- PoliticsNational Review
Republican Senators Express Disapproval With Border Funding Bill and National Emergency Declaration
Several Republican senators expressed disapproval Thursday at Congress's border funding deal as well as President Trump's plan to declare a national emergency to obtain funds for a border wall. I'm disappointed with both the massive, bloated, secretive bill that just passed and with the president's intention to declare an emergency to build a wall,” Senator Rand Paul wrote on Twitter. I, too, want stronger border security, including a wall in some areas.
- PoliticsBloomberg
Manafort's Russian Aide Communicated With Ex-U.S. Officials
Paul Manafort's longtime business associate, whom Special Counsel Robert Mueller says has ties to Russian intelligence services, interacted with former U.S. State Department officials, according to a revised court transcript. Konstantin Kilimnik, who worked with Manafort for a decade on political campaigns in Ukraine, had “communications with former high-level State Department officials,” Manafort attorney Kevin Downing said at a Feb. 4 court hearing. The significance of those communications wasn't clear.
- BusinessThe Independent
Amazon invites Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to 'see for yourself' after she alleges 'dehumanising conditions' for workers
Amazon has thrown down the gauntlet to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, inviting the congresswoman to visit one of its facilities after she claimed the tech giant had created “dehumanising conditions” for its workers. The 29-year-old congresswoman was among those who celebrated after Amazon announced this week it was pulling out of plans to open what it termed a second headquarters in New York City. Ms Ocasio-Cortez, who represents the city's 14th district, which is close to the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens where the facility was to be based, had opposed the $3bn in tax incentives the state and city had offered the e-commerce giant, headed by Jeff Bezos.
- WorldReuters
Explainer: Jaish-e-Mohammad, the Pakistan-based militants, at heart of tension with India
A Pakistan-based militant group, Jaish-e-Mohammad, has taken responsibility for the deadliest attack on security forces in Indian Kashmir in 30 years of insurgency, ratcheting up tension between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors. India says the group and its leader, Masood Azhar, enjoy free rein in Pakistan, and demands that Pakistan acts to stop militant groups operating from its soil. Pakistan condemned the Thursday bomb attack that killed 44 paramilitary policemen but denied any complicity.
WorldAssociated PressFamily of IS teen appeals to UK to help bring her home
The family of a pregnant British teenager who ran away to join the Islamic State group urged the government Friday to help bring her home. Shamima Begum's family issued a statement appealing for government assistance "as a matter of urgency." Begum, now 19, resurfaced this week at a refugee camp in Syria where she gave an interview to the Times of London saying she didn't regret her decision, but wanted to come home. "Given Shamima's four-year ordeal, we are concerned that her mental health has been affected by everything that she has seen and endured," the family said in a statement to Britain's ITV, describing her words as those of child who had been groomed by IS recruiters.
WorldAFPNorth Koreans pay tribute to Kim's father in freezing cold
The Day of the Shining Star dawned bitterly cold in Pyongyang. Kim, the son of the isolated North's founder Kim Il Sung and the father and predecessor of current leader Kim Jong Un, was born on February 16. According to Pyongyang's orthodoxy, he came into the world in 1942, in a snow-covered hut at a secret camp on the slopes of Mount Paektu, the spiritual birthplace of the Korean people, where his father was fighting occupying Japanese forces.
- NewsUSA TODAY
During a school lockdown, 7-year-old writes note on her arm in case she dies
WILMINGTON, Del. — A note that a Delaware student scrawled on her arm during a school lockdown is going viral online. Shelley Harrison Reed, the mother of the 7-year-old student, posted the haunting image on Facebook after her daughter came home following a lockdown at the Wilmington-area Odyssey Charter School on Feb. 7. Reed said it was the first school lockdown her daughter and 10-year-old son have ever experienced. She wrote they appeared to be fine once they got home.
