| Republican senator 'disturbed' by McConnell's work with White House on impeachment trial Posted: 25 Dec 2019 09:57 AM PST  Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski said she was "disturbed" by the Senate leader's approach to working with White House counsel on the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, saying there should be distance between the two. The comments by the Alaska lawmaker come after Mitch McConnell, majority leader of the Republican-led Senate, said during a Fox News interview earlier this month that he was working in "total coordination" with the White House on the upcoming trial. "To me it means that we have to take that step back from being hand-in-glove with the defense," Murkowski said in comments aired late on Tuesday during an interview with Alaska-based NBC news affiliate KTUU-TV.
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| Woman facing hate-crime charge used SUV to strike boy before hitting Latina teen, police say Posted: 24 Dec 2019 10:51 AM PST  Nicole Marie Poole Franklin is also charged with a hate crime for calling people at a gas station racial slurs the same night as the hit-and-runs.
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| 9 Buildings That Prove Sustainable Architecture and High Design Are a Perfect Pair Posted: 25 Dec 2019 05:00 AM PST |
| Behind the barricades: Hong Kong protesters share what happened during the violent clashes with police on university campuses Posted: 23 Dec 2019 09:25 PM PST  How the protests at Chinese University and Polytechnic University in Hong Kong played out, as told to Insider by protesters involved in the clashes.
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| ‘Kentucky horse killer’ hunted by police as six more bodies found after massacre Posted: 24 Dec 2019 05:29 AM PST  Six more horses have been found fatally shot in Kentucky, according to authorities, as the search continues for the person or people responsible for the massacre.Dumas Rescue, a local animal rescue group, has offered a $20,000 (£15,450) reward for information on the shootings as the total number of dead horses has risen to 20.
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| Japan Ruling Party Lawmaker Arrested in Casino Bribery Scandal Posted: 24 Dec 2019 09:34 PM PST ![Japan Ruling Party Lawmaker Arrested in Casino Bribery Scandal]( "Japan Ruling Party Lawmaker Arrested in Casino Bribery Scandal") (Bloomberg) -- Tokyo prosecutors arrested a ruling party lawmaker on suspicion of receiving bribes from a Chinese company seeking to invest in the casino industry, dealing a blow to already unpopular plans to open the country to the gaming industry.Liberal Democratic Party politician Tsukasa Akimoto, who had served as a vice minister in charge of promoting the establishment of casinos in the country, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of receiving payoffs of about 3.7 million yen ($34,000), the Tokyo Public Prosecutor's office said. The bribes included cash, plane tickets and hotel rooms, it said in a statement.The company was not named in the indictment and prosecutors didn't indicate what he did in return for the bribes. Three others who were related to the company were also arrested, prosecutors said.The Chinese firm suspected of paying the bribes runs online casinos and is headquartered in the southern city of Shenzhen, according to Kyodo News of Japan. It's also suspected of smuggling several million yen in cash into Japan without declaring it to customs, according to the report.Akimoto became the first sitting lawmaker to be arrested in about a decade, according to Kyodo."I was not involved in any wrongdoing," Akimoto said on his Twitter feed before the arrest.The nation legalized casino gambling in 2016 to great excitement in the industry, where many have long tried to get a foot in the door in a potential $20 billion gaming market. Companies including MGM Resorts International and Las Vegas Sands Corp. have spent heavily to get access to a gaming market that could become Asia's second-largest after Macau.Gambling Prize Worth $20 Billion Is Losing Its Luster in JapanThree years later, some of that enthusiasm is wearing off. A number of casino executives, who declined to speak publicly because of the sensitive nature of the casino approval process, told Bloomberg News that the procedure in Japan has been more difficult compared with other markets that have built gaming industries. At least one company, Caesars Entertainment Corp., has pulled out.Japan's law allows for the establishment of three casino resorts, and Osaka, Yokohama and Tokyo are among the local governments seeking to attract a casino or considering doing so, according to the country's tourism authority. Opinion polls show that the public opposes the idea.(Updates with statement from prosecutors)\--With assistance from Lisa Du, Isabel Reynolds and Takashi Hirokawa.To contact the reporters on this story: Jon Herskovitz in Tokyo at jherskovitz@bloomberg.net;Emi Nobuhiro in Tokyo at enobuhiro@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Kazunori Takada, Kana NishizawaFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Democratic Groups Plot to Make Impeachment Trial Painful for GOP Posted: 24 Dec 2019 12:23 PM PST  Convict Trump—or else. That's the message liberal advocacy groups are trying to send to Republican senators in hopes of pressuring them to vote for President Trump's removal from office, or at least maximizing the political pain for them if they don't.One such group, Stand Up America, is bankrolling a new $300,000 digital campaign targeting a dozen GOP senators as the impeachment trial draws nearer. The liberal political nonprofit, which has been organizing to support impeachment and other initiatives to counter Trump, tells The Daily Beast it plans to run digital ads urging the public to call their senator; they will also launch a volunteer-driven texting campaign to drive calls and apply pressure on a few key Republicans.Dems Fear They Wasted Their Best Shot on ImpeachmentIt's part of a broader effort from the left to lean on Republican senators to break with Trump in a trial that will decide the fate of his presidency. Chances are, it won't work; so far, no Republican lawmaker has publicly indicated a willingness to vote for Trump's conviction after the