General news

• Pompeo Plans Dinner With Tech Leaders Including Oracle’s Ellison

  12-01-2020 23:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Michael Pompeo is planning to attend a private dinner on Monday with tech leaders including Oracle Corp.’s Larry Ellison, according to people familiar with the matter. The dinner, which will be held in San Francisco, comes as tensions between the U.S. and Iran run high, and days after Pompeo announced new sanctions on the country.The hope is to drum up support for the Trump administration in Silicon Valley amid the ongoing conflict with Iran, according to
  
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• 'Why them? What did they do?' Canada mourns victims of Iranian plane crash, seeks answers

  12-01-2020 23:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  University of Alberta officials said at least 10 of the Iran crash victims were part of its campus community, including professors and students.
  
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• Australian prime minister's approval rating slumps as bushfires rage

  12-01-2020 23:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison's approval rating has declined sharply in the face of horrendous bushfires that have killed 28 people and destroyed 2,000 homes, a closely watched poll showed on Monday.Morrison has come under attack for being slow to respond to an unprecedented crisis, even taking a family holiday to Hawaii while fires were burning, and acknowledged on Sunday he had made some mistakes."There are things I could have handled on the ground much better," he said in an interv
  
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• Australian prime minister's approval rating goes up in flames

  12-01-2020 23:48 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Public support for Prime Minister Scott Morrison has slumped to its lowest levels amid widespread anger over his government's handling of Australia's bushfire crisis, according to a survey released by Newspoll on Monday."We have heard the message loud and clear from the Australian people," Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said on Monday, when asked about the poll result as he announced a A$50 million($34.56 million) wildlife protection fund."They want to see a Federal Government adopt a very direct res
  
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• Here's what the White House press secretary has to say about not holding press briefings

  12-01-2020 23:21 via cnn.com
  
  White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham has rebuffed a recent CNN opinion piece from 13 former White House press secretaries, foreign service and military officials arguing for the return of daily press briefings.
  
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• Defense secretary Mark Esper didn't see specific evidence of Iran plot against 4 US embassies

  12-01-2020 23:04 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Trump did not say there was "tangible" evidence Iran planned to attack the embassies, only that he believed it to be probable, Esper said.
  
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• Mexico in 2019 Created Fewest Jobs Since Financial Crisis

  12-01-2020 23:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- Mexico created the fewest formal jobs in 2019 since the financial crisis a decade ago after the nation raised the minimum wage and economic growth flat-lined.The country lost 382,210 jobs in December, according to data released Sunday by the nation’s social security institute known as IMSS. That lowers the net number of jobs created in the year to about 342,000, which is nearly half the amount of new posts seen in 2018.December is usually the month that reports the most jobs
  
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• A Japanese woman was asked to take a pregnancy test before flying to a US island that has become popular for birth tourism

  12-01-2020 22:59 via news.yahoo.com
  
  More tourists gave birth in Saipan than residents in 2018, as the island has become popular for pregnant women wishing to give birth to US citizens.
  
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• Haitians remember victims of massive earthquake 10 years on

  12-01-2020 22:49 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitians on Sunday remembered the victims of the massive earthquake that killed more than 100,000 people a decade ago, although the ceremony was marked by a protest against political mismanagement now and then.President Jovenel Moise laid flowers at a memorial to the victims at a cemetery outside Port-au-Prince, joined by clergy, officials from his government and foreign ambassadors.The 7.0 magnitude quake that hit Haiti's capital and surrounding areas just bef
  
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• Election 2020: Here's who qualified for the January debate in Iowa

  12-01-2020 22:45 via news.yahoo.com
  
  This is the smallest debate stage since the primary debates began in June.
  
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• Once overlooked, Bernie Sanders now has momentum. Here's why his camp thinks this time, he can win

  12-01-2020 22:40 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Sanders has demonstrated consistency in polling and his campaign points to stronger numbers among young black voters and Hispanic voters.
  
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• Former Pope Benedict breaks silence on celibacy debate after synod

  12-01-2020 22:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Former Pope Benedict, in a new book written with a conservative cardinal, defends priestly celibacy in the Catholic Church in what appears to be a strategically timed appeal to Pope Francis to not change the rules.Benedict wrote the book, "From the Depths of Our Hearts," with Cardinal Robert Sarah, 74, a Guinean prelate who heads the Vatican's Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments.The Vatican had no immediate comment on the book, which is due to be published on Mon
  
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• Conservative 'Moms' group condemns Burger King for using 'd-word' in ad

  12-01-2020 22:18 via cnn.com
  
  Activist conservative group One Million Moms is taking aim at Burger King for using what it calls the "d-word" in a commercial promoting the non-meat Impossible Whopper.
  
