🇿🇼 **Zimbabwe should extradite Ethiopian dictator Mengistu**
<http://archive.is/p15pp>

Zimbabwe has said it will not force former Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam to return home despite the fall of his ally Robert Mugabe.

However, the Zimbabwean opposition has revisited the issue of the asylum given to Mengistu, whose brutal reign left thousands of Ethiopians dead.

The push by the opposition should reawaken Africa to re-examine itself and its sincerity when it comes to why dictators who left behind a trail of suffering in their countries should be protected and allowed to lead a comfortable life in exile.

10-10
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🇺🇸 **Trump confirms he won’t fire Mueller despite allegations of unlawful email seizure & bias**
<https://archive.is/RDl9J>

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Sunday that he has no plans to sack FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the “Russia collusion” probe, recently marred by conflicts of interest and improper conduct claims. Trump echoed various Republican officials who said over the weekend that he was not considering Mueller’s dismissal. "No, I'm not," Trump said upon returning from a trip to Camp David.

With new accusations brought against the investigators by Trump’s transition team lawyer on Saturday, a number of high-profile White House officials came forward to tell the media that the president was not entertaining the option.

In a letter to Congress on Saturday, the lawyer, Kory Langhofer, alleged that Mueller’s office had violated the US constitution by “unlawfully” obtaining troves of emails from a government agency that hosted the transition team's servers. The emails reportedly included confidential lawyer to client communication.
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🇷🇺 **Trump to Putin: US was glad to save many lives in Russia by helping foil major terrorist attack**
<https://archive.is/waFM9>

“President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia called President Donald J. Trump today to thank him for the advanced warning the United States intelligence agencies provided to Russia concerning a major terror plot in Saint Petersburg, Russia,” read the statement from the White House. “Based on the information the United States provided, Russian authorities were able to capture the terrorists just prior to an attack that could have killed large numbers of people. No Russian lives were lost and the terrorist attackers were caught and are now incarcerated.”

The statement also noted that the Russian president even extended his gratitude to CIA chief Mike Pompeo, which Trump promptly passed on to the agency. The two leaders agreed that this operation against terrorism “serves as an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together.”

In a series of overnight raids on Wednesday and Thursday, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) arrested members of a terrorist cell linked to Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) in the Russian city of St. Petersburg, seizing a large amount of explosives, weapons and ammunition and dismantling a bomb-making workshop. The extremists were planning a series of attacks on public places, including a suicide bombing and an explosion in the Kazan Cathedral in the center of the city.
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🇬🇧 **British embassy employee found dead in Beirut 'after being raped and murdered'**
<https://archive.is/R86RE>

A UK woman working for the British Embassy in Beirut has been found dead. Rebecca Dykes' body was found on Saturday close to the Metn expressway, in the Lebanese capital. Sources have confirmed to the Mirror that Lebanese authorities have now launched a criminal investigation into the circumstances of Ms Dykes' death.

It's claimed that Ms Dykes had been at a bar with friends and colleagues in the Gemmayzeh area of central Beirut. She reportedly left just after midnight, according to The Telegraph. It is reported by Al Jadeed TV that Ms Dykes, who was in her 30s, had been raped and murdered some time after leaving her friends. The BBC added that senior police sources revealed that she had been strangled.

Her body was found several miles away from the bar. Ms Dykes' body has been transferred to the Dahr al-Bashak Hospital for a post-mortem, it has been reported. Friends say she had been due to fly home for Christmas with her family on Saturday.
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🇷🇺 **Russian oligarchs sue Trump dossier producer for becoming ‘collateral damage’ in smear campaign**
<https://archive.is/PnMRC>

Fusion GPS, the producer of the infamous Trump dossier, is fending off in court three of Russia’s richest oligarchs by painting them as corrupt bankers in bed with President Vladimir Putin.

The three primary investors in Moscow’s Alfa Bank — Mikhail Fridman, Petr Aven and German Khan — filed a libel lawsuit against Fusion in October. Fusion’s dossier, written by former British spy Christopher Steele, says two of them engineered cash bribes to Mr. Putin. The dossier also implies that the bank colluded with Mr. Putin to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election by hacking Democratic Party computers.

