- PoliticsNBC News
Judge to proceed with Roger Stone's sentencing, will consider motion for new trial
The judge overseeing the trial of Roger Stone, the Republican campaign veteran and longtime Trump friend, said Tuesday that she will not delay the sentencing, scheduled for Thursday morning. In open court in Washington, D.C., U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson spoke by phone with prosecutors and Stone's attorneys about a recently filed defense motion for a new trial based on a claim that one of the jurors was biased. One of Stone's attorneys, Seth Ginsberg, said the motion "goes to the heart of the case" and urged Jackson to delay sentencing until a hearing can be scheduled on the motion.
- WorldThe National Interest
The Turkish Trap: How Erdogan Made New Enemies and Enraged the Arab Community
As the Syrian military backed by the Russian air force takes another strategic town in Idlib, thereby inching closer towards the Turkish border, the endgame for Turkey in Syria has begun. The Syrian government has also taken the key highway that links Damascus to Aleppo and secured Aleppo from the incoming Turkish backed rebel artillery. Diplomatically the first acknowledged meeting between the Turkish and Syrian intelligence chiefs in Moscow just over a week ago heralded the final act in Erdogan's quest to knock over President Bashar al-Assad.
- PoliticsTime
Michael Bloomberg Makes It to the Debate Stage. He May Regret It
And other candidates will not forget to mention how he has used his vast personal wealth to enter the primary race on Super Tuesday — after voters in four states will have already weighed in. Bloomberg's entry into a race he once said he would skip shifted the campaign's axis. He has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars introducing himself to the nation and launching his bid with a coast-to-coast play before 14 states weigh in on March 3's Super Tuesday.
- U.S.Associated Press
LA adopts new 'war room' strategy for tackling homelessness
Los Angeles city and county officials on Tuesday announced a new strategy to speed the process of getting homeless people into permanent housing that is modeled on the federal government's response to natural disasters. The creation of a “Housing Central Command” marks an overhaul of how agencies work together in addressing the growing number of people living on the street, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Previously the system was slowed by red tape and gaps in information showing what housing units were available and who is eligible to move into them, officials said.
- WorldThe Daily Beast
U.S. Coronavirus Cases Nearly Double With No End in Sight
Confirmed cases of the new, deadly coronavirus in the United States almost doubled over the holiday weekend thanks to the messy evacuation of Americans from a cruise ship in Japan, while fresh numbers from China suggested the disease might be deadlier than first believed. The U.S. government evacuated 328 American passengers from Tokyo early Monday on two chartered cargo jets, leaving dozens others behind who preferred to stay on the Diamond Princess cruise ship—despite a strong disembarkation recommendation from the federal government. All travelers from Japan were screened before boarding the aircraft “to prevent symptomatic travelers from departing Japan,” according to the CDC.
- WorldBloomberg
Iran Jails Climate Activists for Cooperation With U.S.
Iran sentenced eight environmentalists to prison terms of between four and 10 years for spying for and collaborating with the U.S., the spokesman for the country's judiciary said on Tuesday. The sentences are final, Gholam Hossein Esmaili told reporters at a televised news conference. The eight people were arrested in January and February 2018 and several of them are dual citizens of the U.S. and the U.K. Esmaili also said that Iran and Germany had completed a prisoner exchange, semi-official Fars news reported.
- WorldUSA TODAY
China expels Wall Street Journal reporters over 'racist' headline on coronavirus op-ed
China's authorities revoked the press credentials and ordered the expulsion of three Wall Street Journal reporters Wednesday in retaliation for a headline on a recent opinion column about coronavirus that Beijing said was racist. The Journal identified the journalists as Josh Chin, its deputy bureau chief in Beijing, and reporter Chao Deng, both U.S. nationals. Another reporter, Philip Wen, is an Australian citizen.
WorldAFPSouth Korea coronavirus cases jump by two-thirds in one day
South Korea reported 20 new confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday -- increasing its total by nearly two-thirds -- including a cluster of at least 16 centred on the southern city of Daegu. The trade-dependent nation has been hit by the economic fallout from the virus outbreak in neighbouring China, but until Wednesday's jump, its own case numbers had hardly changed for several days. The Korea Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said in a statement that 20 new coronavirus cases had been confirmed, raising its total from 31 to 51.
