Republican leader struggles to defend Mulvaney quid pro quo press conference remarks

One of President Trump's staunchest defenders in Congress struggled Friday to explain acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney's conflicting statements during and after a press conference about whether the administration floated a quid pro quo to Ukrainian officials by which U.S. military aid would be given in exchange for an investigation into the 2016 U.S. presidential election. I think you saw Mick Mulvaney clarify his statement,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told reporters at a news conference. He said, 'Let me be clear, there was absolutely no quid pro quo between Ukraine military aid and an investigation into the 2016 election.

• 
  Mick Mulvaney: ‘There’s Going to Be Political Influence in Foreign Policy’

  Meredith Videos
• 
  How the Trump White House's messaging evolved on whether there was a Ukraine quid pro quo

  USA TODAY

Israel, Russia, and the US are in a diplomatic standoff over a 26-year-old woman smuggling 9 and a half grams of marijuana

A 26-year-old American-Israeli woman who was arrested at a Moscow airport with nine and a half grams of marijuana in April was sentenced on Friday to seven and a half years of prison in Russia on drug smuggling charges. Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu has argued for Naama Issachar's release, but her case is tied up in an ongoing diplomatic dispute between Russia, Israel, and the US. Russia is attempting to secure the release of an IT specialist, Aleksey Burkov, who was wanted in the US on charges of hacking and credit card fraud and was approved for extradition to the US by Israel's Supreme Court in August after his arrest in an Israeli airport in December 2015.

'Powderkeg' in Germany amid Turks-Kurds conflict

Syrian Kurd Mohamed Zidik, 76, still buys his bread and baklavas from Turkish neighbours in Berlin, but he knows better than to expound on his views about Ankara's offensive in his hometown. Since Turkish forces launched their assault on Kurds in northeastern Syria, tensions have risen in Germany where millions of Turks and Kurds live side by side. Shops have been trashed, knife attacks reported and insults traded, prompting Germany's integration commissioner Annette Widmann-Mauz to call for restraint.

'She stole their lives': Woman convicted of passing school bus, killing 3 kids in crash

Nearly a year after Alyssa Shepherd drove past a stopped school bus, killing three siblings as they crossed a two-lane highway to board the bus, a Fulton County jury convicted her of reckless homicide in the children's deaths. Shepherd, prosecutors say, was driving a pickup truck that struck and killed twins Xzavier and Mason Ingle, both 6, and their sister Alivia Stahl, 9, and also critically injured Maverik Lowe, 11, as they crossed the highway north of Rochester on Oct. 30. Lowe, who's still recovering from his injuries, has had more than 20 surgeries since the crash.

• 
  Woman convicted of reckless homicide in 3 deaths

  Yahoo News Video
• 
  Driver who fatally struck 3 siblings at school bus stop is found guilty of reckless homicide

  Good Morning America

Hong Kong protest leaders urge turnout for march, despite risk of arrest

Pro-democracy leaders called on Hong Kong's citizens to join a Sunday anti-government march in spite of the risk of arrest, after police banned the rally which is seen as a test of the protest movement's strength following months of unrest. Police declared the march illegal on Friday, citing concerns over public safety, and a court on Saturday said the destination of the march - the main railway interchange with mainland China - could be attacked and vandalized. Hardcore protesters have in recent weeks targeted mainland Chinese businesses, daubing them in graffiti and at times setting fires, while mainland Chinese living in Hong Kong have begun to express fears for their own safety.

• 
  How Hong Kong’s unrest is fueling Ethereum-based Gods Unchained

  Decrypt
• 
  Apple's Cook meets China regulator after pulling Hong Kong app

  Reuters

New ICE Program Exposes Hundreds of Fraudulent ‘Family Units’ Trying to Cross The Border

U.S. immigration authorities have discovered hundreds of instances at the border of “family unit fraud,” or unrelated individuals posing as families, over the last six months thanks to a new investigative initiative. Authorities exposed 238 fraudulent families presenting 329 false documents, according to the results of an investigation run by Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit in El Paso, Texas, the results of which were announced Thursday. More than 350 of those individuals are facing federal prosecution for crimes including human smuggling, making false statements, conspiracy, and illegal re-entry after removal.

