| At impeachment trial, Democrats address Biden corruption allegations as Graham promises more developments Posted: 23 Jan 2020 06:31 PM PST  Sen. Lindsey Graham made it clear that he plans to make Hunter Biden a much bigger part of the impeachment debate in the coming days.
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| U.S. to evacuate its citizens from Wuhan, China - WSJ Posted: 25 Jan 2020 04:01 AM PST  The plane, with around 230 people, will carry diplomats from the U.S. consulate as well as U.S. citizens and their families, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the operation. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing said that on Thursday, the State Department had ordered the departure of family members and all U.S. government employees at its Wuhan consulate, but declined to comment on the report that other U.S. citizens would be evacuated from the city.
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| Social worker charged with coercing client into prostitution Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:20 AM PST ![Social worker charged with coercing client into prostitution]( "Social worker charged with coercing client into prostitution") A former child services caseworker has been charged with human trafficking, accused of recruiting a mother who was her client into prostitution in exchange for a favorable custody recommendation, authorities said. Candace Talley, 27, of Winslow, New Jersey, was working for the Division of Children and Youth Services in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, when she coerced the mother, whose children were in foster care and whose case Talley was managing, into working as a prostitute, the Delaware County District Attorney's office announced Thursday. Talley drove the woman to and from jobs and took more than 25% of the money that was made, authorities said.
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| Photos from the Lunar New Year show how coronavirus turned China's biggest party into a washout Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:55 PM PST  Here are photos comparing last year's celebration — complete with Chinese lions, historical dances, and family time — to this year.
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| Trump administration accused by the UK of a 'denial of justice' after refusing to extradite a diplomat's wife accused of killing a British teenager Posted: 24 Jan 2020 02:14 AM PST  The UK government said the decision to reject the extradition request was a "denial of justice."
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| Tenn. governor announces plans for strictest anti-abortion laws in U.S. Posted: 24 Jan 2020 10:04 AM PST  Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has announced his intention to enact some of the strictest abortion laws in the U.S.
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| Millions of locusts are swarming in Kenya. These striking photos show just how bad the outbreak is Posted: 25 Jan 2020 01:12 PM PST  Hundreds of millions of locusts are swarming into Kenya from neighboring Somalia and Ethiopia with unprecented size and destructive potential.
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| 'Kids are taking the streets': climate activists plan avalanche of events as 2020 election looms Posted: 25 Jan 2020 03:00 AM PST  Young demonstrators aim to make the climate crisis a central issue of the presidential campaignOrganizers in the youth climate movement plan an avalanche of activities beginning next week, determined to make the future of the climate the major issue of the 2020 election.Capitalizing on turnout in the September climate strikes, when 6 million people worldwide turned out to demand urgent action to address the escalating ecological emergency, young US organizers are making the leap from mobilization to demands. They're planning widespread voter activation in the 2020 US presidential election as well as direct action targeting the fossil fuel industry and the banks and politicians that enable it."The headline message of the strikes in 2020 is: the kids are taking to the streets to strike for climate and they're asking you to vote," said Katie Eder, the executive director of Future Coalition, a communications and training hub for youth climate groups.There are more than 300 organizations involved in the efforts, Eder said, including some of the largest youth and adult coalitions in climate movement: Fridays for Future, the Sunrise Movement, 350.org, Zero Hour, Extinction Rebellion."We're starting to have the conversation within the strikes about how we're balancing both the political targets and the financial targets," Eder said, calling power and money "really key to the root causes of why we're not addressing climate change".Activists have planned widespread voter mobilization campaigns; three days of national strikes, marches, and direct action against politicians and