Top News Stories for Today – Jan 9, 2019
Top News Stories for Today – Jan 9, 2019
Trump addresses on border wall
In an eight-minute address on Tuesday night carried live by all the major US television networks, Trump said the federal government remained shut because of the Democrats. He said of the situation at the border: “This is a humanitarian crisis, a crisis of the heart and a crisis of the soul.” Trump said an as-yet-unratified revamp of the North American Free Trade Agreement would pay for the wall, a claim previously disputed by economists.
The president also said that 90% of heroin sold in the US came from Mexico, though US government figures make clear all but a small percentage is smuggled through legal points of entry. Trump correctly pointed out that Democrats have in the past supported a physical barrier. In 2006, senators Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden voted in favor of 700 miles (1,120km) of fencing on the nearly 2,000-mile border under the Secure Fence Act. Trump cited cases of American citizens “savagely murdered in cold blood” by undocumented immigrants. BBC
Dems demand separate shutdown, border security
In their response to President Trump’s address on border security, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said it’s time for Trump to “stop manufacturing crises and reopen the government.” Women and children at the border are “not a security threat, they are a humanitarian challenge,” Pelosi said, and there are several steps that can be taken to “secure our borders while honoring our values.
“By shutting down the government over border wall funding, Trump has “chosen to hold hostage critical services for the health, safety, and wellbeing of the American people and withhold the paychecks of 800,000 innocent workers across the nation,” she said. Schumer called on Trump to “separate the shutdown from arguments over border security.” The Week
Polls show Americans blame Trump for shutdown
A growing proportion of Americans blame President Donald Trump for a partial government shutdown that will cut off paychecks to federal workers this week, though Republicans mostly support his refusal to approve a budget without taxpayer dollars for the US-Mexico border wall, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Tuesday.
The national opinion poll, which ran from Jan. 1 to Jan. 7, found that 51 percent of adults believe Trump “deserves most of the blame” for the shutdown, which entered its 18th day on Tuesday. That is up 4 percentage points from a similar poll that ran from Dec. 21 to 25. Another 32 percent blame congressional Democrats for the shutdown and 7 percent blame congressional Republicans, according to the poll. Those percentages are mostly unchanged from the previous poll. Reuters
Manafort gave poll data to Russian
Paul Manafort, who headed Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for several months in mid-2016, shared polling data from the campaign with an associate with ties to Russian intelligence, according to a court filing Tuesday. The revelation adds to mounting evidence that the Trump campaign may have tried to coordinate with Russians during the presidential race, though federal prosecutors have yet to make a case that there was any conspiracy involving the campaign.
Prosecutors with special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation say Manafort lied to them about the exchange. Manafort, however, denied the charge about his dealings with former business partner Konstantin Kilimnik, a Ukraine native accused by prosecutors of having ties to Russian intelligence. Manafort said he merely forgot the details, blaming the chaotic atmosphere of the campaign. VOA
Kim leaves Beijing after brief visit
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is headed back home after a two-day visit to China and talks with President Xi Jinping. The visit was Kim Jong Un’s fourth to North Korea’s primary diplomatic and economic ally since last year, and raises speculation that Kim was coordinating with China ahead of a possible second summit with US President Donald Trump.
Kim and Xi held talks Tuesday — believed to be Kim’s birthday — shortly after the North Korean leader arrived in Beijing. He later attended a dinner with Xi and his wife at the Great Hall of the People. Kim was accompanied by his wife Ri Sol Ju. Neither side has provided details on the talks, nor of Kim’s schedule during his visit. VOA
UN considers Saudi woman a refugee
A Saudi woman who fled her family and refused to leave a Bangkok hotel has been declared a legitimate refugee by the UN, the Australian government says. Rahaf Mohammed al-Qunun, 18, refused to board a flight from Bangkok to Kuwait on Monday and barricaded herself into her airport hotel room. She said she had renounced Islam, which is punishable by death in Saudi Arabia.
The UN’s refugee agency has referred her case to Australia for possible resettlement. Thai immigration officials had initially said she should return to Kuwait, where her family were waiting. She then started a social media campaign, live-tweeting her case and attracting international attention. In a brief statement, Australia’s Department of Home Affairs said it would “consider this referral in the usual way”. BBC