🇻🇦🇦🇺 **Vatican No. 3 Cardinal George Pell Convicted on Charges He Sexually Abused Choir Boys**
*Daily Beast* - <https://archive.fo/ClLGV>

The Vatican’s third-most powerful official has been convicted in Australia on all charges he sexually abused two choir boys there in the late '90s, according to two sources with knowledge of the case.

A unanimous jury returned its verdict for Cardinal George Pell on Tuesday (Australian time) after more than three days of deliberations, the sources said, in a trial conducted under a gag order by the judge that prevented any details of the trial being made public.

Pell, the Vatican’s finance chief and the highest Vatican official to ever go on trial for sex abuse, left Rome in June 2017 to stand trial in Melbourne.

As that trial was about to get underway in June, a judge placed a suppression order on all press coverage in Australia, according to the order reviewed by The Daily Beast. Prosecutors applied for the order and it was granted to “prevent a real and substantial risk of prejudice to the proper administration of justice.” That order remains in place in Australia.

That trial, known as “the cathedral trial,” was declared a mistrial earlier this year after a hung jury, the sources say. A retrial began immediately and ended this week with the unanimous verdict.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Michael Cohen Sentenced to 3 Years in Prison**
*Breitbart* - <https://archive.fo/ClLGV>

A federal judge in New York sentenced Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime lawyer, to three years in prison Wednesday for crimes including tax evasion, making hush-money payments, and lying to Congress about past business dealings in Russia.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley III said he will allow Cohen to voluntarily surrender to prison on March 6 and ordered the former Trump lawyer to pay a $50,000 fine for making false statements to lawmakers. Cohen must also pay a forfeiture of $500,000 and $1.4 million in restitution. Prior to sentencing Cohen, Pauley told the courtroom that the former Trump lawyer pled guilty to a “veritable smorgasbord of fraudulent conduct.” Further, Pauley said that Cohen “appears to have lost his moral compass” and that he “should have known better” than to dodge taxes, lie to Congress and violate campaign finance laws.

Addressing the courtroom before his sentencing, Cohen took aim at the president for branding him as “weak” in a recent tweet, saying that his weakness was blind loyalty to his former boss. “Recently, the President tweeted a statement calling me weak, and it was correct, but for a much different reason than he was implying,” an emotional Cohen said. “It was because time and time again, I felt it was my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.”

The former Trump lawyer pleaded guilty to misleading Congress about his work on a proposal to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, making false statements about when discussions with Russia about a possible deal concluded. Cohen also pleaded guilty in August to breaking campaign finance laws by helping orchestrate payments to silence former Playboy model Karen McDougal and pornographic actress Stormy Daniels, who alleges to had sexual encounters with Trump before he was president.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Tribune, Tronc And Beyond: A Slur, A Secret Payout And A Looming Sale**
*NPR* - <https://archive.fo/ySOWg>

Several months after taking control of the troubled Tribune Publishing Co. in 2016, Chicago investor Michael Ferro convened a session of corporate leaders from within his own news empire, including chief news executives from such storied papers as the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune and The Baltimore Sun.

The group of about 20 people trooped from Chicago's iconic Tribune Tower on Michigan Avenue to an upscale restaurant nearby. In a private room, participants dined on seafood and steak while Ferro, then the company's chairman, held forth on his plans.

His own net worth was newly in the nine figures. Associates and peers say Ferro held ambitions that were wide-ranging, even audacious, given the newspaper industry's stiff headwinds.

At the dinner, as at other moments, Ferro railed against those who he felt were impeding him — including perceived rivals and competitors. Among them: the Southern California billionaire and civic leader Eli Broad, whom Ferro called part of a **"Jewish cabal" that ran Los Angeles.**
----------------

🇺🇸 **Authorities: Wave of hoax bomb threats made across US**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/pTBtd>

A wave of bomb threats emailed Thursday to hundreds of schools, businesses and government buildings across the U.S. triggered searches, evacuations and fear — but there were no signs of explosives, and authorities said the scare appeared to be a crude extortion attempt.

Law enforcement agencies across the country dismissed the threats, saying they were meant to cause disruption and compel recipients into sending money and were not considered credible.

Some of the emails had the subject line: “Think Twice.” They were sent from a spoofed email address. The sender claimed to have had an associate plant a small bomb in the recipient’s building and that the only way to stop him from setting it off was by making an online payment of $20,000 in Bitcoin.

“We are currently monitoring multiple bomb threats that have been sent electronically to various locations throughout the city,” the New York City Police Department’s counterterrorism unit tweeted. “These threats are also being reported to other locations nationwide & are NOT considered credible at this time.”

Other law enforcement agencies also dismissed the threats, which were written in a choppy style reminiscent of the Nigerian prince email scam.

The Palm Beach County, Florida, sheriff’s office and the Boise, Idaho, police said they had no reason to believe that threats made to locations in those areas were credible. One of the emails wound up in a spam filter, Boise Police Chief William Bones said.

The FBI said it is assisting law enforcement agencies that are dealing with the threats.
----------------

🇫🇷 **Strasbourg Christmas market attacker shot dead**
*BBC* - <https://archive.fo/AJTzB>

French police have shot dead the man said to have attacked Strasbourg's Christmas market on Tuesday, the interior minister has said.

Cherif Chekatt had been on the run since the attack.

Three people have died following the shooting at the popular attraction and several more were seriously injured.

Chekatt, 29, had a string of criminal convictions in France and Germany and had become a radical Islamist while in prison.

Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said three members of the National Police saw a suspicious individual on rue du Lazaret, in the Neudorf area of Strasbourg at 21:00 local time (20:00 GMT).

The officers stopped the man, who turned round and fired on the police. They fired back and "neutralised" the attacker, Mr Castaner said.

