Missing Milwaukee woman, two daughters found dead in garage

A missing Milwaukee woman and her two daughters were found dead Sunday, the victims of an apparent homicide, authorities said. Amarah J. Banks, 26, Zaniya R. Ivery, 5, and Camaria Banks, 4, were found in a Milwaukee garage Sunday afternoon, Milwaukee police Chief Alfonso Morales said at a news conference. "You have to also understand that foul play was not an initial piece of this investigation, it was a missing investigation that escalated," Morales said.

• Milwaukee amber alert canceled after bodies of missing mom, 2 girls found in garage

  WLS – Chicago
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  Wisconsin mother, two daughters found dead after Amber Alert issued; boyfriend arrested

  USA TODAY

Bloomberg’s Rise in Democratic Race Provides Foil for Sanders

Sanders is holding up Bloomberg as the embodiment of everything the democratic socialist rails against. “Mr. Bloomberg, like anybody else, has a right to run for president,” Sanders told a rally of more than 6,000 people in Richmond, a city near San Francisco on Monday, drawing boos against Bloomberg. Bloomberg now supports a $15 per-hour federal minimum wage but in 2014 called raising it “one of the most misguided things that we can do.” Previous comments have also surfaced suggesting a drop in redlining -- the practice of denying loans to minorities -- for contributing to the 2008 financial crisis, that health care should be denied to very old people, and that farming was easy.

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  Bloomberg Takes on Sanders in New Ad Targeting His Supporters: ‘Really?’ (Video)

  The Wrap
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  Sanders, Bloomberg trade insults as Democratic White House race heats up

  Reuters

'Historic, unprecedented' flooding swamps southern USA; Mississippi and Tennessee hardest hit

Weeks of heavy rain have inundated a large portion of the southern U.S., bringing near-record flooding to portions of Mississippi and Tennessee. In Jackson, Mississippi, hundreds of residents either watched their homes flood over the weekend or worried their residence would soon be drenched as the Pearl River crested Monday at 36.8 feet, its third-highest level ever recorded – behind only 1979 and 1983. Reeves said at a news conference Monday that there were no reports of flood-related injuries and thanked the people of Mississippi for heeding evacuation orders.

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  Hundreds still flooded from homes in Mississippi capital

  Associated Press
• Parts Of Mississippi Hit With Near Record Flooding

  Meredith Videos

Cuba burning tires to power factory as US oil sanctions bite

The Cuban government has ordered a cement factory to burn old tires to power its operations and save on oil, amid a worsening fuel shortage brought on by US sanctions on the Communist island. On orders of President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the firm Cementos Cienfuegos, located in the center of the country, will receive an increasing supply of used tires to burn, the official daily Granma said Monday. Cuba has been suffering oil shortages since last September, when the administration of President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on ships carrying petroleum to the island from its main fuel supplier Venezuela.

Gunmen kill 24 and injure 18 in attack on Burkina Faso church

Gunmen killed 24 people, including a pastor, in an attack on a church during Sunday Mass in northwestern Burkina Faso, four security sources told Reuters on Monday.

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  Twenty-four killed in Burkina Faso church attack: governor

  AFP
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  At least 24 killed in church mass shooting in Burkina Faso

  The Independent

A cruise-ship passenger tested positive for the coronavirus after hundreds of other passengers disembarked and dispersed all over the world

Associated Press/Heng Sinith Health officials on Saturday said they'd found a coronavirus case among the hundreds of passengers who disembarked a cruise ship in Cambodia, The New York Times reported. The Westerdam cruise ship spent weeks stranded at sea after five ports rejected it over coronavirus fears. Now, more than 1,000 passengers from the ship have proceeded to destinations around the world, and health officials are struggling to determine how to handle the situation.

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  Coronavirus updates: Americans quarantined on cruise ship return to U.S

  NBC News
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  13 US citizens at 'high risk' of coronavirus being treated in Nebraska

  AFP

This Is Iran's Deadliest Missile (And It Could Someday Carry a Nuclear Weapon)

Iranian media have broadcast the first-ever footage of an operational Sejjil medium-range rocket in its underground bunker. The same February 2020 broadcast includes what apparently is new or at least rarely-seen footage of trials involving the Sejjil. The 59-feet-tall Sejjil could be a leading candidate to carry atomic warheads, if and when Iran develops them.

