| 'People aren't looking for revolution': Biden takes shot at Sanders after blowout win in South Carolina Posted: 01 Mar 2020 08:23 AM PST  Joe Biden took a victory lap on the Sunday talk shows after a decisive win in the South Carolina Democratic primary.
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| A Democrat asked Mike Pompeo to point to things on a blank map in a nod to his awkward geography quiz Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:32 PM PST  "To your left, you'll see a map of the world," the lawmaker told Pompeo.
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| Eddie Gallagher: 60 Minutes segment profiling Navy SEAL accused of 'normalising' war crimes Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:01 PM PST  CBS news program 60 Minutes is facing criticism and calls for boycott for a piece the program aired profiling alleged war criminal Eddie Gallagher, whose punishment after posing for a "trophy photo" with a dead teenage ISIS fighter was reversed by President Donald Trump.The program featured 60 Minutes correspondent David Martin interviewing Mr Gallagher - a Navy SEAL who was tried for war crimes - at his home in Florida, conducting interviews and questioning him about his life since his war crimes trial. Mr Martin doesn't shy away from asking Mr Gallagher about his involvement in the death of a wounded, sedated teenage ISIS fighter who he was accused of stabbing in the neck while he was deployed in Iraq.
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| Brief elation, then crushing disappointment for migrants who sent children across U.S. border Posted: 01 Mar 2020 06:26 PM PST |
| Pentagon looks to China in wake of Taliban peace deal Posted: 01 Mar 2020 03:26 PM PST  The Trump administration's peace deal with the Taliban opens the door for an initial American troop withdrawal that Defense Secretary Mark Esper sees as a step toward the broader goal of preparing for potential future war with China.
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| Conservative News Giant Newsmax Is Funding a Super PAC for Its Publisher’s GOP Senate Ally Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:01 AM PST  As the competitive Maine Senate race heated up last summer, the conservative news outlet Newsmax blared a warning to its audience: Democratic moneymen were pouring cash into an effort to flip one of Republicans' most endangered Senate seats."Progressive big-money donors are stepping up their crusade against centrist Sen. Susan Collins," Newsmax senior editor David Patten wrote. "Advertising Analytics reports none of the $1.3 million spent on the Senate race so far has come from Republican sources." Collins' Senate campaign quickly promoted the piece on its own website.Exactly one week later, Newsmax took steps to even the odds. The company donated $50,000 to 1820 PAC, a deep-pocketed super PAC linked to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce supporting Collins' re-election. It was just the fifth time the company had donated directly to a federal political committee, and the first time it had done so since 2015. And it was by far Newsmax's largest-ever donation.Days after the donation, Patten wrote another story relaying allegations of election law violations by Collins' Democratic opponent, Maine State House Speaker Sara Gideon. The following month, Newsmax ran a story touting Collins' lead in the polls—and reporting on a new 1820 PAC ad supporting her. Neither of those articles disclosed the news outlet's donation to the group, nor has any article on the Maine Senate race in the ensuing months.Newsmax is among the web's most popular right-of-center news outlets, boasting about 3.7 million unique visitors in January, according to web analytics service ComScore. It also runs a cable-news channel that the company claims reaches 100 million homes. Newsmax founder and publisher Christopher Ruddy is a friend and acquaintance of President Donald Trump, and is known to frequent the president's Mar-a-Lago club, a short drive from the Newsmax headquarters in Boca Raton.The company has made some high-profile hires in the Trump era, including bringing on former Fox News news executive Michael Clemente as CEO in 2018 (Clemente stepped down after about a year, but still consults for the company). Most recently, Newsmax hired former White House press secretary Sean Spicer to host a weekday news and opinion show. Its regular guests include prominent names such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, disgraced former Fox News primetime host Bill O'Reilly, and far-right columnist Michelle Malkin.Newsmax does not hide its conservative leanings. But its five-figure donation to 1820 PAC in August crossed a line from ideologically driven coverage of politics and current events into outright and quantifiable support for an explicit partisan outfit. It's the most apparent illustration to date of the overt politicization of a news organization where, according to a former anchor for the outlet, executives micromanage and tailor news coverage to fit a political agenda."Newsmax tightly controls its on-air and website content to cater to its conservative viewing audience. Executives... are intimately involved in selecting the topics of news stories and how they are covered," alleged Miranda Khan, a former Newsmax TV host, in a lawsuit filed last year. "Prior to joining Newsmax, [Khan] had substantial on-camera experience, particularly in the news industry," the lawsuit added. She said she "had never experienced the level of control she experienced at Newsmax."The lawsuit was settled before Newsmax officially responded to those allegations. Khan declined to comment on her allegations, which have not been previously reported.Ruddy did not respond to inquiries about the allegations, or the ethical issues raised by its political contributions.Ruddy himself is a longtime Collins supporter. "Throughout Susan Collins' 21-year career as a U.S. senator, the Maine Republican has faced criticism from both sides of the aisle, but has always come out with her head held high and her principles intact," he wrote in a glowing opinion column in 2018.That column is now featured on the homepage of 1820 PAC's website. Of the six news items posted in the site's "news" section, three are Newsmax stories or columns.Ruddy has also supported Collins financially ahead of her 2020 re-election fight. He has made just two federal political contributions this cycle: $2,500 to Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and $5,200 to the Collins Victory