Today's News: April 17, 2018

World News

North & South Korea may announce official end to war – local media
RT – Seoul and Pyongyang are reportedly set to make a huge step in the peace settlement on the Korean Peninsula, as officials from the two states are negotiating a joint statement outlining a formal end to hostilities.

Rothschild heir takes reins of banking dynasty
RT – Probably the most well-known European banking dynasty has announced the appointment of a new chairman of its family investment bank, according to a statement published on Tuesday.
Alexandre de Rothschild, 37, was picked to replace his 75-year-old father, David de Rothschild, as the bank’s top executive. The successor will become the seventh generation of the dynasty to take charge of the Franco-British investment bank, which was founded in 1838.
According to the group, David de Rothschild will step down, allowing his son to take his place, on May 17. Rothschild senior will join Rothschild & Co’s Supervisory Board.

Trump’s Syria withdrawal plan: Arab occupational force and Arabs will pay for it – report
RT – Washington reportedly wants Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar to replace the US in terms of troop deployments and funding in “stabilizing northeastern Syria,” according to the Wall Street Journal.
The US currently has two major points of military presence on the ground in Syria: one on the border with Jordan in the south and one in northeastern Syria in an area controlled by the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Force (SDF). President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw American troops from Syria, apparently dismayed by the cost of the operation. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Trump administration wants to shift the burden of occupying northeastern Syria – which is touted as an effort to stabilize the area by the newspaper – to Arab countries.

UN to relaunch Yemen peace talks plan within two months
Al Jazeera – New UN peace envoy to Yemen says new framework will only deliver peace if fighting is brought to an end.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Sandy Hook Families Sue InfoWars’ Alex Jones for Defamation
Bloomberg – The parents of two children killed at Sandy Hook elementary school in 2012 sued Alex Jones, the host of InfoWars, who had derided the shooting as fake and possibly staged by the government.
Leonard Pozner and Veronique De La Rosa, parents of Noah Pozner, filed a lawsuit against Jones, InfoWars LLC and Free Speech Systems LLC. In 2017, InfoWars accused De La Rosa of being an actor, rather than the parent of a child killed in the Connecticut mass shooting, according to the complaint.

Supreme Court nixes part of law requiring deportation of some immigrants convicted of crimes
CNN Wire – The Supreme Court on Tuesday invalidated a provision of federal law that requires the mandatory deportation of immigrants who have been convicted of some crimes, holding that the law is unconstitutionally vague.
The case, Sessions v. Dimaya, had been closely watched to see if the justices would reveal how they will consider the Trump administration’s overall push to both limit immigration and increase deportations.
As expected after the oral argument, Justice Neil Gorsuch joined with the more liberal justices for the first time since joining the court to produce a 5-4 majority invalidating the federal statute. In doing so, Gorsuch was continuing the jurisprudence of Justice Antonin Scalia, who also sided with liberals when it came to the vagueness of statutes used to convict criminal defendants.
Only eight justices heard the case last term after Scalia’s death, and in late June, the court announced it would re-hear arguments this term, presumably so that Gorsuch could break some kind of a tie.

Indiana Church: Give Us Your Guns So We Can Destroy Them
Daily Caller – An Indiana church is asking gun owners to relinquish their guns to be melted down in response to the Parkland, Fla., school shooting.
The congregation of Wabash Avenue Presbyterian Church in Crawfordsville, Ind., are attempting to lessen the number of semi-automatic rifles and bump stocks in circulation in their community in an attempt to prevent future mass shootings like Parkland, according to The Indianapolis Star. The church has asked gun owners who are willing to relinquish their semi-automatic rifles, bump stocks, and “large-capacity clips” at the church on April 28 in exchange for gift cards. The church, in conjunction with the local police department, will have the guns melted down.
Church members David and Sheridan Hadley have organized the drive to collect and destroy guns in their community. They said they were inspired to do so as a response not only to Parkland, but also to school shootings that preceded it.

The Latest: California sees agreement near on border troops
AP – California Gov. Jerry Brown says he is “pretty close” to an agreement with the Trump administration on sending National Guard troops to the Mexican border.
Brown said told reporters in Washington that his troops were “chomping at the bit ready to go” to help combat drug and gun smuggling and human trafficking.

