| Impeachment trial fallout: Trump could get his wish — to hurt Biden Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:20 PM PST  Details about Hunter Biden could complicate life for Joe Biden — exactly what Trump was trying to do with his Ukraine scheme last summer.
|
| Spirit Airlines passenger: Cabin crew didn't take my groping allegation seriously Posted: 23 Jan 2020 04:46 AM PST  A Michigan college student says she was sexually assaulted on a Spirit Airlines flight, but that flight attendants treated her like an annoyance.
|
| A University of Minnesota student was arrested in China and sentenced to 6 months in prison for tweeting cartoons making fun of President Xi Jingping Posted: 23 Jan 2020 06:18 AM PST  According to Chinese court documents obtained by Axios, 20-year-old Luo Daiqing was arrested after returning to Wuhan for summer break.
|
| First stage of extradition hearing for top Huawei exec ends Posted: 23 Jan 2020 12:11 PM PST  A Canadian judge said Thursday she will announce her decision at a later date after ending the first phase of an extradition hearing that will decide whether a top executive of Chinese tech giant Huawei is sent to the United States. This week's hearings dealt with the question of whether the U.S. charges against Meng Wanzhou, the daughter of Huawei's founder, are crimes in Canada as well. Canada arrested Huawei's chief financial officer in December 2018 at Vancouver's airport at the request of the U.S. as she was changing flights.
|
| 4 killed in plane crash at Southern California airport Posted: 22 Jan 2020 05:48 PM PST  There was no immediate word on a cause or the model of the plane that crashed at Corona Municipal Airport in California.
|
| One killed, several injured in Seattle mass shooting Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:31 PM PST  At least one person was killed and seven others, including a child, were wounded on Wednesday after a dispute among a group of people escalated into a shootout near a tourist area in downtown Seattle, authorities said. Carmen Best, chief of police in the northwestern US city, told reporters that multiple suspects were being sought in connection with the mass shooting that took place near a McDonald's fast food restaurant, just blocks away from the popular Pike Place Market. Best said witnesses and video footage indicated that the incident unfolded after several people standing in front of the McDonald's got into a dispute and began shooting at each other, hitting bystanders.
|
| Ghislaine Maxwell: Hackers 'breached' computer belonging to Jeffrey Epstein associate, attorney says Posted: 23 Jan 2020 11:07 AM PST  Lawyers for the woman accused of procuring underage girls to have sex with Jeffrey Epstein told a judge that hackers "breached" her computer after a court failed to redact her email address in filings it released last year.Ghislaine Maxwell's lawyer Ty Gee said in a December letter to Judge Loretta A Preska that, "despite the Second Circuit's best efforts, it made serious mistakes" when redacting thousands of pages of records associated with a defamation lawsuit filed by one of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre.
|
| Steyer: U.S. reparations for slavery will help 'repair the damage' Posted: 22 Jan 2020 02:52 PM PST  The billionaire presidential candidate Tom Steyer reiterated his support Wednesday for reparations for African- Americans suffering from the legacy of slavery.
|
| Menendez and Graham Partner Up to Craft a New Iran Deal Posted: 22 Jan 2020 02:15 AM PST  Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) have teamed up to work on drafting potential contours for negotiations with Tehran over the country's nuclear programming and a roadmap for a new deal, according to Graham and two other congressional aides familiar with the matter."I've been working with Senator Menendez on this for some time," Graham told The Daily Beast in an interview last week. "We need a new way forward. And I've been trying to think of alternatives."Graham told The Daily Beast in an interview in August that he was working with senior Trump administration officials on an alternative to the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. Part of that effort included fielding ideas from outside actors, including foreign officials. Since then, Graham has met with Menendez—although only a few times—on how to kickstart a bipartisan congressional effort to reform the administration's Iran policy.According to sources individuals familiar with the Graham-Menendez partnership, the two senators have largely talked about constructing an actionable plan to present to other lawmakers and to the White House. But the two sides have yet to agree on exactly how to get the ball rolling, according to those sources. One individual said Menendez wanted to work with Graham because the South Carolina lawmaker had gained the president's ear on Iran over the last year.Although the duo has spoken about teaming up for some time, sources say the lawmakers are focused now more than ever on crafting a new deal following the killing of Iran's top military leader, Qassem Soleimani. Following the strike, Democrats in the Senate, including Menendez, called out senior officials