House voted to impeach earlier this month. And groups aligned with the president have begun to crowd the airwaves with anti-impeachment messages targeting moderate Democrats."Hope springs eternal," said Jim Manley, a Democratic strategist and alumni of former Sen. Harry Reid's office. "But if I look at what happened in the House, I'm afraid we're in for a beating."But liberal groups, some of which have deep pockets and deeper volunteer networks to tap into, could at the very least make the next few weeks even more difficult for a few Republicans. Stand Up America is putting a special focus on GOP senators facing competitive re-election races in 2020—such as Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa and Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado—or those who have indicated possible support for impeachment, like Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.The broader pool of senators targeted by Stand Up America includes Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is both up for re-election in 2020 and is considered a possible vote to convict Trump, and Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a moderate who is retiring at the end of next year. The announcement of this opening salvo comes as Democrats emerge from a House impeachment vote largely unified but politically battered after GOP groups dumped millions of dollars on ad campaigns targeting vulnerable Democrats for their support of impeaching Trump.There was some grumbling that liberal outside groups did not provide enough air cover for the dozens of Democratic lawmakers representing Trump-won districts for whom impeachment was a politically difficult vote. But the dynamics are far different in the GOP-controlled Senate, where Democrats see an opportunity to finally go on the offensive.A second advocacy group, backed by the billionaire presidential candidate Tom Steyer, has indicated it will spend whatever it takes to mount a successful pressure campaign on GOP senators. Steyer's group, Need to Impeach, laid down $350,000 for a cable TV ad campaign last week and has committed to spending $1 million heading into the trial. Steyer has already spent $3.5 million targeting GOP senators."We've got a few million to put pressure on senators to do the right thing," said Kevin Mack, the lead political strategist at Need to Impeach. They plan to apply that pressure not just around the final vote to acquit or convict Trump, but on procedural votes that will define what the trial itself looks like. Since the House approved articles of impeachment last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has held off on formally sending them to the upper chamber while the GOP majority leader, Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and his Democratic counterpart, Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, try to negotiate ground rules for the trial. Their disagreement centers on whether or not new witnesses in the Ukraine inquiry will be called to testify. Schumer has said he will use his limited power as minority leader to force votes in the Senate on subpoenaing key figures like acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who has so far refused to testify."The American public has made it clear they want to see witnesses and get to the bottom of what happened," said Mack. "We will put pressure on individual senators who have a vote to take."Democratic veterans of Senate politics are hopeful this is a sign that their side's constellation of advocacy groups will not get put on the back foot by a deluge of GOP cash. During the House fight, liberal groups seemed outgunned at key stretches, said Manley.Outside groups, he said, should "focus on either persuading or providing as much political pain as possible to a handful of Republicans who are out there, who may or may not be persuadable."Over the course of the House inquiry, political groups connected to Trump and the GOP dumped close to $17 million on ads attacking vulnerable House Democrats on impeachment, according to The New York Times. Democrats hardly spent anything to pressure House GOP lawmakers, and instead ran ads touting the party's record on issues like health care.Ultimately, just two House Democrats voted against both articles of impeachment, and one of them, Rep. Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey, immediately switched to the GOP afterward.Political action committees associated with the GOP and Trump's re-election campaign will continue to be involved during the Senate trial. In an unexpected development, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is entering the fray to launch a new pro-Trump big money group aimed at providing air cover for GOP senators and hitting a group of moderate Democratic senators. Last week, Christie's group placed a million-dollar TV ad buy to back up senators like Collins and Gardner but also to pressure Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat facing a tough re-election battle in deep-red Alabama. Those on the pro-impeachment side say they're not fazed by that effort. "Our message is, bring it on, let's go," said Mack. "If Chris Christie wants to start running ads covering up Donald Trump's crimes, it's not going to go well in Colorado and Maine."Impeachment advocates also say they have an advantage that newly-formed PACs like Christie's do not: an established presence in the world of anti-Trump grassroots politics, which can be called upon for fundraising, organizing, and more.Stand Up America claims to have a network of 2.5 million people it will mobilize to pressure GOP senators around the impeachment trial. The group notes that it has driven more than 200,000 constituent calls demanding impeachment to Capitol Hill already.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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| Woman and two children found dead on Boston sidewalk on Christmas Day Posted: 25 Dec 2019 03:08 PM PST ![Woman and two children found dead on Boston sidewalk on Christmas Day]( "Woman and two children found dead on Boston sidewalk on Christmas Day") Boston Police Commissioner William Gross said on Wednesday detectives had few details about what happened to the three victims, whom he said were found unconscious on the pavement and pronounced "non-viable" at a local hospital.
