The United States of America is now a more imperfect union.
The Democracy Index has downgraded the U.S. from a full democracy to a flawed one, marking the first time the nation has fallen into the lower ranking.
Other flawed democracies include Botswana, India, Japan and Ghana, while much of Western Europe stayed in the full democracy category.
Americans’ growing distrust in their government, elected officials and the media prompted the demotion, the Economist Intelligence Unit — the UK-based economic firm that produces the annual index — wrote in a Wednesday report.
U.S. downgraded to flawed democracy for the first time
Dutch respond to Trump's 'gag rule' with international safe abortion fund
Up to 20 countries have indicated support for the Netherlands’ plan to set up an international safe abortion fund to plug a $600m funding gap caused by Donald Trump’s reinstatement of the “global gag rule”, the Dutch international development minister, Lilianne Ploumen, said on Wednesday.
Ploumen took soundings from a number of her colleagues around the world on Tuesday evening after the Netherlands said it would act to mitigate the impact on hundreds of charities around the world.
Foreign Payments to Trump Firms Violate Constitution, Suit Will Claim
A liberal watchdog group plans to file a lawsuit Monday arguing that President Donald Trump is violating the Constitution's ban on officials accepting benefits from foreign governments.
The suit will claim that Trump's business dealings with foreign countries who rent space in his buildings or lend money to his real estate ventures run afoul of the foreign emoluments clause, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in a statement Sunday evening.
WikiLeaks calls out Trump for refusing to release tax returns
WikiLeaks on Sunday took President Donald Trump to task for refusing to release his tax returns and offered to post them online, after a senior adviser said definitively that Trump would not be publicly disclosing the documents.
“Trump's breach of promise over the release of his tax returns is even more gratuitous than Clinton concealing her Goldman Sachs transcripts,” WikiLeaks wrote on Twitter.
Drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman extradited to US
Mexico's government extradited drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman to the United States where he is wanted on drug trafficking and other charges.
Guzman landed in New York late on Thursday to face federal narcotics trafficking and other charges.
A US law enforcement official told The Associated Press news agency that Guzman arrived following a flight from the Mexican border town Ciudad Juarez.
Guzman is expected to appear in a federal court in Brooklyn on Friday.
New moth species named for Donald Trump's hair
Scientists have named a newly discovered species of moth after Donald Trump. Researchers named the moth after the President-elect because the new moth, in adult form, boasts a series of yellowish-white scales on its head, resembling the hair of Trump.
The moth, Neopalpa donaldtrumpi, was formally introduced in the latest issue of the journal ZooKeys. It is one of two species within a genus of twirler moths.
N. donaldtrumpi and its relative are both found throughout Southern California, as well as across the border in Baja California, Mexico.
TVNL Comment: Poor little thing will have to go through all eternity with the name of a truly rare and scary species of humans.
Iran warns Trump about trying to undo nuke deal
Iran's foreign minister says U.S. President-elect Donald Trump "will be surprised" if he tries to renegotiate the hard-won nuclear deal reached by the Obama administration and other world powers with the Islamic Republic.
Mohammad Javad Zarif told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he's taking a "wait and see" attitude about the Trump administration and "The jury is still... the jury is not even yet convened."
Report says Chicago police violated civil rights for years
Officers endangered civilians, caused avoidable injuries and deaths and eroded community trust that is "the cornerstone of public safety," said Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department's civil rights division.
Suicide bombs kill at least 23 in Baghdad
At least 23 have been reported dead in a series of suicide bomb attacks in Baghdad. It's the second weekend in a row marred by a wave of deadly attacks.
The first attack took place in the Shia district of Alwat-Jamila, a neighborhood in Sadr City in eastern Baghdad. A suicide bomber drove an explosives-filled truck into a crowd of people shopping at the city's main vegetable market. The attack killed 13 -- according to several reports -- and wounded at least 25 others. A similar attack claimed 35 lives on Monday, January 2.
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