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• 'Jeopardy!' was criticized for ruling that Jesus Christ's Bethlehem birthplace is in Israel and not Palestine

  12-01-2020 22:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Social media users demanded the show correct or apologize for rejecting Palestine as the correct answer.
  
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• 'I wished I was on that plane': Iranian general apologizes; missiles pound Iraq base. What we know now

  12-01-2020 22:14 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Fallout from Iran-U.S. tensions intensified Sunday as missiles pounded an Iraqi air base hosting U.S. troops.
  
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• Warren Tries to Ease Iowans’ Concerns About Electability

  12-01-2020 22:11 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren barnstormed across Iowa this weekend, seeking to put to rest questions about her electability and her ability to build a coalition to defeat Donald Trump.With less than a month before the Feb. 3 Iowa Caucuses, the Massachusetts senator is trying to regain her momentum in a state where she had been the front-runner in the fall. A Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa poll released Friday showed Bernie Sanders in the lead in Iowa, w
  
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• 12 Saudis reportedly to be expelled from US after Pensacola shooting rampage

  12-01-2020 22:06 via news.yahoo.com
  
  12 Saudi military personnel training in the U.S. will be expelled after a shooting rampage in Florida, multiple media outlets reported.
  
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• F/A-18 Fighter's New Best Friend: Boeing Is Prepping an Armed Wingman Drone

  12-01-2020 22:00 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Boeing is preparing to test prototype wingman drones, apparently at a secretive site in the Australian Outback.
  
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• Conservative 'Moms' group condemns Burger King for using 'the d-word' in ad

  12-01-2020 22:00 via cnn.com
  
  Activist conservative group One Million Moms is taking aim at Burger King for using what it calls the "d-word" in a commercial promoting the non-meat Impossible Whopper.
  
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• The fugitive and former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says Hollywood has contacted him about his unbelievable escape from Japan

  12-01-2020 21:58 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Former Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn says he's a 'fugitive of injustice' and won't comment on whether any Americans helped him escape from Japan in a box.
  
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• China set to strengthen cooperation with Zimbabwe

  12-01-2020 21:57 via news.yahoo.com
  
  China's foreign minister Wang Yi on Sunday pledged to strengthen cooperation with Zimbabwe despite a spat over bilateral aid figures in November.The two countries butted heads after Zimbabwe's government said it had only received $3.6 million in aid from Beijing in 2019 -- 40 times lower than the figure claimed by China.Yi met his Zimbabwean counterpart Sibusiso Moyo on Sunday during the final leg of an Africa tour that also took him to Egypt, Djibouti, Eritrea and Burundi.
  
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• Steyer Says Experience Qualifies Him for Debate: Campaign Update

  12-01-2020 21:55 via news.yahoo.com
  
  (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Tom Steyer says his business experience qualifies him to stand on stage with five other Democratic candidates Tuesday in Iowa, the final debate before that state’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest.“I did business for over 30 years working and traveling around the world, meeting with governments, talking to the heads of huge corporations,” Steyer told Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.Steyer said he’s lea
  
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• Richard Ratcliffe says arrest of British ambassador 'a bad sign' for his wife Nazanin as she remains incarcerated

  12-01-2020 21:50 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The husband of British-Iranian mother Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said the arrest of the UK's ambassador to Iran is a "really bad sign for us". Richard Ratcliffe said the detention of Rob Macaire during anti-government protests in Tehran did not bode well for his wife, who has been held "essentially as a hostage" for almost four years. He also said US President Donald Trump's actions have made the situation "much more volatile" but noted "his administration has got Americans home, wh
  
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• Wedding with a volcano erupting in the background

  12-01-2020 21:45 via cnn.com
  
  A couple in the Philippines went ahead with their wedding Sunday despite the eruption of a volcano spewing ash into the sky behind them.
  
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• Couple gets married while volcano erupts in the background

  12-01-2020 21:45 via cnn.com
  
  A couple in the Philippines went ahead with their wedding Sunday despite the eruption of a volcano spewing ash into the sky behind them.
  
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• A couple got married while a volcano erupted in the background

  12-01-2020 21:45 via cnn.com
  
  A couple in the Philippines went ahead with their wedding Sunday despite the eruption of a volcano spewing ash into the sky behind them.
  
