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 hearings: Ambassador Sondland says Giuliani was pushing for Ukraine quid pro quo

  KTRK – Houston
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  'Rudy was the guy:' Takeaways from Sondland's testimony detailing Ukraine pressure campaign

  USA TODAY

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.

Arizona border activist found not guilty of hiding migrants

An Arizona jury on Wednesday found a human rights activist not guilty of harboring two migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, after the U.S. government prosecuted him for giving them food, water and shelter in the desert. The Tucson jury took just over two hours to decide that Scott Warren, 37, a geography professor, provided the men with legal humanitarian aid in January 2018 and did not deliberately conceal them from U.S. Border Patrol. A previous jury was unable to decide whether he broke the law by letting the men stay in a building near Ajo, Arizona, to recover from a two-day trek.

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  Jury acquits Arizona border volunteer Scott Warren of harboring immigrants

  USA TODAY
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  Arizona Teacher Didn't Break the Law by Helping Migrants at Mexican Border, Jury Finds

  People

Police officer shot and killed while investigating home invasion in Detroit

A police officer was shot on Detroit's west side Wednesday night and died from his injuries, Detroit Police Chief James Craig said. "Today is a tragic day for the Detroit Police family," Craig said outside Sinai Grace Hospital late Wednesday. The slain officer was an 18-year veteran of the force and sustained a single gunshot wound to the neck.

• Detroit police officer shot dead, another wounded in home invasion

  Reuters
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  Two Detroit police officers shot, one dead

  USA TODAY

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

American Airlines admits a midair accident that knocked out 2 flight crew was not caused by spilled soap

American Airlines admitted Tuesday the powerful fumes that knocked two flight attendants unconscious and forced a flight to make an emergency landing were not caused by spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed.

Gay Saudi journalists detained in Australia after asylum bid

Two gay Saudi journalists who sought asylum in Australia after being threatened at home over their relationship have been held for weeks at an immigration detention centre, their lawyer said Wednesday. The couple arrived in Australia in mid-October on tourist visas but was singled out by airport customs officials -- then taken into detention -- when they admitted plans to seek asylum, lawyer Alison Battisson told AFP. "Australia being very well known for being... a safe place for LGBTI people, they were incredibly surprised and distressed," she said.

Judge halts all scheduled federal executions

A judge has blocked the scheduled executions of four federal death row inmates, effectively freezing the Trump administration's effort to resume imposing the death penalty in a federal system that saw its last execution more than a decade and a half ago. The order issued Wednesday night by U.S. District Court Judge Tanya Chutkan halts four executions that U.S. officials planned to carry out starting next month. The only other execution that officials had put on the calendar, also for December, was blocked last month by the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

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  Trump administration blocked from bringing back federal death penalty by judge who halts all executions

  The Independent
• Judge temporarily stops 1st federal execution in 16 years

  Associated Press

FBI seeks interview with CIA whistleblower

The FBI recently sought to question the CIA whistleblower who filed a complaint over President Trump's July 25 Ukraine call — a move that came after a vigorous internal debate within the bureau over how to respond to some of the issues raised by the complaint's allegations and whether they needed to be more thoroughly investigated, according to sources familiar with the matter. An FBI agent in the Washington field office in October reached out to one of the lawyers representing the whistleblower and asked to question the CIA analyst who triggered the congressional inquiry into the president's conduct, one of the sources said. It is unclear what the intended scope of the interview would be or whether the whistleblower's lawyers will agree to it.

• Sondland, Trump's informal Ukraine connection, faces impeachment hearing

  Reuters
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  A$AP Rocky Turns Up At Trump Impeachment Inquiry

  CBSTV Videos

Obama aides deny they left behind nasty notes when they departed White House — in 2017

Alumni of the Obama administration reacted with disbelief and outrage to a claim from White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham that incoming Trump administration officials found insulting notes left behind for them in their offices. “We came into the White House, I'll tell you something,” said Grisham during a local radio interview Tuesday morning, as reported by CNN's Abby Phillip. In the nearly three years since the presidential transition, no Trump administration officials have mentioned the notes or produced any photos that would support Grisham's charge.

