world news: 2018-11-18

Saturday 24 November 2018

UN envoy arrives in Yemen's Hodeida to encourage calm

UN envoy Martin Griffiths arrived in the battleground Yemeni port city of Hodeida on Friday to encourage the warring sides to exercise restraint ahead of planned peace talks in December. The conflict in Yemen, which escalated when the Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, has killed thousands of people and left up to 14 million at risk of famine, according to UN agencies. In the past week, both sides have expressed support for the UN envoy's mission to relaunch peace talks, and the fighting in Hodeida has diminished despite intermittent clashes.

House Republicans Make Last-Minute Call On James Comey For Private Deposition — He Asks For It To Be Public

House Republicans are making a last-ditch move to call on former FBI Director James Comey to testify in a private deposition, but he has other ideas. On Thanksgiving morning, Comey revealed that he had received a subpoena request from the House Judiciary Committee, which will be led by Republicans for only a few more weeks before they turn over control to Democrats. Bob Goodlatte, the chairman of the committee, has sent subpoenas to both Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch for testimony, CNN reported.

Brace Yourself – Amazon’s Annual Black Friday Sales Are In Full Swing Right Now

Shoppers can experience some of the biggest discounts of the year on Amazon’s popular devices and top of the line gadgets without having to leave the comfort of their home. Fear not — because we’ve put together a list with some of the newest and most notable items that Amazon is slashing prices on.

Climate change 'will inflict substantial damages on US lives'

A home is overshadowed by towering smoke plumes in Paradise, California . Climate change is already harming Americans’ lives with “substantial damages” set to occur as global temperatures threaten to surge beyond internationally agreed limits, a major US government report has warned. The influence of climate change is being felt across the US with increases in disastrous wildfires in the west, flooding on the east coast, soil loss in the midwest and coastal erosion in Alaska, according to the US National Climate Assessment.

Saudi prince lands in UAE on first foreign tour since Khashoggi murder

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman embarked Thursday on a regional tour starting with the United Arab Emirates, his first official trip abroad since critic Jamal Khashoggi's murder tipped the kingdom into crisis. Prince Mohammed will visit a "number of brotherly" Arab states at the request of his father, King Salman, the royal court said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, without naming the countries. Abu Dhabi's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed welcomed him on his first stop in the UAE, a close ally that is part of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-aligned Huthi rebels in Yemen, according to the Emirati state news agency WAM.

Trump takes bid to restrict transgender troops to Supreme Court

Trump announced in March that he would endorse a plan by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to restrict the military service of transgender people who experience a condition called gender dysphoria. The policy replaced an outright ban on transgender service members that Trump announced last year on Twitter, citing concern over military focus and medical costs.

Dead American told island tribe 'Jesus loves you'

An American missionary killed in a hail of arrows by an island tribe untouched by modern civilisation was bent on converting them to Christianity, it emerged Thursday. John Allen Chau, 27, was attacked last week as he illegally set foot on the remote North Sentinel Island in the Indian Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal. A statement attributed to his family posted on his purported Instagram account said that Chau "had nothing but love for the Sentinelese people.

France imposes sanctions on 18 Saudi citizens over Khashoggi killing

France said on Thursday it had imposed sanctions, including travel bans, on 18 Saudi citizens linked to the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and said more could follow depending on results of an investigation. Berlin on Monday also banned 18 Saudis and moved to halt all arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The bans bind all members of the European Union's passport-free Schengen zone, it said.

A holiday miracle? Stores try to cut down on long lines

NEW YORK (AP) — Retailers will once again offer big deals and early hours to lure shoppers into their stores for the start of the holiday season. But they'll also try to get shoppers out of their stores faster than ever by minimizing the thing they hate most: long lines.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Throws Support Behind Nancy Pelosi For House Speaker

Incoming Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (N.Y.) announced her support

Hundreds searching for remains of California wildfire victims

Hundreds of volunteers and police officers spent the Thanksgiving holiday combing through the wreckage of California's deadliest wildfire, searching for the remains of victims killed in the blaze as rains looked set to complicate their work. The Camp Fire killed at least 83 people and 563 are still unaccounted for in and around Paradise, a community of nearly 27,000 people that was largely incinerated when the flames swept through two weeks ago, according to authorities. "We haven't taken the day off," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a video message posted online on Thanksgiving.

