Top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine offers damning testimony

The top U.S. emissary to Ukraine painted a devastating portrait in testimony Tuesday on Capitol Hill of what appeared to be White House-directed efforts to pressure the government in Kiev to investigate a Democratic political rival. American diplomacy was conducted along two “channels,” according to William B. Taylor Jr., the senior U.S. diplomat to Ukraine. As Taylor explained to congressional investigators on Tuesday, one was the “regular, formal” channel, which included “the bulk of the U.S. effort to support Ukraine against the Russian invasion” that has been a persistent threat for a half-decade.

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  Top Diplomat Confirms There Was Quid Pro Quo Demand In Trump's Ukraine Call: Reports

  HuffPost
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  Key Takeaways From Envoy Who Contradicts Trump’s Ukraine Defense

  Bloomberg

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

Iranian beauty queen pleads for asylum in the Philippines

An Iranian beauty queen is seeking asylum in the Philippines, fearing for her life after Tehran demanded her extradition for a crime she claims she did not commit. Bahareh Zare Bahari, who represented Iran at the 2018 Miss Intercontinental pageant in Manila, and who has studied dental medicine in the Philippines since 2014, has been held for six days at the country's Ninoy Aquino airport after Iran slapped an Interpol Red Notice on her for alleged assault. In a series of messages, the distraught Ms Bahari told the Telegraph that the case was a “big lie,” adding that she believed she was being targeted for her political activism and outspoken support of women's rights.

Honduran woman accuses immigration agent of sexual assault over seven years

A Honduran woman living in Connecticut has accused a US immigration agent of sexually assaulting her over a period of seven years under the threat of deportation, according to a federal lawsuit. The woman, identified in the lawsuit as Jane Doe, sued the US Department of Homeland Security, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), and the former Ice agent Wilfredo Rodriguez on Saturday, seeking $10m in damages. “My only comment is that my client had a choice: cooperate with Ice or be deported with her family,” said George Kramer, the woman's lawyer.

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

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  The Honda Jazz goes hybrid and gets a makeover

  AFP Relax News
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  Honda brings forward goal to be fully electrified in Europe to 2022

  Autoblog

Inmate convicted of murder in deadly prison breakout attempt

A North Carolina inmate was found guilty Monday of murdering four prison workers during a failed escape attempt two years ago. Jurors deliberated for about half an hour before convicting Mikel Brady, 30, of four counts of first-degree murder in the state's deadliest attempted prison breakout. The jury next will recommend whether Brady should get life in prison or execution.

Newt Gingrich and Whoopi Goldberg go at it on 'The View' over Trump's 'lynching' comments

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Whoopi Goldberg go toe to toe over Trump's “lynching” comments on Twitter.

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  Newt Gingrich discusses Trump’s ‘phony emoluments clause’ comment

  ABC News Videos
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  'The View' Gets Newt Gingrich To Admit Trump's Lynching Comments Went A Bit Too Far

  HuffPost

Bernie Weighed in on the 'Outrageous' Hillary-Tulsi Spat. You Won't Believe Which Side He Took.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders jumped to Democratic Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard's defense Monday against unfounded allegations that she is a Russian asset, which former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and commentators at multiple news outlets have recently floated. “Tulsi Gabbard has put her life on the line to defend this country. People can disagree on issues, but it is outrageous for anyone to suggest that Tulsi is a foreign asset,” Sanders said of his fellow Democratic presidential hopeful on Twitter.

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  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez On Fame: ‘Sometimes I Just Want To Be A Human Being’

  HuffPost
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  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Endorses Democratic Primary Challenger Jessica Cisneros

  HuffPost

President Trump is right to keep administration members from secret tribunals: Rep. Biggs

For two years, congressional Democrats promised evidence of collusion between Donald Trump's campaign and the Russian government. Mueller immediately hired a team of biased prosecutors to prove that Trump was guilty of the crimes he had been accused of. At the conclusion of the Mueller report, Trump was cleared of any criminal collusion, collaboration or coordination with the Russians — something the American people knew all along.

Tasmanian Tigers Are Extinct, So Why Are Locals Reporting Sightings?

The Australian government recently released a list of documented thylacine—also known as the Tasmanian tiger or Tasmanian wolf—sightings. It remains to be seen whether or not any reported thylacine sightings will be made official—something made especially difficult with no photographic proof or other hard evidence. If the creatures are extinct, there may still be hope to see a living thylacine as scientists have replicated their DNA and may one day be able to use the genetic material to clone the animal.

