House Democrats are just trying to invalidate the 2016 election of President Donald Trump

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is subverting rule of law, write former acting U.S. Attorney General Matt Whitaker and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry.

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Who Is John Eisenberg? Trump Lawyer Moved Ukraine Transcript to Classified Server After Vindman Complained - Newsweek

Who Is John Eisenberg? Trump Lawyer Moved Ukraine Transcript to Classified Server After Vindman Complained  NewsweekView full coverage on Google News

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'No further discussion': Talks halt between whistleblower lawyers and Schiff staff amid expectation he won't testify - Washington Examiner

1. 'No further discussion': Talks halt between whistleblower lawyers and Schiff staff amid expectation he won't testify  Washington Examiner
2. Adam Schiff says impeachment process rules are "very much the same" as they were for Nixon and Clinton  CBS News
3. The Adam Schiff Empowerment Act  Washington Examiner
4. Judge Andrew Napolitano: Proof of Trump’s impeachable offenses plain to see  Fox News
5. House of Representatives passes impeachment probe resolution  ABC News
6. View full coverage on Google News

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Senate Democrats block defense spending bill over Trump wall | TheHill - The Hill

1. Senate Democrats block defense spending bill over Trump wall | TheHill  The Hill
2. Senate succeeds — then stumbles — on spending bills amid border wall fight  POLITICO
3. Senate spending impasse sets up shutdown fight  The Washington TImes
4. Senate passes first spending package as shutdown looms | TheHill  The Hill
5. The Latest: Dems block Pentagon funding over border wall  Washington Post
6. View full coverage on Google News

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At least 73 dead in massive train fire in eastern Pakistan - The Washington Post

At least 73 dead in massive train fire in eastern Pakistan  The Washington PostView full coverage on Google News

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WeWork, Former CEO Adam Neumann Accused of Rampant Pregnancy and Gender Discrimination - Gizmodo

1. WeWork, Former CEO Adam Neumann Accused of Rampant Pregnancy and Gender Discrimination  Gizmodo
2. Ex-WeWork CEO accused of gender discrimination, smoking pot in front of pregnant staffer  CNBC
3. WeWork’s Ousted C.E.O. Adam Neumann Is Accused of Pregnancy Discrimination  The New York Times
4. Former chief of staff to WeWork founder claims discrimination  Financial Times
5. WeWork, former CEO Adam Neumann accused of pregnancy discrimination  Yahoo Finance
6. View full coverage on Google News

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Kevin Durant has a broader perspective after being sidelined with injury – Jay Williams | First Take - ESPN

1. Kevin Durant has a broader perspective after being sidelined with injury – Jay Williams | First Take  ESPN
2. Kevin Durant gets candid about Draymond Green and KD's absence this season  Yahoo Sports
3. Warriors were bad before Stephen Curry’s injury. Now the nightmare begins  San Francisco Chronicle
4. Kevin Durant says Draymond's on-court explosion impacted his free agency decision | First Take  ESPN
5. Kevin Durant cites Joel Embiid among top 5 players he enjoys watching  Sixers Wire
6. View full coverage on Google News

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Brazil wildfires: Blaze advances across Pantanal wetlands

The area is one of the most biodiverse regions in the world, and a popular tourist destination.

from BBC News - World https://ift.tt/2qbOtUY

POWERFUL: Hungary's President Posts Photo to Social Media of Nick Vujicic and Himself Praying

The president of Hungary posted a powerful image of himself kneeling to pray with evangelist Nick Vujicic.

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UPDATE 4-Islamic State vows revenge against U.S. for Baghdadi killing

Islamic State confirmed on Thursday that its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a weekend raid by U.S. special forces in northwestern Syria, and vowed revenge against the United States. The Iraqi rose from obscurity to lead the ultra-hardline group and declare himself "caliph" of all Muslims, holding sway over huge areas of Iraq and Syria from 2014-2017 before Islsmic State's control disintegrated under U.S.-led attacks. The group confirmed his death in an audio tape posted online and said a successor, identified as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, had been appointed.

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Reading Scores on National Exam Decline in Half the States

WASHINGTON -- The average eighth grade reading score on a nationally representative test declined among public school students in more than half of the states, according to data released Wednesday by the National Center for Education Statistics, the research arm of the Education Department.The dismal results were part of the release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the "nation's report card." The test assesses a sample of fourth and eighth grade students -- more than 290,000 in each subject in 2019 -- every other year."Over the past decade, there has been no progress in either mathematics or reading performance, and the lowest-performing students are doing worse," Peggy Carr, the associate commissioner of the center, said in a statement.Such findings will inevitably prompt demands for policy change. In a statement, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is championing a $5 billion school choice program, said that the results "must be America's wake-up call.""We can neither excuse them away, nor simply throw more money at the problem," she said.That vision is in stark contrast to the one that has emerged in the Democratic presidential primary. All the leading candidates have suggested spending billions more federal dollars on traditional public schools, and two of the front-runners -- Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders -- have proposed slowing the growth of the charter school sector.The losses on the national exam were steepest for students who had been struggling the most, a segment that is the focus of many school reform policies.Eighth graders at the bottom 10th percentile of reading achievement lost 6 points on the exam compared with similar students two years ago, while students at the 50th percentile lost 3 points and students at the 90th percentile -- top achievers -- lost only 1 point."Eighth grade is a transitional point in preparing students for success in high school, so it is critical that researchers further explore the declines we are seeing here," Carr said.White, black, Hispanic, Native American and multiracial students all lost ground in eighth grade reading, while there was no significant change for Asian students.Washington, one of 27 cities to participate in a separate analysis of urban school systems, was the only city or state to see significant improvement in eighth grade reading, according to a federal analysis of the data.This year, 31 states noted a drop of 2 to 7 points in their average eighth grade reading score -- which the federal government deemed significant -- compared with their performances in 2017. Indiana, New Hampshire and Virginia were the states with the largest declines among eighth graders.Fourth grade reading scores dropped in 17 states, with New Jersey having the largest decline, 6 points; only one state, Mississippi, improved, the data showed.States' average math scores fared considerably better, particularly among fourth graders. Nine states had significant increases in fourth grade math, compared with 2017 numbers, with Mississippi again leading the pack. The eighth grade score in three states improved, while six noted a decline.While the most recent results are disappointing, trends in student achievement look more positive over the long term. American students have made large gains in math and small gains in reading since 1990, but those improvements began to level out around 2009. There is no consensus among experts as to why.The Council of the Great City Schools, a coalition of large urban school systems, said it saw a hopeful story in the new data. Over the past two decades, students in cities have moved closer to national achievement averages in both math and reading."The fact that large city schools have cut their performance gap with the nation in about half is even more remarkable when you consider that our schools have substantially more poor students and English-language learners than the average public school across the nation," the group said in a statement. Such results "suggest that the nation's urban public schools are adding substantially more educational value than the average school."The National Assessment of Educational Progress is considered a "low stakes" exam, because schools and teachers do not lose funding, pay or autonomy based on how their students perform. Some researchers consider the test the gold-standard measure of learning nationwide, while others argue it is unfair to judge schools using an exam that may have little connection to the material teachers cover in the classroom.DeVos said the 2019 scores reflected a "student achievement crisis," where progress had stalled, two out of three children were not proficient readers, and outcomes continued to worsen for the most vulnerable students."Every American family needs to open the nation's report card this year and think about what it means for their child and for our country's future," she said. "The results are, frankly, devastating."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2019 The New York Times Company

