Plus: A video shows Palestinian men stripped and detained in Gaza, and Shane MacGowan celebrated with procession
| | | | | | | Hello. Today we're looking into the second indictment of Hunter Biden, and what it means for his father who's running for a second term in the White House. I also have updates on Israel and Gaza, the funeral of Irish icon Shane MacGowan, and believe it or not, American football. |
|
|
|
| | | | Top of the agenda | | Hunter Biden faces second federal indictment | | | | If convicted in the tax case, Hunter Biden could face up to 17 years in prison. Credit: Reuters |
| | Federal prosecutors have filed tax charges against Hunter Biden - the second criminal case against Joe Biden's son, as the US president ramps up his re-election campaign. Hunter Biden had already been indicted in September on federal firearm charges, which he denies. The new indictment alleges he evaded at least $1.4m (£1.1m) in federal taxes from 2016-19 and details the business dealings and "extravagant lifestyle" of the recovering drug addict. His lawyer has said the charges are politically motivated. The charge sheet does not mention Joe Biden, but how Hunter Biden made his money is at the centre of an impeachment inquiry into the president led by congressional Republicans. They claim the president was involved in an influence-peddling scheme with his son. The White House has said the entire inquiry is based on lies. Exploiting the vulnerabilities of Hunter Biden "has the power not just to significantly rile up Joe Biden, but also to help distract from the Republicans' own problems with Donald Trump's legal jeopardies," wrote our Washington correspondent Gary O'Donoghue back in September, when the first indictment was announced. | | • | The rundown: Sam Cabral, in Washington, has a detailed summary of Hunter Biden's legal troubles | | • | Impeachment inquiry: House Republicans announced their inquiry back in September. Anthony Zurcher explains why. | | • | Profile: Hunter Biden's personal struggles have also spilled over into full public view. Here's more on the life of the 53-year-old. |
| | |
|
|
| | | | | | World headlines | | • | Israel-Gaza latest: A video appears to show Palestinian men stripped and detained by Israel Defense Forces (some readers might find the footage distressing). Follow our updates live as heavy fighting is continuing in Gaza. | | • | US campuses: University of Pennsylvania President Elizabeth Magill is facing a heavy backlash after an appearance in Congress on Tuesday. She avoided questions on how students calling for the genocide of Jews would be punished. | | • | Nagorno-Karabakh: Armenia and Azerbaijan say they will move towards normalising relations, and will exchange prisoners captured during the fighting in the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. | | • | Russian method: Moscow has tricked US actors such as Elijah Wood into spreading falsehoods about Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky, according to Microsoft's Threat Analysis Center. It said they used the Cameo app, where celebrities respond to video requests in exchange for a fee. | | • | Pest-control control: Two men have been arrested in France after allegedly scamming elderly people into paying thousands of euros for bedbug treatment they did not need. |
|
|
|
| | AT THE SCENE | Dublin, Ireland | | Fans to bid farewell to Pogues frontman | | Thousands of fans are expected to line the streets of Dublin to say a final farewell to Pogues lead singer Shane MacGowan, who died last week. Later, his funeral will take place in County Tipperary, close to his mother's family cottage. | | | | Ciaran McCauley, BBC News |
|
| | It's probably fitting that Dublin, Shane MacGowan's home city for many years with his wife Victoria Mary Clarke, is this morning blanketed in a thick layer of cloud, which is threatening at any moment to empty its payload on the city. Rain and weather was a theme of MacGowan's lyrics - you can't have that night in Soho without the rain, the morning light at Albert Bridge without the mist. He was Irish after all. |
| | |
|
|
|
| | | | Beyond the headlines | | The rugby coach that shoved Philly to the top | | | | The tactic has been a regular weapon for the Eagles, with an extremely high success rate. Credit: Reuters |
| | I should preface this by saying I don't know much about American football. But I loved reading this piece on Richie Gray, the Scottish man who helped the coaching team of the Philadelphia Eagles to refine their signature "brotherly shove" tactic. It sees the quarterback pushed by teammates to get over the goal line. The play has now proved so successful that some pundits believe the NFL should ban it. | | | | |
|
|
| | | | Something different | | A unique worldview | | The birth of the world's newest island explains Japan's approach to life. | | |
|
|
|
| | | | And finally... | | From pizza-making to the art of scaling the Alpine peaks, Italy has no shortage of Unesco cultural heritage contributions. The latest activity to make that list is opera singing, as the UN cultural agency decided to include the four-centuries-old art, mixing costume, drama and music, under its category of Intangible Cultural Heritage. |
|
|
| | | | | | Future Earth Newsletter | | Essential climate news and hopeful developments, in your inbox every Tuesday. | | |
|
|
|
| | | Do you have suggestions for what we cover in BBC News Briefing? You can email me to let me know what you think. And why not forward it to friends? They can sign up here.
While you're at it, add [email protected] to your contacts list and, if you're on Gmail, pop the email into your “Primary” tab for uninterrupted service. Thanks for reading!
– Jules |
|
|
| | | | |
|
| | |
|
