PHOTOS: For Syrian Kurds, and aid workers – the ‘safe zone’ is not so safe

The Kurds are calling this area ‘the genocide zone’. The safe zone is not safe by any definition. It is the zone of the Turkish invasion.

Impeachment transcript details intrusion by GOP Rep. Gaetz

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff did not take kindly to a protest waged by Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz.

Argentina’s New Foreign Policy: Who’s Advising Fernandez

(Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s President-elect Alberto Fernandez isn’t showing any signs of moderating his foreign policy stance before he takes office in a month. This weekend, he will host a group of leftist politicians in Buenos Aires.Fernandez was one of the first to praise the likely liberation of Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from jail. He held a lengthy four-hour lunch with Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador in his first trip abroad since the elections. And on Saturday he’ll be the key speaker of the Puebla Group, a body created in July that brings together left-wing leaders from the region.Read More: Argentina’s Fernandez Set to Shake Up Policy With U.S. and MoreFormer presidents such as Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, Uruguay’s Jose Mujica, Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo and Spain’s Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero are some of the higher-profile members of this self-proclaimed progressive group that will be discussing priorities for the region during a weekend meeting in Buenos Aires, concluding with a statement on Sunday. On the agenda are topics such as climate change, migration and regional growth.“The Puebla Group is one I’ve supported even before being a presidential candidate,” Fernandez said in Mexico. “It’s a group designed to fix problems in Latin America. Nothing more than that.”Fernandez hasn’t made clear yet whether he’ll remain in the Lima Group of nations who support Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido. Argentina’s decision on Venezuela could hurt its standing with U.S. President Donald Trump and challenge its ability to renegotiate a $56 billion credit line with the International Monetary Fund.Fernandez, who takes office Dec. 10, has yet to announce who will be his foreign minister. Until then, these are Fernandez’s point people on foreign policy matters, who don’t act as a unified team:Felipe SolaSola, 69, is one of Fernandez’s closest advisers, and travels with him in every trip abroad. An agricultural engineer, he is a national congressman since 2009 and was governor of the province of Buenos Aires during Nestor Kirchner’s presidency. Before that, he was agriculture minister between 1993 and 1999.“I’m slowly getting used to the idea of ​​being the foreign affairs minister,” Sola said during an interview with a local radio station.Though his role isn’t yet defined, he hasn’t hesitated to make statements on Argentina’s foreign policy. During Fernandez’s visit to Mexico, Sola said that the country won’t change its view on the situation in Venezuela due to the debt with the Fund.Jorge ArguelloArguello, 63, is Argentina’s former ambassador to the United Nations, the U.S. and Portugal. Born in Cordoba province, he is a lawyer and a career diplomat. Arguello is a friend of Fernandez for 40 years, though he hasn’t participated in his international trips so far this year.Before that, he was a two-time Buenos Aires City lawmaker. He is the president of Fundacion Embajada Abierta, a consulting firm in Buenos Aires. In a recent article originally published in Le Monde Diplomatique, he defined Argentina as a “country that plays under the rules imposed by others” and that must organize its international agenda with a delicate balance between its own national interests and consensus with other nations.Marco Enriquez-OminamiChile’s three-time presidential candidate Marco Enriquez-Ominami, 46, is also close to Fernandez and has been influencing his international agenda. Although he defines himself as a friend and not a adviser, he has traveled this year with the Argentine leader to Spain and Mexico.Shifting between English, Spanish and French, he was seen most recently at the lobby of the Camino Real hotel in Mexico City, talking about details of the upcoming Puebla Group meeting in Buenos Aires, which he’ll also be attending.Enriquez-Ominami, a Congressman from 2006 to 2010, is a Puebla Group founder and a member of the Partido Progresista in Chile. He lived in Paris for more than a decade.To contact the reporters on this story: Jorgelina do Rosario in Buenos Aires at jdorosario@bloomberg.net;Eric Martin in Mexico City at emartin21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Carolina Millan at cmillanronch@bloomberg.net, Walter BrandimarteFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers charged, student mourned

Police in Hong Kong said Saturday that they have arrested and charged six pro-democracy lawmakers, a move that could escalate public fury a day after the death of a university student linked to months of anti-government protests in the semi-autonomous Chinese territory. The 22-year-old died Friday, succumbing to injuries four days after falling from a parking garage when police fired tear gas during clashes with protesters. Police said they arrested six lawmakers and charged them Saturday with obstructing the local assembly during a raucous May 11 meeting over a now-shelved China extradition bill that sparked the five months of protests calling for democratic reforms.

Some Kentucky Republicans warn against election challenge

Some Kentucky Republicans are warning Gov. Matt Bevin against challenging the election results in his reelection bid unless he finds evidence of massive fraud.