North Korea imported purebred horses from Russia as Kim Jong Un took snowy ride

MOSCOW/SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea, whose leader Kim Jong Un was filmed riding through the snow on a white stallion last year, has spent tens of thousands of dollars on 12 purebred horses from Russia, according to Russian customs data. Accompanied by senior North Korean figures, Kim took two well-publicized rides on the snowy slopes of the sacred Paektu Mountain in October and December. North Korea has a long history of buying pricey horses from Russia and customs data first reported by Seoul-based NK News suggests that North Korea may have bolstered its herd in October.

Cambodia's Coronavirus Complacency May Exact a Global Toll

When Cambodia's prime minister greeted passengers on a cruise ship amid a coronavirus scare on Valentine's Day, embraces were the order of the day. Not only did Prime Minister Hun Sen not wear one, assured that the ship was virus-free, his bodyguards ordered people who had donned masks to take them off. The next day, the U.S. ambassador to Cambodia, W. Patrick Murphy, who brought his own family to greet the passengers streaming off the ship, also went maskless.

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  Cambodia PM defends ship docking despite virus diagnosis

  AFP
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  American cruise passengers quarantined at US military bases

  Associated Press

Bernie breaks out of the pack

While few expect that Sanders can carry more than a third of the vote in Nevada, nearly everyone believes that will be enough to win in a field where the moderate vote remains splintered. It is becoming a source of celebration for Sanders' supporters and an urgent problem for those who want to prevent him from claiming the nomination. He's going to win with 28 percent of the vote.

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  Democratic rivals accuse Bloomberg of trying to ‘buy’ election

  MarketWatch
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  Amy Klobuchar's 'surge' proves media still has a 'woman' problem

  USA TODAY Opinion

Federal judges association holding emergency meeting over DOJ interference in Stone case

The Federal Judges Association will hold an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss concerns members have over President Trump and top Justice Department officials intervening in the case of longtime Trump friend and adviser Roger Stone. The association has more than 1,000 members, and says it supports a "fair, impartial, and independent judiciary." The group's president, U.S. District Judge Cynthia Rufe, told USA Today that members decided they "could not wait" until the organization's spring conference to address the matter. Stone was found guilty of lying to Congress and witness tampering, and last week, Trump complained about federal prosecutors recommending Stone receive a sentence of seven to nine years.

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  More than 1,100 former DOJ officials accuse Trump of behaving like autocrat over Roger Stone sentencing

  The Independent
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  William Barr must quit over Trump-Stone scandal – former justice officials

  The Guardian

'Ghost ship' washes ashore in Ireland after Storm Dennis

A "ghost ship" drifting without a crew for more than a year washed ashore on Ireland's south coast in high seas caused by Storm Dennis, the Republic's coast guard said. The abandoned 77-metre (250-feet) cargo ship MV Alta ran aground on rocks outside the village of Ballycotton near Cork, Ireland's second city, bringing an end to her months-long voyage. The Alta's odyssey began in September 2018 when she became disabled in the mid-Atlantic en route from Greece to Haiti.

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  'Ghost Ship' Washes Up on Irish Coast During Storm Dennis

  Storyful
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  Ghost ship washes up in Ireland

  The Independent

New Mexico woman who was pregnant with third child still missing three years later

“Holidays will never be the same,” Jennifer told Dateline. Liz, as she is known by her family and friends, was four months pregnant with her third child. “She got in his truck and that's the last time I ever heard from her,” Amber said.

Airlines, officials trace path of couple diagnosed with coronavirus that flew from Hawaii

Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines are working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Japanese health officials to trace the path of a couple from Nagoya, Japan, who were diagnosed with coronavirus after returning from Hawaii. Hawaiian state health officials say the couple, who are in their 60s, were in Hawaii from Jan. 28 to Feb. 7 and tested positive after being hospitalized in Japan. The man, who was diagnosed before his wife, flew on Hawaiian Airlines flight HA265 from Kahului, Hawaii, to Honolulu on Feb. 3, in addition to flying home on Delta flight 611 from Honolulu to Nagoya on Feb. 6 with his wife.

Coronavirus Proves One Thing: China's Rise Is Built on Quicksand

Despite China's incredible economic success as of late, it's important to remember that it is still fundamentally a communist country. Freedom can be messy, but it's nothing like the mess an authoritarian regime creates when it fears losing power. The disturbing outbreak of the coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in China and the communist government's response to it should be a reminder of the consequence of a system based on state control, without rule by the people and a vibrant civil society.

