- PoliticsYahoo News
3 things to watch for in Friday's Trump impeachment hearing
Yovanovitch, who was recalled from her post in May after Giuliani complained she was interfering with his demand for an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden, has testified that Giuliani's efforts were at odds with U.S. policy. Her testimony will likely corroborate what Bill Taylor, the top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, described as the Trump administration's “irregular” channels of diplomacy with Kyiv. At the heart of the Democrats' case against Trump is the contention that he abused his power — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi referred to his actions as “bribery” — in seeking a foreign investigation of a domestic political rival and pressing his demand by withholding security assistance...
- NewsAssociated Press
Virginia police say wanted Marine deserter sought family
Police in Virginia say the Marine deserter wanted for questioning in a murder case was trying to reach out to a family member when he was spotted. Roanoke Police Chief Tim Jones told a news conference that it's believed Michael Alexander Brown was trying to contact his grandmother when a neighbor saw him early Thursday. The Roanoke Times reports the U.S. Marshals Service learned Sunday night that Brown might be driving a recreational vehicle near Clarendon County, South Carolina, about four hours southwest of Camp Lejeune, in North Carolina, where he had been stationed as a U.S. Marine until leaving his post last month.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Second man dies during week of violence in Hong Kong
A 70-year-old man became the second to die in a week of unrest in Hong Kong yesterday, after he was reportedly hit with a brick during a clash between pro-democracy protesters and government supporters. The unnamed man was using a lunch break from his cleaning job to clear bricks from the streets that had been thrown in protests when he was caught up in a fresh outbreak of violence. Protests in Hong Kong, now in their sixth month, have turned more violent turn this week after the death of a student who fell from a car park during a police operation last Friday.
- PoliticsNational Review
Ethics Probe into Rashida Tlaib Extended after Watchdog Finds Evidence of Misuse of Campaign Funds
The House Ethics Committee released texts and emails on Thursday that show Representative Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) repeatedly asking for campaign for funds to defray personal costs. The committee's announcement comes after the board of the Office of Congressional Ethics unanimously voted in August to refer Tlaib for a potential violation of federal law. While FEC regulations permit a campaign to pay a candidate, it must be for “work performed up through the date of the general election.” Checks, emails, and spreadsheets show that Tlaib was paid $17,500 after the November 6, 2018, election.
WorldAFPVietnam jails music teacher for 'undermining' state
Vietnam sentenced a music teacher to 11 years in prison on Friday for Facebook posts that allegedly undermined the one-party state, which has been accused of tightening the noose on online dissent. Communist Vietnam has long jailed its critics but has come under fire recently for targeting users on Facebook, a popular forum for activists in the country where all independent media is banned. Nguyen Nang Tinh is the latest activist jailed for his Facebook comments, including posts about police brutality, land rights, and a Taiwanese steel firm that dumped toxic sludge into the ocean, killing masses of fish off the coast of Vietnam.
- NewsReuters
Russia blames fatal plane crash on pilots, including one who lied to get license
A plane crash that killed all 50 people on board at Russia's Kazan Airport in 2013 was the result of errors made by two pilots, including one who got his license using falsified documents, Russian investigators said on Thursday. The Boeing 737-500 aircraft was operated by the now-defunct Tatarstan Airlines, which later had its license revoked by Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency, Rosaviatsiya. The plane from Moscow had been trying to abort its landing when it nose-dived into the runway and burst into flames.
- NewsCBS News
After 9 USC deaths, students slam school's "weirdly written" letter
A student-only community meeting was held on the USC campus Wednesday night following the release of a letter sent by the university regarding the recent student deaths. CBS Los Angeles reports a letter was sent out to every USC student discussing mental health and the dangers of opioid use. "I think it was weirdly written," said one student.
- NewsINSIDER
There have been 366 mass shootings in the US so far in 2019 — here's the full list
The number of mass shootings in the US this year has already reached 366, as of November 14, according to the Gun Violence Archive's tally. At least two people were killed and an additional three were injured in a mass shooting on Thursday afternoon at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California. At least two people are dead and three injured after a mass shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California.
