| Sanders campaign, sensing a win in New Hampshire, looks ahead — all the way to the convention Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:43 PM PST  The Vermont senator looks to repeat his 2016 victory in the nation's first primary and take another step toward the nomination.
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| Iran tried and failed for the fourth time in a row to put a satellite into orbit Posted: 09 Feb 2020 09:51 AM PST  Iran, despite US opposition, has tried four times since January 2019 to put a satellite into orbit, but each attempt has been a failure.
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| On Thai Buddhist holy day, gunman's carnage shatters temple peace Posted: 09 Feb 2020 07:50 AM PST  Thai nun Amornrat Putta-ariyawong was washing dishes in preparation to host Buddhist devotees on a holy day when a military Humvee pulled up just inside the temple gates and the driver started shooting into the road. Instead, a Thai soldier fleeing his military base after killing a guard and his commanding officer was gunning people down in the early stages of an 18-hour shooting spree in which he would kill 29 people. In all, nine people, including two police officers, died outside the tree-lined temple as the gunman shot at his pursuers and then targeted passers-by, according to residents who witnessed the shooting.
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| Four rare mountain gorillas 'killed by lightning' in Uganda Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:21 PM PST  Four endangered mountain gorillas, including three adult females, have been killed by an apparent lightning strike in a Ugandan national park, a conservation group has said. A post-mortem examination has been performed on the four, including a male infant, who died on February 3 in Mgahinga National Park in southwest Uganda. "Based on the gross lesions from the post-mortem... the tentative cause of death for all four individuals is likely to be electrocution by lightning," the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC) said in a statement Saturday, although laboratory confirmation will take two to three weeks.
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| Florida man charged with driving into GOP voter sign-up tent Posted: 09 Feb 2020 06:02 AM PST  A man in Florida is under arrest after he deliberately drove a van into a tent where voters were being registered by local Republicans, authorities in Jacksonville said Sunday. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said via social media that 27-year-old Gregory William Loel Timm has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a person 65 years old or older, one count of criminal mischief and driving with a suspended license. The Republican party of Duval County said it had set up the tent on Saturday in order to register voters.
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| Death of American Fuels Concern Over China's Approach to Coronavirus Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:29 AM PST  SHANGHAI -- A U.S. citizen died from the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, American officials said on Saturday. It was the first known American death from the illness, and was likely to add to diplomatic frictions over Beijing's response to the epidemic.Relations between Washington and Beijing have been tense for years on a number of issues, including trade, technology and human rights. And while Chinese officials have publicly touted the importance of international cooperation to combat the virus, doubts have arisen in recent days about China's willingness to accept a helping hand -- particularly from the United States.Few details about the American, who died on Thursday, were immediately available. According to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the person was 60 years old and died at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, the inland metropolis at the center of the epidemic. Two people familiar with the matter said the person was a woman and had underlying health conditions.The U.S. government has been evacuating many of its diplomats and other citizens from Wuhan, which Chinese authorities have locked down in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. It could not immediately be learned whether the American who died had tried to leave the city on any of the flights organized by the State Department."We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss," said a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. "Out of respect for the family's privacy, we have no further comment."Word of the death came out as frustrations about Beijing's handling of the epidemic, which has already provoked outrage and criticism within China, were beginning to emerge at the diplomatic level as well. The virus has killed at least 700 people in China, sickened thousands more and spread across the globe.For more than a month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been offering to send a team of experts to China to observe the outbreak and help if possible. But no invitation has come.The World Health Organization, which made a similar offer about two weeks ago, appeared to be facing the same cold shoulder, though a spokeswoman said it was just "sorting out arrangements."Current and former health officials and diplomats said they believed the reluctance came from China's top leaders, who do not want the world to think they need outside help.Within China, public discontent about the government's response to the crisis reached an extraordinary new peak on Friday after the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, who had warned his colleagues early on about the new virus but was reprimanded for spreading rumors.After