- WorldThe Guardian
Kidnappers prey with ‘total impunity’ on migrants waiting for hearings in Mexico
The people waiting to board the van have already crossed into the USA, but have been sent back under the Trump administration's so-called Migrant Protection Protocols - known as “Remain in Mexico” – whereby would be asylum seekers must await their appointed hearing south of the border. MPP was rolled out in January last year, since when an estimated 57,000 people now wait south of the border for their asylum hearing date. Tens of thousands more are waiting just for the initial application for asylum.
- PoliticsThe Week
Trump's pardon of Bernie Kerik also apparently wiped out Kerik's $103,300 debt to taxpayers
President Trump granted a full pardon to former New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik on Tuesday, clearing him of his eight counts of tax fraud, lying to federal investigators, and other crimes that accompanied his downfall. Kerik had already served his three years in prison for his crimes, but the pardon wipes out more than his criminal record, the New York Daily News reports. "The pardon cancels out $103,300 in restitution that Kerik still owed the Internal Revenue Service as part of his sentence, according to a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan."
PoliticsYahoo News VideoBloomberg campaign: There are only three viable presidential candidates
Only three candidates out of the more than half dozen vying for the White House have a viable path to the nomination, a senior official for the Mike Bloomberg campaign told reporters Tuesday.
- WorldCBS News
Man arrested after allegedly tracking U.S. source for Russia
A Mexican man residing in Singapore was arrested in the U.S. on Tuesday, after he allegedly tracked a U.S. government source for Russia in order to obtain the source's license plate number. Hector Alejandro Cabrera Fuentes has been charged with acting in the U.S. on behalf of a foreign government without notifying the attorney general, and conspiracy to do the same. Court documents allege that a Russian government official recruited Fuentes in 2019 and tasked him with renting a specific property in Miami-Dade County, Florida, according to a press release from the Department of Justice.
- PoliticsNBC News
Warren: Sanders 'has a lot of questions to answer' about supporters' attacks
Bernie Sanders "has a lot of questions to answer" about how his supporters attacked members of a union online after they criticized his "Medicare for All" health care plan, Elizabeth Warren said Monday. "I've said before that we are all responsible for what our supporters do, and I think Bernie has a lot of questions to answer here," Warren, a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, said in an interview in which she offered rare criticism of her fellow progressive Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont. Members of Culinary Workers Union Local 226, which represents 60,000 workers in Nevada's gaming and hospitality industries, said this week that Sanders' supporters had "viciously attacked" its members after leadership warned about the risk to their negotiated health plans under a "Medicare for All" system.
- WorldAssociated Press
Abbott says top Malaysian leaders suspected pilot of MH370
Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said the “top levels” of the Malaysian government long suspected that the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 almost six years ago was a mass murder-suicide by the pilot. Australia, working on Malaysia's behalf, coordinated what became the largest search in aviation history, but it failed to find the plane before being ended in 2017. Speaking in a Sky News documentary to air on Wednesday and Thursday, Abbott said high-ranking Malaysian officials believed veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah deliberately downed the jet.
- WorldBloomberg
Turkey Court Acquits Businessman Osman Kavala in Gezi Case
An Istanbul court acquitted prominent businessman Osman Kavala of charges of plotting to overthrow the government during mass protests that shook the country in 2013. Nine defendants were cleared, and arrest warrants for others living abroad have been rescinded. Others accused in the case include actor Mehmet Ali Alabora and journalist Can Dundar, who have both left the country.
- WorldBusiness Insider
China kicked out 3 Wall Street Journal reporters after it published an op-ed using a term that invokes the biggest humiliation in Chinese history
Reuters/Pool China is expelling three Wall Street Journal reporters, accusing the newspaper of publishing a racist headline about the country's battle with coronavirus. On February 3, the Journal had published an op-ed by a foreign-affairs academic titled "China Is the Real Sick Man of Asia." The "sick man of Asia" is a 19th-century term that referred to a time when China was internally divided and exploited by foreign powers — a period that still deeply humiliates the country's leadership.
