Pompeo appeared to coordinate with Giuliani on Ukraine, new documents show

WASHINGTON — “Pls have Mr. G bring the documents,” reads the March 27, 2019, email from a State Department official to someone who worked for “Mr. G.,” better known as former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, a central figure in the Ukraine pressure campaign that culminated in the impeachment of President Trump. “S is happy to meet with him tomorrow for 10 minutes,” went an email, apparently between State Department officials, the next day (both sender and recipient are redacted, though the title “Office Manager to the Secretary of State” is visible in the sender's signature). “S” was Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is suspected by Democrats to have had a more central role in that Ukrainian campaign than has yet been publicly acknowledged.

California woman, boyfriend accused of killing 3 roommates over rent argument

Police have arrested a 20-year-old woman and her boyfriend, both of whom are accused of killing her roommates over a possible rent dispute in a Southern California home. The couple, Jordan Guzman and her boyfriend Anthony McCloud, 18, were  arrested Thursday after police alerted authorities in Las Vegas to a missing car belonging to one of the victims, 18-year-old Trinity Clyde. The three victims – Clyde, Wendy Lopez-Araiza, 46, and her daughter, Genesis Lopez-Araiza, 21 – were found dead Wednesday in their home in Hemet, about 76 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

China sentences Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai to 10 years

A Chinese court has sentenced Swedish book publisher Gui Minhai to 10 years in prison on charges of illegally providing intelligence abroad in a case that has rattled relations between Beijing and Stockholm. Gui, one of five Hong Kong-based booksellers known for publishing salacious titles about Chinese political leaders, was snatched by Chinese authorities while on a train to Beijing in February 2018, the second time he disappeared into Chinese custody. The court in the eastern city of Ningbo said Gui was convicted on Monday and that he had his Chinese citizenship reinstated in 2018, but it was not immediately clear if he had given up his Swedish nationality.

Nine of the World’s Most Beautiful Outdoor Saunas

From Seattle to Oslo, these outdoor saunas take relaxation and high-design to the next level Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest

Biden campaign runs South Carolina ad accusing Sanders of trying to undermine Obama's re-election

Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign team is going after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) for reportedly once going after Biden's old boss. The Biden campaign unveiled a new digital ad Monday that's tied to a story published The Atlantic last week that reported Sanders seriously considered launching a primary challenge against former President Barack Obama in 2012. When word got around to the Oval Office, it reportedly sent Obama's re-election campaign team into a panic.

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  Bernie Sanders says it's 'unfair' to say everything Fidel Castro did was bad, condemns his 'authoritarian nature'

  The Week
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  Rahm Emanuel: Bernie Sanders needs moderate voters to beat Trump

  CBS News Videos

Iran Prepares to Suffer the Wrath of the Coronavirus

The spread of coronavirus has rapidly come to the Middle East after almost two months of being mostly contained in China, where it has killed more than two thousand people. Iran's leadership has responded by either ignoring the crisis or denying that it exists, even as all of Iran's neighboring countries have closed the borders that they share with Iran and began to institute checks on Iranians traveling abroad. The reaction of Middle Eastern states reveals a lack of coordination in responding to the emerging crises and also creates questions about what kind of impact a virus can have on a region that has deep divisions and smoldering conflicts.

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  Coronavirus Outbreak: Death toll in Iran is now at 50, news agency says

  KTRK – Houston
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  Coronavirus Cases Soar to Alarming Numbers in Italy, South Korea and Iran with Hundreds Infected

  People

China said it would relax its lockdown of Wuhan's 11 million residents, only to immediately reintroduce it

Wuhan announced on Monday that some people who are deemed healthy will be allowed to leave the city, whose transport links have been severed since January 23. China's decision to lock down Wuhan and nearby cities is the largest quarantine in human history, with the World Health Organization calling it an unprecedented step that's it's not sure will work. The Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, relaxed the unprecedented quarantine restrictions on its 11 million citizens on Monday, only to almost immediately reverse that decision and reimpose the lockdown of the city.

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  Coronavirus: Wuhan evacuees leave UK quarantine as 30 others from virus-hit cruise ship begin isolation

  The Independent
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  As the coronavirus goes global, what should we expect?