Li's death, grieving internet users posted messages expressing anger about the way he had been treated and even demanding freedom of speech -- unheard-of in China's authoritarian political system.Communist Party officials said on Friday that they would send a team from the powerful anti-corruption committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding Li's death. Chinese state news media also reported on Saturday that the government was sending two senior officials to Wuhan to reinforce efforts to bring the outbreak under control.It was not immediately clear if the appointments on Saturday amounted to a reshuffling of the local leadership or were simply an effort to reinforce officials on the front line. Still, it appeared to be an acknowledgment that authorities in Wuhan had been overwhelmed.Japan also said on Saturday that one of its citizens had died in a Wuhan hospital from a suspected case of the coronavirus. But the Japanese Foreign Ministry said that based on information it received from Chinese authorities, it could not confirm whether the man, who was in his 60s, had been infected with the new virus. The ministry called the cause of death viral pneumonia.China's Foreign Ministry said this past week that as of noon on Thursday, 19 foreign nationals in the country had been confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus. Two of them had recovered and were discharged from the hospital. The other 17 were still receiving treatment.As the virus spreads, China is confronting a growing sense of isolation -- a stark reversal for the country after decades of economic and diplomatic integration with the rest of the world. Many countries, including the United States, have placed entry restrictions on travelers from China. Airlines have canceled flights. Fears of the virus have fueled anti-Chinese racism in some parts of the world.Chinese officials have criticized the United States both for evacuating Americans from China and for imposing travel curbs, saying that such moves could spread panic. On Friday, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo each appeared to be trying to ease tensions.Pompeo said that the United States was prepared to spend up to $100 million in existing funds to help China and other countries fight the epidemic. Pompeo also said that the State Department had helped transport about 18 tons of donated medical supplies, including masks, gowns and gauze, to the people of China in the past week.Trump praised China's handling of the crisis on a phone call with China's top leader, Xi Jinping, on Friday. And in a pair of Twitter posts, Trump said Xi was leading "what will be a very successful operation."But other American officials have quietly voiced concerns about China's response to the epidemic. And the confirmation on Friday that repeated offers of help to China had been ignored only deepened the sense of worry.Alex Azar, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, said at a news briefing on Friday that he had recently reiterated the CDC offer to his Chinese counterpart, Dr. Ma Xiaowei.Asked about the holdup, Azar said: "It's up to the Chinese. We continue to expect fully that President Xi will accept our offer. We're ready and willing and able to go."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Chinese diplomat pushes back against coronavirus 'rumors' from GOP senator Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:43 AM PST  Ambassador Cui Tiankai slammed comments from Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.
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| A parking space in a garage in San Francisco is selling for $100,000 Posted: 09 Feb 2020 06:14 AM PST  The parking spot is currently leased out for $300 a month, and the realtor is promoting it as an investment to "park your money" in.
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| Soldier kills 29 people in Thailand before being shot Posted: 08 Feb 2020 02:54 PM PST  A soldier angry over a property deal gone sour killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations in and around the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima before he was shot dead early Sunday. Most of the victims were at the city's Terminal 21 shopping center, where the shooter held out against an overnight siege with an assault rifle and ammunition stolen from his army base. Police named him as 32-year-old soldier Jakrapanth Thomma.
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| New Philadelphia police chief starts amid surge in homicides Posted: 09 Feb 2020 06:36 AM PST |
| Afghanistan, U.S. Probe Attack That Killed Two U.S. Soldiers Posted: 09 Feb 2020 04:14 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A delegation led by Afghanistan's Chief of Army Staff, Bismillah Waziri, is investigating together with the U.S. a shooting incident that killed two American soldiers and one Afghan soldier in eastern Nangarhar province.The shooting, carried out late yesterday by an Afghan in military uniform, also wounded six American and three Afghan soldiers, Afghanistan's defense ministry said in a WhatsApp statement.A U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, Sonny Leggett, also confirmed the incident saying it was under investigation and the cause and motive behind the attack is unknown for now."An individual in an Afghan uniform opened fire on the combined U.S. and Afghan force with a machine gun," Leggett said in the statement.The firefight took place when the U.S. and Afghan soldiers were visiting an Afghan army base in the Sherzad district of the province for an operation, Ajmal Omar, a senior member of Nangarhar's provincial council, said by phone. "After greetings, one of the Afghan commandos opened fire on them.""Incidents such