Journalist and author James Stewart on impeachment inquiry: ‘Trump acted like someone who’s guilty’

Journalist and author of "Deep State" James Stewart joins Yahoo News Editor in Chief Dan Klaidman and Chief Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff to talk about the impeachment inquiry surrounding President Trump.

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Iran decries 'cowardly attack' on oil tanker

An Iranian government spokesman on Saturday described as a "cowardly attack" an incident that Iranian media have called the apparent targeting by missiles of an Iranian-owned oil tanker, and said Iran would respond after the facts had been studied. The tanker Sabiti was hit in Red Sea waters off Saudi Arabia on Friday, Iranian media have reported, an incident that could stoke friction in a region rattled by attacks on tankers and oil installations since May. "Iran is avoiding haste, carefully examining what has happened and probing facts," government spokesman Ali Rabei was quoted as saying by the official news agency IRNA.

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Aviation experts blast FAA over 737 MAX redesign approval: report

Aviation experts slammed US regulators for allowing design changes to Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft that have been implicated in two crashes causing the deaths of more than 300 people, according to press reports. The Federal Aviation Administration failed to stick to its own rules, followed out-of-date procedures and lacked the manpower and expertise to properly oversee the alterations, a panel of worldwide experts found. The Joint Authorities Technical Review (JATR) was put together in March after a 737 MAX run by Ethiopian Airlines crashed, killing all 157 onboard.

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Pentagon officials worried withholding aid was illegal

The Ukraine affair has turned into an impeachment inquiry that could see President Trump removed from office. But it is also an example of yet another federal agency — this time, the Pentagon — caught off-guard by the president’s political imperatives.

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A history of selling out the Kurds, people with 'no friends but the mountains'

When President Trump pulled troops from a region of northeastern Syria, it was denounced as a “shameless betrayal” of the Kurds, who were left on their own to fight off an invasion by Turkey. But Kurdish history is filled with such betrayals.

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Missing dog reunited with owner 12 years later

"I'm just so happy to have her back. I cried so many nights without her," Dutchess's owner, Katheryn Strang, said

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The Latest: Iran: 2 missiles hit oil tanker off Saudi coast

Iranian officials say two missiles have struck an Iranian tanker traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Saudi Arabia. This is the latest incident in the region amid months of heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S. There was no immediate word from Saudi Arabia on the reported attack on Friday near the Red Sea port city of Jiddah. The reported attack comes after the U.S. has alleged that in past months Iran attacked oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, something denied by Tehran.

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Top Diplomat Was Axed for Protesting Giuliani’s Back-Channel Ukraine Crusade

Alex Wong/GettyThe House impeachment inquiry dismissed as “illegitimate” by the White House is about to hear testimony from a former top aide ready to go on the record about Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani’s “shadow policy” in Ukraine—along with the former ambassador to Ukraine who was reportedly ousted for refusing to put up with all the off-the-books maneuvering. The Associated Press reports former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch, was dismissed from her post after calling out Giuliani’s back-channel methods in his crusade to have Ukrainian authorities investigate debunked corruption allegations against one of Trump’s top political rivals in 2020, former Vice President Joe Biden.A former diplomat said Yovanovitch made clear there were formal procedures to follow when requesting a country's help in an investigation, and recalled that she refused to participate in “offline, personal, informal stuff.” After Yovanovitch was abruptly dismissed from her post earlier than expected in May as Giuliani pursued the investigations, national security officials reportedly raised concerns about her ouster and the lawyer's push to make it happen.Additionally, Trump's former top aide to Russia and Europe will reportedly testify to Congress that Giuliani—along with U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland—circumvented the National Security Council to pursue their own Ukraine “shadow policy.”According to NBC News, Fiona Hill plans to tell lawmakers that Giuliani and Sondland bypassed former National Security Adviser John Bolton and other processes to access the president on Ukraine-related issues.National security officials also raised concerns about Sondland. According to The Washington Post, he claimed Trump put him in charge of Ukraine relations and expressed in a meeting how Ukraine's corruption investigations “need to be started up again”—which officials understood to be a reference to the Biden probes.Yovanovitch is scheduled to appear before the House Intelligence, Foreign Affairs, and Oversight Committees on Friday behind closed doors. Hill is also expected to testify before Congress on Oct. 14.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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German suspect admits anti-Semitic attack, far-right motive

