White House: Trump 'strongly condemns' parody video of him shooting critics and media outlets in church

The White House on Monday tried to distance itself from a violent parody video that shows President Trump shooting and stabbing critics and members of the media in a church. “But based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video,” Grisham tweeted. According to the New York Times, the crude video was shown at a pro-Trump conference at the president's Doral Miami resort over the weekend, where Donald Trump Jr. and former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders were among the guest speakers.

• ‘Kingsman’ Massacre Scene Edited for Trump Event to Show President Killing Media

  Indiewire
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  Meghan McCain, Kathy Griffin respond to fake Trump massacre video

  Yahoo Entertainment

Pope's bodyguard resigns over new financial leaks scandal

The Vatican's latest scandal claimed its first victim Monday as Pope Francis' chief bodyguard resigned over the leak of a Vatican police flyer identifying five employees who were suspended as part of a financial investigation. The Vatican said its police chief, Domenico Giani, bore no responsibility for the leaked flyer but resigned to avoid disrupting the investigation and "out of love for the church and faithfulness" to the pope. Giani, a 20-year veteran of the Vatican's security services, has stood by Francis' side and jogged alongside his popemobile during hundreds of public appearances and foreign trips.

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  Pope Francis's main bodyguard resigns over a leak

  Yahoo News Video
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  Vatican security chief, papal bodyguard, steps down over leak

  Reuters

Nigerian police rescue 67 from 'inhuman' conditions at Islamic 'school'

Police in northern Nigeria rescued nearly 70 men and boys from a second purported Islamic school where they were shackled and subjected to "inhuman and degrading treatments." The raid in Katsina, the northwestern home state of President Muhammadu Buhari, came less than a month after about 300 men and boys were freed from another supposed Islamic school in neighboring Kaduna state where they were allegedly tortured and sexually abused. "In the course of investigation, sixty-seven persons from the ages of 7 to 40 years were found shackled with chains," Katsina police spokesman Sanusi Buba said in a statement.

In Jamal Khashoggi's death, Saudi money is talking louder than murder

Anyone interested in what it looks like to get away with murder should peruse the attendee list for Saudi Arabia's flashy "Davos in the Desert" this month. Vaporizing into the desert heat is all the righteous alarm that compelled leading financial firms to boycott the event last year out of concern that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, weeks before, had ordered the grisly killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Attending this year's extravaganza are executives of JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, all of them institutions selected to underwrite the kingdom's highly anticipated, partial public offering of its oil company, Aramco, valued $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.

Climate change researchers recommend banning all frequent flyer reward programs to cut carbon emissions by targeting jet-setters

A new report commissioned by the Committee on Climate Change, the UK government's official climate-change advisers, has called for a ban on all frequent flyer reward programs to discourage people from traveling by air so much. Researchers from Imperial College London, who wrote the report, said that just 15% of the entire British population take 70% of all flights from the country. The report also called for an "air miles levy" to punish people who fly long distances, which would target those who rack up the most air miles, rather than people who travel shorter distances.

When police misconduct occurs, records often stay secret. One mom's fight to change that.

Furious about the way she was treated, she worked with other families whose relatives were killed by police to help push for the recent passage of California's new Senate Bill 1421, which as of January 1 overrides decades of precedent and requires police departments to open internal investigation records related to deadly force and police wrongdoing. The law could inspire reform at police departments across the nation at a time when the relationship between police and the public is fraught with tension following numerous fatal shootings, particularly involving victims of color.

Soldier wounded during search for Bowe Bergdahl dies of his injuries

A US soldier shot in the head during the 2009 search for army deserter Bowe Bergdahl has died from his injuries. Army Master Sgt. Mark Allen died on Saturday at the age of 46, 10 years after being injured in the hunt for his missing comrade. He spent 21 years in the army and national guard, and retired in 2013 on receiving the Purple Heart.

India blocks SMS services in Kashmir after trucker killed

Text messaging services were blocked in Indian Kashmir just hours after being restored when a truck driver was killed by suspected militants and his vehicle set ablaze, authorities said Tuesday. Separately Indian officials said that a 24-year-old woman died in the latest exchange of artillery fire with Pakistan over their de-facto border dividing the blood-soaked Himalayan region. Security sources said the decision to cut text messaging services was taken to reduce the ability of militants to communicate.

