2020 Vision Monday: Polls show a 17-point swing toward impeaching Trump, which could drag down his reelection bid

As of three weeks ago, a majority of Americans — 51.1 percent, on average — opposed impeaching President Trump. As of today, opposition to impeachment has plummeted 7 percentage points (to 44 percent) and support has climbed nearly 10 points (to 49.8 percent), according to FiveThirtyEight's preliminary polling tracker. It still seems unlikely, although perhaps slightly less so, that Senate Republicans will ever abandon Trump and vote to remove him from office, even if most voters eventually want them to.

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  Former White House adviser on Russia testifying in impeachment inquiry

  CBS News Videos
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  Liz Cheney Blames Turkey’s Invasion of Syria on Democrats’ Impeachment Inquiry

  The Daily Beast

Pope's bodyguard resigns over new financial leaks scandal

The Vatican's latest scandal claimed its first victim Monday as Pope Francis' chief bodyguard resigned over the leak of a Vatican police flyer identifying five employees who were suspended as part of a financial investigation. The Vatican said its police chief, Domenico Giani, bore no responsibility for the leaked flyer but resigned to avoid disrupting the investigation and "out of love for the church and faithfulness" to the pope. Giani, a 20-year veteran of the Vatican's security services, has stood by Francis' side and jogged alongside his popemobile during hundreds of public appearances and foreign trips.

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  Pope Francis's main bodyguard resigns over a leak

  Yahoo News Video
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  Vatican security chief, papal bodyguard, steps down over leak

  Reuters

Police officer stabbed in the neck in latest Hong Kong clashes

A Hong Kong police officer was stabbed in the neck on Sunday in one of the worst acts of violence against the authorities during the 19th straight weekend of civil unrest in the global financial hub. Graphic footage emerged of the policeman being stabbed in the neck from behind with a sharp object as his team retreated towards Kwun Tong metro station. The police confirmed that two people had been arrested at the scene and the officer had been transferred to hospital “in a conscious state” and was stable.

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  Thousands of pro-democracy protesters throng Hong Kong's Chater Garden waving US flags

  Newsflare
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  Hong Kong's leader: Territory not becoming a police state

  Associated Press

In Jamal Khashoggi's death, Saudi money is talking louder than murder

Anyone interested in what it looks like to get away with murder should peruse the attendee list for Saudi Arabia's flashy "Davos in the Desert" this month. Vaporizing into the desert heat is all the righteous alarm that compelled leading financial firms to boycott the event last year out of concern that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, weeks before, had ordered the grisly killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Attending this year's extravaganza are executives of JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, all of them institutions selected to underwrite the kingdom's highly anticipated, partial public offering of its oil company, Aramco, valued $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.

Climate change researchers recommend banning all frequent flyer reward programs to cut carbon emissions by targeting jet-setters

A new report commissioned by the Committee on Climate Change, the UK government's official climate-change advisers, has called for a ban on all frequent flyer reward programs to discourage people from traveling by air so much. Researchers from Imperial College London, who wrote the report, said that just 15% of the entire British population take 70% of all flights from the country. The report also called for an "air miles levy" to punish people who fly long distances, which would target those who rack up the most air miles, rather than people who travel shorter distances.

North Cyprus head stands firm in row over Turkey criticism

The leader of breakaway northern Cyprus, Mustafa Akinci, stood firm in the face of calls to resign on Monday after criticising Turkey's military offensive in Syria. Akinci, president of the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, took the rare step over the weekend of criticising Turkey, the only country that recognises the TRNC. "Even if we call it 'Peace Spring', it is blood that is spilling and not water," he wrote on Facebook, referring to the codename of the Turkish military operation against Kurdish-held northeast Syria launched last Wednesday.

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  U.S. imposes new sanctions on Turkey: Mnuchin

  Reuters Videos
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  Sanctions stress makes Turkey's lira October's worst world currency

  Reuters

Flooded bullet trains show Japan's risks from disasters

Experts say they also instill a false sense of security in a country inured to danger by the constant threat of calamitous earthquakes, tsunami and volcanos. "Weather conditions in Japan up to now have been relatively moderate," said Toshitaka Katada, a disaster expert and professor at the University of Tokyo. Those days are over, and Japan's readiness for disasters, still based on data collected decades ago, hasn't kept up with the times, he said.