The lawsuit describes the three billionaires as international businessmen who became “collateral damage” in Fusion’s war to destroy the Donald Trump campaign.

“This is a defamation case brought by three international businessmen who were defamed in widely disseminated political research reports commissioned by political opponents of candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential election cycle,” says a Dec. 12 filing in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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🇸🇪 ***Sweden Forced to Raise Retirement Age To Pay For Mass Immigration Policy*** https://archive.fo/Lxf4C#selection-199.0-199.72 The increasing costs of population growth in Sweden, driven almost entirely mass migration, have forced the government to seriously consider raising the national retirement age to pay for the additional costs.
Swedish Socialist party Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson announced that the retirement age would likely be raised in the near future in order to offset increased welfare costs.

🇺🇸 **Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program**
http://archive.is/Y0rQ3

WASHINGTON — In the $600 billion annual Defense Department budgets, the $22 million spent on the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program was almost impossible to find.

Which was how the Pentagon wanted it.

For years, the program investigated reports of unidentified flying objects, according to Defense Department officials, interviews with program participants and records obtained by The New York Times. It was run by a military intelligence official, Luis Elizondo, on the fifth floor of the Pentagon’s C Ring, deep within the building’s maze.

The Defense Department has never before acknowledged the existence of the program, which it says it shut down in 2012. But its backers say that, while the Pentagon ended funding for the effort at that time, the program remains in existence. For the past five years, they say, officials with the program have continued to investigate episodes brought to them by service members, while also carrying out their other Defense Department duties.

Jones
-----------------------------

🇨🇳 **AP Exclusive: Digital police state shackles Chinese minority**
http://archive.is/oHop4

KORLA, China (AP) — Nobody knows what happened to the Uighur student after he returned to China from Egypt and was taken away by police.

Not his village neighbors in China’s far west, who haven’t seen him in months. Not his former classmates, who fear Chinese authorities beat him to death.

Not his mother, who lives in a two-story house at the far end of a country road, alone behind walls bleached by the desert sun. She opened the door one afternoon for an unexpected visit by Associated Press reporters, who showed her a picture of a handsome young man posing in a park, one arm in the wind.

“Yes, that’s him,” she said as tears began streaming down her face. “This is the first time I’ve heard anything of him in seven months. What happened?”

“Is he dead or alive?”

The student’s friends think he joined the thousands — possibly tens of thousands — of people, rights groups and academics estimate, who have been spirited without trial into secretive detention camps for alleged political crimes that range from having extremist thoughts to merely traveling or studying abroad. The mass disappearances, beginning the past year, are part of a sweeping effort by Chinese authorities to use detentions and data-driven surveillance to impose a digital police state in the region of Xinjiang and over its Uighurs, a 10-million strong, Turkic-speaking Muslim minority that China says has been influenced by Islamic extremism.

Jones
-----------------------------

🇺🇸 **22-Year-Old Virginia Woman Mauled to Death by Her Dogs While Taking Them for a Walk: Sheriff**
http://archive.is/KgpPv

A young woman who didn’t return home from a walk with her two dogs was found mauled to death in a wooded area of Virginia Thursday night, authorities said.

The father of 22-year-old Bethany Lynn Stephens called 911 shortly before 8:20 p.m., then went looking for his daughter off Manakin Road in Goochland, about 18 miles outside Richmond, where his daughter often walked her dogs, KTLA sister station WTVR in Richmond reported.

By then, she had been missing for two days, according to television station WWBT, also in Richmond.

Jones
-------------------------------

🇺🇸 **Uptick in HIV among injecting drug users raises fears of a resurgent epidemic**
http://archive.is/dc9Sl

The opioid epidemic is threatening to trigger a resurgence of HIV in Massachusetts, potentially undoing decades of work that had made the state a national leader in stopping the spread of the virus.

A sharp uptick in new HIV cases among injecting drug users, who often share needles, has raised worries among health officials. They fear Massachusetts could experience an outbreak like the 2015 calamity in rural Scott County, Indiana, where one person introduced the virus into a network of drug users, and within four months more than 180 had become infected.

“It would be a little early to say we have an epidemic on our hands, but we’re primed for it,” said Dr. Jenifer L. Jaeger, interim medical director of the Boston Public Health Commission.