Transcripts Show GOP ‘Terror Campaign’ to Out Whistleblower

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/GettyRepublican lawmakers have sought to hijack several impeachment depositions in a crusade for information on the whistleblower who sparked the inquiry, according to a review of the transcripts by The Daily Beast. Efforts from Republican lawmakers and their counsel to elicit information on the whistleblower—both by asking leading questions and asking point-blank for the person’s identity—were repeatedly batted down by Democrats, and in one case the attorney of the witness in disputes that became increasingly caustic. Last week, The Daily Beast reported that Derek Harvey, an aide to Rep. Devin Nunes (R-CA), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, provided notes for House Republicans ahead of the high-profile testimonies of Trump administration appointees with the name of the alleged whistleblower. The goal was that once the transcripts became public, so would the name of the individual. In one example, during the deposition of Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, minority counsel Steve Castor asked flat-out, “Is the whistleblower [redacted]?”  Thanks to Rand Paul, Russian Media Are Naming the Alleged WhistleblowerDuring the deposition of acting Ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor, who had testified that military aid to Ukraine was held up against the wishes of top officials including National Security Adviser John Bolton, Rep. Mark  Meadows (R-NC) pressed Taylor for more details on the names of individuals he spoke to at the National Security Council who provided information about Bolton’s thinking on the Ukraine situation.“I guess I'm a little concerned on who at NSC would've been telling you about Ambassador Bolton,” Meadows said. “You felt like he was a kindred spirit on this. So who was telling you from the NSC that he was?”Later, Castor asked Taylor if he communicated with or knew of the official that conservative media has identified as the alleged whistleblower. Taylor said he did not know the individual. Tom Devine, legal director for the Government Accountability Project, said if the effort to out the whistleblower’s identity was successful it’s certainly “a felony” under the Whistleblower Protection Act, though he doubted the Department of Justice would prosecute the offenders. “It’s an attempt to terrorize other witnesses from providing other testimony,” he said.“This new tactic is threatening their lives, it’s a terror campaign against anyone bearing witness against the president.” The legal risks of their attempts to out the individual did little to deter those involved, even as Democrats attempted to thwart their efforts. Republicans exited certain depositions complaining that House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-CA) — who ruled that questions about the whistleblower would be off-limits during the hearings—was shutting down their lines of questioning. That was particularly the case with the testimony of Vindman, who was on Trump’s July 25 call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and who Republicans believed might know the whistleblower.Team Trump Stirs Up Completely Bogus Claim About WhistleblowerThough Vindman said in his opening statement that he would not answer questions about the whistleblower’s identity, the released transcripts reveal that Schiff had to cut off Republicans at least five different times over the course of the 10-hour proceeding. Schiff seemed to get increasingly exasperated as Castor, along with lawmakers such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and John Ratcliffe (R-TX), tried different tactics to coax the information about the whistleblower out of the witness, from the blatant—like Castor’s straight-up ask—to the more subtle, like asking which people he might debrief about an important call.“I am concerned about a bad-faith effort to out a whistleblower who has a statutory right to remain anonymous,” said Schiff, who instructed Vindman that he did not have to answer any question that might have come close to identifying the whistleblower. “We will not be a party to the attacks on the whistleblower. We will not put this whistleblower's life at risk or anymore risk than it already is.”Minutes later, Schiff and Jordan got into a heated argument when more whistleblower questions came up. Jordan claimed he wanted to protect the whistleblower but went after Schiff for allegedly withholding the person’s name, a charge that leans on the chairman’s admission that the whistleblower first anonymously contacted his committee for guidance on how to file their complaint. “It doesn't make it any more true the tenth time you said it than the first time.” responded Schiff, “It just means you’re more willful about the false statement?”The questions also exasperated Vindman’s attorney, Michael Volkov. Later in that deposition, when Castor went at the whistleblower angle again, Volkov asked, “If you want to keep going down this road, we’re going to just keep objecting, OK?”During a portion of the deposition of former NSC official Fiona Hill, the GOP attorney rattled off a list of several officials, asking Hill if she knew any of them. That portion was largely redacted in the transcript, hiding its contents from public view, but it appeared similar to a tactic used by Castor during Taylor’s deposition to try to narrow the universe of who knew the information contained in the whistleblower complaint. Visible in the transcript of Hill’s deposition, however, was the attendance of Nunes aide Harvey, who was a colleague of Hill’s on the NSC during the first year of the Trump administration.  While the whistleblower may have very little recourse under the law, Devine noted that the District of Columbia is one of the only jurisdictions where the individual could seek relief from the effort to out them. In order to do so, Devine said, they would need to file a First Amendment suit in District Court, seeking injunctive relief, including a temporary restraining order, against revealing their identity. “It’s not true they can do this with impunity,” he said. “The assertion that these politicians can engage in this behavior at will is completely false.” — With additional reporting by Spencer AckermanRead more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Jeffrey Epstein death memes and conspiracy theories are everywhere. This is why they're so popular.

The theory that Jeffrey Epstein was murdered is widespread and pervasive. Its popularity illustrates our growing distrust in public institutions.

'Stunned, amused, and embarrassed': Anonymous author describes what it's like working for Trump

Imagine your boss is an erratic, petulant egomaniac, averse to reading, prone to angry outbursts and known for an acutely short attention span. Then imagine your boss is the president of the United States.

Thunberg speech gets interrupted by rallygoer

At a climate change rally in Charlotte, N.C., activist Greta Thunberg’s speech was interrupted by a rally participant. Thunberg responded by saying, “I think if you want to speak with me personally, maybe you can do it later.”

