USA

Caracas, January 25; GANASHAKTI: MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky; co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Mark Weisbrot; and 68 other scholars published an Open Letter Thursday demanding that the United States Government back off Venezuela.

Washington, Jan 26 (PTI) Submitting to political pressure, President Donald Trump has backed a deal to temporarily end the record-breaking government shutdown in America's history despite getting no funding for his controversial plan to build a wall along the US-Mexico border.

The deal resolved the crippling 35-day closure but not the fight over his proposed border wall.

Trump is demanding USD 5.7 billion of congressional funding to build the wall, but the Democrats have refused. The shutdown, which began on December 22, has affected some 800,000 federal employees.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Signs of strain from the 34-day partial government shutdown are emerging on the Senate floor.

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado tore into Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on Thursday after Cruz backed a GOP bill to pay Coast Guard members but not reopen the government.

The normally mild-mannered Bennet erupted in a fiery speech, saying, “These crocodile tears that the senator from Texas is crying for first responders are too hard for me to take.”

SEBRING, Fla. (AP) — A man accused of fatally shooting five women at a small-town bank in Florida had dreamed of hurting classmates in high school and had long been fascinated with killing, police and a former girlfriend said Thursday.

The slayings did not appear to be part of a robbery, and Zephen Xaver had no apparent connection to the SunTrust branch or the four employees and one customer who were killed Wednesday, police said.

ROCKMART, Ga. (AP) — Authorities say the search continues for a suspect after four people were killed and one wounded in two shootings in northwest Georgia.

News outlets report the Polk County Sheriff’s Office says the shootings occurred Thursday night in Rockmart.

WXIA-TV reports investigators believe the incident was related to drugs. The sheriff says the two crime scenes include a house and an apartment, which are just yards away from each other.

Authorities initially said six people had been shot but later corrected that information.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say at least one person has been killed and multiple people have been shot by a gunman who opened fire at a hotel bar in central Pennsylvania.

WHTM-TV reports said the shooting occurred Thursday about 10:30 p.m. at P.J. Harrigan’s Bar & Grill on Atherton Street in State College. The bar is located inside the Ramada Hotel & Conference Center and about two miles (3 kilometers) from Penn State University’s main campus.

Police said the woman was shot and killed at the bar. Two others were also injured in the shooting.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A prominent American-born anchorwoman for Iran’s state television says she believes the U.S. government jailed her because of her work as journalist and her beliefs, and as a warning to her to “watch your step.”

25 Jan 2019; AFP: Donald Trump's billionaire commerce secretary fueled accusations Thursday that the US administration was deaf to the impact of the government shutdown after saying he didn't understand why some federal workers were turning to food banks.

Wilbur Ross shrugged off the impact of the shutdown -- now in its 34th day -- saying workers should just take out loans to cover their expenses.

25 Jan 2019; DW: Two men, members of a militia group called the "White Rabbits," have pled guilty after trying to blow up a mosque to "scare" Muslims out of the country. They are also suspected of trying to bomb an abortion clinic.

Two members of a militia group that calls itself the "White Rabbits" pled guilty on Thursday to bombing a mosque in the US state of Minnesota. The men said that they had hoped to scare Muslims into leaving the country.

WASHINGTON, January 25. /TASS/. The United States withdraws some of its diplomatic staff from the embassy in Caracas, but the diplomatic mission will remain open, a representative of the Department of State told TASS.

"On January 24, 2019, the Department of State ordered the departure of non-emergency direct-hire U.S. government personnel and eligible family members of U.S. government personnel posted to the U.S. Embassy in Caracas," the representative said, adding that the step is "based on the current assessment of the security situation in Venezuela."