Committee, a joint fundraising committee that dispersed the money to Collins' campaign and her leadership PAC. The transfers to her campaign came in June, shortly before Newsmax chipped in to 1820 PAC.It's common for large media companies' political action committees to donate to congressional candidates. But that political giving is usually spread among dozens of recipients of both parties, and generally aligns more with the business interests of parent companies such as News Corp, CBS Entertainment Group, or Disney than with the editorial positions of its news properties.That giving is also almost uniformly done by way of the parent companies' PACs, not by the companies themselves. Corporations can't donate to political candidates directly, but they can set up PACs, generally funded by their employees, that can give up to $5,000 per election cycle to federal political candidates.Corporations can also donate unlimited sums directly to super PACs. But it's extremely rare for a media company to so heavily fund such a group set up for the express purpose of electing a single political candidate. Newsmax's donation to 1820 PAC is all the more noteworthy due to its alignment with the political activity of Ruddy, the company's top executive, and the company's simultaneous promotion of Collins' candidacy through its regular coverage of the Maine Senate race. The contribution also came just months after Khan recounted Newsmax executives' meddling in the company's news coverage.Newsmax has in the past scrutinized and been critical of political donations by journalists and media executives that could be seen as conflicts of interest. When it was revealed during the 2016 presidential campaign that ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos had donated $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, Newsmax's print and TV arms ran a number of stories relaying allegations of a breach of journalistic ethics. None mentioned Newsmax's own $1-million financial pledge to the foundation."WikiLeaks email revelations from Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta," a Newsmax columnist wrote the following year, "show that not only is there a deep connection with the media—reporters, opinion writers, and news anchors—but it also reaches as high as the corporate executive suite."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Shrinking shores: Half the world's beaches could disappear because of climate change, study says Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:59 AM PST  A new study warned of "the near-extinction of almost half of the world's sandy beaches by the end of the century" because of climate change.
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| LA district attorney sorry husband aimed gun at protesters Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:22 AM PST  The husband of the first black woman to lead the country's largest local prosecutor's office pointed a gun and said "I will shoot you" to Black Lives Matter members demonstrating outside the couple's home before dawn Monday, prompting an apology from his wife on the eve of her primary election. In an emotional press conference, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey said she and her husband, David, were awakened and frightened by the demonstration that occurred before 6 a.m.. She said he ran downstairs, where she heard him talking to someone, and that when he returned he said there were protesters. The encounter came ahead of a Tuesday primary election in which Lacey is seeking a third term.
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| Biden Gets Boost From Klobuchar, Buttigieg Before Super Tuesday Posted: 02 Mar 2020 05:09 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden is consolidating support for his Democratic presidential campaign as centrists line up behind him to effectively try to block Bernie Sanders from winning the party's nomination.Pete Buttigieg, who dropped out of the campaign Sunday night, appeared with Biden at a Dallas restaurant and gave his endorsement."I am delighted to endorse and support Joe Biden," Buttigieg said. Biden he said, has worked "on some of the most important issues affecting my generation and the next generation -- climate change, gun violence."Buttigieg's endorsement was a change of tone for the fomer candidate, who criticized Biden in several debates for being out of touch and trying to take the country backward.Amy Klobuchar ended her presidential bid earlier Monday and planned to endorse Biden at a rally. The moves come just hours before polls open on Super Tuesday, when 14 states and one territory vote. The once-sprawling field is down to just six: Biden, Sanders, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard.Since Biden won big in South Carolina on Saturday, his campaign has been announcing one endorsement from a party leader after another, including former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, along with current members of Congress and officials in key Super Tuesday states.While campaigning in Texas, Biden also was to pick up the endorsement of former presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke, an ex-congressman from El Paso, a popular Democrat in the state.With his victory in South Carolina, Biden now has 54 pledged delegates to Sanders's 60."Just a few days ago, the pundits declared my campaign dead," Biden told a cheering crowd in Houston. "I stand here today because of minority communities. I am very much alive."The frenetic nature of the dropouts and endorsements reflects the worries among establishment and moderate Democrats about Sanders's strength heading into Super Tuesday, where hundreds of delegates are up for grabs.The split between Sanders's grass-roots supporters and the party leadership circling Biden was reminiscent of the 2016 presidential primary between establishment favorite Hillary Clinton and Sanders. The party took steps then to make peace with Sanders after it boxed him out of the nomination, but the surging endorsements for Biden might re-open that fight.Sanders's campaign manager Ari Rabin-Havt said Monday the Vermont senator was not worried about any pressure that comes with the middle of the party consolidating."Watching the campaign, watching the debates unfold, we believe they have constantly shown that Bernie is the strongest candidate to defeat Donald Trump and we think that's still the case," he told reporters in Salt Lake City where Sanders was campaigning.With the field of moderate Democratic contenders shrinking, pressure will grow on Bloomberg to end his presidential bid to help boost Biden's chances for winning the nomination over Sanders.But Bloomberg told supporters in Virginia he was "in it to win it.""Seventeen hours until the polls open plus or minus," he said. "I've won three elections so far, I don't plan to start losing now."(Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)Biden earned half the vote in South Carolina, trouncing national front-runner Sanders by about 30 percentage points. It was his first win in three presidential campaigns and his first in the 2020 race.Before Klobuchar dropped out, Sanders addressed Buttigieg's exit and the moderate wing getting behind Biden's bid."The corporate establishment is coming together," Sanders told reporters in Salt Lake City. "The political establishment is coming together and they will do everything. They are really getting nervous that working people are standing up."Fourteen states and one territory vote on Tuesday, and Sanders is favored to win in the biggest delegate prize, California. Although Biden says he has raised $10 million since the polls closed on Saturday, he has not had the money to build a ground organization in Super Tuesday states. He has one office in California, while Sanders has dozens.That could change. Big donors and bundlers -- people who raise money from their personal networks -- are beginning to give Biden a second look.Tom Nides, Morgan Stanley's vice chairman and a Democratic fundraiser, had been backing Klobuchar but switched to Biden on Monday."Most people who raise money in Democratic politics are going to coalesce around Biden if they haven't already," Nides said Monday. "It's going to be a contest between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, and I don't think it's a very difficult choice for the Democrats who have been involved in politics for as long as I have."(Updates with Buttigieg endorsement in first three paragraphs)\--With assistance from Mark Niquette and Max Abelson.To contact the reporters on this story: Tyler Pager in Salt Lake City, Utah at tpager1@bloomberg.net;Jennifer Epstein in Houston, Texas at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan CraneFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| John Roberts is the Supreme Court's new middle. Here's what that means for abortion. Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:30 AM PST  The question of whether or not the court will respect precedent is a big one.
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| Wristwatch overshadows South Korea sect leader's coronavirus apology Posted: 02 Mar 2020 04:43 AM PST  When the elderly leader of a South Korean religious sect knelt before the nation on Monday, he had hoped to defuse public anger over his church's role in spreading the coronavirus. The gold-colored watch, visible on his left wrist, was apparently given by disgraced former President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached and jailed in 2017 for corruption and abuse of power. Images of the watch quickly trended on Twitter, while "Lee Man-hee watch" was the most searched phrase on South Korea's biggest search portal Naver.
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| Judge orders Hillary Clinton deposition in email flap Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:01 AM PST |
| Fox News Host Claims Chinese People Eating ‘Raw Bats’ to Blame for Coronavirus Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:44 PM PST  Fox News host Jesse Watters demanded a formal apology from China on Monday before pushing unproven rumors that the new coronavirus came from Chinese citizens "eating raw bats and snakes."With fears heightening around the virus as the death toll in the United States jumped to at least six on Monday, Watters began Monday's broadcast of Fox News chatfest The Five by lashing out at China, which has been the epicenter of the growing pandemic."I would like to just ask the Chinese for a formal apology," Watters said. "This coronavirus originated in China, and I have not heard one word from the Chinese. A simple 'I am sorry' would do."As the rest of his colleagues appeared somewhat embarrassed and tried to laugh off his rant, Watters then insisted that the virus originated from the Chinese eating diseased uncooked animals."Let me tell you why it happened in China," he declared. "They have these markets where they were eating raw bats and snakes.""No, Jesse," co-host Dana Perino pleaded as the other hosts could be seen face-palming."They are very hungry people," Watters continued, causing more laughter. "The Chinese communist government cannot feed the people. And they are desperate, this food is uncooked, it is unsafe. And that is why scientists believe that's where it originated from.""And according to The New York Times, Dana, the Chinese government has been very deceitful and deceptive in the communicating the extent of the infections to the world," Watters concluded. "So, as I said, tomorrow I will expect an apology."Except it is not clear that COVID-19, as it the disease is officially known, originated at a Chinese market in which shoppers purchased bats to eat. Earlier this year, right-wing media was abuzz over claims that "bat soup" was to blame for the disease spreading, based largely on a viral video that was later debunked. (The video was actually of a travel show host in a Pacific island nation, and bats aren't considered a delicacy in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the virus first exploded.)Furthermore, while a "wet market"—markets that sell live animals for food and medicine—was initially believed to be the origin of the outbreak, it appears that specific market may not have been the cause at all, as the earliest known victims had no contact with it. And while the virus likely originated with bats, it still hasn't been fully established how it moved from the bats to humans.Watters, meanwhile, has a history of making culturally insensitive remarks and innuendo, particularly about Asians. The Fox personality sparked outrage in 2016 for a Chinatown segment that featured blatantly racist mockery of Asian-Americans, prompting an apology.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| A CDC lab is said to be under investigation after contamination fears, another sign the US botched its rollout of coronavirus testing kits Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:39 AM PST  An FDA official raised the alarm about possible contamination in the lab, where there had been a "manufacturing issue," Axios reported.
