| Trump returns to Washington to face a pair of challenges Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:17 PM PST  His 17-day holiday stay at his Florida resort over, President Donald Trump returned to the White House on Sunday night facing twin challenges: the fallout from the strike he ordered to kill an Iranian general and his looming impeachment trial in the Senate.
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| Note To Iran: Want to Start World War III? Sink a U.S. Navy Carrier Posted: 04 Jan 2020 08:00 PM PST  Tehran: Don't do it.
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| French police shoot and wound knifeman shouting 'Allahu akbar' in Metz Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:25 AM PST ![French police shoot and wound knifeman shouting 'Allahu akbar' in Metz]( "French police shoot and wound knifeman shouting 'Allahu akbar' in Metz") French police on Sunday shot and wounded a man who had rushed toward a group of policemen with a knife shouting "Allahu akbar" (God is greatest) in the eastern city of Metz, local officials said. The incident at Metz came just two days after a man went on a knife rampage in the suburb of Villejuif just outside Paris on Jan. 3, killing one person and wounding two. The Metz local public prosecutor's office said it was in contact with the French anti-terrorism prosecutor's department over the incident, while French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner added he was monitoring the situation closely.
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| Dozens brutally attacked at Delhi university after opposing 'anti-Muslim' citizenship law Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:12 PM PST  Around 200 masked men from a right-wing Hindu nationalist group stormed a university in Delhi tonight, attacking terrified students and their professors with wooden sticks and stones. The student body at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has vocally opposed a new 'anti-Muslim' citizenship law ever since it was introduced by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on December 11. The exact number of the injured is unknown but students said around 20 people were seriously injured and a further 50 nursing minor wounds. Dr Harjit Singh Bhatti from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences said 15 students from JNU had been admitted with severe head injuries inflicted by the sticks and sharp weapons. Two students, including the President of the Student Union, are said to be in serious condition. Up to 800 students are said to remain within the university campus, either barricading themselves within their rooms or hiding out in the open in bushes and trees. The mob is believed to belong to a right-wing Hindu nationalist group Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) which is affiliated with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Police have been accused of not only turning a blind-eye by failing to stop the ABVP attackers but also beating students on campus themselves. "There is something deeply sickening about a government that allows and encourages such violence to be inflicted on their own children," tweeted Priyanka Gandhi, the leader of the Congress opposition party. The JNU students were holding a peace march at 6pm when the mob entered their campus, according to those who escaped. Protests have erupted across India since the passing of the Citizenship Amendment Act Credit: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters Allegedly, professors from the university and members of the student union attempted to remonstrate with the mob and appeal for calm but were badly beaten. The ABVP members then roamed around the JNU campus attacking students at will. "We are totally helpless and terrified," one PhD student who had barricaded himself in his room in Sabarmati halls told the Telegraph. "A lot of female students were targeted and they have been beaten very badly," said another in Jhelum halls. A second year student described the campus as 'apocalyptic' and said masked men had run around beating female students and throwing rocks at them. The ABVP is believed to be angry that JNU students had held protests to object to the Citizenship Amendment Act which will offer offer citizenship to followers of six religions – including Christians, Sikhs and Hindus – from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, but not Muslims. A group of female students who managed to escape while the attack was underway said the mob remained at large and they feared further attacks would take place. Protests have erupted across India since the introduction of the legislation with activists arguing it is the latest in a string of actions taken by the Modi Government against Muslims. At least 26 people have died in nationwide demonstrations while thousands more have been detained.
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| Israeli army to resume women tank crew trials Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:51 AM PST  The Israeli army announced Sunday it would resume a pilot programme to train all-female tank crews, countering recent reports it had decided to shelve the plan. Following discussions, Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi decided "to progress to the next level in the process of examining the integration of female tank crew members in border defence missions," an army statement read. The pilot programme began in 2017 by training 10 women crew members and two tank commanders, who were returned to their original units after the trial.
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| Japan says Ghosn's escape inexcusable, orders investigation Posted: 04 Jan 2020 08:24 PM PST  Japan's justice minister on Sunday called the flight of former Nissan Chairman Carlos Ghosn as he awaited trial on financial misconduct charges inexcusable and vowed to beef up immigration checks. Justice Minister Masako Mori said she had ordered an investigation after Ghosn issued a statement a few days ago saying he was in Lebanon.
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| Kentucky attorney general asks FBI to investigate Bevin's pardons Posted: 04 Jan 2020 07:14 PM PST  The investigation will focus on the pardon of Patrick Baker, who was convicted of reckless homicide. Baker's family raised more than $20,000 for the Bevin campaign.
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| Pentagon officials reportedly presented Trump with the option of killing a top Iranian commander, not thinking he'd actually do it Posted: 04 Jan 2020 07:16 PM PST  Later, the Trump administration would defend the strikes by saying Maj. Gen. Qasssem Soleimani had been plotting an "imminent" attack.
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| Mount Holyoke Art Professor Tried to Gouge Out Eyes of Woman She Loved: Cops Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:24 AM PST  Rie Hachiyanagi, a 48-year-old art professor and performance artist, was arraigned on Friday for an alleged attack on Christmas Eve morning on a female professor in her 60s she had fallen in love with but who apparently did not share the sentiment.The Mount Holyoke College prof, who has worked at the prestigious college since 2004, is accused of using a decorative rock, a fire poker and garden shears to try to kill an unnamed faculty member who used trickery to stop the attack, by telling Hachiyanagi she returned her amorous feelings, according to court documents. The victim suffered "multiple broken bones in the nose and eye area and numerous lacerations and puncture wounds on the head and face," according to a police report by State Trooper Geraldine L. Bresnahan presented at the court hearing. Investigators say Hachiyanagi called 911 after midnight Dec. 24 to report that the other professor was "lying in a pool of blood and barely breathing" inside the victim's home in Leverett, Mass. Hachiyanagi explained to officers that her own blood-drenched clothing was from helping–not hurting–the victim, who, in front of investigators, confirmed the story. But when the victim was in the ambulance en route to the hospital, she said that Prof. Hachiyanagi was actually the attacker, and police immediately took her into custody, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.The victim then explained to investigators that Hachiyanagi showed up at her home uninvited late Dec. 23 to "talk about her feelings," telling the victim that "she loved her for many years" and assumed that she was aware of her feelings. When the victim explained that the feelings were not mutual, Hachiyanagi allegedly started attacking her with what she could reach: decorative rocks, a fireplace poker, and gardening shears. The victim then tried to calm Hachiyanagi by telling her that she had reconsidered, and that indeed she did feel something. Convinced that there was hope for what she thought was unrequited love, Hachiyanagi reportedly stopped the attack and the two women hatched a plan to tell police that someone else had carried out the brutal beating, according to the Northwestern District Attorney's Office.Hachiyanagi then told police that she had a history of concussions and memory loss and thus did not remember anything after 6 p.m. the night of Dec. 23. Police say they found the victim's keys, glasses and a mobile phone in her possession when they arrested her. Hachiyanagi now faces charges of armed assault with attempt to murder a person over the age of 60, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, mayhem, and armed assault in a dwelling. She denies wrongdoing. 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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| What Iran and the Movie Top Gun Have in Common: They Both Use F-14 Tomcats Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:49 AM PST  Yes, sold to Iran.
