- PoliticsYahoo News
Inspector general finds 'significant errors or omissions' in Trump adviser surveillance warrant
While clearing the FBI of political bias in opening an investigation into then candidate Donald Trump, a Justice Department inspector general report hands powerful new ammunition to the president's allies, sharply criticizing the bureau for “serious performance errors” and “significant” errors and omissions in its applications for a secret surveillance warrant targeting a member of Trump's campaign. The long awaited 434-page report finds that FBI's team conducting Crossfire Hurricane— the code name for the bureau's investigation into links between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin — improperly relied too heavily on allegations made by Christopher Steele, a former British spy who had been hi...
- WorldThe National Interest
Remember When Russian Diesel Submarines Chased Down A British Nuclear Sub?
Russian diesel subs chased a British nuclear sub off the Syrian coast, according to British media. The incident reportedly involved one or two Russian Kilo-class diesel-powered submarines, which have been dubbed the "Black Hole" by Western navies because they are remarkably quiet. The British sub did not fire its Tomahawks during last week's strike by American, British and French forces against Syrian chemical weapons sites, leading to speculation that the British boat was driven off by the Russian subs.
- NewsReuters
Boston's trauma to be dissected as marathon bomber appeals death sentence
This city's deepest wound - the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings that killed three and injured hundreds more - will be re-examined Thursday when lawyers for bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev seek to have his death sentence lifted because the jury pool was too traumatized to render a fair verdict. The then-19-year old Tsarnaev and his 26-year-old brother Tamerlan sparked five days of panic in Boston that began April 15, 2013, when they detonated a pair of homemade pressure cooker bombs at the race's packed finish line. The pair eluded capture for days, punctuated by a gunbattle with police in Watertown that killed Tamerlan and led to a daylong lockdown of Boston and most of its suburbs while heavily armed officers and troops conducted a house-to-house search for Dzhokhar.
- PoliticsBloomberg
U.S. Backs Leniency for Gates, Citing ‘Extraordinary’ Help
Former Trump campaign aide Rick Gates deserves leniency for his “extraordinary assistance” with offshoots of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, the government told a judge just days before his sentencing. Prosecutors said in a court filing Tuesday that they don't oppose Gates's request for probation. They also said that Gates deserved praise for standing up to powerful people and weathering “intense media scrutiny.
- WorldAssociated Press
Ready for prisoner swaps, Iran says US holding 20 Iranians
Iran said American authorities are holding about 20 Iranian nationals in jail, its official news agency reported Tuesday, a day after Tehran said it was ready for more prisoner swaps with the U.S. A prisoner exchange over the weekend saw Iran free a Chinese-American scholar from Princeton who had been held for three years on widely criticized espionage charges. It was seen as a rare diplomatic breakthrough between Tehran and Washington after months of tensions. We told the American side that our figure is more or less 20 but this is not final, Mohsen Baharvand, an aid to Iran's foreign minister, was quoted as saying by IRNA.
- ScienceBusiness Insider
Greenland's ice is melting 7 times faster than it did in the early 90s — suggesting scientists' worst-case predictions may come true
Caspar Haarloev from "Into the Ice" documentary via Reuters The Greenland ice sheet is melting seven times faster than it was in 1992 — an increase that's even greater than scientists expected. According to a new study, Greenland has lost more than 4.2 trillion tons of ice in the last quarter-century, which raised global sea levels 0.4 inches. The melt rate is expected to increase, especially during years like this one, since a heatwave in July caused Greenland's ice sheet to lose 55 billion tons in just five days.
- NewsThe Guardian
'An outright lie': Ohio lawmaker shown to be linked to group pushing rightwing Christian bills
An Ohio legislator who said he had “no knowledge” of a rightwing Christian bill mill called Project Blitz is, in fact, the co-chair of the state branch of an organization behind the campaign. The Ohio state representative Timothy Ginter sponsored a bill called the Student Religious Liberties Act. The Guardian revealed the bill was nearly identical to one promoted by Project Blitz, a state legislative project guided by three Christian right organizations, including the Congressional Prayer Caucus (CPC), WallBuilders and the ProFamily Legislators Conference.
