The Washington Post
House approves measure limiting Trump’s authority to take further military action against Iran
The House voted Thursday to prevent … Trump from taking additional military action against Iran, an opening move in a Democratic-led campaign to reassert congressional authority over the use of force abroad.
The 224-to-194 vote, which came a day after the administration’s senior national security officials briefed lawmakers about the strike that killed a top Iranian commander, fell largely along party lines, with three Republicans and a Republican-turned-independent endorsing the resolution. Eight Democrats opposed the measure, which instructs Trump “to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces to engage in hostilities in or against Iran or any part of its government or military” unless Congress declares war or there is “an imminent armed attack upon the United States.” […]
Democrats and a handful of Republicans were so frustrated by the administration’s resistance to fully involving Congress that the belated effort to engage Capitol Hill largely backfired — fueling momentum for Thursday’s vote.
A billion animals have been caught in Australia’s fires. Some may go extinct.
[…] More than 1 billion mammals, birds and reptiles nationwide — some of them found nowhere else on Earth — may have been affected or killed by the fires sweeping across Australia, according to a University of Sydney estimate. The potential toll is far greater when other types of animals are included.
“We’re not just talking about koalas — we’re talking mammals, birds, plants, fungi, insects, other invertebrates, amphibians, and bacteria and microorganisms that are critical to these systems,” said Manu Saunders, a research fellow and insect ecologist at the University of New England in Armidale.
Individual animals might survive, but when their habitat is gone, “it doesn’t matter,” Saunders said. “They’ll die anyway.”
Inside Elizabeth Warren’s effort to court her vanquished rivals — and why it’s worth her time
Elizabeth Warren had just finished hiking in Washington’s North Cascades mountains in August when she dropped in for lunch with the state’s Democratic governor, Jay Inslee, who had recently left the presidential race and whose endorsement she was seeking. […]
Warren’s courtship of her onetime rivals is more than just flattery. It’s a quiet part of a strategy that’s becoming more urgent: to craft an image as a consensus candidate, one who can unite a fractured party whose dueling wings are often represented by two of her top rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a democratic socialist, and former vice president Joe Biden, an establishment fixture.
The Guardian
Tehran crash: plane downed by Iranian missile, western officials believe
The Ukrainian passenger jet that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday was accidentally shot down by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile, western security officials believe.
Intelligence sources told the Guardian their assessments suggest two surface-to-air missiles had targeted the Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 that went down in Iran on Wednesday morning, killing all 176 people onboard.
The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau said his government “will not rest” until it got justice.
“We have intelligence, including from our allies and own intelligence that the plane was shot down by Iranian surface-to-air missiles,” Trudeau said. “Canadians want answers. That means transparency, accountability and justice.”
Bollywood backing grows for students in anti-Modi protests
Opposition to the policies of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, is gathering strength in Bollywood as a growing number of actors voice their support for student protesters.
A day after one of Bollywood’s highest-paid stars, Deepika Padukone, showed her solidarity with young protesters by appearing alongside them, a host of high-profile actors and directors have backed the students, who have been demonstrating against a new citizenship law observers say discriminates against Muslims.
White House unveils plan for major projects to bypass environmental review
The Trump administration on Thursday unveiled a plan to speed permitting for major infrastructure projects like oil pipelines, road expansions and bridges.
It is one of the biggest deregulatory actions of the president’s tenure and comes at the cost of greatly narrowing the use of one of the country’s landmark environmental laws, especially assessments of how developments could exacerbate the climate crisis.
Donald Trump is proposing changes that could allow projects ranging from oil pipelines to mines to move forward with far less federal review of their impact on the environment.
AP News
Video in apparent Epstein suicide attempt is lost, US says
Video footage of the area around Jeffrey Epstein’s jail cell on a day he survived an apparent suicide attempt “no longer exists,” federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday.
Officials at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York believed they had preserved footage of guards finding Epstein after he appeared to have attempted suicide, but actually saved a video from a different part of the jail, prosecutors said.
The FBI also has determined that the footage does not exist on the jail’s backup video system “as a result of technical errors,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Maurene Comey and Jason Swergold wrote in a court filing.
China threat looms over presidential election in Taiwan
Further deadlock and heightened pressure from China is the likely outcome if Taiwan’s independence-leading President Tsai Ing-wen wins a second term this weekend, as is widely predicted.
Tsai had been leading by a comfortable margin in most polls before the standard blackout period on surveys was imposed 10 days before Saturday’s elections.
Despite her party losing badly in local elections 14 months ago, Tsai has been buoyed by hostile words and actions from China and months of anti-government protests in Hong Kong, which she says proves that Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula by which it proposes to govern Taiwan is untenable.