banks beginning on Earth Day (22 April); regular strikes on Fridays and additional strikes targeting primary elections in every state; plus an international day of action, college divestment campaigns, and a huge push by the Sunrise Movement to turn out the vote for Bernie Sanders and a Green New Deal.Stories of climate awakening are a universal truth for young Americans living in the age of worsening climate conditions. Isabella Fallahi, who has asthma, for example, has lived within 14 miles of a coal-burning generating facility all of her life."A lot of people don't think of Indiana, or the midwest, for that matter, as frontline communities," she said. "We face the silent killers. The terrible air quality because of mining projects, the terrible water quality because of mining projects, the health effects associated with both of those, droughts that cripple the agricultural economies that we're based off of."But Fallahi, like many other young organizers, is also galvanized by the tech proficiency of her generation, born into the era of hashtags and the ubiquitous touchscreen. She was a speaker at the UN climate change conference in Madrid (COP 25) in December 2019, when she and other youth were nearly ejected for protesting against the fossil fuel executives on panels and in negotiations.Approximately 200 young people in 40 countries, many of whom were at the conference, organized a response called Polluters Out. In 20 days, they had a website, a multilingual launch video, a press release in seven languages, and a list of demands. In actions set for March, they will call for the exclusion of fossil fuel interests at COP26 and transparency in the UN framework on climate change, as well as inclusion of indigenous and human rights in the Paris agreement. Regional efforts in the US will also call for a Green New Deal, a halt to new fossil fuel infrastructure, divestments from fossil fuels by universities and campaign funds, and the targeting of specific banks for fossil fuel investments.The groups stay in touch through conference calls, Slack, Zoom, and Google Drive. Activists in Cuba – who can't download the apps because of the US trade embargo – tune in through WhatsApp. There's a Slack channel for supporting scientists, too. And meetings wait for organizers in the Amazon who need to travel to towns for internet access.For all of them, there is community. People to cry with over the photo of the bay in Australia, so covered in smoke that it is hardly visible."Overall, I think the way to look at this perspective on the youth movement is: it is cohesive in that they do communicate, but the orgs are not all the same," said Natalie Mebane, associate director of US Policy for 350.org and an adult mentor for Zero Hour, both organizations intensely focused on voter turnout for climate for 2020. "We want to make sure that climate becomes the number one issue on voters' minds."The Sunrise Movement, like 350.org and Zero Hour, has taken that to a grassroots level. That is how Naina Agrawal-Hardin ended up in the guidance office at Washtenaw high school outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, for an interview. She's a leader for the Ann Arbor hub of the Sunrise Movement. And she's 16, a junior. Her school, she said, was supportive."Whenever I have to take conference calls or interviews during school hours, they usually will write me a pass to get out of class," she said.Agrawal-Hardin is planning a watch party at her home – a sneak peek at the forthcoming documentary Generation Green New Deal and a video about the Sunrise Movement's 2020 campaign, as part of its annual kickoff. Sunrise provides the documentaries, discussion questions, and near-daily training on organizing and recruitment techniques. When Agrawal-Hardin hosts her event on 29 January, she'll be one of more than 2,000 hosts nationwide.Through 2020, the Sunrise Movement will similarly activate its 300 chapters in support of Bernie Sanders, leveraging 10,000 volunteers in most of the 50 states for door knocks, voting pledges and climate education. Sunrise endorsed Sanders as the best-positioned candidate to lead a Green New Deal and address income inequality."By primary/caucus day in Iowa and New Hampshire, we are going to have over 20,000 young people who have signed pledges to vote for Green New Deal champions" in the two states, said Sofie Karasek, a Sunrise Movement spokesperson. "What we're really expecting to see in 2020 is Young Green New Deal voters really become the margin of victory for whoever becomes the Democratic nominee."
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| Schiff lobbies Chief Justice Roberts to rule on questions of executive privilege Posted: 24 Jan 2020 02:19 PM PST  Rep. Adam Schiff, the lead House prosecutor, called on Chief Justice John Roberts to expedite rulings on any disputes between Congress and President Trump over witness testimony and documents, if the Senate votes to allow them.