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| Iran's plans to leave nuclear deal might not be as dramatic as they sound Posted: 05 Jan 2020 11:33 AM PST  Things are happening quickly in the wake of the Trump administration's decision to kill Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike this week.Not long after the Iraqi parliament voted to compel the government to kick the U.S. military out of the country, Iran announced Sunday it will no longer adhere to any limits set by the 2015 nuclear deal, which the likes of France, Germany, and the United Kingdom had been committed to salvaging after the United States unilaterally backed out of the agreement in 2018. But much like the move by Iraqi lawmakers, Iran's announcement leaves a little more wiggle room than initially appears.Seemingly, the announcement leaves those European states with their hands in their pockets, but in a state television broadcast, Tehran said it was open to negotiations with the continental powers. The announcement also reportedly did not indicate Tehran would attempt to build a nuclear weapon, despite scrapping provisions that blocked them from acquiring enough material to do so. Instead, Iran will reportedly continue uranium enrichment based on their "technical needs."That vague language does leave the door open for a few options, but Iran is also apparently still going to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency, and would be willing to recommit to the nuclear agreement's obligations if sanctions are listed. So, it looks like another wait-and-see moment.> We will need to wait for the next IAEA report to see what's actually happening and to what extent Iran is accelerating its enrichment operations> > — Michael A. Horowitz (@michaelh992) January 5, 2020Read more at The Associated Press.More stories from theweek.com America is guilty of everything we accuse Iran of doing 5 scathing cartoons about Trump's Iran provocation An introvert's guide to parenting an extroverted child
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| Russian government to 'use the advantages' of climate change Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:07 PM PST  Russia is planning to "use the advantages" of warmer temperatures brought about by climate change, according to a document published by the government at the weekend. The report notes increased opportunities for navigation and trade as ice melts in the Arctic, an area where Russia has also boosted its military presence in recent years. The two-year, "first stage" plan lists other advantages including decreased spending on heating over the winter and the possibility of new areas available for farming. But the 30-point paper also focuses on the risks of climate change and the dangers it poses to public health, animal environments and the Russian permafrost. "The consequences of (climate change) are having a significant and increasing impact on the economic and social development of the country, its conditions for life and people's health," according to the document signed by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev. Russia is warming on average 2.5 times quicker than the rest of the planet, the report said, adding that the country's industry, transport and agriculture would have to adapt to these changes. The government said it would plan for crisis scenarios including evacuations in the case of natural disasters, and make sure climate change was taught in schools. The publication comes after Moscow experienced its warmest December on record, with authorities dumping artificial snow in Red Square ahead of New Year celebrations. Normally the capital spends millions of pounds a year and employs tens of thousands of people to keep roads and pavements free of snow. President Vladimir Putin has questioned the scientific consensus that global warming is caused by human activity, saying at a recent press conference that "nobody knows the origins of global climate change". But he said that rising temperatures could have "very serious" consequences from Russia. Moscow has formally adopted the Paris climate accord and criticised the US President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal
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| On short notice, US fast-response force flies to Mideast Posted: 05 Jan 2020 06:32 AM PST  Being a U.S. soldier in a fast-response force sometimes means being sent halfway across the world within a day, leaving no time to say goodbye to those staying behind. "The kids kept going, 'When's Dad going to be home?'" said Shumard, 42.
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| Rumbling Alaska volcano sends ash plume 5 miles into the air Posted: 04 Jan 2020 07:49 AM PST  One of Alaska's most active volcanoes, a towering ice-covered cone in the Aleutian Islands, shot a cloud of ash more than 5 miles (8 km) high on Friday, triggering a warning to aviators and putting on a show that was captured in satellite imagery. The ash burst from Shishaldin Volcano, about 670 miles (1,080 km) southwest of Anchorage, was part of an on-and-off, mostly low-level series of eruptions that began in July with a stream of lava from the crater at the peak of the 9,373-foot-tall (2,869-meter) mountain. The ash plume was spotted by a pilot and was visible in satellite images captured from space.
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| Netanyahu calls Israel 'nuclear power' in apparent stumble Posted: 05 Jan 2020 07:24 AM PST  In an apparent verbal stumble on Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel as a "nuclear power" before correcting himself.
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| Iraq PM attends mourning for commanders killed in US strike Posted: 04 Jan 2020 01:10 AM PST  Iraq's prime minister attended a mourning procession in Baghdad on Saturday for Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi paramilitary chief Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, killed in a US strike the previous day. Adel Abdel Mahdi joined Muhandis associate Hadi al-Ameri, Shiite cleric Ammar al-Hakim, former premier Nuri al-Maliki and other pro-Iran figures in a large crowd. The crowds then accompanied them south to a point near the Green Zone, home to government offices and foreign embassies, including America's.
