Zelenskyy explained, “I told him that if he gave us the weapons we need and stopped supporting Putin, we would let him build Trump-branded hotels and other Trump-branded buildings in Ukraine’s ten largest cities, as well as Trump golf courses in the countryside. He was quite excited.”   read more

Most of the 10 states with the highest rates of smoking-attributable cancer deaths were in the South, while most of the 10 states with the lowest rates were in the North or West. Among men, where smoking is generally more common, the cigarette-linked cancer death rate was highest in blacks at 35%, compared with 30% for whites and 27% for Hispanics. Among women, whites had the highest cigarette-linked cancer death rate — 21%, compared 19% for blacks and 12% for Hispanics.   read more

About 9,700 current and retired soldiers received notices to repay some or all of their bonuses with more than $22 million recovered so far. Soldiers said they feel betrayed at having to repay the money. “These bonuses were used to keep people in,” said Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former Army captain and Iraq veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart. “People like me just got screwed.” If soldiers refuse, they could face interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens.   read more

The people who do the most good in the world, spending their careers helping others in exchange for modest paychecks, often get the worst retirement plans. In fact, millions of people who save in 403(b) plans may be losing nearly $10 billion each year in excessive investment fees. “It’s a wealth transfer from those who don’t know any better — Main Street — to those who do: Wall Street,” said financial planner Scott Dauenhauer.   read more

Many people vigorously oppose the use of Native North American names as mascots and logos as demeaning. The Chief Wahoo logo in particular stands out because it is a caricature. “It is racist — that is all there is to it,” said Cardinal. “I had been thinking about the problems we have as a community with the issue of suicide, and I think there is a direct correlation between these kinds of depictions of our people as inferior and as caricatures to be mocked. It is wrong and it must stop.”   read more

Secrecy in the voting booth has become a thing of the past for those ready to share their lives on social media. In Illinois, ballot selfies is a felony that carries a prison sentence of one to three years. In California, Gov. Brown signed a bill that repeals a 125-year-old law barring voters from showing people their marked ballots. The change will take effect nearly two months after the election. The author of the bill has been sharing constituents’ photos of marked ballots on social media.   read more

Texas classified more than 1,800 offenders arrested near the border by highway troopers in 2015 as "high threat criminals." But not all live up to that menacing label or were anywhere close to the border — and they weren't caught entering the country illegally, as Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is Texas' chairman for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, has suggested. Crimes lumped in with suspected killers and human traffickers were speeding teenagers and harmless hit-and-runs.   read more

Not everybody was a loser in this tale. ITT’s top five executives received princely compensation over the period — $117 million in total. Lobbyists for ITT also benefited. The company has spent almost $1 million on lobbying since 1998. “They were abusing that system for years and ripping off the government for billions of dollars and we brought that to light," said whistleblower Graves. He said he was frustrated by the outcome of his case. and wonders what had taken the government so long.   read more

After her son was murdered, Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti requested that the state agency forgive her son’s student loans, which total about $16,000. The agency refused, requiring Ms. DeOliveira-Longinetti to continue to pay off his debt. Nearly a dozen people testified before legislators at a Senate hearing in August, saying they were troubled by the agency’s loan program. Several families described how they had resorted to bankruptcy to manage their high debt burden.   read more

The portion of Americans who do not have a bank account, known in industry jargon as the "unbanked," declined to 7% in 2015 from 7.7% in 2013. The improvements came mostly from households making less than $15,000 a year and among minority populations. Another way of looking at it: For every 10 households that were unbanked in 2013, one of those households is now banked. "The improving economy no doubt impacted these numbers in a positive way," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said.   read more

In Africa, he helped pressure the government to sign a natural gas pipeline deal with Enron. McKinley went to Afghanistan in September 2013 as deputy ambassador. He was nominated as ambassador the following May and was confirmed in December 2014. During his tenure there, McKinley was the face of U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan even as fighting continued in some areas. He also promoted the expansion of women’s rights in that nation.   read more

It means that Google can now build a complete portrait of a user by name, based on everything they write in email, every website they visit and the searches they conduct. The move is a sea change for Google and a further blow to the online ad industry’s longstanding contention that web tracking is mostly anonymous. “It was a border wall between being watched everywhere and maintaining a tiny semblance of privacy,” said Paul Ohm. “That wall has just fallen.”   read more

British American Tobacco has offered to buy out Reynolds American for $47 billion in an attempt to gain a strong presence in the U.S., a lucrative market where sales of e-cigarettes are booming. The takeover would create the world's largest publicly traded tobacco company and combine BAT's presence in developing countries with Reynolds' almost exclusive focus on the U.S. "If vapor accelerates as we expect, then the U.S. is the place to be," said equity analyst Owen Bennett.   read more

More than 600 U.N. staff members have signed an online petition that says “a large-breasted white woman of impossible proportions, scantily clad in a shimmery, thigh-baring body suit with an American flag motif and knee-high boots” is not an appropriate spokeswoman for gender equity at the United Nations. Women’s advocates inside and outside the U.N. say the selection of Wonder Woman is particularly ill timed because the U.N. this month rejected seven female candidates for secretary-general.   read more

Molins said there are tech firms to whom they don't send requests anymore since "we know in advance we will not get any answer." The four prosecutors insisted that having access to personal phone and computer data would help not only prevent attacks, but also protect vulnerable people and teenagers. "We are now often facing young people who...radicalize alone behind their computers without their family and entourage being able to do something," said Belgian prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw.   read more

DeLaurentis played a crucial role in negotiations between the U.S. and Cuba over the status of Elian Gonzalez, the boy who left Cuba with his mother, who died on the journey. DeLaurentis is seen as an excellent candidate for the post, enjoying good relations with the Cuban government. However, his hopes for a quick confirmation were dashed when Republican senators including Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, both sons of Cuban immigrants, vowed to oppose any ambassador being named to the country.   read more

The EPA had sufficient authority and information to issue an emergency order to protect residents of Flint, Michigan, from lead-contaminated water as early as June 2015 — seven months before it declared an emergency, the EPA's inspector general said Thursday. The Flint crisis should have generated "a greater sense of urgency" at the agency to "intervene when the safety of drinking water is compromised," said the report.   read more