- PoliticsYahoo News
Walker signs measures critics call a Republican power grab
The Wisconsin GOP has held control of the governorship and both chambers of the Legislature — what’s known as a trifecta — for most of the last decade. The man driving the legislation in Wisconsin, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, has held the position since 2013, and Republicans have controlled two-thirds of that chamber since 2011. The Republicans “never once had to make any meaningful compromises with the Democrats,” said Charlie Sykes, a Wisconsin conservative who was a longtime talk radio host in the state.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Bush Judge in Northern Texas Was Go-To Guy to Gut Obamacare
Reed O’Connor, appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, ruled against Barack Obama’s signature health-care law three times, dealing the most serious blow Friday when he declared the entire law unconstitutional and cast uncertainty on insurance coverage for millions of Americans. While the ruling is sure to be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s a remarkable victory for conservatives who fared poorly in other court challenges to the Affordable Care Act and were further frustrated in 2017 when a Republican-led Congress and President Donald Trump couldn’t muster the votes to abolish Obamacare.
- NewsThe Independent
Man who sexually assaulted woman on flight while she slept is jailed for nine years
Prabhu Ramamoorthy, 34, was also sitting next to his wife on the overnight flight in January. Ramamoorthy had molested the victim while unbuttoning her blouse and unzipping her trousers as she slept. Prosecutors asked the court for a sentence of nearly 11 years but James Amberg, Ramamoorthy’s defence lawyer, had asked the court for a sentence of less than 10 years.
- WorldReuters
U.S.-backed Syrian forces close to seizing town from Islamic State: spokeswoman
The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces will soon seize the town of Hajin from Islamic State (IS) in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border, a spokeswoman said on Friday. Hajin is the last big town Islamic State holds in its remaining enclave east of the Euphrates River. The SDF, spearheaded by the Kurdish YPG militia, has battled to eliminate the jihadists there for several months.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Egypt unearths tomb of ancient high priest
Egyptian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of a priest dating back more than 4,400 years in the pyramid complex of Saqqara south of the capital Cairo, authorities said Saturday. "Today we are announcing the last discovery of the year 2018, it's a new discovery, it's a private tomb," Antiquities Minister Khaled el-Enany told an audience of invited guests including reporters. "It is exceptionally well preserved, coloured, with sculpture inside.
WorldAssociated PressIndiana State University group to honor Jamal Khashoggi
A journalism group at Indiana State University is taking steps to honor alumnus and slain Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi. The Tribune-Star reports that the university's chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists hopes to dedicate a meeting space to Khashoggi, who was also recently named Time Person of the Year . Graduate student Andrew Hile is the university's SPJ president.
WorldAFPPalestinian killed as Israel hunts West Bank shooter
A Palestinian teenager was shot dead on Friday as Israeli forces carried out fresh raids in the occupied West Bank, the health ministry said, as troops searched for a Palestinian who killed two soldiers a day earlier. The 17-year-old killed was named by the Palestinian health ministry as Mahmoud Nakhla, who authorities said died after being shot in the stomach by Israeli fire near the Jalazone refugee camp in the central West Bank. The Israeli army did not immediately comment on the death, which came as soldiers clashed with stone-throwing protesters in multiple locations.
- U.S.KTRK – Houston
Nearly $300,000 missing after truck spilled money on New Jersey highway
The incident led to several crashes as motorists exited their vehicles and scrambled to pick up the cash.
- NewsAutoClassics
First new Mustang Shelby GT500 to be sold by Barrett-Jackson
img class="editorial" src="http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/autoclassics_668/bf679b69a9377acaee2546fbbe5a54da"/ The opportunity to own the very first 2020 Ford Mustang Shelby GT500 will cross the auction block at the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Arizona, on January 18, and all of the proceeds will benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's mission to find a cure for Type 1 diabetes. Edsel Ford II and Aaron Shelby will be on stage to hype up the crowd in an effort to push the sale price even higher to help the charity. br/ The buyer of the first new Shelby GT500 will be able to choose from all of the available colors and options.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
The Gifts AD's Market Department Is Giving This Year
Our market editors sourced something for everyone on your list
- WorldBloomberg
Qatar Ruler Says Talks With Saudi Begin Only When Embargo Lifted
“Our position on the solution hasn’t changed,” Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said at a conference in Doha on Saturday. Last week, Sheikh Tamim spurned an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to attend a gathering of Gulf monarchies, which was seen as a sign of thawing relations after 18 months of Qatar’s boycott by the kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt. The overture came as Saudi Arabia sought to defuse pressure over the killing of a vocal critic in Istanbul.
- PoliticsAOL.com
Photos of the week: 12/7 - 12/14
Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced this week. A federal judge sentenced Cohen to three years in prison. The president's former fixer previously pleaded guilty to several charges, including violating campaign finance laws, lying to Congress and tax evasion.
- WorldReuters
Iraq summons Turkish envoy over air strikes: foreign ministry
Iraq's foreign ministry on Friday summoned Turkey's ambassador in Baghdad to protest over what it called repeated airspace violations, after Turkish warplanes earlier carried out strikes against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq. Hours earlier, the Turkish military said on Twitter it had killed eight militants from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in air strikes targeting the Zap, Hakurk and Haftanin regions of northern Iraq. Turkey has regularly carried out air strikes on PKK bases in northern Iraq, as President Tayyip Erdogan pursues his stated aim of ending the militant group's presence near Turkey's borders.
