US Domestic News Roundup: Bloomberg vows to narrow wealth gap; Alaska volcano spews thick ash cloud and more


Devdiscourse News Desk | Updated: 21-01-2020 05:29 IST | Created: 21-01-2020 05:21 IST
US Domestic News Roundup: Bloomberg vows to narrow wealth gap; Alaska volcano spews thick ash cloud and more

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Democrat Bloomberg vows to narrow wealth gap for black Americans

Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg on Sunday pledged to narrow the wealth gap between black and white Americans by boosting black ownership of homes and businesses and investing in poor neighborhoods. Bloomberg, a late entry to the Democratic nomination contest, is rising in public opinion polls as he uses his vast personal fortune to spend heavily on advertising nationwide.

Alaska volcano spews thick ash cloud, triggering aviation warning

An Alaska volcano that has been rumbling since midsummer shot ash about 5 miles (8 km) into the sky on Sunday, triggering a warning to aviators and dusting one small fishing village, officials reported. Shishaldin Volcano, one of the most active in Alaska, kicked out a plume of ash that satellite imagery detected as high as 28,000 feet (8,535 m) above sea level, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, the joint federal-state-university office that tracks the state’s many volcanoes.

Democratic presidential candidates enjoy moment of harmony to mark King birthday

Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren marched arm-in-arm on Monday, as a group of often feuding U.S. presidential candidates set aside their differences long enough to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Other Democratic White House hopefuls, including Pete Buttigieg, shook up multi-state campaign schedules to seek the support of black voters in Columbia, South Carolina, who will be crucial to victory in a tight race for their party's nomination.

Children go missing as Central American migrants clash with Mexican forces

Mexican security forces fired tear gas at rock-hurling Central American migrants who waded across a river into Mexico earlier on Monday, in a chaotic scramble that saw mothers separated from their young children. The clashes between hundreds of U.S.-bound Central Americans and the Mexican National Guard underscores the challenge President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador faces to contain migration at the bidding of his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump.

Thousands of armed U.S. gun rights activists join peaceful Virginia rally

More than 22,000 armed gun-rights activists peacefully filled the streets around Virginia's capitol building on Monday to protest gun-control legislation making its way through the newly Democratic-controlled state legislature. Despite fears that neo-Nazis or other extremists would piggyback on the Richmond rally to stoke unrest like the violence at a 2017 demonstration by white nationalists in Charlottesville that killed a counter-protester, the Capitol Police reported just one arrest, a 21-year-old woman taken into custody for wearing a bandana over her face after twice being warned that masks were not allowed.

Supreme Court religious rights case has big implications for U.S. schools

Despite wondering every autumn whether she can afford it, Kendra Espinoza has worked hard to keep her two daughters in a small private Christian school in Kalispell, Montana, costing about $15,000 annually for them to attend. Even with some financial support from the school Espinoza, a single mother still has a sizable tuition bill to pay. She decided against sending the girls, ages 14 and 11, to local public schools that would be free to attend. On top of her full-time office manager job, Espinoza has worked nights as a janitor in an office building to help pay for tuition, taking her daughters along to instill in them a strong work ethic.

Trump lawyers call for immediate acquittal in legal, political defense

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday rejected the Democratic-led House of Representatives' impeachment charges and called for their immediate dismissal by the Republican-led Senate in a memo offering a legal and political case against his removal. The 116-page Trial Memorandum sought to undercut charges that the Republican president abused his power and obstructed Congress, and constituted Trump's first comprehensive defense before his Senate trial begins in earnest on Tuesday.

Vows of peace, fears of violence at Virginia gun rally

The top Republican in Virginia's lower house said that any group planning to incite violence at a large gun rights rally on Monday in Richmond should stay home, while far-right leaders of militias planning to attend swore they were coming in peace. Richmond was braced on Sunday for the rally, aimed at showing gun enthusiasts' disdain for swift moves the newly Democrat-controlled legislature is making to pass stiffer gun laws - and many residents feared a repeat of violence seen at a white supremacist rally in nearby Charlottesville in 2017.

Trump promises farmers that China trade deal will be good for them

President Donald Trump sought on Sunday to assure American farmers and ranchers hit by a protracted tariff war with China that a trade agreement he signed with Beijing will lead to major purchases of U.S. agricultural products. Trump's remarks in Texas, a state he won in 2016 and will need again in November's election, had all the hallmarks of a political stump speech, with a slam at Democrats trying to remove him through impeachment and a wish he could wear a cowboy hat in Washington.

U.S. judge dismisses assault case against British retailer Philip Green: Arcadia

Prosecutors in the United States have dropped a case against British retailer Philip Green that had alleged assault, his Arcadia company said on Monday, citing court documents. Last May Green, 67, was charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault in the United States after an Arizona pilates instructor accused him of repeatedly touching her inappropriately.

(With inputs from agencies.)

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