- PoliticsThe Independent
Khashoggi murder: Senate defies Trump and votes to hold Saudi crown prince responsible for killing
The Senate has passed a resolution saying Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is responsible for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Defying Donald Trump’s desire to maintain close relations with Saudi Arabia including lucrative weapons deals, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker proposed the legislation, which has been backed by at least 10 of his fellow Republicans. The CIA is reported to have assessed with “high confidence” that Crown Prince Mohammed was involved in the order to kill Mr Khashoggi, partly based on the judgement that as the country’s de facto ruler he would have had to have known.
NewsAFPAt least $9bn in insurance claims from California fires
Insurance claims from the recent devastating California wildfires that killed at least 89 people and destroyed 19,000 homes and businesses have reached at least $9 billion, the state's insurance commissioner said Wednesday. "The devastating wildfires of 2018 were the deadliest and costliest wildfire catastrophes in California's history," said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. Most of the insurance payouts -- some $7 billion -- concern the Camp Fire in Northern California, which wiped out the town of Paradise and killed 86 people, making it the deadliest wildfire in recent California history.
- WorldThe Guardian
Canada Goose shares slide amid Beijing-Ottawa row over Huawei CFO arrest
Luxury retailer appears to be first casualty as calls for a boycott spread on social media Weibo and echoed on state-run media Growing tensions between Beijing and Ottawa over the arrest of a senior Huawei executive have inflicted damage on the luxury clothing retailer Canada Goose, as Chinese consumers call for a boycott of the brand. Shares in the company have plunged nearly 20% since the arrest last week of Huawei’s chief financial officers Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver. A Canadian judge granted bail to Meng on Tuesday evening.
PoliticsAssociated PressMexican president starts process to scrap education reforms
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador signed an initiative Wednesday that would cancel the controversial education reforms of his predecessor and announced plans to vastly expand free university education. Cancellation of the reform was one of Lopez Obrador's most oft-repeated campaign promises and a gift to teachers' unions, some of which felt forced into accepting the reforms while others never dropped their vocal opposition. "Promise kept, teachers," Lopez Obrador said.
- NewsBloomberg
Maria Butina Admits Conspiring as Kremlin Agent Targeting GOP, NRA
Maria Butina pleaded guilty to acting as an undeclared Russian agent in the U.S. and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, advancing an inquiry into Russia’s efforts to build back-channels to politically connected Americans. The 30-year-old gun enthusiast operated as a Kremlin agent as she befriended National Rifle Association leaders and influential U.S. conservatives, she admitted Thursday in federal court in Washington. Butina sought to establish unofficial lines of communication with Americans having power and influence over U.S. politics,” prosecutor Erik Kenerson said at the hearing, reading from the government’s statement of facts.
- WorldThe Independent
Chinese tech workers told not to travel to US 'unless it's essential' after Huawei exec arrested
Technology researchers in China have been ordered to not travel to the US unless it is absolutely necessary, amid rising tensions between the two countries. Staff working in sensitive tech sectors were given the warning following the arrest of a Chinese tech executive in Canada, a source told the South China Morning Post. Workers at a research agency were also told to remove any sensitive data from laptops, mobile phones and other devices if travel to the US was essential.
- PoliticsHuffPost
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Expertly Dismisses Kellyanne Conway Insult
Rep. elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y. has once again refused to ignore Republican insults.
- BusinessAOL.com
Man quits his job with epic rant over the store's PA
A disgruntled employee at a Canadian Walmart decided that he wasn’t going to quit quietly. In a video posted to Facebook on Friday, a 17-year-old worker named Jackson Racicot grabbed the PA mic and told everyone in the store what he really thought about working there. Racicot then dove into individual grievances, starting with his manager who apparently had called him “a waste of time.” He goes on to say that promises had been made and not kept, and details the story of how he was given only benefits of a part-time employee even though he worked full-time.
