New Fox News poll on impeachment contradicts its most loyal viewer — President Trump

A new Fox News poll on voter support for impeachment contradicted President Trump, who recently boasted major support in favor of “No Impeachment. Amid last week's historic House Judiciary Committee vote to advance two articles of impeachment, abuse of power and obstruction of Congress, the president tweeted, “Poll numbers have gone through the roof in favor of No Impeachment, especially with swing States and Independents in swing States. People have figured out that the Democrats have no case, it is a total Hoax.

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  Anti-impeachment New Jersey Democrat meets with Trump, discusses party change

  WPVI – Philadelphia
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  Trump’s ‘impeachment adviser’ Pam Bondi says looming charges are weighing on him: ‘Is this difficult? Of course it is’

  The Independent

Alyssa Milano’s 'facts are wrong': Andrew Yang refutes activist’s allegations of campaign staffer sexual misconduct

Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang denied allegations made by actress Alyssa Milano that an unnamed campaign staffer engaged in sexual misconduct, saying the matter had been looked at promptly. During a sit-down interview with Yahoo News, Yang said that he and his team conducted an internal investigation on the staffer allegedly involved in the misconduct and found no evidence of anything sexual in nature. The staffer was dismissed instead for “management problems,” according to Yang.

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  Andrew Yang has defied expectations. Can he turn that into a 2020 win?

  USA TODAY
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  Andrew Yang says he’s willing to accept a VP offer from Joe Biden

  Yahoo News Video

Italian city evacuated as World War Two-era British bomb is defused

Italian authorities ordered the biggest peacetime evacuation in the country since World War Two on Sunday to defuse a massive unexploded British bomb that was partially damaged when discovered in the southern city of Brindisi. The historic evacuation displaced some 53,000 residents  —more than half — of the coastal city on the Adriatic,  due to the high risk that the 440-pound ordnance containing 40 kilograms of dynamite could explode. The bomb is believed to have been dropped on the city in a 1941 air raid, during the period of World War Two when Italy was still allied with Germany and Royal Air Force  bombers based in Malta were targeting Naples, Brindisi and Bari in order to disrupt Axis shipping lanes.

An exclusive fundraiser reveals Pete Buttigieg is being backed by some of Silicon Valley's wealthiest families

Paras Griffin/Getty Pete Buttigieg is having a fundraiser hosted for him by a group of extremely wealthy Silicon Valley families, according to a host list obtained by Recode. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is listed as a co-host, as are family members of Sergey Brin, Eric Schmidt, and Sheryl Sandberg. Buttigieg has come under fire from rival Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren for his ties to big tech.

Body of 6-year-old girl swept away in flood waters has been found after 2-week search

PHOENIX – The Gila County Sheriff's Office confirmed Friday night a body found earlier in the day is that of 6-year-old Willa Rawlings, who was swept away in the swollen Tonto Creek two weeks ago along with two other children. Willa had been missing for two weeks after a vehicle she was in was swept away in floodwaters. Two other children, Willa's brother, Colby Rawlings, and cousin Austin Rawlings, both 5, also were swept away but their bodies were later recovered.

5 Italian men sentenced to jail for rape of tourist in popular holiday resort

Five Italian men have been jailed for the gang rape of a British tourist in the popular resort of Meta di Sorrento, south of Naples.

Operation Plunder: How 1 Hellish Battle Slowed The Allies' Capture Of Nazi Germany

January 1945—with World War II in its sixth year—found the Allied armies going on the offensive after the Battle of the Bulge, but they were still west of the Rhine and six weeks behind schedule in their advance toward Germany. Although U.S. and French units of Lt. Gen. Jacob L. Devers' Sixth Army Group had reached the western bank around Strasbourg in late 1944, the river proved too difficult to cross. The key to eventual victory lay in the central and northern Rhineland, but three factors delayed an advance: the failure of Operation Market Garden, the British-American airborne invasion of Holland, the onset of an extremely wet autumn and harsh winter, and the unexpectedly rapid recovery of the German Army in the wake of recent Allied advances.