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California Governor Accepted Donations from Utility Company He Now Excoriates for ‘Greed’

California governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, has accepted large donations from Pacific Gas & Electric Co., a utility company he now excoriates for "greed" and "mismanagement."PG&E has faced widespread criticism for implementing blackouts for millions of customers to avoid sparking wildfires in the midst of California's dry and windy fall weather."I have a message for PG&E," Newsom wrote on Twitter on Friday. "Your years and years of greed. Years and years of mismanagement. Years and years of putting shareholders over people. Are OVER."Newsom and allies accepted $208,400 from the utility during his 2018 gubernatorial campaign, according to local affiliate ABC10. Of that total, $150,000 went to a political spending group called “Citizens Supporting Gavin Newsom for Governor 2018,” while the rest went to directly to Newsom's campaign.PG&E filed for bankruptcy in January 2019. Faulty PG&E electricity equipment has been blamed for sparking several wildfires in the past decade.California has consistently shut down proposals to clear dead trees from forests and to trim trees near power lines state wide, creating conditions for a rash of wildfire outbreaks in recent years.The Kincaid Fire currently burning in Sonoma County in the northern part of the state has forced the evacuation of roughly 200,000 people. The fire is twice the size of the city of San Fransisco.Newsom declared a state of emergency on Sunday in response to the Kincaid Fire and several other wildfires throughout the state. He again threatened PG&E in a statement on the situation."There is a plan to get out of this. This is not the new normal,” Newsom said on Sunday at an evacuation center in northern California. “This is not a 10-year process to deal with this. That will not be the case… [PG&E] will be held to account to do something radically different

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Full coverage: House passes impeachment resolution

The House on Thursday voted to pass a historic resolution establishing formal procedures for the ongoing impeachment inquiry into President Trump. The 232-196 vote fell almost exclusively along party lines, with two moderate Democrats voting no.

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Putin faces Syria money crunch after U.S. keeps control of oil fields

Russian President Vladimir Putin is facing an unwelcome new financial challenge in Syria after the U.S. pullback enabled his ally Bashar Assad to reclaim the biggest chunk of territory in the country still outside his control.

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Graphic: Examining the weapons and tactics used by police and protesters in Hong Kong

As the showdown between police and protesters in Hong Kong has intensified, officers have used increasing force, deploying an arsenal of crowd-control weapons, including tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets, sponge grenades and bean bag rounds. Protesters have also stepped up their actions, hurling petrol bombs, vandalizing mainland Chinese banks and businesses believed to be pro-Beijing, throwing bricks at police stations and battling officers in the streets, sometimes with metal bars. Reuters scrutinized hundreds of images of the protests, as well as dozens of police reports and video footage, and combined this research with reporting on the ground to document the weapons used by the police and protesters, and how the violence has increased from day to day.

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G.M. Union Members Return to Work, but Worries Are Far From Over

GM autoworkers returned to work with a new contract after their longest nationwide strike in nearly 50 years. Here's where they stand now.

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Top NSC Russia official confirms key testimony linking Trump to quid pro quo

President Donald Trump’s top Russia aide on Thursday corroborated aspects of a key U.S. diplomat’s testimony connecting the president to a quid pro quo with Ukraine, according to people familiar with the aide’s testimony to House impeachment investigators. Timothy Morrison, the Europe and Russia chief for the National Security Council, was cited more than a dozen times in William Taylor’s opening statement to investigators last week.

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Convicted rapist mistakenly released from Georgia prison captured in Kentucky

Tony Maycon Munoz-Mendez was serving a life sentence in Georgia when he was released "in error." Authorities captured him in Kentucky Wednesday.

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Islamic State group announces successor to al-Baghdadi

The Islamic State group declared a new leader Thursday after it confirmed the death of its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi days earlier in a U.S raid in Syria. In its audio release by the IS central media arm, al-Furqan Foundation, a new spokesman for IS identifies the successor as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi — tracing his lineage, like al-Baghdadi, to the Prophet Muhammad's Quraysh tribe. The speaker in the audio also confirmed the death of Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, a close aide of al-Baghdadi and a spokesman for the group since 2016.

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Ilhan Omar refuses to back vote recognising Armenian genocide

Ilhan Omar declined to vote in favour of a resolution recognising the mass killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as a genocide, saying any "true acknowledgement" of such crimes must include other historical "mass slaughters".The Minnesota Democrat was one of just three House members to vote “present” on the resolution that passed in an overwhelming 405-11 vote.

