🇨🇳 **5 killed, 21 injured in bus hijacking in China's Fujian province**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/Jll4Q>

At least five people were killed and 21 others injured after a man carrying a knife hijacked a bus in the southeastern Chinese city of Longyan in Fujian province on Tuesday, police said.

Longyan police said in a statement that the bus was hijacked mid-afternoon and hit pedestrians along the way as it careened down the street.

Police have detained the suspect and case is being investigated, the statement said, without giving details.

Pictures on Chinese social media, picked up by some Chinese news outlets, showed a chaotic scene on the street, with crushed motor-bikes and injured people on the ground.

One video showed police apparently wrestling the suspect to the ground.

Reuters was not able to independently verify the footage.
----------------

🇮🇱🇸🇾 **Israel fires at Syrian missile after bombing of arms depots near Damascus**
*The Jerusalem Post* - <https://archive.fo/OyjAs>

According to media reports, the launch was carried out from the northern city of Hadera, with pictures published on social media of a large tail of smoke heading into the sky.

Israel’s air defense system - likely the Arrow - was activated late Tuesday night against a Syrian anti-aircraft missile, following an alleged Israeli air strike over the capital of Damascus. Media reports claimed that Israel struck weapon warehouses near the Syrian capital.

There were no damages or injuries to Israeli troops, the IDF Spokesperson said in a statement.

According to unconfirmed Israeli reports, the launch was carried out from the northern city of Hadera, with pictures published on social media of a large tail of smoke heading into the sky and residents in the Hefer Valley Regional Council also reported hearing the sound of loud explosion.

It is still unclear whether any Syrian missiles were intercepted from the IDF's reported perspective.

Syrian state media reported Tuesday night that regime air defenses intercepted “hostile targets” west of Damascus during an alleged Israeli air strike, which according to local reports involved 22 missiles targeting sites including weapons depots belonging to pro-Iranian militias in Damascus.

Other locations reported by Syrian media to have been struck during the strike are as follows: pro-Iranian military positions located in the suburbs of Damascus, air defense facilities and headquarters of the 68th Brigade and the 137th Brigade of the Syrian Army in the Damascus area, a military headquarters belonging to the 4th Division of the Syrian Army in the Al-Muna area surrounding Damascus and military Unit 10 in the district of Qatana.
----------------

🇺🇸 **AT&T will put a fake 5G logo on its 4G LTE phones**
*The Verge* - <https://archive.fo/oSOiE>

AT&T customers will start to see a 5G logo appear in the corner of their smartphone next year — not because they’re using a 5G phone connected to a 5G network, but because AT&T is going to start pretending its most advanced 4G LTE tech is 5G.

According to FierceWireless, AT&T will display an icon reading “5G E” on newer phones that are connected to LTE in markets where the carrier has deployed a handful of speed boosting — but still definitively 4G — technologies. The “E,” displayed smaller than the rest of the logo, refers to “5G Evolution,” the carrier’s term for networks that aren’t quite 5G but are still faster than traditional LTE.

If this sounds sadly familiar, it’s because AT&T pulled this exact same stunt during the transition to LTE. The company rolled out a speed-boosting 3G tech called HSPA+, then got all of its phone partners — even Apple! — to show a “4G” logo when on that kind of connection.

AT&T told FierceWireless that the “5G E” logo would initially come to “a handful of devices, with more devices showing the indicator in spring 2019.” It wasn’t stated how many devices or which devices would show the icon, beyond it being “the latest Android devices.”

FierceWireless guesses that “potentially millions” of people could see the new logo, with AT&T’s 5G Evolution network available in over 400 markets by the end of 2018. Given that real 5G will be rare and limited for the next year or more, this tiny little branding change could lead to a great deal of misunderstanding around the state of the next-generation wireless technology.
----------------

🇸🇾🇮🇱🇷🇺 **Russia says Israeli strikes on Syria threatened two civilian flights: Ifax**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jyyHW>

Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that Israeli missile strikes against Syria the previous day had directly threatened two civilian flights, the Interfax news agency reported.

The ministry, which did not specify which flights had been threatened, added that Syrian air defenses had destroyed 14 of 16 Israeli missiles launched against unspecified targets near Damascus on Tuesday.

Three Syrian soldiers were injured in the strikes, Syrian state media reported.
----------------

🇷🇺 **Russia moves towards allowing medicinal narcotic crops**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jUwEh>

The Russian government on Wednesday approved a draft bill allowing the country to produce crops used in medicinal narcotics, saying this would reduce its dependence on foreign states that have imposed sanctions against it.

The draft bill, which still needs to be approved by parliament and signed into law by President Vladimir Putin, will allow two factories that already produce opiate-based medications to grow their own crops.

Most of the substances used by Russia in domestically produced pain medication comes from countries that have imposed sanctions against it, health minister Veronika Skvortsova said.

“In order not to leave our population without strong painkillers, we must be self-sufficient,” Skvortsova told reporters. “We need to produce drugs in a full cycle - from substances to their medicinal form.”

The United States, the European Union and other Western states have imposed broad-ranging sanctions against Russian companies, banks and individuals since Moscow annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014.
----------------

🇺🇦 **Martial law expires in Ukraine**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jUwEh>

Martial law, imposed on Nov. 25 in some Ukrainian areas after Russia captured three Ukrainian ships, expired on Wednesday, President Petro Poroshenko told the country’s security council.

Poroshenko said earlier this month he did not plan to extend martial law beyond the one month initially foreseen unless there was a large scale attack from Russia.

The Ukrainian navy ships were captured in the Kerch Strait, between Russian-annexed Crimea and southern Russia, which controls access to the Sea of Azov, where there are both Russian and Ukrainian ports.

Moscow said the ships entered Russian waters while trying to cross the strait without prior notice, ignoring orders to stop. Kiev said its ships needed no Russian permission to cross the strait.

Under the martial law, Ukraine banned Russian men of combat age from entering the country and boosted security at critical sites such as nuclear power stations and Black Sea ports.

Ukraine’s military chief said this month Russia had been ramping up its forces near the border since August and now poses the greatest military threat since 2014, the year it annexed Crimea.
----------------

🇺🇸 **ICE drops off almost 200 more migrants in El Paso**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/hEXma>

One-hundred-eighty-six more migrants were released in downtown El Paso, Texas by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Christmas Day, reports the CBS affiliate there, KDBC-TV. That came after approximately 400 were released in the southwest Texas city in the two days before Christmas.

Democratic Congressman Beto O'Rourke, who represents El Paso, said he'd been told some 500 more would be released there Wednesday.

Local nonprofit groups told the station the key difference Tuesday was that they were notified in advance by ICE of the mass release, something the groups and O'Rourke said didn't happen previously.

As a result, the nonprofits were a bit more prepared for the large influx.

"They're coming from immigration cells so they're coming hungry, they're coming thirsty, most haven't bathed in a long time. The situation is really difficult for them," said Dylan Corbett, executive director of the Hope Border Institute.

ICE said in a statement earlier this week the mass releases were designed to ensure families weren't held longer than it's allowed to detain them, and blamed "decades of inaction by Congress" that resulted in the government being "severely constrained in its ability to detain and promptly remove families with no legal basis to remain in the U.S."
----------------

🇮🇶🇺🇸 **Iraqi lawmakers demand US withdraw troops after surprise Trump visit**
*The Guardian* - <https://archive.fo/yqIjh>

Iraqi lawmakers have demanded US forces leave the country in the wake of a surprise visit by Donald Trump, which politicians denounced as arrogant and a violation of Iraqi sovereignty.

Politicians from both blocs of Iraq’s divided parliament called for a vote to expel US troops and promised to schedule an extraordinary session to debate the matter.

“Parliament must clearly and urgently express its view about the ongoing American violations of Iraqi sovereignty,” said Salam al-Shimiri, a lawmaker loyal to the populist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Trump, making his first presidential visit to troops in a troubled region on Wednesday, said he had no plans to withdraw the 5,200 US forces in the country.

Containing foreign influence has become a hot-button issue in a year that saw Sadr supporters win the largest share of votes in May elections. Sadr has called for curbing US and Iranian involvement in Iraqi affairs.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Stephens College Will Admit Some Trans Students**
*Inside Higher Ed* - <https://archive.fo/DZVPr>

Many women's colleges, including some of the most prominent ones, started admitting transgender students several years ago. But others have held off. One in the latter group, Stephens College, in Missouri, has now announced that it will admit some transgender women, but will exclude trans men.

The college's new policy says, "The college’s undergraduate residential women’s program will continue to admit and enroll students who are women and who live as women, just as it always has. It will also admit and enroll students who were not born female, but who identify and live as women; those students will need to provide legal documentation that they are legally women or that they are transitioning to female. Because the college has expanded its definition of womanhood to include both sex and gender, it is logically consistent that it also acknowledges both sex and gender in its definition of manhood. As a result, the college will stop admitting and enrolling students who were born female but who now identify as men or who are transitioning from female to male."

A timeline from the college shows that the policy has been under consideration since 2014.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Defying pundits, GOP share of Latino vote steady under Trump**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/ZIPdV>

Pedro Gonzalez has faith in Donald Trump and his party.

The 55-year-old Colombian immigrant is a pastor at an evangelical church in suburban Denver. Initially repelled by Trump in 2016, he’s been heartened by the president’s steps to protect religious groups and appoint judges who oppose abortion rights. More important, Gonzalez sees Trump’s presidency as part of a divine plan.

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” Gonzalez said of the president. “He was put there.”

Though Latino voters are a key part of the Democratic coalition, there is a larger bloc of reliable Republican Latinos than many think. And the GOP’s position among Latinos has not weakened during the Trump administration, despite the president’s rhetoric against immigrants and the party’s shift to the right on immigration.

In November’s elections, 32 percent of Latinos voted for Republicans, according to AP VoteCast data. The survey of more than 115,000 midterm voters — including 7,738 Latino voters — was conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago.

Other surveys also found roughly one-third of Latinos supporting the GOP. Data from the Pew Research Center and from exit polls suggests that a comparable share of about 3 in 10 Latino voters supported Trump in 2016. That tracks the share of Latinos supporting Republicans for the last decade.

The stability of Republicans’ share of the Latino vote frustrates Democrats, who say actions like Trump’s family separation policy and his demonization of an immigrant caravan should drive Latinos out of the GOP.

“The question is not are Democrats winning the Hispanic vote — it’s why aren’t Democrats winning the Hispanic vote 80-20 or 90-10 the way black voters are?” said Fernand Amandi, a Miami-based Democratic pollster. He argues Democrats must invest more in winning Latino voters.
----------------

🇺🇲 **Police manhunt underway after illegal immigrant murders California officer**
*InfoWars* - <http://archive.is/TUuM4>

The man who allegedly killed a California police officer during a DUI traffic stop Wednesday is still at large and in the country illegally, police say.

The man suspected of killing Newman Police Officer Ronil Singh may currently be in an area southeast of San Francisco, according to the Stanislaus County sheriff’s department.

“This suspect … is in our country illegally,” Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said at a press conference Thursday. “He doesn’t belong here. He is a criminal.”

Newman Police Department Corporal Ronil Singh, 33, was making a traffic stop early in the morning when he called ‘shots fired’ over his radio, according to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department.

Singh had pulled over a gray pickup truck in Newman, a small town 100 miles south of San Francisco, after noticing it had no licence plate, Stanislaus County Sheriff Adam Christianson said on Thursday.

Officer Singh was found with multiple bullet wounds, and was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The suspect’s vehicle was found 13 hours later at the River Road mobile home park in Newman.

A search warrant was served at the mobile home park where the suspect’s vehicle was found, where police say they recovered “lots of potential evidence.”

While police have not yet identified the suspect’s country of origin, President Trump in a tweet Thursday tied the manhunt to his demands to congress to strengthen border security and build a wall at the southern US border with Mexico.

“There is right now a full scale manhunt going on in California for an illegal immigrant accused of shooting and killing a police officer during a traffic stop. Time to get tough on Border Security. Build the Wall!” the president tweeted.
----------------

🇩🇪 **Islamic State Flag Found Near Suspected Sabotage on Railway**
*InfoWars* - <http://archive.is/VX3lm>

An Islamic State (IS) flag was discovered near a damaged overhead power cable on a Berlin railway track, according to German police.

Leaflets in Arabic were also found and authorities are investigating if the propaganda is related to the apparent sabotage.

“Since the beginning of the investigation, several pieces of evidence have been secured,” said police

Additionally, a torn steel cable was found at the scene of Sunday’s suspected attack on the tracks.

Given the possibility of this being a terrorist attack, federal police have taken over the investigation to officially deduce any "political motivations" linked to the findings.  

