- PoliticsYahoo News
GOP lawmaker says 'out-of-the-box strategy' could give Trump an 'advantage' in impeachment hearings
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Sunday said it would play to the “president's advantage” to have his top administration officials, in an “out-of-the-box strategy,” testify in the upcoming impeachment hearings. “As it relates to the other members of the executive branch, the president has to make decisions not only for him but for the presidency,” he continued.
- PoliticsNational Review
Biden Says Son Hunter Will Not Engage in Foreign Business if He Wins in 2020
Democratic presidential frontrunner Joe Biden said his son Hunter will not be engaged in any foreign business if the former vice president is elected in 2020. Hunter Biden raised eyebrows when it came to light that he held a lucrative position on the board of a Ukrainian gas company while his father was fighting corruption in Ukraine as vice president. The set-up prompted Trump to ask Ukraine to investigate the Bidens while temporarily withholding U.S. military aid, an alleged quid pro quo that became the basis for the impeachment inquiry against Trump.
- NewsReuters
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Arizona opioid case against Purdue, Sackler family
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away a novel case by Arizona seeking to recover billions of dollars that the state has said that members of the Sackler family - owners of Purdue Pharma LP - funneled out of the OxyContin maker before the company filed for bankruptcy in September. The justices declined to take the rare step of allowing Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich to pursue a case directly with the Supreme Court on the role the drugmaker played in the U.S. opioid epidemic that has killed tens of thousands of Americans annually in recent years. The lawsuit accused eight Sackler family members of funneling $4 billion out of Purdue from 2008 to 2016 despite being aware that the company faced massive potential liabilities over its marketing of opioid medications.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
The 25 Best Tower Defense Games
Build those structures. Keep them from harm. Collect that loot.
- WorldBusiness Insider
China claims all Uighur Muslims have happily 'graduated' from its oppressive prison camp system, despite widespread reports that at least 1 million are detained
China has imprisoned at least 1 million Uighur Muslims in prison-like detention camps in the western Xinjiang region, according to numerous activists and researchers. Shohrat Zakir, the governor of Xinjiang, claimed without evidence on Monday that everyone in the camps, which China euphemistically calls "vocational training centers" is now out. Zakir said everyone had now "graduated" from the facilities, where reports of psychological and physical torture are common.
- CelebrityCBS News
Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart: "There is no cure" for being gay
I mean, I literally called my bishop up one morning, and I said, 'You know, I feel like I've stabbed Lois in the heart,'" Smart told King in his first network television interview about his sexuality. "And I went to my other church leader, and I said to him, 'So am I gay? Am I gay?
NewsAFPPearl Harbor veteran interred on sunken ship
With speeches and salutes, veterans and officials on Saturday commemorated the 78th anniversary of the 1941 sneak attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, which brought a previously reluctant United States into World War II. A ceremony in Hawaii honoring survivors was attended by US Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Washington's ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris. It was held within sight of the sunken USS Arizona, which was bombed in the opening moments of the attack that killed more than 2,400 Americans.
- HealthUSA TODAY
'It was beautiful': Acupuncturists help migrants stranded at Mexico border deal with stress
For months, Carlos Lopez's mind has been endlessly spinning with the fears and anxiety of leaving his home country of Honduras, traveling 1,700 miles with his 13-year-old son to this Mexican border town and the day-to-day survival of living in a squalid tent city. “All the bad thoughts went away,” Lopez, 41, said, as he emerged from his 45-minute-long acupuncture session. Lopez is one of a growing number of migrants stuck on the border under President Donald Trump's Migration Protection Protocols policy – which sends migrants to Mexican border towns to await their immigration court hearing in the U.S. To help the migrants pass the time and deal with stress, teams of volunteers led by Acupuncturists Without Borders, or AWB, a nonprofit that treats people in disaster zones and refugee camps and trains other acupuncturists around the world, are providing Lopez and others with free acupuncture treatment at border towns in Mexico.
- WorldThe National Interest
Remember When Russian Diesel Submarines Chased Down A British Nuclear Sub?
