Kobe Bryant's helicopter crashed in foggy conditions considered so dangerous that the LAPD grounded all its flights

The NBA legend and eight others were flying in heavy fog before crashing into a hillside in Calabasas, California, at about 9:45 a.m. on Sunday.

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Downing of jet in Iran reveals Islamic Republic's wider woes

The Ukrainian jetliner stood ready for takeoff at Iran's main international airport bound for Kyiv, packed with passengers and so many bags on one of the cheapest routes to the West that the ground crew rushed to unload some luggage to make its weight for flight. Nearly an hour late, Tehran air traffic controllers finally cleared Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 for takeoff, carrying a newlywed couple, Iranian students bound for universities in Canada and others seeking a better life abroad. The plane would be shot down only minutes later by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.

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How the world discovered the Nazi death camps

Images of what the Allies found when they liberated the first Nazi death camps towards the end of World War II brought the horror of the Holocaust to global attention. Many of the ghastly pictures were at first held back from the broader public, partly out of concern for those with missing relatives. The concentration and extermination camps were liberated one by one as the Allied armies advanced on Berlin in the final days of the 1939-1945 war.

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British man dies in US immigration detention in Florida

* Death of man, 39, initially attributed to hanging * UK Foreign Office said to be in touch with man’s wifeA British man has died while being held in US immigration detention in Florida, the Guardian has confirmed.The death was first reported by BuzzFeed News, which said the man was 39 years old and that the cause was initially attributed to asphyxiation due to hanging. The incident was reported to have occurred on Saturday last week.“Our staff are in contact with the US authorities following the death of a British man in Florida,” said a spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London.Foreign Office officials are understood to have been in contact with the deceased man’s wife, as US officials investigate the circumstances of the death.It was unclear which of Florida’s four detention centres the man was held in, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) did not respond to requests for comment.The incident marks the fifth death at a detention centre in the 2020 fiscal year, which begins in October 2019. There were eight deaths in Ice detention in the 2019 fiscal year.The immigration detention population in the United States has soared under the Trump administration. Last year Ice detained 510,854 people, compared with 396,448 in 2018. The administration has also increased its use of detention facilities, mostly run by private security companies, with a new concentration of detention centres opening in the deep south.Medical provision and mental health care at detention facilities has come under increased criticism under the Trump administration after a spate of high profile deaths since 2017.At the end of last year House Democrats on the oversight and reform committee launched an inquiry to investigate a “troubling pattern of abuse and poor treatment” of migrants in custody.

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Government records show that Kobe Bryant's helicopter used to be owned by the state of Illinois

Bryant's helicopter was owned by an operator called Island Express Holding Corp., which purchased it from Illinois in 2015.

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Pompeo Keeps NPR Reporter Feud Going With Pointed Bible Quote

(Bloomberg) -- Secretary of State Michael Pompeo kept a feud with an NPR reporter alive on Sunday, taking to his personal Twitter account to post a Bible quote about lying and slander. The post came a day after Pompeo’s unusual, official statement attacking NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly and the media in general after a contentious interview with questions about Ukraine that she said ended with him unleashing an expletive-laced tirade. Pompeo accused Kelly of lying to him twice, including while setting the interview up in December and by disclosing his alleged outburst following that conversation, which he said was “off the record.” He cited no evidence. “This is another example of how unhinged the media has become in its quest to hurt President Trump and this administration,” Pompeo said in his statement. Five Democrats from the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations wrote to Pompeo on Saturday, terming his comments beneath the dignity of his office, and the chief executive of NPR said the radio network wouldn’t be intimidated. Pompeo on Sunday tweeted a Bible verse that “Whoever conceals hatred with lying lips and spreads slander is a fool” from his personal account, in what appeared to be a fresh dig at Kelly. In Friday’s interview, Kelly asked Pompeo about former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch, who was recalled from her role. Democrats say the diplomat was seen as an impediment to President Donald Trump’s demands that Ukraine investigate Democrat Joe Biden. A tape revealed this week appears to capture Trump saying “take her out.”Pompeo has repeatedly refused to answer questions from reporters about his acquiescence in Trump’s decision to recall Yovanovitch, and has sidestepped questions about the reason for her removal, beyond saying the president lost confidence in her.Blank MapKelly, the host of NPR’s All Things Considered, said that Pompeo’s aides agreed to questions on the topic ahead of time.Following the interview at the State Department, Kelly said Pompeo summoned her to an adjacent room, where he shouted at her and used profanities for a time equal to the length of the interview itself.He also asked his aides to bring out a blank map and demanded that the veteran reporter identify Ukraine. Kelly, who graduated from Harvard and has a masters degree in European studies from Cambridge University, said she did so accurately.Pompeo seemed to suggest that she didn’t, in fact, point to the correct country, concluding his statement by saying: “It is worth noting that Bangladesh is NOT Ukraine.”‘Contemptuous’ CommentsThe two countries are about 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) apart.“Mary Louise Kelly has always conducted herself with the utmost integrity, and we stand behind this report,” Nancy Barnes, NPR’s senior vice president of news, said in an emailed statement.NPR’s Chief Executive Officer John Lansing said Saturday on the radio network that while it’s not unusual to have tension between government officials and journalists, “this goes well beyond tension. This goes towards intimidation. And let me just say this. We will not be intimidated.” The spat lit up social media, with the Twitter hashtags Bangladesh, Pompeo and PompeoMeltdown trending on Saturday.“Your insulting and contemptuous comments are beneath the office of the Secretary of State,” Foreign Relations Commitee ranking Democrat Bob Menendez of New Jersey and four other senators wrote to Pompeo. “Instead of calling journalists ‘liars’ and insulting their intelligence when they ask you hard questions you would rather not answer, your oath of office places on you a duty and obligation to engage respectfully and transparently.”Officials including Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA, flew to Kelly’s defense on Saturday. “When I was in government I dealt with Mary Louise Kelly a fair bit,” Hayden said on Twitter. “I found her to be a real professional. Tough questions, tough answers but totally honest. She’s no liar.” Pompeo’s role in executing Trump’s policy toward Ukraine is sure to attract fresh attention when he visits Kyiv on Thursday and Friday.To contact the reporter on this story: Katia Dmitrieva in Washington at edmitrieva1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Scott Lanman at slanman@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Kevin WhitelawFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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The history of Auschwitz-Birkenau

