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December 04, 2013 | | TONY TIRADE The man caught on video butchering a British soldier in London ranted about the invasion of Afghanistan and U.K. politicians in a police interview soon after the killing, a court heard today. The Daily Beast's Nico Hines reports that in the video, Michael Adebolajo, who has asked the court to call him Mujaahid Abu Hamza, tells officers, "They use the magic tongue to dodge very important questions, and one man, perhaps he continues to be the man most skilled at doing so, he goes by the name of Tony Blair." In the video he also describes the murder, saying, "He was struck in the neck with a sharp implement and it was sawed until his head, you know, almost detached and may Allah forgive me if I acted in a way that is displeasing to him." MILLENNIALS Can't ever please those millennials. President Obama is not faring so well with young Americans, according to a Harvard University survey released on Wednesday. In fact, they're pretty much unhappy with everything he's done since being elected—although they said they would vote for him again. (Make up your mind!) The national poll, which had 2,000 respondents, found that more than 50 percent of Americans disapproved of how Obama handled key issues in his second term, such as Syria, Iran, the economy, and health care. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they disapproved with Obamacare, and 40 percent said they expected the quality of health care to worsen under it. OBIT Talk about lack of poetic justice. Paul Aussaresses, the general who shocked France with his confession that he tortured and executed Algerians during their fight for independence, died peacefully on Wednesday at age 95. The Daily Beast's David Sessions on his role as the unapologetic architect of a brutal torture regime in Algeria, and how he spread his ideas influenced the C.I.A. in Vietnam and the Pinochet regime in Chile. BUTT OUT As thousands of protesters continue pressing the Ukrainian government, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev told Ukrainian ministers, "We're watching what's happening in your country. It's an internal affair of Ukraine, though it's really important to have stability and order there." The largest protests in Ukraine since the Orange Revolution have focused on the Prime Minister's decision to forego a trade deal with the European Union due to Russian opposition. On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin had spoken derisively of the protests, saying they were redolent of "pogroms" and are just trying to undermine the government. PAY THE PIPER The European Union's anti-trust regulators handed down a $2.3 billion (€ 1.7 billion) fine, the biggest penalty yet in a benchmark rigging scam, to six financial institutions, including a $985 million (€725.36 million) fine for Deutsche Bank. Citigroup, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale, JP Morgan, and brokerage firm RP Martin were also fined. The European Commission, the governing wing of the EU, has been investigating the banks for their alleged role in rigging the benchmarks used to determine the cost of lending. The European Commission said it will continue its investigation of Credit Agricole, HSBC, JP Morgan, and brokerage ICAP for their alleged role in the scandal. | | 
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