- 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.
- WorldThe National Interest
Iran Has New Submarines, And That's Bad News For America
Key point: Certain technical questions notwithstanding, the inauguration of the Fateh class suggests that Iran is moving ahead with its Naval modernization program... In yet another milestone on Tehran's path to becoming a self-sustaining regional power, Iranian state news announced the Iranian Navy has commissioned its first homemade submarine. The new Fateh-class vessel was unveiled by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani late last week, at a ceremony held at the Bandar Abbas naval base.
- 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.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.
- 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.
- 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.
- WorldBloomberg
Nazi Leader Paraphrasing Costs Brazil Culture Secretary His Job
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro fired the country's culture secretary after he paraphrased notorious Nazi politician Joseph Goebbels in a video that stirred outrage in the nation. Roberto Alvim said that Brazilian art over the next decade will be “heroic” or “it will be nothing,” similarly to remarks made by Goebbels decades ago, according to a video posted on social networks early on Friday. Within hours, the term “Goebbels” became one of the top trending topics on Twitter in Brazil, and lawmakers including Senate President Davi Alcolumbre, who is Jewish, called for Alvim's immediate removal.
- 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.
WorldAFPRainstorms douse bushfires across eastern Australia
Rain and thunderstorms doused long-burning bushfires across much of eastern Australia Saturday, but they also brought a new threat of flooding in some areas. Major bushfires continued to rage in regions of the south and southeast of the country that have so far missed out on the rain, including in wildlife-rich forests on Kangaroo Island off the southern coast. The fire service in New South Wales (NSW) state, the country's most populous and the hardest hit by the crisis, said 75 fires continued to burn Saturday, down from well over 100 a few days earlier.
- 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.
- 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.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
FBI agents visited the home of the Robert Hyde, the Giuliani associate who said he surveilled former ambassador Marie Yovanovitch
Hyde for Congress FBI agents were seen visiting both the home and business addresses of Robert Hyde, an associate of Rudy Giuliani now central to the impeachment of President Donald Trump. NBC News and CNN both report that the FBI visited Hyde's home in Weatogue, Connecticut and the location in Avon, CT where he runs both his landscaping business and congressional campaign. In a trove of WhatsApp messages between Hyde and Giuliani associate Lev Parnas, Hyde told Parnas that he was closely surveilling former US ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch.
- 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
- 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”.
- 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.
- 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.
CelebrityUSA TODAYEvelyn Yang, Andrew Yang's wife, said she was sexually assaulted by her OB-GYN during pregnancy
Evelyn Yang, the wife of 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang, is alleging that she was sexually assaulted during her first pregnancy by a doctor who has since lost his license. In an interview that aired on CNN on Thursday night, Yang said she was assaulted by her OB-GYN in 2012, claiming the doctor's abuse "started with inappropriate questions around how intimate I was with my husband, sexual activity, just very inappropriate probing questions that were unrelated to my health." Yang said the "examinations became longer, more frequent, and I learned that they were unnecessary most of the time."
- PoliticsYahoo News Video
Reuters poll: Sanders climbs, now tied with Biden among registered voters
Sen. Bernie Sanders has been steadily climbing in popularity this year and is now tied with former Vice President Joe Biden for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination among registered voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national poll.
WorldAFPMexico offers 4,000 jobs to new migrant caravan
Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador offered 4,000 jobs Friday to migrants in a new caravan currently crossing Central America toward the United States. The caravan, which formed in Honduras this week and is making its way across Guatemala, currently has around 3,000 migrants, Lopez Obrador said. According to Guatemala's new President Alejandro Giammattei, Mexico has vowed to use "everything at its disposal" to stop them.
- WorldThe National Interest
Secrets Stolen: What Will China Do With Data On Israel's Iron Dome Missile Defense?
Key point: America should be worried. A cybersecurity firm reports that Chinese hackers have stolen technical data for the Iron Dome rocket-defense system from Israeli computers. Maryland-based Cyber Engineering Services detected the cyber burglary, according to cybersecurity writer Brian Krebs.
- PoliticsThe Week
Rachel Maddow and Lev Parnas explain why Parnas has publicly flipped on Trump and Giuliani
After MSNBC's Rachel Maddow aired her interview with Lev Parnas on Wednesday night, fellow host Lawrence O'Donnell told her it was an "extraordinary hour" of television. "Why has he decided to basically turn on his friends in the conspiracy and talk about the conspiracy?" Parnas worked with Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal lawyer, to pressure Ukrainian officials to procure dirt on Joe Biden. Maddow said there's probably an "implicit" but far-fetched hope that cooperating with investigators and sharing what he knows will help him in his federal criminal case, but "I will tell you, Lawrence, I was convinced until the moment I was sitting there talking to him that it was going to be canceled." She added that for her, the "headline" from the interview was his claim about Vice President Mike Pence's involvement in the Ukraine meddling.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The Iranian government is turning on its military after it lied about the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane
Iranian Presidency Office via AP Iran's leadership has turned on its military its response to last week's downing of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 in the country's capital, Tehran, which killed all 176 people on board. Iran initially insisted that the plane crashed because of technical issues, but days later it said its Revolutionary Guard Corps shot down the Boeing 737-800 by mistake. Iran has promised to prosecute those involved, and senior officials have been quick to accept responsibility for the jet's downing.
- 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.
- 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
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.
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PHOTOS: Ukraine International Airlines plane crashes in Iran killing all on board
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