Pelosi to ‘soon’ send impeachment articles for Senate trial
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she will “soon″ transmit the articles of impeachment against … Donald Trump, signaling a potential thaw in the standoff with Senate Republicans as she warned against rushing to an acquittal without a fair trial. […]
Many on Capitol Hill expect the Senate impeachment trial to begin next week.
“I’ll send them over when I’m ready. That will probably be soon,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol, noting she is not postponing it “indefinitely.″
Los Angeles Times
North Dakota was an immigrant haven — until Trump
For decades, this conservative, predominantly white capital city has played host to refugees from around the world… Nobody used to pay them much mind.
“Life was getting better,” said 20-year-old Tresor Mugwaneza, who settled here four years ago after fleeing war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and eventually enrolled at the University of Mary.
Things started to change with the 2016 election of President Trump, who has suggested that many refugees are criminals and has extolled his belief in putting “America first” by drastically reducing the number allowed to enter the United States.
The ‘Mayor Pete’ era is over in South Bend, Ind. What legacy does Pete Buttigieg leave?
On Jan. 1, Pete Buttigieg’s second term ended, and the “Mayor Pete” era in South Bend was over. In the Democratic presidential candidate’s telling, he presided over a Rust Belt comeback story in Indiana’s fourth-largest city, a metaphor for what is possible elsewhere in America. […]
Among residents of color, who make up nearly half of South Bend’s population, reviews of Buttigieg’s legacy are noticeably mixed — some positive, some outright hostile.
The local criticism has taken on national importance in the Democratic primary, where he has struggled to attract voters who aren’t white. It’s a weakness that’s been offset by Buttigieg’s significant support in the two states that hold the first nominating contests, Iowa and New Hampshire, where black and Latino voters are deeply underrepresented compared with the Democratic Party overall.
Gov. Newsom to propose more spending on wildfire efforts in new California budget
Gov. Gavin Newsom is calling for the state to invest more money next year to prevent and prepare for disasters after wildfires and earthquakes again wreaked havoc on California in 2019.
Much of the governor’s proposal focuses on efforts to reduce and respond to wildfires, including funding 677 new CalFire positions over five years and allocating $90 million for new technology and a forecast center to better predict, track and battle blazes. The plan also calls for the continuation of a $200-million annual investment approved by lawmakers to reduce the kinds of vegetation that fuel wildfires, and more than $100 million to fund the Legislature’s pilot program to harden homes in fire-prone areas.
The Oregonian
Oregon coast braces for massive king tides this weekend; researchers warn this is the future
Massive tides, dragged up the shore by the gravitational pull of the sun and the moon, will wash up on the Oregon coast this weekend, giving researchers a glimpse of what threats climate change might pose to coastal communities.
The high tides forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, informally known as king tides, occur a few times a year when the Earth is closest to the moon and sun. The gravitational pull of the celestial bodies can bring water up to 4 feet higher than an average high tide.
As the planet warms, mostly due to the increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland melt. Water also takes up more space as it warms in a process known as thermal expansion. Melting ice and thermal expansion are expected to drive up sea levels across the globe, including on the Oregon coast, where problems like erosion and flooding would be be exacerbated.
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Gov. Tim Walz pitches $276 million in bonds for affordable housing
Gov. Tim Walz unveiled the first phase of his 2020 state bonding proposal Thursday, recommending to the Legislature that Minnesota borrow $276 million to pay for affordable housing projects across the state.
The DFL governor said the figure, an increase from levels proposed by previous administrations, would go a long way in “addressing a need that all Minnesotans know is real.”
A supermajority of the Legislature must ratify the governor’s borrowing proposal, meaning that it will require votes from both Democrats and Republicans to pass into law.
The Denver Post
Health care, tax relief lead Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ State of the State
Gov. Jared Polis called for income tax relief, a renewed effort for increased transportation funding and a public health insurance option during his annual State of the State address Thursday.
The Boulder Democrat, in his second year as governor, also called for greater rural economic development and, as he often does, called for more money for early childhood education.
Before Polis could begin his speech — which ran about 57 minutes — a group of anti-fracking demonstrators disrupted the House of Representatives chamber where he was set to speak. Another shouted “ban fracking now!” as the governor began his speech.
Chicago Tribune
Homeowners near the Great Lakes face a ‘very scary’ challenge: How do you handle a generation’s worth of water level changes in just a few years?
[…] In 2013, Lake Huron bottomed out, hitting its lowest mark in more than a century, as did Lake Michigan, which shares the same water levels, according to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Around that time, the lake withdrew so far from the shore around [Mark] Engle’s resort — then a collection of 12 rustic cabins and three docks — that mud was all that remained beneath his boathouse.
In just 3 ½ years, levels rose more than 4 feet and last summer peaked at nearly 6 feet above the record low.
