| Super Tuesday: Hillary Clinton calls Bernie Sanders' campaign 'just baloney' Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:06 AM PST  Hillary Clinton has attacked Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and his campaign again by calling it all "just baloney".The former first lady and senator appeared on Good Morning America to discuss her new four-part Hulu docuseries called "Hillary".
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| US prosecutors tie Honduras president to drug trafficker Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:57 AM PST  U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday that Honduras' president met a drug trafficker around 2013 and took $25,000 in exchange for protecting the trafficker from law enforcement. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York issued a statement referring to President Juan Orlando Hernández only as a "high-ranking Honduran official" or as "CC-4," a co-conspirator. In previous filing, U.S. prosecutors have described "CC-4" as the winner of the 2013 presidential elections.
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| China sees 'coming victory' over coronavirus as global alarm spreads Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:24 AM PST  The coronavirus that has tightened borders, led to massive disinfection programs and roiled global markets has been detected in at least 70 countries.
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| Bloomberg advisers reportedly urged him to drop out and back Biden before Super Tuesday Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:47 PM PST  Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's presence in the 2020 race is reportedly frustrating some of his own campaign advisers.Bloomberg campaign advisers urged him after the recent South Carolina Democratic primary to drop out of the race and endorse former Vice President Joe Biden prior to Super Tuesday, Vanity Fair reports. Among those who reportedly pushed for Bloomberg to get out and back Biden was his own campaign manager, Kevin Sheekey."There is a prevailing view Mike should drop out," a Bloomberg adviser told Vanity Fair, while another adviser said that after Biden trounced his opponents in South Carolina, "the dynamic of the race clearly changed."Bloomberg ultimately stayed in the race for Super Tuesday, and "campaign officials are privately frustrated" that he ignored their advice to drop out and back Biden, Vanity Fair reports.On Tuesday, Bloomberg admitted he was eying a contested convention as his path to the nomination, saying, "I don't think I can win any other way." But asked about the possibility of dropping out, Bloomberg said, "We're in it to win it."More stories from theweek.com The end of Chris Matthews Was Mike Pence exposed to coronavirus? The 3 most likely Super Tuesday outcomes
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| Putin proposes to enshrine God, heterosexual marriage in constitution Posted: 02 Mar 2020 08:38 AM PST  Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to parliament a number of constitutional changes, including amendments that mention God and stipulate that marriage is a union of a man and woman. Shortly afterwards, the lower house unanimously approved the constitutional reform bill in a first reading after less than two hours of debate. Ahead of a second and key reading set for next week, Putin submitted 24 pages worth of new proposals, said State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin.
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| Iran Wouldn't Mess With The Royal Navy If London Had More Ships Posted: 02 Mar 2020 11:00 PM PST  And Britain has taken notice.
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| Dubai's Sheikh Mohammed turns to UK Supreme Court in battle with ex-wife Posted: 03 Mar 2020 06:26 AM PST  Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum has applied to Britain's top court to try to stop publication of two judgments given in a legal battle with his former wife over the wardship of their two children. Mohammed has been involved in a dispute with Princess Haya bint al-Hussein, half-sister of Jordan's King Abdullah, over the welfare of their two children since last May. Andrew McFarlane, president of London's High Court Family Division, who has been overseeing the case, has issued two judgments and in January decided these should be made public.
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| Trump reportedly tells Taliban official ‘you are a tough people’ in first phone call Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:30 PM PST  Call with official whom Trump mistakenly called 'leader of the Taliban' is first direct exchange between a US president and insurgent leadership since 2001Donald Trump has spoken by telephone to a senior Taliban official at a time when a row over prisoner exchanges and a fresh outbreak of violence jeopardised a historic US-Taliban peace agreement signed on Saturday.The conversation between Trump and the head of the Taliban's political office, Abdul Ghani Baradar, was the first direct exchange between a US president and the insurgent leadership since the US military intervention in Afghanistan began in 2001.The Taliban said the call between Washington and Doha (where the Taliban negotiating team are based) lasted 35 minutes and claimed that Trump told Baradar: "You are a tough people and have a great country and I understand that you are fighting for your homeland. We have been there for 19 years and that is a very long time and withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan now is in the interest of everyone."Trump confirmed the conversation but gave few details about the discussion with the man he mistakenly referred to as "the leader of the Taliban"."We had a good conversation. We've agreed there's no violence. We don't want violence. We'll see what happens," Trump told reporters. "We had actually a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban.""The relationship is very good that I have with the mullah," he added later in the day."We had a good long conversation today and, you know, they want to cease the violence. They'd like to cease violence also."The US signed two agreements on Saturday: one with the Taliban, offering the full withdrawal of foreign troops in 14 months if the insurgents take part in comprehensive intra-Afghan peace talks, and a joint declaration with the Afghan government, about the need for negotiations with the Taliban and to combat terrorism.Discrepancies between the two agreements quickly became apparent. The deal with the Taliban states that up to 5,000 Taliban and up to 1,000 government soldiers would be released by 10 March, when intra-Afghan negotiations are due to start.The agreement with the government talks more vaguely about "determining the feasibility of releasing significant numbers of prisoners on both sides" as a confidence-building measure.The Afghan government has said it had not agreed to the release of 5,000 Taliban fighters before talks with the insurgents begin, and the Taliban has insisted it will not start negotiations without the prisoners being freed.On Monday, the Taliban said it was returning to military operations following a week-long "reduction in violence" in the run-up to Saturday's agreement with the US.On the same day, a motorcycle bomb attack at a football match killed three people and injured 11 in the eastern province of Khost. There was no claim of responsibility for the attack, and the Pentagon played down its significance as a threat to the US-Taliban deal.According to the Taliban account of Tuesday's phone call, Trump assured Baradar that he had asked his secretary of state, Mike Pompeo to talk to the Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani, "in order to remove all hurdles facing the intra-Afghan negotiations" and promised US aid for Afghan reconstruction.
