| As the Trump administration fills board seats, critics see an alarming attempt to remake government Posted: 15 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  For the Trump administration, appointing board members may be an effective and little-noticed means of weakening a federal apparatus it fundamentally distrusts. His board appointments, many of which may outlast his presidency, could serve an internal Republican resistance to a future Democratic administration.
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| The Navy cryptically says it has top-secret UFO briefings that would cause 'exceptionally grave damage' to US national security if published Posted: 15 Jan 2020 11:41 AM PST  The Navy previously confirmed it was treating objects that baffled pilots in Department of Defense videos as UFOs.
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| Ted Cruz Pitches ‘Witness Reciprocity’ for Impeachment Trial Posted: 15 Jan 2020 06:11 AM PST  Senator Ted Cruz (R., Texas) on Tuesday pitched the idea of "witness reciprocity" for the Senate impeachment trial during a meeting with Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) and other top Senate Republicans.The idea would allow Republicans and Democrats to summon an equal number of witnesses to testify. For example, if the Democrats subpoena testimony from former national security adviser John Bolton, Republicans would be allowed to summon Hunter Biden in return."We'll be dealing with the witness issue at the appropriate time into the trial. And I think it's certainly appropriate to point out that both sides would want to call witnesses if they wanted to hear from them," McConnell commented to reporters. "So if you get to that issue, I can't imagine that only the witnesses our Democratic colleagues want to call will be called."McConnell originally sought to dismiss the articles of impeachment without calling witnesses, angering Democrats who wanted to hear from Bolton before the Senate vote on impeachment. However, several Republican Senators have objected to the notion of dismissing charges before hearing from witnesses."Our members generally are not interested in the motion to dismiss," Senator Roy Blunt (R., Mo.) told reporters on Monday. "They think both sides need to be heard," and President Trump "deserves an opportunity to get a fair hearing, make his case and I think that's ultimately what will happen."Bolton, who was present at key moments in the Trump administration's actions regarding Ukraine, had previously indicated he wanted a decision from federal court regarding whether it was appropriate for him to testify. However, in early January the former adviser released a statement saying he would testify if subpoenaed by the Senate.
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| Pakistan: 21 more bodies recovered in avalanche-hit Kashmir Posted: 15 Jan 2020 09:17 AM PST  Search teams aided by Pakistani troops pulled out 21 more bodies from homes destroyed by this week's avalanches in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, raising the overall death toll due to severe winter weather to 160 for Pakistan and Afghanistan, officials said Wednesday. Rescuers were racing against time to reach scores of people believed still to be trapped inside their homes, buried under avalanches triggered by heavy snowfall in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
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| Six tourists have been arrested over accusations that they damaged Peru's cultural heritage Posted: 14 Jan 2020 10:33 AM PST  Six tourists, including a Frenchwoman, have been arrested over accusations that they damaged Peru's cultural heritage by defecating in a sacred temple at the iconic Machu Picchu sanctuary. "The six tourists are being detained and investigated by the public ministry for the alleged crime against cultural heritage," Cuzco regional police chief Wilbert Leyva said on Monday, quoted by the local Andina news agency.
