| Sanders campaign, sensing a win in New Hampshire, looks ahead — all the way to the convention Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:43 PM PST  The Vermont senator looks to repeat his 2016 victory in the nation's first primary and take another step toward the nomination.
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| 2 cruise ships have been quarantined over the coronavirus: 1 released its passengers, the other is seeing more people get sick Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:01 AM PST  The World Dream allowed passengers to disembark on Sunday, while the Diamond Princess saw its number of infected passengers rise.
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| Iran unveils ballistic missile, 'new generation' engines Posted: 08 Feb 2020 04:02 PM PST  Iran's Revolutionary Guards unveiled Sunday a short-range ballistic missile that they said can be powered by a "new generation" of engines designed to put satellites into orbit. The Guards' Sepahnews website said the Raad-500 missile was equipped with new Zoheir engines made of composite materials lighter than on earlier steel models. It also unveiled Salman engines made of the same materials but with a "movable nozzle" for the delivery of satellites into space.
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| Turkish Jets and Howitzers Blasted Syrian Army in Retaliation for Deadly Rocket Barrage Posted: 08 Feb 2020 05:00 AM PST  What is going on in the Middle East now?
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| Florida man charged with driving into GOP voter sign-up tent Posted: 09 Feb 2020 06:02 AM PST  A man in Florida is under arrest after he deliberately drove a van into a tent where voters were being registered by local Republicans, authorities in Jacksonville said Sunday. The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said via social media that 27-year-old Gregory William Loel Timm has been charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a person 65 years old or older, one count of criminal mischief and driving with a suspended license. The Republican party of Duval County said it had set up the tent on Saturday in order to register voters.
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| Exclusive: Trump proposes 21% cut in U.S. foreign aid in budget proposal - officials Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:45 AM PST  President Donald Trump will propose cutting billions of dollars in U.S. foreign aid in his fiscal 2021 budget while seeking an increase in funds to counter developing economic threats from China and Russia, senior administration officials told Reuters. Trump, a Republican, sought in his budget proposal last year to slash foreign aid but faced steep resistance from Congress and did not prevail. Trump will seek to make a 21% cut in foreign aid in the proposal, which seeks $44.1 billion in the upcoming fiscal year compared with $55.7 billion enacted in fiscal year 2020, an administration official said.
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| Death of American Fuels Concern Over China's Approach to Coronavirus Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:29 AM PST  SHANGHAI -- A U.S. citizen died from the coronavirus in Wuhan, China, American officials said on Saturday. It was the first known American death from the illness, and was likely to add to diplomatic frictions over Beijing's response to the epidemic.Relations between Washington and Beijing have been tense for years on a number of issues, including trade, technology and human rights. And while Chinese officials have publicly touted the importance of international cooperation to combat the virus, doubts have arisen in recent days about China's willingness to accept a helping hand -- particularly from the United States.Few details about the American, who died on Thursday, were immediately available. According to the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, the person was 60 years old and died at Jinyintan Hospital in Wuhan, the inland metropolis at the center of the epidemic. Two people familiar with the matter said the person was a woman and had underlying health conditions.The U.S. government has been evacuating many of its diplomats and other citizens from Wuhan, which Chinese authorities have locked down in an effort to contain the spread of the virus. It could not immediately be learned whether the American who died had tried to leave the city on any of the flights organized by the State Department."We offer our sincerest condolences to the family on their loss," said a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. "Out of respect for the family's privacy, we have no further comment."Word of the death came out as frustrations about Beijing's handling of the epidemic, which has already provoked outrage and criticism within China, were beginning to emerge at the diplomatic level as well. The virus has killed at least 700 people in China, sickened thousands more and spread across the globe.For more than a month, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have been offering to send a team of experts to China to observe the outbreak and help if possible. But no invitation has come.The World Health Organization, which made a similar offer about two weeks ago, appeared to be facing the same cold shoulder, though a spokeswoman said it was just "sorting out arrangements."Current and former health officials and diplomats said they believed the reluctance came from China's top