as this fail to have negative effects on the friendship and spirit of cooperation" between the Afghan and U.S. forces, according to the ministry's statement.To contact the reporter on this story: Eltaf Najafizada in Kabul at enajafizada1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Colin Keatinge, Sara MarleyFor 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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| Amy Klobuchar has clearly been trawling Pete Buttigieg's old tweets Posted: 07 Feb 2020 05:43 PM PST  If there's one important rule for preparing for a political debate, it's do your homework. And Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) just earned herself an A.During a debate about healthcare in New Hampshire on Friday, Klobuchar blasted Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders (D) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren for their ambitious plans to implement Medicare-for-all. And although the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, now supports a public option, Klobuchar had brought her receipts: "Pete, while you have a different plan now, you sent out a tweet just a few years ago that said: 'henceforth, forthwith, indubitably, affirmatively, you are for Medicare-for-all,'" she said.> Amy Klobuchar on Medicare for All: "I keep listening to this same debate, and it is not real. It is not real, Bernie, because two-thirds of the Democrats in the Senate are not on your bill, and because it would kick 149 million Americans off their current health insurance." pic.twitter.com/BEXzg0nHW0> > — ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) February 8, 2020While the casual viewer watching at home might have assumed Klobuchar was just riffing on Buttigieg's manner of speaking, it turns out she was actually pretty accurately quoting his two-year-old reply to the progressive platform, the People's Summit:> Gosh! Okay... I, Pete Buttigieg, politician, do henceforth and forthwith declare, most affirmatively and indubitably, unto the ages, that I do favor Medicare for All, as I do favor any measure that would help get all Americans covered. Now if you'll excuse me, potholes await.> > — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 19, 2018Well played.More stories from theweek.com 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's impeachment acquittal For better pasta sauce, throw away your garlic Vanguard is an anomaly in the investment world. Can it stay that way?
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| Sacred Native American site in Arizona blasted for border wall construction Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:42 AM PST  The contractor installing President Donald Trump's border wall at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is blasting a hill sacred to the O'Odham people.
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| Israel Isn't Happy With Iran's New Guided-Rocket System Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:30 PM PST  That the Israelis are worried is no surprise.
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| Wuhan journalist has gone missing, and his family says he's been forcibly quarantined Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:49 AM PST  A Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist has gone missing after his video reports from Wuhan about coronavirus went viral on platforms like Twitter and YouTube.
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| The global spread of the coronavirus: Where is it? Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:28 AM PST  The new coronavirus that emerged in central China at the end of last year has killed more than 800 people and spread around the world.
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| Taiwan scrambles jets as Chinese air force flies round island Posted: 09 Feb 2020 01:48 AM PST ![Taiwan scrambles jets as Chinese air force flies round island]( "Taiwan scrambles jets as Chinese air force flies round island") Taiwan's air force scrambled on Sunday to intercept Chinese jets that flew around the island claimed by Beijing as its own, in a move denounced by Taiwan's Defence Ministry as a threat to regional peace and stability. China has been flying what it calls "island encirclement" drills on-off since 2016 when Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen first took office. Beijing believes Tsai, who won re-election last month, wishes to push the island's formal independence.
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| Key member of Pakistani Taliban killed in Afghanistan: insurgents Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:01 AM PST  The Pakistani Taliban has confirmed that one of its key leaders and another member of the group were killed in a clash with security forces in Afghanistan. In a statement published by the SITE monitoring group Friday, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) said Sheikh Khalid Haqqani, who served on the group's consultative council and had been a deputy leader, had been killed January 31. "Haqqani embraced martyrdom while fighting with slaves of the United States", the TTP said.
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| With more than 800 dead, the Wuhan coronavirus has killed more people than the SARS outbreak Posted: 08 Feb 2020 04:58 PM PST  The Wuhan coronavirus death toll has surpassed that of SARS, another deadly virus that originated in China in the early 2000s and killed 774 people.
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| Feds seek delay in Michael Flynn case Posted: 09 Feb 2020 09:28 AM PST  The new filings say the former national security adviser's claims that he received ineffective legal assistance will require more information.
