- PoliticsYahoo News
There are only three viable presidential candidates, according to Mike Bloomberg's campaign
Only three candidates out of the more than half dozen vying for the White House have a viable path to the nomination, a senior official for the Mike Bloomberg campaign told reporters Tuesday. Bloomberg states director Dan Kanninen said that “we are really down to a race where there are three people left who could really be considered viable to be sworn into office next year, and that's Bernie Sanders, Mike Bloomberg and Donald Trump,” he said in a conference call with reporters. The blunt statement provides a window into how the campaign views the other established frontrunners, including former Vice President Joe Biden and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
- WorldAssociated Press
Lawyer: Assange was offered US pardon if he cleared Russia
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange plans to claim during an extradition hearing that the Trump administration offered him a pardon if he agreed to say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic National Committee emails during the 2016 U.S. election campaign, a lawyer for Assange said Wednesday. Assange is being held at a British prison while fighting extradition to the United States on spying charges. At a preliminary hearing held Wednesday in London, lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said that now-former Republican congressman, Dana Rohrabacher, visited Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in August 2017.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A Japanese disease expert who inspected the Diamond Princess said he was 'so scared' of catching the coronavirus because hygiene on the cruise ship was so bad
NHK/YouTube/Kentato Iwata An infectious-diseases expert who inspected the Diamond Princess in Japan said in a video on Tuesday that hygiene on the quarantined cruise ship was so bad that he was "so scared" of contracting the novel coronavirus on board. Kentaro Iwata, who was on the ground during the Ebola and SARS outbreaks, said he "never had fear" of getting those diseases but was terrified of getting the coronavirus on the Diamond Princess. People on the ship have been quarantined in Yokohama Bay since February 3, though some governments evacuated their citizens this week.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoReport: Obama reportedly expects he'll have to play a 'prominent role' in uniting Democrats this summer
The New York Magazine reports former president Barack Obama's radio silence on the 2020 Democratic primary is part of a "choreographed strategy" on the part of Obama, who is "increasingly sure he will need to play a prominent role in bringing the party back together and calming its tensions later this summer."
- U.S.The Week
George Zimmerman is suing Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg over Trayvon Martin birthday tweets
George Zimmerman, who in 2013 was acquitted after being charged with murder for his fatal shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, has filed a lawsuit against two Democratic presidential candidates seeking $265 million in damages. The complaint, reported Wednesday, accuses Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg of defamation. My heart goes out to @SybrinaFulton and Trayvon's family and friends.
- U.S.AccuWeather
Pilots aboard Hurricane Hunter plane chasing a winter storm experience strange phenomenon
An experienced hurricane hunting crew chasing a winter storm came across a far different discovery this past weekend. In what is know as St. Elmo's fire, footage of the forking electric discharge was captured on Saturday by pilots as the spectacle flashed throughout the cockpit. The video, captured by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Aircraft Operations Center (AOC), was taken as pilots flew across the Atlantic Ocean amid thunderstorms.
- WorldAssociated Press
Abbott says top Malaysian leaders suspected pilot of MH370
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said the “top levels” of the Malaysian government long suspected that the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 almost six years ago was a mass murder-suicide by the pilot. Australia, working on Malaysia's behalf, coordinated what became the largest search in aviation history, but it failed to find the plane before being ended in 2017. Speaking in a Sky News documentary to air on Wednesday and Thursday, Abbott said high-ranking Malaysian officials believed veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah deliberately downed the jet.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Hate crimes go unchecked at Syracuse University, students say
A student activist group that took over a Syracuse University administration building to protest long-simmering charges of racism and bias on campus rejected an attempt by the school to end its three-day sit-in, the school said in a statement Wednesday. The black-led movement #NotAgainSU launched the sit-in at Crouse-Hinds Hall with more than 20 students Monday to protest the administration's handling of racial incidents at the university. The university's Department of Public Safety sealed off the building and hasn't allowed in food or medicine since Tuesday, according to The Daily Orange, the university's independent newspaper.