The German suspect in a deadly attack targeting a synagogue has admitted to the shooting rampage, confessing it was motivated by anti-Semitism and right-wing extremism, federal prosecutors said Friday amid government warnings of an "elevated" risk of further attacks. Stephan Balliet, 27, made a "very comprehensive" confession during an interrogation lasting several hours, said a spokesman for the federal prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe. Germany's Interior Minister Horst Seehofer warned meanwhile in a ZDF television interview that there was now an "elevated" threat of another anti-Semitic or terrorist attack saying around half of 24,000 suspected far-right extremists had an "affinity" with firearms and could engage in violence.

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SDF Commander Claims Alliance With Assad ‘Could Happen’ If Kurds ‘Become Hopeless’ Following U.S. Withdrawal

Mazloum Abdi, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, told Bloomberg in a phone interview Thursday that, without U.S. support, the Kurds may turn to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to help resist recent Turkish offensives in northern Syria.“If our allies do not stop this catastrophe to our people, the situation will become worse,” he said. “I think an alliance with Assad could happen. If we get to this point, where we are hopeless.”President Trump announced on Monday that U.S. troops would withdraw from northeast Syria, a move followed by an invasion of the area by Turkey. The Turkish government plans to set up a “safe zone” inside Syria to resettle Syrian refugees who fled their country’s civil war, as well as to fight the Kurdish YPG, which it considers a terrorist organization.The SDF, which has said it has lost more than 10,000 fighters in the war against the Islamic State, warned in a statement Monday that with Turkey invading, it would be forced to divert forces from operations against ISIS in the south, destroying “all that has been achieved in terms of stability over the last years.”The SDF has over 11,000 ISIS prisoners in custody. Abdi told Bloomberg that, for now, the Kurds are continuing to guard the prisoners but may not be able to continue to do so as the fight against the Turkish incursion escalates. He also said that some militia members fighting along side the Turks are former jihadists.Following several days of a Turkish offensive into northern Syria, President Trump suggested Thursday that the U.S. may use soft power tactics to halt the bloodshed.“We have one of three choices: Send in thousands of troops and win Militarily, hit Turkey very hard Financially and with Sanctions, or mediate a deal between Turkey and the Kurds!” Trump tweeted.Abdi urged Trump to reconsider his withdrawal of U.S. troops from the region in the Thursday interview.“I believe the only person capable of preventing this disaster is President Trump,” he said.According to Reuters, Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Maqdad said Thursday that the Kurds were “armed groups had betrayed their country and committed crimes against it. We won’t accept any dialogue or talk with those who had become hostages to foreign forces.”The Syrian Kurdish YPG helped the Syrian government in the early days of the Syrian civil war, but Damascus has threatened that the Kurds must submit to state authority or risk defeat to Turkey.

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US to send 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia as it withdraws from Syria

