| Clumsy Kamala Posted: 23 Feb 2019 01:30 AM PST  No Democrat running for president has had a better 2019 than Kamala Harris. The numbers tell the tale. The California senator was in the low single digits in polls conducted before her official launch on January 28. She is now in the low double digits, running third behind Joe Biden, who enjoys cosmic name recognition, and Bernie Sanders, whose devoted supporters brought him a second-place finish last time. But polls do not tell the whole story.Harris raised $1.5 million in the day after declaring her candidacy. That number, impressive for a senator not even a third of the way through her first term, has been bested only by Sanders, a socialist who has a venture capitalist's talent for raising money. He brought in $5.9 million in the first 24 hours of his campaign. Harris, however, has something Sanders does not.She is a fresh face of middle age (54 years) and of diverse background (her father is Jamaican, her mother Indian) whose chief rivals at the moment are two geriatric white men. As Democrats search for someone new to lead them against President Trump, Harris has distinguished herself from the field. Her CNN town hall drew record ratings, while Amy Klobuchar's flopped. And Harris leads the 2020 Democrats in social-media interactions, according to an Axios/Newswhip study. She's had a good launch. But there's a caveat.David Axelrod has described presidential campaigns as MRIs for the soul. He means that a candidate is subjected to pressures strong enough to reveal his or her true character. What voters get at the end of the process is a fuller picture of the men and women they choose to inhabit the White House. In these early weeks of what is certain to be a seemingly endless and certainly vitriolic campaign, Harris has demonstrated both strengths and weaknesses. Her strength is that she seems a perfect fit for the current shape of the Democratic party. Her weakness is a blithe and insouciant manner that is sure to cause her trouble. In fact it already has. Consider three recent slipups.The first took place during that CNN special. An audience member asked Senator Harris for her "solution to ensure that people have access to quality health care at an affordable price," and "does that solution involve cutting insurance companies as we know them out of the equation?" You bet it does, was Harris's answer. "We need to have Medicare-for-all. That's just the bottom line." Following up, Jake Tapper mentioned that Harris has co-sponsored a bill that would end employer-based insurance, which covers some 180 million Americans. "So," Tapper asked, "for people out there who like their insurance, they don't get to keep it?"Harris seemed not to understand the magnitude of the change she supports. She mentioned the "process of going through an insurance company," how "going through all of that paperwork" has caused delays and headaches for many. "Let's eliminate all of that," she said. "Let's move on."Actually, let's stay still for now, and ask the following questions. Harris promises to end the health coverage of millions without providing a satisfactory rationale for, or explanation of, her position. Does she really believe there won't be paperwork in government-run health care? Paperwork is government's specialty. And if the Obamacare mandate was unpopular, how will voters greet President Harris's mandate to "eliminate" the status quo that covers the vast majority? The substance of her answer was obvious catnip for Republicans always eager to "pounce," and the style was no less harmful. Harris did not give the impression that she took either the question or the implications of her answer all too seriously. This is something that happens often.Moment two: On January 29, after Jussie Smollett claimed he had been attacked in a hate crime by two white Trump fans in the middle of a wintry Chicago night, Harris tweeted her support for the actor. "This was an attempted modern day lynching," she said. "No one should have to fear for their life because of their sexuality or color of their skin. We must confront this hate." What Harris did not mention were the curious details of the story — details that the Chicago Police Department investigated and finally debunked. It turns out Smollett was attacked not by white supremacists but by two Nigerian immigrants whom he had put up to the job. The "modern day lynching" was a bogus, disgusting, and exploitative affront to the real victims of hatred. A prepared candidate would have expressed regret at her tweet and familiarity with the case. Harris was not prepared.During a visit to New Hampshire last weekend, a reporter asked Harris if she would like to revisit her words about Smollett. Harris clearly had no idea what the reporter was talking about. "Which tweet? What tweet?" she said. The reporter read the tweet back to Harris. Who stood there, agog, looking to her aides for help. And who finally answered, "I think that the facts are still unfolding, and, um, I'm very, um concerned