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How The B-1 Lancer Went From A Nuclear Bomber To an ISIS Killer

Priorities and capabilities change with time.

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Exclusive: How Lebanon's Hariri defied Hezbollah

After hitting a dead end in efforts to defuse the crisis sweeping Lebanon, Saad al-Hariri informed a top Hezbollah official on Monday he had no choice but to quit as prime minister in defiance of the powerful Shi'ite group. The decision by the Sunni leader shocked Hussein al-Khalil, political advisor to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, who advised him against giving in to protesters who wanted to see his coalition government toppled. The meeting described to Reuters by four senior sources from outside Hariri's Future Party captures a critical moment in the crisis that has swept Lebanon for the last two weeks as Hariri yielded to the massive street protests against the ruling elite.

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Donald and Melania Trump place candy on top of child's Minion Halloween costume, video goes viral

Video of the encounter went viral along with a flood of social media commentary. Some accused Trump of playing a Halloween trick at the kid's expense.

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Here's How America Will Stop Iran from Invading Saudi Arabia

The master plan.

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Liberia's child soldiers: 'I know I killed people'

Miatta says she was forced to fight when she was 14 and can't remember how many people she's killed.

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Chuck Schumer: Vindman Should Be Given 'Appropriate Protections' After Testifying | NBC News - NBC News

1. Chuck Schumer: Vindman Should Be Given 'Appropriate Protections' After Testifying | NBC News  NBC News
2. Testimony: Nunes acolyte misrepresented himself to Trump as Ukraine expert  POLITICO
3. Seth Meyers Goes Off on Laura Ingraham for Smearing Vindman  The Daily Beast
4. Alexander Vindman should be celebrated, not smeared  The Washington Post
5. Accusing Vindman of Divided Loyalties Makes No Sense  Bloomberg
6. View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZZk-Y9hsMg

Syrian, Turkish forces clash near border town: report | TheHill - The Hill

1. Syrian, Turkish forces clash near border town: report | TheHill  The Hill
2. Kurd fighters complete pullout from Turkey-Syria border: Russia  Al Jazeera English
3. How the New Syria Took Shape  The New York Times
4. Resolving to honor victims of the Armenian Genocide  The Boston Globe
5. Syrian army, Turkish forces clash near border: state media  Reuters
6. View full coverage on Google News

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Apple warns some iPhone users: Update your phone or lose internet - CNN

1. Apple warns some iPhone users: Update your phone or lose internet  CNN
2. Update your iPhone 5 before November 3rd to keep email, web, and GPS working  The Verge
3. Old iPhones could stop working on Sunday, Apple warns  KSAT 12
4. Old iPhones will stop working Sunday unless users update software  WKMG News 6 & ClickOrlando
5. View full coverage on Google News

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McConnell: Democrats would rather impeach Trump than fund our military - Fox News

1. McConnell: Democrats would rather impeach Trump than fund our military  Fox News
2. Pelosi and McConnell make push on spending deal — but Trump's wall looms  POLITICO
3. McConnell: We'll see if Pelosi's impeachment rules resolution 'passes the smell test' | TheHill  The Hill
4. Laura Ingraham calls on Senate Republicans to 'step up or get out,' says Democrats will go on a 'revenge to...  Fox News
5. After McConnell advice, Trump lays off GOP senators on impeachment  POLITICO
6. View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpM0F-co4Jc

Grenfell Tower Inquiry Criticized for Faulting Fire Brigade - The New York Times

1. Grenfell Tower Inquiry Criticized for Faulting Fire Brigade  The New York Times
2. Jeremy Corbyn: Grenfell tower fire was an 'avoidable tragedy'  Guardian News
3. How 59 senior fire officers sat through presentation on tower block blazes in 2016  Daily Mail
4. My uncle died at Grenfell. This report must lead to action  The Guardian
5. London Fire Brigade faulted in new report on Grenfell Tower tragedy  The Washington Post
6. View full coverage on Google News

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Apple Watch, AirPods and services are Apple's big winners, not iPhone - CNET

Apple Watch, AirPods and services are Apple's big winners, not iPhone  CNETView full coverage on Google News

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The Pixel 4 is a disaster - CNET

1. The Pixel 4 is a disaster  CNET
2. Apple Just Killed The Google Pixel's Killer Feature: Review  Bloomberg
3. Google is right — and wrong — to focus on the camera  Android Authority
4. Google Pixel 4 review: the best Pixel yet might not be good enough  T3
5. Google Stadia expands to Pixel 2, 4, sign-in on iOS, Android  SlashGear
6. View full coverage on Google News

from Top stories - Google News https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HcwR8uUJj0

How to Eat Alone (and Like It)

By BY JESS MCHUGH from NYT Smarter Living https://ift.tt/31WLbCt

Georgia Plans to Purge 300,000 Names From Its Voter Rolls

By BY NICHOLAS CASEY from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/2WrdJ5X

Stick to Sports? No Way. Deadspin Journalists Quit en Masse.

By BY MARC TRACY from NYT Business https://ift.tt/31YbsQz

Hundreds of U.S. Troops Leaving, and Also Arriving in, Syria

By BY ERIC SCHMITT AND HELENE COOPER from NYT World https://ift.tt/331hmlz

Iraq Prime Minister Pressed to Quit as Protests Clog Streets

By BY ALISSA J. RUBIN from NYT World https://ift.tt/2pqzoyQ

Trump judicial nominee breaks down during Senate hearing

Lawrence VanDyke broke down when asked whether he was biased against LGBT people.

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Comedian Kevin Hart shares emotional video after crash

The US comedian shared the video of his recovery after a severe car accident in September.