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| Nonstop violence as Baltimore nears record homicide rate Posted: 25 Dec 2019 04:24 AM PST  Baltimore could wrap up 2019 with its highest per-capita homicide rate on record as killings of adults and minors alike for drugs, retribution, money or no clear reason continue to add up and city officials appear unable to stop the violence. With just over 600,000 residents, Baltimore's homicide rate would reach approximately 57 per 100,000 residents if the death toll reaches 342. "It's a major concern for me, not just as a hopeful man but as a citizen of Baltimore who grew up in inner city Baltimore," said Carmichael "Stokey" Cannady, a reformed drug dealer turned community activist who wants to be mayor.
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| Russia's most advanced fighter jet crashes, pilot lives Posted: 24 Dec 2019 07:09 AM PST  Russian officials say their most advanced fighter jet has crashed on a training mission but that its pilot bailed out safely.
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| A paramedic has been charged with poisoning his wife with eye drops to collect a $250,000 life insurance payout Posted: 25 Dec 2019 08:42 AM PST  Joshua Hunsucker has been charged with first-degree murder, allegedly using eye drops to cause his wife's death.
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| Trump site aims to help people argue with "snowflake" relatives Posted: 24 Dec 2019 08:01 PM PST  "We're not helping snowflakes avoid arguments. We're helping Trump supporters win them!"
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| Iran to hold joint, four-day navy drill with Russia, China Posted: 25 Dec 2019 03:11 AM PST ![Iran to hold joint, four-day navy drill with Russia, China]( "Iran to hold joint, four-day navy drill with Russia, China") Iran's armed forces will hold a joint, four-day naval exercise with Russia and China in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, a spokesman said Wednesday. Visits to Iran by Russian and Chinese naval representatives have also stepped up in recent years. Iranian military spokesman Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi said the joint maneuvers, which are aimed at promoting regional security, will extend as far as the Sea of Oman.
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| Philippine typhoon Phanfone ruins Christmas for travelers, evacuees Posted: 24 Dec 2019 11:19 PM PST  Christmas turned to chaos for many holiday observers in the central Philippines as a typhoon with strong winds and heavy rains destroyed homes, cut off power and stranded travelers, disaster officials said on Wednesday. Typhoon Phanfone, rated category 2 by Tropical Storm Risk, was packing maximum sustained winds of 120 km per hour (75 miles per hour) with gusts up to 150 kph when it made landfall in the eastern province of Samar on Tuesday, weather and disaster officials said. More than 4,000 people have been evacuated in the Eastern Visayas region of the central Philippines, disaster officials said, although no deaths have been reported.
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| You've sung about figgy pudding since childhood Christmases but do you know what it is? Posted: 24 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST  People keep clamoring for figgy pudding in Christmas songs. But what the heck is it?
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| At least 11 people have died in the Philippines after drinking coconut wine — a potent beverage about 4 times stronger than regular wine Posted: 24 Dec 2019 11:03 AM PST  Lambanog is made from distilled coconut sap and usually contains between 40% and 45% alcohol, making it much stronger than beer and regular wine.
