WorldAFPFour Indian soldiers killed in battle with Kashmir militants: police
At least four soldiers died Monday in a fierce gunfight with rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir just four days after a suicide bomber killed 41 paramilitaries in the troubled territory, officials said. One soldier and one civilian were also critically wounded in the shootout as troops launched a search operation in Pulwama district where the suicide bomber struck on Thursday. "Four soldiers were killed during the shootout and another one is injured," a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.
- 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.
WorldReutersU.S.-backed Syria force seeks help with Islamic State prisoner 'time bomb'
Hundreds of foreign jihadist fighters held in Syria represent a "time bomb" and could escape and threaten the West unless countries do more to take them back, the Kurdish-led, U.S.-backed authorities holding them said on Monday. The fate of foreign fighters who joined Islamic State, as well as of their wives and children, has become more pressing in recent days as U.S.-backed fighters plan an assault to capture the last enclave of the group's self-styled Caliphate. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Sunday European countries must do more to take them back or "we will be forced to release them".
- PoliticsTime
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Celebrated Amazon Pulling Out of New York––But the Governor Says It Cost the City 25,000 Jobs
The dispute between the two Democrats lays bare a divide over the plan to offer $2.8 billion in tax breaks for Amazon to establish a major presence in New York City. On one side, old hands like Cuomo; on the other, the newly insurgent, left-leaning wing represented by Ocasio-Cortez. Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon's corporate greed, its worker exploitation and the power of the richest man in the world,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Twitter.
- 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.
- 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.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Jussie Smollett: 'Empire' producer stands by star, Ava DuVernay says 'He might have lied'
In light of the recent developments in the investigation into last month's attack on Jussie Smollett, celebrities are speaking out. Chicago police were pursuing "additional detective work" Sunday amid suspicion that a Jan. 29 attack on actor/singer Jussie Smollett may have been faked. Two brothers told investigators they were paid by the "Empire" actor to stage the attack, according to a person familiar with the situation but not authorized to speak publicly.
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.
TechnologyAssociated PressPotential privacy lapse found in Americans' 2010 census data
An internal team at the Census Bureau found that basic personal information collected from more than 100 million Americans during the 2010 head count could be reconstructed from obscured data, but with lots of mistakes, a top agency official disclosed Saturday. The Census Bureau is now scrapping its old data shielding technique for a state-of-the-art method that Abowd claimed is far better than Google's or Apple's. Some former agency chiefs fear the potential privacy problem will add to the worries that people will avoid answering or lie on the once-every-10-year survey because of the Trump administration's attempt to add a much-debated citizenship question.
WorldAFPPolish PM nixes trip to Israel after Netanyahu Holocaust 'comment': govt
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has cancelled a visit to Israel for a high-level summit, a government spokesperson told AFP on Sunday, after uproar in Poland over reported comments by Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu about the Poles and the Holocaust. Netanyahu -- who was initially quoted in Haaretz newspaper as saying that "The Poles collaborated with the Nazis" -- has been condemned in Poland for appearing to accuse all Polish people of cooperating with Germany during World War II. Warsaw has long been at pains to point out that Poland, which was occupied by Nazi Germany, could not have and did not collaborate in the Holocaust although individual Poles may have done so.
- 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.
- PoliticsReuters
Trump's 'relentless attack' on FBI prompted memoir by former official: NPR
Former top FBI official Andrew McCabe decried the "relentless attack" he said U.S. President Donald Trump has launched against the agency, according to released excerpts of an interview with NPR's Morning Edition, to be aired Monday. "I think the FBI has been under a relentless attack in the last two years," said McCabe, who is promoting his new memoir, "The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terrorism and Trump." Trump's attack is one of the reasons he wrote his book, he said in a wide-ranging interview that covered everything from his own firing, the probe into Russia's alleged role in the 2016 presidential election, and FBI morale.
- WorldTime
7 Lawmakers Quit U.K.'s Labour Party Over Brexit and Anti-Semitism
Seven lawmakers resigned from the U.K.'s opposition Labour party on Monday morning, in what they described as an act of protest against the party's Brexit policy and persistent allegations of anti-Semitism, just 39 days before the country is set to leave the European Union. The lawmakers said they supported calls for a so-called “People's Vote,” or second Brexit referendum, which the Labour party leadership has so far refused to back. No deal has yet been struck between the U.K. and the E.U. over Brexit, with U.K. lawmakers rejecting May's deal and the bloc saying renegotiation is off the table.
NewsReutersIllinois factory gunman killed five victims after being fired
The gunman who killed five co-workers and wounded five police officers at an Illinois factory was a violent felon who had just been fired, and the plant manager and a young intern were among his victims, authorities said on Saturday. Gary Martin, 45, armed himself with a handgun, which he owned illegally, before reporting for a meeting on Friday at the Henry Pratt Company where his employment was terminated, Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman told reporters. Martin had bought the gun he used, a .40 caliber Smith & Wesson handgun with a laser sight, in 2014 before authorities realized he had a prior felony conviction, Ziman said.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Shamima Begum is 'traumatised', says her lawyer as he likens Isil bride to a First World War soldier
Show me some sympathy', says Isil bride after giving birth The British schoolgirl who ran away to join Isil has appealed for public sympathy following the birth of her son, as a row intensifies over whether she should be allowed to return to the UK. 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 las...