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Frustration mounts as California is hit with more blackouts

Frustration and anger mounted across Northern California as the state's biggest utility began another round of fire-prevention blackouts Tuesday that could leave millions of people without electricity, some for five days or longer. The shut-offs, aimed at keeping windblown electrical equipment from sparking wildfires, came as fire crews raced to contain two major blazes in Northern and Southern California before the winds picked up dangerously again. The fires have destroyed dozens of homes in Sonoma County wine country and in the hills of Los Angeles.

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Tucker Carlson and Guest Blame Diversity and ‘Woke’ Culture for California Fires

Fox NewsFox News host Tucker Carlson and his guest, conservative YouTube personality Dave Rubin, both insisted Tuesday night that the wildfires burning across California are due largely to progressive ideology, “woke” culture, and diversity in hiring.During Tuesday’s broadcast of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson welcomed on Rubin, a political commentator and podcaster, to discuss the issues surrounding the large fires engulfing the state, including those related to the electrical grid and firefighting methods.“PG&E; strikes me as almost a metaphor for the destruction of the state,” Carlson said about the state’s power company. “Here’s the utility which doesn’t really know anything about its own infrastructure but knows everything about the race of its employees. How did we get there?”After noting that he lives near one of the fires in the Los Angeles area, Rubin immediately took aim at liberal politics as the main reason the wildfires have grown so large and dangerous.“The problem right now is that everything, EVERYTHING, from academia to public utilities to politics, everything that goes woke, that buys into this ridiculous progressive ideology that cares about what contractors are LGBT or how many black firemen we have or white this or Asian that, everything that goes that road eventually breaks down,” he declared.As Carlson nodded and said “that’s true,” Rubin continued, complaining that this isn’t how “freedom is supposed to operate.”“What is supposed to happen—imagine if your house was on fire,” he added. “Would you care what the public utility or what the fire company, what contractor they brought in, what gender or sexuality or any of those things he or she was? It’s just absolutely ridiculous.”The Fox News host continued to agree with Rubin, who went on to tie PG&E;’s preemptive blackouts to a lack of “libertarian or conservative-minded people in California to fight what the progressives are doing to the state.”“If you can’t keep the lights on and you can’t keep the place from burning down, you’ve reached the point where there is no kind of lying about it anymore,” Carlson concluded. “It’s falling apart. It’s a disaster. It’s not civilized anymore.”Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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US House overwhelmingly votes to recognize Armenian genocide

Resolution comes at delicate time in US-Turkey relationship, shortly after House votes to impose sanctionsPeople take part in a torchlight procession as they mark the 104th anniversary of the killing of 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman forces, Yerevan, Armenia. Photograph: Karen Minasyan/AFP/Getty ImagesThe US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to recognize the Armenian genocide of a century ago, stepping into a fraught historical debate at a particularly tense moment for the US-Turkey relationship.The House voted 405-11 in favor of the resolution, which is not legally binding, to formally recognize the systematic killing of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians under the Ottoman Empire in 1915, modern-day Turkey, as a “genocide”.Earlier on Tuesday, the House voted 403 to 16 to impose sanctions on Turkey, in a striking rebuke of Donald Trump after he pulled American forces from northern Syria following a phone call with the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, paving the way for Turkey’s assault on Kurdish-held areas in northern Syria.The Turkish government has long denied the term genocide to describe the slaughter and has waged a lobbying campaign in the US and around the world to discourage the use of that word in reference to the killings.Many countries and nearly all US states officially recognize the killings as genocide. But the US Congress has resisted pressure in recent years by activists out of a desire not to inflame tensions with a Nato ally. Support for a resolution grew, particularly among Democrats, after Trump enabled the Turkish offensive against the Kurdish groups.The US had previously allied with Syrian Kurdish forces against militants of the Islamic State group. The Turkish offensive left scores of Kurdish fighters and civilians dead and displaced hundreds of thousands more.“If we ignore history, then we are destined to witness the mistakes of the past be repeated,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, said, urging support for the resolution on Tuesday. “Recent attacks by the Turkish military against the Kurdish people are a stark reminder of the danger in our own time.”The California Democrat Adam Schiff, a sponsor of the resolution, said in a statement: “The House declared that it will no longer be party to the cause of genocide denial. This is a vote I have fought for 19 years to make possible, and one that tens of thousands of my Armenian American constituents have worked, struggled, and prayed for decades to see.”The vote on the bipartisan resolution came on the heels of House passage of economic sanctions against Turkey.There is a bipartisan resolution in the Senate but it is unclear if the chamber will bring the measure to the floor.In a statement, the Turkish foreign minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, condemned the move, which he called “a meaningless political step” and an “attempt to rewrite history”.“The US Administration and politicians as well as the American people are best placed to consider the damages this resolution seeking to disrupt Turkey-US ties does and will inflict upon the US interests at an extremely fragile time in terms of the international and regional security,” the statement said, adding: “Undoubtedly, this resolution will negatively affect the image of the US before the public opinion of Turkey as it also brings the dignity of the US House of Representatives into disrepute.”But on Capitol Hill, the resolution’s passage was celebrated. California congresswoman Anna Eshoo, who is Armenian American, said she had been “waiting for this moment” since she was first elected to Congress more than a quarter-century ago. “This resolution not only honors and commemorates my ancestors who perished but all those who were lost in the first genocide of the 20th century,” she said.

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A California couple who was forced to evacuate their home and winery share what it's really like to endure the wildfires engulfing the state

California's Sonoma wine country dealt with destructive wildfires in 2017. Here's how one winery is dealing with 2019's Kincade Fire.

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Michelle Obama: White Americans 'still running' from black neighbors

Michelle Obama said that white Americans are “still running” from their nonwhite fellow citizens during a summit in which she detailed how her own experience of white flight unfolded during her upbringing on Chicago’s South Side.

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John Bolton: Former national security adviser 'summoned to testify in Trump impeachment probe'

House impeachment investigators have invited John Bolton, a former national security adviser to Donald Trump, to testify before Congress next week, according to reports.Mr Bolton was reportedly called on by House investigators to give evidence for their impeachment inquiry into Mr Trump surrounding the president’s dealings with Ukraine.