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| Navy is overhauling education system as US advantages erode Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:03 PM PST  The U.S. Navy is overhauling its approach to education because the nation no longer has a massive economic and technological edge over potential adversaries, according to a strategy released Monday. The Education for Seapower Strategy 2020, provided to The Associated Press ahead of its release, is the first unified, comprehensive education strategy for the Navy and Marine Corps, said John Kroger, who is implementing the strategy as the Navy's first chief learning officer. It is very much a response to the nation's geopolitical position in the world today, versus the advantages it had at the end of the Cold War, Kroger said, noting China's economic strength and investments in 5G networks, energy storage and other major technologies that matter for war-fighting.
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| Virus hammers garment industries in Cambodia, Vietnam Posted: 02 Mar 2020 02:59 AM PST  Cambodia's multi-billion-dollar garment industry is at risk of chain disruption from the deadly coronavirus, its strongman premier said Monday, as the outbreak cripples Southeast Asia's key industries, bringing border trade to a trickle. The death toll from the virus, which emerged from Wuhan in central China, has reached over 3,000 worldwide -- the bulk of the fatalities in the mainland. Beijing issued unprecedented lockdowns for cities and provinces most affected, bringing to a shuddering halt the so-called "Factory of the World" -- key to a global supply chain.
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| Pete Buttigieg to endorse Joe Biden at Texas rally ahead of Super Tuesday Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:56 PM PST  The move comes after Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who announced she is ending her campaign Monday, also threw her support to Biden.
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| Bloomberg rips Sanders for boycotting AIPAC, calls his bigotry comments 'dead wrong' Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:27 AM PST  The Vermont senator had said the pro-Israel lobbying group provides a platform "for leaders who express bigotry and oppose basic Palestinian rights."
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| South Korea sect leader wears controversial watch during virus apology Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:06 AM PST  When the leader of a South Korean religious sect knelt before the nation on Monday, he had hoped to defuse public anger over his church's role in spreading the coronavirus.
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| 7 Examples of Centuries-Old Design That Combat Climate Change Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:00 AM PST |
| Mexico speeds up extraditions of cartel bosses to U.S. Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:38 PM PST |
| South Korea’s Creepy Coronavirus Cellphone Alerts are Useful, But They May Be TMI Posted: 02 Mar 2020 02:49 AM PST  SEOUL–In high-tech South Korean society millions of mobile phones are beeping at once with the disturbing words "Emergency Alert."In the midst of a medical crisis that refuses to go away, the messages are more than urgent warnings to wash hands and avoid crowds. They offer details tailored to the city, the ward, the place where the latest patient is known to have been. This as as the number of those suffering from COVID-19 soared to nearly 4,000 and the 20th death was reported Sunday.Coronavirus Spread by a Second Coming 'Cult' Has Put South Korea on 'Maximum Alert'One example: In Dongdaemun, an historic part of Seoul normally seething with shoppers and diners we suddenly learn one person with the virus "visited the Jung-yuk Restaurant between 7 and 9 p.m. on 29 February. We sanitized the place at 3:50 p.m., 1 March, and closed the restaurant." Anyone with a mobile phone is getting dozens of alerts like that, even as a deathly calm has settled over cities and towns.March 1 is a big day in South Korea. This was the 101st anniversary of a revolt against Japanese rule in 1919, and crowds normally fill the broad streets and parks to mark the occasion, but the only sign of the observance this year was a televised appearance by President Moon Jae-in, who spent much of his time parrying criticism of the way he's handled the novel coronavirus outbreak."All the people will come together and overcome even today's crisis," Moon said at a ceremony in a girl's high school, but the words were hardly reassuring as the alerts poured in."Moon is too kind to China," said Choi Tae-hyun, an opposition politico. "He should have stopped the Chinese from coming here." Then Choi clicked on his mobile as more messages flashed on the screen:In Incheon, the port city west of Seoul where Choi has been campaigning for a seat in the National Assembly, the local government confirmed another patient. "Do not go to public events," the message implored. "Please wear face masks."Another message, from central Seoul, offered still more detail. "We have confirmed a patient from another ward went to Jigae Restaurant," it said. "This person visited between 9:30 and 11:00 pm. We sanitized the area, and the restaurant closed." The message concluded, "If you visited this restaurant, please contact the ward office." Although most of the cases reported so far have been in the city of Daegu and the nearby town of Cheongdo, where the first deaths were reported in a local hospital, the fear is the disease can spread around the country as it did in China after the first outbreak in the industrial city of Wuhan. As reports pop up on mobile screens, the sense is the virus might strike anywhere, indiscriminately, in defiance of efforts to contain it. In Seongbuk ward, where billionaires and millionaires live in splendid isolation on a twisting road in the hills of