“We’re living in a time period of extremes,” Engle said, looking out at a waterfront that has morphed into a graveyard of flotsam. “If you look at what’s happened in the last five or six years, it’s kind of scary. Very scary. And it’s out of our control.”
Toronto Star
‘I lost a friend’: Hundreds honour victims of Iran plane crash at Toronto vigils
Hundreds of people gathered in North York Thursday evening to express their sorrow and anger over the air disaster near Tehran that killed 176 people on Wednesday.
Mourners gathered at two separate vigils, one outside in a dark and chilly Mel Lastman Square, and the other inside at the nearby North York Civic Centre. At both events attendees, many of them members of the Iranian-Canadian community, lit candles and laid flowers in front of pictures of the victims. Outside, they played the Canadian national anthem, followed by the Iranian one, as mourners waved red, white, and green Iranian flags.
Will Trump change his tune now it seems a missile downed the Ukraine plane?
Does Donald Trump’s response to Iran change, now that we know its missiles likely killed 176 people, including 63 Canadians?
Some experts who spoke to the Toronto Star say probably not.
“I don’t think it’s going to have a major impact in changing the basic calculus of both Trump and the supreme leader,” says Aaron David Miller, an expert on the Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Deutsche Welle
Wildfires: Climate change and deforestation increase the global risk
Huge bushfires have been burning in Australia for months. But the risk of severe wildfires is increasing everywhere. A look at the link between climate change and this devastating trend.
After months of extreme heat and drought in Australia, the fires finally came. Australia experiences bushfires every year. But this year they are particularly extreme — and summer in the southern hemisphere has only just begun. […]
But Australia isn't the only place which is burning. In 2019, online platform Global Forest Watch Fires (GFW Fires) counted over 4.5 million fires worldwide that were larger than one square kilometer. That's a total of 400,000 more fires than 2018.
UK parliament approves Brexit withdrawal deal
The UK parliament has passed Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Brexit deal bill, authorizing Britain's exit from the EU. The vote ends years of wrangling over the initial terms of Britain's withdrawal.
Member of the House of Commons ratified the government's Withdrawal Agreement Bill on Thursday evening by 330 votes to 231. The bill, which will pass to the House of Lords next week for further scrutiny, paves the way for Britain to leave the European Union on January 31. […]
The legislation addresses initial issues over the separation — such as EU citizens' rights and Britain's financial settlement. It also sets out an 11-month transition period to agree a wider partnership with the remaining 27 nations. The deal must also be ratified by the European Parliament.
Vox
The Trump administration has finalized an agreement to deport Honduran asylum seekers back to Honduras
The Trump administration finalized an agreement Thursday that would allow the US to deport migrants seeking protection at the US-Mexico border back to Honduras.
Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf arrived in Honduras Thursday to go over the implementation of the agreement with President Juan Orlando Hernández, who is facing prosecution in the US for allegedly accepting campaign contributions from drug traffickers.
Wolf announced in an address in Tegucigalpa that the agreement, originally signed in September, would go into effect in a matter of weeks.
Facebook will continue letting politicians lie in ads
Twitter has banned most kinds of political ads. Google has limited the effectiveness of political ads it accepts.
But Facebook, which may be the most powerful force in online ads during the 2020 campaign, says it won’t change its core, controversial policies about political ads: It will continue to run them, it will not prevent politicians from lying in ads they buy on Facebook, and it will not restrict campaigns’ ability to target groups of voters with their ads. […]
Facebook’s non-decision should please Donald Trump, whose campaign has already complained about Google’s move to limit targeting. (In an internal memo that surfaced this week, Facebook executive Andrew “Boz” Bosworth said Trump’s 2016 campaign had used Facebook to run “the single best digital ad campaign I’ve ever seen from any advertiser. Period.”)
The Atlantic
A New Nuclear Era Is Coming
Iranian missile attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq. Deadly chaos in Iran. A sudden halt of the fight against the Islamic State. Utter confusion over whether U.S. troops will remain in Iraq, and even whether the United States still respects the laws of war. The fallout from the Trump administration’s killing of Qassem Soleimani has been swift and serious.
But one potential knock-on effect may not come into clear view for some time: the emergence of Iran as the next nuclear-weapons state, at the very moment when the world appears on the cusp of a more perilous nuclear age. It’s possible that the Reaper drone hovering over Baghdad’s airport last week destroyed not only an infamous Iranian general, but also the last hope of curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
Democrats’ Future Is Moving Beyond the Rust Belt
For Democrats, the Sun Belt imperative is growing more urgent.