- EntertainmentArchitectural Digest
A History of Modern American Architecture
A new book surveys the stunning work of Ezra Stoller, the most prominent photographer of 20th-century American architecture Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
U.S.Yahoo News VideoAmerican teacher's death in D.R. is being investigated Thursday as a murder
An American teacher's death in the Dominican Republic was being investigated Thursday as a murder. Police said they found Patricia Anton deceased in her apartment in Puerto Plata, on the country's northern coast, with her hands and feet bound.
- PoliticsYahoo News
'You embarrassed yourself': Kellyanne Conway blasts CNN's Wolf Blitzer for playing George Conway clip
Appearing live on CNN Thursday, Kellyanne Conway, special counselor to President Trump, was asked to respond to the assessment given by her husband, George, that testimony of career diplomats in the first public impeachment hearings was damning for her boss. George Conway, a conservative lawyer and outspoken Trump critic, appeared on MSNBC as a guest analyst during Thursday's hearings. While introducing a clip of George Conway, CNN's Wolf Blitzer told Kellyanne Conway he wanted to ask her a “sensitive” political question.
- NewsThe Independent
Ray Cromartie: Death row inmate executed without testing DNA evidence ‘that could have proved his innocence’
A man has been executed in the US state of Georgia despite a request from his lawyers for DNA evidence which they claimed would clear him of murder. Ray Jefferson Cromartie was convicted of the April 1994 shooting of shop worker Richard Slysz twice in the head at the convenience store in the city of Thomasville. Prosecutors said the 52-year-old had shot delicatessen worker Dan Wilson in the face, three days before the killing, seriously injuring him.
- WorldAssociated Press
Israel says it has completed Gaza strikes after rocket fire
Israel said early Friday it has completed a series of airstrikes on targets linked to the Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza after overnight rocket fire that rattled a day-old truce. The Palestinian territory's Hamas rulers, who kept to the sidelines of this week's fighting, cancelled the weekly protests they organize along the perimeter fence without explanation — apparently in an effort to preserve the calm. Israel reiterated that it was willing to abide by the cease-fire if there are no additional rocket attacks.
- NewsNational Review
Florida Rep. Alcee Hastings Faces House Ethics Investigation of Relationship with Top Staffer
Representative Alcee Hastings (D., Fla.) is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee over his relationship with a top staffer, according to a Thursday press release from the Committee. “The Committee is aware of public allegations arising out of Representative Alcee Hastings' personal relationship with an individual employed in his congressional office,” read the statement. While the announcement does not name the staffer, it is almost certainly Patricia Williams, Hastings's district-office director and long-time partner, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
- WorldBusiness Insider
One of Jamal Khashoggi’s close friends said Twitter is the 'only free platform' for many Saudis, but it also may have led to Khashoggi’s brutal murder
Omar Abdulaziz, a Saudi activist in exile in Canada, said that Twitter is an important tool for many Saudi dissidents, but also comes with risks. Abdulaziz was friends with murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The two of them were working to create an "army" of internet users to combat Saudi propaganda before Khashoggi was killed.
- WorldBloomberg
Macron’s Second Pick for Top EU Job Survives Parliament Grilling
Emmanuel Macron's pick for the European Commission was approved by EU lawmakers, saving the French president from a potential embarrassment and bringing Ursula von der Leyen's team a step closer to taking the helm of the bloc's executive arm. After beating back repeated questions about potential conflicts of interest, Thierry Breton got the backing of the EU Parliament's three main political groups. He is now poised to become EU industry commissioner, a position from which he'll have oversight over defense, space and tech policies, as well as of the strengthening of the EU's single market -- a wide and powerful remit that includes some of the most important strategic areas for the next years.
- NewsThe National Interest
The U.S. Marine Corps Is Making Big Changes (Thanks to Threats from Russia and China)
Currently the Marine Corps deploys infantry battalions to Okinawa, Japan on a rotational basis as part of the Unit Deployment Program. While in Japan, the battalions fall under 4th Marine Regiment, which has a permanent headquarters in Okinawa. The 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, while not part of the Unit Deployment Program, contributes another infantry battalion to Okinawa for several months per year.