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| Mile-wide asteroid to fly by Earth next month, according to Nasa tracking data Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:35 PM PST  A large asteroid will fly close to but won't hit Earth next month, according to NASA data.CNN reports that the asteroid, predicted to be between 1.1 and 2.5 miles wide is scheduled to fly past Earth on 29 April at 4:56am ET.
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| Ohio 911 call-taker suspended for neglecting to send help to man who died from stroke Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:55 AM PST  "The actions of this call-taker undermined the possibility of a positive outcome in this situation," City Manager Patrick Duhaney said.
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| Super Tuesday: Biden wins big in Southern states, Sanders takes Vermont, NBC News projects Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:13 PM PST  A total of 1,344 pledged delegates are at stake on Super Tuesday — and how they are eventually awarded may determine the party's nominee.
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| Bloomberg: Guns for Me, but Not for Thee Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:44 PM PST  'How do you justify pushing for more gun control when you have an armed security detail that is likely equipped with the same firearms and magazines you seek to ban the common citizen from owning? Does your life matter more than mine or my family's or these people's?" a Virginian named Clarke Chitty asked Democratic Party presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg during a recent Fox News town hall.It's an outstanding question. And Bloomberg's answer is pretty straightforward: Yes, his life is worth more than yours."Look, I probably get 40 or 50 threats every week, OK, and some of them are real. That just happens when you're the mayor of New York City or you're very wealthy and if you're campaigning for president of the United States," Bloomberg replied. "You get lots of threats. So, I have a security detail, I pay for it all myself, and . . . they're all retired police officers who are very well trained in firearms."In the United States, our rights aren't -- or shouldn't be -- meted out according to status. But you'll notice Bloomberg doesn't really answer the question, anyway. I suspect millions of Americans who aren't as famous or rich (very rich, in this case) live in situations in which their property and safety are threatened to the same extent. Not that it matters. Does Bloomberg propose that everyone undergo a government risk assessment before being allowed to practice constitutional rights?Probably, right?More importantly, Clarke Chitty, one suspects, has zero interest in stripping away Bloomberg's constitutional right to own a firearm, or to hire professional armed bodyguards to protect him from legitimate threats. The former mayor of New York City, on the other hand, has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in efforts to pass laws and regulations that would leave Americans like Clarke Chitty defenseless.It's this kind of arrogance that brought about District of Columbia v. Heller, the case affirming that the Second Amendment is an individual right. One of the first plaintiffs in that effort, Shelly Parker, was an African-American resident of Washington, D.C., who had gotten fed up with the crime near her Capitol Hill home. She attempted to rally her neighbors to clean up the neighborhood, provoking the ire of local drug dealers, who began vandalizing her property and threatening her life. "In the event that someone does get in my home," she explained, "I would have no defense, except maybe throw my paper towels at them." It would have been illegal for Parker, neither wealthy nor famous, to obtain a gun to protect herself. She was also in danger.Or take Otis McDonald, the retired 76-year-old of McDonald v. City of Chicago, a case that affirmed that the right of individual gun ownership extended to the states. By 2010, the neighborhood McDonald had lived in since 1971 had become infested with gangs, drug dealers, and widespread criminality. His home had been broken into on five separate occasions, so he had a legitimate reason to worry about his safety. Someone like Bloomberg might have suggested that Otis keep some paper towels handy, but McDonald wanted a handgun. At the time, Chicago had a handgun ban in place, ensuring that only criminals could own them. I suspect that McDonald was in as much jeopardy as Bloomberg.To top it off, Bloomberg then blatantly lied to the Fox crowd, claiming that "the Supreme Court said you can have reasonable restrictions, and the only restrictions which I am in favor of is to prevent us from selling guns to people with psychiatric problems, criminals, or people that are minors, OK?"Not really. If Bloomberg had any practical hope of overturning the Second Amendment, he would certainly do it. As it is, Bloomberg bankrolls major anti-gun efforts that go much further policy-wise than keeping guns out of the hands of children and people with serious psychiatric problems -- both of which are already illegal, and supported by nearly everyone.Bloomberg, the presidential candidate, supports banning "assault weapons," the most popular rifles in the country, which account for a sliver of the gun crimes in the country. Bloomberg supports stripping gun companies of "immunity" in civil lawsuits that would allow activists to hold manufacturers responsible for all criminality -- a blatant attempt to put them out of business. Bloomberg supports "red flag" laws, which strip away due process for gun owners. Bloomberg supports raising the age of gun ownership from 18 to 21. Bloomberg supports federal efforts requiring every gun buyer to obtain a permit. Bloomberg wants to create a positon for a federal gun czar to implement all these restrictions on the federal level. In other words, Bloomberg supports every single active effort to restrict gun ownership that exists.Well for you, not him.
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| Republican Sen. Johnson to issue first subpoena in Hunter Biden, Burisma probe Posted: 02 Mar 2020 04:24 PM PST  The Republican chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee plans to issue the first subpoena related to the committee's probe of Hunter Biden and Ukrainian energy Burisma Holdings.
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| Iran And Israel Teamed Up To Destroy This Country's Nuclear Weapons Program Posted: 03 Mar 2020 12:30 AM PST  And the region was better off.
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| Virus news fuels return of forlorn White House briefing room Posted: 02 Mar 2020 09:15 PM PST  The White House briefing room is back in business. The historic White House setting had fallen into something of a state of neglect during the era of President Donald Trump, who prefers to act as his own spokesman rather than send out his press secretary to brief reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Press secretaries appeared there to shape the message that administrations wanted to convey on important topics on the day.
