House Democrats ponder expanding impeachment probe after Sondland 'game changer' testimony

Ambassador Gordon Sondland's explosive testimony Wednesday that “everyone was in the loop” on President Trump's efforts to secure an investigation of a political rival prompted rank-and-file Democrats to discuss whether it was time to expand their probe. Sondland testified in minute detail — down to the names of staffers and code words used internally to identify officials like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — how Vice President Mike Pence, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, former national security advisor John Bolton and others knew the intimate details of Trump's plans. “Was there a quid pro quo?” Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, testified.

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  How does impeachment of a U.S. president work?

  Reuters
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  Himes takes exception to key Republican defense of Trump

  Yahoo News Video

Bolivia in crisis after ‘coup’ against president

Bolivian President Evo Morales, who had led the country for 14 years, resigned last week amid heated protests and pressure to leave from the country's military. Morales was a transformational figure in the often tumultuous history of the poor South American nation. The son of llama herders, he first rose to prominence as an advocate for coca leaf farmers before being elected as president in 2006 on a far-left socialist platform of redistributing wealth, fighting poverty and empowering the country's indigenous population.

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  Bolivia's indigenous divided over ousted champion Morales

  Reuters
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  Bolivia’s socialist party considers a future without Morales

  Associated Press

Nearly ¾ of transgender people slain since 2017 killed with guns

Nearly three-fourths of transgender and gender non-conforming Americans slain in the last three years were killed with a firearm, according to data published this month by the gun violence prevention advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. The data sheds grim new light on the role of guns in what's been called an epidemic of violence against transgender Americans, as advocates honor the victims with nationwide vigils Wednesday during the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The data is available for the first time publicly via EveryStat for Gun Safety, the group's database detailing gun deaths in America.

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  Chanel Scurlock among those remembered at 20th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance in Raleigh

  WTVD – Raleigh/Durham
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  Founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith on the 20th Anniversary of Transgender Day of Remembrance

  Vogue

Russia 'ruined' Ukrainian naval vessels before handing them back, says Ukrainian navy

Three Ukrainian navy boats seized by Russia a year ago were vandalised before being handed back to Ukraine, the country's navy said. The fast gunboats Nikopol and Berdyansk and the tugboat Tany Kapu were welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and onlookers waving national flags arrived in Ochakiv, a Ukrainian naval port on the Black Sea on Wednesday evening. But Ukraine's navy said the vessels had been stripped bare and left so badly damaged that they had to be towed home by tug.

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  Ukraine says Russia returned ships in bad condition

  Reuters
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  Three navy ships held by Russia return to Ukraine port

  AFP

Gabbard and Harris clash over visions for the Democratic Party

At the Democratic debate in Atlanta on Wednesday, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Sen. Kamala Harris of California clashed over their differing visions for the party, particularly when it comes to foreign policy. Gabbard had criticized Hillary Clinton as the “personification of the left that has sickened the Democratic Party” after the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee suggested in an interview last month that she believed Republicans were “grooming” Gabbard to be a spoiler as a third-party candidate. Clinton, who did not mention Gabbard by name, further suggested that the Hawaii Democrat is “the favorite of the Russians.

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  Voting rights come up in a Democratic debate after years of silence

  The Guardian
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  Watch Highlights From the Fifth Democratic Debate

  Meredith Videos

California Supreme Court Rejects Catholic Group’s Challenge to Rule Deeming Voluntary Abortions ‘Medically Necessary’

California's Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed a Catholic women's organization's challenge to state health regulators' designation of voluntary abortions as “medically necessary” procedures that must be covered by state health care service plans. The California Department of Managed Health Care in 2014 sent letters to seven health care service plans directing them not to limit or exclude coverage for abortions, including those abortions that are not required to save the life of the mother. Since then, the Missionary Guadalupanas of the Holy Spirit have sought legal remedies to the rule, arguing that California flouted the Administrative Procedures Act by neglecting to give the rule a public hearing and comment period.

