Political news

• The Latest: Democrats tag 'most troublesome' Trump picks

  04-01-2017 23:56
  
  The Latest on Congress (all times EST): 5:30 p.m. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer says Democrats have identified eight of President-elect Donald Trump's "most troublesome" Cabinet picks ...
  
  Read more

• James double helps Real beat Sevilla in King's Cup

  04-01-2017 23:56
  (Reuters) - Real Madrid marked Zinedine Zidane's first anniversary as manager with a comfortable 3-0 win over Sevilla in the first leg of their King's Cup last 16 tie at the Bernabeu on Wednesday. James Rodriguez opened the scoring for Real with a powerful strike from outside the box before Raphael Varane fired home a Toni Kroos corner to double the lead. James, who has been linked with a possible move away from the Spanish giants, added his second -- Real's third -- from the penalty spot before
  
  Read more

• Alli double for Tottenham ends Chelsea's winning streak

  04-01-2017 23:49
  Tottenham Hotspur denied Chelsea a record 14th consecutive Premier League win and loosened their grip on the title race as two Dele Alli headers secured a 2-0 victory at a rocking White Hart Lane on Wednesday. After Tottenham's own title dream last season ended in a tumultuous 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge in May, there was a particular satisfaction that they stopped the Chelsea bandwagon. Arsenal still hold the record for consecutive Premier League wins although their streak included 13 at the en
  
  Read more

• Who hacked? Trump challenges intel agencies he'll oversee

  04-01-2017 23:40
  
  President-elect Donald Trump escalated his blunt public challenge to the U.S. intelligence agencies he will soon oversee on Wednesday, appearing to embrace WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange's contention ...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Coming Soon to the U.S. Army: Turbans, Beards, Hijabs, and Cornrows

  04-01-2017 23:37
  Updated 6:01 p.m. EST The Army has issued a new regulation: Effective immediately, brigade-level commanders will be able to grant accommodations to servicemen and women who wear beards, turbans, or hijabs for religious reasons—the three most common requests for waivers to current guidelines on grooming and dress, according to a letter from the Secretary of the Army, Eric Fanning. The new guidelines also revise hairstyle standards for female soldiers: They can now wear dreadlocks, cornrows,
  
  Read more

• Brazil sees record number of tourists in 2016, boosted by Olympics

  04-01-2017 23:33
  Brazil saw a record number of international tourists in 2016, boosted by the first Olympic Games held in South America, official data showed on Wednesday. A total 6.6 million international travellers visited Brazil last year, the tourism ministry said, 4.8 percent higher than the year before. Brazil is the most popular destination in Latin America but lags far behind the world's top 10 popular destinations, according to United Nations figures for 2015.
  
  Read more

• GOP Sen. Rand Paul blasts party leaders for ignoring debt

  04-01-2017 23:30
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican Sen. Rand Paul on Wednesday blasted fellow GOP lawmakers for ignoring the government's spiraling debt problem in their rush to repeal President Barack Obama's health care law.
  
  Read more

• Deutsche Bank to pay $95 million to end U.S. tax fraud case

  04-01-2017 23:16
  By Nate Raymond and Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank AG agreed to pay $95 million (77 million pounds) to resolve a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the German bank of tax fraud for using "insolvent" shell companies to hide significant tax liabilities from the Internal Revenue Service in 2000. Under the accord described in papers filed on Wednesday with the federal court in Manhattan, Deutsche Bank also admitted to trying to stick the shell companies with the tax bill for its t
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• France's Vivendi taps Genish as chief convergence officer

  04-01-2017 23:11
  Vivendi SA has tapped Amos Genish, the former head of Spanish telecoms giant Telefonica SA's Brazil unit, to lead an effort to converge the French media company's content, platforms and media distribution strategies. Genish was named chief convergence officer and will be based in London and Paris, Vivendi said in a statement. Genish, an Israeli citizen, sold Brazilian phone carrier GVT SA to Vivendi in 2009.
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Bill would let Congress overturn late WH regs

  04-01-2017 23:05
  
  The Latest on Congress (all times EST): 5 p.m. House Republicans have passed legislation that would allow Congress to overturn, with a single vote, executive branch regulations finalized near the end of ...
  
