| Arab League rejects Trump administration's Middle East peace plan Posted: 01 Feb 2020 08:38 AM PST  The foreign ministers of the 22 member states of the Arab League unanimously rejected the Trump administration's proposal to end the Israeli-Palestine conflict unveiled last week.The resolution said the plan "does not satisfy the minimum of the rights and aspirations of the Palestinian people." It's considered a win for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who threatened to cut security ties with Israel and the U.S. on Saturday, and the Palestinian Liberation Organization because it means the White House can't claim to have support from neighboring Arab countries.> Huge diplomatic victory for Abbas and the PLO. Even states that attended the Trump/Bibi ceremony (UAE, Oman, Bahrain) are now on record as rejecting. Anything less would've allowed the admin to claim some Arab support. That's no longer possible. https://t.co/v9b4ZOxi3E> > — Khaled Elgindy (@elgindy_) February 1, 2020To clarify, not every country condemned the plan. Some, like the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Morocco have suggested it could be the basis for future talks and applauded Washington's efforts, but they don't think the current iteration is viable.The plan has been criticized in several circles, with many analysts arguing it does little to curb Israeli settlements in the West Bank — one of the main grievances held by Palestinians — and could increase tensions.More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell's rare blunder John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats
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| White House seeks to calm U.S. fears over Wuhan coronavirus Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:57 AM PST  "This is something that is a low risk," Robert O'Brien said in an interview.
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| Al-Qaida in Yemen claims deadly Florida naval base shooting Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:31 PM PST  Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen claimed responsibility Sunday for last year's deadly shooting at the Naval Air Station Pensacola by an aviation student from Saudi Arabia. The shooter, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was a member of the Saudi Air Force in training at the base. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, released a video claiming the attack.
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| China seeks to boost economy as first virus death reported outside its borders Posted: 01 Feb 2020 04:44 PM PST  BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - The first death from the coronavirus outside of China was reported on Sunday and the Beijing government took steps to shore up an economy hit by travel curbs and business shut-downs because of the epidemic. A 44-year-old Chinese man from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic, traveled to the Philippines and died there on Saturday, the Philippines' Department of Health said. The vice governor of China's Hubei province, Xiao Juhua, said the virus outbreak was still "severe and complicated".
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| Problem: Are Humans Creative Enough To Solve the Climate Crisis? Posted: 02 Feb 2020 11:30 AM PST  There is growing evidence that Earth's systems are heading towards climate "tipping points" beyond which change becomes abrupt and unstoppable.
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| Joe Biden Could Be Impeached by GOP Over Ukraine if He Wins, Iowa Senator Says Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:05 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Iowa Senator Joni Ernst warned Sunday that Republicans could immediately push to impeach Joe Biden over his work in Ukraine as vice president if he win the White House."I think this door of impeachable whatever has been opened," Ernst said in an interview with Bloomberg News. "Joe Biden should be very careful what he's asking for because, you know, we can have a situation where if it should ever be President Biden, that immediately, people, right the day after he would be elected would be saying, 'Well, we're going to impeach him.'"The grounds for impeachment, the first-term Republican said, would be "for being assigned to take on Ukrainian corruption yet turning a blind eye to Burisma because his son was on the board making over a million dollars a year."President Barack Obama sent Biden to Ukraine on his behalf to fight corruption, including leading the push from the U.S. and western European powers to remove prosecutor general Viktor Shokin from office. When Shokin was fired in 2016, no congressional Republicans expressed concern about the move. Eventually, though, Shokin began to argue that he was fired because he was investigating Burisma and Biden wanted to protect his son, Hunter, who was on the company's board. The claim has been debunked.Biden told a Sinclair news reporter in Iowa that her words reinforced his argument that Trump's interest in Ukraine was meant to damage his candidacy."Doesn't that make the case I'm making that from the very beginning that this was all about not wanting to run against me?" he said.Earlier this week, Ernst tied the Senate's impeachment trial of President Donald Trump to Biden's chances in Monday's Iowa Democratic caucus, suggesting that the trial could hurt his case with caucus goers. "I'm really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus goers. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point? Not certain at that," she said.Biden has been sure to mention Ernst's comments during every stump speech he's made this week, drawing applause as he suggests that Ernst had "spilled the beans" about Republicans' real intention in raising the Burisma issue to damage Biden's candidacy. "You can ruin Donald Trump's night by caucusing with me and ruin Joni Ernst's night as well," he's told Iowa crowds this week.Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield responded to Ernst's latest comments by again encouraging Iowans to caucus for Biden. "Iowans have the chance tomorrow to say the words that Donald Trump and Joni Ernst fear most: I'm here to caucus for Joe Biden," she said.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)(Updates with Biden comment in fifth, sixth paragraphs)To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Des Moines, Iowa at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Sri Lanka to probe aircraft deal after Airbus settlement Posted: 02 Feb 2020 05:21 AM PST  Sri Lanka's president ordered a fresh investigation Sunday into a multi-billion dollar aircraft purchase involving the island's loss-making national carrier, days after Airbus settled corruption probes in Europe and the US. A French court on Friday approved a deal allowing Airbus to pay 3.6 billion euros ($4 billion) in fines to Britain, France and the US to settle corruption cases sparked by suspicious equipment sales. One of the allegations cited in a judgement and released by a London court Friday concerned the purchase of aircraft by SriLankan Airlines.
