| Trump asks if Democrats will launch an investigation into whether 'Russia, Russia, Russia' helped Sanders win the Nevada Caucus Posted: 23 Feb 2020 09:21 AM PST  "I suggest calling Bob Mueller & the 13 Angry Democrats to do a new Mueller Report, Democrat Edition," the president tweeted on Sunday.
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| Missing 6-month-old boy found dead in cemetery after mom's arrest Posted: 22 Feb 2020 09:59 AM PST  The body of Chi-Liam Cody Brown-Erickson was found hours after his mother was arrested and an Amber Alert was issued on his disappearance.
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| Here Comes 1984: China's Regime Is An Existential Threat to the World Posted: 22 Feb 2020 02:33 PM PST  One expert tells you why.
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| Haiti police exchange fire with troops near national palace Posted: 23 Feb 2020 11:37 AM PST  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haitian police officers exchanged gunfire for hours Sunday with soldiers of the newly reconstituted army outside the national palace, in a dangerous escalation of protests over police pay and working conditions. At least three police officers were wounded, fellow officers told The Associated Press. Haiti's raucous three-day Carnival celebration was to have started Sunday afternoon in Port-au-Prince and other major cities but the government announced Sunday night that Carnival was cancelled in the capital "to avoid a bloodbath." Police protesters and their backers had burned dozens of Carnival floats and stands at recent protests, saying they did not believe the country should be celebrating during a crisis.
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| Grave of slain Iraq commander, a new anti-US magnet Posted: 22 Feb 2020 07:44 PM PST  Clad in black, they joined wailing women and men beating their chests in grief at Wadi al-Salam (valley of peace), an ever expanding cemetery. All eyes were on the grave of Iraqi paramilitary commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Killed alongside top Iranian general Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad on January 3, Muhandis is now revered as a martyred icon of anti-American resistance.
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| Greyhound will stop allowing immigration checks on buses Posted: 23 Feb 2020 10:54 AM PST  Greyhound, the U.S.'s largest bus company, said on Friday that it will stop allowing Border Patrol agents without a warrant to board its buses to conduct routine immigration checks.
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| Coronavirus challenges $45 billion cruise industry Posted: 23 Feb 2020 09:37 AM PST  'Business is soft, people are scared to travel,' said Frank Del Rio, CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line.
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| Coronavirus Spread by a Second Coming ‘Cult’ Has Put South Korea on ‘Maximum Alert’ Posted: 22 Feb 2020 10:35 AM PST  This article was updated on February 23, 2020, at 11:55 p.m. local time in South Korea.SEOUL—A South Korean church whose founder says, rather mysteriously, that he represents the second coming of Christ on Earth and has unique insights into God's revelations is getting much of the blame for a major surge in the spread of the deadly coronavirus here.Coronavirus Now a 'Tremendous Public Health Threat': CDCFear of the disease now known as COVID-19 actually had been on the decline in South Korea until a fresh outbreak was traced to a 61-year-old woman who belonged to the Shincheonji Church in Daegu, a city of 2.4 million about 170 miles southeast of Seoul. Soon it was clear that more than half the known cases were connected to Shincheonji parishioners.As the number of infections started climbing with disconcerting speed on Sunday, the government here put the country on the highest possible alert, opening the way for it to lock down whole cities if deemed necessary. All told, as of this writing late Sunday night local time, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 602 cases, including six people who have died. Of the total number diagnosed, 329 were members of Shincheonji or had had contact with members.A former member of the church told South Korea's Yonhap news agency that Shincheonji's practices during worship may heighten the risk of coronavirus contagion, since participants kneel close together and sing songs with their arms on each others' shoulders during services. There are also concerns about its presence outside South Korea, possibly including Hubei province in China, the epicenter of the growing epidemic. Lee Man-hee, the 88-year-old founder and leader of the church, has called the disease the "devil's deed" and a test of faith meant to stop the growth of Shincheonji, according to Yonhap.Leaders of more traditional churches have been quick to denounce Shincheonji, which means "New Heaven and Earth." And the spread of COVID-19 from one of the 74 Shincheonji "sanctuaries" strengthens the view among the mainstream that Shincheonji is a dangerous cult that keeps many of its 200,000 members in secret compounds while pressuring them to absorb its teachings and recruit other followers.Christian critics for years have denounced Lee Man-hee as "a heretic" who has exploited thousands of adherents since opening his first congregation 36 years ago. He calls himself "the promised pastor.""They are not real Christians," says a member of Korea's Presbyterian church, the country's largest Christian organization. "They are fake."* * *SEWING UP SEOUL* * *Park Won-soon, the mayor of Seoul, has picked up on the hostile sentiment, warning against the evil the church poses in the metropolitan region of the Korean capital. "Shincheonji sect, also known as 'Church of Jesus, the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony' in Daegu, has become a hotbed of the infections in local communities," he warned in a lengthy media briefing as the extent of the outbreak became known, calling for measures to stop the disease from spreading.Already, he said, confirmed cases elsewhere were "related to the church in Daegu" and "another confirmed patient in Seoul attended the chapel in that church." It was "to proactively prevent the further spread of the virus," he said, that "the Shincheonji churches in Seoul will be closed."That crackdown was not the only severe measure ordered by Park. He also banned street demonstrations, notably by conservatives hostile to his own municipal government and the national government.Park, a left-leaning politician who has long advocated dialogue with North Korea, insisted he had in mind the health of old people who join in such protests waving American and Korean flags. "The symptoms and prognosis of the confirmed cases could be fatal to people with underlying conditions, and the elderly in particular," he said, ordering the closure of welfare facilities, senior citizen centers and an historic park in central Seoul where old men frequently gather.Conservatives, hoping to defeat ruling party legislators in national assembly elections in April, denounced the ban as "politics" and promised to turn out in defiance of rows of policemen massed on the main avenue running by city hall.