about obviously, the initial, um, allegation that he made about what might have happened." Except it didn't happen. Nor is it clear if Harris actually wrote the tweet in support of Smollett. She might hold positions, including on health care, the details of which she is unaware. Which is a problem.Anecdote three is a family matter. On February 11, Harris appeared on the Breakfast Club podcast. One of the hosts wanted to know if she was against legalizing marijuana. "That's not true," she said. "Look, I joke about it, I have joked about it. Half my family is from Jamaica, are you kidding me?" She's smoked weed herself. "I have. And I inhaled. I did inhale. It was a long time ago, but yes. I just broke news." She went on to explain that she smoked a joint, not a blunt. And that marijuana "gives people joy." Her father felt no joy, however, at Harris's answer.In a statement released to the website Jamaica Global Online, Donald Harris, an economist, wrote: "My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to their family's name, reputation, and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics. Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this controversy." Father's Day should be interesting.What trips up Kamala Harris is an evident desire to please her audience. She wants no enemies to her left, no identity politics left untouched. She can't run as a prosecutor — crime fighting is so 1990s — but she can run as brash, bold, and woke. Her verbal miscues are possible evidence that this latest political fashion doesn't quite fit. She has made a habit of making unforced errors, and the game is only in its first month. Harris's Democratic opponents may be too blinkered or bashful to exploit this weakness. That will not be a problem for her Republican opponent.This article was originally published in the Washington Free Beacon.
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| Cardinal admits Church files on paedophile priests 'destroyed' Posted: 23 Feb 2019 10:56 AM PST  A top Catholic cardinal admitted Saturday that Church files on priests accused of sexually abusing children were destroyed or never even drawn up in a move which allowed paedophiles to prey on others. German Cardinal Reinhard Marx was speaking on the third day of an unprecedented summit of the world's top bishops convened by Pope Francis in a bid to tackle the crisis over paedophilia within the clergy. "Files that could have documented the terrible deeds and named those responsible were destroyed, or not even created," Marx told the landmark Vatican summit on a problem that has dogged the Roman Catholic Church for decades.
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| Judge Dismisses Charges Against Water Park Owner Over Boy`s Death on Slide Posted: 22 Feb 2019 08:05 PM PST  On Friday a judge tossed out the case against Schlitterbahn`s co-owner and employees accused in the death of a 10-year-old boy on a water slide in 2016.
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| U.S.-backed SDF hands over 280 Iraqi, foreign detainees to Iraq Posted: 24 Feb 2019 03:34 PM PST ![U.S.-backed SDF hands over 280 Iraqi, foreign detainees to Iraq]( "U.S.-backed SDF hands over 280 Iraqi, foreign detainees to Iraq") An Iraqi military colonel confirmed to Reuters that 130 people were transferred on Sunday, adding to the 150 transferred on Thursday. There are meant to be more such handovers under an agreement to transfer a group of some 500 detainees held by the SDF in Syria, Iraqi military sources said. Among the 280 were as many as 14 French citizens and six Arabs of unspecific nationality, according to one military source close to the handover process who commands troops near the Syrian border.
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| Amazon Prime cargo plane crash kills three people Posted: 24 Feb 2019 10:00 AM PST  Three people are thought to have died after a plane carrying Amazon cargo crashed into Trinity Bay in Texas on Saturday afternoon. The Boeing 767 cargo jetliner was travelling to Houston from Miami and was just 30 miles southeast of its destination, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, when air traffic controllers lost radar and radio contact with the craft. Controllers in Houston tried at least twice to contact the plane but received no response.
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| Harry and Meghan meet Moroccan girls during official tour Posted: 24 Feb 2019 11:47 AM PST  The British royals' trip, their last official foreign tour before becoming parents, was set to focus on initiatives promoting girls' education, women's empowerment and the inclusion of people with disabilities. A heavily pregnant Meghan, with henna on one hand, accepted flowers from one of the girls in Asni while she and Harry chatted outside to a group from the programme Education For All Morocco. The organisation runs free boarding houses to give girls aged 12 to 18 from the High Atlas region access to education, working with 185 teenagers in 2017.