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| Tornadoes kill at least 25 in Tennessee on Super Tuesday, crews search for missing Posted: 03 Mar 2020 08:35 AM PST  A string of tornadoes tore through Nashville, Tennessee, and surrounding counties early on Tuesday, killing at least 25 people, leaving others missing and reducing neighborhoods to rubble as voters across the state cast ballots in the Super Tuesday presidential primary. Governor William Lee told an afternoon news conference the death toll was expected to rise as search-and-rescue crews combed through collapsed buildings and rubble for missing people some 15 hours after the storms hit around 1 a.m. CST. Nineteen of the 25 fatalities were from Putnam County, east of Nashville.
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| CDC reports 108 cases of coronavirus, including presumed infections; 4 more deaths Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:26 AM PST  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday confirmed 17 new cases of the coronavirus and four more deaths due to the outbreak, bringing the total number of U.S. cases to 108, including among repatriated citizens.
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| Chris Matthews: High profile hosts come out in support of disgraced commentator after sexual harassment allegations Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:45 PM PST  Some women in media who know or have worked with the now-former host of MSNBC's Hardball, Chris Matthews, have come to his defence since his abrupt retirement from the network over sexual harassment allegations.Mr Matthews resigned on air Monday night. He opened the show, announced his retirement, and when the show went to commercial and returned, Mr Matthews was no longer behind the desk.
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| The 3 most likely Super Tuesday outcomes Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:00 AM PST  After more than a year of anguish, electability navel-gazing, and 10 contentious debates, the most important day on the Democrats' nominating calendar has finally arrived. Fully one-third of all pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be chosen Tuesday. Until this year, there was a heavy Southern bias to Super Tuesday, which can be traced back to the Democratic Party's desire to produce moderate nominees in the late '80s when that region of the country was slipping away from them. But with California moving its primary way up and Super Tuesday staples like Georgia bumped back in the schedule, this year's edition is likely to look very different than it did in the past.Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders remains the favorite to win the nomination, but more than perhaps any candidate in the modern nominating system, he needs to secure a pledged delegate majority to ensure his victory. Party elites remain deeply hostile to him, and older Democrats are terrified that he will lead the whole party to the wrong side of the Alamo shootout in November. If he doesn't get a majority, look for months of intrigue as candidates vie for support on a second ballot at the convention, and as the hundreds of so-called superdelegates, barred from voting on the initial tally, are suddenly the kingmakers. While it would probably be suicidal for the party to deny Sanders the nomination if he has a plurality rather than a majority of pledged delegates, the smaller that lead is, in both raw and percentage terms, the more likely it is that the effort to make someone else the nominee will be serious. And by the end of this evening, we will have a much better idea of how likely such a nightmare scenario is.To further complicate matters, two significant candidates bailed on the race at the last possible minute before Super Tuesday, meaning that we should expect much more significant variation from existing polling than usual. Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race unexpectedly on Sunday, followed by Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar Monday. If polls are to be believed, Buttigieg's support will be spread fairly evenly among the remaining candidates, but of course, millions of people, particularly in California, voted early and can't change their minds now. That means that Buttigieg's political corpse will still rack up some votes, although probably not any further delegates. Klobuchar's voters, on the one hand, are likely to disproportionately go to Biden, especially since she endorsed him, perhaps giving him an extra 2 or 3 percent in many states where she was actively campaigning. On the other hand, her decision almost certainly means that Sanders will carry barely-polled Minnesota, where Biden was mired in the single digits, unless she has so much pull that she can throw nearly all over her voters to the former vice president.No one knows exactly what is going to happen tonight. There are states with precisely zero polls, including Tennessee and Alabama. And many others, including Maine, haven't been surveyed in weeks, or have only a single data point to extrapolate from. But there are probably only three plausible outcomes given what we do know.1\. Sanders wins convincingly enough that no one else has a plausible path to the nominationThe best case for Sanders tonight involves a blowout victory in California, with Biden failing to meet the viability threshold statewide and in enough congressional districts to leave him with just a handful of delegates. The ideal Sanders scenario here is that several candidates — Biden, Warren, and Bloomberg — reach the high single or low double digits but get effectively shut out of delegates. Sanders also needs to beat Biden in Texas, and if he does so by double digits he could really open up an enormous lead. But margins in some states that have hardly been talked about or polled are also important. Biden is likely to carry Alabama and Tennessee, where black voters make up a large percentage of the electorate. But if Sanders can pull out surprise wins in states like Arkansas and Oklahoma, which have large pools of the kind of non-college educated white Democrats that Sanders does so well with, he can really pad his margins. Sanders won Oklahoma in 2016, and it wouldn't be a surprise if he did so again this year. It would also help if he beat expectations in the Deep South, even if he doesn't notch any wins.Let's say that Sanders also comes out on top in Maine and Massachusetts. The latter would loom particularly large as it would cut the heart out of Warren's campaign. And while her camp has signaled that they are in it for the long haul, this is precisely the kind of happy talk that becomes irrelevant once the votes are counted. Losing her home state would leave Warren with zero wins. And a victory of this magnitude for Sanders would leave Biden hundreds of delegates behind and would effectively end the race for the Democratic nomination. Remember, the Democrats' proportional delegate allocation rules mean that Biden would need not just to win more states than Sanders moving forward, but to win them so decisively that he can actually catch up. And it's hard to see where that's going to happen. After Super Tuesday, there are a limited number of states, among them Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana, where Biden looks to have an edge. Even in the Acela Corridor states of Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut, Sanders is likely to run strong enough to keep the delegate totals close, even if he doesn't win.Even if Sanders exceeds all expectations, Biden is