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• A couple got married in the Philippines while a volcano erupted in the background

  12-01-2020 21:45 via cnn.com
  
  A couple in the Philippines went ahead with their wedding Sunday despite the eruption of a volcano spewing ash into the sky behind them.
  
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• 'It means you're going to lose': Bernie Sanders answers Trump on rise in polls

  12-01-2020 21:41 via news.yahoo.com
  
  * President ponders success of ‘Crazy Bernie’ in Democratic race * How to dump Trump: Rick Wilson on Running Against the DevilBernie Sanders had a curt response for Donald Trump on Sunday, after the president noted the Vermont senator’s strong showing in the Democratic primary race and asked: “So what does this all mean?”“It means you’re going to lose,” Sanders tweeted back.The 78-year-old democratic socialist has rebounded from a heart attack last
  
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• Top Trump officials decline to give evidence of Soleimani threat

  12-01-2020 21:40 via cnn.com
  
  Days after President Donald Trump claimed the US killed Iran's top military general because he was targeting four American embassies, two of the President's top national security officials are declining to provide evidence of the intelligence used to justify the US drone strike.
  
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• Rapper arrested for alleged cocaine possession

  12-01-2020 21:34 via cnn.com
  
  The rapper Trick Daddy was arrested in Florida on Saturday on a cocaine possession charge, according to the Miami-Dade County Clerk of Courts.
  
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• Patriots' Edelman arrested in Beverly Hills

  12-01-2020 21:32 via cnn.com
  
  New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman was arrested in Beverly Hills, California, on Saturday night after allegedly jumping on a vehicle and causing damage, according to a police spokeswoman.
  
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• Rising in the polls, Sanders takes jabs from Trump, Warren

  12-01-2020 21:31 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Bernie Sanders found himself on the receiving end of attacks from both President Donald Trump and Elizabeth Warren on Sunday, a reflection of his rising status in the Democratic presidential race and perceived momentum just three weeks out from the Iowa caucuses.Crazy Bernie Sanders is surging in the polls, looking very good against his opponents in the Do Nothing Party.
  
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• The U.S. Air Force Could Transform Old Tankers Into New Command-and-Control Planes

  12-01-2020 21:30 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The U.S. Air Force has a problem. The world’s leading air arm wants to reshape its force structure for a possible high-tech war with Russia or China. That means replacing many of the big, lumbering surveillance and command-and-control aircraft that the service relies on to direct forces during combat, but which also are increasingly vulnerable to enemy missiles. But replace them with what?
  
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• French transport strike drags on despite govt compromise on pensions

  12-01-2020 21:25 via news.yahoo.com
  
  A crippling French transport strike dragged into its 39th day on Sunday despite the government's offer to withdraw the most contested measure of the pension reform plans that sparked the protest.Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said Saturday he would drop plans to increase the official age for a full pension to 64 from 62 in an effort to end a strike which has paralysed Paris and its suburbs, with bus, train and metro services all badly disrupted.French President Emmanuel Macron called the change
  
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• Aguero sets English Premier League scoring record

  12-01-2020 21:22 via cnn.com
  
  Is Sergio Aguero now the finest international goalscorer to ever grace the English Premier League?
  
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• Monument to honor US-Mexican dual citizens slain in Mexico

  12-01-2020 21:16 via news.yahoo.com
  
  President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Sunday that a monument will be put up to memorialize nine U.S.-Mexican dual citizens ambushed and slain last year by suspected drug gang assassins along a remote road in the northern border region near New Mexico.In remarks to members of the small town of La Mora, which was shattered by the Nov. 4 killings of three women and six children from the extended Langford, LeBarón and Miller families, López Obrador said the first goa
  
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• Over half of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling the situation with Iran as tensions near a breaking point

  12-01-2020 21:05 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Fifty-six percent of American voters say they disapprove of how Trump has handled the situation with Iran, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos.
  
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• 'Jeopardy!' criticized for stating Church of the Nativity is in Israel

  12-01-2020 21:04 via cnn.com
  
  Palestinian rights activists and advocacy groups are calling on "Jeopardy!" to apologize after stating that the Church of the Nativity is in Israel and not the Palestinian territories.
  
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• Four wounded in attack on Iraqi military base housing U.S. forces

  12-01-2020 21:02 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Four people were wounded on Sunday in an attack on Balad air base in Iraq, which houses U.S. personnel.
  
