- PoliticsYahoo News
Warren weighs her options. Endorsing Sanders is probably No. 1.
And even in the state where Warren did best, she still lost to both Biden and Sanders. The fact that it was her home state of Massachusetts added insult to injury. All told, Warren emerged from Super Tuesday — a day when 1,357 delegates were up for grabs — with a gain of just 36 delegates, for a total of around 60, compared with more than 500 for both Sanders and Biden.
- U.S.Yahoo News
EPA administrator criticizes inspector general's conclusions on Scott Pruitt's alleged abuses
Scott Pruitt, the onetime administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, was once a potent symbol of corruption within the Trump administration, as well as of its push to roll back environmental protections. With his penchant for first-class flights and other reported excesses — including, most infamously, an ill-fated search for a used mattress from the Trump International Hotel — Pruitt became an increasing problem for a White House that had promised to hold public officials accountable. Trump fired Pruitt just a day after Ingraham's second call for him to do so.
- WorldAssociated Press
Bethlehem's storied Nativity Church closes amid virus fears
Palestinian officials on Thursday closed the storied Church of the Nativity in the biblical city of Bethlehem indefinitely over fears of the new coronavirus, weeks ahead of the busy Easter holiday season. The spread of the virus across the Middle East has already disrupted worship at other major holy sites. Iran, the epicenter of the virus in the region, meanwhile said it would set up checkpoints to limit travel between major cities and urged citizens to reduce their use of paper money to help slow the outbreak, which has killed at least 107 people in the country.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Tulsi Gabbard may have just qualified for the next Democratic debate thanks to American Samoa
Associated Press Under the most recent rules, Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii may have qualified for the next televised debate by snagging a delegate in American Samoa's primary. Later on Tuesday night, a DNC official said the delegate threshold "will go up" to qualify for future debates. Gabbard is the fifth major candidate remaining in the race despite not qualifying for the debate stage recently and failing to crack the top five in any of the first four states.
- PoliticsNational Review
FISA Court Blacklists FBI Agents Involved in Surveilling Carter Page
The chief judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has barred Justice Department and FBI officials under review for wiretapping former Trump-campaign adviser Carter Page from appearing before the Court. In a 19-page opinion, Judge James E. Boasberg ordered that “FBI personnel under disciplinary review in relation to their work on FISA applications accordingly should not participate in drafting, verifying, reviewing, or submitting such application to the Court while the review is pending. He added that any “DOJ or FBI personnel under disciplinary or criminal review” are also prohibited from working on FISA applications.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Feds: Keep Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff in prison for his 'extraordinarily evil' crimes
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors on Wednesday night objected to Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernard Madoff's bid for release from prison, arguing that the reviled and ailing ex-financier should continue serving his 150-year sentence. Charging that the 81-year-old convict who ran one of history's biggest scams has "demonstrated a wholesale lack of understanding of the seriousness of his crimes and a lack of compassion for his victims," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York urged a judge to keep him in prison. The recommendation came in response to Madoff's legal motion in February for compassionate release based on failing health.
- WorldReuters
Coronavirus death toll jumps to 107 in Italy, all schools shut
Italy closed all schools and universities and took other emergency measures on Wednesday to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe's worst-hit country as the death toll and number of cases jumped. The total number of dead in Italy rose to 107 after 28 people died of the highly contagious virus over the past 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said. Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said schools and universities all over the country would be closed from Thursday until at least March 15.
- PoliticsThe Week
Rand Paul says he'll 'stay here all weekend' to get foreign aid cut included in coronavirus bill
Congress agreed to put a bipartisan emergency spending package to curb the spread of COVID-19 up for a House vote Wednesday, but it may get held up by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who wants to include an amendment to the bill. Paul, a deficit hawk, wants to ensure the U.S. has some way to fund the COVID-19 package, so he's trying to sneak a foreign aid cut in there. Paul is confident he'll get a vote, but he's prepared to stick around in Washington all weekend either way.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Trump calls WHO's global death rate from coronavirus 'a false number'
Donald Trump declared live on television on Wednesday night that he did not believe the World Health Organization's assessment of the global death rate from coronavirus of 3.4%. “I think the 3.4% is really a false number,” he told Sean Hannity, one of his favorite conservative Fox News hosts, in a phone interview broadcast live. “Now, this is just my hunch,” Trump began, before continuing that “based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this, because a lot of people will have this, and it's very mild – they'll get better very rapidly, they don't even see a doctor, they don't even call a doctor.”
