TheNewsGuru

Tag: U.S.

  • Facebook cuts ties with firm after allegations of ‘smear tactics’

    Facebook cuts ties with firm after allegations of ‘smear tactics’

    Facebook said on Thursday that it had cut ties with a consulting firm on the social network allegedly used to discredit its critics and competitors.

    The New York Times reported that Facebook hired a PR firm to shine a negative light on critics of the social media network, including George Soros.

    Facebook said it ended its contract with the firm, Definers, on Wednesday night, but denied that the firm was used to spread disinformation.

    The president of Soros’ Open Society Foundation, Patrick Gaspard, said it was “not enough’’ to part ways with Definers, in a tweet on Thursday.

    Gaspard’s tweet came after the foundation issued a statement saying it was “dismayed’’ over the alleged “smear tactics’’ used against the U.S.-Hungarian billionaire and philanthropist, who supports progressive causes.

    Gaspard also wrote an open letter to the social network’s bosses on Wednesday, saying Facebook’s methods “threaten the very values underpinning our democracy.’’

    “As you know, there is a concerted right-wing effort the world over to demonise Mr Soros and his foundations, which I lead an effort which has contributed to death threats and the delivery of a pipe bomb to Mr Soros’ home,’’ Gaspard wrote.

    Soros was one of the targets of a series of home-made bombs sent to prominent Democrats and critics of U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to the U.S. midterm elections.

    Facebook remains under pressure after a series of scandals involving inflammatory content, coordinated disinformation campaigns and data breaches on its platform.

     

  • Iran’s President says America choose wrong path on sanctions

    America has chosen the wrong path in sanctioning Iran and will be defeated, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday, according to the Tasnim News Agency.

    The U.S. announced reinstatement of sanctions targeting Iran’s oil industry on Nov.7.

    The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump tries to force the Islamic Republic to curb its missile programme as well as its support for proxy forces in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen.

     

  • Facebook blocks more accounts linked to foreign entity

    Facebook blocks more accounts linked to foreign entity

    Facebook on Tuesday said it blocked more accounts, in addition to the about 115 accounts it blocked over the weekend, in the run-up to the US midterm elections that saw Democrats capture US House majority.

    The company said a website claiming to be associated with Russia-based Internet Research agency published a list of Instagram accounts they claimed to have created.

    “We had already blocked most of these accounts yesterday, and have now blocked the rest,” Nathaniel Gleicher, Facebook’s head of cyber-security policy said in a statement, without disclosing the number of additional accounts blocked.

    The social network had blocked accounts on the eve of the US midterm elections after authorities tipped it off to suspicious behaviour that may be linked to a foreign entity, the company said in a blog post on Monday.

    Eighty-five of the removed accounts were posting in English on Facebook’s Instagram service, while 30 others were on Facebook and associated with pages in French and Russian, the post said.

    The company said it needed to do further analysis to decide if the accounts are linked to Russia’s Internet Research Agency or any other group.

    Both Facebook and Twitter have taken down millions of posts and shuttered accounts linked to influence operations by Russia, Iran and other actors in the run-up to Tuesday’s US elections.

    US intelligence agencies concluded a Russian-state operation carried out a campaign of hacking and misinformation to undermine the 2016 presidential election.

    Russian agents believed to be connected to the government had been active in spreading divisive content and promoting extreme themes ahead of US midterm elections, but they were working hard to cover their tracks, according to government investigators, academics and security firms.

    Social media companies say they are now more vigilant against foreign and other potential election interference after finding themselves unprepared to tackle such activity in the US presidential election.

     

  • Democrats seize U.S. House control

    Democrats seize U.S. House control

    Democrats have pledged to check President Donald Trump after seizing U.S. house control in Tuesday’s polls.

    “Thanks to you, tomorrow will be a new day in America,” Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi told cheering Democrats at a Washington victory party, saying House Democrats would be a check on Trump.

    “We will have a responsibility to find our common ground where we can, stand our ground where we can’t,” Pelosi said.

    Democrats rode a wave of dissatisfaction with President Trump to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives, giving them the opportunity to block Trump’s agenda and open his administration to intense scrutiny.

