Top News Stories for Today – Jan 25, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Jan 25, 2019
Who is really in charge in Venezuela
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó has said he would consider an amnesty for President Nicolás Maduro if he cedes power. Guaidó, who declared himself interim president on Wednesday, said he was reaching out to all sectors including the military to end the crisis. Maduro began a second term after polls marred by an opposition boycott and vote-rigging claims.
The global community is split on whether to recognize his government. But so far, Maduro retains the crucial support of Venezuela’s military. The US, more than a dozen Latin American countries, Canada and the UK have backed Guaidó – who is leader of Venezuela’s elected National Congress – after he said he was the legitimate president. But Russia has condemned foreign support for Guaidó, saying it violates international law and is a “direct path to bloodshed”. China, Mexico and Turkey also back Maduro. BBC
Longtime Trump adviser Stone indicted
Roger Stone, a long-time ally of US President Donald Trump who advised his 2016 presidential campaign, was arrested on Friday and charged with seven counts, according to a grand jury indictment made public by US Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office.
Stone, who was indicted on Thursday, faces one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of making false statements and one count of witness tampering, according to the Special Counsel’s Office. Stone is scheduled to appear at the federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, later on Friday, Mueller’s office said. VOA
WH preparing national emergency order
The White House is preparing a draft proclamation for President Donald Trump to declare a national emergency along the southern border and has identified more than $7 billion in potential funds for his signature border wall should he go that route, according to internal documents reviewed by CNN.
Trump has not ruled out using his authority to declare a national emergency and direct the Defense Department to construct a border wall as Congress and the White House fight over a deal to end the government shutdown. But while Trump’s advisers remain divided on the issue, the White House has been moving forward with alternative plans that would bypass Congress. Two rival bills for the shutdown failed in the Senate on Thursday, the Democratic version getting more votes. CNN
Pope in Panama for World Youth Day
Pope Francis is bringing World Youth Day to Panama’s juvenile delinquents who can’t participate in the Catholic Church’s big festival of faith. On Friday Francis will celebrate a special penitential Mass inside the Las Garzas de Pacora detention center, which is Panama’s main youth lockup. In a twist, he will also hear the inmates’ confessions inside confessionals the detainees made themselves.
It’s all part of Francis’ belief that prisoners deserve the same dignity as everyone else, as well as hope. Francis opened his first full day in Panama with that message of hope Thursday, formally welcoming tens of thousands of pilgrims to World Youth Day at a twilight pep rally at the capital’s seaside park. VOA
UK’s Queen makes plea for common ground
he Queen has urged people to find “common ground” and to respect “different points of view”. Commentators say the remarks will be seen as referring to the Brexit debate, with MPs due to vote on the PM’s deal for leaving the EU again next week.
MPs rejected the deal last week but the UK will leave on 29 March with no deal unless they can agree on a way forward. BBC royal correspondent Nicholas Witchell said there was little doubt the Queen was “sending a message”. BBC
Jared Kushner’s security clearance rejected
Jared Kushner’s application for a top secret clearance was rejected by two career White House security specialists after an FBI background check raised concerns about potential foreign influence on him — but their supervisor overruled the recommendation and approved the clearance, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC News.
The official, Carl Kline, is a former Pentagon employee who was installed as director of the personnel security office in the Executive Office of the President in May 2017. Kushner’s was one of at least 30 cases in which Kline overruled career security experts and approved a top secret clearance for incoming Trump officials despite unfavorable information, the two sources said. They said the number of rejections that were overruled was unprecedented — it had happened only once in the three years preceding Kline’s arrival. NBC
Asylum seekers to wait in Mexico
The Trump administration on Friday will start forcing some asylum seekers to wait in Mexico while their cases wind through US courts, an official said, launching what could become one of the more significant changes to the immigration system in years. The changes will be introduced at San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing, according to a US official familiar with the plan who spoke on condition of anonymity Thursday because it was not yet publicly announced.
San Ysidro is the nation’s busiest crossing and the choice of asylum seekers who arrived to Tijuana, Mexico, in November in a caravan of more than 6,000 mostly Central American migrants. The policy, which is expected to face a legal challenge, may be expanded to other crossings. It does not apply to children traveling alone or to asylum seekers from Mexico. AP News
WH preparing national emergency order and US president veto power
It has ever been learned that the State of Alaska territory was bought by the US President of that period by his veto power. That veto power was approved later as the purchasing of the territory with all its gas production and other minerals was so profitable for the US. So the veto power has since then been given to US President. If that fact has been a true case, the US President who ever they be could build the wall with the President veto power on such condition and thus President Trump might be able to build the wall with his veto power.
I wish shutdown be ended soon….federal workers and federal contractors like me suffered a lot already…