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| Oklahoma Suspects Murdered Teen as ‘Payback’ for STD: Cops Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:22 PM PST  Oklahoma prosecutors charged two people on Friday for the fatal shooting of a 17-year-old girl in what is reportedly a case of 'payback' over a sexually transmitted disease. Andrew Hall, 30, and Cheyenne Blalock, 17, were charged with first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Kirstan Patterson, 17, according to court documents. Patterson's mother and stepfather reported the teenager missing on New Year's Day and her body was found hours later near the Spring Creek boat dock on the Neosho River in Mayes County, with a gunshot wound to the head, deputies said. The Mayes County Sheriff's Office arrested Hall and Blalock later that day and they are being held on a $1 million bond. Their next court appearances are set for Jan. 9. How This Cop's Dream About a Murder Reopened a Cold Case"Blalock said that Andrew Hall, her boyfriend, had talked about killing Kirstan before because of a transmission of a sexually transmitted disease and wanted to 'payback,'" a Mayes County Sheriff's Office detective wrote in a probable cause affidavit. Interviews with both Hall and Blalock revealed that Hall had discussed several ways of killing Patterson, according to investigators. Sheriff Mike Reed said the two suspects and the victim all lived in Chouteau and previously knew each other. Blalock and Patterson reportedly attended the same school in the Oklahoma town.Authorities said that Blalock hid under a blanket in the back of Hall's car on New Year's Day when he picked up Patterson and drove to the Spring Creek Recreation Area. Hall allegedly told detectives that Blalock had knives on her and thought she "was only going to physically assault" Patterson, according to the affidavit, and that he complied with her demands because he feared that she would hurt him.Deputies said that both Hall and Blalock claim the other procured a rifle from Hall's truck and shot Patterson in the head. Blalock told detectives that she did not see the shooting but heard two shots, and subsequently touched Patterson's body to confirm she was dead. "Blalock said Hall poured bleach on the body in some effort to destroy evidence, and then Hall moved the body into the water," the affidavit reads. Both suspects reportedly told investigators that Hall hid the rifle under his bed at his Chouteau residence. Mayes County Sheriff's Office Maj. Rod Howell said Blalock and Hall have pointed the blame at one another for the homicide. "Our heart goes out to the family," said Howell. "I've met with them, visited with them in depth, and I just can't understand what they're going through." "I've got kids, and I just couldn't even fathom," he added.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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| Trump's lawless thuggery is corrupting justice in America Posted: 04 Jan 2020 10:00 PM PST  Intimidating whistleblowers, politicizing law enforcement, protecting rogue military officers and criminal sheriffs – the pattern is depressingly clear As the Senate moves to an impeachment trial and America slouches into this election year, the rule of law is center stage.Yet Donald Trump is substituting lawless thuggery for impartial justice.The biggest immediate news is the president's killing of Qassem Suleimani. The act brings America to the brink of an illegal war with Iran without any congressional approval, in direct violation of Congress's war-making authority under the constitution.But other presidents have disregarded Congress's war-making power, too. What makes Trump unique is the overall pattern. Almost wherever you look, he has shown utter disdain for law. Consider Trump's outing of the person who blew the whistle on his phone call to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy – tweeting just after Christmas a link to a Washington Examiner article headlined with the presumed whistleblower's name, then retweeting a supporter who named the presumed whistleblower.Even before outing the whistleblower, Trump had whipped his followers into a lather by calling the whistleblower a "spy", guilty of "treason".The outing not only imperils the whistleblower's safety. It violates the purpose of the Whistleblower Act, which is to protect people who alert authorities that government officials are violating the law.It's on this deeper level that Trump's lawlessness is most corrosive. From now on, anyone aware of illegality on the part of a government official, including a president, will think twice before sounding the alarm.Trump's intrusion into the navy's prosecution of Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher on war crimes has the same corrosive effect.Trump not only stopped the navy from possibly giving Gallagher a less-than-honorable discharge. Trump also upended the military code of justice, designed for the military to handle legal violations in its ranks, including war crimes.Gallagher's Navy Seal accusers were themselves whistleblowers who broke the Seal's code of silence in order to stop a rogue chief. Now they face recrimination from within the ranks. From now on, any soldier who witnesses a superior officer committing possible war crimes will be more reluctant to report them.Similarly, Trump's ongoing intrusions into the justice department (DoJ) and the FBI aren't just efforts to derail investigations of his wrongdoing. They're attacks on the system of impartial justice itself.Trump's attorney general, William Barr, is supposed to be responsible to the American people. Instead he's become Trump's advocate. Barr even advised the White House not to turn over the whistleblower complaint to Congress.After misleading the public on the contents of Robert Mueller's report, Barr bowed to Trump's demand that the department look into the origin of the FBI investigation that had led to the Mueller report.And now, after the DoJ's own inspector general has found that the FBI had plenty of evidence to start its Russia inquiry – more than 100 contacts between members of the Trump campaign and Russian agents during the 2016 campaign – Barr refuses to be bound by the findings, and has appointed a prosecutor to launch yet another inquiry into the origins of the Russia investigation.The deeper systemic corrosion: from now on, attorneys general won't be presumed to be administering impartial justice, and the findings of special counsels and inspectors general will have less finality and legitimacy.Barr is part of Trump's private goon squad, along with Rudy Giuliani, chief enabler Mick Mulvaney and Trump's resident white supremacist, Stephen Miller.Giuliani is using the authority of the presidency to mount a rogue foreign policy designed to keep Trump in power. It's double lawlessness: Giuliani is bending the law and he's accountable to no one.Miller, meanwhile, is waging Trump's ongoing war against people legally seeking asylum in the United States – featuring family separations, caged children and inhumane detention.Miller even got Trump to pardon Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff who was ordered by a federal judge to stop detaining people solely on suspicion of their immigration status. Arpaio disregarded the order, which is why he was convicted of criminal contempt of court.From now on, rogue sheriffs will be less constrained.You see the pattern: whistleblowers intimidated, the justice department politicized, findings of special counsels and inspectors general distorted or ignored, foreign policy made by a private citizen unaccountable to anybody, rogue military officers and rogue sheriffs pardoned.Each instance is disturbing on its own. Viewed as a whole, Trump's lawlessness is systematically corrupting justice in the US.Impartial justice is the keystone of a democracy. Even if the Senate fails to remove Trump for impeachable offenses, American voters must do so next November.
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| Trump's Wish: Will Iran Bankrupt Itself Through Military Spending? Posted: 03 Jan 2020 08:43 PM PST  It's happened before. Just ask the Soviets.
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| China rules out SARS in mystery viral pneumonia outbreak Posted: 05 Jan 2020 09:39 AM PST  China on Sunday said a mysterious viral pneumonia outbreak that has affected 59 people was not the flu-like virus SARS that killed hundreds more than a decade ago. The infection was first reported last week in Wuhan, a central Chinese city with a population of over 11 million -- leading to online speculation about a resurgence of the highly contagious SARS virus. "We have excluded several hypotheses, in particular the fact that it is a flu, an avian flu, an adenovirus, respiratory syndrome severe acute (SARS) or Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS)," the Wuhan health commission said.
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| Boeing 737 Max investigation after several plane crashes revealed additional concerns with wiring and engines Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:51 PM PST  Software played a role in two deadly crashes that grounded the Boeing 737 Max, but the investigation also unearthed concerns with wiring and engines.
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| US sends veteran firefighters to battle Australia wildfires Posted: 04 Jan 2020 03:34 PM PST  A crew of 20 veteran firefighters based in California will head to Australia on Monday to help battle the country's out-of-control wildfires that have killed at least 23 people and scorched millions of acres. The crew of federal firefighters based in the Angeles National Forest north of Los Angeles will depart on Monday, said Carrie Bilbao, a spokeswoman with the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, which is mobilizing U.S. resources in response to Australia's requests for international firefighting aide.
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| Cambodia building collapse kills 36 people, injures 23 others Posted: 04 Jan 2020 05:38 PM PST  Thirty-six people were killed and 23 more injured when a tourist guesthouse under construction in Cambodia collapsed, trapping workers under rubble, officials said on Sunday. Officials said rescue operations ended two days after the seven-storey concrete building collapsed on Friday in the coastal town of Kep, about 160 km (100 miles) southwest of the capital Phnom Penh. The 36 dead included six children and 14 women, officials said in a statement that did not detail why children were at the construction site.