Hundreds of French police and security forces had been searching for Chekatt.

A large police operation had taken place in Neudorf earlier on Thursday, but ended apparently without results.
----------------

🇫🇷 **Strasbourg manhunt: Counter terror police arrest fifth person over Christmas market shooting as gunman remains at large**
*Independent* - <https://archive.fo/ZuzEq>

The suspected gunman in the deadly attack at a Christmas market in Strasbourg remains at large as counter terror police detained a fifth person in connection with the shooting.

French authorities said the latest man arrested was a member of the “entourage” of main suspect Chérif Chekatt, who is thought to have opened fire at the market on Tuesday, killing three people and injuring at least 11 others.

Forces had cordoned off an area in the Neudorf neighbourhood of Strasbourg on Thursday, where a taxi driver is believed to have dropped Chekatt off immediately after he escaped the scene of the shooting.

A police official said units, including the elite Raid squad, were acting on “supposition only” that the 29-year-old suspect could be hiding nearby.

Four members of Chekatt’s family, including his mother, father and two of his six brothers, had already been detained by police for questioning in connection with the attack.

Hundreds of officers have been mobilised to find the 29-year-old since Tuesday evening, after the gunman opened fire at the famous market while it was packed with visitors and tourists.

Government officials said focus remains on locating the suspect “as soon as possible,” while forces were prepared to take him “dead or alive” in order to bring the manhunt to an end.

Police named Chekatt as the shooting suspect on Wednesday, revealing he was already being monitored as a terror risk by French security authorities.

Chekatt, a Strasbourg native, was described by police as a “delinquent” with close to 30 prior convictions, who had served prison sentences not just in France, but also in Germany and Switzerland.
----------------

🇨🇦🇨🇳 **Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou granted bail, will live in Vancouver under electronic surveillance**
*Global News* - <https://archive.fo/3rruh>

Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou has been granted bail as she fights possible extradition to the U.S.

A British Columbia Supreme Court judge ordered that the Chinese telecom executive may be released under a number of conditions, including that she wear an ankle bracelet, surrender her passports, stay in Vancouver and its suburbs and confine herself to one of her two Vancouver homes from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m.

Meng was released on $10 million bail — $7 million in cash and $3 million in sureties.

Applause was heard in the courtroom’s public gallery after Justice William Ehrcke read his decision.

In his decision, Ehrcke reviewed the details of the case, including allegations the Chinese telecommunication giant used an unofficial subsidiary, Skycom, to conduct business in Iran in contravention of U.S. sanctions.

He said his main concern was whether the bail conditions outlined by Meng’s lawyers would sufficiently reduce the risk of her fleeing the country.

Ehrcke said the proposed conditions would reduce the risk of her not attending court to an “acceptable level.”
----------------

🇺🇸 **Virgin arrives in space for the first time**
*Independent* - <https://archive.fo/vbRn7>

Virgin Galactic's space ship has arrived in space for the first time.

The journey is a major breakthrough in attempts to bring private space travel to the masses. And it marks the first time a US commercial human flight has reached space since 2011, when the space programme came to an end.

SpaceShipTwo, VSS Unity, took off in the early morning sunshine at the Mojave test centre in California. Soon after, it was released by its carrier plane around 43,000 feet and climbed up to altitudes of around 271,000 feet, touching the edge of space and marking a major achievement for the company.

As it arrived, the official Virgin Galactic Twitter account posted: "SpaceShipTwo, welcome to space."

Flown by two pilots, Mark Stucky and Nasa astronaut Frederick Sturckow, the aircraft's launch was watched by hundreds of the company's employees and family members on Thursday.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Christie says he doesn’t want to be Trump’s chief of staff**
*Politico* - <https://archive.fo/oZyXg>

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Friday that he doesn't want to be Donald Trump's next chief of staff, leaving the president with a dwindling list of candidates and underscoring the chaos of the search for the top West Wing aide.

Christie, an early Trump supporter who led the White House transition effort before being ousted, made the announcement just a day after he met with the president to discuss possibly taking the role. Christie's firm statement also came shortly after reports emerged that he was the front-runner for the job, showing how quickly contenders' odds can rise and fall.

"It's an honor to have the President consider me as he looks to choose a new White House chief-of-staff," Christie wrote in a statement. "However, I've told the President that now is not the right time for me or my family to undertake this serious assignment. As a result, I have asked him to no longer keep me in any of his considerations of this post."

Christie has had a tumultuous relationship with Trump and his family — even though he and the president have been friends for over 15 years. Christie tangled with Trump on the campaign trail before dropping out of the 2016 presidential race, and he has long had tension with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner for helping put Kushner's father in prison more than a decade ago when he was a U.S. attorney.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Trump meets Christie as some advisers urge Kushner for chief of staff: sources**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/USRqM>

President Donald Trump on Thursday met with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and considered him a top contender for the job of White House chief of staff, a position some advisers urged him to give to senior aide Jared Kushner, sources said.

A source familiar with Trump’s thinking said the president had a positive meeting with Christie, confirming a report by Axios.com, and considered him a top-tier candidate for the position.

Christie, a brash, tough-talking politician, was a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 but abandoned the attempt after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary and subsequently endorsed Trump, becoming his adviser throughout the 2016 campaign.

Other sources said Trump was hearing appeals from some advisers to consider **Kushner**, a top White House aide who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, for the chief of staff job.