- BusinessCar and Driver
Plot Thickens for Carlos Ghosn: Financial Charges Filed in Japan, But Renault Declares He Did Nothing Wrong in France
UPDATE 12/13/18: The embattled former leader of Renault, Nissan, and Mitsubishi, still in jail in Japan over financial irregularity charges from Nissan, is retaining his status as chairman and CEO at Renault. The French automaker's board of directors met today and made that announcement, stating that it finds Ghosn's compensation reports were "in compliance with applicable law" in France. Japanese prosecutors have formally charged Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn for making "false disclosures" about his income with Nissan, the automaker said on Monday.
PoliticsAssociated PressAP FACT CHECK: Trump falsely claims Flynn didn't lie to FBI
President Donald Trump is skimming over the facts when it comes to former national security adviser Michael Flynn's guilty plea for lying in the Russia investigation. In remarks Thursday at a meeting with governors-elect, Trump suggests the FBI never accused Flynn of lying in its probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia during the 2016 presidential election. Flynn will next week become the first White House official punished as part of special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation.
WorldReutersIran says U.N.-led ceasefire in Yemen's Hodeidah is step toward peace: TV
Iran welcomed on Friday initial agreements reached at talks in Sweden by the opposing sides in Yemen's war, which include the Iran-aligned Houthi group, were a step toward a final peace accord, Iranian state TV reported on Friday. The war in Yemen is seen as a proxy war between Iran and its key regional rival Saudi Arabia. U.N.-backed talks in Sweden ended on Thursday with an agreement between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to cease fighting for the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah and withdraw their troops.
- U.S.KSWB - San Diego
Raw Sewage Spill in Mexico Floods Southern California Beaches
A sewage spill has sent millions of gallons of raw sewage flowing into the Tijuana River.
WorldAssociated PressJailed former Venezuela oil minister dies in state custody
Nelson Martinez, the jailed former head of Venezuela's state-run oil giant PDVSA who was arrested last year as part of anti-corruption purge, died in state custody Wednesday, authorities said. The chief prosecutor's office said Martinez suffered from a serious and chronic illness that led to his death at a medical facility where he was undergoing treatment. The death is likely to focus attention on the conditions in which authorities are holding key opponents and former government officials.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Erdogan says Turkey will start new military operation against US-backed Kurdish fighters in Syria within days
Turkey will launch a new operation in Syria within days against a US-backed Kurdish militia that Ankara considers a terrorist group, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. "We will start an operation to free the east of the Euphrates from the separatist terrorist organisation in the next few days," Mr Erdogan said during a speech in Ankara, referring to territory held by the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG). Turkey says the YPG is a "terrorist offshoot" of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
BusinessUSA TODAY401(k): How does the stock market drop affect my retirement savings?
By one estimate, the average 401(k) owner with 100 percent invested in U.S. stocks is currently sitting on a paper loss of $8,733 since the end of September. That rough approximation takes into account the 8.2 percent drop this quarter through 11:45 a.m. Wednesday suffered by the Standard & Poor’s 500, an index of large U.S. stocks, and the record 401(k) average account balance of $106,500 at the end of the third quarter, according to Fidelity Investments’ analysis of its more than 15 million 401(k) accounts.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
AD and LIFEWTR Celebrate the Opening of The Haas Brothers: Ferngully at The Bass Museum of Art in Miami
The artists' first solo museum exhibition premiered during Miami Art Week.
- NewsHuffPost
Love Triangle, Not Alligators, Caused Florida Man's Death, Confessed Killer Testifies
A Florida man testified this week about fatally shooting his best friend ― who was long suspected of falling victim to alligators ― because he was having an affair with the friend’s wife. Brian Winchester told a courtroom in Tallahassee that he killed his best friend, Mike Williams, in 2000 and hid his body because he was having an extramarital relationship with Denise Williams, who is now on trial for first-degree murder, the Tallahassee Democrat reported. Winchester’s remarks came as the prosecution presented its case against Williams on Wednesday, the second day of testimony.
