🇺🇸 **Lights out: Power cut in California to prevent deadly fires**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/pK84r>

More than a million people in California were without electricity Wednesday as the state’s largest utility pulled the plug to prevent a repeat of the past two years when windblown power lines sparked deadly wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes.

The unpopular move that disrupted daily life — prompted by forecasts calling for dry, gusty weather — came after catastrophic fires sent Pacific Gas & Electric Co. into bankruptcy and forced it to take more aggressive steps to prevent blazes.

The drastic measure caused long lines at supermarkets and hardware stores as people rushed to buy ice, coolers, flashlights and batteries across a swath of Northern California. Cars backed up at traffic lights that had gone dark. Schools and universities canceled classes. And many businesses closed.

Most of downtown Sonoma was pitch black when Joseph Pokorski, a retiree, showed up for his morning ritual of drinking coffee, followed by beer and cocktails.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Amazon Workers May Be Watching Your Cloud Cam Home Footage**
*Bloomberg/Yahoo* - <https://archive.fo/6OZBe>

Dozens of Amazon workers based in India and Romania review select clips captured by Cloud Cam, according to five people who have worked on the program or have direct knowledge of it. Those video snippets are then used to train the AI algorithms to do a better job distinguishing between a real threat (a home invader) and a false alarm (the cat jumping on the sofa).

An Amazon team also transcribes and annotates commands recorded in customers’ homes by the company’s Alexa digital assistant, Bloomberg reported in April.

AI has made it possible to talk to your phone. It’s helping investors predict shifts in market sentiment. But the technology is far from infallible. Cloud Cam sends out alerts when it’s just paper rustling in a breeze. Apple Inc.’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa still occasionally mishear commands. One day, engineers may overcome these shortfalls, but for now AI needs human assistance. Lots of it.

At one point, on a typical day, some Amazon auditors were each annotating about 150 video recordings, which were typically 20 to 30 seconds long, according to the people, who requested anonymity to talk about an internal program.

The clips sent for review come from employee testers, an Amazon spokeswoman said, as well as Cloud Cam owners who submit clips to troubleshoot such issues as inaccurate notifications and video quality. “We take privacy seriously and put Cloud Cam customers in control of their video clips,” she said, adding that unless the clips are submitted for troubleshooting purposes, “only customers can view their clips.”

Nowhere in the Cloud Cam user terms and conditions does Amazon explicitly tell customers that human beings are training the algorithms behind their motion detection software.
--------------

🇵🇱 **Poland's ruling PiS wins election: results from 72% of constituencies**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/CV8O9>

Poland’s ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party has won Sunday’s parliamentary elections with 45.8% of votes, according to official results from 72% of constituencies published by the electorial committee on Monday.

Poland’s biggest opposition grouping Civic Coalition (KO) has come second with 25.5% support, followed by the leftist alliance, The Left, with 11.9%. The bloc of agrarian PSL and anti-system Kukiz’15 was at 9.0% while the far-right Confederation got 6.7% based on the partial official results.

It is still unclear whether it is the PiS or the opposition that would wins most seats in the upper house of parliament - the Senate.
----------------

🇸🇾🇹🇷🇺🇸 **US hails Turkish cease-fire; Kurds must vacate border area**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/griKG>

The U.S. and Turkey agreed Thursday to a cease-fire in the Turks’ deadly attacks on Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, requiring the Kurds to vacate the area in an arrangement that largely solidifies Turkey’s position and aims in the weeklong conflict. The deal includes a conditional halt to American economic sanctions.

After negotiations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence hailed the five-day cease-fire as the way to end the bloodshed caused by Turkey’s invasion. He remained silent on whether it amounted to a second abandonment of America’s former Kurdish allies in the fight against the Islamic State group.

Turkish troops and Turkish-backed Syrian fighters launched their offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria a week ago, two days after President Donald Trump suddenly announced he was withdrawing the U.S. military from the area. Trump was widely criticized for turning on the Kurds, who had taken heavy casualties as partners with the U.S. in fighting IS extremists since 2016.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said the United States had accepted the idea of a “safe zone” long pushed by Turkey, and he insisted Turkish armed forces will control the zone. He also made clear that Turkey will not stop at a previously limited zone; he said Turkish control of the Syrian side of the border must extend all the way to the Iraqi border.

The commander of Kurdish-led forces in Syria, Mazloum Abdi , told Kurdish TV, “We will do whatever we can for the success of the cease-fire agreement.” But one Kurdish official, Razan Hiddo, declared that Kurdish people would refuse to live under Turkish occupation.

Trump had no reservations, hailing “a great day for civilization.”
--------------

🇨🇳🇺🇸 **China wanted Rockets GM sacked for Hong Kong tweet, Adam Silver says**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/3e2PG>

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Chinese officials wanted Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey to be fired for his tweet supporting anti-government protesters in Hong Kong, and the league emphatically dismissed
the request. Silver also said that the league is already feeling "substantial" financial losses because of the Chinese reaction to Morey's deleted tweet.

"Obviously, we made clear that we were being asked to fire him by the Chinese government, by the parties we dealt with, government and business," Silver said Thursday during an appearance at the Time 100 Health Summit in New York.
"We said, 'There's no chance that's happening. There's no chance we'll even discipline him.'"

Silver also said he isn't sure what will happen to the NBA's relationship with China, which has been growing steadily over the last three decades.

"I felt we had made enormous progress in terms of building cultural exchanges with the Chinese people," Silver said. "Again, I have regret that much of that was lost. And I'm not even sure where we'll go from here."

The standoff appeared to deepen with Silver's latest comments; China's Foreign Ministry denied making any demand that Morey be fired over the tweet on Friday.

"The Chinese government has never raised these kinds of demands," ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters at his regular press briefing, according to French news agency AFP.

