- PoliticsYahoo News
Rep. Connolly says Democrats already have 'smoking gun' to impeach Trump
A Democrat who attended most of the closed-door depositions over the past month said that while the beginning of public hearings will be instructive for Americans, President Trump has already given Congress all the evidence it needs to impeach him. The reconstructed partial transcript of Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is the smoking gun,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who has represented the Northern Virginia suburbs for the last decade. “It's right in front of us,” Connolly said in an interview with Yahoo News.
WorldAFPVenezuela ex-intel chief missing in Spain ahead of US extradition: police
Venezuela's former military intelligence chief has gone missing in Spain just days after a court approved a request for his extradition to the United States on drug trafficking charges, police said Wednesday. "They are currently looking for him," said a spokeswoman for Spain's national police, referring to General Hugo Armando Carvajal. Judicial sources said police had gone to his house in Madrid after Friday's court decision but could not find him.
- NewsReuters
U.S. Supreme Court declines to shield gun maker from Sandy Hook lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday dealt a blow to the firearms industry, rejecting Remington Arms Co's bid to escape a lawsuit by families of victims aiming to hold the gun maker liable for its marketing of the assault-style rifle used in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre that killed 20 children and six adults. The justices turned away Remington's appeal of a ruling by Connecticut's top court to let the lawsuit proceed despite a federal law that broadly shields firearms manufacturers from liability when their weapons are used in crimes. The lawsuit will move forward at a time of high passions in the United States over the issue of gun control.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Damaged Hard Rock hotel will be completely demolished, New Orleans officials say
A month ago, the under-construction Hard Rock hotel in New Orleans' French Quarter partially collapsed, killing three and injuring dozens. The process will stretch through a busy tourist season in New Orleans that includes New Year's, the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras. A controlled demolition, according to New Orleans Fire Chief Tim McConnell, is the only safe way to bring down the damaged building.
- WorldBusiness Insider
An Air India flight was delayed nearly 12 hours after a stowaway rat was spotted in the cabin
An Air India flight flying from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam was delayed for 12 hours after a rat was spotted in the cabin. Flight AI-952 was due to depart at 06:10 a.m. on Sunday but after the rat was spotted passengers were told to disembark the plane— which did not leave until later in the day at 5.30 p.m. according to the Times of India. A domestic flight in India was delayed for 12 hours after a rat was spotted in the cabin as the flight was about to take off.
- PoliticsPolitico
In Republican lawmaker’s impeachment tweets, a hidden message?
The first letters of 23 of the Arizona Republican's tweets spell out “EPSTEIN DIDNT KILL HIMSELF” — a reference that many observers aren't willing to dismiss as a coincidence. The morbid acrostic, coincidental or not, reflects a repeated conspiracy theory-turned-meme over the death of the financier Jeffrey Epstein. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell in August, and a subsequent autopsy ruled his death a suicide.
- WorldAssociated Press
Germany, France, UK, condemn North Korean missile launches
Germany, France and Britain on Wednesday strongly condemned the dozen sets of ballistic missile launches by North Korea since May and urged Pyongyang to engage in “meaningful negotiations” with the United States on its nuclear and missile programs. The three European countries said the tests, “including what appears to be a medium-range missile launched from underwater,” undermine regional security and violate unanimously adopted Security Council resolutions. They issued a joint statement after Germany's U.N. ambassador, Christoph Heusgen, briefed the council behind closed doors on implementation of sanctions against North Korea.
- NewsCBS News
WSU fraternity death marks 4th campus fatality in a month
All social events for fraternities and sororities were suspended at Washington State University after the death Tuesday of a student possibly tied to alcohol. It's the second , which followed the death of 19-year-old freshman Dylan Hernandez who fell out of his bunk bed in his dorm room and hit his head late last week. Several students say Hernandez had been drinking heavily at a fraternity party.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Key Officials Hold Meeting at Lam's Residence: Hong Kong Update
Hong Kong officials and Chinese state media warned of consequences if violence continued, as a third day of protests disrupted traffic across the city and the government announced for the first time that it would close public schools. The city remained confident in its ability to contain the chaos, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung -- Hong Kong's No. official -- told reporters.
