President Donald Trump on Thursday sharply criticized Facebook’s plans to enter the cryptocurrency market, tweeting that the U.S. has “one real currency” and suggesting the social-networking giant may need to submit to heightened banking regulation.
In a series of tweets, Trump said Facebook’s plans to help launch the currency, called Libra, would have “little standing or dependability,” warning that if Facebook wanted to become a bank it should seek “new Banking Charter and become subject to all Banking Regulations, just like other Banks, both National and International.”

The House Judiciary Committee on Thursday broadened its investigation into President Donald Trump and possible obstruction of justice, authorizing subpoenas to a dozen individuals that included the President’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
The committee also authorized subpoenas to current and former Trump administration officials related to the “zero-tolerance” immigration policy that led to the separation last year of migrant families who crossed the southern border illegally.
Thursday’s dual subpoena authorizations signal the Judiciary Committee is ratcheting up its probes into the Trump administration ahead of the panel’s high-profile hearing next week with former special counsel Robert Mueller.
The vote was approved on party lines, 21-12.

President Trump said Thursday he is dropping his administration’s effort to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, a reversal that comes days after he demanded his team push forward after the Supreme Court blocked the move.
Trump said that he would instead issue an executive order requiring federal agencies to provide the Commerce Department information on citizens and noncitizens in the United States, a process he said would provide a more accurate count.
“Today, I am here to say we are not backing down on our effort to determine the citizenship status of the United States population,” Trump said during remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House, flanked by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Attorney General William Barr.

President Donald Trump is “not on board” with former Attorney General Jeff Sessions running for the Senate, Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., told The Hill on Thursday.
The Senate seat is considered a prime pickup opportunity for Republicans, and Sessions’ name has been in the mix as a potential Alabama candidate who could win it.
Shelby said Sessions would be a strong candidate for a seat he held before joining the Trump administration but could “struggle if the president was against him.” In conversations with Trump about the race, Shelby said Trump “was not encouraging” of Sessions running.
“How do I say it? He was not on board, OK?” Shelby said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was seen shaking in public for the third time in less than a month, raising new questions about her health.
After Merkel’s second episode, CNN reported that tremors could be caused “by a number of conditions, ranging from neurological disorders to less serious issues such as medicinal side effects, stress or caffeine consumption.”
Merkel announced last year that she would not seek re-election when her term ends in 2021. Reuters reported that if Merkel became “incapacitated, [German President Frank-Walter] Steinmeier would appoint a cabinet minister as acting chancellor until parliament elects a new chancellor.”

Police are looking into whether 18-year-old Adir Ratzon, who was involved in previous arson incident, had been hired to target Carmel Mauda's building

Between Ehud Barak's partnership with sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein and hordes of political horse-trading, no alliance is too wacky for this silly season

Terror group has promised 'consequences' for killing of operative; but a former top defense official believes group has too much to lose by escalating the situation

Construction on a giant telescope will start again next week after lengthy court battles and passionate protests from those who say building it on Hawaii’s tallest mountain will desecrate land sacred to some Native Hawaiians.
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