News of the World

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GOP Rep. Ogles introduces impeachment articles against Biden, Harris

Tennessee Republican Rep. Andy Ogles introduced articles of impeachment on Monday against President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Ogles’ articles accuse Biden of having "weaponized" the presidency, both in his tenure as president and vice president, to "shield the business and influence peddling schemes of his family from congressional oversight and public accountability."

Additionally, the articles accuse Biden of acting in a "manner contrary to the public trust and subversive of constitutional government, to the great prejudice of the cause of law and justice and to the manifest injury of the people of the United States" with his handling of the southern border crisis.

Ogle's effort will likely face an uphill climb in the House, where a small minority of Republicans have pushed for Biden's impeachment.

Lava flows from Mayon Volcano in the Philippines as thousands flee to safety

Thousands of people have evacuated regions surrounding the Mayon Volcano in the Philippines as the mountain continues to spew lava and show increasing signs of unrest.

According to the Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program, the Mayon Volcano, located near Legazpi City in the province of Albay, is the most active volcano in the Philippines.

An increase in the volcano’s activity led to officials raising the alert level to Alert Level 3 (Increased Tendency Towards Hazardous Eruption) on June 8.

Since then, numerous earthquakes have been reported at the volcano.

Scientists have also noted a sharp increase in rockfall events and pyroclastic flows from the volcano’s lava dome, according to the Philippines Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS).
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On Thursday, the PHIVOLCS reported at least 21 earthquakes over the past 24 hours, as well as at least 260 rockfall events and three pyroclastic density current events, or pyroclastic flows. In an update, the PHIVOLCS said current hazards include rockfalls, landslides or avalanches, ballistic fragments, lava and pyroclastic flows, moderate-sized explosions and lahars.

Grassley: Burisma executive who allegedly paid Biden
has audio recordings of conversations with Joe, Hunter

Sen. Chuck Grassley said Monday that the Burisma executive who allegedly paid Joe Biden and Hunter Biden kept 17 audio recordings of his conversations with them as an "insurance policy," citing the FBI FD-1023 form that the bureau briefed congressional lawmakers on.

Grassley, R-Iowa, revealed from the Senate floor Monday what was said to be a redacted reference in the FBI-generated FD-1023 form alleging a criminal bribery scheme between then-Vice President Joe Biden and a foreign national that involved influence over U.S. policy decisions.

...The FD-1023 form, dated June 30, 2020, is the FBI's interview with a "highly credible" confidential source who detailed multiple meetings and conversations he or she had with a top Burisma executive over the course of several years, starting in 2015. Fox News Digital has not seen the form, which is redacted, but it was described by several sources who are aware of its contents.
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According to Grassley, the FD-1023 also states that the executive possesses two audio recordings of phone calls between himself and then-Vice President Joe Biden.

Grassley, from the Senate floor, slammed the FBI for not complying with the House Oversight Committee’s subpoena, saying Congress "still lacks a full and complete picture with respect to what that document really says."

"That’s why it’s important that the document be made public without unnecessary redactions for the American people to see," he said. "Let me assist for purposes of transparency."

Karine Jean-Pierre violated Hatch Act
with 'mega MAGA Republicans' remarks: Government watchdog

According to the Office of Special Counsel, Jean-Pierre committed the violation last year ahead of the 2022 midterm elections when she repeatedly referred to "mega MAGA Republicans" while acting in her role as White House press secretary.

"Because Ms. Jean‐Pierre made the statements while acting in her official capacity, she violated the Hatch Act prohibition against using her official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election," the agency wrote in a letter dated June 7 shared with NBC News.

Jean-Pierre, who frequently cites the Hatch Act during the daily White House press briefing to avoid answering questions related to President Biden's re-election campaign or other candidates, made the comments during a briefing on Nov. 2.

"Unfortunately, we have seen mega MAGA Republican officials who don’t believe in the rule of law. They refuse to accept the results of free and fair elections and they fan the flames of political violence through what they praise and what they refuse to condemn. It remains important for the President to state strongly and unequivocally that violence has no place in our democracy," she said.

Biden previously introduced the term "mega MAGA" on Oct. 21 while attacking Republican economic policies as "mega MAGA trickle down."

US military helicopter 'mishap' in Syria
leaves 22 service members injured, CENTCOM says

U.S. Central Command said in a press release that said the service members suffered "various degrees" of injuries during the incident Sunday in northeastern Syria.

Central Command said the injured service members are "receiving treatment for their injuries and 10 have been evacuated to higher care facilities outside of the CENTCOM AOR."

No enemy fire was reported, according to the press release. The incident is under investigation.
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The U.S. military has kept a force of at least 900 troops in Syria, the U.S. government has said. The group includes an undisclosed number of contractors.

Walking away: San Francisco mall owner hands property
back to bank as exodus continues

Shopping center giant Westfield is walking away from its San Francisco Centre mall, becoming the latest major company to leave the California city amid rampant crime problems.

Westfield confirmed to FOX Business Monday that the company and partner Brookfield Properties earlier this month stopped making payments on a $558 million loan securing the San Francisco Centre property.
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"Given the challenging operating conditions in downtown San Francisco, which have led to declines in sales, occupancy and foot traffic, we have made the difficult decision to begin the process to transfer management of the shopping center to our lender to allow them to appoint a receiver to operate the property going forward."

Westfield's move comes less than a week after Park Hotels & Resorts announced it had handed two prominent hotels back to the bank. The real estate investment trust said it was abandoning the Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Parc 55, saying the city's streets are unsafe and expressing doubts about the area's ability to recover.

...due in part to Nordstrom shutting down both its downtown San Francisco locations. One of them is located in the San Francisco Centre property, and Westfield says the mall would only be 55% leased when Nordstrom leaves – far less than Westfield's other U.S. malls, which are 93% leased, on average.

Ex-Samsung Exec Charged With Stealing Trade Secrets
to Create Copycat Chip Factory in China

The Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office said Monday that the unnamed 65-year-old unlawfully obtained Samsung’s factory blueprints and clean-room designs from 2018 and 2019 while trying, unsuccessfully, to replicate a chip factory in the Chinese city of Xi’an, near where Samsung operates a plant.

The technology allegedly stolen by the man’s China-based company would have been worth at least 300 billion won ($233 million) for Samsung, prosecutors said. They charged six people employed by the man with “active participation” in the tech theft.

South Korea is highly sensitive to breaches of technologies related to semiconductors, which accounted for nearly 17% of its total exports in 2022.
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The man later created chip manufacturing companies in China and Singapore with the backing of Chinese and Taiwanese investors and lured more than 200 chip experts from Samsung and Hynix with higher pay before arranging to smuggle out crucial technologies from Samsung, prosecutors said.

The manufacturing secrets allegedly taken from Samsung included processing blueprints and “basic engineering data” for designing clean-room environments to prevent contamination during semiconductor manufacturing, which prosecutors described as “core national technologies.”