Hundreds of Indian Sikhs make historic pilgrimage to Pakistan

Hundreds of Indian Sikhs made a historic pilgrimage to Pakistan on Saturday, crossing through a white gate to reach one of their religion's holiest sites, after a landmark deal between the two countries separated by the 1947 partition of the subcontinent. Cheering Sikhs walked joyfully along the road from Dera Baba Nanak in India towards the new immigration hall that would allow them to pass through a secure land corridor into Pakistan, in a rare example of cooperation between the nuclear-armed countries divided by decades of enmity. Buses were waiting on the Pakistani side to carry them along the corridor to the shrine to Sikhism's founder Guru Nanak, which lies in Kartarpur, a small town just four kilometres (2.5 miles) inside Pakistan where he is believed to have died.

Aide to Ukrainian President Addresses Bill Taylor Testimony

Tom Brenner/ReutersIn his testimony before the impeachment inquiry last month, U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor described a conversation about a sensitive topic: whether or not Ukrainian law enforcement should investigate Petro Poroshenko, the former president of Ukraine who lost a re-election bid to Volodymyr Zelensky on April 21. Now, one of the Ukrainians in that conversation is indicating that Taylor’s testimony didn’t capture the full story. Taylor, America’s top diplomat in Kyiv, is a key witness in Democrats’ investigation of President Donald Trump and his policy toward Ukraine. In his testimony, Taylor said two Zelensky aides, Andriy Yermak and Igor Novikov, reacted strongly after Taylor and then-special envoy Ambassador Kurt Volker urged them not to scrutinize Poroshenko. Poroshenko faced criticism during the election for certain military decisions and had faced a bruising scandal when news broke in the weeks before Election Day about the alleged involvement of the son of one of his close business partners in a scheme to soak Ukraine’s defense sector for millions of dollars. One of Poroshenko’s top national security officials, Oleg Gladkovsky, resigned over the news and was reportedly detained last month as part of an investigation into the situation.  “Kurt said, you know, you should move forward, don’t prosecute Poroshenko,” Taylor said in his testimony, describing a conversation that happened on September 14. “And they responded, take a look at this.”Yermak and Novikov pulled out their phones, according to Taylor, and showed the two American diplomats “pictures of their relatives–one was a brother, and one was a cousin–who had been killed or wounded in the east.”Taylor apparently saw a connection between the military service of the aides’ family members and the Zelensky administration’s approach to Poroshenko. “[T]hey showed this to Kurt and me, and they said, Poroshenko is responsible for this,” Taylor said. “There was a deep-seated anger at Poroshenko at an emotional level. And that was one of the things motivating–one of the things motivating the attacks on, or the court cases on President Poroshenko.”Reached for comment about the exchange, Novikov offered a view of the issues they discussed at that dinner that differed from Taylor’s. “The fact that one of my close relatives is serving Ukraine, risking his life to protect our country from the Russian aggression makes me proud, not angry,” he told The Daily Beast. “The main issue with Mr. Poroshenko is corruption, especially within the defense sector. In my view, it is unacceptable to steal from the very people who are defending our freedom.” “I strongly believe that if Ukraine were to deoligarchize itself, there should not be two separate categories: ‘good oligarch’ and ‘bad oligarch,’” he added. “No one should be above the law. Is Mr. Poroshenko an oligarch? I have an opinion on that, but I’ll let everyone else also be the judge of that.” Volker and Taylor’s efforts to influence Ukrainian prosecutors’ investigation decisions made for a bit of discomfort, according to George Kent, the State Department’s deputy assistant secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs. Kent said that when Taylor and Volker urged Yermak not to investigate Poroshenko, Yermak pointed to American efforts to get Ukraine to open politically motivated investigations. “Andry Yermak said: What? You mean the type of investigations you’re pushing for us to do on Biden and Clinton? And at that point Kurt Volker did not respond,” Kent said. Taylor is set to testify publicly next week as part of Congressional Democrats’ impeachment inquiry. The inquiry focuses on efforts by members of the Trump administration to pressure Kyiv to announce investigations into alleged Ukrainian interference in the U.S. 2016 election and a company linked to former Vice President Joe Biden. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

Harris, Warren compete for support from black female voters

Kamala Harris got a much needed boost this past week when the California senator picked up the endorsement of Higher Heights, the country's largest political organization aimed at electing black women. A day after Harris' announcement, the Massachusetts senator won the backing of more than 100 black female activists. The dueling endorsements signal an emerging battle between Warren and Harris for the support of black women, who are the Democratic Party's most loyal and consistent voters.

Australian firefighters battle widespread blazes, brace for worse conditions

Australian firefighters will spend Sunday trying to contain bushfires as authorities warn that widespread fire danger on Tuesday will stretch their ability to protect people.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2NyDvCv

UK Conservatives put $1.5 trillion price tag on Labour opposition plans

Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party said the opposition Labour Party would spend an extra 1.2 trillion pounds ($1.5 trillion) over the next five years if it wins power in an election on Dec. 12, British newspapers reported on Saturday.

