| Full coverage: Biden wins big on Super Tuesday Posted: 03 Mar 2020 01:45 PM PST  Riding a wave of momentum, former Vice President Joe Biden scored a series of impressive primary victories on Super Tuesday, while Bernie Sanders won four states, including California.
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| Pentagon Linguist Charged with Exposing U.S. Spies to Hezbollah Posted: 04 Mar 2020 01:30 PM PST  A contractor for the Pentagon has been charged with providing classified U.S. intelligence to a Lebanese national connected with terrorist group Hezbollah, the Justice Department announced on Wednesday.The department alleges Mariam Taha Thompson, 61, began transmitting the classified intelligence around December 30, when Iraqi militiamen stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Thompson is a linguist who at the time was working at a U.S. special forces base in Erbil in northern Iraq.The classified "files contained classified national defense information including true names, personal identification data, background information, and photographs of the human sources, as well as operations cables detailing information the human sources provided to the United States government," read an FBI affidavit filed in the case.Thompson was arrested on February 27, and was due to appear in court on Wednesday. On February 19 FBI agents searched Thompson's Erbil residence and discovered documents under her mattress with the names of three U.S. intelligence assets, as well as a warning for the target of one of those assets."By compromising the identities of these human assets, Thompson placed the lives of the human assets and U.S. military personnel in grave danger," the Justice Department wrote in a press release.The December 30 protests at the U.S. Embassy began after American airstrikes on Iran-backed militias in Iraq. Those airstrikes followed the killing of an American contractor by Iran-backed militias.On January 2 the protests at the embassy were called off. That same night, President Trump ordered the killing of top Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport.
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| Tulsi Gabbard may have just qualified for the next Democratic debate thanks to American Samoa Posted: 03 Mar 2020 05:14 PM PST  By securing a delegate in American Samoa, Tulsi Gabbard may have qualified for the next Democratic debate under DNC rules.
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| Doomsday Mom Invokes the Fifth as She’s Extradited to Idaho Posted: 04 Mar 2020 12:36 PM PST  It doesn't seem like doomsday mom Lori Vallow is ready to answer any questions about her missing children.At a brief hearing on Wednesday in Hawaii before Vallow was extradited to Idaho on a red-eye flight, her attorney said he was invoking her Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and she should not be questioned on the trip.The judge noted that once Idaho officials take custody of Vallow, her court no longer has any jurisdiction over the case."Yes, but I want to make a record of that so her Idaho attorney can suppress any statements they may try to elicit," defense lawyer Craig De Costa said.Vallow, wearing an orange jumpsuit, stood next to De Costa, her ankles shackled.Bizarre Email Is Latest Clue in Saga of Doomsday Couple With Missing KidsA team from Idaho was already in Kauai, ready to take her back to Rexburg, where she is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on Friday.Vallow is charged with desertion of 17-year-old Tylee and 7-year-old J.J., who have not been seen since September; contempt of a court order to produce the children; and promoting a criminal act for allegedly asking a friend to falsely tell police she was watching J.J.Rexburg police have said they believe Tylee and J.J. are in danger but have not provided details on why they think so. They do say that Vallow and her new husband, doomsday author Chad Daybell, have not cooperated in the hunt for the kids.In a brief statement issued weeks ago by their Idaho attorney, Vallow and Daybell denied any wrongdoing. Vallow's Hawaii lawyer claimed she did not produce the children because she did not want them to go into foster care—but that does not explain why she allegedly lied to police who came to the house to check on them.The children's disappearance also focused scrutiny on the deaths of Vallow's and Daybell's previous spouses: Charles Vallow was shot to death in July by Lori's brother, Alex Cox, who claimed self-defense; and Daybell's wife Tammy died of unknown causes in October and her body has since been exhumed.Vallow, 46, and Daybell, 51, both members of a community of doomsday preppers, married weeks after he was widowed.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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| Warren team turns grim after Super Tuesday wipeout Posted: 04 Mar 2020 12:59 AM PST  Her campaign has massive overhead, and she's facing hard political and financial decisions about whether to keep going.
