PoliticsUSA TODAYAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez says she could have been a teacher if it wasn't for Trump
WASHINGTON – Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took on what her life could be like in another world, in another time where Donald Trump was not the president. While appearing on the premiere of Showtime's new talk show "Desus & Mero," Ocasio-Cortez was asked what she would have done if she hadn't decided to run for Congress, joining a large pool of women who ran in the midterms in direct response to Trump winning the 2016 election. Mero asked if Trump hadn't become president, "would you have run for Congress?"
- WorldAssociated Press
A global look at the Catholic Church's sex abuse problem
Some countries where the scandal has played out visibly in recent years: ARGENTINA Francis' home country is beginning to see an eruption of the scandal, with some cases even implicating the pontiff himself. As Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Francis played a decisive and divisive role in Argentina's most famous abuse case, commissioning a four-volume, 2,000-plus page forensic study of the legal case against a convicted priest that concluded he was innocent, that his victims were lying and that the case never should have gone to trial. Despite the study, Argentina's Supreme Court in 2017 upheld the conviction and 15-year prison sentence for the Rev.
WorldReutersVietnam announces traffic ban for possible Kim Jong Un summit arrival route
Vietnam will ban traffic on the road North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is expected to take from a train station on the Chinese border to the capital, Hanoi, ahead of his summit next week with U.S. President Donald Trump, state media reported on Friday. Vietnam has been preparing for Kim to arrive by train for the Feb. 27-28 summit in Hanoi, two sources with direct knowledge of security and logistics planning told Reuters on Wednesday. Kim's train will stop at the border station of Dong Dang where he will disembark and proceed 170 km (105 miles) to Hanoi by car, the sources said.
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.
- U.S.KABC – Los Angeles
Gov. Newsom orders new DNA tests for inmate Kevin Cooper in 35-year-old Chino Hills murder case
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued an executive order directing new DNA tests for an inmate on death row who has been in prison for nearly 40 years.
- WorldThe Independent
Relatives of US oil industry 'hostages' in Venezuela make emotional appeal for their release
Relatives of six American oil company employees detained by the Venezuelan authorities have made a powerful appeal for their release, demanding they not be overlooked as tension mounts in the country. The six men – five US citizens and one permanent resident, and all employees of Citgo, the US subsidiary of Venezuela's state-run Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) – were detained in November 2017 after being called to Caracas from Houston for a meeting. President Nicolas Maduro went on television to denounce them as “traitors”, saying: “They're properly behind bars, and they should go to the worst prison in Venezuela.” Asdrubal Chavez, a cousin of the late president, was appointed company's new president.
EntertainmentThe IndependentTucker Carlson: Fox News host laughs along with guest after he suggests black people 'need to move on' from slavery
A guest who appeared on Tucker Carlson's Fox News show said African Americans “need to move on” from slavery because it was abolished “a century-and-a-half ago”. Mark Steyn, a cultural commentator, made the comments on Thursday during a segment discussing 2020 presidential candidates who are in favour of reparations for African Americans. During his rant, Steyn said: “Slavery was abolished a century and a half ago, nobody alive today has a grandparent who was a slave, and in that sense I think you reach a point where, you know, you need to move on.
BusinessConsumer ReportsCars Lose CR Recommendation Over Reliability Issues
Consumer Reports can no longer recommend six car models, including the Acura RDX SUV and the Tesla Model 3 sedan, because of problems identified in CR's annual reliability survey. The survey has data on 470,000 vehicles as reported by their owners. Some cars improved their standing.
PoliticsYahoo NewsNorth Carolina board votes to hold new House election over absentee ballot fraud
The North Carolina Board of Elections voted unanimously to hold a new election in the state's Ninth District after overwhelming evidence of vote tampering. Prior to the board's decision, Republican Mark Harris, the declared winner in the race who had been fighting for his election to be certified, changed his position and called for a new election. Harris was initially declared the winner by 905 votes over Democrat Dan McCready, but the race was never certified, as evidence began to surface of ballot fraud by employees of the Harris campaign.
- PoliticsMashable
Trump's climate expert is wrong: The world's plants don't need more CO2
Plants on Earth have flourished for hundreds of millions of years, yet President Donald Trump's pick to lead his new climate team insists that they need more carbon dioxide to thrive. Princeton physicist and carbon dioxide-advocate William Happer has been selected to head the brand new Presidential Committee on Climate Security, reports The Washington Post. The atomic scientist — who achieved recognition for his work on atomic collisions and telescope optics, not climate science — maintains that the planet's atmosphere needs significantly more CO2, the potent greenhouse gas that U.S. government scientists — and a bevy of independent scientists — have repeatedly underscored is stoking accelerating climate change.
- NewsUSA TODAY Opinion
Robert Kraft prostitution scandal exposes depth of modern slavery, sex trafficking industry
If true, Robert Kraft is one of millions Even though slavery has been illegal in the United States since the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was passed in 1865, slavery persists in this country because there is very little real penalty for the offense. Sex slavery in particular persists because men are largely able to purchase female bodies for sexual gratification with little to no penalty. These men appear to believe that money somehow confers the right to own another human being for a period of time, like subletting property.
WorldReutersTruckloads of civilians leave Islamic State enclave in Syria
Trucks loaded with civilians left the last Islamic State enclave in eastern Syria on Friday, as U.S.-backed forces waited to inflict final defeat on the surrounded jihadists. Reporters near the front line at Baghouz saw dozens of trucks driving out with civilians inside them, but it was not clear if more remained in the tiny pocket. The village is all that remains for Islamic State in the Euphrates valley region that became its final populated stronghold in Iraq and Syria after it lost the major cities of Mosul and Raqqa in 2017.
