White House aims to roll back Obama mileage standards
WASHINGTON — Citing safety, the Trump administration on Thursday proposed rolling back car-mileage standards, backing away from years of government efforts to cut Americans’ trips to the gas station and reduce unhealthy, climatechanging tailpipe emissions. The proposal, according to its own estimates, could cost tens of thousands of jobs of auto workers who deal with making vehicles more fuel efficient. The proposal would freeze U.S. mileage standards at levels mandated by the Obama administration for 2020, when the new vehicle fleet will be required to hit an average of 30 miles per gallon in realworld driving.
Bookkeeper: Manafort ‘approved every penny’ of bills
ALEXANDRIA, Va. — Paul Manafort’s bookkeeper testified Thursday that the former Trump campaign chairman kept her in the dark about the foreign bank accounts he was using to buy millions in luxury items and personal expenses. But he otherwise approved “every penny” of the personal bills she paid for him, said Heather Washkuhn of the accounting firm NKFSB. Washkuhn’s testimony on the third day of the trial appeared to undercut an argument by Manafort’s attorneys that he can’t be responsible for financial fraud because he left the details of his spending to others, including his longtime associate Rick Gates.
Economic protests in Iran
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Scattered protests broke out in several Iranian cities on Thursday over the dramatic drop of the country’s currency and other economic problems ahead of the imposition of renewed American sanctions, Iran’s staterun IRNA news agency reported. About 100 people took to the streets in the city of Sari as well as other cities, IRNA said.
Inmates’ computers confiscated
DENVER — New concerns about the security of computer tablets offered to inmates prompted Colorado authorities to take away all 15,000 of its tablets from state prisoners. The confiscation comes a week after Idaho officials said 364 inmates exposed a glitch in their tablets that they used to apply a total of $225,000 in credits to their accounts.