🇺🇸 **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.”
----------------

🇺🇸🇨🇳 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 🇨🇳 **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.
---------------

🇺🇸 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 **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**
----------------

🇨🇳🇹🇼 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸🇬🇧 **Hacker cyber-gang: Give us cyber-cash for cyber-cache of 18,000 stolen Sept 11th insurance docs**
*The Register* - <https://archive.fo/IsbRf>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Labor Department said Friday that the unemployment rate rose slightly to 3.9 percent, but that reflected a surge in jobseekers— a positive for growth. Average hourly pay improved 3.2 percent from a year ago, up from average wage growth of 2.7 percent at the end of 2017.
---------------

🇺🇸 **Black man charged with capital murder in shooting death of black 7 year old Texas girl, police say**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.vn/Ut88B>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://prntscr.com/m3ueqg

**Described suspect** (thin white man)

Actual shooter

<:nani:348790447587590144>

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

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

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

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

WikiLeaks did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Speaking on French TV channel TF1, Prime Minister Philippe said the government would support a "new law punishing those who do not respect the requirement to declare [protests], those who take part in unauthorised demonstrations and those who arrive at demonstrations wearing face masks".
----------------

🇺🇸 **Paul Manafort Lied About Sharing Polling Data With Suspected Russian Intelligence Member, Mueller Alleges, According to Filing**
*Newsweek* - <https://archive.fo/UnyPc>

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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