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| ‘Fox & Friends’ Desperately Tries to End Unhinged Giuliani Interview, Repeatedly Fails Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:20 AM PST  President Donald Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani showed up on the president's favorite morning program on Friday—and apparently didn't want to leave.A day after Giuliani claimed on Twitter that he was about to go public with evidence that will reveal the "Biden Family Enterprise made millions by selling public office" when Joe Biden was vice president, the former New York City mayor sat down on Fox & Friends' curvy couch for what can generously be described as an unhinged, rambling, off-the-rails performance.Giuliani, whose involvement in the Ukraine scandal is at the heart of the president's impeachment, continually left the hosts of the Fox News slack-jawed as he prattled on and bulldozed right through their efforts to keep him from incriminating and implicating himself.For example, as he claimed he would provide "compelling" evidence later in the day on a podcast to support his wild assertions about the Bidens that seemingly ensnare the entire Obama administration AND Hillary Clinton, co-host Brian Kilmeade wanted to make sure "the State Department and the White House know everything you were doing."Elsewhere in the interview, which was aired in front of a live studio audience, the one-time America's Mayor dismissed text messages and call logs with shady businessman Lev Parnas and other figures associated with Ukraine, oddly boasting, "How about all those phone records that show that I am a very hard-working lawyer?"Finally, after Giuliani once again repeated his Biden-related conspiracies, co-host Steve Doocy stepped in to wrap up the segment."I know you could go clear through noon when your podcast starts. Give it up for Rudy Giuliani," Doocy exclaimed to cheers from the audience. "We're going to be watching."The Trump lawyer, however, wasn't budging, instead saying that he'd only shown the "tip of the iceberg" while rambling on some more."Rudy, we're done," Doocy begged, prompting Kilmeade to add, "We have got to go. The president wants you to continue this investigation?""Would you like me to give up?" Giuliani replied, before adding, "Would you like me to say OK, Biden can keep his 8 million that he got in bribes. He can keep all the bribes that they got."Again, Doocy tried to give the signal that the interview was over, telling Giuliani that "we're waiting for noon" for the podcast. Giuliani, meanwhile, ignored Doocy while asking Kilmeade if he should "give it up" while grabbing his head and awkwardly leaning off the couch.The ex-mayor would continue to steamroll over Doocy's efforts to go to commercial break so he could get yet another last word in, finally giving it up after Doocy's fifth attempt to end the interview.Stephen Colbert Grills CNN's Chris Cuomo on His 'Friend' Kellyanne ConwayRead 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 Expanding into the Indian Ocean—Here Are Five Things the Indian Navy Can Do About It Posted: 25 Jan 2020 12:00 AM PST  Two emerging superpowers square off. Who wins?
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| Female prisoner dies after guards ‘did not stop her being beaten with soap bars’ Posted: 25 Jan 2020 07:52 AM PST  A female prisoner died after guards did not intervene while she was being beaten with a sock filled with bars of soap, it is claimed in a lawsuit set to be heard in the US.Nicole Rathmann was attacked by another inmate as she lay on her bunk at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.
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| China virus death toll rises to 56, total cases near 2,000 Posted: 25 Jan 2020 05:48 PM PST  The death toll from a virus in China has risen to 56 and the number of people infected across the country is nearing 2,000, authorities said Sunday. Fifteen more people have died and at least 688 new cases of the coronavirus have now been confirmed, according to the National Health Commission. Among the new deaths, 13 were in Hubei, the province at the heart of the outbreak, while Shanghai reported its first death.
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| Fox News primetime is covering Trump's impeachment trial — but with no audio of evidence from Democrats Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:08 AM PST  Fox News host Sean Hannity assured viewers the impeachment trial wasn't worth watching, and summed it up as "babble" and "talking points."
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| Use of 'rescues' by Mexican migration officials criticized Posted: 24 Jan 2020 03:41 PM PST  For many people who watched the moments when hundreds of Mexican national guardsmen with helmets and riot shields confronted hundreds of migrants who had been resting in the shade after walking all morning, "rescues" didn't seem to be the right word. Defenders of migrants' rights say rescues typically don't involve spraying those being rescued with pepper spray.
