- PoliticsYahoo News
Trump complains his impeachment defense has a lousy time slot
If there is one thing Donald Trump fears, it's lousy ratings. Since being elected president, in fact, Trump has tweeted about “ratings” exactly 100 times, according to the Trump Twitter Archive, the most recent coming Friday, on the eve of his defense team's opening testimony in his impeachment trial. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell gave in to pressure from members of his own party to adjust the trial's timetable to give House Democrats three days to make their case for removing Trump from office, pushing the opening arguments by the president's lawyers to the weekend.
- WorldThe Week
Hong Kong, U.S. take steps to curb coronavirus spread
As experts tell people not to panic about the unfamiliar coronavirus, several governments are taking steps to limit its spread. A second case of the respiratory virus that originated in Wuhan, China, leaving more than 40 people dead and causing quarantines and transit closures throughout China, has been confirmed in the United States. The Chicago patient, who last week returned home from Wuhan, is reportedly isolated in the hospital, and officials say she's doing well and has had limited contact with others.
- U.S.USA TODAY Opinion
March for Life 2020: I'm a single-issue, pro-life voter. What's wrong with that?
The student argued that pro-lifers were actually going to cause suffering because if a baby was permitted to live, things might go wrong and the child could end up in foster care. The student's conclusion was that we both need to end life in the womb and quit focusing on abortion until, apparently, all other problems in the world are solved. My question to her was one I've asked many people: Is it upsetting that the American Diabetes Association doesn't fight cancer, or that the American Cancer Association is not trying to cure every life-ending disease?
- PoliticsThe Guardian
'I really hope she is the future': AOC's support of Sanders fuels 2024 speculation
It was billed as a rally for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. With the Vermont senator trapped in Washington DC by the impeachment hearings, Ocasio-Cortez was fronting for him at the University of Iowa on Friday evening in the last days before the Iowa Democratic caucuses. Much of the crowd had already made up its mind to back Sanders, which was just as well because the New York congresswoman gave a 26-minute speech without once mentioning the man she was ostensibly there to promote.
- U.S.Reuters
Coronavirus worries have surgical masks flying off shelves in New York's Chinatown
Teresa Zhan, a pharmacist in Manhattan's Chinatown, had not seen protective face masks sell out in her 10 years as an employee until this week, when China's coronavirus arrived in the United States just days before Lunar New Year celebrations. More than a dozen pharmacies in the tiny district had run out of face masks or only had a few left on Friday. Pharmacists said hundreds of locals had rushed to buy masks for protection from the newly discovered coronavirus that has killed 26 people in China and infected at least 800 others, including a case in Chicago and another near Seattle.
- WorldThe National Interest
Damaged By Drone Strike: Suleimani's Sainthood Is Now Being Questioned
In the wake of Washington's assassination of former Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, Arab Shi'a desires and interests across the Middle East are under a microscope. Have they shifted their protest slogans from opposing Iran to denouncing the United States? Americans should not assume that wide-angle television images of Shi'a protests in Iran calling for the downfall of the Great Satan reflect Shi'a sentiment across Arab societies.
- WorldINSIDER
2 elephants escaped a circus in Russia and rolled around in the snow before being recaptured
Reuters/YVES HERMAN Two circus elephants in Russia made a run for it on Thursday. The circus troupe was in the process of loading the animals into a truck when they walked away. The female elephant, Karla, rolled around in the snow in the city of Yekaterinburg.
- U.S.Associated Press
Social worker charged with coercing client into prostitution
A former child services caseworker has been charged with human trafficking, accused of recruiting a mother who was her client into prostitution in exchange for a favorable custody recommendation, authorities said. Candace Talley, 27, of Winslow, New Jersey, was working for the Division of Children and Youth Services in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, when she coerced the mother, whose children were in foster care and whose case Talley was managing, into working as a prostitute, the Delaware County District Attorney's office announced Thursday. Talley drove the woman to and from jobs and took more than 25% of the money that was made, authorities said.
