SOFTWARE HOUSE

REUTERSA delegation of Democratic and Republican lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee is traveling to Ukraine this week, a Democratic aide to the committee confirmed to The Daily Beast on Monday.The trip has been in the works for some time and includes stops elsewhere in Europe, but it is moving forward at a moment when Ukraine is dominating American politics. In the last week, an anonymous whistleblower’s allegation that President Trump repeatedly pressed the president of Ukraine to dig up dirt on former Vice President Joe Biden has gone public, and the expanding congressional probe into those claims is forming the basis of an official impeachment inquiry from House Democrats. The delegation is the first group of U.S. lawmakers to travel to Ukraine since early September, before any details of the whistleblower’s complaint were publicly known. The Democratic committee aide affirmed the trip is unrelated to the current Ukraine news, and said that lawmakers are heading there t

A parade by China’s secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade marking the ruling Communist Party’s 70th anniversary in power. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ol3t2d

The jury in the trial of Amber Guyger, a former Dallas police officer who is charged with murdering her neighbor in his apartment, can consider the "Castle Doctrine" as part of Guyger's defense, Judge Tammy Kemp ruled Monday, hours before final deliberations in the murder trial.The Castle Doctrine, which was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2007, “presumes that the use of force is reasonable and necessary when someone is unlawfully and with force entering or attempting to enter your occupied home, car, or place of business, or when someone is committing or trying to commit a crime against you.”Guyger, who shot and killed Jean in his own apartment on Sept. 6, 2018, was initially charged with manslaughter, but the district attorney’s office subsequently reviewed the case and indicted her on murder charges, with the implication that the shooting could not be considered manslaughter because Guyger admitted it was intentional.The shift also allowed for Guyger’s defense to ce

Fox News Breaking News Alert PROGRAMMING ALERT: Rudy Giuliani reacts to subpoena on 'Hannity,' 9 pm ET 09/30/19 5:36 PM

A journalist was wounded by gunfire in Haiti on Monday as police fired live ammunition to disperse protesters, his employer, Haitian broadcaster Radio Sans Fin (RSF) said, amid mounting anger over an escalating economic and political crisis. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2n2xeEF

A journalist was wounded by gunfire in Haiti on Monday as police fired live ammunition to disperse protesters, his employer, Haitian broadcaster Radio Sans Fin (RSF) said, amid mounting anger over an escalating economic and political crisis. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2n2xeEF

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney "is on shaky ground in the wake of a bad week for President Trump," CNN reports, largely because he didn't immediately "have a strategy for defending and explaining the contents" of a reconstructed transcript of Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) tried his hand Sunday with the White House's subsequent talking points. CNN's Jake Tapper wasn't having it.Jordan alleged that former Vice President Joe Biden had pressured Ukraine to fire top prosecutor Viktor Shokin to help out his lawyer son, Hunter Biden, who had recently gotten a seat on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma. "That's not what happened," Tapper said, noting repeatedly that Shokin was ousted because he wasn't prosecuting people and the Ukrainian investigations related to Burisma's owner were dormant when Hunter Biden was hired. Shokin "wasn'

Trump supporter Pastor Robert Jeffress is speaking out again to oppose the Democrat effort to impeach the president.   from CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2nXgZZw

Norman was one of the rare black singers to reach fame in the opera world. from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2oLJ1HR

A pilot project at Rotterdam airport plans to capture CO2 from the air and turn it into jet fuel. from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2nfOK8f

He was stolen from his family, then he stole from "posh homes" - now actor Jack Charles wants closure. from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2mYs6Bt

Relatives of Abdullah Haron, who died in detention 50 years ago, are still traumatised by his death. from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2nXWk7K

Hong Kong went into lockdown on Tuesday to ensure anti-government protests do not overshadow Chinese President Xi Jinping's commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2o07SqW

China will celebrate seven decades of communist rule on Tuesday with a display of power through central Beijing, showing off goose-stepping troops, new missiles and floats celebrating the country's technological prowess. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2mu8J2Q

The Al-Shabaab militant group claimed responsibility for an attack on a US base in Somalia on Monday, as the European Union confirmed a separate strike against a convoy of Italian advisers. The raid on the base prompted a counter-attack by US forces who staged "two air strikes and used small arms fire targeting al-Shabaab terrorists," Major General William Gayler, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) director of operations said, adding that 10 "terrorists" died and a vehicle was destroyed. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nZ8rBd

