Trump denies he betrayed the Kurds: 'We never gave a commitment'

Under fire from critics who have accused him of betraying the Kurds who fought alongside U.S. forces against ISIS in northern Syria, President Trump defended his decision Monday to pull troops from the region. We're working with the Kurds,” Trump told reporters ahead of a Cabinet meeting at the White House. We have a good relationship with the Kurds, but we never agreed to, you know, protect the Kurds.

• Trump Considering Leaving Small Contingent of Troops in Syria, Defense Secretary Confirms

  National Review
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  Last U.S. Base in Syria ‘Is Everything Wrong With Trump’s War’

  The Daily Beast

Buttigieg, surging in Iowa, has a plan to win it all. Here it is.

Reminder: There are 105 days until the Iowa caucuses and 379 days until the 2020 election. It happened to Kamala Harris during the summer. Now it's starting to happen to South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who was widely proclaimed one of the “winners” of last week's Democratic primary debate in Westerville, Ohio.

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  Paleologos on the Poll: Buttigieg gets an Iowa boost on strength of his debate performance

  USA TODAY
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  Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg surging as moderate alternative to Joe Biden in Iowa poll

  The Telegraph

Former SS camp guard tells court he's "haunted" by killings

BERLIN (AP) — A 93-year-old German former Stutthof guard on trial in Hamburg on thousands of counts of accessory to murder testified Monday he regrets having served in the Nazi concentration camp. Bruno Dey, a former SS private, told the court that "the images of misery and horror have haunted me my entire life," the German dpa news agency reported. The comments from Dey, in a short statement and in answer to questions from Presiding Judge Anne Meier-Goering, were his first at his trial, which opened last week.

Trump cites ‘phony Emoluments Clause’ for G-7 controversy

At a Cabinet meeting, President Trump blamed the “phony Emoluments Clause” in the U.S. Constitution for the controversy over his decision to have the G-7 summit at his resort in Doral, Fla.

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  Donald Trump reverses decision to host G7 summit at his own golf club in Florida

  The Telegraph
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  Grifter President Decides Hosting G-7 at His Own Resort is Too Blatant a Grift, Even for Him

  Rolling Stone

Deep-sea researchers discover second missing Battle of Midway ship

After the recent discovery of a Japanese aircraft carrier that was destroyed in the 1942 Battle of Midway, researchers combing through the deep seas for lost World War II-era warships have found the remains of another craft. Discovered nearly 5,500-metres below the surface in the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, roughly 2,000 kilometres from Pearl Harbour, the carrier Akagi was found by a crew using an autonomous underwater vehicle on Sunday morning. Image scans show debris surrounding the vessel on the sea floor.

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  Researchers Discover Second Long-Lost Japanese Warship From Historic World War II Battle of Midway

  Meredith Videos
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  The Latest: Experts identify WWII Battle of Midway shipwreck

  Associated Press

Boris Johnson Still Has a Bazooka at His Disposal

The price of Johnson's concessions to the European Union became clear on Saturday. Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, whose interests were sold out by the British prime minister so he could strike the deal, gave their backing to a parliamentary amendment that vastly complicates Johnson's task. The Letwin amendment, named after the former Conservative lawmaker who drafted it, says the new Brexit deal isn't done until Parliament passes the legislation to implement it.

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  Brexit deal news: John Bercow rejects Boris Johnson's demand for 'meaningful vote'

  Evening Standard
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  What next after Boris Johnson denied vote on Brexit deal?

  Associated Press

Russia’s Troll Farm Is Kind of Sh*tting the Bed on Facebook

Facebook on Monday removed nearly 200 newly discovered fake accounts linked separately to Iran and to Russia's Internet Research Agency. The takedowns demonstrate that foreign influence operations are already targeting the 2020 election, but provide evidence that Russia's notorious troll farm is struggling to regain anything close to the influence in held in 2016. The new wave of takedowns targeted separate networks of deceptive accounts created by Iran and Russia, including dozens of fake Facebook organization pages.

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  Zuckerberg unveils Facebook’s new security measures to combat 2020 election interference

  MarketWatch
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  Facebook to add label to state-backed media in attempt to battle foreign election meddling

  The Telegraph

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

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

Justice Department Distances Itself From Giuliani

The Justice Department distanced itself Sunday from Rudy Giuliani, President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, declaring that department officials would not have met with Giuliani to discuss one of his clients had they known that federal prosecutors in New York were investigating two of his associates. Several weeks ago, Brian A. Benczkowski, the head of the Justice Department's Criminal Division, and lawyers from the division's Fraud Section met with Giuliani to discuss a bribery case in which he and other attorneys were representing the defendants.

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  The Decline and Fall of Rudy Giuliani

  GQ
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  DOJ distances itself from Giuliani

  Yahoo News Video

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.

U.S. soldiers who fought alongside Kurds blast Trump's Syria retreat

Now retired and living in Portland, Oregon, the 66-year-old former Army Special Forces soldier is among legions of U.S. servicemembers with a deep gratitude and respect for Kurdish fighters they served alongside through the Iraq war and, more recently, conflicts with the Islamic State. So he was "furious" when President Donald Trump this month abruptly decided to pull 1,000 U.S. troops from northeast Syria, clearing the way for Turkey to move in on Kurdish-controlled territory. Walker's rage was echoed in Reuters interviews with a half dozen other current and former U.S. soldiers who have served with Kurdish forces.

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  Presidents of Turkey and Russia meet to talk fate of Syria border

  Yahoo News Video
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  Syria's Assad vows support for Kurds against Turkey assault

  AFP

A West Point cadet and his M4 rifle have been missing for three days

A West Point cadet went missing with an M4 rifle on Friday, officials from the military academy said. Officials said in a press release that the cadet, a member of the class of 2021, is not believed to be a threat to the public, but could be a threat to himself. A cadet at West Point has gone missing with an M4 rifle, officials from the military academy said.