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/33ADFii

TIMELINE-Indian court hands disputed site to Hindus; Muslim group unhappy

India's Supreme Court on Saturday awarded a Hindu group the ownership of a centuries-old religious site also claimed by Muslims in a case that has caused deep divisions and deadly riots between the two communities. 1528 - The mosque in Ayodhya, in what is now India's biggest state of Uttar Pradesh, was built by Mughal emperor Babur, according to documents produced by Muslim groups in court. 1949 - Muslim groups accuse government officials of conniving with Hindu monks to place an idol of an infant Lord Ram in the grounds of the mosque.

Rep. Matt Gaetz barged into Fiona Hill deposition

According to transcripts released by House Democrats, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, in a heated exchange with Rep. Adam Schiff, was told to leave the closed-door Fiona Hill deposition.

9 Ingenious Smuggling Machines That Beat the Berlin Wall

US-born IS bride appeals again to come home from Syria

A US-born woman who says she regrets having joined the Islamic State group has appealed again to come home from the refugee camp where she lives with her small son in Syria. The government is refusing to let Hoda Muthana return to the US, arguing that she is not an American citizen. In an interview with NBC News published Saturday, Muthana said she "regrets every single thing" done by IS, which she joined in 2014 after embracing extremist ideology while living with her family in Alabama.

U.K. Conservatives' Lead Over Labour Narrows in Opinium Poll

(Bloomberg) -- The U.K.’s Conservative Party’s lead over the opposition Labour Party narrowed this week as the campaign for the Dec. 12 general election picked up steam.The ruling Conservatives had 41% support compared with 29% for Labour, according to Opinium’s poll issued Saturday for the Observer newspaper. The Tories were at 42% last week and Labour at 26%.The Liberal Democrats were third, with 15%, followed by the Brexit Party at 6% and the Scottish National Party at 5%.The online survey of 2,001 U.K. adults was carried out from Nov. 6 to 8.There’s a 9-in-10 chance that the true value of a party’s support lies within 4 points of the estimates provided by the poll, and a 2-in-3 chance that they are within 2 points, according to Opinium.To contact the reporter on this story: Madison Park in San Francisco at mpark197@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Sebastian Tong at stong41@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

Impeachment inquiry: Fiona Hill tells lawmakers she's received death threats

Former top Russia expert at White House says harassment reached a peak after she agreed to testify in impeachment hearingsFiona Hill arrives for a closed door meeting as part of the House impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump on Capitol Hill in Washington, 4 November 2019. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/APThe former top Russia expert at the White House has said she has been subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation, including death threats, which reached a new peak after she agreed to testify in congressional impeachment hearings.Fiona Hill, who was the senior director for Europe and Russia in the National Security Council (NSC) said other NSC staff had been “hounded out” by threats against them, including antisemitic smears linking them to the liberal financier and philanthropist, George Soros, a hate figure on the far right.In her testimony to Congress, a full transcript of which was released on Friday, Hill described a climate of fear among administration staff.The UK-born academic and biographer of Vladimir Putin said that the former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, was the target of a hate campaign, with the aim of driving her from her post in Kyiv, where she was seen as an obstacle to some corrupt business interests.Yovanovitch was recalled from Ukraine in May on Trump’s orders. In a 25 July conversation with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Trump described Yovanovitch as “bad news” and predicted she was “going to go through some things”. The former ambassador has testified she felt threatened by the remarks.Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, led calls for Yovanovitch’s dismissal, as did two of Giuliani business associates, Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman. All three are under scrutiny in hearings being held by House committees looking at Trump’s use of his office to put pressure on the Ukrainian government to investigate his political opponents.“There was no basis for her removal,” Hill testified. “The accusations against her had no merit whatsoever. This was a mishmash of conspiracy theories that…I believe firmly to be baseless, an idea of an association between her and George Soros.”“I had had accusations similar to this being made against me as well,” Hill testified. “My entire first year of my tenure at the National Security Council was filled with hateful calls, conspiracy theories, which has started again, frankly, as it’s been announced that I’ve been giving this deposition, accusing me of being a Soros mole in the White House, of colluding with all kinds of enemies of the president, and of various improprieties.”She added that the former national security adviser, HR McMaster “and many other members of staff were targeted as well, and many people were hounded out of the National Security Council because they became frightened about their own security.”“I received, I just have to tell you, death threats, calls at my home. My neighbours reported somebody coming and hammering on my door,” Hill said, adding that she had also been targeted by obscene phone calls. “Now, I’m not easily intimidated, but that made me mad.”“When I saw this happening to Ambassador Yovanovitch, I was furious,” she said, pointing to “this whipping up of what is frankly an antisemitic conspiracy theory about George Soros to basically target nonpartisan career officials, and also some political appointees as well.”In Yovanovitch’s case, Hill said: “the most obvious explanation [for the smear campaign] seemed to be business dealings of individuals who wanted to improve their investment positions inside of Ukraine itself, and also to deflect away from the findings of not just the Mueller report on Russian interference but what’s also been confirmed by your own Senate report, and what I know myself to be true as a former intelligence analyst and somebody who has been working on Russia for more than 30 years.”Hill dismissed the suggestion that Ukraine meddled in the 2016 election was a “conspiracy theory” intended to distract attention from Russia’s well-documented role.The treatment of Yovanovitch, Hill said “had a really devastating effect on the morale of all of the teams that I work with across the interagency because everybody knows Ambassador Yovanovitch to be the best of the best in terms of a nonpartisan career official.The former national security official, who resigned in July, said she thought that the fact that Yovanovitch was a woman in a high position also played a role in the attacks.“I don’t see always a lot of prominent women in these positions – she was the highest ranking woman diplomat,” Hill said.

