A Uighur Dutch woman admitted to leaking secret Chinese cables on Muslim oppression. She's going public to stop China's death threats.

Asiye Abdulaheb told the Dutch De Volkskrant newspaper that she had a role in disseminating the explosive internal documents on Xinjiang.

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Suspect's mother speaks out after Alabama officer slain

The mother of man charged with killing an Alabama police officer spoke said Sunday that she doesn't believe her son is capable of committing murder. LaJeromeny Brown of Tennessee has been jailed on capital murder charges in the shooting of Huntsville police officer Billy Fred Clardy on Friday. Brown's mother, Alma Jean Applebet, told Al.com in a phone interview her son should be presumed innocent until he has a chance to stand trial, though she acknowledged he has a history of arrests in Tennessee.

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Court weighs whether Boston Marathon bomber got a fair trial

A federal appeals court in Boston will consider whether Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev received a fair trial in the city where the bombs exploded. Oral arguments before the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are scheduled for Thursday, according to The Boston Globe. Tsarnaev was convicted and sentenced to death in 2015 for carrying out the April 15, 2013, attack at the marathon finish line with his older brother Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed by authorities.

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Iran unveils 'budget of resistance' backed by $5bn Russian loan

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani announced Sunday a "budget of resistance" against US sanctions targeting the country's vital oil sector, backed by a $5 billion Russian investment. Rouhani said the aim was to reduce "hardships" in Iran where a shock fuel price hike last month triggered nationwide demonstrations that turned deadly. After unilaterally withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May last year, the US began imposing sanctions on Tehran, including on oil exports, which it aims to squeeze to zero in a campaign of "maximum pressure". Iran has suffered a sharp economic downturn, with a plummeting currency sending inflation skyrocketing. Rouhani told parliament that the budget of 4,845 trillion rials, or $36 billion at the current street rate, was devised to help Iran's people overcome difficulty. "We know that under the situation of sanctions and pressure, people are in hardship. We know people's purchasing power has declined," he said. The budget would benefit from a $5 billion "investment" from Russia which was still being finalised, said Rouhani. "We hope that $5 billion in capital will enter the country, either through plans that have already been finalised or which will be finalised next year," he said. Iran and Russia have strengthened ties in recent years, with both backing President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war. Rouhani told lawmakers the budget, which includes a 15-percent public sector wage hike, "is a budget of resistance and perseverance against sanctions". He said the fiscal plan came in response to the "maximum pressure and continuation of America's sanctions" and vowed it would signal "to the world that, despite sanctions, we will manage the country, especially in terms of oil". Iran, a founding member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, sits on the world's fourth-biggest oil reserves and second-largest gas reserves. Rouhani said that despite the US sanctions, his government expected to earn almost 455 trillion rials ($3.4 billion) from oil exports. But he also said Iran's non-oil economy would "be positive" in the next year. "Our exports, our imports, the transfer of money, our foreign exchange encounter a lot of problems," he said. "We all know that we encounter problems in exporting oil. Yet at the same time, we endeavour to reduce the difficulty of people's livelihood. "Contrary to what the Americans thought, that with the pressure of sanctions our country's economy would encounter problems, thank God we have chosen the correct path... and we are moving forward." The budget announcement comes after petrol price hikes and rationing in mid-November sparked demonstrations across Iran that turned violent before being quelled by security forces amid an internet blackout. Iran has yet to give an overall death toll for the unrest in which petrol pumps and police stations were torched and shops looted. London-based human rights group Amnesty International said at least 208 people were killed in the crackdown. Iran has dismissed such figures as "utter lies". US President Donald Trump began applying punitive measures in 2018, after withdrawing from an accord that gave Iran relief from sanctions in return for limits on its nuclear programme. Iran's economy has been battered, with the International Monetary Fund forecasting it will contract by 9.5 percent this year. The sharp downturn has seen the rial nose-dive and inflation run at around 35 percent. The IMF's figures show Iran's crude oil exports running at below 600,000 barrels per day this year, down over 70 percent compared to 2016, the year after the nuclear deal came into force. In his speech, Rouhani only touched on a few areas of the budget for the financial year starting late March 2020, which must be scrutinised and voted on by parliament. "All our efforts are geared towards reducing these hardships to some extent so it can be more tolerable," he said.

