California Governor Accepted Donations from Utility Company He Now Excoriates for ‘Greed’

California governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, has accepted large donations from Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a utility company he now excoriates for "greed" and "mismanagement."PG&E has faced widespread criticism for implementing blackouts for millions of customers to avoid sparking wildfires in the midst of California's dry and windy fall weather."I have a message for PG&E," Newsom wrote on Twitter on Friday. "Your years and years of greed. Years and years of mismanagement. Years and years of putting shareholders over people. Are OVER."Newsom and allies accepted $208,400 from the utility during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, according to local affiliate ABC10. Of that total, $150,000 went to a political spending group called “Citizens Supporting Gavin Newsom for Governor 2018,” while the rest went to directly to Newsom's campaign.PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January 2019. Faulty PG&E electricity equipment has been blamed for sparking several wildfires in the past decade.California has consistently shut down proposals to clear dead trees from forests and to trim trees near power lines state wide, creating conditions for a rash of wildfire outbreaks in recent years.The Kincaid Fire currently burning in Sonoma County in the northern part of the state has forced the evacuation of roughly 200,000 people. The fire is twice the size of the city of San Fransisco.Newsom declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the Kincaid Fire and several other wildfires throughout the state. He again threatened PG&E in a statement on the situation."There is a plan to get out of this. This is not the new normal,” Newsom said on Sunday at an evacuation center in northern California. “This is not a 10-year process to deal with this. That will not be the case… [PG&E] will be held to account to do something radically different

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Ethiopia says at least 78 people killed in protests last week, number could rise

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

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NYC Medical Examiner Dismisses Epstein ‘Homicide’ Claim by Dr. Michael Baden

Robyn Beck/ReutersNew York City’s chief medical examiner pushed back hard Wednesday against a celebrity pathologist-for-hire’s conspiracy-stirring claim that Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy was more consistent with homicide than suicide.“The original medical investigation was thorough and complete. There is no reason for a second medical investigation by our office,” said Dr. Barbara Sampson.Sampson determined Epstein died by suicide from hanging in his jail cell in August, while he was awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.Epstein’s lawyers and family have refused to accept her finding, and the disgraced financier’s brother hired Dr. Michael Baden—erstwhile host of HBO’s Autopsy—to do his own investigation.Jeffrey Epstein’s Death Ruled Suicide by Hanging: New York City Medical ExaminerDuring an appearance Wednesday morning on Fox News, where he is a contributor, Baden said his own review isn’t complete but nonetheless suggested that suicide isn’t the cause of death.He claimed a collection of neck fractures in Epstein’s hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage “are extremely unusual in suicidal hangings and could occur much more commonly in homicidal strangulation.”“I’ve not seen in 50 years where that occurred in a suicidal hanging case,” Baden said.Although more common in homicidal strangulation cases, some studies have found that hyoid and thyroid fractures are not rare in suicidal hangings.A 2000 study in Australia found fractures in nearly half the 40 suicide cases it examined and said they were even more common in older victims and men; in fact, 15 percent had fractures of both the hyoid and the thyroid. And a 2010 study out of Thailand found such fractures in 25 percent of the confirmed suicides it reviewed.After His Suicide Watch Ended, Jeffrey Epstein Was Left to Look After HimselfBaden, who observed the autopsy performed by Sampson, served briefly as the city’s chief medical examiner before being fired in 1979 by then-Mayor Ed Koch in response to a complaint that he told doctors during a guest-speaking event that Gov. Nelson Rockefeller had died during sexual intercourse.Three years later, he was dismissed as chief deputy medical examiner by Suffolk County, New York, over a magazine article about ways to kill that wouldn’t show up in an autopsy; he protested that he was misquoted.In the '70s, Baden helped Congress investigate the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.—he concluded that Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray, respectively, were the killers—but became famous for serving as a private pathologist in high-profile cases like the Aaron Hernandez suicide, the O.J. Simpson murder trial, and the Jayson Williams shooting. He also served as a defense witness in the Phil Spector murder trial, where he reportedly testified that he had no conflict of interest in the case even though his wife was heading Spector’s legal team.Baden isn’t the only one skeptical about the official account of Epstein’s death at the high-security federal lockup in Manhattan, which is currently the subject of a Justice Department probe.Spencer Kuvin, a lawyer representing victims of Epstein, said serious questions remain, including the whereabouts of the guards assigned to monitor him, why the cameras outside his cell apparently didn’t work, and why he was taken off suicide watch.“It all makes no sense. Until they come out with the evidence, I don’t believe anything they’re telling us,” Kuvin said. “Exactly what happened I can’t tell you, but I certainly don’t believe the story they’re trying to feed everyone.”Sigrid McCawley, an attorney at Boies Schiller Flexner, the law firm representing some of Epstein’s victims, said the ongoing Justice Department probe “limits what can and should be said at this time.”“But as the public has come to to understand the horrifying scope and scale of the international sex trafficking system he operated for decades with impunity, what really matters for the brave survivors who are seeking justice is how he lived, not how he died,” she said. “That is how the man should be judged.”Kuvin said his clients are “more interested in seeing co-conspirators prosecuted” than in delving into Epstein autopsy theories.“The justice system failed. They either allowed him to take his own life or someone got in there and killed him,” Kuvin told The Daily Beast. “Either way, it’s a failure of the Justice Department… [which] has failed them repeatedly over the last 13 years. This was just one more time.”If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting TALK to 741741Read 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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Spain's hosting of COP25 climate summit largely a done deal: Government Source