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• Desperate to defeat Trump, Democrats grapple with 'electability'

  12-01-2020 20:56 via news.yahoo.com
  
  MASON CITY, Iowa/DAVENPORT, Iowa (Reuters) - Kristen Marttila braved sub-freezing temperatures on Saturday to knock on doors in Mason City, Iowa, trying to convince voters to cast their lot with Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren in the state's nominating contest on Feb. 3.Time after time, Marttila said, she heard the same message: People loved the senator from Massachusetts but were concerned her liberal stances would not draw enough broad support to defeat U.S. President Donald
  
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• Philippine volcano halts flights, forces evacuations

  12-01-2020 20:47 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Philippine authorities warned Sunday an "explosive eruption" of a volcano south of Manila could be imminent, hours after it sent a massive column of ash skyward that forced officials to halt flights at the capital's main airport until further notice.Thousands of people living near Taal volcano, a popular tourist attraction set in the centre of a picturesque lake, were evacuated from their homes as it spewed ash, rumbled with earthquakes and lightning exploded above its crest.A "hazardous explosi
  
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• 30 seconds altered the course of a country forever

  12-01-2020 20:36 via cnn.com
  
  Ten years ago today a massive earthquake struck Haiti, transforming capital city Port-au-Prince into a nightmare in seconds. Some 70,000 people would be buried within a week's time. Hundreds of thousands more would follow them to the grave.
  
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• 10 years after quake devastation, little hope for many Haitians

  12-01-2020 20:36 via cnn.com
  
  Ten years ago today a massive earthquake struck Haiti, transforming capital city Port-au-Prince into a nightmare in seconds. Some 70,000 people would be buried within a week's time. Hundreds of thousands more would follow them to the grave.
  
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• Energy Idiocracy: Global Policymakers are Creating More Problems Than Solutions By Embracing Renewables

  12-01-2020 20:35 via news.yahoo.com
  
  What we are seeing is “a first-world problem” that is obsessed with global warming/climate change instead of being concerned with the two billion people globally without electricity.
  
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• Wrestler dies from severe in-ring injuries

  12-01-2020 20:30 via cnn.com
  
  La Parka, known for wrestling while wearing intricate costumes and masks, died Saturday at 54, Lucha Libre AAA announced.
  
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• Recovery begins after storms that kill 11 in Midwest, South

  12-01-2020 20:29 via news.yahoo.com
  
  Thousands remained without electrical power Sunday morning after weekend storms ravaged parts of the Southeast and Midwest, causing 11 deaths, overturning cars, uprooting trees and reducing buildings to rubble. The National Weather Service says it was a tornado packing winds of at least 134 mph (215 kph) that hit Alabama's Pickens County on Saturday, killing three. Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey praised the state's first responders Sunday in a statement expressing grief over the loss of life.
  
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• Puerto Ricans Unable to Reach Earthquake Shelters Say They’re Getting ‘No Help from Government’

  12-01-2020 20:27 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PONCE, PUERTO RICO—Squinting at the blistering sun, Jeanette Fontánez looks overheated and exasperated. “We can’t live in our houses because they’re cracked,” she tells The Daily Beast. “We need soap, mattresses, tents, water, supplies—a little bit of everything, because there’s a lot of us here.” But as of Saturday afternoon, government officials and agencies had yet to arrive to where the 49-year-old Fontánez has sought r
  
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• Ten years after devastating quake, Haitians struggle to survive

  12-01-2020 20:24 via news.yahoo.com
  
  PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) - Every morning as the sun rises over the dusty, overgrown ruins of the Haitian capital's iconic cathedral, Paul Christandro, who lived nearby all his life, thinks about the day ten years ago when he watched it come down, killing his friends.International organizations pledged billions of dollars in aid as the scale of the disaster became obvious, though with Christandro and many others still in temporary housing its use has come under intense scrutiny."Every day when I
  
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• Medieval village on Lake Como introduces controversial five-euro entrance fee

  12-01-2020 20:09 via news.yahoo.com
  
  The small medieval village of Corenno Plinio, a hidden gem overlooking Italy’s Lake Como, is set to charge visitors a daily entrance fee in a bid to make it a tourist hub, dividing opinion among the tiny local population.   Every year, thousands of tourists explore the tiny streets of this hamlet built in the rocks, climbing thousand steps to reach the picturesque centre.    But the newly elected mayor plans to charge a €5 entrance fee for day-trippers, in a move a
  
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• Esper doesn't provide intel to back up Trump's Soleimani claim

  12-01-2020 20:07 via cnn.com
  
  Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Sunday would not provide intelligence to back up President Donald Trump's claim that Iran's top military general was planning an attack on four embassies in the Middle East before he was killed by US forces.
  
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