- WorldYahoo News
Exclusive: The inside story of how the U.S. gave up a chance to kill Soleimani in 2007
One afternoon in Baghdad in the final months of 2007, a few members of a U.S. special operations task force were monitoring the feed from a Predator drone over the Iraqi capital, scanning for signs of trouble, when they spotted a large crowd gathering in the neighborhood of Sadr City. From their large, air-conditioned tent near Baghdad International Airport, the operators sprang into action. Sadr City was the dense, teeming home to 3 million mostly poor Shiites.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Steyer: U.S. reparations for slavery will help 'repair the damage'
Billionaire and presidential candidate Tom Steyer reiterated his support Wednesday for reparations for African-Americans suffering from the legacy of slavery. We would retell the story over the last 401 years so everybody understands not just the legalized, institutionalized injustice in racism — which is definitely a huge part of this story — but also the contribution of the African-American community,” Steyer said in an interview with Yahoo News' “Hot Mic With Brittany Shepherd. I don't think we can be the country that we want to be until we acknowledge the past and move to accept the mistakes this country made that are dramatic and obvious, and then repair the damage.
- WorldAssociated Press
Macron grows angry with Israeli security during church visit
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday lost his temper with Israeli security agents during a visit to a French church in Jerusalem and angrily ordered one of them to leave the premises. The incident occurred during a spat between Israeli forces and Macron's own security detail as he entered the Church of St. Anne. The church, located in Jerusalem's Old City, is French state property and Macron did not want the Israeli guards leading him inside.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A University of Minnesota student was arrested in China and sentenced to 6 months in prison for tweeting cartoons making fun of President Xi Jingping
Luo Daiqing, 20, was arrested in Wuhan, China, in July after posting tweets critical of the government while he was studying in the US, according to court documents Axios obtained. The University of Minnesota student was sentenced to six months in prison in November. A University of Minnesota student was arrested in China and sentenced to six months in prison for posting tweets critical of the government, Axios reported Wednesday.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Ad targets Susan Collins: 'You’re a senator. Act like it.'
An organization of prominent conservative opponents of President Trump released a new ad on Wednesday targeting Sen. Susan Collins for her party-line votes at the opening of the president's impeachment trial. “Senator Collins, you aren't doing the job we elected you to do,” the 30-second ad, produced by the Lincoln Project, begins. On Tuesday, Collins voted for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's resolution outlining rules for the impeachment trial, and against Democratic amendments to subpoena documents and witnesses from the White House, including acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and former national security adviser John Bolton.
- WorldThe Week
Virologist who helped identify SARS on coronavirus outbreak: 'This time I'm scared'
Experts are seeing shocking similarities between the coronavirus that has now spread beyond China and the SARS outbreak of 2003. Like the infectious pneumonia that has killed at least 17 people, SARS was caused by a coronavirus that originated in China. People were out at markets without masks, "preparing to ring in the New Year in peace and had no sense about the epidemic," Guan Yi of the University of Hong Kong's State Key Laboratory of Emerging Infectious Diseases told Caixin.
- U.S.National Review
White Nationalists Arrested ahead of Richmond Rally Planned to Kill Gun-Rights Demonstrators to Spark Civil War
Three alleged members of a white supremacist group were plotting to murder demonstrators at Monday's gun rights rally at the Virginia Capitol before they were arrested by the FBI last week, according to court documents. The men were caught discussing their plans on a hidden camera set up in their Delaware apartment by FBI agents. “We can't let Virginia go to waste, we just can't,” said Patrik J. Mathews, one member of the hate group “the Base” that promotes violence against African-Americans and Jews.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoRep. Ilhan Omar launches 'Send her back to Congress!' reelection bid with big advantages
Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. is kicking off her reelection campaign Thursday night with a massive bank account and no challengers who pose a serious threat from either party. Her campaign slogan — “Send her back to Congress!