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| ByteDance Weighs TikTok Stake Sale Over U.S. Concerns Posted: 23 Dec 2019 07:05 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- China's ByteDance Inc. created one of the country's rare global hits with the addictive video app TikTok. Now the U.S. government is threatening that success as officials in Washington warn the service presents a security threat.The Beijing-based company, led by Chief Executive Officer Yiming Zhang, is weighing a range of options to address those concerns, according to people familiar with the matter. Advisors are pitching everything from an aggressive legal defense and operational separation for TikTok to sale of a majority stake, said the people, asking not to be named because the discussions are private. Selling more than half the business could raise substantially more than $10 billion, one person said.ByteDance would prefer to maintain full control of the business if possible, given its soaring popularity and profit potential. It may argue that TikTok presents no security threat or that the U.S. has no legal standing over the business.ByteDance has considered selling a chunk of TikTok if necessary to protect the value of the business, the people said. The most likely sale scenario would be for the company to sell a majority stake to financial investors, one person said. Earlier investors include SoftBank Group Corp., Sequoia Capital and Susquehanna International Group.Talks about TikTok's future are preliminary and no formal decision has been made, the people said. A representative for the company said there have been no discussions about any partial or full sale of TikTok. "These rumors are completely meritless," the representative said.ByteDance has emerged as the world's most valuable startup on the explosive popularity of TikTok, where more than a billion, largely young, users share short clips of lip-syncing and dance videos. But with escalating tensions between China and the U.S., American politicians have warned the app represents a national security threat and urged an investigation. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., better known as CFIUS, has begun a review of ByteDance's 2017 purchase of the business that became TikTok, Bloomberg News reported in November."I remain deeply concerned that any platform or application that has Chinese ownership or direct links to China, such as TikTok, can be used as a tool by the Chinese Communist Party to extend its authoritarian censorship of information outside China's borders and amass data on millions of unsuspecting users," Senator Marco Rubio wrote in a letter to the Treasury Department, which chairs CFIUS.TikTok has said it strives to create a safe and positive online environment. "We are not influenced by any foreign government, including the Chinese government; TikTok does not operate in China, nor do we have any intention of doing so in the future," the company said in October.It's not clear whether U.S. regulators have authority in the case. CFIUS historically has reviewed foreign companies' investments in the U.S., including acquisitions, for national security concerns, but Musical.ly, the app that would become TikTok, was a Shanghai-headquartered business when ByteDance purchased it two years ago for about $800 million. ByteDance didn't seek CFIUS approval at the time, perhaps because it was a deal between two Chinese companies, even though the app had a substantial following in the U.S.ByteDance may have a legal argument that the U.S. committee doesn't have legal standing to force a divestiture, like it did in the case of the gay dating app Grindr. Beijing Kunlun Tech Co. acquired the U.S. app in January 2018, but in May CFIUS required the company to sell off the service no later than June 2020 because it could give foreigners access to sensitive data. ByteDance may also be able to argue that its data is less sensitive or that all operations and data could be quarantined in a separate U.S. subsidiary. The Trump administration broadened CFIUS' powers last year.The advantage to selling a stake quickly would be to reap profits from TikTok's success now, rather than risk a deterioration in value if the U.S. takes punitive measures. ByteDance prefers financial backers rather than strategic investors, like a music or media company, to avoid conflicts in the future, one person said.Though ByteDance has become synonymous with TikTok, its business goes well beyond the music-oriented video app. Zhang founded the business in 2012 as a laboratory for the country's leading artificial intelligence engineers to come up with innovative products. His first hit was a news app called Jinri Toutiao, or Today's Headlines, which spawned dozens of copycats from rivals.In China, Zhang is the rare entrepreneur who has kept his independence from the country's twin giants, Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. Indeed, he built a reputation for raiding China's established tech giants for talent, paying premium compensation of $1 million or more a year.Toutiao became a model for how ByteDance could generate profit, creating a mobile experience that's a cross between Google and Facebook for would-be advertisers. The startup reached a valuation of $75 billion last year, according to CB Insights.TikTok was one of the most popular apps in the world last year with 656 million installs, according to Sensor Tower. It's on track to surpass that total this year, the research firm said. The U.S. has had about 124 million downloads.In October, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas wrote to the acting director of National Intelligence, referring to TikTok as a "potential counterintelligence threat we cannot ignore." They said their concerns include the safety of data on the platform and possible foreign influence campaigns in the U.S."A company compromised by the Chinese Communist Party knows where your children are, knows what they look like, what their voices sound like, what they're watching and what they share with each other," Senator Josh Hawley said during a hearing in November. "All it takes is one knock on the door of their parent company, based in China, from a Communist Party official, for that data to be transferred to the Chinese government's hands whenever they need it."Even Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg called out TikTok, citing privacy and freedom of speech concerns after the Chinese firm allegedly scrubbed its platform of politically sensitive content, such as videos of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. TikTok, which has denied those allegations, announced in October it has formed a team that includes two former U.S. lawmakers to review its content moderation policy. It also said U.S. data is beyond the reach of China's government."We store all TikTok US user data in the United States, with backup redundancy in Singapore," it said in the October post. "Our data centers are located entirely outside of China, and none of our data is subject to Chinese law."ByteDance has been building TikTok's operations in the U.S., hiring hundreds and establishing American data centers to quarantine local information. It has also begun bringing on lobbyists in Washington, seeking to hire a U.S. policy chief and retaining the public affairs and lobbying firm Monument Advocacy, Bloomberg News reported last month.Zhang has hoped ByteDance would be able to retain full control of TikTok by splitting off the U.S. business operationally, one person said. But it's not clear whether that will be enough given the continued political pressure."While it tried to run its overseas operation independently from its China operation, given that the overseas operation is eventually held by the same entity that owns the China operation, it is hard to say that it is completely out of influence from the Chinese government," said Ke Yan, a Singapore-based analyst with Aequitas Research.A TikTok stake sale would likely push back any initial public offering for ByteDance. The company has considered an IPO in the U.S. or Hong Kong as soon as next year, but still needs to beef up its international operations and hire a chief financial officer. Selling equity in TikTok would provide the parent company with more cash and delay the need for a capital fundraising.Zhang and his investors would likely see benefits in buying more time for an IPO, given the U.S.-China trade war and recent stumbles by high profile startups such as WeWork and Uber Technologies Inc. SoftBank is a backer of all three companies and just engineered a bailout for WeWork.\--With assistance from Manuel Baigorri.To contact the reporters on this story: Zheping Huang in Hong Kong at zhuang245@bloomberg.net;Lulu Yilun Chen in Hong Kong at ychen447@bloomberg.net;Peter Elstrom in Tokyo at pelstrom@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Edwin Chan at echan273@bloomberg.net, Colum MurphyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
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| A major Jewish group slammed Rudy Giuliani for saying George Soros, who survived the Holocaust, is 'hardly a Jew' Posted: 24 Dec 2019 02:03 AM PST  The Anti-Defamation League said comments from Giuliani — Donald Trump's lawyer — about George Soros could serve as a dog-whistle to anti-Semites.
