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.

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  Kurds throw potatoes at U.S. troops leaving Syria

  Yahoo News Video
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  Iraq says U.S. forces withdrawing from Syria have no approval to stay

  Reuters

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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  Buttigieg Surges to Third Place in Iowa Poll

  National Review
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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.

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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  What next after Boris Johnson denied vote on Brexit deal?

  Associated Press
• UPDATE 2-Pound holds near $1.30 as Brexit deal vote blocked

  Reuters

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

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

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

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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  Trump laments G-7 move from Doral after pushback

  USA TODAY
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  Don't praise Trump for reversing G-7 Doral debacle. It was an intolerable abuse of power.

  USA TODAY Opinion

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

Graham says he's 'increasingly optimistic' Trump's Syria strategy will succeed

After spending a week railing against President Trump's decision to pull U.S. troops out of northern Syria, abandoning America's Kurdish allies and opening the door for Turkey's deadly invasion, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said on Sunday that he now supports the move. “I'm increasingly optimistic this could turn out very well,” Graham told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. Graham said he spoke with Trump over the weekend and that the president assured him the United States is not abandoning the Kurds, who suffered 10,000 killed in fighting against ISIS terrorists.

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  Trump lashes out, saying GOP needs to do more to defend him

  ABC News Videos
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  Graham says he’s open to impeachment if there's evidence of a quid pro quo

  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.

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.

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.

Presidential hopeful Warren rallies with Chicago teachers as strike enters fourth day

Presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat, rallied with striking Chicago teachers on Tuesday, expressing support for the union's demands as the country's third-largest school system entered a fourth day of canceled classes. Warren, a Massachusetts senator and former teacher, joined a crowd of hundreds of teachers and parents outside an elementary school to back the Chicago teachers' demands for more resources, and promised to boost funding for U.S. public schools if elected president in 2020. "I'm here to stand with every one of the people who stand for our children every day," Warren said to thunderous applause and cheers.

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  Chicago mayor begs teachers to return to classrooms amid ongoing strike

  ABC News
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  Teacher strike at Passages Charter School in Edgewater on North Side begins Tuesday

  WLS – Chicago

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.

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

Panel backs removal of sheriff over school shooting response

The tragedy of the Parkland school massacre framed a developing political drama in Florida's capital, as a divided legislative panel on Monday sided with the state's Republican governor in removing a county sheriff accused of mishandling the response to the shooting that killed 17 people. The mostly party line vote by Florida's Senate Rules Committee sends the matter to the full chamber, which is expected to consider it Wednesday. The highly charged session was a victory for Gov. Ron DeSantis, who suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel just days after taking office in January.

• The Latest: Florida panel backs governor in ousting sheriff

  Associated Press
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  Parkland father protests possible reinstatement of Broward County sheriff

  FOX News Videos

'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.

Gun control advocate: Pushing mandatory buybacks will hand victory to the NRA, again

He wanted not only to ban the sale of new assault weapons but also to impose a mandatory government buyback of the assault weapons already in private hands. Sens. Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kamala Harris of California support that idea as well.

China Is Building 'The Mother of All Bombs': Report

Key Point: So, what do we know about China's big bomb? China has joined the “Mother of All Bombs” club. A Chinese arms maker has unveiled a weapon similar to America's GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb, or MOAB (hence the nickname “Mother of All Bombs”).