- PoliticsBloomberg
EPA Nominee Wheeler Defends Rollbacks While Pressed on Climate
Wheeler, a former energy lobbyist who has served as acting administrator for six months, did not mention global warming in his opening remarks to the Environment and Public Works Committee, instead touting agency deregulatory efforts he said would spare businesses some $1.8 billion in compliance costs. “How does it happen that the nominee to be head of the Environmental Protection Agency does not mention the words climate change at a time when the scientific community thinks climate change is the greatest environmental crisis facing the planet?” asked Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats.
NewsReutersIn third year, U.S. women's marches turn to 2020 elections
Millions of people took part in the women's marches in Washington and other cities in the United States and abroad on Jan. 21, 2017, the day after the Republican president was sworn in. Vanessa Wruble, a co-founder of the original Women's March on Washington who left to start March On, a separate grassroots coalition, said the movement has evolved from being a reaction to Trump's presidency. Women's March, a national nonprofit organization that evolved from the initial Washington march, is using its #WomensWave marches in Washington and elsewhere on Saturday to roll out a 10-part policy platform that includes raising the federal minimum wage and protecting reproductive rights.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
The lone Democrat who voted against denouncing Rep. Steve King sees censure effort fizzle
WASHINGTON – The lone lawmaker who prevented the House of Representatives from unanimously denouncing Rep. Steve King, due to worries that the measure didn't go far enough, saw his censure effort against the Iowa Republican fizzle on Wednesday. Rep. Bobby Rush, a civil rights leader and Democrat representing Illinois, attempted on Wednesday, the day after the House voted 424 to 1 to condemn King, to bring up a censure resolution over King's comments about white nationalism.
- BusinessCar and Driver
A Look at the 2020 BMW 7-series
The BMW flagship sedan also gets revised engines and plenty of new tech. From Car and Driver
NewsAssociated PressAmerican anchor for Iranian TV is arrested on visit to US
A prominent American anchorwoman on Iranian state television has been arrested by the FBI during a visit to the U.S., the broadcaster reported Wednesday, and her son said she was being held in a prison, apparently as a material witness. Marzieh Hashemi, who worked for the network's English-language service, was detained in St. Louis, where she had filmed a Black Lives Matter documentary after visiting relatives in the New Orleans area. The FBI said in an email that it had no comment on the arrest of the woman who was born Melanie Franklin in New Orleans and has worked for Iran's state television network for 25 years.
WorldAFPBrits in Spain see glimmer of hope in UK Brexit vote drubbing
Jávea (Spain) (AFP) - On the sun-drenched eastern coast of Spain where British pensioners and business-owners are uncertain for their futures as Brexit ticks closer, the crushing parliamentary defeat of Theresa May's EU divorce deal has sparked a glimmer of hope. "This might not happen," Lyle Starritt told AFP, the day after May suffered a historic drubbing in the House of Commons on Tuesday, when MPs rejected the deal she struck with the European Union. Britons interviewed by AFP, all of whom were keen on Britain staying in the EU, also said they were confident that even if Brexit takes place Madrid would preserve their rights, providing London reciprocates for Spaniards living in Britain.
- BusinessThe Telegraph
Apple boss Tim Cook attacks 'shadow economy' of data in call for new privacy law
Apple's chief executive Tim Cook has called for the US to introduce a national privacy law, attacking a “shadow economy” in which people's personal data is bought and sold without their knowledge. Mr Cook said companies should have to collect as little data as possible and make it easy for people to delete the information that is held about them. It is the latest attempt from Apple to position itself as the steward of consumers' privacy, and to draw a line between itself and companies such as Facebook and Google.
- WorldThe Independent
Enes Kanter: Turkey 'seeking arrest' of New York Knicks player
Turkish prosecutors are seeking the arrest and extradition of New York Knicks enter Enes Kanter, accusing him pf being a member of an "armed terrorist group". Mr Kanter is accused of ties to Fethullah Gulen, who Turkish authorities allege is behind the failed coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2016, the Daily Sabah reported. Mr Gulen has repeatedly denied any involved in the failed coup.
- NewsYahoo News
Tulsi Gabbard apologizes, again, for past antigay views
One week after her 2020 presidential rollout, the campaign of Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, has hit a pothole. Gabbard issued an apology Thursday for antigay views she expressed in the past, attributing them to her conservative upbringing. “In my past, I said and believed things that were wrong,” said Gabbard, who represents Hawaii's second district in the U.S. House of Representatives.
