- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump impeachment hearings: 5 key takeaways from the first day
The first day of public impeachment hearings resulted in new evidence supporting the Democrats' case that President Trump was leveraging U.S. aid to Ukraine to get President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden. State Department officials Bill Taylor and George Kent, career diplomats who have served under multiple presidents, were the witnesses Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee. While much of Taylor's testimony had already been disclosed in the transcripts of his earlier, closed-door deposition, there was key new information.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Sorry, Hillary: Democrats don't need a savior
Reminder: There are 84 days until the Iowa caucuses and 358 days until the 2020 election. With the Iowa caucuses fast approaching, Clinton is just the latest in the colorful cast of characters who seem to have surveyed the sprawling Democratic field, sensed something lacking and decided that “something” might be them. Never mind, for instance, that billionaire businessman and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg already closed the door on a run earlier this year, declaring in March that he was “clear-eyed about the difficulty of winning the Democratic nomination” and that “the best way for me to help our country is by rolling up my sleeves and continuing to get work done” as a political philanthropist.
- NewsNational Review
Young Turks Founder Cenk Uygur Files for Katie Hill’s Former Seat
Progressive talk show host Cenk Uygur has filed to enter the race for disgraced former congresswoman Katie Hill's congressional district, according to a Federal Election Commission database filing submitted on Wednesday. Uygur, host and creator of “The Young Turks,” a leftist online news outlet, tweeted “no comment” after news broke of the filing Wednesday night. A former MSNBC commentator, Uygur has drifted further left in recent years, but in college he espoused conservative views, supporting pro-life causes and defending Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
- WorldBusiness Insider
An Air India flight was delayed nearly 12 hours after a stowaway rat was spotted in the cabin
An Air India flight flying from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam was delayed for 12 hours after a rat was spotted in the cabin. Flight AI-952 was due to depart at 06:10 a.m. on Sunday but after the rat was spotted passengers were told to disembark the plane— which did not leave until later in the day at 5.30 p.m. according to the Times of India. A domestic flight in India was delayed for 12 hours after a rat was spotted in the cabin as the flight was about to take off.
- WorldThe Guardian
Mexico’s human rights chief draws fury for asking if journalists have been killed
Mexico's new human rights commissioner has questioned if journalists are actually killed in the country, which has become a cemetery for reporters over the past two decades – and has not become any safer since the arrival of a leftwing government last year. After being elected commissioner on Tuesday night, Rosario Piedra Ibarra blithely responded to reporters' questions on the murder of reporters in the country by asking, “They've killed journalists? She then insisted attacks on media members “happened in past administrations and it's something terrible” – even though at least 11 journalists have been murdered in Mexico since President Andrés Manuel López Obrador took office almost a year ago.
- WorldAssociated Press
The Latest: Xi says Hong Kong must end violence and chaos
Chinese President Xi Jinping says ending violence by what he calls “violent criminals” and restoring order is Hong Kong's most pressing task. The official Xinhua News Agency says the Chinese leader made the comments Thursday while attending the BRICS summit in Brazil. Xi was quoted as saying the Chinese government will continue to support Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam, the police and the courts.
WorldAFPGeneral rebuked after tempers flare over rebuilding Notre-Dame
The French army general charged with the rebuilding of Paris' fire-ravaged Notre-Dame was rebuked by the government Thursday after telling the chief architect to "shut his mouth" in a sign of tension over the cathedral's future appearance. General Jean-Louis Georgelin lost his cool with architect Philippe Villeneuve in a dispute over whether to replace the spire -- which was toppled in the April 15 blaze -- with an exact replica or mix things up with a modern twist. "As for the chief architect, I have already explained that he should shut his mouth," Georgelin said to gasps of astonishment at a meeting of the cultural affairs committee of the lower house National Assembly late Wednesday.
- WorldReuters
Iran starts gasoline rationing, hikes prices - state TV
Iran introduced gasoline rationing and price hikes on Friday with an official saying that the revenue would be used for subsidies for 18 million needy families, state television reported. Iran, which has some of the world's cheapest fuel prices due to heavy subsidies and the fall of its currency, has been fighting rampant fuel smuggling to neighbouring countries. State TV said the price of a litre of regular gasoline was increased to 15,000 rials (12.7 U.S. cents) from 10,000 rials and the monthly ration for each private car was set at 60 litres per month.