northern Seoul, "One case is confirmed," said an alert. The bulletin did not say where but urged, "If you have any fever or respiratory illness, contact our office." On the southern fringe of the capital, in a town named Kwacheon, shared by several government ministries and a prison, "a woman in her 50s is confined as a patient," said an alert. "She is a worker in the ward office." For those wanting to know where she had been, the message advised, "her whereabouts can be traced on our home page." The technical efficiency and cold crispness of the messages fueled rising resentment of Moon and the people around him. "Merchants are angry," said Shim Jae-hoon, a writer who grew up in Daegu but has lived in Seoul for years. "They are attacking the government for misleading them into believing this virus would be over in a few days." In his call for unity Moon did not mention China, but his eagerness to get along with South Korea's biggest trading partner keeps coming up, and is turning into a political liability. "He should have closed the border against China," said Shim. "Instead he opened the door." It was from China that members of the Shincheonji cult, which claims 210,000 adherents around the country, are assumed to have caught the bug while visiting fellow church members in Wuhan. North Korea's Secret Coronavirus Crisis is Crazy ScaryNow, as once huge numbers of Chinese tourists are gone, about 10,000 young Chinese are due to return to university campuses here after their spring break. The students may stay away while the government here, as in China and Japan, suspends classes, but some conservatives are calling for keeping them out much longer.In Daegu, Hwang Kyo-ahn, who was prime minister and acting president before Moon's victory in the snap election three years ago, promised during a tour of the ancient central market to set matters straight. "I will do my best to get things done as soon as possible," Hwang, wearing a black face-mask, told a scrum of journalists pursuing him past thousands of shuttered shops and dining places. The inference was clear—Moon and his government have failed. And every alert on the phone just drives that point home.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Cruise workers reveal how they feel about working on a ship after the coronavirus spread to more than 700 people on the Diamond Princess Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:23 AM PST  Employees of Princess Cruises, Cunard Line, and TUI Cruises told Business Insider their thoughts about the coronavirus.
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| Friends say Tijuana woman was stalked even after death Posted: 01 Mar 2020 09:04 PM PST  The man was obsessed with Marbella Valdez. The man — identified by Mexican rules only by his first name, Juan — has insisted on his innocence. Authorities in the border state of Baja California confirmed that the suspect is the man seen in photographs depositing flowers on Marbella's coffin as it was lowered into the ground on Feb. 14.
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| Russia Is Using Its Oil Exports to Make One Nation Surrender Posted: 01 Mar 2020 01:01 AM PST  Will it work?
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| Bill Kristol declares Joe Biden 'the simple answer' for beating Trump Posted: 02 Mar 2020 06:38 AM PST  Bill Kristol has a simple case for a Joe Biden presidency.In a post for his conservative site The Bulwark posted Monday, the neoconservative turned President Trump critic carefully broke down the remaining 2020 Democrats for the so-called "normal American." If "you don't like demagogues of the right or the left," you want someone who can win the Democratic nomination, and you're voting in a Super Tuesday state, then you should opt for the former vice president, Kristol wrote.Kristol opens his piece with his definition of a "normal American:" Essentially, you don't want the U.S. to have to choose "between [President] Donald Trump and [Vermont Independent Sen.] Bernie Sanders in November." That leaves you with a "complex" situation, but "the answer actually is simple," Kristol continues. Neither Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) nor Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) will be the nominee "despite the flashes of electoral strength each has shown," and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg isn't viable either. So "if you're inclined toward American constitutional democracy, the rule of law, and a free economic order," you'll vote for Biden, Kristol finishes.Biden also secured a wave of new endorsements after his Saturday victory in South Carolina's presidential primaries, including from former DNC Chair and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.); Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), one of the freshman Democrats who unseated a Republican in 2018; and former Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who was considering a 2020 run of his own.More stories from theweek.com Coronavirus might be the end of international travel as we know it It's not 1972 and Bernie Sanders isn't George McGovern Americans are growing less confident in Trump's coronavirus response, poll shows
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| Super Tuesday: Professor who predicted last 9 elections says Democrats could face first brokered convention in nearly 70 years Posted: 02 Mar 2020 04:31 AM PST  Days out from Super Tuesday, when voters in 14 states will cast ballots in the Democratic primary, a professor who predicted the past nine elections says that the United States may well be staring down its first brokered convention in nearly 70 years.It's a prospect that has stirred considerable consternation among Democratic Party officials and voters, many of whom have said their primary concern is beating Donald Trump in November — even as an enthusiastic debate over the future of democratic politics has raged on the campaign trail.
