| Bloomberg campaign calls Trump a ‘pathological liar’ with ‘fake hair’ and ‘spray-on tan’ Posted: 02 Feb 2020 07:23 AM PST  President Trump seems to have former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on his mind at the moment and has repeatedly attacked him leading up to the Super Bowl, where they're both running ads.
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| China just completed work on the emergency hospital it set up to tackle the Wuhan coronavirus, and it took just 10 days to do it Posted: 02 Feb 2020 06:49 PM PST  When work started on the Huoshenshan hospital, 26 people had died from Wuhan coronavirus. When it finished on Sunday, the number had passed 300.
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| Does 'Never Again' Mean Nothing to the Left? Posted: 03 Feb 2020 04:16 AM PST  Antisemitism is antisemitism, period.
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| El Chapo's daughter got married in a lavish but secretive wedding, complete with fireworks, armored cars, and cartel gunmen Posted: 03 Feb 2020 08:28 AM PST  Her father, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, is currently serving a life sentence in the American super-max prison ADX Florence.
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| Firebrand talk show host Rush Limbaugh says has cancer Posted: 03 Feb 2020 01:19 PM PST  Conservative radio firebrand Rush Limbaugh disclosed Monday he has "advanced lung cancer" but vowed to continue with his show as he undergoes treatment. "The upshot is that I have been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, diagnosis confirmed by two medical institutions back on January 20th," he said.
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| Taiwan evacuates first group from Wuhan, announces limit on mask purchases Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:09 PM PST ![Taiwan evacuates first group from Wuhan, announces limit on mask purchases]( "Taiwan evacuates first group from Wuhan, announces limit on mask purchases") Taiwan has evacuated the first batch of an estimated 500 Taiwanese stranded in the Chinese city of Wuhan, which has been locked down by the government as it tries to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus first discovered there. Taiwan had complained that China had not responded to requests to fly out its citizens, even as Beijing gave such permission to other governments, including the United States and Britain. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement on Tuesday that 247 people had arrived at Taipei's main international airport late on Monday.
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| The More Macron Does, the More Unpopular He Gets Posted: 03 Feb 2020 12:52 AM PST  (Bloomberg Opinion) -- "Remember when we all believed in Emmanuel Macron?" The question comes not from an angry trade unionist but a stand-up comedian in central Paris, facing a crowd of thirty-something urbanites cut from the same cloth as France's 42-year-old president. A collective groan of "yes" rises from the audience, many of whom spent the winter struggling through transport strikes triggered by a flagship pension reform that crippled the city. Only one dismissive "no!" rings out. "There's always one person who voted for Jean-Luc Melenchon," the comedian shoots back, referring to a far-left leader who's one of Macron's most scathing critics.While highly unscientific, the groan-o-meter fits with the bigger national picture for Macron, who seems to get less popular the more he achieves. The president's approval ratings declined after his election in 2017 amid a flurry of reforms, and sank below 30% in late 2018, when the Gilets Jaunes protests that spawned from anger over plans to hike gasoline prices were at their peak. He's still polling at around 25%, even after striking a compromise with France's biggest trade union to ease the gridlock on public transport. Disappointment is now starting to seep into his core fan-base of young, urban professionals — the bloc bourgeois of center-left and center-right white-collar workers who are pro-reform and pro-EU. Paris, where Macron got 90% of votes in 2017, may well re-elect its Socialist mayor in March.The barometer of anti-Macron feeling, ranging from quiet disillusionment to violent street protests and death threats against politicians, has little to do with economic performance or a failure to carry out reform pledges. The French economy grew 2.3% in 2017 and 1.7% in 2018; unemployment fell to a decade low in 2019; and business investment has rebounded. A surprise contraction in the fourth quarter of last year put annual growth in 2019 at 1.3%, but Barclays economist Francois Cabau expects that to be a one-off and is cautiously optimistic. The 91 reforms passed by the Macron administration and its ruling party, En Marche! (Onward!), should start to bear fruit soon. They have moderately or largely kept their promises 69% of the time, according to think-tank iFRAP.Yet Macron has managed to lose the French people in the process. Some of it is personal: His star-pupil attitude, combining youthful arrogance and Jupiterian haughtiness, grates. Some of it is institutional: If Macron behaves like a monarchical, top-down ruler, it's also because the Fifth Republic concentrates a lot of executive power in the presidency and has no mid-term elections to worry the ruling party in parliament. And some of it is political: The first-timers that stuff the ranks of Macron's party got over-confident in long-term planning, completely underestimated the Yellow Vest movement and failed to do the groundwork necessary to negotiate pension reforms.There's also the changing nature of French society. Life is becoming less comfortable than it used to be, as Pierre Brechon of Sciences Po Grenoble puts it. Since 2000, several bells have tolled for the establishment: A rise in the far-right vote that almost won the presidency in 2002; a " no" referendum vote on an EU constitutional treaty in 2005; and the respective failure of both Right and Left to win re-election in 2012 and 2017. Despite relatively low income inequality and a cradle-to-grave welfare state, France hasn't stamped out divisions among socioeconomic and cultural lines, which author Jerome Fourquet says has created an "archipelago" of disparate social islands. The postwar era's influences of Catholicism and communism are fading, traditional media is on the wane, and conspiracy theories like "chemtrails" and anti-vax arguments spread by social media are on the rise. Macron was a net beneficiary of this anti-elitist atmosphere in 2017, as a relative newcomer leading a new party. In 2020, he is on the receiving end. Ambivalence now reigns supreme. Macron's reform agenda was promoted as a soft, Scandinavian-style answer to France's woes — now it's viewed as harsh medicine that will leave winners and, more importantly, losers in its wake. True believers who think France has changed since 2017 and will change in the coming years are in the minority, between 30% and 40%. That doesn't mean revolution is in the air. Support for the pension protests is split, while the proportion of people who defined themselves as Yellow Vests in late 2018 and early 2019 oscillated at 10%-20%. Either way, the pace of reform is likely to slow. Macron's government has already given up budgetary rigor.It's still too early to write off Macron but, if recent history is any guide, this kind of unpopularity is almost impossible to reverse. The backlash against globalization and a lack of social mobility are powerful forces, as they are in Trump's America and Brexit Britain. Whoever wins the presidential election in 2022 will either hit upon a new narrative that binds the Parisians of the bloc bourgeois to other parts of French society — maybe with a nod to the environment — or, as far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Melenchon and his far-left party France Unbowed are already doing, declare war on them entirely. To contact the author of this story: Lionel Laurent at llaurent2@bloomberg.netTo contact the editor responsible for this story: Melissa Pozsgay at mpozsgay@bloomberg.netThis column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Bloomberg LP and its owners.Lionel Laurent is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Brussels. He previously worked at Reuters and Forbes.For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com/opinionSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Black Americans got the right to vote 150 years ago, but voter suppression still a problem Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:33 AM PST  On the 150th anniversary of the 15th Amendment, voting rights continue to be assailed. America lacks a national voting right for all citizens.