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Trump falsely says Chicago is more dangerous than Afghanistan, which topped the list of the world's 10 most dangerous countries in 2019

The latest Global Peace Index has a new least peaceful country, assessed on metrics like political instability and deaths from conflict.

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Elected Arizona official accused of selling babies suspended

An elected official in Arizona was suspended Monday after he was charged with running a human smuggling scheme that brought pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to the U.S. to give birth and then paid them to give up their children for adoption. Leaders in Arizona's most populous county suspended Assessor Paul Petersen without pay for 120 days. The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors doesn't have the power to permanently remove him from his office, which determines the value of properties for tax purposes in Phoenix and its suburbs.

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Federal Prosecutors Are Lining Up Witnesses Against Jeffrey Epstein’s Cronies

Photo Illustration by The Daily Beast/Photos GettyIt’s been more than two months since Jeffrey Epstein killed himself, but the investigation into possible accomplices is still very much alive. In recent days, federal prosecutors probing the financier’s sex-trafficking ring have been asking Epstein victims if they could serve as witnesses in the criminal case they are building.Representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York traveled to Florida for an Oct. 15 meeting with several of Epstein’s victims and their counsel. The staffers, who worked in the victim services unit, held a similar meeting in New York on Oct. 23, lawyers for the women and a law enforcement source told The Daily Beast.Two people familiar with the investigation said that prosecutors have heard from “dozens” of witnesses or victims since Epstein’s arrest in July.Following Epstein’s death in August, which was ruled a suicide by hanging, the Department of Justice said that it would continue to investigate anyone who helped Epstein procure underage girls or helped him to cover up crimes. A spokesman for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on where the probe stands, only saying that the “investigation is continuing.”The Biggest Bombshells in Newly Unsealed Epstein DocumentsSpencer Kuvin, a Palm Beach attorney who represents two women who were abused by Epstein, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York offered counseling services to the group of victims who gathered in Miramar, Florida.The representatives also worked to debunk conspiracy theories, which the victims have encountered online, related to Epstein’s jailhouse suicide. According to Kuvin, prosecutors continue to battle wild speculation on how the 66-year-old money-manager died, along with rumors that he isn’t dead at all.“The U.S. Attorney’s Office wanted to put to rest some of those conspiracy theories—that he was killed, that he’s still alive. There are people still talking about that,” Kuvin told The Daily Beast. “There are still people that think this was an absolute ruse and he’s sitting pretty in another part of the world.” Kuvin said investigators assured the women that their probe into Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators was ongoing. The lawyer declined to comment on the identities of those suspected accomplices.“They wanted to meet with some of the victims to discuss whether or not they could be potential witnesses in that ongoing investigation,” Kuvin said. “One of my clients is going to meet with them privately about that issue.”Epstein Victim: Ghislaine Maxwell Made Me Recruit ‘Youngest-Looking’ Girls for EpsteinDuring the Florida meeting, coordinators for federal prosecutors answered questions from the women, some of whom felt burned over their treatment 12 years ago, when the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami secretly negotiated a cushy plea deal for Epstein. Back then, the feds promised the women they’d prosecute the creepy multimillionaire; instead, they collaborated with his legal team to downgrade the charges.“The focus really is: What are you doing now and are you honestly going to pursue the co-conspirators or are those just words?” Kuvin said.“They’ve been wronged by the system numerous times,” Kuvin added of his clients and other victims of Epstein, “from the late 2000s all the way up to him killing himself. Every time an official comes forward and says, ‘Don’t worry. We’re going to do the right thing,’ they shake their heads and say, ‘We’ll see.’”In New York last week, prosecutors met with victims at a federal building downtown where local FBI headquarters is housed to inform the women of their rights and offer counseling services.Duncan Levin, a former assistant U.S. Attorney and chief of asset forfeiture at the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, said Epstein’s inner circle shouldn’t rest easy. “There is at least some evidence that other people facilitated his crimes, and there’s obviously enough public interest in the case that [prosecutors] aren’t going to drop it just because he’s dead,” said Levin, managing partner at Tucker Levin, PLLC.Levin said prosecutors are likely to thoroughly investigate Epstein’s alleged enablers and seek forfeiture of Epstein’s properties that were used to facilitate the sex crimes. Jeffrey Epstein Reveals His Fortune Includes $56 Million in CashA bare-bones rundown of Epstein’s assets submitted by his lawyers following his arrest, and bank records obtained by prosecutors, provided a glimpse into Epstein’s net worth which is estimated at more than $550 million, but it may not be a complete accounting. The listed assets included $56 million in cash and another $500 million in properties and investments.The properties include $85 million worth of real estate in the U.S. Virgin Islands—including his own private island—an $8.6 million Paris apartment, a $12 million Palm Beach estate, a $17 million New Mexico ranch, and his Manhattan mansion—which Epstein claimed is worth $55 million but prosecutors have said is worth $77 million.“Justice is a slow-moving train,” Levin said. “This is par for the course. Investigations are measured in months and years not days and weeks.”“I would be very nervous if I were somebody who helped Jeffrey Epstein at this point and would be seeking legal counsel,” Levin added.Epstein was arrested on July 6 and charged with sex-trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex-trafficking. The indictment referred to three victims and three unnamed employees of Epstein who allegedly assisted in the sex pyramid scheme.According to the complaint, Epstein created a “network of minor victims in multiple states to sexually abuse and exploit” and “worked and conspired with others, including employees and associates who facilitated his conduct by, among other things, contacting victims and scheduling their sexual encounters with Epstein.”From 2002 to 2005, the indictment states, Epstein “enticed and recruited” minor girls as young as 14 to visit his mansions and engage in sex acts with him, after which he or his assistants gave the victims hundreds of dollars in cash.It’s unclear which alleged co-conspirators prosecutors are targeting.In one July court filing, prosecutors requested a protective order, indicating they planned to produce certain documents and materials that “would impede, if prematurely disclosed, the Government’s ongoing investigation of uncharged individuals.”In 2008, when Epstein pleaded guilty to state charges, his non-prosecution agreement with the feds granted immunity to his alleged accomplices, “including but not limited to Sarah Kellen, Adriana Ross, Lesley Groff, or Nadia Marcinkova.”Where Are Jeffrey Epstein’s Alleged Accomplices Now?Groff’s lawyer, Michael Bachner, previously told The Daily Beast: “At no time during Lesley’s employment with Epstein did she ever engage in any misconduct.”Attorneys for Marcinkova told CNN last month that she was a victim herself and “is and has been severely traumatized.” They added: “She needs time to process and make sense of what she has been through before she is able to speak out.”According to the report, Kellen’s spokeswoman had a similar explanation. “Very soon after Sarah was brought into Epstein's world, he began to sexually abuse her, and this abuse went on for years. Sarah continues to struggle with the trauma of her experiences and has chosen not to speak publicly at this time.”Ross hasn’t spoken publicly on the allegations.One lawsuit, filed by a Jane Doe in September against Epstein’s estate, describes Kellen and Groff as a pair of adult employees who “specifically facilitated his abuse.” The women scheduled the girl’s visits to Epstein’s Manhattan mansion and “often asked Doe to bring other girls with her,” paying her every time she did so.Meanwhile, Groff, a former assistant to Epstein, is facing a lawsuit from Jennifer Araoz, who says she was in high school when Epstein raped and abused her. A second assistant, Cimberly Espinosa, is also listed as a defendant in the case.Araoz’s complaint also targets Epstein’s alleged madam, Ghislaine Maxwell—who’s kept a low profile since the hedge-funder’s arrest and has long faced accusations of recruiting underage girls and taking part in sexual abuse herself.Ghislaine Maxwell.Mark Mainz/GettyAnother lawsuit, recently filed by Priscilla Doe, alleges that “in addition to providing sexual instruction, Ghislaine Maxwell further made sure that Plaintiff and the other young females were constantly on call to sexually service Jeffrey Epstein.”Maxwell isn’t the only Epstein friend under scrutiny in the press. Authorities in France are looking into sexual misconduct claims against talent scout Jean-Luc Brunel, accused in civil court filings of procuring young models for Epstein to exploit.“Jeffrey Epstein has told me that he has slept with over 1,000 of Brunel’s girls, and everything that I have seen confirms this claim,” said accuser Virginia Giuffre in a 2015 affidavit. Giuffre says she was 16 when Maxwell recruited her into Epstein’s trafficking ring.In response, Brunel issued a statement denying Giuffre’s claims, saying he never participated “directly nor indirectly, in the actions Mr. Jeffrey Epstein is being accused of.”Models Say Jeffrey Epstein’s Closest Pal Drugged, Raped ThemLast year, Epstein may have attempted to buy the silence of alleged co-conspirators just as his name re-emerged in the press.Prosecutors say Epstein wired payments to two unnamed women—one received $250,000 while the other got $100,000—shortly after the Miami Herald’s exposé on Epstein’s 2007 sweetheart deal. Those individuals were listed as possible co-conspirators in Epstein’s non-prosecution agreement, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in July.At a bail hearing that month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex Rossmiller told the court that “after seven days of this case being public following months of a covert investigation, the evidence is already significantly stronger and getting stronger every single day.“Many individuals identifying themselves as victims and witnesses have contacted the government,” Rossmiller continued, “and we are in the process of receiving and corroborating this additional evidence.”Brad Edwards, an attorney who sued the government on behalf of victims over Epstein’s lenient plea deal, said, “I assume that if there are others that should be held accountable for crimes that can still be prosecuted, then they will.”Edwards said he trusts that New York prosecutors “are trying to leave no stone unturned.”Last month, U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra refused to scrap the non-prosecution agreement that shielded Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators from facing serious charges—despite Marra’s ruling that the agreement was illegal. Marra also denied the victims’ requests for other relief: attorneys’ fees, a hearing where victims could speak, and the release of documents including grand jury materials. The decision was part of a 2008 lawsuit Jane Does 1 and 2 filed against the United States, alleging the feds violated the Crime Victims’ Right Act. Courtney Wild, who has come forward as Jane Doe 1, has appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit. Oral arguments are scheduled for January.“A ruling rescinding the immunity provisions would have permitted the victims to confer with government prosecutors about the possibility of obtaining prosecution of Epstein’s co-conspirators in the Southern District of Florida — i.e., would have afforded them their rights under the CVRA,” Wild’s appeal states.Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

