White House will not participate in Wednesday's impeachment hearing
White House Counsel Pat Cipollone left open the possibility that President Donald Trump may participate in future hearings.By Tim Stelloh
The White House said Sunday it will not participate in the House Judiciary Committee's first impeachment hearing on Wednesday but left open the possibility that it may take part in future proceedings.
In a letter to committee chairman Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said next week's hearing does “not begin to provide the president with any semblance of a fair process.”
But Cipollone said President Donald Trump may participate if he is allowed to do so “meaningfully.”
Boris Johnson ignores family’s plea not to exploit victims' deaths
PM accused of ‘distasteful’ attempt to turn London Bridge attack into election issue
Boris Johnson has been accused of twisting the facts of the London Bridge terror attack in a “distasteful” attempt to turn it into an election issue, as he tried to blame Labour for the release of the terrorist who stabbed two people to death.
Despite one of the victims’ families pleading for their son’s death not to be used as an excuse for kneejerk political reaction, Johnson claimed that “a lefty government” was responsible for Usman Khan being freed.
The family of Jack Merritt called for the murder of “our beautiful, talented boy” to not be exploited for political gain, as police named the second victim as Saskia Jones, a prisoner rehabilitation volunteer.
AfD Campaign Finance TroubleA Right-Wing Populist Slush Fund Exposed
The right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany is already embroiled in a campaign donation scandal. But documents obtained by DER SPIEGEL show that more trouble could be on the horizon due to a murky slush fund used in the party's early days.
The email provided a window on the developing campaign. On Jan. 8, 2013, Bernd Lucke informed his associates of "important developments" for the Wahlalternative 2013, as the precursor to the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany (AfD) was called. Among the recipients was Alexander Gauland, the present-day co-leader of the party.
The fall election is a "great challenge," Lucke wrote, but the work was proceeding apace. Already, he continued, hundreds of volunteers had offered their services and progress was also being made on donations: "We have high hopes for significantly improved funding," wrote the economics professor. A Munich-based PR agency, he wrote, had facilitated ties with a group of "politically interested mid-sized companies" who wanted to "focus their political support on the Wahlalternative." Lucke noted in his email that "it won't be a six-digit amount of cash, because some of the support will consist of press conferences, but they are also important, and cash will hopefully be part of it."
Huawei CEO says his daughter should be proud she became a 'bargaining chip' in the trade war
Updated 1247 GMT (2047 HKT) December 1, 2019
Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei, has been called the face of the US-China trade war.
But to Huawei founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei, she is the daughter he praises for her year of "suffering."
"She should be proud to have been caught in this situation. In the fight between the two nations, she became a bargaining chip," Ren said in an interview with CNN Business on Tuesday.
Israel planning new settlement in flashpoint city of Hebron
Palestinian officials slam plan, calling it result of US decision to no longer consider settlements illegal.
Israel's defence minister has approved plans for the building of a new illegal settlement in the heart of the flashpoint city of Hebron, drawing sharp criticism from Palestinian officials.
The defence ministry said on Sunday that Naftali Bennett had instructed departments responsible for the occupied West Bank "to notify the Hebron municipality of planning a new Jewish neighbourhood in the wholesale market complex", according to local media reports.
Private prisons face an uncertain future as states turn their backs on the industry
States are passing laws abolishing private prisons and business cutting ties with the facilities. And private prison companies are planning for a future in which their core service is illegal.
By
Alex Friedmann, 50, was transferred to a Tennessee public prison in 1998 after having spent the previous six years incarcerated in a private facility. Everything was different: there were more blankets, the toilet paper wasn’t as cheap, and correctional officers were everywhere.
“First thing I noticed was there’s a heck of a lot more staff or boots on the ground in the public prisons,” he told Vox. “There was not such an emphasis on cutting costs.”
After being released in 1999, Friedmann — now the associate director of the Human Rights Defense Center — began fighting for the abolishment of private prisons, and has spent the past two decades doing so. The arguments against them are clear, he said: their for-profit model encourages the business to cut corners, affecting inmates’ safety and quality of living.
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