The Trump administration is considering pulling the United States out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, a body that has been accused of being biased against Israel and criticized for including abusive governments, according to two sources in regular contact with former and current U.S. officials.
No immediate withdrawal is expected ahead of the council’s next session, which starts Monday, but discussion of abandoning the council is likely to alarm international activists already worried that the United States will take a lower profile on global human rights issues under President Donald Trump.
U.S. considers quitting U.N. Human Rights Council
Biologists say half of all species could be extinct by end of century
One in five species on Earth now faces extinction, and that will rise to 50% by the end of the century unless urgent action is taken. That is the stark view of the world’s leading biologists, ecologists and economists who will gather on Monday to determine the social and economic changes needed to save the planet’s biosphere.
“The living fabric of the world is slipping through our fingers without our showing much sign of caring,” say the organisers of the Biological Extinction conference held at the Vatican this week.
Trump administration asked intelligence officials, key lawmakers to counter Russia stories
The Trump administration has enlisted senior members of the intelligence community and Congress in efforts to counter news stories about Trump associates' ties to Russia, a politically charged issue that has been under investigation by the FBI as well as lawmakers now defending the White House.
Acting at the behest of the White House, the officials made calls to news organizations last week in attempts to challenge stories about alleged contacts between members of President Donald Trump's campaign team and Russian intelligence operatives, U.S. officials said.
I Am a Member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Not a Terrorist
I write this from the darkness of solitary confinement in Egypt’s most notorious prison, where I have been held for more than three years. I am forced to write these words because an inquiry is underway in the United States regarding charges that the Muslim Brotherhood, an organization to which I have devoted years of my life, is a terrorist group.
We are not terrorists. The Muslim Brotherhood’s philosophy is inspired by an understanding of Islam that emphasizes the values of social justice, equality and the rule of law. Since its inception in 1928, the Brotherhood has lived in two modes: surviving in hostile political environments or uplifting society’s most marginalized. As such, we have been written about, spoken of, but rarely heard from. It is in that spirit that I hope these words find light.
Steve Bannon Says Feud With ‘Corporatist, Globalist’ Media Will Only Get Worse
A few days after President Donald Trump drew rebukes for calling the media the “enemy of the American people,” his top strategist Steve Bannon showed no sign that the White House was willing to reconsider its feud with the press.
Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference alongside White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus on Thursday, Bannon warned the situation between the administration and the fourth estate will only get worse.
Alan Colmes Dies: Liberal Commentator was 66
Alan Colmes, the cable news and radio commentator who, as half of Fox News’ early and long-running Hannity & Colmes was the network’s go-to voice for a more liberal viewpoint, is dead following a brief illness at the age of 66.
Colmes death was announced on Fox News in a segment narrated by Hannity, who called Colmes “one of the nicest, kindest and most generous people.” Fox News confirmed his death.
A statement on Colmes’ website says he is survived by wife Jocelyn Elise Crowley. The statement in full reads:
Thrilling discovery of seven Earth-sized planets orbiting nearby star
A huddle of seven worlds, all close in size to Earth, and perhaps warm enough for water and the life it can sustain, has been spotted around a small, faint star in the constellation of Aquarius.
The discovery, which has thrilled astronomers, has raised hopes that the hunt for alien life beyond the solar system can start much sooner than previously thought, with the next generation of telescopes that are due to switch on in the next decade.
White House dismisses NSC aide after harsh criticism of Trump
The White House abruptly dismissed a senior National Security Council aide on Friday after receiving reports that he had publicly laced into the president and his senior aides, including son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump at an event hosted by a Washington think tank.
The aide, Craig Deare, was serving as the NSC's senior director for Western Hemisphere Affairs. Earlier in the week, at a private, off-the-record roundtable hosted by the Woodrow Wilson Center for a group of about two dozen scholars, Deare harshly criticized the president and his chief strategist Steve Bannon and railed against the dysfunction paralyzing the Trump White House, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Survey: Historians rank Obama 12th best president
Historians have ranked Barack Obama the 12th best president of all time, the highest rated since President Ronald Reagan, in a new C-SPAN survey released Friday.
Less than a month after exiting the White House, Obama received high marks from presidential historians for his pursuit of "equal justice for all" and for his commanding "moral authority," ranking third and seventh among all former presidents in each respective category. The 44th president also cracked a top 10 ranking for his "economic management" and public persuasion.
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