- WorldUSA TODAY
Bolton says latest North Korea missile test violates U.N. resolution
U.S. national security adviser John Bolton said Saturday that recent short-range missile tests by North Korea that President Donald Trump had dismissed as "very standard" were a violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions. North Korea's test of short-range ballistic missiles on May 4 and 9 ended a pause in launches that began in late 2017. U.N. Security Council resolutions prohibit North Korea from firing any ballistic missiles,” Bolton told reporters in Tokyo ahead of the president's four-day visit to Japan.
WorldReutersGermany in push to resurrect Afghan talks with Taliban
Germany, a leading donor and member of the NATO-led coalition in Afghanistan, has been talking with the Taliban and the Afghan government in an effort to restart peace talks to end 18 years of conflict, officials said. While the Taliban have been talking with U.S. officials since October about a withdrawal of international troops, they have so far refused formal talks with the Western-backed government, which they dismiss as a "puppet" regime. Berlin's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Markus Potzel, has visited Kabul for talks with the Afghan government and met Taliban officials in Doha at least twice this month.
- WorldThe Independent
Pope Francis likens abortion in any scenario to ‘hiring a hitman’
Pope Francis has compared having an abortion to hiring a hitman and said the procedure can never be condoned, even when the foetus is gravely sick. Speaking at a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference, he urged doctors and priests to support families to carry all pregnancies to full term. The pontiff said that the matter was not a religious issue but a human one.
- BusinessArchitectural Digest
AD PRO's 20 Favorite Furnishings from ICFF
Miss New York's International Contemporary Furniture Fair? Senior style and market editor Benjamin Reynaert shares his favorite new products that launched at the fair Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.WABC – NY
Police arrest man who allegedly took pictures of 5-year-old girl at Jones Beach
The girl's mother reported that the man, 21-year-old John Meehan, was taking pictures of her daughter.
- WorldThe National Interest
Eating Way Too Much Rice Almost Doomed Japan's Imperial Navy
After the war, the Emergency Beriberi Investigative Committee investigated the disease's devastation of Japanese ranks. In August 1882 in Incheon Bay near Seoul, four Japanese warships were locked in a tense stand-off with two Chinese warships that had brought troops to quell a revolt on the Korean peninsula. On paper, the Japanese flotilla outnumbered the Chinese, but the hulls of the Japanese ships hid a deadly secret.
- WorldThe Telegraph
EU election results analysis: How the Brexit Party won the most UK seats
Nigel Farage's Brexit Party has won the most UK seats in the European elections, with 28 of their candidates elected across the country compared to Labour's 10 and the Tories' three. It has resulted in the two large establishment blocs in the European Parliament losing their combined majority under rising populist and liberal support. Labour, as well as the Conservatives, lost ground with the pro-Remain Lib Dems and Greens picking up seats alongside the pro-Brexit Brexit Party.
WorldAFPIran state TV fires managers over 'insult' to Sunnis
Iranian state TV has fired two channel managers over a live programme deemed insulting to Sunni Muslims, it said in a statement Sunday. The sackings at Channel 5 came after a broadcast on May 20 celebrating the birthday of the second imam in Shiite Islam, Hassan ibn Ali. During the programme, religious chanter and story-teller Ahmad Qadami recited a eulogy that "insulted the sanctities of Sunni Muslims", according to official news agency IRNA.
- NewsBGR News
Very good boy crashes high school graduation, ‘waters’ the plants in the middle of class photo
Graduation is a big day in the life of a high school student. It's the final step in a journey that takes years and regardless of what lies beyond — be it college, technical training, or a plunge into the workforce — it's cause for celebration. Charlie feels the same way.
