🇻🇪🇷🇺 **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.
---------------

🇬🇧 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 **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.
---------------

🗺 **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.
------------

🇺🇸 **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."
---------------

🇩🇪 **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.
----------------

🇨🇺 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 **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.
----------------

🇺🇸 **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.
------------

🇺🇸 **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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🇷🇺🇺🇦 **Putin says Russia ready to respect Azov Sea accord with Ukraine**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/2v1gu>

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that he was willing to respect a Russian-Ukrainian accord governing the joint use of the Azov Sea and that Moscow wanted to normalize the situation around the waters.

Moscow last month seized three Ukrainian navy vessels and their crews off Crimea, accusing them of illegally entering Russian waters.
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🇦🇫 **Attack on government building in Afghan capital leaves 43 dead: official**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/bqgv8>

Afghan authorities on Tuesday collected 43 bodies from a government compound in the capital Kabul that was targeted by a suicide bomber and extremists armed with assault rifles on Monday, officials said.

The attack began when the suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car in front of a government building that houses a public welfare department in an eastern neighborhood of Kabul.

Some of the attackers rampaged through the building of the Ministry for Martyrs and Disabled Persons taking workers hostage, and others fought a prolonged gun battle with local security forces.

Health ministry spokesman Wahid Majroh said so far 43 bodies and 10 injured had been transported by ambulances from the attack site. One policeman was killed and three militants were gunned down during seven hours of fighting inside the government compound.

Afghan forces evacuated over 350 civilians from the building before calling off the operation on Monday night. No militant group has claimed responsibility for the complex attack that was identical to previous attacks by Taliban insurgents on government offices, foreign buildings, and military bases.

Abdullah Abdullah, the government’s chief executive, blamed the Taliban for the attack.
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🇹🇷 **Turkey determined to push east of Euphrates "as soon as possible"**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jT2pj>

Turkey is determined to cross to the east of the Euphrates river in northern Syria as soon as possible, Ankara’s foreign minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday, signaling renewed intent to launch a military campaign delayed by the U.S. withdrawal.

Turkey said this month it would launch a new military operation to sweep the YPG Kurdish militia from northern Syria, but put that on hold after the United States said it would pull its troops out.

Ankara regards the YPG as terrorists and has been infuriated by U.S. support for the group in the fight against Islamic State.
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🇱🇾 **Several dead in suicide attack on Libyan foreign ministry**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/S3NIx>

Three suicide bombers attacked Libya’s foreign ministry in Tripoli on Tuesday, killing at least two other people as well as themselves, authorities said.

The three attackers began their assault with a car bomb, damaging vehicles and buildings, and then opened fire on the ministry, a security source said. Two managed to get inside and blow themselves up. The other was killed by ministry guards.

Heavy smoke rose from the building, which was surrounded by security forces, as people were rushed to hospital. The health ministry said that apart from the attackers, three people had been killed and at least 21 injured.

Interior Minister Fathi Ali Bashagha said however that apart from the attackers only two people were killed, adding that investigations were continuing into the identity of the assailants.

“Security chaos in Libya offers propitious conditions for IS (Islamic State) and other terrorist groups,” Bashagha said at a joint news conference in Tripoli with Foreign Minister Mohamed Taher Siala.
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🇨🇳 **5 killed, 21 injured in bus hijacking in China's Fujian province**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/Jll4Q>

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

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

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

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

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

Reuters was not able to independently verify the footage.
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🇮🇱🇸🇾 **Israel fires at Syrian missile after bombing of arms depots near Damascus**
*The Jerusalem Post* - <https://archive.fo/OyjAs>

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

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

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

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

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

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

Other locations reported by Syrian media to have been struck during the strike are as follows: pro-Iranian military positions located in the suburbs of Damascus, air defense facilities and headquarters of the 68th Brigade and the 137th Brigade of the Syrian Army in the Damascus area, a military headquarters belonging to the 4th Division of the Syrian Army in the Al-Muna area surrounding Damascus and military Unit 10 in the district of Qatana.
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🇺🇸 **AT&T will put a fake 5G logo on its 4G LTE phones**
*The Verge* - <https://archive.fo/oSOiE>

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

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

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

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

FierceWireless guesses that “potentially millions” of people could see the new logo, with AT&T’s 5G Evolution network available in over 400 markets by the end of 2018. Given that real 5G will be rare and limited for the next year or more, this tiny little branding change could lead to a great deal of misunderstanding around the state of the next-generation wireless technology.
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🇸🇾🇮🇱🇷🇺 **Russia says Israeli strikes on Syria threatened two civilian flights: Ifax**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jyyHW>

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

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

Three Syrian soldiers were injured in the strikes, Syrian state media reported.
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🇷🇺 **Russia moves towards allowing medicinal narcotic crops**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jUwEh>

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

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

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

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

The United States, the European Union and other Western states have imposed broad-ranging sanctions against Russian companies, banks and individuals since Moscow annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014.
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🇺🇦 **Martial law expires in Ukraine**
*Reuters* - <https://archive.fo/jUwEh>

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

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

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

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

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

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