    In midterm elections two years after he won the White House, Trump and his fellow Republicans expanded their majority in the U.S. Senate following a divisive campaign marked by fierce clashes over race, immigration and other cultural issues.

    But with his party losing its majority in the House, the results represented a bitter setback for Trump after a campaign that became a referendum on his leadership.

    With some races still undecided, Democrats appeared headed to a gain of more than 30 seats, well beyond the 23 they needed to claim their first majority in the 435-member House in eight years.

    The newly empowered House Democrats will have the ability to investigate Trump’s tax returns, possible business conflicts of interest and allegations involving his 2016 campaign’s links to Russia.

    They also could force Trump to scale back his legislative ambitions, possibly dooming his promises to fund a border wall with Mexico, pass a second major tax-cut package or carry out his hardline policies on trade.

    A simple House majority would be enough to impeach Trump if evidence surfaces that he obstructed justice or that his 2016 campaign colluded with Russia.

    But Congress could not remove him from office without a conviction by a two-thirds majority in the Republican-controlled Senate.

    House Democrats could be banking on launching an investigation using the results of U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s already 18-month-old probe of allegations of Russian interference on Trump’s behalf in the 2016 presidential election.

    Moscow denies meddling and Trump denies any collusion.

    In spite his party losing the House, Trump wrote on Twitter, “Tremendous success tonight.”

    Trump, a 72-year-old former reality TV star and businessman-turned-politician called Pelosi, Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer and several of the Republican winners.

    Trump had hardened his rhetoric down the stretch on issues that appealed to his conservative core supporters, issuing warnings about a caravan of Latin American migrants headed to the border with Mexico and condemnations of liberal American “mobs.”

    Most Democratic candidates in tight races stayed away from harsh criticism of Trump during the campaign’s final stretch, focusing instead on bread-and-butter issues like maintaining insurance protections for people with pre-existing medical conditions and safeguarding the Social Security retirement and Medicare healthcare programs for senior citizens.

    In the last two decades there have only been three election cycles where one party picked up 24 or more seats.

    Tuesday’s gains were the biggest since 2010, when a wave of conservative anger against Democratic President Barack Obama gave Republicans a massive 64-seat pickup.

    Every seat in the House, 35 seats in the 100-member Senate and 36 of the 50 state governorships were up for grabs.

    In the House, Democrats picked up seats across the map.

    Democrats, who picked up Republican-held seats included Donna Shalala, a former Cabinet secretary under President Bill Clinton, in Florida.

    In the Senate, where Democrats were defending seats in 10 states that Trump won in 2016, Republicans ousted four incumbent Democrats: Bill Nelson in Florida, Joe Donnelly in Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota and Claire McCaskill in Missouri.

    Some of the campaign’s biggest Democratic stars lost.

    Liberal House member Beto O’Rourke’s underdog Senate campaign fell short in conservative Texas against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz.

    Andrew Gillum lost to Republican Ron DeSantis in his quest to become Florida’s first black governor.

    In gubernatorial races, Republican Kris Kobach, a Trump ally, was beaten by a Democrat in Kansas.

    Democrats also captured governorships in Michigan and Illinois.

     

  • U.S. grants eight countries Iran sanctions waivers

    The U.S. government has agreed to let eight countries, including close allies South Korea and Japan, as well as India, keep buying Iranian oil after it reimposes sanctions on Tehran from next week, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a U.S. official.

    Iran’s biggest oil customers – all in Asia – have been seeking sanctions waivers to allow them to still buy some of its oil.

    Bloomberg reported that close U.S. allies South Korea and Japan had received waivers along with India, which relies heavily on supplies from Iran, adding that a list of all countries getting waivers was expected to be released officially on Monday.

    A Chinese official told Reuters that discussions with the U.S. government were ongoing and that a result was expected over the next couple of days.

    “We think Trump will agree to China importing some volumes, similar to the treatment that India and South Korea receive,” Clayton Allen of Height Securities said in a note on Friday.

    However, analysts said any potential Iranian oil sanction waivers would likely only be temporary.

    “The U.S. may use waivers to slow-walk implementation, but these will not apply indefinitely,” Allen said.