China Issues Death Penalty for Shipping Opioid to U.S.

XINGTAI, China -- A court in China convicted and sentenced to death Thursday a man accused of trafficking fentanyl to the United States after a joint investigation with U.S. law enforcement agencies.The case, involving nine defendants, was a rare example of cooperation against a surge in fentanyl-related deaths that American officials, including President Donald Trump, have blamed directly on China's lax enforcement and even complicity in fueling a drug epidemic on U.S. streets.The man sentenced to death, Liu Yong, led an illicit network of labs that produced and shipped packages of fentanyl to American users who placed orders online through a dealer simply known as "Diana," according to the Chinese and American officials.A judge in Xingtai, a city in Hebei province about 220 miles south of Beijing, sentenced Liu to death after detailing a broad conspiracy to manufacture and smuggle fentanyl that evaded China's strict controls on pharmaceutical production.Liu's death sentence was suspended for two years, leaving open the possibility that it could be commuted to life in prison. Eight other co-defendants were also sentenced, including distributors and online sellers. They received sentences ranging from six months in prison to life.The case started with an arrest by the Drug Enforcement Administration in New Orleans in August 2017, leading to an international investigation into a sprawling underground production network that prosecutors said Liu orchestrated.The network included one lab and two distribution centers in Shanghai and the neighboring province, Jiangsu. They were shut down, and 12 kilograms, or about 26 pounds, of fentanyl was seized as part of the investigation, according to the officials and the court's ruling."The successful outcome of this case, especially the heavy sentences to the main criminals and others, fully demonstrates the position and determination of the Chinese government to severely punish fentanyl-related crimes," Yu Haibin, deputy director of China's National Narcotics Control Commission, said at a news conference in Xingtai after the court's sentencing hearing.He was joined by diplomats from the U.S. Embassy, underscoring China's eagerness to show it was cooperating with U.S. law enforcement to combat the fentanyl scourge. Many officials in the United States have accused China of abetting the trade.Austin Moore, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official working in the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, attended the sentencing along with other American diplomats and afterward welcomed the Chinese cooperation in the case, which he said had also resulted in arrests and indictments in New York and Oregon."I have one more thing to say to those who make it their business to spread illegal narcotics," he said at the news conference. "We make it our business to find you, arrest you and hold you accountable for your crimes."Moore said the United States looked forward to greater collaboration as the Chinese government enforces a decision to classify all variants of fentanyl as controlled substances subject to strict enforcement.That legal change, which China's leader, Xi Jinping, promised to Trump last year, closed a loophole in the country's laws that allowed manufacturers here to make precursors or slight variations of fentanyl that were not explicitly banned in China.As anger rose in the United States over Chinese complicity in the epidemic, the Chinese have complained that they have been unfairly blamed for a problem that stems from pervasive drug abuse.Yu, sitting beside Moore in a hotel ballroom, reiterated that view Thursday. He noted that overdose deaths in the United States had continued to rise even as China intensified its cooperation with U.S. law enforcement agencies and tightened its own export controls.He cited U.S. statistics showing that customs officials had seized 536 kilograms of fentanyl since October 2018 but that only 5.87 kilograms of that came from China."This data does not support that China is the main source of fentanyl substances in the United States," he said.The sentencing Thursday comes as aides to Xi and Trump try to finalize an interim deal in the trade war. The cooperation on display could help smooth the way.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

Next week's Arctic blast will be so cold, forecasters expect it to break 170 records across US

Get ready for a taste of January. The incoming Arctic blast will bring cold temperatures to the Midwest, Plains, East Coast and Deep South.

How Trump's Visit to an Alabama Football Game Caused Controversy Before He Even Arrived

Students at the University of Alabama were warned not to be "disruptive" while Trump attends the Alabama-LSU game.

Trump ally Lindsey Graham says Ukraine policy 'incoherent' and White House 'incapable' of putting quid pro quo together

Lindsey Graham slammed the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump while claiming the White House policy towards Ukraine was so “incoherent” that the administration could not have formed a quid pro quo even if it tried.The South Carolina Republican described the impeachment as “sour grapes and politically driven” when speaking to reporters on Wednesday, calling the process “a sham” and the investigation “manufactured”.

Bolivian Mayor Has Hair Forcibly Cut by Masked Protesters as Post-Election Violence Continues

Vinto Mayor Patricia Arce was covered in red paint and had her hair cut in violence after President Evo Morales's contested election.