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| Rising anti-US sentiment on Okinawa ahead of military base referendum Posted: 23 Feb 2019 10:05 AM PST  When Chiemi Yonashiro was told an object from a United States military helicopter appeared to have fallen onto the nursery where she had dropped off her three-year-old daughter Mimaru just hours earlier, she burst into tears. Her daughter – and around 70 other children playing at the nursery at the time – were unhurt, but for Mrs Yonashiro, 46, the incident confirmed her conviction that her family was not safe living in southern Japan's Okinawa region for one uncomfortable reason: the heavy presence of US military. "Every day we fear that our lives are at risk," the mother-of-two told the Sunday Telegraph. "I do not want to let my daughter or other children to experiences such strong fears. I don't want anyone to suffer this way anymore." Mrs Chiemi is one of tens of thousands of Okinawa residents who will on Sunday be offered the opportunity to express their views on the longstanding presence of US military in the region in a historic referendum. Voters will be asked whether they agree with a deeply controversial plan to relocate a US military base from the crowded residential Futenma region to a more remote part of the island – with early polls indicating that as many as 70 per cent will vote no. Chiemi Yonashiro and children in Okinawa Credit: Danielle Demetriou The result of the referendum is legally non-binding and unlikely to stop the government from pushing ahead with relocating, with reclamation work already underway. However, a "no" result is likely to be viewed as a powerful symbol of local opposition to US military. Okinawa, a subtropical archipelago closer to Taipei than Tokyo, has long been of enormous strategic importance to the US, with the main island hosting more than half of the 47,000 American military personnel based in Japan, despite accounting for less than one per cent of the country's total land area. Tensions between the US military and locals have soared in recent years, with a steady stream of complaints over noise, accidents by military aircraft and crimes committed by military personnel and civilian employees. Momentum to local resistance to US military presence has escalated since last September when Denny Tamaki came to power as Okinawa Governor after campaigning heavily against the relocation plans. Photo taken from a drone shows the relocation site for US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in the Henoko coastal district of Nago, Okinawa Credit: Splash News Critics of the relocation say it will damage the island's delicate marine eco-system and potentially increase aircraft accidents, with many calling for the base to be closed down completely or moved to another part of Japan. The fact the referendum is taking place at all is likely to cause a major headache for Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, who is intent on keeping relations smooth with his key ally US president Donald Trump. The timing of the referendum is also sensitive, in the light of preparations underway for the US-North Korea summit in Vietnam next week and discussions over plans for Mr Trump to visit Japan in May and June. The controversial relocation plan has been a potential thorn in Washington-Tokyo relations since it was first proposed more than two decades ago, with one former Japanese PM resigning over the issue. For Mrs Yonashiro, the falling aircraft part at Midorigaoka Nursery in December 2017 was one of a string of incidents that crystalised her deep-rooted opposition to the presence of US military in the region. During the same month, a large object resembling a window frame also reportedly fell from another US military helicopter into the grounds of a nearby elementary school, causing a stone to lightly injure a child. Children playing at Midorigaoka Nursery where the December 2017 incident took place Credit: Danielle Demetriou "Parents here have felt a sense of crisis since these objects fell into schools, one after another," says Futenma-born Mrs Yonashiro, who also has an eight-year-old son Tamaru. "Children in Okinawa have a right to live a peaceful life but they are living with danger. As long as US military aircraft are flying over Okinawa, the danger will not go away. I strongly feel this is the time to change Okinawa. It's not just a matter of military bases, it's about children's lives." Takehiro Kamiya, the head of Midorigaoka Nursery, was no less outspoken in his opposition to US military forces in Okinawa in the run-up to the referendum, highlighting how military aircraft fly over the building on a daily basis. "We do not need the military bases anymore," he told the Sunday Telegraph. "There have been accidents of military aircraft crashing, falling objects and crash-landings, as well as murder, rape, theft, traffic accident, drunk driving. The US military still fly over our communities as if nothing has happened. Would such a thing be allowed in Tokyo or in the UK?" He added: "We demand that military bases not be relocated, but closed or demolished."