While most in the party are preoccupied with winning back the three Rust Belt states that tipped the 2016 election to Donald Trump, both people and political power are continuing to migrate inexorably from that region to the younger and more diverse states in the Southeast and Southwest. […]
In the near future, then, Democrats will likely need to offset any Republican gains in the Rust Belt by winning more elections in Sun Belt states, which are adding more of the diverse, white-collar, and urbanized voters at the core of the modern Democratic coalition. Through the coming decade and beyond, the crucial variable that could tilt the national balance of power between the parties may be whether Democrats can leverage those demographic advantages in the Sun Belt to break the hold Republicans have enjoyed on most of the region since at least the 1970s.
BBC News
Niger military base attack leaves 25 soldiers dead
The army in Niger says a military camp was attacked by suspected Islamist militants, killing at least 25 soldiers and more than 60 assailants.
This attack comes just days ahead of a summit in France with West African leaders to assess military operations in the Sahel region.
The attack took place on an army outpost in western Niger, just a few kilometers from the border with Mali.
It is close to where 71 soldiers were killed just a month ago, in an attack later claimed by the Islamic State Group affiliate in the region.
Anadolu Agency
Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan talks on Nile dam fail
The fresh round of talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan on the water filling strategy and operation of the dam being built by Addis Ababa on the Nile ended inconclusively on Thursday.
Any agreement in the fourth and last round of talks could not be reached, according to Ethiopian Minister of Water Seleshi Bekele who said, “Egypt comes up with a new matrix that sets the time of the filling of the dam in 12 to 21 years.”
“That is unacceptable,” Seleshi said, adding Ethiopia will begin to fill the dam as of coming July. During the talks, Ethiopia proposed filling the dam in four to seven years.
Merco Press
Israel nuclear power: Netanyahu slip of the tongue or subtle warning
In an apparent slip of the tongue, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Israel as a nuclear power before correcting himself with a bashful nod and an embarrassed smile.
Israel is widely believed to have an atomic arsenal but has never confirmed or denied that it has nuclear weapons, maintaining a so-called policy of ambiguity on the issue for decades. […]
“The significance of this project is that we are turning Israel into a nuclear power,” he said, before quickly correcting himself to say “energy power”.
Reuters
Tear gas and water cannons: Hong Kong students brave the front lines to livestream the protests
It was holiday time at Hong Kong’s sprawling Harbour City shopping mall, and shoppers posed for selfies next to giant presents wrapped in golden foil, while toddlers jumped into a ball pit filled with fake marshmallows. College students Oscar Tsoi and Joanna Ho raced past candy-colored Christmas trees, on the tail of riot police and protesters.
Tsoi, a skinny 19-year-old who looks even younger, was wearing a fluorescent yellow safety vest over his signature white hoodie. Ho, 20, had on combat-style boots and a corduroy skirt with her safety vest. They were both wearing helmets with the word PRESS stamped across them.
“I think it’s bulletproof,” Tsoi said with a weak smile, pointing to his khaki-green helmet.
Looking for a winner, Democrats keep Biden and Sanders on top: Reuters/Ipsos poll
Former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders remain the top candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination as potential voters appear increasingly interested in picking a winner this year instead of someone who shares their interests, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday. […]
According to the Jan. 8-9 poll, 23% of registered Democrats said they supported Biden, while 20% supported Sanders and 15% said they would vote for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was backed by 8% of registered Democrats and 7% supported Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana.
None of the other candidates received more than 3%, and another 13% of registered Democrats said they do not know which candidate to support.
Ars Technica
Deadly fungus became resistant to all existing drugs in 3 unlinked US patients
A deadly fungal pathogen developed the ability to resist all existing antifungal drugs on three separate occasions in the United States, according to a new report.
The fungus, Candida auris, was already classified as an "urgent threat" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the emergence of so called "pan-resistant" strains raises additional concern, according to the report's authors, who are infectious disease specialists at the CDC and the New York State Department of Health. They published their findings Thursday in the CDC's publication Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
Chrome to start blocking annoying notification requests
In a blog post yesterday, Google outlined plans for a less intrusive permission UI for Chrome's notification feature. Chrome's current permission UI spawns a pop-up box near the address bar, which covers Web content and is one of the many annoying pop-ups that can spawn when a website loads, alongside "subscribe to our site/newsletter" and "this site uses cookies."
Google's post says that, while notifications are "an essential capability for a wide range of applications," Chrome's permission pop-up is also "a common complaint" among users that "interrupt[s] the user's workflow and result[s] in a bad user experience." To address these complaints, Chrome 80 will introduce a quieter notification UI. Interestingly, Mozilla announced basically the same changes to Firefox recently.
The quieter UI will block notifications by default, rather than spawn a pop-up asking if users want to allow notifications or not. On the desktop, a message appears in the address bar saying "Notifications blocked," and clicking on the adjacent bell icon will allow the user to enable notifications.