Top Stories Today – May 30, 2019
Top Stories Today – May 30, 2019
WH wanted USS John McCain out of sight during Trump Japan visit
The White House wanted the US Navy to move “out of sight” the warship USS John S. McCain ahead of President Trump’s visit to Japan, according to an email reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. The ship was named after the father and grandfather of the late senator—a war hero who became a frequent target of Mr. Trump’s ire—and the senator’s name was added to the ship in 2018.
Navy officials, apparently taken aback by the request, first draped tarps over the ship’s name, then removed the tarps and moved a barge into place to obscure the name, the Journal reports. The ship’s crew, whose uniforms say USS John McCain, was given the day off and not invited to Trump’s speech Tuesday aboard the nearby USS Wasp. A senior White House official confirmed the request to The Washington Post, said the goal was to keep Trump from being upset, and said Trump was not involved in the planning. The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post
Israel to hold new elections again
After Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was unable to form a coalition government in the span of the required six-week timeframe, the Knesset — Israel’s national legislature — voted Wednesday to dissolve itself, setting up an unprecedented second national election which will be held on September 17.
Netanyahu’s party was victorious in a tightly contested election in April, but he was unable to broker a deal between secular right-winger and ex-Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman and the country’s ultra-Orthodox parties, which were at odds over a bill that would increase the number of ultra-orthodox Jewish men conscripted into the army. Instead, by a vote of 74-45, the Knesset agreed to disband. That means for the second time this year, Israelis will head to the polls. The Week
China: Provoking trade disputes is economic terrorism
Provoking trade disputes is “naked economic terrorism,” a senior Chinese diplomat said Thursday, ramping up the rhetoric against the United States amid a bitter trade war that is showing no signs of ending soon.
Trade tensions between Washington and Beijing escalated sharply earlier this month after the Trump administration accused China of having “reneged” on its previous promises to make structural changes to its economic practices. Washington later slapped additional tariffs of up to 25% on $200 billion of Chinese goods, prompting Beijing to retaliate. The Voice of America
South Africa gets gender-balanced cabinet
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a new cabinet in which, for the first time in the country’s history, half of all ministers are women. In another unexpected move, one of the women is from the opposition. He appointed veteran opposition politician Patricia de Lille, who had stood for the Good Party, as minister of infrastructure development.
The African National Congress party won a general election on 8 May. South African journalist Verashni Pillay told BBC Newsday that the move to have half of all cabinet posts occupied by women was a “surprise”. But it shows that the head of state is “astute”, she said. BBC
Canada moves to ratify North American Trade Deal
Canada moved to ratify a new North American trade deal by formally presenting it to parliament Wednesday, less than 24 hours ahead of a visit by US Vice President Mike Pence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presented the bill to the House of Commons, confirming a Reuters story from Tuesday that said the legislation would officially be offered up to parliament Wednesday. Canada, Mexico and the United States signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in November 2018.
However, the deal, which would replace the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), has yet to be ratified by any of the three countries. Canada is the first member country to move toward ratification. The Voice of America
Mueller says charging Trump was ‘not an option’
Special Counsel Robert Mueller made a statement on Wednesday regarding his comprehensive investigation into Russian election interference, his first public statement on the 2-year probe. Mueller outlined the sweeping foreign efforts to influence the 2016 election, but reiterated that his report did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Russia and President Trump’s campaign. He said that evaluating the instances of potential obstruction of justice described in the report would be left to the attorney general, who previously opted not to pursue further charges, and Congress.
“If we had confidence that the president did not commit a crime, we would have said so,” he said. Charging a sitting president with a crime was “not an option we could consider,” said Mueller, who also suggested he would not testify before Congress. The Associated Press, CNN via The Week
3 US States face flooding of historic magnitude
Thousands of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana residents braced for more flooding Wednesday, and some evacuated their homes, as forecasts of further rain drove fears that decades-old levees girding the Arkansas River may not hold.
More than a week of violent weather, including downpours and deadly tornadoes, has lashed the central United States, bringing record-breaking floods to parts of the states, turning highways into lakes and submerging all but the roofs of some homes. “This is a flood of historic magnitude,” Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson told a news conference Wednesday. The Voice of America