Top News Stories for Today – feb 7, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – feb 7, 2019
Families flee from IS’s last village
Men, women and children, some with serious injuries, others describing running out of food, have been leaving the group’s rapidly shrinking enclave, which the US military on Tuesday said amounted to about 50 sq km (20 sq miles).
They have been arriving at the village of Baghuz to surrender to the US-backed Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). On Wednesday US President Donald Trump said said territory held by the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq could be “100%” liberated as early as next week. Many of those arriving in Baghuz have injuries, including those sustained from incoming strikes by the array of forces battling IS BBC
David Malpass could be World Bank’s next leader
David Malpass has been a sharp critic of the World Bank, the Washington-based lending institution for impoverished nations, and now he could be its next leader. Malpass, the under secretary of the US Treasury for international affairs, is US President Donald Trump’s choice to head the agency, which has always been headed by an American. But the selection, which has to be ratified by the bank’s board, could draw opposing candidates supported by poor nations that are the institution’s chief funding beneficiaries.
Malpass helped push through a $13 billion funding increase for the bank last year, but he has railed against continued lending to China, the world’s second biggest economy after the United States. He says Beijing no longer needs the bank’s support, which has amounted to nearly $62 billion in development loans since China joined the World Bank in 1980. VOA
US House makes gun safety top priority
The Democratic House majority has put gun violence back on the agenda for the first time in eight years, hearing testimony Wednesday on Capitol Hill from victims and gun-safety activists.
The gun safety debate escalated after a shooter killed 17 people with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle on Feb. 14 last year in Parkland, Florida. Survivors of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas high school organized the “March for Our Lives” protest in Washington, D.C. to demand gun safety. Hundreds of thousands of people around the country attended this and similar marches. In the months following the shooting, March for Our Lives activists worked with gun safety organizations in communities plagued by gun violence. VOA
US House to look into if Russia has leverage over Trump
The House Intelligence Committee on Wednesday re-opened the Russia investigation that came to a close under Republican leadership. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the revived inquiry will again look into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and contact between the Trump campaign and Russia, but it will also now examine “any credible allegation that financial interests or other interests are driving decision-making of the president or anyone in the administration.”
This, Schiff adds, “includes credible allegations of leverage by the Russians or the Saudis or anyone else.” Schiff criticized the previous investigation, led by Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), saying it abandoned its pursuit of “credible reports of money laundering and financial compromise” and “numerous other avenues of inquiry.” CNN via The Week
Virginia Lt. Gov. alleged sexual assault
Dr. Vanessa Tyson on Wednesday published a statement describing an alleged sexual assault by Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax (D), saying he brought her to his hotel room when they met in 2004 at the Democratic National Convention. Tyson alleges that “what began as consensual kissing quickly turned into a sexual assault,” and described in detail how Fairfax allegedly forced her to perform oral sex, saying that she “tried to move away” but couldn’t because “his hand was holding down my neck.”
Fairfax said the encounter was “consensual” and that “at no time did [Tyson] express to me any discomfort or concern.” Tyson says she didn’t know Fairfax held public office until 2017, at which time she told her story to The Washington Post. The Washington Post, NPR via The Week