Latest news : January 2019

Thursday, 31 January 2019

PG&E files for bankruptcy amid California wildfire lawsuits, citing billions in claims

The utility filed bankruptcy documents despite investigators determining last week that its equipment was not to blame for a 2017 fire that killed 22.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Wp0q5D
Feed

It’s So Cold Throughout Much of the Country, the Postal Service Will Not Deliver Mail in Many States

A "record arctic air mass" is bringing dangerously low temperatures

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2RsdEL0
Feed

Venezuela targets Guaido with probe, travel ban, asset freeze

The court also said prosecutors could investigate Guaido, in apparent retaliation for sweeping U.S. sanctions on oil firm PDVSA, announced on Monday. The sanctions mean the state-run company may not be able to fulfill contracts with North American buyers, the government of President Nicolas Maduro said. Aimed at driving Maduro from power, the sanctions were the strongest measures yet against the 56-year-old former union leader, who has overseen economic collapse and an exodus of millions of Venezuelans in recent years.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2HCSAle
Feed

Dutch Cabinet Gets Emergency Powers in Case of No-Deal Brexit

A majority of lawmakers in the parliament’s lower house in The Hague granted the cabinet a six month period -- rather than a year as the government had proposed -- to use special powers as the country of about 17 million prepares for the eventuality of the U.K. leaving the European Union without a divorce agreement. Under the new legislation, the government will have to submit emergency measures to parliament within ten weeks after implementing them. If the government fails to submit within the set time-frame, the measures will be scrapped.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2DIHQ0S
Feed

Trump calls his own intel chiefs 'extremely passive and naive'

President Trump on Wednesday criticized his own intelligence chiefs a day after they broke with him in their assessments of the threats posed by North Korea, Iran and Syria.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2MHeGlv
Feed

China slowdown weighs on revenue growth at internet giant Alibaba

Internet giant Alibaba saw its revenue growth slow in the final three months of last year, in quarterly results likely to stir up concerns over the weaker China market, recently signalled to by US tech giants. Alibaba saw net income jump 33pc to 30.96bn yuan (£3.5bn) in the three months to the end of December, and revenue rose 41pc to 117.28bn yuan. However, shares dipped in New York trading, down 1.3pc, as investors took the results as a sign growth was waning, given Alibaba's revenue had grown more than 50pc for the 10 consecutive quarters prior to the most recent results. The 41pc growth announced on Wednesday was the weakest Alibaba had recorded in three years. The results follow a warning from Alibaba president Michael Evans earlier this month that China had "slowed down". Speaking at an event in New York, Mr Evans had said it was a market that "required patience", adding that there were some "troubling headwinds". Last week, China posted figures revealing its economic growth in 2018 had been the weakest in 28 years amid tensions with the US and poor consumer confidence. The country's GDP growth for the year was 6.6pc, down from 2017's 6.8pc. Some economists are predicting growth could slip below 6pc going forward. Technology intelligence - newsletter promo - EOA Masaaki Kanno, chief economist at Sony Financial Holdings, said: “We still think the Chinese economy could bottom out in the middle of the year. “There was no surprise from the GDP data but the basic message is that the Chinese economy is still slowing down." However, David Dai, of Bernstein, said the environment should improve for Alibaba in the second half of 2019 "as the Chinese government introduces measures to stimulate the economy and US China trade war stabilises". Alibaba is the first of China's big tech companies to report its results for the final three months of 2018, but follows a series of warnings over the state of the China market by US giants Apple, Intel and Nvidia. Apple last night said sales of its iPhones slipped by 15pc in the final three months of 2018, largely due to weaker demand in China. Speaking about Alibaba's results on Wednesday, however, boss Daniel Zhang was upbeat, saying: "Our resilient operating and financial performance is a direct reflection of our persistent focus on better serving our growing base of nearly 700 million consumers across retail, digital entertainment and local consumer services."