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| Germany, Austria at odds on European financial trade tax Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:50 AM PST  Germany and Austria are at odds over plans for a new tax on financial transactions, raising more questions about the chances of the levy becoming reality after years of talks. The two countries are among 10 in the European Union that have been working on a financial transaction tax after a wider agreement proved elusive. German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz has proposed a levy of 0.2% on share purchases and wants to use the proceeds at home to help top up the pensions of low-paid people.
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| Trump news: President rants about impeachment and Iowa, as Democrats prepare for first real 2020 test Posted: 03 Feb 2020 12:28 PM PST  Donald Trump has lashed out in a series of tweets urging Republicans in Iowa to caucus, and questioning where the whistle blower is who sparked the investigation that led to his impeachment (in spite of Republican refusal to allow further witnesses to be brought before the Senate).The president had been facing fresh ridicule after tweeting his congratulations to the Kansas City Chiefs after they won Super Bowl LIV by saying they represented "the Great State of Kansas... so very well" when the team is, in fact, based in Missouri (though half of Kansas City is indeed in Kansas).
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| China accused the US of spreading global 'fear' over the Wuhan coronavirus, which has now killed 362 people Posted: 03 Feb 2020 03:32 AM PST  "All it [the US] has done could only create and spread fear, which is a bad example," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
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| Americans are largely dissatisfied with the state of the union, poll finds Posted: 03 Feb 2020 06:58 AM PST  The turbulence of impeachment, a contentious presidential campaign and a global virus health threat confront President Trump as he prepares to deliver his State of the Union address Tuesday night. But one thing about the Trump era has remained remarkably steady: public opinion on the president.
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| Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs Was Great for Bacteria Posted: 02 Feb 2020 09:00 AM PST  The asteroid moved 24 times faster than a rifle bullet as it struck Earth some 66 million years ago. Its supersonic shock wave flattened trees across North and South America, and its heat wave sparked incomprehensibly large forest fires.The event lofted so much debris into the atmosphere that photosynthesis shut down. The nonavian dinosaurs disappeared. And nearly 75% of all species were extinguished.At the point of impact, the picture was even more dire. The space rock left a sterile crater nearly 20 miles deep in what is now the Gulf of Mexico. Not a single living thing could have survived.But even at ground zero, life managed to return, and quickly.New findings published in the journal Geology last week revealed that cyanobacteria -- blue-green algae responsible for harmful toxic blooms -- moved into the crater a few years after the impact. That's the blink of an eye, geologically speaking, and helps illuminate how life bounces back on Earth following cataclysmic events, even in the most devastated environments.In 2016, scientists drilled into the heart of the so-called Chicxulub crater and excavated a 2,750-foot-long core of sediments, allowing scientists all over the world, such as Bettina Schaefer of Curtin University in Australia, to parse the rocks for their own research.Those samples have answered a number of questions regarding the impact, but Schaefer wanted to better understand how life rebounded at ground zero. Although scientists had seen hints of early life before, the numbers were small and couldn't capture the entire picture.The issue is that not all microorganisms leave behind fossils. Instead, soft-bodied organisms can be identified by the burrows they make and the molecules they deposit. Cyanobacteria, for example, produce fats that can be preserved in sedimentary rocks for hundreds of millions of years.So when Schaefer's team saw those preserved fats in the core near the time of the impact, they knew cyanobacteria must have been present. Crucially, the fats were deposited atop a layer of fossilized plants that were washed into the crater by the tsunami that followed, but below another layer of iridium that was deposited once the debris in the atmosphere rained back down on Earth after a few years. That suggests the bacteria began to populate the crater after the tsunami hit but before the atmosphere cleared and the sun's light had fully returned."The ones that were able to move in right away, the ambulance chasers, if you will, were these cyanobacteria," said Sean P.S. Gulick, a marine geophysicist from the University of Texas at Austin, a scientist on the drilling expedition and Schaefer's co-author.Moreover, the team was able to detect a host of other organisms that arrived on the scene later, which helped to better characterize the toxic waters that pooled in the crater. Some of the molecular fossils they discovered, for example, can only originate from organisms that live in waters devoid of any oxygen -- a so-called dead zone similar to what occurs every summer in the contemporary Gulf of Mexico.Chris Lowery, a paleoceanographer at the University of Texas at Austin and an author of the recent study, suspects that the crater was only partially dead, in part because the team also saw evidence for fossils of plankton that rely on oxygen. Perhaps the crater's oxygen-depleted waters existed within only certain layers of its water column. Or, like the dead zone in the modern gulf, maybe those waters were only seasonal.Knowing that life thrived in the Chicxulub crater while it was still fresh could help scientists better understand how living things adapt to catastrophe today, said Jason Sylvan, an oceanographer at Texas A&M University who was not involved in the study.Climate change has raised temperatures, depleted oxygen and acidified waters in the world's oceans. But scientists remain unsure how microbial communities -- which help control the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere -- will respond.To better forecast our future, they will continue to dig up fossils of the past -- particularly those from one of the greatest extinctions on Earth.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| U.S. announces more coronavirus cases, details quarantine plans for returning travelers Posted: 03 Feb 2020 10:06 AM PST  The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Monday announced a second case of transmission of the new coronavirus within the United States and provided more detailed plans on how it will handle travelers returning from China as the country works to limit the outbreak. "We expect to see more cases of person-to-person spread," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said during a conference call that included confirmation of a handful of new cases, bringing the U.S. total to 11. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is making nearly $250 million in emergency funds available to cover the cost of the response, an agency spokesman said on Monday.