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...

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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  Deep-sea explorers find Battle of Midway warships

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

  Meredith Videos

US far-right activists get four years in jail for attacking leftists

Two members of a US far-right group were each sentenced to four years in prison on Tuesday for brawling with anti-fascist demonstrators in New York, prosecutors said. The sentencing comes as tensions between white supremacists and leftists simmer in the United States. Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman, members of the Proud Boys group, were found guilty in August by a state court of several counts of attempted assault and rioting.

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  Proud Boys Sentenced to 4 Years In Prison | RS News 10/23/19

  Rolling Stone
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  Two Proud Boys Members Each Get Four Years in Prison for Manhattan Brawl

  The Wall Street Journal

Lawyer for Kavanaugh accuser to investigate Baltimore police

A former federal prosecutor who represented one of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh's accusers will lead an independent review of a corruption-plagued unit of the Baltimore Police Department, the department's chief announced Wednesday. Michael Bromwich will have "full autonomy" to conduct the review of the department's Gun Trace Task Force "without interference from us," said Police Commissioner Michael Harrison. Bromwich was the Justice Department's inspector general from 1994 to 1999 and served as the nation's top offshore drilling regulator after BP's deadly Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010.

Hillary Clinton's attacks on Tulsi Gabbard are embarrassing

Hillary Clinton has kept a relatively low profile since her embarrassing 2016 election defeat, popping up only occasionally to make out-of-touch elitist comments that confirm why she lost. Clinton accused the Hawaii congresswoman of being groomed by outside forces, saying: “I think they've got their eye on somebody who is currently in the Democratic primary and are grooming her to be the third-party candidate … She's the favorite of the Russians.” There is some dispute about whether Clinton meant it was the Russians or Republicans who were pushing a third-party Gabbard candidacy, but a Clinton spokesman asked about the comments replied “if the nesting doll fits”, clearly implying it was dastardly Russians. Related: It was gutsy of Hillary Clinton to stand by Bill.

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  Former Clinton adviser on Hillary accusing rivals of being Russian assets

  FOX News Videos
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  Bernie Sanders defends Tulsi Gabbard, says claim that she's a Russian asset is 'outrageous'

  USA TODAY

Can Israel Fend off an Iranian Missile or Drone Attack?

The IDF's missile defense shield is composed of four layers: the iconic Iron Dome system for intercepting short-range rockets, David's Sling for medium-range rockets, Arrow-2 against intermediate-range ballistic missiles, and Arrow-3 against ICBM's and potentially satellites. Widely seen as a class-leading missile defense system when it was introduced in 2011, Iron Dome has since come under criticism by several revisionist defense commentators. MIT Professor Ted Postol authored a series of influential if not controversial articles arguing that Iron Dome's true interception rate -- that is, its ability to strike and destroy a rocket's warhead rather than its fuselage-- was under 50%.

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.

View Photos of the Mazda MX-30

Mazda's first EV sports body cladding, suicide doors, and the evocative MX moniker. From Car and Driver

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  Mazda MX-30 crossover

  Engadget
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  Mazda MX-30 Electric Crossover Has Doors Like the RX-8's

  Car and Driver

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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  The White House considers a plan to keep some troops in Syria

  CBS News Videos
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  Kurds pelt U.S. troops with potatoes as they leave Syria; ‘America is running away’

  MarketWatch

Iraqi Kurds turn to Zoroastrianism as faith, identity entwine

Zoroastrianism. Years of violence by the Islamic State jihadist group have left many disillusioned with Islam, while a much longer history of state oppression has pushed some in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to see the millennia-old religion as a way of reasserting their identity. "After Kurds witnessed the brutality of IS, many started to rethink their faith," said Asrawan Qadrok, the faith's top priest in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region.

North Mexico city of Culiacan cleans up after cartel fight

Residents of the northern Mexico city of Culiacan tried to get back to their routines Tuesday, five days after gunmen from the Sinaloa drug cartel sowed terror across the city. Restaurants caught in the midst of last week's shootings have repaired some of their plate-glass windows, but some outside walls are still scarred by bullet holes. Hundreds of cartel gunmen took to the streets with heavy weaponry Thursday to open fire on soldiers and police, seeking to force the release of a drug lord held by a military patrol.