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Trump considering Democratic Senator Manchin for energy secretary: Politico(Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is considering Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia for energy secretary, Politico reported on Thursday, citing unnamed sources close to the discussions. Manchin “is being considered to show the coal people how serious Trump is about coal,” Politico quoted one source as saying.

JOE BIDEN’S SHOCKING ANNOUNCEMENT: “What the hell, man?” [Video]VP Joe Biden: Yeah, I m going to run in 2020. Reporter: For what? Biden: For president! What the hell, man? https://t.co/fsRl25AD12 pic.twitter.com/GMco1PkJiL CNN (@CNN) December 6, 2016

"In all [last week], the Chinese military awoke to find as many as 462 new Tomahawks deployed by the U.S. in its neighborhood."

Trump on Twitter (Dec 20) - Tax BillThe following statements were posted to the verified Twitter accounts of U.S. President Donald Trump, @realDonaldTrump and @POTUS. The opinions expressed are his own. Reuters has not edited the statements or confirmed their accuracy. @realDonaldTrump : - The United States Senate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed. Goes to the House tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at The White House at approximately 1:00 P.M. [0109 EST] - The Tax Cuts are so large and so meaningful, and yet the Fake News is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated Dems, and only demean. This is truly a case where the results will speak for themselves, starting very soon. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs! [0932 EST] - I would like to congratulate @SenateMajLdr on having done a fantastic job both strategically & politically on the passing in the Senate of the MASSIVE TAX CUT & Reform Bill. I could have not asked for a better or more talented partner. Our team will go onto many more VICTORIES! [1139 EST] - Together, we are MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! [1230 EST] - We are delivering HISTORIC TAX RELIEF for the American people! #TaxCutsandJobsAct [1309 EST] -- Source link: (bit.ly/2jBh4LU) (bit.ly/2jpEXYR)

Violence flares in Washington during Trump inaugurationWASHINGTON (Reuters) - Black-clad activists among hundreds of demonstrators protesting Donald Trump’s swearing-in on Friday clashed with police a few blocks from the White House, in an outburst of violence rare for an inauguration. At least 217 people were arrested in the melees, police said. The burst of civil disorder followed a fierce presidential campaign that ended in a stunning victory for Republican Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton on Nov. 8 and left the country divided. Many of Trump’s supporters traveled to Washington to cheer their new president on Inauguration Day. Tens of thousands of detractors are expected to march peacefully on Saturday. In the violence, knots of activists in black clothes and masks threw rocks and bottles at officers wearing riot gear, who responded with volleys of tear gas and stun grenades as a helicopter hovered low overhead. At one flash point, a protester hurled an object through the passenger window of a police van, which sped away in reverse as demonstrators cheered. Earlier, activists used chunks of pavement and baseball bats to shatter the windows of a Bank of America branch and a McDonald’s outlet, all symbols of American capitalism. Multiple vehicles were set on fire, including a black limousine. A knot of people dragged garbage cans into a street a few blocks from the White House and set them ablaze, later throwing a red cap bearing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign slogan into the flames. Police said six officers were injured in scuffles with protesters. The people arrested would be held overnight before making court appearances on Saturday, Peter Newsham, interim chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, told a news conference. Newsham added that police would continue to monitor security around the night’s celebrations. Friday’s protests played out just blocks from Pennsylvania Avenue, where New York businessman-turned-Republican politician Trump took part in the traditional parade a newly sworn in president takes from the U.S. Capitol to the White House. The various protest groups scattered around the city chanted anti-Trump slogans and carried signs with slogans including “Trump is not president” and “Make Racists Afraid Again.” “Trump is not going to be stopped at the top, he’s going to be stopped from the bottom, from people rising up,” said Ben Allen, a 69-year-old retired teacher from San Francisco. “We support the right of everybody in this country, no matter what nationality, what religion, the color of their skin, to be respected as a human being, and this guy doesn’t respect anybody.” Trump supporter Ryan Shiring, 21, stood nervously with a group of friends near a pile of smoldering trash cans. “We thought there would be protests but we didn’t expect violence,” said Shiring, a college student from Hartford, Connecticut. “We were hoping for a completely peaceful transfer of power.” Democratic officials, including Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser, condemned the violence. The U.S. Secret Service, Washington police and other law enforcement agencies had about 28,000 officers in place to secure a roughly three-square-mile (7.8 square km) of the city. Trump, a former reality TV star, angered many liberal Americans during his stunningly successful campaign with demeaning comments on women and immigrants. His inauguration speech was a populist and nationalist rallying cry. Protesters and police said the violent activists were acting independently of organized opposition to Trump. The Disrupt J20 group on Twitter said its anger was not directed only at Trump, and that it would also have demonstrated had Democrat Hillary Clinton won the election last November. Not far from the White House, Bob Hrifko, a member of the Bikers for Trump group, said he was struck in the face with an aluminum chair when he tried to intervene in a scuffle involving police and protesters. “We need more order. This ain’t right,” said Hrifko, who was bleeding from a cut under his eye. The number of people who turned out for the midday swearing-in ceremony in the rain appeared to be significantly smaller than the estimated 2 million who attended Democrat Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009. Overhead video of the National Mall showed sections of the white matting laid down to protect the grass were largely empty. The city’s Metro subway system reported ridership levels as of 11 a.m. (1600 GMT) at less than half of what was seen in 2013 or 2009 and roughly on par with George W. Bush’s second inauguration in 2005. Sympathy protests were held around the nation and the world, in cities including Los Angeles, Tokyo and London. In Seattle, one person was shot in the abdomen during a demonstration at the University of Washington, the Seattle Police Department said on Twitter. Demonstrators gathered there to protest Trump and conservative commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, who gave a talk on campus, local media reported. In Portland, protesters threw rocks, bottles and flares at police dressed in riot gear, who fired irritant and flash-bang devices back at them, according to local media and police. But in Moscow, Russians hoping Trump will usher in a new era of detente with their country celebrated his inauguration. In Washington, David Guthrie, a long-haired, bearded, 36-year-old from South Bend, Indiana, stood stark naked on a street corner with an obscenity and “Trump” written on his buttocks in black magic marker. As he stood, he was pepper sprayed by police, but stood with his eyes clenched, saying he wanted to prompt “a national conversation on the illegitimacy of the Trump presidency.” “I need a shower,” he said, as fellow protesters helped him walk away, wrapped in a silver blanket.

Bolivia Condemns Honduran Coup

Greece reassures Arab allies over Israel ties

6 SYRIAN, 1 LIBYAN MIGRANT ARRESTED After Setting Sleeping Homeless Man On FireWho still thinks Trump was wrong to say we need to halt all immigration from countries who hate us until; we can properly vet them?Seven migrants have been arrested after a homeless man was set on fire on Christmas Eve at a Berlin subway station. The men, aged 15 to 21, are suspected of torching the victim as he slept on a platform bench at Sch nleinstra e station. Six of the suspects are Syrian and one is Lybian and an attempted murder investigation has been launched.Thomas Neuendorf, the vice chief of the press office at Berlin Police, told Bild that detectives believe the 21-year-old to have been the main perpetrator.He, along with his alleged accomplices, were arrested on yesterday.After torching the homeless man, the suspected assailants hopped onto a train to make their getaway.CCTV footage captured them watching and laughing as the man was burning on the platform.It appeared they were celebrating, according to local press. Remarkably, the victim escaped almost unscathed, thanks to the rapid intervention of several witnesses.Via: Daily Mail Read more: Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

Lapdance monastery shut after raunchy nun stunt

Snowden needs "world's protection"

U.S. charges two with bribing African officials for China energy firmWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has charged a former Senegalese foreign minister and a former top Hong Kong government official with links to a Chinese energy conglomerate with bribing high-level officials in Chad and Uganda in exchange for contracts for the mainland company. Chi Ping Patrick Ho, 68, of Hong Kong, and Cheikh Gadio, 61, were charged with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, international money laundering and conspiracy, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Monday. It said Gadio, a former foreign minister of Senegal, was arrested in New York on Friday. It added that Ho, a former Hong Kong home affairs secretary who heads a non-governmental organization based in Hong Kong and Virginia, was arrested on Saturday. Wiring almost a million dollars through New York s banking system in furtherance of their corrupt schemes, the defendants allegedly sought to generate business through bribes paid to the president of Chad and the Ugandan foreign minister, Joon Kim, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, was quoted as saying in the statement. No one could be reached at the embassies of Chad and Uganda in Washington late on Monday. The missions did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment. In a statement, the U.S. Justice Department said the case against Ho involved two bribery schemes to pay high-level officials of Chad and Uganda in exchange for business advantages for a Shanghai-headquartered, multibillion-dollar energy firm. This energy company funded a non-government organization (NGO) based in Hong Kong and Virginia that Ho heads, the statement said, without naming the Shanghai company or the NGO. Ho is the secretary general of the Hong Kong-based China Energy Fund Committee, a mainland-backed think-tank that describes itself as a charitable, non-government organization. China Energy Fund Committee is fully funded by CEFC China Energy, a Shanghai-based private conglomerate, according to the think tank s website. The organization did not respond to an email requesting comment. CEFC China Energy said in a statement posted on its website late on Tuesday that: As a non-governmental, non-profit organization, the fund is not involved in the commercial activities of CEFC China Energy. CEFC does not have any investment in Uganda, the company said in the statement, and its investment in Chad had been acquired via a stake bought from Taiwan s state-owned Chinese Petroleum Corp and it had not dealt directly with the Chad government. The company will continue monitoring this matter and will take necessary measures based on developments, it said. CEFC has been a key player in Chinese President Xi Jinping s Belt and Road initiative, which aims to bolster China s global leadership ambitions by building infrastructure and trade links between Asia, Africa, Europe and beyond. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a regular news briefing Tuesday that he was not aware of the specific details of the case. I want to emphasize that the Chinese government consistently requires Chinese companies abroad to operate lawfully and abide by local laws and regulations. Idriss Deby has been Chad s president since 1990. Ugandan Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa served as the president of the U.N. General Assembly in 2014 and 2015. Ho s attorney, Ed Kim, of Krieger Kim & Lewin LLP, declined to comment to Reuters. Bob Baum of Federal Defenders, who represented Gadio for the bail argument, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ho was ordered detained after appearing in court on Monday, the Justice Department statement said. It said Gadio appeared before a judge on Saturday and is being held until he can meet the conditions of a $1 million bond, according to court records. The Justice Department said a $2 million bribe was paid to Chad s president, who then provided the company with an opportunity to obtain oil rights in Chad without international competition. The department said in the statement that Gadio was the go-between and was paid $400,000 by Ho via wire transfers through New York. The Justice Department accused Ho of being involved with bribes and promises of future benefits to Uganda s foreign minister in exchange for help in obtaining business advantages for the Chinese company.

