| Donald Trump spends Christmas Eve railing against impeachment Posted: 24 Dec 2019 10:33 AM PST  * President claims Democrats 'in real doubt' about evidence * Trump tells troops he has yet to buy a present for MelaniaDonald Trump has launched fresh attacks on the congressional architects of his impeachment, even as the standoff intensified between Democrats in the US House and Republicans in the Senate over the president's impending trial, and appeared set to last well into the new year.And on a less grave note, Trump revealed in a video conference with US troops to deliver Christmas greetings that, despite it being the morning of 24 December, he had not yet bought his wife her Christmas present.And as for North Korea's warning of a "Christmas gift" for America amid stalled nuclear weapons talks, Trump said the US would "deal with it".Then he left for his golf course.On Tuesday, Christmas Eve, Trump accused the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, of uncertainty over the articles of impeachment, voted on in Washington last week, that charge the president with abuse of power and obstruction of Congress.On Monday House lawyers signaled in court filings that they were mulling an additional article of impeachment against Trump relating to obstruction of justice during the Trump-Russia investigation. They demanded that the former White House counsel Don McGahn testify and requested the release of grand jury material from the investigation.The current articles of impeachment center on Trump pressuring Ukraine to investigate the president's US political rivals, chiefly 2020 candidate Joe Biden, in return for crucial US military aid to the former Soviet republic."Everything we're seeing … suggests that they're in real doubt about the evidence they've brought forth so far not being good enough, and are very, very urgently seeking a way to find some more evidence," the president tweeted early on Tuesday.Trump continued: "The only way to make this work is to ... mount some kind of public pressure to demand witnesses, but McConnell has the votes and he can run this trial anyway he wants to."Trump's effort to recapture the conversation came after Pelosi last week triggered a showdown with the Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, by delaying the official delivery of the two impeachment articles from the House to the Senate in an attempt to negotiate terms for the resulting congressional trial. McConnell has already declared that he has no intention of being an "impartial juror".Speaking to reporters in Florida on Tuesday, Trump said of Pelosi: "She's doing a tremendous disservice to the country" and claimed Democrats "had no evidence at all" about presidential misconduct.Other Republicans protested about possible moves for additional articles of impeachment."Democrats are treating impeachment as an open bar tab, tweeted the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham. "Time to cut them off, take their car keys away (put GOP in control of the House), and end this insanity."Article 1 of the United States constitution gives the House of Representatives the sole power to initiate impeachment and the Senate the sole power to try impeachments of the president. A president can be impeached if they are judged to have committed "treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors" – although the US Constitution does not specify what "high crimes and misdemeanors" are. The formal process starts with the House of Representatives passing articles of impeachment, the equivalent of congressional charges. A simple majority of members need to vote in favour of impeachment for it to pass to the next stage. Democrats currently control the House.The chief justice of the US Supreme Court then presides over proceedings in the Senate. The president is tried, with senators acting as the jury. For the president to be found guilty two-thirds of senators must vote to convict. Republicans currently control the Senate.Two presidents have previously been impeached, Bill Clinton in 1998, and Andrew Johnson in 1868, though neither was removed from office as a result. Richard Nixon resigned in 1974 before there was a formal vote to impeach him.Martin BelamAt the weekend, Schumer said that emails released on Friday showing that military aid to Ukraine was suspended 90 minutes after Trump demanded "a favor" from Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy only strengthened his party's demands for more documentation.With Congress out of action until early January, there is no sign of a resolution to the impeachment impasse or a date for the trial."We'll find out when we come back in session where we are," McConnell said. . On Monday, he told Fox News the delay in sending the articles to the Senate was "absurd" and predicted Pelosi would back down "sooner or later". He added he had "not ruled out" calling witnesses to the eventual trial.Meanwhile, on Tuesday morning, Trump spoke by video link from his Mar-a-Lago resort with US troops stationed around the world, calling them "tremendous warriors". He at first joked that they could decline a pay rise due to them in January, before adding: "You've earned it."When one soldier asked Trump what he had bought first lady Melania Trump for Christmas, the president revealed that he is behind on his shopping."That's a tough question," he said. "I got her a beautiful card … A lot of love. We love our family, and we love each other. We've had a great relationship, hopefully like you do with your spouses." Then he added: "I'm still working on a Christmas present. There's a little time left. Not much, but a little time left."Pool reporters were invited into Mar-a-Lago to watch the video address and ask questions.Trump said Democrats "ought to look back on the last year to see how they've hurt this country". He added: "If you just go by what you see in the papers, it's incredible what's going on. We had dirty cops. We had people spying on my campaign. They did terrible things…it's very sad."This despite the report earlier this month of the Department of Justice watchdog Michael Horowitz that said that despite some serious errors along the way, his principal conclusion was that the FBI's initiation of the Trump-Russia investigation was justified and was not motivated by political bias against Trump, nor involved what the Trump administration has called "illegal spying".And the president said that in the face of any action over Christmas by North Korea, the US would "deal with it very successfully", while joking that maybe any such gift would be "a beautiful vase as opposed to a missile test".Later, for the third day in a row, Trump travelled by presidential motorcade to the nearby Trump International Golf Club.