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| Des Moines Register-CNN Poll Held Back After Buttigieg Complaint Posted: 01 Feb 2020 07:55 PM PST ![Des Moines Register-CNN Poll Held Back After Buttigieg Complaint]( "Des Moines Register-CNN Poll Held Back After Buttigieg Complaint") (Bloomberg) -- The Des Moines Register and CNN canceled the release of their much-awaited final poll before the Iowa caucuses after Pete Buttigieg's campaign raised concern about how it was conducted.The poll, long considered the gold standard in Iowa, was shelved just minutes before CNN was set to host a special hour of TV on Saturday night dedicated to the poll results and the state of the race in Iowa.An Iowa City man reported to Buttigieg's team on Thursday that the poll-taker who called him didn't name "Pete Buttigieg" in the list of candidates, and told him her computer was glitching. When she repeated the question on candidate preference, she mispronounced Buttigieg's name, the voter said, according to a senior campaign official.The voter who experienced the issue declined to comment to Bloomberg News on Saturday night."A respondent raised an issue with the way their interview was conducted, which could have compromised the results of the poll," CNN said in a statement. "We were unable to ascertain what happened during this respondent's interview, and cannot determine if this was a single isolated incident."The survey was conducted by Selzer & Co., a respected Iowa pollster."CNN, The Des Moines Register and Selzer & Company aim to uphold the highest standards of survey research, and therefore the partners decided not to proceed," the statement said.Responding to the decision, Buttigieg campaign senior adviser Lis Smith said in a tweet, "We applaud CNN and the Des Moines Register for their integrity."Bernie Sanders' spokesman said on Twitter that the race remains very close."Let me break the suspense: It's a very tight race," Faiz Shakir, Sanders' campaign manager, wrote. "And any of a number of candidates could win. So let's work hard to turn people out."Closely WatchedThe final Iowa Poll, released just days before the caucuses, is closely watched because it can give a boost to the leading candidate or demoralize supporters of one who falls short. The problem with the poll was first reported by the New York Times.The Register/CNN poll has marked the changing fortunes of the top candidates over the past year: Joe Biden led in early 2019, Elizabeth Warren took the lead in September, Buttigieg led in November and Sanders was in the top spot in early January.In the final days before Monday night's caucuses, candidates have crisscrossed the state, making their final pitches to voters. But until Saturday Buttigieg and Biden had had much of the state to themselves as Sanders, Warren and Amy Klobuchar were in Washington for the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.Now, with the senators back on the trail, the race has kicked into its final stage. Sanders hosted a massive rally in Cedar Rapids with Vampire Weekend on Saturday night. Buttigieg flew around the state hosting rallies, and Biden has been on a week-long bus tour.For Buttigieg, Warren and Klobuchar, the Iowa caucus results could make or break their campaigns. Each of them are banking on strong performances in the state to catapult them forward through the primary season. Biden and Sanders, meanwhile, still far outpace their rivals in national polls.(DISCLAIMER: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic nomination for president. Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)(Updates with new details on incident starting in third paragraph)\--With assistance from Ryan Teague Beckwith.To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Des Moines at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Tyler Pager in Des Moines at tpager1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Magan Crane, Larry LiebertFor 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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| How the Democratic Party Missed the Power of Bernie Sanders—Again Posted: 03 Feb 2020 04:00 AM PST  Bernie Sanders was standing on stage at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids on Saturday night in front of 3,000 cheering supporters waving blue…
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| Air Force colonel slated to command base that hosts Air Force One is sentenced in child porn case Posted: 03 Feb 2020 02:22 PM PST  An Air Force colonel slated to command Joint Base Andrews, home of Air Force One, has been sentenced to five years in prison for child porn.
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| Trump lawyers conclude Senate defense with call for acquittal Posted: 03 Feb 2020 11:48 AM PST  White House lawyers concluded their defense of President Donald Trump at his historic Senate impeachment trial on Monday with a call for his acquittal of charges of abuse of power. "The president has done nothing wrong," White House counsel Pat Cipollone told the 100 senators who will decide Trump's fate with a vote on Wednesday.