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| Bill Maher Brutally Mocks Alan Dershowitz Over Creepy Jeffrey Epstein Ties Posted: 31 Jan 2020 07:52 PM PST  On Friday night, one week after fervidly defending ex-Fox News host Megyn Kelly over her firing from NBC News (this after she defended the practice of blackface on Halloween), Bill Maher returned to his HBO program Real Time. And, prior to a softball interview with Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, the comedian addressed the latest impeachment-trial madness from President Trump's legal defense team—namely, lawyer Alan Dershowitz's claim that, because Trump believes "his election is in the public interest… if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment." Bill Maher Defends Megyn Kelly to Her Face: You're Not a 'Racist' and 'Cancel Culture' to Blame for FiringKobe Bryant's Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser's Story, and the Half-Confession"You saw Alan Dershowitz, the president's chief lawyer there at the trial, say that any action taken by this president to help his re-election is, by definition, in the public interest. When did we decide that?" asked Maher. "I can commit any crime if it's good for me, because then it's good for America? That's like saying you can't arrest a car thief if he thinks he should be walking more." "Alan Dershowitz, I tell ya. What happens to these people? Alan Dershowitz used to be normal!" he continued, jokingly adding, "He came up with this idea when he was on Jeffrey Epstein's plane, which he was a lot. He was getting a massage from I'm sure a completely age-appropriate young lady, in his underwear, and he ran it by her, this theory, and she said, 'Please, don't make my job disgusting.'" (Dershowitz was a close acquaintance of Epstein's as well as on his legal defense team, and at least two of Epstein's trafficked victims say that he directed them to have sex with Dershowitz. While Dershowitz admitted to receiving a massage at Epstein's mansion, in his underwear, he's denied the claims of sex with trafficked women.) Then, Maher reacted with disgust to Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-TN) decision to not allow witnesses in Trump's impeachment trial, thus closing the door on the Democratic pipe dream of actually, you know, allowing witnesses in a trial—instead of a show trial. "So, it's a done deal. This is gonna happen. Trump will get acquitted on Wednesday," offered Maher. "As always, with Trump, nothing will happen to him. He's had bigger slaps on the wrist from Melania. And in the future, when Trump shoots someone on Fifth Avenue, Mitch McConnell will be there to lick the blood on his shoes." "So, we're officially living in a dictatorship," he exclaimed, "and not even one with good rail service!" Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Thailand sees apparent success treating virus with drug cocktail Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:14 AM PST  A Chinese woman infected with the new coronavirus showed a dramatic improvement after she was treated with a cocktail of anti-virals used to treat flu and HIV, Thailand's health ministry said Sunday. The 71-year-old patient tested negative for the virus 48 hours after Thai doctors administered the combination, doctor Kriengsak Attipornwanich said during the ministry's daily press briefing. The news comes as the new virus claimed its first life outside China -- a 44-year-old Chinese man who died in the Philippines -- while the death toll in China has soared above 300.
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| The Wuhan coronavirus is causing increased incidents of racism and xenophobia at college, work, and supermarkets, according to Asian people Posted: 02 Feb 2020 06:00 AM PST  As fears over the deadly coronavirus from China grow, so are racist incidents against Asian communities in places like the US, Canada, and Europe.
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| Mississippi inmate tries to hang self in cell, attorney says Posted: 01 Feb 2020 05:48 PM PST  An inmate tried to hang himself at a troubled Mississippi prison and was taken down by a state trooper, an attorney said in court papers filed Saturday. Casey L. Austin is one of the attorneys representing inmates in a federal lawsuit against Mississippi over conditions in the state's prisons. The lawsuit over prison conditions is funded by Team Roc, a philanthropic group connected to entertainment mogul Jay-Z's company, Roc Nation.
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| Kerry unloads on NBC after report he was overheard talking about 2020 bid Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:38 PM PST  "A complete and total misinterpretation," the former secretary of State fumes.