Jones
--------------------------

🇺🇸 **HILLARY: GOP AGENDA FANNING FLAMES OF ‘WHITE SUPREMACY, MISOGYNY & HOMOPHOBIA’**
http://archive.is/TDMNk

Friday on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton said the Republican agenda was fanning the flames of “white supremacy and misogyny and homophobia.”

When asked if Trump will last four years, Clinton said, “I can’t predict it, but I believe that it really does come down both to the investigation that’s going on and to whether Republicans will decide that they have to put our country before their party. And I hope that enough of them will decide to do that.”

She continued, “It’s disturbing, and it’s obviously upsetting to me because I see things happening around the world that are bad for our country that are dangerous that really pose a threat.

Jones
-------------------------------

🇺🇸 **Amtrak train derailment: At least 3 killed in Washington state crash**
http://archive.is/8pMsJ

DUPONT, Wash. -- An Amtrak train derailed on an overpass in Washington state Monday morning, with some of the 14 train cars careening onto vehicles on a highway below. The crash left at least three people dead and roughly 100 injured, officials said, and authorities are still combing through the wreckage to find victims.

Authorities said the derailed train cars struck five motor vehicles and two semi-trucks on the highway.  At this time, all southbound lanes of traffic remain closed on Interstate 5. 

"Today's tragic incident in Pierce County is a serious and ongoing emergency," Washington Gov. Jay Inslee wrote in a statement. "Trudi and I are holding in our hearts everyone on board, and are praying for the many injured. They are our top priority, and I know first responders are doing everything to ensure everyone has the care they need."   

Jones
---------------------

🇺🇸 **Trump says grisly Amtrak crash shows why we need massive infrastructure spending – before authorities determine cause of fatal derailment**
http://archive.is/JU4Pf

Donald Trump said Monday that a deadly train derailment in the state of Washington has proved the need for a nationwide push to repair crumbling infrastructure – before officials commented on the cause of the crash.

'The train accident that just occured [sic] in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly,' the president tweeted as rescuers sifted through debris. 

'Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!'

The train jumped a brand-new section of track, laid as a high-speed bypass to an older, more curving section. 

Jones
----------------------

🇺🇸 **What is Boeing's secret plane? Firm teases mysterious design believed to be an electric 'hairdryer' craft it boasts will 'change future air power'**
http://archive.is/KykaS

Boeing's defence arm is set to unveil a mysterious new plane - and says it will 'change future air power'

The aerospace giant's defence arm teased the new craft, covered in a black cloth.

It is believed to be a radical new craft using electric 'hairdryer' to allow it to land and take off vertically. 

The craft, seen hidden under a cloth, is believed to be a radical new craft using electric 'hairdryer' to allow it to land and take off vertically.

Boeing will unveil their mystery aircraft on December 19th.

Speculation has so far said it could anything from a new spaceplane to an electric fighter jet. 

Earlier this year Boeing bought Aurora Flight Sciences Corp, which is developing the autonomous, electric-powered and long-flight-duration aircraft for its commercial and military businesses. 

Last year, Aurora won a contract for more than $89 million for the vertical take off and landing X-plane, beating Boeing in the process.

Jones
---------------------------

🇺🇸 **FLASHBACK: ANTIFA ADMITS TRAIN TRACK SABOTAGE NEAR TACOMA TO ‘STOP FRACKING’Antifa behind Tacoma train wreck?**
http://archive.is/uMXQp

Editor’s Note: This since-deleted article from It’s Going Down, an Antifa affiliate, reveals how leftist activists planned on derailing freight trains near Tacoma, Washington, by pouring concrete on tracks.

Furthermore, according to the Gateway Pundit:

“Police have raided an Antifa encampment in Olympia, Washington, following a train being sabotaged by anti-fracking activists — but the anarchists claiming credit for the act have vowed to continue until ‘every officer is down.’”

Over the past several weeks, dozens of Antifa activists have camped next to the train tracks to stop fracking supplies from leaving the Port of Olympia.

Nearly 30 masked activists confronted Union Pacific Railroad officers last Wednesday when they attempted to clear the camps from the railroad right-of-way.