Correspondingly, in October, German authorities discovered a threatening letter written in Arabic alongside mangled steel cables that were stretched across the tracks of a high-speed railway line between Nuremberg and Munich.

As of this writing, it is unclear if the two incidents are connected.
----------------

🇺🇸 <:comfy:286526459596636160> **SWAT Negotiator Sings Christmas Carol to End Standoff With Armed Man**
*InfoWars* - <http://archive.is/1jQcs>

A SWAT team member ended a long night of negotiating with a man in Pennsylvania who had barricaded himself in his home on Christmas by singing him a Christmas carol.

Chester County District Attorney Thomas Hogan said SWAT operators left their families on Christmas night after being called to a man’s home around 9 p.m. local time to respond to an armed barricade.

The team was forced to negotiate with the man for roughly nine hours while he shot at police and around the neighborhood, according to a post on Hogan’s Facebookpage.

But at around 6 a.m. Wednesday, the standoff concluded after a SWAT negotiator convinced the man, later identified as Nathaniel Lewis, a member of the National Guard, to surrender by singing him “White Christmas.”

“You can’t make this stuff up,” Hogan wrote.

Lewis’ family went to his home to check on him after they were unable to contact him, authorities said according to local news. When his wife’s sister arrived at the home, Lewis had barricaded the front door and fired multiple shots from his rifle.

Lewis threatened to kill police and shot at them from the second floor of his home, hitting nearby cars and houses. He was later charged with aggravated assault, multiple counts of attempted homicide and other related counts.
----------------

🇺🇸 **'F--- Nazis You Are Not Welcome Here' sign hanging in window of UMass Amherst dorm sparks controversy**
*Yahoo* - <https://archive.fo/AKRa9>

Emotions are heightened at the University of Massachusetts Amherst just days after one of the university’s residence directors emailed a student to request the removal of a ‘F--- Nazis’ sign that had been hung in a dormitory window. After students accused resident hall staff of being “Nazi sympathizers,” the university released a statement granting permission to reinstate the sign.

The incident came to light on Dec. 19 when a student at UMass Amherst tweeted an email sent to an on-campus classmate by residence director Eddie Papazoni. Papazoni claimed he was reacting to a phone call from someone concerned about the handwritten anti-Nazi sign that could be seen from the ground below.

“From this conversation it appears to be that the sign in mention can be paraphrase as; ‘Nazis are not welcome here,'” Papazoni paraphrased. “Though this sign is permitted under Freedom of Speech, I would also like to discuss the impact on the community that this sign has had.” He continued that the sign has created for students and faculty “mixed emotions on how to proceed, issues of inclusion, and the ability to be active members of their community.”

He wrote in the email that some are calling for removal of the sign, and ultimately concluded, “While Residence Education cannot force you or your roommate to take the sign down, I am asking you or your roommate take the sign down so that all students can be part of an inclusive residential experience, as well as having a respectful environment to be part of here on our campus.”
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🇷🇺 **Putin successfully tests Russia's new 'invulnerable' hypersonic missile that is 'impossible to intercept' and boasts it is 'an excellent gift to the nation'**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/8nvJI>

Russian President Vladimir Putin has today overseen a test of a new hypersonic glide vehicle, declaring that the weapon is impossible to intercept and will ensure the country's security for decades to come.

Speaking to his top military brass after watching the live feed of the launch of the Avangard vehicle from the Defence Ministry's control room, Putin said the successful test was a 'great success' and an 'excellent New Year's gift to the nation'.

Meanwhile Russia has launched underwater trials for the Poseidon nuclear-capable strategic drone, the state-run Tass news agency reported Tuesday.

The development of the drone was announced by Putin in his state-of-the-nation speech in March, in which he boasted of an array of new nuclear weapons 'invulnerable to enemy interception'.

The Poseidon drone could potentially carry a nuclear warhead with a yield of up to 2 megatonnes that would be used to destroy enemy naval bases, Tass reported, citing a source in the defense industry.

The test comes amid bitter tensions in Russia-US relations, which have sunk to their lowest level since Cold War times over the conflict in Ukraine, the war in Syria and the allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.
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🇷🇺🇻🇪 ** Russia to set up military base on Venezuelan island in Caribbean to host NUCLEAR BOMBERS**
*Daily Star* - <https://archive.fo/VK1HN>

Vladimir Putin has decided to send the supersonic bombers, known as “White Swans”, to one of Venezuela’s islands in the Caribbean Sea, Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta has reported.

Venezuela’s socialist president Nicolas Maduro did not object to the proposals put forward by Russian authorities, according to the daily paper.

Russia wants the strategic aircraft, which caused alarm in the United States by visiting Venezuela earlier this month, to be based by an island with a naval facility and military airfield.

Ten years ago, Russian military experts and commanders reportedly visited the island of La Orchila, located 200 km northeast of Caracas.

Under Venezuelan law, military bases cannot be established by foreign nations in the country, but a temporary deployment of warplanes is possible, Russian media reports.

Moscow angered Washington by flying two Tu-160 bombers to Venezuela, where they landed at Maiquetia airport near capital Caracas on December 10.
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🇺🇸 **Trump’s promise of a wall may not be fulfilled as advertised**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/IjR6H>

Three confidantes of President Donald Trump, including his departing chief of staff, are indicating that the president’s signature campaign pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would not be fulfilled as advertised.

Trump sparked fervent chants of “Build that wall!” at rallies before and after his election and more recently cited a lack of funding for a border wall as the reason for partially shutting down the government. At times the president has also waved off the idea that the wall could be any kind of barrier.

However, White House chief of staff John Kelly told the Los Angeles Times in an interview published Sunday that Trump abandoned the notion of “a solid concrete wall early on in the administration.”

“To be honest, it’s not a wall,” Kelly said, adding that the mix of technological enhancements and “steel slat” barriers the president now wants along the border resulted from conversations with law enforcement professionals.

Along the same lines, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway called discussion of the apparent contradiction “a silly semantic argument.”

“There may be a wall in some places, there may be steel slats, there may be technological enhancements,” Conway told “Fox News Sunday.” ″But only saying ‘wall or no wall’ is being very disingenuous and turning a complete blind eye to what is a crisis at the border.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican who is close to the president, emerged from a Sunday lunch at the White House to tell reporters that “the wall has become a metaphor for border security” and referred to “a physical barrier along the border.”
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🇺🇸 **Elizabeth Warren takes big move toward 2020 presidential run**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/QaIsh>

Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Monday took the first major step toward launching a widely anticipated campaign for the presidency, hoping her reputation as a populist fighter can help her navigate a Democratic field that could include nearly two dozen candidates.

“No matter what our differences, most of us want the same thing,” the 69-year-old Massachusetts Democrat said in a video that highlights her family’s history in Oklahoma. “To be able to work hard, play by the same set of rules and take care of the people we love. That’s what I’m fighting for and that’s why today I’m launching an exploratory committee for president.”

Warren burst onto the national scene a decade ago during the financial crisis with calls for greater consumer protections. She quickly became one of the party’s more prominent liberals even as she sometimes fought with Obama administration officials over their response to the market turmoil.

Now, as a likely presidential contender, she is making an appeal to the party’s base. Her video notes the economic challenges facing people of color along with images of a women’s march and Warren’s participation at an LGBT event.

In an email to supporters, Warren said she’d more formally announce a campaign plan early in 2019.

Warren is the most prominent Democrat yet to make a move toward a presidential bid and has long been a favorite target of President Donald Trump.
----------------

🇮🇱 **Netanyahu: I won’t resign if attorney general announces intention to indict**
*Times Of Israel* - <https://archive.fo/P7FK3>

In his most specific comments to date on the prospect of corruption cases forcing his ouster, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said he would not resign if the attorney general decides on pressing charges against him before elections.

Asked during a press conference in Brazil, where he is on a visit, how he would proceed if summoned by the attorney general for a hearing, which is final step before charges are filed, Netanyahu said: “If that happens, I won’t resign.”

He said he was not required to do so under the law, and that he remains convinced that the three corruption cases against him will yield “nothing.”

“Israel is a country of law, and the law does not require that a prime minister resign during the process of a hearing,” he said.

Should Attorney General Avichai Mandeblit decide to press charges against Netanyahu, he would announce the indictment pending a hearing, after which charges could be filed with a court.

The requirement for the attorney general to provide a hearing for a suspect before a final decision to press charges against him, Netanyahu said, exists precisely so that the suspect’s side of the story is heard. “The hearing doesn’t end until my side is heard,” he said.

“And therefore it is not logical to open a hearing process before elections if you can’t finish it before elections.”

“Imagine what happens if you oust a prime minister before the end of the hearing process, and at the end of the hearing it is decided to close the case,” he said. “That would be absurd, and a terrible blow to democracy.”
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🇺🇸🇨🇳 **China says it is 'ready to work with US'**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/l3Mle>

China has said it is "ready to work" with the US, suggesting progress in trade talks between the two countries.

It said it would be willing to work with the US to "implement the important consensus" reached at December's G20.

At the Buenos Aires summit the two countries agreed to suspend new trade tariffs for 90 days to allow for talks.

China's statement comes after President Donald Trump tweeted "big progress" was being made in relations after a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In Saturday's tweet, the US president said "talks were moving along very well".

Sunday's statement from Lu Kang, the spokesperson for the country's foreign ministry, appeared to confirm President Trump's optimism.

"China stands ready to work with the US to implement the important consensus reached by President Xi Jinping and President Trump in Argentina, expand co-operation on the basis of mutual benefit, manage differences on the basis of mutual respect," Mr Lu said.

Prior to the G20 meeting in Argentina, the US had warned it was considering 25% tariffs on $200bn (£152bn) of Chinese goods - more than double the 10% initially planned.
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🇺🇸 🇨🇳 **China Cracks: Manufacturing Sector Contracts for First Time Since Trade War Began**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.vn/AtLEu>

The trade war appears to be hurting China more than expected.

China’s private manufacturing sector contracted in December, according to a survey released Wednesday.

The Caixin manufacturing purchasing managers’ index, which mainly tracks private factories, fell to 49.7 in December from 50.2 in November. Any reading below 50 indicates a contraction. The private PMI has been above 50 since May of 2017.
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🇺🇸 **Liberal revolt threatens to derail House Democrats on their first day in charge**
*SF Gate* - <https://archive.fo/B2FB4>

House Democratic leaders are set to advance sweeping internal rules changes Thursday that would attempt to bring more sunshine to congressional governance and defuse a pair of political powder kegs that wreaked havoc on GOP leaders over the past eight years.

But in their first day of power in the new Congress, Democrats must stave off a liberal rebellion after prominent Democrats said they would oppose the entire rules package that has been carefully assembled by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and a top lieutenant.

Rep. Ro Khanna of California and Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York said they would vote against the rules changes - in the second vote Democrats will take in the majority after ostensibly electing Pelosi as the new speaker - because of the inclusion of a fiscal measure known as "pay as you go," or PAYGO. That rule, echoing a provision in federal law and in the Senate's rules, would require the House to offset any spending so as not to increase the budget deficit.

So far, Democrats have given no signs of needing to revise the measure to win votes - and assuming its passage Thursday afternoon, Pelosi plans to move quickly to vote on legislation that would reopen portions the government that have been closed for nearly two weeks amid a standoff over money demanded by President Trump for a border wall.
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🇺🇸 **The 'Green New Deal': A Radical Mandate for Government Control of American Society**
*Grabienews* - <https://archive.fo/1c1Gl>

Incoming New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez brings with her a massive online following, influence she says she’ll deploy only in support of candidates who support her plan for a “Green New Deal.”

“The Green New Deal” is something Ocasio-Cortez invokes frequently in media appearances and rallies.

So what’s actually in it?

Her office recently released the text of a proposed House rules change outlining the plan.

It’s scope and mandate for legislation authority amounts to a radical grant of power to Washington over Americans’ lives, homes, businesses, travel, banking, and more.

Early on, under “Jurisdiction,” the document makes clear its grandiose philosophical vision: “The select committee shall have authority to develop a detailed national, industrial, economic mobilization plan for the transition of the United States economy to become greenhouse gas emissions neutral and to significantly draw down greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and oceans and to promote economic and environmental justice and equality.”

In addition to achieving its goal of “meeting 100% of national power demand through renewable sources,” the document also repeatedly states the Green New Deal will advance non-environmental projects, such as, “social, economic, racial, regional and gender-based justice.”

Ocasio-Cortez’s plan also says it will (virtually) eliminate poverty: “The Plan for a Green New Deal (and the draft legislation) shall recognize that a national, industrial, economic mobilization of this scope and scale is a historic opportunity to virtually eliminate poverty in the United States and to make prosperity, wealth and economic security available to everyone participating in the transformation.”
**READ ARTICLE FOR MORE DETAILS**
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🇨🇳🇹🇼 **Xi Jinping says Taiwan 'must and will be' reunited with China**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/i4AeP>

Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged the people of Taiwan to accept it "must and will be" reunited with China.