- PoliticsThe Week
William Taylor laughs at GOP question if Giuliani channel was 'as outlandish as it could be'
Republican counsel Steve Castor came to Wednesday's impeachment hearing with a curious line of questioning: could something extremely unusual have, theoretically, been even more unusual? Castor, the lawyer who questioned diplomat William Taylor on behalf of House Republicans during the public impeachment hearing, asked about what Taylor had previously described as a "confusing and unusual arrangement for making U.S. policy toward Ukraine" in the Trump administration, with there being a secondary, "highly irregular" channel including Rudy Giuliani operating outside of formal diplomatic processes. "In fairness, this irregular channel of diplomacy, it's not as outlandish as it could be," Castor said to Taylor.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Chicago teachers to vote on agreement that guarantees 16% raise, $35M to reduce classes
CHICAGO — Teachers begin voting Thursday on a tentative contract deal that ended an 11-day strike in the nation's third-largest school district last month. If teachers vote to reject the agreement, the union's governing body would convene to determine next steps. The tentative agreement guarantees all union members a 16% raise over the life of the five-year contract and invests $35 million in reducing class sizes.
- PoliticsCBS News
Meeting with Turkish leader and GOP senators gets heated
An Oval Office meeting with President Trump, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Republican senators took a dicey turn Wednesday afternoon when the conversation turned to Erdogan's conflict with the Kurds, multiple sources tell CBS News. Erdogan brought out an iPad and showed the senators an anti-Kurds video, leading to a heated exchange about the Kurds and his treatment of them. Turkey launched an incursion into northern Syria against the Kurds in recent weeks, as the president decided to withdraw U.S. troops from the region after a phone conversation with the authoritarian leader Erdogan.
- NewsThe Independent
American war veteran who spent several days in ICE detention receives $190k settlement
A US citizen and military veteran suffering from a mental health condition will reportedly receive $190,000 (£147,988) from a Michigan city after local officials transferred him to ICE detention following an arrest last year. Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a decorated Marine veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, was arrested while experiencing an episode in which he lost all recollection, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Police found the veteran, who was born and raised in Michigan, on the helipad of a hospital after he started a small fire and pulled an alarm, according to reports.
- WorldAssociated Press
N. Korea calls Biden a ‘rabid dog’ for insulting its dignity
North Korea called former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden a “rabid dog” that “must be beaten to death with a stick” in its latest swipe against foreign and political leaders it sees as hostile to the North's leadership. The commentary by Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said the U.S. presidential hopeful “reeled off a string of rubbish against the dignity” of the North's supreme leadership, an act it said deserves “merciless punishment. It referred to him only with his surname and as vice president under Barack Obama, and in some versions spelled his name as “Baiden.
WorldAFPHong Kong leader condemns London protester 'attack' on minister
Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam on Friday condemned a "barbaric attack" on her justice minister, who fell while being surrounded by a crowd of jeering pro-democracy protesters in London. It was the most physical confrontation involving a member of Lam's cabinet since the protests, now in their sixth month, erupted in the international finance hub. Teresa Cheng, Hong Kong's deeply unpopular Secretary for Justice, was ambushed by around a dozen masked demonstrators as she prepared to attend a speaking event on Thursday night in London.
- PoliticsPolitico
White House hopefuls are missing Senate votes — and nobody cares
And he's not alone: The five other Democratic senators running for president have all missed more than 100 votes as they seek the highest office in the land. Of the candidates running for president, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Sanders have missed about 200 Senate votes each this year. That amounts to more than half — 58 percent — of votes for Booker, followed closely by Harris and Sanders, who have missed about 56 percent.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Pirates attacked an Italian ship off the coast of Mexico — the latest sign of a growing criminal industry
Gunmen boarded a ship in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday night, robbing the passengers and leaving two of them wounded. It's only the latest attack on oil infrastructure in the Gulf, as fuel theft becomes more common on land and at sea in Mexico. A pirate attack on an Italian ship in the Gulf of Mexico that left two sailors wounded isn't the first such incident, and with Mexico struggling to address rising insecurity, it's not likely to be the last.