Jones
---------------------------------

🇷🇺 **Kaspersky Lab sues Trump administration over software ban**
<https://archive.is/8bEHX>

Russian cybersecurity giant Kaspersky Lab is suing the Trump administration over its decision to ban the use of the company’s products by federal agencies. Washington thus deprived Kaspersky Lab of due process, the company argued.

In September the US government's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) banned federal agencies from using Kaspersky Lab antivirus products, citing national security concerns grounded in the fact that the company is Moscow-based. The company’s founder and chief executive Eugene Kaspersky denounced the move as “baseless paranoia at best.”

The lawsuit claims the government largely relied on uncorroborated media reports as evidence in a review of Kaspersky software. The company asks the court to overturn the ban and officially acknowledge that the Russian company’s products do not pose any security threat to US government computers, Reuters reported.
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🇬🇧 **UK’s brand new £3.1bn aircraft carrier has sprung a leak**
<https://archive.is/dDOlJ>

Britain’s future flagship, the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth, has sprung a leak. The ship, which will eventually be loaded with a fleet of F-35 fighter jets, is reportedly taking on 200 liters of seawater every hour.
As a result, the carrier may need to be taken back into dry dock. It currently resides in Portsmouth.

The leak is thought to be caused by a faulty seal, which insiders blame on Aircraft Carrier Alliance (ACA), the partnership that built the vessel. The ‘significant’ fault on the £3.1 billion ($4.1 billion) carrier was discovered during sea trials when an issue with a propeller shaft was spotted. Queen Elizabeth herself commissioned the warship earlier this month, in a huge ceremony in Portsmouth, also attended by Prime Minister Theresa May.

The ACA, which will foot the bill for the repairs, played down the damage. A spokesman told the Sun: “It does not prevent her from sailing again and her sea trials program will not be affected. It is normal practice for a volume of work and defect resolution to continue following vessel acceptance.”
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🇺🇸 **House Passes Final Tax Bill (227-203); Senate Votes Next on Republican Plan**
<https://archive.is/lIcjF>

The House on Tuesday approved the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades, voting along party lines to enact deep and permanent tax cuts for corporations and temporary cuts for individuals. The vote puts Republicans one Senate vote and one presidential signature away from their first significant legislative achievement.

The Senate is expected to approve the $1.5 trillion tax bill on Tuesday night or Wednesday, clearing the way for President Trump to sign it into law by Christmas.

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, speaking on the House floor, called the vote “a turning point” saying “this is our chance, this is our moment.”

Passage of the bill came over the strenuous objections of Democrats in both the House and the Senate, who have accused Republicans of giving a gift to corporations and the wealthy and driving up the federal debt in the process.
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🇸🇦 **Saudi 'intercepts Yemen rebel missile over Riyadh'**
<https://archive.is/Bkl0Y>

Saudi Arabia has intercepted a rocket fired by rebel Houthi fighters in Yemen, who declared a “new chapter” in its confrontation with the kingdom. The Volcano 2-H ballistic missiles was aimed at the al-Yamma royal palace in Riyadh, but was stopped by Saudi’s air defences.

Reporters heard a blast and saw a plume of smoke rising above the Saudi capital near the palace, where King Salman chairs weekly government meetings and hosts foreign dignitaries. It was the second time in as many months that a rebel projectile had reached as far inside the kingdom as Riyadh, and while audacious, neither caused any real damage.

In a televised address, rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said the range of missiles in the Houthi arsenal was being extended. "Our long hand will reach other places, God willing," he said.
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🇸🇪 **Migrants Charged with "Ruthless" Gang Rape of Woman Walk Free**
<https://archive.is/6UVp8>

Five migrant men in Sweden charged with what one lawyer described as the worst gang rape she had ever worked on have all walked free. The incident, which happened in the Fittja area of Stockholm last summer, involved up to 20 men but only five were identified and charged.

According to the 30-year-old victim, the migrants “discussed who would get to use me first” before pulling her up to the second floor of a stairwell. “Many stood waiting for their turn,” she added. The migrants allegedly smashed the woman’s head against the staircase, knocking her unconscious, as well as threatening her with a knife. The entire incident was caught on surveillance cameras. **After the brutal ordeal, the woman tried to flag down numerous locals for help but was ignored each time.**

The five men were all acquitted by the Södertörn District Court earlier today on the basis that the woman had sex with them voluntarily. Despite the court acknowledging that the victim had sustained injuries, because “the origin of or reason for them could not be established,” they were not admissible as evidence of violent rape.

