Category: World News

Our failed Israel policy

Try as he might this late in the game, President Barack Obama’s Israel policy should go down in history as a failure. In keeping with a broader pattern, the White House has expected Israel to accept its judgments on the largest matters, such as Iran, and then has become frustrated when Israel reacts poorly to its judgments on smaller ones, such as the status of settlements.

Donald Trump’s tough talk toward North Korea could come back to haunt him

“It won’t happen!” Trump wrote after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said on Sunday his nuclear-capable country was close to testing an ICBM of a kind that could someday hit the United States. Preventing such a test is far easier said than done, and Trump gave no indication of how he might roll back North Korea’s weapons programs after he takes office on Jan. 20, something successive U.S. administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have failed to do.

Reid: FBI director’s letter cost Democrats the election, Senate

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said Monday FBI Director James Comey was “heavily involved as a partisan” in the weeks leading up to the election and that Comey’s actions handed the presidency to Donald Trump. The retiring Nevada Democrat said Democrats “would have won the majority in the Senate and would have won the presidency but for Comey.”

The US, Europe, Japan and China…where should you invest in 2017?

What the This is Money team would like to see in 2017: From stamp duty cuts, to customers losing misplaced loyalty and rates to rise What next for savings rates in 2017? After a terrible year for returns we get the experts’ view on whether savers are set for further misery Which is the best used family saloon for under A 10k? We put an Audi, BMW, Mercedes and VW to the test Round pound coins will cease to be legal tender in OCTOBER: New 12-sided A 1 will hit the streets in March – as will new Jane Austen A 2 M&S shoppers face price hikes of ‘up to 15% on basic goods’ despite a pledge to shield customers from the falling value of the pound Britain’s deserted shopping malls: Visits to stores plunge by HALF on New Year’s Day – as online sales triumph What would you do with a windfall worth A 100,000? Five experts reveal how they would invest a big lump sum How to soften the blow of rising … (more)

Trump to name Lighthizer as trade representative, tap Pence adviser for West Wing

President-elect Donald Trump is expected to nominate Robert E. Lighthizer as the U.S. trade representative, a transition official confirmed Monday night, recruiting to his Cabinet a veteran of the Reagan administration who has decades of experience in trade policy and litigation. Lighthizer, whose nomination is expected to be formally announced as early as Tuesday, will join a team of Trump lieutenants charged with fulfilling one the central promises of Trump’s populist candidacy: aggressively confronting China, Mexico and other nations the president-elect believes have been taking advantage of international trade agreements, to the detriment of U.S. workers.

The Latest: China calls Trump remarks on NKorea ‘pandering’

A state-run Chinese tabloid says Donald Trump is “pandering to ‘irresponsible’ attitudes” after the U.S. president-elect accused China of not stepping in to curtail the North Korean nuclear program. The Global Times newspaper says Pyongyang’s nuclear program “stokes the anxieties of some Americans” who blame China rather than looking inward.

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Istanbul Nightclub Massacre

Relatives react at the funeral of Ayhan Arik, a victim of an attack by a gunman at Reina nightclub, in Istanbul, Turkey, January 1, 2017. REUTERS/Osman Orsal The Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the shooting at an Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve, which killed 39 people and injured nearly 70. The ISIS-affiliated Aamaq News Agency released a message Monday saying the attack was carried out by a “heroic soldier of the caliphate who attacked the most famous nightclub where Christians were celebrating their pagan feast.”

The economic war against ISIL: Airstrikes and financial measures aim to deplete militants’ funding

The Islamic State starts the new year with a drastically depleted bank account, counterterrorism officials say, following months of intensified efforts to deprive the Islamists of oil profits and other revenue used to finance military operations and terrorists attacks abroad. Coalition aircraft in the past 15 months have destroyed more than 1,200 tanker trucks – including 168 vehicles struck in a single air raid in Syria in early December – while also using new weapons and tactics to inflict lasting damage on the terrorists’ remaining oil fields, U.S. and Middle Eastern officials say.

What’s important?