The league and LeBron James, one of its biggest stars, have been heavily criticized by some U.S. lawmakers for the perception that they caved to the Chinese regime. Morey has not been rebuked publicly by the league,
and Silver has said that the league will support his freedom of expression.
----------------

🇺🇸 **38 people cited for violations in Clinton email probe**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/SQfFu>

The State Department has completed its internal investigation into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s use of private email and found violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.

The investigation, launched more than three years ago, determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former State Department officials but were not identified.

Although the report identified violations, it said investigators had found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information.” However, it also made clear that Clinton’s use of the private email had increased the vulnerability of classified information.

The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to a Clinton representative.

The investigation covered 33,000 emails that Clinton turned over for review after her use of the private email account became public. The department said it found a total of 588 violations involving information then or now deemed to be classified but could not assign fault in 497 cases.

For current and former officials, culpability means the violations will be noted in their files and will be considered when they apply for or go to renew security clearances. For current officials, there could also be some kind of disciplinary action. But it was not immediately clear what that would be.

The report concluded “that the use of a private email system to conduct official business added an increased degree of risk of compromise as a private system lacks the network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities of State Department networks.”
--------------

🇬🇧 **UK lawmakers vote to delay final Brexit decision again**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/ryauF>

In a major blow to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, U.K. lawmakers voted Saturday to postpone a decision on whether to back his Brexit deal with the European Union, throwing a wrench into government plans to leave the bloc at the end of this month.

At a special session of Parliament intended to ratify the deal, lawmakers voted 322-306 to withhold their approval on the Brexit deal until legislation to implement it has been passed.

The vote aims to ensure that the U.K. can’t crash out of the EU without a divorce deal on the scheduled Oct. 31 departure date. But it means Johnson must ask the EU to delay Britain’s departure, since Parliament previously passed a law compelling him to do that if a Brexit divorce deal were not passed by Saturday.

The government still hopes it can pass the needed legislation by the end of the month so the U.K. can leave on time.

A defiant Johnson said after the vote that he was not “daunted or dismayed” by the result and would push ahead. He planned to introduce the Brexit-implementing legislation to Parliament on Monday.

He implied he would request a three-month delay as required but argued against any postponement.

“I will not negotiate a delay with the EU and neither does the law compel me to do so,” Johnson said. “I will tell our friends and colleagues in the EU exactly what I’ve told everyone in the last 88 days that I’ve served as prime minister: that further delay would be bad for this country, bad for the European Union and bad for democracy.”

Opposition lawmakers warned that Johnson must ask for the extension or face legal consequences.

“Any failure of a prime minister who thinks he is above the law — well, prime minister, you’ll find yourself in court,” said Ian Blackford of the Scottish National Party.
--------------

🇨🇦 **Canada’s Trudeau wins 2nd term but loses majority**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/rVqIY>

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau won a second term in Canada’s national elections Monday, losing the majority but delivering unexpectedly strong results despite having been weakened by a series of scandals that tarnished his image as a liberal icon.

Trudeau’s Liberal party took the most seats in Parliament, giving it the best chance to form a government. However, falling short of a majority meant the Liberals would have to rely on an opposition party to pass legislation.

“It’s not quite the same as 2015. It’s not all owing to the leader,” said Robert Bothwell, a professor of Canadian history and international relations at the University of Toronto. “Trudeau is prime minister because the rest of the party was able to pull itself together and prevail. While Trudeau certainly deserves credit for what has happened he’s really going to have to demonstrate qualities that he hasn’t yet shown.”

Still, the results were a victory for Trudeau, whose clean-cut image took a hit after old photos of him in blackface and brownface surfaced last month.

“I’m surprised at how well Trudeau has done,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto. “I don’t think anybody expected Trudeau to get a majority but they are not that far off.”

With results still trickling in early Tuesday, the Liberals had 156 seats — 14 short of the 170 needed for a majority in the 338-seat House of Commons.

“Tonight Canadians rejected division and negativity. They rejected cuts and austerity. They elected a progressive agenda and strong action on climate change,” Trudeau said early Tuesday.
--------------

🇨🇦 **Transgender sex pest loses big, estheticians not forced to wax ‘her’ balls**
*RT* - <https://archive.fo/QhkKN>

Jessica Yaniv lost a court case against multiple women who refused to wax her male genitals; a win for Human Rights in Canada as estheticians will not be punished for refusing services because they don’t consent to handling d**k.

In 2018, the 32 year trans individual filed sixteen human rights complaints against businesses promoting on Facebook Marketplace. The estheticians all operated salons which offered waxing procedures, and in different situations Yaniv sought to remove hair on her arms, legs, and scrotum. Due to inexperience or religion, the women denied her requests, to which she declared it was discrimination on the basis of gender identity.

Today news broke that the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal determined it is not a violation for a service provider to not wax a type of genitals they are not trained for, or haven’t consented to wax; a pleasant turn of events for vulnerable women who should never be forced to touch male genitalia.

For the past year this story has been what can only be best summed up as a circus. Yaniv not only has a history of racist rhetoric, a factoid that makes her targeting of largely immigrant-owned businesses stand out, but there is overwhelming evidence that she is a pervert.
--------------

🇭🇰 **Controversial Hong Kong extradition bill officially WITHDRAWN after 20 weeks of protests & rioting**
*RT* - <https://archive.fo/0SA9X>

Hong Kong authorities officially withdrew the extradition bill that has sparked months-long massive protests and violent riots across the city.

The city’s security chief John Lee announced that the bill was effectively withdrawn on Wednesday. In response, several opposition lawmakers tried to heckle Lee’s speech, demanding his resignation.

The bill, which would have allowed the extradition of criminal suspects from Hong Kong, China’s self-governing territory, to mainland China triggered massive protests in summer. Protesters and human rights campaigners feared that Beijing may use the legislation to target dissidents.

While some rallies remained peaceful, others spiraled into widespread rioting and fierce clashes with police.