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2MElaS8
Feed

Polar vortex causes another lousy travel day for fliers, over 3,500 flights canceled

Brrr! The polar vortex caused hordes of flights to be canceled across the country on Wednesday.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2BcIeDj
Feed

Trump orders ‘several thousand’ more troops to US-Mexico border, costing taxpayers over $600m

Donald Trump’s White House administration has ordered “several thousand” more troops to the US-Mexico border, Pentagon officials said Tuesday. Acting Defense Department Secretary Patrick Shanahan said the latest dispatch of troops to the southern border would occur “soon” following a new request from the Department of Homeland Security. Meanwhile, reports indicate the president’s demands for an increased US military presence along the border are expected to cost American taxpayers over $600m (£458m).

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Gbp047
Feed

'El Chapo' defense rests after calling one witness

After that, U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan, who is presiding over the trial in Brooklyn federal court, will instruct the jury so it can begin deliberating Guzman's fate. The brief defense case was in sharp contrast to the 10-week presentation put on by prosecutors, who called over 50 witnesses to testify. Guzman said on Monday that he would not testify in his own defense.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2HCV7MA
Feed

Venezuela crisis: Maduro accuses Trump of hiring Colombian mafia to assassinate him

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused President Donald Trump of hiring the local mafia to assassinate him in an interview with a Russia state-run news agency. “Donald Trump has without doubt given an order to kill me and has told the government of Colombia and the Colombian mafia to kill me,” Mr Maduro told RIA news agency on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Critics argue that the 56-year-old’s claim is a red-herring tactic to rally up support in Venezuela amid mass protests against his socialist government, and the debilitating inflation and food and medicine shortages in the Latin American country.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2RWuRBo
Feed

Vale's Management Team Is on Thin Ice After Deadly Dam Break

It is the second deadly mining disaster involving Vale in only about three years and the company has come under intense scrutiny since images of death and destruction began flooding the airwaves on Friday. While Vale has taken steps in recent years to shield itself from state intervention, the government is still indirectly the company’s largest shareholder through a Banco do Brasil pension fund, known as Previ.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Tl8r9w
Feed

US Midwest braces for dangerous arctic chill

Millions of Americans braced Tuesday for a dangerous polar vortex which began to settle over a broad swath of the United States, threatening to set new records for cold as schools and businesses closed and authorities warned of frostbite. Temperatures in almost a dozen states stretching over 1,200 miles from the Dakotas to Ohio were forecast to be the coldest in a generation, if not on record. The National Weather Service (NWS) forecast temperatures between -10 to -40 degrees Fahrenheit (-23 to -40 Celsius) by Wednesday, with wind chill making it seem as cold as -65 degrees Fahrenheit in one area of Minnesota.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2RpKcFq
Feed

Trump slams U.S. intelligence chiefs as 'passive and naive' on Iran

Leaders of the U.S. intelligence community told a Senate committee on Tuesday that the nuclear threat from North Korea persisted and Iran was not taking steps toward making a nuclear bomb, conclusions that contrasted starkly with Trump's assessments of those countries. "The Intelligence people seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of Iran.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2SdevDQ
Feed

Kids (not just infants!) can now fly for free on Frontier Airlines, but there's a catch

Frontier Airlines is letting kids fly for free as part of their Discount Den program, which costs about $60 a year. Here's what you need to know.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2TmnPTj
Feed

Dangerous arctic chill sweeps over US Midwest

Tens of millions of people in the United States are bracing for a potentially life-threatening deep arctic chill forecast to hit swaths of the country on Wednesday. The US Postal Service -- known for its commitment to bringing the mail whatever the weather -- has even reportedly suspended deliveries in Iowa due to the severe cold. Temperatures in almost a dozen states stretching more than 1,200 miles (1,930 kilometers) from the Dakotas to Ohio were forecast to be the coldest in a generation, if not on record.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2HF78B7
Feed

'Naive': President Trump disputes his own intelligence chiefs on Iran, North Korea

President Trump takes to Twitter to defend his foreign policy on Iran, North Korea, and other issues.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2CYd8z1
Feed

