- WorldBloomberg
Poland Demands Israeli Response Over 'Racist' Holocaust Comments
Morawiecki canceled sending a delegation to Jerusalem, where he was slated to meet his counterparts from the Visegrad Group of eastern European nations Monday, after Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu was reported as saying last week that the Polish nation cooperated with Nazi occupiers during World War II. While Israel clarified that Netanyahu had been talking about “individuals, and not the whole nation” collaborating with the Nazis, the comments drew swift reaction from the government in Warsaw, which has passed laws criminalizing the act of blaming Poland or its people for wartime crimes committed against Jews and other minorities.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Donald Trump threatens Venezuela's military if aid is blocked from entering country
President Donald Trump has warned the Venezuelan military not to block tonnes of humanitarian aid due to arrive in the country on Saturday, threatening the soldiers with grave consequences for remaining loyal to President Nicolas Maduro. “Today I have a message for every official who is keeping Maduro in place,” he said, speaking at a university in Miami – the city with the highest population of Venezuelan exiles in the US. You can choose to accept President Guaido's offer of amnesty, and live your life in peace with your country.
- NewsThe Independent
Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner to register as sex offender after prison release
Disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner has been released from federal prison after being convicted of having illicit online contact with a 15-year-old girl in 2017. He will have to register as a sex-offender and spend three years on supervised release under the terms of his sentence. The Federal Bureau of Prisons website shows the 54-year-old New York Democrat is currently in the custody of its Residential Re-entry Management office in Brooklyn, New York.
WorldReutersHuawei founder says Huawei CFO arrest was politically motivated - BBC
Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei said on Monday that the arrest of his daughter, Huawei Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, was politically motivated. "Firstly, I object to what the U.S. has done. This kind of politically motivated act is not acceptable," Ren told the BBC in an interview.
WorldAFPIndia-Pakistan tensions threaten to derail Saudi prince's Delhi trip
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman arrived in New Delhi on Tuesday, with his business mission under threat of being overshadowed by soaring tensions between India and Pakistan. The crown prince, who wants to persuade the world's fastest growing major economy to consume more Saudi oil, was greeted at the airport by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who gave his traditional bear hug for honoured guests. The prince arrived from a two-day stay in Pakistan as it clashed with its giant neighbour over responsibility for a suicide attack in Kashmir last Thursday which left at least 40 members of Indian security forces dead.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Buckle up and hunker down: Coast-to-coast storm to bring weather misery to 200 million
A powerful storm that began its journey Sunday in California will roar across the country over the next two to three days, spreading heavy snow, torrential rain and crippling ice to more than 200 million Americans. By Tuesday, the storm will spread heavy snow and strong winds into the central U.S., the National Weather Service said. Late Tuesday and into Wednesday, the threat for heavy snow, ice and dangerous travel will expand across the Midwest, Ohio Valley, Mid Atlantic and the Northeast.
EntertainmentFOX News VideosMysterious 'witches marks' discovered in ancient cave in Creswell Crags, England
Mysterious 'witches marks' discovered in an ancient cave in Creswell Crags, England and the discovery highlights the importance of the Crags for researchers in England.
- PoliticsNational Review
Farrakhan Praises Omar's Anti-Semitic Remarks: 'Shake Up That Corrupt House'
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan on Sunday praised Representative Ilhan Omar's (D., Minn.) recent endorsement of an anti-Semitic trope and urged the freshman lawmaker not to bow to pressure from critics. “Ms. Omar from Somalia – she started talking about 'the Benjamins' and they are trying to make her apologize. You sure are using it to shake the government up, but you have nothing to apologize for,” Farrakhan said during his annual Saviour's Day address in Chicago, in comments first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
How Social Security could get benefits boosted to help most vulnerable like widows
Social Security faces a looming funding shortfall roughly 15 years down the road. Despite that dismal backdrop, several proposals continue to be circulated that would enhance benefits for the most vulnerable groups of beneficiaries. As discussed in a series of briefs by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, one proposal would provide enhanced benefits to the elderly at or around age 85, when financial vulnerability increases.