Reacting to the unrest, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam suspended work on the bill and later said that the draft legislation was de facto “dead.” She also offered dialogue with the residents to defuse the situation.

The protesters, however, refused to back down, saying that the authorities have reacted too late, and axing the bill alone is no longer enough. Protest leaders have been warning that anti-government rallies will continue until a number of their other demands are met; these include granting amnesty in relation to the riots and carrying out election reform.

Prominent anti-government campaigner Agnes Chow reiterated on Wednesday that the withdrawal of the extradition bill came “too late” and called on Hongkongers not to “give up” and to continue protesting.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Tesla Stock Soars 21% After Impressive Q3 Earnings Beat**
*IBT* - <https://archive.fo/9KUvz>

Shares of Tesla Inc. skyrocketed 21% in after hours trading Wednesday after the world's leading maker of electric vehicles (EVs) reported a spike in profit in its third quarter earnings report that buoyed investor enthusiasm.

Tesla's Q3 earnings report released after the bell on Wall Street saw the company's share price balloon to $308.25, up a huge 21.03%, and the highest since February. The stock opened at $254.50 and traded flat through the
entire day until closing. Then came the surprisingly positive Q3 earnings report.

Tesla reported Q3 revenue of $6.3 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $1.86. Analysts polled by FactSet predicted sales of $6.45 billion in Q3 while Estimize placed Tesla revenue at $6.60 billion. Estimize is a
crowdsourced platform that aggregates estimates from analysts, executives, fund managers, and academics. Other Wall Street analysts were looking forward to revenue of $6.517 billion and a loss of $0.15 per share.

That Tesla reported a profit was a welcome surprise. The company revealed a profit of $1.91 per share (Non-GAAP), which was a tad below expectation for revenue but ahead of expectations for earnings.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected Tesla to report an adjusted quarterly loss of $0.46 per share. Estimize analysts expected Tesla to report an adjusted loss of $0.29 per share.
----------------

🇬🇧 **Thirty-nine victims found dead in truck near London were Chinese**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/mgQDT>

The 39 people found dead in the back of a truck near London are believed to be Chinese nationals, police said on Thursday, as they questioned the driver detained on suspicion of murder.

Paramedics and police found the 31 men and eight women’s bodies on Wednesday in a truck container on an industrial estate at Grays, about 20 miles (32 km) east of the British capital.

For years, illegal immigrants have attempted to reach Britain stowed away in trucks, often from the European mainland. In the biggest tragedy, 58 Chinese were found dead in a tomato truck in 2000 at the port of Dover.

“We read with heavy heart the reports about the death of 39 people in Essex, England,” the Chinese embassy said in a statement, adding further clarification was being sought with police.

Essex police said their priority was ensuring dignity for the victims during their inquiry.

“Each of the 39 people must undergo a full coroner’s process to establish a cause of death before we move on to attempting to identify each individual within the trailer,” police added in a statement,
saying that would be a time-consuming operation.

“We might not have all the answers straight away.”

Police have identified the truck driver as a 25-year-old man from Northern Ireland and have searched three properties there as part of the investigation.

A source familiar with the investigation identified the man as Mo Robinson from the Portadown area of the British province.

The trailer part of the truck arrived at Purfleet docks in Essex, southern England, having come from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge - as did the vehicle involved in 2000.

Its red cab unit, which had “Ireland” emblazoned on the windscreen along with the message “The Ultimate Dream, entered Britain via Holyhead in north Wales, having started its journey in Dublin, police said.
----------------

🇬🇧 **Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage will not run in UK election**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.md/SruL3>

Nigel Farage, the leader of Britain’s upstart Brexit Party, said on Sunday he would not stand in next month’s election, choosing instead to campaign countrywide against Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s EU divorce deal.

“I have thought very hard about this: How do I serve the cause of Brexit best?” he told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show.

“Do I find a seat and try to get myself into parliament or do I serve the cause better traversing the length and breadth of the United Kingdom supporting 600 candidates, and I’ve decided the latter course is the right one.”

Farage, an anti-EU campaigner who has stood for parliament unsuccessfully seven times, set up the Brexit Party this year and swiftly won the most votes in Britain in European elections in May.

His announcement this week that the party would contest every seat on Dec. 12 was seen as a potential setback for Johnson.

It risks splitting the vote of Brexit supporters in an election that will once again pit those who want to leave the European Union against those who want to stay, more than three years after Britain
voted to quit the bloc in a referendum.
----------------

🇸🇦 **Saudi Aramco Heads For Possible Record-setting Market Debut**
*IBT* - <https://archive.md/fn21j>

Saudi Arabia on Sunday announced the stock market debut of energy giant Aramco, in what could be the world's biggest IPO, underpinning Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's ambitions to overhaul the kingdom's oil-reliant economy.

After years of delay, Aramco said it plans to sell an unspecified number of shares on the Riyadh stock exchange, calling it a "historic" milestone for the world's most profitable company which pumps 10 percent of the world's oil.

However, the state firm did not set a date for the listing and said there were no current plans for an international stock sale, indicating that the long-discussed goal for a second offering on a foreign bourse had been put aside.

The launch, approved by regulators, forms the lynchpin of Prince Mohammed's ambitious plans to steer the economy away from oil by pumping tens of billions of dollars into a host of megaprojects and non-energy industries.

With analysts saying that Aramco could be valued at up to $1.7 trillion, the initial public offering (IPO) is potentially the world's biggest, depending on how much of the company it decides to sell.

"Today marks a significant milestone in the history of the company and important progress towards delivering Saudi Vision 2030, the kingdom's blueprint for sustained economic diversification and growth," Aramco chairman Yasir al-Rumayyan said.
----------------

🇺🇸 **McDonald’s Fires CEO Steve Easterbrook Over Relationship With Employee**
*Bloomberg* - <https://archive.md/uJe7m>

McDonald’s Corp. fired Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook because he had a consensual relationship with an employee against company policy, losing the strategist who had pushed the world’s largest restaurant
chain into delivery and online ordering.

