- PoliticsYahoo News
GOP lawmaker says 'out-of-the-box strategy' could give Trump an 'advantage' in impeachment hearings
Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., on Sunday said it would play to the “president's advantage” to have his top administration officials, in an “out-of-the-box strategy,” testify in the upcoming impeachment hearings. “As it relates to the other members of the executive branch, the president has to make decisions not only for him but for the presidency,” he continued.
- 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. 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.
- NewsReuters
Boston's trauma to be dissected as marathon bomber appeals death sentence
This city's deepest wound - the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and injured hundreds more - will be re-examined Thursday when lawyers for bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev seek to have his death sentence lifted because the jury pool was too traumatized to render a fair verdict. The then-19-year old Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan sparked five days of panic in Boston that began April 15, 2013, when they detonated a pair of homemade pressure cooker bombs at the race's packed finish line. The pair eluded capture for days, punctuated by a gunbattle with police in Watertown that killed Tamerlan and led to a daylong lockdown of Boston and most of its suburbs while heavily armed officers and troops conducted a house-to-house search for Dzhokhar.
- WorldBusiness Insider
China claims all Uighur Muslims have happily 'graduated' from its oppressive prison camp system, despite widespread reports that at least 1 million are detained
Zakir said everyone in those centers had "completed their courses," according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Uighurs abroad say they still cannot get in touch with their vanished relatives, and it is almost impossible to speak to anyone physically in the region. Authorities in Xinjiang consider it a crime to communicate with people outside. Many Uighur exiles say they have been blocked by their family on social media and messaging apps.Ng Han Guan/AP China has for years carried out a coordinated surveillance and detention campaign on the Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in the region, which it characterizes as a counterterrorism measure.
- WorldAssociated Press
Up to 13 feared dead in volcanic eruption off New Zealand
A volcano off the New Zealand coast erupted Monday with a towering blast of ash and scalding steam as dozens of tourists were exploring its moon-like surface, killing five people and leaving eight others missing and feared dead, authorities said. Helicopter crews landed on White Island despite the danger and helped evacuate the dozens of survivors, some of them critically injured. The missing and injured included New Zealanders and tourists from Australia, the U.S., China, Britain and Malaysia, the prime minister said.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Epstein-Funded Scientist George Church Is Creating a Genetics-Based Dating App
The tech and science news site Gizmodo called Church's idea “an app only a eugenicist could love. Yuko compared the app, as described, to the Nazi goal of cultivating a master race: “I thought we realized after World War II that we weren't going to be doing that,” she said. Church was part of the coterie of scientists with whom Epstein ingratiated himself via large donations, and Epstein helped bankroll his lab from 2005 to 2007.
- 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.
WorldAFPCherry blossoms prompt full-blown scandal for Japan's PM
It might be the most Japanese of political scandals: a furore over Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's guest list at a party to mark the annual cherry blossom season. As scandals go, it has plenty of juicy elements -- alleged mafia guests, disappearing evidence, even gaffes by Abe, who appeared to lay blame for shredded documents on a disabled worker. It's the latest headache for Japan's longest-serving premier, who has already weathered two cronyism scandals in recent years and has faced an almost daily drubbing by opposition lawmakers since the scandal emerged in early November.
WorldYahoo News Video'Old man' Trump is 'bluffing,' says North Korea: KCNA news agency
North Korea on Monday accused President Trump of “bluffing” and called him “an old man bereft of patience” as Pyongyang ramps up pressure on Washington over stalled nuclear talks.
- PoliticsThe Independent
TV crew laugh at Ted Cruz in live interview after he endorses Trump's baseless conspiracy theory
Ted Cruz was laughed at by a TV crew during a live interview after he endorsed Donald Trump's baseless conspiracy theory about Ukraine. The Texas senator, who challenged Mr Trump to be the Republican nominee in 2016, was mocked for saying he believed there was “considerable evidence” that Ukraine meddled in the most recent presidential election. The US intelligence community has concluded that Russia, not Ukraine, interfered in the 2016 election and senior officials have said it is a “fictional narrative” to suggest Ukraine was involved.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Isil 'matchmaker' who lured British teen bride to Syria is deported to France
Turkey has deported to France the “Islamic State matchmaker” who lured a British teen bride to Syria as part of a drive to send foreign fighters back to their countries of origin. Tooba Gondal, 25, is among 11 French nationals that Turkey repatriated early on Monday, according to France's Centre for Analysis of Terrorism, CAT, citing official sources. A French judicial source confirmed that four women and their seven children had arrived in France.
- WorldReuters
UPDATE 2-Putin says Georgian killed in Berlin was himself a killer
Russian President Vladimir Putin said a Georgian man murdered in Berlin in August was himself a killer who took part in bloody acts on Russian soil and that Moscow's requests for his extradition had not been heeded. Asked at a news conference in Paris if Russia would respond in kind to Germany's expulsion of two Russian diplomats over the man's killing, Putin said: "There are unwritten laws in such cases: you expelled our diplomats, we expel yours." German prosecutors suspect Russian or Chechen involvement in the murder of the man in a Berlin park in August.