WorldReutersEU's Tusk says no more Brexit negotiations
European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday he had no mandate to reopen Brexit negotiations with Britain, while the head of the bloc's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he "admired" Prime Minister Theresa May. Tusk and Juncker were speaking at a news conference after two days of talks at an EU summit that were dominated by the issue of Brexit and saw the other 27 national leaders of the bloc offer May only vague assurances over their Brexit deal. quot;I have no mandate to organize any further negotiations.
NewsAssociated PressRemains of sailor killed at Pearl Harbor identified
Full military honors will be given to a Louisiana sailor whose remains have been identified more than 75 years after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The remains of Navy Seaman 2nd Class Charles C. Gomez Jr., of Slidell, were accounted for Sept. 19, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency announced Friday. Gomez was assigned to the USS Oklahoma battleship on Dec. 7, 1941 when Japanese aircraft attacked it at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor.
WorldAFPAngry protests after Somalia arrests jihadist-politician
Demonstrators took to the streets of Baidoa in southwest Somalia for a second day Friday protesting the arrest of a former Islamist militant leader who was vying for the regional presidency. Tyres burned, roads were blocked and shots fired as police tried to break up crowds of hundreds of angry protesters in the city where regional presidential elections are due to be held on 19 December. Muktar Robow, who defected from the jihadist Shabaab movement last year, was detained by the government on Thursday, accused of "organising a militia" and seeking to "undermine stability", and flown to the capital Mogadishu.
- BusinessThe Telegraph
Johnson & Johnson 'kept secret' that its Baby Powder contained asbestos
The investigation also found that the pharmaceutical company had employed a range of tactics to shape research into the problem and protect its Baby Powder brand. In one case, the company commissioned and paid for a study, told the researchers their desired results and then hired a ghostwriter to redraft the article presenting the findings. The investigation centres on a cache of documents released by Johnson & Johnson relating to the 11,700 plaintiffs claiming that the company’s talc caused their cancers.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
You Can Now Build Your Own 2020 Jeep Gladiator without Any Regard to Price
You can now build-but not price-the 2020 Jeep Gladiator pickup on Jeep's website. So not only do you have a new time waster to play around with until the Wrangler-based truck goes on sale in the second half of next year, you don't even have to think about how much your dream Jeep pickup truck costs. The Gladiator is offered in several different combinations, as it includes four different trim levels, either a six-speed manual or an eight-speed automatic transmission, and a whole bevy of options.
LifestyleUSA TODAYWant your gifts by Christmas? Order by these dates
CST Dec. 18: Standard shipping by 4 p.m. CST Dec. 20: Premium shipping by 4 p.m. CST Dec. 18: Place orders and select standard shipping by 11 59 p.m.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Republican Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona to Resign at Year’s End
Republican U.S. Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona, who was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator John McCain in August, said he will resign on Dec. 31. In a letter to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey released Friday by the governor’s office, Kyl said he always intended to serve temporarily and decided to resign at the end of the month "so that your new appointee can begin the new term with all other senators in January 2019." Ducey said he’ll announce a replacement “in the near future.
WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: Italian journalist among the dead in Strasbourg
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte says a young Italian journalist who was badly wounded in the Strasbourg Christmas market attack has died. French President Emmanuel Macron says authorities are working to clarify how the suspect in the Strasbourg Christmas market attack was not stopped before he could act. Cherif Chekatt had been on a French intelligence watch list for radicalism before he allegedly killed four people and wounded several others in Tuesday's attack.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Mick Mulvaney will be just the acting chief of staff 'because that's what the president wants,' White House says
WASHINGTON — A senior Trump administration official told reporters on Friday that the president had decided to give his new pick for chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney, an interim title. The official spoke to reporters minutes after President Trump announced on Twitter that Mulvaney, his current budget director, would be the new “acting White House chief of staff.” Despite the “acting” designation, Mulvaney’s appointment is not limited in scope and will include all of the responsibilities of a position that is widely considered one of the most powerful in the White House, the official said. “He got picked because the president liked him.
WorldReutersBrazil take first step in program to join nuclear-powered sub club
Brazil on Friday launched the first of five attack submarines built with French technology in a 35 billion-real ($8.9 billion) program planned to end in 2029 with delivery of a nuclear-powered submarine. President Michel Temer and his right-wing successor, President-elect Jair Bolsonaro, both pressed the button that lowered into the sea the 1,700-ton submarine named Riachuelo at a Rio de Janeiro naval base. Temer's wife, Marcela, had christened the vessel, by smashing a champagne bottle against its hull.
- NewsAutoClassics
Fiat 500 earns place in New York's Museum of Modern Art
img class="editorial" src="http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/homerun/autoclassics_668/4c172387471d9d3a8bb4c5d80f864024"/ New York’s Museum of Modern Art, amongst the most influential barometers of modern art on the planet, has chosen a classic Fiat 500 F to lead its upcoming exhibit, _The Value of Good Design_, starting February 10, 2019. br/ Acquired last year as part of its vast archive of industrial design, MoMA’s 500 F will now take pride of place in the museum ’s latest exhibition, which runs from February 10 until May 27 next year and focuses on objects which were both well-designed but also affordable for the masses.
- WorldReuters
Fighting breaks out in Yemen's Hodeidah after truce deal
Fighting broke out on the outskirts of Yemen's port city of Hodeidah on Friday, residents said, a day after a ceasefire agreement was reached by the warring parties at U.N.-sponsored peace talks. The main port used to feed Yemen's 30 million people is held by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement that also controls the capital Sanaa and has been battling against a Saudi-led Arab coalition seeking to restore a government ousted in 2014. Hodeidah has been the focus of fighting this year, raising global fears that a battle could cut off supply lines and lead to mass starvation.