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| Herbal remedies for the coronavirus spark debate in China Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:39 AM PST  A claim by Chinese scientists that a liquid made with honeysuckle and flowering plants could help fight the deadly coronavirus has sparked frenzied buying of the traditional medicine, but doubts quickly emerged. The rush came after influential state media outlet Xinhua reported Friday that the esteemed Chinese Academy of Sciences had found the concoction "can inhibit" the virus. It quickly sold out both online and at brick-and-mortar stores, but responses to the remedy's supposed efficacy have ranged from enthusiasm to scepticism on Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform.
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| South African Capital’s Mayor to Quit After Sex Tape Scandal Posted: 02 Feb 2020 03:55 AM PST ![South African Capital's Mayor to Quit After Sex Tape Scandal]( "South African Capital's Mayor to Quit After Sex Tape Scandal") (Bloomberg) -- The mayor of South Africa's Tshwane municipality, which includes the capital, Pretoria, said he will resign this month to end political wrangling over his continued presence in office.Stevens Mokgalapa has faced pressure to quit since a leaked audio tape indicated that he allegedly disparaged officials in a conversation with a mayoral council member and engaged in a sexual act with her in the municipality's offices. The two say the tape was tampered with.Mokgalapa is a member of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, which wrested control of Tshwane from the ruling African National Congress in 2016 with the aid of the Economic Freedom Fighters, the third-largest party.The DA placed Mokgalapa on leave in December as it investigated his conduct, while the EFF called for his removal. The ANC meanwhile threatened to place the city under the control of the administration of the central Gauteng province, but backed down after the DA said it would challenge the move in court."I wish to make clear that I have not broken any laws and am confident that I would emerge positively from any assessment of my conduct," Mokgalapa said in an emailed statement. "But in the end, I have concluded that it is best for the city if I stand down as mayor."The scandal has been yet another blow for the DA, which lost support in national elections last year, and has since seen its mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, and its leader, Mmusi Maimane, quit the party.The DA's Gauteng leader John Moodley thanked Mokgalapa for his service and said the party would initiate the process of finding a replacement.(Updates with opposition comment in last paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Iowa Poll canceled after Buttigieg supporter says candidate's name was omitted during a poll call Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:34 AM PST  The Register's editor said the decision should not affect the outcome of Monday's caucuses. "A poll is simply a snapshot in time of Iowans' opinions."
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| Appeal of man who shot Army recruiters in Arkansas rejected Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:34 PM PST ![Appeal of man who shot Army recruiters in Arkansas rejected]( "Appeal of man who shot Army recruiters in Arkansas rejected") The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who fatally shot a U.S. Army soldier and wounded another outside a recruiting station in Little Rock. The ruling dated Thursday and first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said Abdulhakim Muhammad's appeal is without merit. Muhammad, 34, was sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to the 2009 fatal shooting of Pvt.
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| America is Making a Bad Bet on India Posted: 02 Feb 2020 02:06 PM PST  America is dangerously emboldening India's Hindu nationalist government as it nears the point of no return. Modi, whose term ends in 2024, could be succeeded by someone far more extreme.
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| Second person linked to butterfly sanctuary found dead in Mexico Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:57 AM PST  The body of a tour guide who worked at a famous butterfly reserve in Mexico has been discovered two days after a prominent monarch butterfly activist was found dead.Mexican authorities said they are investigating the possible murder of Raul Hernandez, whose body was found beaten and with a head injury possibly caused by a sharp object.
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| China flies citizens home to virus-hit Wuhan Posted: 01 Feb 2020 11:09 AM PST  China has flown two planeloads of its citizens back home to Hubei, the locked-down province at the centre of the deadly coronavirus outbreak where they were greeted by authorities in full-body protective suits. A Xiamen Airlines charter flight from Bangkok touched down late Friday in the provincial capital Wuhan, where the infection is believed to have originated in a market that sold wild animals. Health authorities in white, full-body protective gear stood by the cabin door as the plane's 73 passengers disembarked, smiling through face masks and waving to news photographers.
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| Bolivia's Morales says he wants to go home, run for Senate Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:45 PM PST  Exiled former Bolivian president Evo Morales said in an interview published Sunday that he wants to return home and run for senator in May elections. Morales fled the country in December after the army withdrew its support for him during violent protests over his disputed re-election to a fourth straight term. Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, was in power for almost 14 years.
