The story of the aeroplane house in Nigeria's capital Abuja

Said Jammal has spent 20 years building the family's unusual home in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

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Are your friends bad for your health?

We tend to copy the way our friends and family behave, potentially leading us to put on weight or even divorce.

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Why mature dating apps are coming of age

An increasing number of older people are turning to dating apps for mature people, in a quest for love.

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Could relatives of measles virus jump from animals to us?

A group of viruses, of which measles is one, are adept at jumping to species barrier.

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The region which legislates who you can love

LGBT activists are mounting legal battles against the Caribbean's colonial-era homophobic laws.

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What does it mean to be a black traveller?

Four millennials on being the first black person some people meet, and other issues for black tourists.

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'How Pokémon Go has changed my life'

Players say the virtual reality game makes them happier and healthier.

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20 things to look out for in 2020

Christmas is over, it's dark and cold - but there are plenty of bright spots on the horizon.

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U.S. auto safety agency to probe fatal Tesla crash in Los Angeles

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said late on Tuesday it will investigate a fatal Dec. 29 Tesla Inc crash in Los Angeles that killed two people.

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'I still have confidence in package holidays'

New research suggests most people still want to book package holidays despite what happened after the collapse of Thomas Cook.

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Protesters burn security post at U.S. Embassy in Iraq in new foreign policy test for Trump

Protesters angry about U.S. air strikes on Iraq hurled stones and torched a security post at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, setting off a confrontation with guards and posing a new challenge for U.S. President Donald Trump.

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Over 90,000 to Celebrate Jewish Talmud Milestone at MetLife Stadium New Year's Event

CBN News has learned a massive sold-out event is happening New Year's Day at East Rutherford, New Jersey's MetLife Stadium where the reading of the entire Jewish Talmud will be concluded after 7 and 1/3 years.

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FAA probes clusters of mysterious drones flying over Colorado

The Federal Aviation Administration has launched an investigation into nighttime sightings of unidentified drones flying in formation over rural northeastern Colorado and southwest Nebraska over the last two weeks, the agency said on Tuesday.

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Hanukkah Attack Suspect’s Lawyer: Cuccinelli Immigration Comments Are ‘a Disgrace’

After a leader in the Trump administration came under fire for seemingly trying to turn the latest violent anti-Semitic attack in New York into an anti-immigrant parable, the target of his smear responded Tuesday, calling his comments “a disgrace.”Ken Cuccinelli, the acting director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, claimed in a Monday morning tweet that 38-year-old Grafton Thomas, a U.S. citizen who allegedly stabbed five people at a Hanukkah party over the weekend, was the “son of an illegal alien who got amnesty under the 1986 amnesty law for illegal immigrants.” “Apparently, American values did not take hold among this entire family, at least this one violent, and apparently bigoted, son,” Cuccinelli wrote.Thomas’ attorney, Michael Sussman, said Tuesday that Cuccinelli’s remarks “are a disgrace and akin to blaming the parents of a mentally ill child for conceiving him or her” and that “such comments have no place in a rational debate about national immigration policy, a debate which is long overdue and long delayed by those currently holding executive office in our nation.“My client’s parents migrated to the United States and were granted legal status in 1986,” said Sussman. “My client was born in the United States and is an American citizen. His immigration status appears totally unrelated to his mental illness and the circumstances which caused the events of last Saturday evening.” Cuccinelli has pushed for aggressive anti-immigrant policies since his time as a state lawmaker in Virginia. For the Trump White House, he has argued against birthright U.S. citizenship for children of undocumented parents and suggested the words on the Statue of Liberty were only aimed at European immigrants.After several people called out Cuccinelli’s tweet and its apparent condemnation of a Reagan-era bipartisan immigration law, the post was either deleted or otherwise removed from his Twitter page.Further on the right, white supremacists celebrated Thomas’ race on 4chan and Telegram, where they discussed pushing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that they hoped would inspire violence against Jews by black Americans, whom they described with racist slurs.Thomas, who is black, allegedly burst into the home of Rabbi Chaim Rottenberg in the New York suburb of Monsey on Saturday night around 10 p.m., as dozens of guests were celebrating Hanukkah.He allegedly stabbed and wounded five people with a machete, and he was charged with five counts of attempted murder and one count of first-degree burglary. All of the victims survived, but one is said to remain in critical condition with a skull fracture.Federal prosecutors on Monday also filed federal hate crime charges against Thomas and said in court documents that he had expressed anti-Semitic sentiments in hand-written journals.The patrol officers who arrested Thomas discovered him “covered with blood,” The New York Times reported. Thomas pleaded not guilty to all charges on Sunday morning at his arraignment in Ramapo, New York.Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has called the attack a “blatant act of domestic terrorism that sought to inflict violence, incite hate and generate fear” and ordered the State Police hate-crimes task force to investigate.Hanukkah Stabbing Suspect Caught With Bloody Machete in His CarThomas’ family told CNN he had no history of anti-Semitism, violent behavior, or prior convictions. They said he is “not a member of any hate groups” and have reportedly asked Sussman to request a mental-health evaluation for Thomas, who has “a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations” and “was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races.”United Methodist Church Pastor Wendy Paige said that she has known Thomas for 10 years and that he is “not a violent person.”“Grafton is not a terrorist, he is a man who has mental illness in America, and the systems that be have not served him well,” Paige told the New York Post. “I have been his pastor for a long time and I have seen him, he is not a violent person, he is a confused person.”“We apologize to the families for him,” said Paige. “We apologize because we know this was not him, this was an action out of mental illness, please understand… Please let’s work on our systems for mental illness.”After a deadly anti-Semitic shooting at a kosher market in Jersey City this month and an “alarming” surge in anti-Semitic violence in the New York area, police have said they stepped up patrols in at least three Brooklyn neighborhoods.—Staff writer Kelly Weill contributed to this report.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Thousands flee to beaches amid devastating Australian wildfires

