House Democrats ponder expanding impeachment probe after Sondland 'game changer' testimony

Ambassador Gordon Sondland's explosive testimony Wednesday that “everyone was in the loop” on President Trump's efforts to secure an investigation of a political rival prompted rank-and-file Democrats to discuss whether it was time to expand their probe. Sondland testified in minute detail — down to the names of staffers and code words used internally to identify officials like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — how Vice President Mike Pence, White House budget director Mick Mulvaney, former national security advisor John Bolton and others knew the intimate details of Trump's plans. “Was there a quid pro quo?” Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union, testified.

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  Impeachment testimony and Democratic debate collide on Wednesday

  USA TODAY
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  Heck says that 'none of us' wants to be at the hearings

  Yahoo News Video

Russia 'ruined' Ukrainian naval vessels before handing them back, says Ukrainian navy

Three Ukrainian navy boats seized by Russia a year ago were vandalised before being handed back to Ukraine, the country's navy said. The fast gunboats Nikopol and Berdyansk and the tugboat Tany Kapu were welcomed by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and onlookers waving national flags arrived in Ochakiv, a Ukrainian naval port on the Black Sea on Wednesday evening. But Ukraine's navy said the vessels had been stripped bare and left so badly damaged that they had to be towed home by tug.

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  Ukraine says Russia returned ships in bad condition

  Reuters
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  Three navy ships held by Russia return to Ukraine port

  AFP

Son of former German president stabbed to death in Berlin

The son of former German president Richard von Weizsaecker was stabbed to death while he was giving a lecture at a hospital in Berlin where he worked as a head physician, police said Wednesday. A 57-year-old German man is in custody after he jumped up from the audience at the Schlosspark-Klinik and attacked Fritz von Weizsaecker with a knife on Tuesday evening. Von Weizsaecker died at the scene from a knife wound to the neck despite immediate attention from colleagues, said Martin Steltner, a spokesman for Berlin prosecutors.

Seller of bullets to Las Vegas gunman pleads guilty to ammo licensing offense

An ammunition dealer who acknowledged selling hundreds of incendiary tracer rounds to the gunman who killed nearly 60 people at a Las Vegas music festival two years ago pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manufacturing bullets without a license. Douglas Haig, 57, of Mesa, Arizona, became the first and only person arrested and charged in connection with the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre, which ended when the gunman, Stephen Paddock, killed himself. Haig told reporters following his arrest last year that none of the surplus military ammunition he sold to Paddock in September 2017 was ever fired during the killing spree, which ranks as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

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  Obdulia Sanchez pleads not guilty to 6 felony charges in court

  KFSN – Fresno
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  Suspect in cold case killings pleads not guilty

  USA TODAY

American Airlines admitted a mid-air accident that knocked out 2 flight crew and forced an emergency landing was not caused by spilled soap

Flickr/Oliver Holzbauer American Airlines admitted Tuesday that whatever knocked out two flight attendants and forced an emergency landing in October was not spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed. On October 21, American Airlines flight 729 was flying from London Heathrow to Philadelphia, but was forced to land in Dublin, Ireland, when two staff members passed out. American Airlines said at the time that the incident was caused by "an odor caused by a spilled cleaning solution in the galley."

Mexicans sue Walmart over El Paso shooting

Mexico's government said Wednesday it has helped 10 Mexican citizens file lawsuits against Walmart over an August shooting at a store in El Paso, Texas, where a suspected white nationalist killed 22 people. "The objective of these suits, presented in El Paso county, is to hold the company responsible for not taking reasonable and necessary measures to protect its clients from the attack," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Eight Mexicans were killed and eight wounded in the August 3 attack in El Paso, a city on the US-Mexican border where 83 percent of the population is Latino.

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  10 Mexican Citizens File Suit Against Walmart Over El Paso Shooting

  Footwear News
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  Mexicans sue Walmart over Texas shooting that left victims on both sides of border

  Reuters

Why Did Russia Launch 8 Submarines All at Once?

The eight submarines, including six nuclear-powered ships, sailed from their bases in northern Russia into the cold waters of the Barents and Norwegian Seas. At the same time, an additional two boats -- the nuclear-powered Sierra-class attack submarines Pskov and Nizhny Novgorod -- sailed into roughly the same waters for tests and training. The 10 vessels represent around 20 percent of the Russian submarine force.

Sondland pressed on why Trump has blocked witnesses: 'I wish I could answer'

During his testimony Wednesday before the House Intelligence Committee, Gordon Sondland was pressed on why so many members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, were refusing to testify in the impeachment inquiry. I wish I could answer,” responded Sondland, the U.S. ambassador to the European Union. His remark came at the end of an exchange with Rep. Denny Heck, D-Wash.

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  Joe Biden turns impeachment to his advantage in fifth Democrat debate

  The Telegraph
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  Democrats tackle wealth tax, climate change, impeachment at 5th debate

  Yahoo Finance Video

Pompeo planning to resign over Trump, report claims

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has reportedly told three prominent Republicans that he is planning to resign from the White House to run for a Senate seat.

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  Sondland Ties Pompeo Closer to Events at Heart of Impeachment Inquiry

  The Wall Street Journal
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  Trump impeachment: Four key moments from bombshell Sondland testimony

  The Independent

Dem lawmaker says it's his 'mission' to have Trump removed from office

WASHINGTON — Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, heard about President Trump's latest angry tweet about him on Tuesday morning, as he was headed to a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee. “Like Al Green, she [Nancy Pelosi] wants to change our voting system,” Trump wrote in a tweet that accused Democrats of seeking to impeach him because they believe he will be reelected in 2020. “We absolutely don't want to change the voting system,” Green said of the president's claim.