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| Germans who live near wind turbines should be paid compensation, says government minister Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:13 PM PST  Germans who live near wind turbines could be paid compensation by the government under a proposal to boost supplies of renewable energy. Matthias Miersch of Germany's Social Democrat party (SPD) said his scheme would encourage Germans to move near the controversial wind farms as well as rewarding those who already do. The payments would either be made to community organisations and municipalities, or directly to home-owners. Mr Miersch told the Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung "those who accept windmills in their neighbourhood make the expansion of renewable energy possible and should be rewarded". The proposal has not met with widespread approval, however, with Uwe Brandl of the German Association of Towns and Municipalities saying the payments were effectively "hush money". "If we start paying people to keep quiet, it'll start with windmills and then go on with roads and other infrastructure," Mr Brandl said. Wind farm growth has slowed in Germany, with 2020 having the fewest planned new turbines for 20 years, potentially undermining the country's efforts to achieve its renewable energy goals set under the Paris Agreement. Germany plans to draw 65 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2030. While Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats - the larger part of Germany's governing coalition – did not respond on Sunday, the Greens have welcomed the plan. The scheme does not indicate the amount of compensation or potential cost to the taxpayer. Despite widespread support for renewable energy across Germany, residents living near wind farms have frequently complained about noise and visual pollution. Conservationists have also criticised wind farms for posing a deadly threat to birds, bats and insects. While the scale of the project is novel, the idea of compensating those who live near wind farms in Germany is not new. The northern German state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in 2016 required that companies building wind farms needed to offer 20 percent of their shares to residents and municipalities within five kilometres of the proposed farms. Similarly, local authorities in the eastern state of Brandenburg receive a payment of €10,000 (£8,500) per wind turbine per annum.
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| Britain will not lament death of Soleimani: PM Johnson Posted: 05 Jan 2020 10:50 AM PST  Britain will not lament the death of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Sunday, though he warned that reprisals would lead to greater violence. The United States killed top military leader Soleimani outside Baghdad airport in a drone strike on Friday. In his first intervention on the escalation of tensions in the Middle East, Johnson said he had spoken Sunday with US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
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| QAnon Believer Teamed Up With Conspiracy Theorists to Plot Kidnapping, Police Say Posted: 04 Jan 2020 01:59 AM PST  Colorado mother Cynthia Abcug became an unlikely star on the fringe right last year thanks to a battle with her state's child-welfare department over custody of her son, which became a cause célèbre among believers of the bizarre pro-Trump QAnon conspiracy theory. But a recently unsealed arrest warrant alleges that Abcug had bigger plans, working with other armed QAnon believers to plan a kidnapping.Montana police arrested Abcug in Kalispell, Montana, on Dec. 30, on a felony conspiracy to commit kidnapping arrest warrant issued in Colorado. Abcug had allegedly teamed up with other QAnon believers to carry out the kidnapping, according to witness statements to police. The alleged target of the purported kidnapping is redacted in court documents, but the individual is described as once having been in Abcug's "care." The 50-year-old's son was taken from her by Colorado child-welfare officials in the spring of 2019. Police in Parker, Colorado, first became aware of Abcug's alleged plan in late September, when her daughter told authorities that she had been discussing a kidnapping "raid" with other QAnon believers. Abcug's daughter told police she was concerned that someone could be hurt in the raid.Trump Throws Fresh Fuel on Dangerous QAnon Conspiracy TheoryAccording to a heavily redacted police affidavit, Abcug's daughter told police that her mom was a committed QAnon believer who had been discussing how "people from the Q-Anon group planned to kidnap" the unnamed person. Abcug had obtained a gun of her own, according to her daughter, and talked about a person or group of people "dying" in a "raid" conducted by QAnon believers.Police found QAnon paraphernalia at Abcug's home, including blue awareness bracelets promoting a QAnon website and the name of a prominent QAnon Twitter poster. Abcug allegedly stressed "her belief that people would be injured during the raid," saying that they were "evil Satan worshipers" and "pedophiles," according to the affidavit. Abcug's daughter said her mom typically only left the house to meet with fellow QAnon supporters. "[Abcug's daughter] explained that Abcug got involved with Q-Anon, and that Abcug has repeatedly talked about a raid (to her and others), wherein people from the Q-Anon group planned to kidnap [name redacted]," the arrest warrant affidavit reads. "She expressed concern that people were going to be injured, and that it was going to occur 'soon.'" QAnon, an elaborate conspiracy theory that posits that Donald Trump is at war with Satanic pedophile-cannibals in the Democratic Party, began in late 2017 with anonymous message board posts made by a person or a group of people known only as "Q." Since then, it's won adherents among Trump supporters, including some GOP congressional candidates. The president and his re-election campaign have repeatedly flirted with QAnon promoters, even though the FBI considers QAnon to be a potential domestic terror threat.While QAnon promoters often claim their movement is non-violent, the conspiracy theory has been linked to two murders, including the slaying of a Gambino mafia family boss. Other QAnon believers have been charged with crimes, including a church vandalism and an attempt to shut down a bridge with an improvised armored truck.Accused Pizzagate Arsonist Pleads Guilty to Setting Fire at D.C. PizzeriaAbcug's feud with state officials over custody of her son turned her into a star among QAnon believers and other fringe activists after she broadcast her allegations about supposed abuses committed by the state's child-welfare system on right-wing websites like InfoWars, Big League Politics, and PJ Media.Abcug didn't respond to a request for comment, and The Daily Beast was not able to confirm the details of Abcug's custody case. A segment of QAnon believers have become convinced, in an outgrowth of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, that child-protective services double as a kind of hunting ground for the mythical pedophiles they're convinced run the anti-Trump "deep state." "The Child Protective Services was a front line for funneling in the trafficking," Abcug said in a June appearance on a QAnon-affiliated YouTube channel. "I had not been open to that yet." The custody case brought Abcug into contact with more QAnon believers, including a man identified in the police affidavit as "Ryan," an "armed guard" who was staying with her. Abcug reportedly described her associate as a "sniper." Abcug stopped responding to police during their investigation last September and eventually left Colorado, only resurfacing in Montana in late December. Abcug was arrested after a tip from the FBI, according to a local news report.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's Largest Nuclear Bomb Was Too Big (And Failed) Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:06 AM PST  This is why you don't skip steps when it comes to nukes.
