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☆ After acrimonious resignation, Pope tells abuse commission to 'move forward'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Philip Pullella | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/3] Pope Francis addresses a meeting with the members of Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors at the Vatican, May 5, 2023. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERSVATICAN CITY, May 5 (Reuters) - Pope Francis on Friday praised the work of an international Vatican commission on sexual abuse prevention, following the recent acrimonious resignation of a high-profile member who accused it of lacking transparency. Zollner, a world-renowned abuse prevention expert, denounced unclear hiring practices, an undefined relationship with the Vatican's doctrine office and "inadequate" financial and decision-making accountability. Zollner also leads a centre for the study of abuse at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University and is an adviser on abuse prevention for the diocese of Rome. Last year, the pope incorporated it into the Vatican's doctrinal department, which decides on sanctions for priests convicted of sexual abuse.

☆ E. Jean Carroll rests case in civil trial after jurors see video of Trump confusing her with his ex-wife
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-04 | by ( Adam Reiss | Dareh Gregorian | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Lawyers for E. Jean Carroll rested her civil case against Donald Trump on Thursday, shortly after jurors were shown a deposition video of the former president confusing the accuser with his ex-wife Marla Maples. "It's Marla," Trump said during a deposition for the case when shown a picture of him, Carroll and Carroll's ex-husband in the 1980s. The end of Carroll's case potentially paves the way for the trial to move to closing arguments on Monday. Asked if he was going to the trial, he said, "I'll probably attend," according to a Sky News video of his remarks. In the deposition, Trump also mocked two other women who've accused him of sexual misconduct: Jessica Leeds, a retired stockbroker, and Natasha Stoynoff, a former People magazine reporter.

☆ A divided Israel stands at a perilous crossroads on its 75th birthday
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Hadas Gold | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

And weakens the pillars that hold our nation together,” Israel’s President Isaac Herzog warned this week in a speech to Jewish groups. The legislation has plunged Israel into the largest and longest protest movement in the country’s history. Frozen peace processBut as Israel celebrates 75 years since its founding with fanfare, Palestinians mark the same event with mourning. It was during the Jewish state’s creation that more than 700,000 Palestinians were forced to flee their homes in what is now Israel. “This is the end of the era of limited conflicts,” Gallant told reporters, according to the Times of Israel.

☆ The high-speed train in Saudi Arabia that connects Mecca and Medina
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-30 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia CNN —In the distant past, Muslim pilgrims came to the holy city of Mecca on foot. Haramain means “two sanctuaries” in Arabic, named for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina that sit on the line’s opposite ends. Business class passengers on the train can watch seat-back TVs. Even on a short journey like the one from Jeddah to KAEC, business class passengers are entitled to a full meal service. When it comes to high-speed railway, it seems as though the Haramain line is only the beginning in Saudi Arabia.

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Wray's comments Tuesday came after Baier noted that the Energy Department had cited the FBI's earlier findings in its report. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, said earlier Tuesday that China has "always been open and transparent" about Covid. In its assessment, the Energy Department also described the "likely" laboratory-related leak as an "accident," the official added. The Energy Department is one of 18 government departments and agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said, "China obviously is very threatened by this," but "the lab leak story is not anti-Chinese.

☆ China's online shoppers started the year cautiously, Alibaba says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

"From January to early February of this year, overall sales of online physical goods remained weak," Alibaba CEO Daniel Zhang said Thursday during a quarterly earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript. Alibaba's Zhang was relatively cautious in his comments about the economic recovery. Alibaba's China commerce revenue in the last three months of 2022 fell by 1% to the equivalent of $24.64 billion, accounting for 69% of total revenue. Nationwide, catering sales fell by 6.3% in 2022, while retail sales overall dropped by 0.2%, according to China's statistics bureau. The two months' data are typically combined due to variations in the timing of the Lunar New Year holiday, which doesn't follow the Gregorian calendar.

☆ China's economic recovery is off to a slow start
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Hector Retamal | Afp | Getty ImagesBEIJING — China's economic recovery is off to a modest start. Migrant workers have mostly returned to work after China's biggest holiday of the year, and children went back to school this week. It also remains to be seen how demand from China's growth picks up as businesses resume work and travel after the Lunar New Year holiday. Robin Xing, chief China economist at Morgan Stanley, pointed out that in-person meetings are particularly important for doing business in China, and that such interactions weren't easily feasible last year. Ting Lu chief China economist, Nomura

Governors gathered in the nation’s capital in recent days for the National Governors Association winter meeting. And while they were focused on their jobs at hand, questions about the 2024 presidential race were unavoidable. Asked on Saturday if she would like to see Biden run again, Michigan Gov. At a Democratic Governors Association press conference on Thursday, a group of 11 governors echoed support for Biden’s potential re-election campaign. Spencer Cox also joined “Meet” and weighed in on the presidential race, saying he would like to see his party nominate a governor.