Economy & Business

Dick’s Sporting Goods destroying unsold assault rifles
AL.Com- Dick’s Sporting Goods is destroying its inventory of unsold assault rifles in the wake of its decision to quit selling the firearms.
Retailers typically return unsold merchandise to the manufacturer, but Dicks is opting to destroy the weapons instead.
“We are in the process of destroying all firearms and accessories that are no longer for sale as a result of our February 28th policy change,” a spokeswoman told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “We are destroying the firearms in accordance with federal guidelines and regulations.”
The rifles will be destroyed at the company’s distribution centers and then recycled.

Trump Accuses Russia, China of “Playing Currency Devaluation Game”
Sputnik – Since his election campaign in 2016, the US President Donald Trump has been scrutinizing US trade partners over their alleged dumping practices and calling for the renegotiation of trade agreements with many countries to tackle the loss of manufacturing jobs in the United States.
The US Head of the Government on his “Twitter” has made the statement that China and Russia allegedly play a role in the devaluation of currencies and this is “not acceptable.”

Energy & Environment

Trove of rare earths found in Japanese island’s mud could alter global economy: Study
The News Minute – For instance, yttrium, one of the metals included in this recent discovery, can be used to make camera lenses, superconductors and cell phone screens.

Hundreds are evacuated from Hawaii after two feet of rain falls in just 24 hours triggering landslides and flooding
Mail Online – Hundreds of people have been evacuated from Kauai, Hawaii, after 2ft of rain lashed the island in just 24 hours causing heavy flooding and landslides.
By Monday afternoon, emergency crews evacuated 152 people by helicopter, 121 people by bus and others by water, according to the governor’s office.
Officials were warning people who wanted to be evacuated that it’s not known when they can return because of landslides blocking Kuhio Highway on the island’s north shore.

Southwest Airlines Plane Engine Explodes in Philadelphia, Passengers Injured
Sputnik – Several people were injured after a Southwest Airlines plane made an emergency landing in Philadelphia on Tuesday due to an engine malfunction.
According to NBC Philadelphia, a passenger was “partially sucked out” of flight 1380 when a piece of the plane’s engine broke a window, causing the aircraft to depressurize. The victim was reportedly rushed to a Philadelphia hospital. No fatalities have been reported, but several other people are also believed to have been injured.

Science & Technology

The IRS’ online filing system is having problems … on tax day
Fox – It’s tax day — and the Internal Revenue Service is experiencing technical difficulties.
The service that taxpayers use to file their taxes online is partly down, according to Acting IRS Commissioner David Kautter.

Elon Musk Abruptly Halts Tesla Model 3 Production After Admitting Mistake
The Western Journal – Tesla abruptly announced a production freeze of its Model 3 vehicles Monday night, just days after CEO Elon Musk vowed the company would be speeding up its assembly line.
The Silicon Valley automaker on Monday told employees working on the Model 3 assembly line they could either choose to stay home without pay or use vacation days, while a few employees will be relocated to other projects within the Fremont, California, factory.
Tesla said in a statement that the decision to halt production temporarily was planned in order to “improve production,” but employees told BuzzFeed News that the decision came abruptly.

Veteran News

FL Motorcycle Dealer Gets Warning Over Military Flags, Veteran Insulted
Fox – A motorcycle dealership will not be fined for flying military flags after a warning citation from a Jacksonville, Florida, city employee led to a verbal altercation with a veteran.
A manager at Jaguar Power Sports said in a now-viral Facebook video that Melinda Power, the city’s code compliance officer, issued citations for each of the flags flying outside the business.
He also said that Power insulted a veteran in the store who was upset by the citations.

Health

NYC Mice Are Carrying Antibiotic-Resistant Germs
Time – People who live in cities are used to the company of furry vermin. But a new study reveals that mice and men may be sharing much more than just living quarters.
In a study published in the journal mBio, researchers led by Dr. Ian Lipkin, professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, studied the gut microbes of 416 mice collected from mostly residential buildings all over New York City. Lipkin and his team did a thorough genetic analysis of the microbes they extracted from the feces of the mice, and found that they contained a number of disease-causing bacteria.

Over 200 million eggs recalled for salmonella concerns; sold at Walmart, Food Lion stores
ABC – More than 200 million eggs, some sold at Walmart and Food Lion stores, have been recalled due to salmonella concerns.
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 22 people have been sickened by the eggs. The problems were traced back to Rose Acre Farms’ production facility in Hyde County, North Carolina.
The company is voluntarily recalling 206 million eggs “through an abundance of caution,” the FDA release says. They were sold under the brand names Country Daybreak, Crystal Farms, Coburn Farms, Sunshine Farms, Glenview and Great Value. Great Value is Walmart’s store brand. Some of the eggs were also sold at Food Lion supermarkets.