Newz Monkey

One day after House Democrats released a resolution formalizing the ongoing impeachment inquiry process, top Senate Republicans dismissed the non-binding legislation as a stunt designed to deny President Trump "due process."“They have denied President Trump basic due process and are cutting his counsel out of the process in an unprecedented way. House Democrats' new resolution does not change any of that,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. “The draft resolution that has been released does nothing of the sort. It falls way short, way short.”House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern released the impeachment resolution, which sets up procedures for the "public-facing phase" of the impeachment probe, including open hearings before the Intelligence Committee.Under the process outlined in the resolution, Republicans on the panel will be able to request witness testimony, but Democratic committee chairmen will have the option to decline those requests.Furt...

Strong winds fanned new fires in Southern California on Thursday, burning homes and forcing residents to flee in a repeat of a frightening scenario already faced by tens of thousands across the state. The latest blazes erupted in the heavily populated inland region east of Los Angeles as strong, seasonal Santa Ana winds continued to blow with gusts of up to 60 mph (96 kph) predicted to last until the evening before they fade away. A fast-moving fire spread into the northern neighborhoods of the city of San Bernardino, forcing the evacuation of 490 homes — approximately 1,300 people, the San Bernardino County Fire Department said. from https://news.yahoo.com/california-not-fire-danger-lingering-052524893.html

Greta Thunberg declined an environmental award worth $52,000 from the Nordic Council. She said she wants leaders to listen to science, not prizes. from https://news.yahoo.com/greta-thunberg-declines-environmental-prize-121553844.html

TC Energy's Keystone pipeline has leaked an estimated 383,000 gallons (1.4 million liters) of oil in northeastern North Dakota, marking the second significant spill in two years along the line that carries Canadian tar sands oil through seven states, regulators said Thursday. Crews on Tuesday shut down the pipeline after the leak was discovered, said Karl Rockeman, North Dakota's water quality division director. "Our emergency response team contained the impacted area and oil has not migrated beyond the immediately affected area," the company said in a statement. from https://news.yahoo.com/keystone-oil-pipeline-leaks-383-141908158.html

29-year-old Maurice Louis had bought the shotgun used a day beforehand from https://news.yahoo.com/philadelphia-man-allegedly-confesses-killing-213238621.html

At least 78 people were killed in protests in Ethiopia last week against the treatment of a prominent activist, the prime minister's spokeswoman said on Thursday. Billene Seyoum told a news conference that 409 people had been detained over the unrest and that investigations were ongoing and the death toll and number detained could rise. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was greeted on Thursday with boos by at least 700 protesters during a visit to Ambo, a site of earlier violence located 100 km west of the capital Addis Ababa, three people who were present told Reuters by phone. from https://news.yahoo.com/least-78-people-killed-ethiopian-145739543.html

Firefighters in California struggled to contain a new fast-moving blaze on Wednesday that threatened thousands of homes and the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, as rare "extreme" red flag warnings were issued for much of the Los Angeles region. The so-called Easy Fire in the Simi Valley northwest of Los Angeles erupted around 6:00 am, forcing the evacuation of the library and nearby homes as it spread to more than 1,500 acres (526 hectares), officials said. "The fire outflanked us very rapidly, pushed by those 40 to 50 mile-per-hour winds," Ventura County Fire Assistant Chief Chad Cook told reporters. from https://news.yahoo.com/california-fires-blaze-near-la-progress-north-172017793.html

A formal decision on hosting the summit in Madrid will be taken on Monday in the German city of Bonn, the source said. Chile backed out of hosting the summit, which is aimed at fleshing out details of how to implement the Paris Agreement climate pact, due to a wave of violent protests in the country's capital. from https://news.yahoo.com/spains-hosting-cop25-climate-summit-215437169.html

Reading scores stagnated. Math scores jumped compared with the early '90s, but haven't gone up in a decade. What's happening to America's students? from https://news.yahoo.com/despite-common-core-more-testing-041739441.html

The House on Thursday voted to pass a historic resolution establishing formal procedures for the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The 232-196 vote fell almost exclusively along party lines, with two moderate Democrats voting no. from https://news.yahoo.com/house-impeachment-vote-trump-live-133157368.html