  Read more

• Kosovo ex-PM arrested in France on Serbian warrant

  04-01-2017 22:44
  PARIS/PRISTINA (Reuters) - French police on Wednesday arrested former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, a guerrilla commander during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, on a Serbian arrest warrant, French police sources and Kosovo's Foreign Ministry said. Serbia considers Haradinaj a war criminal for his role in leading a guerrilla insurgency in its former southern province of Kosovo, which declared independence with Western backing in 2008. Haradinaj served briefly as prime minister of Kosovo in 2004
  
  Read more

• Sir Tim Barrow appointed as UK's new ambassador to EU

  04-01-2017 22:27 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Sir Tim Barrow is appointed to replace Sir Ivan Rogers as the UK's ambassador to the EU.
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Trump hire linked to NJ bridge scandal

  04-01-2017 22:25
  
  The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST): 4:20 p.m. Donald Trump has hired a political adviser whom New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie cut ties with two years ago in the fallout from the ...
  
  Read more

• Obama, Pence harden 'Obamacare' battle lines at Capitol

  04-01-2017 22:22
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — Hardening battle lines for the brawl to come, President Barack Obama urged congressional Democrats to "look out for the American people" in defending his legacy health care overhaul, while Vice President-elect Mike Pence stood firm Wednesday in telling Republicans that dismantling "Obamacare" is No. 1 on Donald Trump's list.
  
  Read more

• If college football is so popular, where are the fans?

  04-01-2017 22:11
  Fans in the stands at the Allstate Sugar Bowl in New Orleans Jan. 2 might have wondered where everybody went. The attendance figure was the lowest for the Sugar Bowl since 1939. The Camping World Independence Bowl, held each year in Shreveport, La., brought just under 29,000 fans through its turnstiles, its worst attendance since 1988.
  
  Read more

• Israel sentences Palestinian U.N. worker for aiding Hamas in plea deal

  04-01-2017 22:06
  An Israeli court sentenced a Palestinian U.N. worker to seven months in jail on Wednesday for aiding the militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the United Nations agency that employed him said. Wahid Abdallah al Bursh was detained in July and said by Israel's Shin Bet security agency to have confessed to being recruited by the Islamist group in 2014. Under the terms of a plea deal, Bursh is expected to be released next week, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) said.
  
  Read more

• California hires ex-Attorney General Holder to fight Trump

  04-01-2017 22:02
  
  SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Vowing to protect California's values and constitutional guarantees, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature announced Wednesday they have hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to serve as outside counsel to advise their legal strategy against the incoming administration of Donald Trump.
  
  Read more

• Dollar retreats from 14-year highs, investors unpack Fed minutes

  04-01-2017 22:00
  By Dion Rabouin NEW YORK (Reuters) - The dollar fell against the euro and yen on Wednesday, backing off a 14-year high against a basket of currencies with investors cautious about increasing bets on the greenback without fresh clues on the U.S. economy and the timing of interest rate increases. Minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's December meeting that warned of growing inflationary risks from President-elect Donald Trump's proposed fiscal stimulus measures undercut the dollar and pu
  
  Read more

• Ian Duncan Smith: 'Maybe Rogers didn't have government's trust'

  04-01-2017 21:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Iain Duncan Smith suggests the UK's outgoing ambassador to the EU, Sir Ivan Rogers, didn't have the government's trust.
  