Russian diesel subs chased a British nuclear sub off the Syrian coast, according to British media. The incident reportedly involved one or two Russian Kilo-class diesel-powered submarines, which have been dubbed the "Black Hole" by Western navies because they are remarkably quiet. "Two Russian frigates and an anti-submarine aircraft are also thought to have been searching for the British boat as it maneuvered to put its Tomahawk cruise missiles within range of Syrian military targets," according to The Times of London."The Astute-class submarine is believed to have spent several days trying to evade detection in a tense and dangerous contest." The British sub did not fire its Tomahawks during last week's strike by American, British and French forces against Syrian chemical weapons sites, leading to speculation that the British boat was driven off by the Russian subs.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Trump impeachment: More than 600 law academics conclude there is 'overwhelming evidence' for president's removal
Hundreds of legal scholars have concluded there is “overwhelming evidence” that Donald Trump engaged in impeachable conduct In an open letter to congress, more than 600 academics from law schools including Yale, Rutgers and Harvard said it would be constitutional to remove the president. There is overwhelming evidence that President Trump betrayed his oath of office by seeking to use presidential power to pressure a foreign government to help him distort an American election, for his personal and political benefit, at the direct expense of national security interests as determined by Congress,” they wrote.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoJury would convict Trump 'in 3 minutes flat': Nadler
The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said Sunday that if the impeachment case against President Trump were put to a jury, there "would be a guilty verdict in three minutes flat."
- BusinessReuters
Amid flurry of Saudi reforms, mocktails on order in execution square
For decades, criminals in Saudi Arabia were lined up after Friday prayers at a central Riyadh plaza and beheaded by sword in a gruesome public spectacle overseen by the religious police. Such jarring contrasts are accompanying the rapid social changes under Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, like lifting bans on women driving, gender mixing and public entertainment. Many Saudis embrace the new openness, but even supporters worry it might be coming too quickly and risks provoking a conservative backlash.
- NewsThe Guardian
'An outright lie': Ohio lawmaker shown to be linked to group pushing rightwing Christian bills
An Ohio legislator who said he had “no knowledge” of a rightwing Christian bill mill called Project Blitz is, in fact, the co-chair of the state branch of an organization behind the campaign. The Ohio state representative Timothy Ginter sponsored a bill called the Student Religious Liberties Act. The Guardian revealed the bill was nearly identical to one promoted by Project Blitz, a state legislative project guided by three Christian right organizations, including the Congressional Prayer Caucus (CPC), WallBuilders and the ProFamily Legislators Conference.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Mysterious automated calls, vanished relatives, and sinister Facebook comments: How China intimidates Uighurs who don't even live in the country
China is waging a widespread, coordinated mass crackdown on its Uighur Muslim minority. Though the brutal campaign is most active in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, the Uighurs' homeland, many Uighurs abroad say they have also been targeted by Chinese agents. Members of the Uighur diaspora described receiving mysterious automated calls, eerie Facebook comments, and being threatened by Mandarin Chinese speakers in real life.
- NewsAssociated Press
US Catholic priests describe turmoil amid sex abuse crisis
More than a century ago, waves of Catholic immigrants from Ireland, Poland and Quebec settled in Chicopee and other western Massachusetts mill towns, helping build churches, rectories and schools to accommodate their faith. Today the priests leading those churches are under siege due to stresses, challenges and sex abuse scandals complicating their lives and those of their fellow priests across the United States. The Rev. Mark Stelzer is among those trying to persevere.
- WorldBloomberg
Plot Emerged to Fix Venezuela Without Maduro or Guaido
People close to both President Nicolas Maduro and his rival Juan Guaido plotted to push both men aside and end the nation's crisis with the rule of a temporary junta, the newspaper reported without citing where it got the information. Guaido, the National Assembly president, has been recognized by more than 50 countries, including the U.S., as Venezuela's leader. The key figure appears to be Humberto Calderon Berti, then the designated ambassador to Colombia who Guaido dismissed last month.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Twin girls, 4, free themselves from car crash that killed their father in 'heroic' act
Twin 4-year-old girls escaped a fatal car crash by unbuckling their car seats and hiking for help, Washington state officials confirmed. The crash killed their father, Corey Simmons, 47, at the scene after the car careened off a winding road Friday evening and down into a wooden area 200 feet away, KING-TV and CNN reported. Simmons sustained traumatic head injuries. The twins unbuckled their booster seats, extricated themselves from the wreckage by climbing out of the broken back window of the vehicle — a 2017 Nissan Sentra —and climbed 200 feet up an embankment back to the road on Whidbey Island, located 34 miles north of Seattle, Trooper Heather Axtman told USA TODAY.