In a speech marking 40 years since the start of improving ties, he reiterated Beijing's call for peaceful unification on a one-country-two-systems basis.

However, he also warned that China reserved the right to use force.

While Taiwan is self-governed and de facto independent, it has never formally declared independence from the mainland.

Beijing considers the island to be a breakaway province and Mr Xi's comments are in line with China's long-standing policy towards reunification.

But on Wednesday, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said the island would never accept reunification with China under the terms offered by Beijing.

"I want to reiterate that Taiwan will never accept 'one country, two systems'. The vast majority of Taiwanese public opinion also resolutely opposes 'one country, two systems', and this is also the 'Taiwan consensus'."

Under the "one country, two systems" formula, Taiwan would have the right to run its own affairs; a similar arrangement is used in Hong Kong.
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🇺🇸 **Google wins lawsuit, can continue to use facial recognition tech on users without consent**
*RT* - <https://archive.fo/K1afA>

A federal judge has thrown out a lawsuit that alleged Google’s nonconsensual use of facial recognition technology violated users’ privacy rights, allowing the tech giant to continue to scan and store their biometric data.

The lawsuit, filed in 2016, alleged that Google violated Illinois state law by collecting biometric data - as biologically unique to users as fingerprints - without their consent. The data was harvested from their pictures stored on Google Photos.

The plaintiffs wanted more than $5 million in damages for “hundreds of thousands” of users affected, arguing that the unauthorized scanning of their faces was a violation of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, which completely outlaws the gathering of biometric information without consent.

Google countered that the plaintiffs were not entitled to any compensation, as they had not been harmed by the data collection. On Saturday, US District Judge Edmond E. Chang sided with the tech giant, ruling that the plaintiffs had not suffered any “concrete harm,” and dismissing the suit.

As well as allowing Google to continue the practice, the ruling could have implications for other cases pending against Facebook and Snapchat. Both companies are currently being sued for violating the Illinois act.

Amid rising alarm from privacy activists, biometric scanning has become ever more ubiquitous in recent years. The technology has been deployed at American airports, Russian subways, and by British police - despite being unreliable and unregulated in most jurisdictions.
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🇺🇸🇬🇧 **Hacker cyber-gang: Give us cyber-cash for cyber-cache of 18,000 stolen Sept 11th insurance docs**
*The Register* - <https://archive.fo/IsbRf>

The hackers who claim to have breached a British insurer last year say their cache of pilfered files include confidential documents on the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The Dark Overlord group claims a collection of 18,000 files, lifted from British insurance company Hiscox, include insurance claims that Lloyd's of London and Silverstein Properties handled in the aftermath of the 2001 attacks that killed 2,977 innocent people and 19 terrorists during the destruction of both towers at New York City's World Trade Center and the attack on the Pentagon. Silverstein owns the World Trade Center complex.

"What we'll be releasing is the truth. The truth about one of the most recognisable incidents in recent history and one which is shrouded in mystery with little transparency and not many answers," the hacker group said.

"What we're offering to the world is the truth, exclusively from us, one of the planets premier hacking organisations dedicated to breaching leading targets and acquiring the most scandalous materials that we may use in our systematic extortion campaigns."

The Dark Overlord group has previously claimed to have hacked Netflix (an allegation that was denied by Netflix) and a UK plastic surgery clinic.

Hiscox has confirmed at least some of Dark Overlord's boasts about obtaining the insurance files are true, acknowledging that documents related to 9/11 insurance cases were swiped during an April 2018 cyber-raid on a law firm Hiscox worked with.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Lawsuit Claims SPLC Abetted Theft, Spread Lies to Destroy Lawyer for ‘Thought Crime’**
*PJ Media* - <https://archive.fo/etg2G>

In December 2018, a Baltimore lawyer filed a devastating lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and two of its employees. The SPLC targeted Glen Keith Allen over his former ties to the National Alliance (NA), a white nationalist group. In doing so, the liberal group allegedly violated laws and legal codes of conduct by receiving and then paying for stolen documents in violation of confidentiality agreements. The group went after Allen with the intent of getting him fired by the city of Baltimore and permanently destroying his future prospects.

Allen's suit claims that the SPLC should have its 501c3 tax-exempt status revoked, that it owes him restitution for racketeering, and that it should pay $6.5 million in damages. It also references Allen's pro bono work on behalf of African-Americans and his mentorship of an African-American teen, powerfully rebutting claims that he is a racist. Allen told PJ Media he now regrets his NA support, and an African-American friend of his laughed at the idea of this lawyer being branded a racist.

Perhaps most importantly, the suit attacks the liberal group for undermining America's tradition of free expression. In an August 2016 interview with The Washington Post cited in the lawsuit, SPLC Intelligence Project Director Heidi Beirich (a defendant in the case) claimed to have watched Allen "like a hawk" because he had "the worst ideas ever created."

"This East Europe Communist thought-crime surveillance mentality is antithetical to fundamental American cultural and Constitutional principles protecting freedom of expression and association," Allen wrote in the suit, which can be found on his website. His lawsuit uses concrete claims of lawbreaking and defamation to expose the SPLC's Orwellian strategy of branding its opponents "hate groups" and orchestrating campaigns against them.
----------------

🇺🇸 **ZUCKED UP Mark Zuckerberg halts Facebook stock sale as value PLUMMETS over privacy scandals**
*The Sun* - <http://archive.vn/odGke>

BILLIONAIRE Mark Zuckerberg has halted the sale of his Facebook stock after the company's value collapsed last year. The controversial 34-year-old has seen his company fall from grace, and failed to sell a single share in the last three months of 2018. At the time, it was equivalent to losing the combined value of Netflix (£94.2billion), Twitter (£20.5billion), Snapchat (£5.78billion) and Sony (£49.6billion). Facebook has also lost £92billion in value since the beginning of 2018.

In just a few days in December, Facebook's stock price slumped by nearly $10billion (£7.4billion) after sealed court documents about the firm were released to the public. The secret files – which contain emails from billionaire boss Mark Zuckerberg – revealed the inner workings of Facebook, and the company's blatant disregard for user privacy.

Reports suggest Facebook staff have resorted to buying burner phones to allow them to badmouth their superiors without fear of being recorded. Former employees described a "toxic and hostile" work environment at the social media giant, which has been hit by a wave of data leaks and fake news scandals over a torrid few years.
---------------

🇳🇱 **Google shifted $23 billion to tax haven Bermuda in 2017: filing**
*Reuters* - <http://archive.vn/jZvlg>

SCAMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Google moved 19.9 billion euros ($22.7 billion) through a Dutch shell company to Bermuda in 2017, as part of an arrangement that allows it to reduce its foreign tax bill, according to documents filed at the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. The amount channeled through Google Netherlands Holdings BV was around 4 billion euros more than in 2016, the documents, filed on Dec. 21, showed.

The subsidiary in the Netherlands is used to shift revenue from royalties earned outside the United States to Google Ireland Holdings, an affiliate based in Bermuda, where companies pay no income tax. The tax strategy, known as the “Double Irish, Dutch Sandwich”, is legal and allows Alphabet-owned Google (GOOGL.O) to avoid triggering U.S. income taxes or European withholding taxes on the funds, which represent the bulk of its overseas profits. However, under pressure from the European Union and the United States, Ireland in 2014 decided to phase out the arrangement, ending Google’s tax advantages in 2020.
---------------

🇺🇸 **Nancy Pelosi Elected Speaker of the House with 220 Votes**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.vn/AZbSo#5%>

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat who represents San Francisco in the U.S. House of Representatives, was elected Speaker of the House on Thursday with 220 votes. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California Republican, received the second-highest amount of votes with 192.

Pelosi fended off an organized intra-Democrat Party rebellion, where she spent the last couple months since the midterm election flipping dissidents who had pledged to vote against her into allies who voted for her.
--------------

🇺🇸 **US employers added a stellar 312,000 jobs in December**
ABC News - AP Economics Writer - <http://archive.vn/TQgQT>

U.S. employers dramatically stepped up their hiring in December, adding 312,000 jobs in an encouraging display of strength for an economy in the midst of a trade war, slowing global growth and a partial shutdown of the federal government.

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.9 percent, but that reflected a surge in jobseekers— a positive for growth. Average hourly pay improved 3.2 percent from a year ago, up from average wage growth of 2.7 percent at the end of 2017.
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🇺🇸 **Black man charged with capital murder in shooting death of black 7 year old Texas girl, police say**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.vn/Ut88B>

A man was arrested late Saturday in the shooting death of 7-year-old Jazmine Barnes, who was killed in a drive-by shooting while sitting in the backseat of her mother’s car in Houston last month, police said.

Eric Black Jr., 20, was charged with capital murder following the deadly shooting on Dec. 30, Harris County Sheriff’s Office announced in a news release Sunday. Black, who investigators identified as a suspect based on a tip, reportedly admitted to “taking part in the shooting.”

Moments after police announced Black’s arrest, Barnes’ family lawyer, Lee Merritt, wrote in an Instagram post that a second suspect, Larry Woodruffe, 24, was arrested in the deadly shooting. Woodruffe is believed to be the shooter in the incident, according to Merritt.

Jazmine Barnes was leaving a Walmart parking lot in northeast Houston with her mother, 30-year-old LaPorsha Washington, and her three sisters, when a man driving a red pickup truck pulled up next to their vehicle and started shooting at around 7 a.m. on Dec. 30, police said. Gonzalez later stated they don't believe whoever was in the red truck was involved in the shooting.

Police released a sketch of a possible suspect last week and described the individual as a **bearded white man.**

Although witness descriptions of a white man in his forties at the scene prompted hate crime speculation and led civil rights activist Shaun King to offer a substantial reward for the killer or killers, at least one of the suspects currently in custody is African-American.

Prior to the arrests, Merritt said, “We do believe that it [the murder] was racially motivated in part because our nation at this moment is highly racially charged.”
----------------

http://prntscr.com/m3ueqg

**Described suspect** (thin white man)

Actual shooter

<:nani:348790447587590144>

🇬🇧 **WikiLeaks tells reporters 140 things not to say about Julian Assange**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/VHvVa>

WikiLeaks on Sunday advised journalists not to report 140 different “false and defamatory” statements about its founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 2012.

“There is a pervasive climate of inaccurate claims about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, including purposeful fabrications planted in large and otherwise ‘reputable’ media outlets,” Wikileaks said an email sent to media organizations and marked “Confidential legal communication. Not for publication.”

“Consequently journalists and publishers have a clear responsibility to carefully fact-check from primary sources and to consult the following list to ensure they are not spreading, and have not spread, defamatory falsehoods about WikiLeaks or Julian Assange.”

WikiLeaks did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

The 5,000-word email included 140 statements that WikiLeaks said were false and defamatory, such as the assertion that Assange had ever been an “agent or officer of any intelligence service”.

WikiLeaks also said it was false and defamatory to suggest that Assange, 47, had ever been employed by the Russian government or that he is, or has ever been, close to the Russian state, the Kremlin or Putin.

Other items listed as false and defamatory included more personal claims including that Assange bleaches his hair, that he is a hacker, that he has ever neglected an animal or that he has poor personal hygiene.
----------------

🇻🇦🇨🇺 **Vatican News Paid Tribute to 60th Anniversary of Cuban Revolution in Deleted Post**
*PJ Media* - <https://archive.fo/BspbT>

The Vatican News website recently paid tribute to Cuba on the 60th anniversary of the Communist revolution in a post that was quickly deleted, according to reports.

The Communist island nation marked the occasion with celebrations on News Year's Day, while several leftist Latin American leaders tweeted their best wishes.

The socialist despot president of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro tweeted: "We commemorate the anniversary of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution led by Commander Fidel Castro. 60 years of sacrifices, struggles and blockade; There is the heroic Cuban people, an example of resistance and dignity to the world. Long Live Cuba!"

In a pinned tweet, another socialist leader, Bolivia's Evo Morales, stated: "We salute the victory of Bro. Commandant. Fidel Castro and the valiant Cuban people on the proimperialist dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista."

Not to be outdone, the Vatican News Service offered its own tribute of sorts to commemorate the festive occasion: Cuba Celebrates 60 Years of the Revolution. The post reportedly read:

The post was apparently deleted, but not before some appalled readers captured it:

Some Catholics on Twitter criticized the post for what they felt was an inappropriately simpatico tone.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Record Numbers of Americans Want to Leave the U.S.**
*Gallup* - <https://archive.fo/qO6Zf>

While Donald Trump has spent much of his presidency focused on the number of people who want to get into the U.S., since he took office, record numbers of Americans have wanted to get out.

