Top News Stories for Today – Jan 17, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Jan 17, 2019
Pelosi suggests delay state of the union address
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested Wednesday that unless a partial government shutdown is resolved this week, President Donald Trump should either delay his State of the Union address or consider delivering it in writing.
Pelosi cited concerns about security preparations needed for the annual high-profile event before Congress, which is scheduled for Jan. 29. In a letter to Trump, she noted the US Secret Service, which protects the president and his family, and the Department of Homeland Security have not been funded during the shutdown, “with critical departments hamstrung by furloughs.” Trump’s security detail has been working without pay since Dec. 22. VOA
Britain’s May survives no-confidence vote
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Wednesday cleared a vote of no confidence, surviving with a vote of 325-306. That means the current government will stay in place, and May will have until Monday to lay out a new Brexit plan. On Tuesday, Britain’s lower house of Parliament voted 432-202 to reject the deal she had made with the European Union.
Tuesday’s 230-vote loss was a record, smashing the 166-vote loss a previous government suffered in 1924. May told lawmakers she was pleased with the result, which will require her to carve out a new plan to navigate the U.K.’s planned exit from the EU in March. Following the vote, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said the government should remove the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, which May declined to do. Bloomberg via The Week
US’s new space-based missile defense
The Trump administration will roll out a new strategy for a more aggressive space-based missile defense system to protect against existing threats from North Korea and Iran and counter advanced weapon systems being developed by Russia and China. Details about the administration’s Missile Defense Review — the first compiled since 2010 — are expected to be released during President Donald Trump’s visit to the Pentagon with top members of his administration.
The new review concludes that in order to adequately protect America, the Pentagon must expand defense technologies in space and use those systems to more quickly detect, track and ultimately defeat incoming missiles. VOA
9 arrests over Kenya hotel attack
Nine people have been arrested in Kenya following an attack on a luxury hotel compound in the capital Nairobi that killed at least 21 people. All five militants who stormed the DusitD2 hotel and business complex on Tuesday have been killed, officials say, and a major hunt is under way to find those who helped organize it. Somalia-based Islamist group al-Shabab says it was behind the attack.
Al-Shabab issued a statement calling the attack “a response” to US President Donald Trump’s controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. A White House National Security Council spokesman responded by saying: “This senseless act is a stark reminder of why the United States remains resolved in our fight to defeat radical Islamist terrorism.” BBC
N Korea’s top envoy arrives in Beijing
North Korea’s top envoy involved in talks with the United States arrived in Beijing Thursday and is thought to be en route to Washington, South Korean news agency Yonhap said. US and South Korean media previously quoted unidentified sources as saying US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol were expected to meet in the US capital Friday to discuss a second summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Kim arrived at Beijing airport Thursday on an Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang and was met by North Korea’s ambassador to China, Yonhap said. He is expected to board a flight to Washington in the evening, the news agency said. Pompeo had planned to meet his North Korean counterpart to discuss a second summit last November, but the meeting was postponed. VOA
Microsoft to build affordable housing
In response to the housing crisis in Seattle, Microsoft announced late Wednesday it is pledging $500 million to build affordable housing in the region. Microsoft is based in the suburb of Redmond, and in many areas where tech giants have their headquarters, low-and middle-income homeowners are being priced out.
During a meeting attended by New York Times reporters earlier this week, Microsoft President Brad Smith and CEO Satya Nadella said they were worried about their employees being able to afford housing in an area where prices are skyrocketing. In December, the government published a report that found the Seattle region needs 156,000 more affordable housing units, and if the area continues to grow at its current rate, an additional 88,000 units are needed by 2040. The New York Times via The Week