☆ Ukraine's main Catholic church moves Christmas to Dec. 25 in pivot to West
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KYIV, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Ukraine's main Catholic church said on Monday it would move to a new calendar that would see Christmas celebrated on Dec. 25 rather than Jan. 7, amid an effort by Ukrainian institutions to break cultural links to Russia. The move by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC), which counts just under a tenth of Ukrainians as worshippers, was welcomed by culture minister Oleksandr Tkachenko. That poll, held in December 2022, showed 59% of over 1.5 million respondents supported moving Christmas celebrations to Dec. 25, when the feast is celebrated in Western Europe. Last month, Tkachenko expressed hope that all of Ukraine's churches would agree to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25. Until now, all major churches in majority-Orthodox Ukraine followed the Julian calendar, which celebrates Christmas on Jan. 7.

Police body camera footage from last year's vicious hammer attack on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband at their San Francisco home was made public Friday. It shows DePape with several bags, including a large backpack, in a yard outside the Pelosi home. In court filings, state prosecutors said he told officers at the scene his true target was Nancy Pelosi, who was not in the home at the time. Paul Pelosi suffered a fractured skull and injuries to his arms and hands during the assault. Nancy Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol Thursday that she was unsure if she would watch the video.

A group of House Democrats announced Thursday they were forming the Congressional Dads Caucus to focus on family issues. "Why am I, a father, getting praised for doing what mothers do every single day, which is care for their children?" The lawmaker dads were joined at the news conference by Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., a member of the Moms in the House Caucus. Another member of the Congressional Dads Caucus, Rep. Andy Kim, D-N.J., said all those issues became more real to him when he became a father. Other members of the caucus include Reps. Dan Goldman and Jamaal Bowman of New York, Joe Neguse of Colorado and Joaquin Castro of Texas.

WASHINGTON — The National Archives and Records Administration on Thursday requested that former presidents and vice presidents "conduct an assessment" to determine if they have any classified materials in their possession. Under the Presidential Records Act, all presidential and vice presidential records - including any classified documents - must be turned over to Archives by the end of their terms. A spokesperson for the Archives declined to comment on the letter, which was sent after classified documents were found at the homes of former Vice Presidents Joe Biden and Mike Pence, as well as an office Biden previously used. On Thursday, Bush's office responded to the Archives letter by saying, "Thank you for your note. Former Vice President Dan Quayle’s office said Thursday: “We have not received an inquiry from the National Archives.

Troy Nehls, a vocal critic of U.S. military aid to Ukraine, said Thursday that President Joe Biden should call in his predecessor to end the conflict with Russia. "Joe Biden, you need to call Donald Trump. Donald Trump will call Vladimir Putin and end this war," the Texas Republican said on Fox News. "We must stop this war, and Donald Trump can do it." Nehls said he thought the Russian president would respond to Trump because “he never went into Ukraine” when Trump was president.

Former President Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts are being reinstated, the social media giant Meta announced Wednesday — a little more than two years after he was suspended from the platforms over incendiary posts about the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Meta owns Facebook and Instagram. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., then the minority leader, vowed to “rein in big tech power over our speech” after Facebook announced the length of Trump’s suspension in 2021. Trump’s presidential campaign officially petitioned Facebook to allow Trump back on to the platform this month. “If Facebook wants to have this fight, fine, but the House is leverage, and keeping Trump off Facebook just looks political,” the adviser said.

Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., made a significant revision to his 2022 campaign filings Tuesday by specifying that a $500,000 loan he made to the campaign didn't come from his personal funds. The initial filing in September included a checked box saying the hefty loan came from the "personal funds of the candidate." About $150,000 in loans is still marked as having come from his personal funds. A separate filing shows a new $125,000 loan that came from Santos in October but was not from his personal funds. A spokesperson for Santos’ congressional office said it does "not comment on campaign or personal matters."

A jury on Monday convicted four members of the extremist group the Oath Keepers of seditious conspiracy. The trial, which started Dec. 12, included testimony from Brian Ulrich, a member of the Oath Keepers’ Georgia chapter who had pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy and obstruction of an official proceeding. ... I’m not afraid and I’m ready to f---ing go.”The four defendants were charged as part of the same seditious conspiracy case involving Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes that went to trial in October. Rhodes and Kelly Meggs, the leader of the group’s Florida chapter, were convicted of seditious conspiracy in November. The maximum sentence for seditious conspiracy — a rarely used Civil War era statute — is 20 years in federal prison.

