January 27th, 2019

• Jerome Rodrigues hit in the right eye with either a police flash ball or grenade
• Yellow Vest leader has been placed in an artificial coma, his lawyer confirmed
• He is likely to be handicapped for life after incident in Place de la Bastille, Paris

A Texas man captured in Syria -- where he said he joined the Islamic State -- has been brought back to the U.S. on a terrorism-related charge.

Warren Christopher Clark, 34, appeared before a judge Friday in Houston Federal Court on an indictment accusing him of attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group. The judge ordered Clark held without bail pending a detention hearing Wednesday, according to reports.

U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces gave Clark to the FBI after announcing his capture earlier this month.

"It's not happening on 1/29," said Drew Hammill, a spokesman for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
[...]
After Trump's announcement of the government reopening, Pelosi told reporters a date would be worked out for the president's address but for the time being, "the state of the union is not planned now."

"What I said to the president is when the government is opened we will discuss a mutually agreeable date," Pelosi said, adding "I'll look forward to doing that" and welcoming Trump in the House chambers when that is done.

El Centro Border Patrol Agents agents at the Highway 86 checkpoint arrested a female suspected of smuggling over $1,000,000 worth of methamphetamine concealed inside a vehicle Wednesday afternoon.

The arrest happened at 3:00 P.M. when Border Patrol agents say a 45-year-old Mexican national female approached the checkpoint in a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Agents say as the vehicle approached the inspection booth, a Border Patrol K9 team became alerted to the vehicle and it was referred for a secondary inspection.ndary inspection.

State Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding said Tuesday that Pennsylvania submitted a plan to the U.S. Department of Agriculture that allows for the full commercial production of industrial hemp.

The move follows the December passage of the federal farm bill, which removed industrial hemp — cannabis plants with little of the chemical that gets you high — from regulation under the federal Controlled Substances Act.

Howard Schultz, the former Starbucks CEO, says in a 60 Minutes interview already recorded but airing on Sunday night that he is thinking very seriously about a third-party presidential run. Schultz says both parties are not doing what's necessary on behalf of the American people. Hear more from Schultz, Sunday at 7 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Ashkin's new invention uses geometry to capture and funnel light. Essentially, it relies on reflective concentrator tubes that intensify solar reflections, which could make existing solar panels more efficient or perhaps even replace them altogether with something cheaper and simpler. The tubes are "dirt cheap," Ashkin says — they cost just pennies to create — which is why he thinks they "will save the world."
[...]
Ashkin's lifelong fascination with light has already saved countless lives. He shared the 2018 Nobel Prize in physics for his role in inventing a tiny object-levitating technology called optical tweezers, which is essentially a powerful laser beam that can "catch very small things," as Ashkin describes it.

France’s finance minister said on Sunday a severance package for former Renault chief Carlos Ghosn, forced to resign in a financial scandal, should not be “exorbitant” and that the French state would follow the matter closely.

Renault, which this week appointed a chairman and chief executive tandem to replace Ghosn, has yet to finalize its former boss’ severance package, a potentially explosive issue in France where the government is facing protests over low pay and inequality.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking on "Fox News Sunday," said President Trump's tough talk has ultimately strengthened the 70-year-old alliance by leading member nations to contribute tens of billions of additional dollars to ensure their own security.

Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, just stated that because of me NATO has been able to raise far more money than ever before from its members after many years of decline. It’s called burden sharing. Also, more united. Dems & Fake News like to portray the opposite!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2019

Both sides in the US-Taliban peace talks have made concessions to move closer to a draft agreement to end the 17-year Afghan war, Reuters says, reporting on the meeting in Qatar citing sources. According to the draft, foreign forces are expected to leave the country 18 months from the future signing of the deal. The Taliban offered assurances that Afghanistan would not be used by Al-Qaeda and Islamic State to attack the US and its allies. The group would also engage in talks with the Afghan government when the ceasefire is announced. There has been no official comment from the US. The fate of the current Afghan government, which the Taliban doesn’t recognize, is unclear if the US withdraws, a former Pentagon official told RT.

Video network YouTube responded to critics who have long called on the Google company to clean up its recommendation engine, and not offer conspiracy videos in suggested plays.

In a blog post posted Friday, YouTube said it will begin to reduce recommending "borderline content and content that could misinform users in harmful ways — such as videos promoting a phony miracle cure for a serious illness, claiming the earth is flat, or making blatantly false claims about historic events like 9/11."