- PoliticsYahoo News
Senators blast Trump administration for coronavirus response
Top officials in the Trump administration struggled on Tuesday morning to justify their response to the growing threat of the coronavirus, which has sickened at least 80,423 people around the world and killed at least 2,712. Although there have been no recorded fatalities in the United States yet, skeptical members of the U.S. Senate made clear to administration officials that they did not have confidence in their response. At one point during their back-and-forth, which promptly went viral on social media, Kennedy insisted that Wolf tell him the number of coronavirus cases that the United States could expect.
- WorldThe Week
Israel is the first country to warn its citizens not to travel abroad over coronavirus fears
Israel on Wednesday became the first country to officially warn its citizens to avoid any international travel amid fears over the coronavirus outbreak. Several airlines have canceled flights to China, where the respiratory virus originated, and governments have issued warnings about travel to certain countries, but no country has actively urged their citizens avoid traveling abroad at large until now. "If you don't genuinely have to fly — don't do so," Israel's health ministry said in a statement.
- U.S.Associated Press
Louisiana governor: Judge should resign after racial slurs
Gov. John Bel Edwards called Wednesday on a Louisiana judge to step down after she admitted to using racial slurs in angry text messages. LeBlanc, who is white, now admits sending the text messages after previously denying she sent them.
- U.S.Time
A Wrongfully Convicted Kansas Man Who Spent 23 Years in Prison Is Awarded $1.5 Million
A Kansas man who spent over two decades in prison for a double murder he didn't commit will be awarded $1.5 million for his wrongful conviction, according to the Kansas State Attorney General's office. Lamonte McIntyre was convicted and sentenced to two terms of life in prison for the murders of Donald Ewing and Doniel Quinn back in 1994. According to the Associated Press, documents made public during the 8-year fight to free McIntyre allege that the prosecutor in the case intimidated witnesses who told her that McIntyre did not look like the shooter after they saw him in person.
- WorldNBC News
U.S. soldier in South Korea tests positive as coronavirus pandemic fears grow
More than 78,000 confirmed cases in China, death toll reaches 2,715 • U.S. soldier stationed in South Korea tests positive for COVID-19 • Iran's Deputy Health Minister tests positive for virus • WHO: Coronavirus not a pandemic yet • White House seeks $2.5 billion for coronavirus • Italy hardest hit in Europe with 283 cases U.S. soldier in South Korea tests positive for COVID-19 A U.S. service member stationed in South Korea has tested positive for the coronavirus illness COVID-19, United States Forces Korea said in a statement. The 23-year-old soldier stationed at Camp Carroll, which is northwest of Daegu, is the first U.S. service member to test positive.
- U.S.CBS News
Supreme Court tosses D.C. sniper case after change in Virginia law
The Supreme Court dismissed a case involving Lee Boyd Malvo, one of the shooters who terrorized the Washington, D.C., region more than 15 years ago, after the state of Virginia changed its law regarding life-without-parole sentences for juvenile offenders. The move came after Malvo's lawyers and the state of Virginia notified the court that they agreed to dismiss the case in light of legislation signed by Virginia Governor Ralph Northam on Monday. Malvo will not seek resentencing on his Virginia convictions but should be eligible for parole in 2022.
- U.S.USA TODAY
ABC News suspends veteran correspondent over comments captured in undercover Project Veritas video
WASHINGTON – ABC News confirmed Wednesday that it suspended veteran correspondent David Wright for comments he made in a hidden camera video shared by the conservative group Project Veritas. In the video, Wright is critical of news media coverage of President Donald Trump, calls himself a socialist, and expresses frustration with the conflicts he sees between the goals of journalism and the corporate profit motive. "Any action that damages our reputation for fairness and impartiality or gives the appearance of compromising it harms ABC News and the individuals involved," an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement.
- WorldNational Review
Iran to Sentence Citizens Who “Spreads Rumors” about Coronavirus to Flogging, Three Years in Prison
An Iranian parliament spokesman on Wednesday announced that anyone found to be “spreading rumors” about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak will be sentenced to one-to-three years in prison and flogging, Iran state news agency IRNA reported. Norouzi said the prison sentence and flogging is based on “on the Islamic penal code,” and 24 people have been arrested already on suspicion of “spreading rumors” about the illness. Iran has reported 139 cases of coronavirus infections throughout the country, with an epicenter in the city of Qom, a destination for Shi'ite Muslim religious pilgrims.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
MSNBC Benches Contributor Who Smeared Bernie Sanders Staffers
Following MSNBC contributor Dr. Jason Johnson's inflammatory remarks about supporters and campaign staffers of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the academic has been temporarily benched by the network, sources confirmed to The Daily Beast. In recent months, Johnson—a fixture of the network's Democratic primary analysis—has drawn considerable heat for his relentlessly anti-Sanders commentary on MSNBC, which has also come under fire from the left for its skeptical and largely negative coverage of the democratic-socialist senator. The MSNBC contributor then took aim at the women of color who work for Sanders.
