- PoliticsYahoo News
Pompeo savaged by Democrats on Capitol Hill over coronavirus, Iran
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faced intense criticism Friday from Democrats on Capitol Hill, who questioned him on the Trump administration's response to the growing coronavirus threat, as well as the persistent threat from foes like Iran. “I don't think you're telling us the truth,” said Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, speaking specifically of last month's killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, which the administration has struggled to justify. Rep. Ted Deutch, D-Fla., made a similar point about the administration's coronavirus response, wondering how Americans could trust a president who has a long history of saying things that are demonstrably untrue.
- PoliticsYahoo News
New Yahoo News/YouGov poll: Who is strongest against Trump? Must-win states and swing voters show Biden holds edge over Sanders
A new Yahoo News/YouGov poll suggests that Sanders could be a riskier nominee than his supporters are willing to admit. In a national trial heat with Trump, Sanders led 48 percent to 42 percent among registered voters. Yet when the playing field was narrowed to the 10 states that were closest in the 2016 presidential election and that will likely decide 2020 — Michigan, New Hampshire, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, Maine, North Carolina and Arizona — Sanders's lead over Trump was slashed in half (48 percent to 45 percent).
WorldAFPVatican opens archives on history's most controversial pope
The Vatican unseals the archives of history's most contentious popes on Monday, potentially shedding light on why Pius XII stayed silent during the extermination of six million Jews in the Holocaust. Award-winning German religious historian Hubert Wolf will be in Rome on Monday, armed with six assistants and two years of funding to start exploring documents from the "private secretariat" of the late pope. Wolf, a specialist on the relationship of Pius XII with the Nazis, is anxious to discover the notes of the his 70 ambassadors -- the pontiff's eyes and ears during his time as head of the Catholic Church between 1939 and his death in 1958.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Embattled Chris Matthews Left Out of MSNBC’s S.C. Primary Coverage
A day after he was accused of sexual harassment by a journalist, MSNBC decided to keep host Chris Matthews off its airwaves during coverage of the South Carolina primary results. Matthews is normally a fixture of election night coverage, which made his absence on Saturday all the more notable. A week ago, Matthews likened Sen Bernie Sanders' (I-VT) victory in the Nevada caucuses to France falling to the Nazis in World War II. He apologized to Sanders—who is Jewish and whose family lost members in the Holocaust—but quickly shoved his foot in his mouth again.
- ScienceNBC News
Spooky 'blood snow' invades Antarctic island
It's summer in Antarctica, which means record-high temperatures, jarring glacial melt and — in a very metal symbol of our changing climate — a bit of blood-red snow spattered across the Antarctic Peninsula. Over the past several weeks, the ice around Ukraine's Vernadsky Research Base (located on Galindez Island, off the coast of Antarctica's northernmost peninsula) has been coated in what researchers are calling "raspberry snow." A Facebook post by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine shows the scene in full detail: streaks of red and pink slashing across the edges of glaciers and puddling on the frosty plains.
- U.S.USA TODAY
More than 30,000 pounds of yogurt spilled on New York highway after accident
A tractor trailer carrying more than 30,000 pounds of yogurt in western New York jackknifed on a highway Thursday afternoon, causing the packs of yogurt to spill onto the roadway. The incident occurred as the truck was heading westbound on I-86 in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua County, near the Pennsylvania border. A second tractor-trailer struck the disabled first truck and then hit the guiderail, State Police said.
- WorldThe National Interest
Why the Navy's New Lrasm Missile Would Be a Real Ship-Killer
On October 11, 1967, the Israeli destroyer Eilat was sunk by three P15 cruise missiles fired by two dinky sixty-one-ton patrol boats of the Egyptian Navy firing from nearly twenty miles away. The realization dawned on navies across the world that long-range “over-the-horizon” missiles had replaced the gun, torpedo and aerial bomb as the preeminent antiship weapon in naval warfare. A decade later, the U.S. Navy debuted the AGM-84 Harpoon missile, a subsonic sea-skimming weapon with a 488-pound warhead that came in variants that could fire from a ship, a submarine or an airplane.
