| US sanctions Venezuela officials close to 'former President' Maduro Posted: 15 Feb 2019 07:43 AM PST  The US Treasury announced Friday it was imposing sanctions on five intelligence and security officials close to crisis-hit Venezuela's "former" President Nicolas Maduro. Among the five men is Manuel Quevedo, described by the Treasury as the "illegitimate" president of Venezuela's state-owned oil firm, PDVSA.
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| After Auschwitz visit, Pence accuses Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:46 AM PST  After visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Pence said the Nazi death camp had made him more determined to confront Tehran, saying it was "breathing out murderous threats, with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe." Iran's ancient Jewish community has slumped to an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 from 85,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but is believed to be the biggest in the Middle East outside Israel. Pence, who said he was deeply moved by his Auschwitz visit, cited Iran's stated desire to destroy Israel as justification for singling out the country, rather than focusing on anti-Semitism across the Middle East. Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in January Iran's strategy was to wipe "the Zionist regime" (Israel) off the political map, Iran's state TV reported.
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| The Latest: Cardinal calls McCarrick punishment 'important' Posted: 16 Feb 2019 03:21 PM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Latest on the defrocking of former U.S. cardinal Theodore McCarrick (all times local):
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| Honda's pickup trucks recalled because they can catch fire from car wash soap Posted: 15 Feb 2019 09:56 AM PST ![Honda's pickup trucks recalled because they can catch fire from car wash soap]( "Honda's pickup trucks recalled because they can catch fire from car wash soap") The Honda pickup is subject to a new recall to fix faulty fuel pumps that can crack when exposed to acids in car-wash detergents.
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| Sarah Huckabee Sanders Interviewed by Special Counsel’s Team Posted: 15 Feb 2019 02:33 PM PST  White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sat for an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators, she revealed Friday."The president urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. I was happy to voluntarily sit down with them," Sanders said.While the details of the interview are not public, one area investigators are interested in is how Trump crafted his public statements on the investigation, a matter Sanders would have knowledge of. As a public face of the administration, Sanders has made numerous statements defending the president's conduct as it pertains to the investigation.Former White House chief of staff John Kelly, former White House communications director Hope Hicks, former press secretary Sean Spicer, and other White House officials have also answered questions from Mueller's team.Mueller is expected to soon wrap up his investigation into Russia's efforts to influence the 2016 election. Then-acting attorney general Matthew Whitaker said in January that the investigation is "close to being completed."
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| Amazon's New York City Deal Was Killed By a Cocktail of Hubris and Miscalculations Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:52 AM PST  It's a huge loss for Amazon
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| BofA Says a ‘Real’ Trade Deal Could Vault S&P 500 to Record High Posted: 15 Feb 2019 10:23 AM PST  The firm's model on corporate earnings and equity valuations suggests that the market has priced in "a partial deal," one where only some of the issues get resolved in favor of corporate America, according to strategists led by Savita Subramanian. In a best-case scenario, the S&P 500 could climb 5 percent to 10 percent when a "real deal" is struck. Companies from 3M Co. to Stanley Black & Decker Inc. have slashed their guidance this year, citing either trade tensions or weakening demand in China.
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| North Koreans pay tribute to Kim's father in freezing cold Posted: 16 Feb 2019 01:00 AM PST  The Day of the Shining Star dawned bitterly cold in Pyongyang. Kim, the son of the isolated North's founder Kim Il Sung and the father and predecessor of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born on February 16. According to Pyongyang's orthodoxy, he came into the world in 1942, in a snow-covered hut at a secret camp on the slopes of Mount Paektu, the spiritual birthplace of the Korean people, where his father was fighting occupying Japanese forces.
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| 2020 Vision: Buckle up, America! It’s gonna be a long, crowded campaign Posted: 15 Feb 2019 07:13 AM PST  Candidates are crowding into the race, and to judge by this week's developments, the 2020 presidential cycle will make the last one seem tranquil.
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| `Going Away Party` for School Shutting Down Because of Student`s Death Causes Controversy Posted: 15 Feb 2019 08:00 PM PST  Some parents are outraged a California school for kids with special needs is holding a "going away party" after one of its own students died after being restrained by staff.