A Top Cop in China Disappears. Medical leave or asylum? - China's rumor mill is ablaze over the whereabouts of Wang Lijun, who 'went on vacation-style treatment.' What happens next could be a blow to a top Communist Party contender.

The Plight of the Roma: Europe's Unwanted People - Over 10 million Roma live in Europe. Tens of thousands of them are fleeing westwards from poverty & discrimination. But EU member states aren't helping them.

Japanese Mayor Pleads for His Starving Town

Unsheared sheep found wandering in Australia was so wooly he nearly died ended up having 93 pounds of wool sheared

'Hateful' Speech in Istanbul: Erdogan Throws Fuel on Flames "He cleared out Gezi Park with brutal violence, disparaged the protesters as terrorists and railed against the foreign media...Erdogan is inflaming the conflict once more. But the protest movement shows no signs of backing down"

Says Houstons 18th congressional district has been gentrified and is home to more Anglos than African Americans.

Biggest anti-government protest in Maldivian history happening today.

UK election exit poll predicts Conservatives will be largest party in a hung parliament, with 316 seats to Labour's 239

Religious Bigots Angry At Beyonce, Coldplay For ‘Promoting Homosexuality’ At Superbowl 50 (TWEETS)As per usual, the halftime show at the Superbowl was the main attraction. This year, it featured superstar singer Beyonce, along with the wildly popular band, Coldplay. It also featured lots of .rainbows. Of course, this particular detail upset the perpetually gay sex-obsessed religious bigots. They took to twitter to decry the fact that one of the manliest sports ever would dare to include anything rainbow themed in its entertainment for any reason whatsoever. Here are just a few choice tweets from the Twitter storm that ensued after the halftime show:Forgot the halftime show was changed to a gay rights movement Keegs (@Bryan_Keegs) February 8, 2016@IngrahamAngle the homosexual promoting halftime show is over at my house. S.Gatewood (@uspatriot72) February 8, 2016Super bowl 50 halftime show is emitting homosexual tendencies@CloydRivers what has America come to? Football is being destroyed. Tyler Solomon (@TylerSolomon30) February 8, 2016I believe the message of that halftime show was "quickly, become a homosexual" Real Trent Flubbs (@RealTrentFlubbs) February 8, 2016Just because the super bowl is held near San Francisco doesn't mean we need to make it a homosexual congregation Tyler Solomon (@TylerSolomon30) February 8, 2016Since when is the super bowl halftime show a gay pride festival #HillaryForPrison (@Kovacina_Matt65) February 8, 2016All the Halftime performance did was try to promote homosexuality. #JetIsBad (@Jetisbad) February 8, 2016Basically a homo pride celebration during halftime .. And that's one reason our country has gone down CamVP(15-1)(2-0) (@Alpha_Dog_LM24) February 8, 2016Of course, what these morons missed is the fact that the rainbows had zilch to do with gay pride and everything to do with Coldplay s promotion of its upcoming album:A Head Full Of Dreams, the new album, out now.iTunes: https://t.co/9SLDz80L67Google Play: https://t.co/usisZNkHf7 pic.twitter.com/LUyFJRFPkD Coldplay (@coldplay) February 6, 2016All this ridiculous complaining does is show how obsessed these pathetic people are with the activities of those who are in no way harming them. Nobody is going to force churches to perform gay weddings, or make them attend one. Nothing about their lives has changed with legalized marriage equality. The sky has not fallen. Perhaps the most accurate and ironic assessment of this whole ridiculous situation comes from Hemant Mehta, the Friendly Atheist, who reminded everyone that these complaints come from the same people who are watching a game in which dozens of men jump on top of each other for hours before dancing and patting each other on the butt. Featured image from video screen capture via Spin

Russia says it is fully committed to nuclear missile pactMOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia said on Saturday it was fully committed to a Cold War-era pact with the United States banning intermediate-range cruise missiles, a day after Washington accused Moscow of violating the treaty. The U.S. State Department said on Friday Washington was reviewing military options, including new intermediate-range cruise missile systems, in response to what it said was Russia s ongoing violation of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The warning was the first response by President Donald Trump s administration to U.S. charges first leveled in 2014 that Russia had deployed a ground-launched cruise missile that breaches the pact s ban on testing and fielding missiles with ranges of 500-5,500 kms (310-3,417 miles). Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said those allegations were absolutely unfounded . They are not supported by the technical characteristics of the launch installation which allegedly does not comply with the treaty, or by flight telemetry data. Nothing. And it is understandable why - because it simply does not exist, he said in written comments published by the foreign ministry. Echoing previous Russian statements, Ryabkov said Moscow was fully committed to the treaty, had always rigorously complied with it, and was prepared to continue doing so. However, if the other side stops following it, we will be forced, as President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin has already said, to respond in kind, he added. The U.S. allegation has further strained relations between Moscow and Washington, and the State Department on Friday hinted at possible economic sanctions over the issue. Washington has already sanctioned Russian entities and individuals, including people close to Putin, for Moscow s 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine and its alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The Kremlin has repeatedly denied interfering in the election. Ryabkov said the attempts to frighten us with sanctions were laughable. It s time for American politicians and diplomats to understand that economic and military pressure on Russia will not work, he said. (This version of the story has been refiled to clarify in paragraph 2 that it is U.S. administration, not State Department, reviewing military options)

U.S. State Dept cites standard practice in resignationsWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said on Thursday that the outgoing administration in coordination with the incoming one had requested “all politically appointed officers submit letters of resignation” as is standard practice. “Of the officers whose resignations were accepted, some will continue in the Foreign Service in other positions and others will retire by choice or because they have exceeded the time limits of their grade in service,” a statement by acting State Department spokesman, Mark Toner, said.

Holy Shit: Yemen could become first nation to run out of water... And it's likely due to the inhabitants' strong addiction to a drug.

Venezuela governors sworn in, showing opposition disunityCARACAS (Reuters) - In another setback for Venezuela s dispirited opposition, four of its five state governors broke with their coalition s official stance on Monday to swear themselves in before a pro-government legislative superbody. The Democratic Unity coalition went into the Oct. 15 gubernatorial polls as favorites for a big win against President Nicolas Maduro s candidates because of voter anger at a brutal economic crisis in the OPEC member. But it ended up taking just five of 23 states. Initially alleging fraud, the opposition later acknowledged that abstentionism in its ranks played a big part in the defeat, which shed doubt on its ability to beat the ruling socialists in next year s presidential vote. After the regional ballot, the coalition said none of its winning candidates would kneel before the pro-Maduro Constituent Assembly body, which it has refused to recognize since its establishment in an election in July. But the newly elected governors for Tachira, Merida, Nuevo Esparta and Anzoategui - all from the Democratic Action party, one of Venezuela s biggest and oldest - swore themselves in before assembly directors as a prerequisite to taking office. After presiding over the ceremony, Constituent Assembly head Delcy Rodriguez chided the one winning opposition candidate, Juan Pablo Guanipa of oil-rich Zulia state, who held out. These actions will have consequences, she said. Maduro previously warned there may be a new election in any state where the winner does not swear loyalty to the assembly. Guanipa, of the Justice First party, which has a militant line against Maduro, said he would not legitimize the fraudulent Constituent Assembly whose election the opposition boycotted. Zulia will never kneel before the dictatorship, he added. Critics see the creation of the Constituent Assembly, which has superseded all powers including the opposition-led congress, as the cementing of dictatorship in Venezuela. Major Western and Latin American nations have refused to recognize its legitimacy. But Maduro said it was the only way to bring peace back after four months of opposition protests this year that led to 125 deaths, thousands of arrests and injuries, and widespread damage to property and infrastructure. Appearing on state TV late on Monday, Maduro said he had congratulated the four Democratic Action governors by telephone and would meet with them, possibly as soon as Tuesday. I ve told them: Let s turn the page ... and get down to work, he said. Democratic Action is one of the biggest parties in the opposition coalition, and its decision on Monday infuriated many opposition supporters who viewed it as a sellout. The move could presage a complete reformulation, or possible breakup, of the coalition, which consists of more than two dozen parties and has long suffered from infighting. We are going to see a new unity. In the worst crises and circumstances, opportunities always crop up, wrote opposition leader Henrique Capriles, of the Justice First party, hinting at imminent changes. The coalition s biggest triumph was a resounding victory at December 2015 legislative elections. But it has been in the doldrums since Maduro survived this year s protests, and many Venezuelans perceive its leaders as elitist. Further pummeling his foes, Maduro named five senior officials as protectors for the states won by the opposition, undermining its influence on the ground by granting new funding and parallel responsibilities to government figures there.