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| Arizona DHS Agents Paid to Have Sex With Alleged Sex Trafficking Victims They ‘Rescued’ Posted: 23 Dec 2019 04:29 PM PST  At a press conference in September 2018, Department of Homeland Security agents told reporters they had successfully broken up a transnational ring of illegal massage parlors forcing Asian immigrants into sex slavery. What they didn't say, however, is that two of their own agents had paid for sex with the alleged victims.As part of the two-year, $15,000 investigation into the massage parlors, two DHS agents engaged in sex acts with the alleged trafficking victims at least 10 times, according to DHS and local police department investigation reports uncovered by Today's News-Herald. Now the case against the alleged traffickers is unraveling as the federal agents refuse to testify in courts."To solve a crime of victims who were being forced to have sex, the officers decided to have sex with them," Brad Rideout, an attorney for one of the women arrested for money laundering, told The Daily Beast. "There seems to be no limits on their activities and there seems to be no boundaries."Authorities say the trafficking sting started in 2016, when local police received reports of unusual activity at several massage parlors in Lake Havasu City and Bullhead City. By April 2018, the police departments had determined that some of the employees might be victims of human trafficking. That's when they reached out to the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) investigation arm for assistance.Weeks later, in a DHS investigation referred to in official documents as "Operation Asian Touch," two DHS agents were sent undercover to visit the parlors. In the investigation reports, the agents describe haggling with their masseuses over hand jobs and asking them to bare their breasts for anywhere from $40 to $120.The agents, known only as "Arturo" and "Sergio," returned to each location as many as four times, according to the investigation reports. The visits generated insights such as "the female was very skinny with small breasts," and "any time the female would say anything she would get really close and whisper." After one visit, the undercover officer reportedly testified he was "80 percent sure" that the woman he had contact with was the target of the investigation. Police raided the massage parlors in September 2018, arresting eight people on charges of sex trafficking, money laundering, and operating a house of prostitution, among other things. In a press conference, deputy special agent Lon Wiegand said the suspects were part of a transnational criminal organization that trafficked women through multiple massage parlors in the area, according to the Mohave Daily News.Wiegand described the women's working conditions as "deplorable" and "unsanitary," and said they had been forced to work seven days a week, for more than 12 hours at a time. The women's only income came from their tips for sexual services, he said, and their movements were "extremely restricted." Investigators said the ring's alleged leader, Amanda Yamauchi, transported workers directly from the Las Vegas airport to the businesses in Mohave County.But the charges against Yamauchi and her alleged partner were dropped last week after the DHS agents refused to testify in her case. The investigation, which Lake Havasu City Police Sgt. Tom Gray told Today's News-Herald took almost 200 hours, has so far resulted in only three convictions—one for prostitution, another for soliciting a prostitute, and a third for attempted pandering. "We just can't produce them," Mohave Deputy County Attorney Kellen Marlow told Today's News-Herald of the DHS agents. "Local law enforcement investigators would be readily available, but federal witnesses are not. And from what I've been told, they're not going to be available to testify any time soon."Rideout filed a motion last month asking for the agents' full names, badge numbers, and any other identifying information necessary to request information on their actions in the investigation. According to the motion, so far the state has provided only reports written by local law enforcement officers involved in the investigation. "It is unclear how an ICE officer having sexual relations with human trafficking victims in Mohave County, Arizona protects the nation from terrorist attack or secures its borders," Rideout wrote.DHS did not respond to The Daily Beast's request for comment. Bullhead City Public Information Officer Emily Fromelt told Today's News-Herald that DHS had conducted its own internal investigation into the agents' activities but did not reveal the outcome.A similar raid on massage parlors in Florida earlier this year—which made headlines after New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft patronized one of the businesses—also resulted in zero trafficking convictions. The investigation into 10 spas in southern Florida was billed by police as a rescue operation for the impoverished immigrant workers. But in April, an assistant state attorney in Palm Beach testified in court that there was "no human trafficking that arises out of this investigation." Some of the women are now being threatened with deportation.Results like these have led sex workers' rights activists to speak out against the raids, which they say do little to help the so-called victims they purport to save."Police like to get in front of TV cameras and state that they conducted a raid and rescued victims and arrested a bunch of men and closed down this sex trafficking operation," said Alex Andrews, the co-founder of sex workers' rights organization SWOP Behind Bars. "But even in these raids where they're targeting the men, they're not having any impact at all on the lives of sex workers or the lives of sex trafficking victims."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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| I never let my daughter sit on Santa's lap. Now she's old enough to tell me that I made the right choice. Posted: 24 Dec 2019 07:47 AM PST  The Santa Claus custom tells kids that it's safe to have physical contact with strangers, and that they should do it even if they don't want to.
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| Ethiopian Muslims protest after several mosques burned Posted: 24 Dec 2019 04:28 AM PST ![Ethiopian Muslims protest after several mosques burned]( "Ethiopian Muslims protest after several mosques burned") Several thousand Muslims across Ethiopia in recent days have protested the burning of four mosques in the Amhara region. Muslims have called for the perpetrators to be brought to justice. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has called the attacks "attempts by extremists to break down our rich history of religious tolerance and coexistence." Recent ethnic-based unrest in some parts of the country has at times taken religious form.
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| How North Korea Sunk a Warship in 2010 (And Could Have Restarted the Korean War) Posted: 23 Dec 2019 09:00 PM PST  In 2010, North Korea sank a South Korean warship and 40 sailors died tragically. Tensions have risen again.
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| Iraqi protesters' ire at Iran extends to goods boycott Posted: 24 Dec 2019 01:25 AM PST  Anger over Iran's stranglehold on Baghdad's political system has helped propel an unprecedented protest movement -- and now Iraqi activists are hitting the Islamic Republic where it hurts, with a goods boycott. Tehran has held enormous sway over its neighbour since dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled by a US-led invasion in 2003. Using the slogan "let them rot", protesters who have taken to the streets since October 1 to demand wholesale political change are now shunning everything Iranian -- from fruit to sugary drinks.
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| Uniqlo's robots have already replaced 90% of its human workers at its flagship warehouse, now they've cracked the difficult task of folding T-shirts Posted: 24 Dec 2019 03:07 AM PST  Uniqlo's parent company has partnered with a Japanese startup that develops industrial robots to create a two-armed robot.