The body of a British backpacker missing for more than a week in Cambodia was found at sea Thursday about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the island where she disappeared, officials said. The police chief for Preah Sihanouk province, Maj. Gen. Chuon Narin, said the body of 21-year-old Amelia Bambridge was discovered in the Gulf of Thailand northwest of Koh Rong, where she disappeared after attending a beach party on the night of Oct. 23. It was found near another island, Koh Chhlam, close to Cambodia's maritime border with Thailand. from https://news.yahoo.com/body-british-backpacker-missing-cambodia-103723913.html

American Airlines' flight attendants union still has safety concerns about the Boeing 737 MAX and is demanding an active role in the relaunch of the grounded aircraft, its president told Boeing Co's chief executive in a letter seen by Reuters. "The 28,000 flight attendants working for American Airlines refuse to walk onto a plane that may not be safe and are calling for the highest possible safety standards to avoid another tragedy," Association of Professional Flight Attendants President Lori Bassani said in the letter. from https://news.yahoo.com/1-american-airlines-flight-attendants-195853314.html

The Pentagon moved troops and armored vehicles into Syria Thursday to protect oil fields from exploitation by ISIS. from https://news.yahoo.com/troops-armored-vehicles-enter-syria-190529583.html

A fire swept through a Pakistani train on Thursday, killing 73 people and injuring nearly 40 after a gas canister that passengers were using to cook breakfast exploded, the minister of railways said. The fire destroyed three of the train's carriages near the town of Rahim Yar Khan in the south of Punjab province. It was the worst disaster on Pakistan's accident-plagued railway system in nearly 15 years. from https://news.yahoo.com/fire-train-pakistan-kills-10-031332203.html

Anthony Scaramucci, President Donald Trump’s former, short-lived White House communications director-turned-detractor, saw his fame exploited Thursday in a campaign stunt by a Democratic presidential candidate. The stunt unfolded on Twitter when Steve Bullock — Montana’s governor and a long-shot candidate who’s failed to qualify for all but one Democratic primary debate this year — posted a video recorded by “The Mooch” for the celebrity-shout-out site Cameo in which he appears to endorse Bullock’s campaign. “We support you, Steve B. I know you got a tough race ahead of you, but you’ve done this before,” Scaramucci says in the 19-second clip filmed from inside a moving car. from https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/31/scaramucci-bullock-jabs-063224

Israeli forces on Thursday rearrested a Palestinian lawmaker who was freed in February after being held without trial for 20 months over links to an outlawed leftist group, her daughter said. "My mother Khalida Jarrar was arrested from our house in Ramallah" at about 3:00 am (0100 GMT), Jarrar's daughter Yafa posted on Facebook. Spokespeople for Israel's Shin Bet security service, which generally directs such arrests, could not immediately be reached for comment. from https://news.yahoo.com/israel-rearrests-palestinian-mp-daughter-says-000659220.html

Experts told Insider they could not recall a similar instance of a man being charged with manslaughter in connection with his partner's suicide. from https://news.yahoo.com/2-women-held-criminally-responsible-194618547.html

Priorities and capabilities change with time. from https://news.yahoo.com/b-1-lancer-went-nuclear-090900527.html

An informant who provided crucial details on the movements of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Islamic State leader killed in a US commando raid, is likely to scoop up some or all of a $25 million reward, the Washington Post reported Wednesday. The Post said the informant was a well-placed Islamic State operative who facilitated al-Baghdadi's movements around Syria and helped oversee the construction of his Syrian hideout. from https://news.yahoo.com/informant-fingered-leader-likely-reap-huge-reward-report-132410569.html

(Bloomberg) -- The House voted Thursday to adopt rules for the next, more public phase of the impeachment investigation. President Donald Trump and his lawyers would be allowed to participate more in the next steps of the inquiry.Also, the House committees conducting the inquiry heard closed-door testimony from Timothy Morrison, the National Security Council’s senior director for Europe and Russia.Here are the latest developments:National Security Aide Tells of Ukraine Moves (7:30 p.m.)Morrison told House impeachment investigators that he was concerned on multiple levels after learning of administration efforts to pressure the Ukraine government to investigate the president’s political rivals in return for military aid.He also specifically identified Gordon Sondland, Trump’s envoy to the European Union, as having communicated to a Ukrainian official that the American military aid would be released if the country investigated an energy company linked to Hunter Biden, former vice preside...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing an unwelcome new financial challenge in Syria after the U.S. pullback enabled his ally Bashar Assad to reclaim the biggest chunk of territory in the country still outside his control. from https://news.yahoo.com/putin-faces-syria-money-crunch-181648887.html