Could France and Germany Jointly Build an EU Aircraft Carrier?

While discussing France and Germany's joint development with France of the FCAS sixth-generation stealth fighter in March 2019, the new head of Germany's governing CDU party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer raised eyebrows with her suggestion of a chaser. As a next step, we could start the symbolic project of building an aircraft carrier to give shape to the role of the European Union as a global force for security and peace. German chancellor Angela Merkel endorsed the idea a few days later.

Moms Demand Action founder says advocacy group is not anti-gun

Moms Demand Action is a grassroots organization advocating for stronger gun control measures, founded as a Facebook group the day after the that took the lives of 26 people, 20 of whom were young children. But while its members advocate for an assault ban, Moms Demand Action founder Shannon Watts says that it's a "misnomer" to call the group anti-gun. "Often people think that because we're doing this work, we're anti-gun or we don't support the Second Amendment.

Deadly Turkish airstrikes hit Syria hours after U.S.-brokered truce

Deadly Turkish airstrikes Friday shattered an hours-old U.S.-brokered deal to stop Ankara's military offensive against Kurdish forces in northeastern Syria.

• 
  Erdogan Vows to Crush Kurd YPG if it Doesn’t Leave: Syria Update

  Bloomberg
• 
  Trump on ceasefire: This is an ‘incredible outcome’

  ABC News Videos

Romney speculates Turkey called Trump's bluff: 'Are we so weak and inept?'

In an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Thursday, Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, blasted President Trump's decision to pull troops from defensive positions in Syria, and brought up the possibility that “Turkey may have called America's bluff” in an exchange between Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “Are we so weak and inept diplomatically that Turkey forced the hand of the United States of America? Turkey?” Romney said.

• 
  Bluff City Law: Can I Help You?

  Internet Video Archive
• 
  NBC Passes on More ‘Bluff City Law': Jimmy Smits Drama Will End After Initial 10-Episode Run

  The Wrap

One year on, migrant caravan leaves unexpected legacy

A year ago, thousands of Central American men, women and children chasing the American dream arrived in Mexico in a massive caravan that has left a lasting legacy -- just not the one people generally thought it would. Their arrival at the Guatemala-Mexico border on October 19, 2018, was a harbinger of the drama to come: defying the Mexican riot police sent to stop them, they forced their way through a series of barricades and flooded onto the border bridge, camping out until the authorities relented and let them cross.

Atatiana Jefferson's death highlights a long history of police violence in Fort Worth, and the community says it's time for a 'reckoning'

Atatiana Jefferson, 28, was shot and killed by Fort Worth police officer Aaron Dean early Saturday morning. Five fatal police shootings have taken place in Fort Worth since June, before Jefferson's death. S. Lee Merritt, a civil rights lawyer who is representing Jefferson's family told The New York Times that there "needs to be a reckoning" to change the police culture in Fort Worth.

• 
  Harrison and Brittany Barnes to pay for funeral of Atataina Jefferson

  NBC Sports
• 
  Let's talk about what we'd be talking about if Julian Castro was white

  The Independent

A day without teachers: 32,000+ educators in Chicago went on strike. Here's what happened

CHICAGO – Students flocked to camps, friends' houses, safe havens and bowling alleys on Thursday as about 32,000 Chicago Public Schools teachers and aides went on strike in the nation's third-largest school district. While parents scrambled to find places for their children, attitudes toward the strike — at least those expressed publicly — remained split. Many said they wanted teachers to be paid well and wanted the schools to have more support staff in the form of nurses and school psychologists, a key demand of the union.

• 
  Chicago Teachers Strike: Union leaders say progress still not enough, return to bargaining table as strike enters 3rd day

  WLS – Chicago
• 
  Chicago Teachers Strike: Thousands of teachers hit picket lines across city, CPS classes canceled

  WLS – Chicago

Why Did 3 U.S. Navy Submarines Surface In The Pacific In 2010? China.