WorldAssociated PressIsraeli leaders' Nazi remarks scuttle summit with Europeans
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's off-hand comment in Warsaw about Poland and the Holocaust set in motion a diplomatic crisis that on Monday scuttled this week's summit of central European leaders in Israel. Poland's abrupt decision to cancel its participation in the planned Visegrad conference in protest blew up the gathering, which Netanyahu has touted as a major milestone in his outreach to emerging democracies in eastern Europe and his broader goal of countering the criticism Israel typically faces in international forums. The crisis was sparked last week when Netanyahu told reporters that "Poles cooperated with the Nazis."
WorldReutersTrump urges Venezuelan military to abandon Maduro or 'lose everything'
Speaking to a cheering crowd mostly of Venezuelan and Cuban immigrants in Miami, Trump said if the Venezuelan military continues supporting Maduro, "you will find no safe harbor, no easy exit and no way out. You'll lose everything.” Maduro retaliated late on Monday that Trump's speech was "nazi-style" and said he acted as if he were the owner of Venezuela and its citizens his slaves. Trump offered strong backing for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the United States, many of Venezuela's neighbors and most Western countries have recognized as interim president of Venezuela.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Pope's credibility 'on the line' as Vatican convenes global meeting on combating child abuse by clergy
Victims of clerical sex abuse have warned Pope Francis that his credibility is on the line as he confronts the biggest challenge of his papacy with a landmark conference on protecting children from rape and molestation. Nearly 200 bishops, archbishops, patriarchs and other senior Catholic figures from around the world will convene in Rome on Thursday for an unprecedented four-day conference that is supposed to tackle the scourge of child abuse by clergy. It is the biggest effort so far to address scandals that have eroded faith in the Catholic Church in the US, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The New Ford Focus ST Looks Awesome and Makes 276 Horsepower
Ford newest hot hatch, the Focus ST, has officially arrived-unfortunately only for the European market. Based on the new-generation Focus compact car, the new Focus ST has a turbocharged 2.3-liter four-cylinder engine with 276 horsepower that mates with either a six-speed manual or seven-speed automatic transmission. Enthusiasts will be bummed that Ford has no plans to bring any version of the new Focus to America, as the company has killed off all car nameplates in its U.S. lineup save for the Mustang.
- WorldBloomberg
Pakistan Vows Retaliation If India Launches Military Strikes
Pakistan's Prime Minister Imran Khan said his nation would retaliate if attacked by India, following New Delhi's strongest accusations yet that its nuclear-armed neighbor was responsible for a major terrorist attack in Kashmir. Pakistan will not think of retaliation, Pakistan will retaliate,” Khan said in a televised speech on Tuesday. There will be no other option than retaliation.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The 10 Cheapest Hybrid Cars and SUVs in 2019
Want to spend as little money as possible on a money-saving, fuel-sipping hybrid? From Car and Driver
BusinessAFPAsian markets boosted by hopes for China-US trade deal
Asian markets rallied with oil and high-yielding currencies Monday as investors grow increasingly confident that China and the United States will eventually hammer out a deal to end their long-running trade war. While talks ended Friday in Beijing with no deal, negotiators shift to Washington this week with Donald Trump saying discussions were going "extremely well" and suggesting he could extend a March 1 truce deadline for an agreement to be reached. The high-level discussions between the economic superpowers are expected to yield a memorandum of understanding ahead of a meeting between Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to finalise a pact.
- PoliticsThe Independent
Lindsey Graham says redirected funds for Trump border wall 'better for school kids' than new school
That's because the $62m (£48m) that was earmarked for the school's construction is among the billions of dollars already appropriated to the Defence Department, the pot of money the Trump administration now wants to redirect to pay for 230 miles of barriers along the southern border as part of the president's national emergency declaration. And those Kentucky middle schoolers will be better off because of it - at least according to senator Lindsey Graham. The powerful Republican and outspoken Trump ally said that border barriers top a new school.