PRO-LIFE LICENSE PLATE DEEMED ‘Patently Offensive’ BY FEDERAL APPEALS COURTBecause after all, what s more offensive than choosing to allow your baby to live?The pro-life message can be classified as patently offensive, a federal appeals court ruled last week. The new opinion came as a three-judge panel ruled that New York state was right to reject a Choose Life license plate on the grounds that it may grate on New Yorkers political sensibilities.The judges split on whether New York could deny a pro-adoption group the right to have its own license plate, although the state has in the past allowed plates endorsing political causes associated with the liberal viewpoint, such as environmentalism.Judge Rosemary Pooler, who was appointed by President Clinton, wrote that the state s denial did not harm anyone s right to freedom of expression, because drivers may display a Choose Life bumper sticker or even cover every available square inch of their vehicle with such stickers. That message will resonate just as loudly as if vehicle displayed a Choose Life license plate. Judge Debra Ann Livingston, a President George W. Bush appointee, wrote in her dissent that a proposed custom plate depicting a sun and two smiling children, and bearing the words, Choose Life [thought] to be patently offensive was surprising. Pro-adoption organizations should have the same speech rights as any other organization. While the district court affirmed this basic freedom, the circuit court denied free speech in favor of government censorship, said Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel at ADF. The state doesn t have the authority to target The Children First Foundation specialty plates for censorship based on its life-affirming viewpoint. The ruling is the lastest round in a legal battle that has raged for more than a decade and, pro-lifers say, seen state officials repeatedly suppress their First Amendment rights.The Children First Foundation applied for the specialty license plate in 2002, but state officials say the message and design was too controversial. In 2004, the Alliance Defending Freedom filed a lawsuit on CFF s behalf.New York s Department of Motor Vehicles repeatedly denied the Choose Life license plates on the grounds that the message was patently offensive. The same appeals court rejected an effort to suppress the plates made by then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer and agreed that Albany officials denied the plates based on viewpoint discrimination.Via: LifeSite News

Alabama governor resigns as scandal leads to criminal chargesBIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) - Alabama Governor Robert Bentley resigned on Monday after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors related to campaign finance violations and linked to his relationship with a former adviser, ending a year-long scandal that has enveloped the state’s government. The guilty pleas were part of an agreement with prosecutors that called for him to step down, said Ellen Brooks, special prosecutor appointed by the state Attorney General Steve Marshall to investigate Bentley. “I have decided it is time for me to step down as Alabama governor,” said Bentley at a news conference in the state capital of Montgomery, adding that his service “was a calling that God placed on my life.” He said he would work with his replacement, Lieutenant Governor Kay Ivey, who was sworn in as governor about an hour after his resignation. Ivey, a Republican, becomes the second woman to serve as Alabama’s governor after Lurleen Wallace, wife of George Wallace, who served from January 1967 until her death in May 1968. “The Ivey administration will be open, it will be transparent, and it will be honest,” Ivey said during a short speech after her swearing in by the minister at her Montgomery Baptist church. “What we have done today is to put an end to this administration,” Brooks told reporters. “It states to all of us that no one is above the law, even the governor.” The Alabama Ethics Commission last week found Bentley probably violated ethics and campaign finance laws after it completed an investigation into allegations that he used public funds to conceal his relationship with Rebekah Mason, a senior adviser who later resigned. It accused Bentley of ordering law enforcement officers to track down recordings that suggested he had had an affair with Mason and accused him of retaliating against an official who discovered the relationship. Bentley has denied having a physical relationship with Mason, who is married, and had repeatedly vowed not to resign, saying he had done nothing illegal. His marriage of 50 years also ended as the scandal unfolded. In his statement on Monday, Bentley apologized for his actions, but did not mention a relationship with Mason. He was charged with misuse of campaign funds and failure to file campaign financial reports on a timely basis. After his guilty pleas, an Alabama judge ordered Bentley to serve one year of unsupervised probation, make restitution and give up his retirement benefits from the state. He also agreed not to run for another political office, Brooks said. After Bentley agreed to the deal, the Alabama House Judiciary Committee suspended hearings which began on Monday that could have led to his impeachment. During the hearing, Bentley told several top aides “what happens in the governor’s office stays in the governor’s office,” Jack Sharman, the committee’s counsel, said regarding allegations regarding his relationship with Mason.

White House says doesn't expect Congress to pass every budget itemWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House said on Friday it expects to have to compromise on elements of the federal budget President Barack Obama will submit to U.S. lawmakers next week. “Our expectation is not that Congress is just going to pass every single line item that’s included in our budget,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. Because Congress is controlled by Republicans with different priorities, there will be debate and “we’re ultimately going to have a compromise,” Earnest said.

The mafia is now Italys largest bank'

Israeli challenges German court ruling on Kuwait air travel banBERLIN (Reuters) - An Israeli man appealed on Monday against a German court s ruling upholding Kuwait Airways right to ban him from boarding a flight due to his citizenship, a legal decision that triggered sharp criticism from German officials and Jewish groups. The appeal argues that the ruling accepted a racist Kuwaiti law and allowed the airline to override German laws requiring that airlines transport any passenger with valid travel documents, according to the Lawfare Project, which filed the appeal. We cannot allow our laws to be subverted by the state-sponsored racism of other nations, said Nathan Gelbart, the German attorney for the group, which fights anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli discrimination around the world. He said the decision by the Frankfurt district court had allowed anti-Semitic discrimination to be imported into our country and helped whitewash and sanitize it. Kuwait Airways has not commented on the decision. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other top officials have vowed to fight anti-Semitism and xenophobia with the full force of the law in recent weeks after protests that included the burning of Israeli flags. Merkel s spokesman Steffen Seibert said Germany had a historic responsibility to stand by Israel and Jews everywhere. Anti-Semitism remains a sensitive issue in Germany, one of Israel s closest allies, more than 70 years after the end of the Nazi-era Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed. The Frankfurt court last month ruled Kuwait Airways had the right to refuse to carry the Israeli man on a flight to Bangkok that began in Frankfurt and included a stopover in Kuwait City since it was abiding by the laws of Kuwait, a country that does not recognize the state of Israel. It said Germany s anti-discrimination law applied only in cases of discrimination on the basis of race, ethnic background or religion, not citizenship. The ruling was sharply criticized by German government officials and the Central Council of Jews in Germany, which said the Kuwaiti law was reminiscent of Nazi policies. Three German state parliaments in Bavaria, Hesse and North Rhine-Westphalia, have passed resolutions condemning the airline for its policy. Acting Transportation Minister Christian Schmidt also raised concerns about the issue in a letter to Kuwaiti officials, saying it was fundamentally unacceptable to exclude citizens because of their nationality, according to the Lawfare Project. No comment was immediately available from Schmidt s office. A foreign ministry spokesman said Germany s ambassador to Kuwait had met Kuwaiti officials on Nov. 28 to deliver the letter and discuss the issue. A spate of anti-Semitic acts in Germany in recent weeks, including the burning of Israeli flags, have triggered concern and calls by top officials to put more emphasis on the Holocaust in integration courses for migrants. Rights groups say anti-Semitism and violent acts have increased in recent years amid growing support for far-right political groups and the influx of over a million migrants from Syria and other countries that are at war with Israel.

Factbox: Key railroad assets in Hurricane Irma's path(Reuters) - Major eastern U.S. railroads CSX Corp and Norfolk Southern Corp are rerouting rail cars and locomotives, holding traffic in yards out of harm s way, relocating workers, and putting repair equipment into place as Hurricane Irma barrels toward Florida. Here are some key rail facilities in the U.S. Southeast that could be impacted by Irma, projected to strike southern Florida on Sunday: The No. 3 U.S. railroad, based in Jacksonville, Florida, has major rail yards in Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa, on the state s western Gulf Coast. Apart from the major rail yards, Jacksonville and Tampa also have intermodal terminals, transfer terminals for bulk goods, and auto distribution terminals. Orlando has the major rail yard and auto distribution terminal. It has bulk good transfer terminals in Fort Lauderdale. CSX serves 12 ports, including Fort Myers, Fort Pierce, Jacksonville, Miami, Palm Beach, and Panama City. For Georgia, CSX has major rail yards in Atlanta, coastal Savannah, and Waycross as part of its 2,700 miles (4,345 km) of track. In Atlanta and Savannah, they also have intermodal and bulk transfer operations in addition to the major rail yards. Augusta, about 150 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, is a terminal serving bulk commodities. In Alabama, CSX has major rail yards in Mobile, Birmingham, and Montgomery. It has bulk freight transfer terminals in Birmingham and Montgomery and an intermodal terminal in Mobile. In South Carolina, it has major rail yards in Charleston, which also has intermodal and bulk commodity terminal operations, and Florence, and has bulk terminals in Spartanburg and Greenville. The No. 4 U.S. railroad, based in Norfolk, Virginia, has a major rail yard, intermodal and auto distribution facilities and a rail-to-truck transfer facility in Jacksonville, in Florida s northeast. In Atlanta, Georgia, the railroad has a rail yard, rail-to-truck transfer and auto distribution facilities, and two intermodal facilities. It also has yards in Macon, Augusta, Valdosta, Albany, Rome, Columbus, and Savannah, with rail-to-truck transfer facilities in Augusta, and Dalton. In Georgia it also has auto distribution facilities in Commerce, Savannah, and Brunswick, and port access points in Savannah and Brunswick, in the state s southwest. In South Carolina, the railroad has port operations, a rail yard, an intermodal terminal and an auto distribution facility in Charleston, as well as a yard and rail-to-truck transfer facility in Columbia. In the broader area of Greenville, in the state s northwest, it has two rail yards, a rail-to-truck transfer facility and an intermodal terminal. In Alabama, the company has key intermodal, auto distribution and rail yard facilities in Birmingham, with yards in Selma, Mobile further south, and Sheffield, and Decatur in the north. Mobile also has a rail-to-truck transfer facility and port operations.

Explosives stolen from French army base

Japan's Abe to launch $17-billion Indian bullet train project as ties deepenNEW DELHI/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will lay the foundation stone for India s first bullet train in Prime Minister Narendra Modi s home state this week, in a tightening of ties just days after New Delhi ended a dangerous military confrontation with China. The move by Abe, who starts a two-day visit to India on Wednesday, highlights an early lead for Japan in a sector where the Chinese have also been trying to secure a foothold, but without much success. Modi has made the 500-km- (311-mile-) long high-speed rail link between the financial hub of Mumbai and the industrial city of Ahmedabad in western Gujarat a centerpiece of his efforts to showcase India s ability to build cutting-edge infrastructure. The leaders will launch the start of work on the line on Thursday, India s railways ministry said in a statement. This technology will revolutionize and transform the transport sector, said Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, welcoming the prospects for growth brought by Japan s high-speed shinkansen technology. In Tokyo, a Japanese foreign ministry official told reporters, We would like to support Make in India as much as possible, referring to Modi s signature policy to lure investors in manufacturing. And for that, we want to do what s beyond the Mumbai-Ahmedabad line and achieve economies of scale. India would make all-out efforts to complete the line by August 2022, more than a year earlier than planned, the government said this week. Japan is providing 81 percent of the funding for the 1.08-trillion-rupee ($16.9-billion) project, through a 50-year loan at 0.1 percent annual interest. Ties between India and Japan have blossomed as Modi and Abe increasingly see eye-to-eye in countering growing Chinese assertiveness across Asia. Japanese investment into India has surged in areas ranging from automotives to infrastructure in the remote northeast, making Tokyo its third-largest foreign direct investor. India and Japan are also trying to move forward on a plan for New Delhi to buy Japanese amphibious aircraft - ShinMaywa Industries US-2 - in what would be one of Tokyo s first arms transfers since ending a self-imposed embargo. Tokyo hopes that by gaining a head start on rival exporters of rail technology such as China and Germany, its companies will be able to dominate business in one of the most promising markets for high-speed rail equipment. In 2015, China won a contract to assess the feasibility of a high-speed link between Delhi and Mumbai, part of a network of more than 10,000 km (6,214 miles) of track India wants to set up, but little progress has been made. Bullet train critics say the funds would be far better spent to modernize India s slow and rickety state-controlled rail system, the world s fourth largest. But a $15-billion safety overhaul has hit delays as a state steel firm proved unable to fill demand for new rail.