WorldAssociated PressUS sanctions on Iran felt in Iraqi Shiite tourist districts
For years, Karar Hussein has sold sweets in his shop near the entrance to one of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, accepting whatever currency was offered to him by his clients, many of them religious tourists from neighboring Iran. Hussein and many other shop owners in Baghdad's northern Shiite holy neighborhood of Kadhimiya have seen sales drop sharply over the past year since President Donald Trump began re-imposing sanctions on Iran, home to the largest number of Shiite Muslims around the world. The value of Iran's currency, the rial, has decreased almost fourfold, pushing the price of nearly everything beyond the reach of ordinary Iranian consumers in Iran and abroad.
NewsUSA TODAY51 attorneys general call on Betsy DeVos to cancel up to 42,000 disabled veterans' student debts
In April last year, DeVos announced a new partnership between the Departments of Education and Veterans Affairs that would match borrowers in the Department of Education's records system with disabled veterans in the Department of Veterans Affairs records system. People deemed eligible for loan discharges would be mailed a letter including an application for "totally and permanently disabled" (TPD) status. Under the Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, if student borrowers die or become permanently disabled, they are eligible to have their loans forgiven, so a successful granting of TPD status would allow for the complete discharge of student loans.
- BusinessReuters
UPDATE 2-Teva Pharm to pay Oklahoma $85 mln to settle opioid claims
BOSTON/JERUSALEM, May 26 (Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd said on Sunday it had agreed to pay an $85 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma days before the company was set to face trial over allegations that it and other drugmakers helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic. Teva, the world's largest generic drugmaker, said the settlement "does not establish any wrongdoing on the part of the company" and denied contributing to opioid abuse in Oklahoma. Claims against Teva focused on the branded opioid products Actiq and Fentora as well as generic painkillers it produced.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Violence and disruption against abortion clinics at highest rates since 1999
Violence and disruption against abortion clinics in the US increased to its highest levels since the 1990s last year, a report by the National Abortion Federation has found. The increase in violence was attributed, at least in part, to president Donald Trump and his administration's rhetoric. “Anti-choice individuals and groups have been emboldened by the rhetoric of president Trump, vice president Pence, and other elected officials and we are seeing this play out in more instances of activities meant to intimidate abortion providers and disrupt patient services,” said Dr Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, who serves as interim president and CEO of NAF.
- NewsTime
'I Will Always Have My Freedom and He Will Not.' Read Jayme Closs' Defiant Statement at Kidnapper's Sentencing
Jayme Closs submitted a powerful statement to the court for the sentencing Friday of the man who admitted to killing her parents and holding her captive for 88 days. Closs, 13, was not present for the hearing for 21-year-old Jake Patterson, but her family's attorney read the statement to the court. In it, she recalled the day in October that Patterson kidnapped her and murdered her parents, James and Denise Closs, at their Barron, Wisconsin home.
WorldAFPGermany's Greens surge in EU vote as Merkel bloc's lead shrinks
Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right bloc was leading in European elections in Germany, exit polls showed Sunday, but the score was shaping out to be a historic low, while the Greens recorded a surge. Merkel's Christian Democratic Party and allies Christian Social Union were set to garner around 28 percent, two separate polls by national broadcasters ARD and ZDF showed, sharply under their 35.3 percent in 2014. Her coalition partner SPD was also headed for its poorest showing in an EU poll with 15.5 percent, as the centre-left party was knocked from second position by the Greens, which surged to between 20.5 and 22 percent.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Emmanuel Macron embarrassed by Marine Le Pen in elections but emerges as EU kingmaker
Emmanuel Macron suffered defeat at home in the European elections but could console himself with securing a kingmaker role that could determine the next five years of EU politics. The ardently Europhile French president was narrowly beaten by Marine Le Pen's virulently anti-EU National Rally in the French vote but stands to benefit from a fragmentation in support for the older centrist parties in the European Parliament. Ever since the first European elections in 1979, the centre-right European People's Party and centre-left Socialists and Democrats have dominated EU politics.