likely to nab a few wins and stick around. But results like these would probably drive Warren and Bloomberg out and leave us with a Sanders-Biden race that would be all but unwinnable for the moderate.Sanders wins: Okla., Ark., Colo., Calif., Texas, N.C., Mass., Vt., Maine, Minn., UtahBiden wins: Ala., Tenn.Bloomberg wins: Va.Other candidates: noneSanders delegate lead: 200-3002\. Late movement in the polls after South Carolina allows Biden to fight Sanders to a Super Tuesday drawWhat if Biden capitalizes on his huge Saturday win in South Carolina and fights Sanders to a draw. The person most in the way of this Biden renaissance is Bloomberg, who is drawing double-digit support in important states like Virginia and North Carolina. But the former New York City mayor's disastrous debate performances have taken the new car sheen off of his candidacy and exposed him as being well outside the mainstream of the Democratic Party. His meteoric rise in the polls — he doubled his average in national polls during the month of February — has stalled. And because there have been so few polls of Super Tuesday states, we simply don't know whether the bottom has dropped out of his operation or whether he stands to rack up 100+ delegates. For Biden to really come close to Sanders though, Bloomberg's numbers need to be much more mirage than reality.One key to the this scenario is for Biden to run a strong second in California. There's really no doubt about what will happen in the most heavily polled Super Tuesday state: Sanders will win. But if Biden can run about 20-25 percent statewide, he'll be viable in most districts and Sanders might walk away with a more narrow plurality of delegates. The polls in Texas are also close. If Biden can ride his Palmetto State momentum to a victory there, no matter how narrow, it will help offset the numbers in California and give him an even stronger argument as the most electable candidate. And if he can also sweep the South — Arkansas, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia — he could be within 100 or so delegates of Sanders. Biden can also benefit from Elizabeth Warren winning her home state of Massachusetts, which would eat into Sanders' aggregate delegate tally. If you squint, you can see a best-case scenario for Biden in which he basically pulls even with Sanders in delegates.Sanders wins: Calif., Texas, Colo., Vt., Minn., UtahBiden wins: Ala., Ark., Okla., Tenn., Va., N.C.Warren wins: Mass.Bloomberg wins: noneSanders delegate lead: 0-1503\. Sanders hits his ceiling, five different candidates win at least one state, and the delegate totals are so fractured that a contested convention looks likelyUnless the polling is truly, dramatically, and epically wrong, Sanders has California in the bag. But the margins are critical. California is Bernie's best bet for putting this whole thing to bed, and if he only wins there narrowly, he could be in for a long, indecisive slog. There are also plenty of states that have been pretty lightly polled that could prove decisive in splitting delegates so many ways that even Sanders will struggle to put together a majority by June.The critical player here is Bloomberg, who polls best in states like Virginia and North Carolina. If late-deciding voters gravitate towards him rather than Biden, he could win two or more states outright and drag Biden's numbers down even in states that the former vice president wins, such as Alabama. Bloomberg has poured money into states like Tennessee and Arkansas, which have received almost no attention based on the assumption that Biden will win them going away. But what if they're wrong, and Bloomberg's billions have the desired effect? What if Klobuchar wins her home state even after dropping out? Don't laugh — Howard Dean did it in 2004. What if Sanders runs so low in some of the underpolled states that he misses out on large numbers of delegates?A five-way split would still almost certainly leave Sanders in the lead unless someone else wins California. But a 50 delegate advantage with 40 percent of the overall delegates looks much different than a 50 delegate lead with 35 percent of the overall delegates. Sanders could need to win an unrealistic percentage of the remaining delegates to get to a majority. And with a brokered convention now a real possibility, Bloomberg, Biden, and Warren all might hang around so they can make the argument to delegates that they stayed and fought and deserve the nomination even if they don't have the lead.Sanders wins: Calif., Texas, Colo., Vt., Maine, UtahBiden wins: Ala., Ark., Okla.Bloomberg wins: Va., N.C., Tenn.Warren wins: Mass.Klobuchar wins: Minn.Sanders delegate lead: 50-150The guess here is that scenario 2 is the most likely outcome on Tuesday. Biden is on the rise, and Sanders seemingly has been unable to capitalize on his early victories and consolidate the support of factions initially inclined to support someone else. That could, ironically, put Sanders in roughly the position Hillary Clinton was in after Super Tuesday 2016, when she led him by about 200 pledged delegates. Just as Sanders was unable to overcome that disadvantage despite a long rally in March and April, Biden may find that even a 100-delegate lead for Sanders will be difficult to overcome. And with the field effectively winnowed down to two candidates, it becomes far likelier that Sanders will eventually reach a pledged delegate majority or get so close that it becomes a moot point. The progressive winning a narrow and hotly contested race over the moderate would be like a mirror image of 2016, and would indicate that indeed, the party has shifted just enough to the left to make Sanders its standard bearer.Want more essential commentary and analysis like this delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for The Week's "Today's best articles" newsletter here.More stories from theweek.com The end of Chris Matthews Was Mike Pence exposed to coronavirus? Many voters in North Carolina, Virginia made up their minds in the last few days, early exit polls show
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| Remain in Mexico: asylum seekers at border see hopes raised then dashed Posted: 02 Mar 2020 02:15 AM PST  Many hoping to enter the US but kept out by Trump policy remain stuck in squalid and dangerous conditionsEsmeralda Martínez got the news via a WhatsApp message: a court had invalidated the US "remain in Mexico" program, which had obliged her to stay put south of the border while her asylum claim was heard.It had been six months since she fled Guatemala after the murder of her husband. For a brief moment, it seemed she and her 13-year-old daughter Jazmín might be able to move on from the dismal frontier encampment where they have been stranded.She packed her court papers in a black and yellow backpack, stuffed her clothes into a suitcase and prepared to move on.But just hours after Friday's ruling, the same three-judge panel suspended its own order pending fresh arguments, leaving the policy formally known as migrant protection protocols (MPP) in full effect.Despite the confusion, the temporary invalidation of MPP offered rare hope for about 2,500 migrants living in the insecure and insalubrious tent city along the Rio Grande in the city of Matamoros, a stronghold of the notorious Gulf cartel.Dozens of asylum seekers, some clutching printed copies of the 57-page court decision, headed straight to the bridge separating Matamoros and Brownsville, Texas. They were turned back by US border guards."We were all hoping for this inhumane and macabre program to be invalidated," said Joel