House Democrats ponder expanding impeachment probe after Sondland 'game changer' testimony

Ambassador Gordon Sondland's explosive testimony Wednesday that “everyone was in the loop” on President Trump's efforts to secure an investigation of a political rival prompted rank-and-file Democrats to discuss whether it was time to expand their probe. Sondland testified in minute detail — down to the names of staffers and code words used internally to identify officials like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — how Vice President Mike Pence, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, former national security advisor John Bolton and others knew the intimate details of Trump's plans. “Was there a quid pro quo?” Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, testified.

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  Jocular and unflappable, Sondland makes splash as star witness in impeachment inquiry

  USA TODAY
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  ‘I Followed the Directions of the President’: Read Gordon Sondland’s Explosive Impeachment Testimony

  Rolling Stone

Bolivia in crisis after ‘coup’ against president

Bolivian President Evo Morales, who had led the country for 14 years, resigned last week amid heated protests and pressure to leave from the country's military. Morales was a transformational figure in the often tumultuous history of the poor South American nation. The son of llama herders, he first rose to prominence as an advocate for coca leaf farmers before being elected as president in 2006 on a far-left socialist platform of redistributing wealth, fighting poverty and empowering the country's indigenous population.

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  Bolivia's indigenous divided over ousted champion Morales

  Reuters
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  Bolivia’s socialist party considers a future without Morales

  Associated Press

Russia 'ruined' Ukrainian naval vessels before handing them back, says Ukrainian navy

Three Ukrainian navy boats seized by Russia a year ago were vandalised before being handed back to Ukraine, the country's navy said. The fast gunboats Nikopol and Berdyansk and the tugboat Tany Kapu were welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and onlookers waving national flags arrived in Ochakiv, a Ukrainian naval port on the Black Sea on Wednesday evening. But Ukraine's navy said the vessels had been stripped bare and left so badly damaged that they had to be towed home by tug.

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  Ukraine says Russia returned ships in bad condition

  Reuters
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  Three navy ships held by Russia return to Ukraine port

  AFP

Nearly ¾ of transgender people slain since 2017 killed with guns

Nearly three-fourths of transgender and gender non-conforming Americans slain in the last three years were killed with a firearm, according to data published this month by the gun violence prevention advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. The data sheds grim new light on the role of guns in what's been called an epidemic of violence against transgender Americans, as advocates honor the victims with nationwide vigils Wednesday during the Transgender Day of Remembrance. The data is available for the first time publicly via EveryStat for Gun Safety, the group's database detailing gun deaths in America.

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  Chanel Scurlock among those remembered at 20th annual Transgender Day of Remembrance in Raleigh

  WTVD – Raleigh/Durham
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  Founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith on the 20th Anniversary of Transgender Day of Remembrance

  Vogue

Gabbard and Harris clash over visions for the Democratic Party

At the Democratic debate in Atlanta on Wednesday, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and Sen. Kamala Harris of California clashed over their differing visions for the party, particularly when it comes to foreign policy. Gabbard had criticized Hillary Clinton as the “personification of the left that has sickened the Democratic Party” after the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee suggested in an interview last month that she believed Republicans were “grooming” Gabbard to be a spoiler as a third-party candidate. Clinton, who did not mention Gabbard by name, further suggested that the Hawaii Democrat is “the favorite of the Russians.

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  Democratic debate: housing, paid family leave, foreign policy among top concerns

  Yahoo Finance Video
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  MSNBC Democratic Debate Captured 6.5 Million Viewers, Lowest in Current Cycle

  Variety

Ohio abortion law would require doctors to attempt impossible procedure of re-implanting ectopic pregnancies in uterus

Anti-abortion politicians in Ohio want doctors to attempt to re-implant ectopic pregnancies – a procedure derided by one doctor as “pure science fiction”. Members of the state's Republican Party proposed a law this month that would force physicians to attempt an operation for which experts say technology does not currently exist. An ectopic pregnancy is one in which a fertilised egg implants somewhere other than a woman's uterus, which in most cases ends up being inside a fallopian tube.

American Airlines admitted a mid-air accident that knocked out 2 flight crew and forced an emergency landing was not caused by spilled soap

Flickr/Oliver Holzbauer American Airlines admitted Tuesday that whatever knocked out two flight attendants and forced an emergency landing in October was not spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed. On October 21, American Airlines flight 729 was flying from London Heathrow to Philadelphia, but was forced to land in Dublin, Ireland, when two staff members passed out. American Airlines said at the time that the incident was caused by "an odor caused by a spilled cleaning solution in the galley."

Meghan McCain Rages at Joy Behar About Impeachment: ‘You’re Not Listening’ to Me!

Having their first opportunity to discuss this week's dramatic public impeachment hearings, things quickly went off the rails on Thursday's broadcast of The View when conservative co-host Meghan McCain lashed out at frequent sparring partner Joy Behar over the impact of the damning testimony. Touching on President Donald Trump's reaction to U.S. Ambassador the EU Gordon Sondland's testimony, Behar asked her colleagues if it appeared that the president was getting nervous about impeachment. “I think so,” co-host Sunny Hostin replied.

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  ‘It’s all over!’ — because Trump’s notepad says so, in thick Sharpie strokes

  MarketWatch
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  Read: Fiona Hill’s opening statement at today's impeachment hearings

  Politico

Sondland pressed on why Trump has blocked witnesses: 'I wish I could answer'

During his testimony Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee, Gordon Sondland was pressed on why so many members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, were refusing to testify in the impeachment inquiry. I wish I could answer,” responded Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. His remark came at the end of an exchange with Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash.

