- PoliticsYahoo News
‘American democracy is under attack’: Sanders urges vigilance against Trump’s ‘authoritarianism’
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said the United States has been slipping toward authoritarianism under President Trump and that citizens have an “enormous obligation” to protect American freedom. The runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination last year delivered his scathing critique of the administration in a speech Thursday morning discussing the threat of authoritarianism in both the U.S. and other countries. “Under President Trump, our country is moving in an authoritarian direction and the very nature of American democracy is under attack,” Sanders said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace headquarters in Washington, D.C.
- PoliticsYahoo View
Pres. Trump Finally Admits He Did Not Record Comey Conversations
More than a month after a tweet about “tapes” of his conversations with former FBI Director Comey, the president admitted via tweet that he did not make or have any such recordings.
- PoliticsYahoo View
Pelosi On Criticism from Dems: 'I Think I'm Worth the Trouble'
Pushing back on criticism from fellow party members after the Democratic loss in a Georgia special election this week, Nancy Pelosi said Thursday that she’s “worth the trouble” as Democrats’ leader in the House.
- WorldYahoo News
Tim Kaine: U.S. strikes on Syrian forces ‘completely illegal’
“I think the military action that is being taken against Syrian government assets is completely illegal,” Kaine said in an interview with Yahoo News on Sirius XM’s politics channel, POTUS. There have been four known instances of U.S. forces firing on Syrian government targets in recent weeks, including the early April cruise missile strike in retaliation for the government’s use of chemical weapons. The Pentagon says it has legal authority to act under the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), passed after the 9/11 attacks, which effectively permitted the invasion of Afghanistan and global efforts to stamp out al-Qaida.
NewsAssociated Press'Pizzagate' gunman in DC sentenced to 4 years in prison
An online conspiracy theory dubbed "pizzagate" ended Thursday with real-world consequences when a North Carolina man was sentenced to prison for arming himself with an assault rifle, traveling to the nation's capital and firing his weapon inside a neighborhood pizza restaurant. Edgar Maddison Welch's "ill-conceived plot" last year did "actual damage to the lives of real people," a judge said before sentencing him to four years in prison. Judge Ketanji B. Jackson said she'd never seen a case like Welch's, and she gave him a punishment on the upper end of guidelines, in part to send a message to others.
- BusinessYahoo View
FCC Regulators Are Now Imposing Record Fines for Robocalls
A Miami man is facing a record $120 million fine for what the FCC calls a massive spoofing operation. He allegedly made 96 million robocalls over a three month period.
WorldAFPChina's Xi visit to Hong Kong confirmed: report
President Xi Jinping will come to Hong Kong next week to mark 20 years since the city was handed back to China by Britain, local media said, in a visit that will be incendiary to activists. Although widely expected, officials have not so far said whether Xi will make the trip, his first to Hong Kong since becoming president in 2013. The South China Morning Post reported for the first time Friday that Xi's visit had been "confirmed", citing unnamed sources with knowledge of the visit.
- WorldInternational Business Times
Russia Cancels Talks With US Over Ukraine Issue
Russia on Wednesday cancelled a meeting planned between its officials and the U.S. that was aimed at resolving problems between the two countries. The decision came after the U.S. announced an expansion of sanctions against Russian individuals and legal entities in response to the continuing occupation of Ukraine by Russia. The meeting was expected to be attended by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and the U.S. Under Secretary of State Tom Shannon and was due to take place in St Petersburg, CNN reported.
- ScienceThe Independent
US Energy Secretary Rick Perry told he lacks 'fundamental understanding' of climate science
The American Meteorological Society has told Rick Perry he lacks a ‘fundamental understanding’ of science after the US Energy Secretary claimed carbon dioxide was not a primary cause of climate change. The former governor of Texas told CNBC TV that “the most likely the primary control knob [for climate change] is the ocean waters and this environment that we live in”, rather than greenhouse gas emissions produced by human activity. Becoming the latest of Donald Trump’s administration to dispute established science without any attempt at reasoned argument, Mr Perry also said it was “quite all right” to be a sceptic about climate change, suggesting the trait was one held by any “wise, intellectually engaged person”.
PoliticsYahoo NewsBuoyant Trump spouts boasts, proposals — and falsehoods — at Iowa rally
A jubilant President Trump recapped some of his campaign’s greatest hits and offered new policy ideas as well as blatant misstatements during a marathon rally Wednesday night in Iowa. Trump spoke for 70 minutes in front of an exuberant crowd in his first trip west of the Mississippi as president. During his speech, Trump verified reports that he was unhappy with the health care plan that passed the House, saying that he told lawmakers to “throw money” at health care to come up a plan with “heart.” He made a brief plea for bipartisanship, saying that Democrats wouldn’t vote yes even if Republicans came up with a plan that offered the best health care for free, but if the parties worked together they could get “really, really great legislation” passed.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Paul Ryan: It’s ‘premature’ to say whether House would pass Senate health care bill
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declined to say Thursday whether the House would take up Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s health care bill if the Republican leader manages to push it through the Senate. “They’re just beginning their process,” Ryan said, adding he believes it will be a “lengthy” one. McConnell declared on the Senate floor Thursday that he believes the Senate could pass the sweeping legislation as soon as next week.
- U.S.Yahoo News Video
U.S. Attorney General Sessions hires private attorney
U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has become the latest senior Trump administration official to hire a private attorney, a Justice Department spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
- NewsYahoo View
British Schoolboys Wear Skirts During Heatwave in Uniform Protest
A group of teenage boys in England wore skirts to school during sweltering heat in defiance of their school's shorts ban.