The United States is to send an additional 3,000 troops to Saudi Arabia “to assure and enhance” the country’s security in the wake of the Aramco oil attacks, the Pentagon announced on Friday.  Mark Esper, the defence secretary, said the US was sending two more Patriot missile batteries, one THAAD ballistic missile interception system, two fighter squadrons and one air expeditionary wing. It came as Iran claimed yesterday that one of its oil tankers had been struck with missiles off the coast of Saudi Arabia in an incident shrouded in mystery.  The new deployment means that, since May, the US has sent an additional 14,000 members of the armed forces into the region.  "Secretary Esper informed Saudi Crown Prince and Minister of Defense Muhammad bin Salman this morning of the additional troop deployment to assure and enhance the defense of Saudi Arabia," the Pentagon said. “As we have stated, the United States does not seek conflict with the Iranian regime, but we will retain a robust military capability in the region that is ready to respond to any crisis and will defend US forces and interest in the region.” The announcement came just days after Mr Trump declared all US troops would be pulled out of Syria, complaining about "ridiculous endless wars". Mr Trump had campaigned on a promise to get US servicemen out of the Middle East, putting America First, and the decision is unlikely to go down well with his base. Iranian state television said the explosion damaged two storerooms aboard the unnamed oil tanker  Credit: twitter Iranian media claimed its vessel was hit on Friday morning about 60 miles from the Saudi port of Jeddah, causing it to leak oil into the Red Sea. The National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) said the ship was damaged but stable and denied reports it had been set ablaze. Tensions have been high since the Spring after an Iranian tanker suspected of carrying crude to Syria in violation of EU sanctions was seized off Gibraltar. In retaliation, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard impounded British-flagged tanker Stena Impero. Then last month Saudi’s oil fields were hit by a large-scale missile and drone attack it blamed on Tehran, which saw production plummet and oil prices soar. Iran's foreign ministry claimed the vessel, which was first named as Sinopa before it was identified as the Sabiti, had been "targeted twice" but did not provide further details.  On Friday morning, an unnamed source told Iran media the vessel was struck by missiles "probably" originating from Saudi Arabia, but Iran’s national oil company later denied the claim.  Pictures released on Iranian media later showed no discernible damage and no evidence of any fire. TankerTrackers, which monitors oil exports, told the Telegraph there was no independent evidence to suggest the vessel had been hit.  Iranian tanker attack “Had she been struck, they wouldn't be sailing back as fast as they are sailing right now. She's moving at 10 knots an hour," they said. “(Iran is) fishing for higher prices, trying to remind the world that geopolitical risk is its way of controlling the oil market." Oil prices surged two per cent on the news. Publicly available ship tracking records show both ships are currently in the Red Sea. The Sinopa turned its transmitter on earlier this week for the first time in more than 50 days. The Sabiti, meanwhile, turned its tracker on early Friday after nearly 60 days of no transmissions. It is common for Iranian tankers to turn off automatic identification systems (AIS) to avoid detection - often to evade international sanctions or harassment from Saudi Arabia. TankerTrackers said this suggested the Sabiti, laden with one million barrels of oil may have been heading for Syria. However, it declared the Gulf as its destination. Thina Margrethe Saltvedt, an analyst at Nordea Markets, said it was not the particulars of the latest incident that were worrying traders but the fear of worse to come. "The risk premium is rising... not because the tanker per se contains enough oil to squeeze the market,” she said. “But the risk that this incident will be retaliated or more attacks would come either in Iran, Saudi Arabia or Iraq."

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Four dead in New York shooting

At least four people died and three were wounded in a shooting at an unlicensed private social club in New York early Saturday, police said. No one has been arrested over the early morning shooting in Brooklyn, and the motive and exact circumstances are not known, a New York police official told AFP. Four men were pronounced dead at the scene, while two other men and a woman suffered non-life threatening injuries, the police official said.

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CNN anchor Chris Cuomo issued an apology in the middle of the network’s town hall on LGBTQ issues

CNN anchor Chris Cuomo issued an apology in the middle of the network’s town hall on LGBTQ issues Thursday night after he joked he, too, used female pronouns.

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UK's Johnson will speak to EU leaders on Brexit deal by end of Monday: Sunday Times

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will speak to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker by the end of Monday in an attempt to urge the leaders to support his Brexit deal, the Sunday Times reported http://bit.ly/2oBg1Tq.

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Why Turkey Wants Their Invasion of Syria to Go Quickly

Ankara wants to be sure it takes its objectives.

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California governor signs fur sale, circus animal bans

California will be the first state to ban the sale and manufacture of new fur products and the third to bar most animals from circus performances under a pair of bills signed Saturday by Gov. Gavin Newsom. Animal rights groups cheered the measure as a stand against inhumane practices. The proposal was vigorously opposed by the billion-dollar U.S. fur industry, and the Fur Information Council of America has already threatened to sue.

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Latest: Authorities lift evacuation orders for LA-area fire

Authorities announced that all evacuation orders for the wildfire that hit the San Fernando Valley have been lifted. In Los Angeles, a man went into cardiac arrest and died at the scene of a wildfire that broke out late Thursday and damaged or destroyed 31 structures.