Despite reports that the men had filmed the incident on their cellphones and were seen laughing throughout, the court dismissed this because “videos of the incident were not found.” Presumably, the notion that the perpetrators simply deleted the videos was not considered.
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🇺🇸 **Trump secures major victory as Senate Republicans pass $1.5 trillion tax cut bill, paving the way for a final House vote today after earlier hiccup**
<https://archive.is/toeZV>

The Senate passed the GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax cut early Wednesday morning, leaving just one technical hurdle and President Trump’s signature as the final steps before the president’s top legislative priority becomes reality.

There was little last-minute drama in the Senate, where the final tally was 51-48, hardly different from the original version that cleared the Senate earlier this month. Not a single Democrat voted for it, just as no House Democrat voted for a version Tuesday.

Moments after the bill was passed, Trump was quick to hail its passing and said if approved by the House Wednesday morning, there will be a news conference at 1pm. 'The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill,' he tweeted just after 1am. 'Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed. Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote.'

A wave of protesters provided one of the biggest bursts of emotion. A group of people yelled out ‘Kill the bill, don't kill us!’ as the final vote was being taken.
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🇪🇺 **EU launches unprecedented censure process against Poland**
<https://archive.is/kruLF>

European Commission has taken an unprecedented step toward possibly imposing sanctions on Poland over judicial laws seen as violating Europe's basic democratic values, Polish PAP news agency reports. Polish Justice Minister Zbigniew Ziobro confirmed the step on Wednesday, saying he received the decision, AP reports.

According to PAP , the Commission triggered what is formally known as Article 7, a procedure that could eventually lead to Poland losing its voting rights in the bloc.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW
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🇬🇧 **Accused child rapist walks free after police are caught keeping evidence from lawyers… again**
<https://archive.is/9pqv1>

An accused child rapist has walked free after police were caught withholding crucial evidence from lawyers for the second time in a week. The defendant was released after prosecutors offered no evidence in court. It is understood that evidence recovered from the phone of the complainant by police was handed over to defense lawyers for Isaac Itiary, who had been accused of raping an underage girl, undermining the prosecution’s case.

Allan, 22, was charged with 12 counts of rape and sexual assault, with his trial collapsing after police were ordered to hand over thousands of phone records that had been withheld from the prosecution and defense teams. The 40,000 messages were between Allan’s accuser and her friends, revealing that the alleged victim had pestered the man she accused of rape for "casual sex."

One text message, allegedly sent to a friend weeks before Mr Allan was arrested, reportedly said “it wasn’t against my will or anything.”

**Both bungled cases involved the same investigating police officer.** The detective remains on full duty in the sexual offences investigation unit, as confirmed by the Met. The Met has confirmed that a review of all digital evidence for any open sexual assault case will now be undertaken.
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🇺🇸 **Federal Judge Rules Trump Must Allow Pregnant Illegal Teens to Obtain Abortions**
<https://archive.is/8WsaW>

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of Washington, DC, an Obama appointee, issued a temporary restraining order that, as reported by the Washington Times, would allow the teens’ “constitutional right to decide whether to carry their pregnancies to term — including their right to change their minds regarding the same.”

The ruling requires the Trump administration “to transport” the teens or “allow them “to be transported, promptly and without delay … to an abortion provider, in order to obtain any pregnancy or abortion-related medical care.” The judge stayed her order for the girls to be allowed to have abortions, however, for 24 hours in order to “preserve the opportunity to seek emergency relief from the D.C. Circuit” should the Trump administration decide to appeal.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has been battling the Trump administration’s policy which states that federally funded shelters must not take “any action that facilitates” an abortion for an illegal immigrant minor without “approval from the Director of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.”
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🇺🇸 **GOP tax bill clears Congress, heads to Trump**
<https://archive.is/kfvLF>

Republicans in Congress have delivered an epic overhaul of U.S. tax laws to President Donald Trump, bringing generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans, and billions to be added to the national debt.

The $1.5 trillion package, billed as a huge boon for the middle class and a spark to economic growth, provides smaller tax cuts for middle- and low-income families.

