Top News Stories for Today – Feb 19, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Feb 19, 2019
Roger Stone apologizes for Instagram post
Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative and adviser to President Donald Trump who was charged with lying to Congress, posted a photo Monday on Instagram of a judge presiding over his case in which she appears to be next to a crosshairs symbol. He later filed a “notice of apology” in court, calling the photograph and comment “improper.”
The post comes days after the judge, US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson, rejected Stone’s effort to get his case reassigned to a new judge. Jackson also previously ruled that Stone couldn’t talk to news outlets in front of her courthouse. Stone, 66, took to Instagram to bring attention to special counsel Robert Mueller, saying he used “legal trickery” to place his case in front of Jackson, a US district judge in the District of Columbia. Stone’s case is being prosecuted jointly by Mueller’s office and the US attorney’s office in Washington. BuzzFeed News
Pakistan warns India against attacking
Pakistan has warned it will retaliate if India takes military action against it after a militant attack on Indian forces in Indian-administered Kashmir. Prime Minister Imran Khan went on television to call on India to provide evidence to support its claims that Pakistan was involved. More than 40 members of India’s security forces died in Thursday’s suicide bombing on their convoy. Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad said it was behind it.
The attack has raised tensions between India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars and a limited conflict in the region and are both nuclear powers. BBC
US Deputy AG Rosenstein to step down in March
Rod Rosenstein, the US deputy attorney general who appointed a special counsel to investigate possible ties between Russia and President Donald Trump’s campaign, is expected to step down by mid March, a Justice Department official said on Monday.
Rosenstein had been expected to depart shortly after new Attorney General William Barr assumed office. Barr was confirmed for the role by the US Senate last week. The Justice official said Rosenstein’s departure was not related to renewed allegations that he considered wearing a wire in meetings with Trump and using the 25th amendment of the US Constitution to remove the president from office. Reuters
Huawei boss said US cannot crush us
The founder of Huawei has said there is “no way the US can crush” the company, in an exclusive interview with the BBC. Ren Zhengfei described the arrest of his daughter Meng Wanzhou, the company’s chief financial officer, as politically motivated. The US is pursuing criminal charges against Huawei and Meng, including money laundering, bank fraud and stealing trade secrets. Huawei denies any wrongdoing. Ren spoke to the BBC’s Karishma Vaswani in his first international broadcast interview since Ms Meng was arrested – and dismissed the pressure from the US.
“There’s no way the US can crush us,” he said. “The world cannot leave us because we are more advanced. Even if they persuade more countries not to use us temporarily, we can always scale things down a bit.” However, he acknowledged that the potential loss of custom could have a significant impact. BBC
Trump Warns Venezuelan Military
US President Donald Trump, in a speech partly intended to be heard by members of the military of Venezuela, called for the end of socialism in that country, saying the United States seeks “a peaceful transition of power but all options are open.”
Trump, in Miami, appealed to Venezuelan soldiers to ignore orders from President Nicolas Maduro and accept the amnesty offer made by the head of the national assembly, Juan Guaido, who is now recognized as Venezuela’s president by the United States and about 50 other countries. VOA
16 States Sue Trump Over Nat’l Emergency Declaration
Sixteen US states are suing the Trump administration over the president’s declaration of a national emergency so he can get funds to build a border wall. Attorneys general, led by California, filed their lawsuit late Monday in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. The complaint alleges the emergency declaration is illegal and unconstitutional, and that it harms the states and their residents by taking money away from anti-drug programs, military construction projects and other law enforcement efforts.
The lawsuit asks the court to permanently prohibit the Trump administration from diverting funds from elsewhere in the government to construct a border wall, or to build a wall without Congress appropriating money for that purpose. VOA
US, China to begin third round of trade talks
Negotiators from China and the United States will resume talks this week to resolve the ongoing trade war between the world’s biggest economies. Washington has long complained that Beijing forces US companies to transfer their technology advances to Chinese firms, and that it limits access to China’s vast market. The Trump administration has imposed punitive tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese imports to compel China to changes its trading practices, prompting Beijing to retaliate with its own tariff increases on $110 billion of US exports.
The trade talks are the result of an agreement in December between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping to stop the tit-for-tat tariff conflict for 90 days starting on New Year’s Day. The administration has threatened to raise tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent if a deal is not reached by March 2, but President Trump said last week he may be willing to push back the deadline depending on how well the talks are going. VOA