* * *MESSIANIC TENDENCIES* * *The role of Shincheonji in spreading the disease, however, seems far more important than political protests in a country where religious groupings often fight one another. About a third of South Korea's 51 million people identify as Christians, but there are deep divisions among them, and these movements like Shincheonji draw adherents despite social and cultural barriers to proselytizing and preaching. Cults and cult-like groupings have proliferated, seeming to fill some sort of spiritual void in this fast-moving fast-growing country always under threat from its neighbor to the north. If the COVID-19 epidemic is striking down members of Shincheonji its critics "will say God has struck heretics," says Michael Breen, author of books on Korean culture and a former member of the Unification Church of the late Rev. Moon Sun-myung. "A lot of people will be thinking, they kind of deserve this."In fact, in the years since Lee Man-hee first mesmerized young Koreans with his claim to embody Jesus Christ, the Shincheonji Church has proven about as controversial as the "Moonie" Unification Church. Lee may not call himself "the messiah" or "true parent" of mankind as did Moon, but he preaches an extremist view of Christianity whose message is essentially that he came to know the meaning of Christ on Earth through the Bible's Book of Revelation."More people are upset with Lee than with Moon," says Breen. "They will go after him. They are very dogmatic and judgmental."The secrecy of the church adds to the build-up of emotions against its activities. "Health authorities are having difficulties as they could not reach or contact more than 400 followers of the church," reported Dong A Ilbo, a leading newspaper in Seoul. It was only through GPS tracking, the paper said, that the church member who was first diagnosed was discovered to have visited Cheongdo, where an outbreak was reported in a hospital and the first person in Korea died of the disease."Since the entire nation is experiencing a national crisis, Shincheonji religious followers should voluntarily report symptoms and self-quarantine at home while fully cooperating with the authorities in quarantine efforts," the paper editorialized. At the same time, Dong A called on citizens not to attack patients "even for the sake of ensuring the success of quarantine efforts."Kukmin Ilbo, a Christian newspaper with strong ties to South Korea's largest congregation, the evangelical Full Gospel Church in Seoul, suggested Shincheonji members are reluctant to cooperate with authorities tracing the course of the disease.North Korea's Secret Coronavirus Crisis is Crazy Scary"It seems to be the tendency to act in a closed manner without showing much of its beliefs," said the paper, describing Shincheonji as "a pseudo-religion or cult." It claimed that "there were even allegations that Shincheonji sent an internal notice to the congregation telling them to say, 'I didn't go to church that day' and 'I worshipped somewhere other than there.'"Shincheonji says such claims are concocted by its mortal enemies. "There is no such thing as an internal notice," a church official responded. More to the point, Mayor Park said, "Anyone who attended the chapels of the Shincheonji Church in Daegu must report to an emergency telephone number." Seoul will quickly get the list of names, he said. "This is an inevitable measure to ensure and protect the health, safety and life of citizens." Seoul, he promised, "will exert all its administrative effort."Shin Hyun-wook, a pastor who specializes in deprogramming Shincheonji members, says they are told not to let their families know they belong to the church. "They believe in eternal life," he says, dying only from "lack of faith."* * *UPDATES* * *The warning "EMERGENCY ALERT" in capital letters, preceded by loud beeping sounds, flashed simultaneously on the screens of the mobile phones of millions of South Koreans late Sunday as the government elevated the fast-spreading coronavirus, now known as COVID-19, to the highest level.President Moon Jae-in, who several days earlier had tried to calm fears and warn against panic, came on South Korean TV networks announcing "the COVID-19 incident has been confronted by a grave watershed.""A few days from now is a very important moment," he said.Moon did not say what he believed had to happen in that short time span to stem the crisis other than to call for "unprecedented, powerful measures," but never before had the government gone to such extremes as to warn Korea's 51 million citizens of the danger to health and safety.Armed with the authority to stop public gatherings, including political protests, the government postponed the opening of schools from next Monday, March 2, until the following Monday.Seeking to get on top of a situation about which he had been criticized for acting too slowly, Moon said his government now would "perceive the crisis" in the southeastern city of Daegu and the surrounding province as "a national one." Henceforth, he said, the government would focus on "riding out the difficulty without sparing any support."Earlier, the health and welfare minister, Park Neung-hoo, assured the country the virus was "limited within a specific region and group"—a reference to the members of Shincheonji. Four of the six victims of the virus died in the same hospital in Cheongdo, near Daegu. "The nation's health authorities are concerned that more virus cases will be identified at the hospital as most patients have underlying illnesses," according to the Yonhap news service. "Transmissions taking place in hospitals and clinics are also of grave concern because of the risk of exposing sick people, who are more vulnerable to infections, to the virus."A sign of concern about the spread of the virus was that Shinsegae, an historic department store featuring luscious displays and popular food courts, shut down the restaurants in a major branch in one of Seoul's most upscale high-rise office and apartment districts. A customer, the store announced, was reported to have come down with the virus after attending a Shincheonji gathering in Daegu.Moon pointedly urged the cooperation of Shincheonji members, noted for standing close together in mass meetings closed to outside observers and refusing to answer questions about what they are doing. "Trust and cooperation are the way to win the fight against the virus," he said.He coupled that remark with a demand that Koreans in general refrain from mass meetings—a remark that his political foes interpreted as an effort to suppress large-scale mass protests against his policy of reconciliation with North Korea. The protests were expected to climax next Sunday, the anniversary of a short-lived revolt on March 1, 1919, against Japanese rule.The urgency of the need to halt the COVID-19 before it got out of the Daegu region and spread all over the country provided another week of vacation for Korean students of all ages and education levels.Education Minister Yoo Eun-hae postponed the opening of schools from March 2 to March 9 "to prevent the spread of infection and for the safety of students and school faculty."The frankness with which South Korea announced the numbers of those who had suffered from the disease, including deaths, contrasted with the secrecy imposed by North Korea, which continues to tighten controls but denied any victims.Most recently, North Korea announced a quarantine on all imports, most of which come from China, many in violation of United Nations sanctions. The North's leading newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said the quarantine for 10 days was needed since "materials being brought from another country could be used as a carrier to spread the virus."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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| U.S. judge rejects Roger Stone's request she be kicked off his case Posted: 23 Feb 2020 04:31 PM PST |