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| In Iowa, a vote for Warren is a vote for Biden Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:46 PM PST  Those who like both progressives should study how the caucus works and make sure they don't accidentally destroy bothLet's look at where things stand with the Democratic candidates in Iowa as of right now, according to FiveThirtyEight:> 1 Sanders: 22.0%> > 2 Biden 21.5%> > 3 Buttigieg 15.5%> > 4 Warren 14.4%> > 5 Klobuchar 10.2%> > 6 Yang 3.6%> > 7 Steyer 3.5%If you're a Bernie Sanders supporter, you might be thinking: "OK, we're in a good position. It's close but we're a little bit ahead."But even if that number holds, Sanders might actually be crushed in Iowa, thanks to the unusual voting system there and particular effect of candidate No 4. Sanders supporters need to do everything possible to keep people who like both Elizabeth Warren and their candidate from actually voting for Warren.At an Iowa caucus site, there are two rounds of voting. In the first round, a candidate must get at least 15% to stay in for the second round. If they get less than 15%, their voters are released and can support another candidate.So in the second round, candidates are hoping to pick up the voters who supported the ones who lost in the first. Delegate totals are based on the numbers from the second round.Let's assume for the moment that in one given location, all Pete Buttigieg voters have Joe Biden as their second choice, and all Warren supporters have Sanders as their second choice. I am simplifying, but this will be the trend. And let's assume that in the first round of voting, the result exactly matches FiveThirtyEight's polling.What happens? Well, Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg all break 15% and keep their votes. Warren does not crack 15% so she gets no delegates and her voters are released. Sanders picks up Warren's 14.4% while Biden picks up nothing. (Let us temporarily forget all the other candidates exist, which is not difficult.)In the second round, the result is: Sanders 36.4%, Biden 21.5%, Buttigieg 15.5%. Sanders collects the most delegates and comes out of Iowa strong.But here's the devastating thing. Because of the structure of the Iowa caucus voting system, a tiny switch could result in a completely opposite outcome.Let's say Buttigieg and Warren's vote totals are swapped. In the first round, Warren gets 15.5% and Buttigieg gets 14%. What happens in the second round? Warren's votes do not go to Sanders. Instead, Buttigieg's go to Biden: Result: Biden 35.9%, Sanders 22%, Warren 15.5%.Headline the next day: BIDEN DEFEATS SANDERS BY 13 POINTS.Never mind that Sanders was the second choice of all the Warren voters. It doesn't matter. Joe crushes the caucus, his frontrunner status is restored, people in the press stop talking about the possibility of Sanders winning the presidency, Sanders doesn't get the Nevada and South Carolina endorsements that would have come out of a strong caucus showing. The campaign limps on, and will struggle to catch up. (The state apportionment of delegates is more complicated than this, but this is how the voting itself will go.)In fact, it's even more perilous than that. Even if Warren gets 14% in the first round, if, say, enough Tom Steyer and Amy Klobuchar supporters come over to join her, she can remain viable for the second round, meaning that her voters would not go to Sanders and enough Klobuchar people might go to Biden to help him win even if together Warren and Sanders have a far higher percentage of voters. If, say, Warren got 15%, and Buttigieg's 14% and Klobuchar's 10% all went to Biden, Biden would win in a landslide.Supporting Warren therefore drastically increases the chances that Biden will be the ultimate nominee. This is what happens when progressives "split the vote". It runs the catastrophic risk of destroying the chances of having a progressive presidency, and handing the nomination to the truly awful Biden.The unique dynamics of the Iowa caucus may mean that the entire Sanders campaign is severely damaged if Warren breaks 15% and Buttigieg and Klobuchar don't. Sanders people need to persuade Iowans not to vote for Warren. (And maybe give Buttigieg a little bump, or at least don't do anything to undermine him. We need him not to drop below 15%.)Every time progressive organizations treat a vote for Warren and a vote for Sanders as equally furthering the progressive cause, or call for "unity" without rallying behind a single candidate, they make it more likely that progressives will all lose. Everyone volunteering for Warren might as well be working for Biden.To prevent a Biden nomination, the time to unite is now. Warren had a chance: Sanders amassed more volunteers, got more donations and is doing substantially better in the polls. Now that the actual voting is starting, progressives cannot afford to split their bloc. They need to unify behind Sanders.In These Times and the Nation have both run articles pushing the narrative that you can support and like both. I am sure many people do. But don't actually vote for Warren. Divided support is destroying the chances of a progressive presidency.Let's remember the stakes: there are good reasons to think Biden would not fare well against Donald Trump. But even if he was elected, nobody seriously believes he can accomplish anything meaningful. He has said as much himself: "Nothing would fundamentally change." So much for solving climate change.We cannot afford four more years of Trump. And we have an unprecedented opportunity to throw him out and replace him with something far, far better. How tragic would it be if that opportunity was destroyed because some clung to a losing candidate, dividing the movement and squandering precious votes?How will history look back on this? Will the Warren campaign's jeopardizing of this chance have seemed worth it?
