PoliticsReutersHouse Democrats move to block Trump's emergency declaration on border
Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives plan to introduce a resolution on Friday to end President Donald Trump's national emergency declaration on border security, according to aides to Representative Joaquin Castro. So far, 92 lawmakers have joined Castro in backing the legislation, which under House rules could advance within weeks to a debate by the full chamber, which is controlled by Democrats. Trump declared a national emergency last week in order to take money Congress had appropriated for other activities and use it to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border.
- NewsAssociated Press
Girl's death haunted police until arrest made 45 years later
Investigators searched for decades for the killer of an 11-year-old girl who disappeared while walking home from summer school in a case that gripped a California seaside community. A photo of a smiling Linda O'Keefe has hung for years on the wall of the police department in Newport Beach, reminding investigators to keep pressing forward on cold cases like hers. More than four decades later, authorities in Southern California said Wednesday that a Colorado man has been arrested and charged with killing her in 1973.
WorldAFPCanada looks to reunite Syrian family after fire claims seven kids
Canada is looking to quickly bring over siblings of a Syrian refugee distraught over the loss of her seven children in a Halifax house fire, the prime minister said Thursday. "The immigration minister is seized with this particular case," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said when asked if Ottawa would fast-track the immigration or asylum process to bring the woman's brothers to Canada in order to provide her with family support. The family was among tens of thousands of Syrian refugees welcomed by Canada over the past four years.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Green New Deal: Why the GOP secretly likes Democrats' climate change plan
WASHINGTON – Republicans are talking a lot about the Green New Deal after its rollout on Capitol Hill this month by liberal Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It's not because the GOP supports the transformation of the electric grid from fossil fuels to renewable energy called for in the plan to combat climate change. Or because Republicans agree with the approach the plan lays out for boosting Americans' economic security and giving people access to affordable health care.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism, warns Emmanuel Macron
France is to recognise anti-Zionism, the denial of the state of Israel, as a form of anti-Semitismin response to a surge in acts against Jews not seen “since the Second World War”. Emmanuel Macron, the French president, also promised new legislation in May to fight hate speech on the Internet, which could see platforms such as Facebook and Twitter fined for every minute they fail to take down racist or violent content. While stopping short of calling for new legislation, the President said the working definition of anti-Semitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance would help guide police forces, magistrates and teachers in their daily work.
NewsUSA TODAYSouthwest Airlines cancels nearly 400 flights as maintenance woes, winter storms linger
Southwest Airlines' flight woes continue, with nearly 400 Thursday flights canceled due to maintenance issues and winter weather. Southwest, the nation's largest domestic carrier, had canceled 389 flights, or 9 percent of its schedule, as of 1:15 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. That is the highest number of cancellations by any carrier and accounts for 51 percent of flight cancellations within, into or out of the United States, according to FlightAware. Southwest attributed the high number of cancellations to weather challenges and continuing maintenance issues that have a pulled a higher-than-usual number of aircraft out of service.
WorldReutersIn U.S., pope's summit on sex abuse seen as too little, too late
In the study of his home outside Washington, victims' advocate Tom Doyle searched a shelf packed with books to find the thick report that led him to stop practicing as a priest and devote himself to helping those who had been sexually abused by clergymen. The 1985 report was one of the first exposes in a sexual abuse scandal that has plagued the Catholic Church. Pope Francis has called senior bishops to meet for four days starting on Thursday to discuss how to tackle the worsening crisis.
- SportsThe Independent
Obama talks self-confidence with Steph Curry: 'If you're confident with your sexuality, you don't need 8 women twerking around you'
In a wide-ranging interview about what it means to be a man, Barack Obama said that you don't need women "twerking around you" if you are "very confident about your sexuality". During a town hall in Oakland, California as part of the former president's My Brother's Keeper programme, Mr Obama engaged in a candid conversation with Golden State Warriors basketball star Steph Curry. The two touched on a range of topics including the importance of male role models, music, and how police and minority communities interact.
PoliticsFOX News VideosWhat do Millennials think about Bernie Sanders and the direction of the Democratic Party?
