Новости за 29.03.2018

The Trump administration announced Thursday that it will direct Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to release pregnant women from immigrant detention on only a case-by-case basis. The decision reverses an Obama-era policy that generally presumed release, HuffPost reports.

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Cassandra Warren didn't realize she had put the wrong address on the wedding invitation she sent to her aunt and uncle in Eugene, Oregon, until she received a sweet note and gift from a total stranger. The person who accidentally received the invite sent Warren and her fiancé, Jesse Jones, a $20 bill along with her well wishes, writing: "I wish I knew you — this is going to be a blast. Congratulations — go have dinner on me. I've been married for 40 years — it gets better with age." Warren and Jones... Читать дальше...

For those who weren't convinced Facebook knew everything about its users, the Cambridge Analytica scandal sure cleared things up.

President Trump may have a lot of faith in his leadership abilities, but plenty of American voters sure don't. A majority of people polled by CNN think that Trump will lose in a 2020 bid for re-election.

Adnan Syed, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2000 for the alleged murder of his high school girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, has had his conviction overturned by Maryland's second-highest court, The Baltimore Sun reports. The case was the topic of the first season of the podcast Serial, in which Syed maintains he is innocent and was wrongfully convicted.

Russia announced Thursday that it will expel 150 diplomats, including 60 Americans, and close the United States Consulate in St. Petersburg. The move comes after Western nations banded together in solidarity with the U.K. over the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, in southern England earlier this month.

Scott Pruitt has some sweet digs in Washington: a townhouse located right on Capitol Hill.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions believes that Americans affected by the opioid crisis need addiction treatment. He just thinks arresting and imprisoning them is more effective.

Some U.S. intelligence officials fear that the Chinese government is conducting sophisticated "kidnapping" programs in the United States in order to spirit their nationals back to the mainland, where they face arrest and imprisonment on political and corruption charges. Beijing has openly admitted to repatriating more than 3,000 people "who had escaped overseas" since late 2012, Xinhua reports, although the U.S. intelligence community believes China's strategies in Western nations often involves... Читать дальше...

There has been strange new respect for Mitt Romney ever since he became a token "Resistance" Republican with his outspoken criticism of Donald Trump during the last presidential campaign. Yet Romney provides occasional reminders that he is less reflective of a "model for what post-Trump GOP governance might look like" than the fact that a lot of the GOP's problems predate Trump.

President Trump's ideal work environment is a bit unusual. The president reportedly views his administration as too stable and structured, preferring rapid staff turnover as the best way to keep moving forward, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

CNN's Chris Cuomo clashed with Corey Lewandowski on Thursday over President Trump's decision to hire the White House physician to replace Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin. Cuomo expressed particular concern that the successor, Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, has no management experience "that we know of," despite being tapped to head "the second biggest department in the federal government."

As a child of the '80s who heard that Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One was going to pack a punch as a futuristic nostalgia tour, I came to the theater ready to recognize. I learned a tough lesson instead: it turns out I was desperately unhip as a kid, because I left Ready Player One with my bingo card almost blank.

President Trump is entering his sixth day in a row without any appearances in public, but he took some time out of his morning Thursday to sound off about his "concerns with Amazon." Central to the president's ire (aside from the fact that Amazon is owned by Jeff Bezos, who also owns the "failing" Washington Post) is that Amazon uses "our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.)." As Axios reported Thursday, this is not actually true.

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Renault shares rose by 5.4 percent early Thursday after Bloomberg News reported that the French car company and its Japanese ally Nissan were in talks to merge. Reuters reported earlier this month that the two companies, already operating in an alliance, were working on forging closer ties. Bloomberg reported that they are now discussing joining together to form a new automaker with a single stock. Carlos Ghosn, who is chairman of both companies, would lead the new one. A spokesman for... Читать дальше...

President Trump may have finally followed through with his threat to fire Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, but Shulkin isn't going quietly. Hours after he was fired on Wednesday afternoon, Shulkin published an op-ed in The New York Times suggesting that he was pushed out because he stood in the way of Trump appointees who want to privatize the VA. After professing his love for veterans and the agency he led, Shulkin lists what he views as his big accomplishments over three years at the Department of Veterans Affairs... Читать дальше...

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President Trump announced in a tweet Wednesday that he was ousting Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin and nominating his White House doctor, Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson, to replace him. "I appreciate the work of Dr. David Shulkin and the many great things we did together at Veterans Affairs, including the VA Accountability Act that he was helpful in getting passed," the president added in a statement. "He has been a great supporter of veterans across the country and I am grateful for... Читать дальше...

For some reason, President Trump appears to be having trouble hiring top lawyers to represent him in Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of possible Russian collusion and obstruction of justice. Trump's trio of personal lawyers — John Dowd, Marc Kasowitz, and Jay Sekulow — is now down to Sekulow, but while the Trump team searches for new lead lawyer, Sekulow has promoted a little-known former federal prosecutor from Georgia named Andrew Ekonomou. Ekonomou, 69, worked with Sekulow on... Читать дальше...

Baseball returns Thursday with an all-team opening day, the first of its kind since 1968, when there were just 20 Major League Baseball franchises. It is also the earliest domestic opening day in MLB history "partly because of a new collective bargaining agreement that gives players an extra three to four days off," writes Pittsburgh's Action News.

On Tuesday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team filed a court document suggesting President Trump's former campaign vice chairman Rick Gates "directly communicating in September and October 2016" with an unidentified person who he knew "has ties to a Russian intelligence service and had such ties in 2016," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. That person matches the description of Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked Gates when he was lobbying for Ukrainian politicians in Kiev. "Really? Читать дальше...

Things could be even worse for Facebook. At least President Trump doesn't hate CEO Mark Zuckerberg with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns, as he apparently does Amazon boss Jeff Bezos. That said, the Cambridge Analytica data-privacy scandal has already cost Facebook $50 billion in market value, with Zuckerberg's personal wealth down $15 billion. Whether or not Facebook stock rebounds depends in large part on whether users really do #DeleteFacebook.

We are a nation divided, as everyone knows. And what we need to fix that problem is to reach out, express some empathy, and show our opponents that we don't hate them even if we disagree.

Imagine suddenly, and uncontrollably, having a completely different accent. You've had a stroke, or surgery, or been in a traffic accident, and when you regain your ability to speak, you sound like you're from somewhere else. Perhaps you're from Arizona and now you sound like you're from England. Or you're from Australia and sound like you're from France. Or you're from England and you sound like you're from China or ... Italy? Poland?

North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un recently announced a surprise visit to China, where he was welcomed with considerable warmth and vaguely promised that his country would de-nuclearize at some point. It's a small sign of how the center of world politics is shifting away from the United States and towards Asia.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold a summit on April 27, South Korea announced Thursday. High-level officials from both countries set up the meeting during talks in the border village of Panmunjom, and the Koreas plan to hold a second preparatory meeting on April 4. South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said there was a "sufficient exchange of opinions" on the agendas for the April 27 summit, but he didn't say whether Pyongyang's nuclear... Читать дальше...