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| Five killed as gunman opens fire at Illinois warehouse Posted: 15 Feb 2019 03:48 PM PST  A gunman opened fire in an industrial warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was slain, law enforcement officials said. Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the gunman, identified as Gary Martin, 45, was an employee at the industrial complex. Please avoid the area," the Aurora Police Department said in a tweet shortly after 2 p.m. CST, adding that additional details would be forthcoming.
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| AP Interview: Karzai worries Pakistan talks risk peace pact Posted: 16 Feb 2019 04:36 AM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that previously unscheduled peace talks between the Taliban and the United States in Pakistan risk engulfing the country in regional rivalries.
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| Bentley Bentayga Speed: an SUV as luxurious as it is powerful Posted: 15 Feb 2019 06:40 AM PST  On Thursday Bentley unveiled the Bentayga Speed, an SUV with a top speed of 190 mph and 0- 62mph acceleration time of 3.9 seconds. Bentley celebrated its Valentine's Day by announcing what it calls the "world's fastest, most luxurious SUV:" the Bentayga Speed.
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| US Facebook fine over privacy could be in billions: reports Posted: 15 Feb 2019 08:03 AM PST  A US investigation into privacy violations by Facebook could result in a record fine running to billions of dollars, media reports said Friday. The Federal Trade Commission is negotiating the terms of the penalty stemming from its investigation into whether Facebook violated a 2011 settlement with the regulator on protecting user data, the Washington Post and New York Times said, citing unnamed sources. The FTC reopened its investigation following revelations last year that personal data from tens of millions of Facebook users was hijacked by the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica as it worked on Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
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| Trump to Invoke Broad Powers in High-Risk Bid to Build His Wall Posted: 15 Feb 2019 01:00 AM PST ![Trump to Invoke Broad Powers in High-Risk Bid to Build His Wall]( "Trump to Invoke Broad Powers in High-Risk Bid to Build His Wall") Trump plans to unilaterally shift about $7 billion in federal resources to construct physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, a White House official said, a maneuver sure to provoke a legal challenge. The move is expected to come as the president signs a compromise spending package Friday that includes $1.375 billion for border fencing, bringing the total to about $8 billion.
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| U.S. court dismisses Energy Transfer Partners lawsuit against Greenpeace Posted: 14 Feb 2019 07:07 PM PST  ETP had sued https://reut.rs/2SASoIv Greenpeace and other environmental groups in 2017, accusing them of racketeering and defamation with the aim of blocking the Dakota Access Pipeline. In the lawsuit, ETP argued that the environmental groups' actions and negative publicity against it, its sister company Energy Transfer Equity LP and other firms caused billions of dollars in damages.
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| Isil bride Shamima Begum has a legal right to return to the UK, head of MI6 says Posted: 15 Feb 2019 06:45 AM PST  The British Islamic State (Isil) bride Shamima Begum has a legal right to return to the UK the Head of MI6 has said. The Director General of MI6 has said that British citizens have a right to return home from Syria, even though they may still present a threat to national security. Alex Younger, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service - better known as MI6 - said he was "very concerned" about returning British nationals that had fought for or supported the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). Speaking ahead of the Munich Security Conference which started on Friday, Mr Younger said: "All experience tells us that once someone's put themselves in that sort of position they are likely to have acquired both the skills and connections that make them potentially very dangerous. "Anyone who has put themselves in this situation can expect to be questioned and investigated and potentially prosecuted if they return to our jurisdiction." When asked about the case of Ms Begum, the heavily pregnant 19-year-old Londoner who travelled to Syria four years ago to become an Isil bride and who now wants to return to the UK to have her baby, Mr Younger said: "British nationals have a right to come to the UK." Kadiza Sultana, left, Shamima Begum, center, and Amira Abase going through security at Gatwick airport Credit: Metropolitan Police Britain's intelligence chief cautioned about showing triumphalism at the demise of Isil, saying such an approach led to hubris. "The military defeat of the caliphate does not represent the end of the terrorist threat that we face," he said. "You can't use military force to kill and idea." Mr Younger warned that Isil was already in the process of trying to grow elsewhere around