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| Pope Francis ushers in Christmas with message of 'unconditional love' Posted: 24 Dec 2019 08:50 PM PST  Pope Francis ushered in Christmas on Wednesday for the world's 1.3 billion Catholics with a message of unconditional love, saying "God continues to love us all, even the worst of us". "You may have mistaken ideas, you may have made a complete mess of things, but the Lord continues to love you," the pontiff told crowds gathered at the Vatican for his Christmas Eve midnight mass. The Argentinian also emphasized "unconditional" love, in a year that has seen the Pope move to combat silence surrounding paedophilia in the Roman Catholic church, which has been rocked by thousands of reports of sexual abuse by priests around the world and accusations of cover-ups by senior clergy.
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| Israeli PM evacuated from rally after rocket fired from Gaza Posted: 25 Dec 2019 12:19 PM PST  Israel said a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip into its southern territory Wednesday, forcing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be hustled from a stage during an election rally in the city of Ashkelon. The Israeli military said its air defense system, known as Iron Dome, intercepted the rocket. The Israeli newspaper Haaretz posted a video on its website showing Netanyahu being taken to a shelter as he was campaigning hours before the primaries of his Likud party.
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| Former Hawaii governor says Tulsi Gabbard should resign Posted: 24 Dec 2019 02:24 AM PST  Neil Abercrombie said the Democrat's run for president is interfering with her job in Congress.
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| This tiny transport aircraft is getting a makeover Posted: 25 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST  Upgrades to the U.S. Air Force's C-21 fleet should wrap up in mid-2020.
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| See This Plane? Meet Russia's Very Own 'A-10 Warthog' Posted: 24 Dec 2019 05:00 PM PST  Meet the Su-25
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| Alan Dershowitz Accuses The New Yorker of Working With Neo-Nazis Posted: 23 Dec 2019 07:58 PM PST  Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz derailed a Fox News segment on Monday evening when he claimed The New Yorker's editor relies on "neo-Nazi sources" and "makes up facts." Dershowitz, who has become one of President Donald Trump's fiercest media defenders, was initially brought on Fox News' Hannity to discuss the latest developments in the president's impeachment. The famed attorney, however, quickly became distracted when guest host Dan Bongino played a clip of New Yorker editor David Remnick."You showed David Remnick before saying, 'The world is coming to an end,'" Dershowitz said. "I have to comment about that because David Remnick is the problem today. He is the poster child for what is wrong with the media. He makes up facts."Dershowitz went on to claim that Remnick made up a story about Dershowitz's family that he got from a "neo-Nazi Holocaust denial website" and that Remnick "never sent it to a fact-checker to check and published it as fact."The New Yorker article the one-time Jeffrey Epstein lawyer is referring to is a lengthy and unflattering profile, posted online in late July, that revealed Dershowitz has argued the age of consent should be 15 and that he's obsessed with men "wrongfully accused" of rape."The New Yorker has the lowest ratio of credibility to apparent credibility of any media in the country," Dershowitz added. "Nobody should take anything that The New Yorker says under David Remnick's leadership seriously. He just makes up facts and uses neo-Nazi sources to source his facts."This isn't the first time Dershowitz has made such an accusation about the magazine. Twelve days before The New Yorker published its profile of him, he wrote an op-ed for far-right website Newsmax complaining that The New Yorker was about to publish a "hit piece" against him and that the writer admitted to using an anti-Semitic site "as the original source for claiming in her article that I abused my first wife and 'stripped' her of custody of my two sons." (A spokesperson for The New Yorker previously denied to Vox that the website Dershowitz cited played any part in its story's sourcing.)The article in question highlights Dershowitz's acrimonious divorce proceedings, which includes initial findings from the judge that Dershowitz "negatively affected the plaintiff's health to the extent that she required medical treatment and briefly some psychiatric therapy." Eventually, after reviewing tape recordings of the separated couple's phone conversations that featured Dershowitz's first wife speaking to him in "the most disparaging terms," the judge awarded Dershowitz custody of the children.At the end of the Fox News segment, fellow guest Joe Concha quipped that he would like to see Dershowitz and Remnick "in an alleyway somewhere," prompting Dershowitz to say he'd love to debate the editor on TV to "expose him as the fraud he is and the careless fact-checker that he is."