The burger company’s board voted Friday to terminate Easterbrook, 52, after investigating the relationship, according to a statement Sunday. McDonald’s policy doesn’t allow the CEO to have a relationship with anyone
in the company. It promoted Chris Kempczinski to president and CEO.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Easterbrook sent an email to employees Sunday. “This was a mistake,” Easterbrook said in the email, according to the newspaper. “Given the values of the company, I agree with the
board that it is time for me to move on.”

With Easterbrook’s ouster, the burger chain loses a key architect of its push into electronic ordering and delivery -- parts of the business where it was threatening to lag behind competitors such as Burger King. To
stress urgency, he tied executives’ compensation to the speed and breadth of the rollout, and worked with vendors including UberEats.

For the most part the strategy has worked -- only a handful of other companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 have outperformed McDonald’s since he took over in 2015. But along the way, Easterbrook’s changes caused some
franchisees to chafe at the expenses being driven down from the corporate headquarters in Chicago.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Supreme Court lets Sandy Hook shooting lawsuit go forward**
*AP* - <https://archive.ph/SFnD8>

The Supreme Court said Tuesday that a survivor and relatives of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting can pursue their lawsuit against the maker of the rifle used to kill 26 people.

The justices rejected an appeal from Remington Arms, which argued it should be shielded by a 2005 federal law preventing most lawsuits against firearms manufacturers when their products are used in crimes.

The case is being watched by gun control advocates, gun rights supporters and gun manufacturers across the country because it has the potential to provide a roadmap for victims of other mass shootings to circumvent the federal law and sue the makers of firearms.

The court’s order allows the lawsuit filed in Connecticut state court by a survivor and relatives of nine victims who died at the Newtown, Connecticut, school on Dec. 14, 2012, to go forward.

The lawsuit says the Madison, North Carolina-based company should never have sold a weapon as dangerous as the Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle to the general public. It also alleges Remington targeted younger, at-risk males in marketing and product placement in violent video games. Opponents of the suit contend that gunman Adam Lanza alone is responsible for killing 20 first graders and six educators. He was 20 years old.
--------------

🇺🇸 **White House to use webcams to create live feed of border wall construction**
*Washington Post/MSN* - <https://archive.ph/ayuOY>

Jared Kushner and other senior Trump administration officials are planning to set up web cameras to live-stream construction of President Trump’s border wall, going against objections from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and senior U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials, according to four people familiar with the White House proposal.

“There will be a wall cam, and it’ll launch early next year,” said a senior White House official involved in the initiative, which aims to rally public support for hundreds of miles of new border barrier Trump wants in place by next year’s election.

The project, which already has cost $10 billion in taxpayer funds, is behind schedule and faces major hurdles, including the need to acquire miles of privately held land in Texas where barriers are slated to be built.

Kushner floated the idea during meetings in July, part of a messaging effort to push back against criticism that Trump has failed to deliver on the signature proposal of his 2016 campaign. The U.S. Army Corps and U.S. Customs and Border Protection have told Kushner that construction contractors do not want their proprietary techniques visible to competitors, according to four people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal discussions.

Officials at the Army Corps and CBP also were concerned the cameras would show U.S. work crews violating Mexican sovereignty because they sometimes must stray south of the border to maneuver their vehicles and heavy equipment in the desert. Because some of the remote border areas lack network access, the cameras will require their own web connectivity and attendants who could frequently reposition them to keep the lens pointed at the action.
--------------

🇺🇸 **ABC scrambles to figure out identity of Amy Robach leaker, who goes by ‘Ignotus’**
*Page Six* - <https://archive.ph/KD9kI>

ABC bigwigs are going potty to find the identity of the leaker behind the Amy Robach tape — after the alleged source posted a letter online slamming the network under the name “Ignotus,” a wizard from the “Harry Potter” franchise.

After junior producer Ashley Bianco denied leaking the tape, on which the anchor complained ABC News killed her interview with Jeffrey Epstein victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre, someone purporting to be the actual leaker and still working at the network posted a letter on Project Veritas blasting ABC’s “mission of seek and destroy” to conjure up the mysterious mole.

Project Veritas editors confirmed the missive was penned by the same ABC News insider who gave them the tape “in light of the actions taken against those wrongfully identified as involved in the leaking.”

An ABC insider said top execs were particularly puzzled by Ignotus. He is possibly best known as a Harry Potter character, a pure-blood wizard who has a cloak of invisibility, passed through generations, finally to Harry Potter. Ignotus also means “unknown” in Latin.

The ABC insider said, “They are freaking out over the Harry Potter reference. Does this mean the leaker is a Potter fan, likely one of the younger staff members who work the overnight shift? Or is the leaker citing Latin, which means he or she could be an older member of staff. I mean, how many young producers speak Latin these days?”

The source added ABC investigators have been rifling through staff emails, news logs and grilling staffers. The company has been isolating certain employees and putting them under pressure to turn on their colleagues in a bid to find the culprit, the source also claimed, adding the investigation reports back up to the very highest levels at HR at ABC’s parent company Disney.
--------------

🇺🇸 **Cenk Uygur of 'The Young Turks' Files to Run for Congresswoman Katie Hill's Seat One Day After Endorsing Sanders**
*Newsweek* - <https://archive.ph/tG5Nk>

Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, a progressive online news channel, filed for Congress on Wednesday to replace resigned former Congresswoman Katie Hill.

The 49-year-old, alongside his co-host, Ana Kasparian, also endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders for president on their show, praising his approach to "completely and utterly challenge the system," reports The Washington Times.

Uygur also said the Sanders' strategy will be quicker and more effective in passing major, progressive legislation.