| Entrance polls show Sanders winning nearly every demographic in Nevada Posted: 22 Feb 2020 03:41 PM PST  What do union households, non-union households, men, women, and just about every other demographic in Nevada have in common?They're all caucusing for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), entrance polls for Saturday's Democratic caucuses in Nevada show. Not only did Sanders have a sizable lead when it came to early caucus results on Saturday, but these polls indicated his message has proved universal.According to entrance polls taken Saturday for The Washington Post and other news outlets, former Vice President Joe Biden is leading the Democratic field in attracting black caucusgoers and those age 65 and older, by nine and eight percentage points, respectively. Sanders is meanwhile leading the field in voters age 17–29 by 56 percentage points, in Hispanic voters by 37 percentage points; and among independents by 36 percentage points.> On initial preference in the Nevada caucuses, Bernie Sanders is currently winning independents by a large margin — 49%, according to CBS News entrance polls https://t.co/4xhlHorGDS pic.twitter.com/1nLDH4e4GI> > — CBS News (@CBSNews) February 22, 2020Sanders is also winning voters age 30–44 and 45–64; white voters; somewhat liberal and very liberal voters; and both college graduates and those without a college degree — along with every other identifiable group. Those results, combined with the fact that Sanders had more than twice the votes of nearest competitor Biden with 10 percent of precincts reporting on Saturday, indicate Sanders may end up with a blowout win in the most diverse state that's had its say on the Democratic nomination so far.More stories from theweek.com CNN analyst: Republicans 'may regret' hoping Sanders wins nomination The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained White House officials are reportedly hoping to scale back surveillance powers
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| Exit polls: Social Democrats win, far-right loses in Hamburg Posted: 23 Feb 2020 12:41 AM PST  The center-left Social Democrats won the most votes in the Hamburg state election Sunday, according to exit polls, followed by the environmentalist Green party in a vote that was overshadowed by a racist massacre and political turmoil in Germany. Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats appeared to lose badly, receiving the weakest results in Hamburg, which is Germany's second-biggest city and its own state, in the last seven decades. In what would be a large upset, the far-right Alternative for Germany — which has been especially successful in state elections in eastern Germany where it got up to about a quarter of the vote — appears to not have received the 5% of the vote needed to get into the state assembly.
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| Wrong-way crash on Interstate 95 in Georgia kills 6 people, including Virginia parents and their 3 children Posted: 23 Feb 2020 04:35 PM PST  Six people, including three children, were killed early Sunday in a head-on crash on Interstate 95, according to the Georgia State Patrol.
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| Police at checkpoints, events scrapped as virus fears hit Italy Posted: 23 Feb 2020 11:48 AM PST  Police patrolled perimeters of virus-stricken town in northern Italy Sunday as tens of thousands of people were placed under lockdown and public events cancelled to stem Europe's worst outbreak of the new coronavirus. "Virus -- Northern Italy under Siege," read Sunday's headline in the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, as television stations delivered a steady stream of images of masked locals and hospital workers in protective suits. "Virus Paralysis," read La Repubblica.
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| The Vegas way: Buttigieg backer pulls winning card to break tie at Nevada caucus Posted: 22 Feb 2020 03:28 PM PST  That's how Democrats settle matters in the state that's home to the nation's most famous gaming mecca.
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| Bloomberg Killed the Best Chance at Justice for the 9/11 Attacks Posted: 23 Feb 2020 05:14 PM PST  If it wasn't for Mike Bloomberg, the alleged perpetrators of the worst terrorist attack in American history would likely have been convicted of mass murder by now.According to all the evidence available both at the time and in the nine years since Bloomberg's intervention, a federal court almost certainly would have convicted the five co-defendants. A judge would have had to reckon with the torture the CIA inflicted on them, barring the prosecution from using tainted evidence—and showing, for the record, how torture jeopardized the case. Most importantly, there would have been closure, provided in open court and displaying the inheritance of centuries of jurisprudence, for the atrocity of 9/11 and the brutality America chose when confronting it. All that was why Eric Holder, then the attorney general, announced in November 2009 that the Justice Department would bring criminal charges against Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Ammar al-Baluchi, Ramzi Binalshibh, Walid bin Attash, and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who—then as now—were detained at Guantanamo Bay. The venue for the trial was to be the federal courthouse in Manhattan, a short walk from the former site of the World Trade Center. It was an even shorter walk to City Hall, where Michael Bloomberg presided as mayor. Bloomberg at first backed trying the 9/11 conspirators in the city. But the NYPD and the big real estate developers central to Bloomberg's vision of New York as a "luxury brand" viewed the trial as a national-security version of a Not-In-My-Backyard concern—all as a broader backlash to Barack Obama's handling of the war on terror was brewing. By January 2010, Bloomberg reversed himself, and his opposition doomed the trial. "I remember the hopes I had that there would be a federal trial, and I remember when Bloomberg and others came together and said it wasn't going to happen," said Terry Rockefeller, whose sister died in