American Airlines admitted a mid-air accident that knocked out 2 flight crew and forced an emergency landing was not caused by spilled soap

Flickr/Oliver Holzbauer American Airlines admitted Tuesday that whatever knocked out two flight attendants and forced an emergency landing in October was not spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed. On October 21, American Airlines flight 729 was flying from London Heathrow to Philadelphia, but was forced to land in Dublin, Ireland, when two staff members passed out. American Airlines said at the time that the incident was caused by "an odor caused by a spilled cleaning solution in the galley."

Putin hands awards to widows of men killed in mysterious military test

Russian President Vladimir Putin has handed top state awards to the widows of five scientists killed in an accident while testing what he called an advanced weapons system without equal in the world. The five men died on Aug. 8 in what their employer, state nuclear agency Rosatom, said was an accident during a rocket test on a sea platform off northern Russia, an incident which caused radiation levels in the surrounding area to briefly spike. Thomas DiNanno, a senior U.S. State Department official, said last month that Washington had determined that the explosion was the result of a nuclear reaction which occurred during the recovery of a Russian nuclear-powered cruise missile after a failed test.

20 of the Most Beautiful Bridges in the World

Designed by world-renowned architects such as Zaha Hadid and Santiago Calatrava, these bridges are travel destinations in their own right Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

GOP claim that Trump cares about corruption takes a hit at impeachment hearing

In his questioning of David Hale, undersecretary of state for political affairs, Ratcliffe reprised a now familiar defense of the president, that putting a hold on military aid to Ukraine was done out of concern about corruption in the country. The reasons for the hold in summer 2019, during Ukraine's ongoing war with Russia, were not communicated either publicly or within the diplomatic and national security bureaucracy. Citing other recent instances in which congressionally approved U.S. foreign aid had been withheld without explanation, Ratcliffe asked Hale, “So, having no explanation for why aid is being withheld is not uncommon?

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  Read the full opening statement from David Holmes in public impeachment hearing

  USA TODAY
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  Impeachment hearings takeaways: Sondland says 'everyone was in the loop' about Trump's push for Ukraine investigations

  WPVI – Philadelphia

Police officer shot and killed while investigating home invasion in Detroit

A police officer was shot on Detroit's west side Wednesday night and died from his injuries, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said. "Today is a tragic day for the Detroit Police family," Craig said outside Sinai Grace Hospital late Wednesday. The slain officer was an 18-year veteran of the force and sustained a single gunshot wound to the neck.

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  1 officer killed, another wounded while responding to Detroit home invasion

  ABC News Videos
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  Two Detroit police officers shot, one dead

  USA TODAY

Cory Booker is right: Joe Biden must be 'high' to oppose legalizing marijuana

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) smoked former Vice President Joe Biden over marijuana legalization during Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate, and that was great. Biden snapped back at Booker to stake his progressive credentials, saying he's OK letting out of jail anyone with a marijuana conviction and expunging their criminal records.

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  Joe Biden's Democratic debate word salad gives plenty to chew on

  The Guardian
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  Gender Politics at the Democratic Debate Show How Hard It Is To Fight Like a Girl

  Time

Obama Warns Technology Has Created a More Splintered World

Former U.S. President Barack Obama warned that technology is creating a more splintered world, fueling the disparities among wealthy and poorer nations, and people within countries. The rise of extreme inequality both within nations and between nations that is being turbocharged by globalization and technology” is one of the biggest risks for young people, Obama said Thursday at Salesforce.com Inc. s annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco.

American Airlines admits a midair accident that knocked out 2 flight crew was not caused by spilled soap

American Airlines admitted Tuesday the powerful fumes that knocked two flight attendants unconscious and forced a flight to make an emergency landing were not caused by spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed.

EU should recognise Palestinian state after U.S. backs Israeli settlements: Luxembourg

The European Union should recognise a Palestinian state after the United States expressed support for Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said on Wednesday. Monday's announcement by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo abandoned the position that settlements in Israeli-occupied territory were "inconsistent with international law", reversing a stand taken under President Jimmy Carter in 1978. Palestinians say the settlements jeopardise their goal of a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that the U.S. move will make an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal even more elusive.