leaders, who do not want the world to think they need outside help.Within China, public discontent about the government's response to the crisis reached an extraordinary new peak on Friday after the death of Dr. Li Wenliang, who had warned his colleagues early on about the new virus but was reprimanded for spreading rumors.After Li's death, grieving internet users posted messages expressing anger about the way he had been treated and even demanding freedom of speech -- unheard-of in China's authoritarian political system.Communist Party officials said on Friday that they would send a team from the powerful anti-corruption committee to investigate the circumstances surrounding Li's death. Chinese state news media also reported on Saturday that the government was sending two senior officials to Wuhan to reinforce efforts to bring the outbreak under control.It was not immediately clear if the appointments on Saturday amounted to a reshuffling of the local leadership or were simply an effort to reinforce officials on the front line. Still, it appeared to be an acknowledgment that authorities in Wuhan had been overwhelmed.Japan also said on Saturday that one of its citizens had died in a Wuhan hospital from a suspected case of the coronavirus. But the Japanese Foreign Ministry said that based on information it received from Chinese authorities, it could not confirm whether the man, who was in his 60s, had been infected with the new virus. The ministry called the cause of death viral pneumonia.China's Foreign Ministry said this past week that as of noon on Thursday, 19 foreign nationals in the country had been confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus. Two of them had recovered and were discharged from the hospital. The other 17 were still receiving treatment.As the virus spreads, China is confronting a growing sense of isolation -- a stark reversal for the country after decades of economic and diplomatic integration with the rest of the world. Many countries, including the United States, have placed entry restrictions on travelers from China. Airlines have canceled flights. Fears of the virus have fueled anti-Chinese racism in some parts of the world.Chinese officials have criticized the United States both for evacuating Americans from China and for imposing travel curbs, saying that such moves could spread panic. On Friday, President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo each appeared to be trying to ease tensions.Pompeo said that the United States was prepared to spend up to $100 million in existing funds to help China and other countries fight the epidemic. Pompeo also said that the State Department had helped transport about 18 tons of donated medical supplies, including masks, gowns and gauze, to the people of China in the past week.Trump praised China's handling of the crisis on a phone call with China's top leader, Xi Jinping, on Friday. And in a pair of Twitter posts, Trump said Xi was leading "what will be a very successful operation."But other American officials have quietly voiced concerns about China's response to the epidemic. And the confirmation on Friday that repeated offers of help to China had been ignored only deepened the sense of worry.Alex Azar, the U.S. secretary of health and human services, said at a news briefing on Friday that he had recently reiterated the CDC offer to his Chinese counterpart, Dr. Ma Xiaowei.Asked about the holdup, Azar said: "It's up to the Chinese. We continue to expect fully that President Xi will accept our offer. We're ready and willing and able to go."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Feds seek delay in Michael Flynn case Posted: 09 Feb 2020 09:28 AM PST  The new filings say the former national security adviser's claims that he received ineffective legal assistance will require more information.
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| Masked neo-Nazi white supremacists march in Washington DC Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:02 AM PST  Masked members of a neo-Nazi white supremacist group called Patriot Front marched through Washington's National Mall on Saturday.Patriot Front, which is part of the so-called "alt right" movement, was established by disillusioned members of another white supremacist group called Vanguard America in September 2017 in the wake of a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
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| Sanders leads polls ahead of New Hampshire primary, while Buttigieg climbs and Biden nosedives Posted: 09 Feb 2020 02:39 PM PST  Pete Buttigieg has come under fire from both Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Biden as he has climbs in the polls.
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| Four rare mountain gorillas 'killed by lightning' in Uganda Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:21 PM PST  Four endangered mountain gorillas, including three adult females, have been killed by an apparent lightning strike in a Ugandan national park, a conservation group has said. A post-mortem examination has been performed on the four, including a male infant, who died on February 3 in Mgahinga National Park in southwest Uganda. "Based on the gross lesions from the post-mortem... the tentative cause of death for all four individuals is likely to be electrocution by lightning," the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC) said in a statement Saturday, although laboratory confirmation will take two to three weeks.