Thousands of Australians were forced to flee to beaches on Tuesday as wildfires continued to blaze in New South Wales and Victoria.About 4,000 people sought refuge on nearby beaches in the town of Mallacoota in Victoria, with thousands along the New South Wales coast needing to evacuate their homes, CNN reports. Fires have been raging in Australia for the past several months, and 70 new fires reportedly started in Victoria on Monday, while more than 60 fires haven't yet been contained in New South Wales."It was like we were in hell," a vacationer in New South Wales told CNN. "We were all covered in ash.""It should have been daylight but it was black like midnight and we could hear the fire roaring," a local business owner in Mallacoota told BBC News. "We were all terrified for our lives."After the death of a father and son in Cobargo, at least 11 people have died amid Australia's devastating fire season, during which more than 900 homes have been destroyed in New South Wales, The New York Times reports. Victoria Emergency Services Commissioner Andrew Crisp said there have been "significant" property losses, The Associated Press reports.Australian military aircraft and vessels will assist in the emergency services, BBC News reports, and the United States and Canada have also been asked to help in the effort. CNN reports that weather conditions are expected to improve in the next 24 hours before worsening by the end of the week, again "bringing dangerous fire conditions."More stories from theweek.com The Obama legacy is not what many liberals think Trump's scandals will haunt America for years The first decade in history

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Here's who will be onstage for the January Democratic presidential debate in Iowa and how to watch it

CNN and the Des Moines Register will co-host the seventh Democratic presidential debate in Des Moines three weeks before the Iowa caucuses.

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Does Russia Really Have A 100 Megaton Nuclear Torpedo Called Status-6?

The Pentagon thinks so.

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North Korea leader promises look at new weapon soon

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the Trump administration of dragging its feet in nuclear negotiations and warned that his country will soon show a new strategic weapon to the world as its bolsters its nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” U.S. sanctions and pressure. The North’s state media said Wednesday that Kim made the comments during a four-day ruling party conference held through Tuesday in the capital Pyongyang, where he declared that the North will never give up its security for economic benefits in the face of what he described as increasing U.S. hostility and nuclear threats. Kim’s comments came after a monthslong standoff between Washington and Pyongyang over disagreements involving disarmament steps and the removal of sanctions imposed on the North.

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Donald Trump warns Iran it will pay 'big price' as protesters try to storm US embassy in Baghdad

Donald Trump accused Iran of orchestrating the attack on the US embassy in Baghdad as he said he expected Iraq to “use its forces” to intervene. "Iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities. They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat," he wrote on Twitter. "The US Embassy in Iraq is, & has been for hours, SAFE! Many of our great Warfighters, together with the most lethal military equipment in the world, was immediately rushed to the site," Mr Trump  intensified pressure on the Iraqi authorities who had been powerless to prevent hundreds of demonstrators breaching the outer wall of the embassy compound in the heavily fortified green zone. He pressed the case for action in a call to  Iraq's caretaker  Prime Minister Adel Abd al-Mahd, urging him to protect US personnel and property. Chanting "death to America", the protesters set fire to a sentry box, pulled security cameras away from walls and hurled a barrage of missiles including Molotov cocktails. At one point the mob, which was protesting against US airstrikes on an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq on Sunday, used a drainpipe in an attempt to smash an embassy window. US troops tried to disperse the crowd firing warning shots before using teargas and stun grenades.  At least 62 people were reported to have been injured. Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 31 December 2019 Amid mounting tension, the US announced it would be deploying additional marines to increase security. Two Apache helicopters flew over the compound in a show of force. Matt Tueller, the US ambassador in Iraq, was not in the embassy at the time, but will be returning to join staff in the compound, the US State Department said. Under pressure from Mr Trump to protect US personnel, Mr Mahdi  had deployed special forces at the main gate in an attempt to prevent hundreds of protesters forcing their way in. Some of the crowd did withdraw, while others pitched tents, paving the way for a siege, which a spokesman for the militant group said would remain until US diplomats leave the country. As the violence unfolded in Iraq, Mr Trump intensified pressure on both Iraq and Iran with a series of tweets. "We expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!" Mr Trump tweeted, saying Iran "will be held fully responsible" for the unrest. Mr Trump was unapologetic for the military action which killed at least 25 fighters from Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah, a militant group with the US holds responsible for the death of an American contractor. "Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will," the US president wrote. Supporters of Kataeb Hezbollah were prominent among the demonstrators in Baghdad, with the group's flags hanging on the fence surrounding the embassy. The Iraqi government, which is already facing a wave of protests across the country, has found itself caught in the crossfire between Tehran and Washington. Thousands of protesters and militia fighters outside the gate denounced U.S. air strikes in Iraq. Credit: AFP Mr Mahdi condemned the weekend's airstrikes, but Mr Trump remained unrepentant as he urged the country to stand up to Iran "To those many millions of people in Iraq who want freedom and who don't want to be dominated and controlled by Iran, this is your time!" the president tweeted. In response, Tehran accused the US of "audacity" in blaming Iran for the demonstrations. "The surprising audacity of American officials is so much that after killing at least 25... and violating the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, that now... they attribute the Iraqi people's protest against their cruel acts to the Islamic Republic of Iran," said foreign ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi. In the US, Republican hawks praised Mr Trump's tough response to the attack on the embassy. "He has put the world on notice - there will be no Benghazi's on his watch," tweeted Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally and GOP senator from South Carolina. Newt Gingrich called for even tougher action. "The United States should respond to Iran in Iran. The Iranian dictatorship doesn't care how many of its allies we hit in Iraq. We have to go after the heart of the enemy and make them pay decisively."