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| What Bloomberg's $500m could have bought instead Posted: 04 Mar 2020 11:21 AM PST  The former New York mayor could have paid off student loans for 150,000 people or bought houses for 2,200 homeless people * Follow live updates on the 2020 US electionThere wasn't much good news on Super Tuesday for the more progressive wing of the Democratic party, save for one lesson: money on its own, mercifully, cannot, as of yet, buy an entire election.That's the lesson many drew from the failure of billionaire Mike Bloomberg, who had hoped spending a half billion sliver of his massive fortune on an ad buy and staffing a national campaign might make inroads against former vice-president Joe Biden for the battle of the centrists.But Bloomberg's announcement today that he will be dropping out means the more than $500m he spent was wasted on nothing. Unless you count his sole win in American Samoa.Wasted is a relative term of course, because for a man reportedly worth over $60b, $500m to him is practically nothing. For everyone else it's still, well, $500m, and that has prompted some to wonder what good that kind of money could have done spent elsewhere.Here are some places he might have better spent the cash dump: Clearing medical debtAccording to RIP Medical Debt, a group who purchases medical debt in bulk, every $100 donated can alleviate $10,000 in oppressive medical bills. 66% of all US bankruptcies are tied to medical debt issues they say. So far they've eliminated around $1.3bn in medical debt, but doing some quick math, if Bloomberg had chipped in what he spent on the campaign that might have alleviated … $500bn in debt. Sadly and sickeningly that's not enough to clear everyone's tab in America, but it's pretty close, and good enough to change hundreds of thousands of lives over night. Alas. Cleaning up FlintFor around 1/10 of what he spent on getting embarrassed in front of the world, Bloomberg also could have replaced all of the old lead pipes in Flint, Michigan, then had hundreds of millions left over to pull every citizen there – or in many other cities – out of poverty. It's a point that many made when the campaign complained about their headquarters there being lightly vandalized last month. Pay off student debtWhile $500m might be a drop in the bucket of the $1.4tn owed in student loan debt in America, with an average outstanding loan of around $37,000, that's roughly 150,000 people whose lives the former New York City mayor could have transformed for the better. Think about all the good all those people unshackled at once from their predatory student loans might go on to do. House the homelessWith a reported 60,000-80,000 people living unhoused in New York City, his hometown, Bloomberg certainly would have had to lay out a bit more than $500m to give them all homes, certainly in one of the most expensive cities in the country, but with an average home price across the US of about $226,000 that's well over 2,200 people he could have simply purchased a home for. Just like that. Here's a house. It's all yours now. He'd barely even notice the money was gone. Restore voting rights to felonsAs an ardent believer in democracy, Bloomberg is no doubt aggrieved by Florida Republicans' efforts to reverse engineer a poll tax against the will of the voters, making it harder for felons to vote. Bloomberg could make a huge dent in the hundreds of millions outstanding, restoring the right to vote to thousands, or alternatively, he might have funded any number of campaigns against Republicans in the state actively working to disenfranchise its own citizens. His call, really!
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| Food stamp change fuels anxiety as states try to curb impact Posted: 03 Mar 2020 09:01 PM PST  Having food stamps offers Richard Butler a stability he's rarely known in his 25 years. New Trump administration rules taking effect April 1 put hundreds of thousands of people in his situation at risk of losing their benefits. From Hawaii to Pennsylvania, states are scrambling to blunt the impact of the new rules, with roughly 700,000 people at risk of losing benefits unless they meet certain work, training or school requirements.
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| U.S. Supreme Court gives states latitude to prosecute illegal immigrants Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:49 AM PST  The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday widened the ability of states to use criminal laws against illegal immigrants and other people who do not have work authorization in the United States in a ruling involving identity theft prosecutions in Kansas. The 5-4 ruling, with the court's conservative justices in the majority, overturned a 2017 Kansas Supreme Court decision that had voided the convictions of three restaurant workers for fraudulently using other people's Social Security numbers. In the opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the high court found that Kansas did not unlawfully encroach on federal authority over immigration policy.
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| Shocking: Why Israel Was Able to Win so Greatly During the Six-Day War Posted: 04 Mar 2020 09:00 AM PST  An astounding victory.
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| Doctors use CRISPR gene-editing technology directly in a patient for the first time Posted: 04 Mar 2020 07:47 AM PST  For the first time, CRISPR gene editing technology has been used directly inside a patient, doctors say. Though it could take a month to see if the move was a success, scientists are optimistic.The CRISPR technique has previously been used on cells that were removed from a patient's body, modified, then infused back inside the body. But this time, doctors at the Casey Eye Institute in Portland used the gene-editing technique directly in a patient blinded with Leber congenital amaurosis, with the hopes of restoring their vision, reports NPR.Doctors injected the patient's eye with fluid containing copies of the virus carrying the CRISPR gene-editing instructions, which should remove the defect that caused blindness, restoring vision.The patient is the first in a study that hopes to determine whether it is safe to inject CRISPR into the eye. The study is still in its early stages, and will eventually involve 18 patients, per NPR. If successful, a similar approach could help treat various brain disorders and muscle diseases."We're helping open, potentially, an era of gene-editing for therapeutic use that could have impact in many aspects of medicine," Eric Pierce, study leader and professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, told NPR.Read more at NPR.More stories from theweek.com Trump is now trying to blame Obama for his coronavirus response It's 2020 and women are exhausted How Bernie blew it
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| The 2020 Geneva Motor Show Is Canceled, Forcing Automakers to Unveil Their Cars Online Posted: 04 Mar 2020 01:11 PM PST |
| Bloomberg considering dropping out after Biden rout Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:49 PM PST  The billionaire's big bet did not pay off on Super Tuesday.