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| A parking space in a garage in San Francisco is selling for $100,000 Posted: 09 Feb 2020 06:14 AM PST  The parking spot is currently leased out for $300 a month, and the realtor is promoting it as an investment to "park your money" in.
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| Soldier kills 29 people in Thailand before being shot Posted: 08 Feb 2020 02:54 PM PST  A soldier angry over a property deal gone sour killed at least 29 people and wounded 57 in a rampage that spanned four locations in and around the northeastern Thai city of Nakhon Ratchasima before he was shot dead early Sunday. Most of the victims were at the city's Terminal 21 shopping center, where the shooter held out against an overnight siege with an assault rifle and ammunition stolen from his army base. Police named him as 32-year-old soldier Jakrapanth Thomma.
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| Iran again fails to put satellite into orbit amid US worries Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:26 AM PST  An Iranian rocket failed to put a satellite into orbit on Sunday, state television reported, the latest setback for a program the U.S. claims helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program. "Stage-1 and stage-2 motors of the carrier functioned properly and the satellite was successfully detached from its carrier, but at the end of its path it did not reach the required speed for being put in the orbit," Defense Ministry space program spokesman Ahmad Hosseini told state TV.
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| Michael Bloomberg didn't make the New Hampshire debate, but he still came up Posted: 07 Feb 2020 07:23 PM PST  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg might have not qualified for the Democratic debates yet, but he still had a cameo on Friday.George Stephanopoulos during Friday's New Hampshire debate asked a question all about Bloomberg submitted via Apple News, asking the candidates why they're "better positioned" to take on President Trump than he is. The Democrats on the stage, naturally, didn't pass up the opportunity to get in some attacks on a candidate who wasn't actually there to respond."I don't think anyone ought to be able to buy their way into a nomination or to be president of the United States," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said.Sanders joined in as well, saying, "It's a funny thing. There are millions of people who can desire to run for office, but I guess if you're worth $60 billion and you can spend several hundred million dollars on commercials, you have a slight advantage. That is nonsense."These attacks may end up serving as solid practice for an upcoming debate, as a recent rule change leaves the door open for Bloomberg to soon join the fun himself. > Sen. Sanders on Michael Bloomberg: "I guess if you're worth $60 billion and you can spend several hundred million dollars on commercials you have a slight advantage. That is nonsense." https://t.co/0GxKJz7e8Y DemDebate pic.twitter.com/6p6YtLnEjF> > -- ABC News (@ABC) February 8, 2020More stories from theweek.com 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's impeachment acquittal For better pasta sauce, throw away your garlic Vanguard is an anomaly in the investment world. Can it stay that way?
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| U.S. official: Americans killed in Afghan military mission Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:24 PM PST  A U.S. military spokesman said in a statement that both Afghan and U.S. personnel were "engaged by direct firing."
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| 'We are floating around the ocean': Cruise ship with no coronavirus shut out of ports Posted: 09 Feb 2020 01:31 PM PST  There are no cases of the coronavirus aboard Holland America's MS Westerdam, but after a stop in Hong Kong, it can't find a port to dock.
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| Death of whistleblower ignites calls for political reform in China Posted: 09 Feb 2020 12:47 AM PST  The death of a whistleblowing doctor who was reprimanded for warning about the new coronavirus has sparked rare calls for political reform and free speech in China. Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist in Wuhan -- ground zero of China's virus epidemic which has killed more than 800 -- succumbed to the disease Friday over a month after he first raised alarm about the SARS-like virus. At least two open letters demanding free speech have circulated on social media since the 34-year-old's death -- one signed by 10 professors in Wuhan.
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| America Sent Dozens of Salvadorans to Death By Sending Them Home Posted: 09 Feb 2020 03:30 AM PST  Street gangs that operate with impunity make El Salvador one of the world's most violent countries. Few murders are ever solved.