But one source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said **Kushner was currently not inclined to pursue the position.**
----------------

🇺🇸 **Mueller releases key documents on FBI interview with Michael Flynn**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/gimo1>

Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s team on Friday released key documents relating to the FBI’s questioning of former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The documents – some of which are heavily redacted -- were released in response to U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan ordering prosecutors to hand over the government's files and "memoranda" related to the FBI’s questioning of Flynn by Friday afternoon.

he documents include then-FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe’s notes after talking with Flynn to arrange his interview with the FBI. It also includes a so-called "302" report documenting what Flynn told anti-Trump agent Peter Strzok and one other agent during their conversation at the White House. That July 2017 report, though, specifically came from an interview with Strzok in which the Flynn encounter was discussed -- and not the original Flynn interview.

The 302 report states that Strzok and the other agent “both had the impression at the time that Flynn was not lying or did not think he was lying.” It also states that several unnamed people back at FBI headquarters “later argued about the FBI’s decision to interview Flynn.”

The report described Flynn as “unguarded,” saying he “clearly saw the FBI agents as allies.” It also states Flynn discussed a number of “various subjects,” including things like hotels stayed in during the campaign, Trump’s “knack for interior design” and other issues un-related to their inquiry.

“Flynn was so talkative, and had so much time for them, that Strzok wondered if the national security adviser did not have more important things to do than have a such a relaxed, non-pertinent discussion with them,” it said.
----------------

🇬🇧 **Chester Zoo on Fire: Firefighters were at the scene**
*BBC News*: <http://archive.fo/XpV2L>

The zoo tweeted the blaze was in its Monsoon Forest habitat.

One person was treated for the effects of smoke inhalation, but there were no reports of further injuries. **Fifteen** fire crews were involved.

Chester Firemen Station later tweeted that all Animals in the Habitat were accounted for.

David Clough, who lives across the road from the zoo, said: "We first saw signs of the fire shortly after 11.30 GMT."

He added "We were very worried for the people and animals that would have been in the building."

The zoo tweeted it had closed the whole site, adding: "Visitors have been evacuated and our response team is working alongside emergency services to bring the situation under control."

The zoo is to reopen in the week.
----------

🇺🇸 **Obamacare ruled unconstitutional by Texas judge**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/L0KfV>

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, was struck down by a Texas judge on Friday, a move that could suddenly disrupt the health insurance status of millions of Americans. The decision comes amid a six-week open enrollment period for the program.

Texas, along with 19 states, had argued to U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor that they had been hurt by a jump in the amount of people utilizing state-backed insurance. When Congress cut the tax penalty from the program in 2017, the states claimed, it essentially undercut the Supreme Court’s reasoning for finding former President Barack Obama’s signature legislation constitutional in 2012.

“The remainder of the ACA is non-severable from the individual mandate, meaning that the Act must be invalidated in whole,” O’Connor wrote, according to Bloomberg.

"As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster," President Trump tweeted following the ruling. "Now Congress must pass a STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing conditions. Mitch and Nancy, get it done!" In a second tweet, the president declared the ruling to be "great news for America!"

“Obamacare has been struck down by a highly respected judge," White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

"The ruling seems to be based on faulty legal reasoning and hopefully it will be overturned," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., tweeted. "Americans who care about working families must do all they can to prevent this district court ruling from becoming law."
----------------

🇺🇸 **Border agents seize $1.7 million in meth, in second largest drug bust this week**
*Fox News* - <http://archive.is/CLuRT>

Officials seized nearly $1.3 million worth of meth at the U.S.-Mexico Border in Texas on Thursday, marking the second time this week that agents thwarted a significant narcotics smuggling attempt.

Agents with Customs and Border Protection and the Office of Field Operations were alerted to a 2018 Chevrolet Silverado attempting to enter the U.S. through the Juarez-Lincoln International Bridge. A canine search of the vehicle revealed that the 27-year-old female driver and her 28-year-old passenger were attempting to smuggle in 94 pounds of alleged methamphetamine, an estimated street value of $1,322,848.

Thursday’s bust comes just days after agents at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge cargo facility seized a trailer with an estimated $7 million worth of narcotics.

“Our frontline CBP continues to maintain their vigilance and utilize their inspections skills and experience as pre-Christmas traffic starts to increase,” Flore also said.

The two women from Thursday’s incident were arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations unit.
----------------

🇺🇸 **New £50 bank note 'must recognise ethnic minorities'**
*BBC News* - <http://archive.is/KyRKV>

The Bank of England last month asked the public to nominate a British scientist to feature on the note. Campaigners say the chosen figure should recognise "the contribution of ethnic minorities" to British culture.

More than 200 people, including Lord Victor Adebowale and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, signed a letter calling for a historic figure from a black and ethnic minority background (BAME) to feature on the new £50 note.

The letterpoints out that "no-one from an ethnic minority has yet featured on a banknote" despite BAME communities representing "14% of the British population".

"Changing this would send a message that the contribution of ethnic minorities to Britain's history, culture and economy is recognised and valued," it reads.

The Bank of England released a list of more than 800 eligible nominees, including black Crimean War *nurse* Mary Seacole along with computing pioneers Alan Turing and Ada Lovelace, telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell and Stephen Hawking.

To be eligible, the individual must be real, deceased and have *contributed to any field of science* in the UK.

The final full list is yet to be released; nominations closed on Friday.
----------------

🇺🇸 🇲🇽 **Over 100 illegals caught in South Texas smuggling attempt**
*InfoWars* - <http://archive.is/a9yLG>

Border Patrol agents in South Texas reportedly captured over 100 illegal aliens being trafficked in a single human smuggling event. The 113 illegals came from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Kosovo

Video released by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents in the Rio Grande Valley sector shows a throng of illegals being corralled by agents during a nighttime bust.

“#BorderPatrol encounters over one hundred family units and unacommpanied children near McAllen, Texas in the #RGV Rio Grande Valley,” a caption for the video reads.

