Top News Stories for Today – Jan 16, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Jan 16, 2019
Jonathan Nez sworn in as Navajo nation President
Jonathan Nez delivered a message of hope, resilience and change Tuesday in his inaugural address as president of the Navajo Nation, drawing from the tribe’s history as a way to move forward. He and Vice President Myron Lizer took the oath of office before a large crowd at an indoor sports arena in Fort Defiance, Arizona, near the tribal capital, that dwindled as the ceremony ran longer than scheduled.
The two easily won November’s general election to lead the tribe on the nation’s largest Native American reservation for the next four years. They will have to confront a loss of about $40 million in annual revenue and hundreds of jobs held by Navajos if a coal-fired power plant and its supply mine close in December, as expected. Nez and Lizer said they would support Navajo entrepreneurs and Navajo-owned businesses, eliminate redundancies in the tribal government and restore people’s trust in their leaders. They also vowed to work with tribal lawmakers. VOA
Siege on Kenya’s Nairobi hotel has ended
Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta says the deadly attack and siege on a hotel and office complex in the capital Nairobi has ended. In a nationally televised address Wednesday morning, President Kenyatta said 14 civilians had been killed in the attack on the DusitD2 complex, while 700 civilians had been rescued by security forces. Kenyatta said all the “terrorists” who took part in the attack on the DusitD2 complex had been “eliminated.”
The US State Department confirmed late Tuesday that one American was among the dead, but has not identified the victim. A British citizen was also reportedly killed in the attack. The Islamic extremist group al-Shabab is claiming responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, which began in mid-afternoon with an explosion outside a bank and a suicide bombing in the hotel lobby. VOA
May faces no confidence vote
British Prime Minister Theresa May is facing a no-confidence vote Wednesday after members of parliament voted overwhelmingly against her plan to divorce Britain from the European Union. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, announced he had filed a motion of no confidence in the government immediately after the result Tuesday.
If May loses, Britain would hold a general election. But most analysts say they expect May will survive the vote, and the minority Northern Ireland party she relies on to keep her minority government in office has said it would back the government. Tuesday’s vote was the biggest parliamentary reversal ever handed a sitting government, with lawmakers — including more than 100 rebels from her own ruling Conservative party — refusing to endorse a highly contentious Brexit deal. VOA
AG nominee Barr vows independence
William P. Barr, President Trump’s nominee to be the next attorney general, appeared Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation.
Barr, a former attorney general, deputy attorney general and head of the department’s Office of Legal Counsel, unquestionably has the experience for the post. But he faced tough questioning about how he would remain independent from a president who attacks the department constantly, and how he will treat special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation into Russian election interference. The Washington Post
Gillibrand enters 2020 presidential race
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) announced on Tuesday that she is launching a presidential exploratory committee. Gillibrand shared the news while taping an episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, telling the host she has the “compassion, the courage, and the fearless determination” to take on corruption and greed in Washington, institutional racism, and “special interests that write legislation in the dead of night.” Gillibrand is a vocal critic of President Trump’s, and was re-elected in November. CNN via The Week
Judge orders removal of Trump citizenship question
A federal judge in New York has ruled against the Trump administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census. US District Judge Jesse Furman ordered the administration to stop its plans to include the controversial question on forms for the upcoming national head count “without curing the legal defects” the judge identified in his 277-page opinion released on Tuesday.
The question asks, “Is this person a citizen of the United States?” All US households have not been asked such a question on the census since 1950, although it has been asked of a sample of households for past head counts and for the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. Furman found that the decision by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census was “unlawful” because of “a veritable smorgasbord of classic, clear-cut” violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, including cherry-picking evidence to support his choice. Ross oversees the Census Bureau. NPR News