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| Meghan McCain Rails Against ‘Misogynistic Bernie Bros’ for Attacking Warren Posted: 15 Jan 2020 09:28 AM PST  The View's Meghan McCain ramped up her pointed criticism of some of Bernie Sanders' most ardent supporters on Wednesday, blasting "misogynistic Bernie bros" for their online attacks on presidential hopeful Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).Discussing the fallout from Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate, McCain brought up the now-viral moment of Warren rebuffing the Vermont independent's post-debate handshake and appearing to get into a tense exchange with him. This comes on the heels of the Massachusetts senator accusing Sanders of saying during a private meeting that a woman couldn't win the presidential election.After liberal co-host Joy Behar expressed optimism that Sanders would be able to get his supporters to back another candidate if he were to lose the nomination, McCain doused cold water on Behar's hopefulness."The problem with that is that after Warren wouldn't shake hands with him, which for me was the moment of the night because you're supposed to be collegial at the end," the conservative host declared. "Look, she's not shaking hands because she's over it.""All the Bernie bros are sending her snake emojis and saying WarrenIsASnake and it started trending," she continued. "That's the misogynistic Bernie bros who came after me yesterday and I'm still saying it today, stop doing this to women! And whether Bernie likes it or not, the fact that she didn't shake his hand tells you everything you need to know about how she feels."McCain's condemnation of Sanders' supporters comes after she said on Tuesday that the senator "has a problem with women" and that she doesn't "want another misogynist as president."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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| Teacher asks students to ‘identify rapist’ on homework assignment, prompting investigation Posted: 15 Jan 2020 09:34 AM PST  Texas schools officials say they've taken "corrective action" after a ninth grade teacher included a question about a rape victim in a homework assignment receivedApproximately 90 students received an assignment that asked the following: "Suzy was assaulted in an alley and is a victim of rape. The police collected a sample of sperm that was left at the crime scene and now have three suspects in custody. Which of the suspects raped Suzy?"
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| Iran Is Ready for the Next Great War in the Middle East Posted: 15 Jan 2020 06:49 AM PST  Tehran has the initiative to attack from the direction of its choosing—or several directions simultaneously—while confronting defenders with the Sisyphean task of providing 360-degree protection.
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| Russian hackers targeted Ukrainian company at center of impeachment storm: cybersecurity firm Posted: 13 Jan 2020 09:35 PM PST  Russian military hackers tried to steal emails from the Ukrainian energy firm where Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic U.S. presidential contender Joe Biden, had a seat on the board, an American cybersecurity firm said on Monday. Energy company Burisma Holdings Ltd was at the center of attempts by President Donald Trump last July to pressure Ukrainian authorities into announcing an investigation into the Bidens for purported corruption, an effort that has led to the Republican being impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Trump denies he did anything wrong by asking Ukrainian officials to investigate Hunter Biden's relationship with Burisma.
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| First Gaza rockets against Israel since Soleimani killing Posted: 15 Jan 2020 01:02 PM PST  The Israeli military said four rockets were fired Wednesday from Hamas-controlled Gaza, the first since Israel's ally the US killed top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. It did not say where the other two rockets landed.
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| Missing Ohio teen found dead in abandoned home's chimney Posted: 14 Jan 2020 10:40 PM PST  The police checked the home several times, but found no sign of forced entry — then they checked one last time.
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| Fever chart: Earth had its hottest decade on record in 2010s Posted: 15 Jan 2020 08:00 AM PST  "If you think you've heard this story before, you haven't seen anything yet," Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said at the close of a decade plagued by raging wildfires, melting ice and extreme weather that researchers have repeatedly tied to human activity. Schmidt said Earth as a whole is probably the hottest it has been during the Holocene — the past 11,500 years or so — meaning this could be the warmest period since the dawn of civilization. The 2010s averaged 58.4 degrees Fahrenheit (14.7 degrees Celsius) worldwide, or 1.4 degrees (0.8 C) higher than the 20th century average and more than one-third of a degree (one-fifth of a degree C) warmer than the previous decade, which had been the hottest on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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| The 11 Most Anticipated Buildings of 2020 Posted: 14 Jan 2020 02:52 PM PST |
| Why Andrew Yang thinks candidates of color have been shut out of the Democratic debates Posted: 14 Jan 2020 05:15 PM PST  Andrew Yang has a theory for why there are barely any candidates of color left in the Democratic primary race.After Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) dropped out earlier this week, Yang remains the only person of color in the Democratic race with a solid base of support. And as he tells Politico ahead of Tuesday night's Democratic debate, that dilemma stems from "inequities and financial realities" that affect people of color outside of politics, too.While Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) made the December debate stage, she dropped out of the 2020 race due to a lack of financial support beforehand, leaving Yang the only person of color in that debate. That left him feeling "a bit of extra pressure" to talk about race both in the debate and in his campaign in general, he told Politico. "Race has not been the central theme of my campaign from the beginning," Yang said, but added "it's more natural to talk about it when you're literally the only person of color on a national debate stage."Now, Yang has been barred from Tuesday's debate after he failed to make the Democratic National Committee's polling threshold, leaving six white candidates on the stage. This, Yang says, "reflects the realities of our society where being able to run for office and contribute to political campaigns requires a degree of disposable income. If you're black or Latino in the country, you are much less likely to have disposable income."DNC Chair Tom Perez defended the thresholds as a "remarkably inclusive and frankly low bar" which have resulted in "the most diverse field in American history."More stories from theweek.com John Bolton will reportedly reveal some of what he knows about Trump's Ukraine scandal in his upcoming book 'Okay Boomer' was just used in a Supreme Court argument for the 1st time The paradox of Trump's trillion-dollar deficit
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| The Navy’s Smallest Warship Gets a Big Laser Weapon Posted: 14 Jan 2020 01:53 PM PST  The USS Little Rock is the fourth ship to get a laser gun.