House Republicans appear to be throwing Giuliani, Sondland, and Mulvaney under the bus to save Trump

House Republicans appear to have a new strategy to defend President Trump from mounting evidence that he used the U.S. government to squeeze Ukraine for politically beneficial investigations of Democratic rivals past and present: Talk loudly and throw other Trump allies under the bus. Specifically, The Washington Post reports, Trump's House defenders are effectively offering up U.S. Ambassador Gordon Sondland, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney "to be fall guys" in the Ukraine scandal.All three Trump allies played overlapping roles in the Ukraine story: Sondland informed Ukraine it had to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden to get a White House audience and unfreeze military aid; Trump told his ad hoc Ukraine team to go through Giuliani, who reportedly specified the targets Ukraine needed to investigate and was also behind the ouster of U.S. Ambassador Marie Yovanovich; and Mulvaney was involved in freezing the Ukraine aid and admitted on camera it was tied to Ukraine investigating the Democratic National Committee, a statement he later tried to walk back.House Republicans have now started "sowing doubts about whether Sondland, Giuliani, and Mulvaney were actually representing the president or freelancing to pursue their own agendas," the Post reports. This is just one theory Republicans are testing out -- others include that Trump didn't have "corrupt intent," that quid pro quos are commonplace, and that Trump is too incompetent to carry one off. "In a sign of how the GOP is scrambling, however, many of those theories run counter to each other," the Post notes.The blame-the-aides strategy also isn't without risks. Trump's former personal lawyer Michael Cohen flipped after being fed under the bus, and on MSNBC Thursday night, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner speculated to Ari Melber that if Giuliani is charged in either of the two investigations where he's a central figure, "there's nowhere to go but up," and rather than risk prison, "he's gonna sing." More stories from theweek.com Nike to launch investigation after runner Mary Cain describes 'emotionally and physically abusive system' Facebook says it's taking down any mention of the alleged whistleblower's name Kentucky GOP to Gov. Bevin: Show proof of voter fraud or 'let it go' and concede

After killings, Mexican hamlet fears 'ghost town' if U.S. neighbors flee

Neighbors of the American families murdered in northern Mexico this week worry the massacre will spell the end for two villages that have grown to rely on one another since breakaway Mormons set up home in the isolated hills decades ago. Unknown gunmen killed three mothers and six children from families with Mormon roots and U.S.-Mexican dual citizenship on Monday, in an attack that spread outrage in both countries and increased U.S. pressure on Mexico to rein in drug cartels. All the victims lived in La Mora, a cluster of suburban-style homes settled more than 70 years back by a breakaway Mormon sect from the United States on land 56 miles (90 km) south of the U.S.-Mexico border at Arizona.

Mainland Chinese student jailed in Hong Kong protests

A student from mainland China arrested at a Hong Kong democracy protest was sentenced on Thursday to six weeks in prison for possession of an offensive weapon -- the city's first such case involving a mainlander in almost five months of unrest. Since the first mass demonstrations in June, more than 3,300 people have been arrested in Hong Kong in connection to the protest movement, with some charged for rioting and illegal assembly. Chen Zimou, a 24-year-old music and English student originally from Chongqing in southwestern China, was arrested for carrying an extendable baton during a protest in July.

What Trump and Republicans should learn from Virginia Democrats' gun safety win over NRA

Trump and lawmakers who take their cues from gun lobby need to realize that voters want action, and that the NRA is no longer a political juggernaut.

Bloodhound aims to be world's fastest car in South Africa

An earthbound jet known as the Bloodhound became one of the world's 10 fastest cars this week, on target for its goal to set a new land speed record. "The feeling in this car is fantastic," driver Andy Green told The Associated Press on Friday, days after the Bloodhound hit 501 mph (806 kph) in South Africa's northern desert. Bloodhound's next goal is to reach 550 mph (885 kph), possibly in the coming week.

Celebrities, others ask Texas to halt inmate's execution

Supporters of a Texas death row inmate who is facing lethal injection in less than two weeks for a murder he says he didn't commit are mounting a final push in the courts and on social media to stop his execution, which is being called into question by lawmakers, pastors, celebrities and the European Union. Rodney Reed is set to be executed on Nov. 20 for the killing of 19-year-old Stacey Stites near the Central Texas city of Bastrop. Reed, 51, has long maintained he didn't kill Stites and that her fiance, former police officer Jimmy Fennell, was the real killer.

Vindman Burns Trump Booster John Solomon: ‘All the Key Elements’ of His Reporting ‘Were False’