"I think the right tack is revolution, not reform. And by revolution, I mean a political revolution, obviously," Uygur explained. "I don't want to negotiate with this current system. I think it will take too long and I don't think it's the right strategy."

He also said that when no one had the courage to go after Hillary Clinton in 2016, Sanders raised his hand and said "I'll do it."
--------------

🇺🇸 **Roger Stone guilty of witness tampering, lying to Congress**
*AP* - <https://archive.ph/kpMRZ>

He was proud of his reputation as a practitioner of political dirty tricks and frequently boasted about the extent of his contacts and the depth of his insider information.

Now Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, faces a prison sentence for a collection of crimes that essentially amounts to exaggerating how much he knew, then lying and scrambling to keep those boasts from being exposed.

Stone was convicted Friday of all seven counts in a federal indictment that accused him of lying to Congress, tampering with a witness and obstructing the House investigation into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the 2016 election.

He is the sixth Trump aide or adviser to be convicted of charges brought as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Stone has denied wrongdoing and consistently criticized the case against him as politically motivated. He did not take the stand during the trial and his lawyers did not call any witnesses in his defense.

Stone, 67, showed no visible reaction as the verdict was read aloud, count by count. He’s scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 6 and could face up to 20 years behind bars. Another former Trump campaign aide, Michael Caputo, was removed from the courtroom by security officers after he turned his back on the jury after the verdict was read.

Stone smirked at reporters as he left the courtroom, holding hands with his wife. As he walked out of the courthouse, Stone was asked if he had any comment on the verdict and replied: “none whatsoever” before he hopped into a waiting SUV with his wife.
--------------

🇨🇳🇭🇰 **Mainland Chinese Soldiers Take to Hong Kong Streets for First Time During Protests**
*WSJ* - <https://archive.ph/NU2fL>

In a highly symbolic action, mainland Chinese soldiers in black shorts and olive drab T-shirts jogged out of a barracks here to clear streets of bricks, metal bars and other debris left by demonstrators after one of the most violent weeks in five months of pro-democracy protests.

China has garrisoned People’s Liberation Army troops in Hong Kong since the 1997 handover of the former British colony. The soldiers here mostly keep to their barracks and are broadly meant to operate in the city only if the local government asks for assistance.

The presence of the soldiers, even dressed in what amounted to jogging attire, undertaking a brief but politically charged act of removing roadblocks left by Hong Kong’s protesters fueled speculation about the extent of their future role in the semiautonomous city.

The possibility that mainland China might use its military to crush Hong Kong’s protest movement has hung over the demonstrations for months. On Thursday, China’s leader personally commented on the unrest for the first time, exhorting Hong Kong to restore order. The Hong Kong government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday.

The soldiers’ cleanup effort, captured at least in part on local television, took place near a barracks in the Kowloon Tong neighborhood, close to one of the city’s universities, a number of which have been protest hot spots in the past week.

Most people in the city associate China’s army with its deployment at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989.
--------------

🇬🇧 **Prince Andrew QUITS royal duties: Duke 'steps back for foreseeable future' with Queen's permission in wake of Jeffrey Epstein row and pledges to help police inquiries**
*Daily Mail* - <https://archive.ph/tWKOu>

The Queen has given permission for the Duke of York to 'step back from public duties for the foreseeable future' amid criticism over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the duke said in a statement.

Prince Andrew this evening issued a statement saying it had become clear to him that his friendship with the billionaire paedophile had caused 'major disruption' to the Royal Family's work.

He also said that he is willing to help 'any appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations' into the sex offender, who killed himself in prison while facing sex trafficking charges.

It comes after the Duke was today seen for the first time since his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis on Saturday about Epstein which caused a furious public backlash.
--------------

🇬🇧 **Nato summit: Trump calls Trudeau 'two-faced' over video**
*BBC* - <https://archive.md/oWfzJ>

US President Donald Trump has called Justin Trudeau "two-faced" over a video in which the Canadian leader appears to mock him at a meeting of Nato leaders.
Footage showed Mr Trudeau, UK PM Boris Johnson and French leader Emmanuel Macron discussing an impromptu press conference held by Mr Trump.

*What was in the video?*

The brief video posted on Twitter by Canada's public broadcaster, CBC, showed Mr Trudeau chatting with a group of leaders, including Mr Johnson, Mr Macron,
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, and Queen Elizabeth's daughter Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace.

At the start of the footage, Mr Johnson asked Mr Macron: "Is that why you were late?"

Mr Trudeau then interjects: "He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top."

Mr Macron then appears to tell an anecdote, but his words are drowned out by background noise. An amused Mr Trudeau then replies: "Oh yeah, yeah, he announced...
[inaudible]. You just watched his team's jaw drop to the floor."

In response, Mr Trump said of Mr Trudeau: "He's two-faced... I find him to be a nice guy, but the truth is I called him out on the fact that he's not paying 2%
[of national GDP towards defence] and I guess he's not very happy about it.

"He's not paying 2% and he should be paying 2%. Canada - they have money. Look, I'm representing the US and he should be paying more than he's paying, he understands
it... I can imagine he's not that happy but that's the way it is."

Asked about the video, Mr Johnson told reporters: "It's complete nonsense. I don't know where that's come from."

Mr Trudeau later told reporters that they hadn't been laughing about Mr Trump's press conference, but about the location of the next G7 summit - Camp David, the US presidential
country retreat.

"I have a very good relationship with Trump," he added.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Muhammad makes list of top 10 baby names in the U.S. for first time**
*SFGate* - <https://archive.ph/5u0Ku>

The parenting website BabyCenter released its annual list of 100 most popular baby names for girls and boys in the United States, and for the 10th year in a row, Sophia is at the top. Liam knocked Jackson out of the No. 1 spot that he had held onto for six years straight.