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  India restores post-paid cellphone services in Kashmir

  Associated Press
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  India partially restores mobile phone lines in Kashmir

  Reuters

Flooded bullet trains show Japan's risks from disasters

Experts say they also instill a false sense of security in a country inured to danger by the constant threat of calamitous earthquakes, tsunami and volcanos. "Weather conditions in Japan up to now have been relatively moderate," said Toshitaka Katada, a disaster expert and professor at the University of Tokyo. Those days are over, and Japan's readiness for disasters, still based on data collected decades ago, hasn't kept up with the times, he said.

British paedophile who operated in Malaysia, Cambodia found dead in prison

One of Britain's most prolific child sex offenders, Richard Huckle, has died three years into a life sentence for abusing Malaysian and Cambodian children, Britain's Ministry of Justice said on Monday, with media saying he had been stabbed to death. Huckle, 33, who abused children and babies during a nine year period, was sentenced to life in prison in 2016 after pleading guilty to 71 offences. Dubbed the country's worst paedophile by Britain's media, he was found stabbed to death in prison on Sunday after being attacked with a makeshift knife, the BBC reported.

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  Richard Huckle dead: Paedophile who sexually abused 200 children stabbed to death in prison

  The Independent
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  Prolific British pedophile Richard Huckle found dead in prison cell

  Coconuts KL

The Amelia Earhart Mystery Stays Down in the Deep

For two weeks in August, a multimillion-dollar search from air, land and sea sought to solve the 80-year mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance. Robert Ballard, the ocean explorer famous for locating the wreck of the Titanic, led a team that discovered two hats in the depths. What it did not find was a single piece of the Lockheed Electra airplane flown in 1937 by Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan, which vanished during their doomed voyage around the world.

States are cutting university budgets. Taxpayers aren't interested in funding campus kooks

Times are bad for higher education, and higher educators are beginning to notice it. But the industry's problems are mostly of its own making. The latest "cri de coeur" comes from University of North Dakota's Sheila Liming, who writes, “My University is Dying; And soon yours will be, too.

Engineer weighs in on Hard Rock Hotel collapse: 'Logically, it doesn't make sense'

On Saturday morning, structural engineer Walter Zehner's phone rang with news of a devastating construction collapse on a site he once worked. The plan for 1031 Canal St. had completely changed since Zehner left the project approximately three years ago, moving from a mixed use retail/residential design to what was planned to be a Hard Rock Hotel. When Zehner arrived at the downtown construction site Saturday, he saw six to eight concrete levels had collapsed, the edges hanging down the side of the building as if they'd melted.

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  At least 2 killed in crane collapse at New Orleans hotel

  ABC News Videos
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  ‘Rescue Mission’ continues in Hard Rock Hotel collapse: Mayor

  ABC News Videos

Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump

As of three weeks ago, a majority of Americans, 51.1 percent, on average, opposed impeaching President Trump, with only 40 percent supporting it. But the results came before the Ukraine scandal snowballed. As of today, opposition to impeachment has plummeted 7 percentage points (to 44 percent) and support has climbed nearly 10 points (to 49.8 percent), according to FiveThirtyEight's preliminary polling tracker.

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  Impeachment pressure mounts as former Trump advisor is set to testify

  Yahoo Finance Video
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  Capitol Hill girds for impeachment row, as Trump ex-aide testifies

  AFP

View Photos of Our Sports Sedan Battle Between the Dodge Charger and Kia Stinger GT

America's leading (and only) V-8 muscle sedan takes on Korea's upstart rear-drive hatchback in a battle of power versus poise. From Car and Driver

Russia denies US news report it bombed 4 Syria hospitals in 12 hours

Russia on Monday denied a US newspaper report that its warplanes bombed four hospitals in rebel-held territory in Syria over a period of 12 hours this year. The Russian defence ministry rubbished the claim in a report by The New York Times, saying "the alleged 'evidence' provided by the NYT is not worth even the paper it was printed on". The May strikes -- which the newspaper tied to Moscow through Russian radio recordings, plane spotter logs and accounts by witnesses -- are part of a larger pattern of medical facilities targeted by forces supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's devastating civil war.