in the Trump administration for not offering proper intelligence briefings to Congress on what led to the strike. Menendez told MSNBC earlier this month that the administration suggested in briefings there was an imminent threat to American interests but that there was "no clear definition of what they consider imminent."The senator also called on the administration to declassify the official notification provided to Congress about the Soleimani strike.Graham, on the other hand, applauded President Trump and told The Daily Beast that the administration should continue to keep the military option on the table if Iran were to continue to threaten American interests in the Middle East. Graham suggested the U.S. strike Iranian oil assets in the country, pointing to refineries in particular. Menendez, on the other hand, has urged the administration to up its diplomatic outreach following the strike rather than continue to rely on its military might.Despite their division on Trump's decision to strike Soleimani, both lawmakers opposed the Obama administration's 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran."I have looked into my own soul, and my devotion to principle may once again lead me to an unpopular course, but if Iran is to acquire a nuclear bomb, it will not have my name on it," Menendez said in a 2015 speech. "It is for these reasons that I will vote to disapprove the agreement and, if called upon, would vote to override a veto."At the time of the deal's proposal in 2015, Menendez advocated that the Obama administration continue to levy sanctions on Iran in order to change Tehran's behavior and keep it from eventually obtaining a nuclear weapon. Although Graham's and Menendez's public statements on Iran have varied, both lawmakers seem to agree on one point: The Trump administration's strategy isn't working.Since Trump took office, Menendez has criticized the Trump administration's Iran strategy as only emboldening Tehran. And while Graham tends to support Trump publicly, the South Carolina lawmaker has been openly critical of how the White House responds to Iran's malign activities in the region.In a recent interview with The Daily Beast, Graham said the Trump administration's maximum pressure campaign—meant to cripple Iran's economy with sanctions—was working but needed to be harsher and combined with military deterrence. Team Trump Thought It Could Contain Iran With 'Maximum Pressure.' The Attacks Got Worse.Before the Soleimani strike, Iran policy experts, some of whom worked with the Obama administration, said Tehran would not engage in talks about a revised nuclear deal unless the U.S. rolled back at least some of its sanctions on the country. Now those experts say Tehran, having rolled back its commitments under the former deal, is not likely to engage in any meaningful conversation with the U.S. on nuclear power, at least in the short term.Meanwhile, two officials in the Treasury Department say their unit is continuously drawing up additional sanctions for Iran on the chance Trump wants to hit the country with additional punishments in the near future.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.
|
| Family attorneys say cruise line's story of toddler's death is 'physically impossible' Posted: 23 Jan 2020 12:53 PM PST  Attorneys representing Chloe Wiegand's family say a ship visit proves it's "physically impossible" for her grandfather to hold her out of the window.
|
| More than a third of Republicans say Trump probably broke the law. Most still don't want him removed from office. Posted: 23 Jan 2020 11:30 AM PST  Behold, the impeachment contradiction of contradictions.It's not surprising that a full 91 percent of Democrats have said they think President Trump "definitely" or "probably" did something illegal to warrant his impeachment, as a recent Pew Research Center poll found. But a solid 32 percent of Republicans or those who lean Republican have also said the same about Trump's conduct — not that they necessarily think it should warrant his removal.Yes, of Republicans who are either "definitely" or "probably" convinced Trump's behavior was illegal, a full 59 percent say that doesn't mean he should be removed from office, Pew found. As for those Republicans who say Trump has "definitely" or "probably" done something unethical, 78 percent believe he should remain.> Among Republicans who say Trump has definitely or probably done things that are illegal, 59% say he should remain in office following the Senate impeachment trial. https://t.co/d0LOFwghRu pic.twitter.com/YZ5Z6cuwMN> > — Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) January 23, 2020Pew surveyed 12,638 people from Jan. 6–19 via phone and online, with a 1.3 percent margin of error.More stories from theweek.com Democrats walked right into Mitch McConnell's trap 5 brutally funny cartoons about Mitch McConnell's impeachment rules Virologist who helped identify SARS on coronavirus outbreak: 'This time I'm scared'
|
| The mysterious, deadly Wuhan coronavirus may have jumped from snakes to humans, scientists say Posted: 23 Jan 2020 03:13 AM PST  The new findings appear to be the most comprehensive understanding of the mysterious virus, known as 2019-nCoV, so far.