The online parenting and pregnancy destination compiled the names of babies born to some 600,000 registered U.S. users in 2019 and combined those that sound the same but have different spellings (such as Sophia and Sofia) to create a true measure of popularity. The Social Security Administration also generates a list, pulling from the names of all babies born in the U.S., but the agency treats each unique spelling as a separate name.

Almost all of last year's top-10 darlings are still favorites this year, with a few exceptions. Revealing a rise in Arabic names, Muhammad and Aaliyah made the top 10 for the first time, replacing Mason and Layla.

Muhammad is considered the most popular name in the world, and UK news site Independent says it is "given to an estimated 150 million men and boys."

"Muhammad's been rising on BabyCenter top baby name lists around the world, so we knew it would soon break into the U.S. top 10," Linda Murray, BabyCenter's global editor in chief, said in a press statement. "Muslim families often choose Muhammad for firstborn sons to honor the prophet and bring blessings to the child. The name also has multiple spellings, and that helps a name get into the top 10."

Last year and in 2017, Muhammad ranked No. 14 on BabyCenter's list. This year, it saw a 29 percent jump in popularity to make No. 10. It first entered the top 100 in 2013 and has been climbing ever since.
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🇺🇸 **Uber reports more than 3,000 sexual assaults on 2018 rides**
*AP* - <https://archive.ph/FFMyB>

More than 3,000 sexual assaults were reported during U.S. Uber rides in 2018, the company said in a long-awaited safety report.

That figure includes 229 rapes across the company’s 1.3 billion rides. Uber noted that drivers and riders were both attacked, and that some assaults occurred between riders.

In 2017, the company said 2,936 sexual assaults were reported. Uber bases its numbers on reports from riders and drivers — meaning the actual numbers could be much higher. Sexual assaults commonly go unreported.

“I suspect many people will be surprised at how rare these incidents are; others will understandably think they’re still too common,” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted about the report. “Some people will appreciate how much we’ve done on safety; others will say we have more work to do. They will all be right.”

Uber’s share price dropped more than 1% in after-hours trading.
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🇺🇸 **Report: 6 Saudis Detained After Pensacola Shooting, Including 3 Who Filmed Attack**
*Breitbart/AFP* - <https://archive.ph/F6KP1>

Six Saudi nationals, including three who allegedly filmed Friday’s attack on Naval Air Station Pensacola, were reportedly detained after the shooting.

Breitbart News reported that a gunman opened fire at the air station Friday morning, killing three and wounding numerous others.

The Associated Press reports that the Pensacola gunman was an aviation student from Saudi Arabia, and NBC News reports that the gunman’s name was Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani.

Now the New York Times reports that six other Saudis were detained after the shooting and three of those six allegedly filmed the shooting as it unfolded in Pensacola.

The shooter was reportedly at the Pensacola to train. Former Gov. Rick Scott, currently Sen. Scott (R-FL), expressed concern that the Saudi attacker was in Pensacola training on a U.S. base.

The SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadist media, identified the gunman as Mohammed al-Shamrani, saying he had posted a short manifesto on Twitter that read: “I’m against evil, and America as a whole has turned into a nation of evil.”

“I’m not against you for just being American, I don’t hate you because your freedoms, I hate you because every day you supporting, funding and committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity,” he wrote.
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🇺🇸 **More than 100 miles of ‘new’ border wall expected by year-end**
*Washington Examiner* - <https://archive.ph/EQL7y>

The Trump administration expects to have more than 100 miles of “new” border wall built by Dec. 31, according to a top official.

“It keeps pressing ahead,” said Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security.

In an interview, Cuccinelli said about 90 miles of new and refurbished wall had been built under the administration’s effort.

“I would expect us to be in triple digits before we get into the new year,” added the former acting director of the U.S. Customs and Immigration Services.

The administration has struggled to get funding for President Trump’s top 2016 campaign promise and has tapped Pentagon money, which is starting to pour into the effort.

Once it arrives, Cuccinelli said that “we expect to be building at a much faster pace.”

Cuccinelli said that the actual construction hasn’t caused delays. “The hardest part of building isn’t building. It’s getting to the point where you break ground and can build,” he said.

Still, he said, as replacement of shabby fencing and construction of new wall picks up pace, it should reach a total of 400. “I’m still optimistic to get over another 400 milles. It’s a national example of good fences make good neighbors.”
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🇺🇸 **House Democrats Pass Bill to Fight Voter ID Laws Nationwide**
*PJ Media* - <https://archive.ph/rgpvr>

While the country is being distracted by the Democrats' bogus impeachment, House Democrats passed H.R. 4, the so-called Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, on a mostly party-line vote. Democrats claim the legislation is about fighting voter suppression—because when Democrats lose elections it can only be because of voter suppression, obviously. "Action is urgently needed to combat the brazen voter suppression campaign that is spreading across America," Nancy Pelosi claimed at a press event Friday before the bill's passage.

The bill, if signed into law, would require states to obtain "preclearance" from the Justice Department in order to make changes to voter laws—a blatant infringement of states' rights. Why would Democrats want such a law in place? According to House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019, "is a good step to right the wrongs that've dismantled the fundamental right to vote through Voter ID laws, purging voter rolls & closing majority-minority polling places."

The number one target of this legislation is clearly Voter ID laws. Many states passed Voter ID laws during the Obama administration and they were subsequently challenged in the courts. If this law had been in place during the Obama years, Eric Holder or Lorretta Lynch would have had the power to stop states from passing those laws.
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🇬🇧 **Johnson election victory propels Britain toward swift Brexit**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.md/8ggYK>

Britain was speeding toward Brexit on Friday after Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a crushing election victory, ending three years of uncertainty since the country decided to leave the bloc.

Exiting the European Union, a goal Johnson has pursued relentlessly since he put himself forward as the face of the victorious “Leave” campaign in a 2016 referendum, is Britain’s biggest leap into the unknown since World War Two.

