Al-Maliki defiant after Trump threatens to withdraw for Iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) – Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki expressed defiance Wednesday after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to withdraw Washington’s support for Iraq if he returns to power.

German investigators search Deutsche Bank offices in money laundering probe

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – German investigators searched the offices of Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest, on Wednesday in connection with an investigation into possible money laundering, officials said.

Amazon cuts about 16,000 corporate jobs in the latest round of layoffs

Amazon is slashing about 16,000 corporate jobs in the second round of mass layoffs for the ecommerce company in three months.  The tech giant has said it plans to use generative artificial intelligence to replace corporate workers. It has also been reducing a workforce that swelled during the pandemic.

 

Editorials from The Washington Post, New York Times, Wall Street Journal and others

Jan. 19 – The Washington Post says Congress has dropped the ball regarding oversight of ICE, DHS. Geraldo Lunas Campos died at a Texas detention center on Jan. 3 while pleading for air as guards choked him, according to a fellow detainee. The local medical examiner’s office is considering classifying his death as a homicide, The Post reports.

It's One Storm After Another for Much of The US

HOUSTON (AP) – Winter’s brutal grip on the U.S. East is not letting up, with coming days bringing subfreezing temperatures that will plunge deep into what had been a toasty Florida peninsula and a powerful blizzard forecast that may strike the Atlantic coast.

More 'No Kings' protests planned as outrage spreads over Minneapolis deaths

A third round of “No Kings” protests is coming this spring, with organizers saying they are planning their largest demonstrations yet across the United States to oppose what they describe as authoritarianism under President Donald Trump.

Putin hosts Syria's interim leader for talks, with Russian military bases on agenda

MOSCOW (AP) – Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa visited Moscow on Wednesday for the second time in less than four months, and Russian President Vladimir Putin emphasized his readiness to help the country rebuild its war-battered economy.

ASEAN top diplomats under pressure to end Myanmar war

CEBU, Philippines (AP) – Southeast Asia’s top diplomats met Wednesday under growing pressure to push a peace plan that has so far failed to end Myanmar’s civil war, and to beat a deadline to conclude talks on a nonaggression pact with China this year.

Man arrested in the attack on Ilhan Omar made pro-Trump posts

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The man who sprayed an unknown substance on Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar at a town hall in Minneapolis has a criminal history and has made online posts supportive of President Donald Trump.