|
| Successor to slain Iran general will be murdered if he kills Americans: U.S. envoy Posted: 23 Jan 2020 07:48 AM PST  The successor to the Iranian commander killed in a U.S. drone strike would suffer the same fate if he followed a similar path by killing Americans, the U.S. special representative for Iran said, according to the Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.
|
| 16 people under observation after contact with U.S. coronavirus patient Posted: 22 Jan 2020 11:14 PM PST  The patient, a 30-year-old man, is doing well and may be released from Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington in the near future, the hospital's chief medical officer Jay Cook told a press conference. None of the people who were in close contact with the patient have displayed symptoms of the flu-like illness, said John Wiesman, secretary of health for Washington State.
|
| See This Nuke? Meet the Most Destructive Nuclear Bomb Ever Made By Man Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:45 AM PST  Thank god the Soviets never deployed it.
|
| NYT Ed Board Member Wrote Out ‘Full Draft’ of Biden Endorsement, but Scrapped It over His ‘Normal’ Message and Lack of ‘Urgency’ Posted: 23 Jan 2020 11:27 AM PST  Kathleen Kingsbury, a deputy editorial page editor and member of The New York Times's editorial board, revealed Thursday that she wrote a full 2,000-word endorsement of Joe Biden, only for the board to reject it because "it didn't match the moment."The Times broke new ground this cycle by conducting on-the-record interviews with nine of the top candidates and airing the interviews, which have historically been off-the-record, on their documentary show The Weekly on FX.Kingsbury explained to Times columnists on the The Argument podcast how the Times editorial board arrived at its first-ever dual endorsement of Senators Amy Klobuchar (D., Minn.) and Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), saying that "policy prescriptions" and the "messages" drove much of the thought-process. She also dismissed concerns about electability, calling the effort to predict which candidate would be most successful in the general election a "fool's errand.""What we realized is that the party needs to have that conversation amongst itself. It's really not the role of the editorial board to determine the future of the Democratic Party," Kingsbury said.But she revealed that, following heightened tensions with Iran after President Trump's decision to kill Qasem Soleimani, she went ahead and drafted an endorsement of Biden, citing his opposition to the war in Afghanistan."Right after we had the outbreak of conflict with Iran, I sat down and I wrote an entire endorsement of Joe Biden," Klingsbury said. "I think that came from a desire on my part for the comfort of having someone who during his interviews, spoke so fluently about foreign policy, who's been in the room in some of those more difficult decision-making [moments]."In August, Biden fabricated an Afghanistan-war story about how he resisted safety concerns to travel to "godforsaken country" and honor a war hero."We can lose a vice president," he recounted at a campaign event. "We can't lose many more of these kids. Not a joke."Klingsbury then explained why the Times ultimately did not pursue Biden's endorsement, implying that Biden's campaign hasn't meaningfully grappled with the conditions that gave rise to Trump's election."Joe Biden's message simply is 'let's go back to normal, whatever normal is, right?' For a lot of Americans, 'normal' wasn't working and I think that there needs to be some recognition that at least for some portion of the American public, the government and the economic systems were failing them," she said.In an emailed statement to National Review, Kingsbury said she did not "have much to say beyond what I said on The Argument." She declined to comment on whether the board wrote any other endorsement drafts, or when it decided to scrap Biden's."Once I had a draft in hand, I realized I should return to the wisdom of my board," she explained ". . . [Biden's] message and his proposed plans don't feel like they match the urgency of the moment."
|
| Smugglers tried to bring 3,700 invasive crabs through the Port of Cincinnati Posted: 23 Jan 2020 02:21 PM PST  Mitten crabs are a delicacy in Asia and sell for about $50 each in the United States, officials say. They are considered an invasive species.