the World Trade Center and who apportions blame for the trial's collapse on Holder as well. "It's just been the most frustrating reflection on what we've done as a nation that this many years later we can't have a trial." The episode is less remembered than Bloomberg's defense of racist policing, his accommodation of police Islamophobia, his history of misogyny and his affinity for foreign authoritarians, all of which Bloomberg shares with the occupant of the White House he seeks to dislodge. But it had a devastating effect on the Obama administration's ambitions for emptying the wartime prison in Cuba and proving the merits of civilian courts over military tribunals for what Holder had called the trial of the century. Eighteen years after 9/11, justice for the attack remains locked away in Guantanamo."It's hard to overestimate the damage that Bloomberg's opposition to holding the 9/11 trials in New York federal courts caused," recalled Karen Greenberg, the director of the Center on National Security at Fordham University. "The inability to have closure on the 9/11 attacks, which this country is still owed; the lack of trust in the federal criminal justice system; and the perpetuation of Gitmo—it is an incalculable misstep, and it pulled the rug out from under Obama and Holder's conviction that the 9/11 trials needed to be held in federal court on federal soil, just as [international terrorism cases] had always been prior to 9/11."Joseph Marguiles, attorney for Abu Zubaydah, another Guantanamo detainee tortured by the CIA, said Bloomberg's rejection of the trial showed the same "fear-mongering and bone-headedness" as his embrace of stop-and-frisk. "It's all of a piece: a mindless, reflexive cowardice," Marguiles said. Representatives for Bloomberg's campaign did not respond to messages seeking comment. Holder, through a spokesperson, declined comment. So did Holder's national-security adviser at the time, Amy Jeffress. Barack Obama came into office pledging to close Guantanamo Bay, but quickly alienated civil libertarians by his parsimonious definitions of what closure meant. Rather than forsake military detention away from the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama sought to replicate it at an Illinois prison that critics derided as "Gitmo North." By the spring of his first year in office, he proclaimed himself open to indefinite military detention for the "toughest" cases, even as he pledged he would seek civilian prosecutions for terrorist suspects "whenever feasible."The centerpiece for that feasibility was the 9/11 trial. For years, the 9/11 co-conspirators had languished in unofficial CIA prisons known as black sites where they faced torture so extreme that one of them, Hawsawi, experienced a rectal prolapse. Holder called prosecuting them in federal court the "defining event" of his tenure atop the Justice Department. He had support from important New York politicians. "New York is not afraid of terrorists," boasted Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat representing Manhattan. Bloomberg, at first, joined the chorus. "It is fitting that 9/11 suspects face justice near the World Trade Center site where so many New Yorkers were murdered," he said the day of Holder's announcement. Doing so was entirely feasible, he noted, as proven by the federal trial for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Bloomberg said he had spoken to Holder and pledged city support "in any way necessary." He expressed confidence in the NYPD's "experience dealing with high-profile terrorism suspects and any logistical issues that may come up during the trials."But he quickly developed other ideas. By the time the Justice Department announced its intended 9/11 trial, a backlash to Obama was coalescing around the country. One of its focal points was Obama's emphasis on using the criminal justice system for terrorism cases, which the right interpreted as a five-alarm fire. Mitch McConnell, the Senate GOP leader, led an early charge warning "how dangerous closing Guantanamo could be." Then, weeks after the Justice Department announcement, FBI agents read a Miranda warning to a Nigerian jihadist named Omar Farouk Abdulmutallab who tried and failed to blow up a civilian airliner as it descended into Detroit. Abdulmutallab extensively cooperated with investigators, but to the right, it crystallized a danger Obama allegedly posed. Rudy Giuliani wailed, "Why in God's name would you stop questioning a terrorist?" The 9/11 trial suddenly had a new, hysterical context. A rally at Foley Square in December, featuring relatives of 9/11 victims, denounced the attorney general. It was organized by a group led by Islamophobic 9/11 widow Debra Burlingame, future Rep. Liz Cheney and neoconservative pundit Bill Kristol, called Keep America Safe—explicitly meaning safe from terrorism and, tacitly, from Obama. Accordingly, the crowd around or passing by Foley Square yelled "traitor" and "lynch Holder!" Then there were more parochial concerns. The NYPD began worrying aloud that the trial would be a logistical snarl, and ratcheted up their estimates of its cost. Commissioner Ray Kelly briefed community officials with intimidating projections about blanketing downtown Manhattan with police checkpoints and intrusive searches. The police weren't the only influential constituency that blanched. The New York Times reported that Bloomberg got "an earful" of opposition to the trial when he attended an annual gathering of the Real Estate Board of New York; its president warned "it would destroy the economy in Lower Manhattan." Jane Mayer of The New Yorker noted that "companies with downtown real-estate interests had been lobbying to stop the trial." The chairwoman of the downtown-Manhattan community board wrote an op-ed opposing having the trial "in the midst of a dense residential and office neighborhood." Bloomberg's Money Won't Right the Wrong of 'Guantanamo-on-Hudson'By early January, weeks after supporting the trial, Bloomberg reneged. In a letter to the White House, Bloomberg asserted a security threat to the trial that he felt no political pressure to explain. Now the trial would cost the city over $200 million annually, largely due to reallocating police officers, who would accrue "significant overtime." Bloomberg, backed by Kelly, expected federal reimbursement—something he insisted would not be a "blank check." Bloomberg was backed by his home-state senator, now-Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who insisted that "not a nickel of these costs should be borne by New York taxpayers."It happened that there was a test case undercutting Bloomberg's argument in real time. In June 2009, federal prosecutors in New York indicted a different Gitmo detainee, someone whom the CIA also tortured in the black sites. The trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani wasn't on the scale of the 9/11 trial—he was indicted for his role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania—but it featured no security disruption from terrorists, no abnormal police presence, and no economic disaster. Its judge, Lewis Kaplan, refused the