Johnson is now free to lead his country swiftly out of the vast trading bloc, but faces the daunting task of negotiating trade deals around the world, not least with the EU itself, and of keeping a divided kingdom in one piece.

“We will get Brexit done on time by the 31st of January, no ifs, no buts, no maybes,” a triumphant Johnson told cheering supporters as a grey dawn broke over London.

Later, he went to Buckingham Palace to ask Queen Elizabeth for permission to form a new government - a formal step required under the UK’s constitutional monarchy system.
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🇺🇸 **The Space Force is officially the sixth military branch. Here’s what that means.**
*Air Force Times* - <https://archive.ph/E4nZg>

Air Force officials on Friday told reporters that people are clamoring for information on how to join the military’s latest branch. The short answer is, they’re going to have to wait a while.

President Trump officially signed the Space Force into law Friday, but for now, all that means is everyone at Air Force Space Command will now be assigned to Space Force. Over the next 18 months, officials said, the finer details of manning and training the new branch will be hammered out and set in motion.

“It’s going to be really important that we get this right. A uniform, a patch, a song ― it gets to the culture of a service,” said Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond, the head of Air Force Space Command and U.S. Space Command, who will lead Space Force until a chief of space operations is confirmed by the Senate. “There’s a lot of work going on toward that end. It’s going to take a long time to get to that point, but that’s not something we’re going to roll out on day one.”

For now, the 16,000 active-duty airmen and civilians who work at Air Force Space Command will be assigned to the Space Force, but nothing else will change. Uniforms, a rank structure, training and education are all to be determined, and for the foreseeable future, Space Force will continue to be manned by airmen, wearing, Air Force uniforms, subject to that service’s fitness program, personnel system and so on.

Meanwhile, U.S Space Command, which stood up in August, will continue to exist as a combatant command, similar to Cyber Command, Special Operations Command and others.

“There have been Army and Navy, especially, participants in the planning and the development of the staged roll-out that we have underway,” Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said.
--------------

🇦🇺 **Australia fires: The thousands of volunteers fighting the flames**
*BBC* - <https://archive.md/mbKMg>

"We're doing it because it's a passion. It's a brotherhood," says Daniel Knox.

"When that photo was taken of me, I had done a 15-hour shift out there."

He is one of thousands of Australians who've dropped their ordinary lives to battle the nation's raging fire crisis.

For weeks, the 22-year-old landscaper has lived around his phone, springing into action when called upon.

He is part of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service (NSW RFS) which calls itself "the world's largest volunteer firefighting organisation".
Its 70,000 members are extensively trained and, except for a few senior staff, mostly unpaid.

Mr Knox joined his local brigade in Sydney's south-west five years ago, when he was 17. He bonded with a senior member - Andrew O'Dwyer - over football and photography.

"He took me under his wing, looked after me and helped me out so much. The respect he gave me, a young bloke, even when I made mistakes... he was my brother," he told the BBC.

Last Thursday, Mr O'Dwyer and Geoffrey Keaton, the deputy captain at the Horsley Park Fire Brigade, were sent out late at night to a massive firefront.

Since September, close to 3,000 firefighters have been out every day in NSW battling blazes the size of small European countries.

Close to 90% of those people on the ground are unpaid volunteers, says the NSW RFS, the government-funded organisation leading the fight.
----------------

🇷🇺 **Russia 'successfully tests' its unplugged internet**
*BBC* - <https://archive.md/wip/EuGDF>

Russia has successfully tested a country-wide alternative to the global internet, its government has announced.

Details of what the test involved were vague but, according to the Ministry of Communications, ordinary users did not notice any changes.

The results will now be presented to President Putin.

Experts remain concerned about the trend for some countries to dismantle the internet.

"Sadly, the Russian direction of travel is just another step in the increasing breaking-up of the internet," said Prof Alan Woodward, a computer scientist at the University of Surrey.

"Increasingly, authoritarian countries which want to control what citizens see are looking at what Iran and China have already done.

"It means people will not have access to dialogue about what is going on in their own country, they will be kept within their own bubble."

How would a domestic internet work?
The initiative involves restricting the points at which Russia's version of the net connects to its global counterpart, giving the government more control over what its citizens can access.

"That would effectively get ISPs [internet service providers] and telcos to configure the internet within their borders as a gigantic intranet, just like a large corporation does," explained Prof Woodward.

So how would the government establish what some have dubbed a "sovereign Runet"?

Countries receive foreign web services via undersea cables or "nodes" - connection points at which data is transmitted to and from other countries' communication networks. These would need to be blocked or at least regulated.

This would require the co-operation of domestic ISPs and would be much easier to achieve if there were just a handful of state-owned firms involved. The more networks and connections a country has, the more difficult it is to control access.
----------------

🇺🇸🇷🇺🇹🇷🇸🇾 **President Trump warns of ‘carnage’ in rebel stronghold in Syria**
*Fox 6* - <https://archive.ph/E4nZg>

President Donald Trump is speaking out against the “carnage” involving thousands of civilians in a rebel stronghold in Syria.

In a tweet Thursday, President Trump wrote: “Russia, Syria, and Iran are killing, or on their way to killing, thousands of innocent civilians in Idlib Province. Don’t do it! Turkey is working hard to stop this carnage.”

The tweet refers to an intense air and ground bombardment by government forces in southern and eastern Idlib province, the last rebel-held bastion in the country.

Syrian government forces about a month ago launched a renewed effort to take the province, which is dominated by al-Qaida-linked militants and is also home to 3 million civilians. The United Nations has warned of the growing risk of a humanitarian catastrophe along the Turkish border.