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UPDATE 1-Iraq's Sadr calls on rival to join him in ousting PM

Populist Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has invited his biggest political rival to work with him on ousting the country's prime minister as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets for a fifth day. In a statement on Tuesday Sadr, who leads parliament's largest bloc, asked Hadi al-Amiri, leader of the second-largest, to help him introduce a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi. "To answer brother Abdul Mahdi, I thought asking you to call an early election would preserve your dignity but as you have refused, I invite brother Amiri to work with me on withdrawing confidence from you immediately," he said.

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Schiff to handle impeachment witness testimony in break from precedent

Under past precedent in 1974 and 1998 — the last two times the House conducted an impeachment inquiry — the House Judiciary Committee was the hub for investigations, hearings, and a committee vote on articles of impeachment.

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HBO Max will launch in May - CNET

1. HBO Max will launch in May  CNET
2. WarnerMedia Confirms May 2020 Launch Of HBO Max Along With Growth Goals  Deadline
3. AT&T to Pay About $500 Million for ‘South Park’ Rights  Bloomberg
4. AT&T Deals With Elliott. Now It Needs to Nail HBO Max.  Bloomberg
5. HBO Max will launch in May  CNET
6. View full coverage on Google News

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HBO Max will cost $14.99 per month and launch in May 2020

AT&T and WarnerMedia just announced the pricing of their HBO Max streaming service, along with sharing more details about the timing and content lineup.