- WorldAssociated Press
Attacks on Indian reporters highlight growing intolerance
Reporting in India has never been without its risks, but journalists say attacks on the press during last week's deadly communal riots between Hindus and Muslims in New Delhi show the situation is deteriorating. One reporter was shot and survived, another had his teeth knocked out, and many more said Hindu mobs demanded proof of religion and tried to keep them from documenting vandalism and violence that included people attacking one another with axes, swords, metal pipes and guns. Authorities have yet to provide an official account of what sparked the 72-hour clash that left 42 people dead and hundreds wounded, though tensions between Hindus and Muslims have been building for months over a new citizenship law.
- U.S.The Guardian
UC Santa Cruz fires 54 graduate students participating in months-long strike
The University of California, Santa Cruz, issued termination letters on Friday to 54 graduate students who have been waging a months-long strike for a cost-of-living-adjustment amid soaring rents. The firings came as graduate students at the University of California, Davis, and University of California, Santa Barbara, began their own cost-of-living strikes in solidarity. One of their demands is that all UC Santa Cruz graduate workers who participated in strike activities be restored to full employment status.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
25 Glass Coffee Tables for Any and Every Living Room
Could we be any clearer? Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
- PoliticsYahoo News
Donald Trump Jr. accuses Democrats of hoping coronavirus 'kills millions of people'
Amid growing fears of a coronavirus outbreak in the United States, Donald Trump Jr. accused Democrats on Friday of hoping that the disease kills millions of Americans to thwart his father's chances of reelection. “Anything that they can use to try to hurt Trump, they will,” Trump Jr. said on “Fox & Friends.” Congressional Democrats and some Republicans have criticized the Trump administration — which slashed spending for epidemic preparedness in its first budget — for lack of preparedness for the coronavirus outbreak, but there are no reports of Democrats rooting for people to die from it.
- PoliticsThe Week
Americans of all parties agree: Joe Biden is old, Michael Bloomberg is rich
Independents and Republicans were far more likely to describe him as "gay," as well as "inexperienced," and "centrist." Philanthropist Tom Steyer was more overwhelmingly described as "rich" by Democrats, while independents and Republicans opted for "inexperienced." While former Vice President Joe Biden scored some mentions of "good person" among Democrats, he mostly got "old."
- U.S.The Independent
Man whose son was found encased in cement sentenced to 72 years in prison
A Colorado man whose seven-year-old son was repeatedly abused before being found encased in concrete in a Denver storage unit has been sentenced to 72 years in prison for the death. Leland Pankey received the sentence on Friday, with one count of child abuse landing him 48 years in prison and 24 years for tampering with the body. The man's wife, Elisha Pankey, is awaiting sentencing in April after pleading guilty to similar charges, according to the Denver Post.
- WorldNBC News
Why is Iran's reported mortality rate for coronavirus higher than in other countries?
Iran has the highest reported number of deaths from the coronavirus outside China, raising questions about how the government is handling the public health crisis and whether the often secretive regime has been fully transparent about the extent of the outbreak. Iran's health ministry spokesman said on Friday that 34 Iranians have died out of a total of 388 positive cases. Iran has now suspended parliament indefinitely due to the outbreak.
- WorldYahoo News Video
According to the U.S. Navy, Chinese ship fired laser at American aircraft
A Chinese Navy ship fired a laser at a U.S. surveillance aircraft flying over the Philippine Sea west of Guam, the Navy said Thursday, acknowledging the incident more than a week after it happened.
WorldAFP'Are we in Greece?': Migrants seize their chance in Europe quest
Some attempt to cut through a barbed wire fence while others hunt for wood and rocks to throw at police. The thousands of migrants at the Kastanies border town between Turkey and Greece are desperate to reach Europe and furious with Greeks who "won't open the gates". Hundreds of Greek soldiers and armed police have fired tear gas in an attempt to hold back what they fear could become a flood of people trying to cross the border.
- WorldAssociated Press
Serbia passes law in response to missing babies scandal
Serbian lawmakers on Saturday approved a long-awaited law that aims to shed light on the fate of hundreds of children whose parents fear might have been stolen from birth clinics throughout the Balkan country. Two lawmakers abstained. The high number of absent lawmakers was unrelated to the bill, but an ongoing boycott of parliament sessions by opposition parties and other reasons.
- WorldThe National Interest
Russia Now Has 'Cruise-Missile Killer' Missiles
On February 26, Russian's VKS took their first delivery of the new S-350 “Vityaz” surface-to-air missile (SAM) system. The S-350 has received increasingly intense media coverage through 2019 as it came closer to entering service. The majority of this has focused on the S-350s anti-cruise missile capability.