- PoliticsTime
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Invoked Pop Culture to Hit Back at a Critical Billboard
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has hit back at a New York City billboard denouncing her criticism of Amazon's now-cancelled plan to open a new headquarters in Queens. After a conservative group called the Job Creators Network put up a digital ad in Times Square attacking Ocasio-Cortez for allegedly contributing to the loss of NYC jobs and wages, the 29-year-old congresswoman took to Twitter to call out the “billionaire-funded” organization. “Few things effectively communicate the power we've built in fighting dark money & anti-worker policies like billionaire-funded groups blowing tons of cash on wack billboards (this one is funded by the Mercers),” she tweeted, referencing conservative mega-donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer, who have close ties to the Trump administration.
BusinessAFPGlobal equities climb on hopeful trade talk vibes
World stock markets advanced Friday as investors awaited what they hoped will be encouraging news from US-China trade talks in Washington, dealers said. Europe's key equity markets were modestly higher at the close, building on earlier Asian gains. Wall Street was also higher in the late New York morning as US economic concerns appeared to be eclipsed by hopes that high-level talks between the United States and China will seal a trade war truce.
- WorldAssociated Press
The Latest: US envoy Elliott Abrams is heading to Colombia
A U.S. envoy is heading to Colombia as part of a mission to send food and other emergency supplies to neighboring Venezuela amid a deepening political and economic crisis there. The State Department says Special Representative Elliott Abrams will lead a U.S. government delegation transporting humanitarian supplies from Florida to Colombia in military aircraft. The U.S. appointed Abrams as part of an effort to pressure embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down and turn over power to the opposition head of the National Assembly.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
Bobby Berk to Launch Collection for A.R.T. Furniture at High Point
For one High Point exhibitor, a soon-to-launch design collaboration is poised to add global influence—and a bit of buzz—to the program of this biannual trade show. At the spring market, A.R.T. Furniture, a division of Markor, will debut a collection by Bobby Berk featuring some 70 products for the living room, bedroom, dining room, and outdoors. You may recognize Berk for his impressively speedy home makeovers on the heartwarming Netflix show Queer Eye.
- NewsYahoo News
The Soviets wanted to infiltrate the Reagan camp. So, the CIA recruited a businessman to bait them.
Beginning in 1975, a big black limousine with diplomatic plates would pull up once a month to the no-parking zone outside John Greenagel's office in the handsome Merchants Exchange Building in downtown San Francisco. The man would hand Greenagel, then in his mid-30s, the paper bag, which always contained stale Cuban cigars and a bottle of Stolichnaya without a tax stamp. Yuri Pavlov was a diplomat based at the Soviet Consulate in San Francisco and an undercover KGB officer, but the KGB probably wouldn't have been pleased about who ended up partaking in these delectables.
- NewsThe Independent
Girl banned from wearing MAGA hat claims school is violating her First Amendment rights
A California high school student who was banned from wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat on campus is challenging her school district for impinging on her First Amendment rights. Maddie Mueller, who attends Clovis North High School in Fresno, is a member of Valley Patriots. The conservative activist group asked its affiliates to wear the well-known hat bearing Donald Trump's campaign motto on Wednesday.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Jussie Smollett hate attack claim: 'Bogus police reports cause real harm,' police say
At a time when African Americans and LGBT people face increasing violence, police and activists warn that false reports of hate do real damage. While such hoaxes are rare, they say, each one diverts resources from actual victims, sows doubt about legitimate attacks, and gives material to those who would minimize the threat of hate in the United States. "Bogus police reports cause real harm," Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson told reporters Thursday.
WorldReutersIndia reiterates plan to stop sharing of excess water with Pakistan: minister
"Our government has decided to stop our share of water which used to flow to Pakistan," Nitin Gadkari, transport and water resources minister, said in a tweet. Gadkari did not elaborate but officials from his ministry said he was re-stating decisions already taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, including a dam project cleared by his cabinet last December. Gadkari's comments underlined New Delhi's anger over an attack by a Pakistan-based militant group last week in the disputed region of Kashmir, which killed 40 paramilitary police.
- WorldKTRK – Houston
Pope demands bishops act now to end scourge of sex abuse
"The holy people of God are watching and expect not just simple and obvious condemnations..." the pope said in part.
- NewsAssociated Press
The Latest: Snow forces closure of Vegas to Phoenix route
Authorities have closed the main route between Las Vegas and Phoenix due to heavy snow that has resulted in a 22-mile line of cars and trucks. The Nevada Department of Transportation reported Thursday that nearly 80 miles of Interstate 11 and U.S. 93 from Boulder City to Kingman, Arizona, was closed. In the Las Vegas area, motorists are being warned about the possibility of icy road conditions into Friday.
WorldAFPVenezuela troops fire tear gas on demo at Colombia border
Ureña (Venezuela) (AFP) - Venezuelan forces on Saturday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to break up a crowd demanding to cross a closed border bridge to Colombia, AFP journalists reported. "We want to work!" they chanted while facing the Venezuelan National Guard riot police who were blocking the crossing in Urena, a town in Tachira state. Late on Friday, President Nicolas Maduro ordered the closure of all four bridges linking Tachira to Colombia.
- BusinessBloomberg
NYC's Amazon Negotiator Laments What Might Have Been
The deal fell apart, Patchett said, because Amazon wasn't prepared to respond to questions about how it would operate in the city. This is New York, after all, where the only thing we can agree on is that it's hard to be a Knicks fan,” he said. In November, Amazon chose Long Island City, just across the East River from Manhattan, and Arlington, Virginia, over 200 other competing locations for two satellite headquarters in an expansion to its home in Seattle.
