Trump Deploys More Troops to the Middle East After Embassy Attack

WASHINGTON (AP) — Charging that Iran was “fully responsible” for an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq, President Donald Trump ordered about 750 U.S. soldiers deployed to the Middle East as about 3,000 more prepared for possible deployment in the next several days.

No U.S. casualties or evacuations were reported after the attack Tuesday by dozens of Iran-supported militiamen. U.S. Marines were sent from Kuwait to reinforce the compound.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Tuesday night that “in response to recent events” in Iraq, and at Trump’s direction, he authorized the immediate deployment of the infantry battalion from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He did not specify the soldiers’ destination, but a U.S. official familiar with the decision said they will go to Kuwait.

“This deployment is an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against U.S. personnel and facilities, such as we witnessed in Baghdad today,” Esper said in a written statement.

Additional soldiers from the 82nd Airborne’s quick-deployment brigade, known officially as its Immediate Response Force, were prepared to deploy, Esper said. The U.S. official, who provided unreleased details on condition of anonymity, said the full brigade of about 4,000 soldiers may deploy.

The 750 soldiers deploying immediately were in addition to 14,000 U.S. troops who had deployed to the Gulf region since May in response to concerns about Iranian aggression, including its alleged sabotage of commercial shipping in the Persian Gulf. At the time of the attack the U.S. had about 5,200 troops in Iraq, mainly to train Iraqi forces and help them combat Islamic State extremists.

The breach of the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday was a stark demonstration that Iran can still strike at American interests despite Trump’s economic pressure campaign. It also revealed growing strains between Washington and Baghdad, raising questions about the future of the U.S. military mission there.

“They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat. Happy New Year!” Trump tweeted Tuesday afternoon, though it was unclear whether his “threat” meant military retaliation. He thanked top Iraqi government leaders for their “rapid response upon request.”

American airstrikes on Sunday killed 25 fighters of an Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. said those strikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor and the wounding of American and Iraqi troops in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that the U.S. blamed on the militia. The American strikes angered the Iraqi government, which called them an unjustified violation of its sovereignty.

While blaming Iran for the embassy breach, Trump also called on Iraq to protect the diplomatic mission.

“Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many,” he tweeted from his estate in Florida. “We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!”

Even as Trump has argued for removing U.S. troops from Mideast conflicts, he also has singled out Iran as a malign influence in the region. After withdrawing the U.S. in 2018 from an international agreement that exchanged an easing of sanctions for curbs on Iran’s nuclear program, Trump ratcheted up sanctions.

Those economic penalties, including a virtual shut-off of Iranian oil exports, are aimed at forcing Iran to negotiate a broader nuclear deal. But critics say that pressure has pushed Iranian leaders into countering with a variety of military attacks in the Gulf.

Until Sunday’s U.S. airstrikes, Trump had been measured in his response to Iranian provocations. In June, he abruptly called off U.S. military strikes on Iranian targets in retaliation for the downing of an American drone.

Robert Ford, a retired U.S. diplomat who served five years in Baghdad and then became ambassador in Syria, said Iran’s allies in the Iraqi parliament may be able to harness any surge in anger among Iraqis toward the United States to force U.S. troops to leave the country. Ford said Trump miscalculated by approving Sunday’s airstrikes on Kataeb Hezbollah positions in Iraq and Syria — strikes that drew a public rebuke from the Iraqi government and seem to have triggered Tuesday’s embassy attack.

“The Americans fell into the Iranian trap,” Ford said, with airstrikes that turned some Iraqi anger toward the U.S. and away from Iran and the increasingly unpopular Iranian-backed Shiite militias.

The tense situation in Baghdad appeared to upset Trump’s vacation routine in Florida, where he is spending the holidays.

Trump spent just under an hour at his private golf club in West Palm Beach before returning to his Mar-a-Lago resort in nearby Palm Beach. He had spent nearly six hours at his golf club on each of the previous two days. Trump spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi and emphasized the need for Iraq to protect Americans and their facilities in the country, said White House spokesman Hogan Gidley.

Trump is under pressure from some in Congress to take a hard-line approach to Iranian aggression, which the United States says included an unprecedented drone and missile attack on the heart of Saudi Arabia’s oil industry in September. More recently, Iran-backed militias in Iraq have conducted numerous rocket attacks on bases hosting U.S. forces.

Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican and supporter of Trump’s Iran policy, called the embassy breach “yet another reckless escalation” by Iran.

Tuesday’s attack was carried out by members of the Iran-supported Kataeb Hezbollah militia. Dozens of militiamen and their supporters smashed a main door to the compound and set fire to a reception area, but they did not enter the main buildings.

Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey, senior Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blamed Iran for the episode and faulted Trump for his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

“The results so far have been more threats against international commerce, emboldened and more violent proxy attacks across the Middle East, and now, the death of an American citizen in Iraq,” Menendez said, referring to the rocket attack last week.

By early evening Tuesday, the mob had retreated from the compound but set up several tents outside for an intended sit-in. Dozens of yellow flags belonging to Iran-backed Shiite militias fluttered atop the reception area and were plastered along the embassy’s concrete wall along with anti-U.S. graffiti. American Apache helicopters flew overhead and dropped flares over the area in what the U.S. military called a “show of force.”

The embassy breach was seen by some analysts as affirming their view that it is folly for the U.S. to keep forces in Iraq after having eliminated the Islamic State group’s territorial hold in the country.

A U.S. withdrawal from Iraq is also a long-term hope of Iran, noted Paul Salem, president of the Washington-based Middle East Institute.

And it’s always possible Trump would “wake up one morning and make that decision” to pull U.S. forces out of Iraq, as he announced earlier with the U.S. military presence in neighboring Syria, Salem said. Trump’s Syria decision triggered the resignation of his first defense secretary, retired Gen. Jim Mattis, but the president later amended his decision and about 1,200 U.S. troops remain in Syria.

Trump’s best weapon with Iran is the one he’s already using — the sanctions, said Salem. He and Ford said Trump would do best to keep resisting Iran’s attempt to turn the Iran-U.S. conflict into a full-blown military one. The administration should also make a point of working with the Iraqi government to deal with the militias, Ford said.

For the president, Iran’s attacks — directly and now through proxies in Iraq — have “been working that nerve,” Salem said. “Now they really have Trump’s attention.”

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Darlene Superville and Sagar Meghani contributed to this report.

Here’s How Conservatives Are Using Civil Rights Law to Restrict Abortion

Six states passed laws in 2019 banning abortions once a “fetal heartbeat” is detected, which can be as early as six weeks into pregnancy. While most of these new laws were challenged in court and are temporarily blocked, the trend has continued: another 10 states introduced similar bills in 2019 and more are expected this year.

The sudden success of these measures is not an accident. They are the result of a concerted new strategy by abortion opponents, researchers have found.

Instead of focusing on religious or women’s health concerns, supporters of Georgia’s “heartbeat” bill advanced their arguments by “co-opting the legal successes of progressive movements” such as the civil rights movement and the LGBT rights movement, according to a new study, published in Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters. Throughout the testimony surrounding the bill, Georgia state lawmakers and community members argued that fetuses are a class of persons entitled to protection under the law, just like black Americans and LGBT Americans.

“If you think back to the same sex marriage debate, the state of Massachusetts recognized the franchise of marriage more expansively in Massachusetts than the minimum requirement of federal law,” argued bill sponsor and Georgia State Rep. Ed Setzler in a quote mentioned in the study. “This is walking that same tradition.”

The idea that fetuses deserve rights is not a new concept, but it was once considered a fairly fringe idea. When the first “heartbeat” bill appeared in Ohio in 2011, anti-abortion groups were divided over whether to support it. But since President Donald Trump got elected and tipped the balance of the Supreme Court, abortion opponents have embraced the strategy.