- 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.
- NewsThe Independent
'Words matter': Trump accused of fuelling attacks on Hispanics as violent hate crimes hit 16-year high
Violent hate crimes have climbed to a 16-year year high in the US, with a surge in attacks on Hispanics, according to FBI data. Reports of hate crimes dipped slightly in 2018 from an alarming increase the previous year, but violence rose as attacks increasingly targeting people instead of property. In its review of statistics collected from more than 16,000 law enforcement agencies, the FBI said there had been 7,120 hate crimes reported last year.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoThe U.S. Navy canceled a routine Black Sea operation after Trump complained that it was hostile to Russia
Christopher Anderson, an aide to Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, testified that the White House canceled a Navy freedom-of-navigation operation in the Black Sea after President Trump complained to then-national security adviser John Bolton about a CNN report that framed the operation as a counter to Russia, Politico reported.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
2020 Subaru Outback vs. 2019 Honda Passport in Photos
Freshly redesigned, Subaru's popular lifted wagon challenges Honda's mid-size Passport SUV in real-world usability and performance. From Car and Driver
- WorldUSA TODAY
Climate change is damaging the health of the world's children and threatens lifelong impact, report says
Climate change is already damaging children's health worldwide and could shape the well-being of an entire generation – unless the world meets the Paris Agreement targets to limit warming to well below 3.6 degrees F, according to a new report published Wednesday by the British health journal, The Lancet. According to the report, if the world continues its business-as-usual path – with high carbon dioxide emissions and climate change continuing at the current rate – a child born today will face a world on average over 7 degrees F warmer by their 71st birthday, threatening their health at every stage of their lives.
- WorldReuters
'Viva Felipe!': Communist-run Cuba welcomes Spanish king
With cries of "Viva Felipe!" and "Viva Espana!" Cubans greeted King Felipe in Old Havana, the first state visit ever by a Spanish monarch to Cuba, Spain's former colony turned Communist-run nation. Earlier in the day, Felipe and his wife Letizia laid flowers at the monument in Havana to Jose Marti, a symbol of Cuba's struggle for independence from Spain, before meeting with President Miguel Diaz-Canel in the Palace of the Revolution.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
MSNBC’s Malcolm Nance: Trump Was on the Russians’ Radar as ‘Early as 1977’
MSNBC analyst Malcolm Nance, long one of the network's loudest voices when it comes to pushing Russiagate conspiracies, claimed Tuesday morning that President Donald Trump is a Russian asset who was on the Russians' radar “as early as 1977” via his first marriage to Czech-born Ivana Trump. Nance appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe, in a segment first spotted by Mediaite, to hawk his latest Trump-centric Russia book and was immediately congratulated by host Willie Geist for being “out front before most people” were aware of the Kremlin's attempts to interfere in the 2016 election. Pointing to Russia's hack of the DNC servers, Nance said that “Russia was trying to do Watergate” and that this “set off a chain of activities in my brain” based on previous Cold War activities from the then-Soviet Union that made it clear that this was an attack on the United States.
- NewsAssociated Press
Officer: Miranda failure for Iowa murder suspect a mistake
A police officer who obtained a confession from a suspect in the disappearance and death of University of Iowa student Mollie Tibbetts said Wednesday that she made an honest mistake when she failed to read him his complete legal rights. Officer Pamela Romero testified that she tried to read Cristhian Bahena Rivera a Miranda warning during the Aug. 20, 2018, interrogation but didn't realize until later that she left one part out, failing to tell him that his statements could be used against him in court. After several more hours of questioning, Rivera led officers to a cornfield where they discovered Tibbetts' body underneath leaves and stalks.
