- PoliticsThe Independent
Trump news: California attorney general sues White House over national emergency declaration with 12 states expected to join
Donald Trump is being accused of waging a “relentless attack” on the FBI since taking office as the fallout from his decision to declare a national emergency to secure border wall funding continues. The remark comes from former deputy director of the bureau Andrew McCabe - dismissed by ex-attorney general Jeff Sessions in March 2018 after being accused of leaking information to the media - in an interview with NPR's Morning Edition to promote his new insider account of the bureau, The Threat. President Trump has already responded angrily on Twitter to Mr McCabe's appearance on CBS's 60 Minutes on Sunday, in which the latter said he had discussed removing the president under the 25th Amendment and ordered an investigation into whether ex-director James Comey was removed in May 2017 to impede the Russian election hacking investigation.
WorldAssociated PressSaudi official fires back after Iran blames attack on Riyadh
A senior Saudi diplomat on Monday fired back after Iran initially blamed the kingdom for an attack last week that killed 27 members of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guard. Adel al-Jubeir, the minister of state for foreign affairs, called Iran a "chief sponsor of terrorism," saying its allegations sought to divert the attention of the Iranian people from the country's own troubles. "Saudi Arabia has been the victim of terrorism," he added, saying the kingdom would continue to be "unmerciful" in going after terrorists and those who finance and condone them.
WorldAFPGroup sees 'disconnect' between pope's words, actions on sex abuse
A US-based group that compiles data on sexual abuse by Catholic clerics and bishops accused of covering it up fears that a bid by Pope Francis to tackle the scandals is a case of too little, too late. Speaking ahead of a Vatican summit of bishops this week to discuss the crisis, Anne Barret Doyle, co-director of BishopAccountability.org, complained of a "disconnect" between the pontiff's strong statements and his actions. The non-governmental organisation is taking part in a counter-summit of victims running alongside the Vatican event.
WorldReutersHuawei founder says Huawei CFO arrest was politically motivated - BBC
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said on Monday that the arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, was politically motivated. "Firstly, I object to what the U.S. has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable," Ren told the BBC in an interview.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
United Airlines: Three new routes for fast-growing Denver hub
United Airlines will add three new domestic routes at its Denver hub. Daily flights to Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Syracuse, New York, will begin June 6 and will operate year-round. All three of the new routes will go head-to-head against service offered by Denver-based budget rival Frontier Airlines.
WorldAFPChina data leak exposes mass surveillance in Xinjiang
A Chinese technology firm has compiled a range of personal information on 2.6 million people in Xinjiang -- from their ethnicity to locations -- according to a data leak highlighting the wide extent of surveillance in the restive region. Xinjiang is home to most of China's Uighur ethnic minority lives and has been under heavy police surveillance in recent years after violent inter-ethnic tensions. Nearly one million Uighurs and other Turkic language-speaking minorities in Xinjiang are reportedly held in re-education camps, according to a UN panel of experts.
NewsThe IndependentMan punches and throws hot coffee on Sikh 7-Eleven clerk because he 'hates Muslims'
A man has been charged with a hate crime after allegedly attacking a Sikh employee of a California 7-Eleven convenience store. The man can allegedly be seen on surveillance footage punching the employee, and throwing coffee on him after he attempted to leave without paying for coffee. The man, identified by police as John Crain, was arrested by the Marysville Police Department.
- WorldThe Telegraph
How to see tonight's super Snow moon in the UK
Dust off those binoculars because space fans are in for a celestial treat tonight. February's Snow Moon will be the second super moon of 2019 to grace our skies, appearing bigger and brighter to the human eye than usual as it makes its closest approach to Earth in the lunar cycle. As one of 12 full moons to admire every year, February's moon was nicknamed the Snow Moon by early Native Americans to symbolise the country's heavy snowfall and challenging hunting conditions.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
10 of the Best Car-Upholstery Cleaners Tested
These products will keep your vehicle's interior looking like new From Car and Driver
PoliticsUSA TODAY OpinionPence and Biden in Munich: Stark contrast shows how Trump is ruining relations with Europe
Former Vice President Joe Biden spoke for many former American officials in both parties who believe that the Trump administration has needlessly weakened our ties to Europe. The normally quiet and polite Merkel came out swinging against President Donald Trump's America First policy, charging the United States with unfair sanctions and criticism over Europe's continued participation in the Iran nuclear deal. She lamented Trump's recent decisions to back away from U.S. military commitments in Syria and Afghanistan and his aggressive trade policies toward the European Union.
U.S.FOX News VideosMexico announces plans to close shelter housing 1,600 migrants: Will they go to Texas?
Residents in Eagle Pass, Texas, express concerns about an influx in illegal immigrants after a shelter on the other side of the border closes; Jacqui Heinrich reports from the scene.
- WorldTime
Saudi Crown Prince Pledges $20 Billion in Deals With Pakistan on the First Stop of His Asia Tour
On the first leg of his three-country Asia tour, Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman announced $20 billion-worth of investments in Pakistan, a benefaction that comes amid the ongoing diplomatic crisis sparked by the Khashoggi killing. Financially teetering Pakistan hopes the spate of new deals will ease its balance of payments crisis, Agence France-Presse reports. The Saudi prince, widely known as “MBS”, launched a high-profile, eastward trip to regional allies this week as he seeks to emerge from Western pressure over his alleged involvement in the gruesome murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi last October.