“We were surprised at the references to particular progressive victories, including things like the passage of the 14th Amendment [and] same sex marriage,” says Dabney Evans, an associate professor at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and co-author of the study, which may be the first systematic analysis of the political language around early abortion bans in the United States. She and other researchers examined the testimony and legislative debate advocating for Georgia’s six-week abortion ban last March.

So-called “heartbeat” bills have been controversial in part because they seek to ban abortions at a stage when many women do not yet know they are pregnant, which reproductive rights advocates say means they ban nearly all abortions. Doctors like Dr. Jen Gunter have also noted that, despite the frequently used “heartbeat” language, the cardiac activity measured at six weeks comes from a cluster of cells called the fetal pole rather than from something that looks like a heart.

Evans and her co-author, Subasri Narasimhan, a post-doctoral fellow at Emory’s Center for Reproductive Health Research in the Southeast, noted several examples of legislators and community members “misrepresenting medical science” in their support of the Georgia bill. But the arguments went further, the study says, explaining that the Georgia bill’s supporters were effectively “foreshadowing their legal strategy for a future claim before the U.S. Supreme Court.”

The study outlines three major arguments that the bill’s supporters used to advance their argument. They first asserted that a “heartbeat” was a sign of life and therefore personhood. Then lawmakers and community members said that if fetuses were living, they were a “vulnerable” class of people who deserve rights and protections. And finally, the study explains, the bill’s supporters said that Georgia should be allowed to expand rights and protections to this new group as a matter of states’ rights.

In the Georgia legislature, Setzler, the bill’s sponsor, cited the Dred Scott v. Sanford decision to imply that the Supreme Court had similarly ruled incorrectly in Roe v. Wade. “A 7-2 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857 said Dred Scott was property, he wasn’t a person,” Setzler said during a committee hearing in March. “The same Supreme Court, by a 7-2 decision, that didn’t recognize Dred Scott, didn’t recognize the humanity of a child in the womb and it’s our opportunity to fix that.”

Another state legislator balked at the comparison and referenced the Three-Fifths compromise as a time when legislators dangerously intervened to decide who was human. But Setzler was undeterred: “Can you help me, through this bill, fully recognize them so it’s not three fifths of a person but a full person?” he asked.

The researchers called these comparisons “false equivalencies,” but added that they add a new dimension to the anti-abortion advocates’ playbook. While previous debates over abortion might have included religious language or restrictions on what providers must do in the name of women’s safety, the study found very little religious rhetoric, and concerns about women’s health were largely brought up by the bill’s opponents.

“In the recent past, anti-abortion advocates have responded by co-opting the language of women’s health and science, focusing most recently on women’s health protection,” the researchers wrote. “While not abandoning this explanatory position, current anti-abortion efforts like HB 481 appear to be layering on a protectionist argument for unborn persons.”

Pro-abortion advocates who fought Georgia’s bill — including those now challenging it in court — have argued that this and other heartbeat bills would actually harm precisely the communities that civil rights laws are designed to protect. An abortion ban, they say, will disproportionately hurt people of color and LGBT people in Georgia who already face barriers to accessing health care.

As is standard practice, the study does not include the names of participants it quotes, but all of the material the researchers analyzed comes from publicly available videos of committee hearings and legislative sessions. TIME reviewed the videos to match Setzler’s quotes with those mentioned in the study.

While Evans and Narasimhan only studied the arguments around Georgia’s abortion ban, they believe their findings will be useful to researchers, community members, activists and legislators in many other states. That’s in large part because many of the “heartbeat” bills being considered around the country are based on model legislation from a group called Faith2Action, which says it provides “the largest network of pro-family organizations.”

“In public health, often people examine the outcomes of policy or legislation, but the process itself is often overlooked,” Narasimhan says. Here, the process is still ongoing as many state legislatures will reconvene this month, and Narasimhan expects other states to make similar arguments to those made in Georgia.

The study also provides a learning opportunity for voters, she added. “This is part of the democracy that we live in,” she says. “This legislative debate is public record. Our analyzing it in this systematized way is bringing forth information into the public record as well and allowing people to hear and see what these debates look like and what tactics are being used for things that will ultimately impact them.”

North Korea Warns That It Will Unveil a New Strategic Weapon Soon

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the Trump administration of dragging its feet in nuclear negotiations and warned that his country will soon show a new strategic weapon to the world as it bolsters its nuclear deterrent in face of “gangster-like” U.S. sanctions and pressure.

The North’s state media said Wednesday that Kim made the comments during a four-day ruling party conference held through Tuesday in the capital Pyongyang, where he declared that the North will never give up its security for economic benefits in the face of what he described as increasing U.S. hostility and nuclear threats.

Kim’s comments came after a monthslong standoff between Washington and Pyongyang over disagreements involving disarmament steps and the removal of sanctions imposed on the North.

“He said that we will never allow the impudent U.S. to abuse the DPRK-U.S. dialogue for meeting its sordid aim but will shift to a shocking actual action to make it pay for the pains sustained by our people so far and for the development so far restrained,” the Korean Central News Agency said, referring to the North by its formal name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Kim added that “if the U.S. persists in its hostile policy toward the DPRK, there will never be the denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula and the DPRK will steadily develop necessary and prerequisite strategic weapons for the security of the state until the U.S. rolls back its hostile policy,” according to the agency.

However, Kim showed no clear indication of abandoning negotiations with the United States entirely or restarting tests of nuclear bombs and intercontinental ballistic missiles he had suspended under a self-imposed moratorium in 2018.

He did issue a warning that there would be no grounds for the North to get “unilaterally bound” to the moratorium any longer, criticizing the United States for continuing its joint military exercises with rival South Korea and also providing the South with advanced weaponry.

“In the past two years alone when the DPRK took preemptive and crucial measures of halting its nuclear test and ICBM test-fire and shutting down the nuclear-test ground for building confidence between the DPRK and the U.S., the U.S., far from responding to the former with appropriate measures, conducted tens of big and small joint military drills which its president personally promised to stop and threatened the former militarily through the shipment of ultra-modern warfare equipment into (South Korea),” the KCNA quoted Kim as saying.

Some experts say North Korea, which has always been sensitive about electoral changes in U.S. government, will avoid engaging in serious negotiations for a deal with Washington in coming months as it watches how Trump’s impending impeachment trial over his dealings with Ukraine affects U.S. presidential elections in November.

Kim and President Donald Trump have met three times since June 2018, but negotiations have faltered since the collapse of their second summit last February in Vietnam, where the Americans rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

Kim’s speech followed months of intensified testing activity and belligerent statements issued by various North Korean officials, raising concerns that he was reverting to confrontation and preparing to do something provocative if Washington doesn’t back down and relieve sanctions.

The North announced in December that it performed two “crucial” tests at its long-range rocket launch site that would further strengthen its nuclear deterrent, prompting speculation that it was developing an ICBM or planning a satellite launch that would provide an opportunity to advance its missile technologies.

North Korea also last year ended a 17-month pause in ballistic activity by testing a slew of solid-fuel weapons that potentially expanded its capabilities to strike targets in South Korea and Japan, including U.S. military bases there. It also threatened to lift a self-imposed moratorium on the testing of nuclear bombs and ICBMs.

Trump Says He’ll Sign the First Phase of a China Trade Deal on Jan. 15

(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — The first phase of a U.S.-China trade agreement will be inked at the White House in mid-January, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday, adding that he will visit Beijing at a later date to open another round of talks aimed at resolving other sticking points in the relationship.

The so-called “Phase One” agreement is smaller than the comprehensive deal Trump had hoped for and leaves many of the thorniest issues between the two countries for future talks. Few economists expect any resolution of “Phase Two” before the presidential election in 2020.