|
| FBI Restricts Evidence Collected From Carter Page Surveillance Posted: 23 Jan 2020 02:29 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The FBI has decided to restrict all information collected from surveillance of former Trump campaign aide Carter Page in 2016 and 2017 after serious mistakes were uncovered in court applications for the wiretaps, according to a new court filing.Two of four court applications to conduct surveillance on Page weren't valid because they didn't have sufficient evidence to establish probable cause to believe he was acting as an agent of a foreign power, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg wrote in an order released Thursday.The FBI acted in response to a blistering report from the Justice Department's internal watchdog that found 17 "significant errors or omissions" in its efforts to obtain wiretaps against Page after he left the Trump campaign in late 2016 and the first half of 2017. President Donald Trump and his conservative supporters have frequently cited flaws in the FBI's pursuit of Page as evidence Trump was the victim of a "witch hunt."The Federal Bureau of Investigation told Boasberg in December that it decided to "sequester all collection the FBI acquired pursuant to the Court's authorizations" of all four applications, according to the order, reported earlier Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.The FBI said the restrictions would remain in place pending a review of related investigations and possible litigation."The government has not described what steps are involved in such sequestration or when it will be completed," Boasberg wrote. "It has, however, undertaken to provide an update to the court when the FBI completes the sequestration."Boasberg is the presiding judge of the secretive court that oversees the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which approves classified wiretap applications.Michael Horowitz, the Justice Department's inspector general, said in his report in December that "significant questions regarding the FBI chain of command's management and supervision of the FISA process" were raised because "many basic and fundamental errors were made on four FISA applications by three separate, hand-picked teams, on one of the most sensitive FBI investigations."Trump has called the findings in the report "far worse than I ever thought possible" and the actions it cited a "disgrace."Nonetheless, Horowitz said in his report that the FBI acted properly when it began a broad investigation into whether then-candidate Trump or people around him conspired with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. Horowitz also said he found no political bias in the FBI's decision to conduct surveillance of Page and other Trump campaign officials, but said his office was given unsatisfactory answers by FBI officials on the failures in the Page warrant applications.Boasberg's order directs the FBI to give the court a detailed description by Jan. 28 of steps being taken to restrict access to the Page material, including information that may have been disclosed to Justice Department prosecutors or people outside the FBI. The bureau is also directed to explain its review of the Horowitz report, as well as related investigations and litigation.To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Strohm in Washington at cstrohm1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Bill Faries at wfaries@bloomberg.net, Larry Liebert, John HarneyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Saudi crown prince's WhatsApp linked to Bezos phone hack Posted: 22 Jan 2020 06:14 AM PST  The cellphone of Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos was hacked in what appeared to be an attempt by Saudi Arabia's crown prince to "influence, if not silence" the newspaper's reporting on the kingdom, two U.N. human rights experts said Wednesday. The U.N. experts called for an "immediate investigation" by the United States into a report commissioned by Bezos that showed the billionaire technology mogul's phone was likely hacked after he received an MP4 video file sent from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's WhatsApp account after the two men exchanged phone numbers during a dinner in Los Angeles in 2018.
|
| Residents left in Wuhan — which China quarantined to stop the coronavirus — are desperately stockpiling food and fuel, leaving empty shelves and prices skyrocketing Posted: 23 Jan 2020 06:26 AM PST  China shut off the city on Thursday. One person wrote on social media: "Right now people are fighting over supplies. Soon they may just be fighting."
|
| Thunberg fires back at Mnunchin after college degree jab Posted: 23 Jan 2020 09:13 AM PST  Treasury Secretary Steven Mnunchin said Greta Thunberg can discuss fossil fuel divestment "after she goes and studies economics in college."
|
| The world is less than 2 'minutes' from doomsday, atomic scientists warn Posted: 23 Jan 2020 09:47 AM PST  Apocalyptic doom is apparently closer than it's ever been before.Every year, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists announces the world's status on its "doomsday clock," which reveals just how close all of humanity is to certain destruction. And after putting it at a dangerous two minutes from apocalypse for the last few years in a row, scientists upped their prediction to an unprecedented 100 seconds on Thursday.The greatest threats to humanity, as outlined by the Bulletin, are "nuclear war and climate change," which are "compounded by a threat multiplier — cyber-enabled information warfare — that undercuts society's ability to respond." The scientists specifically called out how 2019 saw the end of "several major arms control treaties and negotiations," while "political conflicts regarding nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea remain unresolved and are, if anything, worsening."As for climate change, scientists acknowledged "public awareness of the climate crisis grew over the course of 2019, largely because of mass protests by young people around the world." But "government action" hasn't risen to meet that public push, and even the UN has "put forward few concrete plans to further limit the carbon dioxide emissions," the statement continued. Altogether, this puts the world closer to a metaphorical midnight than ever before in the clock's 73-year history.More stories from theweek.com Democrats walked right into Mitch McConnell's trap 5 brutally funny cartoons about Mitch McConnell's impeachment rules Virologist who helped identify SARS on coronavirus outbreak: 'This time I'm scared'
|
| Boy accused in fatal family shooting to be charged as adult Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:36 PM PST  A teenager in Utah accused of fatally shooting four of his relatives and wounding a fifth will be charged as an adult as soon as Wednesday, a prosecutor said.