Nathan Rubin, Malia Fisher, Joseph Pinion and Allison Lee Pillinger Choi weigh in on whether or not Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has a chance to win the 2020 Democratic nomination.
PoliticsYahoo NewsNYT publisher: Trump 'retreating from a distinctly American principle'
New York Times publisher Arthur “A.G.” Sulzberger responded to what he called “President Trump's continued attacks on a free press” Wednesday, hours after Trump lashed out at the paper as a “true ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE. Sulzberger wrote that Trump's “demonizing the free press as the enemy, simply for performing its role of asking difficult questions and bringing uncomfortable information to light, President Trump is retreating from a distinctly American principle. The latest standoff between the Times and the White House followed the paper's Tuesday publication of an in-depth examination of Trump's efforts to discredit and derail multiple investigations into his presidential campaign and action...
NewsAssociated PressThe Latest: Court records say 2 knew man wanted fiancee dead
At least two people knew a man was pressuring his girlfriend to kill his fiancee before that woman's sudden disappearance. According to court records, two friends were told by Krystal Jean Lee Kenney in October that Frazee wanted her to kill Berreth. The women were later interviewed by police investigating Berreth's Nov. 22 disappearance.
- BusinessCar and Driver
View the 2019 Ford Ranger XLT 4x4 in Photos
The mid-size pickup gets a new engine and transmission, quiet on-road demeanor, and slightly more manageable size that should guarantee its success. From Car and Driver
WorldAFPPakistan bans groups linked to Mumbai attack suspects
Pakistan on Thursday banned two groups believed to be fronts for the group blamed for the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, amid heightened pressure on Islamabad to act against militants. Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation were designated "proscribed organisations", the interior ministry said in a statement, adding that Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered officials to accelerate action against banned groups. JuD and FIF are considered by the UN to be fronts for Lashkar-e-Taiba, a group accused by Washington and New Delhi of carrying out the Mumbai attack, which killed 166 people and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.
- WorldBloomberg
Serbia Lashes Out at U.S. After Diplomat's Warning on Venezuela
Serbia rejected a warning from the U.S. over its support for embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro a week after Belgrade hosted a delegation from the Latin American state. U.S. Ambassador to Belgrade Kyle Scott tweeted that Serbia is “on the wrong side of history, noting that more than 50 countries have endorsed Maduro challenger Juan Guaido. Serbia's foreign minister responded by saying his country had “respect for international law and non-interference in internal affairs of sovereign countries.
- WorldReuters
Britain, EU closer to possible agreement on Brexit: EU diplomats
The European Union and Britain are moving towards a separate legal statement in which the bloc would again stress the temporary nature of the so-called Brexit backstop for the Irish border, diplomats in Brussels said. They spoke of a "parallel declaration" or "interpretative instrument" on the backstop, a day after British Prime Minister Theresa May and the head of the European Union's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, met in Brussels to seek a way out of the Brexit deadlock. The backstop is an insurance policy designed to avoid border controls between EU member Ireland and British-ruled Northern Ireland after Brexit.
NewsReutersSnow, sleet threaten U.S. East Coast, hinder hundreds of flights
A winter storm bore down on the U.S. East Coast on Wednesday, threatening to snarl New York City's evening commute after hindering air travel along the East Coast and prompting the shutdown of federal offices in Washington. Snow turning to sleet slickened roadways in the New York metropolitan area by the early afternoon and was blamed for a rash of fender benders and traffic jams. The widespread weather system piled as much as 6 inches (15 cm) of snow across the Washington area before turning to sleet, said meteorologist Bryan Jackson of the National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.
- WorldUSA TODAY
'Hear the cry of the little ones': Pope Francis demands action from bishops as sex abuse summit opens
Pope Francis urged high-ranking church officials from around the globe gathered Thursday at the Vatican to "hear the cry of the little ones" who are victims of sexual abuse by priests. Francis spoke at the beginning of a four-day summit that brought together almost 200 high-ranking church officials, including leaders of bishop conferences from more than 100 nations. The summit will focus on making bishops aware of their responsibilities regarding sexual abuse, as well as accountability and transparency, the Vatican said.