government one of its desired witnesses, someone whom Ghailani named during his black-site interrogations. A jury acquitted Ghailani of all but one count of conspiracy, but it was enough to sentence him to life in prison in 2011, a sentence that has survived Ghailani's appeals. His trial took a month. But by then, the 9/11 trial had long been a lost cause. At a press conference on a Wednesday in late January, fueled by a nonbinding community-board vote against the trial, Bloomberg said that his "hope is that the attorney general and the president decide to change their mind" and hold the trial elsewhere. Two days later, Justice Department officials conceded to Times reporters that it was now "obvious" the trial couldn't happen in New York."If these trials were going to take place anywhere, they'd take place in New York, and the mayor of the largest city in the country said they can't handle it. Well, if you can't do it there, you can't do it anywhere," Marguiles said. "It was just nonsense. Of course they could have done it. These cases would have been resolved ten years ago." That November, before the Justice Department could salvage the prosecutions and indict Mohammed and his co-conspirators elsewhere, the Republicans won control of Congress. Once in office, the new GOP majority spearheaded legislation barring the Pentagon from spending money to move Guantanamo detainees onto mainland American soil, effectively killing any federal criminal indictment of anyone held in the wartime prison, a prohibition that continues to this day. Conceding defeat, the Obama administration in 2012 re-indicted the five co-conspirators in a military commission held at Guantanamo.The death of the 9/11 trial didn't stop Obama from prosecuting terror suspects, something Donald Trump's Justice Department has pursued as well. "It just became impossible to resolve the stain of 9/11 and the reality of Guantanamo," Marguiles observed. "Everything about the show trial taking place down at Gitmo is inferior."Indeed, the 9/11 military tribunal has lasted almost eight years without proceeding to trial. It's been beset by a baroque series of setbacks, including accusations of government spying on the defense attorneys. Its new judge has set a trial date for 2021, some 20 years after 9/11, but that target is, as ever, in doubt. This week, one of Binalshibh's attorneys, James Harrington, sought to remove himself from the case on health grounds. To keep the trial date alive, the prosecution took the extraordinary step of motioning to keep Harrington involved.Like many attorneys—including Holder—Greenberg and Marguiles believe the abundance of evidence about the 9/11 plot obtained outside of torture is sufficient to secure a federal conviction for the accused co-conspirators. As well, Marguiles said the 9/11 trial would have provided a way to "reckon with the legacy of torture." Without a trial, New Yorkers and Americans generally lack the "closure and a narrative" that court cases provide, Greenberg said. "This country continues to live inside the post-9/11 moment," she said, "in a way that didn't need to happen."No one continues to live in that moment more than the thousands of people like Rockefeller, who lost their loved ones on 9/11. "It was a crushing failure of will to actually do the right thing, to try the [accused conspirators] in a federal court," said Rockefeller, who is affiliated with Sept. 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. "That would have been to say that our pride in our rule of law, and our belief in our legal system, is what makes us different from terrorists."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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| Roger Stone moves to disqualify judge in last-ditch bid to avoid prison Posted: 21 Feb 2020 08:31 PM PST  Stone was convicted last year on multiple counts of lying to congressional investigators, as well as a count of witness intimidation.
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| National security adviser says what he's heard about Russia aiding Trump re-election doesn't 'make any sense' Posted: 23 Feb 2020 05:09 AM PST  Trump's National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien doesn't believe there's anything to the reports about Russia once again interfering with the U.S. presidential election.In an interview set to air on ABC News' This Week on Sunday, O'Brien denied being aware of U.S. intelligence reports that Russia is interfering to help Trump secure a second term in the Oval Office. He did acknowledge he hasn't sought out any information about the reports, but he said he considers it a "non-story" based on leaks from a congressional hearing."All I know is that the Republicans on the side of the House hearing were unhappy with the hearing and said that there was no intelligence to back up what was being said," O'Brien said.O'Brien said the Trump administration has been "very tough" on Russia and has urged Moscow to stay out of U.S. elections, adding that if anyone came forward with something different, he'd be willing to take a look at it more closely. For now, though, he says the report doesn't "make any sense."Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was also briefed that Moscow was attempting to aid his Democratic primary campaign. Read more at The Associated Press and ABC News.More stories from theweek.com CNN analyst: Republicans 'may regret' hoping Sanders wins nomination The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained White House officials are reportedly hoping to scale back surveillance powers
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| 10,000 mourn victims of racist shooting rampage in Germany Posted: 23 Feb 2020 11:00 AM PST  Around 10,000 protesters marched through the central German town of Hanau on Sunday to mourn the nine people who were killed by an immigrant-hating gunman four days ago. "These days and hours are the blackest and darkest our town has ever experienced during peace times," Hanau mayor Claus Kaminsky told the somber crowds, according to the German news agency dpa. Five of the victims were reported to be Turkish citizens.
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| U.S. takes steps to prepare for pandemic as global coronavirus cases rise Posted: 21 Feb 2020 06:16 PM PST  In the U.S., the number of confirmed cases rose to at least 34.
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| Indian authorities scramble to give Trump mega-rally Posted: 23 Feb 2020 07:50 AM PST  The city of Ahmedabad in India was jostling with activity on Sunday as workers cleaned roads, planted flowers and hoisted billboards featuring President Trump, a day ahead of his maiden two-day visit to India after Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised him a lively public reception.
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| Ira Hayes raised the flag on Iwo Jima. 75 years later, he still inspires this Indian community. Posted: 23 Feb 2020 04:33 PM PST  75 years ago, Ira Hayes was one of the six Marines captured in the historic photograph raising the American flag on Iwo Jima.