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Ukraine leader says troops must withdraw before Putin summit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday threatened to call off a summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin if all sides do not agree on plans to pull out troops from the east. The country's comedian-turned-leader is gearing up to hold talks with Putin in Paris in an effort to revive a peace process to end the five-year separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine. "If there is no pullback (of troops) there is no Normandy summit," Zelensky told reporters, referring to talks with Putin that would be hosted by France President Emmanuel Macron and also involve German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

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Message to evangelicals: Impeachment is about Donald Trump. It's not an attack on you.

When a human object of devotion violates law and moral standards, it's time to break away and recommit to our faith, our principles, our conscience.

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Student's emotional allegation of sexual assault by Hong Kong police sparks investigation and anger

An emotional livestreamed account from a young female student alleging sexual assault at the hands of the police sparked fresh anger and new protests in Hong Kong on Friday. A video of Sonia Ng, who waived her anonymity to make the accusations during an open forum on Thursday night at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, went viral in the financial hub, prompting hundreds of office workers to stage a lunchtime rally against alleged police violence. The Hong Kong police force, currently facing an enormous trust deficit with the public, said it had immediately launched an investigation on Friday morning and had tried unsuccessfully to reach the young woman, who had not yet made a formal complaint. “The Police accord high priority to such a serious allegation and we appeal to the female to provide concrete evidence so that we can proceed with a fair fact-finding investigation,” the force said in a statement on its Facebook page. Ms Ng told the packed university gathering, in the presence of Rocky Tuan, the vice-chancellor, that she had been arrested at the Prince Edward metro station, which was stormed by riot police on August 31. She claimed she was sexually assaulted at a police station before being taken to San Uk Ling, a holding centre close to the border with mainland China where the pro-democracy movement alleges arrested protesters have been abused. In an earlier testimony, which she gave anonymously at September rally, she accused a male officer of hitting her breast, reported the Hong Kong Free Press. She alleged that detained protesters had been body-searched in darkened rooms and that others had also “suffered sexual violence.” The young student then removed her mask to reveal her identity, asking Mr Tuan to explicitly denounce police violence. People form a human chain during a protest in Tai Po Credit: REUTERS/Susana Vera “I am willing to be courageous and take off my mask, would you also be brave and support us?” she asked. The vice-chancellor replied that he condemned all violence, but he faced a barrage of tough questions from students about the level of support the university had provided during four months of escalating tensions with the police during pro-democracy protests. Ms Ng’s claims add to the mounting public anger over heavy-handed police tactics in the city, which has seen close to 3,000 arrests, and multiple injuries on both sides, including the shooting of two teenage boys. Tony Tse, the vice-chairman of the Independent Police Complaints Council, asked people in need to come forward. “We hope that those who were treated unfairly or sexually assaulted will make complaints to us. We will follow up,” he said in a radio show on Friday.

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Millions evacuated as Super Typhoon Hagibis slams into Japan - throwing Rugby World Cup into chaos