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Pensacola Victims: Three Hopeful Men at the Dawn of Naval Careers

By BY FRANCES ROBLES AND PATRICIA MAZZEI from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2Yu092B

The N.F.C.’s Best Team? San Francisco Makes a High-Scoring Case

By BY BEN SHPIGEL from NYT Sports https://ift.tt/2Yu9szu

Trump Brings 2 Officers He Cleared of War Crimes Onstage at Fund-Raiser

By BY MAGGIE HABERMAN from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/36kM5LD

Pearl Harbor veteran to be interred on sunken ship

With speeches and salutes, veterans and officials on Saturday commemorated the 78th anniversary of the 1941 sneak attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, which brought a previously reluctant United States into World War II. A ceremony honoring survivors attended by US Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Washington's ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris was held within sight of the sunken USS Arizona, which was bombed in the opening moments of the attack that killed more than 2,400 Americans. Later in the day, the remains of Lauren Bruner, who died in September at age 98 and was among the last sailors rescued from the Arizona after it exploded into flames, will be interred in the wreckage.

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Jury would convict Trump 'in 3 minutes flat': Nadler

The chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee said Sunday that if the impeachment case against President Trump were put to a jury, there "would be a guilty verdict in three minutes flat."

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Cory Booker: failure to engage black vote could hand White House to Trump