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| Here's what United, American, and other airlines are doing to protect against coronavirus Posted: 03 Feb 2020 10:48 AM PST  From disinfecting planes between flights to monitoring passengers, changing meal services, and issuing face masks, here's what airlines are doing.
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| A woman bit off an inch of a man's tongue after she told him not to use it while kissing her, authorities say Posted: 03 Feb 2020 09:47 AM PST  Youlette Wedgeworth, 52, was charged with aggravated assault after police said she bit off part of a man's tongue.
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| President Zelensky Claims Leaked Audio Shows Iran Knew Immediately It Shot Down Ukrainian Flight Posted: 03 Feb 2020 09:16 AM PST  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview that a leaked audio recording proved that Iran knew it had shot down a Ukrainian airliner almost immediately, despite authorities in Tehran initially denying the allegation.The recording, revealed on Ukrainian television on Sunday, played the voice of an Iranian airline pilot telling a control tower that he saw "the light of a missile" before Ukrainian International Airways Flight 752 crashed soon after taking off."Is this an active area? There's lights like a missile. Is there anything?" the pilot says."Nothing has been reported to us. What's the light like?" the controller asks. The pilot then states "it's the light of a missile."Zelensky said that the audio "proves that the Iranian side knew from the start that our plane had been hit by a missile." The disaster, which occurred just hours after Iran launched 15 missiles at U.S. troops stationed in Iraq in retaliation for the assassination of general Qasem Soleimani, killed all 176 passengers aboard."He says that 'it seems to me that a missile is flying', he says it in both Persian and English, everything is fixed there," Zelensky stated.Iranian state media had initially reported that the plane crashed due to "technical issues," and Ali Abedzadeh, who leads the country's civil aviation organization, said initially he would not hand over the recovered black boxes to the United States.Abedzadeh then dismissed allegations the plane was shot down, saying it was "scientifically impossible and such rumors make no sense at all.""What is obvious for us, and what we can say with certainty, is that no missile hit the plane," Abedzadeh said at a press conference. "If [Western governments] are really sure, they should come and show their findings to the world."Iran later admitted that it had accidentally shot down the plane due to a "human error."
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| China to allow in U.S. health experts as virus shows no sign of slowing Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:25 PM PST  BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China has agreed to allow U.S. health experts into the country as part of a World Health Organization (WHO) effort to help fight the fast-spreading coronavirus, as the number of cases and deaths continued to mount. In central China's Hubei province, epicenter of the epidemic, China state TV reported there were 2,345 new cases of the virus and another 64 deaths, bringing the total of virus-related fatalities in Hubei to 414 by Monday. The Chinese stock market plunged about 8% on Monday, wiping $393 billion off the value of the Shanghai bourse, on the first day of trading following an extended Lunar New Year holiday in a bid to help keep people at home and contain the virus' spread.
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| UN Agencies Criticized for Taiwan Exclusion Amid Virus Posted: 01 Feb 2020 11:14 PM PST ![UN Agencies Criticized for Taiwan Exclusion Amid Virus]( "UN Agencies Criticized for Taiwan Exclusion Amid Virus") (Bloomberg) -- U.S. politicians, including Senators Mitt Romney and Cory Gardner, criticized international organizations for excluding Taiwan amid a global effort to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus.China has placed pressure on the World Health Organization, International Civil Aviation Organization and International Criminal Police Organization to exclude Taiwan from discussions, Romney said, echoing calls for immediate inclusion of the island. The U.S. State Department also criticized ICAO for allegedly blocking users on Twitter who make reference to Taiwan's non-participation.While the international community works contain the fast-spreading coronavirus, they are also trying to navigate a geopolitical minefield. China considers Taiwan a part of its territory despite the People's Republic never having controlled the island, and treats any talk of formal independence as deeply hostile. China has increased pressure on international brands over the past few years to avoid calling Taiwan a country.The WHO declared the virus a public health emergency of international concern on Thursday, but didn't permit Taiwan to attend emergency briefings, sparking criticism from the U.S. and Canada. There are 10 confirmed cases of the virus in Taiwan.While Taiwan's government was a founding member of the United Nations, the People's Republic of China took its seat in the body, and all subordinate organizations such as the WHO and ICAO, in 1971."Taiwan has a relevant and credible voice on transnational health issues, and the United States has long supported its active engagement in international venues, including ICAO, where its expertise can be beneficial," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement."We call upon ICAO to immediately and permanently reverse its practice of blocking discussion of Taiwan on its Twitter properties and make clear publicly its understanding that freedom of expression must always supersede the political insecurities of member states," she said.ICAO, the aviation agency of the United Nations, denied blocking Twitter users.Italy confirmed two coronavirus cases on Friday, and decided to suspend all flights from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Macao until Apr. 28. Taiwan's Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu on Sunday asked Italy to drop its ban on flights from the island, saying the decision is based on information which includes Taiwan as part of China.The ban affects Taiwan-based carriers China Airlines and EVA Airways. Vietnam on Saturday had banned Taiwan flights as well, but withdrew the decision hours later after Taiwan negotiated with its government.Taiwan has slapped an entry ban to residents of Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, as well as those from the southern Guangdong province. Taiwan's Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung said in a briefing Saturday that the ministry won't rule out extending the ban to more Chinese provinces if necessary.\--With assistance from Miaojung Lin.To contact the reporter on this story: Stephen Stapczynski in Singapore at sstapczynsk1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Samson EllisFor 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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| Iowa caucus - live updates: Entrance poll shows young people choosing Sanders as Biden team admit 'it's not going great' Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:25 PM PST  After months of campaigning, the moment of truth has finally come for Democrats in Iowa, the state that has now officially kicked off the 2020 primary season.Satellite precincts were beginning to vote as a new report from The Hill claimed advisers to Joe Biden predicted the caucus "wasn't going to be great" for them. In a final poll before caucusing got underway across the state, it was Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg who led the pack and were tied at the top — quite the place to be in for the two candidates who have been seen as political outsiders each in their own way.