President Trump also addressed the plight of civilians in Idlib in June, accusing Russia, Syria and Iran of “indiscriminately killing many innocent civilians” in a bombing campaign. “The World is watching this butchery,” he tweeted then, imploring them to “STOP!” Several months later he announced he would withdraw U.S. troops from northeastern Syria.
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🇺🇸 **Dershowitz Meets Trump At Christmas Dinner, Fueling Speculation Of Joining Trump’s Legal Team**
*Daily Wire* - <https://archive.ph/sJYJE>

Tuesday night, famed attorney Alan Dershowitz met President Trump at Trump’s annual Christmas Eve dinner in the ballroom at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, fueling more speculation that he may join Trump’s legal team, which is dealing with the impeachment proceedings against the president. As The Daily Mail reported, “Trump got up from his table, where he was seated next to first lady Melania Trump, to walk over and talk to Dershowitz after reports his legal team has discussed bringing Dershowitz on board to help with the president’s impeachment trial in the Senate.

When The Daily Mail queried him about his appearance, Dershowitz responded, “I was a guest of friends of mine. Not part of the Trump Christmas party. The president came over to say hello to me and my wife. We wished each other happy holidays.”

In May, Dershowitz contributed an opinion piece at The Hill, in which he defended Trump’s comments in which he stated that if he were indeed impeached by the House, he might “head to the Supreme Court.”

Dershowitz noted, “No one should criticize President Trump for raising the possibility of Supreme Court review, especially following Bush v. Gore, the case that ended the 2000 election. Many of the same academics ridiculed the notion that the justices would enter the political thicket of vote-counting. But they did and, in the process, weakened the “political question” doctrine.”
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🇨🇳🇷🇺🇮🇷 **China, Russia, Iran to hold joint naval drills**
*Yahoo/AFP* - <https://archive.ph/wip/F1gJy>

China, Russia and Iran will hold joint naval drills starting Friday in the Gulf of Oman, Beijing and Tehran said, at a time of heightened tensions since the US withdrew from a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

Set to take place from December 27 to 30, the military exercises aim to "deepen exchange and cooperation between the navies of the three countries", Chinese defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian told reporters Thursday.

Wu said the Chinese navy would deploy its Xining guided missile destroyer -- nicknamed the "carrier killer" for its array of anti-ship and land attack cruise missiles -- in the drills.

But he did not give details on how many personnel or ships would take part overall.

For Iran, the drill's purpose was to bolster "international commerce security in the region" and "fighting terrorism and piracy," said senior armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Aboldazl Shekarchi.

The exercise would "stabilise security" in the region and benefit the world, state news agency IRNA quoted him as saying on Wednesday.

The US reimposed crippling sanctions on Iran in May last year after withdrawing from the international deal aimed at tackling the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme, prompting Tehran to hit back with countermeasures.

Remaining parties to the badly weakened 2015 deal include China, Russia, Britain, France and Germany.

China's foreign minister said the exercises were part of "normal military cooperation" between the three countries.
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🇺🇸 **President Trump approves raising legal smoking age to 21**
*New York Post* - <https://archive.ph/EDxIY>

By signing the $738 billion Defense Spending Bill, on Friday, President Donald Trump has raised the legal age for smoking to 21 nationwide — news that went largely unnoticed.

The new rules include cigarettes and e-cigarettes.

The smoking age hike had bipartisan support in the Senate, and was co-authored by Democrats Brian Schatz and Dick Durbin, and Republicans Mitt Romney and Todd Young, CNN reported.

Now that Trump’s signature is on the bill, the Food and Drug Administration has 180 days to update its regulations — and the new age requirement will go into effect 90 days later, ABC News reported.

Nineteen states, including New York, have already raised the smoking age to 21, according to the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
--------------

Yeah that will stop all those young kids who are somehow already smoking and vaping from smoking and vaping

Let's ban guns too that way all those criminals who already have them will stop useing them

🇦🇫 **Taliban Has Agreed to Cease-Fire in Afghanistan, With Possibility of Peace Deal: Report**
*Newsweek* - <https://archive.ph/1yvZU>

The Taliban announced on Sunday that they have agreed to a temporary cease-fire in Afghanistan, providing hope that a potential peace agreement could move forward with the U.S. and the Afghan government.

The Associated Press first reported, citing anonymous Taliban officials, that the temporary agreement had been announced, although the promised duration is unclear. The news services said that some have suggested it would last at least 10 days, and it is expected that the Taliban's leader will sign the pending peace agreement.

The U.S. hopes to ink a peace deal that would allow President Donald Trump to end the longest war in the nation's history, which was launched 18 years ago in 2001 after the U.S. was attacked by Al Qaeda on September 11 of that year. Prior attempts by the Trump administration to secure an agreement had stalled, as the Taliban appeared unwilling to make commitments required by the U.S.

According to The Associated Press report, a "key pillar" of the potential deal will be direct negotiations between the Taliban and the Afghan government to shape the future of the south Asian nation. Those negotiations would reportedly cover topics ranging from a path forward on free speech, women's rights, the fate of Taliban fighters, and what will happen to Afghan warlords.
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🇺🇸🇷🇺 **Putin thanks Trump for tip Russia says foiled attacks**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.md/wip/XcVAH>

Russia said on Sunday it had thwarted terrorism attacks reportedly planned in St. Petersburg thanks to a tip from Washington, bringing personal thanks again from President Vladimir Putin to his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

Russian news agencies cited the Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying that thanks to the information, two Russians were detained on Dec. 27 on suspicion of plotting attacks during New Year festivities in St. Petersburg.

The Kremlin said Putin passed on his gratitude to Trump during a phone call on Sunday for the tip from U.S. special services. It gave no more details.

Diplomatic ties between Washington and Moscow are fraught over disagreements from Ukraine to Syria and allegations of Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election, but Trump and Putin have managed to keep personal lines open.

Two years ago, the Russian leader also phoned Trump to thank him for a tip that Russia said helped prevent a bomb attack on a cathedral in St Petersburg. Russia has repeatedly been the target of attacks by militant groups including Islamic State.

Sunday’s Kremlin statement said Putin and Trump agreed to continue bilateral cooperation to tackle terrorism.
----------------