China's southern city of Guangzhou is at the heart of plans to link a cluster of cities in the Pearl River Delta, including Hong Kong and Macau, into a Greater Bay Area rivaling Silicon Valley and Greater Tokyo as an economic hub by 2035. Sprawling over 56,000 sq km (21,600 sq miles) with a population of more than 70 million, the Greater Bay Area is the centerpiece of a drive by China's ruling Communist Party to establish a hub of advanced manufacturing and technology. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2oBLBQt

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday warned against foreign interference in U.S. elections, threatening that nations seeking to meddle in the 2020 races will “have a serious problem” on their hands. “Look, 2018 was a big success story,” the Kentucky Republican told CNBC, praising the Trump administration’s efforts to safeguard last year’s midterm elections. Critics have branded the Senate leader as “Moscow Mitch” in recent months for his refusal to to bring election security legislation to the floor. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nakzPP

Hong Kong went into lockdown on Tuesday to ensure anti-government protests do not overshadow Chinese President Xi Jinping's commemorations of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2o07SqW

China will celebrate seven decades of communist rule on Tuesday with a display of power through central Beijing, showing off goose-stepping troops, new missiles and floats celebrating the country's technological prowess. from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2mu8J2Q

Trump supporter Pastor Robert Jeffress is speaking out again to oppose the Democrat effort to impeach the president.   from CBNNews.com https://ift.tt/2nXgZZw

From frantic journalists swarming lawmakers to a news cycle that wouldn't slow, members of Congress saw a week of consequence and chaos that made impeaching President Donald Trump a possible reality. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2naw9dD

Giuliani told Politico he believes he deserves whistleblower protection, but his attempts to defend himself have only further incriminated him. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mrwU1Q

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday supported the explanation offered as to why Vice President Joe Biden pressured the president of Ukraine in 2015 to crack down on corruption. Supporters of President Donald Trump — particularly his attorney Rudy Giuliani — have argued that Trump’s much-criticized July 25 phone call with the current president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was appropriate because Biden had been corrupt in pushing Poroshenko to get rid of the state prosecutor. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nHcAto

Russia has warned the US against publishing private conversations between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump as it emerged the White House may have restricted access to the president’s conversations with multiple world leaders. The comment was in response to the White House’s decision to publish a transcript of Mr Trump’s call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky after Democrats announced the beginning of a formal impeachment investigation into whether the US president pressured his counterpart to interfere in the 2020 election. Asked if Moscow is worried about transcripts of Mr Trump’s calls with the Russian President being similarly released, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "we would like to hope that it wouldn’t come to that in our relations, which are already troubled by a lot of problems." "The materials related to conversations between heads of states are usually classified according to normal international practice," he added. The publication of the

White House senior adviser Stephen Miller defended President Trump’s attempts to have the Ukrainian president open an investigation into Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, claiming on Sunday that the scandal was a “political hit job” by the “deep state” and that Trump was really the “whistleblower.” from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2m7Db2t

Fox NewsIn a bombshell report Sunday morning, Fox News reported that two frequent guests on the right-leaning cable news channel were “working off the books” to help former New York City mayor and current presidential attorney Rudy Giuliani dig up dirt on President Donald Trump’s leading Democratic opponent—and that the only person who knew about their involvement was the president himself.Fox News Sunday anchor Chris Wallace broke the news that Giuliani wasn’t acting alone when it came to digging up Ukrainian dirt on Trump’s potential 2020 presidential opponent Joe Biden.“Two high-profile Washington lawyers, Joe diGenova, who’s been a fierce critic of the Democratic investigation, and his wife Victoria Toensing were working with Giuliani to get oppo research on Biden,” Wallace said at the top of his broadcast.“According to a top U.S. official, all three were working off the books apart from the administration,” Wallace added. “The only person in government who knows what they were doi

Benjamin Franklin was a leading voice in the debates framing the Constitution. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2omNnoH

Famous murals celebrating Iran's Islamic revolution daubed on walls of the former US embassy in Tehran have been erased to make way for new paintings to be unveiled on the fortieth anniversary of the hostage crisis. Three workers were on Sunday afternoon seen removing the original artwork with a sandblaster against the wall of Taleqani avenue, bordering the south side of what was once dubbed a US "spy nest" in central Tehran. On November 4, 1979, less than nine months after Iran's last shah was toppled, pro-revolution students took Americans hostage at the embassy to protest the ex-shah's admission to hospital in the US. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mQHdMY