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| Health officials say they're testing the first possible Wuhan coronavirus case in New York City Posted: 01 Feb 2020 06:32 PM PST  If confirmed, the New York City patient would be the ninth coronavirus patient in the United States.
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| DHS: New screening to begin amid coronavirus concerns Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:31 PM PST  As the U.S. steps up its response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Department of Homeland Security is warning airline passengers that their flights may wind up rerouted if officials discover mid-flight that someone onboard has been in China in the last 14 days. Under the new rules, U.S. citizens who have traveled in China within the last 14 days will be re-routed to one of eight designated airports, where they will undergo enhanced health screening procedures. The eight are: John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; Chicago O'Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu; Los Angeles International Airport in California; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; and Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
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| Mitt Romney barred from conservative conference after impeachment vote Posted: 01 Feb 2020 09:52 AM PST  Mitt Romney has been barred from a major conservative conference after he voted to hear from additional witnesses in President Trump's impeachment trial.
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| Ukraine wants larger compensation for its citizens killed in plane shootdown in Iran Posted: 02 Feb 2020 11:19 AM PST ![Ukraine wants larger compensation for its citizens killed in plane shootdown in Iran]( "Ukraine wants larger compensation for its citizens killed in plane shootdown in Iran") Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Kiev was not satisfied with a size of compensation Iran had offered to families of Ukrainians killed in the downing of a plane near Tehran last month and would seek larger payments. The airliner was struck by a missile on Jan. 8 shortly after it left Tehran en route to Kiev. Iran admitted its forces had shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane in error, after initially denying it had a role in the incident.
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| F-35s vs. Missiles: Could Israel and Iran Be Headed Towards a War? Posted: 02 Feb 2020 06:24 AM PST  And could Trump's 'peace plan' be making things worse?
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| Macron to Present French Award in London on Post-Brexit Visit Posted: 01 Feb 2020 05:21 AM PST ![Macron to Present French Award in London on Post-Brexit Visit]( "Macron to Present French Award in London on Post-Brexit Visit") (Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron plans to travel to London to award the city with France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur, on the 80th anniversary of General Charles de Gaulle's June 18, 1940, appeal to the French Resistance from the U.K. capital."I am coming to London in June to award the city the Legion d'Honneur, in tribute to the immense courage of a whole country and people" during World War II, Macron said in a letter to "British Friends" released on social networks on Saturday.The U.K. yesterday left the European Union after almost half a century of membership and Macron stressed that Brexit won't spoil the close historical ties between the long-time allies and assured the U.K. of the ongoing friendship of the French people."Dear British friends, you are leaving the European Union but you are not leaving Europe," he wrote. "The Channel has never managed to separate our destinies; Brexit will not do so, either."To contact the reporter on this story: Geraldine Amiel in Paris at gamiel@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Chad Thomas at cthomas16@bloomberg.net, James Amott, Helen NyamburaFor 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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| Virus deaths in China pass 360, exceeding SARS mainland toll Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:38 PM PST  China's death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared past 360 on Monday, with deepening global concern about the outbreak and governments closing their borders to people from China. The fresh toll came a day after China imposed a lockdown on a major city far from the epicentre and the first fatality outside the country was reported in the Philippines. Authorities in Hubei, the province at the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 56 new fatalities, with one reported in the southwestern megalopolis of Chongqing.
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| Women only report harassment ‘from ugly men’, Ecuador’s president says Posted: 02 Feb 2020 03:07 AM PST  Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno has been criticised for saying women only report harassment "when it comes from an ugly person".Mr Moreno made the comment at an economics conference in the city of Guayaquil on Friday, where he also said that men are "permanently subject to the danger of being accused of harassment".