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China took their parents: the Uighur refugee children of Turkey

The school on the outskirts of Istanbul is a rare place where Uighur child refugees from China can study their language and culture. Having fled a worsening crackdown on Uighur Muslims in northwest China, some of their parents thought it was still safe to return occasionally for business and to visit family, only to disappear into a shadowy network of re-education camps from which no communication is permitted. Nine-year-old Fatima has only vague memories of her homeland -- and now, of her father, too.

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Iraq militia chief warns U.S. airstrikes could bring tough response

A top Iraqi militia leader warned of a strong response against U.S. forces in Iraq following airstrikes in Iraq and Syria overnight that hit several bases of his Iranian-backed group and killed at least 25 people.

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Deputy tases woman, 70, while trying to make arrest at her home

Authorities say Barbara Pinkney wouldn't let them in and had to be tased three times before she could be subdued.

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Heal divisions in 2020, says Archbishop of Canterbury

"Begin cementing our unity one brick at a time," Archbishop of Canterbury says in new year message.

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The digital links of 2019's global protests

Protests in Hong Kong, Chile and the Middle East all shared an online presence which helped connect the movements.

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'Why I stuck by my drug addict son'

Sue Hopkins stuck by her son Martin who has been a drug addict for most of his adult life.

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2019 in news: The alternative end-of-the-year awards

From the ridiculous to the more ridiculous, the weird stories that caught the eye this year.

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Tech 2019: Our biggest technology stories

Social media scandals dominate the list of the most-read news stories by the Tech desk this year.

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The Hogmanay cinema panic that killed 71 children

Children found the exits locked as they tried to escape what they thought was a fire in the cinema.

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'Man on the Moon' moment - the year's big breakthroughs

The year of treating the untreatable: 2019 breakthroughs that could transform medicine.

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What were the top business stories of 2019?

It was a year of unrest and upheaval, with protests in Hong Kong, and US-China trade tensions.

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Local shops urge action to save cash machines

The Link network should raise the fee it pays cash machine operators, say convenience store owners.

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UK and US considered Nigeria naval blockade over Saro-Wiwa execution

The UK and US considered an oil embargo after activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was hanged, document reveals.

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Texas church shooter wore wig and fake beard, says security head who shot him

A gunman wearing a wig and fake beard raised immediate suspicion when he walked into a church service in Texas before opening fire with a shotgun and killing two people, a volunteer security member who shot the assailant said on Monday.

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National living wage to rise by 6.2% in April

The government says it will boost pay by more than four times the rate of inflation.

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GOP Senator: ‘There Are No Rules’ for Senate Impeachment Trial

