WorldAFPSaudi vows to 'de-escalate' India-Pakistan tensions after Kashmir attack
Saudi Arabia vowed to "de-escalate" rising tensions between Pakistan and India during a high-profile summit in Islamabad Monday as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman prepares to travel from Islamabad to New Delhi. The kingdom's foreign minister spoke at a press conference in Islamabad as Pakistan recalled its envoy from Delhi for "consultations", the latest development in a fresh diplomatic crisis between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Delhi has vowed to retaliate after a suicide blast which killed 41 Indian paramilitaries in Kashmir on Thursday, the deadliest attack in the disputed Himalayan region in decades.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Trump accuses own deputy attorney general of 'planning illegal act' in early morning Twitter rant
Donald Trump has accused his own deputy attorney general of breaking the law in a series of early morning tweets railing against current and former law enforcement officials. Mr Trump lashed out on Twitter at former FBI director Andrew McCabe, whose new book details his concerns about potential foreign influence over the president, and current deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein, who initiated special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. “Wow, so many lies by now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe,” Mr Trump tweeted on Monday morning.
- WorldBloomberg
More U.S.-Sent Humanitarian Aid for Venezuela Lands in Colombia
A second U.S. cargo of humanitarian aid for Venezuela arrived at the Colombian border, adding pressure on the Nicolas Maduro administration to accept supplies of food and medicine and help alleviate a burgeoning crisis. U.S. military airplanes loaded with food, medicine and hygiene kits took off from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Miami and landed at the Colombian border city of Cucuta on Saturday. The aid now sits alongside relief supplies that arrived on Feb. 8.
NewsAssociated PressPolice: Aurora attacker used gun he shouldn't have owned
The man who opened fire and killed five co-workers including the plant manager, human resources manager and an intern working his first day at a suburban Chicago manufacturing warehouse, took a gun he wasn't supposed to have to a job he was about to lose. Right after learning Friday that he was being fired from his job of 15 years at the Henry Pratt Co. in Aurora, Gary Martin pulled out a gun and began shooting, killing the three people in the room with him and two others just outside and wounding a sixth employee, police said Saturday. Martin shot and wounded five of the first officers to get to the scene, including one who didn't even make it inside the sprawling warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, a city of 200,000 about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Chicago.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Emails show how fake university set up by ICE lured foreign students
The email exchanges with Ali Milani – who is described in a LinkedIn profile as the president of the University of Farmington – show how the school in Farmington Hills, Michigan, may have lured students to enroll in a fake university set up by The Department of Homeland Security. Jan. 30: Feds set up fake university in Michigan to nab undocumented immigrants A federal indictment unsealed Jan. 30 said that the university was produced by federal agents with an investigative division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of DHS. Federal agents posed as university officials such as "Ali Milani" to trick the students, say attorneys.
- WorldReuters
Israel trims funds to Palestinians over militant stipends
Under interim peace deals, Israel collects taxes on behalf the Palestinians, who put the current sums at $222 million a month. With negotiations stalled since 2014, Israel has at times withheld money as a measure of protest or pressure. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, though facing steep aid cuts by Donald Trump's administration that he has boycotted over perceived bias, has held to paying stipends to the families of Palestinians jailed as security offenders or killed by Israel.
BusinessAFP Relax NewsGMC Acadia souped up with new engine, trim, and tech
GMC has unveiled the refreshed Acadia for the 2020 model year complete with a new trim, a fresh look, and the latest GMC infotainment system. GMC announced on Monday that the Acadia has gotten its midcycle refresh, and now, the lineup looks more like a group of Sierra pickups from the front than mid-size SUVs. In addition to its new exterior styling, the Acadia has a new powertrain option and an assortment of new technologies including an enhanced infotainment system and heads-up display.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Pope's credibility 'on the line' as Vatican convenes global meeting on combating child abuse by clergy
Victims of clerical sex abuse have warned Pope Francis that his credibility is on the line as he confronts the biggest challenge of his papacy with a landmark conference on protecting children from rape and molestation. Nearly 200 bishops, archbishops, patriarchs and other senior Catholic figures from around the world will convene in Rome on Thursday for an unprecedented four-day conference that is supposed to tackle the scourge of child abuse by clergy. It is the biggest effort so far to address scandals that have eroded faith in the Catholic Church in the US, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
Southwest Airlines under FAA investigation for aircraft weight, balance calculations
The investigation, disclosed for the first time Monday by the Wall Street Journal, began in February 2018, FAA spokesman Gregory Martin confirmed to USA TODAY. There have been no fines nor enforcement action from the investigation to date. "Since that time, the FAA has directed the development of a comprehensive solution to the methods and processes used by Southwest Airlines to determine this (weight and balance) performance data,'' he said in a statement.