Though relatively average by global standards, the 16% of Americans overall who said in 2017 and again in 2018 that they would like to permanently move to another country -- if they could -- is higher than the average levels during either the George W. Bush (11%) or Barack Obama administration (10%).

While Gallup's World Poll does not ask people about their political leanings, most of the recent surge in Americans' desire to migrate has come among groups that typically lean Democratic and that have disapproved of Trump's job performance so far in his presidency: women, young Americans and people in lower-income groups.

During the first two years of the Trump administration, a record-high one in five U.S. women (20%) said they would like to move to another country permanently if they could. This is twice the average for women during the Obama (10%) or Bush years (11%) and almost twice the level among men (13%) under Trump. Before the Trump years, there was no difference between men's and women's desires to move.

The 30% of Americans younger than 30 who would like to move also represents a new high -- and it is also the group in which the gender gap is the largest. Forty percent of women younger than 30 said they would like to move, compared with 20% of men in this age group. These gender gaps narrow with age and eventually disappear after age 50.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Key Democrat Admits Trump Has Authority To Declare National Emergency To Build Wall**
*Zerohedge/ABC* - <https://archive.fo/UsQaE>

Democratic Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, admitted that President Trump has the authority to declare a national emergency and have the military build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

ABC's "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos asked Smith "Does President Trump have the ability, have the authority to declare a national emergency and have the military build his wall?"

"Well, unfortunately, the short answer is yes," replied Smith. "There is a provision in the law that says the president can declare an emergency. It’s been done a number of times, but primarily it’s been done to build facilities in Afghanistan and Iraq. In this case, I think the president would be wide open to a court challenge saying, where is the emergency? You have to establish that in order to do this. Beyond that, this would be a terrible use of Department of Defense dollars."

"The president spends most of his time talking about how we’re not spending enough on national security, now he wants to take $20 billion out of defense budget to build a wall. Which by the way, is not going to improve our border security. The president seems unaware of this, but we have actually already built a wall across much of the border, and all border security experts that I talk to say, where a wall makes sense, it’s already been built. We should have a conversation about border security, but first, we should we open the government and pay our border patrol agents and the federal agents that are furloughed," Smith added.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Miss Arguments for First Time on Supreme Court**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.vn/5fLLM>

Despite previous medical issues, Ginsburg, the oldest member of the Court, has never missed an argument. Ginsburg, appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1993, has dismissed calls to step down during President Barack Obama’s second term, citing a potentially smoother confirmation process with a Democrat-controlled Senate.

The liberal face of the Supreme Court, Ginsburg signaled her aspiration to remain on the bench through 2020 by hiring law clerks for at least two more terms. “I said I will do this job as long as I can do it full steam,” Ginsburg said in a December interview after the screening of On the Basis of Sex, a biopic about the justice’s life.
---------------

🇬🇧 : **New Powers given to Police to stop drone crime in the UK**
*BBC News*: <http://archive.fo/QoZFS>

Police will be given new powers to tackle the illegal use of drones, the government has announced.

This is following the worldwide disruption in Gatwick Airport, which shut down flights internationally throughout the world.

It is said that exclusion zones around airports are to be heightened and have a bigger surface area, which finer details have yet to be announced, and Drone users must register that of drones between 250 grams, and 20 Kilograms.

The Labour Party has said that this new legislation should have came years before the Gatwick accident happened, which has been agreed by all areas of Parliament.

The government said it would also expand technology to detect and repel drones from sites like airports and prisons, to prevent any repeat of events like those at Gatwick airport in December, meaning Police will now have better ability to take down drones, and issue fixed penalties, said to be at about £100 for minor offenses.

According to an Analysis by Theo Leggett, business correspondent for the BBC, 'This May be the wisest ways forward. But Critics are likely to ask why such tests are not already under way.'

It is said that Aircraft Incidents regarding drones have shot up in the last year, in a graph which is in the article linked.
------------

🇬🇧 **More nodding dogs green-light terrible UK.gov pr0n age verification plans**
*The Register* - <https://archive.fo/3VHIw>

A government-sponsored committee has rubberstamped the UK's online porn age verification plans despite poking holes in the China-style surveillance plan.

Under the plans, people will be forced to hand over credit card details or scans of government-issued ID papers in order to look at pictures and videos of nookie-related activities.

This establishes government control over people's online browsing habits. People pay by handing over their valuable personal data in order to access content that state regulators deem to be beyond the pale. Critics have said it will "protect" children from online porn in the same way that putting out their eyeballs would achieve; its wider societal effects are widely regarded as harmful.

An obscure government-sponsored body, the Regulatory Policy Committee, said in a document published yesterday (PDF) that the age verification plans' economic impact assessment is "fit for purpose" overall.

It did, however, go on to state that the Conservative government's plans do not "assess the costs to pornography providers resulting from the proposal" – in spite of requiring them to install and/or subscribe to age verification software, and noting that reconfiguring the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) to regulate online age verification software will cost around £4.45m.
----------------

🇨🇳🇸🇾🇮🇷 **Exclusive: New documents link Huawei to suspected front companies in Iran, Syria**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/sgPra>

The U.S. case against the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Canada last month, centers on the company’s suspected ties to two obscure companies. One is a telecom equipment seller that operated in Tehran; the other is that firm’s owner, a holding company registered in Mauritius.

U.S. authorities allege CFO Meng Wanzhou deceived international banks into clearing transactions with Iran by claiming the two companies were independent of Huawei, when in fact Huawei controlled them. Huawei has maintained the two are independent: equipment seller Skycom Tech Co Ltd and shell company Canicula Holdings Ltd.

But corporate filings and other documents found by Reuters in Iran and Syria show that Huawei, the world’s largest supplier of telecommunications network equipment, is more closely linked to both firms than previously known.

The documents reveal that a high-level Huawei executive appears to have been appointed Skycom’s Iran manager. They also show that at least three Chinese-named individuals had signing rights for both Huawei and Skycom bank accounts in Iran. Reuters also discovered that a Middle Eastern lawyer said Huawei conducted operations in Syria through Canicula.

The previously unreported ties between Huawei and the two companies could bear on the U.S. case against Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei, by further undermining Huawei’s claims that Skycom was merely an arms-length business partner.
----------------

🇫🇷 **Yellow vests: France to crack down on unsanctioned protests**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/tcTKB>

French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe has announced plans to punish people who hold unsanctioned protests after seven weeks of anti-government unrest.

His government wants to draft new legislation that will ban troublemakers from protests and clamp down on the wearing of masks at demonstrations.

He said 80,000 members of the security forces would be deployed for the next expected wave of protests.

Protesters smashed down the gates to a government office this weekend.

In other chaotic scenes in Paris, demonstrators fought riot police, and cars and motorbikes were burnt.

Protests against fuel tax erupted on 17 November when people across France donned high-visibility vests, giving them their nickname the "yellow vests", and went out to disrupt traffic.

Similar actions have followed every weekend and while the number of demonstrators has dropped, cities across France continue to see rioting and disruption.

At least six people have died and at least 1,400 have been injured as a result of the unrest.

Speaking on French TV channel TF1, Prime Minister Philippe said the government would support a "new law punishing those who do not respect the requirement to declare [protests], those who take part in unauthorised demonstrations and those who arrive at demonstrations wearing face masks".
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🇺🇸 **Paul Manafort Lied About Sharing Polling Data With Suspected Russian Intelligence Member, Mueller Alleges, According to Filing**
*Newsweek* - <https://archive.fo/UnyPc>

A little more than a month after Special Counsel Robert Mueller accused former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort of lying to investigators, court filings submitted by lawyers on Tuesday revealed that Manafort lied about his dealings with Konstantin Kilimnik, a man linked to Russian intelligence who the lobbyist allegedly nicknamed his Russian brain.

The documents reveal that Manafort lied about sharing polling data for the 2016 presidential election with Kilimnik, and about meeting with the Russian in Madrid, during the campaign. The two men also discussed a peace plan for Ukraine, according to the court documents.

The revelations came to light via a faulty redaction. Journalists quickly discovered that the redacted portions of the court documents could be read by simply copying the redacted text and pasting it elsewhere.

“After being shown documents, Mr. Manafort ‘conceded’ that he discussed or may have discussed a Ukraine peace plan with Mr. Kilimnik on more than one occasion)…(After being told that Mr. Kilimnik had traveled to Madrid on the same day that Mr. Manafort was in Madrid, Mr. Manafort “acknowledged” that he and Mr. Kilimnik met while they were both in Madrid)),” the redacted portion of the document reads.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Rosenstein, Overseer of the Mueller Probe, to leave Justice Department**
*NBC News*:<http://archive.fo/oxVYZ>

The No. 2 official is set to depart within the next month, officials said, with Trump's pick for AG expected to be confirmed soon.

Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein had wanted to serve Two Years within the Justice Role, commenting that this is on his accord, and the White House is not forcing him out.

Administration Officials have said that Rosenstein will be still serve in the role until a new DAG has been decided upon, with the President nominating William Barr, who has made 'a round of courtesy calls' to Senators before his confirmation hearing, which begins Jan. 15.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Wednesday on Fox News: "I know the deputy attorney general has always planned to roughly stay around two years. My guess is that he is making room for the new attorney general to build a team that he wants around him."

Rosenstein had been overseeing the Mueller's investigation into possible Trump campaign collusion with Russia and obstruction of justice because Sessions recused himself because of his role in the Trump campaign. And even with the arrival of acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, who took over the probe, Rosenstein has continued to help supervise it.

With Barr being the favourite to be confirmed, he is to fully take over the Mueller Investigation, with several legal sources saying that the Investigation is close to it's final stages.

Rosenstein has been a man of contoversy for the White House, with his appointment of Mueller, he caused Trump to tweet "I am being investigated for firing the FBI Director by the man who told me to fire the FBI Director! Witch Hunt."
------------

🇺🇸 **Trump calls meeting with Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi a 'total waste of time' after he storms out**
*CNBC* - <https://archive.fo/C0ow2>

President Donald Trump on Wednesday stormed out of a meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer over an ongoing partial government shutdown, calling it "a total waste of time."

The breakdown in already fraught negotiations over border wall funding, which have kept nine federal agencies shut down for 19 days and counting, appeared to heighten the possibility that Trump might declare a national emergency.

"I asked what is going to happen in 30 days if I quickly open things up, are you going to approve Border Security which includes a Wall or Steel Barrier? Nancy said, NO," Trump explained in a tweet as Pelosi and Schumer described the walk-out to reporters.

"I said bye-bye, nothing else works!" Trump added.

Schumer, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, said, "again, we saw a temper tantrum." Trump's behavior was "unbecoming of a presidency," Schumer added.

Speaking shortly after Schumer, Vice President Mike Pence disputed the Democrat's characterization, stressing that the president handed out unspecified sweets to the negotiators.

"Well, the president walked into the room and passed out candy. It's true," Pence said. "I don't recall him ever raising his voice or slamming his hand."

Trump's reference to "30 days" relates to the House Democratic-passed legislation to fund eight departments through Sept. 30 and reopen the Department of Homeland Security through Feb. 8. Democrats say the extra time would allow hundreds of thousands of federal workers to get paid while lawmakers break an impasse over the proposed wall.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Starbucks is installing needle-disposal boxes in certain locations as workers speak out about discarded syringes, drug paraphernalia, and blood in bathrooms**
*Business Insider* - <https://archive.fo/aLc5c>

Starbucks is installing boxes for safe disposal of syringes in the bathrooms of certain locations, following workers' reports of discarded needles and sometimes concerning conditions.

The coffee giant is exploring possible remedies after employees expressed fears about being pricked by uncapped needles and experiencing related health risks. Starbucks is testing solutions including installing sharps-disposal boxes, utilizing heavier-duty trash bags to prevent needle pokes, and removing trash cans from certain bathrooms.

"These societal issues affect us all and can sometimes place our partners (employees) in scary situations, which is why we have protocols and resources in place to ensure our partners are out of harm's way," Starbucks representative Reggie Borges told Business Insider.

As of Wednesday, more than 3,700 people have signed a petition on Coworker.org calling for Starbucks to place needle-disposal boxes in high-risk bathrooms.

"My coworkers and I had all experienced needles left behind in the bathroom, store, and even in our drive-thru," said one person who signed the petition after working at a Starbucks location in Lynnwood, Washington, for three years. The three Starbucks employees who spoke with Business Insider for this article asked to either remain anonymous or only be referred to by their first name, in order to speak frankly.

