Top News Stories for Today – Jan 3, 2019
No progress on government shutdown
The new Democrat-led US House of Representatives is expected to approve bills Thursday to end a partial government shutdown. The Republican leader of the Senate says he will not bring the measures to a vote. President Donald Trump expressed his willingness to keep the shutdown going “as long as it takes” to get border wall financing Democrats do not support.
That is the state of the shutdown after Trump invited congressional leaders to the White House Wednesday and the two sides came no closer to agreeing on a resolution. They plan to try again with another meeting Friday. VOA
N Korean ambassador to Italy in hiding
North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, Jo Song Gil, went into hiding with his wife in November, South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers in Seoul Thursday. Seoul’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) earlier said it couldn’t confirm a South Korean media report that Jo was under the protection of the Italian government as he seeks asylum in a Western nation.
Early Thursday, the Italian Foreign Ministry said the envoy has not asked Italian authorities for asylum. Jo had been North Korea’s acting ambassador to Rome after Italy expelled then-Ambassador Mun Jong Nam in September 2017 to protest a North Korean nuclear test. North Korea has not commented on Jo’s status. VOA
Chinese craft first lands on moon’s far side
China’s burgeoning space program achieved a first on Thursday: a landing on the so-called dark side of the moon. Three nations — the United States, the former Soviet Union and more recently China — have sent spacecraft to the near side of the moon, which faces Earth, but this landing is the first-ever on the far side.
The China National Space Administration said the 10:26 a.m. touchdown of the Chang’e 4 craft has “opened up a new chapter in human lunar exploration.” A photo taken at 11:40 a.m. and sent back by Chang’e 4 shows a small crater and a barren surface that appears to be illuminated by a light from the lunar explorer. Its name comes from that of a Chinese goddess who, according to legend, has lived on the moon for millennia. The landing highlights China’s growing ambitions to rival the US, Russia and Europe in space, and more broadly, to cement the nation’s position as a regional and global power. AP
Second-deadliest Ebola outbreak
More than 600 cases of Ebola have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo amid violence the World Health Organization says is increasing “in intensity and frequency.” The outbreak has left 368 dead since August, making it the second-deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. Hundreds of refugees have fled to Uganda, near the outbreak’s epicenter, since the DRC’s presidential election Sunday, leading to concern that the virus could spread.
A Red Cross spokeswoman said that some trying to cross have resisted the Ebola screenings that health officials have been conducting at the border. However, the WHO says “there is reason to be hopeful” that the outbreak will be contained soon. The Week
Apple warns sales will fall short
In a letter to investors released Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company’s revenue for the quarter that ended on Dec. 29 will fall well below its estimate of between $89 billion and $93 billion, coming in closer to $84 billion. After the letter was made public, Apple’s stock dropped more than 7 percent in after-hours trading.
Cook wrote that the company “anticipated some challenges in key emerging markets,” but did “not foresee the magnitude of the economic deceleration, particularly in greater China. In fact, most of our revenue shortfall to our guidance, and over 100 percent of our year-over-year worldwide revenue decline, occurred in Greater China across iPhone, Mac, and iPad.” The Week
Pelosi expected to become House speaker
The House will begin the 116th Congress on Thursday by electing a new Democratic speaker, and the only real candidate is Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). Pelosi was the first woman ever to serve as speaker and one of the few lawmakers who will wield the gavel more than once. The last repeat House speaker was San Rayburn (D-Texas), whose second turn as speaker began in 1955.
The House will also vote Thursday on a package of rules governing how the House is run, and a couple of progressive Democrats have signaled they will vote no over a pay-as-you-go rule that Pelosi notes can be waived. With Republicans controlling the Senate and White House, this will be the first day of divided government of President Trump’s tenure. AP