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| Roger Stone Jurors Will Get Free Legal Help During Bias Dispute Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:07 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Jurors who convicted Republican operative Roger Stone for lying to Congress during the Russia investigation will get free legal representation while a journalist attempts to access a jury questionnaire.In a decision on Monday, U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson appointed Alan C. Raul to represent the jurors. The ruling was made in response to an attempt by journalist and right-wing provocateur Michael Cernovich to intervene in the case and gain access to information about the jurors, including their responses to a series of questions before the trial to vet who could be impartial.Stone has requested a new trial on the grounds that the jury foreperson was biased against him and President Donald Trump.The court determined "it would be in the interest of justice and that it would aid the court in the full and fair resolution of this miscellaneous matter to appoint pro bono counsel to represent any juror or jurors who choose to participate in it," the judge said in an order in Washington.To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter JeffreyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Vatican opens archive on pope's silence during Holocaust Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:54 AM PST  Historians will begin combing the archives of the world's most contentious pope on Monday, hoping to glean why Pius XII stayed silent during the Nazi extermination of Jews in the Holocaust. More than 200 researchers have applied for permission to settle in one of the small studies of the Vatican Apostolic Archives to begin poring over millions of letters and documents the Vatican had kept under lock and key. The historic moment was preceded by decades of controversy and debate about why the pontiff, who headed the Catholic Church from 1939 until his death in 1958, never spoke out about the slaughter of six millions Jews in Nazi concentration camps across Europe.
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| UN says Greece has no right to stop accepting asylum requests Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:38 AM PST |
| An armed gunman held 70 people hostage in a Philippines mall for 10 hours before letting everyone go and holding an impromptu news conference Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:29 PM PST  After opening fire in a mall in Manilla, and taking dozens of people hostage, an armed gunman shared why he did it before police tackled him.
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| Free child care is becoming a 2020 issue. Here's what it would mean for working moms. Posted: 02 Mar 2020 05:07 AM PST  "It relieved a lot of stress off of me," a mother of five in Washington, D.C., said of the city's free public preschool initiative.
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| Snowy Wyoming highway pileup kills 3, injures dozens Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:32 AM PST  At least three people died and dozens were injured in a pileup involving more than 100 vehicles amid blowing snow that closed part of Interstate 80 in Wyoming, officials said Monday. About 30 people were taken to the emergency room at Memorial Hospital of Carbon County in the small city of Rawlins, hospital spokeswoman Stephanie Hinkle told the Casper Star-Tribune. The smaller pileup, on I-80 just 4 miles (6 kilometers) away from the larger pileup, injured at least seven people, including one person who was hospitalized in critical condition, Sweetwater County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jason Mower said.
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| This Is the Horrific Evil American Soldiers Saw in Nazi Germany's Concentration Camps Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:00 AM PST  A horror the world must never forget.
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| Mike Bloomberg addresses US in TV ad on coronavirus and Trump response Posted: 02 Mar 2020 06:18 AM PST  Purchase of prime time slots for pseudo-presidential address draws taunting tweets from man in the real Oval Office * Pence defends Trump Jr claim Democrats want 'millions' to dieMike Bloomberg has bought three minutes of primetime TV on Sunday night, in order to address the US about the coronavirus outbreak and Donald Trump's response.News of the billionaire former New York mayor's latest campaign advertising outlay, reckoned to be between $1.25m and $3m, was followed by a pair of tweets from the White House."Mini Mike Bloomberg's consultants and so-called 'advisors' (how did that advice work out? Don't ask!), are on the 'gravy train'," Trump wrote, "all making a fortune for themselves pushing Mini hard, when they knew he never had what it takes."Don't pay them anymore Mike, they led you down a very dark and lonely path! Your reputation will never be the same!"Reportedly impressed, if not cowed, by Bloomberg's personal fortune of around $60bn, Trump was initially said to have urged aides to take seriously the formerly Republican mayor's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.But despite massive spending Bloomberg has struggled in two Democratic debates and failed to oust Joe Biden as the moderate frontrunner. The key test of his ambitions comes on Tuesday, when 14 states and one territory, American Samoa, will stage primaries.In the ad which will air on CBS and NBC around 8.30pm ET on Sunday – and which is entitled "Leadership in Crisis" – Bloomberg appears in suit and tie and American flag pin, in front of a background which thanks to more flags and a sunlit window looks not unlike the Oval Office."At times like this it is the job of the president to reassure