And the two sides have yet to release detailed documentation of the pact, making it difficult to evaluate.

Trump said high-level Chinese government officials will attend the signing on Jan. 15 of “our very large and comprehensive Phase One Trade Deal with China.”

“At a later date I will be going to Beijing where talks will begin on Phase Two!” Trump said in his tweet. He did not announce a date for the visit.

China has agreed to boost its U.S. goods imports by $200 billion over two years, the U.S. Trade Representative said Dec. 13 when the deal was announced. That includes increased purchases of soybeans and other farm goods that would reach $40 billion a year.

China has also agreed to stop forcing U.S. companies to hand over technology and trade secrets as a condition for gaining access to China’s vast market, demands that had frustrated many U.S. businesses.

In return, the Trump administration dropped plans to impose tariffs on $160 billion of Chinese goods, including many consumer items such as smartphones, toys and clothes. The U.S. also cut tariffs on another $112 billion of Chinese goods from 15% to 7.5%.

Many analysts argue that the results are fairly limited given the costs of the administration’s 17-month trade war against China. U.S. farm exports to China fell in 2018 to about one-third of the peak reached six years earlier, though they have since started to recover.

Import taxes remain on about half of what the U.S. buys from China, or about $250 billion of imports. Those tariffs have raised the cost of chemicals, electrical components and other inputs for U.S. companies. American firms have cut back on investment in machinery and other equipment, slowing the economy’s growth this year.

A study last week by economists at the Federal Reserve found that all of the Trump administration’s tariffs, including those on steel and aluminum as well as on Chinese imports, have cost manufacturers jobs and raised their costs. That’s mostly because of retaliatory tariffs imposed by China and other trading partners.

Many experts in both the U.S. and China are skeptical that U.S. farm exports can reach $40 billion. The most the U.S. has ever exported to China before has been $26 billion. China has not confirmed the $40 billion figure.

Still, the agreement has helped calm concerns in financial markets and among many U.S. businesses that the trade war with China would escalate and potentially lead to a recession. The approval by the Democratic-led House of the Trump administration’s revamp of the NAFTA agreement has also reduced uncertainty around global trade.

Since the U.S.-China pact was first announced in October, the stock market has risen steadily and is on track to finish the year with its biggest gain since 2013. Most analysts now forecast that the economy will grow at a steady if modest pace in 2020, extending the current record-long expansion.

The Phase 1 deal has left some major issues unresolved, notably complaints that Beijing unfairly subsidizes its own companies to give them a competitive advantage in world markets.

The Trump administration argues — and independent analysts agree — that China uses the subsidies in an effort to gain an advantage in cutting-edge fields such as driver-less cars, robotics and artificial intelligence.

Another sticking point in future talks will likely involve rules around data flows, with China looking to require more foreign companies to keep data they use in China as opposed to stored overseas.

“It’s a very toxic brew and I don’t know that we’re really going to see much progress on it,” said Mary Lovely, a trade economist at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

After a Strong 2019, Wall Street Warns of a Slower Road Ahead

(NEW YORK) — After a year of nirvana, investors may need to get ready for something a little more normal.

Markets are coming off a fabulous 2019, where stocks and bonds around the world climbed in concert. But for the next year — and decade, in fact — Wall Street is telling investors to set their expectations considerably lower.

It’s not calling for another crash like the U.S. stock market suffered just over a decade ago. Or for another run like the last 10 years, where the S&P 500 returned more than 13% on an annualized basis. A gain less than half of that may be more likely, both for next year and annually for the coming decade.

“People need to have a more realistic expectation of what returns are going to be,” said Greg Davis, chief investment officer at Vanguard. “That means investors who are saving for retirement or for college education will likely need to set aside more, because returns won’t be as generous as what we’ve seen over the last decade.”

It’s not because Wall Street sees the U.S. economy falling into a recession, at least not in 2020, even though that’s been a recurring fear for much of the last decade. Much of Wall Street expects the economy to chug modestly higher next year.

Instead, it’s a simple matter of math. Stocks and bonds don’t have as much room to rise after their stellar 2019, analysts say. Starting points matter, and investments began this year at a low point after recession worries pounded markets in December 2018. U.S. stocks will start 2020, meanwhile, close to their highest levels ever.

Wall Street has been busy trying to rein in expectations.

Vanguard forecasts U.S. stocks will return 3.5% to 5.5% annually over the coming decade. Even toward the top end of that range, it’s only half what the market has returned historically. Foreign stocks might offer a bit more, at roughly 7.5% annually, but U.S. bonds look set to offer only 2% or 3% annually over the next decade, according to Vanguard.

Of course, any prediction about where investments will end up is only a guess, no matter how educated. Many on Wall Street came into this year expecting only modest returns given all the worries about interest rates and a possible recession. Now, the S&P 500 is about to close out its second-best year of the last two decades.

But for bonds, the reasons for lower expected returns are easy to see. Bonds pay much less in interest than one or 10 years ago. The 10-year Treasury now has a yield of 1.92 %, versus 2.82% a year ago and 3.54 % a decade ago. For bonds to return more than their yields, rates will need to drop even lower.

Some banks along Wall Street have relatively healthy expectations for stocks in 2020 — but few if any are calling for a repeat of 2019’s surge for the S&P 500, which was at 28.9% as of Tuesday’s close. Bank of America Merrill Lynch sees the index ending 2020 at 3,300, which would be a 2.2% rise, for example. Goldman Sachs is more bullish, with a target of 3,400, but that would still be less than a fifth of this year’s gain.

Stocks are more expensive than a year ago on a host of different measures. One of the most commonly used is how a stock’s price compares to its profit over the preceding year. By that measure, the S&P 500 is trading at 21.1 times its earnings. That’s more expensive than at the start of the year, when it was at 16.5, or its average over the last two decades of 17.7, according to FactSet.

Low interest rates should help keep this price-earnings valuation high, analysts say. So will a U.S.-China trade conflict that’s hopefully no longer ramping higher, analysts say. The diminished threat of a recession should keep investors willing to pay relatively high price-earnings ratios. But the threat of policy changes in Washington, D.C., could act as a counterweight.

“There is a lot of nervousness around the elections,” said Lisa Thompson, equity portfolio manager at Capital Group. “The elections could provide some interesting opportunities for investors, particularly in the first half of the year.”

She’s the type of investor who sees volatile markets, where prices are swinging higher and lower, as “interesting opportunities” because she can use them to buy stocks she likes at lower prices.

President Trump has ushered in lower taxes and lighter regulations for businesses, which investors have seen as incontrovertible wins for investments regardless of their politics. Democrats running to unseat him, meanwhile, could reverse that momentum and target some industries in particular, such as health care. That could lead to big swings for stocks early in 2020 as Democratic candidates try to stand out in a winnowing field.

Even if the worst-case scenario were to come to pass, though, and the economy were to fall into a recession, many professional investors say they aren’t worried about a crash like 2007-09 where stock investors lost more than half their savings. Investors have remained hesitant to plow their money into stocks, even after this decade-long run, so fund managers say they don’t see grossly overvalued markets as there were just over a decade ago.

“When the cycle does end, we don’t see bubbles out there like in 2008, 2009,” said Saira Malik, head of equities at Nuveen. “I think people are nervous.”

Protesters Shouting ‘Death to America’ Stormed the U.S. Embassy Compound in Baghdad. Here’s a Timeline of What’s Happened So Far

Protesters shouting “Death to America,” stormed the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday, setting fires, scrawling anti-American graffiti and planting flags for Iran-backed militia groups.

