Top Stories Today – April 12, 2019
Top Stories Today – April 12, 2019
Trump: I know nothing about WikiLeaks
US President Donald Trump said Thursday he has no knowledge of the website WikiLeaks, after the whistleblowing site’s founder, Julian Assange, was arrested in Britain.
On the campaign trail in 2016, Trump repeatedly referred to WikiLeaks after it published hacked emails from the Democrat National Committee. He once declared, “WikiLeaks! I love WikiLeaks,” at a rally in Pennsylvania. The Voice of America
WH proposed releasing migrants in sanctuary cities
White House officials have tried to pressure US immigration authorities to release detainees onto the streets of “sanctuary cities” to retaliate against President Trump’s political adversaries, according to Department of Homeland Security officials and email messages reviewed by The Washington Post. Trump administration officials have proposed transporting detained immigrants to sanctuary cities at least twice in the past six months — once in November, as a migrant caravan approached the US southern border, and again in February, amid a standoff with Democrats over funding for Trump’s border wall.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s district in San Francisco was among those the White House wanted to target, according to DHS officials. The administration also considered releasing detainees in other Democratic strongholds. The Washington Post
Rosenstein defends Barr over Mueller report
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is standing behind Attorney General William Barr and the way he has handled Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report. Barr gave Congress a four-page letter summarizing his interpretation of the findings, but has yet to release the actual report.
Democrats have pushed back, demanding the full report be released, and this week, Barr said he is working on getting a redacted version out. In an interview Thursday with The Wall Street Journal, Rosenstein said Barr is “being as forthcoming as he can, and so this notion that he’s trying to mislead people, I think is just completely bizarre.” The public, he added, should have “tremendous confidence” in Barr. The Wall Street Journal via The Week
Disney+ undercuts Netflix at $ 7
Walt Disney Co. will charge $7 a month for its streaming service that debuts Nov. 12, a gambit to undercut rival entertainment giant Netflix Inc. in an increasingly crowded field.
The company unveiled the service Thursday on a sound stage used to make the original “Mary Poppins,” delivering an Apple-style presentation of the online product. The platform will be several dollars less than Netflix’s most popular plan, which runs $11, and will weigh heavily on Disney’s finances. Disney+ isn’t expected to break even for about five years. Bloomberg
Israeli spacecraft crashes on moon
he first privately funded mission to the Moon has crashed on the lunar surface after the apparent failure of its main engine. The Israeli spacecraft – called Beresheet – attempted a soft touch down, but suffered technical problems on its descent to the Moon’s surface.
The aim of the mission was to take pictures and conduct experiments. Only government space agencies from the former Soviet Union, the US and China have achieved soft lunar landings. Israel hoped to become the fourth country to do this. BBC