Sen. Lindsey Graham and a Fox News contributor threw a Hail Mary to keep US troops in Syria

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and retired US Army Gen. Jack Keane reportedly tried convincing President Donald Trump to walk back his decision to completely withdraw US forces in Syria. The duo attempted to persuade him to keep a contingency force in the country to help defend oil fields from Iranian interests, NBC News reported. Graham has been outspoken in keeping US troops in Syria, claiming the abrupt withdrawal would abandon Kurdish allies and lead to a resurgence of ISIS.

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  Rand Paul says Lindsey Graham needs to get to the bottom of the Russia investigation

  FOX News Videos
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  'This is a lynching, in every sense': Lindsey Graham says Trump's impeachment description 'accurate'

  USA TODAY

Charges: Church shooting suspect badly beats public defender

A man charged with attempted murder in a church shooting attacked his public defender during a jailhouse meeting, sending the man to intensive care with severe head injuries and no memory of the beating, according to documents released Tuesday. Dale Holloway, 37, of Manchester, assaulted public defender Michael Davidow on Monday morning at the Valley Street jail in Manchester, New Hampshire, the documents said. In this case, the officer heard a knock and turned to see Holloway standing up and Davidow seated at the table, with his hands over his face and blood dripping onto the floor.

Why Russia Is Angry at America's Missile Defense Systems

Key point: THAAD and Aegis Ashore are defensive, not offensive systems. A key NATO missile-defense site in Romania on Aug. 9, 2019 completed a three-month upgrade process that had forced operators to take the system offline. To fill the resulting gap in coverage, the U.S. Army in May 2019 deployed to Romania one of its seven Terminal High-Altitude Area-Defense missile-interceptor batteries.

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  World War III: How Would America Respond to Nuclear Missile Attack?

  The National Interest
• 
  Why Russia's Nuclear-Powered "Skyfall" Missile Is Bad News

  The National Interest

Silicon Valley CEOs Appear to Have Chosen Their 2020 Candidate

While Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren are topping national polls in the contest for the Democratic Party's nomination, California's deep-pocketed Silicon Valley is donating to the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana over the former vice president by a 5-to-1 margin. “Pete is a clean slate for the party in ways Biden can't be,” said Cyrus Radfar, a 35-year-old technology entrepreneur and Democratic donor. “There's new life and new energy that Pete brings, especially as the base of the Democratic Party is getting younger.

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  Pete Buttigieg gets a boost in Iowa after several months of stagnating polls

  Business Insider
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  Biden Regains Lead Over Democratic 2020 Rivals in New National Poll

  National Review

U.S. defense chief recuses himself from review of $10 billion cloud computing contract

U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has removed himself from reviewing a disputed $10 billion cloud computing deal because of a possible conflict of interest, a move that could further delay the contract-award process. Esper has delegated decision-making on the Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure Cloud (JEDI) program to Deputy Secretary David Norquist, the Pentagon said on Tuesday. "Although not legally required to, he (Esper) has removed himself from participating in any decision making ... due to his adult son's employment with one of the original contract applicants," chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Rath Hoffman said in a statement.

• Defense chief steps aside from reviewing $10B cloud contract

  Politico
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  Esper recuses himself from decision on JEDI cloud contract because of son’s employer

  MarketWatch

US awarded ownership of seized North Korean vessel

A New York court has formally handed the US ownership of a North Korean cargo ship seized for violating international sanctions, the Justice Department said. The 17,061 ton bulk carrier Wise Honest -- the first North Korean vessel seized by Washington for sanctions violations -- was caught carrying a $3 million shipment of coal in Indonesian waters last year and later handed over to US authorities. The court in the Southern District of New York ordered the vessel to be forfeited to Washington and for the Treasury Department to "dispose of" it, an order released by the Justice Department showed.

• U.S. Wins Court Seizure of North Korean Cargo Vessel

  Bloomberg
• US To Sell North Korean Ship, Pay Proceeds To Tortured Victims' Families

  Benzinga

Seattle Public Schools Want to Teach Social Justice in Math Class. That Hurts Minorities.

Seattle's public-school district has proposed a new math curriculum that would teach its students all about how math has been “appropriated” — and how it “continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities. A draft of the curriculum, which was covered in an article in Education Week, would teach students how to “explain how math and technology and/or science are connected and how technology and/or science have (sic) been and continues to be used to oppress and marginalize people and communities of color,” as well as to “identify and teach others about mathematicians* of color in their various communities: schools, neighborhoods, places of worship, businesses, etc.” Educat...

Driver dies days after pickup collided with small plane

The driver of a pickup truck that was struck by an airplane attempting to land at a grass runway in Wisconsin last week has died, authorities say. Patrick J. Schounard, 51, of Greenleaf died Sunday from injuries he suffered when a single-engine Aeronca 7AC aircraft flown by John Fiddelke collided with Schounard's pickup truck on a Brown County near Martins Aerodrome. Fiddelke was on approach to land at the small airport Thursday when he collided with Schounard's pickup, pushing the plane and truck into a nearby front yard.

Former Acting Attorney General: ‘Abuse of Power Is Not a Crime’

Following Tuesday's devastating House testimony by acting U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor about President Trump allegedly coercing the Ukrainian president to do his political bidding, former acting U.S. Attorney General Matthew Whitaker defended the president by claiming “abuse of power is not a crime. With House Democrats reportedly looking to focus their impeachment inquiry on a basic “abuse of power” narrative going forward, Fox News' Laura Ingraham brought Whitaker on her primetime show Tuesday night to provide a counter-argument.