Fernández, 51, a Cuban asylum seeker who also had his bags packed.MPP has forced more than 60,000 migrants to wait in some of Mexico's most dangerous cities. The Mexican government pledged to provide work permits and access to healthcare, housing and educational opportunities, but those promises have largely gone unfulfilled.And as they wait, the migrants are easy targets for criminal gangs.In one month last year, three-quarters of asylum seekers seen by physicians working for Doctors Without Borders in the city of Nuevo Laredo reported having been kidnapped for ransom."It's tough living here," said Martínez, 30, as a pot of beans boiled over an open fire outside her tent. "It's cold. It's unsafe. We've been followed three times [by the gangs]".Over the weekend, immigration lawyers attempted to clear the confusion, convening scrums of migrants and trying to answer their questions."There's good news and bad news," said Jodi Goodwin, a Brownsville immigration attorney. "Everyone must continue preparing their cases; you need to continue going to court."She also cautioned against illegal entry to the US."The risks if you jump the river are one these consequences: you go to prison or you go to Guatemala [where the US is now sending asylum seekers] or you'll face expedited expulsion," she said.The number of asylum claims in cities like Brownsville has been declining. A crackdown by Mexican authorities has choked the migrant flow, while expedited expulsion and the new policy of sending migrants to Guatemala has reduced the numbers of people waiting for an asylum decision."We're seeing dramatically lower numbers in Brownsville," said Charlene D'Cruz, a border fellow for Lawyers for Good Government's Project Corazon.MPP "worked" as proponents hoped, D'Cruz said, because "it took 60,000 people out" of the traditional asylum process. "But what do we mean by success? Humanity-wise, we have completely failed as a people."As the number of asylum seekers from Central America and further afield slowly dwindles in Matamoros, a new group has replaced them: Mexicans fleeing rampant violence in central and southern states.Mariana came to the camp with her family six weeks ago from Veracruz state, where she says a drug cartel tried to forcibly recruit her teenage son.Her turn to apply for asylum was fast approaching – and couldn't come fast enough."We've gone hungry. We've been cold. We've had to bathe in the river," she said as she cooked eggs and chilies for her children. "This is a desperate place."
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| NJ Teens Charged After Viral TikTok ‘Skull Breaker’ Challenge Goes Predictably Wrong Posted: 03 Mar 2020 09:45 AM PST  Two New Jersey teenagers have been charged after a failed attempt at the viral "skull breaker" challenge resulted in the hospitalization of a seventh-grader with a serious head injury and a seizure, prosecutors and family members said.The two students, who have not been identified because of their age, were both charged with third-degree aggravated assault and third-degree endangering the welfare of a child after the January incident spurred by the internet craze, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office told The Daily Beast. While prosecutors wouldn't provide details about the incident, the parents of the 13-year-old boy told local media outlets that their son, from Cherry Hill, suffered a concussion and subsequent seizure from the prank."He's doing better, but he feels like he's being punished because he can't do the things he likes to do," Stacy Shenker told Patch.com, noting her son still has concussion symptoms. "We need to make sure this doesn't happen to anyone else. They're 13-year-old boys, and they just don't think."The injury is the latest in a series of mishaps spurred by the challenge, which is popular on the social media platform TikTok. It has prompted several local police stations across the nation to issue warnings against participating in the new craze. Originally from Spain, the prank involves three people standing next to each other under the guise of learning a new dance move or to jump in a social media video. Instead, two or more people trick a third into jumping into the air—before kicking their feet out from under them and causing them to fall headfirst."The safety and well-being of our users is a top priority at TikTok and we do not allow content that encourages or replicates dangerous challenges that might lead to injury," a spokesperson for TikTok told The Daily Beast in a statement, stressing that the video app did not inspire the challenge. "The behavior in question is a violation of our Community Guidelines and we will continue to remove this content from our platform. We encourage everyone to exercise caution in their behavior whether online or off."Last month, a 12-year-old Alabama boy broke his wrist after participating in the challenge at the Ozark Boys and Girls Club, his mother, Teri Smith, wrote on Facebook. Smith said her son was not an avid TikTok user and was "not prepared" when his friends asked him to stand in a line and take turns jumping on Feb.13. He was then knocked onto the gym floor and landed on his arm."All these little games they see on the internet, it's not always fun. It can be dangerous. You have to think about what could happen. Kids are not going to think about that. That's where the parents and teachers and adults have to think about that and try to educate the kids," she later told WTVY.Influencers Tell TikTok to Stop Purging Their VideosJust over a week later, Ke'Avion Hearn was approached by a couple of classmates at Southeast Arkansas Preparatory High School who said, "all you got to do is jump.""I jumped, they kind of kicked me out under my legs so I can't land. All I remember is being on the floor," the teenager told KARK, who was hospitalized for a concussion after the incident. An Arizona mother also wrote on Facebook earlier this month that her son was left with serious head and facial injuries after two classmates kicked him "as hard as they could" and laughed as "his stiff unconscious body lay on the asphalt." Injuries have also been reported in Pennsylvania and Florida.Dr. Sabrina Sykes, a psychologist in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, says despite the known risks, children will continue to take part in these types of challenges because of the "wow factor.""New online challenges routinely spring up and rapidly spread over social media, particularly among adolescents and young adults," Sykes explained in a blog post about the appeal of online challenges. "Social media, in turn, offers instant popularity among peers in the form of 'likes' and 'followers,' providing peer acceptance, buoying the teen's self-concept and, therefore, enhancing the draw to participate in these challenges."Teens Are Now Claiming They Have Coronavirus for Tik Tok CloutCiting the still-developing prefrontal cortex for many teen's inabilities to manage their impulses—combined with the fear of missing out—Sykes says the need to participate in the trend may cause teenagers to make irresponsible decisions and "gravitate toward thrill-seeking, without focusing on potential risks or consequences."But despite the dangerous trend that rivals the Tide Pod and Bird Box challenge, the charges against the two New Jersey teenagers are the first legal action taken against students participating in the craze. In a letter to parents obtained by The Daily Beast, the Westfield Public School District issued a warning to parents in February about the dangerous social media challenge, noting the student injured in the replicated "prank" suffered "physically and emotionally.""Often, children act impulsively and without considering the consequence of their actions. If your child has an electronic device, ask them to share what apps they are viewing and using. Help them to understand the extreme unintended outcomes that may occur because of a fleeting moment of making a bad choice," Dr. Joseph Meloche, Cherry Hill Superintendent of Schools said in the Feb. 27 letter.Shenker, who has had a meeting with Meloche about the incident and has suggested an assembly to warn students about the consequences of these dangerous videos, told Patch.com they are still waiting to see the long-term effects the prank will have on their child. "We don't know what the long-term effects will be," Shenker said. "If he's still lethargic in six to eight months, then we'll know, but as with any brain injury, you just can't predict what's going to happen. We just don't want to see any more kids get injured."