Ocasio-Cortez's progressive PAC makes first round of endorsements

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced Friday her political action committee's first round of endorsements, which will include two progressive candidates challenging sitting Democratic members of Congress. “It's time to elect a progressive majority in Congress accountable to strong, grassroots movements that push support for issues like Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, racial justice and more,” said Ocasio-Cortez Friday, announcing the support of seven women via her Courage to Change PAC. When the freshman lawmaker from New York announced in January she was starting her own PAC dedicated to electing progressive legislators, she said it would refuse to pay dues to the House's campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).

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  AOC launches plan to block non-progressive Democrats with all-female candidates: 'My ambition right now is to be a little less lonely in Congress'

  The Independent
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  Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive PAC makes first round of endorsements

  Yahoo News Video

Americans stranded at Pakistan airport after cruise ship was denied entry to multiple countries over coronavirus fears

A plane full of Americans and Canadians was stranded on a tarmac at an airport in Karachi, Pakistan, for several hours on Thursday after it was turned away from multiple countries due to fears of the coronavirus, according to a family member of two of the passengers. Kelly Chrjapin, whose parents were among those on the flight, said the plane contained more than 250 people, all of whom were American and Canadian nationals who had been traveling on the cruise ship MS Westerdam. One passenger from that boat tested positive for the coronavirus earlier this month.

Girl, 11, gave birth to baby allegedly fathered by brother

An 11-year-old girl who was allegedly raped by her brother gave birth at home, and now he and their parents are facing criminal charges. The girl gave birth to a boy in a bathtub in St. Charles, Missouri, according to a probable cause statement. Her biological brother, who is 17, was charged last week with incest, statutory rape and statutory sodomy of a person younger than 12, while her parents were charged with child endangerment.

Watch Out! U.S. Army Tanks Could Collapse Polish Bridges On Their Way to Battle Russia

The U.S. Army and its closest allies have a problem. To deter Russia from attacking Poland and the Baltic States, the Army and its NATO allies should deploy heavy armored forces such as M-1 tanks, armored fighting vehicles and self-propelled artillery. RAND, a California think-tank with close ties to the U.S. military, in a February 2020 report underscored the importance of heavy ground forces.

A crowd in Ukraine threw bricks at buses carrying coronavirus evacuees from Wuhan to quarantine

REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko A crowd of Ukrainian protesters on Thursday attacked buses ferrying evacuees from Wuhan, China, to a quarantine hospital. The buses were transporting 45 Ukrainians and 27 foreign nationals through Novi Sanzhary in central Ukraine. Nobody on board has been confirmed to have the novel coronavirus.

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  With selfie, Ukrainian health minister joins coronavirus evacuees in quarantine

  Reuters
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  Coronavirus evacuees cause clashes in Ukraine

  Reuters Videos

A recurring Biden campaign story about being arrested in South Africa is full of inconsistencies

Former Vice President Joe Biden has a pretty good tale to share — but it may be a little tall. Biden, who is running for president, has been spicing up his recent campaign stump speeches with a story of how he was arrested while in South Africa trying to see Nelson Mandela, The New York Times reports. During recent campaign speeches, Biden says he "had the great honor" of meeting Mandela and "of being arrested with our U.N. ambassador on the streets of Soweto." As Miami Herald reporter Alex Daugherty points out, Soweto is a ways away from Robben Island, where Mandela's maximum security prison was located.

Elizabeth Warren trolls Republican donor with ad in his paper telling him how much tax she'll make him pay

Elizabeth Warren has bought ad space in a newspaper owned by Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson, taunting the billionaire with an estimate for how much he would pay during the first year of her presidency with her promised 2 per cent wealth tax. “With that small wealth tax, we can invest in Nevada families,” it continues. Ms Warren's ad was printed in the newspaper the morning after she seemed to dominate the Democratic debate in the same city by mounting a full-throated attack on another billionaire, democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg.