Warsaw (Poland) (AFP) - The Nazi German death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau is an enduring symbol of the Holocaust.

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France's Barracuda Attack Submarine Is Changing How Paris Views Military Power

It's just that good.

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Iran's military knew it accidentally shot down a passenger plane moments after it happened, and a stunning new report details how it was covered up — even from Iran's president

Iran knew almost immediately that it was responsible for shooting down a passenger plane with 176 people on board, according to a new report.

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Australia's rainy respite from bushfires seen ending

A recent respite for Australian firefighters that brought rains and cooler weather is set to end, meteorologists warned on Monday, with hot conditions forecast for later this week raising a risk that blazes may start spreading again. More than a week of solid rain in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, the three states most affected by the fires, has more than halved the number of blazes, but above average temperatures were set to return by the weekend. "Unfortunately, the reprieve may be short-lived with a blast of heat likely late this week in some areas," the New South Wales Bureau of Meteorology said on Twitter.

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The coronavirus can be spread from person to person before someone realizes they even have it, according to the Chinese health minister

There are currently no doctor's office tests to screen whether a person has the Wuhan coronavirus. Symptoms include a cough, sore throat, and fever.

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Andrew Yang Will Be Back on Democratic Debate Stage in February

(Bloomberg) -- Businessman and outsider Democratic candidate for president Andrew Yang has earned a spot in the upcoming eighth Democratic debate in New Hampshire.   In order to make the stage for the debate on Feb. 7, candidates have to receive at least 5% in four Democratic National Committee--approved polls or 7% in two early-state polls. Candidates also have to receive at least 225,000 individual contributions. Yang had already met the donor threshold. He earned 7% in a national poll from a Washington Post and ABC News poll and 5% in a Fox News poll, both released Sunday.   He had received 5% in a December NPR/PBS/Marist national poll and 5% in an early January Quinnipiac University national poll.  Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer and Elizabeth Warren have already qualified. Candidates who come out of the Iowa caucus with at least one pledged delegate to the Democratic convention also automatically qualify for the debate.   The entrepreneur did not qualify for the last debate in Des Moines. He’s currently on a 17-day bus tour of Iowa ahead of the Feb. 3 caucus in that state. (Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.To contact the author of this story: Emma Kinery in Washington at ekinery@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Ros Krasny at rkrasny1@bloomberg.net, Magan SherzaiFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Trump's defense called Giuliani a 'minor player' in impeachment. He came up in the Trump-Zelensky call 6 times.

This might be the most easily debunked claim of the whole impeachment trial.President Trump's team of defenders got their turn on the Senate floor on Monday, with one of them, Trump lawyer Jane Raskin, employing a new strategy to distance Trump from his lawyer and Ukraine link Rudy Giuliani altogether. "In this trial, in this moment, Mr. Giuliani is just a minor player, that shiny object designed to distract you," Raskin said. "Senators, I urge you most respectfully, do not be distracted."While Raskin may try to downplay Giuliani's involvement, the transcript of Trump's July phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, which Trump so often begs the world to read, would say otherwise. Giuliani's name comes up no less than six times in that call memo, with Trump mentioning "Giuliani" two times and "Rudy" twice as well.There are also all those times impeachment witnesses told the House that Giuliani was deeply tied to Trump's Ukraine dealings, with a few of them explicitly saying how Trump had told them to "talk to Rudy" when they had concerns about the country. Oh, and don't forget all those other times Giuliani himself talked up his involvement with Ukraine while making gaffe after gaffe on national TV.More stories from theweek.com Mike Pompeo is a disgrace Fox News poll finds independents want the Senate to convict and remove Trump by 19-point margin The 2020 Grammys drew the show's smallest audience in more than a decade

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Police criticized TMZ for reporting Kobe Bryant's death before they could notify victims' families

TMZ was the first to report the shocking news that the basketball icon Bryant had died Sunday, but authorities slammed the quick scoop.

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US officials are testing for the new coronavirus in 26 states after 5 cases were confirmed. Here's what we know about the US patients.

The US's confirmed cases of the coronavirus consist of two patients in California, one in Arizona, one in Washington, and one in Illinois.

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Gantz Makes the Best of Being a Third Wheel at the White House

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A quick dinner break for Chick-fil-A and a podcast plug.

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What Do We Owe the Dead?

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Sketches capture the action in the Senate.

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‘It’s a Done Deal’

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Listen Up, Liberals: You Aren’t Doing Politics Right

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Why the W.N.B.A. Loved Kobe Bryant

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In Iowa, Biden says he has nothing to defend.

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