Monday, September 30, 2019

Al-Shabaab attacks US base, EU convoy in Somalia

The Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a US base in Somalia on Monday, as the European Union confirmed a separate strike against a convoy of Italian advisers. The raid on the base prompted a counter-attack by US forces who staged "two air strikes and used small arms fire targeting al-Shabaab terrorists," Major General William Gayler, US Africa...

Republican leadership memo suggests Senate can't block trial if House votes to impeach

Republican leadership clarified that the Senate must take action if the lower chamber approves articles of impeachment against President Trump. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oeNfr...

Edward Snowden claims private contractors responsible for US intelligence’s 'creeping authoritarianism'

Whistleblower Edward Snowden, currently promoting a new memoir, has claimed a surge in the use of private contractors by US intelligence agencies, has led to a “creeping authoritarianism”.Against the backdrop of the whistleblower complaint being examined by Congress that alleges Donald Trump pressured the leader of Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, the 36-year-old Mr Snowden...

In divided Hong Kong, pro-China groups hold muted anniversary celebrations

While pro-democracy protesters gathered in central Hong Kong on Sunday, on the other side of the city several hundred people dressed in red, with Chinese flag stickers on their cheeks, boarded buses to an early birthday party for the People’s Republic. As they approached Victoria Peak, a tourist spot with scenic views, a middle-aged woman holding a microphone urged the crowd,...

Bipartisan Group of Lawmakers to Travel to Ukraine this Week

REUTERSA delegation of Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee is traveling to Ukraine this week, a Democratic aide to the committee confirmed to The Daily Beast on Monday.The trip has been in the works for some time and includes stops elsewhere in Europe, but it is moving forward at a moment when Ukraine is dominating American politics. In...

China ‘poised to unveil new nuclear missile’ at military parade in warning to Trump

A parade by China’s secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade...

Fox News Breaking News Alert

Fox News Breaking News Alert PROGRAMMING ALERT: Rudy Giuliani reacts to subpoena on 'Hannity,' 9 pm ET 09/30/19 5:36 ...

Chinese ambassador: We are doing our part to combat the opioid crisis

China wants to do what it can to make sure an end to this issue is reached. We must emphasize though, that this problem is not ultimately our own. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nSVjx...

Trump: I want to meet my accuser

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he wants and deserves to meet the anonymous whistleblower at the center of the fast-moving scandal that has triggered an impeachment probe against him. The whistleblower, who could testify soon before Congress, fears for their safety if their identity is revealed, according to a lawyers' letter released by CBS News. Battling the deepest...

Giuliani calls Democrat Adam Schiff an 'illegitimate' House Intel chair

Rudy Giuliani is not a fan of House Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff (D-Calif.). That much is clear.Giuliani on Sunday, during an appearance on ABC's This Week, told host George Stephanopoulos that he "wouldn't cooperate" with Schiff as Congress launches an impeachment inquiry of President Trump over his communications with Ukraine's government. Giuliani is closely...

CBS News poll: Majority of Americans, Democrats approve impeachment inquiry

More than half of Americans — and an overwhelming number of Democrats — say they approve of the fact that Congress has opened an impeachment inquiry into President Trump. But as the inquiry begins, there is no national consensus on how to assess the president's actions. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mno1W...

Sacked Hong Kong Cathay staff decry 'Cultural Revolution' purge

Former Cathay Pacific staff who say they were fired for supporting Hong Kong's pro-democracy protesters accused bosses on Monday of carrying out a "Cultural revolution" style political purge. The Hong Kong-based airline has had a torrid few weeks after Chinese state media and authorities blasted the company because some of its 27,000 employees had taken part in -- or were...

Utah woman says bison flipped her into air, broke her ankle

Kayleigh Davis was hiking on a trail Friday evening at Antelope Island State Park in Utah chasing the sunset, when she was suddenly, violently, flipped into the air by a bison. When she looked up, the bison was hovering over her. The incident left her with a broken ankle and a gash on her leg. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oKU5F...

Mohammed bin Salman says he takes 'full responsibility' for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi but denies that he ordered it

Speaking to CBS News' "60 Minutes," the Saudi Crown Prince admitted that Khashoggi's murder was a "heinous crime" but denied his involvement. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2n90hW...

California man arrested after leading police on 2-hour chase through corn maze

A California man was caught and arrested by police Saturday morning, but not before he managed to elude them for two hours while hiding inside a corn maze. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mpwys...

Impeachment Doesn’t Shake Trump Voters But Sows Doubt on Biden

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump may have risked impeachment in an attempt to tar Joe Biden with scandal, but he appears to have accomplished two political goals -- sowing doubts about a leading rival while incurring little damage among his most ardent supporters.Interviews with voters across the country in recent days found few have changed their minds about the president...

3 big reasons Biden is no longer the definitive 2020 Democratic primary frontrunner

The more voters see of Biden, the less they like him. And the more they see of his main rival, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the more they like her. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2n2suy...