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| Buttigieg Wins Most Iowa Delegates After Party Reviews Votes Posted: 09 Feb 2020 04:43 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Pete Buttigieg appears to have sealed his victory in Iowa after the state's Democratic Party released on Sunday corrected results from its disputed caucuses.Buttigieg now has 14 national delegates from Iowa to Bernie Sanders' 12. Elizabeth Warren got eight, Joe Biden had six and Amy Klobuchar received, one.But the Associated Press said it still can't declare a winner because the results "may not be fully accurate and are still subject to potential revision."The race was so close that Buttigieg won by 0.09% of state delegate equivalents, the official yardstick for victory in Iowa. But Sanders has also declared victory because 6,103 more Iowans caucused for him before the process of eliminating nonviabvle candidates, recounting and converting to state delegates. The Sanders campaign said it was demanding a partial recanvass.The party released its projected delegate tally Sunday after reviewing complaints of irregularities from the Buttigieg, Sanders and Warren campaigns. The issues included mathematical and tabulation errors and disputes over the rules for counting delegates.The party changed results in some precincts based on the complaints but kept others intact.In some cases, precinct officials signed inaccurate tally sheets. But Iowa Democratic Chairman Troy Price said Friday those are legal records and cannot be altered under state law.Party officials briefing reporters Sunday provided additional explanations for some of the irregularities. For example, precincts can choose fewer delegates to the county convention than they're allotted if supporters for a given candidate decline to serve as a county delegate.Sunday's results ended a chaotic, six-day counting process that was marred from the beginning by problems with a smartphone app that didn't work and a backup telephone hotline that was jammed by calls from supporters of President Donald Trump.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is also seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)(Adds Sanders' demand for a partial recanvass in fourth paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Gregory Korte in Manchester, New Hampshire at gkorte@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Steve GeimannFor 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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| Taiwan scrambles jets as Chinese air force flies round island Posted: 09 Feb 2020 01:55 AM PST  Taiwan's air force scrambled on Sunday to intercept Chinese jets that flew around the island claimed by Beijing as its own, in a move denounced by Taiwan's Defence Ministry as a threat to regional peace and stability. China has been flying what it calls "island encirclement" drills on-off since 2016 when Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen first took office. Beijing believes Tsai, who won re-election last month, wishes to push the island's formal independence.
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| New Philadelphia police chief starts amid surge in homicides Posted: 09 Feb 2020 06:36 AM PST |
| New Report on 138 Coronavirus Cases Reveals Disturbing Details Posted: 08 Feb 2020 07:08 AM PST  One patient, admitted to a hospital in Wuhan, China, infected at least 10 health care workers and four other patients with the coronavirus that has sickened more than 34,000 people, killed over 720 and reached two dozen other countries.The case was just one disturbing detail in a new report on 138 patients in Wuhan that helps explain how the illness progresses and how it spreads.The report, one of two published on Friday by JAMA, is among the most comprehensive articles to date about people infected with the newly identified virus.The patients ranged in age from 22 to 92, with a median of 56 years, and were admitted to Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University from Jan. 1 to Jan 28. Many of them -- 41% -- were presumed to have caught the virus in the hospital, including 17 people who had been admitted for other illnesses, and 40 health care workers.The patient who infected so many health workers had been placed in a surgical ward because of abdominal symptoms, and the coronavirus was not initially suspected. Four other patients in that ward also contracted the disease, presumably from the first patient.The incident was a chilling reminder of the "super-spreaders" in outbreaks of other coronavirus diseases, SARS and MERS -- patients who infected huge numbers of other people, sometimes dozens. The phenomenon is poorly understood and unpredictable, an epidemiologist's nightmare. Super-spreaders led to considerable transmission of MERS and SARS inside hospitals.Reporting on Friday in JAMA, the authors said their data suggested that rapid person-to-person spread of the virus had occurred among their cases. That was in part because of patients like the one admitted to the surgical department, whose symptoms misled doctors into suspecting other illnesses and failing to take precautions to prevent spread of the virus until it was too late.About 10% of the patients did not initially have the usual symptoms, cough and fever, but instead had diarrhea and nausea first. Other uncommon symptoms included headache, dizziness and abdominal pain.Another cause for concern was that some patients who at first appeared mildly or moderately ill then took a turn for the worse several days or even a week into their illness. The median time from their first symptoms