| Anchor says Buckingham Palace pressure killed ABC's story on Epstein Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:30 AM PST  In a leaked video released Tuesday, ABC News anchor Amy Robach said the network killed her story on wealthy pedophile Jeffrey Epstein under pressure from the British royal family.
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| The defense secretary begged Trump not to pardon accused and convicted war criminals Posted: 06 Nov 2019 12:25 PM PST  Trump has been tweeting about intervening in the war crimes cases of a Navy SEAL, an accused Green Beret, and a convicted Army lieutenant.
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| DOJ Admits in Michael Flynn Case That FBI ‘Mistakenly Identified’ Peter Strzok Notes Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:07 AM PST  The attorneys prosecuting former White House National Security Adviser Michael Flynn were forced to admit in a Tuesday letter to Flynn's legal defense that the notes which formed the official document describing Flynn's January 2017 interview were not written by agent Peter Strzok, as they've maintained throughout the case."We were informed that the notes we had identified as Peter Strzok's, were actually the other agent's notes (see Surreply, Exhibit 1), and what we had identified as the other agent's notes were in fact Strzok's notes (see Surreply, Exibit 2)" the letter to Flynn's lawyer Sidney Powell reads.The FBI's admission calls into further question the credibility of the case and of former FBI agent Peter Strzok, who told the FBI that his partner Joe Pientka was "primarily responsible for taking notes and writing the FD-302." The case against Flynn, who entered a guilty plea for lying to the FBI in December 2017, centers around the 302 form, which per Bureau protocol, stands in place of a transcript, as the FBI does not record its interviews.In defending Flynn, Powell has argued that Strzok's supposed notes were too orderly and well constructed to have been taken in the actual interview. Now the letter, coupled with prosecution's release of notes last week, apparently reveal that Strzok, in fact, took the majority of the notes in the interviewStrzok led the FBI investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email server, and was fired from Mueller's investigative team when text messages disparaging President Trump were discovered between him and FBI colleague Lisa Page, with whom he was having an affair.The letter was prompted by Powell's bombshell allegation that the FBI deliberately manipulated the original 302 document to suggest that Flynn lied about his contacts with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak."Those changes added an unequivocal statement that 'Flynn stated he did not' — in response to whether Mr. Flynn had asked Kislyak to vote in a certain manner or slow down the UN vote [on sanctions]," Powell wrote. "This is a deceptive manipulation because, as the notes of the agents show, Mr. Flynn was not even sure he had spoken to Russia/Kislyak on the issue. He had talked to dozens of countries.""That question and answer does not appear in the notes, yet it was made into a criminal offense," Powell argued in the motion. "The draft also shows that the agents moved a sentence to make it seem to be an answer to a question it was not."Earlier this week, Powell demanded in another court filing that the FBI search its internal "Sentinel Database" to uncover any drafts of the 302 which may show substantial changes, after the government argued that any edits to the document, which was filed over three weeks after the interview, were merely "grammatical and stylistic."Released text messages between Strzok and Paige show that on February 10, the same day that news broke from "senior intelligence officials" that Flynn had discussed sanctions with Kislyak, Strozk told Paige that he had updated the 302 form to reflect her edits."I made your edits, and sent them to Joe. I also emailed you an updated 302 . . . hopefully it doesn't need much more editing. I will polish it this weekend, and have it ready for Monday. I really appreciate your times and edits," Strzok said.On Tuesday night, Powell told Fox News that the letter all but confirms her argument."Their entire case depends upon what these two agents said. And now, we're realizing 18 months later they're looking at their file and realizing that 'oh, by the way, we got the names of the two agents crossed on the notes, the notes you thought were Mr. Strzok's, that we told you were Mr. Strzok's, are not, they're the other agent's, and vice versa,'" Powell said. "It's appalling. What else have they gotten wrong? We can't trust anything they say."
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| Keystone pipeline spill hardens landowner opposition to proposed expansion Posted: 06 Nov 2019 04:07 AM PST  Operator TC Energy Corp is in the process of securing land easements for Keystone XL from scores of reluctant landowners in Nebraska, one of the final obstacles to a project linking Canada's oil fields to U.S. refineries that has been delayed for over a decade by environmental opposition. The roughly 9,120-barrel spill from the existing Keystone line brings the number of significant releases since the system was built a decade ago to four - much higher than the company estimated in its risk assessments before it was approved - raising worries Keystone XL will be just as problematic.
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| The U.S. Army's Laser Weapons Future Has Arrived Posted: 05 Nov 2019 01:07 AM PST  The Army is preparing to incinerate enemy weapons "targets" in an upcoming in a "laser-off" firing of its emerging Stryker-armed 50-kilowatt laser weapon designed to destroy drones, helicopters, fixed-wing aircraft and incoming enemy missiles.
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| Serbia set to buy Russian missiles despite US sanctions hint Posted: 06 Nov 2019 07:06 AM PST  Russia will deliver a sophisticated anti-aircraft missile system to Serbia even though the U.S. has warned of possible sanctions against the Balkan country in the event of such purchases. The U.S.'s special envoy for the Western Balkans, Matthew Palmer, warned Serbia last week that the purchase of Russian weapons "poses a risk" of U.S. sanctions. "We hope that our Serbian partners will be careful about any transactions of this kind," Palmer said in an interview with Macedonian television Alsat M.
