WION Morning News Brief, February 2, 2018
FBI Director Christopher Wray was hand-picked by Donald Trump to head a law enforcement agency the US president believed was biased against him.
Now, just six months into his tenure, the 50-year-old Wray finds himself on a collision course with a president who has already fired one FBI director.
CNN reported Thursday that Wray could quit if Trump goes ahead and approves the release of a secret memo at the center of a political firestorm in Washington.
The son of late Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart, committed suicide on Thursday after being treated for months for depression, Cuban state-run media reported.
"Diaz-Balart, who had been attended by a group of doctors for several months due to a state of profound depression, committed suicide this morning," Cubadebate website said.
Apple on Thursday said its earnings in the final three months of last year set new records, with sales of its flagship iPhone X topping its expectations.
The California-based technology giant reported that profit climbed to $20 billion on revenue that increased 13 percent to $88.3 billion during the period.
"We're thrilled to report the biggest quarter in Apple's history, with broad-based growth that included the highest revenue ever from a new iPhone lineup," said Apple chief executive Tim Cook.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that China and Russia are assuming "alarming" roles in Latin America and urged regional powers to work with the United States instead.
"Latin America doesn't need new imperial powers that seek only to benefit their own people," Tillerson said, in a major policy address yesterday before his first tour of South American capitals.
"China's state-led model of development is reminiscent of the past. It doesn't have to be the hemisphere's future," he said, warning that "unfair trading practices" would cost local jobs.
Myanmar's government has told the Security Council that this month was "not the right time" for a visit by the top UN body to see first-hand the Rohingya refugee crisis, the council president said on Thursday.
Kuwait's Ambassador Mansour al-Otaibi said Myanmar authorities were not opposed to such a visit, which could take place in March or April.
"They just think that this is not the right time for a visit," Otaibi, who holds the council presidency for February, told reporters at UN headquarters.