Planned Parenthood’s affiliates in Louisiana do not perform abortions, but some in Kansas do.Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for low-income Americans, pays for abortions only in limited circumstances such as when a woman’s life is in danger. The Supreme Court rejected appeals by Louisiana and Kansas seeking to end their public funding to women’s healthcare and abortion provider Planned Parenthood through the Medicaid program, with Trump’s appointee Brett Kavanaugh among the justices who rebuffed the states.
United States
Kneeling in front of riot police, 32 religious leaders and activistswere arrested at the U.S. border fence in San Diego during a protest to support the Central American migrant caravan. More than 400 demonstrators, many leaders of churches, mosques, synagogues and indigenous communities, sought a halt to detention and deportation of migrants and for the United States to welcome the caravan that arrived in Tijuana, Mexico in November.
Commentary:Robert Mueller’s latest filings about statements by former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen have brought the president closer to the prospect of prosecution when he becomes a private citizen, writes Tim Weiner, a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner for his reporting and writing on American intelligence agencies. “Mueller and the FBI agents he commands have many months of work ahead. I suspect they are assembling the facts that one day will fill a sealed indictment – United States vs. Donald J. Trump."
U.S. military ends search for five Marines missing in the sea off Japan since two Marine Corps aircraft were involved in an accident during an air-to-air refueling exercise on Dec. 6 https://reut.rs/2EpEZM2 via @kellyJapan
A top executive at Chinese telecoms giant Huawei Technologies is set to return to a Vancouver courtroom, as the judge weighs final issues in determining whether she should be freed on bail while awaiting extradition proceedings.
A worrying sign of inversion in the U.S. Treasury bond curve is dulling the appeal of the developed world’s highest-yielding bond market for foreign investors. Overseas investors are reviewing their investments or shunning Treasuries as rates at the short end rise above those at the longer end and make it unprofitable for holders of these bonds to hedge their currency risks.
It is hard not to see tense U.S.-China situations these days though a trade-war prism. Such is the case with a Fuzhou court banning the sale of some Apple iPhone models just days after the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Canada. The timing of U.S. regulators reviving concerns about audits seems curious, too. Even without direct links to increasingly frayed relations between Beijing and Washington, the last few days serve as a reminder of the technology ties that tightly bind them, writes Jeffrey Goldfarb.