    Goldman Sachs said it expects Iran’s crude oil exports to fall to 1.15 million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of the year, down from around 2.5 million bpd in mid-2018.

     

  • Trump’s plan to abolish birthright citizenship spark off reactions

    The latest plan by US President Donald Trump to abolish birthright citizenship has sparked off reactions, as social media has been abuzz with divergent opinions on the matter.
    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Trump made the plans to end automatic right to US citizenship for children born to non-citizens in the United States known in an interview with Axios.
    “Good job president Trump… they come here pregnant on temporary Visa or crossing the border illegally, give birth to a child and then they bring the whole village here,” a Twitter user known as Riya Sharma tweeted.
    Kevin Vozar stated that “Customs can deny a pregnant foreign national entry to US if it is determined they have no health insurance/money or will become a ward of the state. If they come in illegally with the intent on giving birth they can both be deported”.
    https://twitter.com/CaptainKvo/status/1057255640576507904
    “The 14th Amendment needs to be updated due to abuse from those it was not intended to cover. If someone is already a citizen of another country, birthing in US shouldn’t get birthright citizenship. The policy can be changed with just an executive order for now,” another Twitter user stated.
    The 14th Amendment of the US constitution stated thus: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”.
    Trump described it as “ridiculous”, stressing that “it has to end”.
    “How ridiculous, we’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous, and it has to end,” Trump said.
    President Trump said he had spoken to legal counsel about it and that the change is in the works.
    “You can definitely do it with an act of Congress. It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. You don’t. I can do it just with an executive order. It’s in the process, it’ll happen – with an executive order,” Trump said.
    “More shameful and disgusting idea from Trump the orange menace,” Catherine Jackson stated.
    https://twitter.com/catheri77679385/status/1057254682052227073
    https://twitter.com/NormEisen/status/1057221071940870147
    “I am reminded that 4 of Donald Trump’s 5 children have immigrant mothers: Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Ivanka Trump. Also, there is evidence the first lady was once an “illegal immigrant. And the president’s first wife (and mother of his three older children) came to the United States using a “cold war marriage,” Angelo Villagomez stated.
    https://twitter.com/TaotaoTasi/status/1057254778982580224
    In his argument on the birthright citizenship, Steve Kantrowitz also on Twitter said “The framers of the Civil Rights Act — the immediate precursor to the 14th Amendment, and the first place national citizenship was codified — knew exactly what they were doing”.
    He further stated that “They were clarifying the well-understood principle that children born in the U.S. were citizens regardless of the immigration status of their parents.
    “They even understood this to be true for children whose parents would then have been racially ineligible for citizenship, such as the Chinese”.
    https://twitter.com/skantrow/status/1057229372631998464
    See more reactions:
    https://twitter.com/danvock/status/1057252203809902598


    https://twitter.com/adamemile/status/1057254145449750528
    https://twitter.com/Shaunton_Davis/status/1057254894359457793


    https://twitter.com/atriumofthefall/status/1057269289105842176
    https://twitter.com/humbleresh/status/1057269267794747393


    https://twitter.com/ScienceHoffman/status/1057255387248832513


     

  • Trump to end birthright citizenship for US-born babies

    US President Donald Trump has made known plans to end birthright citizenship for US-born babies.
    TheNewsGuru (TNG) reports Trump plans were made known during an exclusive interview with Axios.
    According to the 14th Amendment of the US constitution, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside”.
    “How ridiculous, we’re the only country in the world where a person comes in, has a baby, and the baby is essentially a citizen of the United States for 85 years with all of those benefits. It’s ridiculous, and it has to end,” Trump said in the interview.
    President Trump said he had spoken to legal counsel about it and that the change is in the works.
    “You can definitely do it with an act of Congress. It was always told to me that you needed a constitutional amendment. You don’t. I can do it just with an executive order. It’s in the process, it’ll happen – with an executive order,” Trump said.
    The latest proposal by Trump is expected to spark a fresh debate on the interpretation of 14th Amendment of the US constitution, amid pushback that the move would fly in the face of the constitution.
    As it stands, children born to non-US citizens on American soil have the right to US citizenship in nearly all circumstances.
    Trump has long-criticized so-called “anchor babies”, a phrase used to describe the practice in which undocumented immigrants are able to gain legal foothold in the country through their citizen children.
     