'Five Eyes' in the dark: Will Trump and Barr destroy trust in U.S. intelligence?

I would like to have the Attorney General call you or your people and I would like you to get to the bottom of it. As you saw yesterday, that whole nonsense ended with a very poor performance by a man named Robert Mueller, an incompetent performance, but they say a lot of it started with Ukraine. While the House's impeachment inquiry to date has focused largely on the overseas activities of Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani and State Department officials, it is the close involvement of Attorney General Barr that many intelligence experts find far more troubling.

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  Bill Barr ‘Gets’ Religion

  The Wall Street Journal
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  Bill McGurn on Bill Barr's defense of faith and traditional values in American politics

  FOX News Videos

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faces backlash over haircut

This week, the Washington Times published a story saying that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. had spent $80 on a haircut and $180 on color at a Washington, D.C., salon, a choice the newspaper presented as hypocritical, given she “regularly rails against the rich and complains about the cost of living inside the Beltway.

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  Fernando Cabrera explains why he's launching a primary challenge to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

  FOX News Videos
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  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Political Cost of Hair

  The New York Times

View Photos of Our Sports Sedan Battle Between the Dodge Charger and Kia Stinger GT

America's leading (and only) V-8 muscle sedan takes on Korea's upstart rear-drive hatchback in a battle of power versus poise. From Car and Driver

Engineer weighs in on Hard Rock Hotel collapse: 'Logically, it doesn't make sense'

On Saturday morning, structural engineer Walter Zehner's phone rang with news of a devastating construction collapse on a site he once worked. The plan for 1031 Canal St. had completely changed since Zehner left the project approximately three years ago, moving from a mixed use retail/residential design to what was planned to be a Hard Rock Hotel. When Zehner arrived at the downtown construction site Saturday, he saw six to eight concrete levels had collapsed, the edges hanging down the side of the building as if they'd melted.

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  At least 2 killed in crane collapse at New Orleans hotel

  ABC News Videos
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  ‘Rescue Mission’ continues in Hard Rock Hotel collapse: Mayor

  ABC News Videos

Soldier wounded during search for Bowe Bergdahl dies of his injuries

A US soldier shot in the head during the 2009 search for army deserter Bowe Bergdahl has died from his injuries. Army Master Sgt. Mark Allen died on Saturday at the age of 46, 10 years after being injured in the hunt for his missing comrade. He spent 21 years in the army and national guard, and retired in 2013 on receiving the Purple Heart.

Russia denies US news report it bombed 4 Syria hospitals in 12 hours

Russia on Monday denied a US newspaper report that its warplanes bombed four hospitals in rebel-held territory in Syria over a period of 12 hours this year. The Russian defence ministry rubbished the claim in a report by The New York Times, saying "the alleged 'evidence' provided by the NYT is not worth even the paper it was printed on". The May strikes -- which the newspaper tied to Moscow through Russian radio recordings, plane spotter logs and accounts by witnesses -- are part of a larger pattern of medical facilities targeted by forces supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the country's devastating civil war.

• 12 Hours. 4 Syrian Hospitals Bombed. Evidence Reveals One Culprit: Russia.

  The New York Times
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  Trump pulling all U.S. troops from northern Syria amid Turkish onslaught

  CBS News Videos

Anthony Scaramucci is desperately trying to recruit Mitt Romney for a 2020 run

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is running for president again — at least in Anthony Scaramucci's dreams. The famously short-lived White House communications director has since turned on the president who appointed him, and has publicly said he's trying to knock President Trump off the 2020 ticket. Now, it seems Scaramucci has decided on his dream candidate, and has launched a website and line of T-shirts to persuade him to run.