"My primary fear when I worked there would be taking out the bathroom garbages," the former employee, who quit in 2018, told Business Insider. "I was terrified that if I went to take the bag out, I would get poked by a needle I didn't know was there."
----------------

🇺🇸 **Test of steel prototype for border wall showed it could be sawed through**
*NBC* - <https://archive.fo/Ry4uF>

President Donald Trump has repeatedly advocated for a steel slat design for his border wall, which he described as "absolutely critical to border security" in his Oval Office address to the nation Tuesday. But Department of Homeland Security testing of a steel slat prototype proved it could be cut through with a saw, according to a report by DHS.

A photo exclusively obtained by NBC News shows the results of the test after military and Border Patrol personnel were instructed to attempt to destroy the barriers with common tools.

The Trump administration directed the construction of eight steel and concrete prototype walls that were built in Otay Mesa, California, just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico. Trump inspected the prototypes in March 2018. He has now settled on a steel slat, or steel bollard, design for the proposed border barrier additions. Steel bollard fencing has been used under previous administrations.

However, testing by DHS in late 2017 showed all eight prototypes, including the steel slats, were vulnerable to breaching, according to an internal February 2018 U.S. Customs and Border Protection report.

Photos of the breaches were not included in a redacted version of the CBP report, which was first obtained in a Freedom of Information Act Request by San Diego public broadcaster KPBS.

The photo of testing results obtained by NBC News was taken at the testing location along the California-Mexico border, known as "Pogo Row."

Responding to the picture from the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday morning, Trump claimed "that’s a wall designed by previous administrations."

While it is true that previous administrations used this design, the prototype was built during his administration.

"It's very, very hard — the wall that we are doing is very, very hard to penetrate," Trump said.
----------------

🇺🇸 **AT&T says it’ll stop selling location data amid calls for federal investigation**
*Philly Inquirer* - <https://archive.fo/zNqdI>

AT&T said Thursday that it will stop selling its customers' location data to third-party service providers after a report this week said the information was winding up in the wrong hands.

The announcement follows sharp demands by federal lawmakers for an investigation into the alleged misuse of data, which came to light when Motherboard revealed a complex chain of unauthorized information sharing that ended with a bounty hunter successfully tracking down a reporter's device.

AT&T had already suspended its data-sharing agreements with a number of so-called "location aggregators" last year in light of a congressional probe finding that some of Verizon's location data was being misused by prison officials to spy on innocent Americans. AT&T also said at the time that it would be maintaining those of its agreements that provided clear consumer benefits, such as location sharing for roadside assistance services.

"In light of recent reports about the misuse of location services, we have decided to eliminate all location aggregation services - even those with clear consumer benefits," AT&T said in a statement. "We are immediately eliminating the remaining services and will be done in March."

In characteristic fashion, T-Mobile CEO John Legere tweeted Tuesday that his firm would be "completely ending location aggregator work" in March. Verizon said in a statement Thursday that it, too, was winding down its four remaining location-sharing agreements, which are all with roadside assistance services - after that, customers would have to give the company permission to share their data with roadside assistance firms. A Sprint spokeswoman didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
----------------

🇺🇸🇵🇹 **Cristiano Ronaldo's DNA sought by investigators in Las Vegas rape case, lawyer says**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/LMQ4L>

A lawyer for soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo said Thursday that Las Vegas police are seeking his client's DNA as part of their investigation into a decade-old rape allegation against him.

A Nevada woman, Kathryn Mayorga, filed a civil lawsuit in September claiming that the Juventus midfielder raped her in his hotel penthouse in 2009 and that she had been paid $375,000 to keep the assault secret.

The Wall Street Journal, citing an unnamed law enforcement official, initially reported that a warrant was sent to Italy that would compel Ronaldo to submit a DNA sample to see if it matches DNA found on the accuser's dress. Las Vegas police confirmed in a statement to The Associated Press that "an official request" was sent to Italy. Department spokeswoman Laura Meltzer said the request involved a warrant.

"Mr. Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in Las Vegas in 2009 was consensual in nature," attorney Peter S. Christiansen said in a statement, "so it is not surprising that DNA would be present, nor that the police would make this very standard request as part of their investigation."

Mayorga reported the alleged attack to police in June 2009 and underwent a medical exam to collect DNA evidence. But the investigation ended a short time later because Las Vegas police say she only identified her attacker as a European soccer player -- not by name -- and did not say where the incident took place.

Ronaldo has not been served with the lawsuit, Christiansen said. The lawsuit and the criminal police investigation are on separate legal tracks. Authorities say that because Mayorga reported the alleged attack promptly, no law in Nevada prevents prosecutors from filing criminal sexual assault charges now if evidence of a crime is found.
----------------

🇺🇸🇹🇷 **'Ridiculous Delay' // Turkey Issues Ultimatum to Trump: Pull Out of Syria or We Strike**
*Haaretz* - <https://archive.fo/N88Hp>

A military operation against the Kurdish YPG militia, which Turkey has pledged to carry out in northern Syria, is not dependent on a U.S. pull-out from the region, Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.

“If the [pullout] is put off with ridiculous excuses like Turks are massacring Kurds, which do not reflect the reality, we will implement this decision,” Çavuşoğlu said, referring to Turkey's threat to launch an incursion into Kurdish controlled Syria.

In an interview with broadcaster NTV, Cavusoglu said it was not realistic to expect the United States to fully collect weapons it gave to its YPG ally, which Ankara views as a terrorist group.

The U.S. troop withdrawal from Syria will not be scuppered despite Turkish threats against Washington's Kurdish allies there, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday, promising to ensure that the Kurds would still be protected.

Washington has repeatedly said its Kurdish allies will remain safe despite the withdrawal. But Turkey, which considers the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia an enemy, has repeatedly vowed to crush the group and repudiated any suggestion of protecting it once U.S. troops leave.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan denounced visiting U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton on Tuesday for suggesting that protecting the Kurds would be a pre-condition of the U.S. withdrawal, a suggestion Erdogan called "a serious mistake".
----------------

🇺🇸 **The Rock Blasts Generation Snowflake**
*Business Insider* - <http://archive.is/z5Wrk>

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said he thinks "generation snowflake" is too easily offended. He said that while there had been significant progress in the past 30 or 40 years for people to "be who they want," those who get offended at others "not agreeing with them" was "putting us backwards."

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson said he thinks "generation snowflake" looks for reasons to be offended and is offended too easily, "putting us backwards, I don't have to agree with what somebody thinks, who they vote for, what they voted for, what they think, but I will back their right to say or believe it. That's democracy," he said.

---------------

🇺🇸 **SpaceX to lay off 10 percent of workforce to become leaner**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/XSUmT>

SpaceX will lay off 10 percent of its roughly 6,000 workers, announcing Friday that it needs to become leaner to accomplish ambitious projects such as creating a spaceship that can carry astronauts to Mars.

“This action is taken only due to the extraordinarily difficult challenges ahead and would not otherwise be necessary,” the company said in a statement.

The layoffs were announced to workers in an email from President Gwynne Shotwell, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The email said laid-off employees will be offered at least eight weeks’ pay and other benefits, along with help with finding new jobs, the Times said.

Elon Musk’s company is financially healthy and was recently valued at nearly $30 billion. It has a lucrative business sending government and commercial satellites into orbit, including a launch from California on Friday, and delivering supplies to the International Space Station.

But the company has several expensive projects in the works. Musk has estimated it will cost up to $10 billion to develop a spaceship that could send humans to Mars. This week he unveiled a steel-clad test flight prototype of the rocket, which he calls Starship.

Another $10 billion project called Starlink would create a constellation of satellites to provide affordable broadband internet service.

This year, the company plans to begin Starship test flights and to launch the first Starlink satellites.

“To continue delivering for our customers and to succeed in developing interplanetary spacecraft and a global space-based Internet, SpaceX must become a leaner company,” the company statement said. “Either of these developments, even when attempted separately, have bankrupted other organizations.”
----------------

🇺🇸 **New Florida governor suspends sheriff over school massacre**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/zKRLs>

New Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel on Friday over his handling of February’s massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, saying he “repeatedly failed and has demonstrated a pattern of poor leadership.”

The Republican governor flew to Fort Lauderdale three days after taking office to remove the Democratic sheriff, appointing a former police sergeant to serve as acting sheriff. Gregory Tony, 40, worked for Coral Springs police for 12 years before leaving in 2016 to start a company specializing in active-shooter training. He is the first African-American to serve as Broward’s sheriff.

DeSantis said during a news conference outside the sheriff’s office headquarters that Israel failed to keep families and children safe before and during the Feb. 14 shooting that left 14 students and three staff members dead inside the three-story freshman building.

“The neglect of duty and incompetence that was connected to the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School has been well documented, and I have no interest in dancing on Scott Israel’s political grave,” DeSantis said. “Suffice it to say, the massacre might never have happened had Broward had better leadership in the sheriff’s department.”

During the shooting, then-Broward Deputy Scot Peterson, who was assigned to the school, drew his gun but took cover instead of charging inside. Seven other deputies who arrived within minutes also failed to enter, even as officers from neighboring Coral Springs went into the building.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Texas set to remove Confederate plaque from state Capitol**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/zKRLs>

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott agreed Friday to remove a plaque in the state Capitol that rejects slavery as the underlying cause of the Civil War, bending after years of resistance by state Republican leaders in the face of Confederate monuments falling nationwide.

A unanimous vote by the State Preservation Board, which Abbott chairs, ordered the removal of the 60-year-old plaque that pledges to teach “the truths of history,” adding that “one of the most important of which is that the war between the states was not a rebellion, nor was its underlying cause to sustain slavery.”

The plaque is among nearly a dozen Confederate markers in and around the Texas Capitol. It’s the first slated to come down since the deadly 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, that led to the removal of a string of Confederate monuments nationwide .

But Abbott and state leaders resisted acting on similar calls in Texas, and the governor made no comment after Friday’s vote. Texas Republicans had been resolute after the Charlottesville rally that tearing down Confederate markers wouldn’t change history, but pressure intensified after a black lawmaker from Dallas began condemning the plaque that hangs near his Capitol office as historically indefensible.

Dallas state Rep. Eric Johnson appeared unsure after Friday’s vote whether efforts to remove other Confederate symbols at the Texas Capitol would become easier.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Utah teen attempting 'Bird Box' challenge crashes into another vehicle, could face charges**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/TWQz2>

A Utah teen maybe facing charges after police say she crashed into another vehicle when she covered her eyes while driving as a part of the “Bird Box” challenge.

Layton Police Department shared images of two badly damaged vehicles on Twitter explaining that the collision was the “predictable result” of the “Bird Box” challenge, in which people are called to do everyday tasks blindfolded.

Lt. Travis Lyman told Fox13 that the 17-year-old female driver of the pickup truck was driving on the Layton Parkway with a 16-year-old male passenger when she decided to take part in the challenge and blind herself while driving using a beanie.

The challenge was inspired by Netflix’s new thriller “Bird Box,” which takes place in a post-apocalyptic world where people need to wear blindfolds to block the outside world and prevent themselves from being possessed by demons that prey on their worst fears and lead them to commit suicide.

No one was injured in Monday’s crash but authorities didn’t discover the reason of the accident until Friday.

“Honestly I’m almost embarrassed to have to say ‘Don’t drive with your eyes covered’ but you know apparently we do have to say that,” Lyman told Fox 13. “The stakes are just so high and it’s just such a potentially dangerous thing as it is: to try and do it in that way is inexcusable. It really puts everybody at risk.”
----------------

🇫🇷 **Yellow vests knock out 60% of all speed cameras in France**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/4G9bq>

Members of the "yellow vests" protest movement have vandalised almost 60% of France's entire speed camera network, the interior minister has said.

Christophe Castaner said the wilful damage was a threat to road safety and put lives in danger.

The protest movement began over fuel tax increases, and saw motorists block roads and motorway toll booths.

Some protesters feel speed cameras are solely a revenue-generating measure which takes money from the poor.

The BBC's Hugh Schofield, in Paris, said evidence of the vandalism is visible to anyone driving around France, with radar cameras covered in paint or black tape to stop them working.

But the extent of the damage - now believed to affect more than half of all 3,200 speed cameras in the country's network - was unknown until Mr Castaner's statement on Thursday.

He said the devices had been "neutralised, attacked, or destroyed" by members of the protest movement.
----------------

🇨🇳🇵🇱 **Huawei sacks employee arrested in Poland on spying charges**
*Yahoo/Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/sVMt7>

Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei said on Saturday it had sacked an employee arrested in Poland on spying charges in a case that could intensify Western security concerns about the company.

Poland's internal affairs minister, Joachim Brudzinski, called for the European Union and NATO to work on a joint position over whether to exclude Huawei from their markets following the arrest of the Chinese employee and a former Polish security official on Friday.

The two men have heard the charges and could be held for three months.

Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecommunications equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with China's government and U.S.-led allegations that its devices could be used by Beijing for spying.