- PoliticsNational Review
Hunter Biden Served on Board of Trade Group That Lobbied Obama Admin for Increased Ukraine Aid: Report
Hunter Biden, son of former vice president Joe Biden, was on the board of a trade group that lobbied the Obama administration for increased U.S. aid to Ukraine, according to a report Tuesday. From 2012 through 2018, the younger Biden served as a director for the Center for U.S. Global Leadership and was connected as well with its affiliate, the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition, The Daily Caller reported. The two groups, which include about 400 larger corporations and non-government organizations, lobbied for increased spending abroad by the State Department's International Affairs Budget, including a special focus on Ukraine.
- PoliticsThe Guardian
Bloomberg plunges into new controversy as race and gender comments resurface
Mike Bloomberg has been plunged into fresh controversy over his comments on race and transgender people, as scrutiny intensifies over the presidential candidate's past remarks ahead of his Democratic debate debut. On Tuesday, a 2011 PBS interview resurfaced in which Bloomberg stated that there was an “enormous cohort of black and Latino males” who “don't know how to behave in the workplace”. A NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll published on Tuesday shows Bloomberg with 19% support among Democrats for the presidential nomination, enough to join the debate stage alongside other leading contenders in Las Vegas on Wednesday.
WorldAFPMexican arrested in US for Russian spying
A Mexican has been arrested in the US city of Miami for spying on "a US government source" on behalf of Russia, the Department of Justice alleged Tuesday. US intelligence officials have identified Russia as a central spying threat to the country, and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation last year found that Moscow interfered in the 2016 presidential election -- a finding that President Donald Trump has repeatedly dismissed. According to court documents cited in a Department of Justice (DOJ) news release, a Russian government official recruited Fuentes last year and told him to rent a specific property in Miami-Dade County, not using his own name.
U.S.Yahoo News VideoVirginia lawmakers reject assault weapons ban
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam's push to ban the sale of assault weapons failed on Monday after some of his fellow Democrats balked at the proposal.
- U.S.The Independent
Security guard sentenced to prison for murdering US woman in Costa Rica Airbnb
A security guard for an apartment complex with Airbnb rental units has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for the 2018 murder of an American tourist. Carla Stefaniak, a Venezuelan-American who lived in Miami, was in San Jose, Costa Rica, celebrating her 36th birthday when she was brutally murdered. On Monday, Bismarck Espinoza Martinez, originally from Nicaragua, was found guilty of fatally stabbing Ms Stefaniak on the night of 28 November, 2018.
- WorldThe National Interest
Russia Hates This: Why the Astute-Class Submarine Is the Pride of the Royal Navy
Key Point: London's Astute class submarines are powerful and very well-built. Since the commissioning of HMS Dreadnought in 1963, the Royal Navy has maintained a formidable force of nuclear attack submarines. The latest nuclear attack subs, the Astute class, have become a critical component of the future of the Royal Navy—but, given Russia's resurgence, are they enough?
- PoliticsAssociated Press
Judge refuses to delay sentencing of Trump ally Roger Stone
A federal judge on Tuesday refused to delay sentencing for Trump confidant Roger Stone on his conviction for witness tampering and lying to Congress. The decision by Judge Amy Berman Jackson came after President Donald Trump tweeted in defense of his longtime ally and said Stone's conviction “should be thrown out. Stone's defense team has requested a new trial and on Tuesday lobbied to delay the sentencing.
- U.S.NBC News
'Gun Girl' Kaitlin Bennett's appearance on Ohio University campus sparks protests
Conservative activist Kaitlin Bennett, also known as "Gun Girl," incited large-scale student protests Monday when she appeared on Ohio University's Athens campus to film a video. Bennett had arrived on campus to film a President's Day trivia video for the Liberty Hangout, which bills itself as a libertarian media outlet, according to both her and the site. Bennett has been a divisive figure since gaining notoriety in 2018 for posting controversial graduation photos of herself with an AR-10 rifle at Kent State University.
- WorldBusiness Insider
A Chinese film director and 3 family members died from the novel coronavirus after they self-quarantined in their home
A Chinese director and three members of his family all died of COVID-19 after they self-quarantined, the Guardian reported. Chang Kai was forced to take care of his father, who was the first to contract the virus, at home after he couldn't find an open hospital bed for him. A Chinese film director and three of his family members died of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China the epicenter of the outbreak, after they went into self-quarantine, the Guardian reported.
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