“Upon arrival, agents requested additional support for a group totaling over 100 subjects. Agents took custody of 113 illegal aliens, mainly comprised of family units and unaccompanied children from the countries of Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Kosovo,” CBP reported. “Border Patrol is processing the subjects accordingly.”

In another bust earlier this week, agents near Roma, Texas, captured two MS-13 gang members and two previously deported illegals who had committed child sex crimes.

Agents in South Texas arrested over 1,900 illegals in a single weekend. Over the past few weeks, President Trump has stepped up pressure on Dems to approve funding for a wall on the southern border, which he says Mexico will pay for via the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, or USMCA.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Mick Mulvaney to replace John Kelly as 'acting' chief of staff, Trump says**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/uGBY0>

President Trump on Friday named White House budget director Mick Mulvaney as his new acting chief of staff, saying the former South Carolina Republican congressman will replace John Kelly as his top aide.

“I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction,” Trump tweeted. “Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration. I look forward to working with him in this new capacity as we continue to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The president said Kelly, who recently announced plans to leave the White House, will stay through 2018.

“John will be staying until the end of the year,” Trump tweeted. “He is a GREAT PATRIOT and I want to personally thank him for his service!”

The president did not say why Mulvaney will serve in an “acting” capacity.

Mulvaney, who served in Congress before joining the Trump administration, also served as acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while simultaneously running the White House budget office.

In a tweet, Mulvaney said, "This is a tremendous honor. I look forward to working with the President and the entire team. It’s going to be a great 2019!"

A senior administration official cited Mulvaney's experience as a "former member of Congress" and said Trump picked him because he and the president “get along.”

"He knows Congress. He knows Capitol Hill," the official said of Mulvaney.
----------------

🇺🇸 **‘Andi Mack’ actor Stoney Westmoreland fired after arrest in Salt Lake City**
*Salt Lake City Tribune* - <http://archive.fo/FZih3>

Disney Channel actor Stoney Westmoreland has been fired after he was arrested in Salt Lake City for allegedly **attempting to have a sexual relationship with an online acquaintance he believed was 13 years old.**

In a statement Saturday, Disney announced that the 48-year-old Westmoreland had been dropped from the sitcom “Andi Mack,” on which he plays the grandfather of the teen title character. The show films in Utah.

Salt Lake police detective Greg Wilking told The Associated Press that Westmoreland was on his way to what he believed would be a sexual encounter when he was arrested Friday and charged with enticing a minor and sending inappropriate materials, including nude images. A message left with Westmoreland's agent, Mitchell Stubbs, was not immediately returned.

Westmoreland’s other acting credits include “Scandal” and “Breaking Bad.”
----------------

🇻🇪🇷🇺 **German Media Suggests Venezuela Might Become Russia's 'New Cuba in US Backyard'**
*Sputnik* - <https://archive.fo/444Mz>

The arrival of Russian Tu-160 strategic bombers to Venezuela has spurred negative reactions from some US officials, although the planes didn't carry nuclear armaments and had already visited the country in the past.

German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine has alleged that the disturbance in US government circles, which was incited by the visit of Russian Tu-160s to Venezuela, is caused by the fact that while the US grip on the region weakens, especially on Venezuela itself, Russia is continuing to cement its positions in the Latin American country. The newspaper even suggested that Venezuela might become a "new Cuba in the US backyard" for Russia.

Frankfurter Allgemeine pointed out that in recent years Russia has heavily invested in the Venezuelan energy sector, saving it from stagnation due to ageing equipment and lack of new drilling sites. Moscow is also among the few states still giving Caracas new credits, restructuring and writing off old loans as the country struggles to cope with its huge debt. During the last visit by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to Moscow, Russia promised $6 billion in investments in the near future.

Another point of cooperation between the two states is the military sphere. The newspaper stressed that after the US stopped supplying Caracas with weapons and Israel halted shipments of spare parts for F-16s, Moscow stepped in to fill the void. Russia and Venezuela have signed multi-billion contracts on military equipment, and in the near future, the country will start producing Kalashnikov rifles on its territory.
----------------

🇧🇪 **Anti-Migrant Protests Going Violent in Belgium**
*Sky News*: <http://archive.fo/JMh8R>

Flemish nationalist groups oppose the UN compact on migration, a non-binding deal that aims to manage migrant flows.

The nationalists groups were prominent among the thousands of people who marched in the European capital, in protest at a UN migration pact that was signed earlier this month

Those protesting were met with equal force, with Tear Gas and Pressured Water Cannons being deployed in Brussles.

The compact, which was signed in Marrakesh last week, has been criticised by conservative and far-right voices who say it threatens national sovereignty.

Prime Minister Charles Michel was left leading a minority government after the Flemish nationalist party N-VA quit in protest at the signing of the deal.

Protesters have now called for Michel to resign from his post as PM, as he has 'ignored the will of the people'.

Police, who later said protesters became violent when they were asked to disperse, were filmed hitting people with batons.
--------------

<https://techcrunch.com/2018/12/16/3d-printed-heads-unlock-cops-hackers/> 🇺🇸
3D-printed heads let hackers – and cops – unlock your phone





3D-printed heads let hackers – and cops Unlock your phone

There’s a lot you can make with a 3D printer: from prosthetics, corneas, and firearms — even an Olympic-standard luge.

You can even 3D print a life-size replica of a human head — and not just for Hollywood. Forbes reporter Thomas Brewster commissioned a 3D printed model of his own head to test the face unlocking systems on a range of phones — four Android models and an iPhone X.

Bad news if you’re an Android user: only the iPhone X defended against the attack.