I’ll indicate in advance that this is a personal and rambling note, promoted by several responses to what I wrote about the recent decision of the UN Security Council. And it is by no means the first time I’ve been provoked by what I’ve received from my Internet friends.

U.S. scrambles to clear egg exports to bird flu-hit Korea

U.S. officials are urgently seeking an agreement with South Korea that would allow imports of American eggs so farmers can cash in on a shortage caused by the Asian country’s worst-ever outbreak of bird flu. The two sides are negotiating over terms of potential shipments after South Korea lifted a ban on imports of U.S. table eggs that it imposed when the United States grappled with its own bout of bird flu last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Thomas L. Friedman: Netanyahu Makes Trump His Chump

For those of you confused over the latest fight between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, let me make it simple: Barack Obama and John Kerry admire and want to preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel. I have covered this issue my entire adult life and have never met two U.S. leaders more committed to Israel as a Jewish democracy.

Dershowitz: I’ll Leave Democratic Party If Ellison Becomes DNC Chair

While Alan Dershowitz is a staunch liberal, he’s threatening to leave the Democratic Party should Rep. Keith Ellison become the next chairman for the national committee. Dershowitz, a renowned attorney and Israel supporter, said he would resign due to Ellison’s positions on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and his association with Louis Farrakhan : Speaking on Fox Business, Dershowitz said there is a divide in the Democratic Party over Jewish issues, particularly the support of Israel, or lack thereof, offered by the Obama administration.

Get Used To It

Given the high degree of partisan divide following the US election, a discomfiting fact is that Donald Trump is likely to espouse many responsible positions in his role as president, even if he can’t make the case for them himself. This confusing state of affairs has not become obvious yet.

Russia pledges reprisals for US hacking punishment

Moscow – Russia on Friday eyed retaliatory measures against the US after President Barack Obama kicked out dozens of suspected intelligence agents and imposed sanctions in a furious dispute over alleged election interference. The barrage of punishment against Moscow over cyber attacks dragged ties between Russia and the United States – already at their worst since the Cold War – to a fresh low less than a month ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking charge.

Named and shamed: Who’s been in Derbyshire’s courts? 1

TAHIR Ashfaq, 41, of Darby Street, Normanton, was fined A 50 and was ordered to pay A 85 costs and a A 30 victim surcharge for speeding at 36mph in a 30mph limit in London Road, on June 4. SAMUEL Brealey, 22, of Wildhay Brook, Hilton, was fined A 40, ordered to pay A 85 costs, a A 30 victim surcharge and had his licence endorsed with three penalty points for speeding at 38mph in a 30mph limit in Burton Road, Derby, on April 23. STEVEN Casey, 38, of Holmegate Close, Chaddesden, was fined A 220, ordered to pay A 85 costs, a A 30 victim surcharge and had his licence endorsed with three penalty points for speeding at 38mph in a 30mph limit, in Raynesway, Alvaston, on May 14. MARTIN Cicak, 49, of Lower Dale Road, Normanton, was fined A 166, ordered to pay A 85 costs, a A 30 victim surcharge and had his licence endorsed with three penalty points for driving while not wearing a seat belt in … (more)

Handler Locked In RJ Cargo Bay

As a 16-year-old student pilot I was on a short night flight from Hershey to Capital City airport in Harrisburg, PA. I was… A couple of years ago, flying into ZRH , just the day after the landing fees increased once more, we heard the… They’ve moldered on my office shelf, unused, for more than a decade.

The Latest: Trump ditches press pool to play golf

File – In this Thursday, Dec. 15, 2016 file photo, President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a rally at the Giant Center, in Hershey, Pa. After a pair of diplomatic victories, the Palestinians are now setting their sights on a Mideast peace conference in France next month in a bid to rally support as they prepare for the uncertainty of the Trump Administration.

With Trump, Russia goes from foe of U.S. to friend

The diatribe against the Obama administration on prime-time television by a Russian Foreign Ministry official was hardly unusual in the long history of rocky relations between the United States and Russia. The Obama administration was “bad for everyone,” Maria Zakharova, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, said on the Christmas Day broadcast, barreling on almost uninterrupted by the talk show host.