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| Merkel Coalition Partners Stuck in Doldrums After Shift to Left Posted: 24 Dec 2019 03:13 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The new leftist leaders of Germany's Social Democrats have failed to give Angela Merkel's junior coalition partners a lift in the polls.The SPD were stuck on 13% in the final Insa survey of the year for Bild newspaper, the same as the previous week and down from 20.5% in the most recent general election in 2017. Merkel's CDU/CSU bloc gained one point to 28%, while the SPD again trailed the Greens and the far-right Alternative for Germany, stable on 21% and 15% respectively.In an attempt to revive their fortunes, the Social Democrats this month picked Norbert Walter-Borjans and Saskia Esken as co-leaders, scuppering a rival bid by Finance Minister and Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz.The new team endorsed policy demands as a condition to remain in government that would ease years of fiscal discipline under Merkel and Scholz, boost infrastructure spending, lift the minimum wage and step up efforts to tackle climate change.But the shift to the left has apparently failed to win back the voters who have abandoned the party in droves over the past decade as the Greens and AfD gained support.Insa head Hermann Binkert suggested that, as things stand, there's little point in the SPD putting forward a candidate to take over from Merkel when she finishes her term in 2021 -- if her government survives that long.\--With assistance from Chris Reiter.To contact the reporter on this story: Iain Rogers in Berlin at irogers11@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Andrew Blackman, Raymond ColittFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| President Trump says he hasn’t ‘thought’ about Roger Stone pardon Posted: 24 Dec 2019 12:01 PM PST  Roger Stone was convicted in November of lying to Congress to protect the president.
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| Three members of British family die 'after drowning in swimming pool' at their Spanish hotel Posted: 24 Dec 2019 10:43 AM PST  Three members of the same British family have died at a hotel in the Costa Del Sol, according to reports. It is understood a nine-year-old girl got into difficulties in a swimming pool at Club La Costa World and her older brother and their father jumped into the water to save her. Police divers have been inspecting the pool's pump amid fears that it may have played a role in the incident. Well-placed sources described the girl and her father as British and 53-years-old but said the boy, a 16-year-old, was travelling on an American passport. The children's mother is understood to have been one of the people who raised the alarm and is thought to have been interviewed by investigators. A Foreign Office spokesperson said: "We are offering assistance to a British woman following an incident in Spain." The sprawling holiday resort overlooks the Mediterranean and is just a short drive from Fuengirola. One insider close to the ongoing probe said: "The girl's brother and then the father jumped into the water when they saw she was in difficulties. All three have died. "An investigation is ongoing so it is too early to say what has happened but specialist Civil Guard divers were mobilised after the gravity of what had occurred became apparent and one of the things they have looked at is the pool pump." Tanya Aamer, 23, a holidaymaker from Birmingham who is staying at the resort, told the PA news agency she saw "bodies covered in white sheets" by the side of the pool, and could hear "a woman crying aloud". "The atmosphere as I was walking past is indescribable," Ms Aamer said. "Obviously we've never been in that situation before so we just began walking slowly in a slight state of confusion as to what we're witnessing and eventually when we got to the bottom it was just silent, no talking or anything." A statement from resort operator Club La Costa World said: "Management at Club La Costa World resort would like to offer its heartfelt condolences to the family affected by the loss of three family members on 24th December 2019. "The guests were found unresponsive in one of the resort's pools. First response teams and emergency services attended and administered first aid. "The management are assisting the authorities fully with their investigation into the deaths. "We would like to thank our first response team and the emergency services for their quick and appropriate responses, and our staff for the continuing support of the family at this difficult time." The resort where the three deaths occurred is the same one where a nine-year-old British girl died in February after suffering a severe allergic reaction to an ice-cream. Habiba Chishti, from Halifax, was staying with her family at the resort and went into anaphylactic shock there although she had eaten her treat at a nearby shopping centre. An inquest held at Halifax Town Hall in May heard she was allergic to eggs and nuts with local reports at the time saying it was believed it was the sauce on the ice-cream that contained the ingredients that killed her. The bodies of the three family members have been transferred to the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Malaga. Post-mortem examinations are expected to take place on Wednesday.
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| Elizabeth Warren once held campaign event at restaurant with 'wine vault' Posted: 24 Dec 2019 09:49 AM PST  Is a good old fashioned winery no longer good enough for people these days?Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has been a vocal critic of big money donors and fundraising in campaigns, calling out South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg for attending a fundraiser at a "wine cave." But Warren herself has a troubled past when it comes to drinking wine in elaborate places.While running for U.S. Senate, Warren reportedly held an event at a restaurant boasting a "wine vault," per The Washington Post. The restaurant also featured wine reaching the price of $3,800 a bottle.Warren went after Buttigieg in the last Democratic debate, saying the next president shouldn't be chosen by billionaires in wine caves (although she said nothing of billionaires in wine vaults). Warren's own wine-centric event took place in October 2017, per the Post, and had a $1,000 per-attendee price tag. Warren, for her part, has acknowledged she used to have a big donor program but now thinks there is a "better" way to do things.The Post's revelation does provide some good fodder for the next Democratic primary debate, though. Which came first: the wine cave or the wine vault?More stories from theweek.com How a 'legislative terrorist' conquered the Republican Party Queen Elizabeth acknowledges 2019 was a 'bumpy' year Bernie Sanders and the socialist Christmas spirit
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| American newlyweds are 'progressing' from volcano burns Posted: 23 Dec 2019 08:23 PM PST  The families of American newlyweds who were badly injured during a volcanic eruption in New Zealand said Tuesday the two are progressing as well as could be hoped for given the extent of their injuries. The couple, Lauren Urey, 32, and Matt Urey, 36, from Richmond, Virginia, remain hospitalized in New Zealand. Police Superintendent Andy McGregor said extensive shoreline and aerial searches had not turned up anything new.