|
| Russia, China, and Iran Would Love to Take Out a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier. Here's Why They Can't. Posted: 22 Jan 2020 09:30 PM PST  The beasts are more survivable than they seem.
|
| Biden leads, while others gain momentum in bid for 2020 nomination: Reuters/Ipsos poll Posted: 23 Jan 2020 02:48 PM PST  Former Vice President Joe Biden leads other candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination, while several others appeared to be gaining momentum in their bid for the White House, according to a Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll released on Thursday. The Jan. 22-23 online poll showed that 24% of registered Democrats and independents supported Biden, while 20% backed U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders and 12% said they would vote for U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren. Another 10% supported former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, 7% picked former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana and 3% backed U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar.
|
| Family of Kristin Smart, who went missing in 1996, now says there's no news coming soon Posted: 23 Jan 2020 05:15 AM PST  Kristin Smart's mother said she was contacted by a former FBI agent, but there is no timeline for an announcement in her case, the family later said.
|
| Mexico Senate Leader Seeks to Legalize Marijuana This Spring Posted: 22 Jan 2020 12:05 PM PST ![Mexico Senate Leader Seeks to Legalize Marijuana This Spring]( "Mexico Senate Leader Seeks to Legalize Marijuana This Spring") (Bloomberg) -- Mexico's Senate is set to debate bills to legalize marijuana and regulate outsourcing in the coming period from February to April.The Senate will debate a bill co-authored by Senate Majority Leader Ricardo Monreal to regulate planting, production, labeling, sales and distribution, and would make it free for medical use, according to a document sent by the senator's office. It would also create the Mexican Institute for Regulation and Control of Cannabis to create rules for points of sale and the allowed THC contents for products.While marijuana has been increasingly legalized in the U.S., its use remains restricted in Mexico. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has said he'd consider legalizing the drug or regulating its use, but it's not a priority of his security strategy, which instead focuses on rooting out corruption and providing opportunities for young people so they don't turn to drugs and crime.Also on the list of bills to be debated this session is a justice reform that raised controversy after an initial draft included changes to the constitution to allow prosecutors to monitor phone calls and emails. Legislation to fight climate change is also on the docket, according to Monreal's office. The Mexican Senate will take up these topics in its regular session that runs from Feb. 1 to April 30. Monreal's Morena party holds a majority in both houses of congress.When it comes to outsourcing, Monreal has said the practice will be debated to improve its regulation. A proposed bill that would have banned outsourcing outright was postponed after business chambers raised concern about the legislation. The practice is criticized by some labor activists who say it helps businesses save money by lowering employees' pay and benefits.To contact the reporter on this story: Andrea Navarro in Mexico City at anavarro30@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Case at bcase4@bloomberg.net, Dale QuinnFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Iran uses violence, politics to try to push US out of Iraq Posted: 22 Jan 2020 10:12 PM PST  Iran has long sought the withdrawal of American forces from neighboring Iraq, but the U.S. killing of an Iranian general and an Iraqi militia commander in Baghdad has added new impetus to the effort, stoking anti-American feelings that Tehran hopes to exploit to help realize the goal. The Jan. 3 killing has led Iraq's parliament to call for the ouster of U.S. troops, but there are many lingering questions over whether Iran will be able to capitalize on the sentiment. It is not clear whether the protesters will try to recreate a New Year's Eve attack on the U.S. Embassy compound in Baghdad by Iran-supported militias in the wake of U.S. airstrikes that killed 25 militiamen along the border with Syria.
|
| These 9 Dining Chairs Are Sculptural, Surprising, and Downright Sleek Posted: 23 Jan 2020 05:00 AM PST |
| Greta Thunberg fires back after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin says she isn't qualified to lecture the US on climate change Posted: 23 Jan 2020 07:00 AM PST  "Is she the chief economist or who is she? I'm confused," Mnuchin joked about the Swedish teenager's call for America to quit fossil fuels.