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| Texts Appear to Show Former Ukraine Prosecutor Offering Info on Bidens in Exchange for Ouster of Then-Ambassador Yovanovitch Posted: 15 Jan 2020 05:41 AM PST  A trove of documents provided to House impeachment investigators by Lev Parnas, an associate of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, appears to show former top Ukraine prosecutor Yuri Lutsenko offering Giuliani damaging information on Joe and Hunter Biden in exchange for the firing of then–U.S. ambassador Marie Yovanovitch.Lutsenko was critical of Yovanovitch due to her support for an anti-corruption institution based in Ukraine, as well as because the ambassador had been critical of Lutsenko and his office."It's just that if you don't make a decision about Madam — you are calling into question all my declarations. Including about B," Lutsenko wrote to Parnas in Russian in a Whatsapp message from March 22. "Madam" likely refers to Yovanovitch, while it is unclear if "B" designates Biden or Burisma, the Ukrainian company on whose board Hunter Biden sat from 2014 to early 2019.Lutsenko, who was in the midst of an investigation into Burisma, updated Parnas four days later, writing that he had found evidence of money transfers pertaining to "B.""And here you can't even remove one fool :(" Lutsenko told Parnas via text message."She's not a simple fool[,] trust me," Parnas wrote back. "But she's not getting away."The documents also reveal that Parnas's associate, Connecticut businessman and congressional candidate Robert Hyde, was in contact with some unidentified person who was surveilling Yovanovitch.During her testimony before Congress last year, Yovanovitch speculated that Giuliani and his associates were working to have her fired in order to install an ambassador who would be more amenable to their corrupt business dealings in Ukraine.The documents are likely to breath new life into the Democrat-led impeachment process against President Trump, just as the House plans to vote to transfer the impeachment articles to the Senate for trial.The contours of the trial are as yet unclear. Republicans in the Senate and the Trump administration have vacillated between calls to allow witnesses to testify at the trial and a desire to dismiss the charges without summoning witnesses at all.
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| Pelosi warns McConnell, Senate Republicans they will 'pay a price' if they engage in 'cover-up' Posted: 14 Jan 2020 09:27 AM PST  The biggest concession Nancy Pelosi wanted from Mitch McConnell was to allow witnesses and for documents to be allowed to be submitted for evidence.
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| How the world discovered the Nazi death camps Posted: 13 Jan 2020 06:09 PM PST  Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to world attention. Many of the ghastly pictures were at first held back from the broader public, partly out of concern for those with missing relatives. The concentration and extermination camps were liberated one by one as the Allied armies advanced on Berlin in the final days of the 1939-1945 war.