Gone, it seems, are the days of the trusty passcode, which many still find cumbersome, fiddly, and inconvenient — especially when you unlock your phone dozens of times a day. Phone makers are taking to the more convenient unlock methods. Even if Google’s latest Pixel 3 shunned facial recognition, many Android models — including popular Samsung devices — are relying more on your facial biometrics. In its latest models, Apple effectively killed its fingerprint-reading Touch ID in favor of its newer Face ID.

🇺🇸 **Trump again blasts Fed for "even considering" rate hike**
*AP* - <http://archive.is/WOo4r>

“It is incredible that with a very strong dollar and virtually no inflation, the outside world blowing up around us, Paris is burning and China way down, the Fed is even considering yet another interest rate hike. Take the Victory!” Trump wrote in a tweet.

President Donald Trump early on Monday again criticized the Federal Reserve for its current series of interest-rate increases, days before the U.S. central bank is expected to push up interest rates again.
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🇬🇧 **Muslim Man 'Brutally Killed' Ex Partner and Estranged Mother.**
*BBC News*: <http://archive.fo/IzIJj>

A man was jailed for life after admitting the "brutal" murders of his ex-partner and her mother.

The Man is said to be Janbaz Tarin, 21, who had an Islamic Ceremony to get Married to Raneem Oudeh. However the arrangement was then ended when Tarins secret Family in the middle east was found out.

Khaola Saleem, 49, and Raneem Oudeh, 22, were fatally stabbed outside Mrs Saleem's home in Solihull on 27 August.

Tarin "spent the day hunting" down Ms Oudeh and her mother who were on the phone to police when he attacked.

He went on the run after killing them and was arrested three days later.

Tarin, of Evelyn Road, Sparkhill, Birmingham, admitted murdering Ms Oudeh - a mother to a toddler - and her mother, at Birmingham Crown Court.

He was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 32 years.

In a victim impact statement, Mrs Saleem's sister Nour Norris said: "The list of broken hearts goes on and on. That night this killer played god and he destroyed an entire family.

"Let us send a message that those who abuse and murder women will face justice."

Mrs Justice Carr told Tarin in Court that, "When Mrs Saleem stepped in, no doubt in an attempt to protect her daughter, you stabbed her, whilst holding on to Raneem by one of her ankles and dragging her along."

These details are obviously brutal, and the signs of a Cold Blooded Killer with vengance in mind.

That night Tarin followed Mrs Saleem and her daughter to a shisha lounge before hunting them down elsewhere, police said.

He then threatened to 'Kill you and your family' in the Lounge.

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

🇺🇸 **How YouTube Built a Radicalization Machine for the Far-Right**
*The Daily Beast* - <https://archive.fo/9l99v>
**SURELY OPINION PIECE**

For David Sherratt, like so many teenagers, far-right radicalization began with video game tutorials on YouTube. He was 15 years old and loosely liberal, mostly interested in “Call of Duty” clips. Then YouTube’s recommendations led him elsewhere.

“As I kept watching, I started seeing things like the online atheist community,” Sherratt said, “which then became a gateway to the atheism community’s civil war over feminism.” Due to a large subculture of YouTube atheists who opposed feminism, “I think I fell down that rabbit hole a lot quicker,” he said.


During that four-year trip down the rabbit hole, the teenager made headlines for his involvement in the men’s rights movement, a fringe ideology which believes men are oppressed by women, and which he no longer supports. He made videos with a prominent YouTuber now beloved by the far right.

He attended a screening of a documentary on the “men’s rights” movement, and hung out with other YouTubers afterward, where he met a young man who seemed “a bit off,” Sherratt said. Still, he didn’t think much of it, and ended up posing for a group picture with the man and other YouTubers. Some of Sherratt’s friends even struck up a rapport with the man online afterward, which prompted Sherratt to check out his YouTube channel.

What he found soured his outlook on the documentary screening. The young man’s channel was full of Holocaust denial content.

“I’d met a neo-Nazi and didn’t even know it,” Sherratt said

The encounter was part of his disenchantment with the far-right political world which he’d slowly entered over the end of his childhood.

“I think one of the real things that made it so difficult to get out and realize how radicalized I’d become in certain areas was the fact that in a lot of ways, far-right people make themselves sound less far-right; more moderate or more left-wing,” Sherratt said.

Sherratt wasn’t alone. YouTube has become a quiet powerhouse of political radicalization in recent years, powered by an algorithm that a former employee says suggests increasingly fringe content. And far-right YouTubers have learned to exploit that algorithm and land their videos high in the recommendations on less extreme videos. The Daily Beast spoke to three men whose YouTube habits pushed them down a far-right path and who have since logged out of hate.
----------------

🇺🇸 **Christopher Steele: I Was Hired to Help Hillary Clinton Challenge the 2016 Election Results**
*Breitbart* - <https://archive.is/43K8D>

Christopher Steele, the former British spy who prepared the Russia “dossier” that has led to more than two years of investigations into President Donald Trump’s campaign, has told a London court that he was hired to provide a basis to challenge the legitimacy of the 2016 presidential election in the event that Trump won.

In an answer to interrogatories, Mr. Steele wrote: “Fusion’s immediate client was law firm Perkins Coie. It engaged Fusion to obtain information necessary for Perkins Coie LLP to provide legal advice on the potential impact of Russian involvement on the legal validity of the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential election.

“Based on that advice, parties such as the Democratic National Committee and HFACC Inc. (also known as ‘Hillary for America’) could consider steps they would be legally entitled to take to challenge the validity of the outcome of that election.”
--------------

🇺🇸 ⌨ **Fortnite Creator Epic Games Sued over abuse of the 'Carlton' within their game**
*CNN*: <http://archive.fo/wtgNx>

Actor Alfonso Ribeiro is suing to stop two video game developers from selling a dance popularized by his "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" character.