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  A Massive Manhunt Is Underway For a West Point Cadet Missing Since Friday

  Meredith Videos
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  West Point military academy student missing with M4 rifle

  The Independent

Connecticut College Students Charged With Violating State Law Prohibiting ‘Ridicule’ after Using Racial Slur

University of Connecticut students Jarred Karal and Ryan Mucaj were arrested by campus police Monday night and charged with violating a Connecticut hate crime statute for using a racial slur in an incident captured on video. The two were charged under a Connecticut State law that criminalizes ridiculing “any person or class of people on account of creed, religion, color, denomination, nationality, or race.” The misdemeanor is punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a fine of $50, or both. “It is supportive of our core values to pursue accountability, through due process, for an egregious assault on our community that has caused considerable harm,” UConn President Thomas C. Katsouleas said in a statement late Monday.

Man in MAGA hat arrested after allegedly attacking protesters with bear repellent at anti-Donald Trump rally

California police arrested a man who sprayed protesters with bear repellent after violence broke out at an anti-Donald Trump rally. The Santa Monica Police Department announced 32-year-old David Dempsey was arrested Saturday on multiple charges, including prohibited use of a tear gas weapon and assault with a caustic chemical. A video posted online of the incident shows a man wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat spraying a crowd of people after the two groups became physical with each other.

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  Man in MAGA Hat Arrested After Allegedly Dousing Demonstrators With Bear Spray at Santa Monica Pier

  KTLA - Los Angeles
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  Trump supporter sprays bear repellent during Southern California Trump protest

  Yahoo News Video

The U.S. Army Has Big Plans to Smash Enemy Drones in a War

Defenders under drone attack from medium and large drones need to recognize that the attacking platform can be poised to launch missiles or find targets for long-range ground based missiles, air assets or even approaching forces. Modern technology enables drones to use high-resolution sensors and targeting systems to both find and attack targets at very long ranges, thus compounding the threat. Drones can increasingly operate with less and less human intervention and be programmed to enter enemy airspace, crossing into well-defended areas with decreased risk.

Impeachment Will Affect the 2020 Democratic Race—and Not in the Way That You Think

If the House votes to impeach President Donald Trump, thereby catalyzing a trial in the Senate, it'll mark a profound political and historical moment. But it'll also usher in an extraordinary logistical challenge for the six sitting Democratic Senators duking it out for their party's presidential nomination in 2020: they may be required in Washington during the peak of the early primary campaign. Whether the House will vote to impeach President Trump is still uncertain, of course.

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  White Evangelicals' Support For Trump Solid Despite Impeachment Inquiry: Survey

  HuffPost
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  Rep. Steve Scalise on President Trump's call for Republicans to push back against Democrats' impeachment push

  FOX News Videos

Hong Kong leader visits mosque struck by blue water-cannon dye

Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader and the city's police chief apologised Monday as they visited a mosque that was struck with blue dye from a water cannon during the latest bout of violent protests. The entrance to the Kowloon Mosque, the international hub's largest, was sprayed by a water cannon truck on Sunday, causing anger among both local Muslims and protesters. Police use the dye -- often mixed with an irritant -- as a way to identify protesters but it has frequently left streets and buildings daubed in a garish blue.

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  Water cannon sprays mosque entrance in Hong Kong

  Good Morning America
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  Hong Kong government pledges more aid to battered city, no end in sight to unrest

  Reuters

Michael Bloomberg ‘still looking at’ a presidential run ... but only if Biden is out

Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is at it again – teasing a presidential run. Over the past several weeks, he's signaled renewed interest in the democratic nomination, telling friends and associates he's “still looking at” running for president. Biden's collapse would likely leave Elizabeth Warren as frontrunner, a liberal candidate with whom he has repeatedly clashed over her anti-corporate policies and fears she will push the party too far to the left and eliminate the chance of a Democratic candidate unseating Donald Trump next year.

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  Buttigieg, surging in Iowa, has a plan to win it all. Here it is.

  Yahoo News
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  Amy Klobuchar says her moderate approach makes her the only candidate who can beat Trump in 2020

  CBS News Videos

Seth Meyers Blasts Mulvaney and Pompeo’s Disastrous Sunday Show Spin

Seth Meyers had a lot of news to catch up on when he returned from vacation on Monday. The Late Night host began with Trump's “acting” Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney, who went on Fox News Sunday to explain why the president announced that he would be holding the G7 conference at his Miami Doral resort in Florida and then reversed his decision after loud protests from both sides of the political aisle. “OK, first of all, he's not in the hospitality business, he's the president,” Meyers said.

WikiLeaks founder Assange appears confused at extradition hearing

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange appeared confused at a London court hearing on Monday, struggling to recall his name and age in his first public appearance in months as he sought to fight extradition to the United States. Assange, 48, who spent seven years holed up in Ecuador's embassy before he was dragged out in April, faces 18 counts in the United States including conspiring to hack government computers and violating an espionage law. He could spend decades in prison if convicted.

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  ‘I can’t think properly’: Assange fights back tears and struggles to say own name as he appears in court over US extradition

  The Independent
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  Wikileaks founder Julian Assange loses bid to delay hearing

  Associated Press

'Lost' Road Built by Christ's Executioner Unearthed

Archaeologists have unearthed a "lost" road in Jerusalem that was likely constructed by Pontius Pilate, the Roman who presided over the trial and execution of Jesus Christ. Archaeologists have unearthed a road that was likely built in 31 AD by Pontius Pilate, the Roman prefect who oversaw the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The ornately constructed road in Jerusalem stretches for about 2,000 feet, and is approximately 26 feet wide, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University.