On the wire: National and world news

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg faces tough questions on Capitol Hill

(Tribune News Service) WASHINGTON – Facebook Inc. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg faced criticism Tuesday from senators over his company’s handling of user data in a Capitol Hill hearing that could amount to a reckoning on the technology industry and its practices.

“Let me just cut to the chase. If you and other social media companies do not get your act in order, none of us are going to have any privacy anymore,” Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., told Zuckerberg, who was making his first appearance on Capitol Hill, underscoring the severity of Facebook’s crisis.

Clad in a dark suit and bright blue tie rather than his signature gray T-shirt, Zuckerberg offered contrition for his company’s mishandling of personal information from up to 87 million unsuspecting Facebook users that landed in the hands of Cambridge Analytica, a political consulting firm that worked on President Donald Trump’s campaign.

His opening statement closely mirrored prepared remarks that circulated Monday.

The billionaire tech executive is also scheduled to appear before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday.

Syria will allow inspectors at site of suspected chemical attack, complicating US retaliation

(TNS) DAMASCUS — A team of international inspectors on Tuesday accepted an invitation from Syria to examine the site of a suspected chemical attack on civilians in a rebel-held enclave outside Damascus.

The United States and other world powers suspect Syrian government forces of being behind the attack, which reportedly killed nearly 50 people, including children. They blame Russia for helping Syria.

But both Syria and Russia insist the attack did not happen and that graphic photographs of the victims were staged.

Hoping to back its position, Syria said members of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons would be allowed access to the site. The autonomous, intergovernmental group, which is based at The Hague, Netherlands, said in a statement it would dispatch a fact-finding team to Syria “shortly.”

FBI said to seek records on alleged Trump affairs in Cohen raid

(TNS) WASHINGTON — The FBI was seeking documents related to Donald Trump’s purported affairs with an ex-Playboy model and an adult film star when it raided the president’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Monday’s raid on Cohen’s office, home and hotel room steps up the pressure on the president, whose troubles have evolved from political obstacles he could swat away to potentially serious legal problems that could imperil his presidency.

FBI agents, working under the authority of the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, seized records relating to Karen McDougal, the former Playmate who said she had a 10-month affair with Trump, and Stephanie Clifford, the porn star known as Stormy Daniels, who said she had sex with Trump just once, according to the person. A subpoena was also served to the Trump Organization for information related to a payment to Daniels for her silence, the person said.

The raid, which was approved by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, was prompted by information first gathered by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to another person familiar with the matter.

Trump, facing twin crises, will skip South America summit

(TNS) WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump, facing an international crisis in Syria and a personal one with the FBI raid of his attorney’s office and residence, abruptly canceled a planned trip to South America.

Trump had planned to leave Washington on Friday for a whirlwind journey to Peru and Colombia, highlighted by the Summit of the Americas gathering of international leaders in Peru. The visit would have been his first to the region as president.

The White House, in a statement Tuesday morning, attributed Trump’s cancellation to the alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria over the weekend.

“The president will remain in the United States to oversee the American response to Syria and to monitor developments around the world,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said.

Trump said Monday he would “forcefully” respond to the apparent chemical weapons attack, which U.S. officials have blamed on the Syrian government and its allies, and would soon decide how.

Vice President Mike Pence will attend the Latin America summit in Trump’s place.

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