Donald Trump

Trump has strong backing from the politically influential US evangelical movement

Who wants Trump to be president? God does, says White House

Press Trust of India

US lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle said Wednesday they have nominated jailed Uighur scholar Ilham Tohti -- sentenced to life in prison for "separatism" -- for the Nobel peace prize.
Senators Marco Rubio, a Republican, and Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, both signed the nomination letter, which came from the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
"We believe there is no one more deserving of the Committee's recognition in 2019 than Professor Tohti, who embodies the peaceful struggle for peace and human rights in China," the lawmakers wrote to the president of the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, and its other members Tuesday.
Tohti, 49, was sentenced to life in prison in September 2014 over comments he made in class, in interviews and on a website he ran that were critical of official policies directed at China's mainly Muslim Uighur minority in the restive far-west Xinjiang region.
The region has seen a ...

US lawmakers nominate jailed Uighur scholar for Nobel peace prize

PTI Automatic

A US judge refused Wednesday to unseal charges that the government is believed to have prepared against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Judge Leonie Brinkema of the federal court in Alexandria, Virginia said that the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, which petitioned for the unsealing order, had not proven the Assange case existed -- despite it having been referenced in court documents from another case.
Assange, who has stayed under diplomatic protection in the Ecuadoran embassy in London since August 2012, says the United States plans to indict him over WikiLeaks' publishing classified materials.
Assange says Washington wants him arrested and extradited if he steps foot outside the embassy.
He hopes that, by unsealing the charges, he may be able to protect himself from arrest in Britain.
US Justice Department authorities have refused for more than two years to acknowledge that they have investigated and prepared charges against the anti-secrecy advocate.
But in ...

US judge won't unseal 'charges' against WikiLeaks' Assange

Mexico and Uruguay on Wednesday announced they would convene an international conference for countries and bodies with a "neutral position" to discuss the political crisis in Venezuela.
The two countries have not recognized the Juan Guaido, the head of the National Assembly legislature who has declared himself acting president in place of leader Nicolas Maduro.
The conference, announced on the website of the Uruguayan presidency, is due to take place in Montevideo on February 7.
The statement said the two governments were responding "to a call from the secretary-general of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to initiate dialogue."
The announcement comes after the Venezuelan opposition rejected any solution to the crisis that leaves Maduro in power.
The two countries expect around 10 states and bodies to attend the conference but gave no details on which those might be.
The statement said they were "ready to work with those members of the international community... who want to employ 

Mexico, Uruguay announce conference on Venezuela for 'neutral' countries

Colombia's government barred entry on Wednesday to more than 200 people linked to the Nicolas Maduro "dictatorship" in Venezuela, the migration authority said.
The decision forms part of the "measures taken by the Lima Group" of 14 mostly Latin American countries that are "looking for a peaceful solution to the crisis in Venezuela," said Migration Colombia.

Colombia bars entry to over 200 people for Maduro links: official

The Federal Reserve left the key US lending rate unchanged on Wednesday, and said it would be "patient" about making any further changes, in the clearest signal yet the central bank has heeded concerns about the economy.
Although the Fed continues to expect continued expansion of the economy and strong jobs growth are the "most likely outcomes," the statement signaled the growing uncertainty about the outlook.
"In light of global economic and financial developments and muted inflation pressures, the committee will be patient as it determines" the timing and need for any further increases, the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee said.
In an unusual separate statement, the Fed also said it was prepared to change the pace of reduction of its massive securities holdings, after markets became concerned that the current process was too rigid.
The language used in the FOMC statement, keeping the benchmark interest rate in a range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, reflected the ...

US Fed keeps interest rate unchanged, says will be 'patient'

Opening batsman Quinton de Kock launched an assault on Pakistan's bowlers to set up a series-clinching win for South Africa in the fifth and final one-day international at Newlands on Wednesday.
De Kock slammed 83 off 58 balls as South Africa chased down a target of 241 with seven wickets and ten overs to spare to seal a 3-2 series win.
"Quinny made it easy for the rest of the batters," said South African captain Faf du Plessis, who said he was "extremely happy" with the way his team had played.
"Our best performance came tonight in a crunch game," said Du Plessis. "The bowling was excellent and the fielding was really good. And when Quinny plays like he did tonight he's extremely difficult to bowl to."
While man-of-the-match De Kock sealed the win with his dazzling strokeplay, South Africa's bowlers played a significant role by restricting Pakistan to 240 for eight despite an aggressive 70 by Fakhar Zaman.
While Zaman was at the crease, Pakistan were on course for a big total. He was 