Iran shuts schools, cultural centres as coronavirus kills five

Iran on Saturday ordered the closure of schools, universities and cultural centres after a coronavirus outbreak that has killed five people in the Islamic republic -- the most outside the Far East. The moves came as Iranian authorities reported one more death among 10 new cases of the virus. Since it emerged in December, the new coronavirus has killed 2,345 people in China, the epicentre of the epidemic, and 17 elsewhere in the world.

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  Three new coronavirus cases in Iran after two deaths

  AFP
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  Coronavirus updates: South Korea reports big jump in cases, virus spreading in Chinese prisons

  NBC News

First US patient has fully recovered from coronavirus in Washington state; nearly 800 still under watch

A Washington state man who was the nation's first confirmed case of the new coronavirus has made a full recovery and is no longer quarantined, health officials announced. Almost 800 people remain on the state's watch list as health officials around the world battle to contain the virus, COVID-19, which has infected more than 76,000 people worldwide and caused 2,247 deaths, mostly in mainland China. In the USA, 15 cases have been confirmed, and one American has died in China.

A New York lawmaker wants to treat white supremacists like foreign jihadists. Is this the solution, or a new war on terror?

If all else were to fail in his fight against the threat of domestic terrorism, Rep. Max Rose offered an unconventional plan to protect the Brooklynites who had come to hear him speak at a Jewish community center: He'd stand on guard duty at their places of worship himself. “I'll do it,” Rose told the people who came out to this low-slung stretch of Ocean Parkway, where mosques and synagogues sit next to auto repair shops and fast food joints. The first Jewish lawmaker to represent Staten Island — and the first Democrat elected by the Republican redoubt in a decade — Rose has recently emerged as a leading proponent of treating white supremacists no differently than law enforcement treats foreign terrorists.

This Fighter Jet Is The Biggest Threat To Russia's Su-57 Stealth Fighter (Not the F-35)

Key point: The Su-35S was intended as an interim solution; as a modernized air superiority fighter to sustain the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) through the 2010's until the Su-57 fifth-generation stealth fighter enters serial production. “A unique machine, a deadly aerial fist,” is how the official television channel of the Russian Ministry of Defense introduced the Su-35S superiority fighter earlier this week. TV Zvezda's three-minute clip of a recent Su-35S training sortie over Syria provides close-up shots of the fighter jet being prepped for flight, taking off, cruising over the Syrian coast, and firing flares.

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  Can China's Military Really Track F-22 Stealth Fighters?

  The National Interest
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  This Stealth F-22 Fighter Flew Right Under Iran's Top Fighter (Undetected)

  The National Interest

Mike Bloomberg's social media strategy is under fire as Twitter suspends 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for platform manipulation

Carlo Allegri/Reuters Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is once again in hot water over his campaign's social media strategy. On Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported that Twitter was suspending 70 accounts for tweeting identical messages of support for Bloomberg for violating its rules against platform manipulation. Some accounts were permanently suspended, while others will need to be verified in order to regain posting abilities, a Twitter spokesman told Business Insider.

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  Twitter suspends group of pro-Bloomberg accounts over 'platform manipulation'

  Reuters
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  Twitter suspends 70 pro-Bloomberg accounts for breaking rules

  AFP

Airport worker with no license takes plane for spin near D.C., almost crashes, feds say

A Virginia man piloted at least one plane without a license in 2018, in a dangerous journey that ended with a "bounced" landing, federal authorities said. Ryan Guy Parker "knowingly and willfully" flew above suburban Washington D.C., posing a "significant risk of injury and death" to himself and the public, according to an affidavit by U.S. Department of Transportation Special Agent Bret Stolle. In a Sept. 27, 2018 trip out of Shannon Airport in Fredericksburg, Parker nearly crashed on touch down, Stolle wrote.

Erdogan, Putin, Merkel and Macron to Meet March 5 on Idlib

The Turkish, Russian, German and French leaders will meet on March 5 to try to find a solution to the crisis in the city of Idlib as Turkey and Russian-backed Syrian forces risk confrontation in the region. Following phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that he will meet them all on March 5, without disclosing the location. As Turkey slides toward war, Ankara has appealed to the U.S. and its European allies for support in a conflict that risks undermining the friendly ties he's built with Moscow.