the public that he or she is taking all the necessary steps to protect the health and wellbeing of every citizen," Bloomberg says."The public wants to know their leader is trained, informed and respected. When a problem arises, they want someone in charge who can marshal facts and expertise to confront the problem."Bloomberg does not mention Trump and instead touts his experience in public health management while mayor of New York City between 2001 and 2013, which he says included dealing with "a hurricane, a blackout, attempted terror attacks, the West Nile virus and swine flu".In response, the Trump campaign said the president was "effectively managing the coronavirus situation and has placed the United States ahead of the curve in its comprehensive response".A spokesman added: "Mike Bloomberg is shamelessly politicising the issue and only further exposing himself as an unserious candidate. He's a joke."Trump, who complained at a rally on Friday night that Democrats were perpetrating a "hoax" in seeking to use the outbreak against him, has been accused of politicising the virus himself.On Sunday his vice-president Mike Pence, the leader of much-criticised White House efforts to contain the outbreak, parried questions about remarks by Trump and key supporters.The first US death from coronavirus was reported in Washington state on Saturday. According to the World Health Organization, there have been 83,652 cases and nearly 2,800 deaths worldwide. Most are in China but international travel, trade, business and sporting events have been affected. This week saw steep falls on most financial markets.At the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Saturday, meanwhile, Trump mocked Bloomberg physically."We've got Mini Mike [Bloomberg] but I think he's out of it," said Trump, 73 and reportedly 6ft 3in, about his 78-year-old, 5ft 8in challenger."That was probably the worst debate performance in the history of presidential debates. It just shows you can't buy an election. I mean, there's a point at which people say, 'You gotta bring the goods a little bit, too.'"Trump then pretended to be Bloomberg, crouching behind the lectern to audience laughter and chants of: "Four more years!"According to the New York Times, on NBC Bloomberg's ad will run "during Little Big Shots, a variety show featuring child performers hosted by the [actor] Melissa McCarthy".• This article was amended on 2 March 2020. An earlier version incorrectly gave Mike Bloomberg's height as 5ft 4in.
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| Amy Klobuchar is ending her presidential bid, will endorse Biden Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:07 AM PST  Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar ended her Democratic presidential campaign on Monday and plans to endorse rival Joe Biden in an effort to unify moderate voters behind the former vice president's White House bid.
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| Did You Know Your Battery Can Explode If Not Recycled Properly? Posted: 02 Mar 2020 08:47 AM PST |
| Coronavirus Kills Adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:08 AM PST  An adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has died after he was infected with the coronavirus, which has infected several other top Iranian officials as well.Expediency Council member Mohammad Mirmohammadi, 71, died Monday in a Tehran hospital, according to Iran state radio.Iran's vice president and deputy health minister have also been infected with the virus.At least 66 people have died from the virus in Iran, the most fatalities outside of China, where the coronavirus originated. Iran currently has an official total of 1,501 cases, over 500 of which were reported in the last 24 hours from Sunday to Monday. The official fatality rate stands at 5.5 percent, well above the roughly 2 percent death rate reported in China. About 291 people have recovered, according to Iran's deputy health minister Alireza Raisi.Iran has so far refused U.S. offers of help to combat the virus, expressing suspicion that the U.S. is trying to break the spirits of Iranians over the epidemic."We neither count on such help nor are we ready to accept verbal help," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said Monday.Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed concern that Iranian government was attempting to cover up the scope of the toll the virus is taking on the population."The United States is deeply concerned by information indicating the Iranian regime may have suppressed vital details about the outbreak in that country," Pompeo said last week.The coronavirus has killed over 3,000 people worldwide and infected over 89,000. The U.S. currently has 91 cases of the deadly virus, including 26 confirmed or presumptive positive cases of person-to-person spread. New York City reported its first case on Sunday, and a second person died from the infection in Washington state.
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| Coronavirus spreading fast outside China, airports to increase screenings Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:45 AM PST  GENEVA/BEIJING (Reuters) - The new coronavirus appears to now be spreading much more rapidly outside China than within, and airports in hard-hit countries were ramping up screening of travelers. World Health Organization (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said almost eight times as many cases had been reported outside China as inside in the previous 24 hours, adding that the risk of coronavirus spreading was now very high at a global level. At a briefing in Geneva, he said outbreaks in South Korea, Italy, Iran and Japan were the greatest concern, but that there was evidence that close surveillance was working in South Korea, the worst affected country outside China, and the epidemic could be contained there.