In two lawsuits filed Monday, Ribeiro said the companies have "unfairly profited" from using his likeness and from exploiting his "protected creative expression." The suits name Fortnite developer Epic Games Inc., and Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., creator of the NBA 2K series, and several of its subsidiaries.

Epic Games declined to give CNN a comment on the suit, and Take-Two Interactive did not respond to the request.

The Lawsuits, which are being tried in California, wish for Development companies to cease selling games which use Riberios dance/likeness.

Ribeiro, best known as Carlton Banks from the 1990s "Fresh Prince" sitcom, says in the court filings that he is "inextricably linked" to the dance -- a joyous, arm-swinging boogie often performed to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual."

"Twenty-seven years later, The Dance remains distinctive, immediately recognizable, and inextricably linked to Ribeiro's identity, celebrity, and likeness," the lawsuits say.

According to Legal Documents, Epic Games have fabricated endorsements by Riberio or his Team, and wishes for Epic's Profits from the dance to cease.

The games are among the most popular video games in the world. Epic recently announced that 78.3 million users logged in to play Fortnite in August. The NBA 2K series is critically acclaimed as one of the best sports games on the market.
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🇺🇸 **Judge Sullivan To Flynn: 'You Sold Your Country Out'**
*Sky News*: <http://archive.fo/BOH6M>

A judge has told Donald Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn that "you sold your country out" as he delayed his sentencing for lying to the FBI.

Flynn pleaded guilty in December 2017 to lying to investigators about his conversations with Sergei Kislyak, the-then Russian ambassador in Washington.

The White House has released a statement after the first hearings that the FBI 'Broke Protocol when they Ambushed Flynn'; The Statement did however add that there is cause for concern with the ex Adviser Lying to the FBI.

Attorneys for the former national security adviser had requested a postponement in the sentencing to allow him to continue co-operating with the Russia probe.

But District Judge Emmet Sullivan said Flynn's actions bordered on treason and threatened the decorated former Marine general with a stiff prison sentence.

Mr Sullivan said Flynn committed a "very serious offence" by lying to the FBI on the premises of the White House.

The Judge continued: "You were an unregistered agent of a foreign country while serving as the national security adviser to the president." He then added "Arguably, this undermines everything this flag over here stands for." And then finally added "Arguably, you sold your country out."

The POTUS did post a tweet wishing good luck to the ex General, which was signed off with a trademark of the President: "There was No Collusion!"

Judge Sullivan has now redacted the comment of calling him a unregistered agent of Russia, saying he was mistaken in saying so.

Before the hearing the federal judge made sure Flynn had entered his guilty plea knowingly and voluntarily, and ensuring he understood that lying to the FBI carries on it's own Five Years in prision.

Prosecutors said Flynn had already provided most of the cooperation that he could to the Russia probe, but it was possible he might be able to help investigators further.

In a seperate case, business partner to Flynn Bijan Rafiekian was charged with Lobbying for Turkey.
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🇺🇸 **In reversal, White House shifts border wall funding demands, wants to avoid shutdown**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/fWnuz>

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders suggested Tuesday that the White House has found an alternative way to get its requested $5 billion in funding for a US-Mexico border wall, marking a reversal from President Donald Trump's previous position.

While Democratic leaders immediately rejected the proposal, the comments represented the White House's most significant steps in recent weeks toward trying to avert a partial government shutdown ahead of a Friday deadline. With Democratic opposition, however, members of Congress on both sides appeared to be instead considering a short-term extension of funding to move the deadline beyond the year-end holiday season into Congress' new term, which begins January 3.

Earlier Tuesday, Sanders indicated that the White House could support a compromise bill to avoid such a shutdown.

"We have other ways that we can get to that $5 billion (for a border wall)," Sanders said Tuesday morning during an interview with Fox News.
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🇺🇸🇲🇽 **U.S., Mexico pledge billions to reduce migration from Central America**
*The Washington Post* - <https://archive.fo/ko3vZ>

The United States and Mexico announced Tuesday a bilateral assistance program to curb migration from Central America, signaling an early vote of confidence from the Trump administration in the foreign policy of new Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

The United States announced a total contribution of $10.6 billion, most of which will be allocated from existing aid programs. Around $4.5 billion of that sum comes from new loans, loan guarantees and other private-sector support that could become available through the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). The announcement appeared to be largely a symbolic gesture of cooperation between the two governments.

After two tumultuous years in the bilateral relationship and several tense weeks during the arrival of several migrant caravans, the Mexican government said it considered the U.S. collaboration a positive sign.

“The announcement reflects the importance that both countries grant to our bilateral relationship,” said Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s foreign minister.

The State Department said in a statement that the program would “jointly address the shared challenges of migration, narcotics trafficking, and the activities of trans-national criminal organizations.”

The Mexican government said it would contribute $25 billion to development in southern Mexico over five years, which López Obrador has suggested could serve as a source of employment to Central Americans who are granted work visas.

López Obrador “has to take advantage of this opportunity, this honeymoon with Trump and Mexico,” said Rafael Fernández de Castro, a former senior Mexican foreign affairs official and now director of the Center for U.S.-Mexican Studies at the University of California at San Diego.
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🇺🇸 **Senate passes criminal justice reform bill, sends to House**
*Fox News* - <https://archive.fo/RhxxE>

The Senate on Tuesday night overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan criminal justice bill backed by President Trump after defeating three amendments pushed by conservative Republicans.

Lawmakers approved final passage 87-12. The measure now goes to the House, where it is expected to be approved quickly. Its passage would mark a significant victory for Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, who worked the halls of Congress for months in an effort to forge a compromise.