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) claimed on Sunday’s broadcast of State of the Union that there are no “substantive rules” when it comes to holding an impeachment trial and that the Constitution doesn’t provide much guidance to the Senate.CNN anchor Jake Tapper noted that Kennedy had previously said his objective in President Donald Trump’s impeachment is to be fair to both sides. He asked the lawmaker about Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) saying she was “disturbed” that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he would coordinate with the White House on impeachment.“Were you also bothered when Majority Leader McConnell said there would be no daylight between him and the White House?” Tapper asked.“I think Senator McConnell is entitled to his opinion and his approach. So is Senator Murkowski,” Kennedy stated, adding that if you look at specific case law on impeachment, “the rule is there is no substantive rules.”“It is not a criminal trial,” he continued. “The Senate is not really a jury. It is both jury and judge. The chief justice is not the judge, he’s the presiding officer. There are no standards of proof. There are no rules of evidence.”The guidelines provided by Article 1, Section 3 of the Constitution say that the Senate has the “sole Power to try all Impeachments,” the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court will preside over the trial, and a president will only be removed from office if two-thirds of the Senate convicts.Kennedy went on to say that every member of the Senate is entitled to approach impeachment any way they want until a majority of the chamber votes on passing new rules, reiterating that he wants it “to be fair to both sides.”“I thought that the House proceedings were unnecessarily unfair and when the American people walk away from the Senate trial, if we ever have one, I don’t want them saying: ‘Well, we were just run over by the same truck twice. It was unfair in the house and it was unfair in the Senate,’” the Louisiana senator said. “I want people to think that it was a level playing field.”Asked whether his idea of fairness would be for both House impeachment managers and the president’s team to call the witnesses they deem worthy, Kennedy said they first need to decide whether Senate will hear evidence during the trial.“But, look, there are no rules here,” he asserted. “For example, what is an impeachable offense? I think the precedent shows that not all impeachable offenses are crimes. But it also shows that not all crimes are impeachable offenses.”Kennedy, meanwhile, concluded by saying it would be proper for Trump to continue blocking key White House witnesses from testifying if called by Congress.“I fully expect the president to do two things,” he said. “Claim executive privilege, which is his right. And number two, demand his own list of witnesses.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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California's groundbreaking privacy law takes effect in January. What does it do?

Landmark law, the ‘most comprehensive’ in the US, gives Californians an arsenal of tools to protect their data online Last year, California passed a landmark privacy law that gives consumers more control over their data. The legislation gives residents unprecedented rights to control what information companies collect on them and how it is used.The California Consumer Privacy Act will go into action 1 January 2020, giving residents of the state a whole new arsenal of tools to protect their data and personal information online – and saddling businesses with a lot more responsibility.Here is everything you need to know about California’s “groundbreaking” new privacy law. What is the law?The California Consumer Privacy Act, passed in 2018, is the “most comprehensive” privacy legislation to be enacted in the United States to date, according to the American Bar Association.Under the new regulations, California residents will be able to demand companies to disclose what information is collected on them and request a copy of that information.Companies will be forced to delete consumers’ data upon request and they’ll be prohibited from selling information if the customer instructs them to via a mandatory “do not sell” link on the company’s website.Consumers will also have the right to “receive equal service and price whether or not they exercise their privacy rights” or in other words, companies won’t be able to treat a user differently because they have requested their data. When does it go into effect?The law is effective on 1 January – meaning consumers can submit requests for their data starting on that date. The California attorney general’s office will not take any enforcement action against companies that do not comply until 1 July 2020. What businesses does it affect?Businesses will be required to comply with the new regulations if they have an annual gross revenue in excess of $25m, derive 50% or more of their annual revenue from selling consumers’ personal information, or annually buy, receive, sell, or share the personal information of more than 50,000 consumers, households, or devices for commercial purposes.That means at least 500,000 businesses will be required to comply with the new law, according to the not-for-profit the International Association of Privacy. Who else does it affect?Consumers in California will be most directly affected by the new law. However, even people who not live in California may see ripple effects, said Peter Yared, the founder and chief executive officer of data management company InCountry.“There are similar laws manifesting all over the world so increasingly companies are set up to receive and process these kinds of requests for data,” he said. I live in California – how can I get my own data?Consumers can receive a copy of their data by sending “a verifiable consumer request” to a business. The company is then required to comply with the request within 45 days of receipt. In some cases, companies can extend this time period for a maximum of 90 days total.Consumers may only make a request for information twice a year, and only for a 12-month look-back period. What happens if a company doesn’t give me my data?Companies may face fines of $2,500 to $7,500 per violation of the new law, if the violation is deemed intentional. However, the CCPA also grants businesses a 30-day period to address a violation after receipt of a consumer’s request. The law is enforced by the California attorney general. How does the CCPA compare to other privacy laws?The California Consumer Privacy Act has often been called “GDPR-lite”, bearing resemblance to the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, which went into effect in May 2018.GDPR’s scope is broader, affecting all businesses that handle user data, whereas the CCPA applies only to businesses with a gross revenue over $25m, more than 50,000 customers, or whose revenue is 50% or more based on user data.The CCPA provides more explicit “opt out” options for users who do not want their personal data sold. Under the CCPA, companies must include a “Do Not Sell My Personal Information” link in a clear and conspicuous location on their websites. Under GDPR, by comparison, businesses do not necessarily need the individual’s consent to collect and use data.The rules also differ in their approaches to the collection of children’s data. Under GDPR, parents must provide consent for the processing of data of children under the age of 16. The CCPA requires businesses obtain consent from parents of children ages 13 and under, while kids older than 13 can provide their own consent. What’s next?Although the CCPA is the most extensive privacy law yet to be passed in the US, some advocates say it does not go far enough. Before the comment period on the law closed on 6 December, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a not-for-profit organization, and other privacy advocates filed a request to strengthen the regulation.The law as it is written does not do enough to address data collection, said Hayley Tsukayama, an EFF legal advocate, and California has few resources to enforce the law in 2020.“You have the right to go to companies that have your data and ask to have it back, but they don’t have to come to you to ask to have it in the first place”, she said. “This is what we call opt in versus opt out.”Companies that violate the law will also have the “right to cure”, meaning they can change their violating policies after they have been apprehended.“We see this as a get out of jail free card,” Tsukayama said.