WorldAFPYemen sides agree deal on first pullback: UN
Yemen's government and Huthi rebels have agreed on the first phase of a pullback of forces from the key city of Hodeida, in a deal the United Nations described Sunday as important progress. The redeployment from Hodeida is a critical part of a ceasefire deal reached in December in Sweden that calls on the government and Huthis to move forces away from ports and parts of city. The fragile truce deal marks the first step toward ending a devastating war that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.
- NewsThe Independent
Man awarded £120m in compensation from Ford after being paralysed in car accident
An Alabama jury has awarded $151.8m (£117.4m) to a young man paralyzed in a 2015 rollover accident involving a Ford Explorer sport utility vehicle, Ford and lawyers in the case said on Sunday. The jury awarded $100m in punitive damages and the rest in compensatory damages after finding that the 1998 Ford Explorer did not meet the company's own safety guidelines, according to a court document seen by Reuters and lawyers for plaintiff Travaris “Tre” Smith. The document, released on Friday, said Ford “acted wantonly” in designing the vehicle.
- BusinessUSA TODAY Opinion
New York's Amazon rejection exposes US opportunity gap and Democrats' political disconnect
Most localities would crawl through broken glass to land that prize, and 238 did as they bid for Amazon's second headquarters. Activists in Queens didn't want it, and Amazon wasn't about to fight for it. The reason 238 cities and regions bid for the Amazon headquarters is that most of America is hungry for opportunity while enough of Queens and New York City is not.
WorldAssociated PressFamily: UK teen who joined Islamic State has baby in Syria
The family of a British teenager who ran away to join the Islamic State group and now wants to return to the U.K. said Sunday she has given birth to a baby boy. The family's lawyer said 19-year-old Shamima Begum and the baby are in good health. News about Begum and her desire to go back to Britain have ignited a debate in the U.K. about how to deal with citizens who joined IS and want to leave Syria now that the extremist group is on the verge of collapse.
BusinessBloombergGlobal Slowdown Leaves Growth Weakest Since Financial Crisis
The global economy's loss of momentum has left expansion now looking like its weakest since the global financial crisis, a development that's already sparked a dramatic shift among central banks. A UBS model suggests world growth slowed to a 2.1 percent annualized pace at the end of 2018, which it says would be the weakest since 2008-2009. An early reading for this quarter shows a slight improvement, but the numbers still mean there'll need to be a dramatic improvement to reach the 3.2 percent pace UBS has forecast for the three months as a whole.
PoliticsReutersTrump policies unite allies against him at European security forum
Promising that "America will be back" once Donald Trump leaves office, Biden won a standing ovation at the Munich Security Conference from delegates who find the president's brusque foreign policy stance hard to like. Biden's successor, Mike Pence, was met with silence at a reception in the palatial Bavarian parliament on Friday evening after he delivered his signature line: "I bring you greetings from the 45th president of the United States, President Donald Trump." His four-day trip to Europe succeeded only in deepening divisions with traditional allies over questions such as Iran and Venezuela and offered little hope in how to deal with threats ranging from nuclear arms to climate change, diplomats and officials said. Misgivings about Washington's role in the world are being felt by ordinary people as well as foreign policy specialists.
- BusinessTime
Here's What's Open and Closed on President's Day 2019
Remember that day in February that isn't Valentine's and isn't Groundhog Day? Many places throughout the country will observe this President's Day by closing their doors so people can enjoy a 3-day weekend honoring our the birthday of nation's first President, George Washington. Here's what's open and closed on President's Day 2019.
- NewsThe Independent
Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner to register as sex offender after prison release
Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner has been released from federal prison after being convicted of having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl in 2017. He will have to register as a sex-offender and spend three years on supervised release under the terms of his sentence. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website shows the 54-year-old New York Democrat is currently in the custody of its Residential Re-entry Management office in Brooklyn, New York.
