- PoliticsYahoo News
Senators blast Trump administration for coronavirus response
Top officials in the Trump administration struggled on Tuesday morning to justify their response to the growing threat of the coronavirus, which has sickened at least 80,423 people around the world and killed at least 2,712. Although there have been no recorded fatalities in the United States yet, skeptical members of the U.S. Senate made clear to administration officials that they did not have confidence in their response. At one point during their back-and-forth, which promptly went viral on social media, Kennedy insisted that Wolf tell him the number of coronavirus cases that the United States could expect.
- WorldBusiness Insider
Iran says it won't quarantine any towns or cities, despite recording the most coronavirus deaths outside of China
Associated Press Criticism of Iran's handling of the crisis has been extremely strong, with some accusing the government of a cover-up. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday said he was "deeply concerned" that Iran "may have suppressed vital details about the outbreak." "All nations, including Iran, should tell the truth about the coronavirus and cooperate with international aid organizations," Pompeo said.
- U.S.NBC News
Supreme Court rules Mexican parents can't sue Border Patrol agent who killed their son
The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the parents of a 15-year-old boy cannot sue the federal agent who fatally shot him by firing across the border separating the United States and Mexico — a case that inflamed tensions over border security. The ruling was a defeat for the parents of Sergio Hernández Güereca, who was on the Mexico side when he was killed in 2010 by a Border Patrol agent who fired from the U.S. side of the boundary separating El Paso, Texas, from Juarez, Mexico. The teen, a Mexican national, was playing with three friends in the concrete culvert that separates the two cities.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Roger Stone Judge Scolds Trump, Allies Over Claims of Jury Bias
Three of the jurors who convicted Republican operative Roger Stone for lying to Congress and witness tampering testified that political bias played no role in their decision, pushing back against Stone's contention that he deserves a new trial. U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson did not issue a ruling at the end of a Tuesday hearing on Stone's request. But the judge said a juror's social media posts criticizing President Donald Trump did not necessarily mean she was biased against Stone, who was convicted in November and sentenced last week to three years and four months in prison.
- U.S.Associated Press
Louisiana governor: Judge should resign after racial slurs
Gov. John Bel Edwards called Wednesday on a Louisiana judge to step down after she admitted to using racial slurs in angry text messages. LeBlanc, who is white, now admits sending the text messages after previously denying she sent them.
- U.S.Time
A Wrongfully Convicted Kansas Man Who Spent 23 Years in Prison Is Awarded $1.5 Million
A Kansas man who spent over two decades in prison for a double murder he didn't commit will be awarded $1.5 million for his wrongful conviction, according to the Kansas State Attorney General's office. Lamonte McIntyre was convicted and sentenced to two terms of life in prison for the murders of Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn back in 1994. According to the Associated Press, documents made public during the 8-year fight to free McIntyre allege that the prosecutor in the case intimidated witnesses who told her that McIntyre did not look like the shooter after they saw him in person.
WorldAFPJapan woman tests positive for virus after 'recovery'
A woman in Japan who contracted the new coronavirus and was released from hospital after recovering has tested positive again, officials said Thursday. The case is the first time a patient apparently cleared of the virus has subsequently tested positive for it, a local official in Osaka said. The woman in her 40s was first confirmed as infected with the coronavirus on January 29.
- WorldThe National Interest
Boom: The Army Just Invented a Newer, Deadlier Artillery Round
Washington, D.C.) The Army Research Laboratory is now engineering new rocket, missile and artillery rounds able to destroy groups of mobile enemy fighters, incinerate armored vehicles and eliminate structures with a single munition -- at all much longer ranges than currently deployed weapons can fire. The ARL is currently immersed in cutting edge research, using 3D printing, to develop new metal alloys, weapons casings and design geometries to increase range and lethality for the Army's emerging Long Range Precision Fires program; “Additive manufacturing (3D printing) can take weight out of certain components, create complex geometries inside things and create complex fragmentation patterns,...