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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| Ireland's national airline just completed giving its planes and staff uniforms a completely new look. Take a look at before and after. Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:42 AM PST  Irish flag carrier Aer Lingus began its rebranding campaign in 2018 to transform the airline into a major European player in the airline industry.
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| Nearly 10% of Iranian lawmakers infected with coronavirus, state media reports Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:13 AM PST  The prevalence of coronavirus among Iran's political leadership appears to be a unique example of the virus' deep impact on the nation's authorities.
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| Trump Homeland Security's 'Main Mission' For Coronavirus Is Keeping Sick People Out: Chad Wolf Posted: 02 Mar 2020 05:26 PM PST  What comes next?
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| N.H. coronavirus patient breaks isolation, potentially exposing others Posted: 03 Mar 2020 04:17 PM PST  Most states have laws against breaking an isolation order.
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| Super Tuesday - live results: Sanders and Biden in two-horse race as voting enters final hours with exit poll results coming in Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:50 PM PST  Super Tuesday is finally upon us, with voting taking place in 14 states across America on who should be the Democratic contender to take on Donald Trump in November's presidential election.The Democratic field has finally thinned out, with Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg and Tom Steyer dropping out this week, leaving front-runners Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden to duke it out and Elizabeth Warren and Michael Bloomberg fighting for survival. Warren blasted Biden as a "Washington insider" and suggested she would stay in the race until the Democratic National Convention, while Sanders told reporters he felt his campaign had the "energy" and "excitement" needed to beat Trump.
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| Witness says no women arrested in case of 47 Nigerian men charged under homosexuality law Posted: 03 Mar 2020 01:19 PM PST  No women were arrested in a 2018 police raid that led 47 Nigerian men to be charged with displays of affection with members of the same sex, a witness said on Tuesday, in a case that tests a law criminalising homosexuality in Africa's most populous country. In November the men pleaded not guilty to the offence which carries a 10-year jail term and resulted from legislation introduced by former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014. Among the contentious points in the case are whether some women were also arrested during the raid but later released, which according to human rights campaigners would suggest that men were unfairly singled out by police.
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| Baby dinosaur skull held ‘evidence of DNA’ from 75 million years ago, NC State says Posted: 03 Mar 2020 09:48 AM PST  Sounds like "Jurassic Park," but we're far from cloning dinosaurs
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| A vegan woman was left 'traumatized' after being served a chicken burger at KFC Posted: 02 Mar 2020 10:12 AM PST  Vanessa Franco recently visited a KFC in Colliers Wood, London to try their new vegan burger, but got a chicken burger instead.
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| A member of the inner circle of Iran's Supreme Leader died of the coronavirus, as the country records more deaths than anywhere outside China Posted: 02 Mar 2020 02:41 AM PST  Iran is accused of hiding the true number of coronavirus cases. Some researchers estimate there could be 23 times more infections than stated.
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| What's Happening: Virus empties public spaces, spreads in US Posted: 02 Mar 2020 04:21 AM PST  The new coronavirus is entering additional territories, from megacities to seaside villages, and casting a fast-growing shadow over the world economy. Japanese parents are struggling to find child care after the government recommended school closures for four weeks. As the virus spreads around the world, emptying stadiums, museums and beaches, China is seeing signs of relief. The World Health Organization said nine times more cases were reported outside the country than inside it over the past 24 hours.
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| Coronavirus is making some Republicans reconsider the merits of free health care Posted: 03 Mar 2020 05:38 PM PST  Coronavirus has a lot of people re-thinking things. That apparently includes Republicans and government-funded health care.With the possibility of an outbreak of the respiratory virus in the United States looming, the government is still trying to piece together its response. And it sounds like free testing could be on the table. Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), at least, thinks it's really the only option. Yoho is normally known for opposing the Affordable Care Act, and certainly doesn't seem likely to advocate for Medicare-for-All anytime soon. But he's willing to blur the lines when an unforeseen circumstance like coronavirus comes to town and is even ok if you want call it "socialized medicine."> Truly stunning to hear some Republicans advocate for free Coronavirus testing and treatment for the uninsured.> > Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.), one of the most anti-ACA members:> > "You can look at it as socialized medicine, but in the face of an outbreak, a pandemic, what's your options?"> > — Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) March 3, 2020The Trump administration, meanwhile, is contemplating funding doctors and hospitals so they can care for people who don't have insurance should they become infected with the virus, a person familiar with the conversation told The Wall Street Journal. Read more at The Wall Street Journal.More stories from theweek.com The end of Chris Matthews Was Mike Pence exposed to coronavirus? The 3 most likely Super Tuesday outcomes
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| Coronavirus live updates: 9th US. death is confirmed as WHO rejects pandemic Posted: 03 Mar 2020 05:41 PM PST  The coronavirus death toll jumped to nine in the U.S., but Surgeon General Jerome Adams says not to panic. And WHO has not declared a pandemic yet.