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| Storm dumps record-breaking snow in Arizona on way to Texas Posted: 22 Feb 2019 08:05 PM PST  FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A winter storm dumped record-breaking amounts of snow in Arizona and forced the closure Friday of roads, schools and government offices across the Southwest.
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| How did police catch 'Empire' actor Jussie Smollett? Lots and lots of cameras Posted: 23 Feb 2019 08:44 PM PST  Dozens of security cameras played a key role in helping police unravel "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett's alleged hoax attack, authorities say.
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| Labour Eyes New Referendum as May Heads to Egypt: Brexit Update Posted: 24 Feb 2019 03:57 AM PST  Environment Secretary and leading Brexiteer Michael Gove struck a conciliatory tone towards three members of the Cabinet who are threatening to vote against the government this week, saying all voices in the party should be listened to.
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| Turkish President Erdogan lashes out at Sisi over Egypt executions Posted: 23 Feb 2019 09:19 PM PST  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sharply criticised his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after the recent execution of nine people in Egypt, saying he refused to talk to "someone like him". This is not something we can accept," Erdogan said Saturday in an interview with Turkish TV channels CNN-Turk and Kanal D, referring to the execution Wednesday of nine men sentenced for the murder of the Egyptian prosecutor general in 2015. There is an authoritarian system, even totalitarian," Erdogan added.
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| As tensions over aid rise, Venezuelan troops fire on villagers, kill two Posted: 22 Feb 2019 07:03 PM PST ![As tensions over aid rise, Venezuelan troops fire on villagers, kill two]( "As tensions over aid rise, Venezuelan troops fire on villagers, kill two") The United States, which is among dozens of nations to recognize opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president, has been stockpiling aid in the Colombian frontier town of Cucuta to ship across the border this weekend. With tensions running high after Guaido invoked the constitution to declare an interim presidency last month, Maduro has denied there is a humanitarian crisis in Venezuela despite widespread shortages of food and medicine and hyperinflation. The socialist president, who took power in 2013 and was re-elected in an election last year widely viewed as fraudulent, has declared Venezuela's southern border with Brazil closed ahead of the opposition's plan to bring in the aid on Saturday.
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| Suspected Bangladesh plane hijacker shot dead: army Posted: 24 Feb 2019 09:03 AM PST  Bangladesh commandos stormed a passenger jet in the country's southeast Sunday and shot dead an armed man who allegedly tried to hijack the Dubai-bound flight, an army official said. The suspect, described by officials as a Bangladeshi man in his mid 20s, was shot as special forces rushed the Boeing 737-800 plane after it landed safely in Chittagong. The 134 passengers and 14 crew aboard the Bangladesh Biman flight BG147 were all rescued unharmed, officials said.
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| South Africa's Ramaphosa appoints graft tribunal Posted: 24 Feb 2019 03:57 AM PST  South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a tribunal to fast-track legal proceedings from graft investigations by the country's Special Investigating Unit (SIU), the presidency said on Sunday. The tribunal will adjudicate over any civil proceedings brought before it by the SIU, which investigates malpractice in state institutions, state assets and public money, the presidency said in a statement.
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| Iran launches cruise missile from submarine during drill Posted: 24 Feb 2019 08:01 AM PST ![Iran launches cruise missile from submarine during drill]( "Iran launches cruise missile from submarine during drill") TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran launched a cruise missile from a submarine for the first time during an ongoing annual military drill in the Strait of Hormuz, local media reported Sunday.