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| Jeff Sessions’ run-off and a Bush's loss: Super Tuesday races you may have missed Posted: 04 Mar 2020 09:44 AM PST  While all the attention was focused on the Democratic primaries, other races played out across the USWhile all the attention of Super Tuesday focused on the presidential nomination race among the Democrats and the fight between the former vice-president Joe Biden and the Vermont senator Bernie Sanders, other races and dramas across the US also played out.Here are five things you may have missed: A Bush loses in TexasPierce Bush was aiming to advance in the Republican primary for a Texas congressional seat in Houston. But the grandson of president George HW Bush and relative of president George W Bush and ex-Florida governor Jeb Bush, lost his race – the first Bush to lose in Texas in 40 years. A dynasty ends, not with a bang but a whimper. Broadcaster Cenk Uygur flames outFamed leftist broadcaster Cenk Uygur has a strong following thanks to his founding of the Young Turks progressive politics show. But that did not translate into meaningful support for his bid to fill the California congressional seat vacated by Katie Hill. He came in fourth with just 5% of the vote. Jeff Sessions heads for a run-offDonald Trump's former attorney general is aiming to win back his old Senate seat after falling out of favor with the president and leaving the administration. After failing to win a knockout blow, he now faces a run-off later this month against the former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. Despite Sessions continuing to embrace Trumpism on the trail, his old boss stuck the knife in. "This is what happens to someone who loyally gets appointed Attorney General of the United States & then doesn't have the wisdom or courage to stare down & end the phony Russia Witch Hunt," the president tweeted. An anti-abortion Democrat survivesThe Texas congressman Henry Cuellar, one of the few anti-abortion Democrats in the House, fended off a primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-old immigration attorney, in a defeat for progressives. Cuellar has held the seat since 2005 and also maintains an A rating from the National Rifle Association. Cuellar voted with Trump nearly 70% of the time during the president's first two years in office. Republican Kay Granger fends off a rightwing attackOne of the few prominent Republican women in the House fended off an attack by a male tech executive to oust her. Chris Putnam went to war with her in a bitter primary battle in Texas as outside groups spent millions and Trump weighed in behind her. Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group, spent more than $1m running attack ads against her record on spending issues but Granger prevailed.
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| Report: No proof of Dem hacking claim by Georgia Gov. Kemp Posted: 03 Mar 2020 12:16 PM PST  The Georgia attorney general's office has concluded that there is no foundation to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp's allegations that Democrats sought to hack the state's voter registration system before his 2018 election. The divisive race that November pitted Kemp against Democrat Stacey Abrams, who called the accusations baseless at the time. Kemp beat Abrams by about 55,000 votes out of nearly 4 million cast.
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| Parents charged with murder after 6-year-old kept in closet dies Posted: 04 Mar 2020 09:24 AM PST  A mother, father and grandmother admitted that a 6-year-old and his 7-year-old brother were kept in a closet because they were "stealing food."
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| Coronavirus death toll jumps to 107 in Italy, all schools shut Posted: 04 Mar 2020 06:11 AM PST  Italy closed all schools and universities and took other emergency measures on Wednesday to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe's worst-hit country as the death toll and number of cases jumped. The total number of dead in Italy rose to 107 after 28 people died of the highly contagious virus over the past 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said. Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said schools and universities all over the country would be closed from Thursday until at least March 15.
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| Amid coronavirus outbreak, these airlines will waive flight-change fees Posted: 04 Mar 2020 01:35 PM PST  Following the COVID-19 outbreak, airlines including American, Delta, JetBlue and United are taking measures to help slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.
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| Iran says 92 dead as coronavirus reaches all but one province Posted: 04 Mar 2020 11:35 AM PST  Coronavirus has killed 92 people in Iran, officials said Wednesday, as the world's deadliest outbreak outside China spread to all of the country's provinces except one.
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| Chief Justice John Roberts issues a rare rebuke at Democrats' 'dangerous' and 'threatening statements' Posted: 04 Mar 2020 03:10 PM PST  Chief Justice John Roberts said he knew "that criticism comes with the territory" but that Sen. Chuck Schumer remarks were out of line.
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| Does the DNC Have It out for 2020 Candidate Tulsi Gabbard? Posted: 04 Mar 2020 11:14 AM PST  She won one or two delegates, but it might not matter.
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| Iran rejects US virus aid offer amid 'vicious' sanctions Posted: 04 Mar 2020 03:50 AM PST  Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Wednesday dismissed a US offer to help the Islamic republic fight its coronavirus outbreak, charging that "vicious" American sanctions are depriving the country of medicine. Iran has scrambled to halt the rapid spread of the virus that has claimed 92 lives out of 2,922 confirmed infections in the past two weeks. It has shut schools and universities, suspended major cultural and sporting events, and cut back on work hours.