- U.S.USA TODAY
Family attorneys say cruise line's story of toddler's death is 'physically impossible'
Attorneys representing the family of an Indiana toddler who fell to her death from a Royal Caribbean cruise ship in July say their recent inspection of the scene proves the cruise line is lying to the court. Earlier this month, Royal Caribbean filed a motion to dismiss the civil case holding them responsible, claiming that Chloe Wiegand's death was solely caused by the "reckless and irresponsible" actions of her grandfather, Salvatore "Sam" Anello. The cruise line maintains that Anello was aware that the window Chloe fell from was open.
- U.S.Reuters
16 people under observation after contact with U.S. coronavirus patient
At least 16 people had close contact with a Washington state man diagnosed as the first U.S. case of the coronavirus and are being monitored for the illness that has killed 17 people in China and sickened hundreds more, local officials said. The patient, a 30-year-old man, is doing well and may be released from Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett, Washington in the near future, the hospital's chief medical officer Jay Cook told a press conference. None of the people who were in close contact with the patient have displayed symptoms of the flu-like illness, said John Wiesman, secretary of health for Washington State.
- WorldINSIDER
The brazen (and careless) Russian assassination team behind the Salisbury poisonings has been spotted in Europe, again
PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE OF THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA New images have been published of the Russian GRU assassination team working in Europe. A video from a case in Bulgaria shows a man connected to the 2015 poisoning of an arms dealer. The suspects in the Bulgarian poisoning are believed to be part of the same Russian unit that conducted the poison attack on Sergei Skripal in Salisbury, England.
- WorldThe National Interest
Are North Korea's Vaunted Submarines Actually Any Good?
Each Romeo displaced 1,830 tons submerged, had a top speed of thirteen knots and was operated by a crew of fifty-four. The Romeo submarines were armed with eight standard-diameter 533-millimeter torpedo tubes, two facing aft. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was filmed touring and taking a short voyage on a Romeo-class submarine in 2014.
- WorldBusiness Insider
The outbreaks of both the Wuhan coronavirus and SARS started in Chinese wet markets. Photos show what the markets look like.
A coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, China, has killed 25 people and infected more than 830. The Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan is thought to be the starting point for the virus outbreak. At wet markets, meat is sold alongside live animals like dogs, hares, and civets.
- PoliticsYahoo News
Impeachment trial fallout: Trump could get his wish — to hurt Biden
But the fallout could complicate life for Trump's leading Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, in the days and weeks ahead — which is exactly what Trump was trying to do when he first launched his Ukraine scheme last summer. As the all-important Iowa caucuses approach, the former vice president appears, at first glance, to be in better shape than his main rivals for the Democratic nomination. Though a new CNN poll shows Bernie Sanders narrowly pulling ahead of Biden for the first time, every other poll released so far this year shows Biden maintaining his longtime national lead by anywhere from 5 to 11 percentage points.
- U.S.CBS News
Utah bans LGBTQ conversion therapy for minors
In November, Utah Governor Gary Herbert proposed a new rule to ban conversion therapy for LGBTQ minors in the state. The passing of the ban was reliant on support of the influential Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which opposes same-sex relationships but preaches kindness towards members of the LGBTQ community. The Mormon Church gave its support only after the ban was amended to include certain exceptions for clergy who offer religious counsel, though the church stressed that it opposes conversion therapy.
- U.S.Associated Press
Michelle Carter, of texting suicide case, freed from jail
Michelle Carter, the woman convicted of manslaughter for urging her suicidal boyfriend to kill himself in text messages that included, "Just do it, babe," was released from jail Thursday after more than three months was shaved from her sentence for good behavior. Carter, 23, walked out of the Bristol County jail in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, wearing the same white blazer, dark slacks and a dark turtleneck she wore last February, when a judge ordered her to begin serving a 15-month sentence. The Plainville native didn't speak as two jail staffers escorted her to an SUV where her lawyer and parents were waiting for her.
- BusinessNational Review
Why Pay Off Your Student Loans if the Government Will Do It for You?
