NATO ally expels undercover Russian spy 

WASHINGTON — On Oct. 30, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry delivered a rare warning to a Russian diplomat stationed in Sofia, the capital: Leave the country within 24 hours. The expelled diplomat, Vladimir Anatolyevich Rusyaev is affiliated with the Russian military intelligence service, or the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly known as the GRU, according to a Western intelligence source. The intelligence source provided Yahoo News with a document describing Rusyaev's career history, including a current photograph.

Can Pete Buttigieg win the presidency?

A poll released earlier this week showed Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic presidential primary pack in Iowa for the first time. Buttigieg, an openly gay military veteran, was the top choice of 25 percent of likely Iowa caucus-goers, outpacing long-standing frontrunners Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Buttigieg has staked a position where he can be seen as a reasonable alternative for voters who have doubts about the three leading candidates.

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  Black South Carolinians Say Buttigieg Campaign Misleadingly Touted Their Support

  HuffPost
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  On an upswing, the Pete Buttigieg show rolls through New Hampshire

  Yahoo News

Pro-Life Investigators Found Guilty in Lawsuit After Filming Planned Parenthood Execs Discussing Sale of Fetal Body Parts

A San Fransisco district court on Friday found pro-life activists guilty in a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood after the activists surreptitiously filmed executives of the abortion group discussing the sale of fetal body parts. A ten person federal jury convicted activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress on charges of conspiracy to commit fraud, breach of contract and trespass and violation of state and federal recording laws in Maryland, California and Florida. Planned Parenthood will be awarded $870,000 in punitive damages.

Nuclear missile bunker: yours for less than $400k

One local newspaper described the sales listing, with calculated understatement, as a “mid-century fixer-upper”: an underground bunker built to withstand a nuclear attack, and to house the fire power to retaliate. The decommissioned nuclear silo in southern Arizona was once home to the Titan II, the largest intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the US Air Force. The silo's owner, Rick Ellis, told the Arizona Daily Star newspaper that he was selling the property because he's “bored”.

Australia intel chair blocked from China after criticising Beijing

Australia's parliamentary intelligence committee head, who has previously criticised Beijing, said he had been blocked from entering China due to his "frankness about the Chinese Communist Party". Andrew Hastie warned several months ago that the world's approach to containing China's rise resembles the "catastrophic failure" to prevent the advance of Nazi Germany. Hastie, along with fellow government politician James Paterson, had planned to travel to China for a study tour next month but both have been banned from entering the country.

• China Urges Australian Lawmakers to ‘Repent’ Over Past Criticism

  Bloomberg
• Australian MP says he and colleague barred entry to China

  Associated Press

Time for hip waders: Venice sees record 3rd exceptional tide

Venice was hit Sunday by a record third exceptional tide in the same week while other parts of Italy struggled with a series of weather woes, from rain-swollen rivers to high winds to an out-of-season avalanche. Stores and museums in Venice were mostly closed in the hardest-hit area around St. Mark's Square, but tourists donned high rubber boots or even hip waders to witness and photograph the spectacle. The doors of the famed St. Mark's Basilica were securely shut to the public, an authorities took precautions — stacking sandbags in canal-side windows — to prevent salt-laden water from entering the crypt again.

Minneapolis Police Admit to Discovering 1,500 Untested Rape Kits, Spanning Over 30 Years, Found in Storage

The Minneapolis Police Department announced Friday that a 2015 count of rape kits collected from survivors came up terribly short, missing more than 1,500 rape kits held in police storage facilities. Minnesota passed a law in 2015 that required law enforcement agencies to audit their backlogged kits. But after conducting a new review this year, the Minneapolis police said at a press conference on Friday, that 1,700 untested rape kits spanning over 30 years have been discovered — far more than the 194 kits found in 2015.

Here's What You Need To Know About The Democrats Plans To Tax Americans' Wealth

Presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have each proposed an annual wealth tax on the richest Americans. The number of European countries with annual wealth taxes has fallen from 12 in 1990 to just 3 today. The Europeans found that wealth taxes induced avoidance, evasion, and capital flight, as I discuss here.

