Democratic presidential debate fallout, Ash Wednesday, winter storm: 5 things to know Wednesday

Post debate, four Democratic candidates take on CNN town hall

Fresh off Tuesday night's wild debate, CNN on Wednesday will host the second night of town halls featuring seven of the remaining Democratic presidential candidates who qualified for the debate answering audience questions during individual sessions. Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former Vice President Joe Biden, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will all appear at the event, which begins at 7 p.m. ET. (Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg and billionaire Tom Steyer appeared on the network Monday.) Tuesday's heated event saw the CBS moderators – including Gayle King and Norah O'Donnell – struggle to wrangle the hopefuls as they went after one another. Sanders, who recently scored victories in Nevada and New Hampshire, got the frontrunner treatment and took hits from his competitors. Bloomberg also was on the defensive as he had to defend sexism claims leveled his way.

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Can stocks snap a four-session losing streak?

Have U.S. stocks found a floor amid growing international concern over coronavirus? Wednesday will either snap a four-session losing streak or extend the recent rash of losses in an otherwise hard-charging market that set all-time highs as recently as earlier this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has shed nearly 2,000 points over the past two days and is off 8.4% from its record, putting it on the brink of a correction. In Tuesday's trading, the 10-year Treasury yield hit a record low of 1.328%. News of clusters of new cases of coronavirus are rattling markets.

Winter storm to barrel through Midwest, Northeast

After a snowy Tuesday in the Plains, a winter storm will dump snow in a 1,200-mile stretch from Missouri to Maine from Wednesday into Thursday, causing travel disruptions and school closings. The storm left one person dead and closed a section of Interstate 70 in Kansas after heavy snowfall caused multiple accidents. As the system moves east, the National Weather Service has issued winter weather advisories and winter storm watches from the central Plains to northern New England – an area of more than 25 million people, including in cities such as Chicago and Detroit.

Three days of mourning begin in Egypt following Hosni Mubarak's death

Three days of national mourning for former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak began on Wednesday, when he is expected to be buried. Mubarak, the former dictator who was the face of stability in the Middle East for nearly 30 years before being forced by the military to resign amid upheaval in the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, died Tuesday. He was 91. Throughout his rule, he was a stalwart U.S. ally, a bulwark against Islamic militancy and guardian of Egypt’s peace with Israel. But to tens of thousands of young Egyptians who rallied for 18 days of unprecedented street protests in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square and elsewhere in 2011, Mubarak was a relic, a latter-day pharaoh. State TV said Mubarak died Tuesday at a hospital where he had undergone an unspecified surgery.

Ash Wednesday marks start of Lent for Christians

Many Christians will have their foreheads imprinted with ashes Wednesday as the penitential season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday. During a Mass, a priest or minister places the ashes on a worshiper's forehead in the shape of a cross to signify a person's grief and mourning for their sins — the same sins that Christians believe Jesus Christ gave his life for when he died on the cross. Ash Wednesday is important because it marks the start of the six-week Lenten period leading up to Easter, when Christians believe Jesus died and was resurrected. During Lent, Christians show repentance for their sins with fasting, self-sacrifice and prayer.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Democratic debate fallout, Ash Wednesday: 5 things to know Wednesday