'Cheap shot': Sanders fires back when Bloomberg goes after 'socialism'

Michael Bloomberg attacked Sen. Bernie Sanders at Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, with the billionaire former New York City mayor claiming the self-described democratic socialist's ownership of multiple homes makes him a hypocrite. Bloomberg also accused Sanders of trying to “throw out capitalism” — something that he said resulted in “communism” in other countries. “The best-known socialist in the country is a millionaire with three homes,” said Bloomberg, who is worth an estimated $64.2 billion.

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  Democrats Jump From Gender Bias to Tax Returns: Debate Takeaways

  Bloomberg
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  ‘The Daily Show With Trevor Noah’ Gives Mike Bloomberg And His Pips A Few Hits During The Democratic Debate

  Deadline

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.

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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
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  Two former passengers from Japan cruise ship die

  AFP

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.

Ilhan Omar’s Challenger Is Literally on the Run From the Law

It's not unheard-of for members of Congress to resign their seats because of serious legal trouble. Now Republican House candidate Danielle Stella is trying to achieve the inverse: getting elected to Congress while being wanted by the law. Stella, one of the five Republicans competing for the right to take on Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) in November, has been wanted for months on an arrest warrant for felony shoplifting.

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.

Boat carrying 91 migrants goes missing in Mediterranean

A rubber dinghy packed with 91 migrants that set out from Libyan shores in hopes of reaching Europe has apparently gone missing in the Mediterranean, the U.N. migration agency said Thursday. The inflatable boat carrying mostly African migrants departed from al-Qarbouli, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the capital Tripoli on Feb. 8, said Osman Haroun, whose cousin was on board. “It's the first time I've heard of this happening,” Haroun told The Associated Press by phone from the western coastal district of Zawiya, where he has lived with his family since fleeing the conflict-ridden Darfur region of Sudan in 2016.

South Korea accepted that its efforts to stop the coronavirus from infecting the country failed and says it's pivoting to containment

Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images With coronavirus cases soaring, the government in South Korea said on Friday that it had failed to keep the virus out of the country and must now focus on containment. The number of reported cases in the country has tripled in the past three days, to 156. South Korea is now the country with the most coronavirus infections outside China.

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  South Korea ups emergency response as viral cases surge

  Associated Press
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  South Korea Begins Locking Down City With Coronavirus Outbreak Linked to Church

  Meredith Videos

China tests its soft power with neighbours over coronavirus outbreak

China called for solidarity on Thursday in a special meeting called to discuss the coronavirus outbreak with Southeast Asian nations, as Beijing faces criticism for its handling of the epidemic. The hastily called gathering in Laos suggested China is seeking support from its smaller neighbours, which have received billions of dollars in Chinese investment and infrastructure in recent years as a key part of its Belt and Road Initiative. ASEAN foreign ministers joined hands with their Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during the meeting and shouted "Stay strong, Wuhan!

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  ASEAN diplomats praise China's handling of virus outbreak

  Associated Press
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  Upbeat Chinese FM says virus control efforts 'are working'

  AFP

A 15-month-old last seen in December was reported missing only this week

A Tennessee sheriff said Friday he believes a 15-month-old girl — last seen in December but only reported missing this week — is still alive. Law enforcement agencies across the state were on the lookout for the toddler and a gray 2007 BMW, with Tennessee stickers, because "individuals traveling" in that vehicle "have information regarding Evelyn Boswell's whereabouts," the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said. The little girl's name was added to the state's database of missing children on Tuesday with a notation: "Evelyn was entered as a missing child on Tuesday February 18, 2020 but was reportedly last seen on December 26, 2019."

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  Amber Alert issued for 15-month-old girl missing since December in Tennessee

  WLS – Chicago
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  A man who dated the mother of Evelyn Boswell — the 15-month-old toddler who has been missing for months — said he never met the child

  INSIDER

Boris Johnson Under Fire as Fresh Rain Threatens More U.K. Flooding

Boris Johnson faces growing criticism of his handling of weeks of flooding in England and Wales, with forecast rain over the weekend threatening to wreak more damage and disruption. During a visit to flood-hit areas of Wales on Thursday, opposition Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn criticized the prime minister for failing to convene the government's emergency committee, known as Cobra. Conservative Member of Parliament Craig Whittaker, who represents one of the worst-hit constituencies, said he was “furious” about the slow response, while the Fire Brigades Union accused Johnson of showing “zero leadership.

