A judge agreed with a coalition of states that a change in tax law eliminating a penalty for not having health insurance invalidates the entire law.
Days after a seven-year-old Guatemalan girl died after complications from a septic shock she experienced while in Border Patrol custody, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the child’s family was to blame for her death. “This is just a very sad example of the dangers of this journey,” Ms Nielsen said on Fox News. FOX & FRIENDS: What do you know about the 7-year-old girl who died in Border Patrol custody?@SecNielsen: "This is just a very sad example of the dangers of this journey.
By Gabriela Baczynska and Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday he had no mandate to reopen Brexit negotiations with Britain, while the head of the bloc's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he "admired" Prime Minister Theresa May. Tusk and Juncker were speaking at a news conference after two days of talks at an EU summit that were dominated by the issue of Brexit and saw the other 27 national leaders of the bloc offer May only vague assurances over their Brexit deal. "I have no mandate to organize any further negotiations. ...
President Donald Trump has criticised American TV host Mika Brzezinski over her use of a homophobic slur, claiming a conservative would be banned from the airwaves for using the remark. The MSNBC co-host of weekday morning show ‘Morning Joe’ called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo a “butt-boy” on air over an interview Mr Pompeo gave to Fox News where he said reports of a CIA assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman was linked to the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were “inaccurate”. The CIA has reportedly assessed with “high confidence” that the crown prince was involved in the order to kill Mr Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October.
“The Canadian government at the request of the U.S. side wrongly detained the Chinese citizen,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said. The decision to arrest Meng earlier this month to aid a U.S. extradition effort has made Canada the focus of China’s ire, even as President Donald Trump’s trade war sits at the center of the dispute.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he made a mistake hiring longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen years ago and that his one-time fixer did "low-level work" for him, mostly in public relations. Cohen was sentenced to prison on Wednesday on charges that included hush money payments to women before the 2016 presidential election. "In retrospect, I made a mistake, because of what he did was all unrelated to me, except for the two campaign finance charges that are not criminal and shouldn't have been on there," Trump said in an interview with Fox News. ...
The interview marked Cohen’s first since being sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to breaking campaign-finance laws by arranging the payments, as well as lying to Congress and banks. “Of course,” Cohen said when asked if Trump knew it was wrong to make the payments, adding that the purpose was to help Trump and his campaign. Trump said Thursday he never directed Cohen to break the law and said that, as a lawyer, Cohen should know what’s legal and what’s not.
Reed O’Connor, appointed to the federal bench by President George W. Bush, ruled against Barack Obama’s signature health-care law three times, dealing the most serious blow Friday when he declared the entire law unconstitutional and cast uncertainty on insurance coverage for millions of Americans. While the ruling is sure to be appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, it’s a remarkable victory for conservatives who fared poorly in other court challenges to the Affordable Care Act and were further frustrated in 2017 when a Republican-led Congress and President Donald Trump couldn’t muster the votes to abolish Obamacare.
Australia has decided to formally recognise west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but won’t move its embassy until there’s a peace settlement between Israel and Palestinians, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Saturday. He said in a speech that Australia will recognise east Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital only after a settlement has been reached on a two-state solution. The Australian Embassy won’t be moved from Tel Aviv until such a time, he said. While the embassy move is delayed, Mr Morrison said his government will establish a defense and trade office in Jerusalem and will also start looking for an appropriate site for the embassy. "The Australian government has decided that Australia now recognizes west Jerusalem, as the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel," Mr Morrison said. He said the decision respects both a commitment to a two-state solution and longstanding respect for relevant UN Security Council resolutions. Mr Morrison had earlier floated the idea that Australia may follow the contentious US move of relocating its embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, but it was seen by many Australians as a political stunt. Critics called it a cynical attempt to win votes in a by-election in October for a Sydney seat with a high Jewish population. The consideration had sparked backlash from Muslim-majority Indonesia and Malaysia, threatening a free trade deal which has now been delayed. Opposition leader Bill Shorten said Saturday that the decision to recognize west Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but not move the embassy there was a "humiliating backdown" from the October by-election campaign. "What I’m worried is that Mr. Morrison put his political interest ahead of our national interest," Shorten told reporters.
A man was caught at New York's JFK airport last weekend trying to smuggle dozens of South American finches into the country, a bird that Guyanese immigrants covet for chirping but officials fear could spread disease, officials said on Thursday. About 70 finches were found hidden inside a shipment of hair rollers at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Saturday when a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialist inspected the unidentified male passenger's luggage. The birds may have been destined for sale to Guyanese immigrants for a game that involves betting on how often the finches chirp per minute, said Customs spokesman Anthony Bucci.
Turkish forces will enter the Syrian town of Manbij if the United States does not remove YPG Kurdish fighters, and it will also target Kurdish-controlled areas further east, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. Erdogan said this week that Turkey would launch a new operation within days against the U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG militia which controls swathes of Syria's northern border region, in what will be Turkey's third military campaign in Syria in two years.
The former Canadian diplomat who has written about some of the touchiest geopolitical issues in the world, including China’s expanding military footprint in Africa and the North Korea nuclear crisis, is now at the center of a stand-off between two global super-powers. Kovrig was detained by China’s spy agency during a visit to Beijing on Monday, just nine days after Canadian authorities, acting on a U.S. request, arrested a top Huawei Technologies Co. executive in Vancouver. The Chinese government confirmed Kovrig has been detained, according to a Canadian government official briefing reporters Wednesday evening in Ottawa.
A seven-year-old girl who crossed the United States’s southern border died after being taken into the custody of the Border Patrol. The unnamed child started having seizures just eight hours after she was arrested by border agents in New Mexico last Thursday, after entering the country with her father at an illegal crossing. In a statement, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said emergency medics who responded to the seizures decided to fly her to a hospital in El Paso, Texas.
By Gabriela Baczynska and Jan Strupczewski BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Council President Donald Tusk said on Friday he had no mandate to reopen Brexit negotiations with Britain, while the head of the bloc's executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he "admired" Prime Minister Theresa May. Tusk and Juncker were speaking at a news conference after two days of talks at an EU summit that were dominated by the issue of Brexit and saw the other 27 national leaders of the bloc offer May only vague assurances over their Brexit deal. "I have no mandate to organize any further negotiations. ...
Iran welcomed on Friday initial agreements reached at talks in Sweden by the opposing sides in Yemen's war, which include the Iran-aligned Houthi group, were a step toward a final peace accord, Iranian state TV reported on Friday. The war in Yemen is seen as a proxy war between Iran and its key regional rival Saudi Arabia. U.N.-backed talks in Sweden ended on Thursday with an agreement between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to cease fighting for the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah and withdraw their troops.