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| Pope compares child sex abuse to human sacrifice as he promises to combat 'with the wrath of God' Posted: 24 Feb 2019 02:36 AM PST  Pope Francis wrapped up a landmark Vatican summit on clerical sex abuse on Sunday pledging to bring the "wrath of God" upon clergy who abuse children, and likening paedophilia to "human sacrifice". "We must deliver justice to whoever did this and never try to cover up any case," Pope Francis told the 190 cardinals, bishops and participants gathered for the unprecedented four-day Vatican summit on the clerical sexual abuse crisis that has dogged the Roman Catholic Church for decades. "The echo of the silent cry of the little ones, who, instead of finding in them fathers and spiritual guides, encountered tormentors, will shake hearts dulled by hypocrisy and power." Support groups for the victims of clerical sexual abuse, however, said Pope Francis had lost a unique, high-profile opportunity for momentous change, instead opting for empty promises and "meaningless" reflection points. His references to the devil and emphasis on the fact that the Church was not the only place children were abused particularly rankled. Describing predatory priests as "tools of Satan", the Pope said paedophilia was "a widespread phenomenon in all cultures and societies". "I am reminded of the cruel religious practice, once widespread in certain cultures, of sacrificing human beings - frequently children - in pagan rites," he said. "Honestly it's a pastoral 'blabla', saying it's the fault of the devil," Swiss victim Jean-Marie Furbringer said. The summit concluded with the celebration of a mass, during which Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president Mark Coleridge urged the swift implementation of change. "A mission stretches before us - a mission demanding not just words but real concrete action," Archbishop Coleridge said. In his concluding remarks after mass, the 82-year-old Argentine pontiff called for a full-scale battle against the scourge of sexual abuse. This would include the development of guidelines, task forces and legislation within the church focused on eight key points: prevention, conduct, training, purification, protocols for informing authorities, fighting against sexual tourism and online abuse, accompaniment for the abused and, above all, protecting minors from predators in the Church. Vatican officials also confirmed he is considering changes to Canon Law to raise the current definition of minor from 14 to 18. He urged the "great majority of priests" who are not abusers and who feel dishonoured by the crimes of others to embrace an institutional change in mentality. Summit participants heard shocking revelations from the Church hierarchy about destruction of evidence, failure to report crimes and cover ups of the scandals in countries across the globe, including Chile, Germany, Ireland, Australia and the US. Victims' advocacy and survivor support groups said they were disappointed by the pontiff's failure to announce any concrete measures. More guidelines were by and large irrelevant, said Peter Saunders, a British victim who stepped down from a special commission on child protection out of frustration with the lack of progress and support. "The pope had a unique opportunity with the eyes of the world on him, to write into Canon Law that any priest or clergy who has been convicted or credibly accused must be removed from the priestly state forever. Likewise, any bishop, cardinal or church official who covers up from these crimes must be removed. Otherwise the church is still failing children across the world as we speak in a catastrophic way," Mr. Saunders told the Telegraph. Mr Saunders was among the dozens of abuse survivors who rallied outside the summit on Saturday, as inside others gave harrowing accounts of their abuse. One woman said she was forced to have three abortions after being sexually and physically tormented by a priest. Nigerian nun Veronica Openibo scolded the cardinals and bishops for inaction, asking the question echoing endlessly through the Vatican halls: "Why did we keep silent so long?"
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| 'Vaccines Cause Adults': Pediatric staff's response to anti-vaxxers after measles outbreak Posted: 24 Feb 2019 04:01 PM PST  Staff at a New York pediatric office sought to be "as loud" as anti-vaxxers and make headlines with the slogan "Vaccines Cause Adults." They did.
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| Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez delivers impassioned response to critics: 'I'm the boss. How about that?' Posted: 24 Feb 2019 07:57 AM PST  Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has accused critics of "not trying" to tackle climate change following opposition to her ambitious Green New Deal programme. Ms Ocasio-Cortez addressed criticism she has faced from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress at a New York Hall of Science event. "I just introduced the Green New Deal two weeks ago and it's creating all of this conversation, why?