- LifestyleWoman's Day
24 Sweet and Spooky Halloween Desserts
Make this October 31 the sweetest holiday yet with our best Halloween dessert recipes.From Woman's Day
BusinessAssociated PressWall Street Journal fires correspondent over ethics conflict
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday fired its highly regarded chief foreign affairs correspondent after evidence emerged of his involvement in prospective commercial deals — including one involving arms sales to foreign governments — with an international businessman who was one of his key sources. The reporter, Jay Solomon, was offered a 10 percent stake in a fledgling company, Denx LLC, by Farhad Azima, an Iranian-born aviation magnate who has ferried weapons for the CIA. "We are dismayed by the actions and poor judgment of Jay Solomon," Wall Street Journal spokesman Steve Severinghaus wrote in a statement to The Associated Press.
NewsReutersAnti-abortion activists lose bid to dismiss California privacy case
Two anti-abortion activists charged with felony eavesdropping for secretly filming abortion providers in California lost their bid for dismissal of the case on Wednesday, but the judge ordered prosecutors to amend a criminal complaint he deemed too vague. San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Christopher Hite gave the state attorney general's office until mid-July to file a revised complaint that describes the accusations in greater detail, including specific dates, alleged victims and circumstances. Hite ruled the identities of alleged victims would remain under court seal and admonished lawyers to keep that information confidential, after the defense team for one defendant, David Daleiden, was found to have posted videos and other identifying material online.
- NewsInternational Business Times
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Leads Off-Camera White House Briefing
The White House will have another off-camera press briefing Thursday, according to a report from CNN Wednesday night. Stepping in for Sean Spicer will be Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. READ: Where Is Sean Spicer?
NewsAFPFemale Japan politician resigns after attacking male aide
Mayuko Toyota, a 42-year-old Harvard graduate and up-and-coming member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), can be heard screaming at the unnamed aide, saying he should die as she mocked his thinning hair. "Don't damage my reputation anymore," Toyota screams, apparently in response to a mistake she claims the man had made. Major Japanese media, including public broadcaster NHK, named Toyota as the woman heard on the tape.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Democratic congressman: Our ‘toxic’ brand under Pelosi makes it hard to win
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, says the Democratic Party’s “toxic” brand under House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi is making it difficult for their party to connect with voters. “We’ve got a lot of energy in our base, which is very exciting for a lot of us to see that on the ground,” Ryan told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday morning. “But you’ve got to beat the Republican and you’ve got to carry this very toxic Democratic brand on your back, too.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Senate Republicans to release draft of healthcare bill as details emerge
According to reports, the bill proposes repealing key provision of the ACA, restructuring subsidies and cutting Medicaid funding. Senate Republican leaders are on Thursday to unveil draft language of legislation that would repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), after weeks of secrecy surrounding their effort to prepare a healthcare bill to be voted on as early as next week. The Senate bill is expected to follow the template laid out in the House version, which narrowly passed last month, but with key differences.
- ScienceMashable
NASA's Curiosity rover has a pet rock on Mars
Mars is probably a pretty lonely place. The red planet is littered with rusty red rocks and, as far as we know, devoid of any kind of life. But even so, rovers still roam the surface of the world on humanity's behalf, making their solitary treks along
ScienceBGR NewsAn asteroid is definitely going to hit the Earth, expert warns
Asteroids are the most clear and present threat that our Solar System poses to us, and you only need to look at the scars on the Earth, our moon, and other planets in our neighborhood to see exactly how real that danger is. Now, a Queen’s University Belfast researcher is warning that the Earth is definitely going to be hit, it’s just a matter of when. The expert, Alan Fitzsimmons, points out that an event similar to that of the 1908 meteoroid explosion over the Tunguska region in Russia’s Siberia — which leveled a forest and damaged buildings but didn’t result in any human deaths — could happen again, and if it did happen over a major city, the results would be devastating.
TechnologyAFP Relax News'Sega Forever' debuts free console classics on Android, iOS
"Sonic the Hedgehog" leads the line as Sega rolls out free retro games collection Sega Forever with five classic titles for Android and iOS devices. "Sonic the Hedgehog" made its debut on the Sega Genesis (also known as the Sega Megadrive) in 1991 and, as intended, was immediately compared to Nintendo's "Super Mario" in a swiftly developing company mascot rivalry.
NewsAssociated PressLatest: Milwaukee chief: Jury agreed with me on shooting
Milwaukee police Chief Edward Flynn says the jury that cleared an officer Wednesday in the shooting death of a black man saw the same thing he did in officers' body-camera video of the shooting. Flynn defended Dominique Heaggan-Brown last August in the aftermath of the death of 23-year-old Sylville Smith. The shooting ignited riots on the city's north side, but Flynn said that he felt based on video that the shooting was justified.
WorldReutersOAS nations make last-ditch effort to condemn Venezuela for crisis
By Anthony Esposito CANCUN, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexico and the United States pushed on Wednesday to condemn Venezuela's government for its handling of the political and economic crisis in the South American country, on the final day of a meeting of the Organization of American States, sources told Reuters. Foreign ministers from the 34-nation OAS bloc failed on Monday to agree on a resolution formally rebuking Venezuela, where at least 75 people have been killed in more than two months of protests. Now a group of nations, led by the United States, Mexico and regional allies, may try to include a declaration on Venezuela, tucking it into a more general resolution on human rights, according to two officials close to the closed-door talks.