WorldAFPJapan plans tighter regulation of tech giants
Japan is planning to tighten regulation of tech giants like Google and Facebook after an expert panel called for better oversight on competition and privacy, an official said Thursday. Japan has followed in the footsteps of other countries in scrutinising the dominant role played by the world's largest information technology companies, including Big Four tech firms Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon. Despite bringing benefits, tech giants "tend to monopolise the market through their features such as... low costs and economies of scale," the report said.
WorldBloombergChinese Arrest and Trump’s Boast Drag Trudeau Into Huawei Feud
Justin Trudeau wanted to distance himself from the arrest of a Huawei Technologies Co. executive, but China’s detention of a Canadian and Donald Trump’s interventions are dragging the prime minister into the feud anyhow. State security officers seized Michael Kovrig, a former Canadian diplomat on leave from the foreign service, in Beijing on Monday, in relation to a national security investigation. The arrest comes nine days after Canada’s capture of Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver at the request of U.S. authorities.
- WorldReuters
U.K.'s Theresa May wins Conservative Party vote of confidence: 200 vs 117
Prime Minister Theresa May won a confidence vote from her Conservative party on Wednesday, but 117 of her lawmakers said she was no longer the right leader to implement Britain’s exit from the European Union. Britain’s March 29 exit has been plunged into crisis by parliamentary opposition to the divorce deal she struck with the EU last month, which has opened up possibilities including a delay to Brexit or even another referendum on membership. Eurosceptic critics of the deal within her own party triggered a no-confidence vote in her leadership on Tuesday, hours after she returned from talks with European leaders aimed at winning additional assurances about her deal.
NewsAssociated PressLawmaker arrested for child cruelty says he spanked daughter
A California lawmaker arrested on suspicion of child cruelty said Wednesday the allegation stemmed from spanking his 7-year-old daughter. Democratic Assemblyman Joaquin Arambula said he spanked his daughter Sunday night and it's a punishment tool he rarely uses, the Fresno Bee newspaper reported . "Everyone who knows us in the community and has seen us in the community knows that I'm a loving father," Arambula said while standing next to his wife, Elizabeth.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The 2020 Toyota Supra Finally Debuts in January and the First One Will Be Auctioned for Charity
UPDATE 12/13/18: Toyota says the first production 2020 Supra will be auctioned off January 19, 2019, at the Barrett-Jackson auctions in Arizona to benefit the American Heart Association and the Bob Woodruff Foundation. Its VIN will be #20201 and it will feature a special paint scheme (teased below) including matte gray exterior paint, matte black wheels, red mirror caps, and a red leather interior featuring a carbon-fiber plaque denoting it as the first 2020 Supra. The new Toyota Supra sports car is almost here-and we mean it this time.
- WorldThe National Interest
Sanctions Will Harm Only the Iranian Regime, Not the Iranian People
Many critics have suggested that new American pressure is harmful to both the people and the regime, perhaps sending many Iranians into the arms of the mullahs in protest. In reality, the protests and strikes in Iran’s cities have made it clear that the people recognize their economic hardships are rooted in the self-serving priorities of the mullahs, not international pressures. The enemy is right here,” protesters are chanting.
- TechnologyArchitectural Digest
The 6 Best Smartwatches of 2018
From the Samsung Galaxy Watch to Tag Heuer's Connected Modular 41, these smartwatches shouldn't be on your radar—they should be on your wrist
- BusinessAFP Relax News
Procter & Gamble doubles down on beauty by snapping up Walker & Company Brands
Procter & Gamble is diversifying its beauty offering with the acquisition of Walker & Company Brands. Walker & Company Brands, which will operate as a separate and wholly-owned subsidiary of P&G, includes the specialized haircare ranges Bevel and FORM Beauty. "When I started Walker & Company Brands, I set out to build a company that would meet the health and beauty needs of people of color on a global scale," said Tristan Walker, CEO of Walker & Company Brands.