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Judge dismisses lawsuit from Bolton deputy regarding Ukraine testimony

Charles Kupperman filed suit in October after he was subpoenaed by the House Intelligence Committee.

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Hasan Minhaj’s 2020 Advice: Be Like Mitch McConnell

Before signing off for 2019, Hasan Minhaj has turned his eye towards 2020. The host of Netflix’s Patriot Act ended his final episode of the year by sharing some updates from stories he covered earlier in the year, including an interview during which he tried to get Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to accept Islam as his “one true faith.” Two weeks later, his brownface scandal erupted. “Little did I know he had actually converted decades ago,” Minhaj joked.  The biggest problem of 2019, he went on to argue, is that “we’re exposed to all the news, all the time, which makes us feel like we have to care about everything all the time.” It’s called “compassion fatigue” and Minhaj compared it to feeling like you have “50 tabs open in our mental browsers and we’re about to crash.” “You know who really figured out 2019?” he asked, before adding, “You’re not going to like this.” He was talking about Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “We’ve shat on Mitch McConnell all year. ‘He’s a goblin, he’s a skin tag with glasses, he looks like something from a wax museum dumpster.’ He doesn’t give a fuck.” To extend Minhaj’s analogy, McConnell “closed all tabs, except for the Republican Party and locking down the courts.” And he thinks those on the other side of the political divide should do the same.Hasan Minhaj Fires Back at Saudi Arabia for Censoring His Netflix Show ‘Patriot Act’“So here’s what I’m pitching,” he continued. “For 2020, give yourself a break. Just pick a couple things to not care about, for your sanity. I’m not saying shut down your browser. Just close a couple tabs.” For himself, Minhaj has decided to let other people worry about plastic straws, North Korea and brownface. “I know, that’s supposed to be my issue,” he said. “But I’ve got other tabs to focus on. So if someone comes up to me and is like, ‘Did you hear? Joe Biden dressed up as Apu for Halloween!’ I’d be like, ‘Yo, I bet the accent was funny.’” Minhaj acknowledged that it was “weird” to hear this advice from a host—much like his fellow Daily Show alum John Oliver—who “tells you to care about something new every week.” And he promised to keep doing so in 2020, something that was an open question before Patriot Act aired the 32nd episode of its initial 32-episode order this past week. “I’ll see you guys in 2020,” he concluded. “We’ve got a few more tabs to open.” For more, listen to the most recent episodes of The Last Laugh podcast. Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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19-year-old found guilty of lying about being gang-raped

A British teenager has been found guilty of lying about being gang-raped in Cyprus. The woman, 19, was convicted of a single count of public mischief at Famagusta District Court in Paralimni, Cyprus, on Monday.

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Machete Attacker Stabs 5 at NY Rabbi’s Hanukkah Celebration

A masked, machete-wielding man barged into a Hanukkah celebration and stabbed five people at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, on Saturday evening, intensifying fears anti-Semitic violence after a spate of incidents last week. The assailant escaped but the NYPD quickly picked up a suspect. Law-enforcement sources identified him as Grafton Thomas, 37, who has several previous arrests on his record, including one for punching a police horse. He was turned over to the state police, and will face five counts of attempted murder.The terrifying ambush—which took place in Rockland County, a northern suburb that has the highest per capita Jewish population in the U.S.—drew swift condemnation from public officials from Israel to Washington. Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it an “act of domestic terrorism.”According to Ramapo Police Chief Brad Weidel, a man covering his face with a scarf knocked on the door at Rabbi Rottenburg’s shul during the seventh night of Hanukkah just as the rabbi was lighting the candle. The assailant rushed past the man who answered the door, who said he pulled out a machete and began stabbing people, according to several witnesses.He is said to have gone after terrified victims as they ran away and tried to access the adjacent synagogue before fleeing the scene after some of the guests hit him with chairs and a small table.Ramapo Town Police said the suspect was in custody. He reportedly escaped the scene but was arrested in Harlem after being tracked down through the license plate number of his vehicle.Of the five victims rushed to local hospitals, two of them were in critical condition as of late Saturday, according to the Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council for the Hudson Valley region. The organization said one of the victims had been stabbed six times. Governor Andrew Cuomo called the stabbings a “cowardly act” and directed the State Police Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate the incident.“Let me be clear: anti-Semitism and bigotry of any kind are repugnant to our values of inclusion and diversity and we have absolutely zero tolerance for such acts of hate,” Cuomo said in a statement. “In New York we will always stand up and say with one voice to anyone who wishes to divide and spread fear: you do not represent New York and your actions will not go unpunished.”President Trump addressed the “horrific” bloodshed on Sunday afternoon, in a tweet: “We must all come together to fight, confront, and eradicate the evil scourge of anti-Semitism. Melania and I wish the victims a quick and full recovery.”Yossi Gestetner, a co-founder of the OJPAC for the Hudson Valley region, told The New York Times there were “many dozens of people” celebrating in the home at the time of the attack. “It was a Hanukkah celebration,” he was quoted saying. Videos said to have been taken by witnesses showed paramedics rushing to treat the victims in a chaotic scene. The office of New York Attorney General Letitia James released a statement saying she was left “deeply disturbed” by the incident.“There is zero tolerance for acts of hate of any kind and we will continue to monitor this horrific situation,” James said. “I stand with the Jewish community tonight and every night.”New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio called the attack “horrific.” “So many Jewish families in our city have close ties to Monsey. We cannot overstate the fear people are feeling right now,” he wrote on Twitter. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also expressed solidarity with the victims during the opening remarks at his weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday. “Israel condemns in every sense the latest anti-Semitic incidents and the brutal attack in the middle of Hanukkah at the rabbi’s house in Monsey, New York,” he said. “We will work together in every way with the local authorities in order to help eliminate this phenomena. We offer our help to all countries.”The attack comes after at least seven other anti-Semitic incidents were reported in New York City this week, prompting the New York City Police Department to increase the number of officers in predominantly Jewish areas. The stabbings also come less than a month after four people were killed in a “targeted” shooting at a Jersey City kosher supermarket that investigators believe was fueled by a “hatred of the Jewish people.” Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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Trump to Counter-Program Next Democratic Debate: Campaign Update