- NewsThe New York Times
'I Got Tired of Hunting Black and Hispanic People'
At a police station tucked into an end-of-the-line subway terminal in South Brooklyn, the new commander instructed officers to think of white and Asian people as “soft targets” and urged them to instead go after blacks and Latinos for minor offenses like jumping the turnstile, a half-dozen officers said in sworn statements. The commander, Constantin Tsachas, was in charge of more than 100 officers who patrolled a swath of the subway system in Brooklyn, his first major command. Since then, he has been promoted to the second-in-command of policing the subway system throughout Brooklyn.
- NewsAssociated Press
Wisconsin Guard leader resigns in wake of sex assault review
The commander of the Wisconsin National Guard agreed to resign at Gov. Tony Evers' request Monday, following the release of a scathing federal report that found the Guard defied federal law, regulations and policies for years over the handling of soldiers' sexual assault and harassment complaints. The report from the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C., found the Guard allowed internal investigations in defiance of federal law as well as Department of Defense and bureau policy; investigators falsely presented themselves as working for the federal bureau; case records were mismanaged; and Guard sexual assault response policies were not in compliance with federal regulations for more than five years.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Boeing is promising 3 fixes to the faulty system behind the 737 Max crashes to let pilots stop it from forcing the plane into an unstoppable nosedive
Boeing is promising three key fixes to a system blamed for the fatal crashes of its 737 Max jet, according to a leaked presentation made public by CBS News. The presentation deals with changes to the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, which was identified as a factor in the two crashes that led to the jet's worldwide ban from service. MCAS was designed to automatically push the plane's nose down to keep it stable if it detects a stall.
- 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.
- 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.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Rick Gates Seeks to Avoid Jail at Sentencing for Conspiracy
Former Trump campaign official Rick Gates asked a judge to spare him from prison, put him on probation and order him to do community service for his crimes of conspiracy and lying to federal investigators. In a court filing Monday, Gates said he has accepted responsibility “in every way possible. He's scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington on Dec. 17.
NewsUSA TODAYWhy is the Pensacola shooting being investigated as a terror attack? Here's what we know now
Authorities on Monday continued to investigate a shooting at a Florida naval base that left three people dead and eight wounded as a possible act of terrorism. A Saudi pilot training at Pensacola's Naval Aviation Schools Command was fatally shot by a sheriff's deputy during the rampage Friday. Second Lt. Mohammed Alshamrani, 21, of the Royal Saudi Air Force was the sole shooter, armed with a legally purchased 9mm Glock handgun and several extra magazines, and no arrests have been made in the case, FBI special agent in charge Rachel Rojas said Sunday.
- BusinessUSA TODAY Opinion
Rejecting Michael Bloomberg just because he's worth billions of dollars makes no sense
If the rich are indeed "different from you and me," as F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, it would certainly not be in a good way by the standards of the Democratic Party's progressive wing. One candidate for the party's 2020 presidential nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is hawking "Billionaires should not exist" bumper stickers. Another, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, is selling $25 coffee mugs bearing the words "Billionaire tears," in a nod to the ultrarich angst over her plan to tax wealth.
WorldAFPSweden to prosecute ex-China envoy over Gui meetings
Sweden's former envoy to Beijing is to go on trial for overstepping her duties by trying to negotiate the release of a Chinese-Swedish dissident held in China, prosecutors in Stockholm said Monday. Anna Lindstedt is accused of brokering an unauthorised meeting during her time as ambassador to get publisher Gui Minhai freed, a statement from the prosecutor's office said. Gui Minhai, a Chinese-born Swedish citizen known for publishing gossipy titles about Chinese political leaders out of a Hong Kong book shop, disappeared while vacationing in Thailand in 2015 before resurfacing in mainland China.
- NewsThe Daily Beast
Baltimore County Police Officer Charged With Sexually Assaulting Three Women
A Baltimore County cop has been charged with sexually assaulting at least three women, including one he allegedly tricked into going to his house after claiming he was ordering her a car to her friend's home, court documents state. Baltimore County Police Officer Michael Westerman, 25, was charged Sunday with two counts of second-degree rape and three counts of second-degree assault. According to charging documents obtained by The Daily Beast, Westerman is accused of sexually assaulted three women using a series of predatory tactics to isolate them.
- WorldAssociated Press
Former Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov dies at 83
The former mayor of Moscow and one of the founders of Russia's ruling United Russia party, Yuri Luzhkov, has died at the age of 83. Russia's Ren TV channel reported Tuesday that Luzhkov died in Munich, Germany, where he was undergoing heart surgery. Luzhkov, a political heavyweight of the Boris Yeltsin era, was the mayor of Moscow for 18 years and was one of the founders of the United Russia party, Russian President Vladimir Putin's longtime political platform.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Here are the biggest takeaways from the DOJ watchdog's highly anticipated report on the Russia probe's origins
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters The Justice Department's inspector general on Monday released a highly anticipated report of his findings in an investigation into the origins of the FBI's Russia probe. The FBI had an "authorized purpose" to launch the Russia investigation, the report said. Inspector General Michael Horowitz found no evidence to support President Donald Trump's claim that the FBI "spied" on his 2016 campaign.
- WorldThe National Interest
The Russian Navy Has Some Problems
The Russia fleet in 2019 will take delivery of 23 new surface vessels, two new submarines and three new aircraft, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced. As such, 2019 continues the Russian fleet's long-term trend toward fewer and smaller ships. “We have paid and will pay the closest attention to the technical re-equipment of the armed forces, including, of course, the modernization of the Russian navy,” Putin said at a Dec. 3, 2019 meeting of top military and industry officials.