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| Thunderstorms sweep across Australia's bushfire-ravaged east coast Posted: 15 Jan 2020 04:45 PM PST  Thunderstorms and heavy rain swept across parts of Australia's east coast on Thursday, bringing hope that some of the fierce bushfires razing the country will be extinguished - or at least slowed. Officials warned, however, that short, intense thunderstorms could lead to flash flooding, while lightning brought the risk of new fires being ignited. "We're expecting unsettled weather for the next four or five days or so at least," Jake Phillips, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology told Australian Broadcasting Corp radio.
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| Video: 20 seconds of terror between missiles in Iran crash Posted: 14 Jan 2020 11:39 PM PST  Iran's top diplomat acknowledged Wednesday that Iranians "were lied to" for days after the Islamic Republic accidentally shot down a Ukrainian jetliner. The admission came as new surveillance footage purported to show two surface-to-air missiles 20 seconds apart shred the airplane and kill all 176 people aboard. The downing of the Ukraine International Airlines flight last week came amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. over its unraveling nuclear deal.
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| Tom Steyer gets his big moment by awkwardly interrupting Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren's postdebate exchange Posted: 14 Jan 2020 09:39 PM PST  "It was one of those awkward moments where I felt like, OK, I need to move on as fast as possible," Steyer told CNN.
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| Newborn dies from sepsis after being sent home from a hospital Posted: 15 Jan 2020 08:54 AM PST  A 5-week-old baby died from sepsis after being sent home twice from a U.K. hospital with what doctors thought was a common infection.
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| Tekashi 6ix9ine asked to serve the rest of his 2-year sentence in home confinement because his prison has a lot of Blood gang members Posted: 15 Jan 2020 07:38 AM PST  Lawyers for Tekashi 6ix9ine, whose real name is Daniel Hernandez, said putting the rapper in any facility would jeopardize his safety.
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| To combat new missile threats, the US Navy prepares to move forward with destroyer upgrades Posted: 15 Jan 2020 11:56 AM PST  With an eye toward faster, more dangerous missile threats, the Navy is getting ready to move forward on a major upgrade for its destroyers.
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| US military resumes counter-Islamic State operations in Iraq Posted: 15 Jan 2020 03:55 PM PST  The U.S. military is resuming operations against Islamic State militants in Iraq and is working to soon restart training Iraqi forces, U.S. officials said Wednesday, despite deep divisions over the American drone strike that killed an senior Iranian commander in Baghdad and the resulting missile attacks by Iran on Iraqi bases. One official said some joint operations between the U.S. and Iraqi forces have already begun, but there are not yet as many as before.
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| Iran crown prince predicts regime will collapse within months Posted: 15 Jan 2020 01:08 PM PST  The heir of Iran's deposed monarchy predicted Wednesday that the clerical regime will collapse within months and urged Western powers not to negotiate with it. Reza Pahlavi said that major protests which erupted in November and again this month, after the accidental downing of a Ukrainian passenger jet, reminded him of the uprising that ousted his father in early 1979. The 59-year-old heir to the Peacock Throne, who has not been to Iran since he was a teenager, cited as evidence what he called an easing of fear among protesters and the growing distancing of self-described reformists from the Islamic regime.
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| Philippines struggles to evacuate reluctant villagers near volcano Posted: 14 Jan 2020 05:23 AM PST  A cloud of ash and fountains of lava gushed for a third day from the crater of Taal, which lies in the middle of a lake about 70 km (45 miles) south of the center of the Philippines capital Manila. Everyone living within 14 km (9 miles) of the volcano has been ordered to leave: potentially as many as 300,000 people, though disaster agency spokesman Mark Timbal said he believed the actual number who had been there was much lower.
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| One astounding chart shows how the death of the union has made economic inequality worse Posted: 15 Jan 2020 08:23 AM PST  As union membership rates declined, experts say its helped contribute to a rise of wealth inequality in the United States.
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| China Figured Out The Secret To Closing The Gap With America's Military Posted: 14 Jan 2020 05:30 PM PST  More than just defense spending.
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| Lion at Chicago-area zoo dies after mysterious fall, less than 2 weeks after mate's death Posted: 14 Jan 2020 07:59 PM PST  Brookfield Zoo's lion Isis was put down Tuesday after suffering injuries from a fall in her enclosure. Her mate Zenda died less than two weeks ago.