A formal decision on hosting the summit in Madrid will be taken on Monday in the German city of Bonn, the source said. Chile backed out of hosting the summit, which is aimed at fleshing out details of how to implement the Paris Agreement climate pact, due to a wave of violent protests in the country's capital.

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New Threats Put Wildfire Fighters’ Health on the Line

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Full coverage: House passes impeachment resolution

The House on Thursday voted to pass a historic resolution establishing formal procedures for the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The 232-196 vote fell almost exclusively along party lines, with two moderate Democrats voting no.

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The Latest: Man accused of arson in California wildfire

Authorities say a man was arrested and accused of arson after a crew responded to a report of a wildfire in Northern California. A CalFire statement said engine crews were able to quickly contain the small fire in the Sonoma County community of Geyserville and identified a potential suspect. Authorities reported progress Wednesday in battling the Kincade fire in Sonoma County that started last week outside of Geyserville and forced the evacuation of the entire community, home to about 900 people.

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UPDATE 2-American Airlines flight attendants stand up to Boeing CEO on 737 MAX

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

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Police say body of British tourist missing in Cambodia found

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

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'Very sloppy': Rudy Giuliani, Trump's cybersecurity adviser, went to an Apple store to get his iPhone unlocked

Cybersecurity experts told NBC that Giuliani going to a third-party location for technical help violated basic security protocols.

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Israel rearrests Palestinian MP, daughter says

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

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A California couple who was forced to evacuate their home and winery share what it's really like to endure the wildfires engulfing the state

California's Sonoma wine country dealt with destructive wildfires in 2017. Here's how one winery is dealing with 2019's Kincade Fire.

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House Democrats are just trying to invalidate the 2016 election of President Donald Trump

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is subverting rule of law, write former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.

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FREE SPEECH VICTORY: Kentucky Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Christian Print Shop Owner

The Kentucky Supreme Court handed a victory Thursday to Lexington promotional print shop owner Blaine Adamson. 

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Islamic State vows revenge against U.S. for Baghdadi killing

Islamic State confirmed on Thursday that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a weekend raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria, and vowed revenge against the United States. The Iraqi rose from obscurity to lead the ultra-hardline group and declare himself "caliph" of all Muslims, holding sway over huge areas of Iraq and Syria from 2014-2017 before Islamic State's control disintegrated under U.S.-led attacks. The group confirmed his death in an audio tape posted online and said a successor, identified as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, had been appointed.

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2 women have been criminally charged over their partners' suicides. Why do men escape the same blame?

Experts told Insider they could not recall a similar instance of a man being charged with manslaughter in connection with his partner's suicide.

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Graphic: Examining the weapons and tactics used by police and protesters in Hong Kong

As the showdown between police and protesters in Hong Kong has intensified, officers have used increasing force, deploying an arsenal of crowd-control weapons, including tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, sponge grenades and bean bag rounds. Protesters have also stepped up their actions, hurling petrol bombs, vandalizing mainland Chinese banks and businesses believed to be pro-Beijing, throwing bricks at police stations and battling officers in the streets, sometimes with metal bars. Reuters scrutinized hundreds of images of the protests, as well as dozens of police reports and video footage, and combined this research with reporting on the ground to document the weapons used by the police and protesters, and how the violence has increased from day to day.

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How The B-1 Lancer Went From A Nuclear Bomber To an ISIS Killer

Priorities and capabilities change with time.

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Putin faces Syria money crunch after U.S. keeps control of oil fields

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing an unwelcome new financial challenge in Syria after the U.S. pullback enabled his ally Bashar Assad to reclaim the biggest chunk of territory in the country still outside his control.

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What Fiat Chrysler and PSA Peugeot Citroën Merger Will Mean for U.S. Car Buyers

Now that FCA and PSA confirm they're doing a 50/50 merger, we're more likely to see technology being shared than cars being added to the U.S. market.

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These Salvador Dali–Painted Tarot Cards Are as Spooky as You’d Imagine

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Trump impeachment: Official says she was repeatedly urged to oust Ukraine ambassador by Republican lobbyist

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

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Al-Baghdadi paid rival for protection but was betrayed by his own

Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was able to hide out in an unlikely part of Syria, the base of a rival group, because he was paying protection money to its members, according to receipts for the payments recovered by researchers. But he was ultimately betrayed by a close confidant, leading to his death in a raid by U.S. Special Operations forces last weekend.

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