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| Turkey captured ISIS leader al-Baghdadi's sister, who was living in a trailer 50 miles from where he was killed by US special forces Posted: 05 Nov 2019 03:06 AM PST  Turkish forces captured Rasmiya Awad in Azaz, Syria, on Monday night. They hope to gain from her intelligence on ISIS' inner workings.
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| Scientists foresee 'untold suffering', another climate record falls Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:13 PM PST  More than 11,000 scientists warned Tuesday of "untold suffering" due to global warming, even as another team said Paris carbon-cutting pledges are "too little, too late". The European Union, meanwhile, confirmed that last month was the warmest October ever registered, fast on heels of a record September and the hottest month ever in July. Three-quarters of national commitments under the Paris climate accord to curb greenhouse gases will not even slow the accelerating pace of global warming, according to a report from five senior scientists.
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| See Photos of the SpeedKore Dodge Charger Posted: 05 Nov 2019 12:33 PM PST |
| Family attacked in Mexico has had "a few run-ins" with drug cartels Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:19 AM PST  The family is part of a group of fundamentalist Mormons who migrated to Mexico after polygamy was outlawed in the United States in the 1800's
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| How the Taliban Won America's Nineteen-Year War Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:26 AM PST  It is likely that more and more Afghans will start either associating themselves with—or relating to—the Taliban insurgency.
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| Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:09 AM PST ![Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword]( "Blade of glory: The mystery around a late president's sword") An Ohio sheriff wearing white gloves displayed a sword wielded in the American Revolution and by a future U.S. president in the War of 1812, and pledged Wednesday an exhaustive investigation to determine whether it's the one that disappeared from Cincinnati four decades ago. It's believed the sword Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Neil held up was carried in battle by President William Henry Harrison and before him, Continental Army Col. John Cleves Symmes, Harrison's future father-in-law. Police in Connecticut seized the sword last month, just before it was to be auctioned.
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| Macron warns of 'profound shift' in Iran deal as new report finds Tehran is dominant power in Middle East Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:10 PM PST  Iran's breach of the 2015 nuclear agreement by enriching uranium at an underground facility "marks a profound shift" which could signal the ultimate collapse of the deal, Emmanuel Macron said Wednesday. The French president, who has worked vigorously to save the nuclear deal since Donald Trump withdrew the US last year, said he was deeply alarmed Iran's decision to resume enrichment at Fordow, a nuclear facility carved into a mountain. "I think that for the first time, Iran has decided in an explicit and blunt manner to leave the JCPOA agreement, which marks a profound shift," Mr Macron said during a visit to China. His comments mark the gloomiest public assessment yet by a European leader about the chances of salvaging the agreement after the US withdrawal and as Iran continues to escalate its breaches of the deal. Meanwhile, a new report claims Iran has become the dominant power when it comes to fighting wars in the Middle East as a result of the "networks of influence" it has built throughout the region. Mr Macron spoke shortly after Iran began injecting uranium gas into 1,044 centrifuges at Fordow, a facility that Iran hid from the world until 2009 and which Western and Israeli officials have long feared could be used for developing a nuclear weapon. Iran tensions | Read more The 2015 nuclear agreement forbids any uranium enrichment at Fordow and Hassan Rouhani, Iran's president acknowledged the sensitivity of the site when he announced the move earlier this week. Mr Rouhani insisted that the move was reversible and said Iran would return to full compliance with the agreement if European countries found a way around US sanctions to deliver the economic benefits Iran was promised in 2015. The reopening of Fordow comes days after Iran announced it was deploying advanced new centrifuges that can enrich uranium faster. But neither move brings Iran significantly closer to obtaining a nuclear weapon. A weapon would require uranium enriched at 90 per cent, whereas Iran is currently enriching at around 5 per cent. Iran insists it has no intention of developing a nuclear weapon. The latest breaches have nonetheless alarmed European states and Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, repeated his warning this week it would take military action to stop Iran getting a bomb. "This is not only for our security and our future; it's for the future of the Middle East and the world," he said. Amid the growing tensions, it emerged that Iran briefly detained an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspector last week and seized her travel documents, the first such encounter since the nuclear deal. Q&A; | The 2015 Iran nuclear deal Iran confirmed it had stopped the inspector from entering its Natanz nuclear site out of suspicion she was carrying "suspicious material". Iran is believed to have begun secretly constructing the Fordow facility in the early 2000s but it was only known to the world when Barack Obama exposed it in 2009 and accused Iran of covertly working on a weapons programme. The base is around 80 metres underground, making it difficult to destroy with an airstrike, and is protected by anti-aircraft batteries. Israel came close to bombing the site in 2011 but ultimately decided not to move ahead. The network of alliances Iran has built with terror groups such as Hizbollah in Lebanon, as well a pro-Iranian Shia militias in Iraq, mean the balance of power in the Middle East is now in Iran's favour, according to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) think tank. At a glance | Key players in Tehran Iran's ability, moreover, to fight and win wars in the Middle East without resorting to conventional military forces has been allowed to develop because there has been no effective international response to Iran's activities in the region. According to the IISS's latest report, "Iran's Networks of Influence in the Middle East" which is published on Thursday, while the US and its allies still retain military superiority over Iran in terms of conventional forces, Tehran has proved to be more effective in waging war in what it calls the "Grey Zone" of conflict. This means Iran is able to avoid risking a traditional "state-on-state" confrontations, which it would be likely to lose. Instead, by building what the report calls "networks of influence" with proxies throughout the region, Tehran has succeeded in gaining a distinct advantage over rivals in the region, such as Saudi Arabia. "Iran is fighting and winning wars 'fought amongst the people', not wars between states," the report concludes.
