- PoliticsYahoo News
'You embarrassed yourself': Kellyanne Conway blasts CNN's Wolf Blitzer for playing George Conway clip
Appearing live on CNN Thursday, Kellyanne Conway, special counselor to President Trump, was asked to respond to the assessment given by her husband, George, that testimony of career diplomats in the first public impeachment hearings was damning for her boss. George Conway, a conservative lawyer and outspoken Trump critic, appeared on MSNBC as a guest analyst during Thursday's hearings. While introducing a clip of George Conway, CNN's Wolf Blitzer told Kellyanne Conway he wanted to ask her a “sensitive” political question.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Jewish Groups Blast Fox News for Joe diGenova’s Anti-Semitic Soros Conspiracy Theory
Fox has come under fire from Jewish organizations following a Wednesday night segment on Fox Business Network's Lou Dobbs Tonight in which Trump-boosting lawyer Joe diGenova seemingly trafficked in anti-Semitic tropes by accusing Jewish financier George Soros of controlling “very large parts” of the U.S. Department of State. Speaking with host Lou Dobbs—who has a history of peddling Soros-based conspiracies—diGenova dismissed the impeachment testimony of senior diplomat George Kent by baselessly claiming he is part of an insidious Soros plot to take over Ukraine with the help of State and the FBI.
- NewsAssociated Press
Suspect in ‘Potomac River Rapist’ cold case arrested
Genealogy websites and a cheek swab enabled U.S. Marshals to arrest a man suspected of being the “Potomac River Rapist,” who terrorized the nation's capital in the 1990s. News outlets report 60-year-old Giles Daniel Warrick is now awaiting extradition from Horry County, South Carolina. Authorities said DNA evidence matched family profiles in genealogy services, enabling investigators to narrow their search after interviewing Warrick's relatives.
WorldAFPVietnam jails music teacher for 'undermining' state
Vietnam sentenced a music teacher to 11 years in prison on Friday for Facebook posts that allegedly undermined the one-party state, which has been accused of tightening the noose on online dissent. Communist Vietnam has long jailed its critics but has come under fire recently for targeting users on Facebook, a popular forum for activists in the country where all independent media is banned. Nguyen Nang Tinh is the latest activist jailed for his Facebook comments, including posts about police brutality, land rights, and a Taiwanese steel firm that dumped toxic sludge into the ocean, killing masses of fish off the coast of Vietnam.
- PoliticsNational Review
Sanders, AOC to Introduce Over $100 Billion Plan to Make Public Housing Environmentally Friendly
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) plan to introduce legislation on Thursday that makes public housing more energy efficient, at a cost of over $100 billion. The plan, dubbed the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, will call for renovation of public housing units to install community gardens and organic grocery stores along with on-site childcare services, according to the Washington Post. “Importantly, the working people who have been most impacted by decades of disinvestment in public housing will be empowered to lead this effort and share in the economic prosperity that it generates for our country,” Sanders said in a statement.
- NewsINSIDER
An expert in fraternity hazing deaths says coddling parents are part of the problem
Five young men have died in incidents that appear to be connected to fraternities at colleges across the country so far this fall. Hank Nuwer, a journalist who has been compiling a database on fraternity deaths for decades, believes over-indulgent parents are partly to blame for a recent uptick in dangerous behavior. "Parents want to show their love by giving everything — everything but old-fashioned lessons in self-restraint," he told Insider.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoOnlookers applaud as Yovanovitch hearing ends
After House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff delivered closing remarks, onlookers applaud as former Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch leaves the room after giving testimony in the impeachment inquiry.
- WorldReuters
Top Putin aide named by MH17 airliner investigators
An international investigation into the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on Thursday released a series of phone intercepts, including one between a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and pro-Russian rebels accused in the crash. Calls between officials in Moscow and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine mostly took place via secure telephones provided by the Russian security service, and intensified ahead of the disaster in the first half of July 2014, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) said. "The indications for close ties between leaders of the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) and Russian government officials raise questions about their possible involvement in the deployment of the (missile), which brought down flight MH17 on 17 July 2014," the JIT said.