- PoliticsBloomberg
Biden Jokes That His Wife Is His Secret Service Protection
“I'm probably the only candidate who's run for president whose wife's my Secret Service,” Biden said at a Los Angeles fundraiser on Wednesday night, hours after congressional Democrats asked that major presidential candidates be provided a Secret Service detail. The Biden campaign declined to comment on whether it has made a formal request to the agency, as is required for it to begin considering whether to assign him a security detail. On Tuesday night, four protesters from an animal rights group called Direct Action Everywhere approached the stage in Los Angeles where Biden was delivering his Super Tuesday victory speech.
- ScienceYahoo News Video
Large asteroid will fly close to, but won't hit, Earth next month: NASA
A large asteroid will fly close to, but won't hit, Earth next month, according to NASA data. CNN reports that the asteroid, predicted to be between 1.1 and 2.5 miles wide, is scheduled to fly past Earth on April 29.
- BusinessArchitectural Digest
The 2020 Geneva Motor Show Is Canceled, Forcing Automakers to Unveil Their Cars Online
The major European event was canceled due to concerns over the coronavirus—but the cars revealed online proved to be as exciting as they are bold in design Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- WorldAssociated Press
Court blocks 'Remain in Mexico' policy on part of US border
In the latest twist on a key Trump administration immigration policy, a federal appeals court said it will prevent the government from making asylum-seekers wait in Mexico for U.S. court hearings starting next week unless the Supreme Court steps in sooner. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Wednesday that it would only block the “Remain in Mexico” policy in Arizona and California, the two border states under its authority. President Donald Trump's administration says it is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and had asked that the policy remain in effect until next week to give the high court time to decide.
- U.S.Business Insider
A California man who self-quarantined after returning home from China amid the coronavirus outbreak said he is '100x more concerned' for his health in the US than he was in China
A Bay Area resident visited Kunming, in China's Yunnan province — about 1,000 miles southwest of Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak originated — on January 25. Seeing how differently the Chinese and US governments handled the outbreak convinced him that he felt safer in China than he does on American soil. A 36-year-old US citizen from Cupertino, California, visited Kunming, China, almost 1,000 miles southwest of Wuhan, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, on January 25.
- LifestyleUSA TODAY
A 95-year-old man has been 'working' at his local 7-Eleven for decades. He's paid in coffee.
Everyone calls him Mr. G. He grabs a cup and starts checking the coffee carafe levels. He doesn't make the coffee, he just keeps an eye on things and lets employees know. Years-old promise: College student brings llama in tuxedo to his sister's wedding No paychecks, just bananas and coffee For more than 30 years he's come to the 7-Eleven.
- U.S.National Review
Chief Justice John Roberts Scolds Schumer for ‘Dangerous’ Threat Directed at Conservative Justices
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday criticized Senator Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) over comments the minority leader made in reference to an abortion case currently being debated by the court. “For Justice Roberts to follow the right wing's deliberate misinterpretation of what Senator Schumer said, while remaining silent when President Trump attacked Justices Sotomayor and Ginsberg last week, shows Justice Roberts does not just call balls and strikes,” a spokesperson for Schumer responded. Earlier Wednesday, Schumer appeared to threaten Republican justices.
- U.S.NBC News
Parents charged with murder after 6-year-old kept in closet dies
A mother, father and grandmother in Arizona were charged with murder and child abuse after admitting that a 6-year-old who died was kept in a closet with his brother as punishment for "stealing food," police said Tuesday. Anthony Jose Archibeque-Martinez, 23, Elizabeth Archibeque-Martinez, 26, and Ann Marie Martinez, 50, are being held at the the Coconino County Jail on one count each of first-degree felony homicide and two counts each of child abuse, according to a statement from the Flagstaff Police Department. Officers responded to a call Monday about an unresponsive child at a Flagstaff home, the statement said.