- SciencePopular Mechanics
How Saturn Cracked Open Enceladus's Icy Surface
Scientists have discovered how the four famed fissures on Saturn's moon, Enceladus, formed. The largest of the “tiger stripes” formed due to gravitational pressure exerted on the moon's poles, according to a paper published December 9 in Nature Astronomy. The other three fissures formed soon after, as pressure on nearby ice built up.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Isil 'matchmaker' who lured British teen bride to Syria is deported to France
Turkey has deported to France the “Islamic State matchmaker” who lured a British teen bride to Syria as part of a drive to send foreign fighters back to their countries of origin. Tooba Gondal, 25, is among 11 French nationals that Turkey repatriated early on Monday, according to France's Centre for Analysis of Terrorism, CAT, citing official sources. A French judicial source confirmed that four women and their seven children had arrived in France.
- PoliticsNational Review
Barr Slams FBI for Surveilling Trump Campaign Based on ‘Thinnest of Suspicions’ In Response to IG Report
Attorney General William Barr slammed the FBI on Monday after the release of the Inspector General report detailing the agency's investigation of the Trump campaign's alleged ties with Russia. “The Inspector General's report now makes clear that the FBI launched an intrusive investigation of a U.S. presidential campaign on the thinnest of suspicions that, in my view, were insufficient to justify the steps taken,” Barr said in a statement. The FBI began its investigation after campaign staffer George Papadopoulos allegedly told a member of Australian intelligence that the campaign had obtained dirt on rival Hillary Clinton from Russian operatives.
- WorldINSIDER
These are the victims of the New Zealand volcano eruption which killed 6 people and left 30 more in the hospital
The first of the dead to be named was local guide Hayden Marshall-Inman, who gave tours of the volcano Facebook Marshall-Inman lived in the nearby town Whakatane Inman. His death was confirmed by his brother, Mark. This Facebook post said Marshall-Inman died "doing the one thing he loved."
WorldAFPRussian court sentences 11 for Saint Petersburg bombing
A Russian court on Tuesday sentenced 11 people to terms including life in prison after finding them guilty of a deadly bomb attack on the Saint Petersburg metro in 2017. Abror Azimov, a 29-year-old from Kyrgyzstan, was sentenced by a military court in Russia's second biggest city to life in prison for organising and participating in a terrorist group. The bomb blast in April 2017 killed 15 people in the Saint Petersburg metro and wounded dozens more.
- NewsBloomberg
Congress Flexes Foreign-Policy Muscle With Rebukes of Trump
In recent months, the Senate's GOP majority has been more likely to agree with House Democrats on foreign policy than with the Trump administration. Even the president's closest allies in Congress criticized him for withdrawing American troops from Syria, inviting Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the White House and selling arms to Saudi Arabia. Lawmakers last week called for the suspension of a training program for foreign fighters after a Saudi air force officer shot and killed three U.S. service-members at Naval base in Pensacola, Florida.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoSaudi who killed 3 sailors was infuriated by ‘Pornstache’ nickname
The Saudi air force trainee who killed three sailors at a U.S. Navy base last week reportedly made an official complaint about being called “Pornstache” by one of his instructors.
- WorldAssociated Press
South Korea says North's recent test was of rocket engine
South Korea's defense minister said Tuesday that North Korea's recent unspecified test at a rocket liftoff site was of a rocket engine, amid speculation the North was making preliminary steps toward a prohibited long-range rocket launch. Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo said during a visit to Sydney that Seoul expressed its “deep concerns” over the engine test and North Korea's recent ballistic missile launches into the sea, according to his office in Seoul. It was the first official outside assessment of what North Korea called “a very important test” at its Tongchang-ri rocket launch site.
- WorldReuters
Iran foreign ministry issues travel advisory for citizens not to visit America
Iran warned its citizens, particularly scientists, on Tuesday not to visit America, saying Iranians there were subjected to arbitrary and lengthy detention in inhuman conditions. "Iranian citizens, particularly elites and scientists, are requested to seriously avoid traveling to America, even to take part in scientific conferences and even having an invitation," a travel advisory on the foreign ministry website said. It cited, "America's cruel and one-sided laws toward Iranians, especially Iranian elites, and arbitrary and lengthy detention in completely inhuman conditions" as reasons for the travel advisory.