Pakistan's leader castigated India over its Kashmir crackdown from the podium of the United Nations on Friday, warning of a "bloodbath" when and if Indian authorities lift a curfew over the disputed territory.The speech by Prime Minister Imran Khan at the United Nations General Assembly was partly directed at his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, who in his own speech earlier Friday omitted any reference to Kashmir.Last month India revoked the long-standing autonomy of the mountainous border region, the flashpoint of two wars with Pakistan since both achieved independence from Britain more than 70 years ago.Indian authorities arrested thousands of Kashmiris, severed most electronic access and imposed a curfew on the entire populace of about 8 million. While some curbs have been eased, the curfew remains in effect.Modi and his subordinates have described their move as an internal domestic matter aimed at making the region more prosperous.The Indian prime minister's sh

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photo by Alex Wong/GettyThe big lie spouted by Donald Trump and his allies in the unfurling Ukraine affair—an unprecedented abuse of public trust, which has now led directly to an impeachment inquiry—is that former Vice President Joe Biden urged the Ukrainians to fire the Kyiv general prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in order to save Biden’s son's hide. Many of Trump’s cronies and foot soldiers have already spun this line, from Donald Trump Jr. to Rudy Giuliani to Arthur Schwartz.Others have rightly pointed out that, in reality, Biden was not simply relaying the message pushed by the Obama administration, but that his position was supported by Ukrainian anti-corruption activists, European allies, and even groups like the International Monetary Foundation (IMF). As Tom Malinowski, former assistant secretary of state under Obama, recalled this week, “All of us working on Ukraine wanted this prosecutor gone, because he was NOT prosecuting corruption. So

Hong Kong protesters are to join a global "anti-totalitarianism rally" on Sunday, following another night of violent clashes with police after weeks of pro-democracy unrest in the Chinese-ruled city. Police fired tear gas and water cannon on Saturday night to disperse protesters who threw petrol bombs and rocks, broke government office windows and blocked a key road near the local headquarters of China's People's Liberation Army. Thousands, young and old, gathered peacefully on Saturday at a harbourside park to mark the fifth anniversary of the "Umbrella" pro-democracy movement which gridlocked streets for 79 days in 2014. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nytw5z

The U.S. Justice Department filed a statement saying the First Amendment protects the right of the Archdiocese to apply Catholic doctrine. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nXgONR

Kurt Volker, the State Department's special envoy for Ukraine, resigned Friday amid a formal impeachment inquiry of President Trump and his communications with the Ukrainian government, including the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Volker did not provide a public explanation for leaving his post, but a source familiar with his decision said Volker concluded he could not perform the job effectively as a result of the recent developments.One person familiar with the matter told NBC News that Volker's resignation will likely enable him to be much freer in what he can say about his time at his post if he is called at some point to testify before Congress.The whistleblower complaint that sparked the impeachment inquiry alleges that Volker went to Kiev to help guide Ukrainian officials on how to handle Trump's alleged demands that the government investigate former Vice President Joe Biden's son, Hunter. He also reportedly spoke with Trump's personal lawyer Ru

Officer Brian Mulkeen was fatally shot, possibly with his own gun, in the Bronx during a struggle with an armed assailant, police said. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mDbhfb

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron on Sunday supported the explanation offered as to why Vice President Joe Biden pressured the president of Ukraine in 2015 to crack down on corruption. Supporters of President Donald Trump — particularly his attorney Rudy Giuliani — have argued that Trump’s much-criticized July 25 phone call with the current president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, was appropriate because Biden had been corrupt in pushing Poroshenko to get rid of the state prosecutor. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2nHcAto

The former Arizona Senator, who was one of Trump's most visible critics in the Senate, said if there was a secret vote, "there would be at least 35" GOP senators to vote for impeachment. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2myJhJk

Zimbabwe's founding leader Robert Mugabe was buried on Saturday in his home village of Kutama, ending a dispute between his family and the government of his successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa over his final resting place. Mugabe ruled Zimbabwe for 37 years from independence in 1980 but was a polarizing figure idolized by some for his role in the country's liberation struggle and hated by others for ruining a promising nation through disastrous economic policies and repression against opponents. After Mass by a Roman Catholic priest and speeches by family members, Mugabe was buried in the courtyard of his rural homestead without the pomp and fun fare usually reserved for national heroes. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2msG2n3

"Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace said that top U.S. officials confirmed President Trump was working with more than one personal lawyer "off the books" to pressure Ukrainian officials for damaging information on former Vice President Joe Biden. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2mck9rU

A parade by China’s secretive military will offer a rare look at its rapidly developing arsenal, including possibly a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States in 30 minutes, as Beijing gets closer to matching Washington and other powers in weapons technology.The Dongfeng 41 is one of a series of new weapons Chinese media say might be unveiled during the parade marking the ruling Communist Party’s 70th anniversary in power. from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://ift.tt/2ol3t2d