- WorldThe National Interest
The United States' New 'Ninja Missile' Chops Targets to Bits (We Have Questions)
Designed to minimize civilian casualties, the ninja missile is a specially modified Hellfire—without a warhead. The Hellfire missiles weigh in the 100 to 110 pound range, including a 20-pound warhead and are guided through a millimeter wave radar seeker, or by laser. Years after their development, Hellfire missiles have become the armament of choice in the war on terror, and are often used on Reaper and Predator drones in strikes against militants in crowded, urban environments.
- PoliticsThe Independent
TV crew laugh at Ted Cruz in live interview after he endorses Trump's baseless conspiracy theory
Ted Cruz was laughed at by a TV crew during a live interview after he endorsed Donald Trump's baseless conspiracy theory about Ukraine. The Texas senator, who challenged Mr Trump to be the Republican nominee in 2016, was mocked for saying he believed there was “considerable evidence” that Ukraine meddled in the most recent presidential election. The US intelligence community has concluded that Russia, not Ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election and senior officials have said it is a “fictional narrative” to suggest Ukraine was involved.
- NewsTime
Female Reporter Calls Out Runner Who Groped Her While She Was on TV
A young female local news journalist has spoken out after she was apparently groped by a runner while reporting live on a race in Savannah, Ga. Alexandrea Bozarjian, a WSAV3 journalist, was reporting on the Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run on Saturday as runners rush by her, waving to the camera, according to footage of the incident. Suddenly, a man throws back his arm, turns to her and appears to deliberately hit her on the rear end.
- WorldReuters
Iran ready for full prisoner swap, 'ball is in the U.S.’ court': Zarif
Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Monday the Islamic republic is ready for a full prisoner exchange with the United States, tweeting: "The ball is in the US' court". "After getting our hostage back this week, fully ready for comprehensive prisoner exchange," Zarif said. The United States and Iran on Saturday swapped prisoners - American graduate student Xiyue Wang, detained for three years on spying charges, and imprisoned Iranian stem-cell researcher Massoud Soleimani, accused of sanction violations - in a rare act of cooperation between two longtime foes.
- NewsThe Telegraph
American soldiers banned from Italian main street after vicious brawl
Around 2,000 US Army soldiers have been banned from one of the main streets in the Italian city of Vicenza after a brawl between soldiers and locals. The temporary ban, which affects members of the 173rd Airborne Brigade stationed in the city, involves the quaint via Contra' Pescherie Vecchie, where two young Vicenza men say they were surrounded and beaten by several soldiers after a verbal exchange just outside a popular watering hole for off duty combat paratroopers. City authorities are studying CCTV images to identify the culprits of the latest violent episode, which prompted Mayor Francesco Rucco to request special restrictive measures from the base commander.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
One of the world's largest basic-income trials, a 2-year program in Finland, was a major flop. But experts say the test was flawed.
In 2017, Finland became the first European country to test a government-backed unconditional basic income, which gave people a regular stipend with no strings attached. Two years after Finland launched a basic-income trial in which nearly 2,000 unemployed residents were given a regular monthly stipend, many of the recipients remained jobless. The people reported that they were happier and healthier overall than other unemployed residents, but the experiment was widely declared a failure.
- NewsINSIDER
A Saudi man at the Pensacola Navy base reportedly recorded the deadly shooting from outside the building where it took place
A Saudi national at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida recorded the shooting from in front of the building where it took place, according to The New York Times. A person briefed on the investigation into the incident told The Times that the Saudi national who recorded the incident said that he and two others had coincidentally been there during the shooting and had gotten "caught up in the moment." The shooting took place on Friday when 21-year-old 2nd Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani of the Royal Saudi Air Force opened fire in a classroom, killing three young service members.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoAOC calls out Trump after news that Amazon plans to hire 1,500 employees in New York City
Following reports that Amazon plans to open a new office in New York City, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted that the Trump administration "should focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families."