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| Inside the Mysterious Death of a Prosecutor Investigating an Alleged Iran Terror Attack That Killed 85 Jews Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:03 AM PST  Despairing portraits of injustice—writ both small and large—don't come much bleaker than Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy, Netflix's six-part docuseries about a terror attack in Argentina, the theories and investigations that followed, and the unbelievably shady death of the man accusing the country's president of colluding with foreign powers to let the perpetrators go free. Even on a streaming platform known for its pessimistic true-crime works concerning the unknowability of truth, Justin Webster's documentary is a gut-punch of a non-fiction exposé, recounting a tangled tale with few clear answers and considerably less hope.The story of scandals piled on top of crimes piled on top of more scandals, all of it leading to endless questions and unending misery, Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy (available now) is, first and foremost, about the July 18, 1994, bombing of the Jewish cultural center AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) in Buenos Aires that left 85 dead and more than 200 injured. AMIA was the worst terror attack in Latin American history, and it fell to Jewish-Argentinian native Alberto Nisman to prosecute the case. In that trial, Nisman and his colleagues seemed to successfully argue that the heinous atrocity was carried out via a truck bomb that was procured by known criminal Carlos Telleldín, and that the suicide driver was a member of Hezbollah. Their contention that Telleldín had been in league with a cabal of crooked cops, however, fell apart thanks to mid-trial revelations, resulting in few credible culprits.How Two Online Sleuths Helped Track Down a Hollywood-Obsessed Internet KillerHow the Truth Disappears: Chinese Censorship and My Film 'One Child Nation'Nonetheless, the ambitious and morally righteous Nisman was asked to continue investigating AMIA. With the aid of Antonio "Jamie" Stiuso—the No. 2 intelligence agent in the country at the time—he came to believe that those responsible for the tragedy were the powers-that-be in Iran, who had employed their Hezbollah proxies to do the deed in a manner similar to the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center (among others). In the ensuing decade, Nisman mounted a highly public legal campaign against Iran as well as Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner, who—along with her chancellor Héctor Timerman, and others in her cabinet—he claimed had conspired with Iran to let the suspected terrorists behind the attack go free. So convinced was Nisman that Kirchner had tried to rescind Interpol's "Red Notice" arrest warrants for the wrongdoers, all in order to solidify business dealings with Iran, that he filed a formal complaint in 2015 charging the president with treason.And then, on Jan. 18, 2015, a day before he was set to appear before Congress to present evidence in support of that charge, Nisman was found dead in his apartment, the victim of a single gunshot wound to the head.Suspicious timing, no? Anyone with a semi-functioning frontal lobe immediately suspected foul play. And the fact that Nisman had voiced plenty of concern about his personal safety, but shown no signs of suicidal depression (he was a separated father of two who was devoted to his daughters, and living a single life amidst a bevy of models), only amplified such hunches. The problem was, the forensic evidence was, and remains, inconclusive; for all the testimony presented by experts, replete with CGI recreations and gunpowder residue and blood-spatter analysis, there's simply no way to definitively know whether Nisman did the deed himself, or if a third-party shooter was responsible. Even a late eye-opener about ketamine in Nisman's system (possibly related to his earlier Wikipedia searches about psychedelia?) can't fully convince one that he was offed by a nefarious agent.Then again, nothing in Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy is 100 percent persuasive. The links between Iran and the AMIA bombing come across as frustratingly insubstantial. The same goes for Argentinian intelligence agencies' own potential role in the crime. There are tons of wiretap conversations featuring a shadowy inside-man known as Allan Bogado, who was supplying Iran with intel on Nisman and Kirchner. Yet despite director Webster getting Bogado on camera to talk about his conduct, it's never clear whether he was a traitor, a double-agent, or a fraud. There are also calls between Stiuso and fellow intelligence cohorts in the hours leading up to the discovery of Nisman's body that, according to prosecutor Viviana Fein, point to pre-release knowledge about his death—but their purpose is never ascertained. That Nisman was flush with an eye-opening amount of cash (far more than his income would have provided) is merely another in a string of questionable details sans decent explanation.In other words, good luck parsing almost any element of Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy, which is drowning in dates and developments from the past quarter-century of Argentinian politics. Webster employs timelines, dramatic recreations, crime-scene footage, new and old interviews, and obnoxious TV broadcasts (which function as their own damning critique of a media world gone mad) to try to streamline his knotty material while simultaneously shaping it in a dramatic thriller-mystery mold. The effort, alas, is only partially successful. No matter the six-hour-plus runtime, there's sometimes too much information to lucidly process, especially given that the director eschews a straightforward chronology, jumping backwards and forwards in time to shine a light on various investigative avenues. A working knowledge of recent Argentinian history will help viewers navigate these turbulent waters. Still, a simpler, less adventurous narrative structure would have made this twisty-turn affair quite a bit easier to digest.Nisman: The Prosecutor, the President and the Spy eventually suggests that Nisman may have been the victim of a conspiracy himself, orchestrated by Stiuso, a 30-year intelligence operative whose cagey interviews are marked by Cheshire Cat grins and shrugged-shoulder expressions that imply he knows infinitely more than he's letting on. Stiuso's ability to cling to his powerful position through multiple regimes (some dictatorial, some democratic) is a testament to his cunning ability to manipulate and exploit. Ultimately, this formidable and mysterious spy seems to be the true mastermind of this sprawling saga—and a figure who proves that outsiders (such as Nisman) wade into treacherous espionage waters at their own great peril.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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| Swiss oppose drive to end free movement of EU citizens: poll Posted: 05 Jan 2020 03:16 AM PST ![Swiss oppose drive to end free movement of EU citizens: poll]( "Swiss oppose drive to end free movement of EU citizens: poll") Most Swiss oppose a referendum campaign launched by the far right to end the free movement of citizens from the European Union, a poll published on Sunday found. The referendum drive reflects unease with the influx of foreigners, who now account for a quarter of the Swiss population. A binding referendum is expected in May on whether Switzerland should take back unilateral control of immigration, if necessary at the cost of abrogating the free-movement pact that took full effect in 2007.
