| Trump accused of ‘not working hard enough’ as schedule reveals he averaged one event a day in January Posted: 31 Jan 2019 06:03 AM PST  Donald Trump participated in just one event per day on average throughout January, according to his public schedule, amid mounting accusations he is not working hard enough as president. Overall, Mr Trump's public schedule showed a total of 32 events in the 31 days throughout January – not including his daily intelligence briefings, personal fundraisers or private White House lunches.
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| 'El Chapo' trial reveals drug lord's love life, business dealings Posted: 01 Feb 2019 08:48 AM PST  In one recorded call, Guzman tells an associate, "Don't be so harsh... take it easy with the police." The partner responds: "You taught us to be a wolf." ** Text messages between Guzman and his wife, Emma Coronel, often turned to family matters. "I'm going to give her an AK-47 so she can hang with me." ** After Coronel said she saw a suspicious car, Guzman wrote to her, "You go ahead and lead a normal life. The same day, he grinned broadly at audience member Alejandro Edda, the Mexican actor who plays Guzman in the Netflix television drama "Narcos." LOVERS AND BUSINESS ** Multiple "wives" visited Guzman when he was hiding in Sinaloa, said Alex Cifuentes, a former close partner.
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| Polar vortex blamed for at least eight deaths as deep freeze grips US Midwest Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:25 AM PST  A blast of icy polar air brought dangerously low temperatures to the US Midwest on Wednesday, causing at least three more deaths while halting mail deliveries and forcing residents who pride themselves on their winter hardiness to huddle indoors. Classes were cancelled for Wednesday and Thursday for students across the Midwest, including Chicago, home of the nation's third-largest school system, and police warned of the risk of accidents on icy highways. Michigan said all state offices would remain closed through Thursday. In a rare move, the US Postal Service appeared to set aside its credo that "neither snow nor rain ... nor gloom of night" would stop its work as it halted deliveries from parts of the Dakotas through Ohio. At least eight deaths related to extreme cold weather have been reported since Saturday in Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota, according to officials and media reports. Illinois State Police officers rescued 21 people who were stranded in a charter bus that broke down in sub-zero temperatures along Interstate 55 near Auburn after the vehicle's diesel fuel turned to gel in its engine, according to the agency. Cold front: Temperatures held at below -20C in Chicago, Illinois. The city's record low, -33C, was registered in 1985 Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images In Detroit, a 70-year-old man was found dead on Wednesday on a residential street, a Detroit police spokeswoman said. About 15 miles (24 km) south in the community of Ecorse, a former city councilman in his 70s and dressed only in sleepwear was also found dead on Wednesday, police there said. A University of Iowa student was found dead outside a building at the campus early on Wednesday, the school said in a statement. The death of Gerald Belz, a pre-med student, was believed to be weather-related. Streets in Chicago were nearly empty, with few people walking outside in the painfully cold air as temperatures hovered around minus 28 Celsius. "It's terrible!" Pasquale Cappellano, a 68-year-old waiter, said as he smoked a cigarette while waiting outside for a bus on Chicago's North Side. "I gotta pick up my medication at Walgreens or else I wouldn't be out the door." US weather: Polar vortex threatens record low temperatures, in pictures In Minneapolis, chilled to minus 26 Celsius, Brian Pierce ventured out to "embrace the elements" and found himself watching cars slipping on the roads. "The roads sound really weird, it seems there's a lack of grip," he said. "And my teeth hurt." Wind-chill temperatures in parts of the Northern Plains and Great Lakes plunged as low as minus 41 Celsius in Park Rapids, Minnesota, and minus 35 Celsius in Fargo, North Dakota, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). The frigid winds were headed for the US East Coast later on Wednesday. Normally, the #PolarVortex �� swirls around the Arctic, trapping cold air near the Pole. Recently, this pressure system has been less stable, spilling colder air south & bringing record-low temperatures �� to parts of the continental U.S. https://t.co/PS83gEo5u0pic.twitter.com/zQP4sYS2Kh— NASA Earth (@NASAEarth) January 30, 2019 More than a thousand flights, close to two-thirds of those scheduled, were canceled on Wednesday into or out of Chicago O'Hare and Chicago Midway international airports, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. Amtrak canceled all trains in and out of Chicago on Wednesday. At the Morning Joy Farm in Mercer, North Dakota, Annie Carlson said her horses and sheep were doing fine. "They can go into the barn if they wish," she said. "They're snuggled in, warm and toasty." Her chickens, ducks and guinea hens were enjoying the 21 Celsius climate inside their greenhouse-like hoop house, she said. Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the NWS, said some of the coldest wind chills were recorded in International Falls, Minnesota, at minus 48 Celsius. Even the South Pole in Antarctica was warmer, with an expected low of minus 31 Celsius with wind chill. Out in the cold: goggles weather for Minneapolis residents Jen and Aaron Brackman Credit: STEPHEN MATUREN/AFP/Getty Images Temperatures in Chicago will drop again "quite precipitously" on Wednesday night, Orrison said, potentially breaking the record low of minus 33 Celsius on January 21, 1985, the day of Ronald Reagan's second presidential inauguration. Banks and stores closed for business. Waste Management Inc , a major trash collection company, said it cancelled pickups in counties across the Midwest on Wednesday and Thursday. The bitter cold was caused by a displacement of the polar vortex, a stream of air that normally spins around the stratosphere over the North Pole, but whose current was disrupted and was now pushing south. Officials opened warming centres across the Midwest, and in Chicago, police stations were open to anyone seeking refuge. Five city buses were also deployed to serve as mobile warming centres for homeless people, while city police handed out hats, jackets and blankets. In Ontario, Canada, steam rises from the frozen Niagara Falls Credit: LARS HAGBERG/AFP/Getty Images The Chicago Police Department said it could encourage people to get out of the cold. "But we will never force someone," police officer Michael Carroll said. US homes and businesses will likely use record amounts of natural gas for heating on Wednesday, according to energy analysts. Some residents just to the north and northwest of the Twin Cities in Minnesota were asked by Xcel Energy to dial down their thermostats 16C because of the strains on its natural gas supply system. The Michigan Agency for Energy said the state's utility companies had agreed not to shut off gas or electric supplies to delinquent customers for the rest of the week.
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| Brazilian anger unabated by Vale vows after dam disaster Posted: 31 Jan 2019 01:26 PM PST  "Too Late" read newspaper Estado de Minas in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, after Vale, the world's largest iron ore miner, said it would take up to 10 percent of its production offline and spend 5 billion reais ($1.36 billion) to decommission 10 dams like the one that collapsed at its Corrego do Feijao mine last Friday. With 110 people confirmed dead and another 238 missing, according to firefighters' count on Thursday evening, the tailings dam collapse in the town of Brumadinho may be Brazil's deadliest-ever mine disaster. In recent days, Vale has vowed to keep paying taxes on the paralyzed mine and donate 100,000 reais to the family of each victim.
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| AP Interview: Venezuela's Guaido vows to defy ban on aid Posted: 31 Jan 2019 07:35 PM PST  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido said he will defy a government ban on humanitarian aid by sending large convoys of medicine into the country with the help of neighboring nations.
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| Amazon, Walmart Reel as India Curbs Plunge Market Into Chaos Posted: 01 Feb 2019 06:43 AM PST  Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government tightened rules for the retail giants after strident complaints from small shops and domestic sellers. Amazon and Walmart's Flipkart are now banned from cutting exclusive arrangements with sellers, offering deep discounts or holding any business interest in online merchants on their websites. Thousands of products have already vanished from the virtual shelves of the duo, which together account for 70 percent of India's online retail market.
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| Stephen King announces 'good vs. evil' novel 'The Institute' Posted: 01 Feb 2019 06:50 AM PST  According to the book flap synopsis, the story will focus on a boy named Luke Ellis, who is kidnapped from his quiet house in suburban Minneapolis and taken to The Institute, where he meets many kids with special talents who got there the same way. No one, he learns, has ever escaped from The Institute. "The Institute" will go on sale on September 10.
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| IAG boss says 'very confident' of Brexit aviation deal Posted: 01 Feb 2019 07:13 AM PST  Willie Walsh, chief executive of British Airways owner IAG, said Friday that he was "very confident" that London and Brussels would reach a "comprehensive agreement" on post-Brexit aviation. Walsh, speaking at a relaunch of global airline alliance Oneworld, added that a chaotic no-deal Brexit would not deter passengers from flying. "I remain very confident that we will see a comprehensive agreement between the UK and the EU on aviation," Walsh told journalists at the event in central London.
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| US border crisis: ICE officials force-feeding immigrants on hunger strike in Texas detention centre Posted: 31 Jan 2019 08:14 AM PST  US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials are force-feeding migrants who are on hunger strike at a detention centre in El Paso, Texas. Family members of migrants say the force-feeding is causing severe nosebleeds and vomiting. Force-feeding is when a lubricated tube is pushed through the nostril until it reaches the throat, so that liquid food can be pumped into the stomach.
