Singapore News Channel, Singapore News Network

President Donald Trump said Iran had targeted four American embassies before the killing of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani a week ago�the clearest details yet on the intelligence U.S. officials had gathered ahead of the airstrike in Baghdad.

�We will tell you, probably it was going to be the embassy in Baghdad,� Trump said in an interview with Fox News�s Laura Ingraham on Friday, adding, �I can reveal that I think it would�ve been four embassies.� On Thursday, he told reporters Iran was �looking to blow up� the U.S. Embassy in Iraq.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also told reporters on Friday at the White House that �attacks on U.S. embassies� would have likely been targeted by Iranian assets. �We don�t know exactly which day it would have been executed, but it was very clear: Qassem Soleimani himself was plotting a broad, large-scale attack against American interests, and those attacks were imminent,� Pompeo later told CBS News.

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Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, of Nashville, Tennessee, went from shoe salesperson to national hero, and today, she has the award to prove it.

Hester first enlisted in the United States Army just before the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and was assigned to the National Guard�s Kentucky-based 617th Military Police Company in Baghdad in 2004. She was not afraid of the potential for combat.

�It was that one job where you can get out there and get dirty and be in an infantry-type environment,� she explained of her enlistment, speaking to The Tennesseean. �I guess it was one of the more exciting jobs in the military for women when I enlisted, and it still is now.�

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The convenience and lower cost of processed foods is hard to resist. But ready-to-eat meals and snacks are making Americans obese and unhealthy, a new study suggests.

As more people eat cheaper processed foods, they are getting fatter, said researcher Leigh Frame, from George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, in Washington, D.C.

Frame and a colleague analyzed food trends in the United States, looking beyond calories to the impact of processing.

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Neil Peart, the legendary drummer for the popular Canadian rock trio Rush, has died at age 67, the band announced Friday.

Peart died on Tuesday in Santa Monica, Calif., after battling brain cancer, family spokesperson Elliot Mintz said in a statement obtained by Fox News.

A statement posted on the band’s official Twitter page said: “It is with broken hearts and the deepest sadness that we must share the terrible news that on Tuesday our friend, soul brother and bandmate of over 45 years, Neil, has lost his incredibly brave three and a half year battle with brain cancer …”

https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/neil-peart-rush-drummer-dead

The name of a former top FBI official who leaked sensitive information over the course of hundreds of communications with at least six reporters can be revealed by the Washington Examiner.

His identity is contained in a 21-page report obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The report reveals that investigators for Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz determined that Bryan Paarmann, 53, the deputy assistant director of the FBI�s international operations division from 2016 to 2017, �improperly disclosed court-sealed and law enforcement sensitive information to the media� in violation of FBI rules.

The incident is one Horowitz included as part of what his June 2018 report called the FBI�s �culture of unauthorized media contacts.� A one-page summary of the investigation was released last May.

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�Tax the rich, tax the rich, tax the rich,� said New York Governor Andrew Cuomo during a press conference earlier this year. �We did that. God forbid the rich leave,� he mocked.

Well, Guv, they�re leaving. In fact, over the past 10 years, New York has lost 1.4 million residents.

Those fleeing the Empire State are not only likely to shrink the size of New York�s congressional delegation; they�re also taking their money with them. And while losing a seat or two in Congress may not be too alarming to the ruling class in states like New York, the loss of revenue is another matter.

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As Virginia�s new Democratic legislature promises gun control measures, the wives of National Guardsman are warning that impending gun legislation threatens to turn neighbor against neighbor.

As the 2020 Virginia legislative session began, Democratic Governor Ralph Northam and fellow Democrats continued their push for new gun control bills. In the months since a May 2019 shooting left 12 people dead and four others injured at a Virginia Beach municipal building, Democratic politicians have repeatedly expressed their desire to implement new restrictions such as universal background checks, a ban on certain weapons, and controversial red flag laws.

However, the calls for gun restrictions have not been welcomed by all Virginians. Instead, the push for more gun control has sparked a movement that has expanded across Virginia and continues to grow in other states including California, Illinois, Colorado, New Mexico, and Florida.

The so-called Second Amendment �sanctuary city� movement takes it�s name from previous resolutions introduced by opponents of hard line immigration policies. These sanctuary cities are defined as a city (or a county, or a state) that limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents in order to protect low-priority immigrants from deportation, while still turning over those who have committed serious crimes.

In a similar fashion, supporters of Second Amendment sanctuary cities are now asking local law enforcement to refuse to comply with orders from the state regarding gun control.

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President Trump starts off 2020 having presided over a lower average unemployment rate than any president at a comparable point in office in recorded history.

On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the unemployment rate held steady at a historically low 3.5% in December. Since February 2017, Trump’s first full month in office, the monthly unemployment rate has averaged 3.9%. No prior president has averaged less than 4% over the first 35 months of his presidency. The closest was Dwight Eisenhower, when the rate averaged 4.3% between February 1953 and December 1955.

Modern unemployment statistics did not start being kept until 1948, after Harry Truman’s first 35 months in office, so this analysis only starts with Eisenhower. Nonetheless, it does point to the unprecedented nature of this consistently low level of unemployment.

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Come out to Caribbean Joe’s tonight for ALL of the NFL games and enjoy draft beers for only $2.50. We’ll have all 20 TV’s going tonight including the outdoor TV’s. To top it off we’ll have the bonfires going and guess what, I’ll personally be serving as your outdoor bartender. So come on out and let’s all have a blast while supporting our Baltimore Ravens!