Evacuation orders have been lifted for a small brush fire sparked by a stolen car at the end of a police chase in Southern California. Officials say the 300-acre blaze in Jurupa Valley east of Los Angeles on Thursday destroyed three homes and two outbuildings before firefighters got a handle on it. Meanwhile, residents who fled a wildfire in San Bernardino could begin returning Thursday evening. from https://news.yahoo.com/latest-fire-erupts-san-bernardino-112830955.html

George Papadopoulos, a former Trump campaign aide who went to prison for lying to the FBI, has filed papers to run for the House of Representatives. from https://news.yahoo.com/george-papadopoulos-convicted-trump-campaign-012412524.html

AFP has spoken to several families of Vietnamese nationals missing in Britain, feared to be among the 39 people found dead in a truck in Essex last week. DNA has been collected from relatives as officials in Vietnam and the UK scramble to officially identify the victims. On October 21 he wrote to his family asking them to get $13,000 to pay to smugglers for his trip to the UK, the last they heard from him. from https://news.yahoo.com/vietnamese-feared-dead-uk-truck-tragedy-103701768.html

Donald Trump and right-wing media figures have questioned the credibility and loyalty of a key witness in the president's impeachment investigation, prompting several senior Republicans have come to his defence.Lt Col Alexander Vindman, whose testimony revealed that Mr Trump and other US officials had pressured Ukraine to investigate Joe Biden, was awarded a Purple Heart after he was wounded by an improvised explosive device during the Iraq War. Originally from Ukraine, Lt Col Vindman arrived in the US with his family as a three-year-old after fleeing the Soviet Union in the late 1970s. from https://news.yahoo.com/republicans-step-defend-never-trumper-212333642.html

Facebook announced on Wednesday that it had removed three Russian-backed influence networks from its platform that targeted several African countries including Cameroon, Mozambique, Libya, and Sudan.The networks posted information in Arabic critical of U.S. and French policies in Africa, while praising Russian initiatives in the region. Russian operatives worked with local citizens to set up Facebook accounts that appeared more authentic."They are trying to make it harder for us and civil society to try and detect their operations," Nathaniel Gleicher, head of Facebook’s cybersecurity policy, told the New York Times.Director of the Stanford Internet Observatory Alex Stamos, himself a former Facebook executive, said the Russian campaign in Africa will have implications for the 2020 presidential elections."We will see a model where American groups are used as proxies, where all the content is published under their accounts and their pages,” Stamos said.The Russian networks...

The major UK airport is running a two-month trial on some EasyJet flights. It uses screens to call single seat numbers, for maximum efficiency. from https://news.yahoo.com/londons-gatwick-airport-testing-technology-104115844.html

On Tuesday’s episode of “The View,” moderator Whoopi Goldberg intervened when things got heated among the show’s co-hosts on the topic of national security ― specifically regarding attempts by Fox News and its pundits to question the patriotism of the National Security Council’s top Ukraine expert, Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, ahead of his testimony in the impeachment inquiry into President Trump. from https://news.yahoo.com/whoopi-goldberg-calls-meghan-mccain-150007384.html

With about eight hours to spare before a man convicted of killing a convenience store clerk was to be put to death Wednesday, Georgia's highest court stepped in and temporarily halted the execution. Ray Jefferson Cromartie, 52, was to receive a lethal injection at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the state prison in Jackson. Cromartie was convicted of malice murder and sentenced to death for the April 1994 killing of 50-year-old Richard Slysz in Thomasville, just inside Georgia's southern border. from https://news.yahoo.com/georgia-prepares-execute-man-store-051856382.html

California governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, has accepted large donations from Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a utility company he now excoriates for "greed" and "mismanagement."PG&E has faced widespread criticism for implementing blackouts for millions of customers to avoid sparking wildfires in the midst of California's dry and windy fall weather."I have a message for PG&E," Newsom wrote on Twitter on Friday. "Your years and years of greed. Years and years of mismanagement. Years and years of putting shareholders over people. Are OVER."Newsom and allies accepted $208,400 from the utility during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, according to local affiliate ABC10. Of that total, $150,000 went to a political spending group called “Citizens Supporting Gavin Newsom for Governor 2018,” while the rest went to directly to Newsom's campaign.PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January 2019. Faulty PG&E electricity equipment has been blam...