- BusinessCar and Driver
Hyundai Santa Cruz Small Pickup Will Start Production in 2021
Hyundai announced that it will build a compact pickup truck called the Santa Cruz. Previewed as a concept model way back in 2015, the Santa Cruz will be assembled at Hyundai's factory in Alabama. The Santa Cruz will begin production in 2021, meaning it's likely to go on sale in the U.S. that year.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Ukrainian energy company tied to Hunter Biden supported American think tank, paid for trips
A Ukrainian company that employed Hunter Biden paid more than $450,000 to a prominent Washington think tank, including picking up the tab for energy-related conferences as part of a campaign to burnish its image in the United States after it was accused by Western officials of corruption. Burisma's support of the Atlantic Council was detailed last week by the Wall Street Journal, which said the company had given the think tank $100,000 per year for three years starting in 2016. In the public impeachment proceedings starting Wednesday, Republicans, led by House Intelligence Committee ranking member Devin Nunes, R-Calif., will likely focus on Burisma to justify efforts by President Trump and his associates to pressure the Ukrainian government to publicly announce it was investigating the company.
NewsUSA TODAY4 frat deaths this month, 2 this week alone. What's going on with fraternity hazing?
What else to look out for during college fraternity rush The facts about frat deaths On Oct. 19, 17-year-old John "Jack" Schoenig, 17, died outside a house alleged to be associated with the Pennsylvania State chapter of the fraternity Chi Phi. The cause of his death was unclear, and the university and the fraternity said the house was off-campus. Regardless, Penn State suspended the fraternity.
- NewsNational Review
Federal Judge Rules U.S.-Born ‘ISIS Bride’ Not an American Citizen, U.S. Not Required to Repatriate Her
A federal judge ruled Thursday that 25-year-old Hoda Muthana, who lived in Alabama but left the U.S. in 2014 to join ISIS, is not an American citizen and therefore the country is not required to repatriate her. Muthana is the daughter of Yemen's former ambassador to the United Nations, Ahmed Ali Muthana. Judge Reggie Walton ruled that because Hoda was born while Ahmed Ali still had diplomatic status, Hoda could not be considered a U.S. citizen.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoThe U.S. Navy canceled a routine Black Sea operation after Trump complained that it was hostile to Russia
Christopher Anderson, an aide to Kurt Volker, former special envoy to Ukraine, testified that the White House canceled a Navy freedom-of-navigation operation in the Black Sea after President Trump complained to then-national security adviser John Bolton about a CNN report that framed the operation as a counter to Russia, Politico reported.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Immigration officer blows whistle on 'morally objectionable' Trump asylum policy
A new anonymous whistleblower has accused the Trump administration of requiring U.S. asylum officers to enforce an illegal and immoral policy “clearly designed to further this administration's racist agenda of keeping Hispanic and Latino populations from entering the United States. The policy in question is the so-called Migrant Protection Protocols, or MPP, the controversial program requiring that most asylum seekers who attempt to request protections in the United States via the southern border be returned to Mexico to await their immigration proceedings there rather than inside the U.S. Under the MPP, which was first announced at the end of last year, more than 50,000 migrants have been s...
- NewsAssociated Press
Justice Dept. rolls out new program to combat gun violence
Attorney General William Barr announced a new initiative Wednesday that would better enforce the U.S. gun background check system, coordinate state and federal gun cases and ensure prosecutors quickly update databases to show when a defendant can't possess a firearm because of mental health issues. The push, known as Project Guardian, was unveiled at a news conference in Memphis, Tennessee, alongside officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, on the same day public impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump began in Washington. As part of the program, U.S. prosecutors will coordinate with state and local law enforcement officials to consider potential federal charges when a suspect is arrested for weapons possession, is believed to have used a gun to commit a violent crime or drug-trafficking offense or is suspected of being a violent gang member.
- NewsINSIDER
The US is being hit by a frigid, early cold snap that has killed at least 6 people and could break 100 temperature records
It said that "more than a hundred locations [are] expected to tie or set new low temperature records." At least six people have been killed, all from road collisions related to the cold temperatures. One victim, in Kansas, was an eight-year-old girl.