WorldAFPChinese Uighurs in Saudi face impossible choice
His eyes brimming with tears, a Uighur student in Saudi Arabia holds out his Chinese passport -- long past its expiry date and condemning him to an uncertain fate as the kingdom grows closer to Beijing. The Chinese mission in Saudi Arabia stopped renewing passports for the ethnic Muslim minority more than two years ago, in what campaigners call a pressure tactic exercised in many countries to force the Uighur diaspora to return home. Half a dozen Uighur families in Saudi Arabia who showed AFP their passports -- a few already expired and some approaching the date -- said they dread going back to China, where over a million Uighurs are believed to be held in internment camps.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoTrump reverses stance on Medicare, Social Security cuts, and Dems pounce
While much of the nation was focused on President Trump's impeachment trial in the Senate, he gave an interview in Davos, Switzerland, that undercut one of his key pledges from the 2016 campaign, declaring his intention to “take a look” at cutting benefits to entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Donald Trump shares image of Barack Obama scaling Trump Tower
Donald Trump has tweeted a photoshopped image of Barack Obama scaling the walls of Trump Tower with suction cups and holding binoculars. The image, which was posted without a caption, appeared to be a reference to Mr Trump's claims that Mr Obama and the FBI illegally spied on him. Just found out that Obama had my 'wires tapped' in Trump Tower just before victory.
- U.S.Time
New Trump Rule Requires U.S. Officials to Weigh Pregnant Visa Applicants' Medical Needs
The Trump administration issued a new rule on Thursday instructing United States consular officials to deny pregnant women visas unless they can prove “to the satisfaction of the consular officer” either that they are not traveling to the U.S. to give birth, or that they have a legitimate medical reason to give birth in the country. The administration says the new provision is an attempt to cut down on what's known as “birth tourism,” or when women come to the U.S. specifically to give birth so that their children gain American citizenship. But critics say the new rule may be deeply flawed.
- U.S.USA TODAY
A 'messy' winter storm bringing snow and flooding may cause travel delays across Northeast
Expect travel delays, heavy rain and possible flooding in the Northeast over the weekend as a slow-moving storm moves eastward from the Midwest. Rainfall up to 2 inches was expected Saturday for the northern Mid-Atlantic and southern New England, with possible flooding in portions of northern Virginia and central Maryland, according to the National Weather Service. The NWS office in Portland, Maine, issued a flood watch through Saturday night for the "messy winter storm," the office said on Twitter.
- LifestylePopular Mechanics
Wax On, Wane Off: A Guide to All the Lunar Phases
Your guide to the moon—and its many phases. From Popular Mechanics
- WorldThe National Interest
China is Expanding into the Indian Ocean—Here Are Five Things the Indian Navy Can Do About It
For decades, the Indian Navy has been the dominant regional power in the Indian Ocean, and has even boasted a carrier aviation capability that was nearly unique in Asia. But as outlined in a report by the Center for New American Security (CNAS), the growth of Chinese military power in the last two decades has dramatically eclipsed India's own attempts to modernize and expand its forces—particularly in the maritime domain. This is problematic due to New Delhi's tense relations with Beijing since a 1962 border war.
- WorldINSIDER
Photos from the Lunar New Year show how coronavirus turned China's biggest party into a washout
Crowds gather in Ditan Park in Beijing, China. Thomas Peter/Reuters2020: Ditan Park is eerily empty as workers took down the lantern decorations after the Lunar New Year celebration was cancelled. Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters2019: Signs with the Chinese character "Fu," which means "Good luck," hang in the Forbidden City.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Photos show how China is grappling with the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak as 12 cities are quarantined and hospitals run out of space
Getty Images When it became known that the virus could spread from human to human contact, China imposed screening precautions in Wuhan and began checking people for the virus at transportation hubs. Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images Medics wearing Level D Hazmat suits were seen scanning passengers arriving from Wuhan on January 22. Emily Wang/AP As the death toll climbed to nine, the Chinese government urged people to avoid traveling to Wuhan and stay away from public spaces — a warning that came just as millions of people were planning to migrate for the Lunar New Year.