to when they became short of breath was five days; to hospitalization, seven days; and to severe breathing trouble, eight days. Experts say that pattern means patients must be carefully monitored, and it is not safe to assume that someone who seems to be doing well early on is out of the woods.The finding is a "heads up" to doctors to keep an eye on these patients, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in a recorded interview posted by JAMA.Like previous reports on coronavirus patients, this one found that older people and those with underlying health problems like diabetes, heart disease or cancer tended to become more severely ill than younger, healthier patients.Overall, about 26% of the 138 patients needed intensive care; their median age was 66, compared with a median of 51 years for those who did not require intensive care.For this series of patients, the death rate was 4.3%, which is higher than the estimates coming from other parts of China. The reason is not known, and the figures may change as more information is gathered.Unlike some earlier reports, the new one did not find many more men than women to be infected: 54% of the patients were male.The data on the patients shows that the illness caused pneumonia and a systemic viral infection that set off a powerful inflammatory response in the body, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University, said in an interview."There are biochemical indicators that a number of the body's organ systems are likely affected and you have an inflammatory response that is disrupting their function to some extent," Schaffner said.The lungs, heart, liver, kidneys and the systems that control blood clotting are all affected, Schaffner said, though it is not clear that the virus itself infects organs other than the lungs.The inflammatory response is a hallmark of a serious viral disease, he said, adding that in recent years it has become apparent that heightened inflammation from diseases like the flu can persist for a month or so after the acute illness is gone, and can increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes in older people.The second JAMA report concerns 13 patients treated in three hospitals in Beijing from Jan. 16 to Jan. 29. They were younger than the Wuhan group, with a median age of 34, and no underlying diseases. Only one was over 50. The youngest was a 2-year-old. They did not become as ill as the Wuhan patients, and none died.The cases, mostly in healthy, young adults, should dispel the notion that only older people contract the illness."It can take a young, healthy person and make them sick," Schaffner said. "That's clear from the health care workers and the young people in this paper."This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Two Special Force soldiers killed, 6 wounded during apparent insider attack in Afghanistan Posted: 09 Feb 2020 12:58 PM PST  A U.S. official in Afghanistan said troops came under fire during an operation in Nangarhar Province.
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| Wuhan journalist has gone missing, and his family says he's been forcibly quarantined Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:49 AM PST  A Chinese lawyer and citizen journalist has gone missing after his video reports from Wuhan about coronavirus went viral on platforms like Twitter and YouTube.
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| Sacred Native American site in Arizona blasted for border wall construction Posted: 09 Feb 2020 11:42 AM PST  The contractor installing President Donald Trump's border wall at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument is blasting a hill sacred to the O'Odham people.
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| The global spread of the coronavirus: Where is it? Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:28 AM PST  The new coronavirus that emerged in central China at the end of last year has killed more than 800 people and spread around the world.
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| Chinese diplomat pushes back against coronavirus 'rumors' from GOP senator Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:43 AM PST  Ambassador Cui Tiankai slammed comments from Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton.
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| Masked white nationalists march in Washington with police escort Posted: 08 Feb 2020 05:43 PM PST  Police escorted masked members of a white nationalist group on a march through Washington's National Mall on Saturday that Metropolitan Police said occurred without incident or arrests. More than 100 members of the Patriot Front, dressed in khaki pants and caps, blue jackets and white face masks, shouted "Reclaim America!" and "Life, liberty, victory!" video of the march showed. The Southern Poverty Law Center describes the Patriot Front as a white nationalist group that broke off from a similar organization, Vanguard America, in the aftermath of the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
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| Biden faces competition for black vote in his SC 'firewall' Posted: 09 Feb 2020 08:42 AM PST  Joe Biden is facing increasingly formidable competition in South Carolina, a state his campaign has long assumed was safely in his column and one he's repeatedly described as a "firewall" in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and billionaire activist Tom Steyer are challenging the former vice president's standing in South Carolina. Sanders has generated enthusiasm from younger black voters in South Carolina.