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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| Durham Surprises Even Allies With Statement on FBI's Trump Case Posted: 24 Dec 2019 12:29 PM PST  WASHINGTON -- Whether investigating charges of torture by the CIA, rolling up an organized crime network or prosecuting crooked government officials, John H. Durham, the veteran federal prosecutor named by Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the Russia inquiry, burnished his reputation for impartiality over the years by keeping his mouth closed about his work.At the height of the Boston mob prosecution that made his name, he not only rebuffed a local newspaper's interview request, but he also told his office not to release his resume or photo.That wall of silence cracked this month when Durham, serving in the most politically charged role of his career, released an extraordinary statement questioning one key element of an overlapping investigation by the Justice Department's inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz.Horowitz had found that the FBI acted appropriately in opening the inquiry in 2016 into whether the Trump campaign wittingly or unwittingly helped Russia influence the election in Donald Trump's favor. In response, Durham, whose report is not expected to be complete for months, released a caveat-laden rebuttal: "Based on the evidence collected to date, and while our investigation is ongoing, last month we advised the inspector general that we do not agree with some of the report's conclusions as to predication and how the FBI case was opened."The statement seemed to support comments made half an hour earlier by Barr, who assailed what he called "an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign," based "on the thinnest of suspicions." Durham's decision to go public in such a politically polarized environment surprised people who have worked with him. They found it out of character for him to intervene in such a high-profile way in an open case."It's fair to characterize what John did as unusual in terms of his past practice and I don't know what the rationale was," said Kevin J. O'Connor, a former U.S. attorney for Connecticut who supervised Durham for several years in the early 2000s. "But I know John well enough to know that he did it because he -- not the AG or anyone else -- thought he had an obligation to."Others have been less willing to give Durham the benefit of the doubt, and it is clear he has placed his reputation for impartiality on the line by accepting this latest assignment.Durham's decision to speak out seemed to supply political fuel to Trump, who has repeatedly blasted the Russia inquiry as a "hoax" and a "witch hunt." At a campaign rally in Hershey, Pennsylvania, the day after Barr and Durham issued their statements, Trump called FBI agents involved in the Russia inquiry "scum.""I look forward to Bull Durham's report -- that's the one I look forward to," added Trump, who appointed Durham as the U.S. attorney for Connecticut in 2017.The inspector general's report makes no substantive reference to Durham's investigation. But before the report's release, Durham got into a sharp dispute with Horowitz's team over a footnote in a draft of the report that seemed to imply that Durham agreed with all of Horowitz's conclusions, which he did not, according to people familiar with the matter. The footnote did not appear in the final version of the report.A former Justice Department investigator who knows both Barr and Durham, a Republican, said that while the men were aware of each other's professional reputations, they are in no way close. Barr, who was unfamiliar with Durham's recent work, made quiet inquiries before appointing him to lead the investigation, this person said.The potential explosiveness of Durham's mission was further underscored by the disclosure that he was examining the role of John O. Brennan, the former CIA director, in how the intelligence community assessed Russia's 2016 election interference.Durham is known in New England's close-knit law enforcement community for working long days on his cases, and providing sought-after guidance on others'.Wearing gunmetal-frame glasses and a drooping goatee, he rises early and dresses in the dark, often mismatching his suit jackets and pants. His reputation for discretion, on top of a long record of successful high-profile prosecutions, are among the reasons he has been a go-to person when Washington -- under Republicans and Democrats alike -- needs someone to handle sensitive tasks.O'Connor, who was associate attorney general in 2008, was among those who recommended Durham lead an inquiry into the CIA's destruction in 2005 of videotapes depicting the torture of two operatives of al-Qaida.That investigation, started under an administration that had supported the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, continued into the Obama administration, which brought a very different agenda to the issue. After President Barack Obama took office, Durham's brief was expanded to include a criminal investigation into the CIA's role in the deaths of two detainees overseas, based on allegations of mistreatment by their interrogators.Durham completed the torture investigation in 2012. The Justice Department, under Attorney General Eric Holder, declined to prosecute anyone, saying that "the admissible evidence would not be sufficient to obtain and sustain a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt."John A. Rizzo, the CIA's former acting general counsel, was questioned for more than eight hours in the investigation.Durham "didn't personally question me, but he did the agency people who had contemporaneous