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| Trial to begin for Omoyele Sowore, a New Jersey journalist imprisoned in his native Nigeria Posted: 05 Nov 2019 04:24 PM PST  Omoyele Sowore, a journalist held in a Nigerian prison since August, is set to go on trial Wednesday as his wife and supporters anxiously await news.
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| Nepal cries foul over new India map Posted: 06 Nov 2019 09:08 AM PST  Nepal on Wednesday objected to a new map released by India that places the disputed area of Kalapani within Delhi's borders, saying it was "clear" the territory belonged to Kathmandu. On Saturday, India released the new map following its decision to split the state of Jammu and Kashmir into two administrative territories. On the map, India's border cuts into Kalapani -- long a source of contention between the two countries, particularly because Indian troops have been deployed in the area for more than 50 years.
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| ‘The disappeared’: searching for 40,000 missing victims of Mexico’s drug wars Posted: 06 Nov 2019 01:00 AM PST  José Barajas, who was snatched from his home, joins the ever-swelling ranks of thousands of desaparecidos, victims of the drug conflict that shows no sign of easingRelatives of the disappeared form a human chain to comb a suspected clandestine burial ground in the Mexican town of Ensenada last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAs he set off into the wilderness under a punishing midday sun, Jesse Barajas clutched an orange-handled machete and the dream of finding his little brother, José."He's not alive, no. They don't leave people alive," the 62-year-old said as he slalomed through the parched scrubland of tumbleweed and cacti where they had played as kids. "Once they take someone they don't let you live."series boxIt has been six months since José Barajas was snatched from his home near the US border, for reasons that remain obscure."I think he was working so hard that he forgot his own safety, you know?" Jesse said as he recounted how his 57-year-old brother was dragged from his ranch and joined the ever-swelling ranks of Mexico's desaparecidos – now estimated to number at least 40,000 people.Jesse, the eldest of seven siblings, said US-based relatives had implored José to join them north of the border as the cartels tightened their grip on a region notorious for the smuggling of drugs and people."We told him how big a monster is organised crime. It is a huge monster that nobody knows where it is hiding," he said.Jesse Barajas searches for the remains of his brother José, who was was dragged from his ranch on 8 April 2019 and has not been seen since, last month near the town of Tecate. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianBut José – who had built a successful business making decorative concrete columns for ranches and was in the process of erecting a new house – was adamant he would abandon neither his workers nor his homeland."He was a man that believed in Mexico," said Jesse, who left Mexico as an undocumented migrant aged 14 and is now a US citizen. "He chose to stay here because he thought that he could change things, you know?"The disappeared are perhaps the dirtiest secret of Mexico's drug conflict, which has shown no sign of easing since leftist leader Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power last December promising a new era of peace.Calderón sends in the armyMexico's "war on drugs" began in late 2006 when the president at the time, Felipe Calderón, ordered thousands of troops onto the streets in response to an explosion of horrific violence in his native state of Michoacán.Calderón hoped to smash the drug cartels with his heavily militarized onslaught but the approach was counter-productive and exacted a catastrophic human toll. As Mexico's military went on the offensive, the body count sky-rocketed to new heights and tens of thousands were forced from their homes, disappeared or killed.Kingpin strategySimultaneously Calderón also began pursuing the so-called "kingpin strategy" by which authorities sought to decapitate the cartels by targeting their leaders.That policy resulted in some high-profile scalps – notably Arturo Beltrán Leyva who was gunned down by Mexican marines in 2009 – but also did little to bring peace. In fact, many believe such tactics served only to pulverize the world of organized crime, creating even more violence as new, less predictable factions squabbled for their piece of the pie.Under Calderón's successor, Enrique Peña Nieto, the government's rhetoric on crime softened as Mexico sought to shed its reputation as the headquarters of some the world's most murderous mafia groups.But Calderón's policies largely survived, with authorities targeting prominent cartel leaders such as Sinaloa's Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.When "El Chapo" was arrested in early 2016, Mexico's president bragged: "Mission accomplished". But the violence went on. By the time Peña Nieto left office in 2018, Mexico had suffered another record year of murders, with nearly 36,000 people slain."Hugs not bullets"The leftwing populist Andrés Manuel López Obrador took power in December, promising a dramatic change in tactics. López Obrador, or Amlo as most call him, vowed to attack the social roots of crime, offering vocational training to more than 2.3 million disadvantaged young people at risk of being ensnared by the cartels. "It will be virtually impossible to achieve peace without justice and [social] welfare," Amlo said, promising to slash the murder rate from an average of 89 killings per day with his "hugs not bullets" doctrine.Amlo also pledged to chair daily 6am security meetings and create a 60,000 strong "National Guard". But those measures have yet to pay off, with the new security force used mostly to hunt Central American migrants.Mexico now suffers an average of about 96 murders per day, with nearly 29,000 people killed since Amlo took office.In August Mexican authorities, who after years of public pressure are beginning to demonstrate greater interest in investigating such crimes, acknowledged over 3,000 clandestine burial sites. More than 500 had been discovered since López Obrador took power.One as-yet undiscovered grave is thought to guard the remains of José Barajas. And one recent morning his family set off to find it, in the company of a government forensic team and – a heavily armed federal police escort."It just sucks not knowing where he's at," said the missing man's 28-year-old son, who is also called José and had travelled from California to join the search.Forensic experts work with police protection during a search for the body of José Barajas last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianThe mission – one of the first conducted in conjunction with a newly created state search commission – began shortly before noon as searchers formed a human chain to comb a stony heath east of José's ranch.Jesse struck out ahead, pausing occasionally to skewer the ground with his machete. After puncturing the earth, he would