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| How Trump Is Changing the State of the Union Address Posted: 31 Jan 2019 11:14 AM PST  How President Trump is changing the State of the Union address.
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| In U.S. Midwest, 22F 'feels like spring' after days of brutal cold Posted: 01 Feb 2019 03:22 PM PST  CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bone-chilling cold that paralysed a large part of the United States this week and caused at least 18 deaths eased on Friday as an errant Arctic air mass retreated, setting the stage for a warmer-than-normal weekend in areas of the Midwest and Northeast. In Chicago, where the mercury dipped as low as minus 22 Fahrenheit (minus 30 Celsius) earlier this week, temperatures of 22F (minus 5.5C) on Friday afternoon felt positively balmy for some in the nation's third-largest city. "It's got to be an almost 50 degree difference, it feels like spring," said one commuter heading home from Chicago's downtown financial district, wearing only a sweatshirt to keep warm.
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| Zebra dies on Indiana farm after being left out in extreme cold Posted: 31 Jan 2019 11:28 AM PST  A zebra died at a farm in northern Indiana due to exposure to the extreme cold
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| Pence in Florida: Time to end Maduro regime in Venezuela Posted: 01 Feb 2019 01:52 PM PST  DORAL, Fla. (AP) — U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told a crowd in Florida on Friday that it is time to take action to end the socialist regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
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| Mueller Says Hackers Spread ‘Putin’s Chef’ Case Evidence Online Posted: 31 Jan 2019 08:13 AM PST  Mueller's team said Wednesday that "non-sensitive" evidence that had been shared exclusively with Concord's U.S. law firm, Reed Smith LLP, ended up in an online file-sharing portal, apparently as a result of a hacking operation targeting the law firm. "We've got access to the Special Counsel Mueller's probe database as we hacked Russian server with info from the Russian troll case Concord LLC v. Mueller," a posting from a newly created Twitter account named @HackingRedstone said on Oct. 22, 2018, according to Mueller's filing. "You can view all the files Mueller had about the IRA and Russian collusion.
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| 'Beyond absurd': Principal says no offense intended when she wore blackface, Steve Harvey costume Posted: 31 Jan 2019 09:39 AM PST  Local NAACP and state Human Relations Commission leaders express dismay that anyone would fail to recognize why this would be offensive.
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| Snopes pulls out of fact-checking partnership with Facebook Posted: 01 Feb 2019 02:22 PM PST  The statement did not elaborate but Snopes vice president Vinny Green told the media education group Poynter the partnership was excessively labor intensive, requiring manual updates to fact checks by its staff of 16. Snopes said it agreed to partner with Facebook "without financial benefit to ourselves," but added that it faces increasing financial difficulties. Snopes partnered with Facebook in 2016 on fact-checking and has been one of many global organizations that have agreements with the social network to help it fight misinformation.
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| Kamala Harris and the Implausibility of ‘Medicare-for-All’ Posted: 01 Feb 2019 03:30 AM PST  Senator Kamala Harris committed a most unusual gaffe at her CNN town hall the other night — not by misspeaking about one of her central policy proposals, but by describing it accurately. Asked on Monday night if the "Medicare-for-all" plan that she's co-sponsoring with Senator Bernie Sanders eliminates private health insurance, she said that it most certainly does.
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| Musk not worried about Tesla Model 3 demand, Wall Street thinks otherwise Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:06 PM PST ![Musk not worried about Tesla Model 3 demand, Wall Street thinks otherwise]( "Musk not worried about Tesla Model 3 demand, Wall Street thinks otherwise") Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk said he sees higher demand for the Model 3, as the electric car maker begins to ship cars to Europe and Asia from its Fremont, California factory. "The profitability picture for Tesla looks encouraging ... with Musk & Co giving some good granularity around projections for 2019 on the demand and production fronts, with ample cash to pay its upcoming debt payment which is around the corner," Wedbush analysts said in a note.
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| At least 12 dead as arctic freeze spreads into U.S. Northeast Posted: 31 Jan 2019 10:43 AM PST The prospect of a weekend break offered little comfort to those enduring icy conditions, brutal winds and temperatures as low as minus 36 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 37 Celsius) in the Midwest and 3F (-16C) on the East Coast, according to the National Weather Service. In Minnesota and Upper Michigan, people battled temperatures as low as minus 25F (minus 31C), said Andrew Orrison, a weather service forecaster. Central and northern Wisconsin had weather of minus 20F (-29C) and parts of northern Illinois, including parts of the Chicago area, saw temperatures between minus 15F (minus 26C) and minus 10F (minus 23C), he said.