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| Wax On, Wane Off: A Guide to All the Lunar Phases Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:14 AM PST |
| Sanders touts controversial comedian's 2020 support, sparking criticism Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:46 AM PST  U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders' decision to highlight an unofficial endorsement from Joe Rogan drew criticism on Friday due to the comedian's brand of humor that some see as dismissive of issues like equal pay and transgender rights. The online flap comes as Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, has been trying to move past a weeks-long controversy over whether he told rival Elizabeth Warren, a friend and progressive ally, in a 2018 meeting that a woman could not beat Republican President Donald Trump, a charge he has denied. "Look, you could dig up dirt on every single human being that's ever existed if you catch them in their worst moment and you magnify those moments," Rogan continued in explaining his support.
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| A 36-Year-Old Man Is the Youngest Fatality of the Wuhan Coronavirus Outbreak So Far Posted: 24 Jan 2020 02:20 AM PST  The 36-year-old man from Hubei province was not reported to have any prior medical conditions, according to local health authorities
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| Iran Cannot Defeat American Stealth Planes, but They Could Cause Real Damage Posted: 24 Jan 2020 05:00 PM PST  Not so lopsided?
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| Two pedestrians killed by snowplow in Kansas Posted: 24 Jan 2020 03:39 PM PST  The two victims were struck by a snowplow north of the Kansas State University campus in Manhattan, authorities said.
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| Chinese people are turning on the government as the coronavirus outbreak spirals into the Lunar New Year Posted: 24 Jan 2020 10:04 PM PST  An unprecedented quarantine during the biggest festival of the year is proving a breaking point, as a fearful public faces the spreading virus.
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| Tweets urge calls to Supreme Court for fair Senate trial Posted: 24 Jan 2020 10:15 AM PST  The Supreme Court doesn't have a public comment line for its own work, much less the Senate's. The court is receiving "a higher than usual number of public calls," Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg said. Roberts is presiding over the Senate impeachment trial.
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| Mexico seeks US extradition of drug lord's son for reporter murder Posted: 24 Jan 2020 01:05 AM PST  Culiacán (Mexico) (AFP) - Mexico is seeking the extradition from the United States of the son of a Sinaloa cartel drug lord over the 2017 murder of acclaimed journalist Javier Valdez, the attorney general's office said Thursday. Damaso Lopez Serrano, the son of former top "El Chapo" lieutenant Damaso Lopez Nunez "El Licenciado", is accused of being the mastermind behind the killing of Valdez. An arrest warrant for Lopez Serrano was approved Thursday afternoon after prosecutors interviewed members of the Sinaloa cartel who testified against him, the attorney general's office said in a statement.
