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Politics

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has a problem: how to explain that the Fed may soon begin to taper its ongoing asset-shedding operation without looking like he’s hunkering down for a coming recession, or caving to President Donald Trump.

Trump’s longtime political ally Roger Stone is expected to plead not guilty to seven criminal counts after becoming the latest member of Trump’s inner circle charged in Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Democratic Representative Adam Smith, the new chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, will hold a hearing with Pentagon officials he hopes will shed light on the costs, scope and goals of a deployment that critics have derided as a political stunt. U.S. officials told Reuters the border deployment, which has fluctuated in size over the past three months, could grow again by as many as 2,000 or more troops.

United States

The United States drops four points lower on a global corruption index in 2018, dropping out of the top 20 countries for the first time since 2011, watchdog Transparency International said in a report that cited growing threats to democracy worldwide. Transparency International issues an annual report measuring perceptions of graft rather than actual levels given the secrecy surrounding most corrupt dealings.

Two-thirds of the continental United States will be a frozen ice box, as the so-called polar vortex of frigid arctic air spins across the U.S. Midwest, clips the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley and pushes on into New England. The sub-zero cold and bitter winds will stick around for a couple of days, possibly bringing dozens of record lows with a life-threatening freeze before dissipating by the weekend, the National Weather Service reported.

“We are the First Nations’ people. We know how to survive,” said Ivan Looking Horse, a spiritual leader at the Cheyenne Sioux reservation in Eagle Butte, after President Trump announced an end to the 35-day partial government shutdown. The 35-day partial government shutdown affected 800,000 federal workers, but Native Americans were especially vulnerable because they rely mostly on federal contracts for services and jobs in the Bureau of Indian affairs for incomes. On their reservation in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, the Cheyenne used third-party funds and dipped into tribal funds to provide food assistance.

“I’ve never tried escargot so this is probably the wildest thing I ever ate,” said Los Angeles Rams defensive end Ethan Westbrooks, adding that he would have tried the scorpion if there had been any hot sauce available. Once a journalists-only event, the Media Day has been transformed into Super Bowl Opening Night, a televised prime time question-and-answer free-for-all where very little is out of bounds - including it seems a plate of scorpions, dried cricket and worms.

World

Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Al-Hamdallah has tendered his resignation and that of his unity government to President Mahmoud Abbas, dealing a blow to faltering reconciliation efforts with Gaza’s Islamist Hamas rulers. There was no immediate comment from Abbas, but his Fatah faction, at a meeting he chaired two days ago, recommended that the government be replaced. A Hamas official condemned the move as an attempt to marginalize and exclude the group from Palestinian politics.

The Trump administration on Monday imposed sweeping sanctions on Venezuelan state-owned oil firm PDVSA, aimed at severely curbing the OPEC member’s crude exports to the United States and at pressuring socialist President Nicolas Maduro to step down. Russia, a close ally of Venezuela, denounced the move as illegal interference in Venezuela’s affairs and said the curbs meant Venezuela would probably have problems servicing its $3.15 billion sovereign debt to Moscow.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court upheld the acquittal of a Christian woman who spent years on death row after being convicted of blasphemy, dismissing a petition filed by Islamists who have called for her execution.

Five arrested, including three employees of Brazilian miner Vale SA, state prosecutors said, deepening a crisis for the company after another deadly disaster at one of its mines. In a statement on Twitter, Vale said it was cooperating with investigators, who are probing a mining catastrophe that is likely to leave a death toll of more than 300 people.

Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, two @Reuters journalists, have been imprisoned in Myanmar since Dec. 12, 2017. Follow the case: reut.rs/2Gc4FMd

7:48 AM - 29 Jan 2019