The protest is reportedly in response to a series of U.S. airstrikes that killed 25 militia fighters on Sunday. The strike was in retaliation for a rocket strike on an Iraqi military compound that killed a U.S. defense contractor and injured U.S. and Iraqi service members.

As Iraqi security forces did not attempt to stop the protesters, the storming of the Embassy could heighten concern about the relationship between the United States and Iraq, especially amid heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran. About 5,000 U.S. troops are still stationed in Iraq, and some of the Iranian-backed militia wants them withdrawn, according to the Associated Press.

Iraq is already in the midst of a tumultuous period. Since October, more than 450 people have been killed in mass protests criticizing the country’s poor quality of life and demanding new electoral laws and accountability for corruption. In November, Adel Abdul-Mahdi announced he would resign as Prime Minister of the country after weeks of violent protests.

Here is how events have unfolded since the death of the U.S. contractor.

Friday, Dec. 27: U.S. Defense Contractor Killed in Rocket Attack in Iraq

A U.S. defense contractor was killed in an attack on an Iraqi military compound near Kirkuk, Iraq, according to the Associated Press. The attack also injured four U.S. service members and two Iraqi Security Forces members, according to the Department of Defense. As many as 30 rockets were fired in the attack.

The U.S. blamed the Iranian-backed militia for the assault. On Monday, the group denied responsibility for the Dec. 27 attack through a spokesperson, according to the New York Times.

Several other similar attacks have occurred over the past few months, according to the Associated Press.

Sunday, Dec. 29: U.S. Strikes kill 25 militia members

The U.S. conducts air strikes on five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia, according to the Department of Defense. The U.S. indicated that the strikes were in retaliation for the rocket attack. The attack killed 25 fighters, according to the Associated Press.

“The U.S. and its coalition partners fully respect Iraqi sovereignty, and support a strong and independent Iraq. The U.S., however, will not be deterred from exercising its right of self-defense,” Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement. He called on Iran and the militias to stop attacking U.S. and coalition forces.

The Iraqi government expressed outrage about the attack, calling it a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty, according to the Associated Press.

Monday, Dec. 30: Iraq Expresses Outrage After Airstrike

Speaking to cabinet members, Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi declared three days of mourning for the people killed in the strikes, according to the Associated Press. He said that he had attempted to stop the U.S. airstrike, but the U.S. had insisted.

Tuesday, Dec. 31: Protesters Break into the U.S. Embassy Compound

After a funeral for fighters killed in the airstrikes, protesters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad.

Protesters gathered outside the compound shouting “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” and started to throw water and stones over its walls. They smashed through a main door, set a reception area on fire, and covered the embassy wall with militia flags and anti-U.S. graffiti, and planting flags above the reception area according to the Associated Press. Many were wearing militia uniforms, according to the Associated Press.

The Iraqi security forces didn’t try to stop the protesters, permitting them to pass a security checkpoint, according to the Associated Press.

Commanders from militias that support Iran joined the protest outside the embassy, the Associated Press reported.

After the breach, Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper said in a statement that additional forces are being sent to support the embassy. He also called on Iraq to help protect the facility.

“As in all countries, we rely on host nation forces to assist in the protection of our personnel in country, and we call on the Government of Iraq to fulfill its international responsibilities to do so,” Esper said.

U.S. Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command deploy to Iraq to bolster security at the US Embassy and ensure the safety of American citizens, Dec. 31. pic.twitter.com/qD84tgKyYI

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) December 31, 2019

President Trump blamed Iran for the contractor’s death and the storming of the U.S. Embassy on Twitter.

“They will be held fully responsible,” Trump wrote. “In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!”

Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019

White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham reaffirmed the President’s position in a a statement to the Associated Press

“As the president said, Iran is orchestrating this attack and they will be held fully responsible,” Grisham said. “It will be the president’s choice how and when we respond to their escalation.”

On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump declared on Twitter that the Embassy is “safe” and that U.S. personnel had rushed to the scene.

The U.S. Embassy in Iraq is, & has been for hours, SAFE! Many of our great Warfighters, together with the most lethal military equipment in the world, was immediately rushed to the site. Thank you to the President & Prime Minister of Iraq for their rapid response upon request….

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 31, 2019

‘This Year in America Has Been Anything but Normal.’ Elizabeth Warren Ends 2019 With Speech Criticizing Big Donors and Evoking Phillis Wheatley

(BOSTON) — Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren marked one year of running for president on Tuesday by slamming billionaires from both parties who she says put corporate interests above the needs of the rest of the country, as many top Democrats looking to unseat President Donald Trump spent the last day of 2019 rallying core supporters. Warren addressed a raucous hometown crowd at Boston’s Old South Meeting House, a Congregational church famous for being the organizing point for the Boston Tea Party in 1773.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is holding a “Big New Year’s Bash” featuring “Prince’s longtime backing band” in Des Moines, the capital of Iowa, which holds its lead-off caucuses on Feb. 3. Also campaigning in Iowa is New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker.

Businessman Andrew Yang invited supporters to mark midnight at a party in New Hampshire, which is set to hold the first primary, on Feb. 11. Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar is also in New Hampshire, while Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet plans to headline a house party in the state timed to begin one minute after midnight and billed as 2020’s first such gathering.

The crush of events reflects how little time there is to spare before voting begins. Even though campaigning ground to a near halt for Christmas Eve and Christmas, candidates are betting voters will be more amenable to their messages on the final day of the year.

“You’ve got to use every minute,” said Kelly Dietrich, founder and CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee, which trains candidates and staff all over the country.

Warren said the coming of a new year is “normally a moment for optimism. But let’s face it: This year in America has been anything but normal.”

In a nod to the president’s impending impeachment trial, Warren said congressional Republicans “have turned into fawning, spineless defenders of his crimes.” She spoke to hundreds who filled the historic wooden pews painted in a deep, creamy white on the church’s polished wooden ground floor and stately balcony.

The senator also decried the “chaos and ugliness of the past three years” under Trump but didn’t miss a chance to swipe at other Democratic presidential hopefuls who argue that her support for a “wealth tax,” universal health care and proposals to overhaul the political and economic system are too radical for moderate and swing voters in a general election battle against Trump.

“One year into this campaign, you’ve never found me behind closed doors with corporate executives or spending hours on the phone sucking up to rich donors to fund my campaign,” said Warren, who first announced forming a presidential exploratory committee on Dec. 31, 2018.

Warren didn’t name any fellow Democrat on Tuesday, but has for months has slammed South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden for relying too heavily on fundraisers with big, powerful donors. She’s also accused ex-New York City mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg of trying to buy the election.

Warren told the Boston crowd: “The billionaires know which candidates for president are on their side.”

“Many corporate executives and career politicians and billionaires on both sides of the aisle want to keep their influence and their wealth. And they are already deep in the fight to do so,” Warren said, arguing that Washington is too controlled by lobbyists and fossil fuel companies that have a “death grip on our planet.”

She also evoked the story of Phillis Wheatley, who was born in West Africa but shipped to New England by slave traders in 1761. Wheatley was a poet who eventually inspired George Washington and once sat in the pews of the Old South Meeting House. Warren quoted from a Wheatley poem to help acknowledge the struggles of modern society’s inherent biases that she said Africans Americans and women still face.

“Imagine an America where the lived experience of women is reflected in committee rooms and corner offices,” Warren said, “And yes, even that really nice oval-shaped office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

That prompted one of several standing ovations and chants of “Warren! Warren! Warren!”

Sanders, who is competing most directly with Warren for their party’s progressive wing, was asked in Iowa on Tuesday if he needs to be more critical of the Massachusetts senator.

“I think we have a lot in common. I think there are differences,” he said, noting that he’s promised to send the “Medicare for All” government-funded health care program that they both support to Congress during his first week as president — rather than by the end of his presidency’s third year, like Warren.

