This week in impeachment news; Friday prayers turn deadly in an Afghanistan mosque bombing.
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This week in impeachment
- The impeachment process could be going on a while: The Republican-controlled Senate is making plans for a trial before the end of the year, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the timeline will depend on the “truthline.” [Vox / Ella Nilsen and Li Zhou]
- So what happened this week? A lot of testimony before Congress — all of which made clear that President Donald Trump was pushing the Ukrainians to investigate Hunter Biden. [Washington Post / Ashley Parker]
- Here’s a rundown of the key parts of the testimony so far, including several current and former officials who described the involvement of Rudy Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, in foreign affairs. [NYT / Weiyi Cai and Alicia Parlapiano]
- In the midst of all this, Energy Secretary Rick Perry announced his resignation on Thursday. Trump claims that Perry pushed him to call Zelensky back in July. [Vox / Li Zhou]
- An internal memo on impeachment polling circulated among House Democrats, including the finding that ”voters back a Democrat who supports an impeachment investigation over a Republican who opposes an impeachment investigation by 11 points.” [Axios / Alexi McCammond]
- Ezra Klein is launching a new podcast to make sense of what may become the third impeachment trial in US history. It’s called Impeachment, Explained, and the first episode comes out this Saturday. [Vox / Ezra Klein]
Mosque bombing in Afghanistan
- A bomb in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar Province this morning ripped apart a mosque with a full congregation inside for Friday prayers. [Al Jazeera]
- At least 62 are confirmed dead with another 36 wounded. This attack is part of an escalation in violence in Afghanistan; 1,174 civilians were killed between July and September, according to the UN. [CNN / Ehsan Popalzai and Ivana Kottasová]
- Amnesty International’s deputy South Asia director Omar Waraich said in a statement,“This is not a war that is winding down, it is escalating and the people who are suffering the most are civilians.” [NYT / Thomas Gibbons-Neff]
- No organization has claimed responsibility for the attack, but a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s president accused “the Taliban and their partners.” [Washington Post / Susannah George and Sayed Salahuddin]
Miscellaneous
- Why Google’s efforts to build inclusive facial recognition technology made things worse. [Vox / Lauren Katz]
- Chants of “The people want the downfall of the regime” rang out in Lebanon: Protesters camped in Martyr’s Square after the government proposed a WhatsApp tax. [Wall Street Journal / Nazih Osseiran and Dion Nissenbaum]
- Friendly competition can turn ugly, but it doesn’t always have to be that way. [The Atlantic / Julie Beck]
- Politicians used to say that abortions should be a rare occurrence, but that’s changed. [Vox / Anna North]
- 60 percent of surveyed CBD users were taking it to combat anxiety, but it isn’t clear if it works. [NYT / Dawn MacKeen]
- A son of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was captured, then released in order to “protect lives” during a shootout. [CNN / Natalie Gallón, Leyla Santiago, Maria Santana, Helena DeMoura and Helen Regan]
Verbatim
“Thank you for asking because not many people have asked me if I’m ok.” [Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle in an interview about life under a media spotlight]
Listen to this: Trumpster fire
Last week, the White House stonewalled the impeachment inquiry. This week, the stonewall came crumbling down. [Spotify | Apple | Stitcher]
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