A Perfect Cheese for Raclette

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Was attack by Soleimani 'imminent' before U.S. killed him? Pompeo dodges the question.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday defended President Trump’s order to launch a drone strike that killed Iran’s charismatic Gen. Qassem Soleimani, escalating the tension between Washington and Tehran.

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Mount Holyoke Art Professor Tried to Gouge Out Eyes of Woman She Loved: Cops

Rie Hachiyanagi, a 48-year-old art professor and performance artist, was arraigned on Friday for an alleged attack on Christmas Eve morning on a female professor in her 60s she had fallen in love with but who apparently did not share the sentiment.The Mount Holyoke College prof, who has worked at the prestigious college since 2004, is accused of using a decorative rock, a fire poker and garden shears to try to kill an unnamed faculty member who used trickery to stop the attack, by telling Hachiyanagi she returned her amorous feelings, according to court documents. The victim suffered “multiple broken bones in the nose and eye area and numerous lacerations and puncture wounds on the head and face,” according to a police report by State Trooper Geraldine L. Bresnahan presented at the court hearing. Investigators say Hachiyanagi called 911 after midnight Dec. 24 to report that the other professor was “lying in a pool of blood and barely breathing” inside the victim’s home in Leverett, Mass. Hachiyanagi explained to officers that her own blood-drenched clothing was from helping–not hurting–the victim, who, in front of investigators, confirmed the story. But when the victim was in the ambulance en route to the hospital, she said that Prof. Hachiyanagi was actually the attacker, and police immediately took her into custody, according to the Daily Hampshire Gazette.The victim then explained to investigators that Hachiyanagi showed up at her home uninvited late Dec. 23 to “talk about her feelings,” telling the victim that “she loved her for many years” and assumed that she was aware of her feelings. When the victim explained that the feelings were not mutual, Hachiyanagi allegedly started attacking her with what she could reach: decorative rocks, a fireplace poker, and gardening shears. The victim then tried to calm Hachiyanagi by telling her that she had reconsidered, and that indeed she did feel something. Convinced that there was hope for what she thought was unrequited love, Hachiyanagi reportedly stopped the attack and the two women hatched a plan to tell police that someone else had carried out the brutal beating, according to the Northwestern District Attorney’s Office.Hachiyanagi then told police that she had a history of concussions and memory loss and thus did not remember anything after 6 p.m. the night of Dec. 23. Police say they found the victim’s keys, glasses and a mobile phone in her possession when they arrested her. Hachiyanagi now faces charges of armed assault with attempt to murder a person over the age of 60, three counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, mayhem, and armed assault in a dwelling. She denies wrongdoing. 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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Pentagon officials reportedly presented Trump with the option of killing a top Iranian commander, not thinking he'd actually do it

Later, the Trump administration would defend the strikes by saying Maj. Gen. Qasssem Soleimani had been plotting an "imminent" attack.

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Somali jihadists kill 3 Americans in attack on Kenya military base

Jihadists from Somalia's Al-Shabaab group on Sunday stormed a military base used by US forces in Kenya's coastal Lamu region, killing three American citizens and destroying several aircraft and military vehicles, officials said. Attackers breached heavy security at Camp Simba at dawn but were pushed back and four jihadists killed, said army spokesman Colonel Paul Njuguna. Al-Shabaab has launched regular cross-border raids since Kenya sent troops into Somalia in 2011 as part of an African Union force protecting the internationally backed government -- which the jihadists have been trying to overthrow for more than a decade.

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Democratic candidate Michael Bloomberg clinched his first celebrity endorsement — and it's Judge Judy

Judge Judy, whose real name is Judith Sheindlin, appeared in a campaign ad released on Monday giving her support to Michael Bloomberg.

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Ghosn escaped from Japan after hiding in large crate too big for airport scanners: Reports

Carlos Ghosn managed to sneak out of Japan undetected due to a simple design limitation on a luggage scanner at a Japanese airport, the Wall Street Journal and Nikkei Asian Review reported.