Sanders added that he’s “been on more picket lines, I suspect, than any other candidate” and that during his decades in Congress, he has “stood and fought every special interest in this country.”

It’s “not based on polling — it’s what I do,” Sanders said. “And I think the people of America and of Iowa understand that when I’m in the White House, that is not going to change.”

Not everyone is getting into the New Year’s Eve action. Biden campaigned Monday in New Hampshire but had scheduled no public events Tuesday. Buttigieg’s New Year’s Eve calendar is similarly clear of rallies.

Dietrich, who trains Democratic candidates, said that activities like door-knocking can be more effective for candidates during the holidays since many people are home from work. They can also use times of traditional parties, like New Year’s Eve, to rally volunteers and others who have helped with campaigning over the long haul.

“You can’t take time off when you’re running for president,” Dietrich said. “Your vacation happens the day after the general election.”

GOP Sen. Susan Collins Says She’s Open to Calling Impeachment Witnesses

(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says she’s open to calling witnesses as part of the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, but she says it is “premature” to decide who should be called until senators see the evidence that is presented.

Collins also said it was inappropriate for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, to pledge “total coordination” between the White House and the Senate during the impeachment trial.

“It is inappropriate, in my judgment, for senators on either side of the aisle to prejudge the evidence before they have heard what is presented to us,” Collins told Maine Public Radio in an interview Monday.

Senators take an oath to render impartial justice during impeachment — an oath lawmakers should take seriously, Collins said.

Collins, who is running for reelection and is considered one of the nation’s most vulnerable GOP senators, also faulted Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts for saying Trump should be found guilty and removed from office.

“There are senators on both sides of the aisle, who, to me, are not giving the appearance of and the reality of judging that’s in an impartial way,” she said.

Collins is the second Republican senator to criticize McConnell, who recently told Fox News he would be working “in total coordination with the White House counsel’s office and the people who are representing the president” during impeachment.

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski said last week that she was “disturbed” by McConnell’s comments, adding that there should be distance between the White House and the Senate in how the trial is conducted.

“To me, it means that we have to take that step back from being hand in glove with the defense, and so I heard what Leader McConnell had said, I happened to think that that has further confused the process,” Murkowski said.

The remarks by the GOP senators come as Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer hailed as a “game changer” a news report detailing the role of White House officials in withholding aid to Ukraine, a key element of the impeachment effort.

The New York Times reported new details about efforts by acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and other officials to cut off the aid to Ukraine. Senate Democrats are seeking to call Mulvaney and three other White House officials as witnesses in the impeachment trial.

“Simply put: In our fight to have key documents and witnesses in a Senate impeachment trial, these new revelations are a game changer,” Schumer said. ”Will the Senate hold a fair trial, or will it enable a cover-up?”

McConnell said last week that he is not ruling out calling witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trial, but he indicated he was in no hurry to seek new testimony.

Catch Up on a Decade of Cinema in Seven Minutes With This Movie Trailer Mashup

As 2020 nears and people look back on the last decade — you know, “Memories” and all — film editor Louis Plamondon has given film fans the ultimate gift with a new installment of his movie mashup videos. This iteration, though, doesn’t just look back at the past year in cinema, but at the entire decade. Grab a supersized bowl of popcorn, then.

Plamondon has managed to squeeze an entire decade of movie trailers into a supercut that’s just over seven minutes long. It’s an incredible time capsule for future film historians, as well as anyone who may find it hard to believe that Cats and Zootopia came out in the same decade.

The trip down cinematic memory lane takes viewers on a journey from the 2010 film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows to 2019’s Little Women with Skyfall, Young Adult, Tree of Life, Crazy Rich Asians, Godzilla, Coco, and Inception and dozens of others in between. The 2010s were a decade that brought — deep breath — the world Drive and Baby Driver, The Artist and The Favourite, The Social Network and Her, after all, as well as The Big Sick , Booksmart, The Florida Project, Inception, Black Swan, Into the Spiderverse, Okja, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Mad Max: Fury Road and so many more.

Those with a keen eye can watch out for the faces of old friends like Philip Seymour Hoffman or Iron Man in the mashup or find cleverly-woven cinematic threads to follow. There’s the evolution of Spiderman, collaborations between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, the development of writer and director Taika Waititi’s career from Hunt for the Wilderpeople to Thor: Ragnarok to Jojo Rabbit.

The mashup is a great way to look back at some of the incredible films we may have missed or forgotten, and serve as a reminder that many others are overdue for a rewatch. Watch the mashup, then, and start planning ahead for what you’re going to look back on in 2020, as well as all the resolutions and new #lifegoals to look forward to.

GOP Senator: President Trump ‘Not a Role Model For Young People’

In an interview with CBS’s Face The Nation, Republican Senator James Lankford of Oklahoma said he does not consider President Donald Trump to be a good role model for young people.

In a 30-minute long interview primarily about faith in politics, Lankford told CBS’s Margaret Brennan that he had hoped to find a “role model candidate” running in the 2016 primaries, and ensuing presidential election. Trump wasn’t that person.

Before becoming a Congressman and then later a Senator in 2014, Lankford was the director of Student Ministry for the Baptist Convention of Oklahoma.

“I don’t think that President Trump as a person is a role model for a lot of different youth,” he said. “That’s just me personally. I don’t like the way that he tweets, some of the things that he says. His word choices at times are not my word choices.”

“Saying that, there are policy areas that we agree on, and when we agree on those things we work on those things together,” Lankford adds. “But it’s also been a grand challenge to be able to say — for a person of faith, for a person who believes that there is a right way to go on things — I wish that he… was more of a role model in those areas.”

Lankford was joined Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware for the interview, where they discuss hosting prayer groups for other Senators of faith, and common ground between them despite their parties’ differences — both Coons and Lankford oppose a decrease in the number of refugees admitted into the U.S., for example.

“At the end of the day, what we’re really looking for in an Administration is folks that allow us to be able to live our principles,” Lankford said, adding that it is sometimes a challenge in his job to have to answer for some of the president’s actions.

“The president has a spokesperson and I’m not the president’s spokesperson,” he said. “One of the interesting things about Washington, D.C. is I don’t get to pick the people that I work with. The American people pick the people that I work with.”

Asia’s Richest Man Unveils Online Shopping Platform to Challenge Amazon in India

(Bloomberg) — Reliance Industries Ltd. started testing its online shopping portal, moving a step closer to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s goal of setting up a digital platform to take on e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. in India.

JioMart, open to select customers who pre-register, promises more than 50,000 grocery products, free home delivery and a return policy that asks no questions. Labeled ‘the nation’s new store,’ it is currently available in only three neighborhoods surrounding Mumbai, according to the website.

The pilot site provides an early glimpse of how the energy-and-petrochemicals conglomerate controlled by Asia’s richest man is stepping up consumer offerings in a pivot toward newer businesses. With the unveiling of the portal, Reliance Industries will join the battle with Amazon.com and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart Online Services Pvt. for a slice of an e-commerce market that KPMG says is set to grow to $200 billion by 2027.

Ambani, 62, is giving shape to his online retail ambitions by spending billions of dollars on a string of small acquisitions. The newer businesses, including telecommunications and retail, are likely to contribute 50% of Reliance Industries’ earnings in a few years, from about 32% now, Ambani said in August.

A spokesman for Mumbai-based Reliance Industries declined to provide further details on the retail project.

Ambani’s previous project, which needed almost $50 billion of capital expenditure, is already showing signs of success.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., the group’s wireless carrier started in 2016, is India’s No. 1 operator today and has more than 350 million users. The company entered the world’s second-largest market by subscribers with free calls and cheap data, forcing some incumbents to exit or merge with rivals.