- NewsAssociated Press
Driver hurt by air bag shrapnel as investigation drags on
Nearly four years ago, the U.S. government's highway safety agency began investigating air bag inflators made by ARC Automotive of Tennessee when two people were hit by flying shrapnel after crashes. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that 8 million Fiat Chrysler, Hyundai, Kia and General Motors vehicles in the U.S. use the company's inflators. The investigation became more urgent in 2016 after a Canadian woman driving a Hyundai was killed by shrapnel from an ARC inflator.
- WorldThe Telegraph
A purge, a haircut and a very long train ride ahead of nuclear summit in Hanoi
Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, is reported to have purged senior aides ahead of a landmark summit on nuclear weapons next week with Donald Trump, the US president, in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi. Seasoned diplomats who have worked for the regime since the eras of Kim's father and grandfather are said to have been replaced with new, younger advisers chosen for their ideology and loyalty. The biggest rotation has been the removal of Choe Son Hui, the vice foreign minister who spearheaded nuclear talks ahead of the first summit between Mr Trump and Kim in Singapore in June, and her replacement with Kim Hyok Chol, a former ambassador to Spain.
NewsAssociated PressFuneral held for youngest victim of factory shooting
A small funeral home was packed with hundreds of mourners for a 21-year-old college student who was killed on the first day of his internship when a worker opened fire inside an Illinois manufacturing facility. Trevor Wehner was among five people killed in the Friday shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora. During a brief religious service Wednesday in the Village of Sheridan, Wehner was remembered as family-oriented, someone who could change the atmosphere of a room just by walking in and who liked to tease and play jokes.
BusinessConsumer ReportsConsumer Reports' Top Picks Quiz
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with advertisers on this site. A lot of research goes into determining which vehicles achieve a spot as one of Consumer Reports' Top Picks.
WorldAFPPakistan military warns India against 'misadventure'
Pakistan's military warned India on Friday against any "misadventure", saying it was capable of responding to any threats as tensions continue to simmer between the two nuclear-armed nations. "We hope you will not mess up with us," military spokesman Major General Asif Ghafoor told a press briefing in the garrison town of Rawalpindi, the second strong message Pakistan has sent to New Delhi in as many days. Tensions have risen in the days following a suicide attack in Kashmir that killed 41 Indian paramilitaries and was claimed by Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), based in Pakistan.
- BusinessThe National Interest
You're Dead: The F-35 Is Crushing Enemy Fighter Jets in Air War Simulations
As enemy fighters closed in on a US Air Force 4th Generation fighter aircraft, blinding the jet with electronic warfare attacks, an experienced pilot faced unseen life-threatening attackers closing in -- during an air-combat Red Flag exercise closely replicating actual warfare scenarios. The 5th-Gen, multi-role stealth fighter then used its long-range sensors and weapons to “kill” the enemy aircraft, according to an Air Force news report. Air Force Col. Joshua Wood, 388th Operations Group Commander was part of the exercise.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
Fiat's Unloved 500L Tries Again with the 2019 Urbana Edition
The compact-crossover version of the Fiat 500, the 500L, gets a new appearance package that retails for less than $600. As if Fiat ownership wasn't difficult enough to explain on a first date, explaining that you own a 500L is more awkward than a thick nest of back hair. For 2019, Fiat now sells the 500L Urbana Edition, a special model that hides this compact crossover's weirdest parts with blackout trim, and it costs slightly more.
WorldReutersFrench TV cuts Facebook live feed from Jewish cemetery after anti-Semitic abuse
"Our country is confronted with a resurgence of anti-Semitism undoubtedly without precedent since the Second World War," President Emmanuel Macron said later on Tuesday in an annual speech to Jewish leaders in France. France 3 television said it went live from the first cemetery in the village of Quatzenheim on Tuesday as President Emmanuel Macron was visiting to pay his respects after more than 90 graves were vandalized with swastikas and anti-Semitic abuse. "We are talking about explicit death threats, comments that were openly anti-Semitic and racist, including "Heil Hitler", "dirty Jew" or "dirty Jews", comments that were addressed at Emmanuel Macron and representatives of the Jewish community," the channel said in a statement explaining its decision.