- U.S.WLS – Chicago
Illinois parents get 25 years in death of boy, 6, who weighed 17 pounds when he died
An Illinois father and stepmother will spend decades in prison in the starvation death of their 6-year-old son, who authorities say weighed just 17 pounds when he died.
BusinessReutersOxford University suspends funding from China's Huawei
The University of Oxford said on Thursday it has stopped accepting funding from China's Huawei Technologies [HWT.UL], the leading global supplier of telecoms network equipment, after scrutiny over the company's relationship with China's government. quot;Oxford University decided on January 8 this year that it will not pursue new funding opportunities with Huawei Technologies Co Ltd or its related group companies at present," the university said in a statement. quot;The decision has been taken in the light of public concerns raised in recent months surrounding UK partnerships with Huawei.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
Trump to Pelosi: Kiss your plane goodbye
Trump gets petty with Pelosi, Prince Philip is OK (phew) and the nation gets icy. President Donald Trump threw the latest punch in his battle with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, canceling her military plane for an overseas trip just one day after she suggested postponing his State of the Union address. “Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed,” Trump wrote in a letter to the California Democrat.
- WorldBloomberg
Al-Qaeda Hotel Attack Kills 21, Shaking Kenya Economy Pillar
Using hand grenades, automatic rifles and a suicide-bomber, the militants stormed 14 Riverside in Nairobi on Tuesday afternoon, a venue popular with business travelers and Kenya's elites and home to offices of companies including Pernod Ricard SA and Dow Chemical East Africa Ltd. That precipitated an 18-hour siege around the DusitD2 hotel, which President Uhuru Kenyatta said ended about 9 a.m. Wednesday with the attackers dead. Somalia-based al-Shabaab took responsibility for the assault, the latest in a recent wave of jihadist strikes across Africa, including in Nigeria and Mali, which a loose coalition of African, Western and United Nation troops are struggling to stop. It's al-Shabaab's first significant assault in Kenya since it killed 147 people at a northeastern university in April 2015 and echoed a September 2013 attack on Nairobi's Westgate mall that left 67 dead and rocked the tourism industry.
NewsAssociated PressCalifornia storm moving out after battering state for 3 days
The storm that pummeled much of California for three days began moving east Thursday after causing at least six deaths, forcing wildfire victims threatened by floods to flee their homes and plunging nearly 300,000 utility customers into darkness. The winter storm is forecast to unleash heavy rain, snow and wind in Colorado and "will be slamming the East Coast by Sunday," National Weather Service forecaster Steve Anderson said. Anderson said most of California should be dry and sunny by Friday.
BusinessAFPIconic US retailer Sears saved from the brink - for now: reports
Historic but failing US retail chain Sears got a reprieve on Wednesday after a billionaire hedge fund manager won an auction to keep the remaining stores alive -- for now, according to reports. Edward Lampert, who steered the company into bankruptcy last year in order to restructure it, won the bid to buy the remaining assets, beating out others who would have killed off the brand, according to news reports. The deal with Lampert's ESL hedge fund could keep up to 50,000 people in work and 425 stores open, but requires approval from a bankruptcy court.
- ScienceAccuWeather
Venus-Jupiter conjunction: Set your alarm for this celestial meet-up on Tuesday morning
Jupiter and Venus will shine bright together before dawn on Tuesday in an astronomical event known as a conjunction. "A conjunction is a celestial event in which two planets or a planet and the moon or a planet and a star appear close together in the night sky," according to the NASA website. Close encounters of Jupiter and Venus in the sky occur on a fairly regular basis, most recently happening on Nov. 13, 2017.
- BusinessAOL.com
Marriott is rolling out a brand new rewards program -- Here's everything you need to know
This included SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest), Marriott Rewards and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards — three previously unrelated loyalty programs that existed with separate point-value systems and benefits. The merger essentially unified the currency for all three separate rewards programs and allowed for members of any of the three programs to use their points across Marriott's entire combined portfolio of 29 brands and 6,700 participating resorts and hotels. Today, Marriott has solidified the mega-merger under the new name and introduction of Marriott Bonvoy, the new travel-focused loyalty program that will be taking the place of the three merged programs.