- BusinessReuters
Huawei founder says he would oppose Chinese retaliation against Apple- Bloomberg
Huawei Technologies' founder and Chief Executive Ren Zhengfei told Bloomberg https://bloom.bg/2HT7DUY that retaliation by Beijing against Apple Inc was unlikely and that he would oppose any such move from China against the iPhone maker. When asked about calls from some in China to retaliate against Apple, Ren said that he would "protest" against any such step if it were to be taken by Beijing. "That (Chinese retaliation against Apple) will not happen first of all and second of all, if that happens, I'll be the first to protest," Ren said in the interview with Bloomberg.
- BusinessThe National Interest
Be All You Can Be: All of the Reasons People Join the U.S. Army
Americans join the Army for plenty of reasons: for country, family, and honor. According to a new study of enlisted soldiers, however, a core motivation is relatively simple: for money. A RAND Corporation exhaustive survey of 81 soldiers between E-1 and E-4 suggests that the choice to enlist is influenced by two overlapping factors: institutional ones like family and duty, and occupational ones like professional development and job stability.
WorldAssociated PressPolice hunt suspect after explosion in French city of Lyon
French police on Saturday hunted a suspect believed to have deposited a paper bag containing a device that exploded Friday, wounding 13 people on a busy pedestrian street in the city of Lyon. French President Emmanuel Macron called the explosion an "attack" during a live interview Friday about the European Parliament elections that run through Sunday. The man was seen arriving on foot, pushing his bike along the pedestrian-only Victor Hugo street, then leaving paper bag on a concrete block in the middle of the street near a bakery.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoVP Pence tells West Point grads they should expect to see combat
Vice President Mike Pence told the most diverse graduating class in the history of the U.S. Military Academy on Saturday that the world is "a dangerous place" and they should expect to see combat.
- PoliticsBloomberg
New York's De Blasio, At 0.5%, Skirts Likability Issue for 2020
Asked on CNN's “State of the Union” Sunday about poor favorability ratings and an April 3 Quinnipiac University survey showing that 76% of voters in his own city don't think he should run, de Blasio said he won two elections in New York overwhelmingly, and that voters will get to know him. “The more folks hear the message and look at the experience I've had and done for working people, the more they will come to this side,” de Blasio said. De Blasio, 58, said voters will respond to his honest assessment that the federal government has been on the side of the wealthy and corporations.
BusinessUSA TODAYFlying this summer? 8 things to know if you haven't been on a plane for a year
As the summer travel season begins, we bring you this important news from the department of duh: Airports are going to be packed. Forecast after forecast calls for record airline travel between Memorial Day and Labor Day as the economy continues to hum. Airlines for America, an airline trade group, says passenger counts on U.S. airlines will be up 3.4% from a year ago, the 10th consecutive increase.
- LifestyleTime
Here's What's Open and Closed on Memorial Day 2019
When is Memorial Day 2019? This year, Memorial Day is on Monday, May 27, though many people like to celebrate all weekend with parades, sales and parties. This holiday falls on the last Monday in May each year to honor those who have died while serving in the American armed forces.
WorldAFPRomania court upholds jail sentence for ruling party chief
A Romanian court on Monday upheld a jail sentence for the powerful head of Romania's ruling Social Democrats, Liviu Dragnea, meaning he now has 24 hours to report to police to begin his sentence. The verdict will almost certainly remove from public life a man who is widely seen as the puppet master behind the government. Dragnea was also a key figure in his party's push for controversial judicial reforms which have led to clashes with Brussels and have overshadowed Romania's first-ever EU presidency.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Rouhani says Iran could hold referendum on nuclear programme as tensions with US rise
Iran's president Hassan Rouhani has suggested that the Islamic Republic could hold a public referendum on its nuclear programme, in the wake of rising tensions in the Persian Gulf. "Article 59 of the Constitution (referendum) is a deadlock breaker ... and could be a problem-solver at any junction," the semi-official news agency ILNA quoted Rouhani as saying late on Saturday. The statement followed Mr Rouhani's public dressing-down by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for his handling of the country's fast-unravelling nuclear deal.