No evidence has been produced publicly and the firm has repeatedly denied the accusations, but several Western countries have restricted Huawei's access to their markets.

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bill that barred the U.S. government from using Huawei equipment and is considering an executive order that would also ban U.S. companies from doing so.

Brudzinski said Poland wanted to continue cooperating with China but that a discussion was needed on whether to exclude Huawei from some markets.

"There are concerns about Huawei within NATO as well. It would make most sense to have a joint stance, among EU member states and NATO members," he told private broadcaster RMF FM.
----------------

https://youtu.be/iDKhNA7Yjig

/OURMARCH/

🇺🇸 **Industry wary of alternatives tries to protect a word: meat**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/4tEmJ>

More than four months after Missouri became the first U.S. state to regulate the term “meat” on product labels, Nebraska’s powerful farm groups are pushing for similar protection from veggie burgers, tofu dogs and other items that look and taste like real meat.

Nebraska lawmakers will consider a bill this year defining meat as “any edible portion of any livestock or poultry, carcass, or part thereof” and excluding “lab-grown or insect or plant-based food products.” It would make it a crime to advertise or sell something “as meat that is not derived from poultry or livestock.”

Similar measures aimed at meat alternatives are pending in Tennessee, Virginia and Wyoming. They come amid a debate over what to call products that are being developed using the emerging science of meat grown by culturing cells in a lab. Supporters of the science are embracing the term “clean meat” — language the conventional meat industry strongly opposes.

The issue strikes a particularly strong chord in Nebraska, one of the nation’s top states for livestock production, where cars roll down the interstate with “Beef State” license plates and the governor each year proclaims May as “Beef Month.”

Farm groups have found an unusual ally in state Sen. Carol Blood, a city-dwelling vegetarian from the Omaha suburb of Bellevue. Blood, who grew up on a farm, said she introduced the measure because agriculture is Nebraska’s largest industry and needs to be protected for the good of the whole state.

“I’m not bringing this bill to tell people what they can and can’t eat,” she said. “All I’m asking for is truth in advertising. It’s clear that meat comes from livestock, and livestock is our livelihood in Nebraska.”
----------------

https://youtu.be/iRzOS7SNKmY

4:00^😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

🇬🇧 **Brexit: Theresa May's deal is voted down in historic Commons defeat**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/LzYwa>

Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal has been rejected by 230 votes - the largest defeat for a sitting government in history.

MPs voted by 432 votes to 202 to reject the deal, which sets out the terms of Britain's exit from the EU on 29 March.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has now tabled a vote of no confidence in the government, which could trigger a general election.

The confidence vote is expected to be held at about 1900 GMT on Wednesday.

The defeat is a huge blow for Mrs May - who has spent more than two years hammering out a deal with the EU.

The plan was aimed at bringing about an orderly departure from the EU on 29 March, and setting up a 21-month transition period to negotiate a free trade deal.

The UK is still on course to leave on 29 March but the defeat throws the manner of that departure - and the timing of it - into further doubt.

MPs who want either a further referendum, a softer version of the Brexit proposed by Mrs May, to stop Brexit altogether or to leave without a deal, will ramp up their efforts to get what they want, as a weakened PM offered to listen to their arguments.

The Brexit debate has cut across traditional party lines.

Some 118 Conservative MPs - from both the Leave and Remain wings of her party - voted with the opposition parties against Mrs May's deal.

And three Labour MPs supported the prime minister's deal: Ian Austin (Dudley North), Kevin Barron (Rother Valley) and John Mann (Bassetlaw).

In normal times, such a crushing defeat on a key piece of government legislation would be expected to be followed by a prime ministerial resignation.

But Mrs May signalled her intention to carry on in a statement immediately after the vote.

"The House has spoken and this government will listen," she told MPs.
----------------

🇨🇳🇹🇼 **US report says rapidly modernizing Chinese military has set sights on Taiwan**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/EMPOQ>

Over the last few years China has made a series of ambitious military reforms and acquired new technology as it aims to improve its ability to fight regional conflicts over places like Taiwan, according to a new report from the US Defense Intelligence Agency.

"Beijing's longstanding interest to eventually compel Taiwan's reunification with the mainland and deter any attempt by Taiwan to declare independence has served as the primary driver for China's military modernization," said the agency's report, titled "China's Military Power."

The report, which was published Tuesday, added that "Beijing's anticipation that foreign forces would intervene in a Taiwan scenario led the (People's Liberation Army) to develop a range of systems to deter and deny foreign regional force projection."

The report estimates that Chinese spending on its armed forces "probably exceeded $200 billion" in 2018, "a threefold increase since 2002."

In a written introduction accompanying the report, the Defense Intelligence Agency's director, Lt. Gen. Robert Ashley, wrote that China has used a variety of means to acquire advanced technology to bolster its military capabilities despite some countries attempting to limit its access to that technology over international concerns about Beijing's human rights policies.

"China shifted funds and efforts to acquiring technology by any means available. Domestic laws forced foreign partners of Chinese-based joint ventures to release their technology in exchange for entry into China's lucrative market, and China has used other means to secure needed technology and expertise," Ashley said.
----------------

🇭🇳 **New migrant caravan leaves Honduras for journey to US border**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/UDq4X>

A new caravan of at least 500 migrants late Monday began its perilous journey from a rain-soaked bus station in Honduras to the United States border, members of the group told Fox News.

The caravan left the northern city of San Pedro Sula earlier than expected. There was chatter on social media that the group would leave at 5 a.m. on Tuesday. It is unclear why the group left earlier, but rainy weather could have played a role.

The scene was a familiar one: The group had a mix of people that included some mothers carrying their young children on their shoulders. It's unclear where the group will rest, but past migrants have used the Honduran city of Quimistan, which is 35 miles from the bus stop, as an early checkpoint.

As they walked, some migrants pleaded with local store owners to give them food or water for their journey, according to the Associated Press.

One woman, who refused to give her name because of safety concerns, told the AP that her 9-year-old daughter had already been raped so badly she suffered medical problems.

She said she would ask U.S. authorities for asylum or refugee status, "because it’s not possible to live in Honduras anymore."

President Trump last week mentioned the new caravan and said, "we're trying to break it up," according to The New York Times.

He said a "drone isn't going to stop it and a sensor isn’t going to stop it, but you know what’s going to stop it in its tracks? A nice, powerful wall."
----------------

🇺🇸 **The Latest: House approves measure rebuking Iowa Rep. King**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/6L6iZ>

The House has approved a Democratic measure disapproving of Republican Rep. Steve King’s comments about white supremacy.

The nine-term Iowa congressman was among those supporting the measure, which was approved, 424-1.

King says he agrees with South Carolina Democratic Rep. James Clyburn, the resolution’s sponsor, that white supremacy is an evil that cannot be ignored. King’s racist comments have been widely condemned by members of both parties in recent days.

King says the ideology of white supremacy “never shows up in my head” and that he does “not know how it could possibly come out of my mouth.”

Democratic Rep. Bobby Rush of Illinois opposed the measure, saying the House should take the more serious step of censuring King for his “repugnant and racist behavior.”

Last week, King said in an interview, “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?”
----------------

🇺🇸 **Michael Cohen says he paid tech firm to rig online polls 'at the direction of' Trump**
*NBC* - <https://archive.fo/Xn427>

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former personal lawyer and fixer, confirmed on Thursday that he paid a small tech firm to rig online polls before the 2016 presidential campaign got underway "at the direction of and the sole benefit of" Trump.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the payment and attempted poll manipulation. The Trump Organization declined to comment to the newspaper.

"As for the @WSJ article on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who doesn’t deserve it," Cohen said in a tweet.

Cohen paid the money to John Gauger, who runs RedFinch Solutions LLC, in early 2015, to rig online polls in Trump’s favor before the presidential campaign.

The newspaper reported that Cohen gave Gauger a blue Walmart bag containing about $13,000 in cash. Gauger also said that Cohen randomly included a boxing glove Cohen claimed at the time had been worn by a Brazilian mixed-martial arts fighter.

However, in a statement to the Journal, Cohen said he did not pay Gauger in cash.

“All monies paid to Mr. Gauger were by check,” Cohen told the newspaper, without offering further details to the newspaper.

Gauger, who is also chief information officer at Liberty University in Virginia, where evangelical leader and Trump supporter Jerry Falwell Jr. is president, said he was supposed to be paid $50,000 for the project but never received the remaining money. Trump, however, reimbursed Cohen in early 2017 for $50,000 for the work, the Journal reported, citing a government document and a person familiar with the matter.
----------------

🌎 **Largest collection of breached data ever seen is found**
*The Guardian* - <https://archive.fo/HvhyA>

The largest collection of breached data ever seen has been discovered, comprising of more than 770m email addresses and passwords posted to a popular hacking forum in mid-December.

The 87GB data dump was discovered by security researcher Troy Hunt, who runs the Have I Been Pwned breach-notification service. Hunt, who called the upload “Collection #1”, said it is probably “made up of many different individual data breaches from literally thousands of different sources”, rather than representing a single hack of a very large service.

Still, the work to piece together previous breaches has resulted in a huge collection. “In total, there are 1,160,253,228 unique combinations of email addresses and passwords,” Hunt writes, and “21,222,975 unique passwords”. While most of the email addresses have appeared in previous breaches discovered being shared amongst hackers, like the 360m MySpace accounts hacked in 2008 or the 164m LinkedIn accounts hacked in 2016, the researcher says “there’s somewhere in the order of 140m email addresses in this breach that HIBP has never seen before.” Those email addresses could come from one large unreported data breach, many smaller ones, or a combination of both.

Security experts say the discovery of Collection #1 underscores the need for consumers to use password managers, like 1Password or LastPass, to store a random, unique password for every service they use. “It is quite a feat not to have had an email address or other personal information breached over the last decade,” says Jake Moore, a cybersecurity expert at ESET UK.
----------------

🇺🇸 **New job of US vice president's wife sparks LGBT+ furor**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/XzKe5>

The wife of the U.S. vice president has started a job teaching art to children, the White House announced, working at a private school with a policy of refusing LGBT+ students and teachers.

Karen Pence will be teaching twice-weekly art classes at Immanuel Christian School, an elementary school in Virginia, the White House said on Tuesday.

Her husband, Vice President Mike Pence, is a social and evangelical conservative who in 2015, as governor of Indiana, signed into law a religious freedom bill that would have allowed businesses to deny services to gays.

Controversy followed, and he was forced to revise the law.

The Immanuel Christian School where Karen Pence has started her job has written policies online saying it will not hire LGBT+ faculty as well as refuse admission to LGBT+ students or those with LGBT+ parents.

Students and parents' lifestyles may not include "participating in, supporting, or condoning sexual immorality, homosexual activity or bi-sexual activity," its policy states.

Teachers must not engage in such behaviors as "homosexual or lesbian sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of the unique roles of male and female," its job application states.

The head of GLAAD, a New York-based LGBT+ rights group, called on Karen Pence to resign from the job, saying it was "disturbing" she would "put her stamp of approval on an institution that actively targets LGBTQ students."
----------------

🇺🇸 **Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg cancels 2 upcoming events**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/IQc8u>

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will not attend scheduled talks in the upcoming weeks in Los Angeles and New York, following her surgery in December, after she missed Supreme Court arguments earlier this month, the event hosts said.

The 85-year-old justice was supposed to attend an event on January 29 at Los Angeles' Skirball Cultural Center. A long-planned conversation between Ginsburg and the financier and philanthropist David Rubenstein was scheduled for February 6, and the 92nd Street Y said Wednesday that it was working to reschedule the event.

"Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg regrets that she is unable to attend the talk with David Rubenstein at 92Y on February 6," an email from the 92nd Street Y said. "She is curtailing travel and focusing on her work while recuperating from recent surgery."

Ginsburg missed two weeks of oral arguments due to her recovery from the surgery, and the absence of the iconic liberal justice has attracted significant attention as the court weighs critical issues key to Trump administration policies.

The court announced in December that Ginsburg had undergone surgery to remove cancerous nodules from her lung, which had been detected in tests following a fall she sustained in early November.

Although she has not attended oral arguments, Ginsburg has participated in cases before the court this year by reading briefs at home.

On Tuesday, she issued a concurring opinion in a case concerning arbitration. The justices are to meet behind closed doors on Friday for a regularly scheduled conference -- Ginsburg is likely to vote by proxy -- and they will take the bench again for arguments on February 19.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Storied Jewish publication The Forward ending 121-year print run**
*New York Post* - <https://archive.fo/Mmg7R>

The Forward is stopping — its print editions.

The storied Jewish-American publication is suspending its print operations and plans to lay off about 40 percent of its editorial staff — including Editor-in-Chief Jane Eisner — while moving to digital-only.