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| Klobuchar Faces Uproar Over Her Role in Black Teenager's Murder Conviction Posted: 01 Feb 2020 07:24 AM PST  Civil rights activists and black community leaders in Minneapolis have called on Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota to suspend her presidential campaign after a report raised questions about whether a black teenager was wrongly convicted of murder during her tenure as the Hennepin County attorney.Klobuchar's handling of the case involving the teenager, Myon Burrell, has come under renewed scrutiny after The Associated Press published an investigation this week detailing what it said were numerous flaws.The senator has repeatedly highlighted Burrell's conviction in the 2002 case, in which an 11-year-old girl was killed by a stray bullet, as evidence of her history of being tough on crime and seeking justice for African American communities shaken by gun violence. But the AP article quoted one of Burrell's co-defendants as saying that he was in fact the gunman responsible for the murder of the girl, Tyesha Edwards. Burrell, AP reported, has insisted that he is innocent and has rejected all plea deals.In a statement Tuesday, representatives from the Minneapolis NAACP, the Racial Justice Network, Black Lives Matter Twin Cities and other organizations jointly demanded that Klobuchar "immediately suspend her campaign for president, given her role in sending an innocent black teenager to prison for life."At a news conference the next day, Leslie Redmond, president of the Minneapolis chapter of the NAACP, said: "What I need people to understand is that this is not about partisanship and this is not about politics. This is about justice. This is about what's right and what's wrong.""Young people, young adults, were given life sentences to rot away in prison," she added. "This benefits no one. However, it does benefit politicians that have used the criminal justice system to enhance their political careers, and enough is enough.""Amy Klobuchar," Redmond said, "you have questions that need to be answered."The revelations, and the call for Klobuchar to suspend her campaign, came just days before the caucuses in Iowa -- a state where she has invested considerable resources and needs to get strong results.Throughout the Democratic primary, candidates like former Vice President Joe Biden and former Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City have faced scrutiny of their records on criminal justice and policies they supported that disproportionately harmed African American and Hispanic communities. And before she dropped out of the race, Sen. Kamala Harris of California also faced questions about her time as a prosecutor.On Friday, a spokeswoman for Klobuchar's campaign said: "Sen. Klobuchar has always believed in pursuing justice without fear or favor. That's why she has said that any new evidence in this case should immediately be reviewed by the court."In a statement, the Hennepin County attorney's office said it had "been fully cooperative with The Associated Press and Myon Burrell's defense attorneys," adding, "Neither The Associated Press or Myon Burrell's lawyers have shared any new evidence with us. If any new information is presented, it will carefully be reviewed by our office."The Minneapolis Police Department referred questions to the Hennepin County attorney's office without comment.In a telephone interview Friday night Daniel Guerrero, a lawyer for Burrell who has represented him since 2017, said that while he believed authorities could have more rigorously followed up on leads and alibis, he did not think, based on his review, that Klobuchar had done "anything specifically wrong.""I don't think she had much to do with the case," he said, noting that line prosecutors had handled it. "She stepped back and let them do what they were doing.""The one thing I would say about Sen. Klobuchar is that I wish she would stop citing the Edwards case as an example of her being an aggressive prosecutor," Guerrero added. "Though certainly tragic that an 11-year-old girl died, it's equally as bad that a 16-year-old boy was likely wrongfully convicted and sentenced to a life term in the face of an aggressive and often shortsighted prosecution."Guerrero said that his client had already appealed his conviction several times and that "at this point we would have to bring in evidence of actual innocence" to get the case back into court. "We're still investigating and hoping to get a wrongly convicted individual out," he said.Klobuchar ran the Hennepin County attorney's office from 1999 through 2006 and oversaw Burrell's first trial, conviction and sentencing in 2003. That conviction was eventually reversed by the Minnesota Supreme Court, which found that a key statement made by Burrell should not have been used in the trial; Klobuchar was succeeded by Mike Freeman, the current Hennepin County attorney, who oversaw a second trial for Burrell, in which he was also convicted and sentenced to life in prison, officials said. Burrell was 16 at the time of the shooting and is now 33.Though Klobuchar does not discuss her time as Hennepin County attorney as frequently as she cites her accomplishments as a federal lawmaker, she has often told the story of Tyesha Edwards at national televised debates, in interviews and when giving speeches on gun violence."Tyesha Edwards, a little girl that was doing her homework at her kitchen table," she told The Washington Post in October. "Sweet, sweet child just home doing her homework so that they could go to the mall later on or something, and gang members shot through her house and killed her at her kitchen table while she was doing her homework. We went after those guys. They went to jail."In its report, AP said the case against Burrell was overly reliant on jailhouse informants -- some of whom were offered sentence reductions, cash and other incentives for information -- as well as unreliable accounts from the man who was the target of the gunfire. The AP report also laid out a number of leads that it said were not seriously pursued by the authorities and missteps in the interrogation. It noted that no gun was recovered and no fingerprints or DNA evidence were made a part of the case.The AP article also said that Klobuchar denied Burrell's request to go to his mother's funeral after she died in a car crash during the investigation.Burrell told the AP he believed authorities knew that he was innocent all along."They just didn't feel like my life was worth living," he said.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| Nigeria to address issues that led to visa restrictions Posted: 01 Feb 2020 12:00 PM PST  Nigeria's government pledged Saturday to try to address security issues the Trump administration cited in its decision to stop granting immigration visas to people from Africa's most populous nation. Immigrants from Nigeria and three other countries no longer will be eligible for visas allowing them to live in the United States permanently, the White House said Friday. Nigerians, who have long decried the visa application processes in both the United States and Europe as racist, expressed disbelief and anger after the Trump administration announced the new policy, which takes effect Feb. 21.