Down the rabbit hole: Government’s first report on Russian hack is woefully inadequate

Supposed FBI/DHS hack analysis is old, muddled info, plus nine pages of security tips. We need more than this In conjunction with the various sanctions President Obama unveiled Thursday against the Russian government in response to that nation’s alleged hacking of Democratic Party servers, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security released a report that supposedly provides evidence pointing to the Russian Federation as responsible for the cyber-attacks.

Obama Expels Russian For Spying

In a rare, if not unprecedented news conference, Russian Consul General Sergey Petrov addressed the media after President Obama ordered four diplomats at that embassy to leave. One of the employees is a chef.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin just crushed President Obama by refusing to play games with international diplomacy. In addition, the Putin approach immediately negates the intention of the Obama effort to create crisis with Russia.

Continue reading Netanyahu makes Trump his chump

For those of you confused over the latest fight between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu of Israel, let me make it simple: Barack Obama and John Kerry admire and want to preserve Israel as a Jewish and democratic state in the Land of Israel. I have covered this issue my entire adult life and have never met two U.S. leaders more committed to Israel as a Jewish democracy.

Duterte Calls Dead Kids ‘Collateral’

REUTERS/Damir Sagolj While vowing to continue his bloody war on drugs, the president of the Philippines issued a rare apology Thursday for the deaths of innocent victims. “I would admit there were killings that were really unintended, like the children who were caught in the crossfire,” President Rodrigo Duterte said in an interview with ABS-CBN.

Is Middle East Instability An Opportunity To Apply Leverage?

A Kurdish Peshmerga fighter launches mortar shells towards Zummar, controlled by Islamic State , near Mosul September 15, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah – RTR46B59 As I have written , even without ISIS, the Middle East, the epicenter of radical Islam, is a complex political-military environment dominated by the Sunni-Shia religious conflict, but influenced by ethnic aspirations, tribal rivalries, regional hegemony, superpower competition and ever-shifting allegiances.

US levels sanctions against Russia over election hacking

This image provided by the FBI shows the wanted poster for Evgeniy Bogachev. In a sweeping response to election hacking, President Barack Obama sanctioned Russian intelligence services and their top officials, kicked out 35 Russian officials and shuttered two Russian-owned compounds in the U.S. It was the strongest action the Obama administration has taken to date to retaliate for a cyberattack.

Russia plans to expel US diplomats

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual end-of-year news conference in Moscow, Russia, December 23, 2016. Reuters file photo Russia today announced plans to expel 35 US diplomats and ban US diplomatic staff from using a dacha and a warehouse in Moscow in retaliation to Washington’s sanctions, Russian news agencies reported.

Learn From The Bible Mr. Kerry

In Philadelphia, the Gold Star Khizr Kahn told Trump t and wondered aloud whether President-Elect Trump had ever read the Constitution, pulling his own pocket-sized copy from his jacket for emphasis. Now I wonder has John Kerry ever read the Bible or Koran? Barack Obama and John Kerry’s stance is unbelievable by not vetoing the resolution.

Israel and the damage done by Obama

In this Nov. 9, 2015, file photo, President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office of the White House. The audience – overwhelmingly Jewish, passionately pro-Israel and supremely gullible – applauded wildly.

Garbage trucks to block possible Times Square truck attacks

Massive 20-ton sanitation trucks, weighted with an extra 15 tons of sand, will surround the iconic New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square, officials said Thursday, describing a security measure meant to stop deadly truck-driving attacks into crowds like those in Germany and France. The placement of the 65 trucks, along with 100 patrol cars, at intersections surrounding Times Square is a new element to an already heavily policed event that will include 7,000 officers, specially armed counterterrorism units and bomb-sniffing dogs.

Obama retaliates against Russia for election hacking

Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis, right, looks at US Sen. John McCain centre left, during a press conference, Wednesday in Riga, Latvia, while Lindsey Graham, R-SC., and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stand in the background. Russia can expect hard-hitting sanctions from United States lawmakers if an investigation proves that Moscow interfered in the presidential election, a U.S. senator said Wednesday during a visit to Latvia.