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| Two academics in their 70s who vanished from cottage are found alive Posted: 22 Feb 2020 03:54 PM PST  The pair survived by drinking water from a puddle, a sheriff's spokesman said.
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| Shares drop, gold surges as coronavirus fears trigger flight for safety Posted: 23 Feb 2020 04:24 PM PST  Global shares and oil extended losses on Monday while safe-haven gold soared as the spread of the coronavirus outside China accelerated with infections jumping in South Korea, Italy and the Middle East, in a worrying new development in the outbreak. South Korea put the country on high alert after the number of infections surged to over 600 with six deaths. In Italy, officials said a third person infected with the flu-like virus had died, while the number of cases jumped to above 150 from just three before Friday.
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| Hawaii holds woman over missing children amid suspicious deaths Posted: 22 Feb 2020 01:42 PM PST  A 46-year-old American woman with reported links to a doomsday cult and to at least three people whose deaths are being investigated has been arrested in Hawaii over the disappearance of her two children. Lori Vallow was arrested Thursday on the island of Kauai and charged with felony desertion of the children, 7-year-old Joshua Vallow, who is autistic, and 17-year-old Tylee Ryan, police said in a statement. According to US media reports, the children, who have different fathers, were last seen on September 23, 2019.
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| RESULTS: Bernie Sanders wins the Nevada caucus, follow the full vote count and delegate race here Posted: 23 Feb 2020 12:42 PM PST  Sanders has now won the popular vote in the first three primary contests and holds his biggest lead yet in the diverse state of Nevada.
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| Countdown Begins to Possible End of U.S. War in Afghanistan Posted: 22 Feb 2020 07:11 AM PST  KABUL, Afghanistan -- The United States and the Taliban started the clock early Saturday on a plan to end America's longest war after more than 18 years, beginning with what they hope will be seven days of greatly reduced violence in Afghanistan.If the weeklong, partial truce holds, the two sides have agreed, they will meet on Feb. 29 to sign an agreement laying out a timetable for the U.S. to withdraw its troops.The pact is also meant to clear the way for peace talks involving the Taliban and the government in Kabul, and U.S. officials point to the reduction in hostilities as the first link in a fragile chain of events that could deliver peace in Afghanistan after more than four decades of conflict.But the Afghan government is deep in a political crisis after a bitterly disputed presidential election in which the opposition candidate claimed victory despite President Ashraf Ghani having been declared the winner. With rival claimants to legitimacy, it is unclear who would negotiate with the Taliban, whether they would be prepared to enter talks while struggling to control the government, or what kind of mandate they would have.U.S. negotiators demanded the seven-day reduction in violence, which went into effect after midnight Saturday, as a public show of the Taliban's good faith and its ability to control its fractious and scattered forces. Now it is the government in Kabul whose cohesion and command are more in doubt."I call on all Afghans to seize this opportunity," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote on Twitter on Friday.A previous attempt at finalizing a deal between the Taliban and the U.S. fell apart on the verge of completion in September, with President Donald Trump citing a new outbreak of violence, and the same risk hangs over the latest try.And even if the carefully choreographed rollout of the agreement does presage the end of the American phase of the war, the plan might not spell the end of the war itself. Trump is determined, one way or another, to reduce U.S. involvement in Afghanistan to a minimum, and the Taliban's long-term commitment to compromise and power-sharing remains open to question.Zalmay Khalilzad, the chief U.S. negotiator, recently arrived in Kabul to prepare for the announcement of an agreement, to find a government that was threatening to split apart. He has been shuttling in a convoy of armed vehicles between the heavily guarded homes of the divided elite in Kabul, trying to keep the peace.In September, Afghanistan held a presidential election marred by Taliban attacks and allegations of fraud and mismanagement. It was not until Tuesday -- after nearly five months of delays, acrimonious disputes and a partial audit of the results -- that the election commission declared that Ghani had won another five-year term.His main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, also declared victory, accusing the election body of favoring the incumbent, and called on his supporters to form their own government.The U.S. government still has not acknowledged Ghani's victory. The only public comment it has made on the results hinted at concern that the electoral mess might make matters worse."It is likely that these developments could add to the challenges Afghanistan faces, including the challenges of the peace process," Molly Phee, Khalilzad's deputy in negotiations, said Tuesday at the United States Institute of Peace, a government-funded policy group in Washington. "Our priority, and what we believe to be the priority of most Afghans, remains peace and the peace process."Since U.S. officials couldn't persuade Ghani to postpone the election, the yearlong talks with the Taliban, primarily in Doha, Qatar, became a race against Afghanistan's political calendar. Election after election has been so tainted that U.S. diplomats were essentially trying to rush through a peace deal with the Taliban before Afghanistan's latest political crisis could complicate the equation.They almost finalized a deal with the insurgents last summer that would have pushed back the election, but Trump called off the talks on the eve of the signing, and the vote went ahead.The political showdown pits technocratic Ghani and his circle of young advisers against some of the most hardened figures of recent Afghan history, survivors of years of battle and deal-making. One of Abdullah's key supporters is Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, who has been accused of an array of violent acts, and until recently served as Ghani's vice president.Dostum, who has one of the most unified bases of support in the north, was the first to call for a parallel government, and to urge protests and the announcement of governors in northern provinces. Abdullah's fate could turn on how willing the general is to push the crisis, and how receptive he is to a deal with Ghani.Khalilzad, who was expected to return to Doha to prepare for the signing ceremony, has extended his stay in Afghanistan to manage the political tensions, meeting repeatedly with Ghani, Abdullah and other key political players.Late Thursday, Khalilzad told a meeting of Dostum's party that the announcement of election results had caught