the world, even as its fighters are defeated in Syria, and that the threat from al-Qaeda had not been completely extinguished. He said: "Daesh [Isil] is a resilient organisation and it is reorganising, returning to its natural state as an asymmetric transnational terrorist organisation. We see it morphing, spreading out. "Al-Qaeda...has undergone a certain resurgence as a result of the degradation of Daesh and it is a force that should also be taken seriously. It is definitely not done out, and is something we should remain focused on." Mr Younger was keen to stress the "strength and unconditional nature of the UK security offer" and said Brexit would not harm enduring partnerships. "Britain's commitment to the security of the European continent is unconditional," he said. "Our aim is to strengthen our security partnerships in Europe, alongside our other intelligence partnerships across the globe, because that is the inescapable logic of a world of increasingly international hybrid threats." The ability to "operationalise" partnerships with other intelligence organisations was critical in preserving our way of life, he said, and was used to great effect after the nerve-agent attack in Salisbury last year. Referring to the intelligence sharing relationships with France and Germany he said: "There are people alive in our three countries today because of terrorist attack plans that we have successfully disrupted, showing the value and importance of cooperation to all sides. This is not a one-way street." "Even in the past year...people's lives have been saved in all of our countries as a result of this cooperation. The counter terrorist machine is working as it should. Bombs haven't gone off as a result of our capacity to exchange data with each other. "Brexit doesn't fundamentally alter those relationships."
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| United Airlines: Three new routes for fast-growing Denver hub Posted: 15 Feb 2019 07:17 AM PST ![United Airlines: Three new routes for fast-growing Denver hub]( "United Airlines: Three new routes for fast-growing Denver hub") United Airlines will add three new domestic routes at its Denver hub, all of which will go head-to-head against budget rival Frontier Airlines.
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| Police: 2 persons of interest released in Jussie Smollett case confirmed to have been on scene; police investigating if attack staged, sources say Posted: 16 Feb 2019 09:46 AM PST  Chicago police confirmed Friday that detectives are talking to two possible suspects in connection with the alleged attack on ''Empire'' actor Jussie Smollett.
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| The Latest: Extremist attack in Nigeria kills 4 civilians Posted: 16 Feb 2019 09:11 AM PST  YOLA, Nigeria (AP) — The Latest on Nigeria's postponed presidential election (all times local):
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| Iran general says Pakistan backs group behind suicide bomb Posted: 16 Feb 2019 01:00 AM PST  Iran's Revolutionary Guards accused "Pakistan's security forces" of supporting the perpetrators of a suicide bombing that killed 27 troops on Wednesday, in remarks state TV aired Saturday. "Pakistan's government, who has housed these anti-revolutionaries and threats to Islam, knows where they are and they are supported by Pakistan's security forces," said Revolutionary Commander Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist group Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice").
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| U.S. sanctions five Venezuelans, ratcheting up pressure on Maduro Posted: 15 Feb 2019 07:32 AM PST  Along with PDVSA head Manuel Quevedo, Treasury targeted three top Venezuelan intelligence officials and Rafael Bastardo, who U.S. officials say is the head of a national police unit responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings carried out in masked nighttime raids on Maduro's behalf. Washington has disavowed Maduro's government and backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month invoked articles of the Venezuelan constitution and declared himself president. Also targeted was Ivan Rafael Hernandez Dala, commander of Maduro's Presidential Guard, which Treasury says has tortured Maduro's opponents and carried out other human rights abuses.
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| Trump declares national emergency to access border wall funding, setting stage for legal battles Posted: 15 Feb 2019 08:41 AM PST  Donald Trump is signing a federal funding bill to avoid another government shutdown and announcing a series of executive actions along the US-Mexico border, including the declaration of a national emergency – setting the stage for a major legal showdown. The border security compromise was approved by congress on Thursday afternoon as the president threatened to declare a national emergency if the billions of dollars he requested to go towards building a wall was not included in the bill. "It's a great thing to do because we have an invasion of drugs, an invasion of gangs, an invasion of people, and it's unacceptable," Mr Trump said while announcing the national emergency he declared along the US-Mexico border on Friday.