Turkey seeks to isolate Syria Idlib jihadists opposing truceISTANBUL/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Turkey is luring militants away from the jihadist alliance that controls Syria s northwestern Idlib province as a step toward implementing a deal to reduce violence there, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday. Idlib is one of four de-escalation zones which foreign powers agreed to establish in opposition territory in western Syria after years of civil war. But the former al Qaeda branch which controls the province has pledged to keep fighting Syrian government forces and their allies. The ex-Nusra Front s stance has raised doubt about how Turkey, one of three parties to the agreement, can proceed with plans to deploy observers inside Idlib. Russia and Iran, the other two countries involved, are due to police its edges. Cavusoglu said the first stage, already under way, was to separate moderate rebels from terror organizations - a reference to Nusra, which cut ties with al Qaeda last year, rebranded itself and now spearheads the Tahrir al-Sham jihadist alliance that dominates Idlib. His comments endorsed remarks by a rebel source who said that efforts by foreign states were under way to encourage defections from the alliance, to break it up, isolate it and reduce its capacity to oppose any Turkish military deployment. With regards to Nusra, they are working to weaken it through intelligence operations, the source told Reuters. Those could include assassinations and campaigns to undercut the group s popular support, the source said. The aim was to encourage jihadist fighters who are not members of al Qaeda to melt into society .At least two million people live in Idlib, the largest populated Syrian area held by rebels - including some nationalist Free Syrian Army factions who sometimes fought alongside jihadists. The province s population has ballooned as thousands of civilians and combatants have left areas seized by the Syrian army in other parts of the country, with the help of Russian jets and Iran-backed militias. Turkey already controls a swathe of northern Syria east of Idlib following a military incursion in 2016. The rebel source said up to 2,000 fighters being trained by Turkish forces could deploy to Idlib, where many people have close ties to Turkey and could welcome a Turkish presence. Turkey has called for the overthrow of President Bashar al-Assad and supported several rebel factions, but has recently worked with Iran and Russia, both strong supporters of Assad, to stem the violence in Syria s six-year conflict. Comparing the array of factions fighting Assad to a divided family, Cavusoglu said it was vital to avoid indiscriminate bloodshed and criticized the continued Russian and Syrian air strikes in Idlib which he said were killing civilians. Think of a family with four sons, he said in a televised interview. Two of them are members of the Free Syrian Army, which everybody supports, one is not related to anything and the last one is a member of a terror organization. What do we do? Will we bomb this family and kill them all; the mother, father and small children? We have to determine the one and separate him from the others . Cavusoglu said work to separate the jihadists from other factions had been going on rapidly , but needed meticulous application and would require broad international support. Tahrir al-Sham, which was formed in January, has been hit in recent months by the breakaway of two of its significant fighting factions, Nour el-Din al-Zinki and Jaish al-Ahrar. In a change of leadership announced on Sunday, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani, the head of Nusra Front, assumed command of Tahrir al-Sham after Abu Jaber al-Sheikh quit that post. Tahrir al-Sham gave no reason for the resignation, adding in a statement that al-Sheikh had been appointed head of its Shura Council. Insurgent sources in northwest Syria say ideological divisions between the groups that form Tahrir al-Sham have been a big factor leading to the departure of some members.

All 29 trapped New Zealand miners are believed to be dead following a second explosion in the Pike River Coal mine

Univision reporting rumors of the death of Joaqun El Chapo Guzmn (world's #1 drug lord) after a gun battle in Guatemala. This comes one day after Wikileaks publishes emails saying he is in Guatemala. (story in spanish)

Kerry on the war in Ukraine We want a diplomatic solution but we cannot close our eyes to tanks that are crossing the border from Russia and coming into Ukraine. We cant close our eyes to Russian fighters in unmarked uniforms leading individual companies of so-called separatists in battle"

To fool the parents of the victims, the children were taken away on "school trips" and their parents were later told the x-rays were a treatment for the scourge of scalpal ringworm. 6,000 of the children died shortly after...?

Pakistans religious minorities live in terror, "Long live Taliban! Death to infidels!," Christians flee for their lives.

Boiler Room #94 – President Trump & The Great Neo-Liberal Freakout of 2017Tune in to the Alternate Current Radio Network (ACR) for another LIVE broadcast of The Boiler Room starting at 6:00 PM PST | 8:00 PM CST | 9:00 PM EST for this special broadcast. Join us for uncensored, uninterruptible talk radio, custom-made for barfly philosophers, misguided moralists, masochists, street corner evangelists, media-maniacs, savants, political animals and otherwise lovable rascals.Join ACR hosts Hesher and Spore along with Andy Nowicki host of The Nameless Podcast, Jay Dyer Jay s Analysis, Stewart Howe and ACR regular InfidelPharaoh for the 94th episode of BOILER ROOM. Water the kids, put the plants to bed and get your favorite mead horn ready so you can drop deep into the Boiler Room with the ACR brain-trust.Please like and share the program and visit our donate page to get involved!Listen to Boiler Room Episode #94 on Spreaker.Reference Links:

Facebook chat privacy and scans: CIA-backed company might spy on chats

BLACK LIVES MATTER ACTIVIST Obama Invited To White House Charged With PIMPING Teenage Girl…Blames Conservatives “Trolls”Just another upstanding citizen who s been invited to the White House by our Community Organizer In Chief Birds of a feather Who can forget when Obama s speech about child safety was interrupted by a rapper who was wearing an ankle bracelet for KIDNAPPING went off?And then there was the rapper Tef Poe, who met with Obama in our White House to strategize , who tweeted this threat: Dear white people if Trump wins young niggas such as myself are fully hell bent on inciting riots everywhere we go A Black Lives Matter activist who operates a social justice charity was arrested last month on charges of sex trafficking a 17-year-old girl.Charles Wade co-founded Operation Help or Hush in the aftermath of the August 2014 police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo. The group claims it helps raise funds for the needy and provide food and shelter for activists.But according to a police report obtained by TheDC, the 33-year-old Wade was raising money in more explicit ways.He was arrested on April 25 at a motel where he resided in College Park, Md. Police say he was using the motel room to pimp a 17-year-old girl.He s charged with seven counts, including felonies for human trafficking. The charges carry sentences of up to 25 years in prison and a $15,000 fine. Wade posted $25,000 bond and left jail on April 27.Wade denied the allegations in an email to The Daily Caller. Formerly a stylist for Solange Knowles, the sister of Beyonce, Wade has been featured in numerous news articles about the Black Lives Matter movement. He was also invited by the White House earlier this week to a movie screening with other Black Lives Matter activists. Wade says he did not attend the function, which was on Tuesday.Last year, a team of Washington Post reporters, including Pulitzer Prize-winner Wesley Lowery, included Wade in a profile of Black Lives Matter activists who protested after the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown by Ferguson, Mo. police officer Darren Wilson. According to the police report, an undercover officer with the vice intelligence unit responded to an ad on backpage.com, a website frequently used by sex traffickers and prostitutes. Holla at me. Quick stay specials tonight and tomorrow. Independent. Fun and sexy. Text me to set up an appointment??????? reads the ad, which listed the age of the poster as 23.The undercover detective contacted the poster to set up a meeting. The respondent informed him that the cost of services would be $100 for a half-hour and provided an address, which turned out to be a Howard Johnson Inn in College Park. A room number was also provided.When the undercover john arrived, a white female wearing only a towel answered the door and let him inside the room. After she attempted to initiate contact with the detective he informed her he was a police officer, and she ran out of the room. Members of the Vice Intelligence Unit described a male that was watching the Undercover Detective as he entered [room 412], the report reads.Investigators reported that the teenager, who gave her age as 17, said that Wade was her manager. She called him CJ. Wade, who used a passport to rent the Howard Johnson Inn room, was arrested and charged with sex trafficking. Police recovered three cell phones from him.The alleged victim told investigators that Wade knew she was a minor. She said that he told her he was not concerned about her age because you only have 5 months left until you re 18 so I m not worried. She also told investigators that she provided all the money she was paid to Wade.In response to TheDC s request for comment, Wade claimed that a tenant at a temporary housing facility he was running as part of his charity was involved in activities that he did not know about. As this is a legal matter, I m not going into serious detail with you, he said.He did claim, however, that he was unfairly arrested because he was too trusting. Despite those claims, the police report suggests that there is evidence that Wade was the person who communicated with the undercover detective by text message.Wade issued a statement on Twitter after being contacted by TheDC in which he blamed conservative trolls for focusing on the case. He also said I am confident that I will be cleared of the charges I am currently facing. I was forced to make this statement before I was ready to because of ongoing efforts by Twitter trolls to stop my work and the work of my organization, he wrote. For the past two to three days, trolls have been actively baiting conservative news outlets to report on my arrest, amongst other vindictive things that they are actively working on. Wade also stated that the recent arrest is the second time he has been arrested after helping someone else. He did not provide details of the case, but a review of criminal databases shows he was charged with 3rd degree grand theft in Miami in January. Wade says he was not convicted in the case nor did he take a plea deal. Records show that the case was closed in February.Wade was also arrested in August 2014 in Travis County, Tex. and charged with making false statements.For entire story: Daily Caller

One BRILLIANT Meme Exposes The Truth About ISLAM And Why Muslims Are Leaving The Middle EastMeanwhile back in the good ole USA, liberals have convinced Americans they are either racists or xenophobes if they agree with Trump when he says we need to place a temporary ban on importing Muslims from countries who hate us .

President Sarkozy looks into stripping French citizenship from anyone of foreign origin who "threatened the life of a police officer"!

Amnesty International has accused the Israeli authorities of subjecting jailed nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by holding him in solitary confinement.

Nearly 400 international scientists called on Barack Obama to rule out further expansion of oil and gas exploration in Arctic waters under US control.

Qatar World Cup: migrants wait a year to be paid for building offices. Migrant workers who built luxury offices used by Qatar's 2022 football World Cup organisers have told the Guardian they have not been paid for more than a year and are now working illegally from cockroach-infested lodgings.