(Bloomberg) -- Democrats seeking to replace Donald Trump in the White House will have some competition for television viewers during their next debate: The incumbent president himself.Trump’s campaign announced Monday that his next rally would be in Milwaukee on Jan. 14. That’s the same day as the Democratic candidates’ seventh debate, in Des Moines, Iowa.Trump’s impeachment could complicate matters. It’s unclear whether the Democratic debate will proceed if the Senate is holding a trial on articles of impeachment the U.S. House passed earlier this month. Three senators -- Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota -- have qualified for the debate so far.The Milwaukee rally would be the second of the new year for the president. He is to hold a rally Jan. 9 in Toledo, Ohio. Trump won both of the Midwestern states in 2016 and his campaign regards them as critical for his re-election next year.A Trump campaign spokesman, Tim Murtaugh, said the timing wasn’t an accident. “What better counter-programming could there be?” he said.Sanders in ‘Good Health’ Despite Heart AttackDemocratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is in good health and fit to lead the U.S. despite suffering a heart attack in October, according to letters from his doctors that his campaign released on Monday.Sanders, 78, suffered “modest heart muscle damage” after the Oct. 1 heart attack, one of his doctors said, but “has been doing very well since.” Congress’s attending physician Brian Monahan pronounced Sanders “in good health currently,” and his campaign said in a statement that he is “fit and ready to serve as president of the United States.”The Vermont senator’s heart attack was caused by a blockage in the midportion of his left anterior descending coronary artery, Monahan’s letter said. But since then, his “heart muscle strength has improved” and the senator doesn’t have symptoms of congestive heart failure, a life-threatening condition, Monahan wrote.Sanders’s campaign didn’t immediately disclose that he had suffered a heart attack, at first describing the episode as a fleeting episode of chest pain. The more serious diagnosis was revealed three days afterward, though even then the campaign did not describe the severity of the heart attack.Monday’s brief report, consisting of three letters from his physicians, didn’t divulge Sanders’s ejection fraction, a measure of how much damage was done by the heart attack. His ability to exercise was 50% higher than other men his age with a “similar diagnosis” and comparable to men his age without heart disease, according to a letter by a doctor at the University of Vermont Medical Center’s cardiac rehabilitation department. -- Mario ParkerBloomberg Touts Plan to Improve Maternal HealthDemocratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg is calling for measures including a free health insurance plan for low-income women and standardizing data collection to improve maternal health and reduce deaths, especially among women of color.The former New York mayor released his plan Monday during a campaign stop in Alabama, which he said has one of the highest maternal- and infant-mortality rates in the U.S.Bloomberg would require training for doctors to address any racial bias in maternal care and centralize collection of maternal mortality data at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to facilitate treatment programs. He said he would also provide a free public-option insurance plan for low-income women, especially in Alabama and other states that did not expand Medicaid under Obamacare. The campaign said it can’t yet provide a formal cost estimate.Bloomberg said he also would seek to encourage better care options in rural areas, repeal the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal funding for abortions, and support other abortion-rights measures opposed by President Donald Trump.Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. -- Mark NiquetteCOMING UP:Joe Biden is campaigning in New Hampshire on Monday. He will attend community events in Exeter and Derry.Pete Buttigieg is in Iowa through Monday.Cory Booker will return to northern Nevada Monday for an event at the California Building in Reno and then for a roundtable with Latino community leaders in Sparks.On Tuesday, Elizabeth Warren will deliver a New Year’s Eve address from Boston’s historic Old South Meeting House about fighting corruption.Five Democratic candidates -- Warren, Bernie Sanders, Biden, Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar have qualified for the next debate, on Jan. 14, in Iowa.(Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)To contact the reporter on this story: Mario Parker in Washington at mparker22@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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US strikes Iran-backed militia strongholds in Iraq and Syria

The U.S. launched strike against Iranian military targets in Syria following a Friday attach in Iraq that killed one American.