  Read more

• Senior civil servants consider positions over Brexit tensions

  04-01-2017 21:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Whitehall officials concerned by Downing Street’s treatment of UK’s EU ambassador Sir Ivan Rogers who resigned on TuesdaySome senior civil servants who are disillusioned over preparations for Brexit are considering stepping down from their positions amid growing tensions with Downing Street. In the wake of the resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers as Britain’s ambassador in Brussels, sources said some of Whitehall’s top officials are “gravely concerned” by his treatm
  
  Read more

• Everton's Bolasie ruled out for up to a year

  04-01-2017 21:39
  LONDON (Reuters) - Everton winger Yannick Bolasie will miss the rest of the season with a knee injury and could be out for a year, manager Ronald Koeman said on Wednesday. The 27-year-old, who joined from Crystal Palace in August, injured his anterior cruciate ligament during Everton's 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Dec. 4. "It will be around 11-12 months before he is back. That is a big disappointment but he will come back," Koeman was quoted by the BBC. The Democratic Republic of Congo int
  
  Read more

• Diplomat Tim Barrow picked as UK’s man in Brussels

  04-01-2017 21:28
  Appointment as ambassador to EU endorsed by pro-Brexit Conservatives
  
  Read more

• Kosovo ex-PM arrested in France - police sources

  04-01-2017 21:27
  French police on Wednesday arrested former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, a guerrilla commander during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, on a Serbian arrest warrant, police sources said. Serbia considers Haradinaj a war criminal for his role in leading a guerrilla insurgency in its former southern province of Kosovo, which declared independence with Western backing in 2008. Haradinaj served briefly as prime minister of Kosovo in 2004 and 2005, while it was a ward of the United Nations, before bei
  
  Read more

• Stocks hold gains after Fed minutes; dollar down

  04-01-2017 21:26
  By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock indexes around the world gained on Wednesday, bolstered by upbeat global economic data and by minutes from the Federal Reserve's December meeting, which showed policymakers thought the U.S. economy could grow more quickly because of fiscal stimulus under the Trump administration. The dollar retreated from a 14-year high against a basket of currencies, briefly hitting a session low, while U.S. Treasury debt yields slipped after the release of the mi
  
  Read more

• Ex-Barclays trader pleads guilty in U.S. in forex probe

  04-01-2017 21:20
  NEW YORK (Reuters) - A former trader at Barclays Plc pleaded guilty on Wednesday to U.S. charges arising from a global investigation of the manipulation of foreign-exchange prices at major banks, the U.S. Justice Department said. Jason Katz, a former trader at Barclays who later worked at BNP Paribas SA, pleaded guilty in federal court in Manhattan to participating in a price-fixing conspiracy, becoming the first individual to admit wrongdoing in the criminal probe. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in
  
  Read more

• May taps career diplomat to replace EU envoy after scathing resignation

  04-01-2017 21:17
  By Elizabeth Piper and Guy Faulconbridge LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May appointed a senior career diplomat as envoy to the European Union on Wednesday to replace an ambassador who quit with a scathing resignation letter that exposed frustration among officials over her strategy. Tim Barrow, political director at the Foreign Office, will take up the post next week following the abrupt departure of Ivan Rogers, who told staff in his resignation letter they should "speak the truth to
  
  Read more

• Fed policymakers agree Trump fiscal boost poses inflation risk

  04-01-2017 21:14
  By Jason Lange and Lindsay Dunsmuir WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Almost all Federal Reserve policymakers thought the economy could grow more quickly because of fiscal stimulus under the Trump administration and many were eyeing faster interest rate increases, minutes from the central bank's December meeting showed. The minutes, released on Wednesday, showed how broadly views within the Fed are shifting in response to President-elect Donald Trump's promises of tax cuts, infrastructure spending and dere
  
  Read more

• Sir Tim Barrow Appointed Britain's EU Ambassador, Leaving Nigel Farage Unhappy

  04-01-2017 21:04
  
  Sir Tim Barrow has been appointed Britain’s EU ambassador after the shock resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers.
  Rogers stood down on Tuesday just weeks before Brexit negotiations are due to begin, criticising the Government’s “muddled thinking” in his resignation letter and triggering attackers from Brexiteers.
  Ex-minister Denis MacShane interpreted the appointment of another career diplomat as a sign the Foreign Office was retaining control of the imminent  negotiati
  
  Read more

• Tande stays calm in the winds to top Four Hills standings

  04-01-2017 21:00
  Norway's Daniel Andre Tande leapt to the top of the Four Hills ski jumping standings after winning Wednesday's penultimate stage, cut short by high winds in Innsbruck on Wednesday. Tande, 22, soared through the air for a jump of 128.5 metres at the Austrian venue which gave him his second straight stage win after his victory in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on Sunday. Others struggled in the winds, with Austria's Florian Altenburger among those crashing on the snow before the second run was ca
  
  Read more

• AP FACT CHECK: Trump's hit-and-miss 'Obamacare' tweet

  04-01-2017 21:00
  
  Taking a swipe at "Obamacare" on Twitter, President-elect Donald Trump correctly identified two of its most pressing problems — a spike in premiums and high deductibles. But he failed to acknowledge ...
  