8 Statement-Making Cabinets to Make Any Room

Looking to make a statement? It's an open-and-shut case. Today's new collectible cabinets delight and surprise Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

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.

No, you step aside: Democratic competitors 'shocked' by Bloomberg suggesting they leave the race

Pete Buttigieg agreed with Bloomberg that there should be one alternative to Sanders, but said he – and not Bloomberg – is the obvious choice “Maybe he should step aside for the person who's got the most delegates,” Buttigieg, in a Fox News interview, said of the small lead he has over Sanders from the voting in Iowa and New Hampshire. Poll: Trump defeats all 2020 Democrats in Wisconsin but loses in Pennsylvania and Michigan Matt Grossmann, director of Michigan State University's Institute for Public Policy and Social Research, said there's a lot of merit to Bloomberg's argument that Sanders is the most likely nominee, in part because Democrats who want a different candidate haven't coalesce...

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  New poll shows Trump faltering in "blue wall" states he carried in 2016

  CBS News
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  Trump defeats all 2020 Democrats in Wisconsin but loses in Pennsylvania and Michigan, poll finds

  USA TODAY

US military truck caught on camera ramming Russian jeep off the road in Syria

The footage appears to be from inside of a civilian vehicle. The driver is riding alongside a convoy of military vehicles primarily flying Russian flags. At the head of the line are a pair of American vehicles, an M-ATV mine-resistant vehicle, sometimes called an MRAP, and an MRAP truck.

Germany's immigrant community in Hanau reeling after attack

In the German town of Hanau, a longtime immigrant destination with decades of coexistence between people of different origins, residents were left with the fear Thursday that their community was targeted after a gunman shot and killed nine people of foreign background. Residents shook their heads at a level of violence that is rare in Germany, and wondered at the degree of anti-foreigner hatred expressed by the attack in a place where Turks and ethnic Kurds patronize the same hookah bars, and where members of both groups were among the victims along with people with roots in Bulgaria, Bosniaand Romania, according to media reports. Among the dead was the owner of the Midnight Shisha Bar, an immigrant from Turkey who worked and saved to buy his own business, along with the gaming kiosk next door.

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  Nine dead after shisha bar shootings in Germany

  Reuters Videos
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  Germany Shooting: 11 Reported Dead After Far-Right Extremist Attacks On Shisha Bars – Update

  Deadline

Chinese researchers just confirmed that patients can transmit the coronavirus without showing symptoms. A woman passed it to 5 relatives.

Stringer/Reuters A 20-year-old woman from Wuhan, China, transmitted the coronavirus to her family members without ever showing any symptoms, a new study found. The woman tested positive for the virus, but her CT scans were clear and she never became physically ill. Five of her family members, however, came down with a fever.

Stone’s sentencing to begin after judge refuses new trial request

Roger Stone, a longtime ally of President Trump and a self-described political dirty trickster, is set to be sentenced on Thursday for his attempts to sabotage a congressional investigation that posed a political threat to the president.

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  Trump says he'll let process 'play out' after ally Roger Stone gets 40 months in prison

  ABC News
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  Trump ally to be sentenced amid firestorm over presidential meddling

  AFP

Coronavirus spreads in China prisons, Korean church as fears weigh on global markets

BEIJING/SEOUL (Reuters) - The coronavirus has infected hundreds of people in Chinese prisons, authorities said, as cases climbed outside the epicenter in Hubei province, including 100 more in South Korea and a worsening outbreak in Italy where officials announced the country's first death. A total of 234 infections among Chinese prisoners outside Hubei ended 16 straight days of declines in new mainland cases. Another 271 cases were reported in prisons in Hubei - where the virus first emerged in December in its now locked-down capital, Wuhan.