raise the blade's tip to his nose in the hope of detecting the sickly scent that might reveal the whereabouts of his brother's corpse. Other searchers probed soft patches of soil with T-shaped steel rods.Minutes later, Jesse spotted a black bomber jacket, half buried in the soil. He quickly decided it was not his brother's but photographed the garment with his smartphone: "Maybe somebody is looking for somebody with this jacket, huh?"As Jesse marched on – shadowed by a rifle-toting police agent – the hidden perils that lay behind his brother's disappearance became clear.Pickup trucks, apparently sent by cartel bosses to monitor the search party, rattled past on the country lane down which José's abductors fled."These assholes are halcones," Jesse complained, using the Spanish slang word for lookouts.searchingUnsettled by their presence, Jesse radioed another nearby search team to request a protective roadblock."They're spying on us … watching our movements to see what we are looking for and what we are doing," the police officer said.Nerves jangled as the hawks continued to circle. "The criminals here are very bloody. They are beyond limits," Jesse murmured as the police agent trained his gun on the road.Twenty tense minutes later, reinforcements arrived. But the drama was not yet over. As Jesse clambered into the open back of a police vehicle two shiny SUVs appeared on the horizon and sped down the sun-cracked asphalt towards the group, before being forced to stop.A relative shows a photograph of José Victoriano Barajas, 57, a businessman who is feared dead. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAs the police car's occupants braced for a gunfight, two men descended from the first SUV and exchanged a few inaudible words with the federal agents before the second car was allowed to pass unmolested.The identity of its occupants remained a mystery. But as the vehicle raced away it left the unshakable impression that a local crime boss had been inside – and a serious confrontation narrowly avoided."We're in a hostile place – and it's not Iraq," Jesse said as the team regrouped, heaving a collective sigh of relief.After a lunch of energy drinks and granola bars, the hunt for José resumed."All we want to do is give him a proper burial, like every human," the missing man's son as a sniffer dog joined the search.José's son said relatives had not told his 92-year-old grandmother, who suffers from Alzheimer's, what had happened and had yet to fully comprehend it themselves. "I guess we have to be OK with not being OK," he said.Once his father was found, José said the family would sell up and cut ties with the land his father had so loved. "It's not the same any more, you know what I mean?"Three hours later, nothing had been found but coyote bones and clothes ditched by migrants as they trekked towards the US. Back at his brother's ranch, Jesse busied himself handing out burritos and spicy nachos to the famished searchers.Fernando Ocegueda, the activist who had organized the mission, insisted searchers should keep faith. "Once we spent 15 days searching and found nothing – and on the last day we found three bodies."Jesse and Alfredo Barajas, two of the victim's brothers, and his son, José, searched an area near his ranch last month. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The Guardian"This kind of activism is about patience, not speed," Ocegueda later added.Two days later, after a second fruitless hunt near the ranch, the Barajas family headed south to join another search, though this time not for José.Outside a police station in the coastal town of Ensenada they met dozens of mostly female searchers – members of a local "collective"hoping to find their loved ones.As the group explored its first location – a rocky wasteland behind the town's country club – terrible stories of violence, fear and grief emerged."It was my nephew. They took him 18 days ago," said one thirtysomething woman, who – like all of the collective's members – asked not to be identified for fear of the cartels."My brother," said a 15-year-old boy as he pummeled the earth with a shovel. "Three weeks."Another woman said she was seeking her son. "In December it will be six years since they disappeared him … and I've been in this fight ever since," she said.interactiveAs the minutes and hours ticked by and no bodies were found, bloodshot eyes shed tears of sorrow and there were crossed words of frustration."It's like looking for a needle in a haystack," José's son complained after a traipse through the wasteland found only swarms of bees and a poisonous snake.But as the group moved from the viper-infested wild to a reeking landfill and, finally, a junkyard police suspected had served as a torture centre and burial ground, there was also camaraderie and warmth.The bleakness of the task was tempered by shared experiences and laughter. Jokes were told. New friendships formed."We all have the same goal, which is finding our missing ones," said Ocegueda who became a campaigner after his own son was taken, in 2007, and has recovered more than 120 bodies since.Ocegueda has yet to locate his son – but he has found a calling. "This is where I like to be because it's here I've found my people," the 62-year-old said. "Along the way you make friends – and this is the most important thing."A police vehicle parked outside the unfinished home that José Barajas had been building when he was abducted in April for reasons that remain a mystery. Photograph: Emilio Espejel/The GuardianAlso present was a woman still grappling with a more recent loss: José's 49-year-old wife, Irma Bonilla Barajas.Visibly drained, Irma threw herself into the search operation, determined to bring others closure, even if she had yet to find it herself.Pausing from her digging, Irma remembered a hardworking family man whose absence was still sinking in. "He was so, so intelligent," she said. "He used to calculate all the exact measurements for the concrete and his gazebos in his head."Six months after José vanished, Irma voiced bewilderment at the "evil minds" responsible for snatching so many Mexican lives."I just can't make sense of it … If they've already killed them, why don't they leave them for us?" she wondered. "What more harm can they do to them, if they are already dead?"Additional reporting by Jordi Lebrija
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| View Photos of 450-HP Chevy E-10 Pickup Concept Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:35 AM PST |
| Brexit prompts Northern Ireland electoral pacts that could shake DUP grip Posted: 05 Nov 2019 07:32 AM PST  Division among Northern Ireland's pro-British and pro-Irish parties over Brexit has prompted tactical electoral moves that put at risk some of the seats that had given the province's Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) the balance of power in London. The DUP, a mainly Protestant party that fervently favors continued British rule of Northern Ireland, used its 10 seats in parliament in London to help keep Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservatives in power with a minority government.