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  Trump spokeswoman says Obama aides left mean notes in White House

  AFP
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  'This is another bald faced lie': Ex-Obama officials blast Grisham's claim they left 'you will fail' notes

  USA TODAY

India Army to Cut Sniper Rifle Orders by About 70%

The Indian Army plans to buy just 1,800 state-of-the-art sniper rifles and 2.7 million rounds of ammunition -- less than a third of its total requirement -- driven by budgetary constraints and the need to speed up deliveries, people with knowledge of the matter said. The military pruned its original requirement of 5,720 sniper rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition, which would have cost $140 million, to prioritize spending and advance the purchase of more modern equipment, they said, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public. Indian Army spokesman Aman Anand said he had no comment to offer on the change in procurement plans.

Police: White teen girl aimed to attack black Georgia church

A white 16-year-old girl is accused of plotting to attack a mostly black church in a north Georgia city, where police say she planned to kill worshippers because of their race. Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church has a predominantly black congregation, Gainesville Police Chief Jay Parrish said in a statement Tuesday. “Our investigation indicated the church was targeted by the juvenile based on the racial demographic of the church members,” he said.

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  Teenage girl accused of plotting to attack black church

  ABC News Videos
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  16-Year-Old Girl Accused of Planning Attack on Black Church in Georgia

  Meredith Videos

Teen used remote-controlled car to smuggle meth across US border, officials say

A 16-year-old boy allegedly tried to smuggle methamphetamine across the U.S.-Mexico border with a remote-controlled car. Border Patrol agents arrested the teen Sunday, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release Tuesday. This attempt comes two years after drug traffickers flew a remote-controlled drone to drop a 13-pound package of methamphetamine across the border, also resulting in an arrest.

• Boy suspected of using remote control car to smuggle drugs

  Associated Press
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  Teen accused of using remote-controlled car to smuggle meth

  CBS News

Syracuse Students Flee Campus Rocked by Racist Incidents

SYRACUSE, New York—A string of racist and anti-Semitic incidents at Syracuse University has ratcheted up tensions to the point that more and more students are fleeing campus before the Thanksgiving break. The upstate New York school has been reeling from 11 reports of racist graffiti and harassment in two weeks—which prompted widespread student protests, a tongue-lashing for administrators from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and a $1 million commitment for campus change. In the twilight hours of Monday, the manifesto written by the Christchurch mosque shooter was posted to a Syracuse discussion forum and hours later allegedly AirDropped to students' phones in the university library.

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  Syracuse University students demand action following string of 'hateful incidents'

  FOX News Videos
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  'All of us are also suffering': Syracuse University professors join student sit-ins to protest racist incidents

  Yahoo Lifestyle

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.

NASA just detected water vapor on a moon of Jupiter — yet another clue that Europa's hidden ocean could hold alien life

An icy moon of Jupiter is looking more and more like it could hold alien life deep in its subsurface sea. On Monday, NASA announced that scientists had officially measured water vapor on the moon, called Europa, for the first time. The discovery is yet another sign that Europa has all the right ingredients for aliens — given the right chemicals and a little deep-sea volcanic activity, it's possible that life could spring up (or already has) deep in the saltwater ocean below Europa's surface.

Ocasio-Cortez: Trump was 'clearly engaged in extortion and bribery'

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., who began calling for President Trump to be impeached earlier this year, believes we have now reached “the point of no return” where it is inarguably clear that he has committed criminal acts. Ocasio-Cortez discussed the issue with Yahoo News on Capitol Hill on Tuesday as the third day of public hearings was being conducted in the Democrats' ongoing impeachment inquiry. “We're kind of knee-deep here in impeachment inquiry and so at this point, I think we're beyond the question as to whether Trump has committed a crime or whether he's violated the Constitution,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

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  Trump impeachment inquiry: five takeaways from Sondland's testimony

  The Guardian
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  'Do not go there!': Fox News hosts shout at each other in furious on-air row over Trump impeachment

  The Independent

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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  U.S. Reversal on Israeli Settlements Will Have Grave Consequences

  Bloomberg
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  Israeli settlements are still illegal despite Trump backing them, says UN

  The Independent

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.

10 Things We Want to Leave Behind in the 2010s

Imagine the next decade without Facebook, robocalls, and exploding phones. We feel better already. From Popular Mechanics

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.

'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

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.