Turkey PM says the country could deport up to 100,000 Armenians

Hersh: Trump Knew ‘Assad Sarin Attack’ Story Was Fairy Tale – But Launched Cruise Missile Strike AnywayConsortium News Exclusive: The mainstream media is so hostile to challenges to its groupthinks that famed journalist Seymour Hersh had to take his take-down of President Trump s April 6 attack on Syria to Germany, says ex-CIA analyst Ray McGovern By Ray McGovernLegendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh is challenging the Trump administration s version of events surrounding the April 4 chemical weapons attack on the northern Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun though Hersh had to find a publisher in Germany to get his information out.In the Sunday edition of Die Welt, Hersh reports that his national security sources offered a distinctly different account, revealing President Trump rashly deciding to launch 59 Tomahawk missiles against a Syrian airbase on April 6 despite the absence of intelligence supporting his conclusion that the Syrian military was guilty.Hersh draws on the kind of inside sources from whom he has earned longstanding trust to dispute that there ever was a chemical weapons attack and to assert that Trump was told that no evidence existed against the Syrian government but ordered his generals to retaliate anyway.Marine General Joseph Dunford, Chairman of the, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and former Marine General, now Defense Secretary James Mad-Dog Mattis ordered the attacks apparently knowing that the reason given was what one of Hersh s sources called a fairy tale. They then left it to Trump s national security adviser Army General H. R. McMaster to further the deceit with the help of a compliant mainstream media, which broke from its current tradition of distrusting whatever Trump says in favor of its older tradition of favoring regime change in Syria and trusting pretty much whatever the rebels claim.According to Hersh s sources, the normal deconfliction process was followed before the April 4 strike. In such procedures, U.S. and Russian officers supply one another with advance details of airstrikes, such as target coordinates, to avoid accidental confrontations among the warplanes crisscrossing Syria.Russia and Syrian Air Force officers gave details of the flight path to and from Khan Sheikhoun in English, Hersh reported. The target was a two-story cinderblock building in which senior leaders high-value targets of the two jihadist groups controlling the town were about to hold a meeting. Because of the perceived importance of the mission, the Russians took the unusual step of giving the Syrian air force a GPS-guided bomb to do the job, but the explosives were conventional, not chemical, Hersh reported.The meeting place was on the floor above the basement of the building, where a source whom Hersh described as a senior adviser to the U.S. intelligence community, told Hersh: The basement was used as storage for rockets, weapons, and ammunition and also chlorine-based decontaminates for cleansing the bodies of the dead before burial. A Bomb Damage AssessmentHersh describes what happened when the building was struck on the morning of April 4: A Bomb Damage Assessment by the U.S. military later determined that the heat and force of the 500-pound Syrian bomb triggered a series of secondary explosions that could have generated a huge toxic cloud that began to spread over the town, formed by the release of fertilizers, disinfectants, and other goods stored in the basement, its effect magnified by the dense morning air, which trapped the fumes close to the ground. According to intelligence estimates, the strike itself killed up to four jihadist leaders and an unknown number of drivers and security aides. There is no confirmed count of the number of civilians killed by the poisonous gases that were released by the secondary explosions, although opposition activists reported that there were more than 80 dead, and outlets such as CNN have put the figure as high as 92. Due to the fog of war, which is made denser by the fact that jihadists associated with Al Qaeda control the area, many of the details of the incident were unclear on that day and remain so still. No independent on-the-ground investigation has taken place.But there were other reasons to doubt Syrian guilt, including the implausibility of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad choosing that time while his forces were making dramatic strides in finally defeating the jihadists and immediately after the Trump administration had indicated it had reversed President Obama s regime change policy in Syria to launch a sarin attack, which was sure to outrage the world and likely draw U.S. retaliation.However, logic was brushed aside after local activists, including some closely tied to the jihadists, quickly uploaded all manner of images onto social media, showing dead and dying children and other victims said to be suffering from sarin nerve gas. Inconsistencies were brushed aside such as the eyewitness who insisted, We could smell it from 500 meters away when sarin is odorless.Potent ImagesStill, whether credible or not, these social-media images had a potent propaganda effect. Hersh writes that within hours of watching the gruesome photos on TV and before he had received any U.S. intelligence corroboration Trump told his national security aides to plan retaliation against Syria. According to Hersh, it was an evidence-free decision, except for what Trump had seen on the TV shows.Hersh quotes one U.S. officer who, upon learning of the White House decision to retaliate against Syria, remarked: We KNOW that there was no chemical attack the Russians are furious claiming we have the real intel and know the truth Continue this story at Consortium NewsREAD MORE WHITE HELMETS NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire WHITE HELMETS FilesSUPPORT OUR WORK BY SUBSCRIBING & BECOMING A MEMBER @21WIRE.TV

The biggest swarm of genetically modified mosquitoes ever has been set free in Brazil to combat infectious disease.

Graduates earning less than those who did not go to university, research reveals : Those studying the creative arts and mass communication go on to be among the lowest paid graduates

Another list containing 25,000 ISIS supporter accounts is released to put pressure on Twitter to suspend them, this time without using hack methods

South Korea to install monitoring app in teenagers phones to block access to "undesirable" sites.

All dogs will now have to be microchipped in England

US Fuming Over Israeli Criticism Of Kerry

Food prices jump 10% in July and are expected to keep rising. The countries most affected are the poorest, which are not only the most food insecure but also experiencing the sharpest increases

At least two bomb blasts have injured more than 60 people in Thailand

China drafts legal proposal to completely shut down genetically engineered rice

Sources: President Obama Set To Make Official 2016 Endorsement This WeekAs the Democratic Primary wraps up with Hillary Clinton slated to clinch the majority of pledged delegates and thus reach the total amount of delegates needed for victory sources with CNN and the New York Times confirmed that President Obama is ready to make an official endorsement this week.And that candidate is Hillary Clinton. According to the New York Times, the White House has been holding conversations with the Clinton campaign as to where and when to formally endorse. Sources say the President is impatient to begin campaigning for Clinton, who he sees as the one who will succeed his legacy.President Obama claimed that New Jersey and California s results will show a pretty good sense of who the nominee will end up being. With an approval rating averaging over 50 percent across the board, President Obama hopes to use high numbers (a determining factor in elections) to unite not only Democrats but Trump-weary Republicans and Independents.Jennifer Psaki, President Obama s communications director, told the NYT: He has indicated he wants to spend a lot of time on the campaign trail, so when it s time to do that, we ll go out guns ablazing. We are actively thinking through how to use the president on the campaign trail what works for the nominee, what works for him, and how to utilize his strengths and his appeal. Clinton, who will be claiming victory on Tuesday in Brooklyn, is also eager to campaign with the President and Vice President s endorsement.Clinton, who lost the delegates needed to secure the nomination in 2008, backed then-Senator Obama just days later, campaigning across the country on his behalf as a surrogate.President Obama has already shown to be an energetic surrogate for Clinton, telling donors in Miami that the Democrats are in a strong position to win: We ve got the better arguments here. And the issue is going to be do we feel the same sense of urgency, and are we engaged and are we participating to make sure that we win a White House and we get back a Congress that can move this country forward in a constructive way. President Obama is also reportedly excited to take on Donald Trump, as is Hillary Clinton. Bernie Sanders, who has pledged to stay in the race past California s primary in an effort to influence the DNC platform, has also stated he will do everything to keep Trump out of the White House. Elizabeth Warren, who is reported to be preparing an endorsement, will also continue her attacks on Trump.Imagine that campaign team Clinton, Obama, Biden, Sanders, and Warren on the campaign trail to take on Donald Trump.Featured image via Pool/Getty Images

Death of Australian Hughes ruled 'tragic accident'SYDNEY (Reuters) - The death of Australian batsman Phillip Hughes was a ‘tragic accident’ and not as a result of a failure to enforce the rules of the game or inadequate safety equipment, the New South Wales (NSW) Coroner’s Court ruled on Friday. Hughes was hit on the back of the neck by a rising delivery when playing for South Australia in a domestic match at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Nov. 25, 2014. He died two days later in a Sydney hospital. After reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident to determine whether the 25-year-old’s death could have been avoided, NSW State Coroner Michael Barnes said he could find no evidence to support the view of Hughes’ family that he had died in a “very unsafe workplace”. “The family’s grief at losing their much loved son and brother was exacerbated by their belief that unfair play had contributed to his death,” said Barnes. “It is hoped that they accept the compelling evidence that the rules were complied with. Phillip was excelling at the crease as he so often did and that his death was a tragic accident.” The helmet worn by Hughes came under the spotlight following his death, though the NSW Coroner said the batsman’s death could not have been avoided by wearing different protective equipment. Australia’s cricket board in May made it compulsory for players to wear helmets when facing fast and medium-paced bowling in line with recommendations from a review into the death of Hughes. The family had been angered that Hughes had been subjected to threatening language from an opponent and had suffered a sustained spell of aggressive short-pitched bowling that contravened the rules of the game. Barnes accepted Hughes had received a barrage of short-pitch blowing, but all of which fell within the rules of the game. The court said it was unable to rule on whether Hughes had been subjected to threatening language, though Barnes said it was implausible that no “sledging” had occurred at all during the day. “Hopefully, the focus on this unsavoury aspect of the incident may cause those who claim to love the game to reflect upon whether the practice of sledging is worthy of its participants,” said Barnes. “An outsider is left to wonder why such a beautiful game would need such an ugly underside.”

Palestinians face daily struggle in Egypt - Palestinian refugees do not have access to free medical care or education, creating cycle of poverty.

Bush’s Secretary Of Defense Says Trump Has No F*cking Idea What He’s Talking AboutFormer Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is not a fan of Donald Trump, and he has no problem telling the American people that the billionaire would be a mistake. On Sunday s episode of ABC s This Week, he did exactly that.Guest host Martha Raddatz asked Gates what he thought about the speech the Republican frontrunner gave on foreign policy earlier in the week and like former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Gates was not impressed: I think based on the speech you d have somebody who doesn t understand the difference between a business negotiation and a negotiation with sovereign powers. For example, he, on the one hand, says we need to be a more reliable ally to our friends. And then in the next breath he basically says we re going to rip up all those burden-sharing agreements that we ve had over the decades with them and make them go their own way if they don t pay for everything. During Trump s speech he did, in fact, contradict himself. He claimed he was going to take care of our allies, but then he said that many of them aren t paying their fair share and if he were president he would make those countries (mostly in the Middle East) defend themselves. Gates also slammed Trump for his inability to take advice: One of the things that worries me, Martha, is that he doesn t appear to listen to people. He believes that he has all the answers, that he s the smartest man in the room. And I ve worked with some for some very different presidents. Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Barack Obama. One of the things they all had in common was a willingness to listen to people who with who had experience, and then make their own independent judgment. Now, they ve gone in different directions but they never assumed they had all the answers, and that s one of the things that troubles me. He definitely does think he knows best and that is a huge problem when you think about how much power he would have as president. Just look at his campaign, he continues to insult minorities and women even as other officials in his party tell him to knock it off. He continues to say that he will force other countries to pay for things, even though experts say that is not possible. What would happen if he were sitting in the White House and the Secretary of Defense told him that his plan to bomb the hell out of ISIS wasn t a good idea? Would he ignore his military advisers? The answer is: probably.When a person with as much experience as Robert Gates says Trump is a bad idea, the Republican Party should take him seriously.Featured image via Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Obama urges China to address industrial excess capacity: White HouseUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama met Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Monday and urged China to accelerate efforts to address the problem of industrial excess capacity, the White House said. In a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Obama also urged Beijing to establish a level playing field to allow all firms to compete fairly in China, a White House statement said.