REUTERSImpeachment witness transcripts released Friday revealed that right-wing journalist John Solomon’s outsized role in jumpstarting Trumpworld’s Ukraine narrative was based on lies and false information.Solomon, who until recently was a columnist and executive vice president at The Hill, has found himself entangled in the impeachment inquiry as his Ukraine-related articles and frequent appearances on pro-Trump Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show helped fuel the president’s desire to have Ukraine investigate former Vice President Joe Biden and the unfounded 2016 DNC server conspiracy.Throughout his testimony, released Friday, the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman—who listened in on the infamous July 25 call between Trump and Ukraine’s president—noted that Solomon’s March interview with former Ukraine Prosecutor General Yuriy Lutsenko was a major influence on Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the president, especially when it came to the removal of former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch last spring. Lutsenko alleged in the interview that Ukrainian officials helped Hillary Clinton in 2016 by leaking damaging information about former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort and that Yovanovitch gave him a “do-not-prosecute” list and cooperated with Clinton to undermine Trump. Lutsenko eventually retracted the claim against Yovanovitch.During an exchange with pro-Trump Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY), Vindman said that Solomon’s article was a “false narrative” and that he based that assertion on “authoritative sources.” When asked to elaborate, the NSC official said he talked to “interagency colleagues from State and the Intelligence Community,” adding they found the claims against Yovanovitch to be “preposterous.”George Kent Testimony: State Dept. Brass Told Hannity to Stop Smearing Marie YovanovitchWhen pressed by Zeldin on whether his sources found some or all of the parts of Solomon’s report to be false, Vindman replied, “I think all the key elements are false.”“Just so I understand what you mean when you say key elements,” the congressman asked. “Are you referring to everything John Solomon stated or just some of it?”“All the elements that I just laid out for you,” Vindman said. “The criticisms of corruption were false.”“Were there more items in there, frankly, congressman? I don’t recall,” he continued. “I haven’t looked at the article in quite some time, but you know, his grammar might have been right.”Top U.S. diplomat George Kent made similar charges in his testimony that was released on Thursday, saying that Solomon's report was “if not entirely made up of full cloth, it was primarily non-truths and non-sequiturs.”Meanwhile, in her testimony released Friday, former National Security Council official Fiona Hill pointed out that the first time she was made aware of Giuliani’s involvement in Ukraine was via Solomon’s articles and Giuliani’s Fox News appearances early this year.She also went on to claim that it was her understanding that Yovanovitch’s removal was “set in motion” by Giuliani “in conjunction with people who were writing articles” and Giuliani’s constant appearances on TV, adding that she was also aware after Yovanovitch had been removed that Trump had retweeted some of Solomon’s Ukraine articles.Solomon owes his role in fueling the chain of events that has led to the ongoing scandal—and the very likely impeachment of Trump later this year—to the fact that various individuals in the upper echelons of Trumpworld were eager to devour and weaponize his columns in their messaging wars on the Democrats and the Bidens.The president’s personal attorney, in particular, prolifically and aggressively promoted Solomon’s work on Ukraine and the Bidens—even if that work hadn’t actually been published yet.One Saturday night in early April, The Daily Beast received a long message, unprompted and unsolicited, from Giuliani that read, “Edited draft of column that goes live at 7a tomorrow.” The rest of the missive appeared to contain the entirety of a column, and included near the top several apparent headline suggestions such as, “Ukrainian to U.S. prosecutors: Why don’t you want our evidence on Democrats?” and “Ukrainians build a case against Democrats, but does anyone in U.S. care?”The text also read: “By John Solomon.”It was unclear why or how Trump’s personal lawyer was getting apparently full previews of upcoming Solomon stories before they published online or elsewhere. Giuliani claimed that Solomon hadn’t provided him with this one, and that he had gotten it from someone else, though he did not say who.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

'I was just shocked': Here are the biggest takeaways from Fiona Hill’s damning impeachment testimony against Trump

Fiona Hill's testimony presented a damning picture of a shadow effort to pressure Ukraine into launching investigations desired by Trump.

Families come from across U.S. to grieve relatives slain in Mexico

An American man whose grandchildren were slain in a massacre in Mexico demanded justice on Thursday for other victims of the country's drug war, as relatives gathered from across the United States for a funeral guarded by heavily armed military. Kenneth Miller lost his daughter-in-law and four grandchildren, all dual citizens, in an ambush on Monday in the northern border state of Sonora that killed three mothers and six children. The attack on members of breakaway Mormon communities who settled in Mexico decades ago prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to urge Mexico and the United States to "wage war" together on drug cartels.

Trump claims 'I don't know' Gordon Sondland. Here's how ridiculous that is.

Gordon Sondland, meet bus.Sondland serves as President Trump's ambassador to the EU, a role he got after donating $1 million to Trump's inauguration. But Trump doesn't really remember that massive donation or even Sondland himself, he claimed to reporters on Friday.Sondland testified for House impeachment investigators last month, with reports suggesting his testimony wasn't very consequential. But a transcript of Sondland's hearing released Tuesday showed Sondland had amended his statement since he had first spoken. His additional four pages of sworn testimony revealed he did have knowledge of a possible quid pro quo between the United States and Ukraine, which he previously denied.Before Sondland testified for House impeachment investigators last month, the president called him a "really good man and great American." But when asked about the additional testimony Friday, Trump dug out his usual amnesiac defense, saying "I hardly know the gentleman."More stories from theweek.com Nike to launch investigation after runner Mary Cain describes 'emotionally and physically abusive system' Facebook says it's taking down any mention of the alleged whistleblower's name Kentucky GOP to Gov. Bevin: Show proof of voter fraud or 'let it go' and concede

‘Gender Reveal’ Celebration in Texas Led to a Plane Crash

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Killed American family may have been 'bait' in Mexican cartel fight: relatives

The nine American women and children killed in northern Mexico were victims of a territorial dispute between an arm of the Sinaloa Cartel and a rival gang, officials said on Wednesday, and may have been used to lure one side into a firefight. Members of breakaway Mormon communities that settled in Mexico decades ago, the three families were ambushed as they drove along a dirt track in Sonora state, leading to U.S. President Donald Trump urging Mexico and the United States to "wage war' together on the drug cartels. Accounts emerging of Monday morning's slayings detailed the heroism of a surviving boy who walked for miles to get help for his siblings, and heavy gun battles in the remote hill area that lasted for hours into the night after the attack.