|
| U.S. deports Honduran family with sick kids to Guatemala Posted: 21 Jan 2020 08:25 PM PST  Advocates, citing the children's recent hospitalization, mounted an unsuccessful legal challenge to stop the deportation — which took place Tuesday
|
| China's New H-20 Stealth Bomber Is Going To Shake Up East Asia Posted: 22 Jan 2020 10:49 AM PST  The military balance will never be the same.
|
| Grassley Expands Probe into DoD Contracts Awarded to Stefan Halper over Spying Concerns Posted: 23 Jan 2020 12:05 PM PST  Senator Chuck Grassley announced an expanded probe Wednesday into the Department of Defense's Office of Net Assessment (ONA) and its awarding of defense contracts to Stefan Halper, in order to see whether ONA illicitly authorized funds for the former professor to spy on the 2016 Trump campaign.Halper, an FBI source who met with and recorded Trump associates Carter Page, Sam Clovis, and George Papadopoulos, according to Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz's December report, has been awarded more than $1 million in contracts by ONA since 2012.Grassley points to several contracts awarded to Halper in a letter to James Baker, the director of ONA, as examples "that clearly indicate weak or non-existent internal controls."Evaluators raised "several weaknesses," including a lack of substance, in a 2012 contract proposal by Halper that were ultimately ignored. For a 2015 proposal, Halper listed a Russian intelligence official as an adviser, who was then cited by Christopher Steele as source for his now-infamous dossier.Halper's last contract, awarded in September 2016, mentions "unknown third parties" paying for Halper's trip to Japan to interview "former high-level U.S. and foreign government officials," but Grassley points out that the IG later found none of Halper's 348 footnotes in the subsequent study cited any interviews.Halper also contacted Papadopoulos in September 2016 and offered $3,000 for him to write a policy paper on the natural-gas market in the Mediterranean."Given Professor Halper's intelligence connections and government funding, it is reasonable to ask whether he used any taxpayer money in his attempt to recruit Trump campaign officials as sources," Grassley hypothesizes.The Iowa Senator concludes his letter by asking for a list of every contract ONA has issued over the last five years to review the consistency of its decision-making."The fact that taxpayer money was used to support these projects calls into question ONA's ability to be a proper steward of the people's money and whether ONA has acted consistent with its mission and purpose," Grassley writes.
|
| White House posts video of bishop saying 'demonic spirit' is behind homosexuality during sermon attended by Mike Pence Posted: 22 Jan 2020 06:09 AM PST  The White House has live-streamed a church service which saw the US vice-president speak and a bishop claim "the devil" causes homosexuality.After Mike Pence addressed the congregation in Tennessee, the preacher took to the pulpit to talk about same-sex relations in a sermon still available on the administration's Youtube channel.
|
| Nigeria Surprised by News of Possible U.S. Travel Restrictions Posted: 23 Jan 2020 02:20 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria's government was surprised by the news that the U.S. is considering travel restrictions on its citizens and the ban would mean officials will have to find new ways to meet with investors, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed said.Nigeria is one of seven countries, more than half of which are in Africa, included in a list that may be affected if the Homeland Security Department's recommendation to expand restrictions is approved, according to a person familiar with the matter. President Donald Trump is reviewing it. The other African states targeted because of security concerns are Eritrea, Sudan and Tanzania."It will mean restrictions in being able to meet with investors in the U.S. and to be able to meet with Bretton Woods institutions that are in the U.S.," Ahmed said Thursday in an interview with Bloomberg TV at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "It means we will have to make meeting arrangements alternative to the U.S. because there are options that are open to us," such as the U.K., she said.Nigeria, which vies with South Africa to be the continent's biggest economy, is struggling to boost economic growth after a 2016 contraction. The International Monetary Fund projects gross domestic product will expand 2.5% this year. The possible travel restrictions won't hurt growth, Ahmed said."We have some very active investors in the Nigerian bond market that are in the U.S. and also some that have taken up our Eurobonds," Ahmed said. "We connect with them directly and through our advisers such as Standard Chartered and Citibank, who have offices in the U.S."While Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer, it imports fuel and relies on foreign investment inflows to help prop up the naira.Zainab said she's met with investors in London to discuss the possibility of issuing naira-denominated bonds on the London Stock Exchange."We are very positive that we will be able to refinance our debt obligations as well as acquire new financing to fund our major infrastructure projects," she said.Tanzania's government hasn't received confirmation that the country is being considered for a travel ban."We are also reading these reports from the media," Emmanuel Buhohela, director of communications at the foreign-affairs ministry, said by phone. "So for now we are still waiting for official communication before we can react."\--With assistance from Ken Karuri.To contact the reporters on this story: Haslinda Amin in Singapore at hamin1@bloomberg.net;Ruth Olurounbi in Abuja at rolurounbi4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Osae-Brown at aosaebrown2@bloomberg.net, Rene Vollgraaff, Gordon BellFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Additional U.S. troops have been flown out of Iraq following Iranian missile attack Posted: 22 Jan 2020 05:53 AM PST  Additional U.S. troops have been flown out of Iraq for closer evaluation of potential concussion injuries from the Iranian missile attack of Jan. 8, U.S. defense officials said Tuesday.