  The Telegraph

Mars lander confirms quakes, even aftershocks on red planet

NASA's newest Mars lander has confirmed that quakes and even aftershocks are regularly jolting the red planet. Scientists reported Monday that the seismometer from the InSight spacecraft has detected scores of marsquakes. The overall tally has since jumped to more than 450 marsquakes, most of them small, InSight's lead scientist, Bruce Banerdt of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in an email.

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  Nasa reveals ‘really exciting’ first findings from underneath Martian surface

  The Independent
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  Trembling Mars gives up more seismic secrets

  AFP

Bloomberg pays $2,500 a month to grassroots campaigners

Democratic presidential hopeful Mike Bloomberg's efforts to take social media by storm by paying people to post about him may not be working out, according to the L.A. Times.

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  It looks like people with no real interest in Bloomberg are signing up to be grassroots campaigners because he pays $2,500 a month

  Business Insider
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  Twitter suspends 70 pro-Michael Bloomberg accounts citing its 'platform manipulation' rule

  USA TODAY

A California man drove his Jeep off the roof of a six-level parking garage and crashed into a McDonald's, police say

Police in California are investigating after a man drove his Jeep off the roof of a six-level parking garage and into a McDonald's across the street. Police responded just after midnight Sunday and found a newer-model Jeep against a building, the Santa Monica Police Department said in a press release. The Santa Monica Fire Department reported it received information that the Jeep had been driven off the top of a parking garage.

Probe into abuse at America's oldest deaf school finds 'appalling truths'

An investigation into inappropriate conduct at America's oldest school for deaf people corroborated multiple allegations of sexual and physical abuse that stretched decades, school officials said. In a report, officials at the American School for the Deaf, in West Hartford, Connecticut, said Friday that the allegations involved former dorm supervisors, a maintenance worker, a dean and the school's longtime executive director. "The results of this investigation reveal startling and appalling truths," Executive Director Jeffrey S. Bravin and Catherine Burns, president of the board of directors, said in the report.

Washington pledges $1 billion for coronavirus vaccine as pandemic risks grow

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump will seek $2.5 billion from Congress to fight the coronavirus epidemic and U.S. and South Korean militaries are considering scaling back joint training as the virus spreads in Europe and the Middle East. Countries around the world are stepping up efforts to prevent a pandemic of the flu-like virus that originated from China late last year and has now infected more than 80,000 people, 10 times more cases than the SARS coronavirus. The White House said more than $1 billion of the requested virus budget would go toward developing a vaccine, while other funds would be used for therapeutics and the stockpiling of personal protective equipment such as masks.

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  WHO Head Warns of ‘Potential Pandemic’ after Initially Praising China’s Response to Coronavirus

  National Review
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  Coronavirus outbreak not a global pandemic yet: WHO

  Yahoo Finance Video

Chris Wallace Relentlessly Grills Top Pence Aide on Russia Briefing: ‘You Say None of This Happened?!’

Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, struggled during a pair of Sunday morning talk show appearances as he was grilled relentlessly over the White House's assertion that Acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire wasn't fired over a House briefing on Russian interference in the 2020 election to assist President Donald Trump. In an interview on Fox News Sunday, after host Chris Wallace asked why Trump was attacking Democrats over the Russia story, Short insisted early on that “there's no intelligence that said the Russians are trying to help Donald Trump win elections,” prompting Wallace to immediately push back.

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  National security adviser Robert O'Brien disputes Russian meddling to favor Trump's reelection

  ABC News
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  Claims of Russian Election Meddling Are Still a Scam

  National Review

Trump Admin. Considers Booting Chinese Reporters in Response to ‘Egregious’ Expulsion of WSJ Journalists: Report

The Trump administration is considering whether to expel Chinese journalists in response to China's own expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters, Bloomberg News reported on Monday. A meeting will be held at the White House on Monday to discuss the administration's options. The meeting will be led by deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who himself was a Journal reporter based in Beijing.

Islamic Jihad renews rocket fire on Israel amid ongoing air strikes

Islamic Jihad resumed firing rockets at Israel from Gaza Monday night amid ongoing Israeli air strikes, damaging hopes for an end to a two-day flare-up a week before the Jewish state's election. The militant Islamist group announced Monday evening it had ceased firing rockets but backtracked about an hour later after Israel continued striking its forces in the Gaza Strip. "We announced the end of our military response...

