- 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.
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.
- WorldNational Review
The Roman Farce
Pope Francis is conducting his extraordinary summit with cardinals on the problem of sexual abuse in the Church. The first was Pope Francis's recent laicization of the former cardinal archbishop of Washington, D.C., Theodore McCarrick, a man who was notorious for his sexual abuse of seminarians and other priests, while at the same time he was the public-relations face of the Church's response to sexual abuse and cover-up in the early 2000s. McCarrick was finally publicly exposed when an investigation into his abuse of a minor became public last year.
U.S.FOX News VideosPolice say they have identified a potential suspect in the assault on a conservative activist on Berkeley campus
Reaction from founder and president of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk.
NewsAssociated PressAlabama woman who joined Islamic State sues to return to US
The father of an Alabama woman who joined the Islamic State in Syria filed suit against the Trump administration Thursday in an effort to allow her return to the United States. Ahmed Ali Muthana argues in the suit filed in federal court in Washington that his 24-year-old daughter, Hoda Muthana, is an American citizen by birth and should be allowed to come back to the U.S. with her toddler son. Hoda Muthana is now in a Syrian refugee camp with the 18-month-old boy after fleeing the remnants of the Islamic State.
- 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 TODAYSouthwest Airlines cancels nearly 400 flights as maintenance woes, winter storms linger
Southwest Airlines' flight woes continue, with nearly 400 Thursday flights canceled due to maintenance issues and winter weather. Southwest, the nation's largest domestic carrier, had canceled 389 flights, or 9 percent of its schedule, as of 1:15 p.m. ET, according to flight-tracking service FlightAware. That is the highest number of cancellations by any carrier and accounts for 51 percent of flight cancellations within, into or out of the United States, according to FlightAware. Southwest attributed the high number of cancellations to weather challenges and continuing maintenance issues that have a pulled a higher-than-usual number of aircraft out of service.
- 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.
WorldAFPDecision time, not extra time, EU Brexit negotiator says
Brexit talks now require a "decision" rather than going into "extra time", the EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Friday as the clock runs down on March 29 when Britain is set to leave the block, with or without an exit deal. "We don't need extra time, what we need now is a decision and for everyone to take responsibility," Barnier told Europe 1 radio. He did not exclude granting Britain more negotiating time -- beyond March 29 -- for concluding an agreement on the Brexit divorce terms, but said it was now up to "the British to take their responsibilities and assume the consequences of decisions they took democratically," he said.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Venezuelan soldiers set fire to aid convoys as troops fire tear gas at protesters on Colombia border
Humanitarian aid destined for Venezuela was set on fire last Saturday night, seemingly by troops loyal to President Nicolas Maduro, as two people were killed and scores of people injured in violent clashes at the borders. Volunteers working for Juan Guaido, the self-declared interim president, frantically tried to salvage the medical supplies and emergency rations before they went up in flames. The blaze, which sent acrid smoke up into the sky and filled the air with sickly smells mingled with tear gas, was said by women on the front line to have been ignited by tear gas canisters, fired from the Venezuelan side - although their accounts could not be independently confirmed.
- BusinessThe Independent
Airlines admit having cameras installed on back of passengers' seats
Three of the world's biggest airlines have admitted some of their planes have cameras installed on the backs of passenger seats. American Airlines, United Airlines and Singapore Airlines have new seat-back entertainment systems that include cameras. Companies that make the entertainment systems are fitting them with cameras to offer passengers options such as seat-to-seat video conferencing, according to an American Airlines spokesman.
WorldReutersAt Pope's abuse summit, Church seeks to fix 'systematic failures'
The Roman Catholic Church must repair the "systematic failures" that enabled sexual abuse to take root around the world, and bishops should start policing each other's behavior, leading cardinals said on Friday. Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago and Oswald Gracias of Mumbai spoke on the second day of a conference of some 200 senior Church officials convened by Pope Francis to confront what he has called the scourge of sexual abuse by the clergy. quot;This past year has taught us that the systematic failures in holding clerics of all rank responsible are due in large measure to flaws in the way we interact and communicate with each other," Cupich said.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
A 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback Is the Latest to Be Immortalized in Legos
This 1970s-era Ford Mustang kit is customizable; there's a supercharger, front and rear spoilers, tail or side pipes, and even a nitrous-oxide tank. A removable roof panel permits access to the attentively detailed interior. The kit will be available directly from Lego stores or online, starting March 1.