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| Rush Limbaugh announces cancer diagnosis Posted: 03 Feb 2020 01:03 PM PST  Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio host and political commentator, announced on air Monday that he has been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.
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| Lamar Alexander: 'Mistake' for Trump to Peddle Russian Propaganda by Mentioning CrowdStrike Posted: 02 Feb 2020 06:52 AM PST  Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said on Sunday that it bothered him that President Donald Trump pushed the Ukrainian president to investigate a long-debunked conspiracy theory surrounding the Democratic National Committee server hack in the 2016 election, calling it a "mistake."Alexander, who voted against allowing additional witnesses in the Senate impeachment trial last week despite saying he believed the president's behavior towards Ukraine was inappropriate, appeared on NBC's Meet the Press to defend his decision. Reiterating his assertion that more witnesses and evidence weren't necessary as the Democrats had already proven their case, the Tennessee Republican added that he was going to vote to acquit the president because he was "very concerned about any action that we could take that would establish a perpetual impeachment," adding that when you "start out with a partisan impeachment, you're almost destined to have a partisan acquittal."Having all but assured Trump's acquittal, Alexander, who is retiring at the end of his term, detailed where he thought the president's actions were wrong:"What I believe he did, one, was that he called the president of Ukraine and asked him to become involved in investigating Joe Biden," Alexander told host Chuck Todd. "The second thing was, at least in part, he delayed the military and other assistance to Ukraine in order to encourage that investigation.""Those are the two things he did," he added. "I think he shouldn't have done it. I think it was wrong. Inappropriate was the way I'd say -- improper, crossing the line. And then the only question left is who decides what to do about that."The conservative lawmaker, however, repeated his belief that this didn't rise to the level of impeachment and that Trump's fate should be left to the ballot box, saying "the people" should decide whether to punish the president for his actions."You know, in the phone call, there's one thing on the phone call that I'm surprised, frankly, hasn't been brought up more by others," the Meet the Press anchor noted at one point. "This -- the mere mention of the word 'CrowdStrike,' is a Russian intelligence sort of piece of propaganda that they've been circulating.""Does it bother you that the President of the United States is reiterating Russian propaganda?" Todd asked, referencing the fringe-right theory that the DNC server is currently in Ukraine and wasn't hacked by Russia."Yes. I think that's a mistake," Alexander responded. "I mean, if you see what's happening in the Baltic states, where Russians have a big warehouse in Saint Petersburg, in Russia, where they're devoted to destabilizing western democracies.""I mean, for example, in one of the Baltic states, they accused a NATO officer of raping a local girl," the senator continued. "Of course, didn't happen. But it threw the government into complete disarray for a week. So I think we need to be sensitive to the fact that the Russians are out to do no good, to destabilize western democracies, including us, and be very wary of theories that Russians come up with and peddle."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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| Republican senator suggests 'worse than Chernobyl' coronavirus could've come from Chinese 'superlaboratory' Posted: 03 Feb 2020 04:34 PM PST  The US senator described the novel coronavirus as the "biggest and most important story in the world" and "worse than Chernobyl."
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| 'This is unacceptable': Amid coronavirus concerns, Hawaiian Airlines should let crew wear masks, says union Posted: 03 Feb 2020 01:05 PM PST !['This is unacceptable': Amid coronavirus concerns, Hawaiian Airlines should let crew wear masks, says union]( "'This is unacceptable': Amid coronavirus concerns, Hawaiian Airlines should let crew wear masks, says union") Hawaiian Airlines is not allowing flight crews to wear face masks amid concern surrounding the coronavirus, according to its flight attendant union.
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| Klobuchar's claims about black teen's case draw criticism Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:02 PM PST  Civil rights activists and legal experts challenged Sen. Amy Klobuchar's claims that she was unaware of questionable evidence and police tactics used to send a young black teen to prison for life when she was a top Minneapolis prosecutor. In an interview with "Fox News Sunday," Klobuchar denied that she had knowledge of any evidence that would call the conviction into question. Burrell was accused of firing the gun the killed 11-year-old Tyesha Edwards in 2002 while she was doing homework at her dining room table in south Minneapolis.
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| Did Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand Try to Double-Dip on Subsidies? Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:30 AM PST  They want more for their state.
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| Pakistan bucks trend and resumes flights to virus-hit China Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:53 AM PST  Airlines in Pakistan resumed flights to and from China Monday after health authorities said they were confident they had systems in place to keep the deadly coronavirus out of the country. The move comes as dozens of global airlines are halting flight services with China, and governments are increasingly barring entry to anyone who has recently visited the country. China has long been an all-weather ally of Pakistan and in recent years has provided Islamabad with billions of dollars in loans as part of Beijing's global Belt and Road infrastructure initiative.
