from Top stories - Google News https://ift.tt/2n4vZ81
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.
Go to Blogger edit html and find these sentences.Now replace these sentences with your own descriptions.
A San Francisco tour guide has been charged with being an agent of the Chinese government, accused of picking up U.S. national security secrets from furtive locations and delivering them cloak and dagger style to Beijing, federal prosecutors said on Monday. Xuehua Peng, also known as Edward Peng, was arrested on Friday in the San Francisco suburb of Hayward, California, and was denied bail during an initial court appearance by a U.S. magistrate judge that same day, federal prosecutors said at a Monday morning news conference. "Defendant Xuehua (Edward) Peng is charged with executing dead drops, delivering payments, and personally carrying to Beijing, China, secure digital cards containing classified information related to the national security of the United States," Anderson said.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oHcB1c
The Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a US base in Somalia on Monday, as the European Union confirmed a separate strike against a convoy of Italian advisers. The raid on the base prompted a counter-attack by US forces who staged "two air strikes and used small arms fire targeting al-Shabaab terrorists," Major General William Gayler, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) director of operations said, adding that 10 "terrorists" died and a vehicle was destroyed.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nZ8rBd
Monday morning's speeches came as this year's U.N. gathering of world leaders — marked by global worries over rising tensions in the Gulf region and the earth's warming temperature — was beginning to wind down. Afghan National Security Adviser Hamdullah Mohib spoke two days after Afghans voted in a presidential election in which hundreds of polling centers weren't opened because the country couldn't secure them against the Taliban.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oCCTla
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday he wants and deserves to meet the anonymous whistleblower at the center of the fast-moving scandal that has triggered an impeachment probe against him. The whistleblower, who could testify soon before Congress, fears for their safety if their identity is revealed, according to a lawyers' letter released by CBS News. Battling the deepest crisis of his presidency, Trump in a series of tweets railed against accusations that he should be impeached for urging Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, his potential 2020 White House challenger.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2m8TD2u
Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney "is on shaky ground in the wake of a bad week for President Trump," CNN reports, largely because he didn't immediately "have a strategy for defending and explaining the contents" of a reconstructed transcript of Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tried his hand Sunday with the White House's subsequent talking points. CNN's Jake Tapper wasn't having it.Jordan alleged that former Vice President Joe Biden had pressured Ukraine to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin to help out his lawyer son, Hunter Biden, who had recently gotten a seat on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. "That's not what happened," Tapper said, noting repeatedly that Shokin was ousted because he wasn't prosecuting people and the Ukrainian investigations related to Burisma's owner were dormant when Hunter Biden was hired. Shokin "wasn't going after corruption -- do you understand what I'm saying?" Tapper asked.Jordan kept hitting on the younger Biden's reported salary, and Tapper eventually stopped him. "If you want to push a law saying that the children of presidents and vice presidents should not be doing international business deals, I'm all for it," Tapper said. "But you're setting a standard that is not being met right now." He gave examples from Trump's children."I'm just telling you what happened," Jordan said. "No, you're not," Tapper said. "It's amazing the gymnastics you'll go through to defend what --" Jordan began, and Tapper brought up accusations from Ohio State wresters that Jordan turned a blind eye to sexual abuse by the team doctor: "Sir, it's not gymnastics -- it's facts! And I would think somebody who's been accused of things in the last year and two would be more sensitive about throwing out wild allegations against people.""I understand you want to change the subject," Tapper said, after Jordan began jumping down 2016 rabbit holes, "but the president was pushing the president of Ukraine to investigate a political rival. I cannot believe that that is okay with you."If you are interested in the Hunter Biden story, a former New York Times reporter runs down at The Intercept how Trump, Giuliani, and "the right-wing spin machine" inverted his 2015 reporting on the Bidens, and The Washington Post has a longer look at the Bidens in Ukraine and this helpful explainer.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2n0Ppuq
Heavy rains have killed at least 113 people in India's Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states over the past three days, officials said on Monday, as flood waters swamped a major city, inundated hospital wards and forced the evacuation of inmates from a jail. India's monsoon season that begins in June usually starts to retreat by early September, but heavy rains have continued across parts of the country this year, triggering floods. An official said that at least 93 people had died in most populous Uttar Pradesh since Friday after its eastern areas were lashed by intense monsoon showers.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oKdlTn
Former British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday supported the explanation offered as to why Vice President Joe Biden pressured the president of Ukraine in 2015 to crack down on corruption. Supporters of President Donald Trump — particularly his attorney Rudy Giuliani — have argued that Trump’s much-criticized July 25 phone call with the current president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was appropriate because Biden had been corrupt in pushing Poroshenko to get rid of the state prosecutor.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nHcAto
Zimbabwe's founding leader Robert Mugabe was buried on Saturday in his home village of Kutama, ending a dispute between his family and the government of his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his final resting place. Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years from independence in 1980 but was a polarizing figure idolized by some for his role in the country's liberation struggle and hated by others for ruining a promising nation through disastrous economic policies and repression against opponents. After Mass by a Roman Catholic priest and speeches by family members, Mugabe was buried in the courtyard of his rural homestead without the pomp and fun fare usually reserved for national heroes.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2msG2n3
"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace said that top U.S. officials confirmed President Trump was working with more than one personal lawyer "off the books" to pressure Ukrainian officials for damaging information on former Vice President Joe Biden.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mck9rU
A parade by China’s secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade marking the ruling Communist Party’s 70th anniversary in power.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ol3t2d
It’s on track to be the trial of the century: President Donald Trump fighting to keep his job before a jury of 100 senators. Sure, it would be an unprecedented move in U.S. history for Republican leader Mitch McConnell to table Trump impeachment proceedings without allowing any significant debate or a vote to convict a president from his own party, thereby removing him from office. Conventional wisdom still says there has to be a Trump trial.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2lQrOvH
Thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists on Friday night kicked off what is expected to be an intense period of protests, aiming to cast a shadow over communist China's momentous anniversary celebrations. Beijing is preparing a huge military parade on Tuesday to mark 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, revelling in its transformation into a global superpower. Four days of action are planned in the run-up to Tuesday with clashes almost certain after police denied permission for a march on the anniversary itself citing safety concerns.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mbmWSh
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has denounced terrorism but avoided any mention of India's crackdown in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan denounced India's crackdown and warned of a "bloodbath." (Sept. 27)
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2lWVbg0
The president removed Dan Coats days after his conversation with Zelenskiy and insisted that Coats’s deputy not get the jobDan Coats, seen in 2018, reportedly interrupted a meeting to convince his deputy to resign. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty ImagesThree days after his now infamous phone conversation with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Donald Trump abruptly fired his director of national intelligence in favour of an inexperienced political loyalist.According to a New York Times report, the White House learned within days that the unorthodox call on 25 July with Zelenskiy had raised red flags among intelligence professionals and was likely to trigger an official complaint.That timeline has raised new questions over the timing of the Trump’s dismissal by tweet of the director of national intelligence (DNI), Dan Coats, on 28 July and his insistence that the deputy DNI, Sue Gordon, a career intelligence professional, did not step into the role, even in an acting capacity.Instead, Trump tried to install a Republican congressman, John Ratcliffe, who had minimal national security credentials but had been a fierce defender of the president in Congress. Trump had to drop the nomination after it emerged that Ratcliffe had exaggerated his national security credentials in his biography, wrongly claiming he had conducted prosecutions in terrorist financing cases.Despite the collapse of the Ratcliffe nomination, Gordon was forced out. She was reported to have been holding a meeting on election security on 8 August when Coats interrupted to convince her that she would have to resign.In a terse handwritten note to the president, Gordon said: “I offer this letter as an act of respect and patriotism, not preference. You should have your team.”The Office of the DNI (ODNI) and its inspector general has the authority to receive whistleblower complaints from across all US intelligence agencies and determine whether they should be referred to Congress.“We all knew Coats’ departure was coming because he had clashed with the president on several issues. What was weird was the president’s forcefulness in not wanting Sue Gordon to take over as acting director,” said Katrina Mulligan, a former official who worked in the ODNI, the national security council, and the justice department.“I was hearing at the time that Sue was getting actively excluded from things by the president that she would ordinarily have taken part in, and she was being made to feel uncomfortable,” said Mulligan, now managing director for national security and international policy at the Center for American Progress.“And then the president tried to install someone who was clearly unqualified,” she added. “Now the timeline of the whistleblower in the White House raises a lot of questions about the Sue Gordon piece of this.”John McLaughlin, the former acting CIA director, said the fact that Ratcliffe’s nomination was dropped and the job of acting DNI ultimately went to an intelligence professional, Joseph Maguire, was a sign that the intelligence community was so far resisting political pressure from the White House.Maguire faced tough questioning in Congress this week about his initial refusal, on justice department guidance, to refer the whistleblower complaint to Congress.“On politicisation, my sense is that the community is holding the line against it although undoubtedly dealing with more or less constant pressure,” McLaughlin said. “I felt kind of bad for the acting DNI, an honourable man with impeccable service to the nation. I believe he made some honest errors in judgment rather than yielding to political pressure. Throwing him into this job in these circumstances on such short notice is a little like assigning me on a navy Seal mission.”
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nu67lE
When post offices close Monday, the last victim compensation funds at Pennsylvania's Roman Catholic dioceses will also close, hours before lawmakers plunge back into a years-old fight over whether to let long-ago victims of child sexual abuse sue perpetrators and institutions that may have covered it up. It comes more than a year after last year's landmark grand jury report that accused senior Catholic Church officials of hushing up the abuse for decades. In the report's wake, the Philadelphia archdiocese and six Pennsylvania dioceses opened victim compensation funds while state lawmakers fought to a standstill over giving now-adult victims of childhood sexual abuse a legal "window" to sue.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2o4IrV9
Wilson's ex-wife, Valerie Plame, a former CIA officer now running for Congress, told the Times his cause of death was organ failure. Wilson died at his home in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Times reported. Wilson served in several diplomatic posts during a 23-year career that began in 1976.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mqF8qP
Kurt Volker, the State Department's special envoy for Ukraine, resigned Friday amid a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump and his communications with the Ukrainian government, including the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Volker did not provide a public explanation for leaving his post, but a source familiar with his decision said Volker concluded he could not perform the job effectively as a result of the recent developments.One person familiar with the matter told NBC News that Volker's resignation will likely enable him to be much freer in what he can say about his time at his post if he is called at some point to testify before Congress.The whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry alleges that Volker went to Kiev to help guide Ukrainian officials on how to handle Trump's alleged demands that the government investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. He also reportedly spoke with Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani in an attempt to "contain the damage" to U.S. national security.Giuliani has said Volker encouraged him to meet with Ukrainian officials regarding the Biden family. That indeed appears to be the case, but The New York Times reports Volker was acting at the request of the Ukrainians, who were reportedly concerned about how Giuliani's attempts to procure information about the Bidens and other Democrats might affect their relationship with the U.S. Read more at NBC News and The New York Times.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2o5akwh
The 16-year-old Swede met privately with Trudeau but later told a news conference with local indigenous leaders that he was "not doing enough" to curb greenhouse gases responsible for global warming. Thunberg generated headlines around the world earlier this week with her viral so-called "How Dare You?" speech at the UN climate summit, accusing world leaders of betraying her generation.
from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mtqob3