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Police seek person who released bedbugs in Walmart store

Someone appears to have deliberately tried to release bedbugs in a Walmart store in Pennsylvania, and police are searching for whoever was behind it, authorities said Monday. Troopers have made no arrests and do not have any suspects, said Trooper Cindy Schic, a state police spokeswoman. A manager from the Walmart store in Edinboro, in northwestern Pennsylvania, contacted police Saturday after store employees found pill bottles with bugs in them.

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Billionaire Czech Premier Faces More Heat Over Conflict of Interest Probes

(Bloomberg) -- Want the lowdown on European markets? In your inbox before the open, every day. Sign up here.The Czech Republic’s billionaire prime minister is coming under increasing pressure over allegations of conflict of interest, which last year triggered the country’s biggest anti-government protests in three decades.A European Commission audit said that Andrej Babis maintained control over his chemical, farming and media business empire, which continued to receive funds from the European Union’s budget after he took power in 2017, news website Neovlivni.cz reported Monday, citing a person with knowledge of the findings.The audit focused on investment subsidies for agriculture companies and came to the same conclusion as last year’s probe related to EU’s development funds. Babis said he had no inflation about the farming audit.The prime minister rejected all allegations and said he obeyed the rules by placing his company Agrofert in trusts before taking office. Babis also expects the country to oppose any “senseless interpretation of the Czech law by Brussels,” according to a statement to the public newswire CTK.Agrofert, which employs about 34,000 people in 18 countries and had sales of 158 billion koruna ($7 billion) in 2018, also said it had no information about the farming audit. The Czech Radio reported the company received 66 million koruna in such subsidies in 2018, half of which came from EU budget.The conflict-of-interest allegations were a chief trigger of a series of the biggest anti-government demonstrations since the fall of communism. The organizers of the rallies said they’ll announce further protest actions against Babis on Tuesday.Despite the protests and the legal challenges, Babis remains the most popular politician in the country of 10.7 million. His ANO party has a wide lead in opinion polls about two years before elections following decisions to raise pensions and salaries of state employees.To contact the reporter on this story: Lenka Ponikelska in Prague at lponikelska1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Andrea Dudik at adudik@bloomberg.net, Peter Laca, Andras GergelyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2020 Bloomberg L.P.

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Steve Irwin's family announces it has saved 90,000 animals in Australia, and says admissions are surging as bushfires rage on

Bushfires in Australia have destroyed the country's wildlife and nature. Nearly half a billion animals are believed to have died this season alone.

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Iran news – live: 'Never threaten our nation', warns supreme leader after Trump says he'll bomb cultural sites

Donald Trump has warned he may retaliate with “disproportionate” force if Iran hits any US targets, using a Twitter post to “notify” Congress of his intentions while more bombs fell near the American embassy in Baghdad.Hinting at sanctions against Iraq if the country moves to enforce Sunday’s vote to expel foreign troops, he also doubled down on his threat to target Iranian cultural sites, despite Mike Pompeo’s protestations the president’s comments had been misinterpreted.

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Impeachment Briefing: What John Bolton Could Tell Us

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Targeting Cultural Sites in War Is Illegal. It’s Also Barbaric.

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The United States Bet Guaidó Could Transform Venezuela. It Hasn’t Happened.

By BY JULIE TURKEWITZ, LARA JAKES AND ANA VANESSA HERRERO from NYT World https://ift.tt/2tDVoYJ

This Dutch Oven Has a Dutch Pedigree

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At Dulceria, Chilean Cookies and Other Delights

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A Single Pot Irish Whiskey Comes to America

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A Chef Designs Shelf-Stable Meals for the Needy

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A Defense Department Letter Was an ‘Honest Mistake’

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Pier 1 Imports to Close Up to 450 Stores and Cut Jobs

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Republican Congressman Shares Fake Image of Obama and Iranian President

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Between U.S. and Iran, EU powers try mediation and pressure to ease crisis

Germany, Britain and France are scrambling to keep talks with Iran over its 2015 nuclear agreement alive despite Tehran having all but torn up the deal after the United States killed its top military commander.

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Spain's lawmakers likely to back Sanchez coalition in tight vote

Spanish lawmakers are expected to vote by the narrowest of margins on Tuesday to confirm Socialist leader Pedro Sanchez as head of a left-wing coalition government.

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