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| Pete Buttigieg is an elitist. He should embrace it. Posted: 08 Feb 2020 05:07 AM PST  The more former Mayor Pete Buttigieg tries to prove that he is not an elitist, the more obvious it is to everyone that he is. Just embrace it.
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| Israel Isn't Happy With Iran's New Guided-Rocket System Posted: 08 Feb 2020 03:30 PM PST  That the Israelis are worried is no surprise.
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| Ireland's general election exit poll suggests 'unprecedented' 3-way split Posted: 08 Feb 2020 02:44 PM PST  If you thought Iowa was close, wait until you hear about Ireland.Votes won't be official until Sunday when counting begins in the morning, but exit polls show Ireland's general election Saturday ended in what ostensibly amounts to an "unprecedented" three-way tie between the country's two dominant center-right political parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, which is led by Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, as well as Sinn Féin, a left wing party whose primary goal has traditionally been Irish unification. Fianna Fáil garnered 22.2 percent of the vote, Fine Gael 22.4, and Sinn Féin 22.3.Sinn Féin is the big story; the party has transitioned from its Irish Republican Army-linked past, and has made inroads with Ireland's younger voters because of its social and economic policies. Brexit, despite its ability to own headlines, is not considered a major factor in the results.All three parties are a long way from being able to form a government, and both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have ruled out a coalition with Sinn Féin. Varadkar has said he's willing to form a grand coalition with Fianna Fáil, but the feeling isn't mutual, so per The Irish Times, someone will have to break a promise to form a government eventually. Read more at The Irish Times and The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's impeachment acquittal For better pasta sauce, throw away your garlic Vanguard is an anomaly in the investment world. Can it stay that way?
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| A man was arrested at the White House after he told a Secret Service agent he planned to kill Trump Posted: 09 Feb 2020 10:33 AM PST  The 25-year-old man was taken into custody and brought to a hospital for a mental health evaluation in the Secret Service's latest security incident.
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| Pompeo urges U.S. state governors to be cautious in business with China Posted: 08 Feb 2020 12:37 PM PST  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo urged governors of U.S. states and territories on Saturday to adopt a "cautious mindset" when engaging in business with China, saying Beijing was seeking to use U.S. openness to undermine the United States. Pompeo, in his latest warning of what he sees as Beijing's intentions, emphasized that competition with China was not just a federal issue.
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| Trump reacts to viral photos: ‘This was photoshopped, obviously’ Posted: 09 Feb 2020 08:45 AM PST  President Trump described photographs revealing a pale ring around the edge of his face as "more fake news" after particularly unflattering images went viral over the weekend.
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| Surrendered Pakistani Taliban spokesman escapes custody: official Posted: 09 Feb 2020 05:05 AM PST  A leading member of the Pakistan Taliban has escaped custody more than two years after surrendering to authorities, a senior security official said Sunday. The confirmation comes days after Ehsanullah Ehsan -- the former spokesman for the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) -- released an audio message claiming he had escaped detention and was now in Turkey. A senior security source told AFP Ehsan was "one of our major assets in identifying and later tracking down militants".
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| Soldier kills 26 in bloodiest mass shooting in Thailand Posted: 09 Feb 2020 03:44 AM PST  A soldier with a grudge gunned down 26 people and wounded 57 in Thailand's worst mass shooting before he was fatally shot inside a mall in the country's northeast on Sunday, officials said. Authorities said Sgt. Maj. Jakrapanth Thomma was behind the attack in Nakhon Ratchasima, a hub for Thailand's relatively poorer and rural northeastern region. Much of the shooting took place at Terminal 21 Korat, an airport-themed mall filled with colorful Lego sculptures, a merry-go-round and huge replicas of landmarks from around the world.
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| 10 Wuhan professors signed an open letter demanding free speech protections after a doctor who was punished for warning others about coronavirus died from it Posted: 08 Feb 2020 10:42 AM PST  One petition was signed by Wuhan professors, and another was signed by academics from around China calling for a national holiday in Li's honor.