Trump warns he could ‘close whole Mexico border’ due to illegal immigration

Donald Trump has threatened to close the “whole border” with Mexico if illegal immigration gets “uncontrollable”. “If we find that it gets to a level where we’re going to lose control or people are going to start getting hurt, we will close entry into the country for a period of time until we can get it under control,” Mr Trump said after a Thanksgiving phone call with the US military at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “We’re either going to have a border or we’re not,” the president said after stationing nearly 6,000 US troops on the border to combat migrants crossing the border without proper documentation.

Anti-Brexit Black Friday shop offers 'worst deal ever'

Campaigners demanding a second Brexit referendum launched a Black Friday pop-up shop offering the "worst deal ever" with mock items highlighting the potential cost of leaving the EU. Instead of slashed Black Friday prices, shoppers were lured in with signs like: "Welcome to your local inconvenience store" and "Huge reductions on disposable income". Once past the dying flowers in a bucket and Brexit Bill -- a man dancing about outside dressed as a £50 billion wad of banknotes --- shoppers could browse over the few rotting bits of fruit.

Hillary Clinton: Europe Needs Tougher Immigration Laws To Stave Off Nationalism

Hillary Clinton said she thinks Europe needs to "get a handle" on reforming

Roger Stone Associate Jerome Corsi In Plea Negotiations With Mueller: Report

Jerome Corsi, a conservative conspiracy theorist associated with Roger Stone,

'God, I Don't Want to Die.' Journal Reveals the Final Days of an American Missionary Killed By An Isolated Tribe

The visit may have exposed the tribe to deadly diseases

Fox News Analyst Says Washington Post 'Has Some Culpability' For Khashoggi's Murder

At least twice this week, Fox News has aired commentary dismissing the

Kosovo police arrest 4 Serbs, sparking protests in the north

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Tensions in Kosovo rose again Friday after police arrested three ethnic Serbs, including two police officers, on suspicion of involvement in the killing earlier this year of a leading Serb politician in the north of the country.

Christmas Tree Farmers In North Carolina Experience Shortage Due To Recession

Greg Schneider with High Country Christmas Trees recently spoke with reporters about the Christmas tree shortage in the foothills of North Carolina. The 2008 recession is to blame for a Christmas tree shortage. Picking out a Christmas tree is a family tradition for many, but with the shortage, it could mean increasing costs for consumers.

Crime menaces migrants on Mexico border as Tijuana declares crisis

Some 4,600 migrants from the bedraggled caravans whose advance has angered U.S. President Donald Trump are camped out with blankets and little food in an overcrowded stadium in Tijuana, whose mayor has declared a "humanitarian crisis." Trump has sent troops to the U.S.-Mexico border, authorized the use of lethal force and threatened to shut down the frontier entirely if the migrant caravans are not stopped. Among the Central Americans, many of whom are Hondurans fleeing violence and poverty in the struggling region, are about 80 minors between the ages of 10 and 17, according to migrants rights groups. Josue, a 15-year-old Honduran in Tijuana, said that during a previous attempt to cross into the United States last year he was kidnapped and badly beaten in Mexico by drug traffickers claiming to be from the notorious Zetas gang.

House Republicans issue subpoenas for James Comey and former attorney general Loretta Lynch

Former FBI Director James Comey has said he will resit a subpoena to appear before a congressional committee unless the hearing is public, because otherwise House Republicans will seek to distort anything he says. Subpoenas have been issued for Mr Comey and Attorney General Loretta Lynch, requesting private depositions with each of them. The request from House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte comes as time is running out for Republicans.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Accuses Trump Of Turning 'Blind Eye' To Khashoggi's Murder

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu criticized President Donald Trump

In Ireland, Bid to Restore Birthright Citizenship Gains Ground

By ED O’LOUGHLIN from NYT World https://ift.tt/2S8nv9y

14 Palestinian protesters wounded by Israeli gunfire: Gaza ministry

At least 14 Palestinians were wounded by Israeli gunfire Friday during protests along the Gaza border, the enclave's health ministry said, as a lull in deadly violence held after a truce deal last week. Health ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qudra said 14 people were injured by Israeli army fire along the border, including "a child shot in the chest east of the Al-Bureij refugee camp" in the central Gaza Strip.