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| Swath of snow to threaten northeastern US as fresh cold invades next week Posted: 04 Jan 2020 03:33 AM PST  A storm tapping into a fresh plunge of cold air will lay a swath of accumulating snow from the upper Ohio Valley to New England from Tuesday into Wednesday.The storm around the middle of next week will follow two rounds of wintry weather in the region, including one during the first half of the weekend. Late Sunday through Monday, a round of light to moderate snow is likely near and north of Interstate 80, with a general coating to an inch or two expected.Monday morning commutes around Erie, Pennsylvania, and Buffalo and Syracuse, New York, could be slippery.A storm set to form across the lower Ohio Valley on Monday night and swing through the mid-Atlantic and New England from Tuesday into Wednesday will be the next snowmaker in the region.This storm's track could allow accumulating snow to fall farther south and east than its two predecessors.A swath of accumulating snowfall is forecast to extend from a portion of the upper Ohio Valley through the central Appalachians, New York state and New England."Parts of interstates 79, 80, 86 and 90 will be impacted Tuesday into Tuesday evening as this quick-moving blast of snow moves through the region," AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Dan Pydynowski said."By Wednesday, the steadiest and heaviest of the snow should be confined to Maine and Atlantic Canada as the storm intensifies and moves northeastward," he added. Pittsburgh, State College and Scranton, Pennsylvania; Syracuse and Albany, New York; Burlington, Vermont; Manchester, New Hampshire; Pittsfield and Springfield, Massachusetts; and Portland and Bangor, Maine, are among some of the communities that could face accumulating snowfall and slippery travel with this event.There is the potential for a widespread 1-3 inches of snow with pockets of locally higher amounts from eastern Ohio to Pennsylvania, the mountains of West Virginia and New York state.Snowfall totals of a 6 inches or more are most likely to occur in New England and Atlantic Canada, where the storm will slow down and intensify.Portland, Maine, could wind up with yet another heavy snow event, following a December in which the city received nearly double its average monthly snowfall of 13.2 inches.Rain mixed with snow is forecast for the rest of the major I-95 cities of the Northeast, but any slight shift in the track of the storm could bring a longer period of snow to this corridor.At this juncture, commuters in the northwestern suburbs of Philadelphia, New York City and Boston will be at greatest risk of experiencing slippery travel late on Tuesday or Wednesday morning.Areas downwind of the eastern Great Lakes will receive more snow in the storm's wake as the lake-effect snow machine kicks into high gear."Travel could be difficult along the New York State Thruway and I-90 in northwest Pennsylvania as locally heavy snow squalls combine with gusty winds to reduce visibility and make for slippery roadways," Pydynowski said.The snow showers and squalls will ramp up as cold, gusty winds rush in behind the storm."After a mild start to January, Wednesday will be a wake-up call for many in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast," Pydynowski said."A blast of colder air combined with gusty winds will keep AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperatures in the single digits and teens much of the day across interior parts of the Northeast and New England," he added.The harsh winds will settle down on Thursday, and conditions are forecast to trend milder by the end of the week as a new storm system approaches from the west.Download the free AccuWeather app to check the forecast in your area. Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| US army to 'pay price' for killing Soleimani: Hezbollah chief Posted: 05 Jan 2020 08:27 AM PST  Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday said the US army will "pay the price" for killing top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and a senior Iraqi commander in a drone strike. "The American army killed them and it will pay the price," the Iran-backed head of the Lebanese Shiite group warned in a televised speech following Friday's strike in the Iraqi capital. "The only just punishment is (to target) American military presence in the region: US military bases, US warships, each and every officer and soldier in the region," Nasrallah said.
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| Ross Perot's Forgotten Mission During the Vietnam War Posted: 05 Jan 2020 05:45 AM PST  50 years ago Ross Perot set out on a mission to Vietnam at the height of the war. What this episode reveals about him and American then.
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| Klobuchar gains momentum in Iowa – but can a centrist hope to win there? Posted: 04 Jan 2020 08:34 AM PST  The Minnesota senator is reaching out to Iowa's smallest towns and rural settlements ahead of the vital February caucus and seeing increasing numbersCraig Hiller, an Iowa farmer, had just enjoyed a hot chocolate on Amy Klobuchar's campaign bus as it made a stop in the small town of Rockwell City, population just 2,100.Hiller, whose state is the vital first one to cast ballots in the party's nomination race to pick an opponent to Donald Trump, was impressed by the Minnesota senator, a fellow midwesterner who desperately needs a strong showing in Iowa to boost her 2020 presidential campaign."Who we need is someone who someone who's down to earth, who no one can hate," Hiller said on Rockwell City's Main Street as Klobuchar's bus rolled to its next stop in Cherokee county, 50 miles west. "I don't know anyone after tonight who fits that better than Amy Klobuchar."That sort of reaction is music to Klobuchar's ears as she carried out a gruelling tour through 27 counties in rural Iowa in an attempt to build a groundswell of support through reaching out to the state's smallest towns and rural settlements. With this strategy, even a couple dozen attendees counts as a success.On her arrival in Rockwell – with temperatures below freezing – 25 people including Hiller had piled aboard the big green Amy bus for hot chocolate. Two dozen others had turned out to see the Minnesota senator in tiny Ida Grove that same day, a county that doesn't even have 1,000 registered Democrats. But most striking to Klobuchar was a crowd of around 50 packing the Sac County Cattle Company on a Sunday night just before Christmas. It's where the Republican congressman Steve King, who hails from Kiron, 30 miles south, stumps and dines with family. The proprietor said Klobuchar's crowds were at least the size of King's, or any other Republican who has come calling.> We're approaching this like we can win, and all signs are pointing in the right direction> > Amy KlobucharKlobuchar said those gatherings are a sign of what to expect on Iowa's caucus day on 3 February. Klobuchar sits at about 6% support among probable Iowa caucusgoers, according to the most recent Des Moines Register Iowa poll in October, but a strong debate showing in Los Angeles brought her notice. She says it's evidence of momentum, just like the folks coming out to see her in increasing numbers."We're approaching this like we can win, and all signs are pointing in the right direction," Klobuchar told the Guardian. "A crowd that size in Sac City, anywhere in rural America, means something. I'm especially glad it's in Steve King's backyard."dividerKlobuchar is blunt about her shared background with Iowa's voters. She brags about being from the midwest, and how she can win in rural Minnesota counties that Trump took by 20 points. In the last Democratic debate she took a dig at the location of a rival's fundraiser by saying she's never been to a wine cave, but she's been to a wind cave in South Dakota. A mention of Trump is usually followed with a mention of the tanking of corn and soybean prices from trade wars. Her entire argument is built around electability in midwest swing states such as Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan and Ohio."He's treating farmers like poker chips in one of his bankrupt casinos," she said to the delight of her audience at one stop. By contrast, she says she remembers her neighbors saving spare cash in coffee cans growing up.The question is whether her momentum, which is mainly confined to Iowa, is too little too late. In less than six weeks, caucusgoers will trudge through a frigid night to precinct meetings in schoolhouses and courthouses – while she may be chained to Trump's impeachment trial in the US Senate, which is set to start sometime in January and last for an unknown time."To say it's an uphill battle would definitely be accurate, even charitable," said Brad Best, a longtime caucus observer and political science professor at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake. "In an ironic way, her stardom in the Senate will hurt her campaigning in Iowa, where she desperately needs to do well."Yet, there are precedents. John Kerry came from the shadows in 2004 less than two weeks before the caucuses to win, and later secure the nomination. Klobuchar says a doubling of office spaces in Iowa and positive responses in Des Moines Register/CNN Iowa polls are signs of hope. Best says her strongest advantage is that overwhelming majorities of probable caucusgoers have favorable opinions of her and list her in their top three selections."I'd say I know Iowans pretty well, and they really like honesty, which is what we aren't seeing from the man in the White House," Klobuchar said, citing the 39 counties in Iowa that voted for Trump in 2016 and Barack Obama in 2008.She says people there have a thirst for economic prosperity that can be achieved realistically, not with promises like Medicare for All. She never mentions challengers from the progressive wing by name. "We can win them back telling the truth. We can bring those people back."Congressional candidate JD Scholten, a Sioux City Democrat running against King, likes Klobuchar's strategy of dwelling on rural voters. He just capped off a 39-county bus tour of western Iowa in a camper.Scholten said voters in rural areas like Sac City and Rockwell City are easier to organize than in Democratic metro strongholds such as Des Moines or Iowa City. Those who show up in Rockwell City are reliably Democratic and less issue-focused. Rarely do they see a candidate with Klobuchar's resume. When they do, they leave with a strong impression."It's a lot easier to get viability in Sac county than Polk county," said Scholten. "She recognizes that people are familiar with her. Sac City isn't a long way from the Iowa-Minnesota border."Those who hear Klobuchar's message like her focus on the midwest. After the Sac City event, one farmer – who declined to offer his name because his landlord is Republican – said Klobuchar's retelling of family stories from the iron ore mines and farms of northern Minnesota struck him as authentic."It's not a story she picked up from somewhere. It's one you can tell she's from here, she's one of us who faces the same problems we do," he said.