'Serious consequences,' U.S. warns, after Venezuela moves on Guaido

The sweeping U.S. sanctions on oil firm PDVSA, announced on Monday, means the state-run company may not be able to fulfill contracts with North American buyers, the government of President Nicolas Maduro said. Aimed at driving Maduro from power, the sanctions were the strongest measures yet against the 56-year-old former union leader, who has overseen economic collapse and an exodus of millions of Venezuelans in recent years. The measures triggered higher global oil prices, angry responses from China and Russia and the first serious moves against Guaido since he challenged Maduro's claim on the presidency last week.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2TiyFcU
Feed

'El Chapo' must not 'escape' again, U.S. prosecutor tells jury

Accused Mexican drug boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's repeated escapes from the law prove that he "knows he's guilty," a U.S. prosecutor told jurors in closing arguments at his trial on Wednesday, urging them not to let him escape again. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Goldbarg's description of Guzman's history of dramatic prison escapes capped off a day-long summation in federal court in Brooklyn in which she also attacked the defense argument that Guzman was a scapegoat.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2ToZpIz
Feed

No mail will be delivered to parts of seven states as polar vortex chills postal delivery

So much for "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night." The U.S. mail won't be delivered tomorrow in four states due to the crippling cold of the polar vortex.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2CRanjh
Feed

World stocks mixed amid fears for trade talks, Brexit hopes

SINGAPORE (AP) — World markets were mixed Tuesday amid concerns that U.S. criminal charges against China's Huawei could complicate trade talks, though European indexes were up on optimism over Brexit.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2ShhpaK
Feed

The impact of the frigid cold, snowstorm, by the numbers

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A look at how this week's snowstorm and bitter cold have affected the United States, by the numbers:

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2CRkYdT
Feed

Venezuela crisis: Chief prosecutor asks court to ban opposition leader from leaving country and freeze his accounts

Venezuela’s chief prosecutor has asked the country’s top court to impose a travel ban on opposition leader Juan Guaido and freeze his accounts. The United States, along with several other countries, has recognized Mr Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate head of state and denounced leftist president Nicolas Maduro as a usurper. Mr Maduro, who was sworn in earlier this month for a second term after disputed elections last year, accuses Mr Guaido of staging a US-directed coup.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2HERCFm
Feed

Post-shutdown, some Republicans see door ‘slightly ajar’ to challenging Trump

It’s still a long shot, but a few Republicans are beginning to muse about a possible primary challenge to President Trump.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2FYy7pt
Feed

State Department warns Americans not to travel to Venezuela

The State Department said it has limited ability to help American citizens in Venezuela.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Rpx3fD
Feed

More Than 36,000 Pounds of Tyson Chicken Nuggets Recalled Over Possible Rubber Contamination

The contamination is considered a high health risk

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Tn3jC1
Feed

Harris: Lawmakers Should View ‘Autopsy Photographs’ of Dead Kids before Gun-Control Votes

Senator Kamala Harris (D., Calif.) made an emotional plea for increased gun control during CNN’s town hall in Iowa Monday night, arguing that her pro-Second Amendment colleagues should be forced to examine photos of dead children before voting on gun restrictions. “I think somebody should have required all those members of Congress to go in a room — in a locked room, no press, nobody else — and look at the autopsy photographs of those babies. “This has become a political issue.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Rpm9Gy
Feed

Goldman Sachs ups 'no-deal' likelihood after UK parliament amendment vote

Goldman Sachs nudged up its estimated probability of a "no-deal" Brexit on Wednesday after British lawmakers instructed Prime Minister Theresa May to reopen a Brexit treaty with the European Union to replace a controversial Irish border arrangement. Britain's parliament rejected a proposal to give parliament a path to prevent a potentially chaotic "no-deal" exit, but accepted two amendments - one seeking to replace the Irish backstop with alternative arrangements, and another rejecting the notion of a "no-deal" Brexit. Goldman Sachs analysts upped their "no-deal" Brexit probability to 15 percent from 10 percent, and cut their probability of Brexit not happening at all to 35 percent from 40 percent.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2RUKhpG
Feed

Good-bye polar vortex, hello spring? Weekend will be 75 degrees warmer

The bitter cold that froze parts of the central and eastern U.S. this week will be a distant memory by the weekend.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2HEjWra
Feed

Brexit deal 'best possible' and 'not renegotiable': Macron

French President Emmanuel Macron said Tuesday the Brexit deal is the "best agreement possible and is not renegotiable", as Britain's premier pushed to reopen talks with Brussels. Macron's comments during a summit in Cyprus came as Prime Minister Theresa May appealed to British lawmakers to give her a mandate to renegotiate, after parliament rejected an accord reached with the European Union. Macron urged the British government to "promptly" lay out to EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier "the next steps that will prevent an exit without an agreement, which nobody wants but for which we must all prepare ourselves".