A print publication for 121 years, The Forward will continue to produce an English-language and a Yiddish-language edition online.

“The Forward is taking the next step in making our brand more relevant to our readers and more connected to their lives,” said publisher and CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen.

“We are announcing that this spring The Forward will complete its evolution from what was once a print-focused publisher to become a digitally focused publication.”

The Forward is eyeing growth among its under-35 readers who prefer to read news online. Currently that segments amounts to a third of total readers.

“It’s a sad day for the publication,” said one laid-off staffer who requested anonymity. “Hopefully, they can turn it around.”

Aside from Eisner, laid-off staffers include Executive Editor Dan Friedman, Digital Director David Goldiner, Design Director Kurt Hoffman and marketing, Kathleen Chambard, vice president of marketing.

“The revenue is not really there,” said a source. “They’ve been losing money for years but lately the losses have been more than $5 million a year.”

The publication is owned by The Forward Association, a not-for-profit whose endowment swelled to more than $100 million when the association sold its former headquarters on the Lower East Side as well as the radio station WEVD.
----------------

🇺🇸 **PHOTOS: Democrats Stuck on Bus After Donald Trump Cancels Foreign Trip**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.is/dYlVb#1%>

Confused Democrat lawmakers were left sitting idle on a military bus near the Capitol after President Donald Trump postponed their seven-day foreign trip as the partial government shutdown continues.

In a letter to Pelosi on Thursday, President Trump wrote that due to the shutdown, a trip to Egypt, Brussels, and Afghanistan would be delayed, declaring, “In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving pay, I’m sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event is totally appropriate.” “I also feel that, during this period, it would be better if you were in Washington negotiating with me and joining the strong border security movement to end the shutdown,” the president continued. Pelosi is welcome to fly on a commercial aircraft to make the trip, he told the House speaker.
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🇺🇸 **U.S. special counsel disputes report Trump told lawyer to lie**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/XmWv6>

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office on Friday disputed key elements of a media report that President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer to lie to Congress about a Moscow real estate deal, raising questions about a story that has dominated U.S. news coverage for the past 24 hours.

BuzzFeed News reported late on Thursday that Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer who is slated to go to prison for lying to Congress and other crimes, told investigators working for Mueller that Trump had instructed him to lie about efforts to build a skyscraper in Moscow while he was running for president.

"BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate," Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, said in the special counsel's first comment on a media report since its probe started 20 months ago.

While Carr did not directly address whether there was evidence that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress, he disputed portions of the story about how BuzzFeed corroborated the explosive allegations against Trump.

Citing information from two federal law enforcement officials, BuzzFeed said Cohen told the special counsel that after the 2016 presidential election Trump instructed him to tell Congress that negotiations over the Moscow project had ended earlier than they had in order to obscure Trump's involvement.

Carr's statement also appeared to dispute BuzzFeed's assertion that the special counsel learned about Trump's directive from interviews with employees of the Trump Organization, emails, text messages and other documents.
----------------

🇨🇳 **China confirms the birth of gene-edited babies and vows to punish scientist He Jiankui who 'violated rules to carry out the unethical study for personal fame'**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/CcNqY>

A Chinese investigation says the scientist behind the birth of two babies whose genes had been edited in hopes of making them resistant to the AIDS virus acted on his own 'for personal fame and profit' and will be punished for violating regulations.

Confirming the births, the official Xinhua News Agency said Monday that investigators in the southern province of Guangdong determined Dr He Jiankui organised and handled funding for the experiment without outside assistance in violation of national guidelines. The university He worked for said he had been fired.

The scientist sparked global controversy in November when he announced in a YouTube video that he had successfully used a gene-editing technology known as CRISPR-Cas9 to alter the embryonic genes of twin girls born that month.

One of the mothers gave birth to twins nicknamed 'Lulu' and 'Nana', the investigators said. Another woman is still carrying a gene-edited fetus. The Xinhua report said all three would remain under observation.
----------------

🇫🇷 **France hits Google with 50 million euro data consent fine**
*Yahoo/AFP* - <https://archive.fo/fHr3H>

France's data watchdog on Monday announced a fine of 50 million euros ($57 million) for US search giant Google, using the EU's strict General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for the first time.

Google was handed the record fine from the CNIL regulator for failing to provide transparent and easily accessible information on its data consent policies, a statement said.

The CNIL said Google made it too difficult for users to understand and manage preferences on how their personal information is used, in particular with regards to targeted advertising.

"People expect high standards of transparency and control from us. We're deeply committed to meeting those expectations and the consent requirements of the GDPR," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

"We're studying the decision to determine our next steps."

The ruling follows complaints lodged by two advocacy groups last May, shortly after the landmark GDPR directive came into effect.
----------------

🇷🇺 **Russia opens civil cases against Facebook, Twitter: report**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/a9w6D>

Russia’s communication watchdog said on Monday it was opening administrative proceedings against Twitter and Facebook for failing to explain how they plan to comply with local data laws, the Interfax news agency reported.

Roskomnadzor, the watchdog, was quoted as saying that Twitter and Facebook had not explained how and when they would comply with legislation that requires all servers used to store Russians’ personal data to be located in Russia.

The agency’s head, Alexander Zharov, was quoted as saying the companies have a month to provide information or else action would be taken against them.

Russia has introduced tougher internet laws in the last five years, requiring search engines to delete some search results, messaging services to share encryption keys with security services and social networks to store Russian users’ personal data on servers within the country.

At the moment, the only tools Russia has to enforce its data rules are fines that typically only come to a few thousand dollars or blocking the offending online services, which is an option fraught with technical difficulties.

However, sources in November told Reuters that Moscow plans to impose stiffer fines on technology firms that fail to comply with Russian laws.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Notre Dame to cover up murals depicting Christopher Columbus in the New World because they portray stereotypes of Native Americans and hide 'the darker side of this story'**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.fo/j4vRN>

The University of Notre Dame will cover 19th century murals on campus that depict Christopher Columbus in America due to their stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans.

Notre Dame President Rev John Jenkins announced the news on Sunday, saying the murals' depiction of Columbus as a 'beneficent explorer and friend of the native peoples hides from view the darker side of this story'.

The decision comes more than 20 years after Native American students first fought for the removal of the murals, which were painted in the entrance of Notre Dame's Main Building by Italian artist Luigi Gregori from 1882-1884.

'They reflect the attitudes of the time and were intended as a didactic presentation, responding to the cultural challenges for the school's largely immigrant, Catholic presentation,' Jenkins said in an open letter to the campus community.
----------------

🇮🇱🇸🇾🇮🇷 **Israel, in rare move, announces attacks on Iranian targets in Syria, delivers warning**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/DhCWg>

Israel confirmed early Monday that its military attacked Iranian targets in Syria, in a rare statement on such an operation.

“We have started striking Iranian Quds targets in Syrian territory,” the military statement said. “We warn the Syrian Armed Forces against attempting to harm Israeli forces or territory.”

Until now Israel largely has refrained from public admissions of its covert military operations in neighboring Syria to avoid large-scale involvement in the eight-year civil war.

The military’s statement was issued hours after Israeli missile defenses intercepted an incoming missile over the Golan Heights in the wake of rare daylight air raid near the Damascus International Airport.

The Israeli military initially had declined to comment on the airstrike, though it said a rocket fired at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights was intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system.

Israeli warplanes have used Lebanon’s airspace recently to strike deep inside Syria, including attacking a warehouse near Damascus International Airport earlier this month, according to Syrian state media.

The Syrian military said Israel carried out intensive airstrikes with successive waves of guided missiles shortly after 1 a.m., but added that Syrian air defenses destroyed most of the missiles before they reached their targets.
----------------

🇬🇧 **Royal Navy nuclear submarine's near miss with ferry**
*BBC* - <http://archive.is/brfhf>

A nuclear-powered Royal Navy submarine had a near collision with a ferry in the Irish Sea. The MoD would not confirm which of its 10 submarines was involved. All of its submarines are nuclear-powered but only four carry Trident nuclear missiles. An investigation has been launched into incident, which occurred on 6 November last year.

The ferry was the Stena Superfast VII, which operates between Northern Ireland and Scotland. The vessel, with a capacity for 1,300 passengers and 660 cars, sails between Belfast and Cairnryan.

A spokesman for the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) said: "We have carried out a preliminary assessment of the evidence in this case and the Chief Inspector of Marine Accidents has decided to open a safety investigation. The investigation is being conducted with the full co-operation of the Royal Navy. A report will be published when our investigation has concluded."

A Royal Navy spokesman said: "We can confirm the sighting of a Royal Navy submarine between Belfast and Stranraer on 6 November 2018. We are co-operating with the MAIB's investigation." A spokesman for Stena said: "Stena Line can confirm that on Tuesday 6 November 2018, Stena Superfast VII and a submerged submarine came into close proximity during a scheduled crossing between Cairnryan and Belfast.

"At no stage were the vessel, passengers or crew in any danger. The incident is now under investigation by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch and we will of course co-operate fully in this."
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🇻🇪🇺🇸 **Venezuela: Trump recognises opposition leader as president**
*The Guardian* - <https://archive.fo/5LMZx>

Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó has declared himself the interim president, in a dramatic escalation of efforts to force out Nicolás Maduro, who has overseen the country’s slide into authoritarianism and economic ruin.

Guaidó was quickly recognised by the US, Canada, Brazil, Colombia and other US allies in the Americas. Donald Trump warned that “all options are on the table” if Maduro responded with force against the opposition, but US officials made clear that the White House was focused on economic measures and would look at ways to transfer Venezuelan assets and oil revenues to Guaidó and the opposition-run national assembly.

Maduro responded with defiance, cutting off relations with the US and ordering all US diplomats to leave the country within 72 hours.

“We are defending the right to the very existence of our Bolivarian republic,” Maduro told supporters at a rally outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas. He urged them to resist “at all costs” what he called a coup attempt being orchestrated by “the coup-mongering, interventionist gringo empire” and the “fascist right”.

“They intend to govern Venezuela from Washington,” Maduro shouted from the palace’s people’s balcony. “Do you want a puppet government controlled by Washington?”

A few hours earlier, thousands of protesters clogged the streets of the capital, Caracas, as Guaidó, the head of the national assembly, raised his right hand and said: “I swear to assume all the powers of the presidency to secure an end to the usurpation”.

The 35-year-old lawmaker, said his surprise move was the only way to rescue Venezuela from “dictatorship” and restore constitutional order.
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🇺🇸 **Gawker 2.0 Implodes as Its Only Reporters Quit**
*The Daily Beast* - <https://archive.fo/VZnEk>

Gawker 2.0 is blowing up on the launchpad just two weeks after the site’s first group of new staffers came aboard.

On Wednesday morning, the site’s only two full-time writers—former Vanity Fair writer Maya Kosoff and former Cosmopolitan writer Anna Breslaw—announced in a statement to The Daily Beast that they have left over concerns about Carson Griffith, the recently hired editorial director.

“We’re disappointed it ended this way, but we can’t continue to work under someone who is antithetical to our sensibility and journalistic ethics, or for an employer [CEO Bryan Goldberg] who refuses to listen to the women who work for him when it’s inconvenient,” Kosoff and Breslaw said.

The two reporters said they decided to leave the new Gawker after Bustle Digital Group—which bought the shuttered Gawker.com domain and its archives in a mid-2018 fire sale—refused to oust Griffith over offensive workplace comments about everything from poor people to black writers to her friend’s penis size.

Kosoff and Breslaw said they met with human resources to complain of several instances in which they felt personally uncomfortable working with Griffith.

In particular, Kosoff—a former colleague and personal friend of this reporter—described to human resources an incident in which Griffith forwarded an unsolicited chain email showing the editorial director’s friends boasting they knew the penis size of a prominent businessman.
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🇺🇸 **Pelosi says she won’t allow State of the Union during shutdown; Trump will ‘do something in the alternative'**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/HAX1g>

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dug in Wednesday on her call to delay the State of the Union address even after President Trump vowed to proceed with the speech next week, sending a curt letter making clear she will not allow the event to take place during the government shutdown.

Reacting to Pelosi’s letter, Trump told reporters at the White House "we'll do something in the alternative," suggesting a speech of some kind will still happen next week.

Hours earlier, Trump had told Pelosi he was still planning to deliver the address from the House floor. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy also introduced a resolution to allow the State of the Union to go forward as planned on Jan. 29.

But Pelosi makes the final call, and fired back in a letter to Trump saying she would not consider what's known as a "concurrent resolution," which is needed to allow the use of the chamber for the State of the Union.

“I am writing to inform you that the House of Representatives will not consider a concurrent resolution authorizing the president’s State of the Union address in the House Chamber until government has opened,” Pelosi wrote in the letter to Trump.