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| Most Russians Now Want ‘Decisive’ Change in Country, Study Shows Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:13 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Nearly six in ten Russians want "decisive and full-scale changes" in the country amid growing discontent with the authorities over living standards, according to new research.The proportion wanting change reached 59% this year, up from 42% in 2017, the study by the Carnegie Moscow Center and the Levada Center polling organization showed. After five years of stagnating incomes in Russia, 24% said they wanted higher wages, pensions and living standards, followed by 13% who sought a "change of government, president, or authorities."The survey of 1,600 Russians conducted in July also found that 53% believed that necessary reforms were possible only through "serious changes to the political system," compared to 34% who thought they could be achieved under the existing structure.Only 4% identified democratic reforms as necessary, however, while 45% wanted power concentrated in the hands of one leader and 74% favored active government intervention in the economy to control prices."If the desire for political change continues to grow at the same rate as in the past two years, there may soon be massive demand for political freedoms and political choice," Denis Volkov and Andrei Kolesnikov, who conducted the research, wrote in the report. "The state is clearly not ready for this, it is moving in the direction of greater authoritarianism."The report emerged after Moscow witnessed the largest anti-Kremlin demonstrations in seven years this summer, when the authorities refused to allow opposition candidates to contest city council elections. Much of the disillusionment appears to have set in at the start of President Vladimir Putin's fourth term in May last year, however, when the researchers found that 57% favored major reform in a similar survey."The desire for change is always present in society," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday on a conference call, in response to a question on the study. "It's another question whether somebody wants abrupt changes or changes that are consistent, smooth, harmonious."Recent polls have shown that Putin's personal rating has stabilized after taking a hit last year over unpopular pension reforms, though it remains far below the peaks reached following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.Amid rising pressure to deliver on promises of better living standards, the government is boosting spending following years of ultra-tight monetary and fiscal policy that limited the damage from slumping oil prices and international sanctions over the Ukraine crisis. The central bank has also accelerated interest-rate cuts that may boost the sluggish economy, even as Governor Elvira Nabiullina has warned that growth will be limited without structural reforms.The study shows that "people want radical changes but are scared of the social cost," Volkov and Kolesnikov wrote.To contact the reporters on this story: Ilya Arkhipov in Moscow at iarkhipov@bloomberg.net;Anya Andrianova in Moscow at aandrianova@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gregory L. White at gwhite64@bloomberg.net, Tony HalpinFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Standing tall: Scientists find oldest example of upright ape Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:02 PM PST  An international team of researchers says the fossilized partial skeleton of a male ape that lived almost 12 million years ago in the humid forests of what is now southern Germany bears a striking resemblance to modern human bones. The findings "raise fundamental questions about our previous understanding of the evolution of the great apes and humans," said Madelaine Boehme of the University of Tuebingen, Germany, who led the research. Boehme, along with researchers from Bulgaria, Germany, Canada and the United States, examined more than 15,000 bones recovered from a trove of archaeological remains known as the Hammerschmiede, or Hammer Smithy, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) west of the Germany city of Munich.
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| China's H-20 Stealth Bomber Is Soon Coming To Asian Skies Posted: 04 Nov 2019 07:01 PM PST  America and its allies are on notice.
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| Fifteen IS jihadists killed in Tajikistan border attack Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:42 AM PST  Fifteen jihadists were killed in Tajikistan Wednesday during an attack on a border post that officials blamed on members of the Islamic State group who crossed over from Afghanistan. It came as the country prepared to celebrate its Constitution Day on Wednesday and with long-serving President Emomali Rakhmon on a visit to Europe. The interior ministry said about 20 armed assailants attacked the Ishkobod border post some 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Dushanbe at 3:23 am local time.
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| Oregon comes to California's aid in fighting hotter fires: 'When help is needed, help will come' Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:32 AM PST  As California's fire season grows longer and hotter, more and more out-of-state firefighters – and sometimes out-of-country firefighters – head West.
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| The 10 most-viewed fake-news stories on Facebook in 2019 were just revealed in a new report — take a look (FB) Posted: 06 Nov 2019 08:06 AM PST  Fake news stories targeting American voters are still rife on Facebook, and a new investigation from Avaaz just revealed the 10 most-viewed in 2019.