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| Hong Kong police fire tear gas to break up Christmas Eve protest chaos Posted: 23 Dec 2019 07:35 PM PST  Hong Kong riot police fired rounds of tear gas at thousands of protesters, many wearing masks and reindeer horns, after scuffles in shopping malls and in a prime tourist district as pro-democracy rallies escalated into Christmas Eve chaos. Protesters inside the malls threw umbrellas and other objects at police who responded by beating some demonstrators with batons, with one pointing his gun at the crowd, but not firing. Some demonstrators occupied the main roads and blocked traffic outside the malls and nearby luxury hotels in the Tsim Sha Tsui tourist district of Kowloon.
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| British teen who died on school trip to New York City named by police Posted: 24 Dec 2019 07:44 AM PST  U.S. authorities have named the British schoolgirl who died last week on a trip to New York City. The New York Police Department identified the 17-year-old student as Anastasia Uglow, according to Bristol Live.
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| Study Finds Immigration Will Shift Electoral College in Favor of Democrats Posted: 23 Dec 2019 09:15 PM PST  As the 2020 census approaches, the Center for Immigration Studies conducted the study to predict what the Electoral College map will look like after the counting is done.
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| Christians are being persecuted around the globe. That's the real war on Christmas. Posted: 24 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST  The next time you get offended when someone wishes you "happy holidays," remember those who won't get to celebrate those holidays at all.
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| Dems Fear They Wasted Their Best Shot on Impeachment Posted: 22 Dec 2019 06:02 PM PST  It's the day after Adam Schiff made one last speech on the floor of the House of Representatives arguing that Donald Trump must be impeached. The California Democrat was back at work, headed to the secure room underneath the U.S. Capitol where, over the course of the last three months, his House Intelligence Committee conducted its impeachment investigation.The inquiry shaped charges that Trump abused his power by pressuring Ukraine to do him political favors and obstructed Congress' investigation into the alleged abuse—leading to a vote last Wednesday that sealed Trump's place in history as the third U.S. president to be impeached. But as Democrats were finalizing the case to have Trump removed from office, Rudy Giuliani, the president's personal attorney and the man at the center of the Ukraine investigation, gave an interview to the New Yorker in which he admitted he wanted the former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, "out of the way" because she was going to "make the investigations difficult for everybody."The interview came a week after Giuliani returned from a trip to Ukraine, of which the president told reporters that Giuliani gathered "a lot of good information" and would present a report of his findings to Congress and the Department of Justice.Trump Tells Rally He's 'Not Worried' About Impeachment, Privately Plots VengeanceThese developments have weighed on Schiff and fellow House Democrats. As he descended the staircase to his committee's room—accompanied in that moment not by the usual pack of reporters but only by an aide and a Capitol policeman—this Daily Beast reporter asked the chairman of the Intelligence Committee how his party might navigate this situation. "I am not sure that I have a complete answer for you," answered Schiff. "Because, given the continuing nature of his violations of his oath, we have to expect that's not going to stop. I would hope that the accountability of the impeachment might provide a guardrail, but it could also have the effect of emboldening him.""We'll continue to do our oversight work," Schiff continued. "That's all we can do. And if there's additional wrongdoing, exposing it—that's all we can do."With the Ukraine inquiry complete and the ink dry on their 300-page report on the matter, Democrats find themselves in a complicated position heading into next year. They will retain the oversight power that helped them uncover the scandal in the first place, but they'll have already exhausted the most powerful available response to what they found—impeachment—and it will almost certainly not result in Trump's removal. The Republican-controlled Senate is expected acquit Trump on both charges during a trial that will likely take place next year.House Democrats Plan an Impeachment BlitzAsked how they could meet this challenge, several of the dozen House Democrats who spoke to The Daily Beast for this story gave a similar answer to Schiff: Democrats could only continue investigating—and hope it works out."If the president engages in serious misconduct, we have to make a decision about what is the best way to move forward," said Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), a member of the Judiciary Committee and the first member of House Democratic leadership to back impeachment. "This is the position we're in. There's no good outcome other than to continue to call it out, continue to make sure the American people know about it."Looking ahead, House Democrats see no shortage of avenues for investigation. They plan, for example, to keep tracking the sprawling and apparently ongoing Ukraine saga, no matter what happens next."Rudy Giuliani is running around, trading and bartering, probably, national assets in favor of interference in our election," said Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), an Intelligence Committee member. "That story has to be told. We need to understand, even if it's only sort of in the rearview mirror, so that it never happens again."Some lawmakers said that the past year of revelations about the Trump administration was so overwhelming and damaging that Democrats should spend the next year simply surveying the wreckage and figuring out how to rebuild. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY) said one of his priorities is "immediate oversight of the Justice Department and the State Department… to see how much damage has been done to those departments, how much credibility they've lost, how much our international diplomatic effort has been damaged, whether there's still any morale in the FBI."These Dems Say They're Ready to Risk Their Jobs to ImpeachIn particular, there's a lot of appetite among Democrats for stepped-up scrutiny on Attorney General Bill Barr, who has declined to testify in front of House Democrats about Robert Mueller's investigation, or about his considerable role in the Ukraine effort. Some Democrats believe a key part of any post-impeachment oversight should be to ratchet up the pressure on figures like Barr and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Yarmuth said his hope is this strategy "would alert the American people to the damage that's being done and then hopefully there's going to be pressure on them to correct it."That the 2020 election looms less than a year away creates some challenges for Democrats' investigations. For one, many of them believe that Trump is still actively trying to use his power to influence his re-election