PoliticsReutersCongressional Democrats move to stop U.S. Census citizenship question
Democrats in the U.S. Congress on Wednesday were moving ahead with legislation to prevent the Trump administration from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 Census, following a court decision this week blocking inclusion of such information. Representative Carolyn Maloney, a senior Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, told reporters that she is re-introducing her bill, which was ignored by Republicans in 2017-2018 when they controlled the House of Representatives. With the Democrats takeover of the House this year and the panel that oversees the decennial census, Maloney said she hoped that her "Census IDEA Act" would advance early in 2019.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Aeromexico ad campaign trolls anti-Mexican sentiment in US with DNA discounts
The two-minute commercial, which features visuals of beautiful Mexican locations, could be seen as a trolling trifecta, tweaking anti-Mexican sentiment in the U.S. and, without mentioning him, President Donald Trump and his anti-illegal immigration comments aimed at countries south of the U.S. border. The slogan for the "DNA Discounts" campaign, "There are no borders within us," can be read as a swipe at Trump, whose disagreement with Congressional Democrats over money for a wall has led to a protracted partial-government shutdown. The commercial for the Mexican airline opens by saying, "Mexico's first destination is America," showing a fleet of jetliners flying north, before adding, "But America's first destination is not Mexico," as one lone plane flies in the opposite direction.
WorldReutersApple, Amazon called out for "incorrect" Taiwan, Hong Kong references
One of China's top government-linked think tanks has called out Apple Inc, Amazon.com Inc and other foreign companies for not referring to Hong Kong and Taiwan as part of China in a report that provoked a stern reaction from Taipei. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences CASS said in a report this month that 66 of the world's 500 largest companies had used "incorrect labels" for Taiwan and 53 had errors in the way they referred to Hong Kong, according to China's Legal Daily newspaper. It said 45 had referred to both territories incorrectly.
- WorldYahoo News
Mike Pence amends claim that 'ISIS has been defeated' following deadly attack on U.S. troops
Vice President Mike Pence issued a statement Wednesday that sought to clarify remarks he delivered earlier in the day in which he claimed that “ISIS has been defeated” — several hours after the radical Islamic group set off a bomb that killed at least two U.S. service members and two American civilians in Syria. In a speech at the U.S. State Department Wednesday morning, Pence credited President Trump and the U.S. military with vanquishing Islamic State terrorists in Syria. “Thanks to the leadership of this commander in chief and the courage and sacrifice of our armed forces, we are now actually able to begin to hand off the fight against ISIS in Syria to our coalition partners,” Pence said, “And we are bringing our troops home.
- NewsThe Independent
Iran state TV presenter arrested by FBI and moved to Washington DC, say reports
An American-born journalist working for Iran's state TV broadcaster has reportedly been arrested after flying into the US. Press TV interrupted its broadcast on Wednesday to report Marzieh Hashemi was arrested after she arrived at St Louis Lambert International Airport on Sunday. The English-language Iranian broadcaster, citing family members, said its TV presenter and documentary film maker was taken into FBI custody and brought to Washington, DC.
- WorldAssociated Press
Burkina Faso: Body of Canadian found days after abduction
A Canadian national has been found dead a day after reports of his kidnapping by suspected jihadists in Burkina Faso's volatile north near the Niger border, the West African nation's security ministry said Thursday. The ministry said Kirk Woodman's body was found 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the site where he worked for Progress Mineral Mining Company. Woodman's son, Matt Woodman, emailed The Associated Press confirming his father's death.
WorldAFPUS, Canada promise 'unbiased' process for Chinese executive
The United States and Canada on Wednesday promised an "unbiased" legal process for a Chinese executive whose arrest in Vancouver at US request has riled Beijing. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland discussed the arrest Tuesday in a phone call in which they also voiced concern about the "arbitrary detentions" of Canadians in China, the US State Department said. "They noted their continued commitment to Canada's conduct of a fair, unbiased and transparent legal proceeding and US extradition request with respect to Ms. Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei," a State Department statement said.
- NewsAccuWeather
Break in Pacific storms for California to aid mudslide, damage cleanup
A much-needed break from the storms touting inches of rain and feet of snow will begin in some areas on Friday and expand to much of the Pacific coast by next week. The upcoming dry weather will allow streams to recede to within their banks and cleanup to accelerate after mudslides and damage. The dry weather will also give travelers a break from wintry conditions over the mountains, while at the same time, ski resorts can expect business to be booming.