  Read more

• Felled by Trump visit, Mexico's ex-finance minister named foreign minister

  04-01-2017 20:58
  Mexico's president on Wednesday revived the career of his fallen former finance minister, appointing him foreign minister just four months after he was replaced in the wake of a controversial visit by Donald Trump. Luis Videgaray is one of President Enrique Pena Nieto's closest aides, but he was forced out in September a week after the Trump visit. Pena Nieto was subjected to a wave of criticism for what many saw as a poorly handled invitation, given the real-estate magnate's anti-Mexico rhetori
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Trump acting to fill out top White House staff

  04-01-2017 20:55
  
  The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST): 2:30 p.m. It's a big hiring day for the incoming Trump White House. President-elect Donald Trump has picked Katie Walsh as deputy to chief of ...
  
  Read more

• Four shot dead in apparent murder-suicide by Canadian veteran

  04-01-2017 20:50
  A 10-year-old girl, her parents and grandmother were found shot dead in their rural home in the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia in what a relative described Wednesday as a murder-suicide by an Afghanistan war veteran who suffered from PTSD. Family member Catherine Hartling identified the gunman as 33-year-old Canadian Forces veteran Lionel Desmond and said she believed he had shot his daughter, his wife and his mother before killing himself on Tuesday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police
  
  Read more

• Top Senate Dem warns Trump on Supreme Court pick

  04-01-2017 20:31
  
  The top Democrat in the Senate is warning President-elect Donald Trump about his eventual Supreme Court choice: Name a "mainstream" nominee or Democrats will oppose the individual "with ...
  
  Read more

• Republicans make repealing Obamacare 'first order of business'

  04-01-2017 20:30
  By Susan Cornwell and Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama exhorted fellow Democrats on Wednesday to preserve his legacy-defining healthcare law as Republicans launched their long-desired bid to scrap it in what Vice President-elect Mike Pence called the "first order of business" of Donald Trump's administration. The Senate opened debate on a resolution setting in motion the Republican drive to repeal the Democratic-backed 2010 Affordable Care Act, which has helped upwards
  
  Read more

• May picks career diplomat as UK’s new man in Brussels

  04-01-2017 20:27
  Sir Tim Barrow’s move from Foreign Office blow to Eurosceptics
  
  Read more

• Man City's Fernandinho to serve four-match ban after appeal rejected

  04-01-2017 20:22
  Manchester City midfielder Fernandinho will miss four games after the Football Association rejected his appeal against a straight red card he received during Monday's win over Burnley. The Brazilian was sent off before halftime following a two-footed lunge on Burnley's Johann Berg Gudmundsson. It was his third red card in his last six appearances -- the other two coming against Chelsea in the Premier League and Borussia Moenchengladbach in the Champions League.
  
  Read more

• Volkswagen CEO to stay away from Detroit auto show

  04-01-2017 20:20
  Volkswagen chief executive Matthias Mueller will miss the Detroit auto show next week, the German carmaker said on Wednesday, amid uncertainty over its chances of settling a U.S. criminal investigation into its emissions scandal. Volkswagen (VW) reached an agreement before Christmas to compensate U.S. owners of about 80,000 polluting 3.0-litre diesel cars, pushing up the costs of its emissions test cheating in the world's No. 2 car market to $17.5 billion. "There will be no separate event of the
  
  Read more

• Republicans target Obama rules on methane, coal

  04-01-2017 20:17
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republican leaders said Wednesday their top regulatory targets will be President Barack Obama's rules to reduce methane emissions and to lessen the environmental impact of coal mining on the nation's streams.
  