contest. "We've got to be very vigilant of continued abuses of office," said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), "violations in, particularly, the integrity of the 2020 election."Democratic lawmakers generally agreed that the goal of their investigations should be to surface relevant information to the public ahead of that election, with the hope that the American people might do what Congress could not: decide that Trump is unfit for office."I wouldn't rule out the possibility that sometime between tomorrow and November of 2020 there's going to be yet more outrageous behavior exposed," said Himes. "This is the story of the Trump presidency. I mean, every week there are new stories of the president's immoral qualities… In all likelihood, what matters between now and November of 2020 is the popular sentiment."Some Democrats noted that there is technically no double jeopardy for impeachment—in other words, that power could be used again to bring the same or different charges against Trump. But there is virtually no appetite to go there again, unless there are seismic revelations about the president that could shake the ironclad GOP support for him."If the president were to do something that in a bipartisan fashion people believe is impeachable then the Constitution doesn't say you're limited," said Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who said he hoped that his GOP colleagues would not simply support the president no matter what. "I'd like to think that, collectively, we still have a system that can prevent tragedies or miscalculations that have unspeakable consequences."Other lawmakers noted they could get a bit of help on this front from the courts, which are weighing several cases that could ultimately produce possibly explosive new information about the president. Decisions from federal judges could come soon, for example, on whether Trump's former lawyer Don McGahn must testify in front of lawmakers, and on whether lawmakers will get access to additional materials Mueller collected in his investigation. Later in the year, the Supreme Court is poised to issue a hugely significant ruling on whether or not the president's accounting firm is obligated to release his personal tax and financial records to investigators on Capitol Hill and New York federal prosecutors."We have an ongoing responsibility," said Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA), "to continue to follow the investigations that he wholeheartedly, whole-cloth, has blocked. The courts are going to continue to see the obstruction, and the correctness of our cause, and our right to investigate."But looking at how the Ukraine allegations developed—on a call between Trump and Volodymyr Zelensky that took place the day after Mueller testified—many Democrats can't escape the idea another scandal could come from out of nowhere.Schiff, who on Thursday seemed uncertain whether impeachment would ultimately deter or embolden Trump, did venture one prediction. "I don't think he's gonna feel vindicated," he said. "But I also don't think he's gonna change his ways."Asked if that put Democrats in a tough position, Schiff—before disappearing into the committee's compound—answered: "It puts the country in a tough position."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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| A 22-year-old was convicted after trying to blackmail Apple for $100,000 of iTunes cards Posted: 23 Dec 2019 03:48 AM PST  In 2017 Kerem Albayrak claimed he would publish the account details of 319 million iCloud accounts if his ransom demands weren't met.
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| Mozambique’s Top Court Rules Misconduct Didn’t Impact Election Posted: 23 Dec 2019 04:22 AM PST ![Mozambique's Top Court Rules Misconduct Didn't Impact Election]( "Mozambique's Top Court Rules Misconduct Didn't Impact Election") (Bloomberg) -- Sign up to our Next Africa newsletter and follow Bloomberg Africa on TwitterMozambique's Constitutional Council, the southeast African nation's top court, ruled on Monday that irregularities in the Oct. 15 general election didn't substantially impact the outcome.The council validated the election results, which the main opposition party had unsuccessfully tried to overturn in a legal challenge, declaring President Filipe Nyusi elected for a second term, Lúcia Ribeiro, the top judge, said in a speech in Maputo, the capital.Nyusi won 73% of the vote, compared with rival Ossufo Momade's 22%. The leader of the opposition Mozambique National Resistance party had rejected the results as a "mega-fraud." A splinter group of the party has also threatened violence if Nyusi is inaugurated, as planned, on Jan. 15.\--With assistance from Matthew Hill.To contact the reporter on this story: Borges Nhamire in Maputo at bnhamire@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Gordon Bell at gbell16@bloomberg.net, Jacqueline Mackenzie, Chris KayFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Syrian group: Israeli strike kills 3, most likely Iranians Posted: 23 Dec 2019 04:29 AM PST ![Syrian group: Israeli strike kills 3, most likely Iranians]( "Syrian group: Israeli strike kills 3, most likely Iranians") A Syrian war monitoring group said Monday that an Israeli missile strike overnight near the capital of Damascus killed at least three foreigners, who were most likely Iranians. The top Syrian diplomat accused Israel of carrying out missile "aggression" on Damascus and its suburbs. There was no immediate comment from Israel.
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| New Boeing 737 MAX documents show 'very disturbing' employee concerns: U.S. House aide Posted: 24 Dec 2019 09:56 AM PST  Boeing Co documents under review by a U.S. congressional panel appear to point to a "very disturbing" picture of commentary from the planemaker's employees over the grounded 737 MAX aircraft, a congressional aide said on Tuesday. The documents were submitted to the House of Representatives transportation infrastructure committee and the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday, the same day Boeing announced the firing of chief executive Dennis Muilenburg amid a crisis over the handling of the aftermath of two fatal crashes. The best-selling 737 MAX has been grounded since March.
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| 6 more horses found shot and killed in Kentucky after gruesome discovery last week Posted: 23 Dec 2019 08:58 AM PST  A Kentucky animal rescue group said the horses were killed during the same shooting that killed at least 15 other horses along U.S. 23.
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| Could Russia's S-500 Air Defense System Be A Real F-35 'Silver Bullet'? Posted: 23 Dec 2019 03:13 AM PST  It was recently tested in Syria.
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| US national security adviser warns UK about China's Huawei: 'They are just going to steal wholesale state secrets' Posted: 24 Dec 2019 08:04 AM PST  The US has urged Britain not to allow China's Huawei into its 5G telecommunications networks, claiming it would "steal wholesale state secrets".Robert O'Brien, the US national security adviser, said the the presence of the telecoms giant would represent a direct threat to Britain's domestic and foreign intelligence agencies – MI5 and M16.