Nuclear powers rarely go to war with each other, but that doesn't mean they don't threaten to do so. Long-range heavy bombers are some of the best forces for crisis stability, Morgan wrote in a 2013 study for the U.S. Air Force. On the other hand, the U.S. Navy's submarine-launched cruise missiles are less effective — even counterproductive — for crisis stability … because they're invisible most of the time.

Lebanon's Hezbollah says does not want government to resign

Lebanon's Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said on Saturday that the group was not demanding the government's resignation amid widespread national protests. Nasrallah said in a televised speech that he supported the government, but called for a new agenda and "new spirit," adding that ongoing protests showed the way forward was not new taxes. Any tax imposed on the poor would push him to call supporters to go take to the streets, Nasrallah added.

• 
  Rare mass protests in Lebanon after ailing government tries to tax WhatsApp calls

  The Telegraph
• 
  The Latest: Gulf gov'ts warn travelers over Lebanon protests

  Associated Press

Clever-Approved Travel Gear That Looks Good and Works Even Better

Travel in style, no matter how you're getting there Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Trump actions look 'clearly' impeachable, says leading conservative legal figure

Jack Goldsmith, a former top Justice Department lawyer in the George W. Bush administration, thinks that President Trump deserves to be impeached, but the conservative legal scholar is also critical of how the Democrats are going about the process. President Trump's actions in the Ukraine scandal appear to be “clearly” impeachable and are “probably the 300th thing Trump has done that's an impeachable offense,” Goldsmith told Yahoo News in an interview on the “Long Game” podcast. “In the general scheme of things, what Schiff did doesn't even compare to what the president did,” Goldsmith said.

• 
  Should Rep. Adam Schiff be removed from the impeachment inquiry?

  FOX News Videos
• 
  Pentagon expert may reveal key details in Ukraine probe

  Yahoo News Video

Next-Gen Dodge Challenger Coming in 2023? Don't Be So Sure, Says Dodge

Muscle Cars and Trucks noticed a 2023-mile odometer reading in press photos of the 2020 Dodge Challenger, which they and others thought could signal that the next generation's release is in 2023. Dodge is a frequent user of teasers to reveal upcoming cars, but a Dodge spokesperson told C/D this is not that. The automaker also reportedly has a track-focused ACR variant of the Challenger in the works.

High-profile cases turn spotlight on domestic violence in Russia

Natalia Tunikova's partner pushed her towards the open balcony in their high-rise Moscow flat, before punching her to the floor. Cases like Tunikova's are ever more widely reported in Russia, leading to a public outcry in a country that has no specific law on domestic violence and where feminist movements like #MeToo had little impact. This summer, a case against three teenage sisters who killed their father after what lawyers say was years of beatings and sexual abuse made national and global headlines.

Washington Group Fighting Affirmative Action Used Proud Boys As Guards

An anti-affirmative action campaign used members of the Proud Boys for security—and is now claiming it didn't realize its protection team was an organization labeled a hate group. On Nov. 5, voters in Washington state are set to decide on the future of Referendum 88, a measure that would allow affirmative action hiring in public jobs. The measure has support from civil rights groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), but faces opposition from a state veterans group and the organization Washington Asians for Equality, which claims the measure would lead to preferential treatment for some groups.

World War II's Allied Raid of Berlin Involved 1,000 Bombers (But Germany Fought On)

Key point: World War II's biggest bombing mission. He was widely regarded as America's best pilot, he was already a recipient of the Medal of Honor, he was commander of the Eighth Air Force caught up in 1,000-plane bombing missions deep into the Third Reich, and he was mad as hell. Lieutenant General James H. “Jimmy” Doolittle was also a gentleman who rarely used harsh language, but when they gave him the battle order for a mission to be flown on February 3, 1945—a mission to Berlin—Doolittle reportedly uttered an expletive or two.