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| Chinese woman detained for hiding virus contact history - Xinhua Posted: 03 Feb 2020 08:03 AM PST ![Chinese woman detained for hiding virus contact history - Xinhua]( "Chinese woman detained for hiding virus contact history - Xinhua") A 36-year-old woman in China's northern municipality of Tianjin was detained by police on Monday after "deliberately concealing" her contact with someone from a coronavirus-stricken area, according to Xinhua news agency. According to the report, the woman surnamed Liu had hurt virus prevention and control work through her actions and local public security authorities took her in for "administrative detention". The death toll in China from the newly identified virus, which emerged in Wuhan, capital of the central province of Hubei, rose to 361 as of Sunday, with more than 17,000 cases of infection.
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| Brexit Hangover Kicks In for EU Leaders Debating Budget Gap Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:44 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Terms of Trade is a daily newsletter that untangles a world embroiled in trade wars. Sign up here. Twelve hours after the U.K. formally left the European Union, the bloc's poorer members gathered in an old Franciscan convent in southern Portugal to rally against a looming budgetary shortfall that's partly due to the loss of British contributions.Brexit is deepening the rift between richer and poorer EU states as they clash on the bloc's trillion-euro ($1.1 trillion) budget for the next seven years. Poorer members are fighting to keep the hole created by Britain's departure from being filled by cuts to development funds."This meeting is happening on a very special day as it's the first day in which the EU has just 27 members," Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Saturday in Beja. "It's important to give the clear message that the union will remain cohesive."Saturday's meeting of the "Friends of Cohesion" group, which brought together 17 eastern and southern nations, will be followed by a Feb. 20 summit of all EU countries that will tackle stalled negotiations about the budget.Budget ShortfallThe seven-year budget is a cornerstone of EU policy that allots funding to help farmers compete against imports from the developing world and underpins projects that bind the union together. But agreeing on the amount of contributions and how to spend them is a regular source of tension between the net contributors, like the U.K. was, and those who get more than they put in.The poorer nations, which see the so-called cohesion policy as a key tool to help them catch up with wealthier countries, now want their richer peers to contribute more money to make up for the U.K.'s withdrawal.The Friends of Cohesion group reaffirmed on Saturday that the EU needs to keep cohesion policy funding at the current level, in real terms, according to a statement distributed by the Portuguese government."The EU should have resources for new goals, but not at the cost of instruments that are the foundation of its actions and have for years been functioning well," Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told PAP newswire in an interview on Sunday. "It can afford more."Agreement on the size of contributions is needed before decisions can be taken on how they should be spent, and the conditions attached to the disbursements. EU spending amounts to about 1% of the bloc's gross domestic product.In the discussion about the next budget, positions are very far apart, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told reporters on Saturday. "We need not just days but months to make an agreement that could be accepted by everybody."(Adds comments from Polish prime minister in eighth paragraph.)\--With assistance from Nikos Chrysoloras and Maciej Onoszko.To contact the reporter on this story: Joao Lima in Lisbon at jlima1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Jennifer RyanFor 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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| Sanders reportedly finished 1st, Biden 4th in unreleased Iowa poll Posted: 03 Feb 2020 04:37 PM PST  Remember that final poll of Iowa Democrats from CNN and The Des Moines Register that wasn't released because of an interviewing error? Well, FiveThirtyEight reportedly confirmed the final results.It would've been good news for Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who led the pack with 22 percent and 18 percent, respectively. That falls in line with an earlier report that media outlets increased their coverage of Warren after glimpsing the numbers.It was a particularly rough poll for former Vice President Joe Biden, who fell all the way to fourth, despite hovering near the top of the leaderboard for months. Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg came in third. > We can confirm the final results of the unreleased Iowa Poll: > > Sanders 22%> > Warren 18%> > Buttigieg 16%> > Biden 13%> > https://t.co/deTryUiHgt> > -- Clare Malone (@ClareMalone) February 4, 2020More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell's rare blunder John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats
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| Trump impeachment trial closing arguments: five key takeaways Posted: 03 Feb 2020 01:24 PM PST  The House managers warned Trump would not change his spots while his defense team said voters should decide his fateClosing arguments in Donald Trump's impeachment trial were made on Monday, preceding a vote on the articles of impeachment scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. Here are five key takeaways: 'History will not be kind to Donald Trump'The lead impeachment manager, Adam Schiff, urged senators standing by Trump to consider their own legacies."History will not be kind to Donald Trump," Schiff said. "I think we all know that. And if you find that the House has proved its case and still vote to acquit, your name will be tied to his with a cord of steel for all of history."Schiff blasted Trump in personal terms, warning that Trump had tried to cheat in the 2020 election and will keep trying if acquitted."He has not changed. He will not change," said Schiff. "A man without character or ethical compass will never find his way."> .@RepAdamSchiff: "I hope and pray that we never have a president like Donald Trump in the Democratic Party…and I would hope to God that if we did we would impeach him, and Democrats would lead the way…History will not be kind to Donald Trump. I think we all know that." pic.twitter.com/FfdF9WwQfi> > — CSPAN (@cspan) February 3, 2020 Defense makes election argumentTrump's team has argued for weeks that the impeachment process seeks to rob American voters of a choice in 2020. The prosecution have replied that part of the point of removing Trump would be to ensure a fair election despite his attempts to cheat.On Monday, the defense team closed with the election argument, focusing not on Trump's conduct but on the urgency, they said, of keeping him on the ballot in 2020. "The only appropriate result here is to acquit the president and to leave it to the voters to choose their president," said the lead defense lawyer, Pat Cipollone. Defense argues no wrongdoing by TrumpWhite House counsel Pat Cipollone:> I urge you on behalf of those Americans, of every American, on behalf of all of your constituents, to reject these articles of impeachment. It's the right thing for our country. The president has done nothing wrong. These types of impeachment must end.> Pat Cipollone: "I urge you on behalf of those Americans, of every American, on behalf of all of your constituents, to reject these Articles of Impeachment. It's the right thing for our country. The president has done nothing wrong. These types of impeachment must end." pic.twitter.com/FMA3zCWCwl> > — CSPAN (@cspan) February 3, 2020 Acquittal assured – but who might defect?A two-thirds majority of voting senators would be required to remove Trump from office. Enough Republicans have said they will vote to acquit to vacate that threat. But the vote tallies on each article of impeachment were not settled. At least two Republican senators and three Democratic senators were seen as potential swing votes on the question of whether Trump warrants conviction.The first article of impeachment charges Trump with abuse of power. The second article charges him with obstruction of Congress. What's nextThe Senate adjourned as a court of impeachment on Monday afternoon and will not reconvene as such until Wednesday at 4pm, when the vote to acquit or convict Trump will be held.Meanwhile, Capitol Hill's 100 senators, who have been required to maintain silence during the trial, finally began to speak on the Senate floor about the case. Each senator is allotted up to 10 minutes of speaking time.