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| Alabama police say they found the body of a woman who texted 'I feel in trouble' just before she disappeared Posted: 04 Jan 2020 02:42 PM PST  Paighton Houston had texted a coworker on December 20, saying she might be in trouble. She was last seen at a Birmingham bar leaving with two men.
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| Are we ready for an America without civil rights icon Rep. John Lewis? Posted: 05 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  Can we use the civil rights icon as a reminder to learn from and preserve the legacies of older Americans? Will they trust us enough to allow it?
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| Restaurant employee says she was told to leave because of hijab Posted: 04 Jan 2020 04:18 AM PST  A fast-food restaurant in Texas is apologizing after an employee was asked to leave because she was wearing a hijab.
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| Ghosn fled Japan after security firm hired by Nissan stopped surveillance: sources Posted: 03 Jan 2020 11:05 PM PST  Ousted Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn left his Tokyo residence after a private security firm hired by Nissan Motor Co stopped monitoring him, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Saturday. Ghosn has become an international fugitive after he revealed on Tuesday he had fled to Lebanon to escape what he called a "rigged" justice system in Japan, where he faces charges relating to alleged financial crimes. Nissan had hired a private security company to watch Ghosn, who was on bail and awaiting trial, to check whether he met any people involved in the case, the three sources said.
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| Wildfires threaten unique critters on Australian 'Galapagos' Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:37 AM PST  It has been described as Australia's Galapagos Islands and has long been a refuge for some of the country's most endangered creatures. Experts working on the island say the fires have killed thousands of koalas and kangaroos, and also have raised questions about whether any members of a mouse-like marsupial species that carries its young in a pouch have survived. Located off the coast of South Australia state, Kangaroo Island is about 50% larger than Rhode Island and home to 4,500 people and what was a thriving ecotourism industry.
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| Will Qassem Soleimani’s Death Activate Sleeper Cells in America? Posted: 05 Jan 2020 01:55 AM PST  For more than a decade, Hezbollah and therefore Iran have maintained "sleeper agents" in America who await only a coded signal to commit mass murder and wreak maximum chaos."There would be certain scenarios that would require action or conduct by those who belonged to the cell," one of three sleeper agents arrested by the FBI since 2017 is quoted saying in court papers. The sleeper agent, Ali Kourani, told the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force that he would have expected to be activated if Iran and the United States went to war. "The unit is Iranian controlled," Kourani said.Other precipitating events would include major U.S. military action against Hezbollah or its Iranian overseers."In those scenarios the sleeper cell would also be triggered into action," Kourani said.That would certainly seem to include an airstrike killing Iran's most prominent military figure, General Qassem Soleimani. In the aftermath of that startling action, a senior U.S. intelligence official said that if the Iranians remain rational they will refrain from mounting an attack on the American homeland for fear of sparking a war they cannot possibly win. He noted in the next breath that emotions are no doubt running high in Tehran."If you remove the rational thinking…" he said.The official figured that Kourani and a second sleeper agent named Samer El Debek had almost certainly been replaced after they were arrested on the same day in different cities in 2017. The third, Alexei Saab, who was arrested in July of 2019, had already been in place for years but was unaware of the other two."There could be sleeper cells all over the place," the official said.And they are presumably under orders, just as Kourani was in the Bronx, El Debek was in Dearborn, Michigan, and Saab was in Morristown, New Jersey. The three were instructed to be as innocuous as the spam email they would receive carrying a one-word coded command from Hezbollah and its ally or front, the Islamic Jihad Organization or IJO."These sleepers were tasked to maintain ostensibly normal lives," the FBI says in court papers. "But could be activated and tasked with conducting IJO operations."Kourani was sentenced last month to 40 years in prison for providing material support to a terrorist organization. "As a sophisticated, well-trained IJO operative positioned under deep cover in the United States, the defendant was part of an emerging threat posed by the IJO in the Americas region, about which little was known publicly before the FBI arrested the defendant and El Debek on the same day in 2017," prosecutors said in the sentencing memorandum, referring to Hezbollah's Islamic Jihad Organization.Another section of the memorandum has taken on particular significance in the aftermath of the Soleimani hit: "The IJO's operations in the United States are a part of Iran's proxy network, and Iran has backed this threat by funding Hizballah in annual amounts ranging between $200 million and $800 million per year... Iran's support of Hizballah results in the 'more severe' risks attendant to 'state sponsored terrorism,' as described at the trial, which in this context leads to increased focus on targeting nodes of critical infrastructure in attacks intended to cripple cities."The memorandum notes that the targets Kourani surveilled included two federal facilities with child-care centers."He has expressed no remorse to date, and argues repeatedly that he 'harmed no one,'" prosecutors note. "It is safe to say that the parents of small children who spend their days at targets surveilled by the defendant on behalf of the IJO disagree."El Debek, who has pleaded guilty and appears to be cooperating, is said in court papers to have admitted conducting surveillance at numerous possible targets. That included one outside the U.S., the Panama Canal."El Debek said Hizballah asked him to identify areas of weakness and construction at the Canal, and provide information about Canal security and how close someone could get to a ship," the FBI says. "In doing so, he stated, he took a lot of photographs of the Canal, which he later provided to the IJO."But there were also numerous targets in New York, including a federal building that has a "large daycare facility" with "exterior . . . playgrounds." The FBI notes that at one point, "The defendant, updated his Facebook status with a post in Arabic, which translated reads: 'Do not make peace or share food with those who killed your people. Irrigate the land with blood and quench the thirst of your forefathers until their bones [their remains] talk with you.'"Saab pleaded not guilty after his arrest this summer, but is said in court papers to have told the FBI about his intelligence gathering efforts at numerous possible targets, these in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., and other cities. "Saab focused on structural weaknesses of the locations he surveilled to determine how a future attack could cause the most destruction-i.e., he sought to learn how to maximize damage if the IJO later bombed a location," court papers say. "Among other information, SAAB focused on the materials used to