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| Stepmom of Missing Colorado Boy Gannon Stauch Charged With Murder Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:05 AM PST  The stepmother of Gannon Stauch, an 11-year-old who has been missing for five weeks in Colorado Springs, was arrested in South Carolina and charged with first-degree murder, Colorado authorities confirmed Monday.Letecia Stauch, who was the last person to see the boy, faces several other charges including child abuse resulting in death, tampering with a body, and tampering with physical evidence.The El Paso County Sheriff's Office, which has been leading the search for the 11 year old, announced the charges at a press conference in Colorado Springs on Monday."As you can see by the arrest, we no longer believe that Gannon is alive," Lt. Mitch Mihalko said.Sheriff Bill Elder said that investigators will remain "steadfast and diligent until the final prosecution." Letecia Stauch is being held without bond and has been extradited to Colorado, he added. "Justice will be served because my boy does not deserve this," said Gannon's biological mother, Landen Hiott, standing alongside the boy's father, Albert Stauch, at the press conference. "She will pay 100 percent for this thing that she did," Hiott added, "because I want to live on this Earth knowing that justice will be served for my little boy."Gannon's father said in a statement that was read aloud during the press conference, "The person who committed this heinous, horrible crime is one that I gave more to anyone else on this planet, and that is a burden that I will carry with me for a very long time."Letecia initially reported Gannon missing, telling authorities that he walked over to a friend's house at 3:15 p.m. on Jan. 27 and never returned. She told El Paso County police that she believed the child had been abducted.But a video provided by the family's neighbor in Colorado Springs called her story into question, as it appeared to show the child entering his stepmother's truck and leaving with her on the day he disappeared. The video apparently shows Stauch returning home without her stepson.It was later revealed that he did not attend school that Monday.'Come Home': Search Is on for Colorado Boy Who Vanished Two Weeks AgoIn February, El Paso County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Sgt. Deborah Mynatt cast doubt on Gannon's alleged kidnapping, saying, "We are really trying to also ensure that the community knows if there was a threat of some sort of public safety statement, if there was an abduction of some sort, if that information was revealed to us… we would absolutely put that out," according to People magazine.Landen Hiott said in a video statement released earlier in February, "I don't even have answers for my feelings, other than I'm afraid," adding, "Afraid that I will never hear his voice, that I will never hear him run and say, 'Mommy!,' that I will never hear those corny jokes that he always tells. I am afraid I will never see that again or hear it."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| China is reportedly making people download an Alibaba-backed app that decides whether they'll be quarantined for coronavirus Posted: 02 Mar 2020 08:59 AM PST  The app represents an unprecedented use of consumer smartphone technology in a public health crisis — and privacy advocates are worried.
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| More testing sheds light on how virus is spreading in US Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:13 PM PST  An increase in testing for the coronavirus began shedding light Monday on how the illness has spread in the United States, including in Washington state, where four people died at a nursing home and some schools were closed for disinfection. Seattle officials announced four more deaths, bringing the total in the U.S. to six. In Seattle, King County Executive Dow Constantine declared an emergency and said the county was buying a hotel to be used as a hospital for patients who need to be isolated.
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| Netanyahu pulls ahead but remains one seat shy of governing majority, exit polls suggest Posted: 02 Mar 2020 02:22 PM PST  Netanyahu's right-wing bloc looked set to win 60 seats — one seat short of a governing majority, according to exit polls by three Israeli broadcasters.
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| Mexico’s Peso Hits Five-Month Low as President Lauds Resilience Posted: 02 Mar 2020 06:55 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The Mexican peso fell for an eighth consecutive day Monday, its longest losing streak since 2011, taking it to the lowest since October as the coronavirus infected more people.The peso weakened 0.7% as of 8:49 a.m. local time, bringing its decline in the past month to 4.8%, the worst performance in emerging markets after Brazil's real. The Latin American nation has now reported five confirmed cases of coronavirus.In a morning press conference, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador preferred to highlight the rally in the peso since he took office in late 2018. While he agreed that the peso has taken a hit, he said that the starting point as one of the world's best performing currencies meant it had further to fall."Our economy has resisted, especially the peso," Lopez Obrador told reporters. "It endured this first stage of coronavirus spread. There has been a depreciation, but it was already very strong."The spread of the virus has potential to hurt Mexico's already moribund economy, which registered a 0.1% contraction in gross domestic product last year. Since Lopez Obrador's election, the peso remains the third-best performing major currency, but the sixth worst year to date.Recent declines are "a reflection of the market anticipating the virus situation in Mexico," said Danny Fang, a New York-based strategist at BBVA.Global coronavirus cases reached 89,000 on Monday, with the death toll rising to 3,044. Mexico reported its first case on Thursday last week.To contact the reporters on this story: Justin Villamil in Mexico City at jvillamil18@bloomberg.net;Lorena Rios in Mexico City at lriost@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Carolina Wilson at cwilson166@bloomberg.net, Philip SandersFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Making travel plans? How coronavirus fear is spreading and putting trips in limbo Posted: 02 Mar 2020 10:37 AM PST  What are people doing in the face of unprecedented coronavirus travel anxiety? Some are canceling or modifying trips, and others are forging ahead.
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| Barack Obama told Joe Biden he won’t endorse him yet, report claims Posted: 02 Mar 2020 05:41 AM PST  Despite Joe Biden's commanding victory in Saturday's South Carolina primary, in which he garnered close to 50 per cent of the vote, an endorsement from the president with whom he served seems not to be forthcoming.Speaking to CNN, a source close to Barack Obama said that in a congratulatory phonecall after Mr Biden's victory, the president told Mr Biden he would not be endorsing him any time soon, citing worries that he could badly divide the party during a still-messy nominating process.
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| U.S. Supreme Court blocks another cross-border shooting claim Posted: 02 Mar 2020 07:44 AM PST |
