USA

WASHINGTON (AP) — He was proud of his reputation as a practitioner of political dirty tricks and frequently boasted about the extent of his contacts and the depth of his insider information.

Now Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of President Donald Trump, faces a prison sentence for a collection of crimes that essentially amounts to exaggerating how much he knew, then lying and scrambling to keep those boasts from being exposed.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — The decisions by Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren to skip a weekend gathering of thousands of fervent California Democrats less than three months before voting begins have frustrated and puzzled some party leaders.

But they have offered a chance for their rivals to capitalize on the absence of two front-runners at the gathering that serves as an unofficial kickoff of the final sprint to California’s March 3 primary, which offers the biggest delegate haul of any primary or caucus.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Day Two of public hearings in the House impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump featured a career diplomat with a soft voice and a powerful story.

Marie Yovanovitch said she felt threatened by the president as she detailed the story of being abruptly recalled from her post as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine. Then the president attacked her with a tweet, which she said was intimidating.

Some key takeaways from Yovanovitch’s testimony:

POLITICAL IS PERSONAL

SANTA CLARITA, Calif. (AP) — The death of a 16-year-old boy who killed two students and wounded three others at his Southern California high school has left investigators struggling to discover what prompted the deadly attack.

Friends and neighbors described Nathaniel Tennosuke Berhow as bright, funny, quiet and above all normal before he pulled a gun from his backpack Thursday and in 16 seconds shot five students at random before saving the last bullet for himself.

USA (AP) -- Ukraine is at the center of today’s east-west geopolitical battle, but it’s feeling increasingly alone and abandoned by its U.S. backers amid the impeachment drama unfolding in Washington.

The U.S. ambassador — who was pushed out earlier this year and testified Friday in Congress — hasn’t been replaced. Neither has the influential U.S. envoy tasked with helping Ukraine quell its Russia-backed separatist insurgency. The lower-level U.S. officials remaining in Kyiv are keeping an unusually low profile.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In chilling detail, ousted U.S. Ambassador to the Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch described to Trump impeachment investigators Friday how she felt threatened upon learning that President Donald Trump had promised Ukraine’s leader she was “going to go through some things.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — A State Department official told impeachment investigators Friday that he overheard President Donald Trump talking with a U.S. ambassador about “investigations” in Ukraine, according to people familiar with the testimony.

David Holmes, the political counsel at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, said Trump was talking so loudly that Ambassador Gordon Sondland had to hold the phone from his ear.

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 15 (APP): Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram, on Wednesday had wide-ranging discussions with the United Nations General Assembly President, Tijjani Muhammad-Bande, that centred on the worsening situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir which has been under a repressive military lockdown for over four months now.

NEW YORK, Nov 15 (APP): India is seeing its freedoms erode under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “increasingly autocratic rule” as “illiberal” rulers are undermining democracy from Poland to the Philippines, according to an opinion piece in an influential American newspaper.

Writing in the Washington Post, author and columnist Max Boot targeted Modi, enumerating his high-handed actions and spotlighting some failed policies.

Pointing out that Modi was first elected in 2014 on a promise to boost India’s economic growth, the author said that his “reforms have been a bust”.

TASS, November 15: The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has purchased $3.9-billion worth of seats from Russia to transport its astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) since July 2011, says NASA Inspector General Paul Martin’s report published on NASA official website on Thursday.