At least six million people were told to evacuate their homes as Super Typhoon Hagibis smashed into Japan on Saturday, triggering mudslides, flooding and the heaviest rain and winds in 60 years. Within hours of the typhoon making landfall at around 7pm local time (11am UK), at least two people were dead, nine were missing and more than 80 were injured, according to local media. Officials warned that the storm could be the most powerful to hit Japan since one of the worst typhoons on record devastated Tokyo and surrounding areas in 1958, killing more than 1,200 people. Even before the storm hit, there were reports of at least one death, with a 50-year-old man killed when his car overturned in strong winds in Chiba Prefecture, an area just east of Tokyo still recovering from a strong typhoon which hit last month. Four others, including two children, were also injured by a tornado in the same area. One resident there told NHK: “When the winds suddenly hit, they blew the roof off my house. The noise was awful. One of my three children was injured but is now in a hospital.” Even before the typhoon hit, strong winds brought havoc to areas such as Chiba, near Tokyo  Credit: Katsuya Miyagawa/Kyodo News The typhoon had been brewing over the Pacific Ocean with recorded winds of more than 145 mph. Authorities issued warnings that with gusts likely to exceed that figure, some houses were at risk of being blown down.  The Japan Meteorological Agency warned of as much as 30 inches of rain in the 24-hour period until midnight on Saturday.  Television footage showed images of damage to roofs and walls of buildings in storm-hit spots across Japan. More than 16,000 homes, mainly along the Pacific coastline, were without electricity.  Some residential areas along the coast in Shizuoka were also reported as being submerged up to around knee height in tidal surges. The approaching typhoon caused rivers to overflow in the area, with reports of at least one person swept away, and widespread landslide warnings also in place. Three people were missing in Gunma Prefecture after a landslide swept through six houses. The weather system passed directly over Tokyo, one of seven regions subject to the non-compulsory evacuation orders - and where a 5.7 magnitude earthquake hit just ahead of the typhoon's arrival.  Around 17,000 Self-Defence Forces personnel were on standby across the country for potential deployment on rescue operations. Even as the typhoon moved away from the capital late on Saturday, one expert warned of further flooding as several surrounding prefectures began releasing water from dams, letting it flow downstream. "The situation is now worse than this evening," Nobuyuki Tsuchiya, director of the Japan Riverfront Research Centre, told Reuters. About 1.5 million people in Tokyo live below sea level. Japan's national rugby team waded through floodwater to reach the pitch for practice, with a decision still to be made on Sunday's matches Credit: Japan Rugby Football Union/Reuters A study by the Japan Society of Civil Engineers in June 2018 concluded that a huge storm surge in Tokyo Bay could lead to 8,000 deaths and cause damage estimated at Y115 trillion (£84 billion).  Much of the damage would be to infrastructure, such as underground railway lines, roads and bridges, as well as structures on vulnerable reclaimed land in the bay.  A disaster simulation prepared by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government in 2018 suggested that more than 80 square miles of the city could be inundated in a worst-case scenario, accounting for one-third of the entire city. In low-lying areas, water levels could rise as high as 32 feet above mean sea level.  The government’s estimations are based on data from Typhoon Muroto, which struck the city in September 1934, killing 3,066 people, injuring a further 13,000 and leaving 200,000 people homeless.  Authorities in central Japan called on residents of coastal regions to evacuate to higher ground inland and alerts were sent out to mobile phones through messaging systems and are running on television and radio broadcasts.  Train services in and around Tokyo were cancelled throughout Saturday, along with long-distance bullet train services. Japanese airlines grounded all domestic and international flights out of Narita and Haneda, the two airports that serve the capital, while theme parks and many shops closed their doors. There are fears for low-lying coastal areas, with residents warned they should move to higher ground inland Credit: Kyodo News/AP A number of companies, including car makers Toyota and Honda, have halted production.  Saturday’s Rugby World Cup game between England and France in Yokohama has been cancelled, along with the Italy-New Zealand clash in Toyota City.  A decision is due to be made at midnight on games scheduled for Sunday, including the all-important Scotland-Japan game, which will decide which nation emerges from the group stages of the tournament. The looming super typhoon has also triggered a frenzy of last-minute buying, with store shelves emptied of bread, instant noodles, bottled water and other perishable foods. Stores in some areas have also reportedly run out of batteries and packing tape that is being put across windows to reduce the possibility of flying glass.  Super Typhoon Hagibis - the Tagalog word for “speed” - is the second major storm to hit Japan in just over a month.  Typhoon Faxai struck eastern Japan on September 9, killing three people, leaving more than 40 injured and leaving scenes of devastation in its wake. At the peak of the storm, more than 930,000 people were without power and it took two weeks for some areas to have electricity restored.

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Turkey's plan to flood Europe with millions of refugees if it is condemned for attacking Syria is a real and dangerous threat, officials warn

An official with the Greek government told Business Insider that Turkey could "send about 500,000 refugees immediately."

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Fort Worth Officer Fatally Shot Woman Inside Her Home, Police Say

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