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| Boris Johnson warns Brussels he would rather walk away without a trade deal than make Britain follow EU rules Posted: 03 Feb 2020 12:42 AM PST  The prime minister will on Monday warn the EU that there is "no need" for Britain to follow its rules in any future trade deal.
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| Susan Collins’ Campaign Is Being Helped by a Mysterious Hawaii Company Posted: 03 Feb 2020 08:27 AM PST  A mysterious Hawaii company may have illegally funneled a six-figure contribution to a political group boosting an embattled Republican senator 5,000 miles away, an ethics watchdog alleged on Monday.The company, Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers LLC, was formed in late November, according to corporate records in Hawaii. Just over a month later, on December 31, the company donated $150,000 to 1820 PAC, a deep-pocketed super PAC with ties to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that was created to help reelect Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME).There is scant public information about the company. It does not appear to have a website or any social media presence. Its listed address is a P.O. box in Honolulu (listed as a "unit" number in 1820's FEC filings). Google searches turn up no information on the company. And there's no record of prior political involvement by its sole officer, Jennifer Lam.All of that suggests that the Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers was set up for the sole purpose of making political contributions, according to the Campaign Legal Center, which filed a complaint on Monday asking the Federal Election Commission to investigate its December contribution to 1820 PAC, which was named after the year Maine was founded."The available facts do not suggest that SYWSE conducted any business or had sufficient income from assets, investment earnings, business revenues, or bona fide capital investments to cover the $150,000 contribution to 1820 PAC at the time the contribution was made, without an infusion of funds provided to them for that purpose," the group wrote.CLC goes on to suggest that the group likely made an illegal straw donation designed to conceal the true source of the funds.How Susan Collins Became the Senate's Most Vulnerable RepublicanBrendan Fischer, CLC's director of federal and FEC reforms, compared the alleged scheme to a 2018 donation made by a company, Global Energy Producers, to another Republican super PAC, pro-Trump group America First Action, that wound up at the center of the impeachment case against President Donald Trump. That case also involved a six-figure donation by a newly formed corporation with no web presence or documented business activity. At the time, GEP and its executives, most notably Igor Fruman and Lev Parnas, flatly denied CLC's allegations. They were subsequently indicted for allegedly using GEP to flout federal campaign finance laws. Both men have pleaded not guilty.At the very least, CLC claims in the complaint filed on Monday that the Society of Young Women Scientist and Engineers should be required to disclose the sources of the funds it used to donate to 1820 PAC.The only public information about the company is in corporate documents filed with the Hawaii government. Those documents list a woman named Jennifer Lam as its registered agent. There are multiple people by that name in Hawaii and elsewhere in the United States. It was not immediately clear who the person behind the company is.The 1820 PAC is one of the most prominent super PACs in the fight over control of the U.S. Senate, which could very much rest on Collins' ability to hold her seat in the 2020 elections. As The Daily Beast has reported, 1820 PAC has notable ties to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business lobby and a heavy hitter in national politics. The 1820 PAC has raised more than $1.5 million for its pro-Collins campaign. Its top donors include prominent financial services executives Stephen Schwarzman and Warren Stephens. The group has reported just $500 in contributions from donors in Maine.The PAC's treasurer, Thomas Datwyler, did not respond to a request for comment on CLC's complaint.It's not likely that much will come of that complaint. The FEC is currently operating without a quorum of commissioners, meaning it is unable to take any legal action against alleged violators of the laws the commission is charged with enforcing.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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| 2 Iranian students challenge removal from country Posted: 03 Feb 2020 10:49 AM PST  Two college students from Iran have filed civil rights complaints with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, saying they were mistreated and illegally denied entry into the country by federal officials at Boston's Logan International Airport. Shahab Dehghani, who attends Northeastern University, and Reihana Emami Arandi, who had been set to start classes at Harvard University, recently filed separate complaints with the agency's civil rights office, requesting the agency investigate the conduct of Customs and Border Protection officials.
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| Oregon court shown footage of two men stabbed to death on train for protecting Muslim teen from abuse Posted: 03 Feb 2020 09:25 AM PST  A chilling series of witness videos and surveillance footage capture the burst of violence and panicked screams after Jeremy Christian's hate-filled rants led to the murder of two people onboard a public train in Oregon in 2017.Christian is charged with murdering 53-year-old Ricky Best and 23-year-old Taliesin Namkai-Meche and the attempted murder of Micah Fletcher, who was 21 at the time of the attack.