* Democrat speaks to Guardian after Iowa campaign event * Debate needs candidate ‘black and brown people can trust’ * After Kamala: activists fear Democratic primary whitewash Cory Booker, the New Jersey senator struggling to be the only black candidate on the Democratic debate stage this month, has warned that the party could hand re-election to Donald Trump unless it sends a more positive message to African American voters.Booker has just four days left to meet stringent criteria set by the party for the next televised primary debate, in Los Angeles on 19 December. Should he fail to make the cut, the participants will be exclusively white, with more billionaires on stage than black people.In an interview with the Guardian, Booker said he was “worried, very worried” that the party was heading towards a repeat of the 2016 election in which Trump snatched an unexpected victory partly because of the softness of the African American vote.About 4.4 million voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 stayed home in 2016. More than a third were black.“There would be a President Hillary Clinton right now if the African American turnout had been close to what it had been in 2012,” Booker said. “That’s how real is the power and influence of the Democratic party’s most loyal voting base.”> We have to make sure there’s a candidate on that stage that black and brown people in this country can trust> > Cory BookerHe added: “That’s why we have to make sure there’s a candidate on that stage that black and brown people in this country can trust, in whom they see their lived experience.”The issue of the fading diversity in the Democratic race has become a major talking point in the wake of the California senator Kamala Harris dropping out for lack of funds. With Harris out, the spotlight is increasingly falling to Booker. He has been quick to sound the alarm over the consequences of black voters feeling undervalued as election year approaches.Asked what message an all-white stage would send African Americans, he told the Guardian: “The message is already being sent.“I’ve talked to civil rights leaders, Congressional Black Caucus members, you hear this being talked about now in the black community. People are saying there, ‘This can’t be,’ especially when there is a candidate out there who is fully qualified under any objective criteria other than the arbitrary polling system.”Booker has met the bar of 200,000 unique donors set by the Democratic National Committee (DNC) but is falling short of attaining 4% in four national or early state polls. Unless he can do that by Thursday he will not have a place at the debate.To rub salt into the wound, Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has secured a position. Booker said the presence of billionaire candidates in the Democratic race – Michael Bloomberg is the other – was an insult to “voters who wonder how you can have talented, qualified, experienced, proven diverse candidates that aren’t on the stage.“We’ve seen how you gin your poll numbers up by running nonstop ads – that shouldn’t be the decider of who’s on stage at the debate, it sends a very bad signal.”The Guardian asked Steyer what he thought of the argument that the race was being distorted with billionaires buying prominence while diverse candidates languished.He said: “I’m concerned about the diversity in the debates, too, and I have asked the DNC to change the criteria of the debates to get more diversity.”> It’s important we have a diverse group of people competing … and I don’t think it’s fair, but I don’t run the process> > Tom SteyerSteyer has been able to use his personal wealth – he is worth $1.6bn according to Forbes – to vastly outspend Booker so far, buying $55m of TV and online ads to Booker’s $3m. The disparity is paradoxical given that one of Steyer’s main political platforms is combatting growing inequality.“A lot of people have complained to the DNC about how this is going,” Steyer said. “It’s important that we have a diverse group of people competing for the nomination of the Democratic party and I don’t think it’s fair, but I don’t run the process.”The thorny question of billionaires using their financial muscle to wrestle themselves into the Democratic race has welled up again with the late entry of Bloomberg. The former New York mayor is outspending all the top-tier candidates combined, according to the Washington Post.It did not soothe the increasingly fractious mood when Bloomberg commented that Booker was “well spoken”. He later apologised.Booker carved out his political reputation as mayor of Newark, New Jersey. He has a distinguished resume that includes having been a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, though he has complained that the media rarely point that out, unlike his Democratic rival Pete Buttigieg, also a Rhodes scholar.Booker said he was still confident he would make the debate later this month, joining those who have already been guaranteed a place: Buttigieg, Steyer, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders and Amy Klobuchar.The decision of more than a million African American voters to stay home rather than vote in 2016 is widely considered an important factor behind Trump’s shock victory. Trump won the presidency comfortably in the electoral college yet in the key states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin he beat Clinton by only 77,000 votes.In the Wisconsin city of Milwaukee alone, Clinton attracted 70,000 fewer black votes than Obama in 2012.Booker said his anxieties about a potential repeat next November did not stop at the White House. He said low African American turnout could also have an effect on senatorial races in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Arizona that would prevent the Democrats taking back the Senate.“I’m very worried about consequences for the US Senate – it’s not just Donald Trump,” Booker said. “We cannot win in these very diverse states without not just good turnouts of African Americans – we need Obama’s record turnouts again.”Booker was speaking at a Democratic presidential forum in Cedar Rapids, Iowa organized by the Teamsters and focusing on workers’ rights. The Guardian and The Storm Lake Times were media partners of the event.

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FBI Treating Pensacola Navy Shooting as Terrorism

The FBI said Sunday that it is treating the mass shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola as an act of terrorism so it can amass more resources to investigate whether the Saudi gunman was spurred by an “ideology.”Special Agent in Charge Rachel Rojas said authorities have not yet pinpointed shooter Mohammed Alshamrani’s motive for Friday’s ambush, which killed three and wounded eight.“I can tell you that we are looking very hard at uncovering his motive and I would ask for patience so we can get this right,” Rojas said at an afternoon press briefing.“As we speak, members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and Counterterrorism Division are working tirelessly to discern any possible ideology that may have been a factor in this attack.”Pensacola Air Base Shooter Screened Mass Shooting Videos at Dinner Party Before Attack: OfficialRojas said that investigators are sure there was only one gunman. But they are still trying to answer a key question: “Did he act alone or was he part of a larger network?”Alshamrani, 21, was a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force who was part of an aviation training program at the Navy base.Using a legally purchased Glock 9mm handgun, he opened fire early Friday in a classroom, killing three aviation students: Airman Mohammed Sameh Hathaim, 19, Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson, and Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters, 21. Eight others, including two deputies, were wounded in a gunfight with Alshamrani, who was shot dead.There have been reports that Alshamrani screened mass shooting videos for fellow Saudi trainees at a dinner party before the attack, that he and other students visited New York City recently, and that some of the Saudi students were videotaping as the shooting took place.Rojas declined to comment on all those reports.She said several Saudi students who were close to Alshamrani have been restricted to base by their commanding officer and are cooperating with investigators. No other arrests have been made.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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He tried to save his wife from their burning home. She died holding his hand

"She was my best friend," Todd Gillette said of his 50-year-old wife, who died in a house fire in South Dakota.

