Warren blasts Trump pick Sondland and pledges not to sell ambassador posts

Sen. Elizabeth Warren used Wednesday night’s debate to rip President Donald Trump and Gordon Sondland, the ambassador to the European Union who told lawmakers that he “at the express direction” of Trump urged Ukraine to announce probes that would benefit the president.

Debating nine fellow Democratic White House hopefuls, Warren questioned how Sondland got his post, and provided her own answer: He gave $1 million to Trump’s inauguration.

Earlier Wednesday, Sondland testified there was a “quid pro quo” between a White House meeting for Ukraine’s president and investigations Trump sought.

Invoking Sondland’s donation, the Massachusetts Democrat said “that tells us what is happening in Washington, the corruption.”

Touring an Apple AAPL, -1.16%  plant in Texas, Trump called Sondland’s testimony “fantastic.”

Now read: Gordon Sondland tells House impeachment panel ‘we all understood’ there was a quid pro quo.

Elderly motorcyclist dies from injuries after accident with tipper truck on PIE

SINGAPORE – A 72-year-old motorcyclist died after an accident involving his bike and a tipper truck on the Pan-Island Expressway (PIE) on Tuesday (Nov 19).

The police said they were alerted to the accident on the PIE towards Changi Airport at 12.09pm.

The man was unconscious when taken by a Singapore Civil Defence Force ambulance to Changi General Hospital, where he later died from his injuries.

The truck driver is assisting police with investigations into the case.

Biden said you have to ‘keep punching’ to address domestic violence

Vice President Joe Biden was asked Wednesday night how he would address sexual violence. 

His response during the Democratic debate drew laughter from the crowd.

The former vice president was on firm ground when he began his answer by reminding the audience that he authored legislation to address violence against women.

He then argued that “No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman in anger other than in self-defense, and that rarely ever occurs.”

“So we have to just change the culture, period,” Biden said.  “And keep punching at it and punching it and punching at it.”

Biden was one of 10 Democratic candidates to take the stage in Atlanta to debate a range of topics that included, health care, violence, impeachment and defeating President Trump. 

Google Limits Political Ad Targeting

Google on Wednesday announced new restrictions on political advertisers around the world. The company has joined Twitter in revising its political ad rules ahead of the election season.

Google will begin enforcing the ban within a week in the U.K., ahead of the December 12 general election. The ban will take effect in the European Union by the end of the year and in the rest of the world starting on January 6, 2020, the company said in a blog post.

Google said political advertisers will only be able to target U.S. political ads based on general categories such as gender, age and postal code. Previously, the company offered basic political targeting capabilities to the verified advertisers, such as serving ads based on public voter records and general political affiliations.

However, the company said that the political advertisers can continue to do contextual targeting, such as serving ads to people reading or watching a story about, say, the economy.

2020 debate: Tulsi Gabbard prompts a brawl with Kamala Harris over dig at Democratic Party

Candidates were at each other’s throats early on in the November Democratic debate. In one instance, it started with Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard taking another swipe at the Clintons.

It ended with a broader debate about the future of Democratic foreign policy and whether, as Gabbard claims, the party needs to break with the past.

Asked to explain a Twitter firestorm between Gabbard and 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton last month, Gabbard said that the party needs to break away from the “Bush-Clinton-Trump” foreign policy that she described as being driven by “greedy corporate interests.”

That drew a response from California Sen. Kamala Harris, who accused of Gabbard of spending “four years on Fox News criticizing Obama.”

“What we need on this stage,” Harris said, “is someone who has the ability to win.”

Gabbard said that Harris continued to “traffic in lies and smears and innuendos because she cannot challenge the substance of the argument that I’m making, the leadership and the change that I am seeking to bring.”

What started it? Clinton’s comments to a podcast last month were initially erroneously reported as her saying Russians appeared to be “grooming” Gabbard. Clinton had actually said it was the Republicans who were “grooming” Gabbard, according to an aide.

British Airways: flight delays into Heathrow and Gatwick

International flights operated by British Airways have been hit by a “technical issue”, with delays to journeys into Heathrow and Gatwick on Thursday morning.

Flights from locations around the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Orlando, Boston and Beijing, appeared to be affected.

The airline said it was rebooking customers on alternative flights and offering hotel accommodation to passengers stranded overnight.

British Airways has suffered a series of serious operational failures this year. In August, the summer travel plans of tens of thousands were affected, with Heathrow, Gatwick and City the airports most affected by a computer failure.