News

Reuters reports: WikiLeaks on Sunday advised journalists not to report 140 different “false and defamatory” statements about its founder Julian Assange, who has been holed up in the Ecuadorean embassy in London since June 2012. “There is a pervasive climate of inaccurate claims about WikiLeaks and Julian Assange, including purposeful fabrications planted in large and otherwise ‘reputable’ media outlets,” Wikileaks …

The New York Times reports: The “Dry Alabama” Facebook page, illustrated with stark images of car wrecks and videos of families ruined by drink, had a blunt message: Alcohol is the devil’s work, and the state should ban it entirely. Along with a companion Twitter feed, the Facebook page appeared to be the work of Baptist teetotalers who supported the …

The Huffington Post reports: Former Canadian prime minister Kim Campbell provided some colourful commentary on U.S. politics, calling U.S. President Donald Trump a “motherf**ker” in a tweet Saturday. Campbell was reacting to a video clip of a reporter asking Trump what kind of safety net is in place for the hundreds of thousands of government workers left without pay if …

NBC News reports: An awards show long known for its iconoclastic choices didn’t disappoint, not only choosing “Bohemian Rhaposody” over “A Star is Born” for best dramatic film, but picking several lower profile performances — like British actress Olivia Colman as best actress in a comedy/musical for her role as Queen Anne in “The Favourite,” over Emily Blunt in “Mary …

CBS News reports: Sen. Lindsey Grahm on Sunday said there will not be progress on negotiations to end the partial government shutdown “as long as the radical left is in charge.” “ICE is not the problem, it’s the solution,” Graham, a top ally of President Trump, said on Face the Nation. “The goal is to repair a damaged, broken immigration …

Inc.com reports: In a scorchingly fact-based letter to President Trump, the Air Line Pilots Association — which represents 61,000 pilots — used simple words. Its president, Captain Joe DePete wrote: “I am writing to urge you to take the necessary steps to immediately end the shutdown of government agencies that is adversely affecting the safety, security and efficiency of our …

NBC News reports: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Sunday that she would support holding a Senate vote on bills passed in the House to re-open parts of the government unrelated to negotiations over funding for President Trump’s wall along the southern border. Collins said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that she understands Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is in …

Politico reports: Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said Sunday that although President Trump uses coarse language at times, he is not to blame for “coarsening” public discourse. “I don’t think anybody in the country blames the president,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “I think there’s more important things than who is coarsening the language.” After …

The Hill reports: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer took a swipe at President Trump for posting “Game of Thrones” memes to promote his policies. “Enough with the memes,” the New York Democrat tweeted in response to Trump sharing an image in the HBO show’s style that said: “The Wall is Coming.” The use of the meme was mocked on social …

Reuters reports: Rioters in Paris torched motorbikes and set barricades ablaze on the upmarket Boulevard Saint Germain on Saturday, as protests against high living costs and the perceived indifference of President Emmanuel Macron turned violent on the fringes. The latest “yellow vest” marches began peacefully but degenerated in the afternoon as protesters threw missiles at riot police blocking bridges over …

The Associated Press reports: Russia’s deputy foreign minister brushed back suggestions Saturday that an American being held in Moscow on suspicion of spying could be exchanged for a Russian citizen. Paul Whelan, a former U.S. Marine, who also holds Canadian, British and Irish citizenship, was detained in Moscow in late December. His arrest has led to speculation that Russia could …

Reuters reports: California utility company PG&E Corp is exploring filing some or all of its business for bankruptcy protection as it faces billions of dollars in liabilities related to fatal wildfires in 2018 and 2017, people familiar with the matter said on Friday. The company is considering the move as a contingency, in part because it could soon take a …

Gallup reports: While Donald Trump has spent much of his presidency focused on the number of people who want to get into the U.S., since he took office, record numbers of Americans have wanted to get out. Though relatively average by global standards, the 16% of Americans overall who said in 2017 and again in 2018 that they would like …

The Washington Post reports: The Marine Corps found Paul Whelan, the American citizen detained by Russia on espionage charges, guilty of attempting to steal more than $10,000 worth of currency from the U.S. government while deployed to Iraq in 2006 and bouncing nearly $6,000 worth of checks around the same time, according to records obtained by The Washington Post. The …

CNBC reports: Democrats emerged from what they called a “contentious” two-hour meeting at the White House on Friday showing little optimism about ending a partial government shutdown. Bipartisan congressional leaders huddled with President Donald Trump as they try to break an impasse over the president’s demand for $5 billion to build his proposed border wall. The president threatened to keep …

NBC News reports: Newly elected Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Friday shied away from moving forward with impeachment at this time, calling it a “divisive” option and saying that a colleague’s use of an expletive to describe President Donald Trump was no “worse” than some of the language the president himself has used. “I do think that we …

From the right wing Daily Caller: Republican Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts will announce his retirement at a press conference in Kansas Friday afternoon, two sources close with Roberts told The Daily Caller News Foundation. Roberts, 84, will make the announcement around 11:15 E.T. in his home state. Roberts, who has served in the Senate since 1997, will announce his retirement …

Politico reports: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is floating an income tax rate as high as 60 to 70 percent on the highest-earning Americans to combat carbon emissions. Speaking with Anderson Cooper in a “60 Minutes” interview scheduled to air Sunday, Ocasio-Cortez said a dramatic increase in taxes could support her “Green New Deal” goal of eliminating the use of fossil …

Deutsche Welle reports: Germany’s digital defense body is “intensively” investigating the apparent data leak that saw data of hundreds of politicians from across the political spectrum being published online, a spokesman for the Federal Office for IT Safety (BSI) said on Friday. The hack targeted all of Germany’s political parties currently represented in the federal parliament, except for the far-right …

The Hill reports: Thousands of people have signed a petition in New York City to rename the block in front of Trump Tower after former President Obama. A MoveOn petition started by Elizabeth Rowin is calling for the stretch of Fifth Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets to be renamed “President Barack H. Obama Avenue.” The petition would require President …