Rain complicates grim task of finding remains of California wildfire

The so-called Camp Fire virtually obliterated the city of Paradise, located 175 miles (280 km) northeast of San Francisco, on Nov. 8, killing at least 84 people and destroying nearly 14,000 homes. Over 600 people from Paradise and surrounding communities remained unaccounted for, according to a list provided by the Butte County Sheriff's Office. Drone footage https://ift.tt/2DHEYS8 provided by the town of Paradise to help residents see if their homes survived showed how fire leapt from house to house in the mountain community of 27,000.

Climate change 'will inflict substantial damages on US lives'

US man wrote 'God sheltered me' before trip turned deadly

NEW DELHI (AP) — The young American, paddling his kayak toward a remote Indian island whose people have resisted the outside world for thousands of years, believed God was helping him dodge the authorities.

Midterm elections: Democrats lead popular vote in House by largest margin in history

Democrats are set to pull off the largest midterm elections victory in history, according to a breakdown of the popular vote in races for the House of Representatives. The party leads the Republicans by more than 8.9 million votes across the US, raw data compiled by the Cook Political Report, an independent, non-partisan political analysis website. Previously, the largest margin of victory was 8.7 million, which came in the 1974 midterm elections after the Watergate scandal and Richard Nixon’s resignation.

Chief of Russia's military intelligence agency dies

Russia's military intelligence chief who oversaw a series of notorious operations abroad has died after a long illness, with Moscow praising him Thursday as a "great man" and a patriot. Igor Korobov, 62, had headed the defence ministry's Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) since 2016 and was the target of US sanctions. Korobov's 57-year-old first deputy, Vice Admiral Igor Kostyukov, has been appointed acting GRU chief and is likely become his successor, state news agency TASS said, citing a military source.

Iran's Rouhani calls for Muslims to unite against United States

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on Muslims worldwide on Saturday to unite against the United States, instead of "rolling out red carpets for criminals".

from Reuters: World News https://ift.tt/2Kut4N9

In a Transylvania Town, Bears and Humans Collide at the Dumpster

By PALKO KARASZ and AKOS STILLER from NYT World https://ift.tt/2AjRN21

Indian island police struggle to get body of American

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian authorities were struggling Thursday to figure out how to recover the body of an American who was killed after wading ashore on an island cut off from the modern world.

Trump threatens to shut down the border

As thousands of troops deployed to the southern border were treated to a Thanksgiving meal, the president threatened to completely shut down the border. ABC News' Tara Palmeri reports.

Stocks Post Worst Thanksgiving Week Decline Since 2011

With some of the Dow’s most popular technology stocks under pressure and a steep decline in oil prices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 178.74 points on Black Friday, the S&P 500 dropped 0.65 percent, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.5 percent. It was the worst Black Friday performance for the Dow and S&P since 2010, and the worst for the Nasdaq since 2011. For the week, all three major indexes dropped more than 3 percent, their biggest loss during Thanksgiving week since 2011, according to CNBC.

Divided by war, Israel and Gaza's Instagrammers tell their own stories

One group are Gaza Palestinians and the other are Israeli schoolgirls living beside Gaza, with Israel’s concrete and razorwire border fortifications stretching between them. The missiles have stopped flying - for the moment - and the world’s eyes have already moved on after a week which saw the fiercest rocket salvoes and air strikes since a 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, the Palestinian militant group which controls the Gaza Strip.[USKCN1NI0RS]. "Gaza is closed, not many have access here.

Retailers look to millennials for holiday shopping cheer

As the US holiday shopping season kicked off Friday, retailers were looking to an unexpected savior to keep the tills humming: millennials. The generation of 22 to 37-year-olds have long been seen as cash-strapped and debt-laden after graduating college into a jobless economy after the 2008 global financial crisis. "This holiday season retailers will experience the growing purchasing power of Gen Z and millennials," National Retail Federation president Matthew Shay said.