‘Dumbest’ Trump Lie Of 2020: White House Nailed Over Bizarre Weather Tweet

The White House of President Donald Trump is coming under fire Sunday after a tweet that critics are already slamming as the “dumbest” lie of 2020. 

And it’s all about the weather.  

In what would on most days be a non-controversial message, the White House tweeted about snow:

The problem? It not only didn’t snow in Washington on Sunday, but it was also unseasonably warm, with temperatures reaching a high of 68. And if it did snow, it wouldn’t have been the first of the year for the capital.

That happened on Tuesday. Indeed, the image appears in the White House Flickr feed for that date.  

It’s possibly the tweet was written Tuesday, but not sent as the Iran crisis unfolded. If that’s the case, it’s not clear why it was then sent on Sunday, when it was so clearly not snowing in Washington.

The Washington Post reported last month that Trump has unleashed a blizzard of lies, with more than 15,000 false or misleading claims since taking office in 2017.

Several have been about the weather.

At one point, Trump showed off a doctored map to make false claims about a nonexistent hurricane threat. 

But critics on Twitter say his administration lying about an even more easily verifiable weather event should have a special place on the list:

Walmart sacks around 50 executives in India restructuring-sources

NEW DELHI, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Walmart Inc, the world’s largest retailer, has fired around 50 of its India executives as part of its restructuring in the country, three sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

The firings mostly affected executives in the company’s real estate division because the growth in the wholesale model has not been that robust, two of the sources said. (Reporting by Aftab Ahmed and Aditya Kalra; Additional reporting by Bengaluru newsroom; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)

European Economics Preview: France Industrial Output, Business Sentiment Due

Industrial production and business confidence survey results from France are due on Friday, headlining a light day for the European economic news.

At 1.45 am ET, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs is set to release Swiss unemployment data. The jobless rate is expected to remain unchanged at seasonally adjusted 2.3 percent in December.

At 2.00 am ET, consumer and producer prices are due from Statistics Norway. Economists forecast inflation to ease marginally to 1.5 percent in December from 1.6 percent in November.

At 2.30 am ET, Bank of France publishes business confidence survey results. The business sentiment index is seen unchanged at 97 in December.

At 2.45 am ET, France’s statistical office Insee releases industrial output data for November. Output is expected to rise 0.1 percent on month, slower than the 0.4 percent rise in October.

At 3.00 am ET, Spain’s INE is scheduled to release industrial production for November. In the meantime, industrial and construction output and final GDP figures are due from the Czech Republic.

Half an hour later, Sweden industrial output data for November is due.

At 5.00 am ET, Italy’s Istat releases industrial production for November. Economists forecast production to remain flat on month after falling 0.3 percent in October.

CropEnergies 9-month Operating Profit More Than Triples

CropEnergies AG reported that its operating profit for the first nine months of the financial year 2019/20 more than tripled to 70.3 million euros from 19.1 million euros last year.

EBITDA doubled in the period to 101.9 million euros from the prior year’s 48.5 million euros, despite higher raw material prices and decreased production.

Revenues rose by 12 percent to 668 million euros from previous year’s 596 million euros, mainly due to significantly higher sales prices for renewable, climate-friendly ethanol.

In the first three quarters, 729,000 cubic meters of ethanol were produced. It was 6 percent less than in the previous year.

In December 2019, the company said it raised its operating result outlook for fiscal 2019/20 to about 100 million euros from the prior outlook of 70 million euros to 90 million euros. It also raised EBITDA outlook to around 145 million euros from the prior outlook of 110 million euros to 135 million euros.

The company increased annual revenues guidance to about 900 million euros from the previous outlook of 840 million euros to 870 million euros.

Turkey swings to current-account deficit

ISTANBUL–Turkey swung to a current-account deficit in November after posting four consecutive months of surplus, due to a surge in imports and a recovery in economic activity.

November’s current-account deficit was $518 million compared with a $1.041 billion surplus in the same month a year earlier, Turkish central-bank data showed Monday. The current account recorded a surplus of $1.5 billion in October.

In the first eleven months of 2019, the current account surplus was $4.25 billion compared with a $25.6 billion deficit a year earlier.

The economy grew 0.9% in the third quarter compared to the same quarter of 2018.

Write to Yeliz Kazan at [email protected]

Gas prices rise to start the new year

Raise gas tax to fix roads, economist suggests

Economist and University of Maryland professor emeritus Peter Morici discusses why he wants the U.S. to raise the gas tax.

Drivers are seeing higher prices at the pump to start the new year, but this could be it for a while.

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The average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline has jumped 4 cents per gallon to $2.64 over the past three weeks, according to the lundberg Survey.

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Industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said Sunday that gas prices are unlikely to continue to increase because crude oil costs have dropped.

The price at the pump is 33 cents higher than it was a year ago.

US THREATENS SANCTIONS IF CHINA KEEPS BUYING IRANIAN OIL

The highest average price in the nation for regular-grade gas is $3.58 per gallon in Honolulu.

The lowest average is $2.21 in Houston.

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The average price of diesel is $3.08, up two cents.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.