🇺🇸 **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.
------------

🇺🇸 **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.
------------

🇺🇸 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸🇲🇽 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 **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.
----------------

🇲🇽 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸🇮🇱 **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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🇺🇸 **The Latest: House approves wall funding as shutdown nears**
*AP* - <https://archive.fo/KRtXI>

The Republican-led House has approved funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall in legislation that pushes the government closer to a partial government shutdown.

The House voted 217-185, largely along party lines. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it has almost no chance of passing.

Senators already passed their bill to avert a shutdown by extending funds to Feb. 8. It did not include the wall funding.

Without resolution, government funding for various departments expires at midnight Friday.

Trump had given mixed signals on how hard he would push for $5 billion in border wall funds. But he dug in Thursday, telling House Republican leaders he wouldn’t sign the Senate bill that didn’t have the money.
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🇺🇸 **James Comey Admits He Didn’t Tell Trump that Democrats Financed Dossier**
*Breitbart* - <http://archive.is/NyICX>

In testimony, James Comey admitted that when he infamously briefed then President-elect Donald Trump about the controversial dossier, Comey did not inform the incoming president about who financed the document.

Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) asked: “In this meeting, did you tell the President who had financed the dossier?”

“No,” was Comey’s simple reply.

Jordan was referring to Comey’s early January 2017 official briefing to Trump about the dossier. That briefing was subsequently leaked to the news media, with CNN on January 10, 2017 breaking the story that the contents of the dossier were presented during classified briefings one week earlier to Trump and then-President Barack Obama.
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🇬🇧 **Police Search Homes after Gatwick Shutdown Arrests**
*Sky News*: <http://archive.fo/IkbO0>

As flight schedules return to normal after days of chaos, some critics say the government has been too busy with Brexit to act.

Two people - a 47-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman from the town of Crawley - were arrested late on Friday and are being questioned over "criminal use of drones" at the airport, which caused distruption for over two days internationally.

The closure of the airport disrupted around 1,000 flights and ruined the travel plans of more than 140,000 people.

The city in which the arrests were made, Crawley, is five miles away from the Airport, the second busiest in the UK.

A Gatwick spokesman said: "Broadly, things are going in the right direction. By the end of the weekend, things should be back to normal."

Political Commentators are saying that the Government is simply too busy dealing with Brexit to deal with this disruption which halted and diverted planes around the world.
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🇺🇸 **Trump Discusses Firing Fed's Powell After Latest Rate Hike, Sources Say**
*Bloomberg* - <https://archive.fo/uWFJx>

President Donald Trump has discussed firing Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as his frustration with the central bank chief intensified following this week’s interest-rate hike and months of stock-market losses, according to four people familiar with the matter.

Advisers close to Trump aren’t convinced he would move against Powell and are hoping that the president’s latest bout of anger will dissipate over the holidays, the people said on condition of anonymity. Some of Trump’s advisers have warned him that firing Powell would be a disastrous move.

Yet the president has talked privately about firing Powell many times in the past few days, said two of the people.

Any attempt by Trump to push out Powell would have potentially devastating ripple effects across financial markets, undermining investors’ confidence in the central bank’s ability to shepherd the economy without political interference. It would come as markets have plummeted in recent weeks, with the major stock indexes already down sharply for the year.

White House spokespeople declined to comment, as did Fed spokeswoman Michelle Smith.

Trump’s public and private complaints about members of his administration have often been a first step toward their departures -- including former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, his first Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and outgoing chief of staff John Kelly.

It’s unclear how much legal authority the president has to fire Powell. The Federal Reserve Act says governors may be “removed for cause by the President.” Since the chairman is also a governor, that presumably extends to him or her, but the rules around firing the leader are legally ambiguous, as Peter Conti-Brown of the University of Pennsylvania notes in his book on Fed independence.
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🇺🇸 **Brett McGurk, top U.S. envoy in ISIS fight, resigns**
*CBS News* - <https://archive.fo/DKNs3>

Brett McGurk, special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, had been planning to exit his post in February 2019. But sources tell CBS News that he informed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that he will accelerate his departure due to a strong disagreement with President Trump's snap decision to withdraw 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria, effectively abandoning U.S. allies in the region.

McGurk submitted his resignation on Friday, just one day after Defense Secretary James Mattis quit his post citing fundamental disagreements with the commander-in-chief -- including one over the importance of honoring U.S. alliances.

The special envoy was publicly left in the lurch by the president's sudden declaration on Wednesday that he was pulling U.S. forces out of Syria, against the advice of his top national security advisers and without consulting U.S. allies.