Some drug cartels now make more money from gold than cocaine

Finnish nationalists challenge EU bailouts in election that has Europe on edge

Germanys Bishop of Bling : Pope Francis has summoned a spendthrift German bishop to Rome to answer for his excesses, including a $3 million marble courtyard at his new headquarters with fountains spouting holy water.

U.S. environmental agency chief says humans contribute to global warmingWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, said on Friday he believes human activity plays a role in global warming, but measuring that contribution with precision is difficult. Speaking to reporters at the White House a day after President Donald Trump said he would withdraw the United States from the Paris climate accord, Pruitt declined to directly answer questions about whether the president still believed global warming was a hoax, as he had said during the 2016 presidential campaign Pruitt said he had indicated that global warming is occurring, and that “human activity contributes to it in some manner. Measuring with precision, from my perspective, the degree of human contribution is very challenging.”

Massachusetts governor would sign transgender rights billBOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker said on Tuesday he is ready to sign a transgender rights bill if it passes in its current form in the state House of Representatives amid an acrimonious debate across the United States about the issue. Baker, a socially liberal Republican, had come under fire this year for refusing to say whether he would approve the bill, which would ban discrimination against transgender people in public restrooms and other public buildings. It passed the state Senate last month. “No one should be discriminated against in Massachusetts because of their gender identity,” Baker said in a statement. “I would sign the House version in its current form should it reach my desk.” The Massachusetts House is due to vote on the measure on Wednesday. It is expected to pass by a wide margin in the Democratic-controlled chamber. The House version of the bill differs from the version passed by the Senate in that it directs the state attorney general to issue guidelines to law enforcement on how to handle people who claim transgender rights “for an improper purpose.” That language is a nod to one of the main concerns of opponents of people using bathrooms or locker rooms that do not correspond with their birth gender - that sexual predators will claim transgender status to access potential victims. The measure would make liberal-leaning Massachusetts the 18th U.S. state to prohibit discrimination based on gender identity. The issue of transgender rights has become the latest front in America’s culture wars. Some supporters of the Massachusetts measure described it as a rebuke to a law put in place in March in North Carolina prohibiting people from using bathrooms that do not correspond to the sex on their birth certificates.

Smokers who drop cigarette butts in the City face an 80 fine following the launch of a new crackdown.

South African Supreme Court upholds reinstating 783 corruption charges against ZumaBLOEMFONTEIN, South Africa (Reuters) - South Africa s Supreme Court of Appeal on Friday upheld a High Court ruling to reinstate nearly 800 corruption charges filed against Jacob Zuma before he became president. Zuma, who has faced and denied numerous other corruption allegations since taking office, said he was disappointed by the court s decision and asked the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to consider representations before deciding whether to proceed against him. It was unclear when the NPA would make a decision on the charges, which relate to a 30 billion rand ($2 billion) government arms deal arranged in the late 1990s. The ruling is likely to amplify calls for Zuma, 75, to step down before his term as president ends in 2019 and diminish his influence over who succeeds him when the ruling African National Congress (ANC) chooses a new leader in December. It is going to make it a lot more difficult for his camp to get their presidential candidate elected, said Gary van Staden, political analyst with NKC African Economics. Friday s unanimous Supreme Court ruling upheld a High Court decision in April 2016 that the charges against Zuma should be reinstated. They had been set aside in April 2009 by the then-head of the prosecuting authority, paving the way for Zuma to run for president later that year. Rejecting an appeal brought by Zuma and the NPA, Judge Lorimer Leach said it was irrational for the NPA to have set the charges aside the same word used by the High Court. It is difficult to understand why the present regime at the NPA considered that the decision to terminate the prosecution could be defended, the Supreme Court s Leach said. NPA spokesman Luvuyo Mfaku said prosecutors would need to consider the judgment but would at all times do the right thing within the confines of the rule of law and in the interest of proper administration of justice . In a separate statement, the NPA said Zuma s lawyers had asked the state prosecutor not to serve an indictment on his client nor to re-enrol the matter prior to the representations having been considered . The prospect that Zuma s removal may be inching closer lifted the rand against the dollar. Zuma is unpopular with many investors after sacking respected finance minister Pravin Gordhan in March, a move that hit South African financial assets and helped tip the country s credit ratings into junk territory. Zuma has faced persistent corruption allegations, most recently over leaked emails that suggest his friends the Gupta family may have used their influence to secure lucrative state contracts for their companies. Reuters has not independently verified the emails, and Zuma and the Guptas have consistently denied any wrongdoing. Mmusi Maimane, leader of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said he would write to the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams, to demand he indict Zuma. The charges have been formulated and the evidence is ready. We now await a trial date, Maimane told reporters. Asked by reporters whether Zuma should resign, the African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the party would allow that process to take its course. The first thing is whether the NPA will decide to charge the president, he said. You re putting the cart before the horse. National prosecutor Mokotedi Mpshe s decision in 2009 to drop the 783 charges against Zuma in what has become known as the Spy Tapes case was based on phone intercepts presented by Zuma s legal team. They suggested the timing of the charges in late 2007 may have been part of a political plot to stop Zuma, then deputy president, running for the top job. Zuma was linked to the 1990s arms deal through his former financial adviser, who was jailed for corruption. Analysts said the credibility of Zuma and the NPA were in question after the ruling. One lawyer, Ulrich Roux, who speaks to media as a legal analyst, said a private prosecution could be instituted if charges are not brought.

ISIS Overruns Iraqi Army Base Near Baghdad, Executes 300 Soldiers

DIRTY POOL! FBI AND DOJ Just Affirmed They Spied On Trump WITHOUT Proving Dossier’s AuthenticityHow dirty is this? The powers-that-be at the intelligence agencies didn t follow the proper channels before opening up spying on the Trump campaign! They needed proof that the Trump dossier is authentic but never received that proof. They moved forward with the spying anyway! What dirty rats these Democrats are!FBI and Justice Department officials have told congressional investigators in recent days that they have not been able to verify or corroborate the substantive allegations of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign outlined in the Trump dossier.The FBI received the first installment of the dossier in July 2016. It received later installments as they were written at the height of the presidential campaign, which means the bureau has had more than a year to investigate the allegations in the document.The dossier was financed by the Hillary Clinton campaign and compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele.An August 24, 2017 subpoena from the House Intelligence Committee to the FBI and Justice Department asked for information on the bureau s efforts to validate the dossier. Specifically, the subpoena demanded any documents, if they exist, that memorialize DOJ and/or FBI efforts to corroborate, validate, or evaluate information provided by Mr. Steele and/or sub-sources and/or contained in the Trump Dossier. According to sources familiar with the matter, neither the FBI nor the Justice Department has provided documents in response to that part of the committee s subpoena. But in face-to-face briefings with congressional staff, according to those sources, FBI and DOJ officials have said they cannot verify the dossier s charges of a conspiracy between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.Read more: WE

Disgusted Republicans Unable To Reach UNHINGED Trump, Forced To Tweet Their Complaints At Him (IMAGES)Donald Trump is already making the Republican Party insane, and it hasn t even been a week yet. While many GOPers found Trump s Twitter use concerning, it s reached an entirely new level considering that Trump is unavailable to them by all other means.On Wednesday, the Republican Party suffered another humiliating blow when Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) was forced to go on Twitter and beg Trump in front of everyone to force his executive branch to answer Senators requests so that oversight could be performed. Grassley tweeted: Pres Trump pls issue order to all in ur executive branch ppl to answer all Senator requests for RECORDS so we can do oversight. This was followed by several pathetic attempts to get Trump to respond, probably because Trump and his team wouldn t play by the rules and answer more conventional methods of communication (no surprise there).Grassley tried everything to get Trump s attention he even tried to educate the 45th President of the United States about how important oversight is, probably because Grassley realizes Trump doesn t know anything about how the government actually works Grassley even tried to diss former President Barack Obama in hopes that Trump would respond! Hours later, Grassley s pleas for Trump to do his job had gone unanswered, and things got a little testy:Damn! But honestly, what did the GOP expect from Trump, the guy who took the weekend off from being president after his inauguration?! This is a man who obviously doesn t care about doing the work of a president; he just wanted the title.Trump s first week has been such a disaster, and it s not even over. He s not only becoming a nightmare for all of Americans and Democrats he s a liability to his own party. The fact that a Republican senator had to publicly tweet at Trump in order to get his attention is extremely embarrassing, but that s what they signed up for when they nominated him.Featured image via Steve Pope/Getty Images

France expels first Roma under Hollande: Continuing a practice that had been criticized when Nicolas Sarkozy was president, France has dismantled two camps of Roma in Lille. It's the first raid on a camp since Francois Hollande took office in May.