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| California's rules for independent party voters could suppress the Bernie vote Posted: 02 Mar 2020 12:46 PM PST  The state's arcane and complex voting system could steal hundreds of thousands of votes from Bernie SandersIn February, California mailed 3.7m primary ballots that, to the astonishment of many who received them, excluded the presidential candidates. These ballots do have candidates for all other primary races, including for Congress, but not the race for president.Within this mountain of primary ballots, artifacts of California's arcane and complex voting system, lies the potential to cripple the campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, the favored candidate among independent party voters.Particularly at risk of losing their vote are 18- to 24-year-olds and Latinx voters, groups that strongly favor "Tio Bernie". A quarter of independent voters, more than 1 million people, are Latinx, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.Even if Sanders, as expected, wins the plurality of California's votes, he could well be shorted out of hundreds of thousands of votes and scores of delegates. The other candidate at risk in California's odd, troubled balloting: Mike Bloomberg.How did this happen? While Californians, including independent voters, vote overwhelmingly for Democrats in general elections, 5.3 million Golden state voters register "NPP",: no party preference.These 5 million independents legally have the right to vote in the Democratic primary, but the Democratic party has created an inscrutable obstacle course for them to do so, one that amounts to another type of voter suppression.dividerThe problem begins with a postcard.Last autumn, all 5 million NPP voters were mailed a postcard allowing them to request a ballot with the Democratic party presidential choices. However, as many states have learned, postcards with voter information largely look like junk mail and get thrown out.If the independents don't respond to the postcards, they get a ballot without presidential choices. But they have one more chance to vote for a candidate in the primaries: at the ballot box.At the polling station, though, things remain confusing. According to rules set by the national Democratic party, the independent voters have to bring in their NPP ballot to the polling station and request to exchange it for a "crossover Democratic" ballot that lists the candidates.However, if the voter fails to ask for the "crossover" ballot by its specific name, the poll worker is barred from suggesting it and they won't receive it.Jen Abreu, a poll worker, told me about the disaster this created in 2016: "If this NPP voter did not specifically ask for a Democratic crossover ballot, they were given an official NPP ballot, which did not list presidential candidates."There's another, new way NPP voters may obtain a presidential ballot: re-register from NPP to Democrat right at the polling station on election day and thereby get a presidential ballot.However, this same day registration option is little known, not advertised by the state – and I found not a single sign at the four voting centers I visited that mentioned the new option.dividerWhat's the impact of this labyrinthine ballot dance? A lot, according to the statistician Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc, a private firm employed by both the Republican and Democratic parties.Mitchell recently completed a poll of 700 independent voters and found that while 61% wanted to vote in the Democratic primary, nearly half (45%) were clueless about how to get a Democratic ballot. Another third of NPP voters believed that they could not exchange their no-candidate ballots – though the law says they may.This year, hundreds of thousands of these voters have already mailed back the NPP ballot without presidential candidates because, according to Mitchell's polling, they assumed they had no ability to exchange it.This past week, Mitchell's pollsters also asked 300 NPP voters whom they'd vote for if they had obtained the correct ballot. About 26% preferred Sanders, which translates to 553,000 potential lost votes, by Mitchell's estimates. Mike Bloomberg, meanwhile, could come up 383,000 votes short.dividerThe Democratic National Committee chiefs, who created and uphold the rules, show little sympathy for the millions of non-Democrats who want to exercise their right to vote in their primary but refuse to register as Democrats.And that could be because they will continue to back only establishment candidates. Notably, Joe Biden is endorsed by the California official who directs this tragi-comic voting process, the secretary of state, Alex Padilla.By contrast, in Colorado, another vote-by-mail state, the secretary of state simply ignores the DNC, sending every independent voter both a Republican and a Democratic party primary ballot – providing an easy way to vote as they choose.Will California's voters choose the Democratic candidate ... or will the DNC obstacle course bend the outcome? * Greg Palast has investigated vote suppression for 20 years for the Guardian, Rolling Stone and the BBC's Newsnight
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| U.S. Supreme Court lets states prosecute immigrants for identity theft Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:28 AM PST |
| Donna Brazile tells RNC chair to ‘go to hell’ during Fox News interview Posted: 03 Mar 2020 11:57 AM PST  Former interim Democratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile clapped back at Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel Tuesday, responding to her comment about the Democratic primary being "rigged" against Sen. Bernie Sanders.
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| Super Tuesday: Mike Bloomberg 'didn't realise' Elizabeth Warren is still in Democratic race Posted: 03 Mar 2020 09:35 AM PST  Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg appeared to belittle Senator Elizabeth Warren's campaign during a campaign visit to Texas.While walking through a neighbourhood with a press gaggle, Mr Bloomberg was asked if a "third place finish would be good" on Super Tuesday.
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| 8% of Iran's parliament has the coronavirus, and it released 54,000 prisoners as the country descends into chaos Posted: 03 Mar 2020 03:02 PM PST  Iran appears to have the highest number of government officials infected with the novel coronavirus.