- EntertainmentPopular Mechanics
The Best War Movies on Netflix
For when only a war film will do. From Popular Mechanics
- ScienceThe Telegraph
40 million more people at risk of flooding as Greenland loses ice 'seven times faster than in 1990s'
Greenland's ice is melting seven times faster than it was in the 1990s, and at much greater speeds than current predictions, according to a new study. It came as another report warned that melting Arctic permafrost could be causing carbon stores to be released into the atmosphere, adding to warming. The increase in Greenland ice melt could lead to global sea level rises of 7cm above current estimates by 2100, leaving 40 million more people at risk of flooding.
- WorldBusiness Insider
China claims all Uighur Muslims have happily 'graduated' from its oppressive prison camp system, despite widespread reports that at least 1 million are detained
Zakir said everyone in those centers had "completed their courses," according to Agence France-Presse (AFP) Uighurs abroad say they still cannot get in touch with their vanished relatives, and it is almost impossible to speak to anyone physically in the region. Authorities in Xinjiang consider it a crime to communicate with people outside. Many Uighur exiles say they have been blocked by their family on social media and messaging apps.Ng Han Guan/AP China has for years carried out a coordinated surveillance and detention campaign on the Uighurs and other Muslim minority groups in the region, which it characterizes as a counterterrorism measure.
- CelebrityCBS News
Ed Smart, father of Elizabeth Smart: "There is no cure" for being gay
I mean, I literally called my bishop up one morning, and I said, 'You know, I feel like I've stabbed Lois in the heart,'" Smart told King in his first network television interview about his sexuality. "And I went to my other church leader, and I said to him, 'So am I gay? Am I gay?
WorldAFPNine-year-old Belgian prodigy drops out of university
A nine-year-old Belgian boy who was due to graduate in electrical engineering has dropped out of his Dutch university due to a dispute over the end date of his degree, his father said Tuesday. Young prodigy Laurent Simons hit the headlines worldwide when it emerged he was on course to receive his degree from the Eindhoven University of Technology in December and become one of the world's youngest graduates. But his father Alexander told AFP he had now quit because the university wanted to delay his degree until next year, while insisting his son now had new plans.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Trump Faces Two Impeachment Articles on Abuse of Power and Obstruction
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats formally announced their articles of impeachment against President Trump on Tuesday morning. Flanked by the committee chairs who led the inquiry, Pelosi said the House would move to impeach Trump on two counts: abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. “Today, in service to our duty to the Constitution and to our country, the House Committee on the Judiciary is introducing two articles of impeachment, charging the president of the U.S., Donald J. Trump, with committing high crimes and misdemeanors,” said House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-NY).
- WorldThe National Interest
The Russian Navy Has Some Problems
The Russia fleet in 2019 will take delivery of 23 new surface vessels, two new submarines and three new aircraft, Russian president Vladimir Putin announced. As such, 2019 continues the Russian fleet's long-term trend toward fewer and smaller ships. “We have paid and will pay the closest attention to the technical re-equipment of the armed forces, including, of course, the modernization of the Russian navy,” Putin said at a Dec. 3, 2019 meeting of top military and industry officials.
- WorldAssociated Press
Up to 13 feared dead in volcanic eruption off New Zealand
A volcano off the New Zealand coast erupted Monday with a towering blast of ash and scalding steam as dozens of tourists were exploring its moon-like surface, killing five people and leaving eight others missing and feared dead, authorities said. Helicopter crews landed on White Island despite the danger and helped evacuate the dozens of survivors, some of them critically injured. The missing and injured included New Zealanders and tourists from Australia, the U.S., China, Britain and Malaysia, the prime minister said.
- WorldReuters
Brazil's Bolsonaro calls activist Thunberg a 'brat'
Brazil's right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro called Swedish climate change campaigner Greta Thunberg a "brat" on Tuesday after she criticized mounting violence against indigenous people in which two Amazon tribesmen were shot dead three days ago. "Greta said the Indians died because they were defending the Amazon (forest). How can the media give space to a brat like that," Bolsonaro told reporters, using the Portuguese word "pirralha."