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2DJ2qyf
Feed

Canada’s Decision on Huawei and 5G ‘Some Ways Off,’ Goodale Says

“I’m not going to speculate about time but it’s certainly beyond weeks,” Goodale told reporters Tuesday after a cabinet meeting. Goodale said Canada will take the view of allies such as the U.S. into account when studying potential risks to national security, and will make its own decision in the end. China’s ambassador to Canada and Huawei officials have denied the company’s gear is used for spying.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Rq1PFg
Feed

El Chapo prosecutor's closing argument: 'Mountain of evidence' proves guilt

Prosecutors say Guzmán became one of the largest smugglers and sellers of Colombian-produced narcotics to the United States in the 1980s and 1990s.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2RsDgHE
Feed

Record-breaking cold clobbers two-thirds of the U.S.

Polar vortex to bring extended, life-threatening cold to the Midwest, the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley and New England this week.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2CN2xqA
Feed

Venezuela crisis: Opposition leader Juan Guaido hit with travel ban and asset freeze by supreme court

Venezuela’s self-declared interim president, Juan Guaido, has been hit with a travel ban after the country’s chief prosecutor announced he would launch a criminal investigation into the congressional leader. The supreme court – stacked with members loyal to president Nicolas Maduro – blocked Mr Guaido from leaving the counrty and froze his bank accounts, but did not strip him of his legislative immunity. It came as Mr Guaido called on Venezuelans to stage a two-hour walkout from their homes and workplaces in protest at Mr Maduro’s stewardship of the country.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2MI0MQ2
Feed

Trump friend Roger Stone pleads not guilty in Russia probe

WASHINGTON (AP) — Roger Stone, a longtime adviser and confidant of President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to felony charges in the Russia investigation after a publicity-filled few days spent slamming the probe as politically motivated.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2CSwcPr
Feed

PG&E files for bankruptcy amid California wildfire lawsuits, citing billions in claims

The utility filed bankruptcy documents despite investigators determining last week that its equipment was not to blame for a 2017 fire that killed 22.

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2Wp0q5D
Feed

Britain to Prioritize Keeping Medicines Stocked Over Food in Case of No-Deal Brexit

The government has been accused of playing 'Russian roulette' with the national interest

from Yahoo News - Latest News & Headlines https://yhoo.it/2BbVgAR
Feed

Regulate social media to protect children, MPs urge

A cross-party committee says social media companies should have a legal "duty of care" to children.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2BaE9iK
v

Facebook users continue to grow despite privacy scandals

The number of people who logged into the site at least once a month rose 9% last year.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2Uu7wUu
v

Scruff gay dating app bans underwear photos

The app bans images of men in underwear and swimwear after "repeated suspensions by app store distributors".

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2SgJDCi
v

Kwik Fit garages hit by computer virus

The car repair chain's IT system went offline on Saturday and has been experiencing problems since.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2Bbhenr
v

PledgeMusic: The day the music died?

Crowdfunding site PledgeMusic seems to have run out of money, leaving musicians wondering what to do.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2sShPG9
v

DJI pledges painful action to tackle corruption

The world's bestselling drone-maker says it must tackle cases of employee theft.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2BbV4Sh
v

Fifa to stop selling in-game currency in Belgium

The move comes after the Belgian Gambling Commission threatened legal action over in-game loot boxes.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2MFq3uk
v

Children 'afterthought' for social media companies

England's children's commissioner writes to social media companies, urging them to tackle disturbing content.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2TlA6Hr
v