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| India Is Turning To Israel After Its Russian-Made Missiles Turned Into Duds Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:30 AM PST  Can Israeli missiles be integrated on a Russian jet?
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| Prosecutor: Ex-convict was in bed with victim when arrested Posted: 02 Mar 2020 01:32 PM PST  An ex-convict accused of forcing young women he met in his daughter's dormitory into prostitution or forced labor after winning their trust was in bed with a victim when he was arrested, a prosecutor said Monday as the New Jersey man lost a bid to be freed on bail. The detail of Lawrence Ray's arrest was revealed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon as she argued against bail in Manhattan federal court. A woman he described as his wife was a victim, the prosecutor said, and they lived in a residence in which Ray kept a lock on the refrigerator door, restricting their access to food.
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| Philippines Probes Dollar Smuggling Amid Chinese Cash Influx Posted: 03 Mar 2020 12:30 AM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte backs a probe into cases of dollar smuggling after a lawmaker sounded the alarm on large amounts of cash brought in by Chinese nationals assisted by local authorities."It will be investigated," Duterte's spokesman Salvador Panelo said at a briefing Tuesday.The Bureau of Customs has identified two syndicates known as "Rodriguez" and "Chinese" it says has brought in $200 million and $168 million respectively since mid-2019, according to a Department of Finance statement on Monday.The money is brought in by couriers traveling two-to-three times a week and paid between 12,000 pesos ($237) and 50,000 pesos per flight, the finance department said. Military and police officers escort them upon their arrival at the Manila airport, enabling them to skip checks, it said.The finance department statement came days after Senator Richard Gordon, who heads the chamber's blue ribbon committee, called for an investigation on the influx of Chinese nationals and the "inordinate amount of money" they bring.About $180 million in cash was transported from China from December to February, Gordon said on Feb. 28. Travelers can carry up to $10,000 or its equivalent in any foreign currency into or out of the Philippines.In August last year, the Chinese embassy in Manila said a huge amount of gambling-related funds were flowing illegally out of China and into the Philippines, pushing back on the Philippines' online gaming sector that targets gamblers in mainland and employs hundreds of thousands of Chinese workers.Last month, opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said that some immigration officials allow Chinese nationals without credentials to enter so they can work in online casinos. That prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to order a revamp in airport immigration.(Adds Duterte spokesman's comments from first paragraph.)\--With assistance from Ditas Lopez and Cecilia Yap.To contact the reporters on this story: Andreo Calonzo in Manila at acalonzo1@bloomberg.net;Siegfrid Alegado in Manila at aalegado1@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Cecilia Yap at cyap19@bloomberg.net, Clarissa Batino, Ruth PollardFor 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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| Ethiopia chides US for 'undiplomatic' role in Nile Dam talks Posted: 03 Mar 2020 07:40 AM PST  Ethiopia on Tuesday accused the United States of being "undiplomatic" in trying to resolve a row over a giant dam on the Nile River but vowed to continue with ongoing talks. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, set to become the largest hydropower plant in Africa, has been a source of tension between Addis Ababa and Cairo since Ethiopia launched work in 2011. The US Treasury Department stepped in last year to facilitate talks between Ethiopia, Egypt and Sudan -- another downstream country -- after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reached out to US President Donald Trump, a close ally.
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| Turkey shoots down Syrian warplanes, kills hundreds of government forces Posted: 02 Mar 2020 03:05 AM PST  Turkey shot down two Syrian Su-24 fighter jets and struck several bases deep in Syrian government territory, killing hundreds of Syrian forces and destroying armaments, Turkey's Defense Ministry said, calling the attacks retaliation for airstrikes that killed 36 Turkish soldiers on Thursday. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey has killed 2,200 Syrian troops and destroyed significant amounts of heavy weaponry and armaments since the conflict between Syria and Turkey escalated in the past few days. Danny Makki, a Syrian analyst, put the number of Syrian troops killed in the hundreds.Turkey's offensive appears to have erased or at least stopped Syria's recent push to recapture the last opposition strongholds in Idlib province, The Washington Post reports. "Russia, Syria's most important ally, refrained from intervening on its behalf for the first time since the Idlib fighting first erupted last year, suggesting an unwillingness by Moscow to allow the spiraling confrontation between Turkey and Syria to jeopardize its relationship with Ankara or to escalate into a wider conflict with an important NATO member." The U.S., Turkey's ally, also has troops in eastern Syria.Turkey has repeatedly warned Syria and its allies to stop their march toward the Turkish border, sending waves of refugees into Turkey in what the United Nations has deemed one of the worst humanitarian crises of the nine-year-old Syrian war. Turkey has opened its northern border, allowing refugees to pass on to Europe. In return, Greece sealed its border, trapping hundreds of refugees in a no-man's land."Over the past few days, Russia has done nothing in the face of an offensive that is rapidly destroying the capabilities of the Syrian army," Makki told the Post. "Russia's central interests in Syria have been secured, whether political or economic, so Russia has nothing to gain by entering into an awkward and bloody confrontation with Turkey, which is a member of NATO."More stories from theweek.com 5 scathingly funny cartoons about Trump's coronavirus response Coronavirus czar Mike Pence is now apparently bundling tweets praising his, Trump's coronavirus response Joe Biden and Beto O'Rourke celebrated Biden's big Dallas rally at a Whataburger
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| Trump suggests using flu vaccine on coronavirus and is instantly corrected by health experts: ‘No’ Posted: 03 Mar 2020 02:04 AM PST  Donald Trump asked medical experts if coronavirus could be treated with a flu vaccine that already exists at a meeting with pharmaceutical executives on Monday.The Trump administration called the meeting to discuss early work for developing a vaccine for the virus, which has killed more the 3,000 people and infected nearly 90,000 worldwide.
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