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| Trump branded 'extraordinarily inappropriate' amid widespread astonishment at president's attack on intelligence chiefs Posted: 31 Jan 2019 02:25 AM PST  Donald Trump's criticism of the US intelligence community as "extremely passive and naïve" has provoked widespread astonishment among lawmakers in Washington. The president was reportedly seething on Wednesday morning as he watched highlights of intelligence chiefs, including director of national intelligence Dan Coats, counter his views on a number of foreign policy issues during testimony on Capitol Hill. Mr Coats had suggested during the Senate intelligence committee briefing on Tuesday that Iran was avoiding steps towards a nuclear bomb, Isis was returning in Iraq and Syria, and North Korea was unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons.
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| Nike Faces Demand to Recall Sneakers as Muslims Object to Design Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:30 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Nike Inc. is facing pressure to recall one of its leading brands of sneakers after a customer launched an online petition alleging the design on its sole resembles the Arabic word for "Allah."
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| 3 students killed in South Africa school walkway collapse Posted: 01 Feb 2019 06:30 AM PST  JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least three students are dead and 23 injured after a walkway collapsed at a school outside Johannesburg, South African officials said Friday.
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| Why utility customers were told to turn down the heat during cold polar vortex Posted: 31 Jan 2019 09:01 AM PST  Consumers Energy and DTE Energy in Michigan are asking customers to voluntarily reduce their natural gas and electricity use during the polar vortex.
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| DACA reportedly off the table as congressional negotiators meet to avert another government shutdown Posted: 31 Jan 2019 02:51 AM PST  Democrats doubt they'd be able to get long-term DACA protections; should Nancy Pelosi have taken Trump's deal? DACA recipient Hilario Yanez reacts.
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| Southwest Airlines is selling tickets for as low as $66 today Posted: 31 Jan 2019 12:16 PM PST  After what felt like potentially the longest collective month of all of our
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| Tesla begins sales of cheaper Model 3 car variant in China Posted: 01 Feb 2019 05:20 AM PST  Here's what it will cost.
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| Howard Schultz Could Flip the 2020 Election. Just Not Necessarily to Trump's Favor Posted: 31 Jan 2019 02:09 PM PST  Democrats are nervous, but his impact could go either way
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| Touring One of the Best Classic Ford Collections I've Ever Seen Posted: 01 Feb 2019 08:22 AM PST  He bought his 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429 in 1972 and it is untouched apart from oil, a battery, and tires. One of these sold in 2015 for $465,000.
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| Vatican magazine denounces sexual abuse of nuns by priests Posted: 01 Feb 2019 11:27 AM PST  VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican's women's magazine is denouncing the sexual abuse of nuns by priests and the resulting scandal of religious sisters having abortions or giving birth to children who are not recognized by their fathers.
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| Excruciatingly cold blast plunges early Thursday temps into deep freeze Posted: 31 Jan 2019 04:38 AM PST  Near-record temperatures were being recorded in dozens of cities and towns. The Midwestern metropolises of Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit were among areas feeling the brunt of the polar vortex-powered weather.
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| US banks shifting some London staff ahead of Brexit deadline Posted: 31 Jan 2019 01:28 PM PST  With two months until Brexit takes effect, US banks have begun transferring some London staff to Continental Europe and drawing up contingency plans in case of a "hard" Brexit. Around 400 Bank of America employees are set to transfer to Paris and Frankfurt starting in February, according to a person familiar with the matter. About half of this group -- or 200 people -- will be in place before the March 29 Brexit deadline, with the remainder following soon after.
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| 5 of the Best Stocks to Buy for February Posted: 31 Jan 2019 02:02 PM PST ![5 of the Best Stocks to Buy for February]( "5 of the Best Stocks to Buy for February") Also one of U.S. News' 10 best stocks to buy for 2019, SFIX shares sold off in December, despite reporting a quarter of 24 percent revenue growth, 250 percent earnings per share growth, and active client growth of 22 percent. In hindsight, it looks like AAPL stock may have achieved its 2019 lows within the first week of the year.
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| Labour’s ‘Fraying’ Brexit Compromise Shows May a Path to Victory Posted: 30 Jan 2019 09:00 PM PST  There were 14 rank-and-file Labour members of Parliament who defied their leadership's instructions and opposed the proposal -- handing victory to the prime minister. Eight members of Jeremy Corbyn's front bench team, who are supposed to follow party orders, also abstained. Labour has been trying to strike a balance between its members, the majority of whom want to stay in the European Union, and Leave-supporting voters it needs to hold onto in key districts.