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  Here's why Europe has mostly ditched wealth taxes over the last 25 years — even as Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders seek them for the US

  Business Insider
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  Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are the 2020 progressive standard-bearers. Here's where they disagree on policy

  Business Insider

Forgotten Genocide: How a Quarter of Europe’s Roma Were Murdered by the Nazis, then Erased From History

An eyewitness account by a Holocaust survivor—unearthed for a new exhibition in London—describes the conditions in the “gypsy” section of Auschwitz as even more inhumane than the rest of the appalling facility. “The conditions were worse than in the other camps,” wrote eyewitness Hermann Langbein in 1945. The gypsies were still wearing the clothes that they had been given upon arrival… footwear was missing… The latrines were built in such a way that they were practically unusable for the gypsy children.

UN warns Bolivia crisis could ‘spin out of control’ after nine killed in latest violence

The United Nations has warned mounting unrest in Bolivia could “spin out of control” after nine people died in the latest escalation of violence between between security forces and supporters of former president Evo Morales. Protesters loyal to Mr Morales, who resigned from office and fled to Mexico after being accused of electoral fraud, were fired upon by armed police on Friday after attempting to cross a military checkpoint in the central city of Sacaba. Bolivia's national ombudsman later confirmed nine people had died, bringing the death toll from the violence which has rocked the country to 23.

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  Four more deaths in Bolivia protests: rights commission

  AFP
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  Bolivia’s crisis exposes old racial, geographic divides

  Associated Press

Chile police stopped rescue workers helping dying protester: human rights watchdog

Chile's independent human rights watchdog said on Saturday it would file a formal complaint for murder against police officers who allegedly prevented paramedics from attending a heart attack victim amid a protest Friday. Security forces firing tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons made it impossible for rescue workers to properly treat the victim, Chile's publicly-funded National Institute for Human Rights said. Twenty-nine year old Abel Acuna died shortly after at a nearby Santiago hospital.

Israel strikes Hamas targets after 2 rockets fired from Gaza

Israel said its aircraft hit military sites for Gaza's Hamas rulers Saturday after two rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave. This was Israel's first strike against Hamas since the start of this week's cross-border fighting with another Gaza militant group, the Iran-backed Islamic jihad. The shooting ended in a shaky cease-fire announced Thursday.

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  Palestinian rockets, Israeli airstrikes jolt tenuous Gaza truce

  Reuters
• Renewed rocket fire into Israel jolts tenuous Gaza truce

  Reuters

Elephant dies in captivity after killing villagers

An elephant named after Osama bin Laden, the late al-Qaida leader, has died in captivity after he was captured following a massive hunt in northeastern India, officials said Sunday.

Leading Muslim groups to challenge India holy site court ruling

Two leading Muslim groups said Sunday they will file petitions in India's top court challenging its decision to award Hindus control of a bitterly disputed holy site that has sparked deadly inter-religious violence. The Supreme Court ruled on November 9 that the holy site in Ayodhya, where Hindu mobs destroyed a 460-year-old mosque in 1992, must be managed by a trust to oversee the construction of a Hindu temple. A separate piece of land in Ayodhya would be given over to a Muslim group to build a "prominent" new mosque.

Racist, anti-Semitic incidents prompt Syracuse to halt fraternity activities; Alpha Chi Rho suspended

Syracuse University suspended one fraternity and halted social activities at all the school's fraternities for the rest of the semester after a series of racist and anti-Semitic incidents that have prompted days of protests, the school president announced Sunday. "Last night, one of our African American students reported being subjected to a verbal racial epithet from a group of students and visitors to our campus," Chancellor Kent Syverud said in a statement. Syverud's action was the latest in a series of crackdowns on fraternities across the nation and comes less than a week after San Diego State University suspended all Interfraternity Council-affiliated organizations following the death of a freshman who had attended a fraternity event.