• 12 Hours. 4 Syrian Hospitals Bombed. Evidence Reveals One Culprit: Russia.

  The New York Times
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  Trump pulling all U.S. troops from northern Syria amid Turkish onslaught

  CBS News Videos

Trump Faces Giuliani Dilemma as House, Justice Probes Converge

With lawmakers returning to Washington from a two-week break on Tuesday -- eager to lay out their next steps in the impeachment inquiry -- Giuliani will face growing pressure to testify about his work for Trump. As federal prosecutors dig into Giuliani's activities, the president may try to edge away, as he did with another of his lawyers, Michael Cohen. Cohen is now in prison after pleading guilty to tax, bank and campaign-finance crimes.

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  Plot Twist: Twitter Users Stunned By Reports Bolton Objected On Ukraine

  HuffPost
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  Former Pompeo Adviser to Testify Wednesday: Impeachment Update

  Bloomberg

Anthony Scaramucci is desperately trying to recruit Mitt Romney for a 2020 run

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is running for president again — at least in Anthony Scaramucci's dreams. The famously short-lived White House communications director has since turned on the president who appointed him, and has publicly said he's trying to knock President Trump off the 2020 ticket. Now, it seems Scaramucci has decided on his dream candidate, and has launched a website and line of T-shirts to persuade him to run.

Hong Kong's leader: Territory not becoming a police state

Hong Kong's leader said Tuesday that "it's totally irresponsible and unfounded" to suggest the semi-autonomous Chinese territory is becoming a police state as her government grapples with protests now in their fifth month. In a spirited defense of Hong Kong's 30,000-strong police force and her handling of the protests in response to criticism from visiting U.S. senators, Carrie Lam challenged the notion that the territory is losing its freedoms, unique in China, as police battle demonstrators in the streets. "I would challenge every politician to ask themselves if the large extent of violent acts, and all those petrol bombs and arson and deadly attacks on policemen, happened in their own country, what would they do?

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  Hong Kong leader slams US senator for 'police state' remark

  AFP
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  Lebron James: Rockets GM Was ‘Misinformed’ When He Expressed Support for Hong Kong Protesters

  National Review

NATO's Stoltenberg defends stance on Turkey's offensive in Syria

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday defended his stance on Turkey's attack on Kurdish militants in northeastern Syria as he came under pressure from some members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to be tougher with Ankara. Splits in the military alliance have emerged after NATO member Turkey began its offensive in Syria last week, with the governments of EU countries that are also NATO members suspending weapon sales to Turkey. Appearing in London at a plenary session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, a body made up of delegates from the legislatures of member states, Stoltenberg said he had expressed deep concerns to Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan when he saw him in Istan...

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  US troops in northern Syria ordered to leave country: US official

  AFP
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  Your Evening Briefing

  Bloomberg

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faces backlash over haircut

This week, the Washington Times published a story saying that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. had spent $80 on a haircut and $180 on color at a Washington, D.C., salon, a choice the newspaper presented as hypocritical, given she “regularly rails against the rich and complains about the cost of living inside the Beltway.

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  Fernando Cabrera explains why he's launching a primary challenge to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

  FOX News Videos
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  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Political Cost of Hair

  The New York Times

We found 85,000 cops who’ve been investigated for misconduct. Now you can read their records.

At least 85,000 law enforcement officers across the USA have been investigated or disciplined for misconduct over the past decade, an investigation by USA TODAY Network found. Despite their role as public servants, the men and women who swear an oath to keep communities safe can generally avoid public scrutiny for their misdeeds. The records of their misconduct are filed away, rarely seen by anyone outside their departments.

Meet the Massive Ordnance Penetrator: The Air Force's Newest Bunker Buster Bomb

Key point: The MOP bomb will increase the firepower and options of the Air Force. EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. The U.S. Air Force is asking the Boeing Co.to build additional Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting super bombs under terms of a $70 million contract announced last week.