PoliticsYahoo News VideoSupreme Court skeptical of law against encouraging illegal immigration
Supreme Court justices on Tuesday signaled skepticism toward a federal law that made it a felony to encourage illegal immigrants to come or stay in the United States as they heard a bid by President Trump's administration to revive the measure after it was struck down by a lower court.
- PoliticsThe Week
Bloomberg accidentally claims to have 'bought' the 2018 midterm results
The billionaire former mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has been slammed by his Democratic primary opponents for allegedly "buy[ing] his way into the debate[s]." On Tuesday night, he nearly admitted to buying a whole lot more than just that. The Freudian slip came as Bloomberg was bragging about spending $100 million in the 2018 midterm elections to back 21 of the 40 Democrats who were elected to the House. "All of the new Democrats that came in, put Nancy Pelosi in charge, and gave the Congress the ability to control this president, I bought — I got them," Bloomberg said, quickly correcting himself.
- WorldThe National Interest
Boom: The Army Just Invented a Newer, Deadlier Artillery Round
Washington, D.C.) The Army Research Laboratory is now engineering new rocket, missile and artillery rounds able to destroy groups of mobile enemy fighters, incinerate armored vehicles and eliminate structures with a single munition -- at all much longer ranges than currently deployed weapons can fire. The ARL is currently immersed in cutting edge research, using 3D printing, to develop new metal alloys, weapons casings and design geometries to increase range and lethality for the Army's emerging Long Range Precision Fires program; “Additive manufacturing (3D printing) can take weight out of certain components, create complex geometries inside things and create complex fragmentation patterns,...
- WorldReuters
Factbox: News and quotes from Julian Assange's extradition hearing
Julian Assange appeared before a British court for a third day on Wednesday to fight an extradition request from the United States which wants to put the 48-year-old on trial for hacking government computers and violating an espionage law. Assange is being sought by the United States on 18 counts of hacking U.S. government computers and an espionage offense, having allegedly conspired with Chelsea Manning, then a U.S. soldier known as Bradley Manning, to leak hundreds of thousands of secret documents by WikiLeaks almost a decade ago. Assange's lawyer Edward Fitzgerald said his client should not be extradited because the case was political and he was not violent.
- WorldBloomberg
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.
- WorldAssociated Press
Pakistani woman accused of blasphemy seeks asylum in France
A Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy after spending eight years on death row in Pakistan, and who faced death threats from Islamic extremists, said she is going to request asylum in France. Asia Bibi will receive her diploma Tuesday as a Citizen of Honor of the city of Paris, a title she was awarded in 2015. She will meet French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday, officials said.
- PoliticsINSIDER
Rush Limbaugh is under fire for claiming the coronavirus is a 'common cold' being 'weaponized' to bring down Trump
The novel coronavirus has swept across the globe, infecting more than 80,000 people with COVID-19 and taking 2,600 lives. While China remains the center of the outbreak, the epidemic is on the verge of breaking into a full-blown pandemic. As the World Health Organization tells countries to prepare for infections, the popular conservative host Rush Limbaugh on Monday revealed to listeners what he claimed to be the "truth" about the "overhyped" coronavirus.
- U.S.USA TODAY
Despite California nearing drought, reservoir near San Jose ordered to be drained. Here's why.
Amid the threat of another California drought, federal regulators have ordered that a large reservoir south of San Jose be drained because of concerns that its dam may collapse in an earthquake, leading to a massive release of water that could flood much of Silicon Valley. Because the 240-foot-high earthen Anderson Dam could fail if a major earthquake strikes on the Calaveras Fault that sits next to it, the process of emptying the reservoir should begin no later than Oct. 1, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said. “It is unacceptable to maintain the reservoir at an elevation higher than necessary when it can be reduced, thereby decreasing the risk to public safety and the large population downstream of Anderson Dam,” David Capka, director of the FERC's Division of Dam Safety and Inspections, wrote in a letter Thursday to the Santa Clara Valley Water District, which owns the reservoir.