WorldAFPVietnam readying for Kim train arrival next week: sources
Vietnamese authorities are preparing for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to arrive by train next week ahead of his summit with US president Donald Trump, several sources told AFP Friday. The leaders are slated to meet in Hanoi on February 27-28 to follow up on their first meeting last June in Singapore that ended with vaguely worded commitments on dismantling Pyongyang's nuclear programme. In the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong, which borders on North Korea, there were signs that Kim's train could be crossing over into China imminently en route to Vietnam.
NewsUSA TODAY'I know what I'm doing.': Video shows Sen. Dianne Feinstein arguing with kids on climate bill
WASHINGTON – Sen. Dianne Feinstein is under fire after video shows her arguing with children who visited her office in hopes of swaying her vote on climate change legislation. The children were with the Sunrise Movement, a climate advocacy organization, and approached Feinstein in hopes she would support the Green New Deal, an ambitious proposal from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that includes an overhaul of U.S. energy that seeks to stall the effects of climate change. "I've been doing this for 30 years.
- NewsThe Independent
Robert Kraft 'categorically' denies soliciting sex at spa after police said he was filmed twice in the act
New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has “categorically” denied soliciting sex at a spa in Florida after police said he was filmed doing so twice. Mr Kraft, 77, faces two counts of soliciting sex from a prostitute. The billionaire is one of two dozen men who were arrested for allegedly paying $59 (£45) for a half-hour and $79 (£60) for an hour of sex at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida.
- WorldReuters
Pakistan reimposes ban on Islamist charities linked to militant leader
Pakistan has re-instated a ban on two charities linked to the founder of an Islamist militant group that has carried out attacks in India, the interior ministry said on Friday. The ban comes as Pakistan faces international pressure to act against militant groups, amid escalating tension with its nuclear-armed neighbor, India, following a suicide bomb attack on Indian police in the disputed region of Kashmir. The attack, in which 40 Indian paramilitary troops were killed, was claimed by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militant group.
WorldAssociated PressThe Latest: Venezuelans demand aid at Brazil border
Thousands remained at the Venezuelan city's international border crossing with Brazil to demand the entry of food and medicine as dusk fell. Two trucks carrying humanitarian aid are stuck at the crossing, which has been blocked by the Venezuelan National Guard. Many Venezuelans on Saturday sang their country's national anthem and demanded that President Nicolas Maduro let the aid through.
- LifestyleCar and Driver
View Photos of the 2019 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 2.7T Four-Cylinder
It tows more than you'd expect but also drinks more fuel than you'd expect. From Car and Driver
PoliticsFOX News VideosKamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren reportedly say they support reparations for black Americans affected by slavery
Senators Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren reportedly say they support reparations for black Americans affected by slavery.
- WorldTime
Saudi Sisters Stranded for Months in Hong Kong After Fleeing the Kingdom, Rights Group Says
Two Saudi Arabian sisters have spent almost six months hiding in Hong Kong after authorities reportedly foiled an attempt to flee the conservative kingdom, a human rights group says. Using aliases to protect their identities, non-profit Justice Centre Hong Kong said in a statement that Reem, 20, and Rawan, 18, arrived in the city on Sept. 6, 2018, after escaping during a family holiday in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo. The pair had booked a connecting flight to Melbourne Australia, where they planned to seek asylum, but they were intercepted upon landing and told their flight had been cancelled.
NewsUSA TODAYWild weather weekend: Blizzard, tornadoes, floods, ferocious winds all expected
The final weekend of February will deliver a wild potpourri of weather as winter and spring do battle across the United States. Blizzard conditions are possible in the Upper Midwest Saturday and Sunday as a potent winter storm hammers the region. Portions of Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan should see 8-12 inches of snow, while parts of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan could pick up 20 inches.
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.
- PoliticsNational Review
Donald Trump: Russian Asset?
I think it's possible” that President Donald Trump is a Russian asset, disgraced former FBI acting director Andrew McCabe told CNN's Anderson Cooper on Tuesday. McCabe also said to The Atlantic that FBI brass felt “concern about the president and whether or not he posed a national-security threat that we should be investigating. On Wednesday, Russian president Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly in Moscow.