President Trump congratulated the Senate soon after the measure's passage, tweeting: "America is the greatest Country in the world and my job is to fight for ALL citizens, even those who have made mistakes ... This will keep our communities safer, and provide hope and a second chance, to those who earn it." Trump added that he would sign the bill into law.

The legislation would give federal judges more discretion when sentencing some drug offenders and boosts prisoner rehabilitation efforts. It also would reduce life sentences for some drug offenders with three convictions, or "three strikes," to 25 years. Another provision would allow about 2,600 federal prisoners sentenced for crack cocaine offenses before August 2010 the opportunity to petition for a reduced penalty.

The changes were aimed at addressing concerns that the nation's war on drugs has exploded the prison population without helping people prepare for their return to society.
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🇺🇸 **Contract worker sues school district after losing job for refusing to sign pro-Israel pledge**
*The Hill* - <https://archive.fo/HoQDe>

A speech pathologist who served as a contract employee in Texas is suing the school district she once worked for, arguing that a state law forcing her to sign a pro-Israel pledge violates her First amendment rights.

Bahia Amawi had provided pathology services and speech therapy for children under 5 since 2009 at Pflugerville Independent School District, according to The Dallas Morning News.

The newspaper noted that a contract renewal for her in August included a clause demanding that she agree to not boycott Israel. Amawi, an American citizen of Palestinian descent who was born in Austria, declined to sign it.

Amawi said the clause violated her First and 14th Amendment rights in a lawsuit filed against both the district and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Morning News noted that Amawi stopped working with the district after officials explained to her that they couldn't work with anyone who didn't accept the clause.

In 2017, Texas passed a law that forbid government agencies, including public schools, from contracting with anybody who didn't agree to the pledge not to boycott Israel, The Morning News reported.

Boycotting is described as "refusing to deal with, terminating business activities with, or otherwise taking any action that is intended to penalize, inflict harm on, or limit commercial relations specifically with Israel, or with a person or entity doing business in Israel or in an Israeli-controlled territory," according to the law.

The newspaper noted that 26 states have enacted similar legislation.

The Washington Post noted that Amawi's lawsuit is seeking an injunction that cuts the "No boycott of Israel" clause from school contracts. It also asks for the clause to be cut from other state contracts.
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🇲🇽 **Officials say two Honduran migrant youths killed in Mexico**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/EOOxu>

The bodies of two slain Honduran migrant youths were found in the Mexican border city of Tijuana at the weekend, officials said on Tuesday, in a sign of the dangers facing Central Americans in Mexico as they seek to enter the United States.

The prosecutors’ office in Tijuana said in a statement it was investigating the deaths of the two youths, who showed signs of having been stabbed and strangled. The victims were believed to be about 16 or 17 years old, the office said.

The victims, who were staying at a shelter for migrant youths in Tijuana, were headed to another shelter when they were intercepted by people who apparently intended to rob them, it said. A third boy survived.

The incident did not appear to be related to organized crime, said Jorge Alvarez Mendoza, a prosecutor in Tijuana.

Thousands of Central American migrants have reached Tijuana in recent months hoping to gain entry to the United States. Many have been waiting in Mexico while they seek asylum under a system known as “metering,” which limits how many can apply each day.

It could not be determined immediately if the victims planned to apply for asylum.

Mexico and the United States have been discussing the possibility of returning Central American migrants to Mexico from the United States while their asylum claims are processed.

The proposal has been widely criticized by rights groups who say keeping asylum seekers in Mexico’s border towns puts them in danger. No new advances have emerged since it was reported in the media.

Alden Rivera, the Honduran ambassador to Mexico, said the teens were from Honduras and that the attack on them took place on Saturday afternoon.
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🇺🇸🇮🇱 **ACLU Suing Texas Over Israel Boycott Law**
*The Daily Caller* - <https://archive.fo/Fnszx>

The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas filed a lawsuit Tuesday challenging a 2017 Texas state law that requires government contractors to sign a pledge promising they won’t engage in any type of boycott against Israel or territories controlled by Israel.

GOP Gov. Greg Abbott signed House Bill 89 into law in May 2017, also known as the Anti-BDS (Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions) law, which bars state agencies from contracting with companies that boycott Israeli products.

“Anti-Israel policies are anti-Texas policies, and we will not tolerate such actions against an important ally,” Abbott said at the time of the law’s passing, becoming one of more than a dozen states that have also passed laws to limit working with BDS companies.

The ACLU’s lawsuit is filed on behalf of four individuals and alleges the law “violates the First Amendment’s protection against government intrusion into political speech,” according to an ACLU press release. Those include John Pleucker, a freelance writer; George Hale, a reporter; Obinna Dennar, a Ph.D. candidate; and Zachary Abdelhaid, a student at Texas State University.

“Whatever you may think about boycotts of Israel, the bottom line is that political boycotts are a legitimate form of nonviolent protest,” Edgar Saldivar, a senior staff attorney for the ACLU of Texas, said in the release.

“The state cannot use the contracting process as an ideological litmus test or to tell people what kind of causes they may or may not support,” Saldivar added.
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🇺🇸 **Activists who Abused, Cursed and Spit on Florida AG Pam Bondi – Belong to Group that Received $500K From Soros Org**
*The Gateway Pundit* - <http://archive.is/IHA2y>

The left-wing activist group that accosted Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi at a movie theater in June received half a million dollars in 2017 from an organization funded by left-wing billionaire George Soros, documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation reveal.

Organize Florida, the group that hounded Bondi from a Florida movie theater, received $500,000 last year from the Open Society Policy Center (OSPC), according to OSPC’s most recent tax forms.