CNN's Jake Tapper politely shreds GOP Rep. Jim Jordan's Trump-Ukraine talking points

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney "is on shaky ground in the wake of a bad week for President Trump," CNN reports, largely because he didn't immediately "have a strategy for defending and explaining the contents" of a reconstructed transcript of Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tried his hand Sunday...

Al-Shabaab attacks US base, EU convoy in Somalia

The Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a US base in Somalia on Monday, as the European Union confirmed a separate strike against a convoy of Italian advisers. The raid on the base prompted a counter-attack by US forces who staged "two air strikes and used small arms fire targeting al-Shabaab terrorists," Major General William Gayler, US Africa...

China's Guangzhou rides economic change but keeps traditions

China's southern city of Guangzhou is at the heart of plans to link a cluster of cities in the Pearl River Delta, including Hong Kong and Macau, into a Greater Bay Area rivaling Silicon Valley and Greater Tokyo as an economic hub by 2035. Sprawling over 56,000 sq km (21,600 sq miles) with a population of more than 70 million, the Greater Bay Area is the centerpiece of a drive...

McConnell warns countries that interfere in 2020 election will 'have a serious problem'

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday warned against foreign interference in U.S. elections, threatening that nations seeking to meddle in the 2020 races will “have a serious problem” on their hands. “Look, 2018 was a big success story,” the Kentucky Republican told CNBC, praising the Trump administration’s efforts to safeguard last year’s midterm elections. Critics...

Sunday, September 29, 2019

Hong Kong protesters say they're prepared to fight for democracy 'until we win or we die'

"We'd rather die in the fight then slowly suffocate to death after we lose the fight," one protester told Business Insider. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oltLk...

Trump reportedly worked with 2 'off the books' lawyers to pressure Ukraine

"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace said that top U.S. officials confirmed President Trump was working with more than one personal lawyer "off the books" to pressure Ukrainian officials for damaging information on former Vice President Joe Biden. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mck9r...

Sanchez Calls on Catalan Leaders to Repudiate Acts of Violence

(Bloomberg) -- Spain’s acting Prime Minister called on leaders of Catalonia’s independence movement to repudiate violence in any form as the country braces for protests that could follow the trial of separatist leaders.“Their error has been total,” Pedro Sanchez told a meeting of Socialist Party officials in Madrid, referring to the leaders of the Catalan independence campaign....

How about a Bipartisan Treaty against the Criminalization of Elections?

Back home in the Bronx is where I first heard the old saw about the Irishman who, coming upon a donnybrook at the local pub, asks a bystander: “Is this a private fight or can anybody join?”I was a much younger fellow then. The prospect becomes less alluring with age, so I have some trepidation stepping in between two old friends, Andrew Napolitano and Joe DiGenova. Through...

French police break up yellow vest protest with tear gas

French police repeatedly used tear gas and water cannons to break up a protest Saturday by nearly a 1,000 yellow vest demonstrators in the southwest city of Toulouse. Police there said four officers were slightly injured and nine demonstrators arrested for offences including throwing projectiles. A police statement in Toulouse said officers made five arrests after being targeted...

Terrorism charge filed against man who crashed car into Woodfield Mall near Chicago

The man who slammed his SUV into a suburban Chicago mall has been formally charged with terrorism and criminal damage to property, authorities said. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mR8Kh...

A Nevada Congressman is the first House Republican to support the Trump impeachment inquiry

Rep. Mark Amodei, a four-term member of Congress, said he was not expressing support for impeachment, but wants the inquiry. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oazA4...

'Front-row seat to history': The monumental week that changed impeachment and sent Congress into chaos

From frantic journalists swarming lawmakers to a news cycle that wouldn't slow, members of Congress saw a week of consequence and chaos that made impeaching President Donald Trump a possible reality. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2naw9d...

Rudy Giuliani claims he's 'the real whistleblower' and that no one will know the real story on Trump and Ukraine 'if I get killed'

Giuliani told Politico he believes he deserves whistleblower protection, but his attempts to defend himself have only further incriminated him. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mrwU1...

Former British leader defends Biden Ukraine scenario

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday supported the explanation offered as to why Vice President Joe Biden pressured the president of Ukraine in 2015 to crack down on corruption. Supporters of President Donald Trump — particularly his attorney Rudy Giuliani — have argued that Trump’s much-criticized July 25 phone call with the current president of Ukraine,...

Kremlin warns US against releasing private calls between Putin and Trump amid Ukraine scandal

Russia has warned the US against publishing private conversations between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump as it emerged the White House may have restricted access to the president’s conversations with multiple world leaders. The comment was in response to the White House’s decision to publish a transcript of Mr Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after...

White House adviser says Trump 'is the whistleblower’

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller defended President Trump’s attempts to have the Ukrainian president open an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, claiming on Sunday that the scandal was a “political hit job” by the “deep state” and that Trump was really the “whistleblower.” from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt...