The service will cost $14.99 per month — the same price as HBO Now. WarnerMedia also says it will be free for HBO Now subscribers and for viewers who subscribe to HBO via AT&T. And it will launch in May of next year.

At the event, HBO’s Casey Bloys also announced that HBO has greenlit a Game of Thrones spinoff called House of the Dragon, based on George R.R. Martin’s book of Westerosi history, Fire and Blood (perhaps explaining why a previously announced spin-off that was recently canceled).

The company also revealed that HBO Max will be the exclusive streaming home of South Park. Plus, Elizabeth Banks, Issa Rae and Mindy Kaling are all developing new shows for the service — and Arrow and Riverdale producer Greg Berlanti announced that he’s working on the new DC Comics-related titles Green Lantern and Strange Adventures.

Today’s presentation for media and investors began with lots of commentary about all the corporate synergies between AT&T, WarnerMedia (which AT&T acquired last year) and the service’s namesake HBO.

WarnerMedia’s entertainment and direct-to-consumer chairman Bob Greenblatt said HBO Max will have 10,000 hours of content at launch, including the HBO library, films from Warner Bros. and original content “appealing to all the younger demos.” Ten thousand hours sounds like a lot, but Greenblatt acknowledge it’s less than some competitors (presumably Netflix): “We actually think our value proposition improves when we narrow some of the options.”

HBO Max Chief Content Officer Kevin Reilly made a similar point, noting that on average, half of the usage on subscription streaming services comes from the top 100 titles, so “quality over quantity” is important. To illustrate that quality, he pointed to titles like Sesame Street, as well as the Lord of the Rings movies, The Hobbit movies, The Matrix trilogy and The Conjuring films, plus every Superman and Batman movie from the past 40 years.

“We’re all-in with DC and the associated brand-love that DC generates,” Reilly said.

He also noted the service will also stream the 90’s classic Friends, as well as The Big Bang Theory, for which it reportedly paid over $1 billion.

As for originals, Reilly said the company plans to launch 31 Max Originals series (combined with HBO series, that makes for 69 original shows on HBO Max in its first year). Half of them, apparently, will be targeted at a young adult audience, and with most of the episodes released on a weekly basis — Reilly argued that this allows for more cultural impact, “rather than fading quickly after a binge and burn.”

In terms of the product itself, WarnerMedia’s Executive Vice President Andy Forssell argued that “despite a decade of SVOD evolution, it’s still too hard to find something to watch,” and said HBO Max will “blend the smart use of data with real human touch, and present them via novel product experiences.”

He then showed off how the service will include curated highlights sections focusing on things like Friends episodes with high-profile guest stars. Forssell acknowledged that this might not seem revolutionary, but he argued that it offers a “significant deviation from how SVOD services have used screen real estate.”

It will also expand HBO’s Recommended by Humans feature, where celebrities and other real people can recommend their favorite movies and TV shows. And there will be kids’ profiles and shared profiles — so that the watching you do with others won’t interfere with the progress and recommendations from your own solo viewing.

In July, AT&T first announced its plans for HBO Max, but the details around launch and pricing weren’t yet known. Instead, the attention so far has been on HBO Max’s content lineup.

The service aims to capitalize on HBO’s reputation for premium fare to attract consumers — many of whom already pay $15 per month for HBO Now. But it will pad that HBO library with a combination of programming from other WarnerMedia properties like Cinemax, New Line, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros., The CW, CNN, TNT, TBS, TruTV, Turner Classic Movies, Crunchyroll, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, Rooster Teeth, Looney Tunes, and others.

We now know HBO Max will be home to Game of Thrones and its upcoming spin-offs, plus favorite HBO series like The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwood, Westworld, and others.

It’s also bringing back Gossip Girl, rebooting Grease, making a Dune TV show, and streaming all 21 Studio Ghibli films.

Other HBO Max shows will include a Riverdale spin-off Katy Keene; Search Party; Batwoman; Adventure Time; Stephen King’s The Outsider; Jordan Peele and J.J. Abrams’ horror series Lovecraft Country; Joss Whedon’s The Nevers; Julian Fellowes’ (Downton Abbey) The Gilded Age; David E. Kelley’s The Undoing; Rules of Magic, a prequel to Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic; The Boondocks; and Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai; plus back catalog content like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Pretty Little Liars, Doctor Who (2005 and onward), The West Wing, Top Gear, The Office (original version), and others.

Upcoming literary adaptions include Tokyo Vice, The Flight Attendant, Circe, Made for Love, Station Eleven, and Anna K: A Love Story. 

More recently, HBO Max has announced a new documentary on Anthony Bourdain, an overall deal with Lisa Ling, a documentary about Amy Schumer, a Melissa McCarthy comedy film, a documentary with Monica Lewinsky, and a new deal with J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot (the deal allows Bad Robot to make TV under the WarnerMedia umbrella and then sell it to other streaming services).

Abrams was part of today’s event. He said it’s too early to announce any specific programming under the new deal — Bad Robot already works with HBO on titles like Westworld, and Abrams has a new show in the works called Demimonde — but he declared, “There’s no company that values storytelling more than WarnerMedia.”

And for classic movie lovers who mourn the loss of FilmStruck, Warner Bros. CEO Ann Sarnoff, said the service will offer a rich library of films from the Warner Bros. and MGM library, curated titles from Turner Classic Movies, as well as “decades and decades of more great titles from The Criterion Collection.”

AT&T said on Monday it plans to spend about $2 billion on the service over the next two years and aims to sign up some 50 million subscribers by 2025.

The service will arrive at a time when competition in the streaming market is heating up. Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime Video’s successes have paved the way for new entrants like Apple TV+, which launches Friday, and Disney+, which arrives mid-November. NBCU is also joining next year with its streaming service Peacock, which will offer The Office and other classic shows, alongside new originals, like a Battlestar Galactica reboot.