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Flu season arrives early, driven by an unexpected virus

The winter flu season is off to its earliest start in more than 15 years. An early wave of illness in the South has begun to spread more broadly, and there’s a chance flu season could peak much earlier than normal, health officials say.

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The Gig Economy’s Sexual Misconduct Problem, and How to Fix It

By BY ALEXANDREA J. RAVENELLE from NYT Opinion https://ift.tt/2PpjaiC

René Auberjonois, a ‘Deep Space Nine’ Star, Dies at 79

By BY NEIL GENZLINGER from NYT Obituaries https://ift.tt/2RIBean

Pearl Harbor veteran interred on sunken ship

With speeches and salutes, veterans and officials on Saturday commemorated the 78th anniversary of the 1941 sneak attack by Japan on Pearl Harbor, which brought a previously reluctant United States into World War II. A ceremony in Hawaii honoring survivors was attended by US Interior Secretary David Bernhardt and Washington's ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris. It was held within sight of the sunken USS Arizona, which was bombed in the opening moments of the attack that killed more than 2,400 Americans.

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‘We’ve seen enough’: LA Times board announces backing for Trump impeachment

One of the largest newspapers in the US has come out in favour of the impeachment of Donald Trump for his “flagrant abuse of power”.The LA Times said that the inquiry hearings had produced “overwhelming” evidence that the president had “perverted US foreign policy for his own political gain”.

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Screams and goodbyes as scores die in devastating India factory fire

At least 43 people were killed Sunday in a devastating fire that ripped through a bag factory in the congested old quarter of the Indian capital New Delhi, with survivors describing the screams of workers trapped inside. The blaze was the worst in Delhi since 59 movie-goers died in a cinema in 1997. The cause of the blaze is not yet known, but the city's poor planning and lax enforcement of building and safety codes have often been blamed for such deadly incidents.

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Unrelenting transport chaos as French strike bites

French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and senior cabinet ministers met late Sunday to discuss the government's proposed pensions reforms as public transport in France was crippled for a fourth day running in protest. The country's powerful labour unions, who claim the reforms will force many to work longer for a smaller retirement payout, began their protest on Thursday with the mass strike stranding commuters, closing schools and hitting tourism. On the first day, some 800,000 people took to the streets in protest at the plan to introduce a single, points-based pension scheme for workers in all economic sectors.

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TV reporter smacked on bottom during live broadcast: ‘You violated, objectified and embarrassed me’

A TV reporter said she was left “violated” and “embarrassed” after being smacked on the bottom during a live broadcast.Alex Bozarjian, of WSAV News, was reporting roadside from a 10km race in Savannah, Georgia, when a male participant ran up behind and struck her.

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3 Guard members killed in Minnesota Black Hawk crash identified

Killed were Chief Warrant Officer 2 James A. Rogers Jr., age 28; Chief Warrant Officer 2 Charles P. Nord, 30; and Sgt. Kort M. Plantenberg, 28.