The GOP-dominated House voted — a second time — along party lines on Wednesday to approve the complex legislation, following a narrow vote after midnight in the Senate.

The measure slashes the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent. The tax cuts for business are permanent, but reductions for individuals and families expire after a decade. The standard deduction used by around two-thirds of Americans will nearly double to $24,000 for married couples.
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🇬🇧 **Acid attack epidemic makes parts of London ‘no go’ areas, Labour MP warns**
<https://archive.is/luD1k>

An ever-growing epidemic of acid attacks is turning parts of London into ‘no go’ zones, a Labour MP has claimed. It adds to earlier claims that London has become the ‘acid attack capital of the world.’

The House of Commons heard on Wednesday that the spate of acid attacks in London had made large swathes of the capital “no go” areas for moped delivery drivers. The comments were made by Labour MP Stephen Tims during a debate on the acid crimes hitting the country.

Tims said “significant action” is needed to tackle the issue as the UK has become the country with “the highest rate of attacks per capita” in the world. “I’ve had a number of discussions with representatives of moped delivery drivers and they say there are now parts of London where their drivers are not willing to go because of the danger of attack,” he said.
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🇺🇸 **American Companies Rain Down Cash On Employees In Response To Trump Tax Cuts**
<https://archive.is/oK6Q2>

After Republicans passed sweeping tax reform Wednesday, some of the largest employers in America began dropping cash bombs on their employees. The businesses also pledged to invest hundreds of millions of dollars into the American economy. The GOP tax bill cuts the corporate tax rate nearly in half.

Here is a round up, *so far*, of companies that are celebrating the tax cuts by enriching their employees:

AT&T announced they would “invest an additional $1 billion in the United States in 2018 and pay a special $1,000 bonus to more than 200,000 AT&T U.S. employees.” Comcast will be giving hundreds of thousands of employees $1,000 bonuses and investing $50 billion into jobs and infrastructure.

Boeing will be dumping dollars into investment in their workforce and charitable giving. Wells Fargo will be raising their minimum wage to $15 an hour and donating $400 million to charity and philanthropy. Over 13,000 employees of Fifth Third Bancorp will get a $1,000 bonus. They also announced that they are raising their minimum wage to $15 fan hour.
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🇺🇸 **Jeff Sessions Orders New Look Into Uranium One Criminal Investigation**
<https://archive.is/5EH66>

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered prosecutors at the Department of Justice to begin interviewing FBI agents about evidence they uncovered in a criminal investigation into a highly-controversial uranium deal that involves Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Multiple law enforcement officials confirmed Sessions’ orders to prosecutors, NBC News reported exclusively in the early morning hours on Thursday. At the heart of the issue is the 2010 Uranium One deal which Hillary Clinton signed off on while she was Secretary of State at the U.S. State Department.

An October report revealed that the FBI started gathering evidence in 2009 of Russian officials engaged in bribery, kickbacks, extortion, and money laundering that were involved in the Uranium One deal. Current special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating alleged and unproven claims of "collusion" between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, was the acting FBI director at the time of the investigation into the Russian officials who were engaged “in a bribery scheme aimed at growing their atomic energy business inside the United States.”
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🇨🇺 **Raul Castro to stay in office until April as Cuba extends term**
<http://archive.is/kPk8o>

HAVANA (BLOOMBERG) – A Castro will be Cuba’s president for at least a little longer.

Raul Castro, who replaced his brother Fidel as Cuba’s president in 2008, will remain in the post two months longer than originally scheduled, after the National Assembly voted on Thursday (Dec 21) to extend the current legislative term until April 19.

Castro had previously announced he would step down Feb 24.

Jose Luis Toledo Santander, the assembly’s chairman of constitutional and legal affairs, said the widespread destruction caused by Hurricane Irma in September made it impossible to complete the transition to a new president and ministers in February.

10-10
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🇺🇸 **Papa John's founder out as CEO weeks after NFL comments**
<http://archive.is/SeEfm>

Papa John's says its founder John Schnatter will step down as CEO next month, about two months after he publicly criticized the NFL leadership over national anthem protests by football players.

The company said Thursday that Schnatter remains chairman but be replaced as chief executive by Chief Operating Officer Steve Ritchie on Jan. 1.