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| Saudis sentence 5 people to death for Khashoggi's killing Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:54 AM PST  A court in Saudi Arabia sentenced five people to death Monday for the killing of Washington Post columnist and royal family critic Jamal Khashoggi, whose grisly slaying in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul drew international condemnation and cast a cloud of suspicion over Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Three other people were found guilty by Riyadh's criminal court of covering up the crime and were sentenced to a combined 24 years in prison, according to a statement read by the Saudi attorney general's office on state TV. In all, 11 people were put on trial in Saudi Arabia over the killing.
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| Trump Admin Fights Bill Punishing Turkey for Its Russian Deal Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:56 AM PST  In a detailed memo to senators, the Trump administration is fighting a bill that would punish Turkey for buying Russian missiles, arguing it would drive the countries closer together. Of note, Team Trump opposes a provision in the bill that would help Syrian Kurdish refugees immigrate to the United States. The case is laid out in a seven-page document obtained by The Daily Beast. The memo was sent by the State Department to Capitol Hill ahead of the Senate mark-up of a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Bob Menendez (D-NJ) titled "Promoting American National Security and Preventing the Resurgence of ISIS Act." That legislation, which passed out of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee despite Team Trump's opposition, would sanction Turkey for buying Russian surface-to-air missiles and would bar the U.S. from selling Turkey F-16 or F-35 fighter jets, including parts, until the country has fully abandoned the S-400 missile defense system it purchased from Russia. Aykan Erdemir of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies argued that the administration's opposition to the bill is useful for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan."This would definitely encourage Erdogan to continue his transgressions," Erdemir said. Are Impeachment Hearings Focused on the Wrong Country?The bill to punish Turkey comes in the wake of a sanctions package that passed after Russia interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections. The "Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act" (CAATSA) mandated sanctions on countries that make major new purchases of Russian weapons. But despite the fact that Turkey's deal with Russia fits the bill, the administration hasn't imposed sanctions—enraging members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. Aaron Stein of the Foreign Policy Research Institute said the document sheds new light on the Trump administration's opposition to the Hill's sanctions. "It's in far more detail than we've ever gotten," Stein said. "They are legitimate criticisms of the bill, but the bill is probably going to happen because Donald Trump won't take the deal. The art of the deal, the master of the deal is an effing moron. The thing to do is impose CAATSA and make this go away. It's just that simple." In the seven-page description of the Trump administration's views—published below—the administration detailed a host of problems with the legislation. The administration argued that the legislation would "effectively terminate U.S.-Turkey defense trade," which would increase Turkey's reliance on Russia or "other adversary arms providers" for weapons. The bill would also "treat Turkey as a pariah in NATO, feeding a narrative that the Russian Federation would likely seek to amplify and exploit." A State Department spokesperson said the U.S. government wants to keep the NATO relationship strong."NATO is stronger with Turkey as a member, and has been for nearly 70 years," the spokesperson said. "Turkey has been a significant contributor to NATO collective security for decades. One of Russia's key strategic goals is to drive a wedge between NATO members; we are working to maintain strong cooperation within the Alliance. We remain deeply concerned with Turkey's acquisition of the Russian S-400 missile system, and stress the S-400 and F-35 cannot coexist. We will continue to urge Turkey to ensure its defense investments adhere to the commitment all Allies made to pursue NATO interoperability."The document also said the administration "opposes" a provision of the bill that would help Kurdish allies come to the U.S. as refugees more quickly. "The President has been clear on this Administration's approach to refugees as reflected in the National Security Strategy of the United States," the document says. The State Department document also raises concerns about a provision of the bill that would give Kurds access to Special Immigrant Visas—normally used to authorize travel to the U.S. for Iraqi and Afghan translators who faced retaliation because they helped American soldiers. According to the letter, the nine-month processing time for those visas is too short "to accommodate vital national security screening." Kurdish fighters under the banner of the Syrian Democratic Forces—which Turkey considers a terrorist group—fought side-by-side with U.S. special operations forces against ISIS in Syria and helped retake vast swaths of the country from the jihadist caliphate, including its former capital in Raqqa. But in October, Turkish forces invaded SDF-held territory in northern Syria after Trump pulled U.S. troops away from that part of the country. Human rights groups alleged that Turkish troops and allied Syrian militias committed war crimes against Kurdish civilians, leaving lawmakers furious. The Senate bill also includes sanctions against Halkbank, a Turkish bank accused of participating in a multi-billion-dollar sanctions-evasion operation on behalf of the Iranian government. Though the Trump administration already has the authority to level sanctions against Halkbank, it hasn't done so—perplexing many observers of Trump's Iran policy. The Justice Department, however, has charged Halkbank with helping Iran illegally access billions of dollars. And the chief of the DOJ's National Security Division, John Demers, called it "one of the most serious Iran sanctions violations we have seen." In just about every other instance, the Trump administration has taken an aggressive approach to enforcing Iran sanctions and targeting Tehran. The administration even declared Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to be a terrorist group earlier this year, which fed into acute tensions simmering in the Gulf. So the administration's reticence on Halkbank is striking. Inside Trump's Brewing Turkey Scandal, Starring Rudy GiulianiThe president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani has done legal work for Reza Zarrab, a gold trader who pleaded guilty to participating in the sanctions-dodging scheme that allegedly involved Halkbank. Giuliani worked hard to keep Zarrab from having to make that plea; he reportedly pushed the Trump administration to send Zarrab back to Turkey as part of a prisoner swap. The bid failed, and Zarrab's testimony about the sanctions-evasion scheme proved valuable to prosecutors.The Trump administration's comments to Congress only gave boilerplate language opposing Congressional sanctions on the controversial bank. "[T]he sanctions on Halkbank are unnecessary because the Department of Treasury already possesses the authority to designate Halkbank, if appropriate," the document said. "Purporting to require the President to impose sanctions on Halkbank, constrains the President's authority to conduct foreign relations." Erdemir, who helms the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' program on Turkey, said the administration's opposition to mandated sanctions on Halkbank sends a message that would please Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. "This is not just Erdogan and this one bank," he said. "Overall, this would undermine U.S. sanctions because other entities and other governments would say, 'OK, if Erdogan and Turkey and Halkbank can enjoy some level of impunity, maybe we can too.'" Overall, the document reflects the administration's accommodative attitude toward Turkey. "They bet on Trump," Stein said of the Erdogan government. "Their bet is paying off in the short term."