- WorldBloomberg
Immigration Row Reopens Old Brexit Scars: U.K. Campaign Trail
Sign up to our Brexit Bulletin, follow us @Brexit and subscribe to our podcast. The Conservatives are trying to put immigration at the center of their campaign on Thursday. Home Secretary Priti Patel published analysis -- which Labour rejects -- saying Jeremy Corbyn's “open borders” policy will push up net migration to 840,000 per year.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Trump impeachment: Stunning scenes as witness applauded after seeing off real-time 'intimidation' by president
Career diplomat Marie Yovanovitch received a rare, emotional standing ovation after she testified about Donald Trump's threatening intimidation over Ukraine, and fended off in real time a stunning Twitter attack from the president. As Ms Yovanovitch delivered her testimony on Capitol Hill, providing a damning portrait of a “smear campaign” against her led by Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump's personal lawyer, Democrats accused the president of seeking to intimidate witnesses, and said his words could be included in any articles of impeachment.
- WorldThe National Interest
Look Out, Israel: China May Have Stolen The Iron Dome
Key point: China has aided its military modernization by stealing and reverse-engineering top-of-the-line military hardware. Maryland-based Cyber Engineering Services detected the cyber burglary, according to cybersecurity writer Brian Krebs. “Between Oct. 10, 2011 and Aug. 13, 2012, attackers thought to be operating out of China hacked into the corporate networks of three top Israeli defense technology companies, including Elisra Group, Israel Aerospace Industries, and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems,” Krebs writes.
- NewsAssociated Press
Chicago gang leader accused of trying to help Islamic State
A purported street-gang leader from suburban Chicago who became radicalized in prison faces federal charges accusing him of seeking to provide money to Islamic State militants in Syria, according to a complaint unsealed Friday in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Jason Brown, the 37-year-old leader of the AHK gang, could be heard on secret FBI recordings speaking admiringly about beheadings by the Islamic State group, the 27-page complaint says. AHK, which prosecutors say traffics drugs throughout the Chicago area, is comprised of former members of the Black P-Stone, Gangster Disciples and Four Corner Hustlers who converted to Islam, the court filings say.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
20 Great Gifts for Boys Who Love to Tinker
These toys will do what your junior high chem teacher never could: make learning about science fun. From Popular Mechanics
SportsAFPTempers flare over rebuilding of Notre-Dame spire
The French army general charged with overseeing the rebuilding of Paris' fire-mangled Notre-Dame, has caused astonishment by publicly telling the cathedral's chief architect to "shut his mouth" in a sign of tension over the monument's future look. General Jean-Louis Georgelin and chief architect Philippe Villeneuve are at odds over whether to replace the cathedral's spire -- which was toppled in the April 15 blaze -- with an exact replica, or mix things up with a modern twist. President Emmanuel Macron, who appointed Georgelin to head the massive reconstruction project, has said he is in favour of adding a "contemporary" touch.
- NewsINSIDER
Off-duty officers were the first responders to the California high school shooting — because they were dropping off their own family members for school
An off-duty sheriff's deputy and two off-duty police officers were the first to respond to the scene of a shooting at a Southern California high school — because they were dropping off their own family members for school. Two students were killed and three were left injured in the shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarity Valley, which is north of Los Angeles. The gunman was also left in grave condition after he attempted to take his own life after the shooting.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ripped late presidential bids and suggested efforts should be redirected to winning state legislatures
YURI GRIPAS/Reuters Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York has called out late entries into the 2020 presidential race. In a tweet Thursday, the congresswoman from New York said that rather than "setting ablaze hundreds of millions of dollars" on late-to-the-game presidential bids, efforts instead should be redirected to "winning majorities of state legislatures across the United States." Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City took steps last week to enter the 2020 race.
