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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pedro Gonzalez has faith in Donald Trump and his party.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So what’s actually in it?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hiscox has confirmed at least some of Dark Overlord's boasts about obtaining the insurance files are true, acknowledging that documents related to 9/11 insurance cases were swiped during an April 2018 cyber-raid on a law firm Hiscox worked with.
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🇺🇸 **Lawsuit Claims SPLC Abetted Theft, Spread Lies to Destroy Lawyer for ‘Thought Crime’**
*PJ Media* - <https://archive.fo/etg2G>

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

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

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

"This East Europe Communist thought-crime surveillance mentality is antithetical to fundamental American cultural and Constitutional principles protecting freedom of expression and association," Allen wrote in the suit, which can be found on his website. His lawsuit uses concrete claims of lawbreaking and defamation to expose the SPLC's Orwellian strategy of branding its opponents "hate groups" and orchestrating campaigns against them.
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🇺🇸 **ZUCKED UP Mark Zuckerberg halts Facebook stock sale as value PLUMMETS over privacy scandals**
*The Sun* - <http://archive.vn/odGke>

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

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

Reports suggest Facebook staff have resorted to buying burner phones to allow them to badmouth their superiors without fear of being recorded. Former employees described a "toxic and hostile" work environment at the social media giant, which has been hit by a wave of data leaks and fake news scandals over a torrid few years.
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🇳🇱 **Google shifted $23 billion to tax haven Bermuda in 2017: filing**
*Reuters* - <http://archive.vn/jZvlg>

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

The subsidiary in the Netherlands is used to shift revenue from royalties earned outside the United States to Google Ireland Holdings, an affiliate based in Bermuda, where companies pay no income tax. The tax strategy, known as the “Double Irish, Dutch Sandwich”, is legal and allows Alphabet-owned Google (GOOGL.O) to avoid triggering U.S. income taxes or European withholding taxes on the funds, which represent the bulk of its overseas profits. However, under pressure from the European Union and the United States, Ireland in 2014 decided to phase out the arrangement, ending Google’s tax advantages in 2020.
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🇺🇸 **Nancy Pelosi Elected Speaker of the House with 220 Votes**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.vn/AZbSo#5%>

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

Pelosi fended off an organized intra-Democrat Party rebellion, where she spent the last couple months since the midterm election flipping dissidents who had pledged to vote against her into allies who voted for her.
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🇺🇸 **US employers added a stellar 312,000 jobs in December**
ABC News - AP Economics Writer - <http://archive.vn/TQgQT>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prior to the arrests, Merritt said, “We do believe that it [the murder] was racially motivated in part because our nation at this moment is highly racially charged.”
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http://prntscr.com/m3ueqg

**Described suspect** (thin white man)

Actual shooter

<:nani:348790447587590144>

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

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

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

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

WikiLeaks did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

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

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

Other items listed as false and defamatory included more personal claims including that Assange bleaches his hair, that he is a hacker, that he has ever neglected an animal or that he has poor personal hygiene.
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🇻🇦🇨🇺 **Vatican News Paid Tribute to 60th Anniversary of Cuban Revolution in Deleted Post**
*PJ Media* - <https://archive.fo/BspbT>

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

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

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

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

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

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

Some Catholics on Twitter criticized the post for what they felt was an inappropriately simpatico tone.
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🇺🇸 **Record Numbers of Americans Want to Leave the U.S.**
*Gallup* - <https://archive.fo/qO6Zf>

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

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

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

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

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