Why the Drug War Can’t Be Won—Cartel Corruption Goes All the Way to the Top

According to U.S. prosecutors, Luna's assistance allowed El Chapo's Sinaloa Cartel to conduct business “with impunity” in Mexico for more than a decade. The arrest of García Luna highlights just how significant of a challenge Mexican president Manuel López Obrador faces in rooting out corruption among government officials,” wrote Maureen Meyer, the Mexico director at the Washington Office on Latin America. The sole fact that cases like Luna's are being heard in the U.S. and not Mexico points to significant weaknesses in Mexico's criminal justice institutions, and how political influence has tainted investigations for far too long.

AP FACT CHECK: Trump's impeachment rage, Bloomberg on coal

Testimony from other officials shored up the picture of a president and his associates systematically trying to get Ukraine to do what Trump wanted during a period when the military assistance approved by Congress was put on hold without explanation. Sondland said Trump told him on the phone that he was asking nothing of Ukraine. But it is plain from his testimony that Sondland did not believe him.

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  Lawmakers strike some bipartisan deals despite impeachment

  CBS News Videos
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  Trump Sycophant Lindsey Graham: ‘I Will Do Everything I Can to Make Impeachment Die Quickly’ in Senate

  Rolling Stone

Decades on, Soviet bombs still killing people in Afghanistan

Gholam Mahaiuddin sighs softly as he thinks of his 14-year-old son, who was killed in the spring by a bomb dropped last century in the hills of Bamiyan province in central Afghanistan. "We knew the mountain was dangerous," said Mahaiuddin, who found his son's remains after he didn't come home one day. Forty years after the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan -- and three decades since the conflict ended -- the war's legacy continues to claim lives across the country.

Zambia Wants U.S. Ambassador Out for Defending Gay Couple

“We have complained officially to the American government, and we are waiting for their response because we don't want such people in our midst,” Lungu said Sunday in comments broadcast on state-owned ZNBC TV. U.S. Ambassador Daniel Foote said last month that he was “personally horrified” after the high court sentenced the two men and called on the government to reconsider laws that punish minority groups. The move was particularly disturbing as “government officials can steal millions of public dollars without prosecution,” Foote said.

China's factory, retail sectors shine as trade tensions thaw

Growth in China's industrial and retail sectors beat expectations in November, as government support propped up demand in the world's second-largest economy and amid easing trade hostilities with Washington. The set of upbeat figures released on Monday follow firm signs of progress in Sino-U.S. trade negotiations over the weekend after the world's two largest economies announced a "phase one" trade deal that would nearly double U.S. exports to China. However, growth in infrastructure and the property sector, both key growth drivers, remained lacklustre in November, underlining key challenges for Beijing in its efforts to stabilise economic performance next year.

A California Starbucks reportedly denied police officers service, in the latest of several alleged anti-cop acts at the coffee chain this year

Geovien So/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images This is just the latest of several alleged police discrimination acts at Starbucks this year. In July, Tempe police officers tweeted that they were asked to leave an Arizona Starbucks location. In November, an Oklahoma Starbucks employee was fired after a police officer received his coffee order with the word "PIG" written on it.

The 25 Best Survival Games

You have one mission: Stay alive. From Popular Mechanics

Is Congress Set to Open U.S. Banks to Drug Cartels?

Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill known as the SAFE Banking Act, a seemingly innocuous bill offering the nascent, state-legal marijuana industry access to banks. Interestingly, many House Republicans who claim to oppose marijuana legalization voted in support of the bill. Whatever their excuse may be, some House Republicans were hoodwinked in supporting this policy, and drug traffickers and cartel bosses naturally rejoiced.

FBI breaks up 2 illegal streaming sites – including iStreamItAll, with more subscribers than Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu

Two programmers in Las Vegas recently admitted to running two of the largest illegal television and movie streaming services in the country, according to federal officials. One of the platforms reportedly had more paying subscribers than Netflix, Hulu and other popular licensed streaming platforms. An FBI investigation led officials to Darryl Polo, 36, and Luis Villarino, 40, who have pleaded guilty to copyright infringement charges for operating iStreamItAll, a subscription-based streaming site, and Jetflix, a large illegal TV streaming service, federal officials said Friday.