  Read more

• ‘Totally FCO’ diplomat takes on Brexit challenge

  04-01-2017 20:15
  Incomer’s ambassadorial record combines with experience in Brussels
  
  Read more

• Sir Tim Barrow appointed as Britain's EU ambassador

  04-01-2017 20:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Theresa May ignores calls to appoint wholehearted Brexiter, opting for former Moscow envoy to replace Sir Ivan RogersTheresa May has moved swiftly to calm tensions over the resignation of Sir Ivan Rogers as Britain’s ambassador to the EU by appointing career diplomat Sir Tim Barrow as his replacement.The decision means the prime minister has ignored calls to appoint a wholehearted Brexiter, in a move that will reassure those in the civil service who feared the role would be politicised.Con
  
  Read more

• The Latest: Next Wednesday is Confirmation Day in Senate

  04-01-2017 20:06
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Congress (all times EST):
  
  Read more

• Brazil prison riot, a 'butchery foretold,' sparks fear of more killings

  04-01-2017 20:06
  By Brad Brooks SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The killing of 56 inmates by fellow prisoners in Brazil's deadliest jail uprising in decades was a "butchery foretold" by escalating turf wars between drug gangs that threatens to plunge a chaotic penitentiary system deeper into violence. Prior to this week's massacre of members of the First Capital Command (PCC) in the Anisio Jobim penitentiary in the jungle city of Manaus, security experts warned for months about intensifying clashes in prisons between Braz
  
  Read more

• New UK ambassador to EU calms Whitehall worries

  04-01-2017 20:05
  Speed of Number 10’s Foreign Office pick reassures civil service
  
  Read more

• Murray struggles to tame Melzer in Doha

  04-01-2017 20:03
  (Reuters) - World number one Andy Murray laboured past Austrian Gerald Melzer 7-6(6) 7-5 to reach the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open on Wednesday after defending champion Novak Djokovic had also progressed with relative ease. A passive Murray dropped serve twice in the opening set and world number 68 Melzer saved eight set points with some brave hitting before the Briton took the opener on a tiebreak. Left-hander Melzer continued to strike the ball heavily, especially off the forehand side, an
  
  Read more

• Egypt arrests four in connection with church bombing, death toll rises

  04-01-2017 19:57
  Egyptian police have arrested four people in connection with the bombing that killed dozens of Christians at Cairo's Coptic Christian cathedral last month, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. The Health Ministry said on Wednesday the death toll had climbed to 28. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said after the attack that the bomber was a man wearing a suicide vest and that security forces were seeking two more people believed to be involved.
  
  Read more

• Czech 'hybrid threats' centre under fire from country's own president

  04-01-2017 19:53
  A new Czech Interior Ministry team set up this week to monitor and analyse "hybrid threats" to security such as disinformation campaigns has come under fire from the office of the country's own president. The Centre Against Terrorism and Hybrid Threats (CTHH) comprises a team of 20 officials tasked with identifying threats from political radicalisation and terrorism and from foreign disinformation campaigns targeting the public. The initiative follows warnings from the country's counter-intellig
  
  Read more

• After disparaging United Nations, Trump and new U.N. chief talk

  04-01-2017 19:50
  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - New United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, and the two had "a very positive discussion on U.S./U.N. relations," said a U.N. spokesman, a week after Trump slammed the world body on Twitter. Guterres, a former Portuguese prime minister and U.N. refugee chief who began his five-year term on Sunday, spoke by phone with Trump, who will take office on Jan. 20, said U.N. spokesman Farhan
  
  Read more

• Repeal 'Obamacare,' but don't hurt consumers, Pence says

  04-01-2017 19:43
  
  Donald Trump's "first order of business" as president will be to repeal and replace "Obamacare," but Republicans must avoid hurting consumers as they do it, Vice President-elect Mike ...
  
  Read more

• New politics of the UK’s trade union movement

  04-01-2017 19:43
  The latest leadership contest at Unite offers a chance for change
  
  Read more

Follow @political_UKnws on Twitter!