Weekly news round-up: Feb. 19

Graphic+by+Charlotte+Alden.

Graphic by Charlotte Alden.

By Matthew Farr

This week saw a cacophony of domestic and foreign news. Here is a sampling of the top stories of the week:

General Flynn resigns amid Russian concerns

National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn resigned this week after U.S. officials told the Washington Post that he discussed sanctions with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Officially, Flynn resigned because he had lost the President’s Trust.  The news came before other allegations that Russian security officials were in contact with the Trump campaign during the election.

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Trump blasts media at heated press conference, declares he’s going after leakers

In his first press conference since taking office which spanned a surprising 77 minutes, President Donald Trump attacked the media, while declaring those those who leak information to the media will be prosecuted. Trump also defended his young administration, saying that it is “running like a fine tuned machine,” in contrast to what several outlets have reported on. Trump also claimed that he inherited “a mess” from President Obama, and when asked about the leaks coming from the White House, said “The leaks are real” but “the news is fake.”    

Here’s the full press conference.

Disaster believed averted at California’s Oroville Dam

Officials believe that disaster has been averted at Southern California’s Oroville Dam. The crisis began early this week when the main spillway was damaged during heavy rain and the auxiliary spillway was at risk for failure. While the California National Guard used helicopters to try to shore-up the spillway, over 100,000 people were forced to evacuate out of fear that the dam would burst and send a 30 foot wall of water downstream. On Friday, residents were allowed to move back to their homes, as officials expressed confidence that the dam would hold ahead of another rain storm.

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China to suspend North Korean coal exports after missile launch

The Chinese government has announced that it will ban all coal shipments from North Korea in a possible retaliation for their launching of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile. The ban is scheduled to run for the remainder of 2017. Coal is North Korea’s biggest export, bringing in millions of dollars of revenue annually.

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