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| Sluggish storm to keep dumping snow over Midwest Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:26 AM PST  A slow-moving storm already responsible for dumping more than half a foot of snow on parts of Missouri and Iowa will continue to produce fresh powder over a portion of the Midwest as it sluggishly drifts eastward through Saturday.As snow returns to Chicago and Milwaukee and reaches Detroit, air and ground travel disruptions are likely to mount. This satellite loop from Friday, Jan. 24, 2020, shows the organized storm swirling over the middle of the nation. (NOAA / GOES-East) The storm became better organized late this past week as it managed to attach to the upper part of the atmosphere. Rather than remaining weak and taking a swift eastward track, spreading snow over huge swath from the Plains to the Northeast, the storm matured and stalled over the Mississippi Valley for a time.The result was a swath of light to moderate snowfall from part of northern Arkansas to northern Michigan. The swirl of snow near and north and west of the center of the storm has held together and will drift eastward through Saturday. "Up to a few additional inches of snow is forecast to fall on portions of northern and western Illinois, central and southeastern Wisconsin and northern Michigan," AccuWeather Meteorologist Courtney Travis said.This is on top of what has already fallen, bringing the storm total to 6-10 inches with an AccuWeather Local StormMax™ of 12 inches in portions of the area.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APP"An advancing cold pocket of air with moisture is forecast to produce snowfall in the 1- to 3-inch range from central Illinois to northern and central Indiana and the northwestern and central parts of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan on Saturday," Travis added.Americans who live in this zone, including in Indianapolis and South Bend, Indiana; Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Flint, Michigan; and Champaign, Illinois; may yet have enough snow to sweep off of their cars and shovel.Up to a few more inches of snow is likely to fall on Chicago.Meteorologists urge motorists to use caution on Saturday morning across the region, as untreated roadways are likely to be slippery.Even though blustery conditions will develop as the storm moves along this weekend, the air is of Pacific origin and not from the Arctic. Aside from snow showers near the old center of the storm, lake-effect snowfall is likely to be minimal in the storm's wake.Saturday night, slightly colder air with snow showers will continue to advance eastward along with the old storm center. Motorists around Detroit and Toledo, Cleveland, Columbus and Youngstown, Ohio, could encounter slippery conditions with a coating of snow possible. By Sunday, the main focus of snow showers will retreat to the central Appalachians and around the eastern Great Lakes.Temperatures are likely to be above average during the last few days of January and the first few days of February for the North Central states. Highs will generally average within a few degrees of freezing in the northern tier to the lower 40s over portions of the central Plains and the Ohio Valley.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| The Indian Air Force Hopes to Dodge Sanctions as Its Springs for Russian Missiles and MiG and Sukhoi Jet Fighters Posted: 25 Jan 2020 02:00 AM PST  Some history you may not have know about until now.
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| Warren responds after angry dad confronts her on student loans Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:53 AM PST  In the exchange, a father asked Warren if he is getting "screwed" because he saved money for his daughter's education.
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| This Is What Skiing in Africa Looks Like Posted: 24 Jan 2020 06:38 AM PST |
| Kamala Harris Is Said to Be Weighing an Endorsement of Joe Biden Posted: 24 Jan 2020 05:22 AM PST  Sen. Kamala Harris is weighing an endorsement of Joe Biden, according to multiple Democratic officials familiar with her deliberations. Such a move could lift Biden's campaign and perhaps do even more to enhance Harris' chances of becoming vice president, but it could also anger her liberal base in California.An endorsement by Harris, if she wades into the primary race at all, would be unlikely to happen until after the Senate impeachment trial, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations.Yet she and Biden, the former vice president, have remained in contact since she exited the race and had a long conversation in the immediate aftermath of her departure."Senator Harris remains focused on the ongoing impeachment trial of President Trump," said Chris Harris, a spokesman for the senator. "No decisions have been made about whether she will endorse, which candidate, nor when an endorsement decision will be made."Democrats close to Harris said she wanted to carefully consider the potential impact of her endorsement; was mindful that two of her female colleagues, Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, were still in the race; and was uneasy about the prospect of backing a candidate only to see him or her lose in California.Biden has lavished praise on Harris since she departed the race, predicting she would have a wealth of political opportunities in the future. And when asked directly if he would consider her as his running mate, he said, "Of course I would."A Biden-Harris rapprochement would represent an extraordinary turnaround in their relationship after she so memorably confronted him on the debate stage last summer. Yet their would-be alliance is less surprising on closer inspection.At the