- WorldReuters
Top Putin aide named by MH17 airliner investigators
An international investigation into the 2014 downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on Thursday released a series of phone intercepts, including one between a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin and pro-Russian rebels accused in the crash. Calls between officials in Moscow and pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine mostly took place via secure telephones provided by the Russian security service, and intensified ahead of the disaster in the first half of July 2014, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) said. "The indications for close ties between leaders of the DPR (Donetsk People's Republic) and Russian government officials raise questions about their possible involvement in the deployment of the (missile), which brought down flight MH17 on 17 July 2014," the JIT said.
- EntertainmentArchitectural Digest
A History of Modern American Architecture
A new book surveys the stunning work of Ezra Stoller, the most prominent photographer of 20th-century American architecture Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- PoliticsYahoo News
Rep. Connolly says Democrats already have 'smoking gun' to impeach Trump
A Democrat who attended most of the closed-door depositions over the past month said that while the beginning of public hearings will be instructive for Americans, President Trump has already given Congress all the evidence it needs to impeach him. The reconstructed partial transcript of Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “is the smoking gun,” said Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who has represented the Northern Virginia suburbs for the last decade. “It's right in front of us,” Connolly said in an interview with Yahoo News.
WorldAFPDelhi smog hits 'emergency' levels as Britain's Prince Charles visits
The Indian capital's notorious air pollution hit "emergency" levels again Wednesday, coinciding with a visit by Britain's Prince Charles. New Delhi has been choked on and off for weeks, as industrial and traffic pollution -- combined with smoke from crop stubble burning -- cast a toxic pall over the metropolis. For the second time in 10 days, the amount of 2.5PM -- the deadly tiny particles that get into the bloodstream and lungs -- hit "emergency" levels, nearly 20 times the safe limit set by the World Health Organisation.
- WorldBloomberg
Royal Mail Wins Court Bid to Block Strike During Election
A London court blocked a planned strike by Royal Mail Plc's workers during the peak holiday season, easing concerns about possible disruptions to next month's British election and sending the company's shares up as much as 4.7%. The world's oldest postal service won an injunction Wednesday against the Communication Workers Union's proposal for a national strike. A walkout vote last month received support from 97% of members as part of an ongoing dispute over issues such as shorter working weeks, pensions and job security, before the country's general election was set.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Racial discrimination case against cable giant Comcast gets tentative support from Supreme Court
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court appeared likely Wednesday to let a racial discrimination claim against the nation's largest cable TV company go forward, even though it might be difficult to prove. The justices' inclination would be a victory for Byron Allen, an African American media mogul who sued telecommunications giant Comcast, as well as Charter Communications, for refusing to distribute his stations while launching scores of mostly white-owned networks. But both liberal and conservative justices indicated that while there may be enough evidence of racial bias for now, Allen's Entertainment Studios Network and the National Association of African American-Owned Media eventually would have...
- WorldThe National Interest
Forget North Korea: This Is The Nuclear Hotspot No One is Talking About
Key Point: The rest of the world should work to calm nuclear tensions on the Indian subcontinent. While the United States is preoccupied by the threat of nuclear weapons in the hands of potential adversaries such as Russia, China or North Korea, the danger of nuclear conflict may actually be greatest between two of its allies, Pakistan and India. The two nations have engaged in four wars starting since their partition along religious lines in 1947.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoDeath row inmate to be executed for killing convenience store worker
Prison officials in Georgia are preparing to execute a man who was convicted of shooting dead a convenience store worker 25 years ago. Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 7 p.m. ET at Jackson's Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Prison for the killing of Richard Slysz.
- WorldAssociated Press
Pope taps fellow Jesuit as Vatican’s finance minister
Pope Francis on Thursday appointed a fellow Jesuit to be the Vatican's finance minister, filling a crucial position left vacant for more than two years after Cardinal George Pell left Rome to stand trial on sex abuse charges in his native Australia. The appointment of the Rev. Juan Antonio Guerrero Alves, a 60-year-old Spanish economist, came one day after Australia's Supreme Court agreed to hear Pell's appeal of his conviction for molesting two choirboys in the 1990s.
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