|
| Authorities say Oklahoma man was eaten by mountain lions in Arizona Posted: 21 Jan 2020 06:47 PM PST  Steven Brashear, 66, was reported missing in December. Three mountain lions were euthanized after being found eating his body.
|
| The US is going after Venezuela over aircraft it says endangered US military planes Posted: 22 Jan 2020 01:49 PM PST  The US blocked planes owned by Venezuela's state oil firm on Tuesday, several of which it said were involved in unsafe encounters with US aircraft.
|
| Ok, 'Boomer': This Is the Deadliest Submarine Monster Lurking the Deep Posted: 22 Jan 2020 10:54 PM PST  Ballistic missile submarines—or as sailors call them, 'boomers.'
|
| China companies issue staff with masks, travel warnings as virus outbreak fears grow Posted: 22 Jan 2020 02:16 AM PST  SHANGHAI/HONG KONG (Reuters) - Companies across China are handing out masks and warning staff to avoid the central city of Wuhan amid fears that the new flu-like coronavirus will rapidly spread with much of population embarking on travel for Lunar New Year holidays. Firms from Foxconn <2317.TW> to Huawei Technologies and HSBC Holdings have issued advisories. At Foxconn's Lunar New Year party on Wednesday, founder Terry Gou advised Taiwan-based employees not to visit mainland China during the week-long holiday period.
|
| Trump retweets attack on AOC calling her an 'embarrassing, barely literate moron' Posted: 22 Jan 2020 07:08 AM PST  Donald Trump has retweeted an attack on Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, calling the New York Democrat "an embarrassing, barely literate moron" after she claimed that billionaires are a product of "modern day slave wages".Ms Ocasio-Cortez made the comment during an interview on Martin Luther King, Jr, Day, saying that billionaires do not make themselves, because they rely on thousands of low-wage workers to build their fortunes.
|
| Turkey Slams Greece for ‘Illegally’ Arming 16 Aegean Islands Posted: 23 Jan 2020 12:09 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar asked Greece to demilitarize 16 Aegean islands near Turkey he claims were illegally armed, in a move that may exacerbate strains in the countries' relations."We expect Greece to act in line with international law and the agreements it has signed," state-run Anadolu Agency cited Akar as saying in Ankara on Wednesday.The two neighbors are already at loggerheads over offshore natural-gas reserves in the eastern Mediterranean. Tensions over conflicting claims have escalated since Turkey and Libya signed a contentious agreement last year that delineates maritime borders and affirms claims of sovereignty over areas of the Mediterranean.Turkey's claims could make it more difficult and costly to build a planned natural-gas pipeline that could link the eastern Mediterranean basin with European markets through Cyprus, Greece and Italy.Greece and Turkey, both NATO members, came close to conflict in 1996 over a pair of uninhabited islets in the Aegean.To contact the reporter on this story: Cagan Koc in Istanbul at ckoc2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Onur Ant at oant@bloomberg.net, Amy Teibel, Paul AbelskyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
|
| Islamic leaders make 'groundbreaking' visit to Auschwitz Posted: 23 Jan 2020 07:25 AM PST  Muslim religious leaders joined members of a U.S. Jewish group at Auschwitz on Thursday for what organizers described as "the most senior Islamic leadership delegation" to visit the site of a Nazi German death camp. The secretary general of the Muslim World League, Mohammad bin Abdulkarim Al-Issa, and the CEO of the American Jewish Committee, David Harris, led the tour to the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial in Poland.
|