Dozens of dogs tested in French search for woman's forest killers

French police investigating the death of a pregnant woman mauled to death by dogs while walking in the woods have carried out DNA tests on 67 dogs to try identify those that attacked her, investigators said Thursday. Elisa Pilarski, 29, was found dead on Saturday in Retz forest about 90 kilometres (55 miles) northeast of Paris. A deer hunt with hounds was underway in the forest where Pilarski, a dog lover, was walking her own American Staffordshire terrier.

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  Pregnant woman reportedly killed by dogs while walking in forest

  AOL.com
• French probe into pregnant women killed by dogs in a forest

  Associated Press

Sondland pressed on why Trump has blocked witnesses: 'I wish I could answer'

During his testimony Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee, Gordon Sondland was pressed on why so many members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, were refusing to testify in the impeachment inquiry. I wish I could answer,” responded Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. His remark came at the end of an exchange with Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash.

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  Joe Biden turns impeachment to his advantage in fifth Democrat debate

  The Telegraph
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  Democrats tackle wealth tax, climate change, impeachment at 5th debate

  Yahoo Finance Video

US woman could be forced to register as a sex offender after appearing topless in front of step-children

An American woman could be forced to register as a sex offender after appearing topless in front of her step-children in her own home. Tilli Buchanan, from Utah, was charged with three counts of misdemeanour lewdness involving a child after appearing topless along with the children's father in their home last year. Ms Buchanan's lawyers are contesting the charge, arguing it is unfair to treat men and women differently for baring her chest.

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  Mother charged after step-children saw her topless inside their house

  WPVI – Philadelphia
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  Utah woman fights charge after stepkids see her topless

  Yahoo News Video

The U.S. Submarine That Could Bring Nuclear Doomsday With It

Each of the 170-meter-long vessels can carry twenty-four Trident II submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) which can be fired from underwater to strike at targets more than seven thousand miles away depending on the load. As a Trident II reenters the atmosphere at speeds of up to Mach 24, it splits into up to eight independent reentry vehicles, each with a 100- or 475-kiloton nuclear warhead. In short, a full salvo from an Ohio-class submarine—which can be launched in less than one minute—could unleash up to 192 nuclear warheads to wipe twenty-four cities off the map.

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  This What Happened When Russia's Spy Submarine Caught Fire And Sank

  The National Interest
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  How 1 Really Bad Engineering Mistake 'Sunk' This Japanese Aircraft Carrier

  The National Interest

Colorado District Closes All 46 Schools to Stop Spread of 'Extremely Contagious Virus'

The Mesa County Valley School District 51, which serves more than 22,000 students, plans to keep schools closed on Thursday and Friday and reopen after Thanksgiving, according to a statement from the school district. More than 3,400 students were absent this week, Emily Shockley, spokesperson for the school district tells TIME. Health officials said the main symptoms of the outbreak appear to be vomiting and diarrhea, with some individuals reporting a fever—but the effects appear to be short-lived with the illness hitting quickly and patients recovering quickly.

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  Mystery illness shuts down 46 schools in Colorado

  ABC News Videos
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  Colorado's Mesa County Valley School District 51 is closing all its schools amid 'unprecedented' illness outbreak

  USA TODAY

Saudi Arabia’s Oil Heartland Is Calm. That’s Bad News for Iran

Qatif is an area inhabited mainly by Shiites, who make up roughly 15 percent of the Saudi population and whose branch of Islam is most identified with Iran. The organizers said they had hosted Sunnis before, yet the atmosphere during a tense period for Saudi-Iranian relations showed how much Saudi Arabia has changed over the past three years. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the leader and heir, is trying to fashion a kingdom underpinned by national identity rather than the traditional Wahhabi religious conservatism that defined society for generations.

Google's Tour Builder Is a Great New Way to Make Your Friends Hate You

Now you can create virtual tours of your annoying vacations. From Popular Mechanics