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| Exclusive: U.N. sanctions experts warn - stay away from North Korea cryptocurrency conference Posted: 14 Jan 2020 10:07 PM PST  United Nations sanctions experts are warning people not to attend a cryptocurrency conference in North Korea in February, flagging it as a likely sanctions violation, according to a confidential report due to be submitted to the U.N. Security Council later this month. The warning comes after the independent U.N. experts told the council in August that North Korea generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programs using "widespread and increasingly sophisticated" cyberattacks to steal from banks and cryptocurrency exchanges. North Korea has been under U.N. sanctions since 2006 over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
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| Small plane crashes in Utah neighborhood, killing pilot Posted: 15 Jan 2020 03:29 PM PST ![Small plane crashes in Utah neighborhood, killing pilot]( "Small plane crashes in Utah neighborhood, killing pilot") A small plane crashed Wednesday in a Utah neighborhood, killing the pilot as the aircraft narrowly avoided hitting any townhomes, authorities said. An unidentified 64-year-old pilot died in the crash of the twin-engine Cessna, said Roy police Sgt. Matthew Gwynn. Debris from the plane crashed through the roof of a home that didn't have anybody inside at the time, he said according to The Salt Lake Tribune.
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| ACLU sues to block U.S. from sending asylum-seekers to Guatemala Posted: 15 Jan 2020 02:04 AM PST  Under a deal with Guatemala, the U.S. has sent dozens of migrants to the Central American country, asking them to seek asylum there.
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| U.S. Navy: We're Gonna Need a Bigger Budget (and More Boats) Posted: 14 Jan 2020 07:16 AM PST  The Navy wants to grow the fleet by 62 ships in 10 years. It probably won't happen.
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| First orca found washed up on coast of Britain in 20 years as scientists say it had plastic in its stomach Posted: 14 Jan 2020 07:32 AM PST  The first orca washed up on Britain's coast in 20 years had plastic in its stomach, scientists have said, as they work to determine the cause of death. The juvenile male killer whale, approximately 15ft long, became stranded in salt marsh in The Wash on the east coast of England. It is the first confirmed orca stranding that the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, of which ZSL is a partner, has investigated in England and Wales since 2001. The team found a large fragment of plastic in the first stomach, though it had not killed the orca as the stomach was not blocked. There was no evidence of recent feeding, as its stomachs were largely empty, and it is thought the animal died weeks ago. ZSL's Rob Deaville and Matt Perkins collected blubber, liver, muscle and kidney samples from the marine mammal, which was internally mostly intact. Teeth samples are also being investigated in order to determine the predator's age. A spokesperson from ZSL told The Telegraph that this is a rare event "because there are so few orcas; the population has crashed." He added: "There are two populations of killer whale, you get residents and migatory. The resident population in the UK is tiny now because the water is highly polluted. "There are pods up in Norway and it could have been passing through the North Sea, but we cannot confirm that." Orcas are a priority species for the scientists at ZSL because they are top predators and greatly threatened by pollution. While the species once boasted large pods across the oceans, now only the populations living in the least polluted areas possess a large number of individuals. Around the British Isles, the researchers estimate that the remaining population counts less than 10 killer whales due to pollution from PCBs, which are man-made chemicals used in electrical components in plastics. These are now banned in most countries and have been since the 1980s, but they take a long time to break dwon in the oceans. As they are at the top of the food chain, killer whales whose diet includes, among other items, seals and large fish such as tuna and sharks critically accumulate PCBs. Orcas are, however, thriving in the oceans around the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Norway, Alaska and the Antarctic, as there is less pollution.