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| Here's what happens to the votes for candidates who drop out Posted: 03 Mar 2020 09:46 AM PST  The abrupt departures of Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar from the Democratic presidential race on the eve of Super Tuesday primaries could be frustrating for the millions of people who have already voted in those 14 states and might have cast ballots for them. As voters stream to precincts across the country Tuesday, here's a look at what happens to ballots already submitted for the candidates no longer in the race. As candidates sprinted through Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, those with the resources also expanded into the delegate-rich California, Texas, North Carolina and Virginia, leading early-voting events.
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| Desperate for Relief, Lebanon Hatches Plan to Avoid Default Posted: 04 Mar 2020 06:51 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Lebanon's government is lurching from one extreme solution to another as it wrangles over whether to repay $1.2 billion of notes maturing in five days.In the latest twist of its effort to avoid a default, it may revive an offer for a debt swap with local holders of its Eurobonds. At a meeting with bankers Tuesday, the finance minister suggested that Lebanese banks swap their entire Eurobond holdings for new debt with lower coupons, a person familiar with the talks said.The government would, under this scenario, pay around $3.5 billion in principal and interest this year to foreign bondholders, said the person, who asked to remain anonymous because the information isn't public.Lebanon has not submitted a proposal to bondholders to move into new longer-dated notes with lower coupons, Finance Minister Ghazi Wazni said in a statement Wednesday.A separate idea is for local banks to try to buy back Eurobonds held by international funds, according to two people familiar with the matter. Lebanese officials have said it would be harder for the nation to reach a restructuring agreement if foreigners owned large amounts of its bonds.The deliberations come as several politicians, including House Speaker Nabih Berri, call on Lebanon to default and preserve its falling reserves for vital imports such as food and medicine.One of the world's most indebted nations, Lebanon is desperate for relief from a burden many economists say is unsustainable. Among the few options left to avoid a default is a swap with local lenders, the biggest holders of Lebanon's sovereign debt with $13.8 billion of Eurobonds at the end of December, or nearly 44% of the total.Another way out for Lebanon is thorough a loan program from the International Monetary Fund. Although IMF experts held meetings in Beirut last week, the issue of securing financing from the fund has become politically charged. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed group that has a major say in government and parliament, has rejected the idea.A previous swap proposal unraveled after rating companies said they might view it as a distressed exchange and downgrade Lebanon.Local banks have lobbied against a default and said the country should live up to its spotless track record of repaying debt. The likelihood of a restructuring has only grown, however, after the government hired financial advisers Lazard Ltd. and law firm Cleary Gottleib Steen & Hamilton last week.Few OptionsSince the central bank first proposed swapping domestic holders into longer-dated notes in January, local banks offloaded some of their Eurobond holdings at a discount to overseas investors such as Ashmore Group, a British fund that's bet the government would pay out. Most of the country's dollar bonds trade at less than 30 cents, while the March 9 notes trade at 59 cents.The transactions are now at the center of a government investigation. The Justice Ministry has asked the public prosecutor to investigate the sales on the ground that local banks might have obstructed the government's efforts to restructure debt.(Updates with seperate government proposal in fifth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Paul Wallace.To contact the reporter on this story: Dana Khraiche in Beirut at dkhraiche@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Lin Noueihed at lnoueihed@bloomberg.net, Paul Abelsky, Paul WallaceFor 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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| Inside the Chris Matthews Exit: MSNBC Boss Went to D.C. to Plead With Him to Quit Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:30 PM PST  The painful end of Chris Matthews' TV career occurred with just the sort of recrimination and negative PR that former Washington local news anchor and failed Democratic House candidate Kathleen Matthews, his wife of 40 years, and their adult children long hoped to avoid.According to sources at MSNBC, Kathleen had communicated concerns over the past several months to network chief Phil Griffin, Chris's long-ago Hardball executive producer when the show aired on CNBC. She expressed worry that her husband's on-air controversies would become more frequent, more embarrassing, and more damaging to his legacy.For months, it was known to some inside the network that Kathleen had pushed for her husband, now 74, to have a more limited schedule. Instead, the MSNBC anchor found himself on TV during more major events than he had since the 2016 election cycle. And while acting as a fixture of MSNBC's Democratic primary coverage, Matthews continually came under fire for on-air comments including likening Sen. Bernie Sanders' Nevada caucus victory to Nazi Germany overtaking France during World War II, a comment