OSPC is the advocacy arm of Soros’s Open Society Foundations, which the billionaire uses to advance his left-wing worldview around the globe.
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🇺🇸 **Financial Times Names George Soros ‘Person of the Year’**
Breitbart - <http://archive.is/1KsQi>

The Financial Times has named 88-year-old left-wing billionaire George Soros as its “person of the year” for 2018, calling him a “standard bearer of liberal democracy and open society” and praising “the values he represents.”

The paper noted Soros’s work for liberal democracy, but ignored critics who claim that groups he sponsors are actually eroding liberal democracy today by promoting left-wing extremism and undermining national sovereignty.

The paper adds that Soros has been the target of antisemitic conspiracy theories, and that he detests Trump.
Last month, the online Jewish magazine Tablet published a more sober, and accurate, look at Soros’s political involvement — written by James Kirchick, who is vehemently opposed to Trump but also critical of Soros.
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🗺 **Uber loses the latest legal bid to improve drivers rights.**
*BBC News*: <http://archive.fo/jeal4>

Uber has lost an appeal against a ruling that its drivers should be treated as workers rather than self-employed.

In 2016 a tribunal ruled drivers James Farrar and Yaseen Aslam were Uber staff and entitled to holiday pay, paid rest breaks and the minimum wage, a ruling upheld by UK Courts of Appeal.

However Uber won't take the ruling lying down, and has said that it will be attempting to appeal within the Supreme Court.

Mr Farrar, who is chairman of the United Private Hire Drivers branch of the IWGB union, said: "I am delighted today's ruling brings us closer to the ending Uber's abuse of precarious workers made possible by tactics of contract trickery, psychological manipulation and old-fashioned bullying." He later added a statement about his shock that Uber still won't treat staff as workers.

"This is nothing more than a cynical ploy to delay inevitable changes to its business model while it pursues a record breaking $120bn stock market flotation," Mr Farrar said, the GMB Union then realeased it's statement, saying that Uber should simply taking the verdict, after losing in courts thrice. "This is the perfect early Christmas present for GMB's Uber members, but this case is about the wider 'gig economy' too," said the GMB's general secretary Tim Roache.

The latest decision from the courts was not unanimous though, with one judge out of the three presiding ruling in favour of Uber, meaning that the end of the legal battle isn't over, and it's going up into the Supreme Court.
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🇺🇸 **Fed Reserve Degenerates Raise Rates Again, Threaten More Increases**
CNBC: <https://archive.is/brTAf>

The Fed raised interest rates by a quarter point, as expected, and lowered its median rate forecast to two hikes from three next year. But the central bank also retained language in its statement that the market saw as more aggressive than expected, in terms of future rate hikes.

"I think the market reaction to all of this is the Fed is going to overdo it," said James Paulsen, chief market strategist at Leuthold Group. "How else can you look at this than it just smells, at a minimum, like a really big slowdown in the economy coming, maybe even something worse."
"Powell said he sees no problem with balance sheet runoff. That's the one that hurts," said Paulsen. "That's another potential path of dovishness that he didn't take."
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🇩🇪 **Der Spiegel says star reporter made up material**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/BS0Ga>

An award-winning journalist who worked for Der Spiegel, one of Germany's leading news outlets, has left the weekly magazine after evidence emerged that he committed journalistic fraud "on a grand scale" over a number of years, the publication said Wednesday.

Spiegel published a lengthy report on its website after conducting an initial internal probe of the work of Claas Relotius, a 33-year-old staff writer known for vivid investigative stories. The magazine said Relotius resigned Monday after admitting some of his articles included made-up material from interviews that never happened.

The Hamburg-based magazine said Relotius contributed almost to 60 articles published in print or online since 2011, first as a freelance writer before being hired full-time last year. The reporter previously worked for other German and Swiss publications and won numerous awards, including CNN Journalist of the Year in 2014.

Spiegel said Relotius acknowledged fabricating parts of at least 14 stories. Relotius didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

The case, which is still being investigated, "marks a low point in the 70-year history of Der Spiegel," the magazine said.

It said concerns about Relotius' work first were raised in November by a fellow reporter who worked with him on a story about a border militia in Arizona and discovered that supposed interviews had never taken place.

Further fabrications by Relotius included a phone interview with the parents of American football player Colin Kaepernick, who protested police brutality by kneeling during the pre-game singing of the national anthem, Spiegel said. Another was reporting that a sign on the edge of a Minnesota town read "Mexicans Keep Out," Spiegel said.
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🇨🇺 **Cuba Blames Trump for Bread, Egg, Meat, and Rice Shortages Before New Year**
*Breitbart* - <https://archive.fo/tHFM8>

Cuba’s second-in-command, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, issued remarks Sunday blaming “the impact of the embargo, which has strengthened under the Trump administration,” for nationwide shortages of bread, eggs, and other basic goods as Cubans prepare to celebrate the new year and the 60th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

The official newspaper of the Communist Party of Cuba, Granma, quoted Miguel Díaz-Canel speaking at the debut of the nation’s 2019 economic plan, which the publication branded “objective and realist.”

“The people expect an economic response that impacts their day-to-day lives, that is why the majority of our time must be directed towards this battle,” Díaz-Canel is quoted as stating, adding that Cubans must “overcome little bits of every problem every day.”

The Cuban president, who is subordinate to Communist Party leader and Commander-in-Chief Raúl Castro, acknowledged that Cuba failed to achieve the objectives of the 2018 economic plan but blamed the “complex economic situation we face.” Among the challenges he reportedly listed were “structural problems and insufficiencies … but we cannot underestimate the impact of the embargo.”

Granma claims that, under U.S. President Donald Trump, “financial persecution” of the Cuban regime has increased. The White House has pivoted away from policies under his predecessor Barack Obama that greatly enriched military-owned Cuban corporate entities, money that Havana funneled into the persecution of pro-democracy dissidents.
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