☆ An Apple a day could keep the layoffs away
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

For many tech workers, however, this Lunar New Year was tainted with layoff anxiety. Apple is the only Big Tech company that hasn't conducted sweeping layoffs recently. Apple has long been a lone wolf among its Big Tech peers. The chart above shows how more tech workers were laid off in January 2023 than during the first half of 2022 combined. Read four of the memos in full here, from Google Chrome, Google Cloud, Google UK, and its Europe, the Middle East, and Africa offices.

Those confidentiality interests include not divulging information on ongoing investigations, Urierte said. Jordan sent Garland a letter demanding information on that investigation last week. Longstanding Department policy prevents us from confirming or denying the existence of pending investigations in response to congressional requests or providing non-public information about our investigations,” the letter said. Without prioritization, requests will take longer to resolve and will be more likely to yield irrelevant information," the letter said. The committee responded in a tweet later Friday, saying, "Why’s DOJ scared to cooperate with our investigations?"

Former President Donald Trump has dropped the federal lawsuit he filed in Florida against New York Attorney General Letitia James. Trump's lawyers filed a notice of voluntary dismissal in the case before U.S. District Judge Donald Middlebrooks on Friday morning. The suit charged James — who's filed a $250 million lawsuit against Trump and his company in New York state court — has "repeatedly abused her position as Attorney General for the State of New York to pursue a vendetta against President Trump." Trump had made similar claims against James in state and federal court in New York, both of which were dismissed. "Mr. Trump is a prolific and sophisticated litigant who is repeatedly using the courts to seek revenge on political adversaries.

An Arkansas man who was photographed on Jan. 6 with his feet on a desk in then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office took the witness stand at his criminal trial Thursday and said he regretted his actions during the attack on the Capitol. “I shouldn’t have put my feet on the desk,” Richard "Bigo" Barnett told jurors while testifying in his own defense on riot-related felony charges. Barnett testified that going inside the building was “against his instinct” and compared the experience to being in a dream. Barnett also told jurors that he hadn't intentionally sought out Pelosi's office. He said he did not realize it was Pelosi’s office until he picked up an envelope with her name on it, which he said he did out of curiosity.

Former President Donald Trump unleashed a slew of insults against writer E. Jean Carroll when he was deposed in her civil suit accusing him of rape, newly unsealed court filings show. During the lengthy deposition, Trump was asked about a post he wrote on Truth Social shortly before his testimony claiming that Carroll's story was "a hoax." Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer, then asked him about writing in the post that Carroll said Trump had "swooned her" inside the store. Didn’t she say that?” Trump continued, before indicating he was referring to Carroll's 2019 interview on CNN with Anderson Cooper. When Cooper said that most people think of rape as a violent assault, she responded, “Most people think of rape as sexy.

The House Judiciary Committee announced Friday it's opened an investigation into the Obama-era classified documents that were found in President Joe Biden's Delaware home and his former Washington office. The White House acknowledged Thursday that classified documents dating back to Biden's time as vice president had been discovered in his garage in Delaware. Jordan and Johnson also renewed a request for information on the Trump investigation they made last year, when the committee was controlled by Democrats. "On August 15, 2022, Committee Republicans wrote to you and FBI Director Christopher Wray requesting documents and information related to the FBI’s raid of President Trump’s residence. The Justice Department has confirmed receipt of the letter but declined a request for comment.

Trump Corp. and Trump Payroll Corp. — both subsidiaries of the Trump Organization — were convicted last month on 17 counts, including conspiracy, criminal tax fraud and falsifying business records. “This case was all about Allen Weisselberg committing tax fraud on his personal tax returns. Every witness repeatedly testified that President Trump and the Trump family knew nothing about Allen Weisselberg’s actions,” Trump attorney Susan Necheles maintained after the verdict. The $1.6 million in penalties the district attorney sought is the maximum allowed under applicable statutes in the case. Trump has complained that the actions of the district attorney and the attorney general are part of the "witch hunt" against him.

Prosecutors began delivering opening arguments Thursday in the seditious conspiracy trial of former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and four other members of the far-right extremist group involved in the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol. After the election, Tarrio posted on social media that the presidency was being stolen and vowed that his group won't "go quietly," prosecutors said. Tarrio, prosecutors say, was aware of discussions around a plan to storm the Capitol and was involved in discussions about occupying buildings, including in the Capitol complex. The group helped rile up the crowd on the day of the rally and successfully led rioters to break past police barricades and into the Capitol, prosecutors said. A protester, who claims to be a member of the Proud Boys, confronts police officers outside the Capitol in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021.

A "small number" of Obama administration documents with classified marking were found in President Joe Biden's Wilmington home, the White House said Thursday. In a statement released on Twitter, Special Counsel to the President Richard Sauber said the documents were found during a search for documents in Biden's two Delaware homes. "All but one of these documents were found in storage space in the president's Wilmington residence garage. The White House says the search was completed Wednesday night. Sauber said the White House "will continue to cooperate" with the DOJ review.

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