for which Matthews later apologized; and asking Sen. Elizabeth Warren why she would believe a woman over Michael Bloomberg regarding accusations that the ex-mayor told a pregnant employee to "kill" her unborn child.And then, after The Daily Show posted on Thursday night a devastating compilation of Matthews' history of sexist and gross on-air comments to women, and a GQ piece with first-hand accusations of sexual harassment dropped Friday, the network's brass had apparently had enough.Chris Matthews Confronts Warren: Why Do You Believe a Woman Over Bloomberg?Sources said Griffin traveled to Washington, D.C. over the weekend for a series of tough conversations with the Hardball host, his wife and family, arguing that now was the time to call it quits.Matthews was very resistant, according to these sources, insisting he stay on through the election. But he was finally persuaded that "retiring," as he tried to portray his own abrupt resignation, was the only sensible option.Amid such conversations with Griffin, the Hardball host was expected to participate in Saturday's coverage of the South Carolina primary. But hours before he would have gone on the air, he was replaced by weekend host Joy Reid.Ultimately, on Monday evening, when he made his final on-air statement, Matthews' wife and kids were in the studio, sources said."After my conversation with MSNBC, I decided tonight will be my last Hardball," Matthews said during his last broadcast. "So let me tell you why. The younger generations are ready to take the reins. We see them in politics, the media, and fighting for their causes. They're improving the workplace." He offered a brief apology for having previously offered "compliments on a woman's appearance some men, including me, might have once incorrectly thought were OK."Despite framing his exit as a passing of the torch to a younger generation, Matthews' ouster has been publicly decried by some of his now-ex-colleagues representing the old guard of cable news. The crew of MSNBC's Morning Joe tearfully mourned his exit, with co-host Mika Brzezinski musing about "so-called cancel culture" and whether there could have been a "better way" to deal with Matthews' recent controversies. Senior contributor Mike Barnicle, meanwhile, groused that his friend's departure "opens the door" to "disturbing" possibilities. He asserted that the Hardball host's exit was simply the result of "toxic outrage."Seth Meyers Unloads on Chris Matthews for 'Deranged' Bernie Sanders AttacksMatthews' ouster has also thrown yet another wrench into ongoing uncertainty about MSNBC's lineup, which has been in flux since the network moved daytime host Ali Velshi to a weekend role. Insiders said the network had been expected to announce a new permanent schedule imminently, but Matthews' sudden departure may delay those changes. Star news anchor Shepard Smith, who left Fox News amid feuds with the network's overtly pro-Trump primetime hosts, has long been rumored to be in talks with MSNBC (the network was interested before he decamped Fox News last year), and Page Six reported Tuesday that he is on a "short list" to now take over Hardball. But "expectations are low," a network source said, given Smith's potentially hefty price tag.A person with knowledge of the situation said that any connection between Matthews' departure and Smith's ongoing discussions with the network was "pure speculation." The ex-Fox star is also talking with CNBC and Vice, the source told The Daily Beast: "He's talking to all the players but doesn't necessarily want the big shiny thing." While it has been reported Smith could return to the air as early as June, industry insiders believe he will re-appear closer to the election.Current MSNBC hosts have also been floated as potential replacements for Matthews. Joy Reid, whose weekend show enjoys good ratings, would make sense, insiders said, considering her popularity among the network's more hardcore viewers. Nicolle Wallace, an anti-Trump Republican whose 4 p.m. daytime broadcast has brought in robust viewership, has also been discussed; however, sources said, she'd prefer not to move to primetime because of family obligations. Another name floated by Page Six was Steve Kornacki, who demonstrated quick thinking despite being visibly stunned on Monday evening while taking over the rest of the Hardball broadcast following Matthews' shocking exit. But sources told The Daily Beast that despite his role in stepping up to fill that hour, he's highly unlikely to be rewarded with the primetime hosting gig.—Lachlan Cartwright contributed reporting.MSNBC Host Chris Matthews Resigns After Accusations of Sexism and HarassmentRead 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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| United slashing US, international flights, offering voluntary leave amid coronavirus crisis Posted: 04 Mar 2020 02:13 PM PST  United's moves to cut service are the most aggressive by a U.S. airline since the coronavirus outbreak began.
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| A small space rock led to a big discovery — an X-ray-belching black hole Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:22 PM PST  The black hole's outburst was separately confirmed by two telescopes installed at the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit.
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| A man from a NYC suburb was confirmed to have coronavirus. Here's what New York's mass-transit system is doing to slow a potential spread. Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:09 PM PST  Subways, buses, and vehicles will be sanitized every 72 hours, and surfaces like turnstiles, ticket machines, and handrails will be disinfected daily.