AIR FORCE ERROR Allowed Texas Church Gunman To Buy GunsA CHECK AND BALANCE BETWEEN THE MILITARY AND THE NCIS NEEDS TO BE PUT IN PLACE!As more details come out on the motive behind the Texas church shooting, the Air Force came out and admitted they didn t file the criminal record and court-martial into the federal database Horrible! The angry man has a history of aggression and violence. His former in-laws belonged to the church that was the scene of the massacre of innocent churchgoers:Kelly was on bad terms with his wife s mother, Michelle Shields (pictured below), who was a member of the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs where the massacre took place on Sunday. He had been sending threatening texts to her on the morning of the shooting. At an afternoon press conference, police revealed that Kelley had expressed anger towards his mother-in-law and sent her threatening texts . She was not in the church but her mother was killed in the church. Lula White (pictured below) is the grandmother-in-law of the shooter It s too bad this animal was able to walk the streets harming people his entire life. We re with President Trump and believe that this man s mental health problem is the issue here .HOW WAS HE ABLE TO GET GUNS?A sporting goods store in San Antonio just reported they sold a weapon to Kelley. They obviously had none of the information they needed in the background check to refuse the sale of the gun.AIR FORCE MISHANDLING OF RECORDSA day after a gunman massacred parishioners in a small Texas church, the Air Force admitted on Monday that it had failed to enter the man s domestic violence court-martial into a federal database that could have blocked him from buying the rifle he used to kill 26 people.The conviction of the gunman, Devin P. Kelley, for domestic assault on his wife and infant stepson he had cracked the child s skull should have stopped Mr. Kelley from legally purchasing the military-style rifle and three other guns he bought in the last four years. But that information was never entered by the Air Force into the federal database for background checks on gun purchasers, the service said. The Air Force has launched a review of how the service handled the criminal records of former Airman Devin P. Kelley following his 2012 domestic violence conviction, the Air Force said in a statement. Federal law prohibited him from buying or possessing firearms after this conviction. The statement said that Heather Wilson, the Air Force secretary, and Gen. David Goldfein, the Air Force chief of staff, had ordered the Air Force inspector general to work with the Pentagon s inspector general to conduct a complete review of the Kelley case and relevant policies and procedures. The Air Force also said that it was looking into whether other convictions had been improperly left unreported. The service will also conduct a comprehensive review of Air Force databases to ensure records in other cases have been reported correctly, the statement said.

Women to plead not guilty in high-profile Kim Jong Nam murder trialKUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Two women accused of killing the estranged half-brother of North Korea s leader at the Kuala Lumpur international airport are expected to plead not guilty when their trial begins at a Malaysian court on Monday. Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, are charged with murdering Kim Jong Nam at the airport on Feb. 13 by smearing his face with VX, a chemical the United Nations describes as a weapon of mass destruction. The pair, however, have told their lawyers they did not know they were participating in a deadly attack and believed they were carrying out a prank for a reality TV show. They face the death penalty if convicted. They (the women) will maintain their innocence, Hisyam Teh, Huong s lawyer, told Reuters. Monday s much-anticipated trial is expected to run until Nov. 30 at the Shah Alam High Court on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital. Lead prosecutor Muhamad Iskandar Ahmad declined to comment on details of the case, but said between 30 and 40 witnesses, including 10 experts, would be called to testify. The prosecution is expected to call expert witnesses such as pathologists and chemists early on, Hisyam said. He declined to comment on the defense s strategy, but said Huong was in good hands. She (Huong) has a good defense and we have the evidence to support it, he said, without elaborating. South Korean and U.S. officials have said that Kim Jong Un s regime was behind the murder. Kim Jong Nam, who was living in exile in Macau, had criticized his family s dynastic rule of North Korea and his brother had issued a standing order for his execution, according to some South Korean lawmakers. Four other people, who have not been apprehended or named, have been charged along with Siti Aisyah and Huong. Four North Koreans, who police named as suspects in the case, left Kuala Lumpur for Pyongyang on the day of the killing. An Interpol red notice, an international alert just short of an arrest warrant, has been issued for the four, who were caught on airport CCTV cameras observing the murder, police said. Naran Singh, who is also on Huong s defense team, has asked prosecutors to release the names of the four suspects charged with the women. Gooi Soon Seng, Siti Aisyah s lawyer, did not respond to an emailed request for comment. He has previously said the presence of other suspects would change the case completely. We believe the main suspects are the four North Koreans that have left the country. If we were able to arrest them, everything would be as clear as daylight, Gooi told reporters after a pre-trial hearing in July. The once cozy ties between Malaysia and North Korea have been frayed after North Korea questioned Malaysia s handling of the investigation into Kim Jong Nam s murder. The Malaysian government expelled the North Korean ambassador. In response, Pyongyang barred all Malaysians from leaving the country. Malaysia only secured their release in exchange for returning Kim Jong Nam s body to North Korea and safe passage home for three North Korean men wanted for questioning in the case. Malaysia on Thursday banned its citizens from traveling to North Korea, citing security concerns from Pyongyang s nuclear tests. The travel ban follows a visit earlier this month to Washington by Prime Minister Najib Razak, who told U.S. President Donald Trump Malaysia has stopped doing business with North Korea, in line with U.N. sanctions. North Korea is not a member of Interpol, and Pyongyang was unlikely to entertain any request from Malaysia to return the suspects in the absence of an extradition treaty between the two countries, said Ahmad Martadha Mohamed, an associate professor at Universiti Utara Malaysia. Indirectly, this will make it very difficult for Malaysia to put any pressure on North Korea to send the suspects back, he said.

The Armenian Genocide: (Video) This is a compelling documentary which focuses as much on Turkey's remarkable efforts to deny the massacre - which includes killing those who speak of it even today.

RINO SENATOR From “Red State” Tells Illegal Aliens: “You Have Done Nothing Wrong”…Joins Dems To Push DREAM ACT Legislation Only Hours After Trump Rescinds DACA [VIDEO]Here are a few facts explaining who the DACA recipients really are. The National UnDACAmented Research Project was compiled by Harvard University researcher Roberto G. Gonzales and published by the Center For Immigration Studies (CIS):In April 2016, the Washington Times reported that a massive anti-deportation infrastructure had emerged to try to protect illegal immigrants from President Trump s crackdown, with advocacy groups coaching potential deportees on how to massage encounters with police, and lawyers and judges working to shield them from charges that would make them priorities for deportation.A video released Monday by a coalition of advocates instructs illegal immigrants not to open the door to federal agents, what proof to demand if they are being arrested and what to say if accosted outside their homes.Meanwhile, attorneys are working to lower charges from some illegal immigrant criminals, hoping to blunt their crimes so they don t show up as high-priority deportation targets.The Washington Times reported on a recent case in California, where an immigrant from India was accused of abusing his wife. The Santa Clara prosecutor told The Daily Beast that he reduced a felony assault charge to a felony accessory after the fact charge in order to spare the man a sentence that would have made him a deportation risk.IJR- The same day that President Donald Trump rescinded the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) held a joint press conference in which they reintroduced legislation that would see Congress tackling many of the issues that DACA comprises. What Senator Graham and I want to deliver is the message today, is that we need to do our job right here in the United States Senate, Durbin said. We need to pass, in this month of September, a DREAM Act, a permanent law in this country, that says that these young people will have their chance to become part of America s future. The DREAM Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act has been circling Congress for more than a decade, having first been introduced by Durbin and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) in 2001. The legislation has failed to pass each time it has been introduced.Durbin then took a moment to speak directly to the DREAMers, saying, Do not give up hope. If you are one of those DREAMers, Durbin continued, one of those protected by DACA, you need to be part of America in its future. We made a promise to you that if you gave this information to our government about you and your family, it wouldn t be used against you. I don t want that to ever happen. Durbin then turned over the podium to Graham, who said right out of the gate, speaking to the DACA participants, you have done nothing wrong. You ve demonstrated your ability to be beneficial to the country now and in the future, Graham said. The only thing that stands between you and certainty in your life is the Congress. That cannot be that reassuring. Congress is going to have to up its game, Graham opined.

China bans depictions of gay people, adultery, one night stands, cleavage and reincarnation on television

Head of Public Relations for the 2022 Qatar World Cup sent an angry letter to Deadspin regarding their "Report: Qatars World Cup will Take More Lives Than 9/11" article

Trump Sends Lawyers After 17-Year-Old Girl Over Website Where Kittens Scratch HimWhat happens when a thin-skinned bully becomes President? Apparently, he will even threaten children who hurt his precious little fee-fees.A 17-year-old girl known only as Lucy from San Fransisco created a cute website for her resume that featured kittens punching Donald Trump. Lucy created TrumpScratch.com as a fun little project. It s pretty simple users click on The Donald s face to punch him with tiny kitten paws.But her project, which was intended for fun, caused Lucy to fall into a legal nightmare because at his core, Donald Trump is nothing more than a schoolyard bully who can t deal with any form of criticism whatsoever.After the website was live for three weeks, Lucy received a cease and desist letter from Trump s general counsel.The letter calls Trump a well-known businessman and informs Lucy that As I m sure you re aware, the Trump name is internationally known and famous. And, of course, as a public figure he opens himself up to criticism even if it is in the form of a kitten-themed website it took a high school girl three hours to code. I was going to just let this go, but I think it s, pardon my French, fucking outrageous that the president of the United States has his team scouring the internet for sites like mine to send out cease and desists and legal action claims if we don t shut down, Lucy told the Observer. Meanwhile, he tweets about The Apprentice ratings and sends out power-drunk tweets about phone tapping. HOW ABOUT BEING THE PRESIDENT? She changed the website to KittenFeed.com, but says they still came at me. It s so sad that his administration is focused more on being liked, burying real news and taking down sites like mine as they supposedly make him look bad, she says.You can view her masterpiece here.Featured image via screengrab

Venezuela Abolishes Entrance Visas for Palestinians

15 year old girl strip searched at Canadian school; Education minister defends practice, says it is OK if done "respectfully"; girl feels "violated and destroyed".