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| Key Donald Trump impeachment witness changes testimony over Ukraine 'quid pro quo' Posted: 05 Nov 2019 12:57 PM PST  A key witness in the Donald Trump impeachment inquiry has reversed his evidence, indicating he did believe there was a quid pro quo in which US military aid would be denied to Ukraine unless it publicly launched a corruption investigation into Joe Biden. Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, had initially denied any knowledge of a link between the $391 million in aid and Mr Trump's request that Ukraine launch an inquiry into his political rival. But in a revised statement Mr Sondland said: "In the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid, I presumed that the aid suspension had become linked to the proposed anti-corruption statement." Mr Sondland said that, after "refreshing my recollection," he remembered telling a senior Ukrainian official on September 1 that the aid would "likely" be stopped unless there was an investigation into Mr Biden and his son Hunter, who sat on the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Donald Trump has called the impeachment inquiry a Democrat "witch hunt" Credit: AFP His private testimony, and the amended statement, were released by the Democrat-led committee pursuing the impeachment inquiry. The impeachment inquiry is primarily focused on a July 25 conversation between Mr Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy Mr Trump froze the US military assistance to Ukraine shortly before speaking to Mr Zelenskiy, prompting accusations from Democrats that he had misused taxpayer money destined for a vulnerable US ally for personal political gain. Mr Sondland detailed how at one point Mr Trump nearly hung up on him when he asked whether the White House was withholding the aid in return for an inquiry into Mr Biden. He said Mr Trump told him: "I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo. I want Zelenskiy to do the right thing." Mr Sondland said Mr Trump was in a "bad mood". He added: "I wouldn't say he hung up me, but it was almost like he hung up on me." The diplomat said on September 1 he discussed the matter with Andriy Yermak, an adviser to Mr Zelenskiy. Mr Sondland said: "I said that resumption of the US aid would likely not occur until Ukraine provided the public anti- corruption statement that we had been discussing for many weeks." Where now? | Next steps in the impeachment inquiry He said he believed the plan was "ill-advised" but he did not know "when, why or by whom the aid was suspended." Mr Sondland was asked by the committee if he thought the idea was illegal. He said: "I'm not a lawyer, but I assume so." When asked a second time he said it would be "improper" and added: "I don't know the law exactly. It doesn't sound good." Congressional Democrats also released testimony from Kurt Volker, the former US special envoy to Ukraine He said Mr Trump had told him to "talk to Rudy" - his personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani - about Ukraine matters. Mr Volker said the president told him: "They are all corrupt, they are all terrible people. I don't want to spend any time with that." Mr Trump has denied wrongdoing and accused Democrats of unfairly targeting him in hope of reversing his surprise victory in the 2016 presidential election. A White House spokeswoman said: "Ambassador Sondland said he 'presumed' there was a link to the [military] aid - but cannot identify any solid source for that assumption." She said there was "even less evidence for this illegitimate impeachment sham than previously thought."
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| Orphan in adoption scandal says she's a teenager, adoptive parents' claims are false Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:24 AM PST  The Ukrainian orphan at the center of an adoption scandal in Indiana has broken her silence this week in an interview with Dr. Phil.
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| Yes, North Korea Does Have a Nuclear Missile Submarine Posted: 05 Nov 2019 06:30 PM PST  A major step towards a second-strike capability.
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| Polish citizens to travel visa-free to US from next week Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:39 AM PST ![Polish citizens to travel visa-free to US from next week]( "Polish citizens to travel visa-free to US from next week") Polish citizens will be able to travel to the U.S. without a visa from next week, officials said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that including Poland — a "trusted partner" — in the Visa Waiver Program was testament to the two countries' "special relationship" and close cooperation on security issues. Poland becomes the 39th nation to be covered by the program.
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| Jane Fonda Shuts Down Abby Huntsman on ‘The View’ Posted: 05 Nov 2019 09:53 AM PST  With Meghan McCain sitting out Jane Fonda's appearance on The View Tuesday morning, Abby Huntsman was both the only conservative and the only millennial co-host left to mix it up with the legendary actor-turned-environmental activist. Fonda had no time for her. The interview started out as a love-fest between Fonda, Joy Behar, and Whoopi Goldberg, who asked their guest what's like to spend a night in jail for protesting climate change at age 81. "You know, the conditions weren't great for old bones like mine on a metal slab," Fonda said, "but the saddest part of it was seeing how—because our country doesn't give enough money to resources like social safety nets and mental health institutions—there's so many people in jail, you know, for poverty and racism and mental health issues." "But is there a way to do it without breaking the law? You think of all the peaceful protests that have led to change," Huntsman said, implying somehow that Fonda's protests have been anything but peaceful. "I worry about living in an uncivil society." Fonda said she "agreed" with Huntsman on principle, but added, "Climate activists have been doing this for 40 years. We've been writing articles and we've been giving speeches. We've been putting the facts out to the American public and politicians and we've marched and we've rallied peacefully, and the fossil fuel industry is doing more and more and more to harm us and our environment and our young people's futures, and so we have to up the ante and engage in civil disobedience." Later, Huntsman continued to push back, telling Fonda that while she's "for climate change,"—presumably meaning that she believes it's a problem—she's worried that "we're not having a conversation in the country" about this issue because the two sides are so far apart. "I think part of the problem is this political hyperbole," Huntsman said, "where you have [Congresswoman] AOC saying, don't have kids anymore, or we shouldn't ride on planes anymore, or this Green New Deal, where is that getting us?" "No, the Green New Deal is fantastic," Fonda said, interrupting her. When Huntsman said it's "never going to happen in this country," Fonda attempted to tell her why it has to happen. "We, American taxpayers, subsidize the fossil fuel industry that's killing us to the tune of $16 billion every year," Fonda said. "I mean that is just, that's criminal." She advocated cutting the military budget, "which is totally bloated and bigger than any other developed country," to pay for both Medicare-for-All and the Green New Deal.After a break, Fonda added, "It's too late for moderation." Speaking directly to voters, she said, "We cannot vote somebody in that isn't brave enough to stand up and do the immensely difficult work that needs to be done to save us from catastrophe." 'The View's' Abby Huntsman Finally Convinced Trump's a Criminal: 'This Is Extortion'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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| Man arrested in Texas Halloween party shooting freed days after cop said he was '100%' guilty Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:53 AM PST  Brandon Gonzales, a suspect arrested in the deadly shooting at a Halloween and homecoming party in East Texas, has been released from jail.