outset of the Democratic contest, they were collegial with each other. That was in large part because Harris served as state attorney general in California at the same time that Biden's son Beau was attorney general of Delaware, and the two young, ambitious Democrats had bonded. (Beau Biden died in 2015.)But Harris' friendship with the former vice president became badly strained after the first primary debate, in June, when she criticized him for his past opposition to school busing.Harris was trying to loosen Biden's grip on African American primary voters, and her searing reference to her own childhood experience with integration might have been the high point of her campaign. But it came at the expense of an older, white candidate who was already fending off questions about his record on matters of race. And Biden was personally stung by her attack, his advisers said, because he considered her a friend.Yet Harris' surge in the polls did not last, and the two candidates never sparred again in the same way. By October, aides to both Democrats recall, they were getting along well when they ran into each other at the Des Moines, Iowa, airport before heading to Ohio for the debate there.More significant than their personal rapport, a Harris endorsement of Biden would be politically useful for both of them.A 55-year-old woman of African and Indian descent with law enforcement credentials, Harris was already likely to be on Biden's shortlist, should he emerge as the nominee. Yet she could bolster her chances to be his running mate if she backed his campaign at a critical time, particularly if he did not win in either Iowa or New Hampshire next month and needed a boost in Nevada and South Carolina. And even if she is not chosen for vice president, she would be a leading contender for a Cabinet post, such as attorney general.For Biden, who is working to consolidate support from Democratic leaders as Sen. Bernie Sanders' progressive candidacy gains strength, an endorsement from Harris would signal that party leaders were rallying behind his candidacy and offer him a well-known surrogate to stump on his behalf as the race goes on.The risk for Harris would be if she were to get behind Biden only to see him lose in California, which votes March 3 as part of Super Tuesday. A survey of the state's Democratic voters, conducted this month by the Public Policy Institute of California, found that Biden was in second place to Sanders, of Vermont. But the poll highlighted the strength of the progressive bloc in the state: Sanders and Warren combined were capturing 50% of the vote.Rose Kapolczynski, a longtime Democratic strategist in California, said Harris would not damage her prospects for reelection in 2022 by backing Biden. But if Democrats were to lose the presidency this fall, supporting him could shape how she was perceived by the left, were she to run again for president four years from now."It just depends on where she wants to go," Kapolczynski said. "Is she interested in vice president or a Cabinet position? Or is she looking ahead to another campaign and how she'll be positioned then?"Bill Carrick, another California consultant and an adviser to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, also said it would be unlikely that voters in the state would "make a judgment about the Senate race next time out based on whom she endorsed in the presidential race." But Carrick added that Biden's multiracial coalition overlapped with Harris' own core base of support and that it would be logical for her to side with him."She's going to have a lot of people allied with her who will be for Joe," he said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Racist threats rattle students, faculty at university Posted: 25 Jan 2020 07:21 AM PST  WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Three months after a set of anonymous, threatening, racist, antisemitic and homophobic emails sent a wave of fear through the sociology department at Wake Forest University, the department chairman says he's still waiting for university leaders to announce a meaningful response. Alarmed by what he deemed white supremacist terrorism, chairman Joseph Soares canceled sociology classes for a week. When they resumed, Wake Forest police officers were stationed outside classrooms and the building itself.
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| Donald Trump shares image of Barack Obama scaling Trump Tower Posted: 24 Jan 2020 03:49 AM PST  Donald Trump has tweeted a photoshopped image of Barack Obama scaling the walls of Trump Tower with suction cups and holding binoculars.The image, which was posted without a caption, appeared to be a reference to Mr Trump's claims that Mr Obama and the FBI illegally spied on him.
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| Owners of solar company that caused loss for Buffett plead guilty over Ponzi scheme Posted: 24 Jan 2020 03:30 PM PST  Jeff Carpoff, 49, pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, while Paulette Carpoff, 46, pleaded guilty to money laundering and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.
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| Mexican children take up arms in fight against drug gangs Posted: 25 Jan 2020 12:09 AM PST  Ayahualtempa (México) (AFP) - With baseball caps and scarves covering their faces, only their serious eyes are visible as a dozen children stand to attention, rifles by their side. In the heart of the violence-plagued Mexican state of Guerrero, learning to use weapons starts at an early age. "Position three!" yells instructor Bernardino Sanchez, a member of the militia responsible for the security of 16 villages in the Guerrero area, which goes by the name of Regional Coordinator of Community Authorities (CRAC-PF).