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| Warren Buffett's Message to Washington: Bipartisanship Works Posted: 23 Feb 2019 06:39 AM PST  "Our country's almost unbelievable prosperity has been gained in a bipartisan manner," he wrote in his annual letter to shareholders as he traced the growth of U.S. economy over the last 230 years. The billionaire investor's annual letter, which ran 13 pages this year and quoted Abraham Lincoln and Christopher Wren, typically goes beyond Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s results to discuss investing principles and his and business partner Charlie Munger's thoughts on a wide range of topics. Buffett has taken a careful approach to the political conversation since the 2016 election.
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| India police arrest Kashmir activists amid rising tensions Posted: 23 Feb 2019 09:26 AM PST  SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Police have arrested at least 300 activists seeking the end of Indian rule in disputed Kashmir, officials said Saturday, escalating fears among already wary residents that a sweeping crackdown could touch off renewed anti-India protests and clashes.
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| Venezuela: Violent clashes break out as nation closes border with three countries amid escalating crisis Posted: 23 Feb 2019 08:29 AM PST  Venezuelan soldiers fired tear gas at civilians near the country's border with Colombia, amid growing tensions after a crowd tried to clear a barricade in an effort to access humanitarian aid, including food and medicine. Flames from the bus blaze caused nearby power lines to spark along the border. The fresh burst of violence came as Nicolas Maduro's government closed Venezuela's border bridges with Colombia on Friday, having also closed the nation's borders with Brazil and the island of Curacao, other crucial points of entry for international aid.
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| NASA greenlights SpaceX crew capsule test to ISS Posted: 22 Feb 2019 10:56 PM PST  NASA on Friday gave SpaceX the green light to test a new crew capsule by first sending an unmanned craft with a life-sized mannequin to the International Space Station. "We're go for launch, we're go for docking," said William Gerstenmaier, the associate administrator with NASA Human Exploration and Operations. A Falcon 9 rocket from the private US-based SpaceX is scheduled to lift off, weather permitting, on March 2 to take the Crew Dragon test capsule to the ISS.
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| Journalist, 12, faces off with police officer who threatened to arrest her Posted: 23 Feb 2019 11:00 PM PST  Hilde Lysiak films her interaction with Arizona law enforcement. Hilde's scoop became a bigger story than the murder. Now Hilde is making headlines of her own once again, after she filmed an Arizona town marshal, Joseph Patterson, threatening her.
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| North Korea's Kim begins long train trip to Vietnam for summit with Trump: report Posted: 23 Feb 2019 06:16 AM PST  The reports of Kim's departure from North Korea came after Vietnam announced that Kim would make an official visit in "coming days", as the Southeast Asian country prepares to host the summit with Trump on Wednesday and Thursday. Trump and Kim will meet in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, eight months after their historic summit in Singapore in June - the first between a sitting U.S. president and a North Korean leader - at which they pledged to work towards the complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. The Trump administration has pressed North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program, which threatens the United States, before it can expect any concessions.
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| Huawei shrugs off threat of US ban Posted: 24 Feb 2019 05:51 AM PST  Huawei's chairman on Sunday shrugged of the risk that President Donald Trump could issue an executive order banning the Chinese telecom giant, saying the company could succeed without the US market. Guo Ping said such an order "is not necessary and should not be released" but if issued would have little impact on Huawei, which has become the leading supplier of the backbone equipment for wireless mobile networks worldwide. "In 2018 Huawei had revenues of over 100 billion dollars.
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| 2 women expected to testify against Va. Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax in planned public hearings Posted: 24 Feb 2019 12:50 PM PST  Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax dismissed Republican calls for his sexual assault accusers to testify before the state House of Delegates, calling it "political theater."
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| Robert Kraft 'categorically' denies soliciting sex at spa after police said he was filmed twice in the act Posted: 23 Feb 2019 09:57 AM PST  New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft has "categorically" denied soliciting sex at a spa in Florida after police said he was filmed doing so twice. Mr Kraft, 77, faces two counts of soliciting sex from a prostitute. The billionaire is one of two dozen men who were arrested for allegedly paying $59 (£45) for a half-hour and $79 (£60) for an hour of sex at Orchids of Asia Day Spa in Jupiter, Florida.