De Kock assault sinks Pakistan in series decider

Winning back trust is seen as the key priority for Facebook as the world's biggest social network readies its financial update on the final months of 2018 Wednesday.
Facebook is looking to rebound from a horrific year marked by a series of scandals over data protection and privacy, and concerns that it had been manipulated by foreign interests for political purposes.
Facebook so far has been able to keep revenue momentum thanks to its unique advertising model. Its global user base has risen to more than 2.2 billion, although growth has stalled in North America and Europe.
In the quarter that ended in September, Facebook saw a profit of $5.14 billion on revenue that leaped 33 percent to USD 13.7 billion.
Industry tracker eMarketer expects Facebook's share of the global digital ad market to grow this year. The social network claims 20.5 percent of an overall USD 327.28 billion spent.
But analysts say the trust issue is crucial for Facebook if it wants to move forward on its mission to ..

Trust the priority for Facebook with earnings due

European leaders moved Wednesday to head off British Prime Minister Theresa May's bid to rewrite the Brexit divorce deal, warning they will not budge.
Having thrown out the exit deal May negotiated with the EU, divided British lawmakers voted Tuesday to send her back to get an Irish border "backstop" clause removed.
May seized on this as a chance to prevent Britain crashing out of the European Union on March 29 without an agreement, vowing to return to Brussels to demand changes to the text.
But even she admits she faces a formidable challenge convincing Brussels to re-open an accord that took 18 excruciating months to conclude, and European leaders are so far united in dismissing any such manoeuvre.
"It's an extraordinary situation when a prime minister and a government negotiates a deal and then goes back and during the ratification process votes against their own deal," Irish foreign minister Simon Coveney told RTE radio.
"That's like saying in a negotiation, 'Well either you give .

Europe stands against May's bid to rewrite Brexit

The Netherlands' biggest amusement park will update a popular ride to change controversial African and Asian dolls that campaigners have branded racist, it said on Wednesday.
The Efteling park said the updates to the Carnaval Festival ride would give it an "appearance that fits better with the current era, traditional African costumes instead of nose rings for example".
Asian dolls featuring slanted eyes and long front teeth would also be changed on the 35-year-old ride, the theme park in the southern Netherlands said in a statement.
Negative reaction to the dolls came particularly from international visitors and media who "did not grow up with the attraction", NOS television's website quoted park spokeswoman Femke van Es as saying.
But the park had no plans to change another ride called Monsieur Cannibale, which features a black cannibal in the middle of a carousel with cooking pots.
Anti-racism campaigners have long called on the park to change both attractions and staged a protest .

Dutch theme park to change 'racist' dolls

The death toll after two migrant boats sank in heavy seas off the coast of Djibouti has risen to 43, the UN migration agency said on Wednesday, with scores still feared missing.
Search and rescue teams met with grim scenes of bodies strewn across the beach at Obock, a port town down the coast from Godaria where the vessels had set sail on the Horn of Africa nation's northeast coast on Tuesday.
An AFP journalist also saw cadavers in the water before teams placed them in white body bags lined up on the beach.
The International Organization for Migration said the boats capsized half an hour into their voyage.
The IOM's chief of mission in Djibouti Lalini Veerassamy told AFP the death toll had reached 43 on Wednesday.
"This tragic event demonstrates the risks that vulnerable migrants face as they innocently search for better lives," she said in a statement.
Sixteen people were rescued following the sinkings, with one survivor telling Djiboutian authorities there were 130 people on his ...

Death toll reaches 43 after migrant boats sink off Djibouti

Nuclear waste is piling up around the world even as countries struggle to dispose of spent fuel that will remain highly toxic for many thousands of years, Greenpeace detailed in a report Wednesday.
An analysis of waste storage facilities in seven countries with nuclear power revealed that several were near saturation, the anti-nuclear NGO said.
All these nations also confronted other problems that have yet to be fully contained: fire risk, venting of radioactive gases, environmental contamination, failure of containers, terrorist attacks and escalating costs.
"More than 65 years after the start of the civil use of nuclear power, not a single country can claim that it has the solution to manage the most dangerous radioactive wastes," Shaun Burnie, a nuclear expert at Greenpeace Germany and coordinator of the report said in a statement.
In particular, storing waste material from nuclear power reactors deep in the ground -- the most researched long-term storage technology -- "has shown ..