- WorldChristian Science Monitor
From shattered glass and broken tents, Lebanese draw resolve
Soaring high above Beirut's central Martyrs' Square, the focal point of a month of nationwide protests against decades of corrupt and sectarian rule in Lebanon, is a signboard of a clenched fist and the Arabic word for revolution. Here, like a shrine, protesters have collected the broken tent frames and smashed plastic chairs and tables left over after thugs armed with sticks and pipes – and chanting pro-Shiite slogans favoring the powerful Hezbollah and Amal parties – attacked the square in late October. “They attacked everyone; they were not behaving like Lebanese,” says Anita Mansour, a 30-something architect from Beirut, speaking beside the pile of revolutionary debris.
- WorldBloomberg
Brexit Bulletin: Who Wins from Winter?
Today in Brexit: When the history of Brexit is written, expect a chapter on one unlikely factor: the great British winter. With Britain bracing for its most important general election in a generation, set to determine the fate of Brexit, politicians are having to grapple with a very practical problem: campaigning while it's cold, wet and dark. It's the first December election in almost a century, and there are various implications for campaigning and potential turnout, write Bloomberg's Alex Morales and Greg Ritchie.
PoliticsThe WeekFox News' Bret Baier suggests Trump just broke the law in 'real time' with tweeted attacks on Yovanovitch
Is that enough pizzazz for you? Ousted U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch had barely been in the Capitol for an hour when President Trump "committed a crime while we're watching," journalist Marcy Wheeler tweeted Friday. That's because as Yovanovitch gave her public impeachment testimony, Trump attacked her in a tweet — something Wheeler is joining The New York Times' Michael Schmidt and Fox News' Bret Baier in suggesting amounts to witness tampering.
- WorldReuters
Russia sets up helicopter base in northern Syria after U.S. exit
Russia has set up a helicopter base at an airport in the northeastern Syrian city of Qamishli, the Russian Defence Ministry's Zvezda TV channel said on Thursday, a move designed to increase Moscow's control over events on the ground there. Two Mi-35 helicopter gunships were shown flying low over desert terrain before landing at the new base, which is protected by mobile Pantsir surface-to-air missile systems. Only three helicopters, including an Mi-8 military transport helicopter, have so far been deployed at the new facility, Zvezda said, but more will follow.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Georgia inmate executed for 1994 convenience store killing as last-minute DNA test denied
A Georgia inmate sentenced to death for fatally shooting a convenience store clerk during a robbery 25 years ago was executed Wednesday night, authorities say. Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was pronounced dead at 10:59 p.m after lethal injection at Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, the state's department of corrections said. Cromartie was convicted of the 1994 killing of Richard Slysz at a Thomasville convenience store, but his lawyers recently had appealed for DNA testing of evidence they say could have exonerated Cromartie after a new statement from one of the men involved in the robbery.
- WorldAssociated Press
Fuel rations, price hike hit Iranians amid plunging economy
Across the capital, Tehran, long lines of cars waited for hours at pumping stations following the changes in energy policy, which state media announced around midnight without any prior warning to the public. The U.S. withdrew from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers last year, and re-imposed crippling trade sanctions that have sent the Iranian economy into free-fall. Iranian officials say the proceeds from Friday's price hikes are earmarked to fund subsidies for low-income families.
- WorldThe National Interest
Dressed to Kill: Arming Ukraine Could Put It on a Path Towards War
In 2017, the United States began supplying Javelin missile launchers and sniper systems to Ukraine. This equipment, in addition to nonlethal aid (since 2014), is intended to help fight off Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region. Yet the aid policy has a number of fundamental shortcomings: its effectiveness at the tactical level is limited; it will likely encourage, not deter, Russia's engagement in the conflict; and it fails to address the root causes of the Donetsk and Luhansk (collectively—Donbas) rebellions.
- NewsThe Independent
American war veteran who spent several days in ICE detention receives $190k settlement
A US citizen and military veteran suffering from a mental health condition will reportedly receive $190,000 (£147,988) from a Michigan city after local officials transferred him to ICE detention following an arrest last year. Jilmar Ramos-Gomez, a decorated Marine veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, was arrested while experiencing an episode in which he lost all recollection, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Police found the veteran, who was born and raised in Michigan, on the helipad of a hospital after he started a small fire and pulled an alarm, according to reports.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
View Photos of the 2020 Morgan Plus 4
The ancient British roadster is a brand-new barn find. From Car and Driver