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  Joe Biden turns impeachment to his advantage in fifth Democrat debate

  The Telegraph
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  Democrats tackle wealth tax, climate change, impeachment at 5th debate

  Yahoo Finance Video

Obama Warns Technology Has Created a More Splintered World

Former U.S. President Barack Obama warned that technology is creating a more splintered world, fueling the disparities among wealthy and poorer nations, and people within countries. The rise of extreme inequality both within nations and between nations that is being turbocharged by globalization and technology” is one of the biggest risks for young people, Obama said Thursday at Salesforce.com Inc. s annual Dreamforce conference in San Francisco.

US woman could be forced to register as a sex offender after appearing topless in front of step-children

An American woman could be forced to register as a sex offender after appearing topless in front of her step-children in her own home. Tilli Buchanan, from Utah, was charged with three counts of misdemeanour lewdness involving a child after appearing topless along with the children's father in their home last year. Ms Buchanan's lawyers are contesting the charge, arguing it is unfair to treat men and women differently for baring her chest.

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  Mother charged after step-children saw her topless inside their house

  WPVI – Philadelphia
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  Utah woman fights charge after stepkids see her topless

  Yahoo News Video

Biden, in Democratic debate, says you have to 'keep punching' to address domestic violence

Vice President Joe Biden was asked Wednesday night how he would address sexual violence. “So we have to just change the culture, period,” Biden said. Biden was one of 10 Democratic candidates to take the stage in Atlanta to debate a range of topics that included, health care, violence, impeachment and defeating President Trump.

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  Booker and Harris warn Dems: Electability doesn't just mean appealing to white voters

  Yahoo News
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  10 Democratic candidates set to face off in 5th debate

  ABC News Videos

Israeli air strikes kill 23 in Syria: monitor

Israel said its warplanes carried out a "very intense" attack against Iranian forces and Syrian army targets in Syria Wednesday, in raids a monitoring group reported killed at least 23 people. In a rare confirmation of their operations in Syria, the Israeli army said they had carried out dozens of strikes against the Iranian elite Quds Force and the Syrian military, in response to four rockets fired at Israel a day before. Britain-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said 23 people were killed in the strikes -- 21 fighters and two civilians.

• Syrian shelling of camp housing displaced people kills 15

  Associated Press
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  Rebel fire kills 7 Aleppo civilians: Syrian state TV

  AFP

20 of the Most Beautiful Bridges in the World

Designed by world-renowned architects such as Zaha Hadid and Santiago Calatrava, these bridges are travel destinations in their own right Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

American Airlines admits a midair accident that knocked out 2 flight crew was not caused by spilled soap

American Airlines admitted Tuesday the powerful fumes that knocked two flight attendants unconscious and forced a flight to make an emergency landing were not caused by spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed.

Pot stocks soar as U.S. House committee clears bill on federal weed legalization

Shares of marijuana companies rose on Thursday after a U.S. congressional committee passed a legislation to decriminalize cannabis, taking it a step closer to being approved by the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives. The bill, which was passed 24 to 10 in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, sent shares of Canopy Growth , Aurora Cannabis , Aphria Inc and Tilray Inc up between 8% and 15%. "We think federal legalization would be a big positive for investor sentiment surrounding cannabis equities, which have been battered by oversupply and a steep price decline for the underlying commodity since becoming legal in Canada," said Garrett Nelso...

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  Bill that would decriminalize marijuana at federal level passes House vote

  CBS News Videos
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  In Congressional First, Committee Approves Bill To End Marijuana Ban

  HuffPost

Analysis: Mountain of impeachment evidence beyond dispute

After two weeks of riveting public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, there is a mountain of evidence that is now beyond dispute. Trump explicitly ordered U.S. government officials to work with his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani on matters related to Ukraine, a country deeply dependent on Washington's help to fend off Russian aggression. The president pushed Ukraine to launch investigations into political rivals, leaning on a discredited conspiracy theory his own advisers disputed.

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  3 ways the Russian threat has lurked behind headlines in Trump impeachment inquiry

  ABC News
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  Trump, supporters in Congress may be coming to terms with Senate impeachment trial

  FOX News Videos

Police investigating after Virginia McDonald's cashier assaulted at drive-thru window

Police are investigating after a Virginia McDonald's cashier was assaulted by two people earlier this month.

This Could Be the Royal Navy’s Next Destroyer

The Royal Navy may already have identified a possible replacement for its Type 45 destroyers. A version of the new Type 26 frigate, which should enter service with the U.K. fleet in the mid-2020s, ultimately could replace the air-defense-optimized Type 45s beginning in the 2030s. The prospect of developing an air-defense variant of the Type 26 offers some hope to the United Kingdom's beleaguered naval shipbuilders that they might be able to build a large number of ships of different classes without a long break in production.

Joe Biden's Democratic debate word salad gives plenty to chew on

For those who believe that a good leader must be a good orator, there is one contradiction that stands in their way: Joe Biden. Biden, in short, can't really speak. In the last two Democratic debates, you would be forgiven for thinking that Biden was brought on stage unexpectedly, and rudely interrupted while he was busy thinking about bigger questions.

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  All The Key Moments From The November Democratic Debate (Spoiler: Women Won)

  Refinery29
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  Bill Bennett on Booker vs. Biden, fallout from House Democrats' impeachment push

  FOX News Videos

Fearful wait for justice a decade after Philippine massacre

A decade after 58 people were killed in the Philippines' worst political massacre, none of the alleged masterminds have been convicted yet, leaving families fearful that justice may never come. Though a verdict is now due next month over the bloodshed that drew international outrage, there is no guarantee of a conviction and the painfully slow-moving trial could still be derailed by corruption or even violence. "We are afraid for the life of the prosecutor or even our judge," said Mary Grace Morales, whose sister and husband were among 32 journalists killed in the attack, making it one of world's deadliest on media workers.