  • ‘We’re not letting you in’, Trump warns migrant caravan

    U.S. President Donald Trump has asked the over 7,000 Central-American refugees now on the march through Mexico towards the southern border of the United States to “go back”.
    He vowed that he would not allow them into the country.
    Trump, in a tweet urged them to rather apply for U.S. citizenship like others.
    The president had reportedly deployed 800 army troops to the U.S.-Mexico border to stop the migrants.
    “To those in the Caravan, turnaround, we are not letting people into the United States illegally.
    “Go back to your Country and if you want, apply for citizenship like millions of others are doing!” Trump tweeted.
    Trump last week threatened to cut off foreign aid to Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador should the caravan of people fleeing their homeland attempt to cross into the U.S. illegally.
    He alleged that “criminals and unknown Middle Easterners are mixed in”, adding “I have alerted Border Patrol and Military that this is a National Emergency”.
    The president also dismissed reports that Russians and Chinese listened to his phone calls for insisting on using his insecure private phone and refusing the secured official lines.
    He tweeted: “The New York Times has a new Fake Story that now the Russians and Chinese (glad they finally added China) are listening to all of my calls on cellphones.
    “Except that I rarely use a cellphone, & when I do it’s government authorized.
    “I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!”
     

  • U.S. condemns killing of Hauwa Liman

    The U.S. Embassy has condemned the killing of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), health worker, Hauwa Liman by Boko Haram on Monday.
    The embassy in statement on Tuesday in Abuja expressed its condolence to the family of Liman and the ICRC.
    ”We stand in solidarity with our Nigerian partners as we work to defeat ISIS-West Africa and prevent these tragedies.
    ”Our thoughts and prayers go out to Hauwa’s family, to her colleagues, and to those still suffering in captivity,” it stated.
    Recall that the Boko Haram jihadists had on Monday killed Hauwa, another kidnapped female aid worker in northeast, Nigeria.
    This is coming a month after one of her colleagues, Saifura Khorsa, who also worked for ICRC, was murdered.
    Information Minister Lai Mohammed had described the killing as “dastardly, inhuman and ungodly,” and vowed to push for the release of the remaining female captives.
    Three female health workers were kidnapped during a Boko Haram raid on the remote town of Rann, in Borno state, on March 1 that killed three other aid workers and eight Nigerian soldiers.
    Two of the kidnapped women, Hauwa Liman and Saifura Khorsa, worked for the ICRC while the third, Alice Loksha, worked for the UN children’s agency, (UNICEF).
     

  • Breaking: U.S. Ambassador to UN resigns

    The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Ms Nikki Haley, has resigned her appointment.
    Haley made the announcement at the Oval Office in the presence of President Donald Trump, who said the envoy had “done a fantastic job”.
    The ambassador would, however, remain on the job till the end of the year, Trump announced.
    Haley said: “It was a blessing to go into the UN with body armour every day and defend America, and I’ll always do that.
    “I’ll never truly step aside from fighting for our country.
    “But I will tell you that I think it’s time. Being the United Nations ambassador has been an honour of a lifetime’’.
    Haley, who had long been speculated as a potential presidential candidate, said she had no intention of running for the presidency in 2020, as has been speculated.
    The ambassador said, on the contrary, she plans to campaign for Trump’s re-election.
    “I think you have to be selfless enough to know when you step aside and allow someone else to do the job,’’ she said.
    Trump said Haley had informed him roughly six months ago that she wanted to take a break after finishing two years with the administration.
    The president, however, said: “Nikki is going to be staying to the end of the year. It’ll just be’’.
    He said he hoped Haley would return in a different role and would name her successor within “the next two or three weeks’’.
    “She’s done a fantastic job and we’ve done a fantastic job together.
    “We’re all happy for you in one way, but we hate to lose you,’’ Trump said.
    He hailed her achievements at the UN within two years, including the progress on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, the re-imposition of Iran’s sanctions and for protecting the U.S. interests at the UN.
    Shortly before the meeting, Trump had announced on his Twitter handle: “Big announcement with my friend Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Oval Office at 10.30 a.m.’’.