- WorldNBC News
Some Americans are attempting the journey back home to Wuhan
But days after leaving Wuhan, Suzanne wanted to return to the city at the center of the outbreak that has infected at least 72,000 people and killed nearly 2,000. Even though he and his immediate family were safe in Schenectady, Suzanne worried about his wife's parents, who were still in Wuhan, the city that has been his home since 2009. "I was married in Wuhan.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Trump's approval rating hits record high as he mocks 'fake media' polls predicting he'll lose the election
With his approval rating again climbing to post-impeachment high, Donald Trump mocked his Democratic challengers by contending his campaign's internal polling shows him winning a second term. The president used a tweet to call his campaign's polling "REAL," contending those surveys show him "beating all of the Dem candidates". "The Fake News Polls (here we go again, just like 2016) show losing or tied," he tweeted, referring to polls in the last presidential election cycle that up until Election Day showed Mr Trump trailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee that year.
WorldAFPRussia raises eyebrows with blanket ban on Chinese visitors
Moscow is to impose a blanket ban on Chinese visitors over coronavirus fears in a move that will hit its tourism industry as experts question the need for such "draconian" measures. Moscow will ban all Chinese citizens from entering its territory from Thursday. It has already halted visa-free tourism for Chinese nationals and stopped issuing them with work visas and suspended rail links and restricted air travel.
- WorldBusiness Insider
China kicked out 3 Wall Street Journal reporters after it published an op-ed using a term that invokes the biggest humiliation in Chinese history
Reuters/Pool China is expelling three Wall Street Journal reporters, accusing the newspaper of publishing a racist headline about the country's battle with coronavirus. On February 3, the Journal had published an op-ed by a foreign-affairs academic titled "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia." The "sick man of Asia" is a 19th-century term that referred to a time when China was internally divided and exploited by foreign powers — a period that still deeply humiliates the country's leadership.
- PoliticsNational Review
Hunter Biden Served on Board of Trade Group That Lobbied Obama Admin for Increased Ukraine Aid: Report
Hunter Biden, son of former vice president Joe Biden, was on the board of a trade group that lobbied the Obama administration for increased U.S. aid to Ukraine, according to a report Tuesday. From 2012 through 2018, the younger Biden served as a director for the Center for U.S. Global Leadership and was connected as well with its affiliate, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, The Daily Caller reported. The two groups, which include about 400 larger corporations and non-government organizations, lobbied for increased spending abroad by the State Department's International Affairs Budget, including a special focus on Ukraine.
- U.S.CBS News
How Jewish American pedophiles hide from justice in Israel
Now another alleged Israeli victim has come forward, saying he began abusing her when she was 5-years-old, and continued for years. Karow has successfully evaded authorities by moving between communities in Israel for almost two decades, and he is not alone. A CBS News investigation has found that many accused American pedophiles flee to Israel, and bringing them to justice can be difficult.
- PoliticsThe Week
Bloomberg campaign suggests other candidates drop out so Bloomberg can stop Sanders
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) could soon build an "insurmountable" delegate lead, Michael Bloomberg's campaign warned in a memo, per Axios. "The fact is if the state of this race remains status quo – with [former Vice President Joe] Biden, [former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor] Pete [Buttigieg], and [Sen.] Amy [Klobuchar (D-Minn.)] in the race on Super Tuesday — Bernie is likely to open up a delegate lead that seems nearly impossible to overcome," said Kevin Sheekey, Bloomberg's top strategist. In the memo, Sheekey and his colleague Howard Wolfson, wrote the three candidates mentioned above have "no path" to accruing delegates and would essentially block Bloomberg from ably challenging Sanders.
- WorldAssociated Press
Maduro accused of "disappearing" US oilmen as trial delayed
Family members of six American oil executives jailed in Venezuela are accusing Nicolas Maduro's government of “forced disappearance” after the men were inexplicably missing for the scheduled start of their trial on Wednesday. Veronica Vadell said that lawyers for her father, Tomeu Vadell, and the five other executives from Houston-based Citgo had been waiting at a Caracas courthouse for more than six hours for the men to be transferred by the nation's intelligence police. The arrest took place the same day opposition leader Juan Guaidó met with President Donald Trump at the White House, fueling speculation the detention was politically motivated.