him by surprise, according to one participant. He and Gen. Austin S. Miller, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, urged the participants to make sure that political rallies don't turn to violence.Analysts said the conflict was unlikely to affect the first steps of the peace process, as U.S. officials had made it clear to everyone that their priority was starting the violence reduction. But the high-stakes political showdown would make it difficult to move on to the next phase, when a unified negotiating team that includes the Afghan government is expected to sit across from the Taliban."The U.S. has clearly put its weight on the peace issue, and that message is clear to all sides -- with President Ghani agreeing to reduction of violence -- there is a consensus among the parties," said Omar Sadr, an assistant professor of political science at the American University of Afghanistan."But the election issue has created a huge gap between the political sides and that needs to be bridged in a very short time for this process to move forward," he added. "And I don't know how that can happen without Khalilzad and the U.S. stepping in."Sadr said the Americans remaining quiet on the election results gives them "maneuver room" to broker a settlement to the political crisis -- which could provide leverage to make sure the peace process doesn't fall apart.The seven-day violence reduction being rolled out closely resembles a cease-fire, barring some exceptions, officials said.The Taliban has agreed to hold back attacks on cities, highways, and major security outposts throughout the country. In return, Afghan government forces and the U.S. military, which has stepped up airstrikes in the last year, have agreed to hold back their operations.In preparation for the start of the violence reduction, Ghani has been meeting all provincial security and political leaders in recent days. He told one group that the Taliban currently carry out about 80 attacks a day, and that a reduction to about 10 attacks would be seen as a successful implementation."Our brave security and defense forces will only act in defense of themselves and the honorable people of Afghanistan," he said in a televised address late Friday.Taliban leaders scrambled to get their message of minimizing violence to the lowest units of what has increasingly been a decentralized force.In private WhatsApp messages, Taliban commanders can be heard taking pains to strike a nuance: they want fighters to hold fire and not attack, but to stay vigilant in their positions and not venture into cities and government territory.The group has long feared that a full cease-fire could divide its ranks and make remobilizing difficult if the peace process crumbled and all-out fighting resumed.This article originally appeared in The New York Times.(C) 2020 The New York Times Company
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| For Virginia Tech parents, new gun laws a long struggle Posted: 23 Feb 2020 06:29 AM PST  When Virginia lawmakers pass sweeping new gun control laws in the coming days, it will mark the culmination of nearly 13 years of often thankless work for two parents whose children were shot in one of the country's worst mass shootings. Lori Haas and Andrew Goddard started pressing lawmakers to enact new gun laws shortly after a gunman killed 32 people and wounded more than a dozen others at Virginia Tech in 2007. Haas and Goddard have been Virginia's most visible gun-control lobbyists for years, but until recently had little to show for their work.
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| N.Y. Gov. Cuomo compares the 'virus of hate' to the coronavirus after bomb threats were emailed to 19 Jewish community centers in one single morning Posted: 23 Feb 2020 12:43 PM PST  "People are worried about the Coronavirus, which we're watching in this state – there's also a virus of hate, and it's spreading," Cuomo said.
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| Why the Boy Scouts bankruptcy is good news for victims — and for America Posted: 22 Feb 2020 01:04 PM PST  We believe that if the BSA sees this moment as a wake-up call, the organization can continue its century-long tradition of positively influencing millions of lives.
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| Harry Dunn's family want Julian Assange's extradition blocked Posted: 22 Feb 2020 05:49 PM PST  The family of Harry Dunn has called for Julian Assange not to be extradited as long as the US refuses to send the suspect in the teenager's death back to the UK. They have accused the American government of "demonstrating an extraordinary amount of hypocrisy" in seeking the extradition of the Wikileaks founder, despite rejecting a request for Anne Sacoolas to return to Britain. Mr Dunn, 19, died when his motorbike collided with a car outside RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire on August 27. Ms Sacoolas, 42, the wife of an intelligence official based at the US military base, claimed diplomatic immunity and was able to return to her home country, sparking an international controversy. The US refused an extradition request for Ms Sacoolas last month.
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| Xi says China facing 'big test' with virus, global impact spreads Posted: 23 Feb 2020 02:52 PM PST  China's leader said Sunday the new coronavirus epidemic is the communist country's largest-ever public health emergency, but other nations were also increasingly under pressure from the deadly outbreak's relentless global march. Italy and Iran began introducing the sort of containment measures previously seen only in China, which has put tens of millions of people under lockdown in Hubei province, the outbreak's epicentre. Italy reported a third death while cases spiked and the country's Venice carnival closed early.
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| China's Xi calls for action on economy amid virus outbreak Posted: 23 Feb 2020 09:54 AM PST  Warning that China's virus epidemic is "still grim and complex," President Xi Jinping called on Sunday for more efforts to stop the outbreak, revive industry and prevent the disease from derailing the spring planting of crops.
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| Nearly two-thirds of voters expect Trump to win reelection in November, poll finds Posted: 23 Feb 2020 10:51 AM PST  Opinions on the race appear to be firmly set for most voters, with 63% saying they know how they will vote no matter who is the Democratic nominee.
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| Carnival in Belgium again has Jewish stereotypes in parade Posted: 23 Feb 2020 08:32 AM PST |
| How China Is Humiliating Pakistan Posted: 22 Feb 2020 04:30 PM PST  Pakistan sees itself as a major regional power but recent events show that Beijing considers Pakistan little more than a subordinate colony to be exploited but not heard.
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| A charter bus swerved and rolled over on a California highway, killing 3 and injuring 18 Posted: 22 Feb 2020 06:47 PM PST  Several passengers were thrown from the bus, and one of the dead was trapped under the vehicle after it landed on its roof.