knowledge of the plan to destroy the tapes, and he was very tough with them," Rizzo, who retired from the CIA in 2009, said in an interview.Despite the political uproar at the time, "there were no leaks and he certainly didn't issue any public statements," Rizzo recalled. "I just don't see him bending to political pressure, so I was surprised he made a statement here."Those who know him portray Durham as the consummate straight arrow who is unlikely to have bowed to pressure from Barr or anyone else in his current assignment. Durham declined to be interviewed for this article."He believes in four things: his family, his profession, his religion and the Boston Red Sox," said Hugh F. Keefe, a Connecticut defense lawyer who says Durham is so by the book, he once asked Keefe whether he had reported a free Red Sox ticket to the IRS. "If anyone thinks they can lead him like a horse to water, they're mistaken."Last year, Durham, a staunch Catholic, delivered rare public remarks at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford, Connecticut.The topic was his prosecution of John Connolly Jr., an FBI agent jailed for racketeering, obstruction of justice and murder stemming from his collaboration with Boston's notorious Winter Hill gang, led by James (Whitey) Bulger, an FBI informant.In a preface to his presentation, Durham said, "It is as important for the system for prosecutors to protect the secrecy of proceedings, not because we want them to be secret, but because we're not always right." He added: "Maybe accusations that are lodged against somebody are untrue. And again, we can destroy the person or persons if that information gets out."Durham was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, and received his law degree at the University of Connecticut in 1975. After a stint providing free legal advice to the Crow Indian tribe as part of what is now AmeriCorps, he worked as an assistant state's attorney in Connecticut until 1982, when he began a 35-year career as an assistant U.S. attorney, serving in a range of roles leading organized crime and public corruption prosecutions.He won 119 convictions from 1983 to 1989, including against associates of the Genovese, Gambino and Patriarca crime families, and provided evidence instrumental in convicting the Gambino boss John Gotti in New York.In 1989, fishermen found the body of William (The Wild Guy) Grasso, the Patriarca state boss from New Haven, Connecticut, dead of a gunshot wound in weeds near the Connecticut River.Durham, who colleagues said "could hear grass grow" on surveillance recordings, led a prosecution that linked mobsters in Connecticut and Rhode Island, even unveiling the first recorded mob-induction ceremony. Durham secured a raft of racketeering convictions against men linked to Grasso's murder, gutting the Providence, Rhode Island, based Patriarca mob. His doggedness, even after a note with his home address on it was found in a mobster-occupied Hartford, Connecticut, jail cell, earned him the nickname "Bull."In 1999, Attorney General Janet Reno appointed Durham to lead an investigation into corrupt links, rumored for years, between FBI agents and their criminal informants in Boston. Prosecutions of Bulger and his accomplice Stephen (the Rifleman) Flemmi uncovered a relationship with FBI agents, a retired Massachusetts state trooper and others, in which the mobsters exchanged cases of wine, a stolen two-carat diamond ring, and money for "the keys to the kingdom of all organized crime information in Boston," Durham told the college audience last year.In late 2000, he uncovered government memos indicating that FBI officials were involved in framing four men for the 1965 murder of a mobster, to protect a hit man who was one of the bureau's informants, a scheme likely known to the bureau's director at the time, J. Edgar Hoover. Durham alerted defense lawyers. Two of the four men had died in prison, but the surviving two were released, and the government paid a $100 million civil judgment in the case.Durham and his team worked amid speculation that the Justice Department would pull the plug on what was becoming a deeply embarrassing prosecution. In 2000, a colleague told The Boston Herald that Durham would rather "pull an Archibald Cox" and resign than submit to pressure.In a Washington Post op-ed this month, Holder cautioned Durham, whom he said he has been proud to know for at least a decade, about joining Barr in disputing the inspector general's findings. "Anyone in Durham's shoes would do well to remember that, in dealing with this administration, many reputations have been irrevocably lost," he wrote.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company
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| Tropical storm ruins Christmas for thousands of Filipinos Posted: 23 Dec 2019 09:44 PM PST  Thousands of people in typhoon-prone central Philippines have had their Christmas plans ruined after they were told to leave their homes as a severe tropical storm approaches. Officials on Christmas Eve said residents should evacuate coastal areas, and thousands more were stranded at ports with ferry services shut down as the nation hunkered down for rain and strong winds. Damaging gale- to storm-force winds were forecast over the Asian nation's Pacific coast in the afternoon ahead of Tropical Storm Phanfone's projected landfall on Samar island as early as 5:00 pm (0900 GMT), the state weather service said.