Ambani is seeking to replicate that success in online retail as well. Terming it “new commerce,” the tycoon said in August that his goal is to “completely transform” India’s unorganized retail market — mostly mom-and-pop stores — which accounts for 90% of the nation’s industry.

“This tech-enabled partnership will link producers, traders, small merchants, consumer brands and consumers,” Ambani told shareholders in August. After beta trials with thousands of merchants across the country showed promise, “we are now getting ready to roll out the platform at a larger scale,” he said.

Reliance Industries has unveiled a sweeping plan to create a $24 billion digital-services holding firm, and also vowed listings of the new businesses within five years.

Betting the plan would unlock value, investors have piled on Reliance Industries shares, sending the stock soaring 36% this year against the 15% advance in the benchmark index. The gains helped Ambani add more than $15 billion to his wealth — the most in Asia — and taking his net worth to almost $60 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Kim Jong Un Calls for ‘Military Countermeasures’ to Secure North Korea

(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for active “diplomatic and military countermeasures” to preserve the country’s security in a lengthy speech at a key political conference possibly meant to legitimize major changes to his nuclear diplomacy with the United States.

Kim spoke for seven hours during the ruling Workers’ Party meeting that continued for the third day on Monday. He issued national goals for rebuilding the North’s economy and preparing active and “offensive political, diplomatic and military countermeasures for firmly preserving the sovereignty and security of the country,” according to state media on Tuesday.

The Korean Central News Agency said the plenary meeting of the party’s Central Committee will extend to the fourth day on Tuesday, a day before Kim is expected to use his annual New Year’s address to announce major changes to his economic and security policies.

Some experts believe Kim could use the speech to declare he is suspending his nuclear negotiations with Washington, which have stalemated over disagreements in exchanging sanctions relief and disarmament, and he could possibly revive confrontation by lifting a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

KCNA did not report any decisions made at the party meeting or mention any specific comment by Kim toward the United States.

But it said Kim noted that the Workers’ Party is determined to enter “another arduous and protracted struggle,” possibly referring to efforts to overcome U.S.-led sanctions and pressure, before concluding his speech with calls for “dynamically opening the road” toward building a powerful socialist nation. KCNA said the party is working to draft a resolution based on the agenda laid out by Kim and plans to discuss an unspecified “important document.”

In his New Year’s speech to begin 2019, Kim said his country would pursue an unspecified “new path” if the administration of President Donald Trump persists with sanctions and pressure on North Korea.

Negotiations faltered following the collapse of his second summit with Trump in February, where the Americans rejected North Korean demands for broad sanctions relief in exchange for the dismantling of an aging nuclear facility in Yongbyon, which would only represent a partial surrender of its nuclear capabilities.

The North said earlier this month it conducted two “crucial” tests at its long-range rocket launch facility, raising speculation it has been developing a new long-range missile or preparing a satellite launch.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the Trump administration still believes it “can find a path forward to convince the leadership in North Korea that their best course of action is to create a better opportunity for their people by getting rid of their nuclear weapons.”

“We’re watching what they’re doing here in the closing days of this year, and we hope that they’ll make a decision that will lead to a path of peace and not one towards confrontation,” Pompeo said in an interview Monday morning with Fox and Friends.

Asia’s Richest Man Unveils Online Shopping Platform to Challenge Amazon in India

(Bloomberg) — Reliance Industries Ltd. started testing its online shopping portal, moving a step closer to billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s goal of setting up a digital platform to take on e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. in India.

JioMart, open to select customers who pre-register, promises more than 50,000 grocery products, free home delivery and a return policy that asks no questions. Labeled ‘the nation’s new store,’ it is currently available in only three neighborhoods surrounding Mumbai, according to the website.

The pilot site provides an early glimpse of how the energy-and-petrochemicals conglomerate controlled by Asia’s richest man is stepping up consumer offerings in a pivot toward newer businesses. With the unveiling of the portal, Reliance Industries will join the battle with Amazon.com and Walmart Inc.’s Flipkart Online Services Pvt. for a slice of an e-commerce market that KPMG says is set to grow to $200 billion by 2027.

Ambani, 62, is giving shape to his online retail ambitions by spending billions of dollars on a string of small acquisitions. The newer businesses, including telecommunications and retail, are likely to contribute 50% of Reliance Industries’ earnings in a few years, from about 32% now, Ambani said in August.

A spokesman for Mumbai-based Reliance Industries declined to provide further details on the retail project.

Ambani’s previous project, which needed almost $50 billion of capital expenditure, is already showing signs of success.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., the group’s wireless carrier started in 2016, is India’s No. 1 operator today and has more than 350 million users. The company entered the world’s second-largest market by subscribers with free calls and cheap data, forcing some incumbents to exit or merge with rivals.

Ambani is seeking to replicate that success in online retail as well. Terming it “new commerce,” the tycoon said in August that his goal is to “completely transform” India’s unorganized retail market — mostly mom-and-pop stores — which accounts for 90% of the nation’s industry.

“This tech-enabled partnership will link producers, traders, small merchants, consumer brands and consumers,” Ambani told shareholders in August. After beta trials with thousands of merchants across the country showed promise, “we are now getting ready to roll out the platform at a larger scale,” he said.

Reliance Industries has unveiled a sweeping plan to create a $24 billion digital-services holding firm, and also vowed listings of the new businesses within five years.

Betting the plan would unlock value, investors have piled on Reliance Industries shares, sending the stock soaring 36% this year against the 15% advance in the benchmark index. The gains helped Ambani add more than $15 billion to his wealth — the most in Asia — and taking his net worth to almost $60 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

Medical Student Arrested, Held Without Bail After Alleged Attempt to Smuggle Cancer Research to China

(BOSTON) — A medical student from China who U.S. authorities say tried to smuggle cancer research material taken from a Boston hospital out of the country has been held without bail by a judge who ruled he was a flight risk.

Zaosong Zheng, 29, who last year earned a visa sponsored by Harvard University to study in the U.S., appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He was arrested Dec. 10 at Boston’s Logan Airport on a charge of making false statements.

Magistrate Judge David Hennessy ruled that evidence suggested Zheng had tried to smuggle vials of research specimens in a sock in his suitcase bound for China and granted the prosecution’s request to hold him without bail.

Zheng stole the materials from his lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, authorities allege.

Some vials contained a colleague’s work he had replicated without the authorization or knowledge of the lab, Zheng told authorities, according to court documents. He was possibly acting on behalf of the Chinese government, the FBI said in an affidavit included in court documents.

Zheng’s federal public defender declined to comment outside court when questioned by the Boston Herald. A voicemail message was left with the defense attorney Tuesday.

Harvard officials told The Boston Globe that Zheng’s educational exchange visa had been revoked. Beth Israel, a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital, has fired Zheng and is cooperating with authorities, a spokeswoman said.

“We are deeply proud of the breadth and depth of our research programs,” Jennifer Kritz said. “Any efforts to compromise research undermine the hard work of our faculty and staff to advance patient care.”

The investigation is ongoing, and more charges are possible, prosecutors said.

Medical Student Arrested, Held Without Bail After Alleged Attempt to Smuggle Cancer Research to China

(BOSTON) — A medical student from China who U.S. authorities say tried to smuggle cancer research material taken from a Boston hospital out of the country has been held without bail by a judge who ruled he was a flight risk.

Zaosong Zheng, 29, who last year earned a visa sponsored by Harvard University to study in the U.S., appeared Monday in U.S. District Court in Boston. He was arrested Dec. 10 at Boston’s Logan Airport on a charge of making false statements.

Magistrate Judge David Hennessy ruled that evidence suggested Zheng had tried to smuggle vials of research specimens in a sock in his suitcase bound for China and granted the prosecution’s request to hold him without bail.