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| Southwest declares operations 'emergency' amid labor dispute with mechanics Posted: 15 Feb 2019 06:00 PM PST  The airline sent a strongly worded memo to mechanics ordering all hands on deck in response to a higher than usual number of planes out of service.
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| Cardinal expects 'significant progress' at sex abuse summit Posted: 15 Feb 2019 06:18 AM PST  DETROIT (AP) — The U.S. archbishop helping to organize next week's summit of the world's bishops at the Vatican on sexual abuse by clergy said Thursday he expects to make "significant progress" in responding to the scandal that's riven the church, and that lay Catholics will help to hold the hierarchy accountable.
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| The Latest: Denver teachers back at work after 3-day strike Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:28 PM PST  DENVER (AP) — The Latest on the Denver teachers strike (all times local):
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| U.S. raises pressure on Maduro via sanctions, aid airlift Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:29 PM PST ![U.S. raises pressure on Maduro via sanctions, aid airlift]( "U.S. raises pressure on Maduro via sanctions, aid airlift") The U.S. Treasury said it sanctioned PDVSA chief Manuel Quevedo, three top intelligence officials and Rafael Bastardo, who U.S. officials say is the head of a national police unit responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings carried out in nighttime raids on Maduro's behalf. Separately, the U.S. State Department said on Friday it was working with the Pentagon and U.S. aid agency to fly humanitarian assistance on Saturday to Cucuta, Colombia, on the Venezuelan border. The steps are part of a wider effort by the United States to undermine Maduro, whose 2018 election it views as illegitimate and whose government it has disavowed, and to strengthen opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido.
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| Papa John's serves up college tuition benefit to employees of pizza chain Posted: 15 Feb 2019 05:57 AM PST  Troubled pizza chain Papa John's will pay college tuition for its employees and assistance for franchisees.
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| Sasse Warns Trump That National Emergency Could Set Dangerous Precedent Posted: 15 Feb 2019 03:25 PM PST  Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) on Friday warned President Trump that his national emergency declaration may set a dangerous precedent that will be exploited by a future Democratic administration.In a statement provided to National Review, Sasse endorsed President Trump's claim that a lack of attention to security has created a "crisis" at the southern border, but warned that resolving the issue through a national-emergency declaration would prove counterproductive for conservatives in the future."We absolutely have a crisis at the border, but as a Constitutional conservative I don't want a future Democratic President unilaterally rewriting gun laws or climate policy," Sasse said in the statement. "If we get used to presidents just declaring an emergency any time they can't get what they want from Congress, it will be almost impossible to go back to a Constitutional system of checks and balances. Over the past decades, the legislative branch has given away too much power and the executive branch has taken too much power."On Thursday, Sasse joined ten fellow conservative senators in voting against the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, which provided just $1.375 billion for the construction of new barriers on the southern border, prompting Trump to declare a national emergency on Friday. In doing so, he moved to secure $3.6 billion in discretionary military funds to construct additional barriers but, as Trump acknowledged during his address, it is sure to be challenged in court.Asked after his address about conservative critics who have argued the national-emergency declaration cedes too much power to the executive and paves the way for constitutional abuses by future Democratic administrations, Trump argued that the scale of the crisis at the border should override any concern about future implications."We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming in to our country," he said.
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| France plans to impose stricter regulations on social media platforms Posted: 15 Feb 2019 09:15 AM PST  France is to impose stricter regulation of abusive posts on social media to end "online impunity" and compel platforms such as Facebook and Twitter to take down hateful posts. The move follows a scandal over a macho "boys' club" of male media executives who trolled female colleagues online. Eight journalists and public relations executives have have resigned or been suspended this week after they admitted anonymously hounding feminists and minority colleagues online. All eight belonged to a closed Facebook group called "The League of LOL". More than 20 others faced calls to resign after they were also accused of bullying women with pornographic memes and off-colour jokes about rape. Mounir Mahjoubi, the digital affairs minister, said the government was considering changing the legal status of social networks to make them more accountable for user-generated content. They could be reclassified in somewhere between social media platforms and publishers, making them liable to heavier fines and tighter regulation, which is already the case in Germany. At a glance | Facebook's moderation rules The current status of networks such as Facebook and Twitter as content-sharing platforms "significantly limits their responsibility" for online abuse and harassment, Mr Mahjoubi said. A bill which is to be presented to the French parliament by the end of June will be partly inspired by existing German legislation, said Marlène Schiappa, the minister for gender equality. The bill will also aim to speed up the identification of those who put up hateful messages, and foster more public awareness of the "duty of care" of social networks, Mr Mahjoubi said. "It's unacceptable to have them dictating the rules all by themselves… The authors of hateful content must understand that we will find them wherever they are and we will make them stop their violence." Britain is also planning a legal crackdown on harmful content online. Margot James, the digital minister, said last week that voluntary codes had failed and platforms should be made legally responsible for user-generated content on their sites. She was speaking after the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who killed herself after watching self-harm images and suicide posts on Instagram.