- PoliticsNBC News
Obama demands pro-Trump group stop using his voice to attack Biden
Former President Barack Obama is demanding a pro-Trump group stop airing a "despicable" ad that uses a recording of Obama's voice to attack former Vice President Joe Biden— a rare intervention in a race that Obama has largely avoided so far. T]his despicable ad is straight out of the Republican disinformation playbook, and it's clearly designed to suppress turnout among minority voters in South Carolina by taking President Obama's voice out of context and twisting his words to mislead viewers," Obama spokesperson Katie Hill told NBC News.
- U.S.National Review
DOJ Creates New Unit to Strip Citizenship from Terrorists, Criminals
The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a new unit to handle the denaturalization of individuals who obtained citizenship illegally and other criminals. The new section dedicated to “investigating and litigating revocation of naturalization” of individuals who illegally secured naturalization or committed other serious crimes will be under the Civil Division's Office of Immigration Litigation. “This move underscores the Department's commitment to bring justice to terrorists, war criminals, sex offenders, and other fraudsters who illegally obtained naturalization,” DOJ said in a statement announcing the new unit.
- WorldThe Week
New cases of coronavirus in other countries exceeded those in China for the first time on Tuesday
The coronavirus may be slowing down in China, but World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Wednesday that it's no time for complacency. In a weekly briefing, Gehbreyesus had some good news about China, especially beyond the Hubei province, where the virus originated. There were reportedly only 10 new cases detected outside of Hubei on Tuesday.
- PoliticsThe Daily Beast
Donald, Melania, Ivanka, and Jared Visited the Taj Mahal. Their Poses Spoke Volumes.
Melania Trump stood in front of the Taj Mahal, built by Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan as a symbol of devotion to his wife, Mumtaz, and watched her open-mouthed husband bellow to photographers. Her high-necked, ivory jumpsuit matched the exterior of the famed marble mausoleum (CNN's Kate Bennett identified the one piece as made by Trump's stylist, Hervé Pierre). It came with a moss green sash made of “vintage Indian textile” that slightly clashed with her husband's canary yellow tie.
U.S.Yahoo News Video7-year-old died 1 minute into tonsil surgery, says parents
Parents of a 7-year-old South Carolina girl said she died one minute into surgery to have her tonsils removed. Paisley Elizabeth Grace Cogsdill died Friday at a medical center in Greenwood, WHNS-TV reported. Family members said the girl snored in her sleep but was otherwise healthy.
- WorldReuters
U.S. targets individuals, entities linked to Lebanon's Martyrs Foundation
The United States on Wednesday added a host of Lebanese individuals and entities it said were linked to the Martyrs Foundation to its designated "global terrorists" lists, according to a notice on the U.S. Treasury Department's website. U.S. officials have previously targeted the Lebanon-based Martyrs Foundation, an organization the department has said channels financial support to several militant groups, including Hezbollah. The U.S. Treasury Department said in a statement that its Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) had blacklisted Atlas Holding for being owned or controlled by the Martyrs Foundation, as well as senior Atlas official Kassem Mohamad Ali Bazzi, and 10 Atlas-affiliated companies.
- WorldAssociated Press
Iran says official who played down virus fears is infected
The head of an Iranian government task force on the coronavirus who had urged the public not to overreact about its spread has tested positive for the illness himself, authorities said Tuesday, as new cases emanating from the country rapidly emerged across the Middle East. The acknowledgement of Harirchi's illness underscores a growing crisis of confidence felt by many in Iran after nationwide economic protests, a U.S. drone striking killing a top Iranian general and Iran accidentally shooting down a commercial jetliner and insisting for days that it hadn't. Iran on Tuesday also saw a crucial air link cut to the United Arab Emirates, home to the world's busiest airport for international travel in Dubai, as Bahrain announced more confirmed cases of the virus from passengers who transited through the UAE.
- U.S.TODAY
Tennessee mom and grandmother of missing 15-month-old both arrested, in same jail
The search for a missing Tennessee toddler has shifted to the northwest corner of North Carolina as authorities grow increasingly frustrated in their desperate bid to find the little girl, officials said Wednesday. The mother and grandmother of 15-month-old Evelyn Mae Boswell have both been arrested — and put in the same jail — as deputies in two states continue looking for her, Tennessee's Sullivan County Sheriff Jeff Cassidy said. "They are actively looking in an area in Wilkes County North Carolina" for the girl, Sullivan told reporters.
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