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| White House lawyers expected to take lead in impeachment Posted: 05 Nov 2019 02:50 PM PST  As House Democrats prepare for public impeachment hearings, President Donald Trump and his legal team are working to organize a defense that will rely heavily on White House attorneys and congressional Republicans to stave off the threat to his presidency. Democrats consider the hearings to be their best chance to put Trump's behavior on public display before a politically fraught impeachment vote. Trump's allies, for their part, see the hearings as an opportunity to take the fight to the president's opponents.
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| Israel approves controversial Jerusalem cable car Posted: 06 Nov 2019 10:38 AM PST  Israel's government has approved a controversial Jerusalem cable car that will ferry thousands of passengers an hour over Palestinian homes in the east of the city to within a few hundred yards of the Western Wall. The plan, which was given the green light this week, imagines a cable car beginning in west Jerusalem and swooping over a valley towards the Old City, where it will deposit visitors at the 16th-century Dung Gate. The cars will carry up to 3,000 people an hour and Israel's government says the plan will boost tourism, relieve traffic congestion, and make it easier for worshippers to reach the Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites. "We've waited 2,000 years to return to the Western Wall and it's impossible that heavy traffic prevents thousands of people from praying," said Moshe Kahlon, Israel's finance minister. But many Palestinians see the plan as an effort to entrench Israel's presence in east Jerusalem, which most of the international community considers to be Palestinian territory under Israeli military occupation. Jerusalem - Cable car route The construction is also likely to cause disruption to residents of the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan, who will find the cable being built above their homes. Hanan Ashrawi, a senior Palestinian official, called the cable car plan "an illegal assault on the occupied Palestinian city and its people who have been living there for centuries". Other critics have taken aim at the plan not because of its politics but because they believe it will be a modern eyesore that will blight the iconic Jerusalem skyline and spoil views of the Dome of the Rock and the turreted walls of the Old City. Architects and historians have decried the plan as "Disneyfication" of a historic area sacred to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Unesco, the global heritage body, has also protested the plan as a threat to the "authentic character" of the Old City. Opponents of the plan have vowed to sue the government over its decision and the case is likely to be taken up before Israel's supreme court, potentially heralding a lengthy legal battle that may postpone construction.
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| Chicago Public Schools to plug new budget hole with one-time measures Posted: 05 Nov 2019 03:10 PM PST ![Chicago Public Schools to plug new budget hole with one-time measures]( "Chicago Public Schools to plug new budget hole with one-time measures") The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) said on Tuesday it would use $134 million in one-time revenue and savings to cover additional spending in its current budget partly because of a tentative contract agreement with its teachers union that ended an 11-day strike. Blake Yocom, an analyst at S&P Global Ratings, which rates CPS BB-minus with a positive outlook, said that while the one-time measures should close the fiscal 2020 budget gap, CPS could face future challenges.
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| Parasitic worms found in woman’s eye as scientists warn of ‘emerging’ disease Posted: 05 Nov 2019 10:38 AM PST  A parasitic worm typically found in cattle has been discovered in a woman's eye in what scientists have warned may be an "emerging zoonotic disease" in the U.S. The 68-year-old woman is the second human to have become infected by the parasite.
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| North Korea Hates This: Meet South Korea's Very Special F-15 Fighter Posted: 05 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  A deadly plane.
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| Asia’s Big Trade Pact Will Hurt the Global Economy Posted: 04 Nov 2019 09:01 PM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- From a political perspective, India's decision overnight to walk away from immediate involvement in a trade zone encompassing half the world's population and a third of its economy is good for almost everyone.The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi no longer needs to make difficult concessions on agricultural trade. Other members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership group, or RCEP, won't need to open their home markets to India's thriving, and low-cost, services sector. China, the linchpin of a zone that also includes the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, will be able to move forward faster with an agreement that was at risk of being jeopardized by India's foot-dragging.The U.S., meanwhile, can take satisfaction from the fact that its key regional ally in New Delhi is remaining outside of Beijing's orbit. A stronger RCEP that included India would almost certainly have revived politically fraught question of whether Washington should rejoin the rival Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement or TPP, which died in Congress under the Obama administration and was formally killed off by President Donald Trump. That's precisely the problem, though. Trade agreements are hard precisely because deals that are worthwhile economically tend to be politically hazardous, and vice versa. India's pause on the RCEP isn't the cause of the parlous state of international commerce in 2019, but it's another telling symptom of a global trading system where volumes are now falling at the fastest pace since the 2009 financial crisis.Both the RCEP and the pared-down, U.S.-free version of the TPP are better understood as attempts to harmonize trading standards than reduce tariff barriers.In part this is a result of the success of previous trade agreements, which have lowered border levies to the point where the more potent restraint on commerce is often non-tariff barriers, governing areas such as food safety, licensing, and rules of origin. Even within the more protectionist RCEP zone, the median trade-weighted tariff had fallen in 2017 to about 5.15%, a lower average rate than Australia or Canada imposed in the mid-1990s.Still, the effect of harmonizing standards at the regional-agreement rather than global level is the opposite of an opening of trade. The objection to the original TPP — that it resulted in the U.S. imposing its standards on other economies within the bloc — comes with the territory in such deals. The standards that are established across the zone inevitably resemble those of its largest member. That would be fine in a global agreement, but in a regional deal the effect is to raise barriers to nations outside the bloc with different rules.In the case of RCEP, that means smaller and lower-income countries in Southeast Asia are likely to become more closely entwined with China, while their links with potential partners outside the zone will fall behind. The reformed TPP, likewise, will bind those nations closer to each other than to the rest of the world. Only the handful of countries in both blocs — Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore — stand a chance of benefiting as much as China.The result suggests that trade is moving in a similar direction to tech, with the world bifurcating into separate zones as tensions between China and the U.S. force nations to take sides. It's a path that's grimly reminiscent of the aftermath of World War II, when the U.S.