 11:13 PM PST  Electronic warfare: In a ground war, the Kremlin's forces would be well-equipped to jam U.S. and allied communications and sensors. What is America doing about it?
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