Pompeo appeared to coordinate with Giuliani on Ukraine, new documents show

WASHINGTON — “Pls have Mr. G bring the documents,” reads the March 27, 2019, email from a State Department official to someone who worked for “Mr. G.,” better known as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a central figure in the Ukraine pressure campaign that culminated in the impeachment of President Trump. “S is happy to meet with him tomorrow for 10 minutes,” went an email, apparently between State Department officials, the next day (both sender and recipient are redacted, though the title “Office Manager to the Secretary of State” is visible in the sender's signature). “S” was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is suspected by Democrats to have had a more central role in that Ukrainian campaign than has yet been publicly acknowledged.

Iran official running anti-coronavirus task force has virus

The head of Iran's counter-coronavirus task force has tested positive for the virus himself, authorities announced Tuesday, showing the challenges facing the Islamic Republic amid concerns the outbreak may be far wider than officially acknowledged. The announcement regarding Iraj Harirchi came after he gave a news conference with journalists in Tehran about the virus just one day prior, seeking to minimize the danger posed by the outbreak. The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday meanwhile banned all flights to and from Iran over the outbreak of the new coronavirus, just a day after its spread from the Islamic Republic was announced across multiple Mideast nations.

It looks like people with no real interest in Bloomberg are signing up to be grassroots campaigners because he pays $2,500 a month

Reuters Mike Bloomberg's efforts to take social media by storm by paying people to post about him may not be working out, according to the Los Angeles Times. Several California-based operatives told the paper anonymously that they mainly signed up to campaign because of the $2,500-a-month offer. One was a Sen. Bernie Sanders supporter who followed up a campaign text to a friend with, "Please disregard, vote Bernie or Warren."

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  Bloomberg Tops Half a Billion Dollars in Campaign Advertising

  Bloomberg
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  Campaign-Finance Laws Created Candidate Bloomberg

  The Wall Street Journal

China Is Trying to Compare the Flu to Coronavirus. That Sounds Like Fake News.

Early on in the outset of the coronavirus pandemic, the receptionist at the hotel I was staying at in China asked me if it was true that the United States was experiencing an epidemic of influenza that killed 61,000 people last year. In skimming the Chinese news, I had seen some mentions of the flu “epidemic” in the U.S. I classified it as typical misdirection, the kind of subtle criticism of the U.S. that China's state-owned media engages in from time to time when they are embarrassed, frustrated, or trying to advance a foreign policy goal. Turns out the 61,000 death toll estimate comes from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, making it all the more fun for China to cite in order to boost their trolling credibility.

Nine of the World’s Most Beautiful Outdoor Saunas

From Seattle to Oslo, these outdoor saunas take relaxation and high-design to the next level Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

South Korea Signals Unprecedented Steps to Contain Outbreak

South Korean President Moon Jae-in raised the country's infectious-disease alert level to the highest and signaled the potential for unprecedented steps to contain a coronavirus outbreak that has killed six and infected hundreds. The government ordered that schools delay resuming lessons after a holiday break as more than 600 people were confirmed to have been infected, a 20-fold surge in reported cases over five days. More than half are linked to members of Shincheonji Church of Jesus, an opaque religious sect, while almost an entire hospital psychiatric ward of over 110 patients and staff tested positive for the virus.

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  Iran, Italy, and South Korea announced harsh new measures to stifle their own outbreaks of the coronavirus

  Business Insider
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  Amid coronavirus outbreak, CDC tells Americans to avoid nonessential travel to South Korea

  The Week

Trump Admin. Considers Booting Chinese Reporters in Response to ‘Egregious’ Expulsion of WSJ Journalists: Report

The Trump administration is considering whether to expel Chinese journalists in response to China's own expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. A meeting will be held at the White House on Monday to discuss the administration's options. The meeting will be led by deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who himself was a Journal reporter based in Beijing.

Tom Steyer has paid more than $40,000 to rent a property owned by Jim Clyburn's daughter

Billionaire Tom Steyer is facing some criticism over his spending in South Carolina, a state where his Democratic presidential campaign is making some legitimate headway. Some people have even accused him of trying to buy votes from the state's African-American voters, which Steyer and many others have adamantly denied, The New York Times reports. One thing that's been particularly scrutinized is the Steyer campaign's rental agreement with a company owned by Jennifer Clyburn Reed, the daughter of Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), the highest-ranking African American in Congress whose endorsement is considered key in South Carolina.