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| Trump is now trying to blame Obama for his coronavirus response Posted: 04 Mar 2020 10:30 AM PST  Amid criticism over the government's ability to test for cases of the new coronavirus, President Trump on Wednesday attempted to shift the blame to, who else, his predecessor former President Barack Obama.Speaking to reporters alongside Vice President Mike Pence, who's in charge of handling the U.S. response to COVID-19, Trump said the Obama administration made a decision that wound up hindering the country's ability to tackle the spreading virus, but said he reversed that situation recently.People were confused about what exactly the president was referring to, so Pence attempted to clarify, telling reporters the Obama administration had given the Food and Drug Administration jurisdiction over disease testing development. Trump, he said, is now allowing states to conduct their own tests and research, which expands testing capabilities.> REPORTER: What was this Obama-era rule that you are blaming for the coronavirus testing problems?> > PENCE: "The last administration asserted FDA jurisdiction over testing, and the development of tests like this. The president changed that on Saturday." pic.twitter.com/S3EOycBS6B> > -- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 4, 2020Trump critics were quick to jump on his attempt to blame Obama, pointing out that it was his administration that disbanded the team directly responsible for global health security and potential pandemics in 2018.Obama, meanwhile, weighed in on COVID-19 on Wednesday, though there was no mention of how he feels about the Trump administration's response. > Protect yourself and your community from coronavirus with common sense precautions: wash your hands, stay home when sick and listen to the @CDCgov and local health authorities. Save the masks for health care workers. Let's stay calm, listen to the experts, and follow the science.> > -- Barack Obama (@BarackObama) March 4, 2020More stories from theweek.com It's 2020 and women are exhausted How Bernie blew it House passes coronavirus spending bill 415 to 2
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| Mike Bloomberg saw disastrous Super Tuesday results after spending a quarter of a billion dollars Posted: 04 Mar 2020 07:21 AM PST  Bloomberg had poor results in states with early returns like Virginia and North Carolina, states with a huge chunk of delegates up for grabs.
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| India Is Turning To Israel After Its Russian-Made Missiles Turned Into Duds Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:30 AM PST  Can Israeli missiles be integrated on a Russian jet?
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| AP Exclusive: Death row inmate slips through legal system Posted: 04 Mar 2020 05:03 AM PST  David Martin was sentenced to die six years ago. Martin was sentenced to die in 2014 for fatally shooting 21-year-old Jeremy Cole during a robbery in northeastern Ohio two years earlier. When the state Supreme Court upholds a death sentence, it automatically sets an execution date, which in Martin's case is May 26, 2021.
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| Putin says Russia targeted from abroad by fake news on coronavirus Posted: 04 Mar 2020 03:07 AM PST  Russia has been targeted from abroad by foes spreading fake news about the coronavirus to sow panic, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. Putin's remarks came as Russia's communications regulator said it had shut down access to some social media posts containing falsehoods about the virus outbreak. A Russian cyber security company, Group-IB, on Monday identified what it said were thousands of fake news posts on messaging services and social networks such as Russia's VK alleging that thousands of Muscovites have caught the virus.
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| Thai quarantine flip-flop throws holidays into doubt Posted: 03 Mar 2020 04:28 PM PST  Thailand threw possibly tens of thousands of holiday plans into confusion after the health minister ordered any new arrivals from eight countries to undergo quarantine for the coronavirus, before swiftly reversing the decision. Health minister Anutin Charnvirakul posted an announcement Tuesday saying travellers from affected countries would be subjected to a 14-day quarantine "without exceptions". The countries were China, South Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Singapore, Italy and Iran.
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| In Major Upset, Texas Oil Regulator Loses Republican Primary Posted: 04 Mar 2020 05:42 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- A member of the top energy regulator in Texas lost his place on November's ballot to a Republican challenger, a major upset for an incumbent who has attracted criticism for his handling of natural gas flaring and occasionally split with his fellow commissioners.Ryan Sitton, whose six-year term ends in January, conceded to Jim Wright as the party's nominee for a spot on the Texas Railroad Commission. Despite the name, the powerful agency regulates the state's massive oil fields, including issuing permits for flaring, in which oil producers burn off unwanted natural gas."Congratulations to Jim Wright," Sitton wrote in a tweet late Tuesday night in Texas. "It's been an honor and incredibly rewarding to put my experience to work for Texas."Sitton has occasionally broken with the other two Republicans on the commission. Most recently, Sitton independently released a report on gas flaring that both tried to address criticism of the issue while defending the agency's practice of granting every permit that comes its way. He pointed at Iraq and Iran as examples of oil producers that burn off much more of their gas and could more easily cut flaring.The report was applauded by industry groups but panned by environmental groups and criticized by academics for trying to minimize the problem. Still, an executive at Royal Dutch Shell Plc last month called on regulators to craft better policies to reduce flaring in the Permian."The pressure from Texas' major operators must compel some kind of leadership from the RRC," said Katie Bays, co-founder of Washington-based Sandhill Strategy LLC. "Sitton staked out a role as an opponent of change, even if the industry was calling for it."Wright, a rancher and chief executive of an oilfield services company, will face the Democrat challenger for the seat currently held by Sitton, who had also clinched endorsements for the Republican primary from the editorial boards of the Houston Chronicle and the Dallas Morning News.Wright has said that the Railroad Commission should do a better job of encouraging oil producers to get their gas to market, though he doesn't support actions that would reduce oil output."Wright is thoughtful, shares our concerns about flaring and seismicity, and wants to increase transparency at the commission," the Dallas Morning News' editorial board wrote last month in its endorsement of Sitton. "However, he isn't a viable candidate. He did not complete our Voter Guide questionnaire and his campaign lacks a meaningful website or social media presence."Dallas lawyers Chrysta Castañeda and Roberto Alonzo, a former state representative, will compete in a May runoff to challenge Wright."Wright's victory adds uncertainty to key Texas issues such as flaring, as he is now the frontrunner for the position," said Ethan Bellamy, an analyst at Robert W. Baird & Co. who covers oil and gas pipeline operators. "His official positions on his website don't offer much in the way of specific policy, but as an owner of multiple energy service companies he clearly is in a position to understand the commercial impacts of the RRC's decisions."(Updates with analyst comment in last paragraph)To contact the reporter on this story: Rachel Adams-Heard in Houston at radamsheard@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Simon Casey at scasey4@bloomberg.net, Christine BuurmaFor 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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| A Middle Eastern restaurant in London keeps getting attacked by a stinking substance that causes nausea and vomiting Posted: 03 Mar 2020 04:46 AM PST  A foul-smelling substance was thrown three times at a London restaurant, which had to evacuate dozens of people, according to emergency services.