Storage of nuclear waste a 'global crisis': report

EU leader Jean-Claude Juncker warned Wednesday that the British parliament's decision to demand changes to the Brexit withdrawal deal had increased the risk of a messy "no deal" divorce.
"Yesterday's vote increased the risk of a disorderly withdrawal," the president of the European Commission told MEPs. "We need to be ready for all scenarios, including the worst."
Speaking at a debate on the crisis for European lawmakers, the EU Commission president reiterated the EU position that the withdrawal agreement already signed last year with Prime Minister Theresa May can not be re-negotiated.
And, while he said he would "work day and night" to head off the danger of a no-deal divorce, Tuesday's debate in the House of Commons had not changed anything and Europe remains united in support of the agreement.
He insisted that the so-called "Irish backstop", opposed by eurosceptic British MPs, must remain in the deal as an insurance against the return of a hard border on Ireland and against ...

Juncker: British vote raises risk of disorderly Brexit

A life-threatening deep freeze gripped the American Midwest on Wednesday as weather colder than Antarctica grounded flights, disrupted travel and brought life to a standstill for tens of millions.
Mail deliveries were suspended, schools and business closed, and residents encouraged to stay home in nearly a dozen states where temperatures overnight sank into the negative double digits, the worst cold to grip the region in a generation with all-time records still under threat.
America's third city Chicago -- where the morning temperature was -22 degrees Fahrenheit (-30 Celsius), which felt like -50 degrees (-46 Celsius) with wind chill -- was colder than Alaska's state capital and even colder than parts of Antarctica.
More than 1,500 flights were cancelled in the city's two major airports while rail operator Amtrak scrapped train services from its Chicago hub.
The US Postal Service -- known for its commitment to bringing the mail whatever the weather -- suspended deliveries in parts of .

Colder than Antarctica: brutal deep freeze grips US Midwest

Five days after a dam collapse at a Brazilian mine, residents were mourning Wednesday the nearly 360 people killed and missing -- as well the river they live alongside, which is dying from spreading toxic, muddy waste.
Helton, one resident, said his 28-year-old wife and his 35-year-old sister both worked at the facility, owned by Vale, the Brazilian company that is the world's biggest iron-ore miner.
They are among the 276 missing, presumed dead, likely to swell the list of 84 confirmed fatalities.
"I asked them to leave. And they said no, because they needed the work," said Helton -- who only gave his first name -- adding that rumors of perilous conditions had circulated before the disaster.
Many in and around Brumadinho, the nearest town to the mine, worked for Vale. The community was essentially a company town, tied to what was by far the biggest employer in the area.
They also live in the shadow of multiple dams that have been used by Vale's operation.
"They knew it was ging to ...

Brazil dam disaster: mourning and dead fish along river of mud

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro hit out Wednesday at military "mercenaries" he says are conspiring to divide the armed forces and plot a coup as the opposition planned a new protest to force the socialist leader from power.
Maduro accused an "oligarchy" in neighboring Colombia of being behind an attempt by military deserters to drive a wedge between himself and his loyal forces, which are key to the leader's hold on power faced with mounting international support for self-proclaimed acting president Juan Guaido.
Six major western European countries have set a weekend deadline for Maduro to call elections or they too will recognize Guaido as interim president.
In a telephone call, US President Donald Trump congratulated Guaido on his "historic assumption of the presidency," giving him a new sense of legitimacy, the White House said.
Speaking at a parade of 2,500 military personnel in Caracas, Maduro declared: "Where there are mercenary traitors, justice!" It came just hours before .