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  Erdogan urges Putin to rein in Syria, end human crisis

  Associated Press
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  Erdogan urges Putin to restrain Syria regime in Idlib

  AFP

10 Amazing Facts About Polar Bears

A few things you might not have known about the largest bear in the world. From Popular Mechanics

Former CIA director: We’re in a ‘national security crisis’

Former CIA Director John Brennan is very disturbed by a new report from the New York Times, which says last week, members of the House Intelligence Committee were warned by an aide to acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire that Russia is actively meddling in the 2020 campaign in order to get President Trump reelected.

• President moving to replace acting director of National Intelligence with a loyalist

  ABC News Videos
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  2016 again? Russia back to stirring chaos in U.S. election

  Associated Press

The Latest: Sanders defiant about Democratic establishment

Sen. Amy Klobuchar capped a day of campaigning across Nevada telling a crowd in Reno she's the best candidate for those who are tired of extremes and want someone with proven experience who can bring people together. The Minnesota Democrat started Friday morning in Las Vegas and traveled to rural Elko before making one final plea for support in Reno before Saturday's first-in-the West presidential caucuses. Klobuchar says she has a track record of being able to work not just with Democrats but also Republicans and independents to find common ground.

Israeli forces kill suspect armed with knife: police

Israeli forces shot and killed a suspect in Jerusalem's annexed Old City Saturday after he approached officers posted near one of the gates armed with a knife, police said. "At approximately 11 am a terrorist approached border police officers at Lion's Gate armed with a knife. He ran towards them," a police statement said.

Execution for a Facebook post? Why blasphemy is a capital offense in some Muslim countries

Junaid Hafeez, a university lecturer in Pakistan, had been imprisoned for six years when he was sentenced to death in December 2019. Pakistan has the world's second strictest blasphemy laws after Iran, according to U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom. Hafeez, whose death sentence is under appeal, is one of about 1,500 Pakistanis charged with blasphemy, or sacrilegious speech, over the last three decades.

US accuses Russia of huge coronavirus disinformation campaign

US officials say thousands of social media accounts linked to Russia are part of a coordinated effort to spread disinformation about the new coronavirus. The campaign allegedly aims to damage the US's image and spread unfounded conspiracy theories that it is behind the outbreak which has infected nearly 78,000 globally and killed over 2,500 people. US State Department officials told AFP fake accounts were created and used on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram so the campaign could reach as many people as possible in multiple languages.

Trump was reportedly 'furious' after officials flew Americans with the coronavirus back to the US from a quarantined cruise ship in Japan without telling him

Passengers on the plane, which is filled with masked officials and plastic sheeting. Courtesy of Philip and Gay Courter/via REUTERS President Donald Trump was "furious" after officials flew Americans who had tested positive for the coronavirus back to the US, The Washington Post reported. The US flew back 14 patients from the Diamond Princess in Japan while keeping them isolated from other, uninfected passengers.

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  Coronavirus: Britons aboard Diamond Princess cruise ship will arrive back in the UK on Saturday

  The Telegraph
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  Coronavirus: Princess Cruises boss under fire for blowing kisses at ship where two have died and 3,000 have been quarantined for weeks

  The Independent

Trump mocks 'Parasite' film at Colorado rally

President Trump took aim at “Parasite” and its historic Oscar wins at a Colorado rally on Thursday. How bad were the Academy Awards this year? he asked, prompting jeers from the crowd.

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  Trump doubles down on attack of Oscar-winning movie Parasite at Las Vegas rally

  The Independent
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  After Trump criticism, ‘Parasite’ studio fires back

  Fox Business

Coronavirus: Could It Takedown China's Communist Party?

Brand “People's Republic of China” is wobbling, as if the massive picture of Mao Zedong in Tiananmen Square was swaying with an earthquake tremor. But it can only actually fall if pushed from inside. The handling of the coronavirus epidemic is undoubtedly sapping confidence in the Communist party and its formerly all-conquering general secretary, Xi Jinping.