Zheng stole the materials from his lab at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, authorities allege.

Some vials contained a colleague’s work he had replicated without the authorization or knowledge of the lab, Zheng told authorities, according to court documents. He was possibly acting on behalf of the Chinese government, the FBI said in an affidavit included in court documents.

Zheng’s federal public defender declined to comment outside court when questioned by the Boston Herald. A voicemail message was left with the defense attorney Tuesday.

Harvard officials told The Boston Globe that Zheng’s educational exchange visa had been revoked. Beth Israel, a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital, has fired Zheng and is cooperating with authorities, a spokeswoman said.

“We are deeply proud of the breadth and depth of our research programs,” Jennifer Kritz said. “Any efforts to compromise research undermine the hard work of our faculty and staff to advance patient care.”

The investigation is ongoing, and more charges are possible, prosecutors said.

Straight Couples Enter Into First Mixed-Sex Civil Partnerships in England

(LONDON) — England and Wales have marked a new era in which heterosexual couples can choose to have a civil partnership instead of a marriage.

The change, mandated by Britain’s Supreme Court last year, took effect Tuesday. The groundbreaking case had been brought by Rebecca Steinfeld and Charles Keidan, who were among the first to form a civil partnership under the new rules. They were joined by their two children for the partnership formed at the Kensington and Chelsea Register Office in central London.

Steinfeld called it “a unique, special and personal moment for us” that had been “rooted in our desire to formalize our relationship in a more modern way, focus on equality and mutual respect.”

The new rules means that mixed-sex couples can opt for a civil partnership that will give them similar rights as married couples, including marriage allowance tax relief, inheritance tax exemption, and joint parental responsibility for children. It is expected to be an attractive option for couples who believe marriage gives men the upper hand and also by couples who don’t want any religious element in their union.

The Supreme Court ruling means that civil partnerships, which have been available to same-sex couples since 2005, will be available to everyone.

Same-sex couples have been allowed to marry in England, Scotland and Wales since 2014. Same-sex marriages will be allowed for the first time in Northern Ireland early next year.

Citing ‘Really Decent Republicans That Are Out There Still,’ Joe Biden Says He’s Not Opposed to a GOP Running Mate in 2020

(EXETER, N.H.) — Former Vice President Joe Biden entertained the idea of choosing a Republican as a 2020 running mate as he campaigned Monday — though he conceded he didn’t have anyone specific in mind.

A voter told Biden during an event Monday afternoon in Exeter, New Hampshire, that her son had wondered if the Democratic presidential contender would consider choosing a Republican as a running mate. “The answer is, I would, but I can’t think of one now,” Biden said as the crowd laughed.

Biden went on to say there are “some really decent Republicans that are out there still,” before adding that “they’ve got to step up.”

At the start of Monday’s event, Biden reminded voters his goal is to unite the country. “I refuse to accept the proposition that we’ll be in a state of perpetual war with Republicans, because you can’t govern the country if that’s the case,” Biden said. “We are a democracy, and our democracy depends upon consensus. We have to be able to pull the country together.”

Biden is sometimes asked about possible running mates by voters on the campaign trail. During his answer Monday he noted that it was presumptuous to talk about the idea at this point in the campaign.

If he becomes the Democratic nominee, Biden said, he’d want to pick someone “simpatico” with him and his priorities, telling voters there are “a lot of qualified women,” and “a lot of qualified African Americans.”

“There’s a plethora of really qualified people,” Biden said.

President Trump Has Signed a Law to Reduce Robocalls. What Does It Mean For Your Phone?

(NEW YORK) — An anti-robocalls measure signed into law Monday by President Donald Trump should help reduce the torrent of unwanted calls promising lower interest rates or pretending to be the IRS, though it won’t make all such calls disappear.

The new law gives authorities more enforcement powers and could speed up measures the industry is already taking to identify robocalls. And when phone companies block robocalls, they must do so without charging consumers. This should help Americans dodge many of these annoying calls.

“American families deserve control over their communications, and this legislation will update our laws and regulations to stiffen penalties, increase transparency, and enhance government collaboration to stop unwanted solicitation,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said.

The law is a “big victory,” said Consumer Reports’ Maureen Mahoney. “The key is requiring these phone companies to help stop the calls before they reach the consumer and do it at no additional charge.”

The robocall problem has exploded because cheap software makes it easy to make mass calls. Americans collectively get billions of robocalls each month. Such calls have disrupted operations at hospitals by diverting staff time to deal with calls faked to look as though they are coming from inside the hospital. Scams conducted through such calls have also defrauded people out of millions of dollars. Many people now avoid answering calls altogether if they come from unknown numbers.

Under federal law, it’s already illegal to fake numbers on Caller ID to defraud or cause harm. Scams are also prohibited, as are automated telemarketing calls from legitimate companies that don’t already have written permission. YouMail’s robocall index says that half of all robocalls today are fraudulent.

But enforcement has been tough. Federal agencies have fined scammers hundreds of millions of dollars, but it’s been difficult to collect. Many of the callers are overseas. It’s hard to throw the fraudsters in jail.

The new law builds on steps taken by the country’s communications regulator, the Federal Communications Commission, as well as state attorneys general and industry groups.

The FCC has clarified that phone companies can block unwanted calls without first asking customers, paving the way to broaden the rollout of call-blocking services. The law says phone companies cannot charge for these services.

Another important step is getting rid of “spoofed” numbers, or when a scammer fakes Caller ID to look like it’s coming from the same area code or an important government agency like the IRS. The industry is developing a system to tell people when the Caller ID number is real.

The new law requires all phone companies to put this system in place, which Mahoney said will mean phone companies have to try to stop these calls before they reach the consumer. This technology doesn’t work for home phones connected to an old-school copper landline; the law calls on the FCC and phone companies to come up with an alternative for those customers.

The FCC also gets more time to fine robocallers and do so without warning them first. The bill also calls for tougher fines when individuals intentionally violate the law and pushes the agency to work with the Justice Department to go after criminals. Over the long term, that could act as a deterrent.

Nonetheless, determined scammers and telemarketers will likely find ways to get through, given the availability of cheap dialing technology and the big potential payoff from victims. Think of how malware on personal computers is still a problem despite antivirus software. Automated callers could circumvent new safety measures by buying or hijacking real numbers to make calls.

“They’ll always find ways around this,” said Paul Florack, vice president of product management for Transaction Network Services, which runs robocall analytics for Verizon, Sprint and other phone companies.

And not every robocall is considered illegal. Some robocalls are helpful reminders from pharmacies that a prescription is ready, or schools advising a snow day. If you’ve given written permission, a cable company or cruise line can pitch you with marketing calls that consist of prerecorded messages. While a House version of the measure would have made it harder for legitimate companies to make such calls, that measure was dropped in the version that became law.

The law also does nothing about telemarketing calls that aren’t automated. A human can still pester you unless you sign up for the Do Not Call registry, which scammers often ignore anyway.

And even when phone companies have in place the system for verifying Caller ID, not all phones support it. A year ago, T-Mobile started telling customers if the number ringing them was “verified,” but it can’t do that on Apple’s iPhones until after the call has ended. That’s because Apple software doesn’t allow it, Florack said. Apple didn’t reply to a request for comment.

The law says phone companies can’t charge extra for blocking robocalls, though it doesn’t require that such services or apps be made available to everyone. AT&T’s version, for instance, isn’t rolled out yet to its 18 million customers on lower-income-skewing prepaid plans.

But ideally, Mahoney said, a consumer wouldn’t have to take any action by downloading an app — as the carrier would be able to block calls automatically.