WorldReutersIran arrests militants linked to attack on Revolutionary Guards
Revolutionary Guards have broken up a group of militants in southeast Iran who were linked to a suicide bombing that killed 27 guards near the border with Pakistan last week, the Corps said on Monday. quot;Last night, a terrorist cell was identified and destroyed in an operation," the Corps said in a statement carried by the semi-official Tasnim news agency. Three militants were arrested and explosive material was seized from houses in the cities of Saravan and Khash, it said.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Buckle up and hunker down: Coast-to-coast storm to bring weather misery to 200 million
A powerful storm that began its journey Sunday in California will roar across the country over the next two to three days, spreading heavy snow, torrential rain and crippling ice to more than 200 million Americans. By Tuesday, the storm will spread heavy snow and strong winds into the central U.S., the National Weather Service said. Late Tuesday and into Wednesday, the threat for heavy snow, ice and dangerous travel will expand across the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Mid Atlantic and the Northeast.
WorldAFPAfter IS, ammunition among the IV drips at Syria clinic
At a clinic in eastern Syria, the Islamic State group have fled leaving a floor strewn with medical supplies -- but also explosives and a foreign passport. US-backed fighters took the three-storey building in the village of Baghouz in recent days, and now use its roof to survey the frontline against the jihadists. After a months-long campaign, the last IS fighters are pinned down in their last scrap of territory just hundreds of metres down the road in the same village.
- 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.
- PoliticsNational Review
Farrakhan Praises Omar's Anti-Semitic Remarks: 'Shake Up That Corrupt House'
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Sunday praised Representative Ilhan Omar's (D., Minn.) recent endorsement of an anti-Semitic trope and urged the freshman lawmaker not to bow to pressure from critics. “Ms. Omar from Somalia – she started talking about 'the Benjamins' and they are trying to make her apologize. You sure are using it to shake the government up, but you have nothing to apologize for,” Farrakhan said during his annual Saviour's Day address in Chicago, in comments first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
- SportsAssociated Press
Tom Ricketts apologizes for distraction of father's emails
Chicago Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts apologized to the team's players and coaching staff at spring training on Monday for any distraction caused by offensive racist emails written by his father. "The emails that were in there were unacceptable and had no place. Joe Ricketts' emails were published by Splinter News and included Islamophobic comments, such as "Islam is a cult and not a religion." Other emails discussed conspiracies about former President Barack Obama's birthplace and education.
- WorldBloomberg
Trump Demands End to Maduro Regime in Broad Attack on Socialism
Donald Trump called on the Venezuelan military to drop its support for Nicolas Maduro in a Miami speech critical of socialism, previewing attacks he may deploy against Democrats in his re-election campaign. The twilight hour of socialism has arrived in our hemisphere and frankly in many, many places around the world,” Trump said to an audience at Florida International University. The days of socialism and communism are numbered, not only in Venezuela but in Nicaragua and in Cuba as well.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The 10 Cheapest Hybrid Cars and SUVs in 2019
Want to spend as little money as possible on a money-saving, fuel-sipping hybrid? From Car and Driver
BusinessReutersNew Zealand to target online giants with digital tax
New Zealand said on Monday that it plans to update its laws so it can tax revenue earned by multinational digital firms such as Google, Facebook and Amazon, extending a global effort to bring global tech giants into the tax net. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the cabinet had agreed to issue a discussion document about how to update the country's tax framework to ensure multinational companies pay their fair share. "Our current tax system is not fair in the way it treats individual tax payers, and how it treats multinationals," Ardern told reporters at her weekly post-cabinet news conference.
- 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.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
How Social Security could get benefits boosted to help most vulnerable like widows
Social Security faces a looming funding shortfall roughly 15 years down the road. Despite that dismal backdrop, several proposals continue to be circulated that would enhance benefits for the most vulnerable groups of beneficiaries. As discussed in a series of briefs by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, one proposal would provide enhanced benefits to the elderly at or around age 85, when financial vulnerability increases.
WorldAFPDozens of civilians, fighters quit Syria jihadist holdout: SDF
US-backed forces said several jihadists and dozens of civilians quit the Islamic State group's last patch of territory in Syria Tuesday, and warned remaining fighters should surrender or face death. Backed by air strikes by the US-led coalition, the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces have trapped the jihadists in a segment of Baghhouz village that is less than half a square kilometre (a fifth of a square mile). "Dozens of civilians and some fighters have handed themselves over", SDF spokesman Adnan Afrin told reporters at the nearby Al-Omar oil field.
- NewsTime
An 11-Year-Old Student Was Arrested in Florida After Refusing to Stand for the Pledge of Allegiance
A sixth grade student at a Florida school was arrested for disruption and resisting arrest after a confrontation with a teacher in which he refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, reportedly saying the flag was racist and the pledge was offensive to black people. Spectrum Bay News 9 reports that the 11-year-old was removed from class on Feb. 4, suspended for three days, arrested shortly after and taken to a juvenile detention center. The dispute ensued after a substitute teacher at Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland asked him to stand up, reportedly unaware of that the school does not require participation during the pledge.