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| Elizabeth Warren Has a Pete Buttigieg Problem Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:05 AM PST  MERRIMACK N.H. -- In the back row of an event geared toward veterans for Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, on Thursday, a discussion broke out about one of his Democratic rivals -- Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.Christine Bagley, 65, said Warren had been her top choice but described her as "a bit of a bulldog," saying Buttigieg made her feel more "hopeful and inspired." Lois Luddy, 66, had also considered Warren but said she was too "bellicose.""It's always fight, fight, fight, fight, fight," Luddy said of Warren, repeating the word for emphasis. "Someone needs to tell her to calm down."Bagley shot back: "Would you say that if she wasn't a woman?"Warren has an electoral problem in Buttigieg. Her campaign had planned to face off against Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, her top progressive rival, and known quantities like former Vice President Joe Biden. But it's the 38-year-old former mayor who is playing the role of spoiler, most immediately complicating Warren's path in early-nominating states like Iowa and New Hampshire.These were the states in which Warren was supposed to build momentum, propelled by her base of white, college-educated liberals. She was supposed to prove that she was the person who could unite the Democratic Party and demonstrate the energy behind ridding Washington of corruption.Instead, after Buttigieg led the attacks on Warren over her health care plan that began in October, he is snaring her primary voters -- including women of Warren's generation like Bagley and Luddy -- with a platitude-heavy message of uniting the country and restoring democracy.It has already worked in Iowa. In the run-up to the caucuses, Warren's campaign highlighted her ability to become voters' second choice -- the supposed evidence of her status as the Democratic "unity candidate." But as results trickled in from the state, it was Buttigieg who gained the most from the so-called second alignment, as supporters of candidates such as Biden, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and businessman Andrew Yang shifted to Buttigieg when their top choice failed to cross the viability threshold.With the New Hampshire primary just days away, and another Democratic debate Friday night in Manchester, some of Warren's own supporters are begging her to attack Buttigieg directly, as she did in the December debate, which became known for their memorable "wine cave" clash over high-dollar fundraising.Their increasingly dire warnings contrast with the message being projected by Warren's campaign staff and the candidate herself, who has sought to maintain an even-keeled optimism even after her third-place finish, behind a progressive whose supporters rarely budge and a moderate millennial with the pedigree of her former students at Harvard.Buttigieg has been aided by the concept of electability, which has hung over the primary season and can disadvantage women running for office in particular. Warren's allies, who have seen her frequently faced with questions about whether a woman can win, believe Buttigieg has been treated with kid gloves by journalists who see themselves in a 38-year-old man more than a 70-year-old woman.Buttigieg is himself a historic candidate, as the first openly gay man to mount a major campaign for president. In the early states, he and Warren are competing for more than delegates and donors -- they are fighting to build enthusiasm around their barrier-breaking candidacies that can later inspire voters in more diverse states."He's new. He's fresh," said Michael Smith, 63, who came to see Buttigieg this week in New Hampshire. Smith compared Buttigieg's candidacy to John F. Kennedy's in 1960. "The public always wants what's next."For those who view politics through an ideologically rigid lens, the overlap between Warren and Buttigieg's voting base can be confounding. Warren has campaigned on progressive promises like free college, the cancellation of student debt and a "Medicare for All" health care system -- all things Buttigieg has vocally rejected.But many voters in Iowa and New Hampshire don't see a contradiction. They seem less concerned with what specifically Warren is proposing; to them, the value of her many policy proposals is that they project her competence and readiness for the Oval Office.And Warren and Buttigieg overlap among voters whose choice of a candidate hinges on a simple question: Which candidate seems the smartest?"They're both savvy," said Ann Vitti, 56, who attended Buttigieg's veterans event.Vitti, who lives in California and traveled to New Hampshire to see the candidates, said she was choosing between Warren and Buttigieg and planned to vote for whomever seemed to have a better chance of winning."Policies can change, but you can't get smarts overnight," Vitti said.Iowa has propelled Buttigieg into pole position for Vitti's eventual vote, and she may not be alone. He is in a statistical tie with Sanders in two polls of New Hampshire voters that were conducted