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John Kerry Rallies With Joe Biden, Evoking Some 2004 Parallels

(Bloomberg) -- For some voters, seeing John Kerry and Joe Biden campaign together felt like déjà vu.In 2004, Kerry was the establishment Democrat who struggled in early-state polls but went on to defeat populist rivals for the nomination, propelled by a perception that he was the most “electable” option to face down a Republican incumbent unpopular with the left.Now Biden, having recently won Kerry’s endorsement, is looking to replicate that feat with a similar message of experience and steady leadership as he faces serious competition from progressive competitors.But the chummy Washington insiders rallying together on Sunday in New Hampshire also raised the specter of Biden meeting Kerry’s general-election fate, by failing to generate the enough voter excitement against an incumbent whose campaign played hard ball.‘Electability Argument’“John Kerry was one of those candidates that folks got behind precisely because of the electability argument. And yet,” said Rebecca Katz, a Democratic strategist who worked for John Edwards in the 2004 primary and has praised Biden’s 2020 rival Elizabeth Warren. “John Kerry was a flawed candidate, but much sharper in ’04 than Biden is today.”At a town hall in Nashua, Kerry reminisced about the 2004 campaign that he narrowly lost, though he insisted that wouldn’t happen to Biden.“In November of that year, we turned New Hampshire blue again. Carried Michigan, carried Wisconsin, carried Pennsylvania. We came within one state” of winning the general election, he said. “I know that Joe Biden is the person who can beat Donald Trump and bring this country back together.”Enthusiasm GapBut some in the crowd had doubts about Biden’s ability to win a general election.“That’s one of the reasons I’m leaning against him,” said Sheryl Laquerre, who recalled her work for Barack Obama’s successful 2008 campaign and said she doesn’t see the same enthusiasm for Biden. She’s leaning toward Warren in the New Hampshire primary.Her husband, Peter, said he’s inclined to support Pete Buttigieg because he wants “more progressive thinking and a fresher point of view.”Age at Issue Age may play a factor too. Kerry was around 60 when he ran for the White House, facing a Republican president of a similar age. Biden turned 77 in November and is vying to run against Trump, 73. Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is 37.Others were confident Biden would win in part, because the country was sick of Trump and eager for a change.Karen Stefano, who lives in Maryland but attended Biden’s Nashua event, said she’s “absolutely not” worried about Biden losing to Trump. “He has the gravitas to lead the country on day one,” she said. “I don’t think he’s going to come up short like, sadly, John Kerry did.”A Whisker ShortTerry Shumaker, a lawyer and former U.S. ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago who’s supporting Biden, said the Kerry endorsement was “highly significant” because the former Massachusetts senator is well-regarded in New Hampshire and won its 2004 primary. He added that “John Kerry came within a whisker of winning that election.”The two heaped praise on each other. They overlapped for 24 years in the U.S. Senate and served together in the Obama administration -- Biden as vice president and Kerry as the second-term secretary of State. “John and I have been simpatico, intellectually and politically, for a long, long time,” Biden told the crowd.Dirty TricksBut the comparisons to 2004 have their limits. Bush’s net approval rating during the election year was around 50%, according to Gallup tracking surveys. Trump’s approval has been stuck in the low 40% range throughout his presidency. And many voters believed it was wrong to change administration in the early stages of the Iraq war, which was then only a year old and still popular.Kerry, speaking to reporters, alluded to one notable difference between them: while he was one of the wealthiest members of Congress, Biden consistently ranked among the least affluent. Biden often discusses his working-class roots, which many supporters see as a political asset in swing states.“I know what Joe Biden’s relationship is to the people that make a difference in those states,” Kerry said. “And I think that they like him. They trust him. They’ve seen him fight for these issues for a long time. And I think when the race comes down to Joe Biden versus Donald Trump, there’s just a huge monumental difference between the two of them.”Still, Kerry warned that Republicans are using similar dirty tricks on Biden. In 2004, it was attacks on Kerry’s Vietnam War record; today, it’s accusations of corruption involving Biden’s son Hunter’s past work for a Ukrainian company.“This is not a new strategy. They did it with me, about my military record. It’s called create doubt,” Kerry said. “And that is precisely what they’re trying to do with Joe Biden,” he added. “That’s absolutely what they’re doing with Ukraine.”(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: Sahil Kapur in Nashua, New Hampshire at skapur39@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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