- NewsUSA TODAY
Emails show how fake university set up by ICE lured foreign students
The email exchanges with Ali Milani – who is described in a LinkedIn profile as the president of the University of Farmington – show how the school in Farmington Hills, Michigan, may have lured students to enroll in a fake university set up by The Department of Homeland Security. Jan. 30: Feds set up fake university in Michigan to nab undocumented immigrants A federal indictment unsealed Jan. 30 said that the university was produced by federal agents with an investigative division of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which is part of DHS. Federal agents posed as university officials such as "Ali Milani" to trick the students, say attorneys.
- LifestyleMashable
Forget the line at Juice Press — this WiFi-enabled Vitamix blender is $160 off
Vitamix blenders make eating better easier though, and the A3500 Ascent Series model is $159.60 off on Amazon today. If you know what you're doing, there's a programmable timer that will blend for the time you've entered and stop automatically.
NewsAssociated PressN Carolina elections head says ballots handled illegally
A Republican operative conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation, North Carolina's elections director said Monday, but the first session of a days-long hearing produced scant evidence that the GOP congressional candidate he worked for knew about it or even benefited. The director's testimony came at the opening of a state elections board hearing into whether mail-in ballots were tampered with in the race for the state's 9th congressional district seat that saw Republican Mark Harris narrowly defeat Democrat Dan McCready. The race wasn't certified, leaving the country's only congressional election without a declared winner.
WorldAFPSpanish victims of sex abuse priests speak out
A trickle of accusations of sexual abuse against priests in schools and seminaries is starting to erode the wall of silence in Catholic Spain, whose Church representatives are set to attend a major Vatican meeting on child protection. "This is only the tip of the iceberg," warned Miguel Hurtado, who recently made his case public. For 20 years, Hurtado stayed quiet, trying to come to terms with the abuse he suffered when he joined a boy scout troup at the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey, which sits high up in jagged mountains northwest of Barcelona.
- NewsThe Telegraph
Florida inmates use criminal skills to rescue baby from car
A group of prisoners in Florida put their criminal skills to good use on Valentine's Day – breaking into a car, to free a baby locked inside. The prisoners, on work-release, were repairing parking meters in Pasco County, north of Tampa, when they spotted the family in distress. Another person in the video, filmed by the baby's mother Shadow Lantry, can be heard commenting on the "hilarious situation," with police watching the crew unlock the car.
- WorldBloomberg
Saudi Prince Starts Asia Trip Pledging $20 Billion for Pakistan
The two nations signed memorandums of understanding in the energy and agriculture sectors, including one for a $10 billion oil refinery in southwestern city of Gwadar, where China has helped build a deep water port. Saudi Arabia also signed a pact to provide Pakistan with crude oil and petroleum products on delayed payments to meets its energy needs. “We are creating a great future for Saudi Arabia and Pakistan,” Prince Mohammed, the kingdom's de facto ruler, said at a reception by Prime Minister Imran Khan on Sunday in Islamabad at the start of a two-day trip.
WorldReutersMacau police investigate suspected murder at Sands casino resort: media
Police in the world's biggest gambling hub of Macau are investigating what they suspect is a rare murder in a five-star casino resort after a Chinese man was found stabbed in his bed, broadcaster TDM reported on Monday. Murder cases have been rare in the Chinese territory since Portugal ceded control of what had been a colonial backwater on the heel of China's southern coast 20 years ago. The suspected murder took place in Sands China's Conrad Macau hotel, TDM reported, citing police.
- NewsNational Review
Man Charged with Pulling Gun on Couple in MAGA Hats
A Tennessee man was arrested Tuesday for pulling a gun on a couple who were wearing the Make America Great Again hats popularized by Donald Trump's presidential campaign. James Phillips, 57, of Cottontown, Tenn. was charged with first-degree wanton endangerment after he reportedly pulled the gun in a Kentucky Sam's Club store amid an argument, according to his arrest citation.