-led Marshall Plan and Soviet-centered Comecon developed into rival trading blocs. That division split the global economy for the duration of the Cold War. We shouldn't welcome its revival. To contact the author of this story: David Fickling at dfickling@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Matthew Brooker at mbrooker1@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.David Fickling is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering commodities, as well as industrial and consumer companies. He has been a reporter for Bloomberg News, Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times and the Guardian.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinion©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Sea levels set to keep rising for centuries even if emissions targets met Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:00 AM PST  Generations yet unborn will face rising oceans and coastal inundations into the 2300s even if governments meet climate commitments, researchers findA potential scenario of future sea level rise in South Beach, Miami, Florida, with a global temperature rise of 2C. Photograph: Nickolay Lamm/Courtesy Climate CentralSea level rise is set to challenge human civilization for centuries to come, even if internationally agreed climate goals are met and planet-warming emissions are then immediately eliminated, researchers have found.The lag time between rising global temperatures and the knock-on impact of coastal inundation means that the world will be dealing with ever-rising sea levels into the 2300s, regardless of prompt action to address the climate crisis, according to the new study.Even if governments meet their commitments from the landmark 2015 Paris climate agreement, the first 15-year period of the deal will still result in enough emissions that would cause sea levels to increase by around 20cm by the year 2300.This scenario, modeled by researchers, assumes that all countries make their promised emissions reductions by 2030 and then abruptly eliminate all planet-warming gases from that point onwards. In reality, only a small number of countries are on track to meet the Paris target of limiting global heating to 2C above the pre-industrial era."Even with the Paris pledges there will be a large amount of sea level rise," said Peter Clark, an Oregon State University climate scientist and co-author of the study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences."Sea level rise is going to be an ongoing problem for centuries to come, we will have to keep on adapting over and over again. It's going to be a whole new expensive lifestyle, costing trillions of dollars."Sea level has a very long memory, so even if we start cooling temperatures the seas will continue to rise. It's a bit like trying to turn the Titanic around, rather than a speedboat."Researchers used a computer model that simulates sea level rise in response to various emissions levels, looking both at historical emissions since 1750 and also what the emissions scenario would be from 2015 to 2030 if countries met their Paris agreement obligations.About half of the 20cm sea level rise can be attributed to the world's top five greenhouse gas polluters – the US, China, India, Russia and the European Union – according to the researchers. The US was a key architect of the Paris deal but this week Donald Trump formally triggered its exit from the agreement."Our results show that what we do today will have a huge effect in 2300. Twenty centimetres is very significant; it is basically as much sea-level rise as we've observed over the entire 20th century," said Climate Analytics' Alexander Nauels, lead author of the study. "To cause that with only 15 years of emissions is quite staggering."The results reveal the daunting prospect of a near-endless advance of the seas, forcing countries to invest huge resources in defending key infrastructure or ceding certain areas to the tides. Many coastal cities around the world are already facing this challenge, with recent research finding that land currently home to 300 million people will flood at least once a year by 2050 unless carbon emissions are drastically slashed.As the world heats up, ocean water is expanding while land-based glaciers and the two great polar ice caps are melting away, causing the oceans to swell.According to the UN's climate science panel, the global sea level rise could reach as much as 1.1 metres by the end of the century if emissions aren't curbed. Clark pointed out the real situation could be even worse if the melting of the Antarctic turns out to be on the dire end of the spectrum of uncertainty."People are going to become less inclined to live by the coast and there are going to be sea level rise refugees," Clark said. "More severe cuts in emissions are certainly going to be required but the current Paris pledges aren't enough to prevent the seas from rising for a long, long time."
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| Ryanair quietly grounded Boeing 737 planes over 'pickle fork' cracking, becoming the latest airline to act on the problem Posted: 06 Nov 2019 06:51 AM PST  The budget airline grounded at least three 737NG planes, The Guardian reported. Multiple airlines have done the same in recent weeks.
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| Camp Fire survivor who lost home in deadly blaze bilked of thousands of dollars, police say Posted: 06 Nov 2019 11:34 AM PST  Brenda Rose Asbury is accused of embezzling more than $60,000 from an elderly woman who survived the deadly Camp Fire in Paradise, California.
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| The Latest: Democrats win control of Virginia statehouse Posted: 05 Nov 2019 07:00 PM PST  Virginia Democrats are taking full control of the statehouse for the first time in more than two decades. Democrats won majorities in both the state House and Senate in Tuesday's legislative election. This is the third election in a row that Virginia Democrats have made significant gains since President Donald Trump was elected.
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| 12 Italian Relics That Were Converted Into Luxe Hotels Posted: 06 Nov 2019 02:37 PM PST |