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Ex-Nissan boss Ghosn, facing Japan trial, arrives in Beirut

Former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, who is awaiting trial in Japan on charges of financial misconduct, has arrived in Beirut, a close friend said Monday. It was not clear how Ghosn, who is of Lebanese origins and holds French and Lebanese passports, left Japan where he was under surveillance and is expected to face trial in April 2020. Ricardo Karam, a television host and friend of Ghosn who interviewed him several times, told The Associated Press Ghosn arrived in Lebanon Monday morning..

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Twitter system 'outage' briefly blocked Trump whistleblower tweet

A tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump that identified an intelligence analyst as the alleged whistleblower who helped spark his impeachment was temporarily blocked at the weekend, with Twitter blaming an outage that affected a number of user accounts. In recent days, Trump shared an unsubstantiated media report and a second post that appeared to name the intelligence community member. It was visible again on Sunday afternoon, although the original account that shared the alleged whistleblower's name had been deleted.

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National living wage to rise by 6.2% in April

The government says it will boost pay by more than four times the rate of inflation.

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Record sightings of whales, dolphins and seals in UK, says Wildlife Trusts

More than 800 sightings of whales, dolphins and seals have been logged in British waters this year.

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Joe Biden Reverses Course on Potential Trump Impeachment Subpoena

“I would obey any subpoena that was sent to me.”

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At Least 79 Dead in Truck Bomb Attack in Somalia’s Capital

(Bloomberg) -- At least 79 people, many of them university students, died when a truck bomb exploded during rush hour at a busy intersection in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, according to the Associated Press and other news reports.An explosives-laden vehicle hit the taxation office near a junction in Mogadishu, Ahmed Abdi Hussein, a Somali police officer, told Bloomberg News by phone. Another police official said the target was Turkish engineers who were in a vehicle near the intersection, without elaborating on how he got the information.Two Turks were killed in the attack, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported, citing Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.At least 125 people were wounded and were being treated at nearby hospitals. The number of dead could exceed 100, Anadolu Agency said, quoting Ambassador Mehmet Yilmaz.The explosion took place at a checkpoint after police blocked the truck from entering the city, the Associated Press reported, citing the nation’s police chief.No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. The al-Qaeda-linked militant group al-Shabab last week said they carried out a car bombing that killed eight people in central Somalia and the group has been blamed for an October 2017 bombing that killed more than 500 people.Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed blamed al-Shabab for what he called a “heinous act of terror.”“This dark day has robbed our nation of dozens of innocent lives, the perpetrators of this heinous act of terror will never dim the spirits of the people of Somalia,” he said in a statement posted on Twitter. “Let’s join hands in countering this evil in our midst. Let’s move fast and help out the survivors.”The U.S. embassy in Somalia, speaking on behalf of Ambassador Donald Yamamoto, sent its “deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims” in a Twitter message.The United Nations issued a statement on behalf of Secretary General Antonio Guterres that “strongly condemns” the attack and expressed condolences to the injured and families of the victims.“He stresses that the perpetrators of this horrendous crime must be brought to justice,” the UN said in the statement. “The Secretary-General reiterates the full commitment of the United Nations to support the people and Government of Somalia in their pursuit of peace and development.”The African nation is among the world’s poorest, and is struggling to rebuild after decades of civil war.(Updates death toll in first paragraph.)\--With assistance from Taylan Bilgic and Susan Decker.To contact the reporters on this story: Mohammed Omar Ahmed in Garowe at mahmed76@bloomberg.net;Mohamed Sheikh Nor in Mogadishu at msheikhnor@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Matthew G. MillerFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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Trump claims homelessness 'so easy' to handle in attack on Democrats