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  Clyburn thinks Sanders may make it tougher for Democrats to keep House majority

  The Week
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  South Carolina Kingmaker Representative Clyburn to Endorse Biden in Bid to Slow Sanders

  National Review

Probe into abuse at America's oldest deaf school finds 'appalling truths'

An investigation into inappropriate conduct at America's oldest school for deaf people corroborated multiple allegations of sexual and physical abuse that stretched decades, school officials said. In a report, officials at the American School for the Deaf, in West Hartford, Connecticut, said Friday that the allegations involved former dorm supervisors, a maintenance worker, a dean and the school's longtime executive director. "The results of this investigation reveal startling and appalling truths," Executive Director Jeffrey S. Bravin and Catherine Burns, president of the board of directors, said in the report.

Chris Wallace Relentlessly Grills Top Pence Aide on Russia Briefing: ‘You Say None of This Happened?!’

Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, struggled during a pair of Sunday morning talk show appearances as he was grilled relentlessly over the White House's assertion that Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire wasn't fired over a House briefing on Russian interference in the 2020 election to assist President Donald Trump. In an interview on Fox News Sunday, after host Chris Wallace asked why Trump was attacking Democrats over the Russia story, Short insisted early on that “there's no intelligence that said the Russians are trying to help Donald Trump win elections,” prompting Wallace to immediately push back.

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  Trump security adviser slammed for 'politicizing intelligence' on Russian meddling

  The Guardian
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  Trump says he was not told about Russian efforts to help Sanders

  PA Media: World News

Democrats' strategy to stop Sanders could be fatally flawed

As the results of the Nevada caucuses showed Sen. Bernie Sanders solidifying his status as a — or the — Democratic frontrunner, those in the party who fear his nomination mounted increasingly panicked calls for other candidates to drop out and allow the opposition to coalesce around a single challenger.

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  Bernie Sanders' big win as candidates look to South Carolina

  ABC News Videos
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  Stephen Colbert Brings Back Bernie Sanders Impression: “I Promise You Will Feel The Bern”

  Deadline

Photos show what Italy is like under lockdown as the country becomes Europe's epicenter of the coronavirus with more than 200 cases reported in 3 days

Claudio Furlan/Lapresse / AP Outside Asia, Italy now has the most confirmed cases of coronavirus. Antonio Masiello/Getty One Italian shop owner named Carlo Benuzzi told The Washington Post, "All the things you used to see in films that are far from us, now you see them here." Marco Sabadin / AFP / Getty Lombardy and Veneto, both in Northern Italy, are the two regions with the most confirmed cases.

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  Coronavirus: Is it safe to visit Italy? Latest Foreign Office travel advice

  The Independent
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  Lockdown: a day in the life of a teacher in Italy's coronavirus red zone

  Reuters

Trial to begin of former French PM Fillon over fake jobs scandal

Former French prime minister Francois Fillon and his wife Penelope go on trial on Monday over a fake jobs scandal that wrecked his 2017 run for president and opened the Elysee Palace door for Emmanuel Macron. Fillon's bid for the presidency unraveled after allegations he paid his wife hundreds of thousands of euros for doing little, if any, work as his parliamentary assistant. A consummate political insider who was prime minister under Nicolas Sarkozy's presidency, Fillon was the comfortable frontrunner in the election race when the allegations surfaced.

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  Former French prime minister and wife go on trial for fraud

  Associated Press
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  French court delays fraud trial for ex-premier Fillon

  AFP

South Korea's F-15K Slam Eagle Fighters Could Make North Korea Hurt

On September 13, 2017 the Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) test-fired a Taurus cruise missile in response to a North Korean ballistic missile test. For decades, the South Korean military has had to prepare for a conflict in which its cities, especially the capital of Seoul, would be on the receiving end of a North Korean artillery, chemical weapons and ballistic missiles. Based on the F-15E Strike Eagle fighter bomber in U.S. Air Force, the Slam Eagles have souped-up sensors and electronic warfare systems, and now are loaded with bunker-busting cruise missiles to blast open North Korean missile silos.

Two-Thirds of the World’s Most Polluted Cities Are in India

Several Chinese cities, including Beijing, have dramatically improved their air quality in recent years, while Indian metropolises remain some of the world's worst polluted, according to a new report. Beijing -- once infamous for its toxic haze -- has reduced smog levels and dropped down a list of the world's most polluted cities, falling to 199 from 84 three years before, according to the 2019 World Air Quality Report published Tuesday by IQAir AirVisual. In contrast, India still dominated its list of the smoggiest urban areas, accounting for 14 of the top 20.