WorldAFPCeasefire takes effect after spike in Israel-Gaza violence
A Gaza Strip ceasefire came into effect early Thursday, an Egyptian source and a senior Islamic Jihad official told AFP, following a spike in violence and bloodshed in the Palestinian enclave. The "ceasefire agreement comes as a result of Egypt's efforts" and has been endorsed by "Palestinian factions including Islamic Jihad", said the top Egyptian official. An Islamic Jihad source confirmed the agreement to AFP.
- WorldThe National Interest
Why China Loves Russia's Su-35 Fighter (And Might Buy Even More of Them)
Yet Moscow is offering to sell more Su-35 fighters to Beijing – and Chinese media reports that Beijing may accept. China has already bought 24 Su-35s – an upgraded version of the Cold War Su-27 Flanker – in a 2015 sale worth $2.5 billion, according to Russian news agency TASS. We are expecting a response from China on our offer to purchase modern weapons and military equipment manufactured in Russia, including additional batches of Su-35 fighter jets, Russia's arms export agency told TASS back in the summer.
- BusinessBloomberg
Warren Says Big Business Shouldn’t Worry About Her Presidency
Warren's progressive proposals for reducing inequality, including a wealth tax, breaking up big technology and agriculture companies, as well as her $21 trillion plan to replace private health insurance with a government-run system, have raised concerns on Wall Street that her policies would be ruinous and push the U.S. too far to the left. As she has gained in the polls, she's come in for criticism from Wall Street executives and billionaires, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, hedge fund billionaire Leon Cooperman and Microsoft Corp. founder Bill Gates. The Massachusetts senator, who has pledged not to take big-donor money to fuel her campaign, said the criticism from Wall Street reminded her of the opposition she faced when she proposed establishing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after the financial crisis.
- NewsCBS News
Montgomery's first African-American mayor hopes MLK is "proud"
Steven Reed made history Tuesday when he was sworn in as the first African-American mayor of Montgomery, Alabama, the city that was the first capital of the Confederacy during the Civil War. It's also the city where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke on the steps of the State Capitol in 1965 following the march from Selma. Now Reed, 45, envisions a Montgomery that is unified, which has not always been the case in a city known as the "Cradle of the Confederacy," CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan reports.
- BusinessCar and Driver
2020 Toyota Camry, 2021 Toyota Avalon Adding All-Wheel Drive
Toyota will be adding all-wheel drive as an option on 2020 Camry and 2021 Avalon models. It comes with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine and an eight-speed automatic transmission. The all-wheel-drive Camry goes on sale in spring, with the AWD Avalon following later, in fall 2020.
- NewsAssociated Press
Report: Loud fight with detective preceded chief's death
A maintenance man checking on a noise complaint at a Florida beachfront hotel Sunday night walked into the room where a small-town Oklahoma police detective killed his boss in a drunken brawl, authorities said. The noises coming from room 527 at the Hilton on Pensacola Beach on Sunday night were so loud that the couple staying next door asked to switch rooms, according to an arrest report released to The Associated Press on Tuesday. A separate guest told investigators he heard a "roaring" sound followed by a voice saying, "stop it Mike" over and over.
- WorldReuters
Korean survivor says Japan's no-show at 'comfort women' case in Seoul lacks honor
A South Korean woman who had been forced to work in a Japanese wartime military brothel said Japan lacked honor for failing to attend a South Korean court on Wednesday as it began hearing a civil case brought against its government by a group of victims. "I am a living proof of history," said Lee Yong-soo, the 91-year-old survivor, her voice quaking with emotion as she addressed a news conference held near the courthouse, before proceedings began. Reminders of Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean peninsula are inflammatory for both sides.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Republicans are using the public impeachment hearing to reach a $3 million fundraising goal
The Republican Party and President Donald Trump's re-election campaign are hoping to use momentum from the ongoing public impeachment hearing to reach a $3 million fundraising goal. As the hearing of State Department official George Kent and Ambassador Bill Taylor was underway, the GOP the Trump campaign have tweeted and sent emails to supporters encouraging donations, which they say will be double matched over 24 hours. "These IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS are a total SCAM!" Brad Parscale, Trump's campaign manager, tweeted.
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