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| White House reportedly to ask Congress for coronavirus funds but the amount may not be enough Posted: 23 Feb 2020 04:41 AM PST  The White House is about to turn to Congress and request emergency funds in an attempt to curb the coronavirus outbreak, four people with knowledge of the request told Politico.So far, the vast majority of cases of the respiratory virus are in China where it originated, but it has been spreading across the globe, and over 30 people are infected in the United States. Because scientists know so little about the virus, including its incubation time, they're worried an outbreak could eventually hit the U.S.But it looks like the amount the White House plans to ask for — $1 billion — might be lower than some public health officials consider necessary, per Politico. If that's all there is, it could reportedly be exhausted swiftly by vaccine development, lab tests, and other investments. For comparison, the Obama administration requested $6 billion to fight Ebola in 2014 and received $5.4 billion.One White House official told Politico the amount is still subject to change, however. Read more at Politico.More stories from theweek.com CNN analyst: Republicans 'may regret' hoping Sanders wins nomination The stunning Southern Baptist controversy over Donald Trump and Russell Moore, explained White House officials are reportedly hoping to scale back surveillance powers
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| Doctor, parents face trial in Egypt for girl's death after genital cutting Posted: 23 Feb 2020 11:14 AM PST |
| Conservatives claim victory in Iran polls after record low turnout Posted: 23 Feb 2020 09:04 AM PST  Iran's conservatives claimed victory Sunday in a general election marked by the lowest turnout since the 1979 Islamic Revolution amid public anger against the government, an economic downturn and the disqualification of half the candidates. A conservative resurgence would heap pressure on beleaguered President Hassan Rouhani and signal a shift from four years ago when reformists and moderates won a slender majority in parliament. "Victory for the anti-American candidates, a new slap for Trump," crowed the ultra-conservative Kayhan newspaper.
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| Cases of the coronavirus are spiking outside of China and the World Health Organization warned 'the window of opportunity is narrowing' to contain it Posted: 22 Feb 2020 01:59 AM PST  South Korea admitted it failed to keep the virus out of the country as cases now surge, and many countries are reporting their first cases and deaths.
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| Trump’s National Security Adviser Conveniently Forgets His Boss’ Ties to Russia Posted: 22 Feb 2020 04:28 PM PST  President Trump's national security adviser has expressed bewilderment at the idea of Russia wanting to boost Trump in the 2020 election—apparently forgetting entirely about the Kremlin's effort to sway the vote in 2016 and the president's penchant for echoing Russian propaganda. Instead, he dredged up a decades-old trip that Bernie Sanders took to Moscow."Well, there are these reports that they want Bernie Sanders to get elected president," Robert O'Brien told ABC News' This Week, according to a transcript. "That's no surprise. He honeymooned in Moscow.""I haven't seen any intelligence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected," O'Brien told George Stephanopoulos in the interview set to air Sunday. He said reports of an intelligence briefing where officials were told the Kremlin is trying to give Trump a helping hand in 2020 were a "non-story" and that he'd heard "from the briefers that that's not what they intended the story to be.""So, look, who knows what happened over at the House and the Intelligence Committee, but I haven't seen any evidence that Russia is doing anything to attempt to get President Trump reelected," he said. O'Brien declined to respond directly when Stephanopoulos reminded him of recent reports that Russia tried to hack the Ukrainian gas company where Trump and his allies have claimed former vice president Joe Biden—the president's potential opponent in the 2020 race—abused his power to cover up corruption implicating his son. "Well, look, I'm not going to get into specific intelligence issues, but—with respect to Ukraine," O'Brien said, going on to note that the "Russians and the Chinese and others like to sow disruption" in American politics. As for Trump, O'Brien said he'd seen "zero intelligence" that Moscow has been trying to help him, insisting that it doesn't "make any sense" that they would. "Why would Russia want the president who has rebuilt the American military, who has given the Ukrainians lethal arms, javelin missiles and has sanctioned the Russians far more than any president in recent history, why would they want him reelected? I mean, that just doesn't make common sense," he said. While distancing Trump from Russia, O'Brien made no mention of the 2016 election, after which more than a dozen Russian nationals and companies were indicted for a social-media effort to sway the vote towards Trump. Trump himself has continued to defy the U.S. intelligence community and cast doubt on Russia's involvement in 2016 election interference, choosing instead to chase Kremlin-peddled conspiracy theories that Ukraine was actually to blame for election meddling. O'Brien's remarks come after reports surfaced this week that officials had been briefed on Russia continuing to try and help Trump by interfering in the 2020 election. One day after reports on that briefing broke, The Washington Post reported that Sanders' campaign had also been warned about Russia trying to aid his presidential campaign. Trump and lawmakers on Capitol Hill were also said to be notified of Russia's efforts to help the Democratic frontrunner.The Sanders campaign has since tried to point the finger at the administration for the reports on the Russia briefing, specifically at Trump's new acting intelligence chief, Richard Grenell.Grenell, a Trump loyalist and the U.S. Ambassador to Germany, was tapped to take over the position after Trump reportedly blew up at then-Acting Director of Intelligence Joseph Maguire for allowing the briefing where an official said Russia was once again trying to help his campaign. 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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| Moscow targets Chinese with raids amid virus fears Posted: 22 Feb 2020 11:28 PM PST  Bus drivers in Moscow kept their WhatsApp group chat buzzing with questions this week about what to do if they spotted passengers who might be from China riding with them in the Russian capital. The befuddlement reflected in screenshots of the group exchanges seen by The Associated Press had a common source - instructions from Moscow's public transit operator Wednesday for drivers to call a dispatcher if Chinese nationals boarded their buses, Russian media reported. A leaked email that the media reports said was sent by the state-owned transportation company Mosgortrans told dispatchers who took such calls to notify the police.
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| This is the Bloody Baptism American Forces Faced in the Korean War Posted: 22 Feb 2020 11:15 AM PST  The Korean War was no joke and millions died.
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