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| Syrian state news: Mine left by Islamic State group kills 20 Posted: 24 Feb 2019 07:27 AM PST  DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A land mine left by the Islamic State group struck a van packed with workers in eastern Syria, killing more than 20 of them, Syria's state news agency said on Sunday. The agency earlier reported that 24 people were killed.
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| The Latest: Pompeo urges Venezuelan troops to let aid in Posted: 23 Feb 2019 08:10 PM PST  CUCUTA, Colombia (AP) — The Latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):
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| Nigerian Rivals Claim Successes as They Await Vote Outcome Posted: 24 Feb 2019 10:31 AM PST  As many as 73 million people were eligible to vote Saturday in a tight race between Buhari, 76, an ex-general who campaigned on an anti-graft platform, and Abubakar, a 72-year-old businessman and former vice president. The National Independent Electoral Commission will start announcing results Monday from 11 a.m., its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, said at the opening of the national collation center in the capital, Abuja.
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| Will Google, Amazon and Facebook fix the affordable housing crisis? Posted: 24 Feb 2019 04:46 AM PST  The housing crisis must be addressed by a careful collaboration between politicians, advocacy groups and corporate entities, activists says.
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| 'Chilling the atmosphere': North Korea media condemns U.S. Democrats ahead of summit Posted: 24 Feb 2019 03:32 AM PST  After weeks of silence about the summit in Vietnam, North Korea's state news agency KCNA on Sunday announced Kim's departure by train, en route to talks in which the two leaders aim to build on a commitment to rid the Korean peninsula of nuclear weapons, reached at their first meeting in Singapore in June. KCNA later issued a commentary arguing that if Trump listened to skeptics at home, he could face a "shattered dream" and "miss the rare historic opportunity" to improve relations with North Korea. "The Democratic Party of the U.S. and other opponents to the negotiations move overtly and covertly to disrupt them as supported by scepticism backed by all sorts of groundless stories and misinformation even at such a crucial moment as now," said the commentary, which was released under the name Jong Hyon.
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| Saudi Arabia replaces envoy to Washington: royal decree Posted: 23 Feb 2019 01:35 PM PST  Saudi Arabia has replaced its ambassador to the United States, a royal decree announced Saturday, as the fallout over journalist Jamal Khashoggi's murder tests relations between the two allies. Princess Rima bint Bandar was appointed the kingdom's first woman envoy to Washington, replacing Prince Khalid bin Salman, who was named vice defence minister. Prince Khalid is the younger brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country's de facto ruler who also serves as the defence minister.
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| Virgin Galactic takes crew of three to altitude of 55 miles Posted: 23 Feb 2019 09:38 AM PST  Virgin Galactic's spacecraft reached an altitude of more than 55 miles (88.5 kilometers) on Friday, carrying for the first time a passenger in addition to its two pilots. SpaceShipTwo, built by British billionaire Richard Branson to carry tourists into space, launched from California's Mojave desert and flew to an altitude of 55.87 miles (89.9 kms), the company said. The US definition of space is anything over an altitude of 50 miles.
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| Bill Maher says the reason red state voters are so upset is because they want to be the blue states Posted: 23 Feb 2019 08:41 AM PST  The blue parts of America are having a prosperity party while that big sea of red feels like their invitation got lost in the mail, says Bill Maher.
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| Southwest Airlines flights temporarily grounded due to computer outage Posted: 24 Feb 2019 05:17 PM PST  Southwest temporarily grounded flights early Friday due to a computer glitch. The airline has been plagued by flight cancellations this week.
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| US senator argues with school children about climate change policy Posted: 23 Feb 2019 03:53 PM PST  Democratic senator Dianne Feinstein got into a heated exchange with primary-age school children over the Green New Deal, firmly stating that she will not support the renewable energy plan. A group of schoolchildren stopped by the California senator's San Francisco office on Friday to call on her to support the scheme, spearheaded by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, that calls for net-zero greenhouse emissions and 100 per cent renewable energy in the US by 2030. In the video the California Democrat tells the children she could not support the Green New Deal because "there's no way to pay for it".