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| Experts fear China virus lockdown is too late Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:14 AM PST  China's bid to contain a deadly new virus by placing cities of millions under quarantine is an unprecedented undertaking, but it is unlikely to stop the disease spreading, experts warn. The contagious virus has already reached elsewhere in China and abroad, and even an authoritarian government has only a small time frame in which trapped residents will submit to such a lockdown, they say.
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| Birth Tourism? Not Anymore, Says State Department Posted: 24 Jan 2020 09:12 AM PST  Was it a good idea?
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| 'No one ever makes a billion dollars. You take a billion dollars': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez slams billionaires for exploiting workers Posted: 24 Jan 2020 07:49 AM PST  "You sat on a couch while thousands of people were paid modern-day slave wages," the freshman lawmaker argued.
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| A 'messy' winter storm bringing snow and flooding may cause travel delays across Northeast Posted: 25 Jan 2020 12:08 PM PST  Expect travel delays, heavy rain and possible flooding in the Northeast over the weekend as a slow-moving storm moves east.
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| March for Life 2020: I'm a single-issue, pro-life voter. What's wrong with that? Posted: 24 Jan 2020 01:00 AM PST  At the ballot box, voters aren't choosing a pope or pastor, but a politician who can impact public policy. It makes sense to vote on the issues.
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| 'It should be illegal': protesters call for end to abortion at Washington rally Posted: 24 Jan 2020 01:33 PM PST  Protesters out in numbers for annual March for Life, at a time when US reproductive rights are under serious threatAmerica's largest annual anti-abortion protest drew tens of thousands of people to Washington in one of the most precarious years in decades for reproductive rights.The March for Life demonstration has been organized since 1973 and Roe v Wade, the landmark supreme court decision that legalized abortion nationally. In the decades since, the march has become a tradition for many with a conservative or religious objection to abortion, a ritual they hope will return America to a time when abortion was clandestine, even as many countries around the world liberalize abortion laws."I'm very passionately Catholic, and so it goes against everything I've ever been taught in my life," said Shawna Queen, a mother from Portsmouth, Ohio, who brought three generations of her family with her. She started to cry while describing abortion. "I just think it's a travesty that we kill the unborn," she said.Attendance hit a high-water mark in 2009, just after Barack Obama's inauguration. But this year will hold special significance for many.Where once there was doubt about Donald Trump's anti-abortion bona fides – he once called himself "very pro-choice" – that has long been forgotten, at least publicly. Red Make America Great Again hats were omnipresent at Friday's demonstration.Trump this year became the first president ever to address the march in person. In previous years, Mike Pence, the vice-president, attended, and Trump relayed video messages to attendees.The president's administration is responsible for putting abortion rights on exceptionally shaky ground. A conservative-leaning supreme court, with two justices of Trump's choosing, is set to hear its first abortion case in March. Some signs at the protest read "Most Pro-life President Ever" with an image of Trump in red.A majority of Americans still support abortion rights, and oppose efforts to overturn Roe v Wade: those opinions have shifted little in the decades since abortion was legalized. However, where supporters of reproductive rights considered the issue a settled matter, opponents saw Roe as a target to aim at.Emboldened by Trump's anti-abortion rhetoric, states have worked to overturn Roe v Wade and undermined states' rights and services along the way.A wave of the strictest anti-abortion laws in decades swept across the south and midwest last year. Many laws banned abortion at the sixth week, before most women know they are pregnant. The laws are all unconstitutional, as long as Roe stands, and none have gone into effect."My hope is there will be a law that will not allow abortion to continue happening," said Gladys Kohr, who came to the march in a full-sized bus wrapped in pro-Trump images. Abortion "should be illegal", she said.Behind Kohr, the bus sported pro-Trump memes. One image showed Trump's head superimposed on the body of a boxer, and said "Ready for Round Two". In