The Latest: Hong Kong government withdraws unpopular bill

Hong Kong's government has formally withdrawn an unpopular extradition bill that sparked unruly protests, which morphed into a broader campaign for democratic change in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. The security chief announced in the legislature on Wednesday that the bill was being withdrawn. Hong Kong's leader had proposed amendments to extradition legislation as a way to resolve a case involving a man wanted for murder in self-ruled Taiwan, who could not be sent to face charges because there was no extradition agreement.

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  Murder suspect who triggered Hong Kong’s protest crisis issues apology as he leaves prison

  South China Morning Post
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  Activists to hand out thousands of 'Free Hong Kong' shirts at Warriors opening day game

  KGO – San Francisco

China Is Building 'The Mother of All Bombs': Report

Key Point: So, what do we know about China's big bomb? China has joined the “Mother of All Bombs” club. A Chinese arms maker has unveiled a weapon similar to America's GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB (hence the nickname “Mother of All Bombs”).

Iraq: U.S. troops crossing border from Syria don't have approval to stay

U.S. forces that crossed into Iraq as part of a withdrawal from Syria do not have permission to stay and can only be there in transit, the Iraqi military said on Tuesday.

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  US troops exiting Syria to stay 'temporarily' in Iraq: Esper

  AFP
• 
  UPDATE 1-Displaced by war, Kurdish families stuck at Syria-Iraq border point

  Reuters

See Photos of the New Honda Fit

The new fourth-generation Fit hatchback is here, but its prospects for the U.S. are not looking good. From Car and Driver

Lebanon's Hezbollah under rare street pressure

When mass anti-government protests engulfed Lebanon, a taboo was broken as strongholds of the Shiite Hezbollah movement saw rare demonstrations criticising the party and revered leader Hassan Nasrallah. This shattered the myth of absolute acquiesence among Hezbollah's popular base, baffling even those who hail from the movement's strongholds. "No one ever expected that in any of these areas in south Lebanon we would hear a single word against Nasrallah," or Amal Movement leader Nabih Berri, said Sara, a 32-year-old activist who participated in protests in the southern city of Nabatiyeh.

Turkey and Russia announce deal to withdraw all Kurdish forces from Syrian border

Turkey and Russia announced last night they had reached a deal to avoid a return to fullscale fighting in northeast Syria, just hours before a US-brokered ceasefire between Turkish and Kurdish forces was due to expire. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Vladimir Putin emerged from marathon talks in Sochi with an agreement that would see all Kurdish forces pull back 30km from the Syrian border over the next six days. Russia and Turkey will then launch joint military patrols in the area to ensure the deal is being implemented.

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  NBA's Kanter slams Erdogan, operation against Kurds

  AFP
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  In Iraqi refuge, Syrian Kurds curse Trump and Erdogan

  AFP

An Air France flight was forced to turn back in midair when staff found an unattended cellphone that wasn't claimed by any of the passengers

An Air France flight made an emergency landing in Ireland after a mobile phone found on board was not claimed by any passengers. The flight, scheduled to fly from Paris to Chicago, was met by the police and fire engines when it landed at Shannon Airport, and the police said they scanned the phone. The phone was deemed safe, and the Irish newspaper The Journal reported that it could have been left by a passenger on a previous flight and gone unnoticed by the cleaning crew.

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  American Airlines flight diverted after cleaning fluid spill makes passengers ill

  USA TODAY
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  Three people hospitalised by chemical leak on board American Airlines plane

  The Telegraph

Kim orders South's buildings at resort in North be destroyed

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ordered the destruction of South Korean-made hotels and other tourist facilities at the North's Diamond Mountain resort, apparently because Seoul won't defy international sanctions and resume South Korean tours at the site. Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday that Kim had visited the resort and described its facilities as "shabby" and lacking national character. The report said Kim criticized North Korea's policies pushed under his late father as too dependent on the South and vowed that the North would redevelop the site on its own.

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  Kim Jong Un orders South's hotel buildings in North be destroyed

  Yahoo News Video
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  North Korea's Kim vows to clear 'shabby' South Korea relics from Kumgang resort

  Reuters

View Photos of the 2020 GMC Acadia AT4

GMC's revised Acadia AT4 mid-size SUV benefits more from the lineup's updates than it does from its rugged visage. From Car and Driver

Joe Biden's Black Sheep Son Could Wreck His Presidential Run

Family has always been a delicate issue for former Vice President Joe Biden. When he was still a senator-elect, in December 1972, his immediate family was in a car accident. Going forward, Biden began the practice of commuting on Amtrak from Delaware to Washington, DC every day so he could return home to his children.

Hong Kong Police Already Have AI Tech That Can Recognize Faces

Police have been able to use the technology from Sydney-based iOmniscient for at least three years, and engineers from the company have trained dozens of officers on how to use it, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information isn't public. The software can scan footage including from closed-circuit television to automatically match faces and license plates to a police database and pick out suspects in a crowd. In addition to tracking criminals, iOminiscient's artificial intelligence can be used for everything from finding lost children to managing traffic.

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  Report From Entrata Finds Consumers Don't Fully Understand or Trust Artificial Intelligence

  PR Newswire
• H2O.ai Highlights its Vision to Democratize AI with "Make Your Company an AI Company"

  PR Newswire