in the aftermath of the Iowa caucuses.At their only public appearances Thursday, Buttigieg and Warren each tried to frame the Iowa results in their respective interests.Warren focused on the close delegate count, and said the data showed a bunched-up "top three" -- a phrase clearly meant to draw attention to Biden's distant fourth-place showing."It's a tight, three-way race at the top," Warren said at a stop in Keene, New Hampshire. "We know the three of us will be dividing up most of the delegates coming out of Iowa."Buttigieg tried to look ahead."New Hampshire is New Hampshire," he said in Merrimack. "And New Hampshire is not the kind of place to let Iowa or anybody else tell you what to do."There are some signs that Warren's aides are more alert to the threat of Buttigieg than they project. Roger Lau, Warren's campaign manager, pounced on a tweet from one of Buttigieg's senior advisers, suggesting that it seemed to be a signal to an outside super PAC supporting Buttigieg about where it should spend money on advertising. Campaigns are not legally allowed to coordinate with outside organizations supporting them, but there is no law against publicly telegraphing the campaign's desires.Warren's campaign team alluded to the episode in several fundraising emails, trying to create a sense of urgency. One read, "Other candidates are leaning on megawealthy donors and super PACs to boost their campaigns' advertising efforts -- and that means, right now, we're being outspent in New Hampshire in the critical days before the primary."In some ways, the campaign is catching up with where its supporters have been for months. Prominent backers of Warren have long been focused on maligning Buttigieg online, casting him as cynical, inexperienced and the embodiment of privilege.Even after his performance in Iowa, those close to Warren have argued that Buttigieg's path to the presidency dramatically narrows after New Hampshire, citing his lower standing in national polls and anemic status among nonwhite Democrats.Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which is supporting Warren in the primary, reflected the campaign's dominant viewpoint. He said that Warren would eventually supplant Buttigieg and that her strategy didn't rely solely on New Hampshire."Pete loses support when voters learn that his campaign is fueled by big-money donors who love that he refuses to challenge power -- and when they learn how nonexistent his support is with voters of color," Green said. "Democrats will lose to Donald Trump again if we don't have a candidate with an inspiring economic populist and racial justice message that wins over swing voters, motivates our diverse base, and excites women voters who were key to victory in 2017, 2018 and 2019. That's clearly Warren, not Pete."Warren's numbers with minority communities are not robust, according to national polls. She enjoys support from prominent black and Latino surrogates and activists, including Julian Castro, a former Cabinet secretary and presidential candidate, and Rep. Ayanna S. Pressley of Massachusetts, a campaign co-chair.But Warren had 10% support from black voters in the latest Morning Consult national poll -- behind Biden, Sanders and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York. Buttigieg was at 2%.Buttigieg's Iowa showing has also helped him with donors. His campaign has announced raising more than $2.7 million this week from 63,841 donations. Warren, who has not released her post-Iowa fundraising totals, recently canceled more than $300,000 worth of advertising reservations in Nevada and South Carolina."I just always want to be careful about how we spend our money," Warren said in New Hampshire when asked about the cancellation.Some undecided voters in New Hampshire, like Laurel Devino, 60, said the Iowa results would have no bearing on her eventual vote."That was such a hot mess," said Devino, who attended Warren's event in Derry this week.Others, like the two women at Buttigieg's event, said the die had been cast -- and Buttigieg had won them over.Right before he began to speak, Bagley asked Luddy again: Would she be as annoyed if a male candidate talked about "fighting" like Warren?Luddy paused. "I think so," she said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Oregon flooding abates; authorities report body found Posted: 09 Feb 2020 09:33 AM PST  Waters covering roads in flood-hit northeastern Oregon were starting to recede, allowing residents to return and assess the damage from weather that appears to have left one person dead. A woman who had been missing, Janet Tobkin Conley, 62, lived in one of the areas hit by floods and her body was found Sunday by searchers and neighbors, authorities said. An approximately 10-mile (16-kilometer) stretch of Interstate 84 south of Hermiston, Oregon, remained closed Sunday due to flood damage and authorities say it could be a week before it reopens.
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| Four cruise passengers test negative for coronavirus on ship in New Jersey Posted: 09 Feb 2020 07:47 AM PST  Four passengers on a Royal Caribbean cruise ship docked in Bayonne tested negative for the deadly coronavirus.
