Top News Stories for Today – Dec 28, 2018
Top News Stories for Today – Dec 28, 2018
America’s oldest man dies at 112
Richard Overton, the country’s oldest World War II veteran and oldest man, has died at the age of 112. Overton volunteered for the Army when he was in his 30s. He served with the 188th Aviation Engineer Battalion, an all-black unit, in the Pacific theater, including Guam and Iwo Jima.
“He was there at Pearl Harbor when the battleships were still smoldering. He was there at Okinawa. He was there at Iwo Jima, where he said. ‘I only got out of there by the grace of God,’ ” former President Barack Obama said while honoring Overton at a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery in 2013. Overton told CNN in 2013 that he credited God for his long life but admitted to enjoying his vices. Texas Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement Thursday, “With his quick wit and kind spirit he touched the lives of so many, and I am deeply honored to have known him.”
Americans blame Trump for shutdown
More Americans blame President Donald Trump than congressional Democrats for the partial US government shutdown, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Thursday, as the closure stretched into its sixth day with no end in sight.
Forty-seven percent of adults hold Trump responsible, while 33 percent blame Democrats in Congress, according to the Dec. 21-25 poll, conducted mostly after the shutdown began. Seven percent of Americans blamed congressional Republicans. The shutdown was triggered by Trump’s demand, largely opposed by Democrats and some lawmakers from his own Republican Party, that taxpayers provide him with $5 billion to help pay for a wall that he wants to build along the US-Mexico border. Its total estimated cost is $23 billion. Reuters
MSNBC beats Fox News for 1st time
MSNBC was the No. 1 cable news network last week, Nielsen reports, beating rival Fox News for the first time since 2000. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow had the top program across all cable news, beating Fox News’ Sean Hannity by nearly 2-to-1 among the 24-54 demographic.
Hannity will end the year with the most-watched show on cable news, but his ratings from the midterm elections through last week are down 19 percent versus October. Hostra’s Mark Lukasiewicz says Hannity is being dragged down by the bad news clinging to President Trump, a close ally, and Hannity’s inability to cover it. “Even hard-core Trump fans are starting to put Hillary Clinton in their rear-view mirrors and say, ‘it’s been two years,'” he told The Associated Press. The Week
Hackers steal data of N Korean defectors
Almost 1,000 North Korean defectors have had their personal data leaked after a computer at a South Korean resettlement center was hacked, the unification ministry said. A personal computer at the state-run center was found to have been “infected with a malicious code”.
The ministry said this is thought to be the first large-scale information leak involving North Korean defectors. The hackers’ identity and the origin of the cyber-attack is not yet confirmed. BBC
Angelina Jolie hints at move into politics
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie has hinted that she is considering a move into politics in the future. In an interview on the BBC’s Today program, she said she would have dismissed this 20 years ago but would now go where she was needed.
Jolie, who is a special envoy to the UN Refugee Agency, was the guest editor of the Today program on Friday. She is an active campaigner on a range of issues, including refugees, sexual violence and conservation. In a wide-ranging interview with presenter Justin Webb, she discussed US politics, social media, sexual violence and the global refugee crisis. BBC