These streamers are gaining at the expense of traditional TV, which has impacted other parts of AT&T’s business.

In the third quarter, it lost another 1.2 million satellite and fiber-optic-TV customers as well as 195,000 AT&T TV Now (previously DirecTV Now) subscribers. AT&T’s profit was down 22% year-over-year to $3.7 billion and revenue had fallen 2.5% to $44.6 billion.

Eventually, AT&T’s plan is to merge its AT&T TV Now live TV service into HBO Max and add on a discounted ad-supported tier to HBO Max to make it more affordable.

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Tencent leads $111M investment in India’s video streaming service MX Player

MX Player, a popular video app that offers both local playback and streaming services, said on Wednesday that it has raised $110.8 million in a new financing round led by Chinese internet giant Tencent as the video app looks to expand its business in India and other international markets.

Times Internet, which acquired a majority stake in MX Player in late 2017 for $140 million, also participated in the Series A financing round. The post-money valuation of MX Player was $500 million, a person familiar with the matter told TechCrunch.

The addition of Tencent — which has invested in a handful of Indian startups including Times Internet-owned Gaana, ride-hailing giant Ola, ed tech startup Byju’s, B2B e-commerce startup Udaan and a bookkeeping service for merchants, Khatabook — “is a great sign of confidence,” said Satyan Gajwani, vice chairman of Times Internet. “Tencent is a leading global force in music and video, and there’s a lot for us to learn and leverage from their capabilities,” he added.

Karan Bedi, CEO of MX Player, said in an interview that the video app will use the fresh capital to double down on producing original TV shows and broadening its catalog of licensed content. The firm, which has so far added 15 original shows to its platform, has already commissioned production of another 20 by year-end, he said.

The Singapore-headquartered firm’s push into original shows and licensed content underscores one of the strangest evolution for a video app. MX Player originated in Korea as an app that could run video files in a wide-range of formats locally stored on a phone.

The app did all of this while consuming little resources, an ability that helped it win tens of millions of users with low-cost Android smartphones in emerging markets such as India. In fact, India is MX Player’s largest market, with 175 million monthly active users, Bedi said. Globally, the app has amassed more than 280 million users.

MX Player is ad-supported and does not charge users any monthly subscription fee. The service, which introduced movies and shows streaming in mid-2018, today also offers access to about 200 TV channels, their current and back catalog of shows, and a music streaming feature through an integration with Gaana.

Bedi said the company has tied up with all-web show producers such as HoiChoi in India and three of the top five TV local cable networks, including Sony and Sun. Missing from the list is Star India, the largest TV network in the country.

Thanks to the acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Disney now owns Star India. Star India has emerged as one of the gems in Disney’s new portfolio. The firm, which runs dozens of TV channels in India, operates Hotstar, the market-leading video streaming service.

Hotstar reported 300 million monthly active users and 100 million daily active users during the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament. The service has cashed in on the popularity of cricket to boost its numbers.

Bedi said MX Player is working on building new entertainment experiences, but sports content is not something it is exploring. The reason is simple: Cricket drives most of the sports streaming in India and Star India has secured rights to most of such content. (Facebook recently grabbed a slice of it, too.)

But cricket alone can’t help a streaming service win and sustain customers. Even Hotstar’s monthly user base plummets below 60 million in the months following the cricketing season, people familiar with Hotstar’s internal figures have told TechCrunch.

Figuring out what exactly resonates with the users in India, the world’s second largest internet market, is the billion-dollar question. The video streaming market in India is on track to be worth $1.7 billion in the next four years, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Bedi, who spearheaded Eros Now’s India business before joining MX Player, said users are increasingly enjoying the original shows. Most of the shows that MX Player has produced so far, such as “Hey Prabhu,” “Thinkistan” and “Immature,” are largely targeted at college students and those who have just joined the work force. But the company is slowly populating the platform with shows such as “Queen” that appeal “universally,” he said.

MX Player today competes with more than three dozen local and international players, nearly all of which offer their services at dirt-cheap prices in India. Even Netflix, which launched in India with a $8 plan in 2016, this year introduced a $2.8 monthly tier. In recent months, several more firms including e-commerce giant Flipkart and food delivery startup Zomato have launched their video streaming services in the country.

Tencent-rival Alibaba announced earlier this year that it would invest $100 million to expand social video app Vmate in India.

Once cautious about each megabyte they spent consuming internet services, Indians are now spending about 10GB of data on their smartphones each month as data prices crash in the country, according to an Ericsson report. Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani disrupted the local telecom market in 2016 when he launched Reliance Jio. The 4G-only carrier undercut the market by first offering bulk of mobile data at no cost, and then charging very little fee.

An analyst TechCrunch spoke with said it’s only a matter of time before India’s video market begins to see some consolidation and pull back. “You have to offer something appealing that none of your rivals have,” he said, requesting anonymity as he advises many of these businesses.

For MX Player, its odd evolution story may be its biggest advantage. The app’s local video playback feature continues to draw many to it, and keeps the app among the top rated in Google’s Play Store. Bedi said the startup, which today employs about 300 people, maintains a large team that continues to improve the tech stacks to improve video playback support.

Moving forward, MX Player will also look into expanding to some international markets. It recently started beta testing the video streaming service in the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Eventually, the startup hopes to make original shows for these markets that are relevant to the local audience there.

MX Player maintains a premium app on Google Play Store that strips ads for $5. But the app continues to mostly rely on revenue it generates from ads. Times Internet’s Gajwani said that at some point in the future, the video service will expand monetization beyond pure advertising. “That said, MX is consumed daily as much as the leading TV channel in India, so there’s significant headroom to capture larger advertising spends as well,” he added.

Paytm, a leading financial services firm in India, was also in talks with MX Player to invest in this financial round. It may invest in the video streaming services app at a later stage, a person familiar with the talks said.

India’s Times Internet isn’t ceding ground to US rivals Facebook and Google

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