- U.S.The Independent
'Serial stowaway' beaten in jail after she was imprisoned, despite calls for her to be treated in community
The “serial stowaway”, Marilyn Hartman, has been beaten up inside a Chicago jail. Ms Hartman is currently serving time in Cook County Jail for violating her probation. CBS 2 reports that she was assaulted on Tuesday and that the offending inmate may have been having some kind of mental health episode at the time.
- PoliticsThe Week
Pollster declares Democratic race 'pretty much over' after Joe Biden jumps to jaw-dropping lead in Florida
Former Vice President Joe Biden may have just secured his nomination. When several more states vote and provide clarity in the 2020 Democratic primary race on March 17, Florida, the home of the fourth biggest chunk of delegates in the 2020 Democratic primary race, will be among them. Biden's backing is a dramatic increase from the 34 percent he received in late February, and seems to draw directly from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other moderate candidates' supporters.
- BusinessBloomberg
Nigeria Senate Approves President’s $23 Billion Loan Request
Lawmakers gave their endorsement to the government during Thursday's proceedings in the capital, Abuja, to seek the funding expected from the Islamic Development Bank, the African Development Bank, the World Bank and creditors in China, Japan and Germany. The government will use the money to expand the railways, build a new hydro power dam and fund special intervention projects across the West African nation, according to a letter sent to the parliament in November. While Nigeria's outstanding loans amount to about about a quarter of its economic output, Africa's largest oil producer spends more than half of its revenue servicing debts.
WorldAFPYemen cafes shut, women harassed as Huthis impose harsh morals campaign
The Huthi rebels arrived without warning, heavily armed and in a furious mood, as they barged into Ophelia, the only cafe for women in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and demanded it be shut down immediately. In recent months, restaurants where men and women mingle have been shut down, scissor-wielding militia have policed men's hairstyles, and rebel forces have patrolled college campuses to enforce dress codes. Yemen's long war has pitted the Huthis, who are backed by Iran and control large swathes of the north, against the internationally recognised government which has the support of a Saudi-led military coalition.
- PoliticsPolitico
Trump to talk Dreamers protections with Senate Republicans
President Donald Trump is expected to host Republican senators at the White House Thursday to discuss offers to give legal status to people who came to the country illegally as children, according to a person familiar with the plans. The group will include Sen. Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally who is pushing a proposal to protect the so-called Dreamers, an offer that would open up a contentious debate on immigration in an election year. Dreamers currently have temporary legal protections under an Obama-era program that Trump has tried to undo.
- WorldReuters
With North Korea border shut, China warns citizens to keep away, or else
SINGAPORE/SEOUL (Reuters) - Chinese authorities have told people to stay away from the border with North Korea, which has banned people from China to keep out the coronavirus, or risk being shot by North Korean guards, residents of the area said. Residents said the warning came in a printed notice that Chinese authorities in the area issued this week, the latest indication of how seriously North Korea takes the threat of the virus. Close allies China and North Korea share a 1,400-km (880-mile) frontier that is especially porous in winter, when rivers separating the countries freeze, allowing people to cross.
- WorldThe National Interest
Shocking: Why Israel Was Able to Win so Greatly During the Six-Day War
Key point: Israel launched a surprise attack and kept the initiative. The Israeli Defense Force's (IDF's, or Zahal's) strategic invasion of the West Bank region of Jordan began at 5 pm on June 5, 1967. The assault was launched by one of two armored brigades attached to the Peled Armored Divisional Task Force (Ugdah Peled), part of Zahal's Northern Command.
- U.S.National Review
Arizona House Passes Ban on Male Participation in Women’s Sports
The Arizona House passed a bill on Tuesday that would ban the participation of males who identify as female in women's sports programs in the state. After an hours-long debate, the chamber passed the legislation 31-29 along party lines with Republicans in favor. The bill was sponsored by State Representative Nancy Barto (R., Phoenix), who argued that the participation of transgender women in women's sports was unfair to female athletes, especially if sports scholarships for universities are on the line.
"No Democrat this cycle did more to boost his political career."
"Yes, Buttigieg will almost certainly run for president again."
"At some point, the fact that a presidential candidate is LGBT will be a footnote rather than a headline."
"Those close to Mr. Buttigieg see no obvious political next step in Indiana."
"Buttigieg could run for president 40 years from now, but likely will not have to wait that long."