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| Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang is 'looking at' a run for New York City mayor, but will first weigh 'how much value' he can add Posted: 04 Mar 2020 08:58 AM PST  "One of the things I'm most curious about is who are the other candidates in the race, and what the race would look like," Yang said.
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| Coronavirus: Republican senator tells Trump to ‘let the professionals do the talking’ after he repeatedly contradicts expert health advice Posted: 04 Mar 2020 03:43 AM PST  A senior Republican senator has told Donald Trump to "let the professionals do the talking" after the president repeatedly contradicted medical experts in recent weeks.Mr Trump has sought to downplay the threat posed by coronavirus in the US, even as public health officials have warned of the potential for a serious outbreak.
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| U.S. Navy Nightmare: All Russian Warships Armed With Hypersonic Missiles Posted: 04 Mar 2020 05:30 AM PST  Could it happen?
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| China warns of retaliation over U.S. 'bullying' of state media Posted: 03 Mar 2020 04:37 AM PST  China threatened Tuesday to retaliate against U.S. "bullying" after Washington imposed staff cuts on Chinese state media, two weeks after expelling three Wall Street Journal reporters.
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| Brawl erupts in Turkey's parliament over Syria involvement Posted: 04 Mar 2020 08:43 AM PST  A fight broke out in the Turkish parliament between lawmakers from opposing parties Wednesday during a tense discussion about Turkey's military involvement in northwest Syria. Video images showed dozens of legislators from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party and from the main opposition party pushing each other. Some lawmakers fell to the ground during the fray, Turkey's Haberturk television reported.
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| Spooky gunship crew honored for heroism during ferocious Afghanistan battle Posted: 04 Mar 2020 12:42 PM PST  "The most lethal part of any gunship ... is the crew," AFSOC commander Lt. Gen. Jim Slife said.
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| Feds: Keep Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff in prison for his 'extraordinarily evil' crimes Posted: 04 Mar 2020 05:44 PM PST  Prosecutors argue Ponzi scheme mastermind Bernie Madoff should continue his 150-year prison term, urge judge to deny motion for compassionate release
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| Sheriff says 8 deputies shared Kobe crash photos: "Betrayal" Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:18 AM PST  Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva says he feels a "sense of betrayal" that his deputies were involved in the sharing of the graphic images
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| China is recording so few new coronavirus infections that South Korea looks like the new center of the epidemic Posted: 04 Mar 2020 03:30 AM PST  The coronavirus is spreading in several new hot-spot countries — notably South Korea and Iran — but slowing almost to a standstill in China.