Schnatter had blamed slowing sales growth on the outcry surrounding NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. Papa John's International Inc. is an NFL sponsor and advertiser.

10-10
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🇺🇸 **Trump signs tax cut bill into law**
<https://archive.is/75Lug>

Donald Trump signed his tax cut bill on Friday morning in the Oval Office with little fanfare in his final order of business before the start of his Christmas holiday away from the White House.

The president also signed a last-minute resolution to keep the government's lights on through January 19, averting a partial shutdown.

Trump highlighted a provision that sets aside $4.6 billion for missile defense before he affixed his signature to the bill, saying in a tweet that the funds were 'much needed.' He also tweeted that the tax reform legislation was the 'biggest ever' cut, repeating a claim that's repeatedly been disproven.

He's making his way now to Palm Beach, Florida, where his family has been awaiting his arrival for days at Mar-a-Lago, the private resort he has turned into his Winter White House.
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**Video**

https://twitter.com/PressSec/status/944243091212554240?s=17

————————

🇺🇸 **J20 protest trial latest: Anti-Trump activists found not guilty and avoid lengthy prison sentences**
https://archive.fo/HDBKM

Six defendants facing decades in prison for protesting Donald Trump’s inauguration have been found not guilty, in a trial that raised serious questions about First Amendment rights in the age of Trump.

A jury in Washington, DC, cleared the defendants of all seven charges against them, which included rioting and multiple counts of property destruction. The defendants were the first of nearly 200 people due to stand trial for their involvement in the 20 January protests.

Jude Ortiz, a member of the Defend J20 team that mobilised to support the defendants, called the decision “a victory for political organising”.

In the late morning of 20 January, DC Police surrounded and arrested more than 200 of the participants in a tactic known as kettling. Authorities claim some of the participants had broken windows, thrown chairs, and even assaulted a limousine driver, according to an indictment.

In their opening arguments, however, the prosecution conceded they had no evidence that any of the first six defendants engaged in any of the property destruction themselves. Instead, the state urged jurors to convict based on the defendant’s participation in the march itself.

Multiple people in the courtroom burst into tears when Mr Wood, Ms Lawson, and their four co-defendants were cleared. Several of the 186 other defendants who have yet to stand trial were also in the courtroom that day. While their futures are less certain, observers said many of them celebrated along with the six who were cleared.

“It’s been rare in 2017 to have tears of joy,” Mr Ortiz said. ”So to hear every ‘not guilty’, one after the other....People were just sobbing out of joy and surprise.”
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🇺🇸 **Charlottesville renames street after woman who was killed in white nationalist rally**
<http://archive.is/6ZN7W>

Charlottesville, Va., has renamed a street in honor of the woman who was killed during the white nationalist rally in August.

The street where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed when a man drove a car into a crowd of counterprotesters at a “Unite the Right” rally was designated as "Heather Heyer Way.”

Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer spoke at the dedication for the street on Wednesday and read a proclamation announcing the honorary street name, according to C-Ville Weekly.

“The terror attack that resulted in Ms. Heyer’s death and serious injuries to dozens more shocked our community and touched the heart and soul of not only Charlottesville, but the entire country,” Signer said, reading the proclamation. “This honorary designation pays tribute to Ms. Heyer’s dedication to justice, fairness, equal rights for all and positive social change.”

“I’m proud of how she died,” Bro said at the event. “What other legacy could a mother ever want for her child?”

Bro said in an interview earlier this month that she has had to hide the location of her daughter’s grave, citing white supremacists who she says have threatened her and her family.

Bro has also said that she has blocked President Trump’s attempts to call her, saying that she was hurt by his comments after the rally that “both sides” are to blame for the violence.
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🇺🇸 **9th Circuit rules against Trump's third attempt at travel ban**
http://archive.is/3ON8s

A panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday ruled against the third iteration of President Trump's travel ban, saying it goes against federal law.

"We conclude that the President’s issuance of the Proclamation once again exceeds the scope of his delegated authority," the court said in its ruling.

The most recent iteration of the ban bars people from eight countries – six of which are predominantly Muslim – from coming to the U.S.

The San Francisco-based appeals court, however, said the Trump administration could continue to bar individuals from countries in the Middle East and North Africa from entering the U.S. if they do not have a "bonafide" relationship with someone in the U.S.