French Socialists in run-off vote

Sean Spicer Just Got Into A Fight With Reporters, Explodes Over ‘Fake News’ (VIDEO)Now that Donald Trump has completed his disastrous first overseas trip, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer must once again answer to the U.S. media as Trump continues to disgrace the country on its own soil.Following the Memorial Day holiday, it was back to business as usual with Spicer nearly losing his mind at a press briefing earlier today. When reporters asked Spicer about Trump s claims about fake news, Spicer pretty much imploded as he sparred with reporters.Spicer tried to defend his mentally incompetent boss by pointing out a tweet in which a BBC reported had made a mistake, claiming that Trump had not been wearing a translation earpiece when he met with foreign leaders. This mistake was quickly and publicly corrected by the reporter as soon as it was realized, but Spicer pathetically latched onto that one incident as proof of fake news. Spicer whined: On Friday, the president was having a great discussion at the G7 and someone from the BBC, and ultimately an incoming reporter for the New York Times retweeted that the president was being rude by disrespecting the Italian prime minister. When in fact, you all in all of the meetings watched the president with that one earpiece that s been used by all the other presidents That s just fake! Spicer s example was beyond ridiculous, and reporters not only reminded him that the inaccurate tweet had been corrected, but that it hadn t gone any further to major newspapers. But Spicer was beyond reasoning with. He fired back, looking as if a meltdown was just moments away: I was asked to give an example, and I did it. And when another reporter said the BBC reporter s tweet didn t affect how Trump s overseas trip was covered, Spicer s reply was nothing but disrespectful and dismissive. He replied sarcastically: Well, thank you, I appreciate it, you get to decide what is big and what is not. A lot of things have been pushed out based on unnamed unaccountable sources that is very troubling. Clearly, Spicer forgot that his own boss is the king of using anonymous sources and perpetuating fake news. You can watch Spicer fight with reporters below:Featured image via Win McNamee/Getty Images

Joy mixed with caution in Gaza after Palestinian unity dealGAZA (Reuters) - It didn t take long after the firework smoke cleared in Gaza for some Palestinians to start questioning whether a unity deal between their two most powerful factions would hold. Thousands took to the streets overnight celebrating the pact between Fatah and Hamas sealed in Cairo. Loudspeakers blasted national songs as youngsters waving Palestinian and Egyptian flags danced and hugged one another. I am happy, no I am the happiest, Ali Metwaly, a 30-year-old computer engineer, said the morning after. But I am still afraid it will end in disappointment. My leaders have taught me they can easily disappoint us. I hope they don t, this time. Under the reconciliation pact, Hamas is handing over administrative control of Gaza, including the Rafah border crossing - once the main gateway to the world for the two million Palestinians in the territory - to a government backed by the mainstream Fatah party. A decade ago, Hamas forces seized the Gaza Strip from Fatah forces in a brief civil war. Past Egyptian mediation attempts to reconcile the two rivals failed to achieve lasting results. The latest clinched its elusive agreement after an economic squeeze on Hamas. Analysts said the deal is more likely to stick than earlier ones, given Hamas s growing isolation and realization of how hard Gaza - its economy hobbled by border blockades and infrastructure shattered by wars with Israel - was to govern and rebuild. For Huwaida al-Hadidi, a 34-year-old mother-of-seven, economic relief cannot come soon enough. Like about 250,000 other people in the territory, her husband is unemployed. Unable to pay their rent, the family has been living in a tent since their landlord evicted them three days ago. Now that they signed a reconciliation deal, God-willing the blockade will be lifted and people will find work and be able to earn a living for their children, she said. Control of the Gaza border crossings with Israel and Egypt by the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the occupied West Bank, could allow freer movement of people and goods across the frontier. And under the agreement, about 3,000 Fatah security officers are to join the Gaza police force, although Hamas would remain the most powerful armed Palestinian faction, with around 25,000 well-equipped militants. Hamas and Fatah are also debating a potential date for presidential and legislative elections and reforms of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which is in charge of long-stalled peace efforts with Israel. The last Palestinian legislative election was in 2006, when Hamas scored a surprise victory. That triggered the political rupture between Hamas and Fatah, which eventually led to their short civil war in Gaza. Palestinian political commentator Mustafa Ibraham said with major issues, such as an election date and agreement on a common political agenda, still outstanding, Palestinians should be cautious. Important details were postponed and open for interpretation and disagreement, he said in a Facebook post. Hamas, which has fought three wars with Israel since 2008 and is considered a terrorist group by the West, has said it will not abandon the arms of resistance . Israel has said Hamas must disarm, or the reconciliation will be meaningless.

25 year old Iranian protester was allegedly 'killed in prison'

Steam seen at Fukushima nuclear reactor - "Vapour has begun rising again from a reactor at the Fukushima nuclear power plant, more than two-and-a-half years after its core melted down"

Brazil's top prosecutor says committed to 'Car Wash' probeBRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazil s new Prosecutor General Raquel Dodge said on Tuesday she is committed to continuing the sprawling Car Wash corruption investigation that has implicated dozens of Brazilian politicians, including President Michel Temer. In her first news conference since taking office on Sept. 18, Dodge declined to comment on charges filed against Temer by her predecessor Rodrigo Janot, but she said she could not withdraw them. Janot charged Temer with obstruction of justice and being a member of a criminal organization days before leaving office based on plea bargain testimony by the owners of meatpacker JBS SA. Janot had to revoke that plea deal after evidence emerged of crimes committed by the witnesses. Dodge, however, told reporters that the revoking of a plea deal did not erase the evidence provided. The lower house of Congress, which has the authority to decide whether a president should stand trial, began to discuss the new charges on Tuesday and is expected to block them as it did last month with an earlier graft charge brought against Temer for allegedly accepting bribes paid by JBS. Dodge said the Supreme Court must decide whether the Federal Police can also negotiate plea bargains with criminals, an authority currently limited to prosecutors who have opposed sharing the function with the police. Plea bargains have been instrumental for prosecutors in the uncovering of a massive network of bribes and political kickbacks in Brazil s largest corruption scandal. I am sure that the Supreme Court will hand down a ruling that will turn this into an valuable tool, she said.

North Korea Claims That It Tested the "H-Bomb of Justice"

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: **prosecutors** ask judge to dismiss sex charges

EU imposes sanctions over Crimea

He has been captured by bank surveillance cameras in eight states, sneering and holding a pistol sideways during heists.

Kurdistan never intended to engage in war with Iraq: KRGCAIRO (Reuters) - The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) never intended to engage in a war with the Iraqi army, minister Falah Mustafa Bakir, head of the KRG department of foreign relations, told broadcaster CNN in an interview. There is a need for dialogue between KRG and Iraq so as to reach a common understanding, Bakir said, according to a transcript of the interview published on KRG s website, adding the dispute was not about oil or the national flag but about the future of two nations. Kurdish Peshmerga forces have retreated to positions they held in northern Iraq in June 2014 in response to an Iraqi army advance into the region after a Kurdish independence referendum, a senior Iraqi commander said on Wednesday. The Baghdad central government considers the Sept. 25 Kurdish independence referendum illegal, especially as it was held not just in the autonomous KRG region but in Kirkuk and other adjacent areas that Peshmerga forces held after driving out Islamic State militants in 2014.

Arizona Governor Blocks 31,000 Low-Income Children From Access To Life Saving HealthcareAs Arizona grapples with passing their Constitutionally required budget, its governor, Doug Ducey, informed legislators that he will no longer be supporting the extension of the state s KidsCare program. The program, which is a branch of the Children s Health Insurance Program (which Hillary Clinton lobbied for), serves over 31,000 low-income children, many of whom have chronic illnesses.Steve Farley, a Democratic Senator in the legislature, posted on Facebook:Such sad news. We just received word that the Governor is no longer supporting the extension of KidsCare healthcare to 31,000 low-income children, and is now saying those kids, many of whom are suffering chronic illnesses, will have to wait till next year. We remain the only state in the country that does not cover these kids.Gov. Ducey decided it would be too much trouble to overcome the opposition of extremist ideologues in the House, even though we had the Senate votes to win.There would be ZERO COST to the state to extend this coverage. Some of those kids will not be alive next year. This is a complete failure of leadership on the part of the Governor and the legislative majorityLet that sink in: if the Governor gets his way, Arizona will continue to be the only state that does not cover low-income children s healthcare services. Even Kansas, which is on the brink of near total financial collapse, extends this program.The program was cut almost in its entirety in 2011 thanks to Arizona s former governor Jan Brewer. Not only did she cut the program, she imposed enrollment caps on the Medicaid system to ensure that program would almost never return. Those actions caused 14,000 children to lose their healthcare. In total, with the caps put into place, over 300,000 lost their access.Reports released by the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families found these startling facts about Arizona s heartless treatment of children:But don t worry, folks. In the Arizona budget, there s about $18 million that will go towards private prisons. So while some kids face a totally preventable death, prisons will get their coffers stuffed with all sorts of monetary rewards.Hooray for pro-life Republicans!Featured image via Maury Phillips/Getty Images

Bomb explodes at Swiss embassy in Rome

Kevin Rudd resigns as foreign minister of Australia

SUNDAY SCREENING: Counter Intelligence – ‘The Strategy of Tension’21st Century Wire says Our weekly documentary film curated by the editorial team at 21WIRE.The following is Part 3 of a 5 part series which deals with the Deep State The Strategy of Tension examines the history of false flag operations used for war, propaganda and psychological operations or psy-ops . Operation Northwoods and Operation Gladio are examples used to illustrate the nature of clandestine operation planning and execution; as well as shedding light on the intent and extent to which the National Security apparatus manipulates events and manufactures outcomes to suit its goals. This programme also looks at the issues that spin off from the history of false flag operations such as how conspiracy theories are used to discredit inquiry and investigative journalism; and also how the cultural preconditions around dismissing false flag operations serve to protect their continuation and plausible deniability Watch:. Run time: 55 min Writer and Director: Scott Noble Production: Metanoia FilmsSEE MORE SUNDAY SCREENINGS HERESUPPORT 21WIRE SUBSCRIBE & BECOME A MEMBER@ 21WIRE.TV

Barack Obama announces plans for a $1bn fund to increase US military deployments to Europ

To curb rape, Muslim group calls for end to co-ed schools in India

U.S. Senate Passes Bipartisan Bill Claims to Facilitate ‘Better Public Access’ to Gov’t Records21st Century Wire says..We ll believe it when, and if we are even allowed to see it (redacted) Mary Clare Jalonick AP/All GovWASHINGTON The Senate on Tuesday backed legislation to make it easier for Americans to obtain government records.The bipartisan bill, passed by voice vote, would require federal agencies to consider the release of government information under a presumption of openness as opposed to a presumption that the information is secret.The legislation aims to reduce the amount of exemptions the government uses to withhold information and would create a single portal through which individuals can submit a Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, request. Currently, FOIA requests are handled by each separate agency, each with its own rules about how to submit a request. Today s vote sends a clear message that the American people have a fundamental right to know what their government is doing, Cornyn said.( ) We cannot leave it to the next president to decide how open the government should be, Leahy said. We have to hold all presidents and their administrations accountable to the highest standard. Republicans in Congress have complained that the Obama administration hasn t been fully transparent in sharing records with lawmakers and the public, while the White House has criticized Congress for exempting itself from the requirements. FOIA does not apply to Congress.The House passed a similar bill in January. Because the two bills are not identical, the House will have to act again to send the legislation to President Barack Obama. Maryland Rep. Rep. Elijah Cummings, the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, urged Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to promptly pass the Senate bill, saying FOIA reform is long overdue Continue this story at All GovREAD MORE FOIA NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire FOIA Files