- BusinessCar and Driver
The 20 Most Powerful Crossovers and SUVs You Can Buy in 2019
Is 400 horsepower not enough for your people- and cargo-hauler in 2019? How does 500, 600, or 700 horsepower sound? From Car and Driver
WorldReutersAfter Auschwitz visit, Pence accuses Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism
After visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, Pence said the Nazi death camp had made him more determined to confront Tehran, saying it was "breathing out murderous threats, with the same vile anti-Semitic hatred that animated the Nazis in Europe." Iran's ancient Jewish community has slumped to an estimated 10,000 to 20,000 from 85,000 at the time of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, but is believed to be the biggest in the Middle East outside Israel. Pence, who said he was deeply moved by his Auschwitz visit, cited Iran's stated desire to destroy Israel as justification for singling out the country, rather than focusing on anti-Semitism across the Middle East. Iranian Brigadier General Hossein Salami, deputy head of the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in January Iran's strategy was to wipe "the Zionist regime" (Israel) off the political map, Iran's state TV reported.
PoliticsAssociated PressNOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week
CLAIM: U.S. Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez took a $10 million payout from Netflix THE FACTS: Netflix did not pay Ocasio-Cortez $10 million for a documentary about her run for Congress, despite posts circulating widely online. The posts followed the streaming giant's reported $10 million purchase earlier this month of worldwide rights to "Knock Down the House," a documentary featuring Ocasio-Cortez and three other candidates who ran against incumbents in the 2018 midterm elections. Rachel Lear, director of the documentary, told The Associated Press in an email that "none of our film subjects received or will receive any payment for participating in this project."
- PoliticsBloomberg
Mueller Urges That Manafort Serve Up to 24 Years for Fraud
Special Counsel Robert Mueller recommended that Paul Manafort serve as much as a quarter century in prison for his convictions last year on tax- and bank-fraud charges, seeking what is effectively a life sentence for the 69-year-old former Trump campaign chairman. Mueller's prosecutors urged U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III in Alexandria, Virginia, to hammer Manafort for using untaxed income hidden offshore to support a lavish lifestyle and for cheating banks when he was desperate for cash. Manafort acted for more than a decade as if he were above the law, and deprived the federal government and various financial institutions of millions of dollars,” prosecutors wrote to Ellis Friday.
BusinessYahoo NewsOcasio-Cortez takes a victory lap after Amazon scraps plans to build in New York
The freshman Democratic representative celebrated online retailer Amazon's decision Thursday to scrap its plans to build a new headquarters in her New York City district. “I think it's incredible,” Ocasio-Cortez responded when asked to comment on Amazon's about-face. Earlier Thursday, the company announced it was reversing the plan, announced in November, to build new East Coast headquarters buildings in New York City and in Arlington, Va. The Virginia part of the plan will go ahead.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Modi says Pakistan will pay 'huge price' for Kashmir bombing
India's prime minister yesterday accused Pakistan of involvement in the suicide bombing that killed 44 paramilitary police in Kashmir on Thursday, and warned of a dire response. Narendra Modi said the neighbouring country had made a "huge mistake" for which it will pay a "huge price". Speaking after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, Mr Modi declared that India's security forces had been given "full freedom" to respond to the attack.
NewsAFP Relax NewsBentley Bentayga Speed: an SUV as luxurious as it is powerful
On Thursday Bentley unveiled the Bentayga Speed, an SUV with a top speed of 190 mph and 0- 62mph acceleration time of 3.9 seconds. Bentley celebrated its Valentine's Day by announcing what it calls the "world's fastest, most luxurious SUV:" the Bentayga Speed. Naturally, the 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 engine is the star of this Speed-styled Bentayga; this model brings the top speed up to 190 mph from the standard Bentayga's 187 mph -- now just barely faster than the Lamborghini Urus by 0.5 mph -- while producing 626 hp and 662 lb.
- WorldAssociated Press Videos
Sunken WWII U.S. carrier discovered in Pacific
At a depth of nearly 17,500 feet, a research vessel funded by the late Seattle billionaire Paul Allen has discovered the wreckage of an American aircraft carrier sunk in the South Pacific during World War II. Feb.
- NewsUSA TODAY
More rain, snow expected in storm-battered California, following days of mudslides and floods
Although the worst of the storm had moved well inland Friday, forecasters said some leftover showers and snow was still likely to fall across the state on Friday and Saturday. The higher elevations of the Sierra could see an additional 3 to 6 feet of snow over the next few days, on top of the 3 feet that fell Thursday, the National Weather Service said. So much snow has fallen in the area that cities are running out of places to put the snow, according to Kevin Cooper of Lake Tahoe TV In Southern California, officials said rain-drenched hillsides could still loosen and collapse, bringing down mud, boulders and debris.