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| 5 dead in Kashmir, shops stage boycott of crackdown by India Posted: 24 Feb 2019 12:35 PM PST  SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Three rebels, a counterinsurgency police officer and an army soldier were killed Sunday during a gunbattle in Kashmir, officials said, as shops and businesses shut down to protest a sweeping and ongoing crackdown against activists seeking the end of Indian rule in the disputed region.
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| Harry and Meghan arrive in Morocco's Atlas Mountains to champion girls' education Posted: 24 Feb 2019 02:07 AM PST  The visit at the request of the British government is the second to the kingdom in recent years by a member of the royal family, following a trip by Prince Charles in 2011. Queen Elizabeth visited Morocco in 1980. Harry and Meghan arrived in Casablanca on Saturday evening.
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| Academy Awards, R. Kelly case, Warren Buffett letter: 5 things to know this weekend Posted: 23 Feb 2019 12:49 AM PST  The 2019 Academy Awards, R. Kelly scheduled to appear in court and more things to know this weekend.
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| Extra 1,000 troops to be sent to US-Mexico border, says senior defence official Posted: 23 Feb 2019 10:51 AM PST  The Pentagon will increase the number of active-duty troops along the US-Mexico border to about 6,000 by the start of next month, a senior US defence official has said. The troops currently stationed at the border have also been ordered to string more concertina wire and install detection systems in remote areas away from official ports of entry, the senior defence official said. The official, who was authorised by the Pentagon to speak to reporters only on the condition of anonymity, said that so far active-duty military forces had installed 70 miles of concertina wire, reinforced ports of entry, provided medical support to migrants and helped transport Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents by aircraft.
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| Mueller Tells Judge That Manafort ‘Brazenly' Broke the Law Posted: 23 Feb 2019 02:28 PM PST  Manafort, 69, is set to be sentenced on March 13 in Washington, where he pleaded guilty to two conspiracy counts and faces as much as a decade in prison. "For over a decade, Manafort repeatedly and brazenly violated the law," Mueller's prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo unsealed Saturday in federal court in Washington. Mueller is investigating whether anyone in Trump's campaign conspired with Russians who interfered in the 2016 U.S. elections.
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| UK ministers warn PM to get her deal now or delay Brexit Posted: 23 Feb 2019 02:03 AM PST  Three members of Prime Minister Theresa May's cabinet warned Saturday that Brexit must be delayed if she cannot persuade the British parliament to back her EU divorce deal next week. Business minister Greg Clark, work and pensions minister Amber Rudd and justice minister David Gauke wrote an article stating their opposition to leaving the European Union on March 29 with no deal. "If there is no breakthrough in the coming week, the balance of opinion in parliament is clear -- that it would be better to seek to... delay our date of departure rather than crash out of the European Union on March 29," the ministers wrote in the Daily Mail newspaper.
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| Novartis gene therapy would be cost effective up to $900,000: U.S. group Posted: 22 Feb 2019 06:12 PM PST ![Novartis gene therapy would be cost effective up to $900,000: U.S. group]( "Novartis gene therapy would be cost effective up to $900,000: U.S. group") The Boston-based Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) made the determination using a commonly cited cost-effectiveness threshold that values each "quality-adjusted life year" (QALY) gained at $100,000 to $150,000. If each QALY gained were assessed at $500,000, ICER found the gene therapy, Zolgensma, would be cost effective at just over $5 million. Novartis has said the price will be determined in negotiations with health plans, but it believes the gene therapy would be cost effective at $4 million to $5 million as a one-time treatment.
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| These are the 10 best cars, SUVs and pickups of 2019, according to Consumer Reports Posted: 24 Feb 2019 03:34 PM PST  Consumer Reports reveals its Top 10 picks for the best vehicles of 2019. It's an influential annual list that serves as a guide for many car shoppers.
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