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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| Malaysia Lacking Foreign Help in Hunt for Jho Low, Kini Reports Posted: 22 Dec 2019 08:41 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Malaysia's police are having trouble getting their foreign counterparts to help in the search for Jho Low, the alleged mastermind behind the 1MDB scandal, Malaysiakini reported.Inspector-General Abdul Hamid Bador said other countries lacked the sincerity to cooperate, and were even denying Low's presence in their jurisdictions despite Malaysian intelligence indicating otherwise, the local newspaper reported. The police are maintaining their promise to bring back the fugitive financier by year-end.Bringing in Jho Low to face criminal charges in Malaysia would be a major step in the country's renewed investigation into troubled state fund 1MDB, which saw more than $4.5 billion allegedly misappropriated.The police have declined to say where they suspect Low to be located or from which authorities they're seeking cooperation, while ruling out the U.S. and the United Arab Emirates. In September, Abdul Hamid said the financier was in a jurisdiction with which Malaysia has an extradition treaty, and that he was in talks with a party they suspect of protecting him.Low recently struck a deal with the U.S. Justice Department to return almost $1 billion of assets to resolve forfeiture cases linked to him. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.To contact the reporter on this story: Anisah Shukry in Kuala Lumpur at ashukry2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Yudith Ho, Rieka RahadianaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Two strong quakes shake central Colombia, no damage reported Posted: 24 Dec 2019 11:34 AM PST  Two strong earthquakes, of magnitude 6.2 and magnitude 5.7, struck central Colombia on Tuesday, the Colombian Geological Service said, but there were no immediate reports of any injuries or major damage. The epicenters were located about 150 km (93 miles) south of the capital Bogota in the central province of Meta, and were very shallow, which would have amplified their effects.
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| World's tallest geyser breaks eruption record, stunning Yellowstone visitors, scientists Posted: 24 Dec 2019 03:39 PM PST  Steamboat Geyser in Yellowstone National Park blew past its yearly eruption record in 2019, shooting up water 47 times, indicating an active period.
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| Beware, Russia and China: The U.S. Military Is Testing a New Ballistic Missile Posted: 22 Dec 2019 11:53 PM PST  The Pentagon fired-off a new prototype conventionally-configured, ground-launched ballistic missile as part of a broader effort to increase medium-range attack options and further fortify deterrence efforts.
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| A desperate kangaroo snuck into a family's pool in order to escape the bushfires raging through Australia Posted: 23 Dec 2019 10:37 PM PST  The video is a stark reminder of the intensifying bushfires currently razing through Australia's nature reserves and residential areas.
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| Newspaper publishes secret report on former W.Va. bishop Posted: 24 Dec 2019 10:04 AM PST ![Newspaper publishes secret report on former W.Va. bishop]( "Newspaper publishes secret report on former W.Va. bishop") A newspaper has published a secret church report about a former West Virginia bishop ousted for alleged sexual and financial misconduct that details how he allegedly groomed and inappropriately touched young men. The Washington Post reports law enforcement does not have a copy of the report, which officials said could aid in their investigation into former bishop Michael Bransfield. Bransfield is also accused of spending church funds on dining out, liquor, personal travel and luxury items, as well as personal gifts to fellow bishops and cardinals in the U.S. and Vatican.
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| California Sees Lowest Population Growth in Over a Century as Citizens Migrate to Other States Posted: 23 Dec 2019 11:57 AM PST  In recent months, California recorded its lowest level of population growth in over a century, according to data from the state's Department of Finance.The data showed a 0.35% growth rate in the state's population from July 1, 2018 through July 1, 2019. That rate is even lower than the 0.57% growth rate recorded for the same period from 2017 to 2018, the two lowest growth rates in the state since 1900.Moreover, while growth from birth rates and legal immigration continue to swell the population, citizens are leaving the state in large numbers for other parts of the U.S."This [is] the first time since the 2010 Census that California had more people leaving the state than moving in from abroad or other states," the report read. Negative domestic migration and lower birthrates together contributed to the slow population growth. One of the most prominent factors pushing people out of the state is the high price of housing."For some years after the Great Recession housing crunch, California was losing domestic migrants — but not as much as it could have," said William Frey, a senior demographer at the Brookings Institution, in comments to the Los Angeles Times. "Now that's starting to push up again." Frey added that residents are mostly settling in Western states including Oregon, Nevada, Texas, and Arizona, seeking a lower cost of living and in some cases the absence of an income tax."The outmigration is in places where housing prices are high and therefore immigration is not being able to counter that," Frey said. California has "lost its luster a little bit…it's kind of a stunner to see that California is losing migrants. The land of dreams and the gold rush and all that, now turned the other direction."A study by the Times and UC Berkeley released in November revealed that over half of registered voters in California are considering leaving the state. Around 40 percent of those considering moving are conservative, while only 14 percent are liberal.California is struggling with a burgeoning homeless population, with over 60,000 homeless in Los Angeles county alone. In October the state saw a string of wildfires that forced utility company PG&E to institute preemptive blackouts to around two million customers, to avoid sparking fires from power lines.