- BusinessReuters
Mainland China reports 433 new coronavirus cases, 29 deaths
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Mainland China reported 433 new cases of coronavirus infections on Feb. 26, the National Health Commission said on Thursday, up from 406 on the previous day. The total number of confirmed cases on mainland China has now reached 78,497, the health authority said. Beijing and the provinces of Heilongjiang and Henan were the locations of the other three fatalities.
- U.S.National Review
DOJ Creates New Unit to Strip Citizenship from Terrorists, Criminals
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a new unit to handle the denaturalization of individuals who obtained citizenship illegally and other criminals. The new section dedicated to “investigating and litigating revocation of naturalization” of individuals who illegally secured naturalization or committed other serious crimes will be under the Civil Division's Office of Immigration Litigation. “This move underscores the Department's commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders, and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization,” DOJ said in a statement announcing the new unit.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoU.S. Supreme Court dismisses 'D.C. Sniper' Malvo case after change in Va. law
The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday formally dismissed a case in which Lee Boyd Malvo, who was 17 when he took part in the deadly 2002 "D.C. Sniper" shooting spree in the Washington area, was challenging his life without parole sentence.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Pete Buttigieg called Mike Bloomberg's stop-and-frisk record 'racist' before admitting he had a 'lot of issues' with policing in South Bend
Pete Buttigieg called Mike Bloomberg's record of stop-and-frisk policing "racist" at Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina before reflecting on his own record as mayor. "We let it get out of control," Bloomberg said. "I come to this with some humility because I'm conscious of the fact that there are seven white people on this stage talking about racial justice," Buttigieg said.
- PoliticsINSIDER
Rush Limbaugh is under fire for claiming the coronavirus is a 'common cold' being 'weaponized' to bring down Trump
The novel coronavirus has swept across the globe, infecting more than 80,000 people with COVID-19 and taking 2,600 lives. While China remains the center of the outbreak, the epidemic is on the verge of breaking into a full-blown pandemic. As the World Health Organization tells countries to prepare for infections, the popular conservative host Rush Limbaugh on Monday revealed to listeners what he claimed to be the "truth" about the "overhyped" coronavirus.
- U.S.Associated Press
Mexico president ties shootout dead to drug consumption
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador suggested Wednesday without offering evidence that most of those who die in Mexico's cartel- and gang-fueled firefights are high on drugs or intoxicated, prompting criticism and questions about whether the claim was accurate. Speaking to journalists in his morning news conference, López Obrador said rising drug consumption rates must be reversed if the country is to guarantee peace and security after years of rising, record-setting homicide statistics. “Just so you have the number, 60% of those who lose their life each day, 60% of those killed in clashes, it is shown that they are under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but primarily drugs,” the president continued.
- LifestyleNBC News
Man gets life for kidnapping stepdaughter, holding her captive for 19 years
An Oklahoma man convicted of kidnapping his stepdaughter as a child and holding her in captivity for nearly 20 years has been sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors said Tuesday. Henri Michelle Piette was found guilty in June by a federal jury of kidnapping and traveling with intent to engage in a sexual act with a juvenile following a seven-day trial that detailed the horrific conditions Rosalynn McGinnis endured. Piette repeatedly raped and abused her and fathered her nine children during the nearly two-decade ordeal, which began when Piette kidnapped her in 1997 when she was 12 years old.
- U.S.The Week
CDC: California coronavirus case may be 1st in U.S. without link to traveling abroad
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced on Wednesday night that a person in California who tested positive for coronavirus may be the first case of community spread in the United States. This person did not recently travel out of the country or come into contact with anyone infected with the coronavirus, known as COVID-19. The case was "detected through the U.S. public health system," the CDC said, and "picked up by astute clinicians."
- U.S.USA TODAY
Despite California nearing drought, reservoir near San Jose ordered to be drained. Here's why.
Amid the threat of another California drought, federal regulators have ordered that a large reservoir south of San Jose be drained because of concerns that its dam may collapse in an earthquake, leading to a massive release of water that could flood much of Silicon Valley. Because the 240-foot-high earthen Anderson Dam could fail if a major earthquake strikes on the Calaveras Fault that sits next to it, the process of emptying the reservoir should begin no later than Oct. 1, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said. “It is unacceptable to maintain the reservoir at an elevation higher than necessary when it can be reduced, thereby decreasing the risk to public safety and the large population downstream of Anderson Dam,” David Capka, director of the FERC's Division of Dam Safety and Inspections, wrote in a letter Thursday to the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which owns the reservoir.
