WorldReutersIslamic State's 'caliphate' on brink of defeat in Syria
Trump has sworn to pull U.S. forces from Syria after Islamic State's territorial defeat, raising questions over the fate of Washington's Kurdish allies and Turkish involvement in northeast Syria. As the SDF advanced under heavy U.S. airstrikes in recent days, a stream of civilians fled the few square miles of hamlets and farmland that remain within Islamic State's 'caliphate', along with defeated jihadists trying to escape unnoticed. Though Islamic State fighters still hold out in a pocket of central Syria's remote desert, and have gone underground as sleeper cells in Iraqi cities, able to launch new attacks, their territorial rule is, for now, almost over.
NewsAFPMultiple wounded, at least one dead in US shooting
At least one person was killed and several others, including police officers, were wounded on Friday when a gunman opened fire in an industrial area on the outskirts of Chicago. US media reported that the suspected gunman was killed soon after police and federal agents flooded a manufacturing complex in Aurora, Illinois -- 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of central Chicago. Witnesses said they had locked themselves into nearby buildings as a man in his 30s or 40s began firing off rounds.
- PoliticsThe 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.
WorldAssociated PressPompeo visits Iceland as US-EU rift on Iran grows
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrapped up a five-nation tour of Europe in Iceland on Friday after the Trump administration launched a scathing attack on the European Union over its approach to Iran. Pompeo was in the Icelandic capital for talks with officials on enhancing trade, Arctic policy, threats posed by Russia and other NATO security issues. Pompeo noted that he was the first secretary of state to visit Reykjavik since 2008 and, as he did at previous stops in Hungary and Slovakia, said the U.S. was re-engaging with allies that it had neglected over the past decade.
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.
- 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.
- 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
WorldAFPIS teen's wish to return stirs UK debate over jihadi brides
A pregnant London schoolgirl's wish to return home after joining the Islamic State group in Syria splintered Britain on Friday as reports emerged of more UK women fleeing the war zone. Shamima Begum's fate has prompted soul searching in Britain since she and two friends created international headlines by running away to join the terror network in 2015. Home Secretary Sajid Javid told The Times newspaper that people like Begum "were full of hate for our country".
- U.S.WLS – Chicago
Aurora shooting victims: What we know about those killed in Henry Pratt warehouse shooting
Five employees were fatally shot when a gunman opened fire Friday inside a sprawling manufacturing warehouse in Aurora, Illinois.
- PoliticsYahoo News
A national emergency has been declared. Now what?
On Friday morning, President Trump declared a national emergency in order to secure funding for a border wall, triggering what will likely be a long legal battle before anything is built. Trump's statement outlined a scenario that would likely end at the Supreme Court, where he expects to prevail. “I didn't need to do this,” said Trump who compromised on the border deal Thursday, effectively averting another government shutdown.
NewsReuters5 killed as gunman opens fire at Illinois warehouse
A gunman opened fire in an industrial warehouse in Aurora, Illinois, on Friday, killing five people and wounding five police officers before he was slain, law enforcement officials said. Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman said the gunman, identified as Gary Martin, 45, was an employee at the industrial complex. Please avoid the area," the Aurora Police Department said in a tweet shortly after 2 p.m. CST, adding that additional details would be forthcoming.
- WorldThe Independent
US 'tells India it respects its right to self-defence' after cross-border militant attack kills 44 paramilitary police
The US has supported India's right to “self defence” against cross-border terrorism after an attack claimed by Pakistan-based militants killed at least 44 police officers in the disputed territory of Kashmir. In comments that will please Indian hawks but also raise fears that tensions between India and Pakistan could escalate yet further, US national security advisor John Bolton reportedly told his counterpart in Delhi, that America “offered all assistance to India” to bring the perpetrators of the attack to justice. Mr Bolton and Ajit Doval also “resolved to hold Pakistan to account for its obligations under UN resolutions”, India's foreign ministry said in a statement.
WorldAssociated PressCardinal expects 'significant progress' at sex abuse summit
The U.S. archbishop helping to organize next week's summit of the world's bishops at the Vatican on sexual abuse by clergy said Thursday he expects to make "significant progress" in responding to the scandal that's riven the church, and that lay Catholics will help to hold the hierarchy accountable. Chicago Cardinal Blase Cupich told The Associated Press in a phone interview that the Feb. 21-24 prevention summit, convened by Pope Francis, is necessary for all global Catholic church leaders to understand they must act and be accountable to the victims for the abuse cases stretching back decades. "I think there is understandable frustration on that level," said Cupich, hand-picked by Francis to help organize the summit.