Maduro rallies military as Venezuela opposition plans protest

Opening batsman Fakhar Zaman hit an aggressive 70 before Pakistan's innings stalled in the series-deciding fifth and final one-day international against South Africa on Wednesday.
With the series at stake, Pakistan made 240 for eight after being sent in to bat at Newlands.
While Zaman was at the crease, Pakistan were on course for a big total. He was fourth out after a 73-ball innings when the total was 128 in the 25th over.  But the scoring rate slowed after his dismissal, with only 49 runs scored in the next 15 overs.
Imad Wasim, batting at number eight, gave the innings late impetus, hitting 47 not out off 31 balls. He hit sixes off Dale Steyn and Kagiso Rabada in the last two overs.  Medium-paced all-rounders Dwaine Pretorius and Andile Phehlukwayo both took two wickets in a disciplined South African bowling performance.
The left-handed Zaman hit ten fours in making his first half-century after a sequence of low scores in both the Tests and the one-day internationals. He was ...

Pakistan stall after Zaman aggression

Facebook paid users, including teens, to track their smartphone activity as part of an effort to glean more data that could help the social network's competition efforts, according to a new report that may raise fresh privacy concerns.
An investigation by the online news site TechCrunch said the effort, which had been known as the Onavo Protect and later rebaptized as Facebook Research, was used to gather data on usage habits.
The news could be a further embarrassment for Facebook, which has been under heightened scrutiny over failing to crack down on manipulation of its platform and for sharing private data with its business partners.
Facebook said it shut down the application on Apple's iOS on Wednesday after the TechCrunch article was published. It remained unclear if it remained active for Android users.
The report said the initial Onavo app was shuttered for violating Apple's privacy policy and that the newer version may also contravene Apple's terms.
The programme paid users ...

Facebook paid users to track smartphone use: report

Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri believes Eden Hazard could leave the club to fulfil his potential with the Belgian attracting interest from Real Madrid.
Hazard's contract with the Premier League club expires in 2020 and he has so far refused to extend that deal despite Chelsea's efforts.
The Blues have stood firm in rejecting bids for Callum Hudson-Odoi from German giants Bayern Munich for the 18-year-old.
Hudson-Odoi is also out of contract in 2020, but Sarri intimated the club's stance may be different and they may cash in on Hazard in the summer should he express his desire to leave.
"The situation of Eden is different. Eden is 28. If he wants to go, I think he has to go," said Sarri ahead of Wednesday's trip to Bournemouth.
"Of course, I hope the opposite. I hope he wants to stay here.
"He has the potential to be the best player in Europe at the moment.
"Sometimes he's happy with something less. It's my job to improve him and put him in a position to do his best."
Sarri branded ...

Sarri will not stop Hazard leaving Chelsea

Bangladesh will Wednesday file a lawsuit in New York against a Philippine bank over its involvement in one of the biggest-ever cyber heists, the country's central bank governor said.
Unidentified hackers stole USD 81 million from the Bangladesh central bank's account with the US Federal Reserve in New York in February 2016.
The money was then transferred to a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC), swiftly withdrawn and laundered through local casinos.
A case will be filed against RCBC and "all others" involved in the heist to try and retrieve the stolen funds, Bangladesh central bank governor Fazle Kabir told AFP.
An agreement between the bank and the US Federal Reserve in New York had been signed to assist Dhaka in the case, he added.
Bangladesh has sent a legal team to New York and is prepared to fight for the money to be returned, Kabir told reporters in the capital Dhaka.
The Philippines in 2016 imposed a record USD 21 million fine on RCBC after investigating ..

Bangladesh to sue Philippine bank over USD 81m cyber heist

Eight environmentalists accused of "spying" on Iranian military bases appeared in court Wednesday for a closed-door trial, the official news agency IRNA reported.
"The environmentalists were summoned to the court," Mohammad-Hossein Aghasi, a representative of the accused, told IRNA. Aghasi, however, was not present in court as the state designated its own hand-picked lawyers to represent the defendants, IRNA reported.
"I, as the lawyer of Sam Rajabi, one of those accused in the case, was not invited to the trial," Aghasi was quoted as saying. Aghasi told AFP that he was "puzzled" by the court's decision since "the court should never oppose the lawyer chosen by the accused." Defendants he represents were told that they should change their lawyer, he said.
Four of the environmentalists were accused in October of "corruption on earth" -- a charge that can carry the death sentence in Iran. Another three defendants are accused of espionage and the last has been charged with "conspiracy ...

AFP

AFP

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