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  Impeachment hearings: Trump directed Ukraine quid pro quo, key witness says

  KGO – San Francisco
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  Impeachment hearings: 'Corruption' probe meant Bidens, witnesses say

  KABC – Los Angeles

Russia opens investigation into space center fraud after Putin rebuke

Russian investigators said on Thursday they had opened two criminal cases into the management of a company involved in building the Vostochny Cosmodrome, a space center in the country's Far East. The announcement came less than two weeks after President Vladimir Putin complained to government officials about corruption at the facility and called for further investigations. Construction of the Vostochny Cosmodrome began in January 2011, part of a plan for Russia to reduce its dependency on the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, which Russia leases from the former Soviet Republic for space operations.

Benjamin Netanyahu was just indicted on fraud and bribery charges, becoming the first Israeli prime minister to be indicted in office

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was indicted on bribery, fraud, and breach of trust charges in three corruption cases. Netanyahu is accused of receiving gifts and positive news coverage in exchange for regulatory benefits from the government. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was indicted on bribery, fraud, and breach of trust charges in three corruption cases, Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit announced.

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  A look at the corruption scandals facing Israel's Netanyahu

  Associated Press
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  The charges against Israeli PM Netanyahu

  AFP

US woman could be forced to register as a sex offender after appearing topless in front of step-children

An American woman could be forced to register as a sex offender after appearing topless in front of her step-children in her own home. Tilli Buchanan, from Utah, was charged with three counts of misdemeanour lewdness involving a child after appearing topless along with the children's father in their home last year. Ms Buchanan's lawyers are contesting the charge, arguing it is unfair to treat men and women differently for baring her chest.

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  Utah Judge Considers Whether to Strike Down Lewdness Statute Involving Topless Women

  KSTU - Salt Lake City
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  Woman fights charges after stepkids see her topless at home

  Associated Press

Delisting Chinese Firms From U.S. Is a ‘Terrible Idea,’ Hank Paulson Says

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson said calls to oust Chinese companies from American stock indexes was contrary to the foundations of capitalism, as he warned against the dangers of decoupling the world's two largest economies. Paulson, who's now chairman of the Paulson Institute, told Bloomberg's New Economy Forum in Beijing that moves to reduce ties between the U.S. and China would weaken American leadership and New York's leading role in finance. “When the next crisis comes -- and a crisis will come, because financial crises are inevitable -- we will regret it if we lack mechanisms for the world's first and second-largest economies to coordinate,” Paulson told the forum on Thursday, according to a prepared version of his remarks.

20 of the Most Beautiful Bridges in the World

Designed by world-renowned architects such as Zaha Hadid and Santiago Calatrava, these bridges are travel destinations in their own right Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

'Don't let them in': Arrests made as hundreds protest Ann Coulter speech at UC Berkeley

A speech by conservative commentator Ann Coulter at University of California, Berkeley drew hundreds of protesters Wednesday night. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, police in riot gear guarded the building's entrances and barricades were erected in anticipation of the protests. Coulter was invited to speak by the Berkeley College Republicans for a speech about immigration called “Adios, America,” the Chronicle reported.

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  7 arrested during protest over Ann Coulter visit in Berkeley

  KGO – San Francisco
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  'Go Away': Hundreds Of Protesters Disrupt Ann Coulter Event At UC Berkeley

  HuffPost

Is China’s DF-17 Hypersonic Missile Really a Super-Weapon?

China's new DF-17 hypersonic missile could penetrate U.S. missile-defense and destroy ports and air-defense systems, a Hong Kong newspaper warned. The new boost-glide missile, which reportedly can travel faster than five times the speed of sound, could “transform” Beijing's strategy for dealing with Taiwan, South China Morning Post reported. The DF-17 first appeared in public in Beijing during a military parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of Communist China.

Maloney hammers Sondland on changing testimony — and extracts key concession

In a tense exchange at Wednesday's impeachment hearing of President Trump, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., grilled Gordon Sondland, U.S. ambassador to the European Union, over his changing testimony on what he understood about Trump's motivation in seeking an investigation of former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. “Who would benefit from an investigation of the Bidens?” Maloney asked after an extended back-and-forth with Sondland on that point. “I assume President Trump would benefit —” Sondland said.

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  Mike Turner presses Gordon Sondland on tying President Trump to withholding Ukraine aid

  USA TODAY
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  Trump impeachment: Four key moments from bombshell Sondland testimony

  The Independent

Climate activist’s remarks downplaying Holocaust spark anger

A prominent British climate change activist sparked anger Wednesday after appearing to downplay the Holocaust in an interview with a German newspaper. Roger Hallam, who co-founded the activist group Extinction Rebellion, told the German newspaper Die Zeit that the Nazis' murder of 6 million Jews was merely one of many genocides. In extracts from the interview released by Die Zeit on Wednesday, Hallam was quoted describing the Holocaust as “just another (expletive) in human history.

Fearful wait for justice a decade after Philippine massacre

A decade after 58 people were killed in the Philippines' worst political massacre, none of the alleged masterminds have been convicted yet, leaving families fearful that justice may never come. Though a verdict is now due next month over the bloodshed that drew international outrage, there is no guarantee of a conviction and the painfully slow-moving trial could still be derailed by corruption or even violence. "We are afraid for the life of the prosecutor or even our judge," said Mary Grace Morales, whose sister and husband were among 32 journalists killed in the attack, making it one of world's deadliest on media workers.