Turkey’s Erdogan Joins In on Vilification of Soros

An Istanbul court acquitted prominent businessman Osman Kavala of charges of plotting to overthrow the government during mass protests that shook the country in 2013. Nine defendants were cleared, and arrest warrants for others living abroad have been rescinded. Others accused in the case include actor Mehmet Ali Alabora and journalist Can Dundar, who have both left the country.

Fighting flares in eastern Ukraine, Kiev and rebels blame each other

KIEV/MOSCOW (Reuters) - A Ukrainian solder was killed and four others injured on Tuesday when heavy fighting erupted in eastern Ukraine, the country's military said, as it and Russian-backed separatists blamed each other for the flare-up. The violence was some of the worst since a Paris summit in December tried to narrow positions between Kiev and the separatists on implementing a peace deal, and it comes ahead of a possible second summit on the same issue in Berlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he would convene a national security council meeting to discuss the latest flare-up in the country's Donbass region.

Daughter of man accused of killing 8 describes his abuse

The daughter of a Mississippi man on trial in the shooting deaths of eight people testified Monday that he was abusive and beat her frequently. My'Khyiah Godbolt took the stand at a courthouse in Magnolia, the Daily Leader newspaper reported, to testify against her father, Willie Cory Godbolt. Godbolt, 37, is charged with capital murder, accused of fatally shooting eight people, including the deputy who arrived at his in-laws' home over the Memorial Day in 2017.

Mike Bloomberg just made the debate. Can he keep his cool?

Mike Bloomberg's free-spending campaign rollout has rocketed him into contention for the Democratic nomination — but he now faces a challenge immune to his fortune. The multibillionaire qualified early Tuesday for the nationally televised debate in Las Vegas Wednesday night, clocking in at 19 percent in a new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll — good for second place behind only Sen. Bernie Sanders. The former New York mayor's irritability with questions he deems unwarranted and controversies he feels he has already put to bed could undermine his debut on the debate stage, where Americans will be introduced to the man behind the ubiquitous campaign ads.

Trump reportedly urged the CIA to hunt and kill Osama bin Laden's son instead of more pressing terrorist threats

President Donald Trump wanted his intelligence officials to focus on killing Osama bin Laden's son over other terrorist targets because he was the only one Trump was familiar with, NBC News reported Sunday. Two military and intelligence officials said Trump did not recognize many other names on the CIA's list of potential targets. Trump has also approved successful strikes on other top terrorist targets, including the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Yemen's Al Qaeda chief Qasim al-Rimi.

The beginning of the end for the flu season?

The data also offers a cold dose of reality: 24 United States states showed either record-high flu activity or numbers that were higher than ever for this time of year. "While flu remains quite active throughout the nation, the season is beginning to weaken and slow down," Dr. Bryan Lewis, a professor at the Biocomplexity Institute at the University of Virginia, told AccuWeather. "However, make no mistake, this season is strong and still in full swing."

Indiana professor is suspended for calling police on student who wouldn't switch seats

An Indiana professor who called the police after a student declined to change seats during class last month has been suspended, the school said. In a statement released Thursday, Ball State University in Muncie said marketing professor Shaheen Borna will not teach for the rest of the semester. "This decision is in the best interest of Dr. Borna and the University," the statement said, adding that Borna's departure will "eliminate any unnecessary distractions, and help our students complete the appropriate course expectations."

Police allegedly held a black student at gunpoint. Now the governor wants an investigation

The governor of Illinois on Thursday called for an investigation into allegations that police held a black college student at gunpoint after misidentifying him as a suspect. Gov. J.B. Pritzker's statement comes after Jaylan Butler, 20, sued the six officers involved for unlawful searches and seizure, excessive force and false arrest on a Sunday night last February. Butler, a swim team member at Eastern Illinois University, said he was walking back to the team bus near a rest stop off Interstate 80 when patrol cars pulled up to him.

Israel's Iron Dome: A Rocket-Killer or Just Hype?

Any thoughts of an invulnerable missile shield evaporated when Hamas fired six-hundred-and-ninety rockets and mortar shells from Gaza into Israel earlier this month. Out of that six-hundred-and-ninety total, ninety never managed to cross into Israel, according to Israeli figures. Iron Dome intercepted two-hundred-and-forty, of which the Israel Defense Forces claim an 86 percent kill rate, with thirty-five rockets landing in populated areas.