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| 2-hour flight turned into a 36-hour ordeal with detour and unscheduled stop Posted: 23 Dec 2019 08:37 AM PST  What was supposed to be a two-hour domestic flight turned into a nightmare, 36-hour international journey for Air Canada passengers.
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| Trump invites disgraced Navy SEAL who posed with a dead ISIS captive he was accused of murdering to Mar-a-Lago Posted: 23 Dec 2019 07:20 AM PST  Gallagher was acquitted in July of murdering a teenage ISIS captive in Iraq in 2017, but convicted of posing for a photo with the captive's dead body.
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| Violence flares in north Afghanistan as forces ready for deadly winter Posted: 24 Dec 2019 06:18 AM PST  At least seven Afghan soldiers were killed when the Taliban attacked their base Tuesday, the latest brazen assault in Afghanistan's north, where local and international forces are bracing for violent months ahead. Winter once marked a slowdown in the so-called "fighting season", with Taliban fighters returning to their villages because snow and ice made attacks more difficult to pull off. In Tuesday's incident, a joint military base in the Dawlat Abad district of Balkh province near the Uzbekistan border was attacked, the Afghan defence ministry said.
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| Venezuela arrests 11 after weekend raid of military outpost: Maduro Posted: 23 Dec 2019 04:29 PM PST  Venezuela has arrested 11 people in connection with a weekend raid of a remote military outpost in southern Bolivar state, but some suspects have fled across the border to Brazil with stolen weapons, President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday. Authorities have accused Brazil, Colombia and Peru - all adversaries of socialist Maduro who recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as the rightful president - of complicity with the attack, in which one Venezuelan soldier was killed.
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| Russia Wants "A Sixth-Generation Strategic Bomber" By 2040 Posted: 24 Dec 2019 05:39 AM PST  Moscow talks big, but will it actually come to pass?
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| Bolsonaro Discharged From Hospital After Losing Memory in Fall Posted: 24 Dec 2019 03:06 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was discharged from a hospital Tuesday after recovering from a fall at the presidential palace that affected his memory.Bolsonaro, 64, had a quiet night and left the Armed Forces Hospital in Brasilia following about ten hours under observation, according to a statement from the presidency.The president temporarily lost his memory after the fall but later recovered it, he said in a televised interview to Band TV on Tuesday."I didn't know, for instance, what I had done during the day yesterday," Bolsonaro said. "I fell on my back. I slipped forward and fell on my back. I lost my memory, but thank God, everything is in peace."The president was rushed to the hospital shortly after 9 p.m. local time on Monday after falling in the bathroom of the presidential palace. No lesions were found during a brain scan and doctors recommended he rest at home following his release, according to the presidency.Bolsonaro was elected last year. He has been hospitalized several times since being stabbed on the campaign trail in September 2018, mostly related to the attack. Doctors ruled out skin cancer after Bolsonaro underwent a dermatological medical evaluation earlier this month.(Updates with Bolsonaro's comments in third, fourth paragraphs.)\--With assistance from Maria Luiza Rabello.To contact the reporters on this story: Sabrina Valle in Rio de Janeiro at svalle@bloomberg.net;Martha Beck in Brasilia at mbeck96@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Walter Brandimarte at wbrandimarte@bloomberg.net, Jose OrozcoFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Ex-sheriff's lieutenant gets life terms for child sex abuse Posted: 23 Dec 2019 08:16 AM PST ![Ex-sheriff's lieutenant gets life terms for child sex abuse]( "Ex-sheriff's lieutenant gets life terms for child sex abuse") A former southwest Missouri sheriff's lieutenant has been sentenced to six consecutive life terms for sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl. Greene County Judge David Jones said during sentencing Friday that he hopes 68-year-old David Hastings never leaves prison, the Springfield News-Leader reported. Assistant Greene County Prosecutor Stephanie Wan said Hastings groomed the victim before sexually abusing her for more than a year.
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| China Surpasses the U.S. in Wealth of Top 10% Posted: 24 Dec 2019 10:31 AM PST ![China Surpasses the U.S. in Wealth of Top 10%]( "China Surpasses the U.S. in Wealth of Top 10%") Despite an economic slowdown and facing increased tariffs from a trade war with the United States, China has surpassed America in having the highest number of residents in the top 10% of the world's wealth. "However, inequality has risen considerably since the year 2000," say the authors of the 10th edition of the Credit Suisse wealth report.
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| Ben Carson calls reparations for slavery "unworkable" Posted: 23 Dec 2019 01:20 AM PST  In an interview, the Housing and Urban Development Secretary spoke out about the impeachment of President Trump and the concept of reparations for slavery.
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| US considers pulling troops from West Africa: report Posted: 24 Dec 2019 07:46 AM PST  The Pentagon is looking into reducing or even withdrawing US troops from West Africa, part of a worldwide redeployment of military forces, the New York Times reported Tuesday. There are between 6,000 and 7,000 US troops in Africa, mainly in West Africa but also in places like Somalia. The US presence includes military trainers as well as a recently built $110 million drone base in Niger, the Times said.
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| Eleven dead, 300 treated after drinking coconut wine in Philippines Posted: 22 Dec 2019 06:26 PM PST  At least 11 people have been killed and more than 300 treated in hospital after drinking coconut wine in the Philippines, including some who were celebrating at a Christmas party, health and local authorities said on Monday. Many were admitted to hospitals on the urging of mayor Vener Munoz in Rizal, Laguna, where the deaths occurred between Thursday and Sunday. The coconut wine that was consumed had been made in his town, he added.
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