The Latest: Fire department: LA blaze began under power line

Fire officials say a destructive fire that broke out on the edge of Los Angeles began beneath a high-voltage transmission tower. Capt. Erik Scott told The Associated Press on Monday that Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigators have only determined the origin of the fire, not its cause. The location was at the base of power lines owned by Southern California Edison.

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  Saddle Ridge Fire began under SoCal Edison transmission tower in Sylmar, investigators say

  KABC – Los Angeles
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  Los Angeles fire began under power lines, cause not known

  Associated Press

White House: Trump 'strongly condemns' parody video of him shooting critics and media outlets in church

The White House on Monday tried to distance itself from a violent parody video that shows President Trump shooting and stabbing critics and members of the media in a church. “But based upon everything he has heard, he strongly condemns this video,” Grisham tweeted. According to the New York Times, the crude video was shown at a pro-Trump conference at the president's Doral Miami resort over the weekend, where Donald Trump Jr. and former White House press secretary Sarah Sanders were among the guest speakers.

• ‘Kingsman’ Massacre Scene Edited for Trump Event to Show President Killing Media

  Indiewire
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  Meghan McCain, Kathy Griffin respond to fake Trump massacre video

  Yahoo Entertainment

States are cutting university budgets. Taxpayers aren't interested in funding campus kooks

Times are bad for higher education, and higher educators are beginning to notice it. But the industry's problems are mostly of its own making. The latest "cri de coeur" comes from University of North Dakota's Sheila Liming, who writes, “My University is Dying; And soon yours will be, too.

The Amelia Earhart Mystery Stays Down in the Deep

For two weeks in August, a multimillion-dollar search from air, land and sea sought to solve the 80-year mystery of Amelia Earhart's disappearance. Robert Ballard, the ocean explorer famous for locating the wreck of the Titanic, led a team that discovered two hats in the depths. What it did not find was a single piece of the Lockheed Electra airplane flown in 1937 by Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan, which vanished during their doomed voyage around the world.

Disney Skyliner reopens with modified hours after stranding passengers last week

Disney's Skyliner is up and running again with modified service after the new aerial cable car system stranded passengers for hours the night of Oct. 5. "Beginning today, guests may travel aboard Disney Skyliner from 8 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.," reads an update on Walt Disney World Resort's Skyliner landing page. "Following a complete review with the manufacturer, we've made adjustments to our processes and training, and we are improving how we communicate with guests during their flight with Disney Skyliner," Thomas Smith, editorial content director at Disney Parks, wrote in a blog post on Monday.

Meet the Massive Ordnance Penetrator: The Air Force's Newest Bunker Buster Bomb

Key point: The MOP bomb will increase the firepower and options of the Air Force. EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. The U.S. Air Force is asking the Boeing Co.to build additional Massive Ordnance Penetrator bunker-busting super bombs under terms of a $70 million contract announced last week.

Hong Kong leader rules out concessions in face of escalating violence

Embattled Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday ruled out making any concessions to pro-democracy protesters in the face of escalating violence, which police said was now "life threatening" citing the detonation of a small bomb. "For concessions to be made simply because of escalating violence will only make the situation worse. Hong Kong has been rocked by four months of unrest, with massive marches and at times violent protests involving tear gas, petrol bombs and live rounds, over concerns Beijing is tightening its grip on the city and eroding democratic rights.

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  'Undercover Hong Kong police car' discovered by protesters and gets vandalised

  Newsflare
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  Hong Kong leader's policy speech to focus on housing in bid to regain support

  Reuters

India blocks SMS services in Kashmir after trucker killed

Text messaging services were blocked in Indian Kashmir just hours after being restored when a truck driver was killed by suspected militants and his vehicle set ablaze, authorities said Tuesday. Separately Indian officials said that a 24-year-old woman died in the latest exchange of artillery fire with Pakistan over their de-facto border dividing the blood-soaked Himalayan region. Security sources said the decision to cut text messaging services was taken to reduce the ability of militants to communicate.

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  India restores post-paid cellphone services in Kashmir

  Associated Press
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  India partially restores mobile phone lines in Kashmir

  Reuters