- PoliticsYahoo News
Parnas said he is speaking out because he is afraid of William Barr
Rudy Giuliani associate Lev Parnas said he was giving media interviews about his role in President Trump's attempts to convince Ukrainian officials to announce an investigation into former Vice President Joe Biden because he wanted to protect himself from Attorney General William Barr. Parnas made that claim in an interview with MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, the second part of which aired Thursday night. Trump, Parnas said, was made more powerful “when he got William Barr.
- WorldReuters
Countries demand Iran compensate relatives of plane-crash victims
Five countries whose citizens died when Iran shot down an airliner last week said on Thursday that Tehran should pay compensation to families of the victims, and warned that the world is watching for its response. Canada, Ukraine, Sweden, Afghanistan and Britain said Iran should hold a "thorough, independent and transparent international investigation open to grieving nations," in a statement issued after a meeting of officials in London. Iran admitted on Saturday it had shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane in error, after initially denying it had a role in the incident.
- U.S.Associated Press
Therapist charged with killing family faced fraud probe
A physical therapist charged with killing his wife, three children and dog in a home near Walt Disney World and leaving their bodies there for days was being investigated in Connecticut for health care fraud motivated by his need to pay off personal loans, according to court documents unsealed this week. Anthony Todt was being investigated for submitting fraudulent claims for physical therapy by the FBI and agents with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, according to an affidavit and criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in federal court in Connecticut. According to agents, the allegations involved Todt and his Colchester, Connecticut-base clinics submitting claims to Medicaid and private insurers for physical therapy services that weren't given to patients.
- WorldINSIDER
An ISIS preacher captured in Iraq was apparently so overweight that police had to take him away in the back of a pickup truck
Twitter/AliBaroodi A well-known ISIS preacher was captured by Iraqi police, but he was apparently so overweight he had to be taken away in the back of a truck. Police said he incited extremist ideology and pledged allegiance to ISIS during their control of Mosul. Pictures posted to social media appear to show al-Nima being put in the back of a pickup truck by Iraqi forces.
- U.S.The Independent
Republican tells female reporter 30 schoolboys ‘could have a lot of fun’ with her
A Republican lawmaker is facing calls for a sexual harassment investigation after he told a young female reporter that a group of high school boys “could have a lot of fun” with her. Peter Lucido, a Michigan state senator, has been accused of making inappropriate comments to local reporter Allison Donahue during a tour of the state Capitol. Ms Donahue said the senator told her he would speak with her after addressing a group of about 30 boys who were visiting from De La Salle Collegiate, a nearby all-boys Catholic school.
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
McConnell says 'the House's hour is over'
During an address on the floor, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "The House's hour is over. The Senate's time is at hand."
- PoliticsNational Review
Jordan, Meadows Send Letter to FISA Court Questioning Kris Appointment
House Oversight Committee Republicans Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows issued nine demands to FISA Court presiding judge James Boasberg in a Thursday letter in response to the appointment of Obama Department of Justice lawyer David Kris to help oversee the FBI's reform of FISA applications. The letter, obtained by National Review, asked Boasberg to identify who else besides Kris was considered, whether Kris's past defense of the FISA application to surveil Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page was taken into account, and whether “the FISC bears any responsibility for the illegal surveillance of Carter Page,” among other concerns.
- CelebrityUSA TODAY
Princess Cruises responds after 'Marriage Story' actress speaks out, sues alleging bedbugs
An actress who had a role in "Marriage Story" and her husband are suing Princess Cruises, alleging their room on the Emerald Princess ship was infested with bedbugs and left them with bites all over their bodies. Connie and Alvin Flores allege in a lawsuit, filed in November 2019, that their stateroom aboard the cruise they took a year earlier was "infested with hundreds of bedbugs." The pair cruised from Nov. 28, 2018, through Dec. 4, 2018, out of Los Angeles. Connie Flores played an "arguing woman" in "Marriage Story," and is now speaking publicly about the suit.