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| Republicans Dive Back Into Hunter Biden Investigations, Saying Voters Deserve It Posted: 04 Mar 2020 05:10 PM PST  Joe Biden's recent surge in the Democratic primary has revived his White House hopes and, with them, the Senate GOP's interest in using their power to dig into his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine.The desire for dirt on the Bidens was what prompted House Democrats to impeach President Donald Trump, after it was revealed he was leveraging military aid to Ukraine as part of his efforts. But as Biden seemed to fade from contention during the early voting contests, interest in Hunter Biden's time on the board of a Ukrainian energy company called Burisma seemed to fade among Trump and Republicans too. That's now changed. On the heels of Biden's string of primary wins on Tuesday, GOP lawmakers are teeing up letters and subpoenas for new information on the Bidens. And they're offering up a fresh explanation for why the push is justified: they're just vetting the guy for the benefit of Democratic primary voters."If he is in fact the frontrunner for the Democratic nominee to be president of the United States," said Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), "all the more reason to get to the bottom of it, and make sure that the people have all the information that they need to make an informed decision on the person that would be president of the United States."The de facto leader of the Biden investigations, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), told reporters on Wednesday that Biden has not "adequately answered" questions about his family's involvement in Ukraine, despite no actual evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the former VP. "[I]f I were a Democrat primary voter, I'd want these questions satisfactorily answered before I cast my final vote," he said.Trump's Big Lie About Joe Biden, Hunter Biden and Ukraine Falls ApartOn Monday, Johnson announced that the Senate oversight panel, which he chairs, would be moving forward with a subpoena for documents and testimony related to Hunter Biden's service on the board of Burisma. And in the same breath he raised unanswered questions about the Bidens, the Wisconsin senator insisted that going after them was not his intention. "My investigations are not focused on the Bidens," he said. "They just aren't. But I can't ignore them, because they're part of the story. They made themselves part of the story... they made themselves part of this issue of legitimate investigation."The idea that Republican lawmakers are providing a public service to Democratic primary voters was treated as absurd by Democrats on Wednesday. Instead, they saw the renewed interest in Hunter Biden and Burisma as a not-particularly-subtle attempt to tar Joe Biden by association—raising questions about his integrity that don't need to be asked right as the general election is approaching. "Get ready," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who has traveled with Johnson to Ukraine on several occasions. "The Senate is going to turn into an arm of the Trump campaign. I don't think we've expected anything different. The President is willing to use all the official powers at his disposal to try to destroy his political rivals. The Senate Republicans gave him a pass on that, and thus it stands to reason they would attempt to do some version of the same thing."The president's allies allege that Biden, when he was vice president, corruptly endeavored to protect his son Hunter's business dealings in Ukraine by working to oust a Ukrainian prosecutor who was looking into corruption at Burisma. But that prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, had put those investigations aside. And while much was made by Republicans of Biden's push to get rid of him, the Obama administration and U.S. allies wanted to see him gone, too, because he was seen as insufficiently committed to fighting corruption. Democrats Left Joe Biden for Dead. Then They Decided He Was Their SaviorNeither U.S. nor Ukrainian officials ever filed criminal charges against the Bidens, and the former Ukrainian prosecutor general, Yuriy Lutsenko, said in May 2019 that there was no evidence of wrongdoing. The Bidens themselves have denied wrongdoing, too. "We already knew that Donald Trump is terrified of facing Joe Biden—because he got himself impeached by trying to force a foreign country to spread lies about the Vice President on behalf of his re-election campaign," said Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the Biden campaign. "Now, Senator Johnson just flat out conceded that this is a ham-handed effort to manipulate Democratic primary voters."President Trump himself remains closely in touch with some of the most central figures off Capitol Hill trying to trigger investigations of the Biden family and Ukraine. On Wednesday, the president's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani told The Daily Beast that he was still in regular contact with Trump. Asked when the two of them last spoke, the Trump attorney replied, "yesterday"—the same day Biden dominated Super Tuesday's Democratic contests and dramatically improved his chances of securing the party's 2020 presidential nomination. Giuliani would not divulge the nature or subject matter of their Tuesday conversation. But the former New York mayor and leading Biden antagonist had previously vowed, following Trump's acquittal in the Senate impeachment trial, to continue to probe the Bidens and Ukraine issues.As The Daily Beast reported last month, Giuliani has done so at the explicit encouragement of his client, with Trump, post-acquittal, privately urging his attorney to keep digging on the matter and to keep the president updated on whatever progress he makes.In early February, Giuliani said he was planning on "ramping up" his probes into Joe and Hunter Biden, claiming that "it's a matter of the fair administration of justice for real."In the Senate, that ramping-up was timed nicely with Biden's reemergence in the Democratic race. On Sunday, the day after Biden's comeback win in the South Carolina primary, Johnson sent a letter to members of his committee notifying them of plans to hold a vote on a subpoena for Andrii Telizhenko, a former Ukrainian diplomat who worked for a consulting firm, Blue Star Strategies, that represented Burisma in the U.S. GOP Base Is Hot to Probe Biden, Senate Republicans Not So MuchIn his letter, Johnson wrote that he is "convinced obtaining Mr. Telizhenko's Blue Star documents and information is an important part of this investigation." Telizhenko, reported The Daily Beast in November, has ties to Trumpworld figures like Rudy Giuliani, and helped spread the narrative popular among the president's allies that Ukrainian officials meddled in the 2016 election to hurt Trump.A vote on the subpoena is scheduled for Mar. 11. If approved, it will be the first subpoena issued by Senate Republicans for anything related to Burisma. Asked to respond to allegations of fishy timing, Johnson scoffed. "They're just wrong," he said on Wednesday.The top Democrat on Johnson's committee, Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI), declined to say to reporters if he felt that the probe is politically motivated. He did oppose it, however, on the grounds it was a waste of time: "This investigation should not be part of what we're doing at Homeland Security," said Peters. "There are too many other important issues that impact the security of our country."Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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