- U.S.WLS – Chicago
Aurora shooting: Victims of shooting at Henry Pratt Company remembered at vigil Sunday
A vigil will be held at Henry Pratt Company in Aurora Sunday at 2:30 p.m. to remember the victims of Friday's shooting and to show support for their families and survivors.
WorldAFPIran arrests 3 'terrorists' over suicide bomb attack
Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards said Monday it has arrested three "terrorists" involved in last week's deadly suicide bomb attack on security forces in a region bordering Pakistan. "Safe houses in (the cities of) Saravan and Khash were identified and eliminated, and the terrorists based in them were arrested," the force said on its official Sepah news agency. "Three of the terrorists were arrested and 150 kilograms (330 pounds) of explosives and 600 kilograms of explosive materials as well as weapons and ammunition were confiscated," it said.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Jihadi bride Shamima Begum gives birth and says 'people should have sympathy for me'
Shamima Begum, 19, went to Syria in 2015 and was discovered there in a refugee camp last week, heavily pregnant and insisting she wanted to go home. The birth of her child over the weekend prompted calls for the baby to be subject to care proceedings should Begum be able to return from Syria, as it emerged that the Family Division of the High Court had presided over cases involving at least 150 children deemed at risk of radicalisation in the last five years. In an interview with Sky News recorded at the Kurdish-controlled camp to which she fled from the last pocket of Isil-controlled territory, Begum said there was “no evidence” she had done anything wrong and she could not see “any reason”...
- HealthUSA TODAY
How many push-ups can you do? Study finds men who can do 40 have lower risk of heart disease
Those who could do more than 40 push-ups during a timed test at a preliminary examination were 96 percent less likely to have developed a cardiovascular problem compared to those who could do no more than 10 push-ups, according to the report published Friday in the medical journal JAMA Network Open. Nearly half of U.S. adults deal with some form of cardiovascular disease as of 2016, according to the American Heart Association.The study's authors believe push-ups may be an easy way to test men's risk for heart disease.
NewsAssociated PressBack in the Bronx, Ocasio-Cortez says to keep up the fight
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez returned to her home district in the New York City borough of the Bronx on Saturday to encourage her supporters to keep up the kind of activism that resulted in Amazon rescinding its plan to build a campus in the city. The freshman Democratic lawmaker did not mention Amazon by name but said, "It's not just about any job, it's about dignified jobs in New York City. Ocasio-Cortez's district encompassing parts of the Bronx and Queens adjoins the Long Island City neighborhood where Amazon planned to build its campus, and she was one of the early politicians to voice opposition to the tech giant's plans.
- WorldNational Review
Seven MPs Resign from Labour Party
Chuka Umunna, Luciana Berger, Gavin Shuker, Angela Smith, Chris Leslie, Mike Gapes, and Ann Coffey — resigned from the Labour party Monday over concerns about Jeremy Corbyn's leadership, forming their own contingent, the Independent Group. Berger, Labour's most high-profile Jewish member, called the party “institutionally anti-Semitic” and accused it of “a culture of bullying, bigotry and, intimidation,” saying she is now “embarrassed and ashamed” to be a member. Leslie said the party has been “hijacked by the machine politics of the hard left.
PoliticsReutersPresidents Day protests decry Trump's emergency declaration
Calling Trump's declaration an abuse of power and usurpation of Congress, organizers with the nonprofit advocacy group MoveOn.org and other participants said it was important to let the outrage over the move be heard. Trump invoked the emergency powers on Friday after Congress declined to fulfill his request for $5.7 billion to help build the wall that was his signature 2016 campaign promise. Protesters gathered in Chicago's Federal Plaza carried signs that read “Dump Trump” and “Fake Emergency" and chanted “No wall, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” Cheryl Krugel-Lee, a 32-year-old student, said she brought her 4-year-old daughter to the protest in freezing weather to set an example for her.
CelebrityFOX News VideosGisele Bundchen flaunts bikini bod, Tom Brady during family vacation
Gisele Bundchen flaunts bikini bod and husband Tom Brady during a family vacation to Costa Rica.