A US government official has reportedly told politicians leading the impeachment hearings against Donald Trump that she was urged by a Republican-linked lobbyist to remove the US ambassador to Ukraine from her post, as the president's allies launched a smear campaign against her.Catherine Croft, a Ukraine expert who worked at the US State Department, said she was repeatedly contacted by lobbyist Robert Livingston about ousting Marie Yovanovitch, according to prepared remarks obtained by NPR. from https://news.yahoo.com/trump-impeachment-official-says-she-173641664.html

Belgian police say they have discovered 12 migrants — 11 Syrians and one Sudanese — hiding among fruit and vegetables in a refrigerated truck. While such discoveries by police are fairly common, the danger to stowaways was highlighted last week by the discovery in Britain of the bodies of 39 people inside a refrigerated haulage container in southeastern England. Ocean Viking arrived in Pozzallo on Wednesday morning, 12 days after it rescued 104 migrants from a rubber dinghy off Libya. from https://news.yahoo.com/latest-migrant-rescue-ship-arrives-145653423.html

Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty ImagesPresident Donald Trump boosted a tweet Monday promoting a controversial allegation from an indicted Ukrainian oligarch: that a top U.S. diplomat put fabricated information about the mogul in a diplomatic cable. That diplomat happens to be one of Democrats’ key impeachment witnesses. And that oligarch happens to have a long-standing beef with Joe Biden.Scott Adams, a Washington, D.C., talk radio host, sent out a tweet Monday night about U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bill Taylor, who delivered some of the impeachment inquiry’s most damaging testimony yet. The tweet alleged that Taylor lied about Ukrainian natural gas baron Dmytro Firtash in a cable to State Department headquarters in 2008. At issue was a conversation Taylor had with Firtash in Kyiv that December. Taylor wrote in a diplomatic cable (later published by WikiLeaks) that Firtash told him he had “acknowledged ties to Russian organized crime figure [Semion] Seymon Mogilevich,” one of the most notoriou...

When Ringo Starr decided to record a cover of one of the last songs written by John Lennon, the Beatles drummer knew he wanted former bandmate Paul McCartney to play bass. from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-music-ringo-starr/ringo-starr-emotional-as-beatles-come-together-in-new-recording-idUSKBN1XA001?feedType=RSS&feedName=entertainmentNews

Two fellow climate activists spoke on Thunberg's behalf at an award ceremony Tuesday in Stockholm for the regional inter-parliamentary Nordic Council's prizes, reading a statement thanking the group for the honor. Thunberg, 16, is currently in California. from https://news.yahoo.com/swedish-activist-declines-prize-climate-093734210.html

From budgeting for rural weddings to dressing appropriately and avoiding online porn, China's Communist Party has issued new guidelines to improve the "moral quality" of its citizens. Officials have released several sets of guidelines this week alongside a secretive conclave of high-ranking officials in Beijing which discusses the country's future direction. Public institutions like libraries and youth centres must carry out "targeted moral education" to improve people's ideological awareness and moral standards, according to the rules. from https://news.yahoo.com/china-pushes-higher-moral-quality-citizens-111632380.html

The shark attack occurred in Hook Passage in the Whitsunday Islands off Australia's Queensland coast, rescuers say. from https://news.yahoo.com/man-loses-foot-another-seriously-131112373.html

After hitting a dead end in efforts to defuse the crisis sweeping Lebanon, Saad al-Hariri informed a top Hezbollah official on Monday he had no choice but to quit as prime minister in defiance of the powerful Shi'ite group. The decision by the Sunni leader shocked Hussein al-Khalil, political advisor to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who advised him against giving in to protesters who wanted to see his coalition government toppled. The meeting described to Reuters by four senior sources from outside Hariri's Future Party captures a critical moment in the crisis that has swept Lebanon for the last two weeks as Hariri yielded to the massive street protests against the ruling elite. from https://news.yahoo.com/exclusive-lebanons-hariri-defied-hezbollah-193408237.html