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| International precautions as coronavirus death toll jumps Posted: 01 Feb 2020 06:13 AM PST 
China's National Health Commission says the coronavirus outbreak in the country has killed 259 people. With more than 11,000 infections in China as of Friday, 137 cases have been reported in other countries. The central province of Hubei, the centre of the epidemic, is under a virtual quarantine, with roads sealed off and public transport shut down. In Australia, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the country will deny entry to all foreign nationals travelling from mainland China from Saturday. (SOUNDBITE) (English) AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER SCOTT MORRISON, SAYING: "Well, our first responsibility is Australians and Australia's national interests, and that means the health of Australians and their wellbeing and that is what is driving our decisions." Australian citizens and permanent residents returning home are exempt from the ban but are required to isolate themselves for 14 days after their arrival. Australian authorities have identified ten coronavirus cases in Australia, but no deaths. In Europe, Spain confirmed the country's first case after a man was diagnosed on the remote island of La Gomera in the Canaries on Friday (January 31). The patient is part of a group of five people taken into observation on the island and isolated, after it was found some of them had come into contact with a German man diagnosed with the virus. There are currently six known cases in Germany. A number of businesses have also enforced bans. Qatar Airways has suspended flights to mainland China and the Hyatt hotel chain said it was extending its cancellation policy for Chinese travellers and hotels by nearly three weeks to the end of February.
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| U.S. universities set up front-line defenses to keep coronavirus at bay Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:16 AM PST  The school, with one of the highest percentages of Chinese students among U.S. universities, has suspended academic programs in China for the spring semester and banned students from traveling to the country for academic-related matters. It has advised faculty and staff to follow federal travel advisories that, as of Friday, warned against going to China. "We want to take all of the precautions we can so, in the worst-case scenario, we keep our community healthy," said Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for public affairs at the University of Illinois, 135 miles (217 km) south of Chicago, where the first human-to-human transmission of the disease in the United States was confirmed last week.
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| Buttigieg Names His Favorite Beatles Song: Campaign Update Posted: 02 Feb 2020 02:31 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- The 2020 candidates have been asked a lot of questions over the last year, but there's always a new one.At a campaign event at Lincoln High School in Des Moines on Sunday, Pete Buttigieg was asked his favorite Beatles song, and he quickly came up with an answer that managed to keep on message."I feel at this time it has to be 'Come Together,'" he said.He's not the only presidential candidate who has favored that song. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, whose exploratory bid for an independent campaign fizzled last year, ordered baristas in Washington to write the phrase on coffee cups during a fiscal dispute in 2012.No word on which Fab Four song the rest of the field favors, but Bernie Sanders has been known to walk on stage to John Lennon's "Power to the People."Yang Says He Would Pardon Trump (2:26 p.m.)Picture this: President Andrew Yang declaring the "long, national nightmare over" and pardoning Donald Trump.On ABC News' "This Week" Sunday, the Venture for America founder said that he would consider following in the footsteps of Gerald Ford and pardon his predecessor."It's a very, very nasty pattern that developing countries have fallen into where a new president ends up throwing the president before them in jail, and that pattern, unfortunately, makes it very hard for any party to govern sustainably moving forward with a sense of unity among their people," Yang said.Ford's pardon was very unpopular and may have contributed to his loss to Jimmy Carter in 1976.Of course, Yang might not need to do it. Trump infamously tweeted in 2018 that he has the "absolute right" to pardon himself. And Trump's lawyers even seemed to back up that idea in a confidential letter to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.Warren Volunteers Have Their Own Child Care Plan (12 p.m.)Elizabeth Warren has a plan for universal child care. Some of her volunteers in Iowa have a plan of their own.Parents who want to attend caucus night in Iowa City on Monday night can go online to sign up for free child care provided by a group of Warren volunteers.The sign-up form even provides a link to Warren's website with a note about her universal child care plan.The Warren campaign said they appreciated the effort."Accessibility and opportunity are important to our campaign, and we do everything we can to make sure everyone who wants to can volunteer and participate on caucus night," said Warren's Iowa communications director, Jason Noble.COMING UP:Some of the Democratic candidates will debate again in New Hampshire on Feb. 7.The first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses will be held Feb. 3. The New Hampshire primary is Feb. 11. Nevada holds its caucuses on Feb. 22 and South Carolina has a primary on Feb. 29.CNN will host town halls featuring eight presidential candidates in New Hampshire on Feb. 5 and 6.(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.)\--With assistance from Misyrlena Egkolfopoulou.To contact the reporter on this story: Ryan Teague Beckwith in Des Moines at rbeckwith3@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Xenophobia 'Is A Pre-Existing Condition.' How Harmful Stereotypes and Racism are Spreading Around the Coronavirus Posted: 01 Feb 2020 01:06 PM PST  As the number of coronavirus cases continue to grow, so do concerns of racist vitriol and stereotyping against people of Asian descent.