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| Was American Diplo Wife Accused of Killing Brit Teen a Spy? Posted: 09 Feb 2020 09:17 AM PST  The family of 19-year old British motorcyclist Harry Dunn, who was killed in England last summer after colliding with a Volvo SUV driven by American Anne Sacoolas, are demanding to know if their son's alleged killer was a spy.Sacoolas has been described as a "spy wife" because of her husband's job on the Royal Air Force Croughton intelligence base in rural England where she and her family were based when the accident occurred. But British media have now reported that she also had a CIA background and that she may have outranked her husband in the intelligence community. Grieving Parents 'Ambushed' by Trump, Who Had Teen's Killer Waiting at White HouseNew reports now suggest that Sacoolas is being protected by the U.S. State Dept. because of her own potential intelligence background, not her husband's. She was whisked out of the country after initially cooperating with British police over the accident, in which she is accused of driving her Volvo SUV on the wrong side of the road straight into Dunn's Kawasaki motorcyle. U.S. government sources told the Mail on Sunday that Sacoolas was "not active" in the UK, though one security source added, "you never really leave the CIA." (Sacoolas' lawyers did not respond to requests for comment from the The Daily Beast.)In December, the British Crown Prosecution Service charged Sacoolas with causing Dunn's death by "dangerous driving." Dunn's family have been fighting to extradite Sacoolas to face charges in the U.K., but the State Dept. has stood firm in their refusal to turn her over. President Donald Trump even arranged a secret meeting between the family and Sacoolas last year when they were in the U.S. to drum up attention to the case in an attempt to "work things out" on U.S. soil. The family instead said they felt "ambushed" and refused to meet her anywhere but on British soil. Charlotte Charles, Dunn's mother, said she and her family are "full of anger" over the way they have been treated by the British government, who they now believe was complicit in keeping Sacoolas safe from prosecution. Prime Minister Boris Johnson had previously been applauded for taking up the matter directly with Trump, but now the Dunn family members have criticized him for allegedly working to protect the alleged former spy as a favor to the Trump administration. "How could they do this to us?" Dunn's mother Charles said Sunday. "We have thrown ourselves into building relationships with the government despite the terrible way they were treating us. We believe in giving people a second chance. But I am livid today and my family are full of anger."Charles also told the Mail on Sunday that things were "beginning to fall into place." "We have also found it impossible to figure out why the U.S. administration has behaved in the lawless way it has in harbouring Anne Sacoolas," Charles said. "But no one is above the law. Whether or not you are a CIA officer, a diplomat or anyone else, the Vienna Convention states that you must abide by and respect the rules and regulations of the host country."Family spokesman Radd Seiger confirmed to The Daily Beast that he has asked the British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to open an investigation into why they were not told that Sacoolas may have had a past as a CIA officer. Seiger said in a statement Sunday that it was "high time that the nation can see with full transparency whether or not the government prioritized protecting the identity of the Sacoolas family over the welfare and rights of Harry's family."The family now questions who knew of Sacoolas' alleged status and whether they are really working to extradite her as foreign service staff have suggested. "Still to this day, the family have seen no evidence that the UK did indeed raise any such objections," Seiger said. "And indeed fear that they waved her off at the airport."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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| Coronavirus turns busy Chinese cities into ghost towns Posted: 08 Feb 2020 05:28 PM PST  After making sure everyone's face mask is on and sanitizer is to hand, the Qiao family heads out to Jingshan Park, a former royal sanctuary beside the Forbidden City in China's capital Beijing. Shanghai, China's financial hub, and other cities in the world's most populous nation have turned into ghost towns after the government extended a holiday and asked residents not to go out because of the coronavirus. The epidemic has killed 722 people and infected nearly 32,000 in China as of Feb 8.
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| Iran unveils ballistic missile, 'new generation' engines Posted: 08 Feb 2020 04:02 PM PST  Iran's Revolutionary Guards unveiled Sunday a short-range ballistic missile that they said can be powered by a "new generation" of engines designed to put satellites into orbit. The Guards' Sepahnews website said the Raad-500 missile was equipped with new Zoheir engines made of composite materials lighter than on earlier steel models. It also unveiled Salman engines made of the same materials but with a "movable nozzle" for the delivery of satellites into space.
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| 10 Wuhan professors signed an open letter demanding free speech protections after a doctor who was punished for warning others about coronavirus died from it Posted: 08 Feb 2020 10:42 AM PST  One petition was signed by Wuhan professors, and another was signed by academics from around China calling for a national holiday in Li's honor.
