- 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).
- WorldAssociated Press
Syria says 2 warplanes downed by Turkey as tensions soar
Syria's official news agency said two of its warplane were shot down by Turkish forces inside northwest Syria, amid a military escalation there that's led to growing direct clashes between Turkish and Syrian forces. SANA says the jets were targeted over the Idlib region, and that the four pilots ejected with parachutes and landed safely. Turkey's Defense Ministry said it had shot down two SU-24 aircraft and destroyed air defense systems after one of its aerial drones was downed.
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.
- 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.
- 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
Joe Biden crushed the South Carolina primary
Business Insider Live South Carolina primary results: We called the race for Biden shortly after polls closed – follow along live results here. Decision Desk HQ estimates that Biden will pick up at least 45 of South Carolina's 54 pledged delegates based on the results so far with Sen. Bernie Sanders earning at least 12. Catch up on live coverage from the primary: Primary coverage: Tom Steyer drops out of the 2020 presidential race Joe Biden wins the South Carolina primary, his first-ever victory in his three presidential runs Pre-primary: Bernie Sanders' promise to turn out young voters is a double-edged sword Why fears of a Bernie Sanders nomination obliterating Democrats' control of the Ho...
- PoliticsThe Week
As world freaks out about coronavirus, Trump hosts 45-minute meeting with cast of Russiagate play
As the coronavirus crisis continues, President Trump reportedly spent almost a full hour on Thursday meeting with the folks behind a play about the "Deep State." That's according to The Daily Beast, which on Thursday reported that Trump had a 45-minute meeting with the playwright and actors behind FBI Lovebirds: Undercovers, a play based on text message exchanges between former FBI lawyer Lisa Page and former FBI agent Peter Strzok, as well as their congressional testimony. An Indiegogo page for the play last year described it as showing "how they, and their Deep State colleagues, planned to take down the president of the United States."
- WorldAssociated Press
As India counts dead, brutality of Hindu-Muslim riot emerges
As the Mustafabad neighborhood of India's capital was ravaged by communal riots for three days this week, the Al-Hind Hospital turned from a community clinic into a trauma ward. Doctors like M.A. Anwar were for the first time dealing with injuries such as gunshot wounds, crushed skulls and torn genitals. I wanted to cry and scream,” he recalled.
- LifestyleArchitectural Digest
25 Glass Coffee Tables for Any and Every Living Room
Could we be any clearer? Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest
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.
- 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.
- WorldThe National Interest
Shocking: China and the CIA Both Helped Saudi Arabia Get Their Own Ballistic Missiles
Key point: Saudi Arabia wanted long-range missiles and it got them. You would be hard pressed to find two more determined foes of Iran other than Saudi Arabia and Israel. The latter country has long been perturbed by bellicose anti-Israeli rhetoric from Tehran, and has unleashed hundreds of air strikes and artillery bombardments targeting Iran's efforts to arm Hezbollah forces in Lebanon and Syria.
- 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.
- WorldReuters
New coronavirus case confirmed at Tenerife hotel on lockdown
An Italian national staying at a hotel in Tenerife which has been placed on lockdown after four cases of the coronavirus were detected has tested positive for the virus, regional health authorities confirmed on Saturday. The Italian national, part of the same group as the four original cases at the H10 Costa Adeje Palace Hotel, has been in isolation in a hotel room since Feb. 24 and will be taken to hospital, the Canary Islands' regional health authorities said, adding the Italian was "in good state of health". It brings the total number of active cases in the Canary Islands to six - five in Tenerife and one in La Gomera.
- PoliticsUSA TODAY
'This campaign has taken off.' Biden's blowout win in South Carolina could reshape nomination fight
WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden had staked his presidential campaign on South Carolina, a state with a high share of black voters President Barack Obama won twelve years ago by a better than two-to-one margin. The 77-year-old, three-time presidential candidate emerged from South Carolina with such a convincing lead in exit polls that cable networks projected his victory before a single vote had been counted. The blowout was Biden's first win in a presidential primary, and though it was expected it couldn't have come at a more important moment.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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 Week
There are now 4 coronavirus cases of unknown origin in the U.S.
There are now four presumptive cases of the coronavirus with no known origin in the United States — one in Oregon, one in Washington state, and two in Northern California — and the Centers for Disease Control said in a state Friday that "unprecedented efforts have been taken to contain the spread." The patients tested positive locally, though they are still awaiting confirmation from the CDC. Most of the 67 confirmed cases in the United States so far have been traced to travel to Asia (the disease originated in Wuhan, China), but the four cases mentioned have occurred without any related travel history.
- BusinessBusiness Insider
Amazon tells all 798,000 employees to halt travel, in US and internationally, over coronavirus fears
Elaine Thompson/AP Amazon has instructed its 798,000 employees to avoid "non-essential travel" domestically and internationally because of concerns about the coronavirus outbreak, a spokesperson confirmed to Business Insider. Earlier, The New York Times reported that Amazon had told its worldwide operations team not to arrange any meetings requiring travel until at least April, the report said. Amazon had already restricted employee travel to China and has been frantically trying to address prospective inventory shortages.
“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.”