NewsAssociated PressParkland shooting victims are remembered in silence
Students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High and other schools across the U.S. bowed their heads in a moment of silence and took part in volunteer projects Thursday to mark the anniversary of the shooting rampage that claimed 17 lives. Fewer than 300 of the 3,200 students at the high school showed up for what was only a half-day, with classes cut short so that the teenagers would not be there around 2:20 p.m., the traumatic moment last year when gunfire erupted. Senior Spencer Bloom skipped school to spend the day with students from the history class he was in during the shooting.
WorldReutersIran rejects anti-Semitism allegation by Pence
Iran on Saturday rejected accusations of anti-Semitism leveled against it by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, saying it respected Judaism but opposed Israel, which Tehran said was acting like a "killing machine against the Palestinians". Pence accused Iran of Nazi-like anti-Semitism on Friday after visiting the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland, maintaining his harsh rhetoric just a day after attacking European powers for trying to undermine U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. "Iran's historic and cultural record of coexistence and respect for divine religions, particularly Judaism, is recorded in reliable historic documents of various nations," Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi said.
ScienceAFPNASA heading back to Moon soon, and this time to stay
NASA is accelerating plans to return Americans to the Moon, and this time, the US space agency says it will be there to stay. Jim Bridenstine, NASA's administrator, told reporters Thursday that the agency plans to speed up plans backed by President Donald Trump to return to the moon, using private companies. "It's important that we get back to the moon as fast as possible," said Bridenstine in a meeting at NASA's Washington headquarters, adding he hoped to have astronauts back there by 2028.
- WorldBloomberg
IMF Prepares for Maduro's Exit as Cash Shortage Bites
The International Monetary Fund expects Nicolas Maduro's government in Venezuela to fall before too long as a result of U.S. sanctions and its exclusion from global oil markets, according to an official familiar with the matter. The dynamic toward a transition under Juan Guaido, the U.S.-backed leader of Venezuela's National Assembly, should accelerate as Venezuela's cash dwindles with India the only remaining buyer for its oil, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The staying power and vested interests of the Venezuelan military, which is backing Maduro's government, remain a barrier to change, the official said.
- U.S.KTXL - Sacramento
`Going Away Party` for School Shutting Down Because of Student`s Death Causes Controversy
Some parents are outraged a California school for kids with special needs is holding a "going away party" after one of its own students died after being restrained by staff.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
Our Favorite Eco-friendly Finds Put Sustainable Materials to Stylish Use
- NewsThe Telegraph
Employee being fired fatally shoots 5 co-workers with 'laser-sighted pistol' in Illinois
A 15-year employee being fired from a suburban Chicago manufacturing company opened fire with a laser-sighted pistol on Friday, killing five co-workers and wounding five police officers before he was killed by police, authorities said. Aurora, Illinois, Police Chief Kristen Ziman said 45-year-old Gary Martin "was being terminated" before he started shooting at the Henry Pratt Co. - which makes valves for industrial purposes - in the city about 40 miles west of Chicago. She told a news conference that in addition to the five employees killed, a sixth worker was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening.
NewsAssociated PressVirginia governor asks lawmakers to focus on budget 'equity'
Embattled Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam asked lawmakers Thursday to pass a state budget that has a "greater focus on issues of equity" as he tries to move past a blackface scandal that nearly ended his governorship. Northam met with a group of state legislators to discuss the budget and sent them a letter outlining his priorities as the GOP-led General Assembly puts the final touches on its state spending plan. Top among them, Northam said, are increased funding for struggling schools and more spending to decrease the number of evictions.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
United Airlines: Three new routes for fast-growing Denver hub
United Airlines will add three new domestic routes at its Denver hub. Daily flights to Greenville/Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Syracuse, New York, will begin June 6 and will operate year-round. All three of the new routes will go head-to-head against service offered by Denver-based budget rival Frontier Airlines.
