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Trump announces 'brilliant' conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court pick
WASHINGTON (REUTERS) - President Donald Trump on Saturday (Sept 26) announced conservative appellate judge Amy Coney Barrett as his third US Supreme Court appointment, setting off a scramble in the Republican-led Senate to confirm her before Election Day in just over five weeks. Barrett appeared at the White House with Trump as he made the announcement. "Today, it is my honour to nominate one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds to the Supreme Court," Trump said. Turning to Barrett, Trump said that "you are very eminently qualified for the job." She and her lawyer husband have seven children, two of whom were adopted from Haiti, and they joined her at the ceremony in the White House Rose Garden. If confirmed to replace liberal icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died at age 87 on Sept 18, Barrett would become the fifth woman ever to serve on the top US judicial body and push its conservative majority to a commanding 6-3. With Trump's fellow Republicans controlling the Senate, confirmation appears certain, though Democrats may try to make the process as difficult as possible. "I love the United States and
Israelis protest against prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite coronavirus lockdown
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Thousands of Israelis gathered in Jerusalem late on Saturday (Sept 26) demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a day after the country tightened its lockdown aimed at stemming surging coronavirus cases. Long processions of cars carrying people from throughout the country caused traffic jams in the city, with hundreds of small protests held at bridges and junctions nationwide. Israel began a second nationwide lockdown on Sept 18 in a bid to bring down the world's highest coronavirus infection rate per capita. On Friday, restrictions were tightened further, including limiting international travel and attending indoor prayers. But lawmakers blocked a government proposal that would have limited protest gatherings by ruling people could only demonstrate in groups of 20 and within a kilometre of their residence. Netanyahu, in a video issued on Saturday night, slammed "the populist decision in parliament to cancel the limitations the government imposed after we saw the rise in the infections." Protesters on Saturday said the government attempt to block them was one motivation they came out on the streets. "I came here for the very reason that they tried to shoot down
Britain's Boris Johnson lines up two Brexit-backing critics of BBC for big media roles,...
LONDON (REUTERS) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson wants to appoint two Brexit-backing critics of the BBC to important roles in the media, including one as chairman of the publicly owned broadcaster itself, the Times reported on Saturday (Sept 26). The newspaper said Johnson had asked Charles Moore, a former editor of the Daily Telegraph, to become the chairman of the BBC and wanted Paul Dacre, a former editor of the Daily Mail, to be chairman of media regulator Ofcom. The BBC is entering a crucial period in its history, with some lawmakers attacking its universal funding model and online giants Netflix and Amazon posing a new threat. "This is part of a process of the prime minister putting allies in key positions," the newspaper quoted one source close to Johnson as saying. Applications for the roles are due to open shortly. Of the BBC position, a spokeswoman for the Department of Media said: "It is an open recruitment process and all public appointments are subject to a robust and fair selection criteria." The spokeswoman had no comment about the Ofcom role. Moore and Dacre both led right-wing dailies and
DOJ accuses TikTok owner of being a 'mouthpiece' of Chinese Communist Party
Lionel Bonaventure/Getty ImagesThe Justice Department filed a response to TikTok's request for an injunction to delay President Donald Trump's partial ban on the app that is scheduled for September 27, to be followed by a total ban on November 12. According to the DOJ's claims filed Friday night, the Justice Department lawyers accused TikTok parent company Byte Dance's CEO Zhang Yiming of acting as a "mouthpiece" for the Chinese Communist Party and publicly making statements that demonstrate he is "committed to promoting the CCP's agenda and messaging," The Verge and NPR reported. The DOJ claimed that "US user data being stored outside of the United States presents significant risks in this case," but the section relevant to how this is the case is redacted, according to The Verge and NPR. ByteDance's head of security previously stated that it's impossible for the Chinese government to access user data from TikTok because the app's servers are based in the US and thus any data transmission must go through the US government. TikTok did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment regarding the DOJ's claims on Friday. TikTok's injunction is part of its lawsuit against the US government that was filed