Pelosi announces U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal

House Democrats announced Tuesday they have reached a deal with the White House on the trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, bringing President Trump closer to fulfilling a major legislative accomplishment. "This is a day we've all been working to and working for on the path to yes," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California said. Asked by CBS News' Nancy Cordes whether it was a coincidence that the trade deal was being announced on the same day that articles of impeachment were unveiled by House Democrats, Pelosi responded, "No, it's not a coincidence.

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  Trump's New Trade Deal: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

  The National Interest
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  Mexico Official Complains About 3-Way Trade Deal in Tweetstorm

  Bloomberg

Louisiana sues California over alligator ban

Louisiana is suing the state of California over its decision to ban the import and sale of alligator products, saying the ban will hurt an important Louisiana industry and ultimately could hurt the state's wetlands. In a lawsuit filed Thursday, Louisiana said the economy surrounding alligators has played a key role in bringing back the American alligator population and is an important factor in protecting wetlands and other species besides alligators that depend on the wetlands. “California has nevertheless attempted to destroy the market for American alligator products notwithstanding the fact that no such alligators live in California," the lawsuit says.

New Zealand eruption death toll rises to 18

The death toll from New Zealand's White Island volcano eruption rose to 18 Sunday, including two people whose bodies have not been recovered, police said. A land search Sunday failed to find any sign of the missing pair and divers returned to the sea in the afternoon amid increasing speculation both could be in the water. Deputy police commissioner Mike Clement said there was "every chance" the bodies had been washed into the sea from the stream where they were last seen Monday.

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  New Zealand observes silence as PM warns of long volcano probe

  AFP
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  New Zealand rescuers unable to locate bodies as volcano death toll rises to 16

  The Telegraph

A Man Sparked Outrage After Slapping a Reporter's Backside on Live TV. Now He's Charged With Sexual Battery

A male runner who slapped a female reporter's backside in the middle of her live broadcast was arrested Friday and charged with sexual battery, according to records from Georgia's Chatham County Sheriff's office. Thomas Callaway, who turned himself in, was later released on a $1,300 bond, according to the reporter's employer, WSAV. Alex Bozarjian was reporting live on the Enmarket Savannah Bridge Run in Savannah, Ga., on Dec. 7 when a runner in a blue shirt passed her and slapped her backside — prompting Bozarjian to pause and look shocked at the encounter.

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  Runner Who Slapped Reporter's Backside on Live TV Arrested for Sexual Battery

  People
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  Man accused of slapping reporter's bottom is charged

  CBS News

Bolivia's interim leader says arrest warrant to be issued against Morales

Bolivia will issue an arrest warrant in the coming days against former leftist President Evo Morales, accusing him of sedition, interim Bolivian President Jeanine Anez said on Saturday. Morales is in Argentina, granted refugee status this week just days after the inauguration of new President Alberto Fernandez. Peronist Fernandez succeeded outgoing conservative Argentine leader Mauricio Macri, who lost his bid for re-election in October.

Indigenous boy stabbed to death in Amazon amid wave of rainforest racism

An indigenous 15-year-old boy has been stabbed to death in an Amazonian reserve in Brazil, the latest in a string of murders which have heightened tensions in the region. Erisvan Soares Guajajara's body was found on Friday in the Amarante do Maranhão city, on the edge of an increasingly deforested indigenous reserve on the fringes of the Amazon rainforest. The killing is the fourth in the Guajajara tribe in recent weeks and has further fuelled recrimination and racism in the febrile atmosphere surrounding indigenous people and deforestation.

Mortal Enemy? How Does the People's Liberation Army View the United States?

Key Point: Internal documents reveal the mindset of the PLA is offensive, specifically against the U.S. In December 2017, the U.S. Government published a new National Security Strategy. This remarkable document referred to the People's Republic of China (PRC) as a "revisionist power" that sought "to shape a world antithetical to U.S. values and interests." One month later, in January 2018, the Pentagon released the unclassified version of its National Defense Strategy, which stated that "China is a strategic competitor." Thanks to these documents, we now know how the American military―and the broader national security community―officially views China.