- 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.
- 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.
- NewsAssociated Press
Family honors Florida UPS driver slain in police shootout
Family and friends are honoring a UPS driver who was killed in a shootout between Florida police and the robbery suspects who had hijacked his delivery truck. Loved ones and coworkers of Frank Ordonez gathered at a UPS Customer Center in Miami with lit candles and flowers Sunday. Other UPS workers also joined in — one group from London expressed support by tweeting a photo showing uniformed workers holding up letters that together spelled #ONE UPS and RIP Frank Ordonez.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Barr warned Trump for months that Rudy Giuliani was becoming a liability, but the president ignored him because he loves Giuliani's fiery media appearances
Attorney General William Barr has reportedly warned President Donald Trump that his attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is becoming a liability, sources told The Washington Post. Giuliani's role in seeking announcements from Ukraine about two criminal investigations that Democrats allege would have benefitted the president politically is one of the chief focuses of the House impeachment probe. Giuliani has denied any claims of wrongdoing in either his work in his efforts to secure the Ukraine investigations, claiming he was simply acting in defense of his client, Trump.
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.
- WorldBloomberg
China Says All People Held in Xinjiang Camps Have ‘Graduated’
Top officials for the predominately Muslim region of Xinjiang made the claim Monday during a briefing to promote policies they said were responsible for ending a spate of terrorist attacks. The briefing came less than a week after the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that would sanction Chinese officials over percieved human rights abuses in the region, including what the United Nations says is the detention of as many as 1 million mostly Uighur Muslims. “All the students in the centers studying the national common language, law, vocational skills and de-radicalization courses have all graduated,” said Shohrat Zakir, Xinjiang's governor and No. 2 official.
- 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.
- 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.
- PoliticsThe Week
That impeachment hearing protester was actually an InfoWars reporter and Pizzagate conspiracy theorist
It took a few weeks, but the impeachment hearings finally saw their first protester. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jarrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) had just gaveled a hearing on the findings of the Intelligence Committee's impeachment investigation into order when a protester silenced his opening statement. "Jerry Nadler and the Democrat party are committing treason in this country," the protester alleged, going on to claim that "Trump is innocent!" as he was pulled out of the room.
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."
- WorldAssociated Press
Hong Kong protests mark 6-month mark with massive rally
Almost hidden among the throngs of demonstrators who marched in Hong Kong on Sunday was one woman who crawled, literally on hands and knees on the rough road surface — an apt metaphor for the arduous path traveled by Hong Kong's protest movement in the past six months. Dragging bricks and empty soda cans on pieces of string behind her, the young woman elicited shouts of encouragement from fellow protesters. "Her performance art is about the difficulty, or the repetitiveness, of demonstrations," said one of her friends, who walked alongside and identified herself by her surname, Chan.
WorldAFPNo more survivors on New Zealand island after volcano eruption
New Zealand police have said no more survivors were expected to be rescued from an island volcano that erupted suddenly on Monday, suggesting as many as two dozen people could have died. Police said some 50 people were visiting White Island when it exploded in the early afternoon -- hurling ash and rock high into the air. Some 23 people made it off the island, five of whom have since died, the rest were being treated for injuries, including severe burns.
- 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.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
The 25 Best Tower Defense Games
Build those structures. Keep them from harm. Collect that loot.
- WorldThe National Interest
Think America Is Safe? A Nuclear ICBM Could Destroy Us In Half An Hour
Now that North Korea has signaled its intention to continue developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of threatening the U.S. with nuclear warheads, it is all the more important for the Trump administration's Ballistic Missile Defense Review to fund comprehensive missile defense. The documentary's title, “33 Minutes,” refers to the maximum amount of time the U.S. government would have to respond to an incoming intercontinental ballistic missile from anywhere in the world. Beyond showing this short response time, the film vividly depicts the threat of a nuclear attack and its destructive consequences.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
After Kamala: activists fear Democratic primary whitewash
When Democrats won a Senate seat in Alabama two years ago, their chairman declared that “black women are the backbone of the Democratic party, and we can't take that for granted”. Unless something changes quickly, there will be no candidates of colour at all. “It's galling for people that are on the stage to not acknowledge and speak to black women's issues,” said Aimee Allison, the founder and president of She the People, a network dedicated to elevating the political power of women of colour.
- NewsReuters
U.S. Supreme Court rejects challenge to Berkeley cell phone law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a free speech challenge brought by a trade group against a regulation issued by the California city of Berkeley that requires cell phone retailers to tell customers of certain radiation risks. The justices left in place a July 2019 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that refused to block the 2015 regulation that industry group CTIA appealed. CTIA said the regulation violates the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects free speech rights, because the government, without the necessary justification that supports other types of regulations, is forcing retailers to spread a message they disagree with.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- NewsBusiness Insider
Tesla on Autopilot crashes into parked police car
A Tesla Model 3 with Autopilot enabled crashed into a parked police car on Saturday. The police car was stationary behind a disabled vehicle, with flashers on and road flares behind it. No one was injured in the crash, but it's the latest such example of Tesla cars with Autopilot crashing into things; one such crash in 2018 resulted in the driver's death.
- 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.
- NewsAssociated Press
Wisconsin Guard leader to make changes after assault probe
The head of the Wisconsin National Guard said Monday that he intends to implement all recommendations made following an investigation into multiple reports of sexual assault and harassment. Major General Don Dunbar was briefed Saturday on the probe by the National Guard Bureau's Office of Complex Investigations. “We intend to implement all of the recommendations,” Dunbar said.
