WorldAFPIranians cry 'revenge' at funeral of suicide bomb victims
Tens of thousands of Iranians called for "revenge" Saturday at the funeral of 27 Revolutionary Guards killed in a suicide attack perpetrated by jihadists that Tehran accuses Pakistan of supporting. "The government of Pakistan must pay the price of harbouring these terrorist groups and this price will undoubtedly be very high," said Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, referring to jihadist outfit Jaish al-Adl ("Army of Justice"). "The Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer observe the previous reservations and will directly act to counter such acts," Jafari told mourners gathered at the city of Isfahan's Bozorgmehr Square.
PoliticsAssociated PressCourt filing: Manafort faces more than 19 years in prison
Paul Manafort, the one-time chairman of Donald Trump's presidential campaign, could spend more than 19 years in prison on tax and bank fraud charges, prosecutors said Friday. Court documents filed by special counsel Robert Mueller's office reveal that Manafort faces possibly the lengthiest prison term in the Russia investigation. The 69-year-old Manafort is also at serious risk of spending the rest of his life in prison if a federal judge imposes a sentence within federal guidelines.
WorldReutersU.S. sanctions five Venezuelans, ratcheting up pressure on Maduro
Along with PDVSA head Manuel Quevedo, Treasury targeted three top Venezuelan 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 masked nighttime raids on Maduro's behalf. "We are sanctioning officials in charge of Maduro's security and intelligence apparatus, which has systematically violated human rights and suppressed democracy, including through torture and other brutal use of force," U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement. Washington has disavowed Maduro's government and backed opposition leader Juan Guaido, who last month invoked articles of the Venezuelan constitution and declared himself president.
- 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.
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.
- NewsU.S.News & World Report
Understand What's a Good SAT Score for College Admissions
When it comes to determining a good SAT score for college applications, the answer depends on a student's ambitions. The SAT, an admissions exam many colleges and universities require of applicants, is administered by the College Board and scores students on a scale of 200 to 800 for various sections. The new SAT was released in March 2016 and tests students on evidence-based reading and writing and math, with both sections worth a maximum score of 800 each.
- 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.
- WorldThe Telegraph
Isil bride Shamima Begum has a legal right to return to the UK, head of MI6 says
The British Islamic State (Isil) bride Shamima Begum has a legal right to return to the UK the Head of MI6 has said. The Director General of MI6 has said that British citizens have a right to return home from Syria, even though they may still present a threat to national security. Alex Younger, the head of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service - better known as MI6 - said he was "very concerned" about returning British nationals that had fought for or supported the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).
- 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.
- 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 PressThe Latest: Cardinal calls McCarrick punishment 'important'
Cardinal Sean O'Malley issued a statement Saturday after the announcement that McCarrick had been found guilty by the Vatican of sex abuse, including while hearing confession. O'Malley says church leaders "must enforce accountability for cardinals and bishops." O'Malley says his archdiocese is committed to taking reports of abuse seriously, saying it has a "moral responsibility" to be always vigilant.
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.
- 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
NewsUSA TODAYAt least five dead, six officers injured as gunman opens fire at Aurora, Ill., plant
AURORA, Ill. — Five people were killed and six police officers injured after a gunman opened fire at a manufacturing plant Friday in the southwest Chicago suburb of Aurora, Illinois, police reported. Officers found themselves immediately in an afternoon gun battle after arriving at the Henry Pratt Company plant only four minutes after terrified workers called police for help, said Aurora Police Chief Kristen Ziman. “Our hearts go out to the victims in this horrific tragedy,” said Aurora Mayor Richard Irvin.
WorldAFPArchaeologists discover Incan tomb in Peru
Peruvian archaeologists discovered an Incan tomb in the north of the country where an elite member of the pre-Columbian empire was buried, one of the investigators announced Friday. The discovery was made on the Mata Indio dig site in the northern Lambayeque region, archaeologist Luis Chero told state news agency Andina. Archaeologists believe the tomb belonged to a noble Inca based on the presence of "spondylus," a type of sea shell always present in the graves of important figures from the Incan period, which lasted from the 12th to the 16th centuries.
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.
- 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.
BusinessBloombergBofA Says a 'Real' Trade Deal Could Vault S&P 500 to Record High
The firm's model on corporate earnings and equity valuations suggests that the market has priced in “a partial deal,” one where only some of the issues get resolved in favor of corporate America, according to strategists led by Savita Subramanian. In a best-case scenario, the S&P 500 could climb 5 percent to 10 percent when a “real deal” is struck. Companies from 3M Co. to Stanley Black & Decker Inc. have slashed their guidance this year, citing either trade tensions or weakening demand in China.
- PoliticsNational Review
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Interviewed by Special Counsel's Team
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders sat for an interview with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigators, she revealed Friday. “The president urged me, like he has everyone in the administration, to fully cooperate with the special counsel. While the details of the interview are not public, one area investigators are interested in is how Trump crafted his public statements on the investigation, a matter Sanders would have knowledge of.
- NewsThe Telegraph
Chicago police seek follow-up interview with 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett
Chicago police have shifted the direction of their investigation into actor Jussie Smollett's report of a hate-crime assault and are seeking to interview him again, after releasing two men detained for questioning in the probe, a police spokesman said on Saturday. Smollett, 36, an openly gay African-American performer who plays a gay character on the musical hip-hop TV drama "Empire," ignited a furor on social media last month when he reported he had been attacked on the street by two men yelling racial and homophobic slurs. According to Smollett's account, his assailants struck him in the face, draped a rope around his neck and doused him with an "unknown chemical substance" before fleeing.
WorldAssociated PressAP Interview: Karzai worries Pakistan talks risk peace pact
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Saturday that previously unscheduled peace talks between the Taliban and the United States in Pakistan risk engulfing the country in regional rivalries. In an interview with The Associated Press in the capital Kabul, Karzai worried that the accelerated peace process was being hijacked by competing territorial interests in Afghanistan, even as the country's neighbors and powerful Persian Gulf states jockey for influence after U.S. troops are gone. The talks are aimed at finding a negotiated end to Afghanistan's destructive 17-year war — America's longest.
ScienceReutersNASA mulls buying new rides to space from Russia amid program delays
The U.S. space agency has since had to rely on Russia's Roscosmos program to ferry astronauts to the orbital space station at a cost of roughly $80 million per seat, NASA has said. After 2019 there are no seats available on the spacecraft for U.S. crew, and a NASA advisory panel recommended on Friday that the U.S. space program develop a contingency plan to guarantee access to the station in case technical problems delay Boeing and SpaceX any further. A NASA spokesman on Friday characterized a solicitation request NASA filed on Wednesday as a contingency plan.
- 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.
- 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.
BusinessAFP Relax NewsPolestar teases next-gen electric car again ahead of Geneva launch
Just two weeks before the official online reveal on February 27, Volvo's Polestar gave us another glimpse of the Polestar 2 just a couple of weeks after the first announcement. While the latest official teaser of the Polestar 2 isn't nearly as informational as the first announcement made a few weeks ago, we have still been graced by another image of a discernible part of the exterior body: the top, left-hand side of the rear end. The white Polestar logo blends into the white body to avoid distracting onlookers from the snappy and chic design.
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