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| Rounds of wintry weather target the Plains through midweek Posted: 02 Feb 2020 09:13 AM PST  Several storms will sweep across the center of the country over the coming days, bringing wintry weather from Iowa to Texas.After dumping inches of snow in across the Great Basin and the Rockies, a storm will move across the Plains late Monday and into Tuesday."As the storm moves eastward into Tuesday, it will lose much of its intensity," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Eric Leister. While low temperatures Monday night across the central Plains are forecast to be mainly in the teens, and then only in the 20s during the day Tuesday, high snowfall totals are not expected.Most locations from North Platte, Nebraska and Colby, Kansas, on east are likely to accumulate less than 3 inches."By the time that storm reaches Iowa and northern Missouri, there may be snow falling from the sky, but no more than a thin coating is expected," Leister added.The central Plains to the Great Lakes is not the only area that may experience snow for the first half of the week.The northern side of the same storm that will spark severe weather across the Gulf Coast, will also hold back across the center of the country just enough to interact with some cooler air moving into the Plains.The snow will begin in New Mexico and western parts of Texas on Tuesday night before spreading eastward through Wednesday."Several inches of snow is possible in a swath from northern Texas to southwestern Missouri," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Adam Sadvary.A few isolated spots could end up with half a dozen inches of snow before the storm exits the region on Wednesday. Temperatures will likely be marginally low enough on the southern fringe of the snow, which may allow sleet and freezing rain to mix in with any snowflakes."The wintry precipitation accumulating on roadways will likely bring complications for travelers along Interstates 20, 35, 40 and 44, especially during the morning commute," added Sadvary.The snow may also lead to school delays or closures on Wednesday.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPFollowing both of these storms, chilly air will become entrenched in the Plains. Low temperatures early Thursday morning will be in the teens from the North Dakota-Canada border down into Oklahoma and the northern Texas Panhandle. Elsewhere, lows will be in the 20s.Temperatures are expected to rebound into the 40s and 50s across central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas on Thursday, but hold in the 20s and 30s for Iowa and Missouri. In these areas, any snowpack will likely linger longer.The same storm bringing snow to the southern Plains is expected to continue moving east, and could impact the Eastern Seaboard late in the week.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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| Apple is expected to launch its new iPhone 12 lineup this fall — here's everything we know about it so far Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:12 PM PST  Apple's iPhone 12 is expected to come in four versions when it's presumably released next September. Here's what we know.
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| Pompeo says US can supply Belarus with 100% of oil, gas Posted: 01 Feb 2020 12:52 AM PST  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that the United States is willing and able to provide Belarus with 100% of its oil and gas, taking a slap at Russia which recently cut off supplies. Pompeo is the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years and arrived in Minsk amid new tensions between Minsk and Moscow over energy. In a meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, Pompeo said he hoped to help provide an opportunity for Belarus to achieve the "sovereignty" and "independence" it seeks.
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| Venice shuts down for WWII-era bomb removal Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:12 AM PST  The operation in the port of Marghera, a mostly industrial area separated from the tourist city by water, required the evacuation of about 3,500 residents beginning in the early morning. Boat, train and bus traffic was all halted during the operation and planes were prohibited from flying to and from Marco Polo Airport from 8:30am (0730GMT) until 12:30 pm. At mid-morning, authorities said the first two phases of the operation - the evacuation of residents, and the process to strip the fuses from the bombs, had been successfully completed.
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| Paradise lost looms for German farmers as swine fever nears Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:29 PM PST  The German state of Brandenburg has erected about 120 km (75 miles) of electric fencing to prevent wild boars infected with African swine fever (ASF) from straying across the border from Poland and infecting its pig herd. ASF, which has led to the deaths of a quarter of the world's pigs in China and roiled the global meat industry, is dangerously close to Germany, Europe's largest pork producer. A case of the viral disease was discovered in a wild boar in Poland just 12 km from the German border last month.
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