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  Coronavirus’ spread in China slows; 2 passengers from Japan cruise ship die

  MarketWatch
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  China backs Pakistan decision not to evacuate students from coronavirus lockdown

  Reuters

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.

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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  Flying Missile Defense? The F-35 Stealth Fighter Can Do Everything

  The National Interest
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  China Goes All In On Stealth: New Bombers And Fighters Are Coming To Asia

  The National Interest

Iowa Professor Bound and Gagged Husband Before His Death: Cops

An Iowa professor has been charged for allegedly gagging and binding her husband to a chair with rope for hours before his death, authorities said on Wednesday evening. Gowun Park, a 41-year-old assistant economics professor at Simpson College, was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree kidnapping in the death of her 41-year-old husband, Sung Nam, on Saturday, West Des Moines police told The Daily Beast. Authorities allege Park bound her husband's hands and feet with zip ties before tying him to a chair in their West Des Moines home on Saturday between 10:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Park then allegedly stuffed “an item of clothing” into Nam's mouth to prevent him from yelling in protest before finally using duct tape to place a towel over his head to cover his eyes.

Trump's intelligence shakeup is reportedly tied to his loathing for Adam Schiff, bond with Devin Nunes

President Trump berated outgoing acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire on Valentine's Day because he was upset over an election security intelligence briefing for the House Intelligence Committee on Feb. 13, several major newspapers reported late Thursday. Trump was reportedly angry that Shelby Pierson, the election threat czar at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, had briefed lawmakers without his knowledge, and also that she had told them Russia is currently interfering in the 2020 election with the goal of helping Trump win re-election. Specifically, Trump was furious that Pierson had briefed House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), The Washington Post reports.

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  Reports: Intelligence official warned lawmakers that Russia was interfering in 2020 to help Trump

  USA TODAY
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  New Trump intelligence pick fits pattern of mistrust

  Yahoo News Video

Fuel tanker explodes causing 'catastrophic' damage on Indianapolis interstate

A tanker carrying about 4,000 gallons of jet fuel overturned and exploded in Indianapolis, closing lanes and backing up traffic on two interstate highways. Authorities began receiving calls reporting an overturned semi and fire on the ramp from Interstate-465 southbound to I-70 eastbound on the city's east side just before 2 p.m., Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief Rita Reith said. The fire caused "severe, catastrophic damage" to the surrounding area, Reith said, spreading nearly 500 feet and affecting both sides of the bridge.

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  Dramatic video shows Indiana overpass engulfed in flames after tanker truck overturns

  NBC News
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  Indiana overpass fire: Dramatic blaze after fuel truck overturns in middle of packed highway

  The Independent

Vatican sees intense interest in opening of Pius XII archive

More than 150 historians and researchers have signed up to access the soon-to-open Vatican archives of Pope Pius XII, evidence of the intense scholarly interest into the World War II-era pope and his record during the Holocaust, officials said Thursday. Cardinal José Tolentino Calaça de Mendonça, the Vatican's chief librarian, told reporters that all researchers — regardless of nationality, faith and ideology — were welcome to request permission to use the Vatican's Apostolic Library, which will open the archive on March 2. The church has no reason to fear history,” he told reporters.

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  No 'smoking gun' in wartime archives of Pius XII on Holocaust, Vatican says

  Reuters
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  Four things to know about Pope Pius XII's archives

  AFP

Pete Buttigieg quips he's 'a Microsoft Word guy' during Democratic debate and attracts instant Clippy comparisons

Associated Press/Charlie Niebergall Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg quipped he was more of a "Microsoft Word guy" during Wednesday's candidates' debate in Nevada. The remark came after rival Elizabeth Warren described Buttigieg's healthcare plan as "a PowerPoint" and "not a plan." Buttigieg's quip was mocked on social media, with some Twitter users likening him to Microsoft's now-defunct "Clippy" virtual assistant.

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  Democratic debate posed anti-billionaire candidates against a billionaire

  CBS News Videos
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  Democratic rivals pummel Bloomberg at start of Nevada debate

  Yahoo News