Roger Stone trial: Witness denies 'back-channel' to WikiLeaks in bizarre testimony

A key witness bullied by notorious Republican operative Roger Stone has repeatedly denied being a “back-channel” for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to Mr Stone, a former aide to Donald Trump.Mr Stone lied to Congress about his role in WikiLeaks’ plans to release emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign and planned to obtain damaging information on Mr Trump’s political rivals in order to protect the president because “the truth looked bad” for Mr Trump’s campaign, according to federal prosecutors.

Trump: Joe and Hunter Biden ‘must testify’ in impeachment inquiry

In his latest pushback against the impeachment inquiry in the House, President Trump on Thursday said investigators should call former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter to testify in the probe.

China jails nine for selling fentanyl into US

China on Thursday jailed nine people for selling fentanyl to Americans, the result of a landmark joint probe, and pledged further co-operation following President Donald Trump's fury at Beijing's perceived inaction against Chinese suppliers fuelling the deadly US opioid crisis. Despite Trump's criticism earlier this year that Beijing had reneged on its promise to crack down on the production of the drug, China said it was "willing to conduct sincere and concrete anti-drug cooperation" with the US to tackle fentanyl trafficking. The court in northern Hebei province described the case as the first successful joint US-Chinese probe related to fentanyl smuggling, and US officials also hailed the verdict.

World's worst air: India's pollution crisis in perspective

Air pollution in New Delhi and surrounding areas reached this year's worst level on Nov. 3 and 4, with some indices showing PM 2.5 levels at 407 and more than 500 respectively. India's air pollution problem extends far beyond the more than 20 million residents of New Delhi. The industrial hub of Kanpur, home to 3 million people, is followed by 13 Indian cities on a World Health Organization (WHO) list of places with the worst air.

Key Impeachment Witnesses Finger Mulvaney In the Quid Pro Quo

Two witnesses in the House impeachment probe told investigators last month that White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney was directly involved in efforts to push Ukraine to undertake particular investigations in exchange for a presidential meeting.Fiona Hill, the former top Russia advisor to Trump, and Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, director for Eurasian affairs at the State Department, told House investigators that Mulvaney coordinated with EU Ambassador Gordon Sondland on delivering the message to Ukraine that President Volodymyr Zelensky would not get a meeting with President Donald Trump unless his officials opened up probes into Hunter Biden, the gas company on whose board he sat, and the 2016 presidential election. The testimonies mark the most direct link between the scandal now imperiling the presidency and the president’s chief of staff.In her testimony, Hill provides investigators details about a July 10 meeting at the White House with former National Security Adviser John Bolton, Sondland, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, former top diplomat for Ukraine Kurt Volker and Ukrainian politicians, including Chairman for the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksandr Danylyuk and a top aid to Zelensky Andre Yermak. Recounting the episode to investigators, Hill says Bolton “stiffened” and ended the meeting early following a remark by Sondland that called for “deliverables” —i.e. investigations—in Ukraine in exchange for a meeting. The Weird Rise of Trump’s Ukraine Hatchet ManHill said Sondland “blurted out” that there was “an agreement with the Chief of Staff for a meeting if these 'investigations in the energy sector start.’” Impeachment Probe Eyes Mulvaney’s Office in Early Effort to Hold Up Ukraine AidSondland repeated that line in a follow-up meeting with the Ukrainians minutes later in the Ward Room of the White House, Hill said. She added that her director for Ukraine was “completely alarmed” as were the Ukrainians in the room, particularly Danylyuk. Bolton had sent Hill to the Ward Room to take note of what Sondland was conveying to the Ukrainians and told her to tell the White House Counsel’s office that he was “not part of whatever drug deal Sondland and Mulvaney are cooking up on this.”Hill said Sondland had told her in late June that he was “in charge” of the Ukraine portfolio. “And I asked, well, on whose authority? And he said, the President,” Hill said.Vindman was also in the series of meetings Hill referenced and took note of Sondland’s mention of Mulvaney as well. In his deposition, he told investigators that “Sondland relatively quickly went into outlining how the -- you know, these investigations need to -- on the deliverable for these investigations in order to secure this meeting.”When asked how Sondland came to believe the “deliverable” was necessary, Vindman said: “I heard him say that this had been coordinated with White House Chief of Staff Mr. Mick Mulvaney.”Mulvaney has declined to be interviewed by congressional investigators about his involvement in the Ukrainian affair, including ignoring a subpoena for an appearance before the committee on Friday. He had been tied to the matter most through his post as chair of the Office of Management and Budget, which effectively placed a hold on the military aid to Ukraine that was allegedly done to encourage Zelensky to initiate those investigations. But Mulvaney also infamously took to the White House press briefing room several weeks back to defend the very notion that quid-pro-quos were legally permissible in conducting U.S. foreign policy—only to subsequently deny that he’d made such a statement at all. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.