The first impeachment hearings of the week brought more bad news for the White House, as two officials who listened directly to a call between President Trump and the president of Ukraine testified they found it unusual, while a witness called by Republicans defended the honor of former Vice President Joe Biden and said calling for an investigation into him was “unacceptable.” But there were elements in Tuesday's testimony that offered some support to the narrative favored by House Republicans. Jennifer Williams was a staffer for the 2004 George W. Bush campaign before moving into a nonpolitical foreign service position and now serves as a national security aide to Vice President Mike Pence.
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An ammunition dealer who acknowledged selling hundreds of incendiary tracer rounds to the gunman who killed nearly 60 people at a Las Vegas music festival two years ago pleaded guilty on Tuesday to manufacturing bullets without a license. Douglas Haig, 57, of Mesa, Arizona, became the first and only person arrested and charged in connection with the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre, which ended when the gunman, Stephen Paddock, killed himself. Haig told reporters following his arrest last year that none of the surplus military ammunition he sold to Paddock in September 2017 was ever fired during the killing spree, which ranks as the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The son of former German president Richard von Weizsaecker was stabbed to death while he was giving a lecture at a hospital in Berlin where he worked as a head physician, police said Wednesday. A 57-year-old German man is in custody after he jumped up from the audience at the Schlosspark-Klinik and attacked Fritz von Weizsaecker with a knife on Tuesday evening. Von Weizsaecker died at the scene from a knife wound to the neck despite immediate attention from colleagues, said Martin Steltner, a spokesman for Berlin prosecutors.
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A Michigan mother is suing the Archdiocese of Detroit alleging that the priest who spoke at her son's funeral questioned whether her son would go to heaven after dying by suicide, adding to the family's suffering. Linda Hullibarger and her husband, Jeff, said they met with Rev. Don LaCuesta in 2018 to plan funeral services for their 18-year-old son, Maison, a straight-A student and outstanding athlete who died on Dec. 4. According to the complaint filed Thursday in Wayne County, the parents met with LaCuesta well before the funeral to make clear they wanted the priest to deliver a positive and uplifting message that celebrated the life of their son.
The defense ministers of South Korea and China have agreed to develop their security ties to ensure stability in northeast Asia, the latest indication that Washington's longstanding alliances in the region are fraying.
Prince Andrew is named in a cache of secret legal documents detailing explosive new allegations against Jeffrey Epstein that could be unsealed by a U.S. judge before the end of the year. The revelation is just one of many fresh blows to have landed on Andrew, leaving him reeling in the aftermath of his disastrous BBC interview. Andrew is facing growing calls to voluntarily co-operate with the FBI and is being dropped by sponsors and charities, fearful of damage-by-association after a BBC interview in which he said he didn't regret his friendship with the billionaire pedophile, suggested a notorious image of him with his arm around Virginia Giuffre Roberts was fake, and bizarrely claimed he doesn't sweat.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Wednesday the country's people had defeated an "enemy conspiracy" behind a wave of violent protests and were celebrating their victory. Rouhani blamed the deadly unrest on "anarchists" who took to the streets "based on a plot that the region's reactionary, the Zionists and Americans hatched", referring respectively to Saudi Arabia, Israel and the US. The demonstrations erupted in sanctions-hit Iran on Friday, hours after the price of petrol was raised by as much as 200 percent.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called for the ouster of key White House adviser Stephen Miller after the release of emails that she says establish him as a “white supremacist” — a mindset she suggested President Trump shares. Ocasio-Cortez described Miller's presence as one of the more “disturbing” aspects of the Trump administration. “Stephen Miller has just been exposed as, frankly, a neo-Nazi and a white supremacist,” she said.
Elstad Ranch/Flickr Syracuse University's fraternities had their social activities canceled for the rest of the semester after a black student said members of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity called her the N-word. It was the latest in a series of reported racist and anti-Semitic incidents to sweep the upstate New York campus since November 7. Syracuse University has canceled all fraternity social activities for the rest of the semester after a black student reported a racist attack.
The Indian Army plans to buy just 1,800 state-of-the-art sniper rifles and 2.7 million rounds of ammunition -- less than a third of its total requirement -- driven by budgetary constraints and the need to speed up deliveries, people with knowledge of the matter said. The military pruned its original requirement of 5,720 sniper rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition, which would have cost $140 million, to prioritize spending and advance the purchase of more modern equipment, they said, asking not to be identified as the information isn't public. Indian Army spokesman Aman Anand said he had no comment to offer on the change in procurement plans.
LAHORE, Pakistan/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif left Pakistan on Tuesday in an air ambulance to seek medical treatment in London, his party said, a month after the three-time premier was released on bail from a seven-year prison sentence for corruption. Sharif, 69, was accompanied by his younger brother and personal physician, leaders of his Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) Party said. Despite the convictions for corruption, Sharif remains popular among many Pakistanis, and his health has dominated newspaper front pages and TV channels in recent weeks.
Washington D.C.) The Navy has laid the keel for its first new, Flight III DDG 51 surface warfare destroyer armed with improved weapons, advanced sensors and new radar 35-times more sensitive than most current systems, changing attack and defensive options for the surface fleet. Navy Flight III Destroyers have a host of defining new technologies not included in current ships such as more on-board power to accommodate laser weapons, new engines, improved electronics, fast-upgradeable software and a much more powerful radar. The Flight III Destroyers will be able to see and destroy a much wider range of enemy targets at farther distances.
Lee, who lives in Hansen, Idaho, testified that Frazee asked her to clean up the scene of the killing and that she watched him burn a plastic tote she believed contained Berreth's body. Lee acknowledged she took Berreth's cellphone with her to Idaho at Frazee's request to try to deceive investigators about Berreth's whereabouts. She reached a plea deal with prosecutors for tampering with evidence and faces up to three years in prison.
American Airlines admitted Tuesday that whatever knocked out two flight attendants and forced an emergency landing in October was not spilled soap, as the airline had previously claimed. On October 21, American Airlines flight 729 was flying from London Heathrow to Philadelphia, but was forced to land in Dublin, Ireland, when two staff members passed out. American Airlines said at the time that the incident was caused by "an odor caused by a spilled cleaning solution in the galley."
A Catholic bishop in China is believed to be on the run from state security after refusing to bring his church under a government-sanctioned religious association. Guo Xijin, 61, has fled the custody of state agents and has gone into hiding, reported Catholic Asia News, a website, and cannot be immediately reached for comment. Mr Guo is part of a group of bishops that many religious and human rights experts feared would be persecuted after the Vatican inked a deal with Beijing last year on the ordaining bishops.
Benjamin Netanyahu's chief rival failed to form a new government by a Wednesday deadline, dashing his hopes of toppling the long-time Israeli prime minister and pushing the country closer toward an unprecedented third election in less than a year. The announcement by Benny Gantz, leader of the centrist Blue and White party, prolonged the political paralysis that has gripped the nation for the past year. It also provided a new lifeline for the embattled Netanyahu, who is desperate to remain in office as he prepares for an expected indictment on corruption charges.
President Trump lashed out at the media during a Tuesday afternoon Cabinet meeting over reporting about his sudden trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last weekend. The White House said the visit was part of a regular physical exam. Speculation arose on Saturday shortly after news of the president's visit broke, with CNN reporting that Trump's appointment was a break from protocol during past administrations.
Imagine the next decade without Facebook, robocalls, and exploding phones. We feel better already. From Popular Mechanics
“For the time being it cannot be ruled out that Beijing will choose to invade Hong Kong...this would be ‘Tiananmen reloaded.’”