Politics

British MP John Mann has revealed that Members of Parliament sexually harass young employees but go unpunished as their victims feel helpless. The Labour MP made his remarks at the House of Commons’ Standards Committee on Tuesday, saying that sexual assault by politicians at Westminster was a “major issue” that needed to be addressed. Mann said “In here [Westminster], there are alleged sexual assaults by current members of Parliament and nowhere for people to go, or they don’t feel confident in going.

Following yesterday's press reports that Steve Mnuchin and Wilbur Ross would be selected for two of the top economic posts in Donald Trump's administration, earlier today the two confirmed their nominations to lead the U.S. Treasury and Commerce Department, respectively. Mnuchin and Ross spoke on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Israeli fighter jets fired missiles on a government-held town west of Damascus according to Syrian state media. Some reports indicate that four missiles had hit Hezbollah militia targets near Al-Saboorah, a government-controlled suburb of Syria’s capital. No casualties were reported, though there have been conflicting reports over the initial target of the raid.

Submitted by Brian Cloughley via Strategic-Culture.org,

In the military a rearguard action is defined as ‘a defensive action carried out by a retreating army’ and it is an appropriate description of the desperate scrabbling by NATO to convince the rest of the world — and especially Donald Trump — that its existence is justified.

How stable are the world's democracies?  While there is a certain level of complacency among the citizens of most developed countries in the security of their freedom, at least one Harvard historian sees some glaring warning signs.  Citing a "freedom index" compiled by Freedom House, Harvard historian Yascha Mounk notes that after rising steadily from the mid-1970s through the early 2000s, the number of countries globally that are considered "free" have been on a steady decline ever since.