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| Former Cop of the Year in Florida Disciplined for Humiliating Teen During Arrest Posted: 14 Jan 2020 10:40 AM PST  A Florida cop once named patrol officer of the year has been disciplined after body-camera footage showed him taunting a teenager during a May arrest, authorities said.Orlando Police Officer Jonathan Mills allegedly intended to "taunt, belittle, humiliate and even incite a person to do violence" while assisting in the May 10 arrest of three teenagers accused of loitering outside a liquor store, according to an internal report obtained by The Orlando Sentinel.Mills, who was named 2018 patrol officer of the year for being "the most proactive member of his squad," was disciplined for his behavior, which is "not representative of the high standards of the professional conduct expected from members of the Orlando Police Department," Mike Stanley, an Internal Affairs investigator, said in the report.Nouman Raja, Former Florida Cop, Found Guilty for Murdering Corey JonesOn May 10, Mills detained the three young men—two 19-year-olds and a 17-year-old—after another officer stopped them outside a liquor store in Parramore for loitering.According to the report, body-cam footage shows Mills grabbing the hands of one of the teenagers during the arrest and commenting about his "soft hands.""These soft hands have been through something," Mills told the teen, according to the video. "You have no marks on your knuckles, you've never been in a fight."Mills then saw another teen talking on his cellphone, at which point he grabbed it and tossed it to the ground, Stanley said in his report."I hope he runs," Mills then said to another one of the teenagers.The teenagers were then "detained and seated on the ground in a position of disadvantage" that did not serve a purpose, the report states.In an interview with Internal Affairs, Mills claimed he grabbed the teen's hands to break "the cycle of whatever he's thinking about." The report, however, notes the officer didn't remove a screwdriver that was within the teen's reach—calling into question whether Mills thought the young suspect "posed an immediate threat" as he originally claimed. The report also says that Mills' comment about hoping the teen would run "serves to discredit" the officer's account. The internal investigation was launched after the mother of one of the 19-year-olds filed a police complaint.Florida Cops Under Fire for Violent Incidents With Black WomenMills was accused by the mother, who is black, of racial bias. She said the officer spoke to her "in an angry and abrupt manner" when she asked why her son was being detained. She also claimed Mills refused to answer questions about the arrest and said she was treated differently than a white woman who arrived at the scene.Mills denied the allegations, and the report concluded that the body-cam footage does not provide sufficient evidence to support her claims. The officer also denied treating the teenagers unfairly, writing in his incident report that the trio was "yelling at the officers and causing a disturbance."While the teens were arrested for violating a disorderly conduct ordinance, prosecutors later dropped charges against both of the 19-year-olds. Additional details regarding the third teen were not immediately available because he is a minor. An Orlando Police spokesman said the police chief "is not worried" about the report's findings and the decision to keep Mills on the force, stating that "discipline is also intended as a corrective measure" and that disciplinary actions were taken. It's unclear what precise measures the department took against the officer.Cops: NYPD Officer Ordered Hit on Estranged Husband, Boyfriend's Kid"Chief Rolón believes Ofc. Mills will conduct himself professionally going forward," the spokesperson said.Mills has previously faced excessive force lawsuits that were settled by the city and was given a verbal reprimand after he was accused of making a racist comment to a woman during a traffic stop in March 2016. "That hairdo is sad," Mills allegedly told the woman. "You've got to get your hair done, girl."Despite the lawsuits, the report states Mills made more than 100 arrests and confiscated numerous guns and drugs in 2018, prompting members of his squad to "consider him a leader...motivating and assisting them," the report said.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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| Russia Says It's S-500 Can Bring Down America's F-35, What's The Truth? Posted: 13 Jan 2020 10:45 PM PST  We look to Syria for hints.
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| A GOP lawmaker and Purple Heart recipient gave Congress the 2-minute silent treatment over Iran Posted: 14 Jan 2020 04:57 PM PST  Brian Mast, a bomb disposal expert who lost both his legs in Afghanistan, used the silence to focus on US soldiers killed by Iranian proxies.