The court said the ruling would be put on hold pending any review by the Supreme Court.
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🇺🇸 ***Perfect day for a TERROR attack' Ex-US marine arrested over 'Christmas Day plot*** https://archive.fo/OIv6m#selection-415.0-415.81 THE FBI has arrested a former marine over alleged plans to launch a terror attack on Christmas Day, it has been revealed. Federal agents arrested Everitt Aaron Jameson, a 26-year-old Islam convert, in San Francisco, California.
It is claimed Mr Jameson said “Christmas was the perfect day” for a terror attack in San Francisco and "did not need an escape plan because he was ready to die”.
Officials said the suspect was talking to an undercover FBI agent and added that the tow truck driver was arrested earlier this week.
FBI documents allege he posted and liked pro-ISIS and pro-terrorism content on Facebook - which is what alerted him to authorities.
A source flagged the content to the FBI and Mr Jameson spoke to the source and an agent - who he thought were both high-ranking members of a terror group - between October and this week. -Always a fucking Ginger Soy Boy . . .

🇸🇾 **ISIS has over 10,000 fighters in Afghanistan, more arriving from Syria & Iraq – Moscow**
<https://archive.is/y7Mki>

The terrorist group Islamic State has over 10,000 loyal fighters in Afghanistan, and Moscow believes the US may be underestimating their threat, Russia’s special envoy says.

Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) was pushed out of their home base in Syria and Iraq this year by separate military operations of a US-led coalition, and the Syrian Army backed by Russia. Many of the IS fighters who fled those countries ended up in Afghanistan, where the terrorist group has as many as 10,000 troops at the moment, Zamir Kabulov, the head of the Middle East department in the Russian Foreign Ministry, said.

“Russia was among the first nations to ring alarm about the expansion of IS into Afghanistan,” he told RIA Novosti. “Lately IS has boosted its presence in the country. Our estimate is that their force there is stronger than 10,000 troops and is continuing to grow. That includes new fighters with combat experience received in Syria and Iraq.”

IS forces are strongest in the north of Afghanistan on the border with Tajikistan and Turkmenistan – a point of concern for Russia, which has close historic ties with both nations, Kabulov added.
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🇺🇸 **Ohio Governor John Kasich Signs Down Syndrome Abortion Ban Into Law**
<https://archive.is/igWSt>

On Friday, Ohio Governor John Kasich signed into law a bill that prohibits doctors from performing abortions on infants prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome.

The bill, referred to as the "Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act," made its final passage through the state legislature on December 13, moving on to the governor’s desk to be officially signed. Additionally, according to the Associated Press, the law "requires the state medical board to revoke the physician's license if convicted."

Ohio joins North Dakota and Indiana by signing such legislation into law. However, as the Associated Press notes, a federal judge has blocked Indiana’s version of the law. Unsurprisingly, pro-abortion activists are challenging the constitutionality of Ohio’s legislation, as well as claiming that it’s simply a ploy to restrict all abortion.
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🇺🇸 **Las Vegas shooting: FBI official says info on motive may take until next October to release**
<https://archive.is/YKX2x>

Want to finally know why Stephen Paddock gunned down 58 people in Las Vegas in early October? Be prepared to wait a while – possibly until next October – the chief of the FBI’s Las Vegas office revealed this week during an interview in which he said the agency probably wouldn't brief the public until their report is released sometime before the tragedy’s first anniversary.

Rouse told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the FBI has interviewed around 400 people worldwide in connection to Paddock and has brought in the same number of specialists to help document evidence. He said the Route 91 Harvest music festival site took investigators 14 days to comb over, while Paddock’s room and hotel hallway at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino took 13. Important items found at both sites have been sent to the FBI's central lab in Virginia.

“We’re going to have, I think, the best digital schematic of what happened and where it happened and how it happened that you can come up with,” Rouse said. He added that FBI investigators have 22,000 hours of surveillance and cellphone footage and 250,000 photos to look over, amounting to about 40 terabytes of data.

“We didn’t leave anything uncovered,” Rouse told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “And again, the casinos, with their support, let us track down a lot of information of who may have had contact with that person. And it was very helpful to us.”
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