Politics

Over the weekend, Saudi King Salman shocked the world by abruptly announcing the arrests of 11 senior princes and some 38 ministers, including Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, the world’s sixty-first richest man and the largest shareholder in Citi, News Corp. and Twitter. The purge was orchestrated by a new “supreme committee” to investigate public corruption created by King Salman but under the control of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who chairs the committee and is widely suspected of being the driving force behind the purge.

In an explosive report that, if accurate, could potentially swing a race for Jeff Session's old Senate seat to the Democrats, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is being accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl back in 1979, when he was 32.

Moore handily won the Republican primary in the race to fill Session's old seat back in September, and was gearing up to face Democrat and former US Attorney Doug Jones in a special election next month.

As the House tax bill hits the wires, leaked details of the Senate's tax bill are coming out...

There will be 7 tax brackets - considerably more complex than the 3 brackets in the House bill

Senate tax legislation will keep seven tax brackets but alter the rates, GOP Sen. John Hoeven tells reporters.

 

Hoeven says the brackets will be set at 7%, 12%, 22.5%, 25%, 32.5%, 35%, and 38.5% (lower than the current top tax rate of 39.6%)

Brexit talks yielded no breakthrough on the financial settlement, and discussions focused on the issue of citizens’ rights, where the two sides are hoping for progress, an EU official told reporters.

Bloomberg notes that the anonymous official added that no breakthrough was expected on the bill, as that would require high-level political input.

The drums of war are beating at a deafening pace: with Saudi Arabia ordering its citizens to immediately leave Lebanon on Thursday, just a few hours later Kuwait joined in.

According to the Kuwait News Agency, citing a foreign ministry statement, Kuwait citizens currently in Lebanon are urged to leave the country immediately.

The statement said the order is due to the "circumstances experienced by Lebanon at the moment, as well as a precautionary measure against any negative impact that might take place."