Pelosi added in her letter that she looks forward to welcoming Trump to the House “on a mutually agreeable date for this address when government has been opened.”

In recent days though, the White House has been readying a Plan B in case Pelosi moved to block the speech in the House chamber. White House officials told Fox News they essentially were preparing for two tracks for next week's speech. The preferred track is an address, as per custom, at the Capitol. The second track is a backup plan for a speech outside of Washington, D.C.
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🇺🇸 **Michael Cohen Indefinitely Postpones Testimony to Congress**
*The New York Times* - <https://archive.fo/PlpQl>

Michael D. Cohen, the former personal lawyer and fixer for President Trump, has indefinitely postponed his congressional testimony, his lawyer said in a statement on Wednesday.

Mr. Cohen was scheduled to appear before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7 at the invitation of Representative Elijah Cummings, Democrat of Maryland and the chairman of the committee, but backed out because of ongoing threats against his family, his lawyer Lanny Davis said in a statement. He cited Mr. Trump’s verbal attacks on Mr. Cohen and some of his relatives.

“By advice of counsel, Mr. Cohen’s appearance will be postponed to a later date,” Mr. Davis said in the statement. “Mr. Cohen wishes to thank Chairman Cummings for allowing him to appear before the House Oversight Committee and looks forward to testifying at the appropriate time.” He added, “This is a time where Mr. Cohen had to put his family and their safety first.”
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🇲🇽🇬🇹 **Migrant caravan grows as Mexico fast-tracks humanitarian visas**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/m9bch>

A migrant caravan trying to reach the U.S. is expected to grow as thousands gather at Mexico's southern border awaiting entry. Last week, Mexico decided to fast-track humanitarian visas so migrants can enter legally and nearly 8,000 people have applied. So far, more than 500 visas have been issued.

Thousands of migrants are gathered on both sides of Mexico-Guatemala border because of the five-day waiting period to get visas. Now, those who had originally entered Mexico illegally are trying to backtrack to the border, so they too can get visas, reports CBS News' Adriana Diaz.

As the buses arrived in Tapachula, 15 miles north of the border, desperation set in. The lines began forming before dawn Tuesday as word spread that the Mexican government was transporting migrants who had entered illegally to get humanitarian visas.

The caravan is more than 2,000 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, but the mayor of the border city Tijuana already said his government is not prepared to handle the group. Some migrants we spoke to said they know from word of mouth and social media that tension is rising at the border, but they are not deterred.
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🇺🇸 **BuzzFeed is cutting 15% of its staff**
*SFGate* - <https://archive.fo/fCLUv>

BuzzFeed is cutting 15% of its staff, CEO Jonah Peretti said in a memo sent to employees Wednesday.

The digital publisher is laying off the employees in order to get its costs in line with revenue, and the cuts will happen next week, Peretti said. The layoffs could affect 250 employees, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal, which was the first to report the news.

"Even though I'm confident this is the right business decision, it is upsetting and disappointing," Peretti said in the memo, which was obtained by Business Insider.

BuzzFeed's move could be an effort to better position itself financially for a merger with another digital media outlet, according to The Journal.

In his memo, Peretti cast the layoffs as an effort to make BuzzFeed's business more sustainable. Over the last year the company has "diversified" its revenue, and its business has grown by "double digits," but it needed to reduce its costs so it could control its own future, he said.

"We are confident the changes we are making will put us on a firm foundation and allow us to invest and grow sustainably for years to come," he said.
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🇺🇸 **Director Bryan Singer accused by more men of underage sexual misconduct in bombshell report**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/0aucf>

Director Bryan Singer is the subject of a new bombshell report in which four men accuse him of sexually assaulting them when they were underage. The new allegations are just the latest in a long list of claims brought against Singer over the years, ranging from inappropriate touching to rape.

The report was published Wednesday by The Atlantic and the outlet said it was based in 50 sources — including the four men, who would not identify themselves for fear of repercussion. The exposé notes that the victims in question were left with psychological damage, substance-abuse problems, depression and PTSD after their experience.

In a statement provided to Fox News, Singer denounced the report as a 'homophobic smear piece."

One of the new accusers claimed Singer fondled him on a movie set when he was just 13 in 1997. Another claimed he was 17 when Singer had sex with him at a party at his house that same year while a third man alleged Singer had sex with him when he was just 15. A fourth man said he had sex with Singer when he was 16 after meeting the director at a series of parties the man claimed were designed to link underage boys with older men. All of the victims noted that Singer was aware of their ages at the time and was himself in his 30s.
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🇺🇸 **Trump ally Roger Stone charged with lying in Russia probe**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/yLWli>

U.S. President Donald Trump’s longtime ally Roger Stone was arrested on Friday on charges of lying to Congress about the release of stolen Democratic Party emails during the 2016 campaign, prompting Trump to lash out again about a “Witch Hunt” against him.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller said in court papers that Stone had advance knowledge of a plan by WikiLeaks to release the emails, which analysts say may have contributed to Trump’s stunning defeat of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Stone, a veteran political operative, is one of the closest Trump associates to be charged by Mueller, who is examining potential collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia. He was arrested by the FBI in a predawn raid at his Florida home.

“Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO COLLUSION!,” Trump said on Twitter, using his most common slur for the Mueller probe.

The Kremlin has denied interfering with the 2016 election..

The indictment showed Stone using language evoking mob bosses — and even cited a “Godfather” movie — as he called an unnamed associate facing FBI inquiries “a rat. A stoolie” in a series of profanity-laced messages.

Stone was an early Trump backer whose reputation as an aggressive political operative and self-proclaimed “dirty trickster” dates back to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s when he was working for Richard Nixon. He has a tattoo of Nixon’s face on his back.

Stone was charged with seven criminal counts, including obstruction of an official proceeding, witness tampering and making false statements.
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🇺🇸 **Trump climbs down in wall row, Congress passes bill ending shutdown**
*Yahoo/AFP* - <https://archive.fo/iSZtF>

President Donald Trump on Friday brought a temporary end to the longest government shutdown in US history, while dropping his previous insistence on immediate funding for wall construction along the Mexican border.

The announcement in the White House Rose Garden on the bipartisan deal marked a retreat by Trump, suspending a row that paralyzed Washington, disrupted air travel, and left more than 800,000 federal employees without pay for five weeks.

The top Democratic senator, Chuck Schumer, said he hoped Trump had "learned his lesson."

The Senate and House of Representatives both passed the deal by unanimous consent Friday. The White House later confirmed Trump had signed it into law.

Trump's reversal came as the full weight of the shutdown, including the financial cost on struggling employees and the national economy, became clear, and as the president appeared outfoxed by his political nemesis Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives.

But while Trump climbed down in agreeing to reopen government without first getting $5.7 billion in border wall funds, he still threatened to renew hostilities with a new shutdown, or a state of emergency, if there is no breakthrough on his pet project in the next three weeks.

"Over the next 21 days, I expect that both Democrats and Republicans will operate in good faith," he said as he announced he would reopen the government.

"If we don't get a fair deal from Congress, the government either shuts down on February 15th again, or I will use the powers afforded to me under the laws and Constitution of the United States to address this emergency," he warned.
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🇺🇸 **Someone Intentionally Started Fire at Comet Ping Pong, Fire Officials Say**
*NBC Washington* - <https://archive.fo/JEZ8x>

A D.C. restaurant that was once at the center of an online conspiracy theory dubbed "pizzagate" was intentionally set on fire, fire officials say.

Firefighters responded to a small fire at Comet Ping Pong on Connecticut Avenue NW about 9:20 p.m. Wednesday night, D.C. Fire and EMS said.

They found that employees had put out the fire that spread to some curtains and window coverings inside the restaurant, the fire department said.

No one was injured in the fire.

Authorities described the suspect as a white man, 25 to 30 years old with blonde hair, a mustache and a beard. He was wearing a blue and white varsity style jacket and blue jeans at the time of the fire.
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🇯🇵 **Japan court upholds sterilization to register gender change**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/HuV6s>

Human rights and LGBT activists on Friday denounced a ruling by Japan’s Supreme Court upholding a law that effectively requires transgender people to be sterilized before they can have their gender changed on official documents.

The court said the law is constitutional because it was meant to reduce confusion in families and society. But it acknowledged that it restricts freedom and could become out of step with changing social values.

The 2004 law states that people wishing to register a gender change must have their original reproductive organs, including testes or ovaries, removed and have a body that “appears to have parts that resemble the genital organs” of the gender they want to register.

More than 7,800 Japanese have had their genders officially changed, according to Justice Ministry statistics cited by public broadcaster NHK.

The unanimous decision by a four-judge panel, published Thursday, rejected an appeal by Takakito Usui, a transgender man who said forced sterilization violates the right to self-determination and is unconstitutional.

Usui, 45, appealed to the top court after he unsuccessfully requested that lower courts grant him legal recognition as male without having his female reproductive glands surgically removed.

Despite the unanimous decision, presiding justice Mamoru Miura joined another justice in saying that while the law may not violate the constitution, “doubts are undeniably emerging,” according to Usui’s lawyer, Tomoyasu Oyama.
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🇺🇸 **Google’s Sidewalk Labs Plans to Package and Sell Location Data on Millions of Cellphones**
*The Intercept* - <https://archive.fo/GEM8o>

The program, known as Replica, offers planning agencies the ability to model an entire city’s patterns of movement. Like “SimCity,” Replica’s “user-friendly” tool deploys statistical simulations to give a comprehensive view of how, when, and where people travel in urban areas. It’s an appealing prospect for planners making critical decisions about transportation and land use. In recent months, transportation authorities in Kansas City, Portland, and the Chicago area have signed up to glean its insights. The only catch: They’re not completely sure where the data is coming from.

Typical urban planners rely on processes like surveys and trip counters that are often time-consuming, labor-intensive, and outdated. Replica, instead, uses real-time mobile location data. As Nick Bowden of Sidewalk Labs has explained, “Replica provides a full set of baseline travel measures that are very difficult to gather and maintain today, including the total number of people on a highway or local street network, what mode they’re using (car, transit, bike, or foot), and their trip purpose (commuting to work, going shopping, heading to school).”

To make these measurements, the program gathers and de-identifies the location of cellphone users, which it obtains from unspecified third-party vendors. It then models this anonymized data in simulations — creating a synthetic population that faithfully replicates a city’s real-world patterns but that “obscures the real-world travel habits of individual people,” as Bowden told The Intercept.

The program comes at a time of growing unease with how tech companies use and share our personal data — and raises new questions about Google’s encroachment on the physical world.
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🇺🇸 **U.S. judge to allow controversial evidence in Roundup cancer trials**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/CkLlx>

A federal judge overseeing lawsuits alleging Bayer AG's glyphosate-based Roundup weed killer causes cancer on Monday tentatively allowed pieces of controversial evidence that the company had hoped to exclude from upcoming trials.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria during a hearing in San Francisco federal court called his decision "probably most disappointing for Monsanto," the Bayer unit that manufactures the world's most widely used herbicide.

The company denies allegations that glyphosate causes cancer and says decades of independent studies have shown the chemical to be safe for human use.

Chhabria on Monday said plaintiffs could introduce some evidence of Monsanto's alleged attempts to ghostwrite studies and influence the findings of scientists and regulators during the first phase of upcoming trials. He said documents which showed the company taking a position on the science or a study introduced during the first phase were "super relevant."

The company had hoped the judge would take a harder line on such evidence following a Jan. 3 order by Chhabria restricting evidence of corporate misconduct. At the time, that decision lifted Bayer's shares nearly 7 percent.

Monsanto had argued much of this evidence was a "sideshow" that would only distract jurors from the scientific evidence.

Plaintiffs' lawyers contended some evidence of corporate misconduct was inextricably linked to their scientific claims.
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🇮🇷🇮🇱 **Iran general says Tehran aims to wipe Israel off the ‘global political map’**
*Times Of Israel* - <https://archive.fo/nbric>

The deputy head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Monday that Tehran’s strategy was to eventually wipe Israel off the “global political map.”

Asked by a reporter in Tehran about Israeli threats to strike Iranian forces deployed in Syria, Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami was quoted by Iranian news outlets as saying, “Our strategy is to erase Israel from the global political map. And it seems that, considering the evil that Israel is doing, it is bringing itself closer to that.”

He added: “We announce that if Israel does anything to start a new war, it will obviously be the war that will end with its elimination, and the occupied territories will be returned. The Israelis will not have even a cemetery in Palestine to bury their own corpses.”

Salami’s comments followed a series of reciprocal taunts by Israeli and Iranian leaders in recent weeks as tensions have risen on the Israeli-Syrian border between IDF and Iranian forces.
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