President says governors of New York and California should ‘politely’ ask him for help in latest broadsideDonald Trump has continued to use America’s homelessness crisis to attack his political opponents in California and New York, tweeting on Saturday that homelessness should be “easy” to handle and that the governors of the two liberal states should ask him for help.Workers and activists on the front lines of the crisis have repeatedly said that Trump’s “tough talk” on homelessness is concerning, and that some of his proposed policies will only make the situation worse.As the number of homeless people has increased sharply in cities across California, some local politicians have already tried to try to penalize people for being homeless, rather than addressing root causes of the crisis, including unaffordable rents and evictions pushing people on to the streets.Meanwhile, Trump has continued to fuel anxiety by repeatedly suggesting he might try to implement some kind of police crackdown in California to clear the streets of encampments.On Christmas Day, Trump attacked California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, for his “bad job” on “taking care of the homeless population in California”.“If he can’t fix the problem, the Federal Govt. will get involved!” the president said.On Thursday, Trump attacked Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who has lead the effort to impeach him, and told her to “clean up her filthy dirty District & help the homeless there”.On Saturday, Trump wrote that fixing the homeless crisis “would be so easy with competence!”The governors of California and New York “must do something”, Trump wrote, and if they “can’t handle the situation, which they should be able to do very easily, they must call and ‘politely’ ask for help.”In September, a report from Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers concluded that “policing may be an important tool to help move people off the street and into shelter or housing where they can get the services they need”.Trump told reporters that month he was concerned about homeless people living on “our best streets, our best entrances to buildings”, places “where people in those buildings pay tremendous taxes, where they went to those locations because of the prestige”.“We can’t let Los Angeles, San Francisco, and numerous other cities destroy themselves,” he said, citing his concern that “foreign tenants” who moved to the cities because of the “prestige” now wanted to leave because of the homeless people and tents on the streets.Violent attacks directly targeting homeless people have risen in California in the past year: in Los Angeles alone, there have been at least eight incidents in which people threw makeshift explosives or flammable liquids on homeless people or their tents, according to officials and the Los Angeles Times.Trump’s repeated tweets about homelessness have been labeled “vile and reprehensible” by activists.Diane Yentel, the president and chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), noted on Thursday that Trump had proposed drastically shrinking or eliminating federal programs that keep the lowest-income people affordably housed, an important prevention measure that keeps people from becoming homeless.“In California, over 37,000 of the lowest-income people are at risk of eviction from this Trump proposal alone,” Yentel said.She also noted that Trump’s Department of Housing and Urban Development had “proposed allowing homeless shelters to discriminate and refuse shelter to transgender and other LGBTQ people, subjecting them to high risk of violence”.Homelessness is continuing to rise across California: a year-end Guardian investigation found that homelessness had increased 16% in Los Angeles, 17% in San Francisco, 42% in San Jose, 47% in Oakland, and 52% in Sacramento county, home to the state’s capital. Many people were experiencing homelessness for the first time, and both families and seniors are increasingly struggling with homelessness.Trump’s focus on homelessness in California and elsewhere is not the first time he has suggested that he could “easily” solve complex social problems in cities where Democrats hold political power.During his presidential campaign, Trump claimed that an unnamed Chicago police official had told him that violence in Chicago could be stopped “in one week” if officers were allowed to be “very much tougher than they are right now”.Chicago typically has the highest total number of murders of any American city, though other smaller cities, including St Louis, have higher per capita murder rates.

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Sydney New Year's fireworks to go ahead despite wildfires

Sydney's iconic New Year's Eve fireworks will go ahead despite the wildfire crisis to show the world Australia’s resiliency, the prime minister said, while authorities on Sunday braced for conditions to deteriorate with high temperatures. Prime Minister Scott Morrison also announced financial support for some volunteer firefighters in New South Wales, the state worst hit by wildfires ravaging the nation. “The world looks at Sydney every single year and they look at our vibrancy, they look at our passion, they look at our success,” he said.

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US carries out 'defensive strikes' in Iraq and Syria against Kataib Hizbollah

The US military has carried out "defensive strikes" in Iraq and Syria against the Kataib Hezbollah militia group, the US Pentagon said on Sunday, two days after a US civilian contractor was killed in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base. The Pentagon said it targeted three locations of the Iranian-backed Shia Muslim militia group in Iraq and two in Syria. The locations included weapons storage facilities and command and control locations the group had used to plan and execute attacks on coalition forces. The United States had accused the group of the 30-plus rocket attack on Friday that killed the US civilian contractor and injured four US service members and two members of the Iraqi Security Forces near the oil-rich city of Kirkuk. "In response to repeated Kataib Hizbollah attacks on Iraqi bases that host Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) coalition forces, US forces have conducted precision defensive strikes ... that will degrade KH's ability to conduct future attacks against OIR coalition forces" chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in the statement. In Iraq, several Iraqi militia fighters were killed on Sunday in an air strike on their headquarters near the western Qaim district on the border with Syria, military sources and militia commanders told Reuters. Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iranian-backed forces for a series of attacks on bases in Iraq and warned Iran that any attacks by Tehran or proxies that harmed Americans or allies would be "answered with a decisive US response." This is a breaking story, more to follow

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Vietnam ex-minister gets life sentence in bribery case

A court in Vietnam sentenced a former communications minister to life in prison Saturday for receiving millions of dollars in bribes, as the hardline administration presses its anti-graft drive against once-powerful figures in the communist state. Nguyen Bac Son was charged alongside his then-deputy Truong Minh Tuan with receiving $3.2 million in bribes to approve the 2015 purchase of a TV firm that would have lost state-run telecommunications firm Mobifone $300 million. The two-week trial in Hanoi for the men -- once members of the powerful communist party central committee -- ended Saturday, according to state-run media Tuoi Tre.

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North Korea's Kim urges 'positive and offensive' security measures at key party meeting

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called at a ruling party meeting for "positive and offensive measures" to ensure security ahead of a year-end deadline he has set for denuclearization talks with the United States, state media KCNA said on Monday.

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Trump briefed by top aides on 'successful' U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, Syria

U.S. President Donald Trump was briefed by his top national security advisers on Sunday on U.S. airstrikes against what U.S. officials said was an Iran-sponsored group in Iraq and Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

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Bahrain expresses support for U.S. strikes on Kataib Hizbollah facilities in Iraq, Syria: statement

Bahrain expressed support for strikes conducted by the United States targeting Kataib Hezbollah facilities in Iraq and Syria, Bahrain's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

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