- WorldBloomberg
U.K. Spy Warns Against Triumphalism Over Islamic State Collapse
“We are not triumphant because I think from triumphant you get to hubris,” MI6 Chief Alex Younger told reporters in Munich on Friday. Younger said Islamic States's so-called caliphate was now in its “end game,” with the extremist militants clinging to the last square mile of land they hold in the village of Baghuz in eastern Syria. Meanwhile the U.K. is debating the case of Shamima Begum, a 19-year-old from east London who wants to come home despite expressing no regrets over becoming a so-called jihadi bride with Islamic State in Syria at the age of 15.
- BusinessUSA TODAY
Honda's pickup trucks recalled because they can catch fire from car wash soap
Honda is recalling more than 100,000 Ridgeline trucks because they could catch fire after being washed. The pickup trucks from model years 2017, 2018 and 2019 are affected by an issue stemming from fuel pump feed ports, which can be corroded over time by acids found in products like car wash soaps, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Corrosion can lead to cracks that may allow gas to leak out, increasing the risk of fire.
- BusinessCar and Driver
It Looks Like the Land Rover Discovery SVX Is Dead
Land Rover showed a V-8–powered Discovery SVX concept in 2017, but U.K. media are reporting it's not going to reach production. The SVX name may still be used later, the sources report. UPDATE 2/15/19: Land Rover confirmed that the Discovery SVX concept will not reach production, at least not with the planned V-8 powertrain.
BusinessAFPUS Facebook fine over privacy could be in billions: reports
A US investigation into privacy violations by Facebook could result in a record fine running to billions of dollars, media reports said Friday. The Federal Trade Commission is negotiating the terms of the penalty stemming from its investigation into whether Facebook violated a 2011 settlement with the regulator on protecting user data, the Washington Post and New York Times said, citing unnamed sources. The FTC reopened its investigation following revelations last year that personal data from tens of millions of Facebook users was hijacked by the political consultancy Cambridge Analytica as it worked on Donald Trump's presidential campaign.
- ScienceMashable
Watch a space harpoon impale a piece of space debris
To clean up the growing mess, scientists at the University of Surrey have previously tested a net to catch chunks of debris. Now, they've successfully tested out a harpoon. The video below, released Friday by the university's space center, shows a test of the experimental RemoveDEBRIS satellite as it unleashes a harpoon at a piece of solar panel, held out on a 1.5-meter boom.
- PoliticsYahoo News
2020 Vision: Buckle up, America! It's gonna be a long, crowded campaign
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., declares her candidacy for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination in Minneapolis on Sunday. Reminder: There are 362 days until the Iowa caucuses, and 633 days until the 2020 presidential election. Former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, who ran for vice president on the Libertarian Party ticket in 2016, has become the first Republican to announce a challenge to President Trump.
NewsAssociated PressChicago police release 2 men questioned in Smollett case
Chicago police released without charges two Nigerian brothers arrested on suspicion of assaulting "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett and said they have new evidence to investigate as a result of questioning them. "The individuals questioned by police in the Empire case have now been released without charging and detectives have additional investigative work to complete," Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a brief statement late Friday. Smollett, 36, said he was out getting food at a Subway sandwich shop in downtown Chicago when the attack happened.
WorldReutersU.S. raises pressure on Maduro via sanctions, aid airlift
The U.S. Treasury said it sanctioned PDVSA chief Manuel Quevedo, three top intelligence officials and Rafael Bastardo, who U.S. officials say is the head of a national police unit responsible for dozens of extrajudicial killings carried out in nighttime raids on Maduro's behalf. Separately, the U.S. State Department said on Friday it was working with the Pentagon and U.S. aid agency to fly humanitarian assistance on Saturday to Cucuta, Colombia, on the Venezuelan border. The steps are part of a wider effort by the United States to undermine Maduro, whose 2018 election it views as illegitimate and whose government it has disavowed, and to strengthen opposition leader and self-declared president Juan Guaido.
- NewsThe Independent
California braced for mudslides and torrential rain after devastating storm
Authorities have warned of the threat of mudslides after a damaging storm struck California, trapping people in floodwaters, triggering a debris flow which destroyed homes and forcing residents to flee communities scorched by wildfires last year. The powerful system swept in from the Pacific Ocean and unleashed rain, snow and wind across the US west coast into Wyoming and Colorado after walloping northern California and southern Oregon. The National Weather Service reported staggering rainfall amounts across California, including more than 24cm over 48 hours at one location in the San Bernardino Mountains east of Los Angeles.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Shamima Begum: What could happen to the Isil bride?
The way the Government has dealt with those returning to the UK from the Middle East having been involved with terrorist groups has always been a scrutinised subject. The Shamima Begum case has prompted fresh discussions over how Britain manages those returning or attempting to come back from Syria, once gripped by the tyranny of Islamic State (Isil). Ms Begum was one of three schoolgirls, along with Kadiza Sultana and Amira Abase, from Bethnal Green Academy who left the UK in February 2015.
- 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.
- 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.
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