As leader of the counter ISIS mission, McGurk had been in the region to meet with coalition partners including Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani last week when Mr. Trump made his sudden decision to pull U.S. support. According to Barzani's office, he had raised concern about the fate of Kurds in Syria including the Kurdish-led group of fighters known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). They have been the ground troops in the fight against ISIS and receive help from U.S. advisers, weapons and air strikes.

It is now unclear what will happen to those fighters after the U.S. troops withdraw, and whether the U.S. will continue to carry out air strikes in support of them.
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🇮🇩 **Tsunami in Indonesia kills at least 222 without warning**
*CNN* - <https://archive.fo/BQcXm>

At least 222 people were killed, with hundreds more injured and missing, including members of a pop band, after a tsunami hit the coastline of west Java and Sumatra, Indonesia on Saturday.

There was no warning before the waves struck the Pandeglang district, said Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, head of public relations at Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency.

The tsunami appears to have been triggered by a combination of underwater landslides caused by the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in the Sunda Strait that lies between the islands of Java and Sumatra.

Eyewitnesses described fleeing for their lives as beachfront hotels and homes were swept away by a towering wall of water on Saturday evening.

The waves caused a stage to collapse in the Tanjung Lesung beach resort while holidaymakers and locals were watching the Indonesian pop band Seventeen.

One member of the band has been confirmed dead as well as the manager, according to the Jakarta Post. The newspaper said all the other band members were still missing.

Even though Indonesia was the worst country affected by the devastating Boxing Day 2004 tsunami that killed hundred of thousands of people, it still lacks the proper equipment to alert that a tsunami threat is coming.

"We need multi-hazard early warning system," Nugroho said. "And we need lots of it."
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🇸🇾🇹🇷 **Turkey bolsters military on Syrian border as U.S. readies pull out: media**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/9NrgQ>

Turkey is sending reinforcements to its border with Syria, Demiroren News Agency (DHA) reported on Sunday, adding that some 100 vehicles including mounted pickup trucks and weaponry had made their way to the area.

The heightened military activity comes days after President Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would postpone a planned military operation on Kurdish YPG militia east of the Euphrates river in northern Syria following the United States’ decision to withdraw from Syria.

DHA said the Turkish convoy, headed toward the southern border province of Kilis from another border province, Hatay, included tanks, howitzers, machine guns and buses carrying commandos.

Part of the military equipment and personnel are to be positioned in posts along the border while some had crossed into Syria via the district of Elbeyli, DHA said.

Elbeyli is situated 45 kilometers (27.96 miles) northwest of the northern Syrian town of Manbij, which has been a major flashpoint between Ankara and Washington.

In June, the NATO allies reached an agreement that would see the YPG ousted from Manbij but Turkey has complained the roadmap has been delayed.

Footage from broadcaster TRT World showed parts of the convoy entering Syria via the Turkish border town of Karkamis in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, 35 kilometers north of Manbij.

The convoys are crossing into area controlled by the Free Syrian Army (FSA), a Turkish ally, and are heading to the frontlines of Manbij, TRT World said.

Reuters could not independently verify the reason for the reinforcements and Turkish officials were not immediately available for comment.
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🇯🇵 **Japanesse Emperor Leaves final birthday address**
*BBC News*: <http://archive.fo/LR8eL>

More than 80,000 people have paid their respects to Japan's Emperor Akihito as he gave his final birthday address before his abdication in April.

The emperor, 85, said he took "deep comfort" that his reign had passed without Japan again engaging in war, and then thanked his wife and the Japanesse people for years of support and service to him and the country.

Akihito is the first living monarch to relinquish the Chrysanthemum throne in nearly 200 years, and he is to pass the throne to his Eldest Son, Crown Prince Naruhito in April of next year, which may mean the end of the Heisei Era, or Achiving Peace Era in Japan.

During his brief address, Emperor Akihito also offered condolences and sympathy to Japanese who had lost family members or suffered damage - a reference to the earthquakes, severe storms and heatwaves that have hit the country over the past year, he also expressed regret in Japan's envolvement within war in China, and the Korean War.

In October the head priest at Japan's controversial Yasukuni Shrine - which honours Japan's 2.5 million war dead but also enshrines convicted criminals of World War Two - agreed to resign after criticising Emperor Akihito, saying he was trying to destroy the shrine by not visiting it, with some of the countries top politicians, including the Prime Minister, siding with the Priest.

In the final part of his address, he said he hoped Japan would be able to welcome immigrants to the country under new legislation to let in more foreign, blue-collar workers to ease a labour shortage owing to an ageing population.
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