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  Gaza: Israeli army filmed dragging corpse of suspected militant with bulldozer, as cross-border violence surges

  The Independent
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  Israeli jets strike targets in Syria and Gaza

  Reuters Videos

North Korea has yet to officially report any coronavirus cases. But it just quarantined 380 foreigners.

Kyodo News via Getty Images Three-hundred eighty foreigners in Pyongyang, North Korea, have been placed in medical quarantine, state media reported Monday. The isolated, secretive country has yet to announce any cases of the novel coronavirus. On February 19, the World Health Organization announced it had "no indications" North Korea was facing an outbreak.

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  Cruise can now transport passengers in self-driving cars in CA

  TechCrunch
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  Japan govt panel experts say ship quarantine was not perfect

  Associated Press

Tennessee continues push for executions, setting 2 more

Tennessee on Monday set two new execution dates, days after putting to death its seventh inmate in the past year and a half. The Tennessee Supreme Court ordered an Oct. 8 execution date for Byron Black and a Dec. 3 execution date for Pervis Payne. Black was convicted by a Nashville court of murdering his girlfriend Angela Clay and her daughters Latoya, 9, and Lakesha, 6, at their home in 1988.

14 products dermatologists recommend for soothing redness and rosacea

To help you tackle red, irritated skin, we consulted top dermatologists for their favorite products. "This cleanser is very gentle on reactive or sensitive skin, which most patients with rosacea have. It also contains feverfew, an ingredient known to decrease redness and help with irritation," said Noelani González, MD, director of cosmetic dermatology at Mount Sinai West in New York City.

With mask and hashtags, Ukraine minister fights coronavirus rumors from quarantine

When Ukraine Health Minister Zoriana Skaletska felt her messages about the coronavirus epidemic were not cutting through, she decided to join nearly 100 people in a quarantine facility to stop panic from spreading among the general public. Ukraine has not recorded a single coronavirus case but the arrival last week of a planeload of evacuees from China, none of whom are believed to be infected, sparked violent protests outside the sanatorium where they were housed. Skaletska moved into the facility for the duration of their two-week quarantine.

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  Coronavirus: British couple evacuated from cruise ship are 'in a really bad way'

  Yahoo News UK
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  Coronavirus: Four new UK cases confirmed as cruise ship evacuees test positive

  The Independent

Idaho's governor says he's hoping to speed up the extradition of doomsday mom Lori Vallow so she can face charges connected to her 2 missing kids

Idaho Gov. Brad Little said he's hoping to speed up the process of bringing doomsday mom Lori Vallow back from Hawaii. Vallow, who's two children have been missing since September, was arrested on charges related to their disappearance last week. Idaho Gov. Brad Little said he's hoping to speed up the extradition process to get doomsday prepper Lori Vallow back from Hawaii to face trial for charges connected to the disappearance of her two children.

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  Lori Vallow's Niece Allegedly Knows Where 2 Missing Kids Are, Says Ex  — as Video of Son Surfaces

  People
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  Lori Vallow: Tracking the Movements of Idaho Mom Now Under Arrest After Her 2 Kids Went Missing

  People

Susan Collins Breaks With Trump on Director of National Intelligence Pick

Republican Senator Susan Collins, a senior member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Monday rejected President Trump's pick to lead the intelligence community, saying Richard Grenell does not have the experience to serve as director of national intelligence. “I would have much preferred that the president nominate the acting director Maguire for the post,” Collins said, referring to the former director of national intelligence, Joseph Maguire. “As one of the four authors of the law that created the DNI back in 2004, I care deeply about that position and believe the person needs experience in the intelligence community, which regrettably Ambassador Grenell does not have,” Collins continued.

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  Officials Dispute Briefing on 2020 Russian Interference Favoring Trump: ‘The Intelligence Doesn’t Say That’

  National Review
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  Trump security adviser slammed for 'politicizing intelligence' on Russian meddling

  The Guardian

Crackdown on immigrants using public benefits takes effect

With new rules taking effect on Monday that disqualify more people from green cards if they use government benefits, droves of immigrants, including citizens and legal residents, have dropped social services they or their children may be entitled to out of fear they will be kicked out of the United States.