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| Iowa student dies after being found unconscious outside in minus 51 degree wind chills Posted: 31 Jan 2019 07:35 AM PST  An 18-year-old University of Iowa student died after he was found unresponsive outside a building on campus in wind chills as frigid as 51 below zero.
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| To Florida's Venezuelan exiles, Pence vows more pressure on Maduro Posted: 01 Feb 2019 02:52 PM PST  In a visit to the largest community of Venezuelan exiles in the United States - and flanked by four prominent Florida Republican politicians - Pence categorically rejected calls for talks with Maduro, and warned all options were on the table to force him to leave. This is time for action," Pence told a few hundred people at a rally in a local church, many of whom waved Venezuelan flags and shouted "Libertad!" "The time has come to end the Maduro dictatorship once and for all," said Pence, who has emerged as one of the strongest voices against the Venezuelan leader in the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump. The U.S. government has recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president.
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| Congress Should Prevent Any Military Intervention in Venezuela Posted: 31 Jan 2019 03:30 AM PST  If the scribbled notes on national-security adviser John Bolton's legal pad are to be believed, the Trump administration is seriously considering a sizeable deployment of American military forces to South America as it ratchets up pressure on embattled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro to step down from power. President Trump has already recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó, the head of Venezuela's National Assembly, as the country's rightful president, and is instituting sanctions against a state-run oil company in an effort to squeeze Maduro's supporters. Meanwhile, influential voices in Washington who have been advocating regime change in Venezuela for decades are finding allies and sympathizers in Trump's inner circle.
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| See the New 2020 BMW 7-Series Plug-In Hybrids Posted: 31 Jan 2019 09:00 PM PST |
| Super Bowl: Missing businessman stole $750k from community including his mum in ticket scam Posted: 01 Feb 2019 02:03 PM PST  A Georgia businessman is missing after allegedly scamming his friends, family, and mother out of $750,000 in exchange for non-existent Super Bowl tickets before skipping town. Ketan Shah, a businessman described as "squeaky-clean" by one of his victims, apparently left his Gwinnett County town after staging the months-long scam, which involved taking large sums of money from roughly a dozen people while promising tickets to the upcoming game between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams. Among those who found themselves allegedly falling victim to Mr Shah was his own mother, who reached out to police after losing $36,000 in her son's scam, but did not file charges.
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| 84 San Bernardino diocese priests named in report alleging sexual abuse Posted: 31 Jan 2019 06:49 PM PST  A report on alleged sexual abuse by clergy in the Diocese of San Bernardino was released Thursday morning at a news conference in Ontario.
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| GM to lay off about 4,000 salaried workers: source Posted: 01 Feb 2019 05:22 PM PST  General Motors is expected to lay off about 4,000 salaried workers under a reorganization announced late last year, a person familiar with the matter said Friday. The layoffs are part of a cost-cutting plan GM announced in November, which will slash 15 percent of its salaried and contract staff and shutter seven plants, including five in North America. Media reports estimated the total job cuts of salaried staff and union workers at about 14,000, including about 6,000 union workers.
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| Deutsche Bank struggles to rebound, merger rumors hit shares Posted: 01 Feb 2019 07:18 AM PST  FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany's struggling Deutsche Bank suffered another loss in the fourth quarter as it faces a raft of issues including a steeply lower share price, merger speculation and continuing legal questions.
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| In case you missed it: Polar vortex descends upon Midwest, Northeast; Brutal cold kills dozens of children at Syrian refugee camp Posted: 01 Feb 2019 07:38 AM PST  Extreme cold led to the deaths of at least 16 people across the U.S. this week, while frigid conditions killed babies and children at a refugee camp in Syria this week.
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| Latest group of Central American migrants proceed with northern trek Posted: 31 Jan 2019 11:51 AM PST  Around 2,400 migrants left a city shelter to begin the journey from the Mexican capital early Thursday morning, the latest caravan to embark upon the risky path to the U.S.-Mexican border despite U.S. President Donald Trump's determination to prevent them from entering. Since last October, thousands of mostly Central American migrants have sought to cross into the United States, many traveling in caravans in order to minimize the risks of kidnapping and attacks by members of criminal gangs while in Mexican territory. The likelihood of having to wait weeks or even months at the border, where migrants face high rates of violent crime, has not dented the group's enthusiasm.
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