But for the past decade or so, college costs have actually grown in line with the median household income, and the “origination” of new student loans has slowed down a little. The reason we haven't seen a similar slowdown in overall student debt is that borrowers are making less progress on their loans. And a lot of the time they're doing it on purpose — because they participate in programs that were dramatically expanded during the Obama years, and that forgive debt entirely so long as the borrower first makes small payments for a set period of time.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
These 9 Dining Chairs Are Sculptural, Surprising, and Downright Sleek
The best chairs earn their place at the table Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.USA TODAY
Smugglers tried to bring 3,700 invasive crabs through the Port of Cincinnati
CINCINNATI – U.S. Customs and Border Protection says its agriculture specialists at the Port of Cincinnati have stopped 51 shipments of invasive mitten crabs from being smuggled into the country over the past four months. The shipments containing 3,700 of the live crabs weighed about 3,400 pounds, originated in China and Hong Kong and were destined for businesses and homes in multiple states – mostly New York, a CBP press release said. Nationwide, CBP agriculture specialists and others have refused entry to more than 15,000 mitten crabs since September.
- WorldBloomberg
Man in Mexico Now Ill After Visiting Coronavirus Ground Zero
A man who fell ill in Mexico on Monday following a December trip to Wuhan, China, is under observation as a potential case of the coronavirus, the respiratory virus that has killed at least 17 people worldwide. The 57-year-old molecular biology professor works for the Instituto Politecnico Nacional university in the city of Reynosa, which borders with the U.S. The man returned to Mexico on Jan. 10 through a Mexico City airport and then flew to the state of Tamaulipas, Mexican authorities said. Tamaulipas State Health Minister Gloria Molina said in a radio interview that the man immediately reported his situation to authorities after feeling sick.
- WorldThe National Interest
Want To Start A War With America? Go Try To Sink An Aircraft Carrier
Although supercarriers have participated in nearly every military conflict since the commissioning of USS Forrestal in 1955, no carrier has come under determined attack from a capable opponent. In part, this is because supercarriers are very difficult to attack, but the symbolic grandeur of the massive ships also plays a role; no one wants to know what the United States might do if one of its carriers came under attack. What would happen if a foe attacked a United States Navy (USN) aircraft carrier during a conflict?
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Senators struggle without their phones at Trump's impeachment trial, where all electronics are banned
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images Some US senators seemed to have a hard time following the strict no-phone policy while listening in on 12-hour days of arguments during the impeachment trial. The Senate prohibits members from bringing cell phones into the chamber, and the decorum guidelines for the trial specifically said all electronic devices were banned. It was previously reported that Sen. Ted Cruz had his phone on the Senate floor, but his communications director later clarified that he did not.
- PoliticsReuters
Justice Department says it should not have continued spying on former Trump adviser
The U.S. Justice Department has told a court it did not have enough evidence to justify continued surveillance of one of President Donald Trump's former campaign advisers in 2017, in a sign it believes the FBI on occasion went too far when it investigated Russian influence in the 2016 election. The department's assessment, made public on Thursday, came after an in-depth review by the Justice Department's internal watchdog found the FBI manipulated evidence and otherwise overstepped its bounds as it explored possible links between the Trump campaign and Moscow in 2016. The watchdog's review, made public in December, found that FBI agents acted legally when they asked in 2016 for court approval to begin surveillance of former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.
- WorldThe Conversation
Snakes could be the original source of the new coronavirus outbreak in China
Snakes – the Chinese krait and the Chinese cobra – may be the original source of the newly discovered coronavirus that has triggered an outbreak of a deadly infectious respiratory illness in China this winter. The illness was first reported in late December 2019 in Wuhan, a major city in central China, and has been rapidly spreading. Since then, sick travelers from Wuhan have infected people in China and other countries, including the United States.
- WorldAssociated Press
Mexico sees rise in gangs, vigilantes recruiting children
One day after a vigilante group revealed that it was using children as young as 8 as “recruits” for armed defense patrols, Mexico's president said Thursday that drug cartels too are recruiting ever-younger kids. The whole issue has sparked a debate in Mexico over the use of children in armed confrontations, with rights groups saying the practice threatens not only kids' safety, but their mental health. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said that because social programs are giving more youths opportunities to study or work, drug cartels are having trouble finding gunmen, leading them to recruit children.
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