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| Only 54% of Americans Knew Puerto Ricans Were Citizens Posted: 09 Feb 2020 07:36 AM PST  More than a century after the United States acquired Puerto Rico, a 2017 Morning Consult poll conducted after the devastation of Hurricane Maria revealed that only 54% of Americans knew Puerto Ricans were citizens. Today, being born in Puerto Rico is tantamount to being born in the United States. But it wasn't always that way, and a lot of ambiguity still remains.
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| Biden Says Buttigieg Is ‘No Barack Obama.’ Mayor Pete Responds: Neither Are You. Posted: 09 Feb 2020 08:42 AM PST  Days ahead of the New Hampshire primary, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden ramped up his attacks on former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, pointedly stating that the surging presidential hopeful "is no Barack Obama."Buttigieg, meanwhile, responded in kind on Sunday, sniping back that Obama's former veep also was not on the 44th president's level.In the wake of his weak fourth-place finish in Iowa, Biden has noticeably taken aim at Buttigieg, who is surging in New Hampshire following his strong showing in the Iowa caucuses. This includes a recent campaign ad slamming Buttigieg's relative lack of experience while touting Biden's decades of political accomplishments.Shortly after Friday night's New Hampshire debate, in which Biden took shots at Buttigieg for complaining about the "politics of the past," the ex-veep seemed to take issue with the 38-year-old ex-mayor attempting to compare himself to Obama. (Something Saturday Night Live brutally mocked Buttigieg for over this weekend.)Joe Biden Is Running Out Of GasMayor Pete Blows It Again as Democratic Debate Focuses on Race"I think, you know, being a mayor of a town smaller than Manchester is not quite like being a United States senator from the state of Illinois—even though it was only for a short amount of time," Biden told ABC on Friday evening. "Barack's experience was much wider as well … I know Barack Obama, he's [Pete's] no Barack Obama. He's a rare breed, Barack Obama."During an interview with ABC's This Week that aired on Sunday morning, Biden continued to take it to Buttigieg, insisting that he wasn't ready to be president. Host George Stephanopoulos, meanwhile, noted that Biden said the same thing about Obama in 2007 when they were both running for president while questioning his attacks on Buttigieg."I didn't attack Pete," Biden contended. "He's been attacking me. I think he has completely misunderstood or misrepresented my record. I've done great deal. I have gotten a lot done both as a senator and as vice president. He speaks about being ready. We bailed out his city."Asked why he thinks nominating Buttigieg would be a risk, Biden credited the former mayor for being a "smart guy" but added that he has merely been the mayor of a small city. "Does he know any of the foreign leaders?" Biden wondered aloud. "Barack Obama was a different story. Barack Obama came from a large state, a United States senator, he ran before, he's been involved in international— he had a clear vision of what he thought the world should look like and so on."In a subsequent interview with This Week, Buttigieg fired back while taking some digs at Biden."He's right, I'm not Barack Obama," Buttigieg asserted. "Neither is he.""This isn't 2008, it's 2020," he added. "This election is about where our country is headed next and of course how to defeat Donald Trump. What I'm offering now and the reason we have been able to succeed so far, a sense of belonging, pulling together a coalition that not only will defeat Donald Trump but by a big enough margin."Stephanopoulos, meanwhile, pointed out that the former mayor's coalition doesn't include a sizable amount of black voters at this point, a point that Biden made earlier when he said that Buttigieg has "not been able to unify the African-American community." "I'll have to work to earn that vote just as did in South Bend," Buttigieg answered. "I returned to office by a multiracial coalition. Now, I know especially heading into the South, I'm now getting a second look from a lot of voters who frankly weren't sure we were competitive in the first place."Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Coronavirus turns busy Chinese cities into ghost towns Posted: 08 Feb 2020 05:28 PM PST  After making sure everyone's face mask is on and sanitizer is to hand, the Qiao family heads out to Jingshan Park, a former royal sanctuary beside the Forbidden City in China's capital Beijing. Shanghai, China's financial hub, and other cities in the world's most populous nation have turned into ghost towns after the government extended a holiday and asked residents not to go out because of the coronavirus. The epidemic has killed 722 people and infected nearly 32,000 in China as of Feb 8.
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