construct a particular target, how close in proximity one could get to a target, and site weaknesses or 'soft spots' that the IJO could exploit if it attacked a location in the future."The papers add, "Saab understood that the information he provided to the IJO would be used to calculate the size of a bomb needed to target a particular structure and the ideal location in which to place explosive devices to maximize damage. For example, SAAB provided information on how to target bridges to best allow the IJO to 'disable' them and to prevent them from being used. To that end, SAAB looked for weak points in the bridge's structure and the photographs he took would focus on structural details such as the main joints, the towers, and the cables."The papers further report that in 2004, Saab was summoned to Lebanon and taken to a safe house to meet with a handler."There, [the handler] told Saab to prepare a detailed guide to New York City. Over the course of the following two days, Saab wrote an approximately seven to 10 page report (the "Report') on New York City. The first page of the Report was a hand-drawn map with specific locations annotated by number. The second page of the Report had a legend, which indicated how the numbers corresponded to locations. The rest of the Report had a detailed summary of each location."Among the locations in the Report were: "Federal, state, and local government buildings, including 26 Federal Plaza...United Nations headquarters...The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island...Rockefeller Center...Wall Street and the New York Stock Exchange..Times Square...The Empire State Building..Herald Square and Macy's in Midtown...Local airports, including John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia Airport, and Newark Liberty International Airport...Local tunnels and bridges, including the Lincoln Tunnel, Holland Tunnel, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Brooklyn Bridge, George Washington Bridge, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge, and Goethals Bridge."The papers further note, "Saab included in the Report such details as directions to the local airports, the number of terminals at the local airports, and which terminals were for international or domestic travel."The FBI adds that Saab's training in explosives ranged from a "viable victim-actuated device, designed to detonate when the briefcase was lifted off the surface by a potential victim" to "a viable improvised mortar device, meaning it is command initiated and able to detonate on a time delay." Some on-the-job assassination training in Lebanon began when an instructor told him to steal a particular Mercedes.The Hezbollah Sleeper Agent Busted for Black Ops in America"Saab was given a key that appeared to be a universal key capable of accessing multiple cars, and then proceeded to steal the Mercedes."The instructor drove off in the Mercedes and later returned to pick up Saab. The instructor told Saab to reach under the passenger seat. "Saab removed a plastic bag containing a silver firearm with an attached silencer. Saab and [the instructor] then drove approximately 10 minutes to a field outside of Beirut. A small white van was parked in the field...[The instructor] then instructed Saab to walk up to the passenger's side of the Van and shoot the person inside 'twice in the belly' and 'once in the head'...Saab pointed his firearm at the van's driver. The Driver cried out twice, in sum and substance, that it 'wasn't him' and raised his hands in front of his face. Saab then pulled the trigger twice, but the gun did not fire. [The instructor] waved Saab to get back into the Mercedes, and they fled the scene. Saab later came to believe that the Driver was a suspected Israeli spy."Saab was also trained in the best way to take photos of targets back in America without raising suspicion. "For photographs, Saab learned to position an unrelated subject as the focus point of the picture, with the true object of surveillance in the background," court papers say. "Saab would also often pose people in front of the intended objects of his surveillance, to provide perspective and shield his true purpose from law enforcement."Saab is scheduled to go on trial in Manhattan federal court in February 2021. El Debek is expected to be among the witnesses against him. El Debek will likely testify about his own Hezbollah assignments, which included flying to Bangkok under an extreme cover."The handler told El Debek to say he was looking for sex in Thailand," the court papers say. Debek did hire a sex worker, but he used her solely to go ahead of him into a house so he could see if it was under surveillance. He then retrieved a stash of ammonium nitrate, a prime ingredient for explosives that another operative had abandoned. The stuff was in first-aid ice packs produced by a company in Guangzhou, China, that Kourani had once been dispatched to visit. El Debek will also likely testify about his own explosives training, which included manufacturing a bomb similar to the device one of his cousins used to kill seven aboard an Israeli tour bus in Burgas, Bulgaria, in 2012.That was one of several attacks the IJO staged in retaliation for the killing of its leader and founder, Imad Mughniyeh, in a February 2008 joint American and Israeli operation in Syria. An earlier attack on Mughniyeh had been called off by the Americans because he was with Soleimani.Now that we have gone ahead and also killed Soleimani, the question is whether IJO will activate the sleeper agents it almost certainly still has out there in the homeland."They didn't get out of the targeting business," the senior intelligence official told The Daily Beast. IJO already has that New York Guide Book, complete with an annotated hand drawn map identifying what Saab says it termed the "hot spots" to hit.Trump Told Mar-a-Lago Pals to Expect 'Big' Iran Action 'Soon'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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| Officials reportedly did not think Trump would kill Iranian commander Posted: 05 Jan 2020 10:47 AM PST  Top U.S. military officials were reportedly surprised when they presented President Trump with a number of options to respond to Iranian-backed violence in Iraq, and he chose the most radical solution.
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| Death toll from strike on Libya military school updated to 30 Posted: 05 Jan 2020 11:28 AM PST  At least 30 people were killed in an air strike on a military school in Libya's capital, a spokesman for the health ministry said Sunday citing a new toll. Thirty three others were wounded in Saturday's air raid on the military school of Tripoli, Amin al-Hashemi, spokesman for the health ministry of the UN-recognised Government of National Accord (GNA) said.
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| These Horrors Awaited The U.S. Army At Nordhausen Concentration Camp Posted: 05 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST  On March 30, 1945, the U.S. 3rd Armored Division made a startling discovery at the Nordhausen Concentration Camp the same day its commander was killed near Paderborn, Germany.
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| British death row inmate could be freed after 33 years as lawyers reveal new evidence ‘that proves his innocence’ Posted: 04 Jan 2020 05:03 AM PST  A British man, who has spent 33 years imprisoned in the US – 10 of them on death row – could be freed after judges agreed to hear an appeal which lawyers claim will prove his innocence.Krishna Maharaj was jailed in 1987 for the double murder of father and son businessmen Derrick and Duane Moo Young.
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