another, Britain's Queen Elizabeth wore a Maga hat and gave a thumbs-up.Kohr said she would support punishment for women who have abortions, and doctors who perform them – "something very severe". But she said women should be given information about abortion before being allowed to undergo the procedure.Even so, the crowd was not monolithic.Pat O'Kane from California, who attended with a group called Feminists for Life, was wary of the movement's adulation of Trump. "I sort of take the biblical position – we should not put our faith in princes," she said. "I don't think any one president, or even a succession of presidents, is necessarily the answer."One surprise was the common ground between the anti-abortion and pro-choice movements on other women's issues. Many attendees said they supported paid maternity leave, usually considered a progressive cause. The US is the only developed country that does not mandate maternity leave. Many also supported better workers' protections for pregnant women.But it is the primacy of abortion has turned the issue into a gaping political wound. For many protesters, abortion represented their No 1 voting issue, eclipsing policies that might otherwise support pregnant women and mothers.Anti-abortion leaders have sought to blur this image. This year's theme is "Life empowers: pro-life is pro-woman". It is meant to commemorate the centennial of women's right to vote in the US, ratified in 1920.Queen, from Ohio, said: "I absolutely think that maternity leave should be an everyday practice in our country. I always vote. [But] I don't even have a party any more. I vote on how I can sleep at night," she said, referring to abortion. Most often, that means voting Republican.Republicans have attempted to capitalize on this apparent soft spot, but have only introduced plans to allow workers to borrow against their future retirement benefits. Such proposals have not received any broad-based support.Kaleb Pandorf, 20, from Smyrna, Tennessee, said he supported same-sex marriage and, unlike much of the crowd here, does not consider himself a Christian. But if a candidate were to promise to end abortion and same-sex marriage, he would value abortion above all, he said."As much as I hate to say it, I'd have to, I'd have to support him," he said. "Because he sees the wrong in killing a child."
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| Biden picks up another high profile endorsement in Iowa as voting nears Posted: 25 Jan 2020 05:15 AM PST  Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden picked up another high profile endorsement on Saturday in Iowa, where the party's nominating contest kicks off in nine days, after U.S. congresswoman Cindy Axne said she was backing the former vice president. Axne, a freshman U.S. lawmaker and moderate, is the latest in a slew of big-name endorsements for Biden in Iowa which could have an impact on undecided voters as caucus day nears on Feb. 3. Two former Iowa Democratic governors, Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver, have backed Biden, as has another U.S. House member, congresswoman Abby Finkenauer.
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| Robert Koehler: Serial ‘pillowcase rapist’ suspect was building a ‘dungeon’ before arrest Posted: 24 Jan 2020 08:19 AM PST  Prosecutors in Florida believe a 60-year-old man building a "dungeon" under his home is the so-called pillowcase rapist, who authorities say broke into women's houses and concealed his face with pillows and towels in as many as 40 assaults in the state since the 1980s.Robert Koehler was arrested on 18 January after authorities say they tied his DNA to samples collected from a 1983 case. The sample also matched DNA collected from several other cases between 1981 and 1986, according to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office.
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| Anti-Semitic attack sparks Italy protest Posted: 24 Jan 2020 02:34 PM PST  Mondovì (Italy) (AFP) - Hundreds of people carrying candles protested in an Italian town Friday after unknown vandals wrote "Jews Here" on the front door of the house of a Nazi concentration camp survivor. A Star of David and the words "Juden Hier," German for "Jews Here", were daubed in black paint on the door in the Piedmont town of Mondovi, where a member of the Italian anti-Fascist resistance lived until her death in 1996. Lidia Beccaria Rolfi's son Aldo, who lives in the house now, said the attack followed the publication of an article in which he talked about his mother and warned of the rise of anti-Semitism.
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| Will China Invade Taiwan Before the Communist Party Approaches its 100th Anniversary? Posted: 25 Jan 2020 12:30 AM PST  Could it happen?
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