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| He sank Biden’s presidential chances 30 years ago. Now he’s hoping to send him to the White House Posted: 09 Feb 2020 09:08 AM PST  In the autumn of 1987, Frank Fahey found himself in the crosshairs of Joe Biden, then a young senator from Delaware who unleashed an angry outburst at a small event early in his first run for president.At a home in western New Hampshire, Fahey figured he would ask a question about a brewing scandal for the future vice president about his academic record, but the stress of Biden's first presidential run – which was already beleaguered by claims that he had plagiarised a speech on the campaign trail – seemed to get the better of him.
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| Rain extinguishes Australian wildfire and causes flooding Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:14 PM PST  Torrential rain lashing Australia's east coast on Sunday has extinguished a major wildfire and caused widespread flash flooding. Rain put out the Currowan Fire south of Sydney late Saturday after it destroyed 312 homes and razed 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) over 74 days, the New South Wales state Rural Fire Service said. Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said he hoped the heavy rain would move inland from the coast and drench more major fires that have burned for months.
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| Only 54% of Americans Knew Puerto Ricans Were Citizens Posted: 09 Feb 2020 07:36 AM PST  More than a century after the United States acquired Puerto Rico, a 2017 Morning Consult poll conducted after the devastation of Hurricane Maria revealed that only 54% of Americans knew Puerto Ricans were citizens. Today, being born in Puerto Rico is tantamount to being born in the United States. But it wasn't always that way, and a lot of ambiguity still remains.
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| Pompeo urges U.S. state governors to be cautious in business with China Posted: 08 Feb 2020 12:37 PM PST  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged governors of U.S. states and territories on Saturday to adopt a "cautious mindset" when engaging in business with China, saying Beijing was seeking to use U.S. openness to undermine the United States. Pompeo, in his latest warning of what he sees as Beijing's intentions, emphasized that competition with China was not just a federal issue.
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| Lindsey Graham: Rudy Giuliani is giving DoJ 'information from Ukraine' Posted: 09 Feb 2020 12:03 PM PST  Trump ally cautioned information from president's personal lawyer 'could be Russian propaganda' Senator Lindsey Graham has said Department of Justice officials have created a "process" enabling Rudy Giuliani to provide them with "information from Ukraine", for further investigation.Graham, a top ally of Donald Trump who was part of the successful vote to acquit him in his impeachment trial last week, cautioned that this information from the president's personal lawyer "could be Russian propaganda"."The Department of Justice is receiving information coming out of the Ukraine from Rudy," Graham said, explaining that the US attorney general, William Barr, "told me that they've created a process that Rudy could give information and they would see if it's verified".Giuliani was deeply implicated in Trump's efforts to get Ukrainian officials to help his 2020 re-election bid – the matter at the heart of the impeachment trial. Trump was impeached in the Democratic-led House after witholding military assistance, as well as a White House meeting, while calling for Ukraine announcing investigations into potential 2020 rival Joe Biden and his son Hunter.Trump also wanted Ukraine to announce an investigation into the conspiracy theory that Ukranian actors, not Russians, meddled in the 2016 election.Almost immediately after Trump was acquitted by the Repulican-led Senate last week, Republicans returned to investigating the unsubstantiated corruption allegations against the Bidens. There is no evidence of wrongdoing."Rudy Giuliani is a well known man. He's a crime fighter. He's loyal to the president," Graham also said. "He's a good lawyer. But what I'm trying to say – to the president and anybody else – that the Russians are still up to it."In Graham's interview on CBS's Face the Nation, he revealed that his conversation with Barr took place earlier Sunday morning. He also spoke with the Senate intelligence committee chair, Richard Burr. Both "told me: 'Take very cautiously anything coming out of the Ukraine against anybody.'"After talking to the attorney general and the intelligence chairman that any documents coming out of the Ukraine against any American, Republican or Democrat, need to be looked at by the intelligence services, who has expertise I don't, because Russia is playing us all like a fiddle."Graham said "no" when asked if the justice department had been ordered to investigate the Bidens.Graham also said the possibility of conflicts of interest involving the Bidens should be examined, but once again emphasized caution, saying: "When it comes to documents coming out of the Ukraine, to Republicans and Democrats, be very cautious turning … anything over you got over to the intel community."I'm telling Rudy, you think you got the goods? Don't give it to me, because what do we know? We know that the Russian disinformation campaign was used against President Trump," Graham also said. "They hacked into the DNC system. Not the Ukrainians, and they're on the ground all over the world trying to affect democracy all over the world.""Who's paying Rudy Giuliani?" host Margaret Brennan asked." I don't know," Graham said. "Here's my message to Rudy: if you've got something coming from the Ukraine, turn it over to the intelligence people, the Department of Justice, to any Democrat."Giuliani did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Twitter this morning, Giuliani alluded to "two smoking gun documents" in a post urging people to subscribe to his podcast.