WorldAFPHuawei exec set to fight Canada court battle against US extradition
A Canadian court on Monday will consider a US request to hand over Chinese tech executive Meng Wanzhou, whose arrest 13 months ago on fraud charges plunged Canada-China relations into a deep freeze. The extradition hearing comes after Beijing detained two Canadians and blocked billions of dollars worth of Canadian agricultural shipments in apparent retaliation for Meng's arrest. Taking her into custody also stuck Canada in the middle of a row between China and the US, which views Huawei as a security risk.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
10 Home Prep Tips Before Going on Vacation
Before jetsetting across the world, make sure your home is ready for your extended absence. From Popular Mechanics
- PoliticsYahoo News
Impeachment and a path to redemption for Trump
President Trump and his supporters are choosing a path much different than that taken by the redeemed Bill Clinton, and much more like that taken by the disgraced Richard Nixon, in refusing to acknowledge any wrongdoing in the Ukraine matter as a strategy to beat conviction and removal. Clinton ended up rising in popularity after admitting to his indiscretions with Monica Lewinsky. Once Clinton and his supporters were willing to confess error, the steam was largely taken out of the sails of independent counsel Kenneth Starr and the House impeachment managers seeking to remove the president.
- WorldReuters
Disease that killed millions of China's pigs poses global threat
Soon the dog's handler discovered and confiscated a ham sandwich in the purse of a passenger who had flown on a China Eastern Airlines flight from Shanghai. China has lost millions of pigs in outbreaks of the disease, pushing its pork prices to record highs, forcing purchases of costly imports and roiling global meat markets. Bettie is among an expanded team of specially trained beagles at U.S. airports, part of a larger effort to protect the nation's $23 billion pork industry from a disease that has decimated China's hog herd, the world's largest.
- WorldAssociated Press
Bureaucracy to brutality: New evidence reveals IS hierarchy
The Washington-based Syria Justice and Accountability Center said Thursday that the evidence — documents produced by IS itself — could help identify individuals responsible for atrocities during the militants' four-year reign of terror and lead to criminal prosecutions. The 24-page report, called “Judge, Jury and Executioner,” is based on dozens of documents obtained by SJAC from inside Syria and collected by a local activist from abandoned IS offices in Raqqa province, where the militants also had their self-declared capital in a city that carries the same name.
- BusinessThe Independent
Wealthy CEOs complain about feeling 'unsafe' because of homeless people in San Francisco
A major healthcare conference in San Francisco this week has sparked a debate about the California city's homeless crisis as wealthy executives and investors complain of feeling 'unsafe'. The city rakes in $51m (£39m) each year from the annual JPMorgan Healthcare Conference despite growing concerns about the city's homeless population among attendees of the healthcare industry's leading conference, according to Bloomberg News. The nearly 10,000 attendees have regularly criticised San Francisco's homeless crisis, Bloomberg reported, with one CEO describing it to the news outlet as “the Bill Clinton of cities”.
- U.S.The National Interest
Former U.S. Marine: Suleimani’s Killing Is the Apotheosis of American 'Strategy'
For all the righteous uproar it produced and the consequences still unfolding, in a way the killing of Iranian Major General Qassim Suleimani this month was business as usual. A longtime foe of America, Suleimani was killed by a Hellfire missile from a Reaper drone, like countless Al Qaeda terrorists, Taliban leaders, and other militants. Traveling to Iraq from Syria, Suleimani probably didn't even require the full exertions of America's vast intelligence and special operations manhunting machine.
- U.S.INSIDER
The TSA apologized after an agent pulled a Native American passenger's braid and said "giddyup!" during a pat down
Molly Riley/Reuters Native American woman Tara Houska says a TSA agent grabbed her braids, whipped them like reins and said "giddyup" while she was going through security at the Minneapolis airport on Monday. A TSA official apologized to Houska for the incident, and released a statement saying "improper behavior is taken seriously" by the agency. The Transportation Security Administration was forced to issue an apology on Tuesday after a Native American woman described on Twitter a humiliating experience going through security at the Minneapolis-St.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Supreme Court will hear case that could decide future presidential elections
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court entered the 2020 presidential fray Friday by agreeing to decide a threshold question before Election Day: Must the 538 members of the Electoral College vote for their states' winning candidates? Yes, the Supreme Court of Washington State ruled in May, upholding $1,000 fines against three Democratic electors who cast their votes in December 2016 for Colin Powell rather than Hillary Clinton, who had won the state a month earlier. No, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled in August, upholding the vote cast for Republican John Kasich rather than Clinton by a Democratic elector in Colorado.