Trump-Supporting Lawyers diGenova and Toensing Teamed Up With Giuliani to Dig Up Ukraine Dirt on Biden: Report

Fox NewsIn a bombshell report Sunday morning, Fox News reported that two frequent guests on the right-leaning cable news channel were “working off the books” to help former New York City mayor and current presidential attorney Rudy Giuliani dig up dirt on President Donald Trump’s leading Democratic opponent—and that the only person who knew about their involvement was the...

Founders: Removal from Office Is Not the Only Purpose of Impeachment

Benjamin Franklin was a leading voice in the debates framing the Constitution. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2omNno...

Iran's iconic anti-US murals make way for a new generation of artwork

Famous murals celebrating Iran's Islamic revolution daubed on walls of the former US embassy in Tehran have been erased to make way for new paintings to be unveiled on the fortieth anniversary of the hostage crisis. Three workers were on Sunday afternoon seen removing the original artwork with a sandblaster against the wall of Taleqani avenue, bordering the south side of what...

Trump’s Big Lie About Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and Ukraine Falls Apart

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photo by Alex Wong/GettyThe big lie spouted by Donald Trump and his allies in the unfurling Ukraine affair—an unprecedented abuse of public trust, which has now led directly to an impeachment inquiry—is that former Vice President Joe Biden urged the Ukrainians to fire the Kyiv general prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in order to save Biden’s...

Trailblazing Texas deputy who was first local Sikh officer 'ruthlessly' killed during traffic stop

Deputy Sandeep Dhaliwal, the county's first Sikh officer, was killed Friday during a traffic stop near Houston. Police have arrested Robert Solis. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2npuFf...

Iowa reporter who exposed charity fundraiser's historic racist tweets  fired for his own offensive posts

An Iowa newspaper reporter who exposed racist tweets by a charity fundraiser has found himself out of a job after his own offensive posts were uncovered.  Aaron Calvin, a journalist for the Des Moines Register, began looking into sports fan Carson King when his jovial plea for beer money turned into a national fundraiser for a children's hospital. But his profile of Mr...

How Ukraine envoy's resignation could affect his possible congressional testimony

Kurt Volker, the State Department's special envoy for Ukraine, resigned Friday amid a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump and his communications with the Ukrainian government, including the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Volker did not provide a public explanation for leaving his post, but a source familiar with his decision said Volker concluded he could...

Terrorism charge filed against man who crashed car into Woodfield Mall near Chicago

The man who slammed his SUV into a suburban Chicago mall has been formally charged with terrorism and criminal damage to property, authorities said. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mR8Kh...

Three more elephants killed in Sri Lanka, bringing toll to seven

Wildlife officials found three more dead wild elephants in central Sri Lanka Saturday, raising the number believed to have been poisoned by angry villagers to seven. The animals were found at a forest reserve near Sigiriya, a fifth-century rock fortress and UNESCO-protected heritage site, police said. "Since Friday, we have found the remains of seven cow elephants, including...

Hong Kong protesters to rally after another night of violence

Hong Kong protesters are to join a global "anti-totalitarianism rally" on Sunday, following another night of violent clashes with police after weeks of pro-democracy unrest in the Chinese-ruled city. Police fired tear gas and water cannon on Saturday night to disperse protesters who threw petrol bombs and rocks, broke government office windows and blocked a key road near the...

How about a Bipartisan Treaty against the Criminalization of Elections?

Back home in the Bronx is where I first heard the old saw about the Irishman who, coming upon a donnybrook at the local pub, asks a bystander: “Is this a private fight or can anybody join?”I was a much younger fellow then. The prospect becomes less alluring with age, so I have some trepidation stepping in between two old friends, Andrew Napolitano and Joe DiGenova. Through...

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Rwanda welcomes first group of African refugees from Libya

A group of 66 African refugees and asylum-seekers arrived in Kigali late Thursday, the UN said, the first of what could be thousands relocated from Libya under a new programme. Earlier this month, Rwanda signed a deal with the African Union (AU) and the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR agreeing to take in African refugees and asylum-seekers stranded in Libya. from Yahoo...

Trump's Ukraine call sparks new questions over intelligence chief's firing

The president removed Dan Coats days after his conversation with Zelenskiy and insisted that Coats’s deputy not get the jobDan Coats, seen in 2018, reportedly interrupted a meeting to convince his deputy to resign. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty ImagesThree days after his now infamous phone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Donald Trump abruptly...

UPDATE 3-Yemen's Houthis say attacked Saudi border frontline, no immediate Saudi confirmation

Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday it had carried out a major attack near the border with the southern Saudi region of Najran and captured many troops and vehicles, but there was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabian authorities. The Houthis' military spokesman said in a statement that three "enemy military brigades had fallen" in the attack, which he said was...

Barreling toward impeachment proceedings, Pelosi offers Trump her thoughts and prayers

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Trump took to cable news and Twitter on Friday morning as the first week of the impeachment battle came to a close in Washington. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mmmhN...