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| Ukraine opens probe over Russia's railway bridge to Crimea Posted: 25 Dec 2019 04:28 AM PST ![Ukraine opens probe over Russia's railway bridge to Crimea]( "Ukraine opens probe over Russia's railway bridge to Crimea") Ukrainian officials opened a criminal probe Wednesday after a passenger train from Russia arrived in Crimea via a new Russian-built bridge, arguing that the train illegally carried people across the Ukrainian border. Earlier this week Russian President Vladimir Putin inaugurated the railway bridge to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
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| South Korea, Japan, China leaders to promote North Korea-U.S. dialogue Posted: 23 Dec 2019 07:56 PM PST  China, Japan and South Korea have agreed to work together to promote dialogue between the United States and North Korea, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Tuesday following a summit between the three countries in China. North Korea has set a year-end deadline for the United States to change what it says is a policy of hostility amid a stalemate in efforts to make progress on their pledge to end the North's nuclear program and establish lasting peace.
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| "I was taken": 7-year-old torn from dad at U.S. border Posted: 24 Dec 2019 09:03 PM PST  CBS News documentary "The Faces of Family Separation" follows the harrowing journey of four migrant families fleeing violence in Central America, only to be split apart after arriving in the U.S.
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| Jihadists on motorbikes kill 35 civilians in Burkina Faso raid Posted: 24 Dec 2019 04:40 PM PST  An attack by militants in northern Burkina Faso has killed 35 civilians, almost all of them women, the president said, one of the deadliest assaults in nearly five years of jihadist violence in the West African nation. Seven soldiers and 80 jihadists were also killed in the double attack on a military base and the town of Arbinda in Soum province. The morning raid was carried out by dozens of jihadists on motorbikes and lasted several hours before armed forces backed by the air force drove the militants back. The army said the attack was of a "rare intensity". "A large group of terrorists simultaneously attacked the military base and the civilian population in Arbinda," the army chief of staff said in a statement. "This barbaric attack resulted in the deaths of 35 civilian victims, most of them women," President Roch Marc Christian Kabore said on Twitter, praising the "bravery and commitment" of the defence and security forces. Remis Dandjinou, the communications minister and government spokesman, later said that 31 of the civilian victims were women. The president has declared 48 hours of national mourning. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but jihadist violence in Burkina Faso has been blamed on militants linked to both al-Qaeda and Islamic State groups. Burkina Faso, which borders, Mali and Niger, has endured regular jihadist attacks which have left hundreds dead since the start of 2015 when militant violence began to spread across the Sahel region. More than 700 people have been killed and around 560,000 internally displaced by the violence, according to the United Nations. Attacks have targeted mostly the north and east of the country, though the capital Ouagadougou has been hit three times.
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| New Zealand suspends search for remaining two bodies believed to be on the island where a surprise volcano eruption killed 19 Posted: 24 Dec 2019 06:55 PM PST  Police on Tuesday called off a search for two missing people presumed dead after one of New Zealand's most active volcanoes erupted earlier this month.
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| History Forgot This: America And Great Britain Almost Went To War Over Canada Posted: 24 Dec 2019 04:00 AM PST  World War II would have gone far differently.
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| One of the US Army's mascots — a Cold War-era M48 Patton tank — got fixed up just in time for the holidays Posted: 24 Dec 2019 09:50 AM PST  A Cold War-era M48 Patton tank that's been a monument for the US Third Army and US Army Central underwent restoration at Fort Knox this fall.
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| Politics Editor at Evangelical Publication The Christian Post Resigns Over Pro-Trump Editorial Posted: 25 Dec 2019 08:00 AM PST  Napp Nazworth had worked at 'The Christian Post' for eight and a half years
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| Two strong earthquakes hit central Colombia Posted: 24 Dec 2019 12:48 PM PST  Two strong quakes, of magnitude 6.0 and magnitude 5.8, struck central Colombia, the US Geological Survey has said.Buildings shook as the quakes hit.
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| Armed robbery suspect shot and killed by Air Force veteran was from Merced Posted: 24 Dec 2019 04:45 PM PST  Authorities have released the identity of the armed robbery suspect that was shot and killed by an Air Force veteran at Kam's Market in Bay Point store on Sunday.
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| Thai officials say prison cameras were hacked, broadcast Posted: 25 Dec 2019 02:55 AM PST ![Thai officials say prison cameras were hacked, broadcast]( "Thai officials say prison cameras were hacked, broadcast") Authorities in Thailand say they are investigating an apparent online break-in by a computer hacker that allowed him to broadcast surveillance video from inside a prison in the country's south. Thai media reported that the video was broadcast live on YouTube for several hours Tuesday by an account with the name BigBrother's Gaze. It showed prisoners' activities from several different security cameras.
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