WorldAFPLiberia souring on George Weah at two-year mark
Dominic Kpadeh heaves a hammer over his head to crack a half-tonne rock in a northern suburb of Liberia's capital Monrovia, knowing his hard labour earns him far less than a year ago. Stories such as Kpadeh's are common in Liberia, where rampant inflation has left many people struggling and increasingly turning their anger on President George Weah. A former football icon whose goals for AC Milan and Paris St Germain dazzled fans, Weah came to power in January 2018, promising to invest in education and create jobs.
- WorldReuters
'You have not seen anything yet,' climate activist Greta says ahead of Davos
Swedish activist Greta Thunberg marched with 10,000 protesters in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Friday and said "you have not seen anything yet" before some head to Davos next week to challenge the global financial elite to fight climate change. "So, we are now in a new year and we have entered a new decade and so far, during this decade, we have seen no sign whatsoever that real climate action is coming and that has to change,” Thunberg said in a speech in Lausanne. Hundreds will take trains over the weekend and then march to Klosters near Davos, the annual gathering of world political and business leaders that Thunberg is attending for the second year in a row and will take part in two panel events.
- PoliticsThe New York Times
Unhappy and Preoccupied, the President Tries in Vain to Change the Subject
Shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday, Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa administered the oath to Chief Justice John Roberts in the well of the Senate, asking him to swear “that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of Donald John Trump, president of the United States,” he would deliver impartial justice. At the White House at that precise moment, President Donald Trump was scheduled to host an event promoting the administration's attempt to empower religious students to exercise their rights to pray at school. The day before, Trump had presided over a celebration of a trade deal with China, calling out some of the nation's biggest corporate leaders as if they were his golf buddies.
- TechnologyBusiness Insider
These clothes use outlandish designs to trick facial recognition software into thinking you're not human
A lens-shaped mask makes its user undetectable to facial recognition algorithms while still allowing humans to read facial expressions and identity. HKU Design/Jip van Leeuwenstein The "surveillance exclusion" mask was designed by Jip van Leeuwenstein while he was a student of Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands. The mask's curvature blocks facial recognition from all angles.
- WorldAssociated Press
Town on edge in Colombia after 5 killed, 2 vehicles burned
A remote town was on edge Friday after at least five people were found shot to death, highlighting Colombia's struggle to bring peace to rural areas where drug crops are abundant and illegal armed groups are active. The killings happened overnight in an isolated part of the Jamundi municipality in southwestern Colombia and also left two vehicles incinerated, officials said. It was the third massacre in Jamundi in the past year.
- U.S.The Independent
Trump administration announces reversal of Michelle Obama's healthy school food reforms — on her birthday
The Trump administration has proposed new school lunch rules that critics say would allow for more pizzas, burgers and french fries to be served to children across the country instead of veggies — a cut to former first lady Michelle Obama's signature achievement to try and make school lunches healthier. The proposal was announced by the US Department of Agriculture on Friday, and would let schools cut the amount of fruits and veggies served up to the nearly 30 million American students in the public school system. On the face of things, the rules change have been proposed by the Trump administration in order to give schools more options for providing vegetables to students.
- BusinessArchitectural Digest
The Best Compact Fitness Equipment Under $300
Set up a home gym in your tiny apartment without spending a fortune Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.INSIDER
A 'naked philanthropist' who says she raised $1 million for Australia's fires is now sending nudes to people who donate to Puerto Rico
Last Thursday, Ward announced her second fundraising campaign on Twitter, now turning her sights to fundraising efforts for Puerto Rico, where earthquakes have devastated the island nation. Ward has a team of assistants who select charities and verify each donation before sending nudes Just as she did with her Australia campaign, Ward told her followers that she will send nudes to anyone who donates $10 or more to Puerto Rican earthquake relief organizations. But, to get a naked photo, each donor needs to send proof of their transaction via Twitter to be vetted.
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PHOTOS: Ukraine International Airlines plane crashes in Iran killing all on board
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