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| Coronavirus: China apologizes for comparing travel bans to treatment of Jews during Holocaust Posted: 03 Feb 2020 08:00 AM PST  The Philippines says a man from Wuhan, China, is the first death from coronavirus outside of of China, where the outbreak began.
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| Gazan bridegrooms end up in jail over unpaid debts Posted: 03 Feb 2020 05:44 AM PST  Bridegrooms in the Gaza Strip are finding marriage a path to debtors' prison rather than to happiness. Wedding celebrations cost around $10,000 in the Palestinian enclave, but a tradition of strong family ties and large gatherings often trumps financial common sense. A spokesman for the police in Gaza, which is governed by the Islamist Hamas group, said that of 100,000 debt-default cases opened last year, 22% involved marriage loans.
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| Russia Claims Its New S-500 System Can Shoot Down An F-35 Posted: 02 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST  The Syrian Civil War will give us an example.
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| Virginia Senate blocks another Gov. Northam-backed gun bill Posted: 03 Feb 2020 12:01 PM PST  The Virginia Senate blocked one of Gov. Ralph Northam's top gun-control bills Monday, adding to the list of measures the Democratic governor supports that may not pass the legislature.
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| Canada allows 737 MAX 'ferry' flights since grounding fleet Posted: 03 Feb 2020 09:56 AM PST  Canada has allowed at least 162 flights of Boeing 737 MAX jetliners since grounding the fleet last year, public broadcaster CBC said Monday.
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| Andrew Yang Is the Most Likable 2020 Democrat Posted: 03 Feb 2020 01:03 PM PST  Des Moines, Iowa — Even as he warns that the Robot Apocalypse is rapidly descending upon us, Andrew Yang wants his fellow Americans to know that it's still okay to laugh.While speaking to voters in the rural Iowa town of Grundy Center on Friday, Yang painted a bleak picture, arguing that Donald Trump is not the cause of America's problems, but the symptom of an economy that has left too many working-class Americans behind."The numbers tell a very clear and direct story," he said. "We eliminated 4 million manufacturing jobs in the last several years in this country. And where were those jobs primarily located? Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Missouri, and 40,000 right here in Iowa. After those jobs dried up, the shopping center closed. People left. The school shrank, and that town has never recovered."What's more, he argued, in the coming years, things will only get worse as robots eliminate the jobs of millions of American telemarketers, retail clerks, and truck drivers."How many of you all know a truck driver here in the state? It's the most common job in 29 states: 3 1/2 million truckers, 94 percent men, average age 49. My friends in California are working on trucks that can drive themselves. They tell me they're 98 percent of the way there," Yang says. "A robot truck just transported 20 tons of butter from California to Pennsylvania last month with no human intervention.""Why did they choose butter for this maiden voyage?" Yang asked. "If you Google, 'robot-butter truck' — this is a true story — at the end of the route was a giant stack of pancakes."The crowd laughed, and Yang admitted that he'd made the last part up before assuring them that "everything else is real."Yang's unique policy platform — his signature proposal is a universal basic income of $12,000 a year for every American adult — has been key to his appeal with the small but enthusiastic band of supporters he's built. At a cost of nearly $3 trillion annually (on par with the cost of Medicare for All), no one should expect UBI to become law anytime soon. But, as Alexandra DeSanctis wrote last April, it's worth paying attention to Yang because "he has a policy agenda that features genuinely new ideas that, even if unworkable, augur interesting times for the future of American politics."Yang's good nature and sense of humor deserve attention too — they help set him apart from his Democratic rivals and also explain his appeal. He pitches himself to Democrats as being the "opposite of Trump" because he is an "Asian man who is good at math." Even when he can't make it to the punchline, his laughter can be infectious:> WATCH: @AndrewYang jokes that canvassers should knock unwilling people unconscious, drag them to his corner: "…then you prop them up and make them seem like they are conscious." Doubles up with laughter and his wife Evelyn tries to get him back on track: "Contain yourself." pic.twitter.com/QoDRQp58g4> > -- Ben Pu (@BenPu_nbc) February 3, 2020While Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren spend a fair amount of time denouncing Trump, Yang takes care to emphasize the need to win over those who voted for Trump in 2016."I don't want to put anyone on the spot here, but if you're willing to share, how many people here in this room voted for Donald Trump?" Yang asked a crowd in Des Moines on Saturday night. A few attendees raised their hands. "Let's give them a round of applause," he said.It's not clear how much longer Yang will be in the Democratic primary. He is polling at 3.3 percent in the RealClearPolitics average of Iowa polls, despite the incredible enthusiasm of his supporters. Though only 50 people showed up at Grundy Center on Friday afternoon, he drew a crowd of 1,200 in Des Moines on Saturday night, and a large percentage of those who arrived too late to get in were wearing the Yang Gang's signature blue hats, emblazoned with the word "math." Few of those waiting in line were even willing to entertain the notion of getting behind a second choice if Yang proved not to be viable at their caucus location.However long his campaign lasts, though, it's fair to say that American politics would be better were more politicians from both parties to emulate Yang's style, if not his policy proposals.
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| The NRA let go of a top official after reports revealed the non-profit shielded him amid accusations of sexual harassment Posted: 03 Feb 2020 10:46 AM PST  A top NRA official is no longer employed by the organization after reports revealed the non-profit shielded him amid accusations of sexual harassment.
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