Top News Stories for Today – feb 4, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Feb 4, 2019
Trump won’t rule out another shutdown
US President Donald Trump is refusing to rule out the possibility of another partial government shutdown to win congressional approval of funding for a wall along the southern border with Mexico. But he also signaled strongly he plans to declare a national emergency to build the barrier without assent from lawmakers.
But the US leader said, “It’s national emergency, it’s other things and you know there have been plenty national emergencies called. And this really is an invasion of our country by human traffickers.” VOA
EU powers recognize Guaido as Venezuela president
he UK, France, Germany, Spain and other European countries have officially recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president of Venezuela. It comes after President Nicolás Maduro defiantly rejected the EU’s Sunday deadline to call snap elections.
Guaidó declared himself interim leader last month and won US backing. Russia – a backer of Maduro – accused EU countries of meddling in Venezuela’s affairs. As pressure mounted on Maduro to step down, he said he could not rule out the possibility of civil war. BBC
Bukele claims victory as El Salvador’s new president
Nayib Bukele, the former mayor of San Salvador, claimed victory Sunday in El Salvador’s presidential election. He told his cheering supporters that he had won a majority of the ballots. With nearly 90 percent of the ballots counted, El Salvador’s election commission said Bukele had almost 54 percent of the votes, enough for the politician to avoid a runoff vote in March.
Former Foreign Minister Hugo Martinez of the ruling FMLN party and Carlos Calleja of the right-wing ARENA acknowledged their defeat. The candidates promised the same things to voters, including more economic opportunities and efforts to tackle gangs and crime. El Salvador has one of the world’s highest murder rates. But Bukele, who has always considered himself to be a liberal, has been critical of the ruling leftists. He ran as a candidate with the newly-formed conservative Grand Alliance for National Unity. VOA
US rapper 21 Savage to be reported to UK
Atlanta rapper 21 Savage has been arrested by immigration officials who say he is actually from the UK, reports say. The rapper, Shayaa Bin Abraham-Joseph, came to the US in July 2005 aged 12 and failed to leave when his visa expired a year later, officials said. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman said he was being held for removal proceedings.
He has previously described a childhood in Atlanta during interviews. In an interview with Fader magazine in 2016 he said he had first seen a gun aged eight – although the article did not specify where this incident had taken place. The 26-year-old is also quoted in the interview as saying he was expelled from school in Atlanta aged about 12 or 13 for taking a gun to class. “His whole public persona is false,” a CNN reporter quoted an ICE spokesman as saying. BBC
US sending 3,750 more troops to southern border
The Pentagon announced Sunday that 3,750 additional troops will be sent to the US-Mexico border, bringing the number up to 4,350. They will assist Customs and Border Protection, and install 150 miles of wire. Last week, Acting Defense Secretary Pat Shanahan said more troops would be sent to the southern border to put up concertina wire and offer mobile surveillance and monitoring.
This surveillance mission will end Sept. 30, the Pentagon said. The first group of troops deployed in late October, for a mission that was scheduled to be completed on Dec. 15, but was extended two times. Democratic lawmakers have questioned the necessity of troops at the border, saying this interrupts training and could affect military readiness. CNN
Pope in UAE for historic trip
Pope Francis landed Sunday in Abu Dhabi on the first-ever papal trip to the Arabian Peninsula, where he is seeking to turn a page in Christian-Muslim relations while also ministering to a unique, thriving Catholic community.
Francis earlier Sunday called for the urgent observation of a limited cease-fire in Yemen reached in December and for food and medicine to get to its people, who are suffering the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. He made the appeal at the Vatican before boarding a plane to the United Arab Emirates, which has been Saudi Arabia’s main ally in its war in Yemen — a way to avoid embarrassing his hosts with a public call while in the region. Associated Press