- BusinessThe Independent
Amazon pays zero federal taxes for second year in succession despite doubling profits, says new report
Amazon has paid zero federal taxes for the second year in succession, despite a doubling of its profits, according to a new report. Although the tech giant founded by Jeff Bezos saw its profits grow from $5.6bn (£4.3bn) in 2017 to $11.2bn (£8.7bn) in 2018, it will actually receive a tax rebate of $129m (£100m). “The company's newest corporate filing reveals that, far from paying the statutory 21 per cent income tax rate on its US income in 2018, Amazon reported a federal income tax rebate of $129m,” said the report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), which describes itself as a “non-partisan, non-profit think tank”, based in Washington DC.
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.
PoliticsFOX News VideosJoe Biden tells Europeans that America is 'an embarrassment'
Former Vice President Joe Biden says the America he sees values basic human decency, not snatching children from their parents or turning our backs on refugees at the border.
WorldAssociated PressUN envoy arrives in Yemen to discuss truce around port city
U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths arrived on Sunday in the capital, Sanaa, to discuss the "complex situation" in and around the key port city of Hodeida, Yemeni security officials said. The Houthi rebels said their leader, Abdul-Malek al-Houthi, met with Griffiths to discuss the implementation of peace deals from December talks with Yemen's internationally recognized government. In Sweden in December, the two sides agreed to confidence-building measures, including to a cease-fire in Hodeida and the exchange of thousands of prisoners.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Police: Gunman in shooting rampage had 6 prior arrests in Aurora, Illinois, including domestic battery charges
The gunman who shot and killed five co-workers and injured five police officers after he was fired from his job had his gun permit revoked five years ago after a background check turned up a prior felony conviction in Mississippi, police said Saturday. The gunman, Gary Martin, 45, was shot and killed by police after officers swarmed the scene Friday at the Henry Pratt Co. plant in Aurora. Henry Pratt is a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Mueller Water Products.
PoliticsAFPWhite House gets report that could trigger auto tariffs
The White House received Monday a Commerce Department report on the auto industry that could trigger tariffs against imported cars and intensify tensions with Europe. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has labeled as "frightening" the prospect that European car imports could be declared a national security threat to the United States. Two people familiar with the matter earlier told AFP that the Commerce Department report has concluded that auto imports pose such a threat.
- WorldBloomberg
A Small Group of Labour Politicians Could Quit the Party Over Brexit Tensions
A small group of Labour politicians could quit the party as soon as Monday, over deep divisions with the opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn on issues including Brexit. Speculation of a break-away intensified on Monday when it emerged that some Labour members of Parliament will be holding a joint event on the future of British politics in London. Politicians touted in the media as being on the verge of quitting the party include Chuka Umunna, Chris Leslie, Angela Smith, and Luciana Berger.
NewsReutersThousands attend vigil for Aurora shooting victims
More than 2,000 people braved icy rain in sub-freezing temperatures in Illinois on Sunday for a vigil paying respects to five people killed and five police officers wounded by a factory worker who opened fire on Friday after losing his job. Solemn mourners stood before five white crosses with the names of the dead that became a shrine to the victims bearing pictures and hand-written remembrances outside the factory where the shooting took place in Aurora, about 40 miles (64 km) west of Chicago. "My heart is broken again for the family members of the victims," said Mary Kay Mace, mother of the late Ryanne Mace, who was killed 11 years ago in a mass shooting at Northern Illinois University.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Let us raise our daughter's baby, say family of Bethnal Green Jihadi bride Shamima Begum
The family of Bethnal Green teenager Shamima Begum have urged the British government to give them custody of her unborn child while she faces the prospect of imprisonment for supporting Islamic State. The pregnant 19-year-old has said she fears her baby, due to be born anytime now, will be taken from her if she manages to return to Britain after leaving the country in 2015 to join the terror group in Syria. Now her family have said that if she were to face a custodial sentence for her support of a terrorist organisation they will step in to raise the child, rather than the taxpayer having to pick up the cost.
ScienceMashableNASA posts image of ghostly blue objects, deep in the cosmos
NASA's long-lived Hubble Space Telescope captured vivid bright clumps moving through the cosmos at some 1,000 light years from Earth. Seen as the vivid blue, ephemeral clumps in the top center of the new image below, these are telltale signs of an energy-rich gas, or plasma, colliding with a huge collection of dust and gas in deep space. NASA doesn't identify the new star itself, called SVS 13, perhaps because it's obscured by thick clouds of cosmic matter.
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