Russians on Edge After Record Wave of Bomb Hoaxes Sweeps Country

(Bloomberg) — More than a million Russians have been caught up in the worst wave of bomb threats in years, sending people to social media for information about events largely ignored by Kremlin-controlled national television.

While all of the threats to date have been hoaxes, bomb squads have descended upon schools, airports and shopping malls to investigate the calls, according to news reports from around Russia. In Moscow alone, more than a million people have been evacuated since Nov. 28, according to Interfax.

The number of threats appears worse than a 2017 epidemic, when about 2,500 places received fake bomb threats in 75 regions around Russia over a four-month period.

“This is a large-scale phenomenon,” said Alexander Khinstein, a member of the ruling United Russia party who sits on the lower house of parliament’s security committee. “We are dealing with cyber-terrorism here.”

The source of the calls hasn’t been established, but Russia has been targeted by terrorist groups, including Islamic State, in the past. The Federal Security Service, or FSB, detained two suspects in St. Petersburg last week after receiving intelligence from the U.S. about a possible attack.

Several law enforcement agencies contacted by Bloomberg did not respond to requests for comments.

The situation has attracted official attention this year, with security services giving a closed briefing for lawmakers explaining the problem, according to Khinstein.

However, the 72% of Russians who get their news from television have been kept in the dark, with the main federal channels choosing to ignore the epidemic, opting instead for spots on President Vladimir Putin’s every move and year-end summaries.

During the 2017 outbreak, coverage was more frequent. At the time, Alexander Bortnikov, the director of the Federal Security Service, announced in early October on national television that they’d found the culprits, only to see the problem drag out for another three months.

In the absence of news coverage, a video statement by the deputy head of Moscow’s Department of Education about the bomb threats against schools received nearly 100,000 hits on YouTube and was widely shared on social media.

“Parents have started to panic, they have pulled their children from classes and nobody knows when this will end,” said Nadezhda Ivanchenko, a teacher at a Moscow school that has been targeted eight times in December. “The strangest thing is that nobody understands what’s happening and there’s no official explanation.”

The disruptions have stretched across the country, including in Khabarovsk, more than 13,000 kilometers (8,100 miles) to the east of Moscow. That city has been hit with numerous threats, with the airport and main rail station evacuated last week. More than 11,000 children had to leave their schools on Dec. 19 with the temperature at -20 degrees Celsius (-4 degrees Fahrenheit).

“Before there were bomb threats, but they usually targeted business centers and the perpetrators tried to collect ransom,” Ruslan Sokolov, a spokesman for Khabarovsk’s mayor, said. “This time it’s different.”

Protestors Breach U.S. Embassy Compound in Baghdad

(BAGHDAD) — Dozens of Iraqi Shiite militiamen and their supporters broke into the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad on Tuesday, smashing a main door and setting fire to a reception area, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire, angered over deadly U.S. airstrikes targeting the Iran-backed militia.

An Associated Press reporter at the scene saw flames rising from inside the compound and at least three U.S. soldiers on the roof of the main embassy building. There was a fire at the reception area near the parking lot of the compound but it was unclear what had caused it. A man on a loudspeaker urged the mob not to enter the compound, saying: “The message was delivered.”

There were no reports of casualties, but the unprecedented breach was one of the worst attacks on the embassy in recent memory. It followed deadly U.S. airstrikes on Sunday that killed 25 fighters of the Iran-backed militia in Iraq, the Kataeb Hezbollah. The U.S. military said the airstrikes were in retaliation for last week’s killing of an American contractor in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base that it had blamed on the militia.

The developments represent a major downturn in Iraq-U.S. relations that could further undermine U.S. influence in the region and also weaken Washington’s hand in its maximum pressure campaign against Iran.

Iraq has long struggled to balance its ties with the U.S. and Iran, both allies of the Iraqi government. But the government’s angry reaction to the U.S. airstrikes and its apparent decision not to prevent the protesters from reaching the embassy signaled a sharp deterioration of U.S.-Iraq relations.

Ahmad Al-Rubaye—AFP/Getty ImagesProtesters set ablaze a sentry box in front of the U.S. embassy building in Baghdad on Dec. 31, 2019.

Iraqi security forces made no effort to stop the protesters as they marched to the heavily-fortified Green Zone after a funeral held for those killed in the U.S. airstrikes, letting them pass through a security checkpoint leading to the area.

Dozens of protesters pushed into the embassy compound after smashing the gate used by cars to enter the embassy. The protesters, many in militia uniform, stopped in a corridor after about 5 meters (16 feet), and were only about 200 meters away from the main building. Half a dozen U.S. soldiers were seen on the roof of the main building, their guns were pointed at the protesters.

Smoke from the tear gas rose in the area, and at least three of the protesters appeared to have difficulties breathing. It wasn’t immediately known whether the embassy staff had remained inside the main building or were evacuated at some point. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Embassy.

The protesters hanged a poster on the wall: “America is an aggressor,” and some commanders of militia factions loyal to Iran joined the protesters. Among those was Hadi al-Amiri, the head of the state-sanctioned paramilitary Popular Mobilization Units, the umbrella group for the Iran-backed militias.

Yassine al-Yasseri, Iraq’s interior minister, also appeared outside the embassy at one point and walked around to inspect the scene. He told the AP that the prime minister had warned the U.S. strikes on the Shiite militiamen would have serious consequences. “This is one of the implications,” al-Yasseri said. “This is a problem and is embarrassing to the government.”

He said more security will be deployed to separate the protesters from the embassy, an indication the Iraqi troops would not move in to break up the crowd by force.

Earlier, the mob shouted “Down, Down USA!” as the crowd tried to push inside the embassy grounds, hurling water and stones over its walls. They raised yellow militia flags and taunted the embassy’s security staff who remained behind the glass windows in the gates’ reception area and also sprayed graffiti on the wall and windows. The graffiti, in red in support of the Kataeb Hezbollah, read: “Closed in the name of the resistance.”

Hundreds of angry protesters set up tents outside the embassy. As tempers rose, the mob set fire to three trailers used by security guards along the embassy wall. No one was immediately reported hurt, and security staff had withdrawn to inside the embassy earlier, soon after protesters gathered outside.

Khalid Mohammed—APProtesters burn property in front of the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad on Dec. 31, 2019.

Seven armored vehicles with about 30 Iraqi soldiers arrived near the embassy hours after the violence erupted, deploying near the embassy walls but not close to the breached area. Four vehicles carrying riot police approached the embassy later but were forced back by the protesters who blocked their path.

There was no immediate comment from the Pentagon and the State Department.

The U.S. airstrikes — the largest targeting an Iraqi state-sanctioned militia in recent years — and the subsequent calls by the militia for retaliation, represent a new escalation in the proxy war between the U.S. and Iran playing out in the Middle East. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday’s strikes send the message that the U.S. will not tolerate actions by Iran that jeopardize American lives.

The Iranian-backed Iraqi militia had vowed Monday to retaliate for the U.S. military strikes. The attack and vows for revenge raised concerns of new attacks that could threaten American interests in the region.

The U.S. attack also outraged both the militias and the Iraqi government, which said it will reconsider its relationship with the U.S.-led coalition — the first time it has said it will do so since an agreement was struck to keep some U.S. troops in the country. It called the attack a “flagrant violation” of its sovereignty.

In a partly televised meeting Monday, Caretaker Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi told Cabinet members that he had tried to stop the U.S. operation “but there was insistence” from American officials. He declared three days of mourning for those killed in the U.S. strikes, starting Tuesday.

The U.S. military said “precision defensive strikes” were conducted against five sites of Kataeb Hezbollah, or Hezbollah Brigades in Iraq and Syria. The group, which is a separate force from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, operates under the umbrella of the state-sanctioned militias known collectively as the Popular Mobilization Forces. Many of them are supported by Iran.