China sentences Swedish bookseller to 10 years in prison

A court in eastern China has sentenced a Swedish seller of books that took a skeptical look at the ruling Communist Party to 10 years in prison for “illegally providing intelligence overseas," in a further sign of Beijing's hard line toward its critics. Gui Minhai first disappeared in 2015, when he was believed to have been abducted by Chinese agents from his seaside home in Thailand. He and four others who worked for the same Hong Kong publishing company all went missing at around the same time, only to turn up months later in police custody in mainland China.

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  Four years after his disappearance, China sentenced a Hong Kong bookseller to 10 years in prison

  Quartz
• Sweden demands China release bookseller Gui Minhai

  Reuters

14 products dermatologists recommend for soothing redness and rosacea

To help you tackle red, irritated skin, we consulted top dermatologists for their favorite products. "This cleanser is very gentle on reactive or sensitive skin, which most patients with rosacea have. It also contains feverfew, an ingredient known to decrease redness and help with irritation," said Noelani González, MD, director of cosmetic dermatology at Mount Sinai West in New York City.

Did New Spy Chief Richard Grenell Advise George Clooney?

Before becoming President Donald Trump's ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence, Richard “Ric” Grenell had a bare-knuckled career in public relations. The Republican operative served as spokesman at the United Nations during the George W. Bush administration and then moved to Capitol Media Partners, a firm that represented a host of clients. Grenell's work in private practice for foreign clients has drawn scrutiny, particularly work for a Moldovan oligarch and a nonprofit funded largely by a far-right Hungarian political party.

Senate FISA Abuse Investigation to Focus on Mystery Source Who Contradicted Steele Dossier

Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) on Sunday told Fox News the Senate's investigation into FBI abuse of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act will focus on interviews the agency conducted with a Russian source who contradicted much of the information in the Steele dossier. The first thing I want to do is call the people who heard from Russian sub-source that this dossier is a bunch of bar talk and hearsay,” Graham said on Fox's Sunday Morning Futures. I want to find out when did [former FBI director James] Comey and [former FBI deputy director Andrew] McCabe understand it was not reliable and start from there.

A 'brokered convention' designed to block Bernie Sanders would be a poison pill

If Sanders has only a plurality of delegates at the Democratic national convention in July, rather than an outright majority, he might not win the nomination on the first ballot. Under convention rules, this would allow “superdelegates” to vote on the second ballot, and open up the possibility that other candidates can “horse trade” their delegates in order to receive the nomination, even if Sanders won all or most of the primaries and a strong plurality of pledged delegates. What's the point in having primaries if party insiders at the convention just override the result?

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  MSNBC’s Scarborough Questions If Warren Should Drop Out to Help ‘Efforts Against Bernie Sanders’

  The Wrap
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  Bernie Sanders’ Nevada Coalition Gives Him Clearest Path to Nomination

  Bloomberg

Supreme court denies Rodney Reed appeal

The United States Supreme Court on Monday denied an appeal from Texas death row inmate Rodney Reed. But while the petition for a review of his case was denied, Justice Sonia Sotomayor left the door open for further appeals pending the outcome of upcoming hearings. "There is no escaping the pall of uncertainty over Reed's conviction," Sotomayor wrote.

Missing Tennessee toddler's grandmother and her boyfriend extradited after arrest

Previously: Two fugitives arrested in connection with missing Tennessee toddler Evelyn Boswell The girl, who has been the focus of an Amber Alert issued Wednesday night, was not with her grandmother and McCloud when they were captured. "I'd like to get back there and get this situation with my granddaughter resolved," Boswell told Wilkes County District Court Judge David Byrd. McCloud, 33, of Bristol, Tennessee, claimed the BMW was a gift from Evelyn's mother, Megan "Maggie" Boswell.

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  Police have arrested 'persons of interest' in the case of still-missing toddler Evelyn Boswell on car theft charges

  INSIDER
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  Mom of Missing Toddler Evelyn Mae Boswell Claims She Has 'Full Confidence' Girl Will Be Found

  People

Fake News or Reality? Did F-35s from Israel Fly Over Iran?

Key point: An Israeli strike in Iran would be risky even with F-35s, given distance to the target and Iranian air defenses... Israel's F-35 stealth fighters are positively supernatural: here, there and everywhere. In 2018, the Israeli Air Force claimed its new F-35s had attacked Iranian targets in Syria.

Ginni Thomas: SCOTUS justice's wife leading right-wing effort to purge officials 'disloyal' to Trump

A group of pro-Trump activists led by Ginni Thomas has reportedly compiled lists of “disloyal” government officials it wants sacked.

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  Conservative activists are reportedly sending Trump lists of 'disloyal' government officials to fire

  The Week
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  White House spokesperson confirms Trump is purging people: 'If we find them, we'll take appropriate action'

  Business Insider