California's Sonoma wine country dealt with destructive wildfires in 2017. Here's how one winery is dealing with 2019's Kincade Fire. from https://news.yahoo.com/california-couple-forced-evacuate-home-235234902.html

Ilhan Omar declined to vote in favour of a resolution recognising the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide, saying any "true acknowledgement" of such crimes must include other historical "mass slaughters".The Minnesota Democrat was one of just three House members to vote “present” on the resolution that passed in an overwhelming 405-11 vote. from https://news.yahoo.com/ilhan-omar-refuses-back-vote-143204618.html

Michelle Obama said that white Americans are “still running” from their nonwhite fellow citizens during a summit in which she detailed how her own experience of white flight unfolded during her upbringing on Chicago’s South Side. from https://news.yahoo.com/michelle-obama-white-americans-still-165505260.html

SITE Intelligence GroupWith ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi killed one day and the group’s official spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir the next, there’s a giant hole in the pseudo-Caliphate structure of the so-called Islamic State. The group must now, by its strict religious tenets, find a new (supposed) descendant of the Prophet Muhammed to fill the role of Caliph. But the deaths of those two are equally consequential for al-Qaeda, the bitter rival of ISIS for leadership of global jihad. Al-Qaeda has spent the last six years branding the Caliphate as illegitimate, too extreme, and ultimately harmful. When ISIS declared the establishment of its so-called Caliphate spanning territory in Syria and Iraq in 2014, al-Qaeda and its affiliates unanimously rejected it. To this day, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri’s speeches rarely come without some critique of the “epidemic” put forth by ISIS.Trump Officials Had No Clue Where He Got ‘Whimpering’ Detail in His Baghdadi Raid AccountOddl...

The Trump administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to strike down California's "sanctuary law," which hinders cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.The administration is challenging several provisions in the California Values Act, or S.B. 54. The law prohibits officials from sharing information with ICE about a suspect's release from custody, eliminating any opportunity for ICE agents to take illegal immigrants into custody before they are released from local jails. It also prohibits local law-enforcement officers from sharing physical descriptions of suspects with immigration authorities."The practical consequences of California’s obstruction are not theoretical; as a result of SB 54, criminal aliens have evaded the detention and removal that Congress prescribed, and have instead returned to the civilian population, where they are disproportionately likely to commit additional crimes," the Trump administration ...

The head of United States Central Command says Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was buried at sea after a weekend raid on his compound. Gen. Frank McKenzie told reporters Wednesday that al-Baghdadi died after he exploded a suicide vest just before U.S. troops were going to capture him. McKenzie says two children were killed in the explosion set off by the Islamic State leader. from https://news.yahoo.com/latest-islamic-state-leader-buried-211640581.html

How could that happen? from https://news.yahoo.com/disaster-trump-philippines-became-russias-000000359.html

A Roman Catholic priest's denial of communion to Joe Biden in South Carolina on Sunday illustrates the fine line presidential candidates must walk as they talk about their faiths: balancing religious values with a campaign that asks them to choose a side in polarizing moral debates. The awkward moment for Biden came during a weekend campaign swing through South Carolina, a pivotal firewall in his hopes to claim the Democratic presidential nomination. The former vice president on Sunday visited St. Anthony Catholic Church in Florence, a midsize city in the state's largely rural northeast. from https://news.yahoo.com/bidens-communion-denial-highlights-faith-202010024.html

A total of 42 bodies and skeletons have been pulled from a clandestine burial pit in the Mexican desert near the Gulf of California beach town of Puerto Penasco, which is known to U.S. tourists as Rocky Point. Four full days of digging at the spot, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) from Puerto Peñasco, revealed only two of the bodies were relatively recent and still had decomposing flesh on them. The clandestine burial pit was originally located by groups of volunteers known as the Searching Mothers of Sonora and the Searchers of Puerto Penasco. from https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-mass-grave-yields-total-201051765.html