- WorldUSA TODAY
Historic peace deal in Afghanistan reached with Taliban, allowing withdrawal of US troops
WASHINGTON – U.S. and Taliban negotiators signed an historic agreement Saturday in Qatar that could end 19 years of war in Afghanistan and allow President Donald Trump to begin the promised withdrawal of American troops. The four-page pact spells out a timetable for the United States to withdraw its 13,000 troops from Afghanistan; in exchange, the Taliban agreed to sever its ties with al Qaeda, the terrorist group that launched the Sept. attacks against the U.S. “Everybody's tired of war,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
- U.S.Yahoo News
New coronavirus cases in Northern California raise alarm
A second case of coronavirus spread by community transmission was reported in Northern California on Friday, and a student at the University of California, Davis, was being tested for infection with the virus. A 65-year-old resident of Santa Clara County, which encompasses most of Silicon Valley, was diagnosed with the virus. The patient has not traveled recently to countries experiencing outbreaks, meaning the infection was contracted locally, implying that the virus is spreading domestically.
- PoliticsBusiness Insider
Trump says he's ordering 'a lot of different elements of medical' to deal with coronavirus
President Donald Trump said on Friday that the US is ordering many supplies to prepare for a possible outbreak of coronavirus within the country's borders. Among those supplies, he said, are "a lot of different elements of medical." President Donald Trump is on top of handling the US's response to a potential pandemic as the deadly coronavirus sweeps the globe.
- U.S.USA TODAY Opinion
Biden's South Carolina win gives me hope that Democrats will reject Sanders and beat Trump
Heading for the lifeboats just days ago Presidential campaigns area like small boats in high seas, buffeted by massive waves of political momentum. A candidacy that looks dead in the water in December, like John Kerry's in the 2004 cycle, can be cruising to the nomination in March. And a smooth sailing front-runner, like Hillary Clinton in 2008, can be capsized by reality when voters start trudging to caucuses in the Iowa winter.
- U.S.The Daily Beast
Crazy Custody Battle With Doomsday Mom’s Niece Airs Claims of Cults, Child-Stealing, and Attempted Murder
The investigation into the disappearance of doomsday mom Lori Vallow's children has exposed a bitter, mudslinging custody battle between her niece and the niece's ex-husband—with allegations of cult membership, child-stealing, and attempted murder. The fight is being waged between Melani Pawlowski and Brandon Boudreaux, an Arizona couple who were married with four children until things started to get very strange in the summer of 2019. That's when, according to Boudreaux, his wife began spending a lot of time with Vallow, her aunt, and joined what he called a doomsday cult.
- U.S.Bloomberg
Trump Team Testing ‘Off-the-Shelf’ Drugs to Cure Coronavirus
A national lab in Tennessee recently made “an important discovery” involving existing drugs, Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. “The scientists at our Oak Ridge National Laboratory were able to look at the protein strains and determine -- perhaps, it's still early -- that we can find some off-the-shelf drugs that can help us not only cure the disease but stop the spread of the infection,” Brouillette said. Brouillette was responding to a question about what his agency is doing to help combat the virus, which has caused markets to plunge and killed nearly 3,000 people across the globe.
WorldAFPNo going back: Bali's Chinese tourists fear virus-hit homeland
Hundreds of Chinese tourists on vacation in Bali are scrambling to avoid going home, fearing both infection from the deadly new coronavirus and Beijing's handling of the epidemic. Concerns over the rapidly-spreading outbreak prompted Indonesia to shut down all flights to and from China this month, hammering the bottom lines of restaurants, hotels, travel agents and interpreters on the popular resort island. But with more than 2,800 dead from the COVID-19 illness on the Chinese mainland, and entire cities under lockdown, immigration officials in Bali say nearly a thousand Chinese nationals have applied for emergency visa extensions.
“There may be some really big pardons coming soon and this may, if you will, soften the public for what’s coming.”
“It was the latest extraordinary example of untamed executive power that suggests the President is feeling invincible now.”
“More than anything else, the pardons aim to discredit the idea of federal anti-corruption prosecution itself.”
“The fact that Blagojevich was a Democrat makes it all the better...Trump wants to convince you that everyone is dirty.”
“The pardons were entirely personal in origin, and so the granting of them was exclusively an exercise of Trump’s own power.”