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  Syracuse University suspends fraternity's activities after alleged racist incidents

  ABC News
• Syracuse suspends fraternity after report of racial slur

  Associated Press

Three family murder-suicides within ten days shock Turkey as the country faces record unemployment

The deaths of three separate families within ten days have shocked Turkey as the country struggles with mass unemployment and a financial crisis. On Friday, authorities confirmed that a family of three had been found dead in their home in the central Istanbul district of Bakırköy, poisoned by cyanide. Earlier in the month, police discovered the bodies of a family of four, including a nine year-old daughter and a five year-old son, in their home in the southern city of Antalya.

Why Russian Fighter Jets Are Threatening NATO In The Baltics

Key point: Russia and NATO's military buildup in the Baltics is creating a tense situation. In the most recent illustration of ongoing Russia-NATO military tensions over Baltic airspace, recently released footage shows a Russian Su-27 fighter making a sharp turn into an American F-15C. It is unclear when the video was filmed, with some speculating that it occured during a prior NATO BAP (Baltic Air Policing) mission. When viewed in that light, this incident seems to fall into the trend of what US officials have previously described as “unsafe” Russian interceptions and “aggressive maneuvers” in high-tension airspace.

‘I’m a weird one’: Tulsi Gabbard draws unusual mix of fans on the road

It gave Gabbard an opportunity to see the eclectic mix of supporters her curious 2020 presidential campaign has managed to assemble: a mostly male grab-bag of veterans, anti-war activists, ex-Bernie Sanders supporters, ex-Jill Stein votersand at least one Donald Trump fan. An ex-navy seaman was there, bantering with Gabbard about her service in the army.

Russia says it will return captured naval ships to Ukraine on Monday

Russia will return three captured naval ships to Ukraine on Monday and is moving them to a handover location agreed with Kiev, Crimea's border guard service was cited as saying by Russian news agencies on Sunday. A Reuters reporter in Crimea, which Russian annexed from Ukraine in 2014, earlier on Sunday saw coastguard boats pulling the three vessels through the Kerch Strait toward the Black Sea where they could potentially be handed over to Ukraine. Ukraine has been pushing for their return as a good will gesture from Moscow ahead of a possible four-way peace summit on eastern Ukraine next month.

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  Russia begins moving captured Ukrainian ships

  Reuters Videos
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  Russia set to return seized Ukrainian ships: report

  AFP

The Latest: Iraq official: Protester dies in bridge clashes

Iraqi security and medical officials say a protester has been killed by a direct hit to the head from a tear gas cannister amid fresh clashes on a strategic Baghdad bridge. The officials said 32 others were wounded Sunday, hours after protesters retook control of half of Ahrar Bridge. Ahrar Bridge leads to the other side of the Tigris River near the heavily fortified Green Zone, the seat of Iraq's government.

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  Iraqi protester killed amid fresh clashes on Baghdad bridge

  Associated Press
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  Iraqis seal bridges, roads as protests pick up pace

  AFP

First African-American FBI agent finally gets recognition

The first African-American FBI special agent, who was hired 100 years ago, is finally getting recognition. There are no known photographs of James Wormley Jones, but there is a record of his hiring. Inside FBI headquarters in Washington is an archive room filled with hundreds of thousands of documents and a lone application for the job of special agent.

S. African asylum-seekers held on trespassing charges

South African police detained more than 180 foreign nationals for storming the UN refugee agency in Pretoria, where they had been staging a sit-in protest, police said Saturday. Hundreds of asylum-seekers started camping in front of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on October 8, asking to be relocated to another country after a spate of xenophobic violence in September. Protesters broke into the UNHCR premises on Thursday after they were informed of a court order giving them three days to vacate the site.

'He doesn't seem like the kind of kid to do this': Classmates, neighbors surprised by suspected Santa Clarita shooter's identity

The 16-year-old suspected of fatally shooting two students and wounding three others at their high school Thursday was an unlikely gunman, classmates and neighbors said. Following a 16-second burst of gunfire that ended with the suspect shooting himself in the head, the boy was is in critical condition at a local hospital, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva. Neighbors and classmates described the boy as pleasant but noted that he was changed by the death of his father two years ago.

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  Makeshift memorial grows near school shooting

  Associated Press Videos
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  Teen Gunman Dies a Day After Shooting Himself and Killing 2 Others at a California High School

  People