WorldAFPMexico seeks US extradition of drug lord's son for reporter murder
Mexico is seeking the extradition from the United States of the son of a Sinaloa cartel drug lord over the 2017 murder of acclaimed journalist Javier Valdez, the attorney general's office said Thursday. Damaso Lopez Serrano, the son of former top "El Chapo" lieutenant Damaso Lopez Nunez "El Licenciado", is accused of being the mastermind behind the killing of Valdez. An arrest warrant for Lopez Serrano was approved Thursday afternoon after prosecutors interviewed members of the Sinaloa cartel who testified against him, the attorney general's office said in a statement.
- PoliticsReuters
Biden picks up another high profile endorsement in Iowa as voting nears
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden picked up another high profile endorsement on Saturday in Iowa, where the party's nominating contest kicks off in nine days, after U.S. congresswoman Cindy Axne said she was backing the former vice president. Axne, a freshman U.S. lawmaker and moderate, is the latest in a slew of big-name endorsements for Biden in Iowa which could have an impact on undecided voters as caucus day nears on Feb. 3. Two former Iowa Democratic governors, Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver, have backed Biden, as has another U.S. House member, congresswoman Abby Finkenauer.
- PoliticsAssociated Press
US Vice President Pence to Pope Francis: You made me a hero
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence met with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Friday, discussing the anti-abortion march in Washington and telling the pontiff, "You made me a hero" back home by granting him a private audience. Pence was beaming after the meeting, which appeared to be particularly cordial. The hero description apparently referred to Pence's Catholic family upbringing.
- PoliticsCBS News
Warren responds after angry dad confronts her on student loans
Warren's student loan comments begin at the 6-min. mark in video above After being confronted by a man questioning her student loan forgiveness plan, Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren dismissed his argument. "We don't build an America by saddling our kids with debt," she said on "CBS This Morning" Friday.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Why are California's mayors lining up to endorse Mike Bloomberg?
Bloomberg announced on Thursday that London Breed, San Francisco's first black female mayor, would serve as his campaign's chair of African Americans. “Voters re-elected London Breed by a wide margin because she is taking on the biggest and toughest issues – and she puts progress over politics,” the former New York mayor said in a statement. Breed, who previously supported the California Senator Kamala Harris in the Democratic race for the presidential nomination, said on Facebook that she is backing Bloomberg because he “is the only candidate for president with a real plan for African Americans”, touting his Greenwood Initiative to increase black home ownership and the number of black-owned businesses.
- WorldNational Review
General Says U.S. Troops Deployed to Middle East by Trump Admin. May Be There for ‘Quite a While’
Marine General Frank McKenzie, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, warned troops deployed as part of a recent surge that he was “not sure how long you're going to stay” in the region. “You're here because I requested that you come,” McKenzie said to sailors and Marines aboard the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship, according to the Associated Press. McKenzie was addressing a small contingent of the 20,000 troops who have been deployed to the Middle East in the last eight months due to escalating tensions with Iran.
- WorldThe National Interest
Why This 1 Missile Problem Is Creating Headaches for Iran's F-14A Tomcats
Key point: Tehran cherishes its American-made F-14 Tomcats, but those fighters are getting very old. Among the many problems facing Iran's F-14s are a lack of missiles. Iran's F-14A Tomcats are an anomaly in the region.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Two pedestrians killed by snowplow in Kansas
Two pedestrians were killed early Friday morning after they were struck by a snowplow in Kansas, authorities said. The victims were identified as Anthony Stephen Toler, 22, and Jayden J. Rosa, 20, both of Manhattan. The driver of the Riley County snowplow, Lawrence J. Gassman, 65, of Manhattan, was reported uninjured.
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