Amazon follows Apple to cross trillion-dollar milestone, and Muslim student to be first ‘Miss England’ finalist in a hijab.
Renowned journalist lays bare ‘fractured White House’
US President Donald Trump’s White House aides consider him a threat to national security and have gone as far as removing paperwork from his desk to keep him from signing it, according to veteran journalist Bob Woodward’s new book, reports CNN.
Woodward’s Fear: Trump in the White House paints the image of a dysfunctional White House, and details how senior aides are increasingly worried about Trump’s “erratic behaviour, ignorance, and lies”.
Woodward also reports that chief of staff John Kelly describes Trump as an “idiot” and “unhinged”, while defence secretary James Mattis says he has the understanding of a fifth or sixth grader.
The White House has accused Woodward of spreading “fabricated stories” about Trump.
“This book is nothing more than fabricated stories, many by former disgruntled employees, told to make the President look bad,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said.
Trump has made 4,713 false claims in 592 days
Over his 592-day term as President so far, Donald Trump has made 4,713 misleading claims, according to The Fact Checker, a tool tracking every statement made by him.
This averages up to eight fake claims a day. June and August are the months in which he has made the most number of false claims, 534 and 469, respectively.
Trump keeps repeating his inaccurate statements and almost a third of his false claims have been related to economics and trade.
Among his most repeated misleading statements are that trade deficit fell by $52 billion between two quarters, and regarding expansion of US steel, the building of the wall on the Mexican border, and links between Russians and Democrats.
The trillion-dollar club just got bigger. Amazon is now worth $1,000,000,000,000
Amazon’s total market value crossed $1 trillion Tuesday, making it America’s second $1 trillion company after Apple’s surge last month, reported CNN.
“Its shares traded as high as $2,050.50 before easing a little to end the session at $2,039.51, up 1.3 per cent and just short of the milestone level of $2,050.2677,” a Reuters report added.
Launched in 1994, Amazon has now become the world’s largest online retailer. Its chief executive, Jeff Bezos, is the world’s richest man, with a net worth of more than $160bn.
According to Howard Silverblatt, a senior index anayst for S&P, Amazon and Apple now make up more than 8 per cent of the entire value of the S&P 500, the CNN report said.
It captures 49 cents of every e-commerce dollar in the US and employs more than 550,000 people, reports The New York Times.
Former US ambassador Khalilzad appointed adviser on Afghanistan
Former US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad will join the US state department as an adviser on the country, said Mike Pompeo Tuesday, reported Reuters.
In an official statement, he confirmed the appointment by saying, “Ambassador Khalilzad is going to join the state department team to assist us in the reconciliation effort, so he will come on and be the state department’s lead person for that purpose.
The US, at the head of reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan, has promised to “support, facilitate and participate” in any Kabul government led peace talks with Taliban. According to reports, Pompeo, on his visit to Pakistan Wednesday, will pressure Islamabad against giving refuge to Taliban-based insurgents.
Khalilzad’s involvement is expected to boost reconciliation efforts as he is experienced, has worked for four US administrations, and has knowledge of Afghanistan’s main languages, culture and politics. Importantly, he belongs to the ethnic Pashtun majority.
Muslim student first to wear hijab in Miss England final
Sara Iftekhar, a 20-year-old law student, is all set to become the first ‘Miss England’ finalist to wear a hijab, CNN reports.
Though Muslim women participating in the Miss England competition have worn the hijab before, Sara will be the first finalist to do so.
“I participated in Miss [England] 2018 in order to show that beauty doesn’t have a definition, everyone is beautiful in their own ways, regardless of their weight, race, colour or shape,” she wrote on her crowd-funded page ‘Beauty with a Purpose’.
Whoever grabs the Miss England crown will enter the Miss World competition in China on 8 December.