- WorldINSIDER
A staggering 542 passengers have been diagnosed with COVID-19 on the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship
Five-hundred forty-two people on the Diamond Princess have tested positive for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus. The vessel is the largest site of coronavirus cases outside mainland China. Nearly two weeks ago, the vessel began a 14-day quarantine in the port of Yokohama, Japan, near Tokyo.
- EntertainmentArchitectural Digest
9 Rural Farms of the 21st Century Featuring Stunning Modern Design
From Italy to Tasmania, a new book covers those farms with an eye on both sustainability and beautiful design Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- U.S.USA TODAY
Secession in the Pacific Northwest? Some Oregon residents petition to join Idaho
Frustrated by liberal policies, some Oregon residents petitioned to leave the state – by moving the border with Idaho westward. The movement secured initial approval from two counties and aims to get enough signatures to put the proposal on ballots in November, according to the group called Greater Idaho. If the group succeeds, voters in southeast Oregon may see a question on whether their county should become part of Idaho by redrawing the border.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Group of more than 1,000 judges calls emergency meeting amid Trump concerns
A national association of federal judges has called an emergency meeting to address growing concerns about the intervention of Donald Trump and justice department officials in politically sensitive cases, according to US media reports. Cynthia Rufe, a Philadelphia US district judge who heads the independent Federal Judges Association, which has more than 1,100 members, told USA Today the group “could not wait” until its spring conference to discuss the matter. The meeting comes after more than 2,000 former US justice department officials, including some of the top government lawyers in the country, called on the attorney general, William Barr, to resign in the wake of the Roger Stone scandal.
- WorldThe National Interest
Russia Hates This: Why the Astute-Class Submarine Is the Pride of the Royal Navy
Key Point: London's Astute class submarines are powerful and very well-built. Since the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought in 1963, the Royal Navy has maintained a formidable force of nuclear attack submarines. The latest nuclear attack subs, the Astute class, have become a critical component of the future of the Royal Navy—but, given Russia's resurgence, are they enough?
- PoliticsNational Review
Democrats Still Haven’t Come to Terms with 2016
In an otherwise excellent Politico article advising Democrats how to avoid the fate of 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney, former Obama staffer Dan Pfeiffer offers his team some self-soothing revisionism regarding the 2016 election: When all is said and done, the 2016 election might end up being a black-swan event. The combination of Russian interference, Comey intervention and multiple third-party candidates make that election a hard one to extract guidance from. Guess what?
WorldAFPFormer South Korean president jailed after losing appeal
Former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak was taken to prison Wednesday to begin a 17-year term for bribery and embezzlement after losing an appeal against a lighter sentence. Lee, in office from 2008 to 2013, was briefly jailed in 2018 after being sentenced to 15 years and fined 13 billion won ($11 million), but was granted bail while he appealed. He was found guilty of creating slush funds of tens of millions of dollars and accepting bribes from Samsung Electronics in return for a presidential pardon for its chairman, Lee Kun-hee, who was jailed for tax evasion.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Bernie Sanders' spokeswoman claims Michael Bloomberg has had heart attacks in the past and compared questions about Sanders' health to birtherism
Brian Snyder/Reuters Sen. Bernie Sanders' campaign press secretary, Briahna Joy Gray, said on Thursday that former Mayor Michael Bloomberg has "suffered heart attacks in the past," though there's no evidence to support her claims. Gray made the claim while defending Sanders' decision not to release additional information about his health about four months after his heart attack. Gray also compared questions about Sanders' health to the racist birtherism conspiracy concerning former President Barack Obama's birthplace.
- WorldAssociated Press
Pope tenderly kissed on forehead by man in front-row seat
Well-wishers at Pope Francis' weekly audience have thrust soccer T-shirts, flowers and many a wailing baby into his arms. On Wednesday, Francis seemed to thoroughly enjoy a surprise expression of affection: a long, tender kiss planted on his forehead by a man in one of the front-row seats reserved for ailing or disabled people at the end of his audience. Francis appeared to be smiling when the man, who stood up when the pontiff approached to greet him and others in the front row, pulled the pope's head toward him and gave a kiss lasting several seconds, pressing his nose against Francis' forehead in the process.
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