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| A supervolcano in Utah? It's 30 times larger than Yellowstone Posted: 08 Feb 2020 09:10 AM PST  A supervolcano was discovered in Southern Utah less than a decade ago. What do you know about this volcanic event that went off 30 million years ago?
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| Surrendered Pakistani Taliban spokesman escapes custody: official Posted: 09 Feb 2020 05:05 AM PST  A leading member of the Pakistan Taliban has escaped custody more than two years after surrendering to authorities, a senior security official said Sunday. The confirmation comes days after Ehsanullah Ehsan -- the former spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- released an audio message claiming he had escaped detention and was now in Turkey. A senior security source told AFP Ehsan was "one of our major assets in identifying and later tracking down militants".
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| Americans in coronavirus quarantine were flown from Wuhan on cargo planes with no windows and flight crews dressed in full hazmat suits Posted: 08 Feb 2020 10:43 AM PST  The passengers had to wear red wristbands on the plane that marked their body temperature to track if anyone spiked a fever during the flight.
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| 2 teens sprayed down a Walmart with disinfectant while wearing signs saying 'Caution I have the coronavirus' Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:37 AM PST  The Illinois teens caused nearly $10,000 in damage to the Walmart store — $7,300 in loss of produce and the cleanup of their stunt amounted to $2,400.
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| Ireland's general election exit poll suggests 'unprecedented' 3-way split Posted: 08 Feb 2020 02:44 PM PST  If you thought Iowa was close, wait until you hear about Ireland.Votes won't be official until Sunday when counting begins in the morning, but exit polls show Ireland's general election Saturday ended in what ostensibly amounts to an "unprecedented" three-way tie between the country's two dominant center-right political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which is led by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, as well as Sinn Féin, a left wing party whose primary goal has traditionally been Irish unification. Fianna Fáil garnered 22.2 percent of the vote, Fine Gael 22.4, and Sinn Féin 22.3.Sinn Féin is the big story; the party has transitioned from its Irish Republican Army-linked past, and has made inroads with Ireland's younger voters because of its social and economic policies. Brexit, despite its ability to own headlines, is not considered a major factor in the results.All three parties are a long way from being able to form a government, and both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have ruled out a coalition with Sinn Féin. Varadkar has said he's willing to form a grand coalition with Fianna Fáil, but the feeling isn't mutual, so per The Irish Times, someone will have to break a promise to form a government eventually. Read more at The Irish Times and The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's impeachment acquittal For better pasta sauce, throw away your garlic Vanguard is an anomaly in the investment world. Can it stay that way?
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| "Where it begins": Young hungry locusts bulk up in Somalia Posted: 09 Feb 2020 12:24 AM PST  At a glance, the desert locusts in this arid patch of northern Somalia look less ominous than the billion-member swarms infesting East Africa in the worst outbreak some places have seen in 70 years. Large parts of Somalia south of this semi-autonomous Puntland region are under threat, or held by, the al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab extremist group. Somalia has declared the outbreak a national emergency.
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| The F-111 Aardvark Is A Jet Fighter Assassin Posted: 07 Feb 2020 11:30 PM PST  This is its story.
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| China reports 97 new coronavirus deaths on mainland on Sunday, toll rises to 908 Posted: 09 Feb 2020 04:07 PM PST  The death toll from a coronavirus outbreak in mainland China rose to 908 as of the end of Sunday, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Monday. The number of new deaths on Sunday rose 97, the NHC said in a statement on its website, another daily record increase. The number of new confirmed infections on mainland China on Sunday increased, after declining on Saturday below 3,000 cases for the first time since Feb. 2.
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| Rotors of Kobe Bryant's helicopter were still spinning when it crashed Posted: 08 Feb 2020 11:45 AM PST  The helicopter carrying Kobe Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven others was found to have no engine failure, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.
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