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| Netflix lockdown ends without injuries, no gun found on suspect Posted: 14 Feb 2019 06:37 PM PST ![Netflix lockdown ends without injuries, no gun found on suspect]( "Netflix lockdown ends without injuries, no gun found on suspect") A lockdown at Netflix ended Thursday afternoon without injuries after police detained a suspect without a gun, authorities said.
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| Denver teachers back at work after winning deal with raises Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:30 PM PST  DENVER (AP) — Denver teachers ended a three-day walkout and returned to their classrooms Thursday, greeted by hugs and high-fives, after their union reached a tentative deal raising their pay, the latest win in a national movement by educators to raise their wages and advocate for changes in schools.
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| Shell buys German battery maker Sonnen Posted: 15 Feb 2019 09:10 AM PST  Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell agreed Friday to buy German rechargeable battery maker Sonnen, as the sector eyes growing demand for cleaner energy. Shell, which already invested in the German start-up in May 2018, revealed in a statement that it will buy 100 percent of Sonnen for an undisclosed amount. Sonnen, which makes lithium-ion batteries for storing wind and solar power, was founded in 2010 and has since grown rapidly to become a dominant player in Europe.
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| New 2020 Porsche Taycan EV Details Revealed in Spy Photos Posted: 15 Feb 2019 06:46 AM PST |
| Iran rejects anti-Semitism allegation by Pence Posted: 16 Feb 2019 07:15 AM PST  Iran on Saturday rejected accusations of anti-Semitism leveled against it by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, saying it respected Judaism but opposed Israel, which Tehran said was acting like a "killing machine against the Palestinians". Pence accused Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism on Friday after visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, maintaining his harsh rhetoric just a day after attacking European powers for trying to undermine U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. "Iran's historic and cultural record of coexistence and respect for divine religions, particularly Judaism, is recorded in reliable historic documents of various nations," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.
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| Push on last IS enclave blunted by discovery of civilians Posted: 15 Feb 2019 10:23 AM PST  AL-OMAR OIL FIELD BASE, Syria (AP) — The offensive on the last enclave held by the Islamic State group in eastern Syria has been blunted by the discovery of hundreds of civilians still living there, a commander with the Kurdish-led force fighting the extremists said Friday.
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| In America, high-speed train travel is off track Posted: 14 Feb 2019 07:36 PM PST  California's suspension this week of a high-speed rail project underscores the up-hill battle the modern mode of transport faces in the United States -- including myriad cultural, political and economic obstacles. Long gone are the days of the 19th century gold rush, when Americans raced to build transcontinental rail links and conquer the nation's vast expanse. "We have a Congress polluted by special interest money ... that has been working for years to stop/prevent any rail investment," said Andy Kunz, head of the US High Speed Rail Association, pointing to the oil, aviation and auto industries in particular.
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| NASA mulls buying new rides to space from Russia amid program delays Posted: 15 Feb 2019 11:00 AM PST  The U.S. space agency has since had to rely on Russia's Roscosmos program to ferry astronauts to the orbital space station at a cost of roughly $80 million per seat, NASA has said. After 2019 there are no seats available on the spacecraft for U.S. crew, and a NASA advisory panel recommended on Friday that the U.S. space program develop a contingency plan to guarantee access to the station in case technical problems delay Boeing and SpaceX any further. A NASA spokesman on Friday characterized a solicitation request NASA filed on Wednesday as a contingency plan.
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