- WorldChristian Science Monitor
Germany’s response to a racist rampage
The killer's anti-immigrant rampage has shocked a nation that set a model in the late 20th century in how to deal with a racist past. Citizens should “show what Germany actually stands for ... what our democracy and our freedom are here,” one German student of Afghan origin told a reporter for Deutsche Welle. In addition, the rise of an anti-immigrant party, the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, has roiled politics and weakened the country's traditional parties.
- WorldReuters
Malaysia's Mahathir says parliament to choose new PM
Malaysia's parliament will vote on a new candidate for prime minister on Monday and if nobody can win majority support there will be a snap election, interim prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday. The Southeast Asian country was plunged into political turmoil this week by the unexpected resignation of Mahathir, who at 94 is the world's oldest government leader. It set off a new tussle for power between him and old rival Anwar Ibrahim, 72.
- WorldNational Review
Iran to Sentence Citizens Who “Spreads Rumors” about Coronavirus to Flogging, Three Years in Prison
An Iranian parliament spokesman on Wednesday announced that anyone found to be “spreading rumors” about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak will be sentenced to one-to-three years in prison and flogging, Iran state news agency IRNA reported. Norouzi said the prison sentence and flogging is based on “on the Islamic penal code,” and 24 people have been arrested already on suspicion of “spreading rumors” about the illness. Iran has reported 139 cases of coronavirus infections throughout the country, with an epicenter in the city of Qom, a destination for Shi'ite Muslim religious pilgrims.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoAOC says she feels unsafe because Trump’s 'wack job' tweet with her is fueling white supremacist threats
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has admitted she feels unsafe in Washington D.C. over her home in the Bronx, New York — which is fueled, in part, by the threats she's received after President Trump tweeted against her.
- HealthBusiness Insider
Clorox and Lysol wipes may help to keep the coronavirus off surfaces, but they aren't the best way to protect yourself
The novel coronavirus known as COVID-19 that originated in Wuhan, China, has spread to more than 40 countries and infected 81,000 people worldwide. As the World Health Organization considered whether to declare the outbreak a pandemic, disease prevention specialists are trying to find ways to slow the spread of the disease. Common household cleaners like bleach and product like Clorox and Lysol have been advertised as able to kill the virus.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Donald Trump Takes Coronavirus So Seriously He Just Put Mike Pence in Charge
President Donald Trump has tapped Vice President Mike Pence to take over as leader of the administration's coronavirus task force. The announcement came after Trump and his administration spent days receiving harsh criticism from Capitol Hill for its mixed messages about the threat of coronavirus and what the government was doing to prepare. On Wednesday night, Trump's message was very clear: “Exactly right now,” he said, Pence will start leading the White House response to the coronavirus.
- U.S.NBC News
Tennessee mom and grandmother of missing 15-month-old now in same jail
The search for a missing Tennessee toddler has shifted to the northwest corner of North Carolina as authorities grow increasingly frustrated in their desperate bid to find the little girl, officials said Wednesday. The mother and grandmother of 15-month-old Evelyn Mae Boswell have both been arrested — and put in the same jail — as deputies in two states continue looking for her, Tennessee's Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy said. "They are actively looking in an area in Wilkes County North Carolina" for the girl, Sullivan told reporters.
- BusinessThe Week
Israel is the first country to warn its citizens not to travel abroad over coronavirus fears
Israel on Wednesday became the first country to officially warn its citizens to avoid any international travel amid fears over the coronavirus outbreak. Several airlines have canceled flights to China, where the respiratory virus originated, and governments have issued warnings about travel to certain countries, but no country has actively urged their citizens avoid traveling abroad at large until now. "If you don't genuinely have to fly — don't do so," Israel's health ministry said in a statement.