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| Big Companies to Mexico’s President: Stop Changing Rules Posted: 15 Jan 2020 02:50 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Representatives of two top business groups warned that it's getting increasingly harder for foreign companies to put their money in Mexico and said that messages from President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's government that hinder investment need to stop.In a rare critique of the current administration, Carlos Salazar, head of one of the largest Mexican business groups, CCE, said companies need a message of certainty from the Lopez Obrador administration to move away from conflicts.At the same event in Mexico City, Claudia Janez, the head of a group representing global businesses, spoke out even more forcefully against government interference in investment, saying it's the main cause of economic stagnation in Mexico.Mexico's gross domestic product remained flat last year in large part because of the "systemic change of rules to doing business and the constant political messages against the markets and companies," said Janez, president of the Executive Council of Global Companies (CEEG).The economy even dipped into a slight recession in the first half of 2019 after Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador scrapped a $13 billion airport project before becoming president in December, and then suspended private oil auctions once in power. His government staged a months-long dispute with several pipeline operators after it decided to change the terms of natural gas contracts signed with the previous administration."Companies make long-term investment decisions. Changing rules doesn't help growth," said Salazar, who has served as a liaison between the business community and the government.Mexico's AMLO Still Working to Win Over Private Sector SkepticsIn recent months, Lopez Obrador has been trying to win over private sector skeptics, but hasn't delivered what they want, which is mainly a return to business-friendly policies such as the oil auctions. Gross fixed investment, which includes spending in factories and machinery, has fallen for nine consecutive months through October, the longest losing streak since the 2009 recession.Janez, who is also president for Latin America at DuPont de Nemours Inc., stressed Mexico needs to be clear on why it deserves investment over other countries and that free trade deals will mean nothing if the country doesn't address its security issues.She said security has become the number one concern for many companies operating in the country and that some of them are now spending an extra 30% to 40% of their fixed costs to protect themselves. "Insecurity should not be the new normal," she said.Decisions to allocate money for Mexico became even harder in the second half of 2019, Janez said, an unusual situation considering that the country was expected to become a natural destination for investment amid the China-U.S. trade war. Members of her business group include Exxon Mobil Corp. and AT&T Inc.Salazar said he remains optimistic Mexico can reach growth goals in the future. He cited an infrastructure plan from November as a token of hope.Salazar is helping broker a second investment plan, this time for the energy sector, that could be announced this month or next.(Adds comments from Janez and Salazar starting in 10th paragraph.)To contact the reporters on this story: Cyntia Barrera Diaz in Mexico City at cbarrerad@bloomberg.net;Andrea Navarro in Mexico City at anavarro30@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Nacha Cattan at ncattan@bloomberg.net;Ney Hayashi at ncruz4@bloomberg.netFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| India has not closed door on China-backed Asian trade deal - foreign minister Posted: 14 Jan 2020 10:28 PM PST  India has not closed the door on a China-led regional economic pact, even though Asia's third-largest country pulled out of the deal last November, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said on Wednesday. In November, China joined 14 countries in agreeing terms for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), with India pulling out at the last minute saying the deal would hurt its farmers, businesses, workers and consumers. RCEP brings together the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
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| U.S. Army chief of staff: Russia's hypersonic missiles are not 'game changing' Posted: 14 Jan 2020 04:22 PM PST  The U.S. Army's top officer said Tuesday during an appearance in Washington, D.C., that he isn't worried by Russia's growing arsenal of hypersonic missiles.
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| Iran disqualifies thousands from running for parliament Posted: 14 Jan 2020 01:32 AM PST ![Iran disqualifies thousands from running for parliament]( "Iran disqualifies thousands from running for parliament") Iran's constitutional watchdog has barred thousands of people from running in next month's parliamentary elections, including 90 current lawmakers, most of whom are accused of corruption. The Guardian Council, a body of senior clerics and legal experts, vets candidates for office as well as legislation, and rules out individuals if it believes their views or behavior are incompatible with the theocratic system. A spokesman for the Guardian Council was quoted by the hard-line Kayhan paper as saying most of the lawmakers were rejected for "financial problems," a reference to fraud and embezzlement.
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